Osborn, Henry Fairfield, 1857-1935 (curator, American Museum of Natural History, New York)

Osborn introduces himself and Ewart and describes their research in Mexico on the common breeds of horses which are the offspring or descendants of the horses originally introduced by the Spaniards. He states that they wish to gather as much information as possible about the behaviour and character of the horses, as they can only stay ten days in Chihuahua, Mexico.

Osborn requests some lantern slides to be made up for him from Ewart's negatives. He recommends that Ewart asks Sir William Turner to write to the Secretary of the Carnegie Institution to confirm that Carnegie has approved of their trip to Mexico.

Osborn confirms that he is continuing to gather information regarding his and Ewart's trip to Mexico in February 1905. He also writes that he would like slides made of Ewart's original drawings representing the ontogeny of the horse.

Osborn writes that he will be arriving in Mexico later than planned but that he will contact Ewart on arrival. He hopes they will have time for a trip to Metta and to the west before they head north to Chihuahua. He recommends that Ewart learn some horse terminology in Spanish and confirms details of their planned journey.

Osborn writes that he is sending Ewart the slides he selected in return for those Ewart sent him. He is writing an article on the peculiarities of the Arab skeleton which he will publish in Science. He is also publishing a brief description of their observations on horses in Mexico.

Osborn writes that the Museum hopes to purchase the 'Celtic' pony later that year. They wish to have him in his winter coat so that the skin could be mounted separately from the skeleton, and he asks advice on what time of the year to purchase him. He compliments Ewart on the progress he is making with the breeding of domesticated animals.

Osborn writes that he is delighted that the Celtic pony is to be added to the type collection in the American Museum of Natural History. He believes it will be advantageous to have the pony exposed to the winter climate to bring out its distinctive coat characteristics. He is glad to hear from Ewart about the progress being made with the zoological park. At present he is busy completing the Titanothere volume, but he will appreciate Ewart's researches when he comes to the horse volume.