THE HORSE 



67 



in a singularly definite way to all civilized folk. The origin 

 of such a prejudice, despite the fact that the flesh of the 

 horse is of excellent quality, can only be explained through 

 the sympathetic motives common to all men. Their associa- 

 tion with the horse, as with the dog, is so intimate as to make 

 the use of these animals in the form of food more or less 

 repugnant. In a small though unimportant way, mares have 

 been used for milk, and there seems no reason to doubt that, 

 if they had 

 been care- 

 fully bred 

 for this pur- 

 pose, they 

 might have 

 been as ser- 

 viceable as 

 the cow. It 

 may be that 

 the failure 

 to use the 



milk of the horse is to be accounted for on the same ground 

 as the dislike to its flesh. 



The horse was probably at first most valued for its use 

 in war. The peoples which possessed it certainly had a great 

 advantage over their less well provided neighbors. In fact 

 the development of the military art, as distinguished from 

 the mere fighting of savages, was made easy by the strength, 

 endurance, fleetness, and measure of bravery characterizing 

 this creature. In the wide range of species which have been 

 domesticated or might be won to companionship with man, 

 there is none other which so completely supplements the 



Horse of a Bulgarian Marauder 



