TYPES AND BREEDS OF 

 FARM ANIMALS 



PART I. THE HORSE, ASS, AND MULE 

 CHAPTER I 



THE PREHISTORIC HORSE 



The world-wide distribution of the horse in prehistoric times 

 has been well established. Fossil remains have been discovered 

 in Europe, Asia, Africa, and North and South America. Nothing 

 of the kind, however, has been found in Australia or the Oceanic 

 Islands. These remains have been found in earth and sand 

 deposits in various parts of Europe, antedating the glacial period. 

 In 1 90 1 important discoveries were made of drawings of horses 

 in a cave at La Mouthe, France, supposed to have been made 

 prior to the Stone Age. These drawings were partly cut in rock 

 and partly made in ocher and represented animals associated 

 with hunting. These well-defined drawings show a horse with 

 no forelock and a head with Roman-nose character, also one with 

 a head similar to that of the Celtic pony. From the evidence 

 left in these caves it is thought that a larger type of horse 

 lived toward the south, while farther north a smaller form 

 existed. The ass is also known to have been in existence in 

 Europe at this period. 



The discovery of the prehistoric horse in America was first 

 made by Mitchell in 1826 near the Navesink Highlands in New 

 Jersey, and caused great discussion. About 1850 Dr. Leidy made 

 similar discoveries in Nebraska, and late in the nineteenth cen- 

 tury the wide distribution of this early horse in North and South 

 America was well understood. These remains have been found 

 ■ all over the Southern states, in the Northeastern and Middle 



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