In the history of the horse we must not omit a brief notice of what we must consider as a new era in the system of training: we allude, of course, to Mr. Rarey's method of taming vicious horses. That gentleman has, undoubtedly, extraordinary physical qualifications for the work in which he has so successfully engaged. His speaking eye, his ready hand, and his agile foot, are elements of his power; but there are others, of a higher grade, in his entire self-possession-his unflinching courage, and his exhaustless patience. Thus provided, he acts on the conviction that when a horse is timid or scared, it is from ignorance, and that knowledge will enlighten him, and give him confidence. Hence, he never uses anything in his treatment of a horse which he does not show the animal, that he may test it in his own way. Is a bit to be placed in his mouth, or a saddle on his back, or is Mr. Rarey about to mount him, to give proof that he is tamed or assured? the drum to be beaten, like the others, is first submitted to the sight and smell of the horse. A practice, on which much is dependent, Mr. Rarey thus describes :-"Take up one foot, and bend his knee till his hoof is bottom upwards, and nearly touching his body; then slip a loop over his knee, and up until it comes above the pastern joint to keep it up, being careful to draw the loop together between the hoof and pastern joint, with a second strap of some kind, to prevent the loop from slipping down and coming off. This will leave the horse standing on three legs; you can now handle him as you wish-for it is utterly impossible for him to kick in this position. There is something in this operation of taking up one foot that conquers a horse quicker and better than anything else you can do to him. There is no process in the world equal to it for breaking a kicking horse, for several reasons: first, there is a principle of this kind in the nature of the horse, that, by conquering one member, you conquer, to a great extent, the whole horse. When you first fasten up a horse's foot, he will sometimes get very mad, and strike with his knee, and try every possible way to get it down ; but he cannot do that, and will soon give up. This will conquer him better than anything you could do, and without any possible danger of his hurting himself, or you either; for you can tie up his foot, and sit down and look at him until he gives up. When you find that he is conquered, go to him, let down his foot, rub his leg with your hand, caress him, and then let him rest a little; then put it up again. Repeat this a few times, always putting up the same foot, and he will soon learn to travel on three legs, so that you can drive him some distance. As soon as he gets a little used to this way of travelling, put on your harness, and hitch him to a sulky. If he is the worst kicking horse that ever raised a foot, you need not be fearful of his doing any damage while he has one foot up; for he cannot kick, neither can he run fast enough to do any harm; and, if he is the wildest horse that ever had harness on, and has run away every time he has been hitched, you can now hitch him in a sulky, and drive him as you please; and, if he wants to run, you can let him have the lines, and the whip too, with perfect safety; for he can go but a slow gait on three legs, and will soon be tired, and willing to stop; only hold him enough to guide him in the right direction, and he will soon be tired and willing to stop at the word. Thus, you will effectually cure him at once of any further notion of running off." THE HORSES OF FRANCE. THE western part of France is that which produces most horses. In the northern extremity of this vast country of pasturage an enormous draught-horse is raised: the coat almost always gray roan, extremities black, body short, breast very wide, chest short, bent, and thick, often saddle-backed, head short, forehead slightly projecting, mane double, fine skin, large hoof with soft horn, and muscles strongly developed. The animals represented in the engraving (page 217), show well the physiognomy of the horse of Ardennes, which, however, often present larger and more distinguished animals. They have a short body, the coat rarely white, but oftener bay or iron-gray. The limbs are dry and hairy, the feet well made, the hoof hard, the shoulder very long, the breast much developed, and the muscles well delineated. Brittany, like Normandy, produces horses of all sorts. They are characterised, in general, by a head with a short nose, very wide forehead, and an abrupt contraction below the eyes. The most remarkable type of the large draught-horses is at Fougères, and approaches the Percheron race, but it presents a much larger body, larger bones, more hairy extremities, and more projecting muscles, principally on the back. The hoofs are hard and well made; the coat is often white. The Duton saddle-horses come from the mountainous parts of the peninsula. Sober and indefatigable, they have a long head and short nose, a quick eye, short body, dry limbs, articulations perfectly delineated, feet well made, small, and very hard, the extremities without hair, the breast large, the coat nearly always bay or sorrel. It is these horses, and the Norman horses of an analogous race, which do the work of the cabs in Paris. The horses from Tarbes belong to the ancient Navarrine race, which itself descends from the Arabian. Except a little more height, and more length of all the parts, the Navarrine horse still presents the characteristics of the Oriental type. The Percheron horse, which we see attached to the Paris omnibuses, is either of great or medium height. It has a cylindrical body, dapple-gray coat, withers raised and projecting, the neck is lightly arched, the head large, the forehead flat, the eye small under a large arch, the muscles less developed than those of the Boulonnais horse, a better hoof, and the foot better made. Its most frequent defects are, too great length of flank, narrow breast, fore-arm too little charged with muscles, head heavy. The percherons, which have not these imperfections, are among the finest horses in the world. As the steeds of Astley's Amphitheatre have been lent to the citizens of London, on Lord Mayor's Day, for the use of the men in armour who have figured in the procession, so the Messieurs Franconi, of the Cirque Olympique, of Paris, have been charged with the supply of horses to princes and sovereigns during any great official solemnity; and these horses, like certain courtiers, have always been at the service of every possible dynasty or shade of political opinion. Thus, in 1814, at the temporary restoration of the Bourbons, a dapple-gray, called "La Noble," bore the Count d'Artois, the future Charles X., on his entry into Paris, and, afterwards, the Dukes of Berri and Angoulême. When Napoleon escaped from Elba, the same charger carried him at the time of his triumphal return to Paris by torchlight. After the well-known "hundred days," this identical horse conveyed into Paris the princes of the Bourbon family, deporting itself with the same pride and enthusiasm as on former occasions. In Madame Tussaud's Exhibition there is the tail, handsomely mounted, of "Jaffa," the celebrated charger of the Emperor Napoleon I., which was presented to him by Ali Pacha. He was white, and stood fifteen hands high. He was of the pure desert breed of Arabs, and was ridden by the Emperor at the memorable victory of Marengo, and on almost all the remarkable occasions of his life-the last time at the celebrated review in the famous Champ de Mai, in 1814. He was purchased and brought to England, in the year 1823, and died in 1828, aged thirty-seven years, and was buried under a handsome monument at Glastonbury, Cranbrook, Kent. THE ZEBRA.* A VIVID idea of this fierce, strong, fleet, and beautiful animal may be formed from the engraving we give of it, to which little can be added in the way of description. It may be observed, however, that in the male the ground-colour is yellowish fawn, in the female white, over which the black stripes are dispersed with exquisite symmetry. It dwells in the mountain districts of Africa, from Abyssinia to the South, where it often falls a prey to the lion, and to the savage natives, who regard its flesh as a delicacy. THE QUAGGA.† THE Quagga is often seen in herds of hundreds, traversing the sultry plains of Southern Africa. It is much less beautifully marked than the zebra, and its colours are less distinct. The shoulders are darkbrown, with whitish transverse bars; the hinder parts are light-brown, falling off to white beneath. The name of this animal expresses the sound of its voice, which has some resemblance to the barking of a dog. The Kaffirs and Bushmen consider it as delicious food; nor is it less liked by the lion. It may hereafter prove worth while to reclaim this creature, and to subject it to the service of man. A pair of them used to be seen drawing a carriage in Hyde Park-a sufficient proof of their being tameable and tractable. THE WILD ASS.‡ THIS animal is mentioned at a very early period in the sacred records. The reader has probably been struck by the beautiful and graphic description of it given in the Book of Job :-"Who hath sent out the wild ass free? or who hath loosed the bands of the wild ass? Whose house I have made the wilderness, and the barren land his dwellings. He scorneth the multitude of the city, neither regardeth he the crying of the driver. The range of the mountains is his pasture, and he scarcheth after every of green thing." The wild ass is also alluded to by the prophet Jeremiah, and in other passages Scripture. The food of the wild asses consists of the saltest plants of the deserts, such as the atriplex, kali, and chenopodium, and also the bitter milky tribes of herbs. They also prefer salt water to fresh. This is exactly conformable to the words in the Book of Job already quoted, descriptive of "the barren land" as their dwellings, which, according to Bochart, should be rendered "salt places." Equus zebra. Linnæus. + Equus quagga. Asinus onager. Asinus sylvestris. Pliny.-Equus onager. Brisson.-Koulan, or wild ass. Pennant.-Equus hémionus, wild ass of Kutch and the Indus. Sykes.-Hemoine, or dziggtai. Lesson.-Wild ass. Bell.-In KLEIN's Système Naturel Règne Animal they are named as follows: ANE SAUVAGE, asinus sylvestris, asinus ferus or onager, which last term is derived from the Greek. |