Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 12.djvu/203

191 CAVALRY HOUSES.] HORSE 191 favourite means of locomotion by persons of moderate weight and stature. iny A pony must be less than 52 inches (13 hands) from the ground to the top of the withers ; else he is a Galloway. Ponies, as a rule, will do far more work than a full-sized horse ; they improve wonderfully in a well organized stable ; they are, it is said, never lame in the feet, and seldom become roarers ; but, as a set off against these good points, they are often very tricky, and sometimes troublesome in tho stable. In proof of the powers of endurance possessed by ponies, it is related that a well known one, 12 hands high, called Sir Teddy, raced the mail from London to Exeter, beating it by 59 minutes, and doing the 172 miles in 23 hours and 28 minutes. The extraordinary little animal was led between two other horses all the way, and carried no weight. iver The chief use of the cover hack is to take the rider cks. to the meet, usually at the unnecessarily hasty pace of 10 to 12 miles an hour, at which rate the hack should be able to go with tolerable ease to himself and great ease to his rider. He should be from 14 to 15 hands in size, and should, in fact, be a somewhat undersized light-weight hunter. Although the cover hack will generally be asked to canter or g illop, he may be required to trot, and this must be done at 9 or 10 miles per hour. To accomplish this he must have good hind action, but in front he should waste no time by picking up his feet after the showy manner of his park brother ; in fact, appearance is not of much importance so long as the necessary working qualifications exist. A good temper is desirable, and, although the cover hack need not have such a perfect mouth as the London horse, he should be by no means a puller. eed- The breeding of hacks, like breeding for any particular ? of stamp of horse, is all chance work, especially in the case of halfbreds. A rather small thoroughbred horse and a hackney mare may produce a thing like a pony, or a bigger animal that is quite useless for saddle work. Even in breeding for hunters, two or perhaps three out of five colts will grow up more fitted for the shafts than for a bridle. Perhaps the generality of hacks are either thorough breds which have been turned out of training, or horses that have grown up too small for hunting purposes. arger The Charger and Troop-Horse. These are bracketed together because their training and duty are nearly identical ,g&quot; (the charger of a field officer of an infantry regiment need only be a decent saddle horse that will stand fire), the chief difference between the two being that the latter being paid for by the country is ordinarily a cheaper article than the former, which the officer buys for himself. A charger, fit for the mounted arm of the service, is a difficult article to meet with, at least a perfect one is, because so many good qualities must be found combined. A hunter is capital raw material out of which to make a charger ; but appearance, which is not a sine qua non in a hunter, is indispensable in a charger, which must also have high action, though the paces must be easy in conse quence of much riding having to be done without stirrups. The best size for a charger or a trooper is about 15 2 or 15 3 ; moderate-sized horses can be made more handy than larger ones, and experience seems to show that they are more hardy and better doers than horses of greater stature. When a horse has been found that for shape and size will do for a charger, he must be of the right colour for the regiment, if it be de rigueur to have any particular colour, and he must be passed as sound by the regimental veterinary surgeon. The troop-horse must be as much like the charger as possible, but, as the trooper s price is limited to about 40, a difference, and that a very striking one, must always exist. The bulk of the troop-horses are bought when rising four years, having of course been passed by the veterinary surgeon ; and, being nourished on the best food, these often develop into well-grown animals by the time they take their place in the ranks. Before that time comes, however, there is a good deal to be done in the way of training, for no matter how quiet the four year old may be to ride, or how well he may have been broken from a civilian s point of view, he is no more fitted for cavalry purposes, until he has passed through the rough rider s hands, than if he had never been handled at all. The young horse s presence at barracks shows that both the colonel and the regimental veterinary surgeon are satis fied with him. Lunging constitutes the first part of his education, after which he is ridden. Now comes the forma tion of the paces, instruction in passaging, i.e., walking sideways on a pressure by the rider s leg on the side opposite to that towards which the horse is required to move, and in reining back. All these things are clone with the snaffle only; and, when something like familiarity with these exercises has been acquired, the bit is used. The troop-horse goes more on his haunches than a civilian s horse, and, while he is taught to walk at a fairly quick pace, the canter is practised as slowly as possible. Then comes jumping practice over the bar; and finally sword, carbine, or lance exercise is performed by his rider, and he is ridden first at drill practice, then at ordinary drills, and last of all on a field day. As the cavalry soldier has to use his weapons with one hand, he has only one for the reins ; and this renders it im portant first that the horse should be so broken that the rider can effect with his leg or heel what civilians do with the second hand, and next that the horse should be well under the control of a single hand. As before remarked, the position of the head makes a great difference in the ease with which the horse can be governed, arid as troopers have all to do the same things in the saddle, it follows that they should as far as possible all ride the same sort of horses ; accordingly all troop-horses are trained to carry their heads as nearly as possible in one position, that being chosen in which the angle formed by the head and neck gives most power to the rider. Harness Horses. Just as a hunter is metamorphosed Harness into a hack by using a sharper bit and riding him on the h rse s. road, so the mere fact of driving a horse in harness makes him a harness horse, whether he really be hack, hunter, or charger. Carriages arc now made of endless patterns and of all sizes, so that there is not a saddle horse to be found that could not be accommodated with something adapted to his appearance and powers. Perhaps the only class of harness horses except cart horses that are not fitted for saddle work are the regular heavy carriage horses great upstanding animals 16i- or 17 hands high. These are generally bay, and are bred in Yorkshire or abroad. They are purchased at three years old by the few dealers who trade in them, and are brought to town^ where they are care fully driven about by an experienced breaksman until they are well used to the sights and sounds of London, and have action and strength enough to go to regular work. One well-known firm of dealers never sells these horses, but jobs them, the charge for a year varying from ,80 to 120 for a pair, according to the value, the hirer of course keep ing them, but having the right to call upon the dealers to send a fresh horse to replace one that may fall sick or become lame or fail to give satisfaction to the hirer. During the London season many of these pairs may be seen in the carriages of the titled and the wealthy. They are imposing-looking animals owing to their great size and to the massiveness of the harness, but when closely examined they exhibit many faults. Their heads are often large,