HOBBLING 425 



in the stall and then taking them out into the glaring 

 sun of India seemed to me singularly bad for their eyes. 

 I fancy the covering may serve to keep the flies from set- 

 tling on the horse's eyes and producing inflammation ; but 

 this Avas not the reason given. 



The thing that would strike you as the oddest was the 

 style of hobbling — universal here, and used in whole or in 

 part in many Oriental stables. A twenty-foot road ran 

 outside the stable, back of the arches. On the farther 

 side of this road, opposite each arch, was a stone post, 

 around which was fastened two ropes, just long enough to 

 run across the road and into the stable to the point where 

 the horse's hind-feet would comfortably stand. Each rope 

 ended in a flat woven loop, which was passed around the 

 horse's fetlock-joint, so that he could neither stamp nor 

 kick flies, nor move his hind -legs to change his position, 

 nor lie down. His halter ropes were fastened to rings 

 in the ground below each end of the manger, say five feet 

 apart. He might as well have stood in the stocks. The 

 horses were some ten feet from each other. 



They were fed on hay, rather too short and fine to suit 

 our notions (the kind which in New England we call good 

 cow-hay), dried peas, and a queer-looking, small species of 

 oats, all of which were given largely in mashes ; and as a 

 consequence the horses were all overfat — as fat as the usu- 

 al circus horse that is fed up to ride bareback. Except 

 one Arabian and a couple of Burmah ponies, I did not 

 see a decent set of legs under a single one of the horses. 

 They were all supposed to be saddle-beasts. 



I asked which was the Maharajah's favorite. To my 

 surprise I was pointed out an English horse, over seven- 

 teen hands high, all but as fat as a London brewer's dray- 

 horse, and with very coarse legs, undipped. Unless for 

 size, why he should be a favorite it was hard to imagine ; 



