HORSE 



2839 



HORSE 



While horses have been used mainly for la- 

 bor, their flesh is allowed to be sold for human 

 consumption in many countries in Europe and 

 recently in America. The hide lends itself for 

 use as leather for covering base balls, the manu- 

 facture of gloves of the cheaper grades, for 

 shoes and other uses of the same kind. Horse- 

 hide does not stand long-continued wear as 

 well as does calfhide and cowhide. 



Intelligence of the Horse. Man knows no 

 more faithful animal than the horse. Cen- 

 turies of training have developed it from a 

 wild and even man-eating state until to-day in 

 intelligence it surpasses every other dumb ani- 

 mal, excepting the dog and the mule. Kind- 

 ness it does not forget; injustice and injury it 

 remembers. Its sense of direction and location 

 is keen, and its power of vision unusual. A 



maturity at five years of age. They may be 

 bred at two years, and may produce their colts 

 at three. The period of gestation is eleven 

 months. Theoretically, a mare should breed 

 and produce a colt each year. In actual prac- 

 tice the average number of colts produced is 

 five or six in the lifetime of the mare. The 

 mortality of colts is high, and a breeder is 

 very successful if he gets fifty per cent of live 

 colts from his mares each year. 



The Prehistoric Animal. The history of the 

 prehistoric horse is as well known as that of 

 any other domestic animal. A type of animal 

 existed which geological records show was the 

 prehistoric ancestor of the modern horse; it 

 was very small, with five toes on each foot. 

 The first form of which there is any definite 

 knowledge occurred in the early part of the 



THE HORSE 



At left, its skeleton. At right, its nervous system, with references as follows: (1) Brain; (2) 

 spinal cord; (3) pneumogastric ; (4) sympathetic system ; (5) solar plexus ; (6) sciatic. 



age of mammals. It had four toes on the 

 forefoot and three toes on the hind foot, and 

 from this form the horse has gradually in- 

 creased in size and lost all except one toe on 

 each foot, with vestiges of two other toes 

 called splints. The present form of zebra, the 

 wild ass of Asia, and Przewalski's horse, a wild 

 pony found in Asia in 1881, are thought to be 

 the connecting link between the prehistoric 

 horse and the horse of modern times. 



The prehistoric horse is known to have ex- 

 isted in all parts of the world except Aus- 

 tralia. The modern type was not found in 

 America by early settlers, but it existed all 

 over Europe and Asia. Improvements in the 

 modern horse and its evolution into the types 

 now known and used for domestic purposes 

 have taken place in the last six hundred years. 

 Previous to this time, the Arabian horse, which 

 has had great influence in the improvement 

 of the modern types of both light and heavy 

 horses, existed. According to tradition, Ara- 



horse will carry its burden safely on the dark- 

 est night, if given free rein; it will return to 

 its home if on the road control is withdrawn; 

 the mail collector's horse after a few trips will 

 stop without suggestion from the driver at 

 every collection box on his route. Will Carle- 

 ton, the poet, put in rhyme in "Flash," The 

 Fireman's Story, the tale of the decrepit fire- 

 engine horse that was sold to a milkman; on 

 one morning trip the firebell rang and the 

 habit of years asserted itself. The tale is not 

 overdrawn. A race horse seems to share his 

 rider's enthusiasm and to know that he is 

 expected to distance his rivals. The family 

 horse senses the innocence ' and defenselessness 

 of children and will tolerate from them what 

 it might resent from adults. 



The average life of horses is somewhat un- 

 der twenty years; but instances have been 

 known of horses living over forty years. Prob- 

 ably they can be depended upon for hard 

 work until fifteen years old. Horses attain 



