Astonishing Examples of Horses' Speed and Endurance.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXV, Issue XIV, 6 October 1900, Page 646

Astonishing Examples of Horses' Speed and Endurance.

At a time when the fortune of war depends very largely on the speed and stamina of horses, it may be interesting to recall some of the most remarkable feats of endurance of horses and their riders.

One of the most astonishing- on record is the historic ride from Cape Town to Grahamstown by Colonel Smith, later known to fame as Sir Harry Smith, the doughty opponent of the Bee’s and Governor of the then new-born Colony of Natal. This famous ride, which carries us back two genenit ions, was through the heart of 50(1 miles of hilly country, much of it trackless or with only the roughest apologies for roads. The gallant horseman covered the distance, which is 500 miles in a straight line, within six days: or. allowing for deviati n-, at a nite of at least 100 miles a day. An almost more remarkable example of speed and endurance was Colonel Townley’s ride from Belgrade to Constantinople. Colonel Townley was one of the Queen’s messengers, and carried despatches of the utmost importance and urgency. Riding night and

day, with only a few minutes snatched now and then for rest and refteshment, he reached Constantinople in a little over 130 hours, having covered an average distance of over I'o miles a day for nearly five and a half days.

just twenty years ago two French cavalry officers undertook for a wager of 20,000 francs to ride from Paris to Vienna in seven days, confining themselves to a fresh horse for each day’s ride. As the distance between the two capitals is 640 miles in a straight I ne, and probably at least 840 miles by road, the riders had set themselves a formidable task. By careful husbanding of their horses they managed to complete their journey with an hour to spare; but of the fourteen horses ridden no fewer than seven died from exhaustion. Two years later an Austrian coi n 4 rode from Vienna to Turin, a distan e of 720 miles, in five days and twentythree hours; and was so little fatigued that after a day’s rest he started on the return journey on horseback, this time, however, allowing himself a fortnight for the trip. Eight years ago an Austrian lieutenant and his horse performed a

very creditable feat in journeying from Vienna to Berlin, a distance of 427 miles, within three days. It is a pity that we have not a few thousands of horses of equal stamina in South Africa.

During last century many marvellous feats of horsemanship were performed. ehiefly under the stimulus of heavy bets. In the first year of George 111., 1760, a sporting publican, who in his younger days had been a jockey, covered a distance of 400 miles on the London and Bath Road within twentyeight hours; and fifteen years earlier an innkeeper of Stilton rode to London and back, a distance of cons'derably over 200 miles, in a little over twelve hours. In both these cases there was no restriction as to the number of horses ridden.

It is interesting to compare these records, made under the most favourable conditions, with the distances covered by cyclists on English roads. In 1898 Mr F. R. Goodwin rode 428 miles within twenty-four hours on a bicycle; M. A. Holbien and J. A. Bennett have covered 397} miles in the same time on a tandem-safety; and Mr F. T. Bidlake has a road record

of 356} miles on a single tricycle. In twelve hours Mr F. R. Goodwin has ridden no less than 224 miles on a safety, a distance which perhaps no horseman, even with unlimited mounts, has covered in the same time.

In 1754 a Durham sportsman, riding ten hirses, covered a distance of fifty miles in Ihr. 49min. The same distance has been ridden by a cyclist (E. Bouhours) in nearly 22inin less time.

For shorter distances the horse develops remarkable rates of speed, although the speediest horse in the world is not at any distance a match for a champion cyclist. An American horse, Star Pointer, has trotted a mile, with pacing, in Imin. 59} sec., or at a rate of slightly over thirty miles an hour; and an unpaced mile has been trotted by Alix in 2min. 3ssec. For a short distance a first-cla'-s racehorse can reach a speed not much short of forty miles an hour. A Derby winner performs its journey of a little over a mile and a half at a rate of thirty-three and a half miles an hour or four miles an hour less than the rate of a leading cyclist over the same distance.