On horse-breaking

by Robert Moreton

I will here give a brief description of the several classes of saddle-horses required in this country for civil purposes.

The Road Hack, worked as he is on hard metal roads, cannot combine speed with durability, as the rate of fourteen to eighteen miles an hour would soon wear out his feet and legs, when he would only be fit for a tradesman’s cart or cab work, therefore a horse of this sort should be a good walker, and be able to trot from eight to twelve or fourteen miles an hour, doing it with good, true, and level action, being neither too high nor too low, for with low action when he has gone some distance and begins to feel tired he will trip over stones or inequalities in the ground, and very possibly fall, and if the [78] ]action is too high he will soon batter his legs and feet to pieces. With regard to make and shape, he should be as near perfection as possible, for without perfect symmetry no pace can be at the height of excellence, but as perfect conformation is seldom met with, its nearest approach must be sought for.

The head should be small and fine, broad between the eyes and between the branches of the lower jaw at their angles, also the distance from the eye to the angle of the lower jaw should be great; the nostrils should be large, wide, clean, and well-defined; the mouth small, with the lips thin and firm; the ears should be small, fine, and pointed, being carried firmly with their tips inclining slightly towards each other; the eye should be large, full, and prominent, with well-developed arch. The neck must be long, thin, and fit well into the space formed between the branches of the lower jaw, longer on its upper than its under surface, as well as convex on its superior border. The head should be well ‘set on’ to the neck, which, if [79] ]the jaws are wide and the neck of the proper conformation will be the case, and add very materially to the good mouth of the horse. The withers must neither be too fine, thick, or low, whilst a fine wither well clothed with muscle, and yet not loaded, is perfection. The mane should be fine, silky, and not too abundant. The shoulder-blade must be long and oblique, not straight, neither must it be coarse, but blend gradually into the withers and back; a coarse thick shoulder should always be avoided, as also a very fine one, leaving the withers to stand up by themselves like a plough-share, for an animal with such shoulders will soon tire, owing to insufficient muscular development of the parts. The long oblique shoulder gives plenty of space before the rider, the saddle sits well provided the girth is also deep and the action is pleasant, but if the shoulder be straight or short, or a combination of both, the saddle will be too forward, and when the horse stumbles, as he is almost sure to do from defective action due to this malconformation, [80] ]he runs the chance of falling, breaking his knees, and perhaps the neck of his rider as well. The chest should be deep and moderately broad, both being essential to the full development of the functions of the heart and lungs. The fore-arm must be long in proportion to the leg, that is, the greater length in proportion must be above the knee, and the less below it the better; the muscular development of the fore-arm should be as great as possible. The elbow long and prominent, not ‘tied in,’ but clear of the chest. The knee should be large, wide, and prominent, but should appear more or less flat when examined from in front; the trapezium, or bone behind the knee, should also be long and prominent. Avoid ‘calf’ knees, and those which are bent forward. The cannon or shank bone should be as short and strong as possible, and perfectly straight, being neither curved forwards, backwards, or laterally: the tendons at the posterior aspect of this bone should stand well out from it, which will be the case when the trapezium is well developed; [81] ]there should be a distinct line of demarcation between the tendons and the bone, but if this is filled up the leg will be more or less round instead of being broad and flat. Such legs are called ‘gummy.’ The fetlock joint should be large and flat laterally, its posterior aspect being well-defined and prominent. The pastern bones should neither be too long, short, oblique, or straight. If the pastern is long it is necessarily oblique, and therefore weak; if short it is upright, and the severe concussion so produced causes ringbones, windgalls, navicular disease, &c., besides causing the horse to be rough and unpleasant to ride. The pastern joint should be well developed and strong. The feet, as regards the size, make and shape, &c., of the horse should neither be too large nor too small; the walls of the foot should form at the toe an angle of about 45° with the ground; the sole should be moderately concave, the frog large and strong, and the whole hoof should be tough, sound, and not brittle. The back should be straight and not too long, a hollow back being [82] ]objectionable on account of its weakness, whilst a roach back is very strong, although a horse having a back of that conformation will be rough to ride. The ribs should be long and oval, and they should continue to be so up to the very last, and the space between the last rib and the ‘hooks’ should be capable of being covered by the breadth of the hand. The hind quarters must be long, deep, full, and broad, as well as straight from the back to the tail, the distance from the ‘hooks’ to the hocks great, the stifle prominent, and the ‘second thighs’ large and full. The hock should be large and fine, without being coarse or having any puffiness about it; the point of the hock prominent, and the leg below the hock incline a little under the body; it should neither be perpendicular nor deviate laterally from the perpendicular, or in other words, should not be ‘wide behind’ or ‘cow-hocked.’ Those parts below the hocks may be compared with the description of those below the knee. The tail should be carried in a straight line from the [83] ]spinal chain and then droop in a graceful curve.

The Ladies’ Horse should be cast in a longer mould, or his body will be almost hidden by the habit, therefore his neck must be long, and his back longer than that of a man’s hack, which will also give more elasticity to its paces. He should be perfect in conformation, paces, mouth, and temper, which if one may judge by what one sees of ladies’ mounts in the Row, is very seldom found, by far the greater number being long-legged weeds or thick coarse carriage-horses, as rough as an elephant, and often very lame as well; in fact, they are horses that a man would not ride himself if he possibly could help it, but yet he considers them good enough for his sisters, daughters, or wife. It is quite a treat to see a really good lady’s horse amongst the miscellaneous herd of nags to be found in the Row during the season.

The Cover Hack is a cob of from fourteen to fifteen hands high, capable of carrying his rider to the meet at the rate of about sixteen miles [84] ]an hour, and he must also be able to jump a little so as to go by short cuts if required to do so. If for a heavy weight he must be a stout cob, but for a weight under fifteen stone may be well bred, or for a light weight actually thoroughbred.

The Hunter may be quite thoroughbred, nearly thoroughbred, or half-bred. If for a light weight, say under twelve stone, and in such flying counties as Leicestershire and Northamptonshire, a thoroughbred should be ridden, provided the purse be long enough to procure one up to the weight and with the necessary qualities. A nearly thoroughbred will suit a weight of from twelve to sixteen stone, but beyond that a horse with great strength, good action, and a certain amount of breeding—in fact, a well-bred cart-horse—will be required. If the country be an open one with large enclosures, and consequently few fences, the thoroughbred will be the best horse for hunting purposes, speed being the requisite, but for a cramped country, a half-bred horse is the best, being [85] ]better qualified to get over awkward fences than the thoroughbred, who has for generations and generations been bred for flat racing, and consequently has to some extent lost the knack or power of jumping over a high fence, although he can easily defeat the half-bred over a wide jump. Moreover, the hot, fiery, and eager temper of the thoroughbred is not qualified to negotiate high, frequent, and difficult fences with calmness, and therefore accidents are more liable to happen; whilst the half-bred being of more equable temperament is not flurried to such an extent, and when in any difficulty at a fence is more likely to recover himself and carry his rider safely to the end of the run than the thoroughbred. As a rule, the thoroughbred is not good over rough ground, for although he may not actually have been trained or raced, his parents in all probability have, and of course the training-ground and race-course being smooth and level, they have had no necessity or opportunity of picking their way and regulating their steps to the ground over which they [86] ]are going; therefore every breeder of horses intended for hunting should run his young stock for a certain period on the roughest ground he can find, having a few open drains, bogs, &c., to assist in the education of the young animals over uneven, broken, and rough ground.

A hunter should be as near perfection as regards make and shape as possible, he should be eager, but at the same time his temper must be good, his mouth also should be perfect. It is easy to buy a so-called ‘made hunter’ provided the purse be of sufficient elasticity to meet the demands of the vendor. As a rule, and with very few exceptions, this ‘made hunter’ is a good leaper, has a hard mouth, and when in view of a fence clenches his bit in his mouth, and rushes at it at the speed of twenty miles an hour. I should like to know what pleasure can be derived by riding such a brute as above described. It takes all a man can do to moderate the animal’s pace, it requires two hands on the reins to turn [87] ]him from side to side, and the rider has the pleasant prospect in the event of a mistake at a fence, of his horse not being able to recover himself, the almost inevitable ‘spill’ being the result. Besides, his mount requiring all his attention, he is thus unable to enjoy the hunting, that is to say, he is unable to watch the working of the hounds, and thus his day’s hunting (so called) is nothing more than a modified steeplechase with none of its accompanying pleasures.

To have a good hunter the best way is to break him in yourself, provided you are competent to do so, having a good seat, good hands, patience, pluck, and above all a liking for the work.

I will suppose you have a three-year-old, broken to road work, and that you wish to break him to hounds. The best way to do so will be to ride him to the meets as often as possible, and when he has got accustomed to the excitement of being amongst a crowd of horsemen in gay-coloured coats, the foot-people [88] ]and the hounds, you may allow him a longer ‘interview’ with them by following them to the covert. Harriers are the best for this purpose, owing to ‘puss’ as a rule running in a circle, where you have the opportunity of showing your colt everything, without ‘taking it out of him.’ Besides, the pace being so moderate you can always get some one to give you a lead over a small fence or two, in fact you are teaching your colt to become used to the crush, excitement, &c., and at the same time giving him a few easy lessons in leaping.

‘Can he leap?’ is a common question amongst ‘horsey’ men when alluding to a colt. My answer to this is that any colt will jump if in good hands, and provided he has not already been made a fool of by some greater fool than himself. Whether it be a thoroughbred, half-bred, or cart colt, he will naturally jump if he has not been previously messed about with. I do not say they will all leap an equal height or an equal width, but that they will do so to the best of their abilities. I have frequently [89] ]leaped colts over fences in cool blood within a week or fortnight after having first mounted them, and never met with a refusal. I do not mean to say that it is good practice to do so so early, but merely mention the fact. When you first begin to follow hounds with your colt, do not stay with them more than an hour, and if they are running fast leave them before that time has expired, for your object at present is not to gallop after hounds, but to accustom your animal to the bustle and excitement connected with hunting. With a three-year-old no galloping should be done, but if the hounds after the first draw go away, and you think it probable the fox will return to that covert, or to one near it, you may ‘potter’ about a little in the hopes of falling in with them again, but you must be sure to take your colt home before he is tired, for the excitement will carry him through for a time, but on reaching home he may be quite done up, refuse his food, and be anything but A 1 for two or three days. All a three-year-old should do, is to go to the meet [90] ]and trot about with the hounds till they find, and if there is a probable chance of them circling about for a time, as when in a big wood, he may still be kept moving. But when hounds commence to run, the colt should be turned homewards and ridden quietly so as to get him settled down if possible before reaching his stables; he should then be roughly groomed and left to himself with a feed of corn for a time, before his final polish up.