OUR WORKING HORSES. 
123 
I am not advocating its adoption for hunters except in the summer, 
when I believe they do as well if not better on it than on straw. 
Labour The wor k performed by the labouring horse of great 
cities varies considerably, but as far as I could gather, 
the average might be taken at 120 miles a week. Tram and bus 
horses do not necessarily get their weekly sabbath, in many instances 
only one complete day's rest a month, and in one large tram stable 
never a day of rest unless sick. This I venture to think false economy, 
believing that all labourers will do their work better and last longer 
if allowed one days complete rest out of seven day's work. 
As regards the loads, a heavy bus weighs 2 tons, and carries thirty 
people of say 10 stone = 1 ton 17 cwt., making total weight 3 tons 
17 cwt., or 1 ton 18 cwt. per horse. This compared with 7 cwt. 
behind each of our gun horses, would seem very heavy, but it must 
be remembered that the work is done at a uniform pace of between 
six and seven miles an hour on good roads; with no weight on the 
horses backs. A tram car weighs 3 tons, which with forty-five 
passengers of 10 stone, brings the total weight to 5 tons 16 cwt. I 
am not skilled enough in mathematical mechanics to know how this 
compares with the load drawn by bus horses, although it is obvious 
that the tram horses must have a fairly easy time except when start¬ 
ing their load, and when going up hill. They last longer than their 
comrades in the buses. The average working life of this class of 
horse may be roughly taken at 
Cab horses four years. 
Bus „ five years. 
Tram „ six years. 
at the end of which period they still have some years of useful 
labour in them, and are readily bought by farmers and others for slow 
work. 
It is a mistake to imagine, as I used to, that the hansom-cab horses 
of London are recruited from the brutes and screws sent to Tattersall's 
and Aldridge's. Of the “ Growler " horses I know nothing. They are 
a class apart, and we do not register them, but in all the hansom-cab 
stables which I visited there were a large proportion of fresh young 
Irish horses, and the proprietors assured me, (and they had no reason 
for concealing the truth) that it would never pay them to buy 
haphazard at auctions, with the idea that anything would do for a 
cab. The bus horses are recruited from much the same class as our 
draught horses, though I may safely say that we get the best of the 
class as remounts. I often hear people comparing these horses in the 
London streets, to those in our gun teams, not always to the advantage 
of the latter. It is an unfair comparison. The athlete in training 
against the ordinary man taking the ordinary every day amount of 
exercise, the one full of muscle gained by hard work and a liberal 
allowance of corn, and the other looking as well as possible on two 
hours not very severe exercise and 10 pounds of oats. 
The tram horses are a somewhat smaller and cheaper race, but are 
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