Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1882-12-02
THE WALKING HORSE.
How to Improve It.


The English have saying GA riding
horse is not worth its corn if it cannot
walk we'll We condense some excel.
lent walking talk from an English
contemporary.
The walk is one of principal PAGES
OF town hack, one OF the greatest lux.
uries of a Woodworking man, be he law.
yer, doctor, artist, Judge, politician OF
| city tinancer. A horse may be very
good hunter, yet a bad walker, but then
he is only fit for the stable of a rich
man. A hunter that can walk safely
| and fast home is a luxurious treasure.
The walk is the pace that may be
vastly improved, without the rider hav-
ing any of the natural and acquired tai.
ents OF the professional horse breaker.
But he must have patience. "To make
hack walk WE'LL" says the author Of
"The Book of the Horse" "there is
nothing more stupid than i'll temper, the
use of whip, and the abuse of spurs"
A hack to make first-clsss walker
| must have the courageous temperament
that never SHES, when once settled
| down from early morn freshness, and
| also the natural form and action that
make him carry his head in the right
place, and step out of the ground 2
-Four miles an hour at a stretch. done
! In harmonious cadence at the FIRST ask
ing, without stumbling, dropping, shut
fling or breaking, is very good work.
10 do five miles an hour in good form,
is a very rare performance.
We are told that there are some horses
that can walk six miles an hou. with q
light load, but have never seen anything
like this. We were once riding a nearly
thoroughbred horse, over sixteen hands
high, with the Wild Staghounds, and
left off nine miles from the horses sta
BILE. He did the distance and brought
us back in time to dress for dinner. in
an hour and twenty minutes. That is
about five miles and one-third of q mile
in an hour.
To improve the walk the first step is
to sit down on the horse and ride at a
sharp pace until he is settled, without
fatiguing him. Then, if he is young, be
content with the slowest pace of walk
| ing, as long as he does not break and
jog. At every break he must be stopped
firmly, collected, and made to begin
again. This is best practiced in return
ing home to your hacks stable and
| corn. Of course, it is of no use to waste
time over an aged hack whose habits are
fixed, or horse foaled to stumble all
his life.
The young one must be firmly and
tenderly held, so that he will be COM
PEELED to move each leg alternately and
evenly. By judicious, smooth, firm
and even grasp of the reins, the curb
reins held very lightly, the horses head
will be drawn into the right place (pro-
yided always that it be properly put on
his neck, and thus induce him to bring
his hind legs under him in regular time.
in support of his fore legs. While the
reins restrain him, the spurs, gently
used, urge him, and his corn invites him
to step out his best. By these means,
patiently practiced day after day, q really
clever hack will get into the habit of walk
ing at his best pace as soon as the rider
mounts and indicates by the pressure of
his legs that such is his pleasure.
Young horses and thoroughbreds
drafted from the turf into hack or hun
ter stables should be often ridden across
the deep burrows OF plowed clay fields
both at the walk and trot. Riding across
turnips set on the ridge will improve the
action Of 4-year-olds both at the walk
and trot, if their fore limbs are so made
as to be capable of high, true action.
Finally, with time and patience, most
young horses style and pace in walking
can be greatly improved.