50 Crazy Unique Horse Facts

Horses are beautiful, amazing animals that so many people have a passion for.

Whether you like to ride, drive, or just the occasional pet, here are 50 crazy unique horse facts I’m sure you’ll enjoy!

50 Crazy Unique Horse Facts

1. Horses can sleep standing up by locking their leg joints.
2. The earliest member of the horse family is the appropriately named “dawn horse,” or “Eohippus.” It dates back 55 million years.
3. Unlike humans, horses have a functioning appendix that digests leaves, leading some scientists to believe that the human appendix may have had a similar function.
4. A horse’s teeth never stop growing.
5. In the early 20th century, cars were seen as an environmentally friendly solution to horse drawn carriages because horse poop and carcasses polluted the city. One city horse could produce between 15 and 30 pounds of manure day.
6. Horses have a strong band of muscles around their esophagus. This band is so strong that a horse’s stomach would burst before it would vomit.
7. Though the word “hippopotamus” means “river horse,” a hippo is actually more closely related to the pig than the horse.
8. Horses, zebras, and asses (as well as other equids) belong to the Order Perissodactyla, which is Greek from “odd-numbered finger or toe.
9. The oldest animal carving ever found is of a horse. It dates back 31,000 years in southern Germany.
10. When a horse curls up its upper lip and bares its teeth, it’s not laughing at you; it’s directing scents toward a special olfactory gland in the back of its nasal passage.
11. The horses’ closest relative is not the cow, pig, or goat–but the rhinoceros.
12. Arab horses are one of the strongest endurance runners in the animal kingdom and are capable of running over 100 miles (160 km) without rest.
13. A horse’s brain weighs about 22 oz., which is about half the weight of a human.
14. A horse’s teeth take up more room in its head than its brain.
15. Equinophobia is the fear of horses.
16. Humans domesticated horses about 3,500 B.C. In comparison, humans domesticated dogs about 14,000 years ago and cats about 8,500 years ago.
17. Every horse in North America is a descendant of European horses. Even wild horses in North America are horses whose ancestors escaped from captivity.
18. The American quarter horse is the world’s most popular horse breed.
19. The oldest horse on record was “Old Billy.” He died in 1822 at the ripe old age of 62 years. Most horses live to around 25 years.
20. Male and female horses have different numbers of teeth. Males have 44, while females have 36-40.
21. There is only one single-sub-species of horse that has never been domesticated by humans. These are the endangered Przewalski’s horse, which is native to Mongolia.
22. While humans have just 3 ear muscles, horses have 10. This means they can move their ears 180 degrees and can single out a special area to listen to. They also use their ears to communicate with other horses.
23. A horse’s eyes are about 9 times larger than that of a human. In fact, horses have the largest eyes of any land mammal. They can also see nearly 360 degrees.
24. Horses have five highly developed senses: taste, touch, hearing, smell, and sight. They also have an enigmatic sixth sense, heightened perception, which is very rare in humans.
25. In a herd, one gender is not always dominant over another; for example, a mare may rank higher than a stallion in some cases, and a stallion may rank higher than a mare in other cases.
26. When a horse puts pressure on its hoof, the blood is squeezed up the leg into the veins, thus acting as a type of pump.
27. The first cloned horse was a Haflinger mare in 2003.
28. Horses produce about 10 gallons of saliva—per day.
29. A horse’s heart typically weighs between 9 or 10 pounds and is about the size of a basketball. A human heart weighs about 11 ounces and is about the size of a clenched fist.
30. Horses cannot breathe through their mouth, only through their nose.
31. Domestic horses can read human emotions, such as sadness or nervousness, even before we’ve even consciously registered them.
32. Researchers have found that horses use complex facial expressions to express emotions nearly identical to the way humans do.
33. Horses can run within hours after birth. 
34. At one time people thought horses were colorblind. They’re not, though they are better at seeing yellows and greens than purples and violets.
35. Horse hooves are made from the same protein that comprises human hair and fingernails.
36. The fastest recorded sprinting speed of a horse was 55 mph (88 kph). Most gallop at around 27 mph (44 kph).
37. Horses will not lie down simultaneously because at least one will act as a look-out to alert its companions of potential dangers.
38. Approximately 4.6 million Americans work in the horse industry in one way or another. The US horse industry has an economic effect of $39 billion annually on just nine million American horses. There are approximately 58 million horses in the world and the vast majority are cared for by humans.
39. A horse can see better at night than a human. However, it takes a horse’s eyes longer to adjust from light to dark and from dark to light than a human’s.
40. A horse’s height is measured in units known as “hands.” One hand is equal to four inches. The tallest horse on record was a Shire named Sampson. He was 21.2 hands (7ft 2in) tall. He was born in 1846 in Toddington Mills, England.
41. The record for the longest jump over water is held by a horse named Something who jumped 27 feet, 6 and 3/4 inches on April 25, 1975 in Johannesburg, South Africa. He was ridden by Andre Ferreira.
42. It takes 9-12 months to re-grow an entire horse hoof. 
43. You can tell if a horse is cold by feeling behind their ears. If that area is cold, so is the horse.
44. Horses are social animals and will get lonely if kept alone, and they will mourn the passing of a companion.
45. There are 205 bones in the skeleton of a horse, which is one fewer than the skeleton of a human.
46. When a horse gallops, all four hooves are off the ground at one point.
47.  The smallest horse ever was a tiny 14-inch pony from New Hampshire. His name was Einstein.
48. Horses will drink a minimum of 25 gallons of water every day, more in hotter regions.
49. Horses have been used in the police force since the 17th century.
50. Studies have shown that horses have excellent memories, possibly better than elephants!

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