Horse (animal)

“ Wild horses are found, in large herds, in Siberia, and several other parts of Asia, as well as in some parts of Africa.
Endowed with the most useful qualifications, the horse is an animal of the greatest importance to the inhabitants of all temperate climates. Though naturally spirited, active, and intrepid, he submits with patience to carry burthens, and to toil, for days together, along roads and in agricultural labours. And, if treated with care and attention, he perseveringly adapts himself to our wants and conveniences. ”

“ All the time on the move, as these shepherd people were, driving their cattle and sheep from [65] pasture to pasture, the horse was fitted for their use by its strength and speed, and very long ago it must have been caught and made to bear the saddle and bridle and carry man on its back. No one can say how long ago this was, but these people are now the great horsemen of the earth. They live with their horses, sleep with them, and love them even more than they do their children. ”

“ The stock-raiser gets his thoroughbred horse with his thin neck, small head, diminutive ears, greyhound legs, and peculiar barrel, but with them a high nervous organization and uncertain temper, that make the animal impracticable for the ordinary pursuits of life. ”

“ The horse, as we all know, is even more of a reasoning animal than the cow. I knew of a horse who would leave his pasture under cover of darkness, and go some distance off over several fences into a field of grain, where he would help himself, and invariably return before daylight to his own pasture without disturbing a single rail on any of the fences he jumped. ”

“ In the first form (the most common in the horse) the animal which has been full of life and vigor, slackens his pace and the tension on the reins, or stops suddenly, shakes the head, vertically or horizontally, or jerks it to one side, trembles, staggers, props his legs outward for more stable support, presses against the pole, or the other horse, or a wall, leans on the breeching or hangs on the breast strap, plunges forward, or to one side, or rears up and even falls backward, and comes to the ground. ”

“ The horse is a very well-defined matter-of-fact sort of animal, and we are all pretty familiar with its structure. I dare say it may have struck you, that it resembles very much no other member of the animal kingdom, except perhaps the zebra or the ass. But let me ask you to look along these diagrams. Here is the skeleton of the horse, and here the skeleton of the dog. You will notice that we have in the horse a skull, a backbone and ribs, shoulder-blades and haunch-bones. ”

“ One of the most striking of these facts is that in relation to the horse, of which a practically complete series of ancestral forms have been found, leading from a small five-toed animal, far back in geological time, through forms in which the toes decrease in number and the animal increases in size until the large single-toed horse is reached. ”

“ After this little creature came a horse-like animal as large as a sheep, with only three toes, the middle one being much longer and broader than the others, while the two bones of the lower leg began to unite.
The next age shows us a horse as large as a Shetland pony; the two bones of the lower leg are merged into one; the big middle toe occupies nearly all of the foot. And finally, shortly before human beings came into the world, we find a true horse. ”

“ The horse (including under his name the asses and zebras, as well as the true horses—see Equidæ) is unique among modern animals in the fact that it walks on the extreme tip of the central digit of the foot, corresponding to the middle finger-nail of man, and that all the remaining toes have completely disappeared. The feet are greatly elongated, so as to equal the other segments of the limbs in length, and to raise the animal much higher above the ground than if he walked, as does a man or a bear, on the sole of the foot. ”

“ The horse, as well as the rider, understands the manner of manoeuvering, and is able to hold the strongest bullock, taking care to watch closely its movements, when it is disposed to make battle, and avoiding its furious passes, until it becomes exhausted or assistance is given to the person who has caught the animal. ”

“ Having found the track of any wild or domestic animal, except the horse, which is too swift for them, the entire pack, yelping and baying, darts off upon the chase with such eager impetuosity, that many of them fall into the bushes, or run foul of rocks and ant-hills. ”

“ The selected beast tries to escape by wedging himself into masses of his companions; but the horse, who apparently enters thoroughly into the fun of the thing, turns and twists with surprising rapidity, and, before the [Pg 205] hunted animal knows what is happening to him, he finds himself edged outside of the main herd, and driven to a separate little group. ”

“ The horse is a noble and useful animal, but although he can run very well alone, he suffers himself to be governed, guided, and driven hither and thither, backwards and forwards, according to the will of his rider ”

“ To my way of thinking there's something wrong, or missing, with any person who hasn't got a soft spot in their heart for an animal of some kind. With most folks the dog stands highest as man's friend, then comes the horse, with others the cat is liked best as a pet, or a monkey is fussed over; but whatever kind of animal it is a person likes, it's all hunkydory so long as there's a place in the heart for one or a few of them. ”

“ The horses, with drooping heads, and each with a mane and tail as scanty and straggling as those of a worn-out rocking-horse, are standing patiently on some damp straw, occasionally wincing, and rattling the harness ”

“ Have you ever seen a horse as has been clipped and kept all winter on hay in the stables when he chances to get out into a meadow, up go his heels, he turns frisky, gallops about, and there's no catching him again—not even with oats. He prefers the fresh grass and his freedom. ”

“ The long-legged horse with his ill-groomed coat, all hairs on end like the fretful porcupine his quills, and his tail whisking with derisive defiance in the face of the fare, carries his head on one side, foams at the mouth, and is evidently a dissipated quadruped, guilty, I am afraid, of every vice except hypocrisy. ”

“ When she runs from room to room she beats the floor with her fore-paws with a gallant little rocking-horse action. When she runs over grass she makes a russet streak like a hare, with the undulating ripple of a sea-serpent, and her soft pads reverberate like muffled hoofs. ”

“ To stand knee-deep in glass and gladiolas, to smell the mashed and mussed up mignonette and the last fragrant sigh of the scrunched heliotrope beneath the hoof of your horse, while far away the deep-mouthed baying of the hoarse hounds, hotly hugging the reeking trail of the aniseseed bag, calls on the gorgeously caparisoned hills to give back their merry music or fork it over to other answering hills, is joy to the huntsman's heart. ”

“ And the horse itself seemed conscious of the exceeding beauty of its master, as it arched its neck, and pricked up its ears, and frowned its brows, and advanced proudly, giving ready obedience to the rein, balancing on alternate shoulders, lightly striking the tips of its hoofs on the ground, and attuning its pace to a gentle motion. ”

“ When horses work, or travel over a hard road, they have iron shoes nailed to their hoofs, so that they will not be hurt by striking the stones.
13. The hoofs have no feeling on the outside, and it does not hurt the horse to have these shoes nailed on. They grow like our nails, and must be pared once in a while.
14. The horse can paw with his fore feet, and kick with his hind ones, and, when he kicks hard, he breaks things. He has a tail covered with long hair, and this he uses as a switch to keep off flies in summer.
[59]
LESSON XXII. THE HORSE AND ITS FRIENDS.
1. ”

“ The horse seems drowsy and stupid, standing with semi-closed eyes, often drooping lower lip and ears, head pendent and resting in the manger or against the wall in front, the back arched and the limbs drawn together. ”

“ Too often these are omitted or overlooked, and the horse suddenly stops, props himself on his four limbs, drops and extends the head, breathes with great rapidity, panting and even stertor, dilates the nostrils widely, retracts the angle of the mouth and even gapes, has the eyes fixed, the pupils dilated and the beats of the heart tumultuous. ”

“ The gleam of the yellow-worsted body with star-y-pointed tail maddened them with desire—no dallying with the gay deceiver—they licked him in—they gorged him—and while satiating their passion got involved in inextricable fate. You have seen a single strong horse ploughing up-hill. How he sets his brisket to it—and snooves along—as the furrows fall in beautiful regularity from the gliding share. ”

“ He spurs his horse, he winds his horn, "Hark forward, forward, holla, ho!"— But off, on whirlwind's pinions borne, The stag, the hut, the hermit, go.
And horse and man, and horn and hound, And clamor of the chase, was gone; For hoofs, and howls, and bugle-sound, A deadly silence reigned alone.
Wild gazed the affrighted Earl around; He strove in vain to wake his horn, In vain to call: for not a sound Could from his anxious lips be borne.
He listens for his trusty hounds; No distant baying reached his ears: His courser rooted to the ground, The quickening spur unmindful bears. ”

“ It is as large as a little horse, is gray in color, has high branching horns, a stooping neck, and a pretty little head with great clear eyes. When it runs at full speed, it goes flying over mountains and hills like a rushing wild wind, and its hoofs snap as it dashes along. ”

“ I have only to answer you, that the bad, vicious horse I spoke of before, was bred in the same place, lived in the same stable, and the only difference between them was the different usage that they had received.
The horse is one of the most sensible and most affectionate of creatures. You see, every day, how they will obey the man who drives them, going on, stopping, moving to the right or left, and turning any corner, all without the driver going near them. ”

“ It is a pretty thing to see a skillful horse plod through a stream, probing with his eyes the depth, and stretching his head before his feet, and at every step he whisks his tail to tell himself that he is right. ”

“ They never groom their horses and never clean the harness or bits, yet the horses keep fit as fiddles and look really well too. Their intelligence is extraordinary. Almost every night I see the old chap, at whose farm I keep my own horses, come in with four or five horses from ploughing—riding on one, not in the orthodox fashion, i.e., astride, but with both legs hanging over the horse's near side, something like ladies' style of riding, but without saddle, braces, or stirrups. He is leading no fewer than four other horses on one rein—a remarkable thing in itself. ”

“ The horse is the most noble of all the thick-skins, and indeed of all brutes. Its immediate relatives are the ass, quagga, and zebra. The curious stages and changes in the development of the horse have already been given. ”

“ And then I have a new horse, which met us at the foot of the hills, and which has turned out a treasure, and is such a beauty, a grey Arab. He is as quiet as a lamb, and as far as I can see, perfect—and a horse must be very perfect indeed that I get upon before daylight, when I am half-asleep and wholly uncomfortable, and which is to canter over no particular road, and to go round elephants, and under camels, and over palanquins, and through a regiment, without making itself disagreeable. ”

“ The horse can scarcely be said to exist at the present day in its natural wild state, as the so-called ‘wild-horses’ of America and Asia are but the progeny of horses which have escaped from the haunts of civilisation. Of all animals the horse is most useful to man. Independently of its value as a beast of burden and draught, its skin, its hide, intestines, and bones, furnish us with leather, the thongs of whips, gut, grease, bone-black, manure, &c. The excrement, fat, and hoof were included in the Materia Medica of the Ph. ”

“ A horse that has just left the dealer’s hands, or that is plethoric, fat, soft and flabby, is ridden over a heavy country, and though he may perform well for a few miles, he soon hangs heavily on the bit, slackens his pace, and if not pulled up, staggers and falls “all of a heap.” ”

“ A poor sick horse, confined in his narrow crib on deck, blinks at the moonlight, and can neither sleep nor eat his corn; he drops his lower lip, and presents an appearance of more physical suffering than we should have thought could have been recognized in face of quadruped ”

“ Round-hoof'd, short-jointed, fetlocks shag and long,
Broad breast, full eye, small head and nostril wide,
High crest, short ears, straight legs and passing strong,
Thin mane, thick tail, broad buttock, tender hide:
Look, what a horse should have he did not lack,
Save a proud rider on so proud a back. ”

“ And when employed in military bands—why, a horse looks a complete fool between a couple of these gigantic basins, each with its long tag-rag of unmeaning velvet, beplastered and bedizened with lace and gold, streaming from it ”

“ Now it is really no exaggeration to say, that the excitement 154to a horse caused by the presence of hounds creates in his physical powers as wide a difference as exists between those of the two nags just described. The old, jaded, worn-out, "groggy" hunter, who came hobbling out of his stable, and who has been fumbling and blundering under his groom along the road, no sooner reaches the covert side than, like a lion "shaking the dew-drops from his shaggy mane," he in a moment casts away the ills which flesh is heir to—in short, his prostrated powers suddenly revive ”