ness, some in endurance, some in mere strength for burden or draught. The slender form of the race-horse or hunter contrasts almost as strongly with the ponderous solidity of the dray-horse, as the great size of the latter does with the diminutiveness of the Shetland pony. Wild horses congregate in troops, sometimes small, but sometimes of many hundreds. The males have fierce contests for the supremacy, and males that have contended unsuccessfully are often driven off to a solitary life. On the appearance of danger, the chief stallion of a small troop seems to direct the movements of all, and even the largest troops seem instinctively to move in a kind of concert, so that when they are assailed, the stronger animals oppose the enemy, and protect the younger and weaker. Wolves, even when in packs, attack with success only weakened stragglers, and even the jaguar is repelled. In fighting, horses either raise themselves on their hind-feet, and bring down the fore-feet with great force on the enemy, or wheeling about, kick violently with the hind-feet. The tarpan of Tartary is one of those races of wild horses which are sometimes regarded as original, and not descended from domesticated animals. It is of a reddish color, with a black stripe along the back, and black mane and tail. The eye is small and vicious. Tarpans are sometimes caught by the Tartars, but are with great difficulty reduced to subjection. In some of the steppes of central Asia are wild horses of a white or dappled-gray color.-The wild horse of South America is there called the mus tang. It exhibits considerable diversity of color, but bay-brown is the most prevalent. It is strong and active, and is often taken with the lasso, and employed in the service of man. A curious method is practiced by some Indian tribes of promptly subduing its wild nature, and rendering it tractable, by blowing strongly with the mouth into its nostrils. By other tribes, it is subdued more rudely. It is thrown on the ground, and ere it can recover, a man gets upon its back, whom, when it rises, it cannot shake off, and who retains his seat until it is quite submissive.-The koomrah of n. Africa is regarded by col. Hamilton Smith as a distinct species (E. hippagrus). It has no forelock, but woolly hair on the forehead, is of a reddish-bay color, without stripe on the back or any white about the limbs, has limbs of a somewhat ass-like shape, and the tail covered with short hair for several inches at the root. It is an inhabitant of mountainous regions. Of domestic varieties and breeds of the horse, the number is very great, almost every country or considerable district having one or more of its own, and particular breeds being valued on account of their fitness for particular purposes. The breeds are also continually varied by crossing, and great improvements have thus been effected. The superior fleetness of the English race-horse and endurance of the hunter are ascribed to the crossing of the old English breed of light-limbed horse with the Arabian; and the English dray-horse, remarkable for its great size and strength, in like manner owes much of its excellence to the crossing of the largest old English breed of draught-horse with the Flemish. A breed produced by crossing one of the lighter kinds of English draught-horse with the race-horse is in the highest esteem for carriage-horses. North America has a breed of light-limbed horses, remarkable for fast trotting. The Suffolk Punch has been the origin of many of the most useful kinds of draught-horses employed in Britain for ordinary farm-work. The Clydesdale horse is also one of the best breeds of this class, and is an improvement on an older breed. Numerous breeds of smaller size, ponies, have long existed in different parts of Britain, and in almost all other countries. The Shetland pony, which, compared with the dray-horse, is like a pocket edition of a book beside a great folio, is most prized when most diminutive, and sometimes does not much exceed a large dog in stature. A strong man has been seen to lift one with his arm, and again to ride on its back, whilst at the same time he walked with his feet on each side on the ground. The Shetland pony is, however, a very hardy animal, and remarkably strong. The Arabian horse has long been the object of untiring care and attention, and to this very much of the excellence of the race is certainly to be ascribed. The regard of the Arab for his horse has long been famous. Very similar in some respects to the Arabian is the Barbary horse, which was highly prized in western Europe before the Arabian was known there, and from the name of which is derived the English word barb. The horse has been used from the most remote ages both for riding and for drawing carriages, but rather for pomp or pleasure, the chase, and war, than for agricultural or other labors, for which oxen and other animals were for a long time more generally employed. The horse is an animal of no little intelligence, docility, and affectionateness; qualities of which the display would certainly be more general and perfect, if it were not for the cruel treatment so commonly practiced in "breaking" and otherwise. The horse has a very strong memory of places, and finds again very readily a road which it has once traveled before. Its caution in advancing on swampy ground has often excited admiration. It seems often to enter with a kind of enthusiasm into the work in which it is engaged: the war-horse evidently delights in the martial music and military movements to which he has been accustomed; the racer and the hunter seem to know the object of their exertions, and to be as keenly bent upon it as their riders; and the draught-horse often exhibits much acquired expertness in situations of considerable dif ficulty. Instances are also on record of the remarkable display of intelligence in such things as the opening of doors, corn-chests, etc.; and two instances are known of horses which have learned to turn the tap of a water-barrel in order to obtain water, one of which also ended by shutting it again. A horse has been seen to procure a supply of apples in an orchard by throwing himself forcibly against the trees and shaking them. The flesh of the horse is used as food in some countries. Its use has recently found advocates in France and some other parts of Europe. It is sold in London as food for dogs and cats. Mares' milk is much used by some of the tribes whose chief wealth consists in their horses: and the Kalmucks subject it to fermentation, and distill from it a kind of spirit. The hide of horses is made into leather, which is used for covering large office and board-room tables, etc. The long hair of the mane and tail is used for making haircloth, stuffing mattresses, etc. Hybrids between the horse and the ass are noticed in the articles HINNY and MULE. Hybrids have also been produced between the horse and the zebra, and between the horse and the quagga, exhibiting, in some degree, the stripes so characteristic of these species; but they have been turned to no use. Fossil Horse. The remains of the horse have been long noticed associated with the mammoth, rhinoceros, and other extinct quadrupeds, in the drift formations and ossiferous caverns in the new world, as well as in the old. Their occurrence in America is the more remarkable, from that continent being entirely without the horse when it was discovered by Columbus. Cuvier was unable, in the fragments that he examined, to see any difference from the similar portions of the existing species. Meyer and Kaup have pointed out distinctive characters, and Owen has shown that the remains observed in this country belong probably to two different species. The largest (equus fossilis) was about the height of a middle-sized domestic horse, and differed from this animal in possessing a proportionally larger head and jaws, resembling in this respect the wild horses of Asia described by Pallas, and in having the molar teeth, while equal in length, yet decidedly smaller. The second species (equus plicidens) was about the size of a large ass, and differed from the other species, as well as from the living horse, in the more complex plications of the enamel of its molar teeth. See MAMMALIA; HORSE, FOSSIL. Horses, of whatever breed or description, should be of good size, shape, and style; for superior animals are fed and kept at the same cost as inferior sorts, are always able to perform their work easily and satisfactorily, and are at any time salable at remunerative prices. To produce such animals, requires careful selection of sound, active, symmetrical, well-descended parents. The mare carries her colt eleven months, but occasionally exceeds her time by one or two weeks. Farmers prefer their mares to foal in May, from which time the age is generally calculated, but on the turf, ages date from Jan., and hence the earlier the racing foals are dropped the better. Parturition is usually performed easily and without any assistance, the foal soon getting on his legs, and sucking. Good grass, with a feed of oats daily, will insure an abundant supply of milk. Weaning may take place in five or six months; and the foal, when taken from its mother, must be supplied with a few oats and bran, some good hay, and comfortable shelter at night. At a year old, colts are generally castrated; and are gently broken in and lightly worked when about three years old; but under good treatment they continue to grow, and ought not to be put to severe work until they are five. Oats and hay are the staple articles of food for hard-working horses. The oats should be sound, sweet, and heavy; and for hacks and hunters, are seldom sufficiently lry until they are a year old. Along with good hay, 10 lbs. is a fair allowance. To insure thorough mastication and digestion, oats should be given either slightly bruised or along with some chaff. For coaching or farm-work, a few beans or peas should be given; half a bushel, along with a bushel of oats and hay, is a usual weekly allowance for well-kept farm-horses. Clover and rye-grass hay (q.v.), such as is common through. out Scotland, is more palatable and nutritive than the meadow-hay in general use in England. Riding-horses eating a fair allowance of oats, will consume daily 14 lbs, of hay; but the heavier class of horses require more. Farmers use oat, pea, and bean straw for fodder during the winter months, and in most well-managed establishments a considerable portion of the fodder is now given cut, which enables the hard worked horse to fill himself more rapidly, and thus gives him more leisure for rest and repose. Cart-horses usually have an evening allowance of sliced Swedes or carrots; a daily pound of linseed-cake is now frequently added, to keep the coat glossy; whilst a weekly bran-mash is advisable, and should contain during winter an ounce of pounded niter. Horses should be liberally supplied with water at least three times daily, nor is it ever necessary to restrict the supplies, except for a few hours before severe fast work, and when the animal is much overheated and fatigued. In some well-constructed boxes and stables it is so arranged that water is constantly before the animal in a shallow vessel capable of holding about a quart, and which, as it is removed, is slowly replenished, and thus cannot be drunk either with undue rapidity or in injurious quantity. During summer, horses generally have such green food as grass, clover, or vetches; but if their work is severe or long continued, oats and hay ought still to form the principal articles of diet. In summer, farm-horses are often turned out to graze after their day's work is over; but it is generally more economical to bring their green food to the stable, or, better still, to commodious yards. It is seldom advisable to follow the old-fashioned |