In 1892, around 200 officers of the German and Austro-Hungarian armies competed in a long-distance horse race between Berlin and Vienna. The distance is 391 miles; the winner completed the course in 74 hours (thus averaging just over 5 mph, though presumably he stopped to rest a few times over the course of three days in the saddle!).
Twenty-six of the horses died during the race; many more of them collapsed and died soon afterwards. A British correspondent in Vienna published a horrified account of the affair, condemning the cruelty to the animals that was incurred:
"A general feeling of disgust has been excited throughout Europe by the terrible sufferings inflicted upon the horses which took part in the long-distance race between Berlin and Vienna. Nearly all the horses which took part in the competition have succumbed. A correspondent of the Standard, who paid a visit to the German horses which were quartered in the Austrian Military Riding School, describes the scene as follows:-
"Most of the horses were standing, but propping themselves up against the wall or a post; their trembling legs could hardly support them. Their eyes were dilated with fever, their legs swollen to the most enormous size, their feet inflamed and hoofs sloughing off; some had inflammation of the lungs, others had their bones sticking out, and the flesh had quite fallen in; others, again, were lying down full length, completely exhausted. (...) "The horse of the German officer who came in first fell down at the winning post, his back, I was told, covered with wounds from a pointed stick his rider had used. I see this morning in the papers that the poor animal is dead, as also is Athos, the winner on the Austrian side. I am told that the Austrian horses arrived at Berlin in a better state, though their records are faster. This, I believe, is a good deal owing to their superior shoeing, and also to the closer sympathy which exists in this country between the animal and its rider. That a horse is not a machine is a truth which the riders of the horses I saw do not seem to have grasped yet. (...) It is only just to say that everyone who took part in the competition seems to be sorry and ashamed, not only for the cruelty inflicted, but for the disgrace incurred."
It's also a product of a different attitude to horses that has only become possible now that they aren't our basic means of transport. Pre-modern people were of necessity far less touchy-feely about horses - they had to be prepared, to trash a horse in a crisis; just as we would be prepared to trash a car, no matter how valuable, in a matter of life and death.
Several horse-borne cultures have an actual word expressing the concept of being prepared to ride one's horse to death if necessary: e.g. matacaballos in Spanish and lóhalál in Hungarian.
FWIW, the English phrase 'post haste' originally meant exactly the same thing - if you said to a courier 'Take this letter and ride post haste to York', you were specifying to him that speed was of the essence and he wasn't to worry about killing or permanently harming the horse. Here'a a quotation from Roger Ascham, Queen Elizabeth I's tutor:
Yf he make Poste haste, bothe he that ow[n]eth the horse, and he..that afterwarde shal bye the horse, may chaunce to curse hym.
Twenty-six of the horses died during the race; many more of them collapsed and died soon afterwards. A British correspondent in Vienna published a horrified account of the affair, condemning the cruelty to the animals that was incurred:
"A general feeling of disgust has been excited throughout Europe by the terrible sufferings inflicted upon the horses which took part in the long-distance race between Berlin and Vienna. Nearly all the horses which took part in the competition have succumbed. A correspondent of the Standard, who paid a visit to the German horses which were quartered in the Austrian Military Riding School, describes the scene as follows:-
"Most of the horses were standing, but propping themselves up against the wall or a post; their trembling legs could hardly support them. Their eyes were dilated with fever, their legs swollen to the most enormous size, their feet inflamed and hoofs sloughing off; some had inflammation of the lungs, others had their bones sticking out, and the flesh had quite fallen in; others, again, were lying down full length, completely exhausted.
(...)
"The horse of the German officer who came in first fell down at the winning post, his back, I was told, covered with wounds from a pointed stick his rider had used. I see this morning in the papers that the poor animal is dead, as also is Athos, the winner on the Austrian side. I am told that the Austrian horses arrived at Berlin in a better state, though their records are faster. This, I believe, is a good deal owing to their superior shoeing, and also to the closer sympathy which exists in this country between the animal and its rider. That a horse is not a machine is a truth which the riders of the horses I saw do not seem to have grasped yet. (...) It is only just to say that everyone who took part in the competition seems to be sorry and ashamed, not only for the cruelty inflicted, but for the disgrace incurred."
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Several horse-borne cultures have an actual word expressing the concept of being prepared to ride one's horse to death if necessary: e.g. matacaballos in Spanish and lóhalál in Hungarian.
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(The comment has been removed)
Yf he make Poste haste, bothe he that ow[n]eth the horse, and he..that afterwarde shal bye the horse, may chaunce to curse hym.
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