34 A COUNTRY READER. 



will see that within a few days of its birth it can 

 gallop almost as fast as it ever can in its life. 



There is a story told of a thoroughbred foal of 

 about a month old, that once beat a trained 

 race-horse over half a mile course, and thus won 

 its owner a large sum of money. 



The mother or dam of the foal was noted for 

 her speed, and she had a jockey on her back, the 

 mother beat the horse racing against her, and 

 her long-legged foal kept up with her with ease. 



Now, if the young foal had had a large 

 stomach and been obliged to consume a large 

 quantity of food to satisfy its hunger, as does a 

 cow, it could not have galloped fast, and so 

 would easily have been captured by its enemies. 

 Thus it is that instead of having a large stomach 

 like a calf, the foal has a small stomach, and 

 therefore needs constantly to go to its mother 

 for food, and is satisfied with a few mouthfuls at 

 a time. 



Then look at the hard round hoof of the horse, 

 how beautifully suited it is for travelling fast on 

 hard plains. If a horse gets into a very boggy 

 place, its hoofs sink in, acting as a kind of sucker, 

 so that it requires a strong, muscular effort on 

 the part of the horse to pull them out. Now, a 

 cow or a bullock, owing to its having a slit 

 between its two toes, can travel faster over a 

 place deep in mud than can a horse. Owing to 



