14 
J. C. MEYER, SR. 
horse. The training of the horse for riding purpose had the 
same effect, in a small way, as the introduction of the locomotive 
had upon the whole world. 
In the earliest period the horse seems to have been used for 
draught purposes by individual tribes. At the time of Hoang-ti, 
of China, 2,698 B. C. it was in full use. The Egyptians were in 
possession of the horse 2,500 B. C., and from there it spread over 
North Africa. 
The first mention of the horse in the Old Testament is in the 
following verses : “ Joseph gave them bread in exchange for horses, 
and for the flocks and for cattle of the herd and for asses.” 
Again, when the body of Jacob was taken to Canaan, “ there 
went up with him chariots and horsemen.” “And the Egyptians 
prusued and went in after them in the midst of the sea, even 
all Pharaoh’s horses and his chariots and his horsemen.” 
Several centuries later, at the time of Moses, the people of 
Israel were forbidden to keep horses, in order to prevent their 
coming in contact with other tribes. 
King David was the first of the Israelites to disregard this 
Mosaic injunction; he kept one hundred captured chariots and 
horses for himself. Solomon heeded the prohibition still less. He 
introduced the horse throughout the whole of Palestine, and with 
mercantile spirit monopolized a trade in horses, at which he did a 
thriving business. Re imported 40,000 horses from Egypt at 
150 silver shekels, or 17 pounds sterling per head. It was then 
that the kingdom extended in glory and in surface far beyond its 
ancient boundary. 
Serostosis, when he conquered the Nubians, 2,300 B. C., had 
in his army 24,000 horsemen and 27,000 chariots. 
The Moors from Africa, who penetrated Spain and invaded the 
whole of Europe, had over 200,000 horsemen. 
The Egyptians introduced the horse into Greece. The first 
appearance of horse and rider caused the inhabitants to believe 
this strange apparition to be a supernatural being, and in this 
manner the centaur sayings originated. The mythology of all 
nations, and that of the Greeks in particular, contained many 
traditions of the horse, but I will not recount them here; they all 
