. r* t i)®» .^ « n 'rw«- ^f,f- Cornell XDlniverstt^ Xibrari? OF THE IRew l^orh State College of Hariculture f\<^.:35^B iSjo Cornell University Library SF 285.H535 fjgjt Hints to horse-keepers.A complete manual 3 1924 003 160 482 The original of tliis bool< is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924003160482 HINTS TO IIORSE-KEEPERS. A OOUFLETE MAOTJAL FOR HORSEMEN; EUBBAOlNO EOW TO BREED A HORSE. HOW TO PHrsIC A H0R3K. HOW TO BUT A HORSE. (AUopathy and Homawpathr.) HOW TO BREAK A HORSE. HOW TO GROOM A HORSE. HOW TO USE A HORSE. HOW TO DRIVE A HORSE. HOW TO FEED A HORSE. HOW TO RIDE A HORSE. AMD OHAPTKBS ON MULES AND PONIES ST TUB LATB HENRY WILLIAM HERBERT. (rsXKK FOSBBTKIb) WITH ADDITIONS, QfOLDDINQ " BAUCHER'S SYSTEM OP HOKSEMANSHir ;" ALSO, GITINO DIRECTION'S FOR THE .SKT.E';T10N A.VD CARE OF CARRIAGES AND HARNESS OF EVERY IIRSCRIP- TION, AND A MEMOIR OF THE AL'THOB. ^awtifullM iUauitrjjliifl. NEW YORK: ORANGE JUDD COMPANY, No. 245 Bboadway. 1881. Entered according to Act of Congreas, in tlie year 1859. bf A. O. MOORE & CO., in xnr Clerk's Offlce of til* District Court for the Soutliern District uf Nrw Tors. THESE HINTS TO HOKSE-KEEPERS g,re rtsptclfnllg bibitattb I0 l^is Jrienb CHAELES A. DANA, A.T WHOSE SUGGE8TIOK THET WERE COMPOSED BY THE AUTHOn. HENEY W. HERBERT, TIte Ceda^ PUBLISHERS' PEEFACB. The basis of the present work is tte valuable matter written by Mr. Heroert shortly before his death, comprised within the first thirteen chapters. An extension of the work was undertaken by the author, and the outline of the remaining chapters was being filled out by him, when that strange and fatal mood overshadowed his life, and terminated his earthly labors. In committing the unfinished task to other hands, we have been particularly fortunate in procuring, for each de- partment, competent and experienced aid ; and if the style of a favorite author is not to be recognized by our readers in all parts of the work, they may derive some compensa- tion fi-om the fact, that by combining the experience or a number of contributors we present a completness and variety not to be expected in the production of any one mind. These Hints to Hoese-Keepers are intended to in- clude every subject of interest to those who, for pleasure or business, own or use a horse. From their comprehensiveness they are necessarily brief and condensed. More elaborate works on each speciality have previously been in the hands of the public, and this volume is not adapted, nor intended, to supplant them; but by presenting in one volume a compend of our valuable standard works, with the latest discoveries and improvements, it is believed wo have answered a demand till now unsupplied. [«] HERBEET. Sfinry "Wiitiara Herbert, more familiarly known as " Fijjfc Forester," was born in London, on the 7th of April, ISOT. His father, the Hon. and Eev. William Herbert, Dean of Manchester, and third son of the Earl of Carnarvon, was a profound scholar, and is well known to the American public as the author of " Attila." His mother, a most estimable ladj'', was the second daughter of Viscount AUyn, of Kildare, a representative peer of Ireland, and is still living in London. Herbert was thus descended from some of the most aristocratic families of Great Britain and Ireland : and to the advantages of birth he joined those of a thorough edu- cation, which commenced under the auspices of private tutors in his father's house, and was continued at Eton and Cambridge, until he graduated from Caius College at the age of twenty-three. His tastes and occupations through life induced a habit of study, and it was recently remarked by a gentleman of New York, whose position brings him in contact with literary men and scholars, that Herbert was one of the best educated men of hia acquaintance. Our author's acquirements at Cambridge were not all of a scholastic nature ; for he there contracted such habits of life, that before he attained the age of twenty-five, he had thrice been "whitewashed" for insolvency; had been flontenced to outlawry for debt; and had emigrated to m ; 8 HERBERT. America, where he soon expended his little remaining money. It is now that his life, as a man, commenced ; and the many difSculties and misfortunes which beset his way, are thus alluded to in his last letter to the press:—" I beai an honorable name ; I have striven hard, in great trial, in great temptation, in a foreign country, in a false position, among men who did not, perhaps could not, sympathize with me, to keep it honorable." Again— " Eemembei also, when you judge me, that of all lives, mine has been almost the most unhappy. No counsellor, no friend, no country have been mine, for six-and-twenty weary years. Every hope has broken down under my foot as soon as it has touched it. Every spark of happiness has been quenched as soon as it has been kindled." For eight years Herbert was a teacher in a school in New York, where he gave the most perfect satis- faction. He was a frequent contributor to the best jour- nals of the day, and an editor of the " American Monthly Magazine." In " The Captains of the Old World," " The Eoman Eepublic," "The Brothers, a tale of the Eronde," " Eingwood the Eover," " Warwick Woodlands," " Crom- well," &c., he has given pleasure and instrucition to many readers. These facts concern Herbert's literary reputa- tion, which was good among distinguished literary men but that which binds him to the hearts of true sportsmen, and lovers of nature, he has won under the nom de plume of " Frank Forester," in the " Field Sports," " Fish and Fishing," "The Deer Stalkers," "-The Complete Manual for Young Sportsmen," etc. More recently, he wrote a very large work on " The Horse of America," and, last of ali, these " Hints to Horse-Keepers." Herbert was twice married ; —first, in 1839, to a Miss Barker, of Bangor, whither he had accompanied a gentle- ; HEEBERT. 9 man of New York, a literary friend, for the purpose ol acting as groomsman at tlie marriage of his friend and the lady in question. With the variableness of a woman. Miss Barker made a bridegroom of the groomsman, and cast an enduring shadow over the life of her former suitor. The only child by this wife was a son, now living in England, at the age of eighteen. Mrs. Herbert died in 1846. In February of 1858, Herbert married a lady from Prov- idence, R. I., after a brief and romantic acquaintance. His affection for her seems to have been unbounded ; but —whether on account of habits long ago contracted, or in consequence of the slanders of meddlesome neighbors, the world does not know, and has no right to inquire—she left him ; and he, broken down by this last great sor ow of a life of sorrows, committed suicide at the Stevens House in New York, on the 17th day of April, 1858. He was buried in the cemetery adjoining his place, " the Cedars," near Newark, N. J. The character of Herbert is a difi&cult one to criticize but it is very certain that his intellectual attainments, his great love for everything in nature, and his power of com- municating that love to his readers, by far outweigh in importance his faults, which were those of the head and not of the heart. In no line that he ever wrote is there an improper tendency, or the expression of an impure thought. Judged by his works, he appears preeminently a good man. Judged by what is known of his life, he appears to have been prevented only by faults which were the inheritance of a misspent youth, from becoming a bright example of combined greatness and goodness. 1* — CONTENTS CHAPTER I. HOW TO BREED A HOHSB—CHOICE OP STA1LI3K. National Talue of the Horse—The best class of Horses the cheapieat for all purposes—What constitutes excellence—Blood : what it gives ; should be on the side of the Sire—Breed up, not down—Diseases and Defects Hereditary—General Rules 1? CHAPTER II. HOW TO BREED A HORSE—CHOICE OF THE MARE. Size, Symmetry and Soundness more important than Blood— Points of the Brood Mare—Diseases Hereditary—Condition of the Mare—Should have moderate work when with Foal—Food and care during gestation —Health and temper—General Rules 25 CHAPTER III. HOW TO BREED A HOBSE—MUTUAL ADAPTATION OP SIRE AND DAM. First consideration in Improvement of " cold " Blood—Relative size of Sire and Dam—Defects in either Parent—How Remedied in Progeny Bloods which " hit"—General Rules 36 CHAPTER IV. HOW TO BREED A HORSE—CANADIAN BLOOD. Hie Canadian originally the French Norman—Characteristics —Hardihood- Speed—Mode of Improvement— Crossing with Thorough-breds - 4B — 12 CONTENTS. CHAPTER V. HOW TO BREED A HOESE—NORMAN BLOOD. Origin and History of the Percheron Norman—^A pure race—Charactorialia aud Points—Importation into this country - • - - 51 CHAPTER VI. HOW TO BREED A HORSE—MODERN ARAB BLOOD. English and American Thorough-breda derived from Oriental Blood— are now superior to the Modem Arabs—Nolan Arab - - - 68 CHAPTER Vn. PONIES—THEIR DIPFEEENT BREEDS, CHARACTERISTICS AND UTILITT. Unknown to the Ancients—Origin—Diflferont Breeds—Shetlands and Scote —Galloways and Narragansetts—Mustangs and Indians—Profit of rais- ing Ponies ..........68 CHAPTER Vni.