MAMMALIA. 



THE DOMESTIC HORSE. 



EQUUS CABALLUS DOMESTICUS. 



In the domestic horse we behold an animal equally strong and beautiful ; endowed 

 with great docility and no less fire ; with size and endurance joined to sobriety, speed 

 and patience ; clean, companionable, emulous^ even generous ; forbearing, yet impetu- 

 ous ; with faculties susceptible of very considerable education, and perceptions which 

 catch the spirit of man's intentions, lending his powers with the utmost readiness, and 

 restraining them with as ready a compliance : saddled or in harness, laboring willingly, 

 enjoying the sports of the field and exulting in the tumult of battle ; used by mankind 

 in the most laudable and necessary operations, and often the unconscious instrument of 

 the most sanguinary passions; applauded, cherished, then neglected, and ultimately 

 abandoned to the authority of the bipeds, who often show little superiority of reason 

 and much less of temper. One who, like ourselves, has repeatedly owed life to the 

 exertions of his horse, in meeting a hostile shock, in swimming across streams, and in 

 passing on the edge of elevated precipices, will feel with us, when contemplating the 

 qualities of this most valuable animal, emotions of gratitude and affection which others 

 may not so readily appreciate. 



A horse of the usual standard is now considered to attain the height of fifteen or 

 fifteen hands and a half. In the east of Europe they range usually from below fourteen 

 to fifteen hands. The gestation of mares lasts about eleven months, though sometimes 

 the time is less by thirty-five days, and at others extended to forty-one or forty-two 

 days beyond it ; and foals are born usually in April and May. They see and have the 

 use of their limbs shortly after birth ; they are then short-bodied and short-necked ani- 

 mals, and very high on the legs ; they are frolicsome and sport about the mother ; 

 scratching their own ears with the hind legs, and astonishing the stallion, if perchance 

 he can approach, for the gambols of the colt set him on his mettle, his crest rises, his 

 tail is flung up, he snorts and gallops in exceeding wonderment, and with marked signs 

 of pleasure. 



The foal at birth is usually already furnished with the first and second molars cut 

 through the gum, and in little more than a week shows the two middle nippers or 

 incisor teeth in both jaws, and after five weeks more the two next and also a third 

 grinder : about the eighth month the third pair of incisors above and below are cut, and 

 then the front of the mouth is full. The enamel on these teeth is hard and thick, 

 forming forward a swelling above the edge which remains sharp, and within or behind 

 the edge the surface is depressed and becomes dark, which constitutes the mark or evi- 

 dence whereby the age of a colt or horse is determined. At the end of a year the 

 fourth grinder appears above and below, and the fifth at the end of the second year, 

 and then the first dentition is complete. When three years old, the central nippers in 

 both jaws make room for a larger pair in each, and are the first of the permanent set ; 

 six months after, a second pair extrude the former on each side of the first permanent ; 

 and at four and a half the last set will be supplied, all distinctly bearing the mark; at 

 five this mark begins to be effaced by the wearing of the two first pair, and the tushes 

 or cuspidate teeth are exposed, leaving a space between the nippers, and approaching 

 nearer to the grinders; at six years old the central nippers are without a mark, or 

 nearly so ; at seven, in the next pair, it likewise disappears ; and at eight, all the cut- 

 ting teeth have lost their black stain and hollow. 



