128 Cross Country with Horse and Hound 



old work on hunting, " believed to have been written by 

 a son of Edward III in the fourteenth century " : 



FOR DEFY OF THE SPUR 



Take and shave him [the horse] the breadth of a saucer on both 

 sides there as you will spur him ; then take a lancet and make six 

 issues through the skin the length of a wheat corn, and then take 

 a haundelere and raise the skin from the flesh and then put in a 

 quantity of burned salt, and this will make the sides to wrankle, 

 and keep him three days that he be not ridden and then set on him 

 with spurs and spur him in that place ; and then at night wash that 

 same place with urine & salt and nettles sodden therewith and 

 this shall grieve him sore that he will never abide spurs after ; then 

 take half a pint of honey and anoint his sides therewith three times 

 and this shall make the hair to grow and make him whole for 

 evermore. 



If you must wear spurs, wear them without rowels, and 

 use them only as a last resort. If you find yourself, like 

 most riders, using them unconsciously in the excitement of 

 the chase, or accidentally when jumping, leave them at home. 

 If your experience is at all like mine, you will say your 

 horse is a far better, far bolder, far safer jumper without 

 them than he was with them. 



They are necessary, in military riding, to make a horse 

 dress, or go sidewise to the right or left ; but beyond this 

 they are of little value even to the cavalryman. In flat 

 races they simply contract a horse's stride, and have lost 

 more races than they ever won. 



