HORSES. 



493 



steppe-like conditions still prevailed in those regions ; and there can be but little, 

 if any, doubt that the horses used by the ancient Britons and Germans in the time 

 of Csesar were derived from the same native stock. It is, however, probable that 

 the existing domesticated horses of Europe have a twofold origin, and that, while 

 the so-called thorough-bred and half-bred races have an Asiatic or perhaps partially 

 North African descent, the breeds denominated by the Germans " cold-blooded " are 

 derived from the primitive European stock. 



To how late a date the original wild horses of Western Europe existed as such, 

 cannot now be definitely ascertained. It is true that Strabo relates that wild horses 

 existed in his time in Spain and the Alps, and Pliny speaks of their existence 

 throughout a great part of the north of Europe. The occurrence of these animals 

 in the Ardennes is alluded to by Venantius Fortunatus, and in Italy a reference to 

 them is made by Pope Gregory III. in the year 732. There is also evidence that 

 about the year 1000 the monks of St. Gall were in the habit of using the flesh 

 of wild horses as an article of diet, while so late as 1316 a document alludes to their 

 existence in Westphalia. Moreover, Rosslin, in the year 1593, states that wild 

 horses, which were more shy and difficult to approach than stags, were found in 

 the Vosges, and were captured and tamed by the inhabitants of those districts. 

 In all these cases it is, however, quite probable that these horses were feral rather 

 than truly wild ; that is to say, that they were derived from tamed races which 

 had again taken to a wild life. This view is rendered the more probable from the 

 circumstance that, during the historic period the greater part of Western Europe 

 had become a forest-clad region quite different from the open steppes which we have 

 reason to believe were the original home of the horse ; but it is not impossible 

 that a certain number of troops of wild horses might have adapted themselves to the 

 changed conditions of their surroundings, and have lived on to the Middle Ages. 



Although at the present day the tarpan, or wild horse of the 



x cirpciii. m m a m 



steppes, is now confined to Central Asia, there is evidence that in the 

 time of Pallas (circa 1760) its range extended westward to the region of the Urals 

 and Volga. This explorer states that at that period the tarpan abounded in the 

 steppes of Tartary and Mongolia, from the Dnieper to the Altai, and thence through- 

 out Central Asia, in small droves seldom exceeding fifty head. The majority arc 

 of a reddish grey (dun) or pale grey colour ; but from intermixture with individuals 

 which have escaped from captivity, these colours are not invariable. In the pure- 

 bred race, the mane, a streak along the back, and the tail, are reddish brown, while 

 the nose is whitish, and the rest of the muzzle nearly black. They are smaller 

 than the average domestic horse, and have thinner limbs, larger heads, with a 

 convex profile, and longer ears which at their summits are bent backwards in a 

 sickle-like manner. The hoofs are small and cylindrical: and the mane, which 

 extends far on to the forehead and backwards on to the shoulders, is comparatively 

 short, thick, and half-erect. In winter the coat is long, rough, and shaggy : and the 

 bushy tail rather short. Young colts are easily tamed, but the adults arc utterly 

 intractable. Tarpan exhibit wonderful speed, and strenuously avoid the neigh- 

 bourhood of man. They frequent the open steppes, and are never found in forests 

 and mountainous districts. 



Since the time of Pallas the tarpan has been steadily driven back to the 



