Riding and Driving

CHAPTER XV

JUMPING

A very useful apparatus for teaching the horse to jump cleanly and willingly is a little gate or hurdle, about three feet wide, made with three bars; the lower one fixed at eighteen inches from the ground to bind the uprights, which should be about three feet in height; the other two bars being removable, one to fit in slots two and a half feet from the ground, the other to fit on the top of the uprights. But of course any bar will answer the purpose.

With the upper two bars removed, the hurdle should be placed on a bit of level ground and the horse led over the lower bar two or three times, the trainer holding the snaffle-reins near the bit. When the horse has been accustomed to walk over the bar, the man should take the ends of the reins and let the horse cross in a slow trot; this the animal will probably do in a leap, when the man should bring it to a halt and reward it with caresses. Then the next bar should be placed between the uprights, and the horse, held by the length of the reins, be brought up at a trot to jump the hurdle and rewarded for its obedience. After a few lessons given with the two bars, the third bar should be placed on the uprights and the horse be made to take the jump of three feet in the same manner, being rewarded after each leap.

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If the horse attempts to avoid the hurdle by running out at either side, it should be corrected by a harsh word and brought back to make another trial; and if it becomes stubborn and persists in its disobedience, it should be given the first lesson of walking over the lowest bar. Whenever a horse shows a settled indisposition to do what is demanded, the trainer should endeavor to get some little pretence of compliance and give up the work for the day. For if the horse is not in humor for the work, it is idle to persist.

When the horse is jumping in hand, the trainer must look to it that the leaps are perfectly made; that is, that the horse rises high enough in the forehand, and no higher than is requisite to enable it to clear the obstacle with the fore legs, and that the hind legs are gathered sufficiently under the body to bring them clear.

Should the horse not bend the fore legs to his satisfaction, the trainer should touch the fore legs with the whip just below the knee as the horse rises; and should the horse be careless in the action of the hind legs, a whip stroke under the belly will make the animal gather the hind legs under its body.

After the horse takes the hurdle with perfect calmness when held by the snaffle-reins, the trainer should accustom the animal to jump over the obstacle while on the longe-rein, the trainer being then twelve or fifteen feet away from the hurdle. Then, the horse being habituated to jump the narrow obstacle without reluctance, rugs, colored cloths, or anything of the kind that might ordinarily alarm a horse should be placed, first near the hurdle and then upon it, as the horse jumps it at the length of the longe-line.

The trainer should then mount and ride the horse over the bar fixed at two and a half feet. He should first take the horse up to the obstacle in a slow, collected trot, using the snaffle-reins, and when the horse is by its momentum committed to the jump, he should give it liberty to take off as it pleases and offer a light support as the forehand again comes to the ground. If the horse does not flex the hind legs sufficiently, a whip stroke behind the girths will induce it to bring the hind legs well under the body. But as far as is possible the use of whip or spur as the horse jumps should be avoided, and the animal should be mettlesome and lively when it approaches the obstacle, and be ready to exert itself with a will. The top bar should then be placed on the uprights, and the horse be ridden over the hurdle now three feet high, first in the slow trot, then from the halt, and finally from the slow gallop.

In the jump from the walk, the trot, and the slow gallop, the rider should incline his body slightly forward as the horse rises and bend his body back, more or less depending upon the height of the drop, as the forehand comes down,—his feet carried to the rear, so that there shall be no pressure against the stirrup to disturb the seat. Horses jump in all sorts of forms. Some horses do not rise until quite under the obstacle, when they squat down, go up almost perpendicularly, and drop on the other side quite as suddenly. Others take off at a fair distance, jump easily, and land steadily. The rider must be prepared, however, to bend his body in accordance with the movements of the horse.

In riding at a very high obstacle, the horse should be slowly collected at a moderate gallop; and when the horse has faced the leap, the rider's hand should give the animal liberty to act freely, and as it alights he should offer some support.

I think that nearly every work on riding warns the reader that one cannot raise the horse. It is true that in the state of collection in which most horses are ridden it would take a block and tackle to bring up the forehand; but what shall we call the pirouette, the curvet, the pesade, or even the support the rider gives the stumbling horse so that a leg may be put under the falling animal, but a raising of the forehand?

In jumping, however, the rider must not attempt to lift the horse; he must trust to the instincts of the animal necessary to clear the obstacle and for the disposition of its bearers to secure safety in landing.

After facing the horse to the jump, the rider should give the animal freedom of action, not by making such a change on the tension of the reins as might bring the animal down, but by giving his arms such play that the horse may extend itself. When the animal alights, it must find some support from the bit, so that in case of a peck or of a stumble the forehand can rise until a bearer comes under the centre of gravity and saves a fall. The bending back of the rider's body as the forehand reaches the ground is, of course, of great assistance in recovering from a misstep.

In taking low jumps at a racing pace, the rider need not lean back as the horse alights, for the momentum is so great that no change in the body of the rider is required.

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Sometimes, even under such circumstances, the expected consequences do not follow a mistake, and it is astonishing to see how a flying horse, encumbered by a man upon its shoulders, may recover from a stumble. But hurdle-racing is poor sport, neither jumping nor racing.

When the horse will leap the hurdle willingly and perfectly, it should be taken into the fields and put over fences, ditches, and streams. Most horses are at first timid in facing water, but with a little care a horse may be made to attempt any obstacle that is offered. In riding at broad water or at any wide jump, the rider should sit down in his saddle and send the horse forward in a good pace so that the momentum will carry the mass over.

In Great Britain and in Ireland, in those countries where banks are sometimes the boundaries of fields, the horses are taught, usually by easy lessons in the cavesson or by being driven before the trainer in long reins, to leap upon the top of the bank and from thence across the ditch. The dexterity and cleverness with which these animals will poise themselves on the top of a slippery bank, and the security with which they will leap from such insecure footing, are things to be wondered at.

We are told that some hunters are taught to drive themselves forward by kicking back at a stone wall. I do not dispute this, but I can say that I have seen scores of hunters going over such obstacles, and any displacement of stones or striking of the walls was manifestly accidental; and that from a study of the actions of the horse, the kick, while in air, would in most instances result in disaster, for both fore legs and hind legs would be extended at the same time. I have had horses kick out when jumping on the longe, but the forehand would then be on the ground, and a kick given at such a time would not benefit the jump. The books say that in the capriole the kick to the rear is given when the horse is in air, but the photographs prove that it is given after the horse alights.

In jumping for practice, 4 feet or 4 feet 6 inches should be high enough. Most horses enjoy jumping, but they should not be asked to do too much, for they readily take a dislike to the sport. A horse should never be punished as it is about to make a jump; the rider should sit quite still, and he should avoid raising an arm as the horse goes into air, as so many men do, for the motion will distract the attention of the horse at a critical moment.

The standard of jumping has gone up so much in recent years that one hesitates to say where the limit will be found. A friend of mine has kindly offered me a moment photograph of a horse of four years of age passing over the extraordinary height of seven feet one and three-quarters inches (7' 1¾").

I once asked a professional rider of long experience, the son of a professional rider, what advice he would give regarding a fall from or with the horse. He said that in falling he always bent his chin toward his chest to save the neck, and made himself as like a ball as possible. To this I will add that the man should retain the reins in case of a fall until he knows that he is free from the stirrups.

Horses used for jumping should have strong hind quarters, sloping shoulders, and good fore legs.

It must be admitted that some of the finest performers over high jumps have upright shoulders, but the horses are good in spite of the defect; and on the steeplechase course we often see broken-down blood-horses come on as winners, but these animals are none the better for their injuries, and are certainly dangerous to ride.

When a woman rides at obstacles, her line should be on an arc to the right rather than to the left, so that if the horse falls she will be on top of the animal and not pinned beneath it.

The design in giving the early lessons in jumping over the narrow hurdle is to habituate the horse to take what is offered it without running out, for when it has been disciplined to leap an obstacle that could readily be avoided, it will not look for means of escape when brought to face other objects. My horses will cross over doubles, in and out, the reins hanging upon their necks, and the obstacles no more than two feet in width. In fine, a well-trained horse will jump anything within its powers without urging and in the safest manner.

CHAPTER XVI

GENERAL REMARKS

I am convinced that nothing has been recommended in this work that is not absolutely requisite in the proper training of the saddle-horse; for the same general principles are observed in what are considered the simplest permissible military methods, although they are not always attempted in the manner I have followed. But even admitting that some of the work is useful only for its discipline, to which I do not consent, that would in itself be a sufficient reason for retaining it.

I have been told very frequently, by readers, that they have had no difficulty in understanding the instructions I have offered, and I know that they should be easily carried out, seeing that even now I train my own horses without assistance.

It is advisable for the man who wishes to train his own horse during rough weather, to have it ready for the pleasant season, to keep the animal in some public riding-school, where he will have the use of "the ring," until his work is finished, unless, what is better, he has some barn or other covered area where he may carry on its education in spite of frosts and storms. It is important that, once the work is begun, there should be no interruption; and in our climate I should say that April is the best month in which to begin with a young horse in the open. During the summer, the flies are so annoying that it is difficult to keep the attention of the animal; and neither man nor horse is fitted in the extremely cold weather of winter for the work of training.

Too much stress cannot be laid upon the importance of sufficient and frequent exercise for the avoidance of that nervous and excitable condition in the horse known as "freshness." Of course, a horse that has been thoroughly disciplined is much more readily brought under control than a young animal that has not yet been taught to obey hand and heel instinctively, but even the old, well-drilled horse may lose much of its training if it be not very carefully handled after a long rest with high feeding, and it is far better to run no risk of insubordination. The fresh horse may be considered as hysterical and sometimes temporarily mad; even those which are most docile when in proper work become flighty with "stall-courage," and may bite, kick, or plunge when first brought into the open air after some days of idleness. These freaks do not indicate a vicious disposition, but vice may grow out of them through injudicious treatment. Longeing on the cavesson, a run in the paddock, or a brisk trot under the saddle will soon relieve this condition, but when the fresh horse is ridden, it should not be called upon for anything beyond a good, steady pace until it becomes composed.

Some jealous-minded horses are easily spoiled by petting, and from too frequent indulgences at improper times in sugar and in such dainties, and show a nasty temper when disappointed in their expectations. These animals should be treated with uniform kindness, but should not be taught to look for such favors every time the rider dismounts or approaches. At regular feeding times the one who is to ride the horse may give it an occasional treat, never when the animal is bridled, for the bit must always be clean and smooth. A kind word or a caress is sufficient reward for good behavior, and a harsh word is the most effective correction that can be given. The whip and the spur must be employed to enforce demands, but these instruments should be used promptly and for reasons, never for punishment. For example, if a horse hangs back, or shows a disinclination to pass an object, a smart rap of the rod will usually send it along; but if there is a positive refusal, repeated applications of the whip or spur will work great harm, and the rider should obtain the desired obedience by some ruse which will have a lasting good effect upon the animal.

A moment's reflection should show the reader that a "combined horse" (that is, one suited for harness and riding) is an anomaly, for the first requisite in a saddle-horse is that it should have a carriage that is inconsistent with that to which it is accustomed in drawing loads. There would be no great harm in putting a young horse in light harness for a short time to steady it, but after its training for the saddle has been undertaken it should never bear a collar. A horse that is habituated to harness cannot have light and balanced action under the rider. The animal that is taught to throw its weight against the traces will travel upon its shoulders and be apt to trip when the weight of a man augments the defects of that mode of moving. The day before this page was written a friend of the author remarked that a "combined horse" which had never made a mistake in harness had just given him a fall; and a great number of such instances might be cited. A poor rider may throw any horse, and in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred a fall is the fault of the rider, but it requires a good and careful horseman to keep old Dobbin on his feet when the animal is taken out of the shafts and put under the saddle.

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The only certain method of correcting the faults of a spoiled horse is to retrain the animal from the very first lessons in the cavesson. In this manner discipline may be reëstablished, but the animal will nearly always be disposed to revert to old tricks, particularly so if it remains in the hands of him who has permitted the liberties which grew into vice. Some horses are ever on the lookout for opportunities of taking advantage of a timid or irresolute rider, and such are out of place with him who lacks nerve, and should be turned over to better horsemen. When faults are due to incurable physical or mental defects, it is useless to attempt to remedy them. That much may be done by skilful work to render such animals less dangerous is true, but the game is not worth the candle. A horse that is ground-shy, that is, one which sees objects at its feet in a distorted form, or that is subject to fits of terror or excitement, is not suited to the saddle. On the other hand, it will not be difficult to find horses that will prove perfectly tractable and steady as long as they have regular work. For years I made a study of the vices of the horse by taking such as had proved troublesome to see what could be done in the way of correcting various faults. From my experience I think it may be said that all horses are amenable to discipline except those that are foolish or of such nervous conditions that they are in effect unmanageable. The bolter was stopped by the spurs; the rearing horse was cured by suppling; the restive horse was confused and conquered; the bully yielded to bullying; but the fool horse took no degree.

The growing fancy for saddle-horses of large size, because, perhaps, they are more effective to the eye, is an evil, for breeders will undertake to furnish such animals as are in demand at the expense of far more valuable qualities, and the rearing of medium-sized, active horses will be largely discontinued, for the market rules the stock farm. It is the experience of all horsemen that 15½ hands is the limit of height for a perfect saddle-horse, except under very exceptional circumstances. When the would-be seller of a leggy horse asserts that "it rides like a pony," he recognizes the general superiority of the smaller animal and probably is in error regarding his own. As a rule, a horse under 15¾ is more active, hardier, and with greater stamina than one above that height. It is quality that gives value to the horse, and this is usually found to deteriorate in those of excessive bulk. Did not Dickens remark that giants are weak in the knees?

In a previous chapter I have said that casting a horse by the so-called Rarey system is not a sovereign cure for all vices, and that I usually taught my horses to lie down without using any apparatus. When a horse is so vicious that a man may not approach him without being attacked, some artificial restraint must be resorted to and straps used to confine and throw the horse. But with steady horses there are several modes for casting them without the employment of anything beyond the snaffle-bridle. Of course, it is not necessary for an ordinary saddle-horse to be taught to lie down, but a good horseman should know how to demand anything, and a little superfluous knowledge may be handed over to some one who may have use for it.

A very easy way of casting a horse is for the man to stand on the off or right side of the animal and pick up its right fore leg in his left hand; this he will carry back and at the same time draw the snaffle-reins, held in the right hand, to the rear, until the horse comes down upon the knee of the right fore leg; a pull upon the left snaffle-rein will then bring the horse over on its right side. After some lessons given in this manner, the horse will carry back the right fore leg at the application of the whip and be brought to the ground by the same use of the snaffle-reins as above described. After a few such lessons the rider should get into the saddle, and between the taps of the whip on the right shoulder and bending the head of the horse sharply to the left he can bring the horse to ground while he is mounted.

It is better for the trainer to avoid working the young horse when exposed to high winds, as the animal is then so disturbed and easily irritated that it is difficult to engage its attention, and good progress can hardly be obtained. If on any occasion the young horse persists in refusing obedience, the trainer will do well to obtain something resembling discipline and return the horse to the stable rather than enter into a contest which may be the source of much future trouble. Of course, if an old horse is mutinous, it should be at once controlled and brought to reason; but except an occasional lark due to excessive high spirits from want of work, a trained horse will not often be guilty of misconduct, and even then it may be checked by hand and heel.

No one should ride a horse that has the habit of stumbling, but sometimes the most agile of animals will step on a rolling stone or make a mistake through carelessness. When a good horse trips and falls, the rider is almost always in fault; in the first place, for letting the horse grow careless, and secondly, for permitting the animal to go down. An active horse should never stumble badly when ridden in hand; and if the rider leans back and supports the forehand until a bearer is carried under the centre of gravity, it is seldom that the horse will fall. Many falls are occasioned by the horse being leg weary through overwork or from being ridden too rapidly at turns; so that, however the mark comes, a broken knee is taken as a sign of poor or careless riding.

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Doubtless, instruction was given in the art of riding by amateurs or by professed teachers, from the time the horse came into use. The earliest existing work on horsemanship is that of Xenophon (born 430 b.c.); then there is a hiatus until the Italian Renaissance, since which epoch we have had many works on the subject; but before Xenophon's time, and between that and the appearance of Grisone's printed work in 1550 (my copy, apparently a first edition, was dated 1560), we may be sure that there was no lack of writings upon the subject, lost through the perishable nature of the form in which an author's labors were presented. Of the early works of this second appearance the best known are those of Antoine de Pluvinel, equerry to Louis XIII. of France,—a splendid effort, published in Paris in 1619,—and that of the Duke of Newcastle, published in Antwerp in 1651. But none of the works on horsemanship which appeared previously to that of Baucher are now of any real value, and the method described by the French master is the foundation of all that is good in any modern system.

DRIVING

HINTS ON THE HISTORY, HOUSING, HARNESSING AND HANDLING OF THE HORSE

By PRICE COLLIER

Illi ardua cervix,
Argutumque caput, brevis alvus, obesaque terga,
Luxuriatque toris animosum pectus.

INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION

All games, pastimes, and sports worthy of the name are artificial work. What our ancestors did because they must to live, we do because we find that vigorous use of our powers, physical, mental, and moral, makes living more agreeable.

They rode and shot and fished, walked, ran, carried heavy weights, chopped down trees, paddled canoes, sailed boats, fought wild beasts, hunted game for food, and drove oxen, mules, and horses because they had to do these things to live.

We do many of these same things. We chop down trees, paddle canoes, sail boats, run, jump, struggle against one another with the gloves or at football, swim, play golf and tennis, ride and drive, but we call it sport! In reality it is artificial work.

Because the environment has changed, and we are no longer forced to do these things for a living and to live at all, we now do them to make our own living more wholesome and agreeable, and call these pursuits sports.

Either because human life originally was safest to those who were most formidable at work and at war, or because we are so constituted that we cannot live without exercise, we still continue the physical exertions of our forebears under the name of sport.

The quality and the value of all games and sports may be tested and graded as to their respective value according as they develop in their patrons the qualities that hard work develops. Health, courage, serenity of spirit, good manners, good nerves, tenacity of purpose, physical strength, were the reward of the hard worker. Those same qualities ought to be the aim of the good sportsman. The moment trickery, effeminacy, babyism, and unfair play become a part of sport, the whole object of sport, its raison d'être, vanishes.

Sport, therefore, has ample excuse for being, and deserves the support of all serious well-wishers of their fellow-men to keep it clean.

The more seriously, then, sport is undertaken,—the more nearly it resembles work, in short,—the more completely it accomplishes its purpose. It goes without saying that when sport absorbs the whole man it defeats its own aim, since it is intended merely to supplement by artifice what has been lost by the changes in man's environment. Now that shooting, fishing, sailing, sparring, riding, driving, are not necessities, we wish to retain still the good results of them for men doomed by the rearrangement of life to live more or less sedentary lives.

Hence it is that books are written on these subjects, that men may take them up seriously, study them, use their heads at them, and thus get the best there is out of them. The men who are best worth preserving are just the men who will give but a half-hearted allegiance to anything, unless it asks much of them and makes large drafts upon their mental, moral, and physical energy.

To discover to man or boy, therefore, how much there is of training for his mind and his body in any form of sport is well worth while. The more clear it is that a sport or game requires knowledge, patience, courage, tact, and endurance, all of which make for success in everyday life, the more likely it is that it will become popular among sturdy men.

The best of our sports and games are, as we should expect, the most difficult, and require the most complete development in their patrons. Chess, whist, cricket, golf, fencing, sparring, riding across country, hunting, fishing, have kept their place, not because they are easy, but because they are hard. All these games have been played for centuries, while the more childish pastimes and sports come and go, and ping-pong their way to an early oblivion. The subject of this book, the horse and how to handle him in harness, has not only the advantage of a sport requiring much knowledge, and good physical ability, and great moral self-control, but it has the further very great advantage of teaching all who take part in it something of what is due to the welfare of the most useful animal in the world. This sport not only develops its patron, but in so doing makes for the development and better care of the most valuable helpmeet man has.

It is absurd to suppose that a man can be taught to drive without knowing something of the elementary things about the horse. He may be put upon the box, the reins placed in his hands, and certain cut-and-dried instructions given him about stopping, starting, and turning; but before he has driven five miles fifty things will occur to him that he will wish to know about. A child with a box of colors and some sketches in outline can be told to paint this part red, that part blue, that white, the other green, and so on, and there follows a picture of a kind. But the painter knows how and why the colors are mixed, and could never be more than an automaton if he did not study these things for himself. A man on a box-seat with four reins in his hand, who does not know how the horses in front of him are housed, fed, shod, harnessed, and bitted, and how by evolution they came to be what they are physically and mentally, and the relative positions of their vital organs and the bones of their skeletons, is not and will not be a coachman of any competency until he knows something of these things. No man can bit a horse who knows nothing of the inside of a horse's mouth; nor can he fit him properly with his collar unless he knows the relative positions of the shoulder-blade and humerus; nor can he see that his shoes are put on to fit him unless he knows something of the formation of his foot; nor can he spare him fatigue and help him through his simpler troubles on the road, or in the stable, unless he knows something of the horse's physical make-up and the weak and strong points of him.

It is a great sport, is driving, and superior to all other sports in one respect at least, in that it is the most useful of sports. Any improvement in the art of driving actually adds to the wealth of the world (vide chapter on the Economic Value of the Horse).

In this book we have begun at the beginning, and the proper title of the book would be, Hints on the History, Housing, Harnessing, and Handling of the Horse. Each one of these subjects would require a volume, and volumes indeed have been written. A complete bibliography of horse literature would number well on toward three thousand volumes.

In this small volume it is intended to suggest to horse owners the necessary lines of knowledge, with something more than the elements of each. The bibliography at the end of the volume offers the opportunity to go more deeply into any or all of these departments as taste, fancy, or love of the sport may dictate. No one volume can do more than this, and to each individual is given the opportunity to discover what he ought to know, and the opportunity to supplement his knowledge according to his particular requirements.

For suggestions, good counsel, and valuable information I am indebted to many. Among them I must mention here R. W. Rives, Esq.; Frank K. Sturgis, Esq.; Professor Henry F. Osborn, of the Natural History Museum; William Pollock, Esq.; Theodore Frelinghuysen, Esq., Captain Pirie, and Fownes of London; Howlett père of Paris, and his son Morris Howlett, now of New York; T. Suffern Tailer, Esq., late president of the New York Tandem Club; and others. They will, I trust, forgive my errors, and take to themselves, as they deserve to do, the credit for such value as this small volume has, in adding to the comfort of drivers and the welfare of the horse.

DRIVING

CHAPTER I

ECONOMIC VALUE OF THE HORSE

In dealing with the horse as a source of national income, or as an opportunity for sport and pleasure, there is little to be taught Americans along the lines of harness-making, carriage-building, and other mechanical appliances for the comfort and best use of the animal. But both owners of horses and their care-takers are often lamentably ignorant of the general history of the horse.

If one is to get most value out of the horse on the farm, as a draught animal in city streets, or on the road, in harness or under saddle, some knowledge of his past history and present value cannot be out of place. The harness, the bit, the vehicle, may be right, but the head, hands, heart, and temper of the coachman may be wrong. To know how the horse came to be what he is, and to know something of the kind of a machine that he now is, will do much to explain his vagaries, and even more to make his owner and user more patient, more gentle, and more intelligent in handling him.

You do not expect poetry from a blacksmith, nor a fourteen-inch forearm on a poet. You deal with men the more comfortably the more you know of their antecedents and training. The same is even more true of this subject of horses. It is not necessary that a man should be an experienced navigator or an off-shore sailor to enjoy a yacht; but on the other hand there is no question but that the man who knows most of these matters gets the most enjoyment out of his boat. It is not necessary to write books in order to enjoy them; but the practice of writing adds an hundred fold to the enjoyment of other men's books.

It is not necessary that a man should be an accomplished palæontologist, and an experienced veterinary, in order that he may take pleasure in his stable; but some knowledge of these matters adds greatly to one's understanding of the proper treatment of horses, and greatly, too, to one's stock of patience in dealing with their eccentricities and obstinacies. "Mad men and mad horses never will agree together."

The horse is not an intelligent animal as a rule. He is the only animal that loses its head to the point of its own extermination when not restrained and controlled. He has no affectionate recognition of even his best friends. Your dog twists himself into extravagant physical contortions when you return after a month's absence; your horse, on the other hand, is no more warm in his welcome than your saddle. He is, now that he has been so long guarded and cared for by man, a pitiably helpless animal when left to himself. The mere fact that the reins lie on the dash-board, that he hears no voice behind him, that he is free, sends him off at a gallop—possibly to his own destruction.[1]

A certain politician from Tennessee, in describing a particularly erratic party leader, said that he reminded him of a horse sold to a friend of his. Many questions were asked concerning the horse, and finally the seller was asked about his gaits. After some hesitation he finally drawled, "Well, I guess his natural gait is running away!"

This is true of practically all horses, and it is because he is so well known to man and so useful to man, and because he is amongst the animals the greatest pleasure giver to man, that some knowledge of his ancient and modern antecedents and training is desirable.

America is the home of the horse in more senses than one. We have more money invested in horse-flesh than any other country in the world. A very conservative estimate of the value of the horses in this country is something over $1,050,969,093.

Scientific men tell us, too, that the first horses were natives of this country. The prehistoric horse of America probably wandered across Behring's Strait to Europe, Africa, and Asia at a time when that passage was dry land. Though the earliest travellers to, and the first settlers in, America found no horses here, there is no doubt that the horse originated on this continent. Why the horse disappeared entirely from this continent for a long period of time, while flourishing particularly in Africa and Asia as well as in Europe, is one of the mysteries that science has not explained. Whether the ice age destroyed them, or a plague or flood swept them away no one knows. Two facts are well known: the first is that the oldest remains of the horse are found in this country; the second is that when Columbus touched at what is now San Domingo in 1493 he brought with him horses, animals that for thousands of years had not been seen here.

In four hundred years we have become the largest owners and users of horses in the world.

Our agricultural supremacy is due in great part to our use of horse-power in our fields and farms. Our superiority in this respect may be seen at a glance by a comparison of the number of horses in the leading European countries and our own. It is to be noted that in many cases these figures comprise, not merely the number of horses on farms, but the total number in the country. For the United States the number given is for horses on farms only.

Iowa, Illinois, and Texas have each almost as many horses as Great Britain, and these three states alone have more horses between them than any foreign country except Russia.

These figures do not include the mules which are more extensively used here than in any other country. Including, with the horses, mules, and asses on farms, those not on farms, it is probable that the United States has more work animals than even the Russian Empire, Siberia included, with a population exceeding that of the United States by many millions.

The horse-power, including mules, on American farms is at least six times that of Germany; twelve times that of Great Britain and Ireland; eight times that of France; thirty times that of Italy; and six times that of Austria and Hungary combined. This difference in horse-power on American farms gives us a great advantage over other countries—so great an advantage indeed that our competition affects land values in Europe, and is gradually forcing a readjustment of the industries of the world. It is estimated that we have invested in horse-flesh in this country $1,050,969,093. In 1901 we exported 82,250 horses, while in 1891 we exported only 3110, and the number of horses increased from 4,337,000 in 1850 to 16,965,000 in 1900. Since 1850 the number of farms has increased 296.1 per cent; acres of improved land 267.0 per cent; and of horses 291.2 per cent, which seems to show that despite the increased use of machinery the horse is still a necessity in agriculture.

What could be gained economically by the intelligent breaking, breeding, shoeing, feeding, harnessing, bitting, driving, and handling of horses in this country is not easily calculable. The difference in the amount of work one horse can do when he is properly stabled, fed, harnessed, and driven, multiplied by millions, gives one some idea of the economic utility of such knowledge. It is well known that good roads add enormously to the availability of agricultural land and has a notable effect upon the cheapening of farm products. The first men to agitate for good roads, and they who do most to see that good roads are provided, are the users of horses. One might indeed write a telling chapter of eulogy on the horse, if one gave him the credit due him, for bringing about the cheapening of products necessary to the comfort and pleasure of mankind.

This whole subject of the care of the horse takes on a new aspect when it is looked at with these figures in mind. Books on driving, riding, and the like should be classed, not merely with books of sport and pleasure, but with scientific and economic treatises.

We are a nation with over a billion dollars invested in equine machinery. It is an absurd misunderstanding of the subject to look upon the time, money, and intelligence devoted to the driving, bitting, and harnessing of horses as so much time, money, and intelligence devoted to a sport of the rich and fashionable. If we had a steel plant, or a coal company with $100,000,000 invested therein, no investigation would be too minute, no saving of labor here, no improvement there, and no supervision would seem out of place in adding to the economy and efficiency of such an aggregation of capital. The man who can bit, harness, and drive four horses, or two horses, comfortably to himself, and to his horses, is adding just so much to the understanding of a subject which is of practical bread-and-butter interest to every man, woman, and child in the United States. Every ounce more of work that a horse can be harnessed to do, every practical hint that the master of horses can be induced to apply, every yard of road that can be improved, take something off the cost of everything we eat, drink, or wear. To put a coach on the road for a few weeks in the spring, to turn out a well-mannered pair for a lady's phaeton, to temper the disposition of two horses so that they bowl along pleasantly in a tandem, may at the first blush seem to be merely the idle vagaries of the unemployed rich. As a matter of fact, the knowledge and patience required in these exercises percolates through all classes of horse owners, and produces a marked effect from the utilitarian standpoint. We of the large cities, with steam and electricity as our daily servants of locomotion, ignore the twenty odd million agricultural machines in this country that are helping to feed and clothe us, and get to look upon the horse as merely the fashionable physician's prescription for the liver, under saddle; or a fashionable appendage of wealth, when in harness.

294a

Earliest known species of horse, eleven inches high, with four complete toes, and remainder of fifth on fore feet, and three on hind feet]

294b

In forty years we have increased from 33,000,000 to 82,000,000 in population; from $174,000,000 to $873,000,000 in agricultural products exported; from 2,000,000 to 6,000,000 farms; from $8,500,000,000 to $22,000,000,000 total value of farm property; from $1,500,000,000 to $4,500,000,000 annual value of farm products; from $1,250,000,000 to $2,500,000,000 total value of farm animals, and from $17,000,000,000 to $100,000,000,000 total national wealth. In this progress the horse has played a very large part, and, contrary to the general and ignorant opinion, the horse still maintains his place as the most valuable piece of all-round useful machinery in the world.

One has merely to note the way in which this valuable partner of our national prosperity is stabled, groomed, harnessed, and handled to excuse the writing of any number of books, and the persistent hammering away upon this subject. Sport and athletics are serious subjects because they are so vitally important to the physical comfort of man; and this branch of sport which deals with the horse, is of surprisingly vital interest to the nation when one comes to investigate it.

The cruelty, impatience, and ignorance displayed by the great majority of horse-steerers—they are nothing more nor less than that—are apparent wherever we turn. Not only the shockheaded MicMac who tools the grocery wagon about our crowded streets; not only the Sunday boy who indulges his Rowena in an hebdomadal picnic on wheels; but the hundreds of so-called coachmen who drive the high-priced horses of their masters in reins, bits, head-stalls, and collars fitted without discrimination upon any horse that comes into the stable,—all alike are in dire need of learning how to make the most of their opportunities.

It is not to be expected that every man who owns, or handles, a horse should be a veterinary, but the elementary principles of harnessing and bitting a horse so that he can do his work comfortably ought to be required of every one who, either for his own pleasure, or for hire, has anything to do with horses. Such an one ought to know how he came to have his present teeth and legs, his present mouth and small stomach, which reveals at once the secret of many of his weaknesses and their proper care. Not to know, or to care to know, any of these things is to lessen the value of your horses as work-horses very materially, and to deprive yourself of the best part of the pleasure of dealing with your horses, if you have them and handle them merely for sport.

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