The Horse and His Rider: Or, Sketches and Anecdotes of the Noble Quadruped, and of Equestrian NationsSpringfield, Rollo
History
The Horse and His Rider: Or, Sketches and Anecdotes of the Noble Quadruped, and of Equestrian Nations
Springfield, Rollo
Horsemen and horsewomen; Horses; Horses -- Anecdotes
In the “Edinburgh Journal of Natural History,” we find the following
passage:—“We are assured by Mr. Youatt, that in Auvergne fat soups are
given to cattle, especially when sick or enfeebled, for the purpose of
invigorating them. The same practice is observed in some parts of North
America, where the country people mix, in winter, fat broth with the
vegetables given to their cattle, in order to render them more capable
of resisting the severity of the weather. These, broths have been long
considered efficacious by the veterinary practitioners of our own
country in restoring horses which have been enfeebled through long
illness. It is said by Peall to be a common practice in some parts of
India to mix animal substances with the grain given to feeble horses,
and to boil the mixture into a sort of paste, which soon brings them
into good condition, and restores their vigour. Pallas tells us that the
Russian boors make use of the dried flesh of the Hamster reduced to
powder, and mixed with oats; and that this occasions their horses to
acquire a sudden and extraordinary degree of _embonpoint_. Anderson
relates, in his ‘History of Iceland,’ that the inhabitants feed their
horses with dried fishes when the cold is very intense, and that these
animals are extremely vigorous, though small. We also know that in the
Feroe Islands, the Orkneys, the Western Islands, and in Norway, where
the climate is very cold, this practice is also adopted; and it is not
uncommon in some very warm countries,—as in the kingdom of Muskat, in
Arabia Felix, near the straits of Ormuz, one of the most fertile parts
of Arabia, fish and other animal substances are there given to the
horses in the cold season, as well as in times of scarcity.”
From horses eating to horses eaten, the transition is easy and natural.
Wherever the animal exists in an unreclaimed state, its flesh is a
staple article of food. The Kirghis Kassaks pursue it with hawks, and
shoot it with arrows, or drive it into the Caspian Sea to be drowned.
The Calmucks, Mongols, and other Tartars, make use of horse meat, and
manufacture a weak spirit, called koumiss, from mare’s milk. The mounted
Indians of South America have no other food than the flesh, milk, and
blood of their mares, which they never ride; and the only luxury in
which they indulge habitually, is that of washing their hair in mare’s
blood. They are fond indeed of intoxicating liquors, which they drink to
excess when they can procure them from the white men; but this happens
only on rare occasions, and they have none of their own manufacture.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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