The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-07-19
NO REALLY WILD HORSES.
All Are Said 10 BE Descendants OF
Those That Once Were DOmestI-

IhOse That Once Were Domestic
Gated.
From a Paper Read Before the Bombay
Historical Society
Is there such a thing as the wild horse
an aboriginal or truly wild horse. in the
world now? The answer Is more than
doubtful The mustang of Mexico. the wild
horse Of the South American pampas. the
brumbi Of Australia. all are descendants
of tho domesticated animals introduced
from Europe. The first horse was Landed
in America at Buenos Ayres In 1887. In
15S0-that is, in less than fifty years-horses
had spread 10 regions as remote as Pata-
gonia. In Australia the diffusion Of horses
that have escaped from civilization has
been quite as rapid and in 1875 1t was found
necessary 10 shoot as many as 1000 wild
horses in the colony of New South Wales
alone.
In some parts of Australia the horse pest
has received legislative notice. The wild
horses tempt domestic horses to join them,
and wild stations also invade the Austria
Ian horses runs and vitiate choice herds
in a most annoying manner. They recur TO
the ancestral manners in a way that Is al
ways the same. Each stallion has his fol-
lowing of mares, ranging from a few up to
forty and even fifty, and these parties
may DO separate or banded together in
herds of considerable size, even, IL Is said
400 strong. The young and the weak mares
remain with a scanty or even no following
The stallion has to maintain his supremacy
by frequent combats, which especially oc-
cur at certain seasons of the year. The
animals are suspicious in the extreme,
swift in flight, but bold In defense with
tooth and heel in emergency. They range
extensively in search Of pasture and water
and when hard pressed by danger and fam
Inc the herds break up. 1t Is said that each
troop has a leader and implicitly obeys
him. He is the first to face danger and give
the hint to n.y. When pressed the horses
form a ring, with the mares and foals
in the center. and defend themselves Wig
orously with their heels. or they close in
on their opponent in dense masses and
trample him to death.
1t is distinctly proven, then, that there
can be no aboriginal or wild horse In either
America or Australia, although there are
tens of thousands Of unknown horses. Ira
dition points to Central Asia as the origi-
nal abode of the horse. and there the orig
inal stock of wild horses may still posi-
bly, exist. Darwin's statement that no alb
original or truly wild horse is known TO
exist must still be held as explaining the
exact position Of this question. But we
must supplement 1t by stating that It Is
not certain that truly wild horses do not
exist; and, on the whole conclude that the
evidence is in favor of the existence of the
wild horse in Central Asia, but that we
have no evidence as to his pedigree in re-
lation to domestication. The wild horse Of
the British Islands is now practically the
Shetland pony. but he is not the powerful
animal described by Caesar. The domestl-
Gated animal everywhere however re-,
verts very easily to the savage state. The
PAGES of a wild horse are walk and gal
lop. The double and the canter are arti-
fetal, and 1t is still a mooted question as
to. whether the Wild horse ever trots.