72 TYPES AND BREEDS 



France, Belgium, Ilollaiid, and Germany. The country was 

 generally low lying, and therefore conducive to a coarse, rank, 

 luxuriant gro^\i^h of vegetation. The horse developed thereon 

 partook of the same general nature. The Flanders horse was 

 characterizeil hy : First, his huge size and bulk; second, his gen- 

 eral coarseness; third, his uniformly black color; fourth, his 

 profusion of hair, sho^ving in heavy mane, tail, featlier and even 

 a moustache, and tufts on the anterior face of knees and points 

 of hocks ; fifth, his sluggish, Ijonphatic temperament. 



The Oriental horse, native to the desert regions of Xortheni 

 Africa and later found in Arabia and Asia Minor, was charac- 

 terized by extreme refinement, beauty of form, grace of move- 

 ment, speed, stamina, spirit, intelligence, and an active, nervous 

 temperament. The so-called Oriental Group was said to consist 

 of the Barb, Turk, and Arabian. 



Recent researches of Pi'ofessor J. Cossar Ewart, of the Uni- 

 versity of Edinburgh, and Professor William Ridgeway, of 

 Cambridge, have sho\vn that the fountain source was not reached 

 in either the Flemish horse or the so-called Oriental Group. 

 Ridgeway concludes that all horses can be traced to one or more 

 of three original stocks: the Libyan horse of Northern Africa, 

 of which pure Barbs and Arabs are typical : the common horse 

 of Upper Asia and Europe, represented by the Mongolian pony, 

 and the Celtic pony of Xorthwestem Europe. 



Origin of Thoroughhred. — He traces the Thoroughbred, 

 through his alleged Barb, Turk, and Arab ancestors, to Libya, 

 in Xorthem Africa, Avhere he establishes a definite origin, about 

 1000 B.c.^ in a horso charactenzed by a bay color, sometimes 

 accompanied by boily, leg and even head stripes, a dark colored 

 skin, white markings, as a star, a blaze, and pasterns or " brace- 

 lets," a short, fine head, well-carried ears, a peculiar depression 

 in the skull just in front of the orbits, a light, fine, high-set tail, 

 the total absence of chestnuts on the hind legs, and either ab- 

 sence or small size of the ergots at the fetlocks, an unusually 

 long hoof, extremely docile disposition, a refined, expressive 

 voice, and great speed. 



Origin of Other Horses. — Ridgeway also establishes a small, 

 coarse, thick set, short necked, plain headed, big boned, light 



