•■-*.. ' K T\ I •■ S? ft *

.^^,

■.V;

^1^

. *i?X»i, yir-

■'. j^»if ■■ '

l*^-»' ;

o.

v./

TUFTS UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

3 9090 014 661 496

frtw^) ^ Ills

Seaverns

•/^

AMONG HORSES IN RUSSIA

BY THE SAME AUTHOR.

POINTS OF THE HORSE. A familiar Treatise on Equine Conformation. Second
Edition, Revised and Enlarged. Illustrated by 200 Reproductions of
Photographs of Typical "Points" and Horses, and 205 Drawings by J. H.
Oswald Brown. Super royal 8vo, cloth, gilt top, 34s.

" The intrinsic value of the book, and high professional reputation of its author, should ensure
this new edition a cordial welcome from sportsmen and all lovers of the horse." — Times.

ILLUSTRATED HORSE-BREAKING. Second Edition, Rewritten and greatly
Enlarged. Crown 8vo, buckram, 21s.
"The best work on Horse-Breaking under a new system we have seen." — Field.

VETERINARY NOTES FOR HORSE-OWNERS. An Illustrated Manual of Horse
Medicine and Surgery, written in simple language. Fifth Edition, Revised
and Enlarged. It mcorporates the Author's "Soundness and Age of Horses."
Thick crown 8vo, 15s.

"A necessary guide for horse-owners, especially those who are far removed from immediate
professional assistance." — Times.

TRAINING AND HORSE MANAGEMENT IN INDIA. Fifth Edition, Revised.
Crown Svo, 7s. 6d.

" A useful guide in regard to horses anywhere. Concise, practical, and portable." — Saturday
Review.

THE HORSEWOMAN. By Mrs. Hayes. Edited by M. H. Hayes. A Practical
Guide to Side-Saddle Riding. With numerous Illustrations and Drawings
from Photographs by Oswald Brown. Imperial i6mo, ids. 6d.
"A large amount of sound practical instruction ^ery judiciously and pleasantly imparted." —

Times.

RIDING AND HUNTING. Rewritten and greatly Enlarged from the Third Edition

of "Riding on the Flat" (now out of print). With about 150 new Illustrations

from Photographs taken by the Author.

*^* The chief featicre hi this wo7'k is thai the section oil '■^Hunting''' has been

specially written, and that portion of the book referring to "Riding'' has been entirely

revised and brought up to date. About 1 50 new Illustrations have been added.

[^Nearly ready.

STABLE MANAGEMENT IN ENGLAND.. An entirely new work on this important
subject. Illustrated mostly by Photographs taken by the Author.

[/« the Press.

MODERN POLO. A Practical Guide to tlie Science of the Game, Training of
Ponies, Rules, etc. Second Edition, Revised and brought up to date. By
Mr. E. D. Miller, late 17th Lancers. Edited by M. H. Hayes. With
64 Illustrations from Photographs. Imperial i6mo, 12s. 6d.

[ IVill be ready in February 1900.
" Roth in the matter of polo playing and in that of choosing or breeding polo ponies, the
volume is a most certain authority." — Times.

THE STORY OF THE TZARS. By Alice M. Hayes, Author of "The Horse-
woman," "My Leper Friends," etc. This work will contain a most
interesting record of the lives of the Russian sovereigns from the foundation
of the Empire to the present time. It was written by Mrs. Hayes while
she was in Russia. U'^ l''-^ Press.

* ^* The above-mentioned Works may be obtained through any Bookseller at
home or abroad.

Photo l>y]

[J/. H. II.

ON GUARD.

AMONG HORSES
IN RUSSIA

BY

M. H. HAYES, F.R.C.V.S.

LATE CAPTAIN "THE BUFFS"
AUTHOR OF "POINTS OF THE HORSE" ETC.

With Fifty-three Illustrations from Photographs taken
chiefly by the author

LONDON :

R„ A. EVERETT & CO.

42 ESSEX STREET, STRAND, W.C.
1900

\A// J\i,i^hts Reserz'ed]

PRINTED BY

MORRISON AND GIBE LIMITED.

EDINBURGH

PREFACE

DURING the last two and a half years, I have seen
so many new and interesting phases of horse and
military life in Russia, that I thought an account of them
would interest general readers, as well as those who are
acquainted with my more or less technical books on matters
connected with horses. As I am the first foreigner who has
been permitted to visit the Remount Depots of the Russian
Cavalry Reserve, I venture to hope that my experiences are
worth telling.

I am glad to have this opportunity of tiianking the
Generals Commanding and officers of Liski, Tambof,
Kirsanof, Borisoglebsk, and Balakleya for the kind hos-
pitality they showed me while I was staying with them.

Yew Tree House, Crick, Northamptonshire
is^ December 1899.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

AGE

Old Daj'S abroad — Leicestershire — Farmers — Polish Jews — Hunting People
— Captain WilHams — Lord Lonsdale — Colonel Forester — No Bread —
Riding to Hounds — Mr. Sam Hames — Mr. Harry Goodall — Veterinary
Surgeons — Writing Books — Mr. Frank Ward .... 1-24

CHAPTER I

FIRST TRIP TO RUSSIA

M. Sorel — The Chevaliers Gardes — ^Krasnoe Selo — Breaking a Trooper —
Breaking for the Grand Duke Nicholas — Russian Officers — Russian
Soldiers — Doctors and \'eterinary Surgeons in Russia . . . 25-43

CHAPTER II

SECOND TRIP TO RUSSIA

Hunters — Quiet to Ride — Horses on board Ship — Slings — A Deal — St.
Petersburg — Polo — -The Hermitage — An Indian Raja — Ciniselli's
Circus — High School Riding — -Baucher — James Fillis — General Avs-
charof — Colonel Ismailof — General Derfelden — A Trip to the Interior
— American Trainers — Doubrovka ..... 44-65

CHAPTER III

ORLOF trottp:rs

Count Alexis Orlof-Tchestmensky — Origin of the Orlof Trotter — Arabs —
Count Orlof's System of Training — Count Rostopchin — Manage-
ment of Young Stock — Tuberculosis ..... 66-78

X CONTENTS

CHAPTER IV

SHANDROVKA

PAGE

Russian Politeness — Drinking a Fly^ — Steppe Horses — The Lasso — Halter-
ing Horses — Breaking in a Wild One — Kicked over — Rough Riding
Kalmouks — An Imperial Cigarette Case — Bargaining — ^Double Poneys
— Mr. Hothersall — Half-bred Hackneys — An Engagement — A Lost
Friend ......... 79-91

CHAPTER V

THIRD TRIP TO RUSSIA

Horses in the Baltic during Winter — Riding in St. Petersburg — Stable
Mismanagement — General Strukof — Prince Louis Napoleon — Horse
Show — Railway Travelling — Beer and Spirits . . . .92-

CHAPTER VI

RETURN TO ST. PETERSBURG

Hotel d'Angleterre — Schotte — Tips — Wasters — The British Trader — Horses

and Asses— Meat in St. Petersburg .... 99-106

CHAPTER VII

THE CADRES

Marching Orders — Brigade Stations— Composition of the Brigades —

Remounts— General Palitzyne— General Strukof— Passive Resistance 107-1 14

CHAPTER VIII

LISKI

A Dissenting Parson— Russians as Linguists — The Russian Language—
The Liski Brigade— General Hahn—" Language"— Reserve Officers-
Russian Remounts — Horses of the Don — How to break in Wild Horses
—Breaking at Liski— Difficult to Shoe— How not to do it— Russian
Methods of Breaking ...... 11 5-134

CONTENTS xi

CHAPTER IX

PAGE

SYSTEMS OF HORSE-BREAKING . . I35-138

CHAPTER X

OSTROGORCHSK

Incivility — Sympathy from a Russian Soldier — General Ermolin coming
round — A Ceremony to bind Friendship — The General and the Con-
tractor ........ 139-145

CHAPTER XI

TAMBOF AND KIRSANOF

General Gardenin — ^Colonel Hubbenet — Kindness all round — Kirsanof—
General Veljaminof-Zernof— Russian Cold — General Patrovsky — Sorry
to part ........ 146-158

CHAPTER XII

BORISOGLEBSK

Borisoglebsk— Churches, Priests and Ikons— 'Russ\an Baths— Rheumatism
—Russian Food— Coffee and Chicory— Kind Reception— Criticism
without Experience . ...... 159-168

CHAPTER XIII

BALAKLEYA

Balakleya— Cordial Welcome— Monotony of Life at the Cadres— Billiards
— Captain Ivan Kovalevsky— Champagne Breakfast — Troikas— Return
to St. Petersburg — Russian Soldiers .... 169-175

CHAPTER XIV

THE CAVALRY OFFICERS' RIDING SCHOOL

"Crabbing"— Making a Refuser jump— An Old Lady's Horse— Passive
Resistance — Officers won't learn — Hunting d la Russe — General
Avscharof and Fillis ...... 176-1S3

xii CONTENTS

CHAPTER XV

PETERSBURG IN WINTER

PAGE

[nvitation to New Zealand — Good Losers — Russian Cab Horses — Docking
— "Thorley" — Horses drinking Cold Water — Russian Police — Detec-
tives— Beards — Passports — The Censor — Rule of the Road — Swear
Words — ^Marrying Foreigners — St. Petersburg Rag Fair — -The Fortress
— Russian Photographers — Russian Tea — Courting d la Russe — Nae
Scotchman — Trotting — Flat Racing — Dalmeny — The Redan . 184-214

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

DISTANCE, AS SEEN

E TOP

OF ST. ISAAC'S

FRONTISPIECE — ON GUARD

FIG.

1. CAPTAIN WILLIAMS AND JOSEPH .

2. THORPE SACHVILLE BEAGLES

3. SKATING AT MELTON

4. AN OFF-DAY ....

5. MR, TOM MITCHELL'S GANYMEDE

6. MR. FRANK WARD .

7. GUARD CAVALRY ON PARADE

8. GUARD CAVALRY IN THE NEVSKY

9. GUARD CAVALRY IN THE NEVSKY

10. BORZOI BELONGING TO H.I.M. THE TZAR

11. THE ADMIRALTY, NEVA AND FORTRESS IN THE

FROM THE TOP OF ST. ISAAC'S CATHEDRAL

12. NEVA AND NICHOLAS BRIDGE, AS SEEN FROM TH

CATHEDRAL . . ' .

13. BOLSHAYA MORSKAYA STREET

14. ST. ISAAC'S CATHEDRAL IN WINTER

15. M. JAMES FILLIS

16. A TROIKA ....

17. AN ORDINARY ORLOF TROTTER .

18. AN ORLOF TROTTER

19. A PAIR OF ORLOF TROTTERS

20. A KALMOUK AND HIS LASSO

21. CORNER OF ST. ISAAC'S SQUARE AND

STREET ....

22. AN IZVOZCHIK

23. THE ADMIRALTY QUAY

24. THE RIVER DON AND THE TOWN OF LISKI IN THE DISTANCE

xiii

THE BOLSHAV

Facing Title

PAGE

9
10
1 1
13
15
21

31
33
35

37

\ MORSKAYA

51

53
55
57
59
63
69

71

11
81

lOI

103
105
119

XIV

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

FIG.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30-

34-
35-
36.
Z7-
38.
39-
40.
41.
42.

43-
44.

45-
46.

47-

49.
50.

51.
52.
53-

WELL-BRED REMOUNT

REMOUNT .....

UNDER-BRED REMOUNT .

REMOUNT WITH ARAB CROSS

TYPICAL DONSKY REMOUNT

THE TAMBOF BRIGADE IN WINTER

A SQUAD OF RESERVE CAVALRY .

STANDING ON HORSES' BACKS

SITTING ON HORSES' CROUPS

FIRING WHEN MOUNTED .

FIRING IN THE AIR IN FRONT OF HORSES

GENERAL VELJAMINOF-ZERNOF .

CHURCH AT BORISOGLEBSK

VETERINARY-SURGEON PIOTR BOCZKOWSKY

RUSSIAN SELF-DRIVING PHAETON

BALAKLEYA BRIGADE

OFFICERS AT BALAKLEYA .

LARGE TYPE OF FINNISH PONY .

SMALL TYPE OF FINNISH PONY IN SLEDGE

ROADWAYS ACROSS THE NEVA IN WINTER

FOOTPATH ACROSS THE NEVA IN WINTER

SHOPS IN THE NEVSKY

THE NEVSKY ....

VIEW OF THE NEVSKY, WITH THE ADMIRALTY IN THE DISTANCE

AND THE GOSTINOI DVOR ON THE LEFT
SLEDGING .....
THE TROTTING GROUND AT THE SEMENOVSKY PLATZ, ST. PETERS

BURG .....

RUSSIAN MATCH TROTTER
RUSSIAN MATCH TROTTER
THE ROAD HOME ....

PAGE

121
123
125
127
129

147
149

J53
153

155
161
165
167
169
171
187
189
191

193
197
199

201
203

205
207
209
214

AMONG HORSES IN RUSSIA

INTR0DUCT10x\

Old Days abroad — Leicestershire — Farmers — Polish Jews — Hunting People —
Captain Williams — Lord Lonsdale — Colonel Forester — No Bread — Riding to
Hounds— Mr. Sam Hames — Mr. Harry Goodall — Veterinary Surgeons —
Writing Books — Mr. Frank Ward.

IN Indian Racing- Reminiscences I told the story of the
sport I had for fourteen years in India, racing, chasing,
and training, while I was in The Gunners, Bengal Staff
Corps, and finally in The Buffs. Regimental life, even with
the best of comrades, and India with unlimited leave to go
to race meetinos, shootino- excursions and the Hills, at last
produced on me the effect which the eternal partridge had on
Louis Ouatorze's clerical friend. Havins: commenced to
write books about horses, and having put in a couple of
years' study at the New Veterinary College when on leave
from India, 1 became fired with the ambition of taking out
my diploma and qualifying in time as an authority on the
subject which the generality of us Irishmen like best, so I
left the army in 1879. I stayed five years in England,
brou";ht out more books, saw a cjood deal of racing at
Newmarket, and then, anxious to gain a wider experience
of horses and to pay "ex's," I travelled through India,
Ceylon, China, South Africa, Egypt and elsewhere, holding
classes for instruction in horse-breakinof and ofivinir horse-

o 00

2 INTRODUCTION

breaking shows, the success of which was greatly enhanced
by the skilful and plucky manner my wife rode all the bad
animals. At this work I had a most enjoyable time, especially
with English officers, racing men, planters and Boers, all of
whom were keen about horses, and greatly appreciated the
theory and practice I taught them. I probably learned as
much or more from my pupils than they did from me ; for I
had the advantacre of a continued course of instruction from
new relays of experienced men and artful horses for four or
five years. Even the cleverest of us should remember the
French saying that a man may know more than anyone, but
not more than everyone. My books helped my breaking by
introducing me to lovers of horses, and my breaking aided my
books by adding to my information. We stayed three years
in Calcutta, where I ran a sporting paper, trained and dealt.
Though we paid our way and made friends, I felt that I was
acting the part of a bad father to those children of my brain,
my books, by bringing them up more or less as provincials,
and neglecting to confer on them an English polish. About
this time my wife and I got in a severe form our periodical
attack of ti'ek fever, so we sold Hayes Sporting Neivs, came
home, and settled down for the time being at Melton Mowbray,
so as to get into touch with the best form of hunting in the
old country. While we were there, I wrote Among Men
and Hoj'ses, which told the tale of our wanderings, and
which is now out of print.

Having spent the money we had made abroad, we
happened to be hard up at that time, much to the astonish-
ment of our friends, who wrongly thought that the success
of our books would have enabled us to have hunted
comfortably on the best of horses six days a week during
the season. Probably my lack of business capacity was the
cause of our inability to do so ; for we backed no horses, ran
up no tailors' bills, and chucked about money in no other

LORD LONSDALE 3

foolish manner. As we had to hunt, and hated getting into
debt, we risked our necks for two seasons mostlv on o-reen
and spoiled horses, from the backs of which, as long as they
kept going and stood up, we saw that there is only one sport
in the world, and that is hunting in Leicestershire. The
hunting people always seemed glad to see us out, and we
had many a pleasant look and friendly word in passing.
Whenever my wife got crumpled up by the innocent young
one or hardened reprobate she was riding, chancing a "cut
and laid " or stiff posts and rails, ladies of the hunt always
sent to inquire how she was getting on. If we ever happen
to amass a few thousand pounds, we'll return to Melton. I
only hope that we'll then have such good masters and
huntsmen as Lord Lonsdale and Tom Firr of the Ouorn,
Lord Edward Manners and Frank Gillard of the Belvoir,
and Mr. " Willie " Baird and Gillson of the Cottesmore. As
a master of a largely attended and very hard riding hunt.
Lord Lonsdale was unapproachable ; for he was not only the
finest and best mounted welter weight in England, but he
also had the faculty of enforcing the strictest discipline, even
in a record Kirby Gate field. Without discipline, fox-
hunting is skittles of the vilest kind. By hunting discipline
I mean such obedience that the master, aided by his hunt
servants, can marshal in close array every man and lady of
a field of five or six hundred in a corner of a field or in a lane,
like that outside Cream Gorse, while the pack is drawing an
adjacent cover, and that no one will dare to move before the
signal is given by the horn of the huntsman, and belore the
master has orot off first, and then the " thrusters " may catch
him if they can. Of course, unless a master is, like Lord
Lonsdale, capable of taking a lead and keeping it, the field,
on receiving the metaphorical drop of the flag from the
huntsman, can't be expected to accord precedence to mere
official position. The huntsman, as we all know, is the

4 INTRODUCTION

only person who can tell when the hounds have got sufficiently
clear of the field. In Leicestershire, thank goodness, there
is no such thing as riding to holloas, whatever they may do
in the provinces. I'd be sorry for the man who would have
committed the impertinence of attempting to start a Ouorn
field by a holloa in the presence of Lord Lonsdale! If the
hand of his Lordship resembled the "mailed fist" of his
friend the German Emperor, that of Mr. Baird was like unto
la main de fer dans ttn gant de velotirs of Her Gracious
Majesty the Queen, who ably rules her people almost without
their beino- conscious of the beneficent ofuidance. A strano-er
mioht often hunt with the Cottesmore and not know who was
the master, and yet there is no better disciplined hunt. The
Melton people were greatly indebted to the Duke of Rutland,
who hunted the Belvoir at his own expense, and did immense
service in his country to hunting by keeping the farmers
friendly, and by arranging with his tenants to put up no wire,
to walk puppies, and to encourage the sport in other ways.
He had a worthy successor in his son, Lord Edward Manners,
who was often ably helped in his field duties by his brother.
Lord Cecil, who generally rode uncommonly big jumping
horses. The Belvoir met every Wednesday at Croxton Park,
which is seven miles from Melton ; and frequently on other
days at places within easy reach, such as Melton Spinney,
Piper Hole P^arm, and Hose. All three masters were very
popular amongthe farmers, without whose friendly co-operation
good hunting is impossible.

For permission to ride over their fields and for taking
down wire for the season, Leicestershire farmers receive much
profit from the influx of visitors. Of this, the hay, corn and
straw bills form the most obvious but by no means the most
considerable item ; although old oats at tw^enty-six shillings
a quarter sliow a state of agricultural prosperity that would
be unattainable without huntinor. It is true that the hundreds

HUNTING PEOPLE AND FARMERS 5

of horses brought every year to Melton get through, or get
put down to them, an average of from twelve to htteen
shillings a week for forage and bedding ; but the meat, milk,
butter, cream, cheese, poultry, vegetables, and other farm-
produce consumed by the visitors and their hosts of servants
make a far larger total. Butchers' bills of from £20 to ^30
a week for a hunting family, without counting the outdoor
servants, help to raise the price of beasts and sheep, to say
nothing of the other weekly accounts. As a man who loves
hunting, even though, worse luck, he cannot always enjoy it,
I plead for reciprocation and tolerance. The farmers say
that some of the hunting people (not many I should think)
send to " The Stores " ; yet I have seen farmers who supplied
local butchers, buy New Zealand and American meat for their
eating, instead of patronising their own customers. The fact
however remains that hunting people and farmers are
mutually useful to each other ; although, unfortunately, some
of both classes like to take all they can get without giving
anything in return. We all know and, I hope, detest the
hunting loafer who breaks down fences and gallops over
winter wheat and clover root without subscribing to even the
covert or poultry fund. And then there's the farmer who
keeps up barbed wire, while benefiting by a sport he helps
to destroy. The conduct of both is equally contemptible, and
reminds me of the story of a community of Polish Jews who
met tocjether in order to decide on the form of a testimonial
which they wished to present to their village Head Man, who
had been very good to them. After various proposals, they
settled that it should be a barrel of wine. While discussing
the question of the best wine merchant from whom they could
obtain it, one of the assembly suggested that as the majority
of them were wine-growers, the most economical plan would
be for each of them to bring a bottle of wine and pour it into
a barrel which they would collectively purchase. This being

6 INTRODUCTION

agreed upon, they again met, and each Hebrew emptied the
contents of his flask into the allotted receptacle. It happened
that the proposer of the one man one bottle arrangement had
made that suggestion purely from motives of personal thrift,
and accordingly, having provided himself with a black bottle
full of water, he decanted the fluid into the barrel, when his
turn came round, with the proud feeling that he had saved his
pocket without anyone being the wiser, not even his bene-
factor, the Head Man, who could not possibly be expected to
tell that the wine had undergone such an infinitesimal
dilution. After the barrel had with due ceremony been
presented to his Worship, that gentleman drew a glass to
toast his kind friends, when lo and behold ! as he put the
compound to his lips, he found that it was unadulterated
water without a drop of wine in the entire barrel ! Thank
goodness, neither English farmers nor English hunting people
are Polish Jews.

The followers of the chase at Melton are mostly birds of
passage, among whom there are some fine horsemen. Many
however come, not for the sport which the surrounding-
country affords, but because they regard hunting from the
metropolis as a fashionable function. It was no doubt one of
this class who, when out one day, on being told that his horse
was lame, and finding that it was going in rather a " dotty"
manner, got off and led it ten or twelve miles home. When
the groom took the horse over, he of course lifted up the
lame foot, from which he extracted, much to the astonishment
and chagrin of his master, a stone that had evidently been the
unsuspected cause of the lameness.

I don't want to draw any comparisons with other places,
especially those of which I have had no personal experience ;
but I have nothing except praise for the first flight hunters
and first flight ladies and men of Melton. Mr. "Buck"
Barclay had a particularly strong stable, which was in the able

MRS. ASOUITH 7

charge of Martin, and which contained, among many others,
those good horses Lord Arthur, probably the best hunter
that has ever crossed Leicestershire ; the handsome grey
Franciscan on whom Mr. Arthur Coventry olten had a mount
when he came to stay at Sysonby Lodge ; the faultless
Goldfinder, who was Mrs. Barclay's favourite ; and staunch
old Freeman, who carried his owner brilliantly for fourteen
seasons. Harry Green, the old steeplechase rider, looked
after Count Zabrowsky's string, the best of which was
probably Billet Doux. Mr. and Miss Muir, both of whom
went well, had several nice horses. Miss Naylor, Prince
Henry of Pless, Colonel Forester, Mr. Gordon Wood, Baron
M. de Tuyll, Mr. de Winton, Mr. Foxhall Keene, Mr.
Younger, Mr. Guy Fenwick, Mr. Laycock, Mr. Prior, Mr.
Forbes, Mr. Lawson, Mr. Baldock, and others had well filled
stables of hio-h-class animals. My wife and I o-reatlv admired
the capable manner in which Lady Augusta Fane rode over
a difficult country on not always the best of mounts. The
fine riding of Lady Gerard and Mrs. Bunbury (now Baroness
M. de Tuyll) is well known to everyone. Mrs. Lawson
always rode straight, and appeared to thoroughly enjoy the
sport ; yet, strange to say, I never heard her name mentioned
as a hard riding lady ; because, I suppose, she made no fuss
about crossing a difficult country. The world and his wife, to
save themselves the trouble of thinking, generally take people
by advertisement. Mr. and Mrs. Hornsby, who have since
left Stapleford Park, and Mr. and Mrs. Brocklehurst, were
extremely popular members of the hunt. Before Mrs.
Asquith married, she was a frequent visitor to the Melton
country, and never went out of her way to find an easy place.
I remember one afternoon in May while riding with my wife
for exercise from Melton towards Burton, meeting the farmer
through whose fields we were going. This good supporter
of hunting at that moment was dolefully regarding a newly

8 INTRODUCTION

patched gap in a high posts and rails close to a gate- through
which we were about to pass. After the usual friendly
salutations, my wife asked him in a tone of concern : " What's
the matter?" "Just look at that!" said he. "They break
down my fences and say nothing. It's positively sinful!"
" I remember well when these posts and rails got broken,"
replied my wife. " Miss Tennant raced at the stiff timber
at the side of the o-ate throuo-h which the rest of us were
passing. Her horse struck the fence, turned over, and she
got a terrible fall and broke her collar-bone. I was awfully
sorry." "Ah! Mrs. Hayes," joined in our friend sympatheti-
cally, "you have a kind heart for farmers, and you would be
still more sorry if you only knew how much it cost m.e to get
that gap repaired."

I had an old friend in Captain Williams (Fig. i), late of
the 8th Hussars. When we were stationed at Meerut
together twenty years ago, he owned that staunch old
chaser Hector, against whom I ran, with varying success,
a horse I was training called Substitute. At that time
Captain Williams was a bold and cool-headed steeplechase
rider, but in Leicestershire he did not try to set the pace ;
although, when required, he was always ready to negotiate
a big fence if mounted on his skewbald Joseph, who was a
beautifully shaped hunter, and as clever as a cat, though
musical. I often saw Custance out : generally with the
Cottesmore, as he lived at Oakham. He was certainly one
of the finest jockeys we ever had in England, and the
men against whom he rode, George Fordham, Johnnie
Osborne, and Tom Cannon for instance, were uncommonly
bad to beat. When he had that fine chaser and extra-
ordinary clever hunter, the Doctor, he was as good over
Leicestershire as he had been on the flat ; and more
can't be said.

Lord Lonsdale almost always rode chestnut horses, the

CAPTAIN "DOGGIE" SMITH 9

rare exceptions being generally greys. He had a special
fondness for hogged manes and charger tails among his red
weight carriers. He hunted in the most princely manner.
I believe his railway bill for special trains for himself,
hounds, horses and hunt servants was fully a thousand
a month. It is said that on one occasion a dealer sent
for his inspection ten long-tailed chestnut hunters. Seeing
that the machine had not been run over their crests, he
eave orders that all their manes should be hoo;Q-ed. That

Pkoto hy\

)/. H. H.

Fig. I. — Captain Williams and Joseph.

operation having been accomplished, he looked them over,
and rejected the lot ! The dealer, on receiving them back in
their shorn condition, was fit to be tied, as we say in Ireland ;
but a prompt and liberal cheque speedily set matters right.
Tom Firr was a marvellous man to get over a country ;
big or litde it did not matter to him, especially on Whitelegs.
Captain " Doggie " Smith had undoubtedly the greatest
name in Leicestershire as a brilliant rider to hounds ; but
unfortunately, I did not see him often, as he was somewhat

lO

INTRODUCTION

before my time. The man whose riding I admired most of
all was the late Colonel Forester. Although he was old
and nearly blind, he never minded what he faced. The
story is told that one day a friend of his, who had seen him
going over the most appallingly big and stiff fences as
if they had been mere ridge and furrow, remonstrated with
him after the run about his rashness. " I know nothing
about the matter," replied the colonel laughing. " The

riwio by]

.1/. //. //.

Fig. 2. — Thorpe Sachville Beagles.

fact is, I lost my glasses at the start, so I let my horse
take his own line." I believe that Colonel Forester, who
was known amono- his intimate friends as " The Lad,"
was the original of Whyte Melville's "The Honourable
Crasher," whom we all have had the pleasure of meeting
in the delightful pages of Market Harborottgh.

On off-days we had many a pleasant trot on foot after
the Thorpe Sachville beagles (Fig. 2), which were hunted

PORK PIES

II

by Mr. Otho Paget, who is " Q " of The Field, and Mr.
Chaplin. They are both keen sportsmen and good riders.
When hard frost set in, the hunting people used to keep
themselves in condition by skating on the large pond which
is on the right hand side of the Leicester Road, just
outside Melton (Fig. 3). An American visitor (Fig. 4)
often delighted us by his skill at figure skating.

Melton Mowbray is as famous for her pork pies as
for her hunting. I used to eat commercial pork pies,

i^W- -:«£»-

;.«:

>0"'.-^-

Photo i>y\

[.!/. //. //.

Fk;. 3. — Skating at ^Melton.

until one day when I was living in Leicestershire, I
went down to a knacker's yard to perform a post-nwiHem
examination on a dead horse. On casually asking the
horse-slaughterer if he sent the cat's-meat up to London,
he pointed to a large cauldron which contained a boiling
decoction somewhat resembling soup, and replied that he
used up all the stuff for "swill." "Who drinks the swill?"
I demanded with a shudder. " The pigs, of course," was
the answer, which spoiled my appetite for any further acquaint-

12 INTRODUCTION

ance with these animals, I learn from inquiries into the
matter, that knackers as a rule, keep piggeries of their own.
A principal of a veterinary college once told me that an
exclusive diet of dead horse does not enhance the food
value of pork, bacon and ham ; for when he used to feed
his pios on the remains obtained in the college dissectino--
room, the people who bought his corpulent swine, frequently
complained that the fat of the animals all turned into
grease during the process of cooking. Pigs fed on butter-
milk, potatoes, and other vegetables are quite good enough
for me.

About this time, when I was on a visit to Mr. Tom
Mitchell, the well-known owner, breeder, judge, and pos-
sessor of the incomparable hackney champion, Ganymede
(Fig. 5), I had the pleasure and good fortune to meet
Dr. Rabagliati, author of Aii% Food, and Exercise. While
we were having a stroll, he saw that I was lame, I forget on
which foot, and remarked that I was rheumatic. I replied in
the negative ; but he insisted that he was right, and pointing
to the foot upon which I was going short, asked : '* What
about that ? " I said that my lameness was probably due
to a fall I recently had when schooling a horse. " But," he
persisted, *'you look rheumatic; you are out of condition;
and you are getting fat." The statement was horrible,
brutal, but absolutely true. I took the verbal punishment
meekly, and sorrowfully answered : " Doctor, you are right
about the fat, and worse than all. I am losing my nerve ; but
I don't think I am rheumatic." The only reply he made
to this, was to take me by the arm and to press the points
of his fingers, not with any undue force, on various parts
of my back and neck. The pressure was as painful as it
was convincing, so I cried out that I was mistaken, and
would do anything he would tell me. " You are troubled
with indigestion," he remarked. I assented. "You eat

NO STARCH 13

bread and potatoes." I admitted my fondness for these
articles of food. " Renounce them and all other forms of
starch, which you must replace by fruit and green vegetables,
and you will lose your rheumatism, your indigestion, your
funk, and your corporation in a very short time." I grate-
fully thanked him, acted upon his advice, got rid of the
ailments that had made my life a burden, and have kept

jywto b)

Fig. 4.— An Off-day.

fit and well for the last six years, thanks to Dr. Rabagliati.
Having gone through a good deal of mental and physical
training in my life, self-denial as regards food and drink,
short of starvation and thirst, does not come hard on me,
so I can take no credit for keeping on the muzzle with
respect to starch. Yet I have met lots of people who
prefer to remain rheumatic, obese, dyspeptic, nervous, and
a nuisance to themselves, if not to other people, than to

14 INTRODUCTION

give up eating bread and potatoes. "What do you have
with your bacon and eggs for breakfast ? " I have often been
asked. "Apples, pears, strawberries, tomatoes, salad, or
any other green stuff that comes handy," is a true reply
that generally excites the crippled and chronic invalid to say
that sooner than lose his bit of bread or toast, he'd keep
the "rheumatics," of which I wish him all the pleasure
he can extract from them. I know my pathology sufficiently
to be aware that the ailments in question, being set up
by causes which are by no means uniform, cannot in all
cases be successfully treated in a routine manner. The fact
however remains that there are a large number of middle-
aged and old persons who have difficulty in digesting starch,
and who consequently get dyspepsia and from it rheumatism
by eating a greater or less quantity of bread and potatoes.
I happened to come under that category, and therefore
profited by Dr. Rabagliati's favourite prescription. For
such people, that gentleman (see his admirable book) justly
regards bread as the staff of death. Banting's system
also enjoined abstinence from starch, but it failed in not
recommending a full supply of fruit and green vegetables,
and in counselling too great dependence on meat. As
a complete investigation into this subject is not within the
compass of this book, I beg to refer my readers for further
information to their family doctor, who will no doubt tell
them all about the evils of an excess of uric acid caused by
an ill-chosen diet.

Much as we may admire the people who can ride in the
van through a fast Leicestershire run, we cannot ignore the
fact that it is impossible to accomplish this feat without
money or money's worth (first-class horses or credit), no
matter how big may be one's heart, how fine one's hands,
how strong one's seat, or how matured one's judgment. On
a crock of sorts, like many 1 have steered, one may, if one

LEICESTERSHIRE

15

knows how to play the game, maintain a respectable position
in the second flight, which occupies itself principally in draw-
inof conclusions as to its future conduct from the manner the
brilliant skirmishers in front ncQOtiate the obstacles between
them and the hounds. To me, the two great charms of
huntino- in Leicestershire are its freedom of action and its
absence of unavoidable road-tramping. In that country, if
we do not feel in the humour to risk our bones over leps, for.

%m

1 ^

^

[^

Fic. 5. — Mr. Tom Mitchell's Ganymede.

reasons best known to ourselves, we can ride to points and
enjoy a tittup on the grass without having to cross a single
fence, thanks to the large number of bridle-paths and the fact
that almost every gate in Leicestershire will readily open.
It is therefore no case, as in many other places, of riding-
straight, hammering along the roads, or going home ; and yet
every run in Leicestershire is accompanied by a vast caval-
cade of Macadamisers, whose want of pluck is only equalled
by their ignorance of hunting. The practice of riding to

i6 INTRODUCTION

points through gates and bridle-paths should not, on account
of its supposed immunity from danger, be altogether de-
spised, because even that form of amusement is not quite
safe. A hardy annual who counted his Kirby Gates by
scores, broke, during his last season at Melton, a collar-bone
and three ribs by his horse crossing- Its legs and coming down
when canterino- over ridofe and furrow. I remember that fine
horseman, Mr. Dick Barry of Carrigtwohill, near Cork, fall-
ing with his great mare Bounceaway on the flat in the run
home of a steeplechase at Punchestown, when he was win-
ning in a common canter. The Emir Abdool Kadir truly said
that the man who mounts a horse puts one foot in the grave,
by which alone Paradise is reached.

The country about Melton, particularly on the Great Dalby
side, is big and stiff, and to cross it a man who is determined,
to be with them will need a horse that can gallop, stay, and
spread himself out over his fences as well as clear them. If
the aspirant to first flight honours has not the wherewithal in
his stable, I don't think he can do better than go to my
friend Mr. Sam Hames of Leicester, from whom I have
bouo-ht, from time to time, several hunters — all of them o-ood
ones. He does an immense business in that class of animal
and probably gets through an average of more than five
hundred yearly ; yet I would not be surprised to learn that
he has a larg-er turn-over from hirelino-s than from horses
sold. I knew a case of one orentleman hirino: from him ten
hunters, all of the high-class weight-carrying stamp, each at
thirty guineas monthly, making a total of three hundred
guineas a month, without counting stable bills and stable
rent. If a man does not know much about horses, it is far
cheaper for him to hire than to buy, especially as he can
chancre the hirelino- if it does not suit him or if it Qroes wronof.
A fairly good hunter may be hired from a small man in
Leicestershire for ^20 a month ; but if it fails to fulfil its

MR. SAM HAMES 17

obligations, the owner will rarely be able to replace it satis-
factorily.

The good manners of Mr. Hames' hunters are surpassed
only by his own. They may contradict you ; but he, never.
He always agrees with me, and thereby increases the high
opinion I have for his judgment. If I remark, when he
orders a horse to be pulled out for my inspection, that the
animal's head is a bit plain, he replies: "You are quite
right ; but he carries it so well, that it looks downright hand-
some when he is mounted." On my hinting that the
shoulders of the proposed conveyance are somewhat thick,
Mr. Hames at once grants that from the ground they appear
to have a suspicion of coarseness, but that if I get into the
saddle and send the animal along, I will find he uses them to
perfection. The good opinion I possess of the excellence of
my " hands " (where is the riding man that is not infected
with the same delusion ?) has been greatly increased since I
began to buy horses from Mr. Hames. I once wrote to him
saying that my wife and I were going over to see him, as I
wanted to try a hack which he had written to me about, and
wliich I required for a foreign customer who has a weakness
for la haute ecole. Mr. Hames sent a trap to the station to
meet us, with a note inviting us to his house to have lunch,
and reofrettinof that he could not join us, as he had some work
which would keep him engaged for an hour or so. As ladies
have proverbially no palate, I did not particularly notice
what my wife took, but I did myself pretty well on a bottle
of Haut Sauterne, some old Port, and a fair share of a
specially fine brand of green Curaqoa, Having driven down
to the stables, I mounted the hack and jogged off to the field,
to which our entertainer and my wife had preceded me in a
trap. Instead of pulling the animal about and making it
give a bad show, I foolishly " cocked my dock,"' and put in a
lot of nice work in eettin'j the mare to change her leg, and

i8 INTRODUCTION

do the figure of 8 and other airs de manege with which I
intended to capture my Continental chent. All this time
Mr, Hames was so earnestly engaged in conversation with
my wife, that he evidently forgot the very existence of the
mare — in fact, he must have confused her in his mind with
some higher-priced animal — for he asked me ^30 more for
her than I thought he had previously wanted. I was, how-
ever, so conceited with my own riding, especially as Mr.
Hames had often expressed his admiration of it in my hear-
ing, that I readily agreed to the price, which subsequently
turned out to be less than the actual value of the mare.
That deal being over, Mr. Hames pointed out to me another
o-ee which he said he would sell me worth the money,
because it would not lep. " Let 77ie try?" I shouted, chock-
full of jumping powder and desire to show off. After I had
raced the supposed reluctant one over the not very formid-
able obstacles, and brought her up to the pair of admiring-
spectators, Mr. Hames, turning to my wife, exclaimed with
delight: "What an artful, Irish way your husband has with
horses. Yesterday, there were a dozen of us here trying
to make her jump, and though we gave her 'toko,' she
wouldn't look at a fence, and now see the way he has put the
' come-hether ' on her ! " Of course I bought that mare,
which turned out well with some careful schooling. What I
particularly like about Mr. Hames is his willingness to take
back any horse which I have bought from him and which I
subsequently find does not suit me — an alternative I have
not had occasion to avail myself of up to the present.

Some people are so little accustomed to the receipt of
civility unmixed with guile, that even Mr. Hames cannot
always inspire them with confidence. A rich gentleman
whom I heard of, on being asked by an acquaintance to come
up with him to Mr. Hames' stables, exclaimed: "I would
not go there for a hundred pounds ; for Sam Hames is

MR. HARRY GOODALL 19

so pleasant and nice, that if I began to talk to him, I'd
be certain to buy a horse or two, whether I wanted them
or not." " Has he ever stuck you with a wrong one ? " asked
his companion. " On the contrary," replied the timid one,
"the only time I had a deal with him, he sold me at a
moderate price the best animal I have ever owned. But
I felt the influence of his charmino- manners so strongs on
me, that when I got outside the gate, I could not help
wondering that he had not made me buy every horse
in his stable ! Since then, I have vowed never to go
near the place myself; but when I want a horse, I send
to him some unimpressionable friend to execute my com-
mission."

When we went to Melton, I had a notion of supplement-
ing our slender income by veterinary practice. That field,
unfortunately for us, was then fully occupied by Mr. Harry
Goodall, who was not only an excellent practitioner, but was
also a good horseman and a very pleasant companion. He
often dropped in to have a chat with us, and if he had any-
thing to drink, it usually took the form of a cup of tea, as
he was particularly abstemious. The first time we had the
pleasure of giving him that innocent beverage, the con-
versation turned on the town people. We asked if he saw
much of them ? " This cup of tea which I have in my hand,"
he replied, "is the first refreshment I have received without
a formal invitation in Melton for the thirty years I have been
here." He could not have described in a better way the
stiffness and gloom of lower middle class English society.
No wonder that husbands seek refuge in the tap-room of
the nearest public-house, where they can meet their friends
without ceremony. The social ambition and the self-consci-
ousness of the ladies make them regard the most casual visit
as a full-dress parade, which is uncomfortable to both hosts
and p-uests. We meet the same thin^- amono^ the same class

o 00

20 INTRODUCTION

of English people in other parts of the world. In India, on
the contrary, informal choti hazu'-i, the ladies' room at the
club, and the assembling of everyone at band-stand or Mall
in the evening, are pleasures known only to a better grade
of Britisher.

Mr. Goodall, who was the son of the famous Belvoir
huntsman, worked like a slave in attending his equine
patients, had the confidence and custom of every horseowner
within reach, lived economically, rarely gave himself a
holiday, and died comparatively poor ; because he did not
set a sufficient value on his services, refrained from dunning
his customers, and would not make unjust charges. In
England, horsey men as a rule admire medicine and despise
advice. Hence, unless a veterinary surgeon trades on the
ignorance of his clients, he has but a small chance of earning
a comfortable livelihood. Mr. Goodall's case reminds me of
a young veterinary surgeon who had just begun practice, and
was full of the dignity of the profession and all that sort of
thing, being asked by a poor carrier to treat a horse of his
which was ill. The unsordid one, seeing that there was
nothing really the matter with the animal, which was suffering
only from a temporary fit of choking, caused in harness by
the pressure of a too tightly-fitting collar, and wishing to
make a good impression, told the man that all he had to do
was to keep the horse quiet for the remainder of the day, and
that it would be perfectly well on the following morning.
The man having asked how much he had to pay, and hearing
that no charge would be made for such a trifling matter,
went off without even saying "Thank you." A week after-
wards, the veterinary surgeon met the man and inquired how
the animal was doing. "He's all right, and no thanks to
you," was the surly reply. " How's that .^ " " As you would
do nothing for him, I took him to the other Vet., who is a
rare knowledgeable chap. He gave him a dose of physic,

r

■•i.

:x

■ ■'^'■'

^

Pholo hy\

[;/'. &= D. Dcnuney, 57 J-:l>u7y Sired, S.ll'

Fig. 6. — Mr. Frank Ward.

21

CAPTAIN PARK YATES 23

bled him, blistered his sides, and now the horse is all right."
"And how much did he charge you? " "A guinea," replied
the yokel proudly, and I was glad to pay it ; for he cured my
old horse." Since then that young veterinary surgeon does
likewise.

I am sorry to say that since the time about which I am
writing, Melton appears to have commenced a journey on
the down-grade ; the cause no doubt being the introduction
of factories into this once charminof rural town. Huntino--
people who have lots of money, seek during the winter a
change into the country, which ceases to be country when
it is converted into a manufacturing centre. Consequently,
Melton is becoming deserted for places in which there is
less smoke and no mill hands, I think that Melton's loss
will be Oakham's oi^ain.

As it was no use following in the footsteps of Mr, Goodall,
I accepted an offer from Mr. \V. H. Walker to go to Sandy
Brow, near Tarporley, Cheshire, to train a stable of steeple-
chase horses he was getting together. Mr. Walker treated
me liberally ; but his marriage made him relinquish the idea,
and we parted crood friends. My wife and I had lots of
hunting with the North Cheshire during the winter we stayed
at Sandy Brow. No master could have been more popular
with the farmers than the late Captain Park Yates, and the
people were nice, but they zvoiild holloa ! I hope Lord
Enniskillen keeps them in order. We went to London,
where I spent eight or nine months bringing out new editions
of Points of the Horse and Veterinary Notes for Horse-
owners, and began a translation from the German of Fried-
berger and Frohner's Veterijiary Pathology, the first part
of which translation is now before the public. Besides
brinorin()^ out this book, I added a laroe number of notes
for the benefit of English readers, and had the good fortune
to strengthen it with a chapter on bacteriology written by

24 INTRODUCTION

Dr. Newman, under whom I studied that science at King's
College, London. As a French translation of the original
is the text - book on veterinary medicine in the French
veterinary colleges, it will not be the fault of the German
authors if my translation is not a success.

I took advantage of our stay in London to have a course
of lessons in four-in-hand and tandem drivingr from Mr. Frank
Ward (Fig. 6), who is an admirable teacher ; for he is not
only a thorough master of his subject, but he is also most
particular to give the reason for every detail of the instruc-
tion which he imparts. He is so bright, intelligent, and
anxious to convey knowledge, that learning from him is a
pleasure, of which I hope to have many repetitions. His
usual plan is to begin in Battersea Park, in the solitudes
of which the novice will not be able to do much harm before
being saved by the watchful mentor who sits beside him.
In a few days sufficient confidence and skill will be acquired
to attempt Putney and Barnes, and after that, Young or Old
Hopeful, as the case may be, can go to Hyde Park or
Regent's Park. The crossings en route from Brompton
Road appeared to me to be very formidable undertakings,
until Mr. Ward explained that the* only thing I had to do,
beyond keeping my head, was to "watch the policeman,"
who in London traffic is an efficient guardian angel to the
rigrht-hand man on the box seat of a coach.

CHAPTER I

FIRST TRIP TO RUSSIA

M. Sorel— The Chevaliers Gardes — Krasnoe Selo— Breaking a Trooper — Breaking
for the Grand Duke Nicholas — Russian Officers — Russian Soldiers— Doctors
and Veterinary Surgeons in Russia.

WANTING a place to put our things in, we bought
about this time a house in Crick, which is a small
old-fashioned village in the centre of the Pytchley country.
We had just concluded the purchase when I received a letter
from an old acquaintance, M. Charles Sorel, whom I had the
pleasure of meeting in Paris some years ago. He was then
at the Cirque d'Ete, and used to exercise M. Clemenceau's
horses. Sorel is a good-looking young Frenchman, has very
nice manners, and is a great favourite with the ladies. He
had been two years in a circus in England, and was for some
time at Captain Fitzgerald's riding school in Gloucester
Crescent as an assistant. While he was out of a job, he and
his wife stayed with us for a few weeks at Melton Mowbray,
where I showed him several things in horse-breaking, as he
was anxious to learn all he could about that art. In his
letter he told me that after many ups and downs he was at
last settled in the comfortable post of ecuyer to the officers of
the Chevaliers Gardes at St. Petersburg. Russian officers
like to have their horses quiet : and small blame to them.
As they do not look upon breaking and exercising horses as
a pleasure, they employ an eciiyer, Bcreiier or rough-rider to

4 25

26 FIRST TRIP TO RUSSIA

extract the nonsense out of their animals. One of the
officers of the Chevaliers Gardes, wanting to buy an Irish
mare as a charger, applied to Sorel, with the result that I was
intrusted with the commission. I sent out a nice mare with
a good deal of bone and substance, strong legs and feet, the
manners of an anorel, and boldness and cleverness which
would enable her to cross any country. The only thing that
I did not like about the mare was that she was a trifle cobby,
and not enough of the Leicestershire hunter type, which
forms with the thoroughbred the only two classes of horses
worth riding, in my opinion. Sorel had, however, impressed
on me the necessity of sending out something thick-set,
absolutely quiet {toute a fait iranquille), and a clever and
very temperate jumper. Horses, as we all know, can't be
made to order like a suit of clothes, so I did the best I could.
Anyhow, this purchase obtained such general approval in
the regiment that Sorel was asked to invite me out, so that
the officers might personally explain to me their special
wants in horse-flesh, with the object of my supplying them
from England. I accordingly proceeded in July 1897 ^^^'
Berlin to St. Petersburg, and then journeyed on for about
seventeen miles to the village of Krasnoe Selo, in the
vicinity of which a force of about forty thousand men was
encamped for exercise. I was kindly received by General
Nicolaief, Colonel Kasnakof, and the other officers of the
Chevaliers Gardes, which is the senior regiment in the
Russian army. I may mention in passing that the command-
in<j officers of these regiments are orenerals, who hold a
similar position to that of colonels in our service who are
in command of regiments. I stayed for three weeks at
"The Red ViUage" with the Sorels, who did everything to
make my visit agreeable.

Krasnoe Selo is a long, pretty village on high and fairly
level ground, and consists chiefly of country residences, a few

KRASXOE SELO 27

Government building's, some barracks, and a large number
of small houses which are hired for the summer by people
who are fortunate enough to be able to get out of St. Peters-
burg at that time. The extensive plains and undulating
ground in the vicinity of this village are occupied, I believe,
every year by a large camp of exercise. At Krasnoe Selo I
spent most of my time riding horses for Sorel, who, luckily
for me, had more animals on hand than he could keep in full
work. I saw a good deal of the cavalry manceuvres, and was
much impressed by the steadiness and good ritiing of the
men.

Hearing about my breaking from Sorel, Colonel Kasna-
kof, who is fond of horses and rides well, asked me one day
to wheel into line a fifteen-year-old white troop horse which
was quiet in every way, except that he objected to be bridled,
saddled, or mounted outside of a stable ; his defence being
that he hit out with his fore feet and ran back, if anyone on
foot attempted to get near him in the open. In order to
make the test of my breaking effective, the place chosen by
the colonel for the seance was an open plain, and the cavalry
soldier who looked after the horse was ordered to ride him
up to the assembled spectators and then get off, while still
retainincr his hold of the reins, which had in the act of dis-
mounting been drawn over the animal's head. " What does
he do ? " I asked, because I had not been told anything
about his manner of "playing up." The reply I received
was an order to the man to try to mount. Every attempt
he made to put his hand on the mane or saddle was met on
the part of the animal by skilfully aimed blows with the fore-
feet and dashes to the rear, so that his would-be rider could
not get nearer to him than the length of the tightly stretched
reins. When this game, which was all in favour of the
old grey, had gone on long enough, the colonel asked me to
make the horse quiet to mount. In about ten minutes I

28 FIRST TRIP TO RUSSIA

taught him to come up to me by adopting Baucher's neat
method (see IlltLstrated Horse-breaking) of Hghtly touching
the animal on the front of the chest with the point of a
cutting whip I had in my hand ; ceasing of course this irritat-
ing indication the moment the grey, finding that he could
not escape it by backing, came forward. Having got so far
in obtaining control, I slipped the end of a piece of rope,
which on such occasions I always carry in my pocket, over
the horse's neck and under his upper lip, and taught him to
obey the word "steady!" After that, I gentled him with
my hand over the neck, head, shoulders and fore legs ; took
off the saddle ; removed the bridle ; and bridled and saddled
him while he stood like a statue of good-tempered patience
in the open without any kind of restraint being applied to
him ; for I need hardly say that I took off the rope as soon
as my pupil had grasped the meaning of the word "steady!"
Finally, he allowed his cavalry friend to mount without giving
the slightest trouble. Repetition of the lesson was then the
only thing needed to transform this act of obedience into a
habit ; but whether that was subsequently done or not, was
no affair of mine. The vice in question would certainly have
been a very easy one to have overcome in this instance,
because it was unmixed with any tendency to sulk.

The breaking must have made a good impression ;
for towards the end of my stay at Krasnoe Selo, Colonel
Kasnakof told me that H.I.H. The Grand Duke Nicholas
Nicolaivitch, who is the Tzar's uncle and Inspector-General
of the Russian Cavalry, would like that afternoon to see me
take in hand an unbroken young horse and make him quiet
to ride. After luncheon, Colonel Kasnakof drove me clown
to the Grand Duke's palace, and, evidently from his kind-
hearted solicitude on my behalf, asked me three or four times
if I really felt certain that I could accomplish the supposed
big task within the hour which had been allotted for it. I

THE GRAND DUKE NICHOLAS 29

am afraid that the free expression of my confidence not only
to have the animal mounted within the given period, but also
to teach it to carry its rider quietly in any direction required,
and to give it a lesson in jumping, disquieted rather than
calmed the mind of my kind companion. On arrival, we
found a large number of cavalry generals and colonels in
splendid uniforms waiting for the Grand Duke. Glancing
round the brilliant assembly, I could not help remarking
sotto voce to the colonel, that it would be a hard job to
please all those beaux sabreiirs. " Never mind them," he
said encouragingly, "the Grand Duke is the only one you
have got to please, and if you are fortunate enough to do
that, you will be all right, no matter what anyone else thinks.
He forms his own conclusions, and never allows himself to
be led away by the opinions of others." When the Grand
Duke arrived, he received me graciously. He is slight, very
tall, straight as a dart, and looks the beau ideal of a cavalry
officer. I not only did all I had promised Colonel Kasna-
kof, but also showed several details that would be useful in
expediting and facilitating the breaking of remounts. I
cannot adequately express the pleasure I had in seeing that
the first cavalry officer in Russia followed my work with close
attention. Guessing that he understood English, I at first
explained what I was about to do in that language ; but
although he evidendy knew what I said, he asked me to
speak in French ; probably because he wanted me to
express myself in a manner that the majority of the officers
present could comprehend. I was, if possible, still more
gratified when, at the conclusion of the performance, the
Grand Duke sent Colonel Kasnakof to ask me if I would
come out again to St. Petersburg later on in the year, so
that His Imperial Highness might see about introducing my
methods of breaking into the Russian army. Colonel
Kasnakof told me that the Grand Duke knew that I wrote

30 FIRST TRIP TO RUSSIA

books about horses, and that, if I came out, he would give
me introductions, so that I could see all the studs and learn
everything about Russian horses, in the event of my wishing
to write about them. Of course I was only too glad to
accept the honour of such a flattering invitation, and returned
to my quarters immensely pleased with the results of the
afternoon, and deeply grateful for the kind reception I had
received, thanks to Colonel Kasnakof. I was ably assisted
that afternoon in the breaking by Sorel.

In and around St. Petersburg the troops arechiefly composed
of Guard regiments (Figs. 7, 8, and 9), the men and officers of
which are specially selected, as with us. A commission in
the Russian Guards is greatly sought after by rich young
Muscovites ; because all the Guard stations are good, both
for society and for obtaining appointments. So keen is the
competition for these commissions, that in each Guard
regiment there is a large number of supernumerary officers
who draw no pay, being well content to serve in the home
district without State aid, instead of being banished to "the
back of God speed you " in the middle of some desolate
steppe thousands of miles from civilisation. The majority of
the officers of the Guards speak French or German, or both,
though not so much as formerly ; because Russia for the
Russians is the policy of the day — and quite right too. In
other times, it was Russia for the foreigners. In Russia,
education beyond the three R's is chiefly confined to the
acquisition of foreign languages, which principle acts
well in a country devoted to expansion. The knowledge
of languages, as we all know, is a means, not an end. It
was said that Mezzofanti spoke fifty languages, and had
nothing particular to tell in any of them. Being fairly
polyglot in Furopean and Eastern languages, I can say
with some authority that learning a language for ordinary
purposes is a mere effort of memory which demands no exer-

GUARD REGIMENTS

31

cise of the reasonino' faculties. According" to Dr. Le Bon,
if horses could only speak and write, they would gain all
competitive examinations, so retentive are their memories.

S?Z7onM6a/7i3

Photo hy\

Fig. 7. — Guard Cavalry on Parade.

.'/. Belya^i'skago, 34 Nei'sky.

In the Russian cavalry and infantry regiments of the line,
the large majority of the officers know only their mother-
tongue. As the pay is very small, and as the demand for

32 FIRST TRIP TO RUSSIA

officers is great, the literary and scientific tests for obtaining
a commission are extremely mild. Outside of the Guard
regiments, the officers are seldom well off. In fact, many of
them live on their pay, which is about two-fifths of that of
English officers of corresponding rank on the home list. The
difficulty of this meritorious feat is considerably reduced by
the absence of an expensive mess and cheapness of provisions
in out-of-the-way places. An) how it takes some "doing" for
a cavalry captain to support himself, wife and family, and pay
for his uniform, on four and a half guineas a month, out of
which he can't be very lavish in the way of horse-flesh. A
lieutenant- colonel on ^120, a colonel on i^2io, and a
general on ^^300 a year are in comparative affluence ; but
such exalted grades generally take a long time to reach
in that country.

Russian officers are hospitable, kind-hearted, singularly
free from "side," and are inclined to take the world easily.
With rare exceptions, they regard breaking, schooling, shoe-
ing, and other practical work with horses as matters which
may demand the issue of orders to non-commissioned officers
or men, but which do not require the personal intervention
of an officer. This idea is of course contrary to the Russian
cavalry regulations, by which all officers are supposed to be
capable of practically instructing their men in every detail of
military horsemanship; but this excellent principle has not
as yet gone much beyond the stage of theory. Young
material of the proper sort is present in the commissioned
ranks of the Russian cavalry, but the conditions of climate
and country are greatly against its development. For seven
months in winter, riding in the open, if not an impossibility,
is a weariness to the tlesh not to be borne by an ordinary
mortal. In summer, crops are up, the ground is hard, and
there is little opportunity for sport on horseback. In
England, a youngster goes into the cavalry because he is fond

THE GUINEA STAMP"

33

of horses and has money to spend on his fad. In Russia the
matter is one almost entirely of social distinction, because there,
"the guinea stamp" and not the man is of value. For instance,

Photo by\

{M. Bclyavskajo, j4 Nevsky.
Fig. 8. — Guard Cavalry in the Nevsky.

a colonel in that country is a far greater swell than a prince
who holds no Government appointment. A Russian officer
is never out of uniform except when he goes to bed or
5

34 FIRST TRIP TO RUSSIA

to have a bath. Even a last -joined subaltern is saluted
by every policeman he meets, and is superior to many
rules and regulations that annoy men in mufti. I remember
on one occasion that a dog belonging to the special
correspondent of The Times, got severely bitten by another
doo- because it was unable to defend itself, owinc: to the
fact that it was muzzled, agreeably to the municipal orders
of St. Petersburg, although its opponent had no muzzle.
The Times man complained to the authorities, but could get
no redress, because the aggressor was an officer's tyke, and
was consequently a privileged personage. Talking of dogs
reminds me of Russian greyhounds, a beautiful specimen of
which breed is shown in P^ig. lo.

Russian tradesmen, with the fear of oettino- themselves
disliked, are very loath to take proceedings for the recovery
of debt against gentlemen in uniform, whose long-windedness
would astonish even the most patient of West End tailors.
Besides, Russian military authorities view with lenient eyes
indebtedness among their officers. In the German army, on
the contrary, the principle that an officer should pay his way
is maintained as strictly as it is in our service. In Russia,
uniform is worth a lot of money. There,- the great ambition
of officers after they leave the service is to be allowed to wear
their uniform, without which, as a rule, they would be unable
to maintain the position of a gentleman. In fact, official rank
is practically the only recognised claim to social standing.
The only Russian title of nobility is kiiyaz, which would best
be translated into English by the word "lord." Its accepted
translation of "prince" is absolutely incorrect ; because its
possession implies no connection with royalty. The proper
synonym for our word "prince" is Valiki Knyaz or Grand
Duke. In Russia, ordinary princes are cheap. They tell
me that in the Caucasus the ownership of five sheep confers
the title of knyaz.

ENGLISH SUBALTERNS 35

We have also the subject of money to look at. In the
purchase clays, English subalterns frequently joined an
infantry regiment with three or four hunters. Now, a bicycle

Photo l'y\

\M. Bdyavskago, 34 Nc7'sky.
Y\c,. 9. — Guard Cavalry in the Nevbky.

is more the custom. At present, the majority of infantry
subalterns in England have to live frugally, and however
steadfastly their hearts may be in the "right place," they
have to curb their sporting instincts within narrow limits.

36 FIRST TRIP TO RUSSIA

But when they go to India, where the pay is very much
better, their dreams become a reaUty, and we find them
racing", chasing, pig-sticking, shooting and playing polo with
the best. The Durham Light Infantry, for instance, had one
of the strongest polo teams ever known in India. Russian
officers have not at present an India in which to develop
their sporting tastes. It is evident that if the Russian
Government wishes its cavalry officers to be enthusiastic
horsemen, it must retain in that branch only those officers
who show special aptitude for mounted work, and it must
increase their pay.

What Russian officers need above all things, and what it
appears almost impossible to give them, is early training in field
sports, and especially in outdoor games of discipline, such as
cricket, polo, and football. As they get little or nothing of
the kind, the wonder is that they are not softer than they
are. In the old days, say, forty years or more ago, the
officers of the Russian cavalry were a good deal richer than
those at present serving, and consequently had more money
to spend on horses. I have often heard it said in England
that Russian officers are greatly given to drinking and
gambling. Without wanting to hold them up for admiration
as saints who are patiently waiting for their respective halos
to be placed on their heads, I must say that I have found
them to be particularly sedate, and to be in no way inclined
to paint town and country red on the slightest provocation.
I am afraid that some of their maligners have mistaken
generous hospitality for habitual dissipation.

A considerable number of the officers are Germans or
are of German origin, in which case they come chiefly from
the Baltic Provinces. I have been told that half the general
officers are of Teutonic blood, but think that my informant
made an unintentional exaggeration. Probably from lo to
15 per cent, are of that descent. There are certainly more

GERMANS IN RUSSIA 2>7

Germans among tlie older officers than among the younger
ones ; because in the advance of civiHsation the Russians
are gradually getting to do without foreign instructors. In
olden days all the apothecaries and nearly all the bakers
were Germans. Even now the majority of the druggists are
of that nationality. Formerly, Russian gentlemen were more
or less ashamed of their language. French was spoken at
court, and their writers thought that the highest form of

Photo fy] [L. C. Gorodetzky, Tzarskoe Selo.

Fig. 10. — Borzoi belonging to H.I. M. the Tzar.

Russian literature was a servile copy of Racine or Byron,
Now, Russia has a literature of its own, which, owing to the
absence of copyright reciprocity with other countries, is
largely diluted with translations and pirated illustrations :
the court lanoruaofe is also Russian, Germans havino- been
a favoured nation for a- long time, are naturally regarded
with jealousy and dislike, which feelings are in no way
extended to the French, with whom the Russians have

38 FIRST TRIP TO RUSSIA

no clashing interests. On the other hand, Germans in Russia
affect to regard the inhabitants as Asiatics, a taunt which is of
little weight ; for many, if not the large majority of well-
educated Russians, consider their country to be essentially an
Asiatic power, whose sphere of action should be in the East
and not in the West.

Russian officers and soldiers have to be implicitly sub-
missive to authority ; because it is authority. In the English
Army, no one has to obey an order, no matter by whom
issued, unless it is a lawful order. In Russia, no discussion
whatever is permitted about Church or State ; the former
being the dutiful handmaiden of the latter. Consequently,
while roffaire was being freely criticised throughout Western
Europe, every Russian officer was outwardly "solid " on the
guilt of Captain Dreyfus. Yet that strange compound of
good and evil which we call Human Nature, would some-
times assert herself when no "Asiatic" was within ear-shot.
One evening I was having tea with a colonel of the Russian
Cavalry, who was of German descent and a Lutheran.
While his wife, who had left their young children with us,
was absent from the room for a few moments, I made a
remark about his oood fortune in havinoj such a nice familv.
"Poor little things," he said with bitterness, "they do not
deserve their cruel fate to be brought up as members of the
Greek Church. I am a Protestant ; but as their mother
belongs to the Russian Orthodox faith, they have to accept
her religion." Gambetta truly said : '' Le cldricalisme : voila
I'ennemiy Another time, when I was at a small station in
the steppes, I was speaking to a Polish acquaintance who
was a Russian officer. "You ought to be happy," he said,
"for you will soon be in England. Most of my friends are
in their graves in Poland ; some are in Siberia ; and I am
left alone here to mourn for them."

The grey overcoat habitually worn by Russian officers

RUSSIAN UNIFORM 39

does not help a stranger much in distinguishing them from
other officials, or even from their men. This fact, I presume,
induces rich cavalry officers to buy big, lumpy-shouldered
foreign horses with docked tails ; the soldiers' horses being
well-bred, comparatively small, and having long tails. In all
the grades, from a sub to a colonel, there is nothing in the
uniform to mark the rank, except the nature of the epaulettes,
which on the coats of subalterns have a middle longitudinal
line and stars. A captain has the line but no stars. A
lieutenant-colonel has two lines and stars ; and a colonel, two
lines and no stars. A general has neither lines nor stars on
his epaulettes, but comes out strong in the matter of broad red
stripes on his trousers, and a red lining to his coat, which for
obvious reasons he keeps more or less open even during winter,
with heroic indifference to the dancrer of couehs and colds.
When a Russian officer becomes a general, he is happy for the
remainder of his life, because everyone from henceforth has
to call him "Your Excellency" when addressing him. The
only English officers I have ever seen wearing goloshes in
uniform were Sappers ; but in Russia all officers use them in
bad weather, which is a practice that is at times almost
imperative, although it cannot be looked upon as an aid to
smartness of appearance. When standing about during
great cold, the feet often get unbearably chilled if shod with
leather, which is a comparatively good conductor of heat.
Rubber conducts heat badly, and consequently keeps the
feet warm, especially when these coverings are lined with
felt or woollen material, as is usually done. Also, they keep
boots clean, which is a matter for consideration when oroin":
into the houses of other people. Mounted officers in Russia
wear hunting spurs, not box spurs.

Russian soldiers are light-hearted, easily - contented,
strongly - built, and obedient fellows, who are capable of
anything if properly led. De Simonof tells us in Les

40 FIRST TRIP TO RUSSIA

Races Chcvalines that in Russia there are on an averagfe
about twenty-six horses to every hundred inhabitants, which is
a far higher equine percentage than that of any other nation in
Europe or Asia. We cannot obtain an exact percentage for
England, because the official returns include only animals
that are owned by occupiers of land. The number of these
horses in the United Kingdom was 2,069,852 in 1898; the
human population being 38,104,895. This works out to a
trifle over 5 per cent. With all allowances, we would not be
justified in putting the percentage at more than 13, which
would be half that of Russia. Most of the peasants, from
whom the army is almost entirely recruited, have been
accustomed to ride from their youth upwards, and often
barebacked, which is the best of all means for shaking a
boy or man into his seat. Russian cavalry soldiers are
honourably distinguished by their great fondness for the
horses of which they are in charge. They caress and pet
them and give them dainties of the carrot and bread type
as often as they can. In Russia, the infamous practice of
standing-in with the corn merchant, which grooms in almost
every other country carry on, is happily unknown. I have
never seen ordinary working horses so well fed and so quiet
as in Russia. The condition of the horses belonorino- to even
the poorest owners contrasts very favourably with that of
horses in London, and still more so with the state of those in
Berlin.

Each Russian soldier gets daily 2\ lbs. of rye bread, and
6 oz. of meat without bone, which is made up with vegetables
into soup for his midday meal. Along with the soup he is
given a quantity of boiled kasha (buckwheat) to fill up the
interstices of his appetite. For his other meals he has to
depend on his loaf of rye bread. In the Cavalry Reserves,
the men get a second helping of kasha and soup at eight
o'clock in the morning, but without any increase in the

FOOD OF RUSSIAN SOLDIERS 41

quantity of meat. When I was at the Reserve depots, which
I shall describe later on, I was shown round the men's
barracks and cook-rooms, and must say that they are
comfortably lodged, and that every care is taken to make
their slender rations go as far as possible. The vegetable
soup, which is a national dish, is excellent in flavour and
most wholesome. In the making of good healthy soup, the
Russians are easily first. Their chief soups are stcJn and
borsli ; the former being made with white-heart cabbage, the
latter with sliced beetroot. I learned that the soldiers get
once a fortnight a hot bath, to which admirable institution I
shall ao-ain allude. The men have well-manaoed canteens,
at which they can buy, if they have got the money, various
kinds of necessaries and small luxuries, not forgetting vodka
and beer, at very reasonable prices. The men get a free
allowance of uniform and 57^ kopecks every two months,
which amounts to about three halfpence a week. I have
often been told, both by officers and men, that soldiers
without private means have a hard time to live in that service.
The Government supply of food and clothing is in many
cases supplemented by remittances from home. As the ranks
are filled by conscription, there are many soldiers whose
friends are able and willing to help them.

Army doctors and army veterinary surgeons occupy a
somewhat subordinate position, and are looked upon as
doctors and veterinary surgeons, but not as officers. More
than once, on seeing a gentleman in uniform pass, I have
asked a military acquaintance what officer that was, and have
received the reply: "He's not an officer; he's a doctor."
In Russia, all the colleges, like everything else, are
Government institutions, and are conducted under a system of
strict military discipline. Consequently, professional com-
bination is impossible, and without combination, professional
advancement is out of the question. On the other hand, as
6

42 FIRST TRIP TO RUSSIA

doctors and veterinary surgeons are educated by the State for
mere nominal fees, they have not the right to call the tune,
like the man who paid the piper.

A veterinary surgeon of twenty years' service gets 79
roubles a month ; 94^!; roubles being equal to ^10.

The social position of doctors in Russia is humble, to say
the least of it. Even those in civil practice have no fixed
fees : they take whatever their patients give them, like
waiters pocketing- a tip. Veterinary surgeons are held there
in still lower social repute, and their professional reputation
is at even a higher discount. I have met in Russia some
excellent veterinary surgeons ; but as very few of them own
or ride horses, people think that they do not know much
about the inner life of these animals. This want of confidence
in their horse-doctors renders Russians unsatisfactory folk to
sell horses to ; because, instead of having a horse examined
and the matter settled one way or the other, the buyer takes
the animal if he likes it, and then for at least the next six
months submits it to the criticism of his friends, who, to show
off their knowledge, try to find all the real and imaginary
faults they can in it. Considering the great number of
difficult subjects which are included in the province of
veterinary knowledge, it is impossible for a man to have a
sound acquaintance with all or even most of them. For
instance, I am as ignorant of "beasts," sheep, and pigs as
some of our great English cattle pathologists are of horses.
Even veterinary surgeons, whose practice is almost entirely
confined to cart-horses, cannot form a reliable opinion on the
capabilities of hunters and racehorses to stand work, with
the nature of which they are unacquainted. Most of us in
this country like a horsey man for a horse, a doggy man for
a dog, and so on. The majority of the members of my
profession have entered it because they are fond of horses,
and they devote themselves with special enthusiasm to their

VETERINARY SURGEONS

43

equine patients. There is certainly no profession in which
there are so many good horsemen as that which is under the
sway of the R.C.V.S. Hence, taking them all round, they
are far better judges of horses, from a lay as well as a pro-
fessional standpoint, than their continental confreres, who
regard these animals almost entirely from a clinical point of
view.

CHAPTER II

SECOND TRIP TO RUSSIA

Hunters — Quiet toRide — Horses on board Ship — Slings — ADeal — St.Petersburg —
Polo — The Hermitage — An Indian Raja — Ciniselli's Circus— High School
Riding — Baucher — James Fillis — General Avscharof — Colonel Ismailof —
General Derfelden — A Trip to the Interior — American Trainers — Doubrovka.

T RETURNED from Russia early in September, and was
fully occupied during my short stay at home in selecting
four horses for officers of the Chevaliers Gardes and one for the
Grand Duke Paul, who is an uncle of the Tzar. The laro-e
number of requirements which these horses had to fulfil made
the task of getting them difficult. First of all, they had to be
Irish mares. My horsey readers will know that mares of
the charo^er or hunter class are scarce in England, — a fact
which a perusal of the advertisements of Tattersall, or
Warner, Sheppard and Wade will amply demonstrate.
Foreigners like something to breed from, especially if it
comes from Ireland. The mares had to be bio-, crood-
looking, well-bred, showy, sound, young, and dead quiet ;
not a trace of light - heartedness being excusable in the
eyes of Sorel and his employers. W^e all know that
a staid demeanour, without a whisk of the tail or a cock
of the ears, is a rare attribute in man, woman, or beast
which is young, healthy and handsome. The honourable scars
of warfare inflicted on almost every seasoned hunter by
timber, stone walls and stiff hedo-es, are reo^arded on the
other side of the Channel as disqualifying disfigurements. I

YEOMANRY AND VOLUNTEERS 45

may mention In passing, that a hunter eight or nine years
old, other things being equal, is much more valuable In
Leicestershire than a five - year - old, and that few of the
hunting people there would care to trust their necks to a four-
year-old ; because experience and Its attendant sense cannot
be obtained without age. After a search through the three
kingdoms, I got what I sought. In the shape of big, up-
standing, weight-carrying Leicestershire hunters, and added
to my lot a remarkably good-looking seventeen hand grey
gelding, which I was certain would captivate the heart of the
Grand Duke Nicholas. I was In special trepidation about the
mare I had to bring out for Colonel Kasnakof ; because, just
before leaving Krasnoe Selo, Madame Kasnakof told me
that the mare would also have to carry her ! Russian officers,
copying the French, like to ride with the spurs close to their
animals' sides, so as to brush the hair with them — ejfleurer
les poils avec les eperons, as the followers of r equitation savante
express It. That's bad enough in all conscience ; but It is
nothing to the constant tickling with the spur and whip to which
Continental ladles subject their mounts. In my trouble I
went to Mr. Sam Hames, and appealed to him to help me.
He said he knew only one animal In England which would
suit all the requirements I reeled off to him, and that one he
kept for the exclusive use of field officers of the yeomanry
and volunteers. Thinkino- that such a testimonial of steadi-
ness and a month's trial were good enough for anything, I
brought the mare home to Crick, and handed her over to my
wife to ride for four weeks, during which time we found the
mare to be absolutely confidential. Besides, she was hand-
some, showy, and had a perfect mouth with which a bad
rider could take liberties.

Towards the end of October I embarked at Hull with the
horses on board the S.S. Rinaldo, which belongs to the
Wilson Line and Is commanded by Captain Jones. I like

46 SECOND TRIP TO RUSSIA

the Wilson Line, because their office people and captains are
most obliging- in every way. In order to be prepared for any
breaking that might be required, I brought out a fine young
horseman by the name of " Dick" to act as rough-rider. He
was a willing, good chap, and I hope that I will be able to
give him another job with me on some future occasion. I
have had a fair amount of experience taking horses by sea to
and from India, and have learned that the great safeguard
to be attended to with them on board, is to put thick coir
matting of the door-mat type on the floors of their boxes. A
horse having four legs can naturally keep his footing on a
rocking surface better than a biped like a man, provided of
course that his feet do not slip, which they are extremely
likely to do on bare boards, seeing that horses' feet, even
when unshod, are comparatively smooth. When standing on
this matting, the animal's hoofs become embedded in its long,
upright fibres, so that slipping is out of the question. When
horses are carried on deck, as mine always have been, a
heavy sea may strike a box and wash It overboard, or smash
it to pieces. With the precautions usually taken by capable
seamen, this accident will rarely happen, except of course,
when a vessel becomes wrecked. The vast majority of equine
casualties on board ship result from the sufferers losing their
foothold and becoming dashed against the sides of their boxes,
or struggling until they have fatally injured themselves. This,
as I have shown, Is an absolutely preventable misfortune, and
when it occurs should be put down to gross ignorance or
culpable carelessness. Many valuable horses, including the
once mighty Blue Gown, have been lost from being knocked
about when crossing the Western Ocean. When horses used
to be sent round the Cape to India in " wind-jambers " for
stud purposes, most of the survivors became affected with
chronic fever in the feet from long standing on hard boards,
in which case the pressure falls almost entirely on the wall of

HORSES ON BOARD SHIP 47

the hoofs, instead of Its being distributed over the whole
of the lower surface of the feet. The employment of coir
mattinor for the feet and cotton waddino- bandages (see
Veterinary Notes for Horse-owners) for the legs, so as to
maintain the due circulation of blood in these parts, is the
best means for preventing this disease among horses which
have to travel by sea.

The improper application of slings under horses on board
ship has been the cause of many a good animal losing his
life. Contrary to an opinion which is far too common among
ignorant people, the legitimate use of slings is to enable a
horse to bear on them when he likes, and not to lift him off
his legs. It stands to reason that the more weight is taken
off a horse's legs by slings, the more insecure will be his foot-
hold, and the more liable will he be to be dashed against the
sides of his box in the event of the ship pitching and rolling.
Horse-boxes should of course be placed athwart ships, and
not fore and aft ; because the inclination of the deck is much
greater when a lively ship rolls than when she pitches.

I landed the horses all right at St. Petersburg, to
which place the Chevaliers Gardes had returned after
the manoeuvres at Krasnoe Selo. Colonel Kasnakof was
so overjoyed with his mare that he thanked me afresh
every time he met me ; and to do me a good turn, he got
the Grand Duke Nicholas to come and see the six horses I
had brought out. On the previous day I was told that they
were to be shown in one of the riding schools belonging to
the Chevaliers Gardes, and that I was to jump the grey in the
school for the Grand Duke. On hearing that news I hastened
off to the school with the gelding to try him over some
hurdles ; for I knew that he had never performed in a
manege, and that " made" hunters are often very averse from
being larked over artificial obstacles in cold blood. The
light was bad in the school, and the grey being disconcerted

48 SFXOND TRIP TO RUSSIA

by his novel surroundings, took off too soon, caught his hind
legs in the fence, and blundered on to his head. Finding
that he was frightened, and not wanting to upset him in the
semi-darkness, I sent him back to his stable.

Next morning, the Grand Duke Nicholas, the Grand
Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, several other nobles, A. D.C.'s,
and regimental officers arrived in the school, and the horses
were paraded before them. The animals most admired were
Colonel Kasnakofs mare and the grey gelding, which I
mounted and put through his paces. I tried to get off jump-
ing him in the school, and explained that his sphere of action
was outside, and that I would be happy to show how he
could lep in the open ; but all to no purpose, for the Grand
Duke Nicholas would brook no refusal. I did my best to
make him jump, but he would not go near the obstacle,
despite all the humouring I could give him. I felt that with
a fight I could make him jump ; but such a victory would, I
knew, be worse than a defeat, because it would upset his
temper, and would in all probability render him difficult to be
ridden by the Grand Duke, in case he wanted to try him. I
put the best construction I could on the animal's wayward-
ness, got off, and let him be mounted by an officer whom the
Grand Duke had specially brought with him to ride the grey.
Not being in any way upset, he carried this officer in such
nice style that the Grand Duke got up himself and trotted
and cantered him with evident satisfaction. Then came the
question of price. Above all things I wanted the Grand
Duke to have him ; because the purchase would with luck be
a valuable advertisement for me. Consequendy, I said only
2500 roubles, which is as near as possible 250 guineas. As
Russians resemble ladies in their love of a bargain. His
Imperial Highness would not go beyond 2000 roubles, so I
let him have the horse at that really cheap price. A
week or two afterwards, Colonel Kasnakof told me that

BAD MANAGEMENT 49

the Grand Duke had desired him to inform me that he
was greatly pleased with the grey, who, so the Grand Duke
said, was getting every day handsomer and handsomer, which
really meant fatter and fatter.

The fine grey weight-carrying hunting mare which I
had selected for the Duke Paul, and which I had bouo-ht for
a long price from Mr. Sam Hames, had bad luck from gross
mismanaoement. On the morninor after her arrival in the
stables of the Chevaliers Gardes, the veterinary surgeon of
that regiment wanting to be a bit zealous, especially as she
belonged to a Grand Duke, produced his clinical ther-
mometer, took her temperature, and conveyed her out of my
sight for ever. As far as I could see, there was nothing the
matter with the mare beyond her being slightly upset by the
sudden transition from the keen sea air of early winter to a
hot and badly ventilated loose box. Sorel tells me that as
soon as she had recovered from her supposed indisposition,
which she did in a few days, she was sent out of town to the
Grand Duke's stables. No provision having been made for
her clothing, she went out without a single rug on her, with
the temperature a long way below freezing-point. As a
mistake had been made about the time of the departure of
the train, the mare was kept standing outside the station for
some hours, with the natural result that she got inflammation
of the lungs and went wrong in her wind. Had I been
informed, as I ought to have been, of her intended move-
ment, I would of course have taken every necessary provi-
sion for her comfort and safety, and would have seen her
boxed in the train.

I learned that several of the officers who saw my break-
ing before the Grand Duke at Krasnoe Selo, and possibly
the Grand Duke himself, did not look upon my work that
day as a proof that I was capable of tackling the wild horses
of the steppes. In this they were quite right, and I was
7

50 SECOND TRIP TO RUSSIA

only too glad to hear, that before giving me an engagement,
the Grand Duke wished to try me in a manner which would
settle the question one way or the other. While waiting
about three weeks for this trial to take place, I stayed with
" Dick" in a Russian hotel on the Nevsky, and saw a good deal
of St. Petersburg, This city, which is on the banks of the
broad and deep Neva (Figs, ii and 12), has immensely wide
streets, of which the most fashionable is probably the Bolshaya
Morskaya (Fig. 13). The houses are large and lofty, but
the too liberal use of stucco on their outside grives them an
air of pretence to initiated eyes. St. Petersburg has over a
million inhabitants, who are pretty thickly crowded together,
and as its site is on fiat ground almost on the level of the
sea, its drainage is so imperfect that everyone tries to live
out of it, until the cold of the seven months' winter allays
the activity of disease bacteria. H.I.M. the Tzar generally
spends the summer at Livadia in the Crimea, and rich people
betake themselves to the country, Tzarskoe Selo, Krasnoe
Selo, Peterhof, or to the island of Krestofsky, which is on the
other side of the river, and which for the greater part belongs
to Prince Beloselsky. This fine old sportsman generously
gave the local polo club the ground on which their members
play. The leading spirits of the club are Prince Serge
Beloselsky, who is the old prince's son ; Mr. Tamplin, who
used to be well known with the Brighton Harriers ; and
Davey, who is the old prince's groom, and who provides his
employer's firstborn with horse-knowledge. Davey is an
old Melton Mowbray man, and is a thoroughly capable hunt-
ing groom. He takes his young prince to Pau, and sees that
no bones are broken and no wrong horses bought. When I
said tentatively to him : " Why not Leicestershire ? " he shook
his head and smiled. Prince Serge is very amiable. When
I first had the pleasure of meeting him, he was very English.
He had a set of boxing gloves hung up in his room. He

ST. PETERSBURG POLO CLUB

51

actually journeyed to England, and went out on two occa-
sions cub-hunting with the Eastbourne Hounds and the
Crawley and Horsham, if I remember rightly. When I last
saw him, he was very Trench and was wrapped up in high
school riding. The polo club is chiefly supported by English
residents. Russian officers do not take kindly to the game,

Photo by'] [j/_ //, //_

Fig. II. — The Admiralty, Neva and Fortress in the distance, as seen from
the top of St. Isaac's Cathedral.

which omission is not altogether their fault. The Grand
Duke Boris, who is very keen about horses and sport, joined
the club and played at first with enthusiasm, but soon retired
on account, I believe, of the forcible Anglo-Saxon " language "
that was flying about during the play.

The most noticeable buildino- in St. Petersburg is the
beautiful cathedral of St. Isaac (Fig. 14). I took this

52 SECOND TRIP TO RUSSIA

photograph In the middle of winter, but had previously
taken others (Figs, ii and 12) from the top of the cathedral,
so as to get views comprising both banks of the Neva. I
obtained these photographs from the highest spot on
the river-bank, by oiling the palm of an attendant ; but
when I tried to repeat the performance, my very civilly
worded request excited much wrath in the priest to whom I
applied.

The Hermitage is an extraordinary valuable and beauti-
fully arranged museum and collection of art galleries, In
which, among" many other priceless paintings, are several
marvellously fine specimens of the work of Van Dyck and
Murillo. The attention of the lover of horses will be cauo^ht
by a, large silver gilt Greek vase of the fourth or fifth century
before Christ. On it we find fio-ures of men engrao-ed In
holding horses with a lasso, as far as I could judge. In one
of the groups, a fore leg is being tied up.

There is a laroe number of interesting horse relics to be
seen in the Museum of the Imperial Carriages, the saddest
of all beincT the shattered carriaoe In which the noble-minded
Alexander 11. rode on the day of his assassination. Unlike
many of my countrymen, I have no sympathy with Nihilists
and other Anarchists, who in no way voice the wishes of
the people, and are consequently not entitled to oppose a
Government. Luckily for law-abiding people in Russia, the
police are well organised there. If I were a ruler against
whom Anarchists had a grudge, I would obey the counsel of
my head adviser, or sack him. There was once an Indian
prince who was too fond of "pegs" composed of brandy
and champagne. The English Government sent him a doctor
who had orders to prevent him if possible from drinking to
excess. Despite the advice of the new medical man, the
Raja continued in his old ways, being encouraged therein by
his courtiers, who resented the presence of the Englishman.

THE RAJA

53

At last the doctor lost patience with his charge and told him
that if he didn't stop drinking, he would die within a year.
The Raja paid no attention to the warning, and after nine
months of the time had elapsed, he chaffingly remarked to
his people that the doctor's prophecy would in all probability
turn out to be incorrect, as he felt uncommonly fit and well.

Photo l>y\ [-'/. //. //.

P"iG. 12. — Neva and Nicholas Bridge, as seen from the top of St. Isaac's Cathedral.

" King of kings," replied one of his Bralimins, "do you think
that the Doctor Sahib is so foolish as to let his words come
to naught and thus lose his great reputation for wisdom ? "
Struck by the force of this observation, the Raja begged
the Brahmin to tell him by what means he might avert
the impending calamit)\ The Brahmin answered that if the

54 SECOND TRIP TO RUSSIA

doctor remained at the court, the Raja must of course die ;
but that if he was removed, no accident could occur. So
the Raja sent a petition to Government for the recall of the
doctor, who thus lost a good appointment that he might have
held for the many years during which the Raja continued
spirit-proof.

At St. Petersburg, Ciniselli's circus is a great rendezvous
for the world and his wife on Sunday evenings. This
circus was established under imperial patronage by Gaetano
Ciniselli, who was a distinguished school rider and pupil
of Baucher, the great high priest of la haute ^coie. I may
explain that this is the art by which a rider can make his
horse do such things as cantering backwards, cantering on
three legs, performing the Spanish trot, and other wonderful
and equally useless airs de manege, the performance of which
are regarded by Russian officers as the highest proofs of
good training and fine horsemanship. To do any of these
movements, the horse has to go through a long course of
special instruction ; and after that, he is not more capable
than he was before, of doing anything spontaneous. For
instance, the best school rider in the world on the most
highly trained school horse, could not get him to change
from a trot into an amble without the animal having been
previously taught to do so. I venture here to repeat some
remarks I made on high school riding in Among Men and
Horses, which book is now out of print and will not be
again published. To obtain the desired precision in this
circus work, it is necessary that the horse should resign the
initiative absolutely to his rider, who, consequently, has to
continue the application of certain aids (reins, whip and spurs),
or change them as may be required. For instance, if a horse
is cantering forward with the off fore leading, and the rider
turns him to the left without altering the aids, the animal
will continue to lead with the off fore, instead of changing

SCHOOL RIDING

:):)

to the near fore as he would naturally do, were he not under
artificial compunction. Or, if he met in his onward course
a dangerous inequality in the ground, he would, instead of
going off to one side or the other, go into or on top of it
with the chance of injuring himself and his rider, unless his

Photo 6y]

Fig. 13. — Bolshaya Morskaya Street.

[M. H. H.

fear of an accident was greater than his sense of discipline.
It is evident that a horse which is habitually forced to depend
solely on his rider for guidance, will in time lose to a great
extent his instinct of self-preservation when being ridden,
and will consequently become an unsafe, conveyance over
bad ground or across country. In fact, the less developed

56 SECOND TRIP TO RUSSIA

a horse's natural cleverness is, other things being equal,
the better school horse will he prove. Owing to the
mechanical condition of mind into which school horses are
brought by their training, they are bad for outdoor work.
With hunters on the contrary, we seek to make them self-
reliant, and we fare best when we interfere with them as
little as possible. Valuable school horses are rarely used
outside of the manege, because it is found that hacking,
hunting and similar work tend to unfit them for the circus
line of business. It is said that Baucher never rode outside
a manege or circus. On one occasion, a nobleman of high
rank came into the school belonging to Baucher, who at
that moment was riding a beautifully trained horse, on which
he performed a number of elaborate evolutions for the benefit
of his distinguished visitor. While they were talking to-
gether, the nobleman suddenly remembered that he had
forgotten to post an important letter which he had in his
pocket. Drawing it out he handed it to the great dcuyer
and asked him to ride down with it to the nearest post-office.
"Your Highness," replied Baucher, "I am overwhelmed
with regret that I am unable just at present to obey your
orders ; but if you will wait three months, so as to give me
time to train my horse to go outside, I will then be delighted
to take the letter for you." Considering that fully two years
as a rule are required to train a horse to do a sufficient
number of school airs — say, eight or ten — to make a good
show, and that by the end of the required time the animal
is generally rendered unsound from the excessive strain
thrown on his joints, tendons and ligaments, we need not
be surprised that la haute (fco/e, except for circus work, has
fallen into disrepute both in France and Germany.

M. James Fillis (Fig. 15), was the great attraction at
Ciniselli's circus, where he rode his well -trained horses.
Fillis was born in London of English parents and went

M. JAMES FILLIS

57

at an early age to France where he got engaged as a juvenile
performer in a circus. As time went on, he developed great
love for horses and soon beo'an to train for maneo-e work
according to his own inspiration. Fillis is a slight, active,
wiry man of about 8 st, 7 lbs. in weight, and sixty-five years

Photo by\ [J/. H. H.

Fig. 14. — St. Isaac's Cathedral in winter.

of age. He is very much of the same kind of build as was
poor George Fordham, and no doubt would have been a
brilliant jockey, had he entered that line. He is very
energetic and is always true to his favourite motto, en
avant. Baucher and his followers were academic and slow ;
Fillis is original and full of impulsion. The first time I saw

58 SECOND TRIP TO RUSSIA

Fillls was in Circus Rentz at Hamburg, to which place my
wife and I journeyed in order to have the pleasure of witness-
ing his performances on his clever horses Germinal and
Markir. What we liked specially about Fillis's work was
that the horse he rode walked into and round the ring in
ordinary style, and without a trace of excitement or exag-
gerated." collection," until he began his particular act. As
soon as the animal had finished his numdro, he resumed his
placid way of going, which showed that his brilliancy was
not the result of his having been tortured. Fillis is certainly
the greatest master of this kind of ridino^. Althous^h he is
a naturalised Frenchman, his heart is English, and I am
sure that nothing would give him greater pleasure than to
have his skill recognised in England. I would be glad to
help him to attain that end, were it possible. The difficulty
of course is that in Encrland, ridinof means ridino^ to hounds,
which has not much in common with school performances.
In Fillis's Principes de Dressage et d Eqidtatio^i, his methods
are well described and beautifully illustrated. I may mention
in passing, that Frank Fillis, who is at present running the
South African show at Olympia in London, is James Fillis's
nephew. I used to see a good deal of Frank Fillis some
years ago, when he had a circus in Calcutta, where my wife
and I were living at that time. He is a good showman, and
has big ideas.

Being an Irishman, I naturally regard hunting as the
best of all sports ; yet school riding has undoubtedly
some good points, especially for teaching a horse to go in
a collected manner, and for making him obedient to hand
and leg. It is particularly applicable to the training of army
horses and polo ponies. Besides, in the manege, one is pro-
tected from rain and snow ; the place can be artificially
heated ; the ground inside it is very soft if one happens to
fall off; and if one's horse runs away, he cannot go very far.

Photo hy\

\voii Hahn ct^ Co., Vzarskoc Selo.
Fk;. 15. — M. James Fillis.

GENERAL AVSCHAROF 6i

About this time, M. James Fillis left Ciniselli's circus,
where he was orettine i8o oruineas a month, if I remember
rightly, and went to the Imperial riding school, and after-
wards to the Cavalry Officers' Riding School, which is near
the Smolny Monastery at the end of Shpalerneya Street.
He is now fulfilling a three years' appointment as Ecnycr
en Chef ^'i the Officers' School, where he is doing excellent
service in improving the Russian methods of military riding,
and in making the officers work, which is the one thing-
above all others they dislike. The institution of serfdom
was no doubt a potent factor in the inculcation of the doctrine
that work is fit only for slaves. The climate of Russia and
the manner of living in that country are not conducive to
energy. Also, the course of instruction at the Officers'
School is carried on during winter, which is the gay season
in St. Petersburg. Russian officers are very fond of society,
and naturally resent being kept away from it by any excess
of military duty. Fillis tells me that before he went to the
school, none of the eight professors of riding who were there,
o^ot on a horse durino- the whole of the winter ; their custom
being to order and expound, but not to illustrate. That was
all changed when Fillis arrived on the scene ; for he rightly
insisted that the teachers should be taught, and so they had
to spend a portion of what had been their spare time in
bumping round the school. The only one who escaped this
annoying innovation was General Avscharof, who is short,
stout, white haired and an Armenian. Although he is
supposed to be one of the greatest authorities on horseman-
ship in Russia, he doesn't ride ; because, so Fillis told me,
he gets giddy if he mounts a horse. How he obtained his
riding experience is a mystery I have been unable to solve.

The Russian officers I met were very civil, and I dined
with General Toutilmine, who is the Grand Duke Nicholas'
chief assistant, and other officials.

62 SECOND TRIP TO RUSSIA

At last instructions came from the Grand Duke Nicholas
that I was to proceed with General Derfelden of the
Russian remount department, to the remount depot of
Shandrovka, which is in Little (Southern) Russia and is
about 150 miles north of the Crimea. I received the
liberal allowance of 300 roubles (30 guineas) from the
Minister of War for my expenses, and the general, Dick
and I started by train from St. Petersburg with a Colonel
Ismailof, who was on his way to the Grand Duke Dimitry's
horse-breeding stud at Doubrovka, of which he is in charge.
This officer spoke English fluently, was very pleasant,
and had lived for some years in America, where, so the
general told me, he had worked as a labourer. He is full
of energy, rather stout, and although he is not a riding
man, he is fairly well up in English and American horse
literature. During the World's Columbian Exposition of
1893 ^t Chicago, Colonel Ismailof took out for the show
several Russian horses, chiefly on behalf of the Grand Duke
Dimitry and the Russian State Administration of Studs
and Horse-breeding. Starr, the American trotter trainer,
tells me that the Americans did their best to encouraoe the
Russians by giving prizes to their animals, although they
did not admire them much. In fact, one prize-winner
fetched only 30 dollars when put up for sale.

On our long railway journey. General Derfelden was
silent, depressed, and apparently bored on account of
being obliged to see a system of breaking which could,
in his opinion, by no possibility be equal to the old
Russian plan that has been practised since the year
one. It was also hard on him to be sent into the wilds
with us, away from the winter gaieties of St. Petersburg
which were just commencing. I was sorry to have been
the cause of his dejection, and tried my best without
success to remove it by talking "horse," which was a

A TROIKA 63

subject he really understood a good deal about, although
he did not care to discuss it with me. Colonel Ismailof on
the contrary was very cheery, and when we approached
Kharkof, which is about 800 miles from St. Petersburg, he
insisted that we should all go with him to the Doubrovka
stud. Having the Shandrovka trial in front of me, I

m

riioto by\

.„..-c Sc/cy.

Fig. 16.— a Tioika.

did not at all relish the proposed delay, much as I would
have enjoyed the visit another time. The Colonel in
his hearty, pleasant manner would brook no refusal, and
said that we would travel and be put up at the expense
of the Grand Duke, who had evidently inspired the
Colonel. We o-ot out at Kharkof, which is a laroe old
Russian city, then branched off to the west, and after a

64 SECOND TRIP TO RUSSIA

somewhat tiresome journey, arrived at a small wayside
station about half-way from between Kharkof and Kief.
Troikas (Fig, i6) and immense fur overcoats were waiting
for us, and the drivers took us as quickly as their horses could
gallop through the fast falling snow and across the dreary
plain to the Grand Duke's establishment, which consists
of a few houses and a laroe number of stables, ridino-
schools and a straight covered drive a quarter of a
mile long.

Two Americans, Starr and Murphy, presided over the
traininor of the trotters, and had under them several Russian
drivers and an army of grooms, strappers and boys. Starr
and Murphy were well paid and had, if I remember rightly,
lo per cent, on all the winnings at the various trotting
meetings at which the Grand Duke's horses competed.
In hazarding a guess, I would put their earnings at about
;^40 a month each, exclusive of "chances," which play a
larger part in Russian stable economy than even in English.
The straight quarter of a mile covered drive was an im-
portant feature of the place. It was laid down with
sawdust, which was kept moist during dry weather by
having pounded rock-salt sprinkled over it ; the quantity
employed from time to time being sufficient to give
the surface a coating resembling that of hoar-frost. i
need hardly say that salt acts here by reason of its great
affinity for water, which in this case it absorbs from the
atmosphere. Colonel Ismailof put us up in comfortable
quarters, gave us the best of eating and drinking, and
paraded for my inspection during the two or three days
of my stay at Doubrovka, all of the very large number
of brood mares, colts, fillies and stallions in the place.
Just before our departure, the expected report book was
produced, and I wrote down a supposed spontaneous
account of my impressions. I did not like the way this

DIPLOMACY

65

report was obtained, and would have been much better
pleased, had Colonel Ismailof in the first instance, said
to me that the Grand Duke would like me to see the
horses and report on them ; but a Russian is nothing if not
a diplomatist.

CHAPTER III

ORLOF TROTTERS

Count Alexis Orlof-Tchestmensky — Origin of the Orlof Trotter — Arabs— Count
Orlofs System of Training — Count Rostopchin — Management of Young-
Stock — Tuberculosis.

THE breed of Orlof trotters was founded by Count
Alexis Orlof-Tchestmensky, whose doings in con-
nection with Peter iii. and the unhappy Princess Tarakanova
are told by Castera in his Histoire de Catherine II. After
Catherine had discarded Gregory Orlof in favour of
Potemkin as her official lover, Alexis had the satisfaction of
knocking out one of the eyes of his brother's rival, and then
sought distraction in breeding horses. Before the formation
of his stud, there was no breed of horses specially known as
Russian trotters. The oreat founder of this strain of blood
was an Arab which was called Smetanka and which was
imported in 1775. United with a Dutch mare, he produced
the stallion Polkan, who in 1784 sired Barss, whose dam was
a Dutch mare. All the Orlof trotters are descended from
the three sons of Barss : Lubeznoy, Dobroy, and Lebed.
The dam of Lubeznoy was by an Arab out of a Mecklenburg
mare. The dam of Dobroy was a thoroughbred English
mare. The dam of Lebed was by Felkerzamchik out of a
Mecklenburg mare ; and Felkerzamchik was by Smetanka
out of a thoroughbred English mare. The Dutch dam
of Barss came from a breed that was famous for their

FUNERAL HORSES 67

trotting powers and which had probably a good deal to
say to the formation of the old Norfolk roadsters. Polkan's
Danish dam is described as havino- been a strono- larofe-
boned animal ; and Barss, as a muscular horse with elegant
trotting action. Count Alexis had at his stud in 1772,
the followino- varied assortment of animals : —

Arab . .

12

stallions

and

10

mares.

Persian

0

0

J ^

2

> )

English

20

, ,

32

, ^

Dutch . .

I

,,

8

,,

Danish

I

) )

0

) )

Mecklenburg

I

^ ^

5

> 1

Miscellaneous

9

,,

17

) >

As might be expected from their breeding, the Orlof
trotters are of no distinctive type, and are divided into heavy
and light trotters. The majority of them indicate the pos-
session of vulgar relations by their large and hairy fetlocks,
fiddle heads and goose rumps. The cart strain as usual
comes out in the head, legs and setting on of the tail ; and
the Eastern blood, in the body. Fig. 17 shows an Orlof
trotter of fair harness type though not of high class. With
inherited trotting faculty, long legs, and light and short body,
many of them can trot at a great pace, but they are poor
stayers. They admirably suit the requirements of fashionable
Russians, who love to go as fast as their coachmen can drive
them, even over the roughest cobble stone pavement, which
of course does not suit the big fetlocks. They rarely stand
more than a couple of years of this kind of work, and then
they gradually descend towards the cab rank. As a rule,
ordinary carriage horses of this blood stand over 15.3, and
are black. The entires of this colour are exactly like the
funeral horses which are imported into England. As subjects
for illustrations I have taken chiefly grey horses ; because that

68 ORLOF TROTTERS

colour comes out best in photographs. In Russia, it is not the
custom to add carriao^e horses to the Hst of oreldins^s. Some of
the match trotters are very fast, and have got inside 2 minutes
20 seconds for the mile. A few of these trotters are of a nice
harness type, being on comparatively short legs and showing
a dash of Arab blood. The majority of this kind (Figs. 18 and
19) are grey. On first seeing them, I thought they were a
distinct variety of Russian horses, but could obtain no data
in support of that conjecture. They therefore appear to be
chance produce which have thrown back more to the Arab
than to the cart-horse. Eighteen years' acquaintance with
Arabs in the East makes me sceptical of the justness of many
of the claims to pure Arab descent made by owners on behalf
of their animals. Few of the so-called Arabs met with in
Turkey, Syria and Egypt are true Sons of the Desert. Even
the large majority of animals termed Arabs that are sent from
the Persian Gulf to Bombay every year, are Persians or non-
descripts that figure under the title of Gulf Arabs. In
England, despite the efforts made to spread information on
this subject by Mr. Blunt, Miss Dillon and General Tweedie,
ignorance about Arabs is almost as great as it is in Russia.
As a case in point I may mention that I brought back about
twelve years ago from India, a grey Arab pony called Magic
which I sold to Mr. W. H. Walker. This animal was hand-
some, fast and carried his flag in true Arab style. He had
been imported into Bombay from the Persian Gulf; but
beyond that fact, nothing was known of his breeding. Yet
our sapient stud-book authorities inscribe his name on their
roll of equine nobility and omit that of New Oswestry ! As
no records of the breedino- of the horses that are sent from
the Persian Gulf are kept, we have to accept the word of
their native importers, which appears to be good enough
for Messrs. Weatherby. In India, knowing that the native
dealers are entirely ignorant of the breeding of their animals,

^

COLONEL VALENTINE BAKER

71

we pay no heed to their description, and for purchase, judge
solely by looks and action. In fact, every horse imported
from the Gulf is entitled to run as an Arab in India, and
consequently that designation out there, is no distinguishing

Photo by\

[L. C. Gorodetzsky, Tzarskoc Sclo.

Fig. 18. — An Orlof Trotter.

mark of purity of blood. The last time I had the pleasure of
speaking to poor Colonel Valentine Baker, when he was in
Cairo, he fully agreed with me that the best Arabs were sent
to India : what then, I may ask, are the others?

Colonel Ismailof in the catalogue of Russian horses which

72 ORLOF TROTTERS

he wrote for the Chicago Exposition of 1893, tells us that
Professor Strachof and Jicharef, who were Moscow con-
temporaries of Count Orlof, described as follows the way in
which he exercised his horses :

"In front of his mansion in Moscow he had built a race-
course 1400 feet long (a little over ^ mile), the ends of which
were marked by four jaw-bones of whales. Old-timers assert
that the Count's horses made this distance in less than 30
seconds, and they remember how a servant stood on the
course with a large timepiece of the size of a soup plate, over
the dial of which ran a big second hand, and how he reported
the time made to the Count after the race ; this time seldom
exceeding 30 seconds. Coming to the end of the course
the Count slowed up and made the semi-circular turn of about
400 feet at a good walking pace. Reaching the straight
portion again, he pulled on the reins and again his horse
trotted for ^ mile, making the turn at the other end slowly.
When he had speeded one horse four times over the course,
the Count released it and took his seat in another sleigh or
drojky, racing the fresh horse also four times over the track."
Colonel Ismailof tells us that "these exercises were a very
important factor in the production of the trotting breed, as
not only the stallions but also the mares, to which he paid a
good deal of attention, were trained in this way. It is in-
teresting to note that this system of exercising horses adopted
by Count Orlof a hundred and twenty-six years ago is
almost identical with that of Charles Marvin, the celebrated
trainer of the Palo Alto stud. Mr. Marvin says in his book.
Training the Trotting Horse : "I am not prepared to say
that the length of the brush should ever be increased to over
a quarter of a mile."

The servant who stood on the track with the soup plate
dial and the second hand clamped to the half minute in
ante sulkey and ante pneumatic tyre days, was evidently as

THE GRAND DUKE DIMITRY

1Z

artful a diplomatist as his master. "Wha wad sup wi' the
Deil, maun hae a lang spune."

Count Alexis Orlof died in 1810 and his widow sold the
stud to the Russian Government in 1845. ^^ exists now at
Khrenovaya in the government of Varonej, which is to the
south of Moscow. From this Orlof stud, all the other

Photo by\

[L. C. Gorodetzky, Tzarskoe Selo.
Fig. 19. — A pair of Orlof Trotters.

Russian trottincr studs were formed. The Grand Duke
Dimitry purchased the country around Doubrovka from the
Derfelden family, and formed a stud there in 1888 with pure
Orlof trotters, pure Orlovo-Rostopchin saddle horses, English
thoroughbreds, and pure Ardenne farm horses of the
mountain type.

Count Rostopchin, who was a contemporary of Count

74 ORLOF TROTTERS

Alexis Orlof, was a great rival of his in horse-breeding. He
bred only from English thoroughbreds and Arabs. His stud
was also bought by the Russian Government and was mixed
with the Orlof saddle horses, which were produced almost
entirely from Arabs and English thoroughbred blood, with a
dash of Danish. Therefore, Russian stud saddle horses are
known as the Orlovo-Rostopchin breed.

Although Count Alexis Orlof undoubtedly did more than
anyone else in developing the trotting strain in Russia, he
was by no means the first who tried to improve the native
horses by the admixture of foreign blood. Tooke ( View of
The Russian Empire), who lived in Russia during the last
half of the eighteenth century, tells us that in the proper
Russian provinces horses are so general, "that we seldom
see a peasant, however poor his condition, who does not
possess a horse or two ; and excepting in the Ukraine, this
animal is universally employed in the works of the field. It
is somewhat curious that the genuine Russian horse, not-
withstanding the great diversity of climate, of nurture, of
attendance, of provender, etc., is almost everywhere un-
commonly alike ; have all ram-like heads, long and meagre
neck, a broad breast, and are very compact. There are
excellent runners among them ; they are indefatigable and
hardy, but not handsome, and withal extremely obstinate and
shy. In several regions of the empire this native race has
been ennobled by foreign stallions, and the Governments of
Mosco, Tambof, Kazan, Simbirsk, with several others,
produce large, beautiful and strong horses. Lithuania has
always supplied the cavalry with this necessary ; a good kind
of pony is found in the district of Archangel, and for their
fleetness and lasting powers the Livonian nags are very
famous ; but the crenuine breed of them beoins to be scarce.
The Tartarian horses are of such known excellence, particularly
for the use of light cavalry, that this species needs here no

RUSSIAN STUDS 75

further description. But the improvements that have been
made in Taurida [Crimea] in some of the studs by the com-
mixture with Turkish and Arabian horses, so as greatly to
improve the native breed, deserves to be particularly noticed.
The race which the Kozaks of the Euxine have introduced
into the isle of Taman and along the river Kuban will far
excel the Tartarian. The Caucasian horses are but little
inferior to the Arabian in regard of beauty, spirit and docility,
but the Bukharian pye-balls will dispute the palm with them
in regard to the first of these advantages. To these mostly
native races, the catalogue of which might be easily
lengthened, may still be added some foreign breeds,
particularly the Danish and English, the propagation of
which is greatly attended to in the numerous studs belong-
ing to the Crown, and in those of wealthy landlords. Of the
Governments in which the breeding of horses is principally
attended to, or wdiere they are kept in studs, the principal
are Mosco, Kharkof, Orel, Nijni - Novgorod, Simbirsk,
Tambof, Voronetch, Kief, Ekatarinoslaf, Vosnesensk, Bratzlau,
etc. Formerly the large horses for the cavalry were fetched
from Prussia, Denmark, and other countries ; at present
they are taken out of the studs or brought up in the country.
A Russian cavalry horse must not, according to the difference
of the corps, be under two arshines two vershoks, or two
arshines. In some of the cuirassier regiments we may see
horses two arshines hve vershoks in height." I may explain
that an arshine is 28 inches ; and a vershok, if inch.

At the Doubrovka stud, they begin to have the mares
covered on the 15th February, so as to save the year, as in
England ; and finish on the ist July, both dates being Russian
time, which is twelve days later than that of the Gregorian
calendar observed by us. The young stock go through the
following course of feeding and exercise : The foal remains
with its dam for four to six months, accordino- to the condition

76 ORLOF TROTTERS

of the youngster, and according to the length of time the
mare may have been pregnant. If the foal does not thrive
on its dam's milk, it is taken away after four months. Oats
are o-iven to the foal as well as to the dam, when the foal is
from fourteen to twenty-one days old, and are gradually in-
creased, so that it gets about 3f lbs. a day when it is weaned.
At this stage, the young ones are taken to a mountainous and
large paddock, where they are fed on oats, grass and hay and
remain there until ist October. If the grass turns hard and
dry from the sun, each of them receives about i^ lb. of
carrots daily. They are all taught to drink milk, so that if
they get strangles or any other debilitating disease, they may
take milk readily without having to be drenched. Weakly foals
are given as much as six quarts a day; rich milk being avoided.
If there be any suspicion of tuberculosis with regard to the
cows, these animals are tested with tuberculin. Tuberculosis
is almost unknown among steppe cattle, which also exhibit
considerable immunity to rinderpest. These cattle vary in
colour from dark iron grey to light grey, cream or dirty white.
They have thick curly hair on their foreheads, are capital beef
producers, but the cows are poor milkers. From the ist
October (Russian style) all the foals are put to artificial
exercise by being led — one boy to two foals — at a walk on a
stone floor. At first, twenty-five minutes a day of this work is
given ; the time being increased by about ten minutes a week,
until it amounts to one and a half hours a day in three different
periods. They are then on alternate days exercised at liberty
in a riding school for a quarter of a mile to one and a half
mile, and are taken in a drove for two to six miles at a walk ;
though some of course run about in play.

The hours are as follows : They are watered and fed (with
hay and oats) at 5 a.m. ; noon ; 4 p.m. ; and 7 p.m. At 8 p.m.
they are given hay and are left for the night. At 6.30 a.m.
they are exercised by being led for twenty to twenty-five

TREATMENT OF FOALS ']']

minutes, after which they are taken to their boxes, where
they generally lie down. At about 8.30 a.m. they are worked
at liberty in the manege or they go to the paddock, or later
on to the steppe, which is equivalent to the South African
veldt, and may be defined as a woodless plain. Those that are
exercised at liberty in the school, are afterwards led about for
fifteen to twenty minutes, so as to cool down. They are then
taken back to their boxes, groomed, and left to rest.

Up to ist October, the colts and fillies go together, and
are boxed in pairs of the same sex. The entires are separated
as soon as they begin to fight.

From I St October, the quantity of oats is gradually
augmented from 9 to 16 lbs. It is found that if the half-
breds get as much corn as the thoroughbreds, they become
fat and their muscles become imperfectly developed. Both
the thoroughbred trotters and thoroughbred saddle horses
stand corn well. From 1st March, the daily ration of oats
is reduced to 9 lbs. ; but carrots are given, so as to accustom
the youngsters to graze in the open. We must here bear in
mind that the oTOund at this time is covered with snow or
ice. From 23rd April to ist June, they are turned out on
the steppe, so as to obtain full advantage of the delicious and
wholesome green grass that springs up at that time, during
which there are no flies. For that period, these yearlings
get no oats. From ist June, oats are allowed in increasing-
quantities from 4^- lbs. to 9 lbs. Their breaking for trap
work is begun when they are eighteen to twenty months old,
and is completed in a month or six weeks. After that, they
are again sent to the steppe with men who act as cow-boys,
to be exercised and watered. The saddle horses get the
same feeding: and breaking as the thorouohbred trotters, but
the half-breds are not broken until a year later.

With reference to the question of feeding foals on the milk
of cows, it is interesting to note that this milk is much more

78 ORLOF TROTTERS

nutritious than that of mares and should consequently be
diluted with water when used for the purpose under con-
sideration. An addition of ^ pint of water and i oz. of sugar
to a pint of cows' milk, will make it about equal in strength
and sweetness to mares' milk. The disease, tuberculosis, to
which reference has been made, is the same malady as con-
sumption in human beings. When it occurs in horses, it
appears to have been invariably transmitted by cows' milk.
In England, probably over 20 per cent, of horned cattle
suffer from tuberculosis. Sims Woodhead and other hioh
medical authorities consider that the large percentage of
tubercular diseases in children is due to drinkino- the milk of
affected cows. At present, the prevention of tuberculosis in
cattle is a burning question among English agriculturists.
This disease appears to be absent from the cattle of Japan,
which is a country I have visited.

Tuberculin is an extract of the germs (bacilli) of tuber-
culosis, and is used in the form of inoculations for testing
animals as to the presence or absence of this disease in them.
The test, which is liable to about 10 per cent, of failures, is
supposed to indicate the disease as a rule, if there is a rise
of at least 2f° F. in the temperature of the animal after
inoculation. With respect to this test, there are several
modifying circumstances to which I need not here allude.
Whenever we have had rinderpest (cattle plague) in Great
Britain, we seem to have derived it from Russia.

The Orlovo-Rostopchin saddle horses at Doubrovka did
not please me ; for they were essentially light harness
animals. I would not call a horse a saddle horse, let alone
a hunter, unless he had long, flat, oblique shoulders, light
fore hand, blood legs with plenty of bone, and strong hocks.

CHAPTER IV

SHANDROVKA

Russian Politeness — Drinking a Fly — Steppe Horses — The Lasso — Haltering
Horses — Breaking in a Wild One— Kicked over — Rough Riding Kalmouks—
An Imperial Cigarette Case — Bargaining — Double Poneys — Mr. Hothersall—
Half-bred Hackneys — An Engagement — A lost P'riend.

WHEN we got into the train and left Doubrovka
behind, I found that General Derfelden was less
depressed than before ; possibly because he had seen me
do some breaking- for Colonel Ismailof and had approved
of it. But here again was the objection that the horses at
Doubrovka were quiet stud - breds and not wild steppe
animals. I was glad to learn from the General that the
Russians are the politest people in the world ; but as he had
seen few countries besides his own, I was at a loss to know
how he could have formed a conclusion that embraced all
the nations of both hemispheres. He trotted out for my
edification the Russian stock yarn, that if a Russian lights a
match for his cigarette in company with another man who
has an unlighted cigarette, he will first ofier the light to his
companion and then set fire to his own paper and baccy. A
Frenchman in similar circumstances, so he said, will light his
own cio"arette and then hand the match to the other individual ;
but an Englishman will light his own cigarette in the first
instance, and will then chuck the lucifer away, without offering
it for further employment. I laughed ; not because the story
struck home, but because I remembered that on manv such

8o SHANDROVKA

occasions, Englishmen, Colonials, Americans and Africanders,
instead of offering- me only a lighted match, have supple-
mented it with an excellent cigar and a request to know what
I would drink. That supposed test of nationality reminds
me of the equally stupid English story that one can tell from
what country a man comes, by the way he comports himself
with a glass of beer in which there is a fly ; for a French-
man will remove the insect and drink the malt, a German
will drink both, and a Britisher will throw the beer away
and have a fresh glass. My experience of the world, which
is a great deal wider than that of General Derfelden, is that
neither virtues nor vices are the monopoly of any nation.

At last we arrived in the early morning at the small
station of Varvarovka, which is on the Lozovaya-Savastopol
line, and then a bitterly cold drive of about eighteen miles
over a rough bridle track brought us to Shandrovka, where
we were hospitably received by the colonel in charge.
Shandrovka is in the desolate steppes of the Dnieper, far
away from any town, and consists only of a few officers'
houses, some huts for the men, stables and paddocks. After
luncheon, we adjourned to have a walk through the paddocks,
which contained about five hundred freshly caught remounts.
Being anxious to get to work, I was only too glad to accept
General Derfelden's sua-gfestion to show him somethino-, and
accordingly demonstrated in a practical manner how steppe
horses could be cauoht and haltered without beino- lassoed.
The horses of the steppes may be divided into two classes,
namely, semi-wild animals like those on the Kirgis and
Kalmouk steppes, and horses at liberty, though under more
or less supervision, like those of the Don and its affluents.
On the Kirgis and Kalmouk steppes, each stallion has his
kossiak or troop of fifteen to twenty brood mares, which are
generally chosen by the stallion and are protected by him.
The young mares which have not had a foal and the geldings

A KALMOUK

8i

keep together without apparently any form of equine govern-
ment. Several kossiaks form what is called in Russian, a
tabouiie, which may consist of hundreds and sometimes
thousands of animals, that have to shift for themselves.
These horses are brought up much in the same way as those
on Montana ranches. The horses of the Don are provided
to a greater or less extent with food, are often given shelter
during bad weather, and attention is paid to their breeding.
In their bringing up, we may compare them to horses that

Fig. 20. — A Kalmuuk and his Lassu.

are raised in Australia for export to India. On all the
steppes, the horses are caught by means of a lasso, of which
we see an example coiled up and hanging from the side of
the saddle occupied by the Kalmouk in Fig. 20. This
method of capture as practised in Russia, often causes severe
and not un frequently fatal injuries, and has the further serious
objection that in any case it hurts the part of the neck which
is close to the head, to a greater or less extent, and conse-
quently renders the animal difficult to bridle, and sometimes

82 SHANDROVKA

even to approach. Every horseman knows that "head-
shyness " is one of the worst of vices. My procedure in
catching a wild horse which is at Hberty, is the old English
plan of driving him into an enclosure (yard, corral, or kraal),
getting him into a corner and putting a halter on his head
by means of a long pole. The great art in this manoeuvre
is to induce the horse to stand still by touching and rubbing
his crest with the end of the pole, which is an operation
every horse enjoys, especially those whose manes are full of
dirt and insects. Although we cannot expect the broncho
to stand quite placidly, I have never found the slightest trouble
in slipping the halter on an unspoiled wild horse in this manner.
Before going to Russia, my experience in catching horses
which had never been touched by man, was confined to the
veldt horses of Cape Colony, Transvaal, Orange Free State
and Natal. In those parts, the animals in question were of
course as wild as hawks, but there was no trouble in driving
them into a kraal, and once I had got them there, the
slipping on of a halter was as easy as falling off a log ; for the
very good reason that they weren't head-shy and liked their
manes to be scratched. The head-shyness of the steppe
horses which have been lassoed, took a fair amount of
getting over ; but patience conquers all things. I need
hardly say that horses intended to be captured in the way I
advocate, would not have been spoiled by the lasso. Of
course, every Russian to whom I proposed this innovation
ridiculed its introduction to the steppes, where, I was gravely
informed, there were no enclosures to drive horses into.
The possibility that the construction of a kraal, which two
men and a boy could accomplish in a few days, was not
beyond the resources of Russian civilisation, did not suggest
itself to my critics. If horses are worth catching, they are
certainly worth the small trouble and slight expense of making
an enclosure, which need not be larger than a square of

BREAKING A STEPPE HORSE 83

thirty yards side. General Derfelden being a practical man,
was greatly taken with this idea, and made me illustrate it
again and again for the benefit of the Kalmouk horse
attendants.

I also did a little bye-play — the November evenings were
then very short — with a powerful chestnut gelding which I was
told I could take in hand next day. Having been informed
that none of the remounts were more than three and a half
years, I could not help thinking that my chestnut friend was
particularly well furnished for that age, and that he must
have been unusually precocious to have acquired so early
all the tricks and vice which he loved to exhibit on anyone
who ventured to approach him. In the evening I was glad
to see that the climate of Shandrovka appeared to agree
with the General ; for he was in far better spirits at dinner
than I had hitherto seen him.

Next day, after we had spent much time at the haltering
game, which however was of great importance in remount
depot work, I had another interview with the chestnut,
who, although he had been haltered, proved extremely
difficult to handle. In fact he was by far the worst horse I
had ever seen. At last he let me bridle and saddle him, and
as darkness was coming on, we adjourned for the night and
for dinner, at which the General was in still better form. Next
morning as we strolled down to the paddocks, I vowed to
myself that at any cost I'd take the nonsense out of that
chestnut in double-quick time. He was led out by a long
rope which was attached to his halter, and to the end of
which ten or twelve men hung on while carefully keeping
out of his reach. He knew my voice and let me stroke his
head, neck, and shoulders. Emboldened by my success and
seeing the General and the remount officers shivering in the
icy blast though well wrapped up in the thickest of furs, I
thought I would do a bit of show-off by pulling the horse's

84 SHANDROVKA

head round to the near side by the leading rein held in my
left hand, and then catching- his tail with my ri^ht hand as he
swung his hind - quarters to the off side. I intended after
that to make him waltz round with me so fast and so long
that the remainder of the gentling would only be an affair
of a few minutes ! This time it was a case of making up the
reckoning without consulting the host ; for the moment the
horse's head came round in response to the sharp jerk I gave
the leading rein, and his tail was grasped by the fingers of
my outstretched right hand, the chestnut pulled me on to
him by whisking his head round to the offside, and before I
could get clear he landed me a beautiful straight kick with
his near hind full on the left side of the throat between jaw-
bone and collar-bone. Never was a neater knock down
given ; for he lifted me clean off my legs and deposited me
on the flat of my back on the ground, as easily and as simply
as a mother would lift her baby in her arms and put it
to repose in its cradle. My Russian friends thought that the
show was ended by the death of the too confiding performer ;
but luckily as the chestnut delivered his blow, I saw it
coming, and with the instinct of an old boxer, 1 drew back
and escaped without even a scratch, thouQ-h I had a slight
crick in my neck for some time after. The quite undeserved
kudos which I received for picking myself up and continuing
the show, as if the kick had been a previously arranged part
of the performance, made an excellent impression on the
spectators. Not receiving an enco^^e for the tail business, I
tied up one of the horse's fore legs, fixed him up so that
he could not buck, and then got Dick to mount. When the
animal found that he could do nothing, he laid down and
Dick prudently slipped off on the other side. I then held
him on the ground with his head pulled round, so as
to prevent him from rising when he felt that way inclined,
which he did in about ten minutes. The desperate though

HORSE-BREAKING BY KALMOUKS 85

ineffectual struggles which he made to get up during the
succeeding quarter of an hour, took all the nonsense out of
him, and when I at last allowed him to arise, he stood
before us as a horse which needed only due repetition of
discipline to become a thoroughly reformed character. I gave
him after that, a lesson with the long reins and wound up by
getting Dick to ride him quietly about and turn him in
whatever direction he wished. General Derfelden was quick
to perceive that the feeling of powerlessness to buck which
the animal experienced when Dick was in the saddle, was the
best possible means for ensuring the horse's future good
behaviour. The General was delicrhted with the breakino-
and was in such excellent spirits, that it at last began to dawn
on my dull comprehension that the cause of his previous
depression was his conviction that I had nothing new and at
the same time useful to show. He told me in the most
generous manner that I had entirely converted him, and
said all sorts of nice things about the work.

After my part of the play was over and after I had taught
some of the Cossacks to do the halterino- trick with a lonsf
stick, at which they proved apt pupils, the General kindly
oave me a show of breakin;^ a la Kalmouk. On receiving-
the order, ten or a dozen of these bold horsemen, who for
dare-devilry are like unto the sowars of the Bengal Cavalry,
brought forward by a leading rope a horse that they had
recently caught and haltered, and at a given signal rushed at
him, seized him by the headstall, ears, forelock, mane and
neck, so as to hold his head down and thus prevent him from
"playing up," while they saddled and bridled him by force.
As soon as the gear was on, one of them was hoisted into
the saddle, and then all let go, with the result that the horse
bucked with such fury and skill that the man, though he was
a good rough-rider, got thrown, and the horse galloped as
hard as he could across the plain. Some of the men who

86 SHANDROVKA

were mounted, were evidently waiting for this turn of affairs ;
for they started off in hot pursuit without delay. The chase
lasted for about a quarter of an hour and then the truant was
brought back with some of the fight left in him ; for he
succeeded in putting down the second man who got on him.
Another pursuit, another capture, and the now tired horse
failed to get his rider off. The Kalmouks enjoyed the sport
immensely. I need hardly say that horses broken in this
manner, rarely if ever forget the fact that when they were
fresh, they had been able to throw their man. Besides, the
method of catching them with a lasso, as I have already said,
and the plan of hanging on to their ears, naturally renders
them shy of being handled about the head, which as we all
know is a detestable vice. It goes almost without saying,
that the process of making a horse quiet to be handled and
mounted is only the first step in breaking, the grand principle
of which lies in the axiom that a horse with a good mouth
can do no wrong.

I spent an enjoyable evening after all my hard work,
which I did without coat or waistcoat with the perspiration
streaming off me, while the thermometer stood at many
degrees below zero. The General was full of what he had

o

seen, and went over every detail and explanation with such
accuracy that I knew he had followed me with interest and
appreciation, which was very gratifying to me, especially as I
felt sure he would send a favourable report about me to
the Grand Duke. The General had the head man of the
Cossacks up to the house of the colonel with whom we were
staying, and we kept discussing the question of catching wild
horses and making halters till it was very late. Before we
retired for the night, I laughingly said that the chestnut had
a wonderful mouth for a three and a half year old ; for when
I opened it, I found that he had not a single colt's tooth in
his head. "We got a devil for you, and you conquered

AN IMPERIAL GIFT 87

him," replied the General with a smile, and I went to bed
happy.

About a fortnight after we returned to St. Petersburg, I
received from the Grand Duke Nicholas through Colonel
Kasnakof, a silver cigarette case with the Imperial crown
and His Imperial Highness' monogram mounted in diamonds
and sapphires, as a souvenir of my breaking trip. The honour
of his distinguished appreciation was infinitely more grati-
fying to me than even his valuable gift, which is certainly
the most costly and beautiful cigarette case I have ever seen.
I was almost equally glad to learn that he was delighted
with the horse I sold him.

I met Colonel Kasnakof, who was still in raptures with
his mare, and he told me that General Derfelden on his
return from Shandrovka had spent an evening with the
Grand Duke Nicholas, to whom he gave a full description of
my breaking. The Grand Duke was particularly interested
in the method of catching horses with a long pole and halter,
and he and his guests, among whom was I believe Colonel
Kasnakof, amused themselves by trying to entrap each
other in this manner.

Colonel Kasnakof told me that the Grand Duke wished
to give me an engagement to teach my methods of breaking
at the remount depots {cadres) the following autumn. I
expressed my willingness to accept the offer, but could learn
nothing about the pay, the amount of which I naturally wanted
His Imperial Highness to state. Colonel Kasnakof tried to
impress on me the great importance of the honour such an
appointment would confer on me ; but I desired something
more substantial than glory. I suggested 100 guineas a
month, which must have appeared outrageously high ; for the
Colonel told me that no Russian field-marshal gets so much.
He asked me to say something moderate ; because, so he
said, the Grand Duke could not bargain {marchander).

88 SHANDROVKA

" But," I replied, "His Royal Highness viarchande d with
me for the grey gelding." This indiscreet remark closed
the conversation. General Derfelden also tried to brinor me
to reason, and represented to me that the Grand Duke had
nothing to say to the granting of money, which was entirely
the aftair of the Minister of War, who, so the General said,
was of a very economical turn of mind. Finally, General
Palitzyne, who Is chief of the Cavalry Staff, desired me to
communicate in writing my views and terms through him to
the Minister of War. In the letter I sent in, I asked for a
six months' engagement, which I thought would be long
enough, 80 guineas (800 roubles) a month, and first-class
travelling expenses.

As the breakinor season would not commence until the
following August, I prepared to go home ; but before doing
so, I picked up some more orders for horses. Mr. von
Dervis, who is a very rich Guardsman, asked me to bring him
out two Irish "cob-hunter" mares, about 15.1 high, with short
backs, long reins, good fore legs, small heads, high set up tails,
fine action, very showy, and dead quiet. As I have never
gone In for the cob-hunter style of animal, I suggested
"something of the blood weight-carrying polo pony type,
only a bit bigger," " Not that sort at all. I hate thorough-
breds," he replied. As I could find no dictionary that gave
a definition of a "cob-hunter," I consulted Colonel Kasnakof,
who told me that Mr. von Dervis wanted '' double poneysy
Here at last I had somethino^ I could zo on ; for I remembered
that Goubeau and Barrier's Exterieur du CJieval contains a
description of a ''double poney." A perusal of that work
convinced me that the required cob - hunters must have a
hackney cross.

On returning to England, I advertised, attended Warner,
Sheppard and Wade's, as well as Tattersall's, and consulted
dealers and horsey men by the score ; but In vain, for I could

MR. HOTHERSALL 89

not find a suitable '' double poney^'^X^X. alone a "cob-hunter" in
England. At last I luckily wrote to Mr. Morton the well-
known hackney breeder of Ballymena, Ireland, giving him
a description of the animal I had in my mind's eye. He
most kindly told me that the very animal I was in search
of had been bought recently near Ballymena by Mr.
Hothersall the Preston dealer. On the following day I was
in Preston, and at last beheld the cob-hunter of my disturbed
dreams. Seeing that she looked like an extraordinary fine
specimen of the, to English eyes, harness class of horse which
Mr, Oppenheimer, the great Hanover dealer, sends to Russian
officers, I said to Mr. Hothersall : "If I didn't positively
know that that mare was Irish, I'd have bet my life that she
was a German and that she belonged to Oppenheimer."
" She will belong to Oppenheimer if you don't take her ; for
he buys as many of that sort as he can get," replied the
Preston dealer. I bought her.

The mare in question was by a hackney sire out of an
Irish hunting mare. She used to lift her feet up, cock her
tail, arch her neck, and carry herself as if the whole road and
the houses on each side of it belonged to her. She was short
in the back, long in the rein, had legs of iron, was of a
beautiful dark bay without any white ; and if she was a bit
thick in the shoulders, there is no ridge and furrow, let alone
oxers and "cut and laid" hedges in Russia. On a second
trip to Preston, I bought a nearly similar mare with the same
hackney cross, though of a lighter and better bred type. I
also purchased a handsome four-year-old chestnut Irish mare,
16 hands high, and the type of a very showy weight-carrying
Continental charger. She too had the hackney cross ; but
had thrown back to her sire, a thoroughbred. She had that
peculiarly easy, high - stepping walk which is immensely
admired by Continental officers.

I freely confess that 1 would not care to hunt in The

90 SHANDROVKA

Shires on horses even like this chestnut mare, if I were able
to get animals of the long, flat-shouldered sort, like the grey
gelding I sold to the Grand Duke Nicholas ; but the require-
ments of Russians are not the same as those of Leicestershire
men, who care little or nothing for looks or high action, so
long as their mounts can cross a difficult country boldly and
safely, can gallop and stay, and have good manners.

At present in England there are only two kinds of saddle
horses, namely, racehorses (including flat racehorses, chasers
and hurdle racers) and hunters, with their dwarf representa-
tives polo ponies. The cycle has killed the park hack ; and
no one wants a horse on a road except in a trap. Whether
for racing or for crossing a country, we must have a horse
with light shoulders and neck ; in fact, the very opposite to
those possessed by the hackney. As I have said before, the
riding requirements of Continental people are different to
ours ; and if the hackney suits, as it appears to do, large
dealers like Mr. Oppenheimer, I have no doubt it will pay
breeders in Ireland to use this cross with a view to the
Continental ridino^ market, as well as to the home li^ht har-
ness trade.

About this time when I was at home, I received a letter
from General Palitzyne accepting my terms for a six months'
engagement to begin on the first of the following September,
and also a letter from Colonel Kasnakof tellincr me that the
mare I had brought out for him had turned roarer, and that
if I wished to preserve his good opinion of me, I would send
him out another in exchange for her. I replied that such a
demand made for the first time, five months after he had
received her, and after his repeated expressions of satisfaction,
was out of the question, and that I did not choose to purchase
anyone's good opinion. Knowing that many horses go wrong
in their wind in Russia, on account of the unsanitary conditions
which exist in the vast majority of stables belonging to

A LOST FRIEND 91

Russian gentlemen, I naturally concluded that this nice mare
had become similarly affected. As she was seven years old
and had shown no musical tendencies up to the time I parted
with her, it was, I felt, most unjust to put the responsibility
of her supposed malady on my shoulders, I was very much
annoyed at being treated in this manner, especially as the
mare had fulfilled every requirement demanded of her. To
anticipate events, I may mention that on my next visit to
Russia, I found that my whilom friend had told everyone that
I had treated him in a shameful way about this mare, who in
reality was the handsomest and best mannered blood hack it
was possible to find. A year afterwards, on my fourth visit
to Russia, I met Sorel, who informed me that the mare was
all right in her wind, and that consequently Colonel Kasnakof
was all riofht as far as I was concerned, so- I ouorht to call on
him, which of course I did not do. It appears that the mare
had caught a cold, the temporary effects of which were
regardeci by those about her, as permanent unsoundness.
Even if she had turned a roarer, I was in no way responsible
for her keeping healthy for the remainder of her life, especially
as she was of an age at which no horse goes wrong in its
wind except from some exciting cause, such as inflammation
of the lungs and catarrh, which are frequent maladies in
hot, badly- ventilated stables like those of the Chevaliers
Gardes,

CHAPTER V

THIRD TRIP TO RUSSIA

Horses in the Baltic during Winter — Riding in St. Petersburg — Stable Mismanage-
ment— General Strukof — Prince Louis Napoleon — ^Horse Show — Railway-
Travelling — Beer and Spirits.

IN March 1898, I embarked on board the Wilson S.S.
Hidalgo, which is sister ship to the Rinaldo. Mr.
Little the Russian Line manager and Captain Gordon did
their best to make me and the horses comfortable. My lot
consisted of the three half-bred hackneys which I had bought
from Mr. Hothersall and a thorouQ^hbred entire that had won
some races. We were bound for Reval, as the Neva was
frozen. Although it was bitterly cold, and the horses were
clipped, were in boxes on deck, and had only a warm suit of
clothing and a rug on them, they kept in excellent health.
The fact that many owners accept a sleek appearance of coat
as a proof that the groom has been expending elbow grease
liberally in the stable, is no doubt the cause of gentlemen's
horses being as a rule overclothed when they are in box or
stall. Clothing horses too warmly not only renders them
unduly liable to chill when they are taken outside, but also
fatigues and enervates them. My experience leads me to
the conclusion that no healthy horse is benefited by more
clothing in the stable, than a single, thick blanket rug, or a
stout kersey quarter sheet. It is evident that when a horse
is protected from the wind by a stable, and has a comfortable

92

RIDING IN ST. PETERSBURG 93

bed under foot, especially if he has liberty to move about, as
in a loose box, he will keep far warmer than in the open, even
when the latitude is a long way south of the Gulf of Finland.

I landed the horses at Reval, and came in the box with
them to St. Petersburg, where I put them up in the Galerniya
Street riding school, which was then carried on by a Polish
Jew and an Anglo- Russian, neither of whom was distinguished
by business capacity. As little was done in the place, I
generally had full use of the school, which was very small for
a Continental one, being only about 15 yards wide and 30
yards long. The Petersburg public cannot be said to go in
much for riding. In this city of over a million inhabitants,
there are only two public riding schools : that In the Galerniya,
and a slightly larger one situated in the Semenovsky Platz,
and which is well managed by two Germans of the name of
Bosse. These two maneges are the only places for civilians
to ride in duringr the seven or eisfht months of winter, and in
summer there is nowhere else to ride except the paved streets.
The supply of riding accommodation is amply sufficient for the
Russian demand ; because nine-tenths of the users of the two
schools are foreigners, the large majority of whom are Germans.
Those of us who have lived in Germany, know that the
Germans are very fond of riding, although their country does
not admit of fox-hunting. Judging by the numbers who
frequent the beautiful Thiergarten, compared to which our
Rotten Row is a very humble affair, the percentage of riders
in Berlin is probably at least five times that of those in
London. Nowadays in England, riding is almost entirely
confined to people who hunt and race. The cavalry riding
schools in Petersburg are large and numerous.

Mr. von Dervis was enchanted with one of the mares I
brought out for him, but did not like the better bred and
smarter mare, which I thought the more valuable of the two.
As he considered his favourite was well worth the money

94 THIRD TRIP TO RUSSIA

he had given for both ; he and I were well satisfied with the
deal. He asked me to pay him a visit at his large breeding-
stud, but unfortunately I never had time to accept his kind
invitation. I made the chestnut mare very nice and handy
in the school in about ten days' time, and then sold her to
Colonel Derfelden, the General's brother, for ^140. She
was subsequently sold to carry the Grand Duchess Vladimir
for, I believe, 250 guineas.

While I was in Petersburg this time, I went to see the
grey gelding I had sold to the Grand Duke Nicholas, and
found him fat and in a very neglected condition. He was
shod with high calkins (!), which made him walk as if he was
on stilts. It appears that the Grand Duke's coachman did
not approve of wasting time in having horses exercised, and
Liipke, who was the Bereiter, being in love with one of the
girls of the circus, was more than content to let matters
slide. Liipke was a smart Germano-Russian and had been in
Ciniselli's circus before he went to the Grand Duke. He
had not much idea of riding, though he had lots of pluck.
Acting on the advice of Sorel, who had been in the circus
with Liipke,, I gave this Baltic Province boy a tenner to
stimulate him in looking after the grey gelding. He admired
so much the breeches I rode in, that I gave him a
fellow pair to them. Then he got so uneasy in his mind
over a scarf-pin, that I let him have it, lest he would do the
gelding an injury. My only consolation now is, that he got
the order of the boot from the Grand Duke, and that the
circus girl, whom he married, wears the metaphorical and
possibly my breeches. If I could only learn that she stuck
the pin into him, I'd be quite happy. The way nice horses
got messed about by incompetent people is sickening.

Knowing that during my horse-breaking engagement I
would in all probability come under the orders of General
Strukof, who is head of the Remount Department, I called

PRINCE LOUIS NAPOLEON 95

on him as an act of civility. He did litde to conceal the
annoyance he felt at meeting an individual who was impious
enough to think that any improvement could be made in the
existing order of things. He said not very civilly: "You
imagine we are a lot of barbarians who do not know how to
break in horses." I denied the accusation in the meekest
possible way, tried to turn the conversation on to the
weather, bowed my lowest and departed. General Strukof
is a rich man, he has a large and fine house on the English
Quay, close to the Galerniya riding school, he had command
of the Guard cavalry regiment which is now under the orders
of Prince Louis Napoleon, and is a critic of horses who is
supposed by himself to know most of the game, because he
sits on the fence.

I met Prince Louis Napoleon two or three times at the
Galerniya riding school. He appears an amiable man, is I
believe a good officer, and he speaks English very well.

As the theatres and circus are closed during Lent in
Petersburg, the people amuse themselves by going to the
Concours Hippiques or Horse Show, which is held in the
very large Imperial riding school that is in the Michaelsky
Ploshad. The chief attraction is the jumping competitions,
which are confined to officers and a few other amateurs, and
resemble in a small way similar affairs at the Agricultural
Hall, Islington. On the last day I was there, the darling of
the crowd was a Cossack officer who, whenever his horse
made a mistake, which was often, rolled off and then
remounted amid the frenzied plaudits of the spectators, who
were bitterly disappointed that the heroism of this brave man
was not rewarded by his getting the first prize.

Having nothing further to keep me in Russia, I returned
home by Berlin, which makes a pleasant resting-place in the
middle of the fifty-two hours' railway journey from Peters-
burg to Flushing. The Russian second-class carriages from

96 THIRD TRIP TO RUSSIA

Petersburg" to the frontier at Wirballen are generally un-
comfortably crowded, and a sleeping-car berth is necessary
for repose at night. Unfortunately the supply of these
luxuries is so narrowly limited on this line, that places have
to be secured several days in advance. All the first and
second class carriages are on the corridor plan, and frequent
halts are made en route at wayside restaurants for food and
drink ; because no dining-car carriage is attached to any
train. From Eydtkunen, which is the German frontier town
and is about five miles from Wirballen, there is ample
sleeping-car accommodation, and the second-class carriages
leave nothing to be desired. The way to combine comfort and
economy when travelling between Petersburg and Flushing,
is to go second class and take a sleeping-car berth, by which
one escapes the ordinary Russian second-class carriages.
The Flushing route, either to or from London, is to be pre-
ferred to that of the Hook of Holland ; because the Dutch
trains run in connection with the steamers at Flushing, but
not with those at the Hook.

I like Berlin for the beer one can get there, especially
when that drink takes the form of Dortmund Union Bier.
Except at good hotels and high-class restaurants, it is most
difficult for a wayfarer in England to get a glass of beer
worth drinking ; a fact which is no doubt due to the legalised
tyranny of English brewers, combined with the stupid
ignorance of the temperance party. This ill-assorted con-
federation are unfortunately strong enough to restrict the
number of public-houses and beer-shops, almost all of which
are consequently converted into "tied houses," whose
occupants are forced to sell what the brewers choose to give
them. The idea that a man living in a street in which
there was a large percentage of beer - shops, would drink
more than if he resided in a street having a small percentage
of these useful places of call, is as reasonable as the notion

WHISKY AND VODKA 97

that one would sleep for longer periods in a house of many
beds, than in one possessing few. With competition, Mr.
Bung would have to rely on the quality of his malt for his
livelihood. At present, as I have personally seen, English
ale has been to a very large extent superseded by German
beer in India, China and South Africa, for the very sufficient
reason that it is not so good. I have asked several brewers
why their English brethren have let this export trade slip
from them, and have invariably received the reply, that the
home trade pays them better than the foreign. Naturally,
they did not add that the former is in their hands, but that
the latter is open to competition. Although the Russian
beer is not as good as the German, it is a long way in front
of the ordinary "bitter" to be obtained from the nearest
English public-house. Even if unlimited licensing was con-
sidered unadvisable for public-houses ; surely no objection
could be taken to its application to places where only beer was
sold. The warmest defender of British beer could hardly be
rash enough to say a good word for the quality of the spirits
that are sold over the retail counter in these isles. They
manao^e these thino-s better in Russia, where alcohol is a
Government monopoly, and every drop issued is free from
adulteration of any kind. Consequently, when a Russian
gets drunk on his favourite vodka, he may become speechless
and paralysed ; but, as a preliminary to that state, he does not
exhibit the vagaries of a rabid dog or dangerous lunatic in
the manner beloved by a large number of Englishmen on a
Saturday night. "Difference of national temperament" is
the reply I have often received to this statement. Not wish-
ing that such a grave and unjust accusation should be made
against the Enolish, I hasten to affirm that our nation's
temperament is all right, but it's the national drink that is
all wrong. Having drank many a glass of whisk)' and vodka,
I know what I am talking; about!
13

98

THIRD TRIP TO RUSSIA

As a really nice though not absolutely teetotal drink, I
can recommend one part of the best Riga kiimuiet to four
or five parts of vodka, neither of which beverages can stand
admixture with any form of water. Vodka contains 45 per
cent, of absolute alcohol.

CHAPTER VI

RETURN TO ST. PETERSBURG

Hotel d'Angleterre — Schotte — Tips — Wasters — The British Trader —
Horses and Asses — Meat in St. Petersburg.

I LEFT Hull about the middle of August 1898 by the S.S.
Hidalgo, and arrived in St. Petersburg after a pleasant
week's voyage with Captain Gordon and his passengers.
Although this steamer and her mate the Rinaldo are slow,
they are very comfortable ; because the saloon and cabins
are well forward out of the vibratory influence of the pro-
peller, and the respective masters keep a good table and
are cheery companions.

I put up at my old quarters, the Hotel d'Angleterre,
which faces St. Isaac's Cathedral, and is a few doors down
the side of the square shown in Fig. 2 i. Schotte, the manager,
is a capital fellow, and always does his best to make his
visitors comifortable. He is polyglot, attentive, and however
full the hotel may be, he is always able to find room for a
fresh arrival before it is time to retire for the night. Schotte,
in a manner similar to that in which a perfect barmaid acts,
by absolute impartiality in the distribution of civility, makes
each customer think that he is the best treated guest in the
place. I like the commodious reading and writing room,
which is next the salle a vmnger, and which is amply supplied
with English, German and French, as well as Russian daily
and weekly newspapers. Consequently it is greatly frequented

loo RETURN TO ST. PETERSBURG

by foreigners, among whom there are a large number of
English and American tourists and Anglo-Russian residents.

I like the 75 kopeck (is. yd.) breakfast at which one
gets satisfying helpings from two dishes of which there
are a large assortment, and no extra charge for butter, as in
the other hotels ; and 1 like the well-bearded hall porter, who
is a walking " Enquire within." As he comes from the Baltic
Provinces, he of course speaks German and his native Lettish.
Having lived in Paris and Liverpool for some years, he is
fluent in French and English, and he has that talent which
none but dvorniks of the highest class possess, of being able
to understand what five or six excited people all speaking
different tongues at the same time, are saying to him. I
have a soft spot in my heart for hall porters of his type ; for
they get no pay, and have to live on the tips they obtain by
the exercise of a constant desire to oblige. But above all I
like the night porter, who is the only servant — and he a
Russian — that has ever remonstrated with me for giving him
what he thought too large a tip. He is a mild, pensive-faced
man of about forty years of age, and his eyes are somewhat
dimmed by the long vigils he has to keep, especially as he
has to spend most of the day in taking messages in order to
support himself and his family. I often took him with me
when rambling through the city and buying things, on which
occasions my interests were his interests. One day I asked
a commissionaire of the hotel how it was that the night
porter objected to be paid more than his due, and why he
would not let me be cheated when he went with me to the
market.'* The man replied that the porter was a fool, and
that it was very wrong of him not to try and make more
money than he did for his wife and children.

Another friend of mine was the burly and cheerful
izvozcliik (cab - driver) shown in Fig. 22. He was one of
the four cabbies who had the privilege of waiting outside the

TIPS

lOI

Hotel d'Angleterre, and had always a smile and a pleasant
word for me whenever I saw him. On the morning I " took "
him outside St. Isaac's, the temperature was below f F., so
his horse wore the regulation short rug. This animal was of
the black funeral Orlof type, and had seen better days.

Photo by\ f.l/. //. //.

Fig, 21. — Corner of St. Isaac's Square and the Btjlshaya Morskaya Street.

People who have been in Russia are wont to say that tips
play a larger part in that country than in any other portion
of the globe. Although this statement is open to doubt,
there is no question that the hankering after tips takes a
more offensive form in Russia than anywhere else. No
ordinary Englishman objects to give ten shillings to the

I02 RETURN TO ST. PETERSBURG

groom or a sovereign (to say nothing of paper) to the game-
keeper after a day's hunting or shooting at a friend's place ;
but the obHgation in Russia to dehver up that tuppence-ha'-
penny (lo kopecks) to the man who opens the door, and the
same fee to the Johnnie who takes one's overcoat, every time
one goes into a restaurant, is an intolerable infliction.

To one accustomed to the " remittance man " of the
Colonies, and the European loafer of India, St. Petersburg
appears to be singularly free from the English waster element.
It is true that on rare occasions a fellow-countryman will tell
the tale and try to borrow a bit to go on with ; or, in the old
familiar way, will on seeing a bottle of whisky in the middle
of a party of strange brother Britons, come smiling up to
the table, seat himself down and make a thirsty remark
about the weather. But such men do not stay long in the
great city by the Neva ; for the Russian authorities have an
effective method, admirable to those who like to pay their
way, of removing out of their capital all human waifs and
strays whether native or foreign. There are very few
beggars, and even they solicit alms in a furtive and abashed
manner that shows a struo-ole between want and fear of

oo

detection. In the interior, mendicity is as much a trade, as
it is in Spain, Italy, Ireland or India, and is so much
respected that the pious expression, Bokh swavii (God be
with you = may God help you) is the recognised form of
refusing to part.

Russia must be a happy hunting-ground for Englishmen
of commerce ; for I have rarely seen one of them at the
Hotel d'Angleterre, which is a great resort of the British
trader, without the "materials" in front of him. These
gentlemen tell me, that to do business with Russians, one
must drink. They are lucky in having an occupation that
combines duty and pleasure. Several months' intercourse
with commercial men at this hotel and elsewhere throughout

ENGLISH BAGMEN

lo-

the world, convinces me that the EnoHsh baofman, as a rule,
is inferior in education, industry and sobriety to his German
and Scandinavian confreres.

The Academy of Sciences {^Akademia Naok\ which will
be open to the public in about a year's time, is a vast treasure-
house of scientific facts. Wanting to investigate the question
whether either the Tarpan or Prejevalsky's wild horse is or

Photo by\

Fig. 22. — .\n Izvozchik.

[.1/. //. //.

is not a missing link between the ordinary animal {Eqinis
caballiis) and the ass, striped or plain, I sought admittance
into the natural history section of this museum, and succeeded
in passing through its doors, thanks to the kindness of the
Director and Curator, Dr. Buchner. I may explain that the
Tarpans are a wild breed of ponies which are found in Siberia
and in Central Asia. The Russian naturalist, Poliakof,

I04 RETURN TO ST. PETERSBURG

states that they are mouse-coloured, of a h'ghter shade under
the belly than elsewhere, and that their legs are black below
the knees and hocks. The ponies discovered by Prejevalsky,
are to be met with near Lake Lob Nor in Central Asia.
Dr. Buchner showed me the stuffed skin of a young Prejev-
alsky horse and the skull of a six or seven year old member
of that breed. He considers that it is a true horse, and that
it in no way furnishes a link between the horse and the ass,
with which opinion I fully agree, after having made a careful
examination of these specimens. The young animal whose
skin I saw, was of a light brown colour, with the hair of the
inside of the legs and underneath part of the belly, of a
lighter shade than that of the other portions of the body. It
had castors (chestnuts) on its hind legs as well as on its fore
extremities, and had neither a stripe down its back, nor
horizontal stripes on the legs, both of which markings I have
often seen on horses in India. The head and ears were
those of a horse, and the tail and mane were those of a
yearling brought up in a wild state. To judge by this
specimen, this breed differs but little from the ponies of the
Shan States (Upper Burma). All that can be said about
them with certainty, is that they are a wild race of ponies
which have probably never been subjected to the control of
man.

The remarks just made suggest the question : what is
the difference between a horse and an ass ? Quoting from
Points of the Horse, to which book I refer my readers for
further information on this interesting subject, I may state
that the ass has castors only on his fore legs. He has a
tufted tail, somewhat like that of an ox, erect mane and
no forelock. The horse has a bushy tail, drooping mane
and a forelock. The ass brays ; the horse neighs. The
dock of the horse's tail is much thicker and stronger than
that of the ass. The large family of asses consists of the

RUSSIAN MEAT

105

onager or wild ass of Asia, the kiang or wild ass of Thibet,
the mountain zebra, Burchell's zebra, Grevy's zebra, and the
Abyssinian wild ass, which appears to be identical with our
domestic donkey.

The Academy of Sciences is on the other side of the river
near the buildings shown in Fig. 23.

Wishing to find out the reason for the bad appearance,

T^^^i^^imm

Photo hy\

Fig. 23. — The Admiralty Quay.

[J/. //. H.

to say nothing of the inferior taste of the beef exposed for
sale in the butchers' shops of Petersburg, I went one day on
a tour of unofficial inspection to the public slaughter-house
or abattoir, where I had the good luck to meet Veterinary
Surgeon Voronzof, who is in charge and who kindly showed
me round this very large establishment. With one exception,
the arranoements leave nothinof to be desired. There is a
well - appointed pathological laboratory in which several
14

io6 RETURN TO ST. PETERSBURG

experts are constantly engaged in microscopically examining
the blood and tissues of suspected animals ; and also a most
interesting museum of morbid specimens. As all the animals
are examined by veterinary surgeons before and after they
are killed, the Petersburg public are safeguarded from
infection carried by meat, which is a privilege that the British
taxpayer does not enjoy. The manner of distribution is the
only detail of the working of the Petersburg abattoir with
which I can find any fault. When the animals are killed and
cleaned out, instead of being hung up for at least twenty-four
hours in order that they might get cold and stiff, they are
immediately cut up and the joints thrown into a cart for
distribution among the various butchers' shops in the city.
We must here bear in mind that the life of the tissues
continues for some hours after the death of the animal, as we
may prove by stimulating the nerves post-mortem. Conse-
quently, diseased changes are set up in meat which shortly
after death undergoes injury, such as that inflicted by throwing
it about and by the shaking these joints incur during their
rouofh transit over the cobble stones of the Petersburor streets.
The flaccid and unhealthy appearance of meat which has
been subjected to this treatment is positively disgusting ; but
custom is a mental though not a physical antiseptic.

CHAPTER VII

THE CADRES

Marching Orders — -Brigade Stations — Composition of the Brigades — Remounts
— General Pahtzyne— General Strukof — Passive Resistance.

ON the appointed ist September I reported myself
to General Palitzyne, who received me kindly and
told me that I would have first of all to make a tour through
the remount depots, or cadres as they are called, and
on my return to Petersburg would have to stay for the
remainder of the six months at the Cavalry Officers' Riding
School in that city. He also said that as General Strukof
was the head of the Remount Department, I would have
to go to him and receive his orders.

I may here explain that a cadre in peace time corresponds
to a regiment of reserve cavalrv. It is divided into three
atdelenie (German, Abtheilungen = divisions), and has thirteen
officers, including a colonel, a lieutenant-colonel, an adjutant
and a paymaster. Each atdelenie is commanded by a
captain, who has a second captain (Russian, Stab-rotmisir)
and subalterns under him. The cadres are grouped into
brigades, which consist of either two or three cadres,
and each brigade is commanded by a general who has
an A.D.C. and other staff officers to help him. Each
atdelenie supplies the horses that are required each year
for one particular regiment of cavalry, which sends an
officer to the cadre with the supposed object of learning

107

io8 THE CADRES

how young horses should be broken in. Therefore, In
each two cadre brio-ade there are six reg-imental officers
and about twenty-eight reserve officers. The regimental
officer who acts as A.D.C. to the general, stays three
years in the brigade. The three atdelenie of each cadre
supply about 400 horses yearly to their three regiments,
making in all; about 7200 horses for the dragoons.

The names of the stations of the eis^ht brigades which
supply the fifty-four dragoon regiments (cavalry of the line)
with horses are given on page 1 1 3.

The 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th brigades consist of two
cadres each ; the 7th has three cadres ; and either the ist or
the Caucasian brigade has three cadres, but I cannot tell which ;
because I did not oro to them.

The young animals intended for dragoon service, are
bought by remount officers {I'einonteurs) from breeders in
the steppes of the Don and elsewhere, and are sent by
them to the brigades to be accepted or rejected as the
case may be. They are received into the brigades from
about the 20th September to the 6th November. The
average price given by the remonteurs for each animal
is about 125 roubles (^13, 5s.), which food, transport and
other charges increase to 205 or 210 roubles (^21, 14s. or
^22, 5s.) on arrival at the brigades. These remounts
have a minimum heiofht of 2 archines and lA vershok
(14 hands and 2|- inches), and are from 3 off to rising 5.
They are kept at the cadres for ten or eleven months,
so that they may recover from the privations they have
suffered in the open, and may become quiet enough to be
bridled, saddled and ridden before being drafted to their
respective regiments, by which time they will have cost about
350 roubles each ; say, £2)^. They remain at light work
in their regiments for the first year before being regularly
taken on as troopers.

REMOUNTS 109

Despite the great cheapness of the raw material in
Russia, it probably costs the Government of that country
as much to mount its cavalry, as it does the English Govern-
ment. As all the officers and men of the brigades belong
to the Reserve, the money spent at the brigades serves the
double purpose of supplying the cavalry with horses, and of
keeping up the Reserve. For instance, each atdelenie is
capable of supplying three squadrons of reserve cavalry.
Consequently, a brigade of two cadres can furnish three
regiments of Reserve Cavalry consisting of six squadrons each.
In peace time, an atdelenie is equivalent to a squadron of
cavalry.

Besides the young remounts, each cadre has a certain
number of old horses which are used for the drilling of the men.

There are two brigades for the supply of horses for the
twelve regiments of the Guards. As these remounts have
to be bigger and stronger than the dragoon remounts, they
are bred, not on the steppes, but in studs under civilised
conditions, and were consequently considered to have been
too quiet for me to operate on. This was the greatest
possible mistake ; because the methods of breaking which I
practise are essentially those that are best calculated to
make a horse's mouth, to form his paces and to teach him
to jump; the inculcation of obedience being of course
a necessary preliminary. Russians are so thoroughly
imbued with high school ideas of equitation, that unless a
man has been in a circus, he cannot, according to them,
know anything about giving horses good mouths and making
them handy and clever.

On seeing General Strukof for the second time in my
life, I was glad to find that he was somewhat more amiable
than before. He spoke in excellent French, and gave me my
programme in Russian, and in the same language a copy of a
circular letter that had been sent to the generals who respect-

no THE CADRES

ively commanded the brigades to which I was to go. These
documents, when I had them translated, ran as follows :

CIRCULAR LETTER.

IVar Departme7it.

Admifiistration of The Inspector To the

of ReinoiDits of Cavalry and Commander of the Brigade

Brigades of /he Cavalry of the Cavalry Reserve.

-Reserve.

Air. Hayes, ivho was formerly an officer in the English
Army, during his stay last year in Russia, introduced to a
small circle of cavalry officers at Krasnoe Selo his rapid
methods of breaking in young horses and making them quiet
to ride.

Mr. Hayes' system is based on a deep sttidy of the horse,
and on a knowledge of the animal's disposition. His process,
which is by no means difficult and requires only a fezv simple
appliances, has the merit of not endangering the soundness of
young horses.

Air. Hayes is of opinion that he can very quickly break in
a young horse that has never been led, by working it with the
reins, appeasing it, and making it obedient without doing it
the slightest injury.

Taking into consideration that our cavalry has to deal
with remounts which mostly come from the steppes and
are unaccusto7ned to mankijid, it is a matter of great
importance to us to attain perfection in the methods of
rejtdering horses quiet to ride. It is well known that the
preliminary breaking in of remounts by the methods of our
Remount officers requires a long tiine, and what is more
serious, it often leads to unfortunate accidents. The more

CIRCULAR LETTER iii

advanced training of young horses, although jiearly perfect,
has still room for reform.

His hnperial Highness, the Inspector-General of Cavalry,
beca7ne much interested on hearing of the arrival of Mr.
Hayes.

Being fully aware that the demonstration at Krasnoe Selo
on army horses coiild not show the real value of Air. Hayes
fnethods and system of breaking, the Grand Duke, having had a
favourable report of the said demonstration f'om eye-witnesses,
sent an invitation last winter to Air. Hayes to demonstrate
for His Imperial Highness on some half broke^t - in horses
of the Expei'imental Remount Depot. Ala j or- General
Derfelden and all the Remoimt officers who wished to witness
the exhibition were commanded to go to the Depot with Air.
Hayes.

Accordi7tg to the report of those who were present at the
Depot, Mr. Hayes had a brilliant success, and the august
Inspector-General of Cavalry deemed it necessary to petition
that Mr. Hayes shoidd be engaged to teach his methods of
catching and breaking in young horses at tJie Officers Cavalry
School and in the cadres of the Cavalry Reserve.

The Minister of War having received the proposed plait,
gave his consent and command that it should be executed.

Independently of this. His hnperial Highness, in giving
his command to inform your Excellency of the above-mentioned
particulars, has expressed his confidence that the staff of your
Brigade will utilise the visit of Air. Hayes to the cadres.

Enclosed please find my " Outline " about Mr. Hayes
visit. During his stay at your Bi'igade, please see that his
system of breaking in horses is folloived closely and recorded
minutely. After Air. Hayes departiwe, let all the chiefs of
the cadi'es and departments repoi't their opinion to you, and
then give yotir opinioii of the possibility and lUility of adopting
the demonstrated system of breaking in young horses.

112 THE CADRES

Enclosure. " Out line T The original is signed by the
Remount Inspector of Cavalry, Lietttenant-Genei^al Strtikof.

Correct copy of the origitial.

Assistant of the Superior Adjutant of the Administration.

ESSAUL,

Captain of the Cossacks.
(Signed) Kosmin.

OUTLINE.

Mr. Hayes, zvho is a retired Captain of the English Army,
is to visit the regiments of the Cavalry Resej've with the
object of teaching the officers and some of the under - officers
his rapid methods of breaking in young horses, and acctistoming
them to be ridden.

The time of the visit is fixed as soon as possible after the
drrival of the remounts at the regiments at the beginning of
the season of 1898-99.

Mr. Hayes commences at the ist Brigade and then visits
the /[th, 2nd, 'jth, ^rd, 6th, and ^th Brigades in succession.

As the Gicards and the %th Brigade of the Cavalry
Reserve are supplied with stud-bred horses zvhich have been
previously handled, Mr. Hayes will not be required to visit
them.

As the horses come from the Remount officers into the
cadres to a certain extent tamed, the application of quick
methods of breaking ivill not require inuch time. Consequently,
five or six days are considered szifficient for a brigade of two
cadres, and two days for a single cadre. The tour will
therefore take about two months, travelling included.

The methods in qtiestion can be demonstrated on a few
you7tg horses, especially wild and vicious ones, such as animals
which will not allow themselves to be saddled, bi^idled,

THE BRIGADES 113

cleaned, etc. Before Mr. Hayes ai'rival, two stick horses
must be selected from each division to be experimented on.

In every cadre, the demonstration shall take place in the
presence of all the ojftcers ; and notes must be taken, so that
the methods may be closely studied. For this purpose, one
officer, one under-officer and two soldiers shall be selected
from each division,

(Signed) Strukof,

L ieutenant- General.

Places where the Brigades of the Cavalry Reserve

are stationed,

I St Brigade

4th

2nd ,,

7th

3rd

6th

5th

Sysran, Simbirsk Government.

Liski, Voronej-Rostof Railway.

Ostrogorchsk, Voronej Government.

Tambof.

Kirsanof, Tambof Government.

Borisoglebsk, Voronej Government.

Balakleya, Kharkof Government.

Caucasian Brigade Armavir, Stavropol Government.

It is Strange that the writer of the foregoing "Circular
Letter" did not mention the fact that the Grand Duke
had invited me to give a horse-breaking demonstration at
Krasnoe Selo, and that he was present on that occasion.
The public doings of the Grand Duke are so carefully
followed by the officers under him, that it is highly improb-
able that the writer in question made the omission through
ignorance.

As soon as I had mastered the contents of the foregoing

documents, I returned to General Strukof and explained

to him that I could not possibly teach the officers and

several of the men of each brigade in five or six days (two or

IS

114 THE CADRES

three days for each cadre) how to give wild horses good
manners and mouths, and that a fortnight was the shortest
time I could complete such a task. He said that if I did
not hurry through the brigades, all the wild horses would be
broken before I would arrive at the last two or three on the
list. I then asked him if he would permit me to pay a
second visit to each of the brigades on my return trip ? Yes,
I could do that ; I could stay as long as I liked at each
brigade ; in fact, 1 could do what I wished. Seeing that
he was "kidding" me, I dropped the subject, made my
bow and retired. As I had to see General Palitzyne before
leaving, I called on him the following day and explained my
troubles. He was kind and sympathetic, but could do
nothing. He and General Strukof are so close to the
Grand Duke, that they are naturally rivals for the favour
of their chief; and it is a fundamental principle in the
conduct of Russian public affairs, that the heads of depart-
ments have full liberty to run their own show in their own
way. General Palitzyne told me that I would meet much
difficulty and jealousy, but hoped that I would manage
to get on well. I saw that he was sorry for me, and I
was sorry for myself for having been delivered over to the
head of the Remount Department, who, instead of furthering
the Grand Duke's wishes as regards my instruction in
horse-breaking, appeared determined to oppose them by
passive resistance, which history tells us has been the
favourite weapon used by reactionary officials against
reforms instituted by their rulers. I hate being beaten ;
but as I was in the pit, it was a case of fight on, no matter
what were the odds against winning. Besides, I wanted
to have a turn with the steppe horses, and to learn all I
could about them and from them.

Much to my regret, it was decided that I was not to visit
Sysran and Armavir.

CHAPTER VIII

LISKI

A Dissenting Parson — Russians as Linguists — The Russian Language — The Liski
Brigade — General Hahn^ — "Language" — Reserve Officers — -Russian Re-
mounts— Horses of the Don — How to break in Wild Horses — Breaking at
Liski — Difficult to Shoe — ^How not to do it — Russian Methods of Breaking.

I LEFT St. Petersburg by train on a journey of forty-
one hours to my first brigade at Liski. When stopping
for an hour or so at Moscow, which is about a third of the
way from Petersburg, a cheery young Briton who was a
resident of Moscow and who was an entire stranger to me,
confided to my care in a happy-go-lucky sort of a way, an
ancient American dissenting parson who was on a missionary
inspecting tour round the world, and who did not know a
word of any language except his own. He was a strong
believer in the good nature of the human race, and I did
my best not to undeceive him by helping him along with
German and a little Russian as far as I went. How he
managed to arrive at his destination, Tiflis, and then to
proceed on to India via Teheran, as he intended to do, I
have not heard. He was a simple-minded man who appar-
ently had no vices. He did not hanker after draw poker,
booze or even baccy, and was of an age when notts aiitres have
forsaken our vices, without waiting for our vices to forsake us.
Just before saying good-bye at the Liski station where I had
to get out, he asked me rather sadly if I were married. On
hearing my "Yes," he added: "I am an old bachelor. My

ii6 LISKI

girl is in her grave." For his sake I hope that his belief
in a hereafter is true, and that he will be rewarded for his
long years of weary waiting.

Russia is a very hard country for a person unacquainted
with the language to travel in ; for the vast majority of pure-
bred Russians know no tongue bar their own. I really think
they are worse linguists than the English, which is saying a
great deal. Almost all the officers of the Guards can make
themselves understood in two if not three languages ; but,
as I have already said, very few of the officers of other
regiments are educated up to that pitch. Russian naval
officers tell me that they are obliged to learn English. All
the Russian generals I have ever met, with the exception of
General Avscharof, spoke French, which language appears
to be obligatory on every Russian officer who aspires to wear
a red-lined overcoat. Russian ladies are all supposed to
know French. Their facility in that language is a boon to
publishers, if not to literature ; for in that country of copies,
the usual honorarium for translating a French novel of, say,
100,000 words is five guineas ! As there is no copyright in
foreign books in Russia, the Muscovite scribbler has a big
task to compete against the cream of foreign literature pro-
duced at a line of ten words for half a farthing. In Russia,
there is a large number of people of German descent, not
only in the Baltic Provinces, but also in German colonies
scattered throughout the country, almost all of whom jealously
keep up a knowledge of their mother-tongue. I have been
often told that the German - speaking population of St.
Petersburg numbers 200,000. History tells us that even
in the time of Peter the Great, there was a large German
colony at Moscow. When travelling by train in the
interior, I seldom failed to get help from a German-speaking
passenger, when I was unable to express my wants in
Russian.

RUSSIAN 117

Russian Is a very hard language both as regard pro-
nunciation and inflections. Not only are some of the
letters difficult for a foreigner to get his tongue round,
but their pronunciation varies in a ruleless manner ; a, e,
£■, and / being sinners in this respect. Also, every word
or word joined to its preceding adverb or preposition has
a particular syllable upon which the accent must be placed,
before its meaning is certain to be understood. I found no
difficulty in the Russian x, which, is generally rendered
into English by kh ; because I found that its pronunciation
was almost if not quite identical with the Persian guttural
i or M, which we meet with for instance in the Persian
word, Man (a chief). Bad as the inflections are in German,
they are child's play to those in Russian ; in fact, few
Russians are absolutely sound with respect to them. When
learning a language to speak, we should of course begin
by trying to acquire what we stand most in need of, which
in this case will be a vocabulary sufficient to convey our
most pressing needs. After that, we shall desire to collect
useful phrases of the "give me a glass of beer," "there are
bugs in the bed," " I vv^ant a top berth in the sleeping-car,"
"light the stove," "does the horse kick?" "don't bother me,"
and " I want a cheque cashed " kind. And finally we require
the means (grammar) of connecting and transposing the
words and phrases we have acquired. I tried in Russia
a six months' experiment of putting down in a note-book
the Russian equivalents for every word and simple phrase
which I wished to say in that language, and at the end of
the time, after having frequently rewritten the notes, I was
able to make myself understood very fairly. As my work
was conducted almost entirely in German and French, I
was able to devote but little time to Russian, especially as
I did not see that I would have much future use for that
lano-uaoe.

ii8 LISKI

I met many old friends in Russia. A great crowd,
especially those in the horse line, came from Germany,
such as rotmistr i^Rittmeister = 2. cavalry captain), shpoi'a
[Sporii = spur), trenzel ( Trense = snaffle), moondshtook [Mzmd-
j///(f/^ = mouth-piece, meaning curb-bit), and Schenkel, which
signifies "thigh" in German, but is used in Russian riding
schools to denote the lower part of the leg when it is applied
to the horse's side as an "aid." A few words come from the
French, such as sakvoyaj, a hand-bag, and akvarel, a water-
colour painting. Persian gives Russian among other words,
soondook {V Qvs. sa7tdook) for "trunk," and arbooz (Pers. tarboozix)
for "water-melon." The Gypsies and Jews have my old
Indian friend, kaput (broken) in frequent use.

The military cantonment of Liski is made up of a line
of barracks, half a dozen large and lofty stables, the same
number of riding schools, a few detached houses in one of
which the General lived, and a line of paltry native shops
of the Indian bazaar type. From the high ground occupied
by the barracks, a pretty view (Fig. 24) can be obtained of
the river Don and the old town of Liski on the other side
of the river.

On arriving at Liski in the morning, I got a one-horse
drojky (cab) outside the station, and drove to the General's
house in order to call upon him. I found General Hahn
to be a fine old soldier, tall, gaunt, a strict martinet, and a
good judge of a horse. Whether right or wrong, he brooks
no contradiction, and his German quartermaster, Rotmistr
Heppener, told me with sincere pride that in slanging the
officers and men under him, he hasn't his equal in the entire
Russian army. On hearing this, I wondered how he would
have fared in a match with my dear old friend, poor George
Gambler of the Royal Horse, who used to command the
Chestnut Troop. On one occasion at a review, so the
story goes, the gun teams tied themselves into knots, and

'< LANGUAGE"

119

Gambler, who was a very smart officer, let them have It as
usual. " Dear me," said a lady who was looking on and was
within hearing, " I never knew before that Major Gambler
was a foreigner." "Nonsense," said another lady who was
with her, "he is of course an Englishman." "I would not
have thought it," replied the first lady, "for he has been
speaking in a language of which I did not understand a

Photo by\ l-l/- H. If.

Fic. 24. — The River Don and the Town of Liski in the distance.

word." Rotmistr Heppener told me that as General Hahn
was the son of only a German doctor, he deserves great
credit for having worked himself without interest (ohne Pro-
tection; as the Germans happily say) into his present position
of lieutenant-general.

The General was civil, and after talking a bit, handed
me over to his factotum, Heppener, who took me to the

I20 LISKI

officers' club, where I was very kindly given a room and
bed. The club or mess consisted of a bar, a dining-room,
a writing-room, a reception-room, a bedroom or two, and
a kitchen downstairs. Although there was no attempt at
luxury, there was plenty of comfort and lots to eat and drink.
The officers made me their mess ouest and did their best
to render my stay with them agreeable. They were nice
pleasant fellows and appeared easily satisfied. The Reserve
officers are not as a rule as smart or as well off as regimental
officers. Living in a permanent station and having no
mounted duties, they usually marry and settle down to a very
humdrum mode of existence. Such a life at these brigades,
which are situated in out-of-the-way parts of the country,
would be terribly dull for men who wanted other distractions
than vint and small talk. The number of horses owned by
the officers of a brigade, generally consists of three or four
carriaofe animals belongino- to the oeneral and colonels.
During the two months I was at the brigades, I saw only
two officers on the outside of a horse. I must not forget
to say that some of the Liski officers go down to the bridge
and fish off it. When I thought of the sport English
officers have in various parts of the world at hunting,
racing, chasing, pig-sticking, shooting, polo, gymkhanahs
and paper-chasing, I felt sorry for my Liski friends, who
no doubt would "join the glad throng," if they were only
shown the way. A general like Locke Elliot or a colonel
like Bobby Kekewich, to mention two out of hundreds,
would do that for them.

I was shown the year's batch of over eight hundred young
horses which had been received from the remount agents a
few days before my arrival and which were then stabled for
the first time. Figs. 25, 26, 27 and 28 are good examples
of freshly caught remounts ; and Fig. 29 represents a
typical well-bred Donsky remount which had been stabled

REMOUNTS

12 I

for a few months. They are all light in front, except Fig-. 27,
which is rather an unfavourable specimen ; being short and
thick in the neck, and light below the knees. As these
dragoon remounts average about 15. li, they are somewhat
small, and to English eyes would probably appear at first
sight rather light ; but closer inspection shows that they have

Photo by\

Fig. 25. — Well-bred Remount.

[J/. H. H.

capital bone, are compactly built, and have no superfluous
lumber to carr}-. They are, with very few exceptions, entirely
free from cart blood, and consequently, if their fore legs in
some cases seem a bit deficient below the knee, the back
tendons run more or less parallel to the canon bone, and we
find no coarseness about the fetlocks, which is a distinguishing
16

122 LISKI

mark of a cross with Shire, Clydesdale or other heavy draught
blood, and which is evidence of inability to stand work under
the saddle. These Russian remounts have as a rule short
backs, muscular loins, good feet, fairly small heads, and are
well ribbed up. They are particularly good across the loins,
which is a point that receives much attention from Russian
breeders. Formerly the horses of the Don, from which
country the best remounts are obtained, were generally
" back at the knees " (" calf-kneed "), but this defect has been
almost entirely eliminated by careful crossing. The members
of the selection committees which pass or reject the animals
brought up by the remonteurs, are specially critical as re-
gards the quality of the pasterns, as we may learn by the
frequency with which they employ the word, babkee (pasterns),
in the remarks they make on the young ones paraded for
their inspection. On the whole, they have very good fore
legs. Their shoulders are inclined to be short ; but their
worst point is undoubtedly their hocks, which in many
instances are weak, too much bent ("sickle - hocked "), or
inclined to curb. I have treated the subject of hocks so
fully in Points of the Horse, that I need not further allude to
it here. English and Irish breeders have been so long alive
to the necessity of good hocks in a cross country horse,
that in this respect no horses can be compared to our well-
bred hunters. I feel certain that if the question of hocks was
better understood in Russia, effective means would be taken
to remedy the defect to which I have alluded.

These remounts, especially those which come from the
country of the Don, have a strong infusion of Arab blood
(Fig. 28), with a dash of the thoroughbred. They are
essentially saddle horses bred for cavalry purposes, as may be
inferred from the fact that over seven thousand of them are
\ early selected for the dragoon regiments. The number of
horses required by the English cavalry on home service is so

REMOUNTS

12

small that it does not pay breeders to cater exclusively for the
army. Consequently our remount officers have to take mis-
fits from the hunter and light harness classes, with the result
of lack of uniformity, and a very undesirable admixture of the
harness, if not of the cart blood element. Thus, amono- a larije
number of cavalry horses in England, we find that many of

J 'koto /'J J

Fig. 26. — Remount.

[.]/. J/. 11.

them are too heavily "topped" for the cjuality of their legs.
In making a comparison between the cavalry horses of the
two countries, we must take into consideration that the
Russian horses are reared under conditions of privation and
hard work to get their living, and are consequently more
useful as slaves and campaigners than they appear to be ; but

124 LISKI

the opposite to this may be said about our home army horses.
I feel convinced that for active service the Russian cavalry
are better mounted than our cavalry are at home. When we
come to India, the case is entirely different ; because there,
our men are mounted on Australasian horses, which are bred
chiefly for the Indian saddle horse market under conditions
that are far more favourable to horse development than are
those which are found in Russia.

Major Peters of the Remount Department kindly informs
me that the number of remounts purchased during the season
of 1 899- 1 900 was 99 for the Household Cavalry, 1232 for the
Cavalry of the line, and 151 1 for the Royal Artillery, Royal
Engineers, and Army Service Corps ; and that these figures
may be taken as a fair average for the Home Establishment.

To avoid repetition, I may briefly explain my usual method
of proceeding with freshly caught wild horses. If the animal
has been caught and haltered, as at the cadres, I have it led
into a riding school or other convenient enclosure ; but if it
has been merely driven into a kraal or other suitable place of
detention, I halter it in the manner described on page 82.
In either case, with my pupil at one end of a rope and two or
three stout fellows at the other extremity, I begin, for safety
sake, by making at the end of a rope a running loop, which I
place on the ground, and give the other end to an assistant to
hold. I then try to induce the animal to place his near fore-
leg in the noose, and as soon as he does that, I give a signal
to the assistant to pull it tight. After a few plunges on the
part of the horse and a few harmless flourishes of the long
stick or whip, I get my young friend to stand while he is held
by the men in front and by the helper who has the leg rope
in his hands, and who is mainly responsible that if I go up to
the horse's near shoulder, my brains won't get knocked out.
The fun now commences in earnest. While touching and
gently scratching the top part of the animal's neck (the crest)

REMOUNTS

1 27

with the long- stick, I gradually approach him, until I g^et my
hand on his mane. I then withdraw the stick by degrees,
"gentle" his crest with my hand, and try to slip a rope noose
over his head and under his upper lip. This forms a very
effective twitch which inflicts no pain on the animal unless the
rope is jerked, which I do only when my pupil "plays up."

Photo by\

Fig. 28. — Remount with Arab Cross.

[il/. H. 11.

As I accompany the effective though by no means severe
correction by the word "steady!" modulated in tone accord-
ing to the pain inflicted, the animal quickly connects the idea
of punishment with the voice and not with the twitch.
Having obtained sufficient control, I make the animal quiet
to be handled all over either by tying him head and tail

128 LISKI

while gentling him with the long stick, or by making him lie
down, both of which methods were practised by breakers
long before Rarey came to England in the early fifties, and
which are described at considerable length in Ilhistratcd
Horsc-breakino-. This so-called horse tamino^ is of course
but a mere preliminary to the more serious business of making
the riding animal obedient to rein and leg, and has the sole,
but not unimportant merit of saving time and consequently
expense.

The real education of the horse begins with the long reins,
which I believe I use in an original manner ; my chief object
being to get complete control over the animal, so that he may
not acquire the dangerous idea that he can pull successfully
against the reins, or buck his rider off, and that he may learn
to obey the indications of the reins with his hind-quarters, as
well as with his mouth. I may here point out that it is no
good for a horse to turn his head to the right, even to the
rider's right knee, unless at the same time he turns his hind-
quarters to the left ; and vice versa. The horse can also be
taught by means of the long reins to jump. This dismounted
instruction should be supplemented by lessons in turning on
the fore hand and also on the hind legs, with the cane or whip.
The animal will then be able to understand the indications of
rein and leg, when he is mounted for the first time. The
beauty of this method of breaking is that it saves a horse
from getting spoiled by being prematurely mounted, and
teaches him more in a week, than he would otherwise learn
in a couple of months.

At 9.30 a.m. on the 21st September 1898, I opened pro-
ceedings at Liski in presence of General Hahn and all his
officers and men off duty, in a large vianco-e which had a
floor of deep sand, and was given Rotmistr Heppener to act
as my German translator. My first pupil, a bay gelding
rising 5, was led in by four men, who held him by a long

REMOUNTS 129

rope which was attached to a strong head-collar that had
been put on when he had been lassoed. This Donsky steed
was very wild ; he had his legs and head a good deal knocked
about in his previous struggles for freedom ; and he apparently
would let no one go near him. After some trouble I managed

Fig. 29. — Typical Donsky Remount.

to touch his crest with the end of my driving whip and
gradually got up to him by scratching his mane with the stick
of the whip, until I placed my right hand on his neck. As
every one present knew that this horse was extremely
dangerous to go near, my foolhardiness made a great sensa-
17

I30 LISKI

tion, particularly among the soldiers, who, by their method of
whoah ! whoahing and petting, would not have done as much
in a month. Wanting now a rope to noose the horse's near
fore pastern (which I ought to have done in the first instance,
had I not been seized with the desire to show off), I turned as
I thought to my brave interpreter to explain what I desired ;
but found that he had vanished in, I suppose, the crowd of
officers who stood at a respectful distance from the scene
of operations. Left alone with the soldiers, for none of
the officers would lend me a hand, I could not help com-
paring them in my mind with English officers like General
Gatacre, General Wardrop, Colonel Benson, Surgeon-
General Taylor, Locke Elliot, "Ding" MacDougall, Jack
Hanwell and many other enthusiastic pupils of mine who
have been only too glad to give me help when I have been
breaking in bad horses. Having no one to assist me — for at
that time I knew hardly a word of Russian, and the soldiers
spoke no language but their own — I did the best I could to
help myself, and by lunch-time I had the horse quiet to
mount, dismount from, and handle. I was very tired, very
sore from a few kicks the horse had given me, and very sick
when the prudent Heppener came up to me and said that I
was greatly to blame for not having previously told him what
I wanted done, and that he would have explained my pro-
gramme to the soldiers. Not having had practical experience
with horses, beyond bumping round in a riding school, and
going to parade on a sober crock, he evidently thought that
wild horses are machines which when wound up, go through
a uniform course of action. General Hahn did not wait to
the end ; because, when I connected the horse's head and tail
with a cord, so as to make him waltz and thereby take some
of the stuffing out of him, a few hairs got pulled by accident
out of the animal's tail, on seeing which occurrence the tender-
hearted General not being able to support such a gruesome

DIFFICULT TO SHOE 131

sight, fled the scene. When Heppener told me how my cruel
conduct had wounded the feelings of his chief, I thought that
both of them were very hard up for something to find fault
with.

On the following day and at about the same hour I took
in hand the horse of the previous morning, and found him
greatly improved in manners ; for he let one of the soldiers
bridle him without any trouble and without my using any
forcible means of control. Seeing that I could cope with the
wild animal, the General orave me an old black CTeldino' which
had been, I was told, ten years in the cadre as one of the
ridincr horses, and which durinor that time was never able to be
shod without having been previously thrown down and secured.
This was his only vice ; but it was a bad one. He was big,
strong, crafty and very dangerous if an attempt was made
to touch his legs. On several of the occasions when he had
been thrown down to be shod, he had injured so many soldiers
that the doctor had strongly recommended that the animal
should be shot ; but of course the kind-hearted General would
not allow any pain to be inflicted on a horse, which costs the
Russian Government more than many soldiers. I began by
putting a roller on him ; noosed a fore leg, which I suspended
to the roller ; slipped on the rope twitch ; and taught him the
word "steady!" I then proceeded to gentle his fore legs,
and after releasing his near fore leg, I lifted up his hind feet
by a neat improvement I have made on an old method.
I got permission to call in the shoeing smith, who under my
direction took off the animal's shoes and pared down his
hoofs, which, to judge by their length and by the horrible
stench they gave off, could not have been touched with either
rasp or drawing knife for at least three months. I showed
on this animal the method of haltering a horse with a long
stick.

On the 23rd September I made the black gelding stand

132 LISKI

quietly while being- shod in the school, and I showed on him
Hamilton's plan of making a horse lie down, I have since
heard that this gelding gave no further trouble in having
his feet handled, picked up and cleaned. I took in hand a
vicious bay mare which would not allow any of the soldiers to
touch her head, and made her, by the head and tail plan,
stand quietly to be handled, bridled, saddled and mounted.

On the next day I gave a lesson in catching horses with
the halter and stick, taking the bay gelding of the first day to
practise on. I found he was quiet and that he had been
out to exercise. I gave the previous day's bay mare a lesson
with the long reins, and then had her ridden about the school
by a soldier in the ordinary manner. She let the man who
was riding her, dismount without exhibiting any unsteadiness ;
but the soldiers who were in charge of her, evidently wishing
to show me the superiority of their style of breaking, seized
her by the ears in order to keep her quiet while they were
taking off the saddle, which act of hostility she very rightly
resented by knocking them over, and escaping to her stable.
Thus, all the trouble which I had taken with her during two
days was undone in two seconds by these stupid people.

I did no work on the 25th and 26th September ; because
the former was a Sunday and the latter a fete day. On the
27th I took a quiet young remount and gave on him a
demonstration with the lone reins to show how much better
one man can lunge a horse with them, than three men (two
to hold the horse and one to flourish the whip) in the ordinary
way with one rope. I also made this horse jump the bar
with the long reins. After that, the General gave me a dark
brown horse which belonged to the cadres, and which was
quiet to ride except when he was brought near the jumping
bar, and then he went mad, probably because his mouth had
been pulled about on previous occasions. After mouthing
him with the lone reins and makino- him take the bar at a

BREAKING 133

walk and trot as well as at a canter, I put up one of the
soldiers, whom the horse carried over the obstacle in nice
sober fashion. This pleased everyone, and the General asked
me to lunch. He was very civil, not to say flattering. I
tried to convince him that I was undeserving of his compli-
ments ; for he would insist that neither he nor any of his
officers or men had the ability to put my teaching into
practice. In this he was certainly wrong; for all they
required was a little training, and by that time several of the
officers had become interested in my work and were anxious
to learn. Evidently acting on the instructions of General
Strukof, General Hahn did not want me to stay longer than
the following day, which was the sixth one of my breaking.
I therefore gave on it a hasty repetition of my methods, and
showed my good friend Veterinary - Surgeon Edmund
Tromschinsky and his staff a simple way by which one man
can make a horse lie down and can secure him for operations
(see Veterinary Notes for Horse-oivners). I also rode the
dark brown horse of the previous day, and made him jump
the bar quietly, one way and then the other at any pace I
wanted. Everyone expressed themselves highly gratified
with my work.

During my stay at this brigade, I received much kindness
from the officers Nikolai Joltannovsky, Alexis Kashkarof,
Krivochein, Nasaretof and others.

Looking back on my breaking at Liski, I find no reason
for self-satisfaction. With the fatal impetuosity of an Irish-
man, I accepted as a challenge the first horse given to me,
and felt in honour bound to make him quiet then and there.
Notwithstanding the receipt of the " Circular Letter " (p. 1 10)
which had been sent in advance, I was received by the
General and his officers with such marked, though tolerant
scepticism, that I felt bound to try to win the confidence
of my supposed pupils by practical proof of my ability,

134

LISKI

before beofinnino- serious instruction. Havino- shown that I
could break in their wildest horses, it was almost time to
depart for the next brigade. My performances, though
meritorious as a show, were energy thrown away ; for had I
taken a quiet horse and gone over my methods on him, I
could have imparted far more instruction in a quarter of the
time, supposing that my audience wanted to learn. Besides,
preliminary practice on a quiet horse would have furnished
me with more or less skilled help for future occasions. To
break in wild horses in an effective and expeditious manner,
one requires a helper who understands what one is aiming at.

CHAPTER IX

SYSTEMS OF HORSE-BREAKING

AT the cadres the following system of breaking-in young-
horses is carried out. When these three or four
year olds are taken over from the remonteurs, they are
practically unhandled, because the only experience they have
had of civilisation is that of beino- cauoht with a lasso, secured
by a head-collar, forcibly led by its rope, and tied up in a stall.
The animal is lunged once or twice a day for several months
by means of the head-collar rope, which is held by two, three,
or four men as the case may require, while another man
chases the pupil round with a whip. The attendant soldier
in the stable as a rule quickly wins the confidence of his
charge by petting him and giving him bread and other equine
dainties. After the novice has gradually allowed his own
particular man to handle and lead him, he is put through a
course of lunging in small circles {voltes) in a riding school,
and is subsequently mounted and ridden. If the animal plays
up or is obstinate, the only means adopted for obtaining
control is by petting and humouring him, which, I need hardly
say, are methods that are well calculated to give a horse an
unduly exalted opinion of his own power, and to make him
resent being handled or ridden by anyone, except his own
particular human chum. It is therefore no wonder, that when
these remounts are drafted to their regiments, several of them
prove difficult to manage in their new surroundings. Even

i-,6 SYSTEMS OF HORSE-BREAKING

o

among the old horses belonging to the cadres, I found few
that were thoroughly reliable. In fact, every one of them
whose steadiness I tested, showed resentment if I tried any-
thino- unusual with them. For instance, on beino- assured
that some ancient steed was absolutely confidential, I have
often taken my pocket-handkerchief and waved it close in
front of the animal's off shoulder, with generally the result
that he has hit out furiously at it with both fore feet ; or, if
I gently touched him behind with a stick, he would lash out
as viciously as if he had been clawed by a tiger. To my
remark that a horse could not be regarded as perfectly quiet,
unless when in presence of man he would bear with com-
posure all sights, sounds and contacts that did not hurt him,
I always received the reply that the elderly party would be
absolutely staid if I did not annoy him by flourishing rags in
front of him or touching his hind - quarters. I don't like
horses with "if's," and I don't think that any of my Russian
friends would do so, in the event of being attacked by a
hostile soldier whose lance bore a waving pennant, or of
being in a crowd during a check on a Ouorn Friday. I am
a strong advocate for the practice of kindness to animals, and
especially to horses, which are even more dependent on our
good offices than are dogs and cats ; but in order to be a
reliable conveyance, a horse has above all things to be an
obedient and well-conducted servant.

Judiciously meted-out punishment and reward, with
sympathy for youthful indiscretions, are the best means for
inculcating the necessary discipline ; but the punishment
must not be of a nature which the animal can successfully
resist, and must be inflicted in a manner which will make
him connect it in his mind with the fault he committed. As
punishment with whip and spurs does not fulfil these con-
ditions, it should not be resorted to, especially as their indica-
tions are required for control and guidance. For instance, if

LUNGING 137

a horse has been punished in this manner, it would be un-
reasonable to expect that when mounted, he would intelli-
gently bear and answer the pressure of the heel, whip or ash
plant, if his rider wanted him to turn on his fore-hand while
opening a gate out hunting, for instance.

Probably not more than 2 or 3 per cent, of these
steppe remounts are really bad to handle ; although a large
number of them are more or less shy of being touched about
the head, as I have already said. The coaxing system
proves tedious ; for little progress is made in the education
of the young ones during the ten or eleven months they are
at the cadres, beyond getting them quiet to ride ; and, as I
have reason to infer, if a horse is bad to start with, he
generally continues so for the remainder of his military
career. The fact of a horse being quiet with one man and
vicious with everyone else, appears to be accepted by
Russian cavalrymen as a dispensation of Providence which
has to be borne with becomino- resionation.

I have been told by several officers at the cadres that the
long time occupied by their system of breaking, often proves
inconvenient for military purposes, in the not unfrequently
recurring event of remounts being required for service two
or three months after their admission into the cadres.

The one-rein or one-rope system of lunging causes a
horse to go in badly-balanced style, on account of control
being obtained solely by the mouth, and that only in a
narrowly limited direction. By it, the breaker is impaled on
the horns of a dilemma. If he works the horse in the usual
way, the animal's head will be pulled unduly inwards and
the hind -quarters will be carried too much outwards, with
the result that the hind feet will describe a circle outside
that made by the fore feet, instead of there being only one
track, and consequently the horse will be too heavy in front.
If, to obviate the occurrence of these two concentric circles of
18

138. SYSTEMS OF HORSE-BREAKING

movement, the breaker employs a side rein on the off side,
he will attain his object, but at the expense of having the
animal's head turned away from the direction in which he is
proceeding". I need hardly point out to capable horsemen
that in either case the horse is going in bad style, which
is an atrocity that no good breaker should permit for a
moment. The fact that this survival of the dark ages is
generally practised all over the world, only proves the great
need of reform in horse-breakincr. In the manner in which I
lunofe a horse with two reins, he is "collected" in a similar
way to that adopted by a competent horseman ; the head
being turned inwards by the inward rein, and the hind-quarters
being kept in position by the outward leg of the rider or by
the outward rein of the breaker who is luno-ino- the animal on
foot.

CHAPTER X

OSTROGORCHSK

Incivility — Sympathy from a Russian Soldier — General Ermolin coming round —
A Ceremony to bind Friendship — The General and the Contractor.

ON Starting from Liski by train to Ostrogorchsk, I was
not overjoyed at finding that I was to have as my
travelling companion, Rotmistr Heppener, who had done
everything he could at Liski to belittle my work and to
annoy me by his ignorant and disparaging criticisms. He
told me that he was going to Ostrogorchsk on duty, which
he would combine with the pleasure of introducing me to his
friends at Ostrogorchsk, and obtaining for me a warm
welcome from them. Whatever his object was, the fact
remains that the 2nd Brigade was the only one at which I
was treated as an unwelcome interloper. I have the great
satisfaction that I was allowed to pay for every bite and sup I
had, so I was spared the indignity of having to accept
hospitality from the General and officers of that place.

Warned by my experience at Liski, I opened proceedings
on the first day with an old horse, and as soon as the soldiers
who had been told off to help me, began to understand a little
of my work, I took a young horse that had never been
mounted, mouthed him for about twenty - five minutes with
the long reins, put a soldier on his back, and had him ridden
quiedy about the manege. This may appear very simple,
but it is not as easy as it reads. First of all, the young

139

I40 OSTROGORCHSK

unbroken animal had to be taught to obey the indications of
the reins, and to advance, turn, change his pace, halt or rein
back, as he was directed. He then had to get over the
novel and uncomfortable feeling of having a weight on his
back, by being made to carry a sack full of sand which I
placed on the saddle.

General Ermolin had been absent the first morning, but
turned up on the second day in very bad humour ; probably
because he had toothache. He stopped the work which I had
begun on the green horse of the previous day, and said that
I was to take in hand only vicious horses. I tried to explain
to him that I wished as a commencement to show my
methods on a quiet horse, so that those who saw what I did
might be able to help me, when I took in hand a vicious one.
He would not hear of this, and sent for a particularly rampagious
animal that had open wounds on both sides of the neck from
the lasso with which it had been recently captured. I pointed
out that this horse should have been under treatment In the
veterinary hospital. I happened on that day to be suffering
from a bad attack of bronchitis caught from a chill at Liski
after having been bathed in perspiration for four hours while I
was working in the manege, and I was lame from a nasty kick I
had received on the same forenoon. Besides, the vianege which
General Ermolin had given me to work in, was as hard as a
turnpike road, being unprovided with sand or litter, which is
always put clown in these schools when horses are worked in
them. Being afraid that the animal would hurt himself on
the hard ground if I used any forcible means of subjection,
which would be absolutely necessary if I had to make him
quiet in the couple of hours at my disposal, I thought it best
to refrain from doing anything of the kind, so I had the
horse turned loose in the school with the object of showing
how he could be haltered with a long stick. Not being able
by myself to get the animal in a corner of this large manege.

"NEECHEVO" 141

I asked to be allowed to have one of the soldiers to help me ;
but General Ermolin ordered that no one was to give me
any assistance. Even when I asked one of the officers who
was standing by, to lend me a cane which he had in his hand,
General Ermolin rudely said to him : " Don't let him have it,"
and the officer of course obeyed in the usual submissive
manner. I accepted with studied indifference the false
position in which I was placed, and fooled around until it
was time to go to lunch, determined to give them no amusing
show.

I went back to my room sick and depressed, with a pain
in my chest and anger in my heart. I lay down on the
camp-bed trying to think what I ought to do, when the
soldier servant who looked after me, came into the room.
He seemed so grieved and tried so hard to make me
understand that he was sorry I was ill, that I jumped up,
patted him on the shoulder, returned his pleasant smile, and
said, '' Neec/ievo,'' which, being freely translated, means, " All
right, my hearty," and is the great consoling phrase in Russian
for every misfortune. This soldier's sympathy was the best
medicine I ever had, and a rest on the following Sunday
completed the cure.

I put in a lot of good work the next Monday and Tuesday
on a soft piece of ground in the open while the General was
at home nursing his tooth. It was a miserable task having
to show good breaking to these officers, who were hopelessly
indolent and had no desire to learn anything about horses.
They were all right to talk to, to drink with, or to play cards
with ; but as to horses, my — !

The General turned up on the next morning, and again
the wild horse of the first day was produced. He was sup-
posed to have been the worst horse they ever had at this
brigade. As he was big and very strong, he had been the
leader of his wild companions on the steppes, and was con-

142 OSTROGORCHSK

sequently particularly difficult to subdue. The General said
that he would like him saddled. Seeing him held at the end
of a long- rope by four particularly solemn-looking soldiers,
and finding that any attempt at noosing a fore leg would
render him too furious for words, I thought I'd do a bit of
show-off for the honour of the old country, and tried the neck-
scratching game, with the result that within a quarter of an hour
I had my hand on his crest, the rope twitch under his upper
lip, and a saddle on his back. I then ran my hand over his
shoulder and down his fore legs. This simply electrified
the Russians, I also wanted to make him quiet to ride, but
the General and all his officers begged that I would do
nothing more to annoy "the poor horse," who, had they
given him the chance, would have been only too happy to
have kicked all their brains out. He was accordingly taken
back to his stable with lots of the stuffing still in him. On
the followinof mornino: the General directed me to bridle the
same horse and make him quiet to lead, which I did. I then
wished to make him quiet to ride, but the General said that
saddlino- bridlino- and leadino- were all that he wanted the
horse to learn, so I had to give way. I also handled another
animal or two, and thus ended the farce.

As far as instruction to officers and men went, I did no
good at Ostrogorchsk ; for I was not given a proper enclosure
to work in, and the General and his officers took no interest
in the breaking. In fact they seemed to have been inspired
not to do so ; but by whom, I cannot say with certainty.
If my breaking was good enough for the Director of Army
Remount Operations for India, the Horse Artillery at
Woolwich, the yth D.G.'s, the iith Hussars, the 14th
Hussars, the 17th Lancers and many other smart cavalry
regiments, as well as many batteries of horse and field
artillery, it ought to have been good enough for them.
Looking, however, from their point of view, I don't see why

ETERNAL FRIENDSHIP. 143

they should have interested themselves about anything I
did. They neither own saddle horses, nor ride them ; they
had not, as General Hahn truly said about his own people,
the capacity to put in practice what I showed them, even if
they had the inclination ; and all they have to do with the
horses in their charge, is to look on, talk, and smoke
cigarettes while their soldiers handle and ride the animals.
General Ermolin, instead of justifying the confidence which
the Grand Duke Nicholas had that he would utilise my visit
(p. Ill), clearly showed that he treated such confidence with
contempt.

General Ermolin is an effeminate-looking, old young
man. Rotmistr Heppener told me that the commanding
officer of Ostrogorchsk is more at home in a drawing-room
than in a stable or on a horse.

Towards the end of my stay. General Ermolin became
more civil to me. He returned my visit and left his card
on me, as I was out when he called.

Two or three days after my arrival at Ostrogorchsk,
Rotmistr Heppener took his departure for the purpose, so he
said, of buying forage for the remounts at Liski. I did not
greatly regret losing his gratuitous services as travelling-
companion and shower-round ; because I did not see what
good they had been to me. One night at supper, he offered
me his eternal friendship, but unfortunately I had to decline
it, because its acceptance was coupled with the ancient and
disgusting ceremony of his cutting a piece off the meat on
his plate and transferring it to my plate for me to eat, and
of my doing the same thing for him. I am glad I was not
born in the loving cup days ; for I would have had few
friends, and many duels in the event of survival. Some of
the officers told me that buying forage for Russian army
horses is a lucrative occupation. Becky Sharpe has re-
marked that it is easy to be virtuous on ^5000 a year.

144 OSTROGORCHSK

Making allowances for differences of pay, I don't diink that
Russian officers are more inclined to help themselves than
those of other countries. Anyhow they are not hypocrites,
so we should not darken the pictures drawn by them of
official corruption. The story is told of a certain Russian pro-
vince which was particularly unlucky in having a succession
of greedy rulers, whose rapacity caused such discontent
among the people, that the Central Government, to put things
right, sent as administrator of this province a General who
had the reputation of being absolutely incorruptible. The
reforms instituted by Hercules in the cleansing of the stable
that belonged to Augeas, were mild in comparison with those
carried out by this new broom, who was specially severe on
a contractor that had made immense sums under previous
governors. About this time a railway contract amounting
to many millions of roubles came under discussion, but the
contractor in question found himself rigidly barred from
competition in all public works. Nothing daunted by this
rebuff, he proceeded to lay siege to the affections of the
General's dvoi^nik (hall porter), who was too frightened for
his master to grant the intriguer any active assistance despite
the fact of his having been freely bribed. The game con-
tinued without result for about a month, until one afternoon
when all good officials are asleep, the contractor on approach-
ing the General's house, saw the dvornik slumbering in his
chair. Taking this opportunity, he glided past the porter,
softly entered the room where the General was reposing,
and drawing from his pocket a roll of notes amounting
in value to 20,000 roubles, he laid them on the table
and departed as noiselessly as he had entered. When the
General awoke, the first thing he did was to clap his eyes
on the roll of notes, and then he shouted for the dvornik to
come to him. When the trembling porter had made his
appearance, he asked him who had dared to enter his room

THE CONTRACTOR 145

unbidden. The remiss servant swore by everything sacred
that he knew nothing ; but under threats of dire punishment
he confessed that as he dozed, he dreamt that he saw the
contractor vanishing out of the house. The contractor was
at once sent for, and was asked by the General why he
had dared to attempt to bribe him .^ He pleaded absolute
ignorance of the whole affair, and would not make the
slightest admission of guilt even when the General ordered
him to prison. Next morning when he was brought up
again, he was equally obstinate in his protestations of
innocence. The General vowins: that he'd either o-et the
truth out of him or kill him, sent him back to jail for a week
to change his mind on bread and water. When the seven
days had passed, and when he was alone with the General
for the third time, he preserved the same inflexible demeanour
of truthful innocence. The General thereupon told him that
if he would not confess, he would have him run the gauntlet
through the ranks of a regiment, every man of which would
be armed with a stick to flog his bared back. "You may
flog me to death or kill me in any other way you like, but
I'll not confess to a crime of which I am innocent," was the
undaunted reply. " I'll give you one more chance," said the
General, " before I call in the guard. Are you determined
to abide the consequences of your denial?" "I am,"
solemnly replied the contractor." "Then," said the General,
extending his hand with a pleasant smile, "you are my man.
I can do business with you." And after that, the General
gave the contractor the big railway job and every other bit of
work out of which money could be made in his jurisdiction.

19

CHAPTER XI

TAMBOF AND KIRSANOF

General Gardenin— Colonel Hubbenet — Kindness all round — Kirsanof — General
Veljaminof-Zernof — Russian Cold — General Petrovsky — Sorry to part.

MY next station was Tambof, where I 'received nothing
but kindness and proofs of interest in my work.
The commandino- officer, General Gardenin, is a beaiL sabi^ezir
and agreeable man of the world, on on s amuse. He came
to the manege only one day, as he was called away on duty
or pleasure to the gay city of Moscow. Before he departed,
he assured me that he greatly appreciated my teaching, and
he made me over with kind expressions of goodwill, to his
second in command, Colonel Hubbenet. He had a merry
twinkle in his eyes when he said to me at our first meeting
that his officers were the nicest fellows in the world, but that
I must not pay attention to all they said ; for they were, so he
remarked, " 2tn pen bavardsy After I heard some of their
funny yarns, when our acquaintance had ripened and when
the Krimski wine was flowing freely, I kept wondering to
myself what a clever man the General was to have known
what they would talk about.

General Gardenin is a most cheerful optimist as regards
horses. He told me that in his brigade they never have the
slightest difficulty in giving the remounts good manners, and
that every one of the twelve hundred and odd animals he
sends each year to the regiments is absolutely quiet to ride

140

COLONEL HUBBENET

147

and handle. He and his people have evidently kept their
process a secret ; for at other brigades and even at the
Petersburg Cavalry Officers' School, I found horses which
were dangerously vicious, although they had been under
military discipline for ten years and upwards. Several of the
regimental officers at the cadres have told me that manv of
the remounts sent to the regiments are by no means quiet,
and that they often give the regimental riding school staff a
CTood deal of trouble to make them rio-ht. The case of the

^^^^^■B
^'^'^'

y^

m

- • - •■ ' ^ '' '

-

Photo by]

Fig. "^o. — The Tambof Brirade in winter.

[J/. //. //.

cadres is like that of a horse-dealer, from whose establishment
every horse that issues has the manners of an archangel
and is as sound as the metaphorical bell of brass. If he
subsequently plays up or goes short, the purchaser or his
ofroom is of course in fault.

Colonel Hubbenet is descended from an old French
family, who being Protestants, left their country on the
Revocation of the Edict of Nantes in 1685 and settled in the
Russian province of Livonia, where German is the language

148 TAMBOF AND KIRSANOF

of the higher classes, and Lettisch that of the peasants. The
family gradually lost their French ties and are now thoroughly
German. He has strong English sympathies, as his father
was educated in England, and greatly prefers European
modes of thought and life to those of Asia. He is a tall,
good-looking and rather slight man of about sixty-six years
of age, and is broad-minded, kind-hearted, and a lover of
horses. With about forty-nine years' service, he is the oldest
colonel in the Russian army, and he and his most excellent
wife are eatino- their hearts out in their four or five rooms in
the dreary barracks of Tambof (Fig. 30), till the military
authorities see fit to make him a ofeneral. One of his sons
is an officer in a Russian cavalry regiment ; another is at
a military college ; and his two daughters are away with
friends in their far-off Lifland home. As compensations for
a monotonous life of petty detail and for an exile in an out-
of-the-way spot void of social, intercourse and intellectual
recreation, he receives 200 guineas a year and the distinc-
tion of being a colonel, I was sorry for him, and still
more so for his orood and charmino^ wife, who is a thorouoh
German lady of the best sort in her fond admiration lor her
worthy husband. While I was at Tambof, Colonel Hubbenet
never ceased in his kind endeavours to make my stay
pleasant, and he succeeded admirably. When I was leaving,
he said that he looked upon me as an old friend, and hoped
that I would bear them both in remembrance, which I
certainly shall always do. Among the many other nice
officers at Tambof, 1 may mention the names of Rotmistr
Schevschenko, who draws well and photographs, and Stab
Rotmistr Baumgarten, who gave me a great deal of practical
assistance at my breaking, in which he was much interested.

With the kind countenance of Colonel Hubbenet and
the goodwill of the other officers, I did a lot of nice work
at Tambof, especialh' in breaking in a couple of difficult

RESERVE CAVALRY

149

animals. General Gardenin before leavino- for Moscow, told
me that one of them was so dangerous, that he did not feel
justified in asking me to take the animal in hand ; a kindly
meant warninor which I did not heed.

Colonel Hubbenet gave me the photographs for Eigs. 31,
32, 33, 34 and 35, which show an interesting series of tests
applied to a squad of horses in order to prove their steadiness.

■I
■I

II

■I
II

IS

ss

sm

Mfiii 11 mi^* II

f

II II

PIP i til

Fu;. 31. — A Squad of Reserve Cavalr)-.

These animals were old horses that h id been specially
selected for their sedateness.

I may state in passing that I looked upon ni)' part of the
breaking as complete when I succeeded in making the horse
carry a rider quietly, and obey the ordinary indications of the
reins. I always managed to make him do this without
to buck or to exhibit anv other form of

allowino; him

I50 TAMBOF AND KIRSANOF

"playing up." When a horse has been broken to the saddle
in this way, he has instilled into his mind a most wholesome
idea of his inability to resist the orders of the man who gets
into the pigskin.

The brigade is close to the town of Tambof, which is an
ancient place that has been but little affected by European
civilisation.

A short railway journey to the east took me to Kirsanof,
which is a poor backward town of about ten thousand
inhabitants. On the evening I arrived, I was met at the
station by the A.D.C., Stab Rotmistr Molchanof, who
gave my luggage to one of the men he had brought with
him, and took me off for supper to the house of the General
who lives in the town ; the brigade being about a mile and a
half distant from it. I found General Veljaminof- Zernof
(Fig. 36) to be a charming man, and kind and hospitable
to the utmost degree. I had a rare good supper, a still
pleasanter talk and many a hearty laugh with my witty
entertainer, and then an adventurous drive in a sledge across
the steppe to the barracks and the officers' club, where I was
most comfortably put up.

The barracks are on high ground and are exposed to
bitterly cold east winds, which blow from the Ural mountains
across the Volga often at a temperature of —30° F. and some-
times even at —35° F. Some of the officers averred that
the mercury not unfrequently reached —40° R. ( — 58° F.).
The thermometer that made such a record was of an
unusually retiring disposition ; because mercury freezes at
— 31.6° R. ( — 39° F.). All were unanimous in declaring that
Kirsanof is a much colder place than Siberia, which I believe
is singularly free from high winds during winter. The fact
that people in England are as a rule absolutely ignorant of
the working of thermometers, shows how little they suffer
from extremes of temperature. Russians and Anglo-Indians

Fio. 32. — Standing on the horses' backs.

Ill

If-

as RP 111

in nn no

l-'ic. 33. — Silling on ihe horses" croups.
151

Fig. 34. — Firing when mounted.

■•f":ii r n - 'If -• n

■ I I el '■

^

if 1

li iV fV 1

II II II I

li 11, ^ij I

20

Fig. 35. — Firing in the air in fronl of horses.
103

1

k

%1

^ \->jB

-wi.-<i sta is

M

^^^ ^^^^^^^F>i^B^\'<

i

^1^

Ki^ ' ^

,'--^?!r'*~m-»

1 .

ff

Ik j

^^i

&. ^ ^

V n

1 m

r "

^

• ' w'aDw:«tJKMi^

•-■.■■

sj^

Photo by\

yU. Stcinl urg^ St. Pctcrsbto-i.
1'"k;. 36. — (jcneral W-ljaminof-Zernof.

155

GENERAL PETROVSKY 157

on the contrary, have a deep knowledge of the variations
of these instruments, at different ends of the scale.

The General told me that shortly before my arrival, the
dreariness of life at Kirsanof had been agreeably relieved by
a visit from that well-known cavalry leader and admirable
raconteur. General Petrovsky, who came to inspect the young-
horses which at that time were being submitted for selection
as remounts. The General had an inexhaustible fund of
amusing anecdotes, many of which are treasured up by the
officers of the 3rd Brigade for the benefit of friends passing
through. The only persons who are said not to have
enjoyed these stories were the remonteurs who brought up
horses to be passed ; for whenever the eyes of the General
fell on a colt or filly he did not like, he used to turn round
to the officers behind him and begin to tell them a yarn in
his happiest style. As the burst of laughter which followed
died away, he'd wheel round again and would utter the fatal
word, brak, which in Russian signifies "rejected."

I had a very pleasant time at desolate Kirsanof; for the
General and his officers were interested in the breaking, and
showed their appreciation of my work by many a hearty
"bravo!" and kindly word. After I had made four diffi-
cult horses quiet to ride, an animal I was breaking on the
fifth day struck me a hard blow on the back of my right
hand with a fore foot, but luckily missed my head which it
crrazed. Althouo^h I was able to finish with him and make
him quiet, the General from kindness of heart would not hear
of my doing any more work. In fact he said that if he had
his way, he would order me off to St. Petersburg on sick
leave until I got well again.

Being, as I felt throughout this tour, on trial, I took more
chances than I might otherwise have done, and got several
nasty kicks. Luckily the horses were not shod.

Before I departed, the General gave me his photograph

158

TAM1501' AND KIRSANOF

(I'^lg. 36) with maiu' frlcndK' wishes, ancl wrdtc on ibc hark
of it —

" l'';irr llicc well, .nul it tor C'\CM,
Slill I'oi cvri- tail- lluT wrll.''

I iniisi luu forget to iiu'iuiun the names of these smart
officers, Colonel Too^anol, Colonel Kveezeensky, Haron
\'on ilvv Osten Sakken, Rolniistr likhanof, who is fond ot
hinuini^' ami keeps horses and doi^s, and i\otmistr Lavrof,
who as chil) catei'er ahU' siijiplied m\' erealiire ci>mlorts.

I parted h'oin my kind h'iends with the hest ol wishes on
b^)th sides, and journe\(xl on to Horisoglebsk.

ciiAr'ii'.u XI I

liORISOCLI'IlSK

15()riso^Icl)sk Cliuiclu's, I'ricsts and Ikmis Kiissian llallr, Kliciimatlsm —
Russian I-'ockI Colfce and (liicoiy Kind K('(c|)li()ii — Crilicisin willionl
Experience.

BORISOCLTU^SK tlioii-h not imicli hin-cTcr is ;i far
more busy ])lact; lliaii Kirsaiiol. It has a larL^(; ('\|)()rl
trade in meat, which is of fairly ^ixxl (|iiality and whicli costs
()iil\' h'oin a penny to two |)cnc(; a j)onn(l. I here are several
factories and of course the inevitable church (I'ig. 2^']\
Russian churches are very Oriental in appearance and greatly
reminded mc; of Indi;in and T^^yptian mos(|ues, e\ce|)t that
ikons (sacred pictures) are an important Icatui-c in the. (jreek
ceremonial. No i-cprcscntation ol created beim^s (,'ven on
coins is allowed by followers of the prophet. Russians
believe that their ikons are sentient, arc; capable of perform-
in(^ miracles, and like ladies are rendered happ\' by th(;
wearing' ol j(;wels. Catholics -.wv. somewhat of tlu; same;
way of thinking with respect to their holy ima_o(^s, if I may
judge by the story told of th(^ .Spanish Abidonna who had
a famous shrine, and who wore a great number of valuable
diamonds and other precious stones. On one occasion there
apj)eared at this shrine a pilgrim who distinguished himself
h-om all the other worshij)pers by the fervency of his pray(;rs
and b\' the frequency and profundity of his prostrations. Not
long after his arrival, the priests of the shi"ine found to their

i6o BORISOGLEBSK

dismay one morning that the Madonna had been stripped
of the greater part of her jewellery, and suspecting the pilgrim
they had him arrested, with the result that the gold and
precious stones were found in his possession. When asked
for an explanation, he stated in the coolest possible manner
that the jewellery belonged to him ; because the Madonna
on observing his great piety had gratefully presented it to
him when no one was looking. As the priests could not
deny the plausibility of the defence, they allowed the pilgrim
to depart with his gifts, and they made what capital they
could out of the miracle, a repetition of which they prevented
their Lady from performing, by enclosing the shrine with
bars of iron.

The inhabitants of Borisoglebsk, Kirsanof and of other
out-of-the-way places are only just beginning to open their
mental eyes, and to become aware that they have to take
part in the march of progress which Russia has begun. The
self-satisfied English globe-trotter is apt to regard the Russian
peasant as a savage or at least a barbarian, because the
inoiijiks dress is of an Oriental type, and is evidently
unacquainted with a clothes brush. But as far as personal
cleanliness goes, the Russian is far superior to the British
workman, who very seldom gives himself a wash all over.
Even the poorest moujik gets soaped and scrubbed in his
native steam bath at least twice a month, if not once a week.
I have often gone to a common banya of this kind, paid two
pence halfpenny (lo kopecks), and stripped a la Riisse in
a room full of intending bathers. The first time I saw
their comparatively white skins, I noted that none of them
had missed the last year's outing, as did the historic Scotch
factory hand who, by that plea, tried to excuse the dingy
colour of his body, when about to take the customary dip
in the ocean on his annual holiday and trip to the seaside
with his mates. The Russian working classes, both men

RHEUMATISM

i6i

and women, carry with them to their bath a clean change
of underhnen to be put on after their scrub, A Russian
bath is similar to an English Turkish bath, except that
there is no extremely hot room, and that a much freer use
is made of hot water, which of course gives off a lot of
steam.

Russia is a country in which, despite the inclemency

riwto by\

Fig. 37. — Church at Borisoglebsk.

l-l/. //. //.

of the climate, there is very little chronic rheumatism or
rheumatic gout. In the Northampton village of less than
hve hundred inhabitants where our home is, I have seen
during the course of a day, more cases of "rheumatics"
than 1 have niet with in Russia in six months. At Crick,
as in many other i)laces in luigland, rheumatism affecting
the joints is an almost constant accompaniment of old age.

i62 BORISOGLEBSK

The comparative immunity enjoyed by ancient people in
Russia, appears to me to be due to the greater cleanliness
of their skins, and to a larger consumption of vegetable food.
The chief feature of a Russian's midday meal is an enormous
bowl, usually of cabbage or beetroot soup, often fortified
with other vegetables, such as onions, leeks and carrots.
It is the custom to have in each portion of soup, a piece
of meat — from a quarter to half a pound in weight when
uncooked — which has been boiled in it, and which is more
or less consumed, according to the hunger of the diner.
This portion and a liberal supply of black (rye) bread
completes the repast of the ordinary Russian man or woman.
The well-to-do classes like a preliminary appetiser in the
form of a zakooska (German, Imbiss or Vorsckmak), which
usually consists of an initial glass or two of vodka, and
picks at various kinds of kors d'oeuvres, such as kareng
marind d la Hollandaise, slices of tongue, ham and tinned
dainties. Then come soup, meat, sweets, coffee and different
sorts of wine. The soup, as I have already indicated, is
wholesome and tasty. Despite the fact that German cookery
has largely influenced that of Russia, it has happily left the
soup untainted, and consequently 1 had not the horror while
in that country, of seeing in front of me the bi'ot suppe of
Schwabenland or the aal suppe of Hamburg. I remember
with disgust the bread (half- chewed crusts) soup which I
had to eat when I was at school centuries ago at Stuttgardt ;
but filthy as it was, it was better than the eel soup fortified
with plums and sugar which I have had thrust under my
nose in North Germany. Provincial Russians in the matter
of using cold milk with coffee show a want of savoir vivre ;
but there are a few exceptions, as I found when I had the
pleasure of dining with General Akhwerdof and Colonel
Globa at Borisocjlebsk. The cold milk dod"e with coffee
is also an Africander failing from which I suffered when

COFFEE 163

sojourning in South Africa. For real enjoyment of the
flavour of the Mocha or Ceylon berry when employed with
boiled milk, we require an addition of thick fresh cream,
that obtained from a separator being the best. The question
of milk or no milk is one of quantity ; for if only a few sips
are needed, there is nothing like cafd Tiirc, in which I had
the pleasure of meeting an old and valued friend at far-off
Liski on the Don, when having luncheon with that smart
young dragoon, Captain Joltannovsky, who had his cook
trained in the Turkish art while he was stationed at Odessa.
Taken all round, one certainly gets better coffee (that is,
less chicory) in Russia than in England. We owe the curse
of chicory chiefly to France ; for had that confounded
expression, cafe 7ioir, never been uttered, cooks would not
have souo-ht to have made a brown fluid black.

The kindness and hospitality which I had received from
the officers at Liski, Tambof and Kirsanof, was continued
at Borisoglebsk, where I met some very wild young horses,
which I made quiet. I was glad to have the opportunity
of showing how to make an old refuser jump kindly, which
is a form of breaking that demands far more skill and know-
ledge of horsemanship than mere taming. After having
made the animal obedient and clever with the long reins,
I of course got up myself; for I naturally did not want
the good effect I had produced, to be nullified by a man
who would not ride with a long rein and drop his hands,
which are two points of fine horsemanship that the Russians
have not as yet acquired. At Borisoglebsk, I could get
none of the officers to take a practical part in the breaking.
They liked to look on and criticise — not altogether unfavour-
ably, I have reason to believe ; but they did not seem to
understand that practical experience was necessary for in-
telligent criticism. I was sorry that such nice young fellows
had not been differently brought up. Once while waiting

i64 BORISOGLEBSK

for a train at Kozlof if I remember rightly, I had the pleasure
of meeting General Palitzyne who belongs to the Remount
Department, not the chief of the cavalry staff Alluding
to my engagement, he said that tlie Grand Duke had done
well by getting Fillis to teach the young officers school
riding and me to teach them breaking ; but with all his power
and desire for advancement, he would be unable to find
young officers who would learn.

The officers of whom I saw most at Borisoglebsk were
General Akhwerdof, Colonel Globa, Colonel Rambach, Baron
von Tisenhausen, Captain Drouve, A.D.C., Captain Beck-
Marmarschef, Captain Medvedof, and Veterinary-Surgeon
Piotr Boczkowsky. As Captain Beck-Marmarschef, who was
an Armenian, did not know French or German, we managed
to exchange ideas fairly well in Arabic and Persian, neither
of which languages I can really speak ; although I have an
intimate knowledge of Urdu, which is an Indian patois of
these two tongues. Urdu, the language of the Muham-
madans in India, has nearly the same grammar as Hindi,
which is spoken by the Hindus of the North- West Provinces
and is a patois of Sanscrit. When I was in the Bengal Staff
Corps, I passed the high proficiency examinations in Urdu
and Hindi at Calcutta, and obtained the Government prize
of Rs. 1500 for each of them.

My Polish friend, Boczkowsky (Fig. 38), is an ardent
student of animal pathology. I was particularly glad to meet
him, as we had many subjects of mutual interest, chiefly about
horses, to discuss together. I trust that he will be given a
larger sphere than Borisoglebsk for the exercise of his great
talent for scientific research.

Borisoglebsk is in the middle of the black soil country,
which is immensely rich from an agricultural point of view, as
it is covered with a deep layer of vegetable mould (humus),
similar to that of the black cotton soil of the Central Provinces

Photo hy\ [A F. Ncjchki, Boriso^Ubsk.

Fio. 38. — \'eteiinary-Sui"geon Piotr Boczkowsky.

105

GOING TO CHURCH

167

of India. During the wet days of autumn and spring, the
ground formed by this soil becomes so heavy and muddy,
that pedestrians have much difficulty in traversing it. Hence,
during wet weather, the officers at Borisoglebsk and at
other brigades in that part of the country, have to stay at
home, unless they can get a trap. In these jungly places, the

ft- "t

^b J

|4

>JrWj|[^. _ _ _

I£b.^^^^1^^Hh

njfijBH

H^^k

' ^J^KfSM

^^^^^H

fMi^H^Bit ~

1?

^H^^^T- ^l^^^H

^^^^^H|'

.

/'/!oto !y]

[L. C. Cofotiehski, Tzarskoc Selo.
Fic 39. — Russian self-driving Phaeton.

carriages are of primitive construction and entirely different
from the modern type of turn-out which is generally used by
well-to-do Russian officers (Fig. 39). One Sunday when I
was at the Borisoglebsk mess house {ofitzdrski kioob), I saw
the soldiers of the brigade without any officers, struggling
through the mud while they were returning from church.

i68 BORISOGLEBSK

Having been compelled to go to prayers every Sunday when
I was a cadet and officer with European troops, I could not
help remarking that this church-going business is managed
better in Russia than in Encjland, at least as far as officers
are concerned. The priestly office is held by all orthodox
Russians in deep veneration ; but the ordinary run of
"popes" are looked down upon by the higher classes in
Russia ; although they have great power over the peasantry,
who they endeavour to keep in a state of ignorance grosser
than their own. By the wise action of Peter the Great in
abolishing the office of Patriarch, the Greek Church priests
have been kept out of politics, happily for Russia, which has
thus been saved from miseries similar to those inflicted on
Poland, Italy, Spain, France, and Ireland by the Jesuits.
Of all hypocrites, our Protestant priests and clergymen are
the worst. They profess to follow the example of St. Paul,
who tells us that he made himself "servant unto all," and
yet they try their utmost to boss everyone. An odd thing
about so-called religious people is that they regard disbelief
in their own particular tenets as due to ignorance. This
reminds me of the old story of the Irishwoman who brought
her priest a present of two very young " Protestant kittens"
as she called them. The priest thanked her, but would not
accept them, as he was taking no cats just then. A few days
afterwards, the woman returned with the same kind of present,
and asked if his Reverence would not have a couple of
beautiful " Catholic kittens." The priest replied that they
were the same kittens which she had called Protestants only
a few days before ! " Ah ! Father," archly retorted the witty
Irishwoman, "their eyes are now opened."

CHAPTER XIII

BALAKLEYA

Balakleya — Cordial Welcome — Monotony of Life at the Cadres — Billiards —
Captain Ivan Kovalevsky — Champagne Breakfast — Troikas — Return to
St. Petersburg^ — Russian Soldiers.

O

N the 3rd November, I arrived at my last station,
Balakleya (Fig. 40), where I was received in the

Photo l'y\

Fig. 40. — Balakleya Brigade.

.)/. //. n.

kindest and most hospitable manner. The fact that the
officers had heard of my doings at Shandrovka, which is

22 "^9

170 BALAKLEYA

not very far from Balakleya, may have prepared them to give
me an extra cordial welcome, which they certainly did. The
only thing I regret during my stay there, is the loss by
accident of a photographic negative of my hosts and myself
which they had taken with my camera. While developing it,
I unfortunately spoiled it. Photography resembles angling ;
because the best views, like the heaviest fish, are those that
escape capture. I was, however, fortunate in getting a
photograph of a group of some of my Balakleya friends (Fig.
41). I can easily understand that my visit was, as they told
me, a pleasing break in the monotony of the life they were
leading. Beyond eating, drinking, sleeping, playing vint and
billiards, smoking cigarettes, reading and talking, these
officers have no distractions, under which heading their
military duty cannot be placed ; because they do not occupy
themselves practically with horses, and do all their duty on
foot. With complete absence of sport on horse or pony back,
extremely little with gun or rifle, no gymnasium, no racket
court, no cricket pitch, no football ground, not even a lawn-
tennis court or croquet lawn to amuse themselves with, it is
no wonder that these really nice young fellows seek oblivion,
not in drink, but in innocent sleep, after lunch till six or seven
in the evening. They are certainly the first inhabitants of a
cold or temperate climate that I have seen indulge in this
practice, which we all know is common in tropical and semi-
tropical countries.

The majority of the officers' clubs at the brigades have
billiard tables, 11 feet long, 5^ feet broad, and provided with
six pockets as with us. As the pockets are 3 inches wide
and the balls 2.6 inches in diameter, it is easy to understand
that under these conditions, successful hazard striking is
extremely difficult. The Russian game is a kind of pyramids,
which was probably imported by Peter the Great from
Holland. The balls have different values, which are respect-

BILLIARDS

171

ively marked on them, and flukes do not count either way.
To eliminate this element of chance, each player before
striking has to name the pocket in which he is trying to
deposit the ball he is aiming at. My billiard-playing readers

/7ioto />y]

Fig. 41. — Officers at Balakleya.

[JA //. //.

will understand that the slowness of such a game on such a
table is simply appalling, and was recognised by my Balakleya
friends when I initiated them into the beauties of the French
cannon game {caravibolage). With such large balls and such
small pockets, I knew that it would be no use attempting to

172 BALAKLEYA

introduce the Ens^lish o-ame. Besides, in Russia, French
fashions are far more popular than Engh'sh ones. I used to
play billiards a good deal when I was in the Service, and
have made many a pretty serie on French tables, especially
at Cafe Paradiso in Alexandria, where I have often had a
gamble at carambolage and trictrac.

In out-of-the-way places in Russia, the post-office people
have so few papers to read, that they naturally fill up this
literary want by perusing the letters which pass through their
hands. Few would object to this solace of official boredom,
if the postal authorities were energetic enough to return the
letters to their respective envelopes after they were done
with, and to forward them on to their legitimate destination.
But in that country oi neechdvo and sleeping all the afternoon,
such a high degree of smartness cannot be expected from
officials. To avoid letters becominsf lost in this manner,
people writing to or from the interior of Russia often register
their letters, which was a mode of protection adopted by my
wife when writino- to me from Eno-land while I was at the
cadres. This precaution enabled me to get her epistles
intact, until I arrived at Balakleya, where I was handed by
the Brigade Adjutant three of her registered letters which
had been opened, so he told me, by the General. As he also
told me that there was a lady in the station who understood
English, but whose acquaintance I had not the honour of
making, I hope their perusal amused him. Had I had the
pleasure of seeing him, I would have been only too glad to
have arranged to have sent him all my old letters, including
those from duns ; but he did not make his appearance all the
time I was at Balakleya. The officers told me that he was
very old : over eighty, I believe. They seemed to get on all
rio^ht without him.

Captain Oznobishin, who put me up, did everything he
could to make me comfortable, and Captain Andre Drossi,

CAPTAIN KOVALEVSKY 173

who is the handsome son of a Greek gentleman and Russian
lady, ably translated into Russian the discourses I delivered
in French about the art of giving horses good manners and
mouths. Captain Ivan Kovalevsky, a fine, big, strong fellow
who takes a real interest in horses, was as good an assistant
to me as I could want. He not only carried out my directions
on foot, but also mounted the young horses after I had
sobered them down. I have never had a better helper among
English officers, colonials, planters, or Boers — and I can't
possibly say more in his praise. The officers gave me a
champagne breakfast on the forenoon of my departure, drank
my health ['' Za vashc sdorovye''\ and said all sorts of nice
things about the pleasure my visit had been to them. Even
the soldiers who put my traps into the troika that was to take
me thirty versts across the steppe to the railway station of
Grakovo, wished me a kindly dosvidaniya [an revoir'). I
shall always remember my Balakleya friends with very
CTrateful feelino-s.

The troika (Fig. 16) may be said to be the national
carriage of Russia. In it, three horses are yoked abreast;
the middle one being between shafts, while the outer ones
pull from outriggers. The characteristic wooden arch (Russ.
dooga) which goes over the centre horse's shoulders, is firmly
fixed to the ends of the shafts in order to keep them in position.
In the ordinary one-horse four-wheeled trap, the use of the
dooga is supplemented by that of straps which are attached to
the shafts and which prevent them from approaching each
other. The show-off brioade enact that the centre horse

O

must trot — of course as fast as ever he can ; for Russians
when out driving love to appear as if they were trying to
catch a train — and that the near and off one must canter ; the
former with the off fore leadino-, and the latter with the near
fore. They say that in this style they are best able to protect
themselves from the attacks of wolves which wish to impede

174 BALAKLEYA

the progress of the ti'oika en roiUe. To ensure that the
desired fore leg leads, the head of the animal, whether on the
near or off side, has to be kept turned outwards by means
of a side rein. I need hardly point out to men who know
anything about horses, that continued leading- at the canter or
gallop with one particular fore leg, unduly fatigues the animal
and induces premature wear in that member. Consequently,
this combined trot and canter style of progression is not
adopted in troikas that are required for real work. After a
horse has been long accustomed to an outside position in a
troika team, he more or less permanently acquires a one-
sided gait, by which an old troika animal may often be
recognised in a drojky. The Russian driver of a troika or
drojky never carries an orthodox whip, but uses instead of it
a short dog-whip-looking affair (Russ. Nagaikd), which he
employs only for serious punishment to be inflicted iypace
Frank Ward) across the erring brute's hind-quarters. For
mere stimulation, the one-horse koocher depends on pieces of
metal which are attached, one on each side, to the reins, so
that the horse can be hit with them a little above the stifles.
Such a mode of handlino- the ribbons has no doubt its
advantages when the head of the driver is not much hitrher
than the croup or croups of his horse or horses as the case
may be ; but it is a laughable anachronism when put into
practice, as it is often done in Russia, from the box of a
modern built carriage.

On arriving at the wayside station of Grakovo, I got into
the train for Kharkof, and then journeyed on to St. Petersburg.
On my way back, I spent the most of my time regretting
that General Strukof had not given me more time at the
cadres, as I had begged him to do ; and that he had not
confined my instruction to the soldiers and non-commissioned
officers, who had a practical and not merely a theoretical
interest in horse-breaking. Of course he had his reasons.

TARTAR SOLDIERS

175

I brouorht back with me from the cadres a oreat admira-
tion for the wihins;- and cheerful manner in which Russian
soldiers set about anything they are told to do by their
officers, who are certainly physically inferior to their men.
In our army, it is the other way about, thanks to the athletic
training carried on in our public schools and colleges. Seeing
both Tartar and Russian soldiers together in the same cadres,
I often asked if the former were as good for military purposes
as the latter, and always received the reply that practically
there was no difference between the two. Although from
personal knowledge I have a very high opinion of the men
of our Indian cavalry, Guides, Hyderabad Contingent, and
of our Sikh, Goorkha, Rajput and Patau infantry regiments, I
would not like to compare them with the Mr. Thomas Atkins
who is in India. The young Mr. A. who has had only home
service is not such a formidable individual, as his more travelled
brother.

CHAPTER XIV

THE CAVALRY OFFICERS' RIDING SCHOOL

"Crabbing" — Making a Refuser jump — An Old Lady's Horse— Passive Resistance
— Officers won't learn — Hunting a la Rttsse — General Avscharof and Fillis.

ON arriving- at St. Petersburg I called on General Avscha-
rof, as he was in charge of the Cavalry Officers' School,
which I had to attend for the next four months ; but was not
able to see him. On the following day I called on General
Strukof, who said nothing one way or the other respecting
my tour through the brigades. I had expected some civil
words about the hard and dangerous work I had gone through,
but did not receive them, although of course he had had reports
of all my doings. His reticence did not however prevent him
from tellinof me with ijreat satisfaction that the Grand Duke
Nicholas had sold the grey gelding he had bought from me.
I made no reply to this piece of news ; for I felt that had I
done so, I might not have been able to have refrained from
saying something uncomplimentary about people who don't
know when they have got a good horse. I subsequently
learned all about this matter from Fillis, to whom the Grand
Duke had given the grey to superintend and exercise after
Liipke had received his dismissal. Fillis told me that the
grey came to him in a dreadful state of neglect, and so weak
that the animal could hardly keep on his legs when ridden.
Under the good management of his new trainer he soon

recovered, and was ridden by the Grand Duke on several

wc

CRABBING A HORSE 177

lono^ and fatisi'uino^ field-davs. Fillis Informed me that the
grey was a remarkably nice horse — big, good-looking, strong,
temperate, and such a grand galloper that when on him
Fillis could easily give the go-bye to anyone with whom he
was riding. About this time, so Fillis told me, General
Strukof had a horse — a grey one, if I remember rightly —
which he wanted the Grand Duke to buy, and to secure this
end, he "crabbed" my importation to His Imperial Highness
by saying that the animal's feet were badly formed, and that
he was liable to fall down at any time. This condemnation
was contrary to Fillis' opinion, and was absolutely unfounded,
as I would have been only too glad to have proved. It had
the effect, however, of making the Grand Duke sell the orrev
gelding and buy the other, which Fillis told me was much
inferior to my former property. I subsequently learned that
the gelding was purchased from the Grand Duke by a
colonel in command of one of the Guard regiments, and is
doing well. An officer of the Guards who had ridden him
agreed in my presence with everything that Fillis had said
in praise of the animal. Had I been a Russian, I would
probably have been sent off to Siberia !

Whether the "crabbing" of the grey gelding by General
Strukof, or the news that I had sold to Colonel Kasnakof
a supposed roarer which turned out to be sound in her
wind (p. 91), was the cause of the Grand Duke giving me
the cold shoulder, I do not know ; but the fact remains
that on my return from the cadres to St. Petersburg, the
information seemed to have been passed round among the
officers that I was out of favour with superior authority.
Colonel Ismailof would hardly speak to me ; General
Derfelden would not see me ; and all my other acquaintances
who had formerly gushed in the effusive manner peculiar to
Russians, withdrew the lioht of their countenance. This
treatment in no way annoyed me ; for I had more than
23

178 CAVALRY OFFICERS' RIDING SCHOOL

enough to occupy my leisure, especially as at that time the
materials for two new books were demanding literary escape
from my brain with painful insistence. Besides, I had no
wish to remain in Russia beyond the period of my engage-
ment. But I wanted above all things to fulfil my part of the
contract by conscientious work, and I could not help cherish-
ing the hope of being able to interest the members of the
Officers' School in my way of breaking. During the whole of
my official stay in Russia, I neither saw the Grand Duke, nor
received the sliohtest intimation that he had deioned to make
any inquiries about what I was doing. No doubt he thought
that the best way to utilise me, was to hand me over to
Generals Strukof and Avscharof to do what they liked with
me ; but I feel certain that in this he did not consider that
my presence at the cadres and at the Officers' School, would
be regarded by these Generals as a grave reflection on the
efficiency of their respective establishments.

When I first went to the Officers' School, I was told that
I w^ould have to wait until the young horses had arrived from
the studs. When these animals made their appearance, I
was informed that I would not be allowed to break in any of
them ; because they were all quiet. I was however permitted
to demonstrate on a sixteen-year-old trooper which was a con-
firmed kicker. I represented that according to the instruc-
tions I had received (Circular Letter, p. i lo), I was to be
given young horses ; but all to no purpose. My objection to
taking this old reprobate in hand was the not unreasonable
one, that this animal had been in the school ever since he was
a young remount, so it was hopeless for me to attempt to
cure him of a vice he had acquired and practised in surround-
ings to which he would return the moment my lesson was
over. Besides, as I pointed out to the Colonel who was
immediately under General Avscharof, my ability to break
in horses had been fully tested by the Grand Duke before he

A REFUSER 179

eave me the enofasfement, and, havino- obtained it, my mission
was to teach, and not to furnish fresh proofs of my competence.
The Colonel not very loyally replied that the tests enacted
by the Grand Duke were nothing to him, and that he wanted
to form his own opinion. ]n my haste I very foolishly offered
to make the horse quiet and amenable to discipline in two
consecutive hours. The Colonel replied that they could not
afford so much time. I then said to him that I did not wish to
annoy him or his officers by keeping- them looking at what I
was doing for a couple of hours, and that I would be glad to
take the animal any bye-day which might be convenient.
He answered that he would have to consult the General.
Next day he told me that he had spoken to the General, who
had said that he could not entertain my proposition ; because
I might employ some secret method unknown to them !
Although I wanted to work every day for several hours at
a time, the General would let me come only twice a week,
and then only for an hour. Even each of these hours was
reduced to about thirty-five minutes by delay at beginning,
and by eagerness to go away on the part of my class.

Hoping to cover me with confusion, they brought me one
afternoon a grey horse which would not jump for any of them.
I put the long reins on him, twisted and turned him about,
drove him with the long reins over the bar, got up on him, and
rode him over the obstacle, which he took kindly and in nice
style. Instead of saying, "That's not half bad for an Irish-
man," or words to that effect, all the officers turned their
backs upon me and walked out, evidently wild because I had
succeeded in what they had considered a hopeless task. The
next time I came, I asked to be permitted to give the grey
animal another lesson, so that I might more or less confirm
the good effect of the previous one ; but the Colonel refused
my request, on the plea that the horse belonged to an officer,
and therefore I could not have him. Bv this remark, the

i8o CAVALRY OFFICERS' RIDING SCHOOL

Colonel let the metaphorical cat out of the bag so completely,
that I ceased asking him for any more concessions. Had
the horse been a trooper, good care would of course have
been taken to have brought him back to me a worse refuser
than before. But the officer to whom he belonoed would
naturally object to the benefit of my lesson being nullified,
even for the gratification of the Colonel. It goes without
saying that the Colonel had full power to prevent the horse
being brought to me a second time, even if the owner had
desired to do so. For obvious reasons, I was unable to find
out who the owner was.

One day I tried to teach my class how to go up to a horse
and handle him. After showing a neat method of lifting up
an animal's fore leg, I asked one of the officers to follow my
example. He shook his head and said that he would not do
so, because he would dirty his hands. The next officer also
objected on the ground that he was not a groom. When I
showed them the best way to open a horse's mouth, they
became so disgusted that they all walked out of the manege.
As I could get no sense out of the young officers and no
support from their immediate superiors, I called on General
Palitzyne, and told him that it was simply a farce my trying
to teach people who would not learn. He merely smiled and
said that he hoped I would not mind the child's play [Kinder-
spiel was the word he used while talking to me in German)
of these youngsters. After that, I could only let matters slide
a bit.

Before coming out to Russia this time, I had my book on
horse-breaking translated into French by M. Roubaud for
the benefit of my Russian pupils, very few of whom took
enough interest in the subject to read this manuscript trans-
lation, so I might have spared myself the trouble and
expense. M. Roubaud is the editor of Cassell's French and
English Diclionary, and is a Crimean veteran.

WORK IN VAIN i8i

Getting sick of the old kicker, which I found on my bi-
weekly visits had been under private instruction in vice, and
wishing to teach the officers something really useful, I hired
at my own expense from Bosse's manege a horse that was one
of the most obstinate refusers I had ever seen. Besides, he
carried his head right up in the air when being ridden. He
was an old horse, and, except for these two vices, he was quiet.
Although I purposely refrained from giving him any instruction
at Bosse's place, and worked him only on the two days a week
I went to the Officers' School, I got him in five or six lessons
to jump kindly and well, to bend his neck, and to carry his
head in proper position. I need hardly say that my good
friend, Herr Bosse, did not allow him to be spoiled during
the intervals between the times I had him. The only effect
which this good work had on the officers was to make them
jeer at the reformed character for being an "old lady's horse."
I then had to acknowledo-e to myself for the first time in mv
life, that I had met with men whom I had failed to interest
in horse-breakino-. After this unsuccessful struqcrle of about
three months, I accepted my defeat and took things easily for
the remaining thirty days.

All the time I was at the Officers' School, the seniors
played the old game of passive resistance, and the young-
officers remained indignant that they should be obliged to
attend my classes, instead of being allowed to go off and
amuse themselves. They even sought my sympathy, which
I honestly extended to them. They truly represented to me
that breaking was a subject in which they had no interest ;
for their business was to ride well-broken horses, and not to
break in young ones. Hence, do what I could, almost all of
them viewed my work with indifference, if not WM*th contempt.
Two or three of them, when no one was listening, told me
that they liked my methods very much, and asked for a loan
of my book on breaking or for patterns of my gear, which of

i82 CAVALRY OFFICERS' RIDING SCHOOL

course I was only too happy to give them. But the re-
mainder treated me in a manner that would have given me a
very poor opinion of the manners of Russian officers, had my
intercourse with them been confined to the members of this
riding school. It is a strange fact that wherever I have gone
in Europe, Asia or Africa on my own "hook" to teach
breaking, I have been well received, have made friends, and
my work has been appreciated; but the first and only time I
went under Imperial patronage, I got treated as an interloper.
Fillis was just as much hated at the Officers' School as I was ;
but as he had the Grand Duke's personal support, the school
authorities had to be civil to him. All I wanted was that
those whom I was paid to teach, would take an interest in
the work, and would thus further the object for which the
Grand Duke had engaged me. When the six months were
over, I pocketed my pay, packed up my traps and departed
for London without saying good - bye even to General
Palitzyne. I was sorry to be obliged to make that omission ;
but I was afraid the annoyance the school people had caused
me, misfht oet the better of the Qrratitude I felt towards him
for having been always courteous to me. I hate brooding-
over grievances and still more dislike intlicting them on my
friends.

While I was at the cadres, I heard that the members of
the Officers' School kept "a pack of hounds and hunted
regularly, so I wrote home for my hunting things and got
them out. On making inquiries at the school about this
Russian Ouorn, I was told by the officers with evident pride
that it was a grand affair ; that the best of aniseed was
employed ; and that no one was allowed to go in front of the
Colonel, who always took the lead. I did not open that box
of hunting things.

During the four months I was in St. Petersburg, my wife,
who had come out to join me, and I, saw a good deal of Fillis

GENERAL AVSCHAROF AND FILLIS 183

and Mrs. Fillis, both of whom were very civil to us. I greatly
enjoyed talking horse to him ; because he was full of original
information about school riding, which is a subject that is
more or less unknown to horsemen in England. I was also
glad to avail myself of his kind offer to let me come and see
him give his lessons. On these occasions, it was great fun
listening to General Avscharof, who kept up a continued
fusilade of directions and reproofs to the members of the
class, entirely irrespective of Fillis, who, in his turn, paid just
as little attention to the General. One day when I was there,
the General, without consulting Fillis, ordered the jumping
bar to be brouo-ht in. When it arrived, Fillis said to me :
" He has o"ot the bar in, but he'll have to wait till I let the
men jump it." And so the comedy went on, until at last the
General got up and walked out of the school in a not very
dignified huff As soon as he had departed, Fillis formed up
the ride and proceeded with the jumping lesson.

CHAPTER XV

PETERSBURG IN WINTER

Invitation to New Zealand — Good Losers — Russian Cab Horses — Docking—
"Thorley" — Horses drinking Cold Water — Russian Police — Detectives —
Beards— Passports— The Censor — Rule of the Road — Swear Words — Marry-
ing Foreigners — St. Petersburg Rag Fair — The Fortress — Russian Photo-
graphers— Russian Tea — Courting a la Russe — Nae Scotchman — Trotting —
Flat Racing — Dalmeny — The Redan.

A FEW days after I returned from the cadres, my wife
came out from England and joined me at Petersburg.
The first two or three visits to the Officers' School made me
determine not to prolong- our stay in Russia beyond the end
of my six months' engagement. We both longed to be back
again among horsemen and good sportsmen, the full benefit
of whose society we could not enjoy just then in England ;
for our balance at the bank was not sufficiently large ; and
without money, no man can see sport in the Midlands.
About that time we received an invitation from Mr. John
Stevens of Bulls, Rangitikei, Wellington, New Zealand, to
pay him a visit in that colony. While living in Calcutta
during the years 1888 to 1891, we saw a great deal of Mr.
Stevens, who at that time used to import high-class horses
from New Zealand to India. I bought several good animals
from him, including that smart steeplechaser, Glaicks, with
whom 1 won some races, and the famous racing pony,
Parekaretu. Lovers of horses in India suffered a great loss
when Mr. Stevens gave up importing to that country ;

184

MR. STEVENS 185

because he used to bring over the proper sort, did not
invent salt-water pedigrees, and was reasonable in his
prices. He was one of the best friends we had in India,
and we would go a long way to see him again. But before
doing so, it was necessary for me to put my books in order,
by writing a new edition of Riding on the Flat and Across
Country ; the present one, and a book on stable-management
in England, the plan and many of the details of which were
already arranged in my head. My wife also was busy on a
bright and interestino- review of Russian historv, which will
soon be published ; so we were only too glad to be left to
our own devices, as far as social intercourse was concerned.
Besides the pleasure of seeing Mr. Stevens and other old
Colonial friends again, I was looking forward to importing
into Eno-land New Zealand and Australian horses of the

o

high-class hunter type, which I knew were badly wanted
in The Shires.

On one occasion I casually mentioned to the officers at
the school that I intended later on to go to New Zealand
and Australia, and hoped to bring back some nice horses
with me. " But there are no horses there," said one young
subaltern, proud of the world - wide knowledge he had
acquired at his college. I pointed out to him that the
European cavalry and artillery in India and a large portion
of the native cavalry are mounted on Colonial horses ; that
these animals are the best all-round saddle horses in the
world ; that I had owned many scores of them ; and that
several Australian horses had won o-qocI races in Eno-land.
''The English must hate that," chimed in one or two who
were listening. " Englishmen," I replied, "have many faults ;
but they have one very big virtue, namely, that of liking
to see the best horse win, no matter what his nationality."
And then I went on to explain how well the victories of
Gladiateur, Fille de I'Air, Iroquois, Foxhall, Plaisanterie
24

i86 PETERSBURG IN WINTER

and many other foreign horses had been received by the
British pubhc. All I said was taken with a shrug of the
shoulders and an incredulous smile ; for Russians, like
Frenchmen; do not believe in the existence of a good loser.
The cab horses of Petersburg are largely recruited from
the stout ponies of Finland and Sweden [Finkas and
ShvMkas). These animals are of the strong tradesman-cart
type, and appear to be mostly of indigenous blood. They
vary in height from say 15 hands to 13.2. They are very
hardy, sufficiently fast for their purpose, very quiet, and
cheap ; averaging about £'] or ^8 apiece. Figures 42 and
43 respectively give a good idea of the large and small speci-
mens of this breed. From illustrations in this book it will be
seen that all the Russian harness horses have long tails, and
that the drivers take no precautions to prevent the reins from
hanging down about their hind-quarters. Yet, all the time
I was in Russia, I never saw or heard of a case of a horse
starting kicking from getting a rein under his tail. It goes
almost without saying, that the supposed liability of long-
tailed horses to this danger, is the great argument advanced
in favour of docking harness horses by upholders of this
senseless, unnatural and cruel fad. My experience is that
docked horses are much more apt to kick than undocked
ones, which is a conclusion fully borne out by a consideration
of the distribution of the nerves of the part. It is obvious to
anyone with the slightest knowledge of anatomy, that the
end of a docked tail is far more sensitive to external pressure
than the end of an undocked one. Even granting that
dockinof ofives rise to no increased sensibility, the fact
remains that when a horse gets a rein under his tail, he is
unable to retain it there, unless it is closer to the root of his
tail than the point of amputation would be. The gross
indecency of a short - docked mare, especially at certain
seasons, is too disgusting a subject to dwell on. It is

DOCKING

187

bad enough docking horses which have to spend all their
life in a stable ; but the cruelty of thus mutilating those
that are turned out to grass, and especially brood mares,
should be made penal. 1 am aware that docking, except for
valid sureical reasons, is an offence aoainst law ; but I also
know that the vast majority of the colts and fillies which are

P/ioio by]

Fig. 42. — Large type of Finnish Pony.

[.1/. H. H.

not thoroughbred, are docked in this country. In this land of
hypocrites, many legal enactments are passed in order to keep
right-minded people quiet, and then these rules are tacitly
iofiiored. Our law beinaf an ass, ouQrht to have more feellno-
for his first cousin the horse.

The special objection against docking Is of course the

i88 PETERSBURG IN WINTER

fact that it deprives the mutilated one of an efficient pro-
tection against the attacks of flies, which are very irritating
to horses in the open during summer and autumn even-
ings. On such occasions it is a pretty sight to see a foal
nestling up against its dam, who whisks the flies off her
infant with her long tail. Imagine advocates of docking
gloating over the misery of a brood mare with a short
stumpy tail placed in a similar position !

We may frequently see when long-tailed horses are at
grass, that a pair of these animals will stand side by side and
head and tail together, so that they may mutually drive off the
flies that invade their fore quarters. Except to remove a
well-marked "kink" in the tail, I look upon docking as a
disfigurement in all cases ; but I don't want to support the
unassailable argument of cruelty by this mere personal
opinion ; because there is no disputing about tastes, as the
Latin proverb tells us. The cause for the prevalence of
dockino; is the fact that Enorlish owners of horses as a Q-reat
rule are entirely in the hands of their grooms, as far as stable
management is concerned. The longer the hair of the tail,
mane and forelock is, the more trouble has the groom to
keep it clean. Need I say more ?

I had always much more pleasure in getting into a drojky
in St. Petersburg, than into a cab in London ; because the
izvozcJiik (Russian cabby) does not knock about his animal in
the cruel manner generally practised by the London hansom
driver, who applies his " Thorley," whenever and wherever he
can get the chance. As a great rule, he drives another man's
horse with his own whip. To those who are not behind the
scenes of horse life in London, I may explain that the name
of Thorley, who was the "food for cattle" man, is used by
our Metropolitan cabbies to designate the strip of gutta-
percha which they frequently employ at the end of their
flails, instead of the orthodox lash of whipcord. This

THORLEY"

189

preference is justified, from their point of view, by the fact
that the bit of Thorley does not "sing," and that it has a
much more stimulating effect on jaded steeds than the
ordinary attachment to the end of the thong. In return
for the laro-e amount of money which the officials of the
Society for the Prev^ention of Cruelty to Animals make out
of it, they ought to try and stop the external administration of

Photo fij']

Fig. 43. — Small type of Finnish Pony in Sledge.

[J/. H. //.

Thorley. In London at night, when of course the feeblest
and most worn-out animals are put into the shafts of cabs,
the continual slashing of the whips of hansom drivers is a
sound which makes that city hateful to me.

De Simonoff and de Moerder's Juices Chevalincs contains
a large amount of information on Russian, Finnish and other
northern horses. Prince Nicholas Scherbatov, who takes

I90 PETERSBURG IN WINTER

great interest in horse - breeding, very kindly gave me a
copy of this book, as he knew it would interest me.

Although the Neva is a fairly fast flowing river, it gets
rozen over so firmly during winter, that carts, electric trams
and other heavy traffic cross it without any mishap. A large
business is done in cuttino- oreat blocks of ice, and cartino-
them by sledges (Fig. 44) into the town. The fact that
these blocks are about two feet six inches thick, shows how
intense must be the cold, and how strong must be the ice on
the river. Yet with all this cold, often below —20° F., the
custom amono- the St. Petersburo- izvozchiks is to let their
animals drink as much icy cold water as they choose to
take, at the various public horse troughs that are distributed
throughout the city. There is a caretaker at each of these
troughs, who charges a kopeck (a farthing) for the ac-
commodation, and during the winter lias frequently to break
the ice that forms on the surface of the water every few
minutes. The Russian cabbies water their horses irrespect-
ive of the time of the year, no matter how hot they may be.
In fact, one rarely goes a long drive without their asking
leave to assuage the thirst of their ponies. I was always
only too happy to grant the desired permission ; because I
knew that this practice was thoroughly sound. I need not
here give my reasons for this belief; because 1 shall fully
discuss the subject in my new book on stable-management
in Engrland.

Footpaths of various kinds are constructed over the Neva
for winter use. Fig. 45 shows a good specimen of a wooden
one with railingrs on each side.

I admire the Russian police ; because they keep order,
and apparently are a terror to no one except evil-doers.
England is such a delightfully kind country to the wicked,
that she receives with open arms and no questions asked,
the ruffians of all nations, and gives to her own scamps an

BLACKFRIARS ROAD 191

amount of liberty which is extremely detrimental to quiet
folk. I read in the Police Reports of this morning's (3rd
November 1899) paper, that — "Joseph Walters, a painter,
said that about a quarter past twelve on Sunday morning he
was crossing Meymott Street, Blackfriars Road, towards a
small crowd, when he was knocked down and kicked in the
face. He was taken to the hospital, and did not wish to

/'/toto fij'\ ^ [J/. H. H.

Fu;. 44 — Roadways across the Neva in Winter.

give his address, as he was afraid of being further assaulted.
He believed prisoner was the man who attacked him.
Lovejoy stated that a crowd was surrounding a constable,
who was trying to take to the station a man whom the crowd
was trying to rescue. Someone in the crowd struck the
constable in the neck, and witness rushed up and knocked
the man down, and helped the constable for a short distance.
When he turned to <^o home he was knocked down and

192 PETERSBURG IN WINTER

kicked in the temple, and became unconscious. Three other
men were knocked down and kicked.

"Other evidence was given showing that Meymott Street
and the neighbouring thoroughfares are very dangerous. —
Mr. Paul Taylor agreed with one witness, who expressed
the opinion that more police are needed, and he asked the
inspector on duty at the court to inform the authorities of
the need for more police. ' This neighbourhood,' said Mr.
Paul Taylor, ' is the scene of gross ruffianism. Gangs of
roughs knock respectable persons down, and kick them merely
for amusement.' — The prisoner was remanded."

Meymott Street, Blackfriars Road, is simply a snakeless
Garden of Eden compared to many of the silver rings on
some of our racecourses.

English people have I think an exaggerated idea of the
zealousness of Russian detectives. In all my wanderings
through Muscovy, I never bothered them, and they never
troubled me. The story is told of a new English arrival who
happening to meet in one of the streets of St. Petersburg
a fellow-countryman and old resident, poured out a tale of
woe about the infamous way in which his footsteps were
dogged by Russian detectives. " Look at that man on the
other side of the road," he continued. " He's a detective. He
has been following me for the last half-hour. I am going
straight back to my hotel, and shall not quit it until I get
my passport ; and then I shall go by the first train to
London." "Nonsense," replied the other. " I'll go over to
the fellow and ask him what he wants," and he accordingly
did so. The mysterious stranger on being interrogated,
explained that taking compassion on the melancholy-looking
Englishman, he wished to introduce him for the moderate
honorarium of five roubles, to a very handsome young lady,
who would be certain to fall in love with him at first sight.

The policeman in the Frontispiece of this book, kindly

SHAVING BEARDS

193

stood still and looked to his front for the small sum of live
pence (20 kopecks) while I "took" him on a bitterly cold
day. We may see that he and his horse (a Government
stud-bred) are well protected from the weather. His neck
and ears are wrapped in a bashilik, which is a specially
made camel's hair or woollen "comforter." Peter the Great
never brought in a more stupid reform than that of forcing
his subjects, entirely against the will of their priests, to have
their beards shaved off. Captain John Perry, who was in

/'/toto />y\

Fu;. 45. — Footpath across the Neva in Winter.

[.I/. //. H.

Peter's service and who published in 17 16 his book, 7/ie
State of Russia, tells us, "that the Russes had a kind of
religious Respect and Veneration for their Beards ; and so
much the more, because they differed herein from Strangers,
which was back'd by the Priests, alledging that the holy Men
of old had worn their Beards according to the Model of
the Picture of their Saints, and which nothing but the absolute
Authority of the Czar, and the Terror of having them (in a
merry Himiour) pull'd out by the Roots, or sometimes taken
25

194 PETERSBURG IN WINTER

so rough off, that some of the skin went with them, could
ever have prevailed with the Russes to have parted with
their Beards. A great many of my Men that had worn
their Beards all their Lives, were now obliged to part with
them, amcmgst which, one of the first that I met with just
coming from the Hands of the Barber, was an old Russ
Carpenter that had been with me at Camishinka, who was
a very good Workman with his Hatchet, and whom I always
had a friendship for. I jested a little with him on this
occasion, telling him that he was become a young man, and
asked him what he had clone with his Beard ? Upon which
he put his hand in his Bosom and pull'd it out, and shew'd
it to me ; farther telling me, that when he came home, he
would lay it up to have it put in his Coffin and buried along
with him, that he might be able to give an Account of it to
St. Nicholas, when he came to the other world." When
Peter died, all the common people started to grow their
beards in peace ; but the unfortunate soldiers have had to
keep them shaved ever since. If the Russians capture
India, by which time I sincerely hope to be dead, they
will have a lot of trouble in making their Sikh sepoys
shave.

The sight, which we may often see in Russia, of one
policeman marching off to jail, say, a dozen or two of culprits,
without any of them making the slightest attempt to escape,
gives the new-comer as deep a veneration for the law of
that country, as the natives have for their beards, 1 have
often seen (generally after closing time) three or even four
sturdy members of the Metropolitan force fully occupied in
removing a young lady from decorous Tottenham Court Road
or from the fashionable Hay market to the lock-up. W^e may
well ask : Is the difference due to the superior persuasive
power of the Muscovite bobby, or to the greater pugnacity
of Miss Bull? To neither; but to the fact that everyone

RUSSIAN NEWSPAPERS 195

in Russia must have a passport, without which no one can
stop for more than one night at a strange house, or even at
an hotel. Consequently, when an arrest is made, the passport
is secured and its owner also. The Russian Government is
very merciful, in that it has abolished capital punishment.
If it wants to kill a man, it does so by accident, as for
instance by sending a troop of Cossacks charging through
a lot of factory hands on strike. As regards doing away
with the death penalty, I agree with Alphonse Karr, ''que
AIM. Ics assassins commencent cfabord par ne phis assassziter^
By all means string up murderers ; but the hiring of a man
to kill a woman is a foul disgrace to any country, civilised
or barbarous.

Durinsf the winter in Petersburgr, a larore trade is done
in flowers that are sent all the way from Nice and other
Southern plac^-s. The flower shops, which are the most
beautiful I have ever seen, are the only ones that make any
great display in their windows. The others, as we may see
in Fig. 46, are not very imposing. The importance of
Russian newspaper enterprise may be judged from the fact
that the offices of the Ncvoe Vranya, which is one of the
leading newspapers, are in a few small rooms over the
shops shown in this illustration. The Censor takes care
that the newspapers give expression to Government opinion,
not public opinion. Hence, there is little interest taken in
the inspired utterances, and the sale of papers is not brisk.
The extreme sensitiveness to criticism displayed by Russians
amazes me. They dearly k)ve to jeer at others who are
not of their exact way of thinking ; but they bitterly resent
the slightest chaff directed on themselves. The mildest
joke against Russian policy made by Punch, which no
member of an English infants' sch' ol would be silly enough
to take seriously, gets ruthlessly blacked out by the Censorian
Department, before the postman is allowed to deliver the

196 PETERSBURG IN WINTER

paper to the address on its cover. Burns showed that he
was not a Russian by writing the Unes :

" O wad some Pow'r the giftie gie us
To see oursels as ithers see us !"

An occasional course of that excellent mental tonic which
is called chaff, would often save Russians from doing idiotic
things. For instance, I once saw an officer of one of the
Guard regiments performing the not difficult feat of mounted
tandem (riding one horse and driving another horse in front
of him) in the Bolshaya Morskaya, which I have already said
is a very fashionable street in Petersburg. This gentleman
evidently wished to ^pater les pentes, to use a favourite
expression of his brother officers ; for having got to the end
of the street, he gravely turned round and made another
exhibition of himself. How long he continued to parade up
and down the street in this manner, I cannot say ; because,
not finding the performance amusing, I went away. I cannot
imao-ine an Ena"lish officer thus makino- a fool of himself in
Piccadilly, or even in Meymott Street, Blackfriars Road.
These antics may be appropriate enough for a circus man
like Franconi, whose motto was : " Taut il y aura des penies,
notts vivronsy

In Petersburg, the streets are so wide that no reasonable
objection can be made against the presence of tramways in
them. In Fig. 47 we see what ample room there is for lines
of carriages on each side of the tram-line. In Russia, as in
America, the rule of the road is the opposite to that in England.
Hence, the izvozcJiiks and koochers (coachmen) keep to the
right of the road. The traffic is divided into slow and fast ;
the former being supposed to keep close to the right kerb, and
to leave the ground to their left free for the drivers of speedy
trotters, whose shouts of '' na prava ! 72 a prava !'' ("to the
right ! to the right ! ") resound all along the street during

RULE OF THE ROAD

197

the fashionable hours. The rule of keeping to the right is
observed by the cavalry of all nations, who are supposed to
pass each other, bridle hand to bridle hand, I think that
originally the Russian driv^er never had anyone alongside him
on the box-seat, in which case it would matter nothino-
whether the rule of the road was that of keeping to the left or

Photo l<y\

Fig. 46. — Shops in the Nevsky.

[.!/. H. H.

to the right. The presence of a second person on the box-
seat naturally makes it more convenient for the driver to pass
approaching traffic on the left than on the right ; because he
has to be to the right of his companion, so that he may have
freedom to use his whip. Being on the right side of the box-
seat, he can observe the position of the off-wheel much more
accurately than he can that of the near one. Russians, to

198 PETERSBURG IN WINTER

be fashionable, must have a European coachman. The one-
eyed Notto is the I taHan whip, and an excellent one, to H.I.M.
the Tzar; and his brother, who I believe began life as a con-
fectioner, drives for the Grand Duke Paul. There are a few
English coachmen, among whom Hall figures. Old Etches,
who held the ribbons for several years in the service of Prince
Galitzin, is a regular John Bull, althou^^h he has been away
from his native land for more than fifty years. He, like
many other emigrants brought up his sons in Russia, and
despises them because they are not English — as if it Vv^as their
fault! Many of the non-Russian coachmen, when out with
their master or mistress, confine their duties to those of foot-
man or carriage groom and have a native to drive for them ;
because they don't know Russian sufficiently well to use the
strong language necessary to clear a way for themselves in
busy traffic. What that very dreadful "language" is, I
haven't the faintest idea ; because, while making up my
collection of Russian words and phrases for future need, I
carefully abstained from learning a single term of abuse.
This omission was in no wa\' due to conscientious scruples ;
but knowing that I would have a good deal to try my temper
amonof the Russians, I thouo-ht it safest not to indulcre in the
swear-words of their language, which I could insure myself
from not doing, only by not learning any of them. The
owner of the largest horse-shoeing establishment in Petersburg
is an Englishman of the name of Moss. Many of these men
have committed the folly of marrying Russian women. I am
fully aware that a Russian would be equally misguided to
marry an Englishwoman. An experience of eighteen years
in India, where mixed marriages are as unhappy as they are
common, has proved to me that a wise man or prudent
woman would abstain from marrying a foreigner. The idea
of an Englishwoman marrying a black man and breeding
black and tan children, is too repulsive for words.

ALEXANDROVSKY REENOK

199

One of the greatest resources which my wife and I had in
Petersburg, was buying curios at the Alexandrovsky Reenok
(The Market of Alexander). This place is about midway

-==k^

«fe<*J^ !^ ^^

ffiran

Fic;. 47. — The Nevsky.

between the Cathedral of St. Isaac and the Warsaw station,
and consists of a large number of small and dingy shops
which cover an irregular square of ground of about a hundred
and fiftv yards side. It is in fact a sort of rae fair with all

200 PETERSBURG IN WINTER

kinds of odds and ends thrown in. The holders of these
shops are mostly Jews and Jewesses, and most of them are
reputed to be receivers of stolen property, which of course
was no affair of ours. After we had oone there a few times

o

and had paid our footin^;' with sufficient liberality, they
receiv^ed us as friends and showed us many secret hoards
of old and valuable porcelain, embroidery, paintings, ikons,
brass work and other art treasures. My wife gave the name
of " The Bull " to one cheery Johnnie, who always laughed
whenever he happened, which was often, to drop and break
some nice piece of old china he was showing us.

Buying from our Alexandrovsky Reenok friends was like
playing a game of poker ; for they made their bluff, not from
the value of what was in their hand, but from the amount they
thought we would "see" them at. They must obtain their
goods in a wonderfully cheap market, which we shall never
enter. On one occasion, we wanted to buy a frame for a
picture, and saw one which contained a beautiful water-
colour painting of a Russian girl in national costume. Not
daring to regard it closely and thus to show our interest,
we waited for the shopman to get a frame of the required
size. At last he put his eyes on the water colour and said,
" That frame will suit you. You can have it and the picture
for 2, polteenik''' (half a rouble). Of course they got the best
of us now and then ; but as both parties were well satisfied,
no harm was done. About half of them spoke German, one
knew French, and three or four of them had learned English
in the East End of London or in New York. We went
there almost every day and were always met with pleasant
smiles and cries of " Kaufen Sie, kaiifen Sie ! " (" Buy, buy ! ").
Some of the Russian bronzes are very fine. I bought
from " The Bull " a very beautiful statue of a ti'oika in which
the horses are designed with greater anatomical accuracy
than I have ever seen in any other statue, big or little.

GOSTINOI DVOR

20I

The fancy market to which foreigners in St. Petersburg
usually go, is the Gostinoi Dvor, the front face of which is in
the Nevsky (Fig. 48). It resembles what a cross between
Burlington Arcade and Petticoat Lane might be. This
illustration gives a good idea of the great width of the

Pkoto hy\ [.1/. //. //.

Fig. 48. — \"ie\v of the Nevsky, with the Admiralty in the distance and the

Gostinoi Dvor on the left.

Nevsky, down the middle of which the line of electric lamps
runs.

The long drives by the side of the Neva to and from
the Officers' School were far from agreeable ; for the wind
as a rule was bitterly cold, and a drojky offers no protection
against it. Fig. 49 is the reproduction of a snap-shot which
my wife took of me while my friend of Fig. 22 was driving
me back from the school one dav. The orloomv F'ortress,
26

202 PETERSBURG IN WINTER

which contains the Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul with
its lofty spire, may be seen in the distance across the river.
Prince Kropotkine [Russian and French Prisons^ tells us that
"a sensation of horror is felt by the inhabitants of St.
Petersburg as they perceive on the other side of the Neva,
opposite the Imperial Palace, the grey bastions of the
Fortress ; and gloomy are their thoughts as the northern
wind brino's across the river the discordant sound of the

o

Fortress bells, which every hour ring their melancholy tune.
Tradition associates the sight and the name of the Fortress
with suffering and oppression. Thousands — nay, scores of
thousands of people, chiefly Little Russians, died there as
they laid the foundations of the bastions on the low, marshy
island of Jani-saari. No remembrance of glorious defiance
is associated with it ; nothing but memories of suffering
inflicted upon the foes of autocracy." As the Prince did
" time " in the Fortress, he ought to know something about it.
As persons are supposed to get a permit before being
allowed to photograph in Russia, I applied to the police for
one, and obtained it without any trouble. In fact, so little
restriction is put upon this art in that country, that I was
not asked on any occasion to produce my permit. Despite
the nonsense talked and written about the absence of freedom
in Russia, I found that there was singularly little interference
with individual liberty, except on points that were of trifling
consequence to a private party like myself. Although the
Censor blocked out in the newspapers political remarks that
were unfavourable to Russia, he left in all the literary matter
and sporting intelligence. He was careful that my morals
were not corrupted by seditious and irreligious books ; but he
had no objection to Paul Bourget, George Moore, or even
to my witty friend. PVankfort Moore. His confrere in
the Custom House treated revolvers with flippancy ; but
regarded typewriters as more dangerous than dynamite.

RUSSIAN PHOTOGRAPHERS

20^

During- this winter I did less photography than I had hoped
to do ; because the hght was extremely bad. In fact,
throughout the whole six months I was there this time, the
atmosphere was almost constantly filled with a dingy yellow
fog that made quick exposures out of the question. That
did not matter verv much ; because I was luckv to meet with

/'/taio /'}']

Fu;. 49. — Sledgini

[A. M. //.

two or three admirable photographers in Gorodetzky and von
Hahn, both of Tzarskoe Selo, and in Belyavskago of 34
Nevsky, St. Petersburg. These gentlemen supplied me
with the photographs of horses of which I was in need.
I was very agreeably surprised to find that there were such
admirable animal photographers in Russia.

204 . PETERSBURG IN WINTER

A very safe fluid on which to encounter great cold is un-
doubtedly tea. One of the few innovations to which my
residence in Russia converted me, was the drinking of that
beverage a la Russe. Everybody in that country labours
under the delusion that their tea, coming as it is supposed to
do overland in caravans, is the only tea outside of the
Celestial Empire which is fit to drink. Eleven years ago my
wife and I stayed for about a month at Shanghai, where we
ran a horse-breaking class, which everybody joined, and we
had a delightful time. While there, I took particular pains
to find out all about this caravan fetich. Mr. Ringer and
other leading tea merchants assured me that the finest Indian
Hill tea was better than any that could be found in China,
principally because it was manufactured under skilled
English superintendence, and according to the latest scien-
tific methods. The dirty, careless way tea is picked and
manufactured in China is simply disgusting, and the in-
feriority of the product has been the cause of its decline in
the Eno'lish market. Russians follow the Chinese custom of
drinking their tea very weak — about four pints of boiling
water to a teaspoonful of the leaf. I prefer less water, say,
two and a half pints, and think that the Muscovite plan of
adding a slice of lemon is much better than our way of using
cream or milk. The orthodox Russian custom when drink-
ing tea is to chew a lump of sugar, instead of putting it into
the glass (for men) or cup (for ladies). As marriages in
Russia are very matter of fact affairs, the swain has seldom.
an opportunity of examining his future wife beyond running
his eye over her. He is therefore careful when asked to tea
in the evening, to watch how she treats her lumps of sugar.
If she crunches them boldly with her molars, he rests assured
that she has no false teeth ; but draws the opposite con-
clusion, if she merely sucks them. If the young lady owes
more to the skill of the dentist than she would wish to

NAE SCOTCHMAN"

20:

confess, she will generally on such occasions cover the lower
part of her face with her handkerchief and pretend to have
toothache, w4iich malady could not exist if there w"ere no
teeth in her head. It must have been a Russian whom the
Scotch lassie of the story married. She was pretty and
charming- in every w^ay, except that she was slightly lame.
On returning to her native country after a few years' absence,

Photo l'y\ [• ''" ll'ihn d- Co.

Fig. 50. — The Trotting Ground at the Semenovsky Platz, St. Petersburg.

she met an old ladv friend, who seeino- that she looked
rather sad, asked what was troubling her. She replied that
she had married a Scotchman ; but unfortunately she had
before marriage concealed from him the fact that she had a
wooden leg, the discovery of which, after the knot had been
tied, made him hate her for want of candour. "He was nae
Scotchman ! " ejaculated the ancient dame with quite un-
necessary vehemence.

2o6 PETERSBURG IN WINTER

Match trotting is greatly patronised by the Russian
pubhc, who, in Petersburg, assemble on the stands of the
trotting ground of the Semenovsky Platz (Fig. 50) in large
crowds, every Sunday and on other occasions throughout the
winter to witness the races that are run there. I had so
little time to devote to this sport while I was in Russia,
that I can't say if it is carried on throughout the summer in
other parts of that empire. As the flat and illegitimate game
is played on the other side of the river during summer, which
is the fashionable off-season, little or no trotting takes place
while there is no snow, which is generally frozen pretty hard
on its surface during the cold weather. Mr, Manser, the
well-known Newmarket trainer, used, I believe, to train in
his early days with much success in Russia, and of course
saw a oood deal of the winter trottinsf. When he returned
to England, he tried very highly the credulity of his New-
market friends, who implicitly believed the wonderful stories
he told them, until one day he happened to speak about
races on the ice in Russia. That veracious story was too
much for his untravelled listeners, who ever afterwards called
him Rom — I mean, a novelist.

The trotting club is a wealthy institution ; as its races
are well attended, and it draws a commission on the large
sums that pass through its pari-mutuels. Mr. Wachter, a
German gentleman, wields the club ; because, so Starr told
me, he is the treasurer. Russian trotting men are bitterly
jealous of the American professionals who have settled in
their midst, and who make a very fair living out of the game.
For this they deserve an immense amount of credit ; because
Russians are staunch Tories and believe in protected
interests. These Americans told me many tales of favourit-
ism, which no doubt the other side would cap with those of
guile. Joe Howells, if I remember his name rightly, was
once heavily fined by the club for sonie misdemeanour

RUSSIAN TROTTERS

20:

committed by his pace-maker. As he could not control the
actions of this individual, he preferred to be warned off
than to pay up, so he departed for America; because, as he
said, " Russia was no country for a white man." This of

riwio /')']

[L. C. Go7-odetzky, Tzarskoe Selo.
Fig. 51. — Russian Malch Trotter.

course was far too sweeping a statement ; although it might
not have been incorrect, had it been restricted to sport.

Almost all the horses that compete at these races have
been bred in Russia, and show more or less admixture with
American and English blood, as we may see from Figs.
51 and 52. Foreign horses are admitted to very few events
during the year, and then only under severe restrictions.

2oS PETERSBURG IN WINTER

Starr, who is a correspondent to one of the American sport-
ing papers, writes strongly on the subject, and characterises
this system of protection as merely encouragement to in-
competent Russian drivers.

It gave me great pleasure while I was in Petersburg
to meet Mr. Caton, the American trainer ; for he is a man
full of original ideas, and has had a long and very intimate
experience among horses. I was in his company one
evening with some other American trotting men, when the
subject of hard pulling came under discussion. One man
recommended one bit, and another another bit, while I kept
waitino- for someone to Qrive vent to the idiotic remark that
there's a key to every horse's mouth. At last Mr. Caton
came to the rescue of my feelings by explaining that pulling
was a fault in the brain of the animal and not in its mouth.
He gave an instance of a wise horseowner in New York,
who, whenever he got a bad puller, straightway sent him off
to tram work, which soon taught him the error of his ways.
The same thing, I might have chimed in, occurs with London
cab horses and Leicestershire hunters. As these animals
when at work never know when they are to go home, they
soon stop pulling, if they are that way inclined, provided of
course that the man on their back rewards their obedience
by marks of approval. I can easily understand how Mr.
Caton happens to be the best trainer and driver that has
ever been in Russia. As no horse can be properly trained,
driven or ridden in exactly the same manner as any other
horse, it follows that to be a fine horseman one must think
for one's self.

The trotting at St. Petersburg is a very slow affair ;
because all the races are against time, on account of the
course beingr too small to admit of the field beino- started
together or even in heats. Each competitor therefore starts
himself by breaking a piece of thin string that is stretched

MATCH TROTTING

209

across the course, and he finishes in the same manner ; the
times being taken automatically. The length of the course,
if I remember rightly, is one verst, which is equal to 3500
English feet (nearly two-thirds of a mile) ; and the length
of the races is one or more versts. Hence, one horse is

Photo l'y\

[L. C. CorodetzKy, Tzarskoe Sclo.
Fio. 52. — Russian Match Trotter.

usually started at the winning-post in front of the principal
stand, the corner of which we may see on the right-hand side
of Fig. 50 ; and another horse, at the winning-post of the
small stand, which is half-way round, and which was the
place this photograph was taken from. The Russian drivers
27

2IO PETERSBURG IN WINTER

and owners as a rule like this time arrangement, because it
obviates the disagreeable possibility of their horses being put
alongside animals driven by Americans. Poor Fred Archer
often excited the same feeling among his opponents. The
races, whether trotting or galloping, cause little enthusiasm,
and there is not a single evening paper that gives the
winners.

Flat racing in Russia is carried on in very poor style.
Several waifs and strays of our turf hang on to it, because
they cannot get a job anywhere else ; and a few good English
jockeys, having been lured by false hopes or deceptive
representations, find themselves riding in that country — but
not for long. All whom I met had the same story of dis-
appointment, and discontent with the uncivil and contemptuous
way they were treated by the racing officials, and members
of the racing clubs. In England, jockeys are made much of
by all classes, and quite right too ; because the game they
play is one of great responsibility, and demands skill, courage,
coolness and readiness of resource under very trying circum-
stances. In Russia, they are not entitled to wear uniform,
and are consequently regarded as moujiks (recently emanci-
pated serfs), who have to bow and scrape to every Jack in
Office they meet. I was therefore not surprised at reading
in a recent issue of The Sportsman the following remarks on
the illness of H. Madden, who had been riding in Russia: —
"The climate in Russia is so much acjainst the Enorlish
people that during the last four years no fewer than eight
young jockeys and trainers have died there, viz., jockeys,
W. Kidd, H. Wilson, A. Epps, E. Kitchener, H. Chandler,
and the trainers Bray, Gillam, and Heslop. I cannot under-
stand why good jockeys go to Russia at all, when they are
needed in other countries, especially a good jockey like H.
Madden. I was surprised to learn as a lact that jockeys in
Moscow and St. Petersburg rode for the fee of ;^i a losing

RACING IN RUSSIA 2ir

mount, and £^ for a winner. Racing commences in the
middle of May, and finishes in the middle of October — in all,
about five months ; at the most three days each week, and
four races daily for jockeys, the other races being set apart
for gentlemen and Russian boys only. Some days the
biggest field is four runners, so that most of the jockeys are
looking on. What a fortune the jockeys must make in
Russia ! "

The Russian racino- authorities, like the trottino- rulers,
freely lavish prohibitive restrictions and very oppressive
penalties on foreign competitors, although they are more
lenient on mares than on entires and o-eldinofs. There is a
large number of thoroughbreds raised in Russia, but we
seldom hear of them winning races outside their own country.
I remember when we were livino- in Newmarket, that Mr.
Edwin Martin had in trainino- a hv^ chestnut colt called
Perkun, who belonged to Count Krasinski. He started
sixteen times in 1884 and 1885, and secured only one race,
a five furlong handicap, in which he was lucky to meet a
poor class. Perkun could gallop when he liked, but he did
not approve of showing off his abilities in public. He deceived
even his clever and careful trainer ; for shortly before the
Goodwood Meeting of 1885, Martin gave him a gallop with
Dalmeny, whom he was training for Mr. Morton, with the
result that the Russian showed a pair of clean heels to the
stout son of Rosebery and Polyglot. That spin naturally
made Martin think that Dalmeny could not possibly win the
Stewards' Cup for which he was entered ; but his honest
advice had no influence on the chivalrous Mr. Morton, who
was one of those men that prefer to lose money than not to
back a favourite horse which has previously done them a
good turn. Dalmeny rewarded his owner's devotion by
winning the Stewards' Cup at the remunerative odds of
50 to I. Like many other thoroughly game horses, Dalmeny

212 PETERSBURG IN WINTER

would never take the last ounce out of himself, except in a
race. No one could have been better served than Mr. Morton
was by Dalmeny and Martin.

Life in Petersburg- is very uninteresting" to persons with
Western ideas. A system of mental drill governs all classes.
Officials, from Grand Dukes to railway porters, believe in
their Heaven-sent superiority, and the rest accept their
position of dirt. No ill - clad man or woman is allowed to
walk or non - commissioned officer to smoke in any of the
principal streets. No one is permitted to sing in the open,
and, as my wife remarked to me on hearing the roaring Orlof
trotters, horses are the only creatures that can whistle in the
streets without getting locked up. School children are put
into uniform almost before they can walk, they have all to
learn exactly the same things, and are brought up in exactly
the same way, with the result that originality is a scarce
virtue in that country. Well-to-do Russians go in for
physical culture as little as they do for riding, and the two
or three gymnastic clubs in Petersburg are patronised almost
solely by Germans. The Russian indoor, mollycoddling
style of life appears to have a bad effect even on the
foreigners that sojourn in that country ; for the lads at a
German gymnasium I visited were very puny and ansemic
representatives of their great Fatherland. If we want to
see fine specimens of German manhood, we need only go to
the Turnhalle in St. Pancras Road, King's Cross.

I never met with a trace of enmity against the English
either among Russian officials or people. While I was at
the Brigades, the officers often asked me questions about
our army, and especially about the pay, which was the chief
subject that interested them. I never heard a disparaging
remark from them regarding our men, except from Rotmistr
Heppener of Liski, who insisted that our soldiers were
mercenaries ; because, instead of getting like the Russian

THE REDAN 213

rank and file, three half pence a week and half rations, they
were well paid ! He being a German and having the hay
and corn business in his hands, ought to have been the last
to have opened his mouth. On one of these occasions, the
officers expressed their unbounded admiration for the steadi-
ness with which the English troops in the attack on the
Redan during the Crimean War, marched up to the Russian
guns with almost certain death in front of them. They said
that our men never wavered or even quickened their pace,
while grape and round shot tore lanes through them ;
but they simply kept closing inwards and marching-
straight to their front. My hosts drank to the health
of our heroes, and I am afraid that their generous words
of praise for their enemies made such a strong impression
on me, that I did not say half what I ought to have done.

Since I returned from Russia, I have gone nowhere, and
have done nothing, except to plod at the books I have in
preparation. As I fag at them, I have the great consolation
of knowing that a wise man once said that hard writing is
easy reading, which I hope mine will be. A book in which
I am interested, the Revised Edition of Modern Polo, will
give me but little trouble, luckily for the book and myself;
because the labour falls on the very capable shoulders of
Mr. E. D. Miller, the celebrated polo player, who is the
author ; while 1 earn my share of the public money by
passing the proofs to press. We expect to have it ready
in February, so that it may be in good time for next polo
season.

When my present literary work is finished, I hope, as I
have already said, to enjoy the great pleasure of visiting-
Australia and New Zealand, where almost everyone owns
horses and rides across country. I want to go there to
learn more about horses, and trust that while doing so, my
Colonial friends will let me show them some useful things

214

PETERSBURG IN WINTER

I have picked up in the Old Country and on my travels.
After that, I hope to take the road home (Fig. 53).

Photo by\

Fig. 53. — The Road Home.

[.-J. I\I. 11.

PRINTED UY MOKKISON AND OIBU LIMIIEU, EUI.NUUKGII

Books on Horses.

By

Captain

M. Horace Hayes,

F.R.C.V.S.

Finely Illustrated and Handsomely Bound.

The Field. — " As trainer, owner, and rider of horses on the flat and over
■a couniry, the author has had a wide experience, and when to this is added
competent veterinary knowledge, it is clear that Captain Hayes is entitled
to attention when he speaks."

London :

R. A. Everett & Co.,
42 Essex Street, Strand, W.C.

Second Edition, Revised and Enlarged, super royal 8vo, 34s.,

Points of the Horse.

A Familiar Treatise on Equine Conformation.

Illustrated by 209 reproductions of Photographs, and 205 Drawings chiefly by
J. H. OSWALD BROWN.

Times. — "An elaborate and instructive compendium of sound knowledge on a subject
of great moment to all owners of horses, by a writer of established authority on all matters
connected with the horse."

Land and Water. — "We hail the advent of a work on the subject by such a past master
of the arts hippie a'^ Captain Horace Hayes, late of 'The Buffs,' and a Fellow of the Royal
College of Veterinary Surgeons, the author of several of the most simple and thoroughly
instructive treatises upon riding, breaking, and veterinary treatment of the horse."

Army and Navy Gazette. — "There is not a page in the book that does not display
knowledge, and those who desire to become familiar with the character of the horse will find
the work invaluable. It is scientific in its method, and practical in its purpose."

Nature. — "A soldier, a certificated veterinarian, a traveller, and a successful rider, the
author is well qualified to treat on all that pertains to the subject before us."

The Referee. — "What Captain Hayes does not know about horses is probably not
particularly worth knowing."

Saturday Review. — "This is another of Captain Hayes* good books on the horse, and to
say it is the best would not be going far out of the way of truth. It is a luxurious book, well
got up, well and clearly printed in large readable type and profusely illustrated."

Pall Mall Biidi^et. — "A volume that must be regarded as the standard work on the
subject. It is well done. No point is left unexplained ; no quality in a type unnoticed."

Sporting Times. — "The best production of its kind we have seen."

Held. — " To those who are desirous of availing themselves of the knowledge of a writer
who has been used to horses all his life, the book may be cordially recommended."

V^eterinary Journal. — " No book like this has hitherto appeared in English, or any other
language. For giving us such a beautiful, interesting and instructive book, the members of
the veterinary profession, horsemen and horse-owners, as well as delineators of the horse, in
every I'.nglish-speaking country must acknowledge themselves deeply indebted to Captain
Hayes."

Second Edition, imperial 16mo, 21s.,

Illustrated Horse= Breaking.

This Edition has been entirely Rewritten; the amount of the letterpress more than
doubled, and Seuenty-Fiue reproductions of Photographs have been added.

The Field. — "It is a characteristic of all Captain Hayes' books on horses that they are
eminently practical, and the present one is no exception to the rule. A work which is
entitled to high praise as being far and away the best reasoned-out one on breaking under a
new system we have seen."

Veterinary Journal. — "The work is eminently practical and readable."

Fifth Edition, crown 8vo, 15s.,

Veterinary Notes for Horse=Owners.

An Illustrated Manual of Horse Medicine and Surgery,
written in Simple Language.

This Edition is Revised throughout, considerably Enlarged, and incorporates the
substance of the Author's "Soundness and Age of Horses."

.Saturday Review. — " Captain Hayes' work is a valuable addition to our stable literature ;
and the illustrations, tolerably numerous, are excellent beyond the reach of criticism."

The Times. — "A necessary guide for horse-owners, especially those who are far removed
from immediate professional assistance."

Field. — " Of the many popular veterinary books which have come under our notice, this
is certainly one of ihe most scientific and reliable. If some painstaking student would give
us works of equal merit to this on the diseases of the other domestic animals, we should
possess a very complete veterinary library in a very small compass."

Field. — "The present edition is nearly double the size of the first one, and the additional
articles are well and clearly written, and much increase the value of the work. We do not
think that horse-owners in general are likely to find a more reliable and useful book for
guidance in emergency."

Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic Netus. — " Simplicity is one of the most commendable
features in the book. What Captain Hayes has to say he says in plain terms, and the book
is a very useful one for everybody who is concerned with horses."

The Lancet. — "The usefulness of the manual is testified to by its popularity, and each
edition has given evidence of increasing care on the part of the author to render it more
complete and trustworthy as a book of reterence for amateurs."

Veterinary Journal. — "This book leaves nothing to be desired on the score of lucidity
and comprehensiveness."
28

Demy 8vo, 12s. 6d. net,

Infective Diseases of Animals.

Being Part I. of the Translation of Friedberger and Froeiiner's
Pathology of the Domestic Animals.

Translated and Edited by Capt. M. H. HAYES, F.R.C.V.S.,

Aui/wr of ^' Points of t lie florse," etc.

With a Chapter o\ Bacteriology by Dr. G. NEWMAN, D.P.H.

Army and iXavy Gazette. — " Omv veterinary literature has certainly received a very valuable
addition."

Glasgow Herald. — " This is a work which no veterinary practitioner who is anxious to be
thoroughly up-to-date in his professional knowledge can afford to be without."

Square 8vo, cloth gilt, 10s. 6d.,

The Horsewoman.

A Practical Guide to Side-Saddle Riding,
By Mrs. HAYES. Edited by Capt. M. H. HAYES.

With Four Collotypes from Instantaneous Photographs, and Forty-Eight Drawings
after Photographs, by J. H. OSWALD BROWN.

Field. — "This is the first occasion on which a practical horseman and a practical horse-
woman have collaborated in bringing out a book on riding for ladies. The result is in every way
satisfactory, and, no matter how well a lady may ride, she will gain much valuable information
from a perusal of ' The Horsewoman.' The book is happily free from self-laudatory passages."

Times. — " A large amount of sound, practical instruction, very judiciously and pleasantly
imparted. '

The Atheneeu7n. — " We have seldom come across a brighter book than ' The Horsewoman.' "

The Queen.—" A most useful and practical book on side-saddle riding, which may be read with
real interest by all lady riders."

Freemaii's Journal (Dublin).—" Mrs. Hayes is perhaps the best authority in these countries on
everything connected with horsemanship for ladies."

Scotsman (Edinburgh). — " The work is the outcome of experiences, aptitudes, and oppor-
tunities wholly exceptionnl."

Le Sport (Paris).—' J'ai lu ou pnrcouru bien des traitfe d'^quitation usuelle ou savante ; jamais
encore je n'avais trouv6 un expos6 aussi cliir, aussi simple, nussi vdcu que celui oil Mme. Hayes
ri-siime Ls principe~ dont une praii(|ue assidue lui a permis d'a]jpr(icier la valcur. Ce trdis
remaiquable mauuil d'6quitation fc^minine crt bien, comnie la desire son auteur, a la port^e de
tous et il est 4 souhaiter qu'il trouve en France I'accueil et le succes qu'il a rencontres d^s sa
publication aupres des horsewomen anglaises."

Saturdav Review. — "'W'nh a very strong recommendation of this book as far and away the
best guide to side-saddle riding that we have seen."

Fifth Edition, crown 8vo, cloth, 6s.,

Training and Horse Management

in India.

Veterinary Journal. — "We entertain a very high opinion of Capt. Hayes' book on ' Horse
Training and Management in India,' and are of opinion that no better guide could be placed
in the hands of either amateur horseman or veterinary surgeon newly arrived in that important
division of our empire."

Second Edition, Revised and brought up to date, with additional Illustrations,
imperial 16mo, cloth gilt.

Modern Polo.

By Mr. E. D. MILLER, late 17th Lancers.
Edited by Capt. M. H. HAYES.

A practical and exhaustive description of the science of the game, duties of players,
selection, breaking, training, and management of ponies, various breeds of ponies in all parts of
the world. Polo in India ; Hurlingham, Indian and American Rules, etc. Beautifully illustrated
with about 60 reproductions of Photographs showing the various "points" of the game, famous
ponies, players, etc.

Zmw.— " Roth in the matter of polo-playing and in that of choosing or breeding polo
ponies, the volume is a certain authority."

Black and IP''/!?/^.—" ' Modern Polo,' written by E. D. Miller and edited by Capt. M. H.
Hayes, will assuredly become the authoritative woik concerning the game, which is rapidly
growing in favour in th s country. It is clear and bright in style, and it is provided with numer-
ous illustrations from photographs."

Graphic. — " Mr. Miller's is by no means the only work upon tlie Game of Polo, but it is, at
least, the most complete and comprehensive work upon this subject that has yet been issued. It
has had the benefit, too, of the editorship of Capt. M. H. Hayes, one of the best authorities of
the day in regard to all matters connected with horsemanship. To Capt. Hayes are also due the
excellent photographs by which the book is illustrated, showing almost every turn and stroke in a
rather complicated game."

In the Press, demy 8vo, cloth,

S^ J^

In the By=Ways of Sport.

An Anecdotal Medley.

By "THORMANBY,"

Atithor of " Kings of the Hiintiug Field" " Kings of the Turf'
" The Horse and its Rider " etc.

With a Coloured Frontispiece after ALKEN.

An interesting work embracing all branches of Sport from the early part
of the present century to the present time.

t t

CONTENTS—

ECCENTRIC SPORTSMEN.

SPORTING ACTORS.

GENTLEMEN-COACHMEN.

CHAMPIONS OF THE PRIZE RING.

SPORTING PARSONS.

BETTING-MEN AND HELL-KEEPERS.

NOTORIOUS PLUNGERS.

TURF COUNSELLORS AND COMMISSIONERS.

THE COCK-PIT AND ITS PATRONS.

HEROES OF THE RIVER AND THE RUNNING PATH.

CHAMPIONS OF THE WRESTLING-RING.

SPORTING JOURNALS AND JOURNALISTS. Etc.

A POPULAR SERIES OF BOOKS BY WELL-KNOWN SPORTING WRITERS.

With specially Designed Cover.
Uniformly bound, and in crown 8vo, cloth, 3s. 6d.

Racing:

A Book of Reminiscences for the

Sportsman and General Reader !

By W. A. C. BLEW, M.A.,

Author of ^^ Br/ghioji and Its Coaches,^''
" The Noble Science [Fox Hunting)^' " The Q'liorfi," etc.

CONTENTS—

FAMOUS RACE-HORSES. TOUTS AND TIPSTERS.

HORSE-OWNERS. BETTING-MEN.

TRAINERS. BOOKMAKERS.

JOCKEYS. THE FINANCES OF THE TURF.

STEEPLE CHASING. Etc.

To be followed shortly by

Boxing*: a History of

By "THORMANBY,"

Author of " The Horse and its Rider^' etc.

Other Volumes will be duly announced.

London: R. A. EVERETT & CO., 42 Essex Street, Strand, W.C.

S?-'^^-^

-■^