Horse
2 of the 7 encyclopedias on this shelf carry an entry for Horse. Both are reproduced below, so you can see where they agree and where they differ.
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
a well known domestic animal allied to the wild ass, the zebra, and the quagga. The ancestor of our horse is not known, but it was probably a native of Central Asia where two species of swift, alert wild asses still exist. All these species are included in the scientific name equus, from which we have equine and equestrian. The horse, taken in this sense, is the only animal that steps on one toe. Its hoofs correspond to the nails of a person's middle toe and finger. The side toes have disappeared or are reduced to small, sliver-like bones, called splints. The use of one toe is regarded as advantageous on smooth, level land like the plains in which the horse naturally lives. The petrified bones of prehistoric horses have been found in the more recent geologic formations of every continent except Australia. The evolution of the foot of the horse may be traced in these remains. In the specimens from the earlier rocks the front foot has four toes and the rudiment of a fifth; the hind foot has three toes and the rudiment of a fourth. In later fossils these rudiments disappear, leaving four and three complete toes. The next well-marked stage is that of three toes on each foot, the middle toe being larger and longer than the other two; then follow in regular series feet with the side toes just touching the ground, and side toes not touching the ground; then side toes smaller and smaller until we reach the modern horse with but one toe. In this connection it may be remembered that the foot of the ox has two toes on the ground and two short side toes hanging useless. Some of these fossil horses were no larger than a rabbit, others were of the size of a gazelle. Both South and North America are rich in fossil horses. They have been found in South Carolina , Florida, Texas, Nebraska, Arizona, Kansas, and in the Bad Lands generally; but for some reason American horses became extinct. Our modern horses are all from the Old World. The wild horses of South America and the West are the descendants of horses brought over by the Spanish explorers and the conquerors of Mexico. On his second voyage Columbus brought horses to the West Indies . In 1527 the first horses in what is now the United States landed in Florida. In 1604 French horses were introduced in Acadia. In 1609 English horses were landed at Jamestown. In 1623 Dutch horses were brought to New Amsterdam, New York. The New England colonists introduced horses in 1629. Among the European breeds to which America is indebted are the Arabian and the Barb for the agile riding horses of the South. The shaggy, tough French Canadian horse is descended from the French Norman of an ancient type, to which we are also under obligations for the magnificent dapple gray draft horse of the present time. The Clydesdale draft horse, a large bay with shaggy fetlocks, is well known in this country. Local strains well known for their merits are the Kentucky-bred horse and the Morgan of Vermont. In the earliest stages of settlement America had little use for horses. Settlements were made on the seaboard and travel was accomplished by water. The first fields were so full of stumps, and the early roads were so bad and so slow, that oxen were preferable. As the plantations extended, however, and roads and bridle paths were opened, the horse became more and more desirable and necessary. Without the pack horse the country west of the Alleghanies could not have been opened up. Without horses it would have been impracticable to displace the Indians from the Great Plains. The use of improved agricultural machinery and the enormous expansion of farming would not have been possible with the slowgoing ox. Steam and electricity, however, have come to the rescue of the draft horse. The locomotive now does our long hauling. The stationary engine has supplanted the horse power. The electric motor has relieved the horse from street-car duty. The automobile bids fair to take the place of the dray horse, and with the bicycle is driving the horse out of the livery stables. It is just possible that the day of the horse, like that of the camel, may at some time be of the past; but the time is yet far distant. At present the farms of the United States alone employ 15,000,000 work horses, a greater motor power than that used in all our factories. Since the siege of 1870, horseflesh has been a popular article of food in Paris. It fetches about half the price of beef. Horse hide makes an excellent leather, suitable for razor strops, shoe uppers, and gloves. A fermented liquor known as koumiss is made from mare's milk. It is the favorite intoxicating beverage of the nomadic Mongolians of Central Asia. Horsehair is used extensively by the upholsterer. Some interesting statistics are culled from the United States census report. The large cities use from 4,000 to 5,000 horses per 100,000 inhabitants, being one horse for each twenty to twenty-five persons. The smaller the town, the more horses in proportion to the population. There are a million and a half sucking colts in the country. Iowa, Illinois, and Texas have over a million horses each. Horses and colts in the United States in 1900 21,203,901 Total value $1,050,526,967 Average length of life in years 15 Average value in Arizona $13.61 Average value in Rhode Island 86.12 Average value for United States 49.07 Number exported annually 8,200 The leading horse markets of the United States named in order of importance are St. Louis, Chicago, Kansas City, and Omaha. Other markets of importance are Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Sioux City, St. Paul, St. Joseph, Denver, and Buffalo. In 1908 we exported 19,000 horses and imported a third as many. The following estimate of the number and value of horses was made by Orange Judd Farmer, January, 1909: No. Per Head. New England. . . . . 425,000 $110.00 New York. . . . . 685,000 112.00 New Jersey. . . . . 102,000 114.00 Pennsylvania. . . . . 630,000 109.00 Texas. . . . . 1,338,000 69.40 Arkansas. . . . . 278,000 75.00 Tennessee. . . . . 342,000 97.20 West Virginia. . . . 189,000 95.00 Kentucky. . . . . 431,000 90.10 Ohio. . . . . 970,000 105.00 Michigan. . . . . 660,000 107.90 Indiana. . . . . 787,000 101.00 Illinois. . . . . 1,419,000 102.70 Wisconsin. . . . . 637,000 99.80 Minnesota. . . . . 757,000 105.30 Iowa. . . . . 1,381,000 102.90 Missouri. . . . . 915,000 89.00 Kansas. . . . . 1,045,000 85.20 Nebraska. . . . . 885,000 86.05 North Dakota. . . . . 583,000 99.10 South Dakota. . . . . 550,000 92.75 California. . . . . 414,000 90.00 Oregon. . . . . 281,000 95.00 Washington. . . . . 313,000 99.00 Oklahoma. . . . . 439,000 89.55 Other. . . . . 3,496,000 67.00 Total. . . 19,952,000 $91.02 Total value. . . . . $1,816,074.000 The above estimate is for farms only, the number of horses in the countries named is approximately: United States 23,648,000 Canada 2,155,000 Mexico 800,000 Cuba 500,000 Argentina 7,500,000 Russia 23,000,000 France 3,000,000 Germany 4,345,000 Asia 11,000,000 Africa 900,000 World. . . . . 95,000,000 See Ass ; Mule ; Zebra ; Horse Racing ; Glanders ; Botfly Round trot. Horse gaits Horse gaits Easy trot. Horse gaits Walk. Horse gaits Pace. Horse gaits
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
an ungulate or hoofed mammal of the order Perissodactyla, characterized by having an odd number of toes; the family Equidæ formed the group Solidungula of old writers, owing to the presence of only a single hoof, which marks them off quite sharply from all allied animals. The existing species of the genus Equus are about half a dozen in number. (1) The horse (E. caballus) is characterized by the tail being furnished with long hairs quite from its base; by the long and flowing mane; by the possession of a bare callosity on the inner surface of the hind as well as of the fore legs; and by the head and ears being smaller and the limbs longer than in A B A. BELGIAN HORSE B. ARAB HORSE the other species. (2) The ass (E. asinus) is almost as widely distributed as the horse; it is probably of African origin. (3) The Asiatic ass (E. hemionus) differs from the common ass in being of a more reddish color, in the absence of the shoulder stripe, and in having smaller ears. (4) The quagga (E. quagga) has dark stripes upon the head and shoulders on a brown ground; it is said to be now extinct. (5) Burchell's zebra (E. Burchelli) is white, with stripes on the body and the upper parts of the limbs; it extends from the Orange river to Abyssinia. (6) The mountain zebra (E. zebra) is white, with long A B A. HACKNEY B. CHAMPION CLYDESDALE "BARON'S PRIDE" black stripes reaching down to the feet. It is limited to the Cape Colony and is rapidly disappearing. These last three are sometimes united into a special genus, Hippotigris. (7) The explorations of the Russian traveler Prejevalsky in 1881 added another species to the list of Asiatic forms, which has been called after him. The long hairs of the tail begin only half-way down it; the mane is short and erect, and there is no forelock; the head is large and heavy; the ears smaller than those of the ass. It inhabits the dry sultry regions of the Dzungarian desert, living in companies of 15 to 20, each led by a stallion. Only two herds were observed, and only one specimen was secured. The native country of the horse seems to have been Central Asia. It became early domesticated in Egypt. The Greeks and Romans had some covering to secure their horses' hoofs from injury. In the 9th century horses were only shod in time of frost. Shoeing was introduced into England by William I., 1066. It was believed that the original breed of horses is extinct, and that the halfwild herds existing in many places have descended from animals once in captivity. Thus when the horse was first introduced by the Spaniards in 1537 at Buenos Ayres, it is believed that there were no wild horses in America. But individuals escaping ran wild, and by 1580 their descendants had spread over the continent as far as the Straits of Magellan. Their favorite abode is on the Pampas, where they now exist in untold numbers. In Paraguay the larva of a fly kills them. In 1764 they were introduced into the Falkland Islands by the French with a similar result. But there was found in La Plata a now extinct species of horse, and more Equidæ have been found in the New than in the Old World. The horse may have descended from a striped ancestor, stripes still sometimes remaining, especially in duns and mouse-duns. His present colors are brown, gray, or black , sometimes with roundish pale spots . His age is ascertained by examining first which teeth are developed, and then to what extent they have been worn away by use. They are best tamed by kindness. Like other domestic animals the horse has run into various breeds. The most celebrated is the Arab horse. The racehorse, the hunter, and the carriage horse all vary considerably in character.