Lukashka's horse either stumbled or caught its foot in some grass, and became restive--which is a sign of bad luck among the Cossacks, and at such a time was of special importance.

The others exchanged glances and turned away, trying not to notice what had happened.

Lukaskha pulled at the reins, frowned sternly, set his teeth, and flourished his whip above his head.

His good Kabarda horse, prancing from one foot to another not knowing with which to start, seemed to wish to fly upwards on wings.

But Lukashka hit its well-fed sides with his whip once, then again, and a third time, and the horse, showing its teeth and spreading out its tail, snorted and reared and stepped on its hind legs a few paces away from the others.
'Ah, a good steed that!' said the cornet.
That he said steed instead of HORSE indicated special praise.
'A lion of a horse,' assented one of the others, an old Cossack.
The Cossacks rode forward silently, now at a footpace, then at a trot, and these changes were the only incidents that interrupted for a moment the stillness and solemnity of their movements.
Riding through the steppe for about six miles, they passed nothing but one Nogay tent, placed on a cart and moving slowly along at a distance of about a mile from them.