Horses in Life and Culture

The horse is a large animal which was domesticated about 5,000 years ago. Now it’s impossible to imagine our life without horses. There are more than 300 different breeds and 60 million horses in the world today that are used as working animals (to pull the ploughs in the field and transport heavy loads), for racing, competitions and shows, for recreation and so on. In the USA alone, 4.6 million Americans work in the horse industry which earns 39 billion dollars per year.

Rodeo is a very popular competitive sport which developed from horse farming in Mexico and later continued in many other countries. It came out of the daily practices and tasks performed by ranch workers who spent long hours with horses. Actually, a rodeo is based on the skills required of the working cowboys. Now it is a professional sport that consists of several events organized to show the skill and speed of the participants, cowboys and even cowgirls.

With The American Rodeo computer game you’ll find yourself right in the middle of the rodeo arena. Finally here is a chance for you to try this sport with this incredibly realistic new software. The horse will start jumping when you press the "GO" button. Your task in this game is to keep the rider on the horse all the time until the end of the game, otherwise you lose. Of course, you can replay as many times as you want, just fix the mouse cursor on the rider’s body as long as you can.

Children with certain health or behavioral problems often have a low self-esteem and difficulties connecting with other people. Sometimes they are also unable to express their feelings. Working with a horse is an effective way for such children to work through some of their problems because it’s easy for kids to project their own needs onto an animal, to tell their own stories from an animal’s point of view, and then to be able to find healthier solutions to their personal problems.

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is a children’s animated fantasy TV series based on Hasbro’s line of toys and animated works. Its creative director Lauren Faust managed to create attractive characters and adventurous settings that are now loved by girls all over the world. The main character is the unicorn pony named Twilight Sparkle and she learns about friendship in the town of Ponyville with five other ponies. The series has become a major commercial success with kids.

As My Little Pony series became the most highly rated original production in the Hub Network’s broadcast history, it opened new merchandising opportunities for Hasbro. Now girls go crazy about anything with an image of the cartoon characters on it ${\displaystyle –}$ books, clothing, collectible trading cards, puzzles, and comics. Mind you, anything with a picture of Pinkie Pie or Applejack on it will be much more expensive than the regular thing, but this doesn’t stop either kids or their parents.

People domesticated horses so long ago that it’s no wonder we have so many idiomatic expressions with the word horse in many languages of the world. English is certainly not an exception here. For instance, if you are flogging a dead horse, it means you are wasting your time trying to do something when it is impossible. A dark horse is a candidate that is unknown to the public or a person who surprises people by doing something that they do not expect. It’s fun to learn such phrases.