Have you ever heard someone saying "My car has a lot of horsepower"? What does that mean? Do they have horses in their car? No, this is just a way in which we can measure power - the power of one horse.
Long before we had cars and trains, horses helped to get people and things from one place to another. Horses pulled carts full of vegetables and carriages full of people. They also helped to plough the field and some of them even helped pulling boats which is called a 'barge'. The people would fasten a rope to the horse and the horse would walk next to the canal and pull this flat bottomed boat.
Today these beautiful animals still help people a lot. A farmer will ride on his horse to herd cattle and sheep. Horses can travel great distances and can even go where there is no road.
Police can also use horses to help to keep order. The officers sit on the horse and they can easily see over the crowds if somebody is behaving badly and they can also move quickly to where they are needed, because the horses can run fast.
In some countries where there are a lot of hills or mountains, people will mostly travel on horse back.
There is an expression that says 'Working like a dog' and that is true for some dogs. Many dogs just lay and play around the house and garden, but some dogs are specially trained to do hard work for us.
They can pull sleds, herd sheep and cattle, hunt for missing people, sniff out drugs and help people with disabilities.
Some dogs are bred for specific jobs. A Beagle for instance has a very keen sense of smell - forty times more powerful than a human's, so this means they can be trained to become good sniffer dogs,
The German Shepherd is a breed of dog that is clever and obedient and they make excellent police dogs.
Labradors are very gentle and kind dogs and they are very suited to help people with disabilities. People with disabilities like being blind or deaf for instance will have these specially trained service dogs to be their 'ears and eyes'. The dogs are trained so well and they can even open doors and pick up things.
Have a look at how clever and well trained these dogs can be.
Long before the internet and cellphones, they actually used pigeons during World War 1 to carry messages from one place to another.
Oxen pull carts and donkeys and camels and elephants can carry goods or people.
Animals are amazing and very useful to us. We would surely struggle to do certain things without animals around.
Animals can work very hard, they do not complain and they do not expect to be payed, so the least we can do is love the animals and make sure they get enough hugs, food and water and are being cared for with love.
