great exertions of mere speed, the horse must be free. A twitch on the
curb may check him at a jump and give him a bad fall. As in racing, a
horse has to learn that his duty is to put all his courage, speed, and
jumping ability into his work, subject only to discreet guidance and
management. But on the road, the exact reverse should be the rule.
There is surely less enjoyment in your Penelope, who to-day can only
walk, or else go a four-minute gait without constant friction, than
there will be when she can vary her gaits and keep up any desired rate
of speed, from a walk to a fifteen-mile trot or a sharp gallop, at the
least intimation of your hands and without discomfort to herself. I
know of nothing more annoying than to be forced by a riding companion
of whichever sex into a sharper gait than either of you wish to go,
because mounted on a fretting horse, who cannot be brought down to a
comfortable rate of speed until all but tired out.
In the hunting-field you expect to go fast for a short time, and it is
alone the speed and the occasional obstacle which lend the zest to the
sport. But for the ride on the road, which to many of us is a lazy
luxury, you need variety in speed as well as gaits for both comfort
and pleasure. Patroclus here will walk, amble, rack, single-foot,
trot, canter, gallop, and run, or go from any one into any other at
will; and every one of these gaits is unmistakably distinct, crisp,
and well performed. Nor have I ever found him any the less
accomplished cross-country, within his limitation of condition and
speed, for having had a complete education for the road. When I give
him his head and loosen my curb, I find him just as free as if I had
never restrained him from choosing his own course. Who can deny that
the pleasure to be derived from such a horse for daily use does not
exceed that to be got from one who can only trot on the road, or run
and jump in the field?
[Illustration: PLATE XIV.
LANDING.]
Perhaps Nelly will never learn so much, for Patroclus is an
exceptionally intelligent and well-suppled horse. But she can learn a
good deal of it. Patroclus had no idea of any gait but a walk or trot
when I bought him, nor did he start with any better equipment than
Penelope; and in less than a year he knew all that he knows now, and
much that he has forgotten. For in the many High School airs which he
once could at call perform, he is altogether rusty from sheer lack of
usage. But the "moral" may remain, though the fable may have long
since passed from the memory.
XLVII.
Some horses, who trot squarely, will go naturally from a walk into a
little amble or pace, which is sometimes called a "shuffle." Often
this is an agreeable and handsome gait, but not infrequently far from
pleasant. Often, too, it will spoil the speed of the walk, as the
horse will insensibly fall into it if pushed beyond his ease. A slower
rate at a faster pace is always easier to a horse than the extreme of
speed at the lesser gait. It is scarcely worth while in the East to
try to teach a horse to amble or rack if he does not naturally do so,
though it can often be done.
Apart from the agreeable and useful side of the true rack as a gait,
it has not a few further advantages. In coming from a canter to a
walk, a horse may be taught to slow up into a rack, and then drop to
the walk, or to stop in the same manner. This enables him to come down
without the least suspicion of that roughness which almost all horses
show when stopping a canter, particularly if done quickly; unless,
indeed, they be "poised" before being stopped, as a School-ridden
horse always is from every gait. Moreover, when you rein a cantering
horse down within the slowest limit of his speed at that pace, as to
allow a team to pass, or for a similar purpose, if he knows how, he
will fall into a rack, from which he can with much more comfort to
himself and you resume the canter, than if he had fallen into a walk.
A rack is not an interruption of the canter, as is a jog or walk, but
a mere _retardando_, as it were. Still a rapid walk, a trot which
varies from six to ten miles, and a well-collected canter suffice for
any of our Eastern needs. These, and the gallop, moreover, are
considered the only permissible paces by the School-riders of Europe.
In our Southern States rackers are bred for, and the instinct is
confirmed by training. In many warm countries, ambling is bred for. I
do not think that any horse with practically but a single gait, as is
usually the case with the ambler or racker, comes up to the requisite
standard of usefulness. Of the two, I should give my preference, in
our latitude, to a mere trotter, if easy, who had a busy walk beside.
But in addition to the trot and canter, any comfortable gait may often
be a relief, and it is eminently desirable, if the horse can learn it
without spoiling his proper paces. Such a gait adds vastly to a
horse's value for the saddle.
I cannot agree with the School-riders that a rack may not be a good
School gait. Patroclus' rack, when collected, is certainly as clean a
performance as any of his other gaits. From it he will drop back to a
walk, or fall into a canter or gallop with either lead, or into a
square trot. And this more quickly than from another gait, for if, in
a canter, the indication to trot be given him out of season, he may be
obliged to complete one more stride before he can execute the order;
whereas, from a rack, which is always a mid-stride for any gait, he
can instantly fall into the one commanded. The indication and
execution are often all but instantaneous from the rack. He is really
more neatly collected on the rack proper than on any other gait,
except the canter; and though the rack is unrecognized as a School
pace, I feel certain that I could convince any master of the Haute
Ecole that within proper limits it is an addition, not a loss, to the
education of a horse. What School-riders mean when they exclude the
rack from School-paces is that a racker has rarely any other gait; and
in the usual loose-jointed rack of the South a horse is certainly not
well enough poised for use in School performances.
XLVIII.
To come back to our original text, then, it is quite impossible to
say, as a whole, what seat is intrinsically the best, or what nation
furnishes the best of riders. It appears to me that there is such a
thing as a _natural_ seat. Such a seat is clearly shown on the frieze
of the Parthenon, and in a less artistic way may be seen among any
horsemen riding without stirrups. Although Xenophon has been
misunderstood in this particular, I feel convinced that his
description calls for what I understand to be the natural seat. And
the best military riders make the nearest approach to this position.
By military seat I by no means intend to convey the idea of a straight
leg, forked radish style. That is not the military seat proper. It is
only in spite of such a seat, or in spite of the short stirrup of the
East, and because they are always in the saddle, that the Mexican
gaucho and the Arab of the desert both ride as magnificently as they
do. The best military rider should, and does, carry the leg as it
naturally falls when sitting on his breech, not his crotch, on the
bare back of a horse. The steeple-chaser, or cross-country rider, for
perfectly satisfactory reasons, has a much shorter stirrup. But on the
road, he should, and generally does, come back more nearly to the
natural length. The main advantage in the very long stirrup which
obtains among so many peoples lies in the possibility of sitting close
on a trot with greater ease, and of using the lasso or whip, or in
having a free hand for their sundry sports or duties. And a high
pommel and cantle are advantageous in helping the rider preserve his
seat when he might be dragged--not thrown--from it in some of his
peculiar experiences. But the perfectly straight leg always bears a
suggestion of the parting advice of the groom to a Sunday rider just
leaving the stable: "Look straight between his hears, sir, and keep
your balance, and you _can't_ come hoff." On the other hand, the
advantages of an extremely short stirrup, such as prevails in the
Orient, are very difficult to be understood at all.
The military riders of every civilized country, where enlistments are
long enough, and where proper care is given to the instruction in
equestrianism, are excellent. It would be curious indeed if men who
devote their lives to the art should not be so. Some of our old army
cavalry officers rode gloriously. Our volunteer cavalry, late in the
war, rode strongly, though not always handsomely. During the past
twenty years the severe work and long marches of our regular mounted
troops have militated greatly against equestrianism as an art. Some of
the most accomplished riders I have ever known have been in the United
States Army. Philip Kearny, that _preux chevalier_, the "one-armed
devil," was in every sense a superb rider. I have seen him with his
cap in one hand, his empty sleeve blowing outward with his speed, and
his sword dangling from his wrist, ride over a Virginia snake fence
such as most of us would want to knock at least the top rail off.
"How he strode his brown steed! How we saw his blade brighten
In the one hand still left,--and the reins in his teeth!
He laughed like a boy when the holidays heighten,
But a soldier's glance shot from his visor beneath!"
And a man who could not follow him did not long remain upon his staff.
One of my lost opportunities occurred for such a reason during Pope's
campaign, when General Kearny, who had dispatched right and left all
his aides, beckoned to me at dusk one evening to ride out and draw the
fire of some of the enemy's troops supposed to be on the edge of a
wood, some half a mile or so distant. My own horse had been shot, and
my equipments lost. I had captured an old farm-horse without a saddle,
and had extemporized a rope bridle. The course lay athwart some open
fields, with a number of fences still standing. My desire to do this
work stood in inverse ratio to my steed's ability to second me. And no
sooner had I ridden up and touched my cap for orders, than the general
had gauged the poverty of my beast and rig, and speedily selected a
better mounted messenger.
During the war, among the volunteer troops, we used in some of the
divisions to organize steeple-chases during a long term of inactive
operations, and good ones we frequently had; the old style
steeple-chase over an unknown course being the fashion, and the
steeple generally a prominent tree, at a distance of a couple of
miles. Often the course was round a less distant tree and back again.
Not a few good riders and horses were forthcoming to enter for such an
event, and I have rarely seen better riding than there. An unknown
course over Virginia fences, and through patches of Virginia second
growth, especially after heavy rains, when mere gutters became rivers
for a number of hours, and the ground was much like hasty-pudding,
could be a test to try the best of horses and horsemen.
These are but isolated examples, instanced only as showing that every
species of hard saddle work is very naturally apt to be cultivated
among men whose duty keeps them in the saddle the better part of every
day. And it is well known that English army officers are among the
very best cross-country riders, and not a few have occupied the
dignity of M. F. H., and done it credit. Surely such a rider, trained
in the niceties of the _manege_, as well as experienced in riding
to hounds, may fitly be placed at the head of the equestrian roll of
honor.
* * * * *
After excluding professionals, then (and exceptional individuals), I
am afraid I must brave criticism in calling the officers of civilized
mounted troops distinctly the best class of riders. Next--perhaps you
will say in the same category--comes that class in England which makes
its one pleasure the prosecution of the most splendid of all sports,
fox-hunting, and has reached perfection in the art. Excluding all
riders who do not belong to the classes available for our imitation,
there comes next, _longo intervallo_, the civilian rider everywhere.
It is impossible to draw any comparison between the above classes and
even our own cowboys, whose peculiar duties and untamed mustangs
prescribe their long leathers and horned pommel. Nor can the
equatorial style be fairly contrasted with what meets the wants of the
denizens of the civilized cities of the temperate zone.
In this country, the Southerner is the most constantly in the saddle,
and a good rider in the sunny South is a thoroughly good rider. But I
have often wondered at the number of poor ones it is possible to find
in localities where everybody moves about in the saddle. Many men
there, who ride all the time, seem to have acquired the trick of
breaking every commandment in the decalogue of equitation. Using
horses as a mere means of transportation seems sometimes to reduce the
steed to a simple beast of burden, and equestrianism to the bald
ability to sit in the saddle as you would in an ox-cart.
I think I have seen more graceful equestriennes in the South than
anywhere else,--than even in England. But I must admit that all women
who ride well possess such attractions for me as perhaps to warp my
judgment in endeavoring to draw comparisons. Who but a Paris could
have awarded the apple?
Although the Southern woman refuses to ride the trot, she has a proper
substitute for it, and her seat is generally admirable. Though I
greatly admire a square trot well ridden in a side-saddle, it is
really the rise on this gait which makes so many crooked female riders
among ourselves and our British cousins. This ought not to be so, but
ladies are apt to resent too much severity in instruction, and without
strict obedience to her master, a lady never learns to ride gracefully
and stoutly. In the South, ladies ride habitually, and moreover a
rack, single-foot, and canter are not only graceful, but
straight-sitting paces for a woman.
It is not to-day risking much, however, to prophesy that within the
lapse of little time our Eastern cities will boast as many clever
Amazons as are to be found in the South. Who can contend that our
Yankee women have not the intelligence, courage, vigor, and grace to
rank with the riders of any clime?
XLIX.
And now, Master Tom, let me again impress upon you that I have been
giving you only the most rudimentary idea of how to train your mare.
By no means expect that Nelly will ever execute the traverse,
pirouette, Spanish trot, or piaffer, let alone trot or gallop
backwards, as these airs should be performed, by any such superficial
education. But you will certainly find her more agreeable, more
tractable, safer, and easier, and you will have both enjoyed the
schooling. And I feel assured that having gone so far you will not
stop short of the next step, the study and practice of the art in its
true refinements. I may, moreover, safely assume that after you have
once owned a School-trained horse, you will never again be content
with what might be appropriately termed the "perfect saddle horse" of
commerce.
Our roads part here,--yours towards the studious shades of Harvard,
mine towards the rolling uplands of Chestnut Hill. Fare you well!
* * * * *
PATROCLUS AND PENELOPE
_A CHAT IN THE SADDLE_
BY
THEODORE AYRAULT DODGE
BREVET LIEUTENANT-COLONEL UNITED STATES ARMY (RETIRED LIST); AUTHOR OF
"THE CAMPAIGN OF CHANCELLORSVILLE," "A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE CIVIL
WAR," ETC., ETC.
ILLUSTRATED WITH FOURTEEN PHOTOTYPES OF
THE HORSE IN MOTION
_Since--as it has been our fortune to be long engaged about horses--we
consider that we have acquired some knowledge of horsemanship, we
desire also to intimate to the younger part of our friends how we
think that they may bestow their attention on horses to the best
advantage._
XENOPHON _on Horsemanship_
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY
BOSTON AND NEW YORK
PATROCLUS AND PENELOPE:
A Chat in the Saddle. By THEODORE AYRAULT DODGE, Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel,
U.S.A. (Retired List), author of "The Campaign of Chancellorsville,"
"A Bird's-Eye View of the Civil War," etc. Illustrated with fourteen
phototypes of the Horse in motion. In one volume, octavo, gilt top,
half roan, $3.00.
CONTENTS: Patroclus and I; Saddles and Seats; Patroclus on a Rack; The
Rack and Single-Foot; Patroclus Trotting; Thoroughbred or Half-Bred;
The Saddle Mania; Park-Riding; A Fine Horse not necessarily a Good
Hack; Soldiers have Stout Seats; A Gate and a Brook; The Old Trooper;
Instruction in Riding; Chilly Fox-Hunting; Is Soldier or Fox-Hunter
the Better Rider? The School-Rider; Patroclus Happy; Photography
versus Art; A One-Man Horse; Baucher's Favorite Saddle Horse;
Patroclus sniffs a Friend; Riding-Schools and School-Riding; Is
Schooling of Value? Manuals of Training; Result of Training; Qualities
of the Horse; Dress, Saddles, and Bridles; Mounting; How to hold the
Reins; How to begin Training; Penelope's Unrestrained Courage; Hints
before beginning to train a Horse; Guiding by the Neck; What an Arched
Neck means; Flexions of the Neck; Flexions of the Croup; The Canter;
Leading with either Shoulder; The Horse's Natural Lead; The Best Way
to teach the Lead; Change of Lead in Motion; Suggestions; How to begin
Jumping; The Reins in the Jump; Odds and Ends of Leaping; Hunting and
Road-Riding; Advantages of True Rack; Who is the Best Rider? Vale!
_This book is written from an experience extending over thirty
years,--in the English hunting-field, the Prussian army, the plains of
the West, active service during the Civil War, and daily riding
everywhere. The author has studied equestrianism as an art, and,
although believing in the Haute Ecole of Baucher, enjoys with equal
zest a ride to hounds or a gallop on the western prairies._
_The experienced equestrian will be delighted by the author's breezy
talk and thorough knowledge of his subject. The young horseman who may
have purchased a colt just broken to harness can by the use of its
hints make him as clever as Patroclus. Even the man who rides but a
dozen times a year will be interested in the book, while the every-day
reader will be charmed by its simplicity, geniality, and heartiness._
NOTICES OF THE PRESS.
The reader must feel that he is in distinctively good company. It is a
running commentary on saddle-riding, and gives the reader much the
same advantages he would have from a season's riding in company with a
gentleman who has ridden in all countries, on all sorts of animals,
and under all sorts of conditions.... One of the most attractive of
recent books.--_Boston Advertiser._
We all love Isaak Walton's talks about fish or John Burroughs's essays
on birds; in the same spirit is this delightful book of Col.
Dodge's.... It is a familiar chat of a man who knows all about
horsemanship and can tell you how to mount or ride, what saddle or
bridle to use, and, at the same time, touch upon life in the saddle
with words which will make your blood tingle.--_Saturday Evening
Gazette_ (Boston).
It consists of a series of essay-like chapters written in a lively,
chatty, conversational manner which makes it charming reading. The
advice is full of hints and suggestions to the experienced horseman as
well as of instructions of the utmost value to the new initiate in the
equestrian art. We are in sympathy with the author before the first
page is turned.--_Yale Literary Magazine_ (New Haven).
The volume consists of a most charming series of chats about horses
and horsemanship by a man who is thoroughly in the spirit of his
subject, and who is not a hidebound partisan of any school of
equestrianism, holding to the catholic belief that there are good
riders in every land and in every species of saddle.--_Army and Navy
Journal_ (New York).
It abounds in excellent suggestions, the fruit of sound experience,
accurate observations, and good common sense. It is an excellent book
for the amateur. Withal it is told in a pleasant, easy way, as if it
had been written in the saddle instead of at the desk.--_Christian
Register_ (Boston).
Col. Dodge combines to an altogether uncommon degree the merit of a
close acquaintance with and real enthusiasm in his subject, and the
quality of a trained literarian. The aspiring equestrian will gain
instruction from the lips of a masterly instructor.--_Christian
Union_ (New York).
Col. Dodge has given the beginner in the art of horsemanship the best
possible introduction to his pleasurable task. The author has had a
much wider store of practical experience in horsemanship than his
predecessors in this field of instruction.--_New York Evening Post._
The practical horseman cannot fail to admire the firm, easy seat which
the beginner will do well to copy. "Patroclus" is ably described, and,
if up to what is said of him, must be a gem of the first
water.--_New York Times._
One who has had some experience in the saddle will derive from it the
same sort of profit and entertainment which might be expected from an
accomplished, observant, clear-headed, and good-natured companion on
the road.--_New York Tribune._
Col. Dodge rode his horse at the time the photographs were taken, and
his skill in horsemanship is exhibited by a seat that was undisturbed
by even the most violent exertions of his steed.--_Sporting and
Dramatic News_ (London).
His horse "Patroclus" is his hero, his mare "Penelope" his heroine,
and the adventures undertaken with the aid of these two good animals
make a story which will fire the blood of every reader.--_Brooklyn
Union._
Col. Dodge has succeeded in giving much excellent advice on the
management of the horse, while at the same time holding the reader's
attention by the interest of the narrative.--_Herald-Crimson_
(Cambridge).
The beginner who will follow the excellent and simple rules of
training given by our author will be sure to win success in the art
and a great deal of pleasure by the way.--_The Nation_ (New York).
Considerable as is the space allotted to jumping, it is not too great
in view of the popularity of cross-country riding. We find in it
nothing to criticise.--_Philadelphia Record._
Written in a pleasant, sympathetic vein and in almost conversational
form, it has an abundance of keen hints and graceful thoughts on
horseback riding as an art.--_Cincinnati Commercial Gazette._
He covers the whole ground of good horsemanship, not as an amateur or
theorist, but as one who knows all the facts with which he
deals.--_San Francisco Chronicle._
Col. Dodge is an expert in all the finesse and paraphernalia of horses
and horseback-riding.... The advice is sound and simple and very
direct.--_The Critic_ (New York).
The chapters on the training of horse and rider are full of sound
information, clearly stated, and practical to the last.--_Journal of
Military Service Institution_ (New York).
A lover of horses will find in this volume a book which will give him
unlimited pleasure.--_The Book-Buyer_ (New York).
This book will be given an enthusiastic welcome by all lovers of
equestrianism.--_Chicago Journal._
The hearty animal spirits which gallop through its pages are
catching.--_New York Mail and Express._
Col. Dodge is a charming teacher.--_Boston Herald._
HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY,
_Publishers_,
BOSTON AND NEW YORK.
End of Project Gutenberg's Patroclus and Penelope, by Theodore Ayrault Dodge