will teach them to back, and to go into the shafts. They ought not, however, to be made to draw any other than a very light empty cart till their fourth or fifth year; nor ought they to be put into the shafts of a threshing machine before their fifth year. The first work to which an agricultural horse may be applied is harrowing; but this during the fourth year only half a day at a time, or with a light harrow the whole day. Next he may be put to plough with similar care and caution in regard to strength. In general, agricultural horses require very little training; but one thing is too often neglected, and that is, teaching plough horses a quick step, and keeping them at that step ever after in working them. By not attending to this, and leaving the step to be regulated by lazy spiritless ploughmen, the loss to many farmers is very considerable.

6671. Horsemanship, as an art, is unquestionably of very ancient date, and it is curious how very dif. ferent are the modes by which it is practised in different countries; but which differences are yet prin.. cipally confined to the situation of the legs of the rider; for wherever the horse is used to carry the person, it is by the rider placing himself astride the animal. Horses were used in this way for centuries before any apparatus was used or applied to their bodies to spare fatigue to the rider; and we know that the first saddles were mere pads strapped round the body, but without the appendages of stirrups. In England, riding is systematically divided into two kinds, which are manege and jockey riding.

6672. Manege riding, called also riding the great horse, in the strict application of the term, was formerly more practised than at present; and required a system of education for both horse and rider long and severe. Horses perfectly broke for the manege were formerly taught several paces and motions, as ambling, pacing, passaging, yerking, capriole, and cornetti. The practice of these artificial cadences, it is supposed, injures the natural pace of the horse; and this circumstance, united to a particular form of horse (defective for other purposes) being required for the elasticity of these actions, has tended to bring manege riding, as formerly practised, into disrepute. Manege riding also taught the constant application of the seat of the body of the rider to the seat of the saddle, during all the motions of the horse; and as a severe edu. cation, and a particular form, had bestowed ease and elasticity to the rudeness of the manege horse, the inconveniences of this seat were not felt. But when another form of horse, capable of great speed over excellent roads, was in general use, this kind of riding was found hurtful to both horse and rider; fatigu ing the one, and injuring the other.

6673. The art of proper riding, as practised among experienced horsemen, is derived from a knowledge of the judicious application of the aids of the bridle, as taught in our schools, and as practised in the army generally; and also from a proper application or placing the body on the horse. These we certainly owe to manege riding; and a knowledge of them is as essential to the safety of the rider, as it is to the grace of his appearance as a horseman. The proper art of riding embraces all that is taught in the best schools, or practised on the road; and is equally applicable to both. This is allowed to its fullest extent by those who have possessed themselves of the requisite information and practice on the subject; but is denied by those who, wedded to field riding, contend that the perfection of horsemanship consists in a snaille bridle and a jockey seat.

6674. The use of the curb bridle is considered in the schools to be essential to good riding: by it the horse is not only restrained, but he is also aided and assisted. He is alternately thrown on his haunches, or forced on his forehand, by which changes fatigue is prevented to both. Great nicety, however, is required in the use of the curb; and without an inclination and ability to use it lightly and dexterously, a snaffle is the best and safest bridle. The curb is to be operated by a gentle turn of the wrist only; and the action of the hand in this respect should be as fine and as pliable as the fishing rod and line. The force of the curb should in every instance be proportioned to the mouth of the horse.

6075. The best form of saddle for general riding is one in which the cantle is not so high as the military, nor so low as the racing saddle. The pommel should be no more raised than is necessary to keep the whole completely free from the withers. The stirrups should be substantial, not only to prevent breaking, but also that by their weight they may fall to the foot when accidentally slipped away; which is of more consequence than at first sight may appear. If they are of the spring kind, it is also desirable: but it is still more so, that the spring stirrup leather should be used; which prevents the danger arising from horses catching the leather in the projections of doors, gates, &c. Having saddled and bridled our horse, we will proceed to mount our rider.

6676. If you would mount with ease and safety, says Hughes, stand rather before the stirrup than behind it; then, with the left hand, take the bridle short, and the mane together, help yourself into the stirrup, with your right, so that, in mounting, your toe do not touch the horse. Your foot being in the stirrup raise yourself till you face the side of the horse, and look directly across the saddle; then, with your right hand, lay hold of the hinder part of the saddle, and, with your left, lift yourself into it. When mounted, let your position on the saddle be square, and the purchase of your bridle such as not to pull your shoulders: and let your body be in such an even posture as if you held a rein in each hand. In

847

holding the bridle, grasp the reins with your hand, which should be held perpendicular with the reins passed, the lower within the hand, and the upper between the fore and next fingers (fig. 817.). The reins are then brought over the fore finger and firmly held by the thumb. It is often directed to place the little finger between the lower reins; the practice of this may be optional with the rider, and in a very fine hand is desirable. The bridle should be held at such a length as to enable you if your borse stumbles, to raise his head and support it with your arms; and by throwing your body backwards at the same time you frequently save a horse that would other

wise fall,

6677. A graceful and proper seat on horseback is greatly dependent on a right disposition of the legs and thighs, which

should hang nearly straight down, easily, and without force or constraint: all which is brought about from above; by placing the body flat and evenly on the saddle, and opening the knees, whereby the fork

will come lower on the saddle. (fig. 848.) The thighs should be applied to the saddle and to the sides of the horse by their inner surfaces, so as to bring in the knees and toes; and although the line may be properly broken by some little irregularities, yet the foot, the knee, the hip, and shoulder, should deviate but little from one perpendicular line. The ball of the foot should rest within the stirrup, and should be even with the heel, or very $48 slightly elevated above it. Avoid any stiffness in the legs, thighs, or body; all should be lax, but in a state to be able to embrace the horse, cither for support, or as aids to him. The loins, particularly, should be lax and pliable, as a coachman's on his box; and for the same reasons: for by sitting thus loosely, the rough motions of both are broken. To de pend on the embrace of the knees for support is to lose the benefit of a true equipoise of body, and is rather to stick on a horse than to sit on one.

6678. When you are troubled with a horse that is vicious, which stops short, or, by rising or kicking, endeavours to throw you off, you must not bend your body forward, as is commonly practised in such cases; because that motion throws the breech backward, and moves you from your fork, or twists and casts you out of your seat; but the right way to keep your seat, or to

recover it when lost, is to advance the lower part of your body, and to bend back your shoulders and upper part. In flying or standing leaps, a horseman's best security is the bending back of the body. The rising of the horse does not affect the rider's seat; he is chiefly to guard against the lash of the animal's hind legs, which is best done by inclining the body backwards. But the usual method of fixing the knees in all cases of danger only serves, in great shocks, to assist the violence of the fall. To save yourself from being hurt, in these cases, you must yield a little to the horse's motion; by which means you will recover your seat, if displaced, or keep it at such times as would dismount an unskilful horseman.

*6679. If your horse grows unruly, take the reins separately, one in each hand, put your arms forward, and hold him short, but do not pull hard with your arms low; for, by lowering his head, he has the more liberty to throw out his heels: but if you raise his head as high as you can, this will prevent him from rising behind. Is it not reasonable to imagine, that, if a horse is forced towards a carriage which he has started at, he will think he is obliged to attack or run against it? Can it be imagined that the rider's spurring him on, with his face directly to it, he should understand as a sign to pass it? These rational queries are submitted to the serious consideration of such as are fond of always obliging their horses to touch those objects at which they are, or affect to be, frightened.

6680. Indiferent horsemen, Lawrence observes, should never venture on horseback without spurs. Those who reflect upon the predicament of being placed between a deep ditch and a carriage, at which their horse shies, will see the necessity of this precaution.

681. Previously to mounting, every person will find his account in examining the state of both horse and furniture with his own eyes and hands; for, however good and careful his groom may generally be, it isa maxim, that too much ought not to be expected from the head of him who labours with his hands. Besides, all such sedulously avoid trouble, particularly in nice matters. For example, see that your curb is right; that your reins are not twisted; that your girths, one over the other, still bear exactly alike; that the paid be not wrinkled up; but, above all, that your saddle lies exactly level upon the horse's back.

6682. On getting off the horse's back, hold the bridle and mane im the same manner as when you mounted, hold the pommel of the saddle with your right-hand; to raise yourself, bring your right leg over the horse's back, let your right-hand hold the hind part of the saddle, and stand a moment on your stirrup, just as when you mounted. But beware that, in dismounting, you bend not your right knee, lest the horse should be touched by the spur.

849

6683. The jockey mode of riding is practised in its fullest extent in racing. With some modification it is also in use by many who esteem themselves excellent foxhunters. With still greater modification it is by its advocates practised also on the road. English post-boys unite these two kinds of riding in a manner at once easy to themselves and horses. True jockey riding consists in the use of a snaffle bridle, which is held firmly, and, as an advocate for it expresses himself, to enable the rider to give his horse the proper pulls. To this end, the same writer recommends a firm set, upright, and as you would sit in a chair, with the knees nearly as much bent, and turned inward; the toes somewhat out and upward; the leg falling nearly straight, and the foot home in the stirrup (fig. 849.); elbows close to the sides, hands rather above the horse's withers, or pommel of the saddle; and the view directed between his ears. The same writer further advocates the jockey mode, by commenting on the decline of rid ing-house forms, and the universal preference given to expedition, which, as he says, fully confirm the superior use and propriety of a jockey-seat. Indeed, our riding schools are now, he continues, considerably reformed from the stiffness of ancient practice in all respects. It was the custom formerly in the schools, and indeed pretty generally upon the road, to ride with the tip of the toe only in the stirrup; as if it were of more consequence to prepare for falling with safety, than to endeavour to sit securely. Those who preserve a partiality for this venerable custom, we would advise to suspend a final judginent, until they have made a few more essays upon a huge cock-tail halfbred, of that kind which cannot go, and yet won't stand still,' and will dart from one side of the road to the other, as if he really desired to get rid of his burden. Nor is the ball of the foot a proper rest; chictly because inconvenient to that erect, or rather almost kneeling, posture, which is required in speedy riding. The riding-house seat is preserved by the balance or equipoise of the body solely; that recommended here by the firm hold of the knee, which is obviously strengthened by the opposite directions of the knee and toe, the one in, the other outward.

SECT. XIV. Feeding of Horses.

6684. The feeding of horses generally is an important feature in their management. In considering the food for horses, we are apt to locate our notions to the matters around us, without taking into account that every country has its peculiar products. White observes, that the best food for horses is hay and oats; and had he added for English horses, it might have been just, but without such notice the assertion is much too confined. "In some sterile countries, horses are forced to subsist on dried fish, and even vezetable mould; in Arabia, on milk, flesh balls, eggs, broth, &c. In India, horses are variously fed. The native grasses I judge very nutritious. Few, perhaps no oats are grown in India, Barley is not commonly given to horses; indeed, it is rarely grown. In Persia, barley is a common food for good horses. In some parts of India (in the Mahratta country), salt, pepper, and other spices are made up into balls, as big as billiard balls, with flour and butter, and thrust down the animal's throat. It is supposed to give them animation and fine coats: no doubt it promotes digestion. Meat broth (especially sheep's head) it also given to horses. English gentlemen sometimes adopt these usages. Different kinds of grain are given to horses in different parts of India. In Bengal, a vetch, something like the tare, is used. On the western side of India, a sort of pigeon pea, called grain (Cicer arietinum L.), is the usual food; with grass in the season, and hay all the year. Indian corn or rice is, I think, seldom if ever given to horses in India as ordinary food. In the West Indies they are fed on maize, Guinea corn, and sugar-cane tops; and, in some instances, on the sugar itself, in the form of molasses. In France, Spain, and Italy, besides the grasses, the leaves of limes, vines, the tops of acacia, the seeds of the carob tree, &c. are used.”

6685. The food of British horses may be divided into herbage, grain, roots, and mixtures. Of herbage, the principal kind is the proper grainina, caten either moist or dried into hay. When eaten moist in their natural state, such a horse is said to graze; but when these matters are cut, and carried into the stable to a horse, he is said to be soiled, Hay is herbage cut during its flowering and seeding processes; which being subjected to the action of the sun and air a proper time, are then collected into large masses called ricks, where a certain degree of fermentation takes place before the matter is fitted to become wholesome or nutritious, or before it receives such alteration as fits it for resisting further decompo. sition and decay. The judicious management of this fermentative process forms one of the greatest desiderata in hay-making. Pursued to a proper extent, the remaining moisture acting on the farinaceous parts, as the seeds, &c., in conjunction with the heat evolved during the process, as it were malts the whole, and sugar is produced. Pushed beyond this, the hay becomes carbonised, and mow-burnt; its nutritive properties are lessened, and its noxious qualities increased, it being found in this state to excite diabetes, sweating, and extreme weakness and emaciation. (6425.) The quality of the hay is too little attended to, but which is of very great importance; and more particularly so where little corn but much hay is given. Hay should therefore be of the best, whether meadow, clover, or mixed Many horses thrive best on clover hay, particularly draught horses. It is very grateful to horses, and it saves muc waste of saliva; to sprinkle hay with water has the same effect, but it should only be done as it is

wanted,

6636. Hay should never be given in large quantities at a time; horses breathe on it, become disgusted, and then waste it. They also, when it is good, eat too much, and distend their stomachs, and then become crib-biters. Hay should not be kept in the stable in great quantities, otherwise it becomes impreg nated with the volatile alkali of the stable, and is then spoiled. As substitutes for hay, the straw of wheat, barley, oats, and rye are used; but these are much less nutritive, and rather serve to excite mastication by mixing them with other matters, than to be depended on for animalisation. On hay, when good, many horses subsist; and when no exertions are required of them they are sufficiently nourished by it.

In

6687. The grain used as horse food is of various kinds, possessing, it is supposed, different degrees of nutriment, according to their different proportions of gluten, sugar, or farinaceous matter. In South Britain, oats are almost exclusively used as horse grain; and which, according to the experiments of Sir Humphry Davy, as we have seen (§ 5000.), contain 748 parts of nutritious matter out of 1000. wheat, 955 parts of 1000 are nutritious; but wheat is seldom given with us except to racers and hunters, or on extraordinary occasions when great excitement is required, when it is sometimes given in the form of bread. Barley is more frequently given than wheat, and contains 920 parts in 1000 of nutritious particles. Made into malt, where its sugar is evolved, it becomes still more highly nutritious. Barley appears to have been the principal horse food of the ancients.

GBS. The pulse used as horse food, are the seeds of beans, peas, vetches, &c. Beans are seldom given alone on account of their heating and astringent qualities, but are mixed with straw or hay, cut into chaff, either whole or broken.

6689. The roots used as horse food, are such as contain much sugar, but in which the gluten is in small proportion only. Carrots stand deservedly high on this list. They are favourable to condition, as the skin and hair always look well under their use. They are highly nutritious we know, from the fattening that occurs from them. They also generate good flesh, as we know horses can work on them, and have their wind increased by their use; indeed, so favourable are they to the proper action of the lungs, that a course of carrots will frequently remove the most obstinate coughs. The parsnep has similar properties Swedish turnips, as having the saccharine particles in abundance, are also found good. Beetroot likewise.

6690. Mixtures, or mixed food, is formed of several kinds among agriculturists; and it possesses many advantages, as it can be varied to every taste, and made either cooling as an alterative, or nutritious and stimulating as a tonic. Although it is principally used for waggon, post, and farm horses, it would be Letter were its use more universal. Of this manger feeding, one of the best is formed from a chaff made of one part best meadow or clover hay, and two parts wheaten straw; to three bushels of this mixture add one of bruised oats. The importance of bruising or flattening the oats is very great. When used whole, the grains are apt to slip between the teeth or the chaff in mastication. In fact, corn when either given alone, or with chaff, would, in most instances, benefit by bruising. To horses under great exertion, the stomach must be, to a certain degree, weakened also; in such cases, by bruising their corn, not only the work of mastication is much of it spared, but that of the stomach also. In old horses with worn teeth, bruised oats are of great consequence. Fast-eating horses do not properly masticate more than one half of their corn; much of it remains in the dung so perfectly unaltered, that it will afterwards vegetate; and an experienced agriculturist states, that during his residence in India, in a season of scarcity, halffamished wretches actually followed the cavalry, and drew their principal subs stence from the unchewed grains of corn extracted from the excrement of the horses. Of this manger food, three, four, five, or six pecks may be given daily, according to size and exertions required; and as but little hay is required, so hard-worked horses are enabled to lie down much more, instead of standing on their already fatigued limbs to eat hay.

6691. Cooked food is also now much used by practical agriculturists for horses. The articles made use of are potatoes, carrots, turnips, or parsneps. To horses with their digestion weakened by hard work, old age, or other causes, food in sufficient quantities, thus already reduced to a pultaceous mass, resembling chyme, without the loss of time, or the waste of saliva, may be very important: for, as Curwen very judiciously observes, a horse will consume nearly six hours in eating a stone of hay, whereas he will eat a stone of steamed potatoes in twenty minutes. Horses are observed of themselves to lie down after eating cooked food sooner than other times.

6692. The quantity of food to be given to a horse must be regulated by circumstances, the principle of which is the exertions or nature of the work required of him. If this be simply laborious, as drawing of loads, or carrying of weights, all that is requisite is that the food be sufficiently nutritious. The bulk from whence such nutriment is gained is not a matter of inport: but if such exertions are to be combined with celerity, as in our racers, hunters, &c., it is evident that such feccing is best adapted to the end required which combines nutriment without bulk; and which increases the durability by increasing the mental irritability, and thus giving tone and courage. These are found to be better derived from a proportionate allowance of grain or corn, than any other mode of feeding at present known. It remains only to add, that although experience has fully proved this, in all cases where the exertions are extreme, yet it has also led to another evil, by introducing a plan of treating all horses of value alike. Thus, most of the more valuable hackneys, the carriage horses of the wealthy, &c., are accustomed to be fed, not as though their exertions were moderate, but as though they were unceasing, to the destruction of a vast quantity of valuable corn. From thousands of such horses, at least one third of their hay and corn might be advantageously abstracted.

6693. Too great a quantity of food injures not only the community but the horse also. The stomach becomes distended by over-feeding, and it then becomes weak and incapable of a healthy digestion; crib. biting, hide-bound, and pursiveness follow; or when the stomach does digest this undue quantity, it generate fulness, which shows itself in inflammations or foulness, appearing in the form of cracks and

grease,

6694. A horse in full work, of whatever kind, will require, according to his size, a peck of sound oats in twenty-four hours; and when the work is unremitting, as in post, stage-waggon, or other very large and hard-working horses, even more may be required. Some post horses have an unlimited quantity given them; but this practice is always erroneous. If they eat more, it serves only to distend the stomach unduly, and also to require stronger digestive powers if they blow on it they leave it, and it is wasted, or a more greedy one swallows it up without mastication; and both stomach, horse, and master are thereby robbed. It is of consequence that the oats, as an important part of horse food, should be perfectly sweet, free from must, and not kiln-dried. The skin should be thin, but the grain plump and heavy, yield. ing from thirty-eight to forty pounds the bushel. To encourage a slow and thorough mastication, sprinkle them with water and spread them well over the manger. The quantity of hay required for saddle horses which are corn-fed is from six to eight pounds in twenty-four hours: if the quantity of corn be small, and the horse large, ten or twelve pounds is not too much. This quantity is also suflicient for carriage or coachhorses, as they usually have either corn or mixed food in sufficient plenty also. For waggon and the larger agricultural horses, from fifteen to twenty pounds may be requisite. When it can be con veniently done, the quantity of both hay and corn should be divided into four portions The largest por tion both of hay and corn should be given at night; the next in quantity in the morning; the other two portions at noon, and about four in the afternoon. This, however, must depend on the work of the horse,

and other circumstances.

6695. Watering of horses is an important part of their management, and many errors are committed relative to it. It is equally erroneous to debar them from it, as it is to allow them too much; and the

are wasted, it generates fevers, and wastes the strength and spirits. All horses prefer soft water, and as nature is unerring, there is no doubt but that it is the most wholesome. As some horses drink quicker than others, it is not a good custom to take riding horses to a pond, unless at night, when the quantity cannot injure them; or when not intended for early work the next morning, as hunting, &c.

6696. The necessary quantity of water for a horse should be regulated by circumstances, as the weather, the work, &c. In common cases, a large horse requires rather more than the half of a large stable pail full twice in the day. At night a full pail should be allowed. Horses should never be galloped after drinking; it has destroyed thousands, by gripes, inflammations, and broken wind. This custom also uses horses to expect they are to run away directly they are accidentally watered at any time. Others, expecting they are to be fatigued with a gallop, will avoid drinking at all. The most that should ever be done, is to suffer no horse to drink his fill at a river or pond; but having given him half what is necessary, walk him ten minutes, and then give him all that is required, and walk him again.

SECT. XV. Stabling and Grooming of Horses.

6697. The stabling of horses is likewise a most important point in their management, the more so as being wholly a deviation from nature; hence, under the most judicious management, it is liable to produce some departure from health; and as sometimes managed, is most hurtful to it. Clothing, dressing, or combing, and exercise, are also highly important.

6598. Every stable should be large, cool, and airy. It is too common to suppose that warmth is so congenial to horses, that they cannot be kept too hot; but there is reason to suppose that many of the diseases of horses are attributable to the enervating effects of unnatural heat, and of an air breathed and rebreathed over again. Blaine says, Is it not alike repugnant to reason and experience, to expect to keep animals in health, that from stables heated to sixty degrees, and further protected by warm clothing, are first stripped, and then at once exposed to a temperature at the freezing point? If it be argued that habit and exercise render these less hurtful, it will be easy to answer that their original hardihood is lost by confinement and artificial treatment, and that neither does exercise always tend to obviate the effects of this sudden change for our best carriage horses, and hackneys also, have often to wait hours in roads and streets the convenience of their owners, or the pleasure of the groom.

6699. The heat of a stable should be regulated by a thermometer, and the heat shown by it should never exceed 50% of Fahrenheit in winter, or 62° or 63° in summer. To renew the air, the stable should be well ventilated; and which is best done by trunks or tubes passing from the ceiling through the roof.

6700. A stable should not only be well ventilated, but it should be light also; and the windows should be so constructed as to admit light and air, without producing a current of wind on the bodies of the horses, Darkened stables are very hurtful to the eyes; neither do they, as was formerly supposed at Newmarket, tend to the condition or rest of a horse.

6701. A stable should have a close ceiling to keep the dust and dirt from the hay-loft from entering the horse's eyes. It is also necessary to prevent the ammoniacal gases from ascending and lodging in the hay. It is preferable that the hay-loft be altogether removed from over the stable; and if a very high ceiling even to the roof were substituted, it would be for the benefit of the horses.

6702 The form of the rack and manger should be attended to. Sloping racks are disadvantageous, as encouraging dust in the eyes. They should therefore be upright, and by no means so high as they usually are, by which the head and neck are put injuriously on the stretch. As a proof that this is unpleasant to horses, many of then. first pull out all the hay, and then leisurely eat it. The manger should be wide at the bottom, and of a proper height: care should be taken that no splinters are present to endanger the lips, nose, and mouth. The halter reins should, in good stables, be suffered to run within a groove within the manger post, to prevent the rein entangling the legs. It is become the practice in some stables appropriated to post, stage-waggon, and other hard-worked horses, to abandon hay-racks altogether; but the hay being placed on the ground before the horse encourages him to lie down and eat it; by which much rest is afforded to the weary limbs, and much improvement to the feet.

6703. The stalls of a stable should be wide. Strains in the back, and sometimes even worse evils, are the consequence of the standings being too narrow. Bails are objectionable from the ease with which horses can kick over them; and also from the quickest feeder getting most food, when several horses stand together bailed.

6704. The acclivity of the stalls is a matter of much dispute: when too much raised, as in dealers' stables, they put the back sinews on the stretch, and fatigue horses much. It is more natural that they should be even; or that a very slight slope only be allowed to carry off the urine. The best mode, how. ever, of carrying off the urine is by means of a small grating to each stall, communicating with a cesspool without doors, which should be closed up, that a current of air may not come through the grating. Such a contrivance will effectually carry off the water, and prevent the volatile alkali of the urine from impregnating the air around. For the same reasons, the dung should be removed, if possible, wholly without the stable as soon as dropped; for the exhalations from that are also ammoniacal, and consequently hurtful. To this cause alone we may attribute many diseases, particularly the great tendency stabled horses have to become affected in the eyes. The pungency of this effluvia is familiar to every one on entering a close stable in the morning, and when the long-soiled litter is removed, it is absolutely

unbearable.

6705. The litter of horses should be kept dry and sweet, and should be often removed. When it is suffered to remain, under the notion of making better dung, the horse may be ruined; neither does the manure benefit as is supposed; for when it is removed to the dung pit, the close confinement does it more good than the open exposure in the stable, when it parts with its salts, on which its properties as manure partly depend.

6706. Horses should not stand on litter during the day, although very generally suffered to do so. Litter is thought to save the shoes and even the feet, by preventing the uneven surface of the stable from hurting them but it holds the urine; it injures the feet; and is very apt to encourage swelling at the heels: as we know by removing it, when they immediately subside. A little litter may be strewed behind to obviate the effect of kicking, or the splashing of urine in mares.

6707. The clothing of horses is apt to be carried to as erroneous an extent as the heat of their stables. When horses go out in cold weather, and are intended to have merely a long walking exercise, then clothing is very proper: but it must be evident, that when taken clothed from a stable and exercised briskly so as to produce perspiration, it is erroneous; for not only are the clothes wetted and thus liable to give cold, but the horse is unfitted to go out afterwards with a saddle only. Saddle horses kept in condition stand clothed in a kersey sheet, and girted with a broad roller, with occasionally the addition of a quarterpiece; the breast-plate is sometimes put on when going out to exercise; the hood is used to race horses only, except in case of sickness, All horses, except racers, are best without clothing in the summer season; at the most a linen sheet only should be allowed to avoid the dust and flies.

6708. The grooming or dressing of horses is generally thus practised: - Having tied up the horse's head, take a currycomb, and curry him all over his body, to raise the dandriff or scurf, beginning first at his neck, holding the left cheek of the head-stall in your left hand, and curry him from the setting on of his head, all along his neck, to his shoulder, and so go all over his body to the buttocks, down to his hocks; then change your hands, and curry him before on his breast, and laying your right arm over his back, join your right side to his left, and curry him all under his belly to his chest, and so all over very well, from the knees and shoulders upwards: after that, go to the far side, and do in like manner. Then take a dead horse's tail, or a dusting-cloth of cotton, and strike that dust away which the curry-comb has

raised. Then take a round brush, made of bristles, and dress him all over, both head, body, and legs, to the very fetlocks, always cleansing the brush from that dust which it gathers, by rubbing it upon the curry.comb. After that, take a hair.cloth, and rub him again all over very hard, both to take away the loose hairs, and to help to lay his coat; then wash your hands in fair water, and rub him all over with wet hands, as well head as body; for that will cleanse away all those hairs and dust the hair-cloth left. Lastly, take a clean cloth, and rub him all over till he be very dry; for that will make his coat smooth and clean. Then take another hair-cloth for you should have two, one for his body and another for his legs), and rub all his legs exceedingly well, from the knees and hocks downwards to his very hoof, picking and dressing them very carefully about the fetlocks from gravel and dust, which will lie in the bending of his joints.

6709. The curry-comb should not be too sharp, or, at least, not used in a rude and severe manner, so as to be an object of torture and dread, instead of delight and gratification to the horse. It is too often the fate of thin-skinned horses to suffer much from the brutality of heavy-handed and ignorant fellows, who do not recollect that the unhappy animal is suffering, every time he writhes and attempts to escape from the comb or brush, the same tortures that they themselves experience when tickled on the soles of their feet.

6710. The care of the legs and feet forms a most important branch of stable discipline. The legs must be kept perfectly dry and clean, Dirt suffered to form a lodgment, or wet remaining upon the legs in cold weather, will fret the skin, and cause cracked heels, grease, mallenders and sellenders, rat's-tail, crownscab, and such a train of stable plagues, as may battle the most vigorous efforts during a whole winter. If any disposition to swellings, cracks, &c. make their appearance on the legs, particularly in winter, mode. rate bandaging, which every good groom knows how to perform, will contribute to remove the evil; if it, however, increase, have recourse to the veterinary directions. It forms a part of the constant attention of a good horse-keeper to see that the feet of his horses be well cleansed beneath the shoe with the picker from all small stones or gravel, at every return from abroad. The shoes must be examined, that their ends do not press into the crust, and that the nails be fast, and that the clinches do not rise to cut the horse. In these cases, instant application must be made to the farrier: horses ought by no means to remain in old shoes until the toe is worn away, or the webs become so thin that there is danger of their breaking, unless in case of brittle hoofs, when it is an object to shoe as seldom as possible. Upon the average, good shoes will wear near a month. Steeling the toes is, in general, a useful practice, but less necessary when the best iron is made use of. Where any tendency to dry hoofs exists, the feet should be stopped with equal parts of clay, cow-dung, and chamberlye every night; otherwise, twice or three times a week will be suflicient. A still better stopping is made by adding a little tar to the other matters. It is also prudent, when the hoofs have any tendency to hardness and contraction, to water the front part of the stall a little; and also occasionally, or constantly, to hang around the hoofs an apparatus, made by doubling a circle of woollen cloth over a tape, which should be tied around the fetlocks loosely: the two segments of the cloth will then fold around the hoof, and correspond to it in shape. This may be dipped in water, and will be found very convenient in keeping the feet moist and cool. Very brittie hoots are greatly benefited by brushing them over with a mixture of whale oil and tar. It is considered as benefi cial, in general, to take off the shoes of a horse who is necessitated to stand long in the stable, and who does no work, and to substitute tips; the growth of the crust and the enlargement of the heels being thereby promoted.

6711. The care of the furniture and trappings is another part of the duty of a horse-keeper. These are best kept in order by being instantly rubbed clean after use, and placed in a dry situation; by which method, neither oil nor scouring-paper is often found necessary. Great care should be taken to dry the pads of the saddles after journeys, and never to put a hardened and damp saddle upon the horse's back. The same is also necessary with regard to the body-clothes. The pads of the saddles ought to be kept perfectly soft, and free from dirt and sweat; and, after use, should be dried either in the sun or by the fire, and hung in a dry place: the body-clothes also should be washed much oftener than they generally are, and ever kept perfectly dry, and in a sweet state.

6712. The exercising of horses is essentially necessary for their health, as it counteracts the effects of the artificial life we force on them. High feeding, heated stables, and unnatural clothing are, particularly the first, counteracted by proper exercise; and without it, horses become pursive, fat, heavy, and greased; for, when the secretions do not find themselves natural vents by perspiration, &c., they will find them selves artificial ones, Exercise keeps down the fat, and it also hardens and condenses the muscles by drawing their fibres nearer together; it likewise enlarges the muscles. Thus the appearance, as well as the feel, when we handle the flesh of a horse in condition by proper exercise, is totally different from those of one merely full of flesh by fat, &c. Exercise increases the wind by taking up the useless fat, and by accustoming the lungs to expand themselves.

6713. The quantity of exercise necessary for a horse must be regulated by a variety of circumstances; as age, constitution, condition, and his ordinary work. A young horse requires more exercise than an old one, but it should be neither very long, nor very fatiguing. Some colts are observed to come out of the breaker's hands with splints and spavins, owing to the severe exercise they have undergone. When horses are in general work, a little walking exercise in the morning in body-clothes, if the condition be very high, or the weather be very cold, is all that is necessary: but, on days when their common work is not expected to occur, a full-fed horse should be exercised twice a day, an hour at each time; or, if only once a day, then an hour and a half or two hours' exercise should be given; two thirds of which ought to be passed in walking, the other should be passed in a moderate trot in the hackney, and divided into galloping and trotting in the hunter. The racer has his regular gallops at stated periods; but the exercise of each should always finish with a walk of sufficient length, to bring the horse in cool, both in person and temper.

SECT. XVI. Management and Working of Horses.

6714. The working of horses includes the racing, hunting, and journeying of saddle horses; and the treatment in harness of coach, waggon, cart and farm horses.

SUBSECT. 1. Management and Working of Race Horses.

A

6715. In the managing and working of race horses, three things are to be considered, the preparation of the horse, the conduct of the rider, and the after-treatment of the horse. The preparation of a race horse for running a race is not the work of a few days, if there be any great dependence on the success. month at least is required to harden his muscles in training, by proper food and exercise, and to refine his wind, by clearing his body to that degree of perfection that is attainable by art. It is first necessary to ascertain correctly the present state of the horse, as whether he be low or high in flesh; and in either case a proper estimate should be formed of the time and means required to bring him into true running

condition.

6716. If a race horse be low in flesh, it is necessary to judge of the cause of such state, and to act accordingly, the necessary proceedings for which were detailed in treating of condition. (6425.) It is to be remarked, that spices are less to be depended on for this purpose than generous food, as malt mashes; and if any thing of the kind be used, let it be the simple cordial ball. (Fet. Pharm. 6568.) Feed frequently, and by little at a time: while he is thus low, let his exercise be walking only, and by no means spare his water, or he will become hide-bound: carefully watch him, that full feeding may not disagree