Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VIII.djvu/845

 HORSE 827 the females exercising it less frequently than the males. The horse rarely lives to a greater age than 30 years, and is not serviceable for speed or very hard work for more than half this period. In compact form, elegance of proportions, and grace of movement, combining speed and strength, it is surpassed by no ani- mal. Almost every part of the horse after death is useful to man ; his skin is valuable for gloves, his hair for making cloth, his bones for buttons and for grinding into fertilizers, his flesh as food for hounds if not for man, his hoofs for making glue, and his intestines for the manufacture of delicate membranous tis- sues. The experience of continental Europe has amply proved that horse flesh is a savory, nutritious, and'wholesome article of food. The original native country of the horse (equus ca- ~ballus, Linn.) is not certainly known ; but he was most probably first brought under the subjection of man in central Asia or in the part of northern Africa adjacent to Nubia Shetland Pony. and Abyssinia. Useful as is the horse to man, the ass was preferred by nations of antiqui- ty, from its easier management, hardier na- ture, and the cheaper food required to keep it in good condition; when greater wealth became common, the horse was more highly prized. Horses exist in the wild state in north- ern Asia and in America, the descendants of individuals formerly domesticated; in such cases they live in large troops, conducted in their wanderings and battles by an old male who has conquered the position of chief by superior strength and courage, and who, when his powers fail, is peacefully superseded by another. When danger threatens, they close their ranks, and present an unbroken circle of heels to the enemy, which is generally some of the larger carnivora. The horse, whether originating in northern Africa or in northern Asia, probably exists nowhere at the present time in its original character ; but wild horses, which have lived independently for many gen- erations, entirely exempt from the influence of man, afford a tolerable idea of what the prime- val animal was. Wild horses, as now met with, are generally smaller but more muscular than the domesticated ones, with less variety of col- or, stronger limbs, larger head, longer and less erect ears, more bushy mane, less sleek coats, Mustang, and smaller and more pointed hoofs. When these troops fall in with domesticated horses, the latter almost always rush with them in a wild stampede and are irrecoverably lost. The wild horse, or mustang, even when adult, is readily brought to the domesticated state ; the American Indians are very dexterous in taking them on the prairies and the pampas by means of lassos, and much of the wealth of many tribes consists in their herds of these animals roaming without any apparent control. The wild troops have no fixed place of abode or of repose, fre- quenting the richest pasturages, and resting at night in dry and sheltered situations ; they have great dread of storms and high winds, and a loud thunder clap will put them to flight in the utmost confusion and alarm. Most countries have peculiar breeds of horses, adapt- Arabian Horse. ed to the climate and wants of the region. In Arabia we find a horse remarkable for fleet ness, endurance, and docility ; its blood by IE termixture has been made to improve other races of all sizes and constitutions, producing the breeds most highly valued both in Europe