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I am going to be researching how horses are used in different countries compared to here in America. I realized that there is misconceptions about horses when my cousins from Michigan and Illinois asked me if we ride horses to school in Texas. This made me think further about how I probably have misconceptions or very little knowledge about how other countries utilize horses. I will first give some brief background on how we use horses here in America, then compare this to how they are used in Mexico, Spain, and Norway.

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I will be gathering information on this topic by researching how horses are used in America, Spain, Mexico, and Norway by using books, websites, and journal articles. I will then compare and explain the reasoning for the differences such as economical, cultural, and geographical aspects.

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Cultural: Horses here in America are tied to our western culture and played a huge role in many major historical events. We also embrace horse racing, and Kentucky is a massive part of that.

Economics: This brings me back to horse racing in Kentucky as the Kentucky Derby is a huge contributor to the economy. We engage in thoroughbred breeding that contributes to the racing but also just for other sales. We also use them for ranching as they help with cattle. We have tourist attractions where people can come learn about horses and ride them as well. I live by the Fort Worth Stockyards and just went to a horse show where they sell tickets and accept tips with my little cousins and learned a lot.

Geography/ Weather: We have a range of geography in America where in Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana are more likely to have horses for ranching purposes even though they all have different geography. In places like Kentucky and Maryland, they are used for racing and shows and leisure as in these areas the geography isn't as important, but rather a result of the culture.

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Cultural: In Mexico, there is Charro rodeos and Charro Days festival where they celebrate and remember the importance of horses in their culture. They also have the festival in Texas, to celebrate Mexican identity and the mix of cultures.

Economics: Their rodeo horses contribute to their economy as tourists come to watch. They also use them like we do for ranching and cattle herding. They widely use the Mexican Quarter Horse for work as well as in these rodeos and traditional events. However, numbers of horses are dwindling due to urbanization which has a negative effect on ranchers. However, there are breeding and conservation efforts happening to try and slow this decline.

Geography/ Weather: In the desert and dry weather of northern Mexico they use these same kinds of horses mostly just for working, but in Central Mexico they have more of a mix of working and show horses with the better weather.

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Cultural: In Norway, they mostly use the Norwegian Fjord Horse for farming and logging, and it is a symbol for the Norwegian countryside. Similar to Spain, they also use them in sport like for dressage and horse jumping.

Economics: The economics directly are effected by their cultural use. Tourists can come to watch these horses used for sport, while other horses are used to help with agriculture, much like how all of these countries we've talked about do as well.

Geography/ Weather: In Northern Norway these Norwegian Fjord Horses are built to withstand the very cold and mountainous areas while working. But in Southern area where the weather is better is where we can find more of the recreational sporting happening.

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After researching and comparing the way horses are used in America, Mexico, Spain, and Norway, I saw way more similarities than differences. Its safe to say a huge similarity is how they all contribute to the economy by working in livestock and cattle. I think Norway differed the most in this area due to their different geography and weather. The horses we are used to probably couldn't withstand the circumstances that the Norwegian Fjord Horses do. I also noticed how in America and Spain racing is a bigger deal, where in Mexico and Norway other equestrian events like show jumping and dressage are a bigger thing there. I think the way we use them is more similar than we might think, but we also wouldn't want to go switch out types of horses that are built for different areas or uses.

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Cultural: In Spain, horses are close to their culture because of their events like bullfighting, show jumping, and dressage which is kind of like horse ballet. They have festivals such as the Seville Fair where they have horseback parades.

Economics: Horses in Spain have somewhat similar economic uses as they do in America. They are used for managing cattle and tourism like us, but do more stuff with shows like dressage and jumping and traditional Spanish racing.

Geographical: In central Spain the horses are used for livestock and farming where its hot and flat. In southern Spain where its hot and dry they're used for cattle, bull riding, and traditional events like I talked about above. In Northeastern Spain they do more recreational riding and tourism because of the more mountainous land.

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Return to Freedom. 2016. Equine History. Retrieved from

https://returntofreedom.org/wild-horse-nation/history . Accessed 5 Mar. 2025

Aspin, P., & Thompson, K. (Eds.). (2023). Exploring the future of Mexico's horses: Trends in

population decline and optimism for revival. HorseLife. Retrieved from

https://horselife.org/the-fate-of-mexico-s-horses-declining-numbers-or-a-thriving-future .

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Rochmann, J., & László, Z. (2016). CURRENT BREEDING AND GENETIC HEALTH

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www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00438243.2012.647571,

https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.2012.647571. Accessed 6 Mar. 2025

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2025