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specialized uses. To these efforts we owe such breeds as the Ger- 

 man coach horse, the Belgian saddle horse, the American saddle 

 horse. Especially notable breeds were developed in England, 

 among them the thoroughbred, which became so famous as a 

 horse of high quality that people began to use the term incor- 

 rectly, saying "thoroughbred" when they meant "purebred." (A 

 purebred animal is one which has known and recorded ancestry 

 and represents but one breed.) 



Thoroughbreds excel in running, and the finest race horses 

 are of this breed. All our thoroughbreds nowadays are descended 

 from three horses brought to England more than two hundred 

 years ago two of them Arabian steeds, the remaining one 

 Turkish. 



Arabian Horses: Originally Arabian horses were creatures of the 

 desert and, as such, needed little food and water. So great was 

 the dependence of the Arabs hundreds of year ago on their 

 horses that they bred the animals with great care, raised them 

 virtually as members of the family, and trained them like chil- 

 dren. The result after several generations was one of the most 

 remarkable triumphs of domestication a truly great breed, out- 

 standing in appearance, intelligence and performance. Not the 

 least value of the Arabian horse lies in its contribution to new 

 breeds the thoroughbred, for example. 



THE HUMBLE DONKEY AND MULE 



Children know donkeys as amusingly stubborn creatures. 

 Though these relatives of the horse often do display rather diffi- 

 cult temperament, they are valuable as beasts of burden in arid 

 regions, and for the breeding of mules (a mule being the off- 

 spring of a male donkey and a mare.) Donkeys are descended 

 from wild asses which were tamed and used in Egypt before the 

 horse became domesticated. In its size, short hair and other less 

 noticeable features, an ass bears a closer resemblance to the zebra 

 than to the horse. It even has a tendency to show stripes on the 

 legs. 



Mules are larger than donkeys, and shaped more like horses. 

 Still, with their long ears, small hoofs, and large heads, they rather 



