ひき or 頭 for horses?


Initially I'd thought ひき is for small animals and 頭 is for animals that are
not small ("big" animals) however EDICT
(<http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~jwb/cgi-
bin/wwwjdic.cgi?1MUE%E3%81%B2%E3%81%8D>) seems to claim that horses belong to
the ひき group and not the 頭 group (yet of course I think we can agree that a
horse is not "small" at all!).

1) Basically I was wondering is it true that "horses" is the exception where
we ignore the "small" / "big" rule and they are always counted with ひき
(regardless of the size of the horse) instead of 頭 ?

2) Are there any cases when ひき is used to refer to a _non-small_ animal?




I don't personally know the answer, but exploring my way through EDICT:

a) In the definition, sense 3 - counter for horses - is listed only as "き
only" (so not ひき); it is also marked as an archaic term.

b) Skimming the examples page for 馬, I could only find one example using a
counter:

> そのレースで争った馬は４頭だけだった。
>
> Only four horses competed in the race.

**Edit:**

Actually, I found another one as well:

> 彼は牛を２頭の馬と交換した。
>
> He exchanged his cow for two horses.

So both of the examples use 頭 for the counter.




I don't personally know the answer, but exploring my way through EDICT:

a) In the definition, sense 3 - counter for horses - is listed only as "き
only" (so not ひき); it is also marked as an archaic term.

b) Skimming the examples page for 馬, I could only find one example using a
counter:

> そのレースで争った馬は４頭だけだった。
>
> Only four horses competed in the race.

**Edit:**

Actually, I found another one as well:

> 彼は牛を２頭の馬と交換した。
>
> He exchanged his cow for two horses.

So both of the examples use 頭 for the counter.

