Handbook of Nature Study #67: The Horse

I had noticed that one of the Outdoor Hour's nature studies at The Handbook of Nature Study blog was horses, so when I saw that a local stable was having a open house, I noted Barbara and Anna Comstock's suggestions.

My two oldest are very familiar with horses and ponies from horse back riding, where they learned horse care from grooming to giving them a bath.

My oldest son is special needs but we able to take lesson with a special teacher. Here is is teaching him to groom the horse after riding.

"Begin this study of the horse with the stories of wild horses...

The Pacing Mustang in Wild Animals I Have Known is an excellent story to show the habits of herds of wild horses."

 

"After the interest has been thus aroused the following observations may be suggested, a few at a time...in the stable...

 

"Look at the mouth and nose. Are the nostrils large and flaring? Are the lips thick or thin?"

"...in the wild stage scent was one of the horse's chief aids in detecting the enemy..."

"What is the color of the horse's eyes? The shape of the pupil?"

"The eyes are placed so that the horse can see in front, at the side and behind..."

"What is the nature of the horse's coat in summer? What is the use of the horse's mane, forelock and tail?"

"The length of neck and head are necessary in order that an animal with such length of leg as the horse may be able to graze."

We watched them shake their manes and eat hay.

We saw all different kinds of horses.

We took a ride on one.

We compared ponies to horses.

Besides the technical fact that ponies are less than 14 hands high, we could see that they have

 thicker manes

thicker tails

heavier coat

 shorter legs

wider barrels

thicker necks

shorter heads

We compared a donkey to the pony and the horse.

The donkey compared to the pony and horse...

 ears are  longer

back straighter

neck is either straighter or shorter (some debate there)

thicker fur 

source 

We had talked about some of the names for parts of the horse when we were studying them, but we looked at the names for many other  parts of a horse.

By the way, all this talk about horses and ponies reminded us of  three summers ago when we went to Assateague to see the feral ponies living there.

Two separate herds of ponies live on Assateague Island, separated by a fence that runs down the Maryland-Virginia state border. 

Though descended from the same original stock, the Maryland feral ponies are called "Assateague horses" and are maintained by the National Park Service and the Virginia feral ponies are called "Chincoteague ponies" and are owned by Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Department. 

The legend is that a Spanish Galleon wrecked off of Assateague Island and the surviving ponies swam to the island. 

However, there is little evidence supporting this theory, and the more likely origin of the ponies is that early 17th century colonists let their animals loose on the island to avoid fencing laws and livestock taxes.

 This is a good story about them.



Misty of Chincoteague is a children's novel written by pony book author Marguerite Henry, and published by Rand McNally in 1947. Set in the island town of Chincoteague, Virginia, the book was inspired by the real-life story of the Beebe family and their efforts to raise a Chincoteague Pony filly born to a wild horse, who would later become known as Misty of Chincoteague. It was one of the runners-up for the annual Newbery Medal, now called Newbery Honor Books. The 1961 film Misty was based on the book.