48 THE HORSE IN HISTORY 



veins ; flabby thighs ; hollow shoulder-blades ; 

 projecting neck ; bald mane ; narrow chest ; fat 

 and heavy head ; large ears ; converging nostrils ; 

 sunken eyes ; thin and meagre sides ; sharp back- 

 bone ; rough haunches ; thin buttocks ; stiff legs, 

 stiff knees. 



Though among the horses of the ancient Greeks 

 the hogged mane must at one time have been 

 seen often enough, there does not appear to be 

 in the works of the early writers any direct 

 allusion to the hogging of horses as a regular 

 practice. 



Probably if the custom did exist it was on 

 the wane by the time Xenophon began to write. 

 There is evidence to show that in ancient Greece 

 the horses at about this period were rather smaller 

 than those of most other countries of which we 

 have authentic records, a characteristic still notice- 

 able amongst the horses in several parts of modern 

 Greece. 



The Greeks almost always used entire horses 

 for all purposes. Even in war they did not 

 employ geldings, a custom that has given rise 

 to the belief that in the centuries before Christ 

 all horses, with the exception of the Libyan 

 steeds, were far more savage than the horses 

 of to-day. 



Emphatically we have no reason to suppose 

 that the Greeks made friends and companions of 

 their horses as the Arab race is known to do or to 



