Comment on Cheeky

atocci@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

• Septimaeus@infosec.pub ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

  Their genetics have sacrificed nearly every aspect of basic resiliency for maximum speed on the plains. Most of the work caring for horses is keeping them from accidentally killing themselves. Full disclosure: I worked as a stable hand as a child in exchange for riding lessons. Will never ever own a horse.

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  • gibmiser@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

    What preditor was so fast horses had to evolve to that extent??

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    • PyroVK@lemmy.zip ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

      Big cat. You’re aware of the cheetah? Just picture that but not in Africa

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      • caseyweederman@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

        You know what really caught me up: where are horses native to?

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    • PhlubbaDubba@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

      Us. They basically tried to beat pursuit predation by outrunning the distance humans will be willing to track over.

      It did not work, they went extinct in North America because of how much it did not work.

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      • ChonkyOwlbear@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

        Large predatory flightless birds didn’t help either.

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    • bstix@feddit.dk ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

      Human. Not for food, but because they always choose to breed on the Porcshe over the Toyota Hilux for racing.

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      • PhlubbaDubba@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

        The wording here makes it sound like we hunted horses for the specific purpose of having sex on them

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    • match@pawb.social ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

      the mongols

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    • PersnickityPenguin@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

      Saber toothed tigers and shit

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      • sukhmel@programming.dev ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

        Saber toothed shit is a serious reason

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  • Bytemeister@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

    Same for rabbits. The are basically as much lean muscle that can fit on the lighest possible skeleton.

    If you pick up a rabbit wrong, they can snap their own back with the momentum from kicking their back legs.

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  • fossilesque@mander.xyz ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

    I did this too and will also never own a horse lmao. This is why horse people are weird.

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    • lath@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

      Some people love caring for fragile things. Boosts their self-esteem. It can also break them when they fail.

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    • Flocklesscrow@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

      *one reason

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    • klemptor@startrek.website ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

      Same here haha

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  • jubilationtcornpone@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

    Basically a 900LB Cocker Spaniel that’s afraid of it’s own farts and will eventually kill every single tree within reach. I also will never own horses.

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    • Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

      i mean if i haven’t kept the best diet for a couple days i’m afraid of my own farts too

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• Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

  Sometimes they will die because they can’t puke. Also broken legs are usually fatal even with vet care.

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• Kowowow@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

  The term healthy as a horse is mostly survivorship bias

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  • elxeno@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

    From what i read here there’s no unhealthy horse, it’s either healthy or dead.

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    • sukhmel@programming.dev ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

      “So, Timmy, do you want to be healthy as a horse?”

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• klemptor@startrek.website ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

  They only have 4 toes total.

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  • RizzRustbolt@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

    And they run around at 60mph on the tips of their toenails.

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    • merc@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

      I mean, humans run around on something that birds would consider knees, and stupidly try to support their entire body weight using only half their legs.

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  • merc@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

    Humans have multiple toes because our ape ancestors used their toes like fingers. Having multiple, separate toes is probably bad for survival unless you’re using toes to manipulate tools.

    Animals that have distinct toes include apes, geckos, mice, raccoons and similar animals which need them to grip onto surfaces or to manipulate things. There are predators which have separate toes because they’re a place to mount claws: eagles, cats, etc. There are animals that have separate toes with webbing between for swimming. But, for a lot of animals, separate toes aren’t really useful, so they’ve evolved away: elephants, rhinos, giraffes, horses, cows, etc.

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    • Seleni@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

      Yeah, but at least most of those still have multiple toes to spread the weight around. Horses decided to get rid of that completely.

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      • merc@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

        Spreading the weight around using toes doesn’t seem to be a useful strategy. It’s also not something that humans do. Human toes are not at the weight-bearing part of the foot. And, while I’m sure toes are somewhat involved in agility, having individual toes doesn’t seem to be. In fact, if you look at apes like gorillas and chimps, it’s pretty clear that our toes have been getting shorter and less important as we’ve been evolving as upright-walking creatures who don’t live in trees. Instead, the sole of the foot, which used to be much more like the palm of a hand, has been getting longer and sturdier.

        If you have separate toes, you have multiple fragile things that can break or be torn off. If you have one mega-toe it’s going to be sturdy. That’s probably why the heaviest animals have the fewest / smallest toes.

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    • Eiri@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

      Tbh if I could I think I would turn on the gene for prehensile feet.

      Just to try. Looks fun.

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      • Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de ⁨1⁩ ⁨day⁩ ago

        you can train your feet to be pretty prehensile, there are people who paint and write with their feet.

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• Kowowow@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨week⁩ ago

  The term healthy as a horse is mostly survivorship bias

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