30 Amazing Horse Facts for Kids (Including Why Horses Can't Throw Up)

Horses can't throw up, they can see almost all the way around without turning their heads, and they have to lie down to dream: those are just a few of the amazing horse facts for kids on this page. We checked vet and science sources for all 30 facts, and there's a quiz at the end.

Here's what got people asking. On X, people keep sharing that horses can't vomit or burp, a post about the shiny Akhal-Teke got more than 5,000 likes, and on September 23 someone shared a galloping horse animation made entirely with computer code. Let's find out what's true!

Horse facts for kids: the quick answer

The most surprising horse facts for kids are that horses can't throw up, can only breathe through their noses and have teeth that keep coming in their whole lives. They can also nap standing up, and when they gallop, all four hooves leave the ground at the same time.

Below are 30 facts in five groups: tummy, eyes and ears, teeth and hooves, gaits, and sleep and babies. Count how many you already knew!

Tummy facts: why horses can't throw up

1. Horses can't throw up. Where a horse's food tube meets its stomach, a strong ring of muscle works like a one-way door. Food can go down, but it can't come back up.

2. They basically can't burp, either. That same one-way door also keeps gas from escaping upward. So gas has to travel all the way through the gut and out the other end (yes, horses toot).

3. Horses make buckets of spit. A horse can make 9 to 10 gallons of saliva a day. It turns each bite of hay into a slippery ball that's easy to swallow.

4. A horse's stomach is small for its size. It holds only about 3 to 5 gallons, which is why horses are built to nibble small meals for at least 16 hours a day. In the wild, they graze and wander almost all day long.

5. The real food factory is in the back. A big pouch called the cecum holds about 7 to 10 gallons, and tiny helpful microbes inside break down tough grass. Horses have just one stomach, like you, not a four-part stomach like a cow.

6. Horses can only breathe through their noses. A flap in the throat keeps the mouth closed off from the airway except when they swallow. When a horse runs hard, its big nostrils open wider to pull in more air.

7. Food coming out of the nose is not vomit. It's usually a sign of choke, which means food is stuck in the food tube. That's an emergency, so tell a grown-up right away so they can call the vet.

Why this matters for real horses

Because a horse can't throw up, bad food stays inside, and a tummy ache called colic can be serious. Get a grown-up fast if you see a horse:

• Pawing the ground again and again or kicking at its belly
• Lying down and rolling from side to side
• Turning to look back at its sides
• Refusing food or sweating and acting very uncomfortable

Our health basics page has more on keeping horses healthy.

Eye, ear and face facts

8. Horses have some of the biggest eyes of any land mammal. Their eyes sit on the sides of the head, which is perfect for spotting danger.

9. Horses can see almost all the way around. They notice movement across about 340 degrees without turning their heads. But they have two blind spots: right in front of the nose and right behind the tail.

That's why you should always walk up to a horse from the side while talking softly, and never walk right behind one. Our safety guide has more barn rules.

10. Horses see colors, just fewer of them. Scientists think their color vision is a lot like a person's with red-green color blindness, so reds and greens are hard for them to tell apart. Their eyesight is also a little blurrier than yours.

11. Horses have a third eyelid. This pinkish-white eyelid hides in the inside corner of each eye and slides across to protect the eyeball.

12. Each ear moves on its own. A horse can point one ear at you and the other at a noisy tractor, and horses hear better than people do. Where the ears point shows you what the horse is paying attention to.

13. Horses make lots of faces. In 2015, scientists at the University of Sussex listed 17 different facial movements horses can make, more than chimpanzees (13) or dogs (16) but fewer than humans (27). Learn to read them on our behavior page.

Teeth and hoof facts

14. Foals have baby teeth. A foal has 24 baby teeth that fall out as grown-up teeth come in.

15. Grown-up horses have 36 to 44 teeth. Males usually have 40 to 44 because they grow pointy canine teeth, which most mares don't get.

16. Horse teeth keep coming in for life. Horse teeth are super long, and they slowly push up out of the gums to replace the part that gets ground down by chewing.

17. Horses need a dentist. Chewing can leave sharp points, so a vet or equine dentist files them smooth, which is called "floating." A vet can also guess a horse's age range by looking at its teeth.

18. Hooves are made of the same stuff as your fingernails. It's called keratin, and like your nails, hooves keep growing. A farrier trims them about every 6 to 8 weeks.

19. A horse stands on one giant toe. The hoof wraps around the last bone of a single toe, like the tip of your middle finger. The earliest horse ancestors, which lived about 50 million years ago, had four toes on each front foot!

Find the hoof, the withers and more on our anatomy page.

Horse gaits for kids: how a horse gallops

20. Most horses have four natural gaits. A gait is a way of moving the legs, and each one has its own rhythm you can hear.

21. In a gallop, a horse flies. For a split second, all four hooves are off the ground. In 1878, photographer Eadweard Muybridge proved it with a row of cameras in Palo Alto, California, and the photos showed the legs tucked under the belly, not stretched out like in old paintings.

Try it: just like the code-drawn horse shared on September 23, a gallop can be broken into poses. Watch a slow-motion gallop with a grown-up and count 1, 2, 3, 4... fly!

22. One gallop stride can cover more than 24 feet. Racing breeds like Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses can gallop faster than 40 miles per hour.

23. Vets watch horses trot to find a sore leg. At the trot, a horse's head stays pretty steady, so a limp is easier to spot.

24. Some horses have extra gaits. Icelandic horses can tölt, Tennessee Walking Horses do a running walk, and Paso Finos, loved in Colombia and Puerto Rico, have a quick, smooth four-beat gait. These gaits feel like gliding. Scientists have linked many of these gaits to a gene called DMRT3.

Meet more breeds on our breeds page.

Sleep, baby and golden-horse facts

25. Horses can nap standing up. A set of tendons and ligaments called the stay apparatus locks their legs so they can doze without falling over.

26. But they have to lie down to dream. Dream sleep, called REM sleep, only happens when a horse lies down, usually flat on its side. Grown-up horses sleep only about 3 to 4 hours a day in short naps, and about 40 minutes of that is REM sleep.

27. A horse mom is pregnant for about 11 months. And most foals are born at night.

28. Foals get up fast. A healthy foal should stand within about 1 hour of being born and start nursing within 2 hours. Vets call these milestones part of the "1-2-3 rule."

29. Horses have special names. A baby is a foal. A young girl horse is a filly, a young boy horse is a colt, a grown-up mom is a mare and a grown-up dad is a stallion.

30. Some horses look like they're made of gold. The Akhal-Teke (say "ak-uhl-TECK-ee") from Turkmenistan has a metallic shine because of the way its hairs bend light. Our Akhal-Teke guide, linked at the end of this page, explains the science.

Quiz: test your horse facts

Cover the answers with your hand, then check!

1. Can a horse throw up? No. A one-way muscle door keeps food in the stomach.
2. Name the four gaits, from slowest to fastest. Walk, trot, canter, gallop.
3. Where are a horse's two blind spots? Right in front of its nose and right behind its tail.
4. What are hooves made of? Keratin, just like your fingernails.
5. How does a horse breathe when it runs? Only through its nose.
6. What does a horse have to do to dream? Lie down.
7. Which breed looks metallic gold? The Akhal-Teke.

Got 5 or more right? You're a horse expert! Keep the fun going with our free horse games and more activities in the kids section.

What to do next

• Meet horses safely. Always go with a grown-up, walk up from the side, and never walk behind a horse. Read our safety guide and the Horse Safety for Kids article in the related reads.
• Learn the words. Look up gaits, floating and more in our glossary.
• Compare golden coats. See how a palomino differs from a shiny Akhal-Teke on our coat colors and markings page.
• Teachers and parents: turn this list into a classroom fact hunt with our parents and teachers resources.

What to watch next

At the end of October, big horse races like the Breeders' Cup are a great chance to see a real gallop, so count the beats together. And check our trends page for the next horse question everyone's asking.