The Horse loi 



Horses and Men ^> ^^> .«^ 



A MAN who does not love a horse, a great 

 horse lover once said, is incapable of a genuine 

 emotion. The motor-car, the motor-lorry, and the 

 steam plough may ultimately oust the horse from 

 the road and the field as a beast of traction ; but in 

 this country, at any rate, we do not keep dogs (for 

 instance) only for utilitarian purposes, but chiefly 

 because we love them. It would be a queer 

 England, too, without hunters and racehorses. 

 *' What a glittering confusion in the pack," wrote 

 Hazlitt, " what spirit in the horses ! " 



There is something in the spirit of a horse which 

 man cannot resist, for he finds it akin to his own 

 spirit, when he is in the open air and his best and 

 happiest. If horses were as easy to house, as cheap 

 to feed, and as simple to manage as the domestic 

 dog, every man who has ever known the joy of 

 sitting astride a good horse would keep one in his 

 back garden for the rest of his life. 



Anon. 



The Horse ^> ^^ ^:> s£> 



(From P^enus and Adonis) 



BUT, lo, from forth a copse that neighbours by, 

 A breeding jennet, lusty, young and proud, 

 Adonis' trampling courser doth espy. 

 And forth she rushes, snorts, and neighs aloud : 

 The strong-neck'd steed, being tied unto a tree, 

 Breaketh his rein, and to her straight goes he. 



Imperiously he leaps, he neighs, he bounds, 

 And now his woven girths he breaks asunder ; 



