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Horse breeding is reproduction in horses, and particularly the human-directed process of selective breeding of animals, particularly purebred horses of a given breed. Planned matings can be used to produce specifically desired characteristics in domesticated horses. Furthermore, modern breeding management and technologies can increase the rate ...
The history of horse domestication has been subject to much debate, with various competing hypotheses over time about how domestication of the horse occurred. The main point of contention was whether the domestication of the horse occurred once in a single domestication event, or that the horse was domesticated independently multiple times.
The true horse included prehistoric horses and the Przewalski's horse, as well as what is now the modern domestic horse, belonged to a single Holarctic species. [12] The true horse migrated from the Americas to Eurasia via Beringia, becoming broadly distributed from North America to central Europe, north and south of Pleistocene ice sheets. [12]
A well-designed mating increases the probability of the offspring's success, although many other factors also come into play. Many thoroughbred breeding theories are implemented from other animal breeding stock practices, such as the use of inbreeding to "fix a type". Some breeding theories are qualitative, relying on judgement.
Horse breeds are groups of horses with distinctive characteristics that are transmitted consistently to their offspring, such as conformation, color, performance ability, or disposition. These inherited traits are usually the result of a combination of natural crosses and artificial selection methods aimed at producing horses for specific tasks.
The largest horse in recorded history was probably a Shire horse named Mammoth, who was born in 1848. He stood 21.2 1 ⁄ 4 hands (86.25 inches, 219 cm) high and his peak weight was estimated at 1,524 kilograms (3,360 lb). [28]
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World War I (1914 — 1918) and the Russian Civil War (1917 — 1923) caused a major disaster for horse breeding in Russia. Many horses died in battle, yet more were eaten for food, and there was a general collapse of the economy, making horse breeding a luxury few could afford.