Man's friend, the horse

Title

Language

English

Source

Young Citizen, 7 (9) September 1941

Year

1941

Subject

Horses

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

SEPTEMBER, 1941 THE YOUNG CITIZEN ELEMENTARY SCIENCE SECTION MAN'S FRIEND. THE HORSE Man's Fritnd FROM the earliest times of man's hfstory we know that he used the horse, first as a source of food and later as an aid in war and a beast of burden. The members of the horse family are especially interesting because scientists have been able to trace their history more completely than that of .any other animal. group. So many fossil skeletons of horses have been discovered, in all parts of the world, that we know the history of its development for 2,000,000 or 3,000,000 years. The earliest ancestor of the horse was a tiny animal about the size of a cat, with five toes on each fore foot and four on each hind foot. These little animals began to run on the tips of their. toes to escape their enemies. Gradually the center Wes became stronger and. the weaker toes finally disappeared. That is why the horse now has only one toe on each foot. The . hoof of the horse is just a greatly enlarged and th.ickened toe-nail. Traces of the lost toes may be found by examining a skeleton of a horse. The hor.se has a well-shaped body, close to the body, growing into coarse strands in the mane and tail. The horse eats grass and grain but does not chew the cud, as does a cow.. It has from 36 to 40 teeth. There is a. division between the groups of teeth, an arrangement by which man has been able !O subdue this vigorous anima.l by using a bit in its mouth. The young of the horse is called a colt. The colt is born with its eyes open and its body fully covered with hair. It is. able to stand and w.alk a few minutes after birth. Within two weeks the ·central strong limbs, a long head, pointed ears :111111!111!1!111 which it can move; and wide-open nos- '' trils. The hair is soft ·and short, and lies An Arab a1td his Horst THE YOUNG CITIZEN SEPTEMBER, 1941 teeth make their appearance. Other teeth The Egyptians used horses as early as soon follow, and when the colt is about 1500 B. C., and they were like modern six months old it has a full' set of the. Arabian horses. Horses were in use in first teeth which· are called milk teeth. Babylonia, Palestine, and Greece about These are shed during the third .year. the same time, but they were coarse, When the colt is five years old its set of thickset animals. The horses used in permanent teeth is complete. Spain were introdu.ced from Northern The growth and changes in appearance Africa. They were almost as famous as of the teeth are so regular up to the tenth the Arabian horses. year that the age of the horse may be The running race horses are descended judged by them, but after the tenth year· from the Arabian horses and. those from these annual ch"anges cease. Northern Africa. The marvelous speed in prehistoric times the wild horse of race horses shows what can be done was first pursued . for food. The first by careful selection and breeding. peoples to tame the horse lived on the Except in the very cold Arctic regions, .great grasslands north of the Caspian and the horse is distributed throughout. the Black seasc (See a. map of Eastern world._ In Europe and North America Europe.) · . · horses are used as work animals, and are In ancient times the horse was used larger than the ponies of the Philippines. to draw chariots in war, and was not rid- · Since the common use of autos, horses are den. As beasts of burden the ox and the not used so much as in former days. ass were u"sed long befor-e the horse. The small poriies of the Philippines are When Europeans first went to Amer- largely u9ed to draw the two-wheeled ica, the horse was en_firely unknown to calesas in common use. These horses, the American Indians. Horses were tak- even if small, are strong and wiry. Alen to America by the Spaniards and other though they are descendants of early impeople from Europe, just as they were ported horses, they have become so accusbrought to the Philippines. The wild tomed to the tropical climate that they horses and Indian ponies of North Amer- have remarkable endurance even in the ica and South America are descendants heat of the torrid zone. of horses that escaped from the Spaniards The hormal fife of a horse is usually in the 16th century. The wild horses of I 8 or 20 years. J'he scientific name of Australia are descendants of horses taken the domesti.c ·horse is Equus cabal/us; ther~ froin Europe. from this comes the Spanish ·wotd cabaOf all.the horses in the world today /lo, and die Filipino name ca-bayo. . the Arabian steed is ·the ideal horse. It can run very fast, it has a graceful body, and is very intelligent and tame. (See the ·illustration on page 327.) The Arab loves and pets his horse as he does his child, and man and beast understand each other perfectly. The mother horse and her colt live in the tent with the Arab and his children. REVIEW QUESTIONS I. Can you tell about the earliest ancestor of the horse? 2. How many toes did it have on the, fore feet? On the hind feei? 3. Can you describe the horse's foot of the present time?. 4. Can you tell about a horse's teeth?

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