THE HORSE 8 1 



cart-horse, weighing it may be as much as eighteen hundred 

 or two thousand pounds, heavy limbed, big headed, unwilling 

 to move at a pace faster than a slow trot, yet not without 

 the measure of beauty seemingly inseparable from the spe- 

 cies, contrasts very markedly with the alert saddle animal bred 

 for speed and grace, and for the easy movement which makes 

 it comfortable to the equestrian. Between these extremes 

 we may note minor differences which, though they may not 

 strike those persons who take only a commonplace view of 

 the creatures, are most marked to the initiated. The trotter, 

 the coach, horse, the strong but nimble animals which are 

 used in fire-engines and other heavy carriages which have to 

 be swiftly moved, mark the results of breeding designed 

 to insure particular qualities, and show how readily the 

 physical features of the animal can be made to fit to our 

 desires. 



Although from an early day a certain amount of care has 

 been given to breeding horses for saddle purposes, the careful 

 and continuous choice which has led to the modern variations 

 is a matter of only a few centuries of endeavor. So far as we 

 can judge from the classic monuments, the olden varieties 

 were mere varieties of the pony the small, compact, agile 

 creature which had not departed far from the parent wild 

 form. It seems to me doubtful whether any of the horses 

 possessed by the Greeks or Romans attained a weight much 

 exceeding a thousand pounds, or had the peculiarities of our 

 modern breeds. The first considerable departure from the 

 original type appears to have been brought about when it 

 became necessary to provide a creature which could serve as 

 a mount for the heavy armored knights of the Middle Ages, 

 where man and horse were weighted with from one to two 



