The entire way their legs and hoofs are built. They’d have paws with massive claws and massive legs. They’d run more like a big cats.
Man I wish we had shittywatercolour here to draw this up.
this post was submitted on 18 Sep 2023
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Oh man, I didn't even realize this about animals. Hoofed animals are usually herbivores. That's so interesting! And a horse with claws would be terrifying!
So, they'd be tigers?
Wargs!
Horses are known to eat small animals. There's a video floating around of a horse eating a chick (baby chicken).
So many people seem to not realize this.
Most animals will eat whatever they can get in their mouth. They may be specialized for some things, but it's not like koalas won't eat bugs.
Especially for, like, typical, common animals. My ducks eat anything. It's especially fun when one of them catches a tiny snake.
People also seem to ask me what I feed them a lot and then get confused when I tell them I feed them duck food, as if they don't feed their dogs dog food and their cats cat food.
Since they would be predators, their eyes would be positioned on the front of their skulls instead of the sides for better stereoscopic vision, and they would likely have sharp incisor teeth. Those 2 things alone are pretty creepy.
Yes, super scary. And another commenter mentioned they would also have paws with claws and legs more like big cats. Oh man
That would make it significantly more expensive to raise and stable a horse, making them unsuitable for labor or war for all but the most wealthy, and even then it would be a dangerous prospect to raise or ride one, as we are made of meat. Other animals like oxen or elephants would probably fill this void, and lands with climates that support them would become far more valuable. Overall there would be a lot less energy available to pre-industrial people and travel over land would be a lot more difficult.
Plains nomads probably wouldn't exist or would lose their historical advantage. The Huns, the Golden Horde, etc., probably would not have risen to prominence.
I am not disagreeing with you - but would it not be just as likely that if the horse was not a viable choice, humans would domesticate some other animal - cow, deer, etc.
Imagine warriors come riding on a friggin' elk!
There was a girl in my country that taught her cow to jump like a hores, because she wouldn't get a hores. So give it some time and dedication we could probably beed up some really nice battel cows.
If horses were obligate carnivores, they probably wouldn't have been as readily domesticated. It's cheaper to feed a plant-eater than a meat-eater. Dogs are omnivores, for example, because human scraps are often plant-based so it was an advantage to be able to eat more plants than a wolf might have.
And if horses weren't domesticated, that would have changed the development of technology and warfare massively. We might have still had the wheel from the potter's wheel, but things like carts and chariots might not have developed and spread like they did if one of the main animals to pull carts was not domesticated.
The way the horse and stirrup changed warfare also would have made ancient war very different, as there'd be no sudden incursions of horse-mounted warriors invading various regions at various times so I bet a lot of national borders in the modern day would be quite different.
Eh, I mean, donkeys? Camels? Elephants? We'd probably just use different animals.
brb, saddling up my buffalo
Large animals that were difficult or costly to domesticate (like the Aurochs) were generally just wiped out.
My guess is if horses were carnivores they would be extinct or limited to a few in zoos and some of the wilder places (like tigers).
Watch LotR to see ridden carnivores.
I don't know, how would the world be different, but to spark your fantasy, imagine horses being herbivores, but turn carnivorous at every conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn (~ every 20 years).
That one person you know who absolutely loves horses would be a lot creeper
Not really. People still love cats, and cats are as carnivorous as it gets.
Are you asking if I'd watch that movie? Because the answer is 'yes'.
Equestricarn
That name is killer
So is the horse in this movie.
Is it a real movie? I couldn't find it as an actual movie. I meant that that name I an awesome one for a movie about carnivorous horses.
Also, your username has real Space Ghost Coast to Coast vibes, and I'm diggin it!
We would be riding cows instead.
Farmers would complain about their chickens getting eaten.
That already happens all the time
Yeah but now they'd be saying it was horses and not foxes or wolves.
My grandma's dogs ate all of her neighbours chickens 😆
And cats don't get along as well.
Now that i think about it, i believe the only reason chickens haven't gone extint is beacause we farm them in order to eat them 🍗
I have no doubt my dogs would eat all my chickens if I had them. My sister has a farm and when I visit, the dogs go apeshit trying to get at her chickens.
That already happens.
Horses will eat chicks like popcorn. https://youtube.com/shorts/fg2mJ4veuAY?si=pZWcrA2Jb0ThDmU2
Horses would probably be dead or endangered if they were more trouble than they were worth.
I read that as cannibals imao. I would imagine in a world like that there would be shows where horses would face each other to the death in a battle and eat the loser in front of everyone.
You reminded me of a standup show by Anthony Clark (He was the main on the show, Yes, Dear) where he talked about growing up on a farm and always thought about feeding the cows a hamburger, lol.
Pigs will eat anything you give them. It would be very easy to feed pork to pigs.
I'm too busy imagining getting run down by a teeth-gnashing Clydesdale and pissing myself to answer the question
Please send help. 🧠