The general accepted theory among the writers on the horse 

 is that North Africa may be considered as the home of the first 

 ■warm-blooded type of horse — the ancestor of the modern light 

 horse.^ 



Prof. Ridgeway holds that, "North Africa, if not the birth- 

 place is at least the cradle of the race which has been most con- 

 cerned in the making of Arabs and Barbs, and through them of the 

 Thoroughbred. *This race was the only variety of horse that 

 roamed over the plains of Libya, in the remote epochs ; it was fleeter 

 and more docile and altogether better adapted for riding purposes 

 than any horses evolved in the plains of Europe and Asia. These 

 were coarse, thick-set, dun and white colored horses, and in course of 

 time, by blending these with the light and fleet-footed Libyan the 

 various improved breeds of light and heavy horses now in existence 

 were produced.' 



The Cyclopedia of American Agriculture in discussing the two 

 great breeds of horses remarks that: "Another distinct type seems 

 to have existed in the South and later became the foundation stock 

 of the beautiful horses of Persia, Arabia and Barbery States of 

 North Africa. It now seems probable that it is principally to this 

 form that we must look for the original stock of the modern Thor- 

 oughbred, Saddle Horse and other races of speed horses. This an- 

 cient stock so fruitful in ultimate results as exhibited by these high- 

 ly improved blood horses probably had its origin in the dry desert 

 regions of North Africa. ' ' 



Von Nathusius' places the North African horses as an under- 

 group of the Arabs and Persians ; but the grouping applies to the 

 modern area; for Ridgeway has proved beyond doubt that the 

 Libyan tribes possessed a most notable breed of horses many cen- 

 turies before the Arabs, Persians or Turks ever owned a horse. 



Most continental writers are unanimous in dividing all breeds 

 of horses into two groups: the warm-blooded (Abendlandische, 

 Oriental), and the cold-blooded (Morgenlandische, Heavy horses).'^ 



(2) U. Lydelcker "The Horse and Its Relatives." 19W. 



Sir W. E. Flower "The Horse." 1910. 



(3) William Ridgeway "The Origin and Development of the Thoroughbred 



Horse. ' ' 190S. 



(4) Herman Von Nathusius "Vortrage iiber Fiehzuchtund Bassenlenntnisse." 



1891. 



(5) Simon Von Nathusius " Unterschiede zwisschen der Morgen-und Abend- 



landische Pferdegruppen." 1891. 

 Wilhelm Bolsche ' ' Das Fferd und Seine Geschichte. ' ' 1888. 



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