Books About the Horse

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22437, 25 June 1938, Page 18

Books About the Horse

AN ARCHITECT’S ESSAYS {from the Ground Up. Collected Pancrs of A. R. Powys. With an Introduction bv- J. C. Powvs, J. M. Dent an* l Sons Ltd. 179 pp. (6/Piet). Through Whit combe and Tombs Ltd.

“The growth of the nation is best served by using its ancient inheritance; it will be ill served if the old is assumed to have ho value except to sentimentalists or historians/’ Readers of the “London Mercury” and “Time and Tide” remember very well the architectural writings of Mr A. R. Powys. He died two years ago, not famous, indeed with few monuments to recall his name; but readers of his articles will recall their interest, bejause the Writer always returned to the simplest principles, wnich he set forth with the firmness of granite and with the plainness of on of his own facades. His public life was devoted to organisations to preserve ancient buildings, but here he was no reckless praiser of the old. Ha required strength and beauty in the works he fought to save. Such an occupation and such an enthusiasm were tiExural to a member of his family. Indeed his more famous brothers have fought and are fighting for the same causes, sometimes for strength of made things, sometimes for strength of spirit. An elder brother, J* C. -Powys, has written an admirable memoir of the architect, and there is a fine portrait.

The Story of the Horse. By Major A. J. R. Lamb, D.S.O. Alexander Maclehose. 320 pp. (12/6 net.) Major Lamb chooses this time of the mechanisation of the army “to look back over the romantic story of man’s friend the horse from earliest times to the present day.” The interest of the story is not narrowed by his concentrating largely on the horse in the British Isles. The feeling of romance pervades the book, in spite of the solid foundation of historical fact. Paleolithic man was interested in the small horse of his day. as a pet and as food. Shortly he found uses for his pet; and from that time on the rise of races and peoples has been intimately connected with the superiority of their horses —their main engines of war. The author, tracing the history of strains that by one mean': or another were introduced into England, takes us warring, and incidentally learning something of battle tactics and early civilisations, in !- North Africa, Arabia, ‘ Persia, Greece, Rome, Spain and the Rhineland. It was to mares in ; which these various strains were blended that the eastern sires, introduced in the. seventeenth century and later, were mated. From these are descended all the splendid horses of the present day. The success with which qualities specially needed in different circumstances and periods, have been bred for is striking and fascinating; draughts fit to carry heavily armoured knights, strong but fast horses for coaching: hackneys, cavalry mounts, hunters, ponies, and racehorses. Stories of the speed, stamina, endurance, and courage of horses are cited from the annals of racing, steeplechasing, and cavalry campaigning. It is interesting to read that Major Lamb considers there are still types of army action in which cavalry is indispensable.

Light Horses and Light Horse Keeping. By Frank Townend Barton, M.RC.V.S, Capt., late R.A.V.C. Jarrolds. 336 pp. (12/6 net.) Through Whitcombe and Tombs Ltd.

Captain Barton’s book is written more from a veterinarian’s point of view than a historian’s. It falls into two parts. In the first are sections dealing with the history of the horse, in England particularly, after the introduction of Arab and Barb blood. Other sections describe the points of the ponies and horses of the present day. with many good illustrations; the thoroughbred, with particular mention of several celebrated horses; the hack, the hackney, and the hunter; and ponies from the moors, mountains, and forests, as well as nolo nonies and thoroughbred ponies. The value of these last small animals has greatly increased s-’nce the start of nony racing and the formation of the Pony Turf Club. Previously those under 15 hands had practically, no racing' value, and would be sold for £lO or £2O.

The second portion of the book ’’s essentially and soundly practical The scope is wide. The author gives useful advice on the buying of saddle horses and on its legal aspects, and deals with horse transport. the saddle room, stables and stable management, and some foal troubles. There are chapters as well on general and specific diseases, on nursing, on accidents and wounds, on shoes and shoeing, and on pm<rons. There is a list of drugs % with ♦hpir n«ms and doses. .The' wisdom of calling in the veterinary surgeon early is stressed again and again.

An appendix gives an account of the five-toed prototype of the modern horse and its evolution till the appearance of man. There are 30 illustrations.