THE COLT 
ORSES have an interesting story as 
told by the fossils in the rocks of 
America; but we should not recog- 
nize these very ancient ancestors 
of our horses if we should see them, 
for they were not larger than sheep, 
and each one had four toes on 
the front foot and three toes on the hind foot. 
This first little horse with many toes lived when the 
earth was a damp, warm place, and when animals 
needed toes to spread out to enable them to walk in 
the mud. But as the ages passed, the earth grew 
colder and drier, and a long leg ending in a single 
hoof seemed most serviceable for running swiftly 
over dry places; thus it has come about that our 
horses of the present day walk on the nails of their 
middle toes, for the hoof is a toenail. In the desert 
of Gobi in Thibet the original stock from which our 
domestic horses have been bred was discovered by 
Col. Przhevalski. These are dun-colored ponies, 
with erect manes, no forelocks and with a dark stripe 
along the back. Very good pictures of these horses 
are found in the drawings made by the cave men 
before the dawn of history. 
Since the herds of wild horses made swift flights 
when attacked by their enemies, colts are born with 
long legs so that they are able to keep up with the 
herd. In fact, its legs are so long that, when it 
grazes, the colt has to spread the front legs wide 
apart so as to reach the grass with its mouth. Of 
course as the colt grows older its neck grows longer 
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