Walker's manly exercises / Containing rowing, sailing, riding, driving, racing, hunting, shooting, and other manly sports

by Donald Walker

“When I travel on horseback,” says the same writer, “I make it a rule to walk every seventh mile, be the roads ever so level: it affords a wonderful relief both to man and horse, and, instead of producing a loss of time, helps you on. When you dismount for such ends, always slacken your girths, slightly lift up the saddle to let a little air under it, and teach your horse (what he soon will learn) to walk briskly by your side, and keep the step with you, taking care to hold either of the reins lightly in your hand, and without shifting it over the horse’s head. Your steed will soon give you demonstrations of his gratitude, for he will be full of affectionate playfulness as he jogs along at your side, only to be rivalled by his willingness to let you mount after you have tightened the girths again. I need hardly tell you not to put your arm or wrist through a rein whilst walking or running by the side of a horse, for it is replete with danger. A good run with one hand on the horse’s withers is pleasant, and greatly removes the stiffness of the joints so frequently occasioned by much riding; but the reins should be held between the fingers only, and rather loosely.”

Hence, it follows that, although expedition be indispensable, the horse ought not to be put on his best pace at first, but considerably within it. Even this pace should be for a short space only; the reins should be loosened; the mouth played with; and if he do not evacuate, the pace may be repeated once more,—unless, indeed, he sweat much with the first, which is a sign of weakness, or that his dung is hard, and he requires purging.

While on the journey, the rider should be less attentive to his horse’s nice carriage of himself, than to his own encouragement of him, and keeping him in good humour. Though generally he should raise his horse’s head, yet when he flags in consequence of a long day or hard work, he may indulge him with bearing a little more upon the bit than he would in taking a mere airing exercise, or afternoon’s canter in the Park. Keeping company with some other horseman facilitates a stage, by the emulation it excites; so that a dull animal, which one can scarcely get seven miles an hour from, will do nine or ten without fatigue when in company.

In road-riding, a picker is indispensable both in winter and summer. In winter, it is necessary to relieve the sole when snow accumulates there. When, however, the traveller knows that snow is on the ground, he may avoid the trouble of dismounting, by previously ordering his horse’s soles to be payed over with tar, or with tallow having no salt in it. At all times, when the roads have received fresh dressings, a picker is indispensable, because a loose stone is very liable to lodge in the hollow of the foot, and is dangerously driven backwards between the frog and the shoe, at every step the horse takes.

Pace and length of stage must be adapted to the heat of the weather in summer, and to the depth of the roads in winter; both seasons having the effect of knocking up the horse. In either case, a cordial promptly administered recovers him for the prosecution of his journey. The cordial readiest provided, and which should be kept at hand by the provident traveller, is in the form of a ball, and composed of aniseeds, ginger, carraway, of each, powdered, half an ounce, and mixed up with treacle and meal to the proper consistence. But good ale or porter, from one pint to a quart, made warm, operates sooner, and, upon emergency, is nearly as readily obtained as the ball.

Walking a horse the last mile, especially of a long stage, is a practice highly beneficial. As, upon setting out, we should not go off at the quickest pace, so upon coming in, we should not dash into our quarters with the perspiration streaming from each pore, in the mild season, nor covered over with dirt, in consequence of the pace, in wet weather. Even in winter, the perspiration flies from a strong horse, if in condition, upon coming in more sheltered places, and the practices he is then subjected to are commonly of such a nature as to cause disease in one way or another, in embryo, if not immediately.

The rider is greatly to be blamed who stands quietly by, or hides himself in the parlour, while his horse is brought in hot, stripped of every thing, and led about to cool, in the draught of a gateway, or has the dirt washed off by plunging him in a horse-trough or pond, or his legs brushed in cold water in the open yard, while pailfulls, at the same time, are thrown over them; the consequence of all which is cough or colic, bad eyes, swelled legs, or inflammation of some vital part, which deprives the animal of life.

The horse should have a large and comfortable stall, and without any door behind him, a draught from which, by blowing up his coat, might expose him to cold. On coming in, after being coaxed to stale, he should undergo (in winter-time in doors) a wisping all over with straw, beginning at the head, and proceeding to the neck and fore-quarters. His eyes, nostrils, &c., should also be cleansed with a sponge, and his ears rubbed. He should, at the same time, have before him a lock of sweet hay, in his rack, or a prickle, or the hand; and the rider should see whether he eats or not, whether he enjoys the wisping, and whether he chiefly evince a desire to lie down or a craving for food.

The girths having been already loosened, but the saddle still remaining on his back, his head should be turned to the rack, and his hind-quarters, legs, and belly, sheath and fork, wisped, and his feet picked clean and washed. After this, the saddle should be removed by sliding it back over the croupe; and the dressing be extended to the withers, back, and so completely all over the carcass, until it is dry. The saddle should be hung out, with the inside toward the sun; and when the pannels have been duly aired and dried, they should be slightly beaten and well brushed.