DIVISION II. 



HISTORY, BREEDING, RAISING, AND MANAGEMENT OF THE HORSE. 



HISTOEY OF THE HOKSE. 



Lakge volumes have been written on the history of the horse. 

 The subject is coextensive with man's civilization; and, as we 

 Slave but fragments of the history of the earlier periods of 

 ■civilization, our knowledge of the horse in those days of an- 

 ^iiquity is limited and unsatisfactory. Just what part of the 

 Eastern continent the horse first inhabited is difficult to de- 

 rtermine. He was, doubtless, a wild inhabitant of some country, 

 long before his domestication by any nation. Sacred history 

 -furnishes us the earliest record of his being reduced to the 

 •dominion of man. Many weaker animals were domesticated 

 .and used as beasts of burden before the horse. The ox, the 

 sheep, the goat, the ass, and the camel were all extensively used 

 •before the horse. 



It appears, both from sacred and profane history, that the 

 first use to which the horse was put was drawing chariots, and 

 these were principally used for the purposes of Avar. The horse 

 was certainly used for drawing wheeled carriages for some time 

 before he was ridden. That Egypt was the first country in which 

 the horse was domesticated is quite certain. Wagons, which 

 were probably drawn by horses, are spoken of in the fifty-fifth 

 •chapter of Genesis. They were sent by Joseph into Canaan 

 when he sent for his fixthcr's household. This was about 1706 

 years before the Christian era. It is not long after this until 

 •chariots are spoken of, and horsemen. These war chariots are 



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