CHAPTER XII 



DRAFT HORSES 



THE draft horse, more than any other, is an 

 evolution — or, more properly speaking, 

 a modification — of the horse as nature 

 formed him, brought about by the necessities of 

 man and his skill as a breeder. He is a far greater 

 departure than any other from the original type. 

 For the horse, in a state of nature, is never very 

 large; he is formed for speed and for living on a 

 grass diet, and his first adaptation to man's uses 

 was doubtless in the carrying of comparatively 

 light burdens and in traveling with a speed rather 

 greater than less than that which he first 

 possessed. 



But the draft horse has little speed; his chief 

 use is in the moving of heavy burdens, and he is 

 more dependent than other horses upon a grain 

 diet. He is also so much larger and of such dif- 

 ferent characteristics and general appearance 

 that when compared with a horse of racing or 

 carriage blood it is difficult to realize that both 

 sprang from the same source. 



This striking difference between the draft horse 

 137 



