xt79p843rf1w https://exploreuk.uky.edu/dips/xt79p843rf1w/data/mets.xml Sidney, Samuel, 1813-1883. 1875  books b98-35-40283523 English Cassell, Petter & Galpin, : London ; New York : Contact the Special Collections Research Center for information regarding rights and use of this collection. Horses. Horsemanship. Book of the horse (thorough-bred, half-bred, cart-bred)  : saddle and harness, British and foreign, with hints on horsemanship, the management of the stable, breeding, breaking and training for the road, the park, and the field / by S. Sidney.ey. text Book of the horse (thorough-bred, half-bred, cart-bred)  : saddle and harness, British and foreign, with hints on horsemanship, the management of the stable, breeding, breaking and training for the road, the park, and the field / by S. Sidney.ey. 1875 2002 true xt79p843rf1w section xt79p843rf1w 

















THE BOOK OF THE HORSE.

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THE



BOOK OF THE HORSE:


             (THOROUGH-BRED, HALF-BRED, CART-BRED,)


        Saddle and Harness, British and Foreign,



HINTS ON HORSEMANSHIP; THE MANAGEMENT OF THE STABLE; BREEDING, BREAKING
        AND TRAINING FOR THE ROAD, THE PARK, AND THE FIELD.





                  S. SIDNEY,
  MANAGRI OF THK AGxICULTURAL HALL Hoasi SHOW; AUTroR or "GALLOPS AND GOSSIPS," &C. &C. &c.





WITH FULL-PAGE COLOURED ILLUSTRATIONS AND NUMEROUS WOOD ENGRAVINGS.






    CASSELL, PETTER, GALPIN & CO.:
                 LONDON, PARIS &. NEW YORK.
                       [ALL RIGHTS RES3RVED.J

 
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                  PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION.



THIS is a NEW EDITION, and something more. The first, issued in monthly parts, was completed
in 1875. Ever since, the Author has been engaged in improving and revising it.
    The subjects have been re-arranged on a plan at once more practical and scientific.
    All matter of temporary and merely local interest has been cancelled; the object being to
make the " Book of the Horse" a work of permanent value. Several chapters have been re-
written, the others re-arranged and condensed.
    In this revision the Author has had the advantage of valuable communications from his
readers, not only in this country, but in France, Austria, and Italy, South America, and Australia.
He has availed himself of gems of horse lore to be found in the recent works of such travellers
as Major Burnaby, Baker Pasha, Mrs. Burton. Paragraphs of interest have been quoted from
the letters of the war correspondents of the Times and the Daily .Z-ws. He has particularly
to acknowledge his obligations to the Honourable Francis Lawvley for his revision of the chapters
on Race-horses and Racing, to Dr. Hurman of the Badminton Club, and Mr. Stewart Freeman
of St. Martin's Lane, for correcting and adding to the chapter on " Four Horse Driving," and
the details of " Road Coaching."
    The late Mr. William Cooper, of Stoke Damerel, when judge at the Islington Horse
Show, also gave him some valuable hints, and kindly promised to read the proofs of the
pages of this edition referring to the subjects of which he was so thoroughly a master.
His untimely death took place before the Coaching chapter had been reached.
    The first chapters contain a history and description of the various breeds of British and
Foreign Horses. The succeeding chapters include the following subjects:-HoRSES OF VARIOUS
BREEDS-INFORMATION FOR PURCHASE OF ENGLISH HORSES, i.e., PONIES, COBS, HACKS,
HARNESS STEPPERS-HORSEMANSHIP FOR CHILDREN AND ADULTS-SADDLES AND BRIDIES
-HINTS FOR AMAZONS-THE ART OF DRIVING, INCLUDING FOUR-IN-HAND AND ROAD
COACH EXPENSES-HUNTING, IN ONE HUNDRED PAGES, WITH EVERY DETAIL, HISTORICAL,
BIOGRAPHICAL, POETICAL, PICTORIAL-ESTIMATE OF EXPENSES OF A CARRIAGE AND
HORSES-STABLES, COACH-HOUSES, FODDER, AND SERVANTS-MODERN CARRIAGES DE-
SCRIBED-BREEDING, BREAKIrNG, TRAINING-SHOES AND SHOEING-VETERINARY INFOR-
MATION, BY PROFESSOR WILLIAM PRITCIIARD.

 
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                                  CONTENTS.




INTRODUCTORY      .

CHAPTER I. ORIENTAL BLOOD HORSES: ARABS, BARBS, PERSIANS, DONGOLAS, TULRCOMANS                    6

       II. THE ORIGIN OF THE MODERN BRITISH HORSE        .      .          .                  35

       III. HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH BLOOD HORSE                                                 s 50

       IV. TlE MODERN BLOOD HORSE                         .      .             .              63

       V. HALF-BRED HORSES                    .      .       .                                99

       VI. FOREIGN AND COLONIAL HORSES     .                 ..                                 112

       VII. HEAvY DRAUGHT-HORSES            .      .      .       .      .      .          .   156

     Vill. ASSES AND MULES         .                     .68

     IX. ON THE PURCHASE OF HORSES           .       .                 .      .              184

       X. USEFUL HORSES AND PONIES                       .                                    210

       XL  PARK HACKS-PHARTON STFPPERS-CARRIAGE HORSES               .      .       .      '   233

     XII. HORSEMANSHIP, OR THE ART OF "1 EQUITATION.                          .              253

     XIII. A LESSON ON HORSEMANSHIP FOR ADULTS AND CHILDREN  .                     -      -   272

     XIV. SADDLES, BRIDLES, BITS, MARTINGALES                                         .       304

     XV. HINTS TO "AMAZONES"                                .      .       .                 315

     XVI. HARNESS    .                            .                     .                     349

     XVII. DRIVING       .       .      .      .       .                                       369

     XVIII. HUNTING                             .      .       .                        .      391

     XIX. HARE-HUNTING-FOX-HUNTING-STAG-HUNTING          .                     .             402

     XX. HUNTERS                      .      .       .                 .                     422

     XXI. TRAINING FOR HUNTING-RIDING TO COVER-RIDING WITH HOUNDS -                      .   435

     XXII. HOUNDS AND MASTERS OF HOUNDS                   .      .      .       '      '      458

     XXIII. PREPARATION OF THE HUNTER FOR-TREATMIENT DURING AND AFrER-HUNTIxG       . .        470

     XXIV. EXPENSES OF A CARRIAGE AND HORSES-STABLES AND COACIH-HOUSES  -       .      .      496

     XXV. CARRIAGES                        .             .              .          .      -   523

     XXVI. BREEDING, BREAKING, AND TRAINING                                            .       550

     XXVII. HORSE-SHOES AND SHSOEING                   .              .      .                  S ,576

   XXVIII. DESCRIPTION OF DISEASES AND ACCIDENTS, WITIS HINTS ON EMERGENCIES .  .      .      581

 























                    LIST OF COLOURED PLATES.





CAPTAIN PERCY WILLIAMS ON A FAVOURITE IRisH HUNTER     .      .                        Fran/Piece.

" COLDIE," HIGII-CLASS ARAB                                                          7..                                        fae page 7

ARAB PONY CHARGER OF GENERAL SIR HOPE GRANT                                              ,,   21

DONGOLA HORSE .                             .      .      .                                   33

"ECLIPSE"                                                         .                      ,,   63

"BLAIR ATHOL," THOROUGHBRED SIRE                       .      .      .                   ,,   75

"MASIRBINO," BRED BY LORD GROSVENOR, SIRE OF AMEfRiCAN TROTTING RACER                    ,,   93

CLYDESDALE STALLION AND MARE                              ,                              ,,  155

ABYSSINIAN WILD MALE ASS AND FEMACE INDIAN ONAGER         .      .       .          .    ,,  175

"FAIR NELL"    .      .      .      .                     .       .      .      .        ,,  183

" DON CARLOS," ENTIRE PONY HACK         .      .      .       .      .      .                233

PUPIL OF LA HAUTE ECOLE      .   .          .      .       .             .               "   253

LADY'S HORSE                        .       .             .      .          .       .    ,,  315

STATE CARRIAGE-IIORSE     .      .      .       .      .      .          .      .            349

MR. CHARLES DAVIS, IINTSMAN             .      .          .      .       .          .        391

JEM MORGAN            .       .      .      .      .              .      .      .        ,,  401

" STILTON," A SHUNTER      .       .       .       .             .       .          .    ,   421

" FREEMASON"                 .       .      .          .          .      .       .           435

A LADY GOING TO COVER     .      .                 .          .                              453

" FULL CRY"                      .      .                 .       .          .           .,  457

CREAMf STATE-CARRIAGE HORSE.     .      .      .              .      .       .               495

"COLUMBINE," SINGLE HARNESS PHIAETON HORSE  .  .          .       .      .               "   523

TilIROUGIIBRED MARE AND FOAL                   .       .          .      .      .        ,,  551

"EMBLEM," STEEPLECHASE MARE  .              .      .      .       .         .             ,  573

SECIriON OF HORSE'S LEG AND FOOT        .      .              .      .      .            ,,  577

 





















LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.



A COUNTRY RIDE
A GOOD HIND-QUARTER    .
A GOOD START     .
A USEFUL SORT    .
A WEIGHT-CARRIER, VERY CLEVER -
ARABIAN MARE AND FOAL
AUSTRALIAN SADDLE
BASKET PONY PHAETON   .
BELIOOCH CHIEF MOUNTED
BETWEEN BOTH HANDS, READY FOR THE FIELD
BIT I POMPE .
BIT WITH PORT     .     .    .
'BORACKI
BRETON MARES BY PERCHERUN SIRE
BRIDLE HOOKS.    .



BROUGHAM    .    .
BROUGHAM HORSE . .
CIRCUS PRACTISING DRESS -
COACH-HORSE DOCKED AND CROPPED
COLONIAL BRIDLE-HALTER FOR PICKETING
COUNT D'ORSAY
COUNTESS MONTIJO, AFTERWARDS EmPRESS OF
   FRENCH   .    .     .    .
CURRICLE, THE . .
"DERVISH," AN ARABIAN
DIAGRAM OF MAN ON HORSEBACK
DIAGRAM OF SKELETON
DOG-CART    .
DOUBLR REINS IN BOTH HANDS  .
DOUBLE REINS IN ONE HAND
"DRAKE     .     .
DRIVING A PAIR
DWYER'S BIT
"ECLIPSE" AS A RACER
"EDMUND," BY ORVILLE   .    .
EGYPTIAN DONKEY AND BOY .
ENGLISH DRAY-HORSE.   .
ENGLISH SADDLE . .
FACE OF HORSE
"FLYING DUTCHMAN
FOUR.IN-HAND GOING EASY .
FRENCH HALF-BRED GOVERNMENT STALLION
FRENCH MASTER OF THE HORSE  .
GEEVASz MARKHAMS PERFECT SADDLE



   '97
   424
   231
  427
     1i
   263
   538
     10
  452
   309
   309
   217
   121
   502
   524
   209



    339
  -  252
    569
    257
THE
  344
     540
       21
    276
    275
    542
    284
    283
       91
  -  352
    309
       59
  -  366
     172
     158
    261
  I   575
     72
     371
  " 113
        4
    262



GOING STRAIOHT WITH ONE OR A PATE            370
GOOD FOR ANY HOUNDS                          408
GOOD SHOULDERS, BRIDLES WELL                 347
HEAD STALL AND TIE                           505
HIGH-PERCH PHAETON, ME SAMPSON HANBURY'S.   548
HIND-LEG Boom     .                          200
HIND-QUARTERS OF WE.I.-BRED WEIGHT-CARRVING
   HORSE                                    521
HORSE-BREAKING APPLIANCES                    563
HORSE IN SINGLE HARNESS                      379
HUNTING THE LION  .                          7
HUNTSMAN'S HORSE                            394
INSTRUMENTS OF TOTUR RE                      360
ITALIAN HORSE                                46
"GIMCRACKI                                   60
LADY'S HUNTER          .                     330
LATCHFORD                          .         327
LEADING-STICK                            .   266
LENNAN FOR HUNTING      .                    327
LIGHT-WRIGHT HUNTER                         404
MAIL PHAETON      .                          534
MAMELUKE'S CHARGER     -                      17
MARQUIS OF LONDONDERRY .     .               254
MARQUIS OP NEWCASTLE, MANiGE SEAT  .         38
MEASURING BIT     .     .    .               309
METHOD OF SHORTENING REINS                   285
MORNING CANTER IN THE PARK   .               303
MOUNTAIN PONY     .          .     .         224
MOUNTED ITALIAN WARRIOR                      48
MOUNTING-FOUR POSITIONS .                280, 281
MR. J. RICE WITH SEEGER'S RUNNING-REIN MAR-
   TINGALz ATTACHED TO A DOUBLE BRIDLE  .  572
NOBILISSIMO, COURSIER NAPOLITAIN   .          39
"NoT THE SORT FOR ROTTEN Row."               270
"ORLANDO'                                    67
PAD FOR A CHILD                         -    266
PARK CANTER                                  318
PARK PHAETON      .                          536
PATENT TIE        .             .            506
PERCHERON CART STALLION.                     119
POITOU BAUDET     .                          170
PONY WITH FLAP-REIN    .     .              266
POSTING IN RUSSIA .     .                -   131
PRINCESS OF WALES PATTERN FUR SIDE-SADDLE   325

 









TilE BoOK OF TflE HORSE.



PROPER POSITION OF COLLAR
QUARTERMAIN'S STRAP
QUITE RIGHT, QUITE WRONG
REIN, LEADING, IMPROVED, FOR LADY'S HORSE
ROADSTER STALLION .
ROYAL HANOVERIAN COACH-HORSE
SADDLF-STANDS    .
SHOES FOR HORSES
SIMMONDS' HORSE BLOCK
SOCIABLE LANDAU  .
STALL DIYISION   .
STALL FITTED UP  .
STATE COACH .    .
STOPPING    .    .
STRAP AND BUCKLE .
STUFFED BUCK-SKIN SEAT
TAxING UP YOUR PARTY



1-
353  TARBES ARAB .     .    .
200  THOROUGHBRED HORSE IN HARNESS
338 TILBURY TUG .      .     .
346  TIMBER JUMPING    .    .
104  TROTTING    .     .     .
244  TROTTING AWAY     .    .
502  TROUSERS SPUR WITH STRAP COMBINATION
58o  TURNING TO THE LEFT    .
264  TURNING TO THE RIGHT
528  "UNKNOWN," THE    .     .     .
502  VICTORIA, FOR PARK RIDING ONLY .
507  WAGONETTE    .    .    .
531  WHITE AND COLEMAN'S SUBSTITUTE.
375  WHITE HANOVERIAN LEADER
355  WILKINSON AND KIDD'S ANTI-xICKING SIRAP
324  WOODEN BIT FOR BREAKING.
373 WOODEN BIT FOR DRESSING A HORSE THAT BITES



x



31
366
355
447
196
341
298
377
376
434
327
530
355
245
522
355
522

 
































                                   AN ENGLISH COUNTRY RID..



              THE BOOK OF THE HORSE.


                                I NT R 0 D U C T 0 R     .
  E NGLAND-in which geographical expression Ireland, Wales, and Scotland are, as a matter of
  Ecourse, included-is the breeding-ground, the original home, of the best horses in the world.
Englishmen invented, if one may be permitted to use so mechanical a term, the thorough-bred
horse, which combines with marvellously increased size, speed, and power, all the fire, courage, and
Gquality" of his Oriental ancestors-the Arab and the Barb.  The English thoroughbred is
universally recognised as the sole source of improvement of every variety of the horse tribe in
Europe and America, save those used in the dull useful labour of heavy draught; and even the
British draught-horse has been brought to perfection by the application of principles which were
first employed in the production of the incomparable race-horse.
    At the present moment there is scarcely a State in Continental Europe in which the character
of the riding and light harness horse has not been materially improved by crosses of English blood.
The importations by private breeders and by the governing managers of royal and national
studs, which commenced soon after the close of the great wars in 1315, have been carried on
ever since with annually increasing care and vigour. The first experiments with English blood sires
were made, in the middle of the eighteenth century, in those ancient breeding-grounds of mediaeval
war-horses, Mecklenburg and Hanover.  In the long peace, after Waterloo, the merits of the
thorough-bred sire conquered the prejudices of nations inclined to detest everything English; and
now in the State studs of France, of the several kingdoms and principalities which form the North
portion of the German Empire, in the German dominions of the Austrian Kaiser, as well as in his

 






TfrE Boom o01 rTE HORSE.



horse-loving kingdom of Hungary, in the newly-formed royalty of united Italy, and under the
Czar of all the Russias, the English blood-horse holds the first place. It may safely be assumed
that at the great Continental reviews-where emperors and kings, reigning dukes and famous
military commanders, appear on horseback surrounded by their brilliant staffs-nine-tenths of
the chargers ridden by the more distinguished personages have been bred in England, or are the
immediate produce of English sires.
    All the best horses in the United States are directly descended from English thoroughbreds,
with a slight intermixture of Arabs or Barbs. Experts in the great Anglo-Saxon republic trace
back the pedigrees of their best trotters -the speciality of American horse-breeding-to Messenger,
an imported blood sire, the son of grey Mambrino, who was bred by Lord Grosvenor, and painted
by the celebrated George Stubbs, about 1724.
    It has been reserved for our colonists in South Africa and Australia to prove that the English
blood-horse, unpampered, and trained for the pupose, while far exceeding the Arab in size and
general utility, can equal him in endurance and the power of completing great distances in journeys
of many successive days.
    "The reason why" of the extraordinary success of the English as breeders, as originators,
almost manufacturers, of a new tribe of blood-horses, is to be found not only in a favourable soil and
climate, but in the universal preference of the English people for a country life, and their universal
passion for everything connected with horses.
     In no other civilised country are so many men, women, and children, in proportion to its
population, to be found fond of riding and driving.  Our equestrians are not confined to a
privileged class, a military caste, or a select few of the upper ten thousand devotees of fashion;
riding and driving are essentially English national amusements. In making this wide assertion no
comparison is intended to be made with the semi-nomadic inhabitants of countries where a horse
is as much a necessary of life as a pair of stilts in the French Landes or a pair of snow-shoes for
winter in the Canadian backwoods, nor with the inhabitants of the great cattle-feeding plains of
South America-where the men are true Centaurs, and where a mere child may be seen mounted,
driving cattle, carrying an infant before him on the pommel of the saddle as he gallops over the
smooth, stoneless pampas-nor with the semi-oriental families of herdsmen on the rolling pastures
of Poland and Hungary, the nurseries of the world-famous Polish lancers and Hungarian hussars.
     Neither is it our intention to assume that first-class horsemen or first-class coachmen are only
to be found in England. That was the vulgar error of a departed generation, which rarely travelled,
and knew no language but its own, with whom every foreigner was a Frenchman, which took its
idea of a Frenchman from the caricatures of Gilray.
     In the Crimea our men learned to respect the Chasseurs d'Afrique, who charged the Russian
batteries at Balaclava to save their English allies. The deeds of the German cavalry are still green
in our memories. For our own part, we have seen Russians and Austrians, Hanoverians and
Hungarians, ride across a stiff summer-baked country in a style and with a determination that
would not have disgraced the best of our own officers at the Windsor or Rugby military steeple-
chases. And it must be remembered that these gentlemen have not, as we have in our hunting-
fields, a training-ground perpetually open from their earliest years.
     Again, English coachmen are very good at their business-neat, firm, quick, impassive, un-
demonstrative, and decided-quite characteristic of their nation.  But the essence of good



    A portrait of Mambrino, from Stubbs' painting in the possession of the Marquis of Westminuier, will, by his lordship's kind
permission, form one of our coloured illustrations.

 





INTRODtC TORY.



coachmanship is to drive with safety and dispatch over difficult country.        Russians, Austrians,
Hungarians, and North Germans can boast of a wonderful class of Jehus in their own style; while
on the other side of the Atlantic, the drivers of tandems and four-horse teams. over half-made
roads in California, have astonished our best whips by their daring and their pace.
    It is the universality of the passion for horses and horse exercise in every form     that is so
remarkable a feature in English social life, and in such strong contrast to Continental usages, where
the horse, if not earning money or employed for military purposes, is considered rather as an
ornament of fashionable life, an opportunity of displaying wealth, than as an instrument for
obtaining healthful exercise.
    Even M. Taine, in his " Essays on England," the best and fairest that ever have been written.
by any foreigner, who thoroughly admires our horse-loving taste, and attributes to it all sorts of
virtues we never dreamed of-the vigorous character of our idle classes, the chastity of our rich and
handsome wives-even he cannot understand how a stout, middle-aged materfamilias can exhibit
herself in the unbecoming costume of an Amazon; for he cannot (as is evident from the following
sketch of Rotten Row) help looking on horse exercise as a dramatic performance, reserved for
strong men and elegant women -" Vers deux heures la grande allee est une manege; il y a dix fois
plus d'hommes A cheval et vingt fois plus d'amazones qu'au Bois de Boulogne dans les grands jours;
de toutes petites filles, des garqons de huit ans sont a c6te de leurs p&es, sur leurs ponies; j'ai vu
trotter des matrones larges et dignes. C'est Ia un de leurs luxes; par exemple, dans une famille de
trois personnes A qui je viens de faire visite il y a trois chevaux  La mere et la fille viennent tous
les jours galoper au parc, souvent meme elles font leurs visites A cheval; elles 6conomiscnt sur
d'autres points, sur le th6Atre, par exemple. Ce grand mouvement paraft indispensable a la sant6.
Les jeunes filles, les dames viennent ici meme par la pluie."
    The essential difference between foreign and English notions of family horsemanship will be
found in a comparison of the group in an afternoon canter that head this introductory matter
and the picture of a French gentleman out for a country ride, copied from a standard French book
by Count de Lastic St. Jal, a superior officer of the late Imperial haras or breeding-studs.
    The first idea of a successful Englishman is either to mount on horseback, to give his wife
a carriage, or to do both. It is not only the young, the strong, the members of noble families
and ornaments of fashionable society, the officers of cavalry regiments, or the sons of millionaires,
financiers, and bankers, who are to be found in the Row; there you may see aged judges and
solemn bishops, with their daughters; bankers on priceless cobs, successful engineers, hard-worked
Queen's Counsel, topping tradesmen, dashing stock-jobbers, corn merchants from Mark Lane,
indigo brokers from Mincing Lane, and representatives of every class that can afford an hour's
leisure and the ownership of at least one horse. In the early morning children, professional men,
and government officials, at mid-day ladies, form the majority of the civilian cavalry. In a word,
horses for one use or another, quite apart from fashion, form an important part of the life of
every well-to-do. English family, and are often considered essential as the means of obtaining health
and exercise, or superintending a rapidly-extending business, by those who are by no means rich.

   " About two o'clock the broad ride is like a school of horsemanship. There are ten times as many men, and twenty times as
many women on horseback as in the Bois de Boulogne on great days; very little girls, boys not more than eight years old, ride
their ponies alongside their fathers; and I have even seen stout, imposing matrons trotting along. Riding is one of the luxuries of the
English: for instance, a family of my acquaintance, consisting of a father, mother, and daughter, keep three horses. The mother
and daughter ride in the park daily, and often make sisits on horseback. To afford this expense they economise on other amuse.
ments, such as the theatre. This active execcise seems essential to their health, Even in rainy weather you may meet both young
and married ladies riding in the park."

 






.4



THE- Boor OF THfE HORSE.



    The very (perhaps suddenly) rich man wishes to have his stud and appointments perfect and
complete; to a man of narrow means it is an object to maintain his stable and coach-house at the
least possible expense. Both need ample, plain, practical advice and information. It is for these-
an annually increasing number of my countrymen and countrywomen, who wish to ride or to drive,
or to be driven-that this work, long in preparation, has been written, with the assistance of
very famous performers in the field and on the road-horsemen, coachmen, and breeders of the
best class of horses, to whom every description of horse life is as " familiar in their mouths as
household words."
    'With this end in view, I have endeavoured to begin at the beginning, to take nothing for granted,
but teach the A B C of every subject within my programme.



A    C   ;              S   R                   .        R
A FRENCH IIStSTE. OF 1 HIE 1WRIV, (FR M  INT DE LA'S1 IC ST. JAL'S i WORK).



    I shall have something-though not very much-to say to the fortunate ones to whom the
stable-door and the schoolroom door were open at the same moment; who have grown from infancy
to boyhood, and from boyhood to manhood, with the choice of riding-horses of every degree of size
and training, from the family pony to the thorough-bred hunter or park hack, with the services and
instruction of grey-headed huntsmen, or Yorkshire pasture-bred stud-grooms; who commenced
their studies of the mysteries of the whip and reins under some veteran family coachman, and who
have graduated in all the stages of driving lore, advancing from the pony-cart to the mail-phaeton
and tandem, or even culminating in the lately revived glories of the four-horse drag. But I write
more especially for the information of a different and more numerous class, those to whom town
pursuits have brought fortune, with leisure and desire to enjoy, and allow their families to enjoy,
the pleasures, the exercise, the healthy excitement, which horses and carriages, riding, driving, and
hunting can afford.
    It is quite true that no book can without practice teach the reader how to ride or drive, how to

 






LVTRODUCTOV Y.



5



choose or breed horses,how they should be fed, trained, and treated in the stable, or how to select or
choose carriages, saddlery, or harness. Practical arts can only be learned by practical experience.
Nevertheless, books on fishing, poultry, gardening, and cookery, wvhich record the collected experi-
ence of many fishermen, poultry-keepers, gardeners, and cooks-if the writers understand their
subjects, and take the trouble to give minute details-are found to be of great value to ladies and
gentlemen who desire to be not entirely dependent on their own tradesmen and servants ; and
who prefer, where they can, to master a principle instead of accepting a rule of thumb.
     According to all precedent, a book professing to include an account of everything connected
with the horse would commence his history with the myths recorded in the bas-reliefs of Egyptian
monuments, the Book of job, the poems of Homer, the treatise of Xenophon, and proceed, quoting
from all that has been written in English, from Chaucer to Shakespeare, from Shakespeare to
Gervase Markham, not forgetting the early annals of Newmarket, the thirty-times-told tales of
Flying Childers and Eclipse, and       large extracts from    the perpetually-quoted works of Nimrod
(the founder of the modern school of sporting writers), proceeding with the natural history and
anatomical description; thus the practical details of stable management, riding, and driving would
not be commenced until at least half the volume had been completed.
     In this work the hitherto accepted order of arrangement will be reversed; the reader will be
treated as if he or she had everything to learn, and will first be informed on all the questions
connected with keeping one or more horses and a carriage.           In nine cases out of ten a carriage of
some sort, brougham or basket-cart, is the first step in horse-keeping. Equestrianism in its various
forms follows. The hack often leads up to the hunter, the hunting-stud to a breeding-stud and (in
the second generation sometimes) to a pack of beagles, harriers, or even to that most eminent social
distinction, mastership of a pack of foxhounds.
      With respect to the qualifications I possess for my self-imposed task of collecting into one work infornation on those
practical subjects connected writh horse management, now only to be found, if found at all, in many volume, I must say something,
even at the risk of appearing somewhat egotisticaL
    From my child-oo I I hare been passionately fond of horses, and can scarcely remember when I could not ride. In 1846 1
wrote " Railways and Agriculture," at the suggestion of the late Earl of Yarborough, which he presented to his friends at the York
Meeting, the year he -vas President of the Royal Agricultural Society, in which my first hunting sketches (of the Brockleshy
Hounds and the scarlet-coated Wold farmers) appeared.  In consequence of these sketches, I became the hunting correspondent of
the insirat,-d Lndon Ausr. By Lord Yarborough I was introduced to my ever since kind friend, Captain Percy Williams, the
Master for nineteen years of the famous Rufford Hounds.
    In 1850, being one of Her Majcsty's Assistant Coommissioners for the great International Exhibition, I was able, by the kindness
of divers county gentlemen, farmers, and horse.dealers-desirous of paying a compliment to my official position, helped also by
introduction from Brocklesby Park and Rufford K.ennels-to hunt my way from Bramham foor, in Yorkshire, to the Four
Boroughs, in Cornwall, and saw more or less sport with twelve celebrated packs of foxhounds, besides harriers.
    In 1858, at the special request of Messrs. Richard and Edmund Tattersall, I became Treasurer and Secretary to the Rarey
Horse-Taming Subscription! and edited the illustrated edition of " Rarey's Art of Ilorse-Taming," which has long been out of print.
    In 1864, under the instructions of my directors, I arranged and managed the horse show at the Agricultural Ilall, Islington, on
a plan which has since been followed by the managers of the Dublin, Birmingham, and other horse sm!s-s of minor importance--
that is to say, the horses, instead of being simply led round the ring for exhibition in bridles or halters, as at the shows of the Royal
Agricultural Society up to that date, were ridden, driven in harness, and leaped. The eaperience of ten years has prosed that this
system gives satisfaction to exhibitors and intending purchasers, as well as to the public.
   It is scarcely necessary to state that my position as the Secretary and Manager of the Agricultural Hall Horse Show has largely
increased my circle of acquaintances of all ranks, interested as breeders, owners, and judges of horse. I have not failed to avail
myself of the information within my reach. Several juidge and exhibitors of high reputation as masters of hounds and as breeders
of horses, have kindly promised me their assistance and advice in making this at once a hand-book and an encyclopaedia of reference
for horse-owners of every degree. Amongst these judges have been the Earls of Mlacclesfield, Portsmouth, and Coventry; the
Lords Combersere and Kesteven; Sir Watkin W. Wynn, Bart, M.P.; Sir George Wombwell, Bart.; Colonel Kingscote, C. B.,
M.P.; Colonel Maude, C.B. ; Frederick Winn Knight, Esq., M.P.; Captain John Bastard; John Anatruther Thomson, Esq.;
Captain Percy Williams; Captain T. C Douglas Whitmore; and Henry Chaplin, Esq., M.P.

 






6



                                        CHAPTER J.


              ESTIMATES OF ANNUAL EXPENSES OF A CARRIAGE AND HORSES.


Eeeping a Carriage-Advantages and Disadvantages-Items of Expense-Jobbing, Cost of-Extensive Adoption in London-
   Drawbacks-Jobbing vers-- Purcbasing-Co