Outline:
- The Horse is a domestic animal. Was formerly wild.
- Found in most countries. Flourishes best in temperate places.
- Work done by the horse. It place in sport and recreation.
- It is gradually being replaced by motor transport.
If we were to ask what animal has been most useful to man, it is probably that the cow would receive the largest number of votes. But it is certain that the horse would come second, for no other animal has worked for so long and so hard in the service of mankind. In olden times horse, lived in herds as wild animals on the plains of America, in the level grounds of Central Europe and in many other lands. At some time or other, man found how useful the horse could be for transport and travel, and learned how to tame him and make hini a servant of man.
Sometimes we see a large and heavy wagon full of goods being pulled along the road by one or more horses, big and powerful animals. Then we pass some people begin carried along quickly in a carriage or tonga, and after that we may meet some well-to-do young man riding on horse-back, and travelling very fast indeed. A good horse or pony can travel thirty miles with a rider on his back, if not galloped too fast and tired out. In Indo-Pak subcontinent the climate is such that horses do not grow very big. A horse used for ploughing or pulling a heavy lorry in France or England often weighs as much twelve hundred pounds and more. An Arab horse famous all the world over for its swiftness.
Horses, like other friends of man, often suffer unkind treatment from thoughtless or unkind owners. Some tonga ponies in the towns are badly fed and over-worked, made to gallop on hard roads and to pull excessive loads. It is not always because the owner is cruel, but often because he is selfish and thoughtless. Anyone seeing a horse ill-treated by a cruel driver should try to reason with the man in the first place, and point out to him how unfair it is to treat a faithful servant so. If he fails to listen and reform his conduct, then he should be reported to the Society for preventing cruelty to animals, or to the police. We all have a duty to see that such faithful friends get justice.
