18 THE HORSE. 



part of the trappings or the horse. Shoeing was not practised by 

 either the Greeks or Romans, and only in cases of lameness waa 

 the foot defended by a sandal, which, however, was sometimes 

 tipped with iron. 



Until some time after the installation of the Olympian 

 Games the use of the horse was confined to war and the chase. 

 These games were held every four years, and are supposed to have 

 commenced about 774 years before Christ, and as it was not until 

 the twenty-third Olympiad that the horse was introduced in the 

 arena, the birth of horse-racing may be fixed at about the year 680 

 B.C. At first the horses were ridden, and the distance was about 

 four miles, but in the twenty-fifth Olympiad the chariot was intro- 

 duced, and after this time became the prevailing instrument of 

 testing the speed and powers of the Grecian horse. Here, also, 

 the distance was about four miles, but as a pillar was to be rounded 

 several times, the race depended quite as much on the skill of the 

 charioteer as on the qualities of his horses. 



CHAPTER II. 



GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 



Habits — External Form as indicated by Points — Proportions — Ma 

 turity — Average Age — Periodical Moulting — Mental Develop 

 ment — Small Stomach. 



HABITS. 



The Habits of the horse in a wild or free state, are similar to 

 those of most of the gregarious and graminivorous animals. That 

 is to say, he places his salety in fiight ; but when compelled to make 

 a stand against any of the larger carnivora, he fights strongly with 

 his heels and teeth. In all countries he feeds upon grass (green, 

 or dried as hay), straw, or grain ; in addition to which articles may 

 be placed camel's milk, which is used occasionally in the deserts 

 of Arabia, when the usual supply of f )od is altogether deficient. 

 In a free state, where the horse has to travel far for his food, he 

 becomes inured to fatigue, and is able to make long journeys, with- 

 out the training which the domesticated animal requires. Thus 

 the South American and Californian horses, immediately after 

 being taken with the lasso, are able to carry their riders for sixty 

 or seventy miles on end at a fast pace, suff"ering, of course, from 

 the unaccustomed pressure of the saddle, but not otherwise the 

 worse for their exertions. The walk and gallop are the only na- 

 tural paces of the wild horse ; the trot and canter being acquired, 



