THE BREEDS OF HORSES 27 



and have strong, muscular quarters and legs. The pure 

 Arabian may be gray, white, bay, chestnut, or black. He 

 is not of special value in America. He was first brought 

 here about 150 years ago, though but few pure-bred ones 

 are here now. The white or spotted horses often seen with 

 circuses, are rarely pure-bred, and perhaps come from 

 Turkey, Barbary, or elsewhere in the Orient, or have been 

 foaled in America. 



The Thoroughbred horse is of British breeding. In 

 early days in England the horse was used largely for war. 

 He had to be strong, in order to carry men who wore heavy 

 coats of mail. After armor became unpopular, the people 

 began to make more use of horses for other purposes. King 

 James the First, at the beginning of the 17th century, 

 established the race track, and since then horse racing has 

 been very popular in that country and in France. It was 

 then that the development of the Thoroughbred began. 

 The people wanted a race horse. They took their native 

 light horses that showed speed and improved them by the use 

 of Arab, Turk, and other racing blood imported from Africa, 

 Turkey, and France. The people became much interested 

 in breeding these running horses, and as a result, developed 

 the Thoroughbred into the fastest and best-bred horse in the 

 world. Three imported Oriental horses, the Darley Arabian, 

 the Byerly Turk, and the Godolphin Barb played a most 

 important part in improving the early race-horse stock in 

 England. Descended from these were three English-bred 

 horses, Herod, Eclipse, and Matchem, that are very famous 

 ancestors of modern Thoroughbreds. This breed of horses 

 has a fine, lean, medium-sized head; a long, slender, neck; a 

 narrow, deep chest; a long, sloping shoulder; a short, strong 

 back; very long, muscular hind parts; and legs that are short, 

 lean, and strong, with the best of feet. The skin is thin, and 



