IF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFO 9 ± P ^J^^^C l^^^^^ScvC^^^ F THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFO 9§e ^4W4^ £ = v F THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF GALIFOf F THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFOfl HOUSE AND MAN LONDON : PRINTED BY SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW- STREET SQUARE AND PARLIAMENT STREET HORSE AND MAN THEIR MUTUAL DEPENDENCE AND DUTIES BY THE EEY. J. G. WOOD AUTHOR OP HOMES WITHOUT HANDS' 'BIBLE ANIMALS' ETC LONDON LONGMANS, GKEEN, AND CO. 1885 All riyhta reserved PKEFACE. ALTHOUGH this work treats of the Horse, it is not 4 horsey,' because I am not a horsey man. Horsiness has no place in it, and, for a time at least, will probably be in opposition to it. I only ask the reader •to bear in mind that I pretend to no discoveries, and advance no theories. I simply state facts, offer evidence of those facts, adduce proofs of that evidence, state how and where these proofs can be verified, and then leave the impartial reader to draw his own conclusions. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. The hoof as distinct from the foot — Dependence of one part on the others — Skeleton of the horse — Story of ' Orlando ' — Use of scientific language — The spine and the limbs — The legs of the horse compared with the limbs of man — Gradual development of the horse — The anchitherium and hipparion — Structure of the fore-limb, or arm — Rotation of the fore- arm prevented — Small size of the original horse — An eight-hoofed horse — Hind legs of the horse compared with the legs of man — The true knee of the horse — Elasticity of the structure . CHAPTER II. Connection between the foot and the hoof — Extent of the foot — What is horn ? — Original dwelling-place of the horse — Climb- ing powers of the horse — Requisites of the hoof — STRENGTH, because it has to bear the weight of so heavy an animal — LIGHTNESS, lest the horse should have to lift needless weight —The ' coffin ' bone and its structure — HARDNESS, to endure contact with bad ground — SHARPNESS, round edge to enable the horse to climb — CLINGING, to suit smooth and slippery ground — SELF-REPAIRING, for restoration of worn material : the Wall, Frog, and Sole — Structure of the WALL— The horny larninse — Their origin and mode of growth — Over-grown hoofs — Elasticity begins with angle of pastern — The PROG, its posi- tion, structure, and office — Analogies between Nature and human inventions — The SOLE: its structure and double office . 22 X CONTEXTS. CHAPTER III. Internal structure of the hoof — The hoof compared with the Jac- quard loom — Longitudinal section of pastern — The ' navicular ' bone : its origin, form, and office— The tendons— Flexor and extensor muscles and their tendons— The ' coronary ' ring and its object — The hoof of the horse and the nail of man — The ' quick ' of the nail — The ' sensitive ' or ' vascular ' laminae — Mutual dependence of the horny and vascular laminae — Analogy of laminae of whalebone and those of hoof— Expansive property of hoof — Mr. Miles's experiments — Advantage of this property in a hunter — Effect of shoes in leaping — In any pace the heel comes on the ground before the toe— Importance of this fact . ......... 38 CHAPTER IV. Expansion acknowledged, acted upon, and perverted — Authorised directions for shoeing — ' Thinning ' and ' opening ' — Horse- shoeing in England and America — 'Dew-drops,' i.e. oozing blood — The diseases called by the name of ' thrush' — True causes of thrush — Supply of blood to hoof — Nature's balance of supply and waste — Office of the blood — f Thrush ' a safety- valve for inflamed blood — Derivation of the word ' founder ' — ' Thrush' never seen in wild horses — A comprehensive chal- lenge— Where do wild horses keep their knives ? — The frog again — Lieutenant Douglas on the frog and its value. Mr. T. Qepp's experience . . . . . . . . .56 CHAPTER V. The FROG continued — * Hammering ' on the roads — Cause of the hammering — King Theodore's horse ' Hammel ' — Elasticity of the frog— The ' Village Blacksmith '—The bicycle wheel- Analogy between carriage springs and the horse's hoof — Lodgment of stones — Mr. S. Chapin and his bare-footed horse — Hartmann's safety pad — Spiked shoes — American shoeing — Injury to the untouched frog impossible — ' Greasy ' roads — Manchester 'lurry' horses — The streets of Manchester — A doctor's horses — Shoes of lurry horses — Ludgate Hill and its terrors — Lieut. Douglas's testimony — Indiarubber soles on ice and on board ship — The hoof an organ of touch — Mr. J. Bellows's story — 'Free Lance's' view of the frog and its uses —Relative dependence of the frog and navicular bone . . 69 CONTENTS. CHAPTER VI. Horseshoeing on ( improved principles ' — Hot-fitting — ' Clips ' and their origin— Groove cutting in the hoof— Natural thatch of the coronet — Natural varnish of the hoof — Abuse of the rasp — Blacking hoofs — Effect of grease on the hoof — « Stopping ' hoofs — The ' bottle of oils ' — Its effect on the hoof Drugs in stables— Horses poisoned— Thirty thus lost by one owner— Anti-drug Association — The rashness of ignorance . . .86 CHAPTER -VII. The shoe — Artificial roads and arti6cial protection — Variety in roads — Straw shoes of Japan — Raw hide or ' parfleche ' shoes of North American Indians — Shoe nails — Their ordinary size and number employed — Diminishing thickness of wall — An old Scotch law — The ' unilateral' system — A hoof prepared on the ' improved system ' — A mangled hoof restored by Nature — The dangers of shoe nails — Cut nails and forged nails — A remarkable accident — Effect of a heavy shoe on the horse — ' Marden ' and the dead heat — Effect of a heavy shoe on the muscles — Lancashire clogs and French sabots — Cetewayo and followers in England — The ' lurry ' horses and their shoes — Lieut. Douglas's calculations — Loosened hoofs . . .101 CHAPTER VIII. The calk, or calkin— Horses on pattens — Two strange accidents — Calks in America — Supposed uses of the calk — Mr. Bowditch's testimony — Weight thrown on the edge of the coffin bone — High-heeled boots and their effects — The battle of the shoes — Recognition of defects in shoeing — The Goodenough shoe and its object — Jointed shoes — The Clark jointed shoe — The screw shoe — Expansion and contraction — The effect of the screw on the hoof — Tips, and how to fasten them — The Charlier, or ' pre-plantar ' shoe — How to apply it — Usually too large and in danger of breaking and twisting — Best length and weight for a Charlier shoe — Man versus Nature — A series of happy thoughts — Their results upon each portion of the hoof . . 116 CHAPTER IX. The shoe useful in proportion to its lightness — Therefore, the best shoe seems to be none at all — Capability of the human foot — Value of an army dependent on its marching power— Lord Xll CONTENTS. PAGE Wolseley's axiom — Edinburgh lasses — Moccasin versus boot — Mansfield Parkyns in Abyssinia — Ladies and children at the sea-side — Charles Waterton in Guiana — Col. Dodge's account of the North American Indian's pony — A race between the Indian's pony and the high-bred horse — Exmoor and Dartmoor ponies — Description of these ' moors ' — How to make a horse 'w hoof tender — The hoof an organ of all-work — Saddle and draught — Col. Burnaby's opinion 142 CHAPTER X. Unshod horses now at work — Dr. Llewellyn's horse on London roads — Thirteen thousand miles without shoes — Always went lame when shod — His transfer to Mr. A. F. Astley — Mr. Astley's horse ' Tommy '— State of his hoofs when bought — Process of training — Work done by him unshod on hard roads— Photographs of his hoofs — Mr. Whitmore Baker's mare ' Stella ' — Facts versus theory — Photographs of ' Stella ' and her hoofs — Letters from Mr. Baker — _Work done by 1 Stella ' barefooted — Galloping over ice or loose stones — Mr. Baker's offer to enable other horses to work unshod — His preparation for hoofs and its possible value — Influence of external conditions on the hoof — The condemned tramcar horse — Result of removing the shoes — Five hundred and forty miles unshod — Photograph of the hoof in transitional state — Mistaken benevolence ...... 158 CHAPTER XI. Hardening and renovating the hoof — Variety in hoofs — Thrush concealed by shoe — Dr. Brierley's horses — Horses in Italy — Mr. Theodore E. Williams's horse l Prince ' — Lame when shod — Experiment on another horse, and result — Mr. Herbert Smith's experiments — Altered shape of hoof— Need of per- severance— Xenophon's rules for hardening the hoof — General summary of the subject ........ 178 CHAPTER XII. , The Professional Eye — Fashion and nature — The curb — Weight and size of bit — The BEAEING-REIN — Three kinds of bearing-rein — The gag bearing-rein — Mechanical parallel — The over-head rein — Neck of the horse — Great ligament of the neck and its attachments — Vertebrae of neck and spine — Vertebrae and CONTENTS. Xlii railway buffers— Arrangement of a train -The martingale- Rattling of harness and tossing- of heads— Sir Arthur Helps' opinion — Effect of the gag bearing-rein on the spine and feet The t burr ' bit of America — Mr. Henry Bergh's work The locomotive and the horse .... 198 CHAPTER XIII, The bearing-rein continued— The locomotive and the brake— Proba- tion of an engine driver — The bearing-rein and the break — Leading reins converted into bearing-reins — Railway companies and the bearing-rein — Theories as to the bearing-rein — Its supposed use in preventing the horse from falling — Bearing- reins and hills — Harness in Scotland — The bearing-rein in Bristol — Mr. Cracknell's testimony — The bearing-rein and runaway horses — A grievous experience — The shoulder injured by the bearing-rein — Testimony of more than a hundred veteri- nary surgeons — ' Roaring ' caused by the bearing-rein — Mis- taken zeal — Summary — * Free Lance's ' check for a runaway horse . 222 CHAPTER XIV. The BLLNKER and its supposed uses — Cropping of ears — Alleged necessity for cropping — Contradictory temperament of the horse — Courage and timidity — Inquisitiveness — Rarey's prin- ciple— The kettle- drummer's horse — Mr. C. II. Tamplin's experience — Obstinacy of a coachman — Value of the ' master's eye '— Waterton at Walton Hall— Letter from ' C. F. W.' to the Field newspaper — ' Jockeying ' adviser — Modified blinkers — Eye of the horse — Cruel superstitions — The third eyelid, or 1 nictitating membrane/ and its use — The groom's rashness and its effects 244 CHAPTER XV. The mane and the practice of ' hogging ' — The tail and its office— What man does to the tail — Docking — A puzzled J.P. — The professional eye again — Docking and lock-jaw — Nicking — An unexpected ally — * Conducive to human safety ' — The tail and the crupper — Winter and summer coats of the horse— Clipping and singeing— American horses in winter — Fashion with man and horse — The groom's real reason for clipping — Mayhew and Lupton's opinions of clipping — The ' moulting ' of birds . . 264 CONTENTS. CHAPTER XVI. The lungs of the horse and their comparative size — Their shape and position — Their demand for air — Defective stables — Venti- lation— A shining coat — The stomach of the horse and its small size — Comparison with the stomach of the ox — Mistakes in feeding — Result of over-loading the stomach — Experience of a veterinary surgeon — Water, when to give, and how much — Traditions of trainers — A Turkish custom — Purity of water and water vessels — Sloping floors and their evils — The loco- motive and the horse again — A sloping couch — The manger and drinking trough — Structure of the head and throat — The stable door — Width of stalls — ' Weaving ' and crib-biting — The electric manger 287 CHAPTER XVII. The horse and the locomotive again — ' Vice ' in horses and its in- variable cause — Mayhew's opinion — Vice in cavalry horses — The soldier and the ' irreclaimable ' savage — New mode of treatment — Apparent failure and ultimate success — A relapse when in strange hands — Another ' irreclaimable ' savage — Story of ' Fly,' ' The Baroness ' and ' War Eagle,' all three being New Zealand horses — The horse's capacity for affection — Its peculiar love for man — The horse a gregarious animal — Bulgarian horses — ' Spoiled ' horses — The horse's desire to obey man — A circus horse — Gilpin redivivus — Cavalry horses and their habits of obedience — The old horse at a review — Disbanded horses in a thunderstorm — The 14th Hussars at the Cape — Escape of their horses — An amateur review without officers — Muster of loose and wounded horses after battle — Mr. Luck's horse— Imprisoned in winter — Endurance of the horse — < Sam ' and his tricks 306 INTEODUGTION. As the reader may have inferred from the Preface, this work has nothing to do with the HOESE as an instrument of sport. Neither will anything be found in it with relation to the breeding of horses, or with their technical ' points ; ' with buying and selling, with the tricks of trade (which, by the way, are not one whit worse than the tricks of any other trade), nor with medical and surgical treatment. Let the breeding of horses be left to those whose long experience (tempered with a little fresh blood from an outsider) enables them to supply from the same original source the elephantine cart horse, the light and swift racer, the sturdy cob for general service, the pony for our young people, or that wonderful combination of speed and power which carries its rider to the front in the hunting field. Let the horse trade be left to those who under- a XVI INTRODUCTION. stand the ever-shifting vagaries of fashion, and who are familiar with the various ' points ' which give a fictitious value to the horse as they do to the dog, the canary, the rose, the dahlia, or the tulip. Let the medical and surgical treatment of the horse be left to those wrho have been trained in an acknowledged veterinary college, and who can pro- duce the diploma which testifies to their scientific and practical capability. Nowhere do I presume to instruct the veterinary surgeon. On the contrary, I urge, throughout the work, that no one ought to be allowed to administer the mildest of drugs, or to perform the slightest of operations, unless he be legally qualified to do so. Throughout the work I draw a parallel between the horse and the steam-engine, and try to show that those who have the management of the former or the latter will be adapted to their task in proportion to their knowledge. It is not needful that this know- ledge should comprise those details which belong to pure science. There is not the least necessity that an engine- driver should be learned in the chemical constituents of the metals of which the engine is constructed, of the fuel which is consumed, or of the water which is converted into steam. INTRODUCTION. But it is necessary for an efficient engine-driver to know the amount of strain which iron, steel, bell- metal, and brass can bear, and why these metals should be used in their respective places. It is necessary that he shall be able to distinguish the different qualities of coal, and to know how much steam can be raised by a given quantity of fuel. ' Engine and man,' in fact, must go together, and so must ' horse and man.' Therefore, the reader will not find his time wasted by anatomical minutise which do not bear on the practical management of the horse, and I have contented myself with slightly describing the general structure of the animal, and giving such details of the foot, hoof, neck, lungs, and stomach as ought to be known by every one who possesses, or has the management of, a horse. In civilised countries, horse and man are inse- parable. Neither can exist without the other, and each owes a duty to the other. Take any large city, deprive the horse of the services of man, and in a fortnight at the most not a horse would be left alive. In the same city, deprive the man of the services of the horse, and he would lose much of his civilisation, being forced to work with his body instead of his mind. There is, however, one fundamental distinction xviii INTRODUCTION. between the two beings. Man has his choice of action, whereas the horse has none, so that the chief responsibility is thrown upon man. Man can teach the horse, but the horse, unfortunately for itself, cannot teach man. Each owes a duty to the other. Man is bound to afford to the horse the food and shelter which it needs, and which it cannot pro- cure without his aid. On the other side, in return for its means of existence, the horse is bound to give to man the benefit of its labour. In the following pages I have endeavoured to show how horse and man can be fellow-workers instead of master and slave, how the life of the horse can be prolonged as much as possible, and how the animal can be enabled to do the maximum of work during its lifetime. HOESE AND MAN. CHAPTEE I. The hoof as distinct from the foot — Dependence of one part on the others — Skeleton of the horse — Story of ' Orlando ' — Use of scientific language — The spine and the limbs — The legs of the horse com- pared with the limbs of man — Gradual development of the horse — The anchitherium and hipparion — Structure of the fore-limb, or arm — Rotation of the fore-arm prevented — Small size of the original horse — An eight-hoofed horse — Hind legs of the horse compared with the legs of man — The true knee of the horse — Elasticity of the structure. WE will begin with the foot. This may seem simple enough, but it is really a question of great com- plexity. In the first place I suppose that at least ninety- nine persons out of a hundred take for granted that the hoof and the foot are identical, and that the former is a solid lump of hard horn, upon which an iron shoe can be nailed, in order to protect it against artificial roads. They also have a vague idea that the hoof is an isolated portion of the horse's frame, and has no definite connection with any other part. 2 HOUSE AND MAX. Now, in the first place, the hoof is riot the foot, but only the extremity of a portion of the foot. In the second place, instead of being a lump of horn, it is one of the most elaborate pieces of mechanism in the whole of the animal kingdom. In the third place, it is an integral portion of an entire and symmetrical organisation ; each part being connected with and dependent upon all the others, and all subservient to the great object of procuring food. No one part could be altered without changing all the others. To put an extreme case : — Suppose that the teeth of the horse were exchanged for those of the lion, the hoof would be useless, as it could not secure living prey. The stomach would be use- less, because it would be incapable of digesting raw flesh, and the teeth, from their structure, would be unable to masticate, and therefore could not chew grass. Conversely, if the hoof were exchanged for lion's paws and talons, they would be quite unsuited to the pastures in which the horse finds its food, and so the teeth would have to be altered. Now let us see what is the general structure of the horse, and what relationship is borne to it by the hoof. The accompanying illustration represents the bony framework of the horse. It was drawn from the skeleton of the celebrated racehorse SKELETON OF THE HORSE. 'Orlando,' who won the Derby in 1844, the year of the famous ' Running Rein ' swindle. As the details of this race may not be familiar to the present generation, I will briefly mention them. B 2 4 HORSE AND MAN. Most people know that the ' Derby ' is intended for three-year-old animals, although a French writer does tell us that a certain horse won the Derby three times successively. Among the horses which were entered was one called ' Banning Rein.' For that animal, a four-year old horse called ' Mac- cabeus ' was substituted under the same name, and w^on the race. The fraud, however, was discovered, and great scandal arose in consequence. The result was that ' Maccabeus ' was disqualified, and the race was awarded to ' Orlando,' who ran second. (Paren- thetically I take the opportunity of wishing that two years could be added to the age, a mile to the course, and considerable addition made to the weight.) The skeleton is in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons, and, like many other figures in this work, was drawn by the kind permission of Pro- fessor W. H. Flower, of the British Museum, who was then curator of the wonderful museum in Lin- coln's Inn Fields, and to whom I return most cordial thanks for his kindly assistance. We will first take a general survey of the skeleton, and then review each part in detail. I shall in the course of this work avoid as far as possible the use of purely scientific language. It is not written for pupils of the Royal Veterinary College, nor for persons skilled in comparative SCIENTIFIC TERMS. 0 anatomy. It is intended for the use of all those who possess or who have charge of horses, and therefore will be couched in language which can be understood by all persons of ordinary education. Scientific terms, however, cannot be entirely ignored in anatomy any more than in other subjects. For example, it wrould be impossible to give the most superficial idea of the carpenter's art without employing such terms as 4 mortice,' 4 tenon,' ' rabbet- ing,' 4 mitre,' and a hundred other technical words. Similarly, nautical terms are quite unintelligible to an ordinary landsman, and yet it would be impossible to work a ship, or even to sail a five-ton cutter, without knowing the meaning of such expressions as 4 luff,' 'jibe,' ' topping lift,' 'port,' ' starboard,' 'wear,' 4 in stays,' &c. So, in describing the structure of the horse, many technical words must be employed, but in every case they will be fully explained when first used. I WILL now ask the reader to examine the skeleton in general. All vertebrates are constructed on the same principle ; modified, or ' differentiated' in detail according to the life which the animal is intended to lead. The only essential skeleton of a vertebrate 6 HORSE AND MAN. animal consists of a skull followed by a series of vertebras. Limbs are only appendages ; many vertebrates, such as the generality of the snake tribe, not possess- ing them. Even ribs are not necessary for existence, as we see is the case with the frogs, in which animals the ribs are totally absent. So, following the order of nature, we will first take the skull and vertebras. A represents the skull itself, b is the eye-hole (orbify, c is the upper jaw (superior maxillary], d are the nasal bones — i.e. the bones of the nose, e is the lower jaw (inferior maxillary], e is the ear-hole (audi- tory foramen). As to the teeth, the reader will observe that there is a considerable gap between the canine teeth, or ' tusks,' and the molars, or grinders. Were it not for this gap, the bit could not be inserted in the mouth, and man would lose his most powerful means of guiding the .animal. B comprises the neck bones (nuchal or cervical vertebra?). These are always seven in number in the mammalia, no matter what the length of the neck may be. Whether the neck may belong to the giraffe, which feeds on tree-leaves eighteen feet from the ground, or whether it be the property of the whale, which has no perceptible neck at all, the nuchal vertebras are seven in number. In the former animal YEHTEBR,E. 7 they are greatly elongated, while in the latter they are flattened and fused together. Those of the horse are intended to give flexibility to the neck, and to assist in fc clothing it with thunder.' The vertebra marked / is called the ' atlas,' be- cause in man this vertebra supports the head, as the mythical giant Atlas was said to support the earth ; while g is called the ' axis,' because it is so con- structed as to enable the animal to turn its head. These seven vertebra) are represented on a larger scale in the illustration on page ,8. The reader will observe that the bones are furnished with pro- jections. These are intended partly for the attach- ment of the muscles, and partly for the branches of the great ligament that runs oyer the back of the neck and supports the head. This ligament and its attachments will be seen when we treat of the neck in connection with the bearing rein. Next come the eighteen vertebras of the back, or ' dorsal ' vertebra?, each having a long flattened pro- cess. The reader will notice that some of these processes lean backwards, while others are directed forwards. Between them are several which are up- right, and upon them is the proper place for the saddle. Then there are the six vertebras of the loins (lumbar vertebrce], followed by six vertebrae called HORSE AND MAN. ' sacral.' They are fused together, and are termed the ' sacrum.' To this portion of the spine the hip, or ' pelvic,' bones are attached. OF NECK. Lastly, come the vertebras of the tail, or ' caudal ' vertebras. These are rather variable in number, but on the average are fifteen. THE FORE-LIMBS. 9 Now we will take the appendages of the vertebra. In front of the body is the breast-bone, or 'sternum.' The ribs are divided into two sets. First come the ' true ribs,' which are connected directly with the sternum, arid then come the ' false ribs,' which are indirectly connected with the sternum by gristle (or cartilage). Lastly we come to the limbs. They are formed of the same bones as those which constitute the arms and legs of man, but as they are intended to perform different offices, the bones are greatly modified in structure. We will begin with the fore- leg, which is analo- gous to the arm of man. First comes the shoulder- blade (scapula), which, except that it is much longer in proportion to its width, is not very different from that of man. But, in proportion as we pass from the shoulder to the toe, we shall find the modifications of form more and more strongly marked. So, the upper arm-bone (humerus) is very different from that of man. With man, the whole weight of the body is supported on the hinder limbs, the arms being set free for particular purposes. The humerus of man, therefore, is long, and comparatively slight. But such a bone would be absolutely useless in a horse, where it has to bear the weight of the fore-part of 10 IIOKSE AXD MAN. the body, plus the heavy neck and head, and would inevitably be shattered at the first leap. Therefore, the humerus of the horse (see J in the figure) is short, thick, and set in a sloping direction, so as to avoid a direct shock as the animal alights from its leap. The reader will notice that the lower end of this bone is enlarged, expanded, and very deeply grooved. Next come the two bones of the fore-arm, K being the large bone (radius), and L the small bone (ulna). Both terms are Latin, the former signifying the spoke of a wheel, and the latter an arm. Here is a bolder modification than in the humerus. It is necessary for man that he should be able to rotate the hand, and therefore the two arm- bones are free at their extremities, and so constructed that they can partially roll over each other. But, for the hand of the horse to be capable of rotation would be an element of weakness, and therefore the bones are so modified that they can only be moved directly backwards and forwards. The ulna, there- fore, is very much reduced in size, and does not LEFT AEM (HUMAN.) THE ' KNEE ' OF THE HORSE. 11 nearly reach to the lower end of the radius, to which it is fused so as practically to form a single bone. The upper end is prolonged, flattened, and plays in the groove at the lower end of the humerus, so that no rotation is possible. The prolonged portion forms the elbow of the horse (olecranon). In order to show this structure more clearly, the joint is given on a much larger scale on page 12. Here A represents the lower end of the humerus with its double head and central groove ; c is the radius, and c the ulna. The reader will here see how it is fused into the radius, and how its flattened prolonga- tion plays up and down in the groove. D is the olecranon, or elbow. Descending still lower, we find the bones of the wrist (carpus), or 'knee' as it is popularly called. These are much the same as those of the human wrist, except that they are simpler in structure. Now, however, we find a most radical change. Compare the bones of the human hand with those of the horse. No resemblance seems at first sight to exist between them ; yet we know that, different as they may seem, they are composed of the same elements. In order to solve this problem we must have recourse to geology and comparative anatomy. The former science shows us that the horse of the present period is the last of a long series, extending 12 HORSE AND MAN. through successive geological epochs and undergoing determinate modifications, so as to bring it in accord with its surroundings. Five or six links of this chain have already been discovered, and in all probability others will come to light. I shall only mention three of these links. ELBOW, NEAR FORE-LEG (SEEN FROM RIGHT SIDE). The reader may have been struck with the fact that the number of toes on the foot of a mammal is exceedingly variable, but yet has certain limits. Some, like man, have five toes or fingers (phalanges) on each extremity, while others, like the horse, have only one. Except by occasional monstrosity there are never more than five phalanges, while the animals A FIVE-TOED HORSE. }3 sometimes have two, three, or four, as the case may be. In some, as in the tapirs, there are four toes on the front feet and only three on the hind limbs. A comparison of the hand of man with that of the horse seems quite absurd, and yet it becomes simple and intelligible when systematically carried out. The ELBOW, NEAR FORE- LEG (SEEN FROM LEFT SIDE). reader must carefully keep in mind the fact that the so-called knee of the horse is really the wrist, and that the rest of the limb is really the modified hand. The earliest horse known to geologists had five toes or fingers. It was quite a little creature, scarcely larger than an ordinary terrier dog. Then there came an animal in which the characteristics of the 14 HORSE AND MAN. horse are much more strongly developed. It is appropriately named the Anchitherium — i.e. the creature approaching the horse. In this animal there were apparently three toes, all resting on the ground, and the other two almost touching it. Next came the Hipparion — i.e. an animal almost a horse. LEFT FOOT OF ANCH1THEEIUM. LEFT FOOT OF HIPPARIOX. This creature had still the three toes, but only the central toe rested on the ground, the others being •drawn upwards, I intentionally used the word ' apparently ' when describing the toes of the anchitherium, and for the following reason. Let the reader again look THE PASTE EX. 15 at the bones of a man's hand. Starting from the wrist are five bones, called the ; metacarpals ' — i.e. following the carpus, or wrist. Suppose we call the thumb (as it really is) the first finger, we find that in many animals the third and fourth metacarpals are fused together, either partially or completely. In the modern horse they are fused (anchylosed) so 'completely, that it is not easy to detect the fact that they are really two bones. But, in the hipparion the line of junction is manifest, and still more so in the anchitherium. A similar line of junction may be seen in the very familiar bones of the oxen and sheep. In these latter creatures, however, the third and fourth phalanges diverge, so as to pro- duce the cloven hoof, but in the Horse tribe the phalanges, as well as the metacarpals, are fused together, so as to form a series of single bones, as here shown. Here B represents the first of the three finger joints, and is popularly called the Long Pastern bone, c is the middle joint, and is called the Short Pastern, while the last, or ' distal ' joint, is termed the Coffin Bone. How these bones are connected with the hoof we shall see on a future page. MNGER OK PASTERN BONES. 16 HORSE AND MAN. Now we can find a clue to the modification of the foot, or hand, whichever we like to call it. The long straight bone which reaches from the wrist to the pastern (' cannon,' or ' shank bone,' as it is sometimes called) is formed of the third and fourth metacarpals fused together. But what has become of the rest of the hand ? Where is the thumb ? What has been done with the second (index) and little (fifth) lingers ? We can answer these questions by geology combined with comparative anatomy. In every instance where the phalanges become rudimentary, the thumb is the first to be withdrawn. In the dog and cat, the thumb is familiar to all as the ' dew-claw.' Now, in the horse tribe the thumb was withdrawn even before the time of the anchi- therium, leaving only three toes (or fingers) capable of resting on the ground — i.e. in the middle were the third and fourth toes fused into one, and on either side the index and little finger. In the hipparion these external toes are partially rudimentary, so that though they still possess hoofs, they do not rest on the ground, and are as useless for walking purposes as those of the deer. In the true horse, as we now know the animal, these external toes have become perfectly rudimentary. There is no external trace of them, but when the skin is re- moved from the horse's shank two skewer-like bones THE ORIGINAL HOKSE. 17 are seen, one on each side of the cannon bone. These are the metacarpals of the index and little fingers, the phalanges having disappeared altogether, and the metacarpals themselves being reduced to mere splinters of bone, without a trace of a joint at either end. I may here mention that even when the horse did appear, it was very unlike the beautiful animal of the present day. It was even smaller than the Shetland pony, had a head and neck very large in proportion to the body, a coarse and heavy mane, and was alto- gether a clumsy sort of animal. This we learn from the wonderful engravings upon bone or antler exe- cuted by those born artists the Men of the Caves. To them we are indebted for portraits of the mam- moth, deer, horses, and other animals, drawn with a freedom, a truth, a vigour, and a fire of which our best animal artists might be proud. The various breeds of horses which we possess at the present day are, so to speak, artificial, and are due to the constant influence of man. When deprived of this influence, they soon display a tendency to retro- grade to the ancient type, their bodies and limbs gradually dwindling, but their heads remaining of their original size. Every now and then a horse is born which ex- hibits traits of its ancestry, just as fancy rabbits of 18 HORSE AND MAX. the purest lineage are apt to produce young which can hardly be distinguished from the semi-wild rabbits of our warrens. In point of size, the beauti- ful little pony 4 Lady Jumbo,' which was exhibited in 1882, afforded a good example of the primitive horse. When shown at Islington she was only thirty inches in height, and was brought from the London Bridge Station to Islington inside a four-wheel cab. Sometimes a horse is born with three toes on one foot. In the autumn of 1883, while staying in Boston, Mass., I saw a horse with eight hoofs, the second (i.e. the fore-finger) phalanges being almost as perfectly developed as the third and fourth. The supplemen- tary hoof, although it did not quite reach the ground, was nearly as large as the actual hoof. Unfortunately —so are we swayed by custom — the owner had shod all the hoofs alike, a piece of barbarism which I lost no time in denouncing. Now we will turn to the hind limbs. Here we find almost a repetition of the fore limbs, but the joints are differently arranged. Instead of the blade bone there is the hip bone, or ' pelvis,' marked o in the illustration. Then comes the thigh bone (femur) in place of the humerus. Here, again, a long and slender thigh bone would be a source of weakness to the animal, THE HIND LIMBS. 19 and so, like the burner us, it is shortened, thickened, and is set at a slope, so as to avoid a direct shock to it. Next we come to the real knee of the horse a joint which is professionally called the ' stifle,' why, I cannot imagine. This joint being the knee, there is a knee cap (patella), which performs the same office for the horse that it does for us. Dislocation of the patella is even more common with horses than with man, but fortunately can be reduced more easily, and does not leave such persistent weakness. After the thigh bone come the two bones of the lower leg — the ' tibia ' and ' fibula.' Both words are Latin ; the former signifying a flute, and the other a buckle, or rather the tongue of a buckle. With us, they are popularly known as the large and small leg bones. Next comes the ankle (tarmx), popularly called the ' hock.' As in the wrist, so in the ankle, the bones are not unlike those of men. The heel- bone, however, is longer, as it has to afford leverage to the great heel sinew or tendon (tendo Achillis), the severance of which is called ' houghing,' and lames for life either man or beast. Just as in the fore-limb the metacarpals are rudimentary, with the exception of the third and fourth which are fused into a single bone, so it is c 2 20 HORSE AND MAX. with the 4 metatarsals ' of the horse — marked T in the illustration — which correspond with the bones form- ing the instep of man. Similarly, the phalanges, or toes, have totally vanished, except those which belong to the cannon bone, and, like the metatarsals, are fused into single bones. Thus, from the so-called ' knee ' to the end of the fore limb is the real hand of the horse, and from the hock to the end of the hind limb is the true foot, the horse walking on the tips of the third and fourth fingers of the hand, and on the tips of the third and fourth toes of the foot. Before leaving the skeleton for the present, I wish to call the attention of the reader to the mode in which the joints of the limbs work. The humerus is directed backwards, while the femur slopes forward. Consequently, when the animal moves, the elbow and stifle (the real knee), which are on a level with each other, bend towards each other. Then, the two next joints — i.e. the so- called knee and the hock — bend away from each LEFT LEG A1STD PELVIS (HUMAN). COLOURED DIAGRAMS. 21 other. The whole structure, together with the angle of the pastern, ensures that elasticity which is so necessary for the animal's welfare. In order that these bones may be the better im- pressed upon the mind, I strongly recommend the reader to colour the figure, just as maps are coloured, for the purpose of making them more easily intelli- gible. My own figure is coloured as follows : — • Taking the same order as has been observed in the description, the skull is olive-green, and the lower jaw blackish-grey. The cervical vertebrae are yellow ochre, the dorsal vertebras blue, the lumbar vertebras red, the sacrum brown, and the tail red. The true ribs are olive-green, and the false ribs purple. As for the limbs, the scapula and pelvis are pink, and the humerus and femur olive-green. The radius and tibia are yellow ochre, while the ulna and fibula are red. The carpus and tarsus are brown, the metacarpals and metatarsals purple, the splint bones scarlet, and the phalanges brown. Of course, the darkened bones of the right limbs should be left uncoloured. 22 HORSE AXD MAX. CHAPTER II. Connection between the foot and the hoof— Extent of the foot — What is horn ? — Original dwelling-place of the horse — Climbing powers of the horse — Requisites of the hoof — STRENGTH, because it has to bear the weight o f so heavy an animal — LIGHTNESS, lest the horse should have to lift needless weight — The 'coffin ' bone and its struc- ture— HARDNESS, to endure contact with bad ground — SHARPNESS, round edge to enable the horse to climb — CLINGING, to suit smooth and slippery ground— SELF-REPAIRING, for restoration of worn material: the wall, frog, and sole — Structure of the WALL — The horny laminae — Their origin and mode of growth — Over-grown hoofs — Elasticity begins with angle of pastern — The FROG, its position, structure, and office — Analogies between Nature and human inven- tions— The SOLE, its structure and double office. HAVING now taken a comprehensive glance at the skeleton of the horse, and seen the relationship between the foot and the animal, we will go into a little more detail, and see where is the connection between the foot and the hoof. The popular idea on this subject is that the hoof, or at all events the hoof together with the fetlock, is the foot ; whereas, as we have seen, the foot of the fore-limbs begins at the so-called knee, and that of the hind limbs at the hock. The hoof is. in fact, the nail of the finder or toe, THE HOOF. 2P> enlarged and modified to perform a series of offices. In material and position it is identical with the talon of the lion or tiger and the claw of the eagle. It may seem strange that the delicate pinky nail of a lady's finger should be one and the same with the hoof of the horse, but such is really the case. Now for the structure of the hoof, or nail, of the horse. Instead of being a mere lump of horn, it is a sort of horny case, or box, intended to protect the sensitive structure which it surrounds. The offices which it serves are many, though several of those offices are practically ignored by civilised man. Indeed, even those who really know the structure of the horse have made the most curious mistakes about the work of the hoof. One writer states that the horse was intended to live on moist or even marshy land, whereas such ground is the very worst for the hoof, and is carefully avoided by the horse when- ever it can find hard and dry ground to stand upon. The animal always instinctively tries to find a hard surface on which to stand. In America the ' mustangers ' — i.e. the men who get their living by catching and training the mustangs, or wild horses— invariably choose the hardest and stoniest places for the ' corrals,' in which they keep the horses until they are wanted. 24 HORSE AND MAN. Another writer says that the horse was intended to live on level pasture land. Now, it is admitted that Central Asia is the original home of the horse, and that the animal is not very likely to find in those regions either marsh or pasture land. In point of fact, the horse is intended to suit a very wide range of locality, and to be equally at home on grass, stony ground, or rocks. A familiar instance of this fact may be found in our Exmoor ponies. They have ample choice of ground, but of their own will they prefer rough and rocky ground, climbing and leaping with an activity and sure-footedness that is hardly surpassed by the goat itself. A curious instance of this capacity occurred to a friend of mine, a mighty Nimrod, who has hunted in many parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa. He was stationed with his regiment in India, and was fond of going out alone to hunt, mounted on a little Circassian horse. On one of those excursions he lost his way, and, finding himself at the foot of a rocky cliff, determined to ascend it so as to find his bearings. So he dismounted, and began to climb up the rock, leaving the horse with the bridle over its neck. These horses are trained to stand still while the hunter goes off on foot in search of his game. When Col. CLIMBING POWERS OF THE HORSE. 2-J D had mounted about half-way up the precipice, he heard a scrambling sound beneath him, and on looking down saw his horse in the act of following him. The rock was very steep, but the horse could climb it as well as the man. There was one part of the ascent of which Col. D sent me a sketch. In one place the rock projected into a sort of buttress nearly smooth and perpendicular, and it was neces- sary to work round it before reaching a firm foot- hold. A narrow ledge ran round it, just wide enough for the toes to rest upon, and, by means of clutching with his fingers at any irregularity of the face of the rock, the hunter managed to work his way round the obstacle. To his great astonishment, he saw that the horse was following the same track as himself, and had man- aged to sidle round the buttress in exactly the same manner. The horse reared itself upright, set the toes of the hind feet upon the narrow ledge, clung to the rock with the sharp-edged toes of the fore feet, and so contrived to achieve the dangerous pas- sage. Of course the animal wTas unshod. An admirable example of climbing power pos- sessed by the unshod horse is given by Lady Florence Dixie, in her work ' Across Patagonia.' ' Soon our horses began to neigh and prick up 20 HOUSE AND MAX. their ears as we advanced beyond a clearing. Their cries were answered from some wh ere beyond us, and, pushing forward into the open, we came upon a herd of wild horses, who, on hearing our advance, had stopped grazing, and now they stood collected in a knot together, snorting and stamping, and staring at us in evident amazement. ' One of their number came boldly trotting out to meet us, and evidently with no pacific intentions ; his wicked eye and his white teeth, which he had bared fiercely, looking by no means encouraging. But suddenly he stopped short, looked at us for a mo- ment, and then, with a wild snort, dashed madly away, followed by the whole herd. ' They disappeared like lightning over the brow of a deep ravine, to emerge again on our view after a couple of seconds, scampering like goats up its opposite side, which rose almost perpendicular to a height of six or seven hundred feet. They reached its crest at full gallop in the twinkling of an eye, and, without pausing for an instant, disappeared again, leaving us wondering and amazed at their marvellous ' I had often seen their paths leading up hill-sides which a man could scarcely climb, but, till now that I had witnessed a specimen of their powers with my own eyes, I had scarcely been able to believe them QUALITIES OF THE HOOF. 27 possessed of a nimbleness and cleverness of foot which would not discredit a chamois.' HERE are some of the offices which have to be performed by the horse's hoof, together with the reasons for those offices. The horse is a very heavy animal, and therefore the hoof which carries that weight must be STRONG. Strength might be obtained by solidity, but solidity would involve weight, so that the horse would have to lift several ounces each time that he made a step. This may not seem very much in detail, but in the aggregate it is very considerable indeed. Moreover, the power which is required to raise the foot is very much in excess of the weight to be lifted. The hoof is at the extremity of a long lever, the power of which is applied at the end of the shorter arm, so that, as has been roughly calculated, an ounce on the hoof is equivalent to a pound on the back. The horse is not furnished with muscles fitted for lifting heavy weights at the ends of its legs, and therefore the foot is carefully made as light as possible. The hoof, therefore, must be LIGHT. It must be HARD, so as to endure contact with sharp-edged rock, a sun-baked soil, or loose stones. 28 HORSE AND MAX. It must be ELASTIC, in order to obviate the jar which would be caused by the concussion of a hard and unyielding substance with the hard and . un- yielding ground. It must be SHARP-EDGED, to give the animal a footing on rocks or uneven ground. It must be CLINGING, so as to save the horse from falling on a wet, slippery, or frozen surface. Lastly, as the hoof must be perpetually worn away, it must be capable of SELF REPAIR in exact proportion to the loss of material. All these appa- rently conflicting characteristics are to be found in the hoof of the horse in its natural state, and there is not one of them which man does not impair, or actually annul, in his attempts to improve upon nature. The provisions for combining lightness with strength begin with the bones. In order to support the large hoof, it is necessary that the terminal, or ' coffin ' bone should be enlarged. If, however, this bone were solid, several ounces would be added to the weight. It is, therefore, made of a ' cancellous ' structure — i.e. somewhat sponge-like in appearance. This formation is evident, even from the outside, but is very much better shown by making a section of the bone. A somewhat similar structure may be seen in the skull of the elephant, where size lias to be conjoined with lightness. THE HORXY LAMIN.E. 29 There is now before me the coifm bone of a cart- horse. It measures nine and a half inches round the edge, four and a quarter inches across, from wing to wing, and only just exceeds four ounces in weight. A similar principle is carried out in the hoof, but, as the material is horn and not bone, it must be treated in a different manner. In the hoof there are three distinct kinds of horn. Each kind is secreted from a different source, and is perpetually renewed when it becomes worn out or effete. The three horns are, firstly, the outer ' CRUST ' or ' WALL ; ' secondly, the ' FROG,' which occupies the centre of the under surface of the hoof, and ought to bear the weight of the horse when it first sets foot to the ground ; and, thirdly, the ' SOLE,' which con- nects the frog with the wall. We will take each of these structures separately. Even the WALL is not a solid piece of horn, but is made of a great number of very thin horny plates called ' laminae.' These lamina? are shaped like knife- blades, the backs being very much thicker than the edges. If we can imagine some six or seven hundred of these horny blades to be set closely side by side, their backs to be fused together and their edges free, we may form some conception of this portion of the hoof. They have been well compared to the gills of a mushroom. 30 HORSE AND MAN. These laminae are, in fact, flattened hairs, and, like all hairs, grow from their roots, which may be found in the 'coronary ring' which surrounds the upper portion of the hoof. The laminae which form the front of the hoof grow much more rapidly than the others, so as to compensate for the greater wear and tear which takes place on the toe than on the 6 heel,' as it is called. HOOF OF FALKLAND ISLAND HORSE (FRONT AND BACK VIEWS). Therefore, unless the front of the hoof be regularly worn away, as was intended by the Creator, or cut away by the knife, according to man's ideas of im- proving on nature, it grows to an abnormal length, and prevents the animal from walking in a natural manner. The accompanying illustration represents the over- grown hoof of a horse which had lived on the soft and swampy ground of the Falkland Isles, and which FEICTIOX AND THE HOOF. 31 was therefore unable to wear away the hoof by friction. As may be seen from the illustration, the hoof had curled round like a rain's horn, forcing the animal to walk on the side of the hoof and not on its face. As to the frog and sole, it is not easy to identify them, so completely are they enveloped by the overgrown horn of the wall. The accompanying illustration is drawn from a specimen in the Museum of the College of Surgeons. It may be seen among the series of epidermal appendages, and forms a good reply to those persons who think that the hoof was formed for marshy ground. Should the reader be a keeper of cage birds, especially canaries, he will remember that both the claws arid beak are apt to be overgrown for want of the friction to which they would be subjected had the bird lived a natural life. Unless both beak and claws be artificially cut, as a succedaneum for the natural friction, the bird will be greatly incon- venienced, and may probably die from inability to procure food. A similar result of overgrowth for lack of friction is often seen in rabbits, mice, rats, and other rodent animals. One of the incisor teeth is accidentally broken, and the corresponding tooth of the opposite jaw not having anything to rub against, continues to grow until the tooth attains an astonishing length. 32 HORSE AXD MAN. Those of the lower jaw will sometimes curl over the top of the head, while those of the upper jaw, on account of the greater curvature of the socket, will continue their growth until they form a perfect ring. Examples of these overgrowths may be seen in the College of Surgeons. Eabbit- keepers must have noticed how their pets are continually moving their jaws as if masticating something. This movement so closely resembles that of ruminant animals when they chew the cud, that the Jews of old times took for granted that the hare and the cony — i.e. the hyrax — chew the cud, whereas they only rub the upper and lower teeth against each other for the purpose of preserving the chisel-like edge. ANOTHER needful characteristic of the hoof now comes before us. In order to avoid jarring the brain and spinal cord at each step, it is necessary that the hoof should be ELASTIC. As I have already mentioned, the general elasti- city of the whole frame is largely due to the mode in which .the joints of the limbs are made. The peculiar angle at which the fetlock is set has also an influence on the elasticity, and horsemen are well aware that when the pastern is too upright they feel jarred at every step. ANGLE OF THE FETLOCK. 33 I always endeavour to show how man's inven- tions, especially in practical mechanics, have their prototypes in nature. If the reader will compare the accompanying illustration with the fetlock of the horse on page 15, he will see that the angle of the connecting piece (marked a'} is almost identical with that of the fetlock. But something more than the mere arrangement of the bones is required. The portion of the hoof which comes first to the ground at each step must be elastic, and this requirement brings us to one of SIDE BEARING OF RAILWAY CARRIAGE. the most important portions of the horse's hoof, it being the chief source of elasticity. This is the FROG, so called because when untouched by the knife it really bears some resemblance to a crouching frog. It occupies the centre of the lower surface of the hoof, and, as the reader may see from the accompany- ing illustration, looks something like the letter Y. The rounded portions at the ends of the bars are called the ' glumes,' or heels of the frog. When the hoof is left in its natural form, the frog fills up a considerable portion of the hoof. It D 34 HORSE AND MAX. is not hard like the wall, which, if properly treated, becomes so hard that a knife will scarcely touch it, but is quite soft and elastic, feeling when handled much like vulcanised indiarubber. As the horse steps, the weight first comes on the hinder, or heel portion of the frog, then upon its centre, and afterwards upon the wall. Two objects are fulfilled by this structure. Firstly, by means of this elastic material interposed between the horse and the ground, the animal treads softly, and does not 'jar' the body, as would be the case if the bearing came first on the wall. Horses are instinctively aware of this fact, and when at liberty in a field they may be seen shuffling about in order to obtain the central bearing, for which the hoof was made. Again, man has imitated nature in artificial loco- motion. In many forms of carriages, especially those of railways, the weight rests upon the central portion of the springs, as seen in • the accompanying illustra- tion. The inventors of this form of spring, and of the diagonal attachment which is figured on page 33, were probably unaware that their inventions UNSHOD HOOF OF WILD HORSE. THE ' FKOG.' 35 had been anticipated in nature — not only for many years before carriages were invented, but many ages before man could have existed. The next object is to prevent the horse from slipping on wet or smooth surfaces. For this object the frog is wonderfully adapted, as it will cling to ice or a wet boulder, and enable the animal to traverse a slippery surface with perfect freedom. When, therefore, the hoof of an unshod horse comes to the ground, and the weight of the animal rests upon it, the hoof has a double hold, the frog in LT\J CENTEAL BEAEING OF KAILWAT CAREIAGE. the centre clinging like indiarubber, and the sharp- edged wall holding to the least roughness or irregu- larity. Like the wall, the frog is subject to perpetual wear, and therefore must be perpetually renewed. It is not, however, rubbed down by friction, as is the wall, but its outer portions continually become detached in little loose flaps, which hang on for a time and then break away altogether, so as to make way for the fresh material which has been formed above them. D2 36 HORSE AND MAN. Lastly, there conies the SOLE, which binds the frog and the wall together. The horn of which this portion of the hoof is made is very different from that of the wall or the frog. It is formed of a number of extremely hard and strong horny plates laid one above the other, and curved so as to form a sort of dome surrounding both sides and the front of the frog. The sole has another object beside connecting the frog and the wall. It is intended to defend the sensitive parts of the interior hoof from stones, sharp points of rocks, and so forth. When the sole becomes worn out, it has the faculty of reproducing itself in a manner quite distinct from that of the wall and the frog. Instead of being rubbed away by friction like the former, or throwing off little flaps like the latter, it exfoliates in flakes, a new flake being secreted above before the effete one falls below. One point more about the hoof remains to be mentioned. As the horse is intended by nature not only to go on level ground but to be able to climb rocks, it is necessary that the edges of the hoofs should be sharp and the interior slightly concave. It must be evident, therefore, that if the edges be blunted and flattened, or, still worse, if they be rounded, especi- ally at the toes, one function of the hoof cannot be exercised. THE THREE KINDS OF HORN. 37 The reader will now see that these three kinds of horn work with each other, and that if either of them be removed the other two cannot perform their tasks at all, and that if one be even injured, the others are proportionately weakened. Each of these points will presently be considered at length, but I have thought it better to begin by giving the reader a general idea of the natural hoof and its structure. At all events, enough has been said to show that the hoof is not made for one kind of ground or one climate only, but is capable of sustaining the animal on rock, marsh, loose stone, or ice. We will now take a corresponding view of the internal structure of the hoof. 38 HORSE AND MAX. CHAPTER III. Internal structure of the hoof — The hoof compared with the Jacquard loom — Longitudinal section of pastern — The 'navicular' bone: its origin, form, and office — The tendons — Flexor and extensor muscles and their tendons — The ' coronary ring ' and its object — The hoof of the horse and the nail of man — The ' quick ' of the nail — The ' sensitive ' or ' vascular ' laminae — Mutual dependence of the horny and vascular laminse — Analogy of laminae of whalebone and those of hoof — Expansive property of hoof — Mr. Miles's experiments — Advan- tage of this property in a hunter — Effect of shoes in leaping — In any pace the heel comes on the ground before the toe — Importance of this fact. THROUGHOUT the whole animal kingdom there is, perhaps, no structure which is more elaborately intricate than that of the internal hoof. Yet, intricate as it may be, it is based on one leading idea, so that all the multitudinous details subserve one single purpose. The same principle is observed in many of the complicated machines invented by man. Take, for example, the various modifications of the Jacquard loom, especially that form which produces ribbons into which various patterns are woven. To the novice, nothing looks more hopelessly elaborate and confusing, while to COMPLEX SIMPLICITY. P,9 the skilled weaver nothing can be simpler or more intelligible. There are hundreds of threads crossing and re- crossing each other in apparently hopeless confusion. There are several rows of little shuttles, each fitted with differently coloured silk. There are slender rods and cranks, and over all this mixture of brass, steel, strings, silks, and shuttles, there is a string of cards perforated with circular holes, each turning over as the shuttles dart from one side of the machine to the other. If these parts be separated, they seem to have no connection with each other. A person who did not understand the principles of the machine might think that you were joking if you showed him the string of perforated cards and a patterned ribbon, and told him that the holes on the cards constituted the original pattern, which was reproduced in a different form on the silk, and that a skilled weaver can read off one from the other as a linguist can read English into Greek, or vice versa. Yet all these multitudi- nous details are arranged by one master mind, and all work harmoniously together to one single end. So it is with the horse's hoof. That the three kinds of horn of which the external hoof is constructed should be formed so as to act in concert with the infinitely more elaborate internal 40 HORSE AND MAX. hoof, seems at first sight as incredible as that the holes in the cards above the loom contain the pattern which the machine works in coloured silks below. Yet, as I have said, the manager of the machine can read the pattern of the silk in the cards, and he knows that if only a single card were to be removed, or even transposed, or a hole omitted, the pattern SECTION OF FETLOCK. would be imperfect. Similarly, those who know the construction of the hoof are perfectly aware that all its parts, whether external or internal, are dependent on each other, and that an injury done to one will affect all the others. I shall now endeavour to place before the reader the interior of the hoof, and its connection with the THE 'NAVICULAR' BOXE. 41 liorny covering that surrounds it, and the limb of which it forms the extremity. THE accompanying illustrations represent a longitu- dinal section of the lower portion of the horse's foot. Beginning as before with the bones, A is the lower part of the cannon bone, or metacarpal; B is the Long Pastern, c the Short Pastern, and D the Coffin Bone. Another bone, shown at E, now comes before FRONT VIEW OF COFFIN AND BACK VIEW OF COFFIN, NAVICTJLAK, NAVICULAR BONES. AND SHORT-PASTERN BONES. us. It is quite a little one, but is of the greatest importance to the hoof. Its scientific name is the 'Navicular' bone. The word is Latin, signifying a little ship or boat, and is given to the bone because it somewhat resembles a birch-bark canoe in shape. The too-familiar ' navicular ' disease originates in the structures surrounding this bone. Another name is the ' shuttle-bone.' As the section on page 40 does not give any idea 42 JIOESE AND MAN. of the true shape of either the coffin or navicular bones, two views of each are here presented. What might be the origin of this bone was for some time a matter of controversy. It was long thought to be a modification of one of the missing bones of the foot, but is now known to be a 4 sesamoid ' bone. There are many of these bones, variously formed in different animals, the largest being the knee-cap, or ' patella.' They are developed within the tendons, and derive their rather fanciful name from their usually small size, together with their shape, which bears some resemblance to that of the sesame seed. The reader will see that the navicular lies behind the coffin bone, and between the two wings. Its chief object is to act as a pulley, so as to enable the foot to be bent, or ' flexed,' with greater force. Another sesamoid bone, performing a similar office, may be seen at F, just at the end of the cannon bone, and aids in producing the characteristic pro- jection at the beginning of the pastern. At T is seen the fatty cushion of the pastern. Its structure acts as a guard to the delicate machinery of the sesamoid bone and tendon. We are now led to another element in the horse's foot — namely, the tendons — i.e. the ligamentary bands by which the muscles act on their attachments. TENDONS. 43 Whenever a limb or any portion of the body has to be bent, there are always two opposite sets of muscles, one called the ' flexors,' because they bend the limb, and the other ' extensors,' because they straighten it. As a rule, the former are far more powerful than the latter. This we may see exemplified in the well-known schoolboy experiment. When one boy presses together the tips of the forefingers, and another grasps his wrists, and tries to pull the fingers apart at right angles to the body, the latter cannot succeed unless he be very much bigger and more powerful than the former. The reason of this discrepancy is, that the first boy uses his flexor muscles, while the second boy employs the extensors. A very familiar example of a flexor muscle is to be found in the ' biceps,' of which an athlete is apt to be exceedingly proud. The tendons, which in fact surround the muscles as a thin membrane, and are brought to a cord-like shape at the extremities, take their name from their muscles, and of course are of proportionate strength. I may here mention, as another very familiar example, that the c stringiness ' of meat is due to the thin coat- ing of tendon which envelopes the muscles. At I and K is seen the double flexor tendon. This ligament divides after passing over the sesamoid bone of the fetlock, the front portion being attached to the 44 HORSE AND MAN. upper part of the short pastern bone, and the other to the floor of the coffin bone, after passing over the navicular bone. This tendon, therefore, twice changes its line, each time gaining an increase of power. In the front of the limb runs the extensor tendon. It also divides into two portions, one being attached to the short pastern bone and the other to the coffin bone. These two tendons, therefore, or rather the muscles to which they are attached, would continually pull against each other were it not for the provision that the one is always relaxed in proportion as the other contracts. At H is shown the suspensory liga- ment, the name of which indicates its use. These tendons and their attachment can readily be observed in a dried specimen, although it is more satisfactory to study them from the recent subject. I have now before me a section of a pastern which was made many years ago, and has been subjected to very hard usage. It is, however, in perfect preservation, and, unless wilfully damaged, will remain unchanged for centuries. I recommend the reader to colour all these ana- tomical illustrations, every one of which has been drawn from the actual object. At s, on page 40, is shown the coronary ring, which secretes the horn of the wall. Being extremely vascular - — i.e. filled with arteries and veins, it shrivels almost to THE VASCULAR LAM1X.K. 1 7} nothing after the death of the animal, and in a dried specimen there is only a space to show where the coronary ring has been. At M is shown the soft frog, which is guarded by the hard or exterior frog, which is seen at N. This, however, is not quite large enough. The draughts- man, who, I regret to say, died almost suddenly before the series of drawings was completed, could not obtain access to a specimen which had not been mutilated by man, and therefore had to draw the frog as he saw it. p shows the internal or sensitive sole, and o the hard or external sole, which has already been mentioned. R shows the wall or crust, and u is tne 8 Kin. HORNY LAMINAE. Now we will see how the sensitive structures are connected with the external hoof, which, it must be remembered, is the analogue of the human nail. The reader will remember that on page 29 the six hundred laminae of which the wall is composed were compared to knife-blades, the edges being inwards. Upon the coffin bone are set edgewise a corresponding number of vascular, or sensitive laminae, shaped very much like the horny laminas, and inserted between them like partially interlaced fingers. They hold the hoof so tightly that to pull it off', even when the 46 HORSE AND MAN. pastern is separated from the rest of the limb, is exceedingly difficult. In the accompanying illustration is represented a section of a hoof which was made for me at the College of Surgeons. E is the bone. At A B are the horny and sensitive laminae interlacing with each other, the latter being as amply supplied with nerves as the base and ' quick ' of the human nail. SECTION OF HOOF THROUGH THE COFFIN BONE. c is sensitive structure, and D is the external horn. This figure affords an excellent example of the curious alteration in appearance which is made by a section. Even in the longitudinal section of the pas- tern, as shown in p. 40, the coffin bone, owing to the absence of the wing, looks scarcely half its real size, while no one could form the least idea of either the size or shape of the navicular bone from the section. UNDER THE MICROSCOPE. 47 There is now before me a dried specimen of a pastern, from which the hoof has been removed, the sensitive laminas having been allowed to remain in their places. They have, of course, become shrivelled out of all shape, have lost their bright scarlet colour, and round the edge of the coffin bone they are quite undistinguishable, the bone looking as if it were enveloped in a rough brown skin. But at the upper part of the bone, especially just below the coronary ring, the separate laminge can easily be detected, so that when the hoof is shown beside them the con- nection is perfectly intelligible. I have already mentioned that there are about six hundred horny laminae in each hoof. If we make a careful section of the laminse, we find that, slight and delicate as they are, their structure is far from being simple. Hard at their bases, which form the wall of the hoof, they become more and more fragile towards their edges, so that the portions which inter- lace with the sensitive laminae might be rubbed to pieces between the finger and thumb. . In order to be seen in their full perfection, a very thin section of them should be made, and then be viewed by polarised light. A very moderate power, say a half-inch object-glass, is required. They will then be seen to have their surfaces covered with 48 HOBSB AXD MAX. snb-lamimi3, while now arid then one of them throws off a branch similarly furnished with sub- lamina. The colours which are presented by these structures under polarised light are beyond the power ot APPEARANCE OF HORN- FIBRES BY POLARISED LIGHT. TWO LAMINA WITH THEIR SUB-LAMINAE. description. I have, however, endeavoured to give some idea of them without the aid of colour. One other point remains to be mentioned in connection with this part of the subject. This is the ' linea alba,' or white line, which marks the THE LINE A ALBA. 49 junction of the sole and wall. It is analogous to the ' quick ' of the human nail, and is exceedingly sensitive. In the untouched hoof, this line, which is as vulnerable as the heel of Achilles, is thoroughly pro- tected by the thick and strong horny layers of the sole ; but if that protection be removed, or even weakened, the pressure of the horse's weight against a stone or similar object will cause such intolerable agony, that the animal will drop as if shot when he treads upon it. Now we will see how all these structures, which are apparently so different, can work together in harmony. Suppose the animal to be walking. At each step a considerable part of the weight of the horse is thrown upon the hoof. The first portion to come to the ground is the elastic frog, and as: the frog yields to pressure, the sharp- edged wall also comes upon the ground, so that the horse is partly sup- ported by the frog and partly by the wall. The pressure of the frog is transmitted to the sole, and thence to the wall, which slightly expands. There has been great controversy about this expan- sion. Some writers, judging apparently from the dried hoof, have denied that any expansion at all takes place. But it must be remembered that the E 50 HORSE AND MAN. hoof, when it belongs to the living animal, is a very different instrument from the same hoof when dry. In the latter state it is hard and unyielding, but in the former, though hard on the exterior, it becomes gra- dually softer in the interior, and is perfectly capable of yielding to pressure. Similarly, ' whalebone,' as we popularly call it, or ' baleen,' as it ought to be termed, is a kind of horny structure, formed, like the hoof, of a vast number of hair-like fibres fused together. The whalebone of commerce is hard, and though very elastic to a certain extent, is sure to snap if bent too far. This is well exemplified by the pictorial advertisements which meet, or rather which are forced on our eyes at every turn, and which repre- sent ladies in despair about their corsets, the ' bones ' of which will break. But the baleen, as it exists in the living animal, is a very different structure. It is many feet in length, very nearly straight, as soft and pliable as a fresh tendon, and quite as incapable of being broken when bent. Indeed, it is so pliable, that when the whale closes its mouth, the ends of the baleen slip into a deep groove on either side of the lower jaw, the long plates, or laminse, bending nearly at right angles. They remain there until the animal opens its mouth, when the baleen springs back again into its previous form. ' FREE LANCE.' 51 So it is with two out of the three kinds of horn which constitute the hoof. The frog yields vertically and the wall laterally, the rigid sole serving to transfer the pressure as has already been mentioned. Con- sequently, as long as the animal moves, the horn is never at rest. It is perpetually fulfilling the tasks for which it was made, is continually thrown off, and as continually replaced. Any interference with nature, therefore, must of necessity be injurious to the hoof. The expansion is not nearly so much as some of its advocates think, but still, there is quite enough to keep the fibres of the three horns in motion. Mr. G. Ransom (' Free Lance '), in his ' Horses and Eoads,' mentions a case where the amount of expansion was carefully measured. The experiments were made by Mr. Miles, a Devonshire squire, author of '• Miles on the Horse's Foot.' ' The subject of them was a horse nine years old, which had always worn shoes since he was first put to work, and had the shoes removed on purpose for the investigation and experiment. ' The unshod foot was then lifted up, and its con- tour traced with the greatest precision on a piece of board covered with paper. A similar board was then laid on the ground, the same foot was then placed upon it, and the opposite foot held up whilst it was again traced. E 2 52 HORSE AND MAX. ' The result was, that it had expanded one eighth part of an inch at the heels and quarters ; and from the quarters towards the toe this gradually diminished, showing a space of four inches front, and two inches on each side of the centre of the toe, where no expansion whatever had taken place ; the tracings proving at the same time that expansion was only lateral, and that none took place in the length of the foot from heel to toe. 6 He states that he had other horses which had before shown a still greater expansion than this ; but this was only whilst the horse was standing, and upon three legs.' The expansive property of the hoof lias another advantage. When an ordinary horse — say in hunt- ing— is traversing stiff and clayey ground, its pro- gress is greatly hindered by the soil which adheres to the hoofs, and by the depth to which the foot sinks in the ground. Sometimes, when the horse has taken a leap, the fore- hoofs sink so deeply that the animal cannot instantly extricate them. The forward impetus cannot be checked, and the result is that the leg is broken at the pastern, and the horse has to be killed. The rider may probably be killed too, but we are now dealing with the horse and not with its rider. But, with an unshod horse, the result of a similar leap would be very different. As it comes to the IROX AND HORN. 53 ground, the hoof expands, and consequently gives a wider bearing, so that the foot does not sink so far, and necessarily makes a larger hole. Then, as the hoof contracts as soon as the weight is taken off, it comes easily out of the hole, and so there is but little risk of snapping the pastern. Even on hard ground, the disadvantage of inter- ference with nature is equally shown. Mr. Miles, who has already been mentioned, writes as follows : 4 When a hunter is shod in the usual manner with seven or eight nails, some are always, for the sake of security, placed in the inner quarter, which is the most expansive portion of the hoof. Let a horse so circumstanced be called upon to leap from a high bank into a hard road, and what happens ? ' The weight of the horse and its rider is thrown with an impetus, which greatly increases that of both, upon the bones of the feet, both sides of which are so fettered that neither can yield to make room for them. Consequently, they squeeze the exquisitely sensitive lining of the hoof between their own hard substance, the unyielding horn, and the shanks of one, two, or three nails, as the case may be.' That the heel comes first to the ground, is followed by the frog, and that the toe only conies on the ground when the horse is standing still, or when it lifts the foot from the ground, has been conclusively 54 HORSE AND MAN. proved by the well-known veterinary surgeon, Mr. J. I. Lupton. ' The foot of a living horse in a state of rest re- mains firmly on the ground — that is, the toe and the heel are on the ground at one and the same time. But if, during this position, the extensor muscles were to contract, then the toe would be raised from the ground. If, on the other hand, the flexor muscles were to contract, then the heel would be raised from the ground. ' Now, during progression, the first movement which takes place is the contraction of the flexor muscles, by which (together with the muscles of the arm) the foot is raised, 'the toe being the last part of that organ raised from the ground. The foot is now in a position to be sent forward, which is brought about by the contraction of the extensor muscles. The foot is then thrown out as far as the flexor muscles will admit, and, when at the greatest allow- able point of extension, the heel is brought in a posi- tion with the ground. ' The flexors now in their turn contract, the heel is first raised from the ground, and lastly the toe, which brings me back to the point I started from. ' Three principal impressions are made on the foot during progression, namely :— ' (1) On the heel, when great expansion and INSTANTANEOUS PHOTOGRAPHS, 55 yielding takes place, owing to the pressure on the frog, which is forced upwards, causing the ultimate expansion of the walls of the hoof, &c. 4 (2) On the middle part of the foot, when the bones bear the weight of the body, the flexors and extensors being for the instant in a state of quietude — i.e. neither of them are extending or contracting. ' (3) In the toe, when the animal gives a push, by which an impetus is given to send the body forward.' These words were written as long ago as 1858, and have since received exact corroboration in the instantaneous photographs of the horse's action, with which we are now so familiar. It may seem to some persons a matter of little or no consequence whether the heel or toe should first come to the ground during progression. In reality, it is of the very last importance, and, as we shall see in a future page, does not only affect the hoof, but is intimately connected with the whole of the muscles which the horse uses in progression, and with the nerves which supply these muscles with energy. The reader is requested to bear in mind that the hoof only expands laterally, and that on and near the toe the expansion is so trifling, that it may be practi- cally disregarded. Eeference will again be made to this fact. 56 HORSE AND MAN. CHAPTEE IV. Expansion acknowledged, acted upon, and perverted — Authorised direc- tions for shoeing — 'Thinning' and 'opening' — Horseshoeing in England and America — ' Dew-drops/ i.e. oozing blood — The diseases called by the name of 'thrush' — True causes of thrush — Supply of blood to hoof — Nature's balance of supply and waste — Office of the blood — ' Thrush ' a safety-valve for inflamed blood — Derivation of the word ' founder ' — ' Thrush ' never seen in wild horses — A compre- hensive challenge — Where do wild horses keep their knives ? — The frog again — Lieutenant Douglas on the frog and its value. Mr. T. Gepp's experience. SOME of those who asserted, and rightly, that the hoof expanded when the weight of the horse rested upon it, attempted to improve nature by art, and, with the very best intention, contrived to do a wonderful amount of damage to the animal. Of course, they assumed that the horse must be shod in the usual manner. Then, they forgot that the hoof would not expand unless the weight of the horse rested primarily on the frog, the ' mainstay of the foot,' as Mr. Douglas calls it ; and lastly, most of them forgot that the iron shoe would prevent the hoof from either expanding or contracting. Some, how- DIRECTIONS TO FARRIERS. 57 ever, did recognise this fact, and invented shoes in two pieces, so that expansion was not hindered. 'So, thinking that the thick and rigid sole was an obstacle to expansion instead of being one of the means by which expansion is accomplished, and also assuming that the expansion was in all directions, and much greater than is really the case, they believed that by thinning the interior of the hoof they would increase its power of expansion. So they issued the following directions to the farrier when he prepares a horse for the shoe : — ' Pare the sole until it yields to the pressure of the thumb. ' Cut the walls down until they are but little higher than the contiguous sole, taking, care to shorten the toe if necessary, it being frequently left too long. 4 Cut away the bars, so as to make a gradual slope from the wall to the bottom of the commis- sures, which must be deepened. ' Lower and open the heels, taking the bearing off them for at least an inch on each side of the frog, so that the walls at these parts will not be in immediate contact with the shoe when first put on. 'Pay special attention to the removal of the " pegs " (the hard horny substance which grows down at each side of the frog, and contiguous to it). 58 HORSE AND MAN. These pegs are apt to contract the foot, or make it thrushy, by pinching and narrowing the frog. ' The frog may be pared to stimulate its growth, and the cleft opened ; otherwise it may be left un- touched,' &c. These directions for shoeing on ' improved prin- ciples ' are taken verbatim from the ' United States' Army Tactics on Horseshoeing,' and are quoted by Mr. M. I. Treacy, Veterinarian to the 7th Cavalry, in an article on Horseshoeing in The United Service Magazine for February 1884. One excuse — I cannot call it a reason — for open- ing the heel and thinning the sole would be comical, but for the injury which it has wrought to thousands of horses. The advocates of the knife say that they are aware of the sensitive and delicate structure of the interior of the hoof, and that the operations of opening and thinning are necessary to preserve those structures. According to them, in this climate the horny parts of the hoof have too rapid a growth (why or how is not stated), so that they prevent expansion, and pinch the internal structures. So, by 6 thinning the sole until it yields to the pressure of the thumb,' and cutting through the heel, they think that the internal structures are relieved from constriction ! Mayhew very quaintly and truly says that it would be just as sensible to thin and AX ' IMPROVED ' HOOF. 59 open the skull for the purpose of protecting the brain. Here is a figure of a hoof in my possession which has been treated according to these directions. It was drawn by the late Mr. Sherwin from the actual specimen, which was by no means the worst that I have seen. I will now proceed to show what is the result of thus preparing the hoof, first, however, mentioning that the directions which are here given are followed both in Eng- land and America. While on a tour through the Northern States in the winter of 1883, 1 delivered lectures on this subject in many places. One well-known writer and lecturer took umbrage at my statements, and had the hardi- hood to assert, both by pen and on the platform, that in America the frogs of the horses were not cut away, nor the soles pared. Yet, being in America, I took my descriptions, not from our English customs but from American sources, one, as the reader may have seen, being stamped with official authority. The first direction is, to pare the sole until it yields to the pressure of the thumb. In many cases this paring of the sole— I again use American autho- HOOF IMPKOVED BY THE FARRIER. 60 HORSE AND MAN. rities — is carried so far that blood-specks (k dew- drops,' as they are euphemistically termed) ooze through the thinned horn. Just see what this means. One of the chief duties of the sole is to protect the sensitive structures within the hoof from sharp stones and similar objects. It is difficult to persuade many people that the Creator really did know how to make a horse, and that divine handiwork cannot very well be im- proved by man. But, a horse, whose hoof is left as Nature made it, cares nothing about pebbles or even broken flints, but can gallop among them without being even aware of their presence, so dense and strong is the horn of the sole. Within the last four weeks, an unshod mare belonging to one of my friends ran away with her mistress, who was driving her in an ordinary chaise. The road had been newly laid with loose stones, but she galloped for nearly two miles before she was stopped. I examined ' Dolly's ' hoof a few days after- wards, and found that they had suffered no injury from the sharp points and edges of the stones. A shod horse could scarcely have escaped laming. But, when the sole is pared until it is not so thick as an ordinary visiting card, it is evident that the pressure of a stone must cause the severest pain. Moreover, this paring of the sole exposes the c linea OPENING THE HEEL. 61 alba,' which, as I have already mentioned, is iden- tical with the 'quick ' of the nail, and equally sensi- tive. Unfortunately, when a shod horse picks up a stone, the intruding object is always jammed between the shoe and the sole, and must press upon the linea alba. An unshod horse which has perfect hoofs cannot pick up a stone, for the simple reason that there is no room for it. Let the reader look at the figure of an unshod hoof on p. 34, and he will see that it would be perfectly impossible for the animal to pick up a stone, the frog filling almost the entire cavity of the hoof. Having now weakened and thinned the sole as much as possible, the farrier is directed to cut down the wall until it is scarcely higher than the sole. This proceeding is ingeniously contrived so as to bring the weakened sole within reach of the smallest pebble. Next, the bars are attacked, and then the heels ' opened ' ; this last operation being analogous to removing the keystone of an arch. With regard to the mode in which this system is carried out, Mr. Fleming writes as follows: — 'I have seen in forges, where horses were shod on " improved prin- ciples," the blood oozing from the sole, which had been pared as thin as parchment, as well as from 62 HORSE AND MAN. the frog, through the semi- translucent substance of which, so thin had it been made, the bright red and exceedingly sensitive living membrane beneath could here and there be distinctly seen. Not unfrequently, also, I have noticed blood issuing from the bottom of the deep notches cut off nearly as far as the hairs at the heel.' Then the ' pegs ' are to be removed, on the ground that they contract the frog, and cause ' thrush.' It is impossible to surpass this statement in its extraordi- nary mixture of ignorance and presumption. If it were true, every wild horse, or every horse, previous to its introduction to the farrier, must be liable to thrush ; whereas, no horse that had never been shod could by any possibility be afflicted with thrush. What is the ailment which we call thrush, and what is its cause ? The presence of the disease is made known by the horribly smelling purulent dis- charge which is formed in the interior of the hoof, and which at last exudes from it. In bad cases, it can be detected at some distance by the sense of smell alone. The word is a sort of generic term, and is applied very loosely to any disease which causes internal inflammation and consequent discharge of pus. The disease is wholly owing to the shoe, and is thus caused. Agairf, at the risk of being tedious, CAUSES OF 'THRUSH.' 63 I must repeat that the structure of the hoof im- peratively demands that the wall, frog, and sole shall each be called into play, each be worn away natu- rally, and each be perpetually reproduced. Although intended to benefit the horse, the or- dinary shoe does it a serious injury in frustrating each of these requirements. As the iron of the shoe is interposed between the wall and the ground, the horn of the wall cannot be worn away, especially in front, where the friction is greatest, and where the horn grows fastest. As the frog is cut away, it cannot take the weight of the horse as it ought to do, and therefore communicates no movement either to the sole or the laminae of the wall, and so there is none of the incessant expansion and contraction which the hoof requires. I need hardly explain that all repair of organic waste is effected by means of blood, and that the supply of blood is proportioned to the amount of work to be done by it. Now. if the skin be stripped off the shank of the horse, the bone will be seen surrounded with a series of very large arteries and veins, intended to carry blood into and from the hoof, so as to supply the continual waste of the horn, the arteries and veins exactly balancing each other. But when that waste is checked, the balance of circulation is destroyed. 64 HOKSE AND MAX. The blood is continually forced into the hoof for the purpose of doing its work ; but there is very little work to be done, so that the blood cannot be carried out of the hoof by the veins as fast as it is pumped in through the arteries. Consequently, the smaller vessels become gorged, and the flow of blood impeded. Gradually, conges- tion comes on, which before long developes into in- flammation. Then, the semi stagnant and inflamed blood reaches such a stage that decomposition sets in, and the blood which ought to have passed through the circulation in a natural manner is forced to make its exit in the form of pus, the aperture which it makes for itself being a sort of safety- valve not only for the hoof, but for the whole circulatory system. By the way, the word ' founder,' which is applied to any disease of the sensitive laminas when it has advanced sufficiently far to lame the horse, is a curious example of the ignorance which seems to be the invariable inheritance of those who have most to do with horses. It is a corruption of the French wordfondre, signifying to melt, and was used because the farriers believed that the fat of the horse melted out of his body, and ran down his leg into his hoofs ! A corresponding version of the same word is a 4 FUtfDIED ' CHEESE. 65 familiar term at Oxford, where some of the college servants possess a special recipe for preparing ' fund led ' cheese. The cheese is cut up, put into a ' fundy ' — i.e. a flat vessel made for the purpose, some of the best ale is added to it, and it is heated and stirred until the cheese and beer are melted together to the consistency of treacle. Thrush has nothing to do with contraction of the frog, though it is produced by cutting away the frog, and surrounding the wall with unyielding iron. Yet — probably because thrush shows itself in the neighbourhood of the frog — the opinion that the frog produces thrush is prevalent even among those who ought to know better. A year or two ago I had been lecturing on the horse's hoof. According to my invariable custom, I began my lecture with a disavowal of any attempt to lay down the law on this very difficult subject. I begged that any of the audience would at once contradict any statement which they thought to be mistaken. I also mentioned that I would wait on the platform after the lecture for half an hour, so that any disputed point might be thoroughly investigated. No one challenged any remark during the lecture, nor for at least half an hour, during which I re- mained on the platform after the conclusion of the lecture. But a local veterinary surgeon, who was F 66 ITORSE AND MAN. present at the lecture, wrote a letter to a local journal, saying that I was entirely mistaken in stating that the frog ought to rest on the ground, and assert- ing, moreover, that thrush was produced by neglect- ing to pare the frog and cut away the flaps that hang from it. Anonymous attacks I never answer, but as this man did have the honesty to append his name to his letter, and did not employ personal abuse in lieu of argument, I sent an answer. In it I asked him where wild horses kept the knives wherewith they pared their frogs. Next, I told him that if he could produce a thrushy hoof of a horse which had never been shod, I would first eat my words, and then the hoof, thrush and all. This event occurred in England, but I have un- dergone a very similar experience in America, the opponent having lacked the courage to attack me on the platform though he was present at the lec- ture, and having written letters against me in the local journals, and publicly spoken against me after I had left the country and could not answer. As we are on the subject of the frog, we may as well continue it. I have already mentioned that the frog was made for the express purpose of resting upon the ground, so as to perform a threefold office. USES OF THE FKOG. 67 In the first place it is soft and yielding, so as to take off the jar which would ensue if the horse trod first upon the wall. In the next place, it communicates the pressure through the sole to the walls, so as to enable the hoof to expand and contract laterally. Lieutenant Douglas, in his valuable work on horseshoeing, is very emphatic on this point :— ' A little reflection on this important subject will show how very important frog-pressure is, as, even when the horse is res-ting as he stands in the stall, some portion of his weight must fall from the lower pastern bone upon the navicular bone, which rests upon the back sinew, which in its turn should receive support from the sensitive and insensitive parts of the frog underneath it. ' How much more then must this necessary sup- port be needed when the animal is in motion, espe- cially if at a fast gallop, or landing on hard ground after being leaped over a hedge. If the frog is there to receive the shock, the horse lands on his feet with all the ease and comfort that a cat does upon hers after a jump ; but when the frog has been cut away there is nothing to break the fall, and, as is often the case, the animal is ruined by the jar having brought on irritation of the sheath which covers the back sinew, and inflammation sets in. * -2 68 HOESE AND MAN. ' La Fosse describes this action as a " compression," fitly comparing the process of the lower pastern bone squeezing the navicular bone on the top of the tendon to the action of the hammer upon the anvil.' Thirdly, it is intended to cling to smooth and wet surfaces, which its indiarubber-like consistency enables it to do. The late Mr. T. M. Gepp, of Chelmsford, a veteran JSTimrod, told me that when he was in Palestine, the horses at first absolutely terrified him by the way in which they sprang from rock to rock, the frog enabling them to cling to any smooth surface on which they might alight, and the sharply edged wall hitching upon the slightest irregularity. 69 CHAPTER Y. The PKOG continued — ' Hammering ' on the roads— Cause of the ham- mering— King Theodore's horse * Hammel ' — Elasticity of the frog The i Village Blacksmith '—The bicycle wheel— Analogy between carriage springs and the horse's hoof — Lodgment of stones — Mr. S. Chapin and his bare-footed horse — Hartmann's safety pad — Spiked shoes — American shoeing — Injury to the untouched frog impossible — ' Greasy ' roads — Manchester ' lurry ' horses — The streets of Man- chester— A doctor's horses — Shoes of lurry horses — Ludgate Hill and its terrors — Lieut. Douglas's testimony — Indiarubber soles on ice and on board ship — The hoof an organ of touch — Mr. J. Bellows's story — ' Free Lance's ' view of the frog and its uses — Relative dependence of the frog and navicular bone. SOFTNESS of tread is an exceedingly valuable pro- perty in a horse. We know how 4 it ain't the 'untin' as 'urts the 'orses, but the 'ammer, 'ammer, 'ainmer, on the 'ard 'igh roads/ The worthy and afflicted groom was perfectly right. This incessant hammer- ing, which is exceedingly injurious to the horse, is entirely owing to the shoe, an unshod horse treading almost as noiselessly as an elephant does, and being delightfully easy to the rider. The first adult working horse which I ever saw unshod was ' Hammel,' the war-horse of the late 70 HORSE AND MAN. King Theodore of Abyssinia. He was shown in a menagerie, and after I had inspected his hoofs care- fully, I remarked to the exhibitor that I presumed him to be kept for show and not for use. But the proprietor assured me that he took his share of the work with the other horses, and that when travelling from one place to another he was regularly harnessed to the vans or carts. Farriers and grooms are, as a rule, impressed with an idea that because the frog is soft, it will be hurt by coming upon a hard road. So, with the very best intentions, they cut it off either partially or entirely. There is now before me an entire frog which was cut off at a single stroke of the farrier's knife. It was taken from the floor of a forge by General Carter, a well-known lover of horses. It seems strange that such an idea should prevail in these ' cycling ' days, when indiartibber tires have been practically found not only to be more pleasant for the rider than the old steel-faced tires, but experience has proved that the soft elastic indiarubber tire is far more lasting than one which is made of steel. Suppose that we revert to the parallel of the horse's hoof and the railway carriage spring. In the accompanying illustration, fig. 1 represents the spring, which is made of a number of flat strips of CARRIAGE-SPRINGS. 71 steel, the bearing being at A. Now, supposing that a village blacksmith, who knew nothing about ma- chinery, were to be placed in charge of the engine, he would probably be dissatisfied with the spring as being inadequate to its work, and therefore danger- ous. ' It will never answer,' he might say, ' to trust the weight of a heavy engine on a few strips of steel, any one of which might break, upset the engine, and throw it off the line.' So he would cut away the B B RAILWAY SPRING AND HORSE'S HOOF. central bearing, as shown by the dotted line at A, and substitute heavy blocks of iron, as shown at B B, thus abrogating the springs, and throwing the bearing to the sides instead of the centre. This proceeding may seem very absurd, but it is not one whit less ridiculous than the mode in which the farrier of the present time treats the hoof of the horse, and, in fact, is almost identical with it. In fig. 2 a diagrammatic section of the hoof and 72 HORSE AXD MAN. shoe is given, as seen from the front. A represents the double frog, which was intended by nature to rest upon the ground, and form a central bearing like that of the wheel at A in fig. 1. This is more or less cut away, at all events sufficiently to keep it off the ground. Then a thick unyielding iron shoe is nailed on the hoof, so as to take the bearing from the centre, where it was meant to be, and to throw it to the circumference, as at B B, where it has no business, and where it positively injures the animal by causing a jar at every step. I may here mention that the space which is left between the shoe and the wall, as shown at c c, is the place where stones lodge, and into which, as we know, they become wedged so firmly, that even the ' picker,' with which all horse riders or drivers ought to be furnished, cannot remove it without the use of considerable force. The reader will see how a stone which is thus lodged must press upon the denuded linea alba, and why it is that a horse falls suddenly when such a misfortune hap- pens. If the reader will refer to the natural hoof shown on p. 34, he will see that no stone can possibly lodge in it. Lastly, we will take the third duty of the frog — i.e. the power of clinging to slippery and smooth THE HORSE ON ICE. 73 surfaces. A hoof which has been untouched by man will scarcely ever slip. This is not theory, but a proved fact, and here is a case in point. Mr. S. Chapin, of Lowell, Mass., U.S.A., is well known for his love of horses, and for his practical experience with them. Among his horses was one which he had owned about seven years, and from which, after considerable qualms, and against uni- versal advice, he removed the shoes altogether. After some experience he wrote as follows, dating his letter December 15, 1883 : — ' I now drive my horse up hill and down, and over pavements, crossings, &c. I never expect to see a harder winter for ice than we had here in Lowell last year, when some of my neighbours sharpened their horses' shoes twice a week, and I drove all the winter (and pretty sharp too) without a shoe, and without slipping either.' I have before me a long list of English gentlemen who have much the same experience. Here is a curious example of the involuntary homage done by man to nature. About four years ago, in the course of a conver- sation with the late Mr. F. Fordham Flower, whose successful crusade against the bearing rein is well known, the question of ' roughing ' horses' shoes in winter was mentioned. Mr. Flower said that there 74 HORSE AND MAN. was a very much better plan than roughing — namely, the adoption of Hartmann's Safety Pad, which had the advantage of being easily removed when the horse entered the stable after his work. He also told me that, having heard of this pad, he took his carriage to Messrs. Martingale, who supply it, and had it fitted to his horses at the door. The animals went so easily, although they had pre- viously been slipping at every step, that he took them to a spot where ice had formed upon the road. The horses went over it at a trot, and from that time he had no trouble with them. I at once went to Messrs. Martingale, who HARTMANN'S SAFETY PAD. kindly gave me one or two specimens, and explained the mode of use. As the reader may see, the pad is composed of thick indiarubber, with three thin steel flanges. By means of a sort of tongs or pincers the pad can be bent longitudinally, so as to allow the flanges to be slipped under the shoe. When the pressure of the tongs is relaxed, the pad resumes its shape by its own elasticity, and is firmly held in its place by the flanges. When the horse comes home, the SAFETY PADS. 7G pad, which is, in fact, an artificial frog,>. 107 Youatt, Douglas, Miles, Bracy Clarke, Fearnley, Ransom, Treacy, Kendall, &c. Some of these writers are English and some American, and their works are easy of access in any good public library. Then, the perils of the nail have to be considered, ' pricking ' the foot always causing great pain and lameness, and sometimes ending in the death of the animal. The pecuniary saving of abandoning the shoe I do not take into consideration, neither the cost of veterinary attendance on horses which have been injured by the farrier. The saving is of course con- siderable, but my dealings are with the welfare of the horse, and not with the pockets of the owner. In concluding this portion of the work, I only again ask the reader to balance the weight of actual evidence on both sides of the question, to discharge from his mind all prejudices, and to deliver his judg- ment as impartially as if he were a judge acting in a court of law. 198 HOUSE AND MAX, CHAPTEB XII. The Professional Eye — Fashion and nature — The curb — Weight and size Of bit — The BEARING-EEIN — Three kinds of bearing-rein — The gag bearing-rein — Mechanical parallel— The over-head rein — Neck of the horse — Great ligament of the neck and its attachments — Vertebrse of neck and spine-— Vertebrae and' railway buffers — Arrangement of a train — The martingale — Rattling of harness and tossing of heads — Sir Arthur Helps' opinion — Effect of the gag bearing-rein on the spine and feet — The ' burr ' bit of America — Mr. Henry Bergh's work — The locomotive and the horse. >». WHAT a wonderful product of civilisation is the Professional Eye 1 It begins to develop itself as soon as man emerges from pure savagery, contenting itself at first with the nose bone of the Australian, the lip-disc of the Botocudo, and the tattooing of the Marquesan and New Zealand -chief. It rests with satisfaction upon the vagaries of fashion, upon the furnishing of our houses, and the decoration of our gardens. Therefore, that our horses should be sub- ject to its sway is only to be expected. A few years ago, I met with a treatise on the management of horses, in which the writer gives it as his opinion that a thoroughbred horse, properly harnessed, is the finest sight in the world. This HARNESS. 199 statement is illustrated with a figure of a ' properly harnessed ' horse. To my very unprofessional eye the horse would have been a much finer sight with- out the harness, which, in fact, becomes in the illustration the primary object, the horse enclosed within it being of secondary consideration. There are blinkers to prevent the horse from using its eyes. There is a ' gag ' bearing-rein to prevent the animal from putting its head down, and a martingale to prevent it from throwing its head back, and there is a long-cheeked curb bit, together with its corresponding chain. Every one of these appliances is not only useless, but actually injurious to the horse, lessening its powers of work, and wearing it out long before its time. By way of a contrast, I here give two figures, copied (with a few slight additions), by permission from the late Mr. E. Fordham Flower's valuable pamphlet entitled ' Bits and Bearing-reins.' The reader would hardly imagine — I did not do so until told by Mr. Flower himself — that the figures are facsimiles of the photo- graphs of the same horse ! One represents the animal as it appeared when purchased by Mr. Flower, and hampered by improper harness, and the other represents it as it appeared when driven by Mr. Flower a few weeks after purchase. Of this animal Mr. Flower writes as follows : — 200 HORSE AND MAN. 4 A few years ago I bought a line horse with a bad character — he was a rearer, a jibber, a bolter— and the late coachman told me I should never be able to drive him. But I liked his looks, and the FASHION,' [The attitude and harness of this figure are copied from a photograph of Mr. E. F. Flower's horse as it appeared when he bought it. The ears, mane, and tail are explained in the text.] result confirmed my good opinion.' How Mr. Flower wrought this change we shall now see. We will first look at the bit. ME. FLOWER'S HORSE. 201 The amount of iron which is too often used in a bit is almost incredible. On the next page is a figure of the bit which was worn by Mr. Flower's horse when he purchased it, and which was pro- * NATURE.' [This is from a photograph of the horse ' Fashion ' as it appeared after Mr. Flower had possessed it for a few weeks.] nouncer! necessary in order to subdue its bad temper, and prevent it from running away. The machine weighed two pounds all but two ounces, and it seems almost incredible that such a piece of iron- 202 HORSE AND MA]Sr. work should be forced into the delicate mouth of the horse, but I have seen and handled it repeatedly. Such a machine may, indeed, coerce the horse to a certain extent, just as is the case with the terrible Spanish bits, which are powerful enough to smash the jaw of the animal. But the horse was never meant to be coerced, but to be the willing servant of man ; and there is, in every high- spirited horse, a point at which coercion loses its power, and the horse, despite the pain inflicted up- on it, becomes a rebel. How often do we not hear the warning given, 4 He goes quietly on the snaffle, but THE BIT WHICH WAS KEMOVED BY ME. for squalls.' The moral of which FLOWER. ought to be, that the curb should not be used at all. A year or two ago I. was accompanying a lady in her carriage,t which, as the day was wet, was a closed one. The movement of the carriage was anything but smooth, and at last became so jerky that the lady asked me what could be the matter. Being thus appealed to, I said that I was sure that the off horse was curbed up too tightly, and that the irregularity would continue until the animal was re- leased from the curb. EFFECT OF THE CURB. 203 She immediately stopped the carriage and went to the horses' heads. The near horse was all right, but the curb-chain of the off horse was drawn so tightly that it actually sank into the skin of the lower jaw. It was so tight that she could hardly unloose it. On her inquiry, the coachman — a new one — said that the horse was so restive, and given to bolting, that he was afraid to drive it except with a tight curb. However, to his amazement, the lady not only loosened the curb, but took it oft', and put it in her pocket, so that it could not be replaced. Then she shifted the reins to the snaffle rings, and returned to the carriage. The horse shook his head three or four times, as if to assure himself that he was relieved from the curb, and then went off with per- fect ease and smoothness. I had a talk with the coachman afterwards, and found, as I had surmised, that the man had only followed the traditions of his order, and thought that a high-spirited horse must be a vicious one. He was entirely surprised at the result of his mistress's action, and when she took her place in the carriage after removing the curb, he made up his mind to be pre- pared for an accident. I am sure that the lady in question will pardon me for recording this historiette, because it re- 204 HORSE AND MAN. dounds very much to her credit, and I mention no names. I feel quite certain that we do not realise the horrible pain which is given to horses by these enor- mous and weighty bits. The reader will remember that the two portraits on pp. 200 and 201 were taken from the same horse. That on p. 201 was taken first, so as to show his appearance when driven with a simple snaffle. After this portrait was taken, the harness was removed, so that the horse might be shown as he was when Mr. Flower bought him. No sooner did the animal see the groom approach with the old bit and curb than he began to tremble, and burst out into a profuse perspiration from ab- solute terror. The effect upon the horse was so great that Mr. Flower could scarcely bring him- self to order the bit and harness to be placed upon him. The reader may perhaps think that this bit is an exceptional one, and made especially for that horse. I only wish it were so. As I write these words, Septem- ber 1884, there is in the Crystal Palace an Inter- national Exhibition of Arts and Manufactures, and among the various stalls are several which are devoted to harness, and in which may be seen bits which are THE BEARING-REIN. 205 even more ponderous than that which caused such torture to Mr. Flower's horse. There is another point to be considered with regard to these heavy bits, and that is, the pain which the cold iron causes to the animal in the winter time when the bit is first put into its mouth. Even in ordinary weather the contact of cold iron with the teeth will cause pain, but in the winter time it must be absolute torture. All these bits and curbs are visible proofs that as a rule those who ride or drive, and especially the latter, seem to think that the object of the bit is to coerce the animal, whereas its right object is to guide it. A horse which has been trained to act as a ser- vant and not an unwilling slave, does not need to have his jaws dragged this way and that. All that he re- quires is that his master should let him know what is wanted of him, and he will be only too glad to obey. We shall revert to this branch of the subject on a future page. THE BEARING -REIN. CRUEL as may be the bits which I have mentioned, they are but trifles until they are combined with the Bearing-rein, an invention by means of which the 206 HORSE AND MAN. lightest snaffle may be transformed into an instrument of torture. In America it receives the more appro- priate title of the ' check rein.' Originally, there is no doubt that the bearing- rein was intended for purposes of show, so as to hold up the horse's head, and give him an appearance of being a horse of spirit. The custom is of very great antiquity, as is shown by the ancient Egyptian monuments. There we see Pharaoh represented as standing in his chariot of state, guiding his armies to conquest, and receiving the homage and tribute of the vanquished. The horses are fitted with driving-reins and bearing-reins, the latter being hooked to the saddle exactly like ours of the present day. The sculptor has hit off with curious fidelity the peculiar action of a horse thus trammelled, and marked strongly the distinction between the harnessed horses of state and those which are ridden by the combatants and have their necks free. Two kinds of bearing-reins are employed in this country, and a third is largely used in America. First we have the ordinary bearing-reins, which are fastened to the cheeks of the bit, then pass through a couple of drop-rings, one on each side of the head, and are finally hitched over a hook or peg which is fastened to the saddle. There is just one THE ' GAG ' OR ' BEDOUIN ' BEARING-REIN. 207 advantage which this rein possesses — namely, that when the horse is at rest, or when it is ascending a steep hill, the driver can unhitch it. The other, invention is sometimes called the 4 Bedouin ' and sometimes the • Gag.' The latter is far more appropriate than the former, as no Bedouin, even if he uses a cruelly powerful bit, and will wrench the animal's jaw severely in executing the various- feats of horsemanship in which those Arabs take a pride, ever invented such a piece of machinery as the Gag bearing-rein. The accompanying illustration is copied by per- mission from the work to which reference has been made. The original was taken from a photograph. In the first place, this rein is quite independent of the driving bit, and has a bit of its own. The rein is first attached to the head- stall, as seen at D. Then it goes through a swivel attached to its own bit, as is shown at c. Thence it passes through the drop-ring at B, and then is hitched over the hook attached to the saddle at A. Now let us see what is the effect on the horse. The small diagram which is appended to the figure shows this rein as reduced to its mechanical equivalent, and has the same letters. When a rope, weights, and pulleys are arranged as seen in the diagram, a force which is represented by one pound 208 HORSE AND MAN. at A will exactly balance a weight of two pounds at c, so that its power is doubled. Now, in the Gag bearing-rein the power is represented by the hook on the saddle, which, by the way, is fastened to the tail by a crupper. B is the fixed, and c the movable 1 BEDOTTTN/ OR ' GAG,' BEARING-EEIN. (From Mr. E. F. Flower's book.) pulley, while D is the fixed end of the rope. Conse- quently the force of the rein at A is exactly doubled at the horse's mouth or c. Unlike the simple bearing- rein, this machine can- not be unhitched in order to release the tension of the neck, as the bit is quite independent of the driving THE OVER-HEAD BEARING-REIN. 209 bit, and would fall out of the horse's mouth when the rein was unhitched. How this bit is applied may be seen from the following extract from Sidney's ' Book of the Horse : ' ' Your London coachman of the highest fashion begins by drawing up the gag bit until he has enlarged the mouth by at least a couple of inches. He then adds a curb-bit of an inch too wide and four inches too long, quite regardless of the size of the horse's mouth, and having curbed this up tight, climbs on his box and makes, whether moving or standing at a door, a display very satisfactory to the distinguished owners, who have not the least idea that their horses are enduring agonies for hours. 6 The result is shown by degrees in foaming, bleeding mouths, lolling tongues, spasms, restiveness, &c.' In other words, the horses are the victims of the professional eye. The third kind of bearing-rein I have often seen in America, but never in England, and hope never to do so. Instead of the rein passing along each side of the head through a drop-ring, it passes over the top of the head, and then directly to the saddle hook. For this reason it is called the ' over-head check-rein.' I have already said that the primary object of the bearing-rein was to give the horse a more spirited appearance. But two other reasons are invariably p 210 HORSE AND MAN. brought forward where objections are made to its use. One is, that it keeps the horse on its feet and saves it from falling and breaking its knees ; and the second is, that it prevents the horse from running away. We will take these three 'reasons' separately, but will first describe some more of the mechanism of the neck and backbone. As the reader may remember, all the parts of an animal are mutually dependent on each other, and any interference with one of them will exercise an injurious influence on all the others. It has already been mentioned that elasticity is one of the leading characteristics on which the structure of the horse is framed . How wonderfully elastic is the hoof in its natural state, and how the horse is injured by destroying that elasticity, has been already shown. Now it is evident that an elastic hoof would be useless if the body were rigid, and therefore, as might be inferred from the hoof, the neck and backbone combine elasticity and strength in a most wonderful manner. This is not intended to be an anatomical work, and therefore I only give those details which bear immediately on the subject. If the reader will refer to the illustration which represents the seven vertebras of the neck, he will see that they are furnished with various projections. LIGAMENT OF THE NECK. 211 Some of these are intended for the attachments of the wonderful piece of mechanism which is here shown. We all know that at the back of the human neck 13 LIGAMENT OF THE NECK AND ITS BKANCHES. there is a strong ligament called scientifically ' liga- mentum nuchas.' In the language of the butcher it is termed the pax-wax. With man, the weight of whose head is perpendicular, the ligament is, though strong, comparatively small and simple, and not p 2 212 HORSE AND MAN. intended to sustain the head in a horizontal position. This we can realise if we have dropped some small object and have been hunting for it on our hands and knees. The horse, however, needs a much more elaborate ligament. At A is the upper and rounded portion which is attached to the head. Widening and thickening as it passes away from the head, it reaches the upper processes of several vertebras of the back. In addition it sends out a series of branches which are attached to the vertebras of the neck, as shown at B. Still carrying on the train of reasoning, an elastic hoof and neck would be useless if the remaining YERTEBR^ AND LIGAMENTS. portion of the spine were rigid, and so we find that the elasticity of the neck is carried through the rest of the spine. In the illustration we have seen how VERTEBRAE AND LIGAMENTS. 213 the ligament of the neck is attached to the vertebras of the back. The preceding illustration takes the four vertebras next in order. Fig. 1 shows how the verte- bras are connected by ligaments, one set running above and the other below, as seen at A and c ; fig. 2 gives the front view of the tenth vertebra, and shows at B the hole through which the spinal cord passes, and on the floor of which rests another ligament. Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic representation of the vertebras curved in action. There is yet another provision to ensure the requisite elasticity. At each end of the ' body ' of the vertebra there is a thick, rounded, and very elastic pad of cartilage, as may be seen diagram- matically shown at fig. 2 of the illustration on page 214. At A, the vertebras are shown in their natural position, the elastic pads being in contact, and held together by the ligaments which have been described. At B,B they are represented as compressed to the utmost, so that their elasticity is practically annulled. At fig. 1 is given a diagrammatic sketch showing the analogy between the chain of vertebras and the present mode of coupling railway carriages. When I used to go to school, in the days when railways were almost in their infancy, second-class carriages having only two ends and a roof but no 214 HORSE AND MAN. sides, and the third-class carriages being mere wooden trays without seats, the system of coupling was in an equally primitive state. There were no elastic buffers, the only substitute being square wooden blocks. The consequence was, that when the train started, a continuous series of jerks took place, each car- riage jerking forward the one immediately behind it. JPig.2. Fig.3. VERTEBRA AND KAILWAY BUFFERS. When the engine slackened speed before stopping, a corresponding series of bangs ran through the train, each carriage being banged several times before it stopped. This arrangement is now confined to goods trains, and is not likely to last, as even with them the wear and tear caused by this jerking and banging are very expensive. SPRING BUFFERS. 215 Nowadays, instead of the solid wooden blocks, there is at each corner of the carriage a spring buffer, one of which is shown in a section at fig. 3. When the carriages are coupled, they are drawn together by double screws, so that the buffers are not only in contact, but press slightly upon the springs, as is seen at A. Thus, the train becomes a single body, instead of being a row of separate carriages, and a good driver can start or stop the train so quietly, that the passengers, if not guided by the sense of sight, can scarcely tell when they have started or stopped. It is evident that if any of the carriages were to be screwed so tightly together that the buffers were forced back to their farthest limits, as shown at B, the elasticity would be destroyed, and the buffers rendered useless. Now, a bearing-rein of any kind interferes with the wonderful system of elastic structures which have been described. Even if it be a very mild one, it hinders the play of the vertebrae upon each other. The horse's head being tied to the saddle by the bearing-rein, and the saddle being fastened to the tail by the crupper, the horse's head is practically tied to his tail, thus interfering with the elasticity which demands freedom throughout the entire length. 216 HORSE AND MAN. The gag-rein, however, does more, and forces the vertebras together, like the overscrewed buffers. If the reader will refer to the figure entitled ' Fashion,' on p. 200, he will see that the whole attitude of the animal is quite different from that of the horse which is entitled 'Nature.' The peculiar position of the legs requires notice. It is not acci- dental, neither is it peculiar to the horse, the animal being the same individual as ' Nature,' though under different circumstances. The fore-legs are pushed out in front, and the hind legs extended backwards, while the middle of the spine, below the saddle, is bent downwards. The reason for the attitude is this : — The head has been drawn back so far by the bearing-rein, that the pressure on the mouth is continuous, and its force doubled by reason of the mechanical action of the rein. In order, then, to relieve the mouth as much as possible, the horse instinctively stretches out its legs, and compresses the pads between the vertebras, so as to shorten the spine, and thus to lessen the pressure on the mouth. In most cases, although the head cannot be bent downwards, it can be lifted upwards, but the coach- man who drove this particular animal (which after- wards went quietly in a snaffle, as in ' Nature ') was so afraid of it, that he fastened its head down with a IIEAD-TOSSIXG AND FOAM-FLIXGIXG. 217 martingale, so that the head could neither be moved up nor down. This, of course, was an extreme case, and there- fore was selected by Mr. Flower as a ' shocking ex- ample.' But even in those instances where the martingale is not used, the torture is extreme, as is shown by the action of the horses. Coachmen and grooms, who are essentially possessors of the professional eye, have a rooted idea that it is very grand to have their horses tossing their heads and flinging foam about. They really think that the head-tossing and foam- flingiiig are marks of pride and spirit, whereas they denote pain, and vain attempts at alleviation. The horse finds that although he cannot stoop his head forwards without a severe jerk to his mouth, he can for a moment relax the pressure by throwing his head upwards. As to the foam, it is caused by the pressure of the severe bit. No one ever saw a horse, however spirited, or however high bred it may be, toss its head and fling foam except when it is tortured by the bit and bearing-rein. Even if he were blind, a person who takes an interest in this subject can tell by his ears alone whether horses are wearing a severe bearing-rein. The peculiar rattling of the head-harness, which 218 HORSE AND MAN. is thought so grand and noble, is simply produced by the attempts of the horse to shake the bit away from the tortured corners of his mouth. It is pitiful in the ' season ' to go through the Park, or to pass through the fashionable streets and squares, and to see the sufferings which are endured by horses. While being driven round the Park, stopping at fashionable shops, exhibitions, at the doors of their owners' acquaintances, or even at the door of the Eoyal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the horses may be seen undergoing this horrible torture for hours together. The late Sir Arthur Helps put the point very forcibly, but not more so than it deserved. He lays the fault on the owner, who must be either ' utterly unobservant of what he ought to know, or pompous, or cruel/ He finishes as follows : — 4 1 observe the equipages when the irrational tight bearing-rein is used. I then look on the arms on the carriage, and I know who are the greatest fools in London in the upper classes. The bewigged brute and idiot of a coachman of course thinks it a very fine thing to sit behind these poor animals with their stuck-up heads; but his master ought to know better. ' So ought his mistress.' I have often wondered to see ladies sitting in their luxurious carriages, evidently ignorant of the SILENT SUFFERING. 219 fact that the incessant tossing of head and rattling of harness are sure proofs that their horses are suffer- ing from ceaseless pain. A dog would yelp and a cat would scream if such pain were inflicted upon it, and so would force its tortures upon the ear when the eye took no notice. But the horse neither yelps nor screams. It suffers silently, and its owner is too thoughtless to see that it is in pain. As to the white foam which is thought to be the result of exuberant spirit, the blood-stains with which it is often flecked ought to tell their own story to an observant eye, even though the spectator knew nothing of the habits of the horse. I regret to say, however, that the generality of carriage-owners know nothing of their horses, but consider them simply as machines which pull the carriage, and leave them wholly to the servants. The gag bearing-rein furnishes another example of the fact that interference with one part of an animal is injurious to the other parts. When the horse is standing with its legs outstretched and its spine contracted, the weight of the body rests on the heels of the front hoofs, and not on the flat surface. Not only that, but the horse, in addition to its weight, is exercising a muscular pressure on the heel. Thus, as was pointed out by Mr. Darby, the 220 HORSE AND MAX. heel becomes inflamed and the terrible navicular disease sets in. Besides, the abnormal strain upon the tendons is so great that they give way, and the horse cannot use its limbs in the natural manner. So we find that the gag-rein, which interferes with the neck and spine, also injures the feet. Now we will see how it injures some of the internal organs of the animal, such as the brain, heart, and lungs, and will take the authority of Mr. S. Gill, V.S., as quoted by Mr. Flower. ' Members of the veterinary profes- sion are by no means ignorant of the various diseases produced by the use of the bearing -rein — roaring, apoplexy, coma, megrims, inflammation, and soften- ing of the brain, all following the barbarous use of this rein.' There is not one word to be said in favour of the gag bearing-rein. No one even pretends to aver that the gag-rein serves any purpose except that of show. Its only object is to hold the horse's head up higher than Nature intended, and as long as that purpose is served the driver is content. One would have thought that such a machine of torture as the gag bearing-rein would have satisfied any one, but in America an addition was made to it in the form of the 4 Burr ' bit. Owing mostly to the efforts of Mr. Henry Bergh, of New York, it is now very seldom if ever seen. I looked out carefully THE BURR BIT. 221 during my six months' stay in the country, but never saw one. So I take the account from an American source, in an article entitled ' Henry Bergh and his Work,' in Scribners Monthly for April 1879 : — 4 The coachmen of the city, mostly without the knowledge of their employers, began using a round leather bit-guard, barbed with -short spikes, so that when the reins were tightened the nails sunk into the side of the horse's head and made the animal exhibit a very fashionable degree of mettle.' The reader will notice that the Burr was mostly employed by the coachman without the knowledge of the owner. But the owner had no excuse for such culpable ignorance. Mr. Bergh could discover it and insist upon its removal, and if he could do so, a fortiori could the owner. 222 HORSE AXD MAN. CHAPTER XIII. The bearing-rein continued — The locomotive and the brake — Probation of an engine driver — The bearing-rein and the break — Leading reins converted into bearing-reins — Railway companies and the bearing- rein — Theories as to the bearing-rein — Its supposed use in preventing the horse from falling — Bearing-reins and hills — Harness in Scotland — The bearing-rein in Bristol — Mr. Cracknell's testimony — The bearing-rein and runaway horses — A grievous experience — The shoulder injured by the bearing-rein — Testimony of more than a hundred veterinary surgeons — ' Roaring ' caused by the bearing-rein — Mistaken zeal — Summary — ' Free Lance's ' check for a runaway horse. IF we can imagine the driver of a locomotive engine putting on the brakes and then turning on full steam, so as to produce plenty of puffing, and smoke, and sparks, and thinking that he was 4 showing off' his engine to the best advantage, we should set him down as a maniac, or at the best an ignorant fool. Certain it is, that no engine owner would keep the man in his employ for five minutes. Yet the coachman who uses the gag-rein is doing exactly the same thing. He is wasting the power of the horse in snorting, and foaming, and pawing, and head- tossing, while preventing him from drawing SHOWING OFF A HORSE. 223 with liis weight as he ought to do, and all the time is under the impression that he is ; showing off' the animal. The fact is, that just as fashionable women dress against each other, so do fashionable coachmen show off their horses against each other, and are afraid of eacli other's sneers. Abandoning the gag bearing-rein as a torture- giving machine invented solely to minister to the pride of man, and without the least shadow of excuse, I shall try to show that any bearing-rein is doubly injurious — firstly to the horse, and secondly to its owner. For the present, I shall put aside the question of humanity, and consider the horse simply as a con- venient traction engine. Every one will concede that the object of a trac- tion engine is to draw its load, and that any piece of machinery which hinders it from drawing must be injurious to it. Moreover, every one possessed of common sense will concede that, in order to be pro- fitable to the owner, the machine should be made to do all the work that can be got out of it, and that it should last as long as possible. Lastly, it is clear that the working cost should be reduced to the lowest limit consistent with the proper working of the machine ; in other words, that there should be no waste of the fuel that produces the power, nor of the power when it is produced. 224 HORSE AND MAN. Now, when we have to deal with a machine, we take care that all these conditions shall be fulfilled. In a very interesting work called ' Engine-driving Life,' there is a most' curious history of the ordeals through which a man has to pass even before he gains his certificate as a fireman or ' stoker,' ' an accomplishment that thousands have tried at and failed.' The book is of especial value as having been written by Mr. Michael Beynolds, a man who has gone through the whole of the ordeals himself. There we learn how as a small boy he begins by being sent into the fire-box to take out, clean, and replace the bars and polish the tube- plate — this work often being done at a temperature of 250°. When he is too big to crawl into the fire-box, he is promoted to ' cleaner.' Now, cleaning an engine after a run occupies at least ten hours of steady work, and the boy has to learn not only how to clean, but when to clean each part — i.e. which parts must be cleaned while they are hot, and which can wait until they are cold. Then he has to pass a time of probation in firing, beginning with shunting engines, and learning all he can, before he can obtain a certificate which enables him to work on a passenger train. So he goes on, always learning, his doings of every day being re- corded, so that the record can be produced against ABILITY OF DRIVERS. 225 or for him ; and even after all this work, he has to pass a severe examination before he is allowed to take charge of an engine. Then he goes through similar tests and trials as driver of goods trains before the lives of passengers are entrusted to him, sometimes being sent back as fireman, and having to go through all the trials again, until he works his way to the top of the tree, and is allowed to drive an express. I wish that something of the kind could be done with the drivers of the locomotive engine which we call a horse. If authorised boards of examiners could be formed, and horse-owners would agree to employ no man or boy who could not produce a certificate showing that he was competent to do the work for which he engaged himself, we should find the lives of our horses nearly, if not quite, doubled in length, the amount of work trebled, and the cost halved. As the reader will see, I am only appealing to the personal interests of the owners, and am con- sidering the horse as a mere machine, without more feelings than if it were made of steel and brass. 6 Upon the railway,' says Mr. Eeynolds, ' nothing should be regarded lightly,' and so it ought to be with regard to the horse. One of the first faults of the bearing-rein, con- sidered as a part of the machinery, is, that it prevents Q 226 HORSE AND MAN. the horse from doing his full amount of work, and therefore is a cause of loss to the owner. The horse is made so as to draw by means of his weight, added to the propelling power of his hind legs. In order to do this, he must be able to lean forward, and if he be taking a load up hill, a free horse will fling himself so far forward, that his nose comes half-way to the ground. But this is all wrong to the profes- sional eye, which likes to see a horse's head well up. no matter what work he may be doing. So the bearing-rein comes into operation, and up goes the horse's head. Consequently, instead of being able to fling his weight into the collar, the horse is obliged to scratch himself along by the muscles of the fore- legs, digging his toes into the ground so as to secure a hold. The legs, not being intended for that kind of work, soon become strained, and so the horse is worn out before its time. The bearing-rein, in fact, is to the horse what the brake is to an engine. No one would be foolish enough to waste the power of an engine by keeping the brakes down during work time, and exactly similar is the result of working the horse while the bearing-rein is used. My house is close to the High Level Eailway station at Upper Norwood, where vast quantities of coal, bricks, and other heavy goods are constantly delivered. There is scarcely a waggon in which the horses are not ACTION OF THE HORSE. 227 hampered with bearing-reins. Even if there be no separate bearing-reins, the leading reins are converted into them by being twisted round the names of the collar. A horse naturally bows its head and neck at each step, this action being intensified when it is drawing a weight up hill, and adding to the power of draught. Yet some of the horses are ' borne up ' so tightly that their heads are nearly immovable, while the others are brought up sharply by the bit against the corners of their mouths each time that they try to add to their power by allowing the head and neck to droop as they step. It is quite pitiful to see the animals straining at their loads on the ' City of the Seven Hills,' as Upper Norwood is popularly called. Four horses will be seen with their heads dragged back, struggling and scratching to pull up the hill a load which would not be too much for three similar horses with their heads free. Eeasoning and remonstrance are equally thrown away upon the drivers. They have been used to the bearing-rein all their lives, and cannot be made to believe that they may possibly have been wrong all their lives. If an ordinary carter be told that several railway companies employ some two thousand horses each in similarly heavy work, and never allow the bearing- rein to be used, not the least impression will be made Q 2 228 HORSE AND MAN". on his mind ; neither will he be convinced if he be shown the magnificent horses belonging to many great London firms, such, for example, as Messrs. Barclay and Perkins, all of them doing their work with free heads. Even the owners cannot depend on the men. The strictest orders may be given, and may be obeyed as long as the men can be watched, but no sooner is the master's eye withdrawn than on go the bearing-reins again. It is easy enough to take away the bearing- reins themselves, but the horses must have reins of some sort, and these can always be converted into bearing-reins, as has already been mentioned. I fear that the only cure will be that which Messrs. Barclay and Perkins have employed so suc- cessfully— i.e. instant dismissal on disobedience to orders. Sometimes the personal argument will be effec- tual, at all events for a time. Give the man a light cart, put him between the shafts, and set him to pull the cart up a hill. He will instinctively lean for- ward in proportion to the heaviness of the task. Then set him to perform the same work, but do not let him lean forward. If this little experiment be conducted with good humour and tact, the man will mostly be convinced. STUMBLING. 229 But he will probably be so ridiculed by his com- rades that in self-defence he will revert to the bearing-rein. . Now we come to the theory that the bearing-rein prevents the horse from falling. A more ludicrously absurd idea never entered into a human head, and it is wonderful that a child of six years old should believe that tying a horse's head to its tail or its collar can prevent it from falling if it stumbles. Let anyone who believes this to be the fact tie his head back to his waist by a similar strap, and then run over rough ground. He will find himself even more likely to fall than when his head was free. If the bearing-rein were fastened, not to the horse, but to the top of .the carriage, there might be some show of reason in the idea. Even in that case the horse is so heavy that no rein could hold it up, but must snap under the strain. Supposing that it could sustain the horse, matters would be still worse for the animal, which would be left with its whole weight hanging on its mouth. What mostly happens when a tightly ' borne-up ' horse stumbles, is that he falls forward, and the rein is either snapped, or the hook is pulled out of the saddle. Should the horse fall, it would be almost im- 230 HORSE AND MAN. possible for the horse to recover its feet unless the bearing-rein be removed. In fact, as Mr. S. Gill very rightly says, ' To imagine the animal is prevented from falling by this reining up of the head is an error. The pressure on the veins and arteries impeding the flow of blood, it is impossible for the animal stumbling to recover himself.' It is a remarkable fact in the history of the bearing-rein that in England hilly ground is always made an excuse for the employment of this rein. Here, close to the Crystal Palace, the absence of level ground is always brought forward when anyone tries to persuade a driver to remove the bearing-rein. It is not so in Scotland, and yet Scotland is far more hilly than England. Any of my readers who know Edinburgh, for example, and have been obliged to walk from the New Town to the Castle against time, must be tolerable judges of a hill. Yet during the whole time that I was in Edinburgh I saw scarcely a bearing-rein in use. The very few that I did see belonged to gentlemen's horses, and had been imported from England. The Scotch are far too canny to act so foolishly. They know the value of a horse's work, and do not choose to hamper the animal with a contrivance which prevents it from putting forth its full strength. BEISTOL CARTEES. 231 They also know that, according to Professor Fleming, the bearing-rein ' does not prevent stum- bling, but, on the contrary, predisposes the horse to fall, and with much more severity than if it were not used.' Lastly, putting the welfare of the horse out of the question, the bearing-rein adds to the expense and weight of harness, and gives additional trouble in keeping it clean. There are some firms which do not include the bearing-rein in their estimates of harness, and, if the buyer insists upon having it, a separate charge is made for it, A few years ago I had the pleasure of giving a lecture on the subject at Bristol. I think that nearly, if not quite, four hundred carters and other drivers were present. Bristol being on very hilly ground, the bearing-rein was almost universally employed. However, after much discussion, many of the drivers did see the mistaken ideas under which they had been labouring, and in order to keep each other in countenance, were formed into a society, the mem- bers of which wore a little rosette, by which they could be distinguished. I was rather amused with one of the men. After having abandoned the bearing-rein for a few days, he was so delighted with the result, that he procured two additional rosettes, and fastened one on each side of the horse's head. 232 HORSE AND MAN. A most valuable contribution to the literature of the bearing-rein is afforded by Mr. E. Cracknell, the well-known coachman on the London and Bir- mingham road, in a letter to Mr. Flower : — ' I drove the " Tantivy " coach nearly twenty years without a bearing-rein, and seldom had a horse fall, although they went at a great pace, and I fre- quently drove as many as seventy-two per day. The class of horses I had to drive were difficult, many of them being old steeple-chasers, hunters, Newmarket weeds, &c. ' My first experience in dispensing with the bear- ing-rein was between Henley-on -Thames and Henley ; it was the practice to walk the horses, the greater part of the hill being very steep. One day I left off the bearing-reins, and was astonished at the result ; the horses never attempted to slacken their pace, but trotted the whole distance up the hill. From that time I dispensed with the bearing-reins entirely. ' There was a strong prejudice at first with my colleagues against it, but eventually they adopted my plan. I had most troublesome, dissipated horses to manage, but with a light hand and their heads at liberty they generally became tractable.' The reader will observe that Mr. Cracknell does not state that horses never fall when the bearing-rein is not used. When seventy horses are driven daily at RUNNING AWAY. 233 a fast pace, it is not reasonable to expect that there should be no falls. He only states that the falls were few, and in another part of the letter he refers to the acknowledged fact that if a horse falls when he is wearing the bearing-rein, he cannot rise until it is removed. Putting aside the cab-horses, which, fortunately for them, are not hampered with these appliances, every other horse at least that falls in London is wearing the bearing-rein or its equivalent. Now I do not say that these horses fell because they wore the bearing-rein, and it would be equally foolish to say that the others fell because they did not wear it. Supposing that we grant — which I do not — that the chances of falling are equal, at all events, the horse which does not wear the bearing-rein has the better chance of getting up again. The last argument which the advocates of the bear- ing-rein offer is, that it is a safeguard against horses running away — i.e. that a horse cannot run away while it wears a tight bearing-rein. I never could see how this effect could be produced, although it is assumed as an axiom by the defenders of this rein. But it is similarly assumed that the bearing-rein protects the horse against stumbling or falling. In fact, the pain which is produced by it will 234 HORSE AND MAN. make a horse unmanageable and likely to rim away. Here is a case in point. The late Mr. B. Shaw, M.P., possessed a horse which was so violent that the coachman ordered a very severe bit to be made expressly for it. Before the bit was sent from the maker, a groom was exercising the horse, and, in order to prevent it from running away and to keep it under control, the bearing-rein was employed as usual, and drawn back up to the last hole. The horse was, as the groom said, exceedingly ' fresh ' and restive, and struggled so violently that the rein broke. ' I thought it was all up with me,' said the groom, ' but to my surprise the horse became at once manageable, and went beautifully, and the severe bit was never used.' Lord Palmerston used to say that ' a runawray horse is best kept in by a light hand and an easy snaffle,' and his opinion is corroborated by that of Mr. Cracknel!, as quoted above. The best authorities are unanimous in their con- demnation of the bearing-rein. Sir Francis Head, who did as much miscellaneous horsemanship as man can well do, always employed the strongest language against it. The authors of standard works on the subject equally condemn it. Mayhew never loses an oppor- AN IMPORTANT MANIFESTO. 235 tunity of denouncing it. In classifying horses which are crippled by injudicious treatment, he proceeds as follows : ' A fourth set are rendered cripples by the unfeeling use of the bearing-rein, which disables the organs of respiration, and renders the lightest draught a terrible burden, by throwing the work on the muscles of the limbs, while it compels these agents to contract at a terrible disadvantage. ' Those who delight in a lofty crest may accom- plish more by attention to the health and diet than by the absence of humanity. The strongest bearing- rein and the sharpest bit cannot exalt the head of a spiritless horse.' In another part of the work he shows by a series of diagrams how the best shoulder is ruined by the bearing-rein, and how the horse, from having its head raised abnormally and prevented from seeing the ground, by degrees acquires a step which is almost identical with that of a blind animal. Youatt, in his well-known work, writes equally strongly on the subject, and so does Fleming. If any other argument could be required, it may be found in an important document which was issued a few years ago : — 4 We, the undersigned, are of opinion that the use of the bearing-rein, when tightly applied, is pain- ful and irritating to horses, is directly or indirectly 236 HORSE AND MAN. productive of disease when regularly worn, and by its mechanical action greatly hinders horses from employing their full strength. For the above reasons — on the plea of utility as well as humanity — its use should be discontinued.' This document is signed, not by ' theorists ' or ' hu- manitarians,' nor by ignorant and impulsive w^omen, but by upwards of a hundred well-known veterinary surgeons, six of whom are professors in the veterinary colleges of London, Edinburgh, Glasgow, &c. Twenty- four of them are Fellows of the Eoyal College of Veterinary Surgeons, and the remainder are Members of the College. Several accompanied their signatures with addi- tional remarks. Professor Axe, of the Eoyal Veterinary College, London, makes the following statement : 'Eleven years' experience in the post-mortem house and the dissecting- room of our college has made me acquainted with a variety of structural alterations and deformities arising from this cause, and which must have rendered life a burden and shortened its span. . . . If the public could see and understand the effects of its insidious work on the respiratory and other organs, I do not think that its use would be long continued by them.' Mr. W. G. Taylor, of Nottingham, in allusion to the adjective ' tight ' as applied to these reins, INJURED TONGUES. 237 adds ' that he disapproves of the bearing-rein in any form. Mr. J. Y. Blake, of Eyde, states that many horses have come under his notice with their tongues par- tially severed by its use. Mr. W. E. Marriott, of Colgrave, Nottingham, cites it as one of the causes of ' poll-evil ' — i.e. abscess on the head; and Mr. J. Freeman, of Hull, F.K.C.V.S., writes as follows : ' I have often been asked for some- thing to rub the glands of the throat with when a tight rein has been used In one case of injury by the bearing-rein, I begged the driver to leave it with me for three weeks. At the end of that time he called, saying that his horse had got quite well with- out medicine. That the bearing-rein causes ' roaring ' and other diseases of the respiratory system we have already seen. The cause is simple enough. The windpipe is forced into an unnatural curve by the bearing-rein, and the supply of air is therefore checked in its pas- sage to and from the lungs. As to the limitation which is apparently implied by the words ' tight bearing-rein,' it is really no limitation. A bearing- rein which does not ' bear ' on the horse — i.e. is not tight — is practically no bearing- rein at all, and only a piece of supplementary harness hung at the horse's head by way of ornament. 238 HORSE AND MAN. Absurd as it may seem, I have personally known more than one case where the owner compromised with his coachman, and permitted him to retain the bear- ing-rein provided that it were too slack to press against the mouth even if the horse fell. The man was afraid to meet the professional eye of his fellows, and was not proof against the sneers to which he knew he would be subjected if his horses wore no bearing-reins. One of the most important points in the veterinary surgeon's overwhelming condemnation of the bearing- rein may not have struck the reader. It is the strong sense of honour shown by the writers. Every reform has some adherents, whose zeal outruns their discretion, and who do more harm to their cause than if they had been active opponents. For example, soon after the Battle of the Bearing- reins began, some ladies made an outcry against the neighbouring carters, accusing them of employing the cruel bearing-reins, &c. The men, however, proved that they had no bearing-reins, but only the leading reins, and that their accusers did not know the difference. Consequently, the enemy was routed. I very much fear, however, that although the ladies might not have been able to distinguish a bearing-rein from a leading-rein, the men may after all have out- IMPETUOSITIES. 239 witted them, the leading-rein being immediately con- vertible into a true bearing-rein by a twist round the names, Other ' impetuosities,' to borrow Charles Keade's term, made an onslaught on the veterinary surgeons as a body, accusing them of encouraging, or at least conniving at the use of the bearing-rein, because the horses were injured by it, and so grist was brought to their mill. I use, as far as I can remember, the identical terms. Now, in this indictment there was just that scin- tillula of truth which makes such an accusation doubly exasperating. It is perfectly true that a large portion of the ailments of horses is caused by the bearing-rein, and that if it were to be wholly abolished, the veterinary surgeons would have fewer patients. But A has no right to assume that because B would gain by perpetrating a dishonourable action, B would do it. Still less has A a right to assume that B actually does perpetrate that action, and still less to accuse him of it publicly. The above manifesto of the veterinary surgeons is a complete answer to the charge, and shows that, although by advising the use of the bearing-rein they would sensibly increase their gains, they are far too honourable to do so at the expense of the horse. 240 HORSE AND MAN. Now suppose that we sum up the arguments in favour of the bearing-rein and against it. On the one side, the bearing-rein is said to impart an appearance of mettle to the horse, and to make it look imposing. It is said also to save the horse from stumbling or falling, and to prevent it from running away. If these statements could be proved, no owner of a horse would be justified in refusing to confer such a benefit upon his horse. But how does the case really stand? In the first place, the appearance of the horse is not improved, except to the professional eye, which, not many years ago, demanded that the ears should be cropped and the tail docked and ' nicked ' be- fore that eye's requirements were satisfied. To the, eye of the naturalist or artist the artificially dis- torted attitude of the animal becomes a deformity. 6 Imagine,' writes a correspondent of the ' Animal World,' ' a Landseer being asked to paint one of these deformed fore-quarters and straddling bodies while suffering from the gag-rein ! ' Secondly, we have seen that if the bearing-rein has any influence upon the tendency of the horse to fall, it rather increases than decreases that tendency ; while the assertion that it holds up a horse from falling, by tying his head to his back, is so glaringly absurd as to require no refutation. SUMMARY. 241 Lastly, it has been shown that bearing-reins and severe bits cannot prevent a horse from running away, nor stop him when he has started. On the contrary, it has been shown that they are much more likely to incite him to run away. Now let us see what th'e opponents of the bearing- rein have to say on their side of the question. In the first place they have proved that the bearing-rein causes torture to the horse in proportion to the tightness with which it is drawn. They have proved beyond the power of contradiction that it causes various diseases and ailments, roaring, poll-evil, apoplexy, spavin, navicular disease, swelling of the glands of the neck, and distortion of the shoulder. That it deprives the horse of its powers of traction in proportion to the tightness of the rein no one has attempted to deny. That it 4 renders the life of the horse a burden and shortens its span,' has been shown by Professor Axe. The injury which it does to the sensitive mouth of the horse is too evident to need proof. Added to this, we have the unanimous condem- nation of it by more than a hundred of our best veterinary surgeons. Even granting that it did give the horse a more mettlesome aspect, that it did keep the animal from falling, and that it did prevent him from running R 242 HOKSE AND MAN. away, we should have no excuse for attaching to the animal an appliance which keeps him in constant pain while he is at work, which inflicts upon him a variety of painful ailments, and which helps to wear him out in a life of suffering before he has passed the half of his natural existence. PARENTHETICALLY, with regard to the runaway horse, Mr. G. Eansom (' Free Lance ') has invented a contrivance which, without inflicting the least pain, will stop the most infuriated horse within a few yards. He was good enough to present me with his original model. It is made of brass, and somewhat resembles a lady's hinged bracelet not quite three quarters of an inch in width. When fitted, it passes over the nose and is not in the least conspicuous. If the horse attempts to run away, the driver or rider has only to pull a strap connected with the apparatus, which has the effect of closing the nostrils. Now the horse, when its nostrils are closed, is quite helpless, not being able to breathe, and so is brought to a standstill. The North American Indian women have a similar mode of teaching their babies not to cry. The first time that a baby raises its voice, the mother closes its mouth and compresses its nostrils, and as the process is repeated whenever the child cries, it ME. HANSOM'S INVENTION. 243 very soon learns to be silent. In consequence of this treatment, such a sound as the crying of a baby is never heard in a native encampment, even though there may be plenty of babies in it, lying on the ground, or hung up to branches to be out of the way. Perhaps Mr. Eansom, who knows the Indians well, took his idea from this custom. E 2 244 HOESE AND MAN. CHAPTEE XIV. The BLINKER and its supposed uses— Cropping of ears — Alleged necessity for cropping — Contradictory temperament of the horse — Courage and timidity — Inquisitiveness — Rarey's principle — The kettle-drummer's horse — Mr. C. H. Tainplin's experience — Obstinacy of a coachman — Value of the ' master's eye ' — Waterton at Walton Hall —Letter from ' C. F. W.' to the Field newspaper — ' Jockeying ' adviser — Modified blinkers — Eye of the horse — Cruel superstitions — The third eyelid, or ' nictitating membrane ' and its use — The groom's rashness and its effects. WE have not quite finished with the horse's head. Attached to the head harness of horses used for driving are almost invariably a pair of leather flaps called blinkers, which cover the eyes, and prevent the animal from seeing objects behind or on either side of him. For riding purposes, blinkers are never used, or at all events so seldom, that if a ridden horse were to be seen with them, considerable astonishment would be excited, and in all probability the horse and its rider would have to endure no small amount of derision. In America these appliances are called blinders. THE EAE. 245 Their object is to prevent the horse from seeing objects which will frighten it. Why a horse should be frightened when it is driven, and not frightened when it is ridden, is rather difficult of comprehension. If we accept the assumption that a horse must be frightened at objects which it can see, we ought to be consistent and assume that it must be frightened at sounds which it can hear. And, to be consistent, we ought to stop the horse's ears as well as blind its eyes. Indeed, seeing what pranks are played with the horse, I very much wonder that ear-stoppers have not come into fashion long ago. Perhaps they might have done so, if they could have been adorned with a Greek or Latin title, such as Otoclids or Auriclauders, made ornamental, and, like blinkers, could bear the crest of the owner. There are many men still living who can remember when a horse was considered quite unfit to be looked at unless his ears were cropped close to his head, just as was the case only a few years ago with many breeds of dogs. At the present day we should say that the whole beauty of the head was destroyed by the loss of the mobile ears, which indicate the emotions which pass through the animal's mind, and that the horse was hopelessly disfigured. We might also say that to crop the horse's ears was indirectly dangerous to 246 HOKSE AND MAN. man, because the mode of carrying the ears is one of the tests whereby to judge a horse's temper. All this is perfectly true. But it was equally true in the days when cropping was in fashion, and yet its truth had not the least effect on the advocates of the custom. This figure of the Cropped Horse is taken from A 'CROPPED' HORSE. a hunting print of the period in which cropping was in fashion. At the present day the ear is, happily for the horse, allowed to retain its full dimensions, so that the animal can direct it as he chooses, and be sensible, as he ought to be, to the slightest sound. But, though the groom may not cut the ear off, he cannot let it alone. The inside of the ear is furnished with a BLINKERS. 247 supply of hairs so arranged that they exclude dust, flies, and other extraneous objects, while they do not interfere with the passage of sound. Therefore, the presence of these hairs is an abomination to the professional eye, and the groom, if left to himself, will remove the hairs as far as possible, sometimes cutting them off, and sometimes, when he wants to be very professional, singeing them down with a candle flame. Deafness is often caused by this atrocious practice ; but that is nothing to the groom as long as the horse is got up according to the prevailing fashion. If the reader will again turn to the horse c Fashion,' on p. 200, he will see that I have, ventured to add a pair of ear-stoppers to the blinkers, the gag bearing-rein, the hogged mane, the cropped ears, and the docked and nicked tail, all of which are, or have been, considered necessary to the gratification of the professional eye. The real fact is, that blinkers are rather the causes of fright than the preventives, and for this reason. The temperament of the horse is most peculiar, and especially as regards courage. To judge him from one point of view, he seems an arrant coward. To judge him from another, he is one of the most courageous animals on the face of the earth. You may see him scared by a feather 248 HORSE AND MAN. blown against his nose, or by the sound of a boy's popgun, and would naturally consider him to be a coward. But the very animal that was frightened at a feather, when properly taught will walk about un- concernedly among locomotive engines, caring nought for their puffings and snortings, and whistlings, and 6 bio wing-off' of steam. The very animal which ran away at the sound of the popgun will, when properly trained, face a square of infantry despite the glitter of the bayonets and the flash and rattle of the musketry. He will undauntedly charge a battery, and so from this point of view he must be reckoned as exceptionally courageous. ' He mocketh at fear, and is not affrighted ; neither turneth he back from the sword. ' The quiver rattle th against him, the glittering spear and the shield. 'He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage ; neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet. ' He saith among the trumpets, Ha, Ha ; and he smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains' and the shouting.' This magnificent description is as true an eulogium of the horse's courage as it was when CHARACTER OF THE HORSE. 249 penned by the unknown writer of the Book of Job, at least three thousand years ago. Like ourselves, the horse fears the unknown, or rather the imperfectly known, and as soon as he becomes familiar with the dreaded object, his fears vanish. It was solely by acting on this temperament that Earey was so successful in the management of troublesome horses. He went on the principle that the ' vices ' of the horse are almost wholly due. to his fears, which have not been understood by man. Nothing could be simpler than Earey 's system, of which I have often been an eye-witness. He would take any object of terror, say a revolver, or a drum, or an umbrella, and manage by degrees to make the horse understand that it would not hurt him. Then he acted on another characteristic of the horse. The animal is as inquisitive as a cat, so inquisi- tive indeed, that no matter how much an unknown object frightens him, he cannot keep himself away from it. He will stand at a distance gazing at it with outstretched neck, and sniffing as if the sense of smell could tell him something about it. Perhaps a new access of fright will take place and he will gallop off, but in a short time is sure to come back again, drawn as if by some magnetic attraction. Thus he will go on, always drawing nearer and 250 HORSE AND MAN. nearer until he is close to the dreaded object. Then he will smell it, test it by rubbing it with his nose, which is the tactile organ of the horse as the hand is with us, and then, having satisfied his curiosity, will trouble himself no more about the former object of his fears. The following short account of Earey's dealings with a horse which was too much even for the Life Guards, is taken from Mr. S. Sidney's ' Book of the Horse : ' — ' The commanding officer of one of the regi- ments of Household Cavalry placed in Earey's hands a cream-coloured stallion from Her Majesty's stud that had resisted every effort of roughriders of the regiment to make it carry the kettle-drums. ' The horse was in the riding school. Earey took one of the drums, placed it before the horse's nose, and by degrees got him to smell it. Then he gave it a slight tap with one of his fingers, on wrhich the horse started, but smelt it again. Eepeating this operation again and again louder, and each time with a drumstick, after a series of starts and smells the horse began to find out that the drum did him no harm. ' The drum was then placed against his side and the tapping process repeated. Finally, certainly within less than an hour, Earey mounted his pupil and marched him round the school, beating the THE DRUMMER'S HORSE. 251 drum loudly. From that time forward the cream stallion bore the gorgeously attired drummer, beat- ing the silver kettle-drums, and pacing proudly at the head of the regiment.' I have several times seen him perform not only a similar feat, which is a comparatively easy one, but in less than half-an-hour teach a shying horse to allow all the chambers of a revolver to be fired round his head, a flag to be waved violently before his eyes, and an umbrella to be opened suddenly in his face. I fully believe that if the owner of a horse were to begin driving it without blinkers, it would never require them. But of course I admit that if a horse which had always been driven in blinkers were to be suddenly deprived of them, he might probably take fright at the unaccustomed range of vision. This feeling, however, would soon wear off, and then the horse would not only have wider opportunities of finding out the meaning of objects which would have frightened him if half seen, but would look all the better for not having his beautiful eyes concealed behind the leathern flaps. Still it would be quite possible to accustom the horse to do without them. At first, they could be spread out, so as to allow the animal a wider range of vision. Then they could be gradually lessened in size, and lastly removed altogether. 252 HORSE AND MAN. People often say to me, 'We do not deny that horses might do well enough without blinkers as long as they keep to country roads, but if they are driven in London, or any other populous city where there is much traffic, they would be frightened at the other vehicles, and especially at the whips of all the drivers.' I suppose that Londoners think just the same of the country, and that the horses would be afraid of the trees and the wide expanse of country. If people who owned horses blindfolded them entirely before driving them, there might be some sense in this idea ; but as even the tightest blinkered horse can see in front, and can therefore see all the whips which are likely to hit him, even this super- ficial argument fails. Of course, when a country horse is just brought to London, it is nervous and alarmed at the unaccustomed sights and sounds, and so is a London horse when taken into the country, whether it be blinkered or not. The blinker has nothing to do with the question. In a letter addressed to the ' Animal World,' as long ago as 1873, Mr. C. H. Tamplin, a London surgeon, narrated his experiences with the ' blinkers : ' ' Two years ago the idea occurred to me to try, and if possible find out, the reputed use of blinkers. Our coachman was ordered to come round without them. He did so (bearing-reins we had renounced HALF VISION. 253 as instruments of torture long before), and the horses, which had always been used to blinkers before, went along beautifully, and evidently enjoying much more comfort. In the afternoon we had another pair harnessed in the same way, and the result was pre- cisely similar. ' To replace a horse which had died, another was bought. He also behaved extremely well without blinkers or bearing-reins. Two others in the country, one a mare which used to shy and jib inveterately, and the other, almost thoroughbred, went as quietly as possible without blinkers, those appendages having been removed from their harness. 'Much stranger still, a young Irish horse, five years old, almost thoroughbred, had never been driven in double harness before, and had never been taken into any town in his life until he came to London, where he was ridden for two weeks that he might get used to the traffic. 6 At the end of that time our coachman, without directions, put him into double harness with blinkers. He went very well until a large dog ran across the road before him, when he shied and nearly jumped over the pole. He would probably have taken to kicking had not some one rushed up to his head and pulled the blinkers aside that he might see the dog, ivhen he became absolutely quiet. 254 HOESE AND MAN. 6 The next day our coachman removed the blinkers, and from that time he has behaved admirably amidst the busy traffic of the streets, without evincing a tendency to shy. ' The inference I draw from this and other cases is, that blinkers are totally unnecessary, and do more harm than good. In passing other vehicles at cross- ings and when turning, instead of going blindly on at the risk of running against whatever may be near them, horses without blinkers know what is wanted, and so become much more easy to drive.' The reader will probably have gathered from this narrative the necessity for the master's eye as the only check upon the perverse obstinacy of servants, who will always revert to their accustomed ways whenever they can find an opportunity. It cannot be too often repeated that argument with a servant is useless, and should never be used. ' You may prove to your coachman and grooms that scooping out the interior of the hoof is destruc- tion to the horse ; that the bearing-rein causes horses to fall, and that the blinkers induce them to shy. Your reasoning will "go in at one ear and out of the other," without producing the least impression on the man's mind ; and, unless he knows that he is closely watched, he will carry off the horse to the farrier's at the first opportunity and have the frog and bars cut 'THE SQUIRE.' 255 off and the heel opened. He will replace the blinkers and fasten the horse's head back with a bearing- rein, thinking all the while that his master is a fool, and that his own way is the only one for a horse.' The late Charles Water ton afforded a valuable example of the value of the master's eye. When he came into possession of Walton Hall, he determined to give Nature a fair trial against long- established customs. A keen preserver of game, he would not allow his keepers to interfere with the hawks, rooks, crows, magpies, starlings, stoats, weasels, and other ' vermin.' He had to run counter to the prejudices of every man on his estate, not to mention all his neighbours, and soon found out that he must never argue, but give his orders and see that they were obeyed. Every one in his employ knew that every part of his work would come under ; the Squire's' eye in the course of twenty-four hours, but when the master would make his appearance no one knew, except that it was sure to be when he was least expected. One of his rules was, that after the day's work the horses should not be tied up, but allowed to walk about at liberty in the stable-yard. One night he suddenly asked me if I would go into the grounds with him. So he lighted a lantern, and we 256 HOKSE AND MAN. went over a large portion of the premises? finishing with the stables. In one of them a horse was tied up. Water ton cut the halter into little bits, laid them on the floor, and said nothing. About five next morning the bailiff passed a very unpleasant quarter of an hour. ' Please zur, I thowt/ began the bailiff. ' You thowt ! You thowt ! Nobody thinks here but me,' returned Waterton, and with a stern warning sent him out of the room, not letting him say another word. The following letter, addressed to the ' Field ' newspaper of June 20, 1877, put the bearing-rein and blinker question in a very amusing but forcible summary. ' SIR, — I think there is a great deal of nonsense written about this bearing-rein business. ' The facts of the case seem to be as follows : ' Horses are naturally very stupid animals ; they can neither carry their heads nor their tails in a proper manner, neither can they make a proper use of their eyes, therefore it is necessary that they should be taught the proper use of them. ' Now a horse naturally wishes to see the ground in order that he may not tread on anything likely to make him tumble down. But we make our roads so smooth that there is no necessity for his seeing them, MORE HAPPY THOUGHTS. 257 so we very properly tie his head up to make him look at the sky, which gives him a very elegant appearance, especially when he gets used to it and takes naturally to what is called " star-gazing." ' But even then, he might look to the right or left, and so see something or other which it is far better for him not to see, therefore we half blind him. This is a great point, for with his head tied up, and his blinkers on, he cannot possibly see any- thing but the sky, where there is nothing to see, and consequently nothing to frighten him. ' Sometimes the brute is badly made, being small in the chest, in which case the saddle, or whatever it may be termed to which this bearing- rein is fastened, is pulled forward by it, in which case it becomes necessary to have a crupper to hold the saddle back, and thus in a manner you tie his head and tail to- gether, so that he cannot put down his head without pulling up his tail. ' I think the above letter gives ample reason for the use of the bearing-rein and blinkers. 4 1 am so convinced that this is the right and proper way to educate a horse, that I mean, when I can afford it, to have a horse to ride ; and as I suspect I shall not be a very accomplished horseman, I mean to have a hook at the front of the saddle on which to put a good tight bearing-rein — this is to keep him s 258 HORSE AND MAN. from running away with me. I shall also put on blinkers, so that he can see neither to the right nor left, and think that under these circumstances I shall be tolerably safe.— C. F. W.' There is only one argument which is in the slightest degree in favour of the blinker. Among horses and among mankind there are sure to be some who have the strongest disinclination to do any work that they can get any one else to do for them ; and with them, as with us, this inclination becomes stronger as they grow older and more artful. So, when a pair are driven, one being a willing horse and the other a slug^ the latter will shirk his share of the work, and leave it to his companion. I saw just such a pair while I was in Boston, Mass. They belonged to one of my friends, and as we were driving, I asked him why he put blinkers on his horses, and why those blinkers were quite unlike the usual form. He said that he was as much opposed to the blinker as myself, and would not use it until compelled by the laziness and cunning of one of the horses. The animal could pull quite as well as his com- panion, but he was a slug and a swindler. He always contrived to keep his eye on his master, and as long as he saw that he was watched, he did his fair share of the work ; but, if the driver's attention were AX IMPOSTOE. 259 diverted in any way, the horse dropped back from the collar, but used all the action of a pulling horse, so as to deceive the driver. Consequently, his comrade— a very willing horse — had his work nearly doubled. As soon as the impostor perceived signs of the driver's renewed attention, he went forward into the collar, and really pulled instead of making believe. He did it so cleverly that several times, before the trick was found out, the whip came on the wrong horse. In order to counteract this tendency, his owner had a special set of blinkers made. They are scarcely half the size of the ordinary blinker, and they stand out nearly at right angles from the head, so that the horse can see everything in front or at the sides, but not behind. This simple arrangement completely checkmated the horse. He tried his old ruse once or twice, but always found himself reminded by the whip that he must play no more tricks. For the sake of sym- metry, both horses wore similar blinkers, and when I saw them, it was impossible to tell which had been the delinquent. Under no circumstances, however, ought horses to wear the large blinkers which are occasionally seen. Sometimes the front edges of these blinkers are s 2 260 HORSE AND MAN. drawn so closely together that there is only a narrow strip of vision in front, and none on either side. These close blinkers have two bad effects on the eye. In the first place, they heat the eye-ball by prevent- ing the free access of air to it ; and in the next, by forcing the animal to keep its eyes always directed forwards, they fatigue and strain the delicate muscles by which the eye is moved. In this place it is very tempting to describe the structure of the horse's eye, but such a description would be outside the province of this book, which only deals with those structures of the animal which ought to be understood by those who have the charge of it. Considering the manner in which the horse is treated by man, I almost wonder that fashion did not recommend the entire instead of the partial blinding of the horse. Had fashion turned in that direction, no question of humanity would have stood in its way. Those who crop the ears of horses or dogs, or who cut off their tails at the demand of fashion, would have no scruple in going a step farther, and putting out the horse's eyes. The reader may think that I am going too far in making such a statement, but I am simply stating the truth. All who know anything of ' fancy ' are familiar with the fact that it is the custom to put out the eyes of c SCALING ' AND TONGUE- SLITTING. 261 certain birds, because it is thought that their atten- tion, being shut off from distraction by external objects, would be concentrated in their song. Some birds escape total blindness by being ' scaled.' A red-hot knitting needle is held so close to the eye, without actually touching it, that a white ' scale ' is formed on the cornea, and prevents light from having access to the eye until the scale is thrown off, and the cornea restored by the reparative operations of Nature. Many, however, if not most, are totally blinded, the red-hot needle being pushed into the pupil of the eye. This is no modern practice, as is shown by one of the photos in Hogarth's ' Pro- gress of Cruelty.' The custom, which still lingers, of slitting the tongue of a starling or magpie, in order to enable it to speak, is scarcely less cruel. Oddly enough, its gradual extinction has been owing, not to any increase of humanity on the part of man, but to the improvement of our coinage. To slit the tongue with steel was thought to be useless, and the only instrument which possessed the requisite virtue was a ' silver sixpence.' Some of my readers may be old enough to recollect the six- pences which were . current in my childhood — mere irregular discs of metal, with scarcely a vestige of obverse and reverse, and worn at the edges until 262 HORSE AND MAN. they were as sharp as knife-blades. The doubly thick ' milled ' edge of the modern coinage, how- ever, has had the curious effect of saving from a painful operation thousands of starlings, jackdaws, and magpies. When I was at school at Ashbourne, in Derby- shire, I remember one old sixpence, which belonged to a man of sporting propensities, and which was kept sharp expressly for the purpose of cutting birds' tongues. Now, I maintain that the men who will burn out the eyes of a bird to make it sing, or slit its tongue to make it talk, or cut off the ears or tail of a dog or a horse at the demand of fashion, would not hesitate to go one step farther, and put out the eyes of the horse if the prevailing fashion required that it should be blinded. Fortunately, fashion has not as yet gone so far, and the groom may not destroy the eyes of the horse. But, in order to be in the fashion, he does go as far as he can towards injuring the eye. In the first place, the eyelashes, which, of course, are intended for a protection for the eye of the horse as for that of man, offer a temptation which the fashionable groom cannot resist, and he cuts them off. The eyelashes will, however, grow again, and the harm is but temporary. Far different, how- CUTTING THE ' HAW.' 263 ever, is it with another structure connected with the eye. In common with many mammals, with birds, frogs, and several other vertebrates, the horse is furnished with a sort of third eyelid, or ' nictitating membrane,' as it is scientifically termed. In the horse and dog it goes by the popular name of the ' haw.' Without closing the external eyelid, the animal can draw the nictitating membrane over the eye, so as to sweep off any dust or extraneous sub- stance that might injure the eye. This movement may be seen to perfection in the owl tribe. It sometimes happens that this membrane becomes inflamed, mostly, I believe, from the ammoniacal vapour of ill- ventilated stables, and then it is apt to protrude from the corner of the eye. The groom, who naturally dislikes the red, unsightly projection, never thinks of treating it as a case of subduable inflammation, but cuts it off. From that time, the membrane can never do its work rightly, and the consequence too often is a partial or entire blinding of the eye. 264 HORSE AND MAN. CHAPTEE XT. The mane and the practice of ' hogging' —The tail and its office — What man does to the tail — Docking — A puzzled J.P. — The professional eye again — Docking and lock-jaw — Nicking — An unexpected ally — t Conducive to human safety ' — The tail and the crupper — Winter and summer coats of the horse — Clipping and singeing — American horses in winter — Fashion with man and horse — The groom's real reason for clipping— Mayhew and Lupton's opinions of clipping — The ' moulting ' of birds. HAVING now seen some of the effects of the profes- sional eye upon the head of the horse, we will pass to its neck and spine. The chief glory of the horse's neck is the Mane, which 'clothes his neck with thunder.' It is balanced by the full and flowing tail which adorns the last vertebrae of the spine, both of these orna- ments being distinguishing marks between the horse and the ass. It could not be expected that the professional eye could miss such splendid oppor- tunities as are presented by the mane and tail, on both of which man has laid his sacrilegious hands. The Creator has made the mane full and flowing to match the tail. Man, therefore, cuts it away until ' HOGGING.' 265 only some two inches are left standing perpen- dicularly, so as to make the neck of the horse look as much as possible like that of the ass. This custom of cutting the mane, or 4 hogging ' it, as this particular form of mutilation is called, was, as far as I can discover, introduced in the early part of the century, when a sharn classical mania reigned paramount in the fashionable world. Sporting men HORSE WITH ' HOGGED ' MANE. were called ' Corinthians,' horse races were dignified by the name of ' Olympian Games,' and so forth. Therefore, the horses had to look classical in order to preserve consistency, and their manes were cut so as to make them resemble the horses of antiquity. Lately, I regret to say that the mutilation of the mane has been revived, chiefly, I believe, by polo players. 266 HORSE AND MAN. EXCEPT that ' hogging ' the mane is a shameful disfigurement of the horse, it does no harm. But when man deals with the tail, a very different verdict must be given. The tail, as the Creator made it, is shown in the figure called ' Nature,' on p. 200. One of its uses is obviously to act as a whisk, and drive away the flies which irritate the sensitive skin of the animal, especially in hot weather ; and that it is an ornamental appendage, without which the form of the horse would be incomplete, is evident to any but the professional eye. Some years ago, while en- gaged in making out the heads of this work, I gathered to- gether some notes under the title of 'Exploded Fashions.' Those which refer to the tail are as follows : ' Bang-tail, cock-tail, dock-tail, nick- tail.' With the greatest regret I have seen these exploded fashions creeping slowly but surely back again. The tail, which some years ago was allowed to preserve its natural and beautiful form, has been gradually shortened. The result comes from the rivalry of grooms and coachmen. While driving, especially in places of fashionable resort, they naturally inspect the horses TAIL DOCKED AND NICKED. PROFESSIONAL RIVALRY. 267 belonging to the carriages which they meet. Mr. Brown's coachman sees that Lord Kennaquh air's horses have had their tails cut short, so nothing will serve him but to cut his own horses' tails still shorter. If this rivalry in tail-cutting extended only to the hair it would do no very great harm. It would spoil the appearance of the horse, but would not inflict pain or affect health, and the hair, if allowed to grow without hindrance, would, in process of time, resume its natural appearance. But this tail-cutting mania goes farther, and not only the hair, but the tail on which it grew is cut off, several of the last vertebras being amputated. The pain caused by this operation is very great, but, as we shall see, the torture is not all. How painful the operation is, is shown in the following letter : — 'IS DOCKING HORSES' TAILS CRUEL IN A LEGAL SENSE ? 1 To the Editor of the " Daily Neivs." 4 SIR, — I am a country magistrate, who is anxious to obtain an opinion founded on the judgment of rny brother magistrates throughout the country generally on the subject of this letter. My personal dislike of anything should not make me give a decision which could not be maintained if appealed against. 268 HORSE AND MAN. ' I am fifty-seven years old, and from boyhood in the hunting-field, on the race-course, and in a cavalry regiment, I have had horses as my friends and servants, and I have no hesitation in deciding the practice of docking to be unnecessary and cruel. Unfortunately it is a common custom, and to be con- sistent, thousands should be summoned, and not, as now, only one occasionally. I think it is shown to be unnecessary for safety in driving, because when a few years ago it was not the fashion to dock horses' tails, carriage accidents were not more frequent than now. ' That it is cruel I have no doubt. Providence gave the horse a tail for good reasons, as any one who has watched a colt at grass can see. The absence of it when flies are troublesome causes absolute misery. It will also be remarked that those parts over which the tail naturally falls have little or no hair, and therefore need its protection. ' What does docking mean ? It is taking off several joints of the tail, and then searing the bleeding stumps with a hot iron. Can any man imagine this torture applied to his finger, rendering it for ever less useful than Nature intended, and deliberately approve of its being inflicted on a helpless animal to gratify a passing fashion ? ' I am informed that at Carmarthen a conviction c DOCKING.' 269 was recently obtained and a fine inflicted for docking a tail under circumstances of great cruelty, the operation taking nearly half an hour in all, and the irons having to be heated three times before the bleeding could be stanched. Was not that revolting barbarity ? and who is to say that such cases do not frequently occur, and that in a greater or less degree they must occur so long as the custom prevails ? ' I am informed — all credit to the humane person who so ordered — that by a recent regulation re- mounts for the cavalry are rejected if thus maimed. Might not this principle be extended, and all docking (except in case of disease or deformity) be considered to come under the term of cruelty in a legal sense, and therefore punishable by law ? I am anxious to do what is right, and remain, Sir, your obedient servant, ' A PUZZLED J.P. ' February 2, 1884.' The regulation to which the puzzled J.P. refers has recently been repeated, September 12, 1884, and is as followrs : — ' DOCKING HORSES. 'As it has been brought to notice that in the mounted service the regulations in regard to the length of horses' tails are not observed, and as horses 270 HORSE AND MAX. with short tails are practically unfit for service in the field where flies are troublesome, the following addi- tion has been made to Far. 5, Sect. 11 : — " Queen's Eegulations and Orders of the Army. General officers, when making their inspection of mounted corps, will ascertain whether these instructions are strictly followed, and they will specially report every instance in which they are disregarded that comes under their notice. Horses with short docks are not to be purchased as remounts." The very forcible statements of the 'Puzzled J.P.' were supplemented by a letter from Mrs. H. Mcllquham, of Staverton House, near Cheltenham, dated February 4, 1884 : — 'I am sorry to be able to add to the horrors con- tained in a " Fuzzled J.P.'s " letter by saying that the terrible operation of docking the tails of horses is sometimes followed by lock-jaw. I was recently told of three such cases occurring in two stables. 'When lock-jaw occurs, it is usual to sling the poor animals, to prevent them from ending their sufferings by dashing their heads against their mangers. This wretched ending occurred in one of the three cases I have spoken of. The whinnying of the poor creature was touching to hear, and its sufferings will prevent a repetition of a similar bar- barity in its owner's stables.' LOCK-JAW. 271 It is really wonderful how the ever-changing fashion of the day perverts the judgment and blunts the feelings. There is now before me a letter from a gentleman who is a great breeder of hunters. He acknowledges that he has himself lost two horses from lock-jaw produced by docking, and that he knows of other cases. Yet he declares in favour of the operation, because in his opinion ' it improves the horses very much ! ' Again I say, as I did with regard to the gag bearing-rein, that even if the operation of docking did improve the appearance of the horse instead of disfiguring it, as is really the case, we have no right to inflict such torture on an animal merely to gratify our eyes. There is even less excuse for docking than for the bearing-rein, for at all events the advocates of the latter do really think that it holds up a stumbling horse and prevents him from running away, besides ' improving ' his appearance, whereas no such argu- ment can be urged in favour of docking. The Eoyal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals ought to be empowered to proceed against any one who was guilty of this abominable practice, and ought to carry out the law in the most rigid form, without the least respect of persons. 272 HORSE AND MAN. If the managing body of the Eoyal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals should be afraid to proceed in such cases because some of the delinquents belong to the Society, and their subscriptions would be lost, I can only say that the Society would not be doing the work which it professes to do. It ought to proceed against Lord Kennaquhair for having the tails of his horses docked, or for using the gag-rein, as fearlessly as against the butcher's lad for beating his horse about the head with his meat-tray. Are wTe to revert to the practice of ' nicking ' the tail? Perhaps the reader may not know what ' nicking ' signifies. Indeed, I find that very few people have the least idea that ' docking ' means anything more than cutting the hair too closely, and can scarcely believe me when I tell them that the very specious word ' docking ' signifies the amputa- tion of several vertebras of the tail, and the searing of the raw and bleeding stump with red-hot irons. There is only one abomination which has not as yet revived, and that is, the operation called ' nicking,' which was in practice some sixty years ago. As might be expected, the demands of the pro- fessional eye became more and more exacting. Even the docked tail was not sufficiently distorted from Nature's model to satisfy that eye, which required that the tail should as far as possible resemble a KICKING. 273 half- opened fan in shape, and that instead of hanging down, as Nature intended, it should be stuck up per- pendicularly. So, after several vertebra? had been cut off, and the stump seared according to custom, the remaining vertebra were cut partially through on the under ' NICKING ' THE TAIL. side. This was for the purpose of severing the rather powerful tendon which pulls the tail down. Lest the wounds should be healed in the ordinary manner, and so give the animal a chance of lowering its tail, a piece of machinery was invented and used as seen in the illustration. 274 HOESE AND MAN. The tail being tied up as here shown, it remained nearly perpendicular whether the horse stood or lay down. Any of my readers who have ever suffered from a cut finger may form some idea of the agony which the horse must have endured while these wounds were being healed. The natural tendency of a wound is to contract in course of healing, and even during that natural process a considerable amount of pain is suffered. What it must be when the mouths of a series of wounds are kept mechanically torn apart we can scarcely imagine. Some years ago, in the course of a lecture de- livered at Cheltenham, I described this process, and illustrated the description by sketches on my black canvas. There were some very decided expressions of natural incredulity among the audience, several persons being unable to believe that such cruelty could have existed, and thinking that I had been imposed upon. After the lecture was finished, a venerable, white- haired and white bearded gentleman came on the platform and asked leave to say a few words. He was evidently well known, as his appearance was greeted with loud applause. He said that he had heard some persons expressing disbelief, but stated that when he was a boy he had seen the operation HUM AX SAFETY. 275 of ' nicking ' performed, and that both the description and sketches were perfectly correct. I then found that he was Mr. Samuel Bowley, so well known as an advocate of teetotalism. The illustration is taken from a plate in an old work on horse management. In the plate several horses are represented, so as to show the different stages of the process. The reader could hardly imagine that anyone at the present day could have the hardihood to give any reason, except the following of fashion, for docking horses. Yet, in July of this present year (1884), a council of veterinary surgeons voted unanimously that the docking of horses' tails was con- ducive to human safety ', and therefore ought to be adopted ! ' Conducive to human safety,' forsooth ! What connection can there be between human safety and the length of a horse's tail ? Certainly the connection is not very easy to trace, and the train of reasoning is rather circuitous. However, here it is. Supposing that you were driving a long-tailed horse, and that you were a careless handler of the reins, and let them hang too low, the horse might whisk its tail over the rein so as to take it out of your command, and then it might be frightened, and T 2 276 HORSE AND MAN. then might run away, and then might upset the carriage, and then you might be killed. Even if all this long series of misfortunes did occur, the fault would surely lie with the careless driver. The ' Puzzled J.P.' is perfectly right when he says that carriage accidents were not more fre- quent when the horses wore their tails of their natural length than is the case at the present time. Another ' reason ' is, that the full and flowing- tail is not easily put through the crupper. In fact, to the professional eye the tail is nothing but a con- venient peg on which the crupper may be hung. So, to carry out these ideas logically, the rat-tailed horse is your only animal. There is no troublesome hair to get in the way, and by cutting off the vertebrae to suit your individual taste, you can make the crupper peg of any length that you please. Were it not for the crupper, the simplest plan would be to cut off the tail altogether, but that appendage was so evidently created for a crupper-peg, that enough of it must be left to serve its obvious purpose. I very much wonder that the nicked and stuck- up tail was not voted to be ' conducive to human safety.' The process of reasoning would be very similar, and quite as sound. A bad rider might mount a horse with a natural tail, and the horse might rear, and the rider would CLIPPING. 277 slip off over the tail and fall, and might be trodden upon and killed. But if the tail were nicked and stuck up, the rider would be caught upon it, and then he could hold on by the saddle as long as the horse reared, and regain his seat when the animal came on all fours again. HAVING caused as much harm as possible to the foot and the mouth, and the eye and the neck, and the spine and the tail, the professional eye casts its baleful glance upon the Body, and demands that it shall be deprived of its natural covering just when it most needs protection. The horse, like many other animals, has two sets of clothes : a cool and light suit for the summer, ancl a warm and heavy coat for the winter. In the course of nature these clothes are re- gularly exchanged, and the horse puts on his long- haired winter dress before the cold weather comes on. But, unfortunately for the horse, the long, natural winter coat is to the professional eye as great an abomination as the long natural mane and tail, and so, either by clipping or singeing, the warm winter coat is cut as short as that which is intended only for summer wear. Here, then, is another of the many ingenious devices by which man does his best to shorten the 278 HORSE AND MAN. life of the horse. The animal, whose skin is sin- gularly sensitive, and given to perspiration, is taken on a cold winter's day out of a warm stable, in which all the pores are kept open, and brought into a frosty temperature, which is often aggravated by a sharp wind. Only one result is likely to take place, and mostly does take place. The perspiration is checked, thrown back upon the system, and the horse takes a cold, which, unless promptly treated, will develop into pneumonia, or inflammation of the lungs. In America, horse owners are wiser than we are. They have a complete set of waterproof clothing for each horse, even covering the ears, and these coverings are made in several portions, are ventilated, and shelter the horse completely from the cold air. There are apertures through which the shafts and reins pass, but even these are guarded with waterproof flaps. In this country, however, we are less thoughtful, and many a fine horse is lost through the want of a little forethought. As we have already seen, ' reasons ' are plentiful enough when any outrage on Nature is committed, no matter whether the subject be ourselves, or the animal of which we have the control. All kinds of ; reasons ' have been proffered when man acts in contravention of Nature. Shaving, for example, has its advocates; its SHAVING. 279 object being to make the masculine face as effeminate as possible. Our immediate ancestors, say of the reign of George II., were more logical than our- selves, and not only shaved the face, but the entire head, substituting an artificial covering of horsehair or goat's hair, called a peruke, for the natural cover- ing which they removed. The ancient Egyptians were still more logical, for they shaved the whole body daily, from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot. In like spirit we cut away the natural protection of the horse's hoof, and substitute an artificial protection of iron. Many of my readers can remember the time when the British soldier was obliged to buckle round his neck a stiff leathern stock, so that he could hardly breathe, and men were constantly struck down in the ranks with incipient apoplexy. No sooner did common sense urge the abolition of the stock than the old officers arose in their wrath, and eulogised the leather stock to the skies. It saved the soldier from a sword-stroke should he happen to be in personal conflict with a dragoon, and the dragoon should happen to strike his neck, and the blow should happen not to be parried. It saved the soldier the trouble of holding his head up, because the stock did it for him. In point of fact, the professional eye was accustomed to the stock, 280 HORSE AND MAN. and could not recognise a man as a soldier unless he wore it. As for feminine humanity, words fail to express the countless methods by which women have done their best to cripple themselves for life, and the extra- ordinary ingenuity of the excuses — ' reasons ' they term them — with which they defend tight corsets. I have seen one which was made entirely of steel, like a cuirass, and which opened at one side with hinges. Tight boots, with high pegs under the1 centre of the foot instead of heels ; hoops in the days of George II., crinolines in the time of Victoria, poisonous metallic paints covering the face, neck, and arms, and a hundred other absurdities, all had their advocates and their ' reasons.' Among the reasons which the groom urges in favour of clipping, and which his master accepts as true, is that it is impossible to keep his horse dry if it be allowed to retain its winter coat, and that it is almost impossible to clean the horse from mud after he has been out on a wet day. Here unwittingly the groom betrays the real reason of his advocacy of clipping. He is saved trouble by it, no one denying that it is easier to clean a short-haired than a long-haired animal. The wetness of which the groom complains is simply the result of imperfect ventilation in the GROOMS AND OWNERS. 281 stable. Now, the uneducated c] asses are, as a rule, absolutely ignorant of the value of ventilation in their own houses, and therefore can hardly be ex- pected to trouble themselves about a constant supply of fresh air in the stable. In order to obtain enough air for its enormous lungs, the horse is obliged to breathe rapidly. Then the skin comes to the rescue of the lungs, the func- tions of the skin and lungs being co-ordinate, and a 'copious perspiration is the result, no matter what the length of the hair may be. But, in the morning, the groom finds that to clean and dry the long-haired horse is a tedious business, and so he induces his employer to have the horse clipped or singed. So universal is this custom that as a rule the owners of horses would as soon have their hoofs unshod as their coats undipped. Another ' reason ' which grooms advance for clipping is, that the horse moves much more freely after than before the operation, because it is relieved of the weight of superfluous hair. Mayhew (p. 235), with all the caution of a man of science, does not actually deny that such an effect may be produced by clipping, but he very emphatically says that he never saw it. Indeed, if the hair which is removed by clipping were put into the scales, its weight would prove to 282 HORSE AND MAN. be very trifling, and certainly insufficient to make any perceptible difference in ease of movement. Moreover, the hair so removed was distributed over the whole body and limbs, and not hung in any spot where it might cause hindrance to action. Yet another ' reason ' is advanced by grooms. ' We are obliged to have our hair cut regularly, arid so ought the horse.' But the hair of man, like that of the mane and tail, is permanent, and not deciduous, and so the argument is beside the point at issue. If we were gifted with summer and winter heads of hair, there might be some force in it, but, as the reader will easily perceive, the two cases are not parallel. Moreover, women, as a rule, wear their hair long. Mayhew concludes his long and elaborate indict- ment against the practice with the following words of warning : — ' The advent of the summer coat is delayed, and the system seems to suffer greatly during the subse- quent period of changing the coat. The pace flags, the spirits fail, and the quadruped becomes more susceptible to disease at a time of year when equine diseases are commonly more general and more virulent. 4 The master who makes the welfare of his horse subservient to the idle prejudices of his groom, is fitly punished in the lengthened period of his animal's MAYHEW OX CLIPPING. 283 compulsory idleness, appropriately finished by the payment of a long bill to the veterinary surgeon.' Here I must call attention to another point. I have already mentioned the cautious manner in which Mayhew, as a man of science, writes when he treats of a subject which is outside his peculiar province. This very caution gives additional weight to the absolute decision with which he writes when on his own ground. As to the question about freedom of movement being the result of clipping, no matter how absurd such a statement may seem, he writes as follows : — ' This may be the fact, although the author has hitherto seen no such marked change follow the operation as will allow him to deliberately corroborate the general assertion.' But when he treats of the evils which clipping inflicts upon the horse, he uses no such caution, but employs the most direct and positive language : — ' Horses which have been clipped or singed are (not may be) rendered more susceptible to many terrible disorders. Any internal organ may be acutely attacked, because the perspiration has by exposure of the skin been thrown back upon the system. Numerous hunters (which animals are always clipped) fail (not may fail) at the beginning of the season from this cause.' This is the voice of one who speaks as having authority. 284 HORSE AND MAN. Clipping is quite a modern invention, and was in- .troduced into this country from the Continent about 1825, our officers having become acquainted with it during the Peninsular War. It has been said by some writers on the subject, that although they are entirely opposed to clipping, and would never allow a horse to be clipped if they had been in charge of it from the first, yet, if a horse be once clipped, it is impossible to discontinue the practice, as the coat will become rough and staring. I confess that I cannot agree with this axiom, nor understand the theory on which it is based. The coat of the horse is changed in accordance with the season of the year, and no matter what may be the ill-treatment of the coat of one year, it cannot affect that of the next year. Some thirty years ago, when common sense began to prevail over conventionality, and men began to ask themselves whether their Creator made their beards for the purpose of having them cut off daily, a similar reason was urged against the abandonment of the razor. It was all very well for youths who never had shaved, as their moustaches and beards would possess a most becoming gloss and silkiness. But, when once the razor had cut off the original hairs, the after growth would be coarse and stubbly. This was a very plausible argument, and, until THE BEARD OP MAN. 285 examined, seemed to be carried out by facts. It was true that the first growth of a beard is soft and silky. It was equally true that when a man's beard is of two or three days' growth after shaving, it is coarse and harsh, and if the beard be a dark and stiff one, looks very much like a ragged blacking brush. But, when the beard has grown to the length which it would have attained if its wearer had never shaved, it will be just as soft and silky as if it ' never had known the barber's shears.' If this be the case with the permanent hairs of the human beard, which are analogous to those of the horse's mane, much more so must it hold good with the deciduous hairs of the horse's body. We find exactly the same in birds, the perfection of whose plumage after moulting is not in the least marred by injuries done to the feathers before the moult. Boys who for the first time own a magpie or a jackdaw^, generally discover this fact by experience. As soon as they obtain possession of their bird they clip its wings, and are under the impression that they have prevented it from flying during the remainder of its life. But, unless the boy has managed, as he ought to do, to attach his bird to himself so thoroughly that it does not wish to leave him, he will find that after the moult is complete, the bird regains the whole of his plumage, and can fly as well as ever. 286 HORSE AND MAX. A younger brother of mine fell a victim to his ignorance of this part of natural history. When a boy, he became the happy possessor of a jackdaw, and, having heard that the wings of birds ought to be clipped, he proceeded to clip them, carrying out the work most conscientiously. He cut off the feathers of both wings close to the limb, and the tail close to the body, beside snipping away here and there feathers which looked too obtrusive, and was as satisfied with his work as is a farrier after scooping out a hoof. Soon afterwards came the moulting season, when, as a matter of course, the bird regained its plumage, and flew away. All the cutting and clipping to which the feathers had been subjected had no effect upon the next suit of feathers, and neither does clipping have any effect on the next set of hairs. I lay some stress on this fact because many persons have been dissuaded from the abandonment of clipping because they have been told that if the practice be once began, it cannot be relinquished without making the coat rough and staring. Similarly, many persons who have been accustomed to shave are afraid to abandon the razor, because they have been told that their beards will be coarse, dry, and rough. 287 CHAPTER XVI. The lungs of the horse and their comparative size — Their shape and position — Their demand for air — Defective stables — Ventilation — A shining coat — The stomach of the horse and its small size — Comparison with the stomach of the ox — Mistakes in feeding — Result of overload- ing the stomach — Experience of a veterinary surgeon — Water, wben to give, and how much — Traditions of trainers — A Turkish custom — Purity of water and water vessels— Sloping floors and their evils — The locomotive and the horse again — A sloping couch — The manger and drinking trough — Structure of the head and throat — The stable door — Width of stalls — ' Weaving ' and crib-biting — The electric manger. IN the last chapter I had occasion to mention the ill-ventilation which is the rule in most stables. This brings us to another and most important point in the management of the horse. In this work I have been careful not to trouble the reader with needless anatomical details, and have only given those which bear directly upon the relationship between man and the horse. Putting aside the heart, which is less liable than any of the internal organs to be injured by man's mismanagement, we find two internal organs of equal importance — namely, the lungs and the stomach. Supposing we were to split a horse longi- 288 HORSE AND MAN. tudinally, there are very few persons who would not be surprised at the enormous dimensions of the lungs and the very small size of the stomach. Supposing a water-melon to represent the lungs, an orange would represent the stomach. Or suppos- ing that we take the word ' DO,' the capital letter would in size and shape represent the lungs, and the small ' o ' would equally correspond to the stomach. Then it must be remembered that the lungs are double organs, while the stomach is single, so that the dis- crepancy in their comparative sizes is enhanced. Both these organs are mismanaged by man, but in opposite ways, one having its necessary supplies cut short, and the other being supplied with more nou- rishment than it can assimilate at the time. First we will take the LutfGS. If we examine the size of the lungs when compared with the body of any mammal, we shall find that the larger the lung, the higher is the vitality, and, in con- sequence, the more air has to be consumed. Now, in the horse, the lungs are simply enormous. Their outline very much resembles that of the capital letter D, except that the upper corner requires to be lengthened upwards to the right. Perhaps a better idea of the outline may be obtained from the national harp as shown on the Irish shield of the present florin. This harp must be large enough to reach beyond the LUNGS OF THE HORSE. 289 withers backwards, then extend diagonally to the elbow, and then upwards to the junction of the neck with the breast. Let the reader turn to the skeleton on page 3, and then draw a line from the top of the rib just below' c, and continue it diagonally to I. This line will represent the ' sound-board ' of the harp, the ' pillar ' occupying the front of the chest, and the 4 neck ' running tinder the spine. Nearly the whole of the cavity of the ribs in front of the ' sound-board ' is filled with the lungs. So enormous a structure indicates that the supply of fresh air ought to be correspondingly great, and that there shall be means of escape for the air which has been breathed, and in consequence is not only useless for respiration but absolutely poisonous. Yet, in how few stables do we find even an approach to systematic ventilation? The reason is evident enough. In the first place, a stable is considered so simple an edifice that any one can build it. Ac- cordingly we find that, as a rule, the architecture of a stable is about on a par with that of a house which a child builds with his box of wooden bricks. The typical stable is an oblong box of bricks, divided into two storeys, the upper being used as a hay -loft, and connected with the stable by a ladder u 290 HORSE AND MAN. and a trap-door. At the end is the door, and on one side is a little window. Opposite the door is the manger, and above the manger is an open rack, into which hay can be pushed from above. The floor slopes from the manger so as to carry off moisture into a gutter which runs at right angles with it, and then the builder thinks that he has pro- duced everything that a horse ought to require. In point of fact, however, if he had deliberately set him- self to undermine the horse's health, he could not have been more successful. But no one expects that the builder of a stable is likely to know anything of the structure of a horse, or, if he did, to depart from the rules of custom. The builder has no idea of the true functions of respiration, or of the poisonous character of air that has been once breathed. So he makes no provision for the admission of fresh atmosphere nor for the escape of foul air. He neither knows nor cares that the air which has been breathed, additionally laden with the pungent ammoniacal vapour that fills an unventilated stable, passes through the hay in the rack and thence into the hay in the loft, infecting them both. It is nothing to him that lungs were not intended to breathe effete air or the vapour of ammonia. It is nothing to him that the small size of the windows STABLES. 291 keeps the horse in semi-darkness, so that he is half blinded when he goes into it on a bright day, and quite dazzled when he comes out. It is nothing to him that the sloping floor is a perpetual strain upon the muscles of the legs during the time when they ought to be at rest. He has built his stable as stables always have been built, and the creature which is to inhabit it has nothing to do with him. One of the chief difficulties with which an owner of horses has to contend when he desires ventilation is, that the groom, as a rule, dislikes ventilation, and cannot distinguish between fresh air and a draught. One of the evils of imperfect ventilation has already been mentioned in connection with the custom of clipping. The groom will tell you that a ' warm ' — i.e. a close • — stable makes a horse's coat shine like satin. So it does ; but as it mostly kills the horse, the benefit is rather doubtful, and reminds one of Charles Lamb's Chinaman, who burned down his house whenever he wanted to roast a pig. It would be better for the horse to live, as the North American pony lives, in a far severer climate than ours, never to be housed and never to be groomed, than to pass more than half its time in such a pesti- lential atmosphere as that of an ordinary stable when managed by an ordinary groom. u 2 292 HORSE AND MAN. AFTER glancing at the lungs, we come to the STOMACH. In proportion to the size and weight of the animal, the dimensions of the stomach are wonder- fully small, the combination of large lungs and small stomach showing that the animal is intended for speed as well as strength. I am quite sure that not one groom in a hundred (or say a thousand) has the faintest idea of the differ- ence in size and structure between the stomach of a horse and that of an ox, or that the mode of feed- ing is essentially different. Yet there are plenty of horses and oxen feeding in pasture lands which can be seen by any one who has the use of eyes. The ox, having no teeth in the front of the upper jaw, simply squeezes a tuft of grass between the lower incisor teeth and the hard pad which takes their place in the upper jaw, and with a sort of jerk tears off the herbage — ' licks up the grass,' according to the Scriptural phrase. The tuft of grass thus torn away is roughly bitten into a sort of ball, and passed into the curious set of chambers into which the stomach is divided. When the animal has obtained a sufficient supply of grass for a meal, it lies down, and returns the food by degrees into the mouth, and then masticates it. But the horse, with his single and small stomach, STOMACH OF THE HORSE. 293 feeds on a different plan. It is always on the move, selecting and nipping the grass blades as it walks along, and masticating the food before it swallows it. Thus, the ox feeds while still and recumbent, while the horse always eats while moving, and never while recumbent. It is evident, therefore, that the horse ought to be fed frequently, and not in very great quantities at each meal. The groom, not being aware of this fact, is too apt to cut off the supply of food before a journey, in order to make the horse ' travel light.' Then, after the journey, wishing to be kind to the horse, he gives it a double feed by way of reward. The natural consequence is, that the animal, ravenous with hunger, eats too rapidly, overloads its stomach, and suffers accordingly. Even human beings, in spite of knowing better, will do the same unless restrained by others, and we cannot expect a horse to be wiser than a man. Cases are not un- known where the coats of the stomach have given way, and the horse has died in consequence of the injury. Sometimes, especially in agricultural districts, a peculiar disease is produced by overloading the stomach, and generally makes its appearance on Monday morning. Both the horse and the labourer who is in charge 294 HORSE AND MAN. of it are at work in the field for twelve or fifteen hours daily throughout the week. The man is natu- rally so wearied with the day's toil, that after the work is over he is fit for nothing but to take his supper and go to bed, where he instantly falls asleep, and does not awake until it is time for his next day's labour to commence. Even on Sundays he has to look after his horses, so that he does not even get the one day's rest in seven to which he is entitled. So it often happens that the man, not knowing the distinction between the structure of the horse and that of himself, supplies the animal on Saturday night with enough food and water to last until Monday morning, and then has the Sunday to him- self. On the Monday, when he goes to the stable, he finds the horse with one of its legs swollen beyond all compass, and held off the ground ; all the water gone, and the animal half mad with thirst. Even with the most careful attendance, many days must pass before the horse is again fit for work. We can hardly blame the man, who treats the horse as he himself would like to be treated — i.e. by being supplied with plenty to eat and drink, and left to undisturbed repose for the whole day. The man has acted in sheer ignorance, and so far is free from blame. But why should he be ignorant of so simple a matter ? The real fault lies with the DRINKING ON A JOUENEY. 295 owner, who has entrusted his horse to a man without having ascertained that his subordinate knows any- thing about the animal. So universal is this custom of keeping the horse too long without food and then trying to make up by over-feeding it, that even in high-class stables there are few horses which have not more or less suffered from it. A veterinary surgeon of long ex- perience stated that he ' never dissected the carcase of an aged animal without finding the capacity of the stomach morbidly enlarged, and the walls of the viscus rendered dangerously thin by repeated dis- tension.' A groom who knows anything of the structure of the horse will always bear in mind the all-important maxim in feeding the horse^ — i.e. LITTLE AND OFTEN. Then there comes the question of the amount of WATER which a horse ought to have, and when it ought to have it. The answer is simple enough. Let the animal drink when it likes and as much as it likes, and it will never damage its stomach by over- drinking. In this country there still prevails an idea, or rather a superstition, that if a horse be allowed to drink freely before starting on a journey, he will become broken-winded by the end of it. I say especially ' in this country,' because in America no 296 HORSE AND MAN. such prejudice exists. As might naturally be sup- posed, the deprivation of water conduces to the very evil which it was intended to prevent. When the thirsty animal does get at the water, it drinks eagerly and rapidly, just as a thirsty man would do, and. so causes the stomach to be abnormally distended. The Americans seem to have taken a leaf out of the Turk's book, as far as the giving of water is con- cerned. ' While on the subject of horses, let me say a few words upon their management by the Turks. ' First of all, a Turk never is wantonly cruel to any beast. He never strikes nor spurs a horse in a rage, and his movements are so quiet and collected, that a horse soon forgets all fear with him, and to find a restive horse is rare indeed. ' Whenever a Turk passes water, winter or sum- mer, he lets his horse drink as much as it wants ; but when he has done so, he rides it on fast at once, and never lets it stand still after drinking. If possible, he gives it its fill of water half an hour before the end of its journey. Directly he dismounts, he loosens the girths, and then leads the horse about till it is quite cool. It is then put in the stable with the saddle on, and this is not taken off for an hour or more. When this is done, and when he has had TRAINING. 297 water on his way home, he never " breaks out," and never refuses his feed. ' It is a British prejudice, and a very cruel one, not to let a horse drink when he is thirsty. If any of my readers have a horse that does not feed when he comes in from a day's hunting, let him try the Turkish plan.'— H. C. Barkley, ' Five Years in Bulgaria.' Not so many years ago the same idea prevailed in connection with the training of competitors in athletic sports. As some of my readers may have personal reasons for remembering if they have rowed in a college boat-race, one of the chief duties of the trainer was to dole out liquids to his men as if they were adrift on the ocean with a scanty supply of water. The men were kept in a perpetual state of raging thirst, so that on the clay when the traditional black draught had to be administered, they almost flew at it because it was liquid. At the present time, the trainers, being educated men, have seen the absurdity of a process which was invented by the ignorant prize-fighting set of a century ago, and have gradually emancipated their charges from the incessant physicings, ' training mixtures,' semi-raw beef, total deprivation of vegetables, and the chary doles of ' old,' i.e. hard ale, which con- 298 HOESE AND MAN. stituted the whole of their liquid nourishment. No wonder that so many broke down under the process of ' going through the mill ' as it was called, and that their constitutions were permanently injured. But, when horses are concerned, the training is very little improved, the trainers, as a rule, being illiterate men, and therefore clinging to the traditions of their forefathers. Grooms and others who are in charge of horses naturally look up to the managers of racing stables as superior beings, and accept un- conditionally any of their dicta as necessarily in- fallible. It is time, however, that we should fling aside all those traditions, and that in England, as in America, a horse shall no longer be tortured with thirst during his work. In many large establishments the horses are allowed to drink whenever they like and as much as they like. One notable example is to be found in the stables of Messrs. Barclay and Perkins. When a horse wishes to drink, he rattles his halter in a peculiar manner which the horses learn from each other. The groom in attendance knows the signal, and lets the horse loose. The animal goes of his own accord to the water-troughs, drinks as much as he wants, and then returns to his stable, without requiring an attendant. PURE WATEK. 299 This principle is, I believe, adopted in many places, but I mention the establishment of Messrs. Barclay and Perkins because I have been eye-witness of its practical working. Above ail, the water and the vessel in which it is contained must be scrupulously clean. Too much attention cannot be given to this injunction, especially in stables where there is no water trough, and the pail is the only means of giving the horse drink. Those who are much about stables will understand what I mean. No nitre or other farrier's messes should be allowed in the water. I very much wish that a few boldly drawn coloured diagrams could be issued, showing the principal points in the structure of the horse's foot, mouth, lungs, and stomach ; that it should be incum- bent for these diagrams to be kept displayed in every stable, and that no one, not even a boy, should be allowed the management of a horse until he could show that he was familiar with, and could understand, the diagrams. AMONG the many faults of the ordinary stable, I casually mentioned the sloping floor. Of course, the object of this slope is evident enough, and it is also evident that if the floor were perfectly level it would be impossible to keep the stable decently clean. But 300 HOUSE AND MAN. the slope is in the wrong direction, and its effects upon the horse are simply disastrous. As long as the horse stands or lies upon a floor that slopes backwards, he can enjoy no real rest. Suppose that we revert to our original parallel between a horse and a locomotive engine, and sup- pose the engine to be placed on a rising incline. The result would be that the engine would immediately begin to roll backwards ; and if it were to retain its position, it must keep the wheels at work so as to counteract the incline. I do not think that we should much admire the wisdom of the owner of the engine if he were to station it all night upon an incline, so as to keep it at work, and wear out its machinery merely in order to retain its position. Yet, in most stables the horse is subjected to precisely similar treatment. By the force of gravity it is kept perpetually slipping backwards, and can only counteract this slipping process by the continual action of the muscles. Let any one try it for himself. Let him stand for a quarter of an hour upon the side of a hill and facing the slope. He will very soon find out that, however still he may stand, he cannot retain his position without exerting the muscles of the legs to a degree which every minute renders more irksome. Now let him turn in the opposite direction, and he SLOPING FLOORS. 301 will find that the relief will be instantaneous,, and that he need not use one-tenth of the exertion which is required in the former position. Instinctively the horse knows this fact as well as man does by means of reason, and when the animal is at liberty on sloping ground, the animal invariably stands so that the fore-feet are lower than the hinder pair. Even when the horse lies down for its night's rest, matters are not mended. Let the reader try to sleep on a sloping bed, and he may have some idea of the feelings of a horse under similar circumstances. Of course there must be drainage, and the drains must slope downwards. But there is not the least necessity that though the drains slope, the floor should slope also ; and any one who possesses the least smattering of sanitary engineering can drain a stable more effectually than can be done by the present system, and yet can keep the floor level, so as to make it a comfortable resting place for the horse, whether the animal be standing or lying. THERE is one point more on which I should like to touch, though it is not nearly so important as those which have been already mentioned. This is the position of the manger and drinking trough. For many years I have felt certain that both these 302 HORSE AND MAN. accessories to the stable are placed much too high for the convenience of the horse, but should scarcely have felt courageous enough to publish my idea, had not several acknowledged c horsey ' authorities expressed the same opinion. Watch a horse feeding and drinking when he is at liberty, and you will see that when he feeds his nose is on a level with his fore-hoofs, and that when he drinks it is below them. The whole structure of his head, neck, throat, and especially that of the veins of the neck, indicates the position which the head was intended to assume when the horse was eating or drinking. Yet we put the hay into a rack above the level of his head, throw the oats, beans, &c., into a manger on a level with his breast, and pour the water into a trough on the same level as the manger. In the model stable, the manger would be on a level with the floor, and the running water in a trough a little below it. ONE more defect of ordinary stables has yet to be mentioned. The door is, as a rule, much too small, both in width and height, especially the former. This is not of so great importance when the horse is entering the stable, as when it is coming out. A high-spirited animal, which has passed some eight hours in the stable, is full of spring and joyfulness ' WEAVING.' 303 when brought out into the air, and dances, rather than walks, through the door. If the doorway be too narrow or too low, the animal is apt to strike itself against the door-post, and so to break one of the projecting portions of the hip bone. It is true that if a groom places himself in front of the horse and backs out of the stable, leading the horse after him, he will take the animal safely through a very narrow doorway. But it is never right to trust the discretion of a subordinate when the welfare of the horse is at stake, especially when a mere enlarge- ment of the doorway will make it safe even for a restive horse and a careless groom. There are many other defects in ordinary stables, such, for example, as the narrowness of the stalls, which is the primary cause of ' weaving ' — i.e. fidget- ting, crib-biting, and other ' vices ' of the stable. As for weaving, all imprisoned animals weave in one way or another, as any one may see by visiting the Zoological Gardens. It is their only mode of relieving the intolerable monotony of their existence. There is just now a wolf which has invented a totally new method of weaving. He goes to the back of the cage, runs a pace or two, jumps into the air with outspread and stiffened legs, and comes down so as to slide as far as the bars. There is really no great harm in weaving, any 304 HORSE AND MAN. more than there is in a child swinging its legs if compelled to sit still on a form or chair when its natural instinct urges it to run, and jump, and shout, in order to let off its superabundant energy. In the one case the groom, and in the other the teacher, looks upon these restless movements as a sort of wilful vice, which must be checked by punish- ment. Yet, the fault does not lie with the horse or child, but with those who deprived it of its natural amount of exercise. As to crib-biting, a vice which is mostly thought to be incurable, it is almost wholly caused by the narrowness of the stall, and the confinement of the movements of the animal. I never heard of a horse beginning this vice in a loose box. It may from custom continue it, though the reason for it has been taken away ; but, as far as I know, the evil habit has never originated in a stable where the horse could move about. I have seen a very ingenious form of manger, which was invented in order to cure horses which were given to crib -biting. A galvanic battery was connected with metallic plates which ran above and below the edge of the manger. As long as the horse uses the manger for its legitimate purposes, he has no reason for supposing that it is not like any other manger, but, as soon as he seizes the edge with his ELECTKIC MANGER. 305 teeth, he forms a connection between the upper and lower plates, and receives a shock which makes him loosen his hold. It is not strong enough to injure the animal, but quite strong enough to impress on his mind that mangers are not meant to be bitten, and that if he bites a manger it will avenge itself. This invention was shown me by Messrs. Martingale, of 158 Piccadilly. 306 HORSE AND MAN. CHAPTEK XVII. The horse and the locomotive again — * Vice ' in horses and its invariable cause— Mayhew's opinion — Vice in cavalry horses — The soldier and the < irreclaimable ' savage — New mode of treatment — Apparent failure and ultimate success — A, relapse when in strange hands — Another ' irreclaimable ' savage — Story of ' Fly,' ' The Baroness,' and ' War Eagle,' all three being New Zealand horses — The horse's capacity for affection — Its peculiar love for man — The horse a gregarious animal — Bulgarian horses — ' Spoiled ' horses — The horse's desire to obey man — A circus horse — Gilpin redivivus — Cavalry horses and their habits of obedience — The old horse at a review — Disbanded horses in a thunderstorm — The 14th Hussars at the Cape — Escape of their horses — An amateur review without officers — Muster of loose and wounded horses after battle — Mr. Luck's horse — Imprisoned in winter — Endurance of the horse — ' Sam ' arid his tricks. THROUGHOUT this work comparisons have been drawn between the horse and the locomotive engine. It is worthy of notice that whereas the driver of an engine comes to look upon it as a living creature, always talks of it as 4 she,' and treats it as if it were possessed of feeling and intelligence, too many drivers or managers of horses look upon them as machines which can only be made to work by hard words and harder blows. They think — or, rather, they assume, as the ignorant always do in lieu of thinking — that horses RULING BY KINDNESS. 307 and men are naturally antagonistic to each other ; that the horse is always trying to thwart the man, and that it will only work when compelled by the terror of the lash. They act on this assumption, and the natural consequence is, that there is a perpetual struggle between them and the horses which are under their control. Of course there are exceptions, but, as every one will admit who has had experience of grooms, stablemen, and drivers, whether in country or in town, brutality is the rule, and kindness the excep- tion. It must be said on behalf of the men that they have the excuse of ignorance. They have been brought up to the idea that a horse can only be ruled by fear. They have never seen any other mode adopted, and naturally refuse to believe that any other mode is possible. I have often wondered why, even for their own sakes, those who have the charge of horses do not invariably treat them with kindness. It is so much easier to manage a horse that is loving, confiding, docile, and obedient, than one which goes in con- stant fear of its attendant, and has to be coerced into everv action, that a groom who deliberately makes a horse afraid of him is infinitely more foolish than the poor beast which has no choice in the matter. x 2 308 HORSE AND MAN. For my part, the longer I live the more fully I am convinced that ' vice ' in a horse signifies cruelty on the part of man. Vice forms no part of a horse's normal constitution. No horse is born with a desire (like Mr. Winkle's natural taste for perjury) for kicking or biting human beings. An ' irreclaimable ' savage is made, not born, and the most painful feature in the case is, that the fiercest savages are invariably high-spirited and sensitive animals. All horses are not alike, as the ordinary groom thinks, any more than all boys are alike, as the ordinary schoolmaster thinks, or at least used to think. There is as much variety in the characters of horses as of boys, and the schoolmaster or the groom who tries to convert his charges into machines will always find himself in difficulties with the pick of the school or stable. It is the sensitiveness and high spirit of a horse that convert it into a savage, when treated with persistent brutal cruelty. The dull- witted horse submits and suffers, but the high-spirited animal rebels against such treatment, and soon learns that if it can do no more, it can at all events have the gratification of making its groom afraid of it. And, as the groom is the only human being with whom it is brought into contact, we need not be surprised if it is unable to distinguish his conduct c CRUISER.' 309 as that of an individual, and in consequence con- siders that the whole of the human race is in league against it. I used the term ' irreclaimable ' as applied to a savage horse, but enclosed the epithet in inverted commas to show that it is a word to which exception can be made. I do not consider any horse, however savage, to be irreclaimable, but believe that if brutal and ignorant men have converted the horse into a savage, gentle and wise men can reclaim him from his savagery. Two more ' irreclaimable ' savages never lived than the celebrated horses ' Stafford ' and 4 Cruiser,' the latter being about as safe to approach in the stable as a tiger in his den. Lord Dorchester, the owner of * Cruiser,' stated in a letter to the Times that until Rarey took the animal in hand he had not been ridden for three years, and that it was necessary to keep an iron muzzle always on his jaws. His paroxysms of rage would last for several days together, during which time no man dared approach him. He has been known out of sheer frenzy to kneel on the ground and tear up the road with his teeth. Yet, it is a matter of history that both these ani- mals were reclaimed in a very short time, and by the sheer power of kindness. I never saw ' Stafford,' but with ' Cruiser ' I was on familiar terms, the beau- 310 HORSE AND MAN. tiful animal being as gentle and playful as a kitten, and quite as craving for human notice. These qualities were not implanted by Earey. They ex- isted already, but had lain in abeyance until Earey 's gentle sway evoked them, and but for him would never have been suspected. Mayhew and Lupton speak very strongly on this subject in their work on ' Horse Management : ' — 'When a horse is tenderly and kindly looked after, it is difficult to form any conception of how interesting and intelligent he becomes, watching his groom's every movement in the stable day after day and week after week, until he knows as well as the man himself what is next to be done. How patiently such a horse will stand to be cleaned or saddled, and how eagerly will he turn round to have his head groomed or to be bitted, and how grateful is he but for a crust of bread, a handful of oats, a mouthful of hay, or even a kind word, when spoken in a kindly tone by his master. ' When such a man enters the stable the horse receives him with a neigh of welcome, pawing the ground with his forefoot until the master is alongside of him and pats him on the neck encouragingly. 4 As good masters make good servants, so do good kind grooms make good and affectionate horses. I do not mean the man who makes the horse's coat MAYHEW AND LUPTOtf. 311 sliine like satin, for drugs will give him a glossy coat while they undermine his constitution, I refer to the groom who, in addition to the lustrous look of the animals in bis care, is never heard yelling at them to " stand over," or " come round," who is assi- duous in his attentions upon them ; who, recognising in them the possession of virtues and passions, and but scarcely less reasoning powers than he possesses himself, will never even commit an outrage upon their feelings, far less deny them merciful treat- ment.' I have received many accounts of cavalry horses, showing the advantages to horse and rider of kindness on the part of the latter. If any man could have an excuse for being impatient with a horse, it is the cavalry soldier. He cannot spend as much time on his horse as he likes or when he likes. His time is meted out to him like his rations, and if within the given time he cannot produce his horse in a fit state to pass his superior officer's eye, he has to suffer for it. So an ignorant man, who has always been used to seeing horses ruled by force, may be pardoned for carrying out his work in the only manner which he knows. But he has imposed upon himself a task which is far more severe than would have fallen to him had he ruled his horse by kindness. Here is 312 HORSE AND MAN. one of the many narratives that have been sent to me, the writer in this case being the soldier himself. As, however, he was unused to composition, he was needlessly diffuse and encumbered with moral reflec- tions, as is the way with inexperienced writers. I have therefore condensed his account and narrated it in the third instead of the first person. I may mention that the writer gives the names of the lieutenant- colonel in command, his major, his captain, and his adjutant, as references if they should be required. He enlisted as a mere lad in a dragoon regiment, and after some three years of service found that his horse was not spirited enough for him. There happened to be in the same stable a very splendid horse, which was unfortunately so ferocious that the men were afraid of it as an irreclaimable savage and hated it. The soldier had noticed that his comrades were apt to avenge themselves on the horse when they could do so with safety, and thought that a different treatment might improve its temper. So he asked the troop sergeant-major to let him have a trial, and, if he succeeded, to exchange the horse for his own. The sergeant-major very properly remonstrated with him, saying that the horse had injured several men severely, and that his life would be endangered if he meddled with it. He also added the curiously A CAVALRY HORSE. 313 grim military aphorism, that soldiers are wanted for service and not as corpses or patients in hospital. However, he at last reluctantly gave his consent. The man at once went to take possession of his new charge, and almost immediately verified the sergeant-major's predictions. He had hardly begun to groom the horse, when it seized him by the side, lifted him from the ground, and banged him against the manger. He was rescued by his comrades, and though much bruised, was not seriously hurt. The other men wanted him to beat the horse severely as a punishment for its conduct, but he steadily refused, and tried to conciliate the animal by kindness. It was some time before the horse could be made to understand that his new master did not intend to hurt him ; but in the course of a month or two the animal's feelings underwent an entire revulsion, and it conceived the strongest affec- tion for its master, following him like a dog, and allowing him to do anything with it. After a while, the soldier had a furlough of six weeks, and went away, begging his comrades to treat the horse kindly, feed it well, and not trouble them- selves about dressing it, an operation which it had always resented. He had only been away a day or two when he received a letter saying his horse was in hospital. 314 HORSE AND MAN. On his return, he asked to see the animal, which had. evidently returned to its vicious ways, and was challenged to enter its box without speaking. He unhesitatingly did so, and was cordially greeted by the horse, who knew his step. He was allowed to take the horse to the troop stables, and found it in reality so well and strong, that two days afterwards it carried him through one of the late Lord Cardigan's very trying field days with even more than ordinary vigour. It was found afterwards that the horse, as is usually the case, had been made vicious by brutal treatment. He was a well-bred, high-spirited animal, and had been placed in the regiment when very young. He was fortunate enough at first to fall into the hands of a kind master who made a pet of him, and in consequence he was docile and affectionate. But his master died, and he fell into the hands of men who looked upon a horse merely as a machine, and could not understand that it possessed feelings. Not having been accustomed to ill-usage, the horse naturally resented it, and before long had learned to look upon man as its natural enemy, which could only be kept from hurting it by being made afraid of it. But, when at last a man refused to avenge himself as he might have done,- and resumed the kind treatment to which it had been accustomed, its better nature ' FLY.' 315 revived, and it became docile and affectionate to its friend, though it still remained suspicious of others. Another history of a savage horse I give in the writer's own language :— ' St. Kilda : Melbourne. 4 While in New Zealand, I purchased from Aus- tralia a thoroughbred filly, " Fly." On attempting to mount her, I saw from the set of her back, the white of her eye, and the twist of her neck that she was a dangerous animal, and, being at the time deli- cate and nervous, I sent her to Mr. R 's racing stables, to be ridden by one of his jockeys. ' She threw her first rider, C , three times in one day. He had known her in Australia, and remarked that he would as soon see the devil come into his stables as " Fly." In a fortnight she was returned to me with a note to say that she would never be fit for any but a bold, strong rider, and that she must never have much rest. ' Still, in every other respect she was so much to my taste, that I did not like parting with her without another trial. So I fondled her, talked to her, got half on and then down several times, so that she might not be afraid of me ; and when I did at last mount, I sat quite still until she was inclined to move. ' From that day no quieter animal could exist 316 HORSE AND MAN. with me. Unsaddled, and with only a halter instead of a bit, she would carry me anywhere. Once, a child ran under her feet. The thing was so sudden that I was powerless, but she at once stopped, and held up her hind leg so as not to hurt the child. Yet, when I was obliged to sell her no one could ride or do anything with her. ' There were two other horses, " The Baroness " and " War Eagle," that were perfectly quiet with me, but would carry no one else without putting them to great trouble, not to say danger. People wondered how I made my horses so showy and cheerful, and yet so gentle and docile. The secret is simple enough. Kindness, sympathy, and patience. I am never un- kind to any animal, and they seem to know it. — E. S. CREASY.' There is one point in the horse's character which the ordinary groom invariably ignores. This is the animal's extraordinary capacity for affection. He must love something, man in preference to any other being. In default of man, he will naturally be best pleased with the society of his own kind. He is essentially as gregarious an animal as the sheep, and in the wild state is never found alone. In North America, as is well known, the horses always assemble in large droves, and even in the semi-wild state to HALF-WILD HOUSES. 317 which the horse recedes in Bulgaria, the horses obey the same instinct. Mr. H. C. Barkley, in his ' Five Years in Bulgaria,' takes notice of this fact :— ' The great droves of horses and cattle, and flocks of sheep, give the plain a very pretty appearance. As for the horses, they are but little trouble, for in winter and summer they feed themselves on the open plains, and there increase and multiply. They go about in droves of about thirty, with one stallion who acts as master over all, and keeps them in order. Woe betide a young lady who casts sheep's eyes towards a neighbouring drove, or a colt who wishes to enlarge his mind by an interchange of ideas with the young bloods of another family. The vicious- looking old husband and father trots quietly up to the delinquent, and either takes at one bite about a pound of flesh out of its neck, or gives it a kick on the hocks that reduces it to three legs for a week.' It is sheer cruelty to box up horses after they have done their work, and to keep them from com- municating with their own kind. Were there any other inducement to make man sympathetic with the horse, and to ' gentle ' it, as the Americans say, instead of ' breaking ' it as we say in England, it is the greater amount of work which can be got out of a horse by treating him kindly. Everyone who is conversant with nautical 318 HORSE AND MAN. matters knows how much more work is clone by sailors who ' pull with a will,' than by those who merely pull under compulsion, and in this respect horses are very much like men. Not that horses should be over-indulged or ' spoiled.' They are none the happier for it, but, like spoiled dogs and children, are always wilful and discontented. A ship's crew needs that the captain shall be firm as well as kind, and that his orders must be instantaneously obeyed. It is good that mercy should temper justice, but unless justice be paramount, mercy becomes a cruel weakness. So the horse must never be allowed to feel for a moment that he can have his own way in defiance of his owner's will. With the horse as with man, 4 service is perfect freedom,' and both are the happier when this principle is carried out. In fact, the horse wants to obey man, and if its master will let the animal know his wishes, it will obey him, even though he may not be present. From among many examples of this fact, I select one or two, premising that as some of the personages are still living, the narrator among the number, I employ initials. All the names, however, are given fully in the original manuscript, and the writer is a gentleman of widespread literary fame : — 4 When I was a boy, I lived at K in Cornwall. A NEW JOHN GILPIN. 319 A circus came there, and, a breakage having occurred in some of the iron work, it was repaired by A. M . The proprietor of the circus went off with- out paying, and was followed by his creditor, who at last consented to accept a horse in lieu of money. So the horse, a piebald one, such as are often found in a circus, was taken back to E . ' A few days afterwards, the new owner having to settle an account at some little distance, determined to ride there. All went well until he arrived at his destination, when, seeing a circular flower-bed, with a gravel path round it, the horse took it into his head that the path was a circus, and accordingly dashed into it, and began to gallop round and round in circus fashion. ' Poor A , a short, stout man, and a very bad rider, clung to the horse's neck, and then sud- denly realised the fact that he was enacting the part of John Gilpin. Meanwhile, off flew his hat, strictly according to the part ; the, enraged gardener held up his spade and tried to stop the horse, and save the flowers, which were being kicked to pieces, and hurled right and left. The worst of it was that the proprietor of the house and garden, Mr. S , was looking on from an upper window. ' Presently the horse stopped, and A— - hoped to get down. But there was no such luck for him. 320 HORSE AND MAN. The horse had only completed the number of rounds which would bring him to the'Calenderer's door, and presently started off again. Not until he had finished the full number of circuits did he stop, and then stood as quiet as a lamb. fc His miserable master, flushed, dishevelled, and full of shame, was then shown into the very room where Mr. S had witnessed the adventure. In his confusion he tried to stammer out some sort of apology for the mischief which he had wrought. Mr. S , however, so far from being angry, begged him to come and repeat the performance as often as he liked, for to see a real John Gilpin was worth all the flowers in the garden. o ' For some days afterwards, the horse was safely kept in the stable, but as a fair was to be held at a neighbouring village, C , the horse was sent, not ridden there, and placed in a shed, while A went into the fair to find a purchaser. When he returned, the horse was gone, and so was a window at the end of the shed. Pieces of wood and glass were seen scattered outside, and it was evident that the horse must have leaped through it into a large field. ' On looking through the window, the horse was seen at the farther end of the field, careering round and round as before, to the admiration of a crowd COACH HORSES. 321 of spectators. No one could stop him until he had finished his task, although four men were offered sixpence each to catch him. The worst of it was that he was so cut and wounded by the broken glass, that he was re-sold for a trifle to- the proprietor of the circus.' * Perhaps the horse was happier in the restricted life to which he had been accustomed, than in the comparative liberty of -the road. The account was sent to a nephew of the unwilling John Gilpin, and corroborated by him before it was transmitted to me. A similar act of conscientious duty on the part of the horse was lately told me by a gentleman whose father witnessed the occurrence. About sixty years ago. the Blandford four-horse mail coach came in as usual, but without coachman, guard, or passengers. It was noticed that the horses galloped up the street at full speed, this being the etiquette at the conclusion of every stage, turned through the narrow archway leading to the inn where they were accustomed to stop, and pulled up without the slightest mishap. The difficulty of this task can only be understood by those who have undertaken it. To take a carriage and pair through a narrow gateway is by no means easy, and requires considerable practice. In the case of four horses, the difficulty is more than Y 322 HORSE AND MAN. doubled. Yet the horses achieved the task without any help, their memory having served them in lieu of the coachman's guidance. On inquiry, it turned out that when the horses were changed at the preceding change, and the coach deserted for a time, the team had taken the coach into their own management. A feeble old ostler was at their heads, but he said that when he caught at the reins the horses whisked him out of the way 'like a ninepin,' and never could have stopped until they pulled up at the inn at Bland- ford. As in the John Gilpin case, the obedient cha- racter of the horse is sometimes apt to give a very ludicrous and scarcely dignified aspect to the adven- ture in which the animal is engaged. Some years ago a chaise horse was bought by a Nonconforming minister, and employed in the some- what staid, though easy task, of conveying him to and fro on his labours. After a few years of such work, the man died, and the chaise was then driven by his widow, who had the misfortune of being stone deaf. One day a review took place at some little distance from her house at Weymouth. and the old lady insisted on going to see it, and driving the chaise herself. THE OLD SOLDIER. 323 She was seated in the chaise, looking at the manoeuvres, when her horse suddenly bolted, and to her great terror made straight for a cavalry regi- ment which was on the ground. The horse had heard a sound which he knew, and which she, owing to her deafness, did not hear, and would not have understood if she had heard it. It was a call from the cavalry bugle, one of the preparatory orders before a charge. The command- ing officer saw the state of things, opened out his men right and left, and in dashed the horse to his right place. He took the correct alignment, and stood ready for the next order, which followed immediately. The cavalry charged, and so did the old lady, the horse being in the proper place, she and the chaise being in the rear. The horse would not leave the regiment, and his mistress would not leave the chaise, and throughout the manoeuvres, horse, old lady, and chaise did their part, the horse knowing the bugle calls as well as any of the men, though so many years had elapsed since he had heard them. When the review was over, the delighted officers thronged round the old horse, and begged to be allowed to buy him and keep him as a regimental pet for the rest of his days. His mistress, however, refused to part with him, and so she kept the old Y 2 324 HORSE AND MAN. grey, but never again took him within sound of a cavalry bugle. The history of this adventure was sent to me by a relative of the resolute old heroine, who, in spite of her natural alarm at the unexpected movements, refused to abandon her seat in the carriage, or to part with the old friend who had been her companion for so many years. This is not a book of anecdotes, and so I will only briefly mention two instances illustrative of the principle of obedience which is so charac- teristic of the animal, both belonging to the cavalry horse. At the end of the Peninsular War, a Yorkshire cavalry regiment was disbanded, and the horses put up for sale. The commanding officer, a wealthy Yorkshire gentleman, could not bear the idea that his old companions in battle should pass into the possession of men who would not appreciate them nor understand their ways. He therefore bought them all, and purchased a large paddock, in which they might pass the rest of their lives in honourable retirement. They had remained in the paddock for some years, when a violent thunderstorm took place. The animals mistook the rolling thunder for the roar of cannon, and the lightning for the flashes of A STAMPEDE. 325 the guns. Their old habits of military obedience returned, and they voluntarily assembled and ranged themselves in battle order, A somewhat similar instance occurred only a few years ago, and is recorded by the well-known writer who employs the nom de plume of 'Rapier ' in the Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News. The account appeared in the issue of August 2, 1884 :— ' A soldier friend, who has been quartered in the Transvaal and Basutoland, was the other day telling me of some of his Cape experiences, amongst which one particularly interested me. I am sorry to say that I cannot remember whether it was just after the Zulu or Boer campaign, but at all events it had to do with the 14th Hussars, who were in camp near Newcastle. ' This regiment had brought its horses from India, many of them being stallions, and consequently of high courage. One fine night, disturbed either by flies or the bright moon, a dozen or so broke from the picketing lines, and, careering through the others, caused a regular stampede, so that in a few seconds the whole regiment of horses was loose and galloping wildly towards the river, which was crossed in safety, some hitting on the ford, but the greater part swimming. 4 On the far side was a " veldt " or open space, 326 HORSE AND MAN. where the regiment drilled daily, and here a very remarkable thing happened. 4 Where there had been chaos and blind uncer- tainty, perfect order supervened. Forming up into troops and squadrons in their accustomed places, the riderless horses proceeded quietly and steadily to put themselves through a number of evolutions ; and it was not until the arrival of the troopers with ropes and bridles that the ghostly pageant — for such it must have looked — broke up and dispersed to the four corners of the earth.' — ' Eapier.' The illustrated newspapers which chronicled the deeds of the Germans and French during their terrible war, recorded several instances in which the riderless, wounded, and even dying horses obeyed the sound of the bugle, and ranged themselves in order after the battle was over. IN answer to some queries which I addressed to him, Mr. Luck kindly sent me the following letter, which arrived too late for insertion in its proper place : — 1 Darlington : October 3, 1884. ' My cob was six years old when I took off the shoes in May 1882, and had the thrush in all his feet. I am sorry to say that the thrush is not completely cured in his off fore-foot, though we can keep it MR. LUCK'S HORSE. 327 down, but it returns again and again. I ride and drive him not very long distances, twenty-five miles being the greatest distance he is called upon to do in a day, though he has sometimes done much more. Last week I drove him over twenty miles a day for four days in succession. Our roads are metalled with a stone as hard as granite, and of course in the MR. R. A. LUCKS HORSE, PORE LEGS NEARLY PERFECT. country there are quantities of loose stones. I en- close you two photos taken fifteen months after the shoes had been removed. Of course the hoofs are much better shaped now. ' Yours, &c., ' E. A. LUCK.' The preceding pages were sent to the printer just 328 HORSE AND MAX. before I started for a lecture-tour in America. On the return voyage, one of the fortunate passengers who are never sea-sick, occupied a seat opposite mine at table. We naturally became rather intimate, and I very soon found out that he was specially interested in horses. Being himself a sailor, he was not much of a horseman, but was very fond of horses, and pro- bably knew more of them than he would have done if he had been brought up in a stable. Among other subjects of conversation was the careless manner in which stables were built, and the insufficient supply of fresh air. Now, as Faraday has shown, the enormous lungs of a horse require more air than would be sufficient for ten human beings, and yet we find that almost all stables are so close that a man feels half-stifled when he enters them. I happened to mention the fact that the horses which are owned by tlie North American Indians do not know what a stable means, and even in the coldest weather pass their whole lives in the open air, just as they would do if they were wild (see Colonel Dodge's account of the Indian's horse, quoted on pages 148 and 149). My naval friend then told me a curious adventure which had just occurred to a horse which lie knew well. ' JAMMED.' 329 Last January (1885) was very cold in Massachu- setts, and all traffic was conducted by means of sleighs. On January 30, a horse was being driven through Cambridge, when it took fright and ran away. It upset the sleigh, flinging the occupants into the snow, and then dashed off, banging the over-turned sleigh against all objects that came in its path. Before the former occupants could pick themselves out of the snow, the sleigh and horse were out of sight. Inquiries were made for them, but without any success, both having vanished as if by a conjuring trick. This happened on a Tuesday morning, and not until the afternoon of the following Friday were the missing horse and fragments of the sleigh discovered. The animal, urged by the blind terror which sometimes takes possession of a horse, had dashed between two barns. The walls of the barns were not quite parallel, but slightly sloped inwards. So the horse found himself in a wedge-shaped passage, too narrow, in fact, to allow him to pass through it. When he tried to back out of the passage, he was stopped by the broken sleigh, which was firmly jammed crosswise between the barns. The weather was very cold, twenty degrees below freezing point, and there was a fierce north-west wind blowing. Unfortunately the barns were built in a north-west direction, so that the passage between 330 HORSE AND MAN. them acted as a funnel, and allowed the wind to blow with double fury over the imprisoned animal. There the poor horse remained, having nothing to eat or drink, no covering, and the furious wind blow- ing over its unprotected body. It was discovered accidentally, and, strangely enough, seemed little the worse for its long imprisonment. Fortunately, it was a horse that had only lately been imported from the West, and so had not been accustomed to the hot stables of New England. Moreover, it had not been clipped, and, therefore, was wearing the natural great- coat which is provided for every horse at the end of autumn. This little history is so valuable in corroborating Colonel Dodge's account of the horse's power of endurance, that I am glad of the opportunity of including it in this book. ON my return home, I found awaiting me a vast mass of correspondence. Among the letters was a long one from Australia, giving accounts of several pet animals. One of these animals was a horse named ' Sam,' who displayed such a talent for ' jockeying' his owner, after the fashion of the American horse mentioned on page 259, that I insert it here, rather than omit it alto- gether. The wife of Mr. N., the owner of ' Sam,' is now in ' SAM.' 331 England, and has corroborated the absolute truth of the little histories : — ' " Sam " was a handsome, flighty, high-spirited roan, with black points. He had carried his master faithfully during some ten years of arduous travelling, through rivers and forests, over mountains and trackless country, such as people in England would never dream of, much less think of riding over. ' So far, all had gone well, but on one unlucky day " Sam " lost a shoe, and before any blacksmith's forge could be reached, he had gone so lame, that it was necessary to turn him out to grass. His owner, Mr. N., procured a substitute, and "Sam" was left for several months undisturbed in his paddock. ' At last, Mr. N. caught him, and rode him some eight or ten miles to the blacksmith to have him shod, as a preliminary to resuming the usual day's work. They reached the forge comfortably enough, and the horse was re-shod. But they had scarcely proceeded a couple of hundred yards, when " Sam " fell dead lame, his head bobbing up and down, and his whole demeanour indicating the acutest agony. ' Of course, common humanity required that the day's expedition should be given up, and there was no choice for Mr. N. but to retrace his steps. But, 0 Miracle ! No sooner was " Sam's" head turned home- wards, than the lameness vanished. 332 IIOESE AND MAX. 'Three times was the experiment tried with precisely the. same results, when it occurred to Mr. JSL to com- promise the matter, and by taking " Sam " an indirect way, he made his calls, and finished his journey to the satisfaction of all parties. " Sam " was evidently aware that he was indebted to his lameness for his holiday, and had feigned lameness for the sake of another re- spite from work, but was not clever enough to carry out the deception to its full extent. ' Without the least approach to vice, " Sam " was masterful and overbearing with regard to other horses. On one occasion, four beside himself were running in the same paddock, and as it was in the winter time, we were accustomed to throw down five large bundles of hay — one for each horse, ' Now, " Sam " made it a point of honour to drive the other horses from their food. By constant vigilance, he could manage to keep guard over three heaps of hay beside his own, but the fourth was beyond his powers, and evidently cost him great trouble of mind. 4 One day, however, a sudden inspiration seized him. As soon as the hay was brought, he dashed at the obnoxious heap, rolled it in the mud so as to spoil it, and then returned complacently to his usual position. 4 1 have also seen "Sam " when in want of water go CLEVER COMRADES. 333 to the pump and work the handle with his mouth, evidently knowing by personal observation that this was the mode by which water was obtained. ' His companion was an exceedingly intelligent and beautiful white pony, and the two were so clever at opening my ordinary fastening to the garden-gate, that a complicated arrangement of straps had to be devised in order to keep them out. 4 Under the pump was a large tank, out of which they were accustomed to drink. On one occasion a washing-basin had been left in the tank. The two horses undid the fastenings of the gate, let themselves into the garden, and proceeded as usual to the tank. They objected to the presence of the unaccustomed basin, took it out of the tank and put it on the grass before they would drink.' INDEX. ABY ABYSSINIAN hunting, 145 Accidents, 118 Aloes, 98 Auchitkeriuni, 14 Ankle of horse, 19 'Apollo,' 163 Astley, Mr. A. F.'s horses, 158, &c. Attitude, natural, 301 Australian mare ' Fly,' 315 BAKER, ME. WHITMORE, 164, 168 Barclay and Perkins, 228, 298 1 Baroness,' 31 6 Bearing-rein, 199, 205 — American, 209 — diseases caused by, 220 — overhead, 209 — and stumbling, 229 — summary, 240 Bedouin-rein, 207 Bellows, Mr. J., 83 Bergh, Henry, 220 Blacking hooi's, 93 Blandford coach, 321 Blinkers, 244 Boot, fashionable, 125 Bowditch, Mr., 122 Bowley, Mr. Samuel, 275 COM Brakes and bearing-reins, 226 Brierley, Dr., 180 Bristol carters, 231 Brushing, 196 ' Buffers,' 21 4 Bulgarian horses, 317 Burnaby, Col. Fred., 156 'Burr 'bit, 221 CALKS, 116 — in America, 121 — effect on muscles, 126 Carpus, 11 Cavalry horses, 311, 322 Caves, men of the, 17 Character of the horse, 248 Charlier shoe, 134 Chapin, Mr. S., 73 Check-rein, the, 206 Children, restless, 304 Clever comrades, 333 Clicking, 196 Climbing, 24 Clipping, 277, 282 ' Clips,' 89 Coach, Blandford, 321 Coffin-bone, 15 Coloured diagrams, 21 Comrades, clever, 333 336 1XDEX. COK Coronary ring, 30, 44, 92 Cracknel], Mr. E., 2-32 Creasy, Mr. R. S., letter of, 315 Crib biting, 304 < Cropping-,' 246 Cruelty the cause of vice, 308 « Cruiser,' 309 Crupper, the, 276 Curb, the, 202 Curiosity of the horse, 249 Cutting, 196 DEAFNESS, 247 Derby, the, 4 ' Dewdrops,' 60 Diagrams, coloured, 299 Diseases, caused by bearing-rein, 220 — caused by shoe, 197 Dixie, Lady Florence, 25 ' Docking ' the tail, 267 ' Dolly ' and loose stones, 60 Door of stable, 302 Drivers of engines, 224 —.of horses, 225 Drugs, 96 Duty, sense of, 319 Duties, reciprocal, xvii. EAE, the horse's, 247 Edinburgh horses, 230 Egyptians, ancient, 206, 279 Eight-hoofed horse, 18 Elbow of horse, 12 Endurance of horse; 330 Engine-drivers, examination of, 224 Exmoor ponies, 24 Expansion of hoof, 51 Eye of the horse, 260 — professional, 196 FAILURES, apparent, 192 Falkland Island horse, 30 Farriers, directions to, 57 '• Fashion,' 200 Fear, rule of, 307 Femur, 18 Fetlock, angle of, 33 — section of, 40 Fibula, 19 Floors, sloping, 299 Flower, Mr. E. F., 199 ' Fly/ 315 Foam-flinging, 217 Foot, human, 142 ' Foundered ' horses, 64 Frog, the, 33 — paring the, 66 — pressure of, 67 — value of, 68 GAG bearing-rein, 207 ' Gentling,' 317 Gerry, Mr., letter of, 133 Gill, Mr. S., 220 Gilpin, John, 319 Grazing, mode of, 293 Groom, the kindly, 311 ' HAMMED/ 69 Happy thoughts, 138 — more, 257 Hartrn aim's safety-pad, 74 ' Haw/ the, 263 Head, Sir Francis, 234 -tossing of, 217 Heels, opening, 61 Helps, Sir Arthur, 218 Hilly roads, 230 Hip-bone, injury to, 303 Hipparion, 14 Hock, 19 ' Hogging ' the mane, 265 Honour, a point of, 332 INDEX. 337 HOO Hoof, the, 22 — alteration of shape, 1 88 — and foot, 1 - — difference in, 179 — • internal, 38 — loosened, 115 - offices of, 27 — overgrown, 30, 193 — plasticity of, 171 — of wild horse, 34 Horse and ass, 265 Horse-clothing, A.merican, 278 Horse, endurance of, 329 — ferocious, 312 -- home of, 191 — without man, xvii. Hot-fitting, 86 Houghing, 19 ' Humane,' 174 Hiimerus, 10 ' IMPETUOSITIES,' 239 Impostor, an, 258 Imprisoned horse, 329 Indian horses, 148 India-rubber tires, 70 Infected provender, 290 Interfering, 196 Irreclaimable savages, 309 Irreligion, lr>7 Italian horses, 181 OKL LAMENESS, sham, 331 Laminae, horny, 29, 45, 48 — vascular, 45, 124 Ligaments of neck, 211 Linea alba, 48 Llewellyn, Dr., 158 Lockjaw, 270 Luck, Mr., horse of, 326 Ludgate Hill, 79, 118 Lungs of horse, 287 ' Lurry ' horses, 77 ' MACCABEUS,' 4 Mcllquham, Mrs., 270 Man without horse, xvii. Manchester roads, 78 Mane of the horse, 264 Manger, electric, 305 - height of, 302 Manifesto, important, 235 Masters and men, 228 Mayhew on clipping, 282 Mechanism of walking, 53 Memory of horse, 323 Men of the caves, 17 Metacarpals, 15 Metatarsals, 20 1 Mill, going through the,' 298 Monday morning, 293 More happy thoughts, 257 Mustarigers, 23 JACKDAW, an unhappy, 286 ' Jockeying ' the driver, 258 John Gilpin, 319 J.P., a puzzled, 267 ' NATUEE,' 20t Navicular bone, 41 Neck, ligaments of, 211 ' Nicking ' the tail, 272 Nictitating membrane, 263 KETTLE-DETJMS and Rarey, 250 Kindaes?, rule of, 307 ' Knee ' of horse, 1 1 OINTMENTS, 95 Olecranon, 11 ' Orlando,' 4 338 INDEX. OYE Over-feeding, 293 Overgrown hoofs, 30, 193 Overhead-rein, the, 209 PAD, safety, 74 Palmerston, Lord, 234 Parkyns, Mansfield, 145 1 Pax-wax,' 211 Pastern. lf> Pelvis, 18 Phalanges, 12 Pharaoh's chariot, 206 Ponies, Exmoor, 24, 153 — Indian, 148 ' Pricking' a horse, 105 'Prince,' 182 Professional Eye, the, 198 Pulling ' with a will/ 318 RACING, Indian, 151 Radius, 10 Rails, sloping, 300 Ransom, Mr. G=, invention of, 242 Rarey's system, 249, 309 Reciprocal duties, xvii. Reclaimed savage, 313 Review, a, 322, 325 ' Roaring/ 237 Runaway horses, 233 1 Running-rein/ 4 'SAM 'and his tricks, 331 Savages, irreclaimable. 309 Savage, a reclaimed, 313 'Scaling 'birds, 261 Scapula, 9 Scotch girls, 144 Sea-shoes, 81 Sesamoid bones, 42 Shaving, 279, 284 Shaw, Mr., horse of, 234 Shoe, cause of diseases, 197 TAM Shoe, Charlier, 134 - Clark, 128 — Goodenough, 127 — jointed, 128 — object of, 101 - parfleche, 103 — screw, 130 — straw, 103 -unilateral, 106, 132 -weight of, 113 Shoeing, hot, 86 Shoe-nails, 104, 108 Shoes, sea, 81 Shoulder-blade, 9 ' Showing off'.engines, 222 - horses, 223 Sidney, 'Book of the Horse/ 209 Singeing, 277 » Skeleton of horse, 3 Slitting birds' tongues, 261 'Smith, Mr. Herbert, 185 Soldiers, 311 Soldier, the old, 322 Sole, the, 36 — paring the, 58 Spikes, 76 Splint bones, 17 Spoiling horses, 318 Spring of railway carriage, 35, 7 1 Stables, typical, 289 Stable windows, 291 ' Stafford/ 309 Staffordshire roads, 195 ' Stella/ 164 Stifle-joint, 19 Stock, leathern, 279 Stomach of horse, 292 - of ox, 292 — enlarged, 295 ' Stopping/ 95 Stumbling, 229 TAMPLIN, Mr. C. II., horses of, 253 INDEX. 339 TAR Tarsus, 19 Tendons, 42 ' Throwing back/ 18 < Thrush/ 02 Thunder and lightning, 324. Tibia, 19 1 Tommy,' 101 Tongues partially severed, 237 Tossing of head, 217 Traction engines, 223 Training, 297 Tram horses, 174 Trough-water, height of, 302 ULNA, 10 VARNISH, natural, 92 Ventilation, 287 Veterinary surgeons' manifesto, 235 Vice caused by cruelty, 308 1 Vices, stable/ 303 ZEA WALKING, mechanism of. 53 Wall, the, 29 < War Eagle/ 31G Water, purity of, 299 Watering horses, 295 — in America, 29G - in Turkey, 296 Waterton, Charles, 140, 255 1 Weaving/ 303 Welcome, a horse's, 310 Williams, Mr. Theodore E., 182 Windows in stables, 291 Wing clipping, 285 Wolf, mode of ' weaving/ 303 XENOPHON on horses, 189 - YORKSHIRE regiment, 324 ZEAL and discretion, 238 LONDON : PRINTED BY SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQTAUE AND PARLIAMENT STREET ITY HP fiAIIFflRNIA I1DD1DV n C TUr tiuiurnoiTu GENERAL LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA— BERKELEY RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED This book is due on the last date stamped below, or on the date to which renewed. 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