456 THE PEOPLE'S FARM AND STOCK CYCLOPEDIA. 



two hundred representations of horses. In the art school of 

 Yale College, there are casts of twenty-eight horses, represent- 

 ing the ideal horse of the third century before Christ. They 

 are small, tough, muscular beasts, all dish-faced like the Oriental 

 breeds of modern times. The representations of horses of 

 ancient Egypt, Assyria, and Phoenician art are of similar type. 



It is an interesting fact, too, seen in all these ancient works 

 of art, that in the attitudes given the figures, there is not one 

 trotting, but ambling, or, as we say in the West, pacing, and 

 running. The pacing gait suited best peoples and tribes who 

 used no stirrups, and did not drive in vehicles or trotting 

 wagons. Greek art, then, tells us more than of the form and 

 trappings of the horse ; it also tells of the gait and how he 

 was ridden. This ambling gait was the ideal for eight centu- 

 ries before the Christian era. The later works of art may have 

 but followed the style of the masters, which is more probable, 

 than that ambling and running were the only two gaits of the 

 horse during the history of Greece. Professor Brewer teaches 

 this, and in speaking of the horses represented in the earliest 

 Egyptian, Assyrian, and Greek sculptures, says : " However 

 much the individual animals differed, or even the breeds differ, 

 the most prized animals, as a whole, were strong rather than 

 swift, heavy for their height, with heavy necks, broad chests, 

 and well-rounded buttocks." 



As the civilization of the Greeks rose above that of pre- 

 ceding and surrounding nations, we would expect to learn 

 more from writings of Greek authors and artists concerning the 

 horse, not only in Greece, but also in other parts of the world. 



Improvement of Horses Came From Egypt. The 

 improvement of the horse in Greece came with the colonies of 

 Egyptians that emigrated into Greece. The first colony that came 

 about the time of the birth of Moses, while the Pharaohs were 

 in power, settled in Thessaly, in the north of Greece. The soil 

 and produce of Greece were not favorable to production of best 

 horses. Thessaly abounded in rich pastures and pure waters. 

 The Thessalians, after the emigration of Egyptian colonists, ex- 

 celled as breeders of horses. As about this time horses became 



