780 
PANICS AMONG HORSES. 
amount of solicitude evinced by the former for the latter. 
The excessive use of the spur and bit when the soldier is in 
the saddle, and the churlish bullying treatment it receives in 
the stable, not only makes the troop horse peevish and 
fidgetty, and always inclined to kick its fellow-horse, but 
prematurely wears it out. We fear that our countrymen, as 
a rule, are not particularly happy in eliciting the best traits 
of the horse’s character, and that we are only too ready to 
imagine that whipping, spurring, or tugging with an un- 
merciful hand at a horse’s mouth constitutes the acme of 
equestrianship. We have but to look at the treatment the 
cab horses in any of our large towns receive, or watch a 
cavalry regiment in or out of barracks, for proof of this. 
Colonel Money justly observes : 
“ I doubt if the English horse soldier is intimate enough 
with his horse. The idea here is that, with his master on 
his back, the horse cannot have too much life or spirit in 
him, and that he should know this, and does know this ; but 
that with his master by his side the horse should be like a 
dog or pet lamb to him. This is so with the Arab and his 
horse. The Arab horse is part of the family — comes into the 
tent like a dog, lies down among the children, is run over 
and trod upon by everybody, is unconscious of danger, and 
therefore unequal to vice. A Russian horse soldier is 
ordered to bring his horse to the same state, and Count 
Protasoff (the commanding officer of the white and gold 
cuirassiers of the Emperor) told me he was not satisfied with 
his regiment until he could put any 100 horses in a row and 
make a cuirassier fearlessly crawl under them from end to 
end. The horse I rode during the manoeuvres was a charm- 
ing animal. Ilis name was Huzzar. His paces were 
perfect, and his docility was wonderful. Whenever a very 
big gun went off close to us, he used to give a little thrill, 
but it seemed more a thrill of delight than anything else, as 
if he thought it was about time to charge, or wondered that I 
did not at least do something. Anybody could have done 
anything with him. I think it speaks volumes for the 
Russian soldier’s training of his horse that such a thing as a 
kick is unknown among them.” 
From the soured temper of our horses, chiefly through the 
opposite kind of treatment to which they are subjected, the 
chief casualties are injuries from kicks ; these are generally 
numerous enough in barracks, but on the picket lines they 
are greatly multiplied, and fractured limbs are by no means 
unusual. 
But kindness to animals, and horses in particular, forms a 
