History of the Horse. 



From the earHest ages this noble animal has been the friend 

 and companion of man. Prized for his beauty, loved for his 

 docility, and valued for his strength, he has ever been regarded 

 as the highest in value and importance of all domesticated 

 animals. In the remotest ages, as far back as authentic history 

 discloses anything of the life and pursuits of man, we find that 

 the horse occupied a prominent position in his service. Painters 

 have pictured on their canvass the majesty and grace of the 

 spirited animal. Poets have celebrated his strength and beauty 

 in their verses, and even inspired writers have introduced 

 amongst their most glowing descriptions the horsemen and 

 chariots which formed a chief feature in the pomp and magnifi- 

 cence of those early days. 



In the most ancient hieroglyphics we find him present, and 

 always so represented as to show that, even in the remote an- 

 tiquity from which they date, he had been brought into com- 

 plete and serviceable subjection. In the oldest Egyptian paint- 

 ings the horse is seen only in the war chariot, and in the de- 

 scriptions of the siege of Troy only the Charioteer appears, 

 from which it has been supposed that the first horses used by 

 the Greeks were too small to be conveniently ridden. But in 

 the lately-discovered paintings in the palace of Nimrod, at Nine- 

 veh, disinterred by Layard, and supposed to be more than three 

 thousand years old, horsemen are exhibited both in the chase 

 and in war. 



But further back than even those distant times, in the ages 



