6so WILD HORSES. 



The hair of the coat, which is usually mouse-coloured, is 

 long and wavy, is (like that of other horses) of a greater 

 length in winter than in summer, and is lighter under the 

 belly than on the upper surface of the body. A black 

 stripe runs down the back and croup (p. 330) ; the fore- 

 lock, mane and tail, which are not as long as in the domestic 

 horse, are darker than the body ; the legs below the knees 

 and hocks are nearly black. Tarpans are comparatively 

 difficult to tame, and only those which were captured as 

 foals could be broken in. Even then they remained bad 

 tempered and unwilling workers. These animals roam the 

 steppes in kossiaks (herds) composed of several mares, 

 which are led by one stallion. These stallions show a 

 great liking for domestic mares, and if they meet them on 

 the steppes, they carry them off. Hence, this continued 

 crossing with the domestic horse has no doubt altered the 

 original type of the tarpan to some extent. The captured 

 tarpan which was taken to Moscow, was of the typical 

 mouse colour, except that its off fore leg was bay. Conse- 

 quently, it is reasonable to assume that its blood was not 

 quite pure. Shateelov, who made an elaborate report on 

 this animal, states that it had no hind chestnuts. 



There are only live lumbar (loin) vertebras in each of 

 the two skeletons of the tarpan which have been preserved 

 ^one in the St. Petersburg Museum of the Academy of 

 Sciences, and the other in the Zoological Museum of the 

 Moscow University. The tarpans from which these skele- 

 tons were taken, appear to have been lighter in build than 

 Prjevalsky's horse ; but any racial difference in this respect 

 would naturally be the result of climate and soil (Chapter 

 XXVT). Absence of hind chestnuts and the fact that 

 the number of loin vertebrae are restricted to five, are not 

 distinctive characteristics of a separate species or even 

 breed (p. 420 et seq.). The tarpan, supposing that he still 

 exists, does not appear to possess any peculiarities which 

 are not found in the domestic horse. 



