THE HORSE. 863 



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CHAPTER XVIII. 



THE HORSE. 



In nearly all ages and countries, the horse has been the 

 devoted servant, and the object of the pride and affection 

 of man. Among the semi-civilized Tartars of middle and 

 northern Asia, the Aborigines of our remote western prairie?, 

 reaching even beyond the Rocky Mountains, and some 

 other rude nations, his flesh is used for food. Many tribes 

 among the former, use the milk for domestic purposes, and 

 especially when fermented and changed to an unpleasantly 

 sour and intoxicating beverage. But throughout the civil- 

 ized world, with some slight exceptions, the horse is useful 

 only for his labor. For this purpose he is pre-eminently 

 fitted by his compact, closely knit frame; his sinewy, muscu- 

 lar limbs; his easy, rapid stride; his general form and entire 

 structure and habits. He is found in his wild condition in 

 central Asia, Siberia, and the interior of Africa, and for 300 

 years he has been turned loose to follow his native instincts 

 on the illimitable pampas of South America, and the wide- 

 spread prairies of Mexico and California. In all these 

 regions he closely resembles the medium varieties of the 

 domesticated horse, but as the natural result of his freedom, 

 he possesses more fire 'and spirit than any other, except the 

 blood horse. 



Arabia is generally claimed as the original native locality 

 of the horse, and as the only source from which he is to be 

 derived in the requisite perfection for the highest improve- 

 ment of the race. But Strabo, who wrote more than 1800 

 years ago, asserts that the horse did not then flourish in 

 Arabia, and it was not till some centuries later, that he 

 attained any derided superiority there. Great attention, 

 however, has? been paid in that country, since the era of 

 Mahomet, to the possession of a light, agile and enduring 

 frame, intelligence and tractability of character, and the 



