The boot-leg
The boot leg should not be shaped like a bucket to catch rain as with the United States Cavalry, or like a stovepipe to cripple a man afoot as with British horsemen. Without being tight like the puttee for the production of varicocele, the boot leg should fit close. The ankle should be supple as a stocking, and "bellowsed" to make sure of suppleness. The counter should be of the hardest possible leather, thick, but fining upwards to an edge, and so made that when the man's foot spreads the foot of the boot, this fine upper edge, closes over the ball of the heel to prevent chafing. For the horseman the heel should be broad and flat, or high and tapering to prevent it from getting through the stirrups.
The boot-top of the seventeenth century came well up the thigh, but was turned down in summer for coolness, showing the brown inside of the leather. Later on this turned down top was replaced for smartness by a useless detachable cuff. For smartness also, the English leg was made rigid, disabling the wearer. Lately I went to a smart London maker for boots to suit my need of a supple ankle, flat heel, and modelled counter. The sales gentleman made me feel acutely that I was a cad, the workmen struck, and the proprietor corrected my design, revenging himself in his bill for the delay he caused me. It is in details such as this that one feels that the whole art of horsemanship in England has become a frozen convention, and is dying.
Spurs
SPURS. The spur was a prick or goad, from Roman times down to the thirteenth century. With plate armour came a rowel on a long shank. This rowel has shrunk in Europe to a small sharp weapon which draws blood, but on the American stock range it has increased in size to an average of three inches. The larger the points are the more they can be blunted, and the less they hurt a horse. On the old American range an Englishman removed the rowels from his spurs or adopted the blunt rowel before he was considered fit for human society.
The rowel should be loose enough to rattle, so that at night one may go to one's horse in pasture, and, knowing the sound of his master, he will not run away.
A gentle spur is used to encourage and not to hurt a horse, to bring him to attention, to aid in fine steering. It may be locked in the girth so that, holding on by one leg one may lie behind the horse's neck when under fire, or pick up a rope from the ground.
NECK CLOTH. A kerchief loose round the neck saves the top of the spine from sunstroke. It should be of any colour not containing blue, of the lightest silk for use as mosquito bar at night, and twenty-six inches square for use as a sling, bandage, or tourniquet in case of accident.
Shaps