The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1894-07-26
WILD TRAITS IN TAME ANIMALS

We value the horse for his speed and
endurance: Yet had it not been for the
chief ancestor of our faithful friend the
dog. E., the grim gray wolf of Europe
and Asia, with his everlasting husger
and untiring gall0p-the wild horses
which swarned over the great plains Of
the old world, aad from which all our
modern steeds have sprung, would
never have developed the swiftness and
staying power they possessed and have
Transmitted to their descendants, says Il
North American reviewer.
The wolves and the wild horses We're
constantly at war, and. moreover, the
wolf was the only predatory beast cx-
listing in ancient times which was able
to pursue the horses and hunt them
down out on the open steppe.. The
galloping power OF the horse was thus
undoubtedly developed to enable him
to escape these gaunt, persistent foes.
SO certain does this appear to me that |
never see a wolf in a menagerie without
feeling inclined to raise my hat to him
and to thank him for many an eXhilar-
ating gallop on horseback. If his blood
thirsty forefathers had never existed
there would have been little to choose
between horse and a donkey.
1t must be borne in mind that such
influences were at work from day to
day, from year to year and from CEN
fury to century during immense epochs
before ever the first wild horse was las
seed by man. 1t seems strange that
this long and bitter feud between the
equidR and the canid9 should now be
almost entirely forgotten. Horses sell
dom show an instructive enmitv to dogs
III the same way that cattle 10. Prob
ably this is because they are so closely
associated together in their common
state of servitude to man. The horse
is an intelligent animal and readily
finds out who are his friends. Proba-
bly, also when wild he had little fear of
a single wolf, for he has plenty of cour-
age and is skiilful fighter with ho0fs
and teeth. Occasionally, however, the
old dread and enmity crop up. | have
known young horses, when surrounded
by pack of fOX-houndS for the first
time, 10 become almost frantic with
fear.
We know that the horses wild fore
fathers, ike the free mustangs, inhab-
tied open plains and trusted chiefly to
their speed to escape from their enc
mics. This becomes all the more evil
dent when we examine a young foal.
All young creatures tend to resemble
the earlier types from which the race
has sprung. more than adults do. The
legs of the foal are enormously devel-
oped from birth. He looks absurdly
like a horse on stills and when four or
tive days old he can gallop almost as
fast IS ever he will in his life. He holds
his head up boldly and never tries to
sink away and hide, like a young calf
or fawn, whose ancestors dwelt in the
forest. There is a story that a thor
oughbred foal of about month old
once beat a race-horse over a half-.ile
course. His dam was a mare celebrated
for her speed and she had a Jockey on
her back. She outstripped the rival
horse and her long-legged offspring
kept level with her with ease.
If you watch how a young colt takes
his nourishment you will see that his
habits tell the same story. lie never
takes a full meal in the way that a
young calf does but keeps constantly
running TO his mother and refreshing
himself every few minutes. This shows,
frs, that it is not his custom 10 he long
absent from his dam. as are Young ami
mails which lie hidden among the thick
cts while their parents 60 To- seek food
it shows, secondly. that his stomach is
never 50 loaded with a n.na aS 10 him
der his running powers, which were all
important when the youngest member
of the band had TO keep up with the
rest in their flight from wolves or other
enemies. Again, a colt. when he lies
down, does not curl himself up in a
small compass, as if to escape obserya-
ton, after the bashful manner of the
calf, but extends his long limbs conspic-
uously.