CHAPTER III 



HORSES OF AMERICA 



THE horse, as we know it, is not indigenous to 

 North America. All horses that are found in America, 

 except those that have been brought into the country 

 within the last few years, are offspring of imported 

 stock. Since the imported animals from which our 

 horses are derived were of widely different character- 

 istics and have been kept under radically different 

 climatic, food and use conditions, the offspring have 

 presented until recently few fixed and distinguishing 

 characteristics. Especially has this been the case when 

 the imported stock or their full -blood offspring were 

 mixed with the nondescript 1 females which often con- 

 tained the mixed blood of several breeds or varieties 

 differing radically in size, color and disposition. This 

 unintelligent mixing of several unlike breeds with 

 mixed-blooded animals, combined with unwise selection, 

 has produced horses devoid of marked or specialized 

 qualities. While there are modern methods practiced 

 to a limited extent where the breeding of horses is 

 pursued along scientific lines, so that the specialized 

 qualities of parents are perpetuated with some degree 

 of certainty, yet most of the horses bred in America 

 are of mixed origin; that is, they trace their genealogy 



!An animal of mixed and unknown ancestry. 

 C (33) 



