BRITISH TURF. 



\ 



Of bits and bridles ; taught the steed to bound. 

 To run the ring, and trace the airy round ; 

 To stop, to fly, the rules of war to know, 

 T' obey the rider, and to dare the foe." 



Strabo asserts that the Medes, Persians, and 

 Armenians were the first that broke in the 

 horse to the saddle ; and when we call to mind, 

 that in all probability the fertile plains between 

 the Tigris and Euphrates were the early nursery 

 of this noble animal, this opinion would appear 

 the most correct. 



However this may be, from the records of the 

 Old Testament, we are able to ascertain the 

 exact period when, in Egypt and Canaan, this 

 animal began to be domesticated. 1920 years 

 before Christ, when Abraham was driven into 

 Egypt by the famine which raged in Canaan, 

 Pharoah offered him sheep and oxen, and asses 

 and camels ; and doubtless horses would have 

 been added, had they at that time been domes- 

 ticated in Egypt. 



Taking the period during which Joseph served 

 the Egyptian monarch, as that during which the 

 horse became the servant of ma^ in Egypt, this 

 event would appear to have taken place about 

 1740 years before Christ; and 1450 years be- 

 fore the Christian era the horse was so far natu- 

 raUzed in Greece, that at the Olympic games 



