Are Horses and Cows Related? (Find Out!)

I was on a day trip to a petting zoo during the weekend and got to spend time with all sorts of farm animals, horses, cows, chickens, goats, and sheep to name a few.

While I was there, watching the horses and cows both slowly chew on grass, I started to wonder, are horses and cows related?

The answer is no, horses and cows are not closely related. Although both animals are mammals and commonly found on farms, they only share a very distant ancestor. Horses and cows appear to have some similarities like walking on four legs, being covered by hair, and having tails, but they are more different than they are alike.

It is interesting to see such unrelated animals share so much in common, at least outwardly.

We will get into some of the ways horses and cows are similar, and some of the more hidden ways they are different, below.

How closely related are horses and cows?

The common ancestor of horses and cows goes back quite a ways, potentially about 78 million years.

Although both animals are mammals, they belong to different orders within the mammal classification.

One of the distinct differences that you can see is in the number of toes they have.

Horses have essentially one toe for each foot, their hoof.

So horses are grouped with odd-toed hoofed animals.

Cows, by contrast, have an even number of toes on each foot.

Horses and cows also have very different digestive systems that lead to important distinctions in the sort of animal they are, which we will describe below.

How are horses and cows similar?

Horses and cows share many similarities, and some of them are why you’ll find them on the same farms.

Both animals are herbivores, meaning they eat only plants, primarily grass and hay.

Horses and cows eat slightly different amounts each day, but it is a lot of food for either animal, around 2% of their body weight each day.

Horses and cows are also both herd animals, meaning they prefer to live with other horses or cows.

They are very social in that way and also derive a lot of protection from the sense of the herd.

Horses, particularly, have a strong flight instinct when faced with a threat and will take a signal to flee from the horses around them, even if they haven’t perceived the threat directly themselves.

How are horses and cows different?

There are a lot of differences between horses and cows, owing to their differing ancestry.

Starting at the top, horses ears are on the top of their head while cows have ears on the side of their head.

They also have different teeth.

Horses have more teeth since they have both upper and lower teeth, while cows only have front teeth for their lower jaw with not top teeth

This means they also eat differently. Cows grab grass with their tongue, while horses can bite their forage with their front teeth.

They also can grab food with their lips, as anyone who has fed a friendly horse a treat likely knows!

These differences continue through their digestive system.

Cows are ruminants, and are built to with four compartments to their stomachs.

Horses, by contrast, do not have multiple compartments to their stomachs.

They have a simple stomach more like a human’s, with a digestive system designated into two sections, the foregut and the hindgut.

You can also tell just from looking at cows and horses they have several other differences.

Cows have stockier bodies and shorter legs.

Cows can’t kick or rear as horses can.

Cows also walk more slowly.

One other interesting difference you wouldn’t know without spending time with them, cows are harder to train than horses.

This makes sense, as you hardly ever see someone riding a cow!

Cows are said to be less intelligent, which makes it harder to gain their trust as well.

Can a horse and cow crossbreed?

While horses and cows are of similar size and can live practically side-by-side, they cannot crossbreed.

Their genetics do not allow for productive mating.

The DNA of a cow and horse are too dissimilar to produce any offspring, even if a horse and cow attempted to mate or if their owners attempted to artificially create offspring.

Some animals, like a donkey and a horse, can successfully crossbreed and produce sterile offspring who cannot have offspring themselves.

This is not the case for horses and cows, who cannot breed at all.

Do horses and cows get along?

Both horses and cows will generally primarily prefer to be pastured with their own species.

However, you will often find them living comfortably side-by-side on a farm, and they can spend time together in the same living space.

As we mentioned, both cows and horses are social animals and prefer to have pasture-mates.

If a horse or cow is lonely for lack of their own kind, they may grow quite fond of a companion of the other species!

The main concern about having horses and cows in the same field is not even really will they get along.

As long as there is ample space they should do fine.

There are other concerns about providing the appropriate food or forage, as horses and cows eat slightly different types of grasses.

One upside, however, is that if your horses have eaten in an odd pattern, your cows will probably even it out by grazing in the areas that the horses previously avoided.

If you are supplementing either animal’s diet with grain you should probably separate them for that feeding.

Cattle and cow feed is dangerous to feed to horses.

The fencing is also a concern, as each animal has its own safety protocols.

You’ll often see the white post fencing for horses, but cows and cattle often have barbed-wire fences.

These fences are dangerous for horses and should never be used where you want to put your horses out.