The Ancestry of the Horse 3 pages in this part of Animals of the Past.
2026 Editor's Note: While this text traces the horse's lineage to ancient European lake dwellings, modern paleozoology establishes that the family Equidae actually originated in North America before becoming extinct there approximately 10,000 years ago. The "middle finger-nails" mentioned in the poem refer to the third toe, which became the primary weight-bearing digit as the dog-sized Eohippus adapted from soft forest floors to the hard ground of the steppes. Following their 15th-century reintroduction by the Spanish, these animals became the foundation for breeds like the American Indian Horse . (Ed: BR 2026-06-11)
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