The American continent was the first area of development of pre-equids.

At the time it was connected with present-day Asia via the Bering Strait, which had emerged lands, allowing the passage from one continent to another and allowing the spread of these animals in Asia and Europe, which then formed a single, large continent, called Pangea.

Pengea

Following the millennial formation of the continents, the various animal populations remained isolated.

However, the disappearance of the horse’s ancestors on the American continent remains a mystery, where they were then introduced in the 16th century by the Spanish, where they went wild giving rise to the famous Mustang horse.

A Mustang horse

Australia, on the other hand, saw the first horse only in the 18th century, introduced by colonists.

Here they developed so rapidly, especially in New Wales and Queensland, that in 1912 there were about 2.5 million of them.

Hyracotherium (or Eohippus) is considered the first precursor of the horse.

It was the size of a fox and lived during the Eocene, between 60 and 45 million years ago.

Its weight barely reached 7 kilograms, it had an average length of only 60 cm, 4 toes on the front limb and 3 on the hind limb.

The skull was elongated, with 44 long-crowned teeth and is thought to have been a herbivore that grazed on tender leaves and shoots.

Hyracotherium

Orohippus probably evolved from Hyracotherium, since the first findings of Orohippus appear about two million years after the first appearance of Hyracotherium.

The anatomical differences between the two genera are modest: same size, thinner body, elongated head, thinner front and longer hind legs.

Orohippus

Thus Mesohippus appears, which lived approximately 35 to 25 million years ago between the Eocene and Oligocene and was one of the most common mammals in North America.

He walked on three toes, both the front and hind toes.

Judging by its thin loins, the sheep-tall Mesohippus was a fast animal that fed on tender twigs and fruit.

Mesohippus

During the Oligocene period, branched from the Mesohippus, the Miohippus makes its appearance.

Its size was similar to that of a sheepdog.

It had short teeth, three-toed legs and lived in flat areas covered by forests.

Miohippus

From the Miohippus, which remained in the steppes, the Parahippus arose in North America, very similar but a little larger.

The Parahippus was the size of a small pony, with an elongated skull and a facial structure similar to the current horse and limbs with three toes, of which the median one was well developed, while the lateral ones were weak and did not reach the ground.

Parahippus

In this period Merychippus makes its appearance.

The Merychippus lived in flocks, was about 120 cm tall. and it was the first equid that had a head similar to that of today’s horse, with a longer muzzle, a deeper jaw and wider-spaced eyes.

Merychippus

Between the Miocene and the Pliocene, the Pliohippus made its appearance, a horse very similar to the current one and with only one toe on each foot.

The long, slender legs of Pliohippus make it a fast steppe animal.

The Pliohippus became the Plesippus and, a further evolution, during the upper Pliocene, generated the true Equus, the horse of today.

Pliohippus

The first uses to which the horse appears to have been put once domesticated, which took place in Central Asia between 2000 and 1000 BC, were not to help man but to provide food, with its skin and its meat.

Only with the metal age did the horse have a profound relationship with the activities and culture of man.

For a few thousand years in agriculture, transport and communications and an equally important role in warfare and in the entertainment of the upper social classes.

A carriage

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