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Posted on 06/01/2005 7:34:38 AM PDT by HairOfTheDog
Well, the link was bad, it gave me an error too.... but I found it by doing a search:
America's Horse Genealogy Drastically Pruned
By Larry O'Hanlon, Discovery News
July 5, 2005 — A genetic glimpse at the genealogy of America's ancient horses has revealed there were far fewer species than thought — and they were American natives, not Asian immigrants, say researchers.
During the 19th and 20th centuries, more than 50 species of extinct Pleistocene horses in North and South America had been identified.
But new DNA analysis suggests that there were only really three or four species and they evolved rather recently from a common American ancestor, said Jaco Weinstock of the University of Oxford.
The results of the study appear in the current issue of the journal Public Library of Science, Biology.
"I think the (genetic) work really clears up a lot," said ancient American horse researcher Dale Guthrie, professor emeritus at the University of Alaska.
In North America there appear to have been just two species of horses: what are called New World Stilt-Legged horses — because of their camel-like gait — and an "Equus" species not very different in gait or appearance from modern horses.
What might have thrown off paleontologists and convinced them there were more horse species was the vast variation in body sizes within the same species over time and space, said Guthrie.
"Horses in different environments do respond with changes in body size," said Guthrie. In a recent letter to Nature, Guthrie demonstrated this by putting a more precise date on the bones from ancient New World Stilt-Legged horses in Alaska and then lining them up chronologically.
The bone timeline revealed a species undergoing a dramatic shrinkage as it neared extinction — evidence that the horses were probably adapting to less food, said Guthrie.
The same variety of bone sizes, taken without good information on their ages, could look like several different species of horses to a paleontologist, Guthrie said.
As for the ancient horses of South America, there were no more than two: the donkey-like Hippidion and another Equus — perhaps the same species as in North America.
Hippidion had been considered a 10-million-year-old branch off the line that led to African Asses, with which it bears a strong, but misleading, resemblance.
The DNA analysis indicates Hippidion probably evolved somewhere in Central America only 3 million years ago, just about the time a volcanic land bridge connected the two continents and allowed animals to migrate north and south, said Weinstock. It is a sister species of the New World Stilt-Legged horses.
The reason Hippidion looks like a donkey, said Weinstock, is what's called convergent evolution: far-flung species end up with similar-looking features because they adapted in the same way to similar environments.
The classic example is ostriches, emus and rheas: all are large flightless birds that look very similar, but are only distantly related.
link: http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20050704/americanhorse.html
There ya go!
Fear's a normal natural part of me... I understand.
Have you had other horses that were runaways?
Not really, I've had horses that were harder to stop. I think only one time I was on a horse that just didn't stop. He wasn't mine. But I've always managed to get them stopped. I think it's just I've seen alot of barrel horses that were really stupid. I've always believed it was the training that made them that way, but I still wonder.
Mack is going to get a stop watch today, and we're going to practice, by first just timing me going straight lines. Just down the arena. That way I don't have to worry about anything but going straight. He thinks, and I agree that if I can see my self speeding up like that, then speeding up for the barrels will be easier. He thinks seeing improvement with real times will boost my confidence.
Becky
Well, that's worth a shot! I wondered if it would help to go to the arena in town and just gallop him ~full out~ around the arena a couple times, no barrels.
Thank you very much. Not what I expected, but after all it is the Discovery web site. Those articles boggle me sometimes. If they have found that horses' ancestors are native, that blows the non-native feral theory out of the water.
My pleasure ;~D
That would be our next step after the straight lines:)
I'm getting ready to go ride him now, here for a little. While I'm working on my speed in straight lines, and around the arena, I can still work on the steps of going around the barrels correctly. There is so much to remember. I was doing pretty good by the end of the clinic of keeping the steps in mind as I did it. Last night....I have no clue what I did, LOL, once I got started. I don't know where my hands were, my legs, my butt....LOL...At one of the talks R.E. gave he said to beware of the vacum that is over the arena gate. You have to learn not to let it suck your brain out as you pass under it:). It got me three times last night:)
Becky
Heh... I know what you mean by that.... I've seen it happen to me under pressure. ;~D
Lol...a rocket under their butt:)...that's good.
I just got in from riding him. We did good, and I pushed him harder then I have before in my arena. he was fine, he stops, he turns.
There was a lady at the clinic who has the same problem as I do. She said it was just hard to ask for speed, and she asked how to get over that. The answer...cowboy up:)...so easy to say, so hard to do. But it does help to know I'm not the only one. But I know what they mean. I did it somewhat there, and i did it somewhat today. You just do it. If I keep doing it all this week here and in town, maybe I'll be able to do it there next week. I'm going to town tomorrow to ride.
Becky
Good morning all.
CindyDawg your place looks great. Congratulations. Loved the pics of moving the horses.
Those gray kittens are so cute.
Looks like we may get rain here in south TX this weekend, hope it gets as far as the hill country, we have been dry for a month. 'Course it's not so great for the people on the coast.
Not only that but from that last shot off the last barrel they are going like a rocket and it's hard to stop them. I think Sharon Camarillo wrote that she lost control of a horse that way and ended up tearing through a parking lot, and the horse's feet went out form undere him on the asphalt and was severely injured.
I've run barrels a couple of times. I took what they call "the scenic route" meaning going way way wide. One time I won a hay net, ha ha.
Yep, that's it.
Becky
I don't know if that would work for you or not. The horses he rode most of the time then were a AAA quarter horse off the track and a ex cow horse.
Thanks. Cindy turned and it looks like Dennis will too. Now I have to watch two projected paths though.
If you aren't too much into what the outside looks like, you might get a good deal after a storm. This one was in a hail storm and the owner traded it in for a newer one after insurance recovery.
I've always done that too. I always told Jenny, if I saw her run all the way out of the arena, she wouldn't be able to do it anymore. There is no reason for horses to do that. They give you plenty of room to stop without having to go clear out of the arena.
I think alot of horses act that way because they are not getting enough variety in their workouts, and they get drug to too many competitions without getting to do anything else. I'm hoping that with the different exercises I do with him, plus all the trails that even tho I plan on working on barrels everyday, at least till I get more comfortable doing it, he will stay calm.
Becky
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