Equus Evolutionary Periods
There are those (including paleontologist Michael Voorhies) who characterize the evolution of horses as more like a bush than a tree, with starts and stops and major jumps in the development of genetic traits. This development took place over the course of at least 55 million years and covered at least five sub-periods of geologic time. Paleontologist Kathleen Hunt has suggested the following evolutionary tree, with the major development path and the geologic periods highlighted. Click on the each of the equus evolutionary periods to get additional information.
