go through any ground, and activity sufficient to accomplish the most extraordinary leaps. As road. sters, these horses have ever proved valuable, uniting durability, ease, and safety with extreme docility. In form they may be considered as affording a happy mixture of an improved hack with our old English roadster.

6237. The British varieties of saddle horse of more inferior description are very numerous, as cobs, galloways, and ponies. Cobs are a thick, compact, hackney breed, from fourteen hands to fourteen hands two inches high, in great request for elderly and heavy persons to ride, or to drive in low phaetons, &c. Galloways and ponies are lately in much request also for low chaises; a demand which will lead to a cultivation of their form; the number bred requires little increase, as several waste districts or moors throughout England are already appropriated principally to the purpose of rearing ponies.

6238. The British varieties of war or cavalry horse, and of carriage and cart horse, are considered to have been derived from the German and Flemish breeds, meliorated by judicious culture. Most of the superior varieties contain a mixture of Arabian or Spanish blood. Cavalry horses are found amongst the larger sort of hackneys; and the observations made in the late wars sufficiently show the justice of the selection. Except in a few unhappy instances, where a mistaken admiration of the Hulans had led to selecting them too light, the English cavalry horse possessed a decided superiority over the best French horses in strength and activity, as well as over the Germans, whose horses on the other hand, by their bulk and heavy make, were incapable of seconding the efforts of the British dragoons. The coach, chariot, and stage horses are derived many of them from the Cleveland bays, further improved by a mixture of blood. Others are bred from a judicious union of blood and bone, made by the breeders in Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, and other midland counties.

6239. The varieties of draught horse were originally as numerous as the districts in which they were bred, each having its favourite breed; but since the intercourse among farmers and breeders has been greater, those in common use are so mixed as to render it difficult to determine of what variety they partake the most. At present the principally esteemed draught horses are the Suffolk punch, the Cleve land bay, the black, and the Lanark or Clydesdale. The native breeds of draught horses of England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland, are much too small for the purposes of agricultural draught as now conducted; but by cultivation, the improved breeds pointed out have furnished such animals as are equal to every thing required of them.

6240. The black horse (fig. 823.), bred in the midland counties of England, is a noble and useful animal;

and furnishes those grand teams we see in the coal, flour, and other heavy carts and waggons about London; where the immense weight of the animal's body assists his accompanying strength to move the heaviest loads. But the present system of farming requires horses of less bulk and more activity for the usual agricultural purposes, better adapted for travelling, and more capable of enduring fatigue; consequently this breed is seldom seen in the improved farms. The black cart horse is understood to have been formed, or at least to have been brought to its present state, by means of stallions and mares imported from the Low Countries; though there appears to be some difference in the accounts that have been preserved, in regard to the places whence they were originally brought, and to the persons who introduced them. (Culley on Live Stock, p. 32, and Marshal's Economy of the Midland Counties, vol. i. p. 306.) Marshal, under too confined a view, and probably prejudiced against the breed on account of its fancied want of spirit, as well as for the alleged tendency to become flat and pommiced in the feet, is most unreasonably severe on it, when he says, "the breed of grey rats, with which this island has of late years been overrun, are not a greater pest in it than the breed of black fen horses; at least while cattle remain scarce as they are at present, and while the flesh of horses remains to be rejected as an article of human food." (Marshal's Yorkshire, vol. ii. p. 164.) The present improved sub-variety of this breed is said to have taken its rise in six Zealand mares, sent over from the Hague by the late Lord Chesterfield, during his embassy at that court.

6241. The Cleveland bays (fig. 824.), which owe some of their most valuable properties to crosses with

824

the race-horse, have been long celebrated as one of the best breeds in the island; but they are said to have degenerated of late. They are reared to a great extent in Yorkshire, the farmers of which county are remarkable for their knowledge in every thing that relates to this species of live stock. hardiness, these horses, perhaps, have no superior. Some capital hunters have been produced by putting In activity and full-bred stallions to mares of this sort; but the chief object latterly has been to breed coach-horses, and such as have sufficient strength for a two-horse plough. Three of these horses draw a ton and a half of coals, travelling sixty miles in twenty-four hours, without any other rest but two or three baits upon the road; and frequently perform this labour four times a week.

6242. The Suffolk punch (fig. 825.) is a very useful animal for rural labour, and is particularly esteemed by the farmers of Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex, but the merit of this breed seems to consist more in constitutional hardiness than in any apparent superiority of shape. lowish or sorrel, with a white ratch or blaze on their faces; the head large, ears wide, muzzle coarse, "Their colour is mostly yel

fore-end low, back long sometimes, but always very straight, sides flat, shoulders too far forward, hind

825

quarters middling, but rather high about the hips, legs round and short in the pasterns, deep-bellied, and full in the flank. Here, perhaps, lies much of the merit of these horses; for we know, from ob servation and experience, that all deep-bellied horses carry their food long, and consequently are enabled to stand longer and harder days' works. However, certain it is, that these horses do perform surprising days' works. It is well known, that the Suffolk and Norfolk farmers plough more land in a day than any other people in the island; and these are the kind of horses every where used in those districts." (Culley on Live Stock, p. 27.) Since Culley's time much pains have been taken to improve this useful breed, and to render them, by cultivation, fitted not only for heavy but for light work. It is no uncommon thing for a Suffolk stallion to fetch from 2007. to 3001. The best show of these stallions in England is at Woodbridge Lady-day fair, where Suffolk cart mares have brought from 100%, to 150%, and one mare and her offspring a few years ago at this fair brought 1000. The figure (825.) hardly does justice to the animal. (M)

6243. The Clydesdale horse (fig. 826.) has been long in high repute in Scotland and the north of England;

and, for the purposes of the farmer, is probably equal to any other breed in Britain. Of the origin of this race, various accounts have been given, but none of them so clear, or so well authenticated, as to merit any notice. They have got this name, not because they are bred only in Clydesdale or Lanarkshire, for the same description of horses are reared in the other western counties of Scotland, and over all that tract which lies between the Clyde and the Forth, but because the principal markets at which they are sold, Lanark, Carnwath, Rutherglen, and Glasgow, are situated in that district, where they are also preserved in a state of greater purity than in most other parts. They are rather larger than the Suffolk punches, and the neck is somewhat longer; their colour is black, brown, or grey, and a white spot on the face is esteemed a mark of beauty. The breast is broad; the shoulder thick, with the reaching cartilaginous portion of the blade-bone nearly as high as the withers, and not so much thrown backwards as in road horses; the hoof round, and usually black, with wide heels; the back straight and broad, but not too long; the hucks visible, but not prominent, and the space between them and the ribs short; the tail heavy, and well haired; the thighs meeting each other so near as to leave only a small groove for the tail to rest on. One most valuable property of this breed is, that they are remarkably true pullers, a restive horse being rarely found among them.

6244. The Welsh horse (fig. 827. a) bears a near resemblance, in point of size and hardiness, to the best of

the road.

the native breed of the highlands of Scotland, and other hilly countries in the north of Europe. It is too small for the present two-horse ploughs; but few horses are equal to them for enduring fatigue on well remember," says Culley," one that I rode for many years, which, to the last, would have gone upon a pavement by choice, in preference to a softer road." (Observations on Live Stock, p. 35.)

6245. The galloway (b), properly so called as being found chiefly in that province of Scotland, has now become very rare, the breed having been neglected from its unfitness for agricultural purposes. Galloway is, however, used as a term for any horse between the pony size and the hack; and in this point of view is sufficiently numerous, and very commonly bred by small farmers on commons and wastes. The true galloway is somewhat larger than the Welsh horse, and is said to resemble the Spanish horses; there is also a tradition, that some of the latter, that had escaped from one of the vessels of the Armada, wrecked on the coast of Galloway, were allowed to intermix with the native race. Such of this breed as have been preserved in any degree of purity are of a light bay or brown colour, with black legs, and are easily distinguished by the smallness of their head and neck, and the cleanness of their bone.

6246. The still smaller horses of the Highlands and isles of Scotland, (c) are distinguished from larger breeds by the several appellations of ponies, shelties, and in Gaelic of garrons or gearrons. They are reared in great numbers in the Hebrides, or western isles, where they are found in the greatest purity. Different varieties of the same race are spread over all the Highland districts, and the northern isles. This ancient breed is supposed to have been introduced into Scotland from Scandinavia, when the Norwegians and Danes first obtained a footing in these parts. "It is precisely the same breed that subsists at present in Norway, the Feroe Isles, and Iceland, and is totally distinct from every thing of horse kind on the continent of Europe, south of the Baltic. In confirmation of this, there is one peculiar variety of the horse in the Highlands, that deserves to be noticed: it is there called the ecl-backed horse. He is of different colours, light bay, dun, and sometimes cream-coloured; but has always a blackish list that runs along the ridge of the back, from the shoulder to the rump, which has a

resemblance to an eel stretched out. This very singular character subsists also in many of the horses of Norway, and is nowhere else known." (Walker's Hebrides, vol. ii. p. 158.) "The Highland horse is sometimes only nine, and seldom twelve hands high, except in some of the southern of the Hebrides, where the size has been raised to thirteen or fourteen hands by selection and better feeling. The best of this breed are handsomely shaped, have small legs, large manes, little neat heads, and are extremely active and hardy. The common colours are grey, bay, and black; the last is the favourite one." (General Report of Scotland, vol. iii. p. 176.)

SECT. II. Organology or exterior Anatomy of the Horse.

6247. A just knowledge of the exterior conformation of the horse, to be able to form a correct judgment on the relative qualities of the animal, forms the ne plus ultra of a scientific horseman's aim; but it is a branch of knowledge not to be obtained without much study and experience. In considering a horse exteriorly, his age, his condition, and other circumstances should be taken into the account; without which attention it is not possible to determine, with precision, the present or future state of a horse when he is seen under various peculiarities. A horse of five years old, though considered as full grown, yet experiences very considerable alterations of form after that period. He then becomes what is termed furnished; and all his points (i. e. his adult form), before hidden in the plumpness of youth, or disguised by extreme obesity, now show themselves. From the effects of muscular exertion promoting absorption, he becomes more angular, and to the painter's eye, would prove more picturesque, but less beautiful. A horse likewise low in flesh and condition, is hardly the same animal as one in full flesh and condition; and again, the sleekness acquired from relaxed labour, with full and gross feeding, is very unlike the robust form acquired from generous diet with correspondent

exertion.

6248. The examination of the subject of organology is conveniently pursued by dividing it into head, neck, trunk, or body, and extremities or legs. The greater number of well proportioned horses, with the exception of the head and neck, come within a quadrangle ; not one strictly equilateral as depicted by Lawrence (Richard) and Clark, but one whose horizontal dimensions are usually between a twenty-fourth and twenty-eighth greater than their perpendiculars. It must, however, be kept in mind, that with some considerable deviations from this quadrangular form, many horses have proved superiorly gifted in their powers; and that a deviation from these proportions appears in some instances, as in that of the race horse, not only favourable, but necessary also to his exertions. Nature will not be limited, and the perfection of her operations is not alone dependent on the arbitrary arrangement of parts, but on a harmony and accordance of the whole, internal as well as external. To the artist, however, such admeasurement is useful, inasmuch as it prevents any singular departure from a symmetrical appearance, which is but too common among our animal draughtsmen. To the amateur it also offers a convenient, though not an unerring guide. Our exemplification of the organology appears by placing a blood and a cart horse within the same square (fig. 828.), by which the differences between the various parts of the one and the other are readily contrasted.

6249. The organs of the head. The head of the horse is remarkable for its dimensions, formed by an elongation of the jaws; yet in him, as in most of the grazing tribes, its bulk is in an inverse proportion to the length of the neck, otherwise the muscles would not be able to lift it. It is an important part considered as relative to beauty alone, it being in the inferior heavy breeds but little marked by grace or expression; but in the improved varieties it presents lines worthy the painter's pencil and the poet's fancy. Neither is it too much to say, that in no part of the body is this amelioration of breed so soon detected as in the head. Can any thing be conceived more dissimilar than the small inexpressive features of the cart horse, and the bold striking ones that grace the head of the blood horse? The quick succession of movements in his pointed ears, the dilatations of his expanded nostrils, or his retroverted eyes, which give fire and animation to the character of his head when under the influence of any excitement. This is the more worthy of remark, when it is considered that some of the principal aids to expression in the human countenance are wanting in the horse. Man borrows much of his facial expression from his eyebrows, and when to these the varied action of the mouth is added, it amounts to more than a half of the total expression. A great accession of beauty is gained in the improved breeds by the increase of the facial angle, which in them is about 25°, but in the heavy breeds is usually only 23° (a a aa).

6250. The ears (bb) in the improved breeds are small and pointed; in the heavy they are not only large and ill shaped, but they frequently separate from each other: these defects gave rise to the barbarous custom of cropping, now happily in a great measure abolished. The ears are criteria of the spirit, as well as of the temper; we have seldom seen a horse which carried one ear forward and the other backward during his work that was not hardy and lasting. Being not subject to early fatigue, he is attentive to every thing around him, and directs his ears different ways to collect sound from every quarter. The ears are also indications of temper, and a horse is seldom either playful or vicious but his ears are laid flat on the neck. It is fortunate that we are provided with such a warning, by an animal that does not want craft to surprise

6251. The forehead next presents itself (c c), straight, and of a proper width in the improved bree.ls, adorned by nature with an elegant portion of hair, which, detaching itself from the rest of the mane, flows down the face to protect both that and the ears from the attacks of insects.

6252. The eyes (dd) deserve particular attention, not only for their utility, but as objects of beauty and expression. In the blood horse the orbitary fossæ, or eye-sockets, are more prominent and more inclined, by which the axes of his eyes diverge more from each other than those of the heavy breed; by which not only he is enabled to see further behind him, but the prominence of his eyes gives great beauty and expression to the blood head. The further consideration of the eyes, and their criteria of soundness, will be postponed to the anatomical detail. In old horses most of the fat of the body, which is more superficially placed in the young, becomes absorbed; in this way the eye, which is usually embedded in a vast quantity of this matter, losing its assistance, sinks within its orbits, and thus the cavities above, called eye-pits, shows themselves deeply in an aged horse.

6253. From the ears to the angle of the jaws (c e) large vessels and extensive glands are situated. Within these branches of the posterior jaw is lodged the throat, and it will be observed how necessary it is that these branches should expand sufficiently to admit of the motions of the head, particularly of those influenced by the reining-in of the bridle; otherwise the blood-vessels and other parts must be injuriously pressed upon.

6254. The hollow between the jaws is called the channel, and at the under part of it (f) a considerable branch of an artery proceeds from the inner side over and around the outer, which branch forms the most convenient situation for feeling the pulse of the horse.

6255. The face (g) of the improved breed of horses presents either a straight line, or one slightly curved inward towards the lower part; whereas, in the heavy breeds, it is very commonly found to be curved outward. This part comprises, as with man, from the forehead to the lips. When the face is covered with white, it is considered a blemish; but when a white spot only exists in the forehead, it is considered a beauty.

6256. The markings in the face are useful to describe a horse by, and frequently lead to the recovery of a strayed or stolen one. In regimental accounts these marks are carefully noted. When a spot extends down the face, it is terined a blaze; and when further continued into the muzzle, it is called blaze and snip. When a star is distinct, but with it there are white markings which begin some distance below it, and are continued downwards, it is called a race.

6257. The muzzle (h h) includes the lips, mouth, and nostrils; the darker the colour of this part the more is the horse esteemed: very dark brown horses are an exception, for in them it is usually of a tan colour, and is praised both as a beauty and indicative of excellence. It is both a beauty and an excellence that the nostrils be thin, angular, and large.

6258. The lips should be thin, firm, and by no means 100se and pendulous, as is the case in the old and sluggish. The lips in the horse are the principal organs of touch and discrimination, and hence are exquisitely sensible.

6259. The form of the mouth, as receiving the bit, is important. It is also of more consequence than is usually supposed, that its commissure or opening be sufficiently deep; when shallow, it is not only inelegant, but it will not admit a bridle favourably into its proper resting place upon the bars. Within the mouth are situated the teeth, which are so placed as to have interrupted portions of jaw above and below of considerable extent. These vacancies are called bars, and are parts of extreme importance to the horseman, as it is by means of agents called bits resting on these parts, and operating on their sensibility by means of a lever, the long arm of which is in the hand of the rider, that he ensures obedience. In aid of this mechanism, to one portion of this lever is attached a chain, called a curb, which acting on the outer part of the chin, increases the pressure. This latter part has been called the barb or beard, but its situation is evidently above that.

829

6260. The teeth (fig. 829.), which present themselves on the lower parts of the jaws, are the incisive and canine. The two front incisives are popularly called nippers or gatherers (a); the two next adjoining, separators or middle teeth (b); and the outer, the corners (c); but it would be more definite to say the first, second, and third incisives, beginning at the corner. The tusks or tushes (dd) occupy part of the intermediate space between the incisive and grinding teeth. The teeth, as criteria of age, will be considered in another place, and as organs of mastication, they will be further noticed in the anatomical detail.

(e

6261. The organs of the neck. The exterior parts which compose the neck are first the upper surface, which is furnished throughout its whole extent with an elegant assemblage of hair called mane (fig. 828. e e). In some instances, as in stallions, it is of enormous length and thickness. In dark-coloured horses it is commonly black, but in horses of colours approaching to a light hue the reverse is frequently seen, and the mane and tail are in these often lighter than the body.

6262. To make the hairs of the mane and tail lie smooth is an object with most horsemen, but the pulling the hair out in tufts by wrapping it round the fingers is a most erroneous practice, and not only at the time frustrates the end intended, but a mane so pulled will seldom hang well after. The writer of this has always made use of a three-pronged angular mane-puller, which, if used two or three times a week, will bring both mane and tail into perfect order, and will keep them so. This iron is manufactured and sold by Long, veterinary instrument maker in Holborn, London.

6263. The upper surface of the neck (1) should form a moderate but elegant curve, which is greatly favourable to beauty: this curve is, however, not so considerable in the pure eastern variety as in the better sort of northern horse.

6264. The under surface of the neck (k k) should be nearly straight; in the cock-throttled horse it arches outwards, and the upper surface in these instances is sometimes hollowed inwards in equal proportions, when such horse is called ewe-necked. When this deformity is considerable, it prevents the head from being carried in its true angle, and particularly so under the action of the bridle; in which case the nose being projected forwards, carries the axis of the eyes upwards: such horses are called stargazers; and it is to be observed that they are seldom safe-goers. In mares and geldings a very just criterion of a sluggish disposition, may be formed from the presence of a considerable quantity of flesh on the upper surface of the neck: when the crest is very thick and heavy, it is almost an unerring prognostic of a decided sluggard. In stallions it, however, forms a distinctive sexual mark, and therefore is less to be depended upon in them. In a well-proportioned horse, the length of the neck, the length of the head, and of the angle uniting the two, should give the height of the withers from the ground. When the neck is too long, the head must of course gravitate by the increased length of the arm of the balance; it likewise seldom presents a firm or proper resistance to the bridle. When, on the contrary, the neck is too short, the head is frequently ill placed, and the lever in the hand of the rider will be too short also.

6265. The organs of the trunk or carcase are various. Considered as a whole, Clark has not unaptly likened it, when separated from the limbs, to a boat; within which are disposed various important viscera. The bony ribs he likens to the wooden ones encompassing the vessel, and the sternum or breast-bone, being perpendicularly deep and thin, carries the resemblance further, and fits the machine to cleave the air as the boat does the water. Within this animal vessel, according with the justest mechanical principles, the weightiest of the viscera, the liver, is placed in the centre, and the others follow nearly in the relative order of their gravity; so that the lungs, the lightest of the whole, are stowed in front, where great weight would have been most disadvantageous.

6266. The shoulders (a a, b b) are commonly considered as extending from the withers above to the point in front, and to the line behind formed from the elbow upwards: but a correct description considers them as those parts immediately concerned in motion; that is, the scapula or blade-bone, and its attachments. The shoulders are too apt to be confounded with the withers above, and with the arm below, erroneously called the point of the shoulders. From this confusion, great error is committed in appreciating their nature and action; but this is removed by recourse to the skeleton (fig. 830. i,k,). The withers (ee) may be justly proportioned at the same time that the shoulders may be narrow, straight, and altogether badly formed, and vice versa. The shoulders should be muscular and narrow, but not heavy; and to determine between these essential points, requires the eye of experience in the viewer, and the presence of condition in the viewed. A muscular shoulder is essentially necessary, when we consider that the fore extremities are wholly connected by muscle, and not as in man, by the intervention of the bony union of the clavicle or collar bone. In the horse, therefore, we find that large muscular masses unite the shoulder blade, by its upper and inner surfaces, to the chest; while other powerful muscles suspend as it were the machine between them. By this contrivance, elasticity is preserved and strength gained; for had the shoulders possessed a bony connection, when the body is propelled forwards, its weight and force being received by the fore extremities, painful and hurtful shocks would have been experienced at every step. Powerful muscles for the shoulders are also as necessary for progression as for attachment. It is not therefore with judgment that a very thin meagre shoulder is commonly preferred. It is by the union of strength with just proportions, and a proper situation of the parts, that the value of the animal is determined.

6267. The centre of action in the shoulders (c) is in their common centre, and the extent of action of any part moving on its centre, is dependent on the length of such part; the motion the shoulder enjoys is confined to the perpendicular backwards, and to as great an elevation of the muscles as they will admit of forwards. It will be therefore evident that the more oblique is the situation of the shoulder blade, the greater number of degrees it can go through; it must be as evident also that when the shoulder blade is long and deep, as well as oblique, that this advantage is increased. It is commonly observed, although it is not invariably the case, that when the shoulder is short, it is also upright (bb). Obliquity and length in the shoulder favour the safety of the progression also: for as the angles formed between the shoulder, the arm, and fore-arm, are consentaneous, and make, when in action, a bony arch; so the obliquity and length of the shoulders is favourable to a due elevation of the limb, on which, in a great degree, depends the safety of progression. Thus mares are, ceteris paribus, more unsafe than horses, their shoulders being short to correspond with the low mare-like forehand; and their decreased obliquity usually regulates an increased obliquity in the whole limb downwards, or as is familiarly expressed, they stand with their legs under them. Unfavourable as is this form of the mare, both for the speed and safety of their action, it was given for advantageous purposes: for, by such a position in the fore extremities, the hinder are raised higher to afford additional security against the evils of gravitation and dislodgement of the foal from the pelvis. Few rules can be laid down in the exterior conformation that are more important, or of such general application, as that a short and upright shoulder, particularly when united with an