{"product_id":"forever-stamps-2024-horses-nature-series-first-class-postage","title":"Horses 2024 Forever Stamps — Nature Series Pane of Five, First-Class Postage","description":"\u003cp\u003eDogs hold the title, but horses (\u003cem\u003eEquus caballus\u003c\/em\u003e) have a strong claim on it. Loyal, hard-working and steady, they were essential to the early American economy and are now kept mostly for companionship, sport and recreation. Five stamps mark them.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eThe five photographs\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThree horses appear in their own surroundings against green foliage: a dappled white mare with a gray mane; a russet-coated horse with a copper mane and white facial markings; and a golden chestnut with a chalk-white mane. A fourth, brown and spotted with a light mane, stands in snowy woods. The fifth, a chestnut with a white blaze, is shot against plain black. On the selvage, a chestnut with a black muzzle and mane looks out through a Dutch barn window.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eHow horses returned to America\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe modern horse's direct ancestors died out in North America more than 6,000 years ago, alongside the woolly mammoth and the American camel. The species survived only because some had already crossed the Bering land bridge into Asia — which is what eventually made a return to the Western Hemisphere possible.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSpanish conquistadors brought domesticated horses back in the 16th century, and those horses were central to the subjugation of indigenous populations. Many Native American nations recognized their value immediately and built them into their cultures. Over the next two centuries horses spread through the forests and plains, and breeds were developed for specific work: the Quarter Horse, the Morgan, the American Paint, the American Saddlebred.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch2\u003eDecline and recovery\u003c\/h2\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHorses carried transportation, farming, manufacturing and mining as the country industrialized. Mass-produced automobiles changed that, and mechanization and electrification finished the job — by the early 1960s the U.S. horse population had fallen to roughly three million. It has more than doubled since.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Forever Stamp Center","offers":[{"title":"100 Stamps (5 Sheets)","offer_id":47100591603911,"sku":"ST24-A2-5","price":19.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"300 Stamps (15 Sheets)","offer_id":47100591636679,"sku":"ST24-A2-15","price":54.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"500 Stamps (25 Sheets)","offer_id":47100591669447,"sku":"ST24-A2-25","price":89.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"1000 Stamps (50 Sheets)","offer_id":47100591702215,"sku":"ST24-A2-50","price":149.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"5000 Stamps (250 Sheets)","offer_id":47100591734983,"sku":"ST24-A2-250","price":699.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0770\/6250\/4647\/files\/2024-Horses-Stamps_9b4983c1-a638-4688-b41a-8be19c5825f0.png?v=1788604007","url":"https:\/\/www.foreverstampcenter.com\/products\/forever-stamps-2024-horses-nature-series-first-class-postage","provider":"center","version":"1.0","type":"link"}