Dear readers,
Three decades ago, in a spot actually called "Dead Horse", 20 miles east of Trujillo of Peru, a mission from the National Geographic discovered the fossilized remains of an ancestor of the horse, a discovery that ratifies the presence of the equine on our Continent almost in the same era in which it appeared in other places on Earth.
Conditions in the region were not favorable for its evolution and soon, speaking in geological terms, it disappeared. Its space was occupied by the native camelids equipped with wood on their skin, that protected them from the intense cold of the high Andes where they developed. That opportunity that mother nature gave to American man was lost and many centuries passed before the Europeans brought the Culture of the Horse to the New World. In this edition we present the second part of the valuable account written by Eric Cardich on the fine Przewalski horse, also known as Takhi or Tarpan; it makes really most interesting reading.
The noble equine accompanied man in all activities of his life: from work in the fields to war, coming to be man's best friend and comrade. It accompanies him, too, in his courting and his loves. It was at the side of Maestro "Chalán" Don Antenor Reyes, to whom we pay heartfelt homage at the time of his recent death. It accompanied Don Fernando Pinillos Moreno, distinguished member of a dynasty of breeders from Trujillo who, almost at the deadline of this edition, also departed this life. To them we dedicate this issue 9.
Ana Ganoza
Editor
Lima, April 1,999
