Horses are mighty creatures. They’ve been side by side with humans ever since the dawn. Horses have also been used in wars, as a means of transport, and even facilitated work in mines. Which means horses have been living for a very long period.
Modern day horses are what we usually imagine when we think of horses. It has a large body adapted for speed, with long legs and a long neck. What is unique about this is its foot shape. A single dominant hoof on each foot probably makes it easier to run on hard grounds. If we throw back 40 million years ago horses would be to absolutely different. Eohippus lived about 40 million years ago. It has a small body likely a size of a fox, with a body that looks more like a dog more than a horse. Even the foot structure is similar to modern dogs, with 4 toes on each and perhaps a paw.
In the following 10 million years, there appeared a Mesohippus. This ancestor showed a slight increase in sized and more of a horse-like built, with a longer neck and longer legs.It evolved from 4 toes and 3 toes, but with a middle toes looking like a little hoop. Living around 15 million years ago, Merychippus marks a significant evolution towards modern day horses. It was taller and had a horse-like head. Its feet evolved to mainly rely on the middle toe, with was larger and covered by a hoof, and with two smalller toes on each side not reaching the ground.
The evolution of horses over the past 40 million years is a fascinating journey for small toes to hoofed animals we recognize today. As the horse size increases this makes it shift to a stronger ability to move and run swiftly and work alongside humans for decades.