If you made it this far, to part 2, then you must be a little interested in this incredible creature. Today I’m going to write about equines as a whole. Just to be clear, the equine definition is: of, relating to, or resembling a horse or the horse family.

This definition includes zebras, donkeys, horses, and mules. Lets start with zebras:

Zebras are the equines with the distinctive black-and-white stripes, they inhabit mostly eastern and sounthern Africa. There are three types of zebras, the plains zebra and the mountain zebra and Grévy's. They can be found in various habitats such as grasslands, woodlands, savannahs, and mountainous areas.

The zebras black-and-white pattern is very unique, each individual animal has a slightly different pattern. There are many different theories as to why they have this specific design, many believe it is so flies get dizzy and have a hard time landing on them, others think the reason is because if a preditor tries attacking one of the herd it is much harder to “zero in” on a specific one thus making them indistinguishable.

A zebras diet primarily consists of grass and they can also survive on lower-quality foliage. They are mainly preyed on by lions, and they usually flee if threatened but they can also bite and kick pretty hard.

Donkeys are a domesticated equine, an average donkey stands about 101.6 cm or 10 hands, and weighs 550 lbs, but different breeds vary. Jacks, which are male donkeys are often mated with female horses (mares) to produce mules, Jenny’s (female donkeys) and male horses (stallions) also produce what is called a hinny, but it is far less common. Donkeys graze grass and foliage and hay if domesticated.

Donkeys are very smart and intelligent creatures, they are also extremely stubborn and sometimes hard to manage. A good rule-of-thumb is to be a friend to a donkey, (meaning ask them to do something) and a master to a horse, (to tell them to do something) Donkeys think logically, in a way of speaking, for example: If you are riding a donkey and you come across a stream and it doesn’t want to cross it, there is no use trying to force it across you would try asking it by walking along side it or gently coaxing it. However if you were riding a horse and came across the same stream and they were nervous about crossing it you would (in a manner of speaking) tell it to go by leading it with the reins and guiding it forward. Of course this may not work with every individual animal simply because there are expections to everything but it is a helpful thing to remember. Donkeys are very stubborn and hard-headed and will not give in to pressure easily.

Saving the best for last. Horses are a domesticated one-toed mammal, yup equines have just one toe, that means unlike deer and pigs their whole foot has one toe. There are wild horses, which have not descended from domesticated horses and there are feral horse which have.

Horses are made to run, they are very agile and fast with the fastest horse breed for shorter distances being the American Quarter Horse with the world record being 55mph and on longer races the Thoroughbred reaching 45mph. They have a strong fight-or-flight response and can be pretty nervous or cautious. They can easily flee from predators and despite the misconceptions horse can sleep standing up and lying down, them lying down just means they are more comfortable being more vulnerable and they usually only do it when there are other horses with them so if needed other horses can alert it.

Female horses are called mares and their babies which are called foals can stand and run shortly after birth. An unfixed male horse is a stallion and are usually much more wild acting and a little harder to control and fixed males are called geldings.

There are three loosely divided categories for horse breeds based on their general temperament: there is the spirited or “hot bloods” with the speed and endurance usually used for race horses or certain events; “cold bloods” such as draft horses like Clydesdales, Belgian, and Percheron and some ponies, they are use mostly suitiable for heavy, slow work like plowing and farming. Then the “warm bloods”, they are crosses between the hot bloods and the cold bloods and are often focusing on some riding purposes and creating breeds. There are over 300 horse breeds in the world today, all developed for all sorts of varing purposes. There are also two different types of horses, there is an easy keeper and a hard keeper. Easy keeper means they can easily maintain their body weight, hard keeper means it is harder to hold their body weight and they might require more food to keep them healthy.

They eat grass and hay and many owners feed them grains to help them keep their weight or if the horse is doing a job or just more exercise like a race, work, or event then grain can help manage their body.

Equines are so astonishing, I encourage you if you are interested in any of these animals, learn more about them. There is so much to learn, but everyone has to start somewhere. There is so much more I could say but this is just a little taste of the three equines that have a special place in my heart, and I learn new things about them all the time.

“The day we stop learning is the day we stop living.” -Scott Meyer

Thanks for reading and please spread the word,

Le Stylo