The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-08-09
HORSES, ANCIENT AND MODERN.


Westmont and Maud s. is an event Of wider
interest than common, and will make the
names Of horses, drivers and owners re-
nowned in places where those Of the presi-
Dental racers excite little or no comment.
For years 'two-fortyv was standard time, and
when, twenty years ago, the record was low
cred to two-twenty and below, American turf
men and American horses took position in the
sporting world. Flora Temple is better
known mare to-day than Bucephalus, while
Alexander the Great would no doubt have
willingly traded his ox-headed fayorite for
Jay -Eye-See, and thrown in the sixteen tai
ents $50, OOO) that King Philip paid for him
to boot. The fact is that the horse is devel-
oping with man; and that there is fitness in
the organization of the horse for the needs of
mankind is patent to every student Of either
human or horse history
Upon this point the Coincidence of I'M
gulates having equine notifications of
the perissodactyle structure" (to quote
Owen and put it mildly, with the appearance
of man on the earth, Professor Owen in his
Comparative Anatomy, says: "Of all
the quadrupedal servants Of man,
none have proved Of more value
to him, in peace or war, than the horse; none
have co-operated with the advanced races
more effectually in mans destinaI mastery over
the earth and its lower denizens. In all the
notifications of the old paleotherion type to
this end, the horse has acquired nobler pro-
portions and higher faculties, more strength
more speed, with amenability to the last
The royal grooms were unable TO manage
Alexanders bull-headed steed, and whom the
royal lad finally triumphed over him. no one
else dared overstride him. The horse died in
honorable battle in India two thousand years
ago, and the city Of Bucephala was built by
his royal master to his honor, as Vanderbilt
could no doubt do upon the peaceful demise
England legend, as depicted in Lorna
Doone," will recall that Jack Faggus, who
took to the highway and robbed coaches as
cheerily as Alexander robbed empires, and will
remember that his winnie was a part Of
him, as the Indians thought of the horses Of
the Spaniards, for all purposes of evil daring.
But to return to Professor Owens argu-
ment for design in the co-eval development Of
man and horse alike from the lower mammals.
mo one, says Professor Owen, lean enter the
saddling ground at Epson, before the start for
the Derby, without feeling that the glossy
coated, proudly-stepping creatures led out be-
fore him are the most perfect and beautiful Of
quadrupeds. AS such believe the horse to
have been predestinated and prepared for
man. It may be weakness, but if so, it
is glorious one, to discern, however dimly,
across our finite prison wall evidence Of the
divinity that shapes our ends, abuse the
means as we may The variations of the
horse under domestication are often quoted to
show the influence Of man in producing va
rieties amounting to even more than specific
differences did they occur in the wild state.
America has no distinct families of horses,
although those of different regions present
some peculiarities. The average New
England horse is small, hardy,
good-tempered, good goer and
tough. Through Virginia, Kentucky
and the South generally, the thoroughbred
predominates. Through the Southwest we
have the mustang small horse formerly
wild on the plains, and still SO in South
America direct descendant from the Span
ish horses Of the early conquerors. The Az
tees and Peruvians had no horses. IT,, mag
nifcent roads Of the Incas hundreds of miles
in length, were for foot travel.
Like man, who has tanned and grown up
with the horse, his habitat is unknown, and,
like all unknown origins, is referred to western
Asia. The horse is portrayed on Egyptian
monuments Of the eighteenth dynasty, and its
remains are found in the Swiss lake
villages. In the pastoral lives Of the
early patriarchs the horse has no
mention, and is first noted in Jewish literature
after the children of Israel returned from
Egypt OF all mammals the genesis of the
horse through geological periods is most com
plete, and the steps Of evolution are 50 clearly
traced by Marsh, in the thirty-fve or forty
species Of this family, ranging from the earli-
est eocene to the quartenary, that Mr. Huxley
says that it amounts to demonstration from
the animal kingdom Of the general theory Of
evolution. Beginning with the lowest part Of
the eocene basin Of Green river, we have the
eohippus, or ''dawn horse Of Marsh with