CHAPTER I. 



HISTORY, BREEDS AND VARIETIES OF HORSES IN THE 



UNITED STATES. 



ORIGIN AND VALUE OF THE HORSE. 



The history of the Horse, intimately interwoven as 

 it is with that of man, can hardly fail to interest the 

 most careless. From the earliest ages, he has been 

 man's faithful ally and willing slave. In war, he not 

 only moves all the machinery of the field and camp, 

 but shares with his rider, all the fatigue and danger of 

 the battle. In peace, how various and invaluable are 

 his services. Every branch of industry owes much to 

 his patient toil. He plows the soil, sows the seed, 

 reaps the harvest, and transports it to market. He has 

 been admired, cherished and loved equally by the most 

 enlightened and most barbarous races of man, and al- 

 most invariably considered the most useful and man- 

 ageable of all our domestic animals. 



The earliest record we have of the horse traces him 

 to Egypt. He was domesticated in the days of Moses, 



