"Look back at our struggle for freedom.

Trace our present day's strength to the source

And you'll find that man's pathway to glory

Is strewn with the bones of the horse." (Unknown)

I used The Royal Canadian Mounted Police: a Century of History, 1873 - 1973, by Nora Kelly in a paper I wrote once (a long time ago, it seems). The RCMP started out as the North-West Mounted Police, patrolling the wilderness areas of Canada (a rather vast territory). It would evolve into the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, most familiar to us because of their red coats and distinctive hats. And the wonderful musical ride! I was unable to find a synopsis of this book on-line, but I remember it being very interesting, and with black and white pictures.

The Pony Express: an Illustrated History by C.W. Guthrie with photographs by Bart Smith. A history of the pony express, from the idea to the last day, the routes, the riders, the horses, the weather ... easy to read, lots of photos.

Working Horses: Looking Back 100 Years to America's Horse Drawn Days, by Charles Philip Fox, contains (according to the title page) 300 Historic Photographs. This book came out in 1990, so it's a bit more than 100 years ago now that America was in the

horse drawn days but other than that, it's a wonderful look back. It was a time when horses and carts were used to deliver everything from coal, to ice, the mail, groceries ... and in one amazing photo, tomatoes to the Campbell soup processing plant ... at least 30 wagons fill the parking lot. There were wagons designed to sweep the streets, and wagons that could lay asphalt. Some wagons were big enough to move houses! Horses helped move logs, and hay ... you get the idea, anything and everything that needed moving could be done with horses. Stage coaches, trolley cars, family wagons, hearses,fancy carts for going out. and, of course, plows ... the pictures here seem to cover everything. Weather problems and solutions are discussed, as are the more unusual vehicles such as an ambulance, fire truck or livestock truck. There's a chapter on the horses, and one on mules, and on the various types of harness needed. This is one of my favorite books to revisit on a regular basis. :-)

There is a chapter on circus horses in the Working Horses book, but A Pictorial History of Performing Horses by the same author, goes into much greater detail. Again, the author has done a wonderful job on the research and writing as well as gathering up an amazing collection of pictures. Circus horses may be found on these pages, as are those in wild west shows and rodeos, and some of the curious 'special' acts (such as diving horses).

Horses were used in wars for a long time, so The Story of the U.S. Cavalry 1775 - 1942, by John K. Herr and Edward S. Wallace covers just a part of this history. I'll admit, I read this book because of my love for horses, but I much prefer a more social type of history book to all the military strategy this one provided.

A later post will include various books on dressage, polo and so forth, but this seemed like a good place to stop today.

Reading Hermit With Dog