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THE HORSE: 



The horse — the noblest conquest of man over the lower animals, although 

 not the most difficult, for in this respect it must yield to the elephant, 

 as in utility it must to the ox — is at present nowhere found in 

 its original wild state, although the ass and the ox unquestionably are 

 so. A true wild horse was supposed to exist in the mountains of Thibet; 

 but a specimen of this animal has at length been brought to England, and 

 is now to be seen in the gardens of the Zoological Society. It is, however, 

 of the family of the asses, somewhat taller than the true wild ass, lighter 

 in the shoulder, longer in the neck, with shorter ears and a more horse- 

 like head. It is, in fact, I am assured by an eminent naturalist, my 

 friend Dr Falconer, the Djiggatai of the Moguls, and hunted by them 

 for its flesh — considered by Tartars to be better venison than that of 

 any deer. 



In the domesticated state, the horse has immemorially existed in 

 every region of the Old World, the Arctic excepted. His disappearance 

 from the absolutely wild state is probably to be accounted for from his 

 natural habitat being the open plain ; from the facility with which he 

 would hence be captured, and when captured, tamed, domesticated, and 

 made useful. 



As we now see him, the horse consists of an almost infinite variety, 

 differing in size, in form, in colour, and even in disposition. Much of 

 this variety has, no doubt, been the work of man, but it is so great that it 

 is difficult to believe, when we consider the insuperable difficulties 

 to intercommunication which existed in early times — always rude 

 times™that all the widely differing races could possibly have sprung 



