The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1895-08-09
NO WILD HORSES.

Naturalists Contend That There is no ABB
original steed.
A member of the Bombay Historical
society recently read a paper before
that body on the aboriginal horse, in
which he asked the question: Is there
such a thing as the wild horse, an abo-
riginal or truly wild horse, in the world
now? In his answer he regarded it as
more than doubtful The mustang Of
Mexico, he said, the wild horse Of the
South American panpas, the brumbi of
Australia, are all descendants of the do
mesticated animals introduced from Eu-
rope. The first horse was landed in
America at Buenos Ayres in 1887. In
1580-that Is, in less than fifty years
horses had spread to regions as remote
as Patagonia. In Australia the diffu-
sion of horses that have escaped from
civilization has been quite as rapid, and
in 1875 it was found necessary to shoot
as many as seven thousand wild horses
in the colony Of New South Wales alone.
In some parts of Australia the horse
The wild horses tempt domestic horses
to join them, and wild stations also in
wade the Australian horse runs and vi
tlate hoice herds in most annoying
manner. They recur to the ancestral
manners in a way that is always the
same. Each stallion has his following
of mares, ranging from a few up to for
ty and even fifty, and these parties may
be separate or banded together in herds
| of considerable size, even, it is said,
four hundred strong. The young and
| the weak mares remain with scanty
or even no following. The stallion has
to maintain his supremacy by frequent
combats, which especially occur at GER
| tain 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 ex-
| tensively in search of pasture and wa
ter, and when hard pressed by danger
and famine 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 fly.
When pressed the horses form a ring,
with the mares and foals in the center
and defend themselves vigorously with
their heels, or they close in On their OPP
ponent 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. Tradition points to central Asia
as the original abode of the horse, and
there the original stock of wild horses
may still possibly exist. Darwin
statement that no aboriginal or truly
wild horse Is known to exist must still
be held as explaining the exact position
| of this question. But we must supple
ment it 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 rela-
| ton 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 domesticated animal everywhere.
| however, .reverts very easily to the saw
age state. The PAGES of the wild horse
are walk and gallop. The double and
the canter are artificial, and it is still a
| mooted question as to whether the wild
horse ever trots.