11 minute read
Horse history
The Museum of the Horse in Nottinghamshire represents a lifetime’s work for Sally Mitchell and its extensive collection charts the fascinating history of horses and humans
HORSES HAVE BEEN INVOLVED IN HUMAN DEVELOPMENT and history for millenniums – the horse provided the first method for extended hunting forays, provided a quicker and safer mode for battle, mounted carriers were ridden between “posts” to deliver mail and necessities, horse drew carriages and carts, were active in the farming and mining industries, have always given pleasure as a companion and friend, and provided an outlet for competition and a mount in the hunting field.
The horse has been the vital vehicle for human development and progression in so many roles; and has been integral for the human race for far longer than the combustion engine upon which we now have so much reliance.
The jewel that is the British-based Museum Of The Horse charts this interconnection and intertwining of our lives with the equine, and is as much a record of human progression as it is of the horse.
Found in Tuxford, near to Newark in Nottinghamshire, conveniently just off the A1 and appropriately housed in an old coaching inn, the museum is the life passion of owner and curator Sally Mitchell.
“When I was about ten I used to go to a dear old blacksmith, he had all these really early horse shoes on his shed door and they intrigued me,” recalls Mitchell when considering where her long-standing passion for antiquities originated.
“As I got a bit older, I was dragged off on holiday and a farmer gave me a horse brass. I think it was from then that I really became fascinated with old equine artefacts.
I suppose I started collecting as a teenager, it escalated and I have done it all my life.”
Housed in the top floor and over nine rooms, as well as in the corridors, the museum, which this summer celebrated its 10th anniversary, sits above Mitchell’s wide variety of commercial interests namely an art printing and framing business and a Fine Art Gallery, which features pictures by a range of predominant equine, wildlife and countryside artists. There is also a café for weary travellers and visitors.
“The art business and gallery used to be housed in another location down the road – we’d look at this building and think what a super gallery it would make,” says Mitchell, who has ridden since she was around five years of age.
“It became empty, and then was bought by a developer but nothing happened; the building just became vandalised, smashed up and stood empty for around 10 years.
“Suddenly a sign arrived and said that it was going to be auctioned in three days – the developers had gone bust and the bank just threw it on the market.
“I think we were the only people interested at the auction and we managed to buy it for less than a terrace house!
“It cost a lot to restore, there was not a window in the place and there was nothing left. It took us two years until we could open the gallery and another year to get the museum set up.
“When we started we only filled the first four rooms. I have since had to learn all about humidity, lighting and cataloguing and research and how to display things.”
The museum now houses over 3,000 pieces of tack, equine equipment and equine memorabilia from all around the globe with the oldest pieces dating to 600BC.
There is a fine collection of bits and saddles and tack, charting their development over time. Some of the bits look like instruments of torture for the poor horses, others were vastly embellished to show off the VIP status of former owners.
The saddles come in all manner of shapes and designs, and the museum charts the development of the side saddle with examples in situ.
“At first, if a lady wanted to travel on horseback she would sit on a pillion saddle behind the man,” explains Mitchell. “Or she would be in a chair-like construction with feet on a foot rest, but that meant she had to be led by a groom as there was no way of being able to control the horse.
“When the early side saddles were developed essentially they trapped the ladies’ legs and had fixed stirrups, it meant if there was a fall the rider was essentially stuck.”
It wasn’t until the late 16th century that a habit specifically designed for riding side-saddle was introduced, before then usual day wear was worn for riding. The first “safety skirt” was invented in 1875 to help prevent terrible accidents which had seen women caught by their skirts and dragged by their horses.
By the early 20th century it had become acceptable for women to ride astride, but still females had to wear “split skits” as it was still not correct for women to show their knees.
Some saddles also had a removable “grooms’ pad” – it was not deemed right or proper for the servant to sit on the same piece of leather as his mistress. Apparently Ivy Gordon-Lennox, the mother of Lady Anne Cavendish-Bentinck, who became one of the richest people in the UK in the post-war period as a daughter of the Duke of Portland, would instantly dismiss a groom if he rode on the saddle without use of the protective pad.
Some of the most decorated saddles in the museum come from Asia and India, still bearing the hallmarks of glitter and remains of valuable gold leaf.
The largest saddle on display was used in battle to take injured soldiers off the battlefield. There are two seats on either side of a central area upon which the walking wounded could sit, but also designed as a stretcher bearer if the injured man was unable to sit up.
And while we are used to the shape of a stirrup today, over the years and around the world, they have been produced in a variety of designs from foot-shaped slipper objects to arches and ovals with all manner of designs and in all sorts of materials.
Horse shoes have developed over the years with Mitchell’s earliest on show hailing from the Roman period and called a “hipposandal”.
It was a predecessor to the horse shoe, but mimicked a design that had developed in ancient Asia where horses hooves were wrapped in “botties” made out of various materials, such as binding, grasses, reeds, rawhide or leather.
The Roman hipposandal was an oval-shaped cup of metal that enclosed the foot, attached with clips and laces, and used to protect horse feet as they travelled for miles along those famous Roman roads.
The biggest exhibit and arguably the most impressive is the well-preserved mail coach, on loan to the museum and housed in a stable across the courtyard, it is one of only three still in existence.
One of the most incongruous pieces on display, but with an unexpected huge human impact, is a collection of around ten strands of barbed wire from the US.
“When barbed wire came into wide usage in the US, it meant that the cowboy was essentially made redundant,” explains Mitchell.
The artifacts in the collection have either been donated or purchased by Mitchell herself, mainly from auction sites, the guardian every morning scouring auction catalogues. She admits she can lose hours as she ponders purchasing decisions.
“I am afraid this is where most of the pension goes!” laughs the late 70-year-old whose energy and vibrancy belie that fact that she is approaching her eighth decade.
In some instances collectibles have been lifted out of skips, big transport and industrial companies having binned off out-dated equine equipment as they clear their cupboards.
When asked if she has a favourite item she says with a laugh, “it is usually the last piece I have collected.”
Purchased pieces have previously been affordable people no longer having use for carriage embellishments or old out-dated pieces of tack, but unfortunately, as ever thus, prices have increased as more are becoming interested in collecting, museums are coming on stream around the world collecting their own wares, alongside a raft of private collectors and investors.
Mitchell, though, is making financial plans for the future.
“I started the museum when most people were thinking about retiring!” she laughs, then adds with a sigh: “But I am getting older and that is a nuisance! I will be 80 in 18 months’ time and I have got to raise funds so the museum can own the building and then a trust fund can be created to run it.”
Hopefully, Mitchell can be successful in her quest as the museum is a treasure trove, this summer quite rightly it has been nominated for a Nottinghamshire County Tourism Award.
While you might not have the personal funds to ensure the financial future of the museum (though I any level of donation will be welcome), the next time you are travelling along the A1 it is worth taking time out of your day for a visit. You will be guaranteed for an intriguing and educational hour spent understanding horse history, an animal to whom we all owe so much.
Mail coaches: Formula 1 vehicles of their day
THE MUSEUM houses a beautiful and well preserved mail coach on loan from its owners.
Mail coaches were used for the delivery of the post through the late 1780s to the advent of the trains.
John Palmer, a theatre owner from Bath, is credited for the vision of the service having had experience of transporting actors and materials between theatres. He thought the same system could be used for a countrywide mail delivery service, updating the method of using single riders which was then in use.
His idea initially met resistance from the Post Office, but eventually William Pitt, then Chancellor of the Exchequer, allowed him to carry out an experimental run between Bristol and London. Under the old system the journey had taken up to 38 hours, using a coach the travel time was reduced to just 16 hours.
By the end of 1785 there were services from London to Norwich, Liverpool, Leeds, Dover, Portsmouth, Poole, Exeter, Gloucester, Worcester, Holyhead and Carlisle.
A service to Edinburgh was added the following year, and outside of London, coaches made journeys between the main post towns.
After the success of the idea, Palmer was awarded the post of Surveyor and Comptroller General of the Post Office.
Every morning, when coaches reached London, they were taken to a constructor’s works to be cleaned and oiled.
In the afternoon, they were returned to the coaching inns where horses were hitched up ahead of that night’s journey.
The only Post Office employee aboard the mail coach was the guard, with the mail in a locked box on the back of the coach – he was equipped with a blunderbuss and pistols in order to protect his cargo.
The mail coach service ran to an exact and demanding schedule The guard had a timepiece, regulated in London to keep pace with the differences in local time, and he recorded the coach’s arrival and departure times at each stage of the journey.
(Amazingly it hasn’t evolved and nearly 300 years later it’s worse, and, sadly as has been recently revealed has been beset with substantial and horrendous management and IT problems.)
The coach was given preference on the roads and the guard sounded a horn to warn other road users to keep out of the way and to signal to toll-keepers to let the coach through.
On occasions the guard would merely throw off the mail at the required location, picking up from the postmaster without stopping.
The contractors organised fresh horses along the route, usually every 10 miles – changes of horses matched today’s F1 pit stop speeds. Initially, four passengers were carried inside the mail coach but later one more was allowed to sit outside next to the driver.
The number of external passengers was then increased to three with the introduction of a double seat behind the driver. No one was permitted to sit at the back near the guard
Sitting outside, high up by the driver, was the cheaper option but there was little protection from the elements, and with just low sides to the seats keeping people on board.
Passengers would catch the coach at 8pm in the evening and the travel went through the night, it was not unknown for the passenger on the outside seat to fall asleep along the journey and drop off the side, hence the term “dropping off to sleep”.
