Bibliothèque mondiale du cheval

« As my name has lately been associated with efforts to abolish the barbarous custom of driving; carriage horses with Gag bearing-reins, sharp Curbs, and atrocious Bits, to show that I do not speak without knowledge and experience, I will sketch a few facts in my past life, bearing on the subject of horses. I do not remember the time when I could not ride. At four years of age I used to accompany a servant to our post town, three miles from my father’s residence, for letters, and before I was five went alone every morning on my pony for them.
My father was an excellent rider, and hunted with Lord Salisbury’s hounds at that time. I used to go out frequently with him. I and my little pony (Moses) were well known to the then Dowager Lady Salisbury, whom I used to follow as well as I could, by scrambling up and down the banks, and along the Hertfordshire lanes. I well remember being sent, at ten years of age, alone, a distance of forty miles to carry a letter, and bring back the answer the next day, that being a quicker way of sending it across the country than by post.
That ride was done on a donkey, a fine Spanish ass, which my father imported with a large flock of Merino sheep. In my eleventh year I went, on that same donkey, from our residence near Hertford to Guildford in Surrey on a similar errand; indeed, at that time, riding and driving formed a large item in my scheme of education, much to my satisfaction.
Then the scene changed : but the ruling passion was still the same. We were in America, bound for what was then the “ Far West.” The road over the Alleghany mountains for long distances was a mere track, or worse. I was then just thirteen, and I drove a pair of horses in an American carriage all the way, three hundred miles, from Philadelphia to Pittsburg. My mother, who was lame, did not like to trust the driving to any one but me. Had I used bearing-reins, curbs, &c. we should soon have come to grief.[…] » Présentation de l’éditeur (1875)

« Le titre a été republié plusieurs fois la même année. Le premier tirage semble avoir été fait à compte d’auteur sous un titre légèrement différent, A few words about bearing reins . » Bibliothèque Mondiale du Cheval