I02 



OUR DOMESTIC ANIMALS 



BiTjdUG Stallion (Russian) 



more than four hundred thousand of these 

 horses were counted on the territory of the 

 Cossacks of the Don. They are so well known 

 for their fine qualities as riding horses that 

 they are exported in great numbers not only to 

 other parts of Russia but also to Austria, 

 Hungary, Prussia, and the Balkans. 



The horses of the Balkans are especially 

 mountain horses, but in their habits of life 

 they bear some relation to those of the steppes. 

 The best of the race show a close re- 

 lationship with Persian and Arabian 

 horses ; like them, their bones are 

 delicate though strong, their muscles 

 well developed, and their coats soft 

 and glossy. Their color is very beau- 

 tiful, often a golden-red, with mane 

 and tail of the darkest brown. Special 

 breeds among them are known by the 

 general name of Circassian horses. 



The horses of the Russian peas- 

 ants, used for agricultural labor, dif- 

 fer radically from the light, fleet 

 riding horses we have just described. 

 They bear the general name of peas- 

 ant or cool-blooded horses, and pre- 

 dominate in numbers, there being 

 about seventeen million of them, as 

 many of this class in Russia as of 

 all kinds in the United States. The 



Bitjougs belong to this family. They 

 take their name from an affluent of 

 the Don, and are chiefly found on 

 the plains between the Volga and that 

 river, to the north of the Cossacks 

 of the Don. They are descended in 

 part from males brought from the 

 Low Countries by Peter the Great ; 

 later still the race has had some 

 mingling of Oriental blood. The Bit- 

 i(_)Ugs are tall and vigorously built. 

 Their broad chest, their stout body 

 and solid back, their neck heavily 

 muscled, their strong sinewy legs, 

 short pasterns, and solid hoofs mark 

 them for draft animals. They are 

 not only strong, but are also ener- 

 getic, willing, and obedient. Thanks 

 to their steady, even trot, they are often used 

 for riding as well as for draft. 



These and other of the Russian peasant 

 horses came originally from the steppes. In 

 times of famine, when thousands of horses 

 perish, great droves of steppe horses are im- 

 ported into European Russia, where they are 

 used for field labor, but their fate is none the 

 better for it. The prairies of Russia in Europe 

 often afford less food than the steppes of Asia ; 



Orloff Mare (Russian Trotter) 



