KAPIERS DESCRIPTION OF LIFE GUAEIS. 29 



and the worrying use of the longeing rein. Rarey has 

 shown how easily, quietly, and safely horses may be 

 tamed ; but we must also train men before we can ob- 

 tain full benefit from our admirable breeds of horses. 



Proof that our horses have become feeble from pamper- 

 ing may be found in Devonshire. There the common 

 hacks of the county breed on the moors, and, crossed 

 with native ponies, are usually undersized and coarse 

 and heavy about the shoulders, like most wild horses, 

 and all the inferior breeds of Arabs, but they are hardy 

 and enduring to a degree that a Yorkshire breeder would 

 scarcely believe. Mean-looking Galloways will draw a 

 heavy dog-cart over the Devonshire hills fifty miles a- 

 day for many days in succession. 



A little common sense has been introduced into the 

 management of our cavalry, since the real experience of 

 the Crimean war. General Sir Charles Napier was not 

 noticed when, nearly ten years ago, he wrote, " The 

 cavalry charger, on a Hounslow Heath parade, well fed, 

 well groomed, goes through a field-day without injury, 

 although carrying more than twenty stone weight; he 

 and his rider presenting together a kind of alderman 

 centaur. But if in the field, half starved, they have, 

 at the end of a forced inarch, to charge an enemy ! The 

 biped full of fire and courage, transformed by war-work 

 to a why muscular dragoon, is able and willing, but the 

 overloaded quadruped cannot gallop he staggers." 



Our poor horses thus loaded, are expected to bound 

 to hand and spur, while the riders wield their swords 

 worthily. They cannot ; and both man and horse ap- 

 pear inferior to their Indian opponents. The Eastern 

 warrior's eye is quick, but not quicker than the Euro- 

 pean's ; his heart is big, yet not bigger than the Euro- 

 pean's ; his arm is strong, but not so strong as the Euro- 



