Animal Friends and Helpers [ 153 



Behind the incisors is a bare space which allows for the placing 

 of a bit, and behind this are six molars on each side of each jaw. 

 When a male horse is about three years old, canine teeth appear 

 behind the incisorsfour in all. In a mare these canines are gen- 

 erally small or completely missing. 



How HORSES RUN 



Would-be cowboys and cowgirls thrill to the pounding of 

 hoofs as horses gallop across the plains. They may notice that 

 during a gallop the horse is completely off the ground for a 

 moment after each spring forward. The animal makes each spring 

 from one of his fore feet and lands on the hind foot of the oppo- 

 site side of his body. Just before this "pair" of feet touches the 

 earth the other two are coming up again, so that the body is in 

 the air with all legs bent beneath. 



When a horse is walking, two or more of his feet are always 

 on the ground. The order of their progression is right hind foot, 

 right fore foot, left hind foot, left fore foot. In a canter the same 

 rotation of feet is used, but the motion is of course much more 

 rapid. When the horse trots, each diagonal pair of legs is alter- 

 nately raised and put forward. 



THE HORSE'S WILD RELATIVES 



A well-groomed horse is sleek, glossy, and thoroughly 

 "civilized" in appearance, but an animal that has been running 

 in the pasture all winter long presents a very different picture. 

 Like all wild horses, which grow a thick covering of hair during 

 cold weather, he has a shaggy coat. They shed this hair in the 

 springtime. 



Wild horses still exist in limited numbers. These include the 

 so-called tarpans of Mongolia and Central Asia, which, though 

 smaller than domesticated horses, are strong and of stocky build. 



There are still herds of half-wild horses on our western prairies- 

 descendants from horses brought to Mexico by Cortez and to 

 Florida by De Soto. Some of these imports from Spain strayed 

 from their masters and roamed far and wide over the new con- 

 tinent. Eventually members of the two groups met and mated, 

 and before long thousands of unbridled horses added a colorful 



