The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1886-07-01
HISTORY OF THE HORSE.
HIS DEVELOPMENT FROM THE
SIZE OF A POODLE TO HIS
PRESENT NOBLE PRO
PORTIONS.

Although the mule, as Sunset Cox said,
lis without the pride of ancestry" it is
quite different thing with his relative on
one side of the house, in whose outlines,
bearing, size and intelligence may be seen
very plainly his nobility and pure line
age.
The ancestry of the horse can be traced
back before the time of England's mon
archs, beyond the Caesars or the Eternal
City, beyond the creation of man, and
even farther than the very layer of earth
upon which we live, into the rocks and pe-
trifaction of the next age below us, An
Gent as his family tree, the horse species
is not by any means entitled to be classed
among the first families" and yet his
lineage is enough to put to blush those
foolish people-fortunately, few in our
countrywide pride themselves upon their
descent, and feel good because great
grandfather did something which is
thought to shed luster upon his degenerat-
ed, high-collared, sharp-toed defendants.
Any old cart-horse on the street can
show an older and purer strain of de-
scent.
Far back befole the age of man there
Iced upon the earth species of the horse
family, long atio extinct, which at the
present day would make showman's for
tune. This horse was very little larger
than a sheep, and some not larger than a
terrier dog. These little horses, as far
as we know from the fossil remains,
were the beginning of the horse tribe.
They had every outline of horses, and
the anatomy also, with the exception that
the feet were most peculiar.
Instead of having one hoof on each leg,
as our modern horse has, this diminutive
pony was the possessor of fur, making
sixteen hoofs in all. AS the horse devel-
rectly, these toes, all but one, disappeared
leaving our modern house to walk upon the
end of one toe to each leg. If they had
all continued to remain permanent, the
blacksmlths would have rejoiced.
In order to clearly understand the
manner af the gradual disappearance of
these toes little anatomy may be toler-
ated.
Starting with the hand of man as a
standard, the thumb, which is really a
finger, is called the first finger, the index
is called second. the next third fourth and
fifth. 1t hat been observed that when
this ordet is in any way interfeaed with
the first to disappear is the thumb or first
finger. This is noticed in dogs.
The "dew claw" is the first finger or
thumb.
So it was with the little horses. No re-
mains can be found possessing the first
finger. The earliest had the second
third, fourth and fifth toe present, all of
which reached the ground and were disable,
These toes all disappeared until none was
left eqcept the third, which is the toe
upon whose end the horses of the present
day walk.
The one just preceding our modern
horse had three toes, the second, third
and fourth, but the outside ones did not
reach the ground, and weae accordingly
not disable. They were up little distance
on the leg, like the little hoof of deer
and onlp remain on our modern horse in
what is known as tplint bones. 1t occas-
ionaIly happens that horses, as well as
other animals, will breed back, and a
monstrosity, as it appears to us, will be
the result. In England some time ago q
horse was born which had two hoofs on
each foot, and was carried abont the coun'
try as a curiosity. 1t was a reference, or
index, of what sort of feet the species
once had.
just why they were at first in posses
sion of such feet is matter of conjec-
ture. 1t may have been because the
ground was soft and marshy and the ex-
ira feet gave more surface for resistance,
and as the earth grew firmer no necessity
existed for so many toes, so that by dis
use they began to disappear.
With the modification of the feet the
horse increased in height and strength,
getting ready to help man bear his bur
dens and progress in the line of civiliza-
ton, and it is true that is all the hoIses
in city were to die, and there were nc
means DO which their place could be filled
civilization would retrograde, because
men would have to bear their own bur
dens, and the physical man would in
crease at the expense of the intellectual
so that in time we would all go back tC
semi-savages, as the students of an ath
letic college do. The horse as we have il
now is a vast improvement over the steed
of ancient times. 1t is dependent upor
man for its very life, and man is Deepen
| U6uU upOu ho ~ IuCICdSou Ill SlLt
through mans interference and culture
it also increased in mental capacity unit
one of the most intelligent, docile, usefu
creatures ever given by a Supreme Being
to man is the animal almost human-tht
horse.
In very early days horses were not USED
by all nations, and by none as beasts o.
burden. Asses and mules did the druid
gerry, and horses were only used as racers
warriors, hunters, or to carry thei
owners upon journeys of pleasure or bust
ness.
Seeing men on horseback apparently a
part and parcel of the beast, led some ma
tives to think that the strange appearance
was but one animal; hence the the belle
in the centaur, or animal half horse and
half man. In war they were source Of
great terror to those who were unfamiliar
with him, and often the approach of
troope would strike dismay to the hearts
of the enemy.
The gradual development from the lit
tie pocket pony into the full grown hors'
has been prominent factor in the ad
vancement of the human race, and upo1
no other animal has the hand of human
interference been sn marked. This cal
be seen in the wonderful variety in TIN
horse family. Shetland ponies, heav.
5rorobt borses the racer whose feet spurn