4=12 
AMERICAN AGRICULTUEIST. 
[November, 
fingers of those rewards for faithful ami patient 
execution that it is their honest but misguided 
endeavors to gain. - 
I am not speaking now of worthless, shiftless, 
ne'er-do-wells, who work as little as they can, 
and spend too much of their time at the corner 
grocery, but of the steady, honest, industrious, 
hard-working, practical farmers who hold their 
noses to the grindstone year in and year out; 
who try every year to put some money, be it 
ever so little, out at interest, and whose only 
fault is that they have not awakened to the fact 
that American farmers, except in a few favored 
localities, can no longer with safety, throw them- 
selves on the generosity of a bountiful Nature, 
and at the same time try to steal the march on 
her at every turn. Their great need is to recog- 
nize the fact that if they would be successful 
now and henceforth, they must devote to their 
business, not only all their ability to work, but 
all their ability to think as well, and all the cap- 
ital they can command, for which the}' see a 
profitable opening in the improvement of their 
farms and their stock. 
If agricultural papers bave an}- mission in this 
world, it is to lead their readers to take this view 
of their business; for however important it may 
be to give directions for performing the different 
operations of improved farming, it is vastly 
more important to awaken a spirit that will not 
rest, short of the greatest improvement possible. 
Horsa Papers for Farmers— Ko. 10. 
One of the effects of the introduction of more 
thorough-blood into our race of farm horses will 
be to develop a taste for horseback riding for 
which blood horses are much the best adapted. 
It is a wonder that so few of our farmers ride 
at all, especially when a love for the exercise 
seems to be born with every boy in the land. 
It is often more convenient for a farmer to 
drive in a wagon, as he gets a good deal more 
out of his horse than the mere transportation 
of himself, and it would seem very awkward to 
a northern farmer to bring homo parcels from 
town in his saddle-bags. This question of con- 
venience will always make it the custom for 
farmers to go on wheels to market, or (with the 
family) to church ; but that they should so gen- 
erally prefer this mode of locomotion on all oc- 
casions, is unaccountable on any other plea than 
that of custom, — a custom which surely grows 
out of the dearth of even tolerably trained sad- 
dle horses. In England, — a country from which 
we may at least learn much about country life — 
it is the rule for a farmer (old or young) to do 
his local traveling in the saddle ; and there can 
be no doubt that this accounts for much of the 
robust health of the farming class, and for most 
of the prevalence of good saddle horses in all 
parts of the country. 
It would be easy to fill a few pages of the 
Agriculturist with a description of the delights 
of horseback exercise, but surely this is not 
necessary in writing for the perusal of men and 
boys who have, hidden in their veins, a strong 
infusion of the blood of a horse-loving ancestry. 
There is no pleasure so keen to a six-year-old 
boy, in town or country, as that of mounting a 
horse ; and that he forgets his natural taste is 
only a proof that it has been allowed to become 
dull through neglect. Give him but half a 
chance, through his youth, with horses that are 
fit to ride, and he will become more and more 
fond of the congenial pleasure, and it will be 
easy to make him a horseman for life, — not 
merely able to ride when necessary, but anxious 
to ride habitually. My own boyhood was, for- 
tunately, enriched by this sort of teaching, and 
— although some horribly lon'g rides during the 
war were a severe test of my enthusiasm, — I 
shall be very old or very infirm when I begin to 
take kindly to wheels. 
Viewed purely as a matter of business, there 
is perhaps no advantage in horseback riding. 
One may get over as masiy miles in a day in a 
buggy as in the saddle, — and more work may 
be got out of a horse than the mere carrying of 
a man or a woman. But we farmers (while 
keeping an eye out for the main chance) must 
give some heed to the pleasures of life. It is 
all important to make our lives as happy and as 
cheerful as we can, — to bring them, in point of 
entertainment, as nearly as we can to the stand- 
ard of town living, and so" give to the country 
all the attractive features we can. There is 
enough that is humdrum at the best, and wher- 
ever it is possible to throw in a little gilding, it is 
our duty to ourselves and to our families to do it. 
Assuming that all will admit the desirable- 
ness of bringing up children to love horses — to 
know how to ride, — not merely how to " stick 
on," but how to ride really well — and to be 
both fond and a little bit proud of their riding, 
let us see how we may best set to work to cul- 
tivate their taste in this direction. 
It is important, in the first place, to have a 
horse fit for the work. Not a clumsy, over- 
worked '•' clam-shell-footed " brute, who carries 
his chin on a level with his knees, and goes 
blundering along the road seeking stones to 
stumble over, and hanging half his weight on 
the bit, whose withers are so low that he car- 
ries his rider on his shoulders and churns his 
heart's blood at every step ; but a high-headed, 
light-footed, wide-awake animal, that can trot 
without dragging his toes on the ground — that 
can canter as though he had a center of gravi- 
ty somewhere about him — that can carry the 
weight of his own head and neck without help 
from the rein — and on whose back a saddle will 
keep in place without a crupper. If he is good 
looking, all the better, but in a saddle horse 
" handsome is that handsome does." His good 
looks "come from the heart," and his beauty 
must be more than skin deep. I have seen raw- 
boned animals, that looked any thing but well 
when hitched to a post, that were really hand- 
some when in motion under the saddle. Those 
who care for the refinements of saddle horses, — 
as who that cares for horses does not ? — will 
find in Herbert's Hints to Horsekeepers full in- 
structions for their selection ; but ordinary farm- 
ers' horses are the only source from which most 
farmers can choose, and among these there are 
often to be found really elegant animals. In 
every township in the country there are plenty 
of horses that, with all their defects, will answer 
pretty well. Let us hope that before many 
years, good horses for the saddle will be more 
common. The chief thing to be sought is prop- 
er action, and the best way for an inexperienced 
man to judge of this is to turn the animal into 
a field with other horses and get them skylark- 
ing together. If he goes plunging about as 
though he would drive his forefeet into the 
ground at every step, he wont do ; if he seems 
to bear his weight equally on all four feet, and 
to step lightly on all, he is worth a good trial. 
The gait may be best judged of in the trot. 
Having secured the horse, more than ordina- 
ry attention must be given to his gear. The 
saddle is of less consequence than the bridle, 
but it is not unimportant. It should be com- 
fortable for both horse and rider, and it should' 
not be too thick. The nearer together the horse 
and rider can be placed the better it will be. 
The English hunting saddle, which has a thick 
roil in front of the calf of the leg, is the best, 
but the "McClellan" saddle which is used in 
the army is very good. With this the rider sits 
directly on the raw-hide-covered tree, and there 
is only a thin blanket between this and the 
horse's back. It is cheap, comfortable, and in 
every way good. Such saddles can be bought 
(second hand) in every large town. The stirrups 
should be rather heavy, and large enough for 
the ball of the foot to pass easily^nough them. 
The bridle should have two bnS, a snaffle (or 
jointed bit) and a curb. This latter should have 
a strong chain and powerful leverage, but the 
bar that passes through the mouth can hardly 
be too easy (that is, large and smooth). The 
" port," or arch, of the mouth-piece, should be 
low — the lower the better for any civilian's use. 
There should be, of course, a separate rein for 
each bit. Under no circumstances sJtould a mar- 
tingale be used. It would take too much space 
to give the many reasons for this injunction, 
but it is sound. A properly adjusted, and prop- 
ly handled curb bit will be much more effective 
than any martingale, in keeping Die horse from 
throwing up his head. 
Another very essential part of the outfit is a 
pair of spurs. In fact the curb bit and the 
spurs are the most important of all. They are 
the sine qua non of the adjuncts of riding. A 
skillful horseman will manage almost any horse 
without snaffle, stirrups, or saddle, but he would 
be practically powerless to control a vicious 
horse without both curb and spur, or to ride any 
horse perfectly well, without them. It is the 
custom among those who know nothing about 
riding to object to both of these as "cruel." A 
man may beat his horse with a cudgel, or saw 
his poor mouth until it is raw with a jointed 
snaffle, without losing his standing in society ; 
but if he puts a pair of spurs on his heels and 
uses a curb bit, he becomes only less a brute 
than the poor creature he rides. Now, the curb 
is not necessarily cruel at all. It is not intend- 
ed to be tugged at by the rider, either to hold 
the horse or to hold himself in his seat. It con- 
stitutes a barrier beyond which the horse's 
mouth must not go. He will soon learn this, 
and if the rider holds the bit, rather than the 
bit the rider, he will find that within his pre- 
scribed limits his mouth is comfortable, and all 
goes well. Beyond this limit he cannot move 
without pain or discomfort. Of course much 
depends on the way in which the bit is man- 
aged. The rider's hand must be "soft as the 
touch of love, and firm as the grasp of steel." 
The beginner must be chary of the curb until 
he has mastered its use, and taught its meaning 
to the horse. 
As the curb bit is a barrier to the horse's 
movements forward, so are the spurs a barrier 
to his movements backward. Their tendency 
is to make the horse keep his hindquarters well 
"in " — that is, to have his hind feet well under 
him, and to prevent him from backing away 
from the curb. Like this latter, the}' must be 
used with knowledge and skill, and the horse 
should be taught to bear their touch without 
flinching. It is almost never necessary to strike 
him with them. He will soon learn to respect 
them and to anticipate their use by obeying the 
least pressure of the calf of the leg. 
I have been able to do nothing more in this 
article than to give a few very general hints on 
a subject that is fully treated in the books, and 
as I am admonished by the editor that these 
Horse Papers must be cut short, I postpone un- 
til the next number, similar hints on the subject 
of " Learning to Bide." 
