Equus caballus
The horse is a highly specialised mammal, adapted to living on grassland and plains where it can move at great speed. The second and fourth toes are completely missing; thus all four feet have only one toe, equivalent to the third toe of other mammal species. Horses step on the outermost part of the foot and have a distinctive hoof enclosing a small pad.
The footprints are essentially circular and cannot be confused with other tracks when the animal is wearing horseshoes. Since horses are heavy animals, the prints are easily recognisable. Depending on the size of the horse and the speed it is moving, the prints can be between 12 and 25 cm in diameter.
If the horse is unshod, the hooves will leave a large circular print with a deep V-shaped notch towards the rear. Horse scat is spherical and about 3–5 cm in diameter. The scat is brownish and contains undigested plant remains, especially grass stems. In the wild, birds and insects feed on whatever nutrients remain in the scat.
Horse. Biopix. Inset: A print with (left) and without a horseshoe. Left, EHA; right, KG.
Horse scat
