ON DRAUGHT. 



421 



injudicious mode frequently adopted in harnessing horses ? How con- 

 stantly do we see the efforts of horses paralysed by misapplication of their 

 respective qualities ! In the annexed sketch, (fg. 10,) for instance, which 

 represents a very common specimen of this, the lirrht, muscular, little horse, 

 which is capable of considerable exertion, is nearly lifted from the ground, 

 and prevented from making any exertion, by the traces leading upwards ; 

 while the feeble old horse, scarcely capable of carrying his own body, is 

 nearly dra2:2:ed to the ground, and compelled to emi)loy his whole strength 

 in carrying himself, and even part of the weight of the leader ; so that the 

 strength of the one willing to work is not employed, and the other is so 

 overloaded as to be useless. ^ 



The mode of attaching the traces does not admit of much variety. The 

 shoulders have always been made use of for this purpose 



Fig, n. 



Homer, M^ho is supposed to have lived 

 about 900 years B.C., describes very mi- 

 nutely, in the twenty-fourth book of the 

 Iliad, the mode of harnessing horses at the 

 time of the siege of Troy, nearly 3000 years 

 ago ; but if we suppose that his description 

 was taken from the harness in use in his 

 own time, it is still referring to a period 

 about twenty-seven centuries back. 



A simple strap, formed of several thick- 

 nesses of leather, so as to be very stiff, and 

 fitted well to the neck and shoulders, served 

 as a collar, as seen at A A, (Jigs- H, 12.) 

 A second strap, B B, passed round the 

 body, and was attached to the shoulder- 

 strap at the withers. At this point was fixed the yoke, C C, which was 

 fixed to the pole. 



Fig. 12. 



A pair of horses were thus yoked together, without traces or breechings, 

 as oxen are seen at the present time in many parts of the country. 



This was a simple arrangement, but by no means a bad one ; and it 

 would appear that they performed all the manceuvres of cavalry with cha- 

 riots and horses thus harnessed. The pair yoked to the pole were called 

 yoked horses ; abreast of these was frequently placed what was called an 

 outer horse, with a simple shoulder-strap or collar FF, and a single trace, 

 G G, passing inside, as in Jig. 13. Sometimes there were two of these 

 horses, one on each side, each furnished with his strap or collar and trace. 



