Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant passages that can help answer the question.
Query: How long do horses live?
During the winter and early spring, horses lose about 30% of their body weight. They must regain this weight during summer and fall so as to survive another year. During particularly hard winters ("zuds"), horses may starve to death en masse or die of exposure. Herdsmen can do little to save their herds in such conditions. In the bitter winter of 2009 - 2010, 188,270 Mongol horses perished. Despite their life in semi-feral conditions, most horses live to be 20 – 40 years old.
A horse has an average total of 18 thoracic vertebrae, with 5 located in the withers. Each thoracic vertebra is also associated with a rib. A horse also has, on average, six lumbar vertebrae. Some breeds, such as the Arabian, will sometimes, but not always, have five lumbar vertebrae and 17 thoracic vertebrae. There appears to be little correlation between back length and number of vertebrae, as many horses with short backs do have the typical number of vertebrae. The length of each vertebra in the lumbar region seems to have the greater influence on the strength of the horse's back.
The horse adapted to survive in areas of wide-open terrain with sparse vegetation, surviving in an ecosystem where other large grazing animals, especially ruminants, could not. Horses and other equids are odd-toed ungulates of the order Perissodactyla, a group of mammals that was dominant during the Tertiary period. In the past, this order contained 14 families, but only three—Equidae (the horse and related species), Tapiridae (the tapir), and Rhinocerotidae (the rhinoceroses)—have survived to the present day.
In English-speaking countries, the height of horses is often stated in units of hands and inches: one hand is equal to . The height is expressed as the number of full hands, followed by a point, then the number of additional inches, and ending with the abbreviation "h" or "hh" (for "hands high"). Thus, a horse described as "15.2 h" is 15 hands plus 2 inches, for a total of in height.
The size of horses varies by breed, but also is influenced by nutrition. Light riding horses usually range in height from and can weigh from . Larger riding horses usually start at about and often are as tall as , weighing from . Heavy or draft horses are usually at least high and can be as tall as high. They can weigh from about .
The cavalry, obsessed with the charge with cold steel, had "ceased to be in any useful sense mobile". They used heavy chargers as mounts rather than lighter horses. The heavy mounts required acclimatisation and recovery after long sea voyages, and needed plenty of forage when grazing was sparse. They were also overloaded with unnecessary or over-decorated equipment and saddlery. The average life expectancy of a British horse from the time of its arrival in South Africa was around six weeks.
Equus is a genus of mammals in the family Equidae, which includes horses, donkeys, and zebras. Within Equidae, "Equus" is the only recognized extant genus, comprising seven living species. The term equine refers to any member of this genus, including horses. Like Equidae more broadly, "Equus" has numerous extinct species known only from fossils. The genus most likely originated in North America and spread quickly to the Old World. Equines are odd-toed ungulates with slender legs, long heads, relatively long necks, manes (erect in most subspecies), and long tails. All species are herbivorous, and mostly grazers, with simpler digestive systems than ruminants, but able to subsist on lower-quality vegetation.
Horses can be bathed by being wet down with a garden hose or by being sponged off with water from a bucket. Horses do not require bathing and many horses live their entire lives without a bath. However, horses are often hosed off with water after a heavy workout as part of the cooling down process, and are often given baths prior to a horse show to remove every possible speck of dirt. They must be trained to accept bathing, as a hose and running water are unfamiliar objects and initially may frighten a horse. A hose is usually used for bathing. Start near the legs, being careful to point the hose at a downward angle. When spraying the body, be sure to angle the hose so that water doesn't hit the horse in the face. Either horse or human shampoo may be safely used on a horse, if thoroughly rinsed out, and cream rinses or hair conditioners, similar to those used by humans, are often used on show horses. Too-frequent shampooing can strip the hair coat of natural oils and cause it to dry out. Though horses in heavy work, such as racehorses, may be rinsed off after their daily workout, it is generally not advisable to shampoo a horse more than once a week, even in the show season. A well-groomed, clean horse can be kept clean by wearing a horse blanket or horse sheet.
Although the average lifespan of a queen in most subspecies is three to five years, reports from the German-European black bee subspecies previously used for beekeeping indicate that a queen can live up to eight years. Because a queen's store of sperm is depleted near the end of her life, she begins laying more unfertilized eggs; for this reason, beekeepers often replace queens every year or two.
Due to scarcity of water, the Namib Desert Horse sometimes goes without water for as long as thirty hours in summer and has been known to go close to 72 hours without water during the winter, significantly longer than most horses, even other feral herds. A 1991 study suggested that in 75 years of genetic isolation and water scarcity the population had developed physiological mechanisms which improved their ability to conserve water. In 1993, a second study showed that the physiological water-conservation ability did not differ between Namib Desert Horses and other populations when dehydrated for periods of up to 60 hours, but suggested that the Namib Desert Horse would show improved conservation ability when dehydration periods were extended to upwards of 72 hours, a common occurrence in their feral state.
Equidae (sometimes known as the horse family) is the taxonomic family of horses and related animals, including the extant horses, donkeys, and zebras, and many other species known only from fossils. All extant species are in the genus "Equus". Equidae belongs to the order Perissodactyla, which includes the extant tapirs and rhinoceros, and several extinct families.
Each wooden carousel horse that is attached to the operational carousel required several hours of restoration labor. Upon arrival to the museum, many of these artifacts dated close to 100 years old, and had an original life expectancy of around five years. Due to wood rot, many of the horses had to be completely re-carved by hand. The process of re-carving utilized the same primitive tools that would have been used in the original making. It is estimated that thousands of hours of labor were volunteered to complete the projects. To keep with historical building styles, each horse contains wooden dowels instead of nails (Reinhardt,2014).
There are eight major recognized blood groups in horses. Seven of them, A, C, D, K, P, Q, and U, are internationally recognized, with an eighth, T, which is primarily used in research. Each blood group has at least two allelic factors (for example, the A blood group has a, b, c, d, e, f, and g), which can be combined in all combinations (Aa, Afg, Abedg, etc.), to make many different alleles. This means that horses can have around 400,000 allelic combinations, allowing blood testing to be used as an accurate method of identifying a horse or determining parentage. Unlike humans, horses do not naturally produce antibodies against red blood cell antigens that they do not possess; this only occurs if they are somehow exposed to a different blood type, such as through blood transfusion of transplacental hemorrhage during parturition.
This northern subspecies is vertically striped in front, horizontally on the back legs, and diagonally on the rump and hind flanks. Shadow stripes are absent or only poorly expressed. The stripes, as well as the inner spaces, are broad and well defined. Northerly specimens may lack a mane. Grant’s zebras grow to be about tall, and generally weigh about . The zebras live in family groups of up to 18 zebras, and they are led by a single stallion. Grant’s zebras typically live 20 years.
Tyrolean Hounds have an average life expectancy of about 12 to 14 years overall. These dogs are robust and generally healthy. They need to keep an active lifestyle and have high exercise requirements, though not hyperactive. As puppies, they should be given high-quality dry food until about 12 months when they can be transferred over to adult dry food. They can also take either active or working dog formulas, respectively with their lifestyle. When they are adults it can be necessary to keep them engaged with mental stimulation. Without such exercises or obedience training, they may lose passion in their work or other nuisance behaviors may appear. Also, with the harsh double coat that the Tyrolean Hound bares, they may need to be brushed once or two times a week along with other various health duties such as; teeth brushing, coat grooming, and a weekly ear cleaning.
Currently, the world's tallest horse is a Belgian Draft horse named Big Jake, a gelding born in 2000. He stands tall.
Both species of wildebeest are even-toed, horned, greyish-brown ungulates resembling cattle. Males are larger than females and both have heavy forequarters compared to their hindquarters. They have broad muzzles, Roman noses, and shaggy manes and tails. The most striking morphological differences between the black and blue wildebeest are the orientation and curvature of their horns and the color of their coats. The blue wildebeest is the bigger of the two species. In males, blue wildebeest stand 150 cm tall at the shoulder and weigh around 250 kg, while the black wildebeest stands 111 to 120 cm tall and weighs about 180 kg. In females, blue wildebeest have a shoulder height of 135 cm and weigh 180 kg while black wildebeest females stand 108 cm at the shoulder and weigh 155 kg. The horns of blue wildebeest protrude to the side, then curve downwards before curving up back towards the skull, while the horns of the black wildebeest curve forward then downward before curving upwards at the tips. Blue wildebeest tend to be a dark grey color with stripes, but may have a bluish sheen. The black wildebeest has brown-coloured hair, with a mane that ranges in color from cream to black, and a cream-coloured tail. The blue wildebeest lives in a wide variety of habitats, including woodlands and grasslands, while the black wildebeest tends to reside exclusively in open grassland areas. In some areas, the blue wildebeest migrates over long distances in the winter, whereas the black wildebeest does not. The milk of the female black wildebeest contains a higher protein, lower fat, and lower lactose content than the milk of the blue wildebeest. Wildebeest can live more than 40 years, though their average lifespan is around 20 years.
Besides the horse, there are six other species of genus "Equus" in the Equidae family. These are the ass or donkey, "Equus asinus"; the mountain zebra, "Equus zebra"; plains zebra, "Equus quagga"; Grévy's zebra, "Equus grevyi"; the kiang, "Equus kiang"; and the onager, "Equus hemionus".
Though bloody, this method would take the shortest amount of time to kill the animal out of all the hypotheses. Because of the differences of anatomy between species possibly hunted by machairodonts, the geometry needed to kill a horse, for instance, might not work for a bison. This would require the genus, or even the specific species, to be highly specialized for one type of prey animal. This might offer an explanation for their extinction, for the movement or extinction of that prey species would lead to the death of its specialist predator.
The Halden is similar to the American Foxhound in appearance although it is smaller. Haldens stand between 17 and 21.5 inches at the shoulder, and weigh approximately 40-55 lbs. They have smooth, very dense coats, hanging ears, and are white with black patches as well as brown shading on the head and legs. They are strong dogs with rectangular bodies and straight, solid backs. The tail is fairly thick, carried low, and hangs down toward the hocks. The skull is slightly domed with a pronounced stop and a straight nosebridge. The cheeks are flat. The ears are pendulous and curled, and the eyes are dark brown and kind. The nose is black. Breeders of Haldens aim for a particular foot shape, with high, tight, long toes and dense fur, for greater stability and warmth as the terrain they hunt through is often snowy and difficult to navigate.
Since 1896, the Devon Horse Show is the oldest and largest outdoor multi-breed horse competition in the United States. The Annual Horse show and Country Fair promotes horsemanship and horse breeding for conformation, performance and speed. The original ideas and activities of the show have changed dramatically over the decades. The show attracts people from all over the world, as both competitors and spectators.
The horse shows at the annual National Western Stock Show are among the largest in the world with more than 18,000 entries at the 2006 event, including Quarter Horses, Paint Horses, Hunters & Jumpers, FUSE Open Horse Shows, Mules Shows and the Draft Horse Show & Pull.
Many changes brought about by the domestication of the horse have led to a need for shoes for numerous reasons, mostly linked to management that results in horses' hooves hardening less and being more vulnerable to injury. In the wild, a horse may travel up to per day to obtain adequate forage. While horses in the wild cover large areas of terrain, they usually do so at relatively slow speeds, unless being chased by a predator. They also tend to live in arid steppe climates. The consequence of slow but nonstop travel in a dry climate is that horses' feet are naturally worn to a small, smooth, even and hard state. The continual stimulation of the sole of the foot keeps it thick and hard. However, in domestication, the ways horses are used differ from what they would encounter in their natural environment. Domesticated horses are brought to colder and wetter areas than their ancestral habitat. These softer and heavier soils soften the hooves and make them prone to splitting, making hoof protection necessary. Consequently, it was in northern Europe that the nailed horseshoe arose in its modern form.
"One Horse Town" is a song by Elton John with lyrics written by Bernie Taupin. It is the third track of his 1976 album, "Blue Moves". The song tells a story about a man who lives in a small village in Alabama, and how there's nothing to do; simply a "one horse town". It might reference the American civil war; ""They ain't too well acquainted with the stars and stripes"". Musically, it uses a lot of instruments; a string section, xylophones, vibraphones, organs and more. The first one and a half minutes is a slow-tempo intro with heavy orchestration, before settling into the main upbeat tempo which could remind a little bit of disco. It was also performed at his last concert before his throat surgery in Sydney, on 14 December 1986.
The horses used are usually Tinkers, Fjords and Haflingers. A shoulder height between 1.40 and 1.45m is ideal. The horses should be of equal shoulder height, preferably have a long back and an even, calm tread. Training a team of horses usually takes a year.
Smaller ponies are used for small wagons, but these are not suitable for bigger children or adults and the ponies do not have such a calm tread.
Pallid sturgeon have a long lifespan, living in excess of 50 and perhaps as long as 100 years. They lack bones and scales, which makes it more difficult to establish their age and determine exactly how long they live. As is true for many long-lived species, pallid sturgeon reach reproductive maturity relatively late. Males reach sexual maturity between the ages of 5 and 7 years, while females are believed to become capable of reproduction when they are at least 15 years old. One study of nine females indicated that they begin egg development between the ages of 9 and 12 years, but do not reach reproductive maturity until they are 15 years old. Reproduction does not take place every year; the average interval between spawnings is three years, although other studies suggest an interval as long as 10 years. Spawning usually takes place May to July.