PART FOUR. 

 HORSES. 



INTRODUCTION. 



For centuries the horse has been a faithful servant of man 

 in the capacity of a burden bearer. "From remotest ages he 

 has come with man, side by side, in the glory and achievements 

 of the white race. In all the darings and doings of the Saxon, 

 wherever countries were to be conquered, battles fought, and 

 the banner of Britain carried round the world, wherever has 

 been a footprint, there also was the hoof -beat."* As compared 

 with other domesticated animals, the horse is peculiar in his 

 relation to man, for he is valuable on account of his ability to 

 do work and not because he furnishes a tangible product use- 

 ful as food or otherwise. It is his athletic ability which makes 

 the horse useful. 



None other of our domestic animals occupies as important 

 a place in the economy of things as does the horse; if all the 

 horses were suddenly taken from the nations of the world, agri- 

 culture, business, and commerce would be seriously impaired 

 and we would soon be in a state of famine. Consider the vast 

 number of horses in use on farms, on city streets, on country 

 roads, in armies, and for numerous pleasure purposes, such as 

 riding, driving, racing in harness and under saddle, hunting, 

 and polo. We could give up any of the other domesticated 

 animals with much less serious results, and this in spite of the 

 advent and improvement of the automobile, motor truck, and 

 tractor, and their wide use at the present time. 



The horse may be said to be a locomotive which consumes 

 hay and grain instead of coal. He is self-feeding, self -con- 

 trolling, and self-reproducing, and is at the same time a very 

 efficient motor. Farmers who use horses may be compared 

 to the engineer who operates a motor. Farmers who breed 

 horses may be compared to the manufacturer of motors. No 

 man can manufacture or operate a motor with real success 



* John Trotwood Moore, in The Gift of the Grass. 



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