Ex Libris
C. K. OGDEN

UNASKED ADVICE

A SERIES OF ARTICLES

ON

HORSES AND HUNTING,

REPRINTED FROM " THE FIELD."

MPECUNIOSUS.

LONDON:
HOEACE COX, 346, STRAND,

1872.

LONDON :
PRINTED BY HORACE COX, 346. STRAND, W.C.

PREFACE.

THE following Essays have been written at different
times, and are not supposed to contain any very new
ideas. The only merit to which they pretend to lay
claim is the fact that they recommend nothing which
lias not been personally tried, and found to answer, by

THE AUTHOE.

1CSI

CONTENTS.

THE LADY'S HORSE page 1

VARIETIES OF THE HOESE :

The Arab * 33

The Barb 38

The Racehorse 40

The Light Weight Hunter 43

The Weight-carrying Hunter... ... ... ... 46

The Park Hack 50

The Cob 53

The Charger .' ... 55

The Covert Hack 57

The Harness Horse ... ... ... ... ... 60

" HANDFULS " ... ... ... ... ... ... 64

THE SEASON OF THE YEAR ... ... ... ... 71

THE STABLE IN A FROST 87

NEW BROOMS 92

How SPORT is SPOILED ... ... ... ... ... 99

THE CHARLIER SHOE ... ... ... ... ... 118

ECONOMICAL SPORT ... ... ... ... ... ... 130

EESTIVENESS AND VICE ... ... ... ... ... 139

THE " SCREW" 145

THE HUNTER AT HOME ... ... ... ... ... .153

USE AND SHOW ... ... ... ... ... ... 181

LIGHT HORSE 187

STABLE REFORMS ... ... ... 214

ILLUSTRATIONS.

THE "TEAPOT" to face page 3

POSITION OF BRIDLE HAND... ... ... ... ... 5

MAKING THE MOST OF A STAB-GAZER ... ... ... 6

THE TROT 8

THE CANTER 10

THE "LADY WHO BIDES IN PETTICOATS" 20

THE WATERPROOF COAT ... ... ... ... ... 22

COMMON POSITION IN THE TEOT ... ... ... ... 27

"A WIDE PLACE ON THE OTHER SIDE" ... ... ... 31

THE ARAB 33

LIGHT WEIGHT AND HEAVY WEIGHT HUNTERS ... ... 43

UNASKED ADVICE.

THE LADY'S HORSE.

THAT whatever is worth doing is worth doing well, is a
truism which, in words at least, is never contradicted.
In deeds there is the usual difference between theory and
practice ; and in no instance is this difference so notice-
able as in the theory and practice of lady equestrianism.

I do not for a moment mean to withhold honour where
honour is due, or to deny that there are hundreds of
ladies whose riding is perfection ; but at the same time
a very short lounge in Rotten-row wiU convince the most
casual observer that, while there is more to admire there
in the way of female horsemanship than in any similar
resort in the world, yet there are many ladies — or perhaps
young ladies' fathers, guardians, &c. — to whom a word
of advice, which they need not take, may at least convey
some new ideas on the subject of riding. The ladies
themselves only need to be told what is right, for happily
they are apt enough at learning what is becoming ; and
there are some things of which all need to be informed
at the beginning of their equestrian career. The reason
is obvious. A lady's seat on horseback is so purely an
artificial and acquired position, that, unless by a fortunate
" fluke," no lady can teach herself ; and in riding, as in

B

2 UNASKED ADVICE.

everything else, bad habits can be learned with fatal
facility, getting rid of them being quite another thing.

What a number of advantages a lady who rides has
over one who does not ! In London, when the weather
is not too hot, an hour's ride or so in the park before
lunch is, I am told on good authority, one of the best
restoratives after a ball — or, more probably in these days,
two balls and a concert. When, as seldom happens
before July, the weather really is too hot for midday
rides, it is surely more profitable to have a canter with
papa after five o'clock than to be at a crowded " kettle-
drum," where the proportion of gentlemen to ladies is
probably about two per cent ! Besides one can see one's
friends — an incalculable advantage to people who might
otherwise meet only once, or at most twice a day — and
talk to them better when riding; hear where they are
going in the evening, and about what time they are likely
to be at any especial entertainment. I consider that
more business may be done in the saddle than by sitting
on a chair ; the drawback (?) being that, as a rule, mamma
is not of the riding party, while she probably is of the
pedestrian or sedentary one. And if papa's thoughts are
far away, in " the House " or the hayfield, as the case
may be, and he is for the time no great company, may
not a little consolation be gleaned among the owners of
those numerous well-bred and well-groomed hacks which
are to be seen, between the hours of five and six p.m.,
being led up and down in front of most of the clubs ? Be
it borne in mind, however, that the spirited proprietors
of these quadrupeds have mostly an eye, not for make
and shape only, but also for action ; and that an awkward
position in the saddle may do away, in the morning, with
the overnight effect of a newball dress, combined with ever

THE LADY'S HORSE. 3

so many valses or even journeys to the tea-room or conser-
vatory. In my own limited experience I knew an unfor-
tunate instance in which a young lady, very pretty, clever,
of good family, in every way desirable, lost her chance
(which had been more than promising) of the " parti " of
the season, merely by an unfortunate notion that she
would like to ride one of his horses. Being rather nervous,
she held her reins very short and her hand on the nag's
mane ; her right arm was bent, and she was all on one
side. A thoughtless friend remarked casually to the
object, " Who's that girl ? Looks like a teapot, by Jove !"
(Fig. 1 .) The resemblance was undeniable ; the con-
vinced and horror-stricken admirer fled from town to Scot-
land by that night's limited mail, and when he returned
he was a " pere de famille."

On the other hand, a well-fitting habit on a decent
figure, held properly, is one of the most becoming of
dresses, and excites admiration in about the same pro-
portion that a bad one provokes ridicule. So much for
riding in town.

In the country how often there is the choice between
riding, driving (which is no exercise), or staying at home.
When even the gravel walks are so wet that a stroll in
the garden partakes of the nature of an aquatic feat, the
fields or sides of the roads are in the best possible order
for a canter. Even in dry weather, a ride is a pleasant
change from the eternal croquet, and when it is too hot
to walk it is seldom too hot for a quiet ride.

All this being so, and the point being settled that it is
desirable to ride, and to ride well, the first necessary is a
horse ; and I know of but one way of procuring a lady's
horse — viz., paying for it what most likely would be con-
sidered a fancy price for any other hack. But it must be

B 2

4 UNASKED ADVICE.

remembered that in this instance we want the perfection
of a hack. Other horses may be " picked up" in odd
corners cheaply by those who follow what I think must
be the insupportably fatiguing plan of " always looking
out" and "keeping their eyes open." Certainly I know
a most respectable hunter which came out of a Hansom
cab, but he has failed to convince me that the " rank" is,
as a rule, the place to go to for fliers. Vivian, the steeple-
chaser, came out of an Irish car ; and it was by dragging
about a watercart that the Godolphin Arabian improved
his shining hours in Paris, before he took up the position
of Father of the British Turf. These, however, are ex-
ceptions to the general rule, for at present neither steeple-
chasers nor racehorses are found, or looked for, in carts.
Salamander, Lord George, Alcibiade, and other horses who
have made themselves a name across country, were bought
— and paid for, too, no doubt — as first-class young horses.
A first-class hack, being a fancy article, will always
command rather a fancy price, and for a lady, as before
remarked, we want perfection. A gentleman's hack, if
a good goer, may be pardoned one or two minor faults
which would spoil him for a lady. For example there are
many good hacks with rather straighter shoulders than
are desirable, but yet posessing good action and plenty
of liberty. Such horses would not do for a lady, as the
side saddle, being at best rather a cumbrous affair, on a
horse who is at all " short in front" puts the lady's hands
in an inconvenient position, for she can then hardly get
them down in a difficulty ; and, worse still, throws an
undue share of weight on the near fore leg. Another
most important point is the way the horse carries his
head. If he puts it up or pokes out his nose, he will not
do. A lady's bridle hand is of necessity higher than that

THE LADY'S HORSE. 5

of any man but a dragoon, and therefore calculated to
make either of these faults worse.

Troopers and chargers are the most carefully trained
of all horses. Much trouble is taken in bitting them,
and getting their heads properly placed ; and this train-
ing is done by men mounted on " stripped" saddles, in
which they have as much the use of their hands as on a
hunting one. In marching or field-day order — in fact,
whenever the cloak is on the saddle — a dragoon's hand is
in much the same place as a lady's. (Fig. 2.)

The engraving (Fig. 3) represents a lady doing all
that can be done with a stargazer, which, it will be
observed, is not much. The same result being wished
for with the trooper's and the lady's horse, a little train-
ing of the hack, similar to that undergone by his war-
like brother, will not be amiss ; but of training I will
speak presently.

It being settled that his fore hand must be good, his
legs are the next consideration. They must be of the
best, and he cannot be pardoned if he hits himself any-
where. His hocks must be under him, or he will seldom
canter well. Action is a matter of taste. Some people
like nothing short of the knee in the curb-chain ; but as
these gaudy steppers are often rough in their paces, a
trial is advisable when possible. I presume the animal to
be perfectly quiet and sound ; and a very few minutes on
his back will show the purchaser whether he is free from
stumbling and shying.

A nervous horse will never be made fit to carry a lady.
Of course horses can be bought which are used to side
saddles, but their former owners seldom have parted with
them for their good qualities ; and I am at present sup-
posing the case of a gentleman buying a clever young

O UNASKED ADVICE.

horse, to make into a lady's hack — her hunter is another
affair altogether. Having bought him, the question of
training him follows.

Having got your horse — whose height, for a hack,
should not much exceed 15-1, and for a hunter 15-2| —
the making him handy and pleasant will not be very
difficult, supposing his temper to be perfectly good. A
horse much over the height mentioned will require more
holding together than is pleasant -for a lady. If a military
riding-school be within reach, I know of no better plan
than to send the horse there for a fortnight or so, men-
tioning that he is to canter to the right, and that he need
not be troubled with an overdose of the "bending
lesson." He will there be accustomed to firing, music*
&c., which is rather a difficult matter to manage in
private life ; but as the advantage of a school in one's
neighbourhood is the fortunate exception, not the rule,
people who don't enjoy it must do the best they can
without. We want the horse rather more set on his
haunches than anything short of a trooper usually is, and
the best way of arriving at this desirable result is to work
the horse on a circle, as in a school ; in fact, to improvise
a manege.

Mark out for yourself a space of ground some forty-
five yards long by twenty ; if it can be done in the corner
of a field all the better, as then you have a wall to two
sides. A large stone will be enough to mark each
corner. The length of a cavalry manege is sixty yards ;
but, for one horse, you will have lots of room in forty-
five. Begin by riding round your manege to the right,
at a walk, keeping the marking stones on your right
hand : going outside them, in short. After a few times
round the horse will understand that he is to keep in the

THE LADY'S HORSE. 7

same track, and will turn at the corners of himself,
cutting off a goodly allowance, if permitted. Of course
he is not suffered to do this. When he is reconciled to
keeping on the same ground, he may be turned, inwards
for choice, and walked round the other way for a change.
He should make the corners angular, not round, which
be will be certain to try to do, to save himself trouble.
Perhaps, for the first lesson, it will be well to attempt
nothing beyond walking round the outside of the
markers.

The horse is more than any other animal a creature of
habit, and very soon will not dream of leaving his beaten
path. When he goes cheerfully round it, walking well
up to his bit, he may be turned at right angles across
the manege, then walked on a circle at the end of it.

A B C D are the original markers. E marks where
the sides should be left for the circle F, which is better
A E B

D

inside the outer markers. The man giving these lessons
must wear spurs, though he need not use them much ;
he should also hold the snaffle reins in the hands sepa-
rately. He must remember to keep the horse attentive
by a light feeling of the bridle, and a gentle pressure of
the calves of the legs, varying according to the temper
and disposition of the animal. The pace of the walk
should be " decided and animated," but not too fast, or
the horse may break his walk and begin jogging — a most
unpleasant and objectionable habit in a lady's hack.

8 UNASKED ADVICE.

Having gone through the lesson at a walk, circling to
both hands, the horse may be urged to the trot, repeating
the turnings as in the walk. The trot must be moderate
in pace, and the horse should be slightly restrained by
the bridle and urged by the pressure of the legs, so as to
make him bend his neck and throw the weight more on
his haunches — the two great desiderata.

The trot must always be of an even and regular pace ;
he must never be allowed to " scuttle " away at one
minute and then have to be sharply pulled up to a jog-
trot again. On the other hand, if the pace be too slow
the horse will go to sleep over his rather monotonous
work, and may fall down. I need hardly observe that
these lessons are on no account to be continued till the
horse grows dull and tired ; he will in such a case take a
disgust to the whole thing. Besides, when he is tired
he will probably hit himself or cross his legs, and a
chipped knee is not ornamental, nor in any way desirable.
A little practice in reining back is as well, but it is the
thing of all others that must not be overdone. Still, a
lady's horse must back when he is wanted to do so.

Last of all, but not least in importance, comes the
canter. The horse will have been trotted and walked
both ways round the manege ; but he must, for obvious
reasons, only canter to the right. In the canter the
horse's neck must be bowed and his head drawn in.
His forehand should be rather raised, and he will have
most of his weight on his hind legs. He must learn at
last to start from a walk to a canter ; but at first the
easiest way to make him canter with the off leg leading
is to start him at a trot to the right, and press him into
a canter at the corners. He will then seldom fail if urged
at the right moment, and with a strong pressure of the

THE LADY'S HOKSE. 9

rider's outward leg, to lead with the inward or off
fore leg. This must be done by degrees, and he may be
cantered round the manege several times, occasionally
pulling up to a walk. Before very long he will strike off
in his canter from a walk, and, as a matter of course, with
the off leg. If he changes his leg, which he will do at
first, he must be checked at once — not let go a yard
farther than can be helped, and induced to begin again
with the off fore leg, which can be done at the first
corner. When starting with the off leg is reduced to
nearly a certainty, and when the horse will continue with-
out changing to canter on, he may be turned across the
manege, as in the trot ; and, finally, when he is well col-
lected on his haunches he may canter on the circle. The
curb-rein will be required for all the cantering lessons,
but it must not be borne on too strongly, or the horse
will learn to go on his own shoulders, and to hang on his
bridle and his rider's hands — -just the opposite of what we
want. Therefore the pressure of the legs must correspond
with the feeling of the mouth; fine handling,in short, must
be employed. We presume no one who does not know
this much would be employed to ride a lady's horse.

It is as well to accustom the horse to firing, which is a
simple affair enough when properly managed. At the
close of the lesson flash off a little powder, and imme-
diately give the horse a handful of corn, making much of
him the while. How long it will be before he ceases to
mind the powder, which may be gradually increased to a
pistol charge, depends on the temperament of the indi-
vidual animal. Some never mind firing ; others are a long
time in getting used to it. One thing must be remem-
bered if the horse be timid — a moment's loss of temper
or violence in the rider may throw the horse's education

10 UNASKED ADVICE.

back for weeks. The horse being perfect in his paces
may be ridden with something flapping about him, to use
him to a habit, if such a proceeding be considered neces-
sary in these days of short skirts. Individually, I have
never seen but one horse who objected to the habit in my
life, and he was in every way too " scarey " for a lady.
Of course the horse will finish his training in the bridle
he is to wear with his mistress. The saddlery question
will be the next for discussion.

Figs. 4 and 5 show the position to which we want to
bring the head and haunches in the trot and canter ; the
latter not an easy thing to draw.

For London work, our hack, after the course of training
recommended, will have completed his education. It
will, perhaps, be well, in addition to what I have
described, to show him some volunteers, who, as rule,
make a point of appearing on any scene where a timid
rider and fresh or startlish horse are the actors. For the
country there is another thing needful. Even if the
lady never intends to leave the highway, and though
there may not be a pack of hounds in the county, the
lady's horse should know how to jump to the extent of a
sheep hurdle or small open ditch, and especially the
latter. In the country it is nearly impossible to confine
one's ride entirely to the high road, at all events when
any farming or similar business has to be done. Most
gentlemen have some such pursuits in the country, and if
she declines to go off the road our fair friend's ride has to
be put off, or she must find a special escort, which is not
always so easily done in a rural district. She need never
jump a sheep hurdle unless she chooses, as these will
always pull up, but many grass fields are intersected with
little ditches for irrigation, &c., and the latter, which a

THE LADY'S HORSE. 11

horse accustomed to them can hop or step over, are the
cause, be they ever so small, of trouble and possible grief
to horses which have never been jumped at all. First,
they usually profess to refuse ; then, the question being
pressed, they slide their fore feet nearly into the ditch,
and jump straight up into the air, alighting just about
where they took off, possibly on their heads. And even
if they get over the obstacle, which is perhaps hardly two
feet wide, they do so in such an uncomfortable form that
their mistress is very likely to determine that all jumping
is hateful, and to decline any further experiments of that
sort. Horses seem to object to an open ditch, particularly
one with water in it, more than any other obstacle. But,
unless they are ridden at wide ones, and thereby taught
to refuse, a very few lessons accustom them to all they
are likely to encounter in their career as ladies' hacks.
I know of no better plan than to lead them, with a long
rein, over a few common-place fences, just to teach them
the use of their legs — their hind legs especially — and
then ride them, not without a lead, over such small water-
courses and low rails as may be handy. Care must, I
need hardly say, be taken not to prolong any of the
lessons until the horse is tired of them. When he will
trot up to a common ditch and jump it without any fuss
or excitement, and trot away on the other side ; and
when he will creep through a gap, taking care to get his
feet well over any grip belonging thereto ; and if he adds
to these accomplishments the power of opening a gate
quietly, he is fit to carry his mistress, and may be
saddled and bridled for the purpose. Or, on second
thought, this operation may be deferred until the lady's
hunter puts in an appearance, also ready for his work.
The purchase and training of a hunter to carry a lady

12 UNASKED ADVICE.

differ but little from tlie proceedings requisite to provide
her with a hack. A very few words will describe the
course of action necessary, but the business itself is more
intricate, by reason that a still more perfect animal is
required in this instance than in the last. The lady's
hunter should be just as perfect a hack as the less ambi-
tious animal who only aspires to fame in the park or on
the road. A little less knee action, and an inch or two
of height in addition, with size and power in proportion,
are the only external differences. Power is indispensable,
as a lady's hunter, of all others, must be well up to his
rider's weight. Well up to a given weight I have heard
defined as two stone over it. Allowing this to be an ex-
aggerated definition by a stone — in fact, supposing that
we require what is usually considered a thirteen stone
horse to carry twelve stone — the following facts may be
(to some) instructive. Ladies are not of necessity feather
weights ; the most mignonne damsel who ever engaged
herself for a cotillon probably would have scaled in her
ball dress something between 8st. and 8st. 71b. The
majority even of light ladies are perhaps a stone heavier
than this, from 9st. to lOst. : say 9st. A habit skirt is a
heavy thing, and a side-saddle will weigh 151b., or there-
abouts. While to a man's walking weight one stone is
always added to arrive at his riding weight, it is not too
much to add three stone extra to a lady's weight, in a
common dress (in a Court dress I am not sure that two
would not suffice) ; and then the horse should be well
equal to at least a stone over the load by these means
arrived at, and as much more as is convenient ; for ladies
seldom have a second horse out, and cannot jump off to
ease their horses and rest their backs, in the impromptu
manner occasionally (though only too seldom) adopted by

THE LADY'S HORSE. 13

masculine owners of small studs. In short, a lady's hunter
for a flying country ought always to be a 13st. horse.

The lady's hunter must be, as a hunter, perfection,
just as the hack must be the best of that description of
animal ; but the former must be both. It is not pleasant
for a man, much less for a lady — herself rather tired — to
ride a stumbling brute home after hunting ; still more is
it out of the question to allow a lady to appear with
hounds on a horse that refuses, hits timber, kicks at
other horses or hounds, or indeed performs any of the
antics which so frequently excite the wrath of a master
and the derision of a field. He should be bought as a
perfect hunter, with, if possible, a good character of two
seasons ; a horse under six years old has seldom de-
veloped talent or experience enough to justify his being
intrusted with so precious a burden as a lady. For it
should never be forgotten that a lady is on no account
to have a fall. Putting out of the question the danger
of her being hurt — which is at least twenty times as
great as in the case of a man — ladies' nerves do not,
as a general rule, bear shakings and even harmless
tumblings with the sangfroid of a boy or man. And I
do not wonder at it. At the same time I do not for a
moment mean to flatter my sex by even insinuating that
all men disregard falls. I have far too pleasant recol-
lections of the good society in which I have so often, on
a good scenting day, assisted to block up bridle-gates,
thunder down roads, smash locks of gates, uproot twist
and bounds, and generally to utilise " Shuffler's Bottom,"
to malign them in any such way. All honour to the
noble army of shirkers ! Still no one can deny or be
surprised that a casualty, such as a heavy fall or two,
goes a long way towards reducing any lady's ambition to

14 UNASKED ADVICE.

lead the first flight. Exceptions here, as always, prove
the rule, which is that (luckily for our peace of mind)
few if any ladies go on " bruising " across country for
any. very extended time, though they may ride well,
gracefully, and I may say reasonably, to hounds for a
lifetime. But here I have decidedly run off the line, and
forgotten the horse in attention to his rider — a thing
which I have the consolation of knowing has been done
before, literally as well as figuratively.

We must " hark back," as the old phrase goes, to the
point at which it was determined that the hunter must be
preternaturally clever, and a stone over his mistress's
weight. To get him handy he may be ridden in the
manege, like the hack, with this difference, that he ought
to be cantered to both hands, as a hunter must be equal
to any emergency, and ready to change his leg or lead
with either as circumstances of the most impromptu nature
may dictate. The saddlery in which he is to perform
differs only in one or two very small details from the
Rotten-row kit. In both cases simplex munditiis is the
preferable form. A hacking bridle may be allowed a
standing martingale ; not to keep the head down — he is
no lady's horse who puts it up — but as a check, in case a
fly, or such like cause, should cause him to toss it about
at all. A hacking bridle, too, may have a little more
ornament about it, a branch bit not being wholly inad-
missible ; but the hunting bridle should be a refined like-
ness of the plain tackle with which the sterner sex control,
or attempt to control, their fliers — rather thinner reins and
a general increase of elegance being the only difference. As
to the bit employed, that depends altogether on the horse's
mouth and disposition. An extremely light-mouthed
horse is a bore — that is to say, a horse of whom one is

THE LADY'S HORSE. 15

told that lie will only go in a snaffle ; for this is a bit no
lady can safely use, and indeed very few men, on still
fewer horses, with comfort, even if they manage personal
security. There are moments in every run when a snaffle
fails in its effect. When the horse is half blown and
much excited, it is indeed seldom that a snaffle can
collect him on to his haunches for a large and intricate
jump — say a double at the bottom of a hill and the last
three fields plough ! A Pelham bridle (no favourite of
mine) will suit such horses for a while, at all events : I
call it " no favourite" because almost all horses, sooner or
later, get to lean on it ; and I use the phrase " for a
while," as when the Pelham, after some use, becomes
dead and heavy in the mouth, a light double bit will
frequently be borne, or, if that be too severe, a shifting
Pelham, which is a really serviceable bit, but liable,
though in a very much less degree, to the objection
entertained towards the simple Pelham. I am rather an
advocate for what only just falls short of over-bitting a
horse, when the rider's hands can be depended on, and
especially with a double bridle ; for in such a case there
is the bridoon to hold on by at fences, &c., while the bit,
which need seldom be used, is still available in case of
sudden excitement or a long career down hill. As a rule,
the common double bridle, or the double bridle with a
shifting bit, suits more horses than other contrivances — at
all events for cross-country work. For hacking no
invented bridle makes a horse bend and show himself
more than the Hanoverian Pelham, which may be of
several degrees of severity ; but it is usually too much of
a bit for hunting, and is only to be used on the road by
ladies whose hands are first-rate — and at the risk of being
called uncomplimentary, I must observe that light hands

16 UNASKED ADVICE.

are not given to all ladies, though the majority certainly
do possess this most desirable qualification. I say
nothing of gags, segundos, Bucephalus nosebands, and the
like, because a horse requiring them is not a lady's horse.
Having, then, considered with some care all the bridles with
which I am acquainted,! see nothing that I can recommend
for hunting except, as I have said, the Pelham, shifting
Pelham, and double bridle (Dwyer pattern preferred), for
the degrees of very light mouth, medium, and pleasant
ditto. The latter is marked " pleasant," as being the
least likely to pull its owner into a ditch — supposing the
rider's seat, and, as a consequence, hands, to be for the
time astray. The Hanoverian Pelham, for road work, has
been glanced at, and I really think a horse who will go in
none of these is unfit for a gentleman, much more a lady.
The lady's saddle has been much improved of late.
The addition of the third pummel is worth anything, as
it gives a firmer seat than a man's. The latest fashion
also does away with the off side-crutch — another ad-
vantage, as not only is there one protuberance the less
to run into anyone over whom the. horse may roll, but its
absence allows the right hand to be got down lower than
was the case with the old fashion. A strap, too, now goes
all round the horse, being a continuance of the stirrup
leather, which can thus be lengthened or taken up by the
rider herself. (See engraving.) As regards stirrups, the
old slipper is exploded, and the iron is the shape
of a man's, with stuffing inside to protect the instep.
Many theoretical plans have been made patent for safety
stirrups which are not to drag their unlucky proprietor,
when he or she is down and " parts company ;" but they
do not seem much used, nor are they even advertised for
very long. Messrs. Davis, of Aldershot, have invented

THE LADY'S HORSS.

17

the last, which has been described in The Field, and
which looks useful if it will promise to keep in order
and never let the foot out at the wrong time. For hunt-
ing, the side-saddle must have a breastplate. With one
the girths need not be so tight, which is rather an
object. If a felt saddle-cloth can be so managed as not,

under any circumstances, to show, it will be found useful,
a lady's sideways seat being highly conducive to sore
backs. Of course the horse should not be singed under
the saddle ; but this point is conceded in most men's
stables now. The saddle must be looked to, as to its
stuffing and panelling, just twice as often as a man's
saddle.

18 UNASKED ADVICE.

With the right bridle and a new-fashioned and well-
fitting saddle, both properly put on, our horse may be
brought round to the door ; and it only remains to dress
the lady and put her in the saddle.

Whilst the lady's horse was being saddled, it is to be
presumed that the proprietor was costuming herself for
her ride. This, like everything else, is a simple per-
formance enough when the performer knows how to
go about the matter in hand'; but those who are
thoroughly au fait as regards dressing for riding, are
in a decided minority. Even ladies who have excel-
lent taste in all questions of dismounted costume not
unfrequently make sad guys of themselves in an equestrian
get-up. I am of opinion, and my idea is confirmed by
several individuals best entitled to an opinion on the
subject, that the most handy and simple dress is some-
thing as follows :

Beginning with the hat, we can only say regarding it
that whatever is (the fashion) is best. A " chimney-pot,"
not too high in the crown, at present appears to be the
mode, and for my own part I hope it may continue so — at
all events until we are all tired of it. It is becoming to
almost, if not quite, all faces ; it keeps on, and is a certain
protection against such a thing as the bough of a tree.
In all cases a riding hat of any kind requires an elastic
band, which, going under the hair behind, fastens it on ;
and a narrow velvet band sewn on to the lining, so as to
intervene between it and the head, will greatly aid in
this object. A chimney-pot hat has the advantage over
others, that when it fits perfectly it may be worn without
one. A veil is generally part of the head-dress, and
people may please themselves as to colour, quality, and,
indeed, shape and size — a black veil with " tails/' which

THE LADY'S HORSE. 19

goes over the face or not, for choice. For thunting, a
" shaved " hat looks rather ' ' workmanlike " for a lady,
though hideous for a man, and it preserves its appearance
better in a wet season. No lady's-maid knows how to
brush a hat, much less how to iron one after a deluge
of rain.

The fashion of doing the hair varies too frequently for
any remarks on the subject to be useful. I will merely
observe that in these days of chignons a net, invisible or
otherwise, is nearly indispensable, and quite so for hunt-
ing. It is possible to trust to the maid's talent to keep
up the hair in an ordinary ride, but too much to expect
the same success in a day's hunting. All chignons are
quite real — of course, we all know that ; but even of a
bond fide one the "puff" is an indispensable part, and is
not pretty when viewed amidst the dishevelled wreck of
ever so perfect a chevelure. It has been stated that the
more mecaniqiie there is in a chignon the less liable it is
to come to grief; and I can well believe it — though of
course it may come off bodily, as the one of which we
heard so much last season in the park was erroneously
supposed to have done.

Neckties are affairs of taste and climate.

The body of the habit will make or mar the whole
effect. A good-fitting one is obtainable by going to a
good maker ; but, without being invidious, I must say I
only know of three makers in London who build a really
clever one, though scores profess to do so.

Habits resemble top-boots in this sort of monopoly. A
habit is a costume with which it is possible to come to a
very reasonable understanding, and consequently one in
which those ladies frequently look the best who do not,
as regards figure, distance their fair rivals so immea-

c 2

20 UNASKED ADVICE.

surably in a ball-room. The skirt must fall smooth and
even from the waist. This result is arrived at, as I am
credibly informed, by having the skirt " gored " all round
the waist — a performance of which I only know this
much, that it has no sort of connection with a mad bull.
The habit-maker is no doubt better informed.

The length of skirt varies a good deal ; for town it may
be rather longer than for country work ; for hunting, if it
covers the left foot well, with a few inches to spare, it
will be long enough.

The material of which the habit is made admits of still
more variety. For the park it must be something light ;
and, obviously, the same habit will not do for both
summer and winter. Some people like remarkable
colours and extensive braid; and there is no sort
of reason why they should not please themselves
in any startling manner they like, from green velvet
upwards.

Perhaps the most stupid and frightful addition that
can be made to a skirt is an edging or border of leather,
which renders being dragged a certainty, if the rider falls
and the skirt gets caught. A lady looking after a steed
who is rapidly retiring with her skirt caught on the
saddle, while she remains costumed in her body and con-
tinuations only, is no doubt in a somewhat false position,
whether the accident happens in the park (a thing I have
seen) or in the hunting field. But how preferable this is
to being dragged by unyielding leather at speed over
stones, &c., with no one able to help you !

I have known ladies who thought they were keeping
themselves warm, and perhaps also guarding against an
accident of the sort just alluded to, by wearing a petti-
coat, or more than one. This has the effect of utterly

THE LADY'S HORSE. 21

spoiling the set of the skirt, and also of looking frightful
when any opening of the habit discloses a hideous red
petticoat, or an equally objectionable white one. Such
things are not to be thought of; and, indeed, far from
adding to propriety, they have a directly contrary
effect. (Fig. 6.)

Of the next article of dress I will only say that it or fliey
must be of the same colour as the habit, and be strapped
under the boots, so that the strap can be depended on not
to give way. Nothing is more unpleasant than this last
casualty, especially when far from home. I have seen
such articles as I have darkly alluded to, leathered, like
a dragoon's, just over the foot, but I cannot see the
advantage.

The boots that look best are Wellingtons, made large
enough to admit of warm and thick stockings; they not
only look neater, but are more comfortable in riding than
any other.

For hunting in rough weather, the body of the habit
must not be too tight, and if it be not an absolutely tight
fit, it will allow of a knitted woollen " chest preserver/'
which in every point except material resembles a habit-
shirt. It makes all the difference in the world on a cold
day, and, as far as warmth goes, beats all the petticoats
that ever went over (or under) a crinoline.

Most horses require a spur out hunting, though I
should not call them " ladies' horses," if they want much
rousing. The old-fashioned spur was buckled on the foot
and worked through a hole in the skirt, the latter being
secured round the ankle by a string, which, where
appearances were an object, had to be fastened and
undone after mounting and before descending from the
pigskin. Of course being tied to one's skirt by anything

22 UNASKED ADVICE.

more than a bit of elastic is most clumsy and unpleasant.
A later form is a box spur, the point of which often goes
through the cloth of the skirt ; and I can hardly fancy
that it improves it. With a short skirt, however, the
spur may be used without damage to the cloth.

Whips must not be mere toys. A lady has not a
man's right leg and spur, and her whip must as far as
possible supply their place. They are made of every
colour and of all manner of materials. If a lady carries
a hunting whip, it should be strong enough to open
a gate in case of necessity.

Tolerably thick dogskin gloves, and, in cold weather,
mittens or muffatees, are desirable for hunting. In town,
weather being mostly warm, people can please them-
selves; and many seem to think that dirty white kid
gloves are pretty — chacun a son gout. Out hunting it is
always a wise precaution to take a pair of knitted or
woollen gloves : they can go in the pocket of the saddle,
and make a great difference in the warmth and comfort
of the hands. If it begins to rain, which it is likely to
do on nine hunting days out of every ten, the reins,
when wet, can be held firmly with woollen gloves, but
will infallibly slip through leather ones.

A waterproof coat is as great a comfort as it is possible
to have. The groom can carry it, or it may be rolled up
and put on the off side of the side saddle. They are
generally made double-breasted, and of the shape depicted
in the sketch. They must be "plenty large enough,"
otherwise there will be some trouble in putting them on
and off without dismounting. They don't protect the
knees, but the skirt of the habit can always be " dipped,"
as men's red coats are, which process makes it waterproof,
at all events for some time. It will turn many showers,

24 UNASKED ADVICE.

The right leg being put over the pummel, her foot is
placed in the stirrup. She stands up in her stirrup for a
moment, and during this space of time her habit-skirt is
drawn smoothly under her to the near side ; she receives
her whip, adjusts her reins, and all is right.

The matter is not always so successfully managed. If
the lady's spring and the gentleman's assistance are not
quite simultaneous, the lady only gets half way to her
saddle ; or if she arrives at the desired eminence it is
with an unseemly scramble, and most likely with one
foot kicking helplessly in the air behind her, which gives
an effect at once ludicrous and painful, sometimes even
involving a sprained knee. It is of the first importance
that the horse should stand still, but most of them
will do that much after a time or two, especially if the
groom stands in front of the horse with a rein in each
hand.

It is always very convenient for a lady to be able to
mount by herself, but wonderfully few can do it. It is
neither difficult nor ungraceful, so why the doing it should
be so rare an accomplishment is a mystery that remains
to be fathomed — by me at least. For a lady to mount
by herself on a tall horse, the stirrup should be let down
as low as is convenient for the foot to be placed in it, and
the performer gets up as independently as a man does,
with one hand, of course, on the cantle of the saddle.
When up, it is now as well, if not a necessity, to take the
foot out of the stirrup to put the right leg over the
pummel. Then, if she chooses to be very independent,
she may herself shorten the stirrup to its accustomed
length by means of the strap which goes round the horse
for that purpose, and there she is.

Her position should be sitting well down on her saddle,

THE LADY'S HOJBSE. 25

and with her shoulders square to the front. The left
knee must touch the so-called third pummel, and the
right should hang easily over the other crutch, not
sticking out the right foot, or the hold will not be firm.
This seat when correct, is firmer than that of any man.
Above the waist there should be no more stiffness than
is necessary to keep a square and upright position, and
while the shoulders are right the arms will hardly go
wrong, unless, as sometimes happens, any extraordinary
position of the whip hand is indulged in ; but the more
the elbows are carried back and inwards the better the
effect, provided the attitude is not stiff.

The military directions for holding the reins are to
place the bridoon rein, apart from the bit, aross the palm
of the hand, quite loose. The bit reins are divided by
the little finger, and the thumb, closed firmly on them
to keep them in their place. This of course applies to
riding on the bit alone, which a lady seldom or never
wants to do ; but the method has this advantage, that by
drawing the bridoon rein through the hand it is taken up
at once, and you have an equal feeling of both reins,
which is what is usually wanted in hacking or hunting.
A beginner, after taking up her reins in the first-named
manner, may with her right hand draw the bridoon rein
on the near side tight, letting it hang on the off side.
The off rein she can take up to what length she prefers
with the right hand, and she will then be riding with
both hands on the reins in a manner that will be found
useful in more than one way. It will keep the rider
straight and square in her saddle, and she will be able to
turn her horse more readily.

Very few ladies pull the right rein when they want
their horse to turn to the right. A well-broken horse

26 UNASKED ADVICE.

will turn right and left when the rein presses the reverse
side of his neck ; but then you are riding on sufferance
merely. If the animal declines to obey this intimation
of your wishes, you cannot make them do it. With both
hands on the reins you can pull his head round ; and,
unless he be really restive (in which case he is no lady's
horse), it is only fair to expect that his body will follow
suit.

Ladies should, in learning to ride, practise shifting
their hands on the reins. It looks very bad when this is
constantly done during a ride, but it ought to be done
easily when any emergency requires it. I have seen
ladies whose hands were to all appearance glued to their
reins, and who were helpless in a degree corresponding
with the rigid nature of their clutch when their horses
shied, &c. Indeed, it is rather alarming to contemplate
the number of ladies who, riding constantly and habitually,
are still entirely dependent on the good behaviour of their
steeds ; which, however, to their honour be it spoken,
seldom betray the trust so blindly reposed in them.

The whip is usually held pointing towards the near
shoulder of the horse, sometimes the contrary way, but
convenience may be consulted about this so long as it
stops short of any decided gaucherie.

Ladies, and gentlemen too, should, when mounted,
always start at a walk. If they start in a hurried manner
their horses will look forward to going off with a rush,
and they will very soon cease to stand still while they are
being mounted. If the start be made at a walk, that
pace need only be continued for a few yards to have the
desired effect on the horse. To start him in the trot a
very slight rousing is sufficient. In the trot care must
be taken to preserve the position.

THE LADY'S HORSE. 27

Some ladies, from fear of overbalancing on the off side,
lean over to the left, which has a shocking effect ; others
think they are correcting this fault by leaning their heads
to the off side, their bodies meanwhile inclining all the
same to the near side — a position even more painful to
look at than the last. (Fig. 8.) Others, again, while
trotting, hold their whip out, as if it were possessed of an
infectious malady. Amongst unskilled horsewomen a kind
of double rise in the trot is equally popular and unbe-
coming. In fact, there is no end to the things which
ought not to be done at this pace. A portion at least of
what should be done is something as follows :

The horse should be up to his bit ; if he be " behind
his bridle," as they say in the school, the rider has no
control over him. The elbows ought not to be too far
from the sides, and the wrists should be rounded and not
stiff. The figure may lean very slightly forward, and
must rise lightly in the stirrup to the horse's action. If
the stirrup be not the right length this cannot be done,
but no one except the lady herself can tell for certain
whether her stirrup is right, though spectators can make a
shrewd guess, when too much " daylight " appears or the
reverse, what is the remedy required.

To start in the canter it is always well to take the
horse up rather on the bit, then to touch him with the
heel, and if he be well trained no further signal is
• necessary for him to strike off " true and united." Care
must be taken not to let him go on his shoulders, and to
ride him even more up to his bit than in the trot, for the
prevention of the last-named fault. It is easier to sit
well in the canter than the trot. The figure may, of the
two, lean rather back than forward, shoulders always
square, and the seat steady. Nothing looks worse than

28 UNASKED ADVICE.

to see the lady bumping up and down in the canter. It
is a fault usually caused by too short a stirrup. A rough-
going horse will throw the best rider about more or less,
and is, therefore, unfit for a lady. If the horse shies at
anything, if possible ignore the circumstance. If he
stumbles, never omit to punish him by as sharp a
" chuck " of the bit as his mouth and temper will admit
of. Don't hit him with the whip, or next time he
stumbles he will also bolt forward. Having returning
home, dismounting is a very simple thing. The lady
takes her foot out of the stirrup, lifts the right knee off
the pummel, places her right hand on the pummel as in
mounting, and her left, if she chooses, on a gentleman's
shoulder, and then slides gently down, not forgetting to
bend her knees on arriving at the ground to a degree
proportioned to the extent of the drop. She thereby
avoids a jar which is always uncomfortable, and some-
times produces a headache when the descent is from a tall
horse on to pavement.

It is always well to pet one's horse as much as circum-
stances allow of. The advantage of one's horse knowing
one's voice and one's self need no demonstration. In
any emergency, if the animal adds fear of his rider to
other excitement, grief is a natural consequence. In town
it is not so easy for a lady to pet her horse. Mews are
not quite the places for ladies, but they can make friends
at the door. Last season I used daily to see a young lady
come in from her morning ride. She used to dismount,
and a very pompous butler, after opening the door,
descended the steps with becoming gravity, and handed
her a piece of sugar, which her horse anxiously awaited,
and usually, by reason of his bit, failed to get the full
advantage of. The principle was sound all the same,

THE LADY'S HORSE. 29

though I fear Mr. Bottles considered his dignity rather
compromised by his share in this diurnal piece of
petting.

In the country a lady can always go to the stable. I
don't like, however, to see them go up to a horse in the
stall. A touch of a crinoline (reduced as these are), the
rustling of a silk dress, or fifty other things, may startle
a horse, and a frightened horse is the most fearful of wild
fowl, and quite the most inconsiderate of created beings.
It is safer to bring their heads round preparatory to
giving them the piece of carrot, apple, or whatever the
present may consist of.

And now a word of advice on the subject of hunting to
any ladies not accustomed to that sport who may do me
the honour to read these lines, " if any such there be " (I
mean readers) . Never, if you can help it possibly, go out
hunting without a groom. Make up your mind before
you start whether you mean to ride the run or to be a
spectator. If by any mischance your groom is not to be
had, and you don't want to go in the first flight, don't
allow your cavalier to ride anything but a bond fide hack.
On a hunter the mildest of men may try some short cut
which may not suit you. Don't go even to the meet on
a horse who is not at all events a little used to a similar
scene. The quietest horses sometimes become ungovern-
able on their first introduction to the chase. Never go
near the hounds, unless you know from personal experi-
ence that your horse won't kick them. Learn to open a
gate for yourself. If the huntsman is ever such a friend
of yours, don't speak to him after the business of the day
commences. He has as much to think of as the conven-
tional " man at the wheel," who is addressed by no one,
even on business. On the same principal, don't be angry

30 UNASKED ADVICE.

with the master if he neglects to return your bow as he
canters past. He probably never saw you, being perhaps
looking at that man shooting over dogs a field off the
gorse, or at that gentleman who, trying the speed of a
dealer's horse, is rapidly circumnavigating the covert,
apparently with the unconcealed intention of spoiling his
own and everyone else's sport. Though able to open
your own gates, make some one do them for you ; then,
if the gate is an awkward one, it isn't your fault. If you
mean riding, have a pilot, but don't follow him too closely.
Give everyone room to fall. I was once ridden over by a
lady who is the ornament of every society she appears in.
I had rather it had been she than a bagman out for a
holiday, but on the whole the sensation was unpleasant.
Don't go and do likewise.

Remember, and, so far as possible, act up to, the pro-
verb concerning discretion. If you see men, unless you
know them them to be very bad form over a country,
avoiding a place, don't have it. There is very likely a
danger that you don't know of. Even if you get over
and pound them, you will only excite the admiration of
such as are on the right side. The others will never
forgive you. Keep as much as possible out of people's
way ; you will get *i/3« for not giving trouble. Your
escort, however, is an exception to the rule ; make him
useful ; that is what he is there for. Don't let him per-
suade you to go on when you are tired, or to do anything
you don't like ; at the same time, if he says don't jump
any particular place, humour him, unless you see your
way unusually clearly. In charging a fence ride on the
snaffle, and don't interfere with your horse. If he is fit
to carry you he will know all about it. But when you
know it to be a wide place you may rouse him a little,

THE LADY'S HOESE. 31

the less with the rein the better. Sit back, bend the
right foot back and the left knee forward ; if it is a deep
drop, a rein in each hand will steady you and the horse.
(Fig. 9.) Don't let other ladies ride your hunter. Their
ways can't be quite your ways, and next time you ride, your
nag may not understand you as well as usual. He won't
confuse you so much with a man, so your papa, soupirant,
brother, or husband, if equal to the occasion, may have a
mount now and again, and will do more good than harm.
A hack ought never to be fresh, and may be exercised
ad lib. by a trustworthy groom or friend. Less neck
depends on his talents, and there is no greater nuisance
than a hack which is too fresh. Your hunter is presumed
to be a perfect timber jumper. Nevertheless, don't jump
it when you can help doing so, and never when your
horse is at all done. A fall at timber is mostly a
crumpler. Water you are less likely to be hurt at, but
getting in is not pleasant, nor is getting out becoming.
When the brush is presented to you, say " Thank you ! "
but don't take it yourself. Make your groom or escort
do that, and stand no such folly as fixing it in your bridle.
Horses cannot bear the smell of blood, and are very apt
to begin plunging when a " mask " or brush is stuck on
them, unless they are used to it. The second whip to be
sure, carries the fox's head; but his horse is used to it
for one thing, and, for another, the kick is usually out of
him prior to the death of the fox. Likewise, remember
that though your horse does not usually kick hounds, he
may do so, excited by the aforementioned bouquet, when
they are breaking up their fox, or when they have just
done so. Always drive to the meet when you can, and
home again. When one is tired nothing is enjoyable.
Never keep your escort waiting in the morning, unless

32 UNASKED ADVICE.

he be your husband, and consequently not licensed to
complain.

Of vices in the horse I have said nothing, because it is
inexcusable to put a lady on one that is not known to be
good-tempered and quiet. If your horse kicks or plunges
from freshness, your groom should "catch it." If he rears,
hold on to anything you like, bar the bridle. A horse who
has reared twice in a decided and dangerous manner
should be parted with at once. And here I come to the
end of my lucubrations, trusting that, though there is
much good advice on this subject which my ignorance
has prevented my giving, yet that I have advised nothing
dangerous or impracticable.

Mechanical contrivances, such as martingales, punish-
ing nose-bands, and running reins, I have said nothing
about, considering that an animal requiring such tackle,
or possessing any temper or restiveness whatever, is a
brute quite unworthy of mention in an essay upon " The
Lady's Horse."

VARIETIES OP THE HORSE.
THE ARAB.

As the success or otherwise of breeding horses in Eng-
land for particular purposes is to be ascribed in a great
measure to the grand principle of " fluking/' as it is
termed by some — or, as the thinking portion of the com-
munity have it, to Providence — the writing of an essay on
the varieties of the horse, in England at least, is an
undertaking fraught with a certain amount of difficulty.
Even the uninitiated can understand this when it is ex-
plained that horses bred for one purpose, and found at
maturity to be wholly useless for such object, may never-
theless take honours as first class for other purposes
entirely different from their original destination. For
example : the object of every horse-owner in the country
is to get the best-bred animal he possibly can for his own
particular purpose — that is to say, at any rate, every
horse-owner whose work is not of that sort absolutely
the speciality of the cart or dray horse. And as horses
of similar breeding, half-breds especially, vary much, both
in appearance and powers of performance, it happens at
length that the varieties of English horses are not so much
varieties of breed as of individual form and qualities.
Take the thorough-bred horse for example. In his best
and most successful form he is a Derby winner, and pro-
genitor subsequently of a numerous and distinguished
family. If too slow for racing, he is probably a hunter.

34 UNASKED ADVICE.

When too small for the field, he is a hack. With shape
that makes him undesirable as a saddle-horse, charger,
hunter, or hack, and good action, he may be a phaeton
horse. And failing all these careers of usefulness, there
are open to him others tolerably numerous, and at length
when he has nothing particular to recommend him, there
is the never-failing profession of the cab rank. We have
thus already at least five different trades for horses who
may be own brothers to each other, and they will be so
far different in appearance that no tyro would mistake
the hack for the hunter or race-horse : yet they could
hardly be called varieties of the English horse. Varie-
ties they would be, but of the English thorough-bred
only.

Leaving the stud book, endless different types are
noticeable, though here too it is less the breed of the
horse than his form and appearance that qualify him for
his particular walk in life. A direct half-bred may be a
weight-carrying hunter or a slave in a van. The object
of the following remarks and sketches therefore is to show
as prominently as possible the differences of form, and,
to a certain degree, of family. These, while rendering
a horse invaluable for one purpose, may disqualify him
utterly for another ; and if these papers succeed in dis-
suading even one individual from putting his horse in
"the wrong place," the writer will have his reward.
How often have we all seen a man the possessor, say, of
an animal the real thing for a brougham, disappointed,
nay disgusted, because a too discriminating public has
declined to buy him for a charger, or vice versa — perhaps
with no better reason than because the animal's dam was
a charger or trooper. Breeding for a particular purpose is
a lottery, and especially the breeding of half-bred horses.

VARIETIES OF THE HORSE. 35

Try to breed a hack from a hack mare, and a coach-horse
may be the unsatisfactory result of your experiment. On
the other hand, I have known, and still know, a hunting
mare, who, with a variety of mates, persists in presenting
to her persevering owner a succession of small covert
hacks. Some day I firmly expect that she will astonish
him with a London cabriolet horse. The lower we go
in the scale of breeding the more uncertain is the result,
until the actual cart-horse is arrived at, and there the
result is easier to be calculated on. The only sort of
horse which has through ages preserved its distinctive
type is that which is supposed to be the progenitor of all
others, viz., the Arab, whose merits we may now proceed
to discuss, as he is an acknowledged ancestor — founder,
in fact, of the family — of our race-horses, and conse-
quently, as remarked above, of our superior hunters,
hacks, chargers, and light harness horses. The Arab has
been talked and written about very frequently ; but the
number of his historians who know anything about him is
indeed in a minority, as compared with the hosts who
have alternately maligned and over-praised him ; for he
is not quite perfection, and I have yet to see the animal
that is. Most people who have given the Arab horses a
thought know that there are several varieties even of
them ; but what these are is a hazy matter of conjecture
with many who might know better. The knowledge
would profit very few people, and for common purposes it
is enough to know that the Nedjedean horse is to be con-
sidered as the purest type, and that the nearest approaches
to him in appearance and certain qualities are the most
valuable. A recent and well-informed explorer has stated
that the horses of Nedjed are not to be bought. If so,
and if they be otherwise inaccessible, it may be consolatory

D 2

36 UNASKED ADVICE.

to some to know that a good imitation is procurable by a
good judge who will pay for his fancy. Whether or not
a fresh infusion of Arab blood would benefit our racers
is a point not likely to be settled as long as really well-
bred Arabs are not imported here; but I cannot but
think that our saddle-horses, and troop-horses especially,
would be improved by it. There are men, and lots of
them — some decent judges, too, of English horses — who
can be persuaded that any under-sized long-tailed animal,
particularly if he be a grey, and in possession of all his
faculties, is an Arab. Think of the brutes brought over
by officers after the Crimean war, which were dignified
with the name of Arabs, and whose numerous faults were
brought forward in evidence against the real son of the
desert. A Turkish pony is a good beast ; his feet and
legs are capital, his appetite good (often better than
his temper), and he is an enduring sort of slave ; but the
best of them cannot hold a candle even to an inferior
Arab horse. The well-bred Arab is an example per se.
For his apparent size there is more of him physically,
and more spirit, gameness, and strength, than in any
other horse. If well bred, he is much more likely to be
under than over 14| hands ; but when on him you don't
feel as if on a pony. His head is a picture by itself — so
fine at the muzzle as to make the cheeks look almost
coarse ; the nostrils wide, eyes prominent, mild, but bold ;
with little ears that, seen alone, could be taken as bail for
the family of the owner. The neck is strong and mus-
cular, without being heavy or "beefy," and the head
nicely put on. Shoulders well laid back, looking rather
thick, and none the worse for that when nice and free at
the points. Girth deep, and back ribs of enormous
depth; so big are all the ribs as to make the saddle-

VARIETIES OP THE HORSE. 37

girth seem carried forward, whence the idea common
amongst those who know a little, and only a little, about
shape and make, that Arabs are bad-shouldered horses.
(Some are, of course; so sometimes are winners at
Newmarket and even Epsom.) The croup is high to
a degree seen only in horses of this high caste, and
the tail is set on very high, and carried right off the
back. The fore-arms of the Arab are remarkably mus-
cular. Very short from the knee downwards, he has
great flat clean legs, that no ill-usage can cause to puff.
His feet are high at the heel, a little " donkeyfied," but
hard as flints, and with as much wear in them. His
thighs are to match his arms. His hind legs are well
under him, and his hocks often turn in a little. He is
hard as nails, will eat anything or nothing, and you may
ride him for a month at a time. As a charger he is best.
Intelligent and obliging as a poodle, he is still bold and
resolute. When he once sees what vagaries are required
of him, he will perform them. He is startled at neither
lance-flags, swords, firing, nor music, nor any of the bug-
bears of English remounts, but he hates a camel* (small
blame to him) and mistrusts an elephant. He will fast as
long as you like, and you may tire him if you can, being
careful not to fatigue yourself in the attempt. He is
not perfect, owing to bad breaking ; his walk is often a
shuffle, nor is his trot even. He sometimes {( runs," and
mostly stumbles. Good riding and English bridles
improve all this, though. His fast pace is a nine miles
an hour canter, at which he can stay till the week after
next. Among other horses he is, though entire, quiet ;

* Oddly enough, English horses have not the same objection to
a camel that the Orientals have; in several instances I have
observed this rather unaccountable difference of taste.

38 UNASKED ADVICE.

quiet also to saddle and groom, unless ill treated. As a
race-horse he often knows too much ; but he has many
qualities that, disseminated among our saddle-horses,
would make the possession of a stable less of a care than
it often is.

THE BARB.

WHILE on the subject of foreign, and especially Eastern,
horses, it would not do to pass the Barb by without
notice, the rather as he has had to do quite as much as
the Arabian with the foundation of English thoroughbred
horses. The horses named in the earliest pages of the
" Stud Book" are called Barbs, Turks, and Arabians, the
Barbs rather predominating in numbers. It is likely
enough that the imported horses, of early days were often
wrongly described ; and the north of Africa being, in those
days, much more accessible than Arabia, the Barbary
horse must have been easier to get than the true Arab —
a state of things still existing in these days of steam and
telegrams. The Barb stands higher than the high-caste
Arab ; he has good shoulders, and carries his saddle in a
better place than the Arab, but this is usually the result
of his middle piece being deficient. He falls away a good
deal behind the saddle, and does not carry his " flag" like
the Arab. His quarters are sloping to a degree that dis-
tinguishes him at the first glance from the Arab, whose
tail is set on so remarkably high. The Barb is very fast,
and also very quick. He, no doubt, improved the English
racehorse once upon a time, but he is little or no good
now on English turf, and has especially proved himself
incompetent to win the Goodwood Cup. The size of
Eastern horses, or rather their want of it, has always

VARIETIES OF THE HORSE. 39

been given as one reason why the best of them cannot
run up amongst even indifferent English horses ; but this
cannot be the reason, or anyhow the only one. There
are many Barbs, and Arabs too, as big as Lecturer;
but what an example the game little son of Colsterdale*
would make of the best field that ever assembled on an
Indian racecourse. Barbs are very handy as chargers,
particularly in stopping short, and being such quick
beginners that from standing still they may be extended
in about three strides. They are a peculiar type of animal,
and no others resemble them excepting the Spanish
horses, who are evidently very near relations, with the
same lofty crest, thick neck, and drooping quarters. The
Spaniards are the best of hacks, but do not stand very
much squeezing. Of other Eastern horses the only ones
worthy of note are the Persians, Syrians, and Turks,
which are coarse likenesses of the Arabs, with more size
and knee action, well calculated for troopers and light
phaeton horses ; and the Turkomans, which are said to
be good, but three-cornered looking, but of whom I have
no personal knowledge. Other Asiatic horses are only
descendants of English and Arabs, like the stud-breds of
India ; and without constant infusion of fresh blood they
degenerate. The same remark applies to the Cape and
Australian horses, whose good constitutions hardly
counterbalance their bad shoulders (as compared with
the generality of English horses), and their vile tempers
and tricks. A Cape horse can rear and buck worse than
any other horse in creation bar one; that one is the
Australian or " Whaler," who seldom considers that he
has handsomely disposed of his rider unless he sends the
saddle flying after him (the rider) over his (the horse's)

* Written in 1867.

40 UNASKED ADVICE.

head. The Australian stock riders are said to be the best
horsemen in the world/ and they need be. We have got
a long way wide of the Barb ; but, after all there is little
to be said about him, beyond that he is a gentlemanly
little horse, with a great deal of good about him, but
inferior in all respects, except trotting action, to the true
Arab. He is a nice lady's horse, and a nice park hack,
and very good in his way. The greater part of the
stories which we have so often heard about the wonderful
performances of Eastern horses are to be placed in the
same category as the tales of the Rhinoceros Major in a
certain monthly periodical. As chargers and troopers,
in the way of roughing it, Orientals will beat English
horses ; but, on the other hand, the best of them that
ever went could not get over an " oxer" at the end of
three miles, best pace and ridge and furrow.

THE RACEHORSE.

HORSE-RACING throughout all ages and in all countries has
had professedly for its object improvement in the breed
of horses, until lately, when the question has been raised
whether racing, as now conducted, does not have the
opposite effect, and actually cause our breed of thorough-
bred horses to deteriorate. Much has been said for and
against this view of matters, and an impartial individual,
having heard the arguments on both sides, will be very
likely to find himself as regards opinion much where he
was when he began. There is, and can be, no doubt that
thoroughbred horses of power are the exception; also
that the best racehorse is frequently, as a sire of horses

VARIETIES OF THE HORSE. 41

intended for general purposes, inferior to others who
have made no name on the turf, though as the progenitor
of racehorses he may be first-rate. In the present state
of the turf — a state in which the love of gambling pre-
dominates over that of sport — the best racehorse is the
one out of which most money is to be made; and a
worthless animal which by any means can attain the
position of favourite for a race of importance, is just as
good a friend to some parties as a real flyer whose light
is dexterously concealed under a bushel is to others.
Shape and make are things of less consequence in the
racehorse than in any other sort of animal devoted to
sporting purposes. As a yearling, pedigree and looks
will fetch a price, as anyone may see who attends either
of the great annual sales of yearlings ; but how often is
the spirited purchaser of an animal, whose family alone
ought to be bail for his winning the Derby, disappointed
in his purchase when it is put into training. As a two-
year-old the colt's looks are comparatively of no moment
if he can only move ; and if he performs fairly in private,
he will soon make a reputation for himself which may
later on be lost or sustained, as the case may be, when
he comes out in public. If the colt be sound as the
proverbial roach, hardy as a donkey, quiet as a sheep,
and able to stay at his own pace till that day twelve-
months, he would be by many considered an animal
likely to ' ' improve the breed of horses ; " but if he have
not speed (and the standard of speed in a racing stable
is a trifle higher than in most other places), he will never
have the chance of doing so. He may be the best hunter
or steeple-chaser of his day ; but, unless he be sold to the
foreigners, he will be incapacitated for parental duties
almost to a certainty, and so his good qualities will be

42 UNASKED ADVICE.

lost to posterity. On the other hand, let him be a bad
feeder, infirm in temper and on his legs — let him be a
savage in the stable and a practical joker out of it, and,
as they " go in all forms," let him be as bad a shaped
one as is compatible with his ever having been bought
or kept at all — but give him the power of staying at his
best pace, and let thab be a good one, for a long dis-
tance— he will be the apple of his trainer's eye, watched
by touts, criticised by " special commissioners," idolised
by his master and his master's friends ; and if he have
the luck, assisted by all the skill in training that Eng-
land can produce, and by the best of riding, to run well
in good company, all his faults will be forgiven him. If
he wins a big race he will be the lion of the year, and
when he is hopelessly screwed up — a consummation to
be looked for at latest about his fifth year — he will
be a popular sire, licensed to transmit all his faults to
posterity, and forgiven for so doing if with them he
passes on his speed and staying powers. He may be
the sire of successful racers, but he can hardly be said
to improve the breed of horses. Of course no horse is
the worse for being good-looking, though many winners
have been out-of-the-way plain ones. Theorists will
say a racer must have certain attributes, such as good
shoulders, girth, back and loins, hocks, &c. How often,
though, they can perform when possessed of no qualities
taking to the eye ; and who thinks of their looks then,
unless later in life they may have the misfortune to
appear at a " horse show ? " and even there, if the judges
do not approve of them, the public probably will ; while
if the crowd of spectators pronounce them to be brutes,
they may calculate with some certainty on receiving
prizes, or at least honourable mention, at the hands of

VAEIETIES OP THE HOKSE. 43

the judges. In fact, the successful racer may be consi-
dered in the majority of cases as an embodied " fluke" —
the rather as, in these days of objections and reversed
decisions, the words and meaning of the old song, to
the effect that " the horse that's first will win, sir," just
stop short of being a dead letter, and an absolute myth.

THE LIGHT-WEIGHT HUNTER.

THE light-weight hunter is either thoroughbred, or with
a slight stain in his pedigree ; and there are not wanting
many good judges who prefer the animal with a stain.
There are many arguments against thoroughbred horses as
hunters, but most of them are, when analysed, arguments
not against the horse himself, but against his past educa-
tion. A horse which has been in training generally has
some faults peculiar to animals who have passed through
that ordeal. He often pulls in his gallop, he frequently
kicks at other horses, and he is, as a rule, more or less
irritable in his temper. But these faults arise not from
his breeding, but from his training. Cocktails who have
been trained, especially for steeplechases, have often all
the above-mentioned faults of the more aristocratic horse
without his virtues ; the temper of the half-bred one who
has been severely trained is far more likely to be upset
for life than that of a thoroughbred; and, it may be
added, his constitution also, but that is not the present
question. A horse which has been trained as a two-year-
old always is a trouble to make a hunter of. The style of
galloping which has been encouraged in the training-
stable is not the best adapted for getting through plough,
or over ridge and furrow, and, from going habitually

4-1 UNASKED ADVICE.

in that extended style, a horse at first finds great diffi-
culty in collecting himself for his fences. Indeed, ex-race-
horses are proverbially prone to running through their
fences, but for the reason just given, not because their
names are in the Stud-book. A clean-bred horse who
has been treated like a half-bred one, and led a private
life, will make as good and pleasant a hunter as a cock-
tail, and probably a better, as liberties may be taken with
him in the way of pace, and days of work, with short
allowance of rest between, which could not be stood by
the lower-bred horse.

In one respect the thoroughbred is almost invariably
superior to any other horse, and that is in the clearness
of his wind. In the power, too, of "coming again"
when half-beat, " none but himself can be his parallel/'
and gameness under difficulties of all kinds is one of his
most distinguishing characteristics. But he is so seldom
up to any weight, that riders who are not too heavy for
him are the exception even among light weights. A
thoroughbred well up to 12 stone over the shires is not so
very common, one really well up to 13 stone is very un-
common, and so on. Now, a horse up to less than 12 stone
can hardly be called a hunter at all. For a few days an
apparently weedy blood horse will carry a rider whose
weight is evidently beyond his powers, better than many
horses who combine more power with less breeding. But
he cannot go on for long doing it, and is soon worn out or
screwed up. When, however, a clean-bred one knows
his business, and is not overweighted, nothing will touch
him as a hunter. In fact, as it has been observed, a
thoroughbred hunter is " either worth his weight in silver,
or not worth his corn." The latter class preponderate.
The light-weight hunter must be fast ; a good weight-

VARIETIES OP THE HOESE. 45

carrier may be pardoned even if he be a little slow, pro-
vided he be sure; but a light-weight horse who cannot
gallop is no good to anyone.

In teaching young horses to jump, I am a strong
advocate for the leading rein to begin with. Beginning
with very trifling obstacles, he may gradually be led over
stronger and more awkward fences, but not until he knows
how to manage them. Falls discourage a young one.
Scrambles, where he recovers himself, do him good. A
regular turn-over is often a useful reminder to an old
horse who is growing careless or too clever ; but it gives
a colt a distaste for the amusement of jumping. In no
case, however, must he be allowed to break any timber.
He should grow up, if possible, with the idea that all
rails are of adamantine strength and consistency. When
he is first ridden over any fences, he should have a lead
from an experienced horse, whom he will probably be
quite happy to follow. It is important that he should
not learn to refuse, aud it is better to make him creep
through, or in and out of, a fence then to let him turn
away. When he will jump a little — and jumping in cold
blood must never be overdone — he may see the hounds,
being kept well out of their way, and he will be content
to follow the field of horses anywhere that he can. A
young horse ought to be taught " water " last of any-
thing, and he must have confidence in himself and his
rider before it is fair to ride him at it. It is the thing of all
others he is most likely to refuse, while it is most im-
portant that he should not do so. It is worth while to
arrange a ditch of running water for the instruction of a
promising colt. Many never see water till they come to
it in a run when half beat, and, with a horse refusing in
front of them, they probably take a dislike to the element

46 UNASKED ADVICE.

which lasts them their lifetime, and depreciates them
infinitely in value.

The make and shape of the light-weight hunter only
differ from those of the weight-carrier in the amount of
physical strength represented by each. In the thorough-
bred hunter, as in the case of the stronger one, shoulders
are of the first importance. No horse with short or
straight shoulders can stretch himself out over an unex-
pectedly wide ditch : or, if he does manage it, he will
probably overjump himself, and give his rider a disagree-
able fall. A strong back and loins, with hocks well
under him, are necessaries to any horse who has to go
across country. Deep back ribs almost always denote
the good doer ; light ones the reverse. The foot, for
heavy or light weight, must have plenty of horn, and be
pretty strong at the heels. A perfect hunter should have
a perfect temper, must never refuse, nor kick hounds nor
horses, and, after the day is over, must hack pleasantly
home, and eat his corn and lie down when he gets there.
But perfection among hunters is uncommon, and most
sportsmen will find themselves forced to put up with the
nearest approach to it that they can find, in the posses-
sion of which they had better " rest and be thankful,"
instead of wasting energies and money in the pursuit of
the unattainable.

THE WEIGHT-CARRYING HUNTER.

THE great criterion of a hunter's value for sale is the
amount of weight he can carry. Clever jumping weeds
are to be had every day, and almost everywhere, at little
money ; but a horse up to weight will always command a

VARIETIES OF THE HOUSE. 47

price. The choice of a weight-carrier is a matter re-
quiring more judgment than the uninitiated would think.
Beginners are apt to confound size with strength. They
are two very different things. Indeed an overgrown
animal has himself to carry ; and when to that load is
added a heavy rider, the total becomes considerable.
Compactness is the first quality to be looked for by a
sportsman who, riding sixteen stone or more, still is
determined to see sport. Long backs and long legs are
unpardonable deformities. A well-set-on head and light
mouth are desirable, but the want of these may be ex-
cused if the horse be good in other respects, and the
rider really heavy. A muscular neck generally accom-
panies muscular development elsewhere, and so is to be
desired ; but it must be light at the throat, and not too
loaded on the crest. The best of shoulders, it is needless
to say, are indispensable; no horse can do the trick
across country without them. They must not only be
oblique, but long, and to carry weight rather thick,
though with a tolerably broad chest. Broad-chested
horses are supposed generally to be slow, but narrow-
chested ones are very apt to speedy-cut and hit them-
selves, under weight. Round the girth a heavy-weight
hunter should measure as much over 6ft. as possible.
Light-girthed ones with staying powers are the exception.
No hollow-backed horse will ever do any good with a
real welter weight. The back must be short, the loins
strong, and the hips wide, and as ragged as you like. A
tendency in the direction of what is elegantly termed the
" goose rump " is no disadvantage, rather the contrary.
The deeper the ribs are, the more valuable the horse.
For muscular thighs and hocks well under him, the merest
tyro can see the necessity ; also for arms to match, and big

48 UNASKED ADVICE.

bone below the knee. The feet must not be too small ;
at the same time, narrow feet wear far better than flat
wide ones.

They must have plenty of heels too ; feet low and weak
at the heels will never stand battering with ordinary
shoes. Good temper is a most important requisite. A
horse with sixteen stone or more on his back cannot
afford to take anything out of himself by quarrelling with
his rider. He should be able to gallop, and at a fair
pace, but he need not be a racehorse. A clever fencer
he is presumed to be. Possessing all these virtues, he is
worse than useless, if he have not clear wind, and this is
just the very thing which he is most likely to want, as
these large and valuable horses seem more liable to go
roarers than others. If the pipes are clear, and he can
gallop, jump, and go on with a heavy weight on his back(
he may be pardoned many shortcomings. He may be
the vilest of hacks on the road, threatening to break his
knees at every step, he may be a bad walker, he may
brush or cut — boots and bandages are not expensive (nor
always efficacious ?) — he may be a kicker, and, if he is
one of a large stud, he may even be an indifferent feeder.
As a great deal is required of him in the run, an equal
amount may be excused him on the road.

His education is not quite complete unless he will
jump a fence in hand. As I have remarked apropos of
the covert hack, this performance is usually considered a
dangerous one, and so it is unless horse and man under-
stand each other. But it is very easy to teach a horse
not to come till he is told, the danger being of his
jumping on his master, and the accomplishment is well
worth the slight trouble involved in the acquirement of
it. When there is time to spare a deep drop into the road

VARIETIES OF THE HORSE. 49

without a weight on his back is an affair of no difficulty
or danger to speak of to the horse. With a heavy weight,
it is quite a different thing, and may lay the foundation
of numberless foot complaints. I would not counsel
anyone to be always getting off his horse, were he Daniel
Lambert himself; but in exceptional cases it is a wise
proceeding. No one should attempt it who is not sure
of his horse, as no one would like to place himself in the
position of Mr. Jorrocks, as he appears in that charming
sketch by John Leech apostrophising the recreant
" Artaxerxes." Weight is too often brought forward as
a reason, if not an excuse, for not attempting to ride
straight to hounds ; and weight unaccompanied by a
corresponding depth of breeches pocket undoubtedly is
so. But to the ponderous and youthful Croesus, who is
in every way but his weight qualified to shine in the field,
I could mention many names of men, over fifteen stone,
who, when hounds run, insist on being not only thereabouts,
but there ; and it has been said that " whatever man has
done man may do." At all events he may try to. Let
any one who doubts the power of heavy men to get across
country treat himself to a day with the Pytchley,* and
see the example which, if there be a scent, the gallant
master and huntsmen will make of the feather weights,
the rather if the line be really a strong one. Let him
consider the performances of Lords Sefton and Alvanley
in bygone days, and of Mr. Gilmour and Sir Francis
Grant in our own time. Or, to vary the country, let him
go out with the Duke of Beaufort's or Sir Watkiii Wynnes
hounds, and he will be convinced that real love of sport
can more than counterbalance heavy weight. Weight,
when the horse is equal to it, is a positive advantage in

* Written in 1867.
E

50 UNASKED ADVICE.

getting over a strong country. The bullfinch which
would hang up in its branches the nine-stone man and
his thoroughbred will open like a door before the deter-
mined charge of fifteen stone, who will also smash a rail
like a stick of sealing-wax, that would turn over nine
stone, to the detriment if not fracture, of every bone in
his frame from the neck downwards. But the horses to
do all this on are difficult to procure, even at a high
figure. One comfort remains to the happy owner of
such : they can always, if good for anything, be disposed
of, usually at something like a fancy price.

THE PAEK HACK.

" SHOW me your hack, and I will tell you what you are,"
lately wrote a remarkably keen observer of human nature,
sporting and metropolitan ; and assuredly a man's park
hack affords more often than not an index to his charac-
ter. Certain animals seem to the most casual observer
suited for certain purposes, and for such purposes only.
For example, how out of place would a 16-stone cob look
carrying an average subaltern of Life Guards; and, on
the other hand, what diocese could put the slightest faith
in a bishop who habitually appeared on a weedy thorough-
bred with a habit of lashing out ? " Everything has its
place," that nobody can deny; but to follow out the
instruction of the old saw, and to "put everything in
its proper place" is not always easy of accomplishment.
If it were, the number of badly mounted equestrians to
be seen in a morning's walk in town would diminish
considerably. What a hack should be is one thing;

VARIETIES OP THE HOESE. 51

what he often is, is quite another. People who are
particular about appearances like something of the follow-
ing description : Height from 14 to 15 hands ; a horse
much taller than this has seldom the activity and handiness
required in town, where wildly charging vehicles are to
be avoided often only by a sharp turn on a slippery
crossing. His temper must be perfect, or he may resent
being pulled on to his haunches to accommodate a per-
ambulator; or, his normal condition being one of greater
freshness than most horses, he may play tricks which
will be more appreciated by the spectators, especially
those sitting on chairs, and therefore themselves out of
the way of danger or responsibility, than by the rider
of the playful animal. He must be a good walker —
nothing is more detestable than to be on a brute who
breaks into a jog-trot every minute because his com-
panions are walking away from him. His head must be
in the right place, or there is no comfort to be had on
his back ; shoulders, if he has free use of them, need
not be so good to look at as those of a hunter ; many
good hacks have only moderate shoulders; but, what-
ever the action may be, it is uncomfortable to ride on
straight shoulders, let alone that the saddle cannot then
be in its proper place ; and, after all, good action is not to
be looked for in an animal whose shoulders are really bad.
Very straight shoulders are, therefore, out of the question,
but they may be a little thicker than a hunter's. Action
is the sine qua non in a park hack. The knee should be
visible to the rider beyond the point of the shoulder;
the height to which the knee is to be lifted is a matter
of taste. Young gentlemen must have it up to the curb
chain, but such an excess makes the animal, as often as
not, rough and unpleasant. A medium which combines

E 2

52 UNASKED ADVICE.

show and safety is, when procurable, to be preferred.
Of course the foot must be put down properly ; a hack
who stumbles is only fit for the boiler. A park hack
should canter nicely and slowly, well back on his
haunches. The walk and the canter are the most
comfortable paces for Rotten-row. Of course he must
not hit himself anywhere; boots and bandages would
be unpardonable in the park. A fidgety horse is a
nuisance on a hot day; so is a slug. Here again the
happy medium must be sought for. Action in front will
avail him but little if he have not the use of his hind legs.
There are few sensations more unpleasant than that
afforded by a very high stepping animal, who lifts his
foot to an amazing altitude, and puts it down again in
the place from whence he took it up. The colour of a
London hack is quite immaterial. Even piebald is per-
fectly permissible, if the animal be good-looking in other
respects ; but he must always be what ladies call " pretty."
Ribs and constitution are of less consequence in this kind
of horse than in most. His work is not severe, and with
decent grooming even an indifferent feeder may look well
when only out for an hour or two a day, and that not
every day, thanks to our climate. As good a bridle as
any for London is a Hanoverian Pelham; if the rider
have hands, the horse will bend to it more than to any
other with which I am acquainted. A standing martin-
gale is a matter of taste : a nice hack does not require
one, and it is no ornament. The hack should be some-
thing as described above, though such animals are not
over common, and command a price whenever they are
to be disposed of. The season of park hacks is now over,
and who can tell if it will ever return ? Another year
may see the Row given over exclusively to the lovers of

VARIETIES OP THE HORSE. 53

democi'atic oratory, and in that case the occupation of
the park hack will indeed be gone (1867).

THE COB.

THIS is essentially a fancy article. A cob is, compared
to other horses, much what a " concentrated luncheon "
lozenge is to a vol au vent. He must have as much breed-
ing as possible, combined with the power of a carthorse.
It is not everyone that is a judge of a cob. An under-
bred, under-sized, thickset punchy horse is not of neces-
sity a valuable cob, though the owners of such beasts
(when they are for sale) are sometimes very hard to per-
suade of this fact. Cobs are usually ridden by a class of
men who can afford to pay for them ; and as the demand
is always in excess of the supply of these animals, they
generally have to be paid for pretty freely, supposing
them to be really good. But without a long list of
virtues, a cob, however powerful, and in its own gro-
tesque style handsome, will never fetch a price. To
begin with, he must be perfectly quiet on all occasions ;
not inclined to shy; and possessed of a certain sedate-
ness of character and demeanour, as it is his peculiar
province to carry gentlemen of a certain age and weight,
and usually of a position in life which renders their
personal safety a matter of interest to the community at
large.

The cob's mouth must be good, not hard or deadened,
as many gentlemen like a snaffle bridle for this descrip-
tion of animal ; and none like to be pulled or bored at.
No horse with a badly see-on head can have a really

54 UNASKED ADVICE.

pleasant mouth ; so this is important. Make and shape,
in perfection, are much the same in all sorts of horses ;
so the same sort of shoulders, back, loins, and hocks,
which have been already insisted on as necessaries for
almost every horse, are equally needful for the cob. A
cob who is not a good walker is of about as much use as a
young lady who does not valse !

He must be particularly safe in his trot, and he is none
the worse for being fast in this pace, though if a really
fast trotter (that is, fast enough to be matched) he will
be most likely unpleasant to ride. The canter, as in all
hacks, must be even, and well balanced. The gallop
matters but little, as it is a pace not much affected by
the majority of riders of cobs. To be perfect in the
country, a cob should let his rider kill a brace of birds
right and left off his back without winking. Even if he
be not wanted as a shooting pony, his nerves must defy
alarm or excitement at any unexpected sight or sound,
especially connected with gunpowder ; for in these days
of revolvers and rifle practice a quiet gentleman who
never goes near a battue may, in the course of his ride,
whether in town or country, find himself almost at any
moment in a " warm corner/' as far as numberless dis-
charges of firearms can constitute one. Therefore the
points most important in a good cob are strength, good
mouth and slow paces, soundness (of course), good temper,
moderate height, say 14 hands, and perfect steadiness
and tractability. If anyone who may do me the honour
to read these lines possesses a cob up to 16 stone, who
can walk four miles an hour and trot twelve, with a good
mouth and amiable disposition, who fears nothing, and
never stumbles, let him, if a rich man, keep him — he will
not get another such in a hurry ; if a poor one, let himr

VARIETIES OF THE HORSE. 55

in offering him for sale, fear not to ' ' open his mouth "
boldly, and demand for him a price which shall make a
difference in his (the owner's) year's income ; for people
must, and usually are ready to, pay for their fancies, and
a good cob, as already remarked, is, of all the equine
race, essentially a fancy article, and one too for which the
demand is always brisk.

THE CHARGER.

THERE are few things more difficult to procure than a
perfect charger — that is to say, a cavalry charger. Any
neat-looking quiet hack will make a charger for mounted
officers of infantry; but the dragoon's horse is another
affair. He must please a good many people — the com-
manding officer as regards his appearance and action,
and the regimental vet. in the matter of soundness. The
groom of the intended purchaser will doubtless have some
opinion to express on the animal's probable consti-
tution, &c. ; and as to the officers of the regiment gene-
rally, the buying of a charger by one of their number
usually affords a fine example of the truth of the proverb,
Quot homines, tot sentential. The buyer's opinion may
be kept to himself — no one will listen to it. He has had
time to make up his mind before he introduces his choice
to the notice of his corps, it is to be hoped, or some
confusion may arise in his mind from the quantity of good
advice he is likely to receive.

A great many qualities are indispensable in a charger.
Appearance, to begin with, is of the first importance. A
pretty head and neck, and showy action, and a well set-

56 UNASKED ADVICE.

on tail, are de rigeur. His slioulders must be long and
oblique, or nothing but his ears will be visible to his
rider in front of the cloak and sheepskin, which gives an
insecure sensation. Without hocks well under him he
will not be able to turn handily across the school, and
will rarely canter well. His action must be good before
and behind; the knee more bent than in any other
description of horse, with the exception of the park
hack ; and the action, however extravagantly high, must
be smooth, as the animal has to be ridden not unfre-
quently without stirrups. A light-bodied charger looks
very bad ; he must be possessed of deep ribs and a good
appetite, for he must always look big, whatever work he
may be doing. His work is mostly on the hardest of
ground, so his legs and feet must be unexceptionable;
and, lastly, his temper must be perfect — that is, a mixture
of courage and amiability. A hot horse is unbearable on
parade, where an officer has plenty to do without rough
riding ; a fiery charger is suited for the pages of a bygone
species of novel, but not for real life. A slug is prefer-
able, though unpleasant in his way ; and an animal in
whom docility is not a very strongly developed quality
will be likely to object to jumping time after time over
an unnatural-looking obstacle, in the shape of a " bar,"
which he can run round. If the charger is also a hunter,
he will be the safer and more pleasant in rough ground
or among ditches, &c., which have often to be crossed on
duty ; and there is every probability of being ridden over
in the event of a fall in front of a squadron — though that
is not the certainty it is when the fall is in front of a
crowd in many fashionable hunting countries. In some
few regiments first chargers have been hunted from time
immemorial, but this is not according to the law, and is

VARIETIES OP THE HORSE. 57

quite the exception. As a rule, they are not allowed to
be singed, probably in consequence of their having to
stand about in cold weather ; and as the troop horses are
never clipped or singed, a clipped horse in front of the
line would spoil the uniformity. Colour is a matter of
taste. Everyone knows that the Household Brigade ride
blacks and nothing else, and the " Greys" grey horses,
the " Bays" probably bays ; but in other regiments all
colours excepting piebald are to be seen. Many colonels
will not have greys, especially as first chargers, and no
doubt they are conspicuous, and spoil the look of the
line. The nearer approach to thorough-bred the charger
is, the better. Thorough-bred ones are much bolder
among " sights and sounds" than half-breds. The height
must be, unless for a very diminutive officer, 15.2. It
need never be over 15.3. Indeed, with length and power,
the lower in reason that a charger is, the better will he
look, unless the rider be unusually tall. One more thing
is most important. He must not have a notion of rearing ;
or, if he be possessed of anything like a mouth, that
accomplishment will be developed, to a " moral," by his
course of training in the school.

THE COVERT HACK.

IF the park hack be a luxury, which he undoubtedly is,
his brother, the covert hack, may be considered as a
necessary of life to the hunting man. Modest men may
walk in the park, may sit on chairs, or may stay away
altogether, and in either case exist and enjoy life without
the possession of a London hack ; but the hunting man of

58 UNASKED ADVICE.

the present day might as well be expected to clean his
own leathers as to ride his horse on to covert. Time was,
at least so my seniors have informed me, when sportsmen
were not too lazy to rise and ride their hunters, at a leisurely
pace, on to the meet ; and the performance was the
more meritorious as the hour of fixture was considerably
earlier in days of yore than it at present is. Also, the
steed had his heavy winter coat on, a circumstance that
must have increased the responsibility of the undertak-
ing— Nous avons change tout cela. Young and old,
feather and welter, customer and shirker, all agree in
the impossibility of hunting a horse that has not been
conducted to the place of meeting in the orthodox manner
by a groom. The master has to go to the same spot as
best he can. A brougham is a luxurious conveyance to
covert, especially on a wet morning; a phaeton, with a
clever pair, an exhilarating one ; a coach, with a merry
party perched thereupon, a sufficiently cheery one ; but
according to my own taste all these ways and means of
encompassing the desired end fall short in amount of
enjoyment compared with the journey on a really nice
hack. He must, however, be the real thing, or there is
no fun at all in this mode of transit. To labour through
deep lanes mounted upon an undersized pony is trying to
the temper, even as it is to the appearance of the boots
and breeches. To hammer along a hard road upon a
coach horse is a comfortless, if not an alarming, mode
of progression. The covert hack is neither of these
extremes. Fourteen hands to fourteen three should be
his height, with power suited to the weight of his master.
He cannot by any possibility be too well bred, but he
need not study appearances like the park hack pure and
simple. He must have good temper and good paces.

VARIETIES OF THE HORSE. 59

He has not to do much walking, but still a bad walker is
a continual bore. He need not exhibit the gaudy trotting
action desirable in Rotten Row, but he must trot fast.
Here action behind is of the first importance, indeed
quite indispensable. He must further be able to canter
with ease to himself from nine to twelve miles an hour,
and to go on doing so as long as he is wished to.
He must open gates artistically, and, if required, he
must be able and willing (which is often another thing,)
to jump any small fence alongside of a locked gate. The-
immortal "Mr. Sawyer" was obliged to ride his hack
over the gate itself, and an " oxer" or so into the bargain,
but it was hard lines, even upon him, to be dependant
for pilotage on such an undefeated customer as "the
Honourable Crasher !" I should individually be satisfied
if my hack can be depended on at a hurdle, or small
fence, nor should I when it could be avoided trouble him
even with these, and in any case I should leave gates and
" oxers," in cold blood to the attentions of my betters, in
the way of nerves. The covert hack ought to be, and
indeed generally is, the animal most fit to go in the
stable to which he belongs. His work is regular, and
not liable to be stopped by accidents, like that of the
hunters, his stable companions. Indeed he must be
pretty fit, to go fast to covert three or four days in a
week. Nobody ever has too much time to spare on a
hunting morning. The M.P. must write certain letters ;
the steadiest going sporting squire is liable to arrest at
the hands of his bailiff, just as he ought to be starting ;
whilst ardent youth is not only, to a certainty, late for
breakfast, but if there be daughters, or other young
ladies, in a country house, it is fifteen to one at least, that
when he ought to be miles on his way to covert, ardent

00 UNASKED ADVICE.

youth aforesaid is to be found in a conservatory, superin-
tending the choice and adjustment of a bouquet for his
button-hole, an article without which it would appear
no young man can mount his hunter in comfort and
safety. If our youthful hero hails from his hotel or
lodgings, he is still later, as having most likely sat up
overnight a deal too late, and breakfasted before dressing
for hunting : a fatal proceeding when time is an object.
All which affect the hack. Don't condemn the wearing
of flowers, however, by the first flight, as the remains of
the bouquet may act after the manner of buoys in an
intricate channel of the sea. If you be not absolutely
first, and the way out of a field be intricate, a white
camellia, perched on a thorn, close by a bit of red cloth,
will indicate the spot where you are to have the obstacle
which has not succeeded in pounding your predecessor,
and, trusting to the adage that " whatever man has done,
man may do," I sincerely hope you will get over, and,
finding your friend on his back in the next ditch, assume
that place which it is the desire of all customers to fill,
first of the first flight. And never forget the high
authority who has spoken to this effect, if the words are
not quoted quite accurately, " Better thirty yards before
the hounds, than one behind the throng ?"

THE HARNESS HORSE.

THE above can hardly be considered as a variety of the
horse, harness being a trade which may be followed by
any and every one, of the varieties already noticed. Any-

VARIETIES OF THE HORSE. 61

thing quiet in harness is a harness horse as long
as he is attached to a vehicle of any sort, though out
of leather he may be a " polo pony/' a charger, hunter,
or anything else. London carriage horses certainly
follow no trade but " leather/' and would mostly be
wholly unfit for any other employment. The 16-3 or
17-hand steeds, who, matched to perfection, clamber
about the streets of London, or stand still, trying in vain
to reconcile comfort with a tight bearing rein, could not
possibly be used for any other purpose than that fulfilled
by them, unless it may be that they might conduct a
plough in light land. Phaston horses are another thing.
They should not, to my mind, much exceed 15 hands
in height, and should give the general impression that
they ought to be hunters in a close country, were their
action different, for a really clever phgeton horse's trotting
action would be intensely out of place in the field ; nor
is such action usually accompanied by speed in the gallop.
Barouche horses are larger, indeed, much what has been
described above. Team horses are phseton horses rather
enlarged; but tastes differ here, some people liking
large horses, others smaller ones. Mr. Moritt's team of
roans is a fine specimen of what may be termed the
useful style ; Mr. Hope's blacks representing the florid
ditto.

Stage coach horses must have legs, wind, good
temper and constitution, and pace and breeding, as an
indispensable accompaniment of the last-named quality.
Appearance is a matter of little moment here, although all
the coaches running in and out of town at present (1872)
have neat teams enough. Where looks can be combined
with utility, why all the better for the spectator as well
as the owner. Last on the list of harness horses come

62 UNASKED ADVICE.

those who take us, all sooner or later, on oar last journey.
For any other purpose they would be wholly useless.
With an appearance sufficiently imposing to the unlearned
eye, they combine almost every fault of shape that a
horse can reasonably be expected to possess. They are
all exactly alike, too, the only difference I have ever noticed
between any one and another being length of mane,
which is not uniform, their locks being cultivated to the
greatest possible length — also some difference in action.
How their attendants know them apart in the stable is a
mystery to me, perhaps they don't ; or experience may
give them the power of distinguishing one from another,
as it is said to do to monthly nurses, who, I am informed,
profess even to see a difference in babies, a talent not
given to any ordinary mortal. Circus horses have not
been alluded too, as they are selected for colour, and are
consequently no particular sort. However, it is a good
thing that there should be that market for fancy coloured
horses, as they would otherwise be slightly unsaleable.
I once, to be sure, saw a piebald horse at the covert
side — in a crack country too — but he was, as far as my
experience has gone, the exception that proves the rule.
There is a wonderful difference in the extent to which
performing horses can be trained, and many people may
be surprised to learn that a "trick horse," one who
retrieves, jumps through hoops, &c., is more easily to
be taught, and consequently less valuable when taught
than a good " bare backed horse." The latter seeming
to exhibit no talent as he canters round and round iL
ring, with heaven knows what acrobatic performances
going on, on, or off, his back. He really has an
immense responsiblity. A change in his pace, a hanging
back, or rushing forward, would play the mischief

VARIETIES OP THE HORSE. 63

with the talented games proceeding above him. Of
troop horses enough has been said in the chapter on
" Light Horse/' and such being the case, I think
the varieties of the English horse are about exhausted,
as cart horses are not objects of general interest.

64 UNASKED ADVICE.

"HANDEULS."

As the season of the Epping Hunt — an institution now
no more — approaches, the number of incompetent sports-
men to be met with out with hounds invariably increases.
Why persons who are unaccustomed to hunting (to put
it mildly) should make their first essays in the art almost
invariably at that time of year when the ground is
hardest, and when as a natural consequence, falling must
be most unpleasant, is a problem far beyond my powers
of solution ; and, speculation not being my forte, I shall
leave the causes of this undoubted fact to be discovered
by abler hands. To see a muff out hunting is generally
amusing, provided his ignorance inconveniences no one
but himself. Some slight inconvenience to himself is
indispensable for the thorough enjoyment of the sight to
the spectators, all human creatures being by nature charit-
able, and by habit and custom sympathetic ! Actual
danger is another thing — where it exists no people are
more unselfish and prompt to aid than sportsmen, but
the human mind is so constituted that it takes an uncon-
cealed delight in watching the harmless difficulties which
have to be surmounted by a tyro in any art of which the
looker-on is a master. And this brings us to the subject
of "handfuls." To see a friend on a "handful," if his
neck be hot in positive danger, is exhilarating to the
possessor of a well regulated mind. How much more
delightful, then, is it to watch the efforts of a person that
one dislikes to control a refractory or too ardent steed !

" HANDFULS." 65

But although it is a noble sport to mark the incompetent
rider, and, if possible to incite his steed to further in-
subordination, it is universally conceded that the delights
of the game are one-sided, and that it is excessively poor
fun to be the object of this sort of attention — which is
incontestibly pleasanter to give than to receive. There-
fore let us consider how, in the event of finding one's
hands full in face of a critical assembly, it is feasible to
combine safety and self-respect, and to prevent the latter
quality from dwindling to the dimensions which it is apt
to assume under the circumstances aforesaid. And let it
be remembered that whatever in reason the horse does,
if the man only looks happy and comfortable, he will be
regarded with admiration, or, at the worse, as one
suffering in a good cause. Far different is the case when
his appearance shows him to be at once aware of his
danger and unable to see his way out of it. Now there
are several kinds of handfuls — several ways in which
hunters, without absolutely jeopardising one's life, can
make it for the time being a burden to one. The most
pleasing variety (to one's friends) is the course of action
taken by a horse who is exceedingly fresh. A steady-
going individual, possessing a proper regard for comfort
and appearances, need never mount one of his own stud
who is suffering from suppressed vitality, so to speak.
But there are dangers which no one can be guarded
against : there are such things as country-house visits
and lawn meets, at the end of frosts of more or less
duration ; and when his host kindly offers to mount, say,
Mr. Brown, who is known to be a keen foxhunter and
decent performer (on an easy and confidential nag), how
can Brown decline the honour ? He is fond of hunting,
he is away from home ; here is a new pack to see, and a

F

66 UNASKED ADVICE.

horse provided for him ! What more could he wish for ?
Not much more, perhaps, yet possibly a little less of
kindness. For though the animal be described, and
justly so, as an excellent hunter — nay, even though the
daughter of the house may have ridden him in the
capital run which heralded the appearance of the late frost
— that performance is a fortnight old. Tempora mutaniur,
et nos mutamur in ill is. " Confidence " is a very different
animal now to what he was two short weeks ago.

Who could honestly lay his hand on his heart and
affirm himself ambitious to change places with Brown ?
Fancy him as he stands on the door step, attired in
shooting things (not expecting this pleasure, of course he
had brought no boots and et-ceteras), and listening to the
playful squeak with which his mouture announces him-
self; observing also the somewhat ungraceful curl with
with which he carries his tail over his back, frisking
around his groom the while ! We needn't follow him.
We all — that is all who have arrived at years of discretion
have experienced the sort of thing, and know that there
is no conceivable folly, from kicking a hound to leaping
into a quarry to avoid a falling acorn, that a "fresh"
horse will not commit, nay, make a point of committing.
Still what is danger to Brown is sport to the rest of the
company, and these evil habits may make a horse equally
a handful to his rider, without affording so pleasing a
spectacle to the looker-on. A fidgety horse is a great
bore : he won't stand still. He sidles under a tree, as if
desirous of clearing up once and for ever the doubt
whether it is possible, in these days of close-cropped
hair, but flowing whiskers, &c., to suffer the fate of
Absalom. He turns his tail studiously to each and
every one with whom his rider is desirous of holding

" HANDFULS." 67

converse. He backs with one or both of his hind legs
into a deep ditch. At length you lose patience — " cob "
him over the ears, or " chuck " him forcibly in the
inouth. There we will leave you, the chances being
slightly against your having " bettered yourself," as the
housemaids call it. Joking apart, if you are patient with
such a horse, he very likely becomes no better ; if you
are hasty, he certainly becomes worse ; and in a choice
of evils it would be preferable if the lesser evil could be
arrived at by some action. This it cannot in the case
just quoted. The very fresh horse and the fidgety one
are pieces of enjoyment the full fruition of which comes
to an end more or less soon after a fox is found or goes
away. There are some handfuls which begin their games
at this point, where the others leave off. When hounds
are getting away the refuser is in his glory. He won't
jump out of the lane by the covert ; he won't leave the
second horses, and the ever-present crowd at all covert
sides of those who don't " mean it." Spur him, and he
kicks, endangering your neighbours. Strike him with
the whip, and he rears, endangering yourself. You will
most likely have to go with the stream, and then the con-
trary beast will further commend himself to your affection
by the perfectly clever manner in which he hops over
such gaps, &c., as have been made long ago by the first
or second flight, in neither of which will we back you to
be. Your horse is a rogue, and refuses from his innate
roguishness, and severe measures are likely to be the only
effectual ones ; and the same course of action is needful if
he refuses in the middle of a run, supposing that there is
no mistake about his being a rogue. But there are
many causes for refusing besides temper and cunning.
Young horses will do it from nervousness; patience,

P 2

68 UNASKED ADVICE.

and lots of it, is the remedy here. "Pitch into" a
nervous young horse, and if you keep him long enough
you will be possessed of a still more undesirable old one.
Unsoundness will cause ahorse to refuse a drop or a jump
on to hard ground ; and here humanity would probably
take one course, and vaulting ambition another, both
widely differing. When, however, a good horse takes
to refusing for no ostensible reason, do what not
quite everybody would do under such circumstances —
look at the saddle ! If it pinches him, if he have
a sore back or the beginning of one, or if his saddle
hurts him in any way it requires no great stretch
of intellect to imagine the sensation produced by the
bumping down on it of a weight varying from ten
to fifteen stone; and the majority of riders do not
sit over a fence as if they were a part of the
horse. A well-developed chaperone, perched upon one's
favourite evening boot on a crowded staircase, very likely
produces, though in a far less degree, a sensation similar
to that which the horse attempts to avoid. A horse may
refuse certain kinds of obstacles ; some object to a bull-
finch. I once owned one who hated timber, and about
50 per cent, of hunters decline water. The last fault is
usually the result of unskilful handling ; sometimes it is
caused by an unavoidable but never-forgotten ducking.
If a horse jumps every sort of fence but one readily, try
mild measures first ; these failing, it becomes a question
of comparison, viz., whether he objects most to the
thorns of the bullfinch or the rowels of your spurs. At
water, however, a cutting whip (vulgar though its appear-
ance be) has often a more persuasive effect than the
spur ; besides, while applying it you can " sit tight,"
and if the nag refuses after all, this may be an object.

" HANDFULS." 69

Now turn we to the consideration of pullers, which may
be " handfuls" indeed, exhausting themselves as well as
their riders with their misplaced zeal. There are pullers
with hard mouths, and pullers with light ditto, the latter
being the most difficult to manage at the beginning of
a run, and the former at the end of it, when their mouths
become dead, and they begin to go upon their shoulders.
No bit and no bridle can be recommended for any but
individuals. I have seen a Bucephalus noseband have a
good effect in a few cases, and fail in many. Messrs.
Langdon's noseband is a Bucephalus put a good deal
lower down than usual. It is apt to pinch the corners
of the mouth, between itself and the bridoon, and, while
it maddens some horses, deadens the mouths of others,
and stops some few.

Most horses are amenable to a gag. One made in a
crescent shape, with no joint in the middle, is preferable
for many horses, as it is less severe than the common
gag-snaffle. But the objection to a gag is that, if used
with a curb, you have no bridoon — at least no light one ;
if two snaffles are used, you have no curb, and under
these circumstances most horses put their heads up more
than is comfortable or becoming. Major Dwyer's bit is
a very powerful instrument, but, unless exactly fitted,
more than likely to hurt the horse's mouth. All the
bits on this principle which I have seen have been severe
ones ; of course, with less " port" they would be easier.
I have not had an opportunity of seeing one tried on a
regular runaway, such animals being luckily not very
common; but moderate pullers certainly cannot hold
their own against it, and it is to be specially recom-
mended for ewe-necked horses. But when all is said
and done, it is the hand that holds the horse, not the

70 UNASKED ADVICE.

bit ; and there is no bit which will make a muff master
of a real " handful." Horses that kick at others, or at
hounds, cannot be called "handfuls;" they do not
endanger or trouble (very much) the rider. Kicking
at other horses is quite incurable, and a quiet horse
may be taught the art in one lesson ; kicking at hounds
is another thing, and may be cured in almost, if not
quite, all cases by patience and time. Time is a grand
thing — no man should ever be in a hurry with a horse
unless he be riding him at water : then, 0 ingenuous
youth, blaze away ; keep him going ; squeeze him the
last three strides ; remember that Chandler jumped
39 feet, and that your horse, if he tries, can very likely
jump 30 ! Don't be alarmed if you can help it, as the
best actor cannot conceal the unworthy sensation from.
his steed; and when landed safely, and you hear your
nearest and dearest " go flop," don't chuckle too soon —
not, in fact, before you are over the next fence; for
though your horse cleared the brook and galloped on,
he may have ricked his back. After all, is anxiety a
pleasurable sensation ? and what pursuit produces it
more freely than fox-hunting ?

THE SEASON OF THE YEAH.

IN old times, in the dark ages of sport, sporting chro-
nicles were few, and sporting writers as inaccurate as
they were rare. Consequently it is well to take such
accounts as have been handed down to us cum gra.no.
But, putting details aside, one general impression is apt
to be left on the mind of the searcher into sporting
antiquity, and that is, that individuals gave themselves up
to one sport to the exclusion of others. " Venator " was
one man, with his own interests ; " Pisca' or " another,
considering his peculiar pursuit to be perfection ; while
" Auceps," again, wedded to his own sport, had nothing
in common with either of the foregoing. Each had his
own season of enjoyment, prolonged as much as possible,
and the season of the year to each was, of course, the
season best suited to his especial vanity. All this is now
changed. Men must do a little of everything. Ere
hunting is well over, "Venator" rushes off from his
winter quarters, and appears on the bank of a salmon
river in the character of " Piscator." Supposing that
racing does not engage his attention, it is probable that
deerstalking does ; and long ere the season of salmon or
trout fishing is over, he is busy at another game, shiver-
ing in a mist behind a rock, crawling like a serpent in
the bed of a burn, to the prejudice alike of his wardrobe
and his epidermis, and at the close of the day either in
the seventh heaven of ecstacy or the lowest depths of
despair; the question of which it shall be mostly depend-
ing on the state of his nerves when within distance of his

72 UNASKED ADVICE.

evasive quarry — whether, in short, the power of holding
straight remains to him after a rapid journey performed
for the most part upon his waistcoat buttons, and
enlivened by mental anxiety to match the physical dis-
comfort, or whether the sights of his rifle insist at the
critical moment on performing a spirited version of that
once popular dance " The Cure." But the 12th of August
is at hand, and our sportsman is hard at work with
what our American friends would describe as " a scatter
gun and smell dawgs," the result being, it is to be hoped,
the transmission of many a neatly-packed hamper to
friends at a distance. Then the scene changes again as
September arrives, for the birds are now so wild, and, in
consequence of improved farming, covert so scanty, that,
excepting by driving, birds are hardly to be got in
comfort after the third week in which their destruction
has become legal. Then we come to October, which is,
in my humble opinion, the pleasantest month of the year.
Partridge shooting is still going on, while it is not for-
bidden to bowl over an outlying cock pheasant as he rises
from a hedgerow. Grayling are worth catching, and
cooking too (if there be much difficulty about the first
performance, try the " Francis " fly, and hard are your
lines if you do not fill your basket), while cub hunting
increases in interest every day that the hounds go out.
If I am not mistaken, it is that keen observer, Mr. Whyte
Melville, who accounts for the fondness of some few
people for cub hunting, by the reflection that the plea-
sures of hope are superior to those of memory — con-
sequently that the very beginning of the season is pre-
ferable to the middle or end; and also by the further con-
sideration that the sportsman need not ride over the
fences.

THE SEASON OF THE YEAR. 73

But, after all, the number of people who get up early
for cubbing is but small, and all the better for the hunts-
man that it should be so ; the whole performance is
naturally a very slow one to anyone who is not immedi-
ately concerned in it. The owner of the coverts is
delighted to see a good show of cubs, and the master and
huntsman to observe the debut of their young entry, but
there is little to reward anyone else for the exertion of an
unusually early turn-out. Our imaginary sportsman,
indeed, is still shooting, and will hardly think of hunt-
ing, before the end of November. But because cub-
hunting is a duty, as far as the officials are concerned, it
does not follow that it is properly performed, any more
than any other duty. There was an amount of truth that
is rather melancholy in the remarks of a correspondent
of the Field some time ago.* That time and money should
be spent in an endeavour to show bad sport sounds
hardly credible ; but really it is often the case that this
happens, though not intentionally. It happens simply
wherever there is a huntsman who is deficient in sense ;
and that every huntsman is not a Solomon is a fact
needing no demonstration. Whether hounds are to hunt
a fox steadily through all opposing difficulties, and
account for him at last, or to lose him in fifteen minutes,
is, bar accidents, an affair of treatment and training.
Many men seem to consider that a pack of hounds is a
machine that will hunt the line of the fox as an engine
will progress along a line of rails whence once started —
that they may be shunted, so to speak, by being lifted
and started on the line again, ready to go along it as
smoothly as ever. They forget that hounds are dogs
— that, mutatis mutandis, the same rules apply to

* " Eadical."

74 UNASKED ADVICE.

them that apply to retrievers, and that they are equally
to be made or marred by injudicious treatment. Is it
reasonable to expect that hounds who are always going
to holloas should trouble themselves much at a check ?
Would a retriever persevere in snuffling about dry
turnips, if the " runner " was constantly pointed out to
him ? But on the other hand, as it is the nature of the
dog to hunt, if he finds that he, and not his master, is
going to do the active part of the pursuit, he will devote
all his energies to the business in hand, whatever he be —
whether a foxhound in covert or the open, a retriever in
a field of mangold, or a schoolboy's terrier hunting a
water hen round a pond.

Take another instance. The orthodox greyhound
expects to have his game found for him; ask him to
draw for a hare, and you will be disappointed. But he
keeps an uncommonly sharp eye upon the beaters ; he
knows they will find the hare, and he is ready to do his
part. But give this well-meaning dog to a poacher, or
take him constant walks with yourself, and don't inter-
fere with him at all : you will find that he not only looks
out for himself, but that he will soon learn to investigate
likely-looking bits of covert for himself, and in the
majority of cases to use his nose in so doing. Why then,
in the name of common sense, should it be wanting too
much if we expect every pack of hounds to put down
their noses and hunt ? That they do not do so is the
fault of the huntsmen. Many have absurd notions about
being quick or slow, forgetting altogether the proverb
of " more .haste, less speed." Before the hounds have
made their own cast at a check, the huntsman makes
his, which may be right or not : but next time, espe<:i<tHij
if the cast were right, the hounds look for him naturally.

THE SEASON OF THE YEAR. 75

When I hoar a huntsman constantly complaining of a
lack of scent, I usually think that something besides
scent is wanting. And after all, with a burning scent
any hounds will run hard, without a huntsman at all,
if the scent be really first-class ; but it is the killing a
fox on a bad-scenting day that is the test of huntsman
and hounds.

No doubt the present system of farming is not favour-
able to scent. Draining is in many places overdone, so
that a dry summer produces an outcry about want of
keep for stock, and a fine week in March makes the
fallow in most countries as dusty as the desert of Sahara.
How do we meet this deterioration of scent ? Common
sense would reply, by getting hounds with increased
hunting powers. But what is the fact ? Why, that we
are actually encouraging them, year by year, to liane less ;
A great deal of nonsense is talked about fast and slow
hounds. I am no friend of the old Towlers; but surely
most hounds of the present day (I may almost say all)
are well bred enough to go, with a good scent, fast
enough for any horses. It is the keeping on going that
stops the horses. Bluecap and Wanton themselves would
be no further from the horses than the slowest old blue
mottles if they had overrun the scent and were casting
about to recover it. It is going steadily on that reaches
a given point in quick time — not flying for five minutes,
and checking for ten. What does it matter hoAv fast
hounds go on a scent, if they are off it every three fields
from over-running ? No, all hounds, in condition to go,
can go fast enough if they keep on going; and if any-
one doubts the fact, let him, if he can, persuade a master
of harriers to run a drag straight for four miles. Let
him take his best horse, and say at the end whether he

76 UNASKED ADVICE.

had a fast gallop. The difficulty would be to find the
accommodating master of "jelly dogs/' whose pets would
not be worth much for some time after such a perform-
ance— the timid hare would have the best of them for
some little time. Of course, I do not mean by this that
harriers could kill a fox (though such a thing as that has
happened) ; but that, if harriers running a drag can go
fast enough for any horse in reason, slow foxhounds, with
a scent that enables them to keep going, can do the
same. And, indeed, there cannot be very much difference
in the individual speed of foxhounds. Of course, in a
woodland country a hound who is slow from age can go
on hunting longer than he could in the Shires ; but that
does not prove that the young hounds of the provincial
pack could not go across grass with a good scent as fast
as a corresponding number taken from the Quorn or
Pytchley kennels. The slowest hound in view is often
the fastest on a scent ; wherefore, what I am endeavour-
ing to show is, that it is the steady line hunters, who
keep pegging away and never leaving it, that kill the
fox, and make the customers look anxiously for their
second horses — not the flyers who go like a flash of
lightning for a mile, then put up their heads and are
lifted for a mile, and then give up their fox and try for
another !

So much for the hounds themselves. Now a word
about the men. The passion for being quick is the
prevailing fault of most servants at the present time.
The huntsman not only makes his cast too soon, but
frequently does not give time to the pack to try while
he is casting them. Who has not seen a swell hunts-
man casting at the rate of ten miles an hour round a
field, with an equally swell whip rating and flogging

THE SEASON OP THE YEAR. 77

behind him ? How can hounds, under such circum-
stances, put their noses down. Many foxes, I am per-
suaded, are lost when the huntsman's cast has been
right, by the hounds having been hurried over the line
without time being allowed them to own it. And I have
often seen a sapient whip flog a hound on who showed
an inclination to stop and show a line. What his idea
(if he had any) was I cannot say. Possibly he thought,
if he thought at all, that the place for hounds during a
cast was close at the heels of the huntsman's horse ; or
again, he might have had a notion that all hounds' noses
are alike, and that if Concord, Countess, and Caroline
have passed over a spot of ground without noticing that
the fox had been there, Dorimont or Driver have no
right to impugn their decision by seeing for themselves.
Yet I, and I presume others as well, have seen every
hound but one or two pass a place in a cast, where the
one or two have eventually proclaimed a discovery, the
profits of which their more hasty comrades were only too
glad to share with them.

If a cast is to be made, the huntsman should make the
ground good every yard he goes. And a word to the
whip. When the huntsman blows his horn, it is his
clear duty to put the hounds to him, and quickly, but
yet to exercise a little discretion, and not to nearly " cut
in two " old Solomon, with a stern request to " get on
hangin' about/' because that elderly sage has a notion
that, with the combination of his nose and brains, he
has discovered the line of the fox, opposed though his
opinion be to that of the huntsman — who, however, uses
the last-named organ alone, and not the first, in the
chase. Some men have the talent of making dogs fond
of them, others not. I have seen many packs who never

78 UNASKED ADVICE.

seemed to be going to the huntsman, but always from the
whip. This is clearly wrong, and sport with such an
establishment will be rather the result of good luck than
good guidance. Another favourite excuse for bad sport
is that the hounds are pressed upon. Now, in most
cases, this is the master's look-out. If he does his duty
(of course tempering the fortiter in re with the suaviter
in modo), the field will usually do theirs. But the office
of M. F. H., and the pains and pleasures attended there-
upon, is not a subject to be lightly entered upon.

Judging from many letters in the sporting papers on
the subject of hunting, it would appear that I am not
the only person who takes exception at the too common
way in which hounds are handled in the field. This
is decidedly a case in which, as the proverb says,
11 lookers-on see most of the game," being less likely
to be prejudiced than persons directly connected with
any establishment that may be undergoing criticism.
But there are many causes which militate against good
sport with foxhounds besides the want of science on the
part of the huntsman. The " raw material/' for one
thing, is deteriorated — the fox himself is not the animal
which he was in the days of the great Meynell. Times
are changed, the face of the country is very much
altered, and the character of every wild animal has to
be accommodated to the existing order of things.
Without entering on the vexed question of foxes vcrxux
pheasants, I may say that the mania for slaughtering
half-tame game is the principal enemy with which a
master of hounds has to contend. Some owners of
coverts will not have them drawn until shooting is over ;
some allow the hounds to come, but do not find them a
fox, or at all events a fox worth having ; while others,

THE SEASON OP THE . YEAR. 79

and these perhaps the most honest of the three classes,
simply say the hounds shall not come to them at all.
Every man has (at present, for it is hard to say what we
are coming to) an indisputable right to do what he likes
with his own ; and, as foxhunting is a sport which exists
only on sufferance, and pheasant shooting is one which
is protected by law, it is easy to see which amusement
would go to the wall if there were a question of either
doing so. But this is not the question at issue, and it is
only alluded to in explanation of the altered character of
bold Reynard.

The excessive preservation of game leads to the unfair
destruction of foxes — of good foxes — and to the re-
placing of them by bad ones. There are, no doubt,
more good foxes about than it is generally supposed that
there are. If a fox be lost after a pursuit of fifteen
minutes, it is impossible to speak decidedly of his qualities.
It is obvious that any remarks upon a fox's " goodness "
must be pure speculation, if made before the animal is
accounted for. If he be killed in ten minutes, it is clear
that he is a "bad3' one, or that circumstances were
against him at all events ; if he be marked to ground ten
miles off the place where he was found, it is equally
plain that he is a good one. But, though there are
probably some good foxes left, and, as I have said, more
of them perhaps than most people think, there are, beyond
all doubt, a great many bad ones ; and it would be next
door to a miracle if there were not, as long as the plan of
turning down foxes is followed to the extent that in
many countries it is. It is a custom that causes many
evils — not the least, perhaps, being the probability of a
litter turned down in one country having been stolen
from a neighbouring one. Nay, more, such a thing has

80 UNASKED ADVICE.

been heard of as for a master to purchase cubs originally
stolen out of his own country. They are turned down,
but how often they are never heard of again, or only
found once in cub hunting. Where every fair play is
allowed to them, the latter misfortune is a very common
one. They live in clover through the summer in a snug
gorse, and are well fed with no trouble of their own.
Consequently they stay there as long as the residence is
made pleasant to them. But when they have been once
disturbed and horrified by the death of a relative —
especially if the unpardonable error of breaking him up
in or close to the covert has been committed — it begins
to occur to them that the locality is an objectionable one,
and that there are many reasons against remaining there,
while hardly any exist in favour of a continued residence
in a spot which has been proved to be dangerous. It is
not their home, they were not bred there, and what
pleasant associations are connected with it have been
done away with. They know the covert as a place where
hounds come, and it has no attraction to counterbalance
this ugly fact. Consequently they move, and lie out,
exposed to the several dangers of guns, sheep dogs,
rabbit traps, and greyhounds. So, whether they survive
or not, it is probable that they are not found — at any rate,
when they are wanted — by the hounds. If the best
happens that can be expected, and they are at their posts
when required, what can turned-down foxes be reasonably
expected to do ? They have never had any occasion to
roam far from home, so they know no country, and
probably run rings over what limited area of ground they
are acquainted with, showing almost less sport than a
good bagman, who would probably go on down wind as
long as he could pretty straight, until his fate was

THE SEASON OP THE YEAR. 81

decided one way or the other. So much for turning
foxes down in a gorse or outlying covert. When they
are turned down in a woodland, the chances of seeing
them again are increased, though even there they are
likely to make a home of some unsuspected and inac-
cessible rabbit-hole or drain, and live there unmolested,
until by some chance one of them is run to ground there
— a thing that may not happen the whole season through.
In any cases foxes must survive a spring and its dissi-
pations before they are likely to be well acquainted with
the extent of country which is desirable for an animal to
know who has to provide a day's amusement for hundreds
of larger animals than himself, and, if possible, at the
expense of his own life.

We have here reasons enough in all conscience why
good sport should be rare. With bad foxes, flashy
hounds, and wild huntsmen, what can be expected ?
And there are yet plenty of others. Want of savoir
faire on the part of the master is as telling as it is
common. A master of hounds requires to be possessed
of most of the qualities of a great general, with certain
additions, such as pleasant manners, which are not in-
dispensable to the wearer of the cocked hat. He must
arrange the plan of operations for each day — where to
draw, where to go if the first covert be blank, where to
go for an afternoon fox, &c., instead of losing time
holding councils of war during the day, when time is of
value. And, on the other hand, he is so far absolute
that he can change the programme at a moment's notice,
if circumstances arise to make an alteration desirable.
He is accountable to no man for his actions in the field ;
but at the same time he should temper decision with
consideration. He should hunt his country fairly, taking

a

82 UNASKED ADVICE.

rough and smooth together, and not shirk going to un-
popular places. Foxes vanish occasionally from coverts
where the hounds never come. Above all things, he
should be punctual; he has no right to keep his field
waiting, even if he has not a subscription. He should,
above all things, remember that it is to the farmers that
he is indebted for walks for his hounds, and land to ride
over, and that, though hunting is not a bad thing for
agriculture, yet turnips, seeds, and in wet weather
wheat, are not improved by being ridden over ; also,
that it is not pleasant to have to send into the next
parish but one after stock which has wandered away
through gates left open, or gaps made by the followers
of the pack. These inconveniences farmers put up with
uncomplainingly every hunting day in the year, and
they deserve some acknowledgment and thanks. A wise
M.F.H. will buy horses in his country as much as he
can ; it must indeed be an unpromising land where the
farmers do not breed something oecasionally good enough
to carry a whip, at all events — though, by the way, they
often spoil their own sales.

How many masters are possessed even of the qualities
above mentioned ? Many of them are not even keen
sportsmen. Men take hounds for all manner of reasons,
besides being fond of the sport, or knowing anything
about it. Some do so to achieve social distinction ;
others to obtain political consideration ; others, again, to
live, if possible, out of a subscription. The last variety
of master is the natural sequel to either of the first two
sorts, who, when their object is achieved, have no further
interest in their hounds : hence countries are constantly
changing hands, men cease to be masters before they
have had time to learn their work, countries go begging,

THE SEASON OP THE YEAR. 83

and the itinerant variety of subscription master increases
and multiplies. Bad sport is the inevitable result. On
the other hand, there are establishments where every-
thing is as it should be; but these are the exceptions.

Time goes on surely, and not particularly slowly.
Hounds and foxes ought by the latter end of October to
have learned their lessons, and happy is the M.F.H. who,
having killed a sufficiency of cubs to blood his hounds, has
a good show of foxes still remaining. I have heard dis-
cussions as to whether "blood," as the killing and eating
of the fox is elegantly termed, was an indispensable
necessary to the due performance of hounds' work in
the field. I cannot myself see how there can be two
opinions about it. Hounds who are accustomed to losing
their foxes must expect to do so; they will never per-
severe heartily in what they consider a losing game, and
in this respect they are like all other dogs Pointers do
not tear their game to pieces ; at all events, I think I
can guess what would be " Idstone's " opinion of one
that did so : but they must have game killed to them—
must see that the partridge has not "bested" them.
Seeing the bird fall and be bagged is to them what tear-
ing and eating the fox is to the foxhound. Eating the
fox is no doubt an acquired habit. Some hounds-
capital hunters— will never attempt to break up anything,
though they will attack and kill the fox if they get the
chance. What was the origin of eating the fox is beyond
my knowledge. It is certainly the most convenient way
of disposing of the worthless carcase, which while alive
was so valuable, and it makes a spirited finale, besides
affording unlimited delight and merriment to all rustic
beholders of the scene. I have known masters of harriers
let their hunds break up their hares, with the notion that

G2

84 UNASKED ADVICE.

it made them more fierce in pursuit ; but a hunted hare
is usually considered too valuable an article to be so
treated. If each and every hound in the pack knows
that the object of pursuit has been caught and killed by
them, they are cheerful enough without absolutely de-
vouring the fallen foe. Staghounds rarely get blood,
yet they are fond enough of their pursuit, and they will
kill the deer if they can ; but they are quite satisfied to
see him produced, as he usually is at the end of the run,
with a rope round his neck and an official on each side of
him. Staghounds are but foxhounds, after all. They
are more highly trained in one way, as they are taught to
stop, which foxhounds are not. That the latter could be
taught to do so there is no doubt, but their dash and
" drive " would suffer, and the fox would benefit. Stag-
hounds may go a dusting pace, and get along quicker
with their stag than foxhounds with their fox, and yet be
totally wanting in the dash and continual perseverance in
driving the scent forward, which is the characteristic of
the foxhound. Their work is much easier, they have no
drawing for their game, the scent is almost invariably
good, and they know that coming up with the unantlered
monarch sooner or later is almost a certainty. If the stag
ran them out of scent three times out of four, the hounds
after the first burst would be as disinclined to puzzle on
as a pack of fox or hare hounds who are habitually
beaten by their game. They don't care so much about
eating him, but like to know that he is theirs. Otter
hounds do not eat their prey, but they like to kill him,
and there is no scent which hounds enjoy more than his.
Riotous hounds, by the way, will usually eat a hare or
rabbit ; but they are pot-hunters.

How little foxhounds care for eating a fox is patent to

THE SEASON OP THE YEAE. 85

everyone with eyes, who has seen a fox who has not been
that minute killed given to hounds. They will hardly
look at him. More than once I have seen one fox
chopped just as another went away, and the dead fox
brought on by a whipper-in, and eventually given to the
hounds after they had lost the other ; but they have in
each case declined to eat him. Yet, if they kill their fox
in a thick and inaccessible place, if huntsman or whip
does not look sharp in getting to them, very little fox
will he find. This is partly, at all events, education ; for
if a huntsman gives a fox to the hounds in a slack and
careless manner, they will deal with him in a similar spirit,
hardly tearing him to pieces, and they will probably hunt
their fox in a style that will save the huntsman the
trouble of giving them many foxes to break up. The
closing scene should be above all others one of spirit ;
if hounds are accustomed to leave off winners, they will
ignore the possibility of being beaten, and persevere
till success crowns their efforts. When hounds are not
in earnest, how can success be reasonably expected ?
When they are so, and backed by a huntsman with a
head on his shoulders, not a mere cap-block, it is odds
against bold Reynard. Hounds who have marked their
fox to ground are pretty well satisfied ; they will go home
cheerily, as knowing that they have done their "possible."
If he always beat them by going to ground, it would be
another thing. No one can be more heartily opposed to
the murder of foxes than I am, but to keep hounds in
good heart they must kill ; and I should say a fox for
every three times that a pack goes out is a fair allowance,
and a fox per week, supposing each pack to hunt two
days in the week, not a bit too liberal a one. A fox a
month is the common average with some packs that I

86 UNASKED ADVICE.

could name — after Christmas, at all events. Of course,
the more numerous foxes are, the harder it is to kill
them fairly, as hounds seem often to take a pleasure in
changing, the scent of the fresh fox being usually
better than that of the run one, besides the hounds being
at first closer to the former. The hare-hunter has an
advantage here, as his wise little dogs prefer the hunted
hare to a fresh one, unless they view the last named, and for
reasons the opposite to those which causes the foxhound's
mistake. The scent of the timid one generally improves
on acquaintance, until she gets quite beat, and then I
fancy the scent of all hunted animals decreases. That of
a fox certainly does in many instances.

I once saw a curious and interesting instance of the
fidelity of the harrier to his first love. After running
one hare for some fifteen minutes, the hounds proceeded
through a turnip field, and chopped a fresh hare, whose
form the hunted one must have run exactly over. The
little hounds hardly stopped ; they evidently knew the
state of the case, and in less than half a minute were
towling along after the original " Sarah," whom they
eventually caught triumphantly !

The better the hounds and the other accessories of
sport which have been considered above, the harder will
it be to see that sport in a satisfactory manner ; and this
consideration brings us to the stable — an edifice of no
small importance at this "season of the year," both to
officials and amateurs.

THE STABLE IN A EEOST.

A VISIT to one's stable is a pleasant thing on a mild
winter's evening, with perhaps a light rain beginning to
fall, a promise alike of a wet night and a fine day for the
morrow's fixture. Under these circumstances there is no
small satisfaction to be obtained (the pleasures of Hope
being confessedly superior to those of Memory) from the
inspection of the favourite, on the back of which, by the
kind permission of the stud groom, one contemplates a
performance on the morrow — to look at him as he pre-
sents his well-squared tail to view, his head being half
concealed in the manger, and to speculate, hoping the
while for the best, as to whether a sufficient proportion
of intimate friends will have the opportunity of regarding
him from the same point of view next day.

Few places look more cosy than a well-littered loose
box at such a time, the very bloom on the horse's quarters
suggesting notions of warmth and comfort, besides con-
dition ; ditto the demeanour of the stable cat, who sits
perfectly still in a corner, or even on the back of the
flier, with the grave air of one who, perfectly snug and
happy himself, can yet give an occasional pitying thought
to the lot of less favoured creatures. But with what
different feelings, in a frost, does the owner of a stud
slip and skate across the yard to pay a visit of duty to
his animals ! Buckets full of ice are only cheerful objects
when they are seen in the company of champagne bottles;
and the other inanimate furniture of a stable yard is

88 UNASKED ADVICE.

never calculated to give a " sensation " one way or the
other. Nor are half-frozen sparrows lively-looking
figures; and the robin himself, a sporting little bird,
whose sympathies are ever with hunting weather, at most
only sets the example of making the best of a bad bar-
gain, as, sitting on the top of the frozen pump, with
feathers puffed out to their full extent, he " favours the
company" with his sweet but plaintive little song.
Arrived at the stable, we seat ourselves on the corn-bin,
and give ourselves over to tobacco smoke and meditation
— the latter not of the merriest description. Our seat
itself reminds us of the price of forage — an unpleasant
recollection, which carries the mind onward to thoughts
of the blacksmith's bill, then the saddler's, then again
the weekly nuisance of helper's wages ; and heterodox
thoughts are usually likely to creep into even the well
regulated mind, to the effect of whether a similar outlay
might not afford amusement equal in quality to foxhunt-
ing, and less dependent on weather ; and this train of
thought leads to " crabbing " the noble science itself.

The "deterioration of our saddle horses" here occupies
our mind for a space. We of course consider our present
stud to be as useful a lot as other people's, but too well
we know their shortcomings, and have only too lively a
recollection of the trouble and cost involved in getting
them together ; also of the number of brutes we first
bought, and then had almost to give away, before our
present moderate establishment was complete — for this is
supposed to be one in which no cats are tolerated who
neglect the capture of mice. And the more we think on
the subject, the more are we convinced that this deterio-
ration is an accomplished fact. Where are the short-
legged, weight-carrying hunters of former days, who

THE STABLE IN A FROST. 89

combined strength and breeding ? Where, again, is the
thorough-bred hunter who is honestly up to a greater
weight than twelve stone — that is, to carry it, and go on
doing so, coming out in his turn ?

Out of a given number of hunters, picked at random
out of good studs, what is the percentage of those who
do not " hit themselves " somewhere ? And what fault
is much worse than this ? How many are there equal to
the old-fashioned work of going fourteen miles to covert,
hunting, and returning the same distance three days a
fortnight ? — this, mind, in a good country. There are
some woodland and such like districts where the actual
hunting is the easiest part of the day's work to the
horses of the field. Kennel horses have a day's work
each hunting day, whether the meet be at Waterloo Gorse
or on the side of an unpronounceably -named Welsh hill ;
but they have shorter distances to covert than the others,
and always, where it is feasible, draw homewards. The
hunter of the present days goes to covert by rail as often
as not when the distance exceeds ten miles, and the same
accommodating conveyance not unfrequently takes him
home again ; and even if he does go by road, the roads
of the present day are rather more easily travelled over
than those of fifty years since. Shoeing is improved ;
but are not unsound feet as common as ever, and more so ?
The fact is, as has been remarked already by a talented
sporting author, that we have a breed of horses selected
for weediness and unsoundness. Farmers, and others
who should know better, use the cheapest sire, who is also
the most unsound. Like begets like, and screws are
sown broadcast. Q. E. D. But is it only our hunters
that have deteriorated ? How about foxes ? How many
runs of twelve miles from point to point are there in any

90 UNASKED ADVICE.

country in the course of a season ? Can such a perform-
ance be expected of a turned-down animal, fed with
rabbits half through the summer, and who has never had
occasion to go more than two miles from home for
refreshment or dissipation ?

The hounds, too ; but here, if a friend be present, we
are interrupted — " They, at all events, have improved."
To which we make answer that we are not quite so sure
of that. In looks, no doubt; this, indeed, is almost
overdone. Are perfectly straight forelegs the best for
years of hard work ? Do they never show the work by
standing over, like a groggy horse ? Is not muteness a
fault ? and is it uncommon ? and do the hounds of the
present day puzzle out a bad scent like those of our fore-
fathers ? Here we are corrected again — " No one wants
them to." But still a long slow-hunting run on a bad
scenting day is at least as good fun, even to the hard
men, as three or four scurries of three fields each after
different foxes ; and with a good scent all hounds go fast
enough. And the process of agriculture is unfavourable
to hunting. They talk o'f a reaction in the matter of
arable land, and of grass being laid down, and we hope
it may be so ; but the effect of draining is seen in the
whirlwinds of March dust, which make hunting in that
month usually a delusion and a snare. "Well, at all events
hunting has been improved for ladies, if not for men.
The invention of the third pummel is one of the most
useful of modern days, and though a horse may roll over
his fair burden he cannot possibly drag her by her
stirrup, if she be provided with the admirable safety
stirrup of Mr. Davis, nor with a third pummel can he
dislodge her from the saddle. As far as men are con-
cerned, however, we appear to have demonstrated that

THE STABLE IN A FROST. 91

hunting is gone to the bad, and is a sport no longer
worth pursuing. But here come the men to stables.
" What do you say, John ? Raining ? and the wind
gone round to the south ?" We will see what we think
of hunting, three days hence, before condemning it
irrevocably.

NEW BROOMS.

" NEW BROOMS sweep clean," says the proverb, but pro-
verbs are not infallible, and it would be more correct to
say that new brooms start on their career with the inten-
tion of sweeping clean. It is not at all certain that they
will succeed in so doing.

At present (A.D. 1869) we have "new brooms" every-
where, and the political, social, agricultural, and sporting
floors may equally expect a thorough polishing. The
schoolmaster is abroad, and no mistake; everything is
capable of improvement ; no institution is to be left
unaltered — no matter whether it may hitherto have suc-
ceeded or not, it must do better in future. Is not every
innovation a reform (in the eyes of some people, at all
events) ? and is not this an age of progress ? Retrench-
ment and increased efficiency are the order of the day,
and there is no time to waste in the untying of knotty
points. Out with the knife and cut them ! Has there
been a difficulty in finding cornets for our cavalry ?
What is more simple than to obviate this, by saying that
in future we shall only require half the number ? We
can do without them; at all events, Mr. Cardwell will
try the experiment. Our colonies take a great deal of
guarding, and the process is expensive. How are we to
retrench here ? Nothing more simple — let them guard
themselves. We can by these means reduce our army
considerably, and depend for home safety upon the volun-
teers. But the people's money must not be wasted upon

NEW BROOMS. 93

volunteer forces ; the capitation grant cannot be increased.
Supposing that under these circumstances the citizen
army declines to perform ? Never mind, it will all come
right in the end; and meanwhile, look at the money
saved. The people's pens, even, are no longer to be
wasted in Downing-street, and a limit is to be put to the
consumption of paper, ink, and, it is to be hoped, red
tape. Ireland is to be made a peaceful, contented, com-
mercial, and agricultural land ; the sport of landlord and
agent shooting is to cease once and for ever; all evils
are to be cured by the panacea of disestablishment.
What happy days we live in ! Everything is about to
be made perfect. Everything will be reduced, excepting
the skirts of our coryphees : they, like the franchise, will
be extended. That terrible scourge, the rabbit, shall no
longer rob the farmer in broad daylight of his pasture,
his crops, and his fences. Down with the monster !
exterminate him ! He devours the people's food, and
it is convenient to forget that the people devour him,
with some appetite too. Passing from the farm to the
racecourse, we meet again with the spirit of reform, and
wish it every success. In fact, here reform is practicable
as well as desirable. If Sir Joseph Hawley succeeds in
producing here and there a sound six-year-old race-
horse, he will have conferred a benefit upon his country,
which ought to command the gratitude of all classes.

The term of " new broom/5 is, however, hardly to be
applied to him. If these articles had performed half
their promises, no stable reform would be needed. "We
were confidently assured some ten years ago that bad-
tempered and vicious horses were a thing of the past;
that there was only one way of breaking, or training, a
colt, and that Mr. Karey was, as it were, the prophet of

94 UNASKED ADVICE.

this faith. How the public paid its money ! How it
invested money in leathern straps and instructions for use.
How assiduously a few practised the art, and how unani-
mously and cheerfully the many have forgotten it ! Who
begins breaking in a colt now on the Rarey system ?
Echo answers " Who \" That broom had but a limited
amount of wear in it.

Take up any sporting newspaper of a bygone date, not
of necessity a very remote one, and look at the advertise-
ments. Here are new brooms with a vengeance. Take
up one of to-day, and you see that they are supplanted
by a fresh series of infallibilities, that will in their turn
be speedily forgotten. One undertakes to cure all lame-
ness, another to stop pullers and runaway horses, a third
to keep their bodies in constant and unfailing health ;
but, in spite of all, horses still go lame, still run away
(and, indeed, if a horse really means that performance,
he will succeed in it — luckily, they seldom mean it in
earnest), and still lose condition.

On consideration I think that the greater number of
new brooms that have been introduced into the stable
have been intended to sweep away from veterinary
pockets the profits consequent on foot lameness in the
horse. What scores of schemes have been invented, dis-
cussed, praised, proved worthless, and forgotten, for pre-
serving in its natural state, or an approach to it, the
foot of the horse by shoeing ! Not so very long ago
there was even a discussion as to whether shoes were
necessary at all. A ride on the road on a bare-footed
horse convinced those who tried it that that plan would
not answer. No end of plans have been brought forward
and forgotten for shoeing all sorts of horses, but the
common way has hitherto held its own. The notion of

NEW BROOMS. 95

bringing the frog to the ground was a favourite one some
forty years ago. Professor Coleman roundly asserted
that the frog must have pressure or be diseased. He
invented several sorts of shoes, with the intention of
causing the frog to touch something, and obtained
patents for them. The one which appears to have had
the best trial was the thin heeled shoe. This, being
thickest at the toe, brought the frog on to the ground.
It also set the weight of the horse on the heel, and
strained no end of back sinews. So it passed away.
About the same time jointed shoes for the prevention of
contraction were tried, and left off, as the stress of
the nails on the hoof was too great. Other systems from
time to time have cropped up, and returned to their
native obscurity. Meanwhile our horses have gone on,
some well, some ill, and some indifferently. Horses with
sound feet shod on our present plan have remained
sound to the last day of their lives ; those with diseased
feet have been screwed up ; and so I imagine it will be
to the end of the chapter.

However, the shoes may be improved. That a shoe can
lame a horse when it does not suit him, or when it is
unskilfully put on, no one will be found to deny ; but
the number of horses so lamed is something infinitesimally
small. Hot stables, bad stable management, injudicious
food, and the pace, lame most horses who are lame in the
feet. Cart horses are, it is true, very subject to side
bones and ring bone, and this I attribute in a great
measure to the manner in which they are shod with high
calkins ; but they are also seldom much attended to as
regards their general health, and so are more liable to
disease in the feet than they need be.

If our present system of shoeing light horses were so

96 UNASKED ADVICE.

very faulty, hack and harness horses would go lame, as
indeed they often do, but our hunters would be free from
foot lameness. Their work being entirely on the soft,
their shoe does not prevent the sole and frog of the foot
from performing each its proper functions. But they are
lame and groggy as often as other horses ; in fact, many
valuable hunters, whom no money could buy, would, if
run out on stones, very often be found to go in a manner
rather surprising to the owner if he were present. The
fact is that hunters seldom work on hard ground at all.
They exercise on the soft, they go to coverts along the
sides of the road, and come home the same way; but
many of them go wrong in their feet for all that. Hot
stables and high keep are in great measure accountable
for this ; and very often hereditary unsoundness : e.g.,
the stock of Belzoni, that prince of hunter sires, sooner
or later went lame — at least, a great percentage of them,
and all, they say, in the same foot — and this is not a
solitary instance. Sir Joseph Hawley's reform bill may
mend matters here.

It being an undoubted fact that foot lameness is not an
uncommon thing in England, Mr. Goodenough comes to
the rescue, with something like a " new broom/' His is
the only " humane shoe ; " his the system which claims
for itself every possible novelty — infallibility amongst the
rest ! Let us consider the advertisement : " As the
weight of the horse is mainly sustained by the crust of
the hoof, so this shoe is designed to arm that crust, and
preserve, though calked, the true level position of the
foot." The old shoe is designed to do all this, and, being
uncalked, has perhaps a better chance of doing it.
" The level calking prevents that straining and waste of
muscular power consequent upon continual slipping and

NEW BROOMS. 97

rocking of the foot." Again, " The concavity of the shoe
is a safeguard against halting (?) and picking up stones."
This can hardly be correct ; for, unless the shoe be flush
with the sole of the foot (and this it cannot be while the
calkins exist) it will pick up any stone that happens to fit
it, just like the old one.

I do not wish to take up space by saying again what
has been said by other correspondents, further than to
agree with one writer, who considered that all the
novelty of the Goodenough shoe is borrowed from the
Charlier, and to correct Mr. Broad's statement in the
Field of Feb. 13, that Messrs. Mavor's patent shoe is
as nearly as possible identical with the Charlier. The
principles of the two are quite different. Mr. Mavor's
shoe has been found useless, and abandoned accordingly
— that is correct enough ; but the Charlier shoe has yet
to be tried in this country.

The great advantage claimed by the admirers of the
Goodenough — who consist at present only of American
omnibus owners, and Mr. Lethbridge of England (at
least, I gather so from the published certificates) — is
that this shoe allows the frog and sole to touch the
ground. This, by the way, it cannot do with and with-
out the calkins ; so either the calks are useless, or the
shoe will have to be renewed every twelfth day. Now,
the Charlier shoe is from the first flush with the sole, the
horse's foot being in the condition nearest approaching
to nature of any hitherto arrived at. Much stress has
been laid on the lightness of the Goodenough shoe,
but the Charlier is lighter still. In the old system, on
hard ground, of course the shoe sustains all the weight,
and all the wear and tear. The Charlier shoe cannot
possibly pick up a stone, nor can it snowball to any great

H

98 UNASKED ADVICE.

extent, in the foot ; in fact, it has the advantages
claimed for the Goodenough shoe without its drawbacks.
Any smith can make a Charlier shoe, and the putting it
on is simplicity itself. It has been tried with success on
a few cavalry horses, and I have lately seen the shoe in
use in a stiff bank and ditch country, where it answered
to the satisfaction of those concerned. Granting it to
be no better than the common plan, if it be no worse in
other respects the extreme lightness is a great point
gained. I cannot fancy that the Goodenough shoe is
so very much lighter than a light hunting shoe of the
English fashion. But the weight of these latter varies a
good deal.

Surely, among the readers of the Field, some one has
tried the Goodenough shoe besides Mr. Lethbridge. He
conferred a boon on the public by stating his experience,
and anyone who, having tried the system, will follow his
example, will, at the expense of but little trouble, and
the wear and tear of pen and ink hardly enough to
alarm even Mr. Greg, assist in throwing light on a
subject now confessedly veiled in obscurity, viz., the
horse's foot, and, in these days of reduction, reducing
our veterinary bills, by checking the " deterioration of
our saddle horses."

HOW SPORT IS SPOILED.

THE spoiling of sport is a performance only too easy,
whether intentionally or otherwise, and whatever the
sport may consist off. Sport social, political, or of the
field, may be ruined ; the court, the camp, and the grove
are none of them exempt from casualties.

But it is not of the sport which may be enjoyed or
marred in the political arena or the gilded saloon that I
would speak. Everyone knows how persistently the
wrong thing is said and done in these localities by people
who ought to know better, but who don't know and won't
learn. It is on the mischief done to the pursuit of the
fox by ignorance, ofiiciousness, selfishness, &c., that I
frame my discourse ; and really, when the difficulties that
surround a master of hounds are considered, not only is
it a matter of surprise that any man should be found
with sufficient perseverance to enable him to fill the
arduous post of M.F.H. for more than one season ; but,
given the man, it is a still more wonderful matter how he
can, in the face of so many obstacles as beset his path,
bring his hounds to a covert side at all, much less find or
kill a fox. Some of the principle antidotes to sport are
the following :

First come landowners who don't care about hunting:,

O'

and are not sufficiently unselfish to take any trouble in
furtherance of a pursuit in which they don't join. They
may keep their gates locked, or decline to allow drains or
earths to be stopped on their ground, and discourage

H2

100 UNASKED ADVICE.

their tenants from "walking" puppies, and in many
other almost imperceptible ways do a good deal of mis-
chief, even without being game preservers. This word
brings to one's mind that most influential class of men,
gamekeepers. In their hands rests in great measure
the showing of sport, inasmuch as the existence of the
" raw material " is almost entirely an affair of their plea-
sure and good will. There are keepers doubtless who are
really and unfeignedly glad to see their coverts drawn
with success ; but I much fear that they are the excep-
tion, and that their good feeling is in many cases the
result of their masters' known proclivities, combined with
proper management on the part of the master of the
hounds. I do not believe that a keeper exists who, all
considerations but his own tastes apart, really likes or
admires a fox. Why should he ? And, on second
thoughts, why should he not do so ? What more con-
venient scapegoat is there in existence than bold Rey-
nard ? To an inefficient keeper he is really a friend.
" What has become of all the hares ?" is a question from
the master that has its answer ready cut and dried :
" Those foxes took every leveret in the summer." " How
is it," demands the dissatisfied owner of a light bag,
" that we only killed so many or so few pheasants to-
day ?" " Well, sir, the number of sitting hens that
were taken by the foxes is something alarming." Here
follow statistical figures, more or less accurate. Yet the
majority of keepers have no gratitude towards the useful
little animal that bears so much responsibility, but, on
the contrary, instead of "speaking well of the bridge
that carries them over," they are but too ready to kick
down the ladder that has raised them.

Of course the amount of mischief that an ill-disposed

HOW SPORT IS SPOILED. 101

keeper can do is immense. He can slay the vixen, and
leave the cubs to starve. He can destroy the cubs them-
selves, leaving the parents, or sweep away the whole
family at once. Or he may allow the litter to be once
found in cub-hunting time, and then dispose of them,
with the ready excuse when the covert is blank that the
cubs were there, but have shifted their quarters after
being disturbed by the hounds. If the owner of a covert
does not care about having foxes, the keeper is hardly
likely to. No man can serve two masters, and in such a
case the M.F.H. and his own master have both to be
pleased, and it does not require a conjuror to predict
whose tastes will take precedence. In fact, in talking
about foxes to a keeper whose master is really very fond
of covert shooting, I attach exactly the same amount of
credence to his statements that I should to those of a
young lady who chooses to tell her present admirer of her
past " experiences " — with the one trifling difference, that
I should acquit the damsel of intentional misstatement ;
not so the guardian of the preserves. Some coverts are
so popular with foxes that to them they will resort, what-
ever treatment they may meet with ; and the number of
foxes that may be killed in such places by an evil-minded
man would seem almost incredible to the uninitiated in such
matters. And these men are seldom caught out, as the
coverts are only blank when they are drawn unexpectedly.
Fair warning being given, a fox will be forthcoming, and
a wild fox too — this being only a question of time to
allow him to take up his quarters. To turn down a bag-
man is perhaps the greatest insult that can be offered to
a foxhunting establishment, and it is a trick, generally,
speaking, easy of detection, because the victim, after
running in a suspicious manner, is almost sure to be

102 UNASKED ADVICE.

caught, when the hounds tell their opinion of the whole
thing pretty unmistakably, as they won't eat him, unless
they are used to bagmen ; then they may not show their
disgust quite so openly. But very few packs, it is to be
hoped, answer to this description.

I have hunted in countries where the keeper sent in
regular bills — so much for a litter of cubs (their existence,
that is), so much for each find, &c. ; and probably, had
this black mail been done away with, the finds would
have been like angels' visits. A keeper who has shown
foxes through a season deserves a recognition of his
services at the end of it, as foxes of course do some mis-
chief to game, and there is often further trouble caused
by earth-stopping, and so on. Yet it seems more
according to the fitness of things that this recognition
should be the spontaneous act of the M.F.H. than a right
claimed by the keeper ; besides, in the first case, the
matter will not impossibly receive more attention. There
is no doubt that the keepers are the most important class
of men in any hunt, but a little diplomacy will do wonders
among them.

Next to the keepers come their masters — for really I
think in many cases the owner of the coverts plays but a
secondary part as far as the preservation of foxes is
concerned. He says, " I must have game ;" the M.F.H.,
" I wish for foxes ;" and the keeper provides what he
chooses of either or both. Yulpecides are of different
degrees. Some, while speaking fairly enough to fox-
hunters, tell their keepers they don't want too many
foxes ; others say nothing, but their wishes are under-
stood ; whilst others give the order " Kill and destroy."
But even the latter don't confess their crime. In fact, I
don't think that there exist three men in the United

HOW SPORT IS SPOILED. 103

Kingdom who, living in a hunting country, would have
the face to say openly (say at a dinner table, taking all
chances of whether the party was one of sportsmen or
not), " I shoot foxes ! " The pheasant is the fox's worst
foe, and the rage for " newspaper bags " is not the most
pleasant trait in our present national character. And
I make this remark being personally as fond of shooting
as my neighbours, and anything but an admirer of Mr.
Peter Taylor, M.P.

However, given the fox and the hounds, friendly
owners of coverts, and keepers who treat Eeynard fairly
(and there are such, though they can hardly be con-
sidered a majority), many other ways exist of " spoiling
sport. Next in importance to owners of land come
occupiers of the same. (This is the present arrange-
ment, but it will ere long be altered, I make no doubt.)
Now, no sport can be shown in any country without the
hearty co-operation of the farmers thereof; and, luckily,
999 out of every 1000 farmers are sportsmen at heart, if
not practically, and consequently the warmest supporters
of a hunt. If it were otherwise, hunting would cease —
die a natural (no, an unnatural) death. Nothing but
locking gates and wiring fences is required to make any
country impassable : very simple indeed all this is. And
damage is done by foxhunters, and that to a considerable
extent. That the presence of a pack of hounds benefits
a country is equally indisputable ; horses and stablemen
must eat, as well as their masters ; and, whether a farmer
grows beef or bread, there will be a market for his
produce when the population is increased by a neigh-
bouring town being full of hunting gentlemen. Yet the
damage done to a field of wheat or turnips by an army of
careering horsemen is obvious and visible, and it requires

104 UNASKED ADVICE.

a certain amount of philosophy to gaze unmoved upon
the same, remembering to console oneself with the reflec-
tion that everything consumable fetches a better price in
a populous neighbourhood than in an empty one, and
that the damage and demand are caused by the same
institution. And here I may as well observe that the
damage done by foxhunters is not to any great extent
the act of those who ride to hounds. It is caused chiefly
by muffs, townspeople, retired tradesmen, &c., who don't
know one crop from another, and who pull down a fence
instead of jumping it ; and in the crack countries by the
second horsemen. These last really are mischievous in
the extreme : as to shutting a gate or keeping in a
furrow, unless for their own convenience, they would as
soon think of flying. And it is too much to expect of
anyone that he will put up with wilful damage.

A great deal of sport is spoiled by the field. Where
the master is energetic and understands his work, he will
not allow the fox to he headed by hard riders — who
would, if permitted, in their extreme anxiety for a start,
creep on to the very spot where a good fox would go
from. In the same way he will not allow the covert to
be surrounded by people to whom a start is no object.
But the plans of the most knowing master may be un-
avoidably thrown over, in the earliest stage of the day's
proceedings. He may collect all the field who are
present, on parade as it were, into the desired corner ;
he may place his whips most artistically ; yet how can he
prevent Tomkins (who is always late) from coming
scuttling up on his hack, just as the fox is on foot, and
meeting that well-meaning animal face to face ? or how
can he see through the black bullfinch that conceals
Lady Julia Gadabout and her latest admirer from the

HOW SPORT IS SPOILED. 105

gaze of all eyes excepting that one piercing pair, which,
should in the general interest be hookwinked ? In either
case the fox is headed, perhaps chopped. Other mis-
deeds the field is prone too. Without counting jealousy
and riding over hounds, the list of crimes is long. The
hard riders are bad enough, but as a rule they are not
the earliest offenders. The people who don't ride are
specially fond of " cutting off the hounds." For example,
a fox goes away from a gorse ; a minute or two elapse
between his departure and the coming away of the pack ;
he, like time and tide, waits for no man, and is over half
a dozen fields in no time. In the sixth he is viewed by
a rustic, who holloas himself hoarse, just at the moment
when the hounds take up the scent. Immediately the
cunning riders are off up the nearest road to the holloa,
and when the hounds get there, on the line, they find
between them and their fox some forty horses.

Now, neither the ability nor the desire is given to
most packs to hunt steadily through a steaming phalanx
of horses, many of whom, as their instinct teaches them,
are handy with their heels. There are packs (like Mr.
Tailby's for example, or the Pytchley lady pack in Lord
Spencer's mastership), whose normal condition (no fault
of the last-named master's by the way) it is to be among
horses, and they are not much more upset by having
horses in front of them than behind or on either side :
and such packs will endeavour to work on through the
crowd. But even here the fox gains an advantage which
his astute nature is quick enough to profit by; while if
the hounds are afraid of the horses, as most hounds are,
the run is over, or at least it degenerates into that
melancholy performance, walking after a fox, without
any chance of improving one's acquaintance with him.

106 UNASKED ADVICE.

The hard rider's chance of spoiling the fun occurs
chiefly at a check. While the huntsman is casting they
will keep poking on after him, foiling the ground and
distracting the attention of the hounds. Another fault,
which ought to be punishable by law, is the habit some
men have of sending their second horse to some covert
which will be drawn for a second fox. A good fox hears
voices and perceives the well-known bouquet of singed
horsehair, and begins creeping about the gorse. He
peeps out, sees the coast more clear than usual, and is
away. On the arrival of the hounds the covert is blank,
while a few tongues serve to raise never-to-be-gratified
hopes ; and the thinking portion of the field, hearing
hounds speak and seeing no fox, go away condemning the
pack as riotous. " Pack of brutes ! got running a rabbit
in So-and-so Gorse ! wasted half an hour, and then went
home" — there being perhaps nothing else to draw. When
hounds are at a check on a road, anyone can spoil sport,
and, as rule, every one combines in doing it. Without
thinking one way or the other of the hounds, A. keeps on,
wishing to sell his horse to B. ; C. just moves out of
range of D.'s horse's heels ; E. wants to ask F. about a
servant's character ; while G. sees H. talking with
animation to Miss I. — a proceeding that must be stopped
at all hazards. Meanwhile the hounds are miles over the
place where their game left the turnpike, and the latter
sits down and waits for them, of course !

So much for the field. Now, cannot the master spoil
sport ? Of course he can, though he doesn't often do it.
Disagreeable manners, jealous riding, and, above all, not
b eing possessed of the faculty of remembering people's
names, will make a good sportsman unpopular, and so
the sport will suffer. Above all things, a master of

HOW SPORT IS SPOILED. 107

hounds should recollect that " language was given us to
conceal our thoughts." He may let out now and again
at a detected evil-doer ; but even then he must be guided
by prudence, remembering that the safest object of attack
is the individual who has no friends. Not that a man is
to be pitched into merely as being a stranger; for, in
these days of peripatetic scribes, said stranger might
prove to be a " Special Commissioner," in which case the
master's character would be shortly given to the world,
as viewed from a point from which neither he nor his
friends ever regarded it.

And who else spoils sport in the hunting field ? The
huntsman frequently, no doubt, owing to the strong
objection the fraternity appear to entertain to letting the
hounds hunt the fox — but, this not being an essay on
catching the animal, I say no more on that subject.

But I am sorry to say, even at the risk of forfeiting my
character for politeness, that some sport is spoilt by
ladies. Not by the ladies who merely come out hunting,
and whom everyone is delighted to see, so long as they
can either take care of themselves or have someone with
them who is equal to their charge. Ladies are an orna-
ment to the hunting field, as to any other place that they
honour with their presence, when they are properly
dressed and understand the game they are playing at.
Their commonest fault, by the way, is not giving one
time to fall; and though, having tried both, as I have
stated in a previous chapter, I am in a position to
state that it is more pleasant to be jumped on by a
countess than by a cotton spinner, still it is prefer-
able to receive the attentions of neither in this way.
Also to see a lady get a fall is most unpleasant ; even if
she be not hurt, the spectators are bound to be alarmed ;

108 UNASKED ADVICE.

and, again, ladies are more likely to be hurt than men.
A loose horse with a side saddle on is as unpleasant a
sight as can be seen in the hunting field ; and, even if
the fair rider be not hurt, is it desirable that she should
be seen standing on her head (in any costume), crawling
on hands and knees out of a wet ditch, or sitting on a
stile, perhaps minus her skirt and half her tresses, waiting
for her steed to be brought back to her ? Still she does
not spoil sport, to speak of. The ladies who do so are
ladies in authority, e. g., a cold bow from the wife of the
M. F. H., in place of a cheery casual observation, has
often caused a wire to remain up which would have been
banished at once. Subscriptions have melted away on
provocation equally small ; coverts are blank which would
otherwise have held a fox. " Why," says Jones, " should
not I shoot to-day ? Certainly the hounds will be here
next week ; but I don't hunt, and if Mrs. Rattlecover is
too fine to know me, what do I gain by losing my
sport ?" An M. F. H. is bound to be hail fellow well
met with everyone who owns a hedgerow in his hunt.
His wife need not be this ; but, if she chooses, she — and
the remark applies to the wife of every public character —
may either diminish or increase the popularity of her
lord.

When it is snowing and freezing we have time for
reflection on all subjects ; and some idle moments may
be less profitably employed than in consideration on

How sport is spoiled."

THE END OP THE SEASON.

AT the end of the hunting season comes the question ef
" What is to be done with the horses ? " Either they
are to be kept through the summer, and brought out for
the next season, after all the advantages which accrue
from a really good " summering/' or they are to be sold,
and their summer keep saved. This last course of pro-
ceeding is not an uncommon one, among young horse
masters especially. What the advantage of it consists in
is not very apparent, unless, as has been suggested,
horses are sold at the hammer for ready money, and
bought from some dealers on credit. With the excep-
tion of this decided advantage, the man who keeps his
stud through the summer has " a pull," as it is elegantly
termed, over the one who has sold, and bought a fresh
lot when hunting recommences, supposing the two studs
to have been tolerably good to begin with, or rather
tolerably good at the end of the season.

It occasionally happens that a man possesses two or
three wholly useless brutes, of which he cannot possibly
dispose unless he sacrifices their more valuable stable
companions ; and this is no doubt often the cause why an
entire stud is submitted to public competition.

All that the buyer has to do in such a case is to mind
that he does not get hold of the wrong horse, which he is
very likely to do unless he either knows the animals per-
sonally, or has a reliable friend who is acquainted with
their merits and failings.

110 UNASKED ADVICE.

But the sale of horses is not the subject about to be
discussed, so we will take leave of it, with the remark
that hunters are so entirely fancy articles that, whilst
indifferent animals belonging to some well-known cha-
racter often fetch fancy prices at the hammer, other
horses, superior in every respect, but the property of a
nobody, are almost certain to fetch none but the most
moderate sums. It is universally allowed to be a fact,
by sportmen in " the shires," that two years' good con-
dition is needful to enable a horse to cross those favoured
tracts of country with safety to his rider and satisfaction
to himself — that is, supposing the rider to be a "cus-
tomer." Men who don't ride to hounds may summer
their horses in the fields, and yet have them equal to the
duties they are required to perform. Not but that the
shirker does an immense amount of galloping ; but still
he must stop to open the gates, pull down the fences, &c.,
and has in no case any excuse for distressing his horse.
It is far otherwise with the first-flight man, who has not
only to live with the hounds, but to prevent, as far as it
is in his power, any one of, perhaps, two score of rivals
getting any nearer to the pack than he is himself.

The two extremes of hard men and funkers are, when
working as it were in concert, the fox's best friends. A
fox goes away from a gorse, the hounds get away pretty
close to him, the " customers" a trifle closer to him than
the hounds. The shirkers dash impetuously along some
lane parallel to the line of chase. Eventually bold
Reynard wishes to cross this lane ; he sees an advancing
phalanx. Disliking the looks of them, perhaps fearing
that they may be attended by a supernumerary pack of
hounds, he alter his plans and his course — is in fact
headed. Up come the hounds, with the " hard" division

THE END OP THE SEASON. Ill

in close attendance. They wish to throw up, but self-
preservation is the first law of nature. They cannot stop
for their bodies to be reduced to the consistency of jelly
by the hoofs of the advancing force of cavalry. They
dash on for a field or so without a scent, and stop at last.
A cast forward is obviously useless, as the fox has not
gone that way ; a cast back, where the animal really has
gone, is equally futile, the horses being all over it; so, by
the combined exertions of Messrs. Funker and Crasher,
a good run is spoiled, the fox escapes, and the real authors
of the mischief, as they trot amicably along together,
agree in pronouncing the huntsman a muff, the master an
old woman, and the hounds a lot of useless brutes, fit
only to be treated as the poor London street curs were
last summer, viz., sold by the ton for manure.* This is
another digression though, and unpardonable, as no one
wants to think, much less talk, about hunting at this time
of year.

By this time most hunters have had a month's rest,
which, with the assistance of a mild dose of physic where
it is requisite (and this is in forty-nine cases out of every
fifty), will have reduced their legs to a condition in which
damage done to them by their late labours will be easily
detected. I always have found it sound economy to have
my horses inspected at the end of the season by a
veterinary surgeon. The professional eye will detect
injuries which that of the amateur is likely to pass over.
Still, if the professional be not accustomed to hunters and
the ailments peculiar to them, he will not be able to tell a
good hunting groom very much, particularly as the groom
knows the constitution, and, at any rate, some of the past
history of his horse. There are a number of injuries to
* Written in 1869.

112 UNASKED ADVICE.

which hunters are specially liable, and which may be very
well treated by a groom of ordinary intelligence (by this
I do not mean every strapper who fancies that he knows
"all about it").

Perhaps one of the most common causes for hunters
being laid up is a blow on the leg. Indeed, it is rather a
wonder that more horses are not lamed in this way, or that
any horse should do a day's hunting without an accident
of this description. Bangs and blows are either on the
shin or on the sinew. In the former case applications of
hot vinegar and water will take out the soreness as
quickly as anything. A blow on the shin often leaves its
mark in the shape of a permanent bony enlargement,
which is a blemish, of course, but not otherwise objec-
tionable, unless it be meddled with under pretence of
removing it. Such an attempt is likely to produce
most acute lameness. Blows on the sinews are more
serious affairs. They may either be caused by the contact
of a stake, &c., or by the opposite foot. A heavy shoe is
a very common, indeed the most common, cause of this
accident in the case of horses which do not hit themselves
habitually. A blow on the sinew may lay a horse up for
the season, or he may be lamed by it " on and off" — that
is, being sound after one day's work and lame after the
next. Whether he has been lame or sound, there will be
a certain amount of thickening over the seat of injury at
the end of the season. At the end of a month's rest,
however, the swelling will be reduced enough for an
opinion to be formed concerning the extent of the injury.
If this be plainly trifling, cold applications and rest will
meet the requirements of the case. If there appear to
be any likelihood of a callous enlargement forming, a
mild absorbent blister will be useful ; in bad cases firing

THE END OP THE SEASON. 113

may be needful ; but, in any case but the mildest, the
opinion of a qualified practitioner will be useful. Grooms
are always very fond of using blisters, the stronger the
better (not for the horse), and many horses have been
ruined by this predilection of theirs.

Next we will consider the subject of curbs. " Springing
a curb " is a most annoying accident, and the best-shaped
hocks are liable to it. By good rights, a horse which
has been thus unlucky should be thrown up out of work ;
but it is seldom that this treatment is pursued when the
mishap occurs in the middle of the season. Almost all
veterinary surgeons in hunting countries have some
preparation in which they believe for application to a
curb, and usually the horse is to be worked during the
period of cure. Now, this is of course wrong, to start
with ; still, I must confess that I have followed the plan,
and my horse has become sound ; and I have seen the same
result in many other cases. At the end of the season
the question of firing or not will arise. In ninety-nine
out of every hundred cases I should vote against the
actual cautery. It is a certain blemish — a thing I dis-
approve of, unless it be accompanied by a certain cure.
This is not always the case. I have had a horse who
had been fired for curbs in my own stable, who sprung
curbs afresh two years after the operation. Mild blisters,
applied as often as possible, are in every way pre-
ferable. Occasionally firing may benefit horses which
have naturally curby hocks, but even then it may be
managed so as not to make the usual blemish. There
are degrees of curbs. I know a hack mare with de-
cidedly curby-looking hocks. She has never been lame
with a curb, but after severe work the seat of curb
exhibits heat and a barely perceptible swelling. A

114 UNASKED ADVICE.

day's hunting would probably produce a fine specimen of
this disease.

Many a hunter is lamed by corns. The smith is in
fault here. He is afraid of the horse losing a shoe, and
of his own reputation diminishing in consequence. He
therefore nails the shoe too near to the heels, or perhaps
puts it on too tight altogether, a corn being the result.
A corn must be very bad that stops a horse's work in
the hunting season, as it is nearly always possible to
work him with a three-quarter shoe, the ground being
soft; but at the end of the season corns will require a
little attention. Being caused by the pressure of the
shoe, the only thing to do is to remove that pressure,
which is easily done. In bad cases a bar shoe, which
removes the weight from the heels to the frog, will be
found useful.

Capped hocks are not to be called hunting accidents.
They are very ugly things, and any attempt to remove
them is more likely to aggravate the evil.

Horses who " brush " or " cut " generally finish the
season with an enlargement around the seat of the
injury. This, when thoroughly cooled down, may be
reduced by a mild absorbent blister, and to prevent a
recurrence of the accident it will be needful to discover
with what part of the offending foot the damage is done.
The best way of finding out is to pipeclay the part that
is hit, and then to trot the horse a little way, when the
pipeclay (being damp) will adhere to the spot that
does the. mischief. Then the shoeing will require con-
sideration. No general rule applies here, as no two
horses can be shod in exactly the same way in this case ;
hardly any two hitting themselves in precisely the same
manner.

THE END OP THE SEASON. 115

Kingbone, sidebon.es, and ossification of the lateral
cartilages, lame many a good hunter. Firing used to
be the general remedy for ringbone, but the biniodide
blister has nearly supplanted it. A blister, applied in
good time, will often stop the progress of a bony deposit.
The other two evils happen mostly to horses possessing
" strong " feet. When once the cartilage is turned to
bone, any attentions are thrown away upon it, but
mild and repeated blisters will stop the progress of the
disease, if applied in time. The shoe should be taken
off to allow the foot to perform its natural functions as
much as possible. I may here mention that I have seen
two cases of incipient ossification of the cartilages — one,
indeed, a good deal more than an incipient case — cured
by the use of the Charlier shoe, without either rest or
blister.*

Sandcrack will have stopped the horse's hunting when
it appeared. It is a great nuisance, taking time to
mend ; but the advice of a vet. is indispensable here, so
I will say nothing more about it.

Spavins are of different sorts. Sometimes they don't
lame the horse ; then let them alone. Oftener, however,
the horse is lame, after work especially, and at first
starting. There are many remedies which profess to
cure spavins without firing — blisters of different sorts ;
and, when used on the first appearance of the mischief,
they may sometimes succeed. When the disease is
decided, I know of no remedy but firing that can be
depended upon; nor is that always infallible. If the
horse must be fired, there is no reason that the whole of
the inside of the hock should be scored over. A few
lines drawn with the iron just on the seat of the bony
* And since the above was written I have seen two cases more.

i 2

116 UNASKED ADVICE.

enlargement are sufficient, and this moderation saves
appearance, as well as pain to a noble animal, whose
sensations are but too little considered.

Stringhalt is ugly, but incurable.

Sore backs ought never to be seen in a hunting stable,
but they sometimes do appear there. At this time of
year they will cure themselves, time only being required.
Of course the clothing must be taken off, and an astringent
lotion will have the best effect, if not too strong. Salt
and water is as good as anything, and more attainable
than lotions which come from the chemist. A " sitfast "
will probably require more decided treatment than the
gre.at majority of grooms can be trusted to attempt.

Thorns which have lain hid all the season will work their
way out of the skin during a summer's rest, or when the
horse comes into work again. When their presence is
suspected, poultices should not be spared, and when very
deeply seated the use of the knife may be needed.

Thorough-pins and windgalls so seldom lame a horse
that they need not be considered. They are not pretty,
they come to please themselves, and occasionally depart
without apparent reason.

I have now considered most of the accidents commonest
among hunters from a stableman's point of view. A
groom should only deal in mild and simple remedies, and
should never forget that nature is at least as clever as
he is.

Concerning general management during the summer,
little is to be said. For horses which are to hunt in fast
countries I should consider any green meat undesirable ;
their interior economy can be sufficiently well regulated
with bran mashes. I prefer sawdust for the bed, or saw-
dust mixed with tan; but the sawdust must not be

THE END OF THE SEASON. 117

obtained from green wood. If the animals would promise
never to paw their bed away, I should take off their shoes,
but this they will not do ; so, to prevent their breaking
their hoofs when the feet are very brittle, should either
shoe them with Charlier shoes, or with very thin tips — as
thin, in fact, as racing plates. Common tips raise the toe
above the heel, consequently they keep up a continuous
strain on the sinews. Blisters I dislike, and firing I hate.
It should be remembered that when a horse is cast for
firing there is always a danger of his injuring his back in
his struggles, especially if he be an aged horse. About
the best and most simple blister for bony excrescences is
biniodide of mercury 1 drachm, lard 16 drachms.
Horses subjected only to gentle remedies are just as likely,
with rest, to get well through the summer, and be ready
to commence their work in the autumn, as those that
have been tortured with violent treatment. Bold
measures may sometimes be needful, but they are quite
out of the province of amateurs.

The groom whose charges are going to the hammer
has little to do beyond getting them very fat. The
sounder they run out the better ; but corpulence is the
great thing. Flesh covers a multitude of faults, so it is
quite intelligible that the seller should prefer this state ;
but why the public should usually decline to bid high for
an animal who is not as fat as he can be, is not so easy of
explanation. It is the fact though, and therefore the
circumstance is worthy of remembrance by the ingenuous
youth who purposes realising on his stud at " the end of
the season."

118 UNASKED ADVICE.

THE CHARMER, SHOE.

THAT horseshoes are necessary evils has long been a
conceded fact, and it needs no great knowledge of the
subject for anyone to assert, without fear of contradiction,
that without shoes all horses working on hard ground
would be lame. A little further study brings to light
the fact that, with shoes, a very large percentage of
horses are lame, and lame in their feet. It is not fair to
jump at once to the conclusion that all these horses are
lamed by their shoes, there being causes of foot lameness
quite unconnected with shoeing, of which high keep is
perhaps the principal one. This, when aided and abetted
by fast work and hot stables, and not kept in check by
good stable management, is quite competent to lay the
foundation of disease, and lameness is the consequence.
Not that all diseases of the foot lame the horse as a
matter of course; we have all seen horses going sound
with seedy toe, thrushes, and even canker, though of
course a day will come when these diseases, if allowed to
run their course, incapacitate their victims for exertion.

But, though the unshod foot is not of necessity free
from disease, there are disorders peculiar to the foot
which has been armed by the blacksmith, the most
generally known being corns. An instance of an unshod
horse with corns is, I fancy, unknown. Horses used
on the road, especially in towns, are more frequently
lame in the feet than hunters, though the work of the
latter is the most severe while it lasts ; and it seems only

THE CHARLIER SHOE. 119

fair to credit the shoes with being in great measure the
cause of this undeniable fact/ if only the trouble be taken
to consider what office the different parts of the horse's
foot are by nature intended to fulfil. By the usual style
of shoeing it must be considered that, on hard ground,
all the weight of the horse is supported by the crust of
the hoof. A shoe which presses on the sole of the foot
lames the horse. Nothing but the shoe touches the
ground, and nothing but the wall of the foot touches the
shoe. This is plain enough. But we cannot suppose
that Providence furnished the foot of the horse with such
a thing as the frog merely as an ornament, devoid of any
use. Of what use it can be when raised off the ground
is a question which is likely to remain unanswered.
Hunters who work on soft ground have a part of their
weight sustained by the frog, and they are comparatively
free from foot lameness — only comparatively.

Many shoes have been invented and discarded, which
professed to give all parts of the foot an opportunity of
discharging their several duties. Mr. Bracy Clark's ex-
pansion shoe was to prevent contraction of the heels,
while Professor Coleman's thin-heeled shoe was to allow
of frog pressure. The latter gentleman roundly asserted
that the frog "must have pressure, or be diseased;" but
his plan for bringing the frog to the ground was
eminently inefficient. A shoe thicker at the toe than at
the heels must needs produce a continual strain on the
tendons — an evil far worse than the want of frog pres-
sure. Without the latter many horses have gone sound
to the last day of a long life ; but all the frog pressure in
the world will not allow of a leg continuing sound if the
back sinews are constantly on the strain, both in rest
and motion, which must be the case when the toe is

120

UNASKED ADVICE.

higher than the heel. Many other theories have been
started and found wanting, but until lately no theory of
shoeing which combines the principle of the two above
mentioned ones has appeared — namely, allowing the
heels to expand, and allowing the frog to rest on the
ground.

M. Charlier has grappled, I think successfully, with
these difficulties. The idea with which he starts is that
Providence intended the horse to go barefoot; not of
necessity always upon soft ground, for then the hoofs
would grow out of all shape, still less always upon the
hard, which would wear the crust away faster than it

could be reproduced.- This, however, being the only
evil to be dreaded, M. Charlier guards against in the
most simple and effective way, by protecting the crust
from all possibility of injury, while the sole and frog
remain in an unshod condition. The shoe which pro-
duces these happy results is not generally known in
England ; therefore I give above a sketch of it.

THE CHARLIER SHOE. 121

At first sight it has a fragile appearance, from its
extreme narrowness as compared with common shoes;
but it is strong enough, being thicker than the usual
shoe. Its greatest peculiarity, however, consists in the
manner in which it is applied. Instead of being nailed
on to the foot like a racing plate, it is as it were substi-
tuted for the ground surface of the crust, which is pared
away, leaving a groove for the reception of the shoe.
Fig. 2 represents the horse's foot prepared for the shoe
en profile. The groove should be of the same width as
the wall of the hoof, or a little less if the shoe is to be
applied hot; no smith with common care can make a
mistake here. The shoe must be very accurately fitted
to this groove (and here is an advantage — the grooves
cannot well be fitted to the shoe), the grooves then being
deepened to an extent that brings the shoe nearly, not
quite, flush with the sole of the foot. Nothing further
is required beyond nailing on the shoe, the last nails
being two inches, or nearly so, from the heels. For
hunters six nails are preferable; five may suffice for
harness work, and certainly for hacking on the road.
The shoeing of weak-footed horses in this style demands
a little — not much — more care than when a strong foot
is the subject ; also the exercise of a little common sense.
A thin-soled horse, with a deficiency of horn, obviously
cannot stand the paring of so deep a groove as a strong-
footed one. To obtain the desired effect, the shoe must
here be made thinner, so that a more shallow groove
should suffice. The shoe, when on, allows the frog
to touch the ground — in fact, leaves the foot in as
nearly as possible a natural condition. Frog, bars,
heels, and crust, all take their share of the work, while the
extreme lightness of the shoe has the best effect in de-

122 UNASKED ADVICE.

creasing the labour of the tendons. The sole is not to be
allowed quite to touch the ground when this is hard and
level. It does not do so in the unshod colt's foot, which
is the model to go by.

The opponents of M. Charlier's system are numerous
enough, but, strange to say, they almost all oppose it on
different grounds. Some say that it will never suit weak
feet ; others, that these shoes cannot stand road work ;
others again, that the horse wearing them must be lamed
if he treads on a stone ; and further, a strong party has
declared as its unanimous opinion that the shoe cannot
be worn by hunters, that it will come off in deep ground,
and it will not afford a sufficient foothold on grass
and slippery ground. Let us consider these objections
separately.

That the shoe does not suit weak feet is a mistake, as
such feet improve perceptibly from its use, the weak
crust no longer having the whole of the weight to sustain ;
and of this effect I will presently give an instance. That
the shoes can stand road work is plain enough to anyone
who will take the trouble to consider, first, their thickness
as compared with shoes made expressly for the road ;
secondly, the fact that the frog shares the wear with the
iron, while in the common shoe the iron sustains it all.
Next, that a horse so shod must be lamed if he treads on
a stone. This sounds plausible, but reflection will show
that a horse shod a la Charlier is far less likely to have
his foot damaged by treading on a stone than a horse
who has his foot pared and shod with the common shoe.
The former has the insensible sole much thicker and
stronger, it being never pared. It is hardened, too, by
constant contact with the ground wherever this is rough
or uneven, whilst the frog increases in size and thickness,

THE CHAELIER SHOE. 123

or depth (this remark applies to the sensible as well as
the horny frog), thereby forming the effectual and elastic
shield to the bottom of the navicular bone which it is fair
to conclude that Nature intended it to be. Then that
the shoe cannot be worn by hunters is a mistake, as
experience has proved the contrary. They are, indeed,
less likely to come off than any other kind of shoe, as
there is so little suction in deep ground, whilst it is
wholly impossible that the hind shoe can catch them.
As to horses so shod slipping about, they cannot slip
more than unshod horses, who are not remarkable for
that failing. No one who has ridden a run after losing a
shoe can affirm that his horse slipped more than usual, I
imagine ; and, on the other hand, the old shoe does not
secure immunity from slipping.

Serious, nay, fatal accidents, have occurred from horses
slipping at their fences when shod in the usual way. The
frog, however, when it touches the ground, should act as
a wedge, and prevent slipping. Some horses will always
slip, shoe them as you may; others comparatively
never.

These remarks apply to the fore feet only. Let us now
consider the case of the hind ones.

That the Charlier shoe places the hind feet in a natural
position is incontestible, nor do I think that a horse so
shod could " cut ;" but, from the way in which the hind
foot comes to the ground, I fancy the shoe would wear
through at the toe rather too rapidly.*

I will conclude by giving three instances which have
come under my personal observation, in which the appli-

* Experience has, since this was written, proved the contrary ;
overreach cuts are rJ.so to the greatest possible extent guarded
against.

124 UNASKED ADVICE.

cation of the Cliarlier shoe has been attended with the
happiest results.

The first was that of an old horse, who had been lame
in both fore feet for years with chronic laminitis. His
feet were large but strong. Being equally lame on both
feet, he went evenly, but very tenderly. After a month's
application of the shoe the action on his road was so far
recovered as to pass muster as a harness horse for
country use. His feet, which had always been very hot
and feverish, were, when I saw him, quite cool.

The second case was a hunter, who for the last five
seasons has constantly lost the shoe off one fore foot.
The other foot is a tolerable one, but the faulty one has,
or rather had, neither sole nor horn. The crust was so
damaged by the constant tearing away of nails through it,
that there was next to nothing to nail a shoe to. This
horse was shod with the Charlier shoe, and a worse or
more difficult subject for the operation could not be.
The effect was immediate. He went through two days'
hunting in a deep country without a clench stirring, and
then travelled by road for over a hundred miles, going
sound all the way, and arriving with the shoes worn
indeed, but firm in their places.

The last case with which I will trouble my readers is
that of a young horse, who had begun to move his feet in
that skating fashion generally indicative of incipient side
bones. This horse's feet were shelly and brittle, but
well formed otherwise. After a month's wear of the
Charlier shoe he stepped with confidence, and exhibited
that action which was to be expected from his shape and
make. The cartilages too had recovered the springy
feel, which they seemed in a fair way of losing.

An idea being very prevalent that particular tools are

THE CHARLIEK SHOE. 125

required for this style of shoeing, it is as well to state
that the groove can be made with a common drawing
knife (common care only being required), but that the
operation is more easily performed by a beginner if the
drawing knife have a guard on the blade, a moveable
one being preferable, by which to regulate the width of
the groove. But the width of the horn is sufficiently
apparent in all feet.

I do not for a moment hope that foot lameness will
become extinct by this or any other mode of shoeing ;
but I am of opinion that this shoe is more calculated to
preserve a horse's feet and legs than any other, the
much-puffed Goodenough shoe included; and for the
simple reason that it places the foot at once in the
position of ' ' unshod nature " — a thing which no other
shoe can possibly do.

The horses specified above were all shod by country
blacksmiths in different counties; nevertheless, all the
experiments were satisfactory.

MORE ABOUT CHAELIER SHOES.

I thought I had long ago done with this subject ; but
the original question seems to have cropped up again,
with the original amount of difficulty in " getting at the
rights of it."

First, let me answer one question which has been
lately asked more than once in the columns of the Field,
viz., Where in London can the Charlier shoe be put on ?
I saw it some short time ago very neatly applied at a
forge in Engine-street, Piccadilly ; but I cannot remem-
ber the name of the proprietor. It is not, however, likely

126 UNASKED ADVICE.

that there are two in one street. Messrs. Stevens, of
Park Lane, also shoe in this way, and a set of shoes put
on a hack of mine on the Saturday after " Cremorne's
Derby" are still on, and, though worn very much, not
quite done (July 15).

Mr. Hunting's objection to the system is effectually
answered in an editorial note. How such a mistake
could be made by a professional man puzzles me, as the
chief beauty of the shoe is that it causes the weight to
be equally borne by the heels, frog, outside of the sole,
and crust ; the exact contrary of the common shoe, whose
chief fault is that the heels and frog are put out of work
altogether. Hence the great benefit experienced by horses
suffering from fever in the feet, especially the chronic or
sub-acute form of that malady, when shod after the
Charlier method.

A correspondent " Kangaroo" very justly remarks
upon the impossibility of a horse becoming footsore in
the frog, sole, or heel of his foot as a result of travelling
barefoot. It is the toe about halfway round that suffers,
and this is all that demands protection in the fore feet,
whatever the work may be, and upon whatever soil. But
I think " Kangaroo" exaggerates the dangers of shoeing
a horse a la Charlier and working him at once. That the
sole will scale away is indubitable, but I have never found
any inconvenience result from the process, as a new sole
is ready for use immediately on the loss of the old one.
I have shod now some dozens of horses in this way, and
in all cases where the frog has been sound they have
been able to go on at their usual tasks after a day or
two of " feeling their feet." Of course a thin-soled horse
should be as much as possible kept off newly macadamised
roads, but after a time he will travel over them certainly

THE CHAKLIER SHOE. 127

as well as lie ever did with the old shoe, and in all
probability better. Where the frog is unsound it is
another matter, as it has a good deal of work to do;
but there is nothing like pressure and heel freedom for
thrushes, &c.

M. Charlier's fore shoe extends to the heels, but this
idea has been improved upon. {Since I last inflicted this
subject upon my readers, I have seen a pattern of a
short Charlier shoe, as used at Melton, and its advan-
tages are pretty apparent. It extends only to the bars
of the foot on each side — in fact, about the length of a
" three-quarter shoe" — and five nails are plenty to secure
it. It wears much longer than the full shoe, as the wear
is divided between the shoe and the heels, which are left
in a state of nature. M. Charlier's shoe takes away, or
rather replaces, a portion of the bars, which with the
short shoe are left in their entirety; and, as they are
the strongest and quickest-growing part of the foot, this
seems but reasonable. In fact, in M. Charlier's book
(which appears to be about the most inaccessible work
extant) a passage to the following effect occurs : " If
after a few shoeings the bars, which grow very fast
project below the level of the shoe at the heels, they may
be cut off flat." Now it is surely better that the shoe
should not meddle with these parts, which replace their
own wear so speedily, and a short shoe puts corns out of
the bounds of possibility. The great mistake smiths
make in this shoeing is to cut too deep a groove. The
sole need not be absolutely flush with the shoe, and a
too near approach to the sensitive parts of the foot lames
the horse to a certainty. And failing this, if the groove
be a little too deep, his action is much impaired, and does
not visibly improve, and the traditions of the smith

128 UNASKED ADVICE.

triumph accordingly. Of course, a snort shoe is less
liable to " spring out" than a full one ; indeed, since I
have used them, I have never known one to do so.
They would not, I imagine, be so suitable for the hind
feet ; but the hind shoe can always be made stouter than
the fore one.

In case my description of the three-quarter shoe be
not plain enough, I subjoin a sketch of it. Fig. 1 shows
the foot shod (in profile) ; Fig. 2, the ground surface of

li- ^1
FIG. Ill H F1C.2

fev

FIG. 3

the shod foot; Fig. 3, the shoe itself. I should also
mention that my friend who gave me the pattern of this
shoe remarked that " the opposition of the smiths to it
must be seen to be appreciated, and that the same might
be said of most of the grooms."

In speaking of thin-soled horses, I omitted to call
attention to the fact that it is only pointed stones that
they object to ; London pavement they will go over with
all imaginable confidence. As to the difficulty of putting
on a shoe after a " Charlier " has been lost, I can only
say what has happened to myself, and I always prefer
practice to theory. Some time ago I lost (or rather my
horse did) a hind shoe (I have never lost a three-quarter
fore shoe), which was trodden off, as I fancy, in a gate-
way, being a little too long — such an accident, indeed,

THE CHAELIER SHOE. 129

never having been contemplated or provided against.
I cannot say how much hunting my nag did barefoot,
but sixteen miles of road he certainly did perform on his
way home, through an uninhabited country and in the
dark, and no forge discoverable. He was slightly foot-
sore, though hardly lame, the last two or three miles —
certainly not more — and his foot was a great deal worn
at the toe. A groove could not safely have been made,
and the Charlier shoe without one, to some extent, is no
better than another ; so, being far from home, with only
a village blacksmith who had never heard of Charlier to
apply to, I let him put on a light common hind shoe. In
doing this there was no sort of difficulty, and in ten
days the foot had grown enough to admit of the usual
" chaussure." And this was a flat-footed horse, but one
which had worn Charlier shoes for eighteen months.

So much for that difficulty. And it is just as easy to
carry a spare Charlier shoe and nails out hunting as to
do the same thing with a common one, which any smith
can then adjust, no groove having to be made, and no
alteration of the shoe being required either, unless to
widen or narrow it a little to fit the foot. If it were a
full shoe it would be all right for the hind foot ; while
the reduction of a shoe to a tip, if such were needful,
demands but an infinitesimal portion of time, trouble, or
skill. Short shoes in front, however, ought never to
come off, nor will they do so when properly put on;
hind shoes have still less business to be absent without
leave.

ECONOMICAL SPOUT.

" WHAT is a gentleman without his recreations ? "
inquires one of our deepest observers of human nature ;
and, indeed, it is a conceded fact that " all work and
no play makes Jack a dull boy." A young man starting
in life in any occupation which does not of necessity
take up his whole time, must have relaxation, and the
healthiest amusements to be found are undoubtedly field
sports. Field sports, however, are not to be had for
nothing ; but, as their nature and the manner of enjoying
them vary considerably, it is worth while to consider
what will give the maximum of enjoyment with the
minimum of expense — or, in plainer language, how the
most fun is to be had for our money.

To a young man living in the country, the three
sports of hunting, shooting, and fishing are probably
more or less accessible ; and, although none of the three
are to be enjoyed exactly for nothing, circumstances
will be found to alter the expense of each. Fishing is
undoubtedly the cheapest sport, if one has the water to
fish, as the kit and tackle required are not ruinous to
buy or expensive to keep in repair. Shooting also, if
one shoots one's friend's game, is a moderately reason-
able sport; whilst hunting takes money, no doubt,
unless one's friends mount one — and then there is the
stud groom ! Old fogies of both sexes, when they hear
that a young man is fond of hunting and indulges that
taste, at once either write him down as a rich man, or

ECONOMICAL SPORT. 131

declare that he is outrunning the constable ; whereas, as
I will presently show, it is possible to see a good deal
of sport in the hunting field at a comparatively moderate
cost.

Shooting and fishing are no doubt economical amuse-
ments when they are found for you, and no juvenile
ever yet was considered to be a spendthrift merely
because he spent his time in fishing ; yet fishing is not
always the cheap amusement it is considered. To live on
the banks of a canal, and fish therein for gudgeons, is a
pastime reasonable enough as far as cost goes ; but then
a young man good for anything would find this kind of
thing rather wanting in excitement. To fish for anything
worth catching requires either money or interest. A
very small percentage of British youth has free permis-
sion at all times over decent water ; and, putting this
small percentage aside, it will be found that the
remainder have to pay something more for their sport
than the mere cost of tackle. To belong to an angling
club is not a very expensive matter in money ; but how
much fun is there to be had for it ? It is not the price
paid, but the value received, that makes an article dear
or cheap. Say that you begin trout fishing in March,
which is full early — though, of course, rivers vary in
being early or late — on a well-whipped club water you
will have but little fun after the middle of June, hot days
and clear water not being favourable to the feathery
impostor, as a friend of mine used to call the artificial
fly ; so you get but three months' fun for your outlay.
It may be worth the cost, but then you have no pursuit
for the winter and autumn months, not to mention the
hot days of summer. Where there are grayling, it is true
some fun is to be had in the autumn, but these fish are

K2

132 UNASKED ADVICE.

only partially distributed through England, and, indeed,
where they abound the sport of catching them is not to
be compared to the landing of the game and resolute
trout. Salmon fishers have a longer season, but have to
pay still more for it; and, unless young Piscator happens to
live near a salmon river, he will find that the getting to
it and getting back, quite irrespective of expenses while
by the water, make a very considerable addition to the
cost of his rod licence and wading boots. If he flies at
higher game and rents a river, he says adieu to economy
once and for ever, wherever that river may be, whether
in Scotland, Ireland, or Norway. But, without going as
far as this, the young salmon fisher will find at the end
of the season that his days of enjoyment have been
limited, and that, even if his expenses have been the
same, he still has a good many months on hand in which
he will be solaced by no sport ; and these are just the
months when a good reason for out-door exercise is with
many necessary to induce them to take it. No one,
for example, whose exercise is a mere constitutional,
hesitates much about shirking it if the weather be
wet.

Now let us think of shooting. To shoot on the
manors of our friends is economical enough, and the
shooting season lasts for five months ; but the most
popular of youths can hardly expect the time when he is
shooting by invitation to equal that when he is dis-
engaged. Also, invitations do not always come when
they are wanted, and, when they do, they sometimes arrive
two at a time ; so that, as I have just said, the man
whose chief pursuit is shooting with his friends will find
himaelf with a good deal of time on his hands. If he
shoots " on his own hook," he will find his amusement an

ECONOMICAL SPOKT. 133

expensive one. If he has a moor he must be well off,
and the grouse season is very short, even were the
attendant expenses small, which they are not. A par-
tridge manor is not had for nothing, nor does a keeper do
his work gratis. With an average partridge manor you
have pretty good fun through September; and during
the other months you get a few days driving or hawking ;
but neither of these games, especially the latter, is to be
indulged in too often. In the present advanced state of
farming none but a maniac would expect to walk birds
up in a legitimate manner after the 1st of October, if they
have been shot at at all regularly in September ; so the
number of days spent in the pursuit of your sport will be
such as to leave you a fair amount of leisure. If you go
in for pheasants, you will spend a fair (or unfair) amount
of money for a very few days' diversion. To be shot
twice is about as much as most coverts will stand in
a season, and in no case is pheasant shooting a poor man's
sport, unless he be asked to shoot with a rich friend ; and,
indeed, I am not considering invitations which are at the
option of one's friends, but the amount of sport which a
man, even one who has no friends, can calculate on having
for himself, at his own time and convenience. Of course,
to speak of deer stalking on the same page as economy
would stamp the individual thus exposing himself as a
candidate for Hanwell.

Next turn we to hunting. The expenses incidental to
the chase can be calculated to a tolerable nicety ; indeed,
the only thing that would throw a man very far out in
this would be the death or permanent injury of a horse.
Hunting may of course be done in as expensive a way as
anything else. To take a dozen horses to Market Har-
borough or Melton is a decidedly extravagant business ; so,

134 UNASKED ADVICE.

indeed, in a general way, is it to hunt away from home
anywhere. The moving of horses and servants is expen-
sive in itself, and productive of many other expenses in
different ways. With the expensive way of hunting I
have here nothing to do ; I only profess to show how the
sport may be made reasonably accessible. Different
people have very different ideas of what is needful for the
pursuit of the chase. Compare, for example, the late
Lord Henry Bentinck with the master of the Sinnington
hounds or the Blencathra ; yet all three are, or, I regret
that I must now say, were, equally good sportsmen. To
be sure, a man who wishes to enjoy hunting at small cost
must not be a very heavy weight — he ought, in fact, to
ride under fourteen stone ; and a man of this weight
will be able to mount himself sufficiently well for the
provinces at a moderate figure, nor need he stay at home,
with hounds close by, even if he lives in "the Shires."
With two sound horses, and fair luck, a man may hunt
on an average three days a week in open weather. His
amusement will last for six months in the year, and
sometimes more, and he will have the use of his horses
during the summer. With a month's rest at the end of
the season, a poor man's horses should be sufficiently
recruited, if they leave off their work sound, or tolerably
so, to make themselves pretty useful in the summer ;
though they ought not to be exactly knocked about
at a very fast pace on the road, neither ought any other
horses; excepting perhaps those belonging to country
doctors, also butchers' hacks — which latter always work
at a fast pace, the former doing so only on occasions. Set off
against the economy of hunting the fact that, not un-
frequeutly, it is stopped by frost, and that the horses have
be fed all the same. This is certainly a bore ; but on the

ECONOMICAL SPORT. 135

other hand, while weather is on our thoughts, think of
the sport often to be enjoyed on wet days, or cold raw
days, and in every description of weather barring frost.
Often the run of the season may be shown on a day
on which, but for hunting, you would not have been
persuaded to leave your fireside. You cannot fish nor
shoot in rain, but you can hunt, even if uncomfortably.
The performance at dinner, and the subsequent enjoy-
ment of a night's rest, by the man who has been hunting,
should be compared with that of the one who has spent
the day by the fire. It will not require a conjuror to tell
which is the best business.

The expenses of a two-horse establishment will very
little exceed 100Z. a year. Even at present high prices,
a horse can be foraged and shod for 40L per annum,
especially if the forage be bought at first hand and paid
for ready money. Horse keep is expensive when every
grain of oats passes through perhaps three pairs of hands,
each of which must make their separate profit on it.
Straw, for example, when bought from the farmer and
returned in the form of manure, comes to a very different
figure from what it does when the stud groom buys it of
the corn and hay dealer ; indeed, in many countries it is
to be had for nothing. One man will look after two
horses ; and here let me advise that he should be a man,
even if his wages be a little more, and not a lad. It has
been well said that it takes one man's time to look after
a boy. £125 per annum should cover everything well,
bar accidents. First, however, the horses must be got,
and a good judge will find two " useful " animals for
50Z. apiece, possibly less. But if the intending pur-
chaser be not a good judge, he should find a friend who
is to see to the deal for him. An ignorant youth in

136 UNASKED ADVICE.

search of a cheap horse is a melancholy object, and is
certain to be done. The man buying for himself must
bear in mind certain things. Firstly, he must, intending
to hunt regularly with two horses, avoid a young one
like poison; the nags must be at least six off. If he
wishes to buy a green young horse, and "make" him with
a view to selling him at a profit, that is another thing ; he
may be sure that in so doing he will lose a good deal
of hunting, even if he makes some money. Our sports-
man of small means should keep clear of dealing as
much as possible. When he has a horse to suit him he
should keep him. In buying he must choose nags well
up to his weight. In all countries a galloper is desirable,
though in many a slow jumper can do the trick. He
should remember what brings sound horses to low
prices : it is either bad temper, bad manners, bad action,
ugliness, or age. Let him have nothing to do with the
first two qualifications, as he hunts for pleasure, and let
him avoid the third ; but a really good ugly one will be
the thing for him, as he must not go in for appearances ;
nor must he decline an aged horse if he be fresh on
his legs, and not positively an old one. Naturally sound
horses will, when well treated, work on up to twenty
years old; and there is no greater fallacy than the
rage for young untried ones. A young horse is sound
as a matter of course, but how he may turn out is a risk ;
whilst a horse who is sound at ten years old will probably
be sound for from five to ten years longer. Again, a
horse may not be sound enough to pass a veterinary
examination, yet may be a capital poor man's slave, and
never be out of work. There are some few things that
cannot be pardoned ; a sulky eye is one. Bad shoulders

ECONOMICAL SPORT. 137

must be rejected at once. Short back ribs are usually
tlie sign of a bad constitution, but, if you know the
horse to be a " good doer," this fault may be pardoned.
" Sickle hocks " are not to be bought at any price ;
sooner or later they will go^-either spavins or curbs will
be their ruin. Of course a horse who makes the slightest
noise should be declined ; he will never get better, and
may probably (will too) get worse. But one thing which
is invariably condemned by people of little knowledge or
none at all should not be an obstacle in the way of the
poor man's purchase — I allude to "archy" knees, as
those fore legs are called which stand over. Worn-out
legs are another thing, but I should not decline a low-
priced horse for this fault if his action were good, and if
his fetlock joints and feet were fresh and sound. Such
horses are generally cheap, in consequence of the pre-
judice against them, and therefore suitable to our present
purpose. The back sinews of such legs hardly ever go
— indeed, I have never known an instance of their doing
so; and though in the racing stables they are liable to
sore shins, that does not matter to the hunter. They are
not saleable, however. Our two-horse man must not be
too fine to ride his horse on to covert, and he must never
have both out at once. By careful and proper manage-
ment he will find that he gets an interesting and
healthful pursuit for half the weeks of half the year,
with the possession of his nags for the other half.
"Whatever man has done man may do, and I speak from
experience. Our friend will find he gets more return of
enjoyment for his money than any other investment of
the same sum would give him. And there is another
thing ; it is poor fun to fish all day without a rise, worse

138 UNASKED ADVICE.

still to shoot without touching a feather, and the muff
will, sooner or later, get choked off both pursuits ; but
any muff may enjoy himself out hunting, for, out of
many hundreds that I have seen at the covert side, I
never yet saw one who had discovered himself to be a
tailor !

KESTIVENESS AND VICE.

" RESTIVENESS " in horses is a thing which I take to be
quite distinct from " vice " originally, although the
former will often enough merge into the latter, forming a
combination profitable to no one, now that poor Mr.
Rarey is no more. In fact, according to my notion, a
restive horse, like a poet, nascitur ; a vicious one, fit ! A.
restive horse wishes to have his own way; like many
humans, he is generally amiable when he gets it. He
wishes no harm to anyone. ' ' Live and let live " is his
motto. When he has had enough exercise he likes to
turn home ; and, when allowed to do so, home he will go
tout lonnement. Thwart him in his desire, and he is
not so particular as he might be as to what form
of resistance he adopts. Still, he resists what he
takes to be an imposition. He does not, like certain
English politicians, pitch into the powers that be
merely for the sake of having an argument and trial of
strength. But the vicious horse does so. He has no
more love for man than " Iconoclast " has for an arch-
bishop ; and if the behaviour of the biped does not afford
him a casus belli, he is not above making one for himself.
What I understand by a restive horse is one who jibs in
harness, who stops and turns round on the road, or who
sulks and "sets up" when there is a question of his leaving
the pleasant company of other horses. (The last habit, in
a park hack especially, will occasionally be the means of
placing many people at once in the falsest of positions !)

140 UNASKED ADVICE.

The tricks of a restive horse always are put in practice
with the greatest spirit and perseverance when he is
fresh, and it is generally a question of spirit and per-
severance between the horse and his rider who shall be
master. Now a restive horse is more or less an intel-
lectual one. You are riding him, we will suppose, and
come to four cross roads : one road leads towards home,
or the horse thinks that it does — for they are not always
quite accurate in their geography — and he stops short.
If a beginner, he may avail himself of the excuse of a bird
moving in the hedge, or some such trifle; if an old
offender, he will stop without any apology. In either
case he "reverses his front," as soldiers say (almost
always "left about"), and would be for going home, or
down the desired path ; but by this time you, the rider,
have recovered your surprise, and, taking up the reins,
pull him up. This is signal enough for a real old offender
to begin, whatever may be his peculiar vanity in the way
of resistance, but a tyro will stop, and then you try to
turn him round again. He declines, and shakes his head.
The rider spurs him; he kicks. Ditto repeated two or
three times. Next, the biped probably gives the qua-
druped one down the shoulder with his whip. That the
latter will convert himself into a biped for the time by
rearing straight up is one of the " few certainties out."
So far, so good. If the rider be timid he probably gives
in, and the horse scores a victory ; if otherwise, sup-
posing that the ground is favourable — for the neighbour-
hood of a deep blind ditch or some such thing often
makes a fight impossible — the rearing and kicking con-
tinue for sometime. The horse may rear and come back ;
but he may rear very often and very high without doing
so, and if he does it will not be on purpose. The bold

RESTIVENESS AND VICE. 141

and persevering rider eventually gets his horse to pro-
ceed, in most cases at the expense of severe punishment
and some unwished-for excitement; and it is quite
possible that ever afterwards he will be carried by the
animal wherever he wishes to go without remonstrance.
The horse is no fool; on the contrary, he is most intelligent,
and he sees that his game won't do with that particular
man. He has tried it on, and found it fail, so he does
not waste more time and trouble. But, on the other
hand, with the timid rider he found his plan of action
answer ; and, rely upon it, he will never carry him in a
docile manner again, unless he happens to be ground
down with work, or unless from some other cause a
contest is considered undesirable by himself. Rearing
and kicking are usually considered vice ; but this horse I
should not call vicious, though he has done both. He
reared because he had probably found from experience
that the proceeding usually got him his own way. He
had no wish to fall back and crush his rider, or to hurt
him in any way. Very likely he did not kick with the
hope even of kicking him off; he merely wanted to
frighten him, and so gain his end. Allowed to go home
in the first case supposed, he went quite quietly, and had
no objection to carry his rider. The objection was not
to the rider personally, but to his course of action. In
a stand-up fight let those laugh who win, those who lose
not bear malice. Neither in losing nor winning would
this sort of horse bear malice. He would not object in
the stable to the presence of rider No. 2 more than that
of No. 1, the vanquished ; and so I should not call him
a vicious horse. These sort of rebels are invariably curs
at heart, which may be a consolation to their owners.
If the rider goes on long enough, he will eventually gain

142 UNASKED ADVICE.

his point. A horse who is given to rear dangerously, on
what he considers provocation, will be taught better
manners by the use of a rearing bit; which, while it
keeps his head down, renders any attempt to get it up
futile, from the acute pain caused to the mouth, and has,
indeed, the same moral effect as a twitch. And the
kicking does not matter. A man who can be kicked off
when he expects, and is prepared for, the manoeuvre, had
better confine himself to pedestrian or carriage exercise.
(I have heard of horses kicking themselves head over
heels, but have never seen one do it, though I have had
them scramble, as it were, on their fore feet, while they
were performing a more than usually brilliant caper.)
Vice under the saddle takes different forms, the principle
being always the same — to get rid of the man, if not to
damage him when disposed of. A restive horse almost
always shows his disposition by a certain sulk of the
eye, unmistakable to a horseman ; a vicious one, not in-
variably. ' ' Maneaters " especially I have seen with the
mildest of countenances. A vicious horse will bite or
kick a man in the stable, and possibly be quiet out of it ;
or he may be quiet to groom, and almost impossible to
ride. But in either case he dislikes man, and in most
cases, not to say all, has only too good reason for so
doing. A vicious horse under the saddle will plunge or
buck-jump until he or his rider is tired, and, if he
succeeds in dislodging the man, will probably kick at
him ; but the stable savage and the unrideable one were
not born so. In a few cases savage temper is hereditary,
but almost always it is the result of ill-treatment. The
stock of a horse called Manchester not unfrequently
inherited his savage disposition ; but how had the sire
become what he was ? A horse has the best of memories,

EESTIVENESS AND VICE. 143

and such a thing as a punishing finish of a closely-con-
tested race is never forgotten. Cruiser himself did not
begin life as anything out of the way, as far as temper
went. No ; a vicious horse has had occasion to fear man
originally ; he ends by making most men fear him. For
this reason I have an idea, grounded on experience, that
a vicious horse is often to be radically cured of vice, but
a restive horse seldom or never of his tricks. A resolute
man will cure a restive horse, as far as he is concerned ;
but the animal will try his tactics afresh with every
stranger who mounts him. Now, a vicious horse is to
be cured, not by punishment, but by kindness ; and, if
uniformly well treated, he will sometimes become recon-
ciled to the human race generally, even if he be suspicious
of perfect strangers.

In harness the two chief misdeeds of which a horse is
capable are jibbing and kicking; the former I should
hardly call vice. The animal means harm to no one, but
does not wish to drag a load after himself. In pursuance
of this determination, he will, if remonstrated with, throw
himself down now and again ; but still he does not mean
to do mischief. Bully him and set him kicking, and
he does mean mischief, and no mistake. He means to
smash all behind him, and sometimes succeeds in doing
so j but he never would have kicked if he had not been
flogged. The whip had made him vicious for the time.
Nothing but patience pays with a jibber. Never let the
collar be cold to the neck at starting ; and if your animal
won't start in single harness, put something behind the
wheels — or better still, if possible, let the carriage front
down hill. Strap up a fore-foot, and let the gentleman
stand, for a week at a time if he likes. Try this a few
times, and, if he is not something extraordinary, he will

144 UNASKED ADVICE.

at length be too glad to go on when and where he is
wanted to. Other cases of kicking in harness arise
chiefly from the harness hurting the horse, or the
carriage running upon him, neither of which accidents
are the horse's fault. Sometimes a horse who is very
fresh may give a jump and kick from exuberance of
spirit, meaning no more mischief than the same action
would do if he were being led. But it is dangerous, as
he may be frightened or even hurt by his hocks coming
against carriage or splinter bar ; and if once frightened,
a horse is a less pleasant conveyance than anything short
perhaps of a " must " elephant. No ! restive horses are
a bore, vicious horses a dangerous nuisance; but your
real promoter of coroners' inquests is a nervous horse,
one who becomes frightened easily — he loses his head
entirely, and is a dangerous maniac immediately. For
them there is no cure. When least suspected, their
peculiar idiosyncracy will make its unwelcome appear-
ance ; and their rider or driver is instantaneously trans-
formed, from a comfortable citizen taking an airing for
pleasure, to the helpless victim of an aimless and object-
less lunatic, whose bodily strength and insensibility to
danger are in exactly inverse ratio to his reflecting
powers.

THE "SCREW."

WHAT is a " screw ? " is a question easier to ask than to
answer -, at all events, few people agree in the definition
of one. Properly the term would seem to apply to an
unsound horse — one which cannot pass the examination
of a qualified veterinary surgeon, though these gentlemen
are not by any means infallible, as most owners of horses
know to their cost. Some would term any blemished or
aged horse a " screw ;" others again, mostly gentlemen
in the first bloom of youth, consider and call every horse
which is not a long-priced one, whatever his qualities
may be, by this unflattering appellation. On the other
hand, all men of any stable experience must be able to
call to mind horses of the most expensive price which have
been nothing more nor less than screws, and yet have
been favourites and highly valued even by masters who
are good judges.

There are, however, many forms of unsoundness which
do not make a horse a whit the less valuable for certain
purposes, while they would incapacitate him entirely from
the performance of other duties. For example, a roarer
or whistler would be of no use to a hard-riding man as a
hunter ; but for moderate harness work, unless the noise
is so great as to be audible above that of the wheels, a
roarer is frequently as useful as a sound horse, does his
work as well as one, and will probably give his master as
much satisfaction as a sound one, until lie wants to sell
Mm. Then he will find a difference between the two.

146 UNASKED ADVICE.

I have instanced roaring as being a very common and
a universally-known species of unsoundness. It is ruin
to a hunter (owners of roarers are fond of telling one
that " he makes a noise, but it doesn't stop him ;" in one
case out of ten thousand perhaps it may not do so to any
great extent) and next thing to ruin in a hack, for there
is no comfort in riding a " bull," though he may carry
one w ell on the road. But for harness, as aforesaid, a
roarer may be as good as his neighbours. A harness
horse, too, may have a leg that would never stand hunt-
ing, or even hacking, and yet, with no weight on his
back, he may step away merrily for an indefinite time.
In fact, as long as a machine has sound feet, he can get
along with almost any fault. Even a ricked back will not
incapacitate a horse for harness — of course, if the injury
be moderate only. Sound feet are required, because a
harness horse is always on hard ground; and sound
hocks, for appearance sake, are desirable. A hunter may
go for years with a spavin that lames him on coming out
of the stable and after work, and often he gets no worse ;
but a harness horse who stands about would have to
make so many fresh starts, " working sound " each time,
but always starting lame, that the appearance of the thing
would be objected to. The horse might do his work,
however, without much inconvenience to himself.

A hack must be sound to be agreeable ; he is knocked
about on hard ground, he is wanted six days, perhaps, in
a week, and, being required to minister both to business
and pleasure, must be the nearest approach to equine
perfection procurable. He must be perfectly sound ; but
really with other horses I must be allowed to say, " Je ne
vois pas la necessite."

In a hunter soundness is an advantage no doubt, but

THE "SCKEW." 147

how seldom met with. Many first-flight men would be
much disgusted if their favourite flyers were called
" screws ;" but I think I am on the safe side when I say
that, out of twenty-five hunters selected at random from
(say) Melton stables, past their eighth year, and which
have been ridden regularly, and fairly hard, half a dozen
would be the outside number which could be passed by a
veterinary surgeon as sound in every respect ; and these
half-dozen might quite possibly be the worst hunters of
the lot. A hqrse who has done hard work must show it
somewhere. Anyone who doubts the truth of these
remarks may satisfy himself by having his aged hunters
led at the end of the bridle on stones, without any whip
or excitement ; if they all go just as they do on the soft,
he is a lucky man, and the exception that proves the rule
into the bargain. There are so many shortcomings in
the way of soundness that have no perceptible eeffct on
the horse's power of crossing a country. Eyes and wind,
of course, are indispensable; but how about legs and
feet? He hits his legs; are not boots accessible and
cheap, bandages still more so ? He has bad feet, even
chronic fever in them, or navicular disease ; his work is
all on the soft, and with careful shoeing he may go on
with even these diseases for a considerable time, and his
owner may not know of their presence. . The groom takes
the horse on to the covert side ; he is sound when his
master mounts him, and is possibly not seen again — out
of the stable at any rate — if he belongs to one of the
modern order of fox-hunters, until it is his turn to hunt
again, by which time he is fit to go, though starting lame
or groggy as before. Side bones and ossified cartilages
do not stop a horse across country, but they make him
most unpleasant to ride on the road, even when he is not

L2

148 UNASKED ADVICE.

exactly lame with them. Curbs are a bore ; they often
are not allowed to stop a horse's work, though they cer-
tainly ought to do so. Spavins are wonderfully common
among hunters — in fact, almost the certain accompani-
ments of a particularly shaped hock ; but horses will hunt
for a lifetime with them, especially when they have been
fired, coming out always stiff, and invariably working
sound, as I have already remarked. String-halt is
ugly, but there the evil ends, except in those excep-
tionally bad cases where the horse cannot start at once.
I had last season two hunters affected with it ; it was par-
ticularly apparent when they " turned over " in a stall ;
and for the first forty or fifty yards on leaving the stable
in the morning it was noticeable, but on no other occa-
sion. A vet. could not have passed these animals, but
they hunted and hacked none the worse for their affec-
tion. It has been stated that horses with string-halt are
the safest on the road. I am not sure that a friend of
mine was far wrong who used to remark, " Sound horses
be hanged ! You never know where they may ' go ;'
they are a constant anxiety. Now I know the worst of
my corns, curbs, and spavins, and it's hard lines if each
nag is not contented with one example of screwiness !"

I don't, however, go so far as to recommend the
purchase of notoriously unsound horses, though asserting
that, ten thousand to one, the soundest of animals
will, if you only work him enough and keep him long
enough, become eventually a screw in your hands, and
probably on your hands too, if you want to get back any-
thing like his cost price.

Young sportsmen like to buy a young, fresh horse, and
to exhibit him as a fresh importation at the covert side ;
they dislike the second-hand sort of notion conveyed by

THE "SCEEW." 149

buying a horse of a neighbour. They know that a
farmer, we will say, or anyone else of their acquaintance,
has a bond fide reason for wishing to part with a horse ;
they know, too, that he is a good one ; in fact, they know,
or can find out, all about him — and apparently for this
very reason they won't buy him. They go to a dealer
and pay more money for a horse of which they know
nothing except what the dealer tells them. The fresh
look of a made-up horse soon goes off, and then they are
disappointed in the animal's appearance ; and lucky they
are if the disappointment ends there.

Now the consideration arises, how to get the greatest
amount of work out of a screw. Buy where you may,
and give what you like, you will always have a certain
percentage of screws amongst your stud. With a good
stud groom a master need not even think of a horse on
non-hunting days; but, as everyone does not possess
this advantage, the following hints may not be written
altogether in vain. Many hunters are inclined to fever
in the feet, the result of high keep and hard work. Any-
thing that diverts the inflammation from the laminee of the
foot, after work, is here beneficial. As a blister rapid in
its effects I know nothing to beat Fan-ell's Vesicant, and
a little of this, painted on round the coronets after a hard
day with hounds, has the best possible effects, the annoy-
ance caused by it to the horse being over in a few
minutes. Then, last thing at night, put the fore-feet in
bran poultices till the following morning, and if you have
any luck your screw should come out next morning step-
ping like a lion rampant ; at least, I adopted this treat-
ment with a groggy horse, and with the best results. A
mild blister round the coronets, if hunting be stopped by
frost, is also useful. A horse, especially an old one, whose

150 UNASKED ADVICE.

joints fill and are stiff after hunting, will be much bene-
fited by being bandaged, last thing at night, with
flannel bandages wrung loosely out of the hottest water
that can be borne ; over these dry flannel bandages are
placed, and left for the night. In the morning the inner
bandage is dry and the outer one wet. The legs should
be fine, and will generally be found so. Horses who hit
themselves on the road may be dealt with by judicious
shoeing in many cases, but hunters will require protection
in the way of boots or bandages. If boots are used, they
should be of cloth and leather, not indiarubber, and the
horse should be measured for them. A horse who cuts
behind is most objectionable, as a boot behind frequently
lames the horse ; in that case a three-quarter shoe will
often effect a cure, the inside quarter being cut off.
When this fails, try cutting off the outer quarter — a pro-
ceeding which is nearly infallible, but possessed of this
disadvantage, that the horse slips about on greasy ground
to an unpleasant extent. For the road the inside heel
may be thickened with the same good result, and a similar
proceeding with the fore feet will often be successful ;
but here care must be taken, as the fore feet do not
allow of such liberties as the hind. Corns are best dealt
with by the use of a three-quarter shoe, when the work
is on soft ground. All this if the Charlier system be not
approved of.

Lately a variety of inventions have been advertised,
which, if their performance were equal to their promise,
would render soundness a matter of no importance to the
owner of horses. I have tried several of them, and as the
inventors don't know almpecuniosus"from Adam, can give
my opinion freely. The two which took my notice most were
f ' Edwards's Horseshoe Cushion," and Clark's " Neuras-

THE "SCREW." 151

theni— ." I really can't trust myself to finish spelling
the word from recollection. The former made soundness
in feet a matter of no moment ; the latter had the same
effect upon legs, according to the advertisement. As I
say, I tried them, and this is the result of my experience.
The cushion would probably have performed its promise,
could it have been kept on ; but at all sorts of odd times,
and without any warning, cushion, shoe, and all would fly
off. Sometimes they kept on through a long day's
hunting ; at others ten minutes' walking exercise disposed
of them. While on, the tender-footed horse which wore
them went on the hard with great confidence ; his feet,
too, grew very fast. Now for the long word. The
application fines down some legs wonderfully, but on
others has less effect, and on fired legs, as far as I know,
none at all. I should much like to compare notes as
regards the latter phenomenon with anyone who has
tried the stuff.

These patent medicines lead one's thoughts back to
veterinary practice ; and concerning the professors thereof
I must repeat (though with the utmost respect) that they
are not infallible, and that the young purchaser of horses
may often be mislead by them, to the extent of losing a
good and cheap horse. Without knowing anything of
his former history, the cleverest veterinary surgeon can
only guess at his capability of standing sound. He can
of course point out any present unsoundness, but he does
not always stop there : e.g., I knew a mare which, being
for sale, was examined, at the desire of a would-be
purchaser, by a vet. of extensive repute. The vet.
pronounced her sound at the time: "But," said he,
" don't buy her; she has one foot rather smaller than the
other, and will eventually be lame." The theory was

152 UNASKED ADVICE.

undeniable ; so the mare was returned. I afterwards
accidentally learned that some time previously this
mare had had a fearful overreach (the mark was visible
enough), and that she had not used this foot, to speak
of, for I think three weeks. Naturally the foot had
decreased in size, but this did not affect her going, and I
saw her a year after the transaction going sound, and
heard that she had never done otherwise. Sometimes,
too, they will make rather ludicrous mistakes, and I
could give many instances of such, but that it is no wish
of mine to cry down the attainments of a body of men
allowed to be well-read and intelligent. I only mean to
point out the possibility of their being mistaken occa-
sionally in a casual examination of a horse who has done
work. Further, many have not studied sufficiently the
accidents and unsoundnesses peculiar to hunters. How-
ever, a professional opinion on a young horse is mostly
correct, as they have no past history.

I have mentioned some few instances of unsoundness
that do not of necessity stop work, and I could mention
others of course, but that I should be trespassing on the
ground of the qualified practitioner. But, although it be
almost impossible to get anything but a young horse as
a hunter which is perfectly sound, the nearest possible
approach to that desirable state should always be sought ;
and, on the other hand, if ingenuous youth obtains a
hunter who carries him well, and is fast, bold, and clever,
he must not be too much disgusted on discovering —
probably through the agency of some ' ' good-
natured friend" — that the animal has some, perhaps
latent, peculiarity which entitles him to the undignified
appellation of " Screw."

THE HUNTER AT HOME.

THE management and conditioning of hunters has, as we
all know, made great progress in the last fifty years. It
is seldom indeed that we hear of horses dying after a
hard day, unless there is some good reason for such mis-
fortune beyond the severity of the day; yet, in the
recollection of most of us, it was a comparatively common
thing to hear of horses dying in the field, and soon after
their arrival at home. Horses " stop" occasionally now,
but they do not die, unless there be, as I have just
remarked, some cause independent of the gallop for their
demise. If a horse has anything wrong with him at
starting, a very moderate day's sport may finish him ;
but when such is the case he has no business at the
covert side.

All stud grooms who are good for anything understand
the management of " their" horses, as they call their
masters' studs, well enough for any average emergency ;
indeed, the chances are that they have more knowledge
of the treatment of hunters' accidents than the generality
of veterinary surgeons, for the clear and obvious reason
that their lives have been passed in contemplation of the
mishaps peculiar to one description of horse, whereas the
veterinary surgeon, though his general knowledge of
horses is undeniable, may have a large practice, with
hardly any hunter cases in it. Hence, I suppose it
happens that many mishaps peculiar to hunters are all
but ignored in veterinary works, which treat of diseases

154 UNASKED ADVICE.

rather than accidents, and of accidents generally in a
very general way, hardly mentioning those peculiar to
the racing and hunting stable : e. g., I never saw in any
veterinary work the mention of " sore shins," one of the
most common of training troubles, though I may say
unknown among hunters. Therefore, my excuse for
writing on this subject is just this. Although first-rate
stud grooms know a great deal more of it than I could
tell them, everybody does not possess such an official.
Sportsmen of experience, again, do not want teaching ;
but there are many tyros, who are beginning hunting
on rather a small scale, to whom I hope these remarks
may be of use. Young sportsmen, with a stud of two
hunters, naturally like to get as much work as possible
out of them ; at the same time, they are hardly likely to
have a highly educated individual to look after them, and
to such are these remarks addressed. A man with a
small stud should always be shy of young horses, but
even seasoned hunters will sometimes go wrong. They
will not remain sound for ever, though they are not
so likely to be lamed in the field as young ones.
Amongst the most common of accidents are bangs and
blows on the legs. These may be either on the sinew or
on the bone, and may have been given by some part of a
fence, or by the opposite leg in a scramble. If the horse
be not lame, nothing much beyond rest is required; rest,
that is to say until the leg is cool and fine again. A
slight blow on the sinew may not lame the animal, but by
taking him out hunting again too soon he will very likely
be lamed. If the blow is on the bone, and the horse is
lame, hot fomentations and rest will set matters straight
again, in more or less time. It is a matter of no very
great moment ; but the event will often be impressed on

THE HUNTER AT HOME. 155

the masters' memory by the appearance of a bony en-
largement on the place that was injured, like a splint, but
situated on the place where the injury occurred. This is
better let alone, as it will not lame the horse, and often
wastes away of its own accord. By interfering with it
inflammation may be produced, and the horse laid up' for
longer than his master likes. If the bump be very
unsightly, I should wait till the end of the season before
meddling with it, and then apply the mildest of remedies.
As good a thing as any in such a case is a green cabbage
leaf, put on under a bandage. It makes a sort of mild
blister at last, and does not make the leg so sore as iodine
or any blister of that kind. Still I should prefer leaving
such things alone, for nature sometimes removes them,
and if she does not, a blemish on a hunter's leg is of no
great consequence, so long as the action of the limb is
not damaged. A blow on the sinew is a much more
serious thing. In a case of this kind the leg is hot and
filled; and it requires some experience to determine
whether a blow or a sprain has caused the mischief. But
if ingenuous youth is not certain on this point, he may
console himself by the reflection that the treatment of
both is about the same, so he cannot go very far wrong.
Fomentations with hot water, are the first requisite, and a
hot bandage at night. By this I mean a flannel bandage
wrung out of hot water and put on the leg, with a
dry flannel bandage above it. If the horse is very lame,
a mild dose of physic is to be recommended, and the hot
bandage and fomentation should go on until the inflam-
mation has subsided. At this stage blistering used to be
recommended ; but I would rather use cold applications,
the heat having gone from the limb, and Mr. Clark's
lotion with the unpronounceable name is the best thing 1

156 UNASKED ADVICE.

know of for such a case. When the horse is quite sound
bring him to work by degrees, as his work may lame him
again. Time is the great thing here. I have known a
blow above the knee to lay a horse up for a whole season.
If the blow be on the inside of the leg, the horse should
wear a bandage for a good time after he works again, for
fear of a fresh rap on the old place. Vinegar and hot
water fomentations are even better than the water alone,
both for blows and sprains. Inferior grooms always re-
commend a blister after a severe bang on the leg, though
they would be puzzled if they were bid to explain the
benefit which they expect from the process. Individually,
I am opposed to blisters in a general way ; rest is the
thing for injuries to sinews, nor is nature the muff that
some would-be clever ones consider her to be.

Taking misfortunes rather alphabetically, the next that
occurs to me is a broken knee, or knees. This is of
course not an accident peculiar to hunters; rather,
indeed, are they exempt from it, which is odd, consider-
ing what atrocious hacks many good hunters are. But,
as such an accident may happen, I may as well mention
what I consider to be the treatment which brings the
animal out again in the shortest possible time, for this is
a point of importance with hunters, whose season of
work is limited, and to be made the most use of. Of
course a very bad broken knee, which involves serious
damage to the joint, is a case for the consideration of the
nearest good veterinary surgeon. But a moderate case, in
which the cut is not very deep, may be managed at home,
thus : first, the wound must be bathed with warm water,
until no dirt or gravel can by possibility be left in it ; next
the horse should, after due preparation, have a mild dose
of physic, and it will be well to rack him up for the first

THE HUNTER AT HOME. 157

two nights, so that (poor victim !) he should not lie down,
and by bending his knees interfere with the healing pro-
cess. Also, for the first three or four days keep the knee
continually wet with a lotion composed of tincture of
arnica, two ounces ; water, one quart. Arnica is a grand
thing for a bruise, and the bruise is often the worse part
of a slightly broken knee. If all goes on well, the horse
should be out again in three weeks or so, where this
treatment is followed ; but, to save appearances, he will
require a judicious application of some cosmetique for
some time to come. When the chance of a blemish is
important, and time is not so, a very mild blister has
been recommended, which, by taking all the hair off from
the knee, allows it to grow again altogether and even,
and no doubt this would have the desired effect, but I have
never tried it personally, though I have had some
experience of broken knees. I have always treated them
as above, and have generally got off with no blemish to
speak of, and several times with none at all ; but this (the
blemish) depends a good deal on the nature of the original
wound. A very deep cut must leave a mark, treat it how
you will; but still the arnica wash reduces the amount of
the blemish to the smallest possible extent. On no account
should a bandage be put on or near the knee, as severe
inflammation would be most likely produced thereby.
Broken bones are only to be cured by a bullet, in the
majority of cases. Broken legs may occasionally be so far
mended that the animal may live and be used for breeding
purposes, if it be qualified for such a career ; but I do not
think any adult horse with a broken leg has ever been
repaired to the extent demanded for active work.
Hunters are rather liable to fractures of the small
bones of the foot or pastern ; and for such accidents, if

158 UNASKED ADVICE.

severe, there is no remedy. A stiff joint is the most
favourable ending that can possibly be hoped for, and
that is not a termination that would please a master who
wished to use his horse for hunting. A broken neck
speaks for itself, either in the case of the horse or his
rider ; so does a broken back, which is a case for merciful
destruction. But while on this subject, let me advise
young sportsmen to be sure that their horse's back really
is broken before they have him destroyed. A horse may
fall, and lie for some time exactly as if his back were
broken, when nothing of the sort is the case ; and there
are always lots of " good natured friends " about, who
are only too ready to put a horse " out of his pain,"
^vvhen he belongs to "another fellow/' A horse whose
back is really broken I do not think suffers much, as he
is paralysed everywhere behind the fracture ; so it is no
great cruelty to wait until a competent opinion can be
had before proceeding to extreme measures. The test of
trying whether the prick of a pin can be felt by the
-animal (of course behind the supposed place of injury) is
not infallible. I remember a case in point; and, indeed,
I pride myself upon my remarks being founded on actual
experience. It happened very many years ago — when the
young sportsmen, for whose benefit these lines are (with
all humility) intended were in their ' ' berceaunettes," if
indeed they had made their appearance at all — at a
country steeplechase meeting (it was one then, but now it
would be a metropolitan one) a horse fell, and lay where
he fell. A grand chorus arose from the excited spec-
tators of " His back's broke ! Cut his throat ! " (I don't
pretend to know whether the leaders of this demonstra-
tion had laid against the steed ; possibly so ; this occurred
in the dark ages ; we can now make ' ' a dead 'un," with-

THE HUNTER AT HOME. 159

out personal violence to him.) Well, this advice was
acted upon; the poor horse's throat was cut, and in his
last agony he rose to his feet, and staggered a little way.
The frantic delight of the owner, as his horse thus demon-
strated that his back was as right as that of the elephant
at " the Zoo," who carries scores of children at once,
may be "imagined, but not described." In another
steeplechase I once saw a horse over -jump himself, and
fall, and lie with all the wind knocked out of him, with
the same recommendations from the bystanders. But
the rider, who was also the owner, was a man of patience
and wisdom, though only a baby cornet, and he quietly
surveyed his prostrate steed for some minutes, at the
close of which the animal rose, as well as he had ever
been. The juvenile remounted, sent him along, and, by
a lucky chapter of accidents, falls, and refusals, not only
caught up the leaders, but actually won the race. A very
little indecision on the part of this youth would have lost
him his horse, as the crowd were absolutely thirsting for
his blood. Sprains or " ricks " of the back are not
uncommon. Sometimes the horse recovers from them
perfectly ; more often he does not. In any case advice
of the best attainable veterinary surgeon should be taken.
Injuries to the back cannot be dealt with by amateurs. I
can call to mind two instances of ricked backs at this
moment. Both accidents happened with hounds — one at
a brook, the other at a fence. The one horse was laid up
for a long time, but quite recovered, and was as good
a hunter as ever afterwards, which I take to be an
unusual instance. The other recovered so far as to go
well in light harness, but her hind action was never,
to my eye at least, quite the thing. I do not know
how she ended, but she went in harness for two

160 UNASKED ADVICE.

years after the accident. An odd case of injury
to the back occurred to the horse of a friend of mine ;
a lot of hay trusses was dropped on to his back from a
loft window. He was obviously damaged, but recovered
so as to hunt again ; but paralysis came on a year after,
and he had to be destroyed. Affections of the kidneys
often cause a horse to move as if his back was damaged,
but professional advice should be sought in all such cases.
The common run of grooms are very fond of ascribing
every abnormal movement to an injured back. I heard a
sapient specimen suggesting, some little time ago, that
the back was injured, of a horse who was rolling about
rather oddly in single harness. The fact was, the creature
was very groggy in both fore feet, which anyone of
common knowledge could see ; and this caused him to go,
as it were, one pace in front, and another behind — the
result being that he rolled about, and persuaded this
ignoramus that his spine was damaged. Other fractures
are luckily rare. Broken ribs have, I believe, reunited,
but I have never seen a case. A fractured skull is not an
accident that anyone would expect to happen, yet I have
known two cases, and both victims were hunters. One
got loose after a fall, or at exercise — I am not quite sure
which, as I did not see it, and it is long ago ; she ran her
head against a bough of a tree, and was killed. The
other was a hunter, who was being led through a low
archway ; being excited, he threw up his head, struck the
brickwork, and perished. Curbs are unmistakably the
property of hunters and racehorses, but more instances
happen in the hunting than in the training stable. Many
men who know a thing or two think but little of them,
and I must confess I have never known a horse perma-
nently lamed by one, though they often are lame for a

THE HUNTER AT HOME. 161

long time. I have had, oddly enough, but one horse with
a curb, during a somewhat extended hunting career in all
sorts of countries ; but then I never buy one with
" curby " hocks. Every rule has its exception, and I did
buy one once, but he had been fired, and was considered
to be repaired. These hocks stood one season's work,
but sprung a fresh curb the following winter — a sufficient
proof of the uselessness of firing curbs. I worked the
animal all through his recovery, after the first inflamma-
tion had subsided, stimulating the hock with a sort of
absorbent blister on the curb place. The hock never
went again in two years' time, when the animal died —
I am glad to say not in my stable. Had I another case,
I think I should apply Mr. Clark's lotion, the
" Neurasthen," &c., of which I have a very high opinion,
and indeed the only fault I find with it is its absurd name.
It is capital for all injured sinews or tendons. A curb is
a misfortune which may happen to any horse any day,
especially when they are shod in the usual way, with the
frog off the ground. The injury being to the perforans
tendon, or its sheath, is I think least likely to happen in a
severe degree to a horse who has Charlier shoes behind,
and whose frog is consequently engaged in its proper
duties of assisting the tendons. I have known a hack
spring a curb, and, receiving no rest nor treatment, cure
himself; but this was a very slight case. Again, I
know a mare who after every hard day presents an
appearance in both hocks, which just stops short of being
a pair of curbs. She does not go lame; but with a
heavier weight, or her days coming quicker together,
there would be no mistake about it. A high-heeled shoe
is often put on to the foot of the curby leg, but I do not
think it makes very much difference to the animal. I

M

162 UNASKED ADVICE.

should prefer no shoe at all ; or if the patient was shod
a la Charlier, I should leave him so. If I could spare
him, I should rest him j if not, unless he was very lame'
indeed, I should work him : with a curb horses are often
lame one day and sound another. I should apply
the cold lotion with the long name, keeping the
bandage on the right place by a piece of cloth, flannel,
&c., cut into strips at the sides, which strips are meant to
tie as strings, two above the hock, the others below,
leaving the point of the hock free. Next come corns.
Some horses are very subject to them when shod in the
common way. Horses with tips or Charlier shoes never
have them, as they are caused by the pressure of the shoe,
and these shoes do not approach the corn place. If the
horse be very lame, and the usual style of shoeing be
adopted, the most simple plan is to cut off the inside
quarter of the shoe, and leave the inside heel bare. The
horse will then often go sound, and you will have a tip on one
side of his foot ; and observing this, and that no ill effects
occur, you may possibly arrive at the conclusion that with
a regular tip, and his foot level, instead of on one side,
your horse might go better still. When tips are worn,
of course the sole and frog must be left in a state of
nature, and neither they nor the heels will wear away too
fast. Horses will go short in tips at first, of course. A
suppurating corn is a case for the vet., so I will offer no
suggestions on the subject. Cracked heels lame a horse
sometimes to a very great degree, and where the groom
is a careless or ignorant one they are not uncommon. A
mild dose of physic and dressing with the following oint-
ment will set most cases to rights : — Superacetate of lead
1 drachm, lard 1 ounce. Horses which are kept on good
hard meat all the year round, with occasional physic, have

THE HUNTER AT HOME. 163

no business to have cracked heels, and if these are not
left wet after work, they will not be troubled with them.
By the way, I have known cracked heels produced by
the constant use of wet bandages in one case. Chronic
cough is quite a hunter's complaint, though not peculiar
to them. It arises in most cases from neglect in the first
instance, and there is always the chance of its ending in
roaring. This danger is reduced as much as possible by
keeping the horse cool in his system. A few carrots now
and then are always good for a horse suffering from
chronic cough ; but, on the other hand, it is not wise to
give them too often to a horse doing hard work. A common
cough should be nipped in the bud by a smart blistering of
the throat, combined with diminished corn, and the best
application for the purpose is "Farrell's vesicant, " a
patent blister which is to be got of most saddlers now,
and which raises a blister in a few seconds, ceasing to
give pain in a few minutes. The whole thing does not
occupy much more than five minutes, and, though the
pain is sharp while it lasts, it worries the horse less than
the comparatively slow action of a mustard embrocation.
If a little of it gets on the groom's hand, it will give him
a lesson concerning the sensation of a blister, which may
possibly have the effect of preventing him from recom-
mending blisters to be applied on all occasions to horses.
Capped hocks do not lame the horse, and therefore need
no consideration here. Contracted feet are not a cause
but an effect of lameness — any foot lameness may produce
them; but we will consider those to which hunters are
most liable presently. Cutting and brushing are very
common faults among hunters ; hitting the legs, too, is a
thing by no means unknown. A horse inclined to
brush or hit himself may not do it while he is compara-

M 2

164 UNASKED ADVICE.

tively fresh ; so as a hack or in harness, the same animal
might be free from the fault who as a hunter would be
guilty of it to a disgusting extent. For it is a "dis-
gusting" sensation to the rider when his horse hits his
fetlock, and then goes almost on three legs for more or
less distance, and just as the pain is subsiding repeats the
performance. Nor can it be pleasant to the horse.
Hunters do this more than other horses, because they
are ridden long distances on the road when they are
tired, and when their failing spirits are rendered still
lower by leaving the hounds and other horses. Now, a
hack is never ridden till he is as tired as a hunter after a
long day, with twelve miles or more to go home, and also
he has not to undergo the dispiritin g operation of leaving
the hounds and plodding his weary way home alone.
To begin with cutting of the fetlock, and the remedies
for it : A horse who absolutely cuts in front is more
than objectionable, he is unsafe; but luckily there are
not many such, and those which answer this description
must be ridden in boots. When the fetlock only is struck,
a common " dealer's boot," which goes all round the joint,
is best, as it cannot slip round ; or rather it can, but in
doing so it leaves no part unprotected. It must be
fastened with a broad tape, or strap and buckle ; a narrow
one will cut the skin. A horse who hits a splint or the
sinew must be ridden in boots or bandages. I
much prefer the latter, as when properly put on
they will not chafe the leg, and their protective power
may be much increased by placing a strip of stout felt
between the inner and outer folds of the bandage, cut to
the shape of the leg. This will not stir, and will give all
the benefit of a stout boot without any of its drawbacks ;
and to the use of boots there are several. India-rubber

THE HUNTER AT HOME. 165

ones alternately contract and expand, sometimes pinching
the horse's leg, and then again becoming so loose as to
admit no end of mud and chafe the skin j whilst leather
ones become as hard as boards ; and the best, the cloth
faced with leather, do this a little, and also allow much
more mud to get to the skin under the boot than bandages
do. The latter properly put on and tied will never shift
or come off, but if the groom mistrusts his ability in
adjusting them, he had better put a few stitches and sew
them on. Speedy cutting is a vile trick. Some horses
do it when they are over-fresh, from wildly flourishing
their legs about, others when they are tired, while some
treasures are to be found who always do it. Proper
shoeing may modify this fault, but a horse who speedy-
cuts in his gallop is never safe without a boot. A stiff
leather boot will protect the injured part, but the better
plan is to put a common india-rubber ring boot on to the
offending foot, between the fetlock and the coronet ; this
will fend off the blow, and is in every way preferable to
a high boot, which must needs possess the disadvantages
enumerated above.

As to cutting behind, I must have another turn at
what my readers probably consider a "cuckoo cry/'
viz., the Charlier shoe. But facts are stubborn things,
and since I have used this shoe behind, three different
horses of mine have at different times ceased to brush,
who did it before they were so shod.* Other ways of
preventing this disagreeable action there are. To put a
three-quarter shoe on behind is generally efficacious ; if
cutting off the inside quarter does not cure the evil, try
cutting off the outside, and that will in almost all cases
effect a cure, but of course the foot is on one side, which
* And since I wrote this sentence I have cured four more.

166 UNASKED ADVICE.

cannot be desirable. Boots almost always cut the hind
fetlock, and lame the horse until they are taken off. If
they extend a little above the fetlock joint, and fasten
with two or more buckles, they will be less likely to do
this sort of damage, as the lower fastening may be looser
than it otherwise could. While on this subject, over-
reaches may as well be considered. With the inside edge
of the hind shoe bevelled well off, or with a Charlier shoe
let well in, they ought not to occur, in the form of a cut
at least, though the blow will be the same, and a bruised
heel the result. Still, a blow is better than a cut. I
have, oddly enough, had only two overreach cuts in the
last six seasons ; but this is good luck, and I may have
two more the next two days that I hunt. One of these
was done with the common shoe; the other with a
Charlier shoe badly put on, not let in, and left sharp at
the inside edge. I need hardly say that I saw this last
article for the first time after the accident, owing to
uncontrollable circumstances. An overreach high up,
above the heel in fact, is a case for professional advice ;
but the common can be well treated at home by frequent
bathing with arnica and water ; a very loose flap of skin
may be cut off. These mishaps seldom lame the horse,
so he can do his exercise while the case progresses — a
great point, as idleness in the season is most prejudicial
to a hunter's future well doing. Do not hunt him again
before the cut is healed, as another blow on the bad place
would make a serious affair of what should be com-
paratively a trifling one — at all events, a business of ten
days, say. An overreach on the sinew is beyond home
treatment, as the cut if deep will require to be sewn up,
and I never yet saw a groom who could be trusted to do
that sort of thing.

THE HUNTER AT HOME. 167

For cuts and wounds to which, horses specially in wall
countries are exposed, nothing is better than a little
Friars' balsam and a good deal of patience. Bad feeders
have no business in a small stud ; if one finds his way
there, the best plan is to leave him quiet in his box, and
never disturb or approach him more than can be helped.
Many horses who feed badly during the day will eat up
at night any amount, in reason, that is given to them.
Bad feeders are generally excitable, nervous animals — •
not at all the style of steed suitable for a man who wants
to see a maximum of sport at a minimum of expenditure.
I have had very few bad feeders myself; indeed, that is
a quality I always avoid in buying as much as possible,
as I never have found a way of mitigating the evil.
Leaving them quiet is about the only thing that can be
done for them, if they are nervous ones, also feeding them
always at regular intervals. " Niinrod," in his " Con-
dition of Hunters," speaks of giving a bad feeder a
teaspoonful of cayenne pepper; but this could hardly
be administered every day, and some horses will be off
their feed for a week after a hard day. Of course, it is
a mere waste of breath for a buyer to ask whether the
horse he is looking at feeds well, but a pretty good guess
may be made by the look of the animal. Washy ones
generally show their quality more or less in their appear-
ance, unless they are tremendously "made up" for sale.
Let us next consider the feet. About the worst thing
that can befall a hunter is an attack of fever in the feet.
A horse who is fit to go " ought" not to be subject to
such a chance ; but a great many hunters are ridden hard
to hounds when they are anything but fit. My own
experience of this very unpleasant malady is limited to
two cases ; and here is their history. One resulted from

168 UNASKED ADVICE.

riding a horse, who was not in condition, through " the
run of the season." The proceeding would have been
inexcusable had it been intentional ; but it was the fault
of the second horseman, who lost himself before the
second fox was found, the good run being with him (the
second fox) . The result of this day's work was an attack
of general inflammation, which dropped into the feet on
the second day. The mare was bled copiously, and her
shoes were taken off; she also stood for a week on wet
clay during the day. She never cared much about lying
down during the attack; and in seven weeks she was
sound and at work again. She never had a relapse,
although her work was all on the road, and I rode her
for more than three years, after the occurrence, as a hack,
and also worked her in harness. I never hunted her
again ; indeed, she was not a hunter, though she might
have been a first-class one had she been used as such.
The other case was that of a four-year-old horse, who
had a bad attack of fever in the feet after a long but not
hard day, two days after the day's hunting. He lay
down for two days or three, I am not quite sure which,
as it was a long time ago. The veterinary surgeon who
treated him would not bleed him, but gave him a strong
dose of physic, and rest of course, his shoes being taken
off. In a month's time he was so sound that I rode him
with hounds again, the result of which indiscretion was
a second attack, worse than the first. I then threw him
up for three months, and blistered his coronets repeatedly.
He then did a few days' hunting, with no ill effect, and
carried a whipper-in for two seasons after that — being
none the worse for his illness, any more than was the
mare ; but he required a little extra care in his feeding
and condition generally. The cause of his attack was

THE HUNTER AT HOME.

169

that the groom had, contrary to all orders and precedent,
been giving him beans. Now, I think no hunter under
six years of age ought ever to touch a bean, and if they
wait till they are seven before making acquaintance with
that vegetable, so much the better. For old horses they
are excellent in most cases, but there are exceptions even
here. I was decidedly fortunate in the termination of
both these cases, and I do not mean to say that such luck
is common, as shedding of the hoof is not an unusual
ending to the illness, and perhaps dropping of the coffin-
bone to follow that. I knew a case in which a mare lost
both her hoofs in front, and in time they were replaced
by an equally good pair, and she fetched a long price
with the new feet ; but this is a very unusual case, the
new feet being seldom good for much. I should always
advise bleeding in the first stage of laminitis ; had my
young horse been bled, I do not think he would have
had the relapse which he did have. When the inflam-
mation has subsided, blister the coronets sharply all
round, and shoe the horse, when he is shod, either with
a bar shoe, a Charlier, or a tip — anything, in fact, which
will divide the weight between the sole, heels, frog, and
laminee, instead of making the latter carry the whole
weight of the horse, which the common mode of shoeing
almost invariably does. Many old hunters suffer from
chronic fever in the feet. The action of such horses
plainly shows the nature of the complaint, as they go as
much as possible on their heels, to relieve, if they can,
the laminae. Blistering the coronet diverts the inflam-
mation, and these horses, above all others, should be
shod as I have just directed. Tips are easier managed
in remote country districts than Charlier shoes, and I
really think they are as effective.

170 UNASKED ADVICE.

I speak hitherto only of the fore feet, but no horse
ever yet had laminitis behind only, although cases have
now and then occurred, but very seldom, where all four
feet were affected. In the acute laminitis putting the
feet in hot water affords relief, by softening the horn ;
but it is very difficult to do this when both feet are
affected, unless you have a bath for the purpose. When
it can be- managed, bleeding at the toe gives local as
well as general relief; bleeding in the neck naturally
affords the latter only. Many horses are never again
sound in their feet after an attack of laminitis, but this
is an evil to be dreaded rather than expected as a natural
consequence. Laminitis was called " founder " by our
forefathers ; they also had an imaginary disease in their
list called " chest founder," which was really foot lame-
ness, and the muscles of the chest decreased from
want of use of the arms and fore legs generally. The
symptoms of acute fever in the feet are quite unmis-
takable ; the most prominent is the position in which
the horse stands. He leans back, with his fore feet out
as far as possible in front of him, and bears all his weight
on the hind legs. This attitude cannot be mistaken, and
professional assistance should be sought at once. In its
absence bleeding can do no harm, unless it be overdone ;
about a gallon of blood is an average quantity to take
from a horse suffering from fever in the feet. If the
horse be bled at the toe — which the blacksmith can
generally manage to do well enough — the shoe will have
to be tacked on again, in order to keep in its place
whatever has been used (tow generally) to stop the
bleeding. The worst case of chronic fever in the feet
that I ever saw was that of a light harness mare ; she
was bought at TattersalPs, being to all appearance sound,

THE HUNTER AT HOME. 171

and possessed of the most extravagant trotting action.
This action soon decreased when she came to work ; then
she used to come out going short, and work sound ; and
finally she could not work at all. Then she was turned
out to grass for five years, and, being the screw I
describe, her sapient owner bred four foals from her,
selecting a roarer as the sire. One foal, by the way,
died at two years old ; another had his dam's complaint
from the end of the first month he was worked, besides
being the worst roarer I ever heard ; the third is still
going, and is sound in his feet, though a fearful roarer ;
and the fourth was disposed of at the dam's foot, with
her. This gentleman never ceases to declare that
breeding horses does not pay ! One would think that a
winter's run, let alone five of them, would have done
something for the mare's feet, but she got very little
better, if any. I may as well mention that she was bare-
footed all this time. Pumiced foot is often the result of
fever in the feet. I should fancy that the old-fashioned
plan of standing the horse barefoot upon " pitching "
might do good here, and a system of shoeing that allows
of frog pressure might prevent a relapse, but I cannot
speak from actual experience. General inflammation
often ends in fever of the feet ; it is a case for the vet.
and above my powers of advice. Bleeding, however, is
a safe mode of treatment in all cases of inflammation.
Inflammation of the lungs may be brought on by
standing about after a quick gallop — while a fox is being
bolted, for example. Bleeding and blistering are the
chief remedies to be applied, but the veterinary surgeon
must direct this, and by no means the groom, the farrier,
or the village cow doctor. Big legs are very common
amongst hunters; sometimes they are to be reduced^

172 UNASKED ADVICE.

sometimes the contrary. If they do not lame the horse,
they are best let alone. They are often the result of
indiscriminate blistering. A leg blistered while in-
flammation still exists in it is very likely to be a per-
manent blemish in this way. At the same time they (big
legs) sometimes become fine of their own accord, after
being out of shape for perhaps two seasons ; but in such
cases there has been no bony deposit. Bony enlarge-
ments of anything like long standing are best let alone,
the remedy being often worse than the disease. If the
horse is absolutely lame by them, that is another thing
altogether ; but then professional advice will be advisable.
Navicular disease is an affliction common to all horses,
and it will be so as long as the frog, which is meant to
protect the navicular bone, is pared away, or allowed to
diminish of its own accord, which it will do when the
foot is improperly treated and shod. Horses with weak
feet, and who have always large frogs, are least liable to
the disease. I am told that one of the most eminent of
our veterinary surgeons (Mr. Stanley, of Leamington)
has stated it to be his conviction that houses shod <> !<<•
Charlier will never have navicular disease, and certainly
they ought to have the best possible chance of avoiding
it. When the disease exists it is perhaps less prejudicial
to a hunter than to any other horse, as his work is on
soft ground, and I have known several horses hunt for
season after season without it. It is not to be cured, I
firmly believe, after it is once well established. The
horse who suffers from it almost always points his toe in
the stable, in a manner that must be familiar to every
one. He also goes on his toe as much as possible,
thereby wearing away the front of his shoe. The old-
fashioned notion was that neglecting to pare the sole of

THE HUNTEE AT HOME. 173

the horse's foot was one cause of this disease, and a very
far-fetched theory it was. Although all horses had their
soles pared, the disease flourished. Time will show
whether treatment the reverse of this will ward off the
evil. No shoeing will make a horse go sound who is
lame with navicular. " Nerving" will do so of course, but
at a great risk. A nerved horse will bang his foot about
until he literally knocks it to pieces, breaks some internal
bone, or ruptures some important organ. Also, if he
picks up a nail, or experiences any similar accident, he
cannot inform you of the fact by going lame, and any
amount of mischief may ensue. Also nerved horses are
neither safe nor pleasant to ride, and there is an ever-
present chance of their losing the nerved foot altogether,
I knew a hunter, and a capital one was he, who hunted for
five seasons with one foot nerved ; but latterly the nerve
must have reunited, as he used to be lame. His end was
rupture of the perforans tendon, and death, of course.

Horses with navicular disease are always getting worse,
slowly perhaps, but surely. If I had such a one, and he
were a good horse, I should work him as long as I could,
and then shoot him. The very small sum for which a
lame horse can be sold ought not to weigh, even with
the poorest owner, against the misery to which the poor
animal is condemned by being sold to the only sort of
person who buys lame horses. Another very common
ailment among hunters is ossification of the lateral
cartilages. This is said to be caused sometimes by a
sprain, but I think it is more commonly the result of bad
shoeing. The effect is simply to turn the cartilage of
the heel into bone. While the change is progressing
the horse is generally lame. When it is perfected, the
horse may be sound, but he will always go in a stilty

174 UNASKED ADVICE.

manner, with no spring, so to speak, in his action.
When the disease commences it is generally curable.
The horse goes short, or lame, more or less, and the
groom will very likely ascribe the misfortune to a corn, a
splint, or anything in the world but the true cause. Feel
the heels of your horse above the coronet. If they are
perfectly springy and elastic, they are all right, but if
they feel hard anywhere, like bone or stone, they are
wrong — ossification has commenced. Blister the heels,
for two inches above the coronet, with biniodide of
mercury 1 drachm, lard 16 drachms (mix). When the
scurf caused by this application comes off, repeat it ;
meanwhile have your horse shod with tips and exercised
moderately. Taken in time, the disease is to be checked
— at least, I have succeeded in doing so in three different
cases in the last two years ; but I ascribe my success
chiefly to the use of the tips and Charlier shoe, both of
which I have tried. Ring bone is a more visible affection
of the same nature. The treatment is the same ; some-
times, however, firing is requisite, and that even is not a
certain cure. Luckily, it is not a very common complaint
with hunters, and does not always lame the horse, in
which latter case of course it should be let alone.

Next we come to one of the most common maladies
of the hunting stable, and one that I have never seen
mentioned in print — I allude to " mud fever." It is not
dangerous, as it never kills a horse, but it sometimes
lames them, and, if the master goes in at all for appear-
ances, it keeps the steed at home. It is very curious
that no veterinary writer has, to my knowledge at least,
ever alluded to this affection, with the exception of an
article on it which appeared in the Field. This would
lead one to suppose that it is an affection of modern

THE HUNTER AT HOME. 175

date, as even " Nimrod," that most practical of writers
upon stable subjects, never mentions it. So one would
think that it was a new thing, and theory would suggest
that it has arisen since clipping the hunter became
general. I can remember the existence of such an
affection for the best part of twenty years, and I am in a
position to say that it has nothing to do with clipping or
singeing, as I have had a mare attacked who was hunting
with her winter coat on. I ascribe it to general foulness of
the system, arising from hard work, stimulating food, and
heats and chills. New oats are said to be a predisposing
cause, but, although I have occasionally been obliged to
give hunters (after Christmas) oats of the last harvest, I
have never found them cause mud fever, although they
are otherwise objectionable. Horses who have been
summered at grass are especially liable to it. Washing
hunters on their return home with hot water is said to
cause it as well; but foulness of habit, or, in other
words, want of physic, is, I am persuaded, the true
cause. Since I have left off giving my horses green
meat in the summer I have never had a spot of mud
fever on any of them. But each horse has two doses of
physic between his beginning exercise and Christmas
each year, one about the middle or end of February, and
one on leaving off hunting. My doses are, however,
very mild, as I depend chiefly on the preparation, and
never give more than 4 drachms of aloes, often only 3 ;
this, of course, depending on the constitution of the
individual horse. Little time is lost by these mild doses
as the horse can hunt on the fourth day after the physic
has " set " — sometimes even sooner. This is my mode
of prevention of mud fever. The cure is the physic,
better late than never, and a little rest. When there is

176 UNASKED ADVICE.

much soreness of the parts where the hair has come off,
an application of fuller's earth is cooling and efficacious.
When the skin peels off between the fore legs, the horse
is quite lamed by the soreness thereby produced, and
goes as if he were stumped up for life. A horse with
mud fever all over him is a disgusting object, and
continues to be one until his summer coat begins to
come, and then for a time he looks still worse, being
all over patches. The disease, if it may be called so,
generally appears at the time when the winter coat has
ceased to grow, and before the new coat has begun.
But I have seen it appear before Christmas, and this was
the case in which it appeared on an undipped mare,
and after her third day's hunting. Horses that are not
working hard do not have it — at least, very seldom. It
is those who are coming out in their turn all the season
through, who are most liable to it. All that can be done
is to give a dose of physic immediately on the appear-
ance of the first spot. Eoaring, whistling, &c., I say
nothing of, as, though they are the hunter's greatest
betes noirs, they are incurable. A man who buys a
roarer without knowing it is a "muff;" one who sells
one without mentioning the failing, a rogue. Sprains
are a great bore in the hunting stable. I don't know
anything much better than rest and cooling applications
for them, though a vet. often manages to run up a
fair- sized bill for embrocations and liniments, which he
considers beneficial. Sprains of the shoulder are gene-
rally imaginary; when the groom cannot otherwise
account for lameness, he declares it to be there. I have,
however, known several cases of lameness from falling
on the point of the shoulder, or from a blow received
there, and these are very troublesome affairs, and often

THE HUNTER AT HOME. 177

incurable. Veterinary assistance is here demanded, but

rest is the great thing. For sprains of the back sinew,

which are of all degrees, I know of no better application

than the absurdly named lotion which I have alluded to

above. Many people advise the wearing of a high-heeled

shoe in these cases; I should prefer no shoe at all.

Firing injured sinews is only too common a remedy.

I had rather try the rest necessitated by the firing

alone, without the pain to the horse of the operation. A

horse fired on the fore legs loses more or less the action

of them, even if the blemish is not considered. Frog

pressure is the secret of clean fore legs. My idea that

firing fore legs is not a certain improvement, is rather

confirmed by the practice of the racing stable. As a

general rule it may be said that no race-horse is of any

use after he has been fired. However, many hunters will

be fired on the back sinews, whatever a minority of horse

owners may think on the subject. Now, though I do

not approve of firing sinews, I do approve of the use

of the iron for bony excrescences when they are first

appearing. For spavins I believe firing is the most

effectual remedy. If a horse is lame by a spavin in the

middle of the season, if he be sound enough to work at

all I should not rest him • that is, supposing that he goes

sound when he has travelled a moderate distance. I

should after each day's hunting blister the hock with

some absorbent — perhaps the ointment recommended in

the case of ring-bone is as good as any, though it is

very mild, according to some people's notions — and at the

end of the season I should have the hocks fired. But

there is no occasion to score the hocks all over, as a

few lines drawn on the spavin place answers every

purpose, and of course heal quicker, with hardly any

N

178 UNASKED ADVICE.

blemish to follow ; also the horse need not be cast,
which is a great point gained. Many horses have
injured themselves for life in struggling when thrown
down; the back has often been damaged in this
way. Splints generally go away of themselves sooner
or later; if they interfere with the sinew, the same
ointment would suit them as has been mentioned
above. I think I have already said that a cabbage
leaf is a mild but effective sweating blister for a splint.
Sore backs are a tremendous nuisance when they
occur in a hunting stable, and some horses are much
more liable to them than others. For their prevention,
the stuffing of the saddle should be carefully looked to ;
the back of the horse, under the saddle, should never be
clipped ; and the saddle should not be taken off too soon
after the horse comes in. When the skin is broken the
clothing must be kept off the place, and salt and water
applied. This, with time, generally effects a cure. A
" sit-fast" is better attended to by the veterinary surgeon.
Lately a contrivance which promises to do away with
sore backs has been invented ; it is a leather saddle
cloth, polished and smooth on the side which touches the
horse, and I was lately assured by a gentleman that a
horse of his had recovered from a sore back — that is,
that the back had healed — without rest, and merely by
the use of this article under the saddle ; but I presume
that the sore had begun to heal over before the horse
was ridden. As a prevention I think it will be found
capital. Stubs and thorns are peculiarly the property of
hunters, and a great bore they are. A stub in the foot
or fetlock demands more scientific treatment than the
groom can give, and so may a thorn if it be allowed to
remain in. After a day's hunting the legs and joints

THE HUNTER AT HOME. 179

should be thoroughly well searched for thorns, and
when the skin is wet they are much more easily
discovered than when the hair is dry. When found
they must be taken out whole if possible, and a pair
of tweezers will usually effect this. Sometimes the
skin will have to be slit up a little to get at the
thorn; this can be done easily enough as a rule, but
there are localities, such as the knee, where a groom
must not run risks of this kind. When the point of a
thorn is deeply seated and inaccessible, it will be got rid
of by suppuration ; but sometimes it will be a long time
first, and I should not rest the horse if he can work — by
which I mean if, as in the case of spavin, he " works
sound." Work will hasten suppuration. Bran poultices,
too, should be applied to the place where a thorn is sup-
posed to be, if it can be done ; but of course there are
places where they cannot be kept steady. If the thorn
be in the knee, and the pain and swelling great, hot
fomentations are advisable, and rest until suppuration
begins. After a hard day, when gruel cannot be had,
water with just the chill taken off is most refreshing to
the tired hunter, but if it be too warm it will produce
scouring. When the day has been so hard as really to
distress the horse, he should be " done up " as quickly
as possible, have his gruel and plenty of mash, but little
corn ; and it will be wise, if his feet have been knocked
about by jumping into roads or otherwise, to place them
in poultices for the night . His legs will be benefited by
being enveloped in hot bandages, and some more gruel
last thing will not hurt him if he will drink it. Next day
fifteen or twenty minutes' leading in hand, with plenty of
water, not too cold, and perfect quiet in his box, ought to
set him to rights, unless he has sustained any accident.

N 2

180 UNASKED ADVICE.

Being staked is the hunter's accident par excellence. In
such a case return the intestine if it protrudes, and make
a bandage of girths and your own waistcoat. If the
horse be very restless, or if he kicks, tie up a fore leg
until the bandage is complete ; then lead him slowly to a
stable. If the intestine cannot be returned, or if it be
injured itself, your horse will probably die, and that
pretty quickly. A stake elsewhere than in the belly kills
from loss of blood ; and if the bleeding be excessive, no
amateur can do much. Of course professional assistance
must be sought in ah1 these cases ; without it, in any but
the slightest cases, death is all but a certainty ; and with
it a large percentage will end fatally. This ends my list
of hunters' ailments, and my readers may remark with
truth that they have heard no news — also that my chief
remedy seems letting injuries alone to cure themselves.
Well, there is nothing new under the sun, and, knowing
as I do the number of men as well as horses who have
found remedies worse than diseases, I always like to give
Nature a chance where I can, in preference to her
younger sister, Art. And I would advise my young
friends to do the same, Dame Nature being a person
whose experience exceeds any of ours, though she has
never attended a college, and indeed I may say is all but
unknown in such places !

USE AND SHOW.

No horse owner would confess to keeping even one
animal solely to look at, but many men do so by more
than one horse. Every horse is kept, or supposed to be
kept, for some purpose more or less useful, and, as there
are many about who perform no useful duties whatever,
it may be fairly assumed that they are kept to look at,
though their owners would never acknowledge the fact.
A hunter which cannot cross a country is not a very
uncommon article, nor is a harness horse whose pace in
harness is about equal to that of an energetic pedestrian
an unheard-of thing; while, again, there are scores of
so-called hacks to be met with who shy, stumble, are
restive, or in other ways shirk their duty, which is to
carry a man safely along the road. All such animals are
kept to look at, unless they have some other talent of a
different nature from those which their professions would
argue the possession of. Thus the useless hunter may
be a rare harness horse; but if he be only a useless
hunter, and nothing more, he will be " kept to look at,"
for a time depending upon the judgment and luck of his
owner.

Some men never know when they have a good horse ;
many more don't know when they are in possession of a
real brute. The latter will keep the useless brute and
believe him to be valuable, and if the owner be satisfied
no one else has a right to complain. A good judge, on
the other hand, may occasionally be saddled with a brute ;

182 UNASKED ADVICE.

but, though while he has him he keeps him " to look at/'
as the phrase goes, he keeps him no longer than he can
help, and, if he be a judge of men as well as of horses,
may sell him to some one whom he will suit perfectly.
But this requires tact and judgment. If a seller said to
his customer, " This horse is not worth his corn to me,
as he will stop in ten minutes if ridden straight to hounds,
but is worth money to you, as being sound and quiet,
with a failing that you will never discover, as you seldom
gallop, and never jump," would the buyer take the horse
in a gift ? I rather imagine not. If the fault was not men-
tioned, the timid rider would find himself perfectly suited,
and could have no reason for complaining — would, in fact,
probably be delighted with his purchase. If such ahorse,
on the other hand, was sold to a hard-riding man, he
would consider himself " stuck," and justly so. For, in
stable matters above all others, we find the truth of the
proverb, that "what is one man's meat is another's
poison." The Clipper was considered to be about the
best horse in Leicestershire, and, with Mr. Lindo on him,
I believe he was so ; but what would a nervous elderly
gentleman have thought of him ? Such a one would
most likely never have got him to the covert side at all,
and, if he had managed that much, why, so much the
worse for him afterwards.

Some men keep horses for show, others for use. To
do the first is the part of a rich man — at least, any other
who attempts it will find out his mistake. Of course no
one would for choice possess a really frightful horse ; but
poor men must sacrifice appearance, more or less, to
utility. A pair of 40Z. phaeton horses may be found,
which will do as much work as the most expensive pair
that ever came out of — shall we say Mr. Sheward's stable ?

USE AND SHOW. 183

And to a man who wants to be conveyed about quickly
and safely, and nothing more, they are as good as the
expensive ones ; but they are sure to be wanting in showy
qualifications. They are most likely ugly, or not perfectly
matched in some respect ; their action is only just good
enough to enable them to scratch along at a fairish pace
without danger of falling; or there may be fifty other
shortcomings which will not prevent them from doing
their work, and doing it well, but which would prevent
a person who goes in for appearance having anything to
say to them ; and the expensive pair might be possessed
of elegances that would be thrown away upon, or not
appreciated by, the man who merely wants his carriage
dragged about. The same remarks apply to hacks. A
country gentleman of agricultural tastes requires a sort
of beast very different from that which carries a young
guardsman up and down Eotten-row. Good temper,
good paces, and soundness are the chief requisites of the
first; the other need not be a model of soundness to
begin with, but he must be especially neat in appearance,
and possessed of action, which would be quite thrown
away in a ride round the farm or to a magistrates' meet-
ing. But though the stepper would be the inferior animal
for country work, his action being fatigue to himself and
loss of time to his rider, the country gentleman could
enjoy a ride in the park on his country hack, show not
being an object.

Buying horses for show is a very different thing from
buying for use, and the former requires less judgment.
No good judge, if buying for immediate use, appearance
not being of much importance, would buy a young horse.
A bad judge would ; perhaps on the principle that a full
bottle will afford more drink than one out of which a

184 UNASKED ADVICE.

glass or two has been taken. But horses are not like
bottles of wine ; no man, however clever he may be, can
be certain about how a young horse will turn out, let
the juvenile be ever so promising. All that anyone can
say of an untried horse is that he ought to make a good
one, while the virtues and shortcomings of a horse of
mature age are pretty well known, and generally more or
less visible. In buying a fresh young horse of a dealer,
you get a sound horse; the dealer warrants him to be
sound at the time of sale, but of course he cannot answer
for his remaining so when put to hard work. There are
many blemishes which in no way detract from a horse's
working powers, but which unfit him for purposes of
show, such as London work, where appearances must be
studied. Such animals, and sound aged horses, are the
ones to buy where work, and work only, is the object.
Persons who wish for " performers " who are also hand-
Some must go to a first-class dealer, and be prepared to
pay. Then they must use their judgment, or, with all
their expenditure they may find that they have missed
getting hold of perfection. Looks they are pretty sure
of obtaining ; but it is possible that they get " only that,
and nothing more." Poor men will do well to avoid
young horses, and even the six-year-old sound horse of
the dealer. They are sure to lose by the latter, as they
buy him at the time when he is most valuable — " quoted
at par," as it were — and the dealer must make his profit
on him. The rich man will keep his horse, if he likes
him, until the animal be worn out. If he sells his stud,
for any such reason as going abroad, he expects to lose,
and does not mind doing so. This does not suit a poor
man. Hunters differ from other horses, as being fancy
articles in most cases. It may pay a poor man who is a

USE AND SHOW. 185

good horseman to buy a four-year-old and make him a
hunter ; if he is lucky as well as skilful, the animal at six
or seven years old will be worth a good deal more than
he was at four. But this only applies to hunters. A
hack must not be knocked about much before he is five
years old, and he is then worth as much as he ever will
be. A harness horse the same. A dealer can make a
profit on them by buying them from the breeder ; but no
gentleman can do so in buying them from the dealer.
Nor could he do so if he went to the breeders direct,
except in very isolated instances. A man who wants
work done at a moderate price need not risk a fortune ;
but he must be content to put up with some shortcomings
in his stud, and must cast all idea of show and appearance
to the winds. His harness horses may be of the " useful"
description of the sort described above. • His hack may
be hardly fitted for Rotten-row. It may be plain,
possessed of a bad mouth, even perhaps of " a temper/'
and yet be able to get over fourteen miles in an hour, and
to do this, or something like it, three days in the week or
more. His hunters will not be beauties ; they will be
blemished, or possessed of qualifications which would
cause them to be rejected by many men. They need by
no means be sound from a dealer's or vet.'s point of view,
and may yet do an infinity of work across country.
Indeed, many of the most expensive hunters belonging
to the greatest " swells " in the kingdom would cut but
an indifferent figure if run out upon stones the morning
after a hard day's hunting under a professional eye.
What, then, can be expected of forty and fifty pounders ?
The great discovery of modern times, as far as hunters
are concerned, is that of clipping. Although many
horses are clipped and singed now, who would not have

186 UNASKED ADVICE.

required it fifty years ago, it gives a wonderful chance to
horses who have been badly summered. Of course no
sensible man would turn a hunter to grass in the summer
if he meant to hunt him the following season ; but if by
misfortune, one gets hold of a horse that has been so
treated, clipping or singeing affords the only chance that
there is of getting him anything like fit to hunt before
Christmas — in a fast country at any rate.

In speaking of aged horses as being more calculated
to do work than others, I of course allude to sound ones,
or to those who may be unsound in some way that will
not interfere with the particular work for which they are
intended. It should be remembered by young buyers
that a horse who is sound at eight years old will, with
luck, be sound for another six or eight years, he having
been a really sound horse to begin with. But a four or
five year old is like the proverbial young bear, with all
his troubles before him ; and where his soft place may be
can only be discovered by experience. A model of
soundness at four may be a heap of infirmity at seven
years old.

LIGHT HORSE. *

" THERE is life in the old dog yet/' now may admirers of
cavalry say. Recent events have proved its utility, and
disproved the arguments of those who considered it an
exploded and useless force. These latter, by the way,
were a very considerable portion of one's acquaintances.
Every civilian now considers that he knows more about
soldiering than soldiers themselves at all events used to
do, whilst that admirable force the volunteer army is
better informed on the subject than soldiers and civilians
put together. To quote the sentiments expressed so
lately as the end of last July by my esteemed friend
" Smallbore," of the 50th Administrative Battalion
Pimlico Peashooters, " Cavalry, sir, has seen its day.
Whether it was ever worth the attention bestowed on it
is not for me to say ; but, mark my words, in future wars
we shall never hear of such arm. What chance could it
ever have against the worst disciplined infantry armed
with ' arms of precision ?' ' (Was he thinking of his
own company ?) " Before they could advance a hundred
yards a brigade of cavalry must be cut to pieces/' &c.,
&c., and next day he returns to town, and shows his
military ardour by appearing on parade in Hyde Park
and his fitness for command by manfully " clubbing" his
company ! I cannot pretend to answer that question,
which, to all appearances, puzzles wiser heads than mine
— viz., how it is that officers of volunteers who have never

* Written in 1870.

188 UNASKED ADVICE.

learned their drill, should be ignorant of field movements
(for after all this is in a few words the sum and substance
of the text on which so much has lately been said and
written), nor is army reserve a subject for my pen, but as
it is surely allowable for a sportsman to look at the
mounted arm of the service with a sportsman's eye, and
from a sporting point of view, I propose so to do, and to
consider, now that cavalry is proved to be not useless,
how it can be made most useful. In time of peace, and
in these civilised times, horses are animals of very
secondary importance to the world at large. A man may
go from Edinburgh to London without troubling any
such animal, and, arrived in town, may travel all over it
in underground railways. If he wants to send a message,
there is the post, which conveys his letter by steam ; if
time presses, is there not the telegraph, which, worked by
an economical Government, carries a message correctly,
at least once out of fifty times ; and so on. But civilisa-
tion, from the very completeness of its machinery, can be
easily upset. The more completely comfortable a neigh-
bourhood is in peaceful times, when all goes well, the
more any irregularity is felt. A watch is ruined by a fall
which would not be noticed by a walking stick, so an
invading force in the backwoods of America would do no
very lasting damage when their stay was at an end ; but
look at the effect of the same thing on France. There is
only one thing easier than to tear up the rails of a rail-
road, and that is to cut telegraph wires ; and then what
becomes of art and civilisation ? Then, a man who
wishes to travel fast must have a horse, and the power of
riding him — an accomplishment not possessed by every-
one ; then, mounted messengers are required, and then
people are likely to discover the "deterioration of their

LIGHT HORSE. 189

saddle horses/' if such exists. Cavalry, then, is an essen-
tial part of any army, as much so as ever it was; but
cavalry must not stand still while the other arms of the
service are progressing in efficiency. Some little altera-
tions must be made if dragoons are to work, either in
concert with, or opposed to, rifled ordnance and infantry,
armed as they now are. Our infantry are very different
people now to what they were at the battle of Waterloo,
or even at the Alma ; but the difference in our cavalry is
not so great. They have a different saddle and bridle ;
but the horse is still over weighted, and so incapable
of rapid or long-continued movement.

Now rapidity of movement is of every importance.
Cavalry, incapable of getting about speedily, is an
incumbrance, and a useless trouble and expense to the
army and country that own them ; while, if ever they are
engaged, they are bound to be the victims of a mistaken
system. Slow-moving" dragoons are only useful as targets
for the enemy's marksmen. In outpost duty not only
must individuals be able to get about quickly, but, to be
useful, so must bodies of mounted men collectively. If
news is to be carried, the quicker it travels the better ;
if any enemy is to be avoided the advantage of speed is
obvious ; so it is where detached parties have to be cut off;
and above all, if cavalry are to charge, the quicker they
do it the better for them. No general in his senses
would ever willingly put his cavalry in the position in
which the Light Brigade found itself at Balaclava ; but,
if unavoidable circumstances compel a mounted corps to
charge for a long distance under a hot fire, the difference
of a minute or two in the time which they took to get
over the ground would make a very perceptible difference
in the subsequent return of killed and wounded. For

190 UNASKED ADVICE.

cavalry to charge under adverse circumstances, such as
over rough ground, and from a distance is madness ; but
the lighter and more active the force is the more will its
commanding officer be able to pick his ground and his
opportunities. Now the first thing to be considered in
the equipment of a dragoon is his horse. This must be
well bred, or he cannot go fast; he must be good
tempered, or he will often endanger the life of his rider ;
he must be strong, as an overweighted horse can " go on"
at no work ; and he must be sound for obvious reasons.
Also he must have a good and hardy constitution, or a
very short spell of campaigning will see him out. Nor
must he be very expensive to buy or difficult to replace.
Such, unluckily, is what the troop horse ought to be, not
what he is. The English trooper is often too tall.
Height has nothing to do with size. I should never wish
to see an hunter much over 15.3, if I could have them
made to order; and I do not think the troop horse has
any business with height exceeding 15.2.

A trooper should be a hunter in everything but pace,
which is not so great a requisite as handiness and en-
durance. My reason for putting the height of my model
trooper at 15.2 only, is that I think horses of that
moderate size usually " rough it " better than the 16
handers, and that they retain their condition better on a
short allowance of forage. Large horses decidedly re-
quire more food than small ones, as the experience of any
good hunting groom will show, and on service forage is
now and then apt to run short. The English trooper is
not only frequently too tall, but an undue proportion of
value is given by many colonels to high knee action to
the exclusion of other more sterling qualities. Do not
let it be for a moment understood that I undervalue good

LIGHT HOESE. 191

action ; a horse who has it not is, in my opinion, useless
for any honourable employment, but the kind of action
which I have deprecated is the clambering, round action
— only fit, to my mind, for harness work in town, but
which is eagerly sought after by many purchasers of
remounts for cavalry.

English remounts are chiefly Irish-bred horses, and are
very often mares, they being to be obtained at a less
price than horses, and so much the better for the cavalry,
at least I think so. Taking them with all their faults, I
prefer mares, in England, as troopers. The Arabs con-
sider that they bear privations better than horses ; I am
not so sure of this as regards entire horses, but they are
not used in the ranks in England. The trooper as seen
(say at Hounslow) is usually pretty well bred, and for the
most part looks worth a good deal more than the regu-
lation price, which used to be 25Z., then was raised to 30Z.,
and has lately gone up again to 40Z. For the last price very
useful horses ought to be procured, if there were time to
look for them. Cheap bargains cannot be found by a pur-
chaser who is in a hurry, and the secret of 30Z. horses
turning out as well as the majority of troopers do is to
be found in the circumstance that the colonel can take
his time in his deals to this extent — that he is never, in
time of peace, buying as it were against time ; so, when
an animal does not please him, he can send him to the
right-about, and depend with certainty on, there being
more where he came from. Thus, if a good judge, a
colonel never need buy " a brute '" but, unluckily, all
colonels are not good judges, horses being amongst the
few things that a man may pass his life in the midst of
without ever learning much about them, unless he have a
natural inclination that way. Still, troop horses are, as a

192 UNASKED ADVICE.

rule, much better, as well as better-looking, animals than
the price paid for them would warrant one in expecting ;
but they are bought as babies — four years old, or occa-
sionally a few months short of that age. Then they are
kept on good, hard meat, and in the stable, and the
regimental Y.S. takes care that they have no very im-
portant unsoundness or weak point to start with. Thus
they are found to improve. But whether they have
constitutions for campaigning is another thing altogether.
The parents of the trooper are, we will say, a thorough-
bred horse and hunting mare, which is well enough, but
which is still a pedigree that, for soldiering purposes,
might be improved upon. Newspaper correspondents
from the seat of the late war have stated that such
horses as have Arab blood in their veins stand the
campaign better than others. I should be much sur-
prised, knowing what I do of Arabs, were this not the
case. But, apropos of this statement, a letter has ap-
peared in an influential journal, written by Mr. Edmund
Tattersall, who, while he calls attention to the necessity
of high breeding in the troop horse, recommends the
employment of English thoroughbreds in the ranks.
Granting that the Arab is the best of chargers, he quotes
Admiral Rous, to the effect that the English thoroughbred
is an " Arab improved " — improved for the purposes of
racing on the flat doubtless, but how otherwise. Not in
power, not in endurance, not in soundness, not in wear-and-
tear qualities as a war horse. I have not the presumption
to set up my opinion as regards racehorses or thorough-
bred stock generally, against such authorities as the
Admiral and Mr. Tattersall; but, as my experience of
troop horses in the field is at least equal to theirs, on that
subject I will state my convictions, which are simply that

LIGHT HOESE. 19

at even weights (say 14st.) an average little 14.1 Arab
would wear out any English thoroughbred horse in cam-
paigning, on short allowance of bad forage and in the
winter months. And we want a horse that can feed on
something different almost every day, and lie out during
cold nights without being the worse. I should stipulate
that the Arab be entire, so may the other for all I care*
But the Arab must be an Arab, and not a Turk or a Barb.
Now well-bred Arabs cannot be procured in sufficient
numbers to mount our cavalry, but I humbly conceive
that the best breed of horses attainable for European
warfare would be the produce of the Arab horse and
English mare, the latter to be as well bred as possible,
but if thoroughbred to possess substance. People will
say horses so bred will be too small. But this is a
mistake ; they will usually be 15.1 or 15.2, which I think
is quite tall enough, the rather as they are likely to have
power and constitution. I have seen several half-bred
Arabs in England. They have mostly been 15.2, and one
I saw of 16 hands. They are always possessed of wiry
legs and sound feet, which is more than can be said of
the average English thoroughbred. I have seen them
with sometimes more, sometimes less, of the Arab
character in appearance, but their understandings have
always been sound. I remember one mare of 15.1, or a
trifle less, who was the Arab all over, and an admirable
hunter. " Going on," was more her forte than galloping,
though she was not slow, but she could go on for a week
at a time, and at eighteen years old had not a windgall
on her legs. Of course sire and dam must have good
shoulders, as like begets like. Such horses as the mare
I have mentioned are the animals wanted for troop horses,
not weeds who can gallop, it is true, with almost incre-

o

194 UNASKED ADVICE.

dible speed for half a mile, but whose accomplishments
end there.

A winter at the picket post is about as great a trial of
constitution in a horse as well as can be, and to say that
our thoroughbreds are the animals best calculated to pass
through that ordeal with credit is absurd. Now the
Ijeauty of the Arab is that he stands cold almost as well
as heat, besides retaining his condition on forage of
limited amount, and possibly indifferent quality. The
Hungarian horses are, many of them, model troopers ;
they have a strong infusion of Arab, added to the best
English blood. My high opinion of the Arab does not, I
trust, lead me into a state of unreasonable admiration.
Although I consider him the best of war horses, he is not
the animal I should for choice bestride at Nobottle Wood
or Ranksboro' Gorse. At the same time, I have ex-
pressed my conviction that our breed of hunters would be
all the better of an occasional return to the primitive
stock; and the troop horses still more so, for a hunter
lives like a prince when he is not absolutely at work.
We are not surprised when we hear all manner of evils
from a cough, upwards and downwards (for I for one do
not think lightly of a cough), attributed to change of
stable. Why the troop horse on service, if he be in a
stable at all, is probably in a different one every day.
For my own part, I think that it would be all the better
if troop horses in summer lived in the open — at least in
open sheds. Canvas stables were, if I am not mistaken,
found to be unsatisfactory when tried at Aldershot — pro-
bably on account of indifferent ventilation. As long as
fine weather lasts, the dragoon himself is mostly in better
health in camp than in quarters ; and there is no reason
to suppose that the same rule does not apply to his horse.

LIGHT HOUSE. 195

However, an economical Government is not likely to stand
a double set of stabling to each regiment, one for summer
and another for winter ; so it is no good thinking or talk-
ing of such a thing. Yet it is to be hoped that if
Government ever does attempt a breeding stud for troop
horses, its members will remember that, though the Arab
is not the best hunter, hack, or racer in the world, he is
beyond doubt, "taken all round," the best horse, and,
above all, the best war horse.

Passing from Hounslow to (say) Poonah, it will be
found that all Indian cavalry officers prefer the little
Arab to the stud-bred or the much larger Cape horse, or
Australian, while the country-bred animals are, or until
lately were, considered the worst of the four sorts. Col.
Shakspear, in a recent instructive letter in the Field, on
breeding Indian remounts, objects to the Arab — and he
is the only Indian officer I have ever heard of as doing
so — considering him to be too fiery and hot-tempered for
the ranks. This is not the general character of the
animal ; and, if it were, it is a good fault on service,
where work is usually in excess of food. But Col. Shake-
spear, very naturally, may be prejudiced in favour of his
own service. Everyone is so more or less. The Irre-
gular Cavalry of India are nearly always mounted on
country-bred horses, and they get about so well on them
that for their use such horses may be preferable to Arabs
or Gulf horses, which latter were always more numerous
in the ranks than the high-caste desert-born charger,
whose price is usually considerably above regulation
troop-horse price, this being 750 rupees. The Irregulars
had, and have, to my thinking, an advantage, inasmuch
as they ride mares in the ranks, which the Europeans
never used to do, and probably do not do now. One

02

196 UNASKED ADVICE.

would think that Englishmen could do what native
horsemen can, but apparently their rulers thought
differently, and where almost all horses are imported
there is no temptation to employ mares, simply because
they are not shown as remounts. Stallions being out of
fashion for the ranks of India, mares may be used, but
the advantage, if it be one, is gained at too high a price.
A stalhon has his drawbacks — he may be noisy or quar-
relsome— but I think there is no doubt about his supe-
rior powers of endurance, and of roughing it generally.
Mares are all very well, but at certain seasons not to be
depended upon. Our Indian cavalry can, or at all events
a few years ago could, march and campaign in a way
that would puzzle the same regiments in England, and
how is this ? They were mounted on entire horses — as
much as possible on Arabs or Persians — and they did
not carry an excess of dead weight.

Colonel Haly, in a recent letter in the Field, states as
his opinion that the little Arabs of the 17th Lancers,
which he saw at Bangalore (I think) were over-weighted.
Then arises the question, "What is being over-
weighted?" As long as a horse looks well, works
cheerfully, and is fresh on his legs, I should not consider
that he was carrying too great a weight ; and the 1 7th
troopers answered this description. And they had been
knocked about a good deal in the year '58 ; had, in fact, en-
joyed rather " monkey's allowance" than otherwise. And
what was the experience of this campaign ? Simply that
the Arabs could, and did, wear out the Capes and Walers,
who, though so much larger, could not hold a candle to
their little comrades, when long marches and short
commons were the order of the day. These horses
carried neither sheepskins, shabraches, nor valises, but a

LIGHT HORSE. 197

Lancer is bound to be no feather, from the nature of his
arm, which cannot be handled to effect by a " dumpy."
Cape horses as troopers I do not like ; they are usually
plain, and often unamiable. The Walers are larger,
generally plainer, and still more unamiable.

All the cobbler's wax in the world will not retain you,
O gentle reader ! in the pigskin, if a Waler considers
that you are better out of it, and it is quite on the cards
that as you go to grass, in the shape of a cocked hat, you
may find yourself attended by your saddle, with the
girths burst sometimes — sometimes without that forma-
lity.* Australian horses, though, are improving, and
becoming better bred every year, and they are not all
buck jumpers. As artillery horses I admire them much,
but they are not my fancy for a Light Dragoon at
present. The fourth description of Indian remount is
the " stud bred." These were (I speak of twelve and
more years ago) bred in or near the Government esta-
blishments for that purpose. If the stud bred were a
good horse, he was a very good one, but he was just as
often the reverse, and his temper was in many cases, to
say the least of it, variable. He was not unfrequently
a " man eater/' and so a very unpleasant addition to any
society. Some years ago the Bengal Horse Artillery had
some sweet specimens of this class in their ranks, and
this justly-famed corps showed the courage and resolu-
tion for which they were so universally admired and
respected, in nothing much more than in the cool way
in which they tackled these confidential creatures ! Arabs

* The author refers to the extraordinary faculty some Australian
horses have of " bucking " the saddle right off over their heads,
without bursting a girth or drawing a single D — a feat we have
seen performed on more than one occasion, and one which is often
referred to by correspondents of the Field. — ED.

198 UNASKED ADVICE.

(which included Gulf horses, Persians, &c.), Cape Horses,
Australians, and stud breds are the four descriptions of
horse upon which our Indian Regular Cavalry is mounted.
Of course they are armed just as at home, though in
dress some little concessions are made to the climate.
As I have said, they can beat the home regiments at
marching; but the irregulars, on inferior horses, or in
deference to Col. Shakespear's opinion I will say only
equally well mounted, beat them again. How is this ?
The irregular man is lighter for one thing ; his saddle
looks objectionable, but is I think comfortable to the
horse, and above all, he rides in his own natural way,
and not in an acquired seat. Also he carries no luggage.
But chiefly he is a born horseman ; for dragoons, as a
rule, are not. Still they might learn more useful horse-
manship than they generally do. To be able to go
through a double ride in the school, and to sit like a
poker, with sword or lance at the carry, in trotting past,
is all very well ; but a man should be able to do a good
deal more than this before he can defend himself in a
single combat — a thing that every dragoon ought to be
able to do, although he may not twice in his life have
occasion to exercise his talent. Although dragoons
might be in some respect better horsemen, than they are,
they are not the muffs that some ignorant people profess
to consider them. In riding restive horses they usually
excel civilians, at least the average of them can do this
better than the average of even sporting civilians. This
is simply because they are more or less used to them. A
troop horse in his course of training has to be taught
many performances that are not at all natural to him.
If he has a temper, he probably shows it ; but our system
is so far good that sooner or later all horses become

LIGHT HORSE. 199

pretty handy troopers, though of course they are not all
equally pleasant or easy to ride. For a horse to be cast
because the men cannot ride him, is almost an unheard of
thing, and the men of the troop to which such an animal
belonged would consider the circumstance far from
being a feather in their cap. The training of a troop
horse is a stereotyped kind of thing. He is bought
somewhere, at about four years old. An English four-
year old is, of course, by way of being quiet to ride. An
Irish ditto is not improbably an accomplished hunter,
besides being quiet in harness. He is delivered at the
barracks, a man is told off to him after it is determined
to what troop he shall belong, and this is usually settled
by drawing lots. He most likely has strangles to begin
with, and when he is through that, and has recovered
some condition, his training commences. And here I
think a mistake is commonly made. The young horse is
allowed not only to get up a due amount of strength,
but very often to become " fresh ;" and in this state he
is naturally likely to give more trouble than if he were
otherwise. Overworking young horses is a grievous
blunder, too ; but there is a middle course, which might
with advantage be more frequently adopted. The young
one is saddled very carefully, the man to whom he
belongs being always under the eye of a superior, luuged
more or less, and finally mounted, with a "stripped
saddle" — that is, the regimental saddle lightened of
everything that will come off, such as wallets, and with
only the bridoon on his mouth. He very likely takes
all this easily enough ; and the first bone of contention
is often the crupper, an article to which I have a lively
hatred. Then come his paces. Commencing with the
walk — which, by the way, he is generally made to execute

200 UNASKED ADVICE.

rather more on his haunches than the hack of a civilian
does — he progresses to the trot and the " bending
lesson." This latter is a performance unknown to civilian
horsebreakers and riders generally, but indispensable in
the education of a steed who is to be ridden with one
hand on the reins, and only one. In plain English, it
consists of walking more or less sideways, in obedience
to the pressure of the rider's leg or heel. It is practised
until the least pressure of one leg causes the horse to
sidle away from it, and its use is chiefly noticable in
closing up in the ranks when the squadron is halted.
Then the young horse, being perfect in these lessons, and
also in "reining back," proceeds to learn the canter.
The canter of the manege is as slow and collected as it is
possible to be, all on the haunches, which result is
attained by the practice of the pace in a gradually de-
creasing circle, until he is as nearly as possible competent
to perform that often described, but never witnessed,
accomplishment — cantering round a cabbage leaf. All
these lessons have been practised with the bridoon only,
and its use is sometimes continued so long as to give the
horse a habit of boring on it, which he never loses.
Bitting is a separate difficulty, or otherwise, as the case
may be. The greatest attention is paid throughout to
the carriage of the horse's head, and with success ; at
least I never saw a troop horse who declined altogether
to bend to the rider's hand, as many hunters do, though
some, of course, are not so perfect as others. Here we
have got our horse quiet to mount and ride in the school,
handy at turning and backing, and pretty well confirmed
in his paces ; and up to this point the training is satis-
factory enough, excepting, perhaps, that the bit might
often have been used sooner than it is. About this stage

LIGHT HOESE. 201

of the proceedings, however, routine and red tape usually
step in, and, combining their forces, drive common sense
and practical horsemanship out of the field. A sports-
man possessing a young horse trained to the extent men-
tioned above, would take him out on the roads a little, if
he were destined to be a hack ; if a hunter, his jumping
education would commence as soon as he thoroughly
understands the indications of rein and heel. But this
course of proceeding is not laid down in the cavalry
regulations, consequently cannot be followed. It is true
that the trooper is supposed to be both a hack and a
hunter, as far as the capabilities of doing the duties of
each go, and he is thus prepared for them. To make him
a clever fencer, or rather to teach him to jump (for in the
eyes of a riding master of dragoons all fences are alike,
and to be negociated alike), he is made to jump over a
bar in the school. As much care is taken with this part
of his education as with any other ; he is first led over
the bar as it lies on the ground, and it is gradually
raised until he leaps it at a fair height, neatly and coolly.
And so far this is a wise and horsemanlike course of
instruction ; but unluckily it stops there. The horse is
never asked to jump anything but the bar, nor is he
ridden about the roads by himself. And what is the
result ? Why, that nineteen out of twenty troopers
make a fuss about leaving the ranks, if they do not
decline to do so altogether ; and that when confronted
with a small ditch or grip, they either refuse or fall at it,
to the damage of their rider's bones, and to the increase
of work for the regimental surgeon. When the remount
knows all his paces in the school, he is ridden by degrees
with arms. Some object to the sword, others to the car-
bine ; but, as a rule, the better bred the young one is, the

202 UNASKED ADVICE.

less he cares for these details. When he allows of the
sword and lance exercise being gone through by his
rider, and when he bears the firing of a pistol or carbine
off his back with tolerable equanimity, he is dismissed
the school, and ridden in the ranks; not at regular
drills, but at little parties made for him and his compeers,
at first under the riding master, then under the adjutant.
Finally, he makes his appearance at a field day (and
sometimes, by the way, makes an informal disappearance
thence in the direction of his stable, to the delight of
everyone but his rider, to whom, being run away with
round paved corners, and perhaps into a half-open stable
door, presents no attraction whatever), and thence forward
he is a " trained horse," and never forgets his lesson all
his life, wherever the vagaries of Fortune may lead him
— into a hansom, a hunting stable, or what not. The
officer's charger is trained in just the same way, except-
ing that he is not ridden absolutely in the ranks ; but in
the place which he is likely to occupy, in rear of the line,
or when practicable, in front of it. Now this is a good
enough system of training, in the main, and would be
sufficient if cavalry always acted en masse on a plain like
Newmarket Heath.

But as a man often has to be detached, and sent over
ground which has not been levelled for his accommoda-
tion, it is clear that a horse who won't go anywhere by
himself, and who declines altogether to cross any obstacle
but the bar in the school, is not the most useful animal
to carry a dragoon, and three-fourths of our troop horses
possess these amiable weaknesses. They are not un-
known in the hunting stable — some good hunters are
restive on the road, others are refusers ; but they are the
exception, whereas the exception in the troop stable is

LIGHT HORSE. 203

the other way about, and is the natural, nay, the inevita-
ble, result of his training. This might very easily be
altered. A careful man might surely be trusted to ride his
horse a little about the roads or the camp, and then a horse
who declines to go alone out of the barrack-gate would be
a comparative rarity. At present he is not so. Then as to
leaping. A bar is the least useful, or rather the most
objectionable, thing that a young horse can be confronted
with. I do not mean to condemn its use for a few times
with a young horse ; but a very short acquaintance with
it is sufficient, and he should not be allowed to knock it
down. A troop horse is not wanted to jump ox-fences
or sensation water jumps, but he should be able to be
trusted at a flight of hurdles or a moderate timber fence
of any kind. Nor should he be stopped by a five-foot
drain or an average bank and ditch. This last is the
kind of fence to make horses clever. I would have
young remounts first led, then ridden, with a steady
horse to lead them over all these sort of fences, never of
course asking them to jump a big place or a dangerous
one, until it comes as natural to them to surmount any
moderate bar to their progress as it does to an old
hunter. To jump large fences without some excitement,
indeed, as a rule, without hounds, is to teach the art of
refusing ; but in cold blood a horse can almost always
be got over quite small places with little or no trouble,
and if he does the little place neatly and cheerfully in
cold blood, he will, when excited, think comparatively
little of a " rasper." Another fault in the usual training
of remounts is that they never gallop. In all their
training they never exceed the collected canter of the
school, and most likely have not galloped from the time
they join their corps until " gallop " is sounded by the

204 UNASKED ADVICE.

trumpeter in a field day. Hinc illce lacrymce, ! Wiggings
from inspector-generals, and so forth ! This accounts for
much unsteadiness in the ranks, as also for the not un-
common disappearance of a young horse right off the field
of action, likewise for a troop leader's sensation of mingled
rage and terror as some heavy body cannons against the
quarters of his charger, and flies off at a tangent over the
field, said body being the last remount and his rider, the
latter ere he disappears looking back at his deserted
place with an air of natural apprehension, tempered with
the resignation which attends the British soldier in all
difficulties and dangers.

Man and horse probably return at last, and the circum-
stance attracts no great attention. An audible passing
allusion to " Johnny Gilpin," from the wag of the troop,
probably causes the squadron leader to request, with
more or less polite energy, that silence be observed in
the ranks ; but vthe same thing will happen again,
often, or otherwise, before our young one is really
steady. The reason is twofold. First, the horse has
never galloped, and so becomes delirious with excitement
when he finds himself let go, even to the extent allowed
in " an advance in line." Secondly, the man has, except
on the occasions on which he has been bolted with, never
ridden a horse at full speed ! So he thinks he is run
away with before he really is so ; besides, being wholly
innocent of the art of handling a horse at a gallop, he very
likely makes him worse instead of better. Never having
galloped the horse, all its games at that pace are new to
him, and will not all candid horsemen confess to having
sometimes experienced that most unpleasant of sensa-
tions— ignorance of what one's horse is likely to do next ?
It is fair on neither man nor horse to exercise them for

LIGHT HORSE. 205

months at a slow pace, and expect them to be equally
aufait as fast ones. Horses will always pull more or
less when galloping in line, but if the men have often
galloped them independently they will be accustomed to
their peculiar styles and tricks of pulling ; and though
many old cavalry officers would condemn the permission
to gallop as likely to produce wildness and unsteadiness
in the ranks, I am persuaded that it would have the
contrary effect. The men and horses would know each
other better, and that alone would be a grand point
gained. Of course all galloping would have to be done
under very careful supervision ; but so has every other
part of a soldier's duty. Also, as for jumping, horses
who are clever at small cramped fences are not so likely
to fall at grips as others who are not, and every dragoon
knows what fearful falls are to be had at narrow ditches ;
indeed, the narrowest of them. This is partly attributable
to the weight carried by the horse, but chiefly to his
being unaccustomed to collect himself suddenly on
coming to an unexpected thing of this kind. From the
nature of their training, which sets troop horses so much
on their haunches they make clever hunters with less
time and trouble than any other horses, and yet, for want
of the little extra teaching required, they are usually the
clumsiest brutes out. It is only fair to the horse who
has just tumbled into a two -foot drain to consider that
the rider, being as unaccustomed as his horse to crossing
anything but a level plain, most likely was guilty of every
practical blunder that the situation admitted of. The man
would benefit as much as the horse by a course of steady
galloping and jumping. Can anyone be called a horse-
man who cannot ride at speed ? And a dragoon ought
to use his weapons at speed too. Post practice, as done

206 UNASKED ADVICE.

in the school, is a pretty performance, and very well in its
way, but it ought to be only the first chapter in the study
of the use of arms mounted. More than education is
wanted, though before the trooper can do fast work,
and plenty of it, his load must be lightened. It is true
that he seldom carries his full kit, indeed, only on the
line of march, and on marching order parades, and field
days, which don't come every day. The average trooper
is equal to carrying thirteen or fourteen stone, not to
hounds, of course, but in marching order. Even a hussar
rides eighteen stone. It is the custom to thus over-
weight the horse, who on service would of course carry all
this load ; but why is it ? Why should the cavalry horse
be worse treated than other animals in this way ?
Attempts have been made, and talked about, at lighten-
ing the weight, but the reformers begin at the wrong
end. They would lighten the man — not the dead weight.
Now an undersized dragoon is not desirable; a little
dumpy fellow will seldom be able to use his weapons,
unless they are also reduced in size. Our light dragoons
are not a bit too big or heavy, but their saddlery is.
Why should the horse carry a valise at all ? It is very
heavy, cumbersome, and in every way inconvenient. It
causes many sore backs, and it helps to necessitate the
use of the crupper. Why cannot every squadron have a
light cart attached to it, which would with ease carry all
the valises of two troops ; or one cart per troop would not
be an expensive addition, as it might be drawn by troop
horses (two) and driven by two men, who might receive
some small addition to their pay, as their work would be
a little in excess of other men's. Of course, the cart
horses must be eligible for service in the ranks on
occasion. Then, the valise being disposed of, the soldier's

LIGHT HOE8E. 207

saddle might be lightened. No average light dragoon
ought to ride over fourteen stone, and a reform in
weight might be effected without altering the standard
of size for the men. The saddle, for example,
without a valise, would not require to be nearly
so big. Something like the saddle of the mounted
police would surely be lighter than, and might
be as durable as, the present hussar saddle. The
soldier's saddle must carry a cloak ; that is easily
managed, also wallets or holsters, and a pair of spare
shoes; but surely a saddle somewhat stronger than a
hunting saddle could do all this, and be very little
heavier. A felt " numnah " is most useful, and should
always be worn under the saddle. A breastplate, I con-
ceive, to be useful to every horse who does any very hard
work under the saddle ; and thus the list of things to be
carried, besides the man and his arms, might end. A
sheepskin is not heavy, and might be retained if it were
considered needful. It certainly keeps the contents of
the wallets dry in rainy weather. But with a baggage-
cart marching in rear of the regiment the soldier would
not require to carry many valuables in his wallets, and
when detached (on service) or on outpost duty he would
not require much more of a trousseau than they would
contain. A forage cap, a pair of highlows and dry
socks, with a clean shirt (flannel shirts are best) take but
little room ; and almost all the present appliances for
cleaning belts and uniform I would summarily dispose
of. The present pattern of bridle is well enough. A
collar-chain is indispensable of course. The only altera-
tion that I can think of in the dragoon's bit is that I
would not have the cheeks of the bit connected by a bar,
as they are at present. A fractious horse can, by throwing

208 UNASKED ADVICE.

up his head, catch the bar across the nose, and the bit is
useless when he does so. The remedy is to loosen the
rein, when the bit is obliged to reassume its proper
place; but, while the rider is doing this the horse has
time to do a good many things too. Further, I would
never have the lower branch of the bit more than double
the length of the upper, and in training the remount I
would use a standing martingale, when temper or carriage
of head demands any extra assistance. Our horse has
now, we will suppose, an easy bit, a comfortable saddle,
not too heavy, yet roomy and strong ; but before he is
mounted we must have a glance at the man. The
present height of the recruit is all right, but what about
his drill and dress ? The drill is well enough, with this
exception, that he ought to be trained, in addition to
what he learns at present, to ride over real fences, and
to use his arms at speed. His riding drill admits of one
more improvement. On the march, and on all occasions
off parade, he should rise in his stirrups at the trot. The
seat without rising is preferable in the school — it is
easier, for example, to ride a young horse up to his bit
so, than when one is "jockeying," as rising is termed in
the army : in riding in line also it is difficult to rise, and
almost impossible for men to dress well when so doing ;
but it is neither in the school nor the drill field that sore
backs are given, and they would be less common on the
march were rising in the stirrups permitted. On the
march cavalry should travel at a seven-miles-an-hour trot
(walking of course at intervals), the men keeping the
sides of the roads, and rising in their stirrups. As a
general rule, the length of a man's arm shows the length
of his stirrups. No horseman, least of all a dragoon, should
ride too short; to do so is a worse fault than the reverse.

LIGHT HOUSE. 209

How should the light horseman bo armed ? Tho first
and most important arms for a dragoon are his sword
and spurs, the latter to make the former available. In
addition to these, a double-barrelled breech-loading
pistol, carried at the waist, would be a useful article.
When the pistol is carried in a holster, in the event of
the horse being killed, the man most likely loses it.
Swords ought to be sharp, but metal scabbards soon
take the keen edge off them. A few months ago lancers
were sneered at as being bearers of an obsolete weapon.
Since then the Uhlans have told us a different tale. The
English lancer carries a pistol in addition to his sword
and lance. A breech-loading carbine is very well in its
way ; but a dragoon should not be a sharpshooter, though
attempts are being made to make him so. His business
is to ride over his enemy, not to pop at him. The notion
that he should fire while charging is not a wise one. At
the same time he must be able to skirmish a little dis-
mounted, but on such occasions only every other man
should dismount, and then the squadron could move
about after a fashion if required, each man having one
horse to lead. As to the men's dress. Firstly, white
belts and their attendant pipeclay ought once and for
ever to vanish. The brown leather belts are serviceable,
if not handsome. White belts look well on parade and
in line ; but the pipeclay comes off on the tunic or
jacket, and they are not only a great trouble, but tho
materials for cleaning them take up room. A rather
loose jacket, something like that worn by the officers of
the Staff College, is in every way preferable to a tunic ;
it rides clear of the saddle behind, and it admits of the
existence of pockets. These a soldier is not supposed
ever to possess (is it because he cannot be supposed to

p

210 UNASKED ADVICE.

have mucli to put in them ?) ; but on service they are
mighty handy things. Also a waistcoat should be worn
under a loose jacket in winter. For the legs, boots and
breeches are the most comfortable; but none of our
dragoons have them, presumably for the reason that, if
the boots were being repaired, the man could not turn
out, and that two pairs per man would take too much
room.* Well, there is no great fault to find with the
present overalls in fine weather ; but boots and breeches
are infinitely preferable in wet. In camp, anyone may
observe that when the weather is wet the soldier tucks
his trousers inside his boots on all possible occasions;
whilst officers, if they are allowed to, come out in butcher
boots at once. But this is a question which no civilian
can decide upon. On the headdress anyone may give an
opinion. For cold climates a light helmet, and for hot
a turban, is my notion ; and if all troops had white cap
covers to their forage caps for summer wear, as they have
in India, we should hear less of " fatal marches." This
would be hard on the penny-a-liners ; but still it is an ill
wind that blows nobody any good. A light curb chain
run over the shoulder and down the arms is a wonderful
protection against sword cuts, and would not be ex-
pensive. The sabretache has been much abused, and is
now only worn by certain regiments ; its chief merit is
to keep the sword or scabbard steady, and no trifling-
merit either. Of course the sword belt would be worn
under a loose jacket. Apropos of boots and breeches, if
the Household Brigade and Irregular Indian Cavalry can
wear them, why cannot other regiments ? But white

* Since the above vras written boots and pantaloons have been
tried, but for the reason given here are to be discontinued, two-
pair of boots and spurs per man being incompatible with the princi-
ples of economy now rampant at the "War Office.

LIGHT HORSE. 211

buckskins would be too troublesome for common wear ;
pantaloons, or even knickerbocker breeches, not too
loose, of stout cloth, would have plenty of wear, and want
but little cleaning, nothing, indeed, but brushing, as the
stripe common to all overalls, and which takes a good
deal of pipeclay or chrome yellow, might be dispensed
with. A pair of gaiters and highlows for fatigue dress
would be comfortable and convenient. The stable
management of the horse I have hardly glanced at. It
is generally pretty well managed, though sufficient atten-
tion is not paid to coughs and colds, which neglect
shows itself in the number of troopers who are roarers.
Also an occasional dose of physic would benefit the
Queen's horses as much as it does the human subjects ;
but unless on special occasions they never get it.
Shoeing is always important, and might be improved
upon. My fondness for the Charlier shoe is no secret ;
but on service, or when dragoons are likely to be de-
tached and away from their own farriers, the fitting of
such shoes might be difficult. Therefore I should prefer
in such cases tips on the forefeet ; they wear longer than
common shoes, and do not easily come off, neither do
they pick up stones or ball with snow. The hind feet
might wear common shoes, the sole being left in a
state of nature. This shoeing I should recommend only
where the Charlier shoe is inaccessible. There can be
no doubt that a regiment armed, trained, and mounted
something after this fashion could move about more
rapidly than the dragoons we possess at present. Where
baggage carts cannot travel (though they could go
wherever artillery could — there are countries devoid
of high roads), baggage animals could transport the
valises (as they did, and very likely do) in India.

p 2

212 UNASKED ADVICE.

When quick work in the field is required, it is a
mistake to have too strong squadrons. The crowding
in an advance of very strong squadrons is much more
than when they are weak, and the steadiness of
the advance suffers accordingly. There has lately been
a rage for doing everything "inverted," and doing
away with pivots ; and of this it may be said that such
drill demands an amount of intelligence in officers and
men that is desirable if attainable. The old-fashioned
inverted line is all very well, and by its use a regiment
can be made to front in any direction quickly ; but to
invert squadrons must be more or less confusing to the
men, especially in the smoke and confusion of an action.
The shortest way of reversing the front of a regiment is
by wheeling the squadrons about, which gives an inverted
line to the rear, and the regiment may work and march
home, too, inverted, if the commanding officer likes.
To do the same thing by wheeling the troops about is by
no means so convenient. In like manner, to form line to
the right from open column of squadrons right in front
by the old custom would be, " To the reverse flank right
form line," the execution of which manoeuvre would give
time for a good deal of shooting to the foe on the right.
But nothing could be desired much quicker or more
simple than " Inverted line to the right. Squadrons right
wheel into line." There you are at once. If from
columns of troops squadrons would have to be formed in
the first instance, the trumpet-calls for " right " and
"left" should be unmistakeably distinct. A timely
wave of the colonel's sword in the direction required is
an immense help to every one. Space prevents a further
discussion of field movements ; and into the question of
Double versus Single Kank I cannot pretend to go,

LIGHT HOUSE. 213

though my own fancy is for the former, for many reasons.
All that I have endeavoured to show is, the ease with
which the troop horse may be assimilated to the hunter,
and the small amount of difference in his training and
treatment required for this result — a result that, if
attained, will enable cavalry to act at speed over all sorts
of ground in reason in a way that shall prevent the
"arms of precision " having it all their own way. Any-
thing that adds to the dash of the dragoon without
decreasing his steadiness is an advantage, and this fact
must be my excuse for an action not contemplated by the
Mutiny Act, the Queen's regulations, or " the book "*
itself, viz., considering light horse from a sporting point
of view !

* The " cavalry regulations " are usually thus described by
adjutants, and regimental staff generally.

214 UNASKED ADVICE.

STABLE KEEOEMS.

LATELY a writer on the subject of hippophagy stated, as a
reason why that practice was not likely to become popular
in England, that "the horse is the friend of man." Every
thing in this world goes by comparison, and compared to
the ox, or the more humble pig, the horse may call him-
self his master's friend ; but he is, after all, in the position
of a very humble friend — the not over and above well-
used class, out of which we charitable worldlings get all
the benefit that we can ; use them, in fact, when wanted,
and as long as they can be useful, and then cast them
aside. The dog has an advantage over the steed here.
No man sells a dog because he is old and used up ; but
then it must be remembered that there is no demand for
superannuated dogs, so it is not of necessity the goodness
of heart of the master that insures the faithful old dog
either a prolonged and useless existence on the hearthrug
or elsewhere, or a speedy, painless passage to the happy
hunting grounds. But the common fate of the old horse
is "too well known to need description." Facilis descensus,
and no mistake, is the career of the three hundred-guinea
hunter when he becomes not quite equal to the work
required of him by the opulent owner. The first down-
ward step is probably TattersalFs, when he fetches £50,
and is hunted another season is some less fashionable
country than his last one. Then Aldridge's or some
provincial repository — " Going at 20 guineas, gentlemen ;
can't dwell; gone !" Say he hunts another season as a

STABLE REFORMS. 215

hack hunter — an animal whose employers are not over
and above f-.fi'f'iints as to soundness — then £5 and a cab

is his fate ; and my knowledge of the subject does not
permit me to follow him further. Poor brute ! had he
been lamer to begin with, his first owner might have shot
him ; but he was just worth selling. To be waked
suddenly in the midst of a nightmare is a shock, but to
sleep on is more unpleasant ; and I cannot but think
that the poor horse, lately so valuable, now so much the
contrary, would, even with his limited intellect and
natural instinct of self-preservation, welcome the bullet
which, crashing through his brain, consigns him to
oblivion, could he but foresee even one day of the toil,
stripes, and starvation to which he is consigned by his
amiable master, who certainly " takes no thought of the
morrow" as far as it concerns his property, when he
carelessly remarks to a friend looking over his stud,
" That's a nailer, but his day is about done " (the failing
is here specified, bien cntendu that the friend is certain
not to become a buyer) ; " I shan't ride him another
season." And remember, ye who own a "fine ruin,"
that the sterling qualities which enabled him, with you
on his back, to "see out" all the second horses that
day that you " did the trick " so completely to your
satisfaction, and to the discomfiture of all your dearest
friends (and it is to be hoped that most of us have once
in our lives " had the best of it ") will prolong his misery
in the cab or 'bus. As he was the only horse who could
jump into the field where they killed at the end of that
blazing fifty-five minutes, and the only horse who trotted
into the town on his way home, so will he on three legs
whirl the Hansom containing a tipsy snob and his com-
panion faster up from Creinorne than his fellows ; so

216 UNASKED ADVICE.

will lie, worn out and diseased in body, but possessing
the same brave heart as of old, trundle a four-wheeler,
against time, to catch a train, containing, say a rural
family of four adults, three children, and their combined
luggage, and " go on " at the wretched trade, whose
wages are blows and hunger, when a .worse one would
sink under his load of misery. Think of this, individuals
before mentioned, and sell your old slave, whose glory
has been reflected on to you so often, to save yourselves
5Z., 20Z., or 50Z-. if you choose — if you can ; but call your-
selves no longer by the honourable term of sportsmen,
and if you are at a loss for a designation come to me for
one ! Yet it is, after all, no affair of mine what becomes
of my neighbours' horses, but in no way is the ingrati-
tude and hard -hear tedness of our fellow -creatures so
apparent as in their treatment of dumb animals, and
horses specially. A dog cries out if you hit him, and
probably sulks ; a horse suffers in silence, and exerts
himself the more.

Having glanced at the miseries entailed on that noble
animal Equus Caballus by unsoundness, let us see whether
it be possible to at all events ward them off for a time —
in fact, to preserve our horses sound, and consequently
useful, and entitled to kind treatment for a little longer
space in his natural life. Most people who know any-
thing about the horse know that his natural life extends
to from twenty-five to thirty years. I have known a few
horses who have lived over the latter age, and worked to
within a short time before their demise; but they are
rare instances ; and the oldest of them was only thirty-
three " off," nor was his work latterly very severe. He
was an old carriage horse. I also know a hunter of
twenty-one — at least I saw him in the field last season,

STABLE KEFOP.MS. 217

and very well lie looked and went, but he was not sound
in his wind, whatever his legs might be. But the
majority of horses have finished their career at fifteen
years old. And after some experience of "screws" I
have come to the conclusion — and, indeed, expressed this
opinion before — not only that more horses are lame in
their feet than are lame elsewhere, but that many lame-
nesses of the leg originate in bad management of the
foot. Consequently, we ought to be ready to hail any
inventions or ideas Avhich promise to amend the treat-
ment of that essential part of the horse's frame. " No
foot, 110 horse/' has been long a stable proverb; but
how little the comfort of the foot has hitherto been con-
sulted ! The ideas on the subject have sprung from
wrong roots, so to say, altogether; or rather let us say
they have been built on fanciful and insecure foundations.
" No foot, no horse," is a sound notion enough ; yet in
practice how few men pay much attention to the foot, if
it be not obviously diseased, so long as the legs are clean
and the action unimpaired. Of course a dealer, so long
as he sells a sound horse, cares not how long the animal
continues sound. Indeed, the sooner in reason that the
creature is worn out the better, as the customer will
require a fresh one. Owners of horses too often act as if
their intention was to wear out their property as soon as-
possible. We should think but little of the common
sense of a man who, having bought an expensive watch,
knocked it about in every conceivably unfair way ; but we
think nothing of such a course of action pursued toward
a horse — and why ? Because everyone does it, I suppose;
at least I can think of no better reason. Our system of
feeding and conditioning horses is good enough, but we
have hitherto mismanaged their feet grievously; and,.

218 UNASKED ADVICE.

indeed, the prevalent idea of the groom and the black-
smith seems to be that they know better what a horse's foot
should be than the Creator of the animal does. For they
are never satisfied until they have altered the natural
foot into a form of their own, which they think the right
one ; and, though lameness usually attends their efforts,
they ascribe it to every cause but the right one, and, indeed,
resign themselves complacently to the presence of many
diseases confessedly caused by their treatment, perhaps
because these diseases do not hurt their own sacred per-
sons ! It is really curious to observe in all that has been
written about the horse's foot the sort of follow-my-
leader principle, which is more evident here than in
writing on any other subject with which I am acquainted.
Very, very seldom is an original idea to be found, and
still more seldom an original idea that is not marred by
some adherence to the old grooves to which preceding
authors have confined themselves. The oddest notion,
.and the one which has held its ground in undisputed
security until lately, is the idea that the sole of a horse's
foot requires paring. And almost all writers have
insisted on the necessity of this operation. The late
Mr. Apperly (" Nimrod ") was by far the most practical
writer on horses of the last hundred years or more. He
wrote from personal experience, not from theory, and he
taught us most of what we know at the present day as to
the condition of hunters. He it was who first proved the
absurdity of turning the hunter out to grass in the
summer. He also demonstrated the necessity of giving
periodical doses of medicine to the horse during the
process of conditioning. In short, although his use of
drugs and medicines appears to have been somewhat
•excessive, his book is a very useful study for the young

STABLE REFORMS. 210

horse master to this day. It treats of almost all the ills
to which the hunter is subject, with one exception — he
never mentions "mud fever ." So I suppose that this
is an evil of modern date, although I can remember its
existence ever since I have hunted, and that is some
time ; and it has nothing to do with clipping, for I have
had a horse affected with it which had its natural winter
coat on. But " Nimrod," excellent and practical as is
his work (with this exception), falls into the mistake of
paring the sole. He says, " From La Fosse downwards
to the writers of the present day, fears have been
expressed of the ill consequences of paring the sole,
which my experience cannot confirm." His idea was to
prevent the sole growing too thick, and consequently
losing its elasticity ; but as the sole never attains more
than a certain thickness, and then scales off of itself,
showing a new sole ready for work underneath, I cannot
see the force of his reasoning. So much for the practical
man — now for the theorists. La Fosse, by the way, first
demonstrated the possibility of a horse going with his
foot on the ground instead of on the shoe only, and
invented a system of shoeing very similar to that of M.
Charlier, but not so good. Nevertheless the idea of the
Charlier shoe was no doubt taken from the shoe which
La Fosse invented. The idea that the horse ought to
walk as Nature makes him do, with his foot on the
ground, never gained much of a position in England
until lately. " Nimrod," indeed, thought little or
nothing of frog and sole pressure while his horses were at
work, and professed to despise the frog and its offices
thoroughly. But his precept and practice differed here,
as his horses went barefoot in the summer, and he speaks
of the benefits experienced by the horse walking a certain

220 UNASKED ADVICE.

distance every day "with the frog well let down on to-
the ground ;" but this good notion is spoiled by the
addition of ' ' the sole being thinly pared/' Many writers
of that day waged war against an imaginary disease
called ' ' contraction." " Kimrod " pointed out what
ought to have required no indication, viz., that contraction
may be a consequence of several diseases, but is in itself
not a cause but an effect.

This notion is at the present day not worth wasting ink
over, so we will go on to the next notion, which had a
little consideration for Nature. This was Professor
Coleman's bold assertion that " the frog must have pres-
sure or be diseased." The idea is undoubtedly correct ;
but his practice was like the move of a knight at chessr
one step forward, and the other to the side. He was
steering for the open sea of Nature, as I should be inclined
to call pressure on the frog ; but by a tack, like that of
the chess knight, ran upon the rock of art, as exemplified
by paring the sole. He recommended the use of a shoe
thick at the toe and thin at the heel. This let the frog
on to the ground ; but, as he pared both sole and frog,
and put the toe above the heel, the shoe was a failure.
Then Mr. Bracy Clarke came to the front with a jointed
shoe — another failure. Mr. Miles, if he did not invent^
at all events brought prominently forward the advantages
of nailing the shoe far back on one side only. But he
pared the sole, the horse stood and worked entirely on
the wall of the hoof, and foot lameness was not much
decreased. Matters remained stationary for some twenty
years until lately, when an extensive crop of new systems
of shoes and shoeing has appeared. Always on the look-
out for stable reforms, I have given most of them a trial,
and my experience is at the service of anyone who cares.

STAELE EEFORMS. 221

to read it. M. Charlier's appears first, but I will discuss
it last, merely remarking en passant that lie proposes to
shoo the horse so as to approach as nearly as possible an
unshod condition. And before looking into these inven-
tions let us make up our minds what we want, as ladies
invariably do before they enter, say Messrs. Marshall and
Snelgrove's shop. We want shoes and a system of shoe-
ing that will cause our horses to remain sound as long as
possible. Our horses are, some hunters, others hacks,
others again machiners of different kinds. Those all do
different work on different surfaces of ground, aud the
work itself is likely enough to lame them, therefore it
behoves us not to equip them in a manner also calculated
to incapacitate them ; for a lame horse is no good to
anyone, being merely an object of dislike to his master,
and derision to his groom.

Hunters shall come first. They are more rarely lame
in their feet than other horses. Their work is on soft
ground ; concussion is thereby diminished, and they have
while in the field the support of the ground over the
whole surface of their foot. Also, they generally
pass the summer without their shoes, their feet thereby
having a chance of resting as it were from the contest
which they must have waged during the winter with their
shoes. On the other hand, their shoes are nailed very
often too tightly, with the view of preventing their being
pulled off ; and they have the chance of getting fever in
the feet from causes unconnected with shoeing, also of
injuring the navicular bone in jumping on to hard roads
and stones with a pared sole. So their shoe must be
light, for its weight is carried for many hours ; it must
be easy to the foot, and calculated to prevent slipping as
far as possible; also it must stay on. The hack wants

222 UNASKED ADVICE.

much tlie same article, though he works on the road
exclusively ; his shoe must, above all, not be uncom-
fortable to him. The harness horse also works entirely
on the hard, and not only that, but often on a very
slippery surface. His shoes must enable him to take a
good hold of the ground above all things, or he will be
liable to slip up ; and how to make such a shoe as will
effect this, and at the same time keep the foot in anything
approaching a natural condition, is a problem not easy of
solution. At present we have several styles of shoeing
to choose from, all of which are supposed, or said by their
inventors, to be infallible. The principal ones are, first,
the steel-faced and grooved shoes of (I think) Mr. Gray,
of Sheffield. These are very well on sound feet, and they
give a secure foothold on slippery stones ; also they wear a
long time, and look neat, if that be a consideration ; but,
as far as being the cause of disease, they are open to the
same objections as the common shoe, though it is not a
certainty that either or any other shoe should cause disease.
It has been truly remarked that horses lightly worked
and not highly fed may be shod almost anyhow, and their
feet will remain sound ; but this fact does not help us
much, as the great majority of us want to work our
horses hard, and consequently must keep them high —
high keep being, as most people do not require to be
told, the greatest of all provocatives to inflammatory
attacks of every kind, and notably of the feet. So Mr.
Gray's shoes have no great advantage over the common
ones, excepting for use on slippery stones, and that they
are thinner, and so may allow of some frog pressure.
Next come Messrs. Downie and Harris's rubber pads.
These have been fully described in the Field newspaper ;
but, as everyone may not have read the article referring to

STABLE KEFOUMS. 223

them, I may shortly describe them as being a piece of
india-rubber the shape of the foot surface, but with a
'' rabbet/' so called, or grooves, the width of the shoe.
The pad is wider than the shoe, and protects most part of
the sole. It diminishes concussion, and prevents stones
being picked up by the shoe, and is so far a good thing.
But complaints are made of its causing the shoe to come
off, from the play of the nails caused by the elasticity of
the rubber. They are almost, if not quite, the same as
Edwards's horseshoe cushion, though there may be a
sufficient difference between the two to warrant their
being called by different names. I have personally made
a fair trial of the horseshoe cushion, and this is the
history thereof. Some years ago I had a remarkably
brilliant hunter, who was also remarkably unsound. He
had an inclination to pumice feet, and could hardly get
along at all on the road. I shod him with these rubber
cushions or pads, and the horse went very much better —
in fact, went on the road as if he were on the soft. So
far so good. But I had to leave them off because the
shoes were always coming off; and always when least
expected did this accident occur. Sometimes the whole
thing would stay in its place for a long day's hunting ;
sometimes it would become loose in the middle of a run ;
and sometimes it would take wings and fly away like a
quoit when the horse was doing walking exercise. To be
sure of its merits, I tried it on another horse ; the result
was just the same, and I naturally gave the shoes up, after
using them for more than two months and losing no end
of them. And I am persuaded that the same objection
will apply to all elastic pads for the same reason, viz., the
play of the nails caused by the pad being compressed
under the shoe and swelling out again. I should say

224 UNASKED ADVICE.

that the hoof grows very fast when shod with these
cushions, which goes to prove another theory of mine, of
which more hereafter. Next comes the Goodenough
shoe, concerning which more absurd statements have
teen made (chiefly in advertisements) than I have ever
read on any one subject before, even including Mr.
Groodenough's other most highly successful venture, the
Rarey system of horse-taming, which has already sunk
into oblivion. This shoe was " the only humane (?) shoe ;
it was to supersede all others, and its virtues took up in
their enumeration an immensity of space in various adver-
tising columns. For the benefit of anyone who has not
seen the shoe, I will describe it. It is pretty much like
any other shoe, bevelled on both the inside of the foot
and of the ground surface, and armed with a calkin at the
toe, one on each side, and one at each heel. It has eight
nail holes. Now, there is no great novelty here, as the
calkins are merely the common way of roughing shoes in
North America, and, bar the calkins, there is no great
difference between this and a common hunter's shoe.
The advertisement states that the intention is that the
shoe should, though calked, preserve the level position of
the foot. This is a manifest absurdity, as the calkins will
not wear away evenly, and then the foot is not level.
The toe calkin goes first, and then the shoe is no better
than a common turned-up shoe, which is objectionable
(though sometimes necessary on slippery stones) as
throwing all the weight upon the toe. It was to prevent
cutting — another absurdity. It might or it might not do
this, as horses differ so in their way of executiug this
objectionable performance. Finally — and this assertion
is still made in the very much curtailed advertisement —
<e horses shod with them will retain sound feet to the end

STABLE EEFOBMS. 225

of their natural lives." This is tall talking; but it is
easy to talk. In theory this shoe is defective, as being
nailed too near the heels, in making the crust sustain the
whole weight of the horse (for, though a model is sold of
a foot and Goodenough's shoe on it a la Charlier, it is
an absurdity, the frog of the model foot being such as no
horse ever possessed), and because the toe calkins would
naturally make the horse stumble. In practice I found
the following faults : A hack shod with them on the fore
feet, previously a good goer, stumbled shockingly until
the calkin was worn away. Theory and practice agreed
here for once. Two harness horses got along pretty well
so shod all round ; but " forged," as the phrase goes —
that is to say, hit the toe of the fore shoe with the toe
calkin behind, until the latter was worn down, thereby
making a constant noise most unpleasant to the driver,
and not unattended with danger of falling. They
stumbled, but, having no weight on their backs, did this
less than the hack. A hunter went much as usual on the
soft — neither better nor worse, for calkins are of no good
in soft ground, the whole foot being then choked up with
mud ; but in his first gallop a shoe broke in two. So did
a shoe apiece of both of the harness horses. The hack's
did not, but were an exception in not doing so. Of
course no sane man would put shoes with a toe calkin on
a hunter's hind feet ; we have overreaches enough with-
out that. But the mishaps enumerated above are
only what might be expected from the make of the
shoe. The calkins speak for themselves, and the great
size of the nail holes must make the shoe very liable to
break close to them when at all worn, and even, as in the
case of the hunter, when not worn, that being a very
weak point. The advertisements stated that the shoes

Q

226 UNASKED ADVICE.

would not pick up stones or ball with snow. As regards
the stones, this is pretty correct ; but the snow statement
is quite wrong. So large a snowball does not form in the
foot of a horse shod with this shoe ; but it stays there
longer than in a common one, so perhaps that makes
them even in that respect. Finally, the General Omnibus
Company (which had adopted the Goodenough shoe, has
discontinued it. No doubt the promoters of the shoe
could give some good reasons for this ; but facts are
stubborn things, and a firm of business men, using many
horseshoes, are not likely to give up those which they
found were " the best and cheapest in the world," and
which these shoes are said to be — by their own advertise-
ment. The next and last shoe that deserves notice is the
Charlier ; and, lest I should be accused of undue par-
tiality to it, I will give my experience of it at length, as I
have done with the others. A short description may be
needed. As it is some time since the shoe was dis-
cussed, the Charlier shoe is, in a few words, a shoe
which is the width of the crust to which it is to be
applied, and rather thicker than, or of the same thick-
ness as the sole. The foot is prepared for the shoe by
shortening the wall all round the foot, but leaving the
sole, thus making a groove. The shoe is accurately
fitted to the foot, placed in the groove, and nailed in the
ordinary manner. Any smith can make the shoe, aud can
make it alone, whilst it takes two men to make the
common one. When the shoe is on, the horse stands on
his foot as if he were unshod, the outer border of the
sole, the frog, and the bars combining with the crust to
sustain the weight of the horse, which with the common
shoe is carried entirely by the crust. Consequently, the
foot being in a natural position, the horse is comfortable,

STABLE REFORMS. 227

and those diseases which are caused by the shoe are not
likely to attack him. The sole must never be pared, nor
the frog; they will wear down of themselves. The
number and situation of the nail holes depend on indi-
vidual tastes. I shall not describe the adaptation of the
shoe further, as a little illustrated pamphlet is published
which gives every detail — some of which require illus-
trating— but will merely give my experience of the article.
Towards the end of the seaon '68-69, I found myself
with a stud of five hunters much the worse for wear.
No. 1 was ten years old, very good legs, and strong (too
strong) feet ; she went rather short on the road, and had
a most hateful trick, which had come on in the last two
seasons, of knuckling over on her front fetlocks, and in
fact she had fallen on the road twice, but without hurting
herself. Being a strong-footed one, I shod her a la
Charlier one day, and hunted her the next. Having her
feet on the ground made little or no difference in her
going; but the first difference I perceived in her was
that she galloped much lighter through plough, " dirt "
having been previously her weak point. This is easily
accounted for, as the common shoe comes out of the deep
ground with a " suck," which is absent when the shoe
lies close into the foot. The common shoe makes
the ground surface of a foot so shod something like a
cup. The hacking improved slightly, but not much. In
August, '69, I shod this mare with Charlier shoes behind
also, and after the first few days she never made a
" peck " on the road, and felt quite different under me —
so much more springy. The fact is, I don't think we
attend enough to the hind feet. They don't show the
effects of bad shoeing like the fore feet, and so they
don't get attention ; but what is bad in front can't be

Q2

228 UNASKED ADVICE.

good behind. The mare's heels became much more
open ; no man need desire a better hack on the road ;
and, oddly enough, she pulled through last season without
falling. This, of course, was not the shoeing; but it
shows that horses do not slip worse in Charlier than in
other shoes. No. 2 was a five-year-old, which looked very
much like going to the kennels at six. This animal
enjoyed incipient side bones and ossification of the car-
tilages, having a narrow brittle hoof. She might also
have reasonably backed herself to be the worst hack in
England. Being a good hunter, I gave her a chance,
and after a month's rest, with blistering of the coronets, I
shod her all round, and she did exercise until it was time
to hunt again. I did not know my own animal when I
rode her in the autumn. Her heels were springy ; she
had recovered her action, and left off a habit of boring on
the bit, which arose from her grogginess. This mare
continued sound. No. 3 was a flat-footed horse, with calf
knees, and legs that were always swelled. He never was
lame ; but when shod with these shoes his feet became
much stronger, and his legs never filled all last season
(69-70.) As we all know the connection between the
frog and flexor tendon, this is an interesting fact. I had
ridden the horse two seasons with round legs, and never
succeeded in getting them down. Both this horse and
No. 2 used to cut behind badly, but they have not done it
with the Charlier shoe ; which, indeed, has much less to
cut with — less, in fact, to the extent of the thickness of
the ordinary shoe, as this one is sunk in the foot instead
of projecting beyond it. No. 4 had chronic laminitis.
He improved very much during the summer, when I sold
him into a comfortable home ; but his owner, a friend of
mine, put common shoes on him, and I should fancy he

STABLE REFORMS. 229

might get bad again ; however, I shall see him ere long,
and judge for myself.* No. 5 had corns. The cause
being removed, the effect followed ; he was otherwise a
sound horse, but not a safe hunter, and, not being an
old friend, I sold him also. Last season I had two new
ones. I shod them with the Charlier shoe all round ;
they were sound, and continued so. Therefore I do not
recommend the system without fair ground for doing so.
Besides hunters, I have tried it with equal success on
harness horses and road hacks.

A friend at Melton tells me that the Charlier shoe is in
use there, and gaining ground ; but that the sportsmen
there use a very short one — hardly more than a tip, and
extending only to the bars — and that it answers well. I
have used still shorter tips, let into the foot, a la Char-
lier, and with great success, but chiefly on the road.
The theory of tips is that they are apt to strain the
sinew from lowering the heel, but I cannot say that I
have ever experienced this evil, nor seen it happen to
others. To end a very long yarn, we ought to come to a
conclusion as to what is the best shoe for all purposes. I
should say for hunters and hacks the Charlier shoe all
round, turned up behind if you like, and in strong feet
only coming as far back as the bars of the foot, in weak
feet to the heel — at all events until they grow strong.
But, by the way, nothing makes the heels grow so fast as
the wearing of tips. For light harness horses I should
say the same ; but for heavy work on the stones I should
recommend something different, for the hind feet at all
events. Calkins are absolutely needful for the hind feet
of omnibus horses, and in addition I would have the toe
or some of it, square, so as to give a good point d'cuppui
* With common shoes he became as groggy as ever.

330 UNASKED ADVICE.

for the hind leg in starting up slippery hills ; and this,
with an unpared sole and a tolerably wide shoe, taking a
bearing on the crust and the exterior border of the sole
(which will stand some pressure if it be left in a state of
nature), is about all that can be done for the hind feet. For
the fore feet of omnibus horses I cannot but think, if Char-
lier shoes or tips be not approved of, that the steel grooved
shoes shortened into tips would be useful. They would
prevent slipping, and the heels and frogs would be on the
ground ; of course the sole would have to be left unpared.
Horses accustomed to full shoes will naturally go very
short at first in tips ; but they soon get used to them,
and recover their action. A sportsman, well known some
little time ago in the Shires, shod all his horses with tips
— hunters, hacks, and carriage horses ; but, although it
was seen that his stud went very well shod in this
manner, no one followed his example, the world in
general being staunch Conservatives, and diametrically
opposed to any innovation in stable matters, whatever
their opinions may be on other subjects. Apropos of
tips, I came upon the following sentence in a chapter
devoted to the consideration of " corns," in that remark-
ably well-meaning though not wholly satisfactory work,
" The Illustrated Horse Doctor" : " Some horses will go
sound in tips, which cannot endure any further protec-
tion." The moral, so to speak, of this is, that it is the shoe,
not the road, that hurts the horse ; for if so weak and
tender a foot as is described can go sound when all but
unshod, why should not the strong sound one do the same ?
The obvious conclusion is, that we require a strong sound
foot to stand, not our work, but our shoe ! My idea of
the way to keep horses' feet sound is this : " let the frog
come to the ground, and leave it and the sole alone.

STABLE REFORMS. 231

Any system of shoeing which is compatible with these
two rules will do for me ; but I know of none excepting
the Charlier shoe and the tip. The Goodenough shoe is
supposed to be let into the foot like the Charlier — some-
times, at any rate — but it is much too thick, and to bring
the frog flush with the calkins would necessitate a serious
mutilation of the foot ; in fact I think it would be impos-
sible, as the Goodenough is nearly as broad as a common
shoe, and, as far as the foot surface goes, it is identical
with the common concave-seated shoe, both being eased
off so as not to press upon the sole. The common shoe
is generally, not always, a little the wider of the two.
If that part of the foot which breaks away on hard
ground faster than it can be reproduced be protected
from wear, I cannot see what the rest of the foot, which
does not wear away, wants with any so-called protection.
Corns are always caused by the shoe ; side bones, I think,
generally so ; and though it may be said that tips expose
the animal to the danger of a bruised heel, bruised heels
were by no means unknown under the old system.
With tips, too, snow does not ball in the foot ; with every
other shoe it does so more or less. I may as well say,
while giving my own experiences, that I have lately been
working a hack in common short tips, not let into the
foot, and the horse goes very well on the road. As the
animal was made to travel barefoot, I do not see the advan-
tage of making him incapable of doing so by a long
course of artificial treatment. But one thing must be
remembered : although many lamenesses are attributable
to bad shoeing, there are other causes of disease in the
feet wholly unconnected with the blacksmith's shop. A
horse may have acute laminitis, for instance, who has
never been shod, if he has been otherwise mismanaged.

332 UNASKED ADVICE.

Bar shoeing, the management of horses is pretty well
understood in the present day. In bitting, however,
there is room for improvement ; and a very fair reform bill
has been brought forward by Major Dwyer concerning this
matter. With much of Major Dwyer's book I do not
agree. Although he talks a little of hunters, it is clear
that he knows but a very little of them, or he would
hardly recommend a snaffle for general use in the field.
His double bridle, however, is very good, and, light
though it looks, it is a very powerful instrument.
People, however, must read the book and judge for them-
selves. The bit is to be got at Messrs. Gibson' s, Coventry-
street, Leicester-square ; and I think it excellent for
most pullers, and also for star-gazers and ewe-necked
horses. Being rather severe, it requires "hands" to
make the most of it. A mutton-fisted yokel attempting
to control a violent horse with it will find himself in a
false position. It is far more reliable with a puller than
the advertised nosebands, most of which deaden the
mouth, while they enliven the temper. Griffith's snaffle
is on the principle of the Bucephalus noseband. I once
saw it fail altogether in the hands of a first-rate horse-
man -, but I have heard of its success elsewhere. If the
horse pulls with his head on one side it becomes useless,
and the horse will in most cases discover this little fact.
Out of pages on pages of advertisements, I have selected
the above as being the only new invention that even gives
fair promise of being worth trying.

Every innovation is not a reform, and this remark
applies specially to stable practice ; but any real reform
in shoeing is reform indeed, and the greatest respect and
attention are due to it. But how few of these old dis-
coveries, which are from time to time re-invented, are

STABLE REFORMS. 233

worth, even the limited amount of attention which they
command.

P.S. — Since writing the above I have seen a letter in
the Field from a gentleman who, after stating that he
has found the use of the Goodenough shoe very satisfac-
tory, rather spoils this praise by saying that at the
commencement of a frost he had the calkins steeled.
Now, as in the country the only times that these calkins
can be of any use is during a frost, if they are useless,
and if they require alteration, then what is the good of
them ? and, without them, what becomes of the much-
vaunted shoe ?

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