FARMER'S 

 CYCLOPEDIA OF LIVE STOCK 



HORSES AND MULES 



HOUSES 



The horse is the favorite domestic 

 animal of civilized man. With the ex- 

 ception of the dog, the horse is the most 

 companionable of all of our animal 

 friends, and its usefulness has not been 

 diminished by the enormous development 

 of machinery for transportation, farm 

 work, and the almost innumerable lines 

 of industry. The demand for horses 

 is constantly increasing. The number 

 of horses in the United States has nearly 

 doubled since 1880. At present there 

 are about 20,000,000 horses in this coun- 

 try. Horses are increasing in esteem, 

 as well as in number. More attention 

 is paid to their health and comfort than 

 heretofore. Societies for the preven- 

 tion of cruelty to animals find their 

 most important function in preventing 

 the unnecessary abuse of horses by a 

 fortunately decreasing number of people. 

 Veterinarians, too, report that with the 

 increase in value of horses, professional 

 advice is sought more often. 



Improvement of horses — Recently a 

 quite unusual interest has been mani- 

 fested in the improvement of horses by 

 systematic breeding. In this work the 

 United States Bureau of Animal Indus- 

 try and several experiment stations are 

 taking an active part. The prospects 

 for horse raising are, therefore, brighter 

 than ever before. The horse occupies a 

 peculiar position in agriculture. He is 

 raised for purposes other than those 

 which determine the production of other 

 domestic animals. Horse meat is but, 

 little eaten in this country and there is 

 only one abattoir where horses are 

 slaughtered for human food. In fact, 

 nearly all the product of this abattoir is 

 shipped to Europe. Horses are raised 

 for the work which they can perform. 

 The ewe may retain her usefulness for 

 six or eight years, the dairy cow 10 to 14 

 years, but, for food, sheep are slaugh- 

 tered at five months to two years old, 



cattle from nine months to two years and 

 hogs before they are a year old. On 

 the other hand, horses are worked 15 to 

 20 years or longer. During their life- 

 time they are exposed to various hard- 

 ships and diseases. Much special care 

 is therefore required to keep the horse 

 sound and preserve his usefulness for as 

 long a time as possible. 



The horse and farming — American 

 agriculture would be impossible without 

 horses and could never have reached its 

 present development without them. A 

 horse furnishes ten times as much energy 

 or work as a man, and at one-half the 

 cost of a man. The cost of agricultural 

 production is thus divided by 20. On 

 large farms, particularly on the western 

 ranches, the economic importance of the 

 horse is even much greater, for one man 

 may manage from four to 30 or more 

 horses at work. Human muscle is too 

 expensive a source of energy in any 

 work that can be done by horse power. 



Source of our horses — The origin of 

 the horse has been discussed in Part I. 

 There is considerable evidence that the 

 ass was domesticated before the horse, 

 but horses were used for war purposes 

 and for food in the earliest historical 

 times. For agricultural purposes oxen 

 and zebus were used before horses could 

 be spared for any other than war pur- 

 poses. In order to understand the 

 modern breeds of horses, it is desirable 

 to give a brief history of these breeds 

 in different countries. 



The horses in England at the time of 

 the Roman conquest were first modified 

 by the blood of the Roman horses, which 

 were probably of Turkish origin. Later 

 Spanish horses of Arabian ancestry 

 found their way to England. Erom this 

 mixture of blood the Thoroughbred and 

 Shire horse have arisen by intelligent 

 selection and breeding. Heavy draft 

 horses of Elemish origin were intro- 

 duced to improve the heavy class of 



