Celebration of the Horse Day & National I Love Horses Day both fall on July 15th every year. Horses have long been revered for being gorgeous, but they have also had economic, cultural, and historical impacts on our history.
For example, I had not realized that horses were domesticated in 6000 BC. in the Americas some 8-10,000 years ago, before going extinct. They were then re-introduced to the Western Hemisphere in the late 1400s and to Florida in 1538. Many were released into the wild, and some 33,000 feral horses, known as mustangs, still roam our plains.
The life expectancy of a horse is between 25 and 30 years, but a horse named Old Billy was said to have lived to the age of 62.
Want some more little-known facts about horses? Scientists say horses have the IQ of a 3-year-old child when compared to humans.
Most horses can recognize themselves in the mirror, learn complex orders or tricks, and comprehend human emotions. Horses only breathe through their noses, and they can fall asleep standing up. Horses have an amazing field of vision, reaching almost 360°.
