46 CYCLOPEDIA OF LIVE STOCK AND COMPLETE STOCK DOCTOR. 



harness. The same may be said of the horses of Spain, The commoa 

 use of mules, both under the saddle and in harness, is not conducive to 

 careful breeding in horses, still in Spain there are many fine horses espe- 

 cially for saddle use ; the pure blooded Spanish barb being elegant, 

 sprightly and docile. 



Norway, Sweden and Finland, have a hardy race of little horses, 

 which run half wild in the woods. They have fairly good forms, an^^ 

 are active and spirited. The people, however, give themselves but little 

 troul)le in breeding them. 



In Iceland the horses are still smaller, active, hardy fellows, who pick 

 up a scanty living for themselves, when not at work. Their origin is 

 attributed both to the Swedish horse and those of the Shetland Islands, 

 and they have points of resemblance to both. 



Thus it is seen that each country has its own peculiar breed of horses, 

 the result of local peculiarities. The further we go North the more 

 dwarfed they become until some of them are found but little, if any, 

 larger than the best of the larger breeds of long wooled sheep. As we 

 go Soutii to the tropics the horses increase in size until we reach the 

 middle region of the temperate zone, where the largest and heaviest, as 

 well as the fleetest and most valuable are found. Continuing still fur- 

 ther southward the horses begin again gradually to decrease in size until 

 as we reach the tropics we find them but little larger than the animak 

 v/e call pony-horses. They are moderately swift, and of the most 

 enduring bottom. 



The horses of Arabia have been celebrated in all modem times, and 

 justly so, for the reason that owing to careful breeding and the kindest 

 treatment, in connection with the most excellent training, they came to 

 possess the pei-fection of form, united with great speed and en- 

 durance, and almost human intelligence. That careful and scientific 

 breeding was understood and appreciated by the ancients is evidenced by 

 the lines of the first lyric poet of the time of Augustus Caesar, which 

 we find translated freely, but pointedly as follows ; 



" The brave begotten are by the brave and good. 

 There is in steers, there is in horses' blood 

 The vu-tne of their sires. No timid dove 

 Springs from the coupled eagle's furious blood." 



VHI. Artificial Breeding, and Diseases. 

 It is well known that wild animals like savage tribes are little subject 

 to disease It is the ai'tificial surroundings, and artificial living which 

 produce diseases unknown in a state of nature. Hence, on the farm, 

 animals are less susceptible to disease than in city stal^les, where the lite 

 of the horse is purely an artificial one, and where he must be depenaeru 



