Jasper County Democrat, Volume 15, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 July 1912 — Horse-Loving Xenophon. [ARTICLE]

Horse-Loving Xenophon.

We may breed different types of horses, and we may harness and use ( them differently; but the points of excellence that combine to form the most perfect horse are no different in one age than another. Xenophon, it is true, attached some importance to points that we care much less about now—as, for instance, a smooth, round back that is ‘easy to sit upon,’ ■which was owing to the fact that the Greeks did not use saddles, but only a cloth, fastened to the horse’s body by a surcingle; but these are minor matters. He knew the points of a good horse, and he knew horse nature. And he had, too, that delight in horses that is found only in the true horseman, the man who loves as well as knows them. "It is upon horses,” says he, “that gods and heroes are painted riding; and men who are able to manage them skillfully are regarded as deserving of admiration. So extremely beautiful and admirable and noble a sight is a horse that bears himself superbly that he, fills the gaze of all who see him, both young and old; no one, Indeed, leaves him or is tired of contemplating him as long as he continues to display his magnificent attitudes.”—From the Atlantic.