[boris]

Much shorter than a horse. A cheeta is a sprinter; horses are long-distance runners.

There would seem to be a niche for long-winded predators with legs as long as horses.

And this does not address my other problems mentioned above.

--Boris

[js1138]

There is probably a niche for a predator armed with a laser cannon. What's your point? All predators are successful or they wouldn't be alive. I guarantee there are predators that can bring down horses. Perhaps not young healthy ones, but certainly the older and weaker ones. Again, what is your point?

[VadeRetro]

There would seem to be a niche for long-winded predators with legs as long as horses.

Do you think horses haven't suffered predation from leopards, lions, tigers, cougars, wolf packs, and even humans? (Hint: the wild ancestors of the domestic horse typically weren't so impressively large. We bred them for that.)

You're sitting around thinking of reasons why things are impossible without magic. Everything's impossible if you're determeined to find it so, especially if you never stick your head out the door to check your work.

[cookcounty]

"Much shorter than a horse. A cheeta is a sprinter; horses are long-distance runners".

"here would seem to be a niche for long-winded predators with legs as long as horses."

I guess this is the obverse of the "panda's thumb," which I never found convincing (nature's specimens are not "perfect," therefore all life forms developed at the juncture of random mutation and natural selection).