Buffon's Natural History. Volume 05 (of 10) / Containing a Theory of the Earth, a General History of Man, of the Brute Creation, and of Vegetables, Minerals, &c. &c

by comte de Georges Louis Leclerc Buffon

THE HORSE.

The noblest conquest ever made by man over the brute creation, is the reduction of this spirited and haughty animal ([fig. 18.]), which shares with him the fatigues of war, and the glory of victory. Equally intrepid as his master, the horse sees the danger, and encounters death with bravery; inspired at the clash of arms, he loves it, and pursues the enemy with the same ardour and resolution. He feels pleasure also in the chace, and in tournaments; in the course he is all fire; but equally tractable as courageous, he does not give way to his impetuosity, and knows how to check his natural and fiery temper. He not only submits to the arm which guides him, but seems to consult the desires of his rider; and always obedient to the impression he receives, he presses on, or stops, at his rider’s pleasure. The horse is a creature which renounces his very being for the service of man, whose will he even knows how to anticipate, and execute by the promptitude of his movements: he gives himself up without reserve, refuses nothing, exerts himself beyond his strength, and often dies sooner than disobey.

Such is the horse, whose talents and natural qualities art has improved, and who with care has been tutored for the service of man; his education commences with the loss of his liberty, and is finished by constraint. The slavery or servitude of the horse is so universal, and so ancient, that we rarely see him in his natural state. They are always covered with harness when at work, and not wholly free from their bands even in time of rest. If they are sometimes suffered to range in the fields, they always bear about them marks of servitude, and frequently the external impressions of labour and of pain: the mouth is deformed by the wrinkles occasioned by the bit, the sides scarred with wounds inflicted by the spur, and the hoofs are pierced with nails. The attitude of the body constrained by the impression of habitual shackles, from which they would be delivered in vain, as they would not be more at liberty. Even those whose slavery is the most gentle, who are only fed and broke for luxury and magnificence, and whose golden chains only serve to satisfy the vanity of their masters, are still more dishonoured by the elegance of their trappings, and by the plaits of their manes, than by the iron shoes of their feet.

Nature is more beautiful than art, and in an animated being, the freedom of its movements makes its existence more perfect. Observe the horses in Spanish America, which have multiplied so fast and live in freedom; their motions seem neither constrained nor regular; proud of their independence, they fly the presence of man, and disdain his care; they seek and find for themselves proper nourishment; they wander and skip about in immense meadows, where they feed on the fresh productions of a perpetual spring. Destitute of any fixed habitation, without any other shelter than a mild sky, they breathe a purer air than those which are confined in vaulted palaces. Hence wild horses are stronger, swifter, and more nervous than the greater part of domestic ones; they have strength and nobleness, the gifts of nature; while the others have address and gracefulness, which is all that art can give.

The natural disposition of wild horses is not ferocious, they are only high-spirited and wild. Though superior in strength to the greatest part of animals, they yet never attack them; and if attacked by others, they either disdain them as foes, and fly out of their way, or give a fatal blow with their heels. They unite themselves in troops, merely for the pleasure of being together, for they have no fear of, but an attachment for each other. As grass and vegetables are sufficient for their nourishment, they have quite enough to satisfy their appetites; and as they have no relish for the flesh of animals, they never make war with them, nor with themselves. They never quarrel about their food, they have no occasion to ravish prey from each other, the ordinary source of contention and quarrels among carnivorous animals. They live in peace because their appetites are simple and moderate, and having enough there is no object for envy.

All these circumstances may be observed in young horses which are brought up and led together in droves; their manners are gentle, and their tempers social; they seldom shew their ardour and strength by any other sign than emulation. They endeavour to be foremost in the course, are animated to brave danger, in crossing a river or leaping a ditch: and those which in these natural exercises set the example, it has often been observed, when reduced to a domestic state, are the most generous, docile, and gentle.

Several ancient authors speak of wild horses. Herodotus says, that on the banks of the Hypanes, in Scythia, there were wild horses quite white, and that in the northern parts of Thrace, beyond the Danube, there were others covered with hair five inches long. Aristotle also cites Syria; Pliny the northern countries; Strabo, the Alps and Spain; as places where wild horses were to be found. Among the moderns, Carden mentions the same thing of Scotland and the Orkneys; Olaus, of Muscovy; Dapper, of the Isle of Cyprus, which, as he says, contained wild horses very beautiful, of great strength and swiftness; Struys, of the Isle of May, one of the Cape de Verds, where he found wild horses very small. Leo the African also relates that there were wild horses in the desarts of Arabia and Lybia; and he assures us, that he saw in the remotest parts of Numidia a white colt with a curled mane. Marmol confirms this fact, asserting, that wild horses are found in the desarts of Arabia and Lybia, small, and of an ash-colour; others white whose manes and coats are short and rough; and that neither dogs nor tame horses can equal them in swiftness; we read also, in the Letters Edifiantes, that in China there are wild horses of a very small size.

As almost all parts of Europe are at present peopled, and equally inhabited, wild horses are no longer found therein. Those in America originate from European tame horses, transported thither by the Spaniards; and have multiplied considerably in the vast desarts of this country. The astonishment and fear which the inhabitants of Mexico and Peru expressed at the sight of horses and their riders, is a strong presumption that this animal was entirely unknown in the New World. The Spaniards carried thither a great number, as well for service as to propagate the breed. They left them on many islands, and even let them loose on the continent, where they have multiplied like other wild animals. M. la Salle, in 1685, saw in the northern parts of America, near the bay of St. Louis, whole troops of these horses feeding in the pastures, which were so wild that no one could approach them. The author of the History of the Buccaniers, says, “That in the island of St. Domingo, horses are sometimes seen in troops of 500, all running together; that when they see a man, they all stop; and that one of them will approach to a certain distance, snorts, takes flight and is instantly followed by all the rest.” He adds, "that he does not know whether these horses, by becoming wild, have degenerated or not; but that he did not think them so handsome as those of Spain, though they are descended from the same breed. They have (continues he) large heads and limbs, and their ears and limbs are also long; the inhabitants easily tame them, and afterwards force them to work. To catch them, nooses made of ropes are spread in places where they frequent; but if they are caught by the neck they presently strangle themselves, unless assistance is near; they are then fastened by the body and legs to the trees, where they are left for two days without either food or drink. This experiment is sufficient to make them somewhat tractable, and in a little time they become as much so as if they had never been wild; and even if by chance they regain their liberty, they never become so again, but know their masters, and suffer themselves to be retaken without trouble."

This proves that horses are naturally gentle, and disposed to be familiar with man; they never seek to quit the abodes of men to recover their liberty in the forests; on the contrary, they shew great anxiety to return to their old habitations, where, perhaps they find but coarse food, always the same, and generally measured out to them with a sparing hand, without considering the strength of their appetites. Custom, however, serves them in lieu of what they lose by slavery. When worn with fatigue, the place of rest is to them the most delicious; they smell it at a distance, can even find it out in the midst of large towns, and in every thing seem to prefer slavery to liberty. The customs to which they have been forced to submit, become a second nature to them; for horses abandoned in the forests, have been known to neigh continually to make themselves heard, to gallop towards the human voice; and even to grow thin and perish in a short time, notwithstanding they were surrounded with a variety of provender. Their manners, then, almost wholly depend on their education, which is accomplished with pains and cares which man takes for no other animal, and for which he is well requited by their continual services.

It has long been the custom to separate the foals from their mothers when five, six, or seven months old; for experience has proved, that those which are suckled ten or eleven months, are not of equal value with them which are weaned sooner, though they are generally fuller of flesh. After six or seven months they are weaned; bran is then given them twice a day, and a little hay, of which the quantity is increased in proportion as they advance in age. They are kept in the stable as long as they seem to retain any desire to return to the mares; but when this desire ceases they are suffered to go out, and led to pasture; but care must be taken not to suffer them to go out to pasture fasting; they must have a little bran, and be made to drink an hour before they are suffered to graze, and should never be exposed to great cold or rain. In this manner they pass the first winter: in the May following they may be permitted to graze every day, and to remain out in the fields till the end of October, only observing not to let them eat the after-grasss, for if they are accustomed to that delicacy they will grow disgusted with hay, which ought, however, to be their principal food during the second winter, together with bran mixed with barley or oats wetted. They are managed in this manner, letting them graze in the day time during winter, and in the night also during the summer, till they are four years old, when they are taken from the pastures, and kept on dry food. This change in food requires some precaution; for the first eight days they should have nothing but straw, and it is proper to administer some vermifuge drinks, to destroy those worms which may have been generated from indigestion and green food. M. de Gaursault, who recommends this practice, does it from experience; but at all ages, and in all seasons the stomachs of horses are stuffed with a prodigious number of worms. They are also found in the stomach of the ass; and yet neither of these animals are incommoded thereby. For this reason worms should not be looked on as an accidental complaint caused by bad digestion and green food, but rather as a common effect depending upon the nourishment and digestion of these animals.