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diff --git a/37842-8.txt b/37842-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..17d9de0 --- /dev/null +++ b/37842-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1709 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Small Horses in Warfare, by Sir Walter Gilbey + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Small Horses in Warfare + +Author: Sir Walter Gilbey + +Release Date: October 25, 2011 [EBook #37842] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SMALL HORSES IN WARFARE *** + + + + +Produced by David Edwards, Matthew Wheaton and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + + + SMALL HORSES IN WARFARE + + [Illustration: _Frederick Taylor, pinxt._ ON THE ALERT.] + + + + + SMALL HORSES IN WARFARE + + BY + + SIR WALTER GILBEY, BART. + + + ILLUSTRATED + + VINTON & CO., LTD. + + 9, NEW BRIDGE STREET, LONDON, E.C. + + 1900 + + + + + CONTENTS. + + + HORSES IN THE CRIMEAN WAR + CAPE HORSES + PONIES IN THE SOUDAN + BURNABY'S RIDE TO KHIVA + POST HORSES IN SIBERIA + PONIES IN INDIA + PONIES IN NORTHERN AFRICA + PONIES IN MOROCCO + PONIES IN EASTERN ASIA + PONIES IN AUSTRALIA + PONIES IN AMERICA AND TEXAS + ARMY HORSES OF THE FUTURE + BREEDING SMALL HORSES + APPENDIX + + + + + LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. + + + ON THE ALERT + BASHI BAZOUK + ONE OF REMINGTON'S HORSE + SIX ORIGINAL PENCIL SKETCHES BY HENRY ALKEN + GIMCRACK + + +_The present seems an appropriate time to put forward a few facts which +go to prove the peculiar suitability of small horses for certain +campaigning work which demands staying power, hardiness and independence +of high feeding. The circumstance that the military authorities have +been obliged to look to foreign countries for supplies of such horses +for the war in South Africa has suggested the propriety of pointing out +that we possess in England foundation stock from which we may be able to +raise a breed of small horses equal to, or better than, any we are now +obliged to procure abroad._ + +_Elsenham Hall, Essex, May, 1900._ + + + + +SMALL HORSES IN WARFARE. + + +The campaign in South Africa has proved beyond doubt the necessity for a +strong force similar to that of the Boers. Their rapidity of movement +has given us an important lesson in the military value of horses of that +useful type which is suitable for light cavalry and mounted infantry. + +Since the war broke out we have seen that we possess numbers of men able +to ride and shoot, who only need a little training to develop them into +valuable soldiers, but our difficulty throughout has been to provide +horses of the stamp required for the work they have to perform. The +experience we have gained in South Africa goes to confirm that acquired +in the Crimea, where it was found that the horses sent out from England +were unable to withstand the climate, poor food, and the hardships to +which they were subjected, while the small native horses and those bred +in countries further East suffered little from these causes. It was +then proved beyond dispute that these small horses are both hardy and +enduring, while, owing to their possession like our English +thoroughbreds of a strong strain of Arab blood, they were speedy enough +for light cavalry purposes. + +Breeders of every class of horse, saving only those who breed the +Shetland pony and the few who aim at getting ponies for polo, have for +generations made it their object to obtain increased height. There is +nothing to be urged against this policy in so far as certain breeds are +concerned; the sixteen-hand thoroughbred with his greater stride is more +likely to win races than the horse of fifteen two; the sixteen-hand +carriage horse, other qualities being equal, brings a better price than +one of less stature; and the Shire horse of 16.2 or 17 hands has +commonly in proportion greater strength and weight, the qualities most +desirable in him, than a smaller horse. Thus we can show excellent +reason for our endeavours to increase the height of our most valuable +breeds; and the long period that has elapsed since we were last called +upon to put forward our military strength has allowed us to lose sight +of the great importance of other qualities. + +Breeders and horsemen are well aware, though the general public may not +know or may not realise the fact, that increased height in the horse +does not necessarily involve increased strength in all directions, such +as greater weight-carrying power and more endurance. Granting that the +saying, "a good big horse is better than a good little one," is in the +main correct, we have to consider that the merits which go to make a +useful horse for campaigning are infinitely more common in small horses +than in big ones. + +All the experience of campaigners, explorers and travellers goes to +prove that small compact animals between 13.2 and 14.2 hands high are +those on which reliance can be placed for hard and continuous work on +scanty and innutritious food. + + + + +HORSES IN THE CRIMEAN WAR. + + +During the Crimean War I was located for a short time at Abydos in Asia +Minor, on the shores of the Dardanelles, and had daily opportunities of +seeing the horses and studying the manoeuvres of some 3,000 mounted +Bashi Bazouks and Armenian troops who were encamped there under General +Beatson in readiness for summons to the Crimea, whither they were +eventually dispatched. + +The horses on which these troops were mounted ranged from 14 hands to +14.3; all had a strong strain of Arab blood, and had come with the +troops from the Islands of the Archipelago. They were perfect horses for +light cavalry work. The economy with which they were fed was surprising: +their feed consisted principally of chopped straw with a small daily +ration of barley when the grain was procurable, which was not always the +case; and on this diet they continued in condition to endure long +journeys which would have speedily broken down the best English charger +in the British army. + + + + +CAPE HORSES. + + +The universal opinion of residents in South Africa is against the +introduction of imported horses for general work, inasmuch as they +cannot withstand the climate, hard living, bad roads and rough usage +which make up the conditions of a horse's life in the Colony. + +In past years, before the present war, large numbers of English +horses have been sent to Natal for military service, but the results +were not satisfactory; all became useless, and the large majority died; +the change from English stables and English methods of management to +those in vogue in the Colony almost invariably proved fatal. + + [Illustration: BASHI BAZOUK] + +Some five years ago, when discussing with Mr. Cecil Rhodes the +advisability of introducing into Cape Colony English sires to improve +the stamp of horse bred in South Africa, he gave his opinion against +such measures. He pointed out that highly bred and large horses were +unsuitable for the work required in the Colony; they needed greater care +in housing, feeding, and grooming than the conditions of life in South +Africa would allow owners to bestow upon them. The hardships attendant +upon long journeys over rough country, the extremes of heat and cold +which horses must endure with insufficient shelter or none at all, must +inevitably overtax the stamina which has been weakened by generations of +luxurious existence in England. + +Mr. Rhodes considered that no infusion of English blood would enhance +the powers of the small colonial bred horse to perform the work required +of him under local conditions; that though thoroughbred blood would +improve him in height and speed, these advantages would be obtained at +the cost of such indispensable qualities as endurance and ability to +thrive on poor and scanty fare. + +It is however permissible to suppose that a gradual infusion of good +blood carefully chosen might in course of time benefit the Cape breed. +The use only of horses which have become acclimatised would perhaps +produce better results than have hitherto been obtained. The progeny +reared under the ordinary conditions prevailing in the Colony would +perpetuate good qualities, retaining the hardiness of the native breed. + + + + +PONIES IN THE SOUDAN. + + +The late Colonel P. H. S. Barrow furnished a most interesting and +suggestive Report to the War Office on the Arabs which were used by his +regiment, the 19th Hussars, during the Nile campaign of 1885. This +report is published among the Appendices to Colonel John Biddulph's +work, _The XIXth and their Times_ (1899). + +Experience, in the words of Colonel Biddulph, had shown that English +horses could not stand hard work under a tropical sun with scarcity of +water and desert fare. It was therefore decided before leaving Cairo to +mount the regiment entirely on the small Syrian Arab horses used by the +Egyptian cavalry. Three hundred and fifty of these little horses had +been sent up in advance and were taken over by the regiment on arrival +at Wady Halfa. Colonel Barrow thus describes these horses: + +"Arab stallion. Average height, 14 hands; average age, 8 years to 9 +years; some 15 per cent. over 12 years; bought by Egyptian Government in +Syria and Lower Egypt; average price, £18." + +About half of the ponies had been through the campaign in the Eastern +Soudan with the regiment in February and March, 1884, and had returned +in a very exhausted state. In September of that year they were marched +up from Assouan to Wady Halfa, 210 miles; and when handed over to the +19th again in November, all except some 10 per cent. of the number were +"in very fair marching condition." From Wady Halfa the regiment +proceeded to Korti, a distance of 360 miles, at a rate of about 16 miles +per day, halts, one of one day and one of two days not included; their +feed consisted of about 6 lbs. of barley or dhoora[1] and 10 lbs. of +dhoora stalk; and on this rather scanty ration the horses reached Korti +in very good condition. Here they remained for eighteen days, receiving +8 lbs. of green dhoora stalk daily instead of 8 lbs. dry; the rest and +change to green food produced improvement in their condition. + +[1] Dhoora is a kind of millet cultivated throughout Asia and introduced +into the south of Europe; called also Indian millet and Guinea corn. + +While the main body rested at Korti, a detachment of fifty went to +Gakdul, 100 miles distant, on reconnaissance; they performed the march +in sixty-three hours, had fifteen hours rest at Gakdul, and returned in +the same time. Six of the party returned more rapidly, covering the 100 +miles in forty-six hours, the last 50 being covered in seven and a-half +hours. During these marches the horses were ridden for eighty-three +hours, the remaining fifty-eight hours of the time occupied being +absorbed by halts. + +The reconnaissance party having returned on the 5th, the regiment, +numbering 8 officers and 127 men, with 155 horses, started, on January +8, to march with General Sir Herbert Stewart's column across the desert +to Gubat. This march, 336 miles, occupied from January 8 to February 20, +4 miles only being covered in the hour they were moving on the last +date. They halted on the 13th at Gakdul; whereby the average day's +journey works out at nearly 26 miles per day, or, if we ignore the march +(4 miles in one hour) of January 20, at nearly 28 miles per day. The +hardest day was the 16th, when the regiment travelled 40 miles in 11-1/2 +hours, from 4.30 a.m. to 4 p.m., the horses receiving each half-a-gallon +of water and 4 lbs. of food grain. Their ability to work on scanty diet +was put to the test on this fortnight's march. The average daily ration +for the first ten days was from 5 to 6 lbs. of grain and 2 gallons of +water; the horses covering an average of 31 miles per day exclusive of +the halt at Gakdul on the 13th. + +When the final advance to the Nile was made, the horses went fifty-five +hours with no water at all, and only 1 lb. of grain; some 15 or 20 +horses were upwards of seventy hours without water. During their halt at +Gubat from January 20 to February 14, they had received but one ration +of grain, 6 lbs. given them two days before they had to start for the +Nile. During this period they performed out-post and patrol duty +averaging about 8 miles daily. + +On the return march, the journey between Dongola and Wady Halfa, 250 +miles, was performed on an average rate of 16 miles per day, with one +two-days' halt. On this march the regiment usually travelled at night +for the sake of coolness, but the scanty shade available generally +compelled exposure to the hot sun all day. + +Colonel Barrow remarks, "I think it may be considered a most remarkable +circumstance that out of 350 horses, during nine months on a hard +campaign, only twelve died from disease." Colonel Biddulph sums up the +work of the horses in a few words: "The performance of the small Arab +horses, both with the river and desert columns, carrying a heavy weight, +on scanty fare and less water, is a marvel of endurance." The former +officer attributes the small percentage of loss from disease to the +facts (1) that the climate of the Soudan is most suitable for horses, +(2) that the Syrian horse has a wonderful constitution, and is admirably +suited for warfare in an Eastern climate. Colonel Barrow's opinion on +the suitability of the Eastern climate for horses must not be read as +meaning for horses of all breeds. On the contrary, Colonel Biddulph, in +words quoted on a previous page, states that experience had shown that +English horses could not withstand the conditions of campaigning in the +Soudan. + +Sir Richard Green Price, writing over the familiar pen-name of +"Borderer," in _Baily's Magazine_, has urged the formation of a regiment +of Lilliputian horse, to consist of men under five feet, or five feet +six inches, weighing not over eleven stone, of good chest measurement: +these he would mount on ponies not over 14.2 and equip with light arms +and accoutrements. As he points out, increase in our cavalry is an +admitted necessity, and this branch of it in particular appeals to the +common sense of the people as a quick and handy service: + + "After many years of practical experience of what ponies can + and do accomplish, especially well-bred ones hardily reared, I + do not hesitate to say that they will beat moderate horses of + double their size, and that very few of our present cavalry + horses could live with them in a campaign--they are more easily + taught, handled and mounted than bigger horses, and with twice + their constitution and thrice their sense--with riders to suit + them, where are the drawbacks to their employment?" + +Sir Richard, in brief, urges the creation of a regiment of scouts or +mounted infantry whose horses shall be of much the same type of those +described by Colonel Barrow. + +The special correspondent of the _Times_ with the Modder River force, in +course of an article on this arm, which appears likely to play a large +part in the wars of the future, writes thus of the animals used by the +Colonists and Boers:-- + + "Here in South Africa the country-bred pony, tractable, used to + fire, and taught to remain where he is left if the reins be + dropped from the bit, is already a half-trained animal for + these purposes, and the work of training has been slight in + consequence; but in Afghanistan, and other places where the + mounted infantry man has been tried in a lesser degree, the + chief cause of trouble has been found in his mount." + +The South African ponies ridden by the Colonial scouts and mounted +infantry have acquired their education as shooting ponies on the veldt +under conditions very similar to those prevailing in warfare. There is +radical difference between animals so trained and ill-broken Indian +country-breds whose tempers have been far too frequently spoiled by +rough usage in native hands. The mounted infantry in Afghanistan might +well find trouble with such ponies. + + [Illustration: ONE OF REMINGTON'S HORSE. + _Showing type of horse used by mounted infantry and scouts in the South + African War._ + (By permission of the Proprietors of the "Daily Graphic.")] + + + + +BURNABY'S RIDE TO KHIVA. + + +Captain Burnaby, in his well-known book, _A Ride to Khiva_, describes +the animals brought up for his inspection at Kasala, in Turkestan, when +his wish to buy a horse was made known:-- + + "The horses were for the most part of the worst description, + that is to say, as far as appearance was concerned.... Except + for their excessive leanness, they looked more like huge + Newfoundland dogs than as connected with the equine race, and + had been turned out in the depth of winter with no other + covering save the thick coats which nature had given them.... + At last, after rejecting a number of jades which looked more + fit to carry my boots than their wearer, I selected a little + black horse. He was about 14 hands in height, and I eventually + became his owner, saddle and bridle into the bargain, for the + sum of £5, this being considered a very high price at Kasala." + +The reader may be reminded that the winter of 1876-7, during which +Captain Burnaby accomplished his adventurous journey, was an +exceptionally severe one even for that part of the world, where long and +severe winters are the rule. On the day of his departure from Kasala the +thermometer stood at eight degrees below zero. The traveller was by no +means favourably impressed with the powers of the horse he had selected +as the least bad of a very poor lot, and the native guides started +apparently satisfied that it would break down under its heavy rider clad +to resist the penetrating cold. + +After his second march, Captain Burnaby began to acquire a certain +measure of respect for this pony:-- + + "What had surprised me most during our morning's march was the + extreme endurance of our horses. The guide frequently had been + obliged to dismount and to clean out their nostrils, which were + entirely stuffed with icicles; but the little animals had + ploughed their way steadily through the snow.... The one I + rode, which in England would not have been considered able to + carry my boots, was as fresh as possible after his march of + seventeen miles. In spite of the weight on his back--quite + twenty stone--he had never shown the least sign of fatigue." + +Again, a few days later, the conditions of the journey having been no +less trying:-- + + "From Jana Darya we rode forty miles without a halt. I must say + that I was astonished to see how well the Kirghiz horses stood + the long journeys. We had now gone 300 miles; and my little + animal, in spite of his skeleton-like appearance, carried me + quite as well as the day he left Kasala, this probably being + owing to the change in his food from grass to barley. We are + apt to think very highly of English horses, and deservedly as + far as pace is concerned; but if it came to a question of + endurance, I much doubt whether our large and well fed horses + could compete with the little half-starved Kirghiz animals. + This is a subject which must be borne in mind in the event of + future complications in the East." + +It is clear that Captain Burnaby was somewhat puzzled by the qualities +displayed by a steed which looked so unpromising; he seeks to explain +its performance by the better food it had enjoyed while on the march, +and begins to compare the staying power of English horses with those of +the Kirghiz pony with doubts as to the superiority of the former. At a +later date he records without surprise that his party travelled forty +miles in six hours, the horses having gone all the time at a slow steady +trot. On his return journey, while staying at Petro-Alexandrovsk, he was +given a mount on a little bay, hardly 14 hands high, for a day's +hunting; and records that it "danced about beneath me as if he had been +carrying a feather-weight jockey for the Cambridgeshire." The Kirghiz +and Bokharans who accompanied him evidently thought his weight would +prove too much for the pony, and when there was a ditch to be jumped +looked round to see how the bay would manage it. "Never a stumble ... +the hardy little beast could have carried Daniel Lambert if that worthy +but obese gentleman had been resuscitated for the occasion." + +Finally, Captain Burnaby sums up the performance of this fourteen-hand +pony:-- + + "We had ridden 371 miles in exactly nine days and two hours, + thus averaging more than 40 miles a day! At the same time it + must be remembered that, with an interval of in all not more + than nine days' rest, my horse had previously carried me 500 + miles. In London, judging by his size, he would have been put + down as a polo pony. In spite of the twenty stone he carried, + he had never been either sick or lame during the journey, and + had galloped the last 17 miles through the snow to Kasala in + one hour and twenty-five minutes." + +The same author describes a remarkable forced march made in the summer +of 1870 by Count Borkh in Russian Tartary. The Count's mission was to +test the possibility of taking artillery over the steep and difficult +passes in a certain district, and his force consisted of 150 cossacks, +and 60 mounted riflemen and a gun. The troops accomplished their journey +out and back, 266 miles, in six days; the heat was excessive, the +thermometer marking sometimes as much as 117° Fahr. during the day; yet +the ponies were none the worse of their exertions, the "sick list" at +the end comprising only twelve, all of which suffered from sore backs +caused by careless saddling. Other expeditions under similar conditions +are mentioned; these go to prove that the endurance of the Tartar pony +is affected as little by heat as by cold. + + + + +POST HORSES IN SIBERIA. + + +Mr. H. de Windt, in his book _From Pekin to Calais_, bears witness to +the wonderful endurance of the small post-horses supplied to travellers +in Siberia. He describes them as very little beasts ranging from 14.2 to +15 hands. "Though rough and ungroomed, they are well fed, as they need +to be, for a rest of only six hours is allowed between stages." The +speed maintained depends upon the condition of the roads; and the number +of horses furnished for each tarantass is regulated by the same factor; +three horses sufficing in good weather and as many as seven being +required when the roads are heavy from rain or snow. + + + + +PONIES IN INDIA. + + +Captain L. E. Nolan, in _Cavalry History and Tactics_ (1860), gives an +account of an experimental march made by 200 of the 15th Hussars from +Bangalore to Hyderabad and back, 800 miles. The objects of the march +were to test the capabilities of the troop horses and to ascertain if +there were anything to choose between stallions and geldings in respect +of endurance. To arrive at a solution of the latter question, one +hundred of the men were mounted on entires and the other hundred on +horses which had been castrated only six months previously, regardless +of age, for the purpose of making the experiment. + +The squadrons marched to their destination, took part in field-days and +pageants, and started to reach Bangalore by forced marches; they +accomplished the last 180 miles at a rate of thirty miles per day, +bringing in only one led horse, the remainder being perfectly sound and +fit for further work. One horse, a 14.3 Persian, carried a corporal who, +with his accoutrements, rode 22 stone 7 lbs. It may be added that there +was nothing to choose between the performances of the stallions and +geldings; though the fact that the latter had so recently been castrated +was held to make their achievement the more creditable. + +A forced march such as this has far more value as testimony to staying +power than a more trying feat performed by a single animal; but mention +must be made of Captain Horne's ride. This officer, who belonged to the +Madras Horse Artillery, undertook in 1841 to ride his grey Arab, +"Jumping Jimmy," 400 miles in five days on the Bangalore race-course; +and accomplished his task with three hours and five minutes to spare, +the horse doing the last 79 miles 5 furlongs in 19 hours 55 minutes, and +being quite ready for his corn when pulled up. General Tweedie, in his +work on _The Arabian Horse_ (1894), quotes the above particulars from +the _Bengal Sporting Magazine_, in whose pages full details are given. + +Captain Nolan, in the work from which quotation has been made above, +sums up the shortcomings of the cavalry trooper of his day in the +following pithy sentences:-- + + "Our cavalry horses are feeble; they measure high, but they do + so from length of limb, which is weakness, not power. The blood + they require is not that of our weedy race-horse (an animal + more akin to the greyhound and bred for speed alone), but it is + the blood of the Arab and Persian, to give them that compact + form and wiry limb in which they are wanting." + +The great value of the pony in India was insisted on by Mr. J. H. B. +Hallen, formerly the General Superintendent of the Horse Breeding +Department, in a memorandum published at Meerut in 1899. Pointing out +the many spheres of utility open to the pony, he urged the local +authorities and agricultural societies to foster and develop pony +breeding by providing suitable stallions for public use. As proving the +value of the pony, Mr. Hallen points out that in the two-wheeled cart +called an _ekka_, used by the natives of Northern India, a pony will +draw a load of from 4-1/2 to 6 cwt. over long distances at a rate of 5 +or 6 miles an hour. + +Ponies all over India are equally in request for riding and driving, and +in the northern parts for pack purposes. Indeed, adds Mr. Hallen, "the +pony may be said to be all round the most useful animal." The supply is +not equal to the demand. + +Captain H. L. Powell, R.H.A., writing in _Baily's Magazine_ of March, +1900, says:-- + + "I am a great believer in the Arab for officers' chargers, + light cavalry and mounted infantry in this campaign. The Arab + is a hardy little beast, and will thrive and do well on what + would be starvation rations for an ordinary troop-horse. As a + rule the Arab is rather light of bone, but his bone is twice as + strong as that of an underbred horse. I have an Arab pony about + 14.2 which I am looking after for his owner who went out to the + war, and who is now, I am sorry to say, enjoying Mr. Kruger's + hospitality in Pretoria. The pony carries my 15 stone as if it + was a feather, and never seems to tire." + +The superiority of the Arab over the Indian country-bred is reflected +in their respective cost. Mr. Hallen, in the memorandum before referred +to, says stallions of the country-bred class can be obtained at from +about £6 10s. to £13, while suitable Arab pony stallions cost from £16 +10s. to £33. + + + + +PONIES IN NORTHERN AFRICA.[2] + + +The best authority on the breeds used by the Arabs of Northern Africa is +probably General E. Daumas, who held high commands in Algeria and was +for a time the French Consul at Mascara. The Chasseurs d'Afrique are +mounted on Barbs, and thus the capabilities of these horses were of +practical importance to this officer; moreover, he took a very keen +personal interest in all matters relating to the horse, and spared no +endeavour to inform himself concerning the breed of the country in which +he resided. Hence the description in General Daumas' book, _The Horses +of the Sahara: with Commentaries by the Emir Abd El Kadr_ (1863) is +accepted as the standard on the Barb. + +[2] The Barb, there is no possible doubt, is of pure Arab origin: in the +seventh century, when the Fatimite sect of Mohammedans held sway in +Egypt, numerous Arab tribes migrated to Africa and gradually spread over +the whole of the northern portion of the continent; the horses they +brought with them spread in like manner. + +The letters of the famous Emir to General Daumas, containing categorical +replies to questions put by the latter, show that the Barbs possess +endurance in a very remarkable degree. Their average height is nowhere +mentioned in this work, but they are, as we believe, somewhat smaller +than the Arab in his native country and in India. There is a suggestive +hint of their small size in a remark by General Daumas: he says that +inexperienced horsemen with their spurs "sometimes prick the animal on +the knee-pan and so lame him if the wound be deep." Assuming that the +average height of the horseman be 5 feet 6 inches, and making due +allowance for the "straight-legged" seat of the cavalry man, the +General's remark points to a horse certainly not over 14 hands. + +In answer to General Daumas' enquiry as to the amount of work a Barb can +do, the Emir replies:-- + + "A horse sound in every limb and eating as much barley as his + stomach can contain can do whatever his rider can ask of him. + For this reason the Arabs say, 'give barley and over-work him,' + but without tasking him over much a horse can be made to do + about sixteen _parasangs_ (equal to about fifty English miles) + a day, day after day. It is the distance from Mascara to + Koudiat Aghelizan on the Oued-Mina: it has been measured in + cubits. A horse performing this journey every day, and having + as much barley as it likes to eat, can go on without fatigue + for three or four months without lying by a single day." + +The Arabs on their _razzias_, or cattle-stealing expeditions, of +necessity travel with as little encumbrance as possible: on such +expeditions, which may require twenty or twenty-five days' rapid travel, +each horseman carries only enough barley to give his mount eight feeds. +In some parts of the Sahara green food is never given; frequent watering +is recommended by all Arab horsemen. + +An Arab of the Arbâa tribe gave General Daumas full particulars of a +ride he once undertook to save a highly prized mare from the hands of +the Turks. In twenty-four hours he rode her eighty leagues, and during +the journey she obtained nothing to eat but leaves of the dwarf palm, +and was watered once. + +More directly bearing on our present enquiry are the particulars +furnished by Colonel Duringer of the weights carried in most of the +expeditions by the horses of the Chasseurs d'Afrique. These details were +ascertained by the Colonel at the moment of departure of a +column:--Horseman, 180 lbs.; equipment, 53 lbs.; pressed hay for five +days, 55 lbs.; barley for same period, 44 lbs. The man's own provisions +brought up the total burden to about 350 lbs. English = 25 stone! Daily +consumption of hay and grain would reduce this colossal burden +gradually; but the horse would never carry less than 16 stone 9 lbs. at +the end of his journey, starting with the load described. + +As regards forced marches of comparatively short duration, Colonel +Duringer states that + + "A good horse in the desert ought to accomplish for five or six + days, one after the other, distances of 25 to 30 leagues. After + a couple of days' rest, if well fed he will be quite fresh + enough to repeat the feat. It is no very rare occurrence to + hear of horses doing 50 or 60 leagues in twenty-four hours." + + + + +PONIES IN MOROCCO. + + +Mr. T. E. Cornwell, who has had twenty years' experience of travel and +residence in Morocco, gives the ponies in common use in that country a +high character as weight carriers and for endurance on scanty food; they +are also very sure-footed. These horses he describes as Barbs, very +hardy with thick shoulders; they average 14 hands 2 inches, rarely +attaining a height of 15 hands. They generally receive a feed of +rough straw in the morning and a ration of barley, from 6 to 7 lbs., at +night; they are watered (when water can be obtained) once a day. Grass +can be had at some seasons of the year, but the horses, being tethered +during halts, cannot graze, and as the task of cutting grass would +entail delay it is never used. + + [Illustration: _Here they come!_ + _There they are!_ + _On the Look Out._ + _On the Look Out._ + _Charging on them._ + _Receiving the Charge._ + _From original pencil sketches by Henry Alken._] + +Mr. Cornwell, a 14 stone man, has ridden one of these ponies for +thirty-two consecutive days, with only one day's rest, covering an +average of thirty miles per day. + +General Maclean, who for a long period was the "Kaid" or +Commander-in-Chief of the Sultan's forces in Morocco, once tried the +experiment of stabling his horses instead of picketing out in the open, +which is the usual practice. The experiment did not answer, for on his +next expedition every horse died; shelter for a period had no doubt +rendered them susceptible to maladies brought on by exposure at night. +These ponies could be purchased at a figure ranging from £8 to £11 per +head. An export duty of £3 10s., which is levied on every horse sent out +of Morocco, must be added to these rates by foreign purchasers. + +Mr. Cornwell states that an infusion of English blood does nothing to +improve these hardy Morocco ponies. Blood horses from England have been +imported and crossed with the native mares, but the produce have always +been leggy and less capable of continued hard work than the native +breed. + + + + +PONIES IN EASTERN ASIA. + + +The pony commonly used in China is bred in the northern part of the +country. According to a writer in _Baily's Magazine_, immense droves of +ponies run on the plains three or four hundred miles from Pekin, and the +breeders bring them down every year for sale in the more populous +districts. They average about 13.1 in height, and though in very +wretched condition when brought to market, pick up rapidly on good food. +They are usually short and deep in the barrel, have good legs and feet, +and fairly good shoulders. Speed is not to be expected from their +conformation; but they can carry heavy weights, are of robust +constitution and possess great endurance. + +The Burmese ponies are smaller than the Chinese, averaging about 12 +hands 2 inches, a thirteen-hand pony being considered a big one. They +are generally sturdy little beasts with good shoulders, excellent bone +and very strong in the back; sound, hardy and enduring, capable of doing +much continuous hard work under a heavy weight on indifferent food. Like +the Chinese ponies, they are somewhat slow, but they are marvellous +jumpers. + +Before the annexation of Upper Burma in 1885 the lower province was +dependent upon the breeders of the Shan Hills and on the breeders in +independent Burma for its ponies, as the export of stallions and mares +was forbidden. + +Since the annexation the Indian Government have sought to improve the +native breed by the introduction of Arab pony stallions; the superior +size and good looks of the "Indo-Burman," as the cross-bred is called, +are, the writer understands, steadily leading to the disappearance of +the pure Burmese. The half-bred Arab has much to recommend him over the +pure Burmese pony in greater docility and speed; but these advantages +appear to have been gained at some sacrifice of weight-carrying power +and endurance. + +Captain M. H. Hayes, in _The Points of the Horse_, states that the +ponies of Sumatra, averaging about 12 hands 2 inches, are the strongest +for their size he has ever seen. He describes them as "simply balls of +muscle," and notes the beauty of their heads, which would seem to +distinguish them as a breed from the ponies found on the mainland. The +Corean pony is the smallest of Eastern breeds, but his extraordinary +weight-carrying power makes him a marvel: averaging about ten hands in +height and slight of build, he is nevertheless able to carry a +full-grown man, on a saddle secured over a pile of rugs to atone for his +small size, and to do a long day's work under a burden wholly +disproportionate to his inches. + + + + +PONIES IN AUSTRALIA. + + +The Australian "mail-man," or mounted postman, whose duty it is to +distribute and collect letters at the remote and scattered "stations" +far from railway centres, prefers small horses for his arduous work, +which demands endurance and speed. Thus they are described by +"Australian Native" in the _Field_ of June 11, 1892:-- + + "The mail-man's riding horse is of an entirely different class + [from the pack horse which carries the bags], and is probably + best described as a 'big little' animal, or a symmetrical, + typical English three-quarter bred hunter of 16 to 16.2 focused + into 13.2 or 13.3, with slightly higher withers, which gives + the appearance of a somewhat low back." + + "Bearing in mind the character of mail-men's duty, it becomes + evident that of necessity their horses must possess combined + stamina, high courage and speed. The stamp described have these + qualities in a marked degree, and, in addition, their natural + paces of jog--not an amble--and daisy-cutting canter not only + enable them to get over the ground with great ease to + themselves but also to their riders. Moreover, these small + animals are not readily knocked up, but when they do get stale + and leg-weary through extra hard work on little food, a few + days on good grass is sufficient for them to regain their + vitality. In Australian parlance, they are 'cut-and-come-again + customers,' and unlike big horses, which, when they knock up, + knock up for an indefinitely long period. + + "The smartest stock horses, those in use for drafting cattle, + are also small, handy and well up to 12 stone, and as their + prices are the same as mail-men's nags, from £4 to £8 per head, + the evidence in favour of small horses for utilitarian + purposes, and also on the score of economy, preponderates. + Would such small animals, withal tough and wiry, be suitable + for light cavalry?" + +The answer to the concluding query is undoubtedly "Yes." + + + + +PONIES IN AMERICA AND TEXAS. + + +The ponies of North-West America are famed for their powers of +endurance, which are the more remarkable in view of their make and +shape. These animals are without doubt the descendants of stock +introduced by the Spaniards when they invaded Mexico early in the 16th +century; the offspring of these Spanish horses in course of time spread +over the whole continent. + +Colonel Richard Irving Dodge remarks, in his work _Our Wild Indians_ +(1882), that the horses introduced by the Spaniards must have been very +inferior in size, or the race has greatly degenerated; as compared with +the American horse, the Indian pony is very small. As the subsequent +observations of Colonel Dodge prove, these ponies, if they have lost +size have lost absolutely nothing in working qualities; they have become +adapted to their conditions of life and have probably gained in +hardiness of constitution and endurance. He writes:-- + + "Averaging scarcely fourteen hands in height, the Indian pony + is rather slight in build, though always having powerful + fore-quarters, good legs, short, strong back, and full barrel. + He has not the slightest appearance of 'blood,' though his + sharp, nervous ears and bright, vicious eye indicate unusual + intelligence and temper. But the amount of work he can do and + the distance he can make in a specified (long) time put him + fairly on a level with the Arabian or any other of the animal + creation.... Treated properly, the pony will wear out two + American horses, but in the hands of the Indian he is so abused + and neglected that an energetic cavalry officer will wear him + out." + +The North-West American Indian, though a marvellous horseman as a "trick +rider," has apparently no idea whatever of saving his mount, whatever +the distance he has to travel. According to Colonel Dodge, who has +enjoyed many opportunities of informing himself on Indian usages, more +especially as an enemy, he will gallop his pony till it drops from sheer +exhaustion. + +As showing what a good pony can do in the hands of a man who knows how +to make the most of him, Colonel Dodge states that he once tried to buy +an animal which pleased his eye, offering forty dollars for it; +whereupon the owner replied that the price was six hundred dollars. +Repeating the incident to someone who knew the pony, he was informed +that the owner had not been actuated by any boastful spirit; that he had +good reason for attaching a very high value to it. The man, it appeared, +had been employed to carry the mail bags between Chehuahua and El Paso, +nearly 300 miles apart, during a period of six months, when the roads +were closed for ordinary travel by marauding bands of Apache Indians on +the watch for white men. + +He had to make the perilous journey once a week, and he performed it on +the pony, riding all night for three successive nights, and hiding by +day. The Indians, it may be added, are deterred by superstition from +risking death by night; hence an additional good reason for the express +rider's choice of time to travel. For six months the pony carried him +between ninety and a hundred miles on three consecutive nights in each +week; he went one week and returned the next in the same way. And +Colonel Dodge adds that this tax upon his powers "had not diminished the +fire and flesh of that pony." + +Writing of the breed in another work, _The Hunting Grounds of the Great +West_, Colonel Dodge observes that civilisation spoils this pony; +accustomed on the ranche and prairie to pick up his own living when +turned out after a long day's work in summer, and used to +semi-starvation in winter, when stabled, shod, and fed on corn, his +character undergoes a change. He either becomes morose, ill-tempered, +hard to manage and dangerous, or he degenerates into a fat, lazy, +short-winded cob, "only fit for a baby or an octogenarian." The latter +change is the more usual. We can well understand that such would be the +result. + +Colonel Dodge has no doubt but that the Indian pony is identical with +the Texan mustang or wild horse, concerning whose qualities we may take +the evidence of a contributor to the _Field_. "C. E. H." writes, in an +article on "A Texas Fair," published in 1891:-- + + "The native stock for endurance and soundness of constitution + cannot be surpassed. We have owned many of these animals of + from fourteen to fifteen hands, and never had an unsound one + yet. They will carry one 70 miles a day without tiring; and we + sold a horse aged 8 years ten years ago, which was lately + disposed of for only £3 less than the sum we then received for + him." + +The horses raised on the plains of Uruguay, on the River Plate, have +much in common with the mustang, but retain to a greater degree the +characteristics of their remote Spanish ancestry in the small lean head +and well-turned limbs. They are somewhat higher than the mustang, +varying between 14 and 15 hands, seldom exceeding the latter height; but +the natives attach no importance to hands and inches, it being an +acknowledged fact that the smallest horses are in many instances the +best. Accustomed to run at large until between four and five years old, +these horses are sound and hardy, capable of carrying fourteen or +fifteen stone all day without tiring and able to perform hard and +continuous work on little food. + + + + +ARMY HORSES OF THE FUTURE. + + +Let it not be supposed for a moment that in urging the merits of small +horses the writer seeks to asperse the value of heavy cavalry. Weight in +men and size in horses are indispensable for such work as our heavy +cavalry are called upon to perform; even the civilian mind can +appreciate the mysteries of tactics so far as to recognise that a charge +of heavy cavalry can effect infinitely greater results upon an enemy +than men mounted on ponies of fourteen hands or fourteen hands two +inches. + +Authorities on military affairs seem agreed that the great improvements +made in small arms of precision since the Crimean War have done much to +impair the former value of heavy cavalry for direct attack; it needs no +trained intelligence to recognise that cavalry advancing in close rank +might well be shot down to a man in attempting to charge a foe, not +necessarily under cover, over a thousand yards of fairly open ground on +which such a manoeuvre is possible to cavalry. For artillery and +transport, however, we shall always need powerful horses, and the +draught power required is only to be obtained with height. + +When it was made evident that very much larger numbers of mounted +infantry were required for the South African campaign than had been +anticipated, the remount agents were instructed to purchase cobs, and to +obtain these in quantity it was necessary to go to foreign countries, +the United States, Argentina, and Hungary, where they could be procured. +Had the demand been made for ponies, a very large proportion of our +Army's need could have been bought cheaply and quickly in this country. +For in the ponies of Exmoor, Wales, the New Forest and other districts, +we possess large numbers of animals whose small size bears no relation +to their weight carrying power, and whose mode of life is the best +possible preparation for "roughing it" in South Africa. Very different +is the case with the animals shipped from England. + +For generations, now, horses for the saddle and lighter draught work +have been very largely bred less as necessaries than luxuries; the +conditions of their lives are artificial in a high degree, and the +constitution which could formerly withstand exposure, hard and +continuous work and scanty feed, has been softened by pampering. To take +such horses out of their stables where the temperature is regulated, +where they are warmly clothed and regularly fed, and despatch them to +endure the hardships of campaigning in countries where hay and oats are +unknown or unprocurable, and the forage obtainable is unsuited to +English chargers--in short, to most severely tax their powers under a +set of conditions entirely opposed to those to which they are +accustomed--is to invite heavy mortality. + +The sacrifice of useful qualities to the "god of inches" is deplored +only in so far as it applies to horses for mounted infantry and light +cavalry. The utility of large and powerful horses is not, and never has +been, questioned. In point of fact it is their value for the work in +which they are employed that has done something to blind us to the very +real value--for special tasks--of ponies: and if the foregoing pages do +anything to prove that there is in modern warfare a place of the highest +importance which can only be filled by the small horse of 14.2 or +thereabouts, their object has been fulfilled. + + + + +BREEDING SMALL HORSES. + + +Assuming that the peculiar suitability of horses between 14 hands and 14 +hands 3 inches for mounted infantry and light cavalry purposes is +acknowledged by the authorities, and that these forces will in future +form a larger proportion of our standing army, it behoves us to turn our +attention to the task of breeding. The high prices obtainable for +first-class polo ponies have given a stimulus to pony-breeding, and it +may be said the foundations of the industry have been laid. What the +present remount market is to the breeder of hunters, so may the market +for mounted infantry cobs be to the breeder of polo ponies; but with +this difference, that the latter, being handicapped by the height limit +of 14 hands 2 inches, and the exceedingly high standard of merit[3] +required by polo players, will have a larger proportion of "misfits." To +compensate for the paucity of valuable prizes he may hope to draw in the +lottery of breeding, both stock and maintenance will be cheaper, if the +business be conducted on the lines which seem best calculated to result +in production of the horse desired. + +[3] See _Ponies Past and Present_, by Sir Walter Gilbey, Bart. Vinton & +Co., Ltd. + +What is required is an animal between 14.0 and 14.3 hands; it must be +stout and able to carry weight, capable of covering long distances at +fair speed, able to subsist on coarse or poor food for weeks together +without losing condition, strong of constitution to withstand the +exposure inevitable on a campaign, and the more tractable the better. To +get small horses endowed with these qualifications we must look to the +breeds which possess them in marked degree, to the ponies of the Welsh +Hills, Exmoor, the New Forest, the Fell districts, and West of Ireland. +In these we have ponies ranging in height from 12.2 to 13.3 or 14 hands; +they are compact, sturdy, and untiring; they can carry weights which are +out of all ratio to their size; they live on grass, and the open-air +life they lead, year in year out, has made them completely independent +of the luxurious "coddling" bestowed upon other horses. + +These ponies lack only the size required in our mounted infantry horse, +and these essentials we can obtain from the sire we shall select. +Keeping ever in mind that an animal of the polo-pony stamp--a hunter in +miniature--is required, what sire is more likely to get the desired pony +than the Arab? We might use a small Thoroughbred with excellent results, +but having regard to the rarity with which we find good bone and sound +constitution in the Thoroughbred, and also having regard to the inherent +soundness and stoutness of the Eastern horse, we shall probably obtain +more satisfactory young stock from Forest and Moorland dams if we use +the Arab sire. Blood, it is truly urged, gives the superior speed and +courage required in the polo-pony, but let us not forget that Arabs were +the sires from which all our modern race-horses are descended. The best +horses on the Turf to-day may be traced to one of the three famous +sires--the Byerly Turk imported in 1689, the Darley Arabian in 1706, and +the Godolphin Arabian in 1730: all of them, it may be remarked, horses +under 14 hands. + +By going back to the original strain we shall obtain all the useful +qualities our Thoroughbreds possess without those undesired +characteristics, greatly increased size, great speed, delicacy of +constitution and complete inability to lead a natural life which man's +long-maintained endeavours to breed race horses have implanted in them. +In a word, we shall obtain a natural and not an artificial horse; the +modern race-horse is practically everything the mounted infantry cob +must not be, saving only in respect of speed, and speed for only a +short distance is of no great use to mounted infantry. By using the Arab +we may expect to obtain the qualities our race horses boasted a century +and a half or two centuries ago, when they stood 14 hands to 14.3--the +famous Gimcrack is said to have measured 14 hands 0-1/4 inch. + +There is much to be said in favour of the policy of returning to the +original Eastern stock to find suitable sires for our proposed breed of +ponies. While we have been breeding the Thoroughbred for speed and speed +only, Arab breeders have continued to breed for stoutness, endurance and +good looks. By going to Arab stock for our sires we might at the +beginning sacrifice some measure of speed: but what was lost in that +respect would be more than compensated by the soundness of constitution +and limb which are such conspicuous traits in the Eastern horse. +Furthermore, the difficulty of size which confronts us in the +Thoroughbred sire is much diminished if we adopt the Arab as our +foundation sire. + +By crossing the Arab on mares of our forest and moorland breeds we shall +obtain the increased size and speed required, while it will be possible +to preserve the valuable qualities of the dam. Those qualities, the +hardiness, robustness of constitution, sureness of foot, and ability to +thrive on poor feed, are the natural outcome of the conditions under +which they have lived for centuries; and to preserve them in the young +stock, it will be necessary to rear the cross-bred foals under +conditions as nearly natural as their constitution will allow. What +those conditions should be circumstances must determine; but it is +possible to combine large measure of liberty with a certain amount of +shelter from the rigours of winter, such as the foal with Arab blood in +his veins would require. To take up the young stock as soon as weaned, +stable and feed them artificially, though this course would preserve +them from the risks of exposure, would produce failure in other +directions. It would encourage undue physical development while +undermining that capacity for endurance of hardship which is so +essential. + + [Illustration: _From a drawing on stone by Gauci._ GIMCRACK] + +Whether, by careful attention to mating and management, it would be +possible to establish a breed of small horses as a fixed type is a +question only prolonged experience will be able to answer. It is quite +certain that we shall never be able to reckon on getting stock which, +when fully grown and furnished, will neither exceed nor fall short of +the limit of 14 hands 2 inches, at which the breeder will aim with the +prizes of the polo pony market in his mind's eye. But there is sound +reason to think that we can build upon an Arab and Forest or Moorland +pony foundation a breed of small horses such as we need for mounted +infantry. + +There are difficulties in the way; and not the least is the peculiar +care and watchfulness that must be exercised in order to hit the "happy +medium" between artificial life, with its attendant drawbacks of +probable overgrowth and certain delicacy of constitution, and the free, +natural existence, which may prove fatal to the cross-bred youngsters +and will certainly check their growth. + +Having shown the great utility of small horses for work requiring +endurance, hardiness, and weight-carrying power, as proved by the +writings of authorities who, in several instances, employed them merely +because they could procure no other animals, and learned what their +qualities are by experience, we may briefly summarise what has been said +in regard to the foundation stock we possess. + +(1) The pony dams of our Forest and Moorland breeds cannot be surpassed. + +(2) The sire chosen should be a _small_ thoroughbred or an Arab. If a +half-breed sire is used his dam should be one not less than three parts +thoroughbred. + +(3) Inasmuch as the forest and moorland ponies owe their small size and +soundness to the hardships of the free and natural conditions in which +they live, their half-bred produce should-- + +(_a_) Lead a similarly free and natural life as far as climate permits, +in order to inure them to the hardships of warfare and general work: + +(_b_) Should exist, as far as possible, on natural herbage: as in all +cases artificial feeding tends to render them less hardy and enduring. + + + + +APPENDIX. + + +Since this little book was placed in the printers' hands, a work +published in 1836 has come under the writer's notice. This is entitled +_A Comparative View of the Form and Character of the English Racer and +Saddle Horse during the Past and Present Centuries_.[4] It was written +with the view of showing that the natural qualities of the +horse--endurance, weight-carrying power and speed maintained over long +distances, are found at their best in the horse which has been reared +under natural conditions and whose stature has not been increased by +"selection" in breeding and by artificial conditions of life. In the +opening words of the Introductory chapter; + +[4] Illustrated by eighteen plates of horses.--Anon. Published by Thomas +Hookham, London. + + "The main object of these pages is to investigate the results + of that structural enlargement of animals which is unnatural, + to point out those properties which may be acquired by certain + of them when fully reclaimed, and those which they are likely + to lose in this condition. + + "The natural stature both of horses and cattle is small + compared with that which they acquire when domesticated. The + enlargement of their structure is effected by grass made by art + unnaturally rich, or by food yet more foreign to their nature. + Supplied plentifully with either throughout the year, horses + acquire an increase of stature in muscular power which enables + them to carry or drag a heavier weight...." + +The author proceeds to observe that in enlarging the structure we seem +to modify rather than improve the vital powers of the animal; and by way +of illustrating his meaning points out with great truth that-- + + "In the human race any extent of skeleton or amount of muscle + which is unusually large is rarely allied with a full amount of + vital power. Still, the man who has most muscle can make the + greatest muscular exertion. If we change the nature of the + trial and render it one of time or privations, the greater + vital power of smaller but well-formed men is apparent." + +Our author then proceeds to examine the properties which animals derive +from nature, comparing these with those they derive from art. In this +connection I have been much interested to observe that he cites the +greater strength, staying power and activity of the hare of the downs +over the hare of the park and low pasture-land. The same comparison was +made by me[5] as proof of the advantages to an animal of life-conditions +that compel the free use of limbs. + +[5] "Young Race Horses," pp. 21-2, by Sir Walter Gilbey, Bart. Vinton & +Co., Limited, 1898. + +Nature, observes this author, erects her own standard for measuring the +constitutional power of her creatures, and the individuals who no longer +come up to this perish prematurely. In other words, the constitutional +strength of animals is so regulated by, and adjusted to, the conditions +of feed and climate under which those animals pass their lives, that +they thrive vigorously. We do not, for instance, find the ponies of the +Welsh hills or of Exmoor, a feeble and delicate race; the feeble +individuals die off without perpetuating their weaknesses, and those +which come up to the standard of vitality Nature has prescribed survive +to reproduce their kind. + +The following, which has direct bearing on the subject matter of the +foregoing pages, must be noted:-- + + "Many facts have been recorded showing the extraordinary power + of ponies for travelling fast and far, but these are so well + known as to make it unnecessary to specify them here." + +Nevertheless on a subsequent page we find recorded a very striking +example of endurance, which compares favourably with any of those quoted +in the foregoing pages and in my little work on Ponies:[6] + +[6] "Ponies: Past and Present." By Sir Walter Gilbey, Bart Vinton & Co., +Ltd. + + "The late Mr. Allen of Sudbury, in Suffolk, often during the + course of his life rode from that place to London and back (112 + miles) in the course of a day upon a pony. This task was + performed by several which Mr. Allen had in succession. When he + returned home from these expeditions he was in the habit of + turning the little animal he had ridden at once into the lanes + without giving it a grain of corn. Mr. Allen, whose weight was + very light, rode at a smart canter. He always selected Welsh + ponies, saying that no others were so stout." + +The author adds that if any one of our enlarged horses could be found +capable of performing this task it would certainly not be on a grass +diet; which is undoubtedly true. + +At the date this book was published, 1836, the deterioration which our +race horses had undergone through the abolition of long-distance races +was a subject of comment. The author deplores the altered conditions of +the Royal Plates and the feebleness of the horses bred only for speed, +on the ground that the change was producing ill effects upon all +saddle-horses. + +The author puts the whole case for a changed method of breeding in a +nutshell when he writes that "we want a class of horses bred under a +system which holds the balance even between speed, stoutness and +structural power." As proving that the balance can be struck, he points +to the uniformity of speed and stoutness which distinguishes a good pack +of foxhounds. None are markedly faster than the others; the aim is to +get the hounds as even in all respects as possible, and there are +numerous packs which prove to us that this aim can be achieved with +wonderful completeness. It goes without saying, however, that it is +infinitely easier to build up a level pack of hounds than it would be to +develop a given number of horses all of which shall be alike! + +It is exceedingly interesting to find that sixty-four years ago this +author, with the improvement of horses in view, should advocate adoption +of the step which has been urged in the chapter (p. 36 and _seq._) on +"Breeding Small Horses." He is in favour of a National Establishment or +breeding stud, but that is a detail; he explains that his only reason +for making it a Government department is to secure that continuity of +policy which is otherwise unattainable. The nucleus of his scheme is to +"obtain from the East a considerable number of well selected ponies. The +better portion would be found to possess much natural speed, stoutness +under severe exertion, with limbs and feet peculiarly adapted for moving +rapidly on a hard surface." The persons commissioned to buy these ponies + + "Would search in vain for these properties which are acquired + under a system of continued selection. Looking only for natural + qualities, they should select animals as nearly in a state of + nature as they could find them; having good symmetry, a full + amount of muscle and whatever natural speed the best animals of + the best race are found to possess." + +He would have these horses tested for speed when brought home, the +standard being a natural degree of speed and not that of the Turf. + + "The offspring of these small horses should be tried in each + succeeding generation; and we should be satisfied for a few + years to see the natural speed of the race gradually augment, + retaining only for breeding such as went through their trials + satisfactorily." + +On a later page he suggests the propriety of crossing these Eastern +sires with our Forest and Moorland ponies. He cannot doubt that the +immediate offspring of the first cross will prove suitable for the +saddle: + + "The best saddle horses we possess being now occasionally + produced by crossing the race horse with a pony mare. This + experiment often succeeding with one of the parents so ill + fitted for taking part in it as the modern racer, there is + every reason to conclude that, with parents properly + constituted on both sides, the breeding of the best class of + saddle horses might be accompanied with little uncertainty." + +Thus far we find that the suggestions for breeding small horses set out +on pp. 36-43 were anticipated over sixty years ago. We must, before +taking leave of the author, glance at his plan for "renovating" our half +wild breeds of ponies. If it were practicable to carry out the +experiment he outlines, the results would be of undoubted interest. + + "To experiment properly in this matter it is necessary that a + public establishment should appropriate some extensive district + of unreclaimed and bad pasturage to the maintenance of a large + body of ponies. These should be interfered with only to the + extent of severe selection, founded on annual trials; taking + the animals for this purpose from their pasturage for a few + days during the summer, and tying them to pickets. Here they + should be closely inspected, and after the best formed had + been selected from the rest, they should be taken ten or twenty + at a time by rough riders of light weight, and submitted to a + trial of some hours' duration. The animals which went through + this satisfactorily should be divided into two portions: one + should be returned to their old pasturage to remain at their + then stature; while the other portion should be made to occupy + a somewhat better pasturage in order that their offspring might + acquire greater stature, the rest to be drafted and sold. When + old enough the enlarged stock should be tried, and such as went + through it well should be kept, and turned out into a little + better pasturage than that in which they had been reared, while + those rejected should be drafted and sold. It is only in this + very gradual manner that the stature of a race can be increased + to the point required. Ponies of a pure race being so vigorous + as to be wholly unfitted for rich pasturage, they become upon + it balls of fat. None of our native ponies under the plan now + proposed would be enlarged or withdrawn from their miserable + pasturage unless their form and action were good; the only + change then effected would be a pasturage a little better. Any + further enlargement would be made to depend upon the manner in + which they had been found to bear the preceding one." + +His plan has at all events the great merit that it proposes to seek the +limit of enlargement in the half-wild ponies without risking loss of +hardiness and other valuable qualities by pampering. + + +WORKS BY SIR WALTER GILBEY, BART. + +Animal Painters of England + from the year 1650. Illustrated. Two vols., quarto, cloth gilt, + Two Guineas net on subscription. Prospectus free. + +The Great Horse or War Horse + From the Roman Invasion till its development into the Shire + Horse. New and Revised Edition, 1899. Seventeen Illustrations. + Octavo, cloth gilt, price 2s. + +Harness Horses + The scarcity of Carriage Horses and how to breed them. 3rd + Edition. Twenty-one Chapters. Seven full-page Illustrations. + Octavo, cloth gilt, 2s. + +Young Race Horses--suggestions + for rearing, feeding and treatment. Twenty-two Chapters. With + Frontispiece and Diagrams. Octavo, cloth gilt, price 2s. + +Life of George Stubbs, R.A. + Ten Chapters. Twenty-six Illustrations and Headpieces. Quarto, + whole Morocco, gilt, price £3 3s. + +Small Horses in Warfare + Arguments in favour of their use for light cavalry and mounted + infantry. Illustrated, 2s. + + +Will be published Shortly. + +Horses Past and Present + A sketch of the History of the Horse in England from the + earliest times. + +Ponies Past and Present + The breeds of the British Islands, New Forest, Welsh, Exmoor, + Dartmoor, Westmoreland, Cumberland, Scottish, Shetland, + Connemara. With Illustrations. Octavo, cloth gilt. + +VINTON & CO., + +9, NEW BRIDGE STREET, LONDON, E.C. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Small Horses in Warfare, by Sir Walter Gilbey + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SMALL HORSES IN WARFARE *** + +***** This file should be named 37842-8.txt or 37842-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/7/8/4/37842/ + +Produced by David Edwards, Matthew Wheaton and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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