HORSE AND HIS RIDER:

S'feElcfjEs an& gtmc&oteg of tfif iBobk ©uafiruprtf,
anfi of ^Equestrian Jiations.

BY ROLLO SPRINGFIELD.

LONDON:
CHAPMAN AND HALL J 86 STRAND.

I .in lUK-puiBipwii^iii iti.ui«i_:nus.MiH|«#iniipi.JW!niHn*.«.jiJ. i n »■ -

' I IE! i.l.T.V BROTHERS AND DO -, PRINTERS AN r> ENGRAVERS,
rETERBORuUCJH COURT, FLEET STREET.

RIJKSUNIVERSITEITTE UTRECHT

^J��&/S*<f*^l~~

Domestication of the Horse�Horse B'urniture�Various

Breeds�Blood Horses�Ponies....... . 1

CHAPTER II.
Physiognomy' of the Horse�Sagacity'�Fidelity�Socia-
bility, &c.�Anecdotes�Insanity.......23

CHAPTER ill.
Vices, and Disagreeable or Dangerous Habits ... 50

chapter iv.
Speed and Endurance�Carnivorous Horses�Horseflesh

as Food�Horsebaiting ... .......66

chapter v.
Primitive State of Wild Horses�The Steppes ... 86

rAOE
CHAPTER VI.

The Centaur�The Mongols and Calmucks�A Russian

Taboon.................100

CHAPTER VII.
The Cossacks�The Circassians�The Mamelukes . . 131

Bei.a�A Story of the Caucasus.........150

chapter ix.
Runjeet Singh's Famous Horse Lylee�Anecdotes�

Persian Horses..............179

CHAPTER X.
Arabian Horses . ..............194

chapter xi.
Feral Horses of America�Indians and Gauchos . . . 204

THE HORSE AND HIS RIDEB.

DOMESTICATION 01' THE HORSE�HOUSE FURNITURE�VARIOUS
BREEDS�BLOOD HORSES�PONIES.

HE reduction of the horse to the
domestic state, as Buffon justly ob-
serves, is the greatest acquisition
from the animal world ever made by
the art and industry of man. Every
one knows and admires the graceful
symmetry, the speed, vigour, docility, and endurance
of that noble creature; but few, perhaps, have re-
flected on the important part he has played in the
history of our race; few are aware how much we
owe it to him, that we at this day are not as rude
and wretched as our barbarian forefathers, but live
surrounded by those countless blessings which are

THE IIOKSK AND HIS KIDER.

the birthright of every child born in a civilised land.
We fear that there has been little gratitude or hu-
manity evinced in our general treatment of the horse;
and now that we rush along like the wind on the
wings of steam, we are perhaps in danger of still more
undervaluing his worth. But had we never known
his aid, how different far would have been the for-
tunes of mankind! how hardly would it have fulfilled
its destiny, to " multiply and replenish the earth, and
subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea,
and the fowl of the air, and over every living thing
that moveth upon the earth!" Unaided by the strength
and swiftness of this generous servant, men would but
partially and slowly have emerged from barbarism ;
at the most they would have congregated into tribes
and petty states, covering only as much ground as
might be traversed in a day's march or two on foot;
and these would have been perpetually engaged in
war and rapine : but peace, order, plenty, knowledge,
and national power, could never have been esta-
blished or have made progress, so long as men,
divided by wide tracts of country, had no means of
rapidly communicating with each other, and of
uniting together for their mutual welfare.

Neither sacred nor profane history informs us in
what country the horse was first domesticated, or

THE HOUSE AND HIS RIDER. 3

whether he was first used for draught or riding. It is
prohable that the animal was employed for both pur-
poses in very early times, and in various parts of the
world; but though many of the ancients possessed
great mastery over their horses, and performed with
them admirable feats of skill and agility, it is never-
theless surprising by what slow steps the arts and
inventions, connected with horsemanship, have reached
their present degree of perfection. The polished
Greeks, as well as the ruder nations of northern
Africa, for a long while rode without either saddle
or bridle, guiding their horses with the voice or the
hand, or with a light switch. They touched the
animal on the right or left of the face to make him
turn in the opposite direction; they stopped him by
touching his muzzle, and urged him forward with the
heel. The horses must have been excellently trained,
to be governed by such slight means, in the violence
of their course, or in the tumult of battle ; but the
attention, docility, and memory of this animal are
such, that it is hard to say to what a degree of
obedience he may not be brought.

Bridles and bits were at length introduced ; but
many centuries elapsed before any thing that can pro-
perly be called a saddle was used. Instead of these,
cloths, single or padded, arid skins of wild beasts,

4 THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER.

often richly adorned, were placed beneath the rider,
but always without stirrups. It is a very extra-
ordinary fact that even the Romans, in the times when
luxury was carried to the utmost excess amongst
them, never devised so simple an expedient for as-
sisting the horseman to mount, lessening his fatigue,
and securing his seat, although painful diseases were
not unfrequently caused by the habit of riding with
the feet unsupported. Many ancient sculptures
prove that the horsemen of almost every country
used to mount on the right side of the animal, in
order the better to grasp the mane which hangs
on that side. The practice is invariably reversed
in modern days, and none but a Billy Button would
think of mounting on the off side, notwithstanding
the classical authority that may be alleged for so
doing.

The ancient heroes generally leaped on their
horses' backs; or their spear, if they carried one, had
a loop, or projection, about two feet from the bottom,
which served them as a step. The horse was some-
times trained to lower his neck and back, or to kneel
down for his rider; and both in Greece and Rome
the local magistracy were bound to see that blocks,
for mounting from (what the Scotch call loupin-on
stanes), were placed along the roads at convenient

THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER.

distances. The great, however, thought it more dig-
nified to use living blocks, and to climb into their
seats, by setting their feet on the bent backs of their
slaves; and many who could not command such costly
help used to carry a light ladder about with them�
a curious piece of horse furniture !

What a signal instance was given of the deep
humiliation into which Imperial Borne had fallen,
when a haughty Persian monarch mounted his horse
from the back of the Emperor Valerian ! The use of
stirrups left pride and insolence without a pretext for
thus degrading God's image. Instead of offering his
back to be trampled on, the servant now only held
the stirrup for his lord. In the middle ages, the
great were fond of exacting this token of servility
from their humbled rivals: Emperors of Germany
have held the stirrup for the Pope; and Henry II. of
England, when his rancour against Thomas a Becket
was hottest, thought to cajole the great prelate by a
similar show of feigned respect.

The first distinct notice we have of the use of the
saddle occurs in an edict of the Emperor Theodosius
(A. D. 385); from which we also learn that it was
usual for those who hired post-horses to provide their
own saddles. The edict directs that no traveller shall
use a saddle weighing more than sixty pounds ! Such

THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER.

cumbrous contrivances must have been more like the
howdahs placed on the backs of elephants, than the
light and elegant saddle of modern times. Fortu-
nately for the soldiers of those days, it does not
appear that the military punishment of " carrying the
saddle" was devised until a later period. It was
commonly inflicted on horse-soldiers, and even on
knights in the middle ages, for breach of discipline.
A saddle, bridle, and other appurtenances were laid
on the offender's shoulders, and he was compelled to
march about for a certain length of time, without
stopping, exposed to the scoffs and jeers of all who
saw him thus oddly accoutred. "Well for him that
his burden did not amount to the liberal weight
allowed by the Roman emperor!

Side-saddles for ladies were an invention of com-
paratively recent date. The first seen in England
was made for Anne of Bohemia, Richard the Second's
queen. It was, probably, more like a pillion than
the side-saddle of our day; and if any of our young
readers do not know what is meant by the word
" pillion," their grandmammas may, perhaps, be able
to describe the thing to them from recollection, for it
was in high fashion not a great many years ago. It
was a sort of very low-backed arm-chair, which was
fastened on the horse's croup, behind the saddle, on

THE HORSE AND HIS RIDEE.

which a man rode who had all the care of managing
the horse, while the lady sat at her ease, supporting
herself by grasping a belt which he wore, or by
passing her arm round his body�if the gentleman
was not too ticklish.

Horse-shoeing was not practised for many centu-
ries after the horse himself was in very general use ;
nor were hoof-protectors essentially necessary until
paved tracts and hard roads became more frequent
than they were in old times. The first foot defence
of the horse seems to have been copied from that of
his master. It was a sort of sandal, commonly made
of matting, rope, or leather. The Emperor Nero, in
his profusion, had his horses and mules shod with
silver; and his Empress, Poppasa, was not content
with less than gold for the same purpose. These
sandals were very insecure, and were apt to be left
sticking in the mud; they were, therefore, seldom
put on the animal for the whole journey, but only at
the worst places. Nor do they appear to have been
adequate to protect the hoof from injury; for instance,
when Mithridates was besieging the town of Cyzicus,
in his first war against the Romans, he was obliged to
send away his whole cavalry to Bithynia, because the
horses' hoofs were all worn down, and their feet
disordered.

8 THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER.

Here again, as in the case of the stirrupless
saddle, we are lost in wonder at the fact, that men
should, for nearly a thousand years, have gone on
fastening plates of metal under horses' hoofs by the
clumsy means of strings and bands; and that it should
never in all that time have occurred to them to try
nails where strings had failed. Next to the inven-
tive powers of men there is really nothing so wonder-
ful as their want of inventiveness, and the stupid way in
which they will continue from generation to genera-
tion, doing something very absurd from mere force
of habit, and utter want of thought! It is humi-
liating to think, how men have been content to remain
for ages separated by the smallest possible partitions
from discoveries in the arts, that tend to the conve-
nience and embellishment of life. We have had India
rubber ever since America was explored, yet, until a
few'years ago, we made no use of it except for rubbing
pencil marks out of paper !

Here follows a charade by no less eminent a
person than the great statesman, Charles James
Fox. Why do we introduce it in this place ?
That is a question which the ingenious reader will
answer for himself when he shall have solved the
charade. The key to it will be found in the pre-
ceding pages:�

THE HOKSE AND HIS EIDER.

�' Inscribed on many a learned page,

In mystic characters and sage,
Long time my first lias stood;

And though its golden age be past,

In wooden walls it yet may last,
Till clothed in flesh and blood.

My second is a welcome prize

For those who love their curious eyes
With foreign sights to pamper;

But should it chance their gaze to meet,

Al improvise/, in the street,
Oh! how 'twould make them scamper!

My third 's a kind of wandering throne,

To woman limited alone,
The Sdlique law reversing ;

But when the imaginary queen

Prepares to act this novel scene,
Her royal part rehearsing;

O'erturning her presumptuous plan,

Up jumps the old usurper�Man."

The various uses for which the horse is habitually
employed require corresponding varieties in the make
and shape of the animal. The dray horses of the
London brewers are very handsome ; but their beauty
is of a different kind from that of the Newmarket
racer. That which is a good^- quality in one kind of
horse may be a defect in another. An animal, for
instance, which is intended for the saddle ought to
stand with his fore legs erect; if they slope back-

10 THE HORSE AND HIS EIDER.

wards from shoulder to hoof the rider must be very
cautious, for he has to do with a stumbler. A draught-
horse, on the other hand, ought to lean a little for-
ward over his fore feet when at rest. That portion
of his own weight which brings down the ill-made
saddle-horse on his knees, is by the draught-horse
thrown against the collar, and helps him in his
labour. Look at a team straining hard to drag a
heavy wagon out of a rut or over some obstruction:
they fling themselves forward, so as to be kept from
falling only by the traces, just as you may see a man
doing who tugs at a rope fastened to a canal-boat, or
a truck. Again, though the hunter and the racer
are both made for speed, they must each exhibit cer-
tain peculiarities of form adapted to the work they
have respectively to do. The hunter requires great
strength and elasticity in his forehand, to enable him
to bear the shock with which he alights on the
ground from a leap. In the racer, on the contrary,
the principal power is wanted from behind, to propel
the animal forward in his gallop ; and the very low-
ness of the forehand may throw more weight in front,
and cause the whole machine to be more easily and
speedily moved. The hind-legs of the greyhound are
longer than the fore-legs; the difference is still more
remarkable in the hare, and it is seen in an extraor-

THE HORSE AND HIS EIDER. 11

dinary degree in the kangaroo, an animal whose
running is a series of prodigious leaps. The cele-
brated Eclipse, who never was beaten, was remark-
ably low in front, his hind-quarters even rising above
his fore ones. As we have mentioned the name of
this unrivalled runner, we cannot do less than give
some particulars of his history.

He was bred by the Duke of Cumberland, and
sold at his death to Mr. Wildman, a sheep salesman,
for seventy-five guineas. Colonel O'Kelly purchased
a share of him from Wildman. In the spring of the
following year, when the reputation of this wonderful
' animal was at its height, O'Kelly wished to become
sole owner of him, and bought the remaining share
for eleven hundred guineas.

O'Kelly, aware of his horse's powers, backed him
freely on his first race in 1769. This excited curio-
sity among sporting men; they thought the colonel
must have had some extraordinary reason for betting
largely on a horse that no one had ever heard of
before, and that had not given any public proof of
his powers. Some persons, accordingly, tried to
watch one of his trials; which the owner, no doubt,
wished to keep as secret as possible. They were a
little too late on the ground; but they found an old
woman, who gave them all the information they

THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER.

wanted. On their in quiring, whether she had seen a
race, she replied, she could not tell whether it was a
race or not, but she had just seen a horse with a
white leg running away at a monstrous rate, and
another horse, a great way behind, trying to run after
him; but she was sure he would never catch the
white-legged horse if he ran to the world's end.

The first heat was easily won, when O'Kelly,
observing that the rider had been pulling at Eclipse
during the whole of the race, offered a wager that he
would place the horses in the next heat (that is, that
he would name the order in which they would be
when the foremost reached the winning post). This
seemed a thing so highly improbable that he imme-
diately had bets to a large amount. Being called on
to declare, he replied�" Eclipse first, and the rest
nowhere!" The event justified his prediction; for
all the others were distanced by Eclipse with the
greatest ease (that is, he was at the winning post
before they had reached another 240 yards behind it,
called the distancing post), and thus, in the language
of the turf, they had no place.

The pecuniary value of Eclipse and his progeny
must have been something enormous. He was the
sire of 854 winners, and these netted to their owners
more than �160,000, exclusive of plates and cups.

* THE HOESE AND HIS RIDER. 13

Ten years after he was withdrawn from the turf;
O'Kelly was asked at what price he would sell him.
At first he peremptorily refused to accept any price ;
but after some reflection, he said he would take
�25,000, with an annuity of �500, besides certain
privileges. The seeming extravagance of this sum
excited considerable remark, but O'Kelly declared
he had already cleared more than �25,000 by Eclipse,
and that the animal was still young enough to earn
double that sum.

From what we have said above, it appears that
there are various standards of perfection for the horse's
form, and that there must be a certain vagueness in
any general description which shall include them all.
It is not a little remarkable that we are indebted to
Terentius Varro, who wrote about the year 70 B.C.,
for a description of the horse which, in the opinion of
so excellent a judge as Mr. Youatt, has scarcely been
surpassed in modern times:�" We may prognosticate
great things of a colt," he says, "if, when running in
the pastures, he is ambitious to get before his com-
panions, and if, on coming to a river, he strives to be
the first to plunge into it. His head should be small,
his limbs clean and compact, his eyes bright and
sparkling, his nostrils open and large, his ears placed
near each other, his mane strong and full, his chest

14 THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER.

broad, his shoulders flit and sloping backwards, his
loins broad and strong, his tail full and bushy, his
legs straight and even, his knees broad and well knit,
his hoofs hard and tough, and his veins large and
swelling over all his body."

The English thoroughbred horse, perhaps the
finest animal of his kind in the world, derives his
descent almost wholly from the Arab and the Barb,
Instead of giving a prosaic description of his points,
which those who desire it may find in books of a
more technical character than ours: we will put him
bodily before the reader in Barry Cornwall's vigorous
lines:�

" Gamarra is a noble steed;
Strong, black, and of the desert breed;
Full of Are, and full of bone;
All his line of fathers known ;
Fine his nose, his nostrils thin,
But blown abroad by the pride within !
His mane, a stormy river flowing;
And his eyes like embers glowing
In the darkness of the night;
And his pace as swift as light.

Look,�around his straining throat

Grace and shifting beauty float!

Sinewy strength is on his reins,

And the red blood gallops through his veins ;

THE HOESE AND HIS EIDER.

Richer, redder, never ran
Through the boasting heart of man !
He can trace his lineage higher
Than the Bourbon dare aspire,
Douglas, Guzman, or the Guelph,
Or O'Brien's blood itself.

He, who hath no peer, was born
Here, upon a red March morn :
But bis famous fathers dead
Were Arabs all, and Arab bred;
And the last of that great line
Trod like one of race divine !

And yet,�be was but friend to one
Who fed him at the set of sun,
By some lone fountain fringed with green :
With him,�a roving Bedouin,
He lived (none else would he obey
Through all the hot Arabian day),
And died, untamed, upon the sands
Where Balkh amidst the desert stands ! "

Nature has assigned to many races of animals cer-
tain geographical limits, beyond which they cannot
thrive. Others, on the contrary, are so framed as to
be capable of maintaining life and health in countries
very widely diffused, and essentially differing in tem-
perature, climate, and food, from those to which they
appear indigenous. Fortunately for man, among this
number are some of those animals that render him
the most essential services,�as the dog, the ox, the

THE HOESE AND HIS RIDEE.

sheep, the hog, and the horse. The constitution of
these useful allies is endowed with a capacity for
adapting itself, more or less, to external circum-
stances ; above all, their respective bulk undergoes
notable variations proportioned to the ordinary supply
of food within their reach. In the rich pastures of
Flanders and of Lincolnshire the horse expands to its
largest dimensions, whilst in mountainous regions and
in northern islands it becomes a pony.

There is an East Indian pony called the Tattoo,
commonly from ten to twelve hands high (a hand is
four inches); they are sometimes much smaller.
Tavernier describes one which he saw ridden by a
young Mogul prince, which was not much larger
than a greyhound. In 1765, one not more than seven
hands, or twenty-eight inches high, was sent to Eng-
land as a present to the Queen of George III. It
was taken from the ship to the palace in a hackney-
coach. It was of a dun colour, and its hair resembled
that of a young fawn. It was four years old, well
proportioned, had fine ears, a quick eye, with a hand-
some long tail, and was thoroughly good-natured and
manageable.

Hurdwar, in Upper India, is the site of a great cattle
fair; Colonel Davidson, describing his visit to this
busy scene", says, that among the greatest curiosities

THE HORSE AND HIS EIDER.

he witnessed were half-a-dozen powerful ponies from
Usbeck Tartary, called phooldars, which me&nsjloiver-
rnarked. They were under thirteen hands high, and
of the most curious compound colours or marks that
can be imagined. A description cannot easily be
given, but it may be attempted. Suppose, in the
first place, that the animal is of a fine snow white;
cover the white with large, irregular, bright bay spots;
in the middle of these light bay let there be dark bay
marbled spots; at every six or eight inches plant
lozenge-shaped patches of a very dark iron grey ; then
sprinkle the whole with dark flea-bites. There is a
phooldar! What a sensation one of these animals
would excite in the London Parks !

The horses of the Feroe Islands are of small
growth, but strong, swift, and sure of foot, going over
the roughest places, so that a man may more surely rely
on them than trust to his own feet. In Suderoe, one
of these islands, they have a lighter and swifter breed
than in any of the rest. On their backs the inha-
bitants pursue the sheep, which are wild in this
island; the pony carries the man over places which
would be otherwise inaccessible to him�follows his
rider over others�enters into the full sport of the
chase, and even knocks down and holds the prey un-
der his feet until the rider can take possession of it.
B 2

THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER.

The British islands produce several interesting
breeds of ponies. The largest of these, the Scotch
Galloway, is unfortunately almost extinct. It was
from thirteen to fourteen hands high, of a bright bay
or brown, with black legs, small head and neck, and
peculiarly deep and clean legs. Its qualities were
speed, stoutness, and surefootedness over a very rugged
and mountainous country. Dandie Dinmont's famous
Dumple was of this breed. Dr. Anderson thus de-
scribes a galloway belonging to himself:�" In point
of elegance of shape it was a perfect picture, and in
disposition it was gentle and compliant. It moved
almost with a wish, and never tired. I rode this
little creature for twenty-five years, and twice in that
time I rode a hundred and fifty miles at a stretch,
without stopping, except to bait, and that not for
above an hour at a time. It came in at the last stage
with as much ease and alacrity as it travelled the
first. I could have undertaken to perform on this
beast, when it was in its prime, sixty miles a day for
a twelvemonth, without any extraordinary exertion."
The Exmoor ponies, though generally ugly enough,
are hardy and useful: one of them has been known
to clear a gate eight inches higher than his back.
Those of Dartmoor are larger, and, if possible, uglier.
Being admirably fitted for scrambling over the rough

THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER.

roads and dreary wilds of that mountainous country,
they are in great demand there. They exist almost
in a state of nature. The late Captain Colgrave,
governor of the prison, had a great desire to possess
one of them somewhat superior in figure to his fel-
lows ; and having several men to assist him, they
separated it from the herd. They drove it on some
rocks by the side of a tor (an upright pointed hill).
A man followed on horseback, while the captain
stood below watching the chase. The little animal,
being driven into a corner, leaped completely over the
man and horse, and escaped.

The sheltie, or pony of the Shetland isles, is a
very diminutive animal, sometimes not more than
thirty inches high, and rarely exceeding thirty-eight.
He is often exceedingly beautiful, with a small head,
good tempered countenance, a short neck, fine to-
wards the throttle, shoulders low and thick�in so
little a creature far from being a blemish�back shortj
quarters expanded and powerful, legs flat and fine,
and pretty round feet. These ponies possess immense
strength for their size; will fatten upon almost any
thing, and are perfectly docile. Mr. Youatt says
that one of them, three feet in height, carried a man
of twelve stone forty miles in one day.

Pony hunting used to be one of the favourite

20 THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER.

amusements of the Welsh farmers and peasantry a
century and a half ago, and it has not even now fallen
altogether into disuse. The following story of one of
these expeditions is related in the Cambrian Quar-
terly Magazine :�

" A farmer, named Hugo Garonwy, lived in the
neighbourhood of Llewyn Georie. Although he
handled the small tilt plough, and other farming
tools in their due season, yet the catching of the
merlin, the fox, and the hare, were pursuits more
congenial to his tastes ; and the tumbles and thumps
which he received, and from which no pony hunter
was exempt, served but to attach him to the sport.
Rugged, however, as were the Merioneddshire coast
and its environs, and abounding with precipices and
morasses, the hunter sometimes experienced worse
mishaps, and so it happened with Garonwy.

" He set out one morning with his lasso coiled
round his waist, and attended by two hardy de-
pendents and their greyhounds. The lasso was then
familiar to the Welshman, and as adroitly managed
by him as by any guacho on the plains of South
America. As the hunters climbed the mountain's
brow, the distant herd of ponies took alarm�some-
times galloping onwards, and then suddenly halting
and wheeling round, snorting as if in defiance of the

THE HOESE AND HIS EIDER.

intruders, and furiously pawing the ground. Garonwy,
with the assistance of his servants and the grej'-
hounds, contrived to coop them up in a corner of
the hills, where perpendicular rocks prevented their
escape.

" Already had he captured three of the most
beautiful little fellows in the world, which he expected
to sell for �4 or �5 each at the next Bala fair, to
him a considerable sum, and amounting to a fourth
of the annual rent which he paid for his sheep walk.
There remained, however, one most untamable crea-
ture, whose crested mane, and flowing tail, and wild
eye, and distended nostril showed that he was a per-
fect Bucephalus of the hills; nor, indeed, was it safe
to attack him in the ordinary way. Many of the
three year olds had been known to break the legs of
their pursuers, and some had been dismounted and
trampled to death.

" Garonwy was determined to give the noble
fellow a chase over the hills, and so overcome him by
fatigue before the lasso was flung. The dogs were
unslipped, and off they went swift as the winds,
Garonwy following, and the two assistants posted in
a neighbouring eminence. Vain was the effort to
tire the merlin. Hugo, naturally impatient, and
without waiting to ascertain that the coils were all

22 THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER.

clear, flung the lasso over the head of the wild horse.
The extremity of the cord was twisted round his own
body, and tightening as the animal struggled, the
compression became insupportable, and at length, in
spite of every effort to disengage himself, Garonwy
was dragged from his horse.

" The affrighted merlin, finding himself manacled
by the rope, darted off with all the speed of which
he was capable, dragging poor Garonwy over the
rocky ground and stunted brushwood. This occurred
at some distance from the men. They called in their
dogs that the speed of the merlin might not be in-
creased ; but ere they could arrive at the spot at
which the accident happened, the horse and the
man had vanished. Whether the sufferings of the
hunter were protracted, or he was dashed against a
rock at the commencement of the horrible race, was
never known ; but the wild animal, frenzied and
blinded by terror, rushed over a beetling cliff, at a
considerable distance, overhanging the sea-shore, and
the hunter and the horse were found at the bottom,
a misshapen semblance of what they had been when
living."

PHYSIOGNOMY OF THE HOBSE�SAGACITY, FIDELITY,
SOCIABILITY, &C; ANECDOTES----INSANITY.

^'HE physiognomy of the horse is an
interesting subject. Those who have
made it their study can read the animal's
passions and purposes in his face. The follow-
ing hints on this topic are chiefly from Pro-
fessor Youatt:�

The eye enables us with tolerable accuracy to
guess at the animal's temper. If much of the white is
seen, he is not to be lightly trusted. The mischievous
horse is always slyly on the look out for opportunities
to indulge his malice, and the frequent backward
direction of the eye, which makes the white most
perceptible, is only to give surer effects to the blow
which he is about to aim.

The quality of the horse's vision differs from that

24 THE HORSE AND HIS EIDER.

of man. The former can take in a wider range in con-
sequence of the lateral position of the eyes and their
distance apart; and when the animal, with its head
down, is quietly grazing, it can see objects with faci-
lity in every direction round it. Man's vision is more
limited in range, but it is probable more acute, be-
cause the black lining of the human eye renders it a
more perfect camera obscura, and gives more vivid-
ness to the pictures formed within it. The lining
membrane of the horse's eye is of a beautiful sea
green colour, in consequence of which it absorbs so
much the less light, and thereby affords increased
power of vision in the night. Every rider must be
aware from experience that his horse can discern sur-
rounding objects, when the gloom of evening conceals
them from his own eyesight. All animals who have
to seek their food by night have the interior of the
eye more or less bright; in the wolf and the dog it is
grey; and in all varieties of the cat species it is
yellow; the eyes of the lion have been compared to
two flaming torches in the night. There are indi-
viduals of the human race called Albinos, whose eyes
look red like those of ferrets, from the absence of the
usual black pigment, and these persons are almost
blind by day, but see with ease in what to other men
seems thick darkness.

THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER. 25

" Many persons erroneously suppose that the
flow of tears, caused by bodily pain or emotions of
the mind, is peculiar to man. But Shakspere says of
the wounded stag :�

" The big round tears
Coursed one .another down his innocent nose
In piteous chase;"

and horses are repeatedly seen to weep under acute
pain or brutal usage. Mr. Lawrence, speaking of
the cruelty exercised by some dealers in what they
call " firing" a horse before he is led out for sale, in
order to rouse every spark of mettle, says, " More
than fifty years have passed away, and I have before
Bay eyes a poor mare stone blind, exquisitely shaped,
and showing all the marks of high blood, whom I saw
unmercifully cut with the whip a quarter of an hour
before the sale, to bring her to the use of her stiffened
limbs, while the tears were trickling down her
cheeks."

The size, setting on, and motion of the ear, are
important points. Ears rather small than large,
placed not too far apart, erect and quick in motion,
indicate both breeding and spirit; and if a horse
is m the frequent habit of carrying one ear forward,
and the other backward, and especially if he does so
on a journey, he will generally possess both spirit

26 THE HORSE AND HIS EIDER.

and continuance. The stretching of the ears in con-
trary directions shows that he is attentive to every
thing that is passing round him; and while he is
doing this he cannot be much fatigued, or likely soon
to become so. It has been remarked, that few horses
sleep without pointing one ear forward and the other
backward, in order that they may receive notice of
the approach of objects in every direction. When
horses or mules march in company at night, those in
front direct their ears forward, those in the rear
direct them backward, and those in the centre turn
them laterally or across; the whole troop seeming
thus to be actuated by one feeling which watches the
general safety.

The ear of the horse is one of the most beautiful
parts about him, and by few things is the temper
more surely indicated than by its motion. The ear
is more intelligible even than the eye ; and a person
accustomed to the horse can tell, by the expressive
motion of that organ, almost all that he thinks or
means. When a horse lays his ears flat back on his
neck, he most assuredly is meditating mischief, and
the stander by should beware of his heels or his teeth.
In play the ears will be laid back, but not so de-
cidedly or so long. A quick change in their position,
and more particularly the expression of the eye at

THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER. 27

the time, will distinguish between playfulness and
vice.

The hearing of the horse is remarkably acute.
A thousand vibrations of the air, too slight to make
any impression on the human ear, are readily per-
ceived by him. It is well known to every hunting
man, that the cry of hounds will be recognised by
the horse, and his ears will be erect, and he will be
all spirit and impatience, a considerable time before
the rider is conscious of the least sound. Need any
thing more be said to expose the absurdity of crop-
ping?- The cruel and stupid custom of cutting off
the ears of the horse began (to its shame be it said !)
in Great Britain, and was so obstinately pursued for
many years, that, at length, it became hereditary in
some cases, and a breed of horses born without ears
was produced. Fortunately for this too often abused
animal, cropping is not now the fashion. The prac-
tice of lopping off two-thirds of the tail, is more
excusable, on the ground of convenience to the rider.
In wet weather and miry roads, the switching of a
long drabbled swab is not desirable. The question
of long tails or short tails, is a question between
comfort and beauty of form. Now, much as we may
value the former, we think it ought not quite to
overbear all consideration for the latter; and we are'

28 THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER.

glad to see that in this instance, too, fashion is be*
ginning to side with reason and good taste.

The lips of the horse are his hands; they serve
both as organs of touch and as instruments of pre-
hension, as may be seen when the animal is feeding.
He gathers up his corn with them, and collects the
grass into a tuft before he bites it. The lips should
be thin, but firm and regularly closed. Flabby, pen-
dulous lips indicate weakness or old age, or dulness
and sluggishness.

It is thought, perhaps, with some degree of truth,
that indications of character may be drawn from the
shape of the nose: but the rules in this case are the
reverse of those applicable in judging of human noses;
for, in the horse, the prominent Roman nose bespeaks
an easy, good-tempered kind of beast, but rather of
a plebeian order of mind and body ; the horse with a
straight, or Grecian nose, may be good or bad tem-
pered, but not often either to any great excess; but
a hollow nose (a cocked one, as we should say, in
speaking of the human face) generally indicates some
breeding, especially if the head is small, but occa-
sionally accompanied by a vicious, uncontrollable
disposition. " There is another way, however," says
Mr. Youatt, " in which the nasal bones do more cer-
tainly indicate the breed; viz., by their comparative

THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER.

length or shortness. There is no surer criterion of a
well-bred horse than a broad, angular forehead, pro-
minent features, and a short face; nor of a horse
with little breeding than a narrow forehead, small
features, and lengthened nose. The comparative
development of the head and face indicates, with
little error, the preponderance of the animal or intel-
lectual principle."

As the horse breathes only through the nose, it is
important that the openings into that cavity should
be free, and capable of dilating sufficiently to allow
of the passage of a large volume of air when the
animal is put to his speed. The expanded nostril is
a striking feature in the blood horse, especially when
he has been excited and not overblown. What a
sudden effect is given to the countenance of the
hunter, when his ears become erect, and his nostrils
dilate, as he first listens to the cry of the hounds, and
snorts and scents them afar off! And the war-horse
�" the glory of his nostrils is terrible !"

The following anecdote, related by Professor
Kiigler, of Halle, proves both the sagacity and the
fidelity of the horse:�A friend of his, riding home
through a wood on a dark night, struck his head
against a branch of a tree, and fell stunned to the
ground. The horse immediately returned to the

30 THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER.

house they had left, and which was now closed, for
the family had gone to bed. He pawed at the door
until some one rose and opened it, and then he turned
about; and the man, wondering at the affair, followed
him. The faithful and intelligent animal led him to
the place where his master lay senseless. A still
more interesting incident, of a similar kind, occurred
in this country:�A little girl, the daughter of a
gentleman in Warwickshire, playing on the banks of
a canal which runs through his grounds, fell into the
water, and would in all probability have been
drowned, had not a small pony, which had long been
kept in the family, plunged into the stream, and
brought the child safely to land.

Mr. Jesse gives an instance of what may fairly be
called the sensibility of the horse, and his keen per-
ception of danger. A friend of his was riding a
horse one day in India, attended by a spaniel which
had long been its companion. The dog ran into
some long grass, and came out crying and shaking its
head; the horse, contrary to his usual custom, not
only avoided the dog, but showed the utmost dread
of his coming near him. The dog soon died, and
upon examination it was found that he had been
bitten in the tongue by a venomous snake. ;

But the horse's sensibility is not a selfish quality ;

THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER. 31

he often displays the most generous solicitude, to
avoid injuring other creatures. It is not an uncom-
mon thing for a fallen soldier to escape without one
touch of a hoof, though a charge of cavalry pass over
his prostrate body, every animal in the line leaping
clear over him. An old horse belonging to a carter
in Strathnegie, Fifeshire, had become particularly
familiar with the ways of children, for his master had
a large family. One day, as this animal was dragging
a loaded cart through a narrow lane near the village,
a young child happened to be sprawling in the road,
and would inevitably have been crushed by the
wheels, if the sagacious old horse had not prevented it.
He carefully took up the child by the clothes with
his teeth, carried it for a few yards, and then placed
it on a bank by the wayside, moving slowly all the
while, and looking back as if to satisfy himself that
the wheels of the cart had cleared it.

Gregarious in the wild state, the horse retains the
same sociable disposition in domestication, and shows
a great aversion to be left alone. This companion-
able temper appears very pleasingly in the field, in
the gambolings of horses with each other, in their
manifest curiosity when a strange horse comes in
sight, and the animated gestures and neighings with
which they try to strike up an acquaintance, and,

82 THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER.

above all, in the little kind offices they perform
mutually. It is an every-day occurrence to see two
horses gently' scratching each other; and Mr. Jesse
speaks of it as a well-known fact, that in hot countries
where the blood of the horses is heated by the cli-
mate, they are in the constant habit of bleeding each
other, and sometimes of bleeding themselves, by
biting the neck or the shoulder. So strong is the
horse's aptitude for friendship, that he will attach
himself to almost any kind of animal rather than
remain solitary. White, of Selborne, relates an in-
stance of this kind between a horse and a hen. These
two incongruous animals spent much of their time
together in a lonely orchard, where they saw ho
creature but each other, and by degrees an apparent
regard sprang up between them. The fowl would
approach the quadruped with notes of complacency,
rubbing herself quietly against his legs, whilst the
horse would look down with satisfaction, and move
with the greatest caution and circumspection lest he
should trample on his diminutive companion. In the
portrait of the celebrated Godolphin Arabian is seen
a cat, which was his inseparable companion in the
stable, and died really broken hearted for his loss.
Another race-horse and cat were great friends, and
the latter generally slept in the manger. When the

THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER. 33

horse was going to have his oats, he always took up
the cat by the skin of her neck, and dropped her into
the next stall, that she might not be in his way while
he was feeding. At all other times he seemed pleased
to have her near him. Eclipse was fond of a sheep,
and Chillaby, called from his great ferocity, the Mad
Arabian, whom only one of the grooms dared to ap-
proach, and who savagely tore to pieces the image of
a man purposely placed in his way, had his peculiar
attachment to a lamb that used to spend many an
hour in butting away the flies from his friend.

" A gentleman of Bristol had a greyhound, which
slept in the stable along with a very fine hunter of
about five years of age. These animals became mu-
tually attached, and regarded each other with the
most tender affection. The greyhound always lay
under the manger beside the horse, which was so
fond of him, that he became unhappy and restless
when the dog was, out of his sight. It was a common
practice with the gentleman to whom they belonged,
to call at the stable for the greyhound to accompany
him in his walks: on such occasions the horse would
look over his shoulder at the dog with much anxiety,
and neigh in a manner which plainly said�' Let me
also accompany you.' When the dog returned to the
stable, he was always welcomed by a loud neigh�he

34 THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER.

ran up to the horse and licked his nose ; in return, the
horse would scratch the dog's back with his teeth.
One day, when the groom was out with the horse
and greyhound for exercise, a large dog attacked the
latter, and quickly bore him to the ground ; on which
the horse threw back his ears, and, in spite of all the
efforts of the groom, rushed at the strange dog that
was worrying at the greyhound, seized him by the
back with his teeth, which speedily made him quit
his hold, and shook him till a large piece of the skin
gave way. The offender no sooner got on his feet,
than he judged it prudent to beat a precipitate retreat
from so formidable an opponent."

Another instance of attachment between a horse
and a dog is related by Capt. Brown in his " Biogra-
phical Sketches:" "My friend, Dr. Smith, of the
Queen's County Militia, Ireland, had a beautiful
hackney, which, although extremely spirited, was at
the same time wonderfully docile. He had also a
fine Newfoundland dog, named Csesar. These animals
were mutually attached, and seemed perfectly ac-
quainted with each other's actions. The dog was
always kept in the stable at night, and uniformly
Jay beside the horse. When Dr. Smith practised in
Dublin, he visited his patients on horseback, and had
no other servant to take care of the horse, while in

THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER.

their houses, but Csesar, to whom he gave the reins
in his mouth. The horse stood very quietly, even in
that crowded city, beside his friend Caesar. When it
happened that the doctor had a patient not far distant
from the place where he paid his last visit, he did not
think it worth while to remount, but called to his
horse and Caesar. They both instantly obeyed, and
remained quietly opposite the door where he entered,
until he came out again. While he remained in
Maryborough, Queen's County, where I commanded
a detachment, I had many opportunities of witnessing
the friendship and sagacity of these intelligent animals.
The horse seemed to be as implicitly obedient to his
friend Caesar as he could possibly be to his groom.
The doctor would go to the stable, accompanied by
his dog, put the bridle upon his horse, and giving the
reins to Caesar, bid him take the horse to the water.
They both understood what was to be done, when off
trotted Caesar, followed by the horse, which frisked,
capered, and played with the dog all the way to the
rivulet, about three hundred yards distant from the
stable. We followed at a great distance, always
keeping as far off as possible, so that we could ob-
serve their manoeuvres. They invariably went to the
stream, and after the horse had quenched his thirst,

THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER.

both returned in the same playful manner as they
had gone out.

" The doctor frequently desired Cjesar to make the
horse leap over this stream, which might be about
six feet broad. The dog, by a kind of bark, and
leaping up towards the horse's head, intimated to him
what he wanted, which was quickly understood; and
he cantered off, preceded by Caesar, and took the
leap in a neat and regular style. The dog was then
desired to bring him back again, and it was speedily
done in the same manner. On one occasion Caesar
lost hold of the reins, and as soon as the horse cleared
the leap, he immediately trotted up to his canine
guide, who took hold of the bridle, and led him
through the water quietly."

" A gentleman," says Mr. Jesse, " who resides
near Southampton, had a retriever, a large half-bred
Newfoundland dog, that had formed a friendship with
a horse, which, at the time I am referring to, was
turned out into a paddock near the house. The dog,
hunting one day by himself, was caught in a snare by
the leg, and after struggling some time, during which
its cries were heard, he disengaged himself so far from
his confinement as to break the string of the snare,
the wire being still attached to the limb. In this

THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER. 37

situation he was observed by my friend and his host
to go to the horse in the paddock, and seemed at once
to make him aware of his distress. The horse gently
put his nose down to the dog, and the dog having
licked it, lifted up the leg to which the snare was
attached in a manner which could not be mistaken.
The horse immediately began to try to disengage the
snare, by applying his teeth to it in a gentle and
cautious manner, although he was unable to succeed
in removing it. This is by no means a solitary in-
stance of the sympathy which animals show for each
other when in distress."

Man may fully avail himself of this amiable dispo-
sition of the horse; it is rarely the latter's fault if he
and his owner are not on the best possible terms. How
often has the horse been found grazing by the side of
his drunken prostrate master, whom he would not
leave. " We have seen," says Mr. Blaine, " a child of
five years old purposely sent by the wife of the coach-
man to quiet an unruly and noisy coach-horse, for to
no other person would he yield such obedience; but
a pat from her tiny hand, or her infantile inquiry�
'What is the matter with you?' was sufficient to allay
every obstreperous symptom. But it was to her only
he yielded such submission, for otherwise he was a
high-spirited and really intractable animal. Often

THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER.

has this child been found lying asleep on the neck of
the horse, when he had laid himself down in his stall,
and so long as she continued to sleep, so long the
horse invariably remained in his recumbent position."
There is something almost mysterious in the man-
ner in which the horse contrives to pick his way in
safety through dangerous and deceitful ground, and
to discover and avoid perils of which his master is
quite unsuspicious. In all doubtful cases the animal's
head should be left free, that he may put his nose to
the ground, and examine it by touch, as well as by
sight and hearing (the muzzle is the peculiar organ of
touch in the horse), and he will then seldom fail to
judge promptly and unerringly whether or not he may
venture to proceed. But even when the animal is
confined in harness and restrained from the free use
of all his faculties, he sometimes exercises his won-
derful instinct in the happiest manner. In the very
month in which we are writing (January, 1846), seve-
ral hundred feet of the viaduct of Barentin over the
Rouen and Havre railway came down with a sudden
crash. Just before the fall, Monsieur Lorgery, flour
merchant of Pavilly, was about to cross one of the
arches in his cabriolet, when the horse stopped short
and refused to pass. M. Lorgery struck the animal
with his whip,.but all in vain�he refused to stir. At

THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER. 39

the moment while his unsuspecting driver was still
urging him on, the fall took place.

It is partly owing to the faculty of discerning the
obscurest traces of a frequented, or at least a prac-
ticable road, and partly to that tenacious power of
memory which enables a horse to recognise a road he
has once traversed, that bewildered travellers, from
the days of knight-errantry downwards, have found it
good policy to throw the reins on their steed's neck,
and trust themselves implicitly to his guidance. Along
with this retentive memory the horse combines a very
business-like observance of habit and routine. The
author of " The Menageries" knew a horse which,
being accustomed to make a journey once a week
with the newsman of a provincial paper, always
stopped at the houses of the several customers,
although they were sixty or seventy in number. But
further, there were two persons in the route who took
one paper between them, and each claimed the privi-
lege of receiving it first on the alternate Sunday.
The horse soon became accustomed to this regulation;
although the parties lived two miles asunder, he
stopped once a fortnight at the door of the half-
customer at Thorpe, and once a fortnight at that of
the half-customer at Chertsey; and never did he
forget this arrangement, which lasted several years,

THE HORSE AND HIS MDEH.

or stop unnecessarily after he had once thoroughly
understood the rule.

The docility and intelligence of the horse are
abundantly shown in the feats he is trained to per-
form in the Circus; but those which he is self-taught
are still more interesting. Lord Brougham in his
" Dissertations" says, he knew a pony that used to
open the latch of the stable door, and also raise the
lid of the corn chest; and he notices the instance of
a horse opening the wicket-gate of a field by pressing
down the upright bar, as a man would do,�"actions,"
he observes, " which the animals must have learned
from observation, as it is very unlikely that they were
taught." Such feats are not uncommon; but the
following is, we believe, unique. In 1794, a gentle-
man in Leeds had a horse which, after having been
kept up in the stable for some time, and turned out
into a field where there was a pump well supplied
with water, regularly obtained a quantity therefrom
by his own dexterity. For this purpose, the animal
was observed to take the handle into his mouth, and
work it with his head, in a way exactly similar to
that done by the hand of man, until a sufficiency was
procured.

The force of habit is particularly strong in the
old hunter and in the war-horse. The Tyrolese,

THE HORSE AND HIS EIDER. 41

in one of their insurrections in 1809, took fifteen
Bavarian horses, and mounted them with fifteen of
their own men; but in a skirmish with a squadron of
the same regiment, no sooner did these horses hear
the trumpet and recognise the uniform of their old
masters, than they set off at full gallop, and carried
their riders, in spite of all their efforts, into the
Bavarian ranks, where they were made prisoners.
But inveterate habits are contracted in peace as well
as in war, domi militiceque, a truth which was curiously
exemplified in a case that fell under our own observa-
tion. Some ladies of our acquaintance in Essex
bought a very respectable, middle aged, black-coated
horse, to draw their four-wheeled open chaise, driven
by their own fair hands. At first they were greatly
pleased with their bargain; the horse was as strong
as an elephant, as gentle as a lamb, and as sedate as
a parish clerk. But he soon gave proof of very
ungenteel propensities. No sooner did a public
house come in view than he would rush up to the
door, in defiance of whip and rein, and persist in
remaining there a reasonable drinking time, thereby
exposing the reputation of his mistresses to very
shocking surmises. It afterwards came out that he
had learned these ways of a jolly old farmer in whose
possession he had been for some years.

42 THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER.

There is a story told of a famous trotter belonging
to a butcher, which attracted the admiration of a
gentleman by its splendid action, and was bought by
him at a very high price. But no long time elapsed
before the purchaser came to the conclusion that he
had been taken in; the horse was decidedly a dull,
lazy brute ; it was all over with his fine trotting; and
the butcher who sold him was, no doubt, aware that
the animal laboured under some unsoundness that
destroyed his former high qualities. The gentleman
took the horse to its former owner, and indignantly
denounced the fraud that had been practised upon
him. The butcher listened in silence to the stormy
harangue, and then turning to one of his men, who
was leaving the shop with a tray of meat on his
shoulder, he said to him, " Here, Dick, jump up, just
as you are, and let us see if the horse can't trot a bit."
The man did so, and off" started the horse in the very
best style. The gentleman was amazed and con-
founded : "I can never make him go like that!" he
said. " That's a pity, sir," replied the butcher;
" you see it is not his fault. But I '11 tell you what it
is; you just please to mount, and let me put a tray of
meat on the saddle before you, and then I warrant
you '11 say he goes fast enough !"

Horses often exhibit a good deal of cunning.

THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER. 43

The late General Pater, of the East India service,
was a remarkably fat man. While stationed at
Madras, he purchased a charger, which, after a short
trial, all at once betook himself to a trick of lying
down whenever he prepared to get upon his back.
Every expedient was tried, without success, to cure
him of the trick; and the laugh was so much in-
dulged against the general's corpulency, that he found
it convenient to dispose of his horse to a young officer
quitting the settlement for a distant station up the
country. Upwards of two years had subsequently
elapsed, when, in the execution of his official duties,
General Pater left Madras to inspect one of the fron-
tier cantonments. He travelled, as is the usual cus-
tom in India, in his palanqueen (a covered couch
carried on men's shoulders). The morning after his
arrival at the station, the troops were drawn out;
and, as he had brought no horses, it was proper to
provide for his being suitably mounted, though it
was not very easy to find a charger adapted to his
weight. At length an officer resigned to him a
powerful horse for the occasion, which was brought
out duly caparisoned in front of the line. The
general came forth from his tent, and proceeded to
mount; but the instant the horse saw him advance,
he flung himself flat upon the sand, and neither blows

THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER.

nor entreaties could induce him to rise. It was the
general's old charger, which, from the moment of
quitting his service, had never once practised the
artifice until this second meeting. The genera], who
was an exceedingly good-humoured man, joined
heartily in the universal shout that ran through the
whole line on witnessing this ludicrous affair.

Courage is a quality of great importance in a horse,
and some possess it in a high degree. It is worthy,
too, of remark, that there is often something more
than mere natural indifference to danger, something
of an intellectual character in the courage of the
horse. He learns to overcome his fears. At the
sight of a tiger a horse has been known to become
wholly paralysed with terror, and incapable of re-
sistance, or even of flight; and yet this instinctive
dread of mortal foes can be eradicated by education,
and a reliance on the protection of man. A remark-
able proof of this is, that the hunting leopard is
allowed by the well-trained horse to spring on his
back, either behind or before his master, when he
goes a-field in pursuit of game. One of the most
signal instances of courage on the part of horse and
rider, and of perfect concert between both, is that
recorded of the late Sir Robert Gillespie and his
Arab. Sir Robert being present on the race-course

THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER. 45

of Calcutta during one of the great Hindoo festivals,
when many thousands are assembled to witness all
sorts of shows, was suddenly alarmed by the shrieks
and commotion of the crowd. On being informed
that a tiger had escaped from his keepers, he imme-
diately called for his horse, and, with no other weapon
than a boar-spear snatched from one of the by-
standers, he rode to attack this formidable enemy.
The tiger was probably amazed at finding himself in
the middle of such a number of shrieking beings
flying from him in all directions; but the moment he
perceived Sir Robert, he crouched in the attitude of
preparing to spring upon him ; and that instant the
gallant soldier passed his horse in a leap over the
tiger's back, and struck the spear through his spine.
It was a feat requiring the utmost conceivable unity
of purpose and movement on the part of horse and
rider, almost realising for the moment the fable of
the centaur. Had either swerved or wavered for a
second, both had been lost. But the brave steed
knew his rider. The animal was a small grey, and
was afterwards sent home as a present to the Prince
Regent.

Sir Robert fell subsequently at the storming of
Kalunga. Another horse of his, a favourite black
charger, bred at the Cape of Good Hope, and carried

SIR ROBERT GILLESPTE S DARING FEAT.

46 THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER.

by him to India, was, at the sale of his effects, comi
peted for by several officers of his division, and
finally knocked down to the privates of the 8th dra-
goons, who contributed their prize money, to the
amount of �500 sterling, to retain this commemora-
tion of their late commander. The charger was
always led at the head of the regiment on a march,
and at the station of Cawnpore was usually indulged
with taking his ancient post at the colour stand,
where the salute of passing squadrons was given at
drill and on reviews. When the regiment was ordered
home, the funds of the privates running low, he was
bought for the same sum by a gentleman, who pro-
vided funds and a paddock for him, where he might
end his days in comfort; but when the corps had
marched, and the sound of the trumpet had departed,
he refused to eat, and on the first opportunity, being
led out to exercise, he broke from his groom, and
galloping to his ancient station on the parade, after
neighing aloud, dropped down and died.

It is not surprising that an animal endowed in so
high a degree as the horse is with mental and moral
faculties, should occasionally be subject, like man, to
derangement of these faculties. The disordered ac-
tions, the fury, the caprices, and the vices which are
sometimes shown by the brute, are in the highest

THE HORSE AND HIS EIDER. 47

degree analagous to certain forms of human insanity.
The following anecdotes are related by Mr. Youatt,
on the authority of Professor Rodet, of Toulouse:�
A horse, seven years old, was remarkable for an
habitual air of stupidity, and a peculiar wandering
expression of countenance. When he saw any thing
he had not been accustomed to, or heard any sudden
or unusual noise, whether it was near or at, a distance,
or sometimes when his corn was thrown into the
manger without the precaution of speaking to him or
patting him, he was frightened to an almost incre-
dible degree; he recoiled precipitately, every limb
trembled, and he straggled violently to escape.
After several useless efforts to get away, he would
work himself into the very highest.degree of rage so
that it was dangerous to approach him. This state
of excitement was followed by dreadful convulsions,
which did not cease until he had broken his halter,
or otherwise freed himself from his trammels. He
would then become calm, and suffer himself to be led
back to his stable, nor would any thing more be seen
but an almost continual uneasiness, and a wandering
and stupid expression of countenance. He had be-
longed to a brutal soldier, who had beaten him
shamefully: but before he fell into that man's hands
he had been perfectly quiet and tractable.

THK HOKSE AND HIS RIDER.

A Piedmontese officer possessed a beautiful mare,
and one that would have been in all respects service-
able, but for a peculiarity that rendered her exceed-
ingly dangerous: that was a decided aversion to
paper, which she recognised the moment she saw it,
and even in the dark, if two leaves were rubbed to-
gether. The effect produced by the sight or sound
of it was so prompt and violent, that she several times
unhorsed her rider. She had not the slightest fear
of objects that would terrify most horses. She re-
garded not the music of the band, the whistling of
the balls, the roaring of the cannon, the fires of the
bivouacs, or the glittering of arms. The confusion
and noise of an engagement made no impression on
her; the sight of no other white object offended her.
No other sound moved her, but the view or the
rustling of paper roused her to madness.

A mare was perfectly manageable, and betrayed
no antipathy to human beings, to animals of other
kinds, or to horses, except they were of a light grey
colour; but the moment she saw a light grey horse
she rushed towards it and attacked it with the greatest
fury. It was the same at all times and everywhere.
She was all that could be wished on the parade, on
the route, in the ranks, in action, and in the stable;
but if she once caught a glimpse of a grey or white

THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER.

horse she rested not until she had thrown her rider or
broken her halter, and then she rushed on the object
of her dislike with the utmost fury. She generally
contrived to seize the animal by the head or throat,
and held him so fast that she would suffocate him,
if he were not promptly released from her bite.

Another mare exhibited no dread except of white
inanimate objects, as white mantles or coats, and
particularly white plumes. She would fly from them
if she could; but if unable to accomplish this, she
would rush fiercely upon them, strike at them with
her forefeet, and tear them with her teeth.

One of these horses, the second, was by long and
kind attention divested of its insane terror, and
became perfectly quiet and useful; but the other
three bid defiance to all means of cure, and to coer-
cion amongst the rest. The cases of all four were as
decided instances of monomania, or insanity confined
to one object, as ever were exhibited in the human
being. .

VICES, AND DISAGBEEABLE OK DANGEBOUS HABITS.

N the last chapter we gave
instances of mischievous propensities di-
rected only against certain kinds of objects,
and displaying all the characters of what is
called monomania. These are rare cases;
but it is not uncommon to find horses,
whom no jury would pronounce insane, but
who are addicted to the worst and most malevolent
practices, such as kicking, biting, and plunging with-
out provocation, or to shying and starting from mere
wantonness, to the great danger and annoyance of
their riders. These and other vices are partly the
effect of a naturally bad temper, and partly of bad
education. Horses, for instance, that are teased by
the thoughtless play of grooms and stable boys, will



**^J��&/S<f^l~~**
**^J��&/S<f^l~~**

	- IPS
	- IPS

			CONTENTS.

		CHAPTER I. P.U.K Domestication of the Horse�Horse B'urniture�Various Breeds�Blood Horses�Ponies....... . 1 CHAPTER II. Physiognomy' of the Horse�Sagacity'�Fidelity�Socia- bility, &c.�Anecdotes�Insanity.......23 CHAPTER ill. Vices, and Disagreeable or Dangerous Habits ... 50 chapter iv. Speed and Endurance�Carnivorous Horses�Horseflesh as Food�Horsebaiting ... .......66 chapter v. Primitive State of Wild Horses�The Steppes ... 86



		29
	THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER.	29

length or shortness. There is no surer criterion of a well-bred horse than a broad, angular forehead, pro- minent features, and a short face; nor of a horse with little breeding than a narrow forehead, small features, and lengthened nose. The comparative development of the head and face indicates, with little error, the preponderance of the animal or intel- lectual principle." As the horse breathes only through the nose, it is important that the openings into that cavity should be free, and capable of dilating sufficiently to allow of the passage of a large volume of air when the animal is put to his speed. The expanded nostril is a striking feature in the blood horse, especially when he has been excited and not overblown. What a sudden effect is given to the countenance of the hunter, when his ears become erect, and his nostrils dilate, as he first listens to the cry of the hounds, and snorts and scents them afar off! And the war-horse �" the glory of his nostrils is terrible !" The following anecdote, related by Professor Kiigler, of Halle, proves both the sagacity and the fidelity of the horse:�A friend of his, riding home through a wood on a dark night, struck his head against a branch of a tree, and fell stunned to the ground. The horse immediately returned to the c 2



■/:3

					,JS

			'■■

	Man

				,«<"
				,«<"		M&
						M&

							'.-.�.

		SIR ROBERT GILLESPTE S DARING FEAT.



		55
	THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER.	55
	THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER.

The Whisperer was now sent for. This myste- rious horse-tamer soon arrived, was shut up with the horse all night, and in the morning exhibited the hitherto ferocious animal following him about the course like a dog�lying down at his command�suf- fering his mouth to be opened, and any person's hand to be introduced into it�in short, as quiet almost as a sheep. He came out the same meeting and won his race, and his docility continued satisfac- tory for a considerable period; but at the end of three years his vice returned, and then he is said to have killed a man, for which he was destroyed. The man who effected the wonder we have just recounted was an awkward, ignorant rustic of the lowest class, of the name of Sullivan, but better known by the appellation of the Whisperer. His occupation was horse-breaking. The nickname he acquired from the vulgar notion of his being able to communicate to the animal what he wished by means of a whisper; and the singularity of his method seemed in some degree to justify the supposition. How his art was acquired, or in what it consisted, he never disclosed. He died about 1810. His son, who followed him in the same trade, possessed but a small portion of the art, having either never learned the true secret, or being incapable of putting it into practice.



		f>7
	THE HORSE AND HIS EIDER.	f>7

account, once saw this man's skill tried on a horse which could never before be brought to stand still for a smith to shoe him. " The day after Sullivan's half hour's lecture," he says, " I went, not without some incredulity, to the smith's shop, with many other curious spectators, where we were witnesses of the complete success of his art. This, too, had been a troop horse, and it was supposed, not without reason, that after regimental discipline had failed, no other would be found availing. I observed that the animal appeared terrified whenever Sullivan either spoke to or looked at him : how that extraordinary ascendancy could have been obtained it is difficult to conjecture. " In common cases this mysterious preparation was unnecessary. He seemed to possess an instinctive power of inspiring awe, the result, perhaps, of natural intrepidity, in which, I believe, a great part of his art consisted : though the circumstance of the tete-a- tete shows that, on particular occasions, something more must have been added to it. A faculty like this would in some hands have made a fortune, and I understand that great offers were made to him for the exercise of his art abroad. But hunting was his passion: he lived at home in the style most agreeable to his disposition, and nothing could induce him to quit Duhallow and the fox-hounds."


		*I .in lUK-puiBipwii^iii iti.ui«i_:nus.MiH\|«#iniipi.JW!niHn.«.jiJ. i n »■ -**

			THE PILLION





LONDON , ' I IE! i.l.T.V BROTHERS AND DO -, PRINTERS AN r> ENGRAVERS, rETERBORuUCJH COURT, FLEET STREET.

	RIJKSUNIVERSITEITTE UTRECHT

		1839 8051




		CONTENTS.

	rAOE CHAPTER VI.

The Centaur�The Mongols and Calmucks�A Russian Taboon.................100 CHAPTER VII. The Cossacks�The Circassians�The Mamelukes . . 131 CHAPTER VIII. Bei.a�A Story of the Caucasus.........150 chapter ix. Runjeet Singh's Famous Horse Lylee�Anecdotes� Persian Horses..............179 CHAPTER X. Arabian Horses . ..............194 chapter xi. Feral Horses of America�Indians and Gauchos . . . 204



		THE HORSE AND HIS RIDEB. CHAPTEK I. DOMESTICATION 01' THE HORSE�HOUSE FURNITURE�VARIOUS BREEDS�BLOOD HORSES�PONIES. HE reduction of the horse to the domestic state, as Buffon justly ob- serves, is the greatest acquisition from the animal world ever made by the art and industry of man. Every one knows and admires the graceful symmetry, the speed, vigour, docility, and endurance of that noble creature; but few, perhaps, have re- flected on the important part he has played in the history of our race; few are aware how much we owe it to him, that we at this day are not as rude and wretched as our barbarian forefathers, but live surrounded by those countless blessings which are A



		THE HOUSE AND HIS RIDER. 3 whether he was first used for draught or riding. It is prohable that the animal was employed for both pur- poses in very early times, and in various parts of the world; but though many of the ancients possessed great mastery over their horses, and performed with them admirable feats of skill and agility, it is never- theless surprising by what slow steps the arts and inventions, connected with horsemanship, have reached their present degree of perfection. The polished Greeks, as well as the ruder nations of northern Africa, for a long while rode without either saddle or bridle, guiding their horses with the voice or the hand, or with a light switch. They touched the animal on the right or left of the face to make him turn in the opposite direction; they stopped him by touching his muzzle, and urged him forward with the heel. The horses must have been excellently trained, to be governed by such slight means, in the violence of their course, or in the tumult of battle ; but the attention, docility, and memory of this animal are such, that it is hard to say to what a degree of obedience he may not be brought. Bridles and bits were at length introduced ; but many centuries elapsed before any thing that can pro- perly be called a saddle was used. Instead of these, cloths, single or padded, arid skins of wild beasts,



		9
	THE HOKSE AND HIS EIDER.	9
	THE HOKSE AND HIS EIDER.

�' Inscribed on many a learned page, In mystic characters and sage, Long time my first lias stood; And though its golden age be past, In wooden walls it yet may last, Till clothed in flesh and blood. My second is a welcome prize For those who love their curious eyes With foreign sights to pamper; But should it chance their gaze to meet, Al improvise/, in the street, Oh! how 'twould make them scamper! My third 's a kind of wandering throne, To woman limited alone, The Sdlique law reversing ; But when the imaginary queen Prepares to act this novel scene, Her royal part rehearsing; O'erturning her presumptuous plan, Up jumps the old usurper�Man." The various uses for which the horse is habitually employed require corresponding varieties in the make and shape of the animal. The dray horses of the London brewers are very handsome ; but their beauty is of a different kind from that of the Newmarket racer. That which is a good^- quality in one kind of horse may be a defect in another. An animal, for instance, which is intended for the saddle ought to stand with his fore legs erect; if they slope back-



		* THE HOESE AND HIS RIDER. 13 Ten years after he was withdrawn from the turf; O'Kelly was asked at what price he would sell him. At first he peremptorily refused to accept any price ; but after some reflection, he said he would take �25,000, with an annuity of �500, besides certain privileges. The seeming extravagance of this sum excited considerable remark, but O'Kelly declared he had already cleared more than �25,000 by Eclipse, and that the animal was still young enough to earn double that sum. From what we have said above, it appears that there are various standards of perfection for the horse's form, and that there must be a certain vagueness in any general description which shall include them all. It is not a little remarkable that we are indebted to Terentius Varro, who wrote about the year 70 B.C., for a description of the horse which, in the opinion of so excellent a judge as Mr. Youatt, has scarcely been surpassed in modern times:�" We may prognosticate great things of a colt," he says, "if, when running in the pastures, he is ambitious to get before his com- panions, and if, on coming to a river, he strives to be the first to plunge into it. His head should be small, his limbs clean and compact, his eyes bright and sparkling, his nostrils open and large, his ears placed near each other, his mane strong and full, his chest B



		20 THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER. amusements of the Welsh farmers and peasantry a century and a half ago, and it has not even now fallen altogether into disuse. The following story of one of these expeditions is related in the Cambrian Quar- terly Magazine :� " A farmer, named Hugo Garonwy, lived in the neighbourhood of Llewyn Georie. Although he handled the small tilt plough, and other farming tools in their due season, yet the catching of the merlin, the fox, and the hare, were pursuits more congenial to his tastes ; and the tumbles and thumps which he received, and from which no pony hunter was exempt, served but to attach him to the sport. Rugged, however, as were the Merioneddshire coast and its environs, and abounding with precipices and morasses, the hunter sometimes experienced worse mishaps, and so it happened with Garonwy. " He set out one morning with his lasso coiled round his waist, and attended by two hardy de- pendents and their greyhounds. The lasso was then familiar to the Welshman, and as adroitly managed by him as by any guacho on the plains of South America. As the hunters climbed the mountain's brow, the distant herd of ponies took alarm�some- times galloping onwards, and then suddenly halting and wheeling round, snorting as if in defiance of the



		22 THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER. clear, flung the lasso over the head of the wild horse. The extremity of the cord was twisted round his own body, and tightening as the animal struggled, the compression became insupportable, and at length, in spite of every effort to disengage himself, Garonwy was dragged from his horse. " The affrighted merlin, finding himself manacled by the rope, darted off with all the speed of which he was capable, dragging poor Garonwy over the rocky ground and stunted brushwood. This occurred at some distance from the men. They called in their dogs that the speed of the merlin might not be in- creased ; but ere they could arrive at the spot at which the accident happened, the horse and the man had vanished. Whether the sufferings of the hunter were protracted, or he was dashed against a rock at the commencement of the horrible race, was never known ; but the wild animal, frenzied and blinded by terror, rushed over a beetling cliff, at a considerable distance, overhanging the sea-shore, and the hunter and the horse were found at the bottom, a misshapen semblance of what they had been when living."



			CHAPTER II.

		PHYSIOGNOMY OF THE HOBSE�SAGACITY, FIDELITY, SOCIABILITY, &C; ANECDOTES----INSANITY. ^'HE physiognomy of the horse is an interesting subject. Those who have made it their study can read the animal's passions and purposes in his face. The follow- ing hints on this topic are chiefly from Pro- fessor Youatt:� The eye enables us with tolerable accuracy to guess at the animal's temper. If much of the white is seen, he is not to be lightly trusted. The mischievous horse is always slyly on the look out for opportunities to indulge his malice, and the frequent backward direction of the eye, which makes the white most perceptible, is only to give surer effects to the blow which he is about to aim. The quality of the horse's vision differs from that



		24 THE HORSE AND HIS EIDER. of man. The former can take in a wider range in con- sequence of the lateral position of the eyes and their distance apart; and when the animal, with its head down, is quietly grazing, it can see objects with faci- lity in every direction round it. Man's vision is more limited in range, but it is probable more acute, be- cause the black lining of the human eye renders it a more perfect camera obscura, and gives more vivid- ness to the pictures formed within it. The lining membrane of the horse's eye is of a beautiful sea green colour, in consequence of which it absorbs so much the less light, and thereby affords increased power of vision in the night. Every rider must be aware from experience that his horse can discern sur- rounding objects, when the gloom of evening conceals them from his own eyesight. All animals who have to seek their food by night have the interior of the eye more or less bright; in the wolf and the dog it is grey; and in all varieties of the cat species it is yellow; the eyes of the lion have been compared to two flaming torches in the night. There are indi- viduals of the human race called Albinos, whose eyes look red like those of ferrets, from the absence of the usual black pigment, and these persons are almost blind by day, but see with ease in what to other men seems thick darkness.



		26 THE HORSE AND HIS EIDER. and continuance. The stretching of the ears in con- trary directions shows that he is attentive to every thing that is passing round him; and while he is doing this he cannot be much fatigued, or likely soon to become so. It has been remarked, that few horses sleep without pointing one ear forward and the other backward, in order that they may receive notice of the approach of objects in every direction. When horses or mules march in company at night, those in front direct their ears forward, those in the rear direct them backward, and those in the centre turn them laterally or across; the whole troop seeming thus to be actuated by one feeling which watches the general safety. The ear of the horse is one of the most beautiful parts about him, and by few things is the temper more surely indicated than by its motion. The ear is more intelligible even than the eye ; and a person accustomed to the horse can tell, by the expressive motion of that organ, almost all that he thinks or means. When a horse lays his ears flat back on his neck, he most assuredly is meditating mischief, and the stander by should beware of his heels or his teeth. In play the ears will be laid back, but not so de- cidedly or so long. A quick change in their position, and more particularly the expression of the eye at



		28 THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER. glad to see that in this instance, too, fashion is be* ginning to side with reason and good taste. The lips of the horse are his hands; they serve both as organs of touch and as instruments of pre- hension, as may be seen when the animal is feeding. He gathers up his corn with them, and collects the grass into a tuft before he bites it. The lips should be thin, but firm and regularly closed. Flabby, pen- dulous lips indicate weakness or old age, or dulness and sluggishness. It is thought, perhaps, with some degree of truth, that indications of character may be drawn from the shape of the nose: but the rules in this case are the reverse of those applicable in judging of human noses; for, in the horse, the prominent Roman nose bespeaks an easy, good-tempered kind of beast, but rather of a plebeian order of mind and body ; the horse with a straight, or Grecian nose, may be good or bad tem- pered, but not often either to any great excess; but a hollow nose (a cocked one, as we should say, in speaking of the human face) generally indicates some breeding, especially if the head is small, but occa- sionally accompanied by a vicious, uncontrollable disposition. " There is another way, however," says Mr. Youatt, " in which the nasal bones do more cer- tainly indicate the breed; viz., by their comparative



		THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER. 31 he often displays the most generous solicitude, to avoid injuring other creatures. It is not an uncom- mon thing for a fallen soldier to escape without one touch of a hoof, though a charge of cavalry pass over his prostrate body, every animal in the line leaping clear over him. An old horse belonging to a carter in Strathnegie, Fifeshire, had become particularly familiar with the ways of children, for his master had a large family. One day, as this animal was dragging a loaded cart through a narrow lane near the village, a young child happened to be sprawling in the road, and would inevitably have been crushed by the wheels, if the sagacious old horse had not prevented it. He carefully took up the child by the clothes with his teeth, carried it for a few yards, and then placed it on a bank by the wayside, moving slowly all the while, and looking back as if to satisfy himself that the wheels of the cart had cleared it. Gregarious in the wild state, the horse retains the same sociable disposition in domestication, and shows a great aversion to be left alone. This companion- able temper appears very pleasingly in the field, in the gambolings of horses with each other, in their manifest curiosity when a strange horse comes in sight, and the animated gestures and neighings with which they try to strike up an acquaintance, and,



				THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER. 33 horse was going to have his oats, he always took up the cat by the skin of her neck, and dropped her into the next stall, that she might not be in his way while he was feeding. At all other times he seemed pleased to have her near him. Eclipse was fond of a sheep, and Chillaby, called from his great ferocity, the Mad Arabian, whom only one of the grooms dared to ap- proach, and who savagely tore to pieces the image of a man purposely placed in his way, had his peculiar attachment to a lamb that used to spend many an hour in butting away the flies from his friend. " A gentleman of Bristol had a greyhound, which slept in the stable along with a very fine hunter of about five years of age. These animals became mu- tually attached, and regarded each other with the most tender affection. The greyhound always lay under the manger beside the horse, which was so fond of him, that he became unhappy and restless when the dog was, out of his sight. It was a common practice with the gentleman to whom they belonged, to call at the stable for the greyhound to accompany him in his walks: on such occasions the horse would look over his shoulder at the dog with much anxiety, and neigh in a manner which plainly said�' Let me also accompany you.' When the dog returned to the stable, he was always welcomed by a loud neigh�he



		34 THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER. ran up to the horse and licked his nose ; in return, the horse would scratch the dog's back with his teeth. One day, when the groom was out with the horse and greyhound for exercise, a large dog attacked the latter, and quickly bore him to the ground ; on which the horse threw back his ears, and, in spite of all the efforts of the groom, rushed at the strange dog that was worrying at the greyhound, seized him by the back with his teeth, which speedily made him quit his hold, and shook him till a large piece of the skin gave way. The offender no sooner got on his feet, than he judged it prudent to beat a precipitate retreat from so formidable an opponent." Another instance of attachment between a horse and a dog is related by Capt. Brown in his " Biogra- phical Sketches:" "My friend, Dr. Smith, of the Queen's County Militia, Ireland, had a beautiful hackney, which, although extremely spirited, was at the same time wonderfully docile. He had also a fine Newfoundland dog, named Csesar. These animals were mutually attached, and seemed perfectly ac- quainted with each other's actions. The dog was always kept in the stable at night, and uniformly Jay beside the horse. When Dr. Smith practised in Dublin, he visited his patients on horseback, and had no other servant to take care of the horse, while in



		THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER. 37 situation he was observed by my friend and his host to go to the horse in the paddock, and seemed at once to make him aware of his distress. The horse gently put his nose down to the dog, and the dog having licked it, lifted up the leg to which the snare was attached in a manner which could not be mistaken. The horse immediately began to try to disengage the snare, by applying his teeth to it in a gentle and cautious manner, although he was unable to succeed in removing it. This is by no means a solitary in- stance of the sympathy which animals show for each other when in distress." Man may fully avail himself of this amiable dispo- sition of the horse; it is rarely the latter's fault if he and his owner are not on the best possible terms. How often has the horse been found grazing by the side of his drunken prostrate master, whom he would not leave. " We have seen," says Mr. Blaine, " a child of five years old purposely sent by the wife of the coach- man to quiet an unruly and noisy coach-horse, for to no other person would he yield such obedience; but a pat from her tiny hand, or her infantile inquiry� 'What is the matter with you?' was sufficient to allay every obstreperous symptom. But it was to her only he yielded such submission, for otherwise he was a high-spirited and really intractable animal. Often

			D



		THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER. 39 the moment while his unsuspecting driver was still urging him on, the fall took place. It is partly owing to the faculty of discerning the obscurest traces of a frequented, or at least a prac- ticable road, and partly to that tenacious power of memory which enables a horse to recognise a road he has once traversed, that bewildered travellers, from the days of knight-errantry downwards, have found it good policy to throw the reins on their steed's neck, and trust themselves implicitly to his guidance. Along with this retentive memory the horse combines a very business-like observance of habit and routine. The author of " The Menageries" knew a horse which, being accustomed to make a journey once a week with the newsman of a provincial paper, always stopped at the houses of the several customers, although they were sixty or seventy in number. But further, there were two persons in the route who took one paper between them, and each claimed the privi- lege of receiving it first on the alternate Sunday. The horse soon became accustomed to this regulation; although the parties lived two miles asunder, he stopped once a fortnight at the door of the half- customer at Thorpe, and once a fortnight at that of the half-customer at Chertsey; and never did he forget this arrangement, which lasted several years,



	�I 0
	�I 0	THE HORSE AND HIS MDEH.
		THE HORSE AND HIS MDEH.

or stop unnecessarily after he had once thoroughly understood the rule. The docility and intelligence of the horse are abundantly shown in the feats he is trained to per- form in the Circus; but those which he is self-taught are still more interesting. Lord Brougham in his " Dissertations" says, he knew a pony that used to open the latch of the stable door, and also raise the lid of the corn chest; and he notices the instance of a horse opening the wicket-gate of a field by pressing down the upright bar, as a man would do,�"actions," he observes, " which the animals must have learned from observation, as it is very unlikely that they were taught." Such feats are not uncommon; but the following is, we believe, unique. In 1794, a gentle- man in Leeds had a horse which, after having been kept up in the stable for some time, and turned out into a field where there was a pump well supplied with water, regularly obtained a quantity therefrom by his own dexterity. For this purpose, the animal was observed to take the handle into his mouth, and work it with his head, in a way exactly similar to that done by the hand of man, until a sufficiency was procured. The force of habit is particularly strong in the old hunter and in the war-horse. The Tyrolese,



		THE HORSE AND HIS EIDER. 41 in one of their insurrections in 1809, took fifteen Bavarian horses, and mounted them with fifteen of their own men; but in a skirmish with a squadron of the same regiment, no sooner did these horses hear the trumpet and recognise the uniform of their old masters, than they set off at full gallop, and carried their riders, in spite of all their efforts, into the Bavarian ranks, where they were made prisoners. But inveterate habits are contracted in peace as well as in war, domi militiceque, a truth which was curiously exemplified in a case that fell under our own observa- tion. Some ladies of our acquaintance in Essex bought a very respectable, middle aged, black-coated horse, to draw their four-wheeled open chaise, driven by their own fair hands. At first they were greatly pleased with their bargain; the horse was as strong as an elephant, as gentle as a lamb, and as sedate as a parish clerk. But he soon gave proof of very ungenteel propensities. No sooner did a public house come in view than he would rush up to the door, in defiance of whip and rein, and persist in remaining there a reasonable drinking time, thereby exposing the reputation of his mistresses to very shocking surmises. It afterwards came out that he had learned these ways of a jolly old farmer in whose possession he had been for some years.



		42 THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER. There is a story told of a famous trotter belonging to a butcher, which attracted the admiration of a gentleman by its splendid action, and was bought by him at a very high price. But no long time elapsed before the purchaser came to the conclusion that he had been taken in; the horse was decidedly a dull, lazy brute ; it was all over with his fine trotting; and the butcher who sold him was, no doubt, aware that the animal laboured under some unsoundness that destroyed his former high qualities. The gentleman took the horse to its former owner, and indignantly denounced the fraud that had been practised upon him. The butcher listened in silence to the stormy harangue, and then turning to one of his men, who was leaving the shop with a tray of meat on his shoulder, he said to him, " Here, Dick, jump up, just as you are, and let us see if the horse can't trot a bit." The man did so, and off" started the horse in the very best style. The gentleman was amazed and con- founded : "I can never make him go like that!" he said. " That's a pity, sir," replied the butcher; " you see it is not his fault. But I '11 tell you what it is; you just please to mount, and let me put a tray of meat on the saddle before you, and then I warrant you '11 say he goes fast enough !" Horses often exhibit a good deal of cunning.



		THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER. 43 The late General Pater, of the East India service, was a remarkably fat man. While stationed at Madras, he purchased a charger, which, after a short trial, all at once betook himself to a trick of lying down whenever he prepared to get upon his back. Every expedient was tried, without success, to cure him of the trick; and the laugh was so much in- dulged against the general's corpulency, that he found it convenient to dispose of his horse to a young officer quitting the settlement for a distant station up the country. Upwards of two years had subsequently elapsed, when, in the execution of his official duties, General Pater left Madras to inspect one of the fron- tier cantonments. He travelled, as is the usual cus- tom in India, in his palanqueen (a covered couch carried on men's shoulders). The morning after his arrival at the station, the troops were drawn out; and, as he had brought no horses, it was proper to provide for his being suitably mounted, though it was not very easy to find a charger adapted to his weight. At length an officer resigned to him a powerful horse for the occasion, which was brought out duly caparisoned in front of the line. The general came forth from his tent, and proceeded to mount; but the instant the horse saw him advance, he flung himself flat upon the sand, and neither blows



	! I
	! I	THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER.
		THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER.

nor entreaties could induce him to rise. It was the general's old charger, which, from the moment of quitting his service, had never once practised the artifice until this second meeting. The genera], who was an exceedingly good-humoured man, joined heartily in the universal shout that ran through the whole line on witnessing this ludicrous affair. Courage is a quality of great importance in a horse, and some possess it in a high degree. It is worthy, too, of remark, that there is often something more than mere natural indifference to danger, something of an intellectual character in the courage of the horse. He learns to overcome his fears. At the sight of a tiger a horse has been known to become wholly paralysed with terror, and incapable of re- sistance, or even of flight; and yet this instinctive dread of mortal foes can be eradicated by education, and a reliance on the protection of man. A remark- able proof of this is, that the hunting leopard is allowed by the well-trained horse to spring on his back, either behind or before his master, when he goes a-field in pursuit of game. One of the most signal instances of courage on the part of horse and rider, and of perfect concert between both, is that recorded of the late Sir Robert Gillespie and his Arab. Sir Robert being present on the race-course



		THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER. 45 of Calcutta during one of the great Hindoo festivals, when many thousands are assembled to witness all sorts of shows, was suddenly alarmed by the shrieks and commotion of the crowd. On being informed that a tiger had escaped from his keepers, he imme- diately called for his horse, and, with no other weapon than a boar-spear snatched from one of the by- standers, he rode to attack this formidable enemy. The tiger was probably amazed at finding himself in the middle of such a number of shrieking beings flying from him in all directions; but the moment he perceived Sir Robert, he crouched in the attitude of preparing to spring upon him ; and that instant the gallant soldier passed his horse in a leap over the tiger's back, and struck the spear through his spine. It was a feat requiring the utmost conceivable unity of purpose and movement on the part of horse and rider, almost realising for the moment the fable of the centaur. Had either swerved or wavered for a second, both had been lost. But the brave steed knew his rider. The animal was a small grey, and was afterwards sent home as a present to the Prince Regent. Sir Robert fell subsequently at the storming of Kalunga. Another horse of his, a favourite black charger, bred at the Cape of Good Hope, and carried



		THE HORSE AND HIS EIDER. 47 degree analagous to certain forms of human insanity. The following anecdotes are related by Mr. Youatt, on the authority of Professor Rodet, of Toulouse:� A horse, seven years old, was remarkable for an habitual air of stupidity, and a peculiar wandering expression of countenance. When he saw any thing he had not been accustomed to, or heard any sudden or unusual noise, whether it was near or at, a distance, or sometimes when his corn was thrown into the manger without the precaution of speaking to him or patting him, he was frightened to an almost incre- dible degree; he recoiled precipitately, every limb trembled, and he straggled violently to escape. After several useless efforts to get away, he would work himself into the very highest.degree of rage so that it was dangerous to approach him. This state of excitement was followed by dreadful convulsions, which did not cease until he had broken his halter, or otherwise freed himself from his trammels. He would then become calm, and suffer himself to be led back to his stable, nor would any thing more be seen but an almost continual uneasiness, and a wandering and stupid expression of countenance. He had be- longed to a brutal soldier, who had beaten him shamefully: but before he fell into that man's hands he had been perfectly quiet and tractable.



		CHAPTEE III. VICES, AND DISAGBEEABLE OK DANGEBOUS HABITS. N the last chapter we gave instances of mischievous propensities di- rected only against certain kinds of objects, and displaying all the characters of what is called monomania. These are rare cases; but it is not uncommon to find horses, whom no jury would pronounce insane, but who are addicted to the worst and most malevolent practices, such as kicking, biting, and plunging with- out provocation, or to shying and starting from mere wantonness, to the great danger and annoyance of their riders. These and other vices are partly the effect of a naturally bad temper, and partly of bad education. Horses, for instance, that are teased by the thoughtless play of grooms and stable boys, will



		51
	THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER.


begin by pretending to bite or kick their tormentors; by-and-by they will do so in earnest, and at last the habit will be permanently confirmed. Almost all veterinary surgeons are agreed in considering it hope- less to attempt the cure of these vices when once established. Professor Stewart says, "I have seen biters punished until they trembled in every joint and were ready to drop, but have never in any case known them to be cured by this treatment, or by any other. The lash is forgotten in an hour, and the horse is as ready and determined to repeat the offence as before. He appears unable to resist the tempta- tion, and in its worst form biting is a species of in- sanity." But, according to Burckhardt, the traveller, there is a method known to the Egyptian soldiery for curing the propensity to bite, and practised by them with unfailing success. They roast a leg of mutton, take it hot from the fire, and present it to the offend- ing animal. He plunges his teeth in it, they stick fast in the hot meat, and the pain he endures makes him careful for the future to bite at nothing but his lawful food. Mr. Morier mentions a singular method he saw practised in Persia to subdue the temper of a very vicious ^horse that had resisted every other kind of treatment. The horse was muzzled, and turned loose in an enclosure, there to await the attack of two



		52 THE HOUSE AND HIS RIDEK. horses whose mouths and limbs were at liberty, and which were turned in to attack him. So effectually did this discipline operate that he became completely altered, and as remarkable for docility as he had pre- viously been for savage obstinacy. It is related, we know not on what authority, that a novel kind of jockeyship was once tried with triumphant success in one of those cases we are here speaking of. A well-known nobleman, so runs the tale, had a wild horse which nobody could ride. " I know not what your lordship can do with him," said some one, " but to set the monkey on his back." So they put a pad on the horse, and clapped the monkey upon it with a switch in his hand, wherewith he be- laboured the horse, and set him into a furious kicking and galloping, but pug still kept his seat. The horse lay down on the ground; but when he threw himself on one side, the monkey was upon the other. He ran into a wood to brush his rider off; but the monkey dodged from side to side so as to avoid every tree and bush, uniil at last the horse was so sickened and fatigued and broken spirited, that he ran home to the stable for protection. When the monkey was removed, a boy was put in his place, and managed the horse with ease. The animal never gave any trouble afterwards.



			THE HORSE AND HIS EIDER. 53

		Old books of farriery mention a plan for taming intractable horses, which, we believe, has gone out of fashion only on account of the trouble attending it. We should be glad to see it revived, for we are in- clined to think it would be attended with very good results. The horse was tethered in his stall, with his tail to the manger, prevented from lying down and kept without food or sleep for forty-eight hours or more ; men, who relieved each other by turns, being stationed at his head to rouse him whenever he began to dose. This method was the same in principle as that by which falconers used to tame their hawks; and there can be little doubt that the discipline which could subdue those savage and impetuous birds, would have been no less efficacious in bringing down the unruly temper of the more generous quadruped. We have now to speak of certain horse-taming exploits, which have in them a strong tincture of the marvellous, but which are, nevertheless, authenticated by undeniable evidence. At the Spring meeting of 1804, Mr, Whalley's horse, King Pippin, was brought on the Curragh of Kildare to run. He was a horse of the most strangely savage and vicious disposition. His particular pro- pensity was that of flying at and worrying any person who came within his reach; and, if he had an oppor- e 2



	54
	54	THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER.
		THE HORSE AND HIS RIDER.

tunity, he would turn his head round, seize his rider by the leg with his teeth, and drag him down from his back. For this reason he was always ridden with what is called a sword; this is a strong flat stick, having one end attached to the check of the bridle, and the other to the girth of the saddle�a con- trivance to prevent a horse of this kind from getting at his rider. King Pippin had long been difficult to manage, and dangerous to go near; but on the occasion in question, he could not be got to run at all: nobody could put the bridle on his head. There was a large concourse of people assembled on the Curragh; and one countryman, more fearless than the rest of the lookers on, volunteered his services to bridle the horse. No sooner had he commenced operations, than King Pippin seized him somewhere about the shoulders, and shook him as a dog does a rat. For- tunately for the poor fellow his body was very thickly covered with clothes, for on such holiday occasions an Irishman of his class is fond of displaying his wardrobe, and if he has three coats in the world, he is sure to put them all on. Owing to this circum- stance, the horse never fairly got hold of his skin, and the man escaped with little injury, except the rent and ruined condition of his holiday attire.