Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-07-31
HORSES ANCESTOR
TRACED TO IDAHO
Prehistoric Animal Was About
Size of Collie Dog and
Three Toed.

Bones of PleSippus, the very great
! grandfather of Gallant Fox, marvel Of
American race tracks. have been dig
covered in Idaho, where scientists have
| identified among skeletal remains the
missing link Of the horse family.
Plesippus bore slight resemblance 10
the winner of the 1880 Kentucky Derby.
He was prehistoric horse about the
size of collie dog and had three toes
! on each foot. While crossing a swamp
| PlesippuS got begged in the mire and
persisted. The deposits that closed
| over his carcass preserved the fossil
bones for more than q million years.
Horse Carries on Links"
But the modern horses link with the
past can be observed without visiting
museum.
There are certain apparently useless
structures connected with the legs Of
Carter in Horses Of the World" pre-
pared for the National Geographic So
| ciety, which give rise to many theories
concerning his probable evolution from
an animal of different type. There Is
on the inner surface of each foreleg
Of the horse, above the knee, and on the
inner surface of each hind leg, below
the hook joint, callous, elongated
piece of skin known as Chestnut which
based upon the idea that 1t represents
the former existence of an appendage
! which has disappeared in the process
Of evolution.
There is also bony, wartlike struc-
ture at the back of the fetlock or past
ern joint. quite pronounced in some
animals, which serves no useful purpose
to the horse in his present form.
Ancestors Believed Asiatic.
practically all writer's on the his
tory of the horse who have given serious
study to the subject incline to the be-
lief that the wild horse of the steppes
of Asia has the most legitimate claim TO
being the source from which the do
mesticated horse was derived.
Scientists all agree that in prehis-
toric ages certain types of horses ranged
over parts of Asia and of North America
and South America, and that while the
wild horses of Asia appear to have de-
scended from the original stock, all such
animals had disappeared from North
and South America before any modern
Europeans landed here.
Research efforts have been highly
successful in establishing in the minds
of scientists the multiple -toed skeleton
remains of an ancient animal as the
progenitor of the horse, which, during
all recorded history, has been dlstin-
Dy q OJC ElkCdcCu III o
wall of horn or hoof, the form best
adapted to carrying heavy weight at
speed over rough ground.
THE use of horse chariots prevailed
in Egypt as far back as the history of
that country has been made known
through monuments and ancient in
Scriptions.
Among the bas-reliefs and pictures
of Assyrian, Persian, Nubian, Greek,
Roman, Byzantine and other horses Of
the ancientS, the types are limited and
bear slight resemblance to- the modern
breeds of horses as developed within
the past two centuries.
THE horse, as depicted in the fifth
century BIC, in the frieze of the Par
thenon and numerous bss-reliefs OF that
period, bears much resemblance TO the
wild horse of Asia in size, the shape of
the head and neck and the peculiar
short outstanding name. The size Is
readily estimated in comparison with
that of the riders, whose legs hang down
far below the bodies Of the horses.
Cortez Brought Modern Horses.
1.-THE first modern horses to land on
this continent were brought by Cortez.
and participated in the conquest of
Mexico. Ferdinand de Soto brought
horses to Florida and used them on his
long march to the Mississippi. After
Ills uGdlIl anu UuIldl III bAlC dbAAGA va
Waters, as that river was long known,
his followers crossed over. The horses
then taken to the region now known as
Texas and Abandoned there, together
with those coming in from Mexico, were
the progenitors of the bands OF wild
horses that gradually spread over the
prairies and became known as mus
tangs.
Had the country over which they
roamed remained unoccupied by the
American frontiersman and settler. the
mustangs would eventually have Wed in
numbers with the buffalo, which roam
ed the prairies from Texas to Canada.
VERY early in the history OF New
England considerable trade was built
up in the sale of horses in the West
Indies There followed demand Tor
mules, and many small animals of that
breed were shipped from New England.
1t was not, however, until after the
Revolution, that the raising OF mules
assumed large proportions.
I'm 1786 the king Of Spain presented
to Gen. Washington a jack and jennet
of the Andalusian breed and later he
received Maltese jack from the Mar
quis de Lafayette. The jack, known as
Royal Gift, presented by the King OF
Spain, was unusually large, but by
crossing the Maltese jack on the Anda-
lusian jennet, Washington became the
posseSsor of famous sire, which he
named Compound"