34 THE HORSE 



to nearly as many breeds, snbbreeds, nondescripts 

 and varieties as they have American ancestors. Hence, 

 in the rural districts we see many inferior horses 

 horses of varied colors, conformation, temper, size and 

 degrees of usefulness. Some are worth ten times as 

 much as others, yet the least valuable cost as much 

 for maintenance and nearly as much for rearing as 

 the animals that sell for the higher prices. This brief 

 outline of the method in the breeding of the general 

 horse of America may in part serve to explain the 

 discussions that follow. 



All the wild horses of modern times are, without 

 doubt, the offspring of those which escaped from 

 domestication in earlier centuries. Those of the Volga, 

 the steppes of northern Asia, and those of the northern 

 districts of China are supposed to be the offspring of 

 horses liberated at the siege of Azof, 1657; those of 

 Texas, of horses abandoned by DeSoto (1539-1542), 

 or possibly of those turned loose at the time the 

 Spaniards retired from Buenos Ayres and which were 

 the foundation of the wild horses of South America. 

 It is scarcely probable, however, that those liberated 

 in South America would wander from a district where 

 pasture was abundant and the climate mild, northward 

 through the swamps of the tropical isthmus into 

 Texas. It may be concluded then, that the wild horses 

 of North and South America sprang from two distinct 

 groups, both of which were of Spanish blood. No 

 fossil remains of the modern horse have been discov- 

 ered either in America, Australia or the islands of the 

 Pacific. It may, therefore, be concluded that the horse 



