horses
gregladen | August 18, 2017Over the years, the field guide and the coffee table book have merged, and we now have coffee table-ish books (but serious books) that include a species description of every critter in a certain clade. In the case of Horses of the World by Élise Rousseau (Author), Yann Le Bris (Illustrator), Teresa Lavender Fagan (Translator), while every living species of horse is in fact covered, the book is a comprehensive guide to breeds of horses.
Of which there are 570.
A horse is horse, of course, but but is a donkey or an ass? What about zebras?
Horse people are very picky about what they call a…
aardvarchaeology | June 22, 2016As I blogged about in late May, a recent find from Blekinge has cast light on an enigmatic oval mount that my team collected in Östergötland in 2007. We can now say fairly confidently that the object type belongs to the 19th century. And yesterday Karin Tetteris of the Swedish Army Museum came through with evidence that strengthens this dating and suggests a function for the mounts: horse harness.
Specifically, we're dealing with cruppers, Sw. svanskappor, "a soft padded loop under the base of the tail, to keep the harness from slipping forward" as Wikipedia explains. None of the mounts in…
jgoldman | July 26, 2010In general, the ability to attribute attention to others seems important: it allows an animal to notice the presence of other individuals (whether conspecifics, prey, or predators) as well as important locations or events by following the body orientation or eyegaze of others. We've spent a lot of time here at The Thoughtful Animal thinking about how domestication has allowed dogs to occupy a unique niche in the social lives of humans. They readily understand human communication cues such as eye-gaze and finger-pointing, and capitalize on the infant-caregiver attachment system to have their…
clock | May 22, 2010
Related information:
The Diving Horses of Atlantic City
Wild Hearts Can't Be Broken (movie)
Dedicated to The Diving Horses
Diving Horses (video)
The diving Horse (video)
Diving horse (Wikipedia)
A girl and Five Brave Horses (book)
grrlscientist | May 5, 2010tags: The World's Smallest Horse, miniature horses, animals, pets, selective breeding, artificial selection, streaming video
The world's smallest horse, a colt named Einstein, was born 22 April 2010 on a farm in Barnstead, New Hampshire. Just 14 inches tall and weighing only 6 pounds at birth, Einstein appears to have beaten the previous "world's tiniest horse" record holder by three pounds. This raises the question: how small can humans force horses to evolve through selective breeding? Apparently, pretty damned small, according to equine geneticist Samantha Brooks of Cornell University, who…
grrlscientist | May 1, 2010tags: Funny Cide, horse racing, horses, retired racehorses, HorseracingTV, streaming video
Funny Cide gave America something to cheer about in 2003 as the first New York bred in history to win the Kentucky Derby. He went on to capture the Preakness Stakes winning easily by ten lengths. However, he lost by four lengths to Empire Maker in the Belmont on a very muddy track (Funny Cide hated mud).
As he walked back towards the grandstand, the crowd continued to cheer for Funny Cide, "America's Horse," and boo the winner Empire Maker. Funny Cide's owner Barclay Tagg, after retiring Funny Cide,…
grrlscientist | April 30, 2010tags: Jockey Liam Hollins The Favorite To Brutally Whip Horse to Kentucky Derby Win, horse racing, horses, whipping, humor, funny, satire, fucking hilarious, Onion News Network, ONN, streaming video
Fresh from his Blue Grass Stakes win, jockey Liam Hollins moves on to today's Kentucky Derby where he hopes to be the first to mercilessly beat the winning horse across the finish line.
grrlscientist | February 23, 2010tags: Old Spice commercial, manmercial, television, Superbowl, advertizing, technology, computer-generated imagery, CGI, wow, I'm on a Horse, Isaiah Mustafa, funny, humor, streaming video
Daily, men ask themselves, What do women want? We want a gorgeous bare-chested man with a beautiful voice on a horse, that's what! And this is exactly what Old Spice gave us with bare-chested Isaiah Mustafa, a TV actor and former NFL player, in their "manmercial" that first aired during the Superbowl. But how was that amazing commercial made? Maybe you think it was stitched together from a lot of separate '…
grrlscientist | February 8, 2010tags: evolutionary biology, molecular biology, Thoroughbred race horses, horses, aerobic capacity, muscle development, myostatin, MSTN, myostatin-suppressing C variant, myostatin-suppressing T variant, Horse Genome Project, Equinome, researchblogging.org, peer-reviewed research, peer-reviewed paper
Emerging from the mist is Rachel Alexandra, a champion American Thoroughbred who excels at winning both long and short distance races.
Image: Rob Carr, 2009, Associated Press [larger view]
If you've worked at or been around a racetrack very much, as I have, you'll quickly realize that everyone…
edyong | February 3, 2010"That is Shadowfax. He is chief of the Maeras, lords of all horses, and not even Theoden, King of Rohan, has ever looked on a better. Does he not shine like silver, and run as smoothly as a swift stream?" - Gandalf
In the Lord of the Rings, Gandalf rides upon a magnificent white stallion called Shadowfax. White horses have been greatly prized in human societies as a sign of wealth and dignity, largely because their bright coats are both pretty and rare. There are reasons for that. In the wild, the same conspicuousness that inspires legendary tales also makes white horses vulnerable to…
grrlscientist | October 25, 2009tags: horses, carriage horses, Helsinki, Finland, travel
Helsinki has carriage horses in its parks, just as NYC does.
Image: GrrlScientist, 5 July 2009 [larger view].
I only photographed these horses, I didn't go for a carriage ride, although I think a carriage ride would have been fun (even though it was raining frequently throughout this day).
Unlike NYC carriage horses, most of which are quite fond of people, these horses were quite cross and seemed to really hate people.
Helsinki has carriage horses in its parks, just as NYC does.
Image: GrrlScientist, 5 July 2009 [larger view].…
grrlscientist | September 7, 2009tags: horses, equus, biology, photography, books, Tim Flach, streaming video
This video is a slideshow of stunning photography that is narrated by photographer Tim Flach showing photos from his book Equus which was published on 1 October 2008.
grrlscientist | September 6, 2009
Jockey Calvin Borel rides Rachel Alexandra to victory in the Grade-I Woodward Stakes
at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, NY, Saturday, 5 September 2009.
Image: Mike Groll (AP Photo) [larger view]
For those of you who, like me, love watching the phenomenal Rachel Alexandra run, you had a real treat yesterday when the 3-year-old filly beat the boys -- again -- in the $750,000 Woodward Stakes at Saratoga. The purse for this race, traditionally meant to test older male horses, was increased by $250,000 after her entry was announced.
In short, Rachel was tested yesterday, but after…
grrlscientist | September 3, 2009tags: bunnies, show jumping, humor, funny, streaming video
This video shows what happens when Brits Danes are locked into the same room with a bunch of very cute bunnies.
Kinda reminds me of this; horse Grand Prix show jumping;
grrlscientist | September 1, 2009tags: racehorses, thoroughbreds, Breeder's Cup races, sports, Onion News Network, ONN, humor, satire, fucking hilarious, streaming video
Now how did I miss this video? It was created last year in time for the Breeder's Cup races, held in late October, which is sort of the World Series of American horse racing (and is positioning itself to be the same for international horse racing). In this video, we learn that in 2008, the controversial champion racehorse, Ship's Captain, came out as being gay. The controversy swirled, but the horse's trainer says people should focus on the horse's abilities…
grrlscientist | August 29, 2009tags: art, statue, sculpture, mare and foal, Helsinki, Finland, cities, nature
Ãidinrakkaus (Maternal Love)
Bronze sculpture (1927) by sculptor Emil Cedercreutz (1879 - 1949).
Photographed at Varsapuistikko,
at the corner of Unioninkatu and Kaisaniemenkatu, Kluuvi,
in Helsinki, Finland.
Image: GrrlScientist, 23 July 2009 [larger view]. (raw image)
I love this sculpture. Does anyone know who the artist is, its name and anything else about this piece? (I can't find anything on the web to share with you).
grrlscientist | June 28, 2009tags: Mother Goose Stakes, horse racing, Rachel Alexandra, streaming video
Rachel Alexandra (daughter of Medaglia d'Oro), running away with the
2009 Kentucky Oaks (Grade I; three-year-old fillies)
under the guidance of Jockey Calvin Borel.
Image: David J. Phillip [larger view].
I have been keeping my eye on the amazing filly, Rachel Alexandra, who wowed the public by beating the boys as she won the Preakness Stakes last month. Yesterday, at Belmont Park in New York, Rachel Alexandra did it again. This time, she won the Mother Goose Stakes for 3-year-old fillies, setting not one, but two…
grrlscientist | June 6, 2009tags: Belmont Stakes, horse racing, race horses, Summer Bird, Mine That Bird, sports, streaming video
From left, Summer Bird, ridden by Kent Desormeaux,
Mine That Bird, ridden by Calvin Borel, and
Dunkirk ridden by John R. Velazquez, race toward the finish line
in the 2009 Belmont Stakes.
Image: Kathy Willens.
Kent Desormeaux, the other Cajun jockey in the Belmont Stakes, rode the other son of Birdstone, Summer Bird, to victory in today's Belmont Stakes. (Birdstone was the upset winner of the 2004 Belmont Stakes). Summer Bird is a half brother to today's favorite, Kentucky Derby winner,…
grrlscientist | June 6, 2009tags: Belmont Stakes, horse racing, race horses, Rachel Alexandra, Mine That Bird, sports
Calvin Borel, 2009.
Jockey for Mine That Bird (2009 Kentucky Derby winner)
and Rachel Alexandra (2009 Preakness Stakes winner).
Image: Joe Schneid, Louisville, Kentucky (Wikipedia Commons).
Will the next Triple Crown Winner in American Horse Racing have only two legs?
Just one week from today In just a few hours, Calvin Borel could make history by becoming the first jockey to ever win the Triple Crown in American horse racing -- riding different horses. He won the Kentucky Derby while riding the 50…
grrlscientist | May 30, 2009tags: Belmont Stakes, horse racing, Rachel Alexandra, streaming video
Rachel Alexandra (Medaglia d'Oro), running away with the 2009 Kentucky Oaks
under the guidance of Jockey Calvin Borel.
Image: David J. Phillip [larger view].
To the disappointment of her many fans, the amazing filly, Rachel Alexandra, will not be running in the upcoming mile-and-one-half Belmont Stakes, the third jewel in the Triple Crown of American horse racing. Jess Jackson, the co-owner of the three-year-old daughter of Medaglia d'Oro, cited the filly's "need for a vacation" as the reason she was not entered in the…