Funniest Horse Act Ever! Tommie Turvey and Pokerjoe! – Night Of The Horse 2015

Horses were initially kept for meat and milk, according to Oklahoma State University. They became a valuable resource for people living on the central Asian steppes, where horses are still eaten and milked today. Fermented mare’s milk is a popular, alcoholic drink among the kumis people of the central Asian steppes, Live Science previously reported. As horses became more domesticated, humans have developed more uses for them, such as serving as a means of transportation, as companion animals and as a source of entertainment in the form of horse racing. Today, horses can be found in the care of humans all over the Earth.

Horses are social animals and are known for bonding with members of their herd and for following the most dominant horses in the herd, according to AMNH. In captivity, and in the absence of a herd, horses have a tendency to bond with people and learn to follow their instructions. This enables humans to more easily train horses to be ridden. Similar to other domestic animals, being led by humans has been encouraged through multiple generations of breeding.

The only horses alive today that aren’t considered domesticated are Przewalski’s horses, or takhi, in central Asia. ITIS lists these wild horses as a separate species named Equus przewalskii. However, some experts categorize domesticated horses and Prezewalski’s horses as subspecies of the same species, called Equus ferus caballus and Equus ferus przewalskii, respectively. Either way, Przewalski’s horses are distinct from domestic horses, although their evolutionary origins are debated within the scientific community.