What has been written thus far as to the points of the horse may puzzle the amateur owner, for the reason that these points seem to apply to all horses of whatever description. In proper proportions they do. It is only necessary to adapt these measurements and proportions to the kind of a horse we want, remembering always the well-known law, that muscles and bones of speed are long and slender, and those of strength are short and thick. A pony 14 hands 2 inches, capable of carrying 200 odd pounds, and a three-quarters bred polo pony of the same size, but wanted for speed and quickness, would naturally enough not look alike, but the general relation of the parts to one another would be the same; and in looking at one for a weight-carrier and at the other for speed, you should bear in your mind's eye the same distinct principles of what constitutes a good horse and what a bad one.
If you are looking for a horse for your runabout, or for a horse for a heavy station-wagon, one should be lighter, cleaner-built perhaps, quicker, and livelier than the other; but it is a grave mistake to suppose that the same remarks about head, neck, back, legs, feet, and so on do not apply with equal pertinency to the one as to the other. Remembering always that weight is of great help in pulling a load,—a horse with a heavy man on his back can pull a big load up a hill that without the weight on his back he could scarcely move,—the other general definitions of what constitute a good horse apply to all classes. A straight-shouldered horse is less noticeable and less uncomfortable in harness than under saddle; a slab-sided, ragged-hipped, goose-rumped animal well covered with heavy harness in a brougham is less offensive than under saddle, but such an one is a poor specimen wherever he is.
The ideal way, however, to cultivate an eye for a horse is to study his make-up externally and internally from the plates of the skeleton and the internal parts (Plates XVI. and XVII.); to bear in mind what his ancestry is; to note the relation of the parts to one another, and the position of his various organs; to study carefully the dispositions, abilities, strength, and weaknesses of the horses that you know well; and to come to your conclusions with this knowledge and experience in the back of your brain. To be able to gabble off the points of a horse memoriter avails about as much as to know the letters of the alphabet avails to write one of Rossetti's sonnets. Even then you will make mistakes; but to enjoy the sport of owning and using horses, either in harness or under saddle, one cannot know too much, either theoretically or practically.
Although this volume is included in a library on sport, it should never be forgotten that in dealing with every branch of sport, particularly where live animals are trained and used by the sportsman, a very serious ethical element enters. No man who knows nothing about horses, no matter how charitable he may be, no matter how ecclesiastically regular he may be, no matter how conspicuously tender-hearted he may be to children, insects, and the poor, has any business on a horse or behind a horse. First, because he is almost invariably cruel to the horse; and secondly, because he is endangering the lives of other people. How often I have seen Piety in the saddle, sawing the tender bars of the horse's mouth, and sliding back and forth from pommel to cantle of the saddle, excoriating the tender skin and flesh beneath. How often I have seen Philanthropy and Worth driving horses with cruel bearing-reins, traces too long, pole-straps too tight, coupling-reins of the same length for the long-necked and the short-necked horse, belly-band tight and girth loose, bit too wide, nose-band flapping up and down, and breeching too tight or too loose. Little did Philanthropy and Worth realize that these things were as uncomfortable to the horse as tight shoes, trousers too long, coats too small, collars too tight, and a toothache and headache to them. It is because sport has been handled in this country to such a large extent by the professional and by the uncultivated, that its prime value as a teacher of practical and economic morality has been overlooked.
Above all things, do not imagine that, because you own one or more horses and stroke their necks occasionally, that you know a horse when you see one. Such knowledge does not come by cutaneous friction nor by money. A wise man has three attributes always; he may have more, but he must have these: (1) he is never afraid to ask questions; (2) he is thankful for the many things he does not want; (3) he knows when he does not know things. Therefore, ask questions and make no pretence. The most ill-informed man I ever met is one who has never failed to answer every question asked him, and who never asks one himself. It is needless to say that he is a failure in his profession, a bore socially, and an encyclopædia of voluble misinformation.
CHAPTER V
THE STABLE
Once you have a horse, the next thing is to provide a place for him to live in. It may be better to keep a horse in a livery-stable rather than to have no horse at all, but certainly nine-tenths, and something more, of the pleasure of owning horses is lost if you have no stable of your own. There are three classes of stables,—good stables, bad stables, and magnificent stables; just as there are three kinds of lies,—lies, damned lies, and statistics. Wise men have good stables and sometimes tell lies; ignorant and bad men have poor stables and often tell damned lies; gamblers and shoddy millionnaires—!