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50 Fun Horse Facts for Kids

Next up in our Fun Facts series are these fun horse facts for kids!

Every child has a favorite animal.  For many little ones, that favorite animal is a horse. Sure, most young kids have not yet ridden a horse.  In fact, it's common for many kids to love horses without ever petting one before.  It is easy to see why! Horses are massive creatures, extremely beautiful, and, yet, can be so gentle. However, they can also be a bit intimidating.

Before putting your kids on a horse, let's take a minute to learn some fun facts about these amazing animals.  After all, there are not many animals that humans can easily ride and speed around on!  Throughout the post, you'll find images of my daughter as she stared horse back riding lessons.

At the end of the post, you'll find a link to some fun horse gifts for kids.

Simple Horse Facts

These facts are perfect for younger kids. They are informative, but worded in a way that is ideal for someone just starting school! The facts may be short, but can teach us a lot of things we may not have known about horses.

You can find these 10 easy horse facts for kids in the Building Sentences: Horse Facts printable worksheets.

1. Horses sleep standing up or laying down.
2. A male horse is a stallion.
3. A female horse is a mare.
4. A horse's long tail keeps them warm.
5. Horses cannot see behind them.
6. Horses like to eat hay.
7. A young horse is called a foal.
8. Horses breathe through their nose.
9. Horses are smart, strong, and fast.
10. Horseshoes protect the horse's hooves.

Get the Horse Facts worksheets HERE or on TPT.

More Horse Facts for Kids

Horses, like all animals who initially existed in the wild, eventually came to live with and assist humans! Horses have been living with humans for a very long time.  Domestic horses have evolved, and are now genetically different than wild horses! Some domestic horses may live and roam free in the wild, but that does not make them wild horses. They are a different species.

Let's take a look at more horse facts for kids below.

•  Horses can sleep standing up or laying down.  That's a long time to be on their feet!
•  A horse's eyes are amazing! Horses can almost see what is going on all the way around their body! This is because their eyes are near the side of their head!
•  Horses have two blind spots. This means they cannot see well in two areas. For horses, that is directly behind them and directly in front of them!
•  A baby horse lives in their mom's belly for 11 months!
• A horse can begin running shortly after being born.
•  Miniature horses are under 3 feet tall!
•  A young male horse is called a colt!
•  A young female horse is called a filly!
•  A young horse is called a foal until they are two years old!
• Young ponies are not the same as young horses.  Ponies are much smaller than horses. They have a heavy body mass and shorter legs in comparison to horses.
•  An adult male horse is called a stallion!
•  An adult female horse is called a mare!
•  Modern horses are much larger than their ancestors. The first horses were about the size of a Labrador Retriever!
•  Small horses or miniature horses live longer than regular-sized horses!
•  Horses are very strong animals.
•  The oldest horse in all of history was called Old Billy! He was 62 years old.
•  Horses have facial expressions like humans! If they open their eyes really wide, they are scared!
•  The scientific name for horses is Equus ferus caballus.
•  Modern horses came from central Asia!
•  Most average horses live to be 30 years of age!
• Horses have 205 bones in their skeleton.
•  A horse's long tail helps keep them warm!
• Horses colors can be grey, black, bay, sorrel, chestnut, palomino, dun, or pinto.
• A horse should be 2 years old before ridden on by humans.
• A group of horses is called a herd.
• Horses are great farm animals.

Different Breeds of Horses

There are so many different horse breeds! Different breeds are good at different tasks. Clydesdales are large and great at farm work. Arabian horses are great for racing. Check out the list of popular horse breeds below!

There are many different types of horses. Some are great for riding lessons with small children. Whereas, some are great for helping out around a farm and horse racing. All that being said, not all horses are created equal. This means there is so much to learn!

If you are wanting to brush up on your knowledge of these majestic creatures, check out the list of different horse breeds below.

• Arabian horse
• Appaloosa
• Shire horse
• Dutch Warmblood
• Haflinger
• American Paint Horse
• Mustang
• Clydesdale horse
• Turkoman horse
• Fjord horse
• Percheron
• Akhal-Teke
• Hanoverian horse
• Mangalarga Marchador
• Icelandic horse
• Breton horse
• Andalusian horse
• Morgan horse
• Konik
• Ardennais
• Cob
• Shetland pony
• Lusitano Silesian horse
• Hucul pony
• Criollo

Fun Facts about Wild Horses

Wild horses are just what they sound like- horses that live in the wild! However, just because a horse lives in the wild, does not make it a wild horse.

Wild horses are a specific species of horse. They are related to the domestic horses we see on farms, but are genetically different. A domestic horse living in the wild is still a domestic horse. A wild horse living on a farm is still called a wild horse!

Let's learn more about these wild animals.

• The last true wild horses are in Mongolia! They are considered endangered and are called Przewalski's horses.
• Przewalksi's horses are more stocky than most domestic and other types of wild horses. They have an extremely thick neck and short legs. Their mane is more like a zebra's than an average horse's mane!
• In the United States, these North American wild horses live on land owned by the government.
• In Europe, wild horses are called Dulman horses. They mostly live in forests in Germany.
• Wild horses live in large herds together! One male horse leads the herd full of adult females and foals.
• When a young, male horse is two years old, they leave the herd that they grew up in. They say goodbye to their mother and go live with other colts!
• When the herd travels, the male stallion stays at the back of the herd for protection!
•  Wild horses are protected in the United States. Capturing them is illegal. However, the number of wild horses gets smaller every year because the land they are given to live on keeps getting smaller!
•  Wild horses eat grass, leaves, and twigs. When they cannot find any of those, they will eat tree bark! They are called herbivores!
•  Wild horses have much stronger legs than domestic horses do.
•  The hooves of wild horses are much harder than the hooves of domestic horses. This makes it easy for them to travel and roam wherever they please!
•  Wild horses can be nearly any color. However, there is one color that is extremely common! It is called roan. Roan is a reddish-brown color!
•  In the wild, adult males can weigh over 900 pounds!
•  Most wild horses are endangered all over the world. This is because they are losing their habitat and are captured and hunted by humans.

Interesting Facts about Domestic Horses

•  Domestic horses are the ones we see around farms, pulling carriages, and on race tracks. They are strong enough to pull heavy loads.
•  Scientists say that horses were domesticated 4,200 years ago near the Black Sea!
•  Have you ever heard of draft horses? These are the types of horses that are very large and often do the heavy work on farms! These types of horses are sometimes called cold bloods. Clydesdales are a type of draft horse.
•  Humans started horse riding around 3500 BC! Scientists do not know the exact date, but they have evidence that it at least started around that time. It could have been sooner!
•  The first horse racing event was documented in France in 1651! Two noblemen made a bet and then gambling over horses became a favorite pastime of many!
•  Many people who compete in racing or other other horse competitions choose their horses very carefully. They are able to do this because of selective breeding! This is when breeders purposely have two horses that are perfect for racing mate together! This makes the baby horse perfect for racing. They call these horses pureblood or thoroughbreds!
• There is only one species of domestic horse. However, there are 400 different breeds of domestic horses that fall into that species!
• Domestic horses are not just domestic because they live on farms or with humans. They are also genetically different from wild horses!
• If a domestic horse lives in the wild, this does not make it a true "wild" horse. There are herds of domestic horses that live in the wild, but they are still domestic horses. This is because of the species of horse that they are! Domestic horses that are left out in the wild are called feral horses!
• Thoroughbred racehorses have a resting heart rate of 40 beats per minute. This is low! The resting heart rate of a healthy human is somewhere between 60 and 100 beats per minute!
• The breeds of horses that are now bred for racing were originally bred for war! The Darley Arabian, Byerley Turk, and Godolphin Arabian are three of those racing war breeds.

I hope you've found some new and fun horse facts to share with your kids.  Don't forget to grab your Building Sentences Horse Facts printable worksheets.

Before you go, here are more fun posts you'll enjoy:

45 Best Horse Gifts for Kids

20 Fun Dog Facts for Kids

Free Pet Worksheets and Activities

10 Best Horse Poems for Kids

Horse Facts for Kids

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Source: https://littlelearningcorner.com/2022/02/50-fun-horse-facts-for-kids.html

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