OUR HORSES: 
 
 BEING 
 
 ANECDOTES FROM PERSONAL EXPERIENCE 
 
 OF 
 
 INDIVIDUAL HORSES; 
 
 Brief Practical Hints on Breeding, Buying and 
 Selling, Breaking, Shoeing, Doctoring, etc. 
 
 BY 
 
 COLONEL E. A. HARDY, 
 
 RETIRED List, 21st hussars. 
 
 LONDON: 
 WILLIAM RIDGWAY, 169, PICCADILLY, W. 
 
 1878. 
 
 Price Is 6d. 
 

 
 
 
OUR HORSES: 
 
 ANECDOTES FROM PERSONAL EXPERIENCE 
 
 INDIVIDUAL HORSES 
 
 BRIEF PRACTICAL HINTS ON BREEDING, BUYING AND 
 SELLING, BREAKING, SHOEING, DOCTORING, &c. 
 
 COLONEL E. A. HARDY, 
 
 RETIRED LIST, 21ST HUSSARS. 
 
 " Forasmuch as it hath happened to us to be long engaged about 
 " horses, we consider that we have acquired some knoM'ledge of horse- 
 " manship ; we desire also to intimate to the younger portion of our 
 '* friends how we think they may bestow their attention on horses to the 
 " best advantage." — Xenophon. Uspi 'iTTTrt/c^t,'. 
 
 LONDON : 
 WILLIAM EIDaWAT, 169, PICCADILLY. W. 
 
 1878. 
 
LONDON : 
 NORMAN AND SON, PRINTERS, MAIDEN LANE, 
 COVENT GARDEN. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 I AM told I must have a preface, but I should not 
 have thought it needed for a booklet like this. The 
 title-page tells what I want to say ; and I adopt the 
 opening sentence of old Xenophon's treatise "On 
 Horsemanship^^ as my apology for saying it. I may 
 add, however, by way of further apology, that I was 
 really much encouraged by a sort of rebuff from an 
 eminent publisher, who told me he had *' a ferfect 
 horror of all horsey hooJcs." This at once set me 
 thinking of the numbers of men and women having a 
 thorough fondness for horses, but who, like the worthy 
 publisher — and for that matter like myself — simply 
 detest "horsey" language, manners, or morals. I 
 submit, however, that there is no necessary connection 
 whatever between the noble animal and the objec- 
 tionable epithet ; and it is from among the large 
 number of those who are really and truly fond of 
 horses, but who are in no way " horsey" folk, that I 
 venture to look for a kindly reception of my small 
 book. It has been to me a very pleasant little bit of 
 writing, and I hope it may not be found unpleasant, 
 nor altogether useless, reading. 
 
 E. A. H. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAET I. 
 
 Intboduction. 
 
 Major.— Caliph.— Eugby. — Capilet.— Eedclyffe.— St. 
 George. — Pearl ...... 1 
 
 PAET II. 
 
 Chapter I. 
 
 Breeding.— Sires. — Does the present system of racing 
 improve tlie breed ? — Suggestions for reforming the 
 present system of racing. — Table of pedigrees of Derby 
 winners ; etc. ...... 36 
 
 Chaptee II. 
 
 Breaking. — Teaching tricks. — Curing tricks. — Buck- 
 jumpers ; etc. ...... 48 
 
 Chaptee III. 
 
 Saddlery and harness. — Saddles. — Girths. — Bits. — 
 Ladies' saddles. — Protest against blinkers and bearing- 
 reins. — Fitting of harness. — Eeceipt for dressing leather. 
 —Clothing; etc. 63 
 
11 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Chaptee IV. 
 
 Buying and selling. — Hints for inspecting and 
 choosing. — Points to be especially noted. — What is 
 unsoundness ? — Caution as to advertisements. — Cure for 
 wind- sucking ; etc. ..... 77 
 
 Chapter V. 
 
 Shoeing.— " Goodenougli, Charlier," and "Fitzwy- 
 gram" shoes. — Proper method of preparing the foot for 
 the shoe. — Clips and calkins. — Eemedy for "brushing" 
 or "clicking;" etc. . . .... 87 
 
 Chapter VI. 
 
 Treatment of diseases. — How to distinguish lameness. 
 — Fomentations and cold bandages. — Poultices. — Cough. 
 — Gripes or colic ; how distinguished from inflammation 
 of the lungs, of the bowels, and of the kidneys. —Sore 
 back and girth-gaU. — Cracked or greasy heels. — Thrush. 
 —Sand-crack. — Corns. — Mange. — Lampas. — Sores. — 
 Physicking. — Treatment of a tired horse.— Bleeding. — 
 Eowels and setons. — Firing and blistering.— Construction 
 of stables. — Run at grass ; etc. . . . .92 
 
OUE HOESES. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Most of us hajve, I suppose, read Dr. John Brown^s 
 Notes on ^^ Our Dogs '' in Ms Horce Suhsecivce. I do 
 not wisli to be thought as presuming to imitate, far 
 less to rival, those most delightfully written notes, but 
 I do wish very much to say something about '^ our 
 horses/' especially about Arab horses, which have, I 
 think, of late been very unfairly underrated, but of 
 whose value, and as sires, I have a very high opinion 
 still. A really good specimen of the Arab horse is 
 very seldom to be seen in England. The best one of 
 its kind I have lately seen is a light iron-gTey with 
 dark points, ridden by a lady in the Park ; but he is 
 merely a very nice lady's-riding horse. The two 
 brought over from India, and kindly exhibited at the 
 Islington Horse Show, by the Prince of Wales, were 
 certainly high-caste Arabs, but they were by no means 
 good specimens of the breed. They were very pretty, 
 had the true Arab head, and all that, but were far too 
 deficient in power to give at all a correct idea of the 
 
 1 
 
2 OUR HORSES. 
 
 horse a really good Arab ouglit to be and is. Tlie 
 bay_, tliougli not the handsomest^ was the better of the 
 two ; the chesnut^ beautiful as was his head and 
 thoroughbred as he was all over^ was too leggy (not at 
 all an Arab characteristic), too slight in the carcase, 
 too narrow, too deficient in muscle, to be at all a good 
 or fair specimen of his breed. As racers, Arabs cannot 
 compete with English or Colonial thoroughbreds ; they 
 have not the size or stride for it ; and it is foolish to 
 bring them from India, as several have been brought, 
 to run and invariably to be beaten at Groodwood. But 
 putting aside all the old romantic stories and poetical 
 exaggerations, a really good Arab is a really good 
 horse ; and except for very big men and very heavy 
 weights, he is a dehghtful horse to ride, to drive, and 
 to possess. There are of course Arabs and Arabs ^ 
 There is a chubby - made, bad shouldered, under- 
 limbed animal that cannot walk well, or trot, or jump ; 
 but he is always fat, has a prettyish head, a good eye, 
 will canter as long as you please at six miles an hour, 
 and was beyond all doubt born in Arabia. The owner 
 pronounces him to be a " real Arab,^^ the owner's wife 
 calls him '' such a darling Arab f while you, if lately 
 arrived from England, and if you have had anything 
 to do with horses, vrill probably consider the pet 
 paraded for your inspection to be a useless little brute 
 that can apparently do nothing a horse is meant to do, 
 unless it is to eat bread out of your hand. But this, 
 
INTRODUCTION. O 
 
 thougli common enough, is no more tlie correct type 
 of tlie tliorouglibred Arab, than the majority of horses 
 in England are of the thoroughbred English horse. 
 The correct type of the thoroughbred Arab is that of 
 the best English thoroughbred English horse in 
 miniature, with all his good points exaggerated, so to 
 speak ; the proportionate measurements being actually 
 much in favour of the smaller horse. The fine paint- 
 ing of *'*' Gang Forward,^ ^ lately at the Royal Academy, 
 would really have done exactly for the picture of a 
 chestnut Arab of my own; and several of our best 
 thoroughbreds — ^' Blair Athol ^^ for one — when out of 
 training, are as like the best Arabs as can be, on a 
 large scale. I think, too, that, generally speaking, 
 horses are not given nearly enough credit for intelli- 
 gence, or for their power of personal attachment, by 
 the majority of horse-owners, not excluding good 
 sportsmen ; and I want to show what a deal of cha- 
 racter these noble animals possess, and to try to gain 
 for them a somewhat more generous and sympathizing 
 treatment as friends and companions as well as ser- 
 vants. 
 
 Readers of George Borrow^s books will remember 
 his theory of there being a certain mysterious species 
 of sympathy between certain men and certain animals ; 
 his mention of a man who had a wonderful power over 
 snakes in this way, and of his own power over horses 
 and dogs. I am a firm believer in this theory, despite 
 
 1 * 
 
4 OUR HORSES. 
 
 the scientific scepticism of such high authorities as 
 Professor Owen and others ; having as I believe seen 
 many instances of this specific power or sympathy, 
 instances which could not be explained away. And I 
 believe myself to have certainly possessed this power 
 in some degree with horses,, and in a lesser but still 
 decided degree with dogs. Let me mention an instance 
 or two to justify my belief. When I was a boy I could 
 saddle without any difiiciilty a little grey mare which 
 neither my father^ an old Horse Artillery ofiicerj nor 
 the groom could saddle without the greatest possible 
 trouble. She would actually sometimes throw herself 
 on the ground in her stall, and it became a regular 
 worrying business to saddle her for my father^s ride. 
 I found one day by some accident that I could saddle 
 her for myself without any trouble whatever^ and she 
 never gave me any trouble afterwards. My father was 
 very ill in bed at the time, and I well remember my 
 dear mother^s delight at having my little bit of good 
 news about '^ Alice Grey '' to tell him. 
 
 A very beautiful little brown mare, nearly thorough- 
 bred, well known to be most troublesome to mount 
 and tricksy to ride, was lent to me to ride to the 
 shooting-ground one fine morning in September. I 
 was told nothing of her trickiness^ and I believe it was 
 slyly hoped the Cavalry man might have the laugh 
 against him and be promoted to a " field '^ officer. I 
 went up in all innocence with my gun in my hand to 
 
INTEODUCTION". 5 
 
 the mare^ as she was twisting round and round in the 
 groom^s hands, stroked her face and patted her neck, 
 and she stood perfectly steady for me to mount, and 
 started and carried me as pleasantly and quietly as a 
 creature could. 
 
 I was once at an auction sale of an Artillery officer^s 
 property, when a very fine old grey charger was led 
 out for sale. I had been told he had become very 
 vicious, and that he had not been saddled or ridden 
 for weeks ; and on this occasion he kicked out so 
 violently and viciously at every one attempting to go 
 near him, and so absolutely refused to be mounted, 
 that no one would make a bid for him. As there was 
 no chance of his being sold, at any rate anywhere in 
 the neighbourhood, the officer superintending the sale 
 agreed to accept a very low sum which I ofi'ered, and I 
 sent for the horse. I told my man to take saddle and 
 bridle with him, to saddle the horse as he best could, 
 and to lead him straight home ; that I should meet him 
 on the road, but he was to take no notice of me, nor 
 stop until I touched him. After allowing due time, I 
 strolled up the road with a bit of lucern in my hand, 
 and soon saw my man coming with the horse as 
 ordered ; I went straight up to him, gave him my bit 
 of lucern, without any pause or hesitation quietly put 
 my hand on his mane and my foot in the stirrup^ 
 mounted and rode on ; no kicking, all as pleasant as 
 possible; and from that day never did '^ C.B.^^ give 
 
6 OUE HORSES. 
 
 me any trouble whatever. Without any pretensions 
 whatever to being anything but a very ordinary horse- 
 man, I have over and over again ridden with ease, and 
 made to do what I wanted without difficulty, horses 
 that were most troublesome and almost unmanageable 
 at times in other, albeit presumably much better, 
 hands. And it is a secret source of grief to me now-a- 
 days to find, that as my nerve as a horseman has 
 diminished, this power over horses has diminished, if 
 not altogether vanished_, too. 
 
 I think no one who saw and attentively watched 
 Van Amburgh with his lions, or who has seen Mr. 
 Rarey's exhibitions of horse-breakings could help 
 coming to the conclusion that there was unquestion- 
 ably a certain special personal sympathetic power 
 beyond and above natural courage or acquired knack_, 
 indispensable as these qualifications are. We know 
 that certain specific antipathies are beyond all doubt or 
 question occasionally met with ; why should we doubt 
 that there are certain specific sympathies ? 
 
 I have known an officer of proved courage, and dis- 
 tinguished for his attainments, utterly unhinged and 
 upset by a dog of any sort touching him. We have all 
 read the poet Cowper's delightful account of his hares, 
 and how they were at once attracted by some visitors, 
 but would even scream when attempted to be touched 
 by others. I have seen a man whom bees would not 
 sting ; when angrily attacking all around^ they would 
 
MAJOR. / 
 
 simply settle and roam over tlie face and body of this 
 man^ wlio apparently liad no fear or objection to them 
 whatever, but a sort of spell for them. But, indeed, I 
 should think it almost impertinent to dwell at all on 
 this pointy had not such an authority as Professor 
 Owen thought it worth while — it is some years ago 
 — to write an article on the subject of so-called Snake- 
 Charming, which he altogether denied to be crediVjle, 
 and which he attempted to account for by the snake 
 being attracted by sounds resembling the notes of 
 birds or other noises intimating the approach or pre- 
 sence of their prey. But one man will be certainly 
 bitten, and fatally, if he attempts to catch the snake 
 when seen ; while no sooner does another man begin 
 his pipe-blowing than the snake appears, and is 
 instantly caught with impunity. And whatever tricks 
 may be occasionally played, there is no doubt whatever 
 that in many cases the snake so caught is a bond fide 
 wild snake, and with its poisonous fangs intact, as I 
 have proved by dissection. But now to our horses. 
 On getting my commission as a Cornet — Sub-Lieu- 
 tenant it is called now-a-days I believe — I had to join 
 my regiment in India, and the first horse I ever had of 
 my own was an Arab. 
 
 "Majoe" 
 
 Was a very handsome nutmeg-grey, though" barely 
 14 hands 3 inches he was high for an Arab, and when 
 
8 OUE HORSES. 
 
 mounted and in action he looked quite a grand horse. 
 When fresh^ he was apt to caper and jump about a good 
 deal, but he had a beautiful temper, and always knew 
 when he was wanted to be quiet ; and if I had been ill 
 or was weak, or any way out of sorts, he at once under- 
 stood it, and behaved himself to suit my mood exactly. 
 His faults — we all have faults — were that, unless he 
 was on his way home and after a longish ride, it was 
 difficult to make him walk well; he was never quite as 
 steady as a charger should be when firing was going on ; 
 and though he had a good loin and hocks, he would not 
 or could not jump anything of a ditch properly. He 
 jumped height beautifully, was a capital trotter and 
 galloper, and a beautiful parade-horse and hog-hunter. 
 It was almost startling to watch the wonderful bright- 
 ness and beauty of his eye, and the tense quivering of 
 his every nerve and vein when a cover was being 
 beaten ; it was almost difficult to sit him at times on 
 these occasions, he seemed positively unable to contain 
 himself, would start and bound suddenly all-fours off 
 the ground like a creature possessed ; but the instant 
 he was let go, the instant the rush of the start was 
 over, he settled straight to his work, and was a delight- 
 ful hunter to ride — fast, bold, clever, and temperate. I 
 remember particularly two occasions on which he dis- 
 tinguished himself. We were out on a hunting party 
 in a very hilly part of Guzerat. P — , a famous hog- 
 hunter and myself were riding together along the side 
 
MAJOR. 9 
 
 of one of the little liills whicli were formed of big 
 boulders of loose rocks, our horses clambering and 
 sliding over tlie stones,, and I said, " What can we do 
 with our pigj old fellow, if he breaks over ground like 
 this ?" P — had just replied to me, ^^ Eide, ride, of 
 course, and trust to Providence V when a loud yell 
 from above told a hog was afoot ; and there he was, 
 sure enough, making straight up the hill right before 
 us. Doubts as to what one was to do were solved on the 
 moment : spurs in, and the ground over which we had 
 just been with difficulty picking our way at a walk, we 
 were now galloping over as if it had been a racecourse. 
 ^' Major '^ was faster than P — ^s horse, and I soon passed 
 him ; up the rocky hill, down the other side, over a lot of 
 bad and broken ground at bottom, without a mistake of 
 any sort or kind did my beautiful horse carry me hand 
 over hand up to the hog, which I was able to spear 
 twice before the rest of the party caught us up. Most 
 of our horses were much cut about by the stones, but I 
 do not think there were any accidents or break-downs ; 
 and how the animals managed to get along safely at 
 speed as they did, indeed how they kept their footing 
 at all over such ground, is a puzzle to me to this day. 
 At another time I was out with only one other, a 
 brother officer and dear friend, who has lately as a 
 '^ Political^' been ruling the district we then hunted 
 over, after a famous large boar, to fell which had long 
 been an object of ambition to all the hog-hunters at 
 
10 OUR HORSES. 
 
 the station we were quartered at. He was of great 
 size_, very savage, a:id was said always to take an un- 
 ridable line of country. A — and self luckily came 
 upon liis tracks, and suddenly out lie charged from a 
 thick clump of bushes, knocking head-over-heels a 
 poor beater in his way, with a loud savage grunt. He 
 made straight for a deep ravine, down the side of which 
 he rushed by a goat-path ; it was positively little more 
 I suppose than a foot and a half wide and broken up by 
 rain-tracks; but down it went ''^ Major" with me straight 
 after him at speed, as safe and true as across a level 
 meadow. The bottom of the ravine was for some dis- 
 tance wide enough to ride, and the boar being very fat 
 and blown after the sharp burst at starting, " Major " 
 overhauled him before he got to the impracticable part, 
 and I was able most luckily to give him an effectual 
 stopper with the first spear, when A — came up and 
 we soon killed him. He was an enormous boar, with 
 8 1 -inch tushes, which were very wide and sharp as well 
 as long, and it was a great piece of good luck our 
 getting him. The credit was all due to ''^Major.^' 
 This noble horse was with me always gentle as a lamb; 
 I taught him several tricks : he would shake hands 
 with me just as a dog does ; at a little signal-pinch 
 on his neck he would rear straight up on end, much to 
 the astonishment of strangers; bat except to his own 
 native groom and myself he was most troublesome to 
 handle, and would almost always knock down any one 
 
MAJOR. 11 
 
 else attempting to lead liim. When Ms own groom 
 ■was out of tlie way^ I generally liad to go to the stable 
 myself for liim_, or there was tolerably sure to be a 
 row. ^' Major '' did me excellent service for more than 
 eight years^ when I got leave to England and home, 
 and sold him to a brother officer who had known us 
 both long and well. Strange to say, Y — _, who was 
 really a much better rider than myself, could not hit it 
 off with ''^ Major ^^ at all. The old charger took to 
 kicking so violently with him that he was forbidden 
 henceforth to be ever ridden on parade. He was 
 sold afterwards to a colonel commanding an Infantry 
 regiment, but I then heard no more of him. 
 
 After all the hard work he had done for me during 
 eight years, a deal of hard parade work, severe 
 marching on service, and every now and then 
 runs such as I have described after hog, with the 
 exception of a blemish from a bad tumble he once 
 had with me into a dry pond on the other side of 
 a thick and high fence which he had jumped beauti- 
 fully, his legs were as clean and fresh as a coitus ; 
 not a windgall, splint, or spavin; and he was as 
 fresh and lively to ride as ever. And in all 
 this time with the exception of the effects of the fall 
 which I have mentioned, and a curious sort of stroke 
 he once got when picketed out on the march from 
 some chill, or from the land-wind as it is called, 
 which laid him up, hardly able to move, for a 
 
12 OUE HORSEb'. 
 
 fortnight^ lie was never sick or sorry. Surely I 
 have a right to think and speak well of the Arab. 
 
 '' Caliph '' 
 
 Was another fine specimen of the Arab. For a charger^ 
 I never had or expect to have again such a horse, Arab 
 or Enghsh ; a better charger could not be. He was 
 KoXoQ K ayaOoc: — beautiful and good, all through. I 
 got him by a piece of great good luck. He was adver- 
 tised for sale as ^^ a very handsome and powerful Arab 
 horse, rising five, &c. &c. : price Rupees 400 '' — £40 — 
 a suspiciously low price for such a description. I hap- 
 pened, however, to know the officer to whom application 
 was to be made, and asked him as an old friend to tell 
 me the particulars. He told me that the horse was 
 really all that he Avas described to be, but that he had 
 been badly kicked on the fetlock by another horse on the 
 racecourse one morning, and had been so badly treated 
 for it afterwards that his leg looked very bad and 
 nobody would buy him. He told me, too, that if I did 
 not want to work the horse immediately, he thought I 
 could not do wrong in buying him, as he was certainly 
 a very fine Arab, and the leg seemed to be getting all 
 right; that the horse had a slightly cross temper, but 
 ought to make a nice charger if properly handled ; and 
 he told me the name of his owner, who had gone home 
 to England on leave. I knew the owner to be a first- 
 rate judge, and I knew that my correspondent would 
 
CALIPH. 
 
 not tell me anything that could not be strictly relied 
 upon; sol sent for " Caliph/^ which I was told was the 
 horse^s name, and in due time he came. He was a rich 
 dark bay with star and one white hind pastern ; beauti- 
 ful head and eye, well laid muscular and lengthy 
 shoulders, excellent legs and feet, grand back and loin ; 
 thoroughly good all over — indeed, make and shape as 
 good and grand as could well be ; except perhaps while 
 he was in low condition some might notice a very 
 slight droop in his quarters, and the least thing slack 
 in his back ribs. The march of 600 miles he had to 
 walk to my station had made him somewhat rough in 
 coat and poor in condition, but the blemish had gone 
 down to a lump about the size of a pigeon's egg out- 
 side his off fore-fetlock, and seemed nowise hot or 
 tender ; and on the whole I liked the look of my new 
 arrival immensely, and we soon became very great 
 friends. After the horse had been a week or two in 
 my stable and had much improved in condition and 
 appearance, one of his hind legs suddenly swelled up 
 in a most extraordinary way ; it looked almost like an 
 elephant's leg, and was very painful. We had at the 
 time a most skilful Yeterinary Surgeon with the regi- 
 ment, and he said he knew what the attack was : 
 '^ weed," he called it, and confidently told me not be 
 alarmed about it. Part of the treatment was bleeding, 
 and as the farrier was closing with a pin the jugular vein 
 after the ordered quantity of blood had been abstracted. 
 
14 OUE HOESES. 
 
 the horse suddenly dropped as if he had been shot, and lay 
 to all appearance dying. Most fortunately our excellent 
 '^ Yet/^ looked in just at the moment^ and all the night 
 through did he stay by the horse, having his head bathed 
 with cold water, his face fanned, his legs rubbed, and 
 giving him doses of nitrous aether. When pinning up 
 the vein, farriers often blow with their mouths the 
 hairs clear from the orifice, and, though he solemnly 
 denied it, it is tolerably certain the farrier did so on 
 this occasion, and that he actually blew into the vein, 
 which might of course have caused instant death. 
 However, the horse got up early in the morning, 
 rapidly recovered, and improved all round in the most 
 wonderful way. By careful bandaging with a bit of 
 lead over the lump it had gradually diminished so as to 
 be hardly perceptible ; and my cheap purchase turned 
 out to be everything I could possibly wish. ^' Caliph^' 
 was barely 14 hands 3 inches in height, but he was to 
 all intents and purposes a large horse to ride, and a 
 grand horse to look at. As a charger, he was simply 
 perfect. He was afraid of nothing ; he was naturally 
 somewhat fiery, but the greater the row the steadier he 
 behaved. It was something touching, something really 
 heroic, the way the high-spirited brute refused to be put 
 out or discomposed in a crowd, under fire, or similar 
 trial, when he knew that to be steady was the one thing 
 needful. In the Indian Mutiny he carried me as 
 straight as an arrow twice into a battery we had to 
 
CALIPH. 15 
 
 charge through a heavy fire, although he got a very 
 nasty daunting sort of wound in the face the first 
 time ; and after the scrimmage was over he carried 
 me forty miles that night without a trip or stumble ; 
 standing so steady for me to scramble on him each time 
 after I dismounted, as he saw I was wounded, although 
 generally somewhat fidgety to mount. His end was 
 very sad. "We were under fire from a fort, and I was 
 a little in front, anxiously looking out for my oppor- 
 tunity, my beautiful " Caliph ^^ setting an excellent 
 example of steadiness, when suddenly he reared up, 
 dropped on his knees, plunged and struggled up 
 again, and then the noble beast as before stood per- 
 fectly steady and still. I dismounted and found his 
 near fore leg had been shattered to pieces by a shot 
 below the knee. I ought to have taken my pistol 
 from the holster and ended his sufiering then and 
 there at once. I thought of doing so, but it would 
 have been a terrible wrench for me to do it myself. I 
 could not well ask any one else to do it for me just 
 then, the moment was critical, and we knew not what 
 might happen; so I got him under the lee of a little 
 mound luckily close by, got the saddle off him and on 
 to my second horse, and left him with a heap of cut 
 green corn, which happened to be near, put before 
 him. I never saw him again. We had to move ofi" 
 very soon afterwards, and being in an enemy ^s country 
 I could not leave any one to look after him. When 
 
16 OUR HORSES. 
 
 part of my regiment accompanied a force to tlie place, 
 some two months afterwards, wtien the fort was taken 
 and, I am glad to say, razed to the ground, my brother 
 officers kindly tried all they could to find out what had 
 become of my beautiful horse, but without success; 
 they heard that the rebels had managed to get him 
 into the fort, but they could find no further trace or 
 tidings of him. It will be believed that I mourned 
 most truly for my noble ^^ Caliph.'"' 
 
 '' Rugby '' 
 
 Was quite a ^' Little Wonder^' in his way. We 
 were to get up a race-meeting at our station. A 
 brother officer and dear friend, afterwards killed just in 
 front of me when leading a charge of his troop against 
 a battery in the Indian Mutiny, said to me, " Egad ! 
 (a favourite phrase) I think I should like to have a 
 little fling in the races ; if you will be my confederate, 
 and do all the training work, Til join in the games/' 
 I jumped at his proposal, which suited my fancy ex- 
 actly. We calculated forthwith how much we could 
 afford to pay for horses, and to lose if unlucky ; we 
 carefully looked over the prospectus," and agreed as to 
 what races we should go in for ; and as I had a most 
 kind old friend (now a titled general officer) in Bombay, 
 who was reckoned one of the best judges in India, 
 I wrote for onr racers. I told my friend what we were 
 prepared to pay for a couple of promising maiden 
 
EUGBT. 17 
 
 Arabs, and tlie terms of tlie races for wHcli we liad 
 taken nominations ; and as I was wanting a hunter at 
 tlie same time,, I took tke opportunity of asking Colonel 
 
 C to buy me a nag that looked like bog-hunting, 
 
 if he chanced to come across one in his dealings for 
 us. He did the commission most kindly aud capitally ; 
 and in writing me a description of the horses he had 
 bought, he said, '' I hope you will like the small 
 hunter ; I think he will prove a trump ; I am not sure 
 that he is not the best of the three.''^ Some three weeks 
 after this there were led up to my house one morning 
 three horses, clothed from head to tail, with their 
 picketing gear round their necks — two bays and a little 
 iron-grey, my hunter, " Rugby/' He was only four- 
 teen hands and half an inch, but a pocket Hercules in 
 make ; somewhat plain and even coarse at the first sight, 
 but the more you looked at him the more you liked him. 
 He was somewhat sleepy-looking and no show whatever 
 about him when at rest, but he lighted up wonderfully 
 directly he was trotted out. He had strikingly fine points 
 almost perfect for strength and speed ; a lean, high- 
 bred, clever head, and an eye like a beautiful woman's. 
 He took to hog-hunting at once ; he turned out a 
 trump indeed, a first-rate hunter, and a wonderful 
 hack to shoot off. He seemed to understand and 
 enjoy everything in the way of sport perfectly, and to 
 be absolutely free from fear of any sort or kind. He 
 was on two occasions severely cut by boars charging 
 
 2 
 
18 OUR HORSES. 
 
 when I had failed to spear them properly ; once right 
 across the forearra down to the bone, another time a 
 fearful gash in the hind leg ; but he was never in the 
 least daunted. I shot several leopards (or panthers, as 
 we called them in that part of India) off his back. He 
 would stand as steady as a rock, with his head a little to 
 one side, handy for me to fire; not the least frightened 
 at the scent or sight of the beast, or even at its savage 
 growl, which scares most horses terribly ; he would 
 start off into a gallop at once on the hint to do so, if 
 it was necessary to bolt; and would stop again at once 
 when wanted, without fuss or fidget. He always did 
 exactly what was right ; except, by-the-bye, on one 
 occasion. When stalking deer on foot he used to 
 follow me like a dog, and never played me false but 
 once ; when he got tired, I suppose, at my long- pot- 
 tering, or naughtily disposed for some reason or other, 
 and suddenly stopped behind, gave a little neigh as if 
 to wish good-bye, and galloped straight back to our 
 camp, some miles away. I scolded and corrected him 
 for this on getting home, and he never played me the 
 trick again, though I fully thought he would after having 
 done it once. When beating- cover for hog, there is 
 often a tremendous noise of shouting, beating on drums, 
 firing off blank cartridges, &c. ; all this din, which 
 made some horses almost frantic, '^ Rugby ^' took no 
 notice of whatever. He would stand under me per- 
 fectly quiet and still, half asleep to all appearance, an 
 
ETJGBY. 19 
 
 occasional knowing twinkle of his ear_, or turn of kis 
 kead^ just skowing tkat ke was quite wide awake not- 
 witkstanding. But tke instant tke signal was given 
 tkat tke kog kad broke^ and ke knew ke was to start, 
 out would go kis kead like a greykound^s^ dragging 
 tke reins tkrougk one's fingers and oneself out of tke 
 saddle almost if not looking out^ and straigktforward 
 ke would rusk, always in tke rigkt direction^ in tke 
 most determined way. He won me a great number of 
 first spears — tke object of ambition in kog-kunting — 
 against better and bolder riders tkan myself; and I do 
 not tkink ke ever gave me a fall. I once speared 
 tkree ckeetaks (tke kunting leopard) off kis back^ one 
 after anotker. I was out on leave by myself^ ckiefly 
 after lions. My native skekarry (game-tracker) came 
 into my tent witk an auspicious grin^ just as I was 
 finisking my breakfast^ and said^ '^ Sahib, I tliinh I 
 have got tke big lion for' you at last to-day ; I have 
 marlied a big beast under a tree about four miles off ; 
 ujhat it is I do not Imow, as I could not find his tracks 
 on the rocky ground, and, ivould not go near for fear of 
 disturbing him ; but I have put men in trees round to 
 'Vjatch, and now the sun is hot he is not likely to move.'' 
 Of course we were soon on our way. I rode an old 
 skooting pony^ but '^ Eugby/' witk a kog-spear, was 
 led in close attendance following. Tke country was 
 for tke most part killy_, witk deep ravines^ and between 
 tke little rocky kills or knolls were small patckes of 
 
 2 * 
 
20 
 
 OUR HOESES. 
 
 cultivation^ witli every here aud there very fine trees. 
 From one of these trees a white rag was waved as 
 we came on, telling us all was right so far. The tree 
 under which the lion was supposed to be lying was 
 soon pointed out to me ; it was the largest one near, 
 and stood handsomely in the centre of the little 
 plateau by itself^ throwing a shade nearly all over the 
 bit of land round it. Leaving the old shekarry on 
 the high ground with my spare guns_, spear, and 
 '^Eugby/^ with my rifle cocked, I rode my pony 
 quietly circling round the tree. I made all the use I 
 could of my eyes, but could only make out that there 
 was something very large of reddish-yellow colour 
 under the tree, probably a lion, but I could make out 
 nothing clear enough to justify my firing. At last I 
 got within about thirty yards^ distance, and looking 
 intently, saw, as I thought, a large beast lying at full 
 length fast asleep, offering apparently a most lucky 
 shot; and taking deliberate aim at what I took to be 
 behind his shoulder, I fired. To the shot up sprang 
 six cheetahs, beautiful brutes, growling and rushing 
 over each other, one evidently severely wounded. I 
 Vv^as really so taken aback myself, I was stupid for a 
 moment ; but before I could determine whether to fire 
 my second barrel or to bolt, the old shekarry yelled 
 out, '^ Gome quicMy for your liorse, they are cheetahs, 
 you can spear them ; ive'll hill them, all!'' In another 
 minute I was mounted on '''Rugby,'^ spear in hand. 
 
EUGBT. 21 
 
 charging after the biggest of the cheetahs,, which were 
 now bolting in different directions. I caught up the 
 one I was after hand over hand, but suddenly the brute 
 crouched, and faced me fiercely, exactly like a tiger 
 waiting for his spring ; I did not half like the look of 
 him, I thought the little horse would not either, and 
 but for the old shekarry^s confident speech to me at 
 startino' I think I should have sheered off and back 
 for my rifle again. " Rugby, ''^ however, had no hesita- 
 tion whatever : he carried me fast and fair straight at 
 the dangerous looking brute, just as he would have 
 done up to a hog, and I luckily sent my spear straight 
 through behind his shoulder, turning him right over. 
 ''Never mind liim, leave him to me; there's another to 
 the right/' again shouted the old shekarry, who was 
 scutthng after me as fast as he could on his pony; 
 and almost without stopping I at once turned off 
 '^ Rugby ^' after another, which I also speared after a 
 short run; and then in like manner a third. The one 
 I had wounded in the first instance by my shot under 
 the tree had been finished off by the old shekarry 
 with my second gun, so four out of the six were 
 brought to bag. It was a capital morning^s sport, but 
 a very severe run for dear little '^ Rugby,^^ who, how- 
 ever, was none the worse for it. I used to give him after 
 severe runs like this a bottle of good ale well sweetened 
 with sugar, and it was curious to see how kindly the 
 little horse took his dram. Every horseman knows 
 
22 OUR HOESICS. 
 
 tlie trouble and fuss_, generally speakings to get a 
 liorse to take a drencli; but ^''Rugby'^ used to take 
 liis dram ^Mike a Christian/^ The clieetali is as large 
 in height and length as the leopard or panther^ though 
 lighter in carcase and slighter made, and looTvS just as 
 dangerous j but he has not the retractile claws of the 
 feline species, and is an absolute coward. None of 
 these attempted to charge, even after being wounded. 
 They are, however, destructive brutes to sheep and 
 goats, and in default will kill dogs ; and it is said they 
 will go up a tree after a peacock at roost. A brother 
 officer soon after my feat, as I considered it, having 
 the similar luck to come across a pack of six cheetahs, 
 and being very well mounted, speared every one of 
 them, by himself, and off one horse. I think, though, 
 he must have had better ground to go over than 
 I had. 
 
 I believe it has been doubted whether a horse will 
 really pursue the game he is ridden after ; the rider 
 may fancy his horse is hunting as earnestly as himself, 
 but, it is said, he will find if he drops the rein that his 
 steed has no notion of following the game on his own 
 account. That the horse is not a hunting animal, and 
 would not pursue without a rider on his back, is quite 
 true j but it is equally true beyond all doubt that he 
 can, and frequently does, so entirely sympathize with 
 his rider as completely to enter into the sport. Stock- 
 drivers in Australia will tell you that their horses will 
 
I 
 
 raiGBY. 23 
 
 tarn and double with tliem after a stray bullock 
 quicker than they could turn them with a bridle ; and 
 I have on several occasions owed success entirely to 
 my horse^s head as well as to his legs ; notably so with 
 this horse, "B^ugbj.'' I remember particularly once, 
 when after a severe run the hog managed to gain a 
 very thick jungle before we could catch him — we jumped 
 the hedge, however, and into the jungle after him — 
 there being a sort of '''' ride" just before us ; but we had 
 quite made up our minds to lose our hog, and that 
 there was not the least chance of being able to ride 
 him further then. I was on ''Rugby,'' who suddenly 
 stopped short and turned off to the right with me so 
 entirely of his own accord I was as nearly as possible 
 off him, when — behold ! there was the hog, which the 
 little horse had evidently spied, very much beat, 
 waiting to dodge back when we had all passed. I had 
 just time to put my spear down and luckily caught him 
 fairly on it as he charged, and in another minute the 
 others came, and we soon killed him to our great 
 delio^ht. 
 
 Another time, in the course of a hard run we came 
 on a river which I was not sure about the hog having 
 crossed, or whether he had turned down among the 
 long grass on the rocky pathway which was under the 
 steep bank we had charged down. The river was only 
 a few yards wide, but it looked deep, and was an 
 awkward place to drop into. " Rugby/' however, had, 
 
24 
 
 OUE HORSES. 
 
 I have no doubt^ spied tlie liog on tlie otlier side, and 
 dropped himself into the water over the girths at once 
 without hesitation ; he was the next minute swimming 
 without the shghtest fear or fuss as straight and easy 
 as if going on dry ground. It was a very short swim, 
 he gained ground again in a few strokes ; but horsemen 
 who know the business it is to swim most horses, 
 will appreciate the cleverness of the hunter I had 
 under me. 
 
 We have all heard the story of the Duke of Welling- 
 ton's famous horse, '' Copenhagen,'-* giving a playful 
 kick when the Duke patted his quarters after having 
 been on his back some seventeen (I think) hours at 
 Waterloo. I believe my little "Rugby'' was quite 
 equal to this ; he really seemed almost as inaccessible 
 to fatigue as to fear. I remember well on one occa- 
 sion we had returned to our tents after a hard run 
 when something occurred to recall me immediately 
 back to quarters ; something too, I forget what, abso- 
 lutely necessitated my taking poor little " Rugby" to 
 ride back upon, despite the morning's work he had 
 already ; we were a good sixteen miles from home and 
 very bad road. The little horse carried me as gaily as 
 a bird at a hand gallop the wbole way ; I only drew up 
 to a walk for a very short spell two or three times ; 
 and as I cantered down the rising ground from where 
 the houses of our station came in sight, I patted his 
 neck and said, "You'll soon be at home now, Rugby;" 
 
CAPILET. 25 
 
 he answered with a httle sort of squeal,, put down his 
 head with a shake^ and kicked up behind, as if he had 
 just started fresh from his stable. 
 
 All sorts of good service did this grand little horse 
 do for me, until in getting leave home to England, I 
 sold him to a friend in the Horse Artillery who had 
 long wanted to have him. Now comes a strange story.. 
 
 D , to whom I sold '' Eugby/^ was a bolder and 
 
 better rider than myself, and a far more famous hog- 
 hunter ; bat to his utter surprise and disgust he found 
 this noted little horse, who had never known how to 
 flinch with me in his life, luoulcl not taJce Mm u^ to a 
 hog ! He told me he could not make it out at all, 
 but he was utterly disappointed ; he could not get the 
 horse to follow the hog truly with him ; and I believe 
 not a spear was ever taken oflP '' Kugby^s^^ back after 
 he left my stable ! 
 
 '' Capilet'^ 
 
 Was a right well-shaped and very pretty snow white 
 Arab ; his muzzle was black and so were his hoofs, but 
 all the rest of him was pure white. He had a ticklish 
 mouth, and had somehow been badly broken in, and I 
 bought him cheap from my quondam confederate in the 
 races, now my commanding officer, who found him 
 rather troublesome to ride as a charger. I was 
 honestly told all this, and also told that the horse had 
 not been worked for weeks, his owner having taken a 
 
26 OUR HORSES. 
 
 dislike to him. I fancied the look of the hoi^se very 
 much ; I wanted a horse at the time, and the low price 
 enabled me to gratify my fancy at once. Having been 
 told of his bolting propensities, I thought it well to 
 put rather a severe bit in his mouth, and took care to 
 gather the reins well up the first time I mounted him. 
 The instant I was in the saddle Mr. '''' Capilet^^ threw 
 up his head, and commenced whirling round and round 
 so fast as almost to make me giddy ; but I very soon 
 saw what it waSj he was afraid of my bit and of my 
 hands. I dropped the reins slack on his withers, and 
 patted his neck ; he stopped, and then we started 
 again all right and kindly, perfectly knowing why we 
 had disagreed so at once, and feeling we were not 
 likely so to disagree again ; nor did we to any extent 
 to speak of. Some two or three times afterwards he 
 did not pull up quite as soon as I wanted, but for years 
 I rode him as a charger on parade, and on service, and 
 he behaved most handsomely with me. He went 
 famously, too, in harness, my wife often driving him by 
 herself. He did me, however, one terribly bad turn, 
 which even now, after an interval of long years, I can 
 hardly recall without a shudder. This beautiful milk- 
 white Arab, " quite a love of a horse^^ to look at, would 
 not carry a lady ; he would do anything but that ; most 
 strange it was, but so it was. I twice lent him at long 
 intervals to a lady accustomed to ride all sorts of 
 horses from childhood, and twice he ran away with her, 
 
CAPILET. 2 7 
 
 bringing lier straight liome to Ins stable. Slie ]iad_, 
 however^ on each occasion some kind excuse to make 
 for the horse's misbehaviour_, and he had behaved so 
 well for so long a time subsequently with me^ and he 
 seemed to know so well my wife^ who used to feed 
 him with bread when waiting for me at our door^ that 
 I thought it was quite safe to put her on him one day 
 for our evening ride. We started all right and nice, 
 and after a while proposed to canter ; but the moment 
 this commenced, '' Capilet^^ threw up his head with an 
 angry shake, and off he bolted. We were on an open 
 parade ground, and I called out to my wife to pull 
 entirely on the right rein, and bring him round. She 
 behaved most capitally ; did exactly as I told her, 
 turned the horse round and round me, as I pulled up 
 myself, in a circle, and at last stopped him. I ought 
 of course to have insisted on going quietly straight 
 home after this, and at any rate not to have trusted 
 " Capilet'^ out of a walk with a lady on his back again; 
 but we were young and foolish in those days, and after 
 breath was recovered and all straight again, we must 
 needs try another canter. I shall never forget the look 
 the horse gave me as he turned round his head before 
 throwing it up, and with an angry little snort as if to 
 say, " You won^t stop me so easily this time,^' off he 
 bolted again at score before he had gone a dozen 
 strides ; and this time straight off and away towards 
 and under a large banian tree, of which the gigantic 
 
28 OUR HORSES. 
 
 lower boughs stood out straightly just on a level 
 with the rider^s chest ! I cannot go on with what 
 followed j I will only say that my wife in time 
 entirely recovered from the effects of the frightful 
 fall, and has been mercifully spared to be as ever my 
 help and blessing still. 
 
 For a long time after this,, two years I should think, 
 ^^ Capilet^^ and I could not agree at all ; sometimes' he 
 would try to bolt with me ; sometimes he took to 
 stumbling with me in an extraordinary way, almost 
 dropping on his knees, on purpose apparently, without 
 anything to account for a stumble ; in fact we did not 
 hit it off as before together at all. At last, however, I 
 forgave him, and he felt so ; we made it up between 
 us, and got on all right again ; the bolting, stumbling, 
 and all the rest of it entirely ceased, and thenceforth 
 he was as pleasant a riding horse with me as before. 
 I need hardly say however that I never trusted him 
 with a lady again. He did a deal of hard work for me 
 in the Indian Mutiny; and on my going home to 
 England after that service was over, I begged my old 
 friend, the '* Yet.^'' I have spoken of before, to accept 
 him and give him a kind home. A most kind home 
 he got ; and on my return to India some time after- 
 wards, I saw the old horse again in my friend^s stables, 
 looking fresh and handsome as ever, his legs as clean 
 as a foaPs, and still trotting past most others on the 
 road. He must have been then over twenty years old 
 
EEDCLYFFE. 29 
 
 at least ; but except being whiter^ if possible^ than 
 before^ lie showed no symptoms of age. 
 
 '"'' Eedclyffe^' 
 
 "Was my wife^s borse ; I bring liim in cbiefly to show 
 it was no deficiency on her part that caused '' Capilet^s^^ 
 bad behaviour to her. I was on the Staff at that time, 
 and one day had been doing a lot of work in the saddle 
 for the General_, and had fairly used up my own horses 
 for the day, when in came a note to say he wished me 
 to ride with him all round the line of country we had 
 fixed upon for a sham campaign. Near me lived a 
 Mahomedan gentleman, who generally had two or three 
 good Arabs in his stable, and who often came in to 
 consult me on veterinary matters. He had lately been 
 telling me of a little horse he had newly bought from a 
 famous Arab horse-dealer in Bombay, of which he had 
 a high opinion, and had asked me to ride and try him; 
 so I thought this was just the oj^portunity, when I 
 really wanted a mount, to send my " salaam^^ and say 
 I should be happy to ride his new horse if it was con- 
 venient to send him over to me then. He was a 
 beautiful little horse, bright bay, with a star and a 
 little white on both hind pasterns, mane and tail quite 
 picture fashion. My General had been a famous hog- 
 hunter in his younger days, and was quite game for a 
 good gallop still, and he enjoyed the larking across 
 the country where we were to have our "Chobham.^' 
 
30 ' OUE HOESES. 
 
 My native friend^ s little liorse carried me so gamely 
 and wellj I quite fell in love with liim_, and I determined 
 I would buy Mm should fitting opportunity occur. I 
 did buy bim not long afterwards, and be soon became 
 an especial favourite. Quite different from the un- 
 gallant " Capilet/^ ^' Redclyffe^^ was a perfect lady^s 
 borse. Witb me tbe little dandy would play all sorts 
 of pranks, rear rigbt upon end, and sometimes it took 
 all I knew to sit bim ; but witb bis mistress be was 
 always perfectly steady and gentle, tbougb still always 
 full of life and spirit. It was pretty to see tbe little 
 borse galloping nnder ber, as handsome as a picture 
 and looking as proud and fiery as Lucifer, but per- 
 fectly under her control under all circumstances and 
 at any pace. Of an evening, when our horses were 
 being walked round our " compound/^ as it is called 
 in India^ we used often to give them a carrot if we 
 were at home ; a few carrots were cut up and put in a 
 basket ready to take out ; of course they got to know 
 tbe sight of tbe basket right well. " Eedclyffe^^ was 
 privileged to be let loose on these occasions, instead of 
 being led up as the others were. As soon as he was 
 let go and saw what it was for, away be would dash at 
 speed, kicking and plunging like a creature wild witb 
 spirits, then he would suddenly turn and charge 
 straight towards where we stood, as if fiercely intent 
 to knock us down, but when within a few yards from 
 us be would halt himself sharp on his haunches, and 
 
ST. GEORGE. 31 
 
 trot up in the gentlest possible manner to be petted 
 and fed. It was the prettiest bit of acting possible. 
 When my wife had to leave me for England, I sold 
 this dear little horse to a very light weight and capital 
 horseman, under whom he turned out a first-rate hog- 
 hunter, often winning spears from the big ones. 
 
 "St. George '^ 
 
 Was so named after the flourish of the lance thus 
 designated in the old lance drill ; I was then in a 
 Lancer regiment. He was a grey Arab, high bred, 
 handsome, powerful, and fast. I liked him very much, 
 but somehow he never would like me. He was a right 
 good horse and an excellent charger, but he was the 
 only horse I ever had with whom I could never 
 properly come to terms; I could never make my 
 hands suit his mouth properly; with a light bit I 
 could not hold him, with anything of a severe bit he 
 would not go comfortably at all. I sold him to an old 
 
 friend, P whom I have mentioned in a former 
 
 page as a famous hog-hunter, and with him he got on 
 capitally and became a great favourite. He had the 
 queer, round enlarged - looking fetlocks which so 
 caught one^s eyes in the famous Derby winner 
 " Gladiateur,^^ but they never afiected his work in the 
 slightest degree. A. very singular occurrence happened 
 to me with this horse. Soon after he had come to me 
 I wanted to qualify him to run for the hog-hunters' 
 
32 ous noESES. 
 
 stakes in a race-meeting shortly to come off^ and 
 having got a fortnight's leave I sent liim on the road 
 to ride the last short stage to my ground ; I had about 
 forty miles of rough road to ride, and posted four or 
 ^ve horses and ponies to do it on. It was a fine, 
 'bright, cold- weather morning, I was in high spirits in 
 the thoughts of my little holiday and anticipated 
 sport, and I found " St. George,'^ when I came to the 
 place he was posted at, wild with spirits too. As soon 
 as I got on him, quite forgetting how young and fresh 
 the horse was ; forgetting, too, his hot temper which I 
 had already had experience of; in sheer exuberance of 
 my own spirits and in sympathy with my horse's, I 
 slapped him on the neck, pricked him with the spurs, 
 a-nd told him to go as fast as he liked. Off he started 
 at score, both of us wild with spirits. About a 
 quarter of a mile ahead of us by the roadside was a 
 small village, and out of this village came slowly 
 streaming along towards us a large herd of cattle, on 
 their way to the jungle to graze for the day. Straight 
 at this herd we dashed along almost at speed ; as I 
 expected, they quickly turned and galloped off both 
 sides of the road, with their tails high up, off towards 
 the fields or jungle on either side, leaving all clear for 
 us as we came tearing on, — all but one large bullock, 
 which whether from fierceness, or fright, or sheer 
 stupidity, stood firm looking at us, but broadside on 
 right across the road. I could, I fancy, have pulled 
 
ST. GEOHGE. 33 
 
 up if I cliose_, or liave pulled off the road ; but^ strange 
 to say_, neither I nor '^ St. George " seemed to have the 
 least idea of doing anything but charge straight ahead. 
 I have never been able to account for it_, but so it was. 
 The horse took a tremendous spring for his jump_, but 
 unfortunately too far off, and instead of clearing the 
 bullock, as I realty think he would have done but 
 for the too long take off, he alighted exactly on his 
 back; forelegs on one side, hind legs on the other, and 
 over we all rolled together. I picked myself up as 
 quickly as I could, and pulled " St. George^s '' fore 
 legs from under the bullock ; he soon freed himself and 
 struggled up all right, and with hardly a scratch ; but 
 it had been too much for poor bullock ; he turned up 
 the whites of his eyes, gave a groan or two, and died 
 then and there ! I imagine his spine must have been 
 broken by the sudden shock and weight upon it. 
 When I came back past the same place at the end of 
 my fortnight^s leave, there was the huge skeleton of 
 
 the poor beast picked clean where he lay 
 
 People who merely get on their horses to go for their 
 ride and get off them when they come home, without 
 any further intercourse, can have no idea of the in- 
 justice they do to these noble animals, and the pleasure 
 of which they deprive themselves ; and I believe I 
 have owed my life on more than one occasion — I will 
 not say to my horse, because every horseman of any 
 experience must be able to say that — but to the special 
 
34 OUR HOESES. 
 
 affection of my horse for rae ; and I will end with a 
 very brief notice of 
 
 " Pearl/' 
 
 He was a very beautiful flea-bitten gray Arab of the 
 highest caste^ and quite a fancy horse all over. I 
 taught him all sorts of tricks, and he knew me and 
 what I wanted him to do as well as any dog could. 
 One evening I got on him for my ride — he was ex- 
 ceedingly fresh, having not been ridden for some days ; 
 it was rather dusk, and on the side of the road there 
 had been put some heaps of stones, or '^kunkur,'^ for 
 repairing it. As " Pearl '^ got excited with his gallop, 
 he took to bounding along half wildly across the road, 
 and went over several of these heaps of stones ; but 
 at last at one of them, either not seeing it rightly in 
 the dusk or missing his footiog, in the course of one 
 of his gambols his feet caught on the loose stones, and 
 over we rolled. The horse got up instantly, and was 
 continuing his gallop with my head on the ground and 
 my foot in the stirrup ! I had sense enough to call 
 out to him by name to stop and be steady, and the 
 sensible brute did stop, almost immediately, and waited 
 perfectly steady, quietly looking round at me till I 
 should get up. I was stunned, and the back of my 
 head much cut, and had good cause to be grateful for 
 the assistance given me by a kind lady who had seen 
 the catastrophe from a distance, without whose help I 
 
TEAEL. 35 
 
 should tave been in a most uncomfortable pliglit for 
 some time_, to say tlie least of it. But a few strides 
 more of my bead being dragged and bumped on that 
 hard road, as must have happened with almost any horse 
 that did not know and care for me as this beautiful 
 ^' Pearl '^ did_, and I should certainly not have been 
 alive to tell the story. I sold ^'^ Pearl ^^ not long after 
 this accident, though somewhat sorrowfully as may be 
 supposed, to a kind master, and he subsequently won 
 some good races. When I saw him again, nearly three 
 years afterwards, the horso knew me perfectly when I 
 spoke to him, and seemed quite delighted to '^ shake 
 hands " with me again, as I had taught him to do, 
 thougli I was assured he had never done it since he 
 had been in his new master's possession 
 
 s * 
 
36 OUE HOESES. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Beeeding^ Beeaking^, &c. 
 
 Tliere are so many books, and so many good ones, 
 too in tlieir several ways, about tlie clioice, treatment, 
 and management of horses, I feel that some apology 
 may be considered due from me for adding to their 
 number. But I venture to hope that those who have 
 cared to go with me so far may like to go on with me 
 a little further, and as I have had a tolerably large ex- 
 perience I presume to think I have a right to ask them 
 to do so. I cannot, of course, hope to be able to say 
 anything absolutely new on the subject, but still I shall 
 try to avoid as much as possible the ground that has 
 been sufficiently beaten by others, or at least to take a 
 somewhat different way of beating the same ground ; 
 and as I have so frequently been asked to recommend 
 some short practical and readable manual to help 
 friends how to buy a horse, and to treat him rightly 
 when they have got him, and have really often had 
 much difficulty in directing their choice satisfactorily, 
 I hope after all I may not be thought so very pre- 
 sumptuous in attempting to supply what there is 
 apparently still room for. 
 
BEEEDING. ' 37 
 
 I begin at tlie beginniug witli horse-breeding ; but 
 as this is necessarily a purely technical subject, those 
 who do not care to go into my very brief notice of it 
 can skip till past the table of pedigrees. 
 
 Breeding on any but the smallest scale requires 
 so much money, such intimate knowledge of the 
 varigus strains of pedigrees and their respective 
 characteristics, and so much knowledge of horse- 
 flesh generally, and is after all so much of a lottery, 
 that my advice would be simply that of Punch's 
 to persons about to marry, ^'^Don^t/^ I have, how- 
 ever, twice had colts of my own breeding, and they 
 both luckily turned out just what I bred for, and 
 what I thought I had a right to expect ; and in 
 India I had opportunities of seeing horse-breeding on 
 a very large scale in the Government studs, the man- 
 agement and results of which I was able to make 
 myself thoroughly acquainted with. I would say in 
 the first place, whatever venture you make in the 
 breeding line, unless you want to breed cart-horses, or 
 Norfolk trotters, always have a thoroughbred sire. 
 For trotters, that is the particular style of horse so- 
 called, a trotting-mare and thoroughbred horse seldom 
 give the requisTed produce ; for this you must -have a 
 Norfolk trotter for the sire. A well-shaped and not 
 too heavy cart-mare will often produce a good carriage 
 or riding-horse by a thoroughbred sire; but the 
 chances are all against the best bred mares giving you 
 
33 OUR HORSES. 
 
 anytliing likely to repay the cost and trouble from an 
 under-bred liorse. I would say, too, remember always 
 that as a general rule ^''like produces like;'^ almost 
 every pomt good or bad is more or less hereditary. 
 The sire and dam should be sensibly selected, not put 
 together because the horse happens to pass your way ; 
 and they should both be sound, especially in sight and 
 wind. The extraordinary differences in Arabs, showing 
 much quality too, is I believe attributable to their 
 Arabian owners attaching so much importance to the 
 side of the dam, as to be, generally speaking, com- 
 paratively indifferent what sires their mares are put to. 
 I had in India a curious but satisfactory proof of how 
 much the result in the produce depends on the selec- 
 tion and pairing of the sire and dam. At one of the 
 great Government breeding establishments, where the 
 sires are for the most part thoroughbreds sent from 
 England and a very few Arabs, almost every under- 
 sized inferior colt led out for inspection was by an 
 Arab sire ; and as I was known to be a great admirer 
 of Arabs, each miserable specimen was pointed out to 
 me as the progeny of one of my pets. But at another 
 of the studs the case was exactly reversed ; the finest 
 colts there were found almost invariably to be by the 
 Arab sires ! The explanation of course was that at the 
 one place, where the officer did not fancy Arab sires, 
 they had only the worst mares put to them ; and at 
 the other place, where they were the favourites, they 
 
BREEDING. 39 
 
 had tlie best mares ; and the produce resulted accord- 
 ingly. Where a compact hardy horse like the famous 
 " Fisherman" gets a lengthy delicately made colt_, or 
 an elegant light made hoi'se like ^' Saunterer^^ gets a 
 short-legged sturdy colt, it will be generally found that 
 such exceptions can be accounted for from the side of 
 the dam, or from a strain or two back ; and it is here 
 where an accurate knowledge of pedigrees and of their 
 characteristic hereditary peculiarities is so essential. 
 " Stonehenge'^ tells us that if we want to breed 
 steeple-chasers or hunters we should choose the blood 
 descended from Sir Hercules , Defence, The Colonel, 
 The Saddler, Economist, Harhatvayy Safeguard, Mem- 
 non. Lottery, Sheet Anchor, Faugh- a-hallagh, Ratcatcher, 
 Monarch. And that for racers, we should choose the 
 blood of Touchstone, Lancelot, Priam, Plenipotentiary, 
 Velocipede, Pantaloon, Beiram, Bay Middleton, Phan- 
 tom ; all good sires of race-horses, but which have 
 never produced, he tells us, a good hunter or steeple- 
 chaser. The names I have put in italics are the sires 
 whose blood I should myself select for choice. The 
 same clever author tells us that for breeding purposes 
 mares with rather drooping quarters are the best, for 
 physical reasons ; but here I venture distinctly to differ 
 from him. For one thing, the drooping quarter is a 
 point especially likely to be inherited, and difficult to 
 be got rid of in breeding ; and I should say unhesitat- 
 ingly that, other points being equal, the straighter the 
 
40 OUR HORSES. 
 
 spine from the withers to tail the better for all pur- 
 poses. I append a table which I have drawn up in, I 
 think_, a handy form showing the immediate pedigrees 
 of Derby winners for the last thirty years; it is 
 interesting to note how many winners have in their 
 turn become sires of winners ; and it may be found 
 useful as a convenient kind of short index to our best 
 blood. A mare may with advantage be worked gently 
 up to very near the time of her foaling ; but she soon 
 begins to show symptoms of tiring sooner as she gets 
 heavier, and she should of course be favoured accord- 
 ingly in her work. The period of gestation is almost 
 always exactly eleven months. Shelter and a soft bed 
 for her foal to be dropped on are all the help the mare 
 needs in the great majority of cases; if the foal 
 is very weakly at first, it should be helped to stand on 
 its legs to suck ; and take care that there are no holes 
 for mother or foal to slip into, or bars between which 
 a leg may be caught. It is most strange how very 
 careless some owners of valuable stock can be in over- 
 looking these most ordinary precautions. I have seen 
 the unclenched point of a large nail sticking out from 
 the paling, just the thing to wound a colt at play, 
 possibly tear his eye out : I have seen a thoroughbred 
 mare left to foal in a meadow where the only watering- 
 place was a steep slippery banked ditch, into which I 
 heard (not at all to my surprise) she rolled one night, 
 after the pains of foaling had come on, and was 
 
BREEDING. 
 
 41 
 
 drowned. Mr. TattersalFs breeding paddocks at 
 Kilburn were models of all that was comfortable and 
 safe in tbis respect ; it w^as one of my treats about 
 town some thirty years ago to spend an afternoon in 
 looking over the beautiful blood sires, dams, and their 
 produce at that most admirably arranged establish- 
 ment. If the mare has been all along accustomed to 
 oats, she should have about half the usual quantity of 
 corn the first few days after foaling, but plenty of 
 gruel and bran mash as well as green food. If she is 
 wanted to go on breeding, the books and breeders say 
 take her to the horse the tenth day after foaling ; and 
 if you keep your mare solely for breeding this is perhaps 
 the best rule. But otherwise, no creature in any way 
 intended to take part in the usual work of life should 
 be expected to nourish an offspring from the breast 
 and another in the womb at the same time ; and the 
 foal should be weaned before pregnancy is again 
 allowed to take place. Five months or so is quite old 
 enough for weaning, if wanted ; and foals soon get 
 into the way of drinking cows^ milk if it is advisable 
 to help their nursing in this way, as it often may be 
 from the first. 
 
 And now before coming to my table of pedigrees of 
 thoroughbred horses at the end of this chapter, I 
 would like to stop for a moment^s consideration of the 
 question as to the effects of racing on our breed of 
 horses about which so much anxiety prevails, and 
 
42 OUE HOESES. 
 
 most justly prevails, at tlie present time. Is racing" 
 the cliief cause wliicli has produced and still 
 continues our famous breed of horses, or is it 
 gradually ruining the source of our breed and 
 beginning to produce more bad ones than good ? 
 The question is really a very difficult one to answer. 
 One sees a large number, the large majority indeed 
 by far, of young thoroughbreds, weedy, slight made, 
 straight - shouldered, crooked - legged creatures that 
 cannot carry above eight stone or gallop with it 
 beyond half a mile, and are broken down either in 
 wind or limb before they are four years old, and one is 
 told such is the fruit of racing. ^' How,^^ it is asked, 
 ^''are you to expect the continuance of an efficient 
 breed of horses when people are tempted to work the 
 young things at one year old, and race them at two 
 years old ; when the weights and distances suitable 
 under such circumstances are necessarily so small that 
 the race is no test or requirement of strength or 
 endurance, but simply of speed for a spurt of half a 
 mile ; when consequently the career of most of your 
 racing stock is over and done with before they have 
 come to anything- like their proper maturity of 
 powers V And the question thus put would seem to 
 answer itself. But on the other hand, it is quite 
 certain that it has been to racing that we owe the 
 existence of our famous breed of horses ; it is certain, 
 too, that the weediness and weakness complained of in 
 
BKEEDING. 43 
 
 SO many of our young ttiorouglibreds arise much more 
 from injudicious breeding than from injudicious 
 racing, which, after the Spartan fashion, kills off the 
 young creatures not strong enough to stand it ; and 
 when one sees the beautiful power and proportions 
 which on the whole generally are to be seen and are 
 essential in the wn'nners of our great races, most of 
 whom have commenced their running at two years 
 old ; when one hears of breeders, solely in consequence 
 of racing, getting as much as 2000 guineas for a year- 
 ling, and thinks what an enormous encouragement and 
 stimulus the chance of such a price must be for the 
 carrying on and perfecting the breed, the advantage 
 of upholding racing as a national institution would 
 seem clearly proved. As noticed before, it may be 
 urged in favour of early training and racing that only 
 the strong ones can stand it ; and no one can form a 
 correct idea of the thoroughbred race-horse simply 
 from seeing him in his training form, one must see 
 him when he has retired into private life as it were, 
 and has assumed his proper comely proportions. 
 Blair Athol, who won one of the fastest Derbys on 
 record, and afterwards the St. Leger, looks, and is, 
 equally fit to be a magnificent weight-carrying hunter 
 or charger ; and the same may be said of King Tom, 
 General Peel, Scottish Chief, Craig Millar, Doncaster, 
 and many others, indeed the majority of really proved 
 good race-horses. But still the victories obtained of 
 
44 OUR HORSES. 
 
 late years by foreign liorses over tlie longer courses^ 
 whicli must be put down simply to the more favourable 
 conditions under wbicli tliey have been previously 
 trained to compete_, seem to point to sometMng cer- 
 tainly wrong in our present system. Some improve- 
 ments have certainly been made of late by the Jockey 
 Club in the rules of racing_, especially in limiting the 
 time when races may be run to from 25th March to 15th 
 November in each year; but this open time should be 
 further limited still. From 1st April to 1st November 
 would be ample time for all races worthy of the name, 
 and three weeks more of close time would be of the 
 greatest advantage to our race-horses. Then again, 
 the whole system of handicaps should be abolished, or at 
 least very greatly modified. This system is the greatest 
 stumbling-block and does more harm directly and in- 
 directly, physically as regards our horses, morally as 
 regards our men, than anything else on the turf. Cer- 
 tain fair and reasonable extra weights should be 
 accorded to winners of certain races, so that the 
 chances of winning prizes should not be entirely con- 
 fined to a few stars; but the system of a general 
 handicapping for each season, with weights varying in 
 some cases as much as three stone, is altogether mis- 
 chievous and unjustifiable. It is unfair on the really 
 sporting and honest owners of good horses to penalize 
 them by such enormously difiering weights down to 
 the level of bad ones ; it is a great temptation to the 
 
BEEEDING. 45 
 
 less honest owners of either good or bad horses to 
 run them under false orders^ so as to get them 
 favourably handicapped j it increases the number of 
 trumpery and purely speculative meetings to a most 
 prejudicial degree ; and it is the chief foundation and 
 support of the " ring/^ of the professional gambling 
 among a set of people, the great majority of whom 
 know and care nothing about' horses_, except as mere 
 names or counters to make betting '' books^^ upon, 
 which is the great curse of racing. And in this con- 
 nection I cannot help/ in defiance of many a smile or 
 sneer that may be excited by my proposition, express- 
 ing my very earnest wish and hope that a hint may 
 be given by the police authorities of the illegality of 
 TattersalFs subscription betting-room, which most 
 assuredly ought in all equity not to be tolerated while 
 ^' publicans^^ are being continually and rigidly punished 
 for pei'mitting betting on their premises. If racing 
 is, as is argued by its best and ablest supporters, the 
 fans et origo of the noble breed of horses we have so 
 long and so justly been famous for all the world over, we 
 should surely do all that in us lies to purify the foun- 
 tain. Let it be a pursuit and amusement for all true and 
 upright sportsmen who can afford it, freed as far as 
 possible from all scandal or reproach; arrange, so far as 
 is practicable by arrangement, that the prizes must be 
 competed for by horses of a stamp whose breed is 
 worth upholding, not creatures who cannot gallop over 
 
46 oan HORSES. 
 
 half a mile nor carry more than a feather-weight ; and 
 protect as much as possible the rising generation of 
 thoroughbred sires and dams from being run off their 
 legs when only two or three years old, and their pro- 
 geny from the inevitable consequences of such cruelly 
 premature exhaustion and decay 
 
3 
 
 i 
 
 1. . i{ 1 illf} i 1 
 
 11 i §^ 1 i|=i = i 1 
 
 s^ « il 1 Illl 1 1 1 
 
 s 
 
 s 
 c 
 
 o 
 '•3 
 
 ft 
 
 Octaviana 
 Darioletta . . 
 
 Leda 
 Electress 
 Oblivion 
 Emma 
 
 Soldier's Joy 
 
 Myrrha 
 
 Mare by Tomboy 
 
 Mare by Plenipo- 
 tentiary, out of 
 Myrrha. 
 
 Lady Carew 
 
 Fanny 
 
 Rebecca 
 
 Otisina 
 Mare by Cain 
 Banter" . 
 (iueen Mary . 
 Taffrail . 
 
 Ellen Ilorne , 
 Miss Sellou 
 Vexation 
 Partiality 
 Wedding-day 
 Mentmore Liss 
 MarebyGardham 
 Sister to Sin- 
 gapore. 
 The Bloomer 
 Espoir 
 
 Manganese 
 
 England'sBeauty 
 Claiissa 
 
 
 Priam 
 Sandbeek . 
 
 Mulatto . 
 Rockinuham . 
 Hetman Platoff 
 Touchstone 
 
 Defence . 
 Bay Middleton. 
 Lanercost 
 Gladiator , 
 
 Touchstone 
 Muley xMoloch . 
 Muley Molocli . 
 
 The Provost . 
 Defence . 
 . Pantaloon 
 Melbourne 
 (jladiator . 
 
 Paragon . 
 Taduior . 
 Stockwell 
 Venison . 
 Voltigeur 
 King Tom 
 R itaplin . 
 Teddington 
 
 Stockwell . 
 Flying Dutch- 
 man. 
 Rataplan . 
 
 Kingston . 
 West Australian 
 
 c 
 c 
 > 
 
 o 
 
 <2: 
 
 Q 
 
 Banter 
 Cobweb . 
 
 Mare by Phantom 
 
 Vulture . 
 
 Gu'.ccioll . 
 
 Mare by Cer- 
 vantes. 
 
 Cobweb 
 
 l\Iargaret . 
 
 Barbelle . 
 
 Mare by Cer- 
 vantes. 
 
 Miss Letty 
 Beeswing . 
 Mare by Cer- 
 vantes. 
 Pocahontas 
 (^ueen Anne . 
 . Lollipop . 
 Pocahontas 
 Poetess . 
 
 Pocahontas 
 Beeswing 
 Mendicant 
 Pal ma 
 Pocahontas 
 Gruyerc . 
 Gruyere . 
 Pocahontas 
 
 Malibran . 
 
 Mare by Bird- 
 catcher. 
 
 Mare by Little 
 Red Rover. 
 
 Blink Bonny . 
 
 Doralice . 
 
 9 
 
 X 
 
 Camel 
 Sultan 
 
 Blacklock 
 Touchstone 
 Sir Hercules 
 Humphrey Clin- 
 ker. 
 Sultan 
 Cain . 
 
 Bay Middleton 
 Humphrey Clin- 
 ker. 
 
 Sheet Anchor . 
 
 Touchstone 
 
 Humphrey Clin- 
 ker, or Pantaloon 
 
 The Baron 
 
 Venison . 
 
 Gladiator 
 
 The Baron 
 
 Sting, or The 
 i;mperor, or 
 The Baron. 
 
 'I'he Baron 
 
 Touchstone 
 
 Wcatlierbit 
 
 Xewminsier 
 
 llarkaway 
 
 Sweetmeat 
 
 Sweetmeat 
 
 The Baroa 
 
 Orlando . 
 Voltigeur 
 
 Wild Dayrell . 
 
 Stockwell 
 Vedette . 
 
 s 
 c 
 
 1 
 
 s 
 
 CruciHx . 
 Barbelle . 
 
 Martha Lynn . 
 MissTwickenham 
 Forget-me-not 
 Mowerina 
 
 Sister to J5gis . 
 Ellen Middletor. 
 Ellerdale 
 Queen Mary . 
 
 Mendicant 
 reggy . 
 AliceHawthorne 
 
 Hybla 
 
 Defenceless 
 
 Jocose 
 
 Blink Bonny . 
 
 Miss Gladiator . 
 
 Paradigm 
 Seclusion . 
 Bas Bleu . 
 Feiina 
 Woodcraft 
 Zephyr 
 Higolboche 
 Marigold . 
 
 Princess of Wales 
 Brown Duchess 
 
 Mineral . 
 
 Silverhair 
 
 Mare by West 
 Australian, out 
 of Clarissa. 
 
 
 Touciistone 
 Bay Middleton 
 
 Voltaire . 
 Orlando . 
 Irish Birdcatcher 
 Melbourne 
 
 Bay Middleton 
 Ion . 
 
 FlyingDutchman 
 Melbourne 
 
 Weathcrbit 
 Newminster 
 Melbourne, or 
 
 Windhound. 
 Rataplan 
 Kingston 
 Sweetmeat 
 Stockwell 
 Monarciue 
 
 Stockwell 
 Newminster . 
 Beadsman 
 Adventurer 
 King Tom 
 Parmesan 
 Parmesan 
 Stockwell . 
 
 Marsyas . 
 Vedette . 
 
 Buccaneer 
 
 Blair Athol . 
 Speculum. 
 
 
 3 
 
 Surplice («; 
 
 Flying Dutch- 
 man {a\ 
 
 Voltigeur («) . 
 
 Teddington 
 
 Dan O'Rourke . 
 
 West Australian 
 (6). 
 
 Andover . 
 
 Wild Dayrell . 
 
 Ellington 
 
 Blink Bonny (c) 
 
 Beadsman 
 
 Musjid 
 
 Thormanby 
 
 Kettledrum 
 Caractacus 
 Macaioni (d) . 
 Blair Athol (e) 
 Gladiateur (/) 
 
 Lord Lyon {(j) . 
 Hermit . 
 Blue Gown 
 Pretender (/<) . 
 Kingcraft 
 Favonius . 
 Cremorne 
 Doncastcr 
 
 GeorgeFrederick 
 Galopin . 
 
 Kisber 
 
 Silvio (0 . 
 Sefton 
 
 > 
 
 ft 
 
 5 
 
 1848 
 1849 
 
 1850 
 1851 
 1852 
 1853 
 
 1854 
 1855 
 1850 
 
 1857 
 
 1858 
 1859 
 1800 
 
 1801 
 1802 
 1863 
 1804 
 1805 
 
 1806 
 
 1808 
 1809 
 1870 
 1871 
 1872 
 1873 
 
 1874 
 1875 
 
 1870 
 
 1877 
 1878 
 
48 OUE HOESES. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Beeaking. 
 
 Breaking-in as practised in my younger days^ ex- 
 cepting of course with thoroughbred horses_, generally 
 commenced by putting an enormously thick and heavy 
 snaffle into the colt's mouth, this was reined up as 
 tightly as his poor neck would allow to a surcingle ; a 
 heavy caveson, with goodness knows how many 
 straps and buckles, was then put on, and thus accou- 
 tred the colt was led out in the public road, a second 
 man following behind with a long cracking whip. We 
 have, I hope, improved a good deal upon this now; 
 but I still see the things called " mouthing bits" con- 
 stantly used, than which heavy masses of iron nothing 
 can well be worse or more teasing for a fine mouth. 
 The best bit to begin with is a perfectly smooth 
 snaffle, about the thickness of the middle joint of an 
 average sized middle finger ; instead of the tight rein- 
 ing up, the reins should merely feel the mouth, and 
 prevent the colt getting his head right down as they 
 sometimes will, no more than that ; and it is a good 
 plan at first to pass them through a plain running ring, 
 which helps to keep his head straight. The caveson. 
 
BEEAKING. 49 
 
 properly made and fitted, I should always use still for 
 the first lessons; it is the best possible help in the 
 first instance for teaching obedience^ proper paces, 
 jumping, &c. Lead the colt round at a walk first once 
 or twice, then lengthen the caveson rope gradually, 
 and get him to trot, saying '"'' trot,^^ and just showing 
 him your whip; if he is very wild you should have an 
 assistant to help you, and prevent his breaking away 
 out of the circle, but it is far better to do without any 
 one but yourself if you can. After he has settled 
 down a little and got to trot round pretty kindly, say 
 ''halt,^^ and quietly pull him into you in the centre of 
 the circle, make much of him, and reward him with a 
 bit of carrot or something from your pocket ; then 
 start him round again the reverse way. After a few 
 lessons make him break into a canter from the trot 
 on the word ^' canter •/' and at the halt, stand in front 
 of him, and, taking a ring of the snaffle in each hand, 
 make him go back, saying " rein back ;" standing on 
 his near side and touching him gently with the end of 
 your whip on his left side where you would spur, make 
 him sidle towards the right, without advancing, saying 
 " right pass ;^^ then put yourself on|his off side, and 
 in the same way make him go "left pass ;^^ then 
 standing facing him again as before, say " forward," 
 and walking backwards yourself lead him up into the 
 centre of your circle, and reward him. The caveson 
 is generally made too heavy and with an unnecessary 
 
 4 
 
oO OUE HORSES. 
 
 number of straps about it ; but it must of course be 
 strong enougli to prevent all risk of breaking ; and 
 tlie noseband, in wkicli tke wkole conquering power of 
 the cavezon consists, should be carefully padded so as 
 to allow of being buckled tolerably tight without gall- 
 ing. For all the first lessons get to an absolutely quiet 
 place, where there is nothing whatever to distract 
 attention; let the lessons be short, say half-an-hour 
 at a time ; if you can, give three lessons in the day ; 
 but on no account in the early lessons leave a day 
 entirely blank ; always have bits of carrot, or lucern, 
 or sugar and oats in your pocket to reward with ; and 
 if possible be alone. If the horse is very fresh and 
 unmanageable, it is best to starve him a little ; a fast 
 without food or water for from twelve to twenty-four 
 hours is a wonderful quieter, and makes him very 
 grateful for anything given by hand. I would not of 
 course starve a horse as a part of his breaking gener- 
 ally, only in exceptional cases, and under particular 
 circumstances ; but I have known horses plunge about 
 so wildly while being lunged when they were fresh as 
 to injure themselves severely ; and I remember a case 
 of a valuable colt which died from a ruptured dia- 
 phragm in this way. For the first mounted lessons 
 repeat at first as nearly as may be what you made the 
 horse do with the caveson just to begin with, then 
 ride him round a field instead of the confined circle, 
 and then take him on the road. The system practised 
 
BEEAKING. 51 
 
 in our Cavalry is the best possible^ if it were not gene- 
 rally so absurdly overdone ; tlie horses and men are 
 too often kept doing the same things over and over 
 again tUl they are all sulky and sick of the whole 
 business ; the horses are too often so rigidly taught 
 to go " collected/^ as riding-masters lovingly call it, 
 that their only idea of galloping out when pressed to 
 speed, as when wanted in a charge, is running away. 
 But the circling, turning short to right and left, pas- 
 saging, and reining back, practised with moderation 
 and judgment, much as I have tried to lay down in 
 the lessons I have suggested, first with the caveson, 
 then when mounted, add exceedingly to the pleasant- 
 ness of a horse for riding. Then as you have time and 
 inclination, go on with him, teaching him to jump, 
 gallop at speed and stop when wanted, turn to right 
 or left by a simple signal of turning your whip over to 
 the right or to the left, face firing, stand steady to 
 music — make him, in short, a perfect mannered horse. 
 After a while, if you want to make him a clever horse 
 across country, put him on a pair of good knee-caps, 
 and lunge him gently over heaps of stones, loose 
 bricks, fallen bits of timber, ditches, &c. ; it is won- 
 derful how safe and clever a horse becomes with a 
 little preparatory practice of this kind. Sir Francis 
 Head, in his pleasant book, ^^The Horse and his 
 Eider,^' recommends riding a young horse over ground 
 of the above description to make him a clever hunter; 
 
 4 ^ 
 
52 OUR HORSES. 
 
 but* I am inclined to think lie never tried this himself : 
 I have; and though then not much troubled as to 
 nerves, I must say I decidedly prefer beginning this 
 sort of instruction with the caveson_, just at first. 
 Begin your mounted lessons with blunt spurs ; sharp 
 spurs are very apt make a horse angry_, and nothing 
 delays the breaking-in so much as loss of temper on 
 either side. 
 
 For harness^ the horse having of course been broken 
 previously into hand and saddle, begin at first by simply 
 exercising him with hai-ness on ; then let him have to 
 pull against a man holding on to long traces ; then a log 
 of wood, or bush harrow. Then put him alongside a 
 steady old horse in a break, and if properly handled, he 
 will in most instances very soon learn his business after a 
 few driving lessons. If you cannot get the great advan- 
 tage of a break horse, put your pupil into a butcher^s 
 cart or similar vehicle ; taking care of course to do it 
 very quietly — no rude banging the shafts against his 
 quarters, or similar provocative. Get him first to lead 
 quietly in harness, practising turning a corner or two, 
 and up and down a hill ; then drive him. Much time 
 is really saved in the end by this gradual way of work- 
 ing, slow as the description of it may appear. Short 
 and simple but frequent lessons to begin with, always 
 leaving ofi" when well done, but never leaving ofi" till 
 well done, a reward always ready in your pocket to 
 give on the spot, absolute temper and patience, and 
 
BREAKING. ■ OO 
 
 for tlie very first lessons absolute privacy if possible, 
 are the cliief secrets and essentials for teacbing a borse 
 speedily and well. All borses, except raco-borses, 
 sbould_, I tbinkj be broken in for barness_, it adds so 
 immensely to tbeir usefulness ; and being driven witb 
 good bands occasionally in a not beavy carriage in no 
 way burts a borse for riding, wbatever fastidious borse- 
 men say about it. I would also bave all cbargers, 
 bunters, and backs regularly taugbt to swim. It is 
 an accomplisbment very easily taugbt and learnt, but 
 tbe majority of borses, tbougb tbey are good swim- 
 mers by nature, are very nervous at getting into deep 
 water for tbe first time ; and as a very hligbt touch to 
 the bridle will then make them rear over, it is no joke. 
 Look out for a place easy to get down into tbe water, 
 easy to get out of on the other side, and where be 
 will bave only a short way to swim in the middle ; and 
 manage that it shall be on tbe way home, if possible. 
 Keep bis bead straight by directing him with your 
 band or whip ; when once he is off bis legs and swim- 
 ming, it is best to avoid as much as possible touching 
 the reins, a very slight pull is apt to bring him back 
 over witb you ; and for the first lesson it may be well 
 to cross your stirrups over bis withers, or to ride bare- 
 backed. If you can get a lead, most borses will follow 
 without further fuss. I once bad a borse actually fond 
 of swimming ; a very unusual thing. I used often to 
 get on bim in bathing costume and ride bim into a 
 
54 ■ OUE HOESES. 
 
 pond or river^ and lie would swim about like a New- 
 foundland dog under 'me, nuzzling his head into the 
 water with delight ; and when we came out he would 
 give a neigh_, and jump ahout with sheer exuberance 
 of spirits after his bath. 
 
 To teach tricks requires spare time and patience_, but 
 is not very difficult with sensible and good-tempered 
 horses ; and the teaching tends of com'se to develop 
 their intelligence_, and may add to one^s pleasure in 
 their companionship. To teach a horse to fetch and 
 carry^ use a small basket you have accustomed him to 
 eat corn out of occasionally^ drop it on the ground 
 and say '^ fetch it.^' He will most likely commence 
 mouthing it as a matter of com^se for the corn, but 
 teach him and make him to lift it up in his mouth, and 
 as soon as he does this, even a little way, take it from 
 him and reward him ; then throw it a little further off, 
 and saying " fetch it" as before ; make him bring it to 
 you by prompting him to come with a leading-rein ; then 
 take him out with a long leading-rein and practice the 
 same, making him, by a threat of your whip if necessary, 
 go after the basket — or what is better, a white cloth with 
 oats and sugar tied in it — and bring it to you ; always 
 rewarding him well when brought. A clever horse 
 will after a little while not need the rein in hand, but 
 start off at once when bidden to pick up and bring you 
 the basket or handkerchief. By tapping a horse^s 
 foreleg with your hand, telling him at the same time 
 
BEEAKING. • 55 
 
 to '' shake liands/^ and sliowing liirn what to do by 
 lifting up liis leg into your liand_, and always rewarding- 
 him afterwards, a good-tempered clever horse will 
 learn to " shake hands^^ almost as soon as a dog. Most 
 of my horses would shake hands with me directly I 
 put out my hand for them and said " shake hands/' 
 after they had been a week or so in my stable. To 
 teach a horse to lie down, put knee-caps on him and 
 take him to a soft place and secure from interruption ; 
 stand in front of him, and telling him to ^^ lie down,'' 
 tap him across the shins with a cane ; this is painful, 
 and he will after a little tapping shrink so quickly as 
 to drop on his knees for a moment; the instant he 
 goes on his knees reward him and make much of him, 
 and gradually by repetition get him to let you keep 
 him on his knees for a minute or so to be rewarded in 
 that position. He will after a few lessons learn to 
 drop on his knees as soon as you offer to touch his 
 shins wdth the cane on your telling him to '^^lie down." 
 When you have got him thus to drop on his knees by 
 signal, and to stay there, for the next lessons strap up 
 one foreleg on Harey's plan, and now make him " lie 
 down'^ as before ; reward him there ; and then, holding* 
 the bridle close by the snaffle, take him well by the 
 head, and again telling him to ^' lie down," push with 
 all your weight against his withers and force him down 
 from you on his side. If he fights against going down 
 on his side and struggles up again, you must firmly 
 
56 OUR HOESES. 
 
 and patiently persevere until he is tired out and yields; 
 in most cases, however, he will make but little obstinate 
 resistance, and as soon as you have fairly got him 
 down on his side he will lie perfectly prostrate and 
 still, like a " Earey-fied" horse ; then make much of 
 him, unhamper him and let him get up, and reward 
 him well as soon as he is up. After a few lessons you 
 will not need to strap up his leg. A slight pull round 
 of his head and push on the shoulder will make him 
 obey your order to " lie down^^ as soon as you have got 
 him on his knees. My dear horse " Caliph^^ I taught 
 in this way to lie down for me as steady as any horse 
 at Astley^s, with wonderfully little trouble, but he was 
 an exceptionally good pupil. To lie down thus when 
 ordered might often be a really useful accomplishment 
 for a charger, to be under cover from fire, or for an 
 ambush enterprise. 
 
 To make a horse steady under fire, the best be- 
 ginning is to fire a pistol as the feeding signal; let 
 him get to know and look for the sound, which he 
 soon will get to do and to acknowledge with a neigh, 
 as his dinner call; then let him see the flash. When 
 he has got to like the sight and sound of the gun or 
 pistol report as the sign of his corn coming, fire off 
 his back ; then get off and fire across over his neck, 
 under his belly, over his back, &c. ; always rewarding 
 bim after the shot. Then prepare a bit of ground by 
 hammering in three or four pegs at different places 
 
BREAKING. o7 
 
 with rings on tlienij and put a T at the middle of your 
 bridle-rein ; ride up now to where you know one of 
 the pegs are (the less visible it is of course the better), 
 dismount, and taking the reins over your horse^s head 
 pass the T quickly and cleverly through the ring in 
 the peg ; go a few paces to the front, fire, then come 
 back and reward your horse ; mount him, and repeat 
 the same manoeuvre at another peg ; he will soon learn 
 to stand quite steady and wait for you on your merely 
 drawing the reins over his head after dismounting, just 
 as if the peg was there, as I suppose he fancies it is. 
 I am indebted for this hint to Captain Nolau^s capital 
 little book on training remount horses, now long out 
 of print ; but I have frequently practised it with my 
 own horses with perfect success. The way of teaching a 
 horse to lie down I bought from a circus rider, and have 
 also successfully practised it myself. I must add that 
 I have known some few horses which could not be 
 made to stand fire ; they would refuse their corn day 
 after day from sheer nervous fright at the firing of a 
 pistol. 
 
 To cure a horse of tricks cannot be taught on paper : 
 good temper, a good seat, and good hands are the 
 three essential requisites ; and if you have these, it is j 
 probable you know all that is worth telhng you. A 
 horse that is a determined runaway I would not advise 
 the best rider to have anything to do with, let him be 
 relegated to harness, where mechanical means can be 
 
58 OUR HORSES. 
 
 used to stop him speedily. For shying, patiently but 
 firmly and without humbugging or fuss_, make your 
 horse see and smell the thing he shies at ; where it is 
 not from mere play, the shying is in most cases fright 
 from ignorance and wonder, not cowardice or vice ; 
 knowledge and experience by sight and smell will 
 generally soon cure the trick ; provided of course there 
 is nothing wrong with the eyes. Kicking, an ordinarily 
 good horseman will not trouble his head about much ; 
 a good chuck with the bit and a cut with the whip on 
 his shoulder is the best punishment, keeping the 
 horse^s head well up is the best preventive. Rearing 
 is not the dangerous vice it looks ; if the reins are not 
 pulled, unless a horse is weak in the loins or hocks, he 
 will hardly ever come over backwards ; beware of 
 holding on by the reins, but catch hold of the mane 
 (which is quite allowable in a case of rearing), and as 
 far forward as possible, so as to throw all the weight 
 you can on his forehand. A horse should be well 
 punished for rearing, if you are quite sure it is from 
 wickedness, and not caused by his mouth being too 
 tender for the bit. A rearing horse should be ridden with 
 a martingale ; and if ridden with double bits it should be 
 on the curb rein ; not on the snaflBe, as is the usual plan. 
 I have heard, and apparently on reliable authority, of 
 one man curing a horse effectually of rearing at once 
 and for ever, by mountiag him with a bottle of water 
 in his hand and breaking it smash over his head as he 
 
EEEAKING. 
 
 59 
 
 reared up ; and of anotlier who mounted with a heavy 
 short club-stick and felled the horse when he reared up 
 by a blow between the ears^ like an ox ; in this latter 
 case the horse fell stunned, and his rider had some 
 difficulty in getting clear of him, but I was told that 
 the cure was effectual ; the remedy, however, seems 
 rather a desperate one. 
 
 " Buck-jumping,^^ like what we hear of in Australian 
 horses chiefly, is a vice which like running away I would 
 simply decline having anything to do with if I could 
 avoid it. Though I have once or twice been ^' bucked^ ' 
 off horses of my own, I have never had a confirmed 
 '^buck-jumper,^^ nor would I attempt to ride one; but 
 I have seen several ; and some fairly sat and conquered 
 by sheer good riding. One instance I particularly re- 
 member. The horse was a powerful, about three-quarters 
 bred, fine Waler colt ; the rider was a Scotchman, but 
 brought up from childhood in Australia, and had ac- 
 companied several batches of young horses to Calcutta 
 and Bombay. This horse with a man at his head 
 made no particular objection to being mounted, but the 
 instant his head was let go, he jumped off in a canter, 
 and before he had gone half-a-dozen strides the rider 
 was shot clean over his head, without a chance for 
 himself. He did not lose his reins, however; picked 
 himself up in a moment, and said, smiling, it was the 
 first fair fall he had encountered for years past, and 
 that he should not have been thrown now but for the 
 
60 OUK HORSES. 
 
 coitus head having been let go in too great hurry, 
 before he was quite ready for him. The young man 
 got on again directly, the colt being well held this 
 time. As soon as he gave the word to let go, and 
 pressed the colt forward,, the buck -jumping com- 
 menced again. It was really marvellous how the man 
 kept his seat ; he was not only not thrown now, but he 
 hardly moved in his seat ; and except when he took 
 his opportunity to give the horse a punishing stroke on 
 the flank with his cutting whip, he sat perfectly quiet 
 and still; it was a fine exhibition of horsemanship. 
 He rode with rather long stirrups, his feet well home 
 in them, and rather forward; he had his saddle padded 
 a good deal higher than usual in front of his knees ; 
 and he used a strong twisted snaffle-bit with two 
 reins, which he pulled hard upon all the time. He 
 fairly conquered the horse in a few minutes, and rode 
 him round and round the yard at a nice canter, and 
 trot, and over a bar jump, as pleasantly as a lady^s 
 hack. Another exhibition of buck-jumping I re- 
 member was of a very different description. It was a 
 chestnut thoroughbred, a Waler^ taking his prelimi- 
 nary canter at a race-meeting. As he came past where 
 I was standing, he suddenly, instantaneously, almost 
 too suddenly to be seen, dropped his head and raised 
 his quarters, and his rider, an Englishman and pro- 
 fessional jockey, was sent flying a clean somersault 
 over his head ; I can really only compare it to a ball 
 
BEEAKING. 61 
 
 shot from a catapult ; tlie jockey Had no chance^ lie 
 was sent spinning away and fell on his back several 
 feet ahead. The horse gave a little neigh of self-con- 
 gratulation_, and trotted quietly into the enclosure by 
 the side of the course. From carefully watching the 
 thing, I am convinced the fatal point of it is the 
 sudden combination of the dropping down of the head, 
 absolutely almost to the ground, with the high 
 rumping up of the quarters at the same moment ; the 
 whole forehand of the horse suddenly vanishes as it 
 seems from before the rider, who finds himself on the 
 edge of a precipice in front expressly to be shot over 
 from behind. If you can keep the horse's head up, 
 you are all right, comparatively speaking. I should 
 therefore suggest, as the best way of tackling a known 
 buck-jumper, always to put into his mouth, in 
 addition to your usual riding bits, a very fine racing 
 snaffle with its reiu (which should of course be a 
 strong one) knotted short to his neck; the slack 
 end to be held in hand. The horse would not feel 
 this to annoy him in any way unless he tried the 
 getting his head down, in which case it would effectu- 
 ally stop his little game, and he would find himself 
 baffled ; he would have his own neck to pull against, 
 instead of the rider's hands. I may mention I have 
 often successfully used this plan of spare knotted rein 
 with hard pulling horses ; it is a wonderful help and 
 rest to the hands. I got the hint originally from a 
 
62 OUR HORSES. 
 
 first-rate horseman whetlier after a hog in India or 
 
 with hounds in Gloucestershire,, the late General Sir 
 
 Henry Roberts. I will not attempt to go into the 
 
 subject of training horses for racing ; it is altogether 
 
 beyond my present purpose. But I cannot avoid 
 
 noticing a most strange mistake put forth in a most 
 
 useful and practical little book in its way^ called ^^ The 
 
 Griffin's Aide-de-camp/' which says^ you should train 
 
 a horse with as nearly as possible the weight he wall 
 
 have to carry in his race. Whatever may be the 
 
 weight he will have to carry, train tvith the very lightest 
 
 loeight you can ijossibly put on his hacJc ; a very few 
 
 pounds' weight will make a considerable difference in 
 
 the length of his stride, which will soon be perceptibly 
 
 shortened accordingly. Let me finish this chapter by 
 
 making my readers a present of what a friend of mine, 
 
 answering an ingeniously worded advertisement, paid 
 
 half -a-sovereign for. It was headed **' Bona fide; no 
 
 humbug : the whole art of riding taught for iOs. . . ." 
 
 The return for the money which my friend was goose 
 
 enough to send, was the following piece of advice : — 
 
 " Your head and your heart keei^ up ; 
 Your hands and your heels keep down ; 
 Your legs keep close to your horse's sides, 
 Your elbows close to your own." 
 
 Easier said than done, of course; but positively 
 nothing could well be said better on the subject ! I 
 believe the lines are supposed to be a poetical utter- 
 ance of the famous Sam Chifihey. 
 
SADDLEEY Alf^D HARNESS. 63 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Saddlery axd Harness. 
 
 I HAVE ill my time spent a good deal of trouble and 
 money over saddles and bridles of various descriptions^ 
 but on the whole I do not think there is much room or 
 need for much of new invention in these matters. A 
 good saddler will generally turn you out as good a 
 saddle for yourself and for your horse as anything you 
 are likely to invent. I think^ however, generally 
 speaking, that saddles are unnecessarily heavy ; sad- 
 dlers always recommend one not to order a light 
 saddle ; but a saddle can be made large enough and 
 strong enough for all purposes for men riding not over 
 twelve stone or so without its weighing more than 
 eight pounds. I remember my old friend, Mr. Garden, 
 of Piccadilly, earnestly begging me not to take a saddle 
 under ten pounds, as the very lowest weight he could 
 recommend ; but the best saddle I ever had was one 
 of his which weighed barely eight pouuds ; it gave me 
 plenty of room to sit in, fitted almost any horse, and 
 lasted as long as any saddle could. The great points 
 to be careful about are, that the tree is wide enoup'h 
 
64 OUR HORSES. 
 
 in tlie front fork not to pincli tlie shoulders^ but not so 
 wide as to let the saddle down right down on to the 
 withers ; and that the seat is long enough to sit in 
 comfortably, and to spread the weight to some extent 
 over the horse's back. It is curious how fashion 
 tyrannizes in saddlery, as in everything else ; arge 
 saddles, small saddles, heavy stirrup irons, light ones, 
 padded flaps, flaps without any padding at all, each in 
 turn are patronized. Provided you have the requisite 
 strength and size, the lighter everything you put on 
 the horse the better ; weight makes all the difl'erence 
 in the world to him. I prefer slightly padded flaps 
 myself ; and to sit a '' buck-jumping^' horse high pads 
 in front of the knees are a great help j they are also a 
 great protection to the knees in riding through forests. 
 But so good a horseman and so clever a writer as Sir 
 Francis Head must needs fall so in love with the 
 fashion for perfectly plain flaps, as to talk in his 
 pleasant book, " The Horse and his Rider,'' the ex- 
 ceeding nonsense of padded flaps straining a man's 
 tliighs ! For girths, the best and safest girth, beyond 
 all question, is the '^ Fitz- William," a broad girth, with 
 two buckles, with a narrower one buckle girth passing 
 through keepers over it. I wonder it has not been 
 universally adopted. The broad girth is, however, I 
 think generally made a little too broad ; and girths 
 should always be undyed ; the dark colour looks neat, 
 but the dye rots the girthing. What is called the 
 
SADDLERY AND HARNESS. 65 
 
 " Cape girtli," a leather girtli cut into several plaited 
 strips_, and witli two buckles^ is a very serviceable 
 girtb ; and tliougli it looks as if it were likely to cut 
 tbe liorse_, it really often suits horses wbicli are liable 
 to be galled by the ordinary girths ; it must of course 
 be kept soft with grease. For bridles^ I think the 
 best for all riding purposes will be found to be a plain 
 double bridle ; the snaffle made with half cheeks ; that 
 is, the lower cheek cut off, as it is apt to catch in the 
 lip -strap or curb-chain ; the upper cheek fitting into a 
 loop on the headstall, which keeps it nicely in its 
 place; the curb, instead of the curved ^''port^^ in the 
 middle of the mouthpiece, should be made with a 
 mouthpiece^ slightly arched nearly from end to end, 
 as driving bits often are, the curve being far prefer- 
 able to the straight and unnecessarily heavy mouthpiece 
 so much in vogue, and it should always be smooth, not 
 ribbed or twisted ; and the cheeks, instead of being 
 wielded to the mouthpiece, should run through the ends 
 of it (without being in any way diminished in calibre for 
 this purpose), so as to pjay up and down for half an 
 inch or so. This is a strong construction, and pleasant 
 both to the horse^s mouth and the rider's, or driver's, 
 hand. I know some good horsemen object to this 
 construction on the ground that the self-acting move- 
 ment of the bit nullifies to a certain extent the play 
 and power of a fine hand on the horse^s mouth ; but 
 fine hands are comparatively very rare ; and I base my 
 
66 OUR HOESES. 
 
 recommendation on a long and varied experience. The 
 " Pelliam '' looks well on a nice-lieaded horse^ and is a 
 pleasant bit enougli for a good moutli j but it is rather 
 a foolisli sort of bit to my thinking ; meant as a com- 
 promise between the severity of the curb and the want 
 of power in the snaffle, it is really less powerful than a 
 properly used snaffle to stop a horse. The ^^ Hano- 
 verian Pelham/-' or ^''Bentinck^^ bit, is quite as power- 
 ful, if not more so, than the common curb, if used on 
 the curb-rein ; and some horses, if not properly broken, 
 will be found to ride more kindly with this bit than 
 with the common curb and snaffle ; but the bearings 
 of the numerous joints in it soon get worn and loose, 
 it then gets to hang badly in the mouth, and may cut 
 the horse^s tongue or lips. The '^ ring snaffle,-*^ used 
 from time immemorial in the East, now apparently so 
 fashionable as a driving bit, is not a favourite of mine. 
 It has the advantage of lying as easy as a common 
 snaffle in the horse^s mouth, while the direct pull on it 
 through the rings makes it much more powerful ; but 
 it is apt in careless hands to cut the corners of the 
 mouth, and it always strikes me as an uiihecoming bit, 
 it does not set a horse off well. For a horse having 
 the troublesome trick of catching the cheek of the bit 
 in his mouth, the best construction is to have the 
 cheek ending in a circle, about two inches diameter, 
 with cross bars through it at right angles ; the reins 
 to be buckled into the lower or upper quarters of the 
 
SADDLEEY AND HAENESS. G7 
 
 circle to suit the horse^s moutli. Tlie usual ring-clieek 
 leaves an end wliich. a horse can catch at_, and he may- 
 be tempted to be putting his tongue through the^ring ; 
 but the above bit gives no hold for mouthy lips_, or 
 tongue to catch or play with. The curb -chain should 
 always be tolerably broad^ not narrow_, which is very apt 
 to gall; and if the horse is a puller and difficult to hold, 
 let the curb -chain be laid not quite smooth but with a 
 twist or two in the rings; I have frequently found hard- 
 pulling horses yield more readily to this than to any 
 other contrivance. The famous sportsman, Mr. Asshe- 
 ton Smith, is said, when once given a notorious puller 
 for a mount, to have quietly taken off the curb-chain 
 and put it into his pocket before getting up, and to his 
 friend^s astonishment found no difficulty in holding the 
 horse without it. But he was altogether an excep- 
 tional horseman, and few could venture to follow his 
 example in this sort of proceeding. A good military 
 saddle seems to be considered an almost hopeless 
 desideratum ; but I confess to thinking that the hope- 
 less part of the business is less in the sort of saddle 
 than in getting the necessary care paid to the saddling. 
 I should be very glad indeed to get rid of the valise, 
 which adds a stone of dead weight, and necessitates a 
 high cantle to hold it up from the horse's back ; but 
 still I must say I have seen a Cavalry regiment with the 
 present ^' Nolan ^' saddle, after marching several hun- 
 dred miles on end_, with their valises packed and carry- 
 
 5 * 
 
bo OUK HOESES. 
 
 ing complete mar cHng- order gear, arrive at their 
 destination with the horses in excellent condition, and 
 with hardly any sore backs, certainly not two per cent. 
 But in this instance the officers commanding troops 
 paid most constant and careful attention to their horses' 
 backs, the stuffing of their saddles, the greasing of 
 their leathern girths, and so forth ; and this care, which 
 is so absolutely essential, is, I fear, difficult to secure. 
 The ^*^ Nolan' ^ bridle is suitable enough too, but the bits 
 are horribly heavy ; they should be made of better steel 
 and much lighter; and all bits should be buckled not 
 sewn to the reins and headstall ; the sewing is supposed 
 to look neat and is, I believe, the fashion, but it is a 
 most foolish fashion, whether for military or common 
 use. A ^^ numnah'' (" numdah'^ is the proper word) 
 is, I consider, a most useful addition to the saddle. 
 Not that a good saddle ought to require anything 
 under it to prevent its galling so long as it is in good 
 condition ; but because a '^ numnah'^ is the best pre- 
 server and protector of the good condition of the 
 stuffing of the saddle ; and it is far easier to keep in 
 order, to be dried after a sweat, and so forth, than the 
 saddle itself. Ladies' saddles are, like men's, gener- 
 ally speaking, made I think somewhat unnecessarily 
 large and heavy ; the pummel and the pummel-crutch 
 are generally unnecessarily high ; and the third crutch, 
 which is doubtless a great help, is generally placed a 
 little too high up to be quite all the help it should be. 
 
SADDLERY AND HAENESS. 69 
 
 The front edge of tlie pummel-crutcli should be nicely 
 rounded downwards^ so as not to cut the thigh when 
 pressed down to hold on by. For a lady^s stirrup I 
 much prefer the old-fashioned shoe or slipper shape, 
 going the whole length of the foot, I believe it to be 
 the safest and most comfortable; but it seems com- 
 pletely gone out of fashion now. I have often thought, 
 and I here beg to suggest, that for small establish- 
 ments where economy is all important, a saddle might 
 advantageously be made to admit of the pummel-crutch 
 being screwed on and off (as the third crutch which is 
 not an absolute necessity is), when required for a female 
 or for a male rider ; the second saddle might be made 
 a very useful article in this way. Martingales, whether 
 standing or running pattern, I have a great objection 
 to unless absolutely required, as for race riding with 
 a snaffle, or for a rearing horse, or for what is called 
 a '^ stargazer^^ ; if a horse tosses his head up too much 
 to be pleasant or safe, passing the reins through a 
 plain running ring will generally be found to effect 
 all the purpose of a martingale with far less hamper. 
 
 For harness, I have little I care much to say, except 
 to add my poor protest to the many able but, as it 
 seems, sadly fruitless protests already published against 
 the senseless and cruel continuance of blinkers and 
 bearing-reins. It used to be said that blinkers were 
 necessary to save horses from being frightened at the 
 carriage following them; but there can hardly be a 
 
70 OUR HORSES. 
 
 more frightening thing for a horse to have behind him 
 than a gun-carriage and its limber, and blinkers have 
 long ago been abolished in our Artillery with the best 
 effect. I have seen it argued, too, by apparently ex- 
 perienced horsemen, that without blinkers horses 
 instead of working evenly and regularly will keep 
 watching the driver^s whip hand, and work by fits or 
 starts as they see it raised or down. I do not think 
 this would happen with an ordinarily decent driver and 
 ordinarily decent horses ; but if the argument is a good 
 one, it ought to apply not only to driving but to riding, 
 where a horse can see so much more of the whip hand : 
 moreover if seeing the whip hand raised has precisely 
 the same effect as feeling the whip, the argument seems 
 to tell infinitely more in favour of abolishing blinkers 
 than for the continuance of these absurd semi- 
 blinding appendages. As for the bearing-rein, the 
 Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals 
 should petition for an Act of Parliament against it ; 
 the suffering, the utterly needless suffering, the sense- 
 less waste of power, caused by the detestable bearing- 
 rein, can really hardly be exaggerated, or indeed 
 sufficiently condemned; it is of course most painful 
 and causes most loss of power with poor heavily laden 
 cart horses, but it is quite bad enough with carriage 
 horses ; and one can hardly expect the carter to set the 
 example, though he will doubtless speedily follow it 
 when set, as it should be, by his betters. The crass 
 
SADDLERY AND HAENESS. 71 
 
 stupidity iu this matter is really very disgraceful in 
 these days of the schoolmaster abroad. '^ Oh^ sir, er 
 would come down on er knees if er ^adn't that rein to 
 keep er up/^ is the usual sapient reply one gets to an 
 entreaty to loosen the bearing-rein of a poor cart 
 horse painfully tugging against a heavy load up a hill. 
 " Oh, sir, they works all the better with their heads well 
 up/-* is the equally sapient reply of the equally but less 
 excusably ignorant coachman. It would seem almost 
 impertineut, but it really seems necessary, to point out 
 the absurdity of keeping a horse or anything else from 
 falling down by tying it up to itself; and every good 
 horseman knows that the right way to help a horse out 
 of a difficulty is to give him his head free ; but still 
 this holding-up idea prevails to an astonishing extent, 
 and among people who really should be ashamed of 
 such a theory. Not very long ago I saw a letter from a 
 noble lord, one of the best whips in the kingdom, 
 declining to support in any way Mr. Flower,* the well- 
 known able and generous advocate against bearing- 
 reins, saying that he always used them himself and 
 always should, and that he believed he owed his life 
 on one occasion to the bearing-rein, which saved him 
 from being pulled off the coach-box when a wheeler 
 
 * I would beg to recommend for perusal on this point Mr. 
 Flower's pamphlet, "Bits and Bearing-reins, and Horses and 
 Harness," pubhshed by Cassell, Petter, and Galpin. Price 
 One Shilling. 
 
72 
 
 OUE HORSES. 
 
 suddenly fell. The noble writer further said^ by way 
 of a clinclier_, that he could show Mr. Flower four 
 horses whom no one in England would or could drive 
 without bearing-reins. It is really sad to think of au 
 educated gentleman and highly accomplished horseman 
 allowing himself to write in such very poor style. As 
 for his arguments^ they are simply contemptible. If 
 this nobleman had been able to say the bearing-rein 
 had prevented his wheeler from falling down, there 
 would of course be some point in his story ; but as 
 this was not and could not be the case, his being not 
 pulled off the coach-box was due and due only to his 
 admirable seat on the box and consummate handling of 
 the reins ; it was the sudden fall of the horse which 
 endangered his being pulled off the box, having 
 escaped that he was safe enough. And as for there 
 being horses that cannot be driven without bearing- 
 reins, of course there are ; exceptis excipiendis ; for 
 that matter I could bring together four horses whom it 
 would not be safe to drive without muzzles on. It is, 
 however, of course, as I said before, with cart horses 
 that the greatest suffering is caused by these reins. 
 Just watch the painful efforts a horse vainly makes to 
 get his full weight into the collar while his poor head 
 is kept up by the bearing-rein, which is moreover 
 generally fastened to the collar so that each effort to 
 get his head down displaces at same time the collar 
 from its proper drawing position ; see the corner of the 
 
SADDLERY AND HAKNESS. <0 
 
 horse's moutli often deeply cut by tlie bit in these 
 efforts ; and now loosen the bearing-rein and see the 
 difference ! The horse can now without fear of hurting 
 his mouth get his head well down and throw his weight 
 fairly down into the collar against his load, and away 
 goes the cart after him up the hill in another fashion 
 altogether. The silly semi-bHnding blinkers and 
 cruel bearing-reins, and I may add the horribly 
 heavy and complicated bits often seen annoying 
 the most fashionably appointed carriage horses, are 
 not continued through any fault of our saddlers, 
 who know perfectly well the things should have 
 been abolished long ago ; it is the fault of the 
 horse-owners, the masters and mistresses, who from 
 lazy want of will, or want of thought — I am unwilling 
 to say or think want of heart — allow ignorant carters 
 and over-fed flunky coachmen to dictate according to 
 their long-established stupid prejudices. To end 
 somewhat more pleasantly on this subject, let me say 
 how delighted I was to see Lord Londesborough driv- 
 ing his four beautiful browns, all stepping up in perfect 
 form to their bits, without bearing-reins ; and that I 
 have been delighted too, as doubtless numerous otlier 
 observers have been, to see the magnificent horses in the 
 employ of the Midland Railway Company, who in this 
 as in many other respects set an example most worthy 
 to be followed, all vrorking and with unmistakable 
 ease and comfort, without bearing-reins or blinkers. 
 
74 . OUR HORSES. 
 
 Great care sliould be paid to tlie fitting of tlie 
 collar ; it is frequently not quite long enough for the 
 liorse_, and it then presses on his windpipe if he has 
 anything of a pull. I do not know why the mat 
 collars are not more patronized ; they are half the 
 weight and half the price, and except against very 
 heavy weights must be far more comfortable for the 
 horse. I imagine they are found not to last long 
 enough on account of the lining getting rotted through 
 by the horse^s sweat, and from the trace-tug on the 
 harness wearing through the matting; a bit of 
 numnah cut out in the shape of the collar and worn 
 under it, and always well rubbed and dried after 
 using, would remedy the first objection ; and a bit of 
 stout leather sewn on each side where the trace-tug 
 ■works would remedy the second. 
 
 There is an improvement in tug loop for shafts 
 which I have also been surprized at not seeing more 
 used. The shaft can be dropped into the tug at once, 
 as if into an open hook, instead of the having first to 
 back the carriage and then pull it forward again; 
 easy enough with a steady horse, but often a trouble- 
 some matter if the horse is not steady, and if one 
 happens to have only a boy for the w^ork. 
 
 To properly clean and keep leather soft and in nice 
 order the great secret is to use as little water as 
 possible ; and always wipe ofi" sweat at once with a 
 greasy cloth before it has time to dry in. Avoid as 
 
SADDLERY AND HAENESS. 75 
 
 mucli as possible using water at all to leatlier_, use 
 skim milk for cleaning ; and wlien you must use water, 
 never let it dry by itself on the leather,, but always 
 wipe it off well with, a greasy cloth, finishing off with 
 a clean cloth. The following is a good receipt for 
 '''dubbing/^ or dressing for leather, to keep it pliable 
 and polished; it should be used once a month, or 
 oftener according to weather and work : — 
 
 Neat^s-foot oil,* half-a-pint ; mutton-fat, one ounce ; 
 finely chopped soap, one ounce ; finely chopped bees- 
 wax, one ounce; finely powdered resin, one ounce. 
 Melt the fat and wax and mix thoroughly together, 
 then mix in with them thoroughly the soap and resin, 
 then stir in the oil; keep stirring altogether in a 
 pipkin over a slow fire till thoroughly mixe d. This 
 quantity will do for four or five saddles and bridles. 
 
 When cooled, rub well into the leather on both sides 
 with the hand, and then leave in the sun, or at some 
 distance from before a fire, for an hour or two. Then 
 rub with a bit of soft rag or flannel until every particle 
 of stickiness is removed. This treatment will preserve 
 your leather appointments wonderfully, and keep them 
 
 * Neat's-foot oil is very easily and cheaply made. Boil the 
 feet of cattle in a large saucepan of water till the oil is dis- 
 engaged and floats on the water ; then skim the oil off" and 
 ponr it into a covered vessel into which some shreds of lead 
 have been put, and let it stand tfll aU impurities have settled to 
 the bottom, and the oil is quite clear. Then pour off quietly 
 and keep for use. 
 
76 OUE HORSES. 
 
 pliable and soft. If you are mucli troubled witli rats 
 or mice^ it is well worth your while to substitute castor 
 oil for any other description of dressing ; it is dis- 
 agreeable stuff to handle^ but it agrees exceedingly 
 well with leather^ and vermin will not touch it ; every 
 other sort of oil or grease seems an irresistible attrac- 
 tion to them. The addition of a little corrosive sub- 
 limate powder to the " dubbing/' will of course make 
 it fatal to vermin_, but then this is highly objectionable 
 to use in case of cut or sore fingers. 
 
 For clothing, I would only say be liberal with it, it is 
 a great aid for keeping your horse in condition. The 
 saddlers turn out exceedingly nice and neat patterns, 
 but the clothes often seem to me somewhat scant in 
 their dimensions, not covering the whole body of the 
 horse. And I like to have the hinder ends of the rug 
 closed for about half the way up, or more, by a piece 
 from about eighteen to about twenty - four inches 
 square, according to the size of the horse, of the same 
 stuff ; this keeps the rug from blowing up, and pre- 
 vents the wind from getting between the hind legs 
 along the belly ; it is a much better addition than the 
 usual silly and useless bit of loose binding dangling 
 about a horse's hocks. 
 
BUYING^ SELLING, ETC. 77 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Buying and Selling,, &c. 
 
 Theee is apparently a sort of general consent that 
 liorse sellers are more or less dislionest as a matter of 
 course ; and that all is considered fair in horse-dealing, 
 as in war. There is a story — I cannot vouch for the 
 truth of it, but it is characteristic and not improbable 
 — that the excellent old Bishop Daniel Wilson, of 
 Calcutta in a sermon on the eighth commandment 
 enumerating the many not uncommon practices which 
 really and morally were to all intents and purposes 
 stealing, especially noticed horse-dealing, and greatly 
 tickled the congregation by saying that " even my 
 dear old Christian friend the Venerable Archdeacon 
 did not scruple to stick his old Bishop with a most 
 worthless horse V I do not think myself there is 
 more dishonesty in horse-dealing than in any other 
 trade ; and I should say, generally speaking, that it 
 was as easy to find a dealer who would not "^alfully sell 
 you an unsound or a bad horse, as one who will not 
 sell you adulterated wine, or many other articles. I 
 am thankful and happy to be able to say I have been 
 
78 
 
 OUR HORSES. 
 
 fortunate in tliis respect myself; botli in not being- 
 clieatedj and in being able to sell when I wanted 
 without being tempted in any way to cheat others. I 
 have, of course, sometimes lost money on my horses, 
 but on the whole have rather gained than lost. It is 
 odd how very much peoples^ fancies vary in horse- 
 flesh as in other things ; and the animal you do not 
 like and want to sell is often just what some one else 
 wants to buy ; and in this, as in other things, honesty 
 is the best policy after all, even in a business point of 
 view. Always give to others, and insist upon for 
 yourself, a full and fair inspection, and there ought to 
 be no reason for subsequent complaint from either 
 side; although disappointment will of course occa- 
 sionally come under any circumstances. I would not 
 allow a horse of my own to be bucketted about, by 
 way of trying him, for half the day : nor would I 
 dream of asking such favour for myself. But I would 
 always give, and I would always insist on being given, 
 at least a clear half-hour to look over, or try in saddle 
 or harness, or to do what I pleased with in short, putting 
 of course all unfair tricks out of the question, without 
 interference from the owner. If interfered with, or 
 proper inspection refused, I would decline dealing at 
 once. As regards selling, I may say for myself that 
 I have over and over again said, ^' I do not like the 
 horse myself, but he was chosen for me by so-and-so, 
 you can read his letter which will tell you what I gave 
 
BUYING, SELLING, ETC. 79 
 
 for him, and what other people think of him; pull 
 him to pieces as much as you like for half-an-hour, 
 and show him to whom jou like in that time ; leave 
 him alone if jou do not like him ; send the mouey for 
 him if you do/^ I have had a great many horses pass 
 through my hands, but, as I said, have rather gained 
 than lost on the whole. Horses that I exceedingly 
 disliked myself have often suited other people very 
 well. 
 
 A few minutes even if well used by yourself, and if 
 you are not interfered with, will generally enable you to 
 judge fairly of a horse^s temper, mouth, and paces; if 
 he is quiet and pleasant to ride or drive ; if he will go 
 up or down a hill kindly ; if he shies, or has anything 
 wrong about his eyes; if he stumbles, or is at all 
 tender over stones; if he makes any noise when 
 pressed into a tolerably fast pace; or if he coughs, 
 and if his sides heave regularly or with a sort of spas- 
 modic breathing when you pull up. Always manage 
 if possible to get a look at the horse tolerably early in 
 the day, that is, before he has been out at exercise to 
 fine his legs if they are puffed, or to warm them if 
 they are stiff, or to quiet his temper if he has a faulty 
 one. First get a quiet look at him in his stable ; see 
 that he stands firm and fair on all his four legs, without 
 ^'"pointing," or uneasy shifting ; that his legs are flat 
 not round, and clean enough for you to see the three 
 divisions clearly marked, inside and outside, shin or 
 
80 OUE HORSES. 
 
 shankbone in front, suspensoiy ligament or needle 
 tendon^ back sinew or flexor tendon_, and all straight 
 without bulge or enlargement from knees and liocks to 
 fetlocks and feet ; that there are no marks of cutting or 
 brushing on his fetlocks^ or of speedy-cut inside below 
 his knees, or blemish of any kind on his knees ; and 
 that his sides heave regularly in his breathing ; then see 
 that he walks freely and truly when led out, before he 
 is trotted; and then if you like the horse and feel 
 tolerably satisfied so far, ask for a quiet trial and pri- 
 vate inspection, in which of course you may be 
 assisted by any friend you please. Never be per- 
 suaded to buy a horse you do not in some degree 
 fancy yourself ; a horse, like a wife, may be ex- 
 ceedingly good, but you will not get on properly 
 together unless there is personal prepossession to 
 start with. And horse dealers, like other dealers, are, 
 of course, not so anxious to part with their best stock 
 as with the sort more likely to hang longer on their 
 hands ; and of two, or three, or four horses which the 
 dealer may point out to you as about your price and 
 requirements, the one you yourself most fancy, find 
 which very probably is the one likeliest to suit you 
 best, is often somehow most unluckily said to be in 
 physic that day, or wants shoeing, perhaps; tlie others 
 JO a are begged to have out, or to have any trial if you 
 wish. Do not be driven from your fancy in this way ; 
 say you will rather wait a day till the horse is ready ; 
 
BUYING, SELLING, ETC. 81 
 
 or say that a little gentle exercise can surely do the 
 physic, or his feet, no harm ; but stick to having out 
 the horse you want. I remember so well my father 
 being manoeuvred in this way. Going round a well- 
 known dealer^s stables at Coventry, my father, having 
 mentioned the sort of animal he wanted, was directed 
 to three or four horses standing next each other, any 
 one of which, he was told, was likely exactly to answer 
 the conditions required. An honest-looking dark 
 grey was the one at once fancied by my father, but, 
 unfortunately, he was in physic, or of course he should 
 be had out directly; but the next one — a strawberry 
 roan with a good deal of white about him, a colour 
 not, I fancy, likely to be a favourite with customers — 
 " This one is, if I may advise you, sir, a better horse ; I 
 am sure you will like him, if you will see him out, and 
 try him.^^ And so my father did try him ; and liked 
 him so much, after driving a few miles on the way 
 home, that he sent back a message to say he would 
 keep him ; drove him home, and sent the money for 
 him. The next day or two happened to be wet, and 
 the new purchase was not out of the stable, but the 
 first fine day for a drive he was put into the carriage, 
 when, behold ! Mr. Strawberry, would not budge an 
 inch for some time, and at last bolted off with a rush ! 
 I had noticed this horse beins^ exercised in a lio-ht cart 
 in the morning before we went to the dealer^s, and he 
 had doubtless worked off his temper for that day, so 
 • 6 
 
82 OUR HORSES. 
 
 as to behave perfectly well as he did upon trial. The 
 dealer was quite right in getting the undesirably 
 coloured one off his hands before the other ones, 
 if he could ; but my father should have stuck to 
 his own fancy, and he should have got to the stables 
 earlier in the day, before the horses could have been 
 exercised at anything like work : he would not then 
 have been taken in, as he certainly was. 
 
 Horses go so differently in different hands, and 
 sometimes so differently from what we expect, and 
 there are so many books which give minutely detailed 
 descriptions of the points of a horse and hints for 
 choosing one, I do not attempt to play the part of 
 '' caveat emjptor.'^ I will, however, put down a few 
 hints, which may be useful, from my own tolerably 
 large experience. Look well at a horse^s countenance. 
 A little crossness does not matter if combined with 
 cleverness, and really good-tempered horses often 
 appear vicious to an inexperienced visitor from the 
 high condition they are kept in, and from the bullying 
 treatment of the grooms ; but a vicious evil counte- 
 nance have nothing to do with. I would not buy a 
 horse that was very narrow between the ears, or 
 between the eyes ; the first is generally the accompa- 
 niment of want of courage; the second of want of 
 sense. Nor would I ever buy a horse that was tied-in 
 below the knee, or that had very flat, large hoofs, or 
 that had not a good girthing place; or that had not 
 
BUYING^ SELLING^ ETC. 83 
 
 tolerably deep back-ribs, tliat is, the back-ribs well let 
 down, not running up like a greyhound, or like a horse 
 too severely trained for a race. Lengthy and muscular 
 shoulders ; and for riding, shoulders laid well sloping 
 back ; straight back ; round body ; broad arched loins ; 
 large flat clean knees and hocks ; are all important 
 " points" among the many other noteworthy points of 
 a horse for one^s choice ; but I have known straight- 
 shouldered horses that were capital gallopers and 
 jumpers ; I have known excellent horses with hollow 
 backs/ and others with sides as flat as boards; and 
 I have known many comparatively light-limbed ones 
 work long and well and carry weight; but I have 
 never known a horse that was tied-in below the knee 
 last long at anything like hard work, nor a very flat- 
 footed one; and all the horses I have had or known 
 remarkable for endurance have had deep back-ribs. A 
 horse may be a light carcased one, but if he has not a 
 good girthing place, he is sure to be constantly getting 
 girth-galled. "What are called calf-knees, that is, the 
 forepart of the leg making almost an inward angle at 
 the knee, I do not object to, except for jumping ; and 
 I believe horses with calf-knees are hardly ever good 
 at jumping ; for jumping, too, especially for jumping 
 width, anything faulty about the hocks I have inva- 
 riably found to be fatal. As regards ''"soundness," 
 a warrantry of which is made so much of, I must 
 confess I cannot see how, in the present state of the 
 
 6 * 
 
84 OUE HORSES. 
 
 law on tlie subject,, any definition can be laid down to 
 be of much, practical use, or to be mucli practical pro- 
 tection to a purcbaser. No veterinary surgeon would, 
 I imagine, pass a borse as sound if he discovered a 
 spavin, but it is quite certain a horse may have a 
 largish spavin which may not be any detriment for 
 most kinds of work. A spavin may render a horse 
 almost useless for any pace beyond a walk, and so may 
 a splent ; a spavin is generally a more serious matter 
 than a splent, but an almost absurdly exaggerated 
 comparative importance is attached to it ; its iiiiport- 
 ance entirely depends on its position. A very small 
 splent touching on the tendon is a serious matter, but 
 a large splent well towards the front of the shank- 
 bone, and clear of the tendon, is generally of no 
 consequence whatever beyond the look of it ; and it is 
 just the same with a spavin. If it is quite clear of the 
 joint and of the furrow of the hock, in the large 
 majority of cases it is of little or no consequence ; and 
 if a horse is no way lame when taken out cold without 
 any previous preparation, it is pretty certain the 
 spavin, if there be one, does not hurt him. What is 
 called "bog^^ or ^''blood-spavin,^^ that is, an enlargement 
 of the vein inside the hock, like a windgall, I have a 
 grea.t objection to myself, and believe to be incurable, 
 but for ordinary work, I do not believe it is of much 
 consequence ; it general^ causes stiffness at first till 
 the horse warms to his work, but, generally speaking. 
 
BUYING, SELLING, ETC. 85 
 
 does not seem to aflfect his powers otherwise for ordi- 
 nary use. Then, again, are crib-biting and wind- 
 sucking '^ unsoundness^' ? I hold they are ; they 
 undoubtedly affect the condition and the wind of the 
 horse ; but the law on this point is not settled. Then, 
 again, in a case where a man had bought a horse 
 which turned out to be blind, he was denied any 
 remedy, as the judge declared that the law always 
 required an ordinary amount of precaution to be exer- 
 cised, and would not protect so absolute a disregard of 
 precaution as was involved in buying a blind horse. 
 But I have known many blind horses which, unless 
 you carefully examined them especially as for blind- 
 ness, nine men out of ten would not notice anything 
 particular about their eyes ; and you do not ordinarily 
 expect to have a blind horse shown to you ; and if 
 you cannot dispense with precaution, it would seem 
 you may just as well dispense with the warranty. A 
 warranty for soundness or for being quiet to ride and 
 drive is, of course, a certain protection, and may be 
 well to require ; but for myself I should not attach, 
 much importance to it one way or the other, if only 
 allowed to have what I consider a fair and reasonable 
 inspection of the horse, as I have previously described. 
 Never be tempted to buy a horse on an advertise- 
 ment, unless of course advertised by some well-known 
 respectable dealer, or that you are acquainted with the 
 circumstances, but most especially not if it is added 
 
86 OUE HOESES. 
 
 " no dealer need apply/^ In these cases you will 
 generally find no difficulty in getting a warranty given 
 you_, but you will also be pretty sure to find that 
 the warranty is of no use when you come to discover 
 the defects in your purchase. As soon as the horse is 
 paid for, the '^ gentleman^' you bought him from will 
 no longer be found or heard of at his then address. I 
 may say, I should never dream of giving a warranty 
 myself, except for quietness. 
 
 I may perhaps put in here, what I do not think is 
 generally known, that the best preventive of wind- 
 sucking is a piece of soft cord, or thick narrow tape, 
 passed under the horse^s upper lip and over his ears, 
 just tight enough, and no more, to prevent the lips 
 pressing together ; this does not interfere with feeding 
 or breathing, but it prevents the required pressure of 
 the upper lip against the lower one, and will generally 
 be found effectual. For crib-biting I beheve there is 
 no preventive but what is called a crib -biter's muzzle, 
 which most saddlers have ; it has bars wide enough 
 to let a horse feed, but effectually preventing him from 
 being able to grip a manger or bar. 
 
SHOEING. 87 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Shoeing. 
 
 On tlie principle I liave been trying to adopt of leaving 
 alone what has been fully and well told elsewhere, I 
 leave the books of Mr. Miles, Colonel Fitzwygram, 
 Mr. Fleming, and others, to describe and advocate their 
 respective favourite systems of shoeing. I take leave 
 to think a deal of unnecessary fuss and so-called 
 science is wasted on the subject. The shoe should not 
 be too heavy, as it often is; it should fit perfectly 
 even on the crust of the hoof all round ; the heels, 
 especially of the fore shoes, should be just long enough 
 and wide enough for the foot to stand firm and level 
 on the ground, and at the same time not long enough 
 for there to be any risk of the hind hoof ; the shoe 
 should not press on the sole at any point, nor against 
 the heels of the frog : these are the essential points '| 
 to insist upon. A shoe that fulfils these conditions 
 will answer its purpose, whatever may be the particular 
 fashion or fancy. The " Goodenough^' shoe seems much 
 the rage just now, and I am told it answers well ; but it 
 seems to me so heavy and clumsy an article, I should 
 
88 OUR HORSES.. 
 
 not care it to try on anything but a dray horse. The 
 ''^ Charlier^' shoe is a mistake. The " Fitzwygram" shoe 
 is a good one enough, and for a horse apt to toe or 
 stumble is undoubtedly an improvement ; but it requires 
 a good smith to make it and the nails for it properly, 
 and if not properly made it is worse than other shoes. 
 The make of the toe may often save a stumble, but I 
 cannot endorse the ColoneFs reasoning in its favour. 
 He says he turns up the toe because we always find it 
 worn away naturally into this shape by work ; by 
 parity of reasoning we ought to buy our new boots 
 with the heels cut down on one side, as they generally 
 get worn so when comfortably old. He attaches, I 
 think, undue importance to his counter-sunk nails. 
 He says, truly enough, that in the common nail, as 
 soon as the head is worn down, ifc is a simple stub, 
 having nothing to hold on the shoe by ; whereas on 
 his principle the nail lasts as long as the shoe. But 
 the head of the common nail cannot wear down faster 
 than the furrow of the common shoe is worn down 
 level to it, and supposing the conditions of make and 
 material being equal, I should say the furrowed shoe 
 lasted for most purposes as long as the Fitzwygram 
 shoe. The chief and great merit, however, of Colonel 
 Fitzwy gramas system is in his method of preparing 
 the foot for the shoe, and it is here, after all, that the 
 chief care is required ; it is not so much the shoe as 
 the way in which it is put on which is of consequence. 
 
SHOEING. 89 
 
 The elaborate paring outv, tlie opening of tlie lieels, 
 the hollowing out the bars, the slicing and shaping 
 of the frog, should all be done away with. What is 
 called opening out of the heels is the most certain way 
 of inducing them to wire in, and to bring on con- 
 traction. The crust of the hoof should be lowered all 
 round, from one-tenth to one-fifth of an inch, or even 
 more, according to its growth, carrying the drawing- 
 knife right round from one bed to the other; then file 
 the crust level for the shoe with the rasp ; pare out 
 the foot just a little at the corners, so as to ensure the 
 shoe resting on the corners of the crust, not on the 
 sole, but for the rest leave the sole of the foot and the 
 frog untouched to scale oflP, as they will in due course 
 by themselves, only removing any ragged parts. Some 
 books, even Youatt, tell you to pare the sole until it 
 yields to the pressure of your thumb. I hold this to 
 be a mistake. I do not pare the sole at all, except just 
 to remove any part scaling off. It is much simpler and 
 safer to let it scale off itself; and the same holds 
 good of the frog. On no account allow the so-called 
 '^ opening" of the heels, nor let the knife touch the 
 space between the bars and the frog. Except to shorten 
 the toe, or to smooth jagged edges, the outside of 
 the hoof should not be touched with the rasp at all ; 
 the usual rasping all over the hoof necessarily thins, 
 and so weakens it. For most kinds of work, and for 
 not very large horses, five nails for the fore shoes — three 
 
90 OUR HORSES. 
 
 on tlie outer aud two on the inner side^ and six for tlie 
 hind shoes,, are enough. The nails should be well 
 clenched, and the clenches not subsequently filed clean 
 away, as is often done ; and in removing the shoe, the 
 clenches should be properly raised before the nails are 
 extracted, not torn through, breaking away the hoof, 
 as is often the case when the shoe is wrenched off at 
 once. I dislike clips to shoes unless for heavy draft, 
 and believe them to be quite unnecessary ; but at any 
 rate I would have them only at the toes, not at the 
 sides. For jumping, calkins on the hind shoes are 
 decidedly a comfort, they give a horse a better foothold 
 on the grass to collect himself for his jump ; but they 
 should be very carefully made so as not to alter the 
 level of the foot^s standing-, and not to prop up the 
 heels ever so much higher than the toes; as one 
 sees unfortunate cart horses so generally but so 
 cruelly and so mistakenly^ subjected to. One calkin 
 on each hind foot, the right or left heel of each 
 shoe according to the horse^s action and wear, the 
 other heel being thickened so as to be level with the 
 calkiu, will generally be the best construction. But I 
 would not advocate calkins for ordinary road work. 
 Let the frog with its wedge shape fairly feel the 
 ground; that is the best help to the horse. If 
 your horse brushes or cuts, make the outside edges 
 of his feet slightly lower than the inside ; if he 
 *' clicks,''^ shorten the toe of the hind foot as much as 
 
SHOEING. 91 
 
 it will stand, and discontinue tlie toe clip, if you have 
 it_, on the hind shoe. 
 
 It is rather hard work, but it is not difficult to learn 
 to shoe a horse, and to many it may at some time or 
 other be a very useful thing to know. In my old 
 hog-hunting days in India I have often shod my own 
 horse, and sometimes (though this I grumbled at) a 
 friend^s horse into the bargain. It gave me a sweat ; 
 but we should simply have had to knock off sport if I 
 had not been able to do it. I learnt in the farrier's 
 forge of my regiment. Pinchers, rasp, a couple of 
 hammers, a drawing-knife, ready-made shoes and nails, 
 I carried in a handy leather roll ; the top of the iron 
 pestle which one's native cook always has for pounding 
 curry-powder, stuck into a cleft of rock or into hard 
 ground, did for my anvil. 
 
92 OUR HORSES. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Treatment of Diseases. 
 
 On the subject of diseases and their treatment I 
 cannot of course attempt to supersede the strictly 
 professional books ; and for the general reader I con- 
 sider the last edition of Youatt on ^^The Horse ^^ to be 
 on the whole the most useful book of reference. For 
 the best construction of stables, for the best method 
 of feeding, I would recommend Colonel Fitzwygram^s 
 really beautiful book, which goes into all details most 
 fully. Then, too, there is Mr. Sidney^s, the beautiful and 
 almost exhaustive book on the horse, lately published 
 by Messrs. Cassell and Co. I must, however, jot down 
 a few hints from my own experience. It ought to be, 
 one would think, the easiest thing in the world to tell 
 where a horse is lame ; and it is easy enough generally 
 speaking ; but it is sometimes really most puzzling. 
 Over and over again I -have seen horses treated for 
 being lame in the shoulder when they were lame in the 
 foot ; and I once actually saw a beautiful thorough- 
 bred horse blistered on one of his fore legs for lame- 
 ness which was undoubtedly caused by a spavin. If 
 
TEEATMENT OP DISEASES. 93 
 
 a horse is lame in the shoulder, it hurts him chiefly to 
 raise his leg ; and so too, generally, with spavin or 
 anything wrong in the hock ; if the lameness is in the 
 leg or foot, it hurts him chiefly to press his leg on the 
 ground. If the horse is lame behind there will be 
 comparatively little bobbing of the head, which is 
 raised at each step to relieve the lame fore leg from 
 weight. Then if the horse is lame in the shoulder, or 
 in the hip, or in the hock in most cases, he will drag 
 his toe along the gTOund ; if he does not do this, what- 
 ever the groom may say, he is not lame in the shoulder. 
 The action of the horse's Jieadj therefore, will tell you 
 if he is lame before or behind ; the action of his foe, if 
 he is lame in the foot or leg, or if higher up. If (what 
 is, however, very rare) no amount of inspection can 
 detect any abnormal local heat or tenderness ; no 
 shrinkiug- of the leg when strongly felt or pressed, nor 
 of the foot when hammered upon ; throw some cold 
 water simultaneously over both fore or both hind feet ; 
 the one which dries soonest will of course be the one 
 in which there is most heat. If the heat is in the foot, 
 wrapping it in a cold wet swab will generally be the 
 treatment ; if it is from a prick in shoeing, which you 
 can discover by tapping each nail-head with a hammer 
 and the shrinking when the tender place is touched, 
 the shoe and nails must of course be carefully removed, 
 and a strong solution of bluestone (sulphate of copper) 
 should be injected into the nail hole, as well as the 
 
94 OUR HORSES. 
 
 foot being swabbed up in a wet wrapping or poultice. 
 If the heat is in the leg, warm fomentations or 
 cold bandages will generally be the treatment. I 
 have heard many disputes as to which are preferable ; 
 and I should say^ as a tolerably safe general rule^ that 
 for anything the matter with the foot always use cold 
 water ; and for the leg, wherever and so long as there 
 is evidently acute pain use warm fomentations ; when 
 or as soon as there is not actual pain on pressure, use 
 cold applications. In fomenting, care should be taken 
 that the water is not too hot ; hands accustomed to hot 
 water will not mind heat which may positively pain 
 a horse. Have two cloths, one in the water while the 
 other is in both your hands fomenting; as soon as 
 you have fomented each leg requiring it, say for ten 
 minutes about at least, before commencing the next, 
 put on nicely and smoothly and gently a flannel 
 bandage which has been soaked in the warm water 
 and wi'ung out; and over this wind more loosely a dry 
 cotton bandage, or better still one of oiled silk. This 
 acts almost as a poultice, and is as soothing. A little 
 tincture of arnica sprinkled on the inside of the band- 
 age is often a good addition. For cold bandages, the 
 great point is to keep them really cold by evaporation, 
 keeping them constantly wetted with water cooled 
 with saltpetre, or ice if available. Cotton is the best 
 material for cold bandages, not linen ; flannel is the 
 best when fomentation is the treatment, or when dry 
 
TREATMENT OF DISEASES. 95 
 
 bandages are used merely to fine tlie legs. Take care 
 tliat there are no knots or hems in your bandages ; 
 that they are wound smoothly and evenly, each turn 
 overlapping the other about a third of its width ; and 
 above all that they are not tied too tight ; always com- 
 mence bandaging from below and work upwards ; 
 strips of cotton sown at the end of the bandage are 
 softer to tie off with than tape. Bandages should be 
 from about at least four yards long by about three and 
 a-half inches wide ; for the outer covering bandage, 
 about two, yards long by four inches wide will be 
 long enough ; they should be kept tightly and evenly 
 rolled up when properly cleaned and dried after using, 
 the tie-up ends of course inside. Bran is the usual 
 material for poultices, but it acts better when mixed 
 with oatmeal or linseed meal ; it should be thoroughly 
 softened with boiling water, or it will get very soon 
 hard and dry ; but it should be merely warm when 
 applied. Poultices are often applied too hot for a 
 horse, whose skin will not bear heat so well as a man^s; 
 for cleansing unhealthy sores, a little finely powdered 
 charcoal may be sprinkled on the surface of the 
 poultice. 
 
 I consider the following ailments should not be met 
 with in a really well-managed stable, supposing your 
 horse was a sound and healthy one to begin with — viz. : 
 cough, gripes or colic, sore back, girth gall, cracked 
 or greasy heels, thrush, sandcrack, corns^ mange ; but 
 
96 OUR HOESES. 
 
 as they are tlie most common, I will lightly touch upon 
 each of them. 
 
 Cough or cold is to be treated much on the same 
 principle as we should treat ourselves ; warmer clothing, 
 especially about the head, for which you should have 
 an extra hood on purpose ; cooling diet, carrots, bran 
 mashes, &c., and less corn ; if the cough is bad, blister 
 the throat ; if very bad, blister the upper part of the 
 chest also ; if there is running from the nostrils, steam 
 them three or four times a day by hanging on a nose- 
 bag half filled with boiled chopped hay and bran. A 
 little addition of nitrous sether will make the vapour 
 still more efficacious. I do not believe much myself in 
 physic for a coug-h ; but if it is needed I believe about 
 the best ball to give is — opium, one drachm ;* camphor, 
 one drachm ; tartar emetic, half a drachm. Mix 
 with treacle or honey, and give morning and evening ; 
 keep the bowels from getting too costive by giving a 
 little green food. 
 
 For the slight but husky and half chronic cough, 
 which is often most difficult to get rid of, I believe the 
 best treatment is to rob well daily on the throat some 
 liquid blister immediately before taking out for a good 
 trot or canter. I have known several cases of long 
 standing coughs of a peculiar kind cured in this way. 
 A good liquid blister is made by steeping two ounces 
 
 * Camphor is difficult to pound without the addition of a few 
 drops of spirits of wine dropped on it, when it pounds easily. 
 
TREATMENT OF DISEASES. 97 
 
 of pounded cantharides in a pint of oil of turpentine 
 for a week, then add a quarter of a pint of common 
 sweet oil. For an ordinary blister, take by weight 
 cantharides one part to lard eiglit parts. 
 
 For colic or gripes, give three full wine-glasses of 
 brandy in a pint of water sweetened with sugar ; or 
 from two to three ounces of oil of turpentine beat up 
 (to prevent blistering the throat) with two or three raw 
 eggs, and sweetened with sugar or honey ; or about 
 a pint of warm melted butter; or, better than anything 
 else, from one and a-half to three ounces, according to 
 the size of the animal, of laudanum and nitrous ether 
 mixed, equal proportions, in about double the same 
 quantity of water well sweetened with sugar : rub the 
 horse^s belly well, and give him a little trot in hand. 
 I always kept a bottle of laudanum and nitrous ether 
 ready mixed by me, and have used it wdth the best 
 results over and over again. It is equally safe and 
 good to prescribe should you be in doubt whether you 
 have simple colic to deal with or inflammation. The 
 water softened and sw- eetened with sugar is necessary 
 to prevent the nitrous ether irritating the tongue and 
 throat. It is not very difficult to distinguish a case of 
 inflammation from one of simple colic by the intense 
 redness of the inside of the eyelid when you turn it 
 down, and of the nostril ; the clammy coldness of the 
 legs, the distressed breathing, the evidently far severer 
 pain, the increase of pain on being rubbed, which re- 
 
 7 
 
98 OUE HOESES. 
 
 lieves colic. Inflammation of tlie Imigs, whicli is the 
 most dangerous, is generally distinguishable by the 
 horse keeping persistently standing up, and generally 
 with his fore legs stuck apart, and by his oppressed 
 breathing. In inflammation of the bowels, the horse is 
 constantly down and rolling as in colic, only much 
 more violently. In inflammation of the kidneys, the 
 horse generally stands with his hind legs rather apart, 
 keeps looking at his flanks, shrinks if pressed on the 
 loins, and rolls more slowly and less violently when 
 he goes down. In all cases of inflammation I would 
 bleed at once from three to eight quarts, according 
 to circumstances of size, strength, &c. ; and give the 
 above-mentioned laudanum and ether drench every 
 two or three hours. If the symptoms point to inflam- 
 mation of the lungs, the chest and brisket should 
 be actively blistered. If it is inflammation of the 
 bowels, put a horse-rug folded three or four times 
 thick into a square pad on the horse^s belly 
 when he is down, and on this pour * some hot water, 
 not boiling of course, but as hot as bearable without 
 actually scalding : for inflammation of the kidneys do 
 this over the loins. And whenever there is costiveness, 
 as is generally the case, it is always well to clyster 
 plentifully with warmed water and common sweet or 
 linseed oil until the bowels are relieved. The legs 
 should be well handrubbed to restore their natural 
 warmth and circulation. 
 
TREATMENT OP DISEASES. 99 
 
 Sore back and girtli-gallsj if tciken at once, can 
 generally be speedily cured by a pad well soaked and 
 wetted witli cold salt and water, or alum and water. 
 But if tlie back, instead of cooling down, gets better, 
 and tbe swelling lyits when pressed witb tbe finger_, it 
 will probably required to be poulticed, and opened in 
 due course as an abscess. And if tbe girtb-gall runs 
 into a sore, it may require to be cleansed with, a poul- 
 tice ; to be toucbed ligbtly witb caustic, and tlien 
 healed witb some bealing ointment : an ounce of white 
 oxide of zinc to five ounces of lard is as good as most. 
 For cracked or greasy beels eschew water or wet as 
 mucb as possible ; if at all bad, poultice the beels for 
 a day or two to begin with ; then toucb with a bit of 
 lunar caustic, and rub in the zinc ointment. If a 
 horse is subject to cracked heels, as he may be in cold 
 or winter weather, it is well always to keep his heels 
 soft with the ointment as part of his grooming, taking 
 care to wipe it away clean before going out to exercise 
 so as not to pick up dust ; and take care, too, that his 
 heels are always rubbed thoroughly dry after wash- 
 ing them, if washing is necessaiy, and before the 
 ointment is rubbed in. Colour the ointment with a 
 little finely powdered charcoal for black legs. 
 
 For thrush — an ofi'ensiye discharge from the frog — it 
 is also generally best to poultice to begin with, theu 
 dress with a pledget of tow well soaked in tar in which 
 mix a Httle finely powdered bluestone. Push the 
 
 7 * 
 
100 OUR HORSES. 
 
 pledget into tlie cleft of the frog with a wedge ; a fresh 
 dressing daily. It need not interfere with work. 
 
 For sand-cracky if it is not a bad one and the horse 
 is not lame wath it_, carefully wash all dirt out of it^ 
 pare down the edges carefully _, softening the hoof for 
 this purpose if it is very hard by letting it stand for a 
 quarter of an hour in water_, dress the place with the 
 hoof ointment mentioned below, and fortify the hoof 
 by winding round it and tying off tightly, the knot 
 outside of course so as not to catch in action, a piece 
 of strong: tape dipped in warm cobblers^ wax or glue ; 
 and favour the hoof from jar at the part below the 
 crack by scooping out the crust a little to admit a 
 piece of india-rubber just there between it and the 
 shoe, which must be chambered for the purpose. If 
 the crack is a bad one, you must lay the horse up, wash 
 out carefully and fortify the hoof as above, having first 
 injected a strong solution of bluestone into the crack, 
 blister the coronet to promote the growth of healthy 
 horn, and wait till the hoof has grown down and the 
 crack wdth it ; open the binding and dressing after a 
 few days to see that there is no growth of fungus 
 through the crack -, should there be such, it must be 
 destroyed with bluestone or caustic, and the dressing 
 and binding renewed. If the crack is actually through 
 the coronet, it must be touched there with a hot iron. 
 But if you have good feet to start with and use the 
 hoof ointment as part of the grooming every other 
 
TEEATMENT OF DISEASES. 101 
 
 day, and keep tlie lioofs cool and moist, tliere will not 
 be mucli fear of sand-crack. For tliis take : — 
 
 Mutton fat, 4 lbs. ; wax, J lb. ; finely powdered 
 resin, J lb. : add tar only just enough to colour it. 
 Melt together the fat and wax and tkorouglily mix in. 
 the resin, in a pipkin over a slow fire. A very little of 
 this to be rubbed, not smeared to close the pores 
 and collect the dust, well into the hoofs from the 
 coronet downward. The soles of the feet (not the 
 heels) should always be washed out with cold water 
 daily ; and t\\e frog should be dressed lightly with tar. 
 Tar is bad for the lioofsj which are rendered dry and 
 brittle by it ; the more water the hoofs get the better.* 
 
 Corns are brought on of course by bad shoeing, the 
 shoe being allowed to press on the sole instead of rest- 
 ing entirely on the crust or outer wall of the hoof; 
 they are often very difficult to get rid of, as oars are. 
 It is best to poultice for a day or two to begin with, 
 then pare out nicely and completely with a fine 
 drawing knife, then dress with a liitle nitric acid, then 
 rub in the hoof ointment, then cover over with tow, 
 and then shoe with leather; the leather not merely 
 under the shoe, but covering the whole sole of the foot. 
 
 For mange, I believe the best application is 
 Macdougall^s dressing for sheep, if procurable ; if not, 
 pound sulphur into a paste with oil of turpentine and 
 
 * I do not believe in the benefit of '' stopping," generally 
 speaking ; it so very soon gets hard and dry, and it is then of 
 course worse than useless. 
 
102 OUE HOESES. 
 
 rub well in, having previously well opened tlie pores of 
 the skin by a good washing with warm soap and water. 
 Wash off after a couple of days with warm soap and 
 water^ and renew the dressing if necessary ; this you 
 can ascertain partly by the smooth cleanly appearance 
 of the skin^ or the contrary; and by rubbing with 
 your nailsj which if the horse curls up his lips at and 
 evidently enjoys is a sign he is still itchy. An ounce 
 of carbolic acid_, liquid^ mixed with a quart of water^ is 
 also a good wash for an itching skin ; and if the sul- 
 phur and turpentine dressing does not seem to answer, 
 substitute carbolic acid, crystals, one ounce, with two 
 ounces of sulphur, pounded into an ointment with six 
 ounces of lard. Butter-milk is an excellent wash for 
 an itchy skin, if it does not seem bad enough to re- 
 quire, or should there be a difficulty about applying 
 the dressing. 
 
 For a little ordinary sore or wound, a touch with 
 lunar caustic is generally the best thing ; or dabbing 
 with a solution of bluestone; or powdering with a 
 little white oxide of zinc. If the place is itchy but 
 not raw, a little mercurial ointment is frequently most 
 useful. For a tender raw wound, such as a broken 
 knee for instance, the best application in the first in- 
 stance is the simple solution of gum arabic ; it is at 
 once healing, protecting, and painless ; a little very 
 finely powdered myrrh or aloes may be mixed with it 
 to keep flies from it. For a wound which should be 
 closed speedily, as a very badly broken knee, or the 
 
TEEATMENT OF DISEASES. 103 
 
 edges of a vein whicb. lias been badly pinned up alter 
 bleeding, there is nothing like the touch of a hot iron, 
 the swelling from which brings the edges together ; 
 then dress with healing ointment. To aid the healing 
 of sores, cracked heels, &c., a dose of physic is gener- 
 ally the best prescription. Give from four to six and 
 a half drachms of Barbadoes — mind they are Barba- 
 does — ^according to the size of your horse, five drachms 
 will generally be sufficient, and two drachms of 
 pounded ginger ; make into a ball with honey, treacle, 
 or butter, and a little flour. Starve, by putting on a 
 muzzle, for twelve hours before the ball ; take out for 
 a little exercise if possible after giving it ; and let the 
 horse have plenty to drink ; so treated the physic will 
 work off safely and quickly. If the horse looks 
 yellow, showing the liver is out of order, about the 
 inside of the eyelid and nostril, or pale instead of the 
 usual healthy red, add one drachm of calomel to 
 the dose of physic. To cool lue skin, or the legs 
 if swollen, about a table-spoonful of powdered nitre 
 mixed with the feed of corn morning and evening, is 
 a good thing. And if the horse^s skin is unhealthily 
 dry and tight to the feel, the same quantity of pounded 
 nitre and black sulphuret of antimony or half a drachm 
 of tartar emetic mixed, given in the same way, will 
 often make a wonderful improvement. For worms, 
 give one drachm of calomel made into a small ball 
 with one drachm of pounded resin and one drachm of 
 
104 OUE HORSES. 
 
 ginger before putting on the muzzle to starve for tlie 
 physic^ then the physic ball ; and clyster a few times 
 with linseed oil, or three four hours afterwards^ before 
 the physic has commenced operating. 
 
 For a horse requiring a restorative between the 
 heats of a race or after a severe run^ give two wine- 
 glasses of sherry, or one wine-glass of brandy, in a 
 pint of water well sweetened with sugar, adding half 
 an ounce of the laudanum and nitrous ether ; or a pint 
 of good ale sweetened with sugar, with the same addi- 
 tion, if at hand. It is well to accustom a horse to take 
 a drench* of this kind; if well sweetened and kindly 
 given he will soon make no objection to it, but quite 
 the contrary ; and it is often a great advantage his 
 taking it. In the same way a mouthful of strengthening 
 bread may often be most useful where anything of a 
 feed would be impossible : for this, to one pound of 
 coarse flour add one drachm of opium, one ounce of 
 
 * The old-fashioned drench-horn was very awkward to use, 
 the big end being difficult to get into the horse's mouth. They 
 are much improved now by being made with wooden stoppers 
 at each end, the fluid passing through the small end into the 
 horse's throat. I always used, myself, a common pint bottle 
 with the neck covered -with stout leather ; out of several bottles 
 I chose for this purpose the one from which I found water flow 
 most freely ; there is a great diflTerence in this respect in the 
 necks of bottles. Tate care not to give at once more than the 
 horse can swallow at a gulp, removing the drench each time for 
 him to swallow, and not giving the second draught till he has 
 swallowed the first, which you can see by watching his gullet. 
 
TEEATMENT OF DISEASES. 105 
 
 powdered ginger, two ounces of sugar_, and a quarter 
 of an ounce of salt : bake into scons or cakes of 
 liandy size to cany, fresh and fresli as wanted, not 
 letting them get too hard or stale. 
 
 Some persons have a strange idea that a tired horse 
 should not be let drink until he has eaten something, 
 and the poor brute is thought very bad if he will not 
 eat ; but of course the natural thing is for him to take 
 a drink first. If much exhausted, let him have a 
 restorative draught first, or some gruel to begin with, 
 if it is ready ; then his water if he will drink it, and 
 then his corn. I would note here that a common 
 cause of gripes or colic is the watering of horses too 
 soon after their feed of corn, instead of before. The 
 water should not, of course, be cold enough to 
 chill, but horses generally have a great dislike to any- 
 thing like actually warm water. To make gruel, put 
 a pound of oatmeal to a gallon of water, and keep 
 constantly stirring it till it boils, and then till it is 
 nearly cool. Barley meal may be used as a substitute, 
 but it is not nearly as good as oatmeal. A pint mea- 
 sure of meal stirred well into a bucket of water, is a 
 good drink to offer a tired and thirsty horse should 
 gruel not be ready when he comes in. Another 
 strange idea commonly held and advocated is that a 
 tired horse must needs be made to walk about till 
 he is cool. If he wants to keep moving, let him ; but 
 if notj let the poor brute stand still ; loosen his girths 
 
106 OUR HOESES. 
 
 of course, and ease him of hamper as mucli as you 
 can, thow a rug loosely over liim_, and let him quietly 
 recover himseK a bit_, before you do anything else to 
 him.* Horsemen often strangely forget to dismount at 
 a check, or when halting to rest a horse for a few 
 minutes ; to relieve him of weight is of course the 
 greatest rest. 
 
 It is surely well, and by no means difficult to learn, 
 how to bleed a horse, as well as to shoe him. After 
 being once shown the way a very little practice is 
 sufficient; and use a lancet, not the fleam and 
 bloodstick, which should be abolished as utterly 
 rude instruments. A very broad-shouldered strong 
 abscess lancet, which you can get from the good 
 veterinary instrument-makers (more than half-an- 
 inch wide mine are), is the best to use; held 
 firmly between the thumb and forefinger at the 
 place beyond which the blade should not penetrate, 
 that is, about half-an-inch from the point. For the 
 thigh-vein, and the vein on the face under the eye, 
 from both of which it may sometimes be advisable to 
 bleed, smaller lancets should of course be used. I 
 would not bleed from any other veins ; I do not believe 
 
 * A really tired horse should not be teazed with too much 
 grooming, which is often the cause of his breaking out into a 
 second sweat. But let his legs be well hand-rubbed from arms 
 and thighs to knees and hocks, and from knees and hocks to 
 pasterns. This, like the Eastern shampooing, gives the greatest 
 relief to tired limbs and muscles. 
 
TREATMENT OF DISEASES. 107 
 
 there is any particular advantage in tlie so-called local 
 bleeding from other veins. Bleeding at the toe, 
 which was much in vogue at one time, I object to 
 altogether. Bleeding is, I consider, advisable in all 
 cases of acute inflammation, where some powerful 
 immediate effect is needed, like an emetic in human 
 medicine, to make disease amenable to treatment. But 
 it is far too indiscriminatingly applied. In simple 
 fever cases it is, I am certain, wrong to bleed j a gentle 
 stimulant, such as nitrous ether, in doses of from one 
 and a half to two and a half ouuces in twice the 
 quantity of water well sweetened with sugar, two or 
 three times a day, is the best treatment. To close the 
 vein after bleeding, bring the edges of the cut together, 
 without pulling out the skin, and run a small clean pin 
 through them in the middle ; over the pin wind and 
 tie in a figure of 8 a little tow, or some hairs from the 
 horse^s mane, which must be moistened with blood or 
 they will not tie. Take care that the horse cannot rub 
 the place; and remove the pin after not less than 
 twenty -four hours. 
 
 Rowelling — the insertion of a piece of leather or 
 pledget of tar smeared with blistering ointment under 
 the skin — is, I believe, seldom practised nowadays ; I 
 think it a stupid operation, merely a rough and painful 
 way of blistering under the skin instead of above it. 
 Setons — the running- a tape under the skin — may to a 
 certain degree be put in the same category as rowels. 
 
108 OUE HORSES. 
 
 but they are often very useful in tumour cases^ and to 
 empty an abscess, wlien tlie tape should be dressed 
 witli tincture of iodine. I know some veterinary 
 surgeons are very fond of using setons, but for most 
 cases I infinitel}' prefer a blister. Seton-needles are 
 generally made most unnecessarily large. A common 
 packing-needle is generally large enougli. 
 
 Firing is, happily, much less commonly inflicted than 
 it used to be, but it is still, I think, practised far too 
 often. The theory of firing is said to be a permanent 
 strengthening of the weakened limb by the contraction 
 of the skin when healed after the operation forming a 
 permanent bandage. But for splents, spavins, or any 
 bony enlargement, the rational treatment is to loosen 
 the skin, not to tighten it over the part ; wherever, 
 therefore, bone is concerned, firing is wrong. It may, 
 however, sometimes be advantageously used after a strain 
 of the sinews or any ligament, or for curb, and should 
 always be in straight perpendicular lines, no diamond 
 or horizontal fancy patterns ; it may, too, be used on 
 occasion in bad cases of inflammation of the bowels or 
 lungs, by way of an immediate and severe blister ; and 
 just a touch of the hot iron will sometimes dispose a 
 wound or sore to put on healthy action when other 
 means have failed. Blistering immediately after, and 
 on the top of the firing, is a simply brutal practice, 
 and should never be allowed. Be very careful, before 
 firing or blistering, to remove first all acute heat from 
 
TEEATMENT OF DISEASES. 109 
 
 the part by cold bandages or similar means ; blistering 
 a leg wlien it is in an inflamed state_, or at all hot, is a 
 most serious mistake. Be careful^ too, in taking all 
 precautions against blemishing by the horse rubbing 
 himself against post, or stallj &c. ; and do not be in a 
 hurry to wash off or remove the cicatrix, soften it with 
 an oiled feather, but let it scale off" entirely of itself. 
 
 Lampas — a swelling of the front bars of the roof of 
 the mouth to the level — or even above the level of the 
 upper teeth, sometimes keeps a horse from feeding 
 properly ; and, if so, should be relieved by cutting 
 with a sharp penknife towards the teeth, then sponged 
 or dabbed with some warm salt and water. I have 
 generally found this give relief at once, like lancing a 
 child^s gums ; but if a horse is constantly troubled 
 with it, so as often to interfere with his feeding, it is 
 well to lower the enlarged bars with a hot iron, as you 
 would apply caustic to an enlarged tonsil.- 
 
 Giving a horse a ball requires a good deal of prac- 
 tice, but any good groom ought to know how to do it ; 
 the poor horse^s tongue is, however, generally handled 
 and pulled with unnecessary roughness ; and the 
 balling-iron is generally made most unnecessarily 
 heavy and clumsy, which makes the horse fight more 
 than he otherwise would. I give the dimensions of 
 the balling-iron I have always made to my own order; 
 it is not a circle, but open at one end. In the clear 
 for the hand to pass through, three and a half inches 
 
110 OUE HOESES. 
 
 between the moutli-bars^ and five inclies wide^ tlie 
 ends turned over for an inch or so to prevent slipping 
 out of the mouth_, and sloping a little outvv'ards^ so as 
 not to hurt the lips ; the closed side to be well fitted 
 into a wooden handle about four inches loug, also 
 sloping outwards; the scantling to be about four- 
 tenths of an inch of oval wrought steel ; all to be very 
 nicely smoothed and polished. I have often used a 
 small stirrup -iron_, for want of anything better at hand. 
 
 Perhaps I ought to tell how I come to talk so confi- 
 dently about methods of performing operations. It 
 is a bit of confession, and I hope I may not be thought 
 very cruel, my object being a humane one. Shortly 
 after joining my first regiment, a brother officer asked 
 me to shoot a bay pony which seemed to have some- 
 thing internally wrong about him, as he could not be 
 got into condition ; he was a perfect scarecrow to look 
 at, entire, and about six years old. Instead of shooting 
 him, I asked to keep him, and under the kind instruc- 
 tions of our Veterinary Surgeon, used him as my vile 
 corpus to experiment upon. Every sort of operation, 
 in turn, did I perform on poor pony ; but, strange to 
 say, he thrived on it all most wonderfully; and when 
 I had done with him, I gave him away in capital con- 
 dition to our Bandmaster, who used him for long 
 afterwards. 
 
 I have referred to Colonel Fitzwygram's book about 
 horses, their feed, and stables. He gives a receipt for 
 
TEEATMENT OF DISEASES. Ill 
 
 fatteniDg food^ which, he says is quite equal to 
 '' Thorley^s^^^ and which costs only about ten pounds 
 a ton^ instead of forty pounds. But I object to 
 anything of the kind for horses, as unnatural and 
 prejudicial to their wind^ however good such a method 
 may be for cattle. I should say that, generally 
 speaking, gentlemen^s and dealers^ horses are too 
 hghly fed ; and this high feeding often acts injuriously 
 on their skin, legs and temper. The allowance to 
 our Cavalry horses is from eight to ten pounds of oats, 
 twelve pounds of hay, and eight pounds of straw, daily; 
 thirty-two pounds of hay if oats cannot be given; and 
 one and a-half pound of bran in lieu of one pound of 
 oats. I should say from five to six pounds of corn is 
 sufficient for most horses in ordinary work. Eace- 
 horses get from twelve to sixteen pounds ; hansom cab 
 horses often eat eighteen pounds of corn in the day ; 
 but their life and work is of course exceptional. I 
 think too much importance is attached to the necessity 
 of high corn feeding for work. At the Cape, the 
 horses are ridden long journeys, and at a good pace, 
 and are generally in capital wind, chiefly on grass food 
 with very little corn. To put and keep a horse in good 
 condition, a dose of physic to begin with, good sound 
 oats, neither too much nor too little according to the 
 work he has to do, sound sweet hay, plenty of good 
 grooming to keep his skin and circulation healthy, a 
 good stable, and good clothing, will not need fattening 
 
112 OUR HORSES. 
 
 '^ mixtures/^ wlietlier for show or for work. But if a 
 little fattening aid is wanted, sugar in all and any of 
 its forms is about tlie most fattening thing possible, 
 and boiled barley mixed witb sugar or molasses will be 
 found as good a mixture as any. And if a horse is 
 weak, and has very much leeway to make up, I would 
 give him a tonic ball to help him. I have found the 
 following a good prescription : gentian, 2 drachms ; 
 ginger, 1 drachm ; sulphate of iron, 2 drachms : 
 make into a ball with treacle or honey and a little 
 flour, and give once or twice a day, before the 
 morning's exercise or grooming, and before the 
 evening's feed, as he may seem to need it, for a week 
 or so. Carrots are very valuable food, especially for a 
 sick horse ; and the addition of a few carrots, sliced, 
 into the feed of corn, will make the horse chew, and 
 consequently digest, his oats better ; it is this, indeed, 
 that is the chief advantage of mixing chopped hay, or 
 chaff, or bran, with the oats. Lucern is a most excellent 
 green food, better and far less wasteful than vetches ; 
 it is a profitable crop for this purpose, and it is sur- 
 prising it is not more used. If watered, it will grow 
 again and again after being cut. Barley, though not 
 as good staple food for the horse as oats, agrees very 
 well with him if well crushed; and so does Indian 
 corn ; but both need to be well crushed, and should be 
 slightly wetted a little before giving, to soften. Beans 
 are a capital additioQ to the corn for a horse on a 
 
TREATMENT OF DISEASES. 113 
 
 journey or in hard work, but they also require to be 
 crushed, and should be softened. All corn should be 
 well sifted of the dust before putting into the manger; 
 this dust often causes coagh from irritation of the 
 throat. 
 
 Regarding stables, I think there is somewhat ex- 
 aggerated objection made to there being a hayloft over; 
 it is so great a saviug.and convenience; and if there 
 is, as there ought to be, a ventilating opening (which 
 should have a wire grating to keep birds out) of not 
 less than ten inches diameter for each stall, just below 
 the ceiling, the horse^s breath will escape without at 
 all contaminating the hay in the loft, if it is properly 
 floored. There should, too, be always a similar opening 
 for ventilation in each stall, at about fifteen inches 
 from the ground ; this is often neglected, and even 
 objected to, from needless fear about cold, but it is 
 essential to procure proper ventilation for the horse 
 when he is lying down, and for draught to make the 
 foul air ascend and escape. Stable doors should not 
 be less than four feet wide by eight feet high, opening 
 outwards, and if possible towards the south; and all 
 edges, both of woodwork and masonry, should be 
 nicely rounded ofi"; and they should not be too dark. 
 Darkness, want of ventilation, and the consequently 
 poisonous ammoniacal fumes, are the most frequent 
 and fertile causes of disease ; especially of blindness, 
 and of that terrible plague, glanders. Stalls should 
 
114 OUR HORSES. 
 
 never be less than seven feet wide by nine feet long, nor 
 less than twelve feet high ; and the slope for drainage 
 should be of the very slightest; the making a horse 
 stand on a slope,, as we often see, is a thoughtless piece 
 of cruelty, and is most trying to his legs. Stalls 
 should not be littered in the daytime : the cooler the 
 feet and legs can be kept the better. For bedding, as 
 long as the litter is kept well aired and dry, the older 
 it is the better, both for softness, and not to tempt a 
 greedy horse to eat it. The high manger for hay, 
 forcing a horse to stretch up his head for every 
 mouthful and at the risk of pulling hayseeds into his 
 eyes, is another thoughtless arrangement which should 
 not be seen in any decent stable. The water by the 
 horse in his stable is a good plan, I think ; it seems 
 the most natural, and he will drink less, but to better 
 purposes for digestion, than when watered at long 
 intervals. A horse drinks about four gallons of water 
 a day ; he should always have soft water if possible. 
 
 I am old enough to remember the great controversy 
 between " Nimrod''^ and others on the advisability, or 
 otherwise, of what was then called ^' summering'^ 
 hunters, that is, turning them out to grass at the end 
 of the hunting season. Lawrence, a great authority in 
 those days, advocated it strongly; "Nimrod^"' was 
 altogether opposed to it ; he ridiculed it as simply 
 letting go out all the good you had been at so much 
 pains to get into your horse, and would allow no 
 
TREATMENT OF DISEASES.* 115 
 
 summering, beyond giving some green food in a loose 
 box. The turning out to grass was and is^ I must say, 
 often done in a very unwise^ not to say cruel, manner. 
 A horse accustomed to a warm stable, company, and 
 high corn feeding, is turned out, perhaps on a bad day 
 and with unhealed sores from firing or blistering, 
 into a field without shelter of any sort, no company, a 
 poor bite of grass, and a nasty place to water at ; under 
 such circumstances, the holiday can hardly be a happy 
 or a healthy one. But under proper conditions, I 
 maintain there is nothing so renovating to a horse all 
 round as a two or three months^ run at grass. I bar- 
 gain, however, for a good comfortable shed to shelter 
 in, with its opening towards the south, good grass, a 
 good watering place, for the first two or three days a 
 feed of corn, no unhealed open sores for flies to 
 madden him, and should the weather be cold he should 
 not be turned out without an old rug of some sort on 
 him to begin with ; the outdoors run will then do him 
 good all over, as nothing else can ; just as nothing can 
 equal the benefit of a complete change of air, climate, 
 scene, and diet to a hard-worked man wanting recrea- 
 tion and rest. 
 
 THE END. 
 
BOOKS PUBLISHED BY 
 
 WILLIAM RIDGWAY, 169 PICCADILLY, 
 LONDON, W. 
 
 DARYILL'S ENGLISH RACE-HOESE. 
 
 In 2 vols, with plates, price 30s. New Edition. 
 
 A TREATISE ON THE CARE, TREATMENT, 
 
 AND TRAINING OF THE ENGLISH 
 
 RACE-HORSE; 
 
 With Important Details applicable to bettering the condition of Horses 
 in general. 
 
 By R. DARVILL, V.S. to the Seventh Hussars. 
 
 " Never before was such a book written in any language so replete 
 with those minute but indispensable particulars of practice, and by a 
 writer who has personally performed his part throughout the whole of 
 the practice. This is the true book of reference for every stud and 
 training groom, and every jockey." — Vide Lawrence on the Horse, 
 p. 297 ; also, The Sporting Magazine, and British Farmers' Magazine. 
 
 THE FARMERS' MEDICAL DICTIONARY FOR 
 THE DISEASES OF ANIMALS. 
 
 By CUTHBERT W. JOHNSON, F.R.S. 
 Price 6s. 
 
 " This is a very useful work. It contains a great variety of recipes 
 for the cure of the diseases of domestic animals, which have long been 
 successfully employed in an extensive practice in the south of England." 
 — Gardeners' Ghronicle. 
 
 " A capital work." — Mark Lane Express. 
 
 THE IMPROVED SHORTHORN. 
 
 Notes and Reflections upon some facts in 
 
 SHORTHORN HISTORY, 
 
 With remarks upon certain principles of 
 
 BREEDING. 
 
 By WILLIAM HOUSMAN. 
 
 Price 2s. 
 
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