Horses.. Appearance since the Stone Age
Historians have relied on horse backs since the Stone Age, because they found rock drawings of horses indicating that humans knew horses at that time, while horses were brought from Asia by the Bedouins, who are considered the first to domesticate them, and then transported them to China, Asia Minor, Europe, Syria, Egypt, and other Arab countries.
Studies confirm that the horse’s origin dates back more than sixty million years. Excavations have indicated that the horse’s origin was located in the American continent at that time, and its size was much smaller than it is now. Meanwhile, scientists have confirmed that the horse in its current form has been present in the Asian plains and prairies for nearly a million years, and moved from its original homeland in America to Europe and Asia a long time ago It spread thanks to the bridges that connected the continents during the Ice Ages. As the ice receded and horse populations in Europe and Asia became isolated from those that remained in America about ten thousand years ago, the horse became extinct from its original homeland, but it remained in other regions, especially in Asia.
Owning horses in the past was a manifestation of strength, prestige and power, as horses played an important role in the lives of Arabs, although it was not possible to tame a horse in ancient man, until he was able to invent some tools to tame it, and use it for riding, pulling carts and other things.
There are many types of horses, varying in shape, size, speed, and endurance, including: the Arabian horse, the purebred hybrid between Arabic and English, designated for flat-ground racing, and the Barbary horse.
Horses are characterized by many colors, including blond, red, honey, black, gray, and white, while they have aesthetic qualities, including: the presence of partridge, which is white above the hoof, and bangs, which is white on the forehead, in addition to wide eyes and nose, wide forehead, straight back, regular legs, arched neck, muscle strength, and narrow waist.
The authenticity of horses is one of the important characteristics, as authenticity in horses is due to the fact that they were born from an original breed without mixing with other races of the horse’s genus, in addition to the necessity of the breed being present continuously, at a time when historians believe that purebred Arabian horses are the only horses with a purebred breed; That is, horses of other breeds are called (hybrid) horses and are not purebred with a pure race The purebred Arabian horse was hybridized to give other types These are all species called hybrids.
Thoroughbred horses have many characteristics in terms of external appearance. The first thing that draws attention is the head of the Arabian horse, which is an important indicator of its authenticity, mood and characteristics. If the head is somewhat small, with smooth skin and free of lint in the eyes and mouth, and if the eyes are large and clear, and the ears are small, we can say that this horse is of purebred race, because these characteristics indicate the authenticity of the races and the purity of their blood.
The shape of the neck affects the leadership process. If it resembles a deer’s neck, it can get rid of the influence of the bridle on it, making it difficult to obey and not obey its leader’s orders, especially if he is nervous by nature. These things make him lose a lot of his value. However, if his neck is long, he is obedient. A long neck does not disturb horse riders when running fast, especially since the neck is of great importance to the horse’s body. Due to its length and shortness, its movement stops, and it is known whether it has become obsolete or hybridized. It also has a great impact on its balance during running, as a long neck helps horses run fast.
The trunk is the most important for the horse, as it is the body upon which its strength, speed, and patience depend. The best of these is the one with smooth skin, soft muscles, a high back, a prominent west, free of fat, well-proportioned limbs, a beautiful shape, a wide rib cage, and a medium size. The weight of the purebred Arabian horse ranges between 350 and 400 kilograms, and its height ranges between 1.40 meters and 1.60 meters. The trunk consists of the chest, shoulders, forearms, girdles, back or back, ribs, abdomen, cats, and crows.
Horse living and feeding places
Horses are found across all continents, living in a variety of habitats, ranging from tropical regions to forests, fields, and plains. They may also be found in deserts, but their physical characteristics differ from those of other ordinary horses in order to adapt to dry climatic conditions.
Horses usually feed on grass, and need about 1 kg (2 lb) of dry food per 50 kg (100 lb) of body weight per day, which can be entirely hay or grass, for adult horses, and for more energy for racehorses, or those who carry out towing, plowing, or young growth 0.5 kg per 50 kg body weight of grain is calculated as part of the feed.
Al-Khair has a small stomach that cannot hold large quantities of food at once, which forces the horse to graze for long periods throughout the day to compensate for this. It is important to note that the pastures on which the horse spends his time must be abundant with good quality herbs, to ensure that he gets all the necessary nutrients he needs.
The horse’s diet included many foods, including hay, which was chosen to be light green in color, free of dust, mold, and harmful weeds, in addition to concentrates, which are small grains, such as: corn, oats, and barley. Concentrates contain a small amount of fiber, but they provide the body with great energy. It must be taken into account that the grains provided to horses are clean, free of insects and mold, and light in color They can also be ground simply or steamed before serving them.
Nutritional supplements can be added to horse food if the horse suffers from a deficiency in proteins, vitamins, or minerals. Soybean, turnip, sunflower, cotton, flax, and peanut seeds are protein supplements. Vitamin and mineral supplements include calcium, phosphorus, and salt, as well as vegetables in limited quantities such as carrots and water, the percentage of which depends on the temperature, humidity, and activity level of the horse. A healthy person needs between 19-57 liters per day.
Horse food must contain five basic elements, represented by carbohydrates, which are found in two forms: either fiber or sugar and starches. Fiber is found in abundance in coarse feeds such as grass and hay, and protein because it helps the horses’ bodies grow and maintain them. Feed and hay are rich sources of it, as proteins are the most difficult source of energy to digest and convert into usable energy for the horse Therefore, care must be taken to provide the horse with food containing high-quality protein without increasing the amount of protein itself.
Horses need fat, as it is an excellent source of energy and is easily digestible. Fats can be added to the horse’s diet through commercial feeds that contain oils, or by adding oils and fat supplements to natural feeds, taking into account ensuring that the food provided to horses is balanced and meets different needs, and not just a source of energy.
Horses must have vitamins to enable their bodies to perform vital functions. Vitamin deficiency leads to many health problems, as well as minerals, which are inorganic substances that horses need in specific quantities to maintain body structure, fluid balance in cells, muscle contraction, and other functions. Examples of minerals necessary for horses include: calcium, phosphorus, sodium, potassium, chloride, magnesium, and sulfur
The appropriate amount of food for a horse varies depending on age, gender, and the nature of the activity. The appropriate amount of food for a growing horse is different from that for a pregnant or lactating mare. The amount of food needed for a horse performing light work is different from the amount of food that must be provided for a horse performing intensive work. To know the appropriate amount of food for a horse, many horse breeders depend on its class and weight, taking into account several other factors.
Arabian horse.. The oldest and most expensive breed
The Arabs gave horses great care and attention, and preserved their lineages, which made the Arabian horse one of the oldest, most expensive and finest breeds in the world. It combines beauty of appearance, fitness of limbs, agility of movement, speed of running, unity of intelligence, and a high ability to adapt. The purebred Arabian horse is considered one of the oldest horses ever with its purebred blood.
Historical facts indicate that the Arab countries only knew one breed of purebred horse that was used for two purposes: war and racing, while the Arabian horse is distinguished by its qualities of beauty and courage and has five families known to the Arabs, each family is distinguished by a quality that distinguishes it from the other, and all five families come together in a unified quality, which is that its ability to carry oxygen in its blood cells is greater than that of other horses.
Purebred Arabian horses were known for their sharp intelligence, knowledge of their owners, and their ability to maintain their safety. Europeans admired the Arabian horse when they saw it during the Crusades for its beauty, agility, and agility, which increased the skill of the warrior above it. Leaders were keen to acquire it, and it was then crossbred with European horses, resulting in the racehorses we see today.
Another advantage of Arabian horses is that they are not exposed to many racing injuries to the tendons of the legs, and in foals under the age of five years, and the occurrence of inflammation and microscopic fractures in the front of the front leg bone, unlike other horses that are easily exposed to such injuries. The purebred Arabian horse is also distinguished by its large chest, which indicates the large size of its lungs, which qualifies it to do hard work, and its uniqueness in long-distance horse races (marathons), in addition to the presence of a slight concavity in the back area, which is considered one of the virtues of the Arabian horse.
Horses are known to never breathe through their mouths, dying of suffocation. They lack bitterness, see far and near, and those around them, distinguish colors, hear better than humans, have no eyebrows, and whiten their teeth as they age. Arabian horses are characterized by loyalty and intelligence, which has strengthened their relationship with each other and with humans. They make sounds that indicate their joy or sadness, and fall into the traps of love and passion, as the male loves one horse more than another. Horses cry, do not laugh, and shed tears, especially during severe pain and childbirth. They avoid kicking or harming their rider after a fall or while moving. They have a high sense of motherhood, and there is a language of understanding between them. They cooperate to clean each other up. They may differ and quarrel, and they do not accept injustice. However, they are delicate and sensitive, and are exposed to depression, sadness, and psychological illnesses, so they isolate themselves or rebel.
Many books have been published in Arabic about horsemanship, the first of which is “Chivalry and Veterinary Medicine” by a military commander who lived in the Abbasid era. Ibn al-Nadim also mentioned in the late tenth century that there were many letters in Baghdad talking about horses and veterinary medicine attributed to Greek authors, as equestrian literature consisted of works by professional military writers or those with close relations with the Mamluk state.
There are many manuscripts that talk about the science of horsemanship, and they are generally divided into three types. The first is unique and specializes in the science of horsemanship and its principles, such as the manuscript “Al-Fursiyah Al-Muhammadiyah” by Ibn Al-Qayyim Al-Jawziyyah. The second specializes in wars and battles, the importance of horses and how to use them, such as the manuscript “Al-Tadhkira Al-Harawi fi Al-Khail Al-Harbiyyah” by Ibn Al-Hasan Ali bin Muhammad bin Abi Bakr Al-Harawi, and the manuscript “Al-Khail fi Al-Harb wa Fath Al-Mada’in wa Hafiz Al-Durub” by Muhammad bin Mankali Al-Nasiri The third type is the manuscripts that specialize in veterinary medicine or what is called “veterinary science”, and the treatment of horses and their characteristics and features, such as the manuscript “Mukhtasar al-Baytara” by Ahmad ibn al-Ahnaf, which is preserved in the Egyptian National Library, the manuscript “Baytarnama”, and the manuscript “Veterinary and Zardaqah in Knowing Horses, Their Conditions, Diseases and Medicines”). It is likely that veterinary manuscripts were the most important and common among Muslims in the Middle Ages.
Historical significance and multiple horse breeds
The ancients used horses for many tasks, but at first their historical use was related to war, showing off and boasting. The horse appeared in Africa with the Hyksos invasion of Egypt in the fifteenth century BC, and was not used in farm and towing work until the nineteenth century, when it was initially ridden bareback, and the saddle and bridle were not used except by the Arabs.
The importance of horses has continued, and they have not lost their status with the advancement of civilization, especially purebred horses, which have elegant stables, parades, races, and veterinarians who care for them, supervise them, and ensure their comfort.
Horses continued to reproduce through a sexual cycle that resided in two phases, the first of which was the tender process, which ranged from five to seven days, and was characterized by the presence of mature and developed follicles on the ovary that produced the hormone estrogen, which is responsible for showing external tender signs, such as the mare accepting the horse, Teaser, and ovulation occurred about 24-48 hours before the end of this phase. The second is the luteal phase, which lasts about 15 days and is characterized by the growth of the corpus luteum in place of the follicle from which ovulation took place, which in turn produces the hormone progesterone, which is responsible for the absence of sexual desire, the mare’s refusal to accept the revealing horse, and the female’s sexual calm.
There are dozens of types and breeds of horses in the world, depending on the country or geographical area. We find a list of German horse breeds, consisting of: English horses, Exmoor’s short horse, Hackney horse, Thoroughbred horses, Dartmoor, and a list of African horse breeds, including horses that originated in North Africa, and the Amazigh horse. While there are horse breeds that originated in the Middle East, the Arabian horse, in addition to horse breeds that originated in the United Kingdom, and others that originated in Iceland, Azerbaijan, Spain, Italy, Austria, the United States, Russia, France, Finland, Canada, and the Netherlands.
The Qur’an and Sunnah raise the status of horses
Horses occupied a special place among the Arabs, and interest in them increased after the advent of Islam. The Islamic conquests played a major role in the spread of Arabian horses and in recognizing their characteristics of strength, extreme speed, beauty, and harmony among their members. When these conquests reached Iraq, the Levant, Persia, and Egypt, then to Spain, France, Turkey, and China.
During the Crusades, which extended from the eleventh to the thirteenth centuries AD, the Frankish kings, princes, and soldiers transported Arabian horses with them from the Levant and Egypt to their original homelands. One of the wonders and curiosities of horses is that they carry a cooling device on both sides of the head that cools them when moving quickly. They are characterized by a endurance device that makes it easy for them to stand for long periods without straining the muscles and draining energy It is also distinguished by having five hearts, the first on the left side of the chest and one in each hoof, which helps complete blood circulation to the extremities.
Horses were mentioned in the Qur’an, as God Almighty said: (So the horses that set out in the morning), and it was stated in the easy interpretation that God Almighty swore by the horses that ran in His path towards the enemy, when their sound appeared from the speed of their enemy, then the horses that kindle the fire from the hardness of their hooves from the severity of their enemy. The Holy Qur’an narrates on the authority of our master Solomon: (And We gave to Dawud Sulayman the favor of a servant. Indeed, he was repentant. When the pure, generous horses were presented to him in the evening, he said, “Indeed, I have loved the love of good rather than the remembrance of my Lord, until they concealed themselves in the veil.” They returned them to me, and he began to wipe the market and the necks.) The pure horses are those that stand on three legs, and he built the fourth on the edge of the hoof. The horses are the fast-running horses. And good at running.
The Holy Qur’an mentioned verses that raise the status of horses, and indicate their virtue, honor, and connection to the quality of goodness, and God considered them among the greatest of His creatures, then He, the Almighty, associated them with strength, in the Almighty’s saying: (And prepare for them whatever strength you are able, and whatever horse harness you can). And God Almighty said: (The love of desires has been made attractive to people, such as women and children, and the garnet of gold and silver, and the branded horses, and the livestock, and the crops. That is the enjoyment of worldly life. And God is with Him, a good destination.)
Horses are mentioned in the hadiths of the Messenger – may God bless him and grant him peace – as praise and honor, as an extension of their virtue mentioned in the noble verses. It was mentioned in the noble hadith that the Prophet – may God bless him and grant him peace – said: “Whoever ties up a horse for the sake of God will have a reward like that of a fasting person who extends his hand in charity as long as he spends on his horse.” He said: “Horses have goodness tied to their forelocks until the Day of Resurrection.”
Equestrian.. Martial arts
The Arabs used the term horsemanship when using horses in war. Horsemanship relates to the arts of self-defense and is associated with the Golden Age of Islam and the Mamluk era, approximately in the tenth to fifteenth centuries. It consists of several forms, including riding horses, using them in archery, and fencing.
In the pre-Islamic era, the horse was the most precious thing a man owned, and he spent everything he could to maintain his health and safety. Because of the Arabs’ great pride in their horses, they named them and attributed them as a son attributes to his father.
Many sultans, caliphs and princes throughout the ages were interested in horse racing and established their own fields, as races were held for popular entertainment on holidays and public occasions for all classes of society. The desert was a natural school for teaching horse racing through recognized rules and principles recorded in many manuscripts, including that the horse’s education is correct, tested in all its good qualities, and its reins are new and flexible The saddle shall be light and covered with a new, soft garment of bovine skin, and shall have at its rudders four large rings rounded with beads, and shall it have two belts of clover braided with Frankish fingernails, and between the two belts a little sectarian leather in length and width.
Many sultans, caliphs and princes throughout the ages were interested in horse racing and established their own fields, as races were held for popular entertainment on holidays and public occasions for all classes of society. The desert was a natural school for teaching horse racing through recognized rules and principles recorded in many manuscripts, including that the horse’s education is correct, tested in all its good qualities, and its reins are new and flexible The saddle shall be light and covered with a new, soft garment of bovine skin, and shall have at its rudders four large rings rounded with beads, and shall it have two belts of clover braided with Frankish fingernails, and between the two belts a little sectarian leather in length and width.
One of the conditions for horse racing is that if the rider races, he must place his opponent on his right and not be close to him. If the rider wants to race, he must not wear heavy clothes or a closed dress that air can put in it, which would weigh down the horse and prevent it from running violently. Knights practiced sports on race tracks, on equipped fields, or in the desert and orchards, with the aim of giving their horses strength and flexibility.
Horses were also used in hunting during the Islamic era, and people practiced them either as a means of entertainment and pleasure, or to obtain game and daily sustenance. The hobby of hunting has been known to the Arabs since ancient times. In ancient times, hunting was limited to hunting with spears, arrows, or traps. When the Arabs mixed with the Persians and Romans after the Islamic conquests, they learned other methods of hunting and fishing from them. They used the limbs of birds such as the goshawk, falcon, and peregrine falcon to hunt after teaching and training them, and they hunted birds and gazelles with them. They also used trained dogs to hunt deer, rabbits, zebras and birds. The Prophet Ishmael was the first to throw and hunt from horseback.
Historians say that some Muslim kings, caliphs, sultans and princes were fond of hunting and its chivalry, such as Yazid ibn Muawiyah, the first caliph to engage in hunting in the Levant. And Caliph Al-Mahdi Al-Abbasi, who was fond of hunting and fishing, as well as Ahmad Ibn Tulun, the founder of the Tulunid dynasty in Egypt, while Al-Maqrizi mentions Salah Al-Din Al-Ayyubi as a lover and devotee of fishing.