The horse is not an intelligent animal as a rule. He is the only animal that loses its head to the point of its own extermination when not restrained and controlled. He has no affectionate recognition of even his best friends. Your dog twists himself into extravagant physical contortions when you return after a month's absence; your horse, on the other hand, is no more warm in his welcome than your saddle. He is, now that he has been so long guarded and cared for by man, a pitiably helpless animal when left to himself. The mere fact that the reins lie on the dash-board, that he hears no voice behind him, that he is free, sends him off at a gallop—possibly to his own destruction.[1]
A certain politician from Tennessee, in describing a particularly erratic party leader, said that he reminded him of a horse sold to a friend of his. Many questions were asked concerning the horse, and finally the seller was asked about his gaits. After some hesitation he finally drawled, "Well, I guess his natural gait is running away!"
This is true of practically all horses, and it is because he is so well known to man and so useful to man, and because he is amongst the animals the greatest pleasure giver to man, that some knowledge of his ancient and modern antecedents and training is desirable.
America is the home of the horse in more senses than one. We have more money invested in horse-flesh than any other country in the world. A very conservative estimate of the value of the horses in this country is something over $1,050,969,093.
Scientific men tell us, too, that the first horses were natives of this country. The prehistoric horse of America probably wandered across Behring's Strait to Europe, Africa, and Asia at a time when that passage was dry land. Though the earliest travellers to, and the first settlers in, America found no horses here, there is no doubt that the horse originated on this continent. Why the horse disappeared entirely from this continent for a long period of time, while flourishing particularly in Africa and Asia as well as in Europe, is one of the mysteries that science has not explained. Whether the ice age destroyed them, or a plague or flood swept them away no one knows. Two facts are well known: the first is that the oldest remains of the horse are found in this country; the second is that when Columbus touched at what is now San Domingo in 1493 he brought with him horses, animals that for thousands of years had not been seen here.
In four hundred years we have become the largest owners and users of horses in the world.
Our agricultural supremacy is due in great part to our use of horse-power in our fields and farms. Our superiority in this respect may be seen at a glance by a comparison of the number of horses in the leading European countries and our own. It is to be noted that in many cases these figures comprise, not merely the number of horses on farms, but the total number in the country. For the United States the number given is for horses on farms only.
| Country | Date | Number |
| Great Britain | 1901 | 1,511,431 |
| Ireland | 1901 | 491,380 |
| British India | 1900 | 1,343,880 |
| Australia | 1900 | 1,922,522 |
| Argentine Republic | 1900 | 4,447,000 |
| Austria | 1899 | 1,711,077 |
| Hungary | 1895 | 2,308,457 |
| France | 1900 | 2,903,063 |
| Germany | 1900 | 4,184,099 |
| Italy | 1890 | 702,390 |
| Japan | 1900 | 1,547,160 |
| Russia, including Siberia———————— | 1898 | 25,354,000 |
| United States | 1900 | 21,216,888 |
Iowa, Illinois, and Texas have each almost as many horses as Great Britain, and these three states alone have more horses between them than any foreign country except Russia.