Leroy Smith, age 9, of Portland, Ore., for his question:
WHERE DID THE HORSE COME FROM?
A small animal about 10 to 20 inches tall called an "eohippus" or "hyracotherium" was most likely the early ancestor of our present day horse. It lived about 55 million years ago in what is now North America and Europe.
These small prehistoric horses had arched backs and snout like noses. They looked much like today's whippets or greyhounds. They had four toes on each of their front feet and three toes on their hind feet.
Then, about 35 million years ago, the "mesophippus" or middle horse came along. This slender legged animal was about 20 inches tall. About 30 million years ago, the middle horse gave way to the "miohippus," an animal that was about 28 inches tall.
As the years passed, horse like animals continued to develop with the 40 inch tall "merychippus," or cud chewing horse, appearing about 26 million years ago. Then, about a million years ago, the horse that looks somewhat like modern horses came along. Scientists call this the "equus."
Scientists aren't sure where horses originated. Fossils show that during the Ice Age horses lived on every continent except Australia. Great herds could be found wandering throughout North and South America. Then, for some reason that cannot be explained, the horse disappeared completely from the Western Hemisphere.
When the first European colonists came to North America, they brought horses with them.
The Spanish explorers brought large numbers of horses with them when they came to North America in the early 1500s. Some of their horses were left behind and most likely became the ancestors of the American wild horses.
Indians from the tribes of the western plains didn't began to use horses until about 1600.
The horse played an important part in the development and exploration of North America.
Today we divide horses into three general classifications or groups: light horses, heavy horses and ponies.
Heavy horses have large bones and often weigh over 2,000 pounds. Light horses weigh less than 1,300 pounds. Ponies are small horses that grow to be less than 58 inches high. Most of the ponies weigh less than 800 pounds.
There are many breeds of horses in each of the three types.
Primitive man hunted horses and ate their meat.
Scientists agree that the first horse was tamed more than 5,000 years ago in the ancient city of Susa in southwestern Asia.
Stone tablets show that the Hittites used horses for both sport and war about 1400 B.C. And the Assyrians used horses to pull two wheeled chariots as early as 800 B.C.