THE HORSE AND ITS 

 RELATIVES 



CHAPTER I 



THE ZOOLOGICAL POSITION AND STRUCTURE 

 OF THE HORSE 



The difficulty which occurs in the case of the 

 ox ^ as to what is the proper English designation 

 of that animal does not arise in the present instance, 

 for although we not infrequently speak of a horse, 

 as distinct from a mare, there seems little doubt 

 that the former term is really a species-name, and 

 therefore applicable to both sexes of Equus caballus, 

 as the domesticated horse of Europe was called 

 by Linnaeus. 



As to the origin of the name horse — the equiva- 

 lent of the Anglo-Saxon hors, the Frisian hai's 

 or horSy the German ross, the Italian rozza, the 

 Old Saxon and Old German hj'os, and probably 

 the Persian ghor and the Hindustani ghora — there 

 has been some difference of opinion. It has been 

 stated, for instance, to take origin from the Sanskrit 



^ See The Ox and its Kindred., by R. Lydekker, London, 191 2. 



A 



