All animals are such wonderful creatures but there is something about horses which make you stare at them in awe once you see them. At times you may wonder how it feels to ride on the animal’s back or to touch its silky mane. It is no wonder horse riding is enjoyed by many of all ages.

Not only are horses great to look at but as a matter of fact, they are also beneficial to the human race. In world history and cultures, horses played such important roles like trading and industry, in arts and even in wars and battles of the ancient world.

There are only some animals having both monocular and binocular vision and the eyes of the horse, which is also the largest set of eyes from any other land mammal, is one of them. With binocular vision, the horse can use its both eyes in order to have a wider field of sight. The monocular vision makes use of each eye separately. Unlike dogs which are color blind, horses have dichromatic vision. They can see blue and green and all their other shade variations but horses cannot distinguish red. Red to horses appears green.

There are two blind spots in the horse’s vision: the area at the front of its head and the part at the back of the head. Walking directly behind a horse is not a superstition but actually holds some logic in it. Since horses cannot see you from behind its back, the animal might be scared and instinctively kick you.

Another interesting fact about horses is that they just have a single stomach just like humans. Other four-legged animals like elk, camels, moose, deer and goats have numerous chambers in their digestive tract. In addition, this one stomach of a horse is very small when compared to the size of its body built. This is the reason why horses do not eat a lot in just one meal, so they could easily digest whatever they take in.

If human height is measured with feet, horses are measured by hands. A hand is equal to four inches. A mature horse measures about 14 hands in height and if a horse stands below that standard measurement, it is regarded as a pony.