Africa, it has already been observed, appears to be the original
climate of the horse, and from the country being so dry and warm,
admits many customs that cannot be practised in the northern regions,
at least with any effect. In different countries they not only receive
different food, but are also differently managed. In Arabia and Barbary
they scarcely ever are allowed herbage or grain, but are principally
kept upon dates and camel's milk, which is given them morning and
evening; they are seldom made use of till the seventh year, till when
they suck the camels whom they constantly follow.
In Persia they are always kept in the open air, being sometimes covered
with clothes to preserve them from the inclemency of the weather. The
whole troop are tied to a rope, which is fastened at each end to iron
rods fixed in the ground; they have also ropes tied to their hind legs,
and fastened to pegs in their front, this latter method is to prevent
them from doing any injury to each other; but notwithstanding both
fastenings, they stand perfectly at ease, and have sufficient room to
lie down. The Persians make use of nothing but sand or dry dust for
litter, but the Arabians and Moguls litter their horses with their own
dung dried to a powder. It is the custom in these countries not to let
the horses eat from the ground, or racks, but to constantly put their
barley, and cut straw into bags, which are tied round their necks. In
spring they are fed with grass and green barley, but care is taken
that they should not have too much, upon a supposition they would soon
become fat and useless. They never use bridles or stirrups, but easily
manage their horses with a single snaffle; whips and spurs are also
seldom employed, and one or two strokes of the former is sufficient at
all times to answer every purpose. The horses in Persia are very tall,
strong, and sometimes heavy, and from being so plenty, the best of them
sell at a low price. These people have a practice of tying a rope to
the fore and hind foot on the same side, which teaches them to adopt an
easy pace; they also slit their nostrils, for the purpose, they say, of
making them respire with more ease.
Horses, however, succeed as well in cold as warm countries, if they are
not damp. Denmark, Sweden, and Poland, it is well known, produce fine
and beautiful horses; those in Iceland, where the cold is excessive,
and where they frequently have nothing but dried fish to subsist upon,
though small, are strong and vigorous. In this island the shepherds
tend their flocks on horseback, for they are both plenty, and their
keep is not attended with any expence. When not wanted they are turned
loose into the mountains where they soon become wild; if the owners
want them, they are hunted in troops, and caught with ropes, which is
thought necessary when the mares have foaled, the owners of which put
a mark upon the foals, and then turn them into the mountains again for
the space of three years, and it is generally remarked that those left
in this manner, are more fleet and better than those brought up at
home.
The Norwegian horses possess a peculiarity well adapted to the country,
for they travel through the roughest parts of it, and descend the
steepest declivities, by putting their hind feet under their bellies
with perfect safety. They are small, generally yellow, with a black
stripe along their backs. They are frequently assaulted by the bear,
and if a stallion happens to be among the mares and foals, when
this destructive animal appears, he advances to meet him, and has
the sagacity to attack with his fore feet, in which case he almost
always is conqueror, but if he ever trusts to his hind legs he is as
constantly subdued, the bear in that case leaping upon his back, which
he never quits until he has worried him to death.
The Nordland horses are also small, and it is a pretty general remark,
that the nearer we approach the pole the more diminutive are these
animals. Those of the West Nordland are short and thick; the upper
part of their legs is long, and the under short, and without hair;
they are generally very temperate, sure-footed, and climb the highest
mountains with the greatest steadiness and perseverance. The pasturage
of this country is so rich that the horses are always fat and in
good condition, which however, they soon lose if they are taken to
Stockholm; and by the same rule if a weakly horse is carried to the
Nordland he soon recovers.
The Japanese horses are small, as are also those of China, although in
both places some few are of a tolerable size, which are brought from
the mountainous parts of those countries. Those of Tonquin, according
to M. Rhodes, are strong, of a tolerable size, and very easily managed.
Horses, as before remarked, there is every reason to believe, were
unknown in America on its first discovery, but upon being transported
thither they multiplied in a most surprising manner, especially in
Chili, which, as M. Frezier remarks, is the more surprising, since the
Indians killed many to eat, and numbers through fatigue and from want
of proper care. In the Phillipine Islands also horses that were taken
from Europe increased in an astonishing manner in a very short time.
Horses are suffered to live wild in the Ukraine, among the Cossacks, on
the river Don; here they go in troops of four or five hundred together,
seldom attended with more than one or two men on horseback; they have
seldom any shelter when the ground is even covered with snow, which
they scrape away with their fore feet to get at the pasture; and it
is only in very hard winters, and then but for a few days, that they
are lodged in the villages. These troops have a chief among them,
whom they implicitly obey, and singular as it may appear, he directs
their course, makes them proceed or stop at his pleasure. He seems
also to have a regular command, and regulates all their movements when
attacked by wolves or robbers: in this situation he assumes entirely
the business of a commanding officer, and is busily engaged, during the
whole time, in traversing round the troops, and if he perceives any
out of their places he pushes them in with his shoulder, and actually
compels them to resume their station. Without being arranged by men
they march in perfect order, and pasture in perfect files or brigades,
without ever mixing or separating, notwithstanding they are at perfect
liberty, and without the smallest control. It is no less singular,
that their chief generally maintains his situation for four or five
years, but he no sooner discovers the least symptoms of inactivity than
some one will come out of the herd and attack him; if he conquers he
continues the command, but if subdued he is forced to fall into the
ranks, and the victor becomes chief, and is obeyed by the whole troop.
The horses in Finland, as soon as the snow is off the ground, about
the month of May, leave their stables, and assemble together in a
particular part of the forests, where they form themselves into
different troops, and afterwards no one ever separates from his own
party, or intermixes with any other. When thus divided, each troop
fixes upon a certain district for their pasturage, within the bounds of
which they strictly keep, and never encroach even upon that belonging
to another troop, though adjoining; in this manner they continue to
graze while there remains any pasture, but on that becoming scarce,
they all march off together to another spot, and these marches are
conducted with so much order and regularity that the owners know
exactly where to find their horses when they have occasion for them; in
these cases, when fetched, and having done the service they were wanted
for, they return back of themselves, and again join their own troop.
In this manner they remain till about the month of September, when the
approach of the inclement season induces them to come home, which they
do in troops, and each regularly proceeds to his own stable. At this
time they are generally in good case, but the fatigue they undergo in
the winter, together with the small allowance of provisions, very soon
reduces them. They are small, spirited, and very docile, and roll upon
the snow as familiarly as other horses do on grass.
In the Island of St. Helena there are wild horses, which, although
originally transported from Europe, are extremely savage and ferocious,
and, to avoid being taken, will often leap from very high precipices
into the sea. In the neighbourhood of Nippes there are some not bigger
than asses, but they are strong, bold, and extremely industrious. The
horses in St. Domingo are of a middle size, and though many of them
are caught with ropes, they seldom become docile, but generally remain
restless, and almost unmanageable. In Virginia there are also horses of
domestic origin, yet, from feeding in the woods, are very ferocious,
and hard to be taken, and when caught, they remain exceedingly stubborn.
In some parts of Tartary they make use of large birds of prey to hunt
their wild horses; they are taught to seize him by the neck or head,
upon which he sets off with the greatest speed, and continues running
until he is quite exhausted, without being able to extricate himself
from his tormentor. The wild horses of the Mongous, and Kakas Tartars,
are so swift that they often escape the arrows of the most expert
hunters; they generally keep in large numbers together, and if tame
ones come near they will surround them, unless they instantly take to
flight. There are a great number of wild horses in Congo; they at times
are seen at the Cape of Good Hope, but the inhabitants preferring those
from Persia they are scarcely ever caught.
In the early part of this work I mentioned, that from the observations
of horse-breeders it was the general received opinion, that the male
had more influence upon the offspring: than the female; and I then
suggested some reasons which it rendered to me very doubtful, but
experiments and observations have since convinced me, that the fact
does not only hold good with respect to horses, but also in the human
race, and in every species of animals, that the male has infinitely
more influence on the exterior form of the young than the female, and
that he in fact is the type of the race. Nor does the remark I have
made, that the females constitute the unity of the species in the least
controvert this position, because that cannot be extended further than
her possessing the greater facility in representing the species, but
this point is more amply discussed in this work under the article Mule;
from which it will appear, that notwithstanding the female may have
more influence on the character of the breed, yet from her it never
receives any improvement, which faculty is solely possessed by the male.