The Horses of the Sahara 14

The Horses of the Sahara 14

When from twenty-four to twenty seven months old, the colt is for the

first time saddled and bridled, but with every precaution. For instance,

he is not saddled until quite used to the bridle. For the first few days

the bit is covered with undressed wool, partly with a view not to hurt

his bars, and partly to allure him to docility by the saltish flavour of

which he is so fond. When he begins to champ the bit, the task is nearly

accomplished. This preparatory exercise takes place morning and evening.

Thus sagaciously handled, the young animal will be ready to be mounted

in the early part of the autumn, when he will be less tormented by the

flies and heat. Wealthy owners, before they allow their colt to be

mounted by a grown-up man, sometimes have him led up and down gently for

a fortnight, with a pack-saddle on his back supporting two baskets

filled with sand. He thus gradually passes from the weight of the child

that first bestrode him to that of the man who is about to mount him.

 

Suppose the colt now to have completed two years and a half. His

vertebral column has acquired strength. The clogs, the saddle and the

bridle are familiar to him. A cavalier mounts on his back. The animal is

certainly very young, but he will be ridden only at a walking pace, and

his bit will be a very easy one. The main point is to accustom him to

obedience. The owner without spurs and holding only a light cane in his

hand which he uses as little as possible, rides him to the market, or to

visit his friends, his flocks and pastures, and attends to his affairs

without exacting anything more than submission and docility. This he

ordinarily obtains by never speaking to him except in a low voice,

without passion, and carefully avoiding anything likely to elicit

opposition that must result in a contest from which he might come forth

conqueror, but at the expense of his horse. Particular importance is

attached to keeping the young animal still and quiet for a few minutes

before letting him start. At a later period, his owner will not fail to

reap the benefit of this excellent practice.

 

The common people sometimes mount their colts before they are two years

and a half old, and if reproached for doing so, they answer: "You are

quite right; we know that, but how can it be helped? We are poor, and

have no choice but to act in this manner or go on foot. We prefer the

former alternative, notwithstanding its disadvantages. In the perilous

life we lead, the present moment is everything."

 

Seeing the Arabs employ their colts so early, mounting the two-year olds

and exacting from them considerable fatigue, and forced marches, and

using them even as pack-horses without regard to their age or strength,

many persons have concluded that this people knew nothing about the

proper mode of managing horses, and have even denied that they had any

love for the animal. Such persons, however, cannot have taken into

account that sometimes to save their families, sometimes their property,

and frequently to obey the summons of the holy war (_djehad_) these

Arabs are obliged to use whatever materials come to hand. They are

compelled to employ their horses through the necessities that beset

them, and through circumstances quite beyond their control, but they are

perfectly aware that it would be better not to do so.

 

It is also when he is about thirty months old that the colt is taught

not to break loose from his rider when the latter sets foot to earth,

and not even to stir from the spot where the bridle has been passed over

his head and allowed to drag on the ground. Especial care is taken in

teaching this lesson, because it is one of great importance in Arab

life. The same means is adopted in this case, as in accustoming the colt

to the clogs. A slave stands beside him, who puts his foot on the bridle

whenever the animal is about to go off, and thus gives a disagreeable

shock to the bars of his mouth. After a few days of this exercise he

will stand stock still at the spot where he has been left, and will wait

for his master for days together. This practise is so universal

throughout the Sahara that the first thing an Arab does after killing

his adversary, if he wants his horse, is to pass the bridle quickly over

his head. The animal then remains perfectly still and allows the

conqueror time to despoil his fallen foe: without this precaution it

would have rejoined its _goum_.

 

Here is a scene we have all witnessed. An Arab arrives at the market,

and dismounts in the midst of a score of horses or mares. You suppose

that he is going to give his animal to some one to hold. Not so: he

passes the bridle over his neck, lets it fall on the ground, and placing

a stone upon it goes without disquietude to transact his business. Two

hours afterwards he returns, finds that his horse has not moved from the

spot where he left him—and to which he probably fancied himself

fastened—gets on the saddle and returns to his own people.

 

From the age of two and a half to three years the system already

indicated continues to be applied with a view to confirm the young

animal in the docile habits so essential in war time. Pains too are

taken to make him very quiet to mount, by using every precaution. In his

life of perilous adventure the Arab has need, before all things, of a

horse easy to mount. Lessons to this effect will be renewed day after

day until they are no longer necessary: but not too long at a time for

fear of tiring out the colt. At first the owner will be assisted by two

men, one of whom will hold the bridle and the other the stirrup, and

after a while he will succeed in producing a statue-like immobility.

Sick and ill-shaped horses, say the Arabs, alone prove unteachable.

 

From three to four years old more is expected from a horse, but at the

same time he is better fed. He is now ridden with spurs and, being

thoroughly grounded in the foregoing lessons, he gives proof of mettle

and learns to fear nothing. The cries of the animals living in the same

_douar_, the roaring of the wild beasts that prowl around during the

night, and the constant discharge of fire-arms, soon prepare him for

war.

 

However, if notwithstanding all the careful management we have

described, a horse takes to rearing either through laziness or vice, or

to plunging, or biting, or refuses to leave the tent or the other

horses, recourse is had to the potency of spurs. These are made very

sharp, and their point is bent in the form of a slightly rounded hook.

With these instruments the rider draws long bloody wheals along the

animal's belly and flanks, which inspire him with such terror that he

becomes as tame as a lamb and will track his master out like a dog.

Horses that have undergone this punishment rarely relapse into their

former faults. To increase the potency of the spurs, salt or gun powder

is rubbed into the still bleeding wounds. The Arabs are so convinced of

the efficacy of this chastisement that they do not look upon a horse as

thoroughly trained for war until he has passed through this terrible

experience. At the same time that the rider uses the spurs to chastise a

decidedly restive horse, he strikes him a little behind the headstall of

the bridle with a short thick stick, with which he is always provided

when he means to break in an animal of this kind.

 

In certain localities to prevent a horse from rearing they attach an

iron ring to his ear. If he tries to rise up a smart blow with a stick

is struck upon this ring, the pain thus caused soon sickening the animal

of his bad "defence." To cure a horse of plunging, he is mounted with

his tail towards a thick thorny shrub (_gandoule_). He is then urged

forward, but jibs, lashes out, and pricks himself. However, after a few

lessons of this kind, he breaks himself of his abominable habit.

 

The Arabs declare that spurs add one-fourth to the rider's horsemanship,

and one-third to the spirit of the animal, and illustrate their

assertion by the following fable:

 

"When beasts were first created, they had the gift of speech. The horse

and the camel took an oath never to harm one another but to live, on the

contrary, with a perfect mutual understanding. An Arab placed in a

critical position by one of the chances of war, saw with despair the

flight of the camel on which he had hoped to save his property. There

was no time to lose. 'Bring my horse!' he exclaims, and leaps on his

back. He scolds him, beats him, gives him the heel. All in vain. The

horse stirs not a step, remembering the promise made to his friend. The

Arab then puts on his spurs, which he carried in his _djebira_,[37] and

the horse, smarting with his torn flanks, springs forward, and speedily

overtakes the runaway. 'Ah! traitor!' cried the camel, 'thou hast

violated our compact; thou tookest an oath never to do me any harm, and

yet thou hast replaced me in the power of my tyrant.' 'Accuse not my

heart,' replied the horse, 'I refused to move, but "the thorns of

misery" have brought me up to thee.'"

 

It is not an easy task to use the spurs properly. Horsemen who possess

that talent are cited even among the Arabs. Some are only able to urge

on their steed by constantly tickling his flanks without wounding him.

Others are acquainted only with the _tekerbeâa_, or the art of clashing

their iron spurs against their iron stirrups in order to frighten the

animal. The most skilful alone know how to raise those bloody wheals to

which we have already alluded. When it is said of a horseman that he

marks his horse with wheals from the navel to the vertebral column, the

highest compliment has been paid to him. During my residence at Mascara,

how often have I heard the Arabs assert, by way of vaunting the

horsemanship of their Emir: "Abd-el-Kader! why, he crosses his spurs on

his horse's loins!"

 

These spurs are dangerous for inexperienced horsemen, who sometimes

prick the animal on the kneepan and so lame him if the wound be deep.

And if a horse comes down, the spur is very apt to run into him. For

this reason the Arabs generally have the leathers of their spurs

tolerably loose, in order to obviate by their slackness, their own

awkwardness. It also enables them to disembarrass themselves more

quickly in battle if their horse happens to be killed and they are

compelled to flee on foot to save their lives. On the same grounds they

prefer in a serious combat loose-fitting shoes to boots. Our spurs they

look upon as utterly inefficient. "What benefit, in a case where your

life is at stake do you expect to get from them with a horse already

knocked up? They are good only for tickling a horse and to make him

restive. With our spurs we draw every thing out of him. As long as there

is life in him, we will get it out of him: they lose their effect only

in presence of death."

 

Every Arab trains his own horse. In the Sahara the only riding masters

are practice, tradition, and example. A reputation as a good rider is

only acquired after many proofs of skilfulness. It is not sufficient to

be competent to manage a horse on level ground. It is necessary, gun in

hand, to make the most of him at a rapid pace over a broken, wooded, and

difficult country, "Such a one," say they, "is a horseman of the gun,

while so-and-so is only a horseman of the heel." Perfection implies

equal skill with the gun and the heel. They even go so far as to

institute a difference between one who rides well over dry ground, and

one who rides boldly over slippery ground. They distinguish between the

horseman of summer and the horseman of winter.

 

What experience must not such an apprenticeship lay up! There is one

point, however, which they entirely overlook—they never trouble

themselves as to which leg the horse puts foremost. An Arab horse as

always power and well formed shoulders which, owing to his practice as a

colt of grazing on mountains, in woods, and on broken ground, have

become far better developed than they would have been by means of the

plate-longe and the riding school. He is also easy in his paces because

the rider yields to all the movements of his body and never sets himself

against them. I may add that the Arab has a perfect seat, and though he

rides very short he makes up for that disadvantage by wearing very long

spurs which, by the slightest movement of the leg, catch the horse on

the flank, compel him to bring his hind-legs under the centre of

gravity, keep him in hand, and place his head as correctly as if he had

acted upon our best system of horsemanship.[38]