Horse

A large, odd-toed ungulate quadruped herbivore animal hailing from the Earth Hypergenome, horses were used as beasts of burden by ancient Humans on Earth.

Anatomy

The anatomy of horses enables them to make use of speed to escape predators; they have a well-developed sense of balance and a strong fight-or-flight instinct. Powerfully built, these creatures are capable of galloping around the landscape at high speeds and are capable of delivering a kick with tremendous force if forced to defend themselves. Their muscular bodies are covered in a fine layer of reddish-brown hair with white highlights.

Horses share some external and internal similarities with H'vos, an unrelated species hailing from a different planet.

Background

The horse is one of the two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, the wild horse. It is an odd-toed ungulate mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. Humans began to domesticate horses over 6000 standard years ago and their domestication is believed to have been widespread 5000 years ago.

Cultural significance

Horses and Humans interact in a wide variety of sporting competitions and non-competitive recreational pursuits as well as in working activities such as security work, agriculture, entertainment and therapy.

Humans have an extensive, specialized vocabulary used to describe equine-related concepts, covering everything from anatomy to life stages, size, colors, markings, breeds, locomotion and behavior. There are also several astronomical objects named after horses by Humans, including the Horsehead Nebula and the Dark Horse Nebula.