«86 E Q U 
i. Equvs Cabullus, tlie wild, and domedic, Horse ; dif- 
tinguidied by a long flowing mane, and the tail wholly 
covered with long hairs—The horfe is known among 
mod nations of the world, in a domedic date. Ingrace- 
fulnefs of form and dignity of carriage, he appears fupe- 
rior to every other quadruped. Among all the inferior 
animals, man has found no other equally manageable and 
ufeful with the horfe. He is lively and high-fpirited, 
yet gentle and tractable; vigorous and adtive; keen and 
ardent in his exertions, yet firm and perfevering. He 
feems equally qualified for all the different purpofes for 
which man can wifh to employ him : he fubmits peace¬ 
ably to the draught; exults in the race; difidains every 
obdacle in hunting ; and on tits road advances cheerfully 
with his mafter, for whom he conceives the attachments 
ftt a companion. In war, he performs every evolution 
with the utmod dexterity, and difplays a degree of ardour 
for battle, which the courage even of the braved foldier 
cannot excel. The voice of this animal is peculiar; we 
call it neighing. The male becomes capable of propagat¬ 
ing his fpecies at the age of two or three years; and the 
female admits his embraces even at an earlier period. 
But the foals produced from fuch young parents are of 
little value ; fo neceflary is it that all animals fhould be 
iufficiently mature, before the fexual contact takes place. 
In a date of nature, this premature intercourfe is chiefly 
prevented by the jealous vigilance of thofe that have ar¬ 
rived at their full vigour and drength. The period of 
gedation is 190 days. Horfes are known to live, when 
their days are not fhortened by ill ufage, commonly to the 
age of five-and-twenty or thirty years. 
The horfe, like the other domedic animals, has, no 
doubt, been originally tamed by human art. Wild horfes 
are dill found in various parts of the world. But this 
fpecies of animals have been fo long known in a domedic 
date, and their ufeful qualities have caufed them to be 
diffufed fo generally over the globe, that it is impoffible 
to difeover, with any degree of certainty, of what coun¬ 
try they were originally natives. Wild horfes are found 
in the country lying round the lake Aral ; on the river 
Tom, in the fouthern part of Siberia ; in the great Mon- 
galian defertsS; and among the Kalkas, norih-wed of 
China. Thefe horfes are fmaller than the domeftfc ; 
their hair, particularly in winter, is very thick, and gene¬ 
rally of a moufe colour. Their heads are larger, in pro¬ 
portion to their bodies, than thofe of the tame horfes ; 
and their foreheads remarkably arched. They herd to¬ 
gether in large companies, and often gather round the 
horfes of the Mongols and Kalkas, while grazing in the 
fields, and carry them off among them. They are ob- 
ferved to be very watchful of their common fafety. 
While the herd is feeding, the native fagacity of the 
horfe is manifeded in a very extraordinary manner : a 
leader is dationed before, with its ears thrown forwards, 
and a centinel placed behind, with its ears bent back, to 
guard againd furprife both ways ; and when danger of 
any kind approaches, they warn their fellows by neighing, 
on which they all betake themfelves to flight with the 
utmod fpeed. Yet the Kalmuks frequently ride in 
among the herds on very fleet tame horfes, and kill them 
•with broad lances. Hawks are alfo ufed in taking the 
wild horfes ; thofe birds are taught to fix on its forehead, 
where they teafe and didrefs it in fitch a manner as to 
prevent it from efcaping its pttrfuer. In the wilds of 
Africa too, particularly in the country adjoining to the 
Cape of Good Hope, numbers of wild horfes are found. 
Their fize is fmall ; their difpofition vicious; and no 
art, we are told, can fucceed in taming them. The Hot¬ 
tentots and Caffrees kill them for food. 
In the deferts, on each fide of the river Don, particu¬ 
larly towards the Palus Maeotis and the town of Back- 
mut, there is a race of wild horfes, which are known to 
be the progeny of the Ruffian horfes that were turned 
loofe from the fiege of Afoph in 1697, for want of forage. 
The Coflacks chafe and kill thefe for their ikins. When 
u s. 
they happen to take a young one, it is domefHcated by 
coupling it for a few months with a tame horfe. Tliefe 
are in general much dronger than the tame horfes of the 
country. The horfes of the Tartars copulate and breed 
with the wild horfes which carry them off: and the off. 
fpring produced by this intermixture are didinguifhable 
by their colours. In Spaniih America, there are vad herds 
of wild horfes. But they are known to have been origi¬ 
nally introduced by the Spaniards, when they fird con¬ 
quered that country. Being fuffered to run about in 
thofe extenfive and unappropriated fields and forefls, 
without redraint or culture, they have become drangers 
to man, and have multiplied fo amazingly, that they are 
now fpread over all the fouth of the American continent, 
nearly to the Straits of Magellan. The inhabitants of 
thofe regions are not without arts for taking them. When 
taken, they are eafily tamed ; and though fuffered to re¬ 
turn to their former date of freedom, they are faid never 
afterwards to forget their maders :—a mod amazing 
proof of retentive memory. Ancient authors mention 
wild horfes as inhabitants of many other countries. He¬ 
rodotus fpeaks of a race of wild white horfes, that were 
found on the banks of the river Hypanis in Scythia ; and 
mentions another tribe in the north of Thrace, vvhofe 
hair was five inches long all over the body. Strabo 
fpeaks of wild horfes on,the Alps, and in Spain. Cardan, 
who vifited Scotland in the minority of queen Mary, re¬ 
lates that wild horfes then abounded in that country, and 
in the Orkney ifles. And, indeed, we are told, that in 
the highlands of Scotland, many of that fmall breed of 
horfes, known in the low countries by the name of Jhelties, 
dill run about, almod wild, among the hills, in a date 
very little different from that of the wild horfes in South 
America. It is worthy of notice, that the fabulous re¬ 
cords in which the earlier hidory of ancient Greece is 
preferved, reprefent horfes as having been fi d domefti- 
cated by the inhabitants of Theffaly, a country bordering 
on Thrace. The fable of the Centaurs is well known. 
From every fadt that ancient authors have preferved, or 
modern travellers relate, concerning the horfe in a wild 
date, this fpecies of animals appear to have been deftined 
by nature for inhabitants, not merely of one or two dif¬ 
ferent tradts of country, but of a confiderable part of the 
globe. An animal fo ufeful and fo friendly to man, is 
happily qualified to be his fervant and companion in many 
varieties of climate, and through a great diverfity of 
local circumdances. 
The wild horfes of Arabia are indifputably to be pre¬ 
ferred for fwiftnefs and elegance of fhape. They are 
found in the deferts; but are not now fo numerous as 
formerly. The natives ufe various arts, and difplay the 
greated activity and addiefs, in taking them. The fwift¬ 
nefs of the animal, after he is taken, is tried in chacing 
the odrich : if fuccefsful in this cliace, he is valued at a 
very high price. Horfes are with the Arabians a princi¬ 
pal article of commerce. Arabian horfes are, among 
every nation, eagerly fought after. They cannot, how¬ 
ever, be called wild, in any other refpedt than the horfes 
in South America, or thofe on the mountains in the north 
of Scotland. The Arabians fuffer them to breed and 
multiply in the deferts, with a defign to take and fell 
them at proper feafons, or train them for their own ufe. 
Every Arabian, however humble his fituation, is poffeffed 
at lead of one horfe. They prefer the mare for labour, 
as being more capable of bearing hunger, third, and fa¬ 
tigue. They generally difpofe of their horfes to the 
Turks; excepting fuch as they feledl for ftallions, which 
are always the mod adfive, beautiful, and vigorous. In 
Arabia the breed is never eroded as in other countries, 
but preferved unmixed, with the utmod folicitude. It 
has been inferred from this, that Arabia may probably 
have been the original country of horfes. 
The next choiceft race of horfes occurs in Barbary ; 
and among thefe, the mountain barbs are faid to be the 
belt. In Gambia and Senegal, the chiefs or governors 
2 have 
