132 



OUR DOMESTIC ANIMALS 



statues, that of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, for 

 instance. Neither bit nor bridle was used to 

 hold or guide them ; often the rider had nothing 

 but a species of headband that pressed upon 

 the nose, and to which the reins were attached 

 by a ring. The excavations at Pompeii have 

 brought to light many fine models of these 

 headbands. The Romans had long used sad- 

 dles, while the Germans, regarding them as 

 unmanly and enervating, preferred to ride 



did not excel either in strength or in speed, 

 and that their riders did not train them, as 

 did the Romans, to gallop round the enemy 

 whom they assailed with their arrows, but 

 made them go straight forward, or, at best, 

 swerve a little to the right, .Horace complains 

 of the effeminacy of his times. " The young 

 man of good family," he says, " no longer 

 understands the art of riding a horse and of 

 subduing the restive chargers of the Gauls." 



WiNTHR 



bareback. Before the latter learned to use 

 saddles they put the skins of animals on the 

 backs of their horses, but used no stirrups. 



The ancient Greeks had cavalr}', and we 

 know that Sesostris, king of Egypt, lee! many 

 mounted warriors into battle. These same 

 Greeks as well as the Romans wrote books on 

 the equine race. Hippocrates states that the 

 Scythians were afflicted with certain maladies 

 caused by riding without stirrups. Tacitus 

 transmits to us details on the horses and cav- 

 alry of the Germans. 1 le says that these horses 



During the Crusades the Western knights 

 saw and learned the manner in which the 

 Eastern warriors, the Saracens, saddled and 

 rode their steeds. We refer our readers to the 

 graphic pages of Sir Walter Scott for a descrip- 

 tion of a combat between a heavily armed 

 Scottish knight and a Moorish emir. 



In our day the ponderous animals of the 

 days of chivalry and their hea\'y trappings have 

 been replaced by the much lighter horses of our 

 cavalry, though the artillery and the transporta- 

 tion trains still require powerful draft horses. 



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