62 DEVELOPMENT OF THE MODERN HORSE 



color, are very close built and compact, with short, clean legs, free 

 from feather. They are well adapted to farm work, having requi- 

 site weight, a good walk, a fair trot, great power and bottom for 

 continued exertion, and are easy keepers. At the same time a 

 team of four or six of these sorrel chunks would do things with a 

 big dray, or brewers' truck, that would make the " good big ones " 

 hustle to beat, and they wouldn't look badly hitched that way 

 either. 



The Mustang 



The horses of the southwestern plains of the United States are 

 descendants of Spanish importations. The first importation, made 

 by Columbus in 1493, perished ; but subsequent importations by 

 Columbus in 1527, and particularly by DeSoto in 1540, have 

 left progeny which has multiplied into large bands of animals of 

 small value. As the Spanish horses from which the Mustang has 

 sprung have come from Oriental stock through the Moors, who 

 brought them to Spain, we have proof of a very direct inheritance 

 of Arabian and Barbary qualities by these Mustangs. They have 

 lost much of their finish and symmetry of form during centuries of 

 natural selection without the direction of man, and have probably 

 reverted towards the ancestral type, but they are possessed of the 

 warm blood, the wonderful locomotive powers of their ancestry, 

 and where they have lost in attractiveness they have gained in 

 independence of artificial care and feed. 



They are of small size, 700 to 900 pounds weight, about 1 4 

 hands high and very slender in form. Their necks are long and 

 straight, set on low, their shoulders narrow, sides flat, rumps steep, 

 quarters lean and thin, legs straight and tough. 



They are found in all colors, but the paler ones are rather char- 

 acteristic, duns, yellows and calicos. They are exceedingly tough 

 and hardy, and have great endurance for long journeys. Their 



Keep y^our work horses warm in winter. It is cheaper to k.eep up the animal 

 heat with clapboards and blankets than with feed. 



