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The Flehmen Response

Thumper,
the Spotted Draft,
shovels his paddock.
EQUINE EVOLUTION

Evolution of the equine foot

"Dawn Horse"

The Przewalski breed
This undomesticated breed has been successfully re-established in Mongolian national parks.
EQUINE EVOLUTION
The scientific name of the modern horse of today is Equus caballus and this animal has been present on the earth for about one million years. It’s earliest ancestors however lived over 60 million years ago. There were numerous changes that occurred over this period of time that changed a small rodent like creature into the stunning animal that is the horse as we know it today. The earliest fossils of the horse (termed "eohippus", meaning "dawn horse") were found in England in 1830. These fossils were of a small animal, only about 1 foot tall that had a sheep-like head and large hindquarters much like a jack rabbit. It also had 4 toes on each forelimb and 3 toes on each hind leg all of which were covered by a heavy hoof-like cuticle. These creatures had soft teeth and were quite prolific. These original fossils were so unlike modern horses that they were first incorrectly classified as rodents
Over the course of about 30 million years this eohippus changed into what was called "mesohippus". This animal was somewhat taller (about 2 feet) and had soft teeth because it lived in swampy conditions and ate leaves, bark and tubers. Another change that occurred in this animal was that now there were only 3 toes on both the fore and hind legs.
Great changes in geography over the next 20 million years led to significant evolutionary changes in the horse as well. The next identified precursor to the modern horse was termed "merychippus" and this animal had hard teeth (due to changes in swamps into grasslands and the animal now becoming a grazer). Additionally these animals now were beginning to show the single toe of the more modern horse with the side toes becoming vestigial (to become the "splint bones" of the modern horse).
During the "great ice age" of about 5 million years ago the horse, as it was, became extinct in the northern hemisphere along with other prehistoric animals such as the rhinoceros, camel, saber toothed tiger, elephant and mastodon. Fossils in Europe and Asia however have been found that indicate the evolution of merychippus into the modern horse of today.
Over those 60 million years then the greatest changes to occur were an increase in size, the change from soft to hard teeth and the loss of the number of toes from 4 to 1.
Horses were first domesticated in Europe and Asia around 500 BC and were brought to the "new world" by Columbus into 1494. The Spanish invaders (DeSoto) brought the horse to the northern hemisphere in about 1539.
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About us
Steve
B. Levine has been an equine only veterinarian for 25 years graduating
from Cornell University Veterinary School (with a residency in equine
surgery from UC Davis, Ca.) practicing first as an equine surgeon
in N.H. then moving to Vt. to start Burlington Equine. Since 2000
he has served NE Vermont and NW New Hampshire based in Danville. Emergency services and Saturday appts are available. Questions about your horses can be discussed via phone
or email. Email-- danvillevermont@hotmail.com

254 Route 2 w Danville Vt 05828 802-684-9977
Routine
health care for the Spring
** Schedule
Vaccinations and Dental work
** Evaluate
your horse's overall condition
** Importance
of professional farrier care
** Schedule Coggins testing to avoid missing events
Emergency Information and Help
**The FARRIER list is in this emergency help section.
This website is under construction while we move our old site to this new more accessible site.
ANIMAL POISON CONTROL- 888-426-4435
Try these links:
UC Davis Vet School Health Care Topics
http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/ceh/topics.htm
American Association of Equine Practitioners
http://www.aaep.org/ask_the_vet.php
http://www.thehorse.com/
Vermont Large Animal Clinic
http://www.vlac.net
Net Vet-- anything equine website
http://netvet.wustl.edu/horses.htm
Green Mountain Horse Association
http://www.gmhainc.org
UVM Morgan Horse Farm
http://www.uvm.edu/morgan
Northern Virginia Vet and Farrier Steve O'Grady
This is an exceptional website!
http://www.equipodiatry.com/
Horse Industry website
http://www.equinejournal.com
New England Equine Surgical and Medical Center
http://www.newenglandequine.com
Comprehensive sites with equine health info
http://www.vspn.net/Library/WWWDirectory/Equine.htm
http://www.ca.uky.edu/gluck/g_Search_Engines.asp
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