Mr. J. W. Gidley, one of our explorers, and gave us for the first time a glimpse 

 of this most perfectly developed type of race horse of the remote past, produced 

 by nature, more delicately formed, more swift, in build at least, than the swift- 

 est modern thoroughbred. Fig. 13. 



This horse we call the Neohipparion. We see that the wrist is raised above 

 the ground quite as much as in the modern horse ; and we have a similar ele- 

 vation of the hock. The animal differs from the modern horse in its light- 

 ness of limb, which is almost deer-like in structure, and in the relatively small 

 size of the face, or abbreviation of the anterior part of the skull. 



This series of outlines gives us an epitome or resume of what has hap- 

 pened in the period of which we are taking a brief running history. First, the 

 little original horse (Eohippus) ; and last the horses found in northeastern 

 Texas or the true American horse, a horse which existed here before the dis- 

 covery of the continent by man, this is the animal which suggsted to us the pos- 

 sibility of obtaining a complete history of the horse in America. A scale of 

 sizes, which gives us the gradual elevation of these types, is as follows : 



3 hands, the Eohippus. 



4 hands, the Orohippus. 



5 hands, the Mesohippus. 

 9 hands, the Protohippus. 



10 hands the Neohipparion. 



14 hands, the original American horse. 



Finally, we have the true American horse, 14 hands high, about the height 

 of a small horse or of a very good sized pony. Fig. 14, 15. 



The Hoofs and Cali^gsities oe the Limbs. 



We have been comparing the middle finger of the hand with the foot of 

 the horse, and we have seen how the tip must be modified to receive the impact 

 with the hard ground, because as you know, the best types of horses belong 

 either on rocky or sandy soil; now I shall proceed to show how the nail or claw 

 has been modified into the hoof. Fig. 16. 



First let us look at the side view of the fore foot and of the hind foot of an 

 ordinary horse, and also at a sole view of the fore foot and hind foot, in con- 

 nection with which I might call attention to the fact, known to many of you, 

 that the fore foot is always broader than the hind foot. The rim of the nail, 

 is continuous with the horny outgrowth coming out from the sole. The sole is 

 turned in at this point, and surrounds the softer structure which is called the 

 frog. Now, the crown, rim and sole are all horny tissue, whereas the frog, is 

 all modified softer kind of tissue, which we shall see corresponds with the ball 

 of the tip of the finger; whereas all the rest of the hoof corresponds with the 

 highly modified nail. In a horse which has been shod, the hoof never reaches 

 its perfect condition. Last spring we found the unshod feet of the Mexican 

 horses always with the rim forming a beautiful natural shoe and 

 with a comparatively well developed and springy cushion-like frog. The 

 horse in galloping or trotting does not land on the toe but on the back of the 



