Horses

Brush up on your horse knowledge with this summary of horse history, anatomy, life stages, senses, genetics, behavior, and intelligence.

National Geographic has a documentary about horses with lots of information and amazing photography from all over the world.

Learn more about different breeds and types of horses from the American Museum of Natural History. Also provided are ideas for classroom projects.

From the National Park Service, learn more about Idaho's state fossil, the Hagerman Horse, and watch the Science Trek video.

How best to manage the United States' wild horses is a continuing question for wildlife scientists. It could be an excellent subject for classroom discussion, research, and persuasive writing. More information is available from the Animal Welfare Institute and the Bureau of Land Management.

Equus: Story of the Horse is a terrific two-part program from Nature. Episode 1: Origins, explores the evolutionary journey of horses and the ways in which modern scientists are studying their strength and emotional intelligence. Episode 2: Chasing the Wind looks at the partnership between humans and horses throughout the centuries and the development of hundreds of distinctive breeds all over the world. Each episode is 50 minutes long, but nine shorter clips from the program are also available.

Cloud was a wild mustang in Montana whose life was captured on film for several years. Cloud the Horse: Foal, Cloud the Horse: Age Two, and Cloud the Horse: Age Four are accompanied by support materials for the classroom that address science and language arts standards. Also available are lesson plans on identifying main ideas and characterization in connection with Cloud's story. After learning about Cloud, students may want to read the follow-up story and photo gallery for Cloud's Legacy: The Wild Stallion Returns.

Explore the ways horses communicate in Horse Ears from Dragonfly TV. PBS Learning Media provides a teachers' guide.

Check out these videos and articles from PBS Learning Media:

• The Role of Horses
• The World Famous Lippizaner Stallions
• Wild Horses
• Horse Whisperers
• Wild Horse Roundups: Why Are They Conducted?
• Horsepower

Find worksheets and lesson activities from Lesson Planet and KidsKonnect.

This lesson on the Hagerman Fossil Beds is designed for middle school and above but can be adapted for upper elementary students.