HORSE COMPANIONSHIP* 



Fraxk Sherman Peer, Ithaca, IST. Y. 

 Author of " Soiling, Ensilage, and Stable Construction." 



" When you are hot and thirsty 



And' you stop to get a drink, 

 Or seek'a friendly shade tree, 



Do you ever stop to think 

 That horses which have labored 



In the dust and heat for you, 

 May feel the same as you feel, 



And would like some water too? 



It takes but little effort 



For a man to till the soil. 

 If we compare his labor 



With the way a horse must moil. 

 The liorse serves well his master, 



Although oft in need of rest : 

 The man who treats him kindly 



Is the man he serves the best." 



I have had a great deal to say about confidence and companion- 

 ship between rider and mount, which I have deckired to be better 

 understood in England than in America. The average Ameri- 

 can seems to look upon a horse as simply a convenience, like the 

 bicycle or the trolley cars — a means by which he may reach his 

 destination sooner and with less fatigue than by walking. He 

 presses a button and the horse is brought to the door, and when 

 he is through with him a groom takes him away again. The 

 horse does not attain to the confidence of his master as he does in 

 England, where he becomes part of the family. There is noth- 

 ing degrading in the idea of companionship with a horse. When 

 one comes to think of it, many men and some women not in- 

 frequently have about them less edifying associates of their omi 

 kind. '^0 man, woman or child was ever the worse for an 

 intimate association with a well-bred horse or dog. 



It cannot be too much insisted on that this companionship be- 

 tween horse and rider is the very essence of cross-country riding. 

 Whoever has failed to secure the confidence of his mount and his 

 mount's in himself has failed of enjoying the best half of the 

 game. The right sort of man, even if he may hardly be feeling 



* Extracts (by permission of the author) from Cross Country ivith Horse 

 and Hound, by F. S. Peer. 



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