THE HORSE 



115 



small horses indigenous in Spain, must be ranked 

 among saddle horses. They were celebrated for 

 their elegance, their proud bearing, their high 

 crests, their long manes, the fine action of their 

 fore legs, and the elasticity of their hind ones, 

 which gave to their movements a suppleness 

 that all the world admired. From the fifteenth 

 to the eighteenth centuries these horses were 

 held in high esteem among princes and nobles, 

 and even in the beginning of the nineteenth 



Roumania and the other Balkan States are 

 alike in possessing a breed of mountain ponies 

 which have many of the characteristics of Ori- 

 ental horses, to which, apparently, they are 

 related. Turkey has likewise outlived her fame 

 in the domain of horse raising, her horses of 

 Eastern origin being highly valued in times 

 past. The Sultan's stables cover a vast tract of 

 ground and contain about two thousand horses 

 of various origin, — Tartar, Arabian, Danish, 



AVIS 



Type of a T\vo-Ye..\r-Oi.u Ardennes St.ali.ion 



century they were much in demand as circus 

 or riding-school horses. One or more were 

 considered a princely gift. To-day they are 

 never seen, but traces of them are still visible 

 in Austria, Italy, Spain, and in some of the 

 northern countries, such as F"riesland and 

 Denmark. Spain formerly produced a heavier 

 horse, which was preferred to the foregoing for 

 war and tillage. They were called villanos. 



In our day the breeding of horses in Spain 

 is insignificant and very inferior to that of 

 asses and mules. The few horses that remain 

 are mostly sacrificed in bullfights. 



English, French, Russian, and German. A 

 few zebras and splendid African quaggas are 

 also kept in the stables of the Sublime Porte. 



The United States has long been a prominent 

 horse-producing nation, although her horses 

 are developed entirely from the horse stock 

 of other countries. The prominent breeds are 

 Percheron, French Draft, English Shire, Suf- 

 folk Punch, Clydesdale, and Belgium Draft for 

 farm purposes and for work requiring strong, 

 heavy animals ; and the French, German, Old- 

 enburg, Hackney, and the Cleveland Bay for 

 carriage purposes. These breeds, even when 



