GEEEK HOESES.] 



THE HOESE, AND 



[GEEEK HOESEiS. 



Continuing our history regarding the proba- 

 ble migrations of the horse, we might trace, even 

 from the few data afforded by history, his circuit, 

 with the consequent art of equestrian exercise, 

 from Egypt (the original and central riding- 

 echool of the world), into Greece and into 

 Europe. His probable route, however, was 

 from Egypt into Assyria and Persia; from 

 Assyria to Cappadocia, Amazonia, and Pon- 

 tus ; which, on the river Thermoden, was 

 also the residence of the Amazons. In 

 these countries horses were most reared and 

 most admired; and holding the highest position 

 among the lower species of animated nature, 

 they were offered up as sacrifices to the sun. 

 Erom Pontus they passed, with the streams of 

 westward-rushing population, to Phrygia and 

 the southern banks of the Propontis ; and 

 thence, with "horse-taming" Pelops and the 

 Pelasgi, they migrated into Thessaly, where, 

 as already observed, with their novel and 

 terrifying appearance, they confounded the 

 simple aboriginal inhabitants. 



Even at the time of the Trojan war (1192 

 B.C.), it is believed that horses were but 

 rare animals in Greece, and were possessed 

 only by princes or great men, who kept them 

 more for the purposes of display and chariot- 

 drawing, than for use. In the Iliad there are 

 only two references made to horse-riding, and 

 but cue in the Odyssey. The first is where 

 Ulyssus and Diomed capture the horses of 

 Hhesus, and ride them into the Grecian camp. 

 The second is where a horseman is exhibited 

 as riding on four fair coursers, and performing 

 some of the feata which were the common stock 

 of Astleyan representations on the south side 

 of Westminster-bridge. In the Odyssey the 

 reference is made in the form of a simile, 

 which compares Ulyssus, after his shipwreck, 

 bestriding a beam of wood, to the resemblance 

 of a man astride on horseback. 



In these ancient times, the art of shoeing 

 the horse with iron had not been discovered ; 

 so that a strong hoof, " hard as brass," and 

 solid " as the flint," was reckoned one of the 

 good qualities of a steed. In Oriental coun- 

 tries, the dryness of the roads rendered this 

 fortification of the hoof less necessary ; and the 

 muddy ways, and miriness of the ground's 

 surface in the north of Europe, we suppose, 

 first caused and confirmed the practice. Hanni- 

 C 



bal's cavalry, however, lost all their hoofs in 

 the miry and embarrassing march through tlie 

 marshy ground between Trebia and Eesulro. 

 To prevent injury to the hoof, from its contact 

 with the flinty high-roads, it became the prac- 

 tice of both Greeks and Romans to attach to 

 it a sort of sandal, made of sedges or of leather. 

 This original shoe was sometimes further 

 strengthened, by having plates of iron at- 

 tached to it ; and was sometimes adorned with 

 silver and gold, as we read of in the cases of 

 the horses of Poppsea and Nero. 



Neither did the ancients make use of sad- 

 dles or stirrups ; and the Numidian horses 

 had even no bridles, although their armour 

 and their trappings, in so far as appearance 

 went, must have compensated for these de- 

 ficiencies by their gorgeous and extraordinary 

 splendour. On the fresco representations of 

 the Parthenon at Athens, neither the bridle 

 nor the saddle is introduced upon the horse, 

 nor has the rider any other instrument to 

 guide him but a small switch or stick. Ee- 

 ferring to this circumstance, Berenger re- 

 marks, that it may, in some degree, be difiicult 

 to conceive how a switch or stick could be 

 sufficient to guide or control a spirited or 

 obstinate horse in the violence of his course 

 or the tumult of battle ; but the attention, 

 docility, and memory of this animal are such, 

 that it is hard to say to what degree of 

 obedience he may not be reduced. There is 

 no reason why these horses may not be 

 brought to understand the intention, and obey 

 the will of their riders with as much cer- 

 tainty and readiness as our cart-horses in our 

 crowded streets attend to the voices of their 

 drivers, by which they are almost solely gov- 

 erned. Managing the horse without the use 

 of bridle or spur, indicates the perfect subjec- 

 tion to which the animal had been brought by 

 Grecian training ; for it would seem that the 

 gentlest touch of the rider was sufficient for 

 him to be guided in accordance with the will 

 of his master. By a touch on the muzzle he 

 was stopped, and by a touch of the heel he 

 was urged forward. The cruel inventions of 

 the bit and the spur had not yet suggested 

 themselves to the ingenuity of mankind. Yet 

 the obedience of the horse would seem to 

 have then been as complete as the appliances 

 of a confessedly more advanced period of 



