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BRIEF HISTORY OF THE HORSE. 



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the story of that wild pacing mare ? " And he proceeded to 

 relate that, on the plains south of San Antonio, there had 

 often been seen, in one of the droves of wild horses so com- 

 mon there, a beautiful cream-colored mare, that never broke, 

 her pace, however hard pressed ; and that no horse had ever 

 been found of sufficient bottom to overtake her, although she 

 had been often seen, and the trial made. I afterward heard 

 others speak of her, and that such was her rapid pacing that 

 she could not be caught. 



One striking peculiarity of the wild horse of the plains, 

 and one that interests us more in this work than any other, 

 is that hinted at above, his almost entire freedom from dis- 

 ease. Could we learn the cause of this exemption, we might 

 do well to imitate the example of these dumb instructors ; and 

 nothing in the history of the horse could be of more interest 

 or benefit than to learn this fact. We discover two causes 

 of disease among the horses of civilized life — ^the diet, the food 

 of the stables, and the abuse he receives from his master^ 

 man. The wild horses are free from both, and, with the ex- 

 ception of death from the borer-fly, or from accident, they 

 nearly all die with old age; and some of them live to a great 

 age. They take exercise as N'ature requires, and are gov- 

 erned by its instincts. Their food is the wild grass of the 

 prairies, and their drink is from the clear water brook. 

 They visit often the salt licks, with which the country every- 

 where abounds ; and their simple life is one of almost entire 

 freedom from disease, and in which their natural capacities 

 are developed in their greatest perfection and strength. We 

 could recommend no better veterinary course of study than 

 a trip to the plains, and an acquaintance with the manners 

 and habits of the wild horse, and their beautiful symmetry of 

 form and movements, the last of which has been compared by 

 one,* who has given a description of them, to excel the best- 

 trained cavalry in the world. The student would come back 

 with his mind thoroughly disgusted with the vile practices 



♦Washington Irving. 



