Part 6 (1/2)

Crede mihi, res est ingeniosa _dare_.

It is, no doubt, our duty to create the happiness and to prevent the misery of every living thing; but with our horse this is also a matter of _policy_. The colt should be caressed, rubbed, and spoken to kindly.

He should be fed from the hand with anything he may fancy, such as carrot, or apple, or sugar, and be made to come for it when whistled to or called by name.

”Quis expedivit Psittaco suum ?a??e?...

Venter.”

[Sidenote: Fetch and carry.]

On an unlittered part of the stable, with the horse loose, throw pieces of carrot on the floor; he will learn to watch your hand like a dog.

Then tie a piece of carrot to a piece of stick. When he lifts this push a piece of carrot between his lips where there are no teeth, and take the stick from his mouth. He will soon learn to pick up your stick, whip, glove, or handkerchief, and to bring it in exchange for the reward; or when mounted, will put his head back to place it in your hand.

Stand on the outside of a door which opens towards you. Show the horse carrots through the opening: he will push the door open to get the carrot. By always repeating the word ”door,” he will soon open or shut a door at command, or a gate, even when mounted.

These may be ”foolish things to all the wise,” but nothing is useless which familiarises the horse, which increases the confidence and intimacy between him and his rider, or which teaches him to look to man for the indications of his will, and to obey them, whether from fear, interest, or attachment.

CHAPTER XI.

THE HORSE AND HIS STABLE.

Condition depends on food, work, and warmth.--So does the difference between the _breeds_ of horses.--The terseness of the Arab is the result of hard food.--So is that of our thorough-bred horse.--Different _breeds_ result from different natural conditions.--Crossing is only necessary where natural conditions are against you.--We do not attend enough to warmth.--We should get fine winter coats by warmth instead of singeing.--No fear of cold from fine coats.--The foot should be stopped with clay.--The sore ridge.--Stable breastplate.--The head-stall.--Never physic, bleed, blister, or fire.--Food for condition.--Rest for strains.--Nature for wounds.--Miles for shoeing.--The horse should have water always by him.--And should stand loose.--No galloping on hard ground, either by master or man.--He who cripples the horse kills him.

[Sidenote: Condition depends on food, work, warmth.]

For perfect health and condition three things are necessary, good food, work, warmth. For appearance a fourth may be added, cleaning. To suppose cleaning necessary for health is nonsense. Do you clean your sheep?--the stags in your park?--or the horses young and old in the breeding stud?

But, speaking liberally, a horse which is not worked cannot be clean and a horse which is worked and clothed cannot be dirty. A horse cannot be clothed too heavily summer or winter short of perspiring.

[Sidenote: So does the difference between breeds of horses.]

But it is not only that the present pa.s.sing condition of the horse depends solely on food, work, and warmth, but the permanent structure and stature of the horse depend on them; that is, the difference between what are called different _breeds_ of horses depends solely on these three things.

[Sidenote: The Arab the result of hard food.]

The Arab has a legend that his horse came from the stable of King Solomon. From the book of Kings it appears that Solomon was a great horse dealer. He imported them largely from Egypt, and he supplied certain kings with them. The merchandise which he received from Arabia is enumerated, and though it is not stated that he supplied horses in part payment for this merchandise, it is not improbable that he did so.

Speaking liberally, in Arabia the sole food of the horse is barley and straw; and the terseness of structure of the Arab may be said to be the result of three thousand years of hard food, if we reckon only from the _modern_ horse-keeper King Solomon. Fuerant autem in Egypto semper praestantissimi equi. And, shades of Bunsen! how many thousand years of hard food shall we add to the account for our horses' Egyptian ancestry?

Moses and Miriam sang their dirge on the sh.o.r.e of the Red Sea, in the reign of a _mediaeval_ Pharaoh, but their ”early progenitors,” as Mr.

Darwin would phrase it, might have enjoyed the barley of the _ancient_ King Menes. To hard food we must add early work, for the Arab is worked at two years old.

[Sidenote: So is our thorough-bred horse.]

Our thorough-bred horse, the descendant of the Arab, has been bred under the same natural conditions somewhat improved; that is, he has had _better_ hard food in unlimited quant.i.ty, he is earlier trained, the goodness of both sire and dam are proved to an ounce, and performance only is bred from. What is the consequence? In Evelyn's days Arabs and barbs raced at Newmarket. In later days, in the give and take plates there, winners are recorded of thirteen hands high, and the size of a stud horse of fourteen hands was advertised. Now, if a horse is under sixteen hands his size is not mentioned, and all the world is our customer at 5000 or 6000 a horse. And if more people had the skill to ride him, the merits of the thorough-bred horse as a hunter would be better known; though, indeed, under any circ.u.mstances, it is but the sweepings of the training stable which descends to the hunting field or private life.

[Sidenote: All _breeds_ result from natural conditions.]

The first axiom of the breeder is--est in equis patrum virtus--”Like produces like.” But the second axiom is, ”The goodness of the horse goes in at his mouth.” The moral is, that like produces like only under like natural conditions. Turn out all the winners of the last ten years to breed on Dartmoor or in Shetland; what would be the betting about a colt or a filly so bred for the Derby or Oaks? The qualities of the race-horse--the acc.u.mulation of thousands of years--are lost in the first generation. Continue to breed him under these conditions, and the finest horse in the world, or that the world ever saw, becomes a Dartmoor or Shetland pony, worth 5 instead of 5000. Such are the changes worked by natural conditions; though with Mr. Darwin they count for nothing, or for next to nothing.

In the permanent fat pastures of the temperate and insular climes, the horse is built up to eighteen hands high, with a width and weight infinitely more than proportionate to his height, if we compare him to the southern horse. In the arid south, by no contrivance of man or ”natural selection” can a horse of _weight_ be produced; though you may breed the terse horse of the south in the north by keeping him on terse food.