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SECTION II. 



DUIEF SURVEY Of THE IJOUSES OF THE ANCIEN'IS 

 IN VAKIOUS COUNTRIES. 



IT may be amusing, at least to many of our readers, to accompany 

 us in a brief survey of the Horses of various coimtries, ancient and 

 modern, and of" the ancient and present state of horsemanship, manage- 

 ment, and treatment of the Horse. The investigation, although it 

 may serve to demonstrate the vast superiority of modern times, will yet 

 evince a considerable share of skill in the ancient domitores equorum, 

 or subduers of the Horse, and also a progressive rate of improvement 

 through succeeding ages. Such a succession of time has been required, 

 to bring the animal himself, and the method of managing and arraying 

 him, for all his various purposes of utility, to its present state of perfec- 

 tion. ]Mr. Beringer, in his respectable History of Horsemanship, has 

 preceded us, with learned and commendable diligence of enquiry, in 

 this branch of our subject. 



The sun of science having first arisen in the east, it is natural that we 

 should derive our earliest information respecting the Horse, from Asia 

 and Africa. In the ancient history of the Hebrews, we read of the 

 six hundred war-chariots of Pharoah, king of Eg^jit, and his chosen 

 horsemen. The yoking of Horses to war-chariots, would seem to in- 

 dicate considerable maturity of knowledge in the use of Horses, and 

 that even then, a period so early in our estimation, such knowledge 

 must have been of considerable antiquity. Nothing can be more 

 gravely ridiculous, than the waste of learning formerly made in con- 

 jectures to ascertain, whether the Horse were first ridden, or taught to 

 go in harness ; the former surely, as the more simple, must be the 

 more probable; and Avhat can we attain in the question beyond pro- 

 bability r The high antiquity of hunting on horseback, is evident 



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