THE HORSE 



1079 



and in extreme old age, when the teeth are ground down to their very roots, as at 

 F, they become very narrow. 



THE HORSE (Equus caballus) 



The horse differs from the other members of the genus in having the tail thickly 

 covered with long hair from the root to the extremity, and also by the mane being 

 longer and more flowing. It has also a bare callosity on the inner side of the hind- 

 limb a little below the heel joint, or hock, so that such callosities are present on all 

 the four limbs. Moreover, the head is smaller, the ears are shorter, the limbs pro- 

 portionately more elongated , and the hoofs broader than in any of the other species. 

 In color, domesticated horses vary greatly, but they seldom show any definite markings 

 beyond a more or less distinct dappling. The wild horses of the Asiatic steppes are, 

 however, of a dun color; and since domesticated dun-colored individuals especially 

 in India and Argentine frequently show a dark streak down the middle of the 

 back, and sometimes two or even three transverse shoulder stripes, and likewise 

 dark bands on the limbs, it has been inferred that originally the horse was a dun- 

 colored animal, more or less marked with dark stripes. The height among the 

 domesticated breeds is no less varied than the coloration. Thus, while cart horses 

 frequently attain the height of seventeen or eighteen hands (five feet eight inches or 

 six feet) at the withers, the Shetland pony seldom exceeds eleven hands (three feet 

 eight inches), and is occasionally as low as eight and one-half hands (two feet ten 

 inches). The Asistic wild horses are of medium stature. 



From what is known of the present wild or half-wild races, it is probable that 

 the horse was originally an inhabitant of open steppes, where it dwelt in large 

 droves headed by an old stallion. And from the habit displayed by domestic horses 

 of clearing away the snow from their pasture in winter, by scraping with the front 

 hoof, Darwin was of opinion that the original habitat of the species was in regions 

 where the ground is covered during a portion of the year with snow. 

 _. .. . So far as we know at present, the true horse in its original wild 



state was mainly confined to Europe and Asia, although it extended 

 eastward from the latter continent into Alaska. In has, indeed, been stated that 

 certain wild horses found in the Argentine in 1530 could not have been introduced, 

 and must accordingly have been idigenous. Even, however, if this be so (and the 

 story is denied by Dr. Trouessart), there is no evidence to show that the horses in 

 question were identical with E. cabaihis, of which fossil remains appear to be un- 

 known in the New World south of Alaska. 



Fossilized remains of horses are extremely common in the brick earths, cavern 

 deposits, etc., of England and the Continent, and since these are indistinguishable 

 from the teeth and bones of the existing species, it may be pretty confidently con- 

 sidered they indicate the former existence of that animal in a wild state. And it 

 may be observed that the researches of Dr. Nehring have afforded reason to believe 

 that during part of the Pleistocene period there existed in Western Europe a condi- 

 tion very similar to that now obtaining in the Russian steppes, where wild horses now 

 live. Further evidence of the identity of these Pleistocene horses with the living 



