Specimens of Equus lenensis are primarily known from the northernmost part of Siberia, above the 60th parallel north,[3] though genetic evidence indicates that the lineage was present as far south as the foothills of the Altai mountains.

Frozen specimens (including the Selerikan as well as the female Indigirka/‘Sana" and Bilibino mummies) indicate that they were covered in long and thick hair, with the coat colour being brown to light bay/dun, with a dark to jet black mane, with the lower parts of the limbs (cannons) being considerably darker than the rest of the body, with at least some individuals having a dark eel stripe running along the back.

Dental mesowear analysis suggests that Lena horses were grazers, but also consumed other vegetation like browse and/or non woody herbaceous plants to some degree.

[10] Preserved colon contents of the Holocene "Yukagir horse" have supported a grazing, largely graminoid-based diet for E.

Due to the freezing temperatures of Siberia, which can go as low as −70 °C (−94 °F), the species probably had physiological adaptions similar to those of living Yakutian horses allowing them to tolerate the extreme cold.