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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
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