The horse; his breeding, care and use

Preface

During the greater part of my life it has fallen to my lot to have a great deal to do with horses ; in breeding them and studying them, in raising them and breaking them to harness, in their care and feeding and in the cure of their vices, when they were so unfortunate as to have them, a large part of my time has been occupied. The knowledge that is gained in the school of experience is generally conceded to be of the most valuable and practical kind, and it has occurred to me that some of the things I have thus been able to learn may be of much value to others.

In handling " inquiries and answers " concerning equine matters for a great American periodical, I have often been surprised to see, in the letters that have come to me from all parts of the country and from people of widely varying means and conditions, how similar they are in kind. Almost invariably the inquiries concern such practical matters as how to feed and stable, how to breed so as to produce a good horse for the purpose intended, how to break to harness, and what to do to cure such vices as running away, shying, kicking, or balking. It has seemed to me that

PREFACE 6

these inquiries point out a well-defined want and it is concerning these practical matters — matters in which every horse-owner is sure, sooner or later, to want help — that this book is chiefly written.

Perhaps, too, in writing the book, I have been influenced, in some degree, by another and more sentimental reason — which is none other than my love for the horse and a desire to promote horsemanship in the true sense of the word. For in all the vicissitudes of my life I have found the horse one of its greatest blessings, an added joy in times of prosperity and happiness and a comfort and solace in days of disappointment and sorrow. Surely such an animal deserves that comprehension of what he really is, that insight into his nature, and that knowledge of what to expect of him and how to manage him and care for him and bring out the best that is in him that constitute true horsemanship.

David Buffum,

Prudence Island, R, I,

Contents

CHAPTER PAGE

I. What Constitutes a Good Horse 11

II. Our Debt to the Arab ... 25

Chapter I What Constitutes A Good Horse

THE horse, of all our domestic animals, has always held the most conspicuous place. It is easy to say that he is more showy, but less useful than the cow or sheep and that he has carried many men into trouble as well as out of it, but the fact remains that he has been celebrated in romance and poetry and song, from the days when he was admired by Solomon and when Job wrote his splendid panegyric on the war-horse, down to the present time.

Is he justly entitled to the place of honor he has thus held, and still holds, in the world? And is he worthy of the attention of the best intellects and the lifetimes of study that, from time to time, have been bestowed upon his breeding, care, and management? Be assured that he is. No man need ever feel that he is misapplying his best powers in studying and improving any of the animals that Nature has given for his use. And if men have sometimes got into trouble through horses, the same might be said of almost any other thing — and, clearly, it is not the fault of the horse.

POINTS OF THE HORSE

The first thing to learn in the science of horsemanship — the very A B C of the matter, as it were — is the points of a good horse. There is no doubt that a great many of my readers already know them and equally no doubt that a great many have gone far beyond this initial chapter. But many times in my life I have been surprised to find men of mature years who had always used horses and even raised a few colts who were not as well up on the matter as one might suppose; and I have met many young men who aspired to be horsemen without having acquired that essential knowledge of the subject that is better learned by a little earnest study in the first place than by painful and costly experience later.

It is self-evident that the most important parts of a horse and the first to examine are his feet and legs. For if he is deficient in this respect, no superiority in other points and no qualities in breeding or disposition can offset it. The best chair or table in the world is useless if it has only three or two legs ; and the wisdom of the Arab proverb, " No foot, no horse," is apparent.

For these points, the feet of the horse should be symmetrical, neither too deep nor too flat, but, if failing in either respect, they had better be too deep than too flat. It may often happen that, on soft and level country roads, a flat foot may not occasion much trouble, but it is bad on hard roads

Bad Points to Look Out for in a Horse

or in cities and is, in all cases, a defect in conformation.

The limbs should be clean — that is, free from fleshiness — but with plenty of bone and substance. The fore legs should be, relatively, short from the fetlock joint to the knee and long from the

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knee to the horse's body. This is a very important point, as no horse was ever good for much on the road whose knees were too high up.

The hind legs should be flat, as well as clean. There is an old saying that they should look as if the skin had been removed, the bone scraped and the skin put back again. This excessive cleanness goes with highly-bred horses and is to be insisted on in all horses that properly belong in that class, such as thoroughbreds, trotters, hackneys, etc. In colder-blooded horses we should demand at least a reasonable approach to it; as much, we may say, as the breed admits of. The gambrel joint should be strong and well developed, never slender or " dandified," and it is also desirable to have it, relatively, near the ground, though this is not as important as the position of the fore knee.

The horse should stand square on his legs with his feet well under him, and his hoofs should be straight fore and aft, neither toeing in nor toeing out.

For the body of the horse, the back should be short.

The hind quarters should be well developed, with the hip-joints fairly well forward. The rump should be, not straight, but rather straight than drooping. That is, the line from the top of the hips to the root of the tail should be only moderately oblique. I am by no means certain that the straightness or obliquity of this line really makes much difference to the value of the horse ; in hundreds that I have examined and seen

WEIL OEvnOPEO tSD

Physical Virtues of a Good Horse

put to severe road and other work I could never perceive that it did. But the moderately oblique line is far more elegant and it is one of the points of equine perfection, and, as such, should always have due consideration.

The shoulders should be slanting, not upright.

and the withers reasonably high. This conformation makes a strong as ' well as an elegant shoulder.

The body should be nicely rounded, neither gaunt nor " pot-bellied," and should be ribbed well up toward the hips.

The chest should be deep, rather than wide, giving large lung capacity.

The neck should be free from undue fleshiness. It may be either long or short, as far as utility is concerned, the long, of course, being much more elegant and therefore to be preferred on well-bred horses. In either case it should be bent a little just before the point where it joins the head so as to give the conformation that we call " clean cut in the throttle," a structure that gives the breathing apparatus free play.

The head in well-bred horses should be small and almost as clean and bony as the limbs. The face line, viewed from the side, should be straight, not aquiline (or, as in the case of many Arabs, it may be slightly dishing). The forehead should be flat between the eyes. The eyes should be of medium size, set well apart from each other and not too near the top of the head, and the head, when viewed from the front, should slant in a little from the eyes upward. The ears should be fine, thin and pointed and of medium length, and

A GOOD HORSE IT

they should be so set on that, when pointed forward, they are parallel, not slanting apart.

A STANDARD FOR ALL BREEDS

These points of equine perfection are absolute, and therefore they apply to all kinds of horses. This statement, in view of the strikingly different characteristics of different breeds, may, at first, seem wrong, but the experience of a life-time with horses of all types has convinced me of its truth. In judging horses of different types, the difference must be in the application, not in the standard itself ; for a, good horse must be homogeneous in his make-up, every part in harmony with other parts, 8.nd every part must have such modification and proportion as conduces to that end.

For instance, a hackney is a very different horse from a thoroughbred and if he looked even like the best thoroughbred, he would not be a good hackney. But it is just as important that he have a good back, a slanting shoulder, and clean limbs a,nd head as in the case of a thoroughbred. His neck, it is sometimes argued, is so different that it cannot be judged in the same way. So it is different, but if it be examined understandingly it will be found to differ only in such manner and degree as conform to his type and, hot one whit less than in the thoroughbred, it should be free from undue fleshiness, clean and elegant in outline, and so set on as to give a clean-cut throttle. In other words, as a good point is a good one and a bad point a bad one, the same standard must always be used — but applied in such a way as to conform to the modifications that always exist in different types and breeds.

To follow the subject a little further (for it is a vitally important one) the plea for an abatement in certain respects of the requirements for equine perfection is most often heard in connection with draft-horses. These animals, it is urged, serve a different purpose from driving stock and therefore, if they are only large and strong and smooth, a considerable departure from the embodiment of the points we have named makes very little difference. This has not been my experience. As a breeder for many years of both road and draft stock, I have found that the latter, no less than the former, brought the best prices when, apart from the distinguishing marks of their breed, they possessed the greatest number of points of general equine excellence. They were handsomer — and beauty always sells.

As the manager of large stables belonging to the city of New York, I observed constantly that those of our horses which had the best points — short backs, good shoulders, limbs, and feet, and well-developed hind-quarters — stood up better and lasted longer under their work than the others; and this, too, was often irrespective of size. But that breeders did not realize this — or, what is more likely, that they often sacrificed points to mere size — was evident. For the city was willing to pay good prices for its stock and our horses were selected with care, and yet a large percentage were too long in the back and too upright in the shoulder; a great many had rather poor feet. With a greater range in regard to size these defects could, to a large extent, have been avoided, but our work called for heavy teams and we rarely bought a horse weighing less than sixteen hundred pounds.

It is in the power of man to breed horses large or small and of either a good or a bad conformation. But he greatly errs who is careless in the latter respect or who argues that good points are not always important, whatever the type. For good points were not the invention of man, but were learned by him through centuries of use and study of the horse. They are based upon the mechanism of the animal and were first decided upon by One whose judgment does not err and whose wisdom, whether in matters of horseflesh or otherwise, we cannot question.

ORIGIN OF THE HORSE AND FORMATION OF DIFFERENT BREEDS

In speaking of the origin of the horse and his early development as a domestic animal, I must of necessity be brief, for the subject is too large to discuss at length. But a few facts in this connection have a bearing upon what we can do in the modification of equine types and so have practical value for the breeder too important to go wholly unnoted.

The horse is believed to have originated in southern Asia. His natural size is not very great, averaging about eight hundred pounds, and there is reason to believe that the original type was rather fine than coarse. All the different breeds now in vogue, ranging in fineness from the thoroughbred to the coarsest of the heavy types and in size from the little Shetland to the great draft-horses, trace back to this common origin and are simply modifications of it, wrought by environment or the skill of man, or both. This fact explains the tendency of all breeds to revert to the natural and parent type. In other words, all the variations of the original type which we call breeds have a constant tendency to drop back to where they started.

The breeder of draft-stock, if he becomes careless in either mating or feeding, will find each generation a trifle lighter in weight ; while the breeder of ponies (if in the temperate zone) will, unless he use equal care, find each generation a trifle heavier. In like manner, as the run is the natural gait of the horse when he is going his fastest, so it is difficult (and, in all probability, will prove impossible) to breed this tendency entirely out of trotters.

Let us take a glance at what has been done by Nature and what by man in the formation of breeds. Breeds of ponies were formed by Nature in very hot or very cold countries, mainly the latter, where the horse will inevitably deteriorate in size. Climate has also some effect in other ways. But by far the greatest number of modifications of the equine type — as the thoroughbred, the trotter, the hackney, and the draft breeds — were formed by the skill of man in selecting, mating, and feeding.

Environment, it is true, cannot be wholly ignored; the dweller in a mountainous country, for instance, is not well situated for raising heavy draft-horses. But as a factor in the formation of different breeds and in the production of speed I have long felt that its importance had been greatly overestimated. Indeed, I have never been able to discover that horses of most of our types could not be bred successfully in all parts of the temperate zone where farming or stockraising could be engaged in at all. It is, of course, easier to breed them where the soil is rich and the pasturage abundant, but these accessories are not indispensable. The Arabs have always got along without them and their success as breeders can hardly be questioned.

The development of different breeds from the original type began almost with the dawn of history. The Greeks made much advance in the science and it is evident, if only from the treatise that has come down to us from Xenophon, that their breed was a good one. The Roman horse, notwithstanding the fact that the Romans owed what they knew of horse-breeding — as, indeed, the knowledge of all other arts and sciences — to the Greeks, does not seem to have been as good. He had good, clean limbs and head, but his body was too thick and chunky. This defect doubtless came from a mistaken idea on the part of his breeders as to what constituted equine beauty and grandeur, the wide chest and thick, arched neck seeming to them to present a more imposing appearance than a finer and better type.

Fortunately, we know just how the Roman horse looked. The equestrian statue of Marcus Aurelius, made by an unknown sculptor some seventeen centuries ago and still in perfect condition, gives a true representation of the horse of that period and is well worthy of the study of horsemen.

To the breeders of ancient Greece, notwithstanding Xenophon's splendid and comprehensive treatise, the horseman of to-day really owes very little. Our most precious legacy did not come from them. But there was a race of men, even at that early day, who not only knew the form of the true horse, but also knew, as familiarly as their own souls, the laws and principles by which he was produced — the Arabs. To them be the honor of having, through all the centuries in which so much that was precious was lost, preserved for us in its pristine purity the highest type of horses the world has known.

We owe to the work of the Arab breeders all that we most value in our horses — speed, endurance, disposition, and elegance of form, all came from this source. The thoroughbred, fastest horse in the world at the run, was evolved directly from Arabian blood; and in our trotters, though by a less direct route, it plays an equally important part. Count Orloff used it largely in perfecting the Orloff trotter of Russia — a wonderful animal in many respects; and it is even claimed, with more or less show of reason, that it entered somewhat into the composition of some of our

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heavier breeds. All this does not prove that the Arabian is the best horse for all purposes ; on the contrary, at the present age of the world, there are only a few uses for which, when bred in his purity, he is best adapted. But Arabian blood is the leaven that leavens the whole lump, the element without which our best breeds of horses could not have been evolved.

Chapter II

IF I seem to be dwelling too long on the blood lines that go to make up our modern breeds, I can only say that, without a clear perception of the why and wherefore of things, any really intelligent grasp of the science of horsemanship is impossible. There are many sea captains wiio have learned to take observations and work them out by certain formulas which they do not understand, but which, nevertheless, give them the ship's position on the chart. Such men make shift to get around, it is true, but they never become such skilled and expert navigators as those who not only apply the required formula, but know exactly why they do so.

Among the different horses you have owned there have been some whose skin was thinner and whose coat finer than the others, who, when warmed up a little, would show a fine network of veins under the skin, and when put to some unusually long and hard journey would finish with a nerve and energy that were more and more apm THE HORSE

parent from beginning to end. Do you know why? I am glad to say, though well enough acquainted with the other kind, that I have had many such and am at present using every day a certain mare, thoroughbred, who, when she came into my possession, was so high-strung, so full of nervous energy, that she had never been known to walk a step, and for this reason was never used by her owner or his family, but always exercised by a groom.

Under a little sane treatment (a matter of which I shall have more to say later) she soon learned to go quietly with me. But let the drive be rather longer than common — say ten miles, instead of her usual four or five — and the old spirit and nervous ambition are all back again. And if, on an all-day drive, her muscles become tired, as they needs must, she does not know it and, if I let her, would undoubtedly keep going till she fell in her tracks.

Now this quality, although we have, in breeding, to consider many other things, such as size, style, disposition, and the ability to haul a heavy load, is of all equine attributes, the most kingly; it is the spirit that never quits and never says die. Without it, our race-horses would be valueless and our roadsters no pleasure to use. It is easy enough, and true enough, to say that it is owing to the " warm blood " a horse has in his veins. But this does not wholly answer the question, nor go quite to the root of the matter. What makes warm blood? What gives to our thoroughbreds and trotters their dead-game qualities ?

The answer is oriental blood — Arabian or, if not always literally and strictly that, then of a stock so closely allied as to be practically the same thing. It is true that we have to go back a long distance to find it, but there it is, the starting-point, the source and fountainhead of the highest equine characteristics. Again, why? Because the Arabian horse was bred with reference to speed and endurance and upon the highest standard of conformation and character, from a period so remote that it can hardly be traced. And the fixity of type in any breed — its tendency to reproduce itself unaltered when bred, like sire to like dam, and its prepotency when crossed upon other stock — is in direct proportion to the time it has been bred as a distinct breed without contamination or admixture.

We, whose beards are gray, can recall a time, not so very long ago, either, when the trotter was a colder-blooded horse than he is now and when it was often said, especially by breeders of thoroughbred stock, that the American trotter was of no fixed type and no recognized conformation.

Going back a good deal farther, there was a time when the same thing could be said of the English race-horse. In the main, his breeders were trying to develop him by simply selecting the best and fastest stock. The introduction of certain animals of Eastern breeding — the Byerley Turk and, later, the Curwen Barb and the now famous Barley Arabian — made an impress so marked that their value could not be ignored, but it was not till the days of the Godolphin Arabian, some twenty years later, that the value of oriental blood, as the true source of speed and endurance, was fully recognized and understood by horsemen.

The story of the Godolphin Arabian is one of the most fascinating in equine history. In common with the accounts of much that occurred in that long-ago time some of its details are doubtless open to question and its missing pages filled in by matter that is not well attested. So I give the story for whatever it may be worth, but to those who prefer to doubt it I would point out two things, — first, that any doubt that may be felt of the more romantic incidents with which his story is credited can take nothing away from the honor which is his proven right ; and furthermore that the obscurity which would make possible the introduction of fictitious incidents attended only the first part of the horse's career; later, as the most noted horse of his period, his place in the annals of the English race-horse is a matter of record.

This celebrated horse, whose original name was Scham, was one of several choice animals that were sent as a present to the King of France by the Bey of Tunis. Each, as the proper accompaniment of so princely a gift, had an attendant Moorish slave as groom. Scham's groom, Agba, seems to have been a man thoroughly versed in the horsemanship of his country and fully aware of the great value of his charge, which he had trained and attended from birth. But the present, splendid as it was, made little impression on the French king. The finely-formed, nervous animals were of a type to which he was unaccustomed and of which he knew nothing; differing totally from the heavy French stock, they seemed to him small, insignificant, and, in a word, of little value. He gave the slaves their liberty and directed his master of the stables to sell the horses for what they would bring. Scham was thus acquired by a drunken teamster, who drove a garbage-cart, and put to work in his new owner's business. What became of the others is unknown.

Agba was separated from his charge and for many weeks knew nothing of his whereabouts. But he was keenly alive to the fact that, however so THE HORSE

the horse might be underestimated in France, in Tunis, where king and commoner alike were horsemen, he was adjudged of great value. He resolved to find the horse and, if possible, to acquire him by a term of service. Adrift, as he was, in a strange city and knowing but little of its language, the search was no easy matter, and when he finally discovered the horse — which was late one evening, in one of the poorest parts of the city — he found him miserably stabled, covered with harness-galls and sores, and so emaciated as to be hardly recognizable. He threw his arms around the horse's neck and, with many caresses and words of endearment, proceeded to make him as comfortable as the shed and its meager equipment permitted.

While he was thus engaged the carter appeared. Scornfully (and, perhaps, naturally) rejecting Agba's offer to purchase the horse by a term of service, he ordered the Moor out of the stable. The latter had no alternative but to obey, but he by no means gave up his purpose. In some way and some time so precious an animal must be rescued from his wretched situation; meanwhile, he must be cared for and his strength kept up. By doing sundry odd j obs about the city, Agba managed to pick up a little money and with this, often stinting himself of needed food, he bought grain and medicine, and surreptitiously visiting Scham at night, he fed him, bathed his wounds, and otherwise afforded him what comfort he could. There is little question that the horse would have died during this period had it not been for this care and attention.

One day an English Quaker, who was staying in Paris, saw Scham pitifully struggling with a load that he could not draw, his master, meanwhile, applying a heavy whip. The Quaker was a horseman, and his practised eye promptly took in the points that the French king had failed to see. Clearly, this was no ordinary horse. Examining him and satisfying himself of his age and soundness, he at once purchased him of the carter. Agba, who soon learned of the event, now sought the Quaker and told his story — with the result that he was hired as groom for Scham and both were sent to the Quaker's country seat in England.

Thus the horse first found himself on English soil and, under good feed and treatment, he soon regained his original beauty and spirit. Indeed, he regained the latter in too large a degree, for the Friend's family, accustomed as they were to colder-blooded animals, became afraid of him and he was sold to a livery-stable keeper, named Rogers. Agba, greatly chagrined at the occurrence, left the Friend's employ and sought a position with Rogers, but the latter refused to hire him. This proved a mistake, for Scham was getting more grain than he was used to in his native land and he needed skilful management. Under the care of Rogers's grooms he grew irritable and vicious, and soon Rogers himself could do nothing with him.

Agba now applied a second time for employment, doubtless with the " I told you so " that is always so exasperating to the man who is wrong. Rogers not only refused to hire him, but forbade him the premises. But Agba continued to hang around the stable, visiting the horse when he could, and, to put a stop to this, he was arrested a few nights later when scaling the stable wall with some carrots in his pocket that he had brought for Scham and put into jail on a charge of attempted burglary.

News of this occurrence reached Lord Godolphin, who lived in the near neighborhood and had already heard from the Quaker the story of the horse and the Moor's remarkable devotion to him. He procured Agba's release, took him into his own employ, and bought the horse of Rogers, who was exceedingly glad to get rid of him. Scham, with Agba in charge, was now sent to the Godolphin breeding stables. Abga was overjoyed; the horse was now again owned by a great sheik. But if the Moor thought, as he doubtless did, that the horse's real value was now recognized, he was soon to learn his error, for Godolphin regarded Scham only as an interesting specimen of the oriental stock, in no wise comparable to the English-bred horses that formed his stud, and had no thought of using him as a sire. The " head of the stud " — the horse that held the place of honor in the stable — was an English-bred stallion named Hobgoblin, and to him the best mares were bred. But Agba had nevertheless determined that, by hook or by crook, Scham should have a chance to show his value as a sire.