THE HORSE HISTORY. 455 



The Tartars and the Bedouins have been the scourge of na- 

 tions in proportion as they had horses. " By the horse and 

 on the horse Mohammedan conquests were made." The Israelites 

 only followed the law of national development when they added 

 the horse to their possessions of asses and cattle. Like the 

 nomads of the plains in America, they were feeble to resist or 

 invade until they got unto themselves horses. Our Indian 

 tribes before 1795 had only dogs as their beasts of burden; but 

 after they began to draw horses from Mexico, these wild men 

 of the plain were metamorphosed into horsemen ; and of their 

 power for evil ever after, the history of our frontier attests. 

 The nations and tribes in history were feeble and little to be 

 feared until they got unto themselves horses. The horse has 

 been adopted by nations in their progress into civilization. 



The Greek Horse. A GREAT FACTOR IN CIVILIZATION. 

 On this principle we find the Greeks become powerful as they 

 possess horses. So great is he as a factor in civilization, 

 1500 B. C. horsemen in the chase and war were seen in the 

 paintings of the palace of Nimroud, which are supposed to be 

 coeval with the siege of Troy. The horses first used by the 

 Greeks were small. Those of the Quirinal are mere ponies, in 

 contrast with the human figures in same paintings. As the 

 Greeks advanced in power, we note their increased use of horses. 

 In their early history, the horse was only used for riding. 

 Then neither bridle, saddle, nor whip was used. The chariot was 

 long in use in Persia before in Greece, and the Greeks employed 

 the chariot in their great games long before they did in war. 

 In the age of Phidias it is evident the horse was held in high 

 esteem. The statues, coins, engraved gems, bas-reliefs, and other 

 works of art that have come down to us, show that the Greek 

 horse could not have been speedy as the English thoroughbred 

 or the American trotter. We know this from the form given in 

 their ideals. Their bodies were compact, neck and shoulders 

 heavy, buttocks round and short, while we never see a speedy 

 animal without the long sloping shoulder-blade, the more open 

 flank, and the longer hip. On the Elgin marbles, or portion of 

 the frieze of the Parthenon now in England, may be seen over 



