. The pet book. Pets. THE COLT. 'ORSES have an interesting story as told by the fossils in the rocks of America; but we should not recog- nize these very ancient ancestors of our horses if we should see them, for they were not larger than sheep, and each one had four toes on the front foot and three toes on the hind foot. This first little horse with many toes lived when the earth was a damp, warm place, and when animals needed toes to spread out to enable them to walk in the mud. But as the ages passed, the earth grew colder and drier, and a long leg ending in a single hoof seemed most servic
. The pet book. Pets. THE COLT. 'ORSES have an interesting story as told by the fossils in the rocks of America; but we should not recog- nize these very ancient ancestors of our horses if we should see them, for they were not larger than sheep, and each one had four toes on the front foot and three toes on the hind foot. This first little horse with many toes lived when the earth was a damp, warm place, and when animals needed toes to spread out to enable them to walk in the mud. But as the ages passed, the earth grew colder and drier, and a long leg ending in a single hoof seemed most serviceable for running swiftly over dry places; thus it has come about that our horses of the present day walk on the nails of their middle toes, for the hoof is a toenail. In the desert of Gobi in Thibet the original stock from which our domestic horses have been bred was discovered by Col. Przhevalski. These are dun-colored ponies, with erect manes, no forelocks and with a dark stripe along the back. Very good pictures of these horses are fovind in the drawings made by the cave men before the dawn of history. Since the herds of wild horses made swift flights when attacked by their enemies, colts are bom with long legs so that they are able to keep up with the herd. In fact, its legs are so long that, when it grazes, the colt has to spread the front legs wide apart so as to reach the grass with its mouth. Of course as the colt grows older its neck grows longer 36. Please note that these images are extracted from scanned page images that may have been digitally enhanced for readability - coloration and appearance of these illustrations may not perfectly resemble the original Comstock, Anna Botsford, 1854-1930; Lord, Henry B. ins; Wright, Albert Hazen, 1879-1970 ins; Comstock, Anna Botsford, 1854-1930. ins. Ithaca, N. Y. : Comstock
Size: 1735px × 1440px
Photo credit: © The Book Worm / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookauthorcomstockannabotsford1, bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910
