Daily independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 188?-1915, 1892-05-21
SOLOMON AS a AoRsEMAN,

ne Was One OF the Earliest Breeders Of
the Noble Animal.
BY a great many people Arabia is
supposed to be the home Of the horse.
From ancient Roman, Grecian and Jew
lsh history we readily learn, says a
writer in the Western Sportsman, that
the horse was not known in Arabia
long after he was a common factor in
the life of southern Europe. The horse
was scarcely known to the Hebrews
prior to the days of Solomon, that
worthy and illustrious sovereign having
been brought into closer contact with
the horse by his marriage to q daugh-
ter of Pharoah, the reigning king of
Egypt, whose gorgeous wedding outfit
was supplemented by a large number of
elegant horses, adapted alike to the serv-
ice of war and the chase
The appearance of those beautiful an
finals, as they sped swiftly along the
streets of Jerusalem, excited the envy
of few jealous princes, but added to
Solomon's popularity with the masses.
After his marriage with the Egyptian
princess, Solomon began buying horses
from his father-iR-law> and so rapidly
dia he multiply them by purchase and
use required, as it is written: -Four
thousand stables and forty thousand
stalls" Hence, when honored by a
visit from the beautiful Queen of Sheba,
bringing with her "camels bearing
spices and very much gold and precious
stones" it was doubtless in contcmpla-
ton of his magnificent stud of horses
and chariots, kept for the amusement of
his wives, as well as for display of power
and magnifcence, that her majesty ex-
claimed in the fullness of admiration:
"Howbeit 1 believed not the words I'M
til I came and mine eyes had seen it;
and, behold, the half was not told me-
We find the best of cavalry in ancient
times. The Greeks ran against sei
rious Problem in the Persian light horse
when they first trod the soil of Asia
Minor They were nothing like so
good horsemen as the Asiatics until
Alexandcr's companion showed them
what drill could do, and the Roman was
still less apt. Philip, Of Macedon, first
utilized the excellent material of the
Thessalian plains and organized cav
airy which, from it's mancuyers and
fighting, must have consisted of adj
mirable horsemen. The ancicnts rode
without saddles Or stirruPs on blanket
or pad, or bareback, and in spite of thtg
fact, or perhaps by reason of it, rode OK
tremely well. 1t Is wonderful what
fcats of military craftsmanship the bare
back rider could perform in the age of
what we might call gymnastie equess
trianism.
Nothing but the knowledge Of our
old-time Indian enables us to credit the
historical accounts of his agility and
skill When centuries later saddles
came into use, there grew up two schools
of riding-that of the mailed warrior,
whose iron armor well chimed in with
his tongues on the wall''-seated in his
packed saddle, and that of the Oriental
whose nose and knees all but touched
Why the eastern rider clings to his ex-
tresnely short feathers is hard to say,
unless Il be to place him the higher
above his horse, and therefore to make
him the more imposing when he stands
up in his stirrups to brandish scimitar
or matchbox. Yet he is wonderful
rider, this same Oriental, as, indeed, is
every man who from youth up is the
companion of the horse.