• The nose/upper lip curling action carried out when the horse smells something strange is called the "Flehmen Reaction".
  
  
• The horse has the same number of bones as the human - 205.
  
  
• There are more than 700 separate voluntary skeletal muscles present in the horse.
  
  
• The horse's heart increases in size as the horse gets fitter. The heart of a 16hh horse weighs approx 9lbs increasing to 12-13lbs when fully fit.
  
  
• The arab only has 5 lumbar vertebrae as opposed to the usual 6
  
  
• The skin is the largest single organ of the body.
  
  
• The horse's eye possesses a "ramped" retina, enabling him/her to focus on images near and far at the same time.
  
  
• The thoracic (fore) limbs are not joined to the trunk by a bony attachment but by a sling of muscles known as the sling system.
  
  
• The horse knows how to use his balance only 1 hour after birth.
  
  
• Horses, just like humans, have a preferred side (ie left or right handed!)
  
  
• A standing horse carries 55-60% of his weight on his front legs and 40-45% on his hind legs.
  
  
• The horse possesses a highly developed sense of smell. This is used to seek and select food and water, as well as a communication system in groups of horses. Wild horses need this highly developed sense of smell to enable them to escape from approaching predators.
  
  
• Horse sweat is acidic and there is a constant minimal level of sweating in the horse (only visible on surface when the rate of sweating exceeds the rate of evaporation from skin's surface).
  
  
• 60% of the horse's bodyweight is made up of muscle.
  
  
• The pelvis is made up of three bones fused together.
  
  
• Walk, trot and gallop are the gaits most natural to the equid.

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