342 MAMMALIA. BELLUiE. Horfe. 



Horfes are domefticated and cultivated with, great care in almoft every part of the earth. It is the 

 moft generous, moft fpirited, and moft docile of all quadrupeds, the Dog alone excepted, and is ex- 

 cellently adapted for a variety of ufeful purpofes, for draught, burthen, and riding. In a naturally 

 wild ftate, horfes are found in Beffarabia, and the deferts of Great Tartary; thofe of the deferts near 

 the Don are the offspring of the Ruffian cavalry horfes, turned loofe for want of forrage during the 

 fiege of Afoph in 1697 : Wild Horfes are likewife found in various parts of Africa ; and, though 

 none of the fpecies was found in America before its difcovery by Columbus, there are now vaft num- 

 bers wild in the great Savannas of South America, on both fides of the Rio Plata, defcended from 

 fitch as were carried there by the Spaniards, and happened to ftray from their mafters ; in the wild 

 ftate, they go in flocks under the conduct of a leader, are extremely vigilant, placing centinels to 

 give notice of danger, ~very timid, fhy, and fwift. Thofe of Tartary are generally of a dun or moufe 

 colour, and lefs than the domeftic kind, being covered with a very thick coat of hair, efpeciallyin 

 winter; their heads are large, and their fore-heads much arched. 



The domeftic horfes vary much in fize, colour, figure, and "fpirit, from climate, foil, food, breed- 

 ing, and management: The moft elegant, fwifteft, and moft generous, come from Arabia; very fmall 

 ones are found in Scotland, efpecially the Shetland ifles, Iceland, Norway, and Ceylon, Horfes not 

 exceeding thirty inches high having been brought from that ifland, whereas fome of the European 

 breeds, reach fix feet. England, from attentive culture, and by intermixture of the beft foreign 

 breeds, can boaft of having the fwifteft, largeft,. ftrongeft, and moft elegant varieties now in the world. 

 ..The male is named Horfe,- or Stallion, when emafculated Gelding, the "female Mare, the young Foal, 

 .when male. Colt, if female Filly : The voice, is called neighing: The paces are walking, trotting, 

 ambling, pacing, cantering, prancing, galloping, running : They are diftinguifhed, according to the 

 purpofes to which they are applied, and other circumftances, into Draught-horfe, Pack-horfe, War- 

 horfe, or Charger, Hunter, Racer, Pad, Hackeny, or Road-horfe, Galloway, Ponney, Sheltv, Blood- 

 horfe, &c. They fight by biting, by kicking with the hind feet, and by ftriking with the fore feet: 

 They feed entirely on grain and herbage, and eat even Aconite with impunity: The tail is. of great 

 ufe for driving away flies and other infetfts : When fatigued, or on purpofe to fcratch, Horfes fre- 

 quently roll on their backs : The ftomach is fmall, and the food, without being ruminated, paffes 

 through the body unduTolved, only a tiniTture being drawn by the digeftive powers ; the fmall guts 

 are long, the colon and caecum, or blind gut, are very large : The Horfe has no gall bladder, and 

 never vomits ; the dung is remarkable by its property of becoming very hot during putrefaction. 

 Horfes are much annoyed by hard fubifiances getting into their- ears, or by pricks in the feet; they 

 diflike dirty or fpoiled foods, are impatient of the bridle till accuftomed to it, and are much tor- 

 mented by the Horfe-fiy, Gad-fly, and Phellandrium curculio. They change their fore-teeth in the 

 fecond, third, and fourth years of their age, and acquire tufks at five years old : The female goes 

 two hundred and ninety days with young, and feldom has more than one foal at a birth. The hide 

 and hair are converted to ufeful purpofes : The Tartars and Arabs are fond of the flefh ; the former 

 ufe the milk, which they convert by fermentation into an intoxicating liquor, called Koumifs, which 

 is'"faid.to cure confumptions. 



762 2 ' Dfhikketei.— 3. Equus Hemionus. 5. 



Has folid hoofs, is of a uniform colour with no crofs on the back, and the extremity- 

 only of the tail has long hairs. Pall. It. iii. 217. 



jDihikketei, of the Mongub. Pall, nord, beytr. ii. 1. t, 1. Nov. com. Petrop. xix. 394. t.7. — 



Yo-to-tfe. 



