mbs and muscles; on the other hand, where food was scarce and the
climate cold and bleak, the animals remained as dwarfed as the ponies of
the Shetland Islands.

[Illustration: FIG. 239. THE FAMILY PET]

One of the first records concerning the horse is found in Genesis xlix,
17, where Jacob speaks of "an adder that biteth the horse heels."
Pharaoh took "six hundred chosen chariots" and "with all the horses and
chariots" pursued the Israelites. The Greeks at first drove the horse
fastened to a rude chariot; later they rode on its back, learning to
manage the animal with voice or switch and without either saddle or
bridle. This thinking people soon invented the snaffle bit, and both
rode and drove with its aid. The curb bit was a Roman invention. Shoeing
was not practiced by either Greeks or Romans. Saddles and harnesses were
at first made of skins and sometimes of cloth.

Among the Tartars of middle and northern Asia and also among some other
nations, mare's milk and the flesh of the horse are used for food. Old
and otherwise worthless horses are regularly fattened for the meat
markets of France and Germany. Various uses are made of the different
parts of a horse's body. The mane and tail are used in the manufacture
of mattresses, and also furnish a haircloth for upholstering; the skin
is tanned into leather; the hoofs are used for glue, and the bones for
making fertilizer.

[Illustration: FIG. 240. PERCHERON HORSE (A DRAFT TYPE)]

Climate, food, and natural surroundings have all aided in producing
changes in the horse's form, size, and appearance. The varying
circumstances under which horses have been raised have given rise to the
different breeds. In addition, the masters' needs had much to do in
developing the type of horses wanted. Some masters desired work horses,
and kept the heavy, muscular, stout-limbed animals; others desired
riding and driving horses, so they saved for their use the light-limbed,
angular horses that had endurance and mettle. The following table gives
some of the different breeds and the places of their development:

[Illustration: FIG. 241.
Diagram shows the proper shape of the fore and hind legs of a horse.
When the straight lines divide the legs equally, the leg action is
straight and regular]

I. _Draft, or Heavy, Breeds_

1. Percheron, from the province of Perche, France.
2. French Draft, developed in France.
3. Belgian Draft, developed by Belgian farmers.
4. Clydesdale