New sections (following what has been completed)
Part 2
Gapped words in red
Horses are measured in ‘hands’ (a unit measuring 10.16 cm.
Smallest horses < 8 hands, largest > 20 hands.
[allow space only for numbers]
Now listen to the next section of the talk and complete
the notes as you listen.
Horses naturally live in herds, protecting each other e.g. taking turns to
sleep.
[Listening buttons]
Because their stomachs are small they eat night and day.
[accept eat / feed]
Horses’ teeth never stop growing.
Their noses are very sensitive and also very versatile (can do many
things)
[accept nose]
A horse can see things further away if it raises its neck. [accept raise /
raising]
Horses can point their ears in all directions and this is often an indication
of their mood.
[turn / point]
Part 3
As you listen, decide whether the following statements match what Grace says. Type t for true if they match what she say and f for false
if they do not. Press Enter to check your answers. [Make this wording match the previous T/F exercises e.g. the Councillor]
True

Horses naturally stay still most of the time
Horses can be frightened by the noise of the wind


Horses naturally prefer to live alone
Horses should be checked every day
False

Horses stay together with other horses if they are ill

Horse’s coats often become shiny when they are ill

Horse bites are a big problem

Not eating can be a sign of stomach ache

A horse rolling on its back may have serious stomach ache

Horses often require dental attention

Part 4
[The first tick (in black font) is given]
Grace goes on to talk about the
advantages of shoeing horses and
not shoeing them.
Click on a box to show whether the
statements relate to the
consequences of shoeing or not.
Most people do this to their horses
Good for horses kept in castles
Horses probably live longer
Increased shock to horse’s legs
Horses need to live outdoors
Horses’ hair needs to stay long
Easier to control horse’s diet
Horses stay cleaner
Horses may suffer more field injuries
More fresh air
More convenient for owner
Shoeing






Not shoeing





Looking after horses - Part 1
The anatomy of the horse
Before you listen take one minute to look at
the picture. How many words can you think
of related to the horse’s anatomy - the
horse’s body?
Continue 
Image from http://www.highcountryphotography.com/tack/images/horse.jpg -
The anatomy of the horse
As you listen to the talk about horses, click
to select the special vocabulary
mentioned, then click again on the place
in the notes or the picture where the word
should go.
A male horse is called
a _______
farrier
foal
A female horse is
called a _______
A young horse is
called a _______
Someone who rides in
a horse race is a
_______
A _______ looks after
horses.
groom
hooves
jockey
mare
quarters
A _______ fits horse
shoes.
stables
Horses are kept in
_______
stallion
withers
Continue 
Click to highlight and select words in box. If possible, the student can either click, or drag and drop to enter the word in the correct
space
Answers
A male horse is called
a stallion.
farrier
foal
A female horse is
called a mare.
groom
A young horse is
called a foal.
hooves
Someone who rides in
a horse race is a
jockey.
jockey
mare
A groom looks after
horses.
quarters
A farrier fits horse
shoes.
stables
Horses are kept in
stables.
stallion
withers
The anatomy of the horse
As you listen to the talk about horses, click
to select the special vocabulary
mentioned, then click again on the place
in the notes or the picture where the word
should go.
A male horse is called
a stallion.
farrier
foal
A female horse is
called a mare.
A young horse is
called a foal.
Someone who rides in
a horse race is a
jockey.
A groom looks after
horses.
groom
hooves
jockey
mare
quarters
A farrier fits horse
shoes.
stables
Horses are kept in
stables.
stallion
withers
The anatomy of the horse
As you listen to the talk about horses, click
to select the special vocabulary
mentioned, then click again on the place
in the notes or the picture where the word
should go.
barrel
hock
croup
hooves
dock
loin
fetlock
mane
flank
muzzle
forelegs
quarters
forelock
stifle
haunch
withers
hindlegs
Continue 
This is where I think I need to take your advice, Don.
The places for the labels to go are indicated in:
http://people.bath.ac.uk/mlstjf/alielts/photos/grace/horse%20pics.doc
I don’t want to mess around with pictures – or mark in hotspots for labels, until we know which one we’ll use, etc. it may be better to
leave all this to you in any case.
(I’m not entirely satisfied with this image – I wonder if a line drawing would be better)
Tapescript
1. The horse’s anatomy
As you listen to the talk about horses, click to select the special vocabulary mentioned, then click again on the place in the notes or
the picture where the word should go.
Well, firstly I’m going to give you some of the vocabulary you’ll need to know when we talk about horses. There are special words
for males and females. A male horse is called a stallion, a female horse a mare and the word for a very young horse, a baby horse,
is a foal. The person who rides horses in a race is a jockey. Someone who is employed to look after horses and clean out the
stables (those are the buildings where horses are kept) is called a groom. A person who makes and fits horseshoes is known as a
farrier.
Now if you can look at the picture of the horse, I’ll mention some of the specialised terms we use when talking about a horse’s
anatomy.
Starting at the head, we call the area around the nostrils and the mouth together the muzzle.
On the top of the head there’s a little tuft of hair between the ears which we call the forelock, but you can see most of the horse’s
hair covers the neck. The top part of the neck is called the crest and it is from here that the horse’s hair – its mane – grows.
Going down from the neck, the higher part of the back, where the neck joins the back, is known as the withers. When you measure
the height of a horse you should measure from the ground to the top of the withers. Then there is a dip in the back, where you sit –
and then the part which goes up again towards the rear end of the horse is referred to as the loin. The loin is not strong enough to
support a rider – you should sit on the back, not on the loin of the horse when you ride. The highest point at the rear of the horse is
called the croup and the place where the tail joins the croup is the dock.
So I’ve dealt with the top of the horse. The whole of the back end of the horse right down to the top of the hind leg is called the
quarters. This is really the engine of the horse – where all the strongest muscles are. Moving down from the top, the area around
the hip of the animal, below the croup, is the haunch. And going down again the technical term for the area right at the top of the
leg is the stifle joint.
If you look at the middle of the horse - in other words, the area of the horse below the saddle and the loin – we call this the barrel.
And below that, underneath the animal is the belly. Between the belly and the quarters is an area called the flank.
Lastly then, the legs themselves. A horse is a quadruped, an animal with four legs – two fore legs (the ones at the front) and two
hind legs (at the back) and its four hooves – these hard parts which have direct contact with the ground – are the equivalent of
human fingers and toes. It’s sometimes said that horses have five hearts – the real heart and the four hooves, because when the
hooves land on the ground they expand (and fill with blood) and then they contract again when the legs lift up from the ground, and
this helps to pump the blood around the body.
Obviously the legs of horses are proportioned differently to ours. The hooves are the equivalent of our fingers, and what we call the
knee, half way down the horse’s front legs, really corresponds to a human wrist joint. Then on the hind legs, the large joint, half way
down the leg, is known as the hock. This is the equivalent of our heel joint. The main joint between the knee or hock and hoof is
known as the fetlock.
So much for the terminology. Now I want to tell you about what horses are like as animals.
Now listen to the next section of the talk and complete the notes as you listen.
2. About the horse
Well, there are many kinds of horses. And horses of all sizes. I’ve already mentioned that when we measure a horse we measure
from the ground to the withers. The unit of measurement that we tend to use is a hand. A hand is equivalent to 10.16 centimetres.
There are miniature horses which are under eight hands in height – that can only ever be ridden by very small children. At the other
end of the scale, the world record height for a horse is just over twenty hands. That’s over 2.2 metres. So it would be very difficult to
mount a horse that high!
Horses have been bred for thousands of years, but we can still find herds of wild horses even today. Horses naturally live together
in herds, and horses live most comfortably in groups. Although they occasionally fight, they mostly tend to look after one another.
For example, you can often see horses standing in a line using their tails to flick the flies away from one another’s faces.
Although they are big animals, horses are always on the look-out for predators. And as animals of prey they have well developed
senses to help make them aware of signs of danger.
Horses only sleep deeply for about an hour or two during the day and in the wild horses take it in turns to sleep so that the herd is
protected. But horses can sleep for very short periods standing up and they do this quite frequently during the day.
Horses have quite small stomachs and they eat almost constantly when they are awake. During the night they use the whiskers
around their muzzles and their long eyelashes as feelers to avoid bumping into things.
They have teeth which never stop growing and it is possible to tell a horse’s age by looking at its teeth. But the action of grinding on
food keeps their teeth from growing too much and keeps their mouth in shape.
A horse’s nose is a very sensitive and a very versatile organ. It is more sensitive to smell than the human nose and horses have a
good memory for smell too. When horses smell something new or interesting to them they will smell, then close their nostrils and
hold their head high up and kind of think about the smell, and try and analyse it.
But horses also use their noses to show affection, to groom one another (in other words to brush and clean one another’s coats)
and generally to do things that we would normally do with our hands and fingers, like pushing gates open.
Horses have good eyesight, they have a wide field of vision and can see well both close up and into the distance. And a horse
adjusts its focus of vision as it raises and lowers its neck. So it will raise its head higher to see into the distance and lower it to focus
in on something. Sometimes you will see a horse move its head up and down in order to see something that has just come into its
field of vision.
Horses have good hearing too and can turn their ears in almost any direction they like. If they turn their ears to point forward it
shows you that the horse is alert, and possibly excited or nervous. When a horse is more relaxed it holds its ears sideways.
Pointing the ears backwards can mean the horse is interested in something going on behind it or it can indicate aggressiveness,
especially in a stallion if the ears are flat back and the head pointing forwards.
Listen to the next section of the talk and answer the questions as you listen.
3. Looking after a horse
So some of the ways in which horse tend to be kept are rather unnatural and horse owners should be aware of this. Horses are
often kept for long periods in stables, but in the wild horses are on the move all the time. I’ve already described how the hooves
help to pump the blood around the body when a horse is moving. Horses can also get nervous or frightened in enclosed spaces,
particularly if there is noise outside such as a strong wind. Also, as I mentioned before, horses prefer to have company. It’s better
even for them to be together with other animals – even cows or sheep – rather than live in isolation.
If you own a horse, you should check every day to make sure your horse is healthy. If there is a problem you may well get a sense
of this even before you get close up to the horse. Often a sick horse will distance itself from the group, so this is something to look
out for. And you’ll be able to see if the horse is feeding and moving about normally.
One of the first indicators of ill-health is that the coat will lose its shine. When a horse is distressed its body temperature will
increase and it will sweat or feel chilled. And this causes the hairs of the horse’s coat to stand out erect from the skin, and because
of this the coat goes kind of dull-looking.
You should check for cuts, particularly to the legs, and for bites. Horses sometimes injure one another, but normally not too
seriously. And you should check under their hooves because they can easily get infected if they get cut by something underfoot.
If a horse has stomach-ache, it may stop eating and make a grumbling noise. If it gets serious the horse may roll over in pain onto
its back. Horses seem generally to be able to withstand quite a lot of pain and so if you see a horse rolling around like this,
obviously in pain, you should call the vet at once.
The horse’s teeth should be checked regularly by a dental technician. Often a horse’s teeth need to be filed smooth if they have
developed sharp edges because they haven’t worn evenly through grinding.
4. Shoeing horses
As I mentioned at the beginning, a blacksmith who specialises in shoeing horses is called a farrier. Most people do have their
horses shod, but many feel and my own feeling is that it is not necessary – indeed it’s not good thing to shoe horses.
It’s probably the case that horses first started being shod regularly in mediaeval times when they were kept inside castles. If a
horse is constantly on hard ground and particularly if it is kept in a confined space (like a castle), then there are clearly advantages
in shoeing a horse. It will protect the hoof from injury and infection. And because the horses in the castles all had shoes, then the
practice of shoeing horses became fashionable, like a status symbol.
But research has shown that horses who are shod may well have a shorter life expectancy. Shoes can restrict the growth of the
hoof and do damage to the horse’s feet and body because they increase the amount of shock to the leg, whereas hooves are
natural shock absorbers.
But not only that. As I mentioned before, the hooves naturally act as a kind of heart and help pump blood around the body. So there
are a whole range of problems that might occur because of the practice of shoeing a horse.
Not shoeing a horse, however, has implications about the way in which you look after the horse. The horse will have to live
outdoors rather than stay in a stable. In the winter time you have to allow the horse’s coat to grow, which may restrict the way in
which you ride or exercise the horse because it may get hot and sweaty if its coat is not clipped.
One of the advantages of keeping a horse in stables is that you can control what the horse eats. You can stop the horse from
overeating and make sure is doesn’t eat anything dangerous.
And horses in the field suffer field injuries from time to time, sometimes when other horses kick or bite. But keeping a horse in
stables means it lives in a dusty environment and is deprived of fresh air.
In a stable the horse can be kept clean. If they live out they get muddy, they get dirty, and you have to clean them.
On balance, I would argue that a horse without shoes can do anything that a horse with shoes can. But it may take a bit longer to
get used to things like riding over hard or rough ground. And it may make life a bit less convenient for the owner when a horse is
free to roam in a field rather than kept in a stable.
$
Follow-up questions
Order of questions
1. How long have people been riding horses?
How long have people been riding horses?
We know that the horse was domesticated at least 6000 years ago – probably much longer.
How fast can a horse run?
How fast can a horse run?
A racehorse can reach about 45 miles per hour – that’s 60 kilometres per hour.
What is the average life expectancy for a horse?
What is the average life expectancy for a horse?
Horses normally live to about 30. The record is supposed to be 62 years old.
What is the difference between a horse, a pony and a donkey?
What is the difference between a horse, a pony and a donkey?
You can tell a donkey by the size of its ears. A pony is generally smaller than a horse.
How many foals does a mare have?
How many foals does a mare have?
Normally just one - twins are rare.
Do horses get more injuries if they are not shod?
Do horses get more injuries if they are not shod?
It really depends on the kind of ground and what you expect the horse to do.
Why is a horseshoe considered to be a sign of good luck?
Why is a horseshoe considered to be a sign of good luck?
One theory is that it is the shape of a crescent moon, which is a symbol of prosperity.
How can horses sleep when standing?
How can horses sleep when standing?
They have a special joint in their legs which locks so that they don’t fall down.
What is the normal size of a herd of horses?
What is the normal size of a herd of horses?
Herds can be big, but within the herd horses stay in very small groups of three, four or five.
Are wild horses dangerous?
Are wild horses dangerous?
No, horses are naturally shy of people, but they will protect themselves or their young if threatened.
Are there any wild horses in Britain?
Are there any wild horses in Britain?
No, but there are many places in the U.K. where you can find wild ponies.
Order of answers
No, horses are naturally shy of people, but they will protect themselves or their young if threatened.
A racehorse can reach about 45 miles per hour – that’s 60 kilometres per hour.
No, but there are many places in the U.K. where you can find wild ponies
We know that the horse was domesticated at least 6000 years ago – probably much longer.
Horses normally live to about 30. The record is supposed to be 62 years old.
One theory is that it is the shape of a crescent moon, which is a symbol of prosperity.
You can tell a donkey by the size of its ears. A pony is generally smaller than a horse.
Herds can be big, but within the herd horses stay in very small groups of three, four or five.
Normally just one - twins are rare.
They have a special joint in their legs which locks so that they don’t fall down.
It really depends on the kind of ground and what you expect the horse to do.