PART I. 



CHAPTER I. 

 ORIGIN OF THE HORSE. 



Every animal as we see it today is the result 

 of a long and tedious process of evolution. 

 Time, geologically speaking, is measured in 

 ages, and as we find the first definitely accepted 

 ancestor of the horse preserved in fossil form 

 in the Eocene formation of the rocks we may, 

 according to the general belief, place the date 

 of this ancestor somewhere about three and one- 

 half millions of years ago. Succeeding and 

 higher forms persist through the newer forma- 

 tions in the earth's crust until we reach the 

 Prehistoric and Historic horses, the remains of 

 the former being found upon the earth 's surface 

 and the story of the earliest of the latter being 

 preserved in rude sculpture. None of the geo- 

 logical or Prehistoric prototypes of the horse 

 was large, the greatest height having been prob- 

 ably about 13 hands. It is impossible to trace 

 the descent of the horse without the use of sci- 

 entific terms, and for such use I crave indul- 

 gence. 



Ancestor to all hoofed or ungulate animals is 

 the Phenacodus primaevus, which has therefore 

 been established as the progenitor of the horse. 



