30 THE AMERICAN HORSE. 



and the Spanish jennets, exists but in history or romance. 

 The modern Spanish horse resembles the Yorkshire half-bred, 

 with flatter legs and better feet, but a far inferior figure. 



The Italian horses, particularly the Neapolitan, were once 

 in high repute ; but, owing mainly to intermixtures of Euro- 

 pean, rather than Eastern blood, they have sadly degenerated. 



THE AMERICAN HOUSE. 



At a very remote period in the history of America, the horse 

 began to be imported from Europe by the earliest settlers ; it 



being conceded that, although 

 the horse had, at some former 

 time, existed on this continent, 

 as is proved by his fossil remains, 

 which have been found in abund- 

 ance in various parts of the 

 country, he had become extinct 

 previous to its colonization by 

 the white nations. 



It is generally believed that 

 the horses which are found in 



AMERICAN FARM SCENE. ., , , ^ ^, 



a wild state on the pampas or 

 plains of South America, and the prairies of North America, 

 as far east as to the Mississippi River, are the descendants of 

 the parents set loose by the Spaniards at the abandonment 

 of Buenos Ayres. This opinion, however, is combated by 

 some, on the ground that this date is too recent to account 



