6 DEVELOPMENT OF THE MODERN HORSE 



To-day steam, electricity, and other sources of energy have ren- 

 dered man in a degree independent of the powers of the horse, so 

 that mechanical enthusiasts are heralding the coming centuries as 

 the " horseless age." 



Commercialism has also greatly increased the relative importance 

 of cattle, sheep and other farm animals on account of their wealth- 

 producing qualities. Yet never has the horse had more faithful 

 champions, more ardent admirers or competent historians than at 

 present, and within a decade only have we heard of a horse sold 

 for $191,500.00, and several have brought upwards of $100,- 

 000.00 each. If we read the signs of the times aright, far from 

 declining into "innocuous desuetude" the horse is still making 

 progress towards the zenith of his prosperity. 



Natural Relations 



The genus EQUUS, to which the horse family belongs, com- 

 prises twelve named species and what were formerly three different 

 genera. These are the horse, E. CABALLUS and E. PRE- 

 JAVALLSKI1, from which the domestic horse is thought to have 

 descended, now represented by the Tarpan of western Asia, and 

 Prejavallsky's Horse of Siberia ; the ass, E. ASSINUS and E. 

 ASSINUS SOMALICUS, found in Africa and in Abyssinia; 

 the Asiatic ass, E. ONAGER, E. HEMIPPUS and E. HE- 

 MONIUS ; the quagga, intermediate between the ass and the 

 zebra, now nearly if not entirely extinct ; and the zebra, E. ZE- 

 BRA, E. BURCHELLII, and E. CHAPMANII, of central 

 and southern Africa. 



In domestication the horse has so far developed in speed, beau- 

 ty, and strength as to make his natural derivation somewhat doubt- 

 ful. 



The family Equidae, which includes the horse, ass and zebra, 



"Have been in the stable business 30 years and tried every remedy for 

 sores, but found nothing that gave the satisfactory results your Qall Cure 

 does. J. L. Godfrey, Virginia, Net). " 



