THE HORSE. 



[Equus caballus.) 



There are many objects which are so 

 commonly seen that we deceive our- 

 selves by thinking we know much about 

 them, and yet should we make a special 

 study of these same objects, often we 

 would find ourselves woefully ignorant in 

 regard to some of their most distinguish- 

 ing characteristics. 



Every day of our lives we see Horses. 

 These frequently move with exquisite 

 grace and beauty, stepping daintily and 

 proudly as if hardly deigning to remain 

 on earth, but seeming just ready to rise 

 and fly as did the fabled winged horse 

 Pegasus. With rapidly moving feet 



"The landscape speeds far away behind 

 Like an ocean driven before the wind," 



and we look on only to admire and won- 

 der. And yet how comparatively few of 

 those who watch the fascinating motion 

 of a rapidly moving Horse know that the 

 beautiful animal is running on only one 

 toe, for that indeed is all it possesses for 

 each foot. The foot proper extends as 

 high as the apparent knee. This is in 

 reality the wrist or ankle, and the appar- 

 ent foot is but a finger or toe correspond- 

 ing to the middle finger and. middle toe 

 of the hand and foot of man. The hoof 

 may be Hkened to the finger nail. In 

 fact, it is a great, thick, enlarged nail, 

 finishing and protecting the toe above. 



The Horse belongs to a great division 

 known as the odd-toed animals. There 

 are about twenty-five species of these 

 anim.als now existing and they are divid- 

 ed into four families, the one-toed 

 Horses, the tapirs with four toes in front 

 and three behind ; the rhinoceroses with 

 three toes, and the cony family with four 

 toes on their fore feet-and three on the 

 hinderfeet. These four families are 

 very different in their ways of living and 

 are so unlike that one would not expect 

 to find them relatives. 



The native country of the Horse seems 

 to be nearly the entire northern hemi- 

 sphere, for fossil remains are found 

 throughout this region, but in America 

 the Horse (never found south of Alaska) 



became extinct, and for a time there were 

 no Horses on the western continent. Af- 

 ter the discovery of America, Horses were 

 imported into the country and in time 

 some escaped from their owners and 

 formed herds which have multiplied until 

 there are a great many wild Horses now 

 roaming over the new world. 



In Europe wild Horses also became ex- 

 tinct, but at a conparatively recent date ; 

 but in Asia and Africa there seems to be 

 no time when the wild Horses have not 

 been roaming over the plains and table.- 

 lands, as free as the wind. 



On the steppes of southeastern Europe 

 there are great herds of peculiar Horses, 

 called tarpans. These are indeed free- 

 dom-loving animals and one can but feel 

 a certain sympathy with their unwilling- 

 ness to be tamed. They are a rather 

 small Horse with thin, strong legs, a 

 rather long, thin neck and a compara- 

 tively thick, blunt-muzzled head. They 

 have small, brilliant, wicked eyes; the 

 hair is thick and short in summer and in- 

 clined to curl ; in winter it is longer and 

 coarser and on the chin becomes almost 

 Hke a beard. 



Not content to roam in freedom by 

 themselves, they will, if possible, entice 

 domesticated Horses to join their num- 

 ber. On this account they are persist- 

 ently hunted, as they do considerable 

 damage. 



The great herds are divided into fam- 

 ilies, each family led by a stallion who is 

 sole ruier, taking the best of care of his 

 subjects, but permitting no irregularity. 

 These herds wander from place to place, 

 usually running against the wind, and 

 their keen sense of hearing warns them 

 of approaching danger. The stallions 

 do not fear beasts of prey and will sally 

 forth against wolves and beat them down 

 with their fore-hoofs. 



The earliest representations of Horses 

 and the fossil remains of the prehistoric 

 animals show them to be of rather small 

 size and not unlike the tartans, suggest- 

 ing the idea to some minds that the tar- 



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