CHAPTER XXIV 



THE HORSE OF CONQUEST AND CEREMONY 



THE horse of the ancients unquestionably was used 

 for riding instead of driving, and ease of motion was 

 cultivated. The ancients rode without stirrups, and 

 amblers and pacers were preferred to trotters. In 

 fact, among the 200 horses sculptured by Phidias 

 on the frieze of the Parthenon, not one is repre- 

 sented as trotting. The horse of war was depicted 

 with heavy neck, broad chest and strong quarters, 

 because he had to take up burdens and do rugged 

 work. When the railroad and the mule began to 

 be used in army transportation, an animal of swifter 

 type was sought for cavalry mounts, and the horse 

 of old Greek art was less conspicuous. John B. 

 Castleman, President of the American Saddle Horse 

 Breeders' Association, now points to the gaited horse 

 of Kentucky and Tennessee as the typical war 

 charger. The best specimens stand from 15.3 to 

 1 6 hands, are handsome in conformation, are light 

 on their feet, and carry the blood of the thorough- 

 bred race horse, and of the Narragansett or Cana- 

 dian pacer. In 1882 Professor W. H. Brewer called 

 attention in a carefully prepared paper to the impor- 

 tant role the riding horse has played in the history of 

 mankind. " Mohammed and his followers," he says, 



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