THE HORSE IN ALL LANDS
No matter where we find horses they are very much the same. They are not like dogs, of which there are so many kinds. Of course there is much difference in the size of horses and also in their colors, but little difference in other ways. If we travel together over the earth and see the horses of the various countries we shall find them very much alike. Yet such a journey is well worth taking, for it will show us many things we ought to know.
The horse family, as very likely you know, differs from all other animals in having only one toe. It comes from animals that had a number of toes, but these have all gone but one, and the nail of this toe has grown into a thick, horny hoof which keeps the foot from being hurt as the horse gallops over its native plains. Its home is on broad, grassy levels, soft to the tread. But when used by man it has to travel much on hard and stony roads which would soon wear out its hoof. So to save this it has to be shod with iron. The hoof is so thick that the iron shoe can be nailed to it without touching the flesh.
There are a number of animals much like the horse, but unlike it in several ways. These animals we shall speak of further on. One of the special points by which one knows the horse is the long hairs which cover the whole length of its tail. Another is its splendid, flowing mane. It has also longer legs and smaller head and ears than the other members of its family. Altogether a fine horse is one of the handsomest of all animals. And among them all it is one of the most useful to man.
Rosa Bonheur's Famous Picture of the Horse Fair
Now let us start on the journey abroad we laid out and see some of the world's horses. If we go first to the grand plains of northern Asia, the broad, level country called the steppes, the people of which are always travelling about with their flocks and herds, we shall find ourselves in the native land of the horse. In far-off times this was the great region of the wild horse and here very likely it was first made a slave of man.
All the time on the move, as these shepherd people were, driving their cattle and sheep from pasture to pasture, the horse was fitted for their use by its strength and speed, and very long ago it must have been caught and made to bear the saddle and bridle and carry man on its back. No one can say how long ago this was, but these people are now the great horsemen of the earth. They live with their horses, sleep with them, and love them even more than they do their children.
The Mongols of the steppes have almost lost the art of walking. They live so much on horseback that their legs have become curved instead of straight and when they walk their bodies bend forward as if they were riding. The time was when great hordes of these wild horsemen swept over the south of Asia and a great part of Europe, capturing and killing the people wherever they came. Thus the horse has been of great use in war.
The horses of the steppes are of middle size but are very strong and can go long without food and bear very hard work. They have quick, alert ears and eyes full of life and spirit, and can easily travel from forty to sixty miles in a day. Their color is light bay, cream color, white spotted with red, or sorrel, and some of them are quite pretty.
Here let us step aside to the British island and tell the story of a famous horse, Black Bess, belonging to a famous rider, Dick Turpin, the highwayman. Once when Dick was chased by the soldiers, this noble animal carried him from London to York, a distance of one hundred and five miles, in eleven hours. And this was done over rough roads and without a stop to eat or drink. As she entered the gates of York the splendid beast fell dead. You may learn from this what the horse is able to do.
If we wish to see the noblest and finest of all horses we must go from the grassy steppes of the north to the sandy deserts of Arabia, where for thousands of years has been kept the splendid Arab breed, the pride of their masters and the swiftest and most beautiful of the horse tribe. Many of these have been brought to Europe to give their blood to the racing stock. Black Bess, Dick Turpin's noble horse, had much Arabian blood. But the best of these horses are not sold out of their native land, for a true Arab horseman would almost rather sell his soul than his horse.
Persia also has its noble breed of horses, kept for desert travel and of the same type as those of Arabia. The mountain horses of the Balkans are of a similar type, beautiful in color, often a golden brown, with dark brown manes and tails, and soft, glossy coats. Like the Persian and Arabian they have delicate but strong bones, large muscles and much power of work and travel.
Russia, with its vast plains, is the great country for the horse. Most of these are the horses of the steppes, which we have spoken of, but the Russian peasants have many millions of working horses, tall, stout, strong beasts, with powerful legs and solid hoofs. They are not only strong, but willing and ready, and are good for riding as well as drawing.
Germany comes next to Russia in the old world in numbers of horses, and is noted for its fine, large, handsome carriage horses. From the days of George I. of England, to Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897, eight of the splendid horses of Hanover were used to draw the royal coach on all state occasions, and fine, stately animals they were.
France has several fine breeds of horses, from the heavy Norman Coach horse to the powerful French Draft horse and the well-known Percherons, much used in this country. In England the hunting and racing horses stand first. These, known as Thoroughbreds, are in great part of the Arabian stock and there are no finer animals to be found for the race-track. Of the many other large breeds in Europe we shall speak only of the great draft horses of Belgium, known the world over for their fine shape, great muscles and vast strength.
Coming down now from these elephant-like horses it is a long step to the pony, the toy animal found in the cold countries of the north. Best known among these are the Shetland ponies, from the frosty islands north of Scotland. These tiny creatures, sometimes less than three feet high, are ridden by children and used in circuses. But the chief use in their native land for these poor little ponies is in the coal mines, to draw the coal carts. Once taken into a mine, they never see the light of day again, some of them living fifteen years in these dark prisons.
From Davis' Practical Farming
Pure Bred Clydesdale Draft Horse
Another small, pony is the Norker horse of Norway, a strong little creature, noted for its power of mountain travel and of swimming. The ponies of Iceland are much like these, with thick coats of hair. These get their food in winter by scraping away the snow with their hoofs and eating the thin coat of grass and moss below.
Sweden also has its ponies, as also the mountain regions of Britain and other northern countries; but ponies are not confined to cold regions, for we find them as far south as Italy and Greece, and in the Grecian islands known as the Cyclades is a breed of ponies said to be still smaller than those of the Shetlands.
If we now cross the sea and come to our own country, the United States, we find no native breed of horses, all those we have being of European stock. This may seem strange when it is known that America was one of the native homes of the horse. The ancestors of the horse dwelt here, from little, five-toed animals of the size of a fox to the large one-toed animal of the recent age. All over America horses once spread, from the Arctic Seas to Patagonia, but when white men first reached this soil not a horse remained. They all had gone, no one knows how, and the continent had to be supplied again from European stock.