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Mare performance tests (German: Stutenleistungsprüfung) are often open to geldings, as well. By comparing mother-daughter scores, patterns in the traits that stallions pass on can be calculated. A performance test for mares or geldings is either a one-day "Field Test" or 2- to 5-week "Station Test".
A male horse is often gelded to make him better-behaved and easier to control. Gelding can also remove lower-quality animals from the gene pool. [7] To allow only the finest animals to breed on, while preserving adequate genetic diversity, only a small percentage of all male horses should remain stallions.
Free-roaming mustangs (Utah, 2005). Horse behavior is best understood from the view that horses are prey animals with a well-developed fight-or-flight response.Their first reaction to a threat is often to flee, although sometimes they stand their ground and defend themselves or their offspring in cases where flight is untenable, such as when a foal would be threatened.
Mares were the most valued, both for riding and breeding, and pedigree families were traced through the female line. The Bedouin did not believe in gelding male horses, and considered stallions too intractable to be good war horses, thus they kept very few colts, selling most, and culling those of poor quality. [89]
One reason continuous foraging or several small feedings per day are better than one or two large meals is because the stomach begins to empty when it is two-thirds full, whether the food in the stomach is processed or not. [3] The small intestine is 50 to 70 feet (15 to 21 m) long and holds 10 US gallons (38 L) to 12 US gallons (45 L). This is ...
Horses are grazing animals, and their major source of nutrients is good-quality forage from hay or pasture. [237] They can consume approximately 2% to 2.5% of their body weight in dry feed each day. Therefore, a 450-kilogram (990 lb) adult horse could eat up to 11 kilograms (24 lb) of food. [238]
[12] [13] [14] New Forest stallions, when not in their breeding work, take part on the annual round-ups, working alongside mares and geldings, and compete successfully in many disciplines. [15] [16] There are drawbacks to natural management, however. One is that the breeding date, and hence foaling date, of any given mare will be uncertain.
Light, oriental horses such as the ancestors of the modern Arabian, Barb, and Akhal-Teke were used for warfare that required speed, endurance, and agility. [16] Such horses ranged from about 12 hands (48 inches, 122 cm) to just under 15 hands (60 inches, 152 cm), weighing approximately 360 to 450 kilograms (800 to 1,000 lb). [17]