Shall I say something about the use of the horse in hunting? This has long been a common sport in England and Ireland, much more so than in this country. The owners of large estates in the British islands often keep large packs of hounds, trained to chase the fox or the deer, and known as fox-hounds and deer-hounds. Their stables are also filled with horses, trained to run at full speed over rough country and jump high fences and wide ditches.
The hunting of deer and hares is an old form of sport, centuries old, but now fox-hunting is liked better, and great care is taken to protect the foxes for the use of the hunters. Fox-hunting is very hard work for horses and only a good horse can be used as often as twice a week in a fox-chase. There is a story of a deer hunt by the king's hounds and horses where the chase was kept up nearly five hours over wild country. It was so hard on horses and men that many of the riders had to give up, two horses died in the field and seven others during the week. A run of this length over rough ground, with all sorts of obstacles in the way, will kill or badly injure the strongest horse.
Trained hunters can do wonderful feats of jumping over fences and ditches, but this leads to many accidents, and the injury or death of horse or rider in the hunting field often takes place.
In far past times the horse was used in war far more than in our days. Men can now kill one another fast enough without the use of horses, but large numbers are still used in the army, to haul wagons and guns and for those who fight on horseback. In ancient days no saddle was used, soldiers riding their horses bareback, though the great men of the armies rode in war-chariots. The old Roman horsemen did not use bits or bridles, but guided their horses by a headband which pressed on the nose, the reins being fastened to rings on this band. In later Roman times the saddle was used, but the Germans they fought with still rode bareback or used the skin of an animal for a saddle. They did not use stirrups. It was the same with the great Tartar riders, who came from the steppes of Asia and conquered great part of Europe and Asia.
In the days of chivalry, when the knights wore steel armor and used heavy harness, large and strong horses had to be ridden, but in later days much lighter horses served for the soldiers' needs. Those who have read of Napoleon's wonderful campaigns know how much use he made of his cavalry, and many horses are still used in war, though not so many as of old.