298 THE HORSES OF PREHISTORIC [CH. 



head is a characteristic of the progeny of thoroughbred and 

 ordinary horses in modern times. 



If further proof is required that by 400 B.C. the Greeks had 

 plenty of well-bred horses, Xenophon's^ description of the points 

 of a good war-horse will suffice. The first points to be looked 

 to in the colt are his hoofs, which were naturally of especial 

 importance, as the Greeks never shod their horses, in conse- 

 quence of which the Athenian cavalry horses suffered greatly in 

 the latter part of the Peloponnesian War, after the Spartans had 

 occupied Decelea. As the Athenian cavalry had to be constantly 

 scouting, their horses' hoofs got worn down on the hard ground, 

 and their animals fell lame^ "Thick hoofs are to be preferred 

 to thin ones, for they give a firmer tread, and they ought to 

 be high both before and behind, for high hoofs raise the frog 

 far above the ground ; but low ones tread equally on the 

 strongest and softest part of the foot like iu-kneed men." 

 An older writer, Simo, cited by Xenophon, declared that horses 

 with good feet may be known by the sound, and Xenophon 

 commends this as a just observation, for, says he, "a hollow hoof 

 rings against the ground like a cymbal'. The colt's pasterns 

 must neither be too upright like those of a goat, which renders 

 him uncomfortable for riding, nor too sloping, for then he will 

 scratch and gall his fetlocks when ridden among clods or over 

 stones; he must have plenty of boue in the leg, supple knee- 

 joints, strong shoulders, a broad chest, which is a mark both of 

 beauty and strength, as it keeps the legs wide apart ; the neck 

 as it rises from the chest should not fall forward like that of a 

 boar, but it should grow upwards like that of a cock, and 

 should have an easy motion at the parts about the arch ; the 

 head should be bony, the cheek small, for then he can see 

 things immediately before his feet, his eye should be prominent, 



1 De Re Equestri, 1. •- Thuc. vii. 27. 



•^ This phrase jjuts it beyond all doubt that the words x^^'^'^f/'oT-ot L-mroi, 

 "horses that stamp with hoofs of bronze " (Ar. Eq. 552), often quoted to prove 

 that the Greeks shod their horses, simply refer to the ringing sound like that 

 of a bronze cymbal produced by the hollow hoof. As Pindar uses the same 

 epithet xo-^xoKpoTos of Demeter (Isth. vir. 3), in allusion to the use of cymbals 

 in her worship, it is clear that Aristophanes, like Xenophon, means that the 

 horse-hoofs ring like cymbals. 



