DOMESTIC ANIMALS. 



THE MORI^E. 



THE CHARACTER OF THE HORSE.— The borse is now one of the most 

 universally distributed animals, and everywhere he is recognized as the 

 most useful amongst the quadruped servants of man, yielding in intelli- 

 gence to the dog alone, and perhaps not to him; for in those countries, 

 — some portions of Arabia for instance — in which he is admitted to the 

 full and unrestricted companionship of man, sharing his food with the 

 family of his master, and, like him, a dweller in the tent, his sagacity 

 far surpasses that of our stable-reared horses, however affectionately they 

 may be treated. In the early ages of the world the horse seems to 

 have been devoted to the purposes of war or pleasure, whilst the ox 

 was the agricultural drudge. But the beauty, strength, and tractability 

 of the horse have now connected him, directly or indirectly, with almost 

 all the purposes of life. If he differ in different countries in form and 

 size, it is from the influence of climate, food, and cultivation ; but other- 

 wise, from the war-horse, as he is depicted in the sculptures of ancient 

 temples, to the stately charger of llolstein and of Spain, or from the 

 fleet and beautiful Arabian to the diminutive Shetlander, there is a 

 similarity of form and character which clearly mark a common origin. 



PRINCIPAL BREEDS m THE UNITED STATES.— The principal breeds 

 now common to this country are the common horse, descended from 

 those brought in by the early colonists, and variously mixed with va- 

 rieties subsequently introduced; the thorough-hred., or race-horse; the 

 Arabian, the Canadian, the JVortnan, the Cleveland hay, the dray, and 

 the American trotting-horse. Of the common horse^ no specific descrip- 

 tion can be given, as he is a compound of many races variously and in- 

 congruously mixed. 



The Race-Horse. — The English race-horse is undoubtedly the finest ani- 

 mal of his species in the world. In swiftness and energy he surpasses 

 even his Arabian progenitor, though on the burning sands of the desert, 

 to which not being acclimatized, he might not be equal in point of en- 

 durance. He is always distinguished by the beautiful head of the class 

 from which his ancestors sprung; this being as finely set on a neck of 

 faultless contour. His oblique shoulders give as good earnest of strength 

 as do his well-formed hind-legs of speed. By the sculptor, perhaps, the 

 legs from the knee downward might be pronounced unfit for the heau 

 ideal of a perfect animal, yet this, though admitted by judges to be 

 sometimes the case, is, after all, a matter of little consequence. Certain 

 it is, that whenever the English race-horse has contended on fairground 



