Breeds » Horses HORSE TRIVIA Monday, 16 March 2009 • In the wild, foals will suckle until they are a year old, and sometimes longer. • The horse has the largest eyes of any land animal. • A horse’s teeth occupy more space in its head than its brain. • Horses have memories that put elephants to shame. • Adult male horses generally have 40 teeth, but females only 36. • Barley is thought to be the first grain to be domesticated, and probably the first to be fed to horses. • There were no horses in Australia until 1788. • The sequence of the horse’s footfalls at the walk was correctly described by Aristotle (384-322 b.c.) in the 4th century B.C. • Selective horse breeding has been practiced by the Arab tribes since at least the 7th century. • Caspian ponies probably existed in Mesopotamia in 3000 B.C. • A coltpixie is believed to be a spirit horse which lures mortal horses into bogs. • The oldest horse on record is Old Billy. Foaled in 1760, he died at age 62 in 1822. He was a draft cross bred in Woolston, Britain. • Women rode astride until the 15th century, then followed the period of sidesaddle.