THE HORSfi, HIS ORIGIN, ETC. ZH 



country ^thin the last thousand years, or are the result of judicious 

 breeding and kindly care bestowed upon a native stock. 



He was brought as a domestic animal to the New World, by the early 

 adventurers ; — and no trace of him, (if we except a kind of cloven-footed 

 species), having been found upon the Continent, we can account for the 

 herds of wild horses, known to have long existed in different parts of 

 North and South America, upon no other supposition than that they are 

 the descendants of certain Andalusian mares and steeds brought over by 

 the Spaniards, and abandoned by them when they could no longer render 

 them service, or left free to escape to the forests on the death of their 

 masters in battle. There is a story current — of doubtful authenticity, 

 however — that all these immense herds, in both North and South America, 

 are sprung from one stallion and two mares that escaped from the expe- 

 dition of De Soto through Florida, Georgia, and elsewhere. Be this aa 

 it may, there are now many great herds — a single one, especially in South 

 America, sometimes numbering many thousands. 



As a domestic animal, the horse is found among almost every people 

 on the globe ; and his uses vary ^ith the degree of civilization enjoyed 

 by his owners. It may be remarked also that this degree of usefulness 

 is intimately associated with the degree of his deterioration and with the 

 diseases to which he is subject. In a wild state, he is almost free from 

 disorders of every kind, — so much so that unless killed by accident or by 

 deprivation of necessary food and drink, as is sometimes the case, he 

 lives to a great age — dying in the course of nature, it is believed, at from 

 thirty to sixty years. Among the Arabs, whejre his condition approaches 

 more nearly to a natural state than among any other people, except the 

 [ndians, and where his laborious service to his master is limited almost 

 exclusively to carrying a single rider, he displays his greatest perfections 

 as a domestic animal, and enjoys the greatest immunity from disease. 

 Among the leading nations of Europe and their colonies, where he is for 

 the most part made literally *'a beast of burden" in the different capaci- 

 ties of animal for the saddle and for every species of draught, and wher« 

 man practices almost unrestrained not only his active cruelties but many 

 umvitting enormities, he is said by good authority to be constantly deter- 

 iorating and becoming more and more subject to diseases and to prema- 

 ture death. 



Among the Arabs, too, the best breeds are preserved in their purity i 

 whereas, among more civilized nations all efforts of man to improve th« 

 stock, or even to preserve any desired quality, result at last in rendering 

 the subjects of his experiments more liable to fall into various disorder*, 

 and, except in rare instances, in ultimate failure. 



