The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-04-03
ORIGIN OF rHoRoueHsREps.

Oht0tN VI i6ofOCGhS
On this subject Professor Ridgway re-
Gently delivered very interesting lecture
al the Cambridge philosophical society.
London Field appends an abstract:
| All the ancient people, Egyptians,
| Canaanites, Assyrians, Aryans OF the
Ng-&eda, Umbrians. Celts, drove the
| horse before they rode him, and Hero
dctus, speaking OF the Sigynnae, the only
tribe north OF the Danube whose name he
knew, said that they had small horses
| with large. fat noses and very long hiar,
which, though not able TO carry a man.
| were excellent under chariots; wherefore
| they used chariots-' Dio Cassius likewise
! says that the Britons used chariots in
war, because their horses We're small
| though active The description of the
| horses of the Sigynnae tsllies exactly
| with the abundant remains of the primi-
! tive horse of Europe, eaten in great guam
| titles and deiiEeated on anuers BY the
men OF the stone age. TIE was a small
| animal, about ten hands high, with
big head Even after domestication he
| remained very small, as witness bits of
! bronze and horn found In Swiss lake
! dwellings. the shoes found at Silchester
and In camps on the Roman Wall. etc
| Authorities ere agreed that from this
primitive horse have been developed the
! cart horses of the continent and these is
| lands while our blood horses have come
from an eastern stock Of slight build and
| smart appearance. Our problem is TO as
certain the original habitat of this su-
perior horse. lie has not come from up
per Asia, as the Monaghan pony IS taken
, as the type of the coarse, thick-set horse,
| from which sprang the cart horse The
! Monaghan pom probably represents the
Scythian horses, which continued TO be of
a small size down to Strabos time, and
they were derived either from the tarpan
! or Prezeyalsky's horse. The Monaghan
/ pony, Though sure-footed and enduring.
| is slow of pace. Neither China. Siam
/ nor Burmah has any indigenous horse
| answering to the blood horse. India could
never breed horses. says Marco Polo, in
| whose time India was supplied either with
| Monaghan ponies from Yunnsu or with
/ Arabs from South Persia, Alden and other
Arabian ports. These Arabs fetched
! enormous prices, equivalent to 200 pounds.
1T has hitherto been universally held
! that Arabia is the original home OF the
| blood horse This IS a baseIess assump
| ton. In the Old Testament the Arabs
are never mentioned as riding anything
| but camels and asses. Though the au-
| thor OF Job knew of the war horses, Yet
! Job did not own a single horse, his
| equine possessions consisting OF 500 she
asses. Herodotus viii, SD enumerates the
nations Including the Libyans) that sup
| piled cavalry to XerXes' host. but the
Arabs only furnish a camel corps.
Agatharchides (cited by Strabo) describes
| the Arabs as camel keepers.
Finally, Strabo tfor A. D. y, express
| " states that neither the peoples of
Arabia Felix nor those of ARABIA Petraea
bred horses. Naturally, therefore, Scau-
rus, after defeating the Arab King Aretas,
put on his coins Aretas leading his camel
1t is clear then, that down to the Chris
tian era the Arabs bred no horses Il is
consequently abvious that though the
Persian kings in the fifth century B. c.
bred the largest and best horses In Asa,
these were not OF an Arab strain. These
horses were kept largely in Armenia, and
are described by Strabo as similar TO the
Parthian horses, and as differing from
the horses bred in Greece, and the other
kinds of horses known in the Roman en-
pire There can be little doubt that they
were the same horses as Marco POLO
found in great numbers in Armenia
Q270 A. d., known as Turquans, the
Turcoman ponies well known in Persia
today. The Persian horses cannot, then.
have been the ancestors of the thorough
bred though it is quite possible that their
superiority was due to their having a
cross of thoroughbred blood, for already
by 900 B. c.. Solomon imported horses
from Egypt Il Kings x), and so for all
the kings of Syria and for all the kings
of the Hittites'' Egypt could not breed
horses neither could she have got them
from the Arabs, who bred none even 1000
years later. But she could and did get
them from the Libyans, who from the
dawn of history are masters of the most
famous horses
'.Cyrene sent the best horses to the
games of Greece (Pindar, Pyth.. 4. etc.
1t is noteworthy that ii was in the same
century as the founding of Cyrene, that
the four-horse chariot and the racehorse
were added to the olympic events. the
Phoenician settlers at Carthage found the
Libyans using these beautiful horses and
when they struck in Sicily. whittier
doubtless they had on them as the badge
of Libya and used a similar type on
their coins struck in Cicily, whittier
doubtless they carried the Libyan breed
This accounts for the extraordinary fame
of the horses of Etna and Syracuse, and
the famous steeds OF Tarentum. II Is
now clear that the Arabs never owned "A
good horse until they had become masters
of North Africa and the BarGary horses.
from whom are sprung our OWE racing
stock through Lord Godolphin's Barb.
North Africa, therefore and not Arabia
or any other part of Asia. is the original
home of the thoroughbred
Now though the pedigree OF the cart
horse type can be traced TO the coarse,
thick-set little horses of Europe and Asia,
the wild ancestor of the Barb is yet to
seek. for Africa has no wild horse. such
as tarpan or Prezevalsky's, though she |
has an ass and four zebraS, including the
ouazga now extinct. Can the Barb be
sprung wholly or in part from zebra?
Arab foals at birth constantly have zebra |
markings sometimes retained when fun /
grown, as by Professor Ewart's Arab
fly Fatirna Strabo. too notices that the
horses of the Libyian Garamantes have
longer hoofs than any other horses Pro- |
lessor Ewart's hybrids from Burchells |
zebra and various mares show the MARY |
ings not OF Burchell zebra. but Of |
Sonaliiand zebra, from which it has been 1
inferred that the remote ancestor OF both 4
EQuus cabalIus and Burchells zebra was
striped ike the Somaliland and mountain 1
zebra.
But is 1t necessary 10 go back so farE /
Nav not the SomalllanG zebra stripes IN |
the hybrid be due TO the circumstance I
that the dam in each case had q certain 4
amount of Barb blood in her. which was I
derived from either the Somaliland zebra I
or a closely allied species? He pro I
fesSor Ridgway) hsd crossed a Muscovy /
drake with a common white duck. derived 4
from the common wild duck with the re- 4
suit that all the offspring are colored ana /
their coloring resembles that Of the NAL 4
lard No one would say that the hybrid 4
show a reversiol to n remote common an
cestcr of both rnallard and Muscovy. Tor Il
is obvious that the c0i0ring If simply that
Of the white ducks immediate ancestors.
Authorities Ike Captain Hayes have
pointed out the great similarity in form
between BurcheIis and the ScmallaDd
zebra 70 a vell-bred horse. :. g. hcrse
that has Barb blood 10 him. lie. there
fore. suggested that the Barhary horefs.