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Originally Posted by Mr G
It’s Hot Out Here for a Horse
Horses don’t like heat. They evolved in cool, even sub-arctic climates and are generally poorly-suited to deal with hot, humid weather.
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Your post and the information about horses on wikipedia differ (but I suppose the steppes are by definition sub-artic, so maybe your post is not that different?):
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The horse belongs to an order known as Perissodactyla, or "odd-toed ungulates", which all share hooved feet and an odd number of toes on each foot, as well as mobile upper lips and a similar tooth structure. This means horses share a common ancestry with tapirs and rhinoceroses. The perissodactyls originally arose in the late Paleocene, less than 10 million years after the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. This group of animals appears to have been originally specialized for life in tropical forests, but whereas tapirs and, to some extent, rhinoceroses, retained their jungle specializations, modern horses are adapted to life on drier land in the much-harsher climatic conditions of the steppes. Other species of Equus are adapted to a variety of intermediate conditions.
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Now, I know horses are a long way removed from rhinos, but still they started out in the jungle (which I presume was hot and humid) and the modern horse continued evolving on drier land in the harsher climatic conditions of the steppes. And of course the Arabian horse is well-known for its ability to adapt to the desert. The wild mustangs in the desert of Nevada seem to fare OK. It seems to me horses can adapt to a wide variety of conditions. And I would presume that if they are properly conditioned they can perform strenuous activity in a variety of extreme conditions. One endurance race in middle east requires horses to cover 125 miles in two days. The Tevis Cup in California is 100 miles. The winner is not always the first horse to finish. The horse has to pass a vet inspection. Sometimes it is the "Best Conditioned" award that riders covet the most and not the first place trophy.
http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issu...g.in.dubai.htm
