The Nature of Horses : Their Evolution@@ Intelligence and Behaviour

by Stephen Budiansky

The Nature of Their Evolution, Intelligence and Behaviour [Paperback] Budiansky, Stephen

Genres: Nonfiction, Horses, Animals, Natural History

Paperback

First published April 8, 1997

About the author

Historian and journalist Stephen Budiansky is the author of twelve books about military history, science, and nature.

His latest book is The Bloody Shirt: Terror After Appomattox, which chronicles the struggles of five courageous men in the post-Civil War South as they battled a rising tide of terrorist violence aimed at usurping the newly won rights of the freedmen.

Reviews

[Ingrid Van · Rating 5 out of 5]

The first ever scientifically inclined book I read on horses. It was a breath of fresh air inbetween 'Comple Encyclopedias of the Horse' which were far for complete and all the other girlish horse books I owned. This book sparked a lifelong passion. If you want to 'get' horses, read this.

[Ryan Fohl · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good read about evolutionary biology through the example of the horse. Some of the illustrations had me worried that I wouldn’t grasp a concept, but the text is very clear. I did skip the parts about gait because I just wasn’t interested. I’m not really a horse guy, but I’d like to be.

What I learned: First I ever heard of immunocontraceptives. Image what conspiracy theorists would think of them! There are grazing animals and browsing animals. Teeth snapping in young horses is a submissive gesture. They wanna groom you. We should think of what an animal sound accomplishes not what it means. Lady Wonder was another scam horse like Clever Hans. (Horses have a wider range of peripheral vision than humans) Horses can not learn by watching a “demonstrator” but they can remember what they do learn for a long time.

Heh heh “Stud Book”

[Jonathan Tucker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent read that explains in depth yet clearly how a horse thinks and works. Highly recommended for anyone who loves horses and would like to understand their mechanics and nature better.

[G. Lawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting, I would have liked some more history, different periods etc, but that's a personal preference

[Keeley McJunkin · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is definitely some useful info in this book, but there were few parts that Interested me.

[Goele Lousbergh · Rating 4 out of 5]

some stuff I didn't know after 20+ years with horses and a lot of scientific confirmation of things I always assumed to be true. I will go on to read his books about cats and dogs too.

[Anni Kramer · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book on the development, anatomy, intelligence of horses. Though sometimes highly scientific, the book is nevertheless written with suspense and in a way that makes it easy to understand for interested readers. Each page was a new revelation on how and why horses do and behave the way they do. Some surprising new fndings about breeding horses, with interesting diagrams and graphs. Though I occasionally failed to understand very explicitly scientific descriptions, I stayed riveted to this account from start to finish. I agree it's mainly a book for those interested in horses, but for that group of people, the book is an indispensable addition to anyone's library of dealing with, keeping and treating horses. I gladly give the book five stars.

[Sam · Rating 2 out of 5]

It’s supposed to be an adaptation for young readers and yet the book begins by describing the corpse of a horse stretched on sticks, and then shows a picture… He feels the need to define what a treadmill is at length, presumably so young readers can understand, and yet talks about ancient history, geography, and anatomy as if they should know exactly what he’s talking about. There’s also a hard turn toward the end talking about evolution and natural selection and flat out denies any sort of intelligent design despite having used the word “design” many times.
I’m a life-long horse girl and knew most of this stuff, but some of the experiments they did to find this information were interesting.

[Jess · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was full of interesting facts about the evolution of horses and provided explanations that debunked many misconceptions about them. I found some of it a bit dry, and I felt it was dismissive of some admittedly “unscientific” knowledge of horses that people have gathered through centuries of interaction with them that I believe nonetheless has merit.

[Alissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating stuff! Really enjoyed it especially the stuff about horses senses and learning ability etc. the stuff on the evolution/domestication of the horse was very eye-opening :)

[Albertine Nannings · Rating 4 out of 5]

As the book was published 20 years ago it's slightly dated on some points. However, it remains a must-read for all who are involved with horses more than once a week.

[Fidelia Stables · Rating 2 out of 5]

Monologue and mind numbing, outdated science paper.

[Jo-jean Keller · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully researched and written! Provides detailed information about history and physical development of the horse. Answered questions I hadn't thought to ask.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting read about (you guessed it) the nature of horses, from the former editor of Nature Magazine.

Interesting facts I picked up: Horses can see red and blue but not green.

Horse sounds: Nickering is a sound that baby horses would make to tell their mothers they want to nurse. Unlike most baby animal sounds, it's low in pitch. The lower frequency is meant to be *felt* through the mother's body, rather than heard. Lower pitch sounds travel better this way. A whinny is a higher pitch sound that is meant more as a call to other horses at a distance. Squeals are a sign of both excitement and fear, but can be made by stallions when they are fighting. The more dominant stallion will be able to make a longer lasting squeal, due to his deeper chest cavity and lung capacity.

Stuff like that. It's pretty cool.

[Aliya · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good book, went over the history of horses, how they were domesticated and why domestication worked out, and a bit about their anatomy and how apparently they aren't actually supposed to be able to survive because they can eat food of the poorest quality: they can 'thrive on grasses that a cow would starve to death on.' LOL really interesting to find out. It's really informative and helping me since I'm going to a 'ranch' every week, although of course I can't actually understand everything about horses without experiencing it first-hand, but the book provides some nice background information I can use.
Another really interesting thing to take note of is that where you would call a horse's "knee" is actually equivalent to a human's ankle/heel and their 'toes' are actually from their 'knees' down to their hooves. So weird in comparison lol.

[J.M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like Budiansky's writing, and I enjoyed this book (I didn't realize it was for younger readers until I started reading it). It's very informative without being overwhelming, and I learned a lot about horses (seeing as how I didn't know much to begin with, this wasn't a hard thing to accomplish). Still, they aren't a favorite animal of mine and he managed to keep me interested. Perfect for someone who already loves horses -- I plan on giving my copy to my oldest niece!

[Bettie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Of the more than 4.000 species of mammals that have occupied the earth during the last 10,000 years, the horse is one of fewr than a dozen that have achieved success as domesticated animals.

Having had a skim through, I realise that I am not interested enough in the subject to read with any care. There are some 'really?' moments, and a few 'wow! who knew!' sections but overall this was not for me. I am sure that in the right hands this would be very appreciated.

[Enikő]

After enjoying the beginning of this book, I find it is getting too complicated for me right now. It started out as a bit technical, but easy to digest. Now, my mind's not really into calculating - or even understanding - ratios of length and speed, or weight and bone density, to name a few...

I may come back to this sometime, but it's going back on the shelf unfinished for now.

[Meaghan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely, easy to read book.
Budiansky's writing is excellent and while being thorough he made the information very easy to swallow. It was perhaps not as in depth as I'd have liked, but that is more personal preference than a reflection of this book. Certainly learned a lot, would recommend for those interested in the finer points of horses.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative, marketed as a children's book though and I thought it a bit advanced for a child. I chose this book for general research purposes and was pleased, the information was presented in a very scientific manner and was easy to follow.

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting, and still largely relevant book. A few points in the genetic chapter are dated, but this book has held up well over the years. Great discussion of the horse from a scientific standpoint.

[Molly B · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is all about horses and bacically gives you a fact file about them.



This book is suitaible for ALL horse lovers!

[Stephanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

5 stars for the amount of research, 3 stars for maintaining my interest = 4 stars. Some interesting points but nothing that blew me away.

[Boronia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and informatif, I enjoyed reading this book.