THE HORSE'S FEET AND THEIR CARE 



Dr. C. W. Brodiiead, Montrose, Pa. 



Farmers' Institute Lecturer 

 BRIEF HISTORY OF THE HORSE 



My paper at this time will be on a subject that all persons are 

 interested in to some extent. For who does not like to look at, 

 drive, or ride after a good horse? At the head of all animals 

 which have been domesticated by man or rendered useful to man 



— whether we regard his noble form, his great sagacity, or the 

 manner in which he is connected with our profit and our pleasure 



— stands the horse. One cannot travel to any part of the civilized 

 world but what he will see and have his attention called to the 

 horse in some way. And the one thing that either makes him more 

 valuable or useless is almost entirely left out of the question — 

 the proper care of his teeth and feet. 



There are various classes and divisions of domesticated animals. 

 The horse ranks under the division Vertebrated; the class, Mam- 

 malia, suckling their young; the tribe Angulata, or the hoofed; 

 the order Pachydermata, or thick skinned ; and the family 

 Solipeda, or single hoofed. The Solipeda consists of several 

 species, the horse, the mule and the quagga. 



First stands the Equus Caballus, or common horse. His native 

 country cannot with certainty be traced. He has been found 

 varying materially in size, form and utility in all the temperate 

 climes, and in most of the sultry, as well as in many of the 

 northern regions of the world. 



In the Sacred Volume, which contains the oldest authentic 

 record of past events, we are told that as early as 1650 years 

 before the birth of Christ the horse had been domesticated by the 

 Egyptians ; 1450 years before Christ the horse was so far natural- 

 ized in Greece that games were instituted, including chariot and 

 horse races. We, therefore, have sufficient evidence that the 

 horse was at a very early period subjected to the dominion of 

 man, and, unfortunately, for the worst of purposes — the business 

 of war. 



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