Horse owner

“ Every glance of your eye, every look upon your countenance is noted by your horse whilst he can see you, and, when you are upon his back, your words fall upon highly sensitive ears. A horse's soul is full of affection for his owner. ”

“ It is in these early days of the training of the road-horse or harness-horse that the wise owner puts all he knows of bitting, harnessing, shoeing, and feeding into practice. It is at these times, too, that he learns by scores of experiments which of the many counsels he has read or listened to is the wisest. It may be said, indeed, that an owner is and remains partially ignorant and incompetent, until he has watched and bitted and driven, day after day, an equine problem of his own. ”

“ The fact that the owner is his own stableman is often indicated by the ungroomed coat of his horse, and by the month-old mud on his wheels. The horse, however, can generally do a bit of smart trotting, and his owner evidently enjoys his speed and grit. ”

“ But how shall the owner know what is best for his horse? He is a butcher, a baker or perhaps he is the time-honored “candlestick maker,” and is as busy as any of us in this mad rush of to-day, from which there seems to be no escape. ”

“ One of them is being ploughed, and a stout roan horse is stepping briskly in front of the furrow; the other field its owner is clearing of stones, and a young bay is hauling out a heavy cart-load of them. Both horses are strong and willing helpers on the farm, earning an honest living, valued and well cared for by their masters, and far better off than they would be if left to the heedless servants of the fashionable lady or the proud millionaire.
What weakness and folly do we often show in the secret expectations we cherish concerning those who are to come after us! ”

“ The owner of a splendid horse does not like to risk his life; and it is a risk of life to attempt to trot him twenty miles an hour."
Pit, pat! pit, pat! The old mare is coming down to the score. A very ordinary looking animal in repose, the magnificence of her action converts her into a beauty when moving. How evenly her feet rise and fall, regularly as a machine, though she is nearly at the top of her speed! ”

“ An owner who expects his horses to be kept in good condition and turned out with proper harness to proper traps must take an interest in his stable and be on good terms with his servants. There is no suggestion of familiarity in this, but only the good understanding and the good feeling that always exists between that master and man, when the one gives and other gets good service.
A well-groomed horse is so fine a thing that we have latterly applied the term to fine men and beautiful women. ”

“ She must be careful not to condemn him too hastily, and should, when trying him, make due allowance for his change of quarters and also for the novelty of carrying a new rider, as some horses are very nervous until they become well acquainted with their riders. Should the horse's movements prove rough, should he be found hard-mouthed, or should any indications of unsoundness or viciousness be detected, he should be immediately returned to his owner. ”

“ In making this statement the writer has in mind more than one corroborative instance of the sort in practise.
A Second-Hand Horse.
The owner who wants to sell his horse on the market should not clip off the mane and forelock, and it is a mistake even to cut the latter or to bang the tail. The stock-yard buyers, having special market requirements to meet, prefer to do their own “toilet work” on the horses they buy, and will pass by an otherwise good horse if he has been trimmed in a manner to which they object. ”

“ Every person that putteth in a horse, mare, or gelding, for the said plate, is to shew such horse, mare, or gelding, with the marks, name, and name of the OWNER, to be entered at the King's stables in Newmarket the day before they run, and shall then produce a certificate under the hand of the breeder, specifying his exact age the grass before. ”

“ She had always ridden other people’s horses, and had ridden them so straight, and looked so pretty, that—other people in this connection being usually men—such trifles as riding out a hard run minus both fore shoes, or watering her mount generously during a check, were endured with a forbearance not frequent in horse owners. ”

“ A young horse or a wild horse is saddled and bridled. A Rough Rider mounts and stays on the back of the young thing until the animal is conquered and subdued through fear and fatigue. This brutal method of treating young horses used to be universal in America. That so much of it should still be done is not complimentary to the intelligence and kindliness of American horse owners. ”

“ Furthermore, horses get into a very careless, slovenly way of walking when led round and round in this monotonous fashion daily. “Syces” generally lead horses at exercise, and most horse-owners will not allow them to ride ”

“ In deference and in reference to this law of Nature, it may truly be added that the proprietor of a valuable stud of horses would gain a great deal of money as well as ensure safety if he would select and set apart, say two of them for his groom to ride to covert, leading by his side, with an empty saddle, the horse that is to hunt ”

“ The horse, as a wild animal left to care for himself, had a beautiful cushion, the frog, to run on, protected by the horny, tough case and bars, which renew themselves as do the nails of a man.
Hard roads, heavy weights to carry and to pull, and confinement in stables developed shoeing as a necessity.
Very few men own their horses; the horses are generally, except for a legal right which is a formality, the property of the coachmen and the blacksmith. ”

“ 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. ”

“ It was composed of living forms—the most beautiful known in nature: for in this man must give way to the horse. Not the unsexed horse of civilisation, with hunched shoulders, bandied limbs, and bowed frontlet—scarce one in a thousand of true equine shape—and this, still further, mutilated by the shears of the coper and gentleman jockey—but the wild steed of the savannas, foaled upon the green grass, his form left free to develop as the flowers that shed their fragrance around him. ”

“ 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. ”

“ In the management, however, of horses in England, the conditions of the case are totally different. Tied to mangers, in which they feast on dry oats, beans, and hay, no sooner do they leave their stables than the very sight of creation animates them; every carriage that trots by, and every rider that passes, excites them. ”

“ Horse-raising is here a science, and as we drive from one estate to another, and note the careful tillage, the trim fences, the neat stables, the pretty paddocks, and the houses of the favorites, we see how everything is intended to contribute to the perfection in refinement of fibre, speed, and endurance of the noble animal. Even persons who are usually indifferent to horses cannot but admire these beautiful high-bred creatures, either the famous ones displayed at the stables, or the colts and fillies, which have yet their reputations to make, at play in the blue-grass pastures ”

“ Schoolboys are coming to see the start on ponies; farmers on clever nags; others on young horses of great price; neatly-dressed grooms, some heavy and some light, are riding, or riding and leading, horses magnificent in shape and breeding, in the most beautiful condition, all as clean and well-appointed as if they had been prepared to do miserable penance in Rotten Row. ”

“ The natives of these parts pass their lives in the saddle. Horses are used for almost every conceivable employment, from hunting and fishing to brick-making and butter-churning. Even the very beggars ride about on horseback. I have seen a photograph of one, with a police certificate of mendicancy hanging round his neck, taken from life for Sir Woodbine Parish. Every domestic servant has his or her own horse, as a matter of course; and the maids are all provided with habits, in which they ride about on Sundays, from one estancia to another, to pay visits. ”

“ Prized for his beauty, loved for his docility, and valued for his strength, he has ever been regarded as the highest in value and importance of all domesticated animals. In the remotest ages, as far back as authentic history discloses anything of the life and pursuits of man, we find that the horse occupied a prominent position in his service. ”

“ In ye ancient times, the damsel who wished to enjoy horseback riding did not, like her successor of to-day, trust to her own ability to ride and manage her horse, but, seated upon a pad or cushion, called a "pillion," which was fastened behind a man's saddle, rode without a stirrup and without troubling herself with the reins, preserving her balance by holding to the belt of a trusty page, or masculine admirer, whose duty it was to attend to the management of the horse. ”

“ In all our streets, in our fields, in our highways and bye-ways, along the surface of merry England, and across it; under ground in coal-mines; revolving in a mill;—in short, in every direction, and wherever we go, we see before us—sometimes as man's companion, sometimes as his servant, sometimes as his slave, and occasionally as his master—the horse, respecting which and his rider we will now, without further preamble, venture to offer to our readers the few following remarks. ”

“ The delicate English horse, fond of his manger, bearing but little continuous and monotonous work, requiring of those that have charge of him tact, mildness, and an advanced equestrian education, is the horse of the rich man, and the man of pleasure, of the lover of the turf and chase, and of the wealthy farmer, who looks more to the beauty of his stock than to the quantity of its work. ”

“ I had several years before had some two years' experience in constant horseback travel in labors similar to those I was now entering upon, as superintendent of the colporteur operations of the American Tract Society in Virginia. There I had floundered in the marshes and swamps of "Tidewater," and been lost amid the rugged rocks and dense forests high up the sides and in the loftiest summits of the Blue Ridge and other mountains. I knew that I [Pg 13] must have a horse. This was indispensable. More than that, I wanted a good horse, a horse broken expressly for the saddle. ”

“ They are a hard lot to deal with, and that might be one of the reasons that so many owners ‘give it up.’ When the shoeing of a horse is left entirely in the hands of this brace of worthies, he is generally found to come home ‘going tender.’ And small wonder! ”

“ Again, in the hunting-field, a noble, high-couraged horse, a rusher at any description of fence, the very sight of which seems to inflame his ardour, in most gallant style charges a brook, which when he is in the air he sees is too broad to be cleared. On his chest striking against the bank, and while his rider, delighted at feeling that he is not a bit hurt, is luxuriously rolling over and over on the green grass like a rabbit that at full speed has been shot dead, this gallant steed makes two, three, or four desperate efforts to get to him ”

“ The horse, according to the best accounts we can gather, has been the constant servant of man for nearly four thousand years, ever rewarding him with his labour and adding to his comfort in proportion to his skill and manner of using him ; but being to those who govern him by brute force, and know nothing of the beauty and delight to be gained from the cultivation of his finer nature, a fretful, vicious, and often dangerous servant; whilst to the Arab, whose horse is the pride of his life, and who governs him by the law of kindness, we find him to be quite a different animal. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Here in charge of a glib-tongued coachman, usually a colored man, would be found several finely groomed horses standing knee deep in the finest of wheat straw bedding and surrounded by every appointment of a swell private stable. Opening negotiations with the groom, the buyer would hear one of the most plausible and pleasing tales imaginable elaborative of a similar, condensed story told in the glowing advertisement that had induced the visit. ”

“ The stable man let her have the horse once and noticing what good care she'd took of him, figgered her as another steady customer for the old horse. With her and the grey haired man showing up every day he allowed how that would be enough work for him, and none of the other equestrians ever got a chance to set on that horse from then on. ”

“ The casus belli which the animal would perhaps most enjoy would be to meet a temperance run-away awning-covered waggon full of stout, healthy young women in hysterics, all screaming; or to have a house fall down just as he was passing it. However, as a great conqueror, if he cannot discover a large excuse for invading the territory of his neighbour, is sure to pick out a very little one, so does the high mettled horse who has nothing to start at, proceed under his rider with his eyes searching in all directions for something which he may pretend to be afraid of. ”