The horse is an odd-toed hoofed mammal belonging to the family Equidae and all horses are of the same genus and species. There are, however, within the species, three subspecies: Domestic horse (Equus ferus caballus); Przewalski′s horse (Equus ferus przewalskii); and the Tarpin (Equus ferus ferus) which has been extinct since 1909.

The original horse which would have been Equus ferus, of which there were two, were on Noah′s Arc. Since then, humans began to domesticate the horse but some of those original horses must have escaped and became wild which most likely would have become the subspecies Equus ferus ferus.

Those that remained domestic would have become the subspecies Equus ferus caballus. Today, all feral horses and other so called wild horses are also of the subspecies caballus, because they were previously part of a domestic horse herd, but at some time escaped and became feral.

Horses in the subspecies caballus are domesticated, although some domesticated populations live in the wild as feral horses. These feral populations are not true wild horses, because the term wild is normally used to describe animals that have never been domesticated, such as the endangered Przequalski′s Horse, a separate subspecies, and the only remaining true wild horse.

There is an extensive, specialized vocabulary used to describe equine related concepts, covering everything from anatomy to life stages, size, colors, markings, breeds, locomotion, and behavior. A person could spend years learning all these concepts. Rather, the study contained on these pages will not endeavor to examine all of them but will touch on only a few.

Colt: A male horse under the age of four. A common terminology error is to call any young horse a "colt", when the term actually only refers to young male horses.

Filly: A female horse under the age of four.

Foal: A horse of either sex less than one year old. A nursing foal is sometimes called a suckling and a foal that has been weaned is called a weanling. Most domesticated foals are weaned at five to seven months of age, although foals can be weaned at four months with no adverse physical effects.

Gelding: A castrated male horse of any age.

Mare: A female horse four years old and older.

Stallion: A non-castrated male horse four years old and older. The term horse is sometimes used colloquially to refer specifically to a stallion.

Yearling: A horse of either sex that is between one and two years old.

Female horses, called mares, carry their young for approximately 11 months, and a young horse, called a foal, can stand and run shortly following birth. Most domesticated horses begin training under saddle or in harness between the ages of two and four.

They reach full adult development by age five, and have an average lifespan of between 25 and 30 years.

There are more than 300 breeds of horse in the world today, developed for many different uses. Horse breeds are loosely divided into three categories based on general temperament:

1. Spirited hot bloods with speed and endurance;

2. Cold bloods, draft horses and ponies, suitable for slow, heavy work; and

3. Warm bloods, by crossing hot and cold bloods, for specific riding purposes.

The height of horses is usually measured at the highest point of the withers, where the neck meets the back, which is used because it is a stable point of the anatomy, unlike the head or neck, which move up and down in relation to the body of the horse.

In English-speaking countries, the height of horses is often stated in units of hands and inches: one hand is equal to 4 inches. The height is expressed as the number of full hands, followed by a point, then the number of additional inches, and ending with the abbreviation "h" or "hh" (for "hands high"). Example: 15.2 h is 15 hands and 2 inches, for a total of 62 inches in height.

The size of horses varies by breed and by nutrition. Light riding horses usually range in height from 14 to 16 hands and can weigh from 840 to 1,210 pounds. Larger riding horses usually start at about 15.2 hands and often are as tall as 17 hands, weighing from 1,100 to 1,320 pounds. Heavy or draft horses are usually at least 16 hands high and can be as tall as 18 hands high, weighing from about 1,540 to 2,200 pounds.

Probably the most diverse equine study is this study of coat color, and it so diverse in descriptions, has many modifiers, markings and unique identifiers that for this writer, it will be a subject for the paradise. However, the following is just a few basics about the horse and it′s coat.

Most horses remain the same color throughout life, however, a few, over the course of several years, will develop a different coat color from that with which they were born. Most white markings are present at birth, and the underlying skin color of a horse does not change, except for cases caused by disease.

The basic outline of equine coat color genetics has largely been resolved, and DNA tests to determine the likelihood that a horse will have offspring of a given color have been developed for some colors. Discussion, research, and even controversy continues about some of the details, particularly those surrounding spotting patterns, color sub-shades such as "sooty" or "flaxen", and markings.

White markings are present at birth and unique to each horse, making them useful in identifying individual animals. Markings usually have pink skin underneath them, though some faint markings may not, and white hairs may extend past the area of underlying pink skin. Though markings that overlie dark skin may appear to change, the underlying skin color and hair growing from pink skin will not. Horses may also be uniquely identified by an unusual eye color, whorls, brands and chestnuts.

Leaving the d-mart, I drive down the boulevard to a w-mart for coffee and WiFi. Then at ten this morning, I head north out of the valley plain up to the plateau resuming my climb up SH 87 and soon come to the two forest service stops along the Salt River on the Bush highway.

When at the second stop see some wild horses on the opposite bank of the river, so I get out and take photographs of the Salt river, the Salt River Canyon and the Feral Horse.

It is already a warm day when I awaken and go inside the visitors center of the national historical site. This is an archaeological site which has a reconstructed earth lodge home and I find it really interesting because of the references to this locations in the journal from two of my fellow wayfarers, Lewis and Clark.

After viewing the earth lodge, I return to the road west back to the southern unit of the Theodore Roosevelt National Park and drive the loop in this unit. I see several bison here, many prairie dogs, feral horses and a few deer.

Ferdinand trains horses for nearby ranchers by training the horse to accept a human′s touch, direction and leadership and in doing so, this gentle′s the animal.

He also concentrates on teaching people how to provide the leadership that is needed in the human-horse relationship.

The two horses shown in the following photo are just a couple of the ones that have been trained by the horse trainer. These two horses are both about two years old and until this time were left in the owners pasture undisturbed. When they first arrived, they would flee from any human that approached them.

In preparation for this training session, a halter and cinch rope is put on each horse. At the beginning of the training session, the horses are lassoed and a lead rope is then attached to the halter.

The training session began in the morning and lasted most of the day. Every opportunity is made to make physical contact with each horse by offering the horses molasses pellets. Ferdinand keeps a stash of these pellets in his coat pocket.