What image does your brain make when you think about horses? Perhaps, their speed. Horses are popular for their running and speed. In our holy scriptures they are supposed to have unimaginable high speed and even they could fly. For example the sun god used to travel in a chariot with seven horses. This resembles the speed of the horse equal to speed of the sunlight. Kings and elite class people used horses for travelling in the ancient time. They were also used in the wars in the past. Lord Krishna rode Arjuna’s chariot with four horses. There is also an anecdote of Mahabharata times; one day king Rituparna was going to a state named Vidarbha. Suddenly one of his slippers fell down. He asked his charioteer Wahuka to stop the chariot. But Bahuka replied to the king, “Your majesty, the chariot has already crossed thousands of miles.” Here also we can imagine the speed of the horses.
Horses were kept as pet some 6000 years ago. People use them as a means of transport, in police force, in sports and races. They also possess horses as a hobby. There are about 300 types of horses in the world. In modern days people use horses for many purposes. A horse can run around 45km/hr in average. The fastest running horse was reported to run 85 km/hr.Some fastest running horses are; Black Forest, American Miniature, Arabian horses and so on.
There may be many reasons behind the speed of the horses; they are energetic and have high stamina. They are prey to wild predators they prefer to flee rather than fightto save themselves. Since they are herd animals they run to keep themselves in the herd for safety, excitement, fear whatever reasons.Horses have biggest eyes among the land mammals. Their vision is sharper than human being. They can see around 360 degree at one time.Horses never breathe through mouth perhaps this prevents them from shortness of breath.
One most important thing about the speed of the horses is; they don’t have any muscles in the bottom half of their legs, just tendons and ligaments help them to run fast. This makes them very efficient at running longer distance at a steady quick speed. Horses float when they run. When a horse gallops all its four hooves are off the ground at a time.
Horses can remain balanced when each leg is off the ground 80% of the time during gallop, and what limits a horse’s maximum gallop. A horse’s leg resembles a pogo stick that uses energy stored in the muscles and tendons to propel the animal forwards and upwards.
We have found that the stiffer a horse’s leg restricts how quickly it can transmit force to the ground and bounce back up again and also increases the chances of injury. fast horses can bring their legs forward quickly in preparation for the next stride but that this is more difficult and therefore slower for large and long-legged horses. A horse’s body shape and everything about it seems to have been right in the middle of the normal range, suggesting that all the factors for speed were perfectly matched.