Excerpt from Illustrations of Natural History: Embracing a Series of Engravings and Descriptive Accounts of the Most Interesting and Popular Genera and Species of the Animal World These animals are generally covered with harness when at work, and are not always wholly free from their bonds even when at rest. If they are sometimes suffered to range in the fields, they usually bear about them the marks of servitude, and frequently the external impressions of labour and pain: the mouth is deformed by wrinkles occasioned by the bit, the sides scared with wounds inflicted by the Spur, and the hoofs are pierced with nails. Nature is more beautiful than art; and in an animated being, the freedom of its movements makes its existence more perfect. Observe the horses of Spanish America, which have multiplied so fast, and live in freedom; their motions seem neither con strained nor regular: proud of their independence, they fly the presence of man, and disdain his care; they wander and race about in immense meadows, where they feed on the fresh productions of perpetual spring. 'destitute of any fixed habitation, without any other shelter than a mild sky, they breathe a purer air than those who are confined in vaulted stables. Hence wild horses are stronger, swifter, and more nervous than the greater part of domestic ones; they have strength and nobleness, the gifts of nature, while the others have address and gracefulness, which is all that art can give. The natural disposition of wild horses is not ferocious; they are only high-spirited and wild. Formed-for strength and fieetness, to carry and to draw heavy weights, and to convey his rider over a great extent of ground in a short space of time, the Horse is unequalled by any other animal in his services to man. These characteristics will be fully exemplified in the ensuing pages, whilst the illustrative prints will faith fully portray the forms and distinctive features of the Arabian, the racer, the hunter, the coach-horse, the cart or drau'ght horse, the forester, and the ponies of Wales and Scotland. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.