A New Illustrated Edition of J. S. Rarey's Art of Taming Horses Part 10

_Stables._--Most elaborate directions are given for the construction of stables; but most people are obliged to put up with what they find on their premises. Stables should be so ventilated that they never stink, and are never decidedly warm in cold weather, if you wish your horses to be healthy. Grooms will almost always stop up ventilation if they can.

Loose boxes are to be preferred to stalls, because in them a tired horse can place himself in the position most easy to him. Sloping stalls are chambers of torture.

Hunters should be placed away from other horses, where, after a fatiguing day, they can lie at length, undisturbed by men or other horses in use. Stables should be as light as living rooms, but with louvers to darken them in summer, in order to keep out the flies. An ample supply of cold and hot water without troubling the cook is essential in a well-managed stable.

Large stables are magnificent, but a mistake. Four or five horses are quite as many as can be comfortably lodged together. I have seen hunters in an old barn in better condition than in the grandest temples of fas.h.i.+onable architects.

It takes an hour to dress a horse well in the morning, and more on return hot from work. From this hint you may calculate what time your servant must devote to his horses if they are to be well dressed.

If you are in the middle cla.s.s, with a small stud, never take a swell groom from a great stable--he will despise you and your horses. Hunting farmers and hunting country surgeons train the best cla.s.s of grooms.

When you find an honest, sober man, who thoroughly knows his business, you cannot treat him too well, for half the goodness of a horse depends, like a French dish, on the treatment.

FOOTNOTES:

[114-*] "Hints on Horses and Hunting," by Senex.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SIDE SADDLE.]

CHAPTER IX.

ON HORSEMAN'S AND HORSEWOMAN'S DRESS, AND HORSE FURNITURE.

On bits.--The snaffle.--The use of the curb.--The Pelham.--The Hanoverian bit described.--Martingales.--The gentleman's saddle to be large enough.--Spurs.--Not to be too sharp.--The Somerset saddle for the timid and aged.--The Nolan saddle without flaps.--Ladies' saddle described.--Advantages of the hunting-horn crutch.--Ladies' stirrup.--Ladies' dress.--Hints on.--Habit.--Boots.--Whips.--Hunting whips.--Use of the lash.--Gentleman's riding costume.--Hunting dress.--Poole, the great authority.--Advantage of cap over hat in hunting.--Boot-tops and Napoleons.--Quotation from Warburton's ballads.

If you wish to ride comfortably, you must look as carefully to see that your horse's furniture fits and suits him as to your own boots and breeches.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CURB-BIT.]

When a farmer buys a team of oxen, if he knows his business he asks their names, because oxen answer to their names. On the same principle it is well to inquire what bit a horse has been accustomed to, and if you cannot learn, try several until you find out what suits him. There are rare horses, "that carry their own heads," in dealers' phrase, safely and elegantly with a plain snaffle bridle; but except in the hands of a steeple-chase jock, few are to be so trusted. Besides, as reins, as well as snaffles, break, it is not safe to hunt much with one bit and one bridle-rein. The average of horses go best on a double bridle, that is to say, the common hard and sharp or curb, with a snaffle. The best way is to ride on the snaffle, and use the curb only when it is required to stop your horse suddenly, to moderate his speed when he is pulling too hard, or when he is tired or lazy to collect him, by drawing his nose down and his hind-legs more under him, for that is the first effect of taking hold of the curb-rein. There are many horses with good mouths, so far that they can be stopped easily with a plain snaffle, and yet require a curb-bit, to make them carry their heads in the right place, and this they often seem to do from the mere hint of the curb-chain dangling against their chins, without the rider being obliged to pull at the reins with any perceptible force.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PLAIN SNAFFLE.]

The Pelham-bit (see cut), which is a sort of snaffle-bit with cheeks and a curb-chain, is a convenient style for this cla.s.s of horse. A powerful variation of the Pelham, called the Hanoverian, has within the last few years come very much into use. It requires the light hands of a practised horseman to use the curb-reins of the Hanoverian on a delicate-mouthed horse; but when properly used no bit makes a horse bend and display himself more handsomely, and in the hunting-field it will hold a horse when nothing else will, for this bit is a very powerful snaffle, as well as curb, with rollers or rings, that keep the horse's mouth moist, and prevent it from becoming dead (see cut). For hunting, use the first; if the Hanoverian it should not be too narrow.

[Ill.u.s.tration: PELHAM-BIT.]

The Chifney is a curb with, a very powerful leverage, and one of the best for a pulling horse, or a lady's use.

A perfect horseman will make s.h.i.+ft with any bit. Sir Tatton Sykes and Sir Charles Knightley, in their prime, could hold any horse with a plain snaffle; but a lady, or a weak-wristed horseman, should be provided with a bit that can stop the horse on an emergency; and many horses, perfectly quiet on the road, pull hard in the field at the beginning of a run. But it should be remembered, that when a horse runs away, it is useless to rely on the curb, as, when once he has fully resisted it, the longer he runs the less he cares for it. The better plan is to keep the snaffle moving and sawing in his mouth, and from time to time take a sharp pull at the curb.

[Ill.u.s.tration: HANOVERIAN-BIT.]

It is of great importance, especially with a high-spirited horse, that the headpiece should fit him, that it is neither too tight nor too low down in his mouth. I have known a violently restive horse to become perfectly calm and docile when his bridle had been altered so as to fit him comfortably. The curb-bit should be placed so low as only just to clear the tushes in a horse's mouth, and one inch above the corner teeth in a mare's. There should be room for at least one finger between the curb-chain and the chin. If the horse is tender-skinned, the chain may be covered with leather.

When you are learning to ride, you should take pains to learn everything concerning the horse and his equipments. In this country we are so well waited upon, that we often forget that we may at some time or other be obliged to become our own grooms and farriers.

For the colonies, the best bridle is that described in the chapter on training colts, which is a halter, a bridle, and a gag combined.

Bridle reins should be soft, yet tough; so long, and no longer, so that by extending your arms you can shorten them to any desired length; then, if your horse pokes out his head, or extends himself in leaping, you can, if you hold the reins in each hand, as you ought, let them slip through your fingers, and shorten them in an instant by extending your arms. A very good sportsman of my acquaintance has tabs sewn on the curb-reins, which prevents them from slipping. This is a useful plan for ladies who ride or drive; but, as before observed, in hunting the snaffle-reins should slip through the fingers.

Some horses require martingales to keep their heads down, and in the right place. But imperfect hors.e.m.e.n are not to be trusted with running martingales. Running martingales require tabs on the reins, to prevent the rings getting fixed close to the mouth.

For hacks and ladies' horses on the road, a standing martingale, buckled to the nose-band of the bridle, is the best. It should be fixed, as Mr.

Rarey directs, not so short as to bring the horse's head exactly where you want it--your hands must do that--but just short enough to keep his nose down, and prevent him from flinging his poll into your teeth. If his neck is rightly shaped, he will by degrees lower his head, and get into the habit of so arching his neck that the martingale may be dispensed with; this is very desirable, because you cannot leap with a standing martingale, and a running one requires the hands of a steeplechase jock.

The saddle of a gentleman should be large enough. In racing, a few pounds are of consequence; but in carrying a heavy man on the road or in the field, to have the weight evenly distributed over the horse's back is of more consequence than three or four pounds. The common general fitting saddle will fit nine horses out of ten. Colonial horses usually have low shoulders; therefore colonial saddles should be narrow, thickly stuffed, and provided with cruppers, although they have gone out of fas.h.i.+on in this country, because it is presumed that gentlemen will only ride horses that have a place for carrying a saddle properly.

On a journey, see to the stuffing of your saddle, and have it put in a draft, or to the fire, to dry, when saturated with sweat; the neglect of either precaution may give your horse a sore back, one of the most troublesome of horse maladies.

Before hunting, look to the spring bars of the stirrup-leathers, and see that they will work: if they are tight, pull them down and leave them open. Of all accidents, that of being caught, after your horses fall, in the stirrup, is the most dangerous, and not uncommon. I have seen at least six instances of it. When raw to the hunting-field, and of course liable to falls, it is well to use the spring-bar stirrups which open, not at the side, but at the eye holding the stirrup-leather; the same that I recommend for the use of ladies.

Spurs are only to be used by those who have the habit of riding, and will not use them at the wrong time. In most instances, the sharp points of the rowels should be filed or rubbed off, for they are seldom required for more than to rouse a horse at a fence, or turn him suddenly away from a vehicle in the street. Sharp spurs may be left to jockeys.

Long-legged men can squeeze their horses so hard, that they can dispense with spurs; but short-legged men need them at the close of a run, when a horse begins to lumber carelessly over his fences, or with a horse inclined to refuse. d.i.c.k Christian broke difficult horses to leaping without the spur; and when he did, only used one on the left heel.

Having myself had falls with horses at the close of a run, which rushed and pulled at the beginning, for want of spurs, I have found the advantage of carrying one in my sandwich-bag, and buckling it on, if needed, at a check. Of course, first-rate hors.e.m.e.n need none of these hints; but I write for novices only, of whom, I trust, every prosperous year of Old England will produce a plentiful crop from the fortunate and the sons of the fortunate.

A great many persons in this country learn, or relearn, to ride after they have reached manhood, either because they can then for the first time afford the dignity and luxury, or because the doctor prescribes horse exercise as the only remedy for weak digestion, disordered liver, trembling nerves--the result of overwork or over-feeding. Thus the lawyer, overwhelmed with briefs; the artist, maintaining his position as a Royal Academician; the philosopher, deep in laborious historical researches; and the young alderman, exhausted by his first year's apprentices.h.i.+p to City feeding, come under the hands of the riding-master.

Now although for the man "to the manner bred," there is no saddle for hard work and long work, whether in the hunting-field or Indian campaign, like a broad seated English hunting saddle, there is no doubt that its smooth slippery surface offers additional difficulties to the middle-aged, the timid, and those crippled by gout, rheumatism or pounds. There can be very little benefit derived from horse exercise as long as the patient travels in mortal fear. Foreigners teach riding on a buff leather demi-pique saddle,--a bad plan for the young, as the English saddle becomes a separate difficulty. But to those who merely aspire to const.i.tutional canters, and who ride only for health, or as a matter of dignity, I strongly recommend the Somerset saddle, invented for one of that family of cavaliers who had lost a leg below the knee.

This saddle is padded before the knee and behind the thigh to fit the seat of the purchaser, and if provided with a stuffed seat of brown buckskin will give the quartogenarian pupil the comfort and the confidence of an arm-chair. They are, it may be encouraging to mention, fas.h.i.+onable among the more aristocratic middle-aged, and the front roll of stuffing is much used among those who ride and break their own colts, as it affords a fulcrum against a puller, and a protection against a kicker. Australians use a rolled blanket, strapped over the pommel of the saddle, for the same purpose. To bad hors.e.m.e.n who are too conceited to use a Somerset, I say, in the words of the old proverb, "Pride must have a fall."

The late Captain Nolan had a military saddle improved from an Hungarian model, made for him by Gibson, of Coventry Street, London, without flaps, and with a felt saddle cloth, which had the advantage of being light, while affording the rider a close seat and more complete control over his horse, in consequence of the more direct pressure of the legs on the horse's flanks. It would be worth while to try a saddle of this kind for hunting purposes, and for breaking in colts. Of course it could only be worn with boots, to protect the rider's legs from the sweat of the horse's flanks.

With the hunting-horn crutch the seat of a woman is stronger than that of a man, for she presses her right leg down over the upright pommel, and the left leg up against the hunting-horn, and thus grasps the two pommels between her legs at that angle which gives her the most power.

Ladies' saddles ought invariably to be made with what is called the hunting-horn, or crutch, at the left side. The right-hand pommel has not yet gone out of fas.h.i.+on, but it is of no use, and is injurious to the security of a lady's seat, by preventing the right hand from being put down as low as it ought to be with a restive horse, and by encouraging the bad habit of leaning the right hand on it. A flat projection is quite sufficient. The security of the hunting-horn saddle will be quite clear to you, if, when sitting in your chair, you put a cylinder three or four inches in diameter between your legs, press your two knees together by crossing them, in the position of a woman on a side-saddle; when a man clasps his horse, however firmly, it has a tendency, to raise the seat from the saddle. This is not the case with the side-saddle seat: if a man wishes to use a lance and ride at a ring, he will find that he has a firmer seat with this kind of side-saddle than with his own. There is no danger in this side-pommel, since you cannot be thrown on it, and it renders it next to impossible that the rider should be thrown upon the other pommel. In case of a horse leaping suddenly into the air and coming down on all four feet, technically, "_bucking_,"

without the leaping-horn there is nothing to prevent a lady from being thrown up. But the leaping-horn holds down the left knee, and makes it a fulcrum to keep the right knee down in its proper place. If the horse in violent action throws himself suddenly to the left, the upper part of the rider's body will tend downwards, to the right, and the lower limbs to the left: nothing can prevent this but the support of the leaping-horn. The fear of over-balancing to the right causes many ladies to get into the bad habit of leaning over their saddles to the left.

This fear disappears when the hunting-horn pommel is used. The leaping-horn is also of great use with a hard puller, or in riding down a steep place, for it prevents the lady from sliding forward.

But these advantages render the right-hand pommel quite useless, a slight projection being all sufficient (see woodcut); while this arrangement gives the habit and figure a much better appearance. Every lady ought to be measured for this part of the saddle, as the distance between the two pommels will depend partly on the length of her legs.

When a timid inexperienced lady has to ride a fiery horse it is not a bad plan to attach a strap to the outside girth on the right hand, so that she may hold it and the right hand rein at the same time without disturbing her seat. This little expedient gives confidence, and is particularly useful if a fresh horse should begin to kick a little. Of course it is not to be continued, but only used to give a timid rider temporary a.s.sistance. I have also used for the same purpose a broad tape pa.s.sed across the knees, and so fastened that in a fall of the horse it would give way.

Colonel Greenwood recommends that for fastening a ladies' saddle-flaps an elastic webbing girth, and not a leather girth, should be used, and this attached, not, as is usually the case, to the small, but to the _large flap_ on the near side. This will leave the near side small flap loose, as in a man's saddle, and allow a spring bar to be used. But I have never seen, either in use or in a saddler's shop, although I have constantly sought, a lady's saddle so arranged with a spring bar for the stirrup-leather. This mode of attaching a web girth to the large flap will render the near side perfectly smooth, with the exception of the stirrup-leather, which he recommends to be a single thin strap as broad as a gentleman's, fastened to the stirrup-leg by a loop or slipknot, and fixed over the spring bar of the saddle by a buckle like that on a man's stirrup-leather. This arrangement, which the Colonel also recommends to gentlemen, presumes that the length of the stirrup-leather never requires altering more than an inch or two. It is a good plan for short men when travelling, and likely to ride strange horses, to carry their stirrup-leathers with them, as nothing is more annoying than to have to alter them in a hurry with the help of a blunt pen-knife.

"The stirrup for ladies should be in all respects like a man's, large and heavy, and open at the side, or the eyelet hole, with a spring." The stirrups made small and padded out of compliment to ladies' small feet are very dangerous. If any padding be required to protect the front of the ankle-joint, it had better be a fixture on the boot.

It is a mistake to imagine that people are dragged owing to the stirrup being too large, and the foot pa.s.sing through it; such accidents arise from the stirrup being too small, and the foot clasped by the pressure of the upper part on the toe and the lower part on the sole.

Few ladies know how to dress for horse exercise, although there has been a great improvement, so far as taste is concerned, of late years. As to the head-dress, it may be whatever is in fas.h.i.+on, provided it so fits the head as not to require continual adjustment, often needed when the hands would be better employed with the reins and whip. It should shade from the sun, and if used in hunting protect the nape of the neck from rain. The recent fas.h.i.+ons of wearing the plumes or feathers of the ostrich, the c.o.c.k, the capercailzie, the pheasant, the peac.o.c.k, and the kingfisher, in the riding-hats of young ladies, in my humble opinion, are highly to be commended.

As to the riding-habit, it may be of any colour and material suitable to the wearer and the season of year, but the sleeves must fit rather closely; nothing can be more out of place, inconvenient, and ridiculous, than the wide, hanging sleeves which look so well in a drawing-room. For country use the skirt of a habit may be short, and bordered at the bottom a foot deep with leather. The fas.h.i.+on of a waistcoat of light material for summer, revived from the fas.h.i.+on of last century, is a decided improvement, and so is the over-jacket of cloth, or sealskin, for rough weather. There is no reason why pretty young girls should not indulge in picturesque riding costume so long as it is appropriate.

Many ladies entirely spoil the sit of the skirts by retaining the usual _impedimenta_ of petticoats[147-*]. The best-dressed horsewomen wear nothing more than a flannel chemise with long coloured sleeves, under their trousers.