ANCIENT METHODS OF USING THE HORSE 5 



Op the Libyan, Numidian", and Moonisn horses which are alluded to 

 by classic writers, we know little beyond the cursory description of ^Elian, 

 who says that they were slenderly made, and carried no flesh. 



THE ORIGINAL BRITISH HORSE 



The nature of the original stock which formed the foundation of the 

 modern European horse is extremely doubtful. Sir Walter Gilbey claims 

 it for the Shire Horse, and Lord A. Cecil for the Clydesdale ; both may 

 be right, as certain points could well have developed from the original 

 stock to make them now so different. In Great Britain horses' bones 

 are found in caves which are of extreme antiquity, but they do not define 

 with any certainty the form of the original British horse, nor can we, 

 with certainty, arrive at the exact era at which the animals to which they 

 belonged lived and died. It is, however, an ascertained fact that when the 

 Romans invaded Great Britain they found the people in possession of 

 horses, and using them for their chariots as well as for the purposes of 

 riding. After the irruption of the Goths, and the commencement of the 

 dark ages, we have no reliable history to guide us, and we are left to grope 

 in the dark from the fourth century, when Vegetius wrote on the veterinary 

 art, until the Elizabethan era, when more attention was paid to the im- 

 provement of the breed of horses in this country. 



ANCIENT METHODS OF USING THE HORSE 



The mode of using the horse adopted by the ancients was at first by 

 harnessing him to a rude chariot, without springs. In course of time the 

 grooms who took care of him found that they could manage him while on 

 his back without the aid of the saddle and bridle, which are comparatively 

 modern inventions. Hence, we see the horse represented in the Elgin 

 marbles as ridden without either the one or the other ; and thei^e is also 

 abundant written testimony in support of this mode of equitation being 

 practised by the early Greeks. This ingenious people, however, invented 

 the snaffle-bridle, and both rode and drove with its aid, after the establish- 

 ment of the Olympian games, in which chariot races formed an essential 

 feature. The curb-bit was invented by the Romans, or, at all events, was 

 first used by them ; but both that people and the Greeks were ignorant of 

 the use of the stirrup, and either vaulted on their hoi-ses, or used the back 

 of a slave as a stepping-stone, or sometimes had recourse to a short ladder 

 for the purpose. The earliest period when it can be proved that the 

 stirrup was in use was in the time of the Norman invasion of this country. 

 The incidents of this event in history were recorded on the Bayeux tapestry 

 by the wife of William the Conqueror, and on this the stirrup was depicted, 

 according to the authority of Berenger, as a part of the trappings of the 

 horse. Shoeing was not practised by either the Greeks or Romans, and 

 only in cases of lameness was the foot defended by a sandal, which, however, 

 was sometimes tipped with iron. 



Until some time after the installation op the Olympian Games the 



