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HISTORY OF THE HORSE, 
 
 IN ALL ITS VARIETIES AND USES; 
 
 TOGETHER 
 
 WITH COMPLETE DIRECTIONS FOR THE BREEDING, REARING, AND 
 
 MANAGEMENT ; 
 
 AND FOR 
 
 THE CURE OF ALL DISEASES TO WHICH HE IS LIABLE. 
 ALSO, 
 
 A CONCISE TREATISE ON DRAUGHT. 
 
 
 WITH A COPIOUS INDEX TO THE AVHOLE. 
 
 i 
 
 WASHINGTON : 
 PUBLISHED AND STEREOTYPED BY DUFF GREEN. 
 
 1834. 
 
■'^l^ 
 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PACK 
 
 Introduction -.-----------i 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 General History of the Horse 1 
 
 Earlist records of him : appears to have been first domesticated in Egypt, and 
 thence propagated to otlier countries : the horse not cultivated in Arabia until 
 the seventh century. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The Different Foreign Breeds of Horses ...... 3 
 
 The wild horses of South America, method of catching and breaking them by the 
 Gauchos : the wild horses of Tartary: the Barb : the Dongola : the Arabian, his 
 vai'ieties, beautiful form, fleetness, docility, afl'ection of the Arab towards him, 
 anecdotes of: the East Indian, his varieties : the Chinese : Persian, beauty and 
 value of : the Toorkoman : Tartar and Calmuc : Turkish: German: Swedish: 
 Finland, and Norwegian : Iceland : Flemish and Dutch : French : Spanish : 
 Italian : American. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 History of the English Horse 17 
 
 Horse of the early Britons : crossed by the Romans : improved by Athelstan and 
 Howell the Good : not used for the plough until the tenth century : improved by 
 William I. and Henryll.: neglected by the Crusaders : materially improved by 
 John, who imported many Flanders horses : by Edward H., who purchased 
 thirty Lombardy horses : by Edward III., who introduced tlie Spanish horse, 
 and had several nmning horses : more rapidly improved, however, when cumb- 
 rous armour was laid aside : the improvement arrested by the tyrannical and 
 illiberal policy of Henry VIII., and under Elizabeth horses were diminished in 
 number and value : under James I. the progi-ess of improvement was ha.stened : 
 Turkish and Barbary horses were introduced, and the first Arabian horse : races 
 were now established : Charles I. was fond of horses : even Cromwell en- 
 couraged the improvement of the breed : at the restoration a new impulse was 
 given under Anne, Arabians were again introduced : and about the middle of tlie 
 eighteenth century the English horse had arrived at its state of highest perfec- 
 tion. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The Different Breeds of English Horses ...... 22 
 
 The roadster or hackney : description of him : the horse of all work, the farmer's 
 horse : the coach-horse, derived from the Cleveland bays : principle of draught : 
 power of the horse : the pace killing : the heavy draught-horse : the old Surtolk : 
 the Clydesdale : the heavy black horse-, too heavy : the dray-horse ; the cavalry- 
 horse : the race-horse, question of his real origin, actually superior to the Ara- 
 bian, the Darley, Flying Childers, Eclipse, the Godolphin Arabian, the emula- 
 tion of the race-horse, consequence of short races : the hunter, description of 
 his proper breed and form, anecdotes of his love of the sport, usage of him, 
 management of, when distressed, summering of: the Galloway: the Welsh 
 pony: the New-Forester: the Exmoor pony: the Dartmoor: theHigldand: 
 the Shetland : the Irish horse. 
 
 •••s.-r 
 
iv CONTENTS. 
 
 « 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 PA6B 
 
 Zoological Classification of the Horse --..-. 48 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 The External Structure of the Horse ....---49 
 The head : frontal bones : frontal sinuses, used for the discovery of glanders : 
 the parietal : tenaporal : arched form of the skull : designed strength of the base 
 of the arch : occipital, attachment of the strong hgament of the neck to it : the 
 sphenoid and aetnmoid : the brain : medullary and cineritious portions : the 
 nerves : spinal cord : spinal nerves, consisting of fibres of sensation and mo- 
 tion, and others devoted to respiration : the sympathetic or organic nerve, at tli« 
 base of the skull, devoted to nutrition and circulation. The ear, beauty of, in- 
 dicative of temper, folly of cropping or singeing: the internal ear; beautiful 
 mechanism of, the drum, the little bones, the expansion of the nerve. The eye: 
 the lids, substitution for eye- brows, eye-lashes, tears, situation of lachiymal 
 gland : the haw, beautiful mechanism of it, barbarous practice of destroying it : 
 the conjunctiva : cornea, importance of its perfect transparency, directions for 
 examining it : the sclerotica : choroid coat, its black color, the beautiful color 
 and use ot the lucid carpet within the eye : the aqueous humour : iris : wall- 
 eyed horse : the pupil, importance likewise of carefully examining it : the lens : 
 vitreous humour : retina : theoiy of vision : shying : muscles of the eye : the 
 one peculiar to quadrupeds to retract it from danger. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 Diseases of the Brain and Eye 79 
 
 Fracture of the skull : pressure on the brain : megrims : apoplexy : stomach- 
 staggers, arising usually from mismanagement : mad staggers : locked jaw, or 
 tetanus : epilepsy or fits : palsy : rabies or madness : neurotomy, method of per- 
 forming the operation, diseases of the foot for which beneficial. Diseases of 
 the eye : wounds : warts : enlargement of the haw : inflammation of the eye : 
 opacities of the cornea : cataract : gutta serena, or glass eye. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 The Nose AND Mouth, AND THEIR Diseases 92 
 
 Anatomy of the nose : Roman noses : cartilage of the nose : turbinated bones : 
 wideness of nostril, advantage of: importance of observing the color of the 
 membrane of the nose : discharge from the nose. Glanders, symptoms of, how 
 distinguished from strangles or cold : primarily a disease of the membrane of 
 the nose : connected with farcy ; they are diflerent forms of the same disease ; 
 causes of contagion : hot and foul stables : debihtating disease : highly 
 contagious : prevention : treatment. Farcy, a disease of the absorbents : 
 farcy buds : symptoms : treatment. The lips, the organs of touch : lips, 
 how formed : bearing rein, necessity for : bones of the mouth : the palate, 
 method of bleeding irom : lampas : the lower jaw, curious mechanism of the 
 joint of, contrived to grind the food. Teeth, their growth and changes from the 
 birth, as indicative of the age : wolves teeth : diseases of the teeth. Descrip- 
 tion of the tongue : vesicles under the tongue : the salivary glands : the parotid : 
 the submaxillary and sublingual : strangles : canker in the mouth : wounds in 
 the mouth : description of the pharynx. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The Neck ■ -120 
 
 Description of the neck : poll-evil : proper form of the neck : the splenius mus- 
 cle : neck should be muscular at the bottom : the complexus major : ewe-neck- 
 ed : the muscles of the neck generally : arteries and veins of the neck : inflam- 
 mation of the vein after bleeding : the wind-pipe : the larynx : roaring : the 
 oesophagus or gullet. 
 
CONTENTS. V 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Chest — Its Contents and their Diseases 129 
 
 The proper form of the chest : form of as much importance as capacit}'^ : depth 
 of chest, importance of : ribbed home. Anatomy of the spine : the bones of the 
 spine connected by highly elcistie substance : consequent ease in riding: con- 
 tiivances ibr strength : broken -backed : comparison between the long and short 
 backed horse ; saddle-backed : weak-backed. The loins : should be broad and 
 muscular. The withers : advantage of higli withers. The muscles of the back. 
 Fistulous withers: warbles: sitfasts: saddle-galls. The ribs. The breast: 
 muscles of the breast: being all abroad. Chest-founder: dropsical swellings be- 
 tween the fore-legs. Inside of the chest, diaphragm : the pleura : the medias- 
 tinum. The heart and its action : inflammation of the heart. The arteries. 
 The pulse : its standard number : when quick, hard, small, weak, or oppressed : 
 necessity of attending to the pulse. The capilleiries. Inflammation, an in- 
 creased flow of blood to and through the part : local and general : treatment of: 
 cold or warm applications. Fever, or genr.ral increased arterial action : pure 
 fever: symptomatic fever: treatment. The veins: bog and blood spavin. 
 Bleeding; directions for: the fleam and lancet; bleeding places. The lungs : 
 description of: change of blood in passing through them : capacious chest, ad- 
 vange of. Inflammation of the lungs : symptoms : causes : b-eatment : con- 
 sequences. Pleurisy. Catan-h, or common cold. Bronchilis. Catarrhal fever. 
 The mdignant epidemic. Chronic cough. Thick-wind: broken-wind: the 
 piper : wheezer : whistler : highblower : grunter. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 The Stomach and Intestines — Their Diseases ...... ips 
 
 The diaphragm. The stomach : stomach staggers : inflammation : poisons : bots, 
 The intestmes : the mesenterv, duodenum, jejunum, ileum, ccecum, colon, rec- 
 tum : spasmodic colic : calculi : intussusception : entanglement : inflammation 
 of the bowels : over-purging : washy horses : worms : physicing : the best 
 purgatives : rupture. The liver : inflammation of the liver : jaundice. The 
 spleen. The pancreas. The omentum. The kidneys : diuretic medicines, 
 use and abuse of: inflammation of the kidney : profuse staling. The bladder : 
 inflammation of the bladder : stone in the bladder. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 PRINCIPLES OF Breeding .-.--..... J72 
 
 Form, constitution, diseases inherited : causesof deterioration of half-bred horses : 
 the mare of as much importance in breeding a.s the horse : shape of mare and 
 horse : breeding in and in : age at which mare is capable of breeding: time of 
 neat: time of going with foal : management of mare with foal : when she has 
 foaled : weaning foal : treatment of foal : importance of good feeding : process 
 of breaking in begun from the period of weaning : actual breaking in : ditlerent 
 steps of: necessity of implicit obedience, yet not enforced by cruelty: break- 
 ing in for the road or chase : bitting the colt : saddling: castration. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 The Fore-legs, and their Diseases ........ 175 
 
 The shoulder : sprain of the shoulder : slanting direction of the shoulder, import- 
 ance of: how applicable to horses of heavy draught : muscle of the outside of 
 the shoulder : trapesius : levator humeri : serratus : sterno-maxillaris : spinati : 
 
 [)ectorals : the lower bone of the shoulder : the arm : the elbow : principle of the 
 ever applied to it : the extensor muscles: the flexors : disadvantage at which 
 they act : the perforated muscle : the perforating : the arm should be long : the 
 knee : broken knees : the leg, splent : speedy-cut : tied in below the knee : 
 sprain of the back sinews : necessity of attention to any thickening on them : 
 wingalls: the pasterns: the suspensory ligaments: obliquity of the pastern: 
 rupture of the suspensory ligament : the fetlock : grogginess : cutting : bones 
 of the pasterns : sprain of the coffin-joint : ring-bone : position of the legs. 
 
vi CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Hinder Limbs and their Diseases ---.-.. 199 
 
 The haunch: bein^ ragged-hipped : width of haunch : the thigh : muscles of the 
 
 inside of the tliigh : the sartorius : gracilis : muscles of the outside of the 
 
 thigh : the glutaei : great trochanter of the thigh, importance of: sprain of the 
 
 round bone : the stifle : the extensor pedis muscle : the peronaeus : the flexor 
 
 Eedis : thorough-pin : the hock : enlargement of the hock : curb : bog-spavin : 
 one spavin : other lameness of tl^ie hock : the point of the hock : capped hock : 
 malenders and salenders : cow-hocks : slringhalt : swelled legs : grease, cause 
 and treatment of: washing the heels : danger of cutting the hair from the heels . 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 The Anatomy of the Foot-- 216 
 
 The crust or wall of the foot : the inner heel should not be too much cut away : 
 the coronary ligament : the coronary ring : the frog-band : the crust : color of: 
 the bars : folly of destroying them : the frog : the sole : the coflin-bone : the 
 sensible sole : the sensible frog : the navicular bone : the cartilages of the foot. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Diseases of the Foot 223 
 
 Inflammation of the foot, or acute founder: pumiced feet : chronic founder: con- 
 traction : the navicular-joint disease : sand-crack : tread or over-reach : false- 
 quarter : quittor : prick, or wound in the foot : corns : thrush : canker : ossifi- 
 cation of the cai-tilages : weakness of the foot. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 On Shoeing 238 
 
 The concave seated shoe : preparation of the foot: putting on of the shoe: cal- 
 kins : clips : the hind-shoe : the hunting-shoe : the bar-shoe : tips : the ex- 
 panding snoe : felt or leather soles. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Operations 244 
 
 The trevis : the side-line: the hobbles: the twitch: the barnacles: bleeding: 
 blistering : firing : setons : docking : nicldng. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 Vices and Bad Habits 251 
 
 Restiveness : Jumper the horse-breaker : King Pippin, anecdote of: Sullivan the 
 Irish whisperer : backing or gibbing : biting : getting the cheek of the bit into 
 the mouth : kicking : unsteadiness while being mounted : rearing : running 
 away : vicious to clean : vicious to shoe : swallowing without grinding : crib- 
 biting : wind-sucking : cutting : not lying down : overreach : pawing : quid- 
 ding : rolling : shying : slipping the collar : tripping : weaving. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 The General Management of the Horse --..-- 262 
 
 Air : litter : light : grooming : exercise : food : manger-feeding : oats : barley : 
 grains : wheat : beans : peas : grass : hay : tares : rye-grass : clover : lucern : 
 saint-foin : Swedish turnip : carrots ; potatoes : furze : nutritive matter in the 
 different articles of food : the times of feeding should be equally divided : wa- 
 ter : management of the feet. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 Soundness 273 
 
 The grand principle of : supposed causes of unsoundness : broken knees : capped 
 
CONTENTS. vii 
 
 PAGE 
 
 hocks : contraction : corns ; couffh : roaring : wheezing : whistling : high- 
 blowing : grunting : broken wind : crib-biting : curb : cutting : enlarged 
 glands : enlarged hock : tlie eyes : lameness : neurotomy : ossification of the 
 lateral cartilages : pumiced foot : quidding : quittor : ringbone : sandcrack : spa- 
 vin : blood spavin : splent : stringhalt : thickening of the back sinews : thorough- 
 pin : thrush ; windgalls. Form of warranty : the horse must be unsound or 
 vicious at the time of sale : no price will imply a warranty : a warranty after 
 tlie sale invalid : to complete tlie purchase there must be a transfer, a memo- 
 randum, or partial payment : notice of unsoundness not legally required, yet 
 advisable : prudent to refrain from all medical treatment : where no warranty, 
 an action may be brought on the ground of fraud : exchanges considered on 
 the same ground as simple sales : the allowance of trial : laws of tlie principal 
 Repositories. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 The Skin - - - 279 
 
 Hide bound : the hair : pores of the sldn : moulting : clipping : color of the horse : 
 surfeit ; mange : wairts. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 Medicines used in Veterinary Practice .--... 287 
 Aloes : alteratives : alum : hartshorn : sal-ammoniac : anodynes : black antimo- 
 ny : emetic tartar: antimonial powder : butyr of antimony : antispasmodics: 
 arsenic : astringents : bafls : blisters : bole-Armenian : burgimdy pitch : cala- 
 mine : calomel : camphor : cantharides : carraways : castor oil : catechu : caus- 
 tics : chalk : camomile : charcoal : charger : clysters : verdigris : blue vitriol : 
 cordials : corrosive sublimate : cream of tartar : croton : diaphoretics : diges- 
 tives : digitalis : diuretics : drinks : elder: epsom-salts : fomentations : gentian : 
 ginger: Goulard's extract: helle-bore : hemlock: infusions: iodine: green 
 vitriol: oil of juniper : krd : sugar of lead : white lead : chloride of fime : 
 liniments : linseed : lotions : mashes : mercurial ointment : jEthiop's mine- 
 ral: mint: myrrh: nitre : spirit of nitrous aether: oil of olives : opium: palm 
 oil: pitch: physic: poultices: powders: raking: resin: rowels: salt: seda- 
 tives : lunar caustic : chloride of soda : soap : starch : stoppings : sulphur : 
 tar: tinctures: tobacco: tonics: turpentine : vhiegar: wax, white. 
 
 On Draught . ^ . . . 303 
 
 The power of the horse, how calculated : difference of opinion as to wheels : 
 draught regarded as to the act of drawing, and the resistance to the power em- 
 ployed : the moving power. Animal power is the application of the strength 
 of an animal ; and mechanical power i? power employed through the inter- 
 vention of machinery : horse-power and that of the steam-engine compared, 
 as to interest of first cost, decrease of value, hazard of loss or accidents, value 
 of food, or coals and water, renewals and repairs, harness, shoeing, farriery, sta- 
 bling, and expense of attendance : the power of draught, or effect produced by 
 each : the obstacles to be overcome in the use of machinery. The manner in 
 which the animal adapts himself to his load : errors with regard to this in some 
 ancient sculptures : real action of the horse in walking, trotting and galloping. 
 The resistance to draught should be rigid, and void of elasticity, but sliould not 
 be constant and unremiting : a horse pulls better when close to his work : the 
 disadvantage of long teams. The effect of draught depends on the speed, the 
 power of the animal, and the time employed : calculation and comparison of 
 these : the hours of labor should not exceed six hours : the rapid reduction of 
 the power of the horse when his speed is increased. A flat piece of road more 
 destructive to the horse, than one with alternate rises and falls. Best direction 
 of the traces : should be nearly horizontal, but varying with the kind of horse, 
 and nature of the work and road: inclining the traces downward, the same 
 as throwing a part of the load on the shafts. Ancient mode of harnessing : the 
 collar in the time of Homer: explanation of the power of the South American 
 lasso. The advantage of transporting goods by water, consists in the small- 
 ness of power required ; this rapidly increasing with the speed : calculation 
 of the draught of a canal boat. The advantages and disadvantages of 
 sledges and rollers : manner, in which the rock forming the pedestal of tlie 
 statue of Peter the Great was moved on rollers: the best construction of 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 the roller. Description of the ancient war chariots : the mechanical advantage 
 of the wheel increased in proportion to its height : the resistance depends on the 
 friction at the axle : comparative advantages of different materials as used for 
 axles : axles working in iron boxes : calculation of the force of draught required 
 for a four-wheeled cart on different roads : comparison between narrow and 
 broad wheels : description of dishing the wheels, and advantage of: comparison 
 between conical and cylindrical wheels ; injury received by the roads by difler- 
 ent wheels : the cylindrical wheel a little dished, and the edges rounded off, is 
 the best : ruts form a great resistance to draught : the hind wheels should ex- 
 actly follow the track of the fore ones : description of Jones's patent wheels : 
 the expense and weight must limit the height of the wheels ; the fore-wheels 
 usually too small : the comparative advantages of two and four-wheeled car- 
 riages : two wheeled carts with two horses, disadvantageous. Springs should 
 never be applied to give any longitudinal elasticity to the carriage : disadvan- 
 tage of C springs on this account : advantage of springs : Mr.D. Giddy's theory 
 of wheels and springs : springs particularly advantageous when much velocity 
 is required : loading high, although dangerous, makes the carriage run light : 
 the safety coaches, by having the load low, very disadvantageous. Hardness, 
 the great desideratum in roads : great rounding of the road useless, and injuri- 
 ous : a rise of six or eight inches in a road twenty feet wide, quite sufficient : 
 hardness of surface, how best secured : constant repairs and attention, on the 
 whole, most economical. Great advantage of railways : the power of the horse 
 increased tenfold on a railway. 
 
HISTORY OF THE HORSE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 GENERAL HISTORY OF THE HORSE. 
 
 Hackney. 
 
 Arahian, 
 
 Hunter. 
 
 The native country of the horse cannot with certainty be traced. He has been- 
 found, varying materially in size, in form, and in utility, in all the temperate, in' 
 most of the sultry, and in' many of the northern regions of the old world. 
 
 In the sacred volume, which, beside its^ higher claims to stand at the head of the 
 farmers' library, contains the oldest authentic record of past transactions, we are 
 told that, so early as 1650 years before the birth of Christ, the horse had been do- 
 mesticated by the Egyptians. When Joseph carried his father^s remains front 
 Egypt to Canaan, " there went up with him both chariots and horsemen."* One 
 hundred and fifty years afterwards, the horse constituted the principal strength of 
 the Egyptian army. Pliaraoh pursued the Israelites with " six hundred chosen 
 chariots, and with all the chariots of Egypt."-}- 
 
 If we could believe the accounts of tl>e uninspired historians, Sesostris (the mo- 
 narch probably whom Joseph served,) had twenty --seven thousand chariots of war;: 
 and Semiramis, the founder of Babylon, had one hundred thousand chariots, and 
 a million of horsemen; but this was probably a great exaggeration. 
 
 Fifty years after the expulsion of the Israefites from Eg}'pt, and 1450 years be- 
 fore the birth of Chi-ist, the horse was so far naturalized in Greece, that the Olym- 
 pic games were instituted, including chariot and horse races. We have, therefore, 
 sufficient evidence that the horse was, at a very early period, subjected to the 
 dominion of man, and, unfortunately, for the worst of purposes — the business of 
 war. 
 
 * Gen. i. 9. f Exod. xvi. 7. 
 
2 THE HORSE. 
 
 From the records of the Old Testament, we are likewise enabled to ascertsun 
 the precise period of time when, in Egypt and Canaan, and the neig-hboring- coun- 
 tries, tliis animal began to be domesticated. 1920 years before the birth of Christ, 
 when Abraham, having left Haran, in obedience to the divine command, was driven 
 into Egypt by the famine which raged in Canaan,* Pharaoh offered him sheep 
 and oxen, and asses, and camels. Horses would doubtless have been added, had 
 they tlien existed, or had they been subdued in Egypt. 
 
 When, fifty years afterwards, Abraliam journeyed to Mount Moriah, to offer up 
 his only son, he rode upon an ass, wliich, with all his wealdi and power, he would 
 scarcely have done had the horse been known, f 
 
 Thirty years later, when Jacob retui-ned to Isaac with Rachel and Leah, an ac- 
 count is givent of the number of oxen, sheep, camels, goats, and asses, which he 
 sent to appease the anger of Esau, but not one horse is mentioned. 
 
 It is not until twenty-foui- years after this, when the famine devastated Canaan, || 
 and Jacob sent into Egypt to buy corn, that horses are first heard of. " Wa- 
 gons," probably carriages, drawn by horses, were sent by Joseph into Canaan to 
 bring his father to Egypt. It would seem, however, that horses had been but 
 lately introduced, and were not nun>erous, or not used as beasts of burden; for the 
 whole of the corn, which was to be conveyed some hundred miles, and was to af- 
 ford subsistence for Jacob's large household, was carried on asses. 
 
 It appears then that about 1740 years before Christ, horses were first used in 
 Egypt; but they soon afterwards became so numerous as to form a considerable 
 proportion of the Egyptian army: and when the Israelites returned into Canaan, the 
 horse had been inti-oduced and naturalized there; for the Canaanites ♦' went out 
 to fight against Israel \\itli horses and chariots very rfiany."§ 
 
 The sacred volume, therefore, clears up a point upon which no other record 
 throws any light, namely, the period when the horse first became the sei-vant of 
 man, at least in one part of the world, and that the most advanced in civilization, 
 and before Greece was peopled. A long time must have elapsed before man was 
 able to ascertain the value and peculiar use of the animals that surrounded him. 
 He would begin with the more subordinate — those which were most easily caught, 
 and most readily subdued; and the benefits which he derived from their labors 
 would induce him to attempt the conquest of superior quadrupeds. In accordance 
 with this, the writings of Moses show us that, after the ox, the sheep, and the goat, 
 min subdued the ass, and then the camel, and, last of all, the horse became his. 
 sei-vant: and no sooner was /te subdued, and his sti'ength, and docihty, and sagacity, 
 appi-eciated, than the others were comparatively disregai-ded, except in Palestine, 
 where the use of the horse was forbidden by divine authority, and on extensive 
 and barren deserts where he could not hve.^ 
 
 From Egypt the use of the horse was propagated to other and distant lands; and, 
 probably, the horse himself was first transmitted from Egypt to several countries. 
 The Greeks affirm, that Neptune struck the earth with his trident, and a horse ap- 
 peared. The truth is, that the Thessalians, the first and most expert of the Gre- 
 cian horsemen, and hkevvise the inhabitants of Argos and of Athens, were colo- 
 nists from Egypt. 
 
 The Bible likewise decides another point, that Arabia, by whose breed of horses 
 those of other countries have been so much improved, was not the native place of 
 the horse. Six hundi-ed years after the time just referred to, Arabia had no horses. 
 
 • Gen. xii. 16. f Gen. xxli. 3. + Gen. xxxii. 14. P Gen. xlv. 19. § Joshua xi. 4. 
 1 When Sir Gore Ouseley travelled through Persia, and the different countries 
 of the east, he examined, among other relics of antiquity, the sculptures on the 
 ruins of Persepolis, and he draws from them a curious and interesting conclusion 
 as to the manner in which the horse was gradually subdued. " There are no fi- 
 gures," says he, " mounted on horseback, although some travellers have mention- 
 ed horsemen among those sculptures. One would think that the simple act of 
 mounting on a horse's back would naturally have preceded the vise of wheel-car- 
 riages and their comphcated harness; yet no horsemen are found at Persepolis; and 
 we know Homer's horses are represented in chariots from which the wamors some- 
 times descended to combat on foot, but the poet has not described them as fighting 
 on horseback. The absence of mounted figures might authorize an opinion that 
 those sculptui-es had been executed before tJ^e time of Cyrus, whose precepts and 
 example first inspired the Persians with a love of equestria)i exercises, of which, 
 before Ills time, they were wholly ignorant." Vol. ii. p. 276. 
 
THE HORSE. 3 
 
 Solomon imported spices, gold, and silver, from Arabia;* but all the liorses for 
 his own cavalry and chariots, and those with which he supplied the Phoinician 
 monarchs, he procui-ed from Egypt. f 
 
 In the seventh century after Christ, when Mahomet attacked the Koreish, near 
 Mecca, he had but two horses in his whole army; and at tlie close of his murderous 
 campaign, although he drove off twenty-four thousand camels, and forty thousand 
 sheep, and carried away twenty-four thousand ounces of silver, not one horse ap- 
 pears in the list of plunder. 
 
 There is a curious record of the commerce of different countries at the close of 
 the second century. Among the articles exported from Egypt to Arabia, and par- 
 ticularly as presents to reigning monarchs, were horses. + 
 
 In the fourth century two hundred Cappadocian horses were sent by the Roman 
 emperor, as the most acceptable present he could offer a powerful prince of Arabia. 
 
 So late as the seventh century, the Arabs had few horses, and those of little 
 value. These circumstances sufficiently prove that, however superior may be the 
 present breed, it is comparatively lately tliat the horse was naturalized in Arabia. 
 
 The horses of Arabia itself, and of the soutlieastern parts of Europe, are clearly 
 derived from Egypt; but whether they wei-e there bred, or imported from the 
 southwestern regions of Asia, or, as is more probable, brought from the interior, 
 or northern coasts of Africa, cannot with certainty be determined. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE DIFFERENT FOREIGN BREEDS OF HORSES. 
 
 THE WILD HORSE. 
 
 Tnoops of wild horses are found in the plains of Great Tartary, and also in se- 
 veral parts of South America. In neither, however, can we recognize an origintil 
 race. The horses of the Ukraine, and those of South America, are equally the 
 descendants of those who had escaped from the slavery of man. The Tartar 
 horses are fleet and strong, but comparatively of an ordinary breed. Those of 
 South America retain, almost unimpaired, the size and form of their European 
 ancestors. 
 
 In no part of America, or of the more newly discovered islands of the Pacific, 
 was the horse known until he was introduced by Europeans; and the origin of the 
 horses of Tartary has been clearly traced to those who were employed in the siege 
 of Azoph in 1657, but which were turned loose for want of forage. 
 
 All travellers, who have crossed the plains extending from the shores of La 
 Plata to Patagonia, have spoken of numerous droves of wild horses. Some affirm 
 that they have seen ten thousand in one troop. They appear to be under the 
 command of a leader, the strongest and boldest of the herd, and whom they im- 
 plicitly obey. A secret instinct teaches them that their safety consists in their 
 union, and in a principle of subordination. The hon, the tiger, and the leopard, § 
 
 * 2 Chron. Ix. 14. 1 2 Chron. i. 17. 
 
 i The historian gives us the price of the horse and the chariot at that time. A 
 horse brought from Egypt, including, probably, the expense of the journey, cost 
 one hundred and fifty shekels of silver, which, at two shillings three pence and 
 one half farthing each, amounts to about seventeen pounds two shillings. A cha- 
 riot cost six hundred shekels, or sixty-eight pounds eight shillings; a most enor- 
 mous sum at that early period, but little to him who expended more than thirty- 
 five milUons of pounds, in gold alone, to ornament the temple which he had built. 
 
 § These animals are of a different race from those which go under the same 
 names in the old world, and are very inferior in strength. 
 
4 THE HORSE. 
 
 are their principal enemies. At some signal, intelligible to them all, they either 
 close into a dense mass, and trample their enemy to death; or, placing the mares 
 and foals in the centre, they form themselves into a circle, and welcome him with 
 their heels. In the attack, their leader is the first to face the danger, and, when 
 prudence demands a retreat, they follow his rapid flight. 
 
 In the thinly inhabited parts of South America, it is dangerous to fall ^n with 
 any of these troops. The wild horses approach as near as they dare: they call 
 to the loaded horse with the greatest eagerness, and, if the rider be not on the 
 alert, and have not considerable strength of arm, and sharpness of spur, his beast 
 will divest himself of his burden, take to his heels, and be gone for ever. 
 
 Captain Head gives the following account of a meeting with a troop of wild 
 horses, where the country is more thickly inhabited. Some poor captured ani- 
 mals are supposed to be forced along by their riders at their very utmost speed: 
 •• As they are thus galloping along, urged by the spur, it is interesting to see the 
 groups of wild horses one passes. The mares, which are never ridden in South 
 America, seem not to understand what makes the poor horse carry his head so 
 low, and look so weary.* The little innocent colts come running to meet him, 
 and then start away frightened: while the old horses, whose white marks on the 
 flanks and backs betray their acquaintance with the spur and saddle, walk slowly 
 away for some distance, then, breaking into a trot as they seek their safety, snort 
 and look behind them, first with one eye and then with the other, turning their 
 nose from right to left, and carrying their long tail high in the air."-|- 
 
 The same pleasing writer describes the system of horse management among the 
 rude inhabitants of the plains of South America. They have no stables, no fenced 
 pastures. One horse is usually kept tied at the door of the hut, fed scantily at 
 night on maize; or at other times several may be enclosed in the corral, which is 
 a circular space surrounded by rough posts, driven fiimly into the ground. The 
 mares are never ridden, or attempted to be tamed, but wander with their foals 
 wherever they please. 
 
 When the Gaucho, the native inhabitant of the plains, wants horses for himself, 
 or for the supply of the traveller, he either goes with his lasso to the corral, and 
 selects those, possibly, who on the preceding day had for the first time been 
 backed, or he scampers across the plain, and presently returns with an unwilling, 
 struggling, or subdued captive. AVhen the services of the animals have been ex- 
 acted, he either takes them to the corral, and feeds them with a small quantity 
 of maize, if he thinks he shall presently need them again, or he once more turns 
 them loose on the plains. 
 
 Travellers give some amusing accounts of the manner in which all this is effect- 
 ed. Miers^: thus describes tlie lasso, simple in its construction, but all-powerful in 
 the hands of the Gaucho. 
 
 " The lasso is a missile weapon used by every native of the United Provinces 
 and Chile. It is a very strong plated thong of equal thickness, half an inch in di- 
 ameter, and forty feet long, made of many strips of green hide, plaited like a 
 whipthong, and rendered supple by grease. It has, at one end, an iron ring 
 above an inch and a half in diameter, through which the thong is passed, and 
 this forms a running noose. The Gaucho, or native Peon, is generally mounted 
 on horseback when he uses the lasso. One end of the thong is affixed to his sad- 
 dle girth: the remainder he coils carefully in his left hand, leaving about twelve 
 feet belonging to the noose end in a coil, and a half of which he holds in his 
 right hand. He then swings this long noose horizontally round his head, the 
 weight of the iron ring at the end of the noose assisting in giving to it, by a con- 
 tinued circular motion, a sufficient force to project it the whole length of the 
 line." 
 
 When the Gauchos wish to have a grand breaking-in, they drive a whole herd 
 of wild horses into the corral. "The corral was quite full of horses, most of 
 which were young ones about two or three years old. The capitar, (chief Gaucho,) 
 mounted on a strong steady horse, rode into tlie corral, and threw his lasso over 
 
 • An Englishman once attempted to ride a mare, but he was hooted and pelted 
 by the natives, and thought himself fortunate to escape without serious injury. 
 
 Sir John Carr, in his Northern Summer, p. 44, states that it is only a short time 
 since mares began to be ridden in Russia. 
 
 f Head's Journey across the Pampas, p. 258. 
 
 \ Miers' Travels in Chile, vol. i., p. 88. 
 
THE HORSE. 5 
 
 the neck of a young horse, and dragged him to the gate. For some time he was 
 very unwilHng to leave his comrades; but the moment he was forced out of the 
 corral, his first idea was to gallop away: however a timely jerk of the lasso checked 
 him in the most effectual way. The Peons now ran after him on foot, and threw 
 a lasso over his fore-legs just above the fetlock, and, twitching it, they pulled his 
 legs from under him so suddenly, that I really thought the fall he got had killed 
 him. In an instant a Gaucho was seated on liis head, and with his long knife, 
 and in a few seconds, cut off the whole of the horse's mane, while another cut the 
 hair from the end of his tail. This they told me was a mark th:>t the horse hud been 
 once mounted. They then put a piece of hide into his mouth to serve for a bit, 
 and a strong hide halter on his head. The Gaucho who was to mount arranged 
 his spurs, which were unusually long and sharp,* and while two men held the 
 horse by his ears, lie put on the saddle, which he girthed extremely tight. He 
 then caught hold of the horse's ear, and in an instant vaulted into the saddle; up- 
 on which the man who held the horse by the halter threw the end to the rider, 
 and from tliat moment no one seemed to take any further notice of him. 
 
 "The horse instantly began to jump in a manner which made it very difficult 
 for the rider to keep his seat, and quite different from the kick or plunge of an 
 English horse: however, the Gaucho's spurs soon set him going, and off he gal- 
 loped, doing every thing in his power to throw his rider. 
 
 " Another horse was immediately brought from the corral, and so quick was the 
 operation, that twelve Gauchos were mounted in a space which I think liardly ex- 
 ceeded an hour. It was wonderful to see the different manner in which different 
 horses behaved. Some would actually scream while the Gauchos were girding 
 the saddle upon their backs; some would instantly lie down and roll upon it; while 
 some would stand without being held — their legs stiff, and in unnatural positions, 
 their necks half bent towards their tails, and looking vicious and obstinate; and I 
 could not help thinking that I would not have mounted one of those for any reward 
 that could be offered me, for they were invariably the most difficult to subdue. 
 
 " It was now curious to look around and see the Gauchos on the horizon in dif- 
 ferent directions, trying to bring their horses back to the corral, wliich is the most 
 difficult part of their work; for the poor creatures had been so scared there that 
 they were unwilling to return to the place. It was amusing to see the antics of 
 the horses — they were jumping and dancing in different ways, while the right arm 
 of the Gauchos was seen flogging them. At last they brought the horses back 
 apparently subdued and broken in. The saddles and bridles were taken off, and 
 the young horses trotted off towards the corral, neighing to one another. "-j- 
 
 When the Gaucho wishes to take a wild horse, he mounts one that has been used 
 to the sport, and gallops over the plain. As soon as he comes sufficiently near 
 his prey, t"the lasso is thrown round the two hind legs, and as the Gaucho rides 
 a httle on one side, the jerk pulls the entangled horse's feet laterally, so as to throw 
 him on his side, without endangering his knees or his face. Before the liorse can 
 recover the shock, the rider dismounts, and, snatching his poncho or cloak from 
 his shoulders, wraps it round the prostrate animal's head. He then forces into 
 his mouth one of the powerful bridles of the countiy, straps a saddle on his back, 
 and, bestriding him, removes the poncho; upon which the astonished horse springs 
 on his legs, and endeavors, by a thousand vain efforts, to disincumber himself of 
 
 •The manufacture of the Gaucho's boots is somewhat singular. "The boots 
 of the Gauchos are formed of the ham, and part of the leg-skin of a colt, taken 
 reeking from the mother, which is said to be sacrificed for the sole purpose, just 
 at the time of bearing, when the hair has not begun to grow. At this stage, the 
 skin strips off easily, and is very white and beautiful in texture and appearance. 
 The ham forms the calf of the boot; the hock easily adapts itself to the heel, and 
 the leg above the fetlock constitutes the foot; the whole making a neat and ele- 
 gant half-boot, with an aperture sufficient for tlie great toe to project through." 
 Andrews' Journey in South America, vol, i., p. iJ6, 
 
 •j" Head's Journey across the Pampas, p. 258. 
 
 t Basil Hall's Journey to Peru and Mexico, vol. i., p. 151. The Jesuit Dobriz- 
 hoffer, in his History of the Abipones, a nation of Paraguay, and speaking of the 
 tamed horse, (vol. ii., p. 113,) says that "stirrups are not in general use. The 
 men leap on their horse on the right side. In the right hand they grasp tlie bri- 
 dle, and in the left a very long speai-, leaning on which, they jump with the im- 
 pulse of both feet, and then fall right upon the horse's back." 
 
6 THE HORSE. 
 
 his new master, who sits quite composedly on his back, and, by a discipline which 
 never fails, reduces the horse to such complete obedience that he is soon trained 
 to lend his whole speed and strength to the capture of his companions." 
 
 These animals possess much of the form of the Spanish horse, from which they 
 sprung-; they are tamed, as has been seen, with far less difficulty than could be 
 thought possible; and, although theirs is the obedience of fear, and enforced at 
 first by the whip and spui", there are no horses who so soon and so perfectly exert 
 their sagacity and their power in the service of man. They are possessed of no 
 extraordinary speed, but they ai-e capable of enduring immense fatig-ue. They are 
 frequently ridden 60 or 70 miles without drawing' bit, and have been urged on by 
 the cruel spur of tlie Gaucho more than a hundred miles, and at the rate of twelve 
 miles in the hour. 
 
 Like the Arab horses, they know no intermediate pace between the walk and 
 the gallop. Although at the end of a day so hard, their sides are horribly man- 
 gled, and they completely exhausted, there iS this consolation for them, they are 
 immediately tui-ned loose on the plains, and it will be their own fault if they are 
 speedily caught again. The mare is occasionally killed for food, and especially on 
 occasions of unusual festivity. General San Martin, dui'ingthe war for independence, 
 gave a feast to the Indian allies attached to his army, and mares' flesh, and the 
 blood mixed with gin, formed the whole of the entertainment. 
 
 On such diy and sultry plains, the supply of v/ater is often scanty, and then a 
 species of madness seizes on the horses, and their generous and docile qualities are 
 no longer recognized. They rush violently into every pond and lake, savagely 
 mangling and trampling upon one another; and the carcasses of many thousands of 
 them, destroyed by their fellows, have occasionally been seen in and around a 
 considerable pool. This is one of the means by which the too rapid increase of 
 this quadruped is, by the ordinance of natiu-e, there prevented. 
 
 The wild horses of Tahtart, although easily domesticated, materially differ in 
 character from those on the plains of South America. They will not suffer a 
 stranger to join them. If a domesticated horse comes in their way, unprotected 
 by his master, they attack him with their teeth and their heels, and speedily de- 
 stroy him. They readily submit, however, to tlie dominion of man, and become 
 perfectly docile and faithful. 
 
 Among the Tartars, the flesh of the horse is a frequent article of food; and, al- 
 though they do not, like the Indians of the Pampas, eat it raw, their mode of cook- 
 ery would not be very inviting to the European epicure. They cut the muscular 
 parts into slices, and place them under their saddles, and after they have galloped 
 thirty or forty miles, the meat becomes tender and sodden, and fit for theu* table; 
 and, at all their feasts, the first and last, and most favorite dish, is a horse's head. 
 
 When water was not at hand, the Scythians used to draw blood from their 
 horses, and drink it; and the dukes of Muscovy, for nearly two hundred and sixty 
 years, presented Tartar ambassadors with the milk of mares. If any of this milk 
 fell upon the mane of the horse, the duke, by custorn, was bound to lick it off. 
 
 Troops of wild horses are occasionally met with in the centi-al parts of Africa, 
 in the island of St. Domingo, on the deserts of Arabia, and in a few other parts of 
 the world; but no where do they equal the domesticated horse in form, strength, 
 or even speed. 
 
 It has already been stated, that the earliest records we have of the horse trace 
 him to Egypt, whence he gradually found his way to Arabia and Persia, and the 
 provinces which were colonized from Egypt; and thence to the other parts of the 
 old world. But Egypt Is not now a breeding country, and it does not appear to 
 possess those requisites which could ever have constituted it one. Without, how- 
 ever, entering into the question whether the horse \vas primarily the inhabitant of 
 some particular region, whence other parts were gradually supplied, or whether it 
 was common to many countries, but differing in each, we have stated it to be pro- 
 bable that the horses of Egj'pt, the earliest on record, were derived from the 
 neighboring and interior districts of Africa. Therefore, in giving a very summary 
 account of the most celebrated and useful breeds of different countries, it Is natural 
 to begin with those of Africa. 
 
 At the head of these is the Barb, from Barbary, and partlculai-ly from Morocco 
 and Fez, and the interior of Tripoli; and remaikable for his fine and graceful ac- 
 tion. It is rather lower than the Arabian, seldom exceeding fourteen hands and an 
 inch. The shoulders are flat, the chest round, the joints Inclined to be long, and 
 the head particularly beautiful. The Barb Is decidedly superior to the Arab in 
 form, but has not his spirit, or speed, or countenance. 
 
THE BARB— DONGOLA. 
 
 THE BARB. 
 
 The Godolphin Arabian. 
 
 The Barb has chiefly contributed to the excellence of the Spanish horse; and, 
 when the improvement of the breed of horses- beg-an to be systematically pursued 
 in Great Britain, the Barb was very early introduced. The Godolphin Arabian, 
 as he is called, of whom we have presented our readers with a cut, and who was 
 the orig-in of some of out best racing* blood, was a Barb; and others of our most 
 celebrated turf-horses trace their descent from African mares. 
 
 More in the centre of Africa, in the kingdom of Bournou, is a breed, which Mr. 
 Tully, in his almost romantic history of Tripoli, reckons superior even to those of 
 Arabia or Bai'bary; it possesses the best qualities of both those breeds, being as 
 serviceable as that of Arabia, and as beautiful as that of Barbary. 
 
 In the more southern and western districts of Africa, and particularly in the 
 neighborhood, of the Guinea Coast, the breed of horses is very inferior. They are 
 small, weak, unsafe, and untractable. But neither horses, nor any other produce 
 of value, can be looked for in those unhappy countries, so long as they are deso- 
 lated by the infernal slave-trade inflicted upon them by the most civilized, but truly 
 unchristian, nations of Europe. 
 
 THE DONGOLA HORSE. 
 
 The kingdom of Dongola, and the neiglAoHng districts lying between Egypt 
 and Abyssinia, contain a horse not at all like any other oriental. 
 
 The " Dongola horses stand full sixteen hands high, but the length of the body, 
 from the shoulders to the quarter,- is considerably less'. Their form, therefore, is 
 opposite to that of the Arabian, or English thorough-bred, which are longer by 
 some inches than they are high. The neck is long and slender, the crest fin«, and 
 the withers sharp and high, giving a beautiful forehand; but the breast is too nar- 
 row, the quarters and flanks too flat, and the back carped. They constitute ex- 
 cellent war-horses,' from their speed, durability, and size. Sevei-al of them have 
 lately been imported into Europe, but they are little valued. Possibly, with three- 
 part-bred m'ares, they might improve our cavalry horses." 
 
 Bosman, whose descriptions prove him to be no bad horseman, thus speaks of 
 them, but in somewhat too flattering a manner. " The Dongola horses are the 
 most perfect in the world, being beautiful, symmetrical in their parts, nervous and 
 elastic in their movements, and docile and affectionate in their manners. One of 
 these horses was sold in 1816, at Grand Cairo, for a sum equivalent to 1000/.'* 
 
 Ml". Bruce tells us, that the best African horses- are said to be descended froiTF 
 oiire of the five on which Mahomet and his four immediate successors fled fromr 
 Mecca to Medina on the night of the Hegira. He thus accounts for very singular 
 and opposite customs among the Arabs and Africans. 
 
 " No Arab ever mounts a stallion: on the contrary, in Africa, they never ride 
 mares. The reason is plain. The Arabs are constantly at war with their neigh- 
 bors, and always endeavor to take their enemies by sui'prise in' the grey of the 
 
8 THE HORSE. 
 
 evening, or the dawn of day. A stallion no sooner smells the stale of the mare in 
 the enemy's quartei-s, than he begins to neigh, and that would give tlie alarm to 
 the party intended to be surprised. No such thing can ever happen when they 
 ride mares only. On the contrary, the Funge trust only to superior force. They 
 are in an open, plain country — must be discovered at many miles distance — and aU 
 such surprises and stratagems are useless to them." 
 
 THE ARABIAN. 
 
 The Wellesley Arabian. 
 
 Going further eastward ve arrive at Arabia, whose horses deservedly occupy 
 the very highest rank. 
 
 A few wild horses are 5'^et seen on some of the deserts of Arabia. They are 
 hunted by the Bedouins for their flesh, which is considered a delicacy, if the animal 
 be young; and also to increase their stock of inferior horses, which they often palm 
 on the merchant as descended from the sacred breed. They are said to be even 
 swifter than the domesticated horse, and are usually taken by traps hidden in the 
 sand. Mr. Bruce, however, doubts whether any wild horses are now found in 
 Arabia Deserta.* 
 
 Although in the seventh century the Arabs had no horses of value, yet the Cap- 
 padocian and other horses, which they had derived from their neighbors, were 
 preserved with so much care, and propagated so uniformly and strictly from the 
 finest of the breed, that in the thirteenth century the Arabian horse began to as- 
 sume a just and unrivalled celebrity. 
 
 There are ^id to be three breeds or varieties of Arabian horses: the Attechi, or 
 inferior breed, on which they set little value, and which are found wild on some 
 parts of the desert; the Kadisehi, literally horses of an unknown race, answering 
 to our half-bred horses — a mixed breed; and tlie Kochlani, horses whose genealogy, 
 according to the Arab account, is known for two thousand years. Many of them 
 have written and attested pedigrees extending more than four hundred years, and, 
 with true eastern exaggeration, traced by oral tradition from the stud of Solomon. 
 A more careful account is kept of these genealogies than belongs to the most an- 
 cient family of the proudest Arab chief, and very singular precautions are taken 
 to prevent the possibility of fraud, so far as the written pedigree extends. 
 
 The Kochlani ai'e principally reared by the Bedouin Arabs, in the remoter de- 
 serts. A stallion may be procured without much difficulty, although at a great 
 price. A mare is rarely to be obtained, except by fraud and excessive bribery. 
 The Arabs have found out that which the English breeder should never forget, 
 that the female is more concerned than the male in the excellence and value of the 
 produce; and the genealogies of their horses are always reckoned from the mothers. 
 
 • Bruce V Travels, vol. vi. p. 430. 
 
THE ARABIAN. 9 
 
 The Arabian horse would not be acknowledged by every judge to possess a per- 
 fect form : his head, however, is inimitable. The broadness and squareness of the 
 forehead, the shortness and fineness of the muzzle, the prominence and briUiancy 
 of the eye, the smallness of the ears, and the beautiful course of the veins, will 
 always characterize the head of the Arabian horse. 
 
 His body may be considered as too light, and his chest as too naiTOw: but behind 
 the arms tlie barrel generally swells out, and leaves sufficient room for the play 
 of the lungs. 
 
 In the formation of the shoulder, next to that of the head, the Arab is superior 
 to any otlier breed. The withers are high, and the slioulder-blade inclined back- 
 ward, and so nicely adjusted, that in descending a liill the point or edge of the ham 
 never ruffles the skin. He may not be thought sufficiently high; he seldom stands 
 more than fourteen h:inds two inclies. 
 
 The fineness of his legs, and the oblique position of his pasterns, may be sup- 
 posed to lessen his apparent strength; but the leg, although small, is flat and wiry; 
 anatomists know that the bone has no common density, and the starting muscles of 
 the fore-arm and the thigh indicate that he is fully capable of accomplishing many 
 of the feats which are recorded of him. 
 
 The Barb alone excels him in noble and spirited action; and if there be defects 
 about him, he is perfect for that for which he was designed. He presents the true 
 combination of speed and bottom — strength enough to carry more than a light 
 weight, and courage that would cause him to die rather than to give up. 
 
 We may not, perhaps, believe all that is told us of the Arabian. It has been 
 remai'ked, that there are on the deserts which this horse traverses ik) mile-stones 
 to mark the distance, or watches to calculate the time; and the Bedouin is natural- 
 ly given to exaggeration, and, most of all, when relating the prowess of the ani- 
 mal which he loves as dearly as his children: yet it cannot be denied that, at the 
 introduction of the Arabian into the European stables, there was no other horsei 
 comparable to him. 
 
 The Arab horse is as celebrated for his docility and good temper as for his speed 
 and coui'age. In that delightful book, 'Bishop Heber's Narrative of a Journey 
 through the Upper Provinces of India,' the following interesting character is given 
 of him. "My morning rides are very pleasant. My horse is a nice, quiet, good- 
 tempered little Arab, who is so fearless, that he goes, without starting, close to an 
 elephant, and so gentle and docile that he eats bread out of my hand, and has- al- 
 most as much attachment and coaxing ways as a dog. This seems the general 
 character of the Arab horses, to judge from what I have seen in this country. It 
 is not the fiery dashing animal I had supposed, but with more rationality about him, 
 and more apparent confidence in his rider, than the majority of English horses." 
 
 The kindness with which he is treated from a foal, gives him an afiection for his 
 master, a wish to please, a pride in exerting every energy in obedience to his 
 commands, and, consequently, an apparent sagacity which is seldom seen in other 
 breeds. The mare and her foal inhabit the same tent with the Bedouin and his 
 children. The neck of tlie mare is often the pillow of the rider, and, more fre- 
 quently, of the children, who are rolling about upon her, and the foal; yet no ac- 
 cident ever occurs, and the animal acquires that friendship and love for man which 
 occasional ill-treatment will not cause him for a moment to forget. 
 
 When the Arab falls from his mare, and is unable to rise, sne will immediately 
 stand still, and neigh until assistance arrives. If he lies down to sleep, as fatigue 
 sometimes compels him, in the midst of the desert, she stands watchful over him, 
 and neighs and rouses him if either man or beast approaches. An old Arab had 
 a valuable mare that had carried him for fifteen years in miuiy a hard-fought battle, 
 and many a rapid weary march; at length, eiglity years old, and unable longer to 
 ride her, he gave her, and a scimitar tliut had been his father's, to iiis eldest son, 
 and told him to appreciate their value, and never lie down to i-est until he had 
 rubbed them both as bright as a looking-glass. In the first skirmish in which the 
 young man was engaged he was killed, and the mare fell into the hands of the 
 enemy. When the news reached the old man, he exclaimed that "hfe was no 
 
 longer worth preserving, for he had lost both his son and his mare, and he grieved 
 for one as mucii as the other;" and he immediately sickened and died.* 
 
 Inconsistent being. The Aral 
 
 g them as liis most valuable 
 
 ♦ Smith on Breeding, p. 80. 
 
 Man, however, is an inconsistent being. The Arab who thus lives with and 
 loves his horses, regarding them as liis most valuable treasui*e, sometimes treats 
 
10 THE HORSE. 
 
 them with a ci-uelty scarcely to be believed, and not at all to be justified. The 
 beverest ti'eatment which the English race-horses endures is g-entleness compared 
 with the trial of tlie young Arabian. Probably the filly has never before been 
 mounted; she is led out; her owner springs on her back, and goads her over tlie 
 sand and rocks of the desert at full speed for fifty or sixty miles without one mo- 
 ment's respite. She is tlien forced, steaming aiKl panting, into water deep enough 
 for her to swim. If, immediately after this, slie will eat as if notliing had occur- 
 red, her character is established, and she is acknowledged to be a genuine de- 
 scendant of tlie Kochlani breed. The Arab is not coiiscious of the cruelty which 
 he thus inflicts. It is an invariable custom, and custom will induce us to inflict 
 many a pang on those whom, after all, we love. 
 
 Tlie following anecdote of the attachment of an Arab to his mare has often been 
 told, but it comes home to the bosom of every one possessed of common feehng. 
 "The whole stock of an Arab of the desert consisted of a mare. The French 
 consul oflTered to purchase her in order to send her to his sovereign, Louis XIV. 
 The Arab woidd have rejected the proposal at once with indignation and scorn; 
 but he was miserably poor. He bad no means of supplying his most urgent wants, 
 or procxuung the barest necessaries of life. Still he hesitated; he had scarcely a 
 rag to cover him — and his wife and his children were starving. The sum offered 
 was great — it would provide him and his family with food for life. At length, and 
 reluctantly, he consented. He brought Uie mare to the dwelling of the consul — 
 he dismounted — he stood leaning upon her; he looked now at the gold, and tlien 
 at his favorite; he siglied — he wept. 'To whom is it,' said he, 'I am going to 
 yield tliee up ? To Europeans, who will tie thee close — who will beat thee — who 
 will render thee miserable. Return with me, my beauty, my jewel, and rejoice 
 the hearts of my cliildren.' As he pronounced the last words, he sprung upon her 
 back, and was out of sight in a moment." 
 
 The next anecdote is scarcely less touching, and not so well known: " Ibrahim, 
 a poor but worthy Arab, unable to pay a sum of money which he owed, was com- 
 pelled to allow a merciiant of Rama to become partner with him in a valuable 
 mare. When the time came, he could not redeem his pledge to tliis man, and the 
 mare was sold. Her pedigree could be ti-aced on the side of su-e and dam for full 
 five hundi-ed years. The price was tiiree hundi-ed pounds; an enormous sum in 
 that countiy. Ibrahim went frequently to Rama to inquire after the mare: he 
 would embi-ace her — wipe her eyes with his handkerchief — rub her with his sliu-t 
 sleeves — and give her a thousand benedictions during whole hours that he remain- 
 ed talking to her. 'My eyes!' would he say to her, 'my soul! my heart! must I 
 be so unfortunate as to have thee sold to so many masters, and not keep tliee my- 
 self ? I am poor, my antelope! I brought thee up in my dwelhng as my child. 
 I did never beat nor chide thee; I caressed thee in the proudest manner. God 
 preserve thee, my beloved! thou art beautiful, tliou art sweet, thou art lovely! God 
 defend thee from envious eyes!'" 
 
 Sir John Malcolm gives two anecdotes to the same purpose, but of a more 
 amusing natiu-e. 
 
 " When the envoy, returning from his former mission^ was encamped near Bag- 
 dad an Arab rode a bright bay mare of extraordinary shape and beauty before his 
 tent, until he atti-acted his attention. On being asked if he would sell her; 'What 
 will you give me?' was the reply- 'That depends upon her age; I suppose she 
 is past five?' 'Guess again,' said he. 'Four?' 'Look at her mouth,' said the 
 Arab, with a smile. On examination she was found to be rising three. This, from 
 her size and symmetry, greatly enhanced her value. Tlie envoy said, ' I will give 
 you fifty tomans,' (a coin nearly of the value of a pound sterling,) 'A little more 
 if you please,' said the fellow, apparently entertained. ' Eiglity. A hundi-ed/ 
 He shook his head, and smiled. I'he offer at last came to two hundred tomans! 
 « Well,' said the Arab, ' you need not tempt me fui-ther — it is of no use. You are 
 a rich elcliee, (nolileman.) You have fine horses, camels, and mules; and, I am 
 told, you have loads of silver and gold. Now,' added he, 'you want my mare, 
 but you sliall not have her for all you have got.' "* 
 
 " An Arab shcick or chief, who hved within fifty miles of Bussorah, had a favor- 
 ite breed of horses. He lost one of his best mares, and could not for a long while 
 discover whether she was stolen or had strayed. Some time after, a young man 
 of a different tribe, who had long wished to marry his daughter, but had always 
 
 * Malcolm's Sketches in Persia, vol. 1., p. 41. 
 
/: 
 
 THE EAST INDIAN. U 
 
 been rejected by the slieick, obtained the lady's consent, and eloped with her. 
 The sheick ajid his followers pursued, but the lover and his mistress, mounted on 
 one horse, made a wonderful march, and escaped. The old chief swore that tlie 
 fellow was either mounted upon the devil, or the favorite mare he had lost. After 
 his return, lie found the latter was the case; that tlie lover was the thief of his 
 mare as well as his daughter; and that he stole the one to carry off the other. 
 The chief was quite gratified to think he had not been beaten by a mare of another 
 breed; and was easily reconciled to the young- man, in order that he might recover 
 the mare, which appeared an object about which he was more sohcitous tlian about 
 his daughter."* 
 
 One of our own countrymen, the enterprising traveller. Major Denham, affords us 
 a pleasing instance of the attachment with which the docility and sagacity of the 
 horse may inspire the owner. He thus relates the death of his favorite Arabian, 
 in one of the most desert spots of Central Africa. His feelings needed no apology. 
 We naturally honor the man in whom true sensibility and undaunted courage, 
 exerted for useful purposes, were thus united. 
 
 " There are a few situations in a man's life in which losses of this nature are 
 felt most keenly; and this was one of them. It was not grief, but it was some- 
 thing very nearly approaching to it; and though I felt ashamed of the degree of 
 derangement I suffered from it, yet it was several days before I could get over the 
 loss. Let it, however, be remembered that the poor animal had been my sup- 
 port and comfort; nay, I may say, companion, through many a dreaiy day and 
 night; liad endured both hunger and thirst in my service; and was so docile, that 
 he would stand still for hours in the desert while I slept between his legs, his body 
 .affording me the only shelter that could be obtained from the powerful influence 
 of a noon-day sun: he was yet the fleetest of the fleet, and ever foremost in the 
 chase." 
 
 Our horses would fare badly on the scanty nourishment afforded the Arabian. 
 The mare usually has but one or two meals in twenty-four hours. During the day 
 she is tied to the door of the tent, ready for the Bedouin to spring, at a moment's 
 warning, into the saddle; or she is turned out before the tent ready saddled, the 
 bridle merely taken off, and so trained tliat she gallops up immediately at her 
 master's call. At night she receives a little water; and with her scanty provender 
 of five or six pounds of barley or beans, and some times a little straw, she lies 
 down content in the midst of her master's family. She can, however, endure 
 great fatigue; she will travel fifty miles without stopping; she has been pushed, 
 on emergency, one hundred and twenty miles; and, occasionally, neither she nor 
 her rider has tasted food for three whole days. 
 
 To the Arabian, principally, England is indebted for her improved, and now 
 unrivalled breed of horses for the turf, the field, and the road, as will be shown 
 when we presently treat of the English horse. 
 
 THE EAST INDIAN HORSE. 
 
 We will now travel farther eastward, and look at the breeds of horses in our 
 Indian possessions. First we have the Toorky, originally from a Toorkoman and 
 a Persian, beautiful in his form, graceful in his action, and docile in his temper. 
 It is said that, when skilfully managed, the grandeur and stateliness of his carriage 
 are equal to what the warmest imagination can conceive of the horse: his spirit 
 rising as his exertions are required, he exhibits to his beholders an appearance of 
 fui-y in the performance of his task, yet preserving to liis rider the utmost playful- 
 ness and gentleness. 
 
 Next comes the Irante, well limbed, and his joints closely knit, and particularly 
 powerful in the quarters, but with scarcely sufficient spirit, and his ears large and 
 loose. 
 
 The patient and docile Cozakee is deep in the girth, powerful in the fore-arm, 
 but with large head, and sadly eat-hammedj hardy, and calculated for long journeys 
 and severe service. 
 
 The Mojinniss have spirit, beauty, speed, and perseverance. 
 
 The Tazsee is shght, hollow-backed, and, for that reason perhaps, although de- 
 ficient in sti-ength, and leaving as it were his hind legs behind him, and likewise 
 iiTitable in temper, yet sought after on account of tlie peculiar easiness of his pace. 
 
 * Malcolm's Sketches in Persia, vol. i., p. 45. 
 
12 V THE HORSE. 
 
 A sale of horses near the Company's stud, at Hissar, is thus described by an ex- 
 cellent judge. '* Not less than one thousand horses were shown. They were all 
 above fourteen hands and a half in height, high-crested, and showy looking horses. 
 The great defect seemed the want of bone below the knee, which is indeed ge- 
 neral to all the native horses throughout India; and also so great a tendency to ful- 
 ness in the hocks, that, in England, it would be thought half of them had blood 
 spavins." 
 
 THE CHINESE HORSE, 
 
 This breed is small, weak, ill-formed, without spirit, and altogether undeserving 
 of notice. 
 
 THE PERSIAN HORSE. 
 
 Returning westward we find the Persian next in estimation, and deservedly so, 
 to the Arabian. The head is almost equally beautiful, the crupper superior; he is 
 equal in speed, but far inferior in endurance. The whole frame is more developed 
 than in the Arabian. 
 
 The Persian horses were celebrated for many a centuiy before the Arabians 
 were known, or even existed. They constituted, in ancient times, the best caval- 
 ry of the east. The native Persian was so highly prized, that Alexander consid- 
 ered one of them the noblest gift he could bestow; and when the kings of Parthia 
 would propitiate their divinities by the most costly sacrifice, a Persian horse was 
 oflTered on the altar. An entertaining traveller (Sir R. Ker Porter) beai-s testimony 
 that they have not now degenerated. He gives the following account of this 
 breed. 
 
 " The Persian horses never exceed fourteen or fourteen and a half hands high, 
 yet certainly, in the whole, are taller than the Arabs. Those of the desert and 
 country about Hillah run very small, but are full of bone, and of good speed. 
 General custom feeds and waters them only at sun-rise and sun-set, when they are 
 cleaned. Their usual provender is barley and chopped straw, which, if the ani- 
 mals are piqueted, is put into a nose bag, and hung from their heads; but if sta- 
 bled, it is thrown into a small lozenge-shaped hole left in tlie thickness of the mud 
 wall for that purpose, but much higher up than the line of our mangers, and there 
 the animal eats at his leisure. Hay is a kind of food not known here. The bed- 
 ding of the horse consists of his dung. After being exposed to the drying influ- 
 ence of the sun during the day, it becomes pulverized, and, in that state, is nightly 
 spread under him.* Little of it touches his body, that being covered by his cloth- 
 ing, a large nummud from the ears to the tail, and bound firmly round his body 
 by a very long surcingle. But this apparel is only for cold weather; in the warmer 
 season the night-clothes are of a lighter substance, and during the heat of the day 
 the animal is kept entirely under shade. 
 
 "At night he is tied in the court yard. The horses' heads are attached to the 
 place of security by double ropes from their halters, and the heels of their hinder 
 legs are confined by cords of twisted hair, fastend to iron rings and pegs driven 
 into the earth. The same custom prevailed in the time of Xenophon, and for the 
 same reason, to secure them from being able to attack and maim each other, the 
 whole stud generally consisting of stallions. Their keepers, however, always 
 sleep on their rugs amongst them to prevent accident, and sometimes, notwith- 
 standing all this care, they manage to break loose, and then the combat ensues. 
 A general neighing, screaming, kicking, and snorting, soon rouses the grooms, 
 and the scene for awhile is terrible. Indeed no one can conceive the sudden 
 uproar of such a moment who has not been in eastern countries to hear it, and 
 then all who have must bear me witness that the noise is tremendous. They seize, 
 bite, and kick each other with the most determined fury, and frequently cannot be 
 separated before their heads and haunches stream with blood. Even in sku'mishes 
 with the natives, their horses take part in the fray, tearing each other with their 
 teeth, while their masters are in similar close quarters on their backs." 
 
 • It is the usual flooring of the stable and the tent. The united influence of 
 the sun and air deprive it of all unpleasant odor; and when from use it becomes a 
 second time offensive, it is again exposed to the sun, and all unpleasant smell once 
 more taken away. 
 
THE PERSIAN— TOORKOMAN— TARTAR AND CALMUCK. 13 
 
 His description of a Persian race does not altogether remind us of Newmarket 
 or Doncaster. 
 
 " My cui'iosity was fully on the spur to see the races, which I could not doubt 
 must have been chosen from the best in the nation to exhibit the perfection of its 
 breed before the sovereign. The rival horses were divided into tliree sets, in order 
 to lengthen the amusement. They had been in training for several weeks, going 
 over the ground very often during tliat time; and when I did see them, I found 
 so much pains had been taken to sweat and reduce their weight, that their bones 
 were nearly cutting the skin. The distance marked for the race was a stretch of 
 four and twenty miles, and, that his majesty might not have to wait when he had 
 reached the field, the horses had set forward long before, by tlirce divisions, from 
 the starting point, (a short interval of time passing between each set,) so that they 
 might begin to come in a few minutes after the king had taken his seat. The dif- 
 ferent divisions arrived in regular order at the goal, but all so fatigoied and ex- 
 hausted, that their former boasted fleetness hardly exceeded a moderate canter 
 when they passed before the royal eyes." 
 
 In Circassia almost every family of distinction, whether of princes or nobles, 
 boasts of possessing a pecuhar race of horses, which, when young, are burned on 
 the buttock with a particular mark. On this occasion they act with the most scru- 
 pulous adherence to custom, so that a person who should attempt to burn a cha- 
 racter expressing noble descent, on a filly of a common race, would, for such for- 
 gery, forfeit his life. The most celebrated race of Circassian horses has received 
 the name of Shalokh, and is in the exclusive possession of the Tau Sultan family. 
 This race is valuable for its strength and swiftness more than its peculiar beauty. 
 Its distinguishing mark is a full horse-shoe, without an arrow. 
 
 THE TOORKOMAN HORSE. 
 
 Turkistan is that part of South Tartaiy northeast of the Caspian sea, and has 
 been celebrated, from very early times, for producing a pure and valuable breed of 
 horses. They are called Toorkomans. They are said to be preferable even to the 
 pure Persians for service. They are large, standing from fifteen to sixteen hands 
 high; swift, and inexhaustible under fatigue. Some of them have travelled nine 
 hundred miles in eleven successive days. They, however, are somewhat too small 
 in the barrel — too long on the legs — occasionally ewe-necked, and always have a 
 head out of proportion large: yet, such are the good quahties of the horse, that 
 one of the pure blood is worth two or three hundred pounds even in that country. 
 
 Captain Traser, who is evidently a good judge of the horse, (in his Journey to 
 Khorasan,) thus relates the impression which they made on him: " They are defi- 
 cient in compactness. Their bodies are long in proportion to theu' bulk. They 
 are not well-ribbed up. They are long on tlie legs — deficient in muscle — falling 
 off below the knee — narrow chested — long necked — head large, uncouth, and sel- 
 dom well put on. Such was the impression I received from the first sight of them, 
 and it was not for some time that their .superior valuable qualities were apparent 
 to me." 
 
 THE TARTAR AND CALMUCK HORSE 
 
 The horses of the other parts of Tartary, comprehending the immense plains of 
 Central Asia, and a considerable part of European Russia, are little removed from 
 a wild state: they are small and badly made, but capable of supporting the longest 
 and most rapid journey, on the scantiest fare. The foals, from the earliest period, 
 are exposed to the inclemency of the weather, have little to eat, and follow their 
 dams in the longest excursions, and, therefore, soon acquire a very great power of 
 sustaining fatigue. They must be hardy for another reason. The Tartars live 
 much on the flesh of horses, and, consequently, those arumals that are unable to 
 support the labor of their frequent rapid emigrations are soon desti-oyed, and only 
 the more vigorous preserved. 
 
 The horses, which range at large over the plains, are divided into herds; at the 
 head of which are placed two stallions, who carefully prevent them from inter- 
 mingling with each other, and it is rarely that a foal is lost. On the approach of 
 a strange herd, the stallions drive their own into a close body, place themselves in 
 front, and, if necessary, attack and drive off the others. As the stallion-foals grow 
 up, they are driven away from the hei'd, and are seen straggling about at a distance, 
 until they are strong enough to form herds of wild mares for themselves. 
 
14 THE HORSE. 
 
 These horses, or those of a similar breed and habits, were beaten by not the 
 first-race Enghsh blood-horses, in a race which fairly put to the test both their 
 speed and stoutness. On the 4th of August, 1825, a race of the cruel distance of 
 more than forty-seven miles was run between two Cossack and two thorough-bred 
 English horses — Sharper and Mina. The most celebrated Cossack horses from the 
 Don, tlie Black Sea, and the Ural, were sent; and, after numerous trials, the best 
 were selected. On starting, the Cossacks took the lead at a moderate pace, the 
 English following at about three or four lengths, but before they had gone half a 
 mile, the stirrup-leather of Sharper broke, and he ran away with his rider, follow- 
 ed by Mina, and they went more than a mile, and up a steep hill, before they could 
 be held in. 
 
 Half the distance was run in an hour and four minutes. Both the English horses 
 were then fresh, and one of Hie Cossacks. On their return, Mina fell lame, and 
 was taken awu}-. The Cossack horse, likewise, began to flag, when the accompa- 
 nying Russians began to drag him on by the bridle, throwing away the saddle, and 
 putting a mere child on his back. Sharper, likewise, evidently showed the effects 
 of the pace at which he had gone when running away, and was much distressed. 
 The Cossacks then had recourse to foul play, and actually carried o«. their horse; 
 some dragging him on by a rope, and the bridle at his head; and others pulling 
 him on by the tail, and riding along side of his quarters to support him, and re- 
 lieving each other at this fatiguing work. Sharper did the whole distance in two 
 hours and forty-eight minutes, and the Cossack horse was warped in eight minutes 
 after him. At starting, the English horses carried full three stone more than the 
 Cossacks, and, diu-ing the latter half of the race, a mere cliild had ridden tlxe Cos- 
 sack. 
 
 THE TURKISH HORSE. 
 
 The Turkish horses are descended principally from the Arab, crossed by the 
 Persian and certain other bloods. The body, however, is even longer than the 
 Arabian's, and the crupper more elevated. They have contributed materially to 
 the improvement of the English breed. The Byerley and the Helmsley Turk are 
 names familiar to every one conversant with horses, and connected with our best 
 blood. 
 
 The learned and benevolent Busbequius, who was ambassador at Constantinople 
 in the seventeenth century, gives the following account of the Turkish horses. 
 Our grooms, and their masters too, may learn a lesson of wisdom and humanity 
 from his words. 
 
 " There is no creature so gentle as a Turkish horse, nor more respectful to his 
 master, or the groom that dresses him. The reason is, because they treat their 
 horses with great lenity. I myself saw, when I was in Pontus, passing through a 
 part of Bithinia called Axilos, towards Cappadocia, how indulgent the countrymen 
 were to young colts, and how kindly they used them soon after they were foaled. 
 They would stroke them, bring them into their houses, and almost to their tables, 
 and use them even like children. They hung something like a jewel about their 
 necks, and a garter, which was full of amulets against poison, which they are most 
 afraid of. 1 he grooms that dress them are as indulgent as their masters; they fre- 
 quently sleek them down with their hands, and never use a cudgel to bang their 
 sides but in cases of necessity. This makes their horses great lovers of mankind; 
 and they are so far from kicking, wincing, or growing untractable by this gentle 
 usage, that you will hardly find a masterless horse amongst them. 
 
 "But, alas! our Christian grooms' horses go on at anotlier rate. They never 
 think them rightly curried till they thunder at tliem with their voices, and let their 
 clubs or horse-whips, as it were, dwell on their sides. This makes some horses 
 even tremble when their keepers come into their stable; so that they hate and 
 fear them too. But the Turks love to have their horses so gentle, that at the 
 - word of command tliey may fall on theii- knees, and in this position receive their 
 riders. 
 
 " They will take up a staff" or club upon the road with their teeth, which their 
 rider has let fall, and hold it up to him again; and when they are perfect in this 
 lesson, then, for credit, they have rings of silver hung on tlieir nostrils as a badge 
 of honor and good discipline. I saw some horses when their master was fallen 
 from the saddle stand stock still without wagging a foot till he got up again. 
 Another time I saw a groom standing at a distance in the midst of a whole ring of 
 horses, and, at the word of eoijimand, they would either go round or stand still. 
 
THE GERMAM— SWEDISH, &c.— ICELAND. 15 
 
 Once I saw some horses, when their master was at dinner with me in an upper 
 room, prick up theii" eai-s to hear his voice, and, when they did so, they neighed for 
 joy." 
 
 THE GERMAN HORSE. 
 
 The German horses are general!}' large, heavy, and slow. The Hungarian may 
 be an exception, being lighter, speedier, and giving greater proof of eastern blood.* 
 Every part of the continent, however, following the example of England, has 
 been diligently engaged in the improvement of its breed, and the German and 
 Prussian horses are now better proportioned, and have considerable endurance, 
 but are still deficient in speed. The Prussian, German, and the gi'eater part of 
 the French cavalry are procured from Holstein. They are of a dark, glossy, bay 
 color, with small heads, large nostrils, and full dark eyes, the fire and clearness 
 of which seem to denote the inwai'd spirit of the aniiual. They are beautiful, 
 active, and strong. 
 
 THE SWEDISH, FINLAND, AND NORWEGIAN HORSE. 
 
 of the Swedish horses, Clark, in his "Scandinavia," says, "that they are small 
 but beautiful, and remarkable for their speed and spirit. Those of Finland he 
 describes as yet smaller, not more than twelve hands high, beautifully formed,. 
 and very fleet The peasants take them from the forests when they are wanted 
 for travellers. Although apparently wild, they are under perfect control, and they 
 trot along with ease at the rate of twelve miles an hom\" 
 
 The following story is told of one of the Norwegian horses. His master had 
 been dining at a neighboring town, and, when it was time to return, had exceeded 
 so much, that he could not keep a firm seat in his saddle. The horse regulated 
 himself, as well as he could, according to the unsettled motion of his rider, but» 
 happening to make a false step, tlie peasant was thrown, and hung with one foot 
 entangled in the stirrup. The horse immediately stopped, and, twisting his body in 
 various directions, endeavored to extricate his master, but in vain. The man was 
 severely hurt, and almost lielpless; but the shock had brought him to his senses. 
 The horse looked at him as he lay on the ground, and, stooping, laid hold of the 
 brim of his hat, and raised his head a little; but the hat coming off, he fell again. 
 The animal then laid hold of the collar of his coat, and raised him by it so far from 
 the ground that he was enabled to draw his foot out of the stirrup. After resting, 
 awhile, he regained the saddle, and reached his home. Grateful to his preserver^ 
 the man did what every good feeUng bid him — he cherished the animal until it 
 died of old age. 
 
 Many an English farmer owes a considerable debt of gi-atitude to his intelligent 
 and faithful servant, who has taken care of him when he was unable to take care 
 of himself, and, possibly, has preserved his life. Let him repay the debt by 
 khider usage. 
 
 THE ICELAND HORSE. 
 
 There are numerous troops of horses in this cold and inhospital country, de- 
 scended, according to Mr. Anderson, from the Norwegian horse, but, according 
 to Mr. Horrebow, being of Scottish origin. They are very small, strong, and 
 swift. There are tliousands of them in the mountains which never enter a stable, 
 but instinct or habit has taught them to scrape away the snow, or break the ice, 
 in search of their scanty food. A few are usually kept in the stable, but when the 
 peasant wants more he catches as many as he needs, and shoes them himself, and 
 that sometimes with a sheep's horn.-j- 
 
 * M. de Buffon strangely affirms, that the Hussars and Hungarians slit the nos- 
 trils of their horses with a view to increase their wind, and to prevent their neigh 
 ing; and tiiat Hungai'ian, Croatian, and Polish hoj-ses, continue to old age to have 
 the mark in all tlieir fore-teeth. 
 
 f Kerguelen's Voyage to the North. 
 
16 THE HORSE. » 
 
 THE FLEMISH AND DUTCH HORSE. 
 
 The Flemish, and Dutch horses are larg-e, and strongly and beautifully formed. 
 We are indebted to them for some of the best blood of our draught-horses, and 
 we still have frequent recourse to them for keeping up and improving the breed. 
 They will be more particularly described when the cart-horse is spoken of. 
 
 THE FRENCH HORSE. 
 
 France contains, like England, numerous breeds of horses, and considerable at- 
 tention has lately been paid to their improvement; but they are far inferior to ours 
 in beauty, fleetness, and strength. The provinces of Auvergne and Poitou pro- 
 duce good ponies and galloways; but the best French horses are bred in Limousin 
 and Normandy. From the former district come excellent saddle-horses and hun- 
 ters; and from the latter a stronger species, for the road, the cavalry, or the car- 
 riage. The Norman horses are now much crossed by our hunters, and occasionally 
 by the thorough-bred; and the English roadster and light draught-horse has not 
 suffered by a mixtiu-e with the Norman. 
 
 THE SPANISH HORSE. 
 
 Spain was early celebrated for her breed of horses. The Andalusian charger 
 and the Spanish jennet are familiar to all readers of romance. The subjugation of 
 so great a portion of the peninsula to the Moorish sway, by introducing so much 
 of the Barbaiy blood, mainly contribxited to the undisputed excellence of the Spa- 
 nish horse. One breed, long in the limbs, and graceful in all its motions, was the 
 favorite war-horse of the knight; while another race, carrying the esquire, although 
 inferior in elegance, possessed far more strength and endurance. The Spanish 
 horse of tlie present day is not much imlike the Yorksliire half-bred; perhaps witli 
 flatter legs and better feet, but far inferior figure. 
 
 THE ITALIAN HORSE. 
 
 The Italian horses were once in high repute, particularly the Neapolitans; but 
 like every thing else in those mismanaged countries, they have sadly degenerated. 
 One circumstance has mainly contributed to this falling off in reputation and value, 
 viz. tliat the breed has been kept up by occasional intermixture, not of eastern, 
 but of European blood. A few of the Neapolitan horses, from their superior size 
 and stateliness, are well adapted for the carriage. 
 
 THE AMERICAN HORSE. 
 
 In the extensive territory and varied climate of the United States, several breeds 
 of horses are found. 
 
 The Canadian is found principally in Canada, and the Northern States. He is 
 supposed to be of French descent, and many of the celebrated American trotters 
 are of this breed. We will speak of some of them when we describe the paces 
 of the horse. 
 
 The Conestogo horse is found in Pennsylvania, and the middle States — long in the 
 leg and light in the carcase — sometimes rising seventeen hands; used pnncipally 
 for the carriage; but when not too high, and with sufficient substance, useful for 
 hunting and the saddle. 
 
 The English horse, with a good deal of blood, prevails in Virginia and Ken- 
 tucky; and is found, to a greater or less degree, in all the States. The Americans 
 have, at different times, imported some of the best English blood. It has been 
 most diligently and purely preserved in the southern States. The celebrated Shark, 
 the best horse of his day, and equalled by few at any time, was the sire of the best 
 Virginia horses; and Tally-ho, a son of Highflyer, peopled the Jerseys. 
 
 In the back settlements, and in the southwestern States, is a horse resembling 
 the wild horse of the Pampas already described, and evidently of the same origfin. 
 
THE ENGLISH. 17 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH HORSE. 
 
 The earliest record of the horse in Great Britain is contained in the history given 
 by Jidius Csesar of his invasion of our island. The British army was accompanied 
 by numerous war-chariots, drawn by horses. Short scythes were fastened to the 
 ends of the axletrees, sweeping- down every thin.e^ before them, and cai-rying terror 
 and devastation into the ranks of their enemies. The conqueror gives a most ani- 
 mated description of the dexterity with which the horses were managed. 
 
 What kind of liorse the Britons then possessed, it would be useless to inquire; 
 but, from tlie cumbrous structure of the car, and the fury with which it was driven, 
 and from the badness or nonexistence of the roads, they must have been both ac- 
 tive and powerful in an extraordinary degree. Csesar deemed them so valuable, 
 that he carried many of them to Rome; and the British horses were, for a consi- 
 derable period afterwards, in great request in various parts of the Roman empire. 
 
 Horses must at that time have been exceedingly numerous in Britain, for we are 
 told that when the British king, Cassibellaunus, dismissed the main body of his 
 army, he retained foiu* thousand of his war-chariots for the purpose of harassing 
 the Romans when they attempted to forage. 
 
 The British horse now received its first cross; but whether the breed was thereby 
 improved cannot be ascertained. The Romans having established themselves in 
 Britain, found it necessary to send over a numerous body of cavalry to n>aintain a 
 chain of posts, and check the frequent insurrections of the natives. The Roman 
 hoi*ses would breed with those of the country^ and, to a greater or less extent,- 
 change their character; and from this time, the English horse would consist of a 
 compound of the native and those from Gaul, Italy, Spain, and every province 
 from which the Roman cavalry was supplied. Many centuries afterwards passed 
 by, and we have no record of the character or value, improvement or deteriora- 
 tion, of the animal. 
 
 It woxild appear probable, however, that Atltelstan, the natural son of Alfred 
 the Great, and the second in succession to him, paid some attention to the im^ 
 provement of the horse,- for, having subdued all the rebellious portions cf the Hep- 
 tarchy, he was congratulated on his success by some of the continental princesy 
 and received from Hugh Capet, of France, who solicited his sister in marriage, va- 
 rious presents, doubtless of a nature that would be thought most acceptable tc himj 
 and among them several Gern>an running horses. Hence our breed received 
 another cross, and probably an improvement. 
 
 Athelstan seems to have seriously devoted himself to this important object, for' 
 he soon afterwards decreed (A. D. 930) that no horses should be sent abroad for 
 sale, or on any account, except as royal presents. This proves his anxiety to pre- 
 serve the breed, and likewise renders it probable that that breed was beginning to 
 be esteemed by our neighbors. In a document bearing date A. D. 1000, we have 
 an interesting account of the relative value of the horse. If a horse was de- 
 stroj'^ed, or negligently lost, the compensation to be demanded was thirty shillings; 
 a mare or colt, twenty shilHngs; a nmle or young ass, twelve shillings; an ox, thirty 
 pence; a cow, twenty -four pence; a pig, eight pence; and, it sti-angely follows, a 
 man, one pound.* 
 
 In the laws of Howell the Good, Prince of Wales, and passed a little before this 
 tiiAe, there are some curious particulars respecting the value and sale of horses. 
 The value of a foal not fourteen days old is fixed at four pence; at one year and 
 a day it is estimated at forty -eight pence; and at three years sixty pence. It was 
 then to be tamed with the bridle, and brought up either as a palfrey or a serving 
 horse, when its value became one hundred aini twenty pence; and that of a wild 
 or u-nbroken nvare, sixty pence. 
 
 Even in those early days, the frauds of dealers were too notorious, and the fol- 
 lowing singular regulations were established. The buyer was allowed time to as- 
 certain whether the horse were free from three diseases. He had three nights to 
 
 * According to the Anglo-Saxon computation forty-eight shillings made a pound, 
 equal in silver to about thi-ee pounds of our present money, in value to fifteen or 
 sixteen pounds, and five pence made one shilling. 
 
18 THE HORSE. 
 
 prove him for the staggers; three months to prove the soundness of his lungs; 
 and one year to ascertain whether he was infected with glanders. For every 
 blemish discovered after the purchase, one-tliird of the money was to be returned, 
 except it should be a blemish of the eai's or tail. 
 
 The practice of letting horses for hire was then known, and then, as now, the 
 services of the poor hack were too brutally exacted. The benevolent Howell 
 disdains not to legislate for the protection of this abused and valuable servant. 
 •' Whoever shall borrow a horse, and rub the hair so as to gall the back, shall pay 
 four pence; if the skin is forced into the flesh, eight pence; if the flesh be forced 
 to the bone, sixteen pence." 
 
 One circumstance deserves to be remarked, that in none of the earliest histori- 
 cal records of the Anglo-Saxons or the Welsh, is there any allusion to the use of 
 the horse for the plough. Until a comparatively recent period, oxen alone were 
 used in England, as in other countries, for this purpose, but about this time (the 
 latter part of the tenth century) some innovation on this point was creeping in, 
 and, therefore, a Welsh law forbids the farmer to plough w^ith horses, mares, or 
 cows, but with oxen alone. On one of the pieces of tapestry woven at Bayonne 
 in the time of William the Conqueror, (A. D. 1U66,) there is the figure of a man 
 driving a horse attached to a harrow. This is the earliest notice we have of the 
 use of the horse in field labor. 
 
 With William the Conqueror came a marked improvement in the British horse. 
 To his superiority in cavalry this prince was chiefly indebted for the victory of 
 Hastings. The favorite charger of William was a Spaniard. His followers, both 
 the barons and the common soldiers, came principally from a country in which 
 agriculture had made more rapid progress than in England. A very considerable 
 portion of the kingdom was divided among these men; and it cannot be doubted 
 that, however unjust was the usurpation of the Norman, England benefitted in its 
 husbandry, and particularly in its horses, by the change of masters. Some of the 
 barons, and particularly Roger de Boulogne, earl of Shrewsbury, introduced the 
 Spanish horse on their newly acquired estates. The historians of these times, 
 however, principally monks, knowing nothing about horses, gives us very little 
 information on the subject. 
 
 In the reign of Henry I., (A. D. 1121,) the first Arabian horse, or, at least, the 
 first on record, was introduced. Alexander I., king of Scotland, presented to the 
 church of St. Andrew's, an Arabian horse, with costly fui-nitui-e, Turkish armor, 
 man)' valuable trinkets, and a considerable estate. 
 
 Forty years afterwards, in the reign of Henry II., Smithfield was celebrated as 
 a horse-market. Fitz-Stephen, who lived at that time, gives the following ani- 
 mated account of the manner in which the hackneys and charging-steeds were tried 
 there, by racing against one another. " When a race is to be run by tliis sort of 
 horses, and perhaps by others, which also in their kind are strong and fleet, a 
 shout is immediately raised, and the common horses are ordered to withdraw out 
 of the way. Tliree jockeys, or sometimes only two, as the match is made, prepare 
 themselves for the contest. The horses on their part are not without emulation; 
 they tremble, and are impatient, and are continually in motion. At last, tlie sig- 
 nal once given, they start, devour the course, and huri-y along with unremitting 
 swiftness. The jockeys, inspired with tlie thought of applause, and the hope of 
 victory, clap spurs to their willing horses, brandish theu* whips, and cheer them 
 with their cries." This description reminds us of the more lengthened races of 
 the present day, and proves the blood of tlie EngHsh horse, even before the east- 
 em breed was tried. 
 
 Close on tliis followed the crusades. The champions of the Cross certainly had it 
 in their power to enrich their native country with some of the choicest specimens of 
 eastern horses, but they were completely under the influence of superstition and 
 fanaticism, and common sense and usefulness were forgotten. 
 
 An old metrical romance, however, records the excellence of two horses belong- 
 ing to Richai-d Coeur de Lion, which he purchased at Cyprus, and were tlierefore, 
 probably, of eastern origin. 
 
 Yn this worlde they hadde no pere,* 
 
 Dromedary nor destrere,f 
 
 Stede, Rabyte,t ne Cammele, 
 
 Goeth none so swifte, without fayle: 
 
 For a thousand pownd of golde, 
 
 Ne should the one be solde. 
 * Peer, equal. ■\ War horse. + Arabian. 
 
THE ENGLISH. 19 
 
 The war-steed was defended by mail or plate, much on the plan of the harness 
 of the knig-ht himself. His head was ornamented with a crest. The head, chest, 
 and flanks, were wholly or partially protected; and sometimes he was clad in com- 
 plete steel, with the arms of his master enj^i-avcd or embossed on liis bardingn. 
 The bridle of the horse was always as splendid as the circumstances of the knig'ht 
 allowed, and thus a horse was often called Brigliadore, from brig/la d'oro, a bridle 
 of g'old. Bells were a very favorite addition to the eqnipmeiit of the horse. The 
 old Troubadour, Arnold of Marson, says that "nothing is so proper to Inspire con- 
 fidence in a knig-ht, and terror in an enemy." 
 
 The price of horses at this period was sing-ularly uncertain. In 1185, fifteen 
 breeding' mares sold for two pounds twelve shilling's and six pence. They were 
 purchased by the monarch, and distributed among- his tenants, and, in order to g-et 
 something- by the bargain, he charged them the great sum of four shillings each. 
 Twenty years afterwards, ten capital horses brought no less than twenty pounds 
 each; and, twelve years later, a pair of horses were imported from Lombardy, for 
 which the extravagant price of thirty-eight pounds thirteen shillings and four pence 
 was given. The usual price of good handsome horses was ten pounds, and the 
 hire of a car or cart, with two horses, was ten pence a-day. 
 
 To King John, hateful as he was in all other respects, we are yet much indebted 
 for the attention which he paid to agriculture generally, and particularly to im- 
 proving the breed of horses. He imported one hundred chosen stallions of the 
 Flanders kind, and thus mainly contributed to prepare our noble species of draught- 
 horses, as unrivalled as the horses of the turf. 
 
 John accumulated a very numerous and valuable stud. He was eager to possess 
 himself of every horse of more than usual power; and, at all times, gladly received, 
 from the tenants of the crown, horses of a superior quality, instead of money, for 
 the renewal of grants, or the payment of forfeitures belonging to the crown. It 
 was his pride to render his cavalry, and the horses for the tournament and for plea- 
 sure, as perfect as possible. It could not be expected that so haughty a tyrant 
 would concern himself much with the inferior kinds; yet while the superior was 
 becoming rapidly more valuable, the others would, in an indirect manner, partake 
 of the improvement. 
 
 One hundred years afterwards, Edward II. purchased thirty Lombardy war-horses, 
 and twelve heavy draught-horses. Lombardy, Italy, and Spain, were the countries 
 whence the greater part of Europe was then supplied with the most valuable ca- 
 valry or parade horses. Horses for agricultural purposes were chiefly procured 
 from Flanders. 
 
 Edward III. devoted one thousand marks to the purchase of fifty Spanish horses; 
 and of such importance did he conceive this addition to the English, or rather 
 mingled blood, then existing, that formal application was made to the kings of 
 France and Spain to grant safe conduct to the troop. When they had safely ar- 
 rived at the royal stud, it was computed that they had cost the monarch no less 
 than thirteen pounds six shillings and eight pence per horse, equal in value to one 
 hundred and sixty pounds of our present money. 
 
 This monarch had many running horses. The precise meaning of the term is 
 not, however, clear. It might be light and speedy horses in opposition to the war- 
 horse, or those that were literally used for the purpose of racing. The average 
 price of these running horses was twenty marks, or three pounds six shillings and 
 eight pence. Edward was devoted to the sports of the turf or the field, or he 
 began to see the propriety of crossing our stately and heavy breed with those of 
 a lighter structure and greater speed. 
 
 There was, however, one impediment to this, which was not for a very long 
 period removed. The soldier was cased in heavy armor. The knight, with all 
 his accoutrements, often rode more than twenty-five stone. No little bulk and 
 strength were required in the animal destined to carry this back-breaking weight. 
 When the musket was substituted for the cross-bow and battle-axe, and this iron 
 defence, cumbrous to the wearer and destructive to the horse, was useless, and 
 laid aside, the improvement of the British horse in reality commenced. 
 
 While Edward was thus eager to avail himself of foreign blood, with the too 
 frequent selfishness of the sportsman, he would let no neighbor share in the ad- 
 vantage. The exportation of horses was forbidden under very heavy penalties. 
 One case in which he relaxed from his severity is mentioned, when he permitted a 
 German merchant to re-export some Flanders horses which he had bought on spe- 
 culation; but he was strictly forbidden to send them to Scotland. Nay, so jealous 
 
20 THE HORSE. 
 
 were these sister kingdoms of each other's prosperity, that so late as the time of 
 Elizabeth, it was felony to export horses from England to Scotland. 
 
 The English horse was advancing, although slowly, to an equahty with, or even 
 superiority over those of neighboring countries. His value began to be more ge- 
 nerally and highly estimated, and his price rapidly increased— so much so, that 
 breeders and the dealers, then, as now, skilfid in imposing on the inexperienced, 
 obtained from many of our young grandees enornious prices for them. This evil 
 magnified to such an extent, that Richard II. (1386) interfered to regulate and de- 
 ternjine the price. The proclamation which he issued is interesting not only as 
 proving the increased vfilue of the horse, but showing what were, four hundred 
 and fifty years ago, and what ai-e, still, thp chief breeding districts, It was order- 
 ed to be published in the counties of Lincoln and Cambridge, and the East and 
 North Ridings of Yorkshire; and the price of the horse was restricted to that which 
 had been determined by former sovereigns. A more enlightened policy has at 
 length banished all such absurd interferences with agriculture and commerce. 
 
 We can now collect but little of the history of the horse until the reign of Henry 
 Vn., at the close of the fifteenth century. He continued to prohibit the exporta- 
 tion of stallions, but allowed that of mares when more than two years old, and 
 under the value of six shillings and eight pence. This regulation was, however, 
 easily evaded, for if a mare could be found worth more than six shillings and eight 
 pence, she might be freely exported on the payment of that sum. 
 
 Henry VIII., a tyrannical and cruel prince, but fond of show and splendor, was 
 very anxious to produce a valuable breed of horses; and the means which he adopt- 
 ed were both perfectly in unison yi^ith his arbitrary disposition, and very little cal- 
 culated to effect his object. He affixed a, certain standard, below which no horse 
 should be kept. The lowest height for the stallion was fifteen hands, and for the 
 mare thirteen hands; and even before they had arrived at their fiill growth, no 
 stallion above two years old, and under fourteen hands and a half, was permitted 
 to run on any forest, moor, or common, where there were mares. At " Michael- 
 mastide" the neighboring ipagistrates were ordered to "drive" all forests and com- 
 mons, and not only destroy such stallions, but all " unlikely tits," whether mares 
 or gpldings, or foals, which they might deem not calculated to produce a valuable 
 breed. He like\vise ordained, that in every deer-park a certain number of mares, 
 in proportion to its size, and each at least thirteen hands high, should be kept; and 
 that all his prelates ai)d nobles, and ''all those whose wives wore velvet bonnets," 
 should keep staUions for the saddle at least fifteen hands high. These ordinances 
 perished with the tyrar>t by whoR) they were promulgated. 
 
 The r,eign of Henry VIII. produced the earliest English treatise on agriculture, 
 and the management of horses and cattle. It was written by Sir A. Fitzherbert, 
 judge of the common pleas, and contains much useful information. It is entitled 
 " Boke of Husbandry;" and, being now exceedingly rare, an extract from it may 
 not be unacceptable. It would seem that the mare had been but lately employed 
 in husbandry, for he says, •' a husbande may not be without horses and mares, and 
 specially if he goe with a horse-ploughe he must have both; his horses to draive, 
 his mares to brynge colts to upholde his stocke, and yet at many times they may 
 draive well if they be well handled." The learned judge ^hareavhe common fate 
 of those who have to do witli the horse. " Thou grasyer, that mayst fortune to 
 be of myne opinion or condytipu to love horses, and young coltes and foles to go 
 among thy cattle, take hede that thou be not beguiled as I have been a hundred 
 tymes and more. And first thou shalt knowe that a good horse has 54 properties, 
 that is to say, 2 of a man, 2 of a badger, 4 of a lion, 9 of an ox, 9 of a hare, 9 of 
 a foxe, 9 of an asse, and 10 of a woman."* 
 
 The tyrannical edicts of Henry VIII. had thp effect which comipon sense would 
 have anticipated — the breed of horses was not materially improved, and their num- 
 
 * Later writers have pirated from Sir A-f but have not ipiproved upon him. 
 The following description of the horse is well knowi). " A good horse should have 
 three qualities of a woman — ^^a broad breast, round hips, and a long mane; three 
 of a lion — countenance, courage, and fire; three of a bullock— the eye, the nostril, 
 and joints; three of a sheep — the nose, gentleness, and patience; three of a mule — 
 strength, constancy, and foot; three of a deer — head, legs, and short hair; three 
 of a wolf — throat, neck, and hearing ; three of a fox — ear, tail, and trot 5 three of 
 a serpent — memory, sight, and turning; and three of a hare or cat-r-running, 
 walking, and suppleness." 
 
THE ENGLISH. 21 
 
 bers were sadly diminished. When the bigot, Philip of Spain, threatened Eng- 
 land in the reign of Elizabeth, with his Invincible Armada, that princess could 
 muster in her whole kingdom only three thousand cavalry to oppose him; and 
 Blundeville, who wrote at this time a very pleasant and excellent book on the art 
 of riding, speaks contemptuously of tlie qualities of these horses. The secret of 
 improving the breed had not been then discovered; it had been attempted by ar- 
 bitrary power; and it had extended only to those crosses from wliich little good 
 could have been expected: or, rather, it had more reference to the actual situation 
 of the country, and the heavy carriages, and the bad roads, and the tedious travel- 
 ling which then prevailed, than to tlie wonderful change in these which a few 
 centuries were destined to effect. 
 
 Blundeville describes the majority of our horses as consisting of strong sturdy 
 beasts, fit only for slow draught, and the few of a lighter structure being weak, 
 and without bottom. There were, however, some exceptions; for he relates a case 
 of one of these lighter horses travelling eighty miles in a day — a task which in 
 later times has been too often and cruelly exacted from our half-bred nags. 
 
 An account has been given of the racing trial of the horses in Smithfield market. 
 Regular i-aces were now estabhshed in various parts of England. Meetings of this 
 kind were first held at Chester and Stamford; but there was no acknowledged 
 system as now, and no breed of racing horses. Hunters and hackneys mingled 
 together, and no description of horse was excluded. 
 
 There was at first no course marked out for the race, but the contest generally 
 consisted in the running of train-scent across the country, and sometimes the most 
 difficult and dangerous part of the country was selected for the exhibition. Occa- 
 sionally our present steeple chase was adopted with all its dangers, and more than 
 its present barbarity; for persons were appointed cruelly to flog along the jaded 
 and exhausted horses. 
 
 It should, however, be acknowledged that the races of that period were not dis- 
 graced by the system of gambling and fraud which seems to have become almost 
 inseparable from the amusements of the turf. The prize was usually a wooden 
 bell adorned with flowers. This was afterwards exchanged for a silver bell, and 
 •• given to him who should run the best and farthest on horseback on Shrove 
 Tuesday." Hence the common phrase of "bearing away the bell." 
 
 Horse-racing became gradually more cultivated; but it was not until the last year 
 of the reign of James I. that rules were promulgated and generally subscribed to 
 for their regulation. That prince was fond of field sports. He had encouraged, 
 if he did not establish, horse-racing in Scotland, and he brought with him to Eng- 
 land his predilection for it; but his races were more often matches against time, or 
 trials of speed and bottom, for absurdly and cruelly long distances. His favorite 
 courses were at Croydon and on Enfield Chase. 
 
 Although the Turkish and Barbary horses had been freely used to produce with 
 the English mare the breed which was best suited to this exercise, little improve- 
 ment had been effected. James, with great judgment, determined to try the Arab 
 breed. Probably he had not forgotten the story of the Arabian, which had been 
 presented to one of his Scottish churches five centuries before. He purchased, 
 from a merchant named Markham, a celebrated Arabian horse, for which he gave 
 the extravagant sum of five hundred pounds. Kings, however, like their subjects, 
 are often thwarted and governed by their servants, and the Duke of Newcastle 
 took a dislike to this foreign animal. He wrote a book, and a very good one, on 
 horsemanship, and described this Arabian as a little bony horse, of ordinary shape, 
 setting him down as good for nothing, because, after being regidarly trained, he 
 could not race. The opinion of the duke, probably altogether erroneous, had, for 
 nearly a century, great weight; and the Arabian horse lost its reputation among 
 the English turf-breeders. 
 
 A southeastern horse was afterwards brought into England, and purchased by 
 James of Mr. Place, who was afterwards stud-master or groom to Oliver Cromwell. 
 This beautiful animal was called the White Turk, and his name and that of his 
 keeper will long be remembered. Shortly afterwards appeared the Helmsley 
 Turk, introduced by Villiers, the first duke of Buckingham. He was followed by 
 Fairfax's Morocco Barb. These horses speedily effected a considerable change in 
 the character of our breed, so that Lord Harleigh, one of the old school, com- 
 plained that the great horse was fast disappearing, and that horses were now bred 
 light and fine for the sake of speed only. 
 
 Charlea I. ardently pursued this favorite object of English gentlemen, and, a 
 
22 THE HORSE. 
 
 llttie before his rupture with the parliament, established races in Hyde Park and 
 at Newmarket. The civil wars somewliat suspended the improvement of the 
 breed; yet the advantage which was derived by both parties from a light and ac- 
 tive cavalry, sufficiently proved the importance of the change which had been ef- 
 fected; and Cromwell perceiving, with his wonted sagacity, how much these 
 pursuits were connected with tlie prosperity of the country, had his stud of race- 
 horses. 
 
 At the restoration a new impulse was given to the cultivation of the horse by 
 the inclination of the court to patronize gaiety and dissipation. The races at New- 
 market were i-estored, and, as an additional spur to emulation, royal plates were 
 now given at each of tlie principal courses. Charles 11. sent his master of the 
 horse to the Levant, to purchase bi'ood mares and stallions. These were princi- 
 pally Bai'bs and Turks. 
 
 From that pei'iod to the middle of the last century, the system of improvement 
 was zealously pursued: every variety of eastern blood was occasionally engrafted 
 on ours, and the superiority of the engrafted, above the very best of the original 
 stock, began to be evident. 
 
 Man is rarely satisfied with any degree of perfection in the object on which he 
 has set his lieart. The sportsman had now beauty of form, and speed, and stout- 
 ness, scarcely an approacli to which had been observed in the original breed. 
 Still some imagined that this speed and stoutness might possibly be increased; and 
 Mr. Darley, in the latter part of the reign of Queen Anne, had recourse to the 
 discarded and despised Arabian. lie had mucli prejudice to contend with, and it 
 was sometime before the Darley Arabian attracted notice. At length the value of 
 his produce began to be recognized, and to him we are greatly indebted for a 
 breed of horses of unequalled lieauty, speed, and strength. >■ 
 
 This last improvement now furnishes all that can be desired: nor is this true 
 only of the thorough-bred or turf-horse; it is, to a very material degree, the case 
 with every description of hoi'se. By a judicious admixture and proportion of 
 blood, we have rendered our hunters, our hackneys, our coach, nay, even our 
 cart-horses, much stronger, more active, and more enduring, than they were before 
 the introduction of the race-horse. 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 THE DIFFERENT BREEDS OF ENGLISH HORSES. 
 
 The reader is now prepared for the history and distingaiishing character of the 
 various breeds of Englisli horses. If we were composing a treatise on the horse 
 adapted for general readers, we should commence with the racer, or thorough- 
 bred horse, wliich, if it be not considered as the parent of every other breed, yet 
 enters into, and adds, or often gives, tlie only value to it. Remembering, how- 
 ever, the title of our work, we will begin with those which are occasionally or 
 chiefly employed for agricultural purposes. First stands the roadster, or hackney, 
 whether used by the farmer to ride over his grounds, or for tlie longer journeys 
 of business or pleasure. 
 
 The roadster varies much in different districts, and according to the whim or 
 caprice of the rider. We have presented our readers with a portrait of the old 
 English hackney now fortunately, little known, yet the origin of our best saddle- 
 horses, whether for the road or the field. The modern liorseman will find some 
 fault with him. We give him as he was, and shall proceed to describe a much 
 superior animal. 
 
 The road horse ! more difficult to meet with in perfection than even the hunter 
 or the courser. There are many reasons for this. The price of the hackney, or 
 the horse of all-work, is so low, that he who has a good one will not part with 
 him; and it is by mere accident that he can be obtained. There are also several 
 faults that can be overlooked in the hunter, but which the road-horse must not 
 have. The hunter may start, may be awkward in his walk, or even his trot; he 
 
THE ROAD. 
 
 23 
 
 may have tlirushes or corns; but if he can go a good slapping pace, a;nd has wind 
 and bottom, we can put up with him, or prize him: but the hackney, if he be 
 worth having, must have good fore legs, and good hinder ones too; he must be 
 sound on his feet; even-tempered; no starter; quiet in whatever situation he may 
 be placed; not heavy in hand; and never disposed to say his prayers. 
 
 if there be one thing more than any other, in which the possessor, and, in his 
 own estimation at least, the tolerable judge of the horse, is in error, it is the action 
 of the road-horse: "Let him lift his legs well," it is said, "and he will never 
 come down." 
 
 In proportion, however, as he lifts his legs well, will be the force with which 
 he puts them down again; the jar and concussion to the rider; and the battering 
 and wear and tear of the feet. A horse with too great " knee action" will not 
 always be speedy; he will rarely be pleasant to ride, and he will not, in the long 
 run, be safer than others. The careless daisy-cutter, however pleasant on the 
 turf, should indeed be avoided, unless the neck of the rider be previously insured,, 
 yet it is a rule, not often understood, and sometimes disputed, but wliich experi-- 
 ence will fully confirm, that the safety of the horse depends a great deal more on 
 the manner in which he puts his feet down, than on that in which he lifts them 
 up — more on the foot being placed at once flat on the ground, or perhaps the heel 
 coming first in contact with it, than on the highest and most splendid action. 
 
 When the toe first touches tlie gi'ound, it may be easily supposed that the horse 
 M'lU occasionally topple over. An unexpected obstacle will throw the centre of 
 gravity forward, and down he will come. If the toe dig into the ground before 
 tlie foot is fti-mly placed, a little thing will cause a trip and a fall. 
 
 Let the farmer who has a stumbler look at the shoes of his horse. In what part 
 is the wear and tear? The toe of the shoe will become round, or even be altogether 
 gone, before the heel is scarcely touched. 
 
 For pleasant riding, and for safety also, a hackney should not carry his legs too 
 high. His going a httle too near to the gi-ound is not always to be considered as 
 an insuperable objection. The question is, does he dig his toe into the gi-ound? 
 
 Mount him, and put him to the test. Take up his feet and examine them. If 
 the shoe, after having been on a week, or a fortnight, is not unnecessarily worn 
 at the toe, and you feel him put his foot flat on the ground, do not scruple to buy 
 him, nay, esteem him a "choice-gifted hackney," although he may not have the 
 lofty action which some have erroneously thought so necessary. 
 
 Every horse, however, is liable to fall, and therefore comes the golden rule of 
 riding, "never trust to your horse," — always feel his mouth lightly. He does wrong 
 who constantly pulls might and main; he will soon spoil his liorse's mouth, and 
 render the arm-aching work always necessary. He does worse who carelessly 
 throws the reins on the neck of the horse. Always feel the mouth lightly,- you 
 win thus be able to give the animal assistance immediately, before he is too much 
 off his centre, and when a little check will save him. By this constant gentle 
 feeling you will hkewise induce him to carry his head well, than which few things 
 are more conducive to the beautiful, safe, and easy going of the horse. 
 
 The road-horse may, and should, like the hunter, possess different degrees of 
 blood, according to the nature of the country, and the work required of him. 
 
24 THE HORSE. 
 
 When approaching to thoroughbred, he may be a splendid animal, but he will be 
 scarcely fitted for his duty. His legs will be too slender; his feet soo small; his 
 stride too long; and he will rarely be able to trot. Three parts, or half, and for 
 the horse of all-work, even less than that, will make a good and useful animal. 
 
 The hackney should be a hunter in miniature, with these exceptions. His height 
 should rarely exceed fifteen hands and an inch. He wiU be sufficiently strong and 
 more pleasant for general work below tliat standard. He should be of a more 
 compact form than the hunter— inore bulk according to his height, for he has not 
 merely to stand an occasional although severe burst, but a great deal of every -day 
 work. 
 
 It is of essential consequence that the bone^ beneath the knee should be deep 
 and flat, and the tendon not tied in. 
 
 The pastern should be short, and although oblique or slanting, yet far less so 
 than that of the race-horse, and considerably less than that of the hunter. There 
 should be obliquity enough to give pleasant action, but not enough to render the 
 horse incapable of the wear and tear of constant, and sometimes hard work. 
 
 The foot is a matter of the greatest consequence in a hackney. It should be of 
 a size corresponding with the bulk of the animal, neither too hollow, nor too flat; 
 open at the heels; and free from corns and thrushes. 
 
 The fore legs should be perfectly straight, Tliere needs not a moment's con- 
 sideration to be assured that a horse witii his knees bent will, from a slight cause, 
 and especially if he be overweighted, come down. 
 
 The back should be straight and short, yet sufficiently long to leave comfortable 
 room for the saddle between the shoulders, and the huck, without pressing on either. 
 Some persons pi-efer a hollow-backed horse. It Is generally an easy one to go. 
 It will canter weU with a lady; but It will not carry a heavy weight, or stand much 
 hard work. 
 
 The road-horse should be high in the forehand, round in the barrel, and deep 
 in the chest; the saddle will not then press too forward, but the girths will rem^n, 
 without crupper, firmly fixed in their proper place. 
 
 A hackney is far more valuable for the pleasantness of his paces, and his safety, 
 good temper, and endurance, than for his speed. We rarely want to go more than 
 eight or ten miles in an hour; and, on a journey, not more than six or seven. The 
 fast horses, and especially the fast trotters, are not often easy in their paces, and 
 although they may perform very extraordinary feats, are disabled and worthless 
 when the slower horse Is in his prime. 
 
 Most of our readers probably are horsemen. Their memories will supply them 
 with many an Instance of Intelligence and fidehty in the horse, and particularly in 
 the hackney — the every-day companion of man. A friend of ours rode thirty miles 
 from home on a young horse which he had bred, and which had never before been 
 in that part of the country. The road was difficult to find, but hy dint of Inquiry 
 he at length reached the place he sought. Two years passed over, and he had 
 again occasion to take the same journey. No one rode tms horse but himself, and 
 he was perfectly assured that the animal had not since been in that direction. 
 Three or four miles before he reached his journey's end he was benighted. He 
 had to traverse moor and common, and he could scarcely see his horse's head. 
 The rain began to pelt. "Well," thought he, "here I am, far from any house, 
 and know not, nor can I see an inch of my road. I have heard much of the me- 
 mory of the horse — it Is my only hope now — so my fine feUow," throwing the 
 reins on his horse's neck, " go on." In half an hour he was safe at his friend's gate. 
 
 The following anecdote, given on the authority of Professor Ko-uger, of Halle, 
 proves both the sagacity and fidelity of the hoi-se. A friend of his, riding home 
 through a wood in a dark night, struck his head against the branch of a tree, and 
 fell from Ills horse stunned. The steed immediately returned to the house which 
 they had lately left, and which was now closed, and the family in bed, and pawed 
 at the door until some one rose and opened it. He tui-ned about, and the man 
 wondering at the affair, followed liim: the faithful and intelligent animal led liim 
 to tlie place where Ills master lay senseless on tiie ground. 
 
 Cunningham, in his valuable account of New South Wales, vol. i,,- p. 298, says, 
 "a friend of mine in the habit of riding a good deal, found that whenever he ap- 
 proached a gully, his sagacious horse Invariably opposed his wishes to cross at the 
 particular spot he had been accustomed to, always endeavoring to lead ofl' to another 
 part of the gully, where no passage was known to exist by his rider. Resolving 
 to see whither the cunning rogue would go, he gave him the rein, and soon found 
 
THE ROAD AND FARMER'S. 25 
 
 himself carried over the gully by a route he had never before followed. Still, 
 however, thinking- that the former way was the nearest, he was curious enough to 
 have both measured, when he found the horse's judgment correct; that way being 
 the nearest by several hundred yards." 
 
 Of the paces of the hackney, and of horses generally, and the principle of the 
 walk, the trot, the canter, and the gallop, we shall be better able to speak when 
 the structure of the horse, varying in different breeds, has been explained. 
 
 The points of shape most essential to be attended to in the choice of a hack- 
 nev, are the shoulders, and the fore legs, and feet: because a horse whose shoul- 
 ders are properly formed and placed is not liable to fall down; and because his 
 soundness depends chiefly upon his legs and feet. The shoulders should not be 
 too upright, but should slope backwards from the shoulder point to the withers. 
 It is desirable, if the horse is intended to carry a man of much weiglit, that the 
 shoulders should be rather thick than thin; but it is essential that they should not 
 be too large at the points. A horse whose shoulders are good, stands, when in a 
 natural position, with his fore legs in a line perpendicular to the ground; it is, 
 therefore, very desirable that the purchaser should see him in the stable, and be- 
 fore he has been moved, for he will then find him in his natural position, in which 
 it may be difficult to place him after he has been once disturbed. Another mode 
 of ascertaining whether the shoulders are properly placed, is by allowing the horse 
 to walk past you, and to observe whether he places his fore foot more forward 
 than the shoulder point when he puts it on the ground. A horse whose shoulders 
 ai'e properly formed will always do so; one whose shoulders are upright can- 
 not. The fore quarters of a horse intended to be used as a hackney constitute an 
 essential point: his carcase should be round, and his ribs deep. A horse's fore 
 leg, of the proper form, should be flat, and as large under the knee as it is just 
 above the fetlock. The pastern should be so joined to the leg at the fetlock, that 
 the horse should neither turn his feet out or in; but it is less objectionable that a 
 horse should turn his feet a little outwards, provided it is not so much as to mak* 
 him hit his fetlocks, than that he should turn them inwards. 
 
 THE FARMER'S HORSE. 
 
 The fakweu's horse is an animal of all-work; to be ridden occasionally to 
 market or for pleasure, but to be ])rincipally employed for draught. He should 
 be higher than the road-horse: about fifteeen hands and two inches may be taken 
 as the best standard. A horse with a shoulder thicker, lower, and less slanting, 
 than would be chosen in a hackney, will better suit the collar; and collar-work 
 will be chiefly required of him. A stout compact horse should be selected, yet 
 not a heavy cloddy one. Some blood will be desirable, but the half-bred horse 
 will gfenerally best suit the farmer's purpose. He should have weight enough to 
 throw into the collar, and sufficient activity to get over the ground. 
 
 Farmers are now beginning to be aware of the superiority of the moderate-sized, 
 strong, active horse, over the bulkier but slower animal of former days. It is not 
 only in harvest, and when a frosty morning must be seized to cart manure, that 
 this is perceived, but, in the every -day work of the farm, the saving of time, and 
 the saving of provender too, will be very considerable in the course of a year. 
 
 It tias often been said that a horse used much for draught is neither pleasant nor 
 safe for the saddle. The little farmer does not want a showy, complete hackney. 
 He will be content if he is tolerably well carried; and (if he has taken a littJe 
 care in the clioice of his horse; has selected one with sound feet, shoulders not 
 too thick, and legs not too much under him; and, if he keeps liim in good condi- 
 tion, and does not scandalously overweight him,) the five days carting or harrow- 
 work will not, to any material degree, unfit him for the saddle; especially if the 
 rider bear in mind what we have termed the golden rule of horsemanship, always 
 a little to feel the mouth of the animal he is upon. 
 
 A farmer, and, more particularly, a small farmer, will prefer a mare to a geld- 
 ing, both for riding and driving. She will not cost him so much at first; and he 
 will get a great deal more work out of her. There can be no doubt that, taking 
 bulk for bulk, a mare is stronger and more lasting than a gelding; and, in addition 
 to this, the farmer has her to breed from. This, and the profit which is attached 
 to it, is well known in the breeding counties; but why the breeding of horses for 
 sale should be alnjost exclusively confined to a few northern districts it is not easy 
 4 
 
26 THE HORSE. 
 
 to explain. Wherever there are g'ood horses, with convenience for rearing the 
 cohs, the farmer may start as a breeder with a good chance of success. 
 
 If he has a few useful cart mares, and crosses them with a well-knit, half-bred 
 horse, he will certainly have colts useful for every purpose of agriculture, and 
 some of them sufficiently light for the van, post-chase, or coach. If he has a su- 
 perior mare, one of the old Cleveland breed, and puts her to a bony, three fourths- 
 bred horse, or, if he can find one stout and compact enough, a seven-eighths, or a 
 thorough bred one, he will have a fair chance to rear a coU that will amply repay 
 him as a himter or carriage horse. 
 
 The mare needs not be idle while she is breeding. She may be worked 
 moderately almost to the period of her foaling, and with benefit rather than other- 
 wise: nor is there occasion that much of her time should be logt even while she is 
 suckling. If she is put to horse in June, the foaling time will fall, and the loss 
 of labor will occur, in the most leisure time of the year. 
 
 There are two rocks on which the farmer often strikes: he pays little attention 
 to the kind of mare, and less to the proper nourishment of tlie foal. It may be 
 laid down as a maxim in breeding, however general may be the prejudice against 
 it, that the value of the foal depends a great deal more on the dam than on the sire. 
 The Arabs are convinced of this, for no price will buy from them a likely mare of 
 the highest blood; and they trace back the pedigree of their horses, not through 
 the sire, but the dam. The Greek sporting-men held the same opinion long 
 before the Arab horse was known. ?• What chance of winning have I?'' inquired 
 a youth whose horse was about to start on the Olympic course. *• Ask the dam of 
 your horse" was the reply, founded on experience.* 
 
 The farmer, however, too frequently thinks that any mare will do to breed 
 from; and, if he can find a great prancing stallion, with a high-sounding name, 
 and loaded with fat, he reckons on having a vi^luable colt: and should he fail, he 
 attributes the fault to the horse, and not to his own want of judgment. Far 
 more depends on the mare than is dreamt of in his philosophy. 
 
 If he has an undersized, or a blemished, or unsound mare, let him continue to 
 use her on his farm: she probably did not cost him much, and she will beat any 
 gelding; but let him not think of breeding from her. A roomy mare, with some 
 blood in her, and with most of the good points, will alone answer his purpose. 
 She may bear about her the marks of honest work, (the fewer of these, however, 
 the better,) but she must not have any disease. There is scarcely a malady to 
 which the horse is subject that is not hereditary. Contracted feet, curb, spavin, 
 roaring, thick wind, bUndness, notoriously descend from the sire or dam to the 
 foal. Mr. Roberts, in that useful publication, "The Veterinarian," says, "last 
 summer I was asked my opinion of a horse. I approved of his formation with the 
 exception of the hocks, where there happened to be two curbs. I was then told 
 his sister was in the same stable: she also had two curbs. Knowing the sire to be 
 free from these defects, I inquired about the dam: she also had two confirmed 
 curbs. She was at this time running with a foal of hers, two years old, by another 
 horse, and he also had two curbs." 
 
 The foal should be well taken care of for the first two years. It is bad policy to 
 stint or half-starve the growing colt, 
 
 The colt, whether intended for a hunter or carriage-horse, may be earlier han- 
 dled, but should not be broken-in until three years old; and then the very best 
 breaking-in for the carriage-horse is to make him earn a little of his living. Let 
 him be put to harrow or light plough. Going over the rough ground will teach 
 him to lift his feet well, and give him that high and showy action, excusable in a 
 carriage-horse, but excusable in no other. In the succeeding winter he will be 
 perfectly ready for the town or country market. 
 
 • Bishop Hall, who wrote in the time of Elizabeth, intimates that such was the 
 opinion of horsemen at that period. He asks, in one of his satires, (Lib. iv.) 
 
 " dost thou prize 
 
 Thy brute beasts' worth by their dams' qualities? 
 Say'st thou this colt shall prove a swift-pac'd steed 
 Only because a jennet did him breed? 
 Or say'st thou this same horse shall win the prize, 
 Because his dam was swiftest Tranchefice?" 
 
THE HORSE. 27 
 
 THE COACH-HORSE.* 
 
 This animal has fully shared in the progress of improvement, and is as different 
 from what he was fifty years ag'o as it is possible to conceive. The clumsy-bar- 
 relled, cloddy-shouldei-ed, round-legged, black family horse, neither a coach nor 
 a drav-horse, but something' between both, as fat as an ox, and, with all his pride 
 and prancing at first starting, not equal to more than six miles an hour, and knock- 
 ing-up with one hard day's work, is no more seen; and we have, instead of him, 
 an animal as tall, deep-chested, rising in the withers, slanting in the shoulders, flat 
 in the legs, with even more strength, and with treble the speed. 
 
 There is a great deal of deception, however, even in the best of these improved 
 coach-horses. They prance it nobly through the streets; and they have more 
 work in them than the old clumsy, sluggish breed: but they have not the endu- 
 
 * Wheel carriages, bearing any resemblance to chariots, first came into use in 
 the reign of Richard II., about the year 1381; they were called wkirlicoies, and 
 were little better than litters or cafes {cots) placed on wheels. We are told by 
 Master John Stowe that "Richard II., being threatened by the rebels of Kent, 
 rode from the Tower of London to the Miles End, and with him his mother, be- 
 cause she was sick and weak, in a whirlicote;" and this is described as an ugly 
 vehicle of four boards put together in a clumsy manner. 
 
 In the following year he married Anne of Luxembourg, who introduced the 
 riding upon side-saddles; and so "was the riding in those whirlicotes forsaken, 
 except at coronations, and such like spectacles." 
 
 Coaches wei-e not used until the time of Elizabeth,- when we are told (Stowe's 
 Survey of London and Westminster, book i.) "divers great ladies made them 
 coachesj and rode in them up and down the countries to the great admiration of 
 all the beholders." The fashion soon spread, and, he adds, what is often too true 
 in the present day, " the world ruivs on wheels with many whose parents \Vere 
 glad to go on foot." 
 
 These coaches were heavy and unwieldy, and probably bore some rough resem.^ 
 blance to the state coaches now used occasionally in court processions. 
 
 The rate of travelling was as slow as the clumsiness of tlie horses and vehicle 
 would naturally incUcate. King George II. died early on Saturday morning, Oct. 
 21, 1760: the Duke of Devonshire, who was lord chamberlain, airived in town 
 from Chatsworth in three days; but a fourth and a fifth day passing over, and the 
 lord steward, the Duke of Rutland, not making his appearance, although he had 
 not so far to travel by more than thirty miles, Mr. Speaker Onslow made this 
 apology for him, that "the Duke of DevonsWe travelled at a prodigious rate, 
 not less Xha.n fifty miles a day.'" 
 
 To travel in tlie stage-coach from London to Epsom, sixteen miles, then took 
 nearly the whole day, and the passengers dined on the road. The coach from 
 Edinburgh to London started once a month, and occupied sixteen or eighteen days 
 on the journey. A person may now start from Edinburgh on Saturday evening, 
 have two spare days in London, and be back again at the Scotch metropolis to 
 breakfast on the next Saturday. Including short stages, one thousand four hun- 
 dred coaches now set out from London every day; the expense of each of which, 
 with four horses, cannot be less than two shillings and sixpence per mile. 
 
 Hackney coaches first appeared in London in 1625, the first year of the reign 
 of Charles I.: sedan-chau-s-had been mtroduced by the Duke of Buckingham six 
 years before. 
 
 Among the numerous benefits arising from the sei-vices of the horse, and the im- 
 provement of public roads and carnages, is the speedy and regular correspond- 
 ence by post. The invention of this useful estabfisliment is ascribed to Cyrus 
 the Great. It was adopted by the Greeks and Romans. It was introduced into 
 France by Louis XI, in 1462, and we first read of it in English history about the 
 year 1550, under Edward V[., when post-houses were established, and horses pro- 
 vided at the rate of one penny per mile. Under Elizabeth a postmaster was 
 nominated by government, aiKl under Charles I., in 16j4, the system assumed its 
 present form. The charge of postage was then fixed at two pence, if under eighty 
 miles; four pence between eigtity and one liundred and forty; and six pence if 
 under two hundred and forty miles; but this charge rapidly increased with the in- 
 creasing price of horses, and the other expenses of conveyance; and afterwards it 
 was further raised by taxation, like almost every thing else. 
 
28 THE HORSE. 
 
 ranee that could be wished; and a pair of poor post-horses would, at the end of 
 the second day, beat them hollow. 
 
 The knee-action, and high-lifting of the feet in the carriage-horse, is deemed an 
 excellence, because it adds to the grandeur of his appearance; but, as hxs already 
 been stated, it is necessarily accompanied by much wear and tear of the legs and 
 feet, and this is veiy soon apparent. 
 
 The principal points in the coach-horse are substance well placed, a deep and 
 well-proportioned body, bone under the knee, and sound, open, tough, feet. 
 
 The origin of the better kind of coach-horse is the Cleveland Bay, confined prin- 
 cipally to Yorkshire and Durham, with, perhaps, Uncolnshire on one side, and 
 Northumberland on the other,- but difficult to meet with pure in either county. 
 The Cleveland mare is crossed by a three-fourtl^ or thoroughbred horse of suifi« 
 cient substance and height, and the produce is the coach-horse most in repute, 
 with his arched crest and high action. From tlie thoi-oughbred of sufficient height, 
 but not of so much substance, we obtained the four-in-hand and superior curricle- 
 horse. 
 
 From less height and more substance we have the hunter and better sort of 
 hackney; and from the half-bred we derive the machineer, the poster, and the 
 common carriage-horse: indeed, Cleveland, and the Vale of Pickering, in the East 
 Riding of Yorkshire, may be considered as the most decided breeding country in 
 England for coach-horses, hunters, and hackneys. The coach-horse is nothing 
 more than a tall, strong, oversized hunter. The hackney lias many of the qualities 
 of the hunter on a small scale. 
 
 How far we are carrying supposed improvement too far, and sacrificing strength 
 and usefulness to speed, is a question not difficult to resolve. Tlie rage for rapid 
 travelling is the bane of the postmaster, the destruction of the horse, and a di* 
 grace to the English character. 
 
 There is no truth so easily proved, or so painfully felt by the postmaster, at least 
 in his pocket, as that it is the pace that kills. A horse at a dead pull, or at the be- 
 ginning of his pull, is enabled, by the force of his muscles, to throw a certain 
 weight into the collar. If he walk four miles in the hour, some part of that mus- 
 cular energy must be expended in the act of walking; and, consequently, the 
 power of drawing must be proportionably diminished. If he trot eight miles in the 
 hour, more animal power is expended in the trot, and less remains for the draught; 
 but the draught continues the same, and, to enable him to accomplish his work, 
 he must tax his energies to a degree that is cruel in itself, and that must speedily 
 wear him out. 
 
 Let it be supposed — what every horse cannot accomplish — that he shall be able, 
 by fair exertion and without distress, to throw, at a dead pull, a weight into his 
 collar, or exert a force equal to two hundred and sixteen pounds; or, in other 
 words, let him be able to draw a load which requires a force of two hundred and 
 sixteen poimds to move. Let him next walk at the rate of four miles in an hour: 
 what fbi'ce will he then he able to employ? We have taken away some to assist 
 him in walking, and we have left him only ninety-six pounds, being not half of that 
 which he could exei't when be began his pull. He shall quicken his pace to six 
 miles an hour — more energy must be exerted to carry him over this additional 
 ground. How much has he remaining to apply to the weight behind him? Fifty- 
 four pounds only. We will make the six miles an hour ten; for it seems now to 
 he the fashion for the fast coach, and for almost every coach, and every vehicle, to 
 attempt this pace. How stands the account with the poor beast? We have left 
 him a power equal to thirty-two pounds oidy to be employed for the purpose of 
 draught. 
 
 The load which a horse can draw is about fifteen times greater than the power 
 exerted, supvposing the road to be hai-d and level, and the carriage to run with 
 little friction; and the horse which at starting can throw into the collar a weight or 
 force equal to two hundred and sixteen pounds, will draw a load of three thousand 
 two hundred. Let him, however, be urged on at the rate of ten miles in the hour — 
 deduct the power used in swiftness of pace from the sum total of that which he 
 possesses, and what remains? — not a sixth part — not that winch is equal to a quarter 
 of a ton — or, if it be a stage-coach, the energy exerted in di-aught by the four 
 horses will not be equal to a ton. 
 
 The coach, and its passengers and its luggage, weigh more than this, and the 
 whole is still drawn on, and must be so. Whence comes the power? From the 
 over-strained exertion, the injury, the torture, the destruction of the hoi-se. That 
 
THE COACH AND HEAVY DRAUGHT. 29 
 
 which is true of the coach-horse, is equally true of every other. Let each reader 
 apply it to his own animal, and act as humanity and interest dictate. 
 
 Many a horse used on our public roads is unable to throw all his natural power 
 or weight into the collar. He is tender-footed — lame; but he is boug-ht at little 
 price, and he is worked on the brutal and abominable principle, that he may be 
 " whipped sound." And so apparently he is. At first he sadly halts; but, urged 
 by the torture of the lash, he acquires a peculiar habit of going. The favilty limb 
 appears to keep pace with tlie others, but no stress or labor is thrown upon it, and 
 he gradually contrives to make the sound limbs perform among them all the duties 
 of the unsound one; and thtis he is barbarously "whipped sound," and cruelty is 
 undeservedly rewarded. After all, however, what has been done? Three legs 
 are made to do that which was almost too hard a task for four. Then they must 
 be most injuriously strained, and soon worn out, and the general power of the 
 animal must be rapidly exhausted, and, at no great distance of time, exhaustion and 
 death release him from his merciless persecutors. 
 
 It is said that between Glasgow and Edinburgh, a carrier in' a single horse cart, 
 weighing about seven hundred weight, will take a load of a ton, and at the rate of 
 twenty-two miles in a day. The Normandy carriers travel with a team of four 
 horses, and from fourteen to twenty -two miles in a day, with a load of ninety hun- 
 dred weight. 
 
 An unparalleled instance of the power of a horse when assisted by art, was 
 shown near Croydon. The Surrey iron railway being completed, a wager was laid 
 by two gentlemen, that a common horse could draw thirty-six tons for six miles 
 along the road, and that he should draw his weight from a dead pull, as well as 
 turn it round the occasional windings of the road. A numerous pai-ty of gentlemen 
 assembled near Merstham to see this extraordinary triumph of art. Twelve wagons 
 loaded with stones, each wagon weighing above three tons, were chained together;- 
 and a horse, taken promiscuously from the timber cart of Mr. Harwood, was yoked 
 to the train. He started from the Fox public-house, near Merstham, and drew the 
 immense chain of wagons, with apparent ease, almost to the turnpike at Croydon, 
 a distance of six miles, in one hour and forty-one minutes, which is nearly at the 
 rate of four miles an hour. In the couse of the journey he stopped four times, 
 to show that it was not by any advantag-e of descent that this power was acquired; 
 and, after each stoppage, he again drew off the chain of wagons with great ease. 
 Mr. Banks, who had wagered on the power of the horse, then desired that four 
 more loaded wagons should be added to the cavalcade, with which the same horse 
 set off again with undiminished pace. Still further to show the effect of the rail- 
 way in facilitating motion, he directed the attending workmen, to the number of 
 fifty, to mount on the wagons, and the horse proceeded without the least distress; 
 and, in truth, there appeared to be scarcely any limitation to the power of his 
 draught. After this trial the wagons were taken to the weighing machine, and it 
 appeared that tlie whole weight was as follows: 
 
 12 wagons first linked together, 
 4 ditto afterwards attached 
 Supposed weight of fifty laborers 
 
 HEAVY DRAUGHT HORSES. 
 
 ' The Cleveland horses have been known to carry more than seven hundred pounds 
 sixty miles in tweiity-four hours, and to perform this journey four times in a weekj 
 and mill-horses have carried nine hundred and ten pounds two or three miles. 
 
 Horses for slower draught, and sometimes even for the carriage, are produced 
 from the Suffolk Punch, so called from his round punchy make, and descended 
 from the Noi-man stalHon and the Suffolk cart mare. The true Suffolk, like the 
 Cleveland, is now nearly extinct. It stood from fifteen to sixteen hands high, of 
 a sorrel color; was large headed; low shouldered, and thick on the top; deep and 
 round chested; long backed; high in the croup; large and strong in the quarters;- 
 full in the flanks; round in the legs; and short in the pasterns. It was the very 
 horse to' throw his whole weight into the collar, with sufficient activity to do it ef- 
 fectually, and hardihood to stand a long day's work. 
 
 Ton. 
 
 Cwt. 
 
 Qr. 
 
 38 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 13 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 55 
 
 6 
 
 2: 
 
so 
 
 THE HORSE. 
 
 Cleveland. 
 
 Suffolk. 
 
 Clydesdale. 
 
 Northamptonshire, 
 
 The present breed possesses many of the peculiarities and good qualities of its 
 ancestors. It is more or less inclined to a sorrel color; it is a taller horse; higher 
 and finer in the shoulders; and is a cross with the Yorkshire half or three-fourths 
 bred. 
 
 The excellencCj and a rare one, of the old Suffolk (the new breed has not quite 
 lost it,) consisted in nimbleness of action, and the honesty and continnance with 
 which he would exert himself at a dead pull. Many a good draught-horse knows 
 well what he can effect; and, after he has attempted it, and failed, no torture of 
 the whip will induce him to strain his powers beyond their natural extent. The 
 Suffolk, however, would tug at a de.ad pull until he dropped. It was beautiful to 
 see a team of true Suffolks, at a signal from the driver, and without the whip, down 
 on their knees in a moment, and drag every thing before them. Brutal wagers 
 were frequently laid as to their power in this respect, and many a good team was 
 injured and ruined. The immense power of the Suffolk is accounted for by the 
 low position of the shoulder, which enables him to throw so much of his weight 
 into the collar. 
 
 Although the Punch is not what he was, and the Suffolk and Norfolk farmer can 
 no longer boast of plougliing more land in a day than any one else, this is un- 
 doubtedly a valuable breed. 
 
 The Uuke of Richmond obtained many excellent carriage-horses, with strength, 
 activity, and figure, by crossing the Suffolk with one of his best hunters. 
 
 The Suffolk breed is in great request in the neighboring counties of Norfolk 
 and Essex. Mr. Wakefield, of Barnham, in Essex, had a stallion for whichTie was 
 offered four hundred guineas. 
 
 The Clydesdale is a good kind of draught horse, and particularly for farming 
 business and in a hilly country. It derives its name from the district on the Clyde, 
 in Scotland, where it is principally bred. The Clydesdale horse owes its origin to 
 one of the Dukes of Hamilton, who crossed some of the best Lanark mares with 
 stallions which he had brought over from Flanders. The Clydesdale is larger than 
 the Suffolk, and has a better head, a longer neck, a lighter carcase, and deeper 
 legs; strong, hardy, pulling true, and rarely restive. The southern parts of Scot- 
 land are principally supplied from this district; and many Clydesdales, not only for 
 agricultural purposes, but for the coach and the saddle, find their way to the cen- 
 tral, and even southern counties of England. Dealers from almost every part of 
 the United Kingdom attend the markets of Glasgow and Ilutherglen. 
 
 The Heavy Black Horse is the last variety it may be necessary to notice. It 
 is bred chiefly in the midland counties from Lincolnshire to Staffordshire. Many 
 are bought up by the Surrey and Berkshire farmers at two years old, and being 
 worked moderately until they are four, earning their keep all the while, they are 
 then sent to the London market, and sold at a profit of ten or twelve per cent. 
 
HEAVY DRAUGHT. 31 
 
 It would not answer the breeder's purpose to keep them until they are fit for 
 town work. He has plenty of fillies and mares on his farm for every purpose that 
 he can require; he therefore sells them to a person nearer the metropolis, by whom 
 they are g-radually trained and prepared. Tlie traveller has probably wondered 
 to see four of these enormous animals in a line before a plough on no very heavy 
 soil, and where two lig'hter horses would have been quite sufficient. The farmer 
 is training' them for their future destiny; and he does right in not requiring the ex- 
 ertion of all their strength, for their bones are not yet perfectly formed, nor their 
 joints knit; and were he to urge them too severel}', he would probably injure and 
 deform them. By the gentle and constant exercise of the plough, he is preparing 
 them for that continued and equable pull at the collar, which is afterwards so ne- 
 cessary. These hoi'ses are adapted more for parade and show, and to gratify the 
 ambition which one brewer has to outvie his neighbor, than for any peculiar utility. 
 They are certainly noble looking animals, with their round fat carcases, and their 
 sleek coats, and the evident pride which tliey take in themselves; but they eat a 
 great deal of hay and corn, and at liard and long continued work they would be 
 completely beaten by a team of active muscular horses an inch and a half lower. 
 
 The only plea which can be urged in their favor, beside their fine appearance, 
 is, that as shaft-horses, over the badly paved streets of the metropolis, and with the 
 immense loads they often have behind them, great bulk and weight are necessary 
 to stand the unavoidable shaking and battering. Weight must be opposed to 
 weight, or the horse would sometimes be quite thrown off his legs. A large heavy 
 horse must be in the shaf\s, and then little ones before him would not look well. 
 
 Certainly no one has walked the streets of London without pitying the poor 
 thill-horse, jolted from side to side, and exposed to many a bruise, unless, with ad- 
 mirable cleverness, he accommodates himself to every motion; but, at the same 
 time, it must be evident, that bulk and fat do not always constitute strength, and 
 that a compact muscular horse, approaching to sixteen hands high, would acquit 
 himself far better in such a situation. The dray-horse, in the mere act of ascend- 
 ing from the wharf, may display a powerful effort, but he afterwards makes little 
 exertion, much of his force being expended in transporting his own overgrown 
 mass. 
 
 These heavy horses are bred in the highest perfection, as to size, in the fens of 
 Lincolnshire, and few of them are less than seventeen hands high at two and a 
 half years old. Neither the soil, nor the produce of the soil, is better than in other 
 counties; on the contrary, much of the lower part of Lincolnshire is a cold, hungry 
 clay. The true explanation of the matter is, that there are certain situations better 
 suited than others to different kinds of farming, and the breeding of different ani- 
 mals; and that not altogether depending on richness of soil or pasture. The prin- 
 cipal art of the farmer is, to find out what will best suit his soil, and the produce 
 of it. 
 
 A dray-horse should have a broad breast, and thick and upright shoulders, (the 
 more upright the collar stands on him the better;) a low forehand, deep and round 
 barrel, loins broad and high, ample quarters, thick fore-arms and thighs, short 
 legs, round hoofs, broad at the heels, and soles not too flat. The great fault of 
 the large dray-horse is his slowness. This is so much in the breed, that even the 
 discipline of the ploughman, who would be better pleased to get through an ad- 
 ditional rood in the day, cannot permanently quicken him. Surely the breeder 
 might obviate this. Let a dray mare be selected as perfect as can be obtained. 
 Let her be put to the strongest, largest, most compact, thorough-bred horse. If 
 the produce be a filly, let her be covered by a supei-ior dray horse, and the result 
 of this cross, if a colt, will be precisely the animal required to breed from. 
 
 The largest of this heavy breed of black horses are used as dray-horses. The 
 next in size are sold as wagon-horses, ■ and a smaller variety, and with more blood, 
 constitute a considerable part of our cavalry, and is likewise devoted to underta- 
 ker's work. 
 
 All our heavy draught-horses, and some even of the lighter kind, have been 
 lately much crossed by the Flanders breed, and with evident improvement. Little 
 has been lost in depth and bulk of carcase; but the fore -hand has been raised, the 
 legs have been flattened and deepened, and very much has been gained in acti- 
 vity. The slow heavy black, with his two miles and a half an hour, has been 
 changed into a lighter, but yet exceedingly powerful horse, who will step four 
 miles in the same time, with perfect ease, and has considerably more endurance. 
 
32 
 
 THE HORSE. 
 
 THE DRAY-HORSE 
 
 This cut contains the portrait of a favorite dray-horse belonging to Messrs. Meux, 
 and painted by Mr. Ward, R. A., to whose portfoho we hope frequently to have 
 recourse. It is the Suffolk crossed, altliough not so deeply as some, with the 
 Flanders. 
 
 This is the very sj'stem, as we shall presently describe, which has been adopted 
 with such success in the blood-horse, and has made the English racer and hunter, 
 and the English horse generally, what it is. As the racer is principally or purely 
 of eastern oingin, so has the English draught-horse sprung chiefly from Flemish 
 blood, and to that blood the agriculturist has recourse for the perfection of the 
 breed. For the dray, the spirit wagon, and not too heavy loads, and for road- 
 work generally, a cross with the Flanders vvil} be advantageous; but if, in London, 
 the enormous heavy horse must be used in the coal wagon, or the heavier load of 
 the wharf, we must leave our midland black, with all his unvvieldly bulk, un- 
 touched. 
 
 As an ordinary beast of lighter draught, and particularly in the neighborhood 
 of London, the worn out hackney, and the i-efuse of the coach, and even of tlie 
 hackney-coach, is used. In the- hay-markets of St. James's and Whitechapel, are 
 continually seen wretched teams, which would disgi-ace the poorest district of the 
 poorest country. The small farmer in the vicinity of the meti-opolis, himself 
 sti-angely inferior to the small farmer elsewhere, has too easy access to Smitlifield, 
 that sink of cruelty. They who are unacquainted with this part of the country, 
 would scarcely think it possible, that, on the forests and commons within a few 
 miles of London, as many r.agged, wild, mongrel, horses are to be found, as in any 
 district of the United Kingdom, and a good horse is scarcely by any chance bred 
 there. 
 
 CAVALRY HORSE. 
 
 This is the proper place to speak of the cavalry horse. That noble animal whose 
 varieties we are describing, so admirably adapted to conti-ibute to our pleasure and 
 our use, was at a vei-y early age perverted to the destructive purposes of war; and, 
 as if he had been destined to the murderous business, seeiped to exult and triumph 
 in the work of death, 
 
 A sacred writer, more than three thousand years ago, gives us a sublime account 
 of the manner in which the horse, at that time, as at present, entered into the 
 spirit of the battle,' (Job xxxix., 19, et seq.) " Hast thou given the horse strength? 
 hast tliou clothed his neck with thunder? Canst thou make him afraid of a grass- 
 hopper? The glory of his nostrils is terrible. He paweth in the valley, and re- 
 joiceth in his strength; he goeth on to meet the armed men. He mocketh at fear, 
 and is not affrighted; neither turneth he back frorp the sword- The quiver rat- 
 tleth against him, the glittering spear, and the shield. He svvalloweth the ground 
 with fierceness and rage. He saith among the trumpets, ha! lia! He smelleth the 
 battle afar off, the thunder of the captains and the shouting." 
 
THE CAVALRY AND RACE. 
 
 S3 
 
 The cavalry horses contain a different proportion of blood, according to the na- 
 ture of the service required, or the caprice of the commanding' officer. Those of 
 the household troops are from half to three-fourths bred. Some of the Hghter regi- 
 ments have more blood in them. Our cavalry horses were formerly large and 
 heavy. To his imposing size was added action as imposing. The horse was 
 trained to a peculiar, and grand and beautiful method of going; but he was often 
 found deficient in real service, for this very action diminished his speed, and 
 added to his labor and fatigue. 
 
 A considerable change has taken place in the character of our war-horses: light- 
 ness and activity have succeeded to bulk and strength; and, for skirmishing and 
 sudden attack, the change is an improvement. It is particularly found to be so in 
 long and rapid marches, which the lighter troops scarcely regard, while the 
 heavier horses, with their more than comparative additional weight to carry, are 
 knocked up. There was, however, some danger of carrying this too far; for it 
 was found that, in the engagements previous to, and at the battle of Waterloo, 
 our heavy household troops alone were able to repulse the formidable charge of 
 the French guard. 
 
 The following anecdote of the memory and discipline of the troop-horse is re- 
 lated on good authority. The Tyrolese, in one of their insurrections in 1809, took 
 fifteen Bavarian horses, and mounted them with so many of their own men; but, 
 in a skirmish with a squadron of the same regiment, no sooner did these horses 
 hear the trumpet, and recognize the unifoi-m of their old masters, than they set off 
 at full gallop, and carried their riders, in spite of all their efforts, into the Bava- 
 rian ranks, where they were made prisoners. 
 
 Pliny relates a curious story about the war-horse, but, although an excellent 
 naturalist and philosopher, he was either very credulous or too fond of the mar- 
 vellous. The Sybarites trained their horses to dance. The inhabitants of Cro- 
 tona, with whom they were at war, had their trumpeters taught the tunes to 
 which the horses were accustomed to dance. When the opposing troops were in 
 the act of charging upon each other, the Crotonian trumpeters began to play these 
 tunes; the Sybarite horses began to dance, and were easily defeated. 
 
 THE RACE-HORSE. 
 
 There is much dispute with regard to the origin of the thorottgh-bred horse. By 
 some he is traced through both sire and dam to eastern parentage; others believe 
 him to be the native horse, improved and perfected by judicious crossing with the 
 Barb, the Turk, or the Arabian. "The Stud Book," which is an authority ac- 
 knowledged by every English breeder, traces all the old racers to some eastern 
 origin; or it traces tliem until the pedigree is lost in the uncertainty of an early 
 period of breeding. If the pedigree of a racer of the present day be required, it 
 is traced back to a certain extent, and ends with a well known racer; or, if an 
 earlier derivation be required, that ends either with an eastern horse or in obscurity. 
 
 It must, on the whole, be allowed, tlwt the present English thorough-bred horse 
 is of foreip;'n extraction, improved and perfected by the influence of the climate, 
 and by diligent cultivation. There are some exceptions, as in the case of Samp- 
 son and Bay-Malton, in each of whom, although the best horses of their day, there 
 was a cross of vulgar blood; but they are only exceptions to a general rule. In 
 
34 
 
 THE HORSE 
 
 our best racing stables, and, particularly in the studs of the Earls of Grosvenor 
 and Egremont, this is an acknowledged principle; and it is not, when properly 
 considered, a principle at all derogatory to tlie credit of the country. The British 
 climate, and British skilly made the thorough-bred hoi-se what he is. 
 
 The beautiful tales of eastern countries, and somewhat remoter days, may lead 
 us to imagine that the Arabian horse possesses marvellous powers; but it cannot 
 admit of a doubt, that the English trained horse is more beautiful, and far swifter 
 and stouter than the justly-famed coursers of the desert. In the burning plains of 
 the east, and the frozen chmate of Russia, he has invai-iably beaten every antago- 
 nist on his native gi-ound. A few years ago. Recruit, an English horse of mo- 
 derate reputation, easily beat Pthamus, the best Arabian on the Bengal side of India. 
 
 It must not be objected, that the number of eastern horses imported is far too small 
 to produce so numerous a progeny. It will be recollected, that the thousands 
 of wild horses on the plains of South America descended from only two stallions 
 and four mares, which the early Spanish adventurers left there. 
 
 Whatever may be the truth as to the origir, of the race-horse, the sti'ictest at- 
 tention has, for the last fifty years, been paid to pedigree. In the descent of 
 almost every modern racer, not the slightest flaw can be discovered: or when, with 
 the splendid exception of Sampson and Bay-Malton, one drop of common blood 
 has mingled with the pure stream, it has been immediately detected in the inferi- 
 ority of form, and deficiency of bottom, and it has required two or three genera- 
 tions to wipe away the stain, and get rid of its consequences. 
 
 The racer is generally distinguished by his beautiful Arabian head; his fine and 
 finely-set-on neck — his oblong, lengthened shoulders — well bent hinder legs — his 
 ample muscular quarters — his flat legs, rather short from the knee downward, al- 
 though not always so deep as they should be — and his long and elastic pastern. 
 These are separately considered where the structure of the horse is treated of. 
 
 The racer, however, with the most beautiful form, is occasionally a sorry ani- 
 mal. There is sometimes a want of energy in an apparently faultless shape, for 
 which there is no accounting; but there are two points among those just enume- 
 rated, which win rai'ely or never deceive — a well-placed shoulder, and a well-bent 
 hinder leg. 
 
 THE DARLEY ARABIAN. 
 
 The Darley Arabian was the parent of our best racing stock. He was purchased 
 by Mr. Darley's brother, at Aleppo, and was bred in the neighboring desert of 
 Palmyra. The figure here given of him is supposed to be an accurate delineation. 
 It contains every point, without much show, which could be desu-ed in a turf-horse. 
 
 The immediate descendants of this invaluable horse, were the Devonshire op 
 Plying Childers; tlie Bleeding or Bai-tlett's Childers, who was never trained; Al- 
 manzor, and others. 
 
 The two Childers were the means through which the blood and fame of {heir 
 sire were wide\y circulated, and from them descended another Childers, Blaze, 
 Snap, Sampson, Eclipse, and a host of excellent horses. 
 
THE HORSE. 
 
 FLYING CHILDERS. 
 
 35 
 
 The Devonshire or Fltino Chilbehs, so called from the name of his breeder, 
 Mr. CJiilders, of Carr-House, and the sale of him to the Duke of Devonshire, was 
 the fleetest horse of his day. He was at first trained as a hunter, but the superior 
 speed and courage which he discovered cavised him to be soon transferred to the 
 turf. Common report affirms that he could run a mile in a minute, but there is 
 no authentic record of this. Childers ran over the round course at Newmarket 
 (three miles six furlongs and ninety-three yards,) in six minutes and forty seconds; 
 and the Beacon course (four miles one furlong and one hundred and thirty-eight 
 yards,) in seven minutes and thirty seconds. In 1772, a «iiie was run by Firetail 
 in one minute and four seconds. 
 
 In October, 1741, at the CuiTagh meeting in Ireland, Mr. Wilde engaged to ride 
 one hundred and twenty-seven miles in nine hours. He performed it in six hours 
 and twenty-one miiiutes. He employed ten horses, and, allowing for mounting and 
 dismounting, and a moment for refreshment, he rode for six hours at the rate of 
 twenty miles an hour. 
 
 >t'. Thornhill, in 1745, exceeded this, for he rode fi-om Stilton to London, and 
 back, and again to Stilton, being two hundred and thirteen miles, in eleven hours 
 and thirty-four minutes, which is, after allowing the least possible time for chang- 
 ing horses, twenty miles an hour for eleven hours, and on the turnpike road and 
 uneven ground. 
 
 Mr. Shaftoe, in 1762, with ten horses, and five of them ridden twice, accom- 
 plislxed fifty miles and a quarter in one hour and forty-nine minutes. In 1763, Mr, 
 Shaftoe won a more extraordinary match. He was to procure a person to ride one 
 hundred miles a day, on any one horse each day, for twenty-nine days together, 
 and to have any number of horses not exceeding twenty-nine. He accomplished 
 it on fourteen horses; and on one day he rode one hundred and sixty miles, on ac- 
 count of the tiring of his first horse. 
 
 Mr. Hull's Quibbler, however, afforded the most extraordinary instance on re- 
 cord of the stoutness as well as speed of the race-horse. In December, 1786, he 
 ran twenty-three miles round tlie flat at Newmarket, in fifty -seven minutes and ten 
 seconds. 
 
 ECLIPSE. 
 
 Eclipse was got by Marsk, a grandson of Bartlett's Childers. Of the beauty, 
 yet peculiarity of his form, much has been said. The very great size, obliquity, 
 and lowness of his shoulders, were the objects of general remark — with the short- 
 ness of his four-quarters, his ample and finely proportioned quarters, and the 
 swelling muscles of his fore-arm and thigh. Of his speed, no correct estimate 
 
36 
 
 THE HORSE. 
 
 can be formed, for lie never met with an opponent sufficiently fleet to put it to 
 the test.* He was bred by the Duke of Cumberland, and sold at his death to Mr. 
 Wildman, a sheep salesman, for seventy-five guineas. Colonel O'Kelly purchased 
 
 • The pedigree of Eclipse affords a singular illustration of the descent of our 
 thorough-bred horses from pure eastern blood. 
 
 ('Bartlett's f Darley Arabian. 
 
 Childers I Betty Leeds j Careless ^ Shanker ] Barb Mare. 
 
 Squirt -^ f Snake T Lister Turk. • 
 
 Dam of I < Daughter C Haut- C D'Arcey White Turk, 
 
 Caroline^ C^ of Hautboy i boy ^ Royal Mare. 
 
 Hutlon's CHutton'sB^yTurt. 
 Black Legs ") , 
 
 {. Daughter of ^ Hautboy. 
 
 r Clumsy -^Hautboy 
 Fox Cub < ^ 
 
 ^ Daughter of ^ Leeds Arabian. 
 
 3-< 
 
 .Daughter of I Coneyskins ^ Lister Turk. 
 
 Daugh . 
 .. ter of ^ 
 
 Pi 
 
 a . 
 
 Daughter of-< 
 
 rConeyskins 5 Lister Turk. 
 ^Daughter of < ^ 
 
 CI 
 
 . Daught'r of ^ Hutton's Grey Barb. 
 
 {C Godolphin Arabian. 
 Regulus '- < C Ball Galloway. 
 
 dD,ujh.erof | ^^^_^^,^^ ^, r Snake ^ LUt^r T„r1=. 
 ^ Old Wilkes, by Hautboy 
 r Smith's Son of Snake. 
 Mother Western < ^ 
 
 t. Old Montague i Daughter of Hautboy. 
 
 The pedigree of Eclipse will likewise afford us another curious illustration of 
 the uncertainty which attends thorough-bred horses. Marsk was sold at the sale 
 of the Duke of Cumberland's stud for a mere trifle, and was suffered to run al- 
 most wild on the New Forest. He was afterwards purchased by the Earl of Ab- 
 ingdon for one thousand guineas, and, before his death, covered for one hundred 
 guineas. SatriRT, when the property of Sir Harry Harpur, was ordered to be 
 shot, and, while he was actually leading to the dog-kennel, he was spared at the 
 intercession of one of Sir Harry's grooms; and neither Barti.ett's Childers nor 
 Snaks was ever ti*ained. On the side of the dam, Spilletta never started but 
 once, and was beaten; and the Godolphin Arabian was purchased from a water 
 cart in Paris. — Smith's Breeding for the Turf, p. 5. 
 
ECLIPSE. 37 
 
 a share of him from Wilclman. In the spring- of the following year, when the 
 reputation of this wonderful animal was at its heig-ht, O'Kelly wished to become 
 sole owner of him, and bought the remaining- share for one thousand pounds. 
 
 Eclipse was what is termed a thick-winded horse, and puffed and roared so as to 
 be heard at a considerable distance. For this or some other cause, he was not 
 brought on the turf until he was five years old. 
 
 O'Kelly, aware of his horse's powers, had backed him freely on his first race, in 
 May, 1769. This excited curiositj-, or, perhaps, roused suspicion, and some per 
 sons attempted to watch one of his trials. Mr. John Lawrence says, tliat ♦' they 
 were a little too late; but they found an old woman who gave them all the infor- 
 mation they wanted. On inquiring whether she had seen a race, she replied that 
 she could not tell whether it was a race or not, but that she had just seen a horse 
 with white legs running away at a monstrous rate, and anotlier hors^ a great way 
 behind, trying to run after him; but she was sure he never would catch the white- 
 legged horse if he ran to the world's end." 
 
 The first heat was easily won, when O'Kelly, observing that the rider had been 
 pulling at Eclipse during the whole of the race, offered a wager that he placed 
 the horses in tlie next heat. This seemed a thing so highly improbable, that he 
 immediately had bets to a large amount. Being called on to declare, he replied, 
 •' Eclipse first, and the rest no where!" The event justified his prediction; all the 
 others were distanced by Eclipse witli the greatest ease? or, in the language of 
 the turf, they had no place. 
 
 In the spring of the following year, he beat Mr. Wentworth's Bucephalus, who 
 bad never before been conquered. Two days afterwards he distanced Mr. Strode's 
 Pensioner, a very good horse; and, in the August of the same year, he won the 
 great subscription at York. No horse daring to enter against him, he closed his 
 short career of seventeen months, by walking over the Newmarket course for the 
 king's plate, on October the 18th, 1770. He was never beaten, nor eyer paid for- 
 feit, and won for his owner more than twenty-five thousand pounds. 
 
 Eclipse was afterwards employed as a stallion, and produced the extraordinary 
 number of three hundred and thirty-four winners, and these netted to their owners 
 more than a hundred and sixty thousand pounds, exclusive of plates and cups. 
 This fine animal died in 1789, at the age of twenty-five years.* 
 
 More than twenty years after the Uarley Arabian, and when the value of the 
 Arabian blood was fully established. Lord Godolpiiin possessed a beautiful, but sln-^ 
 gularly shaped horse, which he called an Arabian, but which was really a Barb, 
 His crest, lofty and arched almost to a fault, will distinguish him from every other 
 horse. 
 
 It will likewise be seen from our plate (jvide p. 7, ) that he had a sinking behind 
 his shoulders almost as peculiar, and a corresponding elevation of the spine tq-? 
 wards the loins. His muzzle was uncommonly fine, his head beautifully set on, his 
 shoulders capacious, and his quarters well spread out. He was picked up in 
 France, where he was actually employed in drawing a cart; and when he was af- 
 terwards presented to Lord Godolphin, he was in that nobleman's stud a conside- 
 rable time before his value was discovered. It was not until the birth of Lath, one 
 of the first horses of that period, that his excellence began to be appreciated. He 
 was then styled an Arabian, and became, in even a greater degree than the Dai-ley, 
 the founder of the modern thorough-bred horsps. He died in 1753, at the age of 
 twenty-nine. 
 
 An intimate friendship subsisted between him and a cat, which either sat on his 
 back when he was in the stable, or nestled as closely to him as she could. At his 
 death, the cat refused her food, and pined away, and soon died. Mr. Holcroft 
 gives a similar relation of the attachment between a race-horse and a cat, which 
 the courser would take in his mouth, and place in his manger and upon his back, 
 without hurting her. Chillaby, called from his great ferocity the Mad Arabian, 
 whom one only of the grooms dared to approach, and who savagely tore to pieces 
 the image of a man that was purposely placed in his way, had his peculiar attach- 
 ment to a lamb, who used to employ himself for many an hour in batting away 
 the flies from him. 
 
 * The produce of King Herod, a descendant of Flying Childers, was even more 
 numerous. He got no less than four hundred and ninety-seven winners, who gain 
 ed for their proprietors upwards of two hundred thousand pounds. Highflyer was 
 a son of King Herod. 
 
38 THE HORSE. 
 
 Another foreign horse, whose portrait we have given, (vide p. 8,) was the WEt- 
 IKSLET Arabian; the very picture of a beautiful wild horse of the desert. His 
 precise country was never determined. He is evidently neither a perfect Barb, 
 nor a perfect Arabian, but from some neighboring- province, where both the Barb 
 and Arabian would expand to a more perfect fullness of form. This horse has 
 been erroneously selected as the pattern of a superior Arabian, and therefore we 
 have introduced him; few, however, of his produce were trained who can add much 
 to his reputation. 
 
 It has been imagined that the breed of racing horses has lately very considera- 
 bly degenerated. This is not the case. Thorougb-bred horses were formerly fewer 
 in number, and their performances created greater wonder. The breed has now 
 increased twenty-fold, and superiority is not so easily obtained among so many com- 
 petitors. If one circumstance coidd, more than any other, produce this degene- 
 racy, it would be our absurd and cruel habit of bringing out horses too soon, and 
 the frequent failure of their legs before they have come to their full power. Chil- 
 ders and Eclipse did not appear until they were five years old; but many of our 
 best horses, and those, perhaps, who would have shown equal excellence with the 
 most celebrated racers, are foundered and desti'oyed before that period. 
 
 Whether the introduction of short races, and so young horses, be advantageous, 
 and whether stoutness and usefulness may not thus be somewhat too much sacri- 
 ficed to speed: whether there may be danger that an animal designed for service 
 may, in process of time, be frittered away almost to a shadow of what he was, in 
 order that at two years old, over the one-mile-course, he may astonish the crowd 
 by his fleetness — are questions that more concern the sporting man than the agri- 
 culturist; and yet they concern the agriculturist too, for racing is principally valua- 
 ble as connected with breeding, and as the test of breeding. 
 
 The horse enters into the spirit of the race as thoroughly as does his rider, and, 
 without whip or spur, will generally exert his energies to the utmost to beat his 
 opponent. It is beautiful to see him advancing to the starting-post, every motion 
 evincing his eagerness. The signal is given, and he springs away — he settles him- 
 self in his stride — the jockey becomes a part and portion of him, every motion of 
 the arms and body corresponding with, and assisting the action of the horse. On 
 he goes, eager, yet husbanding his powers. At length, when he arrives at that 
 distance from which the rider knows that he will live home at the top of his speed, 
 the hint is given, and on he rushes. Then the race in reality begins, and every 
 nerve is strained to head his competitor. Then, too, comes the art of the rider, 
 to keep the horse within his pace, and, with admirable give and take, add to the 
 length of every stride. Then, perhaps, the spur, skilfully applied, may be neces- 
 sary to rouse every dormant energy. A sluggish lurching horse may need more 
 punishment than the humane observer would tliink justifiable. But the natural 
 ardor of the race-horse, roused at the moment of the grand struggle by the mode- 
 rate application of the whip and spur, will bring him through if he can win. 
 
 Forrester will afford sufficient illustration of the natural emulation of the cour- 
 ser. He had won many a hardly contested race; at length, overweighted and over- 
 matched, the rally bad commenced. His opponent, who had been waiting behind, 
 was gaining upon him; he overtook him, and they continued quite close to within 
 the distance. It was a point that could scarcely be decided. But Forrester's 
 strength was faihng. He made one desperate plunge — seized his antagonist by the 
 jaw to hold him back, and could scarcely be forced to quit his hold. In like man- 
 ner, a horse belonging to Mr. Quin, in 1753, finding his adversary gi-adually pass- 
 ing him, seized him by the leg, and both riders were obliged to dismount, in 
 order to separate the animals. Let us here pause and ask, would the butcherly 
 whipping and cutting which seems so often to form the expected and necessary 
 conclusion of the race — the supposed display of the skill of the rider — the exulta- 
 tion of the thoughtless or unfeehng spectator — would these have carried such horses 
 over one additional inch of ground? They would have been thrown abroad — they 
 would have shortened their stroke — and perhaps would have become enraged, and 
 suspended every exertion. The horse is as susceptible of pleasure and pain as 
 ourselves. He was committed to us for our protection, and our use; he is a wil- 
 ling, devoted servant. Whence did we derive the right to abuse him? Interest 
 speaks the saqie language.. Many a race has been lost by the infiiction of wanton 
 cruelty.* 
 
 t One of the severest plate^aees on record, was run at Carlisle in 1761, and in 
 
THE HUNTER. 
 
 39 
 
 There are few agriculhirists who have not a little liking for the sports of the 
 field, and who do not fancy rich music in the cry of the hounds. To what ex- 
 
 which there were no fewer than six heats, and two of them were dead heats, each 
 of which was contested by the winner of the plate. 
 
 In 1763, at Salisbury, and over a four-mile course, there were four heats be- 
 tween two horses, the Duke of Grafton's Havana and Mr. Wildman's Paifti. 
 
 The following table of the abbreviations used in designating the different courses 
 at Newmarket, and the length of these courses, may not be unacceptable. 
 
 Mbrev, 
 
 B. C. is 
 L. T. M, 
 D. I. 
 T. L. I. 
 
 C. C. 
 A. F. 
 T. Y. C. 
 Y. C. 
 R. C. 
 
 D. M. 
 A. M. 
 R. M. 
 T. M. M. 
 
 A Distance is the length of two himdred and forty yards from the winning post. 
 In the gallery of the winning post, and in a little gallery at the distance post, are 
 placed two men holding crimson flags. As soon as the first horse has passed the 
 winning post, the man drops his fl^ag; the other at the distance post drops his at 
 the same moment, and the horse which has not then past that post is said to be 
 distanced, and cannot start again for the same plate or prize. 
 
 A Feather-weight is the lightest weight that can be put on the back of a 
 horse. 
 
 A Give and Take Plate is where horses carry weight according to their height. 
 Fourteen hands are taken as the standard height, and the horse must carry nine 
 stone (the horseman's stone is fourteen pounds.) Seven pounds are taken from 
 the weight for every inch below fourteen hands, and seven pounds added for every 
 inch above fourteen hands. A few pounds additional weight is so serious an evil 
 that it is said seven pounds in a mile race are equivalent to a distance. 
 
 A Post Match is for horses of a certain age, and the parties possess the privi- 
 lege of bringing any horse of that age to the post. 
 
 A Produce Match is that between the produce of certain mares in foal at the 
 time of the match, and to be decided when thej^ arrive at a certain age specified. 
 
 The Beacon course 
 Last three miles of ditto 
 From the Ditch in 
 From the turn of the lands in 
 Clermont course ... 
 Across the Flat ... 
 Two-year old course 
 Yearling course - - . 
 Round course - - - 
 
 Ditch mile . . . 
 
 Abingdon mile . - . 
 Rowley mile . . . 
 
 Two middle miles of B. C - 
 
 Miles. 
 
 Furl 
 
 Yds. 
 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 138 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 45 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 97 
 
 
 
 s 
 
 184 
 
 1 
 
 5 
 
 2ir 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 44 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 136 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 147 
 
 3 
 
 6 
 
 93 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 148 
 
 
 
 7 
 
 211 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 115 
 
40 THE HORSE. 
 
 tent it may be prudent for them to indulge in these sports, circumstances must 
 decide, and they deserve the most serious consideration. Few can, or, if they 
 could, oug-ht to keep a hunter. There are temptations to expense in the field, 
 and to expense after the chase, which it may be difficult to withstand. The hun- 
 ter, however, or the hunting horse, i. e. the horse on which a farmer, if he be not 
 a professed sportsman, may occasionally, with pleasure, and without disgrace, fol- 
 low the hounds, is in value and beauty next to the racer. 
 
 He should seldom be under fifteen, or more than sixteen hands high; below this 
 standard he cannot always sufficiently measure the object before him, and, above 
 this, he is apt to be leggy and awkward at his work. 
 
 In proportion as the agriculture of the country is improved, the speed of the 
 chase is increased* The scent both of the fox and the hare will lie better in in- 
 closed and well-cultivated ground, than on open, barren heaths; and there is more 
 running breast-high than when the hound is compelled to pick out the scent, car- 
 rying his nose almost close to the ground, and consequently going more slowly. 
 The character of the hunter is consequently gradually changing. Stoutness is still 
 required, but speed is becoming more necessary, and, therefore, for the fox and 
 the deer, and even for the hare, blood is an essential quahty. 
 
 In strong, thickly inclosed countries, the half-bred horse may get tolerably well 
 along; but for general use the hunter should be at least three-quarters bred; per- 
 haps seven-eighths. If he could be obtained with bone enough, and different ac- 
 tion, a thorough-bred horse would form the best of all hunters: but the thorough- 
 bred horse, with the usual action of the racer, would not, even at three-quai-tei-s 
 speed, always carry himself sufficiently high to be aware of, and to clear his fences. 
 
 The first property of a good hunter is tliat he should be light in hand. For this 
 purpose his head must be small; his neck thin; and especially thin beneath; his 
 crest firm and arched, and his jaws wide. The head will then be well set on. It 
 will form that angle with the neck which gives a light and pleasant mouth. 
 
 Somewhat of a ewe-neck, however it may lessen the beauty of the race-horse, 
 does not interfere with his speed, because, as is shown where the structure of 
 the horse is considered, more weight may be thrown forward, and consequently 
 the whole bulk of the animal more easily impelled; at the same time, the head is 
 more readily and perfectly extended, the windpipe is brought almost to a straight 
 line from the lungs to the muzzle, and tl>e breathing is freer. Should the courser, 
 in consequence of this form of the neck, bear more heavily on the hand, the i-ace is 
 soon over; but the hunter may be our companion and our servant through a long 
 day, and it is of essential consequence that he shall not too much annoy and tii-e 
 us by the weight of his head and neck. 
 
 The forehand should be loftier than that of the racer. A turf horse may be for- 
 given if his hind quarters rise an inch or two above his fore ones. His principal 
 power is wanted from behind, and the very lown^ss of the forehand may throw 
 more weight in fi-ont, and cause the whole machine to be more easily and speedily 
 moved. A lofty forehand, however, is indispensable in the hunter; the shoulder 
 as extensive as in the racer; as oblique, and somewhat thicker; the saddle will then 
 be in its proper place, and will continue so, however long may be the run. 
 
 The barrel should be rounder to give greater room for the heart and lungs to 
 play, and send more and purer blood to the larger frame of this horse; and espe- 
 cially more room to play when the run may continue unchecked for a time that 
 begins to be distressing. A broad chest is an excellence in the hunter. In the 
 violent and long-continued exertion of tiie chase, the respiration is exceedingly 
 quickened, and abundantly more blood is hurried thi-ough the lungs in a given 
 time than when the animal is at rest. There must be sufficient room for this, or 
 the horse will be blown, and possibly destroyed. The majority of the horses thai 
 perish in the field are narrow chested. 
 
 The arm should be as muscular as that of the courser, or even more so, for both 
 strength and endurance are wanted. 
 
 The leg should be deeper than that of the race horse, (broader as you stand at 
 the side of the horse,) and especially beneath the knee. In proportion to the dis- 
 tance of the tendon from the cannon or shank-bone, and more particularly just 
 below tlie knee, is the mechanical advantage with which it acts. A racer may be 
 tied beneath the knee, without perfectly destroying his power, but a hunter with 
 this defect will rarely have stoutness. 
 
 If any objection be made to our cut of the hunter, it will be that the mare was 
 too fine below the knee. It was the only bad point in an almost perfect form. 
 
THE HUNTER. 41 
 
 She was the property of T. Millington, esq., to whose khidness we are h\debted 
 for permission to copy her portrait. She would go oyer any tiling, and was never 
 tired. 
 
 The leg should be shorter. Higher action is required than in the racer, that 
 the legs may be clearly and safely lifted over many an obstacle, and, particularly, 
 that tliey may be well doubled up in tlie leap. 
 
 The pastern should be shorter, and less slanting, yet retaining considerable ob- 
 liquity. The long pastern is useftd, by the yielding resistance which its elasticity 
 affords, to break the concussion witli which the race-horse, from his immense stride 
 and speed, must come on the ground,- and the oblique direction of tlie different 
 bones beautifully contributes to effect the same purpose. With this elasticity, 
 however, a considerable degree of weakness is necessarily connected, and the 
 race-horse occasionally breaks down in the middle of his course. The hunter, 
 fi-om his different action, takes not this length of stride, and tlierefore wants not 
 all this clastic mechanism; he more needs strength to support his own heavier car- 
 case, and the greater weight of his rider, and to undergo the fatigue of a long day. 
 Some obliquity, however, he requires; otherwise the concussion even of his shorter 
 gallop, and more particularly of his frequently tremendous leaps, would inevitably 
 lame him. 
 
 The foot of the hunter is a most material point. It is of consequence in the 
 racer, yet it is a notorious fact, that many of our best -thorough-bred horses have 
 had very indifferent feet. The narrow contracted foot is the curse of much of the 
 racing blood. I'he work of the racer, however,- is all performed on the turf, and 
 his bad feet may scarcely incommode him; but the foot of the hunter is battered 
 over many a flinty road and stony field, and, if not particularly good, will soon be 
 disabled and ruined. 
 
 The position of the feet requires some attention in the hunter. They should, if 
 possible, stand straight. If they turn a little outward there is no serious objection; 
 but if they turn inward his action cannot be safe, particulaidy when he is fatigued 
 or over-weighted. 
 
 The body should be short and compact, compared with that of the race-horse, 
 that he may not in his gallop take too extended a stride. This would be a serious 
 disadvantage in a long day and with a heavy rider, from the stress on the pasterns; 
 and more serious when going over clayey poached ground, during the winter 
 months. The compact short-strided horse will almost skim the surface, while the 
 feet of the longer-reached animal will sink deep, and he will wear himself out by 
 efforts to disengage himself 
 
 Every horseman knows how much more enduring is a short-bodied horse in 
 climbing hills, although perhaps not quite so much in descending them. This is 
 the secret of suiting the racc-liorse to his coiu-se, and unfolds the apparent mystery 
 of a decidedly superior horse on a flat and sti-aight course, being often beaten by 
 a little horse, with far shorter stride on uneven ground, and with several turnings. 
 
 The loins should be broad; the quarters long; the thighs muscular; the hocks 
 well bent, and well under the horse. 
 
 The reader needs not be tolihow essential temper and courage are. A hot ir- 
 ritable brute is a perfect nuisaiice, and tlie coward that will scarcely face the slight- 
 est fence exposes his owner to ridicule. 
 
 The ti-ainmg of the race-horse has not been touched upon. It contains too much 
 myster}', and too much absurdity for common understandings. The principle, how- 
 ever, of preparing both the race-horse and the hunter for their work is the same, 
 and can have no mystery about it, viz., by physic a\id b}^ exercise, to get rid of all 
 superfluous fat and flesh, without too much lowering the animal; and, particularly 
 to bring him, b}" dint of exercise, into good wind, and accustom him to the full trial 
 of his powers, without over straining or injuring him. Two or three doses of 
 physic as the season appro-aches, and these not too strong; plenty of good hard 
 Hieat; and a daily gallop of a couple of miles, and at a pace not too quick, will be 
 nearly all that can be required. Physic must not be omitted; but the three words, 
 air, exercise, food, contain the g"rand secret and art of training". 
 
 Some think that even the simple process now described is not necessary, and 
 that horses that are taken up and worked in the day, and with a feed or two of 
 corn, and turned out at night, with an open stable or shed to run into if they please, 
 are as active, healthy, and enduring, as those who are most carefully trained, and 
 confined to the stable dtiring the hunting season. Many a fanner has boasted that 
 6 
 
43 THE HORSE. 
 
 he can beat the most numerous and the best-appointed field, and that his horse 
 never wants wind, and rarely tires. 
 
 It is true that the farmer may enjoy a good day's sport on the horse that carries 
 him to market, or, possibly, occasionally performs more menial drudgery; but the 
 frothy lather with which such a horse is covered in tlie early part of the day evinces 
 undeniable inferiority. There is, however, one point on which the untrained horse 
 has the advantage. Accustomed to all weathers, he rarely suffers, when, after a 
 sharp burst, tliere comes a sudden check, and the pampered and shivering stabled 
 horse is exposed with him for a considerable time to a piercing northeaster. The 
 one cares nothing about it; the other may carry home the seeds of dangerous disease. 
 
 Tlie hunter may be fairly ridden twice, or, if not with any very hard days, three 
 times in the week; but, after a thoroughly hard day, and evident distress, three or 
 four days' rest should be allowed. They who are merciful to their horses, allow 
 about tliirty days' work in the course of the season; with gentle exercise on each 
 of the intermediate days, and particularly a sweat on the day before hunting. 
 There is an account, however, of one horse who followed the fox-hounds seventy- 
 five times in one season. This feat has never been exceeded. 
 
 We recollect to have seen the last Duke of Richmond but one, although an old 
 man, and when he had the gout in his hands so severely that he was obliged to be 
 lifted on horseback, and both arms, being passed tlirough the reins, were crossed 
 on his breast, galloping down the steepest part of IJow Hill, in the neighborhood 
 of Goodwood, almost as abrupt as the ridge of an ordinary house, and cheering on 
 the hounds with all the ardor of a youth.* 
 
 The horse fully shares in the enthusiasm of his rider. It is beautiful to watch 
 the old hunter, who, after many a winters' hard work, is turned into the park to 
 enjoy himself for life- His attitude and his countenance when, perchance, he 
 hears the distant cry of the dogs, are a study. If he can he will break his fence, 
 and, over hedge, and lane, and brook, follow the chase, and come in first at the 
 death. 
 
 A horse that had, a short time before, been severely fired on three legs, and was 
 placed in a loose box, with the door, four feet high, closed, and an aperture over 
 it little more than three feet square, and standuig himself nearly sixteen hands, 
 and master of fifteen stone, hearing the cheering of the huntsman and the cry of 
 the dogs at no great distance, sprung ihi-ough the aperture without leaving a sin- 
 gle mark on the bottom, the top, or the sides. 
 
 • Sir John Malcolm (in his Sketches of Persia,) gives an amusing account of the 
 impression which a fox-hunt in the English style made on an Arab. 
 
 "I was entertained by listening to an Arab peasant, who, with animated gestures, 
 was narrating to a group of his countrymen all he had seen of this noble hunt. 
 ♦There came tiie fox,' said he, pointing with a crooked stick to a clump of date 
 trees, 'there he came at a great rate. I hallooed, but nobody heard me, and I 
 thought he must get away; but when he got quite out of sight, up came a large 
 spotted dog, and then another and another. They all had their noses to tlie ground, 
 and gave tongue — whow, whow, whow, so loud, I was frightened. Away went 
 these devils, who soon found the poor animal. After them galloped the Foringees, 
 (a corruption of Frank, the name given to an Eui-opean over all Asia,) shouting 
 and trying to make a noise louder than the dogs. No wonder they killed the fox 
 among them." 
 
 The Treasurer Burleigh, the sage councillor of Queen Ehzabeth, could not enter 
 into the pleasure of the chase. Old Andrew Fuller relates a quaint story of him: 
 
 •'When some noblemen had gotten Wilham Cecill Lord Burleigh to ride with 
 them a hunting, and the sport began to be cold, ' what call you this.'' said the trea- 
 surer. ' O! now the dogs are at fault,' was the reply. * Yea,' quoth the treasurer, 
 • take me again in such a fault, and I'll give you leave to punish me." 
 
 In former times it was the fashion for women to hunt almost as often and as 
 keenly as the men. Queen Elizabeth was extremely fond of the chase. Rowland 
 Whyte, in a letter to Sir Robert Sidney, says, " Her majesty is well, and excel- 
 lently disposed to hunting; for every second day she is on horseback, and conti- 
 nues the sport long.' 
 
 This custom soon afterwards began to decline, and the jokes and sarcasms of the 
 witty court of Charles II. contributed to discountenance it. 
 
 It is a curious circumstance, that the first work on hunting that proceeded from 
 the press, was from the pen of a female, Juliana Barnes, or Berners, the sister oi 
 Lord Berners, and prioress of the nunnery of Sopewell, about the year 1481 
 
THE HUNTER. 43 
 
 Then, if the liorse be tlius ready to exert himself for our pleasure — and pleasure 
 alone is here the object — it is indefensible and brutal to urg-e him be)'ond his own 
 natural ardor, so severely as we sometimes do, and even unlil nature is quite ex- 
 hausted. We do not often hear of a "hard-day," without being- likewise inform- 
 ed that one or more horses either died in the field, or scarcely reached home 
 before they expired. Some have been thoug-htless and cruel enough to kill two 
 horses in one day. One of the severest chases on record was by the King's stag- 
 hounds. There was an uninten-upted burst of four hours and twenty minutes. One 
 horse dropped dead in the field; another died before he could reach the stable; 
 and seven more within a week afterwards. 
 
 It is very conceivable, and does sometimes happen, that, entering" as fully as his 
 master into the sports of the day, the horse disdains to yield to fatigue, and volun- 
 tarily presses on until nature is exhausted, and he falls and dies; but, much oftener, 
 the poor animal has, intelligibly enough, hinted his distress; unwilling to give in, 
 yet painfully and faulteringly holding on. The merciless rider, rather than give 
 up one hour's enjoyment, tortures him with whip and spur until he drops and 
 expires. 
 
 Although the hunter may be unwilling to relinquish the chase, he who " is mer- 
 ciful to his beast" will soon recognize the symptoms of excessive and dangerous 
 distress. To the drooping pace, and staggering gait, and heaving flank, and heavy 
 bearing on hand, will be added a very peculiar noise. The inexperienced person 
 will fancy it to be the beating of the heart; but that has almost ceased to beat, and 
 the lungs are becoming gorged with blood. It is the convulsive motion of the 
 muscles of the belly, called into violent action to assist in the now laborious office 
 of breathing. The man who proceeds a single mile after this ought to suffer the 
 punishment he is inflicting.* 
 
 Let the rider instantly dismount. If he has a lancet, and skill to use it, let him 
 take away five or six quarts of blood; or, if he has no lancet, let him cut the burs 
 with his pocket knife as deeply as he can. The lungs may be thus relieved, and 
 the horse may be able to crawl home. Then, or before, if possible, let some pow- 
 erful cordial be administered. Cordials are, generally speaking, tlie disgrace and 
 bane of the stable; but here, and almost here alone, they are truly valuable. They 
 may rouse the exhausted powers of nature; they may prevent what the medical 
 man would call the reaction of inflammation, although they are the veriest poison 
 when inflammation has commenced. 
 
 A favorite hunter fell after a long burst, and lay stretched out, convulsed, and 
 apparently dying. His master procured a bottle of good sherry from the house 
 of a neighboring friend, and poured it down the animal's throat. The horse im- 
 mediately began to revive; soon after got up; walked home, and gradually reco- 
 vered. The sportsman may not always be able to get this, but he may obtain a 
 cordial-ball from the nearest farrier, or he may beg a little ginger from some good 
 house wife, and mix it with warm ale, or he may give the ale alone, or strength- 
 ened with a little rum or gin. When he gets home, or if he stops at the first sta- 
 ble he finds, let the horse be put into the coolest place, and then well clothed, and 
 diligently rubbed about the legs and belly. The practice of putting the animal, 
 thus distressed, into "a comfortable warm stable," and excluding every breath of 
 air, has destroyed many valuable horses. 
 
 * We should almost rejoice if the abused quadruped, cruelly urged beyond his 
 powers, were to inflict on his rider the punishment which a Spanish ruffian re- 
 ceived when mercilessly torturing, in a similar way, a poor Indian slave, who was 
 carrying him on his back over the mountains. It is thus related by Captain Coch- 
 rane, (Columbia ii. ."57.) " Shortly after passing tliis stream, we arrived at an 
 abrupt precipice, which went perpendicularly down about fifteen hundred feet, to 
 a mountain torrent below. There Lieutenant Ortegas narrated to me the follow- 
 ing anecdote of the cruelty and punishment of a Spanish officer. This inhuman 
 wretch, having fastened on an immense pair of mule spurs, was incessantly darting 
 the rowels into the bare flesh of the tortured sillero, who in vain remonstrated 
 with his persecutor, and assured him he could not quicken his pace. The officer 
 only pUed his spurs the more, in proportion to the murmurs of the sillero. At last, 
 the man roused to the highest pitch of infuriated excitement and resentment, from 
 the relentless attacks of the officer, on reaching this place jerked him from his 
 chair into the immense depth of the torrent below, where he was killed, and his 
 body could not be recovered. The sillero dashed off at full speed, escaped into 
 the mountain, and was never after heard of." 
 
44 THE HORSE. 
 
 We are now describing the very earliest treatment to be adopted, and before it 
 may be possible to call in an experienced practitioner. This stimulating plan 
 would be fatal twelve hours afterwards. It will, however, be the wisest course to 
 commit the animal, the first moment it is practicable, to the care of the veterinary 
 surgeon, if such tliere be in the neighborhood, in whom confidence can be placed. 
 
 The labors and the pleasures of the hunting season being passed, the farmer 
 makes little or no difference in the management of his untrained horse; but the 
 wealthier sportsman is somewhat at a loss what to do with his. It used to be 
 thought that, when the animal had so long' contributed, sometimes voluntarily, and 
 sometimes with a little compulsion, to the enjoyment of his owner, he ought, for 
 a few montlis, to be permitted to seek his own amusement in his own way; and 
 he was turned out for a summer's run at grass. J'ashion, which governs every- 
 thing, and now and then most cruelly and absurdly, has exercised her tyranny 
 over this poor quadruped. His field, where he could wander and gambol as he 
 liked, is changed to a loose box; and the liberty in which he so evidently exulted 
 to an hour's walking exercise daily. He is a'lowed vetches or grass occasionally, 
 but from his box he stirs not, except for his doll morning's round, until he is taken 
 into training for the next winter's business. 
 
 In this, however, as in most other things, there is a medium. There are few 
 horses who have not materially suffered in their legs and feet before the close of 
 the hunting season. There is nothing so refreshing to their feet as the damp cool- 
 ness of the grass into which they are turned in May; and nothing so calculated to 
 remove every enlargement and sprain, as the gentle exercise which the animal 
 voluntarily takes while his legs are exposed to the cooling process of evaporation, 
 which is taken place from the herbage he treads. The experience of ages has 
 shown, that it is superior to all the embrocations and bandages of the most skilful 
 vetei-inarian. It is the renovating process of nature, where the art of man fails. 
 
 The spring grass is the best physic that can possibly be administered to the 
 horse. To a degree, which no artificial aperient or diuretic can attain, it carries 
 off every humor which may be lurking about the animal; it fines down the round- 
 ness of the legs; and, except there be some bony enlargement, restores them al- 
 most to their original form and strength. When, however, the summer has tho- 
 roughly set in, the grass ceases to be succulent, apei-ient, or medicinal; the ground 
 is no longer cool and moist, at least during the day; and a host of tormentors, in 
 the shape of flies, are, from sun-rise to sun-set, persecuting the poor animal. Run- 
 ning and stamping to rid hiniself of his plagues, his feet are battered by the hard 
 ground, and he newly, and perhaps more severely, injures his legs. Kept in a 
 constant state of in-itation and fever, or rapidly loses his condition, and sometimes 
 comes up in August little better than a skeleton. 
 
 Let the horse be turned out as soon as possible after the hunting season is over. 
 Let him have the whole of May, and the greater part, or, possibly, the whole of 
 June; but when the grass fails, and the ground gets hard, and the flies torment, 
 let him be taken up. All the benefits of turning out, and that which a loose box 
 and artificial physic can never give, will have been obtained, without the incon- 
 venience and injury which attend an injudiciously protracted run at grass, and 
 which, arguing against the use of a thing from the abuse of it, have been impro- 
 perly urged against turning out at all. 
 
 The Steeple Hunt is a relic of ancient foolhardiness and cruelty. It was the form 
 under which the horse race, at its first establishment, was frequently decided. It is 
 a race across the countxy of two, or four, or even a gi-eater number of miles; and it 
 is generally contrived that there shall be some deep lane, or wide brook, and many 
 a stiff and dangerous fence between. It is ridden at the evident hazard of the life 
 of the sportsman; and it likewise puts to hazard the life or enjoyment of the horse. 
 It is getting into gradual disuse, and no man whose good opinion is worth having, 
 would deem such an exhibition creditable to the head or heart of him who was 
 engaged in it. 
 
 GALLOWAYS AND PONIES. 
 
 A horse between thirteen and fourteen hands in height is called a Gallowat, 
 from a beautiful breed of little horses once found in the south of Scotland, on the 
 shore of the Solway Firth, but now sadly degenerated, and almost lost, from the 
 attempts of the fai-mers to obtain a larger kind, and better adapted for tlie pur- 
 poses of agriculture. There is a tradition in that country, that the breed is of 
 
GALLOWAYS AND PONIES. 
 
 43 
 
 Spanish extraction, some liorses having escaped from one of the vessels of the 
 Grand Armada, which was wrecked on tlio neig-hboriiig' coast. Tiiis distiict, how- 
 ever, so early as the time of Edward L, supplied that monarch with a great number 
 of horses. 
 
 The pure galloway was said to be nearly fourteen hands liigh, and sometimes 
 more; of a bright bay, or brown, with black legs, small head and neck, and pecu- 
 liarly deep and clean legs. Its qualities were speed, stoutness, and sure-footedness, 
 over a very rugged and mountainous country. 
 
 Dr. Anclerson thus describes the galloway; <' There was once a breed of small 
 elegant horses in Scotland, similar to those of Iceland and Sweden, and which 
 were known by the name of galloways; the best of which sometimes reached the 
 height of fourteen hands and a half. One of this description I possessed, it having 
 been bouglit for my use when a boy. In point of elegance of shape it was a per- 
 fect picture; and in disposition was gentle and compliant. It moved almost with 
 a wish, and never tired. I rode this little creatiu-e for twenty-five years, and, 
 twice in that time, 1 rode a hundred and fifty miles at a stretch, without stopping, 
 except to bait, and that not for above an hour at a time. It came in at the last 
 stage with as mucli ease and alacrity as it travelled the first. I could have under- 
 taken to have performed on this beast, when it was in its prime,- sixty miles a day 
 for a twelve month running, witliout any extraordinary exertion." 
 
 A galloway in point of size, whether of Scotcli origin or not we are uncertain, 
 performed, about the year 1814, a gi-eater feat than Dr. Anderson's favorite. It 
 started from London with the Exeter mail, and, notwithstanding the numerous 
 changes of horses, and tlie rapid driving of that vehicle, it arrived at Exeter (one 
 hundred and seventy-two miles) a quarter of an hour before the mail. We saw 
 him about a twelve month afterwards, wind galled, spavined, ring-boned, and a 
 lamentable picture of the ingratitude of some human brutes towards a willing and 
 faithful servant. 
 
 In 1754, Mr. Corker's galloway went one hundred miles a-day for three succes- 
 sive days, over the Newmarket course, and without the slightest distress. 
 
 A galloway belonging to Mr. Sinclair, of Kirby-Lonsdale, performed at Carlisle 
 the extraordinary feat of one thousand miles in a thousand liours. 
 
 Many of the galloways now in use are procured either from Wales or the New 
 Forest, but they have materially diminished in number: there are scarcely suffi- 
 cient to supply even the neighboring districts, and they are still more materially 
 deteriorated ui form and value. Both the Welsh and the Hampshire galloways 
 and ponies claim, however, some noble blood. 
 
 Old Marsk, before his value was known, contributed to tlae improvement of 
 the Hampshire breed; and the Welsh ponies are said to be indebted to the cele- 
 brated Meruit for theii- form and qualities. 
 
46 THE HORSE. 
 
 The Welsh Pony is one of the most beautiful little animals that can be imagined. 
 He has a small head, high withers, deep yet round barrel, short joints, flat legs, 
 and good round feet. He will live on any fare, and can never be tired out. 
 
 The Ntw-foresters, notwithstanding their Marsk-blood, are generally ilUmade, 
 large-headed, short necked, ragged hipped, but hardy, safe, and useful; with much 
 of their ancient spirit and speed, and all their old paces. The catching of these 
 ponies is as great a trial of skill as the hunting of the wild-horse on tlie Pampas 
 of South America, and a greater one of patience. 
 
 A great many ponies, of little value, used to be reared in Lincolnshire, in the 
 neighborhood of Boston, but the breed has been neglected for some years, and 
 the enclosure of the fens will render it extinct. 
 
 The Exmoor Ponies, although generally ugly enough, are hardy and useful. A 
 well-known sportsman says, that he rode one of them half a dozen miles, and never 
 felt such power and action in so small a compass before. To show his accom- 
 plishments, he was turned over a gate at least eight inches higher than his back; 
 and his owner, who rides fourteen stone, travelled on him from Bristol to South 
 Molton, eighty-six miles, beating the coach which runs the same road. 
 
 The horses which are still used in Devonshire, and particularly in the western 
 and southern districts, under the denomination of Pack-horses, are a larger variety 
 of the Exmoor or Dartmoor breed. The saddle-hoi-ses of Devonshire are mostly 
 procured from the more eastern counties. 
 
 There are many farms in that beautiful part of the kingdom on which there is 
 not a pair of wheeh. Hay, corn, straw, fuel, stones, dung, lime, are carried on 
 horseback; and in harvest, sledges drawn by oxen and horses, are used. This was 
 probably in early times the mode of conveyance throughout the kingdom, and is 
 continued in these districts, partly from the hilliness of the country, and more from 
 backwardness in all matters of improvement. Light articles, as corn, straw, fag- 
 gots, &c. , are carried in crooks, formed of willow poles, of the thickness of scythe- 
 handles, bent as ox-bows, and with one end much longer than the other; these are 
 joined in pairs by cross-bars, eighteen inches or two feet long, and each horse has 
 two pair of them, slung together, so that the shorter ends lie against the pack-sad- 
 dle, and the longer stand four or five feet from each other, and rise fifteen or 
 eighteen inches above the horse's back. Within and between these crooks the 
 load is piled. Dung, sand, &c., are carried in pols, or strong coarse panniers 
 slung together in the same way, and the dung ridged up over the saddle. At the 
 bottom of the pot is a falling door, and at the end of the journey the trap is un- 
 latched, and the load falls out. 
 
 There is on Dartmoor a race of ponies much in request in that vicinity, being 
 sure-footed, and hardy, and admirably calculated to scramble over the rough roads 
 and dreary wilds of that mountainous district. The Dartmoor pony is larger than 
 the Exmoor, and, if possible, uglier. He exists there almost in a state of nature. 
 The late Captain Colgrave, of the prison, had a great desire to possess one of 
 - them of somewhat superior figure to its fellows, and having several men to assist 
 ' him, they separated it from the herd. They drove it on some rocks by the side 
 of a tor, (an abrupt pointed hill;) a man followed on horseback, while the captain 
 stood below watching the chase. The little animal being driven into a corner 
 leaped completely over the man and horse, and escaped. 
 
 The Highland Pony is far inferior to the galloway. The head is large, he is 
 low before, long in the back, short in the legs, upright in the pasterns, rather 
 slow in his paces, and not pleasant to ride, except in the canter. His habits make 
 him hardy, for he is rarely housed in the summer or the winter. The Reverend 
 Mr. Hall, in his "Travels in Scotland," says "that when these animals come to 
 any boggy piece of ground, they first put their nose to it, and then pat on it in a 
 peculiar way with one of their fore-feet, and from the sound and feel of the 
 ground, they know whether it will bear them. They do the same with ice, and 
 determine in a minute whether they will proceed." 
 
 The Shetland Pony, called in Scotlanil Sheltie, an inhabitant of the extremest 
 northern Scottish isles, is a very diminutive animal, sometimes not seven hands and 
 a half in height, and rarely exceeding nine and a half. He is often exceedingly 
 beautiful, with a small head, good-tempered countenance, a short neck, fine to- 
 wards the throttle, shoulders low and thick, (in so little a creature far from being 
 a blemish,) back short, quarters expanded and powerful, legs flat and fine, and 
 pretty round feet. They possess immense strength for their size, will fatten upon 
 anytliing, and are perfectly docile. One of them, nine hands or three feet in 
 height, carried a man of twelve stone forty miles in one day. ^ 
 
THE SHETLAND PONY— IRISH HORSE. 
 
 4r 
 
 Our cut is the portrait of a Sheltie, the property of Lord Verulam, painted by 
 Mr. Ward. A friend of ours was, not long' ag-o, presented with one of these ele- 
 gant little animals. He was several miles from home, and puzzled how to convey 
 his newly-acquired property. The Shetlander was scarcely more than seven 
 hands high, and as docile as he was beautifiil. "Can we not carry him in your 
 chaise?" said his friend. The strange experiment was tried. The Sheltie was 
 placed in the bottom of the gig, and covered up as well as could be managed with 
 the apron; a few bits of bread kept him quiet; and thus he was safely conveyed 
 awuy, and exhibited the curious spectacle of a horse riding in a gig-. 
 
 In the southern parts of the kingdom, the Shetlanders have a very pleasing ap- 
 pearance, harnessed to a light garden chair, or carrying an almost baby rider. 
 There are several of them now running in Windsor Park. 
 
 It has been disputed whether the pony and large English horse were, or could 
 be, originally from the same stock. The question is difficult to answer. It is not 
 impossible that they might have one common extraction, and, if we reflect on the 
 effect of feeding, it is not so improbable as it may at first appear. 
 
 Mr. Parkinson* relates a circumstance very much to the point, tliat fell under 
 his observation. His father had a mare that brought him no less than fourteen 
 colts, and aU by the same horse, and not one of which at three years old was un- 
 der seventeen hands. She was in the fifteenth foal by the same horse, when he 
 sold her to a neighboring farmer, reserving the foal which was to be delivered in a 
 twelve month. At her new master's she was comparatively starved, and she came 
 back at the expiration of the year so altered as scarcely to be recogiiized. The 
 foal, four months old, was very small. The little animal was put on the most lux- 
 uriant keep, but it did not reach more than fifteen hands at the expiration of the 
 third year. 
 
 THE IRISH HORSE. 
 
 In some of the rich grazing counties, as Meath and Roscommon, a large long 
 blood horse is reared of considerable value, but he seldom has the elegance of the 
 English horse; he is larger headed, more leggy, ragged-hipped, angular, yet with 
 great power in the quarters, much depth beneath the knee, stout and hardy, full 
 of fire and courage, and the best leaper in the world. 
 
 The Irish horse is generally smaller than the English. He is stinted in his 
 growth, for the poverty and custom of the country have imposed upon him much 
 hard work at a time when he is unfit for labor of any kind. For this reason, too, 
 the Irish horse is deficient in speed. There is, however, another explanation of 
 this. The Irish thorough-bred horse is not equal to the English. He is compa- 
 ratively a weedy, leggy, worthless animal, and very httle of liim enters into the 
 composition of the hunter or the hackney. 
 
 For leaping the Irish horse is unrivalled. It is not, however, the leaping of the 
 
 • Parkinson on Breeding, and the Management of Live Stock, vol. ii., p. 139. 
 
48 THE HORSE. 
 
 English horse, striding' as it were over a low fence, and stretched at his full length 
 over a higher one; it is the proper jump of the deer, beautiful to look at, difficult 
 to sit, and, both in height and extent, unequalled by the English horse. 
 
 There are very few horses in the agricultural districts of Ireland exclusively de- 
 voted to draught. The minute division of the farms renders it impossible for them 
 to be kept. The occupier even of a tolerable sized Irish farm wants a horse that 
 shall carry him to market, and draw his small car, and perform every kind of 
 di-udgery — a horse of all work; therefore tlie thorough draft horse, whether Lei- 
 cestershire or Suffolk, is rarely found. 
 
 If we look to the commerce of Ireland, there are few stage wagons or drays 
 with immense cattle belonging to them, but almost every thing is done by one- 
 horse carts. In the nortli .of Ireland some stout horses are employed in the car- 
 riage of linen, but the majoi-ity of the garrans used in agricultural or commercial 
 pursuits are miserable and half-starved animals. In the north it is somewhat bet- 
 ter. There is a native breed m Ulster, hardy and sure-footed, but with httle pre- 
 tension to beauty or speed. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE ZOOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION OF THE HORSE. 
 
 There are so many thousand species of living beings, some so much resembling 
 each other, and some so strangely and altogether different, that it would have 
 been impossible to have arranged them in any order, or to have given any 
 description that could be understood, had not naturalists agreed on certain pecu- 
 liarities of form which should characterize certain classes, and other lesser pecu- 
 liai-ities again subdividing these classes. 
 
 The first division of animals is into vertehraied and invertebrated. 
 
 Vertebrated animals are tliose which have a cranium, or bony cavity containing 
 the brain, and a succession of bones called the spine, and the division of it, verte- 
 brae, proceeding from the cranium, and containing a prolongation of the brain, 
 denominated the spinal marrow. 
 
 Invertebrated animals are those which have no vertebrx. 
 
 The horse then belongs to the division vertebrated, because he has a cranium 
 or skull, and a spine or range of vertebrae proceeding from it. 
 
 The vetebrated animals, however, are very numerous. They include man, 
 quadrupeds of all kinds, bia-ds, fishes, and many reptiles. We look out, then, for 
 some subdivision, and a very simple hne of distinction is soon presented. Some 
 of these vertebrated animals have mamnise or teats, with which the females suckle 
 their young. The human female has two, the mare has two, the cow four; the 
 bitch ten or twelve, and Hie sow more than twelve. 
 * This class of vertebrated animals, having mammse or teats, is called mammalia^ 
 and the hoi-se belongs to the division vertebrata, and the class mammalia. 
 
 The class mammalia is still exceedingly large, and we must again subdivide it. 
 It is stated (Library of Entertaining Knowledge, vol. I., p. 13) that " this class of 
 quadrupeds, or mammiferous quadrupeds, admits of a division into two tribes. 
 
 " I. Those whose extremities are divided into fingers or toes, scientifically called 
 unguiculata, from the Latin word for nail; and II. Those whose extremities are 
 hoofed, scientifically called ungulata, from the Latin word for hoof. 
 
 " The extremities of the first are armed with claws or naUs, which enable them 
 to grasp, to chmb, or to burrow. The extremities of the second tribe are em-% 
 ployed merely to support and move the body." 
 
 The extremities of the horse are covered with a hoof, by which the body is sup- 
 ported, and with which he cannot gi-asp anything, and therefore he belongs to the 
 tribe ungulata, or hoofed. 
 
 But there is a great variety of hoofed animals. The elephant, the rhinoceros, 
 the hippopotamus, the swine, the horse, the sheep, the deer, and many others, 
 are ungulated or hoofed; they admit, however, of an easy division. Some of them 
 masticate or chew theii- food, and it is immediately received hito the stomach and 
 digested; but in others the food, previous to digestion, undergoes a very singular 
 process. It is returned to the mouth to be re-masticated, or chewed again. These 
 are called ruminantia, or rutninants, from the food being returned, from one ot 
 the stomachs (for they have four) called the rumen or paunch, to be chewed agjun. 
 
EXTERNAL STRUCTURE- 49 
 
 The ungulaia that do not ruminate are somewhat improperly called ]}ackyder' 
 mata, from the tliickness of their skins. The horse does not ruminate, aivJ there- 
 fore belongs to the order pachydermata. 
 
 The pachydermata who have only one toe belong to the family soUpeda — single- 
 footed. Therefore tlie horse ranks imder the division vertebrata; tlie class mam- 
 malia — the tribe ungulaia — the order pachydermata — and the family solipeda. 
 
 Tlie solipeda consists of several species, as the horse, tlie ass, the mule, and the 
 quagga. 
 
 First stands the Eftuus Caballus, or Commox Horse. 
 
 Animals are likewise distinguished according to the number, description, and 
 situation of their teeth. The hoise has six incisors, or cutting teeth, in the front of 
 each jaw; and one canine tooth or tusk. 
 
 On each side, above and below, and at some distance from the incisors, behind 
 the canines, and with some intervening space, are six molar teeth, or grinders; and 
 these molar teeth liave flat crowns with ridges of enamel, and that enamel pene- 
 trating into the substance of the tootli. 
 
 The whole is thus represented by natural historians, and the reader will com- 
 prehend our meaning when we are speaking of other animals. 
 6 1—1 6—6 
 
 Hoi'se. — Incisors — , Canines , Molai- , Total, 40 teeth, 
 
 6 1—1 6—6 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE EXTERNAL STRUCTURE OF THE HORSE. 
 
 A The head. 
 
 a The posterioi- maxillary or under jaw. 
 
 b The superior maxillary or upper jaw. Opposite to the letter is a foramen 
 
 through which pass the nerves and blood-vessels which chiefly supplv the 
 
 lower part of the face. 
 7 
 
50 THE HORSE. 
 
 c The orbit, or cavity containing the eye. 
 
 d The nasal bones, oi- bones of the nose. 
 
 e The suture dividing the parietal bones below, from the occipital bones above. 
 
 / The inferior maxillary bone containing the upper incisor teeth. 
 
 B The seven cervical vertebrae, or bones of the neck. 
 
 C The eighteen dorsal vertebree, or bones of the back. 
 
 D The six lumbar vertebra, or bones of the loins. 
 
 E The five sacral vertebrae, or bones of the haunch. 
 
 F The caudal vertebrs, or bones of the tail, generally about fifteen. 
 
 G The scapula, or shoulderblade. 
 
 H The sternum or fore-part of the chest. 
 
 I The costs or ribs, seven or eight articulating with the sternum, and called 
 the true ribs, and ten or eleven united together by cartilage, called the fake 
 ribs. 
 
 J The humerus, or bone of the arm. 
 
 K The radius, or bone of the fore-arm. 
 
 L The ulna, or elbow. The point of the elbow is called the olecranon. 
 
 M The carpus, or knee, consisting of seven bones. 
 
 N The metacarpal bones. The larger metacarpal, or cannon, or shank, in front, 
 and the smaller metacarpal or splent bone behind. 
 
 g The fore pastern and foot, consisting of the os suffraginis, or the upper and 
 larger pastern bone, with the sessamoid bones behind, articulating with the 
 cannon and greater pastern; the os coronae, or lesser pastern; the os pedis, 
 or coffin bone; and line os naviculare, or navicular, or shuttle-bone, not seen, 
 and articulating with the smaller pastern and coffin bones. 
 
 A The corresponding bones of the hind-feet. 
 
 O The haunch, consisting of thi-ee portions, the ilium, the ischium, and the pubis. 
 
 P The temur or thigh. 
 
 Q The side joint with the patella. 
 
 R The tibia or proper leg bone — behind is a small bone called the fibula. 
 
 S The tarsus or hock, composed of six bones. The prominent part is the os 
 calcis, or point of the hock. 
 
 T The metatarsals of the liind leg. 
 
 Beautiful is the horse, and identified so much with our pleasure and our profit, 
 he has been the object of almost universal regard; and there are few persons who 
 do sot pretend to be somewhat competent judges of his form, qualities, and worth. 
 From he nobleman, with his numerous and valuable stud, to the meanest helper 
 in the stable, and not excluding even the mechanic who scarcely crosses, or sits 
 behind a horse once in a twelvemonth, there is scarcely a man who would not be 
 offended if he were thought altogether ignorant of horse-flesh. There is no sub- 
 iect on which he is so positive, there is no subject on which, generally speaking, 
 he is so deficient, and there are few horses on some points of wluch these pre- 
 tended and self sufficient judges would not give a totally opposite opinion. 
 
 The truth is, that this supposed knowledge is rarely founded on principle— or 
 is the result of the slightest acquaintance with the actual structure of this animal, 
 or that form and connexion of parts on which strength, or fleetness, or stoutness, 
 must necessarily depend. If we were constructing or examining a machine com- 
 posed of levers and pullies, and by which we purposed to raise a gi-eat weight, or 
 to set in motion certain bodies with a given velocity, we should fail m oy object, 
 or expose our ignorance of the matter, if we were not aware what kind of lever or 
 connexion of levers was necessary, and in what situation the ropes should be 
 placed and in what dii-ection the force should be applied, and by what means we 
 could obtain mechanical advantage, and by what pecuhar construction it would 
 
 inevitably be lost. „ , , , • « • ^ r 
 
 Now the structure of the horse, hke that of the human being,* consists of 
 numerous levers in the shape of bones, with ropes attached to them in the form 
 of muscles and tendons, and these levers are differently connected and act in dit- 
 ferent directions; and he will be the best judge of horses who, while he has loved, 
 
 * See Treatise on " Animal Mechanism." 
 
EXTERNAL STRUCTURE. 51 
 
 and lived among them, is somewhat acquainted witli the circumstances in which 
 mechanical power is gained or lost. 
 
 In speaking then of the structure of this animal, and the points which guide the 
 opinion of real judges of him, we shall, as briefly and as simply as we are able, 
 explain those fundamental principles on which his usefulness and beauty must de- 
 pend. We require one kind of horse for slow and heavy draught, and another 
 for lighter and quicker work: one as a pleasant and safe roadster; another with more 
 speed and equal continuance as a hunter; and another still is wanted for the race- 
 course. What is the peculiarity of structure— what are the particular points that 
 will fit each for his proper business, and, to a certain degi-ee, unfit him for every- 
 thing else? The farmer will require a horse of all-work, that can carry him to 
 market and take him round his farm, on which he can occasionally ride for plea- 
 sure, and which he must sometimes degrade to the dung-cart or the harrow. 
 What combination of powers will enable the animal to discharge most of these 
 duties well, and all of them to a certain extent profitably? 
 
 Much time spent among horses, an acquired love of them, and a little, some- 
 times possibly, too dearly-bought experience, may give the agriculturist some in- 
 sight into these matters. We will try whether we cannot assist him in this affair; 
 whether we cannot explain to him the reason why certain points must be good, 
 and why a horse without them must, of necessity, be good for nothing. Perhaps 
 some useful rules may thus be more deeply impressed upon his memory; or some 
 common but dangerous prejudices may be discarded, and a considerable degree 
 of error, disappointment, and expense, avoided. 
 
 It is first of all necessary to give a sketch of the anatomy of the horse, in which 
 we shall endeavor to elucidate those numerous and beautiful instances of wise and 
 benevolent design, exhibited in the structure of this valuable animal, and which 
 will render our study of liim more interesting; while many a hint of practical utility 
 will be gained. 
 
 If we treat of this at considerable length, let It be remembered that the horse 
 is our noblest servant, and that, in describing the structure and economy of his 
 frame, we are, in a great measure, describing that of other domestic quadrupeds, 
 and shall hereafter have to speak only of points of difference required by the dif- 
 ferent services and uses for which they were destined. And further, let it be re- 
 membered that it is only by being well acquainted with the structure and anatomy 
 of the horse that we can appreciate his shape and uses, or understand the differ- 
 ent diseases to which he is liable. We trust the reader who may fimcy us rather 
 prolix on this head will, before the work is finished, feel the full value of what 
 we purpose to explain. It is from want of knowledge of the anatomy of the horse 
 that much of the mass of ignorance and prejudice which exists, as to the diseases, 
 &c., to which the horse is subject, is to be referred; and we deem it one of the 
 most important objects of tliis treatise to reform this ignorance, and remove these 
 prejudices. 
 
 It will be proper here, once for all, to caution the reader, who has hitherto 
 been unaccustomed to i-eading books of science, against being deterred by the 
 sight of a few of what are termed hard names. The fact is, that science must 
 have, to a certain extent, a new language to express minutely and accurately the 
 particular parts of things to be described; and this is the case with every trade and 
 every art. A carpenter could not without this describe with precision and clear- 
 ness the different tools in use, nor could he describe the different operations to 
 be pei'formed, without inventing a particular language adapted to his purpose, 
 and whereby he is enabled to express in one word what would otherwise only be 
 accomplished by a long sentence. It is the same with anatomy, except that the 
 names and signs have principally been adopted from the Latin and Greek, inas- 
 much as those languages are usually known to scientific men in all countries. 
 This new language becomes one common to all men pursuing the same science. 
 We shall as we go on explain the meaning of the words so adopted, and a very 
 little attention will enable the reader to master them, and it will require little 
 thought to be convinced of the advantage, in respect of clearness and ^certainty, 
 derived fi-om then- use. 
 
 We begin with the head, containing the brain and the most important organs of 
 sense. 
 
 The head may be divided into two parts, the skull and the face. The bones 
 which compose the skull or cranium, and which contain and protect the brain, are 
 mne in number: two frontal, a a — two parietal, c c — two temporal, d d — the occi- 
 
53 
 
 THE HORSE. 
 
 pital, g— the ethmoid, antt the sphenoid. The two latter lie principally at tlie 
 base of the skull, and are not seen in this cut, but will be found delineated in 
 figures k and /, page 53, These nine bones are separate in the foal at an early 
 period of its existence; but soon after the birth they are firmly united together by 
 what anatomists call sutures, and so firm is the union that a fracture will occur in 
 any other part more readily than over a suture. 
 
 a a The frontal bones, or bones of the forehead. 
 
 b b The snpra-orbital foramina, or holes above the or- 
 bit, through which pass out the nerves and 
 blood-vessels supplying the forehead. The 
 small hole beneath (of M'hich in many horses 
 there are several) receives vessels which dip 
 into and supply the bone. 
 
 c c The parietal bones, or walls of the skull. 
 
 dd The temporal bones, or bones of the temples. 
 
 e e The zygomatic, or yoke-shaped arcli. 
 
 // The temporal fossa, or pit above the eye. 
 
 gg The occipital bone, or bone of the hinder part of 
 the head. 
 
 h h The orbits, containing and defending the eye. 
 
 t t The lachrymal bones, or tear bones, 
 
 j j The nasal bones, or bones of the nose. 
 
 k k The malar, or cheek bones. 
 
 / / The superior maxillary, or that portion of the up» 
 per jaw containing the molar teeth or grinders. 
 
 m m The infra-orbital foi-amen, a hole below the orbit, 
 through which pass branches of nerves and blood- 
 vessels to supply the lower part of the face. 
 
 n n The inferior maxillary, the lower part of the upr 
 per jaw bone, a separate bone in quadrupeds, 
 containing the incisor or cutting teeth, and the 
 upper tushes at the point of union between the 
 superior and inferior maxillaries. 
 
 e The upper incisor, or cutting teeth. 
 
 p The openings into the nose, with the bones form- 
 ing the roof of tl^e palate. 
 
 There is an evident intention in this division of the 
 head into so many bones. When the foetus — the un- 
 born foal — first begins to have life, that which after- 
 wards becomes bone, is a mere jelly-like substance; 
 this is gradually changed into a harder material — car- 
 tilage; and, before the birth of the animal, much of 
 the cartilage is taken away by vessels called absorb- 
 ents, and bone deposited in its stead. In flat bones, 
 like those of the head, this deposite takes place in the 
 centre, and rays or radiations of bone extend thence 
 in every direction. Then, by having so many bones, 
 there are so many centres of radiation; and, conse- 
 quently, the formation of bone is earned on so much 
 the more rapidly, and perfected at the time when the 
 necessities of the animal require it. At the period of 
 bii'th, however, this process is not completed, but the 
 edges of the bones remain somewhat soft and pliant, 
 and, therefore, in partiu'ition, they yield a little and 
 overlap each othei*, and thus, by rendering the birth 
 more easy, they save the mother much pain, and con- 
 tribute to the safety of the foal. Without a change 
 in the form of the head, from a compression and yield- 
 ing of the bone of which it is composed, the animal 
 could not be born. 
 
 The first of these bones, or the first pair of them, 
 occupying the broad expanse of the forehead, are 
 
EXTERNAL STRUCTURE. 
 
 53 
 
 called the frontal bones, a a. They are united together by a most curious and in- 
 tricate dove-tailijig', to defend from injury the brain which lies beneath tlie upper 
 part of them. Lower down, and where the cavity of the nose is to be defended, 
 their union is sufficient, but far less complicated. The mechanism is here, as in 
 every part of the frame, and every part of the universe, wisely adjusted to tlie 
 necessities and wants of the animal. 
 
 Few thing's more clearly indicate the breed or blood of the horse than the form 
 of the frontal bones. Who has not remarked the broad angular forehead of the 
 blood horse, giving him that beautiful expression of intelligence and fire, and the 
 face gradually tapering from the foi*ehead to the muzzle; and then compared it 
 with the lai'ge face of the cart or dray-horse, and the forehead scarcely wider than 
 the face? 
 
 A.tf, between the frontal bones, is the pit or cavity above the eye, and by the 
 depth of which we form some idea of the age of the horse. There is placed at 
 the back of the eye, a considerable quantity of fatty substance, on which the eye 
 may revolve easily and without friction. In aged horses, and in diseases attended 
 •with general loss of condition, much of this fat disappears; the eye becomes sunken, 
 and the pit above the eye deepens. It is said that some of the lower class of 
 horse-dealers puncture the skin, and, with a tobacco pipe or small tube, blow into 
 the orifice until the depression is almost filled up. This operation is vulgarly 
 called puffing ihe glims, and, with the aid of a bishopped tooth, will give a false 
 appearance of youth, that will remain during many hours, and may deceive the 
 unwar}', though the puffing may easily be detected by pressing on the part. 
 ' These bones, however, are not solid, but a considerable portion of them is com- 
 posed of two plates receding from each other, and leaving numerous and large 
 vacuities or cells. These vacuities are called the frontal sinuses. They commu- 
 nicate with the cavities of the nose, and likewise with those of the sphenoid, etli- 
 moid, and upper jaw bones, and like the windings of a French horn, increase the 
 clearness and loudness of the neigliing. They are sufficiently evident at b in the 
 following cut. 
 
 SECTION OF THE HEAD. 
 
 a The nasal bone, or bone of the nose. 
 
 b The frontal bone. The cavities or cells beneath are called the frontal sniuses. 
 
54 THE HORSE. 
 
 c Tlie crest or ridge of the parietal bones. 
 
 d Tlie tentorium, or bony separation between the cerebi-um and cerebellum 
 
 e The occipital bone. 
 
 f The ligament of the neck or pack-wax, by which the head is chiefly supported, 
 
 fThe atlas, sustaining or carrying, or first bone of tlie neck. 
 The dentata, tooth-like, or second bone of the neck. 
 t The cuneiform, or wedge-shaped process, or base of the occipital bone. Be- 
 tween it and the other portion of the occipital bone e, lies the great fora- 
 men or aperture throug-li wliich the prolongation of the brain — the spinal 
 maiTOw — issues from the skull. 
 k The sphenoid, wedge-like, bone with its cavities. 
 / The ethmoid, sieve-like, bone with its cells. 
 
 m The cerebrum, or brain, with the appearance of its cortical and medullary 
 substance. 
 The cerebellum, or little brain, with its beautiful arborescent appearance. 
 
 A portion of the central medullary, marrow-like, substance of the brain, and 
 
 the prolongation of it under the name of the crus cerebri, leg of the brain, 
 and from which many of the ner^■es take their origin. 
 
 p The medidla oblongata — the prolongation of the brain after the medullary sub- 
 stance of the cerebrum and cerebellum have united, and forming the com- 
 mencement of the spinal marrow. The columnar appearance of this portion 
 of the brain is represented, and the origins of the respiratory nerves. 
 
 q The spinal maiTow extending through a canal in the centre of the bones of the 
 neck, back, and loins, to the extremities of the tail, and from which the 
 nerves of feeling and of motion, that supply every part of tlie frame, except 
 tlie head, ai-ise. 
 
 r The septum narium, or cartilaginous division between the nostrils. 
 
 a The same cut off at the lower part, to show the spongy turbinated, turban' 
 shaped, bones, filling tlie cavity of the nostrU. 
 
 t The palate. 
 
 u The molar teeth, or grinders. 
 
 V The inferior maxillary bone, containing the incisor teeth or nippers. The 
 canine tooth, or tush, is concealed by the tongue. 
 
 to The posterior maxillary, or lower jaw, with its incisors. 
 
 X The lips. 
 
 y The tongue. 
 
 z A portion of the os hyoldes, or bone of the tongue, like a Greek u, v. 
 
 1 The thyroid, helmet-shaped, cartilage, enclosing and shielding the neighboring 
 
 parts. 
 
 2 The epiglottis, or covering of the glottis, or aperture of the wind-pipe. 
 
 3 The arytenoid, funnel-shaped, cartilages, having between them the apertui'e 
 
 leading into the trachea or wind-pipe. 
 
 4 One of the chordae vocales, cords or ligaments concerned in the formation of 
 
 the voice. 
 
 5 The sacculus laryngls, sac or ventricle of the larynx, throat, to modulate the 
 
 voice. 
 
 6 The trachea or wind-pipe, with its different rings. 
 
 7 The soft palate at the back of the mouth, so constructed as almost to prevent 
 
 the possibility of vomiting. 
 
 8 The opening from the back part of the mouth into the nostril. 
 
 9 The cartilage covering tlie entrance into the eustachian tube, or communica- 
 
 tion between the mouth and internal part of the ear. 
 
 10 The oesophagus, or gullet. 
 
 11 The cricoid, ri^iglike, cartilage, below and behind the thyroid. 
 
 12 Muscle of the neck, covered by the membrane of the back part of the mouth. 
 
 In tlie sheep, and occasionally in the ox, rarely in the horse, the larvs of mag- 
 gots produced by certain species of flies, crawl up the nose, lodge tliemselves in 
 these sinuses, and produce Intolerable pain. 
 
 Veterinary siu-geons have availed themselves of these sinuses, to detect the exis- 
 tence of glanders, that disease so infectious and so fatal. They may suspect that 
 a horse respecting which they are consulted is glandered. It is of gi-cat conse- 
 quence to be sure about It. The safety of the whole team may depend upon this. 
 It may be a puzzling case. There may be no ulceration of the nose wltiiin sight. 
 
EXTERNAL STRUCTURE. 55 
 
 The glands under the jaw may not be close to, and seemingly sticking to the 
 bone, which is a common symptom, yet for a considerable time there may have 
 been a discharge from the nostril, and the horse is out of condition. On the other 
 hand, some slight ulceration may be detected in the nostril, but the horse eats 
 well, works well, and is in good plight. From the closest examination of the ani- 
 mal, no horseman, and no veterinary surgeon, can give a decided opinion. 
 
 If, however, the horse be glandered, there will probably be considerable ulcer- 
 ation in the upper part of the cavity of the nose, and a collection of matter there. 
 To detect this tlie veterinaiy surgeon sometimes makes an opening into these 
 sinuses. He may do this with perfect safety. On that part of the frontal bone, 
 which lies between the eye and the pit above it, and above the inner corner of the 
 eye, there is, on either side, a small depression or hole (see fig. b b, cut, page 52) 
 which may be easily felt in the living horse. It is what anatomists call a foramen — 
 the supra-orbital foramen. It gives passage to the blood-vessels and nerves of the 
 forehead. 
 
 Suppose a line to be drawn across the forehead, from one of these depressions 
 to the other; on that line, and about half an inch from tlie centre of it, either on 
 the one side or the other, the frontal sinuses will be found an inch in depth, (com- 
 pare fig. b, pp. 52 and 5.3.) There a perforation may be easily and safely made. 
 A little way above, the brain would be endangered, and a little below this line, 
 the cavity of the nose would be pierced. Some warm water may then be thrown 
 into this hole, with a common squii't, and it will run out at the nose. If there be 
 matter in the frontal sinuses, or any part of the cavity of the nose, it will appear 
 mixed with the water, and the owner may be assured tliat the horse is glandered; 
 but if the water flow uncolored, or simply mixed with blood or mucus, the horse 
 may be considered as free from this disease. The thicky creamy consistence of 
 pus, its sinking in water, and its capability of being perfectly, although not readily 
 mixed with water, will distinguish it sufficiently from the natural running of the 
 nose, which is ropy, lighter than water, and when mixed with it still preserves a 
 kind of sti'inginess. And tliis is one of the surest modes of distinguishing between 
 the matter and the natural running of tlie nose. 
 
 The inner plate of the frontal bone forms a considerable proportion of the roof 
 of the cavity which contains the brain, (w in the last cut.) The bones immediately 
 above tlie frontal, and extending from the frontal to the poll, are called the pari- 
 etals, (c c, pp. 52 and 53,) from the Latin word paries, a wall. They are two, 
 united together by a suture when the animal is young, but that suture soon be- 
 coming obliterated. They have the occipital,, g, p. 52, above the frontals, a a, 
 below, and the iemporak, d d, on either side. They are of a closer and harder 
 texture than the frontals, because they are more exposed to injury, and more con- 
 cerned in defending the brain. 
 
 A very small portion only of the parietals is naked, and that is composed of bone 
 even harder than the other part, and with an additional la}'er of bone rising in the 
 form of a crest or ridge externally. Every other pai-t of these bones is covered 
 by a tliick mass of muscle, the temporal muscle, which is principally concerned in 
 chewing the food, but which likewise, by its yielding resistance, speedily and ef- 
 fectually breaks the force of the most violent stroke. A blow on the calf of tlie 
 leg is comparatively disregarded, while one, half as heavy, received on the shin, 
 gives excessive pain. A wool-pack hung over the wall of a fortress, when the 
 enemy is battering to effect a breach, renders the heaviest artillery almost harm- 
 less. So the yielding resistance of the temporal muscle affords a sure defence to 
 the brain, however sudden or violent may be the blow which falls on the parietal. 
 These benevolent provisions will not be disregarded by the reflecting mind. 
 
 On the side of the head, and under the parietals, are placed (c? d, p. 52) the 
 temporal bones, one on each side. These again are divided into two parts, or con- 
 sist of two distinct bones; the petrous portion, so called from its great or stony 
 liardness, and containing the wonderful mechanism of the ear, and the squamous 
 portion from the appearance of its union with the parietal, overlapping it like a 
 gi'eat scale. 
 
 From the latter there projects a portion of bone, e, which unites with the fron- 
 tal, and forms a strong arch distinctly to be felt at the side of tlie head immediately 
 above the eye. This arch is designed to protect the upper part of the lower jaw, 
 the motion of which may very plainly be seen beneath it when the horse is eating. 
 It is very strong, and it ought to be, lest the motion should by accident be imped- 
 ed, and the horse should starve. If only one species of violence were considered 
 
56 THE HORSE. 
 
 to which this arch is too frequently exposed, it would require to possess no com- 
 mon strength; we mean the brutal manner in which the collar is forced over the 
 head. At the base of the arch is an important cavity not visible in our cut, re- 
 ceiving into it, and forming a joint with the head of the lower jaw — we shall have 
 to speak of it presently. 
 
 Having reached the base of the temporal bone, we find it united to the parietal, 
 not by a simple suture, as the lower part of the frontals, or the bones of the nose, 
 (see fig. a and j, p. 52,) nor by a dove-tailed suture, as the upper part of the 
 frontals, (see the same cut,) but it is spread over the parietal in the form of a large 
 scale, and hence, as before observed, called the squamous portion of the temporal 
 bone. In fact, there are two plates of bone instead of one. Was there design in 
 this? Yes, evidently so. In the first place, to increase the strength of tlie base 
 of the zygomatic arch. This extensive union between the temporal and parietal 
 bones answers to the buttress or mass of masonry attached to the base of every 
 aich to counteract its lateral pressure. The concussion likewise which might be 
 communicated by a blow on the top of the arch, is thus spread over a large sur- 
 face, and consequently weakened and rendered comparatively harmless; and that 
 surface is composed of the union of two bones of dissimilar construction. The 
 hard stony structure of the pai'ietal is very different from the tougher material of 
 the temporal; and thus, as a finger acts on a sounding glass, the vibration commu- 
 nicated to the temporal is at once stopped, and the brain receives no injury. 
 
 But there is yet more admirable design. Where is this squamous portion of the 
 temporal bone situated? On the side of the head. And what is the figure of the 
 cranium or skull, and principally that part of it which contains the cerebrum or 
 brain? It is an elliptical or oval arch, (see fig. m, n, o, p. 53.) If pressure be 
 made on the crown of that arch — if a blow be received on the suture between the 
 parietals sufficient to cause the elastic materials of which the skull is composed to 
 yield — the seat of danger and injury is at the side. If a man receive a violent 
 blow on the crown or back part of the head, the fractiu-e, if there be any, is ge- 
 nerally about the temple; and the extravasation of blood ia oftenest found there. 
 The following figure will explain this; 
 
 Let the line ABC represent an elliptical arch, composed of elastic materials. 
 Some force shall be applied at B sufficient to cause it to yield. We cannot com- 
 press it into smaller compass, but just in proportion as it yields at B, will it spur 
 or bulge out at D, and give way sometimes as represented at E. In a dome the 
 weight of the materials constantly acting may be considered as representing the 
 force applied at B; and so great is the lateral pressure, or tendency to bulge out, 
 {vide D and E,) that it is necessary either to dove-tail the materials into one 
 another, or to pass strong iron chains round them. For want of sufficient atten- 
 tion to this, ♦' the dome of St. Sophia in Constantinople, built in the time of the 
 Emperor Justinian, fell three times during its erection; and the dome of the cathe- 
 dral of Florence stood unfinished an hundred and twenty years for want of an 
 architect." 
 
 Nature, In the construction of the horse's head, has taken away the pressure, or 
 removed the probability of injuiy, by giving an additional layer of bone, or a mass 
 of muscle, where alone there was danger, and has dove-tailed all the materials, 
 and, to make assurance doubly sure, has placed this effectual girder at the base, 
 in the overlapping of the squamous portion of the temporal bone. 
 
 In the ox, where, to give a secure base to the horn, the frontal bone spreads 
 over the whole of the fore-part of the head, and the cranial cavity is sufficiently 
 
EXTERNAL STRUCTURE. 57 
 
 secured by the beautiful mechanism between the two plates of that bone, the tem- 
 poral bone does not overlap the parietal. Nature gives every thing essential to 
 the protection and welfare of the animal, but nothing superfluous. 
 
 Above the parietab, and separated from them by a suture, (fig. g, pp. 52 and 
 53, and fig. c, p. 52,) is the occipital bone. Superiorly it covers and protects the 
 smaller portion of the brain, the cerebellum; and as it there constitutes the sum- 
 mit or crest of the head, and is not protected by muscles, and particularly exposed 
 to danger, it is interesting to see what thickness it assumes. The head of the 
 horse does not, like that of the human being, ride upright on the neck, with all 
 its weight supported by the spinal column, and the only office of the muscles of 
 the neck being to move the head, forward, or backward, or horizontally, on its 
 pivot; but it hangs in a slanting position from the extremity of the neck, and the 
 neck itself projects a considerable distance from the chest, and thus the whole 
 weight of tiie head and neck are suspended from the chest, and require very great 
 power to support them. In addition to the simple weight of the head and neck, 
 the neck projecting from the chest, and the head hanging from the extremity of 
 the neck, act with enormous mechanical force, and increase more than a hundred 
 fold the power necessary to support them. 
 
 It requires a strong man to lift a small table from the ground at arm's length. 
 The farmer's steelyards show that a weight of a few pounds, at the extremity, 
 will counterbalance or act with a force equal to a himdred weight near the hook 
 or centre. 
 
 The head and neck of the horse, and particularly of some horses of a coarse 
 breed, are of no little bulk and weight. \^e shall hereafter have to show in what 
 breeds, and for wliat purposes a light or heavy head and neck are advantageous; 
 but it may be safely affirmed tiiat, projecting so far from the chest, and being con- 
 sequently at so great a distance from the fulcrum or support, the lightest head 
 will act or bear upon the joiiTt between the last bone of the neck and the first rib, 
 with a force equal to many thousand pounds. 
 
 How is this weight to be suppot-ted? Is the power of muscle equal to the task? 
 The muscles of the animal frame can act for a certain time with extraordinary 
 force; but as the exertion of this power is attended witli the consumption of vital 
 energy, the period soon arrives when their action is remitted or altogether sus- 
 pended. 
 
 Muscular power is altogether inadequate to the constant support of the head of 
 the horse. A provision, however, is made for the purpose, simple and complete. 
 
 From the back of the occipital bone, (fig. /, p. 53,) and immediately below the 
 crest, proceeds a round cord of considerable bulk, and composed of a ligamentous 
 substance, and which is carried down and securely attached to the spines of the 
 vertebi-ae, or bones of the back; and by this ligament (the ligament um colli, liga- 
 ment of the neck, commonly called the pack wax) the head is supported. 
 
 There are, however, some admirable contrivances connected with tliis ligament. 
 As it proceeds from the head, it is in the form of a round coid. It passes over the 
 atlas, or first bone of the neck, witliout touching it, and then attaching itself 
 strongly to the second bone, principally supports the head by its union with this 
 bone. The mechanical disadvantage is increased, but the head is turned more freely 
 on the first and second bones. The principal stress is on the dentala or second 
 bone, so much so that, in poll evil, this ligament may be divided without serious 
 inconvenience to the horse. It then suddenly sinks deeper, and communicates 
 with all the other vertebrae. Each of these communications becomes a separate 
 point of support, and as tliey approach nearer to the prop, or centre of motion, 
 the mechanical disadvantage, or the force with which the weight of the head and 
 neck presses and acts, is materially lessened. 
 
 The head then, without any aid from muscular energy, is, while tlie animal is 
 in a state of rest, supported b}' this ligament. 
 
 There is, however, something yet wanting. The head must not be always ele- 
 vated. Tlie liorse lias his food to seek. In a state of nature this food lies prin- 
 cipally on the ground, and the head must be lowered to enable the animal to get 
 at it. How is tiiis effected^ This ligament, as we call it, because it resembles in 
 appearance the other ligaments of the body, possesses a property which they have 
 not, and which they must not have, or they would be useless. No well-knit joint 
 could exist if it had this property. The pack-wax is elastic. It will yield to a 
 force impressed upon it, and it will resume its natural dimensioqs when that force 
 is removed. It sustains perfectly the weight of the head. That portion of tena- 
 8 
 
58 THE HORSE. 
 
 city or strength is g-iven to it, which will not yield to the simple weight of the 
 head; but which will yield to a very little additional weight. Its resisting power 
 is so admirably adjusted to that which it has to sustain, that when certain muscles, 
 whose action is to depress or lower the head, begin to act, and add their power 
 to the previous weight it had to bear, tlie ligament stretches, and when the horse 
 is browsing, it is full two incites longer than wlien tlie head is erect. 
 
 When the animal has satisfied himself, these depressing muscles cease to act, 
 and other muscles, which are designed to assist in raising the head, begin to exert 
 themselves; and, by their aid, (but more by the inherent elasticity of the ligament,) 
 the head is once more elevated, and remains so without the slightest exertion of 
 muscular power. This is one of the many applications of the principle of elasti- 
 city which we shall have to observe and admire in the construction of the ani- 
 mal frame. 
 
 The ligament of the neck is inserted into the centre of the back part of the 
 occipital bone, and immediately below the vertex or crest of that bone; and 
 therefore tlie bone is so thick at this part, (see fig. e, p. 53.) 
 
 Many, and large, and powerful muscles, however, are necessary to turn the head 
 in various directions, and to assist in raising it wlien depressed. The occipital 
 bone, as will be seen in this cut, presents a spine running down the centre, B, 
 and a large roughened surface for the attachment of these muscles, C C. 
 
 Lower down, and still at the back of the occipital bone, are two rounded pro- 
 tuberances, D D, by which the head is connected with the atlas, or upper, or first 
 vertebra, or bone of the neck, and these are called the condyloid, cup-shaped, 
 process of the occipital bone. All the motions of the head are partly, and many 
 of them wholly performed by this joint. 
 
 Between them i? a large hole, called the foramen magnum^ or great aperture, 
 E, througli which the continuation of the brain, called the spinal cord or marrow, 
 passes out of the skull. 
 
 As an additional contrivance to support the great weight of the head, are two 
 other projections of the occipital bone, peculiar to animals whose heads are set on 
 in a slanting direction, and into which powerful muscles are inserted; they are 
 called the coracoid, beak-like, processes or prolongations, F F, of the occipital 
 bone. 
 
 Running forward, and forming outwardly a part of the base, and inwardly a 
 portion of the floor of the skull, is what from its wedge-like shape, is called the 
 cuneiform process of the occipital bone, (fig. i, p. 5\3.) It is thick, strong, and 
 solid; and placed at the bottom of the skull, not only to be a proper foundation 
 for, and to give additional strength ta the arch on each side, but speedily to break 
 and stop all vibration and concussion. 
 
 At the base of the skull, and anterior to, or below the occipital, lies the sphenoid, 
 wedge-hke bone, (fig. k, p. 53 ) Its body, likewise called the cimeiform, or 
 wedge-shaped process, is a continuation of the same process of the occipital, and 
 Lke it, is thick and solid, and for the same important purpose. This bone branches 
 out into four irregular bodies or plates, two of which are called the wings, and two 
 running to the palate, the legs. They could not be represented in the cut, and 
 there is nothing important belonging to them so far as our work is concerned. 
 Internally (fig. k) the sphenoid forms a portion of the cavity of the skull. 
 
EXTERNAL STUCTURE. 59 
 
 Of the ethmoid, sieve-like bone, little can be seen outwardly. A small portion 
 IS found in the back part of the orbit, and in the cavity of the cranium; but the 
 most important part of it. is that whicli is composed of a great number of thin 
 plates, forming- numerous cavities or cells (fig. /, p. 5.3) lined with the membrane 
 of the nose, and entering into the cavity of the nose. The upper portion is called 
 tlie cribriform, or sieve-shaped plate, from its being perforated by a multitude of 
 little holes, throug-h which the nerve connected with smelling passes and spreads 
 over the nose. 
 
 Altogether tliese bones form a cavity of an irregular oval shape, but the tento- 
 I'lum peneti-ating into it gives it the appearance of being- divided into two, (rf, 
 p. 53.) 
 
 The cavity of the cranium may be said to be arched all round. The builder 
 knows the strength which is connected with the form of the arch. If properly 
 constructed, it is equal to a solid mass of masonry. The arch of the horse's skull 
 has not much weig-ht to support, but it is exposed to many injuries from the bru- 
 tality of those by whom he shoidd be protected, and from accidental causes. 
 
 The roof of the skull is composed of two plates of bone: the outer hard and 
 tough, and the different parts dove-tailed together, so as not to be easily fractured; 
 the inner plate is elastic, and, by the union of these two substances of different 
 construction, the vibration is partly damped or destroyed. By means of the elas- 
 ticity of the inner plate, the force or influence which might reach it through the 
 outer plate, and, notwithstanding its difference of structure, affect it, is spread 
 over the whole of the roof; and the inner plate is not dove-tailed like the outer, 
 because the dove tailing would impede the spread of the vibration. 
 
 The brain of the horse corresponds with the cavity in which it is placed, (m, p. 
 53.) It is a flattened oval. It is divided into two parts, one much larger than the 
 other, the cerebrum or brain, and the cerebellum or little brain, (n, p. 53.) In the 
 human being the cerebrum is above the cerebellum, in the quadruped below; and 
 yet in both they retain the same relative situation. The cerebellum is nearer to 
 the foramen or hole through which the brain passes out of the skull, (??, p, 53,) 
 and the continuation of the cerebrum passes under the cerebellum {p, p. 53) to 
 arrive at this foramen. In the human head this foramen is at the base of the skull; 
 but in the quadruped, in whom the head is placed slanting, it is necessarily 
 elevated. 
 
 It would occupy too great a portion of our time fully to consider the wonderful 
 and mysterious functions discharged by the brainy but some diseases to which the 
 horse is subject, and a very useful operation, the division of the nerve of the leg, 
 for foot lameness, could not be understood without a slight account of this impor- 
 tant organ. 
 
 When the brain is cut it presents two distinct substances, (m, p. 53,) one prin- 
 cipally on the outside, grey, or ash-colored, and therefore called the cortical (bark- 
 like, or rind-like) from its situation, or the cinoitious (ash like) from its color; 
 and one more in the centre, and its fibres running towards the centre, and white 
 and pulpy, and from its consistence called the medullar^/ (marrow-like) part. This 
 latter portion seems to be collected and condensed towards the centre or base of 
 the brain, and all the nerves derive their origin from it. 
 
 The medullary portion then is evidentl}' connected with the nervous system; 
 and the nerves are concerned in the discharge of all the offices of life. They give 
 motion to the limbs; they supply with energy the heart, tlie lungs, the stomach, 
 and every part connected with life; and being tlie medium through which sensa- 
 tion is conveyed, they supply the mind with materials to thiidc and work upon. 
 
 The cineritious part has a different appearance, and is evidently differently con- 
 stituted; and some have supposed it to be the residence of the mind, receiving the 
 impressions which are conveyed to the brain by the nerve of sensation, and di- 
 recting the operation and action of those which give motion to the limbs. In ac- 
 cordance with this it happens that where superior intelligence is found, the cine- 
 ritious prevails, and where little beside brutal strength and appetite exist, the 
 medullary portion is enlarged. 
 
 From the medullary substance proceed certain cords or prolongations called 
 nerves, by which the animal is enabled to receive impressions from surrounding 
 objects and to connect himself with them, aiid to possess many pleasurable or 
 painful sensations. One is spread over the membrane of the nose, and gives the 
 sense of smell; another expands on the back of the eye, and the faculty of sight is 
 gained; and a third goes to the internal structure of the ear, and the animal hears. 
 
60 
 
 THE HORSE. 
 
 Other nerves proceeding to different parts of the head, give the faculty or motion 
 to those parts; and another class bestows the power of feeling. 
 
 One division of nerves (h, p. 53) springing from a prolongation of the brain, 
 and yet within the skull, wander to different parts of the frame, for impoi-tant 
 purposes connected with respiration or breathing, and as the act of breathing is 
 essential to hfe, and were it to cease, the animal would die — these are nerves of 
 involuntary motion; so that whether he is awake or asleep, conscious of it or not, 
 the lungs heave, and life is supported. Lastly, from the spinal cord q, (a further 
 prolongation of the brain, and running tlirough a cavity in the bones of the neck, 
 back, and loins, and extending to the very tip of the tail,) other nerves are given 
 off at certain intervals. This cut delineates one pair of them. The spinal cord a, is 
 
 combined of six distinct columns or rods, running through its whole length — three 
 on either side. The two upper columns (the portion of spinal marrow represented 
 in our cut, is supposed to be placed with its inner or lower surface toward us) 
 proceed from those tracks of the brain devoted to sensation. From these come 
 out abrubtly distinct fibres from the column; and which collect together, and 
 passing through a little ganglion or enlargement, d, (an enlargement of a nervous 
 cord is called a ganglion, ) become a nerve of sensation. From the lower or inner 
 side (a prolongation of the track devoted to motion) proceed other fibres, which 
 also collect gradually together, and form a nervous cord, c, giving the power of 
 motion. Beyond the ganglion the two unite, and form a perfect spinal nerve, b, 
 possessing the power both of sensation and motion; and the fibres of the two co- 
 lumns proceed to their destination, enveloped in the same sheath, and apparently 
 one nerve. Each portion, however, continues to be wrapped in its own mem- 
 brane. They are united, yet distinct; they constitute one nerve, yet neither their 
 substance nor their office is confounded. Our cut, closely examined, b, will give 
 some idea of the manner in which these distinct fibres are continued; each covered 
 in its own membrane, but all enveloped in a common covering. 
 
 All these nerves are organs of sensation and motion alone; but there are others 
 whose origin seems to be outside of and below the brain. These are the sympa- 
 thetic, so called from their union and sympathy with all the others, and identified 
 with life itself They proceed from a small ganglion or enlargement in the upper 
 part of the neck, or from a collection of little ganglions in the belly. They go to 
 the heart, and it beats, and to the stomach, and it digests. They form a net-work 
 round each blood-vessel, and the current flows on. They surround the very mi- 
 nutest vessels, and the frame is nourished and built up. They are destitute of 
 sensation, and they are perfectly beyond the control of the will. 
 
 The reader, we trust, will now comprehend this wonderful yet simple machi- 
 nery, and be able, by and by, to refer to it the explanation of several diseases, and 
 particularly of the operation to which we have referred. 
 
 Two of the senses have their residence in the bones of the cranium, those of 
 hearing and sight. 
 
 They who know anything of the horse pay much attention to the size, setting 
 on, and motion of the ear. Ears rather small tlian large, placed not too far apart. 
 
EXTERNAL STRUCTURE. 61 
 
 and erect, and quick in motion, indicate botli breeding and spirit; and if a horse 
 is frequently in the habit of carrying one ear forward, and the otlier backward, 
 and especially if he does so on a journey, he will generally possess both spirit and 
 continuance. The stretching of tlie ears in contrary directions shows that he is 
 attentive to every thing that is taking place around him, and, while he is doing 
 tliis, he cannot be much fatigued, or likely soon to become so. It has been re- 
 marked that few horses sleep without pointing one ear forward and the other 
 backward, that they may receive notice of the approach of objects in every 
 dirpction.* 
 
 The ear of the horse is one of the most beautiful parts about him, and by few 
 things is the temper more siu-ely indicated than by its motion. The ear is more 
 intelligible even than the eye, and a person accustomed to the horse, and an ob- 
 server of the horse, can tell by the expressive motion of the ears almost all that 
 he thinks or means. It is a common saying that when a horse lays his ears flat 
 back upon his neck, and keeps them so, he most assuredly is meditating mischief, 
 and the stander by should beware of his heels or his teeth. In play the ears will 
 be laid back, but not so decidedly, nor so long. A quick change in their position, 
 and more particularly the expression of the eye at the time, will distinguish be- 
 tween playfulness and vice. 
 
 The external ear is formed by a cartilage of an oval or cone-like shape, flexible, 
 yet firm, and terminating in a point. It has, directed towards the side, yet some- 
 what pointing forward, a large opening extending from the top to the bottom. 
 The intention of this is to collect the sound, and convey it to tlie interior part of 
 the ear. 
 
 The hearing of the horse is remarkably acute. A thousand vibrations of the 
 :ur, too slight to make any impression on the human ear, are readily perceived by 
 him. It is well known to every hunting-man tliat the cry of the hounds will be 
 recognized by the horse, and his ears will be erect, and lie will be all spirit and 
 impatience, a considerable time befoi-e the rider is conscious of the least sound. 
 Need anything moi-e be said to expose the absurdity of cropping? Fortunately 
 for this too-often-abused animal, cropping is not now the fashion. Some thoughtr 
 less or unfeeling young men endeavored, a little while ago, to introduce it, but 
 the voice of reason and humanity prevailed. 
 
 This cartilage, the conch or shell, is attached to the head by ligaments, and sus- 
 tained by muscles, on which its action depends. It rests upon another cartilage, 
 round without, and irregular within, called the annular, ring-Uke, cartilage, and 
 conducting to the interior of the ear; and it is likewise supported and moved by 
 a third small cartilage, placed at the fore part of the base of tlie conch, and into 
 which several muscles are inserted. 
 
 The ear is covered by skin thinner than in most other parts of the body, and 
 altogether destitute of fat, tliat it may not be too bulky and heavy, and may be 
 more easily moved. Under the skin lining the inside of the cartilage are nume- 
 rous glands, that secrete or throw out a scaly white greasy matter, which may be 
 rubbed off" with the finger, and which is destined to supple this part of the ear, 
 and to keep it soft and smooth. Below this are other glands which pour out a pe- 
 culiar, sticky, bitter fluid, the wax, probably, displeasing to insects, and therefore 
 deterring them from crawling down tlie ear, and annoying the animal; or by its 
 stickiness an-esting their progi-ess. 
 
 The internal part of the conch is covered with long hair which stands across the 
 passage in every direction. This likewise is to protect the ear from insects, that 
 would with difficulty penetrate through this thick defence. The cold air is like- 
 wise prevented from reaching the interior of the ear, and the sound is moderated, 
 not ari'ested; penetrating readily, but not violently; and not striking injuriously 
 on the membrane covering the drum of the ear. Can these purposes be accom- 
 plished, when it is the custom of so many carters and gi-ooms to cut out the hair 
 of the ear so closely and industriously as they do? The groom who singes it to 
 the root with a candle must be either very ignorant or very brutal. It can scarcely 
 be accomplished without singeing tlie ear as well as the hair. Many a troublesome 
 
 • "When horees or mules march in company at night, those in front direct their 
 ears forwards; those in the rear direct them backward; and those in the centre 
 turn them laterally or across; the whole troop seeming thus to be actuated by one 
 feeling, which watches the general safety." — Aunott's Elements of Physics, vol. 
 i., p. 478. 
 
62 
 
 THE HORSE. 
 
 sore is occasioned l)y it; and many a horse that was perfectly quiet before, ren- 
 dered difficult to iiandle or to halter; and even disposed to be otherwise vicious 
 from a recollection of the pain wliich he suffered during- the absurd and barba- 
 I'ous opei-ation. 
 
 EXPLANATION OF THE CUT OF THE EAR. 
 
 a The meatus externus, or outer passage. 
 
 b The membrana tympani, or membrane, stretched over the entrance to the drum 
 
 of the ear. 
 c The malleus, or hammer, the first of the osskuli, (little bones,) and resting upon 
 
 the membrana tympani. 
 d The incus, or anvil, 
 c The orbiculare, or round bone. 
 / The stapes, or stirrup bone, resting on the membrane which covers the foramen 
 
 ovale, or oval window, and which conducts to the labyrinth of the ear. 
 
 fOne of the muscles of the tympanum attached to the stapes. 
 The vestibule, or hall, the first portion of the labyrinth of the ear. 
 
 i The semi-circular canals. 
 
 k Openings into the canals. 
 
 / The tympanum, or drum of tne ear. 
 
 TO The cochlea, or shell-like portion of the labyrinth. 
 
 n The meatus auditorius internus, or internal passage, through which both divi- 
 sions of the seventh pair of nerves enter tlie ear. At the end of it is the cri- 
 briform, sieve-like plate, through which the portio mollis, or soft portion of 
 the seventh pair of nerves, and which is the auditory nerve, or nerve of hear- 
 ing, enters to spread over the cochlea and vestibule. 
 
 o The Eustachian tube, or communication between the tympanum and the mouth, 
 so called from its discoverer. 
 
 p The cord, or nerve of the ear, ccyrda tympani, a branch of the portio dura, hard 
 portion, of the seventh pair of nerves, united to a portion of the fifth pair, 
 running across the tympanum, and ramifying on it and on the membrane. 
 
 q The exit oi i\\Q portio dura, from the temporal bone, to spread over the face. 
 
EXTERNAL STRUCTURE. 63 
 
 The sound collected by the outer ear, passes through the lower or annular, 
 ring'-shaped cartilage, and through irregularities which, while the3' break and 
 motlify it, carry it on to another canal, partly cartilaginous, and partly bony, con- 
 ducting immediately to the internal mechanism of the ear. This canal or passage 
 is called the external auditory passsge, a, and at the base of it is placed, stretch- 
 ing across it, and closing it, a thick and elastic membrane, called the membrane 
 of tlie drum, b- This membrane is supplied with numerous fibres from the fifth 
 pair, or sensitive nerve of the head, for it is necessary that it should possess 
 extreme sensibility. 
 
 The mechanism of the ear is so exquisite that we cannot refrain from entering 
 into a minute description of it, although we feel that we are somewhat trenching 
 on the comprehensive subject of animal physiology. 
 
 Sound is produced by certain vibrations or undulations communicated to the 
 air by the concussions or tremblings of things around, and which vibrations spread 
 through the air, and fall upon the ear. The striking of a glass, and the sound of 
 a large bell, are sufficient illusti-ations of the manner in which sound is propagated 
 by distinct vibrations or waves of the air. These vibrations reacli the conch of 
 the ear. From its hollow form and peculiar shape, and the faculty of being di- 
 rected to every quarter whence the vibrations proceed, they are collected, and 
 condensed, and conveyed down the outer passage, and fall upon the membrane, 
 6. That membrane, tightly stretched, and elastic, receives the impression made 
 upon it, and vibrates in perfect unison. 
 
 This membrane covers the entrance into a cavity, called the tympanum or drum 
 of the ear, /, from its supposed resemblance to a drum. It is of an irregular shape. 
 T!ie walls or sides are composed of bone, lined with a delicate membrane, with 
 several apertures or holes, h, f, k, the principal of which we shall describe. 
 
 Between the membrane at which we have arrived, b, and a smaller one almost 
 opposite,/, leading to the still interior part of the ear, and on which the nerve of 
 hearing is expanded, are four little bones, c, d, e, f, united to these membranes 
 and to each other. Their office is to convey, moi-e perfectly than it could be done 
 through the air of the cavity, the vibrations which have reached the membrane 
 tympani. 
 
 The first of these little bones (ossiatli) Is called the malleus, c, from its supposed 
 resemblance to a hammer. The longer arm of the hammer i& attached to the 
 edge of the membrane, and reaches to its centre, and is so strongly united to it as 
 to draw it down into a kind of funnel-shape. It is the bracing of the parchment 
 of the soldier's drum; and it must be sufficiently evident that every vibration given 
 to the membrane must be communicated to the hammer-bone. 
 
 From the hammer, the vibration is communicated to the incus, d, so named from 
 its imagined likeness to a blacksmith's anvil, although it is a great deal more like 
 a molar tooth or grinder, with two fangs, and one of them much lengthened and 
 curved. The hammer, however, is so formed and placed that the impression or 
 vibration is not merely conveyed, but considerably increased. Between the ex- 
 tremity of the handle of the hammer, and its head resting on the anvil, is a sharp 
 process, received into a hollow in the bony wall of the drum, and which is evi- 
 dently the fulcrum, or centre of motion, on which the hammer turns; and this is 
 much nearer the head of tlie bone than the extremity of the handle. It is then 
 a lever, and it acts upon the principle of the lever. The point of the handle is 
 the place where the vibration is received, or the power applied; the little process 
 is the fulcrum or prop, or turning point; and the head of tlie bone is the extremity 
 of the other arm, where tlie weight is to be hung, or the effect produced. Now, 
 in proportion (as we shall have again and again to demonstrate when we speak of 
 the construction of the limbs) as the distance of the power from the fulcrum ex- 
 ceeds that of the weight, so will be the mechanical advantage gained, or so will 
 the effect be increased. Here the extremity of the hammer is twice as far from 
 the centre as the head; and, therefore, the effect will be doubled, and the vibra- 
 tion received by the extremity of the handle will be conveyed with double inten- 
 sity to the anvil. 
 
 The bodies of these bones are elastic; and the heads of all bones are covered 
 by a substance, cartilage, elastic in the highest degree: therefore, the impression 
 or vibration communicated from the hammer to the anvil will not be deadened, 
 but rather increased by the collision of these elastic bodies. 
 
 The anvil, d, is another lever, and not only would the vibration be communi- 
 cated undiminished through its substance, but, one of the projections or fangs 
 
64, THE HORSE. 
 
 being received into an opening in the wall of the dram, and the distance of the 
 point at which the impression was received, or the power resides, being greater 
 from the centre than that where the impression is to be conveyed or given up to 
 the next bone, or, in other words, where the effect is to be produced, mechanical 
 advantage is here, likewise, gained, and the effect on the next bone, e, may fairly 
 be reckoned at three times the intensity of the original vibration. 
 
 The round bone, e, a very minute one, is the next in order. It is the smallest 
 bone in the body; and its use seems to be, to form a more complete and moveable 
 joint between the anvil and the stirrup, and to cause the impulse or vibration to 
 be communicated to the stirrup-bone in a perpendicular direction. 
 
 The last of the four little bones is the stapes, or stirrup bone. It closely resem- 
 bles a stirrup in form, and it is placed on the membrane of the fenestra ovalis, the 
 oval window, or opening into the most interior part of the ear, and the immediate 
 and actual seat of hearing. The stirrup being retained in a perpendicular direc- 
 tion on this membrane by the round bone, not only is the full impression which 
 had been communicated to the first membrane conveyed to the other, but it is 
 trebled by the beautiful mechanism of the bones. 
 
 Sound we have said, is produced by vibrations conveyed to the ear, and ex- 
 citing similar vibrations in certain parts of the ear. These vibrations, once excited, 
 do not immediately cease. A glass continues to sound, and the prolonged undu- 
 lations of the deep-toned bell are familiar to every one. The pulses of sound 
 succeed each other with great rapidity. In speaking, the words quickly follow 
 each other, and each syllable produces a separate impulse on the external mem- 
 brane of the ear. Unless, however, one pulsation or vibration had ceased before 
 the next was communicated, language would be unintelligible, and a confused and 
 endless noise wonld prevail. The finger placed on the edge of a glass immedi- 
 ately stops the vibration. The damper applied to the piano-forte effects the same 
 purpose, and gives distinctness of sound and tone. 
 
 There is in the ear an admirable contrivance to accomplish the same object. 
 Muscles are attached to these little bones, and particularly to the hammer and stir- 
 rup which are in contact with the membi-anes. One belonging to the stirrup is 
 ffiven in our cut, g. They are placed there, according to some physiologists, to 
 tighten or relax the chain of bones, in order to pi-oduce greater or less intensity 
 of sound. We would rather say that they were intended as dampers to prevent 
 the otherwise unavoidable confusion of sound. No sooner is an impression con- 
 veved to these bones, or a vibration communicated down them, than the muscles 
 contract, and by that contraction tighten the chain of bones, and by that tighten- 
 ing, destroy and not increase the vibration. The heads of the bones are pressed 
 one' on the other, so that, like the finger on the edge of the glass, the vibration 
 is not only immediately arrested in these bones, but in the membranes above and 
 below to which they are attached. 
 
 The air in the drum of the ear is not always of the same warmth. In fever, or 
 in consequence of inflammation in a neighboring part, or during the excitement 
 of exercise the air in the drum ma^ attain a degree of heat far above the natural 
 standard- the consequence of which would be that it would expand. All bodies 
 expand with heat; and this air expanding would press on every part of the cavity. 
 The bony walls of the cavity would not yield, but the membrane might be so vio- 
 lently distended as to be incapable of vibrating. Under the cold fit of fever the 
 air would coUap'se, or would diminish in bulk. All bodies contract by the appli- 
 cation of cold. Then the external air, endeavoring to enter the partial vacuum, 
 and pressing the membranes inward, might ])roduce precisely the same effect. To 
 prevent all "this, and to preserve a proper balance between the heat of the air in 
 the tympanum, and that of the other parts of the body, or the atmosphere, there 
 is a passage communicating with the mouth; and by means of the mouth, with the 
 external air. See p in this cut, and 9 in the cut, page 53, which gives the carti- 
 lae-e that covers the entrance of this passage, the Eustachian tube, into the mouth. 
 
 The Eustachian tube commences in the drum of the ear, by a mere slit in the 
 bony wall, which, passing throiigh the stony portion of the temporal bone, and 
 part of the sphenoid bone, becomes cartilaginous, and then expands, and ends in 
 a large pouch or bag. The cartilage, p, protects the mouth of this bag, and pre- 
 vents the food from entering it; and likewise enables it occasionally to unclose for 
 purposes connected with the faculty of hearing. 
 
 The impression, then, has been conveyed by the mechanism of the bones, from 
 the membrane of the drum, b, to the membrane on which the stirrup rests, /r and 
 
EXTERNAL STRUCTUKE, 65 
 
 which closes the fenesti*a ovalis, or oval window, or opening into the labyrinth of 
 the ear. This mechanism, however, deeply seated as it is in the head, and guarded 
 by the stony hardness of the temporal bone, is liable to injury, and we are next 
 led to admire many provisions for preserving tlie sense of liearing even when 
 much mischief has been done to the machine. The membrane may be punctured 
 or ruptured. It is occasionally so by accident or violence, and lately purposely 
 done in the human subject to renfiedy deafness produced by obstruction of the 
 Eustachian tube. The vibrations of tlie external air would proceed down the 
 passage a, and be communicated, although imperfectly, to the little bones at the 
 bottom, c, d, e, and carried on to the oval v;indovv, /, and hearing would remain. 
 Supposing that the tlu-ee first of the little bones were diseased or removed, the 
 vibration of the external air would be communicated to the air in the drum, and 
 by that to the stirrup, f, and the animal would not be entirely deaf: or even if the 
 whole of the little bones were destroyed, yet the membrane of the oval window 
 remaining, some vibration aright be communicated to it, and some sound per- 
 ceived. 
 
 Passing the oval window, f, we arrive at the true seat of hearing. A strangely 
 irregular cavity, h, presents itself, filled with an aqueous fluid, while the substance 
 or |)ulp of tlie portia mollis, or soft portion of the seventh pair of nerves, the audi- 
 tory nerve, expands on the membrane whicli lines the walls of this cavity. Why 
 is this cavity filled with a liquid' First, that the membrane wliich covers the 
 passage into it might always be preserved in a proper state to receive and com- 
 municate vibrations. If the labyrinth had contained a fluid possessed of much ex- 
 pansibility, in the considerable changes of temperature to which the frame is sub- 
 ject, tliis membrane might be stretched beyimcl the power of vibrating, and almost 
 to bursting, by the increased bulk, of that fluid. Air is highly expansible. That 
 is of no consequence in the drum of the ear, /, because, as it expanded, it would 
 rush out of the Eustachian tube; but in the labyrinth it would be highly injurious, 
 because that is a closed cavity. These interior ciiambers then are filled with water 
 instead of air, because it is not one-hundredth part so expansible as air. If, how- 
 ever, the labyrinth be completely filled with this aqueous fluid, how can any un- 
 dulation or vibration take place? Undulation supposes a change of figure, an 
 enlargement in some direction; but there can be no enlargement in a bony cavity 
 completely filled. This was not forgotten in the wonderful construction of the 
 ear, and, therefore, at the base of the sliell, m, and between the stirrup and the 
 shell, is an opening, covered likewise with membrane, called the round window, 
 or communication between the drum and the labyrinth. When any force, then, is 
 impressed on the membrane under the stirrup, this membrane yields to the im- 
 pression, and suffers the vibration to be projjagated through the whole of the 
 labyrinth. When the vibration ceases, and the fluid is at rest, the membrane over 
 this opening returns to its natural situation, and is ready to yield to the next im- 
 pression. 
 
 There is another important reason why these cavities are filled with aqueous 
 fluid. The principal object of the mechanism of the little bones, we have seen to 
 be, perfectly to convey, and even to increase the efl"ect of, the vibration first com- 
 municated to the membrane of tlie drum. The vibration reaches the oval window, 
 trebled in intensity. The same object is pursued within the labyrinth. A liquid 
 is placed there, because sound is propagated through it with greater rapidity. 
 While sovuid travels through air at the rate of 1,132 feet in a second, it passes 
 through water at the rate of more than 4,0 JO feet in tli« same time. The impulse 
 communicated to the water by the membrane is thus moie suddenly spread over the 
 whole of the labyrinth. There is, besides, a law regulating the pressure of fluids, 
 by which this impulse must be spread over the whole of the labyrinth, and every 
 portion of the expansion of the nerve will be affected by it, which woidd not be 
 the case in a fluid so rare and so expansible as air. 
 
 The strongest reason, however, remains to be stated — the impression or vibra- 
 tion is rendered more intense, by travelling through water. That sound which 
 would scarcely be heard in the air is almost deafening under water. It is a com- 
 mon practice for boys when they bathe, to dive with a stone in each hand, and 
 the rubbing of them together umler water produces a rumbling sound of e.xtraoi'- 
 dinary loudness. This is contrary to the old opinion; and even philosophers, of no 
 mean repute, have denied that fishes had ears, because they were placed in a me- 
 dium through which sound could scarcely be conveyed, and where their ears 
 would be of httle use to them. Later and better observers have proved that 
 
66 THE HORSE. 
 
 sound is propagated far more intensely through water than tlirough air; and there- 
 fore an aqueous fluid occupies those chambers of the ear on the walls of which 
 the auditory nerve is expanded. 
 
 The oval window opens into the labyrinth, which is divided into three compart- 
 ments. First is the vestibule, h, the hall of entrance, not more than a quarter of 
 an inch wide in the actual subject, but magnified in our cut for the purpose of il- 
 lustration. Over the whole of the membrane by which it is lined, there are spread 
 expansions of the soft portion of the seventh pair of nerves. 
 
 On the upper side are several foramina or holes, k, which conduct to the semi- 
 circtdar canuh, i, contiining also water, lined by the same membrane, and that 
 membrane likewise covered, although not so thickly, with nervous pulp. The 
 posterior one is a pei-fectly semi-circular canal, with two openings into the ves- 
 tibule. The other two run into each other in a part of their course, and have one 
 common opening, and one peculiar to each; so that these canals open into the 
 vestibule by five apertures. 
 
 These canals contain a singular mechanism. In the part of the vestibule, at the 
 opening of ihe canals, k, is suspended a little bag filled with a very clear fluid, 
 and from which branches go into, and occupy the canals, not filling them, but 
 floating in the fluid wliich they contain; and on these bags the portion of th« nerve 
 belonging to the canal is principally distributed. The membrane composing these 
 bags is exceedingly thin. Thus floating in the fluid of the canals, and riclily sup- 
 plied with nervous matter, the slightest vibration or motion communicated to the 
 fluid, by the stirrup on the oval window, will be immediately and powerfully felt. 
 
 On the other side is, if possible, a more complex mechanism. At m is the 
 cochlea, so termed from its likeness to the convolutions of a shell. It, however, 
 more resembles a spiral lamina, or narrow and thin plate, partly bony, and partly 
 membranous, running round a column in the centre. It is a spiral staircase in a 
 round tower. The base of it rests on the intei-nal passage, n, through which both 
 portions of the seventh pair of nerves pass into the ear. Its apex, or top, ap- 
 proaches the Eustachian tube, o. The soft, or auditory portion of the nerve, pe- 
 netrates through the cribriform or sieve-like termination of the passage, and a part 
 of it runs up the central column or bone, which is hollow and spongy, and, through 
 a thousand apertures in it, ramifies on the lamina of bone, twining spirally around 
 the column, and on the membranous fringe which floats in the fluid witli which 
 the shell is filled, and the whole is covered by a thick expansion of nervous 
 matter. 
 
 The cribriform plate extends beyond the base of the shell to the vestibule, and 
 those portions of nerve there enter, which spread over the vestibule and the semi- 
 circular canals; but the principal part of it seems to be given to the cochlea. 
 
 What is the distinct and peculiar oflice of these parts, so curiously and yet so 
 differently constructed, we know not. They are both admirably adapted to render 
 the sense of hearing fully equal to every possible want of the animal. In tl>e 
 horse the cochlea is much larger, compared with the canals, than it is in the ox 
 or sheep; but for what especial purpose we are unable to determine: nor can we 
 account for the large pouch-shaped opening of the Eustachian tube in the horse, 
 (fig. 9, p. 53,) nor for the small development of the mastoid cells in the horse, 
 while they are exceedingly large in the ox. There are many parts of the frame, 
 the precise use or function of which we cannot ascertain; but, as far as we do un- 
 derstand the mechanism of the various animals which pass under oui* notice, all is 
 fittest and best; and the study of the animal frame, with a view to discover the 
 evidences of design, is pleasing and improving. 
 
 The tye\i a most importaut organ, and comes next under consideration, as en- 
 closed in the bones of the skull. The eye of the horse should be large, and 
 somewhat but not too prominent, and the eyelid fine and thin. If the eye be sunk 
 in the head, and apparently little (for there is actually a very trifling difference in 
 the size of the eye in animals of the same species and bulk, and the seeming dif- 
 ference arises from the larger or smaller opening between the lids,) and the lid be 
 thick, and especially if there be any puckering towards the inner corner of the 
 lids, that eye either is diseased, or has been lately subject to inflammation; and, 
 particularly, if one eye is smaller than the other, it has been, at no great distance 
 of time, inflamed. 
 
 The eye of the horse enables us pretty accurately to guess at his temper. If 
 much of the white be seen, the buyer should pause ere he completes his bargain; 
 because, although it may, yet very rarely, happen that the cornea or transparent 
 
EXTERNAL STRUCTURE. 67 
 
 part is unnaturally small, and therefore an unusual portion of the white of the eye is 
 seen, and especially when the horse is lookinpf sideways, or backward, yet experi- 
 ence has shown that this display of white is danp^erous. The mischievous horse is 
 slyly on the look out for opportunities to do mischief, and tlie frequent backward 
 direction of the eye, when the white is most perceptible, is only to give surer 
 effect to the blow which he is about to aim. 
 
 We will give a cursory description of the eye, and the uses of its different parts. 
 ' The eyes are placed at the side of the head, yet a little pointing forward, to 
 g-ive the animal a more extended field of vision. He needs this in his wild state 
 to detect the approach of iiis enemies^ and it is useful to him when employed in 
 our service. 
 
 The eye is supported behind by muscles attached to different parts of the bony 
 orbit, and it is embedded in a vast mass of fat upon which it may be readily moved, 
 and without friction; and that fat being absorbed in sickness or old age, the eye is 
 retracted, and sinks into the orbit. 
 
 In front the eye is supported and covered by the lids, which, closing rapidly, 
 protect it from many an injury that threatens— supply it with that moisture which 
 is necessary to preserve its transparency— in the momentary act of closing, they 
 give a certain and sufficient respite to a delicate organ, which would otherwise 
 be fatigued and worn out by the constant glare of day; when the eye labors un- 
 der inflammation, defend it from the stimulus of hght — and, gradually drooping-, 
 permit the animal to enjoy that repose which nature requires. 
 
 Extending round both lids, and, it may be almost said, having neither origin nor 
 insertion, is a muscle called the orbicularis, or circular muscle. Its office is to close 
 the lids in the act of winking or otherwise, but only while the animal is awake. 
 When he sleeps, this is effected by another and very ingenious mechanism, for no 
 voluntary muscle will continue in action during sleep. The natural state of the 
 eyelids is that of being closed; and they are kept open by the energy of the mus- 
 cles, whose office it is to raise the upper lid. As sleep steals upon the animal, 
 these muscles cease to act, and the lids close by the inherent elasticity of the 
 membrane of which they are composed. 
 
 The skin of the lid is, like that of the ear, exceedingly fine, to prevent unne- 
 cessary weight and pressure on such a part, and to give more easy and extensive 
 motion. The lids close accurately when drawn over the eye, and this is effected 
 by a little strip of cartilage, at the edge of each of them, which may be easily felt 
 with the finger, and which preserves them in a hoop-like form, and adapts them 
 closely to the eye and lo each other. The lower cartilage, however, does not, as 
 a mo^Tient's observation will show, present towards the inner corner of the eye the 
 whole of its flat surface to the upper, but it evidently slopes inward, and only the 
 outer edge of the under lid touches tlie upper, and, 'by this means, a little gutter 
 is formed, by which the superfluous moisture of the eye flows to the inner corner 
 where there is a canal to convey it away, and therefore it neither accumulates in 
 the eye, nor unpleasantly runs down the cheek. 
 
 Along the edges of the lids are placed numerous little hollows which can be 
 plainly distinguished even in the living horse by slightly turning down the lid. 
 These are the openings into numerous small cells containing a thick and unctuous 
 fluid, by means of which the eyes are more accurately closed, and the edges of 
 the lids defended from the acrimony of the tears. 
 
 The horse has no eyebrows, and the eyelashes are very peculiarly arranged. The 
 rows of hair are longest and most numerous on the upper lid, and especially to- 
 wards the outer or temporal corner, because tlie light comes from above; and, as 
 the animal stands, and particularly when he is grazing, and from the lateral situa- 
 tion of his eyes, the greater portion of the light," and the attacks of insects, and the 
 rolling down of moisture, would chiefly be from the outside or temples. Towards 
 the inner corner of the eye there is little or no eyelash, because there is no pro- 
 bable danger or nuisance in that direction. Only a small quantity of light can 
 enter frpm below, and therefore the lashes are thin and short; but as^ in the act 
 of grazing, insects may more readily climb up and be troublesome to the eye, 
 towards the inner angle, there the principal or only hair is found on the lower lid. 
 These apparently trifling circumstances will not be overlooked by the careful 
 observer. 
 
 They who are unacquainted with the absurdity of stable management, or who 
 have not carefully examined^ the abuses which may exist in their own establish- 
 ments, can scarcely perceive the foolish and cruel practices of some carters and 
 
68 THE HORSE. 
 
 grooms. We know that when the groom is anxious that his horse should be as 
 trim and neat all over as art can make him, the very eyelashes are generally sa- 
 crificed. What has the poor animal suffered when, travelling in the noon of day, 
 the full blaze of the sun has fallen upon his eyes; and how many accidents have 
 probably happened, from his being dazzled by the light, but which have been attri- 
 buted to other causes. 
 
 If tlie horse has no eyebrow, there are several hairs or bristles scattered on the 
 upper eyelid, and there is a projecting fold of the lid which discharges nearlj' the 
 same office. It is more conspicuous in old horses th;in in young ones. Some 
 horsemen do not like to see it, and associate the idea of it with weakness or dis- 
 ease of the eye. This is perfectly erroneous. It is a provision of nature to 
 accomplish a certain purpose, and has notliing to do either with health or disease. 
 On the lower lid is a useful provision to warn the horse of the near approach of 
 any object that might incommode or injure him, in the form of long projecting 
 hairs or bristles, and wliich are plenteously imbued with nervous influence, so that 
 the slightest toucli shall put the animal on his guard. We would request any of 
 our readers, by whom the experiment never has been made, to touch very slight- 
 ly the extremity of one of tliese hairs. They will be surprised to observe the sud- 
 den convulsive twitching of the lid, rendering the attack of the insect absolutely 
 impossible. Those ignorant gi-ooms, howeyer, who cut away the eyelashes, do 
 not spare these useful feelers. 
 
 The eye is exposed to the action of the atmospheric air, and the process of 
 evaporation, destructive of its transparency, is continually going on. The eye of 
 the horse, or the visible part of the eye, is likewise more prominent and larger 
 than in the human being, and the animal is often subject to extreme annoyance 
 from dust and insects, while he has no hands or other guards to defend himself 
 from the torture which they occasion. What is the provision of nature against 
 this? Under tlie lid, and a little within the outer corner of the upper lid, is a large 
 irregular body, the lachrymal gland, comparatively larger than in the human be- 
 ing, secreting an aqueous fluid, and which fluid slowly issuing out from the gland, 
 and, more especially, pressed out of it by the act of winking, flows over the eye, 
 supplies it with moisture, and washes off all impurities. Human ingenuity could 
 not have selected a situation from which the fluid could be conveyed over the eye 
 with more advantage for this purpose. 
 
 When this fluid is secreted in an undue quantity, and flows over the eye, it is 
 called tears. An increased flow of tears is produced by any thing that irritates 
 the eye, and, therefore, a constant accompaniment and symptom of inflammation. 
 A horse with any degi-ee of weeping, or the flowing of the tears down the cheek, 
 should be regarded with much suspicion. In the human being an unusual secre- 
 tion of tears is often caused by bodily pain, and ernotions of the mind; and so it is 
 occasionally in the horse. We have seen it repeatedly, under acute pain or brutal 
 usage. John Lawrence, speaking of the cruelty exercised (and we know still too 
 often exercised) by some dealers in what they call " firing" a horse before he is 
 led out for sale, in order to arouse every spark of metal, says, " more than fifty 
 years have passed away, and I have before my eyes a poor mare stone blind, ex- 
 quisitely shaped, and showing all tlie marks of high blood, whom I saw unmerci- 
 fully cut with the whip a quarter of an hour before the sale, to bring her to the 
 use of her stiffened limbs, while the tears were trickling down her cheeks." 
 
 Having passed over the eye, the fluid is conveyed by the little canal of which 
 we have spoken, formed by the sloping of the under lid towards the corner of 
 the eye; and there are two little orifices that conduct it to a small reservoir within, 
 and at the upper part of the lachrymal bone, (fig. £, p. 52.) A little protuberance 
 of a black or pied color, called the caruncle, placed in the very corner of the eye, 
 and to be seen without opening the lids, is situated between these orifices, and 
 guides the fluid into them. From this reservoir the tears are conveyed by a long 
 canal, the lachrymal duct, partly bony and partly membranous, to the lower part 
 of the nose. A little within the nostril, and on the division between the nostrils, 
 is seen the lower opening of this canal; the situation of which our readers should 
 carefully mark, and bear in mind its real use, for not only horsemen, but even 
 some careless veterinary surgeons, have mistaken it for a glanderous ulcer, and have 
 condemned a useful and valuable animal. It is found just before the skin of the 
 muzzle terminates, and the more delicate membrane of the nostril comrnences. 
 The opening of the canal is placed thus lo\v because the membrane of the nose is 
 
EXTERNAL STRUCTURE. 69 
 
 exceedingly delicate, and would be irritated and made sore by the frequent of 
 constant running down of the tears. 
 
 This canal is sometimes obstructed in the human being, and the reservoir is dis- 
 tended and bursts; an ulcer is then formed, very difficult to heal, and only healed 
 by a metal style or pin, penetrating into the duct, being worn for a considerable 
 time. Fortunately the lachrymal duct is rarely obstructed in the horse, for if it 
 were, and ulceration were to follow, no mechanical contrivance could retain the 
 style or pin in its place. The dog is subject to obstructions of this canal, and the 
 ulcer formed by the bursting of the sac is never healed. 
 
 There is, however, something yet wanting. We have a provision for supplying 
 the eve with requisite moisture, and for washing from off the transparent part of 
 it insects or dust which may annoy the anim.il. What becomes of these impurities 
 when thus washed off ' Are they carried by the tears to the corner of the eye, 
 and so pass down this duct, and irritate and obstruct it; or do they accumulate at 
 the inner angle of the eye? There is a beautiful contrivance for disposing of them 
 as fast as they enter the eye. Concealed within the inner corner of the eye, or 
 only the margin of it, black or pied, visible, is a triangular-shaped cartilage, the 
 haw, with its broad part before. It is concave within, exactly to suit the globe 
 of the eye; and it is convex without, accurately to adapt itself to the membrane 
 lining the lid; and the base of it is reduced to a thin or almost sharp edge. At 
 the will of the animal this is suddenly protruded from its hiding place, passes ra- 
 pidly over the eye, and shovels up every nuisance mixed with the tears, and then, 
 being speedily drawn back, the dust or insect is wiped off as the cai-tilage again 
 passes under the corner of the eye. 
 
 How is this managed ? This cartilage has no muscle attached to it, and the 
 limbs, and the different parts of the body, when put into motion by the influence 
 of the will, are moved invariably by muscles. The mechanism is simple and ef- 
 fectual. There is a g^eat mass of fat at the back of the eye that the eye may be 
 easily moved; and this fat is particularly accumulated about the inner corner of 
 the eye, and beneath, and at the point of this cartilage. The eye of the horse has 
 likewise very strong muscles attached to it, and one, peculiar to quadrupeds, of 
 extraordinary power, and by whose aid, if the animal has not hands to ward off 
 a danger that threatens, he is at least enabled to draw the eye back almost out pf 
 the reach of that danger. 
 
 Dust, or gravel, or insects, shall have entered the eye, and annoy the horse. 
 This peculiar muscle suddenly acts. The eye is forcibly drawn back, and presses 
 upon the fatty matter. That may be displaced, but cannot be squeezed into less 
 compass. It is forced violently towards the inner corner of the eye, and it drives 
 before it the haw; and the haw having likewise some fat about the point of it, and 
 and being placed between the eye and an exceedingly smooth and polished bone, 
 and, being pressed upon by the eye as it is violently drawn back, shoots out with 
 the rapidity of lightning, and, guided by the eyelids, projects over the eye, and 
 thus carries off the offending matter. 
 
 In what way shall we draw the haw back again without muscular action? Another 
 principle is called into play, of which we have already spoken, and of which we 
 shall have much to say, elasticity. It is that principle by which a body yields to 
 a certain force impressed upon it, and returns to its former state as soon as that 
 force is removed. It is that by which the ligament of the neck, (p. 53,) while it 
 supports the head, enables the horse to graze — by which the heart expands after 
 closing on and propelling forward the blood in its ventricles — by which the artery 
 contracts on the blood that has distended it, and by which many of the most im- 
 portant functions of life are influenced or governed. This muscle ceases to act. 
 The eye resumes its natural situation in the orbit. There is room for the fatty 
 matter to return to its place, and it immediately returns by the elasticity of the 
 membrane by which it is covered; and it draws after it this cartilage with which 
 it is connected, and the return is as rapid as the projection. 
 
 The old famers strangely misunderstood the nature and design of the haw, and 
 many of the present day do not seem to be much better informed. When from 
 sympathy with other parts of the eye laboring under inflammation, and becoming 
 itself inflamed, and increased in bidk, and the neigliboring parts likewise thick- 
 ened, it was either forced out of its place, or voluntarily protruded to defend the 
 eye from the action of hght, and could not return, they mistook it for some inju- 
 rious excrescence or tumor, and proceeded to cut it out. The " haw in the eyes," 
 is a disease well known to the majority of grooms, and this sad remedy for it is 
 
70 
 
 THE FIORSE. 
 
 deemed the only cure. It is a barbarous practice, and if they were compelled to 
 walk half a dozen miles in a thick dust, and without being- permitted to wipe or 
 to cleanse the eye, they would feel the torture to which they doom this noble ani- 
 mal when afterwards employed in their service. A little patience having been 
 exercised, and a few cooling' applications made to the eye while the inflammation 
 lasted, and, aftervyards, some mild astringent ones, and other proper means em- 
 ployed, the tumor would have disappeared, the haw would have returned to its 
 place, and the animal would have discharged the duties required of him, without 
 inconvenience to himself, instead of the agony to which an unguarded and unpro- 
 tected eje must frequently expose him. 
 
 The loss of blood occasioned by the cutting out of the haw may frequently i-e- 
 lieve the inflammation of the eye; and the evident amendment which follows in- 
 duces these wise men to believe that they have performed an excellent operation^ 
 but the same loss of blood, by scarification of the over-loaded vessels of the con- 
 junctiva, would be equally beneficial, and the animal would not be deprived of an 
 instrument of admirable use to him. 
 
 The eye is of a globular figure, yet not a perfect globe. It is rather composed 
 of parts of two globes. The half of the one, f, smaller, and transparent in front, 
 and of the other, p, larger, and the coat of it opaque behind. We shall most con- 
 veniently begin with the coats of the eye. 
 
 ABA supposed object viewed by the aninial, and an inverted Image of which, a, 
 b, is thrown on the retina at the back of the eye. 
 
 c c The points where the rays, having passed the cornea and the lens, converge by 
 the refractive power of the lens. 
 
 d e The rays proceeding from the extremities of the object to the eye. 
 
 f The cornea, or horny and transparent part of the eye, covered by the conjuncti- 
 va, uniting different parts together. 
 
 g The cr)'stalline (crystal or glassy) lens, behind the pupil, and in front of the 
 vitreous humor. 
 
 h h Muscles of the eye. 
 
 i The optic nerve, or nerve of sight. 
 
 k The sclerotica (hard firm coat) covering the whole of the eye except the portion 
 occupied by the cornea, and being a seeming prolongation of the covering 
 of the optic nerve. 
 
 / The ckoroides, (receptacle or covering) or choroid coat, covered with a black 
 secretion or paint. 
 
 m m The iris, or rainbow-colored circular membrane, under the cornea, in front 
 of the eye, and on which the color of the eye depends. The duplicature 
 behind is the uvta, from being colored like a gi-ape. The opening in the 
 centi-e is the pupil. 
 
 n n The ciliary (hair-like) processes. 
 
 o The retina, or net-like expansion of the optic nerve, spread over the whole of 
 the choroides as far as the lens. 
 
 p The vitreous (glass-like) humor filling the whole of the cavity of the eye be- 
 hind the lens. 
 
 q The aqueous (water-like) humor filling the space between the cornea and the 
 lens. 
 
EXTERNAL STRUCTURE. 71 
 
 The conjunctiva, f, is that membrane which lines the lids, and covers the fore 
 part of the eye. It covers all that we can see or feel of the eye, and even its trans- 
 parent part. It is itself transparent, and transmits the color of the parts beneath. 
 It is very susceptible of inflammation, during' whicti the lining of the lids will 
 become intensely red, and the white of the eye will be first streaked with red ves- 
 sels, and then covered with a complete mesh of them, and the cornea will become 
 cloudy and opaque. It is the seat of various diseases, and particularly in it com- 
 mences the sad inflammation of the horse's eye, which bids defiance to the vete- 
 rinary surgeon's skill, and almost invariably terminates in blindness. 
 
 The examination of the conjunctiva, by turning down the lid, will enable us to 
 form an accurate judgment of the degree of inflammation which exists in the eye. 
 Horsemen and farriers, however, seem to think that it likewise indicates the degree 
 of inflammation in almost every other part, or, at least, of the general fever which 
 may accompany local inflammation. There is a part which much more clearly in- 
 dicates this, and especially if the general disturbance be accompanied or produced 
 by any affection of the lungs — a part which will rarely deceive, and is more easily 
 got at, viz., the membrane lining the nose. If the edge of the nostril be lifted 
 up, the color of the nostril will faithfully indicate th« degree of chest affection, and 
 of general inflammation or fever. 
 
 Covering the back part of the eye, and, indeed, four-fifths of the globe of the 
 eye, is the sclerotica, ki It is an exceedingly strong membrane, composed of fibres 
 interweaving with each other, and almost defying the possibility of separation. An 
 organ so delicate, and so important as the eye, requires secure protection. 
 
 This is a highly elastic membrane. It is necessary that it should be so, when' we 
 consider that the eye is surrounded by several, and very powerful muscles, which 
 must temporarily, and even for the purposes of vision, alter its shape. The elas- 
 ticity of the sclerotica is usefully exhibited, by its causing the globe of the eye to 
 resume its former and natural shape as soon as the action of the muscle ceases. 
 
 The sclerotica has very few blood vessels; is scarcely sensible; and its diseases, 
 except when it participates in general disturbance or disorganization, are rarely 
 brought under our notice. We therefore pass on to the cornea. 
 
 The cornea is, or we should wish it to be, the only visible part of the horse's eye, 
 for we repeat, that the exhibition of much white about it is a symptom of wicked- 
 ness. The cornea fills up the vacuity which is left by the sclerotica in the fore 
 part of the eye, and although closely united to the sclerotica, may be separated 
 from it, and will drop out like a watch glass. It is not round, but wider from side 
 to side, than from top to bottom; and the curve rather broader towards the inner 
 than the outer corner of the eye, SO that th? near eye may be known from the off, 
 after it is taken from the he.ad. 
 
 The convexity or projection of the cornea is a point of considerable importance. 
 The prominence of the eye certainly adds much to the beauty of the animal, but 
 we shall see presently, when we considier the eye as the organ of sight, that, by 
 being too prominent, the rays of light may be rendered too convergent, and thte 
 vision indistinct; or if the cornea be small and flat, the rays may not be conver- 
 gent enough, and perfect vision destroyed; and, in either case, the horse may un- 
 pleasantly start, or suddenly and dangerously turn round. An eye neither too pro- 
 minent nor too flat will be nearest to perfection. 
 
 It ought to be perfectly transparent, and any cloudiness or opacity is the conse- 
 quence of disease, it is an exceedingly firm and dense membrane, and can scarcely 
 be pierced by the sharpest instrument. The cornea is composed of many different 
 plates, laid over one another, and between each, at least in a state of health, is a 
 fluid, which is the cause of its transparency; and the evaporation of which, after 
 death, produces the leaden or glazed appearance of the ej-e. When it appears to 
 be opaque, it is not often, and never at first, that the cornea is changed. It is the 
 conjunctiva, the membrane that spreads over it, that now carries through its nu- 
 merous vessels white blood instead of that which was perfectly pellucid or clear; 
 or there is a secretion of a milky fluid over or through the conjunctiva, leaving 
 the cornea beneath unaffected. If, however, the inflammation of the conjunctiva 
 contmues, a thick fluid is at length thrown out between the plates of the cornea, 
 and the cloudmess is converted mto perfect opacity. 
 
 Tlvere is nothing which deserves so much attention from the purchaser of a horse, 
 as the perfect transparency of the cornea over the whole of its surface. The eye 
 should be examined for tliis purpose, both in front, and with the face of the exami- 
 ner close to the cheek of the horse, under and behind the eye. The latter method 
 
72 THE HORSE. 
 
 of looking through the cornea is the most satisfactory, so far as the transparency 
 of that part of the eye is concerned. During this examination the horse should 
 not be in the open air, but in the stable, standing in the door-way and a httle within 
 the door. If any small, faint, whitish lines appear to cross the cornea, or spread 
 over any part of it, they are assuredly the remains of previous inflammation; or 
 altliough the centre and bulk of the cornea should be perfectly clear, yet, if round 
 the edge of it, where it unites with the sclerotica, there should be a naiTow ring 
 or circle of haziness, the conclusion is equally true, but the inflammation occurred 
 at a more distant period. Whether, however, the inflammation has lately existed, 
 or several weeks or months have elapsed since it was subdued, there is every pro- 
 bability that it will recur. 
 
 There is one little caution to be added. The cornea in its natural state is not 
 only a beautifully transparent body, but it reflects, even in proportion to its trans- 
 parency, many of the rays which fall upon it, and, if there be a white object im- 
 mediately before the eye, as a very light waistcoat, or much display of a white 
 neckcloth, the reflection may puzzle an experienced observer, and has misled the 
 careless one. The coat should be buttoned up, and the wliite cravat carefully con- 
 cealed. 
 
 Within the sclerotica, and connected with it by innumerable minute fibres and 
 vessels, is the choroid coat, I. It is a very delicate membrane, and extends over the 
 whole of the internal part of the e3'e, from the optic nerve to the cornea. It se- 
 cretes a dark colored substance or paint, by which it is covered; the intention of 
 which, like the inside of our telescopes and microscopes, has been supposed to be, 
 to absorb any stray rays of light which might dazzle and confuse. The black paint, 
 pigmentum nigrum, seems perfectly to discharge this function in the human eye. 
 It IS placed immediately under the retina or expansion of the optic nerve. The 
 rays of light fall on the retina, and, penetrating its delicate substance, are imme- 
 diately absorbed or destroyed by the black covering of the choroides underneath. 
 For the perfection of many of his best pleasures, and, particularly of his intellec- 
 tual powers, man wants the vivid impression which will be caused by the admission 
 of the rays of light into a perfectly dark chamber; and when the light of the sun 
 begins to fail, his superior intelhgence has enabled him to discover various methods 
 of substituting an artificial day, after the natural one has closed. Other animals, 
 without this power of kindling another although inferior light, have far more to 
 do with the night than we have. Many of them sleep through the glare of day, 
 and awake, and are busy during the period of darkness. Our servant the ox oc- 
 cupies some hours of the night in grazing; the sheep does so when not folded in 
 his pen; and the horse, worked during the day for our convenience and profit, has 
 often little more than the period of night allotted to him for nourishment and re- 
 pose. Then it is necessary that, by some peculiar and excellent contrivance, these 
 hours of comparative or total darkness to us should be partially yet sufliciently il- 
 luminated for them; and therefore, in the horse, the dark brown or black coat of 
 the choroides does not extend over the whole of the internal part of the eye, or 
 rather it is not found on any part on which the rays proceeding from the objects 
 could fall. It is not found in any part of what may be called the field of vision; 
 but, in its place, a bright variegated green is spread, and more over the upper part 
 than the lower, because the animal's food, and the objects which it is of conse- 
 quence for him to notice, are usually below the level of his head — thus, by suflering 
 the impression to remain longer on the retina, or by some portion of light reflect- 
 ed from this variegated bed on which the retina reposes, or in some other inexpli- 
 cable but efficient way, enabling the animal, even in comparative darkness, to pos- 
 sess a power of vision equal to his wants. 
 
 The reader may see in the dusk, or even when duskiness is fast yielding to utter 
 darkness, the beautiful sea-green reflection from the eye of the horse. It is that 
 lucid variegated carpet of which we are now speaking. 
 
 Who is unaware that in the fading ghmmering of the evening, and even in the 
 darker shades of night, his horse can see surrounding objects much better than his 
 rider, and who, resigning himself to the guidance of that sagacious and faithful ani- 
 mal, has not been carried in safety to his journey's end, when he would otherwise 
 have been bewildered? 
 
 If our reader has not seen this beautiful pigment in the eye of the horse, we 
 would entreat him to take the earhest opportunity of examining it, and he will be 
 convinced what care that Being, who gave all things life, has taken that each shall 
 b« fitted for his situation. The horse has not the intelligence of man, and may not 
 
THE EYE. 7S 
 
 want for any purpose of pleasure or improvement, the vivid picture of surrounding 
 objects, wiiich the retina of the human being presents. A thousand minute but 
 exquisite beauties would be lost upon him. He has not the faculty to appreciate, 
 or to profit by them. If, therefore, his sense of vision may not be so strong during 
 the day, it is made up to him by the increased power of vision in the dark. 
 
 Perfectljf while and cream colored horses have a peculiar appearance of the 
 eyes. The pupil is red instead of black. They have no black paint or brilli-^nt 
 carpet. It is the choroid coat itself which we see in tliem, and not its covering; 
 and the red appearance is caused by the numerous blood-vessels which are found 
 on every pare of that coat. 
 
 When we come to treat of other domestic aninials, we shall tell how this carpet 
 is varied in color to suit the situation and necessity of each. In the ox it is of a 
 dark green. He has not many enemies to fear, nor much difficulty in searching 
 for nourishment, and the color of the eye is adapted to his food. In the cat and 
 all his varieties, it is yellow. We have heard of the eyes of the lion appearing like 
 two flaming torches in the night. It is the refiection of the httle light about him, 
 concentred on the yellow carpet. There are few of our readers who have not 
 seen the same singular glare from the eyes of the domestic cat. In the wolf, and 
 likewise in the dog, who, in his wild state, prowls cliiefly at night, it is grey. In 
 the poor, unjustly persecuted badger, who scarcely dares to crawl forth at night, 
 although sheltered by the thickest darkness, it is white; and the ferret, who is des- 
 tined to hunt his prey through all its winding reti-eats, and in what would be to us 
 absolute darkness, has no paint on the choroides. 
 
 Tracing the choi'oides towards the fore part of the eye, we perceive that it is 
 reflected from the side to the edge of the lens, n, and has the appearance of se- 
 veral plaits or folds. They are actually foldings of the membrane. It is not di- 
 minished in size, but it has less space to cover, and therefore there must be these 
 duplicatures or plaits. They are very usefully employed in the place in which we 
 find them. They prevent the passage of any rays of light on the outside of the 
 lens, and which, proceeding forward in various directions, and uncondensed by the 
 power of the lens, would render vision confused or imperfect. These folds of the 
 choroides are called the ciliary processes. 
 
 Of the last and innermost coat of the eye, the retina, for which all the others 
 were constructed, we shall be better able to speak when we have explained tlie 
 contents of the eye. 
 
 Within the cornea, and occupying the fore part of the eye, is the aqueous hu- 
 mor, p, so termed from its i-esemblance to pure water. It is that by which the 
 cornea is preserved in its protuberant and rounded form. It extends to tlie crys- 
 talline lens, q, and therefore a portion of it, although a very small one, is behind 
 the iris, (to, p. 70.) Floating in this fluid is a membrane, with an oblong aperture, 
 called the iris. It is that which gives color to the eye. The human eye is said to 
 be black, or hazel, or blue, according to the co'.or of this membrane or curtain; 
 and it is called the iris, or rainbow, from its beauti.ul, interming-ling hues. The 
 color varies but little in the horse, and always bears some analogy to that of the 
 skin. We rarely see it lighter than a hazel, or darker than a brown. The spark- 
 ling black of the human being is never found. Horses perfectly white, or cream- 
 colored, have the iris white and the pupil red. When horses of other colors, and 
 which are usually pied, have a white iris and a black pupil, tliey are said to be 
 wall-eytd. Vulgar opinion has decided that a wall-eyed horse is never subject to 
 blindness, but tliis we believe to be altogether erroneous. There is no difference 
 of structure which can produce this exemption; but the wall-eyed horse, from this 
 singular and unpleasant appearance, and his frequent want of breeding, may not 
 be exposed to many of the usual causes of inflammation. 
 
 The aperture in the iris is termed the pupil, and through it light passes to the 
 inner chamber of the eye. The pupil is oblong, and variable in size. It varies 
 with the intensity or degree of light which fulls upon the e3'e. In a dark stable 
 the pupil is expanded to admit a great proportion of the liglit which falls upon the 
 cornea, but when the horse is brought towards tlie door of the stable, and more 
 light is thrown upon the eye, the pupil contracts in order to keep out that extra 
 quantity which woidd be painful to the animal, and injurious to vision. When op- 
 posed directly to the sun, the aperture will almost close. 
 
 This alteration of form in the pupil is eflTected by the muscular fibres which en- 
 ter into the composition of the iris. When these fibres contract, it is plain that the 
 pupil must enlarge. The membrane itself must be drawn into less compass, and 
 10 
 
74, THE HORSE. 
 
 therefore the aperture in the centre must be greater. When the fibres are relax- 
 ed, the pupil must proportionably diminish. The motions of the iris ai-e not at all 
 under the control of the will, nor is the animal sensible of them. They are pro- 
 duced by sympathy with the state of the retina. When a quantity of light, suffi- 
 cient to dazzle or give pain, falls upon the retina, it is exhausted, tlie fibres of the 
 iris sympathize witli it, and relax, and the curtain falls. When a deficient portion 
 of light reaches the retina, and vision is indistinct, we are conscious of an apparent 
 effort to bring the object clearly into view; the fibres then contract, and the aper- 
 ture enlarges, and more liglit is admitted. 
 
 This dilatation or contraction of the pupil gives a useful method of ascertaining 
 the existence of blindness in one eye or in both. There is a description of blind- 
 ness, which a close examination of the eye, even by a person accustomed to horses, 
 will not always detect. Tlie cornea and ci-ystalline lens remain perfectly transpa- 
 rent, but the retina is palsied, and is not affected by light; and good judges have 
 been deceived when blindness of this description has been confined to one eye. A 
 horse blind in both eyes will usually have his ears in constant and rapid motion, di- 
 recting them in quick succession to every quarter; he will likewise hang back in 
 his halter in a peculiar way; and will lift his feet high as if he were stepping over 
 some obstacle, when there is actually nothing to obstruct his passage; and there 
 will be an evident uncertainty in the putting down of his feet: these things, how- 
 ever, have been overlooked by the careless and inexpert, and a blind horse has 
 been bought as a sound one. In blindness of one eye httle or nothing of this cha- 
 racteristic gait and manner can be perceived; yet although a one-eyed horse may 
 not be absolutely condemned for the common business of the carriage or the road, 
 he is generally worthless as a hunter, for he cannot measure his distances, and will 
 run into his leaps.* Many a sportsman, puzzled and angry at the sudden blunder- 
 ing of his horse, or injured by one or more stunning falls, have found a very na- 
 tural, although unexpected explanation of it in the blindness of one eye, and that 
 perhaps produced through his own fault, by over-riding his willing and valuable 
 beast, and causing a determination of blood to the eye, which proved fatal to the 
 delicate texture of the retina. Even for the carriage or the road, he is, however, 
 sadly deteriorated; for, his eyes being placed laterally, his field of observation must 
 be materially lessened. 
 
 Let the size of both pupils be carefully noticed before the horse is removed from 
 the stable, and, as he is led to the door, observe whether they both contract, and 
 equally so, with the increase of light. If the horse should be first seen in the open 
 air, let it be observed whether the pupils are precisely of tlie same size; then let 
 the hand be placed over each eye alternately, and held there for a little while, and 
 let it be observed whether the pupil dilates with the abstraction of light, and equal- 
 ly dilates in each eye. 
 
 Hanging from the upper edge of the pupil of the horse, are found two or three 
 round black bodies, as large as millet seeds. When the horse is suddenly brought 
 into an intense light, and the pupil is closed, these bodies present a singular ap- 
 pearance, being squeezed out from between the edges of the iris. An equal num- 
 ber, but much smaller, are attached to the edge of the lower portion of the iris. 
 Their general use is probably to intercept portions of light which would be trou- 
 blesome or injurious; but tlieir principal function is accomplished during the act of 
 gi'azing. Tiiey are larger on the upper edge of the iris, and are placed on the 
 outer side of the pupil, evidently to discharge the same function which we have 
 attributed to the eyelaslies, to obstruct the light in those directions in which it 
 would come witli greatest force, both from above and even from below, whde, at 
 the same time, the field of view is perfectly open, so far as it regards tlie pastui'e 
 on which the horse is grazing. 
 
 Our cut, m, gives a duplicature of the iris, or the back surface of it. This is 
 called the uvea, and it is covered with a thick coat of black mucus, to arrest the 
 
 * Mr. W. Perclvall, however, in his excellent Lectures on Veterinary Art, vol. 
 iii, p. 201, says: "The loss of one eye does not enfeeble sight, because the other 
 acquires greater energy, though it much contracts the field of vision. It is said to 
 render the conception erring, and the case of mis-judgment of distances is the 
 one commonly brought forward to show tlus. All I can say on this point is, that 
 the best hunter I ever possessed, a horse gifted with extraordinary powers for leap- 
 ing, was a one-eyed horse, and this animal carried me through a hunting season 
 without, to my recollection, making one single blunder in leaping." 
 
THE EYE. 75 
 
 rays of light, and to prevent them from entering- the cj'e in any other way than 
 through tlie pnpil. The color of the iris is, in some unknown way, connected witli 
 this bhick paint behind. Wall-eyed horses, whose iris is white, have no uvea. 
 
 We now arrive at a body on which all the important uses of the eye mainly de- 
 pend, the crystalline lens, g, so called from its resemblance to a piece of crystal, or 
 transparent glass. It is of a thick jelly-like consistence, thicker and firmer towards 
 the centre, and convex on each side, but more convex on the inner than tlie outer 
 s'de. It is enclosed in a delicate transparent bag or capsule, and is placed between 
 the aqueous and the vitreous humors, and received into a hollow in the vitreous 
 humor with which it exactly corresponds. It has, from its density, and its double 
 convexity, the chief concern in convejing the rays of light which pass into the 
 pupil. 
 
 The lens is very apt to be affected from long or violent inflammation of the con- 
 junctiva, and either its capsule becomes cloudy, and imperfectly transmits the light, 
 or the substance of the lens becomes opaque. The examination of the horse, with 
 a view to detect this, must either be in the shade or at a stable door, where the 
 light shall fall on the horse from above and in front; and in conducting this exam- 
 ination we would more particularly caution the intended purchaser against a super- 
 fluity of white about his neck. Holding the head of the horse a little up, and the 
 light coming in the direction which we have described, the condition of the lens 
 will at once be evident. The confirmed cataract, or the opaque lens of long 
 standing, will exhibit a pearly appearance which cannot be mistaken, and will fre- 
 quently be attended with a change of form, a portion of the lens being forced for- 
 wards into the pupil Although the disease may not have proceeded so far as this, 
 yet if there be the slightest cloudiness of the lens, either generally or in the form 
 of a minute spot in the centre, and with or without lines radiating from that spot, 
 the horse is to be condemned; for in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred the disease 
 will proceed, and cataract, or complete opacity of the lens, and absolute blind- 
 ness, will be the result. 
 
 Cataract in the human being may, to a very considerable extent, be remedied. 
 The opaque lens may be extracted, or it may be forced into the vitreous humors, 
 and there existing as a foreign body it will soon be absorbed and disappear. These 
 operations are impossible in the horse, for, in the first place, there is a muscle of 
 which we have already spoken, and to be presently described, peculiar to quadru- 
 peds, and of such power as generally to draw back the eye too far into its socket 
 for the surgeon to be enabled to make his incision; and, could the incision be made, 
 the action of this muscle would force out the greater part of the contents of the 
 eye, and this organ would almost waste away. If, however, the opaque lens could 
 be withdrawn or depressed, and the mechanism of the eye were not otherwise in- 
 jured, the operation would be totally useless, for we could not make the horse 
 wear those spectacles, whose converging power might compensate for the loss of 
 the lens. 
 
 Behind the lens, and occupying four-fifths of the cavity of the eye, is the vifre- 
 ous humor, (glassy, or resembling glass.) It seems, when fii-st taken from the eye, 
 to be of the consistence of a jelly of beautiful transparency; but if it is punctured 
 a fluid escapes from it as limpid and as thin as water, and when this has been suf- 
 fered completely to ooze out, a mass of membraneous bags or cells remains. The 
 vitreous humor then consists of a watery fluid contained in these cells, but the fluid 
 and the cells form a body of considerably greater density than the aqueous fluid in 
 the front of the eye. 
 
 Last of all, between the vitreous humor and the choroid coat, is the retina, o, or 
 net-like membrane. It is an expansion of the substance, g, of the optic nerve. 
 When that nerve has reached the back of the eye, and penetrated through the 
 sclerotic and choroid coats, it first enlarges into a little white prominence, and from 
 that proceed radiations, or expansions, of nervous matter, which spread over the 
 whole of the choroid coat, and form the third investment of the eye. The mem- 
 brane by which this nervous pulp is supported, is so exceedingly fine and delicate 
 that it will tear with the slightest touch, and break even with its own weight. The 
 membrane and the pulp are perfectly transparent in the living animal. The pupil 
 appears to be black, because in the day time it imperfectly reflects the color of 
 the choroid coat beneath; in the dusk it is greenish, because the glare of day being 
 removed, the actual green of the paint appears. 
 
 On this expansion of nervous pulp, the rays of light from sun-ounding objects, 
 condensed by the lens and the humors, fall, and, producing a certain image cor- 
 
76 
 
 THE HORSE. 
 
 responding with these objects, the animal is conscious of their existence and 
 presence. 
 
 Light consists of particles which, proceeding from the sun or other luminous 
 bodies, fall on different objects, and being again reflected from them, and entering 
 the eye, render these objects visible. If we are in a dark room, wiiich we know to 
 be filled with furniture, we see it not, and were it not for our previous knowledge 
 of it, or did we not touch it, we should not be conscious of its existence, but if a 
 candle be brought into the room, or if one of the shvitters be opened, the light from 
 tlie candle, or that admitted through the window, falls upon the different articles 
 of furniture, and a portion of it being reflected from them, and reflected in every 
 direction, some of the light enters the pupil of the eye, and we see the objects 
 around us. 
 
 It proceeds from these objects to us in straight lines, and except it were imped- 
 ed, or driven, or drawn out of its coui'se by some body, it would continue to travel 
 on for ever in straight lines. It passes tlirough some bodies with perfect ease, as 
 glass, and crystal, and water, but it is obstructed in its passage by others, as metals 
 and wood. These substances, through which it readily passes, are said to be trans- 
 parent; those by which its course is arrested are called opaque. It has an attraction 
 for all bodies, stronger for some than for others. By the opaque body the gi-eater 
 part of it is absorbed, and, although it passes through the transparent body, it feels 
 and is affected by the attraction of that body. It is bent out of its way although 
 not detained. This is called the refraction of light; and it is on the knowledge of 
 this simple fact that all our optical instruments are constructed, and that we are 
 enabled to explain the wonderful construction of the eye. 
 
 This little figure will make it sufficiently evident. A ray of light, a, shall fall 
 on a smooth or level piece of glass, in the direction a b, and that course, if it were 
 not acted upon by the glass, it would pursue. But experience teaches us that it 
 
 does not. It no sooner enters the glass than it is bent out of its original course, 
 and takes the direction d. It had been acted upon by two forces, the first impulse 
 in the direction a b, and the attraction of the glass, in a perpendicular direction, 
 as it approached it; and, obeying both forces, it took a new path /, between the 
 two forces, and more towards a line, c, drawn perpendicular to the surface of the 
 glass. This new path it continued to pursue, until it had penetrated through the 
 glass; and tlien, being about to quit the glass, it was once more acted upon by 
 two forces; this combined impulse in an oblique direction, and the attraction of 
 the lower surface of the glass in a perpendicular one; and as before, obeying both, 
 it again traversed a new patli, e, between both forces, and in a direction from the 
 perpendicular. 
 
 The degree and kind of deviation from the original line will depend on the dif- 
 ference in density between the air and the glass, or water, or whatever substance 
 may be used, and likewise on the surface of the refracting body. Passing through 
 a transparent substance, with a plain and level surface above and below, the rays 
 will be bent out of their first direction, but will continue parallel to each other. 
 Passing through a concave glass, (a glass hollowed on one or both sides,) the rays 
 
THE EYE. 77 
 
 will diverge or separate; and, traversing a convex one, (rounded on one or both 
 sides,) they will converge or approach each other, and tend to a point; and the 
 degree of convergence or divergence will depend on the degree of convexity oi" 
 concavity. 
 
 Let us apply this to the mechanism of the eye of the horse (vide p. 70.) We 
 have spoken of the cornea, f, and the aqueous humor, q, and the crystalline lens, 
 g, and tlie vitreous humor, h, but although possessed of different refractive pow- 
 ers, according to their form and density, (and the cornea from its convexity, and 
 the crystalline lens from its density, being the principal agents,) they are so fitted 
 to each other that we may consider them as composing one exceedingly convex 
 lens, and of such power that the raj's entering the pupil, m, are brought to a point 
 within the very substance of the lens. 
 
 The place of distinct vision, liowever, will not be at this point, but a little way 
 behind. If the glass of a spectacles, such as those generally worn by old people, 
 be held between a candle and a piece of paper, the rays of light will converge by 
 the convexity of the glass, and be brought to a very small surface or point on the 
 paper; but on that point there will be no distinct picture of the candle, and tho 
 paper must be gradually removed from the light, until a distance be found at 
 which the image of the candle will be seen most vivid and distinct, although in- 
 verted. So (see the cut, p. 70,) the retina which is spread over the internal coat 
 of the eye is placed at a little distance behind the point where the rays meet and 
 cross. If the eye be too convex, and its converging' power too great, the rays will 
 cross too soon, and the image will be formed, brightest and best, before they 
 reach the retina, and the vision or sight will be imperfect and obscure. If the 
 eye is not sufficiently convex, and consequently does not possess converging pow- 
 er enough, the rays will not cross until they are too near the retina, and the pic- 
 ture would be most luminous and distinct behind the retina; and thus, likewise, 
 the sight would be imperfect and obscure.* 
 
 We are of course unable to ascertain when the horse experiences either of these 
 kinds of indistinct vision, nor are we able to offer any remedy for them: but noth- 
 ing can be more certain than that his sight is frequently very imperfect from one 
 of these causes. There is a shying, often the result of cowardice or playfulness, or 
 want of work; but at other times proving, beyond contradiction, a defect of sight. 
 A horse will manifestly mistake the nature of the object before him; he will run 
 against that which he should have seen; or he will be temfied by a tree or bird, 
 which should not have caused alarm. 
 
 This defect of sight is more dangerous than blindness. A blind horse will re- 
 sign himself to the guidance of his rider or driver; but against the misconception 
 and starting of a shying horse there is no defence. That horses grow shy as they 
 grow old, no one accustomed to them will deny; and no intelligent person will be 
 slow in attributing it to the right cause — a decay in the organ of vision — a loss of 
 convexity in the eye, lessening the convergency of the rays, and throwing the 
 perfect image beyond, and not on the retina. There is a striking difference in 
 the convexity of the cornea in the colt and the old horse; and both of them, pro- 
 bably, may shy from opposite causes; the one from a cornea too prominent, and 
 the other from one too flat. We do not think that, in the usual examination of 
 the horse previous to purchase, sufficient attention is paid to the convexity of the 
 cornea. 
 
 The remedy for shying will be considered when we speak of the vices of horses. 
 
 There is a provision yet wanting. The horse has a very extended field of view, 
 but many persons are not perhaps aware how little of it he can command at a time. 
 There is not one of our readers who can make out a single line of our treatise 
 without changing the direction of the eye. It is curious to follow the motion of 
 the eyes of a rapid reader. To move the head and neck in order to adapt the eye 
 
 • " In considering vision £is achieved by means of an image formed at the bot- 
 tom of the eye, we can never reflect without wonder on the smallness, yet cor- 
 rectness of the picture, the subtilty of the touch, and the fineness of the lines. 
 A landscape of five or six square leagues is brought into a space of half an inch in 
 diameter; yet the multitude of objects which it contains are all preserved, are all 
 discriminated in their magnitudes, positions, figures, colors. A stage coach pass- 
 ing at its ordinary speed, for several minutes, passes in the eye only over one- 
 twelfth of an inch, yet is the change of place in the image distinctly perceived 
 throughout its whole progi-ess." — Paley's Natural Theology, p. 32. 
 
78 THE HORSE. 
 
 to the whole scene before us, would be awkward and fatiguing', and nature has 
 adopted a simpler and better method. She has given no fewer than seven muscles 
 to the horse to turn this little but important organ; and, that they might act with 
 sufficient power and quickness, no less than six nerves are directed to the muscles 
 of the eye generally, or to particular muscles; and the eye rests on a mass of fat, 
 that it may be turned with little exertion of power, and without friction. There 
 
 MUSCLES OF THE EYE. 
 
 are four straight muscles, three of which are represented in our cut, d, e, and/, 
 rising from the back of the orbit, and inserted into the ball of the eye, opposite to 
 each other, and at equal distances from each other. One, d, runs to the upper part 
 of the eye, just behind the transparent and visible portion of it, and its office is 
 clearly to raise the eye. When it contracts, the eye must be drawn upward. 
 Another, /, is inserted exactly opposite, at the bottom of tlie eye; and its office is 
 as clearly to depress the eye, or enable the animal to look downwards. A third, 
 e, is inserted at the outer corner, and by means of it the eye is turned outward, 
 and, from the situation of the eye of the horse, considerably backward; and the 
 fourrh is Inserted at the inner corner, turning the eye inward. They can thus 
 rotate or turn the eye in any direction the animal wishes. If the upper and outer 
 muscles are called into action, the horse looks upwards and outward, and more 
 upward than outward in proportion as the upper muscle acts, at the will of the 
 animal, more powerfully than the outer; and thus, by the action of one of them, or 
 the combined action of any two of them, the eye may be immediately and accu- 
 rately directed to every point. 
 
 These muscles, however, have another duty to discharge. They support the eye 
 in its place. In the usual position of the head of the horse, they must be to a 
 certain degree employed for this pui'pose; but when he is grazing or feeding, the 
 principal weight of the eye rests upon them; and then, lest from this slanting and 
 downward position of the head, when the horse is so often and so long employed 
 in feeding, they should be fatigued, another muscle is added, peculiar to quadru- 
 peds, called the retractor, fdrawerback,J or the suspensorius f suspensory J mus- 
 cle, g. It arises from the edge of the foramen or hole through which the optic 
 nerve enters the orbit — surrounds the nerve as it proceeds forward, and then, par- 
 tially dividing into four parts, is attached to the back part of the eye. Its office 
 is evidently to support the eye generally, or, when it is suddenly called into pow- 
 erful action, and assisted by the straight muscles, it draws the eye back out of the 
 reach of threatening danger, and in the act of drawing it back causes the haw to 
 protrude, in the manner which we have already described, as an additional defence. 
 
 The power of this muscle is very great. It has been proved, in attempted ope- 
 rations for cataract, to exert a force equal to more than twenty pounds; and it ren- 
 ders an operation on the eye almost impossible. It is an admirable substitute for 
 the want of hands, to defend the eye from many things that would injure it; and, 
 being partially separated into four divisions, it is also enabled to assist the straight 
 muscles in turning the eye. 
 
 These muscles discharge another, and a most important office. If we examine 
 near and distinct objects through a telescope, we must alter the focus, i. e. we must 
 increase or diminish the length of the tube. We must shorten it a little when we 
 examine distant objects, because the rays coming to us from them, in a less diver- 
 
THE MUSCLES OF THE EYE— FRACTURE. 79 
 
 gent direction, are sooner brought to a point by tlie power of the lens; so the 
 straight and retractor muscles drawing back the eye, and forcing it upon the sub- 
 stance beliind, and tlius in a slight degree flattening it, bring the lens nearer to the 
 retina, and adapt the eye to the observation of distant objects. 
 
 Still, however, being employed in supporting tlie weight of the eye, these mus- 
 cles might not be able to turn it so rapidlj' and so extensively as the wishes or 
 wants of the animal might require; therefore two other muscles are given, which 
 are used solely in turning the eye. They are called oblique muscles, because 
 their course is obliquely across the eye. The upper one is most curiously con- 
 structed, a, h. It comes from the back part of the orbit, and takes a direction 
 upwards and towards the inner side, and there, just under the ridge of the orbit, 
 it passes through a perfect mechanical pulley, and, turning round, proceeds across 
 the eye, and is inserted rather beyond the middle of the eye, towards the outer 
 side. Thus the globe of the eye is evidently directed inward and upward. Some- 
 thing more, however, is accomplished by this singular mechanism. The eye is 
 naturally deep in the orbit, that it may be more perfectly defended; but it may be 
 necessary, occasionally, to bring the eye forward, and enlarge the field of vision. 
 The eye is actually protruded imder the influence of fear: not only are the lids 
 opened more widely, but the eye is brought more forward. Jlow can this i)ossi- 
 bly be accomplished? There are no muscles anterior to, or before the eye — there 
 is no place for their insertion. The object is readily affected by this singular pul- 
 ley, b, c. By the power of this muscle, the trochlearis or pulley-muscle, and the 
 straight muscles at the same time not opposing it, or only regulating the direction 
 of the eye, it is really brought somewhat forward. The lower oblique muscle 
 rises just within the lachrymal bone, (i, p. 52,) and, proceeding across the eye, is 
 fixed into the part of the sclerotica opposite to the other oblique muscle, and it 
 turns the eye in an opposite direction, assisting, however, tlie upper oblique in 
 bringing tlie eye forward from its socket. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 INJURIES AND DISEASES 
 
 OF 
 
 THE SKULL— THE BRAIN— THE EARS— AND THE EYES. 
 
 We have now arrived at a convenient resting-place in our somewhat dry, but 
 necessary description of the structure of the horse, and we willingly turn to more 
 practical matter. We will consider the injuries and diseases of the parts we have 
 surveyed. In entering, however, on this division of our work, we would premise 
 that it is impossible for us to give the fai-mer such an account of the nature and 
 treatment of the diseases of horses as will enable him with safety to practise for 
 himself, except in the commonest cases. The causes of most diseases are so ob- 
 scure, their symptoms so variable, and their connexion with other maladies so 
 complicated and mysterious, that a life devoted to professional study will alone 
 qualify a man to become a judicious and successful practitioner on the diseases of 
 the horse, and other domestic animals. Our object will be to communicate suffi- 
 cient instruction to the fanner to enable him to act with promptness and judgment 
 when he cannot obtain professional assistance — to qualify liim to form a satisfac- 
 tory opinion of the skill of the veterinary surgeon whom he may employ, and, 
 more especially, to divest him of those strange and absurd prejudices which, in a 
 variety of cases, not only produce and prolong disease, but bring it to a fatal 
 termination. 
 
 FRACTURE. 
 
 We have described the cavity of the skull of the horse as being so defended by 
 the hardness of the parietal bones, and those bones as so covered by a mass of 
 muscle, and protected above by an additional layer of bone, and the occipital bone 
 as so exceedingly thick, (see cut, p. 5;>,) tliat a fracture of the bones of the 
 skull is almost impossible. It can only occur from brutal violence, except that, 
 when a horse falls in the act of rearing, the occipital bone is sometimes fractured; 
 
80 THE HORSE. 
 
 when he falls forward, and the head comes in contact with tne ground, the muzzle 
 or jaws will receive the principal or whole force of the blow. When, however, 
 fracture of the skull does occur, it is almost invariably fatal. A blow of sufficient 
 violence to break these bones must likewise irreparably injure the delicate and 
 important organ which they protect. 
 
 The ridge, or outer and upper part of the orbit of the eye, is occasionally fr.ac- 
 tured. It happens from falling, or mucli oftener from violent blows. The slight- 
 est examination will detect the loosened pieces, but a professional man alone can 
 here render effectual assistance. All, however, that he can do will be gently to 
 replace the parts in the natural situation, and contrive to confine them there by ad- 
 hesive plasters; to obviate inflammation by bleeding, physic, and low diet, and 
 leave the rest to nature. 
 
 We proceed then to the diseases of the head, and the first of these is pressure 
 ON THE BUAiN. This may be produced by some fluid thrown out between the mem- 
 branes, or occupying and distending the ventricles of the brain. In the grown 
 horse this rarely occurs, but it is well known to breeders as an occasional disease 
 of the foal, under the name of "water in the head." The head is either very 
 much enlarged, or strangely deformed, or both; and the animal dies either in tlie 
 act of foaling, or a few days after the birth. 
 
 MEGRIMS. 
 
 There is another kind of pressdre on the brain, resulting from an tmusual deter- 
 mination or flow of blood to it. This organ requires a large supply of blood to 
 enable it to discharge its important functions. It is supposed th.at ten times more 
 blood flows through the brain than through any other part of the fi-ame of equal 
 bulk. Nature, in the horse more than in many other animals, has made some admi- 
 rable provisions to cause this great quantity of blood to flow into the brain without 
 much velocity, and thereby to lessen the risk of suddenly overloading it or rup- 
 turing its vessels. The arteries pursue their course to the brain in a strangely 
 winding and circuitous manner; and the}' enter the skull through bony holes which 
 will admit of the enlargement of the vessels only to a very limited extent: yet, from 
 various causes, of which the most common is violent exercise in a hot day, and the 
 horse being fat and full of blood, more than the usual quantity will be sent to the 
 head: — or from some negligence about the harness, as the collar being too small, 
 or the curb-rein too tight, the blood will be prevented from returning from the 
 head; and thus the larger vessels of the brain will be too long and injuriously dis- 
 tended, and, what is of more cDnsequence, the small vessels which run through the 
 subs^^ance of the brain will be enlarged, and the bidk of the brain will be increased, 
 and it will press upon the orig-ins of the nerves, and produce, almost without warn- 
 ing, loss of power and consciousness. 
 
 The mildest affection of this kind is known by the name of megrims. It com- 
 paratively rarely happens when the horse is ridden; but should he be driven, and, 
 perhaps, ratiier quickly, he may perform a part of his journey with his usual cheer- 
 fulness and ease, when all at once he will stop, shake his head, be evidently giddy, 
 and half unconscious. In a minute or two this will pass over, and he will go on 
 again as if nothing had happened. 
 
 Frequently, however, the attack will be of a more serious nature. He will fall 
 without the slightest warning, or suddenly run round once or twice, and then fall. 
 He will either lie in a state of complete insensibility, or struggle with the utmost 
 violence. In five or ten minutes he will begin gradually to come to himself; he 
 will get up and proceed on his journey, yet somewhat dull, and evidently affected 
 and exhausted by what had happened, although not seriously or permanently ill. 
 
 This is a very dangerous disease — dangerous to the horse, which will occasion- 
 ally die on the spot, and peculiarly dangerous to those who drive him, for there will 
 frequently be no warning or opportunity to escape. It likewise happens, tliat 
 whether the vessels have been weakened by this violent distension, and afterwards 
 offer less resistance to the flow of blood, or whatever be the cause, a horse that has 
 once been attacked by megrims is very subject to a return of the complaint. No 
 prudent man will drive a horse that has had a second attack, especially if, in the 
 intermediate time, he has not taken proper means to prevent a recurrence of the 
 fit. 
 
 At the moment of attack, a person who is able to bleed should take three or 
 four quarts of blood from the neck; or any one can cut the bars of the palate in 
 the manner explained where we describe the palate, and whence a considerable 
 
APOPLEXY— STOMACH-STAGGERS. 81 
 
 and sufficient quantity of blood may be readily obtained. The driver should pat 
 and soothe the animal, and carefully examine the harness, and pursue his journey 
 as gently as circumstances will permit. When he gets home, a dose of physic* 
 should be administered if the horse can be spared, and the quantity of dry food 
 lessened, and mashes given, or gi-een meat, or the horse should be turned out at 
 night, or turned out altogether for two or tlirec months, 
 
 APOPLEXY. 
 
 The attack sometimes assumes a still more violent form. The horse falls and 
 dies at once. It then rather resembles, or is the same with apoplexy in the human 
 being. To this more serious form of the disease he is subject in the stable, and 
 even at pasture; but there is generally some warning. He will be seen with the 
 head low, extended almost to the ground, and supported against the manger. He 
 staggers as he stands. If moved, he appears as if he would fall. His sight and 
 hearing are evidently affected. This is not mad-staggers, for no inflammation of 
 the brain is found; nor stomach-staggers, for there is no distension of the stomach. 
 The horse will continue in this way from one hour to twelve. He then falls; grinds 
 his teeth; his eyes are open, protruded, and fixed — the pupil is dilated; there are 
 twitchings about the frame; the muzzle is cold; the vein of the neck is evidently 
 swelled; he is unable to swallow; the drink is returned by the nostril or the mouth, 
 and the dung often voided involuntarily: the twitchings increase to strong convul- 
 sions, and death speedily closes the scene. 
 
 If there be time for medical treatment, the course to be pursued is plain enough. 
 Bleed copiously;-)- take at once eight or ten quarts. Bleed from a vein in prefer- 
 ence to an ai'tery, for an artery which supplies the brain cannot be got at. JBleed 
 from the jugular or common neck vein, for that returns the blood from the brain, 
 and a large quantity rapidly di-awn from this vein may possibly give relief. Next 
 back-rake, or remove the dung from the lower intestine with the hand, and give a 
 strong dose of physic: but the case is usually hopeless, and the most decisive and 
 skilful treatment alone can avail. We decidedly object to two methods of cure 
 adopted by some farriers, and farmers too. The first is to blow pepper (and 
 Cayenne pepper if they can get it,) up the nostrils of the horse. The violent sneez- 
 ing that will be produced, if the animal is not too insensible, must probably, or al- 
 most cei-tainly, rupture some of the vessels already over-distended. The other 
 practice is to gi^e spices and bark to rouse the animal. The effect of these would 
 be to quicken tlie circulation, and to send yet more blood to that organ which al- 
 ready had a gi-eat deal too much. 
 
 STOMACH-STAGGERS. 
 
 A disease not much unlike this is known under the name of staggers. There 
 are two varieties of it — the sleepy or stomach-staggers, and the mad-staggcrs; fre- 
 quently, however, they are only different stages of the same disease, or vaiying 
 with the cause that produced them. In stomach-staggehs the horse stands dull, 
 sleepj', staggering; when roused he looks vacantly around him; perhaps seizes a 
 lock of hay, and dozes again with it in his mouth; at length he drops, and dies: or 
 the sleepiness passes off, and delirium comes on, when he falls, rises again, drops, 
 beats himself about, and dies in convulsions. The cause of this is sufiiciently evi- 
 dent; and the disease never occurs except by the fault of those who have the 
 management of the horse. It rises from over-feeding. The horse has been per- 
 mitted to get at a too great quantity of food, or food of an improper natiu-e. 
 When he has been kept for some hours without eating, and has been worked 
 hard, and has become thoroughly liungry, he falls ravenously upon every kind of 
 food he can g-et at; swallowing it faster than his small stomach can digest it; and 
 no water being given to soften it, and to hasten its passage, the stomach becomes 
 crammed, and, having been previously exhausted by long fasting, is unable to 
 contract upon its contents. The food soon begiiis to ferment and to swell, caus- 
 ing great distension; the brain sympathizes with this overloaded organ, and stag- 
 
 * By physic, whenever the word occurs iii this treatise, we mean purgative me- 
 dicine. 
 
 fFidl directions for bleeding will be given, when we describe the various ope- 
 rations which it may be necessary to perform on the horse. 
 
82 THE HORSE. 
 
 gers are produced. We can easily imagine this, when we remember the sad 
 headaches occasionally arising from an overfilled or disordered stomach. Some- 
 times the stomach is ruptured. 
 
 We have little to say of the treatment of the disease so far as medicine is con- 
 cerned, except that, as it is almost or quite impossible for the person most accus- 
 tomed to horses to distinguish between the early stage of stomacli and mad-stag- 
 gers, (distension of the stomacli, and inflammation of the brain,) we should be 
 most diligent and minute in our inquiry into the history of the horse for the pre- 
 ceding twenty-four liours — whether he could have got at an undue quantity of 
 food, or had been worked hard and kept long fasting. Some say that there is a 
 yellowness of tlie eye, and twitching about the breast in the early stage of sleepy 
 or stomach-staggers. We have seen a great many cases of stomach-staggers with- 
 out this yellowness, or these catchings, and we believe that no one can certainly 
 distinguish between the two, and that we must be guided entu'ely by the history 
 of the case. 
 
 Bleed very largel)'; that cannot do harm, and in mad-staggers is indispensable. 
 Give a good dose of physic — that also cannot do hai-m, although in stomacli-stag- 
 gers it cannot do mucli good, for it can scarcely find its way into the over-distended 
 stomach, and it certainly cannot find its way through it. Keeping the horse fi'om 
 all food will be a very proper proceeding wliich ever be the disease. 
 
 Some good judges have affirmed that a horse was never cured of stomach-stag- 
 gers. U was formerly a very difficult thing, but the stomach-pump has done won- 
 ders in cases of poisoning in the human being, and, by means of a larger and 
 somewhat altered pump, (which every veterinary surgeon, and, we think, every 
 large proprietor of horses, sliould have on his premises,) tliis enormous mass of 
 food may, without difficidty, be washed out. 
 
 If, however, we can say but little of the treatment of stomach-staggers, we have 
 much to say of its prevention. It attacks old horses oftener tlian others, and horses 
 that have been hardly worked, or that have been worked for many hours without 
 food. Let no farmer delude himself with the idea that it is contagious. If his 
 horses have occasionally slight fits of the staggers, or if the disease carries off 
 several of them, he may be assured that there is something wrong in his manage- 
 ment. One horse may get at the corn-bin, and cram himself to bursting; but if 
 several are attacked it is time for him to look about him. The cause will gene- 
 rally be found to be too voracious feeding — too much food given at once, and per- 
 haps without water, after hard work and long fasting. Nothing is lost by the 
 habitual use of the nose-bag, and the more equal division of the hours of labor and 
 the times of feeding. Some careless and thouglitless people suffer their horses to 
 go from morning to night without being fed, and then tliey wonder if sometimes 
 the horses hang their heads, and droop, and cannot work. No horse should be 
 worked more than foiu' or five hours without being baited. 
 
 There is one consequence of this improper treatment, of which persons do not 
 appear to be aware although tliey suffer severely from it. A horse that has fre- 
 quent half-attacks of staggers very often goes blind. It is not the common 
 blindness from cataract, but a peculiar glassy appearance of the eye. If the liis- 
 tory of these blind horses could be told, it would be found that they had been 
 subject to fits of drooping and dvdness, and these produced by absurd management 
 respecting labor and food. 
 
 Staggers have been known to occur when the animal is at grass, but this usu- 
 ally happens in poor, hard-worked, half-starved animals, and soon after they have 
 been turned out, either in rich pasture, or in a salt marsh, and in hot weather. 
 
 There are, however, few diseases of the horse that are not occasionally epidemic, 
 or produced by some influence of the atmosphere, of the nature of which we are 
 ignorant; and stomach-staggers sometimes prevails in particular districts where 
 there is nothing remarkably wrong in the treatment of the horse. There is at that 
 time something in the atmosphere which weakens the stomach, and disposes it to 
 indigestion, and causes a little error in feeding to be dangerous, or produces con- 
 siderable disease under the common circumstances of feeding. When this is the 
 case the proprietor of horses should be particularly on their guard, for, in most of 
 tlie horses which then die, the distended stomach will be obseived, and will be the 
 actual cause of death. It is very possible that, at certain seasons, some poisonous 
 plants may prevail, or that the hay may not be so nutritive or digestible, and thus 
 the stomach may be weakened. The farmer will weigh all these things in his 
 mind, and act accordingly. 
 
MAD-STAGGERS— TETANUS, OR LOCKED-JAW. 83 
 
 MAS-STAGOERS. 
 
 MAn-STAO(3EB9 (inflamiTiation of the brain, brain fever,) can, as we have said, 
 be at first with difficulty disting-uishecl from the sleepy or stomach-stagg'ers, but, 
 after a while, the horse suddenly begins to heave at the flanks — his nostrils ex- 
 pand— his eyes unclose — he has a wild and vacant stare, and delirium comes 
 rapidly on. He dashes himself furiously about; there is no disposition to do 
 mischief, but his motions are sudden and violent, and accompanied by perfect un- 
 consciousness; and he becomes a terrifying and dangerous animal. This continues 
 either until his former stupor returns, or he has literally worn himself out in 
 frightful struggles. 
 
 There are only two diseases with which it can be confounded, and from both of 
 them it is very readily distinguished, viz., colic and madness. In colic the horse 
 rises and fulls, but not with so much violence; he sometimes plunges, but he more 
 often rolls himself about; he looks frequently at his flanks with an expression of 
 pain, and he is conscious. 
 
 In madness there may be more or less violence; there is sometimes a determina- 
 tion to do mischief; and there is always consciousness. 
 
 Over-exertion, when the horse is too fat or full of blood, or especially during hot 
 weather, is a frequent cause of inflammation of the brain; but whatever will pro- 
 duce general fever, may be the cause of mad-staggers. 
 
 The treatment adopted by the best practitioners is too often unsuccessful. The 
 horse should be bled until he faints or drops; or, if he be down, until he is evident- 
 ly faint and weak. Both the neck-veins should be opened at once, and the fulness 
 of the stream, or the quickness with which it is taken, is almost as important as 
 the quantity. Physic should then be given. The purge that acts most quickly 
 is the best, and that is the croton nut, powdered at the time, and given m a drink, 
 in the dose of a half drachm, and followed by smaller doses of ten grains each, 
 every six hours, with plenty of injections of warm soap and water, xuitil the bowels 
 are well opened. If the croton is not at hand, aloes may be given, but dissolved 
 in hot water — an ounce of aloes at the first dose, and, afterwards, a quarter of an 
 ounce every four hours, until purging is produced. This being eflected, those me- 
 dicines should be given which have a tendency to lessen the force of the circula- 
 tion, and, consequently, the determination of blood to the head. The most pow- 
 erful of these are the foxglove, and tartar emetic, in doses of a drachm each, tliree 
 or four times in the day. Hellebore should not be given on account of the pre- 
 viously too great determination of blood to the brain. The head should be blis- 
 tered, but rowels and setons give useless pain, for the horse is either cured or dead 
 before they perceptibly begin to act, 
 
 TETASUS, OK LOCKED-JAW. 
 
 We have described the nerves as proceeding from the brain and spinal marrow, 
 and conveying the power of feeling and motion to the whole frame. This power 
 may be best conceived by considering it as an influence proceeding from the brain, 
 to every part. In a state of health it is regularly and uniformly distributed; but 
 it is much affected by disease. It may rush on violently and without interruption, 
 and we have cramp, and tetanus, or locked-jaw. or the stream may be rapid, but 
 with considerable suspensions, and we have fits; or it may be quite suspended, and 
 we have palsy. 
 
 Teta:tu8 is one of the most dreadful and fatal diseases to which the horse is sub- 
 ject. It is called Locked-Jaw, because the muscles of the jaw are earliest and 
 most powerfully affected. Tetanus is a constant spasm of all the voluntary mus- 
 cles, and particularly of the neck, the spine, and the head. It is generally slow 
 and very treacherous in its attack. The liorse for a day or two does not appear 
 to be quite well; he doesnot feed as usual; partly chews his food and drops it; and 
 gidps his water. The owner at lengtJi finds out that the motion of the jaws is con- 
 siderably limited, and some saliva is drivelling from the mouth. If he tries the 
 mouth, he can open it only a very little way, or the jaws are perfectly and rigidly 
 closed; and thus the only time in which the disease could have been successfully 
 combated is lost. We have, therefore, given a cut of a horse laboring under this 
 disease, which the reader will do well carefully to examine as we proceed with the 
 symptoms, that he may be enabled to recognize it in its very earhest stage; and 
 the moment he does recognize it, he will do well to apply for the vei7 best advice 
 
 V 
 
84 
 
 THE HORSE. 
 
 he can get. Most of the peculiavities delineated in the cut will be sufficiently ap- 
 parent before the jaws are locked, and while medicine can be administered with 
 tolerable ease. 
 
 The jaws are unnaturally fixed, and then he observes that there is a stifTness of 
 the neck; a difficulty in bringing the head round, and a prominence, and hardness, 
 and unyieldingness of all the muscles of the neck; with an unusual protrusion of 
 the head. It next occurs that the poor animal cannot bend liis head. The retrac- 
 tor muscle (fig. g, p. 78,) is affected by spasm, and the eye is drawn into the socket 
 — squinting outward — ^and the haw protruding over a poilion of it. The nostril is 
 expanded, the ear erect, and the countenance anxious; the back and loins are stiff, 
 and if he is turned in his stall, tlie whole body turns at once like an unbending 
 piece of wood. The muscles of the belly are also affected by spasm, and he is 
 tucked up (his belly contracted and drawn up,) to a strange degree. The tail is 
 
 erect, and constantly quivering. The extremities are singularly fixed; the hind- 
 legs straddling; the fore-legs projecting foi'ward and outward (as some one has aptly 
 described it,) like the legs of a stool. The pulse at first not much affected, but 
 soon becoming quick, and small, and irregular; tlie breathing more laborious as the 
 disease proceeds; and the countenance wild and haggard, and expressive of extreme 
 agony. The pain which attends the cramp of one limb will enable us to judge 
 of that which must accompany universal spasm. If a person goes near the horse, 
 or touches him in the slightest way, although he may be unable to move, yet the 
 sudden quickening of the pulse will tell what the animal feels and fears. So the 
 disease goes on for nine or ten days, until the animal is exhausted by the expendi- 
 ture of nervous energy, and the continuance of torture. 
 
 If, from strength of constitution or medical treatment, he should recover, the 
 first favorable symptom is a slight and short remission of the spasm; the time of 
 the remission gradually lengthening, and the jaws a Httle relaxing; but the progi'ess 
 of cure is exceedingly slow, and the horse is left very weak. 
 
 Tetanus is evidently an affection of the nerves. A small fibre of some nerve 
 has been injured, and the effect of that injury has spread to the origin of the nerve; 
 the brain has become affected, and universal diseased action speedily follows. 
 Locked-jaw generally arises from a wound, and oftenest a wound of a tendinous or 
 ligamentous part; but depending not either upon the extent of the wound, or the 
 degree of inflammation which may be excited. The time of the attack is uncer- 
 tain, and may be postponed until liie wound is nearly or quite healed. It occasion- 
 ally follows nicking, docking, cropping, whether well or ill performed — whether 
 properly attended to afterwards or neglected. It has been traced to worms, and 
 particularly to bots; but we do not think that there is any proof of this. Expo- 
 sure to cold is a frequent cause; water dropping upon the back through the de- 
 cayed roof of a stable; or the storm pelting upon the uncovered and shivering ani- 
 mal, while the thoughtless owner has sheltered himself. 
 
 The rational method of cure would seem to be, first to remove the local cause; 
 but this will seldom avail much. The irritation is become general, and the spas- 
 modic action constitutional. The habit is formed, and will continue. It is well. 
 
FITS, Oil EPILEPSY. 85 
 
 however, to endeavor to discover the local cause. If it be a wound in the foot, 
 let it be touched with the hot iron or the caustic, and kept open with digestive 
 ointment. The now irritation thus produced, may lessen or remove the old one. 
 If it follows nicking", let the incision be made deeper, and stimulated by dig-estive 
 ointment; and if it arise from docking-, let tlie operation be repeated liig-iier. In 
 treating the constitutional disease, efforts must be made to tranquillize the system, 
 and the most powerful agent is bleeding. We have known twenty pounds of 
 blood taken at once, and with manifest advantage. There is not a more powerful 
 means of allaying general irritation. Temporary relaxation of the spasm will at 
 least follow, and that will give the opportunity to do anotlier tiling in order to re- 
 duce and quiet the disturbed system, and that is to give pliysic. Here again, that 
 physic is best which is speediest in operation, and will lie in tlie smallest compass. 
 The croton has 7io rival in this respect. The first dose should be a Imlf-drachm, 
 and the medicine i-epeated every six hours, in doses of ten grains, until it operates. 
 The bowels, in all tliese nervous affections, are very torpid, and there is little 
 danger of inflammation from an over dose of pluslc. The operation of the physic 
 may be assisted by frequent injections, each containing a drachm of aloes dissolved 
 in warm water — or, by means of the pump, to which we referred in page 82, 
 whole pailfuls of warm water or very thin gruel may be thrown up. 
 
 Then, as it is a diseased action of the nerves proceeding from the spinal mar- 
 row, the whole of the spine should be blistered — three or four inches wide. The 
 horse should be placed in a warm stable, yet with pure air, and shoidd be clothed 
 with two or three additional rugs, or, w'hat is much better, slieep-skins warm from 
 the animal, with the raw side inward, and changed as soon as they become dry or 
 putrid. 
 
 Having bled largely, and physicked and blistered, we seek for other means to 
 lull the irritation, and we have one at hand, small in bulk and potent in energy — 
 opium. Give at once a quarter of an ounce, reduced to powder, and made into a 
 drink with gruel, or in a small ball, (in its crude state it would be too long in dis- 
 solving in the stomach,) and give an additional drachm every six hours. If the 
 jaw should be quite fixed, administer it in injections. The bowels must be at- 
 tended to during the exhibition of the opium, and aloes given in small doses, to 
 keep them in a lax state. Camphor and assafostida may be given by those who 
 please; we are not aware that they will do injury, but opium is the sheet-anchor 
 of the veterinary practitioner. 
 
 Great caution and patience are requisite in administering the drinks, for the 
 elevating of the head seems to be exceedingly painful to the horse. A ball may 
 be divided into small pieces, and with a piece of cane or whalebone conveyed to 
 the back part of the mouth, where it will be dissolved, and must be swallowed. 
 
 As soon as possible the strength should be supported by nutritive food. The 
 appetite seldom fails in this disease; and it is painful to see the repeated eager ef- 
 forts of the poor animal to allay his hunger. When his jaws are most firmly fixed, 
 he will sometimes be able to suck in the liquid from a moist masli; if he has the 
 slightest command over them, he will contrive to swallow the greater part of the 
 mash: and should there be room to introduce the mouth of a small horn, he will 
 thankfully take as much gruel as Ills attendant will give him. Until the jaws are 
 firmly locked, he may be suffered to have hay, although he should only chew it 
 and drop it from the mouth; for this action of the muscles of the jaws may delay 
 or prevent their total closui-e. Little medicine will be wanted as he gets better; 
 noui-isliing food, not too liberally administered, will constitute the best tonic; and 
 should the weather be sufficiently warm, few things will do him more good than 
 to turn him out for two or three hours in the middle of the day. It will extend 
 the muscles of his neck, and bring him to the use of his hmbs. 
 
 Against one mode of treatment we enter our protest, from its cruelty and its in- 
 utihty — the application of cold. Some turn the animal out uncovered in a frosty 
 night. We have no faith in the practice of this: but placing the poor horse under 
 a pump, and letting the water flow upon his spasmed limbs for hours together, or 
 dashing it violently upon him, wliile he crouches and groans all the while, is both 
 cruel and useless. 
 
 FITS, on EPILEPSY. 
 
 The sti'eam of nervous Influence is sometimes rapid, but the suspensions are 
 considerable, and this is tlie theory of fits, or epilepsy. Fortunately the horse 
 
86 THE HORSE. 
 
 is not often afflicted with this disease, althoug-h it is not unknown to the breeder. 
 The attack is sudden. The animal stops; trembles; looks vacantly around him, 
 and falls. Occasionally the convulsions wliich follow are slight; at other times they 
 are terrible. The he.ad and fore part of the horse are most affected, and the con- 
 tortions are most sinp^ular. In a few minutes the convulsions cease; he gets up; 
 looks aroimd him with a kind of stupid astonishment; shakes his eai'S; urines; and 
 eats or drinks as if nothing- had happened. 
 
 The only hope of cure consists in discovering the cause of the fits; and an ex- 
 perienced practitioner must be considted, if the animal be valuable; generally 
 speaking, however, the cause is so difficult to discover, and the habit of fits is so 
 soon formed, and they will so frequently retui-n, even at a gi-eat distance of time, 
 that he who values his own safety, or the lives of his family, will cease to use an 
 epileptic horse. 
 
 The stream of nervous influence is sometimes stopped, and thence results paist. 
 The power of the muscle is unimpaired, but the nervous energy is deficient. 
 Pais)' in the horse is usually confined to tlie hinder limbs. When purging has 
 been too suddenly stopped, he becomes paralj-tic. It is sometimes the conse- 
 quence of violent inflammation of the bowels. It is produced by falls, blows on 
 the loins, injury in casting, and turning in a narrow stall. In these latter cases 
 the spine has been evidently injured. Old carriage horses, and horses of draught 
 of every kind, although not absolutely paralyzed, have often great stiffness in their 
 gait, and difficulty of turning. Possibly they can tui'n one way and not the other. 
 They are unwilling to lie down, from experience of the difficulty they would have 
 in rising again. These are evident injuries of the spine, and a loss of some of the 
 joints of the loins or back, and are without remedy; and so often is palsy. Bleed- 
 ing, physicking, antimonial medicines, and stimulating embrocations, are the most 
 likely means of cui'e. 
 
 RABIES, OK MADNESS. 
 
 There is another disease of the nervous system of which we must speak — kabies, 
 or MADNESS — that incurable malady which results from the bite of a rabid or mad 
 animal. The poison of the saliva remains in the wound for an uncertain time, 
 varying from three to eight weeks in the horse, and then begins to produce 
 its dreadful effects on the system. The attack of rabies (or hydrophobia, as it is 
 commonly, but very improperly called in the horse and other quadrupeds, for they 
 have no dread of water.) is usually very sudden. The animal will go to work 
 apparently well; all at once he will stop, tremble, heave, paw, stagger, and fall. 
 Almost immediately he will rise; draw his load a little farther; again stop, look 
 ab^^ut him, and once more fall. This cannot be confounded with megrims, be- 
 cause the horse is perfectly sensible. The sooner he is led home the better, for 
 the progress of the disease is most i-apid; and, if he is not immediately destroyed, 
 he should be shing, for sometimes a state of the highest excitation speedily ensues. 
 The horse kicks and plunges in the most violent manner; attempts furiously to 
 seize and bite the otlier horses, or his attendants; "and will level with the ground 
 every thing before him, himself sweating, and snorting, and foaming, amidst the 
 ruins." In both the ferocious and the harmless variety of the disease, staggering 
 and palsy of the hinder extremities soon follow. We remember to h.ave seen a 
 beautiful mare, sitting on her haunches, and unable to rise, yet pawing furiously 
 with her fore-feet, and striking at every thing within her reach. The thirst is ex- 
 cessive, and the act of swallowing is usually performed with a forced gulping ef- 
 fort, and the head is, in a few instances, snatched violently from the pail. The 
 disease rarely extends beyond the third day. 
 
 After death, there is uniformly found inflammation at the back part of the 
 mouth, and at the top of the windpipe, and likewise in the stomach, and on the 
 membrane covering the lungs, and where the spinal marrow first comes from the 
 brain. 
 
 When the disease can be clearly connected with a previous bite, the sooner the 
 animal is destroyed the better, for there is no cure. If the symptoms bear consi- 
 denible resemblance to rabies, although no bite be suspected, the horse should at 
 least be slung, and the medicine, if any be administered, given in the form of a 
 
NEUROTOMY, OR CUTTING THE NERVE. 87 
 
 drink, and with the hand well protected; because, if it should be scratched in ball- 
 ing the horse, or the skin should have been previously broken, the sahva of the 
 animal is capable of communicating the disease. Several farriers have lost their 
 lives from being bitten or scratched in the act of administering medicine to a 
 rabid horse. 
 
 It is always dangerous to encourage dogs much about the stable, and especially 
 if they become fond of the horses, and are in the habit of jumping up and licking 
 them. The corners of horses' moutlis are often sore from the pressure of the bit; 
 and when a coach-dog in a gentleman's stable — and it is likely to happen in every 
 stable, and with every dog — becomes rabid and dies, tlie horse too frequently fol- 
 lows him at no great distance of time. 
 
 If a horse shuuld be bitten by a dog under suspicious circumstances, he should 
 be carefully examined, and every wound, and even the slightest scratch, well 
 burned with the lunar caustic, (nitrate of silver,) asid the scab should be removed 
 and the operation repeated on the third day. The hot u-on dops not answer so 
 well, and other caustics are not so manageable. In the spring of 1827, four horses 
 were bitten near Hyde Park by a mad dog. To one of them the lunar caustic 
 was severely and twice applied — he lived. The red hot iron was unsparingly 
 Vised on the others, and they died. The caustic must reach every part of the 
 wound. At the expii-ation of the fourth month, tlie horse may be considered to 
 be safe. 
 
 NErROTOMT, OR CUTTIIfG THE HEBVE. 
 
 To enable the hoi-se to accomplish many of the tasks we exact from him, we 
 have nailed on his feet an iron defence. Without the shoe he would not only be 
 unable to travel over oiu* hard roads, but he would speedily become useless to us. 
 While, however, the iron protects his feet from being battered and bruised, it is 
 necessarily inflexible. It cramps and confines the hoof, and, without gi-eat cai-e, 
 entails on our valuable servant disease and torture. 
 
 Among the different modes of palliating or removing the extreme pain, veteri- 
 nary surgeons have lately resorted to the division of the nerve which goes to the 
 foot. We shall now perliaps be able to understand the reason and the effect of 
 the operation. Tlie nerve of the leg, we have said, is derived from the union of 
 several of the spinal nerves, and consequently it is a nerve of combined feehng 
 and motion. The fibi-es connected with motion, however, are directed only to 
 those parts which are concerned in the production of motion, and these are the 
 muscles. By the contraction of the muscles, caused by the influence of the nerves, 
 the hmbs are moved. The bones, the blood-vessels, and other parts, are merely 
 passive. Now the muscles of the leg of the horse do not extend below the knee. 
 No part concerned in the production of motion is found below the knee, and the 
 fibres of the nerve which are connected with motion are all distributed above tliis 
 joint; and when we divide the nerve either on the pastern or above the fetlock, 
 we do not touch a single fibre connected with motion. Those which are connect- 
 ed with feehng are continued to the very extremity of the foot, and these are the 
 fibres which we divide in the operation of neurotomy, or nerve-cutting. We can- 
 not possibly interfere with the motion of the limb, but we take away the sensibi- 
 Uty or feeling of the foot, and reUeve the animal fi-om torture; and, doing this, 
 we not only render him a service in return for tlie many we have received from 
 lum, but we often and speedily abate tlie inflammation of the part, and give time 
 for the use of remedies which we should otherwise have been unable to apply, and 
 thus possibly retain liis services for many a year. 
 
 It is long before a new operation or practice, however useful or judicious it 
 may be, is generally adopted, and, probably, the majority of our readers are some 
 of the last to shake off" the prejudices and errors of their forefathers We have 
 heard it said by many a farmer, and by many a fai-rier too — " What! cut the nerve 
 of the limb! Is not the nerve tlie very life of the limb? Does not the limb derive 
 all its support from the nerve? Will nut the foot waste away, and even the hoof 
 di-op off ?" When this operation has been improperly performed, and where 
 common sense would have forbidden it, and the horse, not only freed from pain, 
 but from feehng too, has battered and bruised his foot, which the sensation of 
 pain would not have permitted, and thus the structure of the foot has been injured 
 or destroyed, and the hoof has actually dropped off" after the division of the 
 nerve— every prejudice has been strengtliened, and the operation has been cen- 
 
88 
 
 THE HORSE. 
 
 sured and neglected. Now, although we have shown that every part of the animal 
 frame is dependant on nervous energy, we have also shown that we do not and 
 cannot, by this operation, injure those nerves on wliich nutrition depends: these 
 are the ganglial nerves, which wind round the arteries and veins, and their mi- 
 nutest branches, and enable them to discharge tlxeir functions, and they are not, 
 and cannot be touched in the operation of unnerving; nor can the sUghtest portion 
 of nutriment be taken away from the Umb, We divide only the nerve of sensa- 
 tion; and if we have used a little common sense, and considered whether it be a 
 case that admits of the operation, and will probably benefit by it, we shall g^V€ 
 relief to him who well deserves it, and will amply repay it. 
 
 A The nerve on the inside of tlie off leg at the edge of 
 
 the shank bone, and behind the vein and artery. 
 B The continuation of the same nerve on the pastern, and 
 
 proceeding downward to supply the back part of tlie 
 
 foot with feehng. 
 c The division of the nerve on the fetlock joint. 
 D The branch which supplies with feeling the fore part 
 
 of the foot. 
 E The artery between the vein and nerve. 
 F The continuation of the artery on the pastern, close to^ 
 
 and before the nerve, 
 ^ o The vein before the artery and nerve, 
 u The same vein spreading over the pastern. 
 I One of the flexor tendons, the perforatus (perforated.) 
 J The deeper flexor tendon, the perforans (perforating, 
 
 contained within the other.) 
 K The tendinous band in which the flexors work, 
 t One of the extensors of tlie foot. 
 M The internal or sensible frog. 
 I^M N The posterior lateral ligament. 
 
 N o The fleshy or sensible lamina covering the coffin bon^ 
 
 the horny crust being removed. 
 p The horny crust. 
 tl The sole. 
 
 Our cut gives a view of the nerve on the inside, as it approaches the fetlock, 
 and goes over the pastern. It will be seen that branches are given off" above the 
 fetlock, which go to the fore part of the foot, and supply it with feeling. The 
 continuation of the nei-ve below the fetlock is given princijjally to the quarters and 
 hinder part of the foot. The first considei-ation, then, with the operator is — Does 
 he wish to deprive the whole of tlie foot of sensation, or is the cause of lameness 
 principally in the hinder part of tlie foot, so that he can leave some degree of feel- 
 ing in the fore part, and prevent that alteration in the tread and going of the horse, 
 which the good horseman immediately detects ? 
 
 The horse is cast and secured, and the limb to be operated on removed from the 
 hobbles and extended; the hair having been previously shaved from the pai-t. The 
 operator then feels for the throbbing of the artery, or the round firm body of the 
 nerve itself, on the side of the shank bone, or the larger pastem. The vein, ar- 
 tery, and nerve here run close together, the vein nearest to the front of the leg, 
 then the artery, and the nerve behind. He cautiously cuts through the skin, for 
 an inch and a half in length. The vessels will then be brought into view, and the 
 nerve will be distinguished from them, by its being behind, and by its whiteness. 
 A crooked needle with silk is passed under it to raise it a little; it is dissected from 
 the cellular substance beneath, and about three quarters of an inch of it cut out, the 
 first incision being made at the upper part, in which case the second cut will not be 
 felt. ,The horse must then be. turned and tlie operation performed on the other side, 
 for there is a nervous trunk on botli sides. Tlie wounds are now closed witli strips 
 of adhesive plaster, a bandage placed over them, the head tied up for two dajs. 
 
DISEASES OF THE EYE, 89 
 
 and the animal kept rather low, and as quiet as possible. The incisions will gene- 
 rally rapidly heal, and in three weeks, or a montli, and sometimes earher, the horse 
 will be fit for work. 
 
 For ring- bone — tlie side cartilages becoming bony, and partial stiffness of the 
 pastern and coffin joints, the operation of nerving will probably be useful. The 
 sense of pain being taken away, the animal will use these parts more, and partly 
 recover their natural action and motion. For the same reason, in old contraction 
 of the feet, it is highly beneficial. The torture occasioned by the pressure of the 
 horny crust on the sensible parts within being no longer felt, and the foot coming 
 fully and firmly in contact with the ground, not only is lameness relieved, but the 
 elasticity and form of the foot partially restored. Where there has long existed 
 lameness unattended with heat of the foot, or alteration of shape, and the seat of 
 which could not be ascertained, although probably existing between the shuttle 
 bone and the back tendon which plays over it, neurotomy may be resorted to with 
 decided advantage. 
 
 Mischief, however, will result from the operation if the pastern or coffin joints 
 are perfectly stiff, because the concussion occasioned by the forcible contact of the 
 foot with the ground, and unbroken by the play of the joints, must necessarily still 
 more injure the bone. When the sole of the foot is convex or pumiced, the effect 
 of neurotomy will be most destructive. The sole, scarcely able to bear the pres- 
 sure of the coffin-bone forced below its natural situation, even when pain induces 
 the animal to put his foot as gently as possible on the ground, would now be speedi- 
 ly worn through and destroyed. So, if inflammation existed, although its pain 
 might be removed, yet its progress would be quickened by the bruising to which 
 the parts might be subjected, and more especially would this be the case if there 
 were any ulceration of the ligaments or cartilages. How many cases will this in- 
 clude? To how many poor coach and cart-horses and hackneys might some years 
 of usefulness and enjoyment thus be added i" 
 
 The value of the operation, or the unpleasant consequences which may follow 
 from it, depend upon the judgment of the surgeon; and that judgment being duly 
 exercised, we regard this operation as one of the most important discoveries in 
 hoi'se practice in modern times. 
 
 DISEASES OF THE ETE. 
 
 The diseases of tlie eye constitute a very important, but a most unsatisfactory di- 
 vision of our work; for the maladies of this organ, although few in number, are 
 frequent in their appearance; they are sadly obstinate, and baffle all skill. The 
 eye of the horse appears to be naturally more disposed to disease than that of any 
 other animal with which we are acquainted; and most assuredly there is no domes- 
 tic animal, the treatment of whose diseases is so much at variance with common 
 sense. 
 
 We have spoken of Fractuhe of the orbit, and its treatment. Occasionally a 
 WocjfD is inflicted by a passionate or careless servant. The eye itself is rarely in- 
 jured. It is placed on a mass of fat, and it turns most readily, and the prong of 
 the fork glances off; but the substance around the eye may be deeply wounded, 
 and very considerable inflammation may ensue. This should be abated by poul- 
 tices, and bleeding, and physic; but no probe should be used, under the foolish idea 
 of ascertaining the depth of the wound, for, from the constant motion of the eye, 
 it is almost impossible to pass the probe into the original wound, and the effort to 
 accomplish it will give a gi-eat deal of pain, and increase the inflammation. 
 
 The horse has occasionally a scaly eruption on the edges of the eyelids, attend- 
 ed with great itching, in the effort to allay which, by rubbing the part, the eye 
 may be blemished. The nitrated ointment of quicksilver, mixed with an equal 
 quantity of lard, may be slightly rubbed on the edges of tlie lids with considerable 
 good effect. 
 
 Warts are sometimes attached to the edges of the lids, and are a source of great 
 irritation. When rubbed they bleed, and the common opinion is true that they are 
 propagated by the blood. They may be taken off with a sharp pair of scissors, 
 and their roots touched with the lunar caustic. 
 
 The Haw may be thickened, and project on the fore part of the eye. The eye 
 is drawn back by the retractor muscle to relieve it from the painful influence of 
 the light; and the haw being thus pushed forward, and thickened, and the neigh- 
 boring parts thickened, is unable to retract. Cooling applications, and bleeding 
 12 
 
90 THE HORSE. 
 
 and physic, will generally set all right. The farrier who talks of cutting out this 
 important organ must be exceedingly ignorant. 
 
 In a very few instances long continued inflammation of the haw is followed by 
 ulceration and eating away of the cartilage. If the Goulard lotion, and that suc- 
 ceeded by the white vitriol, fail to abate the inflammation or to retract the part, it 
 may be necessary to extirpate it. The horse must be cast, and the aid of a vete- 
 rinary surgeon is indispensable, for he alone can determine how much of the neigh- 
 boring membranes must likewise be removed. 
 
 COMMON INFLAMMATIOIT OF THE EYB. 
 
 The conjunctiva is the seat of the worst disease, and which is too often destruc- 
 tive to the eye. We may consider inflammation of the eye under two forms — the 
 common and manageable, and the specific and flttal. The Common Injiajamation 
 is generally sudden in its attack. The lids will be found swelled, the eyes par- 
 tially closed, with some weeping. The inside of the lid will be red, some red 
 sti-eaks visible on the white of the eye, and the cornea slightly dim. This is usu- 
 ally connected with some degree of catarrh or cold; but it is as often unaccompa- 
 nied by this, and depends on external irritation, as a blow, or the presence of a bit 
 of hay-seed or oat-husk within the lid, and towards the outer corner where the 
 haw cannot reach it: therefore the lids should always be carefully examined as to 
 this possible source of the complaint. The health of the animal is generally not 
 at all affected; he feeds well, and performs his work with his usu.il spirit. Cool- 
 ing applications to the eye, as the Goulard's extract in the proportion of a drachm, 
 or half an ounce of the tincture of opium to a pint of water, with mash-diet, 
 and gentle physic, will usually get rid of this: or the inflammation will subside 
 without medical treatment. 
 
 SPECIFIC OPHTHALMIA, OR MOON-BLINDNESS. 
 
 Should three or four days pass, and the inflammation not be abated, we may begin 
 to suspect that it is the true Ophthalmia, especially if the eye be very impatient of 
 light, and the cornea be considerably clouded: the aqueous humor then often loses 
 its transparency, even the iris changes its color, and the pupil is exceedingly con- 
 tracted. We have now an obstinate disease to combat, and one which will gene- 
 rally maintain its ground in spite of all our efforts. For three, or four, or five 
 weeks, the inflammation will remain undiminished, or if it appears to yield on one 
 day, it will return with redoubled violence on the next. At length, and often un- 
 connected with any of the means we have been using, the eye begins to bear the 
 light, the redness on the membrane of the lid and the white of the eye somewhat 
 suddenly disappears, the cornea clears up, and the only vestige of disease which 
 remains is a slight thickening of the lids, and apparent uneasiness when exposed 
 to a very strong light. 
 
 If we imagine that we have got rid of the disease, we shall be sadly disappoint- 
 ed, for, in the course of six weeks or two months, either the same eye undergoes 
 a second and similar attack, or the other eye becomes affected. All again seems 
 to pass over, except that the eye is not so perfectly restored, and a slight, deeply, 
 seated cloudiness begins to appear; and after repeated attacks, and alternations of 
 disease from eye to eye, the affair terminates in opacity of the lens or its capsule, 
 attended with perfect blindness either of one eye or both. This affection was for- 
 merly known by the name of moon-blindness, from its periodical return, and some 
 supposed influence of the moon. That planet, however, has not, and cannot have 
 any thing to do with it. 
 
 What is the practitioner doing all this while? He is an anxious and busy, but 
 almost powerless spectator. He foments the eyes with warm water, or applies cold 
 lotions with the extract of lead or opium, or poultices to which these drugs may 
 be added; he bleeds, not from the temporal artei-y, for that does not supply the 
 orbit of the eye, but from the angular vein at the inner corner of the eye, or by 
 scarifying the lining of the lid, or by subtraciing a considerable quantity of blood 
 from the jugular. The scarifying of the lids, which may be easily accomplished 
 without a twitch, by exposing the inside of the lids, and drawing a keen lancet 
 slightly over it, is the most effectual of all ways to abate inflammation, for we are 
 then unmediately unloading the distended vessels. He places his setons in the 
 cheek, or his rowels under the jaw; and he keeps the animal low, and physics, or 
 
SPECIFIC OPHTHALMIA, OR MOON-BLINDNESS. 91 
 
 gives fever medicine (digitalis, nitre, and emetic tartar;) or, as some have done, 
 considering' it as a constitutional disease, administers the corrosive sublimate daily in 
 doses of a scruple. The disease, however, ebbs and flows, retreats and attacks, 
 until it reaches its natural termination, blindness of one or both eyes. 
 
 The horse is more subject to this disease from the ag-e of four to six years than 
 at any others period. He has then completed his growth: he is full of blood, and 
 liable to inflammatory complaints, and the eye is the organ attacked from a pecu- 
 liar predisposition in it to inflammation, the nature or cause of which cannot be ex- 
 plained. Every affection of the eye appearing about tliis age must be regarded 
 with much suspicion. It is a common opinion that black horses are more subject 
 to blmdness than others. We have considerable doubt about this, or rather we be- 
 lieve that color has no influence either in producing or aggravating the disease. 
 
 As tills malady so frequently destroys the sght, and there are certain periods 
 when the inflammation has seemingly subsided, and tlie inexperienced person would 
 be deceived into the belief that all danger is at an end, the eye should be most 
 carefully examined at the time of purchase, and the examiner should be fully aware 
 of all the minute indications of previous or approaching disease. They are a sl'ght 
 thickening of the lids, or puckering towards the inner corner of the eye; a differ- 
 ence in the apparent size of the eyes; a cloudiness, although perhaps scarcely per- 
 ceptible, of the surface of the cornea, or more deeply seated, or a hazy circle round 
 its edge; a gloominess of the eye generally, and dulness of the iris; or a minute, 
 faint, dusky spot in the centre, with or without little fibres or Unes diverging from it. 
 
 The cause of this inflammation is undoubtedly a strong predisposition to it in 
 the eye of the horse, but assisted by the heated and poisoned air of many stables. 
 Some of our readers, whose stables are not too air-light, see frequently a gi-eat deal 
 of this disease; but if they knew its ravages where several horses are crowded to- 
 gether, and scarcely a breath of air admitted, they would deem themselves com- 
 paratively fortunate. The heated air has much to do with the production of the 
 disease; the poisoned air a great deal more; for every one must have observed, on 
 entering a close stable early in the morning, strong fumes of hartshorn, which 
 were painful to his eyes, and caused them to water. What must be the constant 
 action of this on the eyes of the horse? The dung of the horse, and the litter of 
 the stables, when becoming putrid, give out fumes of volatile alkali or hartshorn; 
 but besides this, the urine of the horse, for some purpose unknown to us, possibly 
 to teach us to take better care of this useful servant, begins very soon after it is 
 voided to give out an immense quantity of this pungent gas. If we are scarcely 
 able to bear it when we stand in the stable for only a few minutes, we need not 
 wonder at the prevalence of inflammation in the eye of the stabled horse, nor at the 
 difficulty of abating inflammation while the eye continues to be exposed to such 
 painful excitement. Stables are now much better ventilated than they used to 
 be, and this disease is not so prevalent as it was fifty years ago. 
 
 The farmer may not be aware of another cause of this disease, to which his 
 horse is more particularly exposed, viz., confinement in a dark stable. Many 
 stables in the country have no glazed windows, but there is a flap which is open 
 for a few hours in the day, or while the carter is employed in the stable, and 
 when that is shut down almost total darkness prevails. Let our reader consider 
 what are his sensations when he suddenly emerges from a dark room into the fidl 
 glare of light: he is dazzled and bewildered, and some time passes before his vi- 
 sion is distinct. Let this be repeated several times in the day, and what will be 
 the consequence? The sight will be disordered, and the eye irreparably injured. 
 Then let him think of his poor horse, who often stumbles and starts through no 
 fault of his own, although he is corrected for so doing, but because his eyes are 
 necessarily weakened by these sudden transitions, and disposed to take on tliis sad 
 inflammation with all its fatal results. 
 
 The propagation of various diseases, and this possibly more than any other, from 
 the sire to his progeny, has not been sufficiently considered by breeders. Let a 
 stallion that is blind, or whose sight is defective, possess every other point and 
 quality that can be wished, yet he is worse than useless; for a very considerable 
 proportion of his offspring will most assuredly inherit his weak eyes, or become 
 totally blind. There is no fact better established than this. 
 
 The most frequent consequences of this disease are cloudiness of the eye, and 
 cataract. The cloudiness is singular in its nature. It will change in twenty-four 
 hours from the thinnest film to the thickest opacity; and as suddenly the eye will 
 nearly regain its perfect transparency, but only to lose it, and as rapidly, a second 
 
92 THE HORSE. 
 
 time. The most barbarous methods have been resoi-ted to for the purpose of re- 
 moving this cloudiness. Chalk, and salt, and sugar, and even pounded glass, have 
 been introduced into the eye mechanically to rub of tlie film. It was forgotten 
 that the cloudiness was the effect of inflammation, and that means so harsh and 
 cruel were very likely to recall the inflammation; that these rough and sharp sub- 
 stances must of necessity inflict excruciating pain; and that, after all, it generally 
 is not a film on the siu'face of the cornea, but a dimness pervading its substance, 
 and even sinking deep within it, and tlierefore not capable of being rubbed off. 
 Where the cloudinss can be removed, it will be best effected by first abating in- 
 flammation; and then exciting the absorbents to take up the grey deposite, by 
 washing the eye with a very weak solution of corrosive sublimate, containing not 
 more than a gi-ain of the sublimate to an ounce of water. 
 
 Opacity of the lens is another consequence of inflammation. A white speck 
 appears on the centre of the lens, which gradually spreads over it, and completely 
 covers it. It is generally so white and pearly as not to be mistaken: at other times 
 more hazy, deceiving the inexperienced, and occasioning doubt in the mind of the 
 professional man. We have seen many instances in which the sight has been evi- 
 dently affected or almost lost, and yet a different opinion has been given by very 
 fair judges. The eye must be exposed to the light, and yet under the kind of 
 shelter to which we have previously referred in order to discover the defect. The 
 pupil of the horse is seldom black, like that of the human being, and its greyish 
 hue conceals the recent or thin film wliich may be spreading over the lens. 
 
 Cataract in the eye of the horse admits of no remedy, for two obvious reasons: 
 the retractor muscle draws the eye back so powerfully and so deeply into the 
 socket that it would be almost impossible to perform any operation; and, could an 
 operation be performed, and the opaque lens removed, the sight would be so im- 
 perfect, from the rays of light not being sufficiently converged, that the horse 
 would be worse to us than a blind one. The man who has undergone the opera- 
 tion of couching, may put a new lens before his eye, in the form of a convex 
 spectacle, but we could not adapt spectacles to the eye of the horse, or fix them 
 there. 
 
 GUTTA SEHEJfA. 
 
 Another species of blindness, and of which we spoke when describing the reti- 
 na, is GcTTA Serena, commonly called the glass eye. The pupil is more than 
 usually dilated; it is immoveable, and bright, and glassy. This is palsy of the op- 
 tic nerve, or its expansion, the retina; and is usually produced by determination 
 of blood to the head. We have described it as a consequence of staggers. So 
 much pressure has been occasioned on the base of the brain, that the nerve has 
 been injured, and its function destroyed. The treatment of Gutta Serena is quite 
 as difficult as that of cataract. We have heard of successful cases, but we never 
 saw one; nor should we be disposed to incur much expense in endeavoring to ac- 
 complish impossibilities. Reasoning from the cause of the disease, we should bleed 
 and physic, and rowel. If we succeeded, it must be by constitutional treatment.; 
 but in the majority of cases, the pressure would have long ceased, although the 
 mischief which it had effected remained. As to local treatment, the seat of disease 
 is out of our reach. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 THE ANATOMY AND DISEASES OF THE 
 NOSE AND MOUTH. 
 
 We now pi-oceed to the description of the yace of the horse, so called in contra- 
 distinction from the upper part of the head, containing the brain. The nasal bones, 
 or bones of the nose {^j j, page 52, and a, p. 53^) are connected with the frontal 
 bones above, and with the lachrymal, i i, and the bones of the upper jaw, / /, on 
 either side; they are united together by a plain suture, which is a continuation of 
 the frontal, and they terminate in a point at the nostril (/, p. 49.) They are round- 
 ed and arched above, because they are exposed to occasional violence and injury. 
 
ANATOMY OF THE NOSE. ^ 
 
 which the arch-form will enable them best to resist; and at the base of the arch, 
 where the main strength should be, they are overlapped by the upper jaw-bone as 
 we have described the temporal bone overlapping' the base of the parietal. These 
 bones form a principal part of the face; and the lenglh, or shortness, and the cha- 
 racter of the face, depend upon them. The largeness and length of these bones 
 constitute the striking' difference between the head of the cart horse and of the 
 blood horse. 
 
 In some horses, this arch is more than usually developed, and there is, beside, a 
 prominence or increased archedness about half-way down the nasal bones. These 
 horses are said to have Roman noses, because this arcli of the nose distinguishes 
 the profile of some of the most celebrated of the ancient Romans. We cannot say 
 that the breed of horses in which the Roman-nose usually occurs, possesses supe- 
 rior sagacity or courage; they are generally easy, good-tempered horses, excellent 
 feeders, and hardy constitutioned, but possessing little blood. Many thorough-bred 
 horses have a peculiarity the reverse of the Roman-nose. There is a depression 
 or hollow about the middle of the nasal bones. Although this be a characteristic 
 of breeding, it often accompanies an uncontrollable and vicious temper. 
 
 These bones form the roof of an important cavity (see a, p. 53.) The sides are 
 constituted above by the nasal bones, and, lower down, by the upper jaw-bones, (sm- 
 perior maxillaries,) while plates from these latter bones project and compose the 
 palate, which is both the floor of the nose and the roof of the mouth, (J, p. 53.) 
 
 Above, (near fig. 8,) not visible in our cut, is a bone called the palatine, although 
 it contributes very little to the formation of the pal.ite. It is the termination of the 
 palate, or the border of the opening where the cavities of the mouth and nose meet 
 (fig. 8.) The frontal sinuses, b, and large vacuities in the upper jaw-bone, and in 
 the acthmoid, /, and sphenoid bones, k, communicate with and enlarge the cavity 
 of the nose. 
 
 This cavity is divided into two parts by a thick cartilage (r, p. 53.) When we 
 open the nostril, we see the membrane by which the cartilage, and the whole of 
 the cavity of the nose is lined, and by the color of which, much more than by 
 that of the lining of the eyelids, we judge of the degree of fever, and particular- 
 ly of inflammation of the lungs, or any of the air passages. By the sore places or 
 ulcerations discovered on this membrane, we likewise determine on the existence 
 of glanders. This cavity is, on either side, occupied by two bones, which, from 
 their being rolled up somewhat in the form of a turban, are called the turbinated 
 or turbin-shaped bones, s S; part of the cartilage is cut away to display them. They 
 are as thin as gauze, and perforated, like gauze, with a thousand holes. Between 
 them are left sufficient passages for the air. 
 
 If they were unrolled they would present a very considerable surface; and on 
 every part of them is spread the substance or pulp of the olfactory, or first pair of 
 nerves. These bones, lined with delicate membranes, and covered by the olfac- 
 tory nerves, are the seat of smell: and they are thus expanded, because the sense 
 of smell in the horse must, to a very considerable degree, supply the place of the 
 sense of touch and the lessons of experience in the human being. By this alone 
 is he enabled to select, amongst the nutritive and poisonous herbage of the mea- 
 dow, that which would support and not destroy liim. The troops of wild horses 
 are said to smell the approach of an enemy at a very considerable distance. In his 
 domestic state, the horse does not examine the different food which is placed before 
 him, with his eye, but with his nose; and if the smell displeases him, no coaxing- will 
 induce him to eat it. He examines a stranger by the smell, and, by very intelligi- 
 ble sigTis, expresses the opinion which he forms of him by this inquisition. The 
 hoi-se will evidentlj- recognize his favorite groom when he has nothing else to indi- 
 cate his approach but the sense of smell. These cavities are hkewise organs of 
 voice. The sound reverberates through them, and increases in loudness, as through 
 the windings of a French horn. 
 
 The extension of the nostril at the lower part of these cavities is an important 
 part of the face, and intimately connected with breeding, courage, and speed. The 
 horse can breathe only through the nose. All the air which goes to and returns 
 from the lungs must pass through the nostrils. In the common act of breathing, 
 these are sufficiently lai-ge; but when the animal is put on his speed, and the res- 
 piration is quickened, these passages must dilate, or he will be much distressed. 
 The expanded nostril is a striking feature in the blood-horse, especially when he 
 has been excited and not over-blown. The sporting man will not forget the sudden 
 effect which is given to the countenance of the hunter, when his ears become 
 
94 
 
 THE HORSE. 
 
 erect, and his nostrils dilate as he first hears the cry of the hounds, and snorts, and 
 scents them afar off^ and the painful and spasmed stretching of this part, in the poor 
 over-driven post-horse, will show how necessary it is that the passage to the lungs 
 should be free and open. The nostril should not only be large, but the skin and 
 substance which cover the entrance into the nose should be thin and elastic, that 
 they may more readily yield, when the necessity of the animal requires a greater 
 supply of air, and afterwards return to their natural dimensions. Therefore, na- 
 ture, which adapts the animal to his situation and use, has given to the cart-horse, 
 that is seldom blown, a confined nostril, and surrounded by much cellular substance, 
 and a thick skin; and to the horse of more breeding, whose use consists in his 
 speed and his continuance, a wider nostril, and much more flexible. 
 
 The inhabitants of some countries were accustomed to slit the nostrils of their 
 horses, that they might be less distressed in the severe and long-continued exertion 
 of their speed. The Icelanders do so to the present day. There is no necessity 
 for this, for nature has made ample provision for all the ordinary and even extra- 
 ordinary exertion we can require from the horse.* Some very powerful muscles 
 proceed from different parts of the face, to the neighborhood of the nostrils, to 
 draw them back, and dilate them. Four of them are given in this cut, which is 
 introduced here to complete our present subject, and-which will be often referred 
 to in the course of our work; /, m, o, and ja, are muscles employed for this purpose. 
 
 THE MUSCLES, NERVES, AND BLOOD-VESSELS OF THE HEAD, AND 
 UPPER PART OF THE NECK. 
 
 a The upper part of the ligament of the neck. 
 
 b The levator humeri, (elevator of the shoulder,) arising from the tubercle of the 
 occiput, the mastoid (nipple-shaped) process of the temporal bone, and the 
 transverse processes (cross projections) of the four first bones of the neck, 
 and the ligament of the neck, and going to the muscles of the shoulders, 
 and the upper bone of the arm: to draw forward the shoulder and arm; or 
 turn tlie head and neck; and, when the two levators act, to depress the 
 head. 
 
 c The tendon common to the complexus major (larger complicated) and splenius, 
 (splint-like:) — to the mastoid process of the temporal, to hold up the head, 
 or, the muscles on one side alone acting, to turn it. 
 
 • De Grey, whose " Complete Horseman" was published in 1657, recommends 
 that a stumbling or crippled horse should have his nose cut open, and the two ten- 
 dons which go to the lip divided; and "this," says he, "will give him the use of 
 his legs so perfectly, as that he will seldom or never trip any more." Farriers 
 adopt many absurd and cruel practices now-a-days, but nothing half so barbarous 
 as this. 
 
ANATOMY OF THE NOSE AND LIPS. -^W" 
 
 d The stemo-maxillaris (belonging* to the breast-bone) and upper jaw, from the 
 cartilage in front of the chest to the angle of the lower jaw: to bend the 
 head, or, if one only act, to bend it on one side. 
 
 « The styb-maxillaris, from the styloid (pencil-shaped) or coracoid (beak-shaped) 
 process of the occiput, to the angle of the jaw: to pull the jaw backward 
 and open it. 
 
 f The subscapulo hyoideus, from under the shoulder-blade, to the body of the os 
 hioydes, (the bone at the root of the tongue formed like a Greek u, v.) to 
 draw back that bone. 
 
 g The masseter, (chewing;) a most powerful muscle, constituting the cheek of 
 the horse — from tiie upper jaw-bone into the rough surface round the angle 
 of the lower — in conjunction with the temporal muscle, to close the mouth 
 and chew the food. 
 
 k The orbicularis (circular) surrounding the eye and closing the lids. 
 
 t The zygomaticus, from the zygomatic arch and masseter to the comer of the 
 mouth, to draw back the angle of the mouth. 
 
 k The buccinator (trumpeter) from the inside of the mouth and cheeks to the 
 angle of the mouth, to draw it back. 
 
 / The nasalis labii superioris (belonging to the nose and upper lip) from a de- 
 pression at the junction of the superior maxillary and malar bones to the 
 angle of the nostril: to raise the lip, and dilate the nostrils. 
 
 m Dilator naris lateralis (side dilatar of the nostril) reversed to show the vessels 
 and nerves which it covers, going from the covering of the nasal and frontal 
 bones, to the angle of the mouth and side of the nostril — to retract the 
 upper lip and dilate the nostrils. 
 
 n Dilator magnus (great dilator) assisting in the same office. 
 
 Depressor labii inferioris (puller down of the under lip) to the sides of the under 
 lip: to pull it down. 
 
 p Orbicularis oris (circular muscle of the mouth) surrounding the mouth: to close 
 the lips, and dilate the nostrils. 
 
 q The upper portion of the parotid gland (gland near the ear) reversed to show 
 the blood vessels and nerves beneath it. 
 
 r The parotid duct piercing the cheek to discharge the saliva into the mouth. 
 
 s The maxillary gland (gland of the lower jaw) with its duct. 
 
 t The jugular (neck) vein after the two branches have united. 
 
 u At this letter, the submaxillary artery, a branch of the jugular and the parotid 
 duct, pass under and within the angle of the lower jaw; they come out 
 again at w, and climb up the cheek to be distributed over the face. 
 
 V The vein and artery passing under the zygomatic arch. 
 
 X A branch of the fifth pair, the sensitive nerve of the face, emerging from under 
 the parotid gland. 
 
 y The main branch of the portio dura (hard portion) of the seventh pair, the mo- 
 tor (moving) nerve of the face coming out from beneath the parotid gland 
 to spread over the face. 
 
 z Branches of both nerves with small blood-vessels. 
 
 There are also four distinct cartilages attached to the nostrils, which, by their 
 elasticity, bring back the nostrils to their former dimensions as soon as the muscles 
 cease to act. The bones of the nose (a a, p. 52, and/, p. 49,) are also sharpened 
 off to a point to give wider range for the action of the muscles; while the carti- 
 lages are so contrived, as not only to discharge the office we have mentioned, but 
 to protect this projection of bone from injury. 
 
 There are two circumstances wliich, more than many others, will enable the 
 veterinary surgeon, and the owner of a horse, accurately to judge of the charac- 
 ter and degree of many diseases, and to which very few pay sufficient attention: 
 these are the pulse, of which we shall presently speak, and the color of the mem- 
 brane of the nose, at which we have hinted a few pages back, and of which we 
 would again remind the reader. It is the custom of most veterinary surgeons, and 
 of almost every horseman who takes any pains to ascertain for himself the state of 
 his sick horse, to turn down the under eyelid, and to form his opinion by the color 
 which its lining presents. If it be very red, there is considerable fever; if it be 
 of a pale pinkish hue, there is little danger. The nose is more easily got at; the 
 surface presented to the view is more extensive; the sympathy with almost all the 
 important organs is greater; and the changes produced by disease are more strik- 
 
96 THE HORSE. 
 
 ing' and more conclusive. Let the reader first make himself well acquainted with 
 the uniform pale pink appearance of that portion of the membrane which covers 
 the lower part of the cartila^noiis partition between the nostrils, when the horse 
 is in health, and quiet; then the increased blush of red, betokening some excite- 
 ment of tlie system; the streaked appearance of inflammation commenced, and 
 threatening to increase — the intense florid red, of acute inflammation; the pale 
 ground with patches of vivid red, showing the half subdued but still existing fever; 
 the uniform color, although somewhat redder than natural, predicting a return to 
 a healthy circulation; the paleness approaching to white, marking the stage of de- 
 bility, and sometimes intermingled with radiations of crimson, inducing the suspi- 
 cion of lurking mischief; and the dark livid color of approaching stagnation of the 
 vital current: these, with all their shades of difference, will be guides to his 
 opinion and treatment, which every one who has studied them will highly appre- 
 ciate. 
 
 NASAL GLEET, OK DISCHARGE FROM THE NOSE. 
 
 The most frequent disease of this cavity is an increased and thicker discharge 
 of fluid from the nose. It may be properly called a Nasal Gleet. There is a 
 constant secretion of fluid to lubricate and moisten the membrane that lines the 
 cavity of the nose, which, under catarrh or cold, is increased in quantity, and al- 
 tered in appearance and consistence. This will properly belong to our account 
 of catarrh or cold; but that to which we immediately refer is a continued and of- 
 tentimes profuse discharge when every symptom of catarrh and fever has passed 
 away; an almost incredible quantity of thickened mucus, of different colors: if the 
 horse is at grass, almost as green as the food on which he lives; or, if he be 
 stabled, white, straw-colored, brown, or even bloody, and sometimes evidently 
 mingled with matter or pus; and either constantly running, or snorted out in 
 masses many times in the day; teasing the horse, and a perfect nuisance in the 
 stable, and to the rider. AVe have known this continue several months, and even- 
 tually desti'oy the horse. 
 
 If the discharge be not offensive to the smell, nor mixed with any matter, it is 
 probablv merely an increased and somewhat vitiated secretion from the cavities of 
 the nose; and, all fever having disapjjeared, will frequently yield to small doses of 
 blue vitriol, from one to two drachms, and given twice in the day. If fever or 
 cough remain, the cough medicine which will hereafter be described must be com- 
 bined with the tonic. If the discharge be mingled with pus, and very ofl^ensive, 
 the vegetable tonics, gentian and ginger, may be added to the copper in doses of 
 two drachms of the former, and one of the latter; but there is then reason to ap- 
 prehend that the discharge will not be controlled, and will terminate in glanders. 
 Turning into a salt marsh will occasionally eflfect a cure, when both the mineral 
 and the vegetable tonics have failed. 
 
 GLANDERS. 
 
 The next and most formidable of all the diseases to which the horse is subject is 
 Glanders. It is described by writers fifteen hundred years ago, and it was then, 
 and is now, not only a loathsome, but an incurable disease: we shall therefore 
 principally confine ourselves to the consideration of its symptoms, nature, and 
 causes, and prevention, and degree of contagion, and these will afford too much 
 matter of interest to the farmer. 
 
 If we could obtain an authentic history of the glandered horse, we should find 
 that, in the majority of instances, if the disease were bred in him, he had been 
 dull, off" his feed, losing flesh, and his coat staring; and that these appearances had 
 for several weeks preceded the characteristic symptoms of glanders. These symp- 
 toms, however, may lead to, or be the causes of other diseases, or they may pass 
 away, and the horse may return to perfect health. That which would be consi- 
 dered as the earliest, and an unquestionable symptom of glanders, would be an 
 increased discharge from one or both nostrils; diflTerent from the discliarge of ca- 
 tarrh, because it is usually lighter and clearer in its color, and more glutinous or 
 sticky. When rubbed between the fingers it has, even in an early stage, a pecu- 
 Ear, clammy, bird-limy feel. It is not discharged occasionally, and in large quan- 
 tities, like the mucus of catarrh, but it is constantly running from the nostril. 
 
 It is a singular circumstance, for which no satisfactory account has yet been 
 given, that when one nostril alone is attacked, it is in a great majority of cases the 
 
GLANDERS. 97 
 
 near or left. M. Dupuy, the director of the veterinary school at Toulouse, gives 
 a most sing-ular account of this. He says that out of eight hundred cases of glan- 
 ders that came under his notice, only one was afTected in tlie right nostril. 
 
 This discharge, in cases of infection, may continue, and in so slight a degree as 
 to be scarcely perceptible for many weeks or months before the healtli and capa- 
 bilities of the horse seem to be injured. It will remain for a long time almost 
 transparent, yet gluey; and then it will begin to be mingled with pus; retaining, 
 however, its sticky character, and being rarely offensive in the early stages. The 
 constant flow of this secretion, and its stickiness, with the absence of cough either 
 before or during the discharge, will be the only symptoms. In process of time, 
 however, pus mingles with the discharge, and then another and a characteristic 
 symptom appears. Some of this is absorbed, and the neighboring g-lands become 
 affected; and, if there be discharge from both nostrils, the glands within the under 
 jaw will be on both sides enlnrged. If the discharge be from one nostril only, 
 the swelled gl?nd will be found on that side alone. Glanders, however, will fre- 
 quently exist at an early stage without these swelled glands, and some other 
 diseases, as catarrh, will produce them. Then we must look out for some peculi- 
 arity about these glands, and we shall readily find it. The swelling may be at 
 first somewhat large and diffused, but the surrounding enlargement soon goes off, 
 and one or two small distinct glands remain; and they are not in the centre of the 
 channel, but adhere closely to the jaw on the affected side. 
 
 The membrane of the nose may now be examined, and will materially guide 
 our opinion. It will either be of a dark purplish hue, or almost of a leaden color, 
 or of any shade between the two; or, if there be some of the redness of inflam- 
 mation, it will have a purple tinge; but there will never be tlie faint pink blush 
 of health, or the intense and vivid red of usual inflammation. Spots of ulceration 
 will probably appear on the membrane covering the cartilage of the nose — not 
 simple sore places, or streaks of abrasion, and quite superficial, but small ulcers 
 usually approaching to a circular form, deep, with the edges abrupt and promi- 
 nent. \\ hen these appearances are observed, there can be no doubt about the 
 matter. Care should be taken, however, to ascertain that these ulcers do actually 
 exist, for spots of mucus adhering to the membrane have been more than once 
 taken for them. The finger should, if possible, be passed over the supposed ul- 
 cer, to determine whether it can be wiped away, and it should be recollected, as 
 we have already hinted when describing the duct that conveys the tears to the 
 nose, that the orifice of that duct, just within the nostril, and on the inner side of 
 it, has been mistaken for a cancerous ulcer. I'his orifice is on the continuation of 
 the common skin of the muzzle which runs a little way up the nostril, while the 
 ulcer of glanders is on the proper membrane of the nose above; and the line of 
 separation between the two is evident on the slightest inspection. 
 
 It is proper to state that this discharge has continued luiattended by any other 
 disease, or even by ulceration of the nostril for two or three years, and yet the 
 horse was decidedly glandered from the beginning, and capable of propagating 
 the malady. 
 
 When ulcers on the membrane of the nose have appeared, the constitution will 
 be evidently affected. The horse will lose flesh; his belly will be tucked up; his 
 coat will be unthrifty, and readily come off; cough will be heard; the appetite will 
 be impaired; the strength will fail; the discharge from the nose will grow more 
 purulent, discolored, bloody, stinking; the ulcers in the nose will be larger and 
 more numerous; and, the air-passages being obstructed, a grating, choaking noise, 
 will be heard at every act of breathing. The lungs are now diseased; they a'-e 
 filled with tubercles or ulcerations; and the horse at length dies an emaciated and 
 loathsome object. 
 
 The symptons frequently vary, and to a most puzzling degi'ee. The discharge 
 will be so slight as scarcely to be perceived, and known only by its stickiness; and 
 the glands will not be in the least degree enlarged. At other times a very small 
 enlarged gland may be found, adhering to the jaw, and may be stationary month 
 after month, and the surgeon may be told that there has never been discharge from 
 the nose. He will, however, be wrongly informed here; it has most assuredly ex- 
 isted, although perhaps to no great degree, at some former period, and he will 
 generally without much difficulty discover it then, although perhaps in so small a 
 quantity that the groom or carter will deny its existence; and he will principally" 
 satisfy himself with respect to it, by its gluey feeling. 
 13 
 
98 THE HORSE. 
 
 Glanders have often been confounded with strangles, and by those who ought to 
 have known better. Strangles are pecviliar to young horses. The early stage re- 
 sembles common cold, with some degree of fever and sore throat; generally with 
 distressing cough, or at least frequent wlieezing; and when the enlargement ap- 
 pears beneath the jaw, it is not a single small gland, but a swelling of the whole 
 of the substance between the jaws; growing harder towards the middle; and after 
 a while appearing to contain a fluid, and breaking. In strangles the membrane of 
 the nose will be intensely red, and the discharge from the nose profuse, and puru- 
 lent, or mixed witli matter almost from the first; and when the tumor has bui'st, 
 the fever will abate, and the horse will speedily get well. 
 
 Should the discharge from the nose continue for a considerable time after the 
 horse has recovered from strangles, as it sometimes does, there is no cause for fear. 
 Simple strangles need never degenerate into glanders. Good keep, and small 
 doses of the blue vitrol given internally, will gradually make all right. 
 
 Glanders have been confounded with catarrh or cold, but the distinction between 
 them is plain enough. Fever accompanies cold, and loss of appetite, and sore 
 throat; (the quidding of the food, and gulping of the water, are sufficient indica- 
 tions of the latter of these;) the discharge from the nose is profuse, and perhaps 
 purulent; and the glands under the jaw, if swelled, ai-e moveable, and there is a 
 thickening around them, and they are tender and hot. With proper treatment the 
 fever abates; the cough disappears; the swellings under the throat subside, and the 
 discharge from the nose gradually ceases, or, if it remain, it is usually very differ- 
 ent from that which characterizes glanders. In glanders, there is seldom cough of 
 any consequence, and, generally, no cough at all. 
 
 A running from the nose, small in quantity, and from the smallness of its quan- 
 tity drying about the edges of the nostril, and so presenting some appearance of 
 stickiness, will, in a few cases, remain after severe catarrh, and especially after the 
 influenza of spring; and these have gradually assumed the character of glanders, 
 and more particularly when they have been accompanied by enlarged glands and 
 ulceration in the nose. Here the aid of a judicious veterinary surgeon is indispen- 
 sable; and he perhaps will experience considerable difficulty in deciding the case. 
 One circumstance will principally guide him. No disease will run on to glanders 
 which has not, to a considerable and palpable degi-ee, impaired and broken down 
 the constitution; and every disease that does this will run on to glanders. He will 
 look then to the general state and condition of the horse, as well as to the situation 
 of the glands, the nature of the discharge, and character of the ulceration. 
 
 If, after all, he is in doubt, an experiment may be resorted to, which wears in- 
 deed the appearance of cruelty, and which only the safety of a valuable animal, or 
 of a whole team, can justify: he will inoculate an ass or a horse already condemn- 
 ed to the hounds with the matter discharged from the nose. If the horse be glan- 
 dered, the symptoms of glanders or farcy will appear in the inoculated animal in 
 the course of a few days. 
 
 The history we have given of the symptoms of glanders will pretty clearly point 
 out its nature. It is an affection of the membrane of the nose. Some say that it 
 is the production of tubercles, or minute tumors in the upper cells of the nose, 
 which may long exist undetected, and hard to be detected except by a scarcely 
 perceptible running from the nostril, caused by the slight irritation which they 
 occasion. These tubercles gradually become more numerous; they cluster togeth- 
 er, suppurate, and break; and small ulcerations are formed. The ulcers discharge 
 a poi^pnods matter, which is absorbed and taken up by the neighboring glands, 
 and which, with greater or less rapidity, vitiates the constitution of the animal, and 
 is capable of communicating the disease to others. Other surgeons content them- 
 selves with saying that it is an inflammation of the membrane of the nose, which 
 may assume an acute or chronic form, or in a very short time, or exceedingly slow- 
 ly, run on to ulceration. 
 
 The malady proceeds as we have already described it, but, before its termination, 
 becomes connected with farcy. Few horses die of glanders without exhibiting 
 some appearance of farcy; and farcy, in its latter stages, is almost invariably ac- 
 companied by glanders: they are different forms or stages of the same disease. 
 
 There can be no doubt that the membrane of the nose is the original seat of 
 glanders; that the disease is for a time purely local; that the inflammation of the 
 tubercles must proceed to suppuration before that matter is formed on which the 
 poisoning of the constitution depends; that the whole circulation does at length 
 become empoisoned; and that the horse is destroyed by the general irritation and 
 disease produced. 
 
GLANDERS. 99 
 
 Glanders may be either bred In the horse, or communicated by contagion. What 
 we have further to remark on this malady will be arranged under these two heads. 
 
 Improper stable management we believe to be a far more frequent cause of 
 glanders than contagion. The air which is necessary to respiration is changed and 
 empoisoned in its passage through the lungs, and a fresh supply is necessary for 
 the support of life. That supply may be sufficient barely to support life, but not 
 to prevent the vitiated air from again and again passing to the lungs, and produc- 
 ing irritation and disease. The membrane of the nose, possessed of extreme sen- 
 sibility for the purposes of smell, is easily irritated by this poison, and close and 
 ill-ventilated stables oftenest witness the ravages of glanders. Professor Coleman 
 relates a case, which proves to demonstration the rapid and fatal agency of this 
 cause. "In the expedition to Quiberon, the horses had not been long on board 
 the transports, before it became necessary to shut down the hatchways, (we believe 
 for a few hours only;) the consequence of this was, that some of them were suf- 
 focated, and that all the rest were disembarked either glandered or farcied."* 
 
 In a close stable, the air is not only poisoned by being repeatedly breathed, but 
 there ai-e other and more powerful sources of mischief. The dung and the urine 
 are suffered to remain fermenting, and giving out injurious gases. In many dark 
 and ill-managed stables, a portion of the dung may be swept away, but the urine 
 lies for days at the bottom of the bed, the disgusting and putrifying nature of 
 which is ill concealed by a little fresh straw which the lazy horsekeeper scatters 
 over the top. 
 
 The stables of the gentleman are generally kept hot enough, and far too hot, 
 although, in many of them, a more rational mode of treatment is beginning to be 
 adopted; but they are lofty and roomy, and the horses are not too much crowded 
 together, and a most scrupulous regard is paid to cleanliness. Glanders seldom 
 prevail there. The stables of the farmer are ill-managed and filthy enough, and 
 the ordure and urine sometimes remain from week to week, until the horse lies on 
 a perfect dunghill, while there is no declivity to drain away the moisture, nor any 
 regular pavement to prevent it from soaking into the earth, nor any water to clean 
 even the surface, but the only instrument of purification is an old stumped broom. 
 Glanders seldom prevail there; for the same carelessness which permits the filth 
 to accumulate, leaves many a cranny for the wind to enter, and sweep away the 
 deleterious fumes from this badly roofed and unceUed place. 
 
 The stables of the horse-dealer are hot enough; but a principle of strict clean- 
 liness is enforced, for there must be nothing to offend the eye or the nose of the 
 customer; and there glanders are seldom found: but if the stables of many of our 
 post-horses, and of those employed on our canals, be examined, almost too low for 
 a ta.ll horse to stand upright — too dark for the accumulation of filth to be perceiv- 
 ed—too far from the eye of the master — Ill-drained, and ill-paved — and governed 
 by a false principle of economy, which begrudges the labor of the man, and the 
 cleanhness and comfort of the animal — these will be the very hot-beds of the dis- 
 ease, and in many of these establishments it is an almost constant resident. 
 
 When speaking of inflammation of the eye, and the effect of ill-ventilated sta- 
 bles in producing it, we remarked that the urine of the horse contained an unusu- 
 ally large quantity of hartshorn; that the litter wetted by it was disposed most ra- 
 pidly to ferment, and that the gases extricated must be extremely prejudicial to so 
 delicate an organ. It may, then, be easily Imagined that the constant presence of 
 those pungent fumes, and the irritation which they would cause on that membrane 
 which is the very seat of smell, must predispose for, and often generate a disease 
 which is primarily an affection of this membrane. 
 
 Glanders may be produced by any thing that injures, or for a length of time acts 
 upon, and weakens, the vital energy of this membrane. They have been known 
 to follow a fracture of the bones of the nose. They have been the consequence 
 of violent catarrh, and particularly the long continued discharge from the nostrils, 
 of which we have spoken. They have been produced by the injection of stimu- 
 lating and acrid substances up the nostril; and every thing that weakens the con- 
 stitution generally, will lead to glanders. It Is not only from bad stable-manage- 
 ment, but from the hardships which they endure, and the exhausted state of their 
 constitution, that post and machine-horses are so subject to glanders; and there is 
 scarcely an inflammatory disease to which the horse is subject, that Is not occasion- 
 ally wound up and terminated by the appearance of glanders. 
 
 • See Percival's excellent Lectures on the Veterinary Art, vol. Hi, p. 455. 
 
100 THE HORSE. 
 
 Glanders, however, are highly contagious. The fanner cannot be too well aware 
 of" this; and, considering the degree to which they often prevail, tlie legislature 
 would be justified in interfering by some severe enactments, as they liave done in 
 the case of the small-pox in the human subject. The early and marked symptom 
 of glanders is a discharge from the nostrils of a peculiar characttr; and if that, 
 even before it becomes purulent, be rubbed on a wound, or on a mucous surface, 
 as the nostrils, it will produce a similar disease. Glanders are not communicated 
 by the air or breath. If the division between two horses were sufficiently high to 
 prevent all smelling and snorting at each other, and contact of every kind, and 
 they drunk not out of the same pail, a sound horse might live for years, uninfect- 
 ed, by tlie side of a glandered one. The matter of glanders has been mixed up 
 into a ball, and given to a healthy horse, without effect; yet in another experiment 
 of the same kind, the poor animal died. The mouth or gullet had probably some 
 small wounds or ulcers in it. Some horses have eaten the liay left by those that 
 were glandered, and no bad consequence has followed; but others have been speedi- 
 ly infected. The glanderous matter must come in contact with a wound, or fall 
 on some membrane, thin and delicate like that of the nose, and through which it 
 may be absorbed. It is easy, then, accustomed as horses are to smell each other, 
 and to recognize each other by the smell; eating out of tlie same manger, and 
 drinking from the same pail, to imagine that the disease may be very readily com- 
 municated. One horse has passed another when he was in the act of snorting, and 
 has become glandered. Some fillies have received the infection from the matter 
 blown by ihe wind across a lane, when a glandered horse, in the opposite field, has 
 claimed acquaintance by neighing or snorting. It is almost impossible for an in- 
 fected horse to remain long in a stable with others, without irreparable mischief. 
 
 If some persons underrate the danger, it is because tlie disease may remain un- 
 recognized in the infected horse for some months, or even years; and therefore 
 when it appears, it is attributed to other causes, or to after inoctdation. We would 
 deeply impress it on the mind of the farmer, that no glandered horse should be 
 employed on his farm in any kind of work, or permitted to remain for a day on his 
 premises: nor should a glandered horse be permitted to work on any road, or even 
 to pasture on any field. He may be capable of work for years after the disease 
 has become undoubted, but mischief may so easily and extensively be effected, that 
 the public interest demands that every infected animal should be summarily des- 
 troyed, or given over for experiment to a veterinary surgeon, or recognized vete- 
 rinary establishment. 
 
 Our opinion of the treatment of glanders is implied in what we have just stated. 
 There are a few instances of the spontaneous cure of chronic glanders, or glanders 
 long established and slow in their progress. The discharge has existed for a con- 
 siderable time; at length it has gradually diminished, and has ceased without me- 
 dical ti-eatment: but in the majority of these supposed cases, the matter was only 
 pent up for a while, and then, bursting from its confinement, flowe<l again in dou- 
 ble quantity: or if glanders have not reappeared, the horse, in eighteen or twenty- 
 four months, has become farcied, or consumptive, and died. We view these cures 
 with much suspicion: but even allowing that some have occun-ed, they are so few 
 and far between, that oiu* expressed opinion of the incurable nature of the disease, 
 in the present state of veterinary knowledge, is scarcely affected. As for medi- 
 cine, there is scarcely a drug to which a fair ti-ial has not been given, and many 
 of them I lave had a temporary reputation; but they have passed away, one after 
 the other, and are no longer used. The blue vitriol and the Spanish-fly have held 
 out longest, and in a few cases, either nature, or these medicines, have done won- 
 ders; but, in the majority of instances, they have palpably failed. Where the life 
 of a valuable animal is at stake, and the owner takes every precaution to prevent 
 infection, he may subject the horse to medical treatment; but we indignantly ob- 
 ject to the slitting of the nostril, and scraping of the cartilage, and searing of the 
 gland, and firing the frontal and nasal bones, and to those injections of pepper and 
 mustard, corrosive subhmate and vitriol, by which tlie horse has been tortured, and 
 the practitioner disgraced. At the veterinary school, and by veterinary surgeons. 
 It will be most desirable that every experiment should be tried to discover a reme- 
 dy for this pest; but, in ordinary instances, he is not faithful to his own interest or 
 that of his neighbors, who does not remove the possibility of danger in the most 
 summary way. 
 
 Supposing that glanders have made their appearance in the stables of a farmer, 
 is there any danger after he has Temoved or destroyed the infectud horse ? — cer- 
 
W FARCY. 101 
 
 tainly tlicre is, but not to the extent that is commonly supposed. There is no 
 necessity for pulling- down the racks and mangers, or even the stable itself, as some 
 have done. The poison resides not in the breath of the animal, but in the nasal 
 discharq-e, and that can only reach certain parts of the stable; and if the mangers, 
 and racks, and bales, and partitions, are first well scraped, and next scoured with 
 soap and water, and then thoroughly washed with a solution of the chloride of 
 lime, (one pint of the chloride to a pailful of water,) and the walls are lime-washed, 
 and the head-gear burned, and the clothing baked and washed, and the pails new 
 painted, and the iron- work exposed to a red heat, all danger will cease. 
 
 The tricks which some dealers resort to at fairs and markets, in order to con- 
 ceal the existence of glanders, are most infamous, and should be visited with the 
 severest penalty of the law. Having given the horse a brushing gallop, that he 
 may thoroughly clear the nose, some of them blow powdered alum up the nostrils 
 a little while before he is shown; others use white vitriol; and although the horse 
 may be sadly tortured, about which they care nothing, the discharge is for some 
 hours stayed. Others roll up a pledget of tow, and introduce it into the nostril, 
 sufficiently high to escape common observation. Both these tricks may be dis- 
 covered by tl»e uneasiness of the animal, and his repeated efforts to sneeze, as well 
 as by his general appearance, and if the disease be far advanced, most assuredly 
 by the red or raw appearance of the nose, and by the stinking breath. 
 
 Happy should we be if we could say any thing satisfactory of the prevention of 
 glanders. The danger from exposure to infection can scarcely be avoided by 
 those who travel much, and whose horses must stand in stables the inmates of 
 which are so piomiscuous, and so frequently changed. Although we cannot pre- 
 vent contagion, we have moi-e power in preventing the disease from occurring 
 without contagion, and that is a point of importance, at least if the opinion of 
 Professor Coleman be correct, that not one horse in a thousand receives the 
 disease from contagion. To this, however, we cannot subscribe, for not only the 
 history of cavalry regiments, but the experience of every breeder and proprietor 
 of horses, will prove the infectious nature of the complaint. 
 
 No fact is more certain than that he who will keep a glandered horse in his 
 stable, or work him in his team, will sooner or later lose the greater part of his 
 stud. However, the generation of the disease may certainly be much prevented, 
 and the first and most effectual mode of prevention will be to keep the stables 
 cool and well ventilated, for the hot and poisoned air of low and confined stables 
 is one of the most prevalent causes of glanders. 
 
 Ne.xt to ventilation stands cleanliness; for the foul air from the fermenting litter, 
 and ui'ine and dung, must not only be highly injurious to health generally, but ir- 
 ritate and predispose to inflammation that delicate membrane which is the primary 
 seat of the disease. If to this be added regular exercise, and occasional green 
 meat during the summer, and carrots in the winter, we shall have stated all that 
 can be done in the way of prevention. The fltrmer's horse in his cool or cold sta- 
 ble, and during the greater part of the year running loose when not at work, would 
 be exempt from glanders, if, at the market and the fair, he were not so much ex- 
 posed to contagion. In truth, glanders may be considered as the consequence of 
 the stabling of the horse. In South America and in Arabia they are unknown; 
 but wherever the European plan of stabling has been introduced, glanders have 
 followed in its train: and, therefore, if any means are resorted to for the cure of 
 glanders, the first, and perhaps the only effectual one, would be to remove every 
 exciting cause of the disease; to restore the horse almost to a state of nature; to 
 turn him out for a long time, or at least to throw open his stable as much as the 
 season and the weather will permit. Experience, however, tells us that, although 
 the symptoms have disappeared when the exciting causes of disease have been re- 
 moved, and the horse has returned to his stable after a twelvemonth's run appa- 
 rently sound, every symptom has gradually shown itself again when these causes 
 have been once more called into action. 
 
 Farcy is intimately connected with glanders; they will run into each other, or 
 their symptoms will mingle together, and before either arrives at its fatal termina- 
 tion, its associate will almost invariably appear. An animal inoculated with the 
 matter of farcy will often be afflicted with glanders, while the matter of glanders 
 will frequently produce farcy. They are different types or stages of the same 
 
102 THE HORSE. ^^ 
 
 disease. There is, however, a very material difference in their sjmfiptoms and pro- 
 gress, and this most important of all, that, wliile glanders are generally incurable, 
 farcy, in its early stage and mild form, may be successfully treated. 
 
 Veterinary writers tell us that it is a disease of the absorbents in the skin. The 
 small arteries are employed in building up and nourishing the various parts of the 
 body; and another set of vessels are busied in taking up and carrying away that 
 which is worn out and useless. There is no part of the body on which thousands 
 of these little tubes do not open. Those of the skin are not only employed in re- 
 moving useless materials, but in taking up various substances, and principally fluids 
 which may be in contact with the skin. The little vessels which are thus occu- 
 pied, collect together and form larger branches, which run in company with the 
 superficial veins, and, therefore, farcy was once supposed to be a disease of the 
 veins, and the tumors by which it is characterized accompany the course of the 
 veins. The poison which they take up produces inflammation in them, which 
 gradually spreads along the absorbent, and causes it to swell. 
 
 These vessels, small as they are, contain valves, like those in the common pump, 
 which permit the fluid to pass one way, but prevent its return. The inflammation, 
 which pursues the natural course of the fluid through these tubes, that is, towards 
 the reservoir into which it is thrown before it enters the heart, seems to be arrested 
 by these valves, and they inflame and swell; and, therefore, the first indication of 
 this disease, even before any drooping, or loss of condition, or of appetite, is gene- 
 rally the appearance of little tumors — -farcy buds — close to some of the veins, fol- 
 lowing the course of tlie veins, and connected together by a kind of cord, which 
 farriers call corded veins. When they are few and small they may possibly exist 
 for several weeks without being observed; but at length they increase in number 
 and in size, and become painful and hot, and some of them begin to ulcerate. They 
 appear usually about the face or neck, or inside of the thigh, and in the latter case 
 there is some general enlargement of the limb, and lameness. 
 
 In some cases, however, the horse will droop for many a day before the appear- 
 ance of the buttons or farcy buds; his appetite will be impaired; his coat will stare; 
 he will lose flesh. The poison is evidently at work, but has not gained sufficient 
 power to cause the absorbents to swell. In a few instances these buds do not ul- 
 cerate, but become hard and difficult to disperse. The progress of the disease is 
 then suspended, and possibly for many months the horse will appear to be restored 
 to health; but he bears the seeds of the malady about him, and, all at once, the 
 farcy assumes a virulent form, and hurries him off". These buds have sometimes 
 been confounded with the little tumors or lumps of surfeit. They are generally 
 higher than these tumors; not so broad; have a more knotty feel, and are princi- 
 pally found on the inside of the limbs instead of the outside. 
 
 The increase of these buds marks the progress of the disease, and that progress 
 is retarded by the resistance of these valves. The ulcers spread around, and are 
 cured with considerable difficulty. Larger tumors appear in the groin and be- 
 tween the fore-leg, and ulcerate and spread, and the hollows and burrowings run 
 deep in every direction, and the horse becomes a miserable and loathsome object. 
 Glanders speedily appear, and death ensues. 
 
 Few things are more unlike, or more perplexing, than the different forms which 
 farcy assumes at diff'erent times, One of the legs, and particularly one of the 
 hinder legs, will suddenly swell to an enormous size. At night the horse will ap- 
 pear to be perfectly well, and, in the morning, one leg will be three times the 
 size of the other, with considerable fever, and scarcely the power of moving the 
 limb. 
 
 We do not mean that enlargement of the hind leg, with red shining skin, and 
 exudation of fluid on the skin, reaching from the fetlock to the heel, round and 
 smooth, very painful, attended with extreme lameness, and which the groom calls 
 a farcy humor. This wUl yield to frequent fomentation, and a good dose of physic. 
 It is effusion of fluid beneath the skin, from want of exercise and over-feeding. 
 The enlargement of farcy occupies more of the limb, and presents an uneven sur- 
 face, with sudden projections and depressions, and betrays in some part the corded 
 absorbent, and the inflamed and swelled valve. 
 
 At other times the head will be subject to this enlargement — the muzzle will 
 particularly swell, and a stinking discharge will issue from the nose. Sometimes 
 the horse will gradually lose flesh and strength; he will be hide-bound — mangy 
 eruptions will appear in different parts; the legs will swell; cracks will appear at 
 the heels, and the inexperienced person may conceive it to be a mere want of 
 condition combined with grease. 
 
^^ FARCY. 103 
 
 Farcy, like glanders, springs from infection, or from bad stable management. 
 It is produced by all the causes which give rise to glanders; but with this differ- 
 ence, that it is more frequently generated, and is sometimes strangely prevalent 
 in particular districts. It will attack, at the same time, several horses in the same 
 ill-conducted stable, and others in the neighborhood, who have been exposed to 
 the same predisposing causes. The practitioner is always afraid of seeing too 
 much of this disease when he meets with one case of farcy, where there has been 
 gross inattention to the horses. Some have denied that it is a contagious disease. 
 They must have had little experience. It is true that the matter of farcy must 
 come in contact with a wound, or sore, in order to communicate the disease; but 
 accustomed as horses are to nibble and play with each other, and sore as the corn- 
 ers of the mouth are frequently rendered by the bit, it is easy to imagine that this 
 may often be effected; and experience tells us that a horse having farcy-ulcers 
 connot be suffered to remain witli others without extreme risk. We recollect an 
 instance in which virulent and fatal fircy was communicated by a scratch from the 
 currycomb which had been previously used on a glandered horse. 
 
 I'he treatment of farcy varies with the form it assumes. In the button or bud 
 farcy, a mild dose of physic should be first administered. The buds should be 
 then carefully examined, and if any of them have broken, the budding iron, of a 
 dull red heat, should be applied to them; or if matter should be felt in them, show- 
 ing that they are disposed to break, they should be penetrated with the iron. 
 These wounds should be daily inspected, and if, when the slough of the cautery 
 comes off, they look pale, and foul, and spongy, and discharge a thin matter, they 
 should be frequently washed with a lotion composed of a drachm of corrosive 
 sublimate dissolved in an ounce of rectified spirit; the other buds should likewise 
 be examined, and opened with the iron as soon as they evidently contain matter. 
 When the wounds begin to look red, and the bottom of them is even and firm, 
 and they discharge a thick white or yellow matter, the friar's balsam will speedily 
 heal them. As, however, the constitution is now tainted, local applications will not 
 be sufficient, and the disease must be attacked by internal medicines as soon as 
 the physic has ceased to operate. The corrosive sublimate will be the best alter- 
 ative, and may be given in doses of ten grains, gradually increased to a scruple, 
 with two drachms of gentian and one of ginger, and repeated morning and night 
 until the ulcers disappear, unless the horse is violently purged, or the mouth be- 
 comes sore, when a di-achm of blue vitriol may be substituted for the corrosive 
 sublimate. During this the animal should be placed in a large box, with a free 
 circulation of air; and green meat, or carrots, the latter more particularly, should 
 be given him, with a fair allowance of corn. If he could be turned out during the 
 day, it would be advantageous; but at all events he should be daily exercised. It 
 is related by Mr. Blaine that a horse, so reduced as not to be able to stand, was 
 drawn into a field of tares, and suffered to take his chance: the consequence was, 
 that when he had eaten all within his reach, he was able to rise and search for 
 more, and eventually recovered.* In an early stage of the disease, and if glanders 
 have not appeared, this treatment will frequently succeed. If, after the wounds 
 have healed, the absorbents should continue to be corded, a blister, or light firing, 
 will probably be serviceable. 
 
 It should be remembered that a horse which has experienced one attack of farcy 
 will be very subject to a relapse, and, therefore, should be regarded with a watch- 
 ful eye, and occasional alteratives of JEthiop's mineral, with turpentine, in the pro- 
 portions of one drachm of the former and four of the latter, made into a ball with 
 linseed meal, should be given, and green meat or carrots, when circumstances will 
 permit.f 
 
 In the species of farcy attended with enormous swelling, it will be prudent to 
 bleed moderately as well as to pliysic. The iron will not be necessary, but the same 
 alterative medicine will be useful, and the leg should be frequently fomented with 
 warm water. In both cases, although the air should be fresh and cool, the horse 
 should be warmly clothed. 
 
 The Water Fahct, confounded by name with the common farcy, and by which 
 much confusion has been caused and a great deal of mischief done, is a th-opsicai 
 
 *Blaine's Veterinary Outlines, p. 467. 
 
 ■(■The old farriers had a strange and barbarous way of attempting to cure the 
 farcy. They mixed together a variety of stimulating di'ugs, and sewed them in the 
 horse's ear, and set him to hard work on straw and water. 
 
104 THE HORSE. 
 
 affection of the skin, either of the chest or of the limbs generally, and belongs to 
 another part of our subject. 
 
 A tumor termed a Polypus sometimes occupies one of the nostrils. It will grow 
 to a very large size, obstructing the breatliing, and sadly annoying the horse. As 
 this can only be removed by an operation which a veterinary surgeon alone is 
 competent to perform, we do not describe it particularly. 
 
 THE LIFS. 
 
 The lips of the horse are far more important organs than many suppose. They 
 are, in a manner, the hands of the horse; and if any one will take the trouble to 
 observe the manner in which he gathers up his corn with them, and collects together 
 the grass before he divides it with his nippers, he will be satisfied that the horse 
 would be no more able to convey the food to his mouth without them, than the hu- 
 man being could without his hands. This has even been put to tlie test of experi- 
 ment. The nerves which supply the lips were divided in a poor ass, to illustrate some 
 point of physiology. The sensibility of the lips was lost, and he knew not when he 
 touched his food with them; the motion of the lips was lost, and he could not get 
 the oats between his teeth, although the manger was full of them; at length, driven 
 by hunger, he contrived to lick up a few of them with his tongue, but when they 
 were on his tongue, the greater part of them were rubbed off before he could get 
 them into his mouth. It is on account of this use of the lips, that the faces of all 
 quadrupeds are so lengthened that the lips may be brought into contact with the 
 food without inconvenience or injury to other parts of the face. Several muscles 
 go to the lips from different parts of the jaw and face. Some of them are shown 
 in the cut, p. 94. The orbicularis or circular muscle, p, employed in pushing out 
 the lips, and closing them, and enabling the horse to seize and hold his food, is 
 particularly evident; and in our explanation of the cut, the action of other muscles, 
 t, k, m, and o, was described. The nerves likewise, y, taking their course along 
 the cheek, and principally supplying the lips with the power of motion, and those, 
 2, proceeding from the foramen or hole in the upper jaw, deserve attention. 
 
 The lips are composed of muscles for tlie sake of strength, and of a multitude 
 of small glands, which secrete a fluid that covers the inside of the lips and the 
 gums, in order to prevent friction, and likewise furnishes a portion of the moisture 
 so necessary for the proper chewing of the food. The skin covering the lips is 
 very thin, because, if tliese are the hands of the horse, they should possess con- 
 siderable feeling; and for the same purpose likewise, they are scantily covered with 
 hair, and that hair is fine and short; and long hairs or feelers, called the beard, are 
 superadded for the same purpose. The horse is guided and governed principally 
 by the mouth, and therefore the lips are endowed with extraordinary sensibihty, so 
 that the animal feels the slightest motion of the hand of the rider or driver, and, 
 as it were, anticipates his very thoughts. The fineness or goodness of the rnouth 
 consists in the exquisite feeling of the mouth, and depends on the thinness of this 
 membrane. We shall say more of this when we have described the lower jaw and 
 palate. 
 
 The lips of the horse should be thin, if the beauty of the head be regarded, for 
 if they ai-e loaded with fat they cannot be so sensible as they ought to be; yet, al- 
 though thin, they should evidently possess power, and be strongly and regularly 
 closed. A firm, compressed mouth gives a favorable and no deceptive idea of the 
 muscular power of tlie animal. Lips apart from each other, and hanging down, 
 indicate weakness or old age, or dulness and sluggishness. 
 
 I'he depth of the mouth, or the distance from the fore part to the angle of the 
 lips, should be considerable, first, for the sake of beauty. A short protuberant 
 mouth would be a bad finish to the tapering face of the blood horse; more room 
 is likewise given for the opening of the nostril, which we have seen to be an im- 
 portajit consideration. The bridle will not be carried well, and the horse will hang 
 heavy on hand, if there be not considerable depth of mouth. 
 
 The angles of the lips are frequently made sore or wounded by the smallness or 
 shortness of the snaffle, and by the unnecessary and cruel tightness of the bearing 
 rein. This rein not only gives the horse a grander appearance in harness, and 
 places the head in that position in which the bit most powerfully presses upon the 
 jaw, but there is no possibility of driving without it, unless the arm of the driver 
 were as strong as that of Hercules; and most certainly there is no safety if it be 
 not used. There are few horses who will not bear, or bwe upon something, and it 
 
THE BONES OF THE MOUTH— THE PALATE. 105 
 
 is better to let them bore upon themselves, than upon the arm of the driver. 
 Without this control, many of them would hang their heads low, and be disposed 
 every moment to stumble, and would defy all pulling-, if they tried to run away. 
 There is, and can be no necessity, however, for using a bearing-rein so tight as to 
 cramp the muscles of the head, and wliich is indicated by the animal's continually 
 tossing up his head: they may indeed be cramped to such a degree, that the horse 
 is scarcely able to bring his head to the ground when turneil to grass. The tight 
 rein injui-es and excoriates the angles ot the lips, and frequently brings on poll- 
 evil. We saw a poor horse at work, unroughed, daring a severe frost. He was 
 continually sliding about, and in dang-er of falling. The stupid driver buckled the 
 bearing-rein as tight as he could, to keep hini. up,- and the consequence was, that, 
 by the sudden and forcible pressing upon the iron in the slips which would still 
 every moment occur, the corners of the mouth were absolutely cut th.rough to a 
 considerable depth. Except it be a restive or determined horse, there should be 
 little more bearing on the mouth than is generally used in riding. This the horse 
 likes to feel, and it is necessary for him in the swift gallop. We must have the 
 bearing-rein, M'hatever some men of humanity may say against it; but we need not 
 use it cruelly. 
 
 THE BONES OF THE MOUTH. 
 
 » 
 
 The bones in and giving form to the motith, are the superior maxillary, or upper 
 jaw, (6, p. 49, and /, p. 52,) containing the grinders, the anterior maxillary, or 
 lower part of the upper jaw, (b, p. 49, «, p. 52, r, p. 53,) containing the upper- 
 nippers or cutting-teeth; the palatine bone (below 8, p. 53) and the posterior 
 maxillary or under jaw, (a, p. 49, and w, p. 53,) containing all the under teeth. We 
 will speak of them very shortly, in the order in which we have mentioned them. 
 
 The superior maxillary is, with the exception of the lower jaw, the largest bone 
 in the face. It unites above with the lachrymal bone, (i, p. 52;) and, more on the 
 side, with the malar or cheek bone, k; and a portion of it, continued ujiward, and 
 underneath, enters into the orbit. Above, and on the front of the face, it unites 
 with the bones of the nose, J ,■ and below, with the inferior maxillary, n. That 
 which most deserves not.ce in it, externally, is the ridge or spine, seen at 6, p. 49, 
 but better delineated in the cut of the head, p. 52, continued from the base of the 
 zygomatic arch, and across the malar bone. It and the surface beneath serve to 
 give attachment to the musseter muscle, concerned almost as much as the tempo- 
 ral one, in tlie act of chewing. The dark spot (at p. 52, and seen hkewise at p. 
 49) marks the foramen or hole, througii which a branch of the fifth pair of nerves 
 proceeds to give sensibility to the lower part of the face. As it approaches the 
 teeth, this bone separates into two plates, and these are divided by long par- 
 titions which contain, and firmly hold, the upper grinders. The lower plate 
 then projects inwards, and forms (/, p. 53) the principal part of the roof of the 
 mouth, and the floor of the cavity of the nose. The corresponding bone on the 
 other side meets its fellow in the centre of the palate. The upper jaw-bone con- 
 tains in it large cavities, beside the cavities for the teeth, and these open into and 
 enlarge the cavity of the nose. They are coimected with the voice, but not with 
 the smell, for the expansion of the olfactory or smelling nerve has never been 
 traced beyond the bones and membranes of the proper cavity of the nose. The 
 maxillary sinuses are generally filled with matter in bad cases of glanders. 
 
 Below these are ihe anterior maxillary bones, (/, p. 49, a, p. 53,) containing the up- 
 per cutting-teeth, with the tushes belonging to both the upper and anterior bones. 
 I'hese are the bones to which (see cut, p. 53) the upper lip is attached. 1 he 
 superior and anterior maxillai-y bones are separated in animals with long faces, 
 like the horse, that, by overlapping each other, strength might be gained. 
 
 The palatme bone forms but a very small portion of tlie palate; it surrounds the 
 edge of the communication between the cavity of the nose and the back parts of 
 the mouth. 
 
 THE PAI.ATE. 
 
 Adhering to a portion of all three of the bones just described, and being the 
 lining of the roof of the mouth, is the hard palate, {t, p. 53,) composed of a fii-m 
 dense substance, divided into several ridges, called bars. The cut gives a view 
 of them. 
 
 14 
 
106 
 
 THE HORSE. 
 
 The cut will point out the bleeding place, if the horse should be attacked with 
 the megrims on a journey, and the rider or driver should not have a lancet. Pre- 
 cisely in a line between the middle and second cutting-teeth, and a little more than 
 an inch within the mouth, the artery and vein make a curve. They may there be 
 cut down upon with a sharp knife, and a plentiful stream of blood will be obtain- 
 ed, which will usually stop of itself when two or three quarts of blood have been 
 obtained. The artery being cut across will shrink, and soon cease to bleed, and 
 the application of a sponge filled with cold water will generally stop the bleeding 
 of the vein. No injury will result from the division of the nerve, for it is a mere 
 nerve of feeling, distributed over those parts. 
 
 CUT OF THE PALATE. 
 
 a The palate divided into ridges or bar»< 
 
 b A strip dissected up to show the vessels 
 and nerve beneath. 
 
 c The palatine artery. 
 
 d The palatine vein. 
 
 e The palatine nerve between the artery 
 and the vein. 
 
 / The cheek divided, showing the direc- 
 tion of the muscular fibres. 
 
 g The grinders. 
 
 h The nippers. 
 
 » The tushes. 
 
 Should the cut be made a little too much on one side, and about the middle of the 
 second incisor tooth, the artery may be wounded longitudinally, but not divided, 
 and there may be very great difficulty in stopping the blood. We recollect a horse 
 which almost bled to death from the artery being thus wounded. If, however, a large 
 and firm pledget of lint or tow be rolled round a piece of twine, and that tied firmly 
 round the front teeth, the pressure on the part will effect the desired purpose; or 
 should this in a very few cases fail, a gag may be easily contrived to press upon 
 the pledget, and the bleeding will immediately cease. 
 
 We are speaking of this as a make-shift sort of bleeding when the horse is on a 
 journey; but we should decidedly object to tlie cutting of the bars as the usual 
 mode of taking blood. The blood cannot be measured; the degree of inflamma- 
 tion cannot be ascertained by the manner in which it coagulates, and there may be 
 difficulty to the operator, and annoyance and pain to the horse in stopping the 
 bleeding. 
 
 Some of the lower bars occasionally swell, and rise to a level with, and even 
 beyond the edge of the teeth, and they are very sore, and the horse feeds badly 
 on account of the pain he suffers from the pressure of the food on the bars. This 
 is called the Lampas; and it may arise from inflammation of the gvims, propagated 
 to the bars, when the horse is shedding his teeth; (and young horses are more 
 subject to it than others;) or from some slight febrile tendency in the constitution 
 generally, as when a young horse has lately been taken up from grass, and has 
 been over-fed, or not sufficiently exercised. 
 
 In the majority of cases the swelling will soon subside without medical treatment; 
 or a few mashes, and gentle alteratives, will relieve the animal. A few shght cuts 
 across the bars with a lancet or penknife, and taking care to avoid the principal 
 artery and vein of the palate, the situation of which has been just pointed out, will 
 
THE LOWER JAW. 
 
 107 
 
 relieve the inflammation, and cause the swelling to subside; indeed, this scarifica- 
 tion of the bars will seldom do harm, although it is far from being so necessary as 
 is supposed. To the brutal custom of the farrier, wlio sears and burns down the 
 bai-s with a red hot iron, we do most peremptorily object. It is torturing the horse 
 to no purpose; and it is rendering that part callous, on the delicate sensibility of 
 which all the pleasure and safety of riding and driving depend. It may be pru- 
 dent in case of lampasto examine the grinders, and more particularly the tushes, 
 to see whether either of them is endeavoring to make its way through the gum. 
 If with the gum lancet, or penknife, two incisions across each other be made on 
 the tooth, the horse will experience immediate relief. 
 
 THE I,OWER JAW. 
 
 The posterior or lower jaw may be considered as forming the floor of the mouth, 
 («, p. 49, or w, p. 55.) The body or lower part of it contains the under cutting 
 teeth, and the tushes; the sides are two flat pieces of bone, containing the grinders. 
 On the inside, and opposite to a, p. 49, is a hole through which blood-vessels and 
 nerves enter to supply the teeth, and some of which escape again at another hole 
 on the outside, and near the nippers. The branches are broader and thinner, 
 rounded at the angle of the jaw, and terminating in two processes. One, the co- 
 racoid, from its sharpness or supposed resemblance to a beak, passes under the zy- 
 gomatic arch, (see p. 49,) and the temporal muscle, arising from the whole surface 
 of the parietal bone, (see p. 55,) is inserted into it, and wrapped round it; and by 
 its action, principally, the jaw is moved, and the food is ground. The other, the 
 condyloid, or rounded process, is received into the glenoid (shallow) cavity of the 
 temporal bone, at the base of the zygomatic arch, and forms the joint on which the 
 lower jaw moves. This joint is easily seen in the cut at page 49; and being placed 
 so near to the insertion of the muscle, or the centre of motion, the temporal mus- 
 cle must act with very considerable mechanical disadvantage, and must possess im- 
 mense power. 
 
 This joint is admirably contrived for the purpose which the animal requires. It 
 will admit freely and perfectly of the simple motion of a hinge, and that is the mo- 
 tion of the jaw in nipping the herbage and seizing the corn. But the grass, and 
 more particularly the corn, must be crushed and bruised before it is fit for diges- 
 tion. Simple champing, which is the motion of the human lower jaw, and that of 
 most beasts of prey, would very imperfectly break down the corn. It must be put 
 into a mill; it must be actually ground. 
 
 It is put into a mill, and as perfect a mill as imagination can conceive. 
 
 The following cuts represent the glenoid cavity in a carnivorous, or flesh-eating, 
 and herbivorous, or grass-eating animal, viz. the tiger and the horse: the one re- 
 quiring a simple hinge-like motion of the lower jaw to tear and crush the food; the 
 other a lateral or grinding motion to bring it into a pulpy form. First examine this 
 cavity in the tiger, represented at B. At the root of the zygomatic process D, is 
 a hollow with a ridge along the greater pai-t of the upper and inner side of it, 
 standing to a considerable height, and curling over the cavity. At the lower and 
 
 opposite edge of the cavity, but in the outside, is a similar ridge, E, likewise rising 
 abruptly and curling over. At C is another and more perfect view of tliis cavity 
 in a different direction. The head of the lower jaw is received into this hollow 
 
108 THE HORSE. 
 
 and presses against these ridges, and is partially surrounded by them, and forms 
 with them a very strong joint, where dislocation is scarcely possible, and admitting 
 the hinge-like or cranching motion to its fullest extent; permitting the animal vio- 
 lently to seize his prey, to hold it firmly, and to crush it to pieces; but, from the 
 extent and curling form of the ridges, forbidding, except to a very slight degree, 
 all lateral, and grinding motion, and this because the animal does not want it. 
 
 The food of the horse must he ground — simple bruising and champing would not 
 reduce it sufficiently small for tlie piu-poses of digestion. Then observe the dif- 
 ferent construction to effect this. A gives the glenoid cavity of tiie horse. First, 
 there is the upper ridge assuming a rounded form, F, and therefore called the 
 mastoid process,- and — a peculiai-ity in the horse — the mastoid process of the squa- 
 mous portion of the temporal bone: sufficiently strong to support the pressure and 
 action of the lower jaw when cropping the food or seizing an enemy, but not en- 
 circling the head of that bone, and reaching only a little way along tlie side of the 
 cavity, where it terminates, having its edges rounded off, so as to admit, and to be 
 evidently destined for a circular motion about it. Then, at the other and lower 
 edge of the cavity, and on the outside, G, is placed, not a curling ridge as in the 
 tiger, but a mere tubercle: and for what reason? evidently to limit this lateral or 
 circular motion — to permit it as far as the necessities of the animal require it, and 
 then to arrest it — but how? not suddenly or abruptly; but this tubercle, of which 
 we have already spoken as strengthening this portion of the zygomatic arch, yet, 
 now discharging another office, has a smooth and gradual ascent to it, up which 
 the lower jaw may climb to a certain extent, and then, by degrees, be stopped. 
 We speak not now of the moveable cartilage which is placed in tliis cavity, and 
 between the bones, to render the motion easier and freer. It is found in this joint 
 in every quadruped; and it is found wherever motions are rapid and of long con- 
 tinuance. 
 
 So great is the conformity between the structure of the animal and his destina- 
 tion, that a tolerable student in natural history, by the mere inspection of the gle- 
 noid cavity, will at once determine whether the animal to which it belonged was 
 carnivorous, and wanted no lateral motion of the jaw; or omnivorous, living occa- 
 sionally on all kinds of food, and requiring some degi-ee of grinding motion; or 
 herbivorous, and needing the constant use of this admirably constructed mill. 
 
 At g, page 94, is represented the masseter muscle, an exceedingly strong one, 
 constituting the cheek of the horse arising from the superior maxillary under the 
 ridge continued from the zygomatic arch, and inserted into the lower jaw, and par- 
 ticularly round the rough border at the angle of the jaw. This acts with the tem- 
 poral muscle in closing the jaw, and in giving the dij-ect cutting or champing mo- 
 tion of it. 
 
 Inside of the lower jaw, on each side, and occupying the whole of the hollowed 
 portion of them, and opposite to the masseters, ax*e the pterygoid muscles, going 
 from the jaws to bones more in the centre of the channel, likewise shutting the 
 mouth, and also, by their alternate action, giving that grinding motion which we 
 have described. 
 
 The space between the branches of the lower jaw, called the channel, is of con- 
 siderable consequence. It may be a little too wide, and then the face may have a 
 clumsy appearance; but if it be too narrow the horse will never be able to bend 
 his head freely and gracefully; he will be always pulling and boring upon the 
 hand, nor can he possibly be well reined in. 
 
 The jaws contain the teeth, which are the millstones employed in this operation. 
 The mouth of the horse at five years old contains forty teeth, viz. six nippers or 
 cutting teeth in front, a tush on each side, and six molars, or grinding teeth, above 
 and below; they are contained in cavities in the upper and lower jaws, surrounded 
 by bony partitions, to which they are accurately fitted, and by which they are 
 firmly supported. For a little way above these bony cavities, they are surrounded 
 by a hard substance called the gum, so dense, indeed, and adhering so closely to 
 the teeth and the jaws, as not to be separated without veiy great difficulty; singu- 
 larly compact, that it may not be wounded by the hard or sharp particles of the 
 food, and almost devoid of feeling, for the same purpose. 
 
THE TEETH. 
 
 109 
 
 Seven or eight months before the foal is born, the germs or 
 beginnings of the teeth are visible in the cavities of the jaws. 
 The tooth grows, and presses to the surface of the gum, and 
 forces its way through it; and at the time of birth the first 
 and second grinders have appeared, large compared with the 
 size of the jaw, and seemingly filling it. In the course of se- 
 ven or eight days the two centre nippers are seen as here re- 
 presented. 
 
 They likewise appear to be large, and to fill the front of the 
 mouth, although they will afterwards be found to be small, 
 compared with the permanent teeth that follow. In the course 
 of the first month the third grinder appears above and below, 
 and not long after, and generally before six weeks have ex- 
 pired, another incisor above and below will be seen on each 
 side of the two first, which have now considerably 
 grown, but not attained their perfect height. This cut 
 will then represent the appearance of the moutli. 
 
 At two months, the centre nippers will have reached 
 their natural level, and between the second and third 
 lonth the second pair will have overtaken them. They 
 will then begin to wear a little, and the outer edge, 
 which was at first somewhat raised and sharp, is brought 
 to a level with the inner edge, and so the mouth con- 
 tinues until sometime between the sixth and ninth month, 
 when another nipper begins to appear on each side of 
 the two first, making six above and below, and com- 
 pleting the coifs mouth; after which, the only observa- 
 ble difierence, until between the second and third year, 
 is in the wear of these teeth. 
 The term nipper is familiar to the horseman and the farrier, and much better 
 expresses the action of these teeth than the word incisor or cutter, which is adopted 
 by anatomists. Whoever has observed a horse in the act of browsing, and the 
 twitch of the head which accompanies the separation of each portion of gi-ass, will 
 perceive that it is nipped or torn rather than cut off. 
 
 These teeth are covered with a polished and exceedingly hard substance, called 
 the enamel; indeed, it is so hard that it almost bids defiance to the action of a file. 
 It spreads over that portion of the teeth which appears above the gum, and not 
 only so, but as they are to be so much employed in nipping the grass, and gather- 
 ing up the animal's food, and in such employment even this hard substance must 
 be gradually worn away, a portion of it, as it passes over the upper surface of the 
 teeth, is bent inward, and sunk into the body of the teeth, and forms a little pit in 
 them; and the iHside and bottom of this being blackened by the food, constitutes 
 the mark of the teeth, by the gradual disappearance of which, in consequence of 
 the wearing down of the teeth, we are enabled for several years to judge of the 
 age of the animal. 
 
 Dealers often talk of the filling up of the tooth. This Is altogether a vulgar 
 error. The mark never fills up. The peculiar cementing substance, which occu- 
 pies the funnel or pit made by the dipping in of the enamel, never grows up, but 
 tlie ridge of enamel around it is worn down, and then the blackness at the bottom 
 
 is rubbed off. 
 
 The colt's nipping teeth are round in front, some- 
 what hollow towards the mouth, and present at first 
 a cutting surface, with the outer edge rising in a 
 slanting direction above the inner edge. This, how- 
 ever, soon begins to wear down until both surfaces 
 are level, and the mark, which was originally long 
 and narrow, becomes shorter, and wider, and fainter. 
 At six months the four nippers are beginning to wear 
 to a level. The annexed cut will convey some idea 
 of the appearance of the teeth at twelve months. 
 The four middle teeth are evidently level — the cor- 
 ner ones becoming so. The mark in the two middle 
 teeth is wide and faint; in the two next teeth it is 
 darker, and longer, and narrower; and in the corner 
 teeth it is darkest, and longest, and narrowest. 
 
110 > * THE HORSE. 
 
 We may now speak of the back teeth, or grinders. They will not guide us far 
 in ascertaining the age of the animal, for we cannot easily inspect them; but there 
 are some interesting particulars connected with them. The foal is born with two 
 grinders in each jaw, above and below, or they appear within three or four days 
 after the birth; and before the expiration of a month they are succeeded by a 
 third, more behind. The grinders are, like the cutting-teeth, covered with enamel 
 on the sides, but not on the top, though several portions of enamel enter into their 
 substance. They have a great deal more to do than the nippers, and are employ- 
 ed in grinding down the hardest portion of the food; nature has, therefore, made 
 an additional provision for their sti-ength and endurance. 
 
 This cut presents a grinder sawn across. It seems to be a most irregular and 
 intricate machine; but the explanation of it is not diffi- 
 cult. The tooth is formed and prepared in cavities 
 within the jaw-bones. A delicate membranous bag, con- 
 taining a jelly-like substance, is found, in the unborn 
 animal, in a little cell within the jaw-bone. It assumes, 
 by degi'ees, the form of the tooth that is to appear, and 
 ' then the jelly within the membrane begins to change to 
 bony matter; and a hard and beautiful crystallization is 
 Vy formed on the membrane without, and so we have the 
 cutting-tooth covered by its enamel. In the formation, 
 however, of each of the grinders of the horse, there are originally five of these inem- 
 branous bags in the upper jaw, and four in the lower, filled with jelly. This jelly, 
 by degrees, gives place to a bony matter, which is thrown out by little vessels pe- 
 netrating into it, and is represented by the darker portions of the cut with central 
 black spots. The crystallization of enamel can be traced around each, and so there 
 would be five distinct bones or teeth. A third substance, however, is now secreted, 
 (which is represented by the white spaces,) and is a powerful cement, uniting all 
 these distinct bones into one body, and making one tooth of the five: this being 
 done, another coat of enamel spreads over the sides, but not the top, and the tooth 
 is completed. By no other contrivance could we have the grinding tooth capable, 
 without injury and without wearing, to rub down the hay, and oats, and beans, 
 which constitute the stable-food of horses. The teeth of the animal who lives on 
 flesh, and the upper part of Avhose teeth alone are covered with this enamel, and even 
 the nipping teeth of the horse, with the simple well of enamel running a certain 
 way down their centre, would soon be rubbed down and destroyed. It is neces- 
 sary to have columns of enamel penetrating thi-ough the whole substance of the 
 tooth. There is another advantage — the bony matter, and the cement by which 
 the different shells are united, and which occupy the spaces between the columns 
 of enamel, soon begin to wear awa)% while the enamel i-emains; and thence results 
 the irregular sui-face of the grinding teeth, being that kind of surface which it is 
 necessary for them to possess in order to efi'ect the purpose for which tliey were 
 intended. 
 
 The grinders in the lower jaw, having originally but four of these bags or shells, 
 are smaller, and narrower, and more regular, than the upper ones. They are not 
 placed horizontally in either jaw; but in the lower the higher side is within, and 
 shelving gi-adually outward; in the upper jaw the higher side is without, shelving 
 inward, and thus the grinding motion is most advantageously perfoi-med. There 
 is also an evident difference in the appearance and structure of each of the grind- 
 ers, so that a careful observer could tell to which jaw every_ one belonged, and 
 what situation it occupied — but we should depart from the object of our work if 
 we entered into these minutiae. 
 
 At the completion of the first year, a fourth gi-inder usually comes up, and the 
 yearling has then, or soon afterwards, six nippers and four grinders above and be- 
 low in each jaw, which, with the alteration in the appearance of the nippers we 
 have just described, will enable us to calculate pretty nearly the age of the foal, 
 subject to some variations arising from the period of weaning', and the nature of 
 the food. 
 
 At the age of one year and a half, the mark in the central nippers will be much 
 shorter and fainter; that in the two other pairs will have undergone an evident 
 change, and all the nippers will be flat. 
 
 At two years all tins will be more manifest. The accompanying cut deserves 
 attention, as giving an accurate representation of the nippers in the lower jaw of 
 a two year-old colt. 
 
THE TEEl'H. 
 
 ..»*' 
 
 Ill 
 
 About this period a fifth grinder will push out, 
 and now, likewise, will commence another process. 
 The first teeth are adapted to the size and wants of 
 the young animal. They are sufficiently large to 
 occupy and to fill the colt's jaws; but when the jaws 
 are expanded with the increasing growth of the ani- 
 mal, the teeth are separated too far from each other 
 to be useful, and another and larger set is required. 
 Evident provision is made for these even before the 
 colt is foaled. In cavities in the jaw, beneath the 
 first and temporary teeth, are to be seen the rudi- 
 ments of a second and permanent set. These gra- 
 dually increase, and some with greater rapidity than 
 others, and pressing upon the roots or fangs of the 
 first teeth; the consequence of this pressure is, not that the first teeth are forced 
 out, but the portion pressed upon gradually disappears; it is absorbed — taken up, 
 and carried away, by numerous little vessels, whose ofiice it is to get rid of the 
 worn out or useless part of the system. This absorption continues to proceed as 
 the second teeth grow and press upon their predecessors, until the whole of the 
 fang is gone, and the crown of the tooth, or that part of it which was above the 
 gum, having no longer firm hold, drops out, and the second teeth appear, larger 
 and stronger, and permanent. In a few instances, however, the second teeth do 
 not rise immediately under the temporary or milk teeth, but somewhat by their 
 side; and then, instead of this gradual process of absorption and disappearance 
 from the point of the root upwards, the root being compressed sideways, diminishes 
 throughout its whole bulk; the crown of the tooth diminishes with the root; and 
 the whole is pushed out of its place, to the forepart of the first grinder, and re- 
 mains for a considerable time, under the name of a wolf's tooth, causing swelling 
 and soreness of the gums, and frequently wounding the cheeks. These would be 
 gradually quite absorbed, but the process might be slow, and the annoyance would 
 be great; and therefore it is proper to get rid of these diminutive teeth, either by 
 punching them out, or drawing them as soon as they are perceived. 
 
 This change of teeth commences in those which earliest appeared, and, there- 
 fore, the front or first grinder gives way at the age of two years, and is succeeded 
 by a larger and permanent tooth. Now, likewise, seriously commences, in too 
 many cases, the roguery of horse-dealers and breeders. A colt rapidly increases 
 in value as his age and growth increase. A three-year-old colt is worth twenty- 
 five per centum more than a two-year-old one; and if a dealer has a strong and 
 likely colt that was dropped early in the year, and whose form and points might 
 deceive the unwary, he is anxious to pass him if he can for a three-year-old. To 
 accomplish this, he must give him a three-year-old mouth; and between two years 
 and a half and three years the two middle nippers are displaced, and succeeded 
 by two permanent teeth. 
 
 During the period between the falling out of the central milk nippers and the 
 coming up of the permanent ones, the colt, having a broken mouth, may have 
 some difficulty in grazing. If he should fall away considerably in condition, he 
 should be fed with mashes and corn, or cut meat. 
 
 This cut will represent a three year old 
 mouth. The central teeth are larger than 
 the others, with two grooves in the outer 
 convex surface, and the mark is long, narrow, 
 deep, and black; and not having yet attain- 
 ed their full growth, they are not so high as 
 the others. The mark in the two next nip- 
 pers is nearly worn out, and it is wearing 
 away in the corner nippers. Is it possible 
 to give this mouth to an early two-year-old? 
 The ages of all horses are reckoned from 
 Ma)', but some are foaled even so early as 
 January, and being actually four months over 
 the two years, if they have been well nursed 
 and fed, and are strong and large, they may, 
 with the mexperienced, have an additional 
 
112 
 
 THE HORSE 
 
 year put upon them. The central nippers are punched or drawn out, and the 
 others appear three or four months earlier than they otherwise would. In the na- 
 tural process, they could only rise by long" pressing upon, and causing the absorp- 
 tion of the first set. The fii-st set mechanically oppose their rising-, and that oppo- 
 sition being- removed, it is reasonable to imagine that their progress will be more 
 ra])id. Three or four months will be gained, and tliese three or foui- months may 
 enable the breeder to term him a late colt of a preceding year. To him, however, 
 who is accustomed to horses, (although it is long practice alone which could g-ive 
 this facility of judgment,) the general form of the animal, the little development 
 of the forehand, tlie continuance of the mark on the next pair of nippers, its more 
 evident existence in the corner ones, some enlargement or irregularity about the 
 gums from the violence used in forcing out tlie teeth, the small growth of the first 
 and fifth grinders, and the non-appearance of tlie sixth grinder, which if it is not 
 through the gum at three years old, is swelling under it, and preparing to get 
 through, any or all of these circumstances, carefully attended to, will be a sufficient 
 security against deception. 
 
 It is so unusual to look at the teeth in the upper jaw of a young horse, that the 
 dealer who wishes to give a false appearance of age, frequently confines his ope- 
 ration to the lower jaw, and, in consequence of this, when the teeth of the lower 
 jaw are thus made to push out, they are still below the gum in the upper jaw, 
 although, in the natural process, they ai-e cut a little sooner in the upper than in 
 the lower jaw. It may, therefore, be good pohcy always to examine both jaws. 
 
 A horse, then, at three years old ought to have the central permanent nippers 
 gi'owing — the other two pairs wasting — six grinders ui each jaw, above and below 
 — the first and fifth molars level with the others, and the sixth protruding. The 
 sharp edge of the new incisors, although it could not be well expressed in our cut, 
 will be very evident when compared with the neighboring teeth. 
 
 As the permanent nippers grow, and press upon the teeth at their side, those ' 
 teeth will begin gradually to diminish. Not only will the mark be wearing out, 
 but the crowns of the teeth will be considerably smaller. 
 
 At three years and a half, or between that and four, the next pair of nippers 
 will be changed, and the mouth at that time cannot be mistaken. The central nip- 
 pers will have attained nearly their full growth; a vacuity will be left v/here the 
 second stood, or they will begin to peep above the gum — and the corner ones will 
 be diminished in breadth — worn down — and the mark becoming small and faint. 
 At this period, likewise, the second pair of grinders will be shed, and, previous to 
 this, will be the attempt of the dealer to give to his three-year-old an additional 
 year, but the fraud may be detected by an examination similar to that which we 
 have already described. 
 
 At four years, the central nippers will be 
 fully developed; the sharp edge somewhat 
 worn off; the mark shorter, wider, and faint- 
 er: the next pair will be up, but they will 
 be small, with the mark deep, and extending 
 quite across them; and the corner nippers, 
 larger than the inside ones, yet smaller than 
 they were, flat, and the mark nearly effaced; 
 the sixth grinder will have risen to a level 
 with the others, and the tushes will begin to 
 appear. 
 
 Now, more than at any other time, will the 
 dealer be anxious to put an additional year 
 upon the animal, for the difference between 
 a foiu- -year-old colt, and a five-year-old horse, 
 in strength, utility, and value, is very great; 
 but the want of wear in the other nippers — the small size of the corner ones — the 
 little growth of the tush — the smallness of the second grinder — the low fore-hand — 
 the legginess of the colt, and the thickness and little depth of the mouth, will, to 
 the man of common experience among horses, at once detect the cheat. 
 
 The tushes (see p. 106) are four in number, two in each jaw, situated between 
 the nippers and the grinders, much nearer to the former than the latter, and nearer 
 in the lower jaw than in the upper, but this distance increasing in both jaws with 
 the age of the animal. In shape it somewhat resembles a cone; it protrudes about 
 an inch from the gum, and has its extremity sharp-pointed and curved. At the age 
 
THE TEETH. 
 
 113 
 
 of which we are now speaking, the tushes are almost peculiar to the horse, and 
 castration does not appear to prevent or retard their development. All mares, 
 however, have the beginnings of them in the chambers of the jaw, and they ap- 
 pear externally in the mujority of old mares. Their use is not evident: perhaps 
 in the wild state of the animal they are weapons of offence; so as that he can moi-e 
 firmly seize, and more deeply wound his enemy. 
 
 The breeder often attempts to hasten the appearance of the tush, and he cuts 
 deeply through the gum to remove the opposition which that would afford. To a 
 little extent he succeeds. He may possibly gain a few weeks, but he cannot gain 
 more; for the resistance of the gum is not like that of a sohd and firmly fixed tooth, 
 and is much more easily overcome by the regular process of nature. After all, 
 there is much uncertainty as to the appearance of the tush, and it may vary from 
 the fourth year to four years and six months. It belongs in the upper jaw, both 
 to the inferior and superior maxillary bones; (see n, p. 52;) for, while its fang is 
 deeply imbedded in the inferior maxillary, the tooth penetrates the process of the 
 superior maxillary at the union of those bones. 
 
 At four years and a half, or between that and five, the last important change 
 takes place in the mouth of tlie horse. The corner nippers are shed, and the per- 
 manent ones begin to appear;" tl\e central nippers are considerably worn, and the 
 next pair are beginning to show marks of usage. The tush has now protruded, 
 and is generally a full half inch in height; externally it has a rounded prominence, 
 with a groove on either side, and within it is evidently hollowed. Our readers 
 need not be told that from the rising of the corner nipper the animal changes its 
 name — the colt becomes a horse, and tlie filly a mare. 
 
 At five years the horse's mouth is almost 
 perfect. The corner nippers are quite up, 
 with the long deep mark iiTegular on the in- 
 side; and the other nippers bearing evident 
 tokens of increasing wearing. Tiie tush is 
 much grown; the grooves have almost or 
 quite disappeared; and the outer surface is 
 regularly convex: it is still as concave with- 
 in, and with the edge nearly as sharp as it 
 was six months before; the sixth molar is 
 quite up, and the third molar is wanting. 
 This last circumstance, if the general appear- 
 ance of the animal, and particularly before, 
 and the wearing of the centre nippers, and 
 the gi-owth and shape of the tushes, be like- 
 wise carefully attended to, will prevent deception, if a late four-year-old be at- 
 tempted to be substituted for a five. The nippers may be brought up a few 
 months before their time, and the tusJies a few weeks, but the grinder is with 
 difficulty displaced. The three last grinders and the tushes are never shed. 
 
 At six years the mark on the centre 
 nippers is worn out. There will still be 
 a difference of color in the centre of the 
 tooth. The cement filling the hole made 
 by the dipping in of the enamel will pre- 
 sent a browner hue than the other part of 
 the tooth, and it will be evidently sur- 
 rounded by an edge of enamel, and there 
 will even remain a little depression in the 
 centre, and also a depression round this 
 case of enamel; but the deep hole in the 
 centre of the teeth, with the blackened 
 siu-face wliich it presents, and the elevated 
 edge of enamel, will have disappeared. 
 Persons not much accustomed tq horses 
 have been sadl}' puzzled here. They ex- 
 pected to find a plain surface of an uni- 
 form color, and knew not what conclusion to draw when there was both discolor- 
 ation and irregularit}-. 
 
 In the next incisors the mark is shorter, broader, and fainter; and in the corner 
 ceeth the edges of the enamel are more regular; and the surface is evidently worn. 
 15 
 
114 
 
 THE HORSE. 
 
 The tuslj h:\s attained its full growth, being nearly or quite an inch in length, con- 
 vex outwaicl, concave within, tending to a point, and the extremity somewhat 
 curved. The tliird grinder is fairly up, and all the grinders are level. 
 
 Now, or perhaps at a period of six months before, the horse may be said to have 
 a perfect mouth. All the teeth are produced fully grown, and have hitherto sus- 
 tained no material injury. During these important changes of the teeth, the ani- 
 mal has suffered less than could be supposed possible. With children, the period 
 of teething is fraught with danger. Dogs are subject to convulsions, and hundreds 
 of them die from the irritation caused by the cutting or shedding of their teeth; 
 but the horse appears to feel little inconvenience. The gums and palate are oc- 
 casionally somewhat hot and swollen, but the slightest scarification will remove 
 this. The teeth of the horse are more necessary to him than those'; of the other 
 animals are to them. The child may be fed, and the dog will bolt his victuals, but 
 the food of the horse must be well ground down, or the nutriment cannot be ex- 
 tracted from it. 
 
 At seven years the mark, in tlie way in 
 which we have described it, is worn out 
 in the four central nippers, and fast 
 wearing away in the corner teeth; and the 
 tush is beginning to be altered. It is 
 rounded at the point; rounded at the 
 edges; still round without; and begin- 
 ning to get round inside. 
 
 At eight years old the mark is gone 
 from all the bottom nippers, the tush is 
 rounder in every way, and the mark is 
 now said to be out of the mouth. There 
 is nothing remaining in the bottom nip- 
 pers which can afterwards clearly show 
 the age of the horse, or justify the most 
 experienced examiner in giving a positive 
 opinion. 
 
 Dishonest dealers have been said to re- 
 sort to a method of prolonging the mark 
 in the lower nippers. It is called bishop- 
 ing, from the name of the scoundrel who 
 mvented it. The horse of eight or nine 
 years old is thrown, and, with an engra- 
 ver's tool, a hole is dug in the now al- 
 most plain surface of the corner teeth, 
 and in shape and depth resembling the 
 mark in a seven-year-old horse. The 
 whole is then burned with a heated iron, 
 and a permanent black stain is left; the 
 next pair of nippers are sometimes light- 
 ly touched. An ignorant man would very 
 easily be imposed on by this trick; but 
 the irregular appearance of the cavity, the diffusion of the black stain around the 
 tushes, the sharpened edges and concave inner surface of which can never be 
 given again, and the marks on the upper nippers, together with the general con- 
 formation of the horse, can never deceive the careful examiner. 
 
 Horsemen, after the horse is eight years old, are accustomed to look to the nip- 
 pers in the upper jaw, and some conclusion has been drawn from the appearances 
 which they present. It cannot be doubted that the mark remains in them some 
 years after it is obliterated from the nippers in the lower jaw; because the hard 
 substance, or kind of cement, by which the pit or funnel in the centre of the tooth 
 is occupied, does not reach so high, and there is consequently a greater depth of 
 tooth to be worn away in order to reach it; and because the upper nippers are not 
 so much exposed to friction and wear as the under. The lower jaw alone is 
 moved, and pressed forcibly upon the food: the upper jaw is witliout motion, and 
 has only to resist that pressure. 
 
 There are various opinions as to the intervals between the disappearance of the 
 marks from the different cutting teeth. Some have averaged it at two years, and 
 others at one. We aie inclined to adopt the latter opinion, and then the age 
 
THE TEETH. 115 
 
 would be thus tletermined: at nine yeai-s tlie mark will be worn from the middle 
 nippei-s — from the next pair at ten, and from all the upper nippers at eleven. 
 Durint^ these periods the tush is likewise undergoing' a manifest chang'e: it is blunt- 
 er, shorter, and rounder. In what degree this takes place in the different periods, 
 long and most favorable opportunities for observation can alone enable the liorse- 
 man to decide, or rather we believe that the tush alone will not enable us to form 
 a very accurate judgment. 
 
 Tlie tushes are exposed to but little tear and wear. The friction against them 
 must be slight, proceeding only from the passage of the food by them, and from 
 the motion of the tongue, or from the bit; and their alteration of form, although 
 generally as we have described them, is frequently uncertain. The tush will some- 
 times be blunt at eight, and remain pointed at eighteen; and occasionally, accord- 
 ing to the direction which they take, or degree in which they rub against each 
 other, the tushes on the different sides will present an apparent variation of one or 
 two years. The upper tush, althougli the latest in appearing, is soonest worn away. 
 
 Are thei-e any circumstances to guide our judgment after this? There are those 
 which will prepare us to guess at the age of the horse, or to approach within a few 
 years of it, until he becomes very old: but there are none whicli will enable us 
 accurately to determine; and the indications of age must now be taken from the 
 shape of the upper surface of the nippers. At eight, they are all oval, the length 
 of the oval running across from tooth to tooth: but as the horse gets older, the 
 teeth diminish in size, and they at first diminish in width and not in thickness. 
 They become a little apart from each other, and their surfaces are rounded. At 
 nine, the centre nippers are evidently so — at ten, the others begin to have the oval 
 shortened. At eleven, tlie second pair of nippers are quite rounded, and at thir- 
 teen, the corner ones have that appearance. At foui-teen, the faces of the central 
 nippers become somewhat triangular. At seventeen, they are all so. At nineteen, 
 the angles begin to wear off", and the central teeth are again oval, but in a reversed 
 direction, viz., from outward, inward; and at twenty-one, they all wear this form. 
 This is the opinion of some continental veterinary surgeons, and Mr. Percival first 
 presented them to us in an English dress. We believe the statement is correct to 
 a very considerable extent, but we leave our readers to form their own judgment. 
 
 It would be foil)' indeed to expect accuracy at this advanced age of the horse, 
 when we are bound to confess, that the rules we have laid down for determining 
 this matter at an earlier period, although they are recognized by horsemen gene- 
 rally, and referred to in coui-ts of justice, will not guide us in every case. Stabled 
 horses have the mark sooner worn out than those that are at grass, and a crib-biter 
 m.ay deceive the best judge by one or two years. The age of the horse, likewise, 
 being uniformly calculated from the 1st of May, it is sometimes exceedingly diffi- 
 cult, or almost impossible, about that time, to determine whetlier the animal be a 
 late foal of one year, or an early one of the next. At nine or ten, the bars of the 
 mouth become less prominent, and their regular diminution will designate increas- 
 ing age. At eleven or twelve, the lower nippei's change their original upright di- 
 rection, and project forward or horizontally; and they become yellow and covered 
 with tartar. They are yellow, because the teeth must grow to answer to the wear 
 and tear of them; but the enamel which covered their surface when they were first 
 produced cannot be repaired, and that which wears this yellow color in old age is 
 the part which, in youth, was in the socket, and therefore destitute of enamel. 
 
 The upper nippers become arched, and project over the lower ones, wearing 
 down the outer edge, and gradually making that the lowest, which was at first con- 
 siderably the highest. 
 
 The general indications of old age, independent of the teeth, are deepening of 
 the hollows over the eyes — gi'ay hairs, and particularly over the eyes, and about 
 the muzzle; thinness and hanging down of the lips; sharpness of the withers; sink- 
 ing of the back; lengthening of the quarters; and the disappearance of windgalls, 
 spavins, and tumors of every kind. 
 
 Of the natural age of the horse we should form a very erroneous estimate, from 
 the early period at which he is now worn out and destroyed. Mr. Blaine tells us 
 of a gentleman who had three horses, which died at the ages of thirty- five, thirty- 
 seven, and thirty-nine. Mr. Cully mentions one that received a ball in his neck at 
 the battle of Preston, in 1715, and which was extracted at his death, in 1758; and 
 Mr. Percival gives an account of a barge horse that died in his sixty -second year- 
 There cannot be a severer satire on the English nation, than that, from the ab- 
 surd practice of running our race-horses at two and three years old, and working 
 
116 THE HOUSE. 
 
 others in various ways, long before their limbs are knit, or their strength come, and 
 cruelly exacting from them services far beyond their powers, their age does not 
 average a sixth part of that of the last-mentioned horse. The scientific author of 
 the "Animal Kingdom" declares, that "it may be safely asserted, that more horses 
 are consumed in England, in every ten years, than in any other country in the 
 world in ten times that period, except those which perish in war." 
 
 This point has with the English been too long considered as one of mere profit 
 and loss; and it has been thought to be cheaper to bring the young horse early into 
 work, and in a short time to exhaust his whole strength, than to maintain him for 
 a long period, and at a considerable expense, almost useless. The matter requii-es 
 much consideration, and we think much reformation too. 
 
 DISEASES OF THE TEETH. 
 
 Of the diseases of the teeth in the horse, we know little. Carious or hollow teeth 
 have occasionally, but not often, been seen; but the edges of the grinders from the 
 wearing off of the enamel, or the irregular growth of the teeth, become rough, 
 and wound the inside of the cheek; it is then necessary to adopt a summary but 
 effectual method of cure, namely, to rasp them smooth. Many bad ulcers have 
 been produced in the mouth by the neglect of this. 
 
 The teeth sometimes grow irregularly in length, and this is particularly the case 
 with the grinders, from not being in exact opposition to each other when the mouth 
 is shut. The growth of the teeth still going on, and there being no mechanical 
 opposition to it, one of the back teeth, or a portion of one of them, shoots up half 
 an inch or more above the others. Sometimes it penetrates the bars above, and 
 causes soreness and ulceration; at other times it interferes partially, or altogether, 
 ■with the grinding motion of the jaws, and the animal pines away without the cause 
 being suspected. Here the saw should be used, and the projecting portion re- 
 duced to a level with the other teeth. The horse which has once been subjected to 
 this operation should afterwards be frequently examined, and especially if he lose 
 condition; and, indeed, every horse that gets thin or out of condition, without fever, 
 or any other apparent cause, should have his teeth and mouth carefully examined, 
 and especially if he quids (partly chewing and then dropping,) his food, without 
 any indication of sore throat, or if he holds his head somewhat on one side, while 
 he eats, in order to get the food between the outer edges of the teeth. A horse 
 that has once had very irregular teeth is materially lessened in value, for, although 
 they may be sawn down as carefully as possible, they will project again at no great 
 distance of time. 
 
 THE TONGUE. 
 
 The tongue is the organ of taste, and employed in disposing the food for grind- 
 ing between the teeth, and afterwards collecting it together, and conveying it to 
 the back part of the mouth in order to be swallowed. It is also the main instru- 
 ment in drinking, and the canal through which the water passes in the act of 
 drinking. The root of it is firmly fixed at the bottom of the mouth by a variety 
 of muscles; the fore part is loose in the mouth. It is covered by a continuation of 
 the membrane which lines the mouth, and which, doubling beneath, and confining 
 the motions of the tongue, is called its fraenum, or bridle. On the back of the 
 tongue, this membrane is thickened and roughened, and is covered with nume- 
 rous conical papilla, or little eminences, on which the fibres of a branch of the 
 fifth pair of nerves expand, and on which the sense of taste depends. The vari- 
 o»is motions of the tongue are accomplished by means of the ninth pair of nerves. 
 The substance of the tongue is composed of muscular fibres, with a great deal of 
 fatty matter interposed between them, and which gives to this organ its peculiar 
 softness. 
 
 DISEASES OF THE TONftUE. 
 
 The tongue is sometimes exposed to injury from cai'elessness or violence in the 
 act of drenching, or administering a ball, being pressed against, and cut by the 
 edges of the grinders. A little diluted tincture of myrrh, or alum, dissolved in 
 water, or even nature unassisted, will speedily heal the wound. The horse will 
 bite his tongue — most frequently in his sleep. If the injury be trifling, it requires 
 
THE SALIVARY GLANDS. 117 
 
 little care; but in some instances a portion of tlie tongue will be torn or nearly- 
 bitten oft", and the assistance of a veterinary practitioner will be needed. 
 
 Bladders will sometimes appear along the under side of the tongue, which will 
 increase to a considerable size, and the tongue itself will be mucli enlarged, and 
 the animal will be unable to swallow, and a great quantity of ropy saliva will drivel 
 from the mouth. This disease often exists without the nature of it being suspect- 
 ed. It resembles what is called the bluin in the cow, which is a very serious com- 
 plaint in that animial, frequently connected with much fever, and terminating in 
 suffocation. If the mouth of the horse be opened, one large bladder, or a suc- 
 cession of bladders of a purple hue, will be seen to extend along the whole of the 
 under side of the tongue. If they be lanced freely and deeply, from end to end, 
 the swelling will very rapidly abate, and any little fever that remains may be sub- 
 dued by cooling medicine. The cause of this disease is not clearly known. It 
 usually proceeds, perhaps, from indigestion, connected with a general tendency 
 to inflammation. 
 
 THE SALIVARY GLANDS, 
 
 In order that the food may be properly ground down to prepare it for digestion, 
 it is necessary that it should be previously moistened. The food of the stabled 
 horse, however, is dry, and his meal is generally concluded without any fluid be- 
 ing oft'ered to him. Nature has made a provision for this. It has placed in the 
 neighborhood of the mouth various glands to secrete, and that plentifully, a limpid 
 fluid, somewhat salt to the taste: this fluid is conveyed from the glands into the 
 mouth by various ducts in the act of chewing, and, being mixed with the food, 
 renders it more easily ground, more easily passed afterwards into the stomach, and 
 better fitted for digestion. 
 
 The principal of these is the parotid gland, (see cut, p. 94.) It is placed in the 
 hollow which extends from the root of the ear to the angle of the lower jaw. A 
 portion of it, q, is represented as turned up, to show the situation of the blood- 
 vessels underneath. In almost every case of cold connected with sore throat, the 
 parotid gland is enlarged, and is immediately evident to the feeling, and even to 
 the eye. It is composed of a great number of small glands connected together, 
 and a little tube proceeding from each to carry off' the secreted fluid. These tubes 
 unite in one common duct. At the letter u, the parotid duct is seen to pass un- 
 der the angle of the lower jaw, together with the submaxillary artery, and a branch 
 of the jugular vein, and they come out again at w. At r, the duct is seen separat- 
 ed from the other vessels, chmbing up the cheek, and piercing it to discharge its 
 contents into the mouth opposite to the second grinder. The quantity of fluid 
 thus poured into the mouth, from each of the parotid glands, amounts to a pint 
 and a half in an hour during the action of chewing; and sometimes, when the duct 
 has been accidently opened, it has spirted out to the distance of several feet. 
 
 The parotid gland sympathizes with every inflammatory affection of the upper 
 part of the throat, and therefore it is found swelled, hot, and tender, in almost 
 every catarrh or cold. The cold is to be attacked by the usual means; and a sti- 
 mulating application, almost amounting to a blister, well rubbed over the gland, 
 will best subdue the inflammation of that body. 
 
 In bad strangles, and sometimes in violent cold, tliis gland will swell to a great 
 size, and ulcerate, or an obstruction will arise in some part of the duct, and the 
 accumulating fluid will burst the vessel, and a fistulous ulcer will be formed, very 
 difficult to heal. A veterinary surgeon alone will be competent to the treatment 
 of either case; and the principle by which he will be guided wiU be to heal the 
 abscess in the gland as speedily as he can; or, if the ulcer be in the duct, either to 
 restore the passage through the duct, or to form a new one, or to cut off" the flow 
 of the saliva by the destruction of the gland. 
 
 The second source of the saliva is from the submaxillary glands, or the glands 
 under the jaw. One of them is represented at s, p. 94. The submaxillary glands 
 occupy the space underneath, and between the sides of the lower jaw, and con- 
 sist of numerous small glands, each with its proper duct, which urate together, 
 and form on each side a common duct or vessel, that pierces through the muscles 
 at the root of the tongue, and opens in little projections or heads upon the froenum 
 or bridle of the tongue, about an inch and a half from the front teeth. When the 
 horse has catarrh or cold, these glands, like the parotid gland, enlarge. This 
 often takes place after strangles, and several distinct kernels are to be felt under 
 
118 THE HORSE. 
 
 the jaw. We have already stated that they may be distinguished from those swell- 
 ings -which accompany or indicate glanders, by their being larger, generally not 
 so distinct, more in the centre of tlie channel or space between the jaws, and never 
 adhering to the jaw-bones. The farriers call them vives, and often adopt cruel 
 and absurd methods to disperse them, as burning them with a hghted candle, or 
 hot iron, or even cutting them out. They will, in the majority of instances, gra- 
 dually disperse, as the disease which produced them subsides; or they will yield 
 to slightly stimulating embrocations; or, if they are obstinate in their continuance, 
 they are of no further consequence than as indicating that the horse has labored 
 under severe cold or strangles. 
 
 During catarrh or inflammation of the mouth, the little projections marking 
 the opening of these ducts on eitlier side of the bridle of the tongue are apt to 
 enlarge, and the mouth under the tongue is a little red, and hot, and tender. The 
 farriers call these swellings bauds or paps, and as soon as they discover them, 
 mistaking the efl"ect of disease for the cause of it, set to work to cut them close off. 
 The bleeding which follows this operation somewhat abates tlie local inflammation, 
 and aflTords temporary relief: but the wounds will not speedily heal; the saliva 
 continues to flow from the orifice of the duct, and running into the irregularities 
 of the wound, cause it to spread and deepen; and even when it heals, the mouth 
 of the duct being frequently closed, and the saliva continuing to be seci-eted by 
 the submaxillary gland, it accumulates in the duct, until that vessel bursts, and 
 abscesses are formed, which eat deeply under the root of the tongue, and long 
 torment the poor animal, and when closed, after a great deal of trouble, are very 
 apt to break out again for months and years afterwards. 
 
 Ail that is necessary with regard to these paps or barbs is to abate the Inflam- 
 mation or cold which caused them to swell, and they will very soon and perfectly 
 subside. He who ever talks of cutting them out is not fit to be trusted with a 
 horse. 
 
 A third source of saliva is from glands under the tongue (the sublingual glands,') 
 which open by many little orifices under tlie tongue, resembling little folds of 
 the skin of the mouth, hanging from the lower surface of the tongue, or found on 
 the bottom of the mouth. These likewise sometimes enlarge, during cold or in- 
 flammation of the mouth, and then tliey are called gigs and bladders, a.ndjlaps in 
 the mouth. They have the appearance of small pimples, and the farrier is anxious 
 to cut them off", or burn them down. The better way is to let them alone, for in 
 a few days they will generally disappear. Sliould any ulceration follow them, a 
 little tincture of myrrh, or a solution of alum, will readily heal them. 
 
 Beside these three principal sources of saliva, there are little glands to be found 
 tlilckly studded on every part of the mouth, cheeks and hps, which pour out a 
 considerable quantity of fluid, to assist In moistening and preparing the food. , 
 
 Connected with these glands, and particularly with the submaxillary and parotid 
 glands, and being either an Inflammation of them, or of the cellular substance 
 around them, Is 
 
 THE STRANGLES. 
 
 This is a disease principally incident to young horses — usually appearing between 
 the fourth and fifth year, and oftener in the spring than in any other part of the 
 year. It is preceded by cough, and can at first be scarcely distinguished from 
 common cougli, except that there is more discharge from the nostinl, of a yellow- 
 ish color, mixed with matter, but generally without smell; and likewise a consi- 
 derable discharge of ropy fluid from the mouth, and greater swelling than usual 
 under the throat. This swelling Increases with uncertain rapidity, accompanied 
 by some fever, and disinclination to eat, partly arising from the fever, but more 
 from the pain the animal feels in the act of chewing. There Is considerable thirst; 
 but after a gulp or two, the horse ceases to drink, yet is evidently desirous of 
 more. In the attempt to swallow, and sometimes when not drinking, a convulsive 
 cough comes on, which almost threatens to suffocate the animal, and thence pro- 
 bably the name of the disease. The tumor is about tiie centre of the channel 
 under the jaw; it soon fills the whole of the space, and is evidently one uniform 
 body, and may tlius be distinguished from glanders, or tlie enlarged glands of ca- 
 tarrli. At length the centre of it becomes more prominent and softer, and it 
 evidently contains a fluid. This rapidly increases, the tumor bursts, and a great 
 quantity of pus is discharged. As soon as the tumor has broken, the cough sub- 
 
CANKER AND WOUNDS IN THE MOUTH. 119 
 
 sides, and the horse speedily mends, although some degi-ee of weakness may hang 
 about him for a considerable time. 
 
 Of the cause of the disease we can say but little. Few horses, possibly none, 
 escape its attack; but, that attack having passed over, the animal is free from it 
 for the remainder of his life. Catarrh may precede, or may predispose to the at- 
 tack; and undoubtedly the state of the atmosphere has much to do with it, for 
 both its prevalence and its severity are connected with certain seasons of the year 
 and changes of the weather. There is no preventive for the disease, nor do we 
 believe tliat there is any thing contagious in it. There are strange stories told 
 with regard to tliis; but the explanation of the matter is, that when several horses 
 in the same farm, or in the same neighborhood, have had strangles at the same 
 time, they have been exposed to the same powerful but unknown exciting cause. 
 
 The treatment of strangles is very simple. As the essence of the disease con- 
 sists in the formation and suppuration of the tumor under the jaw, the principal, 
 or almost the sole attention of tlie practitioner should be directed to the hastening 
 of these processes: therefoi-e, as soon as the tumor of strangles evidently appears, 
 the part should be actively blistered. Old practitioners used to recommend poul- 
 tices; which, from the thickness of the hoi-se's skin, must have very little effect, 
 even if they could be confined on the pai-t; and from the difficulty and almost 
 impossibihty of this, and their getting cold and hard, they must weaken the ener- 
 gies of nature, and delay the ripening of the tumor. Fomentations are little more 
 effectual. A blister will not only secure the completion of the process, but hasten 
 it by many days, and save the patient much pain and exhaustion; and it will pro- 
 duce another good effect — it will, previous to the opening of the tumor, abate the 
 internal inflammation and soreness of the throat, and thus lessen the cough and 
 wheezing. 
 
 As soon as the swelling is soft on the top, and evidently contains matter, it 
 should be deeply and freely lanced. It is a bad, although frequent practice, to 
 suffer the tumor to burst naturally, by which a ragged ulcer is formed, very slow 
 to heal, and difficult of treatment. If the incision is deep and large enough, no 
 second collection of matter will be formed : and that which is already formed may 
 be suffered to run out slowly, all pressure with the fingers being avoided. Tlie 
 part should be kept clean, and a little friar's balsam daily injected into the wound. 
 
 The remainder of the treatment will depend on the symptoms. If there is much 
 fever, and evident affection of tlie chest, and which should carefully be distin- 
 guished from the oppression and choaking occasioned by the pressure of the tu- 
 mor, it will be proper to bleed. In the majority of cases, however, bleeding will 
 not only be unnecessary, but injurious. It will delay the suppuration of the tumor, 
 and increase the subsequent debility. A few cooling medicines, as nitre, emetic 
 tartar, and perhaps digitalis, may be given as the case requires. The appetite, or 
 i-ather the ability to eat, will return with the opening of the abscess. Bran-mashes, 
 or fresh cut grass or tares, should be liberally supplied, which will not only afford 
 sufficient nourishment to recruit the strength of the animal, but keep the bowels 
 gently open. If the weakness be not gi-eat, no further medicine will be wanted, 
 except a dose of mild physic, to prevent the swellings or eruptions which sometimes 
 succeed to strangles. In cases of debility, a small quantity of tonic medicine, as 
 camomile and gentian, with ginger, in doses of a couple of drachms, may be ad- 
 ministered. 
 
 As strangles seem to be a disease from which few horses escape, and which, al- 
 though attended with little danger, is sometimes tedious in its progress, and accom- 
 panied by much debility, some foreign veterinary surgeons have endeavored to pro- 
 duce a milder disorder by inoculating, either with the matter from the tumor, or 
 the discharge from the nose; and it is said that a disease, with all the characters of 
 strangles, but shorter and milder in its course, has supervened. English practi- 
 tionei's have not, we beheve, tried the experiment. 
 
 CANKER AND "WOUNDS IN THE MOUTH. 
 
 The mouth is injured much oftener than the careless owner suspects, by the 
 pressure of a sharp bit. Not only are the bars wounded and deeply ulcerated, but 
 the lower jaw between the tush and tlie gi-inders is sometimes torn even to the bone, 
 and the bone itself affected, and portions of it come away. It may be necessary 
 to have a sharp bit for the headstrong and obstinate beast, yet if that be severely 
 and unjustifiably called into exercise, the animal may rear, and endanger himself 
 
120 THE H08SE. 
 
 and his rider; but there can be no occasion for a thousandth part of the toiinent 
 which the trappings of the mouth often inflict on a willing and docile servant, and 
 which either render the mouth hard, and destroy all the pleasure of riding, or cause 
 the horse to become fretful or vicious. 
 
 Small ulcers are sometimes found in various parts of the mouth, said to be pro- 
 duced by rusty bits, but oftener arising from contusions inflicted by the bit, or from 
 inflammation of the mouth. If the curb-bit is in fault, a snaflle or Pelham bit should 
 be used; if there be inflammation of the mouth, a little cooling medicine may be 
 administered; and to the ulcers themselves, tincture of myrrh, diluted with an equal 
 quantity of watei', or an ounce of alum dissolved in twenty times the weight of 
 water, may be applied with advantage. 
 
 THE PHARYNX. 
 
 Proceeding to the back of the mouth, we find the Pharynx, {carrying or convey' 
 ing the food towards the stomach.) It begins at the root of the tongue, (see 7, 8, 
 and 9, p. 53;) is separated from the mouth by the soft palate (7) which hangs 
 down from the palatine bone at 8, and extends to the epiglottis or covering to the 
 windpipe. When the food has been sufficiently ground by the teeth, and mixed 
 with the saliva, it is gathered together by the tongue, and then by the action of the 
 cheeks and tongue and back part of the mouth, forced against the soft palate, 
 which, giving way, and being raised upwards towards the entrance into the nose, 
 prevents the food from going that way. It passes to the pharynx, and the soft 
 palate falling down again, prevents its I'eturn to the mouth, and prevents, likewise, 
 except in extreme cases, the act of vomiting in the horse. Whatever is returned 
 from the stomach of the horse, passes through the nose, as the cut will make evi- 
 dent. 
 
 The sides of the pharynx are lined with muscles which now begin powerfully to 
 contract, and by that contraction the bolus is forced in imtil it reaches the gullet, 
 (10) which is the termination of the pharynx. Before, however, the food reaches 
 the gullet, it has to pass over the entrance into the windpipe, (3) and should any 
 portion of it enter into that tube, much inconvenience and danger might result: 
 therefore, this opening is not only lined by muscles by which it may be closed at 
 the pleasure of the animal, but it is likewise covered by a heart-like elastic carti- 
 lage, the epiglottis, (2) with its back towards the pharynx, and its hollow towards 
 the apei'ture. The epiglottis yields to the pressure of the bolus passing over it, 
 and lies flat on the entrance into the windpipe, and prevents the possibility of any 
 thing entering into it; and no sooner has the food passed over it, than it rises again 
 by its own elasticity, and leaves the upper part of the windpipe once more open 
 for the purpose of breathing. The voice of animals is produced by the passage of 
 air tlu'ough this aperture, communicating certain vibrations to folds of the mem- 
 brane covering the part, and these vibrations are afterwards modified in their pas- 
 sage through the cavities of the nose. To understand the diseases of these parts, 
 we must consider the anatomy of the neck generally. 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 THE ANATOMY AND DISEASES OF THE 
 NECK AND NEIGHBORING PARTS. 
 
 The neck of the horse and of every animal belonging to the class mammalia, 
 except one species, is composed of seven bones, called vertebra; moveable or turn- 
 ing upon each other, (see cut, p. 49.) They are connected together by strong 
 ligaments, and form so many distinct joints, in order to give sufficiently extensive 
 motion to this important part of the body. The bone nearest to the scull is called 
 the atlas, (see cut, p. 49, and g, p. 53,) because, in the human being, it supports 
 the head. In the horse, the head is suspended from it. It is a mere ring-shaped 
 bone, wit^h broad projections sideway; but without tjie sharp and irregular pro- 
 cesses which are found on all the others. The pack-ivua; or ligament, by which the 
 
POLL-EVIL. 121 
 
 head is principally supported, (/, p. 53,) and which is strongly connected with all 
 the other bones, passes over this without touching it, by wliich means the head is 
 much more easily and extensively mo\ ed. Tlie junction of the atlas with the head 
 is the seat of a very serious and ti-oublesome ulcer, termed 
 
 POLL-ETII.. 
 
 From the horse rubbing and sometimes striking his poll against the lower edge 
 of the manger, or hanging back in the stall, and bruising the part with the halter; 
 or from the frequent and painful stretching of the ligaments and muscles, by unne- 
 cessary tight reining, and occasional!)', we fear, from a violent blow on the poll, 
 carelessly or wantonly inflicted, inflammation comes on, and a swelling appears, hot, 
 tender, and painful. We have just slated, that the ligament of the neck passes 
 over the atlas, or first bone, without being attached to it, and the seat of inflamma- 
 tion is between the ligament, and the bone beneath; and being thus deeply situa- 
 ted, it is serious in its nature and difficult of treatment. 
 
 The first thing to be attempted is to abate the inflammation by bleeding, physic, 
 and the application of cold lotions to the part. By these means the tumor will 
 sometimes be dispersed. This system, however, must not be pursued too far. If 
 the swelling increases, and the heat and tenderness likewise increase, matter will 
 form in tlie tumor; and then our object will be to hasten its formation by warm 
 fomentations, poultices, or stimulating embrocations. As soon as matter is formed, 
 which may be known by the softness of the tumor, and before it has time to spread 
 around and eat into the neighboring parts, it should be evacuated; and now comes 
 the whole art of treating poll-evil; the opening info the tumor must be so contrived 
 that all the matter shall run out, and continue afterwards to run out as it is formed, 
 and not collect at the bottom of the ulcer, irritating and corroding it. This can 
 be eftected by a seton alone. The needle should enter at the top of the tumor, 
 penetrate through its bottom, and be brought out at the side of the neck, a little 
 below the abscess. Without any thing more than this, except frequent fomenta- 
 tion with warm water to keep the part clean, and to obviate inflammation, poll- 
 evil, in its early stage, will frequently be cured. If the ulcer has deepened and 
 spread, and threatens to eat into the ligaments of the joints of the neck, it may 
 be necessary to stimulate its surface, and perhaps painfully so, in order to bring 
 it to a healthy state, and dispose it to fill up; and, in extreme cases, even the scald- 
 ing mixture of the farrier may be called into requisition. This, however, will be 
 ineffectual, except the pus or matter is enabled, by the use of setons, perfectly to 
 run out of the wound; and the application of these setons will require the skill and 
 anatomical knowledge of the veterinary surgeon. In very desperate caijes the 
 wound may not be fan-ly exposed to the action of our caustic applications, without 
 the division of the ligament of the neck, by whicli we have described the head as 
 being almost entirely supported. Tliis, however, may be done with perfect safe- 
 ty, for, although the ligament is carried on to the occipital bone, and some strengtli 
 is gained by this prolongation of it, the main stress is on the second bone; and the 
 head will contniue to be supported although the ligament should be divided be- 
 tween the second bone and the head. The divided ligament will soon unite again, 
 and its former usefulness will be restored when the wound is healed. 
 
 The second bone of the neck is tlie dentata, having a process like a tooth, by 
 which it forms a joint with the first bone. In the formation of that joint, a por- 
 tion of the spinal marrow, which runs through a canal in the centre of all these 
 bones, is exposed, or covered only by ligament; and by the division of the mar- 
 row at this spot, an animal is instantly and humanely destroyed. The operation is 
 called pithing, from the name {the pith) given by butchers to the spinal morrow. 
 
 The other neck, or rack bones, as they are denominated by tlie farrier, B, p. 
 49, are of a strangely irregular shape, yet bearing considerable resemblance to 
 each other. They consist of a central bone, perforated for the passage of the 
 spinal marrow, with a ridge on the top, for the attachment of the ligament of the 
 neck, and four iiTegular plates or processes from the sides for the attachment of 
 muscles; at the base of one of which, on either side, are holes for the passage of 
 large arteries and veins. At the upper end of each is a round head or ball, and 
 at the lower end a cavity or cup, and the head of the one being received into the 
 cup of the other, they are united together, forming so many joints. They are 
 likewise joined together by ligaments from these processes as well as the proper 
 ligaments of the joints, and so securely that no dislucation can take place between 
 16 
 
m 
 
 THE HORSE. 
 
 any of them, except the first and second, the consequence of which would be the 
 immediate death of the animal. 
 
 The last, or seventh bone, has the elevation on the back or top of it continued 
 into a long and sharp prolongation, fa spinous process,- J and is the beginning of 
 tliat ridge of bones denominated the withers; (see cut, p. 49;) and as it is the base 
 of the column of neck-bones, and there must be great pressure on it from the 
 weight of the head and neck, it is curiously contrived to rest upon and unite with 
 the two first ribs, which also we shall presently describe as being very peculiarly 
 and strongly constructed. 
 
 THE MUSCLES AND PHOPER FOKM OF THE NECK. 
 
 The bones which we have just mentioned serve as the frame-work to which are 
 attached numerous muscles concerned in all the motions of the head and neck. 
 The power of the ligament of the neck is precisely adapted to the weight of the 
 head and neck. They are supported by it without muscular aid and without fa- 
 tigue to the animal; but to raise the head higher, or to lower it, or to turn it in 
 every direction, a complicated system of muscles was necessary. Those whose 
 oflfice it is to raise the head, are most numerous and powerful, and are placed on the 
 upper and side part of the neck. Our cut, p. 94, gives a few of them. 
 
 c marks a tendon common to two of the most important of them, the splenius, 
 or splint-like muscle, and the complexus major, or larger compHcated muscle. The 
 splenius constitutes the principal bulk of the neck above, arising from the ligament 
 
 of the neck all the way down it, and 
 going to the processes of all the 
 bones of the neck but the first, and 
 flat tendons running from the upper 
 part of it to the first bone of the 
 neck, and to a process of the tem- 
 poral bone of the head. Its action 
 is sufficiently evident, namely, very 
 powerfully to elevate the head and 
 neck. The principal beauty of the 
 neck depends on this muscle. It 
 was admirably developed in the horse 
 of whose neck the annexed cut gives 
 an accurate delineation. 
 
 If the curve were quite regular 
 from the poll to tlie withers, we 
 should call it a perfect neck. It is 
 rather a long neck, and we do not 
 like it the less for that In the car- 
 riage horse, a neck that is not half 
 concealed by the collar is indispen- 
 sable so far as appearance goes; and 
 it is only the horse with a neck of tolerable length, that will bear to be reined up 
 so as to give this part that arched and beautiful appearance which fasliion demands. 
 It is no detriment to the riding horse, and there are few horses of extraordinary 
 speed which have not the neck rather long. The race horse at the top of his 
 speed not only extends it as far as he can, that the air-passages may be as straight 
 as he can make them, and that he may therefore be able to breathe more freely, 
 but the weight of the head and neck, and the effect increasing with their distance 
 from the trunk, add materially to the rapidity of the animal's motion by throwing 
 his weight considerably forward. It has been said that a horse with a long neck 
 will bear heavy on the hand. We do not bcheve that either the length of the 
 neck, or even the bulk of tlie head, has any influence in causing this They are 
 both counterbalanced by the power of the hgament of the neck. The seiiing on 
 of the head is most of all connected with heavy bearing on the hand, and a short- 
 necked horse will bear heavily, because, from the thickness of the lower part of 
 the neck, consequent on its shortness, the head cannot be rightly placed. The 
 head and neck, liowever, should be i)roportioned to each other. A short head on 
 a long neck, or a long head on a short neck, would equally offend the eye. 
 
 Connected with this splenius muscle, and partly produced by it, we would di- 
 rect the attention of the reader to the thickness and muscularity of the neck m 
 
THE FORM OF THE NECK. 123 
 
 this cut as it spring's from the shoulders? the height at which it comes out from 
 them, forming' nearly a line with the withers; and the manner in which it tapers 
 as it approaclies tlie head, and this muscle diminishing' in size. The neck of a 
 well formed horse, however fine at the top, should be muscular at the bottom, or 
 the horse to which it belongs will generally be weak and worthless. Necks de- 
 void of this muscularity are called loose necks by horsemen, and are always consi- 
 dered a very serious objection to the animal. If the neck be thin and lean at the 
 upper part, and be otherwise well-shaped, the horse will usually carry himself 
 well, and the head will be properly curved for beauty of appearance, and ease of 
 riding'. When an instance to the contrary occurs, it is to be traced to very im- 
 proper management, or to the space between the jaws being' unnaturally small. 
 
 The splenius muscle, although a main agent in raising the head and neck, may 
 be too large, or covered with too much cellular substance or fat, and give an ap- 
 pearance of heaviness or even clumsiness to the neck. This peculiarity of form 
 constitutes the distinction between the perfect horse and the mare, and also the 
 g'elding', unless castrated at a very late period. Horses with thick heavy crests are 
 usually slow and sluggish. 
 
 This tendon, c, belongs also to another muscle, which makes up the principal 
 bulk of the lower part of the neck, and is called the complexus major, or larger 
 complicated muscle. It arises partly as low as the transverse processes of the four 
 or five first bones of the back, and from the five lower bones of the neck: and the 
 fibres from these various sources, uniting together, form a very large and pow- 
 erful muscle, the largest and strongest in the neck. As it approaches the head, 
 it lessens in bulk, and terminates partly with the splenius in this tendon, but is 
 principally inserted into the back part of the occipital bone, by the side of the li- 
 gament of tlie neck. In our cut, p. 122, almost its whole course can be distinctly 
 traced. Its office is to raise the neck and elevate the head; and, being inserted 
 into such a part of the occiput, it will more particularly protrude the nose while 
 it raises the head. Its action, however, may be too powerful; it may be habitu- 
 ally so, and then it may produce deformity. The back of the head being thus 
 pulled back, and the muzzle protruded, the horse cannot by possibility carry his 
 head well; he will become what is technically called a star gazer; heavy in hand, 
 boring upon the bit, and unsafe. To remedy tiiis, recourse is had, and in the ma- 
 jority of cases without avail, to the martingale, against which the horse is contin- 
 uall}' fighting, and which is often a complete annoyance to the rider. Such a horse 
 is almost useless for harness. 
 
 Inseparable from tiiis is another sad defect, so far as the beauty of the horse is 
 concerned; he becomes ewe-necked; he has a neck like a ewe — not arched above, 
 and straight below, uniil near to the head, but hollowed above and projecting be- 
 low; and the neck rising low out of the chest, even lower sometimes than the 
 points of the shoulders. There can scarcely be anything more unsightly in a 
 horse. The head of such a horse can never be got down; and the bearing rein of 
 harness must be to him a source of constant torture. 
 
 Among the muscles employed in raising the head, are the complexus minores, 
 smaller complicated, and the recti, straight, and the oblique muscles of the upper 
 part of the neck, and belonging principally to the two first bones of the neck, 
 and portions of whicii may be seen under the tendon of the splenius, c, and be- 
 tween it and the ligament a. 
 
 Among the muscles employed in lowering the head, some of which are given in 
 the same cut, is the sterno-maxilloris, d, belonging to the breast-bone and tlie up- 
 per jaw. It can likewise be traced, although not quite distinctly, in the cut, p. 
 122. It lies immediately under the skin. It arises from the cartdage projecting 
 from, or constituting the front of the breast-bone, (H, p. 49,) and proceeds up the 
 neck, of no great bulk or strength; for when the weight of the head is so nicely 
 balanced by the power of the ligament, a little addition to that weight will pull it 
 down; whereas, the muscles that raise the head must necessarily have very great 
 streng h, for they will have all its weight to support- About three-fourths of its 
 length upward, it changes to a flat tendon, which is seen {d, p. 94,) to insinuate 
 itself between the parotid and submaxillary glands, in order to be inserted into the 
 angle of the lower jaw. It is used in bending the head towards the chest. 
 
 Another muscle, the termination of which is seen, is tlie levator humeri, raiser of 
 the shoulder, b. This is a much larger muscle than the last, because it has more 
 duty to perform. It rises from the back of the head and four first bones of the 
 neck and the ligament of the neck, and is carried down to the shoulder, mixing' 
 
124 THE HORSE. 
 
 itself partly with some of the muscles of the shoulder, and finally continued down 
 to, and terminating on tlie humerus, (J, p. 49.) Its office is double: if we suppose 
 the horse in action, and the head and neck fixed points, the contraction of this 
 muscle will draw forward the shoulder and arm: if the horse be standing, and the 
 shoulder and arm be fixed points, this muscle will depress the head and neck. 
 
 Little more of a practical nature could be said of the muscles of the neck, al- 
 though they would be proper and interesting studies for the anatomist; and there- 
 fore we will only observe that they are all in pairs. One of them is found on each 
 side of the neck, and the office which we have attributed to them can only be ac- 
 complished when both act together; but, supposing that one alone of the elevating 
 muscles should act, the head would be i-aised, but it would at the same time be 
 turned towards that side. If one only of the depressor muscles were to act, the 
 head would be bent down, but it would likewise be turned towards that side. 
 Then it will be easily seen that, by this simple method of having the muscles in 
 pairs, provision is made for eveiy kind of motion, upwards, downwards, or on 
 either side, for which the animal can possibly have occasion. 
 
 This is the proper place to speak of the mane, that long hair which covers the 
 crest of the neck, and adds so much to the beauty of the animal. It sometimes 
 grows to a considerable length. Thei-e is a horse in the king's stables, the hair of 
 whose mane is more than a yard in length; and it is said that a horse was once ex- 
 hibited with a mane three or four yards long. The mane is apt to become entan- 
 gled, if it be not regularly combed. The teeth of the comb should be lai-ge, and 
 sufficiently far apart. There never can be occasion to pull the mane, as grooms 
 are too much accustomed to do, tugging it out in Httle parcels. It will then never 
 lie smooth. A strong comb, with only two or three teeth in it, will keep it suffi- 
 ciently thin and smooth. 
 
 THE BLOOD-VESSELS OF THE NECK. 
 
 Running down the inner part of the neck are the principal blood-vessels going 
 to and returning from the head, with the windpipe and gullet. Our cut could not 
 give a view of the arteries which carry the blood from the heart to the head, be- 
 cause they are too deeply seated. The external arteries are the carotid, of which 
 there are two. They ascend the neck on either side, close to the windpipe, until 
 they have reached the middle of the neck, where they somewhat diverge, and lie 
 more deeply; they are covered by the sterno-maxillaris muscle, which we have 
 just described, and are separated from the jugulars by a small portion of muscular 
 substance. Having reached tlie larynx, they divide into two branches, the exter- 
 nal and internal; and the first goes to every part of the face, and the second to the 
 brain. 
 
 The vertebral arteries run through canals in the bones of the neck, supplying 
 the neighboring parts as they climb, and at length enter the scull at the large hole 
 in the occipital bone, and ramify on and supply the brain. 
 
 We can conceive few cases in which it would be either necessary or justifiable 
 to bleed from an artery. Even in mad-staggers the bleeding is more practicable, 
 safer, and more effectual, from the jugular vein than from the temporal or any 
 other artery. If an artery be opened in the direction in which it runs, there is 
 sometimes very great difficulty in stopping the bleeding; it has even been neces- 
 sary to tie the vessel in order to accomphsh this purpose. If the artery be cut 
 across, its coats are so elastic that the two ends are immediately drawn apart un- 
 der the flesh on each side, and are thereby closed; and after the first gush of 
 blood no more can be obtained. 
 
 THE T£IKS OF THE NECK. 
 
 The external veins which return the blood from the head to the heart are the 
 jugulars. The horse has but one on either side. The human being and the ox 
 have two. It is the principal vessel by which the blood is conveyed from the 
 head. The jugular is said to take its rise from the base of the scull; it then de- 
 scends, receiving other branches in its way towards the angle of the jaw, and be- 
 hind the parotid gland; and emerging from that, as seen at t, page 95, and being 
 united to a large branch from the face, it takes its course down the neck. Vete- 
 rinaiy surgeons and horsemen have agreed to adopt the jugular, a little way be- 
 low the union of these two branches, as the place for bleeding; and a very conve- 
 
INFLAMMATION OF THE VEIN.— THE AVINDPIPE. 125 
 
 nient one it is, for it is easily got at, and the vessel is lai-ge. Of the manner of 
 bleeding', and the states of constitution and disease in which it is proper, we shall 
 speak hereaftei', confining' ourselves at present to an occasional consequence of 
 bleeding-, namely, 
 
 IlfFLAMMATIOIf OF THE VEIW. 
 
 It is usual and proper, after bleeding", to bring the edges of the cut carefully 
 together, and to hold them in contact by inserting a pin through the skin, with a 
 little tow twisted round it. In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred the wound 
 quickly heals, and gives no trouble; but in a few instances, from using a blunt in- 
 strument, or a dirty or rusty one; or striking too hard, and bruising the vein with 
 the thick part of the fleam; or pulling the skin too far from the neck, and suffer- 
 ing some blood to insinuate itself into the cellular texture; or neglecting to tie the 
 horse up for a little while, and thereby enabling him to rub the bleeding place 
 against the manger, and tear out the pin; or from the animal being worked imme- 
 diately afterward, and the collar pressing the blood against the orifice; or the 
 reins or the bridle rubbing against it; or having several blows clumsily given, and 
 a large and ragged wound made; or from some disposition to inflammation about 
 the horse, for the bleeder is not always in fault, the wound does not heal. The 
 edges of it separate, and are swelled and red; a discharge of thin bloody fluid 
 proceeds from the cut, followed perhaps in a few days by matter; the neck swells 
 and is hot and tender; the vein, particularly above the wound, is hard and cordy; 
 the cordiness of the vein increases more and more upward; and little abscesses 
 begin to form about the original wound. This is sometimes a very serious case, 
 for the inflammation continues to spread upwards, and destroys the horse. It is 
 easy to imagine why it spreads upward, because the blood has run off" below the 
 wound, and nothing remains there to irritate; but the vein becoming thickened in 
 its coats, and diminished in its capacity, and at length quite closed by the inflam- 
 mation, the blood descending from the head, and pressing upon the closed part, 
 will coagulate; and that clot of blood will gradually increase, and the obstruction, 
 and the inflammation produced by that obstruction, will increase, and that neces- 
 sarily upward. 
 
 Human surgeons say that inflammation of a vein spreads towards the heart. In 
 the horse, and we will venture to say in every animal, it spreads in the direction in 
 which the coagulation is formed, and that in the jugular must be upward, although 
 from tlie heart. In the veins of the arm and leg it will likewise spread upward, 
 and then towards the heart, because the coagulation takes place in that direction. 
 
 The application of the hot iron to the orifice of the wound will sometimes sti- 
 mulate it, and cause its edges to unite. When this fails, and the swelhng is large, 
 and abscesses have formed, it is for the veterinary surgeon to decide how far he 
 will introduce setons into tliem, or inject a caustic liquid, or dissect out the dis- 
 eased portion of the vein. 
 
 Should the vein be desti'oyed, the horse will not be irreparably injured; and per- 
 haps, at no great distance of time, scarcely injured at all; for nature is ingenious 
 in making provision to cai-ry on the circulation of the blood. All the vessels con- 
 veying the blood from the heart to the different parts of the frame, or bringing it 
 back again to the heart, communicate with each other by so many channels, and 
 in such various ways, that it is impossible by the closure or loss of any one of them 
 materially to impede the flow of the vital current. If the jugular be desti-oyed, the 
 blood will circulate through other vessels almost as freely as before. 
 
 THE WINDPIPE. 
 
 In the fore part of the throat (5. p. 53) is placed a curiously constructed tube, 
 extending from the back part of the moutli to the lungs, and designed for the 
 conveyance of air to and from these organs. The windpipe of the horse is com- 
 posed of nearly sixty rings of cartilage, connected together by strong and elastic 
 ligaments. The rings are broad in front, narrowing behind, and there overlap- 
 ping each other, so as to be capable of considerable extension and contraction; 
 and across the posterior part run strong musctdar fibres, which give to that por- 
 tion of the tube a power of action, depending not indeed on the will, but on sym- 
 pathy with other parts concerned in breathing. 
 
126 THE HORSE. 
 
 This singular and beautiful mechanism deserves serious attention. It is neces- 
 sary for the comfort, and even the existence of the animal, that this air-tube 
 should be free from compression, and always open; and it is attached to the neck, 
 lon.e^, and capable of the most varied motion. Would any tube composed of an 
 uniform substance, however elastic, maintain its form and size amidst all these 
 complicated motions? When the horse is browsing the windpipe is an inch or 
 more longer than when the neck is arched, there is, therefore, the ligamentous 
 substance between the circular rings, which will lengthen the tube when required, 
 and immediately contract to its former dimensions, when the force that caused the 
 elongation is removed. When the head is bent , and the neck is arched, and ,in 
 various positions of the neck, a portion of the windpipe is violently pressed up- 
 on; therefore, there are the cartilaginous rings — cartilaginous that they may yield 
 to pressure, and immediately recover their form when the pressure is removed; 
 and lapping over each other, that the difference of calibre or size in the tube 
 may be as gi-eat as the necessities of the animal may occasionally require, and 
 muscular at the back that all these powers of elasticity may be exerted to the full- 
 est extent. The cartilaginous rings, again, are broad and strong in front where 
 danger may threaten, and softer and more yielding behind, where the bones of 
 the neck afford secure protection. 
 
 The windpipe is lined by a membrane, likewise curiously contrived. It is 
 smooth and plain in fi'ont under the broad cartilaginous rings, and where little 
 change of dimension can take place; but behind, it is puckered into several folds, 
 ruiming down the windpipe, and not across it, and adapting itself easily to any 
 change in the size of the tube. 
 
 Then it is easy to imagine that the windpipe of a good horse should be large to 
 admit the passage of a gi-eater quantity of air, and in horses from which speed 
 is required, as in the blood-horse, the windpipe is comparatively larger than in 
 other breeds devoted to slower work. 
 
 The windpipe should project from the neck. It should be as it were detached 
 from the neck, for two important reasons; first, that it may easily enter between 
 the channels of the jaw, so that the horse may be reined up without suffering in- 
 convenience; and next, that being more loosely attached to the neck, it may more 
 readily adapt itself to the changes required than if it were enveloped by fat or 
 muscle, to a certain degree unyielding; therefore, in every well formed neck, and 
 it will be seen in the cut, (p. 122,) it is indispensable that the windpipe should be 
 prominent and loose on the neck. We do not require this in the heavy cart-horse, 
 and we do not often find it, because he is not so much exposed to those circum- 
 stances which will hurry respiiation, and require an enlargement in the size of the 
 principal air-tube. 
 
 THE LAHTIirX. 
 
 At the top of the windpipe is placed the larynx, which has been partially de- 
 scribed. It is situated where, from the sudden bending or motion of the head, it 
 is hable to more frequent and to greater injury than the windpipe; and, therefore, 
 it is composed of stronger cartilages than that tube. First, is the thyroid, or hel- 
 met-shaped cartilage, forming the front and side parts of the larynx, and protect- 
 ing the other parts of the larj'nx (see 1, p. 5o.) Its bulk and strength are appa- 
 rent on the slightest handling. 
 
 Immediately below the thyroid, and with its broad part behind, is the cricoid, 
 ring-like cartilage (11, p. Si.) This is likewise for the purpose of strength in a 
 part so exposed to injury, but not so strong as the thyroid, because so much dan- 
 ger cannot threaten from behind. Of the epiglottis, or covering of the entrance 
 into the windpipe (2, p. 53,) and of the arytenoid, or funnel-shaped cartilages 
 forming that opening (3, p. 53,) we have ah-eady spoken. 
 
 KOAHING. 
 
 The larynx and upper part of the windpipe are subject to various diseases. The 
 first we shall mention is ROARiifG; so called from a peculiar sound uttered by the 
 horse when briskly trotted or galloped, particularly up hill. In moderate exer- 
 cise it is scarcely, or not at all perceived, but when the animal is in brisk exercise 
 it may be heard at the distance of several } ards. It may be easily detected by 
 striking the horse suddenly, or even threatening him with a stick, when he will 
 utter a singular grunt or groan. 
 
ROARING. 137 
 
 It usually is explained as the consequence of inflammation of the part. A fluid 
 rapidly changing- into a toug^h viscid substance, is thrown out, and adheres to the 
 sides of the larnyx and upper part of the windpipe, materially obstructing- the 
 passag-e, and sometimes running- across it in bands. When the horse is blown, or 
 his breathing- much hurried, the air whistles throug-h these obstructions. We be- 
 lieve this to be the most g-eneral cause of the disease, and a roarer is evidently 
 unsound, for he is incapable of the exertion which may not only be occasionally, 
 but ordinarily required of him. 
 
 Much light, however, has lately been thrown on other causes of this complaint. 
 Many roarers have been examined after death, and no vestage of these bands has 
 been found; but some have had the shape of the larynx and upper part of the 
 •windpipe materially deformed, crooked, and compressed; and others have present- 
 ed no appearance of disease. Then we have been compelled to look out for 
 other causes of roaring, and some very probable ones have been readily found. 
 The parts may have been subject to inflammation, and some parts of the air-tube 
 may have become thickened and inelastic. In this way the inflammation of stran- 
 gles may have been communicated to tlie larynx or windpipe, followed by some 
 alteration of structure. Roaring is no unusual consequence of strangles. 
 
 A more frequent cause, and previously unsuspected, is tight reining. There can 
 be no doubt that many more carriage-horses become roarers than those that are 
 used for the saddle alone; and the explanation of this at once presents itself in the 
 continued and painful pressure on these parts, caused by reining in the carriage- 
 horse, and teaching him to bear himself well. We have seen the larynx, and that 
 portion of the windpipe immediately beneath it, flattened, and bent, and twisted 
 in the strangest way, which could not have been produced by disease, but by me- 
 chanical injury alone. The mischief is usually done with young horses. The 
 arched neck and elevated head of the carriage-horse is an unnatural position, from 
 which the animal most habituated to it is eager to be relieved. Horse-breakers, 
 and coachmen, and carters, should be made to understand that when the horse's 
 head is first ccnfined by the bearing rein, great gentleness, and care, and caution, 
 are necessary. Injury must be done if the throat be violently pressed upon, and 
 especially when it is exposed to additional danger, from the impatience of the ani- 
 mal, unused to control, and suffering pain. The head of the riding-horse is gra- 
 dually brought to its proper place by the hands of the teacher, who skilfully in- 
 creases, or relaxes the pressure, and humors and plays with the mouth; but the 
 poor carriage-horse is confined by a rein that never slackens, and his nose is bent 
 in at the expense of the larynx and windpipe, and the injury is materially increas- 
 ed if the head be not naturally well set on, or if the neck be thick, or the jaws 
 narrow. 
 
 The shape of the larynx and wind-pipe will occasionally be altered, if they be 
 thus squeezed between the jaws, and the bones of the neck; or the muscles which 
 expand the opening into the windpipe for the purpose of natural breathing, and 
 especially of quick and hurried breathing, will be so compressed, that they will 
 be incapable of full action, and by degrees will lose the power of action even when 
 not pressed upon, and, in fact, become palsied; and therefore, tlie opening not 
 being sufficiently enlarged during the rapid breathing of the animal, moving with 
 speed, the air will rush violently through the diminished aperture, and the sound 
 termed roaring will be produced. 
 
 It is a common opinion that crib-biting frequently terminates in roaring. Tliere 
 is nothing in crib-biting that can possibly lead to roaring; but there is a method 
 adopted to cure crib-biting, than which nothing can be more likely to produce it: 
 we mean the straps which ai-e so tightly buckled round the upper part of the neck, 
 and which must compress, and sometimes distort or paralyze the larynx. 
 
 The habit of coughing a horse, to ascertain the state of his wind, is an occasional 
 cause of roaring. The larynx or tracliea is violently and painfully squeezed in 
 this operation; and the violence being often repeated, inflammation and injury may 
 ensue. 
 
 The treatment of roaring is very unsatisfactory. If we have been con-ect in our 
 account of the nature and cause of the disease, a cure seems to be perfectly out 
 of the question. If it arise from a distorted larynx, there is no mechanical contri- 
 vance that can restore the natural and perfect structure; if from a band or ring of 
 lymph diminishing the size of the passage, we know not by what means that can 
 be removed; or if the muscles of the larynx be palsied, we know not the stimulus 
 that can rouse them again to action, or the manner in which that stimulus is to be 
 apphed. 
 
128 THE HOUSE. 
 
 In the early stage of the disease, whether it proceed from violent pressure on 
 the part by improper curbing-, or be connected with, or consequent on catarrh or 
 strangles, or the enlargement of some neighboring pai-t, inflammation will be pre- 
 sent, and we shall be justified in having recourse to those measures which will 
 abate inflammation. Bleeding will not be improper if roaring is the consequence 
 of previous disease; it will be indispensable, if it be connected with present disease 
 of the chest. The degree to which the bleeding should be carried, will depend 
 on the degree of general or local inflammation. To bleeding should succeed purg- 
 ing, and to this, medicines that will lessen ihe force of the circulation — as nitre, 
 emetic-tartar, and digitalis. These should be followed by blisters, to remove the 
 inflammation, if possible, from an internal and important part to the skin. The 
 blisters may at first be confined to the upper part of the throat, but, if unsuccess- 
 ful there, they shoidd extend over the whole length of the wind-pipe. In extreme 
 cases, and where the obstruction seems to threaten suflbcation, we may be justified 
 in cutting into the wind-pipe, and either introducing a tube into the opening, or 
 cutting out a portion of one of the rings. This operation, however, the agricultur- 
 ist will scarcely dare to perform, although it is simple enough to him who under- 
 stands the anatomy of the neck. It is called bronchotomy. By means of it, the 
 animal will be enabled to breathe through an aperture below the seat of inflamma- 
 tion, or the distorted and obstructed part; and time will be given for the adoption 
 of other modes of relief or cure. Some practitioners have talked of cutting into 
 the wind-pipe, to extract the band or ring of coagulated matter that obstructs the 
 passage: we can only say, that if they happen to hit upon the precise situation of 
 this I'ing or band, they will be more fortunate than their folly deserves. 
 
 Another circumstance should be mentioned, and the breeder should not forget 
 it, that the roarer, whether horse or mare, will often entail this disease on its pro- 
 geny. This entailment of disease by the parent on the oflTspring is a subject which 
 has not sufficiently engaged the attention, or entered into the calculation, of tlie 
 agriculturist. 
 
 THE (ESOPHAeUS, OR GULLET. 
 
 The gullet extends from the back part of the mouth to the stomach, and conveys 
 the food from the one to the other. At the top of the neck, it is immediately be- 
 hind the wind-pipe, but it soon inclines to the left, and runs down the neck close 
 to the wind-pipe, and on its left: therefore, when we give a ball to a horse, we 
 watch the left side of the neck to see whether it passes down the gullet. Having 
 entered the chest between the first two ribs, the gullet passes along the upper part 
 of it, and then, piercing the diaphragm or midriff", enters the stomach. It is com- 
 posed of three coats — the outer one of slight loose cellular substance: the middle 
 one muscular, and divided into two distinct layers, the outermost layer having the 
 fibres lengthways, by which the gullet may be shortened, and in shortening, wi- 
 dened for the reception of the food — the fibres of the inner layer running circularly 
 round the tube, so that the portion immediately above a pellet of food, will by 
 its contraction force the food downward, and by successive actions drive it into the 
 stomach. The inner coat, which is a continuation of the membrane of the pharynx, 
 lies in folds or plaits extending lengthways. The muscular coat being highly elas- 
 tic, readily gives way to the pressure of the food, and these plaits enable the inner 
 or cuticular coat, likewise, sufficiently to dilate. 
 
 The gullet has in a few cases been strictured, or contracted in some pai't, so that 
 the food could only be swallowed in small quantities, and with great difficulty. If 
 the stricture be near the entrance into the stomach, there is no remedy, for the 
 part cannot be got at. If it be higher up, a veterinary surgeon alone can deter- 
 mine how far relief is practicable. Substances have sometimes stuck in the gul- 
 let. Bran and chaff swallowed greedily, or too large or hard a ball, have remain- 
 ed in some part of the gullet, and caused very alarming symptoms. The tube used 
 for the hove in cattle, will sometimes dislodge this foreign substance; but should 
 this be impracticable, the gullet must be opened, which a scientific practitioner 
 alone is competent to perform. 
 
THE CHEST. 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 129 
 
 THE CHEST AND ITS CONTENTS— THE 
 HEART AND THE LUNGS. 
 
 Cut of the Chest. 
 
 a The first rib, 
 
 b The cartilag'es of the eleven hindermost, or fake ribs, connected together, and 
 
 uniting with that of the seventh or last true rib. 
 c The breast-bone. 
 d The top or point of the withers, which are formed by the lengthened spinous, 
 
 or upright processes of the ten or eleven first bones of the back. The bones 
 
 of the back are eighteen in number. 
 e The ribs, usually eighteen on each side; the seven first united to the breast-bone 
 
 by cartilage; the cartilages of the remaining eleven united to each other, 
 
 as at b. 
 f That portion of the spine where the loins commence, and composed of five bones. 
 g The bones forming the hip or haunch, and into the hole at the botton of which 
 
 the head of tlie thigh-bone is received. 
 h The portion of the spine belonging to the haunch, and consisting of five pieces. 
 i The bones of the tail, usually tliirteen in number. 
 
 The form of the chest is of the greatest importance. It contains the heart and 
 the lungs — the one employed in circulating tlie blood, and the other in restoring 
 to it Uie power of supporting life; and on the size and the soundness of these or- 
 gans, the healtli and the strength of the animal principally depend. The speed 
 and wind of the horse are most intimately connected with tlie size of the lungs. In 
 proportion to the quantity of au- wiiich they contain, and the less frequent neces- 
 sity of renewing that air by the act of breathing, will the animal be at his ease, or 
 distressed, wlien violent exei-tion is demanded of him. Therefore, one of the first 
 things which tlie judge of the horse examines, is the capacity of the chest; and if 
 he finds considerable depth in the girth, and roundness behind the point of the 
 elbow — the liorse canying what is called a good barrel — he is satisfied as to the 
 capacity of the cliest. TXxaform of the chest has as much to do with the value of 
 the horse as its capacity. An ox may have a chest rounded before as well as be- 
 hind, and then there will be room enough for the heart to circulate, and the lungs 
 to purify sufficient blood to clcthe him with all the muscle and fat he was intended 
 to yield: we i-equire from liim no speed, and, therefore, his legs will not fail him 
 should too much weight be thrown on them, nor will he be disposed to stumble 
 and fall. One principal quality of tlie horse, however, is liis speed; and if undue 
 weight be thrown before, his legs and feet will be battered, and injured, and worn 
 out by the unavoidable concussion to which they will be exposed in the ti-ot or the 
 gallop; and likewise the centre or bulk of his weight will be too easily thrown 
 beyond the natural situation of his feet, and he will be exceedingly unsafe. There- 
 fore, for the light carriage and the saddle, although we want capacity of chest, we 
 want it not too much before. A moderate breadth, with deptli at the girth, and 
 17 
 
130 THE HORSE. 
 
 a swelling out, or baiTelling behind the elbow, will be tlie most tlesirable form. 
 Horses witii narrow cliests may have plenty of spirit, and willingness for work; but 
 they have not the appetite or the endurance of those whose breast is moderately 
 wide. 
 
 The heavy cart or dray-horse, whose power of draught is equal to the v/eight 
 which lie can throw into tlie collar, requires the broad chest, not only that his 
 weight may be thrown more before, but that, by the increased capacity of his chest, 
 he may obtain that bulk and size wliicli will enable him to press with the requisite 
 force upon the collar. 
 
 Depth of chest has another advantage; it not only gives increased capacity to the 
 cavity within it, but increased room for the insertion of those muscles on and be- 
 tween the ribs, by the action of which tiie cliest is alternately expanded and con- 
 tracted in tlie act of breathing; and tiie action of wliich is so necessary when the 
 breathing is quickened by exercise. 
 
 Again, depth of chest will admit of a great deal more increased expansion than 
 will a chest approaching to a circidur form. That which is somewhat straight may 
 be easily bent into a circle; but that which is already rounded can scarcely be made 
 more so; therefore it is tliat the heavy horse, with all his capaciousness of cliest, 
 is easily blown, and incapable of speed, because all this expanse was employed in 
 the accumulation of flesh and fat, and can be very little increased M^hen exertion 
 causes tlie flow and the change of blood to be considerably more rapid. The flat- 
 ter chest may be readily expanded as the circumstances of the animal may require. 
 A judge of the horse never likes to see a chest too high from the ground, and legs 
 too long. The animal may be free and speedy, but there is not sufficient capacity 
 of chest to render him a good feeder, or to give him much endurance. 
 
 The next point of consequence regarding the capacity of tlie chest, is the length 
 or shortness of the carcase; or the extent of the ribs from the elbow backward. 
 Some horses are what is called ribbed homt\ there is but little space (see cuts pp. 
 49 and 129,) between the last rib and the hip-bone. In others the distance is con- 
 siderably gi-eater, which is evident by the falhng in of the flank. The question 
 here is, what service is required from the horse? If he have to carry a heavy 
 weight, and much work to do, let him be ribbed home — let the last rib, and the 
 hip-bone be almost close to each other. There is more capacity of chest and of 
 belly; there is less distance between the points of support; there is more strength 
 and endurance. A hackney (and we would almost say a huntei',) can scarcely be 
 too well ribbed home. 
 
 If speed, however, be required, there must be room for the full action of the 
 hinder limbs; and this can only exist when there is sufficient space between the 
 last rib and the hip-bone. The owner of the horse must make up his mind as to 
 ■what he wants from liim, and be satisfied if he obtains that; but let him be assured 
 that he cannot have every tiling: this would require those diff'ei'ences of conforma- 
 tion which cannot possibly exist in the same animal. 
 
 The thorax, or chest, is fonned by the spine,/, above; the ribs, e, on either side; 
 and the sternum, or breast-bone, c, beneath. 
 
 THE SPINE AXD BACK. 
 
 The spine or back-bone consists of a chain of bones from tlie poll to the extre- 
 mity of the tail. We have described the bones of the neck, and we will now pro- 
 ceed to that portion of the spine wliich forms the roof of the chest and belly. It 
 consists of twenty -three bones from the neck to the haunch; eighteen, called dor- 
 sal vertebrse, composing tlie back; and five, lumbar vertebrae, occupying the loins. 
 On this part of the animal the weight or burden is laid, and there are two principal 
 things to be considered, easiness of carriage and sti-ength. If the back were com- 
 posed of unyielding materials, if it resembled a bar of wood or ii-on, the jar or jolt- 
 ing, in the rapid motion of the animal, could not possibly be endured. To avoid 
 this, as well as to assist in turning, the back is divided into numerous bones; and 
 between each pair of bones, there is interposed a cartilaginous substance, most 
 highly elastic, which will yield and give way to every jar, not so much as to occa- 
 sion insecurity between the bones, or to permit considerable motion between any 
 one pair; yet forming altogether an aggregate mass of elasticity so springy that 
 the rider sits almost undisturbed, however high may be tlie action, or however rapid 
 the pace. 
 

 THE SPINE. 131 
 
 Strength is as important as ease; therefore these bones are united together with 
 peculiar firmness. The round liead of one is exactly fitted to the c\ip or cavity 
 of that immediately before it; and between them is placed the elastic ligamentous 
 substance we liave just described, so strong that, in endeavoring to separate the 
 bones of the back, the bones will break sooner than this substance will give way. 
 Beside this there are ligaments running along the broad under surface of these 
 bones; ligaments between each of the transverse processes, or side projections of 
 tlie bones; and ligaments between tlie spinous processes, or upwright projections; 
 and a continuation of the strong ligament of the neck running along the whole 
 course of the back and loins above these, lengthening and contracting, as in the 
 neck, with the motions of the animal, and forming a powerful bond of union be- 
 tween the bones. 
 
 By these means the hunter will carry a heavy man without fatigue or strain 
 thi'ough a long chase; and those shocks and jars are avoided which would be an- 
 noying to the rider, and injurious and speedily fatal to the horse. 
 
 These provisions, however, although adequate to common or even severe exer- 
 tion, will not protect the animal from the consequences of brutal usage, and there- 
 fore, if the horse be much overweighted, or violently exercised, or too suddenly 
 pulled upon his haunches, these ligaments are strained: inflammation follows; and 
 tlie ligament becomes changed to bone, and the joints of the back lose their 
 springiness and ease of motion; or rather, in point of fact, cease to exist. On ac- 
 count of the too hard service required from them, and especially before they have 
 gained their full strengtli, there are few old horses who have not some of the bones 
 of the back or loins anchylosed, united together by bony matter, and not by liga- 
 ment. When this exists to any considerable extent, the horse is not pleasant to 
 ride; he turns with difficidty in liis stall; he is unwilling to lie down, or, when down, 
 to rise again; and he has a curious straddling action. Such horses are said to be 
 broken hacked, or chinked in the chine. 
 
 Fracture of the bones of the back rarely occurs, on account of their being so 
 strongly united by ligaments, and defended by muscular substajice. If a fracture 
 of these bones does happen, it is during the violent stiaiggles after the horse has 
 been cast for an operation. 
 
 The lengtli of the back is an important consideration. A long-backed horse 
 will be easy in his paces, because the increased distance between the fore and 
 liind legs, which are the supports of the spine, will afford greater room for the 
 play of the joints of tlie back. A long spring has much more play than a short 
 one, and will better obviate concussion. A long-backed horse is likewise formed 
 for speed, for there is room for him to bring his hinder legs more under him in 
 the act of gallopping, and thus more powerfully propel or drive forward the body: 
 but, on the otlier hand, a long-backed horse will be weak in the back, and easily 
 overweighted. A long spring may be easily bent and broken. The weight of the 
 rider, likewise, placed further from the extremities, will act with mechanical dis- 
 advantage upon them, and be more likely to strain them. A short-backed horse 
 may be a good hackney, and be able to carry the heaviest weight, and possess 
 great endurance; but his paces will not be so easy, nor his speed so gi-cat, and he 
 may be apt to overreach himself. 
 
 The comparative advantage of a long or short carcase depends entirely on the 
 use for which the horse is intended. For general purposes, the horse with a short 
 carcase is very properly preferred. He will possess health and strength; for horses 
 of this make are proverbially hardy. He will have sufficient ease not to fatigue 
 the rider, and speed for every ordinary purpose. Length of back will always be 
 desirable when there is more than usual substance generally, and particidarly when 
 the loins are wide, and the muscles of the loins large and swelling. The two re- 
 quisites, strength and speed, will then probably be united. 
 
 The back should be depresi-ed a Uttle immediately behind the withers; and then 
 continue in an almost straight line to the loins. This is the form most consistent 
 with beauty and strength. Some horses have a very considerable hollow behind 
 the withers. They are said to be saddle-backed. It seems as if a depression were 
 purposely made for the saddle. Such horses are evidently easy goers, for this 
 curve inward must necessarily increase the play of the joints of the back; but in 
 the same proportion they must be weak and liable to sprain. To the general ap- 
 pearance of the horse, this defect is not in any gi'eat degree injurous; for the 
 hollow of the back is uniformly accompanied by a beautifully arched crest. 
 
 A few horses have the curve outward. Tliey are said to be roach-backed, 
 from the supposed resemblance to the arched back of a roach. This is a very se- 
 
132 THE HORSE. 
 
 rioiis defect; altogether incompatible with beauty, and materially diminishing the 
 usefulness of the animal. It is almost impossible to prevent the saddle from being 
 thrown on the shoulders, or the back from bein,^ e^'alled; the elasticity of the spine 
 is destroyed; the rump is badly set on; the hinder legs are too much under the 
 Animal; he is continually overreaching himself, and his head is carried awkwardly 
 low. 
 
 THE LOINS. 
 
 The loins are attentively examined by every good horseman. They can scarce- 
 ly be too broad and muscular. The strength of the back, and the strength of the 
 hinder extremities, will depend materially on this. The breadth of the loins is 
 regulated by the length of the transverse, or side processes of that part. The bo- 
 dies of the bones of the loins are likewise larger than those of the back; and a 
 more dove-tailed kind of union subsists between these bones than between those 
 of the back. Evei-y provision is made for strength here. The union of the back 
 and loins should be carefully remarked. There is sometimes a depression between 
 them: a kind of line is drawn across, which shows imperfection in the construction 
 of tlie spine, and is regarded as an indication of weakness. 
 
 THE WITHERS. 
 
 The Spinous, or upright processes of the dorsal vertebrse, or bones of the back, 
 above the upper part of the shoulder, are as remarkable for their length as are the 
 transverse or side processes of the bones of the loins. They are flattened, and 
 terminated by rough, blunted extremities. The elevated ridge which they form 
 is called the withers. It will be seen in the cuts, (pp. 49 and 129,) that the spine 
 of the first bone of the back has but little elevation, and is sharp and upright. 
 The second is longer, and inclined backward; the third and fourth increase in 
 length, and the fifth is the longest: they then gradually shorten until tlie twelfth 
 or thirteenth, which becomes level with the bones of the loins. 
 
 High withers have been always, in the mind of the judge of the horse, associat- 
 ed with good action, and generally with speed. The reason is plain enough: they 
 afford larger surface for the attachment of the muscles of the back; and in pro- 
 portion to the elevation of the withers, these muscles act with greater advantage. 
 The rising of the fore parts of the horse, even in the trot, and more especially in 
 tlie gallop, depends not merely on the action of the muscles of the legs and shoul- 
 ders, but on those of the loins, inserted into the spinous processes of these bones 
 of the back, and acting with greater power in proportion as these processes, con- 
 stituting the withers, are lengthened. The arm of the lever to which the power 
 is applied will be longer; and we well know that, in proportion to the length of 
 this arm, will be the ease with which a weight is raised. Therefore, good and 
 high action will depend much on elevated withers. 
 
 It is not difficult to understand how speed will likewise be promoted by the same 
 conformation. The power of the horse is in his hinder quarters. In them lies the 
 main spring of the frame, and the fore quarters are only elevated and tlirown for- 
 ward to receive the weight forced on them by the action of the hinder quarters. 
 In proportion, however, as the fore quarters are elevated, will they be thrown 
 farther forward, or, in other words, will the stride of the horse be lengthened: 
 they are elevated and thrown forward in proportion to the elevation of the with- 
 ers, and therefore, in this point of view, the form of the withers is very much con- 
 nected with speed. Yet many racers have the forehand low. The unrivalled 
 Eclipse (see p. 37) was a remarkable instance of this; but the ample and firmly 
 proportioned quarters, and the muscidarity of the thigh and fore-arm, rendered 
 the aid to be derived from the withers perfectly unnecessary. The heavy draught- 
 horse does not require elevated withers. His utility depends on the power of de- 
 pressing his fore quarters, and throwing their weight fully into the collar; but for 
 common work in the hackney, in the farmer's horse, and in the hunter, well-form- 
 ed withers will be an essential advantage, as contributing to good and safe action, 
 and likewise to speed. 
 
 MUSCLES OF THE BACK. 
 
 The most important muscles wluch belong to this part of the frame can be very 
 imperfectly delineated in any cut: we have endeavoi-ed, however, to give as com- 
 
FISTULOUS WITHERS. 
 
 133 
 
 plete a view of them, and of all the superficial muscles of the frame, as we could. 
 They are principally those which extend fi-om the continuation of the ligament of 
 the neck along the whole of the back and loins; and likewise from the last cer- 
 vical bone; the superjiciallf and tramversalis cosfarum, or superficial and transverse 
 muscles of the ribs, going from this ligament to the upper part of the ribs, to ele- 
 vate them, and so assist in the expansion of the chest; also the large mass of muscle, 
 the lon^issirmis dorsi, or longest muscle of the back, from the spinous and trans- 
 verse processes of the vertebrae to the ribs, and by which all the motions of the 
 spine, and back, and loins, of which we have spoken, are principally produced; 
 by which the foi-e quarters are raised upon the hind, or the hind upon the fore, 
 according as either of them is made a fixed point. This Is tlie principal agent in 
 rearing and kicking. 
 
 CUT OF THE MUSCLES OF THE HORSE. 
 
 The last we shall mention is the spinalis dorsi, the spinal muscle of the back, 
 from the spinous processes of some of the last bones of the back, to those of the 
 fore part; thick and strong about tlie witliers, and broadly attached to them; and 
 more powerfully attached, and more strongly acting in proportion to the elevation 
 of the withei's; and proceeding on to the three lowest bones of the neck, and 
 therefore mainly concerned, as we have described, in elevating the fore quarters, 
 and producing high and safe action, and contributing to speed. 
 
 Before we quite leave the roof of the chest, we will speak of some accidents or 
 diseases to which it is exposed. The first is of a very serious nature. 
 
 FISTULOUS avithehs. 
 
 "When the saddle has been suffered to press long upon the withers, a tumor 
 will be formed, hot and exceedingly tender. It may sometimes be dispersed by 
 the cooling applications recommended in the treatment of poll-evil, (p. 121;) but 
 if, in despite of these, the swelling shotdd remain stationary, and more especially 
 if it should become larger and more tender, warm fomentations and poultices, and 
 stimulating embrocations, should be applied diligently to it, as to the tumor of 
 
134 TIIK HORSE. 
 
 poll-evil, in order to hasten the formation of matter. As soon as the matter can 
 be fairly detected, a seton should be passed from the top to the bottom of the tu- 
 mor, so that the whole of tlie matter may run ovit, and continue to nm out as it is 
 afterwards formed. The after treatment must be precisely that wliich we liave 
 recommended for a similar disease in the poll. 
 
 In neglected fistulous withers the ulcer may be larger and deeper, and more des- 
 tructive than in poll-evil. It may burrow beneath the shoulder-blade, and the mat- 
 ter may appear at the point of the shoidder or tlie elbow; or the bones of the wiUi- 
 ers may become carious. 
 
 WAWBLES, SITFASTS, AND SADDLE GALLS. 
 
 On other parts of the back, tumors and veiy troublesome ulcers may be pro- 
 duced by the same cause. The httle tumors resulting from the pressure of the 
 saddle are called warhlen, and when they ulcerate they frequently become sitfas/s. 
 The ulcer has a portion of callous skin in the centi-e of it, resembhng leather in 
 its appearance, and so closely adhering as not lo be separated without great force 
 or absolute dissection; and hence Uie name given to this peculiar ulcer. Warbles 
 are too often but little regarded. They will frequently disappear without medical 
 treatment, but they will, at other times, degenerate into sitfasts. If it be practica- 
 ble, the horse should have rest, or, at all events, the stuffing of the saddle should 
 be so contrived that eveiy degree of pressure be removed from the part: then 
 goulard and vinegar or brine should be frequently applied for the purpose of dis- 
 pelling tlie enlargement. Should this prove ineffective, and the sitfast appear, let 
 it by no means be torn out, but apply a mild blister which will cause it speedily to 
 separate; and tlaen let tlie wound be dressed with Fi-iar's balsam, or Turner's ce- 
 rate, or both. 
 
 For saddle galls tliere is no better application than strong salt and water, mixed 
 with a fourth-part of tincture of mjTrh. Common sense and common humanity 
 would suggest the necessity of chambering tlie saddle and the collar, and not suf- 
 fering the animal, with sore places as broad as tlie hand, to be unnecessarily tor- 
 tui'cd by the mbbing of the rough and hardened stuffing. 
 
 THE BIBS. 
 
 The ribs constitute the sides of the chest. They are usually eighteen on either 
 side, and, in a few instances, nineteen or twenty. They are crooked or twisted in 
 their figure, but so united to the spine by a true joint, the head of each rib being 
 received between the bodies of two of the bones of the back, tliat they form so 
 many arches, differing in roundness in different horses. The first rib (a) is placed 
 at tlie base of the column of the neck, and is short and strong in order to support 
 the weight and pressure of the head and neck, and to be a fixed point for the other 
 ribs to act upon in expanding and contracting the chest. The second is longer 
 and straight, to assist in the same office, and to sustain the stress which arises from 
 the suspension of tlie trunk between tlie shoulders. The otlier ribs (e) have tlie 
 arched form which we have described. The lower extremity of the rib is attach- 
 ed to or composed of cartUage, a yielding elastic substance, to enable the ribs to 
 be more easily moved by the muscles of respiration, and to bring them back again 
 to their natural situation and shape when the muscles cease to act. These cartila- 
 ges are received into, and constitute joints with tlie sternum or breast-bone, form- 
 ed almost in the shape of the prow of a ship, (c) and witli a projection of cartilage 
 at each end. The projection before is evident to the eye in the living horse, and 
 is called the point of the breast. Tliis is occasionally injured by blows, or by the 
 pressure of tlie collar, and first a tumor, and then an ulcer is formed which is veiy 
 apt to become fistulous, and must be treated hke poll-evU or fistulous withers. 
 
 The breast-bone is in the colt composed of six bones, which in the full-grown 
 horse unite into one. Seven or eight of the ribs, the number occasionally varying, 
 are attached to the sternum by very strong Ugaments. These are called the true 
 ribs, and tliey increase in length from the first to the seventh. The remaining ten 
 or eleven are called /a&e ribs — they become gradually shorter, and narrower, and 
 rounder; and their direction is more backwai-d, in order to increase the cavity of 
 the thorax and belly, and to strengthen the roof of the belly. Their cartilages aa'e 
 not attached to tlie breast-bone, but to each other, and yet connected witli the 
 breast-bone, and sliai-ing in all its motions by means of the cartilage of the last true 
 
JIUSCLES OF THE BREAST— CHEST-FOUNDER, &c. 135 
 
 vib with which they all unite. In consequence of these shorter ribs, with long 
 elastic cartilages, the bulk of the chest and of the bell}' is materially increased, 
 and the ribs are much more easily moved. 
 
 Between the ribs, and mainly contributing to their motion, are two layers of 
 muscles, the intercostals, (between the ribs.) Accoi-ding as tlie ribs are brought 
 nearer to, or recede from each other, the cavity of the cliest will be increased or 
 diminished. These two layers are curiously contrived. If the fibres ran straight 
 across from rib to rib, they would be exceedingly short; a short muscle could have 
 but little contraction, and a very slight change of form or dimension could be pro- 
 duced. They run diagonally from rib to rib, and thus are more than double the 
 length that they could otherwise have been; and so the degree of contraction is 
 doubled, and the ribs are moved through a greater space. More perfectly to pro- 
 duce tliis effect, the muscular fibres of the outer layer run one way, and those of 
 the inner layer a contrary, crossing each other in the foi-m of an X. When these 
 muscles contract, as they act from the fore ribs upon the hinder ones, although the 
 ribs are brought nearer to each other, they are thrown outward, and the real effect 
 is to expand, and not to contract the cavity of the chest. This is, perhaps, some- 
 what difficult to imagine, but it is the actual explanation of the matter. The ribs 
 are drawn powerfully forward, and, when drawn forward, tliey must be thrown 
 outward, and the chest is necessarily expanded. 
 
 MtrSClES OF THE BREAST. 
 
 Of the proper form of the trunk we have already spoken. There are some im- 
 portant muscles attached to the breast, and therefore, every horse should have a 
 breast tolerably expanded. In the cut, page 122, and in that at page 133, are seen 
 a very important pair of muscles, the pedorales transversi, or pectoral muscles, 
 forming two prominences in the front of the chest, and extending backward be- 
 tween the legs. They come from the fore and upper part of the breast-bone; go 
 across the inward part of the arm, and reach from the elbow almost down to the 
 knee. They confine the arm to the side in the rapid motion of the horse, and 
 prevent him from being, what horseman would call, and what is seen in a horse 
 pushed beyond his natural power, " all abroad." Other muscles, pedorales magni 
 et parvi, the great and httle pectorals, rather above but behind these, go from the 
 breast-bone to the arm, to draw back the point of the shoulder, and bring the 
 shoulder upright. Another and smaller muscle goes from the breast-bone to the 
 shoulder, to assist in the same office. A horse, therefore, tliin and narrow in the 
 breast, must be deficient in important muscular power. 
 
 Between the legs and along the breast bone is the proper place in which to in- 
 sert rowels in cases of inflamed lungs. 
 
 CHEST FOUNDER. 
 
 These muscles are occasionally the seat of a singular and somewhat mysterious 
 disease. The old farriers used to call it ariticor and chest- founder. The horse has 
 considerable stiffness in moving, evidently not referable to the feet. There is ten- 
 derness about the muscles of the breast, and occasionally swelling, and, after a while, 
 the muscles of the chest waste considerably. We believe it to oe nothing more 
 than rheumatism, produced by suffering the horse to remain too long tied up, and 
 exposed to the cold, or riding him against a very bleak wind. Sometimes a con- 
 siderable degree of fever accompanies this; but bleeding, physic, a rowel in the 
 chest, warm embrocations over the parts affected, warm stabling, and warm cloth- 
 ing, with doses of a drachm or two of antimonial powder, will soon subdue the 
 complaint. 
 
 DROPSr OF THE SKIN OF THE CHEST. 
 
 Dropsical swellings often appear between the fore legs, and on the chest. They 
 are effusions of fluid underneath the skin. They accompanj various diseases, par- 
 ticularly when the animal is weakened by them, and sometimes appear when there 
 is no other disease than the debility which, in the spring and fall of the year, ac- 
 companies the changing of the coat. The treatment will vary with the cause of 
 the affection, or the accompanying disease. Small punctures with the lancet will 
 seldom do harm— friction of the part, if it can be borne, will be serviceable— mild 
 
136 THE HORSE. 
 
 exercise should be used — diuretics given, mixed with some cordial, with liberal 
 food, as carrots, malt mashes, and occasionally a very mild dose of physic, and that 
 followed by tonics and cordials, with diuretics. The vegetable tonics, as gentian 
 and columbo, with ginger, will be most effectual. 
 
 The cavity of the trunk consists of two compartments, divided from each other 
 by the diaphragm or nddriff. The first, into which we have traced the gullet and 
 the wind-pipe, contains the heart and the lungs. It is hned by a delicate mem- 
 brane called the pleura, (the side, or membrane of the side,) which hkewise ex- 
 tends over and affords a covering to the lungs. A portion of it, dipping down from 
 its attachment to the spine, separates the chest into two parts, each of which con- 
 tains one of the lobes or divisions of the lungs; and this portion, the mediastinum 
 (standing in the middle,) forms a kind of bag enveloping the heart. The use of 
 this membrane is to throw out a fluid to moisten the different surfaces, and prevent 
 all dangerous friction or rubbing between these important parts; and also, to sup- 
 port these organs in their natural situation. 
 
 THE HEART. 
 
 The heart is placed between a doubling of the pleura, and Is likewise surround- 
 ed by a membrane or bag of its own, called the pericardium, (about the heart.) 
 This likewise throws out a fluid for the purposes above mentioned. When the 
 pericardium or the heart itself becomes inflamed, this secretion is much increased; 
 and so much fluid accumulates as to obstruct the beating of the heart. This dis- 
 ease is called dropsy of the heart. It is not easily distinguished from inflammation 
 of the lungs; but this is a matter of little consequence, for the treatment would be 
 nearly the same in both. 
 
 The heart is the engine by which the blood is circulated through the frame. It 
 is composed of four cavities, two above called auricles, from their supposed resem- 
 blance to a dog's ear, and two ventricles or little bellies, occupying the substance 
 of the heart. The blood which has circulated through the frame, and nourished 
 it, returns to the heart through the veins. It enters the auricle on the right side, 
 where it accumulates as in a reservoir, until there is enough to fill the ventricle 
 below. The auricle then contracts, and throws the blood into the ventricle. That 
 contracts in its turn, and drives the blood, not back again into the auricle, for there 
 is as complete a valve as that in the sucker of a pump to prevent this, but through 
 an aperture that leads to the lungs. The blood traverses, as we shall presently see, 
 all the little vessels and cells of the lungs, and undergoes an important change 
 there, and is carried to the left auricle; thence it descends to the left ventricle, and, 
 by the powerful closing of the ventricle, is propelled into the arteries. The first 
 artery, the aorta, rises from the left ventricle, and the blood, by the force commu- 
 nicated to it, by the sudden contraction of the venti'icle and assisted by the elastic 
 power of the arteries which keeps them open and free from obstruction, and also 
 by the pressure of the muscular and elastic coats, endeavoring to return to their 
 former dimensions, pui-sues its course through every part of the frame. 
 
 The heart is subject to disease. It powerfully sympathises with the maladies of 
 every part. An injury of the foot will speedily double the quickness of the beat- 
 ings or pulsations of the heart. It sometimes is inflamed, without previous affec- 
 tion of any other part. This is not a frequent, but a most dangerous disease, and 
 is characterized by a pulse quick and strong, and a bounding action of the heart 
 that may occasionally be seen at the side, and even heard at the distance of several 
 yards. There is also a peculiar alertness and quickness in every motion of the ani- 
 mal; and an energy of expression in the countenance exceedingly remarkable. 
 Speedy and copious blood-letting will alone avail to save the horse; for the heart, 
 over-excited and called on to perform this double work, must soon be exhausted. 
 
 THE ARTERIES. 
 
 The vessels which carry the blood from the heart are called arteries, (keeping air, 
 the ancients thought that they contained air.) They are composed of three coats; 
 the outer or elastic is that by which they are enabled to yield to the gush of blood, 
 and enlarge their dimensions as it is forced along them, and by which also they 
 contract again as soon as the gush of blood has passed; the middle coat is the mus- 
 cular, by which this conti-action is more powerfully performed, and the blood urged 
 on in its course; the inner or membranous coat is the mere lining of the tube. 
 
THE PULSE. 137 
 
 This yielding of the artery to the gush of blood forced into it by the contraction 
 of the heart, constitutes 
 
 THE PULSE. 
 
 The pulse is a very useful assistant to the practitioner of human medicine, and 
 much more so to tlie veterinary surgeon, wliose patients cannot describe eitlier the 
 seat or degree of ailment or pain. The number of pulsations in any arterv will 
 give the number of the beatings of the heart, and so express the irritation of that 
 organ, and of the frame generally. In a state of health, the heart beats in the far- 
 mer's horse about thirty-six times in a minute. In the smaller, and in the thorough- 
 bred horse, the pulsations are 40 or 42. This is said to be the sta7idard pulse — 
 the pulse of healtb. It varies singularly little in horses of the same size and breed, 
 and where it is found there can be little materially wrong. The most convenient 
 place to feel the pulse, is at the lower jaw, (p. 94) a httle behind the spot where 
 the submaxillary artery and vein, and the parotid duct, come from under the jaw. 
 There the number of pulsations will be easily counted, and the character of the 
 pulse, a matter of fidly equal importance, will be clearly ascertained. Many horse- 
 men put the hand to the side. They can certainly count the pulse there, but they 
 can do nothing more. AVe must be able to press the artery against some hard 
 body, as the jaw-bone, in order to ascertain the manner in which the blood flows 
 through it, and the quantity that flows. 
 
 When the pulse reaches fifty or fifty-five, some degree of fever may be ap- 
 prehended, and proper precaution should be taken. Seventy or seventy-five will 
 indicate a somewhat dangerous state, and put the owner and the surgeon not a 
 little on the alert. Few horses long survive a pulse of one hundred, for by this 
 excessive action the energies of nature are speedily worn out. 
 
 Some things, however, should be taken into account in foraiing our conclusion 
 from the frequency of the pulse. Exercise, a warm stable, fear, will wonderfully 
 increase the number of pulsations. 
 
 When a careless brutal fellow goes up to a horse, and speaks hastily to him, 
 and handles liim roughly, he adds ten beats per minute to the pulse; and will often 
 be misled in the opinion he may form of the state of the animal. A judicious per- 
 son will approach the patient gently, and pat and sooth him, and even then the 
 circulation, probably, will be little disturbed; and he should take the additional 
 precaution of noting the number and quahty of the pulse a second time before he 
 leaves the animal. 
 
 If a quick pulse indicate irritation and fever, a slow pulse will likewise charac- 
 terize diseases of an opposite character. It accompanies the sleepy stage of stag- 
 gers, and every malady connected with deficiency of nei'vous energy. 
 
 The heart may not only be excited to more frequent, but also to more violent 
 action. It may contract more powerfully upon the blood, which will be driven 
 with greater force through the arteries, and the expansion of the vessels will be 
 greater and more sudden. Then we have the hard pulse — the sure indicator of 
 considerable fever, and calling for the immediate and free use of the lancet. 
 
 Sometimes tlie pulse may be hard and jerking, and yet small. The stream, 
 though forcible, is not great. The heart is so irritable that it contracts before the 
 ventricle is properly filled. The practitioner knows that this shows a dangerous 
 state of disease. It is an almost invariable accompaniment of inflammation of the 
 bowels, 
 
 A weak pulse, when the arterial stream flows slowly, is caused by the feeble 
 action of the heart. It is the reverse of fever, and expressive of debility. 
 
 The oppressed pulse is when the arteries seem to be fully distended with blood; 
 there is obstruction somewhere, and the action of the heart can hardly force the 
 stream along, or communicate pulsation to the cuiTcnt. This is the case in sud- 
 den inflammation of the lungs. They are overloaded and gorged with blood, 
 which, cannot find its way through their minute vessels. This accounts for the 
 well-known fact of a copious bleeding increasing a pulse pi-eviously oppressed. 
 A portion being removed from the distended and choked vessels, the remainder 
 is able to flow on. 
 
 There are many other varieties of the pulse, which it would be tedious here to 
 particularize, and we will conclude oui- remarks on it by observing that, during the 
 act of bleeding, its state should be carefully observed. Many veterinary surgeons, 
 and gentlemen too, are apt to order a certain quantity of blood to be taken away, 
 but do not condescend to superintend the operation. This is unpardonable in the 
 18 
 
138 THE HORSE. 
 
 surgeon, and censurable in the owner of the horse. The horse is bled for some 
 particular purpose. There is some state of disease, indicated by a peculiar quali> 
 ty of tlie pulse, which we are endeavoring to alter. The most experienced prac- 
 titioner cannot tell what quantity of blood must be abstracted to produce the 
 desired effect. The change of the pulse can alone indicate when the object is 
 accomplished: therefore, the operator should have his finger on the artery during 
 the act of bleeding, and, comparatively regardless of the quantity, continue to 
 take blood until, in inflammation of the lungs, the oppressed pulse becomes fuller 
 and more distinct, or the strong pidse of considerable fever is evidently softer, or 
 the animal exliibits symptoms of faintness. 
 
 The arteries divide as tliey proceed through the frame, and bi-anch out into in- 
 numerable minute tubes, termed capillaries (hau"-llke tubes,) and they even be- 
 come so small as to elude the sight. The slightest puncture cannot be inflicted 
 without wounding some of them. 
 
 In these little tubes the nourishment of the body, and the sepai-ation of all the 
 various secretions, is performed, and, in consequence of this, the blood is changed; 
 and when these capillaries unite together, and begin to enlai-ge, it is found to be 
 no longer arterial, or of a florid red color, but venous, or of a blacker hue. There- 
 fore, the principal termination of the arteries is in veins. The point where the 
 one ends, and the other commences, cannot be ascertained; it is when the red ai*- 
 terial blood, having discharged its function, is changed to venous or black blood; 
 but tliis is a process gradually performed, and therefore tlie vessel is gradually 
 changing its character. 
 
 Branches fi'om the ganglial or sympathetic nerves wind round tliese vessels, and 
 endue them with energy to discharge theii* functions. When the nerves commu- 
 nicate too much energy, and these vessels consequently act with too much power, 
 iiiflammaiioH is produced. If this disturbed action be confined to a small space, 
 or a single organ, it is said to be local, as inflammation of the eye, or of tlie lungs; 
 when this inordinate action spreads from its original seat, and embraces the whole 
 of the arterial system, fever is said to be present, and which usually increases in 
 proportion as tlie local distui'bance increases, and subsides with it. 
 
 INFLAMMATIOS". 
 
 Local inflammation is characterized by redness, swelling, heat, and pain. The 
 redness proceeds from the increased quantity of blood flowing through the part, 
 occasioned by the increased action of the vessels. The swelling arises from the 
 same cause, and from the deposite of fluid in the neighboring substance. The 
 natural heat of the bod}' is produced by the gradual change which takes place in 
 the blood in passing from an arterial to a venous state. If more blood be driven 
 through the capillaries of an inflamed part, and in which this change is effected, 
 more heat will necessarily be produced there; and the pain is easily accounted 
 for by the distension and pressure which must be produced, and the participation 
 of the nerves in the disturbance of the surrounding parts. 
 
 We have spoken of some of these local inflammations, and shall speak of others 
 when describing the structure of the pai-ts that are occasionally attacked by them. 
 The treatment will, in some degi-ee, vary with tlie part attacked, and the deg^'ee 
 of the inflammation; but it will necessarily include the following particulars. 
 
 If Inflammation consist of increased flow of blood to and through the part, the 
 ready way to abate tlie inflammation, is to lessen the quantity of blood. If we 
 take away the fuel, the fire will go out. All other means are comparatively unim- 
 portant, compared with bleeding. Blood may be talten from the jugulai-, and so 
 the general quantity may be lessened; but if it can be taken from the neighbor- 
 hood of the part, it will be productive of tenfold benefit. One quart of blood 
 taken from the foot in acute founder, by unloading the vessels of the inflamed 
 part, and enabling them to contract, and, in that contraction, to acquire tone and 
 power to i-esist future distension, will do more good tlian five qviarts taken from 
 the general cu-culation. An ounce of blood obtained by scarifying the swelled 
 vessels of the inflamed eye, will give as much relief as a copious bleeding from the 
 jugular. It is a principle in tlie animal frame wliich should never be lost sight of by 
 the veterinary surg'eon, or the hoi-seman, that if, by bleeding, the process of inflam- 
 mation can once be checked — if it can be suspended but for a little while — although 
 it may return, it never returns witli the same degree of violence, and in many cases 
 it is got rid of at once. Hence the necessity of bleeding early, and bleeding large- 
 
INFLAMMATION. 139 
 
 ly, in inflammation of the lungs, or of the bowels, or of the brain, or of any im- 
 portant organ. Many horses are lost for want of bleeding, or from insufficient 
 bleeding, but we never knew one materially injured by the most copious abstrac- 
 tion of blood in tlie early stage of acute inflammation.' The horse will bear, and 
 with advantage, tlie loss of an almost incredible quairtity of blood. Four quarts 
 taken from him will be comparatively little more than one pound taken from the 
 human being. We can scarcely conceive a considerable inflammation of any part 
 of the horse, either proceeding from sprains, contusions, or any other cause, in 
 which bleeding, local (if possible) or general, or both, will not be of essential 
 service. 
 
 Next in importance to bleeding is purging. Something may be removed from 
 the bowels, the retention of which would increase the general imtation and fever; 
 the blood will be materially lessened, for the quantity of serous or wateiy fluid 
 wliicli is separated from it by a bi-isk purge, the action of which, in the horse, con- 
 tinues pi-obably for more than twenty-four hours, is enonnous; and while tlie blood 
 is thus determined to the bowels, less even of tliat which remains will flow through 
 the inflamed part. When the circulation is directed to one set of vessels, it is 
 proportionably diminished in other parts. It was first directed to the inflamed 
 parts, and they were overloaded and injured: it is now directed to the bowels, 
 and the inflamed parts are relieved. While the purging continues, there is also 
 some degree of languor and sickness felt, and the force of the circulation is there- 
 by diminished, and the general excitement lessened. The farmer will, therefore, 
 see the importance of physic in every case of considerable external inflammation. 
 If the horse is laid by for a few days from injury of the foot, or sprain, or poll- 
 evil, or wound, or almost any cause of inflammation, a physic ball shoidd be given. 
 
 In cases of internal inflammation, much judgment is required to determine when 
 a purgative may be beneficial or injurious. In inflammation of the lungs or bow- 
 els it should never be given. There is so strong a sympathy between the various 
 contents of the cavity of the chest, that no one of them can be inflamed to any 
 great extent, without all the others being disposed to become inflamed; and, tliere- 
 fore, a dose of pliysic in inflamed lungs would be frequently as fatal as a dose of 
 poison. The excitement produced on tlie bowels by the purgative will soon run 
 on to inflammation, which no medical skill can stop. 
 
 The means of abating external inflammation are various, and seemingly contra- 
 dictory. The heat of the part very naturally and properly led to the application 
 of cold embrocations and lotions. Heat has a strong tendency to equalize itself, 
 or to leave that substance which has a too great quantity of it, or little capacity to 
 retain it, for another which has less of it, or more capacity to retain it. Hence 
 the advantage of cold applications, by which a great deal of the unnatm-al heat is 
 speedily taken away from the inflamed part. The foot laboring under inflamma- 
 tion is put into cold water; or the horse is made to stand in water or wet cla}', and 
 various cold applications are used to sprains. The part is wetted with diluted 
 vinegar or goulai'd, or salt and water. We believe that when benefit is derived 
 from these applications, it is to be attributed to their coldness alone, and that wa- 
 ter, and when especially cooled below the natural temperature, is quite as good 
 as any thing else. An ounce of nitre, dissolved in a pint of water, will lower tlie 
 temperature of the fluid many degi-ees; but the lotion must be apphed immedi- 
 ately after the salt has been dissolved; and it should be applied in such a way that 
 the inflamed part may be fully exposed to the process. of evaporation. While tlie 
 fluid is converted into vapor by tlie heat of the skin, a considerable degree of 
 cold is produced. Let the hmb or the part have tlie full benefit of this, by being 
 uncovered. A bandage may be afterwards applied to strengthen the limb, but 
 during the continuance of active inflammation it will only confine the heat of the 
 part, or prevent the part from benefitting by the salutary influence of the cold 
 produced by the evaporation of the water. 
 
 Sometimes, however, we resoil to warm fomentations, and if benefit be derived 
 from their use, it is to be traced to the warmth of the fluid, and not to any medi- 
 cinal property in it; and warm water will do as much good to the horse, who has 
 so thick a skin, as a decoction of camomile or marsh-mallow, or even of poppy 
 heads, or any nostrum that the farrier may recommend. Fomentations increase 
 the warmtli of the skin, and open the pores of it, and promote perspiration, and so 
 lessen the tension and swelUng of the part, assuage pain, and relieve inflamma- 
 tion. Fomentations, to be useful, should be long and frequently employed, and 
 at as great a degree of heat as can be used without giving the animal paui. 
 
140 THE HORSE. 
 
 Poultices are nothing but more permanent, or longer-continued fomentations. 
 The part is exposed to the influence of warmtli and moisture for many hours or 
 days without intermission, and perspiration being so long kept up, the distended 
 vessels will be very materially relieved. The advantage derived from a poultice 
 is attributed to the heat and moisture which, by means of it, can be long applied 
 to the skin, and it should be composed of materials wliich will best afford this 
 heat and moisture. The bran poultice of the farrier will therefore be objectiona- 
 ble. It is never perfectly in contact with the surface of tlie skin, and it becomes 
 nearly dry in a few hours, and then is injurious. Linseed-meal is a much bet- 
 ter material for a poultice; it will remain moist for twenty-four hours. The poul- 
 tice is easily made, by pouring hot water on the meal, a little at a time, and 
 moulding it well with the hand until the cataplasm attains its proper consistence. 
 
 It is often very difficult to decide when a cold or a hot application is to be used, 
 and no general rule can be laid down, except that, in cases of superficial inflam- 
 mation, and in the early stage, cold lotions will be prefei-able; but when the 
 inflammation is deeper seated, or fully established, warm fomentations may be 
 most serviceable. 
 
 Stimulating applications are frequently used in local inflammation. We have 
 shown the action of a blister in hastening the suppuration of tlie tumor of stran- 
 gles. When the inflammation is deeply seated, a stimulating application to the 
 skin will cause some irritation and inflammation there, and lessen or sometimes 
 remove the original one; hence the use of rowels and blisters in inflammation of 
 the chest. Inflammation to a high degree cannot exist in parts so near to each 
 other. If we excite it in one, we shall abate it in the other, and also by the dis- 
 charge which we establish from the one, we shall lessen the determination of 
 blood to tiie other. 
 
 With one caution we will dismiss this part of our subject: stimulating and blis- 
 tering applications should never be applied to a part already inflamed. We shall 
 not put out a fire by heaping more fuel upon it. Hence the mischief which the 
 farrier often does by rubbing his abominable oils on a recent sprain, hot and ten- 
 der. Many a horse has been ruined by this absurd treatment. When the heat 
 and tenderness have disappeared by the use of cold lotions or fomentations, and the 
 leg or sprained part remains enlarged, or even bony matter threatens to be depo- 
 sited, we may be justified in exciting inflammation of the skin by a blister, in order 
 to rouse the deeper seated absorbents to action, and enable them to take up this 
 deposite; but we would again state it as a principle that, except to hasten the na- 
 tural process and effects of inflammation, a blister, or stimidating application, 
 should, in the treatment of the horse, never be applied to a part already inflamed. 
 
 Fever is general increased arterial action, either without any local affection, or 
 in consequence of the sympathy of the system with inflammation in some particu- 
 lar part. 
 
 The first is pure fever. Some have denied that it exists in the horse, but they 
 must have been strangely careless observers of the diseases of that animal. The 
 truth of the matter is, that the usual stable management and general treatment of 
 the horse are so absurd, that various parts of him are rendered so liable to take on 
 inflammation, that pure fever will exist but a very little time without degenerating 
 into inflammation of these parts. The lungs are so weakened by the heated and 
 foul air of the ill-ventilated stable, and by sudden changes from almost insuf- 
 ferable heat to intense cold; and the feet are so injured by hard usage and 
 injudicious shoeing, that, sharing from the beginning in the general vascular ex- 
 citement which characterizes fever, they soon become excited far beyond other por- 
 tions of the frame; and that wliich commenced as fever becomes inflammation of 
 the lungs or feet. Pure fever, however, is sometimes seen, and runs its course 
 as fever. 
 
 It begins frequently with a cold or shivering fit, altliough this is not essential to 
 fever. The horse is dull, unwilling to move, with a staring coat, and cold legs 
 and feet. This is succeeded by warmth of body; unequal distribution of warmth 
 to the legs; one hot, and tlie otlier three cold, or some unnaturally warm, and 
 others unusually cold, although not the deathy coldness of inflammation of the 
 lungs; the pulse quick, soft, and often indistinct; breatliing somewhat laborious; 
 but no cough, or pawing, or looking at the flanks. The animal will scarcely 
 
THE VEINS— BOG AND BLOOD SPAVIN. 141 
 
 eat, iitjd is very costive. While the state of pure fever lasts, the shivering fit re- 
 turns at nearly the same hour every day, and is succeeded by the warm one, and 
 that often by a very slight sweating- one; and tliis goes on for several days, untQ 
 local inflammation appears, or the fever gradually subsides. No horse ever died 
 of pure fever; if he is not destroyed by inflammation of the lungs, or feet, or 
 bowels, succeeding to the fever, he gradually recovers. 
 
 What we have said of the treatment of local inflammation will sufficiently indicate 
 that which we sliould reeommend in fever. Fever is general increased action of 
 tlie heart and ai-teries, and therefore evidently appears the necessity for bleeding, 
 regulating the quantity of blood taken by the degree of fever, and usually con- 
 tinuing to take it (the finger being kept on the artery) until some impression is 
 made upon the system. The bowels should be gently opeued; but the danger of 
 inflan>mation of the lungs, and the uniformly injurious consequence of pui-gation 
 m that disease, will prevent tlie administration of an active purgative. One drachm 
 and a half of aloes may be given morning and night with the proper fever medi- 
 cine, until the bowels are slightly relaxed, after which nothing more of an aperient 
 quality shoidd be administered. Digitalis, emetic tartar, and nitre, should be given 
 morning and night, in proportions regulated by the circumstances of the case, and 
 these should give way to white hellebore, in doses of half a drachm, twice in the 
 day, if symptoms of inflammation of the lungs should appear. The horse should 
 be warmly clothed, but be placed in a cool and well ventilated stable. 
 
 Symptomatic fever is generally increased arterial action, proceeding from some 
 local cause. No organ of consequence can be long disordered or inflamed with- 
 out the neighboring parts being disturbed, and the whole system gradually partici- 
 patmg in the disturbance. Inflammation of the feet or of the lungs never existed 
 long as to any material extent, without being accompanied by some degree of 
 fever. 
 
 The treatment of symptomatic fever should resemble that of simple fever, except 
 that particular attention should be paid to the state of the part originally diseased. 
 If the inflammation which existed there can be subdued, the general disturbance 
 will usually cease. 
 
 The arteries terminate occasionally in openings on different surfaces of the body. 
 On the skin they pour out the perspiration, and on the different cavities of the 
 frame they yield the moisture which prevents friction. In other parts they termi- 
 nate in glands, in wliich a fluid essentially different from the blood is secreted or 
 separated from it: such are the parotid and salivar}^ glands, the kidneys, the spleen, 
 and the various organs or laboratories which provide so many and such different 
 secretions for the multifarious purposes of life; but the usual termination of arte- 
 ries is in tlie veins. 
 
 THE VEINS. 
 
 These vessels carry back to the heart the blood which has been conveyed to the 
 different parts of the arteries. They have but two coats, a muscular and a mem- 
 branous; both of them are thin and comparatively weak. They are more numer- 
 ous and much larger than the arteries, and consequently the blood, lessened in 
 quantity by the various secretions separated from it, flows more slowly through 
 them. It is forced on partly by the first impulse communicated to it by the heart; 
 partly, in the extremities and external portions of the frame, by the pressure of 
 the muscles; and in the cavity of the chest, its motion is assisted or principally 
 caused by the sudden opening of the ventricles of the heart, after they have closed 
 upon and driven out their contents, and thereby causing a vacuum which the blood 
 rushes on to fill. There are curious valves in the veins which prevent the blood 
 from flowing backward. 
 
 BOG AND BLOOD SPAVIN. 
 
 The veins of the horse, though their coats are thin compared with those of the 
 arteries, are not subject to the enlargements (varicose veins) which are so frequent, 
 and often so painful, in the legs of the human being. The legs of the horse may 
 exhibit many of the injurious consequences of hard work, but the veins will, 
 with one exception, be unaltered in structure. Attached to the extremities of most 
 of the tendons, and between the tendons and other parts, are little bags containing 
 a mucous substance to enable the tendons to slide over each other without friction. 
 
142 THE HORSE. 
 
 and to move easily on the neighboring parts. From violent exercise these little bags 
 are liable to enlarge. Windgalls and thorouglipins are instances of this. There 
 is one of them on the inside of the hock at its bending: this sometimes becomes 
 considerably increased in size, and the enlargement is called a bog-spavin. A vein 
 passes over this bag, which is pressed between the enlargement and the skin, and 
 the passage of the blood througli it is impeded; the vein is consequently distended 
 by the accumulated blood, and the distension reaches from this bag as low down 
 as the next valve. This is called a blood-spavin. Blood-spavin then is the conse- 
 quence of bog-spavin. It very rarely occurs, and is, in the majority of instances, 
 confounded with bog-spavin. 
 
 Blood-spavin does not always cause lameness except the horse Is very hard 
 worked, and then .it is doubtful whether the lameness should not be attributed to 
 the enlarged mucous bag ratlier than to tlie distended vein. Both of these diseases, 
 however, render a horse unsound, and materially lessen his value. 
 
 Old farriers used to tie the vein, and so cut off altogether the flow of the blood. 
 Some of them, a little more rational, used to dissect out the bag which caused the 
 distension of the vein: but the modern and more prudent way is to endeavor to 
 promote the absorption of tlie contents of the bag. This may be attempted by 
 pressure long applied. A bandage may be contrived to take in the whole of the 
 hock except its point; and a compress made of folded linen, being placed on the 
 bog-spavin, may confine the principal pressure to that part. It is, however, very 
 difficult to adapt a bandage to a joint which admits of such extensive motion; 
 therefore, most practitioners apply two or three successive blisters over the en- 
 largement, when it usually disappears; but, unfortiuiately, it returns again if any 
 extraordinary exertion is required from the horse. 
 
 Of the wounds of veins, and their consequent inflammation, we have spoken 
 when describing the veins of the neck. The veins are selected in preference to 
 the arteries for the purpose of bleeding, because they are more superficial and 
 larger, and blood can be more easily and certainly procured from them, and the 
 flow of the blood can be more easily stopped. 
 
 BLEEDING. 
 
 This operation is performed with a fleam or a lancet. The first is the common 
 instrument, and the safest, except in skilful hands. The lancet, however, has a 
 more surgical appearance, and will be adopted by the veterinary practitioner. A 
 bloodstlck, a piece of hard wood loaded at one end with lead, is used to strike the 
 fleam into the vein. This is sometimes done with too great violence, and the op- 
 posite side of the coat of the vein is wounded. Bad cases of inflammation have 
 resulted from this. If the fist be doubled, and the fleam is sharp, and is struck 
 with sufficient force with the lower part of the hand, the bloodstick may be dis- 
 pensed with. 
 
 For general bleeding the jugidar vein is selected. The horse is blindfolded on 
 tlie side on which he is to be bled, or his head turned well away; the hair is 
 smoothed along the course of the vein with the moistened finger; then, with the 
 third and little fingers of the left hand, which holds the fleam, pressure is made 
 on the vein sufficient to bring it fairly into view, but not to swell it too much, for 
 then, presenting a rounded surface, it would be apt to roll or slip under the blow. 
 The point to be selected is about two inches below the union of the two portions 
 of the jugular at the angle of the jaw, (see cut, p. 94.) The fleam is to be placed 
 in a direct line with the course of the vein, and over the precise centre of the vein, 
 as close to it as possible, but its point not absolutely touching the vein. A sharp 
 i*ap with the bloodstick or the hand on that part of the back of the fleam immedi- 
 ately over the blade, will cut through the vein, and the blood will flow. A fleam 
 with a large blade sliould always be preferred, for the operation will be materially 
 shortened, which will be a matter of some consequence with a fidgety or restive 
 horse; and a quantity of blood drawn speedily will have far more effect on the sys- 
 tem than double the weight slowly taken; while the woimd will heal just as readily 
 as if made by a smaller instrument. There is no occasion to press so hard against 
 the neck with the pail, or can, as some do; a slight pressure, if the incision has 
 been large enough, and straight, and in the middle of the vein, will cause the blood 
 to flow sufficiently fast; or, the finger being introduced into the mouth between 
 the tushes and the grinders, and gently moved about, will keep the mouth in mo- 
 tion, and hasten the rapidity of the stream by the action and pressure of tlie neigh- 
 boring muscles. 
 
THE LUNGS. 143 
 
 When sufficient blood has been taken, the edg-es of the wound should be brought 
 closely and exactly tog-ether, and kept tog-ether by a small sharp pin being passed 
 through them. Round this a little tow, or a few hairs from the main of the horse, 
 should be wrapped, so as to cover the wliole of the incision; and the head of the 
 horse should be tied up for several hours to prevent his rubbing the part against 
 the manger. In bringing the edges of the wound together, and inti-oducing the 
 pin, care should be taken not to draw the skin too much from the neck; other- 
 wise blood will insinuate itself between the skin and the muscles beneath, and 
 cause an unsightly and, sometimes, troublesome swelling. 
 
 The blood should be received into a vessel, the dimensions of which are exactly 
 known, so that tlie operator may be able to calculate at every period of the bleed- 
 ing the quantity that is substracted. Care likewise should be taken that the blood 
 flow in a regular stream into the centre of the vessel, for, if it be suffered to 
 trickle down the sides, it will not afterwards undergo those changes by which we 
 partially judge of the extent of inflammation. Tiie pulse, however, and the symp- 
 toms of the case collectively, will form a better criterion than any change in the 
 blood. Twenty-four hours after the operation, the edges of the wound will have 
 united, and the pin sliould be withdrawn. When the bleeding is to be re- 
 peated, if more than three or four hours have elapsed, it will be more prudent to 
 make a fresh incision rather than to open the old wound. 
 
 Few directions are necessary for the use of the lancet. They who are compe- 
 tent to operate with it will scarcely require any. If the point be sufficiently sharp 
 the lancet can scarcely be too broad shouldered; and an abscess lancet will gene- 
 rally make a freer incision than that in common use. A spring lancet has lately 
 been invented by Mi-. Weiss, in the Strand, by which any one may bleed from the 
 jugular, or fi'om a smaller vein, safely and certainly. Whatever instrument be 
 adopted, too much care cannot be taken to have it perfectly clean, and very sharp. 
 It should always be most carefully wiped and dried immediately after the opera- 
 tion; otherwise in a very short time the edges Vv'ill begin to be corroded. 
 
 For general bleeding the jugular vein is selected as the largest superficial vein, 
 and most easily got at. In every affection of tlie head, and in cases of fever or 
 extended inflammatory action, it is decidedly tlie best place for bleeding. In local 
 inflammation blood may be taken from any of the superficial veins. In supposed 
 affections of the shoulder, or of the fore-leg or foot, the p/a/e vein, which comes 
 from the inside of the arm, and runs upwards, directly in front of it, towards the 
 jugular, may be opened. In aff'ections of tlie hinder extremity, blood is sometimes 
 abstracted from the saphcena, or thigh vein, which runs across the inside of the 
 thigh. In foot cases it may be taken from the coronet, or, mucli more safely, from 
 the toe; not by cutting out, as the farrier does, a piece of the sole at the toe of 
 the fi-og, which sometimes causes a wound dlflicult to heal, and followed by fes- 
 tering, and even by canker; but cutting down with a fine drawing-knife called a 
 searcher, at the union between the crust and the sole at the very toe until the 
 blood flows, and, if necessary, encouraging its discliarge by dipping the foot in 
 warm water. The mesh-work of both arteries and veins will be here divided, and 
 blood is generally obtained in any quantity th.at may be needed. The bleeding 
 may be stopped with the gi-eatest ease by placing a bit of tow in the little groove 
 that has been cut, and tacking the shoe over it. 
 
 THE LUNGS. 
 
 The chest, likewise, contains the lungs, most important from the office which 
 they discharge, and the diseases to which they are liable. There are two lungs, 
 the right and the left, separated from each other by the mediastinum. The right 
 lung is larger that the left, because the heart, inclining to the left, leaves less room 
 on that side of the chest. Each of the lungs is likewise partially divided into lobes; 
 the right lung contains three, and the left two. When the windpipe enters the 
 chest, it divides into two parts, one going to each lung; and wlien these reach the 
 substance of the lungs, they separate into innumerable branches, each terminating 
 in a little bag or cell. These branches, with the cells attached to them, bear no 
 slight resemblance to bunches of minute grapes. Around these cells spread count- 
 less blood-vessels, being the extreme ramifications of those which conveyed the 
 blood from the right side of the heart to the lungs, and the commencement of 
 those which carry it back from the lungs to the left side of the heart; and the cells 
 and the blood-vessels are connected together by an intervening substance of a 
 fibrous and cellular texture. 
 
144 THE HORSE. 
 
 The office of the lungs may be very shortly stated. The blood passhig through 
 the capillaries of the body, and contributing to the nourishment of the frame, and 
 furnishing all the secretions, becomes, as we have described, changed. It is no 
 longer able to support life: it is possessed of a poisonous principle, and that prin- 
 ciple is a superabundance of a substance called carbon, whicli must be got rid of 
 before the blood can again be usefully employed. There is an ingredient in the 
 atmospheric air called oxygen, whicli has a strong attraction for this carbon, and 
 which will unite with it wherever it finds it. The chest enlarges by the action of 
 the diaphragm, and the intercostal and other muscles, as we have narrated; and 
 the lungs expanding with the chest, in order to fill up the vacuum which would 
 otherwise exist between them and the sides of the chest, these cells enlarge, and a 
 kind of vacuum is formed in each of them, and the air rushes down and fills them, 
 and, being divided from the venous and poisoned blood by these membranes alone, 
 it is enabled to act upon the blood, and attracts from it this carbon, and thus puri- 
 fies it, and renders it arterial blood, and fit for the purposes of fife. This being 
 accomplished, the chest contracts, and the lungs are pressed into smaller compass, 
 and a portion of the air, impregnated with the carbon, and rendered poisonous in 
 its turn, is squeezed out. Presently the chest expands again, and the lungs expand 
 with it, and fresh pure air is admitted, which is shortly pressed out again, empoi- 
 soned by the carbon of the blood; and these alternate expansions and conti-actions 
 constitute the act of breathing. 
 
 When the animal powerfully exerts himself, a more ample supply of pure blood 
 is required to sustain the energies of life, and the action of the muscles forces the 
 blood more rapidly through the veins; hence the quick and deep breathing of a 
 horse at speed; hence the necessity of a capacious chest, in order to yield an ade- 
 quate supply, and the connexion of this capacity of the chest with the speed and 
 the endurance of the horse; hence the wonderful relief which the mere loosening 
 of the girths affords to a horse blown and distressed, enabling the chest to expand 
 and to contract to a greater extent, in order to yield more purified blood; and hence 
 the relief afforded by even a short period of rest, during which this expenditure is 
 not required, and the almost exhausted energies of these organs have time to re- 
 cover. Hence, likewise, appears the necessity of an ample chest for the accumu- 
 lation of much flesh and fat; for, if a considerable portion of the blood be em- 
 ployed in the growth of the animal, and it be thus rapidly changed, there must be 
 provision for its rapid purification, and that can only be effected by the increased 
 bulk of the lungs, and the corresponding largeness of the chest to contain them. 
 
 The diseases of these organs are among the most serious to which the horse is 
 exposed, and interfere most with his usefulness. A glandered horse may be, and 
 often is too long employed in our service; a blind horse, under the guidance of the 
 driver, may employ both his strength and his speed for our benefit; but a horse 
 with diseased lungs is worth nothing at all, and hence some of the difficulties with 
 which the veterinary practitioner has to struggle. A surgeon who practises on the 
 human body will obtain the gratitude of his patient, if he so far removes a severe 
 aff"ection as to enable him to live on with a certain degree of comfort, although his 
 activity and his power of exertion may be considerably impaired; but the veteri- 
 nary surgeon is thought to have done nothing, unless he renders the animal per- 
 fectly sound — unless, in fact, he does that which it is absolutely impossible to ac- 
 comphsh. 
 
 INFLAMMATION OF THE LUNGS. 
 
 There is no animal among all those whom we have subdued that, previous to his 
 breaking in, is so free from disease as the horse; there is no animal which, after he 
 has been enhsted in our service, is so liable to disease, and especially of the lungs. 
 How do we account for this? Few things can be more injurious to the delicate 
 membrane that lines the cells of the lungs, than the sudden change from heat to 
 cold, to which, under the usual stable management, the horse is subject. In the 
 spring and autumn, the temperature or heat of most stables is several degrees higher 
 than that of the open air; in winter it is frequently more than thirty degrees. The 
 necessary effect of this must be to weaken and exhaust the energies of the parts 
 most exposed to the influence of these changes, and they are the lungs. It is, liovv- 
 ever, not only heated but empoisoned air that the horse respires—composed of his 
 own contaminated breath, and of vapors from his dung, and particularly from his 
 urine, strongly impregnated with hartshorn, painful to the eyes and irritating to the 
 chest. 
 
INFLAMMATION OF THE LUNGS. 145 
 
 There is likewise an intimate connexion between the king's and tlie functions of 
 the skin. "When the insensible perspiration is suddenly stopped, cold and cough 
 are the first consequences. Wliat must inevitably happen to the horse that stands, 
 twenty hours out of the four and twenty, in a heated atmosphere, and stands there 
 warmly clothed, and every pore of his skin opened, and tlie insensible perspiration, 
 and the sensible too, profusely pouring out, and then, with his coat stripped from 
 his back, is turned shivering into a nipping winter's air? The discharge from the 
 skin is at once arrested, and the revulsion, or pernicious effect of the sudden stop- 
 page of a natural evacuation, falls on the lungs, too much weakened and disposed 
 to inflammation by heated air and poisonous fumes. 
 
 These simple observations arc pregnant with interest and instruction to all con- 
 nected with horses. He who v/ould liave his stud free from disease, and especially 
 disease of the lungs, must pursue two objects, coolness and cleanliness. In the 
 gentleman's stable tlie first of tliese is studiously avoided from the prejudice or the 
 idleness of the groom, and from these stables proceed most of the cases of inflamed 
 lungs; especially when this heat is combined with that temporary but mischievous 
 nuisance, the repeated breathing of the same air during the nig'lit, and that air 
 more vitiated by the fumes of the dung and urine. In the stables of the post-mas- 
 ter, where not only closeness and heat, but the filth that would not be endured in 
 a gentleman's establishment, are found, both inflammation of the lungs and glan- 
 ders prevail; and in the stables of many agriculturists, cool enough from the 
 poverty or the carelessness of the owner, but choked with filth, inflammation of 
 the lungs is seldom seen, but mange, glanders, and fare}", abound. 
 
 Inflammation of the substance of the lungs is sometimes sudden in its attack, 
 but generally preceded by symptoms of fever. The pulse is occasionally not 
 much increased in frequenc)', but oppressed and indistinct; the artery is plainly to 
 be felt under the finger, and of its usual size, but the pulse no longer indicates the 
 expansion of the vessel, as it yields to the gush of blood, and its contraction when 
 the blood has passed; it is rather a vibration or thrill, communicated to a fluid al- 
 ready over-distending the artery; in a few cases even this almost eludes the most 
 delicate touch, and scarcely any pulsation is to be detected. The extremities are 
 cold; the nostril is expanded; the head thrust out, and the flanks begin to heave. 
 There is a peculiarity in the working of the flank. It is not the deep laborious 
 breatliing of fever, nor the irregular beating of broken wind, in which the air 
 appears to be drawn in by one effort, while tvv'o seem to be necessary to expel it; 
 but it is a quick hurried motion, evidently expressive of pain, and of inability to 
 complete the action on account of the pain, or of some mechanical obstruction. The 
 membrane of the nose is of an intensely florid red — more vivid in the inside corners 
 of the nostrils, and remaining concentrated there if at times it should seem to fade 
 away higher up. The countenance is singularly anxious, and indicative of suffer- 
 ing, and many a mournful look is directed at the flanks. The horse stands in a 
 singular manner, stiff, with his fore legs abroad, that the chest may be expanded 
 as much as possible, and he is unwilling to move lest, for a moment, he should 
 lose the assistance of the muscles of the arms and shoulders in producing that ex- 
 pansion; and, for the same reason, he obstinately stands up day after day, and night 
 after night; or if he lies down from absolute fatigue it is but for a moment. 
 
 In many instances, however, the approach of the disease is very treacherous, and 
 the most careful practitioner may be deceived. The groom may perceive that the 
 horse is somewhat off his feed, and dull, but he pays little attention to it; or, if it 
 arrests his notice, he only finds that the coat stares a little, that the legs are colder 
 than usual, and the breathing in a slight degree quickened and shortened. In other 
 cases the symptoms are those of common fever, catarrii, or distemper; and the 
 characteristics of true inflammation of the lungs appear late and unexpectedly. 
 The cold leg and ear, the quickened, not deepened inspiration, the disinclination to 
 lie down, and the anxious countenance, will always alarm the experienced observer. 
 
 Whatever may be the state of the pulse at first, it soon becomes oppressed, ir- 
 regular, indistinct, and at length almost imperceptible. The heart is laboring in 
 vain to push on the column of blood with which tiie vessels are distended, and the 
 flow of which is obstructed by the clogged-up passages of the lungs. The legs 
 and ears, which were cold before, become more intensely so — it is a clayey, deathy 
 coldness. The mouth soon participates in it, and the breath too. The bright red 
 of the nostr'd fades away, or darkens to a livid purple. The animal grinds his 
 teeth. He still persists 'in standing, although he often staggers and almost falls; 
 at length he drops, and after a few struggles dies, 
 19 
 
146 THE HORSE. 
 
 The duration of the disease is sin^larly uncertain. It will occasionally destroy 
 in less than twenty-four hours, and then the lungs present one confused and disor- 
 ganized mass of blackness, and would lead the inexperienced person to imagine 
 that Ipng inflammation had gradually so completely broken down the substance 
 of the lungs. Such a horse is said to die rotten, and many attempts have been 
 made to prove that he must have been unsound for a great while, and probably 
 before he came into his last owner's possession, and some expensive law suits have 
 been instituted on this ground. Let our readers, however, be assured that this 
 black decomposed appearance of the lungs proves no disease of long standing, but 
 inflammation intense in its nature, and that has very speedily run its course. The 
 horse has died from suffocation, everj' portion of the lungs being choked up with 
 this black blood which has even broken into and filled all the air-cells by means 
 of which it should have been purified. 
 
 More frequently the disease lasts a little longer. The lungs are sufficiently 
 pervious for some blood to be transmitted; but the inflammation is too great to be 
 subdued, or proper means have not been taken to subdue it; and it runs its usual 
 course, and proceeds to actual mortification, and the lungs are found not only 
 black but putrid. This, too, would prove recent and violent inflammation, and 
 not any old and unsuspected disease. This termination would be indicated, a day 
 or two before the death of the animal, by the stinking breath, and the offensive 
 discharge from the nose. 
 
 A frequent, and, to the practioner and the owner, a most annoying termination 
 of inflammation of the lungs, is dropsy in the chest. The disease seems to be sub- 
 dued; the horse is more hvely; his appetite returns; his legs and ears become 
 warm; and those about him are deceived into the belief that he is doing well: nay, 
 the most skilful surgeon is sometimes deceived. Tlie anxiety to save his patient 
 makes him hope the best, although the coat continues unhealthy, there is a yellow 
 discharge from the nostril, the pulse is irregular, and the horse is frightened if 
 suddenly moved, and especially if his head be considerably raised in the act of 
 drenching, and he rarely or never lies down. Many days or some weeks will pass 
 on with these contradictory and unsatisfactory appearances; and a judgment of the 
 result can only be formed b)' balancing them against each other. At length the 
 patient shivers, the old symptoms return, and he very soon dies. On opening 
 him, both sides of the chest are found nearly filled with fluid, impeding the pulsa- 
 tion of the heart, and the expansion of the lungs, and destroying the horse by 
 suffocation. 
 
 Although the life of the horse may be saved, the consequences of inflamma- 
 tion of the lungs may often materially lessen, or even destroy the usefulness of the 
 animal. As in many external inflammations considerable thickening of the part 
 long remains, so a deposite of the coagulable portion of the blood may be left in 
 the substance of the lungs, occupying the place of many of the air-cells, and pre- 
 venting the contraction and closing of others. This produces the peculiarity of 
 breathing, almost incompatible with speed or continuance, called thick wind; and 
 frequently precedes broken wind, when, from the violent action of the lungs, and 
 that action thus impeded by the obstruction we have described, some of the air- 
 cells become ruptured. Too frequently, considerable irritability remains in the 
 membrane lining the air-cells, and in other portions of the air-passages, and a cough 
 is established, which, from its continuance, and the difficulty of its removal, is 
 called chronic cough. We have already considered inflammation of the lungs as 
 one of the causes of roaring. 
 
 The treatment of inflammation of the lungs must evidently be of the most deci- 
 sive kind. We have to struggle with a disease intense in its character, and we 
 must atterrpt radically to cure, and not merely to palliate it. We must look to the 
 future usefulness of the horse, and not to the possibility of his being enabled to 
 drag on an existence almost uncomfortable to himself. Supposing the attack to have 
 just commenced, the horse should be bled, not only until the pulse begins to rise, 
 but until it afterwards begins to flutter or to stop, or the animal is evidently faint. 
 The effect of the bleeding, and not the quantity of tlie blood taken, should be re- 
 garded; for, the inflammation being subdued, the lost blood will soon be sup- 
 plied again. This is one of the cases in which it is absolutely necessary that the 
 surgeon or the owner should stand by with his finger on the pulse, and mark the 
 effect that is produced. If, six hours afterwards, the horse continues to stand stiff, 
 and heaves as quickly and as laboriously as before, and the legs are as intensely 
 cold, and the membrane of the nose as red, the bleeding should be repeated until 
 
INFLAMMATION OF THE LUNGS. 147 
 
 the same eftect again follows. In the majority of cases the inflammation will be now 
 subdued. A third bleeding may, however, sometimes be necessary, but must not be 
 carried to tlie same extent, for it is possible, by too g-reat evacuation of blood, to 
 subdue not merely the disease, but the powers of nature. If, after this, the legs 
 become cold, and the heaving returns, and the membrane of the nose reddens, 
 and tlie horse persists in standing, bleedings, to the extent of two or three quarts, 
 will be advisable, to prevent the re-establishment of tlie disease. In all these 
 bleedings, let not the necessity of a broad shouldered fleam or lancet, and a full 
 stream of blood, be forgotten. These are circumstances of far more importance 
 than is generally imagined. The appearance of the blood will be some guide in 
 our treatment of the case. The thickness of the adhesive, buffy, yellow color- 
 ed coat, which in a few hours will appear on it, will mark with some degree of 
 accuracy the extent of the inflammation; but let it be remembered, that only which 
 existed at the time of bleeding. Not regardless of the appearance of the blood, 
 but not putting too much faith in it, we must look to the horse to determine how 
 far that inflammation may have been diminished, or a repetition of the bleeding be 
 necessary. 
 
 When the bleeding has evidently taken effect, we must consider by what means 
 we may furtlier abate, or prevent the return of the inflammation. We should blis- 
 ter the whole of the brisket, and the sides, as high up as the elbows. BlUters are 
 far preferable to rowek. They act on a more extensive surface; they produce a 
 great deal more inflammation; and they are speedier in their action. 
 
 To insure the full operation of the blister, the hair must be closely shaved, and 
 an ointment composed of one part of powdered Spanish flies, and four of lard and 
 one of resin, well rubbed in. The lard and the resin should be melted together, 
 and the powdered flies afterwards added. 
 
 To form a rowel, the skin is raised between the finger and thumb, and, with a 
 lancet, or with scissors contrived for the purpose, a slit is cut an inch in length. 
 The finger, or the handle of the improved rowelling scissors, which are to be pro- 
 cured from Mr. Long, in Holborn, or from any veterinary instrument-maker, is 
 introduced, and the skin is forcibly separated from the muscular or cellular sub- 
 stance beneath, until there is a circular cavity two or three inches wide. Into this 
 a piece of tow is inserted, sufficient to fill it, and previously smeared with blister 
 ointment. This causes considerable inflammation and discharge. If a little of the 
 tow be left sticking out of the incision, the discharge will conveniently dribble 
 down it. The tow should be changed every day, with or without the ointment, 
 according to the action of the rowel, or tlie urgency of the case. The large piece 
 of stiflTleather, with a hole in the centre, used by the farrier, is objectionable, as 
 not being easily changed, and frequently, in the extraction of it, tearing the skin 
 so as to cause a lasting blemish. 
 
 The bhster sometimes will not rise. It will not when the inflammation of the 
 chest is at its greatest intensity: too much action is going on there, for any to be 
 excited elsewhere. The blister occasionally will not act in the later stages of the 
 disease, because the powers of nature are exhausted. It is always a most unfa- 
 vorable symptom when the blisters or the rowels do not take effect. The best 
 time for the application of the blister is when the inflammation is somewhat sub- 
 dued by the bleeding; and then, by the irritation which it excites, and in a part so 
 near the original seat of disease, the inflammation of the chest is either abated or 
 transferred to the skin; for, as we have before observed, it is an important law of 
 nature, that no two violent actions of different kinds can take place in the frame 
 at the same time. 
 
 Next comes the aid of medicine. If the patient was a human being the surgeon 
 would immediately purge him. We must not do this: for, from sympathy between 
 the bowels and the lungs in the horse, we should either produce a fatal extension 
 of inflammation, or a transferring of it in a more violent form, and the horse would 
 assuredly die. We must back-rake, administer clysters, or perhaps give eight 
 ounces of Epsom salts, dissolved in warm gruel. No castor-oil must be given. It 
 may be a mild and a safe aperient for the human being: it is a very dangerous one 
 for the horse. 
 
 Having a little relaxed the bowels, we eagerly turn to cooUng or sedative medi- 
 cines. The farrier gives his cordial to support tlie animal, and prevent rottenness. 
 He adds fuel to the fire, and no wonder that the edifice is frequently desU'oyed. 
 Nitre, digitalis, and emetic tartar, should be g-iven in the doses already recommended, 
 and persisted in until an intermittent state of the pulse is produced. Many prac- 
 
148 THE HORSE. 
 
 titioners give hellebore in doses of half a drachm, or two scruples, every six or 
 eight hours, and they say witli considerable advantage. It is continued until the 
 horse hangs his head, and saliva drivels from his mouth, and he becomes half stu- 
 pid and half delirious. These symptoms pass over in a few hours, and the inflam- 
 mation of the chest is found to be abated. If it he so, it is on the principle of the 
 blister: the determination of blood to the head, and tlie temporaiy excitement 
 of the brain or its membranes, divert the inflammation, or a portion of it, from its 
 original seat, and give time for the parts somewhat to recover their tone. We 
 confess that we prefer the digitalis, emetic tartar, aud nitre: they considerably 
 lower the pulse, and they are safe. 
 
 It is of importance tliat we determine the blood, or a portion of it, from the in- 
 flamed and over-distended part to some other region. On this principle we warmly 
 clothe the horse laboring under this disease, that we may cause the blood to circu- 
 late freely through the vessels of the skin, and that we may keep up the insensible 
 perspiration, and perhaps produce some sweating. But do we put the horse in a 
 warm place i" No; for then we should bring the heated and poisoned air in contact 
 with the inflamed lungs, and increase the excitement, already too great. It is an 
 absurd practice to shut up every door and window, and exclude, if possible, every 
 breath of air — rather let every door and window be thrown open, and let pure and 
 cold air find access to these heated parts. It is interesting to see how eagerly tlie 
 horse avails himself of the relief which this affords him. If no direct draft blows 
 upon him, he can scarcely be placed in too cool a box. 
 
 Now and then the whole skin of the horse may be rubbed with the brush, if it 
 does not teaze and hurry him; but it is indispensable that the legs should be fre- 
 quently and well hand-rubbed to restore the circulation in them, and they should 
 be covered with thick flannel bandages. As to food, we do not want him to take 
 any at first, and most certainly the horse should not be coaxed to eat. A very 
 small quantity of hay may be given to amuse him, or a cold mash, or green meat, 
 but not a particle of coi*n. 
 
 In eight-and-forty hours the fate of the patient will generally be decided. If 
 there be no remission of symptoms, the inflammation will run on to congestion of 
 the lungs, and consequent suffocation, or to gangrene. We must, in this case, give 
 the medicines more frequently; repeat the blister; bleed, if the state of the animal 
 will bear it; and rub the legs, or even scald them. If the strength now rapidly de- 
 clines, the horse may be drenched with gruel, and tonic medicine may be tried, as 
 chamomile, at first, and this not recalling or increasing the fever, a httle ginger and 
 gentian may be added. 
 
 Should the heaving gradually subside, and the legs get warm, and the horse lie 
 down, and the inflammation be apparently subsiding, let not the owner or the prac- 
 titioner be in too great haste to get the animal well. Nature will slowly, but surely 
 and safely, restore the appetite and strength; and it is very easy to bring back the 
 malady in all its violence by attempting to hurry her. The food should be the 
 same, cold mashes, green meat, or a little hay, if green meat cannot be procured, 
 and thin gruel drunk from the pail — not given as a drench. Should the horse be 
 very weak, or scarcely eat, tonics may be tried. The way should be felt very cau- 
 tiously with the chamomile, and the sedative medicine again be immediately resort- 
 ed to if there be the slighest return of fever. To the chamomile, the gentian and 
 ginger may be gradually added, but no mineral tonic. After a while, hay may be 
 off"ered, and a httle corn, and the horse be suff'ered very gradually to return to his 
 former habits. 
 
 The causes of inflammation of the lungs are changes from cold to heat, or heat 
 to cold; exposure to cold while the horse is hot; washing with cold water imme- 
 diately after exercise; sudden exposure to cold, after coming from a very hot stable; 
 frequent checks while hunting; travelling in the face of a cold wind; the transfer- 
 ence of general fever to the lungs previously disposed to inflammation from the 
 usual stable management; and neglected catarrh, or catan-h treated with stimulants 
 instead of coolmg medicines. Any change from heat to cold, or from cold to heat, 
 will produce it with almost equal certainty; the removal from a warm stable to a 
 cold one, or from a cold one to a warmer; from grass to the stable, and from the 
 stable to grass, wiU equally give rise to diseases of the lungs. It is generally the 
 effect of our erroneous system of management. 
 
 We shall presently state the symptoms by which inflammation of the lungs may 
 be distinguished from cataii-hal fever. It may be distinguished from inflammation 
 of the bowels by the pulse, which, in the latter disease, is small and wiry — by the 
 
PLEURISY— CATARRH— BRONCHITIS, &c. 149 
 
 membrane of the nose, which is not then so much reddened — by the indications of 
 pain, as kicking- at the belly, stamping, and rolling'; by his eag^er scraping- of tlie 
 litter, and by tlie belly being- painful to the touch, and also hot, when the bowels 
 are inflamed. 
 
 PLEURISY. 
 
 Hitherto we have spoken of inflammation of the substance of the lung-s; but in- 
 flammation may attack the membrane covering- them and lining- the side of the 
 chest, (the pleura,) and be principally or entirely confined to that membrane. This 
 is teiTned pleurisy. The causes are the same as in inflammation of the substance 
 of the lung-s, and the symptoms are not very dissimilar. The g-uiding- distinction 
 will be the pulse. As the blood in this disease still traverses the lung-s without ob- 
 struction, we have not the oppressed pulse, but rather the hard, full pulse cha- 
 racteristic of inflammation; the extremities are cold, but not so cold; the membrane 
 of the nose intensely red in the former disease, because it is a continuation of the 
 inflamed lining- of the air cells of the lung-s, is here but little reddened, because 
 there is no connexion between them. If the sides are pressed upon in pleurisy pain 
 will be felt, which the horse will express by a kind of g-runt, and which is easily 
 explained by the pressure being applied so close to the seat of disease. Tlie man- 
 ner of standing-, however, will remain the same, and the obstinacy of standing- tlie 
 same, and the extension of the neck, and the protrusion of the nostril. After death 
 the pleura of the ribs and the lungs will exhibit stripes or patches of inflammation, 
 and the chest will be generally filled with serous fluid. 
 
 Copious bleeding is indicated here, as in inflammation of the substance of the 
 lungs. Blisters and sedative medicines must likewise be resorted to. The only 
 important difference is, that aperients may be administered with more safety than 
 in the former disease. Puncturing of the chest to give escape to tlie fluid that is 
 thrown out in it may be attempted. It cannot do harm, but it has very seldom 
 saved or much prolonged the life of the animal. If the operation be attempted, 
 it should be as soon as the presence of the fluid is suspected, and the means by 
 which this may be ascertained we have already described. The opening should be 
 effected with the common trochar used for tapping in dropsy in the human being, 
 and should be made between tlie eighth and ninth ribs, and close to the cartilages. 
 Diuretic medicines combined with tonics should be administered. 
 
 CATARIIH, OR COMMOTf COLD. 
 
 This is a complaint of frequent occiu-rence, generally subdued without much difll- 
 culty, but often becoming of serious consequence if neglected. It is accompa- 
 nied b}^ a little increase of pulse; a slight discharge from the nose and eyes; a coat 
 somewhat roug-hened; a diminution of appetite, and cough sometimes painfid and 
 frequent. A little warmth, a few mashes, and some doses of tlie medicine recom- 
 mended under inflammation of the lungs, will speedily effect a cure. Should the 
 cough be very painful and obstinate, it may be necessary to bleed; but then the 
 disease is degenerating into bronchitis or catarrhal fever. 
 
 The divisions of the windpipe just before it enters the lungs, and the numerous 
 vessels into which it immediately afterwards branches out, are called the bronchial 
 tubes, and inflammation of the membrane that lines them is termed 
 
 BRONCHITIS. 
 
 It is catarrh extending to the entrance of the lungs. It is characterized by 
 quicker and harder breatliing than catarrh usually presents, and by a peculiar 
 wheezing which is relieved by the coughing up of mucus. 
 
 It is to be treated by bleeding, far less copious than in inflammation of the lungs, 
 or even in catarrh. The horse will bear to lose only a very small quantity of blood 
 when laboring under inflammation of the bronchial passages. The chest should 
 be blistered, and digitalis given, and the other treatment similar to that for in- 
 flamed lungs, with the exception of the bleeding. Thick wind is a frequent con- 
 sequence of neglected bronchitis. 
 
 CATARRHAL FEVER. 
 
 This malady has various nam.es among horsemen, as epidemic catarrh, influenza, 
 distemper. By the latter name it is generally distinguished in racing stables. It 
 
150 THE HORSE. 
 
 usually commences, like inflammation of the lungs and fever, with a shivering fit; 
 to which rapidly succeed a hot mouth, greater heat of tlie skin than is natural, 
 heaving of tlie flanks, and cough. Tlie eyes are red and heavy, and the mem- 
 brane of the nose red, but considerably paler than that of inflammation of the 
 lungs, and even occasionally bordering on a livid hue. From the very commence- 
 ment of tlie disease there is some discharge from the nose; at first of a mere watery 
 nature, but soon thickening, and containing flakes, some of which stick to the 
 membrane of the nose, and have been mistaken for ulcers. This discharge, at no 
 great distance of time, becomes mattery and oflTensive. The glands likewise of 
 the throat and under-jaw become enlarged, and the membranes of the nostril and 
 the throat are inflamed and tender, and therefore the food is "quidded," and 
 there is difficulty even in swallowing water, particularly if it be cold. The horae 
 sips and slavers in the pail, and repeatedly coughs as he drinks. The cough is 
 sometimes frequent and painful; so much so that the horse repeatedly stamps with 
 his feet, and shows signs of impatience and suflTering in the act of coughing. To 
 these symptoms rapidly succeed very gi-eat weakness. The horse staggers, and 
 sometimes almost falls as he moves about his box; or he supports himself by lean- 
 ing his sides or his quarters against the box. To the inexperienced observer this 
 early and excessive weakness will be very alarming, and he will .give up tlie horse 
 as lost. The legs generally swell, and enlargements appear on the chest and bel- 
 ly. Tliese, however, are generally favorable. The pulse is quickened. It rises 
 to sixty or seventy, but the number of its beatings, and the character of the pulse, 
 which is seldom very hard, depend much on the degree of fever which accompa- 
 nies tlie disease. 
 
 After a few days the cough becomes less frequent and painful; the glands of the 
 throat diminished; the horse begins to eat a little green meat, and is more cheer- 
 ful. In some cases, however, the membrane of the nose reddens, or streaks of red 
 run thi'ough tlie lividness; and the legs become cold, and the countenance hag- 
 gard, and inflammation of the lungs is at hand. At other times the breath is of- 
 fensive; the discharge from the nose bloody; the evacuations loose, and slimy, and 
 bloody; and the animal is speedily destroyed. The cause of this disease is ob- 
 scure. It may be the consequence of common cold; or it will more frequently 
 depend on some unexplained influence of the atmosphere. About the middle of 
 spring and the commencement of autumn it is most frequent. Many horses in 
 the same district, or in almost eveiy part of the country, will be attacked by it. 
 If the spring or autumn be wet and variable, almost every cold will degenerate 
 into it; and there are too many circumstances which lead us to conclude that it is 
 infectious. A lot of horses was bought at one of the fairs. They were all but 
 one sent immediately to the residence of the purchaser, at a considerable distance. 
 The remaining one was employed for some purpose, and afterwards sent on a 
 journey. He was seized with distemper, and, on recovering sufliciently to travel, 
 he was taken home. Three months had now elapsed since the purchase, and the 
 other horses had been perfectly liealthy; but in less than a fortnight after this 
 horse arrived they all sickened with distemper. 
 
 The treatment of catarrhal fever requires much judgment. It is clearly febrile 
 in its commencement; but it speedily assumes the character of weakness. We 
 will suppose that the disease is discovered at its very commencement. Bleeding 
 will then be indispensable, regulated in quantity by the degree of fever; rarely 
 exceeding four quai-ts, never intentionally pursued until the animal is faint, and 
 immediately stopped when there is the slightest appearance of faintness. The 
 bleeding should be repeated if the pulse is frequent and strong; or if the mem- 
 brane of the nose is getting red, and the legs cold, and even although weakness 
 should be rapidly coming on; but it should be in small quantity, and the effect of 
 it carefuUy watched. 
 
 If the disease has been suffered to run on for two or three days, and the horse 
 begins to stagger, the practitioner or the owner will consider all the symptoms 
 well before he ventures to bleed. Redness of the nostril, heat of the mouth, 
 quickness and force of pulse, heaving of the flanks, or coldness of the legs, will 
 require the loss of blood, notwithstanding considerable weakness; but if the animal 
 is quite off his feed, and the inside of the nose is livid, and he is fast losing condi- 
 tion as well as strength, bleeding will be better avoided. 
 
 It is of importance that the bowels should be evacuated; and there is not so 
 much danger in the use of a little purgative medicine as in inflammation of the 
 lungs. Two drachms of Barbadoes aloes may be given in the form of ball, or in 
 
MALIGNANT EPIDEMIC. 151 
 
 solution; and in twelve hours another drachm may be given, and even a third dose 
 twelve hours after that, if the fseces have not been loosened; taking care to back- 
 rake the animal, and to administer injections of thin gruel. 
 
 The sedative medicines at first exhibited should be the same as in inflammation 
 of the lungs, and in the same quantity; but as soon as tlie fever begins to remit, 
 two drachms of the spirit of nitrous ether should be added to each dose; and, the 
 weakness increasing, and the fever still more subsiding, the chamomile may be 
 ventured on, but with caution. Warm clothing is necessary, and particularly about 
 the head; and, although the box should still be airy, it should not be so cool as in 
 inflammation of tlie lungs. If the throat be so sore that the animal will not eat, 
 either the parotid or the submaxillary glands, or both, should be blistered. It will 
 be far better to blister them at once than to lose time by the use of weaker and 
 ineffective applications. Tlie discharge from the nose should be promoted, and 
 the natural progress of the inflammation of the membrane of the nose and throat 
 hastened by hot mashes being frequently put in the manger, or, if the horse is not 
 too much distressed by it, hung under his nostril in a common nose-bag. When 
 this is resorted to, a hood about the head will be particularly necessary. 
 
 A great deal of weakness soon follows an attack of catarrhal fever, and it will 
 then be necessary, even while we are subduing the fever, to support the strength 
 of the animal. He should be offered bran-mashes, malt-mashes, damped hay, green 
 meat, or carrots. If he refuses to take them, they should be insinuated between 
 his grinders; when, being compelled to bx-ilise them a little in endeavoring to get 
 rid of them, and thus experiencing their taste, he will often be induced to eat se- 
 veral little portions. If he obstinately refuses to feed, he must be drenched with 
 thick gruel; but this will seldom be necessary if all water be refused him from the 
 earliest period of the disease, and a pail with thinner gruel be suspended in some 
 part of his box. When he finds that he can get notliing else he will drink suffi- 
 cient of this to afford him all the nutriment we require. The preservation of due 
 warmth in the extremities is as necessary here as in inflammation of the lungs, and 
 should be attempted by warm bandages, and frequent hand-rubbing. 
 
 The terminations of this disease most to be dreaded are inflammation of the 
 lungs, and putrid fever. We know how best to g^iard against the former, and we 
 shall presently speak of the latter. When, however, the disease hangs long upon 
 the horse, there is usually much mischief done in the chest, although the animal 
 may recover. Thick wind, broken wind, and chronic cough, are its occasional 
 consequences; and likewise, as the disease has affected so great a portion of the 
 air-passages, a peculiar liability to cold and cough, and, not unfrequently, an un- 
 pleasant and troublesome discharge from the nose will remain. Of the latter we 
 have spoken under the title of nasal gleet, p. 96; the others will presently come 
 under consideration. The farmer will not forget the infectious nature of this 
 disease, and will immediately separate the sick animal from his companions. 
 
 The disease with which catarrhal fever is most likely to be confounded is in- 
 flammation of the lungs; and, as the treatment of the two is in some particulars so 
 different, the farmer should be enabled readily to distinguish between tliem. If 
 a little care be used this will not be difficidt. The febrile character of the pulse; 
 the early discharge from the nose; the want of intense redness in the lining of the 
 nose; the frequent and painful cough; the enlargement of the glands, and soreness 
 of the throat; the rapid loss of strength, the sometimes constant, and at others va- 
 riable warmth of the legs; the fidgetiness and pawing will sufficiently distinguish 
 catarrhal fever from the oppressed pulse, red nostril, heaving flank, little cough, 
 fixedness of limbs, and coldness of the extremities, vv'hich accompany and charac- 
 terize inflammation of the lungs. 
 
 THE MALIGNAITT EPIDEMIC. 
 
 This commences with nearly the same symptoms as catarrhal fever; it probably 
 at the beginning is catarrhal fever, but more than usually violent, and sooner ex- 
 hausting the powers of the frame. 
 
 Its symptoms are, rapid loss of strength, stinking breath, foetid discharge from 
 the nostrils, all the evacuations becoming highly offensive, the pulse rapid, small, 
 and weak, and the animal obstinately refusing to eat. It soon runs its course. 
 Gangrene soon succeeds to inflammation, and rapidly spreads from the part first 
 inflamed through the whole of the cellular substance, and over every portion of 
 the frame. When veterinary science was in its infancy, this pest used periodically 
 
152 THE HORSE. 
 
 to appear, and carry off hundreds of horses; and that breeder is fortunate who does 
 not now sometimes suffer from its ravages. The treatment of it is very unsatisfac- 
 tory. The prevention may be a httle more in our power by endeavoring' to get 
 rid of the previous disease by one bleeding, when, in some seasons, catarrhal 
 fever appears under a form more than usually violent; and by bleeding with ex- 
 treme caution, or not bleeding at all, when debihty begins to appear. A mild 
 purgative may be first administered to caiTy off a portion of the offensive matter 
 contained in the bowels; after which, chalk, and ginger, and opium, and gentian, 
 and columbo, with port-wine, may be plentifully given, with green meat, or thick 
 gruel; but, except the horse be valuable, the chance of saving him is so slight, 
 and probably the danger of spreatling the pest so great, that prudence will prompt 
 his destruction. 
 
 Most frequent in occurrence among the consequences of catan-hal fever, and 
 inflammation of the lungs, is 
 
 cnnoific COUGH. 
 
 It would occupy more space than we can devote to this part of our subject to 
 speak of all the causes of obstinate cough. The irritability of so great a portion of 
 tlie air-passages, occasioned by previous and violent inflammation of them, is the 
 most frequent. It is sometimes connected with worms. There is much sympathy 
 between the lungs and the intestines, and the one very readily participates in the 
 irritation produced in the other. That it is caused by glanders, can be easily im- 
 agined, because that disease is, in its early stage, seated in or near the principal 
 air-passages, and little time passes before the lungs become affected. It is the ne- 
 cessary attendant of thick wind and broken wind, for these proceed from altera- 
 tions of the structure of the lungs. 
 
 Notwithstanding the clearness of the cause, the cure is not so evident. If a 
 harsh hollow cough be accompanied by a staring coat, and the appearance of 
 worms — a few warm-balls may expel these parasites, and remove the irritation of 
 the intestinal canal. If it proceed from irritability of the air-passages, which will 
 be discovered by the horse coughing after drinking, or when he first goes out of 
 the stable in the morning, or by his occasional throwing out thick mucus from the 
 nose, medicines may be given, and sometimes with advantage, to diminish in-ita- 
 tlon generally. Half-doses of the digitalis, emetic tartar, and nitre, given every 
 night, have had a very beneficial effect, especially when made up with tar, which 
 seems to have a powerful influence in allaying these irritations. These balls should 
 be regularly given for a considerable time. They are sufficiently powerful to 
 quiet slight excitement of this kind, but not to nauseate the horse, or interfere in 
 the slightest degree with his food or his work. A. blister, extending from the root 
 of one ear to that of the otlier, taking in the whole of the channel, and reaching 
 six or eight inches down the windpipe, has been tried, and not without good effect, 
 on the supposition that the irritation may exist in the fauces or the larynx; and the 
 blister has sometimes been extended through the whole course of the windpipe 
 until it enters the chest. 
 
 Feeding has much influence on this complaint. Too much dry meat, and espe- 
 cially chaff, increases it. It is aggravated when the horse is suffered to eat his lit- 
 ter; and it is often relieved when spring tares are given. Carrots afford decided 
 relief. 
 
 The seat of the disease, however, is so uncertain, and all our means and appli- 
 ances so inefficacious, and the cough itself so little interfering, and sometimes in- 
 terfering not at all with the health of the animal, that it is scarcely worth while to 
 persevere in any mode of treatment that is not evidently attended with speedy 
 benefit. The principal consideration to induce us to meddle at all with chronic 
 cough is the knowledge that horses afflicted witli it are more liable than others to 
 be affected by changes of temperature, and that inflammation of tlie lungs, or of 
 the respiratory passages, often assumes in them a very alarming character; to 
 which, perhaps, we may add that a horse witli chronic cough cannot legally or 
 properly be warranted sound. 
 
 When chronic cough chiefly occurs after eating, the seat of the disease is evi- 
 dently in the substance of the lungs. The stomach distended with food presses 
 upon the diaphragm, and the diaphragm upon the lungs; and the lungs, already 
 laboring under some congestion, are less capable of transmitting the air. In the 
 
THICK-WIND.— BROKEN-WIND, Ijj 
 
 violent effort to dischargfe their function, irritation is produced; and the act of 
 coughing is the consequence of that irritation. This is allied with, or soon runs into 
 
 THICK-WIND. 
 
 Thick-wind consists in short, frequent, and laborious breathings, and especially 
 when the animal is in exercise; the inspirations and expirations often succeeding 
 each other so rapidly as evidently to express distress, and occasionally almost to 
 threaten suffocation. Some degree of it frequently exists in round-chested and fat 
 horses, that have little or no breeding. The reason of this is sufficiently plain. 
 The circular chest affords sufficient room for the expansion of the lungs when the 
 animal is at rest, and sufficient room for the accumulation of a great deal of fat and 
 flesh; but when the horse is strongly exercised, the circulation of the blood is hur- 
 ried, and its change from arterial to venous, or from vital to empoisoned blood, is 
 more rapid. The circular chest cannot then enlarge to any great degree: yet the 
 blood must be purified in greater quantity, and therefore what caimot be done by 
 increase of surface, must be accomplished by frequencj' of action. Heavy draught 
 horses are invariably thick-winded, and so are almost all horses violently exercised 
 on a full stomach. 
 
 A horse laboring imder any inflammatory affection of the lungs is thick-winded, 
 because the pain which he feels in the act of breathing will not permit him to re- 
 spire deeply, and therefore he must breathe quickly. A horse unused to exercise 
 is thick- winded, because the lungs will not soon accommodate themselves to a new 
 and laborious action. 
 
 The principal cause, however, of thick-wind is previous inflammation, and parti- 
 cularly inflammation of the bronchial passages. The throwing out of some fluid, 
 which is capable of coagulation, is the result, or the natural termination of inflam- 
 mation. This deposite in the substance of the lungs, or in the bronchial tubes, from 
 inflammation of these organs, must close many of the air-cells, and lessen the di- 
 mensions of others. Then if the cells, fewer in number and contracted in size, be 
 left for the purposes of breathing, the rapid and laborious action of the lungs must 
 supply the deficiency, and especially when the animal is put in that state in which 
 he requires a rapid change of blood. 
 
 The examination of thick-winded horses has thrown considerable light on the 
 nature of the disease. In the majority of instances some of the small air-cells have 
 been found filled up with a dense substance of a blue or darker color. In others, 
 the minute passages leading to the cells have been diminished, and almost oblite- 
 rated, the linings of these passages being unnaturally thickened, or covered with 
 hardened mucus; and where neither of these appearances cotdd be observed, the 
 lining of the cells has exhibited evident marks of inflammation, so that absolute 
 pain prevented the full expansion or contraction of the lungs. 
 
 Thick-wind is often the forerunner of broken-wind. It is easy to understand 
 this: for, if so much labor is necessary to contract the air-cells, and to force out 
 the wind, and the lungs work so rapidly and so violently in efl'ecting this, some of 
 the cells, weakened by disease, will probably be ruptured. 
 
 Of the treatment of thick-wind we have little to say. Attention to diet, and the 
 prevention of the overloading of the stomach, and the avoidance of exercise soon 
 after a meal, may in some degree palliate the disease, and so may constant exer- 
 cise, carried to the extent of tlie horse's power, without too much distressing him. 
 The capability of exertion will thus daily improve, and the breathing of tlie horse 
 will become freer and deei>er. This is the process of training a horse either for 
 the chase or the course; and this constitutes all the difterence between a horse that 
 has been well and one that has been badly trained. 
 
 BROKEX-WIND. 
 
 This is easily distinguished from thick-wind. In thick-wind the breathing is rapid 
 and laborious, but the inspiration and expiration are equally so, and occupy pre- 
 cisely the same time. In broken-wind the inspiration is performed by one effort; 
 the expiration by two, which is plainly to be distinguished by observing the flanks, 
 and which occupies double the time. The reason of this may easily be stated. 
 Broken-wind is the rupture or running together of some of the air-cells. When 
 the lungs are expanded, the air will rush in easily enough, and one effort of the 
 muscles of respiration is sufficient for the purpose; but when these cells have run 
 20 
 
154 THE HORSE. 
 
 into each other, the cavity is so irregular, and contains so many comers and blind 
 pouches that it is exceedingly difficult to force it out again, and two efforts are 
 scarcely competent fully to effect it. 
 
 The disease is also accomj)anied by a dry and husky cough of a peculiar sound, 
 which cannot easily be described, but is recognized by every one accustomed to 
 horses. It is the consequence of thick-wind, and of those alterations of structure 
 consequent on inflammation. If a portion of the lung be lost to the animal, and 
 the same quantity of pure blood must be supplied, while there is not the same sur- 
 face to supply it, it is easy to suppose that, in the violent efforts which such a horse 
 is compelled to make, some of the cells may be broken. 
 
 Broken-wind may, however, occur williout much previous disease. Suppose a 
 horse to be a gross feeder, and to have filled his stomach with straw and hay, and 
 provender that occupies a great bulk, and contains little nourishment, the lungs 
 ai"e squeezed into a less than the natural compass. Let the horse be now suddenly 
 and smartly exercised; more blood must be purified, and in the violent effort to 
 accomplish this, some of the cells give way. Therefore, we do not find broken- 
 winded horses on the race-course, for although every exertion of- speed is required 
 from them, their food lies in small compass, and the stomach is not distended, and 
 the lungs have room to play, and care is taken that their exertion shall be required 
 when tlie stomach is nearly empty. Carriage and coach horses are seldom broken- 
 winded, unless they bring the disease to their work, for they, too, live principally 
 on corn, and their work is regular, and care is taken that they shall not be fed im- 
 mediately before their work. The majority of horses thus affected come from the 
 stables of those for whose use these pages are principally designed. The farmer's 
 horse is the broken-winded horse, because that on which he is fed is bulky, and 
 too often selected on account of its cheapness; because there is little regularity ui 
 the management of most of tlie farmers' stables, or the work of his teams; and be- 
 cause, after many an hour's fasting, the horses are often suffered to gorge themselves 
 with this bulky food; and then, with the stomach pressing upon the lungs, and al- 
 most impeding ordinary respiration, they are put again to work, and sometimes to 
 that which requires considerable exertion. 
 
 A profitable lesson may be learned from this statement. Tlie farmer perhaps 
 may contrive to give his horses a little more corn, and a little less hay, and straw, 
 and chaff, without much additional expense; he may contrive, too, to shorten the 
 period of fasting, and therefore prevent the ravenous manner in which agricultural 
 horses often feed; and more regularity may take place between the periods of feed- 
 ing and of work. We have recommended the nose-bag as a preventive of stomach- 
 staggers; we can as earnestly recommend it as a preventive of broken-wind. 
 
 This disease depends as mucli upon the cramped state of the lungs, from the 
 pressure of an overgorged stomacli in the ordinary state of the animal, as on the 
 effects of over-exertion. Tlie agriculturist knows that many a horse becomes bro- 
 ken-winded in the straw-yard. There is little nutriment in the provender which 
 he there finds, and, to obtain enough for the support of life, he is compelled to 
 keep the stomach constantly full, and pressing upon the lungs. Some have come 
 up from grass broken-winded tliat went out perfectly sound. The explanation of 
 this case is the same. The stomach was habitually gorged with coarse and innu- 
 tritive herbage, and its pressure on the lungs cramped and confined their action, 
 and produced those violent efforts which burst some of the air-cells, and especially 
 when in their gambols in the straw-yard or in the field, or sometimes being wan- 
 tonly driven about, the lungs were suddenly called upon to perform extraordinary 
 work. There are difficulties attending this explanation of the disease, but it can- 
 not be denied that the dissection of horses which had broken-wind has almost in- 
 variably presented these enlarged air-cells, one of which would occupy the space 
 of a great many of their natural dimensions. 
 
 The cure of a broken-winded horse no one ever witnessed; yet much may be 
 done in the way of palliation. The food of the animal should consist of much nu- 
 triment condensed into a small compass; the quantity of oats should be increased, 
 and that of hay proportionably diminished; the bowels should be gently relaxed by 
 the frequent use of mashes; the water should be given sparingly through the day, 
 although at night the thirst of tlie animal should be fully satisfied; and exercise 
 should never be taken when the stomach is full. It will scarcely be believed how 
 much relief these simple measures will afford to the broken-winded horse, and of 
 how much exertion he may be gradually rendered capable. Some treated on this 
 plan have even been hunted, and have acquitted themselves well in the field. Car- 
 
THE DIAPHRAGM. 155 
 
 rots are very useful to the broken-winded horse, not only as containing' much nutri- 
 ment and considerable moisture, so that less water may be required, but from some 
 property which they possess rendering- them beneficial in every chest affection. A 
 broken-winded horse turned out to grass will never improve, on account of the al- 
 most constant distension of the stomacli; but he ma}' be fed on more succulent sub- 
 stances, as turnips and mangel-wurzel, with evident advantage. They are easy of 
 digestion, and they soon pass out of the stomach. 
 
 Medical treatment is of little avail, except that organs so violently excited as the 
 lungs of broken-winded horses frequently are, must be subject to inflammation, 
 and the difficulty of breathing in tliese horses is sometimes sadly increased. A 
 little blood may then be subtracted; and other means taken which have been re- 
 commended for inflammatory affections of the chest. In cases of frequent or pe- 
 riodical returns of difficulty of breatliing, to which these horses are very subject, 
 a course of mild aperients, united with mercur}', have been given with decided ad- 
 vantage. Two drachms of aloes, and one of calomel, may be given twice in the 
 week. The barbarous practice of some farriers of making holes near the anus, 
 and sometimes in other parts, to let out the broken wind, cannot be too strong-ly 
 reprobated. 
 
 Thick-wind and broken-wind exist in various degrees, and many sliades of differ- 
 ence. Dealers and horsemen generally have characterized them by names that 
 can boast no elegance, but are considerably expressive of the state of the animal. 
 Our readers should not be ignorant of them. Some horses make a shrill noise 
 when in quick action — they are said to be Pipers. This is a species of Roaring. 
 There is usually a ring of coagulated matter round the inside of the windpipe, by 
 which the cavity is materially diminished, and the sound produced in quick breath- 
 ing must evidently be shriller. Sometimes the piping is produced by a contraction 
 of the small passages of the lungs. 
 
 The Wheezer utters a sound not unlike that of an asthmatic person when a 
 little hurried. This is a kind of thick-wind, and is caused by the lodgment of some 
 mucous fluid in the small passages of the lungs. It frequently accompanies brori' 
 chitis. Wheezing can be heard at all times, even when the horse is at rest in the 
 stable; roaring is confined to the increased breathing of considerable exertion. 
 
 The Whistler utters a shriller sound than the wheezer, but only when in exer- 
 cise, and that of some continuance. A sudden motion will not always produce it. 
 It seems to be referable to some contraction in the windpipe or the larynx. The 
 sound is a great nuisance to tlie rider, and the whistler very speedily becomes dis- 
 tressed. A sharp gallop up hill will speedily detect the whistler. 
 
 When the obstruction seems to be principally in the nose, the horse loudlypuffs 
 and blows, and the nostrils are dilated to the utmost, while the flanks are compara- 
 tively quiet. This animal is said to be a High-blower. With all his apparent 
 distress, he often possesses great speed and endurance. The sound is unpleasant, 
 but the lungs may be perfectly sound. 
 
 Every horse violently exercised on a full stomach, or when overloaded with fat, 
 will grunt very much like a hog. The pressure of the stomach on the lungs, or 
 that of the fat accumulated about the heart, will so much impede the breathing-, 
 that the act of forcible expiration will be accompanied by this kind of sound; but 
 there are some horses who will at all times utter this sound, if suddenly touched 
 with the whip or spur. They are called Gruxters, and should be avoided. There 
 is some altered structure of the lungs, which prevents them from suddenly accom- 
 modating themselves to an unexpected demand for exertion. It is the consequence 
 of previous disease, and is frequently followed by thick, or broken-wind, or roaring". 
 
 CHAPTER XI . 
 
 THE BELLY AND ITS CONTENTS 
 
 THR DIAPHRAGM. 
 
 The chest is separated from the abdomen or belly, by the diaphragm or midriff, 
 which extends obliquely from the loins to the breast-bone. In its natural state it 
 
156 THE HORSE. 
 
 is convex, or projecting forward towards the lungs, and concave or hollo\y back- 
 ward towards the stomach and intestines. On the side towards the chest it is co- 
 vered by the membrane which invests the lungs, and towards the belly by that 
 which covers the intestines. It is attached to the spine, the ribs, and the breast- 
 bone, by tendinous or fleshy expansions, and in the centre it is composed of strong 
 muscular fibres. It is one of the most important muscles of the frame. It is, as 
 we have described it, the principal agent in breathing. When it acts, its fibres are 
 shortened; it loses its convexity and becomes plane; the chest is thereby enlarged, 
 and the lungs enlarge with the expansion of the cavity in which they are placed; 
 and air rushes in, and inspiration is performed. When tlie fibres of the diaphragm 
 cease to act, that muscle returns to its natural form; it becomes again convex; it 
 presses upon the lungs, and helps to force out the air, and expiration is accom- 
 phshed. It assists likewise in the natural constant motion of the bowels, and lends 
 its powerful aid in the expulsion of the dung and urine, and in the birth of the 
 young animal. It is most concerned in coughing, yawning, sighing, &c. The 
 membrane which covers the diaphragm is very subject to inflammation. Whether 
 the original seat of disease be in the lungs or the bowels, the diaphragm soon be- 
 comes inflamed and irritable, which accounts for the breathing of the horse being 
 so much affected under every inflammation of the chest or belly. The diaphragm 
 is likewise occasionally ruptured, principally from violent exertion. It has so much 
 to do in the act of breathing, that it is not to be wondered if, when the respiration 
 is exceedingly hurried, this muscle should give way. The symptoms of ruptured 
 diaphragm are very obscure. There are none on which we can perfectly depend. 
 This, however, is a matter of little consequence, for it is unifoi-mly fatal. If the 
 rupture be small, some portion of the intestines insinuates itself, and becomes en- 
 tangled, and the passage is incurably obstructed; and if the aperture be large, so 
 much of the intestine passes thi-ough as to press upon the lungs, and render breath- 
 ing impossible. 
 
 Three large vessels pass through the diaphragm; the great artery which conveys 
 the blood from the heart to the hinder part of the frame, and which goes through 
 a kind of division of the diaphragm, so that it cannot be pressed upon; the great 
 vein carrying the blood from the hinder parts and the liver to the heart, and which 
 penetrates the firm tendinous part of the diaphragm so as likewise to be preserved 
 from pressure; and the gullet, which passes through the most fleshy portion of the 
 diaphragm, and is liable to be compressed by the constant action of this muscle, 
 which, however, is a matter of little consequence, for there is sufficient power in the 
 muscles of the gullet to propel the food through the diaphragm into the stomach. 
 
 The gullet terminates in 
 
 THE STOMACH, 
 
 Which is found on the left side of the belly, lying upon the large intestines; its 
 fore part close to the liver; and its left side in contact with tlie diaphragm. This 
 situation of the stomach will at once explain the reason why a horse is so much 
 distressed, and sometimes irreparably injured if worked hard immediately after a 
 full meal. The stomach must be displaced and driven back in the belly by every 
 contraction of the diaphragm or act of inspiration; then in proportion to the fulness 
 of the stomach will be the weight to be overcome, and the labor of the diaphragm, 
 and the exhaustion of the animal. If the stomach be much distended, it may be 
 too weighty to be forced sufficiently far back to make room for the quantity of air 
 which the animal in a state of exertion requires. Hence the frequency and labor 
 of the breath, and tlie quickness with which such a horse is blown, or possibly, 
 destroyed. Hence the folly of giving too full a meal, or too much water before 
 the horse starts on a journey or for the chase; and hence, likewise, tlie absurdity 
 and danger of that unpardonable custom of some grooms to gallop the horse after 
 his drink, in order to warm it in his belly, and prevent gripes. 
 
 The horse was destined to be the servant of man, and to serve him at all hours, 
 and whether fasting or full: it would seem, therefore, that to lessen the inconve- 
 nience or danger of the pressure of the stomach on the diaphragm, a smaller sto- 
 mach, in proportion to his size, is given to the horse than to almost any other ani- 
 mal. The bulk of the horse, and the services required of him, demand much nu- 
 triment; and his nutriment is of such a nature that it must occupy a very conside- 
 rable space, yet his stomach, compared with his bulk, is not half so large as that 
 of the human being; and therefore, although he, like every other animal, feels in- 
 
THE STOMACH. 157 
 
 convenience from great exertion iminediately after a full meal, lie feels not so much as 
 other animals, lor his stomach is small, and a great proportion of what he eats rapidly pass- 
 es through it, and descends to a part of the intestines distant from the diaphragm, and 
 where the existence and pressure of the food cannot cause him any annoyance. 
 
 CUT OF THE STOMACH. 
 
 a The oesophagus or gullet, extending to the stomach 
 
 6 The entrance of the gullet into the stomach. The circular layers of the muscles are 
 very thick and strong, and which, by their contractions, help to render it difficult 
 for the food to be returned or vomited. 
 
 c The portion of the stomach which is covered by cuticle or insensible skin. 
 d d The margin which separates the cuticular from the villous portion. 
 e e The mucous or villous (velvet) portion of the stomach, in which the food is princi- 
 pally digested. 
 
 f The communication between the stomach and the first intestine. 
 
 g The common orifice through which the bile and the secretion from the pancreas 
 pass into the first intestine. The two pins mark the two tubes here united. 
 
 h A smaller orifice, through which a portion of the secretion of the pancreas enters the 
 intestines. 
 
 The orifice by which the gullet enters the stomach is called the cardiac, b, from its 
 nearness to the heart, or sympathy with it. It is constantly closed by strong muscular 
 fibres, except when food is passing into the stomach. It is the construction of the soft 
 palate, however, as has been already described, and not this closing of the cardiac orifice 
 of the stomach, that chiefly prevents the act of vomiting in the horse. 
 
 The stomach has four coats. The outermost is in the lining of the cavity of the belly, 
 and the common covering of all the intestines ; by which they are all confined in their 
 respective situations, and fi-om which a fluid is given out, which prevents all friction 
 between them. This is called the peritoneum, or that which stretches round. 
 
 The second is the muscular coat, consisting of two layers of fibres, one running length- 
 ways, and the other circularly, and by means of which a constant gentle motion is com- 
 municated to the stomach, by which the food is more thoroughly mixed together, and 
 prepared for digestion, and by the pressure of which also the food when properly pre- 
 pared is pushed on into the intestines. 
 
 The third, or cuticular, (skin-like coai,) c, covers but a portion of the inside of the 
 stomach. It is a continuation of the lining of the gullet. There are numerous glands 
 on it, which pour out a mucous fluid ; and it is, probably, intended to be a reservoir in 
 which a portion of the food is retained for a while, and softened and better prepared for 
 the action of the other or true digestive portion of the stomach. The cuticular- coat oc- 
 cupies nearly one-half of the inside of the stomach. 
 
158 THE HORSE. 
 
 The fourth coat is the mucous or villous (velvet) coat, e, where the work of digestion 
 properly commences. The mouths of numerous little vessels open upon it, pounngout 
 a peculiar fluid, the gastric (stomach) juice, which mixes with the food already softened, 
 and converts it into a fluid called chyme. As this is formed, it passes out of the other 
 orifice of the stomach, the pyloric (a door to guaid,) /, and enters the first small intes- 
 tine ; the harder and undissolved parts being turned back to undergo further action. 
 
 The stomach of the horse being small, this wonderful change which is eflected in 
 the food, and the nature of which has never been thoroughly understood, proceeds very 
 rapidly. The horse, in a short time, will eat a great deal more than the stomach will 
 hold, and room can only be made for tlie reception of the fresh food by that which had 
 been previously received being discharged tlirough the pyloric orifice. 
 
 Of one disease of the stomach, arising from over distention, stomach-slaggers, we have 
 already spoken. In a few instances the stomach has been known to be distended with 
 air, but there are no characteristic symptoms by which this may be distinguished from 
 distension by food, and the treatment would be tlie same. 
 
 Of inflammation of the stomach in the horse, except from poisonous herbs or drugs, 
 we know little. It very rarely occurs, and then can with diflicuity be distinguished fi-om 
 inflammation of the bowels, and in both diseases the assistance of a skilful veterinary sui"- 
 geon is required. 
 
 Few horses are destroyed by the poisonous plants in our meadows. Natural instinct 
 teaches them to avoid those which would be injurious. More are destroyed by the 
 leaves of the yew than by any other vegetable poison. A sleepiness, from which the 
 animal can scarcely be roused, steals over him, and he dies without any symptom of pain. 
 Ten grains of the faiina of the croton nut should be given, as soon as the poisoning is 
 suspected ; he should be drenclied largely with equal parts of vinegar and thin gruel, 
 and the croton repeated in six hours, if it has not previously operated. 
 
 The Water Dropwort, common in ditches and marshy places, is generally refused by 
 horses ; but brood-mares, with appetite somewhat vitiated from their being in foal, have 
 been destroyed by it. The antidote would be vinegar and gruel, and bleeding if there 
 be inflammation. 
 
 The Water Parsley deserves not all the bad reputation it has acquired, although, when 
 eaten in too great quantities, it has produced palsy in the horse, and which Has beea 
 strangely attributed to a harmless beetle that inhabits the stem. 
 
 Of the Common Hemlock and the Water Hemlock we know no harm, so far as the 
 horse is concerned. We have repeatedly seen him eat the latter without bad eflfects, but 
 cows have been poisoned by it. 
 
 Of the mineral poisons we will mention only two. Arsenic was formerly celebrated 
 as a tonic and a destroyer of worms in the horse ; and doses sufficient to kill three or 
 four men used to be daily administered, and generally with impunity : the dose has, 
 however, in some cases been too strong, and me animal has died. There are better 
 tonics and vermifuges, and the drug will j)robably soon be discarded from veterinaiy 
 practice. Corrosive sublimate is given internally, and often with advantage in farcy. It 
 is used externally to destroy vermin, to cure mange, and dispose deep and fistulous ul- 
 cers to heal. The symptoms of an over-dose of either are loss of appetite, discharge of 
 saliva from the mouth, pawing, looking eagerly at the flanks, rolling, profuse perspira- 
 tion, thready pulse, rapid weakness, violent purging and streiining, convulsions, and 
 death. 
 
 The stomach will be found intensely inflamed, with patches of yet greater inflamma- 
 tion. The whole course of the intestine will be inflamed, with particular parts black 
 and gangrenous. 
 
 The antidote, if it be not too late to administer it, would be, for arsenic, lime-water, 
 or chalk and w"ater, or soap and water, given in great quantities with the stomach-pump; 
 and for corrosive sublimate, the white of eggs mixed with water, or thick starch, or 
 arrow-root. If the poisoning be malicious, arsenic may be most readily detected by 
 mixing a little of the fluid taken from the intestines with a wealc solution of blue vitriol, 
 to which a little hartshorn has been added — the mixture will gradually become green ; 
 or, if a little of the more solid contents of the stomach or small intestines be thrown on 
 a red-hot iron, a smell of garlic will be perceived. 
 
 For corrosive sublimate there is a simpler test. Place a drop of the suspected fluid on 
 a sovereign, let the stem of a small key touch the sovereign w'hile the handle is brought 
 into contact with the drop, and the gold will immediately be stained ; or mix a little of 
 the suspected fluid with lime-water, and the corrosive sublimate, if there be any, will be 
 thrown to the bottom, of an orange colour ; or if hartshorn be used, the precipitate will 
 be white. 
 
BOTS. 
 BOTS. 
 
 159 
 
 In the sprino- and early part of tlie summer, horses are much troubled by a grub or cater- 
 pillar, wliicl? crawls out ot tlie anus, fastens itself under the tail, and seems to cause a 
 great 'deal of itching or uneasiness. Grooms are sometimes alarmed at the appearance 
 of these insects. Their history is curious, and will dispel every fear with regard to 
 them. We are indebted to Mr. Bracy Clarli for almost all we know of the bot. 
 
 CUT OF THE BOT. 
 
 a and h The eggs of the gad-fly, adhering to the hair of the horse. 
 
 c The appearance of the bots on the stomach, firmly adhering by their hooked 
 mouths. The marks or depressions are seen which are left on the coats 
 of the stomach when the bots are detached from their hold. 
 
 d The bot detached. 
 
 e The female of the gad-fly, of the horse, prepared to deposit her eggs. 
 
 f The gad-fly by which the red bots are produced. 
 
 g The smedler or red bot. 
 
 A species of gad-fly, e, the oestrus equi, is in the latter part of the summer exceed- 
 ingly busy about the horse. They are observed to be darting with great rapidity 
 towards the knees and sides of the animal. The females are depositing their eggs on 
 the hair, and which adhere to it by means of a glutinous fluid with whicn they are sur- 
 rounded, (a and b.) In a few days the eo;g3 are ready to be hatched, and the slightest 
 application of warmth and moisture will liberate the little animals which they contain. 
 The horse in licking himself touches the egg, it bursts, and a small worm escapes, 
 which adheres to the tongue, and is conveyed witli the food into the stomach ; there it 
 clings, by means of a hook on either side of its mouth, to the circular portion of the 
 stomach, e ; and its hold is so firm and so obstinate, that it will be broken before it 
 will be detached. It remains feeding there on the mucus of the stomach during the 
 whole of the winter, and to the end of the ensuing spring; when, having attained a 
 considerable size, d, and being destined to undergo a certain transformation, it disengages 
 itself from the cuticular coat, is carried into the villous portion of the stomach with the 
 food, passes out of it with the chyme, and is at length evacuated with the dung. 
 
 The larva or maggot being thus thrown out seeks shelter in the ground, contracts in 
 size, and becomes a chrysalis or grub ; in which state it lies inactive for a few weeks, 
 and then, bursting from its confinement, assumes the form of a fly. The female, becom- 
 ing impregnated, quickly deposits her eggs on those parts of the horse which he is most 
 likely to lick, and so the species is perpetuated. 
 
 There are several plain conclusions from this history. The bots cannot, while they 
 inhabit the stomach of the horse, give the animal any pain, for they are fastened on the 
 cuticular and insensible coat. They cannot stimulate the stomach and increase its diges- 
 tive power, for they are not on the digestive portion of the stomach. They can- 
 not, by their roughness, assist the trituration or rubbing down of the food, for no such 
 office is performed in that part of the stomach — the food is softened, not rubbed down. 
 They cannot be injurious to the horse, for he enjoys the most perfect health when the 
 
160 
 
 THE HORSE. 
 
 cuticular part of his stomach is filled with them, and their presence is not even suspected 
 until they appear at the anus. They cannot be removed by medicine, because they are 
 not in that part of the stomach to wliich medicine is usually conveyed ; and if they 
 were their mouths are too deeply buried in the mucus for any medicine, that czn 
 safely be administered, to aiiiect them ; and, last of all, in due course of time they detach 
 themselves, and come away. Therefore, the wise man will leave them to themselves, 
 or content himsell' with picking them oil' when they collect under the tail and annoy the 
 animal. 
 The smaller bot, / and g, is not so frequently found. 
 
 INTESTINES. 
 
 The food having been partially digested in the stomach, and converted into chyme, 
 passes through the pyloric orifice into the intestines. 
 
 CUT OF THE INTESTINES. 
 
 a The commencement of the small intestines. The ducts which convey the bile and 
 the secretion from the pancreas are seen entering a little below. 
 b feThe convolutions or windings of the small intestines. 
 
 c A portion of the mesentery. 
 
 d The small intestines terminating in the cof>cum. 
 
 e The ccecum or blind gut, with the bands running along it, puckering and dividing 
 it into numerous cells. 
 
 /"The beginning of the colon. 
 
 g^The continuation and expansion of the colon, divided like the ccecum into cells. 
 
 h The termination of the colon in the rectum. 
 
 t The termination of the rectum at the anus. 
 
 The intestines of a full grown horse are not less than ninetj- feet in length. The length 
 of the intestines in different animals depends on the nature of the food. The nutritive 
 matter is with much more difficulty extracted from vegetable than animal substances, 
 therefore the alimentary canal is large, long, and complicated, in those which, like the 
 horse, are fed on herbs alone. They are divided into the small and large intestines ; the 
 former of which occupy about sixty-six feet, and the latter twenty-four. The intestines, 
 like the fetomach, are composed of three coats. The outer one consists of the perito- 
 neum, that membrane which we have already described as covering the contents of the 
 belly. By means of this coat the bowels are confined in their proper situations ; and, 
 this membrane being smooth and moist, all friction and concussion are avoided. Did 
 the bowels float loosely in the belly they would be subject to constant entanglement and 
 injury amid the rapid and violent motions of the horse. 
 
 The middle coat, like that of the stomach, is muscular, and composed of two layers 
 of fibres, one running longitudinally, and the other circularly ; and by means of these 
 
THE INTESTINES. 
 
 161 
 
 muscles, which are continually contracting and relaxing from the upper part downward, 
 the food is forced along tiie bowels. The inner coat is the mucous or villous ; — mucous 
 because it abounds witn small gLands which pour out a mucous lluid to lubricate the 
 passage and defend it from irritating or acrimonious substances ; and \ illous from its 
 soft velvet feel. This coat is crowded with innumerable little mouths, which are the 
 commencement of minute vessels, by which the nutiitive part of the iood is taken up; 
 and these vessels, uniting and passing over the mesentery^ carrj' this nutritive matter to 
 a receptacle lor it, whence it is conveyed intotlie circulation and distributed to every part. 
 The intestines ai-e more particularly retained in their places by the mcsenferij, c, (mid- 
 dle of the intestines,) which is a doubling of tlie peritoneum, including the intestine in 
 its bottom, and likewise inclosing between its folds the arteries and veins, and nerves, 
 and the vessels which convey the nutriment from the intestines to the circulation. The 
 mesentery has somewhat tlie appearance of an expanded fan, and all these things rami- 
 fying between its transparent folds, give it a beautiful appearance. 
 
 The first of the small intestines is the duodenum, a, so called because, in the human 
 subject, it is about twelve inches lon^. In the horse it is nearly two leet in length. 
 It is the largest in circumference of all the small intestines. It receives the food con- 
 verted into chyme by the digestive power of the stomach, which in it undergoes ano- 
 ther and a very important change ; a portion of it is converted into chyle. It is mixed 
 with the bile and the secretion Irom the pancreas, which enter about five inches down 
 the intestine. The bile seems to be the principal agent in this change ; no sooner does 
 it mingle with the chyme, than the fluid begins to be separated into two distinct ingredi- 
 ents ; a white thick liquid termed chyle, and containing the nutritive part of the food, 
 and a yellow, pulpy substance, which becomes the excrement. As these matters pass 
 on by the motion of the intestines, tlie separation becomes more complete ; the chyle is 
 gradually taken up by the mouths of these numerous little vessels, which ai'e called the 
 lacteals, and at length the excrement alone remains. 
 
 The next portion of the sm.all intestine is the jejunum, so called, because it is generally 
 empty. The passage of the food seems to be very rapid through it. It is smaller in 
 bulk, and paler in colour, than the duodenum. 
 
 To this succeeds the ileum ; but there is no point at which it can be said that the jeju- 
 num terminates, and the ileum begins, except, that the latter is said to be about one- 
 fifth longer than the former. The whole of these small intestines will contain about 
 eleven gallons of water. 
 At the termination of the ileum, d, commence the large intestines. The first of them 
 
 is the cocccum (blind,) c, it has butone open- 
 ing into it, and consequently every thing 
 that passes through it, having reached the 
 blind or closed end, must return, in order to 
 escape. It is not a continuation of the 
 ileum, but tlie ileum pierces the head of it, 
 as it were, at right angles, (d) and projects 
 some way into it, and has a valve at its ex- 
 tremity,so that what has traversed the ileum, 
 and entered the head of the colon whence 
 the ccecum arises, cannot return into the 
 ileum. Along the outside of the ccecum I'un 
 three strong bands, each of them shorter 
 than the intestine, and therefore puckering 
 it up, and forming it into three sets of cells, 
 as shown in the accompanying side cut. 
 
 That portion of the food, then, which has 
 not been taken up by the lacteals or absor- 
 bent vessels of the small intestines, passes tl rough this valvular opening of the ileum, 
 and a part of it enters the colon, while the remainder flows into the ccecum. Then, from 
 this being a blind pouch, and from the cellular structure of this pouch, the food must be 
 detained in it a very long time ; and in order that, during this detention, all the nutri- 
 ment may be extracted, the ccecum and its cells are largely supplied with nlood-vessels 
 and absorbents. It is principally the fluid part of the food that seems to enter the ccecum. 
 A horse will drink at once a great deal more than his stomach will contain, or even if he 
 drinks a less quantity, it remains not in the stomach or small intestines, but passes on to 
 the ccecum, and there is retained, as in a reservoir, to supply the wants of the system. 
 In his state of servitude tlie horse does not often drink more than twice or thrice in a 
 day, and the food of the stable horse being chiefly diy, this water stomach is most use- 
 ful to him. The ccecum will hold four gallons. 
 
 The greater portion of the food, and the more solid part of it, goes on to the colon (g 
 g.) This is an intestine of exceedingly large dimensions ; it is capable of containing no 
 less than twelve gallons of liquid or pulpy food. As its union with the ccecum ana the 
 21 
 
162 THE HORSE. 
 
 Ueum, although larger than the latter intestine (/,) it is of comparatively small bulk, 
 hut it soon swells out to an enormous extent. It has likewise, in the greater part of its 
 course, three hands like the ccecum, which also divide it, internally, into the same des- 
 cription of cells. The intention of this is evid'int,— to retard the progress of the food, 
 and to give a more extensive surface on which the vessels of the lacteals may open : and 
 therefore, in the colon, all the chyle is finally separated and taken up. When this is 
 nearly accompUshed, the construction of the colon is somewhat changed : we find but 
 two bands towards the rectum, and these not puckering the intestine so much, or form- 
 ing such numerous or deep cells. The food does not require to he much longer detained, 
 and the mechanism for detaining it is gradually disappearing. The blood-vessels and 
 aijsorbents are likewise rapidly diminishing. The colon, also, once more contracts 
 in size, and the chyle having been all absorbed, the remaining mass, being of a harder 
 consistence, is moulded into pellets or balls in its passage through these shallower cells. 
 At the termination of the colon, the rectum (straight gut) commences. It is smaller in 
 the circumference and capacity than the colon, and serves as a reservoir for the dung until 
 it is evacuated. It has none of these bands, because, all the nutriment being extracted, 
 the passage of the excrement that remains should be hastened and not retarded. This 
 descends to the lower part of the rectum, which somewhat enlarges to receive it ; and 
 when it has accumulated to a certain extent, the animal, by the aid of the diaphragm 
 and the muscles of the belly, presses it out, and it is evacuated. A curious circular 
 muscle, and always in action, called the sphincter (binder together,) is placed at the 
 anus, to prevent the constant and unpleasant dropping of the faeces, and to retain them 
 until the animal is disposed voluntarily to expel tiiem. 
 
 DISEASES OF THE INTESTINES, 
 
 These form a very important part of horse surgery, and many erroneous notions are 
 prevalent respecting them. The first disease we will consider is 
 
 SPASMODIC COLIC. 
 
 We have said that the passage of the food through the intestinal canal is effected by the 
 alternate contxaction and relaxation of the muscular coat of the intestines. When that 
 action is simply increased through the whole of the canal, the food passes more rapidly, 
 and purging is produced ; but the muscles of every part of the frame are liable to irregu- 
 lar and spasmodic action, and the muscular coat of some portion of the intestines may 
 be thus alfected. A species of cramp may attack a portion of the intestines. The 
 spasm may be confined to a very small part of the canal. The gut has been found, after 
 death, strangely contracted in various places, contraction not extending above five or six 
 inches in any of them. In the horse, the ileum is the usual seat of this disease. It is 
 of much importance to distinguish between spasmodic colic and inflammation of the 
 bowels, for the symptoms have considerable resemblance, although the mode of treat- 
 ment should be very different. 
 
 The attack of colic is usually very sudden. There is often not the slightest warning. 
 The horse begins to shift his posture, look round at his flanks, paw violently, strike his 
 belly with his feet, lie down, roll, and that frequently on his back. In a few minutes the 
 pain seems to cease, the horse shakes himself, and begins to feed ; but on a sudden, the 
 spasm returns more violently, every indication of pain is increased, he heaves at the flanks, 
 breaks out into a profuse perspiration, and throws himself more violently about. In 
 the space of an hour or two, either the spasms begin to relax, and the remissions are of 
 longer duration, or the torture is augmented at eveiy paroxysm, the intervals of ease are 
 fewer and less marked, and inflammation and death supervene. 
 
 Of the symptoms by which it may best be distinguished from inflammation of the 
 bowels, we shall speak when we treat of that disease. Among the causes of colic are, 
 the drinking of cold water when the horse is heated. There is not a surer cause of 
 violent spasms than this. Colic will sometimes follow the exposure of ahorse to the cold 
 air, or a cold wind afl:er violent exercise. Green meat, althougn, generally speaking, most 
 beneficial to the horse, yet given in too large a quantity, or when the horse is hot, will 
 frequently produce gripes. In some horses there seems to be a constitutional predisposi- 
 tion to colic. They cannot be hardly worked, or exposed to unusual cold, without a fit 
 of it. In many casesj when these horses have died, stones have been found in some 
 part of the alimentary canal. 
 
ENTANGLEMENT OF THE BOWELS. 163 
 
 Fortunately, we are acquainted with several medicines tliat allay these spasms ; and 
 the disease often ceases almost as suddenly as it appeared. Turpentine is one of the 
 most powerful remedies, especially if given in union with opium. Three ounces of 
 spirit or oil of turi)entine, with an ounce of laudanum, given in a pint of waim ale, 
 will frequently have an almost instantaneous eli'ect. The account which we have just 
 
 fiven of the ccecum will not be lorgotten. Even a small quantity of fluid will seldom 
 e detained in the stomach, but will pass through the ileum to the coecum or water- 
 stomach, and in its passage will come in immediate contact with the spasmed part. 
 
 If relief be not obtained in hcilf an hour it will be prudent to bleed, because the con- 
 tinuance of violent spasm will produce inflammation. Some practitioners bleed at first, 
 and it is fai- from bad practice ; for although the majority of cases will yield to turpen- 
 tine, opium, and aloes, an early bleeding may occasionally prevent the occurrence of 
 inflammation, or at leeist mitigate it. If it be clearly a case of colic, half of the first 
 dose may be repeated, with a full ounce of Barbadoes aloes dissolved in warm wa+er 
 The stimulus produced on the inner surface of the bowels by the purgative may coun- 
 teract the irritation which caused the spasm. The belly should be well rubbed with a 
 brush or warmed cloth, but not bruised and injured by the broom-handle rubbed over the 
 belly by two great fellows with all their strength. The horse should be walked about, or 
 trotted moderately. The motion thus produced in the bowels, and the friction of one 
 intestine over the" other, may relax the spasm, but the hasty gallop may speedily cause 
 inflammation to succeed to colic. Clysters of warm water, or containing a solution of 
 aloes, will be injected. The patent syringe will here be most useful. 
 
 When relief has been obtained, the clothing of the horse, saturated with perspiration, 
 should be removed, and fresh, dry clothing substituted. He should be well littered 
 down in a warm stable or box, and have bran mashes for the two or three next days, 
 and drink only lukewarm-water. 
 
 Some persons give gin, and even gin and pepper, in cases of gripes. This, however, 
 is a practice to which we strongly object ; it may be useful, or even sufficient, in ordi- 
 nary cases of colic, but if there be any inflammation or tendency to inflammation, it can- 
 not fail to be highly injurious. 
 
 CALCULI, OR STONES IN THE INTESTINES. 
 
 We have mentioned these as a cause of colic in horses that are subject to frequent 
 attacks of it. Some indigestible substance lodges in the ccecum or colon: earthy, or 
 half-digested vegetable matter gradually accumulates around this, and a ball, weighing 
 many pounds, is sometimes formed. This will produce colic, or obstruct the passage 
 of the gut, or, by its pressure, produce inflammation ; but as there are few or no symp- 
 toms by which the presence of these stones is cleai-ly indicated, and few, or rather, no 
 certain means, by which they may be removed, we will pass on to an occasional conse- 
 quence of colic. 
 
 INTUSUSCEPTION OF THE INTESTINES. 
 
 The spasmodic action of the ileum long continued, may be succeeded by an inverted 
 action from the ccecum towards the stomach, more powerful than the natural action ; and 
 the contracted portion of the intestine is thus forced into a portion above it that retains 
 its naturally calibre ; and the irritation caused by this increases the action, until more 
 is forced in, and an obstruction is formed which no power can overcome. Even the 
 natural motion of the bowels will be sufficient to produce intususception, when the 
 contraction of a portion of the ileum is very great. There are no symptoms to indicate 
 the presence of this, except continued and increasing pain ; or if there were, all our 
 means of relief would here fail. 
 
 ENTANGLEMENT OF THE BOWELS. 
 
 This is another and more singular consequence of colic. Although the ileum is en- 
 veloped in the mesenteiy, and its motion to a considerable degree confined, yet under 
 the spasm of colic, and diuring the violence with which the animal rolls and throws him- 
 self about, portions of the ileum become so entangled as to be twisted into nooses and 
 knots, drawn together with a degree of tightness scarcely credible. Nothing but the 
 extreme and lengthened torture of the animal can lead us to suspect that this has taken 
 place, and could we ascertain its existence, there would be no cure. 
 
 INFLAMMATION OF THE BOWELS. 
 
 There are two varieties of this malady. The first is inflammation of the external 
 coats of the intestines, accompanied by considerable fever and costiveness. The second 
 
164 THE HORSE. 
 
 is tliat of the internal or muco^is coat, usually the consequence of an over-dose of physic, 
 and accompanied by violent purging. We will here specie of the first of these affections. 
 It has been divided into indainmation of the peritoneal coat, and that of the muscular : 
 but the causes, syjnptoms, and treatment of both are so much alike, that it would be 
 raising unnecessaiy difficulties to endeavor to distinfjuish between them. Inflammation 
 of the external coats of the stomach, whether the peritoneal or muscular, or both, is a 
 verj' frequent and fatal disease. It speedily runs its course, and it is of great consequence 
 that its early symptoms should be known. If the horse has been carefully obsei-ved, 
 restlessness and fever will have been seen to precede the attack ; in many cases a direct 
 shivering fit will be observed ; the mouth will be hot, and the nose red. The horse v^dll 
 soon express the most dreadful pain by pawing, striking at his belly, looking wildly at his 
 flanks, groaning and rolling. The pulse will be quickened and small; the ears and legs 
 cold; thebelly tender and sometimes hot; the breathing quickened ; the bowels costive ; 
 and the horse becoming rapidly and fearfully weak. 
 
 It maybe useful to give a short table of the distinguishing symptoms of colic and in- 
 flammation of the bowels, because the treatment recommended for the former would 
 often be fatal in the latter. 
 
 COLIC. INFLAMMATION' OF THE BOWELS. 
 
 Sudden in its attack. Gradual in its approach, with previous 
 
 indications of fever. 
 
 Pulse rarely much quickened in the early Pulse very much quickened, but small, 
 period of the disease, and during the inter- and often scarcely to be felt, 
 vals of ease : but evidently fuller. 
 
 Legs and ears of the natural temperature. Legs and ears cold. 
 
 Relief obtained firom rubbing the belly. Belly exceedingly tender and painful to 
 
 the touch. 
 
 Relief obtained from motion. Motion evidently increasing the pain. 
 
 Intervals of rest. Constant pain. 
 
 Strength scarcely affected. Rapid and great weakness. 
 
 The causes of this disease are, first of all, and most frequently, sudden exposure to 
 cold. If a horse that has been highly fed, carefully groomed, and kept in a warm stable, 
 be heated with exercise, and have been for some hours without food ; and in this state 
 of exhaustion be suffered to drink freely of cold water, or be drenched with rain, or have 
 his legs and belly washed with cold water, an attack of inflammation of the bowels will 
 often follow. An overfed horse subjected to severe and long-continued exertion, if his 
 lungs were previously weak, will probably be attacked by inflammation of them ; but 
 if the lungs were sound, the bowels will on the following day be the seat of disease. 
 Stones in the intestines are an occasional cause of inflammation, and colic neglected, 
 or wrongly treated, will terminate in it. 
 
 The treatment of inflammation of the bowels, like that of the lungs, should be prompt 
 and energetic. The first and most powerful means of cure will be bleeding. From six 
 to eight or ten quarts of blood should be taken as soon as possible, and the bleeding 
 repeated to the extent of four or five quarts more if the pain be not relieved, and the 
 
 Sulse have not become rounder and fuller. The speedy weakness that accompanies this 
 isease should not deter from bleeding largely. It is the weakness that is the conse- 
 quence of violent inflammation of these parts, and if that inflammation be subdued by 
 the loss of blood, the weakness will disappear. The bleeding should be effected on the 
 first appearance of the disease, for there is no malady that so quickly runs its course. 
 
 Next to bleeding will foUow clysters. Although the bowels are usually confined, 
 we cannot administer a strong purgative ;* the intestines are already in far two irrita- 
 ble a state. The clyster may consist of warm water, or veiy thin giiiel, in which half 
 a pound of Epsom salts, or half an ounce of aloes has been dissolved, and too much 
 fluid can scarcely be thrown up. If the common ox-bladder and pipe be used, it should 
 be frequently replenished : but with Reed's patent pump, already referred to, sufficient 
 may be injected to penetrate beyond the rectum, and reach to the colon and cecum, and 
 dispose them to evacuate their contents. The horse may likewise be encouraged to 
 drink plentifully of warm water or thin gruel ; and draughts, each containing a couple 
 of drachms of dissolved aloes, may be given every six hours, until the bowels are free- 
 ly opened. 
 
 * The human practitioner gives, under this disease, and with advantage, very power- 
 ful doses of purgative medicine ; and he may be disposed to demur to the cautious mode 
 of proceeding we recommend with regard to the horse. Although we may not be able 
 to give him a satisfactory theoretical reason in defence of our treatment, we can appeal 
 to the experience of every veterinary surgeon, that a strong dose of physic given in 
 inflammation of tlie bowels would be certain poison. 
 
WORMS. 165 
 
 Next, it will be prudent to endeavor to excite considerable external inflammation, as 
 near as 'possible to the seat oi" internal disease, and thereibre the whole o( the belly 
 should be blistered. In a well-marked case of this inflammation, no time should be lost 
 in applying fomentations, but the blister be at once resorted to. The tincture of Spa- 
 nish flies, whether made with spirit of wine or turpentine, should be well rubbed in. 
 The legs should be well bandaged, to restore tlie circulation to them, and thus lessen the 
 flow of'blood to the inflamed p'art, and for the same reason the horse should be warmly 
 clothed, but the air of the stable or box should bp cool. 
 
 No corn or hay should be given during the disease, but bran-mashes, and green meat 
 if it can be procured. The latter will be the best of all food, and may be given without 
 the sliglitest apprehension of danger. When the horse begins to recover, he may get a 
 handful of corn two or three times in the day, and, if the weather be warm, may be 
 turned into a paddock for a few hours in the middle of the day. Clysters of gruel 
 should be continued for three or four days afer the inflammation is beginning to subside, 
 and good hand-rubbing applied to tJie legs. 
 
 The second variety of inflammation of the bowels affects the internal or mucous coat, 
 and is generally the consequence of pliysic given in too great quantity, or of an impro- 
 per kind. Tiie purging is more violent, and continues longer than was intended ; the 
 animal shows that he is sufleruig great pain ; he frequently looks round at his flanks ; 
 his breathing is laborious, and the pulse is quick and small ; not so small, however, as in 
 inflammation of the peritoneal coat, and, contrary to some of tlie most frequent and cha- 
 jacteristic symptoms of that disease, the mouth is hot, and the legs and ears are warm. 
 Unless the purging is excessive, and the pain and distress great, we should hesitate at 
 administering any astringent medicine at first. We should plentifully administer gruel, 
 or thin staicTi, or arrow-root, by the mouth and by cl)^ster, removing all hay and corn, 
 and particlarly green meat. We should endeavor thus to sheath the irritated surface 
 of the bowels, wliile we permitted any remains of tlie medicine to be carried off. If, 
 however, twelve hours should pass, and the purging and the pain remain undiminished, 
 vpe should continue the gruel, but add to it clialk, catechu, and opium, in doses of an 
 ounce of the first, a quarter of an ounce of the second, and two scruples of the last, 
 repeated eveiy six hours. As soon as the purging begins to subside, the astringent 
 medicine should be lessened in quantity, and gradually discontinued. Bleeding will 
 rarely be necessary unless the inflammation be very great, and attended by symptoms of 
 general fever. The horse should be warmly clothed, and be placed in a warm stable, 
 and his legs .should be hand-rubbed and bandaged. 
 
 Violent purging, and attended with much inflammation and fever, will sometimes 
 occur from other causes. Green meat will sometimes purge. A horse worked hard 
 upon green meat wiU scour. The remedy is change of diet, or loss labour. Young 
 horses will scour, and sometimes without any apparent cause. Astringents should 
 be used with much caution here. It is probably an effort of nature to get rid of 
 something that oflends. A few doses of gruel will assist in effecting this purpose, and 
 the purging will cease without astringent medicine. 
 
 Some horses that are not well-ribbed home, (having too great space between the last 
 rib and the hip-bone,) are subject to purging if more than usual exertion is required 
 from them. They are recognised by the term oi washy horses. Th'^3' are often free and 
 fleet, but destitute of continuance. They should have rather more than the usual allow- 
 ance of corn, tvith beans, when at work; and a cordial ball, with oae drachm of cate- 
 chu, and ten grains of opium will often be serviceable either before or after a journey. 
 
 Worms of different kinds inhalut the intestines ; but except when they exist in veiy 
 great numbers, they are not so hurtful as is generally supposed, although the groom or 
 carter may trace to them hidebound, and cough, and loss of appetite, and gripes, and 
 megrims, and a variety of other ailments. Of the origin or mode of propagation of 
 these parasitical animals we will say nothing; neither writers on medicine, nor even on 
 natural history, have given us any satisfactory account of the matter. 
 
 The long white worm (lumbricus teres) much resembling the common earth-worm, 
 and, being from six to ten inches long, inhabits the small intestines. It is a formidable 
 looking animal, and if there are many of them they may consume more than can be 
 spared of the nutritive part of the food or the mucous of the bowels ; and we think that 
 we have seen a tight skin, and rougli coat, and tucked up belly, connected with their 
 presence. Theyliave then, however, been voided in large quantities, and when they 
 are not thus voided we should be disposed to trace these appearances to otlier causes. 
 A dose of physic will sometimes bring away almost incredible quantities of them. Calo- 
 mel is frequently given as a vermifuge. The seldomer this drug is administered to the 
 horse tlie better. It is the principal ingi-edient in some quack medicines for the expul- 
 
166 THE HORSE. 
 
 sion of worms in the human subject, and thence, perhaps, it came to be used for the 
 horse, but in him we believe it to be inert as a vermifuge, or only useful as quickening 
 the operation of the aloes. When the horse can be spared, a strong dose of physic is 
 an excellent vermifuge, so far as the long round worm is concerned ; but perhaps a bet- 
 ter medicine, and not interfering with either the feeding or work of the horse, is two 
 drachms of emetic tartar, with a scruple of ginger, made into a ball, with hnseed meal 
 and treacle, and given every morning half an hour before the horse is fed. 
 
 A smaller darker coloured worm, called the needle worm, or ascaris, inhabits the large 
 intestines. Hundreds of them sometimes descend into the rectum, and immense quan- 
 tities have been found in the coecum. These are a more serious nuisance than the 
 former, for they cause a very troublesome irritation about the fundament, which some- 
 times sadly annoys the horse. Their existence can generally be discovered, by a small 
 portion of mucous, which hardening, is converted into a powder, and is found about the 
 anus. Physic will sometimes bring away great numbers of these worms, but when 
 there is much irritation about the tail, and much of this mucous indicating that they have 
 descended into the rectum, an injection of a quart of hnseed oil, or of an ounce of aloes 
 dissolved in warm water, will be a more effectual remedy. 
 
 The tape worm is seldom found in the horse. 
 
 PHYSICKING. 
 
 This would seem to be the most convenient place to speak of physicking horses, a 
 mode of treatment necessary under various diseases, but which has injured the constitu- 
 tion of more horses, and in fact absolutely destroyed more of them, than any other thing 
 that can be mentioned. When a horse comes from grass to hard meat, or from the cool 
 open air to a heated stable, a dose of physic or even two doses may be useful to prevent 
 the tendency to inflammation which must be the necessary consequence of so sudden 
 and great a change. To a horse that is becoming too fat, or has surfeit, or grease, or 
 mano-e, or that is out of condition from inactivity of the digestive organs, a dose of 
 physic is often most serviceable ; but we do enter our protest against the periodical phy- 
 sicking of all horses in the spring and the autumn, and more particularly against that 
 severe system which is thought to be necessary to train them for work, cind the absurd 
 method of treating the horse when under the operation of physic. 
 
 A horse should be carefully prepared for the action of physic. Two or three bran- 
 mashes given on that or the preceding day are far from sufficient, when a horse is about 
 to be physicked, whether to promote his condition or in obedience to custom. Mashes 
 should be given until the dung becomes softened ; a less quantity of physic will then 
 suffice, and it will more quicldy pass through the intestines, and be more equally 
 diffiised over them. ' Five drachms of aloes given when the dung has thus been soften- 
 ed, will act more effectually, and much more safely than seven drachms, when tlie lower 
 intestines are obstructed by hardened faeces. 
 
 On the day on which the physic is given, the horse should have walking exercise, 
 or may be gently trotted for a quarter of an hour twice in the day ; but after the physic 
 begins to work, he should not be moved from his stall. Exercise then would produce 
 gripes, irritation, and possibly dangerous inflammation. The common and absurd 
 practice is to give the horse most exercise after the physic has begun to operate. 
 
 A little hay may be put into the rack ; as much mash may be given as the horse will 
 eat, and as much water, with the coldness of it taken off as he will drink. If, however, 
 he obstinately refuses to drink warm water, it is better that he should have it cold, than 
 to continue without taking any fluid ; but he should not be suffered to tcike more than 
 a quart at a time, with an interval of at least an hour between each poiiion. 
 
 When the purging has ceased, or the physic is set, a mash should be given once 
 or twice every day until the next dose is taken, between which and the setting of the 
 first there should be anintervalof a week. The horse should recover from the languor 
 and debihty occasioned by the first dose, before he is harrassed by a second. 
 
 Eight or ten tolerably copious motions will be perfectly sufficient to answer every good 
 purpose, although the groom or the carter may not be satisfied unless double the quantity 
 are procured. The consequence of top strong purgation will be, that a lowness and 
 weakness will hang about the horse for many days or weeks, and inflammation will 
 often ensue from the over- irritation of the intestinal canal. 
 
 Long continued custom has made aloes the almost invariable purgative of the horse, 
 and very properly so ; for there is no other at once so sure and safe. The Barbadoes 
 aloes, although sometimes very dear, should alone be used. The dose, witli a horse 
 properly prepared, will vary from five to seven drachms. The preposterous doses of 
 nine, ten, or even twelve drachms are, happily for the horse, generally abandoned. — 
 Custom has assigned the form of a ball to physic, but good sense will in due time 
 .introduce the solution of aloes, as acting more speedily, effectually, and safely. 
 
INFLAMMATION OF THE LIVER. 167 
 
 The only other purgative on which dependence can be placed is the croton. The 
 farina or meal of the nut is used ; but from its acrimony it should be given in the form 
 of ball, with linseed meal. The dose varies from a scruple to hdf a drachm. It acta 
 more speedily than the aloes, without the nausea which they produce ; but it causes more 
 watery stools, and consequently more debility. 
 
 Linseed oil is an uncertain but safe purgative, in doses from a pound to a 
 pound and a half. Olive oil is more uncertain but safe ; and castor oil, that 
 mild aperient in the human being, is both uncertain and unsafe. Epsom salts are 
 inefficacious, except in immense doses of a pound and a half, and then not always safe. 
 
 The horse, and particularly the perfect horse, is occasionally subject to 
 
 HERNIA OR RUPTURE. 
 
 A portion of the intestines protrudes out of the cavity of the belly either through 
 some natural or artificial opening. In some cases it may be returned, but from the 
 impossibility of applying a truss or bandage, it soon returns again. At other times the 
 opening is so narrow, tliat the gut, gradually distended by faeces, or thickened by in- 
 flammation, cannot be returned, and strangulated hernia is then said to exist. The 
 seat of hernia is either in the scrotum of the perfect horse, or the groin of the gelding. 
 The causes are violent struggling when under operations, over-exertion, kicks, or acci- 
 dents. The assistance of a veterinary surgeon is here indispensable. 
 
 THE LIVER. 
 
 Between the stomach and the diaphragm, its right lobe or division in contact with the 
 diaphragm, the duodenum and the right kidney, and the middle and left divisions with 
 the stomach, is the liver. It is an irregularly shaped, reddish-brown substance of con- 
 siderable bulk, and performs a very singular and important office. 
 
 We have edready stated, that the blood which has been conveyed to tlie different 
 parts of the body by the arteries, is carried back to the heart by the veins ; but 
 that which is returned from the stomach and intestines, and spleen, and pancreas, and 
 mesentery, instead of flowing directly to the heart, passes first through the liver. It 
 enters by two large vessels which spread by means of innumerable minute branches 
 through every part of the liver. As the blood traverses this organ, a fluid is separated 
 from it, called the bile. This is probably a kind of excrement, the continuance of 
 which in the blood would be injurious ; but while this is thrown off, another important 
 purpose is answered ; the process of digestion is promoted, and particularly by the bile 
 changing the nutritive part of the food from chyme into chyle, and separating it from 
 that which, containing little or no nutriment, is voided as excrement. 
 
 The bile, thus formed, is in most animals received into a reservoir, the gall-bladder, 
 whence it is conveyed into the duodenum, (g. p. 160) at the times and in the quantities, 
 which the purposes of digestion require ; but the horse has no gall-bladder, and, conse- 
 quently, the bile flows into the intestine as fast as it is separated from the blood. The 
 reason of this is plain ; a small stomach was given to the horse, that the food might 
 quickly pass out of it, and the diaphragm and the lungs might not be injuriously pressed 
 upon, when we require his utmost speed ; and that we might use him with little danger 
 compared with that which would attach to other animals, even when his stomach is dis- 
 tended with food. Then the stomach, so small, and so speedily emptied, must be oftener 
 replenished ; the horse must be oftener eating, and food must be oftener passing out of 
 his stomach ; and, consequently, there is no necessity for this reservoir. The ox occu- 
 pies a long time in filling his paunch, and it is only during rumination that the food 
 passes into the true stomach to be digested. The meal of the dog is speedily swallow- 
 ed. They need a gall-bladder to contain the bile, which continues to be secreted when 
 it cannot be used : out to the horse, so frequently eating, it would be useless. 
 
 INFLAMMATION OF THE LIVER 
 
 Is a disease of rare occurrence in the horse. He is not exposed to the causes which 
 produce that complaint in other animals. Although his food is sometimes highly nutri- 
 tive, the work which is exacted from him prevents it from unduly stimulating this im- 
 portant organ ; and when inflammation of the liver does occur, it is with so much diffi- 
 culty, distinguished from that of the bowels, that if yellowness of the eyes and skin are 
 not present, even the professional man is liable to be deceived. 
 
 Bleeding from, or rupture of the liver, is anotlier decease of old horses, and 
 especially of those that have been highly fed. It is generally fatal, but of unfrequent 
 occurrence ; it is recognised by the frequent and feeble pulse, the pawing and sighing 
 of the animal, the coldness of the extremities, whiteness of the eye and mouth, fulness 
 
168 THE HORSE. 
 
 of the belly, and speedy debility. A veterinary surgeon is alone competent to give 
 assistance here. 
 
 JAUNDICE, 
 
 Commonly called the yellows, is a more tractable disease, and a little more frequent. 
 It is the introduction of bile into the general circulation, and which is usually caused by 
 some obstiiiction in the ducts or tubes which convey the bile from the liver to the intes- 
 tines. The horse, however, has but one duct, through which the bile usually flows as 
 quickly as it is formed, and tliere is no gall-bladder in which it can become thickened, 
 and even hardened into masses so hard as to be very appropriately Ccdled gall-stones. 
 Jaundice does, however, occasionally appear either fiom an increased flow or altered 
 quality of the bile, or obstruction even in this simple tube. The yellowness of the eyes 
 and mouth, and of the skin where it is not covered with hair, mark it sufliciently plain- 
 ly. The dung is small and hard ; the urine high coloured ; the horse languid, and the 
 appetite impaired. 
 
 It is first necessary to inquire whether this affection of the liver be not the conse- 
 
 Suence of the sympathy of this organ with some other part ; for, to a very considerable 
 egree, it frequently accompanies inflammation of the bowels and the lungs. These 
 diseases being subdued, jaundice will disappear. If there be no otlier disease to any 
 great extent, we must endeavor to restore the natural passage of the bile by purgatives, 
 not consisting of large doses, lest there should be some undetected inflammation of the 
 lungs or bowels, in either of which a strong purgative would be dangerous ; but given 
 in small quantities, repeated at short intervals, and until the bowels are freely opened. 
 Two drachms of aloes, and one of calomel, given twice eveiy day, will be as much as 
 can at all times be administered with safety. Bleeding should always be resorted to, 
 regulated according to the apparent degree of inflammation, and the occasional stupor of 
 the animal. Plenty of water slightly warmed, or thin gruel, should be given ; the horse 
 should be warmly clothed, and the stable well ventilated, but not cold. Carrots or green 
 meat will be very beneficial. Should the purging, v\ hen once excited, prove violent, 
 we should be in no haste to stop it, unless inflammation is beginning to be connected with 
 it, or the horse is very weak. The medicine recommended under diarrhoea may then be 
 exhibited. A few slight tonics should be given when the horse is recovering from an at- 
 tack of strangles. Two drachms each of gentian and chamomile, with one of ginger, 
 will form a useful ball. 
 
 THE spleen. 
 
 This organ, known commonly by the name of the melt, is a long, bluish-brown sub- 
 stance, broad and thick at one end and tapering at the other, lying along the left side of 
 the stomach, and between it and the short ribs. It is of a spongy nature, divided into 
 numerous Ittle cells not unlike a honeycomb, and over which thousands of minute ves- 
 sels thickly spread. The particular use of this body has never been clearly ascertained ; 
 for in some cruel experiments it has been removed without apparent injury to digestion, 
 or any other function. It is, however, useful, at least occasionally, or it would not have 
 been given. It is perhaps a reservoir or receptacle for any fluid that may be conveyed 
 into the stomach more than is sufficient for the purposes of digestion. 
 
 The spleen is sometimes very extraordinarily enlarged, and has been ruptured; but 
 we are not aware of any symptoms by which tliis can be discovered. 
 
 THE pancreas. 
 
 In the domestic animals which are used for food, this organ is called the sweetbread. 
 It lies between the stomach and left kidney. It much resembles in structure the saliva- 
 ry glands in the neighborhood of the mouth, and the fluid which it secretes is very like 
 common saliva. The pancreatic fluid is carried into the intestines by a duct which en- 
 ters at the same aperture with that from the liver. Its use, whether to dilute the bile, 
 or the chyme, or to assist in the separation of chyme from the feculent matter, has never 
 been ascertained, but it is clearly employed in aiding the process of digestion. 
 
 We know not of any disease to which the pancreas of the horse is liable. 
 
 As soon as the belly of the most of our domestic animals is opened, a membrane is 
 perceived spreading over all tlie contents of this cavity ; it is denominated 
 
 THE OMENTUM, 
 
 Or cawl. It is a doubling of the peritoneum, or ratlier consists of four layers of it. 
 It has been supposed to be placed between the intestines and the walls of the belly, to pre- 
 
THE KIDNEYS. 169 
 
 vent concussion and injury during the rapid movement of the animal. That, however, 
 cannot be its principal use in the horse, from whom the most rapid movements are re- 
 quired ; for in him it is unusually short, extending only to the pancreas, and a small 
 portion of the colon. Being, however, thus short, the horse is exempt from a veiy trouble- 
 some and, occasionally, I'atal species of rupture, when a portion of the omentum pene- 
 trates through some accidental opening in the covering of the belly. 
 
 The blood contains a great quantity of watery fluid unnecessary for tlie nutriment or 
 repair of the frame. There likewise mingle with it matters which would be noxious 
 if suffered to accumulate too much. " 
 
 THE KIDNEYS 
 
 Are actively employed in separating this water, and likewise carrying off a substance 
 which constitutes the peculiai- ingredient in urine, called the vrea, and consists princi- 
 pally of that which would be poisonous to the animal. The kidneys are two large 
 glandular bodies, placed under the loins, very much of the shape of a kidney bean. The 
 right kidney is most forward, lying under the liver ; the left is pushed more backward 
 by the stomach and spleen. A large artery runs to each, carrying not less than a sixth 
 part of the whole of the blood that circulates through the frame. The artery divides 
 into innumerable little branches most curiously complicated and coiled upon each 
 other; and the blood traversing these convolutions, has its wateiy parts and others, the 
 retaining of which would be injurious, separated from it. 
 
 The fluid thus separated varies materially both in quantity and composition, even dur- 
 ing health. There is no animal in which it varies so much as in the horse. There is 
 no organ in that animal so much under our command as the kidney ; and no medicines 
 are so useful, or may be so injurious, eis diuretics. In speaking of fever and inflamma- 
 tion of the lungs, and indeed of inflammation generally, we have recommended the use of 
 nitre and digitalis, not only on account of their febrifuge or sedative eflects, but because 
 they act as diuretics. They stimulate the kidneys to separate more aqueous fluid than 
 they otherwise would do, and thus lessen the quantity of blood ; the quantity which the 
 heart is labouring to circulate through the frame, ana the quantity which is determined 
 or driven to a part already overloaded. The main objects we have to accomplish in these 
 diseases is to reduce the force of the circulation, and to calm the violence of excitement ; 
 and diuretics, by lessening the quantity of blood, are useful assistants in accomplishing 
 these purposes. It is, however, in the varieties of dropsy that their benefit is most evi- 
 dent. The horse is more subject to efl'usions of fluid in particulai- parts than any other 
 domestic animal. Swelled legs is a disease peculiar to him. The ox, the sheep, the 
 dog, the ass, and even the mule, have it very seldom ; and for the removal of this depo- 
 site of fluid in the cellular substance of the legs we have recourse to diuretics. The 
 kidneys are stimulated to separate more than the usual quantity of water from the blood. 
 In order to make up this deficiency in quantity, the absorbents set to work, and they 
 take up and pour into the circulation the fluid which had been eflused in the legs. The 
 legs of many horses cannot be rendered fine, or kept so, without the use of diuretics; 
 nor can grease, often connected with these swellings, producingthem or caused by them, 
 be otherwise subdued. We therefore rank diuretics among the most useful of the vete- 
 rinary medicines. 
 
 In injudicious hands, however, these medicines ai'e sadly abused. Among the absurdi- 
 ties of stable management there is nothing so injurious as the frequent use of diuretics. 
 INot only are the kidneys, so often over-excited, weakened, disposed to disease, but the 
 whole frame becomes debilitated, for the absorbents have carried away a great part of 
 that which was necessary to the health and condition of the horse, in order to supply 
 the deficiency of blood occasioned by the inordinate discharge of urine. There is like- 
 wise one important fact of which the groom or the horseman seldom thinks ; that when 
 he is removing these humours by the imprudent use of diuretics, he is only attacking a 
 symptom or a consequence of diseaise, and not the disease itself. The legs will fill again, 
 and the grease will return. While the cause remains, the effect will be produced. We 
 shall say more of this when we treat particularly of these diseases of the extremities. 
 
 In the administration of diuretics there are two things to be chiefly attended to. The 
 first is that which seems to be contradictory, but the good eflect of which the testimony 
 of every intelligent man will confirm — let the horse have pUnVj to drink. Not only will 
 inflammation be prevented, but the operation of the medicine will be much promoted. 
 If more water than usual be drunk, a great deal more will be evacuated. The next cau- 
 tion is, that during the administration of a diuretic neither the clotliing nor the stable 
 should be too warm, otherwise that which was intended to stimulate the iddney will pass 
 off by perspiration ; for it seems to be a law of the frame, that what increases the dis- 
 charge from the sldn proportionably lessens the action of the kidneys. 
 
 22 
 
170 THE HORSE. 
 
 The best diuretic, and which given simply to promote an increased secretion from the 
 kidneys, supersedes every other, is turpentine ; either the common hquid turpentine in 
 doses of hcilf an ounce, and made into a ball with linseed meal, and half a drachm of 
 
 ginger ; or, what is better, the same quantity of powdered resin, with two drachms of 
 nseed meal, and half a drachm of ginger fonned into a mass with palm-oil. In cases 
 of inflammation or fever, nitre or digitalis should be used. The spirit of nitrous ether, 
 cream of tartar, and bedsam of capivi have some diuretic effect. 
 
 INFLAMMATION OF THE KIDNEY 
 
 Is no common disease in the horse, and is more unskilfully and fatally treated than al- 
 most any other. The early symptoms are those of fever generally, but the seat of the 
 disease soon becomes evident. The horse looks anxiously round at his flanks ; stands 
 with his hinder legs wide apart ; straddles aa he walks ; expresses pain in turning ; 
 shrinks when the loins are pressed, and some degree of heat is felt there. The urine is 
 voided in small quantities, and frequently it is high-coloured, and sometimes bloody. The 
 attempt to urinate becomes more frequent, and the quantity voided smaller ; until the 
 animcJ strains painfully and violently, but the discharge is nearly or quite suppressed. 
 The pulse is quick and hard ; full in the eaily stage of the disease, but rapidly becoming 
 small, yet not losing its character of haxdness. These symptoms clearly indicate an 
 affection of the urinary organs ; but they do not distinguish inflammation of the kidney 
 from that of the bladder. The hand must be introduced into the rectum. If the bladder 
 be felt full and hard under the rectum, there is inflammation of the neck of the bladder : 
 if the bladder be empty, yet on the portion of the intestines immediately over it there is 
 more than natural heal and tenderness, there is inflammation of the body of the bladder; 
 but if the bladder be empty, and there is no increased heat or tenderness, there is in- 
 flammation of the kidney. 
 
 Among the causes are improper food. There is no more frequen*. cause than hay that 
 has been mow-burnt, or oats that are musty. The farmer should look well to this. Oats 
 that have been dried on the kiln acquire a diuretic property, and if horses are long fed 
 on them, the continual excitement of this organ which they produce will degenerate into 
 inflaonmation. Too powerful, or too-often-repeated diuretics produce inflammation of 
 the kidney ; or a degree of irritation and weeikness of that organ, that disposes to in- 
 flammation from causes that would otherwise have no injurious effect. If a horse is 
 sprained in the loins, by being urged on, far or fast, by a heavy rider, or by being suddenly 
 pulled up on his haunches, the inflammation of the muscles of the loins is often speedily 
 transferred to the kidneys, with which they lie in contact. Exposure to cold is another 
 frequent origin of this malady, especially if the horse be drenched with rain, or the 
 wet drips upon his loins ; and more particularly, if he were previously disposed to inflam- 
 mation, or ttiese organs had been previously weaJf ened. For this reeison, hackney-coach 
 horses and others, exposed to the vicissitud[es of the weather, and often fed on unwhole- 
 some provender, have, or should have, their loins protected by a leather or a cloth. 
 
 The treatment will only vary from that of inflammation of other parts, by the conside- 
 ration of the peculiarity of the organ affected. Bleeding must be promptly resorted to, 
 and carried to its full extent. An active purge should next be administered ; and a coun- 
 ter-inflammation excited as near as possible to the seat of disease. For this purpose, 
 the loins should be fomented with hot water, or covered with a mustard poultice ; but no 
 cantharides or turpentine must be used, and, most of all, must no diuretic be given inter- 
 nally. When the groom finds this difficulty or suppression of staling, he immediately 
 has recourse to a diuretic ball, to force on the urine ; and by thus farther irritating a part 
 already too much excited, he adds fuel to fire, and frequently destroys the horse. When 
 the action of the purgative begins a little to cease, white hellebore may be administered, 
 in doses of a scruple three times a day, with or without emetic tartar. The horse should 
 be warmly clothed ; his legs well bandaged, and plenty of water offered to him. The 
 food should be carefully examined, and anything that could have excited, or that may 
 prolong the irritation, carefully removed. 
 
 DIABETES, OR PROFUSE STALING 
 
 Is a comparatively rare disease. It is the consequence, generally, of undue irritation of 
 the kidney, by bad food or strong diuretics ; and sometimes follows inflammation of the 
 kidney. It can seldom be traced in the horse to any disease of the digestive organs. 
 The treatment is obscure, and the result often uncertain. It is, evidently, increased 
 action of the kidney, and therefore the most rational plan of treatment is to endeavor to 
 abate that action ; and nearly the same course should be pursued in the early stage of 
 diabetes, as in actual inflammation ; but the lowering system should not be carried to so 
 great an extent. To bleeding, purging, and counter-irritation, medicines of an astringent 
 
STONE IN THE BLADDER. 171 
 
 quality should succeed, as catechu, the powdered leaf of the wortle-berry (uva ursi,) and 
 opium, in doses of two drachms each of the two first, and half a drachm of the last. 
 Very careful attention should be paid to the food. The hay and oats should be of the 
 best quality ; and green meat, and especially carrots, will be very serviceable, 
 
 THE BLADDER. 
 
 The urine separated by the blood is discheirged by the minute vessels, of which we 
 have spoken, into some larger canals, which terminate in a cavity or reservoir in the 
 body of the kidney, called its pelvic ; and thence is conveyed by a duct, called the ureter, 
 to a larger reservoir, the bladder. It is constantly flowing from the kidney through the 
 ureter ; and were there not this provision for its detention, it would be incessantly and 
 annoyingly dribbling from the animal. The bladder Ues in, and when distended by urine, 
 nearly tills the cavity of the gi-eat bones of the haunch, termed the pelvis. It has three 
 coats — the outer one covering the greater part of it, and being a portion of the perito- 
 neum ; the muscular, consisting of two layers of fibres, as in the stomach : the external, 
 ruiuung longitudinally, and the inner circularly, so that it may yield to the pressure of 
 the urine as it enters, and contract again into an exceedingly small space as it runs out, 
 and by that contraction assist in the expulsion of the urine. The inner or mucous coat 
 contains numerous little glands which pour out a mucous fluid to defend the bladder 
 from the acrimony of the urine. The bladder terminates in a small neck, round which 
 is a strong muscle, keeping the passage closed, and retaining the urine until, at the will 
 of the animal, or when the bladder contains a certain quantity of fluid, the muscular 
 coat begins to contract, and the lungs being filled with air, the diaphragm is rendered 
 convex towards the intestines, and presses then on the bladder, and by these united pow- 
 ers, the fluid is forced through the sphincter muscle at the neck of the bladder, ana es- 
 capes. 
 
 INFLAMMATION OF THE BLADDER. 
 
 There are two varieties of this disease — inflammation of the body of the bladder, and 
 of its neck. The symptoms are nearly the same with those of inflammation of the kid- 
 ney, except that there is rarely a total suppression of urine, and there is heat felt in the 
 rectum over the situation of the bladder. The causes are the presence of some acrid or 
 irritant matter in the urine, or of calculus or stone in the bladder. With reference to in- 
 flammation of the body of the bladder, mischief has occasionally been done by the intro- 
 duction of cantharides or some irritating matter to hasten the period of horsing in the 
 mare. The treatment will be the same as in the inflammation of the Iddney, except 
 that it is of more consequence that the horse should drink freely of water or thin gruel, 
 and that gruel or mucilage of any kind may, by one who understands the anatomy of 
 the animal, be easily introduced into the bladder of the mare. 
 
 In inflammation of the neck of the bladder there is the same frequent voiding of urine 
 in small quantities, generally appearing in an advanced stage of the disease, and often 
 ending in almost total suppression. There is also this circumstance, which can never be 
 mistaken by him who will pay diligent attention to the case, that the bladder is distend- 
 ed with urine, and may be distinctly felt under the rectum. It is spasm of the part, clo- 
 sing the neck of the bladder so powerfully, thai the contraction of the bladder, and the 
 pressure of the muscles, are unable to force out the urine. 
 
 Here the object to be attempted is sufficiently plain. The spasm must be relaxed. 
 The most likely means to effect this is to bleed largely, and even to fainting. This will 
 sometimes succeed, and there will be at once an end to the disease. To the exhaustion 
 and loss of muscular power occasioned by copious bleeding, should be added the nausea 
 consequent on physic. Should not this speedily have effect, another mode of abating 
 spasm must be ti'ied. A drachm of the powdered opium, made into a ball or drink, 
 may be given every two or three hours ; while an active blister is applied exteriicJly. In 
 the mare the bladder may be easily evacuated by means of a catheter in skilful hands ; 
 but owing to the curved direction of the penis, a catheter cannot be introduced into the 
 bladder of a horse, without an operation to which a veterinary surgeon alone is compe- 
 tent. 
 
 STONE IN THE BLADDER. 
 
 The urine is a very compound fluid ; in a state of health it contains a great many acids 
 and alkalies variously combined, which under disease are incrccised botn in number and 
 quantity. It is very easy to conceive that some of these shall be occasionally separated 
 from the rest, and assume a solid form both in the pelvis of the kidney, and in the blad- 
 der. This is known to be the case both in the human being and the brute. These cal- 
 culi or stones are in the horse found oftener in the kidney than in the bladder, contrary 
 to the experience of the human surgeon. The explanation of this, however, is not diffi- 
 
172 THE HORSE. 
 
 cult In the human being the kidney is situated above the bladder, and these concre- 
 tions descend from the kidney to the bladder by their weight. The belly of the horse 
 is horizontal, and the force of gravity can in no way affect the passage of the calculus; 
 therefore it remains in the pelvis of tiie kidney, until it increases so much in size as 
 often to fill it. We know not of any symptoms which would satisfactorily indicate the 
 
 Eresence of a stone in the kidney ; and if the disease could be ascertained, we are una- 
 le to say what remedial measures could be adopted. 
 
 The symptoms of stone in the bladder much resemble those of spasmodic colic, ex- 
 cept that on careful inquiry it will be found that there has been much irregularity in the 
 discharge of urine, and occasional suppression of it. When fits of apparent colic fre- 
 quently return, and are accompanied by any peculiarity in the discharge of urine, the 
 horse should be carefully examined. He should be thrown. If there be stone in the 
 bladder, it will, while the horse lies on its back, press on the rectum, and may be dis- 
 tinctly felt if the hand be inb'oduced into the rectum. Several cases have lately occur- 
 red of successful extraction of the calculus ; but here it will be necessary to have re- 
 course to the aid of a veterinary practitioner. 
 
 Many horses occasionally void a considerable quantity of gravel, sometimes without 
 inconvenience, at others with evident spasm or pain. A diuretic might here be useful, 
 as increasing the flow of urine, and possibly wasliing out tlie concretions before they be- 
 come too numerous or bulky. 
 
 The urine having passed the neck of the bladder, flows along the urethra, and is dis- 
 charp-ed. The sheath of the penis is sometimes considerably enlarged. When at the 
 close of acute diseases, there are swellings and ettusions of fluid, under the chest and 
 belly, this part seldom escapes. Diuretics, mixed with a small portion of cordial medi- 
 cine, will be beneficial, although in some extreme cases slight scarifications may be 
 necessary. The inside of the sheath is often the seat of disease ; the mucous matter 
 naturally secreted there to defend the part from the acrimony of the urine, accumulates 
 and becomes exceedingly offensive, and produces swelling, tenderness, and even excori- 
 ation, and sometimes considerable discharge. A little fomentation with warm water, 
 and the cleansing of the part with soap and water, £uded perhaps by a diuretic ball, will 
 speedily remove every- inconvenience. Carters are much too apt to neglect cleanliness 
 in this respect. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 BREEDING, CASTRATION, &c. 
 
 This may be a proper period to recur to the important subject of breeding, particular- 
 ly important when there cannot be a doubt that our breed of useful horses has, within 
 the last twenty years, most materially degenerated. Our running-horses still maintain 
 their supremacy ; our carriage-horses are not much lessened in excellence and value ; 
 but our hunters and hackneys are not what they used to be. We shall endeavor to 
 to point out the cause of this. 
 
 Our observations must be of a general nature, and will be very simple : and the first 
 axiom we would lay down is, that " like will produce like," that the progeny vdll inherit 
 the qualities, or the mingled qualities of the parents. We would refer to the subject of 
 diseases, and again state our perfect conviction, that there is scarcely one by which 
 either of the parents is affected, that the foal will not inherit, or, at least, the predisposi- 
 tion to it : even the consequences of ill usage or hard work will descend to the progeny. 
 We have already enlarged on this, but its importance will be a sufficient apology for tfie 
 repetition. We have had proof upon proof, that blindness, roarin», thick wind, broken 
 wind, spavins, curbs, ringbones, and founder, have been bequeathed, both by the sire 
 and the dam, to the offspring. It should likewise be recollected, that although these 
 blemishes may not appear in the immediate progeny, they frequently will in the next 
 generation. Hence the necessity of some knowledge of the parentage both of the sire 
 and dam. 
 
 Peculiarity of form and constitution will also be inherited. This is a most important, 
 but neglected consideration ; for however desirable, or even perfect, may have been the 
 conformation of the sire, eveiy good point may be neutralized or lost by the defective 
 form, or want of blood, of the mare. There are niceties in this, of which some breed- 
 
BREEDING. 173 
 
 ers used to be aware, and they employed their knowledge to great advantage. When 
 they were careful that the essential points should be good in both parents, and that some 
 minor detect in either should be met, and got rid of, by excellence in that particular 
 point in the other, the result was creditable to tlieir judgment, and highly profitable. 
 The unskilful or careless bi'eeder will often so badly pair the animals, that the good 
 points of each will be, in a manner lost ; the defects of both will be increased, and the 
 produce wiU be lai- inferior to both sire and dam. 
 
 Of late years, these principles have been much lost sight of in the breeding of horses 
 for general use ; and the following is the explanation of it. There are nearly as good 
 stallions as there used to be. Few but well-lbrmed and valuable horses will be selected 
 and retained as stallions. They are always tlie veiy prime of the breed ; but the mares 
 are not what they used to be. Poverty has induced many of the breeders to part with 
 the mares from which they used to raise their stock, and which were worth their weight 
 in gold ; and the jade on which the farmer now rides to market, or which he uses in his 
 farm, costs him but little money, and is only retained because he could not get much 
 money for her. It has likewise become the fashion for gentlemen to ride mares, almost 
 as frequently as geldings ; and thus the better kind are taken from tlie breeding service, 
 until old age or injury renders tliem worth little lor it. An intelligent veterinciry sur- 
 geon, Mr. Castley, has placed this in a very strong light, in the third volimie of the 
 "Veterinarian," p. 371. 
 
 We would wish, then, to impress it on the minds of breeders, that peculiarity of form 
 and constitution are inherited from both parents : that the excellence of the mare is a 
 
 {)oint of quite as much importance as that of the horse : and that out of a sorry mare, 
 et the horse be as perfect as he may, a good foal will rarely be produced. All this is 
 recognised upon the turf, although poverty or cailessness have made the general breeder 
 neglect or forget it. 
 
 It is recognised in the midland counties in the breed of cart-horses ; and the strict 
 attention which has been paid to it, has brought our heavy horses to eilmost the same 
 
 Eerfection in their way as the blood-horse. It is strange that in our saddle-horses, our 
 unters, and to a great degree, our carriage-horses, this should be left to chance. The 
 breeder begins to care little about the quality of the mare, and progeny is becoming 
 comparatively of little v.orth. Experience, it is said, will make fools wise, but experi- 
 ence will here be bought at a very deai- rate, botli as it regards the breeder and the com- 
 munity. 
 
 That the constitution and endurance of the horse are inherited, no sporting man ever 
 doubted. The qualities of the sire or the dam descend from generation to generation, 
 and the exceOences or defects of certain horses are traced, and justly so, to some pecu- 
 liarity in a far distant ancestor. 
 
 It may, perhaps, be justly affirmed, that there is more difficulty in selecting a good 
 mare to breed from, than a good horse, because she should possess somewhat opposite 
 qualities. Her carcase should be long, to give room for the growth of the fetus, and 
 yet there should be compactness of form and shortness of leg. What can they expect 
 who go to Smithficld market to purchase a number of worn-out, spavined, foundered 
 mares, about whom they fancy there have been some good points, and send them far 
 into the country to breed from, and with all their variety of shape, to be -covered by 
 the same horse .' In a lottery like this, there may be now and then a prize, but there 
 must be many blanks. " If horse-breeders, possessed of good judgment, would pay 
 the same attention to breed and shape as Mr. Blakewell did with sheep, they would 
 probably attain their wishes in an equal degree, and gTeatly to their advantage, whether 
 for the collar or the road, for racing or for hunting."* 
 
 As to the shape of the stallion, little satisfactory can be said. It must depend on 
 that of the mare, and the kind of horse wished to be bred ; but if there be one point 
 which we should say is absolutely essential, it is this — " compactness" — as much goodness 
 and strength as possible condensed in a little space. If we are describing the" reverse 
 of the common race of stallions for hunters and coach-horses, the fault lies with the bad 
 taste and judgment of the majority of breeders. 
 
 Next to compactness, the inchnation of the shoulder will be regarded. A huge stal- 
 lion, with upright shoulders, never got a capital hunter or hackney. From him the 
 breeder can obtain nothing but a cart or dray-horse, and that, perhaps, spoiled by the 
 opposite form of the mai-e. On the other hand, an upright shoulder is desirable, if not 
 absolutely necessary, when a mere draught horse is required. 
 
 It is of no little importance, that the parents should be in full possession of their 
 natural strength and powers. It is a common error, that because a mare has once 
 been good, she is fit for breeding when she is no longer capable of ordinary work. 
 
 * Parkinson on the Breeding and Management of live Stock, vol. ii. p. 59. 
 
174 m^r THE HORSE. 
 
 Her blood and perfect frame may ensure a foal of some value, but he will inherit a 
 
 portion of the worn-out constitution of her from whom he sprung. 
 
 On the subject of breeding in and in, that is persevenng in the same breed, and 
 selecting the best on either side, much has been said. The system of crossing requires 
 much judgment and experience ; a great deal more, indeed, than breeders usually 
 possess. The bad qualities of the cross are too soon engi-afted on the original stock, 
 and once engrafted there, are not for many generations, eradicated. The good ones 
 of both are occasionally neutredized to a most mortifying degree. On the other hand, 
 it is the fact, however some may deny it, that strict confinement to one breed, however 
 valuable or perfect, produces gradual deterioration. The truth here, as in many other 
 cases, lies in the middle ; crossing should be attempted with great caution, and the 
 most perfect of the same breed should be selected, but varied, by being frequently taken 
 from different stocks. This is the secret of the course. The pure, south-eastern blood 
 is never left, but the stock is often changed with manifest advantage. 
 
 A mare is capable of breeding at three or four years old ; some have injudiciously 
 commenced at two years, before her form of strength is sufficiently developed, and with 
 the developement of which this early breeding will materially interfere. If she does 
 little more than farm-work, she may continue to be bred from until she is nearly twenty; 
 but if she has been hardly worked, and bears the marks of it, let her have been what 
 she will in her youth, she will deceive the expectations of the breeder in her old age. 
 
 The mare comes into heat in the Ccirly part of the spring. She is said to go with 
 focd eleven months, but there is sometimes a strange irregularity about this. Some 
 have been known to foal five weeks earlier, wliile the time of others has been extended 
 to six weeks beyond the eleven months. We may, however, take eleven months as 
 the average time. In running horses, that are brought so early to the starting-post, and 
 whether they are foaled early in January or late in April, rank as of the same age, it is 
 of importance that the mare should go to cover as early as possible ; in a two or three- 
 year old, foiu- months would make considerable difference in the growth and sti'ength ; 
 yet many of these early foals are almost worthless, because they have been deprived 
 of that additional nutriment which nature designed for them. For other breeds, the 
 beginning of May is the most convenient period. The mare would then foal in the 
 early part of April, when there would begin to be sufllcient food for her and her colt, 
 without confining them to the stable. 
 
 From the time of covering to that of foaling, the mare may be kept at moderate work, 
 and that not only without injury, but with decided advantage. The work may be con- 
 tinued up to the very time when she is expected to foaJ ; and of which she will give at 
 least a day's notice, by the adhesive matter that will appear about the teats. When this 
 is seen, it will be prudent to release her from work, and keep her near home, and under 
 the frequent inspection of some careful person. 
 
 When nearly half the time of pregnancy has elapsed, the mare should have a little 
 better food. She should be allowed one or two feeds of corn in the day. This is about 
 the period when they are accustomed to slink their foals, or when abortion occurs : at 
 this time, therefore, the eye of the owner should be frequently upon them. Good 
 feeding and moderate exercise will be the best preventatives against this. The mare 
 that has once slinked her foal is ever liable to the same accident, and therefore should 
 never be suffered to be with other mares about the time that this usually occurs, which 
 is between the fourth and fifth months ; for such is the power of imagination or of 
 sympathy in the mare, that if one of them suffers abortion, the gi'eater number of those 
 in the same pasture will share the same fate. Farmers wash, and paint, and tar their 
 stables to prevent some supposed infection : — the infection lies in the imagination. 
 
 If a mare has been regularlyexercised, and apparently in health while she was in foal, 
 little danger will attend the act of parturition. It there be false presentation of the foetus, 
 or difficulty in producing it, it will be better to have recourse to a well-informed practi- 
 tioner, rather tlian injure the mother by the violent and injurious attempts which are often 
 made to relieve the animal. 
 
 As soon as the mare has foaled, she shoidd be turned into some well-sheltered pasture, 
 with a hovel or shed to run into when she pleases : and as, supposing she has foaled in 
 April, the grass is scanty, she should have a couple of feeds of^corn daily. The breeder 
 may depend upon it, that nothing is gained by starving the mother, and stinting the foal 
 at mis time. It is the most important time in the life of the horse ; and if, from false 
 economy, his growth be arrested now, his puny form and want of endurance will ever 
 afterwards testify the error that has been committed. The corn should be given in a 
 trough on the ground, that the foal may partake of it with the mother. When the new 
 grass is flush and plenty, the corn may be gradually discontinued. 
 
 Our work is intended, principally, for farmers : they well know that the mare may be put 
 to moderate work again a month after the foaling. The foal is at first shut in the stable 
 during the hours of work ; but as soon as it acquires sufficient strength to toddle after 
 
BREAKING-IN. 176 
 
 the mare, and especially when she is at slow work, it wDl be better for the foal and the 
 dam that they should be together. The work will contribute to the health of the mother ; 
 the foal will more frequently draw the milk, and thrive better ; and will be hardy and 
 tractable, and gradually familiarized with the objects among which it is afterwards to 
 live. While the mother, however, is thus worked, she and the foal should be well fed ; 
 and two feeds of corn, at least, should be added to the green food which they get when 
 turned out after their work, and at night. The mare will usually be found at heat at or 
 before the expiration of a month from the time of Ibaling, when, if she be kept princi- 
 pally for breeding purposes, she may be put again to the horse. 
 
 In five or six montlis, according to the growth of the foal, it may be weaned. It 
 should then be housed for three weeks or a month, or turned into some distant rick-yard. 
 There can be no better place for the focd than the latter, as affording, and that without 
 trouble, both food and shelter. The mother should be put to harder work, and have drier 
 meat. One or two urine balls, or a physic bdl, will be useful if the milk should be trouble- 
 some, or she should pine after her foal. 
 
 There is no principle of greater importance than the liberal feeding of the foal during 
 the whole of his growth, and at this time in particular. Bruised oats and bran should 
 form a considerable part of his daily provender. The farmer may be assured that money 
 is well laid out which is expended on the liberal nourishment of the gi'owing colt : while, 
 however, he is well fed, he should not be rendered delicate by excess of care. A racing 
 colt is sometimes stabled; but one that is destined to be a hunter, a hackney, or an agri- 
 cultural horse, should merely have a square rick, under the leeward side of which he 
 may shelter himself, or a hovel, into which he may run at night, or out of the rain. The 
 process of breaking-in should commence from the very period of weaning. The foal 
 should be daily handled, particdly dressed, accustomed to the halter, led about, and even 
 tied up. The tractability, and good temper, and value of the horse, depend a great deal 
 more upon this than breeders are aware ; this should be done as much as possible by the 
 man by whom they are fed, and whose management of them should be always kind and 
 gentle. There is no fault for which a breeder should so invariably discharge his servant 
 as cruelty, or even harshness, towards the rising stock ; for the principle on which their 
 after usefulness is founded, is early attachment to, and confidence in man, and obedience, 
 implicit obedience, resulting principally from these. 
 
 After the second winter, the work of breaking-in may commence in good earnest. He 
 may first be bitted, and a bit carefully selected that will not hurt his mouth, and much 
 smaller than those in common use ; with this he may be suffered to amuse himself, and 
 to play, and to champ for an hour, on a few successive days. 
 
 Having become a little tractable, portions of the harness may be put upon him, and 
 last of all, the blind winkers ; and a few days afterwards he may go into the team. It 
 would be better if there could be one before, and one behind him, beside the shaft horse. 
 Let there be first the mere empty waggon. Let nothing be done to him, except that he 
 may have an occasional pat or kind word. The other horses will keep him moving, and 
 in his place ; and no great time will pass, sometimes not even the first day, before he 
 will begin to pull with the rest: then the load may be gradually increased. 
 
 The agricultural horse is wanted to ride as well as to draw. Let his first lesson be 
 given when he is in tlie team. Let his feeder, if possible, be first put upon him: he 
 will be too much hampered by his harness, and by the other horses, to make much resist- 
 ance ; and, in the majority of cases, will quietly and at once submit. We need not 
 repeat, that no whip or spur should be used in giving the first lessons in riding. 
 
 When he begins a little to understand his business, backing, the most difficult part of 
 his work, may be taught him ; first to back well without anything behind him, then with 
 a light cart, and afterwards with some serious load ; and taking the greatest care not 
 seriously to hurt the mouth. If the first lesson causes much soreness of the gums, the 
 colt will not readily submit to a second. If he has been rendered tractable before by 
 kind usage, time and patience will do all that can be wished here. Some carters are in 
 the habit of blinding the colt when teaching him to back : it may be necessary with the 
 restive and obstinate one, and should be used only as a last resort. 
 
 The colt having been thus partially broken-in, the necessity of implicit obedience may 
 be taught him, and that not Ijy severity, but by firmness and steadiness ; the voice will 
 go a great way, but the whip or the spur is sometimes indispensable — not so cruelly ap- 
 plied as to excite the animal to resistance, but to convince him that we have the power 
 to enforce submission. Few, we would almost say, no horses, are naturally vicious. It 
 is cruel usage which has first provoked resistance ; that resistance has been followed by 
 greater severity, and the stubbornness of the animal has increased ; open warfare has 
 ensued, in which the man seldom gained an advantage, and the horse was frequently 
 rendered unserviceable. Correction may, or must be used, to enforce implicit obedience 
 after the education has proceeded to a certain extent, but the early lessons should be in- 
 culcated with kindness alone. Young colts ai"e sometimes very perverse; many days 
 
176 *^<^ THE HORSE. 
 
 will occasionally pass before they will permit the bridle to be put on, or the saddle to be 
 worn ; one act of neirshness will double or ti-eble this time. Patience and kindness will, 
 after a while, prevail. On some morning, of better humour than usual, the bridle will 
 be put on, and the saddle will be worn ; and this comphance being followed by kindness 
 and soothing on the part of the breaker, and no inconvenience or pain being suffered by 
 the animal, all resistance will be at an end. 
 
 The same principles will apply to the brealcing-in of the horse for the road or the chase. 
 The handling, and some portion of instruction, should commence from the time of wean- 
 ing. The future tractability of the horse will much depend on this. At two years and 
 a half, or three years, the regular process of breaking-m should come on. If it be de- 
 layed until the animal is four years old, his strength and obstinacy will be more difficult 
 to overcome. We cannot much improve on the plan usually pursued by the breaker, 
 except that there should be much more kindness and patience, and far less harshness and 
 cruelty, than these persons are accustomed to exhibit, and a great deal more attention to 
 the form and natural action of the horse. A headstall is put on the colt, and a cavesson 
 (or apparatus to confine and pinch the nose) affixed to it, with long reins. He is first 
 accustomed to the rein, then led round a ring on soft ground, and at length mounted and 
 taught his paces. Next to preserving the temper and dociUty of the horse, there is no- 
 thing of so much importance as to teach him every pace, and every part of his duty, 
 distinctly and thoroughly. Each must constitute a separate and sometimes long-continu- 
 ed lesson, and that taught by a man who will never suffer his passion to get the better of 
 his discretion. 
 
 After the cavesson has been attached to the headstall, and the long rein put on, the 
 first lesson is, to be quietly led about by the breaker; a steady boy following behind, 
 by occasionally threatening with the whip, but never by an actual blow, to Keep the 
 colt up. When the animal follows readily and quietly, he may be taken to tlie ring, 
 and walked round, right and left, in a very small circle. Care should be taken to teach 
 him this pace thoroughly, never sufFerieg him to break into a trot. The boy with his 
 whip may here again be necessaiy, but not a single blow should actually fall. 
 
 Becoming tolerable perfect in the walk, he should be quickened to a trot, and kept 
 steadily at it ; the whip of the boy, if needful, urging him on, and the cavesson restrain- 
 ing him. These lessons should be short. The pace should be kept perfect and distinct 
 in each ; and docility and improvement rewarded with frequent caresses, and handfuls 
 of corn. The length of the reign may now be gradually increased, and the pace quick- 
 ened, and the time extended, until the animal becomes tractable in this his first lessons, 
 towards the conclusion of which, crupper-straps, or something similar, may be attached 
 to the clothing. These, playing^ about the sides and flanks, accustom him to the flap- 
 ping of the coat of the rider. The annoyance which they occasion will pass over in a 
 day or two ; for when the animal finds that no harm comes to him on account of these 
 straps, he will cease to regai'd them. 
 
 Next comes the bitting. The bit should be large and smooth, and the reins should 
 be buckled to a ring on either side of the pad. There are many curious and expensive 
 machines for this purpose, but the simple rein will be quite sufficient. The reins 
 should at first be slack, and very gradually tightened. This will prepare for the more 
 perfect manner in which the head will be afterwards got into its proper position, when 
 the colt is accustomed to the saddle. Occasionally the breaker should stand in front of 
 the colt, and take hold of each side reign near to the mouth, and press upon it, and thus 
 begin to teach him to stop and to back at the pressure of the reign, rewarding every act 
 of docility, and not being eager to punish occasional carelessness or waywardness. 
 
 The colt may now be taken into the road or sti-eet to be gradually accustomed to the 
 objects among which his services will be required. Here, from fear or playfulness, a 
 considerable degree of starting and shying may be exhibited. As little notice as possi- 
 ble should be taken of it. The same or a similar object should be soon passed again, but at 
 a greater distance. If the colt still shies, let the distance be farther increased, until he 
 takes no notice of the object ; then he may be gradually brought nearer to it, and this 
 will be usually effected without the slightest difficulty : whereas, had there been an at- 
 tempt to force the animal close to it in the first instance, the remembrance of the contest 
 would have been associated with the object, and the habit of shying would have been 
 established. 
 
 Hitherto, with a cool and patient breaker, the whip may have been shown, but will 
 scarcely have been used ; the colt must now, however, be accustomed to this necessary 
 instrument of authority. Let the breaker walk by the side of the animal, and throw his 
 right arm over his back, holding the reins in his left ; and occasionally quicken his 
 pace, and, at the moment of doing this, tap the horse with the whip in his right hand, 
 and at first very gently. The tap of the whip and the quickening of the pace will soon 
 become associated together in the mind of the animeJ. If necessary, the taps may 
 gradually fall a little heavier, and the feeling of pain be the monitor of the necessity of 
 
CASTRATION. 177 
 
 increased exertion. The lessons of reigning in and stopping, and backing on the pres- 
 sure of the bit, may continue to be practised at the same time. 
 
 He may now be taught to bear the saddle. Some little caution will be necessary at 
 the first putting of it on. The breaker should stand at the head of the colt, patting him, 
 and engaging his attention, while one assistant, on the off-side, gently places the saddle 
 on the back of the animal ; and another, on the near side, slowly tightens the girths. 
 If he submits quietly to this, as he generally will, when the previous process of break- 
 ing-in has been properly conducted, the ceremony of mounting may be attempted on 
 the following or on the third day. The breaker will need two assistants to accomplish 
 this operation. He will remain at the head of the colt, patting and making much of 
 him. The rider will put his foot into the stirrup, and bear a little weight upon it, while 
 the man on the off-side presses equally on the other stirrup-leather ; and according to 
 the docility of the animal, he will gradually increase the weight, until he balances him- 
 self on tlie stirrup. If the colt be uneasy or fearful, he should be spoken kindly to and 
 patted, or a mouthful of corn be given to him : but if he offers serious resistance, the 
 lessons must terminate for that day ; he may be probably be in better humour on the 
 morrow. 
 
 When the rider has balanced himself for a minute or two, he may gently throw his 
 leg over, and quietly seat himself in the saddle. The breaker will then lead the animal 
 round the ring, the rider sitting perfectly still. After a few minutes he will take the 
 reins, and handle them as gently as possible, and guide the horse by the pressure of 
 them ; patting him frequently, and especially when he thinks of dismounting,— and after 
 having dismounted, offering him a little corn or gi-een meat. The use of the rein in 
 checking him, and of the pressure of the leg and the touch of the heel in quickening his 
 pace, wiU soon be taught, and the education will be nearly completed. 
 
 The horse having thus far submitted himself to the breaker, these pattings and re- 
 wards must be gradually diminished, and implicit obedience mildly but firmly enforced. 
 Severity will not often be necessary ; in the great majority of cases it will be altogether 
 uncalled for: but should the animal, in a moment of waywardness, dispute the com- 
 mand of the breaker, he must at once be taught that he is tiie slave of man, and that we 
 have the power, by other means than those of Icindness, to bend him to our will. The 
 education of tlie horse is that of the child. Pleasure is, as much as possible, associated 
 with the early lessons ; but firmness, or, if need be, coercion, must confirm the habit of 
 obedience. Tyranny and cruelty will, more speedity in the horse than even in the 
 child, provoke the wish to disobey ; and, on every practicable occasion, the resistance 
 to command. The restive and vicious horse is, in ninety-nine case out of a hundred, 
 made so by ill-usuage, and not by nature. None but those who will take the trouble to 
 try the experiment are aware how absolute a command the due admixture of firmness 
 and kindness will soon give us over any horse. 
 
 CASTRATION. 
 
 The period at which this important operation will be best performed depends much 
 on the breed and form of the colt, and the purpose for which he is destined. For the 
 common agricultural horse, the age of four or five months wiU be the most advisable, 
 or, at least, before he is weaned. Very few horses ai-e lost when cut at that early age. 
 
 The weather, however, should not be too hot, nor the flies too numerous. We enter 
 our decided protest against the recommendation of some valuable, but incautious agri- 
 cultural WTiters, that colts should be cut in the months of June or Jrdy, when the flies 
 pester the horses, and cause them to be continually moving about, and thereby prevent 
 swelUng.' One moment's reflection will convince the reader that nothing can be more 
 likely to produce inflammation, and consequent swelling and danger, than the torture 
 of the flies hovering round and stinging the sore part. 
 
 If the horse is designed either for the carriage or for heavy draught, the farmer should 
 not think of castrating him until he be at least a twelve-month old ; and, even then, tiie 
 colt should be carefully examined. If he is thin and spare about the neck and 
 shouldei's, and low in the withers, he will materially improve by remaining uncut anotlier 
 six months ; but if his fore-quarters are fairly developed at the age of a twelvemonth, 
 the operation should not be delayed, lest he become heavy and gioss before, and perhaps 
 have begun too decidedly to have a will of his own. No specific age, then, can be fixed ; 
 but the castration should be performed rather late in the spring or early in the autumn, 
 when the air is temperate, and particularly when the weather is dry. No prepjiration 
 is necessary for the sucking colt, but it may be prudent to bleed and to physic one of 
 more advanced age. In the majority of cases, no after treatment will be neces- 
 sary, except that the animal should be sheltered from intense heat, and more particu- 
 larly from wet. lii temperate weather he will do much better running in the field than 
 nursed in a close and hot stable. The moderate exercise which he wul take in grazing 
 23 
 
178 THE HORSE. 
 
 will be preferable to perfect inaction. A large and well-ventilated box, however, may 
 be permitted. 
 
 The manner in which the operation is performed will be properly left to the veteri- 
 nary surgeon ; although we must confess that we are disposed to adhere to the old way 
 of opening the bag on either side, cutting oU' the testicle, and preventing bleeding by 
 searing the vessels with a hot iron. 
 
 There is at least an appearance of brutality, and, we believe, much unnecessary pain 
 inflicted, when the spermatic cord (the vessels and the nerve) is tightly compressed 
 between two pieces of wood, as in a powerful vice, and left tliere either until the testicle 
 drops off, or is removed on the tbllowing day by the operator. To the practice of some 
 farmers, of twitching their colts at an early period, sometimes even so early as a month, 
 we have stionger objection. When the operation of twiching is performed, a small cord 
 is drawn as tightly as possible round the bag, between the testicle and the belly ; the cir- 
 culation is thus stopped, and, in a few days, the testicles and the bag drop olf: but the 
 animal sufiers sadly, — it is occasionally necessary to tighten the cord on tlie second or 
 third day, and inflammation and death have frequently ensued. 
 
 CHAPT^'XIII. 
 
 THE FOEE LEGS. 
 
 We arrive now at those parts of the frame most essentially connected with the action 
 and value of the horse, and oltenest, and most annoyingly, tlie subjects of disease. The 
 extremities contain the whole apparatus of motion, and it is with the action, and speed, 
 and strength of the horse that we are most concerned. 
 
 We begin with the fore extremity, and with its upper part the shoulder. It is seen at 
 G, page 49. 
 
 THE SHOULDER. 
 
 The scapula, or shoulder-blade, situated forward on the side of the chest, is a bone of 
 a somewhat triangular shape, with its apex or point downward, and its base or broad part 
 upward. The point lies between the first and second ribs ; the hinder part of the base 
 reaches as far back as the seventh rib ; it therefore extends obliquely along the chest. 
 It is divided, externally, into two unequal portions by a ridge or spine running through 
 almost the whole of its extent, and designed, as we shall presently show, for the attach- 
 ment of important muscles. The broad or upper part having no muscles of any conse- 
 quence attached to it, is terminated by cartilage. 
 
 We have stated that the muscles of the hinder legs are principally concerned in the 
 motion of the horse. They impel the machine forward, and the main uses of the fore 
 extremities are to lift the fore part of the horse from the ground, that it may be thus im- 
 pelled to tlirow forward the legs as far as possible that they receive this weight at due 
 distance, and to support the force and shock of that weight when it reaches the ground. 
 We will inquire as we proceed how far one or all of these objects are accomphshed. 
 
 The shoulder-blade is united to the chest by muscle alone. There is a large muscle, 
 with very remarkable tendinous fibres, and of immense strength (the serratus major, 
 greater saw- shaped muscle,) attached to the chest, and to the extensive smooth internal 
 surface of the shoulder-blade, and by which, assisted, or rather sti-engthened, by the 
 muscles of the breast, the weight of the body is supported, and the shock of the vddest 
 leap, or the most rapid motion, sustained. Had there been a bony union between the 
 shoulder and the body, the vital parts contained in the chest could not have endured the 
 dreadful shock which they would occasionally have experienced ; nor could any bone 
 have long remained whole if exposed to such violence. The muscles wdthin the 
 shoulder-blade act as powerful and safe springs. They yield, as far as necessary, to the 
 force impressed upon them ; by their gradual yielding they destroy the violence of the 
 shock, and then, by their elastic power, immediately regain their former situation. 
 
 SPRAIN OF the shoulder. 
 
 In some violent and unexpected shock these muscles are occasionally injured. Al- 
 though we do not believe that, in one case in twenty, the fanier is right when he talks 
 
ACTION OF THE SHOULDER. 179 
 
 of his shoulder-lameness, yet it cannot be denied, that the muscles of the shoulder are 
 occasionally sprained. This is eliected oi'tener by <i slip or side-fall, than by fair, 
 although violent exertion. It is of considerable importance to be able to distinguish this 
 shoulder-lameness from injuries of other parts of the fore extremit}^ We shall look in 
 vain for much tenderness, or heat, or sweUing: it is a sprain of muscles deeply seated, 
 and where these symptoms of injury cannot possibly exist. If, on standing before the 
 horse, and looking at the size of the two shoulders, or rather their points, one should 
 appear evidently leu-ger than the other, we must not consider this as indicative of sprain 
 of the muscles of the shoulder. It probably arises from bruise of the point of the 
 shoulder, which a slight examination will determine ; or the whole of the limb, this 
 portion of which is enlarged, may be sound, while the other may be shrunk from want 
 of equal exertion, arising from injury of long standing. The heat and tenderness, if 
 there be any, will be found witliin the arm, close to the chest ; and will belong more 
 to the muscles of the breast than to those under tlie shoulder. 
 
 The symptoms, however, of shoulder-lameness can scai'cely be mistaken ; and, when 
 we relate them, the farmer will recollect, that they very seldom occurred when the vil- 
 lage-smith pointed to the shoulder as the seat of disease, and punished the animal for no 
 purpose. In sprain of the shoulder the horse will evidently suffer extreme pain while 
 moving, and the muscle underneath being inflamed and tender, he will extend it as little 
 as possible. He will drag his toe along the ground. It is in the lifting of the foot that the 
 shoulder is principally moved : if the foot be lifted high, let the horse be ever so lame, 
 the shoulder is little, if at all affected. The lame limb is suffered to bear the weight a 
 much shorter time in this than in any other kind of lameness. In sprain of the back 
 sinews, it is only when the horse is in motion that the injured parts are put to most pain ; 
 the pain is greatest here when the weight rests on the limb, and, therefore, there is a 
 peculiar quickness in catching up tlie limb, in shoulders-lameness, the moment the 
 weight is thrown on it. This is particularly evident when the horse is going down 
 hill, and the injured limb bears an additional portion of the weight. In the stable, too, 
 when the horse points or projects one foot before the other, that foot is usually flat on 
 the ground. In shoulder-lameness the toe alone rests on the ground. The circum- 
 stance which most of all characterizes this affection, is, that when the foot is lifted, and 
 then brought considerably forward, the horse will express great pain, which he will not 
 do if the lameness be in the fogt or leg. We have dwelt longer on this point, that our 
 readers maybe enabled to put to the test the many cases of shoulder-lameness which ex- 
 ist only in the imagination of the groom or the fanier. 
 
 In sprain of the internal muscles of the shoulder, few local measures can be adopted. 
 The horse should be bled from the vein on the inside of the arm (the plate vein,) be- 
 cause the blood is then abstracted more immediately from the inflamed part. A dose of 
 physic should be given, and fomentations applied, and principally on the inside of the 
 arm, close to the cnest; while the horse is kept as quiet as possible. The injury is too 
 deeply seated for external stimulants to have very great elt'ect, yet a blister will very 
 properly be resorted to, if the lameness is not speecUly removed. The sicimming of the 
 horse is an inhuman practice; it tortures the animal and increases the inflammation. 
 The pegging of the shoulder (puncturing the skin, and blowing into the cellular struc- 
 ture beneath, until it is considerably pufled up, ) is another relic of ignorance and bar- 
 barity. 
 
 ACTION OF THE SHOULDEE. 
 
 The lessening or break of the shock, from the weight being thrown violently on the 
 fore legs, is effected in another way. It will be observed, that (see G and J, p. 49) the 
 shoulder-blade and the lower bone of the shoulder are not connected together in a 
 straight line, but form a very considerable angle with each other. This will be more 
 evident from the following cut, which represents the tore and hind extremities in the 
 situations which they occupy in the horse. 
 
 This angular construction of the limbs reminds us of the similar arrangement of tlie 
 springs of a carriage, and the ease of motion, and almost perfect freedom from jolting, 
 which are thereby obtained. 
 
 W^e will not say that the form of the spring was boiTowed from this constniction of 
 the limbs of the horse, but the efl^ect of the carriage-spring beautifully illustrates the 
 connexion of the difierent bones in the extremities of this quadruped. 
 
 The obliquity or slanting direction of the shoulder eflects another veiy useful purpose. 
 That the stride in the gallop, or the space passed over in the trot, may be extensive, it is 
 necessary that the fore part of the animal should be considerably elevated. The shoul- 
 der, by means of the muscles which extend from it to the inferior part of the limb, is the 
 grand agent in efl^ectingthis. The slighest inspection of the last cut, or of that at p 
 
180 
 
 THE HORSE. 
 
 49, will show that, just in proportion as the point of the shoukler is brought Ibrwai'd and 
 elevated, will be the foi-ward action and elevation of tlie limb, or the space passed over 
 at eveiy efibrt. At each contraction of the muscles which extend from G to J, or from 
 the shoulder-blade to the bone of the arm, will the point of the shoulder be projected and 
 elevated. In the upright shoulder it can scarcely be cai'ried beyond the point at which 
 it is placed in these cuts. In the oblique or slanting shoulder it commences its action 
 from that point ; therefore it is that a slanting shoulder is indispensable in a horse from 
 which good action and considerable speed are required. 
 
 The slanting shoulder accomplishes another very useful object. The muscles extend- 
 ing from the shoulder-blade to the lower bone of the shoulder are the powers by which 
 motion is given to the whole of the limb. The extent and energy of that motion de- 
 pend much on the force exerted or the strength of the muscle ; but there are circum- 
 stances in the relative situations of the difl'erent bones which have far greater influence. 
 Let us suppose that by means of a lever we are endeavoring to raise a certain weight. 
 
 A is a lever, resting or turning on a pivot B ; C is the weight to be raised, and D is 
 the power and the situation at which the power is appUed. If we apply our strength in 
 a direction perpendicular to the lever, as represented by the line E, we can easily 
 calculate the strength which we must exert. In proportion as the distance of the power 
 
 from the pivct or centre of motion exeeds that of the weight from the same place, so 
 will be the advantage gained. The power here is tmce as far from the centre as the 
 
SLANTING DIRECTION OF THE SHOULDER. 181 
 
 and therefore we gain advantage in tlic proportion of two to one ; or if the weight 
 be equal to 200 lbs., a force of 100 lbs. will balance it. If we alter the direction in which 
 the power is applied, and suppose it to be in tliat of the line F, will 100 lbs. now do ? — 
 No ; nothing like it. How shall we calculate, then, the power that is necessary ? We 
 must prolong the line of direction until another line, falling perpendicularly from the lever, 
 and commencing at tlie centi-e of motion, will cut it ; and the Icngtli of that hne will 
 
 ffive us tlie actual etlect of the strength we employ. Now, this new line is but half as 
 ong as the distance of the weight from the centre of motion, and therefore we lose 
 advantage in the proportion of two to one ; or a strength equal to 400 lbs. must be 
 exerted to raise the 200 lbs. and so on in proportion to me deviation from the right or 
 perpendicular line. 
 
 Let us next take the shoulder of the horse. The point of the shoulder, the shoulder 
 joint, is the pivot or centre of motion ; the leg attached to the bone of the arm is the 
 weight ; the shoulder-blade being more fixed is the part whence the power is exerted ; 
 and the muscles extending from the one to the other, are the lines in which that power 
 is exerted. These lines approach much more nearly to a pei-pendicular in the obhque 
 than in the upright shoulder, (see cut.) In tlie upright shoulder, the shoulder-blade 
 and the bone of the arm are almost in a straight line, and the real action and power of 
 the muscle are most strangely diminished. In this point of view the oblique shoulder 
 is most important. It not only gives extensive action, but facility of action ; the power 
 of the muscles is more than doubled by being exerted in a line approaching so much 
 near to a perpendicular. 
 
 There is yet another advantage of the oblique shoulder. The point of the shoulder 
 is projected forward ; and therefore the pillars which support the fore part of the horse 
 are likewise placed proportionably forward, and they have less weight to cany ; and 
 are exposed to less concussion, and especially concussion in rapid action. The horse is 
 also much safer ; for having less weight lying before the pillars of support, he is not so 
 likely to have the centre of gravity thrown oefore and beyond them b}^ an accidental 
 trip ; or, in other words, he is not so likely to fall ; and he rides more pleasantly, for 
 there is far less weight bearing on the hand of the rider, and annoying and tiring him. — 
 It likewise happens unfortunately that nature, as it were to supply the deficiency of 
 action and of power in an upright shoulder, has accumidated on it more muscle, and 
 therefore the upright shoulder is proverbially thick and cloddy ; and the muscles of the 
 breast which were designed to strengthen the attachment of the shoulders to the chest, 
 and to bind them together, must, when the point of the shoulder lies backward, and 
 under the horse, be proportionably thickened and strengthened, and the horse is thus 
 still more heavy before, more unpleasant, and more unsate to ride. 
 
 Then, ought every horse to have an oblique shoulder ? No ! We have been speak- 
 ing of those which are designed to ride pleasantly, or from which extensive and rapid 
 action is required. In them we have said that an oblique shoulder is indispensable ; but 
 there are others which are never ridden ; whose pace is slow, and who have nothing to 
 do but to throw as much weight as possible into the collar. To them an upright shoul- 
 der is an advantage, because its additional thickness gives them additional weight to 
 throw into the collar, which the power of their hinder quarter is fully sufi^cient to 
 accomplish ; and because the upright position of the shoulder gives that direction to the 
 collar which enables the horse to act upon every part of it ; and that inclination of the 
 traces which will enable his weight or power to be most advantageously employed. Of 
 this, however, we shall better speak when we come to describe the implements of 
 agriculture, and particularly the consti'uction of wheel carriages. 
 
 An improved breed of our heavy draught horses has of late years been attempted, 
 and with much success. Sufficient uprightness of shoulder is retained for the purposes 
 of draught, while a slight degree of obliquity has materially quickened the pace and 
 improved the appearance. 
 
 Above its junction with the humerus, or lower bone of the shoulder, the shoulder- 
 blade forms what is called the point of the shoulder. There is a round blunted pro- 
 jection, best seen in the cut, (p. 180.) The neck of the shoulder blade then forms a 
 shallow cavity, into which the head of the next bone is received 
 
 The cavity is shallow because extensive motion is required, and because both of the 
 bones being so moveable, and the motion of the one connected so much with that of the 
 other, dislocation was not so Ukely to happen as if one of them had been fixed. A 
 capsular hgament, or one extending round the heads of both bones, confines them 
 securely together. 
 
 This joint is rarely or never dislocated ; or should it suffer dislocation, the muscles of 
 the shoulder-blade, and the lower bone of the shoulder are so strong, that the reduction 
 of it would be impossible. The point of the slioulder, however, projecting considera- 
 bly, is much exposed to injury from accident or violence ; even turning in a narrow stall 
 has inflicted a serious bruise. Fomentations of warm water will usually remove the 
 
182 
 
 THE HORSE. 
 
 tenderness and lameness, but should they fail, blood may be taken from the plate vein, 
 and, in very obstinate cases, a blister may be resorted to. 
 
 A description of the principle muscles of the shoulder.blade, their situation, attach- 
 ments, and use, may not be uninteresting to the lover of the horse, £ind may guide his 
 judgment as to the capability and proper form of that noble animal. 
 
 CUT OF MUSCLES ON THE OUTSI&E OF THE SHOULDER. 
 
 a and b represent a portion of the muscle (the trapezius, quadrangular muscle,) which 
 rises from the longer bones of the withers, broadly and sb-ongly, and from the ligament 
 of the neck (a portion of which is seen at b,) and narrowing below, and terminating 
 almost in a point, is inserted into a prominent part of the spine or ridge of the shoulder- 
 blade. It occupies the space between the withers and the upper part of the shoulder- 
 blade, and is large cUid strong in proportion to the height of the withers, and the slanting 
 of the shoulder. Its use is evidently to support the shoulder, to raise it, and likewise to 
 draw it backward ; therefore, constituting one of the most important muscles connected 
 with the action of the horse, and illustrating the advantage ot high withers and a slant- 
 ing shoulder. A portion of it is represented as tiirned back, to show other muscles be- 
 neath. A moment's inspection will 
 convince the reader, that although 
 we may have been justified in ob- 
 jecting to a low forehead and thick 
 shoulder, yet still some fulness and 
 fleshiness are necessary, even about 
 the withers; otherwise, although 
 there may be height of withers, and 
 obliquity of shoulder, to give exten- 
 sive action, there will not be suffi- 
 cient muscular power to work the 
 machine with either quickness or 
 continuance. 
 
 At c is a portion of tlie levator hu- 
 meri (the raiser of the shoulder) de- 
 scending even from the tubercles at 
 the back of the head, (see cut, page 
 49,) and from the base of the tem- 
 poral bone, and attaching itself to 
 the lour first bones of the neck, and 
 to the ligament of the neck ; insert- 
 ing itself into the covering of the 
 muscles of the shoulder, and the 
 muscles about the point of the 
 shoulder, and at length terminating 
 in a ridge on the lower bone of tlie 
 shoulder. It is a muscle of im- 
 mense power and great utility, rais- 
 ing and drawing foi-ward the should- 
 er and the arm, and, when these are 
 fixed, turning the head and neck if 
 one acts, and depressing them if the 
 muscles on both sides act at , the 
 same time. 
 
 At (^ is a portion of the great saw- 
 like or tooth-shaped muscle of the 
 shoulder, constituting the bulk of 
 the lower part of the neck ; deeply 
 seated ; arising, as here seen, from 
 the five last bones of the neck, and 
 the two first ribs, and the lower por- 
 tion of it springing from all the true ribs ; all the fibres tending towards, and inserted into 
 the inner surface of the shoulder ; and by means of which the shoulder is attached to 
 the chest,and the immense weight of the body supported. We have ah-eady spoken 
 of the use of this muscle in obviating concussion. 
 
 When the horse is standing, this muscle occasionally discharges another important 
 function. The shoulders and legs are then rendered fixed, and immoveable by the weight 
 of the body ; and this muscle no longer being able to move the limbs, exerts its power 
 
SLANTING DIRECTION OF THE SHOULDER. 
 
 183 
 
 in enlarging tlie cavity of the chest, and thus materially assists in the act of breathing. 
 Therefore, as we have stated when treating of that disease, a horse laboring under 
 inflammation of the lungs will obstinately stand night and day, that he may obtain the 
 assistance of this muscle in respiration, wliich is become laborious and painful ; and we 
 regard his lying down as one of the most favorable symptoms that can occur, because 
 it shows us that the breatliing is so much relieved that he needs not tlie assistance of this 
 muscle. 
 
 At e is a small portion of the splenius muscle, of which we have spoken when de- 
 scribing the neck, p. 121. 
 
 f represents a muscle sometimes descriped as a portion of the raiser of the shoulder, 
 arising from the nipple-shaped process of the temporal bone, running down the some- 
 what lateral but fore-part of the neck, inserted into the upper and middle pai-t of the 
 lower bone of the shoulder; and thence continued down to tlie arm. Its othce is to 
 bend the head ; or, the head and neck being fixed, to elevate and bring forward the arm. 
 It is in powerful action when the horse is running at his speed with the head projected. 
 At g is a portion of the sterm-maxillaris, or muscle common to tlie fore-part of the 
 chest and the lower jaw, and described at p. 124. 
 
 h gives the principal muscle extending from the shoulder to the lower bone of the 
 shoulder, and employed in drawing this bone towards the shoulder-blade, and bending 
 the whole of the limb. Exceedingly powerful action is required from this muscle, 
 therefore it is very tendinous, and inserted in such a direction as to act with great me-' 
 chanical advantage, and that advantage increased in proportion to ttie slanting of the 
 shoulder. 
 
 The muscle at i, antea spinatus (before the spine) is situated, as its name would inti- 
 mate, on tlie external part of the shoulder before the spine or ridge, and fills the whole 
 of that space. It proceeds towards the bone of the arm, and, dividing into two parts, 
 is inserted into tlie two prominences in front of that bone. It is a verj' stron"- muscle^ 
 and extends the arm and carries it forward. 
 
 The muscle di.t j, postea spinatus, (behind the spine or ridge,) occupies that space. 
 It likewise goes to the lower bone of the shoulder, and is inserted into the outer and 
 upper head of the bone. It draws this bone outward and upward. 
 
 At /c is a muscle common to the breast and the shoulder-blade, and called the little pec- 
 toral, or breast muscle. It arises from the breast-bone, and reaches to the covering of 
 the shoulder-joint, and the muscles of the shoulder. Its action, in common witli that of 
 a larger muscle, seen at m, (the great pectoral,) is to draw back the head of the lower 
 bone of the shoulder and the lower part of the shoulder-blade, and to make the latter 
 bone more upright. 
 
 At gis the tendon of a very important muscle, the 
 long extensor of the arm, extending from the upper an- 
 gle, and the posterior border of the shoulder-blade, to the 
 point of the elbow and the inside of the arm, and 
 which will be presently described ; and at r and s 
 are the three divisions of another muscle concerned 
 in the same office, arising from the shoulder-blade and tlie 
 lower bone of the shoulder, and hkewise attached to the 
 point of the elbow by a very strong tendon. 
 
 This cut represents the muscles on tlie inside of the 
 shoulder and fore-arm. a is a very prominent one It 
 is called the pectoralis transversus (the muscle crossing 
 the breast.) It arises from the first four bones of the 
 chest, and runs across to the inner part of the arm, and 
 is inserted into the tendinous substance covering the 
 muscles of the fore arm, and reaching a considerable 
 way down the arm. The use of this muscle is obvious 
 and important. It binds the arm to the side of the 
 horse ; it keeps tlie legs straight before the horse when he 
 is at speed, that the weight of the body maybe received 
 on tliem in a direction most easy and safe to the horse 
 and to the rider, and most advantageous for the full play 
 of all the muscles concerned in progression. Consider- 
 ing the unevenness of surface over which a horse often 
 passes, and the rapid turnings which are sometimes ne- 
 cessary, these muscles have enough to do : and when 
 the animal is pushed beyond his strength, and these mus- 
 cles are wearied, and the forelegs spread out, and the 
 horse is "all abroad," the confused and unpleasant man- 
 ner of going, and the sudden falling off in speed, are 
 well known to every rider. 
 
184 THE HORSE. 
 
 THE LOWER BONE OF THE SHOULDER. 
 
 Forming a joint with the shoulder-blade at the point of the shoulder is the hmnents, 
 or lower bone of tlie shoulder. (J. p. 49, and p. 180.) It is a short strong bone, slant- 
 ing backward in an opposite direction to the shoulder-blade. At the upper pjirt it has 
 a large round head, received into the shallow cavity of the shoidder-blade. It has seve- 
 ral proturberances for the insertion of muscles, and is terminated below by two condyles 
 or Reads, which in front receive the principle bone of the arm between them as in a 
 groove, thus adding to the security and strength of the joint, and limiting the action of 
 this joint, and of the limb below, to mere bending and extension, without any side 
 motion. Fai-ther behind, these heads receive the elbow deep between them, to give 
 more extensive action to the arm. In a well-formed horse this bone can scarcely be 
 too short, in order that the fore-legs may be as forward as possible, for reasons at which 
 we have already glanced ; and because, when tlie lower bone of the shoulder is long, 
 the shoulder must be too upright. Dislocation can scai'cely occur in either of the at- 
 tachments of the bone, and fracture of it is almost impossible. The lower bone of the 
 shoulder, and tlie shoulder-blade, are by horsemen confounded together, and included 
 under the appellation of the shoulder, and in compliance with general usage we have 
 described them as combining to form the shoulder. 
 
 Among the muscles arising from the lower bone of the shoulder, are too short and 
 very strong ones, seen at the lower r and s, the first proceeding from the upper part of 
 this bone to the elbow, and the second from the internal part and likewise going to the 
 elbow, and both of them being powerful agents in extending the leg. 
 
 In front, at y, is one of the muscles of the lower bone of the shoulder, the external one, 
 employed in bending the arm ; aiising from the inner and back part of the neck and 
 body of the lower bone of the shoulder, turning obliquely round that bone, and inserted 
 into the inner and upper part of the bone of the arm. • ^ 
 
 THE ARM. 
 
 The arm extending from the elbow to the knee (see K and L, p. 49, and also cut, p. 
 180,) consists, in the young horse, of two distinct bones. The long and front bone, 
 C£illed the radius, is nearly straight, receiving into its upper end the lower heads of the 
 lower bone of the shoulder ; and the lower end con-esponding with the upper layer of 
 the bones of the knee. The short and hinder bone is called the ulna. It has a very 
 long and powerful projection, received between the heads of the lower bone of the 
 shoulder, and called the elbow; it then stretches down, narrowing by degrees (see L, 
 p. 49, and the cut, p. 180,) to below the middle of the front bone, where it terminates 
 in a point. The two bones are united together by cartilage and ligament, but these are 
 by degrees absorbed and changed to bone, and before the horse becomes old the whole 
 of the arm consists of one bone only. 
 
 It will be perceived that, from the slanting direction of the lower bone of the shoulder, 
 the weight of the horse, and the violence of the concussion, vvill be shared between the 
 radius and the ulna, and therefore lei?s liable to injure either; and the circumstance of 
 so much weight and jar being communicated to them, will account for the extensive 
 and peculiarly sfrong union between these bones in the young horse, and the speedy in- 
 flammation of the uniting substance and absorption of it, and substitution of bone, and 
 complete bony union between the radius and ulna, in the old horse. The immense 
 muscles which are attached to the point of the elbow likewise render it necessary that 
 the union between these bones should be verj^ strong. 
 
 The arm is a most important part of the horse, as will be seen when we describe the 
 muscles which belong to it. We have spoken of those at q, r, and s, proceeding from 
 the shoulder-blade and the lower bone of the shoulder, and inserted into the elbow. 
 They are the grand agents in extending the arm ; and in proportion to the power which 
 tliey exert, wUl be the quickness and the length of the stride. The strengtli of the 
 horse, so far as his fore-limbs are concerned, principally resides here. Then we look 
 for a large and muscular arm, and we look likewise for such a foimation of the limb, 
 and particularly of the elbow, as will enable these muscles to act with most advantage. 
 The principle of the lever, to which we have referred (p. 180,) is here beautifully 
 applicable. The elbow-joint is the centre of motion ; tlie whole of tlie lower part of tlie 
 leg is the weight to be raised ; and the power by which it is to be raised in one act of 
 progiession, the extending of the limb, is the muscles inserted into the elbow. In pro- 
 portion as the weight is more distant than the power from the centre of motion, as it is 
 in the construction of this limb, so will be the greater degree of energy requisite to be 
 exerted. We will suppose Uiat tiie weight, taking the knee to be the centre of it, is 
 eighteen inches from the elbow-joint, that the limb weighs 60 lbs., and that the elbow 
 projects two inches from the joint ; then an energy equal to nine times the weight, oir 
 
THE ARM. 185 
 
 540 lbs., will be needed to move and extend the limb, because the weight is nine times 
 fartlier from the centre of motion than the power is. We will suppose that in another 
 horse tlie point of the elbow projects three inches liom the joint, the weight of the leg 
 remaining- the same. Three are one-sixth of eighteen; and only six times the force, or 
 3G0 lbs., will be required, making a did'erence in, or saving of muscular action, equal to 
 180 lbs. in each extension of the arm. If a few pounds in the weight of the rider tell so 
 much tor or against tire horse in a long race, this saving of power must make an almost 
 incalculable ditierence ; and, therefore, judges of the horse rightly attaciiso much impor- 
 tance to the depth of the elbow, or the projection of the point of the elbow from the joint. 
 When describing the proper obliquity of tb.e slioulder, we proved that the power was 
 exerted with most advantage in a line perpendicular to the arm of the lever, and that the 
 slightest deviation from that line was manifestly disadvantageous. If the reader will 
 examine the cut he will perceive that muscles from the shoulder and the bone of the 
 arm take a direction much nearer to a perpendicular line in the long than in the short 
 elbow, and therefore act with proportionably greater advantage ; and if we add this ad- 
 vantage from the direction in which the power is applied to that which we gain from the 
 increased length of the bone, we shall be justified in affirming that the addition of one- 
 third to the length or projection of the elbow would be attended by a saving of one-half 
 in the expenditure of muscular power. There is, however, a limit to this. In propor- 
 tion as the elbow is lengthened, it must move over a greater space in order to give the 
 requisite extension to the limb ; and consequently the muscles which act upon it must be 
 lengthened, otherwise we might have easy but confined action. There must be harmony 
 of proportion in the different parts of the limb, but a deep elbow, within a certain range, 
 is always connected with increased power of action. 
 
 The elbow is sometimes fractured. If the animal be placed in the hands of a skilful 
 veterinarian, although the chances of cure are certainly against the horse, yet the owner 
 need not despair. Absolute and long continued rest, and that produced by means of a 
 sling, will be indispensable. 
 
 Enlargements sometimes appear about the elbow, either the consequence of a violent 
 blow, or from the calkins of the shoes injuring this part w'hen the horse sleeps with his 
 legs doubled under him. If a seton be passed through the tumour, it will sometimes 
 rapidly diminish, and even disappear ; but if it be of considerable magnitude, the skin 
 should be slit open along the middle of tlie swelling, and the tumour dissected out. 
 
 The elbow-joint is sometimes punctured, either accidentally, or through the brutality 
 of the groom or carter. The swelling is often rapid and extensive, and fatal inflamma- 
 tion may ensue. Rest, and the closure of the wound, are the most important considera- 
 tions. 
 
 There are other muscles of the fore-arm employed in extending the limb. At x, page 
 182, is the principal one, called the extensor of the leg ; it is of considerable bulk, and 
 occupies the front part of the arm. Itai-ises from the lower part of the body of the lower 
 bone of the shoulder, and from its outer head. As it descends down the ann, it becomes 
 tendinous ; the tendon passes under one of the ligaments of the knee ; it then spreads 
 out, and is inserted into tlie fore and upper part of the shank bone. It is also seen at b, 
 page 183. 
 
 The next muscle in situation and importance is seen at w, and called the extensor of the 
 foot. It rises from the outer head of the lower bone of the shoulder, and likewise from 
 the outer head of the bone of the arm. It becomes tendinous as it proceeds, and passes 
 under a strong ring at the knee, by which it is confined in its proper situation ; it then 
 runs along th<^ front of the shank-bone, tied down by strong cellular substance ; passes 
 over the fetlock, and part of the upper pastern, is inserted into the lower part of the 
 upper pastern, into the lower pastern, and the coffin-bone or bone of the foot. It there- 
 fore extends all these bones ; and as it passes over the shank, being tied down to it in 
 every part of its course, it likewiseserves to extend that bone. 
 
 At u, page 182, is the tendon of another extensor muscle, and at z a curious oblique 
 one, passing over the tendom of x, confining it in its situation, and likewise itself assist- 
 ing in extending or straightening the leg. 
 
 The muscles employed in bending the leg are both numerous and powerful. Two of 
 the superficial ones are given in the cut, page 182. The first is at t, page 182 ; it is also 
 seen at b, page 183. It is called the middle flexor, or bending muscle of- the shank-bone, 
 because it lies precisely on the middle of the back part of tne arm. It arises from the 
 inner head of the lower bone of the shoulder, and is inserted into one of the bones on the 
 inner side of the knee. The other is seen at v, page 182. It is called the external flexor 
 of the leg, because it lies on the outer side of the arm, towards the back. It arises from 
 the outer head of the lower bone of the shoulder ; advancing towards the knee, it is ten- 
 dinous, and the tendon divides into two portions, one of which is inserted into the same 
 bone of the knee, and the other into the outer small bone of the leg. The internal flexor 
 is seen at e, page 183. It proceeds from the inner head of the lower bone of the shoulder, 
 24 
 
186 THE HORSE. 
 
 and is inserted into the head of the inner splint bone, and its office is to bend the leg, and 
 very slightly turn it. A portion of one of the most powerful of the flexor muscles, and 
 
 fowerful indeed they must be, is delineated at c, page 183. It is the Jiexor of the arm. 
 t rises from the extremity of the ridge of the shoulder-blade in the form of a large and 
 round tendon, which runs between two prominences in the upper part of the front of the 
 lower bone of the shoulder, in as perfect a groove or pulley as art ever contrived. This 
 groove is lined with smooth cartilage ; and between it and the tendon there is an oily 
 fluid, so that the tendon plays freely in tlie pulley without friction. Having escaped 
 from this pulley, and passed the head of the lower bone of the shoulder, the cord swells 
 out into a round fleshy body, still containing many tendinous fibres. Deeply seated, it 
 contributes materially to the bulk of the front of the arm ; and, having reached the arm, 
 it is inserted into the head and neck of the bone of the arm, and likewise into the capsu- 
 lai- ligament of the elbow joint. It is the main muscle by which, almost alone, the whole 
 of tlie leg below the arm is bent. 
 
 It acts at great disadvantage. It is inserted into the veiy head of the bone of the 
 arm, and expanded even upon the joint. Then the power is applied almost close to the 
 centre of motion, while tlie weight to be raised is far distant from it. The power is thirty 
 times nearer the centre of motion than is the weight ; and, calculating, as before, the 
 weight of the Jirm and tlie rest of the limb at 60lbs., it must act with a force of thirty 
 times sixty, or 1800 lbs. In addition to this, the line of the direction of the force strangely 
 deviates from a perpendicular : the direction of the muscle is nearly the same as that of 
 the limb, and the mechanical disadvantage is almost incalculably great. We will take it 
 at only ten times more ; then this muscle, and its feeble coadjutors, act with a force of 
 ten times 1800 or 18,000 lbs. 
 
 Why this almost incredible expenditure of muscular power ? — First, that the beauty 
 of the limb might be preserved, and the joint might be compact. If the tendon had 
 oeen inserted halfway down the arm, the elbow-joint would have offered a very unsight- 
 ly appearance. 
 
 Beauty of form, however, is the least result of this conformation ; without it the ani- 
 mal wodld not have been fitted for the purposes to which we devote him. It is a law of 
 mechanics, that what is lost in power is gained in velocity The product of the power, 
 and the space passed over by the arm of the lever to which it is attached, must always be 
 equal to the product of the weight, and of the space passed over by the arm that supports 
 it ; and if a power, equal to thirty times the weight, is obliged to be exerted at the upper 
 part of the bone of the arm, the centre of that bone, which may be considered as the cen- 
 tre of the weight, will pass over thirty times the space, ai:id the extremity of the limb will 
 pass over sixty times the space. The muscle will contract with a great deal of rapidity, 
 but the foot will move with sixty times that rapidity, in order to pass over sixty times the 
 space in the same time. This is precisely what we want. Extensive and rapid motion 
 are the excellences of the horse. He is valuable in proportion as he hastliem, combined 
 with stoutness ; and by this confonnation of the limb alone could he obtain them. There- 
 fore the tendon is at first unusually strong; it plays through the natural but perfect pul- 
 ley of the bone of the arm without friction ; the body of the muscle is mixed with ten- 
 dinous fibres, and the insertion into the fore-arm is very extensive, lest the application 
 of such immense force should tear it from its adhesions. There is suflicient strength in 
 the apparatus ; the power may be safely applied at tliis mechanical disadvantage ; and it 
 is applied close to the joint to give an extent and rapidity of motion which could not 
 otherwise have been obtained, and without which the horse would have been compara- 
 tively useless. 
 
 At the back of the arm are other flexor muscles of great power, to bend the lower 
 portions of the limb. We have described two of them belonging to the arm and the leg, 
 and we must not pass over tlie very peculiar ones acting on the leet. Only a small por- 
 tion of one of them can be seen in our cut, page 182, at 1. 
 
 The first is the perforated flexor muscle ; the reason of the name will presently ap- 
 peal". It arises from &e lower and back part of the inner head of the lower bone of the 
 shoulder, and intermixed with, or rather between the origins of the muscle next to be 
 described, and called the perforating muscle. As it descends along the bone of the arm, 
 it becomes tendinous : and, approaching the knee, it is bound down by eurches or bands 
 of ligament, that it may not start in sudden and violent action. Proceeding from the 
 knee, it widens, and partly wraps round the tendon of the peforating muscle, and they 
 run down together in contact, yet not adhering ; freely playing over each other, and mu- 
 cous fluid obviating all friction. Both of them are inclosed in a sheath of dense cellular 
 substance, attached to them by numerous fibrils ; and they are likewise supported by va- 
 rious ligamentous expansions. Near the fetlock the tendon still farther expands, and 
 forms a complete ring round the tendon of the perforating muscle. This is seen at J, 
 p. 88. The use of this will be best explained when we are treating of the fetlock. 
 The peiforated tendon soon afterwards divides, and is inserted into tne smaller and 
 larger pastern bones, and flexes or bends them. 
 
THE KNEE. 187 
 
 The next is the perforating flexor muscle. It has nearly the same origin as the otlier, 
 but with somewhat distinct heads. It continues muscular farther down the arm than tlie 
 
 f)erlbrated, and lies before it. At the knee it passes, like the perforated, under strong 
 igamentary arches, which confine it in its situation. It then becomes round, and is 
 partly wrapped up in the perforated ; and at the fetlock is entirely surrounded by it. It 
 emerges from the perforated when that tendon divides, and continues its progress alone 
 after the other has inserted itself into the pasterns, and, passing over the navicular bone, 
 terminates on the base of the coffin-bone, or bone of the foot. 
 
 It is sufficiently plain that the arm should be large and muscular, otherwise it cannot 
 discharge all these duties. Horsemen ditfer on a variety of other points, but here they 
 are agreed. A full and swelling fore-arm is the characteristic of every thorough-bred 
 horse, and for speed and continuance he is unequalled. Whatever other good points a 
 horse may possess, if the arm be narrow in front and near the shoulder, flat on the side, 
 and altogether poor in appearance, that horse is radically defective : he can neither raise 
 his knee for rapid action, nor throws his legs sufficiently forward. 
 
 The arm should likewise be long. In proportion to the length of the muscle is the 
 degree of contraction of which it is capable ; and in proportion to the degree of con- 
 traction in the muscle will be the extent of motion in the part of the limb beneath. A 
 racer, with a short arm, would be sadly deficient in stride : a hunter, with the same de- 
 fect, would not be able to double his legs well under him in the leap. There is, however, 
 a medium in this, and the advantage of length in the arm will depend on the use to 
 which the horse is applied. The lady's horse, the cavalry horse, every horse in which 
 prancing action is esteemed a beauty, and in which utility is, to a certain degree, sacri- 
 ficed to appearance, must not be too long in the arm. If he be long there, he will be 
 proportionably short in the leg ; and although this is an undoubted excellence, whether 
 speed or continuance be regarded, the short leg will not give the grand and imposing 
 action which fashion may require ; and, in addition to this, a horse with short legs may 
 not have quite so easy action as another whose length is in the shank rather than in the arm. 
 
 THE KNEE. 
 
 The knee (M, p. 49, and cut, p. 180) constitutes the joint or joints between the arm 
 and the shank or leg ; and it is far more complicated than any joint we have yet discov- 
 ered. Beside the lower head of the bone of the arm, and the upper heads of the three 
 bones of the leg, there are no less than six other bones interposed, arranged in two rows, 
 three in each row, and the seventh placed behind the other, to which an eighth is some- 
 times added. 
 
 What was the intention of this complicated structure ? A joint between the elbow and 
 the fetlock was absolutely necessary to the action of the horse. An inflexible pillar of 
 that length could scarcely have been lifted from the ground, and certainly could not have 
 been lifted far enough for rapid or safe motion. It was likewise necessary, that the 
 interposing joint should be so constituted as to preserve this part of the limb in a straight 
 direction, and should possess sufficient strength to resist all common work and accidents. 
 Being in a straight direction, the shock or jar between the ends of the bones of the arm 
 and the leg would be dreadful, and would speedily inflict irreparable injury. The heads 
 of all bones are covered with elastic cartilage, to protect them from injury by concussion, 
 but this would be altogether insufficient here. Six distinct bones, then, are placed here, 
 each covered above and below by a thick coating of cartilage, connected together by 
 strong ligaments, but separated by fluids and membranes interposed. The concussion is 
 thus spread ovor the whole of them — shared by the whole of them ; and, by the peculi- 
 arity of their connexion, deadened and rendered harmless. 
 
 These six distinct bones, united to each other by numerous and powerful ligaments, 
 will also afford a far stronger joint than the apposition of any two bones, however perfect 
 and strong might be the capsular ligament, or by whatever other ligaments it could be 
 strengthened. In addition to the connexion between the individual bones, there is a 
 perfect capsular ligament here, extending from the bone of the arm to those of the leg ; 
 and the result of the whole is, that, although the centre of such a column must be the 
 weakest part, and most liable to bow out and give way, the hardest work and the severest 
 accidents produce little deformity, and no dislocation in the knee ; nor do the shocks and 
 jars of many a year cause inflammation or disease. It is an undeniable fact, tliatsuch is 
 the perfect construction of this joint, and to so great a degree does it lessen concussion, 
 that the injuries resulting from hard work are, almost without an exception, found below 
 the knee. 
 
 The seventh bone, the trapezium, so called from its quadrangular figure, is placed (see 
 M, p. 49) behind the others, and does not bear the slightest portion of the weight. It, 
 however, is very useful. Two of the flexor muscles, already described, proceeding from 
 the bone of the arm, are inserted into it; and thus, being thrown off the limb, have a 
 less oblique direction given to them ; and, therefore, according to the principle of the 
 lever, act with considerably more power It is also useful in another way. As the 
 
188 THE HORSE. 
 
 tendons of the various muscles descend the Uinbs, they are tied down, zs we have 
 described by strong ligamentous bands ,• this is particularly the case in the neighborhood 
 of the joints. The use of tliis is evident. The extensor tendons, which he principally 
 on the front of the leg, are prevented from starting, and strengthened and assisted in 
 their action ; but the Hexor tendons which he at the back would be liable to friction, 
 and their motion would be impeded, if they were bound down too tightly. This 
 projecting bone prevents the aniudar or ring-like ligament from passing too closely on 
 the main dexor tendons of the foot ; and while it leaves them room to play, leaves room 
 likewise for a little bag, filled with mucous to surround tliem, which mucous, oozing 
 slowly out, supplies the whole course of the tendons down the legs with a tluid tliat 
 takes away the possibility of injurious friction. 
 
 The knee should be broad. It should present a very striking width, compared with 
 the arm above, or the shank below. The broader the knee is, the more space there is 
 for the attachment of the muscles, and for the accumulation of ligamentous expansions 
 and bands. In proportion to the breadth of the knee there will be more strength ; and 
 likewise the direction of some muscles will be less oblique, and tliose of others will be 
 more removed from the centre of motion ; and, in either case, much power will be 
 gained. 
 
 BROKEN KNEES. 
 
 The treatment of broken knees is a subject of considerable importance, for many 
 horses are sadly blemished, and others are destroyed, by wounds in the knee-joint. The 
 horse, when talUng, naturally throws his knees forward ; they receive all his weight, 
 and are sometimes very extensively lacerated. The first thing to be done is, by very 
 careful washing with warm water, to cleanse the wound from all gravel and dht. It 
 must then be ascertained whether the joint is penetrated. The grating of the probe on 
 one of the bones of the knee, or the depth to which the probe enters the wound, will 
 often too plainly indicate that the joint has been opened. Should any doubt exist, let a 
 linseed-meal poidtice be applied. This will at least act as a fomentation to the wound, 
 and will prevent or abate inflammation ; and when, twelve hours afterwards, it is taken 
 off, the synovia, or joint-oil, in the form of a glairy, yellowish, transparent fluid, will be 
 seen, if tiie capsular ligament has been penetrated. Should doubt remain after the first 
 poultice, apply a second. 
 
 The opening of the joint being ascertained, the first and immediate care is to close the 
 orifice ; for the fluid which separated and lubricated the bones of the knee being suffered 
 to flow out, they will be brought into actual contact with each other ; they will rub upon 
 each other ; the delicate membrane with which they are covered will be highly inflamed ; 
 the constitution will be speedily affected, and a degree of fever will ensue that will 
 destroy the horse ; and in the mean time, of all the tortures that can be inflicted on the 
 poor animal, none can equal that which accompanies inflammation of the membranes 
 lining the joints. 
 
 The manner of closing the orifice must be left to the judgment of the veterinary 
 surgeon, who alone is capable of properly treating such a case. It may be effected by 
 a compress enclosing tlie whole of the wound, and not to be removed for many days ; 
 or it may be attempted by the old and generally successful method of applying the hot 
 iron over the wound, and particularly over the spot where the ligament appears to be 
 lacerated. A poultice may then be placed on the part, and the case treated as a 
 common wound. Should the joint-oil continue to flow, the iron may be applied a 
 second, or even a third time. By the application of the iron, so much swelling is 
 produced on the immediate puncture, and in the neighboring parts, as mechanically 
 to close and plug up the orifice. 
 
 If, however, the opening into the joint be extensive, and the joint-oil continues to 
 flow, and the horse is evidently suffering much pain, humanity will dictate that he 
 should to be destroyed. The case is hopeless. A high degree of fever will ere long 
 carry the animal olf, or the inflammation will cause a deposite of matter in the cavity 
 of the joint, which will produce incurable lameness. 
 
 The pain caused by the iron is doubtless great ; it is, however, necessary, but let 
 no reader of ' The Horse' permit the torturing experiments of the farrier to be tried, 
 who will frequently inject stimulating fluids, and even oil of vitriol, into one of the most 
 sensible and irritable cavities in the whole frame. 
 
 A person well acquainted with the anatomy of the part will judge of the probability 
 of a favorable result, not merely by the extent, but by the situation of the wound. If 
 it is low down and opposite to the bottom row, a small opening into the joint will be 
 easily closed ; a larger one need not cause despair, because there is little motion 
 between the lower row and the bones of the leg. If it be high up, there is more danger 
 because there is more motion, If it be situated opposite to the union of the two rows, 
 the result is most to be dreaded, because between these is the principle motion of the 
 joint, and that motion would not only disunite and irritate the external wound, but 
 
THE LEG. 189 
 
 cause dreadful friction between the bones brought into actual contact with each other, 
 fhrough the loss of the joint-oil. 
 
 When the skin has been lacerated, although the wound may be healed, some blemish 
 will remain. The extent of this blemish will depend on the extent and nature of the 
 original wound, and more especially on the nature of the treatment which has been 
 adopted. Every caustic application will destroy more of the skin, and leave a larger 
 marlc. Should the blemish be considerable, a mild blister may be applied over the part, 
 after the wound has healed. It will stimulate the hair to grow more rapidly and thickly 
 round the scar, and particularly hair of the natural color ; and by contracting the skin 
 it will lessen the scar itself. Many persons have great faith in ointments, which are 
 said to promote the growth of the hair. If they have that property, it must be from 
 stimulating the skin, in which the roots of the hair are embedded. These ointments 
 must contain a small portion of blistering matter, in the form of turpentine, or the 
 Spanish tly. The common application of gunpowder and lard may, by blackening the 
 part, conceal the blemish, but can have no possible etfect in quickening the growth of 
 the hair. 
 
 In examining a horse for purchase, the knees are very strictly scrutinized. A blemish 
 on them should not induce us at once to condemn the animal ; for a bad rider, or the 
 merest accident, may throw the safest horse. A broken knee, however, is a suspicious 
 circumstance, and calls for the most careful observation of the make and action of the 
 horse. If it be accompanied by a thick and upright shoulder, and legs far under the 
 horse, and low slovenly action, he is unwise who does not take the hint : this faulty 
 conformation has produced its natural consequence. But if the shoulder be oblique, 
 and the withers high, and the fore-arm strong, the good judge will not reject the animal 
 because he may have been accidentally thrown. 
 
 The part of the limb between the knee and the fetlock consits of three bones — a large 
 one before, called the cannon or shank, and two smaller or splint bones behind, (see N, 
 p. 49.) The shank-bone is rounded in front, and flattened, or even concave behind. 
 It is the straightest of the long bones, as well as the most superficially situated, for in 
 some parts it is covered only by the skin. The upper head is flat, with straight depres- 
 sions corresponding with the lower row of the bones of the knee. The lower head is 
 difterently and curiously formed. It resembles a double pulley. There are three eleva- 
 tions, the principal one in the centre, and one on each side ; and between them are two 
 slight grooves ; and these so precisely correspond with deep depressions and slight 
 
 Erominencies in the upper head of the larger pastern, and are so enclosed and guarded 
 y the elevated edges of that bone, that when the shank-bone and the pastern are fitted 
 to each other, they form a perfect hinge : they admit of the bending and extension of 
 the limb, but of no lateral or side motion ; which is a circumstance of very great im- 
 portance in a joint so situated, and having the whole weight of the horse thrown upon it. 
 The smaller bones are placed behind the larger on either side ; a slight projection 
 only of the head of each can be seen in front. The heads of these bones are enlarged, 
 and receive part of the weight conveyed by the lower row of the bones of the knee. 
 They are united to the larger bone by the same kind of substance which is found in the 
 colt between tlie bone of the elbow and the main bone of the arm ; and which is design- 
 ed, like that, by its great elasticity, to lessen the concussion or jar when the weight of 
 the animanl is thrown on them. They reach from one-half to two-thirds of the length 
 of the shank-bone, and, through their whole extent, are united to it by this substance ; 
 but, as in the elbow, from the animal being worked too soon, or too violently, inflamma- 
 tion ensues, and bony matter is deposited in the room of the ligamentous ; and a bony 
 union takes place instead of the natural one. There is no doubt that the ease of mo- 
 tion is somewhat lessened by this substitution of bone, but other elastic principles are 
 probably called into more powerful action, and the value of the horse is not perceptibly 
 impaired ; although it is hard to say what secret injury may be done to the neighboring 
 joints, and the cause of which, lamness appearing at a distant period, is not suspected. 
 In this process, however, mischief does not often immediately extend to the neighbor- 
 ing parts. The disposition to deposite bone reaches beyond the circumscribed space 
 between the larger and smaller bones of the leg ; and a tumour, first callous and afterwards 
 bony, IS found, with r)art of its base resting on the line of union between these bones. 
 This is called a 
 
 SPLINT. 
 
 The splint is invariably found on the outside of the small bone, and generally on the 
 inside of the leg, (c, p. 198.) Why it should appear on the outside of the small bones 
 it is difiicult to explain, except that the space between these bones is occupied by an 
 important mechanism, which vrill be presently described ; and, as in the case of abscess. 
 
190 THE HORSE. 
 
 a natural tendency was given to them to determine outward, that vital parts may not be 
 injured. The cause of their almost exclusive appeaiance on the inside of the leg admits 
 of easier explanation. The inner splint-bone is placed near the centre of the weight of 
 the body than tlie other, and, from the nature of its connexion witht he bones of theknee, 
 actually receives more of the weight than does the outer bone, and therefore is more 
 liable to injury, and inflammation, and this consequent deposite of bone. The inner- 
 bone receives the whole of the weight transmitted to one of the small bones of the knee. 
 It is the only support of that bone. A portion only of one of the bones rests on the 
 outer splint-bone, and the weight is shared between it and the shank. In addition to 
 this, it is the absurd practice of many smith's to raise the outer heel of the shoe to an 
 extravagant degree, which throws still more of the weight of the horse on the inner 
 splint-bone. These tumours occassionally appear on other parts of the shank -bone, 
 being the consequence of the violent blows, or other external injuries. 
 
 When the splint is forming, the horse is frequently lame. The periosteum or mem- 
 brane covering the bone is painfully stretched ; but when this membrane has accom- 
 modated itself to the tumour that extended it, the lameness subsides and altogether 
 disappears, unless the splint be in a situation in which it interferes with the action ot 
 some tendon or ligament, or in the immediate neighborhood of a joint. Pressing upon 
 a ligament or tendon, it may cause inflammation of those substances ; or, being close to 
 a jomt, it may interfere with its action. Splints, then, do not necessarily cause unsound- 
 ness, and may not lessen in the slightest degree the action or value of the horse. All 
 depends on their situation. When we have described the situation and course of the 
 suspensory ligaments, we shall be enabled to enter more fully into this. 
 
 The treatment of splints, if it be worth while to meddle with them, is exceedingly 
 simple. The hair should be closely shaved off round the tumour; a little strong mer- 
 curial ointment rubbed in for two days; and this should be followed by an active 
 blister. If the splint be of recent formation, it will usually yield to this, or to a second 
 blister. Should it resist these applications, it can rarely be advisable to cauterize the 
 part, unless the tumour interferes materially with the action of the suspensory ligament ; 
 for it not unfrequently happens, that, although the splint may have apparently resisted 
 this treatment, it will afterwards, and at no great distance of time, begin rapidly to 
 lessen, and quite disappear. There is also a natural process by which the greater part 
 of splints disappear when the horse gets old. 
 
 As for the old remedies, many of them brutal enough, — bruising the splint with a 
 hammer, boring it with a gimlet, chipping it off" with a mallet, sawing it off, slitting 
 down the skin and periosteum over it, sweating it down with hot oils, and passing 
 setons over it, — the voice of humanity, and the progress of science, will consign them 
 to speedy oblivion. 
 
 The inside of the leg, immediately under the knee, and extending to the head of the 
 inner splint-bone, is subject to injury from what is termed the speedy cut. A horse with 
 high action, and in the fast trot, violently strikes this part either with his hoof or the edge 
 of the shoe. Sometimes bony enlargement is the result, at others great heat and tender- 
 ness ; and the pain from the blow seems occasionally to be so great that the horse drops 
 as if he were shot. The only remedy is to take care that no part of the shoe projects 
 beyond the foot; and to let the inner side of the shoe, except the country be very deep, 
 or the horse used for hunting, have but one nail, and that near the toe. This part of the 
 hoof, being unfettered with nails, will expand when it comes in contact with the ground, 
 and contract when in air and relieved from the pressure of tlie weight of the body ; and, 
 although this contraction is to no great extent, it will be sufficient to carry the foot harm- 
 lessly by the leg. Care should likewise be taken that the shoe be of equal thickness at 
 the heel and the toe, and that the bearing be equal on both sides. 
 
 Immediately under the knee we find one of those ligamentous rings by which the 
 tendons are so usefully bound down and secured ; but if tne hinder bone of the knee, the 
 trapezium, described at p. 187, be not sufliciently prominent, this ring will confine the 
 flexor tendons of the foot too tightly, and the leg will be very deficient in depth under 
 theknee. This is called being tied in beloiu theknee. {b, p. 198.) Every horseman 
 recognizes it as a most serious defect. It is scarcely compatible, with speed, and most 
 assuredly not with continuance. Such a horse cannot be ridden far and fast without 
 serious sprain in the back sinews. The reason is plain ; the pressure of the ring will 
 produce a degree of friction inconsistent with the free action of the tendons ; more force 
 must, therefore, be exerted in every act of progression ; and, although the muscles are 
 powerful, and sufficiently powerful for every ordinary purpose, the repetition of this 
 extra exertion will tire and strain them. A more serious evil, however, remains to be 
 stated. When the back sinews or tendons are thus tied down, they are placed in a more 
 oblique direction, and in which the power of the muscles is exerted with greater disad- 
 vantage ; and, therefore, both for extraordinary, and even ordinary action, a greater 
 degi-ee of exertion is required, and fatigue and sprain will frequently result. There are 
 few more serious defects than this tying-in of the tendons immediately below the knee. 
 
SPRAIN OF THE BACK-SINEWS. 191 
 
 The fore-leg may be narrow in front, but it must be deep at the side, in order to render 
 the horse valuable ; for then only will the tendons have free action, and the muscular 
 force be exerted in the most advantageous direction. The recollection of the reader will 
 convince him, that there are few good race-horses whose legs are not deep below the 
 knee. If there are exceptions, it is because their exertion, although violent, is but of 
 short duration. The race is decided in a few minutes ; and, during that little period, 
 the spirit and energy of the animal may successfully sti-uggle with the disadvantages of 
 form ; but where great and long-continued exertion is required, as in the hunter or the 
 hackney, no strength can long contend cigainst this palpably disadvantageous misappli- 
 cation of muscular power. 
 
 As they descend tlie back part of the leg, the tendons of the perforated and perforating 
 flexor muscle should be far and distinctly apart from the shank-bone. There should be 
 space free from thickening for the finger and thumb on either side to be introduced 
 between them and the bone, and that extending from the knee to the fetlock. In a per- 
 fect leg — and towards its lower part, there should be three distinct and perfect projections 
 visible to tJie eye, cis well as recognizable by the finger, the sides of the shank-bone, the 
 most forward of the three ; next, the suspensory ligament ; and hindermost of all, the 
 flexor tendons. When these are not to be distinctly seen or felt, or there is considerable 
 thickening about them and between them, (b. p. 198) and Uie leg is round instead of flat 
 and deep, there has been, what is commonly, but improperly called, 
 
 SPRAIN OF THE BACK-SINEWS. 
 
 These tendons are enclosed in a sheath of dense cellular substance, to confine them in 
 their situation, and to defend them from injury. Between the tendon and the sheath 
 tliere is a mucous fluid, to prevent friction ; but when the horse has been overworked, or 
 put to sudden and violent exertion, the tendon presses upon the delicate membrane lining 
 the sheath, and inflammation is produced, and a different fluid is thrown out, which coagu- 
 lates, and adhesions are formed between the tendon and the sheath, and the motion of 
 the limb is more diflicult and painful. At other times, from violent or long continued 
 exertion, some of the fibres which tie the tendons down are ruptured. A sliglit injury of 
 tliis nature is called a sprain of the back-sinews or tendons ; and when it is more serious, the 
 horse is said to have broken down. It should be remembered, however, that the tendon 
 can never be sprained, because it is inelastic and incapable of extension ; and the tendon 
 or its sheath, are scarcely ever ruptured, even in what is called breaking down. The 
 first injury is confined to inflammation of the sheath, or rupture of a few of the attaching 
 fibres. The inflammation of the part, however, is often very great, the pain intense, and 
 the lameness excessive. The anguish expressed at every bending of the limb, and the 
 local swelling and heat, will clearly indicate the seat of injury. 
 
 la every serious affection of this kind, care should be taken that the local inflammation 
 does not produce general disturbance of the system ; and, therefore, the horse should be 
 bled and physicked. The bleeding may be at the toe, by which an important local, as 
 well as general effect, will be produced. The vessels of the part wiU be relieved, while 
 fever will be prevented. Let not the bleeding be performed in the usual farrier's way of 
 first paring down the sole, and then taking out a piece of it at the toe of the frog ; in 
 which case a wound is made often difficult to heal, and through which fungous granula- 
 tions from the sensible parts beneath wfll obstinately spring ; but after the sole has been 
 well thinned, let a groove be cut with the rounded head of a small drawing-knife, at the 
 junction of the sole and the crust (see s in the next cut p. 193.) The large vein at the 
 toe wiU thus be opened, or the groove may be widened backward until it be found. When 
 the blood begins to appear, the vein may be more fi-eely opened, by a small lancet thrust 
 horizontally under the sole, and almost any quantity of blood may be easily procured. 
 The immersion of the foot in warm water will cause the blood to flow more rapidly. 
 When a sufficient quantity has been drawn, a bit of tow may be placed in the groove, 
 and the shoe tacked on. The bleeding will be immediately stopped, and tlie wound will 
 readily heal. 
 
 As a local application, let no hot farriers oil come near the part, but let the leg be well 
 fomented with warm water two or three times in the day, and half an hour at each time ; 
 and, between the fomentations, let the leg be enclosed in a poultice of linseed-meal. Any 
 herb that pleases the owner may be added to the fomentation, or vinegar or, Goulard's 
 extract to the poultice ; but the beneficial effect of both depends simply on the warmth 
 of the water and the moisture of the poultice. The first object which the surgeon has in 
 view, is to abate tlie inflammation of the part, and no means are so likely as tliese to 
 effect that purpose. Every stimulating appUcation will infallibly aggravate the mischief. 
 
 The horse beginning to put his foot better to the ground, and to bear pressure on the 
 part, and the heat having disappeared, the object to be accomplished is changed ; re- 
 currence of the inflammation must be prevented, the enlargement must be got rid 
 of, and the parts must be strengthened. The two latter purposes cannot be better 
 
192 THE HORSE. 
 
 effected than by using an elastic bandage — one of thin flannel will be the best. This 
 will sustain and support the limb, while by few means are the absorbents sooner in- 
 duced to take up me effused coagulable matter of which the swelling is composed, 
 than by moderate pressure. If the bandage be kept wet with vinegeir, to each pint of 
 which a quarter of a pint of spirit of wine has been added, the skin will be slightly 
 stimulated and contracted, and the cold produced by the constant evaporation will tend 
 to subdue the remaining and deep-seated inflammation This bandage should be daily 
 tightened in proportion as the parts are capable of bearing increased pressure, and the 
 treatment should be persisted in for a fortnight ; if, at me expiration of that period, 
 there be no swelling, tenderness, or heat, the horse may gradually and very cautiously, 
 be put to his usual work. 
 
 Should there, however, remain the slightest lameness or considerable enlargement, 
 the leg must be blistered ; and, indeed, it would seldom be bad practice to blister after 
 a case of severe sprain ; for the inflammation lies deep in the sheath of the tendons, 
 and the part once sprained long remains weak, and subject to renewed injury, not only 
 from unusual, but even ordinary exertion. If the blister be resorted to, time should be 
 given for it to produce its gradual and full effect, and the horse should be turned out for 
 one or two months ; and here we must be permitted to repeat, that a blister should 
 never be used while any heat or tenderness remains about the pai-t, otherwise the shghtest 
 injury may be, and often is, converted into incurable lameness. 
 
 Very severe sprains, but much oftener sprains badly treated, may require the appli- 
 cation of the cautery. If from long continued inflammation, the structure of the part 
 is materially altered, if the swelling is becoming callous, or the skin is thickened, and 
 prevents the free motion of the limb, no stimulus short of the heated iron will be suflS- 
 cient to rouse the absorbents to remove tlie injurious deposite. The principal use of 
 firing is to rouse the absorbents to such increased action that they shall take up and 
 remove the disease thickness of the skin, and likewise the unnatural deposit in the 
 cellular substance beneath. The firing should be applied in straight lines, because the 
 skin, contracting by the application of the cautery, and gradually regaining its elastic 
 nature, will thus form the best bandage over the weakened part. Here, even more 
 particularly than in the blister, time should be given for the full action of the firing. — 
 This removal of diseased matter is a work of slow progress. Many weeks pas3 
 away before it is perfectly accomplished ; and, after firing, the horse should have at 
 least a six months', and it would be better if he could be given a twelve months' run 
 at grass. When the animal has been set to work in a few weeks, and the enlargement 
 remains, or lameness returns, the fault is to be attributed to the impatience of the owner, 
 and not to the want of power in the operation, or skill in the operator. 
 
 Farriers are apt to blis'er immediately after firing. A bhster may be useful six 
 weeks or two months after firing, if lameness remains ; but can never be wanted imme- 
 diately after the severe operation of the cautery. If the iron has been skilfully applied, 
 subsequent blistering inflicts on the animal, already sufficiently tortured, much unne- 
 cessary and useless pain, and should never be resorted to by him who possesses the 
 slightest feeling of humanity. 
 
 In examining a horse for purchase, the closest attention should be paid to the appear- 
 ance of these flexor tendons. If there be any thickness of cellular substance around mem, 
 that horse has been sprained violently, or the sprain has not been properly treated. This 
 thickening will probably fetter the motion of the tendon, and dispose the part to the 
 recurrence of inflammation and lameness. Such a horse, although at the time pei-fectly 
 free from lameness, will be regarded with suspicion, and cannot fairly be considered as 
 sound. He is only patched up for a while, and will probably fail at the close of the 
 the first day's hard work. 
 
 WIND GALLS. 
 
 Approaching nearer to the fetlock, we occasionally find considerable enlsirgements, 
 oftener on the nind leg than the fore one, which are denominated wind-galls, (e, p. 198.) 
 Between the tendons and other parts, and wherever the tendons are exposed to pressure 
 or friction, and particularly about their extremities, little bags or sacs aie placed, con- 
 taining and suffering to ooze slowly from them, a mucous fluid. From undue pressure, 
 and that most frequently caused by violent action and straining of the tendons, these 
 little bags become injured ; they take on inflammation, and they grow large and hard. 
 The tendons are mostly inserted into the neighbourhood of joints, and there is most 
 motion and pressure, and consequently these enlarged mucous bags, {bursce mvcosce) are 
 oftenest found about the joints. There are few horses perfectly free from them. When 
 they first appear, and until the inflammation subsides, they may be accompanied by 
 some degree of lameness ; but otherwise, except when they attain an enormous size, 
 they do not interfere with the action of the animal, or cause unsoundness. The farriers 
 U8ed to suppose that they contained wind — hence their names, wind-galls ; and hence 
 
THE PASTERNS. 
 
 193 
 
 the practice of opening them, by which dreadful inflammation lias often been produced, 
 and many a valuable horse destroyed. 
 
 A slight wind- irall will scarcely be subjected to treatment : but if these tumours are 
 numerous and large, and seem to'iuipsde the motion of the limb, they may be attacked 
 first by bandage. Tiie roller should be of danaei, aatl soft pads should be placed on each 
 of tile enlargements, an I bound-down tightly upon them. The banJagr may be wetted 
 with the lotion recommended for sprain of the back-sinews. The wiiid-gall will often 
 diminish or disappear by this treatment, but will too frequently return when the horse 
 is again hardly worked. A blister is a more etfectual remedy ; and firing still more 
 certain, if tlie" tumours be suthciently large and annoying to justify our having recourse 
 to measures so severe. In bad cases the cautery is the only cure, for it will not only 
 effect the immetUate absorption of tlie lluid, and the reduction of the swelling, but, by 
 contracting the skin, will act as a permanent bandage, and therefore prevent the re-ap- 
 pearance of the tumour. 
 
 THE PASTERNS. 
 
 At the back of the sliank just below the knee, and in the space between the two splint- 
 bones, are found two extraordinary and important ligaments, extraordinary as being elas- 
 tic, and important as being admirably adapted to obviate concussion. They have their 
 origin from the head of the shank-bone, and also from the heads of the splint-bones; then 
 descending down tlie leg, they fill the groove between the splint-bones, but are not 
 attached to either of them ; a little lower down they expand on either side, and, ap- 
 proaching the pasterns, they divide, and ai'e inserted into two little bones found at the back 
 of the upper pastern, one on each side, called the sessainoid bones. (See p. 49, and in 
 this cutwhich represents the pastern and foot, sawn through the middle.) They form a 
 kind of joint both with the lower head of the shank-bone, and the upper pastern-bone, 
 to both of which they are united by ligaments (i and g,) but much more closely tied to 
 the pastern than to the shank. The flexor tendons pass down between them through a 
 large mucous bag to relieve them from the friction to which, in so confined a situation, 
 they would be exposed. This ligament is continued overthe sessamoids, and afterwards 
 obliquely forward over the pastern to unite with the long extensor tendon, and down- 
 ward to the perforated tendon, which it surrounds and fixes in its place, and aL-o to the 
 smaller pastern bone. 
 
 iu{(4^^^a.^ ^\ I* 
 
 a The shank-bone. 
 b The upper and larger pastern-bone. 
 26 
 
194 THE HORSE. 
 
 c The sessamoid-bone. 
 
 d The lower or smaller pastern-bone. 
 
 e The navicular or shuttle-bone. 
 
 /■ The coffin-bone or bone of the foot. 
 
 g The suspensory hgament inserted into the sessamoid-bone. 
 
 h A continuation of the suspensory ligeunent inserted into the smaller pastern-bone, 
 
 i The small inelastic ligament, tying down the sessamoid bone to the larger pastern- 
 bone. 
 
 k A long ligament reaching from the pastern-bone to the knee. 
 
 I The extensor tendon inserted into both the pasterns and tlie coffin-bone. 
 
 m The tendon of the perforating flexor inserted into the coffin-bone, after having 
 passed over the navicular bone. 
 
 n The seat of the navicular joint lameness. 
 
 o The inner or sensible frog. 
 
 p The cleft of the horny frog. 
 
 g A ligcunent uniting tiie navicular bone to the smedler pastern. 
 
 r A ligament uniting the navicular bone to the coffin-bone. 
 
 s The sensible sole, between the coffin-bone and the horny sole. 
 
 t The horny sole. 
 
 u The crust or wall of the foot. 
 
 V The sensible laminae to which the crust is attached. 
 
 w The coronary ring of the cmst. 
 
 X The covering of uie coronary ligament from which the crust is secreted. 
 
 z Place of bleeding at the toe. . . 
 
 It will be easy to perceive, from this description of the situation of the suspensory 
 ligament, why splints placed backward on the leg are more likely to produce lameness 
 than those which are found on the side of the leg. They may interfere with the motion 
 of this ligament, or, if they are large, may bruise and wound it. 
 
 The principal action of these ligaments is with the sessamoid bones, which they seem 
 to suspend in their places, and they are therefore called the suspensory ligaments. The 
 pasterns (see cut, p. 193) are united to the shank in an oblique duection, diflering in 
 degree in the different breeds of horses, and in each adopted to the purpose for which 
 that breed was designed. The weight falls upon the pastern in the direction of the shank- 
 bone, and the pastern being set on obliquely, a portion of the weight must be communi- 
 cated to the sessamoids. Much jai' is saved by the yielding of the pasterns, in conse- 
 quence of their oblique direction ; and the concussion which would be produced by that 
 portion of weight which tails on the sessamoid-bones is completely destroyed, for there is 
 no bone underneath to receive it. They are suspended by this ligament — an elastic liga- 
 ment, which gradually yields to, and is lengthened by the Ibrce impressed upon it, and in 
 this gradual yielding and lengthening, all painful or dangerous concussion is rendered 
 impossible. 
 
 If the ligament lengthens, the sessamoid-bones must descend when the weight is 
 thrown on them, and it would appear that they do so. If the thorough-bred horse with 
 his long pasterns is carefully observed as he stands, the tuft at the fetlock will be some 
 inches from the turf; but when he is in rapid motion, and the weight is thrown violently 
 on this joint, the tuft descends and sweeps the very ground. This, however, is the com- 
 bined action of the fetlock and pastern-joints, and the sessamoid-bones. The sessamoids 
 do not actually descend ; but they revolve, they partly turn over. The strong ligament 
 by which they are attached to the pastern-bone acts as a hinge, and the projectingpart 
 of the bone to which the suspensory ligament is united, turns round with the pressure of 
 the weight ; and so that part of the bone becomes lower. How is it raised again ? This 
 ligament, strangely constructed as a ligament, is elastic. It yields to the force impressed 
 upon it, and lengthens ; but as soon as the foot is lifted from the ground, and the weight 
 no longer presses, and the force is removed, its elastic power is exerted, and it regains its 
 former dimensions, and the sessamoid-bone springs back into its place, and by that forci- 
 ble return assists in raising the limb.* 
 
 * Mr. Percivall very clearly describes this : ' Furthermore it seems to us that these 
 elastic parts assist in the elevation of the feet from the ground in those paces in which 
 they are called into sudden and forcible action. The suspensory ligament, by its reac 
 tion, instantaneously after extension, aids the flexor-muscles in bending the pastern-joints. 
 The astonishing activity and expedition displayed in the movements of the race-horse at 
 speed, seem to be referable, in part, to the promptitude with which tlie suspensory liga- 
 ment can act before the flexor-muscles are duly prepared ; the latter, we should say, catch 
 as it were, and then direct the limb first snatched from the ground by the powers of elas- 
 ticit)'.' — Percival's Lectures on the Veterinary Art, vol. i , p. 334. 
 
THE FETLOCK. 195 
 
 The length and obliquity of the pastern vary, we have said, in the different breeds of 
 horses, and in proportion to the length and slanting direction of the pastern is the 
 sprightliness of the horse and the easiness of his paces. The pastern must be long in 
 proportion to its obliquity, or the fetlock would be too close to the ground, and, in 
 rapid action, would come violently upon it. It is necessary that the fetlock should 
 be elevated a certain distance from the ground, and this may be effected either by 
 a short and upright, or a long and slanting pastern. In proportion as the pastern is 
 oblique or slanting, two consequences will follow : less weight will be thrown on the 
 pastern, and more on the sessamoid, and in that proportion, jar or concussion wiU be 
 prevented ; and the jar of the weight which is tnrown on the pastern will be lessened 
 by the very obliquity of the bones, agreeably to what we have already stated of the 
 angular construction of the limbs. 
 
 Every advantage has, however, to a certain extent, its corresponding disadvantages . 
 In proportion to the obliquity or slanting of the pasterns, will be the stress on the fet- 
 lock-joint, and, therefore, the liability of that joint to injuiy and strain ; and also the 
 liability to ' sprain of the back-sinews,' from the increased action and play of the flexor 
 tendons ; and likewise to injuries in the pastern joints, for the ligaments will be weak 
 in proportion to their length. The long and slanting pastern is an excellency in the 
 race-horse, from the springiness of action and greater extent of stride by which it is 
 accompanied. A less degree of it is necessary in the hunter who is to unite continu- 
 ance of exertion with ease and pace, and who, in his leaps, requires almost as much 
 springiness as the race horse ; but for the wear and tear of the hackney a still less 
 degree of obliquity should be found. There should be sufficient to give pleasantness 
 of going, but not enough to endanger continuance and strength. Experience among 
 horses will alone point out the most advantageous direction of the pastern, for the 
 purpose required ; but the sUghtest observation will prove the necessity of considerable 
 variety in the structure of this part. Let the reader imagine the heavy dray-horse with 
 his short and upright pasterns, contending in the race ; or the race-horse with his long 
 and weak pastern, endeavouring to dig his toe into the ground to move some heavy 
 weight. The concussion is little in a cart-horse because his movements are slow, and 
 therefore the upright and strong pastern is given to him, which he can force into the 
 ground, and on which he can throw the whole of his immense weight. The oblique 
 pastern is given to the race-horse, because that alone is compatible with extent of stride 
 and great speed. Except a horse for general purposes, and particularly for riding, be 
 very hardly used, a httle too much obliquity is a far less evil than a pastern too upright. 
 The upright pastern is unsafe. The very circumstance which enables tlie dray-horse 
 to throw himself into his collar, throws the riding horse down ; and while the jolting of 
 the upright pastern is an insufferable nuisance to the rider, it is injurious to the horse, 
 and produces many diseases in the feet and legs. A riding horse, with upright pasterns, 
 will soon begin to knuckle over, even with ordinary work ; and this will be followed by 
 ringbone, ossification of the cartilages, and contracted feet. 
 
 RUPTURE OF THE SUSPENSORY LIGAMENT. 
 
 The suspensory Hgament is sometimes ruptured by extraordinary exertion. The 
 sessamoids are then let down, and the fetlock almost touches the ground. This is 
 generally mistaken for rupture of the flexor tendons ; but one circumstance will suffi- 
 ciently demonstrate that it is the suspensory ligament which is concerned, viz. that the 
 horse is able to bend his foot. Rupture of this ligament is a bad and almost desperate 
 case. The horse is frequently lame for life, and never becomes perfectly sound. — 
 Keeping him altogether quiet, bandaging the leg, and putting on a high-heeled shoe, 
 will aftbrd the most probable means of relief. 
 
 THE FETLOCK. 
 
 The fetlock-joint is a very complicated one, and from the stress which is laid on it, 
 and its being the principle seat of motion below the knee, it is particularly subject to 
 injury. There are not many cases of sprain of the back-sinew which are not accom- 
 panied by inflammation of the ligaments of this joint ; and many supposed cases of 
 sprain higher up are simple afiections of the fetlock. It requires a great deal of care, 
 and some experience, to distinguish the one from the other. The heat about the part, 
 and the point at which the horse least endures the pressure of the finger, will be the 
 principal guides. An affection of the fetlock-joint demands blistering more promptly 
 and severely than one of the sheaths of the tendons. 
 
196 
 
 THE HORSE. 
 
 GR0GGINE3S. 
 
 The peculiar knuckling over the fetlock-joint, and tottering of tlie whole of the fore- 
 leg, known by the name of grogginess and which is so otten seen in old and over- 
 worked horses, is seldom an atiection of either the fetlock or the pastern-joints simply, 
 altliough these have their full share in the mischief that has been produced by tasking 
 the poor animal beyond his strength. Sometimes it is difficult to fix on any particular 
 joint ; at others, it seems to be traced to a joint deep in the foot, where the flexor tendon 
 runs over the navicular bone. It seems oitenest to be a want of power in the ligaments 
 of the joints generally, produced by frequent and severe* sprains, or by ill-judged and 
 cruel exertion ; and, in the majority of cases, admits of no remedy ; especially as dissec- 
 tion often discovers ulceration within the joints, and of the membrane which lines the 
 cartilage, and even of the cartilage itself, which it was impossible to reach or to remove. 
 
 The inside of the fetlock is often bruised by the shoe or the hoof of the opposite foot. 
 Many expedients have been tried to remove this ; the inside heel has been raised and 
 lowered, and the outside raised and lowered ; and sometimes one operation has succeed- 
 ed, and sometimes the contraiy ; and there was no point so involved in obscuritj^ or so 
 destitute of principles to guide tlie practitioner. The most successful remedy, and that 
 which in the great majority of cases supercedes all otliers, is to put on a shoe, of even 
 thickness from lieel to toe ; to let the bearing be perfectly level ; and then to drive but one 
 nail, and that near the toe, in the inside of the shoe, which is placed on the foot by 
 which the injury is done ; care being taken that the shoe should not extend beyond the 
 edge of the crust, and the crust being rasped a little at tlie quarters. The principle on 
 which the shoe acts, has been stated when we spoke of the speedy cut. There are 
 some defects, however, in the natural form of tlie horse, which are the cause of cutting, 
 and which no contrivance will remedy ; as when the legs are placed too near eacn 
 other, or when the feet are turned inward or out^vard. A horse with these defects 
 should be carefully examined at the inside of the fetlock, and if there be any sore or 
 callous places from cutting, there vsdll be sufficient reason for rejecting tlie animal. — 
 Some horses will cut wheu they are fatigued, and many colts will cut before they arrive 
 at their full strength. 
 
 Fig. I 
 
 Fig. 2. 
 
 Fig. I. 
 
 a The'upper pastern. 
 b The lower pastern. 
 c The navicular bone. 
 d The coffin-bone. 
 
 Fig. 2. 
 
 a The sessamoid-bone. 
 
 b The upper pastern. 
 
 c The lower pastern. 
 
 d The navicular bone. 
 
 € The coffin-bone, with the horny laminae. 
 
 The upper pastern bone {b, p. 193, and a in the first figure, and b in the second in this 
 cut,) receives the lower puUey-like head of the shank-bone, and fonns a hinge-joint ad- 
 mitting only of bending and extension, but not of side motion ; it likewise articulates 
 with the sessamoid-bones. Its lower head has two rounded protuberances, which are 
 received into corresponding depressions in the lower pastern. On either side, above the 
 
 Eastern-joint, are roughened projections for the attachment of very strong ligaments, 
 oth the capsular ligaments, and many cross hgaments, which render the joint between 
 the two pasterns sufficiently secure. 
 
 The lower pastern {d, p. 193, and b in the first figure, and c in the second in this cut,) 
 is a short and thick bone, with its larger head downward. Its upper head has two de- 
 
RINGBONE. 
 
 197 
 
 pressions to receive the protuberances on tlie lower head of the upper bone, bearing 
 some resemblance to a pulley, but not so decidedly as the lower head of the shank- 
 bone. Its lower head resembles the lower head of the other pastern, and has two 
 prominences, likewise somewhat resembling a pulley, and by which it articulates 
 with the coffin-bone ; and a depression in front, corresponding witli a projection in the 
 coffin-bone ; and also two slight depressions behind, receiving eminences in the 
 navicular bone. Neither of these joints admit of any lateral motion. The ligaments 
 of tiiis joint, which is called the coffin-joint, are like those of the pastern-joint, exceed- 
 ingly sti'ong, both tlie capsular and tlie cross ones. The tendon of the extensor muscle is 
 inserted into the fore paii, botli of the upper and lower pas- 
 tern-bones, as well as into the upper part of the coffin-bone 
 (Z, p. 193 ;) and at the back of tliese bones the suspensory 
 ligament is expanded and inserted, while a portion of it 
 goes over the fore part of the upper pastern to reach the 
 extensor tendon. These attachments in front of the bones 
 are seen in the accompanying cut, in which a represents 
 the lower part of the shank-bone : b the sessamoid-bones ; 
 c the upper pastern ; d the lower pastern ; and e the coffin- 
 bone ; /are the branches of the suspensory ligaments going 
 to unite witli the extensor tendon ; g the long extensor ten- 
 don ; h the ligaments connecting the two pastern-bones to- 
 gether ; and i the lateral cartilages of the foot. And now, 
 having arrived at the foot, which is the most complicated 
 and important part of the frame of a horse, we shall defer 
 the consideration of the coffin and navicular bones until 
 we have described the hinder extremities. We may, how- 
 ever, observe that both these joints are subject to sprain, and 
 particularly the coffin-joint. 
 
 SPRAIN OF THE COFFIN-JOINT. 
 
 The proof of this is when the lameness is sudden, and the heat and tenderness are prin- 
 cipally felt round the coronet. Bleeding at the toe, physic, fomentation, and blisters are 
 the usual means adopted. This lameness is not easily removed, even by a blister ; and 
 if removed, like sprains of the fetlock and of the back-sinews, it is apt to return, and, 
 finally, produce a great deal of disorganization and mischief in the foot. This wrick, 
 or sprain of the coffin-joint, sometimes becomes a very serious affair, not being always 
 attended by any external swelling, and being detected only by heat round the coronet, the 
 seat of the lameness is often overlooked by the groom and the farrier ; and the disease is 
 suffered to become confirmed before its nature is discovered. There is no species of 
 lameness more confounded vdth affections of the shoulder than this, because it is the 
 custom of these ignorant and prejudiced persons to trace every lameness to the shoulder 
 which is not palpably referable to another pai't. 
 
 From violent or repeated sprains of the pastern or coffin-joints, or extension of the 
 ligaments attached to other parts of the pastern-bones, inflammation takes place in the 
 
 Eeriosteum, and bony matter is formed, which olten rapidly increases, and is recognised 
 y the name of 
 
 RINGBONE. 
 
 Ringbone commences in one of the pasterns, and usually about the pastern-joint, but 
 it rapidly spreads, and involves not only the pastern-bones, but the cartilages of the foot. 
 When tile first deposite is on the lower pastern, and on both sides of it, and pro- 
 duced by violent inflammation of the ligaments of the joints, it is recognised by a slight 
 enlargement, or bony tumour on each side of the foot, and just above the coronet. (See 
 / in the following cut.) This is more frequent in the hind foot than the fore, because, 
 from the violent action of the hind legs in propelling the horse forward, the pasterns 
 are more subject to ligamentary injury behind than before ; yet the lameness is not so 
 great, because the disease is confined principally to the ligaments, and the bones have 
 not been injured by concussion ; while from the position of the fore limbs and their 
 exposure to concussion, there will generally be in them injury of the bones to be added 
 to that of the ligaments. In its early stage, and when recognised only by a bony en- 
 largement on both sides of the pastern-joint, or in some few cases on one side only, the 
 lameness is not very considerable, and it is not impossible to remove the disease by 
 active blistering, or by the application of the cautery ; but there is so much wear and 
 tear in this part of the animal, that the inflammation and disposition to the formation of 
 bone rapidly spread. The pasterns first become connected together by bone instead of 
 
198 
 
 THE HORSE. 
 
 ligament, and thence results what is called an anchylosed or fixed joint. Its motion is 
 lost. From this joint the disease proceeds to the caitilages of tlie foot, and to the union 
 between the lower pastern, and the coffin and navicular bones ; and tiie motion of these 
 parts likewise is impeded or lost and the whole of this pait of the foot becomes one 
 mass of spongy bone. From this disposition to spread, (and at first round the pastern- 
 joint, which is situated just above the coronet,) tliis disease has acquired the name of 
 ringbone. 
 
 C0T OF THE LEG. 
 
 This cut will show the situation and appear- 
 ance of tliis and some other defects of the fore- 
 leg, a will represent the capped hock or 
 enlargement of tlie joint of the elbow ; b the 
 tying-in of the leg below the knee ; c the most 
 frequent situation of splint on the side of the 
 shank-bone, and not producing lameness after 
 its first formation, because it does not interfere 
 with the motion of the Icnee, or injure the sus- 
 pensory ligament, d is the situation and ap- 
 pearance of the enlargement accompanying 
 sprain of the back-sinews. This, however, is 
 an aggravated case ; and the sprain may be 
 great, and the lameness distiessing, without all 
 this swelling, e is the place of wind-gall. / 
 gives the appearance of ring-bone, when it first 
 appeal's on the side of the pastern, about the 
 joint, and when there is naturally some promi- 
 nence of bone ; g is the situation of sand- 
 crack in the fore-leg ; h tlie situation of the mol- 
 lenders. 
 
 Ringbone is one of the most serious lame- 
 nesses with which the horse can be afflicted. 
 It is unsoundness when existing in the slight- 
 est degree, for the lateral enlargement may 
 speedily extend ; and when the bony deposit 
 begins to spread, the disease is incurable. 
 
 The fore-legs, when viewed in front, should 
 be widest at the chest, and should gradually 
 approach to each other as we descend towaids 
 the fetlock. The degiee of width must de- 
 pend on the pui-pose for which the horse is 
 wanted. The legs of a heavy draught-horse 
 can scarcely be too far apart. His rounded 
 chest enables him to throw more weight into 
 the collar ; and being seldom, if ever required 
 for speed, he wants not that occasionally in- 
 creased expansion of chest which the circular 
 form is not calculated to give. A hunter, a 
 hackney, and a coach-horse, should have suffi- 
 cient expansion of the chest, or the legs suffi- 
 ciently wide apart, to leave room for the play 
 of the lungs ; but deptli more than roundness 
 of chest is here required, because the deep 
 chest admits of most expansion, when the 
 horse, in rapid action, and the circulation pro- 
 
 Eortionally quickened, needs more room to 
 reathe ; yet if the breast be too wide, tliere 
 will be considerable weight thrown before, and 
 the horse will be heavy in the hand, and un- 
 
 Whether the legs are near to each other or 
 wide apart, they should be straight. The el- 
 bow should not have the slightest inclination 
 inward or outward. If it inclines towards the 
 ribs, its action will be confined, and tlie leg 
 will be thrown outward when in motion, and 
 describe a curious and awkward curve ; and 
 
THE HAUNCH. 199 
 
 this will give a peculiar rolling motion, unpleasant to the rider and unsafe to the animal. 
 The toe will likewise be turned outward, which will not only prevent the foot from 
 coming flat on the ground in its descent, but be usually accompanied by cutting, even 
 more certainly than when the toe turns inward. If the elbow is turned outward, tne toes 
 will necessarily be turned inward, which is a great unsightliness, and to a certain degree 
 injurious. The weight cannot be perfectly distributed over the foot ; the bearing cannot 
 be ti'ue; there will be undue pressure on the inner quarter, a tendency to unsafeness, 
 and a disposition to splint and corn. The legs should come down perpendicularly from 
 the elbow. If they incline backward and under the horse, there is undue stress on the 
 extensor muscles : and the legs being brought nearer the centre of gravity, undue weight 
 is thrown forward, and the horse is liable to knuckle over and become unsafe ; if the legs 
 have a direction forward, the flexor muscles are strained, and the action of the horse is 
 awkward and confined. The toe should be found precisely under the point of the shoul- 
 der. If it be a little more forward, tlie horse will probably be deficient in action ; if it 
 be more under the horse, unsafeness will be added to still greater defect in going. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 THE HIND LEGS. 
 
 THE HAUNCH. 
 
 In describing the hinder extremities, we must begin with the bones of the haunch. 
 The haunch(see O, p. 49, and the cut, p. 180) is composed of three bones. The first is 
 the ilium, principally concerned in the formation of the haunch. Its extended branches 
 behind the flanks are prominent in eveiy horse ; and when they are more than usually 
 wide, the animal is said to be ragged-hipped. A branch runs up to tlie spine at the com- 
 mencement of the sacral vertebrae E, and here the haunch-bones are firmly united with 
 the bones of the spine. The ischium, or hip-bone, is behind and below the ilium. Its 
 tuberosities or prominences are seen under the tail, (cut, p. 49.) The pubis unites 
 with the two former below and behind. 
 
 From the loins to the setting on of the tail, the line should be carried on almost 
 straight, or rounded only in a veiy slight degree. Thus the haunch-boues will be most 
 oblique, and will produce a corresponding oohquity, or slanting direction in the thigh- 
 bone — a direction in which, as we stated when describing the fore-legs, the muscles act 
 with most advantage. This direction of the haunch is characteristic of the thorough- 
 bred horse ; and, by the degree in which it is found, we judge as much as by anything 
 of the breeding of the animal. If the bones at D and E, p. 49, took a somewhat arched 
 form, cLS they do in the cart-horse, it is evident that the bone O must be more upright, 
 the thigh-bone P would likewise be more upright, the stifle Q, would not be so far under 
 the body, and the power of the horse would be considerably impaired. The oblique di- 
 rection of the haunch and thigh-bones, produced by the straightness of the line of the 
 spine, does not, as is commonly supposed, aflbrd increased surface for the attachment of 
 muscles, but places the muscles in a direction to act with great advantage. It is in the ad- 
 vantageous direction, quite as much as in the bulk of the muscle, that the strength of the 
 horse consists. It will be seen, from our cuts, that the angles formed by the fore and 
 hind extremities have dirferent directions. One points forward, and the other backward. 
 We should expect this ; for thus the action of the fore-legs least interferes with the chest, 
 and that of the hind legs with the beUy. 
 
 Width of haunch is a point of great consequence, for that actually affords more room 
 for the attachment of muscles ; and even tliough it should be so great as to subject the 
 horse to the charge of being ragged-hipped, and may somewliat oitend the eye, it is no 
 detriment to action. If the loins be broad, and the horse be well ribbed home, the pro- 
 turberances of the ilium can scarcely be too far apart. Many a ragged-hipped horse 
 has possessed both fleetness and strength, but few which were narrow across the haunch 
 could boast of the latter quality. 
 
 The opening through the centi'e of these bones, which constitutes the passage through 
 which the young animal is expelled from the mother, is large in the mare, and in every 
 quadruped, because there cannot be, from the form of the animal, any danger of abor- 
 tion from tiie weight of the foetus pressing on the part. 
 
200 THE HORSE. 
 
 The only parts of these bones exposed to injury or fracture are the tuberosities or pro 
 minences of the haunch. A fall or blow may chip otF and disunite a portion of them. 
 There are no means of forcibly bringing the disunited parts together, and retaining them 
 in their natural position. Nature, however, will cause them to unite, yet generally at- 
 tended by deformity and lameness. A charge, or very strong adhesive plaister, across 
 the haunch may be useful, as helping, in some slight degree, to support the parts, and 
 hold them togefiier. 
 
 THE THIGH. 
 
 In the lower and fore part of the hip-bones is a deep cavity or cup for the reception 
 of the head of the upper bone of the thigh.* Although in the action of the hind legs 
 there cannot be the concussion to which the fore-legs are exposed (for the weight of the 
 body is never thrown violently upon them,) yet in the powerful action of these limbs 
 there is much strain on the joints, and we shall find, therefore, that there are, in all of 
 them, admirable provisions against injury. The head of the upper bone of the thigh is 
 received into a deep cup (the acetabulum,) by which it is surrounded on every side, 
 and dislocation from which would seem almost impossible. But the bony cup may 
 give way ? No ! provision is made against this : all three of the haunch bones unite in 
 the formation of this cup, and the sutures by which these bones are held together are of 
 such a nature, that one would think no shock, or exertion, or accident, could disunite 
 them. There is even something more added to make the attachment doubly sure. Be- 
 sides the usual capsular and other ligaments, a singularly strong one rises fiom the base 
 of the cup, and is inserted into the head of the upper bone of the thigh, and would seem 
 to render separation or dislocation altogether impossible : and yet such is the amazing 
 
 [)Ower of the muscles of the hind limb, that with all these attachments, sprain of the 
 igaments of the haunch joint, or the round bone, as horsemen call it, ajid even disloca- 
 tion of the head of the thigh-bone, are occasionally found. 
 
 The upper bone of the thigh we should expect to be, from the powerful muscles that 
 are attached to it, a very strong bone, and it is both the largest and strongest in the 
 frame. It is short and thick, and exhibits the most singular prominences, and rough- 
 nesses, and hollows, for the insertion of the immense muscles which belong to it. Four 
 prominences, in particular, called by anatomists trochanters, two on the outside, one on 
 the inside, and one near the head of the bone, atVord attachment to several important 
 muscles. The head of the bone is placed at right angles with its body, by which this 
 important advantage is gained, that the motion of the thigh-joint is principally limited 
 to that of bending and extending, although it possesses some slight lateral, and even 
 some rotatory or round actio)i. The lower head of the upper bone of the thigh is compli- 
 cated in its form. It consists of two prominences, which are received into correspond- 
 ing depressions in the next bone, and a hollow in front, in wliich the bone of the knee 
 plays as over a perfect pulley. 
 
 A short description of the muscles of the hinder extremities may not be uninteresting 
 to the horseman. The next cut will give a few of them. 
 
 The muscles of the hind extremity are more powerful in action than thoseof any 
 other part of the frame, therefore there is a provision made to hold them down in their 
 respective situations, and thus contribute to their security and sti-ength. When the skin 
 is taken from the hind limb, we do not at once arrive at the muscles, but they are thick- 
 ly covered by a dense, strong, tendinous coat, which reaches over tlie whole of the 
 haunch and thigh, and only ceases to be found at tlie hock where there ai-e no muscles 
 to be confined. If the power of the muscles be sufficient to dislocate and fracture the 
 thigh-bone, they need the support and confinement of this tendinous coat. When this 
 tendinous band is dissected ort', another is found beneath, which is represented at a, 
 raised and turned back, larger than the former, thicker and more muscular. It proceeds 
 from the haunch-bones to the stifle, upon the fore and outer part of the haunch and 
 thigh, and is intended to tighten and strengthen the other. 
 
 Under the part of this flat and binding muscle, which is represented in our cut as 
 raised, is a large round muscle proceeding from the ilium, not far from the cup which 
 receives the upper bone of the thigh, and running straight down this bone, and thence 
 its name rectus, it is inserted into the bone of the stifle. An inspection of the cut, p. 
 49, will show that it is so situated as to be enabled to exert its great power in the most 
 tidvantageous way. It is a very prominent muscle, and forms what we may term the 
 
 * This, although the true thigh-bone, is so concealed by thick muscles, and seemingly 
 by the continuation of the carcass, that its situation and shape are not visible to the eye ; 
 and it is generally overlooked by horsemen, who call the next bone extending from the 
 stifle to the hock, the thigh : therefore, to render ourselves intelligible, we term this the 
 upper bone of the thigh. 
 
THE THIGH. . 201 
 
 CUT OF THE MUSCLES OF THE INSIDE OF THE THIGH. 
 
 edge of the tliigh forw'aid. It 
 terminates in a tendon, which 
 is short and very strong, and 
 which is, beibre its insertion 
 into the patella, united with 
 the prolongation of the tendi- 
 nous substance at g, in the cut, 
 p 202, and also with the tendon 
 of the muscle at i, in that cut, 
 and c, in the following cut, 
 and which is j)roperly called 
 vastus, from its great bulk. 
 Some have divided this into 
 two muscles, the external and 
 internal. They proceed, the 
 external from the outer surface 
 of the upper bone of the thigh ; 
 the internal from the inner 
 surface ; and are inserted into 
 the upper part of the bone of 
 the stifle, both on the inner 
 and outer side. These mus- 
 cles act at considerable me- 
 chanical disadvantage ; they 
 form a very slight angle, not 
 at all approachmg to a right 
 angle ; but Uiey are muscles 
 of immense size, and occupy 
 all the fore part of the thigh, 
 from the stifle upwards. They 
 are powerful extensors of the 
 thigh, and of the hinder leg 
 generally, for they are all in- 
 serted into the bone of the 
 knee, and that is connected by 
 strong tendons with the bone 
 of the true leg. We shall have 
 more to say of the action of 
 this muscle when we have de- 
 cribed tlie bone of the knee. 
 On the inside of the thigh are several other large fleshy muscles, as distinct to the eye 
 as these, and which will be recognised after the slightest observation of the thigh of the 
 living horse. First, we have a long, narrow, prominent muscle, the scaioj-ms, or tailor's 
 muscle, enabling him to sit cross-legered, d, arising from tlie edge of the haunch-bone, 
 about halfway down it, and inserted into the inner and upjier part of the lov.er bone of 
 the thigh, for thus we call this bone extending from the stifle to the hock, and v^hich in 
 the human being would be properly the leg. It bends the leg, and turns it inward, not 
 useful in the latter case in progression, but in many of tlie natural actions of the horse. 
 
 Next comes a broad thin muscle, e, which cannot be mistaken, occupying the greater 
 portion of the surface of the inner jmrt of the tlsigh, and particularly the prominent part 
 of it. It is called the gracilis, or slender muscle. It arises from the lower part of the 
 haunch-bone, and, in its passage downward, uniting with the last muscle, is inserted 
 with it into the inner and upper part of the lower bone of the thigh. It also turns the 
 leg. If its direction be considered, it acts with evident advantage ; but its insertion into 
 the bone of the lower bone of the thigh is very disadvantageous. It applies its power 
 very close to the joint or centre of motion, and the weight, consisting of the whole limb, 
 and which may be supposed to be concentrated about its middle, is far distant. 
 
 Still, on tiie inside of the thigh, and forming the posterior edge of the thigh inwards, 
 and contributing much to its bulk, is another of the principal muscles of the thigh, /, 
 proceeding from the first bones of the tail, from the tuberosity of the ischium, and from 
 the tendinous expansion which we have described, and principally inserted into the 
 upper and fore part of the upper bone of the thigh, but a portion of it going to the head 
 of the lower bone. That part which goes to the upjier bone of the thigh acts with very 
 great mechanical advantage (see cut, p. 52,) and most powerfully bends tl;e thigh on 
 the pelvis, and lifts and extends the limb. It is one of the most efiectual ofthe extensor 
 26 
 
202 
 
 THE HOUSE. 
 
 muscles. Considering the weight of the hmb which it has to raise and extend, it had 
 need to possess great power. At g is another muscle, concerned in the same office. 
 
 We now turn to some of the muscles which aie very evident to the eye on the outside 
 of the thigh. 
 
 CUT OF THE MUSCLES OF THE OUTSIDE OF THE THIGH. 
 
 First is the outer Glutatis, or but- 
 tock muscle, d, being little more than 
 a fleshy slip attached to the muscle 
 next to be described. It arises as high 
 up as the spine ^ It runs along the 
 back part of the thigh in the form of a 
 ridge, and is inserted into the small- 
 er outer prominence of the upper 
 bone of the thigh. Next is the great 
 glutcEus muscle, arising from the spi- 
 nous and transverse processes of se- 
 veral of the bones of the loins, and 
 from the sacrum, and from the differ- 
 ent edges of the ilium, and inserted 
 into the great protuberance of the 
 upper bone of the thigh (page 49,) 
 behind and a little above the joint 
 that unites the thigh to the haunch- 
 bone. It is seen at c, in this cut; 
 constitutes the upper and outer part 
 of the haunch, and gives that fulness 
 and roundness to it, which good 
 judges so much admire in the quar- 
 ters of the horse. It is one of the 
 main instruments in progression. 
 When the thigh has been brought for- 
 ward under the body by the muscles 
 already described, the plain action of 
 these glutaei muscles is to extend the 
 haunch, and force or project the body 
 onward. To effect this they must 
 be very powerful, and therefore they 
 are so large, and rise from such an 
 extensive surface ; and they ought 
 to act at great mechanical advantage, 
 and so, in one sense, they do; spring- 
 ing from the loins and ilium and the 
 sacrum, they act almost in a right or 
 perpendicular line ; in that line in which we have seen that the greatest power is gained. 
 A reference to the plate of the skeleton will place this in a strilcing point of view ; and 
 this advantage is the more necessary, because, as is almost uniformly the case, there is 
 a corresponding disadvantage to be overcome. These muscles are inserted into the 
 great trochanter or protuberance of the upper bone of the thigh, and that is but a very 
 little way removed from the joint or centre of motion. The power is close to the centre 
 of motion ; the weight supposed to be concentrated in the middle of the limb, is far off. 
 It is more than 30 times as far as the power, and this muscle must act with a disadvan- 
 tage of more than 30 to 1 : or, if the hinder extremity, and the weight of the trunk above 
 amount to six hundred pounds, the force applied, or the power of the muscle, must be 
 equal to 30 times 600, to 18000 pounds. The numerous origins of these muscles, and the 
 extensive surfaces whence they arise, and their immense bulk, render them equal to this ; 
 and then, as we have demonstrated with regard to the flexor muscles of the arm, what 
 is lost in power is gained in velocity ; for while this portion of the upper thigh bone 
 moves rapidly through a certain space, by the powerful contraction of the glutei and 
 other muscles, the extremity of that bone moves through thirty times the space, and the 
 extremity of the whole lijnb or the foot moves through more than 100 times that space, 
 and hence results, and hence only could result the speed of the horse. 
 
 Now comes another consideration ; — in proportion as this protuberance behind and 
 above the joint is lengthened, so is the shorter arm of the lever lengthened, and so is pow- 
 er or muscular exertion spared. This protuberance is lengthened in proportion to the 
 length of the croup, and tlie depth of the quarters, and h€ncc the importance of this con- 
 
THE ROUND BONE. 
 
 208 
 
 CUT OF THE HAUNCH AND HIND LEGS 
 
 formation. We have explained this as it regards the depth of the elbow. It holds more 
 especially good here, because these are the parts with wliich the speed and power of the 
 horse are most concerned. The t[uarters coiiinietice, by the common consent of sporting 
 men, from about the middle of the back, and extend to the hock downward, and to (he tail 
 behind ; and although little regarded by those who are unaccustomed to horses, and the 
 just proportions of those parts understood but by few who pretend to know' the horse, 
 the quarters are by far the most important points in his frame. Their muscularity will 
 indicate power, and the depth of tlie quarters the proper direction and the advantageous 
 action of that power. 
 
 There is another and smaller gZi/iffius muscle under that we have last described, arising 
 likewise from the back of the ilium, and inserted into the same protuberance of the 
 thigh bone, and assisting in the same office. It is not visible in our cut. There are also 
 several other muscles proceeding from diiferent parts of the haunch bones, and inserted 
 about the heads of the upper thigh bone, and performing the same work ; but there are 
 two muscles to which we must particularly refer. The first occupies the outer part of 
 the quarter behind, and is beautifully developed in the blood horse ; it is found at e, 
 p. 202. It arises high up from the bones of the spine, from others at the root of the tail, 
 from the protuberances of the ischium (vide cut, p. 49,) and from other bones of the pel- 
 vis. It in fact consists of three muscles, but is usually described as one muscle with 
 
 three heads. Triceps femoirs (the three- 
 headed muscle of the thigh.) It is inserted 
 into the upper part of the lower bone of 
 the thigh, and its office is the same as the 
 last, to draw back the thigh when placed 
 under the trunk, and bj- so doing urge for- 
 ward the body. Being inserted nearly in a 
 perpendicular direction, it has great power, 
 but that power is employed disadvantageous- 
 ly, on account of being placed so near the 
 joint or centre of motion. 
 
 The muscle at/, descending Hkewise from 
 the sacrum, and from the first bones of the 
 tail, runs down posterior to the last muscle, 
 and forms the hinder border of the haunch. 
 It is inserted into the lower bone of the 
 thigh, and assists in performing the same 
 kind of motion. All these muscles are par- 
 ticularly prominent in the thorough-bred 
 horse, and are the source of his strength and 
 speed ; and hence another very important 
 point in the horse. These muscles, to per- 
 Ibrm their full action, should be so developed 
 thattlie horse, when the observer stands be- 
 hind him, although wide enough at the loins 
 iuid haunch, should yet be perceptibly, 
 wider at the thighs. The accompanying cut, 
 containing one excellence above, and many 
 delects below, will illustrate our meaning. 
 
 STRAIN OF THE ROUND BONE. 
 
 The joint of the upper bone of the thigh 
 with the haunch is commonly called the 
 whirl or rmtnd bone. It has been stated, 
 that it has, in some rare instances, been dis- 
 located and fractured ; it is, however, much 
 oftener sprained, but not so often as the 
 groom or famer imagine. There is nothing 
 peculiar in the lameness to detect injury ot 
 this part, except that frequently the horse 
 will drag his leg after him on the toe. Inju- 
 ry of the round bone, or hip joint, will be 
 principally discovered by heat and tender- 
 ness in the situation of the joint. A part so 
 deeply seated is b'eated with difficulty. Fo- 
 mentations should first be used to abate the 
 inliammation, and after that an active blister 
 
204 THE HORSE. 
 
 should be applied. Strains of this joijit are not always immediately relieved, and the 
 jnuscles of the limb considerably waste ; and therefore it luay be necessary to repeat the 
 blister, while absolute rest should accompany every stage of the treatment. It may even 
 be requisite to fire the part, or, as a last resort, a charge may be put over the joint, and the 
 horse turned out for two or three months. 
 
 THE STIFLE. 
 
 The upper bone of the thigh is united to the lower by a somewhat complicated joint. 
 It terminates by two round prominences behind, which are received into slight depres- 
 sions on the upper surface of the lower bone ; and in front is a curious groove over 
 which plays a small irregiilar bone, the patella or stifle bone. The whole is called by 
 farriers the stifle joint. The patella (Q, p. 49) answei-s to the kneepan in the human 
 subject. Some of the tendons of the strongest muscles of the upper bone of the thigh 
 are inserted into it, and continued from it over the lower bone. This important joint is 
 hereby much strengthened ; for the proper ligaments between the upper and lower bones, 
 and these additional tendons and ligament? from the patella, must foim altogether a very 
 powerful union. The patella likewise answers another and even more important purpose. 
 The tendons of some strong muscles are inserted into it. When these muscles are not in 
 action, the patella lies in the groove which nature has contrived for it; but when they 
 begin to contract, it starts from its pai'tial hiding-place, becomes prominent from the 
 joint, and alters the line of direction in which the muscles act ; it increases the angle, 
 and thus very materially increases the power of the muscles. 
 
 The lower bone of the thigh is double ; the larger portion, in front, extending from the 
 stifle to the hock, is called the tibia. The smaller bone, or fibula, behind, see R, p. 49, 
 reaches not more than a third of the way down. It is united to the shank bone, like the 
 splint bone, by a cartilaginous substance which soon is changed for bone. Of the use 
 of these little bones we cannot speak. 
 
 The lower bone of the thigh forms an angle, with the upper, the reverse of that which 
 exists between the upper bone and the pelvis. The object of this is two-fold, — to obvi- 
 ate concussion, and to give a direction to the muscles favorable to their powerful action ; 
 and in proportion to the acuteness of the angle, or the degree in which the stifle is 
 brought under the horse, will these purposes be accomplished. There is a great deal of 
 difference in this in different horses, and the construction of this part of the frame is a 
 matter worthy of more regaid than is generally pedd to it. 
 
 This part of the thigh should likewise be long. In proportion to the length of tTie 
 muscle is the degree of contraction of which it is capable ; and in proportion to the con- 
 traction of the muscle is the extent of motion in the limb ; but it is still more necessary 
 that this part of the thigh should have plenty of muscle, that strength may be added to 
 this extent or compass of motion. We should not expect much endurance from a horse 
 with a thin ai-m ; a horse with thin and lanky thighs cannot possibly be good for any- 
 thing. In our cuts, p. 201 and 202, the principal muscles of this part of the thigh are 
 delineated. They are usually somewhat prominent, and may readily be fraced m the 
 living animal ; a very brief notice of them may not be uninteresting. 
 
 We will first take the external ones, beginning in front. The continuation from g, 
 p. 202, is the tendinous expansion given to bind and sti-engthen these muscles. 
 
 « is a very important muscle; it is the principal extensor muscle of the hind-leg 
 {extensor pedis, extensor of the foot.) It ai-ises from the lower part of the upper bone of 
 the thigh, and from the upper part of the lower bone. It is a strong, round, fleshy 
 muscle ; a little before it reaches the hock it will be seen to assume a tendinous form. 
 It is covered and defended by a sheath of its own ; and the cut vdll show the bands by 
 which it is tied down in its place, within which it plays. It is seen continuing its course 
 on the front of the cannon or shank bone. Having arrived at the fetlock joint, it begins 
 to expand, and is finally inserted into the upper part of the coffin-bone, or bone of the 
 foot, after having given various fibres to both the pasterns. The course of the corres- 
 ponding tendon in the fore-leg is given in the cut, p. 193, fig. I. 
 
 At m, p. 202, is another of the extensor muscles, called the peroncRus, from a name 
 given to the fibula. It arises from the whole course of the fibula, and also becomes ten- 
 dinous before it reaches the hock. About half way down the shank it is found in the 
 same sheath with the principal extensor muscle, and is inserted with it into the coflin- 
 bone. The office of the extensor muscles is to raise the foot from tlie ground, and to 
 bring it forward under the body. 
 
 At o is the flexor pedis, one of the principal flexor (bending) muscles of the foot, 
 arising from the upper part of the tibia. As it approaches the hock it is distinguished 
 by its large round tendon, which is seen to enter into a groove at the back of the hock. 
 It is continued down the back of the leg like a similar muscle in the fore-leg, is the per- 
 forating flexor muscle of the hind-leg, and assists in bending the pastern and coffin-joints. 
 
THOROUGH-PIN. 205 
 
 fc is a verj'- slender muscle, arising from the head of the fibula, and proceeding over the 
 externa] pai-t of the tliigh, and, just above the hock, uniting witli tlie tendon of the per- 
 forating muscle. 
 
 j is a verj' powerful muscle, springing from the head of the upper bone of the thigh, 
 and, midway down the lower bone ot the thigh, ending in a flat tendon, which is inserted 
 into tlie point of the hock. Its use is to extend the hock. It is evidently most advan- 
 tageously situated for powerful action ; for it acts almost at right angles, and its ell'ect is 
 increased in proportion to the projection of the point of tlie hock, 
 
 We W'ill now turn to the inner side. See cut, p. 201. 
 
 7/1 gives a portion of the muscle which we have just described. 
 
 n an inside view of tlie perforating flexoi' muscle of tlie loot. 
 
 I is the peronaes. 
 
 is tlie perforated flexor tendon, having its origin from near the lower head of the 
 upper bone of the thigh ; becoming tendinous as it passes down tlie thigh ; expanding 
 over and surrounding the point ol the hock, and assisting in extending it ; and then pur- 
 suing its course down the posterior pait of the leg, in a manner so much resembling 
 that of similar tendons in the fore-leg, tliat we shall content ourselves with referring to a 
 description of the perforated and perforating flexor tendons at page 186. 
 
 At e is a continuation of the gracilis muscle, p. 201, over the stifle. 
 
 At h is the extensor pedis already described, p. 204, with its tendon. 
 
 At i is a muscle used to bend the hock, the ficxor metatarsi, or bender of the leg ; 
 arising from the lower part of the upper bone of the thigh, and inserted into the upper 
 part of the shank-bone; and also the inner small splint-bone. It is a muscle of con- 
 siderable power, although disadvantageously situated, both as to its direction and its 
 being inserted so near to tlie joint. 
 
 At k is a short muscle extending from the upper to the lower thigh bones (the popli- 
 teeus), bending the stifle and turning the hmb inward. 
 
 These cuts represent the situation of some of the principal blood-vessels and nerves 
 of the hind extremities. 
 
 In the cut of the inside of the thigh, page 201, p represents the course of tlie principal 
 artery; q are blood-vessels belonging to the groin; at r is the large cutaneous vein, or 
 the vein immediately under the skin. The principal nen-es on tlie fore-part of the inside 
 of the thigh pursue their course at t, in tlie direction of the cutaneous vein ; and those of 
 the posterior part are seen at s, and at u are those important ligamentous bands at the 
 bending of the hock which confine the tendons. 
 
 In the cut of the outside of the thigh, page 202, p wll give the course of the anterior 
 arteries and veins; 5 the course of the principal nerves, and coming into sight below ; 
 and r the bands described in the former plate. 
 
 Also, in the cut of the outside of the shoulder and arm, p. 182, the figures 1, 2, and 3, 
 designate the places of tlie principal artery, nerve, and vein of the leg : 4 gives the sub- 
 cutaneous vein running witnin the arm ; and 5, the subcutaneous vein of tlie side of the 
 chest. 
 
 In the cut of the inside of the arm, p. 183, the lines above represent, in the order fi-om 
 the front, the principal nerves, arteries, and veins of the shoulder and arm, and, on the 
 muscles, k gives the principal subcutaneous vein of the inside of the arm, cind i the 
 artery by which it is accompanied. 
 
 The stifle joint is not often subject to sprain. The heat and tenderness will guide to 
 the seat of injury. Occasionally, dislocation of the patella has occurred, and the horse 
 drags the injured limb after him, or rests it on the fetlock ; — the aid of a veterinary sur- 
 
 feon is here requisite. The muscles of the inside of the thigh, generally have sometimes 
 een sprained ; this may be detected by diffused heat, or heat on the inside of the tliigh 
 above the stifle ; — rest, fomentations, bleeding, and physic, will be the proper means of 
 cure 
 
 THOROUGH-PIN 
 
 We have observed that there are placed in the neighborhood of joints, certain bags, 
 containing a mucous fluid for the purpose of lubricating the parts, and that these some- 
 times become inflamed and enlarge. We have spoken of wind-gaMs and their treat- 
 ment. A similar enlargement is found above the hock, between the tendons of the 
 flexor of the foot, and the extensor of the hock. As from its situation it must necessarily 
 project on both sides of the hock, in the form of a round swelling, it is called a thorough- 
 pin, a, p. 203. It is an indication of considerable work, but, except it be of very great 
 size, it is rarely attended by lameness. The mode of treatment must resemble that 
 recommended for wind-galls. Although thorough-pin cannot be pronounced to be un- 
 soundness, yet it behoves the buyer to examine well a horse with thorough-pin, and to 
 ascertain whether undue work may not have injured him in other respects. 
 
206 
 
 THE HORSE. 
 
 THE HOCK. 
 
 We now arrive at a very important joint, often the evident, and much oftener the un- 
 suspected seat of lameness, and the proper formation of which is essentially connected 
 witii the excellence and value of the horse. We shall describe it a little at length. 
 
 The inferior head of the 
 tibia is formed into two deep 
 grooves, with three sharpened 
 ritlges, one separating the 
 grooves, and tlie other two 
 lorming the sides of tliem. 
 It is seen at a in the cut. 
 It rests upon a very singu- 
 lar bone, b, called the as- 
 tragalus (shaped like the die 
 or dice used by the ancients), 
 which has two ciicular risings 
 or projections, and with a de- 
 pression between them, an- 
 swering exactly to tlie irregu- 
 larities of the tibia, and these 
 are received and morticed into 
 each other. At the posterior 
 part its convex surface is re- 
 ceived into a concavity near 
 the base of another bone, and 
 with which it is united by very 
 strong ligaments. This bone 
 c, is called the os calcis, or 
 bone of the heel, and it pro- 
 jects upwards, flattened at its 
 sides, and receives, strongly 
 implanted into it, the tendons 
 of powerful muscles. These 
 bones rest on two others, the 
 OS cuboides, d, (cube -formed) 
 behind, and the larger cunei- 
 form or wedge-shaped bone e, 
 in front. The larger wedged- 
 shaped bone is supported by 
 two smaller ones /, and these 
 two smaller ones and the 
 cube-bone by the upper heads 
 of the shank-bone g, and the 
 splint-bones A. The cube-bone 
 is placed on the external 
 splint-bone, and the cannon 
 bone ; the small wedge-bone 
 principally on the inner splint- 
 bone, not seen in the cut ; and 
 the middle wedge bone rests 
 on the shank-bone only, g. 
 These bones are all connected 
 together by very strong ligaments, which prevent dislocation, but allow a slight degree of 
 motion among them, and the surfaces which are opposed to each other are thicldy cover- 
 ed by elastic ccutilage. 
 
 Considering the situation and action of this joint, the weight and stress thrown upon 
 it must be exceedingly great, and it must be liable to much injury in rapid and powerful 
 motion. What are the provisions to prevent injury ? The grooved or pulley-like heads 
 of the tibia, and the astragedus, received deeply into one another, and confined by power- 
 ful ligaments, admit freely of hinge-like motion, but of no side motion, to which the 
 joint might be exposed in rapid action, or an uneven surface. The slightest inspection 
 of the cut will show that the stress or weight thrown by the tibia a on the astragalus b, 
 does not descend perpendicularly, but in a slanting direction, by which a great deal of 
 concussion is avoided, or more readily diffused among the different bones ; and the joint 
 consisting of six bones, each of them covered with elastic cartilage, and each admitting 
 
CURB. 207 
 
 of a certain degree of motion, tliis diminished concussion is diffused among Uiem all, 
 and thereby neutralized and rendered harmless. Each of these bones is covered not 
 only by cartilage, but by a membrane secreting the synovia or oily fluid of which we 
 have spoken in other joints ; so that these bones are formed into so many distinct joints, 
 separated from each other, and therefore guarded from injury, yet united by various liga- 
 ments, possessing altogether sufficient motion, yet bound together so strongly as to defy 
 dislocauon. When, however, we consider the work which this joint has to perform, and 
 the thoughtlessness and cruelty witli which that work is often exacted, we shall not won- 
 • der_ii" tliis negjessarily complicated mechanism is sometimes deranged. The hock is, 
 frdfflts com'phiated structure and its work, tlie principal seat of lameness behind. Nine- 
 tenths of the lamenesses that occur in the hind-leg are to be traced to this joint, and 
 when, after careful examination, we are unable to find any other seat of lameness, we 
 shall usually be justified in afRi'ming that tlae hock is afiected. 
 
 ENLARGMENT OF THE HOCK. 
 
 Fu'st, there is inflammation, or sprain of the hock-joint generally, arising principally 
 from sudden violent concussion ; from check at speed ; or from over- weight ; and attended 
 with enlargement of the whole joint, and great tenderness and lameness. This, how- 
 ever, like other diffused inflammations, is not so untractable as intense inflammations of 
 a more circumscribed nature ; and by rest and fomentation, or perchance firing, the limb 
 recover its action, and the horse becomes fit for ordinary work. The swelling, how- 
 ever, does not always subside. Enlargement, spread over the whole of the hock-joint, 
 remains. A horse with an enlarged hock must always be regai'ded with suspicion, and 
 is in truth unsound. The parts, altered in structure, are to a certain degree weakened. 
 The horse may discharge his usual work through life, without return of lameness, but if 
 one of those emergencies should occur when all his energies require to be exerted, the 
 disorganised and weakened part vsdll fail. The purchase, tlierefore, of a horse with 
 enlarged hock will depend on circumstances. If he has other excellencies, he will not 
 be uniformily rejected ; for he may be ridden or driven moderately for many a year 
 without inconvenience, yet one extra hard day's work may lame him for ever. 
 
 There are oftener injuries of particular parts of the hock-joint. We have had occasion 
 frequently to describe the ring-like ligaments, which, in the neighborhood of joints, so 
 usefully tie down the tendons. From sudden or over exertion these ligaments may be 
 extended, and inflammation, swelling, and lameness may ensue ; or the sheaths of the 
 tendons in the neighborhood of joints, from their extent of motion in these situations, 
 may be susceptible of injury. Curb is an aflection of this kind. It is an enlargement 
 at the back of the hock, about three or four inches below the point of the hock. It is 
 represented at d, p. 203, and it is either a strain in the ring-like ligament which binds 
 the tendons down in their place, or in the sheath of the tendons ; oftener, we are inchned 
 to think, of the Ugament than of the sheath. Any sudden action of the limb of more 
 than usual violence may produce it, and therefore horses axe found to ' throw out curbs ' 
 after a hardly contested race, an extraordinary leap, a severe gallop over heavy giound, 
 or a sudden check in the gallop. Young horses are particularly liable to it, and hoi-ses 
 that are cow-hocked (vide cut, p. 203), or whose hocks and legs resemble those of tJie 
 cow, the hocks being turned inwai'd, and the legs forming a considerable angle outwaids. 
 This is intelligible enough ; for in hocks so formed, tlie amiular ligament must be con- 
 tinually on the stretch to confine the tendon. 
 
 Curbs are generally accompanied by considerable lameness at their first appearance, 
 but the sweUing is not cdways great ; indeed, it sometimes presents so gi-aduai a curve, 
 that it is scarcely perceivable when we stand behind the horse, and both the horseman 
 and tlie veterinary surgeon have overlooked it. It is best detected by observing the leg 
 side way. 
 
 The first object in attempting the cure is to abate inflammation, and this will be most 
 readily accomplished by cold evaporating lotions, frequently applied to the part. Equal 
 portions of spirit of wine, water, and vinegar, will arfbrd an excellent application. It 
 will be almost impossible to keep a bandage on. If the heat and lameness are considera- 
 ble, it will be prudent to phj'sic the horse, and to bleed from the subcutaneous vein, 
 whose course is represented at r page 201. Whether the injury be of the annular liga- 
 ment, or the sheath of the tendon, more active means will be necessary to perfect the 
 cure. Either a liquid blister should be rubbed on the part, consisting of a vinous or tur- 
 pentine tincture of cantliarides, and this daily applied until some considerable swelling 
 talies place, which should be allowed to subside, and tlien the liniment again resorted to; 
 or, what is the preferable plan, the hair should be cut oflf, and the oait blistered as soon 
 
208 THE HORSE. 
 
 as the heat has been subdued. The blister should be repeated until the horse goes 
 sound, and the swelling has disappeared. In severe cases it may be necessary to fire, 
 but we cannot recommend the indiscriminate recourse to the hot iron in every case of 
 curb, and we would uniformly give a fair trial to milder measures. If the iron be used, 
 the strokes should be in straight lines. 
 
 There are few complaints in which absolute jmd long-continued rest is more requisite 
 than in curb. An injury so serious leaves tlie parts very materially weakened, and, if 
 the horse be soon put to work again, the lameness will frequently return. No horse 
 that has had curbs should be put even to ordinary work in less thzin a month afte^ Jhe • 
 apparent cure, and even then he should very gradually resume his former habits. 
 
 A horse vdth a curb is manifestly unsound. A horse vdth the vestige of curb we 
 should regard with much suspicion, or generally condemn as unsound ; for although the 
 neighboring parts may have accommodated themselves to the sUght enlargement that 
 remains, they are not in their natural situation, and have lost a portion of their natural 
 strength : some latent disposition to relapse may continue, which extraordinary exertion 
 may rouse to action ; and, beside this, it should be remembered, that curb is an heridi- 
 fcuy complaint, and that there may be some constitutional weakness of these parts. 
 
 BOG-SPAVIN. 
 
 The hock is plentifully furnished with mucous bags, to lubricate the different portions 
 of this complicated joint. Some of these are found on the inside of the joint, which 
 could not be represented in our cut, page 203. From over-exertion of the joint they 
 become inflamed, and considerably enlarged. They are wind-galls of the hock. The 
 subcutaneous vein passes over the inside of the hock, and over some of these enlarged 
 bags, and is compressed between the skin and tlie enlaorged bag ; and, consequently, the 
 passage of the blood through it is partially stopped. The blood, however, continues to 
 be returned from the leg and foot, and being thus arrested in its course, a portion of the 
 vein below the impediment, and between it and the next valve, is distended, and causes 
 the soft tumour on the inside of the hock, called the bog or blood spavin. This is a very 
 serious disease, attended with no great, but often permanent lameness, and a disease too 
 apt to return, when the enlargement has subsided under medical treatment. It must be 
 considered as decided unsoundness. In a horse for slow draught, it is scarcely worth 
 while even to attack it. In a horse destined to more rapid action, the probabihty of a 
 relapse should not be forgotten, when the chances of success, and the expenses of treat- 
 ment are calculated. 
 
 The disease (the enlarged mucous capsule) lies deep, and is with difficulty operated 
 upon. Uniform pressure wiU sometimes cause tiie absorption of the fluid contained in 
 cysts or bags like these, but in a joint of such extensive motion as the hock, it is difficult, 
 or almost impossible, to confine the pressure on the precise spot where it is required ; 
 and could it be made to bear on the enlarged bag, it would hkewise press on the vein, 
 and to a greater degree hinder the passage of the blood, and increase the dilatation below 
 the obstruction. The old and absurd method of passing a ligature above and below the 
 enlarged portion of the vein, and then dissecting out the tumour, is not, in the advanced 
 stage of veterinary science, practised by any surgeon who has a regard to his repu- 
 tation. The only method of relief which holds out any promise even of temporary suc- 
 cess, is by exciting a great deal of inflammation on the skin, and thus rousing the deeper 
 seated absorbents to carry away the fluid effused in tlie enlarged bag. Repeated blisters 
 then will afford the fairest prospect of removing the tumour, or firing may be tried ; but 
 in the majority of cases, the disease will bid defiance to aU our means, or will return, 
 and baffle our hopes when we had seemed to have been accomphshing our object. A 
 horse with bog-spavin will do very well for ordinary work. He may draw in a cart, or 
 trot fairly in a lighter carriage, with little detriment to his utility, but he vnll never do 
 for rapid or hai'd work, and it is vain to attempt to make him. 
 
 BOXE-SPAVIN. 
 
 A still more formidable disease ranks under the name of spavin, and is an affection of 
 the bones of the hock-joint. We have observed that the bones of the leg, the shank-bone 
 g, page 206, and the two littie splint-bones behind, h, support the lower layer of the 
 bones of the hock. The cube bone, d, rests principally on tiie shank-bone, and in a 
 ehght degree on the outer splint-bone. The middle wedge-bone, /, rests entirely upon 
 the shank-bone, and the smeiller wedge (not seen in the cut) rests in a very slight degree 
 on the shank -bone, but principally or almost entirely on the inner splint-bone. Then 
 the splint-bones sustain a very unequal degree of concussion and weight. Not only is 
 the inner one placed more under the body, and nearer the centre of gravity, but it has 
 almost the whole of the weight and concussion communicated to the Uttle wedge -bone 
 
THE CURB. 209 
 
 carried on to it. It is not, therefore, to be wondered at, that in the violent action of this 
 Joint in galloping, leaping, heavy draught, and especially in young horses, and before 
 tlie limbs have become properly knir, Uie inner sphiit-bone, or its ligaments, or tlie sub- 
 stance which connects it with the shank-bone, should suh'er material injury. The smith 
 increases the tendency to this, by his injudicious management of the leet. It is a com- 
 mon notion, tliat cutting, and wounds in the .feet, from one loot b-eading on the other. 
 
 are prevented by putting on a shoe witli a calkin on the outer heel, that is, the extremity 
 of the heel of the shoe being bent, and thus the outer heel considerably raised irom the 
 sual to see whole teams of horses, and thai all tlie year round, with 
 nd foot considerably raised above the otlier. This untqnal bearing, 
 weight, cannot lail of being injurious ; it will place an unequal 
 3 ofthe joints, and particularly of the hock -joint, and increase the 
 
 gi-ound. It is not unusual to see whole teams of horses, and thai all tlie year round, with 
 Qie outer heel of tlie hind foot considerably raised above the otlier. This untqnal bearing, 
 or distribution ofthe 
 strain on the hgaments 
 tendency to spavin. 
 
 The weight and concussion which are thus thrown on the inner splint-bone produce, 
 in the first place, intlaraniation of the cartilaginous substance which unites it to the 
 shank-bone. The consequence of tliis is, that the cartilage is absorbed, and bone depos- 
 ited; — the union between tlie splint-bone and the shank becomes bony instead of cai-til- 
 agiuous ; — tlie degree of elastic action between them is destroyed, and there is tormed a 
 splint of the hiiid-leg. This is uniformly on the inside of the hind-leg, because the 
 gi-eater weight and concussion are thrown on the inner splint-bones. As in the fore-leg. 
 the disposition to form bony matter having commenced, and the cause which produced 
 it continuing to act, bone continues to be deposited, and it appears gencrediy in the form 
 of a tmnour, where tlie head of the splint-bone is united with the shank, and in front of 
 that union. It is seen at c, p. 203. This is called bone-spavin. Inflammation of the 
 ligaments of any of tlie small bones of the hock, proceeding to bony tumour, would 
 equally class under tlie name of spavin, but, with very few exceptions, the disease com- 
 mences on tlie precise spot we have described. 
 
 When spavin is forming there is always lameness, and that frequently to a very great 
 degree ; but when the membrane ofthe bone has accommodated itself to the tumour that 
 extended it, the lameness subsides, or disappears, or depends upon the degree in which 
 the bony deposit interferes witli the motion of the joint. We olten see horses with ex- 
 ceedingly large spavins, that are only slightly lame, or that merely have a stillness in 
 their gait at nrst starting, and that gradually goes off after a httle motion ; and we meet 
 with others with the bony tumour comparatively small, yet the lameness so great as to 
 destroy the usefulness of the horse. There is always this peculiarity in the lameness of 
 spavin, that it abates, and sometimes disappears, on exercise ; and therefore, a horse, 
 with regard to which there is any suspicion of spavin, should be examined, when it first 
 in the morning is taken from the stable. 
 
 If tlie spavin continues to increase, the bony deposit first spreads over the lower wedge- 
 bones, /, p. 206, tor these are nearest to its original seat. They are capable of slight 
 motion, and share in every action of the joint, but their principal design was to obviate 
 concussion. The chief motion ofthe joint, and that compared with which the motion of 
 the others is scarcely to be regarded, is confined to the tibia a, and tlie astragalus 6, and 
 therefore, stiflhess ratlier than lameness may accompany spavin, even when it is begin- 
 ning to atfect the small bones of the joint. Hence, too, we see the advantage of tlicse 
 bones having each its sepai-ate ligaments and membranes, and constituting so many 
 joints, since injurj' may happen to some of them, without the etiect being propagated to 
 tlie rest. When the bony deposit continues to enlarge, and takes in tlie second layer 
 of bones, the larger wedge bones e, and even spreads to the cube bones on the other side, 
 even then the lameness may not be excessive, because these two are joints, or pails of 
 the joint, in which the motion is small ; but when it extends to the union ofthe tibia a, 
 and the astragalus b ; when the joint, in which is the chief motion of the hock, is 
 attacked, the lameness is indeed foniiidable, and the horse becomes nearly or quite useless, 
 A recollection of the situation of the dilierent bones ofthe hock may, in some measure, 
 guide the purchaser as to the probable value and use of the spavined horse ; but he 
 must not depend on this, for deep-seated deposits of bone, which the eye cannot reach, 
 may interfere more with the actionof the joint, than anyoutwaid enlargement, however 
 great. 
 
 Spavined horses are generally capable of slow work. They are equal to the greater 
 part of the work of the tarm, and therefore, they will not be always rejected by the small 
 farmer, and may generally be procured at httle price. These horses are not only capa- 
 ble of agricultural work, but tliey generally improve under it ; they become less lame, 
 and even the bony tumour to a certain degi-ee diminishes. There is sufficient moderate 
 motion and friction of the limb to rouse the absorbents to action, and cause them to take 
 up a portion of the bony matter thrown out, but not enough to renew or prolong inflam- 
 mation. We cannot say that the plough alibrds a aire for spavin, but we have seen 
 many instances in which the spavined horse has veiy materially improved at it. 
 
210 THE HORSE. 
 
 For fast work, and for work that must be regularly performed, they are not so well 
 calculated ; for this lameness behind produces great difhculty in rising up, and the con- 
 sciousness that he will not be able to rise without painful ettbrt, prevents the horse from 
 lying down at all ; and a horse that cannot rest well cannot long travel fai- and fast. This 
 is well known to postmasters. A foundered horse may do his work, for as soon as he 
 has satisfied his appetite he is down ; but the horse that will seldom or never lie down, 
 must be speedily* worn out. 
 
 Our cut shows at e, the natural situation of spavin, but there is sometimes an expan- 
 sion of the heads of the bones of the leg, tliat looks very much like it, and has been mis- 
 talten for it. Both hocks should be examined, for it is rare that there will be an unnatu- 
 ral growth of bone of precisely the same form and appearauce in both ; and if there be a 
 natural projection, or breadth of the heads of the bones, all the other joints will present 
 the same bold character. 
 
 The ti-eatment of spavin is simple enough, but not always effectual. The owner of 
 the horse will neither consult his own interest, nor the dictates of humanity, if he suffers 
 the chissel and mallet, or the gimblet, or the pointed irou, or airsenic to be used ; yet 
 measures of considerable seventy must be resorted to. Repeated blisters will usually 
 cause either the absoi-ption of tlie bony deposite, or the abatement or removal of the in- 
 flammation of the ligaments. As a last resort, however, the hot iron may be applied. 
 
 We have thus presented our readers with a fearful list of diseases belonging to the 
 hock, but our cateJogue is not completed. It is well known that the horse is frequently 
 subject to lameness behind, when no ostensible cause for it can be found, and there is no 
 extei'nal heat or enlargement to indicate its seat. Farriers and grooms pronounce these 
 to be affections of the stifle, or round bone ; or if tlie gait of the horse and peculiar stiff- 
 ness of motion point out the hock as the afiected part, yet the joint may be of its natural 
 size, and neither heat nor tenderness can be discovered. The groom has here a method 
 of unravelling the mystery: he says that it is the beginning of spavin ; but months and 
 years pass away, and tlie spavin does not appear, and tlie horse is at length destroyed as 
 incurably lame. Horsemen are indebted to Mr. W. J. Goodwin for the discovery of the 
 seat of frequent lameness behind. Our cut represents two layers of small bones on tlie 
 inside of the hock ; the larger wedge-like bone e above ; and the middle /, and the 
 smaller one below, and it will be seen that almost the whole of the weight of the horse, 
 communicated by the tibia a, is thrown upon these bones. The cube-bone d does little 
 more than support the point of the hock c. It is then easy to suppose that, in the con- 
 cussion of hard work or rapid travelling, these bones, or the delicate and sensible mem- 
 branes in which they are wrapped, may be severely injured. Repeated dissections of 
 horses that have been incurably lame behind, without any thing external to point out the 
 place or cause of lameness, have shown that inflammation of the membranes lining these 
 joints, and secreting the fluid that lubricates them, has taken place ; and has been accom- 
 panied by all the pain of joint disease, and evils corresponding to those which we have 
 described, when treating of broken knees, and the consequent inflammation of the mem- 
 brane and internal part of the joint. Indeed, so clearly is this now established, that 
 when, after careful and repeated examination by a competent person, no seat or cause 
 of lameness can be discovered, we shall be right nineteen times out of twenty, in decid- 
 ing that it is disease in this portion of the hock. No enlargement, no heat, will indicate 
 its existence, but when it has been long established, and ossified matter has been thrown 
 out between these bones, it will, like the true spavin, spread, and appear either on the 
 inside of the hock, or surrounding the whole of the joint. 
 
 In these cases, then, of mysterious lameness, and when, after the removal of the shoe, 
 and the most patient search, we have failed in discovering a cause of lameness else- 
 where, we shall be justified in considering this as the affected part, and treating it 
 accordingly : and as the injury is deep, and in the very centre of the joint, we must 
 adopt severe measures in order to reach it. We must blister immediately, and repeat the 
 blister, and enjoin perfect quietude and rest; but here, as in the bone-spavin, and oftener 
 than in that disease, all our appliances and means may be fruitless. Our only hope lies 
 in an early attempt to combat the evil ; and in all these obscure cases, he is unjust to 
 himself who does not speedily have recourse to their advice, to whom science and 
 practice have given a facility in detecting latent disease. 
 
 THE POINT OF THE HOCK. 
 
 If the reader has not forgotten what we have said concerning the projection of the 
 elbow, he will be convinced that the form of the hock is materially connected with the 
 value of tlie horse. The most powerful of the flexor or bending muscles are inserted 
 into the point of the hock, or the extremity of the os calcis c ; and in proportion to the 
 projection of the hock, or, in other words, the length of this bone, will two purposes be 
 
COW-HOCKS. 211 
 
 effected. The line of direction will be more advantageous, for it will be nearer to a per- 
 pendicular; and the arm of the lever to which the powder is applied will be lengthened, 
 and mechanical advantage will be gained to an almost incredible extent. Suppose this 
 bone of the hock to be tliree inches in length ; the joint formed by the tibia and the 
 astragalus is evidently the centre of motion ; and the weight, concentered about the 
 middle of the shank, is the obstacle to be overcome. If the weight be four times as fai- 
 from the centre of motion as the power, a force equal to four tunes the weight would 
 raise it. It is, however, here to be remembered, that it is not merely the weight of the 
 leg which is to be raised, but the weight of the horse, for the time resting upon the 
 leg, and that weight to be propelled or driven forward. At what shall we calculate this .' 
 We may fairly suppose that the muscles whose tendons are inserted into the point oi' the 
 hock exert an energy equal to 40()01bs. Let us further suppose, that an inch is added 
 to the point of the hock, which will be an addition of one-third to its length : a muscu- 
 lar power of less than SOOOlbs. will now effect the same purpose. The slightest length- 
 ening, therefore, of the point of the hock will make an exceedingly great ditierence in 
 the muscular energy by which the joint is moved ; and a difference that will wonder- 
 fully tell in a long day's work. On this account, the depth of the hock, or the length of 
 the bone of which we are speaking, is a point of the greatest importance. 
 
 There is, however, a limit to this. In proportion to the length of this bone must be 
 the space which it passes over in order sufficiently to bend the limb ; and in that pro- 
 portion must be the conti-action of the muscle ; and consequently the length of the mus- 
 cle ; that it may be enabled thus to contract ; and, therefore, if this bone were inordinately 
 lengthened, there would require a depth of quarter which would amount to deformity. 
 A hock of tliis disadvantageous length is, how^ever, rarely or never met with, and itis re- 
 ceived among the golden rules in judging of the horse, that this bone of the hock cannot 
 be too long. 
 
 CAPPED HOCK. 
 
 The point of the hock is sometimes swelled. A soft fluctuating tumour appears on it. 
 This is an enlargement of one of those mucous bags of which we have spoken, and which 
 surrounds the insertion of the tendons into the point of the hock. It is seldom accom- 
 panied by lameness, but yet it is a serious business. It is usually produced by blows, 
 and, in the majority of instances, by the injury which the horse inflicts upon himself by 
 kicking; therefore a horse with a capped hock is properly regarded with a very suspi- 
 cious eye. The whole of the hook should be most carefuOy examined, in order to dis- 
 cover whether there are other marks of violence, and the previous history of the animal 
 should, if possible, be obtained. Generally the kieldng is in harness, but some horses 
 have the habit of kicking in the stall ; itis possible, however, that lying on a thin bed, 
 or on no bed, may bruise the hock and produce the swelling, or it may even result from 
 sprain of the hock ; but we repeat that it is far oftener the consequence of external vio- 
 lence. 
 
 Here again itis exceedingly difficult to apply a bandage ; and puncturingthe tumour, 
 or passing a seton through it, would be a most injudicious and dangerous practice. Blis- 
 ters, repeated as long as may be necessaiy, are the proper means to be employed. Some- 
 times the tumour will disappear of itself, but at others it will attain a very large size, or 
 will assume a callous structure that will bid defiance to all the means we can employ. 
 
 MALLENDERS AND SALLENDERS. 
 
 In the inside of the hock, or a little below it, as well as at the bend of the knee, (see 
 h, p. 197,) there is sometimes a scurfy eruption called mallenders in the fore leg, and 
 SALLENDERS in the hind leg, They seldom produce lameness, but if no means are 
 taken to get rid of them, a discharge proceeds from them which it is afterwards difficult 
 to stop ; and certainly they have an unsightly appearance, and generally argue bad stable 
 management. A diuretic ball should be occasionally given, and an ointment, composed 
 of one part of sugar of lead, two of tar, and six of lard, rubbed over the part. Snould 
 this fail, the weak mercurial ointment should be used. 
 
 COW-HOCKS. 
 
 The line of direction of the legs beneath the hocks should not be disregarded. The 
 leg should descend perpendicularly to the fetlock. The weight and stress will thus be 
 equally diffused, not only over the whole of the hock, but also the pasterns and the foot. 
 Some horses, however, have their hocks closer than natural to each other, and the legs 
 take a divergent direction outward, and the toes likewise are turned outward. These 
 horses are said to be cat or cow- hocked. They are generally supposed to possess consid- 
 
212 THE HORSE, 
 
 erable speed, and we believe that they do ; and we thus account for it. The cow-hocked 
 horse has his legs not onl}^ turned more outward, but bent more under him, and this in- 
 creases the distance between the point of the hock and the tendons of the perforating 
 muscle ; see b, cut p. 262. It increases the space which is usually occupied by tho- 
 rough-pin, a, in the same page. Then the point of the hock, moved by the action of the 
 muscles, is enabled to describe a greater portion of a circle ; and in proportion to the in- 
 creased space passed over by the point of the hock, will the space passed over by the 
 bmb beneath beincreased, and so the stride of the horse maybe lengthened, and thus far 
 his speed may be increased. But this advantage is more than counterbalanced by many 
 evils. This increased contraction of the muscles is an expenditure of animal power, 
 and, as we have already stated, the weight and the concussion being so unequally distrib- 
 uted by this formation of the limbs, some part must be overstrained and overworked, 
 and injuiy must ensue. On this account it is, that the cow-hocked horse is more subject 
 than others to thorough-pin and spavin ; and is so disposed to curbs, that these hocks are 
 denominated by horsemen curby hocks. The mischief extends even farther than this. 
 Such a horse is peculiarly liable to windgall, sprain of the fetlock, cutting, and knuck- 
 
 ^i"?- ..... 
 
 A slight inclination to this form in a strong powerful horse may not be very objectiona- 
 ble, but a horse decidedly cow-hocked should never be selected. 
 
 STRING-HALT. 
 
 Before we quit the hock, we must notice a peculiar involuntary twitching of the hind 
 leg, or convulsive action of the muscles by which it is bent, and which is termed string- 
 halt. This is evidently an affection of some of the nerves which communicate motion 
 to these muscles. It is an irregular action of nervous energy ; but what particular fibril 
 is affected, or what muscle is chiefly spasmed, has never been ascertained. It is princi- 
 pally observed when the horse first comes from the stable, and gradually ceases after 
 he has been exercised a while. It is unpleasant to the rider, but it cannot be denomi- 
 nated unsoundness ; on the contrary, common opinion has given to the horse with string- 
 halt a more than usual share of strength and endurance ; and if it be an excess of ner- 
 vous energy, although irregularly exerted, we shall find no difficulty in associating it with 
 general powerful muscular action. However this may be, the precise nature ot the de- 
 lect has never been determined, nor has any cure for it been discovered. 
 
 the hind leg. 
 
 The construction of the hind leg, and the injuries to which it is subject, are so similar 
 to those of the fore leg, that we shall content ourselves with referring to our description 
 of them given at page 187, only observing that the shank bone is longer than that of the 
 fore leg ; the outer splint bone is considerably larger than the inner one, and the pasterns 
 are longer than those of the fore leg, and less oblique. 
 
 On the back part of the leg (/, page 203,) are some excrescences, called by farriers 
 KAT-TAiLS, from the appearance they give the hair. They will generally yield to the 
 mild mercurial ointment, but in very bad cases it may be necessary to remove them 
 with a knife. 
 
 Before we quit the legs, we must notice two frequent and very troublesome diseases. 
 The first is 
 
 SWELLED LEGS. 
 
 The fore legs are sometimes subject to considerable enlargement, but much oftener 
 the hind ones. Occasionally when the horse does not seem to labor under any other 
 disease, and sometimes from an apparent shifting of inflammation from other parts, (in- 
 flammation of the lungs or the eye not unfrequently thus changes its seat,) and the hind 
 legs suddenly swell to an enormous degree from the hock, and almost from the stifle to 
 the fetlock, attended by heat, and extreme tenderness of the skin, and excessive and 
 very peculiar lameness. The pulse likewise becomes quick and hard, and the horse 
 evidently labors under considerable fever. It is acute inflammation of the cellular sub- 
 stance of the legs, and that most sudden in its attack, most violent in its degree, and 
 therefore attended by the pouring out of a great deal of fluid, in this cellular substance. 
 It occurs in young horses, and in those which are over-fed and little exercised, without 
 
 Erevious inflammation in any other part. Fomentation, diuretics, or physic, or, if there 
 3 much fever, a moderate bleeding, will often relieve the distention abnost as suddenly 
 as it appeared. 
 
 The kind of swelled legs, most frequent of occurrence, and most troublesome, is of a 
 different nature, or rather it is so various in its kind and causes, and consequences and 
 
mode of treatment, th?' 
 will guide us to a rip"' 
 or coinparalive deb^ 
 healtli, and witV 
 cise, will h?' 
 of fluid to ' 
 spirat'^ 
 ties 
 
-f evaporation, which is 
 
 with which the heels 
 
 that inflammation. 
 
 totest conducted 
 
 -f filth is suf- 
 
 'sually 
 
 'CU- 
 
GREASE. 215 
 
 physic is indicated, and in what states of the constitution or disease we may be content 
 with diuretics. If the horse be strong, and full of flesh and fat, physic should always 
 precede, and sometimes supersede the diuretics ; in cases of much debihty, diuretics 
 with aromatics or tonics will be preferable. 
 
 The feeding will hkewise vary with the case, but with these rules, which admit of no 
 exception, that green meat should be given, and more especially carrots, when they are 
 not too expensive, and mashes, if the norse will eat them, and nevei the full allowance 
 of corn. 
 
 Walking exercise should be resorted to as soon as the horse is able to bear it, and this 
 by degrees may be increased to a gentle trot. 
 
 From bad stable management at first, and neglect during the disease, a yet worse kind 
 of grease is occasionally found. The ulceration extends over the skin of the heel and 
 the fetlock, and a fungus springs from the surface of both, highly sensible, bleeding at 
 the slightest touch, and interspersed with scabs. By degrees, portions of the fungus be- 
 gin to be covered with a horny substance, protruding in the form of knobs, and collected 
 together in bunches. These ai'e known by tlie name of grapes. A stinking and very 
 peculiar discharge proceeds from nearly the whole of the unnatural substance. The 
 horse evidently suffers much and is gradually worn down by tlie disease. The assistance 
 of a veterinary surgeon is here indispensable. 
 
 Some horses are more subject to grease than others, particularly draught horses, both 
 heavy and light, but particularly the former, and if they have no degree of blood in them. 
 It was the experience of this which partly contributed to the gradual change of coach 
 and other draught horses to those of a lighter breed. It may, however, be affirmed, with- 
 out danger of error, that, in the great majority of cases, grease arises from mismanage- 
 ment and neglect ; and tlie farmer and tlie horse-proprietor would not be unjust to their 
 servants, and would materially promote their own interest, if tliey exacted a fine for 
 every case of grease that occuiTed in tlieir stable. 
 
 Every thing that has a tendency to excite inflammation in the sldn of the heel is a 
 cause of grease. Therefore, want of exercise, for the reasons which we have stated 
 when treating of swelled legs, is a frecjuent cause ; the fluid which accumulates about 
 the extremities, and is unable to return, is a source of irritation by its continued pressure. 
 When high feeding is added to irregular or deficient exercise, this disease is evidently" 
 still more likely to be produced. Want of cleanliness in a stable is a fruitful source of 
 this complaint. When the heels are embedded in filth tliey are weakened by the constant 
 moisture surrounding them, and irritated by the acrimony of the dung and the urine, and 
 little prepared to endure the evaporation and cold to which they are exposed when the 
 horse is taken out of the stable. We believe, however, that the absurd practice of wash- 
 ing the feet and legs of horses when they come from their work, and either carelessly 
 sponging them down afterwards, or leaving them to dry as they may, is by far the most 
 common origin of grease. 
 
 When the horse is warmed by his work, and the heels share in the warmth, the mo- 
 mentary cold of washing may not be injurious if the animal be immediately rubbed dry; 
 yet even this would be better avoided : but to wash out the heels, and leave them par- 
 tially dry, or perfectly wet, and suffering from the extreme cold which is produced by 
 evaporation from a wetted surface, is the most absurd, dangerous, and injurious practice 
 that can be imagined. It is worse when the post-horse or the plough-horse is plunged 
 up to his belly in the river or pond, immediately after his work. The owner is little 
 aware how many cases of inflammation of the lungs, and bowels, and feet, and heels, 
 follow. It would, therefore, be an excellent rule never to wash the heels of these horses. 
 After they have been suffered to stand for twenty minutes in the stable, during which 
 time the horse-keeper or the carter may be employed in taking care of the harness, or 
 carriage, or beginning to dress the horse, the greater part of the dirt which had collected 
 about the heels may be got rid of with a dry brush ; and the rest will disappear a quarter 
 of an hour afterwards under the operation of a second brushing. The trouble will not 
 be greater, and the heels will not Tie chilled and subject to inflammation. 
 
 There has been some dispute as to the propriety of cutting the hair fiom the heels. 
 Custom has very properly retained the hair on our farm-horses. Nature would not have 
 given it had it not been useful. It guards the heel from being injured by the inequalities 
 of the ploughed field; it prevents the dirt in which the heels are constantly enveloped, 
 from reaching and caking on and irritating the skin ; it hinders the usual moisture which 
 is mixed with the clay and mould from reaching the skin, and it preserves an equal tem- 
 perature in the parts. If, however, the hair be suffered to remain on the heels of our 
 farm-horses, there is greater necessity for brushing and hand rubbing the heels, and never 
 washing them ; for the water used in washing wiU readily penetrate through the hair, 
 and it will be absolutely impossible to get rid of it again. Indeed, we would neglect the 
 heels altogether, or let, as many careless carters do, the dirt accumulate from month to 
 
216 THE HORSE, 
 
 month, rather than wash them. This would, indeed, be idle and injurious treatment, 
 but it would be by far the lesser evil. 
 
 Fashion and utility have removed the hair from the heels of our hackneys and car- 
 riage-horses. In the usual state of our roads this defence is not wanted, or, rather, the 
 hair would be a perfect nuisance. The hand-rubbing or dry brushing will be an easy 
 process ; or if the neels must be washed, let them be carefully and thoroughly dried. We 
 close this part of our treatise by repeating that grease is the child of negligence and mis- 
 management. It is driven from our cavalry, and it will be tlie fault of the gentleman 
 and the farmer if it be not speedily banished from every stable. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 THE FOOT. 
 
 The foot is composed of the horny box which covers the extremities of the horse, and 
 the contents of that box. We will first consider the hoof, or box, which is composed of 
 the crust or wall, the bars, the sole, and the horny frog. 
 
 THK CRUST OR WALL OF THE HOOF. 
 
 The crust, or wall, is that portion which is seen when the foot is placed on the ground, 
 and reaches from the termination of the hair to the ground. It is deepest in front, where 
 it is called the toe (see cut, p. 198) ; shallower at tne sides, which are denominated the 
 quarters ; and of least extent behind, where it is termed the heel. It is placed flat on 
 the ground, but ascends obliquely backward, and possesses different degrees of obliquity 
 in different feet. In a sound hoof, the proper degree of slanting is calculated at forty- 
 five degrees, or the fourth part of a semicircle. When it is more oblique, or the crust is 
 said to have " fallen in," it indicates undue flatness of the sole, or, if the obliquity be 
 very much increased, pumiced, or convex sole. If it be more upright than the angle we 
 have mentioned, it shows a contracted foot, and a sole too concave ; so that there is no 
 necessity to take up the foot in order to ascertain either of these states of it. It is also 
 of importance to observe whether the depth of the crust appears rapidly or slowly to 
 decrease fi-om the front of the heel. If the decrease be Uttle, and even at the heel the 
 crust is high and deep, it indicates a foot liable to contraction, and sand-crack, and thrush 
 and inflammation, and the pastern is upright, and the paces of the horse are not pleasant. 
 If the crust diminish rapidly in depth, and the heels are low, this is accompanied by too 
 great slanting of the pastern, and disposition to sprain of the back sinew ; the foot itself 
 IS liable to be weak and flat and bruised, and there is likewise more tendency to that 
 frequent but obscure lameness of which we shall have occasion to treat, termed the "na- 
 vicular-joint disease." The foot has spread out too much at the side, instead of growing 
 upward, and therefore it is too much exposed. 
 
 The crust in front is rather more than half an inch in tliickness, and becomes graduall}' 
 thinner towards the quarters and heels. If, therefore, there be but half an inch for nail- 
 hold at the toe, and not so much at the quarters, we need not wonder if horses are 
 occsisionally wounded in shoeing, and especially when some of them are so unmanagea- 
 ble while undergoing that process. 
 
 While the crust gets thinner towards both quarters, it is thinner at the inner quarter 
 than it is at the outer, because more weight is thrown upon it than upon the outer. It 
 is more under the horse ; it is under the inner splint-bone, on which so much more of the 
 weight rests than on the outer, and, being thinner, it is able to expand more ; its elas- 
 ticity is called more into play, and concussion and injury are avoided. When the expan- 
 sion of the quarters is prevented by their being nailed to an unbending shoe, the inner 
 quarter suffers most. Corns are oftenest found there ; contraction begins there ; sand- 
 crack is seated there. Nature meant that this should be the most yielding part, in order 
 to obviate concussion, because on it the weight was principally thrown, and -therefore 
 when its power of yielding is taken away it must be the first to suffer. 
 
 A careful observer will likewise perceive that the inner quarter is a little higher than 
 the outer. While it is thin to yield to the shock, its increased surface gives it sufficient 
 strength. 
 
THE CRUST OF THE HOOF. 217 
 
 On' account of its thinness, and the additional weight which it bears, the inner heel 
 wears away quicker than the outer ; a circumstance that should never be forgotten by 
 the smith. His object is to give a plain and level bearing to the whole of the crust. To 
 accomplish this, it will be often scarcely necessary to remove anything from the inner 
 heel for it is already removed by the wear of the foot. If he forgets this, as he too often 
 seems to do, and takes otf with his knife or his buttress an equal portion all round, he 
 leaves the inner and weaker quarter lower than the outer ; he tlirows an uneven bear- 
 ing upon it ; and produces corns and sand-cracks and splints, which a little care and 
 common sense might have avoided. The crust does not vary much 
 in tiiickness, (^ec a, page 193, and b in the accompanying cut,) un- 
 til near the top, at the coronet, or union of the horn of the foot with 
 the slcins of the pasterns where {w, page 193) it rapidly gets thin. 
 Itisina manner scooped and hollowed out. It likewise changes 
 its colour and its corisistence, and seems almost like a continuation 
 of the skin, but easily separable from it by maceration, or disease. 
 Tliis thin part is called the coronary ling, x, p. 193 ; and it receives 
 within it, or covers a thickened and bulbous prolongation of the skin, 
 called the coronary ligament, (see b in the accompanying cut.) This 
 requires a better name, for it has not a portion ol ligamentous struc- 
 ture in it. This prolongation of the skin is thicldy supplied with blood-vessels. It is 
 almost a mesh of blood-vessels connected together by fibrous texture, and many of these 
 vessels are employed in secreting or forming the crust or wall of the foot. Nature has 
 enabled the sensible laminae of the coffin bone c, which will be described presently, to 
 secrete some horn, in order to afford an immediate defence for itself when the crust is 
 wounded or taken a'way. Of this we have proof, when in sand-crack or quittor, we are 
 compelled to remove a portion of the crust. A pellicle of horn, or of firm hard substance 
 resembling it, soon covers the wound ; but the crust is principally formed from this coronarjr 
 ligament. Hence it is, that in sand-crack, quittor, and other diseases in which strips of 
 the crust are destroyed, it is so long in being renewed, or growing doicn. It must pro- 
 ceed from the coronary ligament, and so gradually creep down the foot with the natural 
 gi-owth or lengthening of the horn, of which, as in the human nail, a supply is slowly 
 given to answer to the wear and tear of the part. 
 
 Below the coronary ligament is a thin strip of horny matter, which has been traced 
 from the frog, and has been supposed by some to be connected with the support or action 
 of the frog, but which is evidently intended to add to the security of the part on which it 
 is found, and to bind together those various substances which are collected at the coro- 
 net. It resembles, more than anything else, the strip of skin which surrounds the root 
 of the human nail, and which is placed tliere to strengthen the union of the nail with 
 the substance from which it proceeds. 
 
 The crust is composed of numerous fibres running at tlie toe in a straight direction 
 from the coronet to the ground, but at the quai'ters, taking an oblique direction from the 
 heel forwards. This construction is best calculated to enable tlie foot to expand when it 
 comes in contact with the ground, and by that expansion, permitting the gradual descent 
 of the bones of the foot, and obviating much concussion. The crust is thinner at the 
 quarters and towards the heels, because those are the parts at which tlie principal expan- 
 sion must take place. These fibres are held together by a glutinous substance, but in 
 such a manner as to permit a slight degree of separation, or to bestow the power of ex- 
 pansion on the foot ; and when recently separated from the foot, it is an exceedingly 
 elastic substance, and very tough, that it may not chip and break with the violence to 
 which it is often exposed. 
 
 In the absurd method of stable management, to which we shall have occasion again 
 and again to refer, it sometimes loses much of this toughness, and becomes brittle and 
 liable to chip and break. Inflammation of the internal part of the foot, by the increased 
 heat which is produced, will cause brittleness of the hoof; deficiency of moisture and 
 neglect of stopping will produce the same effect. Many hoi^es are peculiarly liable to 
 bristle hoofs during the summer; this is a very serious defect, and in some cases so much 
 of the hoof is gradually broken away, that there is no hold left lor the nails. A mixture 
 of one part of oil of tar, and two of common fish oil, well rubbed into the crust and the 
 hoof, will restore the natural pliancy and toughness of the horn, and very much contri- 
 bute to the quickness of its growth. 
 
 The wa^l of the hoof should be smooth and level ; protuberances or rings round the 
 crust indicate that the horse has had fever in the feet ; and that to such a degree as to 
 produce an unequal growth of horn, and probably to leave some injurious consequences 
 m the internal part of tlie foot. If there be a depression or hollow in the front of the 
 foot, it betrays a sinking of the coffin bone, or a flat or pumiced sole ; if the hollow be at 
 the quarters, it is the worst system of bad contraction. 
 
 The color of the hoof is a matter of some consequence. There is a common and, we 
 believe, a well-founded prejudice against white feet, and especially whiteness of the 
 28 
 
218 
 
 THE HORSE. 
 
 near foot. White horn is said to be weaker than that of the usual dark color: the sole 
 is almost uniformly flat, and the quarters are weak. 
 
 a The external crust seen 
 at the tjuarter. 
 
 b The coronary ring. 
 
 c The little horny plates 
 lining the crust 
 
 d The same continued 
 over the bars. 
 
 e e The two concave sur- 
 faces of the inside of the 
 horny frog. 
 
 / That which extemdly 
 is the cleft of the frog. 
 
 g The bars. 
 
 h The rounded part of the 
 J* T^MBP*"^ \^ *^ heels, belonging to the frc^. 
 
 The inside of the crust is covered by numerous thin horny leaves, extending all round 
 it, and reaching from the coronary ring to the toe. They are about five hundred in num- 
 ber, broadest at their base, and terminating in the most delicate expansion of horn. 
 They very much resemble the inner surface of a mushroom. In front they run in a 
 direction from the coronet to the toe, and towards the quarters they are more slanting 
 from behind forward. They correspond with similar cartilaginous and fleshy leaves on 
 the surface of the coffin-bone, called, from their construction, sensible laminae, or lamella 
 (little leaves that have feeling), and the one being received within the other, they form 
 together a most elastic body, by which the whole weight of the horse is supported. 
 
 THE BAKS. 
 
 a a The frog. 
 6 The sole. 
 c c The bars. 
 d d The crust 
 
 At the back part of the foot, the wall of the hoof, instead of being continued round, 
 and forming a circle, is suddenly bent in, as in the accompanying cut, where d represents 
 the base of the crust, and c this inflexion or bending of it. The cut will show that we 
 do not refer to that bend, which forms the cleft of the frog, but to a more sudden one, 
 constituting the commencement of the bars. The bars are, in fact, a continuation of 
 the crust, forming an acute angle, and meeting at a point at the toe of the frog a : and 
 the inside of the bars, like the inside of the crust (see the preceding cut), presents a 
 continuance of the horny leaves which we have just described, showing tliat it is a part 
 of the same substance, and helping to discharge the same office. 
 
 It needs only the slightest consideration of the cut, or of the natural hoof, to show 
 the importance of the bars. The arch which they form on either side, between the 
 frog and the quarters, is admirably contrived, both to admit of, and to limit to its proper 
 extent, the expansion of the loot. When the foot is placed on the ground, and 
 the weight of tha animal is thrown on the little leaves, of which we have just 
 spoken, we can imagine these arches shortening and widening, in order to admit 
 of the expansion of the quarters ; and we can see again the bow returning to its natural 
 curve, and powerfully assisting the foot in regaining its usual form. We can also per- 
 ceive what protection these bars must form against the contraction, or wiring in of 
 the quarters. If they are taken away, there will be nothing to resist the falling of 
 the quarters wlien the foot is exposed to any disease or bad management which would 
 
THE FROG. 219 
 
 induce it to contract. A^ain, we see the security which they afford to the frog a ; and 
 the effectual protection which they give against the pressure of the lateral or side parts 
 of the foot. Then appears the necessity of sparinsj and leaving them prominent when 
 the foot is pareil for slioeing. It is the custom with too many smiths to cut them per- 
 fectly away. Tliey imagine tliat that gives a more open appearance to the heels ot the 
 horse — a seeming width, which may impose upon the unwary. Horses s'nod for the pur- 
 pose of sale have usually the bars removed with this view ; and the smiths in the neigh- 
 borhood of the metropolis and large towns, shoeing for dealers, too often habitually 
 pursue, with regard to all their customers, the injurious practice of removing the 
 bai-9. The horny frog, deprived of its guard, will speedily contract, and become 
 elevated and thrushy ; and the whole of the heel, deprived of the power of resilience or 
 re-action, which the curve between the bar c and the crust d affords, will speedidly fail 
 in. Therefore, when treating of shoeing, we shall lay it down as a golden rule, that 
 the bai'S should be left prominent, and we shall show why it is of essential importance 
 that the shoe should rest on the angle formed by the crust and the bar. 
 
 THE FROG. 
 
 In the space between the bars, and accurately filling it, is the frog. It is a triangu- 
 lar portion of horn, projecting from the sole, almost on a level with the cnist, and cover- 
 ing and defending a soft and elastic substance called the sensible frog. It is wide at the 
 heels, and there extending above a portion of the crust; narrowing rapidly when it be- 
 gins to be confined between the bars, and terminating at a point at somewhat more than 
 half the distance from the heel to the toe. It consists of two rounded or projecting sur- 
 faces, with a fissure or cleft between them, reaching half way down the frog, and the 
 two portions again uniting to form the point or toe of the frog. The frog is firmly united 
 to the sole, but is perfectly distinct from it. It is of a different nature, being softer, 
 and far more elastic ; and it is secreted from a different surface, for it is thrown out from 
 the substance which it covers. Without entering into many of the questions which have 
 been agitated, with far too much warmth among veterinaiians, as to the uses of the frog, 
 it is sufficient to refer to our cut, and consider the form and situation of this part. It 
 very much resembles a wedge with the sharp point forwards ; and it is placed towards 
 the back part of the foot. The foot is seldom put flush and flat upon the gi'ound, but 
 in a direction downwards, yet somewhat forwards ; then the frog evidently gives safety 
 to the tread of the animal, for it, in a manner, ploughs itself into the ground, and prevents 
 the horse from slipping. This is of considerable consequence, when we remember some 
 of the paces of the horse, in which his heels evidently come first to the ground, and in 
 which the danger from slipping would be very great. We need only i-efer to the gallop 
 of speed as illustrative of this. 
 
 The frog being placed at, and filling the hinder part of the foot, discharges a part of the 
 duty sustained by the crust; for it supports the weight of the animal. It assists, like- 
 wise, and that to a material degree, in the expansion of the foot. It is formed internally 
 of two prominences on the sides (see a, p. 218), and a cleft in the centre, presenting two 
 concavities with a sharp projection in the middle, and a gradually rounded one on each 
 side. It is also composed of a substance peculiarly flexible and elastic. What can be 
 so well adapted for the expansion of the foot, when a portion of the weight of the body 
 is thrown on it ? How easily wiU these irregular surfaces yield, and spread out, and how 
 readily return again to their natural state ? In this view, therefore, the horny frog is a 
 powerful agent in opening the foot; and the diminution of the substance of the frog, and 
 its elevation above the ground, are both the cause and the consequence of conti-action : 
 the cause, as being able no longer powerfully to act in expanding the heels ; and the 
 consequence, as obeying a law of nature, by which that which no longer discharges its 
 natural function is gradually removed. It is, however, the cover and defence of the in- 
 ternal and sensible frog, at which we are not yet arrived, and therefore we are at present 
 unable to develop its full use ; but we have said enough to show the absurdity of the 
 common practice of unsparingly cutting it away. To discharge, in any degree, some of 
 the offices which we have assigned to it, and fully to discharge even one of them, it must 
 come in occasional contact with the ground. In the unshod horse it is constantly so : 
 but the additonal support given by the shoes, and more especially the hard roads over 
 which the horse is now compelled to travel, render this complete exposure of the frog to 
 the ground, not only unnecessary, but injurious. Being of so much softer consistence 
 than the rest of the foot, it would be speedily worn away : occasional pressure, however, 
 or contact with the ground, it must have. 
 
 The rough and detached parts should be cut off at each shoeing, and the substance of 
 the fro^ itself, so as to bring it just above or within the level of the shoe. It will then, 
 in the descent of the sole, when the weight of the horse is thrown upon it in the putting 
 down of the foot, descend likewise, and pressing upon the ground, do its duty ; while it 
 
22© THE HORSE. 
 
 will be defended from the wear, and bruise, and injury which it would receive if it came 
 upon the ground with the first and full shock of the weight. This will be the proper 
 guide to the smith in operating, and to the proprietor in the directions which he gives; 
 and the latter should often look to this, for it is a point of veiy great moment. A few 
 smiths carry' the notion of frog pressure to an absurb extent, and leave the frog beyond 
 the level of the sole, — a practice which is dangerous in the horse of slow draught, and 
 destructive to the hackney or the hunter ; but the majority of them err in a contrary way, 
 and, catting off too much of the frog, lift it above the ground, and destroy its principal 
 use. It should be left just above, or within the level of tiie shoe, 
 
 THE SOLE. 
 
 This is the under concave and elastic surface of the foot (see b, p. 218,) extending from 
 the crust to the bars and frog. It is not so thick as the crust, because, notwithstanding 
 its situation, it has not so much weight or stress thrown on it as there is on the crust ; 
 and because it was intended to expand, in order to prevent concussion, when, by the 
 descent of the bone of the foot, the weight was tlirown upon it. It is not so brittle as the 
 crust, anditis more elastic than it. It is thickest at the toe (see t, p. 193,) because the 
 first and principal stress is thrown on that part. The cofHn bone/ is driven forward and 
 downward in that direction. It is likewise thicker where it unites with the crust tlian 
 it is towai'ds the centre, for a similar and evident reason, because there the weight is first 
 and principally thrown. 
 
 In a state of nature it is, to a certain degree, hollow. The reason of tliis is plain. It 
 is intended to descend or yield with the weight of the horse, and by that gradual descent 
 or yielding most materially lessen the shock which would result from the sudden action 
 of tlie weight of the animal in rapid and violent action ; and this descent can only be 
 
 fiven by a hollow sole. A flat sole, already pressing upon the ground, could not be 
 rought lower ; nor could the functions of the frog be then discharged ; nor would the 
 foot nave so secure a hold. Then if the sole be naturally hollow, and hollow because it 
 must defend, the smith must not interfere with this important action. When the foot 
 will bear it, he must pare out sufficient of ihe horn to preserve the proper concavity, a 
 small portion at the toe and near the crust, and cutting deeper towards the centre ; and 
 he must put on a shoe which shall not prevent the descent of the sole ; which not only shall 
 not press upon it, but shall leave sufficient room between it and the sole to admit of this 
 descent. If the sole is pressed upon by the coffin-bone, by the lengthening of the elastic 
 leaves, and the shoe will not permit its descent, the sensible part between the coffin-bone 
 and the horn will necessarily be bruised, and inflammation and lameness will ensue. It 
 is from this cause, that if a stone insinuates itself between the shoe and the sole, it pro- 
 duces so much lameness. Of the too great concavity of the sole, or the want of con- 
 cavity, we shall treat when we arrive at the diseases of the foot. 
 
 THE COFFIN-BONE. 
 
 We proceed to the interior part of the foot. The lower pastern, a small poi-tion of 
 which (see d, p. 193) is contained in the horny box, has been already described. Be- 
 neath it, and altogether inclosed in the hoof is the coffin-bone, or proper bone of the foot, 
 (see /, p. 193, and rf,fig. 1, p. 196). It is fitted to, and fills the fore pai-t of the hoof, 
 occupying about half of it. It is of a light and spongy structure (see a, fig. 1, p. 196,) 
 and filled with numerous holes. Through these pass the blood-vessels of the foot, which 
 • are necessarily numerous, considering the important and various secretions tliere carry- 
 ing on, and the circulation through the foot it is plain could not possibly be kept up, 
 if these vessels did not run through the substance of the bone. The holes about the body 
 of the coffin-bone convey the blood to the little leaves with which it is covered ; those 
 near the lower part go to the sole. Considering the manner in which this bone is in- 
 closed in the horny box, and yet the important surfaces around and below it which are to 
 be nourished with blood, the circulation which is thus carried on within the very body of 
 the bone is one of the most beautiful provisions of nature that is to be found in the whole 
 of the frame. No inconvenience can arise from occasional or constant pressure, but the 
 bone allows free passage to the blood, and protects it from every possible obstruction. 
 
 The fore-part of the coffin-bone is not only thus perforated, but it is curiously roughen- 
 ed (or the attachment of the numerous little leaves about to be described. On its upper 
 surface it presents a concavity for the head of the lower pastern, p. 196. In front, imme- 
 diately above d, is a striking prominence, into which is inserted the extensor tendon of 
 the foot. At the back e, p. 193 it is sloped for articulation vrith the navicular bone, and 
 more underneath, is a depression for the reception of the perforating flexor tendon, m, 
 continued down the leg, passing over the navicular bone at n, and at length inserted into 
 this bone. On either sid!e, as seen p. 197, are projections called the wings, or heels of the 
 
 ..^i^fi^r^ 
 
THE NAVICULAR-BONE. 221 
 
 coffin-bone, and at the bottom it is hollowed to answer to the convexity of the internal 
 part of the sole. 
 
 That which deserves most attention in the coffin-bone is the production of numerous 
 little leaves round its front and sides. They are prolongations of the thick and elastic 
 membrane covering the coffin-bone, and consist of cartilaj^inous, fleshy plates, proceeding 
 from it, running down the coffin-bone, and corresponding with, and received between 
 the horny leaves that line the inside of the crust. The liorny little leaves are secreted 
 from, or produced by the fleshy, and being, as we have stated, five hundred in number, 
 their union witli each other is so strong, that no violence can separate them. While 
 the animal is at rest, the whole weight of the horse is supported by them, and not by the 
 sole. This extraordinary fact has been put to the test of experiment. The sole, bars, 
 and frog were removed from the foot of ahorse, and yet as he stood, the coffin-bone did 
 not protrude, or in the slightest degree descend ; but when the rapidity with which the 
 foot descends is added to the weight of the horse, these little leaves, horny and fleshy, 
 gradually lengthen, and surfer the bones to press upon the sole. The sole then descends, 
 and in descending, expands ; and so, by an admirable naechanism, the violent shock 
 which would be produced by the pressure of such a weight as that of the horse, and the 
 velocity with which it descends, is lessened or destroyed, and the complicated apparatus 
 of the foot remains uninjured. When the foot is again lifted, and the weight which 
 pressed upon it is removed, the principal of elasticity is called into exercise, and by it 
 the sole resumes its concavity, and the horny frog its folded state ; tlie quarters return to 
 their former situation ; the little leaves regain their former length, and eveiy thing is 
 prepai'ed for a repetition of action. 
 
 THE SENSIBLE SOLE. 
 
 Between the coffin-bone and the horny sole is situated the sensible sole s, p. 193, 
 formed above of a substance of a ligamentous or tendinous nature, and below of a 
 cuticular or skin-Uke substance, plentifully supplied with blood-vessels. It was placed 
 between the coffin-bone and the sole, by its yielding nature, to assist in preventing con- 
 cussion, and also to form a supply of horn for the sole. It extends beyond the coffin- 
 bone, but not at cdl under the frog ; leaving a space for the frog, it proceeds over the 
 bars, and there is covered with some laminae, to unite with those which we have 
 described, page 218, as found in the bars. It is here likewise thicker, and more elastic, 
 and by its elasticity is evidently assisting in obviating concussion. It is supplied with 
 nervous fibres, and is highly sensible, as the slightest experience in horses will evince. 
 The lameness which ensues from the pressure of a stone or of the shoe on the sole is 
 caused by inflammation of the sensible sole. Corns result from bruise and inflammation 
 of the sensible sole, between the crust and tlie bar. 
 
 THE SENSIBLE FROG. 
 
 The coffin-bone does not occupy more than one half of the hoof. The posterior part 
 is filled by a soft mass, partly ligamentous, and partly tendinous (o, page 193). Its 
 shape below corresponds with the cavities of the horny frog ; in front it is attached to the 
 inferior pai-t of the coffin-bone ; and farther back it adheres to the lower part of the 
 cartilages of the heels, where they begin to form the rounded protuberances which con- 
 stitute the heel of tlie foot. It occupies the whole of the back part of the foot, above 
 the horny frog, and between the cartilages. Running immediately above the frog, and 
 along the greater part of it, we find the perforans flexor tendon, which passes over the 
 navicular bone e, p. 193, and is inserted into the heel of tlie coffin-bone. 
 
 THE NAVICULAR-BONE. 
 
 This navicular bone is placed behind and below the lower pastern-bone and behind 
 and above the heel of the coffin-bone, e, p. 193, so that it forms a joint with both bones, 
 and answers a very important office in strengthening the union between these parts ; in 
 receiving a portion of the weight which is thrown on the lower pastern ; and in enabling 
 the flexor tendon to act with more advantage. Supposing that this tendon were inserted 
 into the coffin-bone, without the intervention of the navicular-bone, it would act in a 
 very disadvantageous way, in bending the pastern, for it is inserted near the end 
 of the coffin-bone, and the weight, concentrated about the middle of the bone, is far 
 off, and requires a power to raise it proportionate to the distance between the weight, 
 and the power, from the centre of motion, which is here the place where the ten- 
 don passes over the end of the coffin-bone : but when the navicular bone is inter- 
 posed, the centre of motion becomes the posterior edge of that bone, where it is in con- 
 tact with the tendon, and then it will be seen that the distance of the power from the 
 
222 THE HORSE. 
 
 centre of motion is nearly or quite the same as the weight, and very CTeat expenditure 
 of muscular power will be saved. In the one case, the power must be at least double 
 the weight, in the other they -will be nearly equal ; and also the angle at which the ten- 
 don is mserted, is, like the angle produced by the introduction of the knee-bone, con- 
 siderably more advantageous. We ai-e inclined to believe that this is the principal use 
 of the navicular bone, but at the same time we are aware of the benefit which accnies 
 (see p. 193) from a portion of the weight being taken from the coffin-bone, and thrown on 
 the navicular bone, and from it on the tendon, and the tendon resting on the elastic frog 
 underneath. The navicular bons is sometimes, but inaccurately, said to descend with 
 the motion of the foot. It does not do that ; it cannot; for it is connected both with the 
 pastern and coffin-bones, by inelastic ligaments. When, however, the horny bulb with its 
 tuft of hair, at the back of an oblique fetlock, descends in the rapid gallop, and almost 
 touches the ground, the navicular bone, being as it were a part of the pastern, must de- 
 scend with it ; but with this exception, both in the extending and the bending of the 
 pastern, the navicular bone turns or rolls upon the other bones, rather than descends, or 
 ascends, and with this remarkable advantage, that when the pastern is extended (see 
 p. 193), the navicular bone is placed in that situation which enables the flexor tender to 
 act with greatest advantage, in agam bending the foot. 
 
 THE CARTILAGES OF THE FOOT. 
 
 There is a groove extending along the upper part of the coffin-bone, and on either 
 side, except at the protuberance which receives the extensor tendon d, p. 196, occupied 
 by cartilage, which, like the crust, is convex outwards, and concave inwards, and which 
 extends to the very posterior part of the foot ; rising about the quarters, half an inch or 
 more above the hoof, and, diminishing in height forward and backward. These car- 
 tilages occupy a greater portion of the foot than does the coffin-bone, as will be seen in 
 the cut, p. 197, vmere they are represented as extending far behind the coffin-bone. They 
 ai-e held in their situation not merely by this groove, but by other connexions with the 
 coffin-bone, the navicular-bone, and the flexor tendon, and are thus perfectly secured. 
 
 Below are other cartilages connected with the underhedges of the former, and on either 
 side of the frog. 
 
 Between these cartilages is the sensible frog, filling up the whole of the space, and 
 answering several important purposes, being an elastic bed on which the navicular-bone, 
 and the tendon (see page 193), can play with security, and without concussion or shock 
 — by which all concussion communicated to the cartilages of the foot is destroyed — and 
 by which these cartilages are kept asunder, and the expansion of the upper part of the 
 foot preserved. As the descent of the sole increases the width of the lower part of the 
 foot, so tlie elevation of the frog, a portion of it being pressed upward and outward by 
 the action of the navicular-bone and tendon, causes the expansion of its upper part. Pi-e- 
 cisely as the strong muscle peculiar to quadrupeds at the back of the eye (see page 70), 
 being forcibly contracted, presses upon the fatty matter in which the eye is imbedded, 
 which may be misplaced, but cannot be squeezed into less compass, and which, being 
 forced towards the inner corner of the eye, drives before it that important and beautiful 
 mechanism, the haw, so the elastic and yielding substance the frog, being pressed upon 
 by the navicular-bone and the tendon, and the pastern, and refusing to be condensed into 
 less compass forces itself out, on each side of them, and expands the lateral cartilages, 
 and which again, by their inherent elasticity, recur to their form situation, when the frog 
 no longer presses them outward. It appears, that by a different mechanism, but botB 
 equally admirable, and referable to the same principle, viz. that of elasticih^, the expan- 
 sion, of the upper and lower portions of the hoof are effected, the one by the descent of 
 the sole, the other by the compression and rising of the frog. 
 
 It is this expansion upward, which contributes principally to the preservation of the 
 usefulness of the horse, when our destructive methods of shoeing are so calculated to 
 destroy the expansion beneath. In draught horses, from the long continued as well as 
 violent pressure on the frog, and from the frog on the cartilage, inflammation is occasion- 
 ally produced, which terminates in the cartilages being changed into bony matter. 
 
INFAMMATION OF THE FOOT, OR ACUTE FOUNDER. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 THE DISEASES OF THE FOOT. 
 
 Of these, we have a long list to lay before our readers, but that will not be wondered 
 at by those who have duly considered the complicated structure of the foot, the duty it 
 has to perform, and the injuries to which it is exposed. We begin with that which is the 
 cause of many other disecises of the foot, and connected with almost all. 
 
 INFLAMMATION OF THE FOOT, OR ACUTE FOUNDER. 
 
 The sensible lamellae, or fleshy plates on the front and sides of the coflin-bone, being 
 replete with blood-vessels, are, like eveiy other vascular part, liable to inflammation, 
 from its usual causes, and particularly from the violence with which, in rapid and long- 
 continued action, they are lengthened and strained. When in a severely contested race they 
 have been stretched to the utmost ; while, at the fuUest stride of the horse, his weight 
 was thrown on them with destructive force ; or, when the feet have been battered and 
 bruised in a hard day's journey, no one will wonder if inflammation of the over- worked 
 parts should ensue, and the occuiTence of it may probably be produced and the disease 
 aggravated by the too prevalent absurd mode of treating the animal. If a horse that has 
 been ridden or driven hard be suffered to stand in the cold, or if his feet be washed and 
 not speedily dried, he is very likely to have " fever in the feet." There is no more fruit- 
 ful source of inflammation in the human being, or the brute, than these sudden changes 
 of temperature. This has been explained as it regards grease, but it bears more imme- 
 diately on the point now under consideration. The danger is not confined to change from 
 heat to cold ; a sudden transition from cold to heat is as injurious, and tlierefore it is 
 that so many horses, after having been ridden far in the frost and snow, and placed im- 
 mediately in a hot stable, and littered up to the knees, are attacked by tliis complaint. 
 The feet and the lungs are the organs oftenest attacked, because they have previously 
 suffered most by our mismanagement, and are most disposed to take on disease. What- 
 ever would cause shght inflammation of other parts, or trifling general derangement, will 
 produce all its mischief on these organs. 
 
 Sometimes there is a sudden change of inflammation from one organ to another. A 
 horse shall have labored for several days under evident inflammation of the lungs ; — all 
 at once that will subside, and the inflammation wiU appear in the feet, or inflammation 
 of the feet may foUow similar affections in the bowels or the eyes. 
 
 To the attentive observer the symptoms are clearly marked, and yet there is no dis- 
 ease so often overlooked by the groom and the carter, and even by the veterinary sur- 
 geon. The earliest symptoms of fever in the feet are fidgetiness, frequent shifting of the 
 fore-legs, but no pawing, much less any attempts to reach the belly with the hind-feet. 
 The pulse will soon be quickened, the flanks heaving, the nostrils red, and the horse, by 
 his anxious countenance, and perhaps by moaning, indicating great pain. Presently, he 
 will look about his litter, as if preparing to lie down, but he does not do it immediately ; 
 he continues to shift firom foot to foot ; ne is afraid to draw his feet sufficiently under hira 
 for the purpose of lying down ; but at length he drops. The circumstance of his lying 
 down at an early period of the disease will sufficiently distinguish inflammation of the 
 feet from tliat of the lungs, in which the horse obstinately persists in standing until he 
 drops from mere exhaustion : and his quietness when down will distinguish it from cholic 
 or inflammation of the bowels, in both of which the horse is frequently up and down, 
 and roUing and kicking when down. When the grievance is in the feet the horse expe- 
 riences so much relief, from getting rid of the weight painfully distending the inflamed 
 and highly sensible little plates, that he is glad to lie as long as he can. He will like- 
 wise, as clearly as in inflammation of the lungs or bowels, point out the seat of disease 
 by looking at the part ; his muzzle will sometimes rest on the feet or the affected foot. 
 He must be inattentive who is not aware what all this indicates. 
 
 If the feet be now examined, they will be evidently hot; the horse will express pain 
 if they are slightly rapped with a hammer, and the artery at the pastern will throb vio- 
 lently. No great time will' now pass, if the disease be suffered to pursue its course, be- 
 fore he will be perfectly unable to rise ; or, if he is forced to get up, and one foot be lift- 
 ed, he will stand with difficulty on the other, or perhaps drop at once from intensity of 
 pain. 
 
224 THE HORSE 
 
 The treatment will resemble that of other inflammations, with such differences as the 
 situation of the disease may suggest. Bleeding is indispensable ; and that to its fullest 
 extent. If the disease be confined to the fore-feet four quarts of blood should be taken 
 as soon as possible from the toe of each, at the situation pointed out, fig. 2. 173, and in 
 the manner already described ; poultices of linseed meaJ, made very soft, should cover 
 the whole of the foot and the pastern, and be frequently renewed, which will promote 
 evaporation from the neighboring parts, and possibly through the pores of the hoof, and 
 by softening and suppling the hoof, will relieve its painful pressure on the swelled and 
 tender parts beneath. More fully to accomplish this last purpose, the shoe should be re- 
 moved, the sole pared as thin as possible, and the crust and particularly the quarters 
 well rasped. All this must be done gently, and with a great deal of patience, for the 
 poor animal can scarcely bear his foot to be meddled with. There is doubt as to the 
 propriety of administering physic. The horse may find it diflicult or impossible to rise, 
 in which case much inconvenience will ensue from the operation of physic ; or there 
 may be danger, from the intense character which fever in the feet often assumes, of pro- 
 ducing a change of inflammation to tlie bowels or lungs, in which the irritation of physic 
 would probably be fatal. Sedative and cooling medicines should be diligently adminis- 
 tered, consisting of digitalis, nitre and emetic tartar, in the proportions already recom- 
 mended. 
 
 If no amendment be observed, three quarts of blood should be taken from each foot on 
 the following day, and in extreme cases a third bleeding of two quarts may be justifiable, 
 and, instead of the poultice, cloths kept wet with water in which nitre has been dissolved 
 immediately before, and in the proportion of an ounce of nitre to a pound of water, may 
 be wrapped round the feet. About the third day a blister may be tried, taking in the 
 whole of the pastern and the coronet ; but a cradle must previously be put on the neck 
 of the horse, and the feet must be covered after the blister, or they will probably be sadly 
 blemished. The horse should be kept on mash diet, unless green meat can be procured 
 for him ; and even that should not be given too liberally, nor should he, in the slightest 
 degree, be coaxed to eat. When he appears to be recovering, his getting on his feet 
 should not be hurried. It should be left perfectly to his own discretion ; nor should even 
 walking exercise be permitted until he stands firm on his feet ; when, if the season will 
 permit, two months' run at grass will be very seviceable. 
 
 It is not, however, always, or often, that inflammation of the feet is thus easily sub- 
 dued ; and if it be subdued, it sometimes leaves after it some fearful consequences. The 
 loss of the hoof is not an unfrequent one. About six or seven days from the first at- 
 tack, a slight separation will begin to appear between the coronet and the hoof. This 
 should be carefully remarked, for the separated horn will never again unite with the parts 
 beneath, but the disunion will extend, and the hoof will be lost. It is true that a new 
 hoof will be formed, but it will be smaller in size and weaker than the first, and will 
 rarely stand hard work. \^Tien this separation is observed, it will be a matter of calcu- 
 lation with the proprietor of the horse whether he will suffer the medical treatment to 
 proceed. 
 
 PUMICED FEET. 
 
 The sensible and horny little plates which were elongated and partially separated du- 
 ring the intensity of the inflammation will not always perfectly unite again, or will have 
 lost much of their elasticity, and the coflin-bone, no longer fully supported by them, 
 presses upon the sole, and the sole becomes flattened, or even convex, or projecting, by 
 this unnatural weight, and the horse acquires a pumiced foot. This will also happen 
 when the animal is used too soon after an attack of inflammation of the feet, and before 
 the little plates have regained sufficient strength to support the weight of the horse, or 
 to contract again by their elastic power when they have yielded to the weight. When 
 the coffin-bone is thus thrown on the sole, and renders it pumiced, the crust at the fi-ont 
 of the hoof will "fullin," leaving a kind of hollow about the middle of it. 
 
 Pumiced feet, especially in horses with large wide feet, are produced not unfrequently 
 without this acute inflammation. Undue work, and especially much battering of the 
 feet on the pavement, will extend and sprain these little plates so much, that they will 
 not have the power to contract, and thus the coffin-bone will be thrown backward on the 
 sole. A veiy important law of nature will unfortunately soon be active here ; when 
 pressure is applied to any part, the absorbents become busy in removing that part ; so, 
 when the coffin-bone begins to press upon the sole, the sole becomes thin from the in- 
 creased wear and tear to which it is subjected from contact with the ground, and also be- 
 cause these absorbents are rapidly taking it away. 
 
 This is one of the diseases of the feet for which there is no cure. No skill is compe- 
 tent to effect a re-union between the separated fleshy and horny leaves, or to restore to 
 them the strength and elasticity of which they have been deprived, or to take up that 
 hard horny substance which very speedily fills the space between the crust and the re- 
 
CONTRACTION. 226 
 
 ceding coffin-bone. Some efforts have been made to palliate the disease, but they have 
 been only to a very slight extent successl'ul. If horses, on the first appearance of flat 
 foot, were turned out in a dry place, or put into a box for two or three months, sufficient 
 stress would not be thrown on tlie leaves to increase the evil, and time might be given 
 for the growth of horn enough in the sole to support the coffin-bone ; yet we much doubt 
 whether these horses would ever be useful even for ordinary pui-poses. The slowest 
 work required of them would drive the coffin-bone on the sole, and gradually the pro- 
 jection would re-appear, for no power, and no length of time can again unite the sepa- 
 rated leaves of the coffin-bone and the hoof. All that can be done in the way of pallia- 
 tion is by shoeing. Nothing must press on the projecting and pumiced pait. If the pro- 
 jection De not great a thick bar shoe is the best thing that can be applied, but should the 
 sole have much descended, a shoe with a very wide web, bevelled otf so as not to press 
 on the part, may be used. These means of relief, however, are only temporary the dis- 
 ease will proceed ; and at no great distance of time, the horse will be useless. 
 
 CHRONIC FOUNDER. 
 
 This is a name conveniently contrived to express those alterations of the foot, and the 
 gradual lameness which either shoeing or mismanagement occasions. It is often a mere 
 cloak for our ignorance of these subjects. The diseases of the foot and their remedies 
 are very imperfectly understood even by the most skilful practitioners. 
 
 We may, perhaps, most conveniently divide the slow and fatal progress from sound- 
 ness to incurable lameness into two classes — that which is accompanied by contraction, 
 and that which exhibits little or no alteration in tlie external appearance of the foot. 
 
 CONTRACTION. 
 
 Our cut, p. 218, will give us a fair idea of the young healthy foot, approaching nearly 
 to a circle, and of which the quarters form the widest part, and the inner quarter (this is 
 the near foot) rather wider than the outer. This shape is not long preserved in many 
 horses, but the foot increases in length, and narrows in the quarters, and paiticularly at 
 the heel, and the frog is diminished in width, and the sole becomes more concave, and 
 the heels higher, and lameness, or at least a shortened and feeling action, ensues. 
 
 Here we must premise that there is a great deal more horror of contracted heels than 
 there is any occasion for. Many persons reject a horse at once if tlie quarters are wiring 
 in; but the fact is, that although tnis is an unnatural form of the hoof, it is slow of growth, 
 and nature kindly makes that provision for the slowly altered form of the hoo^ which 
 she does in similar cases ; she accommodates the parts to the change of form. As the 
 hoof draws in, the parts beneath, and paiiicularly the coffin-bone and the heels of the 
 coffin-bone, diminish ; or, after all, as it is more a change of form than of capacity, as the 
 foot lengthens' in proportion as it narrows, so the coffin-bone lengthens, and is as per- 
 fectly adjusted as before to the box in which it is placed ; and its little leaves are in as 
 intimate and perfect union with those of the crust as before the hoof had begun to change. 
 On this account it is that many horses with veiy contracted feet are perfectly sound, and 
 no horse should be rejected merely because he has contracted feet. He should undoubt- 
 edly be examined more carefully, and with considerable suspicion ; but if he has good ac- 
 tion, and is otherwise unexceptionable, there is no reason thatythe ])urchase should be set 
 aside. For our own parts, we had rather have a horse with contracted feet, if he went 
 sound, than another with open but weak heels. We should expect from him much more 
 work, and we should not be disappointed. 
 
 We must also protest against the opinion that contraction is the necessary consequence 
 of shoeing. There can be no doubt that an inflexible iron ring being nailed to the foot 
 
 Erevents, to a very considerable degree, the descent of the sole and the expansion of the 
 eels below ; and it is likewise probable, that when the expansion of the heels is pre- 
 vented they will often begin to contract. But here again, nature, cut off from one re- 
 source, finds others. If one of the jugular veins be lost, the blood finds its way by other 
 channels, and the horse does not appear to suffer in the slightest degree ; and so if the 
 expansion of the heels below is diminished, that of the cartilages above is made more 
 use of. If tlie coffin-bone has net so much descent downward, it probably acquires one 
 backward, and the functions of the foot are usefully if not perfectly performed. The 
 plain proof of this is, that although there are many horses that are injured or ruined by 
 bad shoeing, there are others, and they are a numerous class, who suffer not at all from 
 good shoeing, and scarcely even from bad. Except it be from accident, how seldom is 
 the farmer's noree lame ; and it might even be further asked, how seldom is his foot much 
 contracted ? Some gentlemen who are careful of their horses have driven them twenty 
 years, and principally over the rough pavement of towns, without a day's lameness. 
 Shoeing may be a necessaiy evil, but it is not the evil which some speculative persons 
 29 
 
226 THE HORSE. 
 
 have supposed it to be ; and the undoubted fact is, that when the horse is put to real 
 hard work, and when the injury produced by shoeing in destroying the expansibility of 
 the foot would most of all show itself, the foot lasts a great deal longer than the leg ; nay, 
 horsemen will tell us tliat one pair of good feet is worth two pair of legs. 
 
 Having thus premised that contraction is not necessarily accompanied by lameness, 
 and that shoeing, with all its evils, does not necessarily injure the foot, we proceed to 
 consider those cases of contraction, too numerous, which ai'ethe consequence of our sta- 
 ble management, and which do cripple and ruin tlie horse. We are not aware of any- 
 thing in the appearance of the feet which would enable us to decide when contraction 
 is or is not destiuctive to the usefulness of the animal ; his manner of going, and his ca- 
 pability for work, must be our guides. Lameness usually accompanies the beginning 
 of contraction ; it is the invariable attendant on rapid contraction, but it does not edways 
 exist when the winng in is slow or of long standing. 
 
 A very excellent writer, particularly when treating of the foot of the horse, Mr. Blaine, 
 has given us a long and correct list of the causes of injurious contraction, and most of 
 them are, fortunately, under the control of the owner of the animal. He places at the 
 head of them, neglect of paring. The hoof is continually growing, the crust is length- 
 ening, and the sole is thickening. This is a provision for tlie wear and tear of the foot in 
 an unshod state ; but when the foot is protected by a shoe, and none of the horn can be 
 worn away by coming in contact with the gi-ound, the growth of horn continues ; the 
 hoof gets high, and the sole gets thick ; and in consequence of this, the descent of the 
 sole and the expansion of the heels are prevented, and contraction is the result. The 
 smith might lessen, if not prevent the evil, by carefully thinning the sole and lowering 
 the heels at each shoeing ; but the first of these is a matter of considerable labor, and 
 the second could not be done effectually without being accompanied by the first, and 
 therefore they are both neglected. The prejudice of many owners of horses assists in 
 increasing the evil. They imagine that a great deal of mischief is done by cutting away 
 the foot. Mischief may be the result of injudicious cutting, when the bars are destroyed 
 and the frog is elevated from the ground ; but more evil results from the unyielding thick- 
 ness of horn impairing the elastic and expansive principle of the foot. If gentlemen 
 would stand by, and see that the sole is properly tlunned, and the heels lowered, and oc- 
 casionally, perhaps, give the workman a trifling gratuity for his increased labor, they 
 would be repaid in the comfort and usefulness of me horse. 
 
 Ill-judged economy is another source of this disease. If the shoes of one veterinary 
 surgeon will, with ordinary work, last a little more than three weeks, while another con- 
 trives to make his last six, he is supposed to be the better workman and the more honest 
 man, and gets the greater part of the custom ; and his shoe-is suffered to remain on during 
 the whole time, to the manifest injury of the feet, and that injury materially increased, by 
 the greater thickness and weight of these shoes, and the tightness with which they are 
 fastened on, the nails being necessarily placed nearer to the quarters, and possibly £Ui ad- 
 ditional nail or two used in the fastening, and these applied at the quarters. There is 
 no rule which admits of so little exception, — that once in about every three weeks the 
 growth of horn which the natural wear of the foot cannot get rid of, should be pared 
 away — the toe should be shortened — the sole should be thinned, and the heels lowered. 
 Every one who has carefully observed the shape of the horse's foot, must have seen, 
 that in proportion to its height or neglected growth, it contracts and closes upon the foot 
 round the coronet. A low-heeled horse may have other serious defects, of which it will 
 be our duty to speak, but he has seldom a contracted foot. 
 
 Another source of contraction i? the want of natural moisture. The unshod colt has 
 seldom contracted feet, nor does the horse at grass acquire them, because the hoof is kept 
 cool and damp by occasionzd rain and by the regular dew. It is thus rendered supple, 
 and its elasticity is preserved, and the expansive power of the foot is uninjured. The 
 hoof of the stabled horse sometimes has not one drop of moisture on it for several days. 
 The effect of this, in causing the horn to shrink, is sufficiently evident. Hence the pro- 
 priety of stopping the feet. The intelligent and careful groom will not omit it a single 
 night. Cow-dung, with a small portion of clay to give it consistence, is a common and 
 very good stopping ; a better one is a piece of thicK felt cut to the shape of the sole and 
 soaked in water; this may be procured, ready prepared for use, at any saddler's. The 
 common stopping of tar and grease is peculiarly objectionable, closing the pores of the 
 feet, and ultimately increcising the diyness and brittleness which it was designed to 
 remedy. 
 
 The usual management of the farmer's horse, which is often turned out after his daily 
 task is exacted, or at least whose work returns with the day, and is generally performed 
 where the feet are exposed to moisture, is an excellent preventive against contraction. 
 Some intelligent persons have complained much of the influence of litter. If the horse 
 stand many hours in the day with his foot embedded in straw, it is supposed that the hoof 
 must be unnaturally heated ; and it is said that the horn will curl and contract under the 
 
CONTRACTION. 227 
 
 influence of heat. It is seldom, however, that the foot is so siirrounded by the litter, 
 that its heat will be sufficiently increased to produce this effect on the thick horn. The 
 heels, sometimes embedded in straw, and then receiving the current of cold air which 
 blows in from the door, may suffer, and grease may result, bat the foot is not sutficicntly 
 long or deeply covered by the litter to produce a temperature hi;5h enough to warp the 
 hoof. We confess, therefore, that we are not the disciples of those v/ho would, during 
 the day, remove all litter from under the horse ; we do not like the naked and uncomfort- 
 able appearance of the stable ; cind we cannot forget the difference in our own feelings, 
 whether we stand for an hour or two on the hard stones, or a soft carpet, and especially 
 whether we beat our feet upon the one or the other. We are disposed to say that hu- 
 manity and a proper care of the foot of the horse should induce us to keep some litter 
 imder him during the day; but his feet need not sink so deeply in it that their tempera- 
 ture should be much affected. 
 
 Thrushes are much oftener the consequence than the cause of contraction. The horny 
 frog, yielding to the pressure of the contracted quarters, is diminished in size, and the 
 lower portion of the fleshy fro^: becomes imprisoned, irritated, and inflamed, and pus or 
 matter is discharged at the cleft ; yet there are many heels in the last stage of contrac- 
 tion, which are not thrushy. On the other hand, thrush never long existed, accompanied 
 by much discharge, without producing a disposition to contraction ; therefore, thrush 
 may be considered as both the cause and consequence of contraction. 
 
 The removal of the bai's takes away a main impediment to contraction. Their use in 
 assisting the expansion of the foot has been already stated, and should a disposition to 
 contraction be produced by any other cause, the cutting away of the bars would hasten 
 and aggravate the evil ; but the loss of the bar would not of itself produce contraction. 
 
 The contraction, however, which is connected with permanent lameness, although in- 
 creased by the circumstances which we have mentioned, usually derives its origin from 
 a different source, and from one which acts violently and suddenly. Inflammation of the 
 little plates covering the coffin-bone is the most usual cause ; and a degree of inflamma- 
 tion not sufficiently intense to be characterised as acute founder, but quickly leading to 
 sad results, may and does spring from causes almost unsuspected. There is one fact to 
 which we have alluded, and that cannot be doubted, that contraction is exceedingly rai-e 
 in the agricultural horse, but frequently occurs in the stable of the gentleman and the 
 coach proprietor ; it is rare, where the horse is seemingly neglected and badly shod ; and 
 frequent, where every care is taken of the animal, and the shoes are unexceptionable 
 and skillfuly applied. Something may depend upon the breed. Blood horses are par- 
 ticularly liable to contraction ; — not only is the foot naturally small, but it is disposed to 
 become narrower at the heels. The broad, flat foot of the cart-horse is subject to dis- 
 eases enough, but contraction is seldom one of the number. In horses of equal blood, 
 not a little seems to depend upon the color, and the dark chestnut is proverbially prone to 
 contraction. 
 
 There is, however, something in the management or use of the horse that lies at the 
 root of the evil, and that is not difficult to discover or to understand. The over-feeding 
 of many horses disposes them to inflammation, and with this disposition they are suffered 
 to stand inactive in the stable for one, or two, or three days ; the exquisitely sensible 
 little plates ai-e scarcely elongated ; they are becoming unused to exertion ; they are di- 
 minishing from lack of use. The horse is then taken from the stable, and, without pre- 
 paration, is galloped over the stones, or is ridden far and fast on the road or in the field. Is 
 it to be wondered at, if the sudden concussion of the whole foot and the violent elonga- 
 tion of the little plates should produce sufficient pain and inflammation to interfere with 
 the function, and alter the structure of various parts of the foot ? From the alteration of 
 structure or partial separation between the external and internal portions of the foot, the 
 expansion oi the quarters becomes limited, or ceases, and in consequence of this, the 
 crust becomes contracted and falls in. 
 
 Whatever be the cause of that rapid contraction or narrowing of the heels which is 
 accompanied by severe lameness, tne symptoms may be easily distinguished. While 
 standing in the stable, the horse will point with, or place forward the contracted foot, or, 
 if both feet be affected, he will alternately place one before the other; when he is taken 
 out of the stable, he will not, perhaps, ejdiibit the decided lameness which characterizes 
 sprain of the flexor tendon, or some diseases of the foot ; but his step will be peculiarly 
 short and quick, and the feet will be placed gently and tesiderly on the ground, and 
 scarcely lifted from it in the walk or the trot. It would seem as if the slightest irregu- 
 larity of surface would throw the animal down, and so it threatens to do, lor he is con- 
 stantly tripping and stumbling. If the fore-feet are carefully observed, one or both of 
 them will be narrowed across the quarters and towards the heels. In a few cases, the 
 whole of the foot appears to be contracted and shrunk ; but in the majority of instances, 
 while the heels are narrower, the foot is longer. The contraction appears sometimes in 
 both heels ; at other^^times in the inner heel only, or, if both be affected, tlie inner one 
 
228 THE HORSE. 
 
 i8 tuired in the most ; either eenerally from the coronet to the base of the foot, or, in some 
 instances, only or principally at the coronet ; oftener near the base of the foot ; but in 
 most cases the hollow is greatest about mid-way between the coronet and the bottom of 
 the foot. This irregularity of contraction, and uncertainty as to the place of it, prove that 
 it is some internal disorganization, the seat of which varies with the portion of the at- 
 tachment between the hoof and the foot which was principally strained or injured. In 
 every recent case the conti'acted part will be hotter than the rest of the foot, and the sole 
 will, in the majority of cases, be unnaturally concave, and that sometimes to a very great 
 degree. 
 
 Of the treatment of contraction attended with lameness we have very little to say that 
 will be satisfactory ; numberless have been the mechanical contrivances to oppose the 
 progress of contraction, or to force back the foot to its original shape, and many of them 
 nave enjoyed considerable but short-lived reputation. A clip was placed at the inside 
 of each heel of the shoes, which, resting on the bars, was intended to afford an insur- 
 mountable obstacle to the further wiring in of the foot, while the heels of the shoe were 
 bevelled outward to give the foot a tendency to expand The foot, however, continued 
 to wire in, until the dip was imbedded in the horn, and worse lameness was produced. 
 
 A shoe jointed at the toe, and with a screw adapted to the heels, was contrived, by 
 which when softened by poulticing, or immersion in warm water, the quarters were to be 
 irresistibly widened. They were wulened by the daily and cautious use of the screw 
 until the foot 'seemed to assume its natural form, and the inventor began to exult in 
 having discovered a cure for contraction ; but no sooner was the common shoe again ap- 
 plied and the horse returned to his work, than the heels began again to narrow, and the 
 foot became as contracted as ever. Common sense would nave foretold that such must 
 have been the result of this expansive process ; for the heel could have been only thus 
 forced asunder, at the expense of partial or total separation from the interior portions of 
 the foot with which tliey were in contact. 
 
 The contracted heel can rarely or never permanently expand, for this plain reason, 
 that although we have power over the crust, we cannot make the lengthened and nar- 
 rowed coffin-bone resume its natural shape, or restore the portion of the frog which has 
 been absorbed. 
 
 If the action of tlie horse be not materially impaired, it is better to let the contraction 
 alone, be it as great as it will. If the contraction has evidently produced considerable 
 lameness, then the owner of the horse will calculate between his value if cured, the ex- 
 pense of the cure, and the probability of failure. 
 
 The medical treatment can only be undertalcen by a skilful veterinarian, and it will 
 principally consist in getting rid of any inflammation that may then exist, by local bleed- 
 ing and physic ; next paring the sole to the utmost extent that it will bear ; rasping tlie 
 quarters as deeply as may be, so that they shall not be too much weakened, or the coro- 
 nary ring (see b, p. 217) injured; then rasping deeply likewdse at the toe, and perhaps 
 scoring at the toe. The horse is afterwards made to stand during the day in wet clay, 
 placed in one of the stalls of his stable, and he is moved at night into another stall and 
 nis feet bound up thickly in wet cloths ; or he is turned out into wet pasturage, with 
 tips, or, if possible, without them, and his feet are frequently pared out, and the quarters 
 lightly rasped. In five or six months the horn will have grown fairly down, when he 
 may be taken up, and shod with shoes, unattached by nails on the inner side of the foot, 
 and put to gentle work. The foot will be found veiy considerably enlarged, and the 
 owner will, perhaps, think that the cure is accomplished ; and the horse may, possibly, 
 for a time stand very gentle work, and the inner side of the foot being left at liberty its 
 natural expansive process maybe resumed. The internal part of the foot, however, has 
 not healthily filled up with the expansion of the cnist. If that expansion has been effect- 
 ed forward on the quarters, the crust will no longer be in contact with the lengthened 
 and narrowed heels of the coffin-bone ; there will not be the natural adhesion and 
 strength, and a very slight cause, or even the very habit of contraction, will, in spite of 
 all our care and the freedom of the inner quarter, in very many instances, cause the 
 foot to wire in again as badly as before. 
 
 THE NAVICOLAR-JOINT DISEASE. 
 
 Many horses with well-formed and open feet become sadly and permanently lame ; 
 and veterinary surgeons have been much puzzled to find out why. The farrier has had 
 his convenient explanation " the shoulder;" but the scientific practitioner has not been 
 able to discover an ostensible cause of lameness in the whole limb. There is no one 
 accustomed to horses who does not recollect many an instance of this. Mr. James 
 Turner has, of late years, thrown very considerable light on the seat and cause of this 
 disease, although, as in contacted feet, the most skilful surgeon will rarely effect a 
 cure. • 
 
THE NAVICULAR JOINT DISEASE. 229 
 
 By reference to our cut, e, page 193, it %vill be seen that, behind and beneath the lower 
 pastern-bone, and behind and above the heel of the coflin-bone, is a small bone called 
 tlie navicular or shuttle bone. It is so placed as to strengthen the union between the 
 lower pastern and the coffin-bone, and to enable the flexor tendon, which passes over 
 it, in order to be inserted into the bottom of the coffin-bone, to act with more advantage ; 
 it forms a kind of joint with that tendon. There is a great deal of weight thrown on 
 the navicular-bone, and from the navicular-bone on the tendon ; there is a great deal of 
 motion or play between them in the bending and extension of the pasterns. Now it is 
 very easy to conceive that from sudden concussion or from rapid and overstrained motion, 
 and that perhaps after the animal has been some time at rest, and the parts have not 
 adapted themselves for motion, that there may be too much play between the bone 
 and the tendon ; that the delicate membrane which covers the bone, or the cartilage 
 of the bone, may be bruised, and inflamed, and destroyed ; and that all the painful effects 
 of an inflamed and opened joint may ensue, and the horse may be dreadfully lame. Nu- 
 merous dissections have shown that this joint, formed by the tendon and the bone, has 
 been the frequent, and, we believe it to be, the almost invariably seat of these obscure 
 lamenesses. The membrane covering the cartilage of the bone has been found in an ulcer- 
 ated state ; the cartilage itself has been ulcerated and eaten away ; and the bone has 
 become carious or decayed, and bony adhesions have often taken place between the 
 navicular and the pastern and the coffin-bones, and this part of the foot has bec*me com- 
 pletely disorganised and useless. This joint is probably the seat of lameness, not only 
 in flat and perfect feet, but in those which become lame after contraction ; for in propor- 
 tion as the inner frog is compressed by the contraction of the heels, and the frog is 
 absorbed by that pressure, and the sole is become concave, and the horny frog, and the 
 coffin-bone too, thereby elevated (see cut, page 206), will there be less room for the 
 action of this joint, and more danger of the tendon and the delicate membrane of the 
 navicular-bone being crushed between that bone and the horny frog. 
 
 Stable management has little to do with the production of this disease, any further 
 than if a horse stands idle in the stable several days, and the structure of the foot, and 
 all the apparatus connected with motion, become unused to exertion, and indisposed for 
 it, and he be then suddenly and violently exercised, this membrane is very liable to be 
 bruised and injured. Irregular and undue exercise are the causes in all feet; but the 
 contracted foot, from its alteration of form, is most in danger. 
 
 The cure is extremely uncertain. The fiist object is to abate the inflammation in this 
 very susceptible membrane. Local bleeding, poulticing, and physic will be our princi- 
 pal resources. If there be contraction, this must, if possible, be removed by the 
 means already pointed out. If there be not contraction, it will be prudent to remove tJl 
 surrounding pressure by paring the sole and rasping the quarters, and using the shoe 
 without nails on the inner quarter. This is a case, however, which must be turned over 
 to the veterinary surgeon, for he alone, from his knowledge of the anatomy of the foot, 
 and the precise seat of the disease, is competent to treat it. If attacked on its earliest 
 appearance, and before ulceration of the membrane of the joint has taken place, it may 
 be radically cured, but ulceration of the membrane will be with difficulty healed, and 
 caries of the bone will for ever remain. Blistering the coronet will often assist in pro- 
 moting a cure by diverting the inflammation to another part, and it will materially 
 quicken the growth of the horn ; and a seaton passed through the frog by a skilful 
 operator, and approaching as nearly as possible to the seat of disease, lias been ser- 
 viceable. 
 
 In cases of old contraction, attended by a short and feeling step, neurotomy, or the cut- 
 ting out of a portion of the nerve, (for an explanation of the nature and effects of which 
 see page 87,) may be resorted to with decided advantage. Not only will the lameness 
 be removed, but, by the foot being again brought fully and firmly upon the ground, the 
 inner side of the shoe being unfettered by nails, a portion of the contraction may be 
 removed by the sole being allowed to descend and the foot to expand at each contact with 
 the ground. 
 
 Even when the navicular joint is particularly suspected, if there be no apparent in- 
 flammation, (and that would be readily detected by the heat of the foot,) neurotomy 
 may be practised with the hope of alleviating the sufferings of the animal, and thus re- 
 moving a portion of the lameness ; but if the lameness be extreme, either with or without 
 contraction, and especially if there be heat about the foot, the operation is dangerous. 
 There is, probably, ulceration of the membrane — possibly, decay of the bone ; and the 
 additional friction to which the parts would be subjected, by the freer action of the horse, 
 the Gense of pain being removed, would cause tliat ulceration or decay to proceed more 
 rapidly until the foot would be completely disorganized, or the tendon would be gradually 
 worn through by rubbing against the roughened surface of the bone. 
 
280 THE HORSE. 
 
 SAND-CRACK. 
 
 This, as its name imports, is a crack or division of the hoof from above downward, 
 and into which sand and dirt are too apt to insinuate themselves ; or, as some say, be- 
 cause it most frequently occurs in sandy districts, the heat of the sand applied to the 
 feet, giving them a disposition to crack. They occur both in the fore and the hind feet 
 In the fore feet they are usually found in the inner quarter (see g, p. 197,) but occasion- 
 ally in the outer quarter, because at the quarter is the principal stress or effort towards 
 expansion in the foot, and the inner qujirter is weaker tnan the outer. In the hind feet 
 the crack is almost invariably found in the front, because in the digging of the toe into 
 the ground in the act of drawing, the principal sb-ess is in front. 
 
 This is a most serious defect. It indicates a brittleness of the crust, sometimes natural, 
 but oltener the consequence of mismanagement or disease, which, in spite of every 
 means adopted, will probably be the source of future annoyance. On a hoof that has 
 once been thus divided no dependence can be placed, unless, by great care, the natural 
 suppleness of the horn has been restored and is retained. 
 
 Sand-crack may happen in an instant from a false step or over-exertion ; and there- 
 fore a horse, although he may spring a sand-crack within an hour after the purchase, 
 cannot be returned on that account. 
 
 It is always necessary to examine tlie inner quarter of the foot at the time of purchase, 
 for it has more than once occurred that, by low dealers, and particularly at fairs, a sand- 
 crack has been neatly covered witli pitch, and then the whole of the hoof having been 
 oiled, the injury was so adroitly concealed that an incautious person might be easily 
 deceived. 
 
 The crack sometimes does not penetrate through the horn : it then causes no lameness ; 
 nevertheless, it must not be neglected. It shows that brittleness which should make the 
 purchaser pause ; and, if proper means are not taken, it will generally soon reach to the 
 quick. It should be pared or rasped fairly out ; and if the paring or rasping has been 
 deep, the foot should be strengthened by a coating of pitch, with coarse tape bound over 
 it, and covered by another coating of pitch, and which may be moulded and polished so 
 as to be scarcely distinguishable trom the natural horn. Every crack should be pared or 
 rasped to ascertain its depth. If it penetrates through the crust, and no lameness ex- 
 ists, and is situated low down on the foot, a firing iron, red-hot, should be run pretty 
 deeply above and below it to prevent its lengthening ; the edges should be a little thin- 
 ned to remove any painful or injurious pressure ; and it should be bound up in the 
 manner directed, taking care that the shoe does not press upon the crust immediately 
 under the crack. 
 
 If the crack has penetrated through the crust, and lameness has ensued, the case is 
 more serious. It must be carefully excimined to ascertain that no dirt or sand has got into it ; 
 the edges must be considerably thinned ; and if any fungus is beginning to sprout through 
 the crack, and is imprisoned and pinched there, it must be destroyed by the application 
 of the butyr (chloride) of antimony. This is far preferable to the cautery, because the 
 edges of the horn will not be thickened or roughened, and thus become a source of after 
 irritation. The iron must then be run deeply above and below the crack, as in the 
 other case a pledget of dry tow must be placed in the crack with another over 
 it, and the whole bound down as tightly as possible. On the third day the part should 
 be examined, and the caustic again applied if necessary ; but if the crack be dry, and 
 defended by a hard horny crust, the sooner the pitch plaster is put on the better. The 
 most serious case is when, from tread or neglect, the coronet is divided. The growth 
 of horn proceeds from the coronary ligament, and unless this is perfect the horn will 
 grow down divided. The method to be here adopted is to run the back of the firing- 
 iron over the coronet at the division. Some inflammation will ensue, and when the scab 
 produced by the cautery peels off, as it will in a few days, the division will be obliter- 
 ated, and sound and united horn will grow down. In this case, as in almost every case 
 of sand-crack, the horse should be kept as quiet as possible. It is not in the power of 
 the surgeon to effect a perfect cure if tne owner will continue to use the animal. When 
 the horn is divided at the coronet it will take five or six months for it to grow fairly 
 down, and not before it is grown fairly down should the horse be used, even for ordinary 
 work : but when the horn is grovni an inch from the coronet the horse may be turned 
 out, the foot being well defended by the pitch plaster, and that renewed as often ias it 
 becomes loose, a bar shoe being worn chambered so as riot to press upon the hoof imme- 
 diately under the crack, and that shoe being taken off", the sole pared out, and any bul- 
 bous projection of the new horn being removed once in every three weeks. 
 
 To remedy the undue brittleness of the hoof, we know no better application than 
 that recommended in page 144, the sole being covered at the same time with the com- 
 moD cow-dung or felt stopping. 
 
QUITTOR. 231 
 
 TREAD, OB OVERREACH. 
 
 Under this term are comprised bruises and wounds of the coronet, produced usually in 
 the hind-feet, by the awkward habit of setting one toot upon another, and in the forefoot 
 by the liinder one over-reaching it, and wounding the other near the heel. When pro- 
 perly treated, a tread is seldom productive of much injury. If the dirt be well vvashed 
 out of it, and a pledget of tow dipped in Friar's balsam be bound over the wound, it will, 
 in the majority of cases, speedily heel. Should the bruise be extensive or the wound 
 deep, a poultice may be applied for one or two days, and then the Friar's balsam, or digest- 
 ive ointment. Sometimes a soft tumour will lorm on the part, which will be quickly 
 brought to suppuration by a poultice, and when the matter has run out the ulcer will heal 
 by the application of the Friar's balsam, or a weak solution of blue vitriol. 
 
 A tread, or wound of the coronet, should never be neglected, lest gravel should insinuate 
 itself into the wound, and form deep ulcerations called sinusus or pipes, and which con- 
 stitute quittor; and more particularly the caustic, too frequently used by faiTiers, should 
 be carefully avoided, not only lest quittor should be formed, but lest the coronary ligament 
 should be so injured as to be afterwards incapable of throwing out perfect horn. This 
 defect is called 
 
 FALSE QUARTER. 
 
 If the coronary ligament by which the horn of the crust is secreted is either divided by 
 the original cut or bruise, or eaten through by the caustic, there will be a division in the 
 horn as it grows down, either in the form of a permanent sand-crack or one portion of 
 the horn overlapping the otlier. This is not only a very serious defect, and a frequent 
 cause of lameness, but it is exceedingly difficult to remedy. The coronary ligament 
 must be restored to its perfect state, or at least to the discharge of its perfect function. 
 Much danger would attend the application of the caustic in order to effect this. A blister 
 is rarely sufficiently active, and the application, not too severely of a heated flat or rounded 
 iron to the coronet at the injured part affords the best chance of success ; the edges of the 
 horn on either side of the crack being thinned, the hoof supported, and the separated 
 parts held together by a firm encasement of pitch, as described when spealdn^ of the 
 treatment of sand-crack. The coronet must be examined at least once in every fortnight 
 in order to ascertain whether the desired union has there taken place ; and, as a palliative, 
 during the treatment of the case, or if the treatment should be unsuccessful, a bar shoe 
 may be used, and care taken that there be no bearing at or immediately under the sepa- 
 ration of the horn. This will be best effected, if the crust be thick and the quarters 
 strong, by paring off a little of the bottom of the crust at the part, so that it shall not 
 touch the shoe ; but if the foot be weak, an indentation, or hollow, should be made in 
 the shoe. Strain or concussion on the immediate part will tlms be avoided, and in sudden 
 or violent exertion the crack will not be so likely to extend upward again to the coronet, 
 when whole and sound horn has begun to be formed there. 
 
 In some cases false quarter assumes a less injurious character. The horn grows down 
 whole, but the ligament is unable to secrete that which is perfectly healthy, and therefore 
 there is a narrow slip of horn of a different and lighter colour. This is sometimes the 
 best result that can be procured when the surgeon has been able to obliterate the absolute 
 crack or separation. It is, however, to be regarded as a defect, not sufficient to condemn 
 the horse, but indicating that he has had sand-crack, and that a disposition to sand-crack 
 may possibly remain. There will also, in the generality of cases, be some degTee of 
 tenderness in that quarter, which may produce slight lameness when unusual exertion is 
 required from the horse, or the shoe is suffered long to press on tlie part. 
 
 QUITTOR. 
 
 This has been described as being the result of neglected or bad tread or overreach ; but 
 it may be the consequence of any wound in the foot, and in any part of the foot. In the 
 natural process of ulceration, matter Ls thrown out from the wound. This precedes the 
 actual healing of the part. The matter which is thrown out in wounds of the foot is 
 usually pent up there, and, increasing in quantity, and thus urging its way in every 
 direction, it forces the fleshy little plates of the coffin-bone, from the horny ones of the 
 crust, or the horny sole from the fleshy sole, or even eats deeply into the internal parts of 
 the foot. These pipes or sinuses run in every direction, and constitute tlie essence of 
 quittor. 
 
 If it arise from a wound in the bottom of the foot, the matter which is rapidly formed 
 is pent up there, the nail of the shoe or the stub remains in the wound, or the small aper- 
 ture which was made is immediately closed again. This matter, however, continues to 
 be thrown out, and it separates the horny sole from the fleshy one to a considerable ex- 
 tent, and at length forces its way upward, and appears at tlie coronet, and usually at tlie 
 
m THE HORSE. 
 
 quarter, and there slowly oozes out ; but the aperture and the quantity discharged are so 
 small that the inexperieTiced person would form no idea of the extent of the mischief 
 within, and the difficulty of repairing it. The opening may scarcely admit a probe into 
 it, yet over the greater part of the qucirter and the sole the horn may have separated from 
 the foot, and the matter may have penetrated under the cartilages and ligaments, and into 
 the coffin joint ; and not only so, but two mischievous results have been produced — the 
 pressure of the matter wherever it has gone has formed ulcerations that are indisposed 
 to heal, and that require tlie application of strong and painful stimulants to induce them 
 to heal ; and, worse than this, the horn, once separated from the sensible parts beneath, 
 will never again unite with them. 
 
 It will be sufficiently plain that the aid of a skilful practitioner is here requisite, and 
 also the fuU exercise of the patience of the proprietor of the horse. It may be necessary 
 to remove much of the horny sole, which will be speedUy reproduced wnen the fleshy 
 surface beneath can be brought to a healthy condition ; but if much of the horn at the 
 quau-ters must be taken away, five or six months may probably elapse before it will be 
 sufficiently grown down again to render the horse useful. 
 
 Measures of considerable severity are indispensable. The application of some caustic 
 will alone produce a healthy action on tlie ulcerated surfaces ; but on the ground of inte- 
 rest and of humanity we protest against that brutal practice, or at least the extent to 
 which it is earned, of coring out, or deeply destroying the healthy as well as the diseased 
 parts, and parts which no process will again restore, which is piusued by many ignorant 
 smiths. The unhealthy surface must be removed, but the cartilages and ligaments, and 
 even portions of the bone, need not be sacrificed. 
 
 The experienced veterinary surgeon will alone be able to counsel the proprietor of the 
 horse when, in cases of confirmed quittor, there is reasonable hope of permanent cure. 
 A knowledge of the anatomy of the foot is necessary to enable him to decide what parts, 
 indispensable to the action of the animal, may have been irreparably injured or destroyed, 
 or to save these parts from the destructive effect of torturing caustics. When any por- 
 tion of the bone can be felt by the probe the chances of success are diminished, and the 
 owner and the operator should pause. When the joints are exposed the case is hopeless ; 
 yet, in a great many instances, the bones and the joints are exposed by the remedy and 
 not by the disease. One hint may not be necessary, to the practitioner, but it may guide 
 the determination and hopes of the owner : if, when a probe is introduced into the fistu- 
 lous orifice on the coronet, the direction of the sinuses or pipes is backward, there is much 
 probability that a perfect cure may be effected ; but if the direction of the sinuses be 
 forw£ird, the cure is at best doubtfull. In the first instance, there is neither bone nor 
 joint to be injured ; in the other, the more important parts of the foot are in dsmger, and 
 the principal action and concussion are found. 
 
 Neglected braises of the sole sometimes lay the foundation for quittor. When the 
 foot is flat, it is very liable to be bruised if the horse is ridden fast over a rough and stony 
 road ; or a small stone, insinuating itself between the shoe and the sole, or clipped and 
 confined by the curvature of the shoe, will frequently lame the horse. The heat and 
 tenderness of the part, the occasional redness of the horn, and the absence of puncture 
 will clearly mark the bruise. The sole must then be thinned, and particularly over the 
 bruised part, and, in neglected cases, it must be pared even to the quick, in order to as- 
 certain whether the inflammation has run on to suppuration. Bleeding at the toe will 
 be clearly indicated, — poultices, — and such other means as have either been described 
 under " Inflammation of the Feet," or will be pointed out under the next head. The 
 principal causes of bruises of the foot are leaving the sole too much exposed by means 
 of a narrow-webbed shoe, or the smith paring out the sole too closely, or the pressure of 
 the shoe on the sole, or the introduction of gravel or stones between the shoe and the 
 sole. 
 
 PEICK OR WOUND III THE SOLE OR CHtTST. 
 
 This is the most frequent cause of quittor. It is evident that the sole is very liable to 
 be wounded by nails, pieces of glass, or even sharp flints, but much more frequently the 
 fleshy little plates are wounded by the nail in shoeing ; or if the nail does not penetrate 
 through the internal surface of the crust, it is driven so close to it that it presses upon the 
 fleshy parts beneath, and causes irritation and inflammation, and at length ulceration. 
 When a horse becomes suddenly lame, after the legs have been carefiilly examined and 
 no cause of lameness appears in them, the shoe should be taken off. In many cases the 
 ofliending substance will be immediately detected, or the additional heat felt in some part 
 of the foot wiU point out the seat of injury ; or, if the crust be rapped with the hammer 
 all around, the flinching of the horse will discover it ; or pressure with the pincers will 
 render it evident. 
 
 When the shoe is removed for this examination the smith should never be permitted to 
 wrench it off, but each nail should be drawn separately, and examined as it is drawn, 
 
 '■y-Jnium^ 
 
PRICK OB WOUND IN THE SOLE OH CRUST. 233 
 
 when some moisture appearing upon it will not unfrequently reveal the spot at which 
 matter has been thrown out. In the fore-foot the injury will generally be found on the 
 inner quarter, and on the hind-feet near tlie toe, these being the thinnest parts of the 
 fore and hind-feet. 
 
 Sudden lameness occurring within two or three days after the horse has been shod will 
 lead us to suspect that the smith has been in fault ; yet no one who consider the thinness 
 of the crust, and the difficulty of shoeing many feet, will blame him for sometimes prick- 
 ing the horse. His fault will consist in concealing or denying that of which he will al- 
 most always be aware at the time of shoeing, from the flinching of the horse, or the dead 
 sound, or the peculiar resistance that may be noticed in the driving of the nail. We would 
 plead the cause of the honest portion of a humble class of men, who discharge this me- 
 chanical part of their business with a skill and good fortune scarcely credible ; but we 
 resign those to the reproaches and the punishment of the owner of the horse, who too 
 often and with bad policy deny that which accident, or possibly momentary carelessness, 
 might have occasioned, and the neglect of which is fraught with danger, although the 
 mischief resulting from it might at the time be easily remedied. 
 
 When the seat of mischief is ascertained, the sole should be thinned round it; and, es- 
 pecially at the nail-hole, or the puncture, it should be pared to the quick. The escape 
 of some matter will now probably tell the nature of the injury, and remove its conse- 
 quences. If it be puncture of the sole by some nail, or any similar body, picked up 
 on the road, all that will be necessary is a little to enlai'ge the opening, and then to place 
 on it a pledget of tow dipped in Friar's balsam, and over that a little common stepping ; 
 or, if there be much heat and lameness, a poultice should be applied. 
 
 The part of the sole wounded and the depth of the wound will be taken into consider- 
 ation. It will be seen by reference to the cut in p. 193, that a deep puncture towards 
 the back part of the sole, and penetrating even into the sensible frog, may not be pro- 
 ductive of serious consequence. There is no great motion in the part, and there are no 
 tendons or bones in danger. A puncture near the toe may not be followed by much inju- 
 ry. There is Uttle motion in that part of the foot, and the internal sole covering the 
 coffin-bone will soon heal ; but a puncture about the centre of the sole may wound the 
 flexor tendon where it is inserted into the coffin-bone, or may even penetrate the joint 
 which unites the navicular-bone, with the coffin-bone, or pierce through the tendon into 
 the joint which it forms with the navicular-bone, and a degree of inflammation may en- 
 sue, which, if neglected, may be fatal. Many horses have been lost by the smallest 
 puncture of the sole in these dangerous points. All the anatomical skill of the veteri- 
 narian should be called into requisition, when he is examining the most trifling wound 
 of the foot. 
 
 If the foot has been wounded by the wrong direction of a nail in shoeing, and the sole 
 be well pared out over the part on the first appearance of lameness, little more will be 
 necessary to be done. The opening must be somewhat enlarged, the Friar's balsam ap- 
 
 f»hed, and the shoe tacked on, with or without a poultice, according to the degree of 
 ameness or heat, and on the following day all will, often, be well. It may, however, 
 be prudent to keep the foot stopped for a few days. If the accident has been neglected, 
 and matter begins to be formed, and to be pent up and to press on the neighboring parts, 
 and the horse evidently suffers extreme pain, and is sometimes scarcely able to put his 
 foot to the ground, and much matter is poured out when the opening is enlarged, further 
 
 Erecautions must be adopted. The fact must be recollected that the living and dead 
 orn will never unite, and every portion of the horny sole that has separated from the 
 fleshy sole above must be removed. T/ie separation must be followed as far as it reaches. 
 Much of the success of the treatment depends on this. No small strip or edge of sepa- 
 rated horn must be suffered to press upon any part of the wound. The exposed fleshy 
 sole must then be touched, but not too severely, with the butyr (chloride) of antimony, 
 some soft and dry tow placed over the part, and the foot stopped, and a poultice placed 
 over all if the inflammation seems to require it. On the following day a thin pellicle of 
 horn will frequently be found over a part or the whole of the wound. This should be, 
 yet very lightly, touched again with tne caustic ; but if there be an appearance of fun- 
 gus sprouting from the exposed surface, tlie apphcation of the butyr must be most severe, 
 and the tow again placed over it, so as to afford considerable yet uniform pressure. 
 Many days do not often elapse before the new horn covers the whole of the wound. In 
 these extensive openings the Friar's balsam will not often be successful, but the cure 
 must be effected by the judicious and never too severe use of the caustic. Bleeding at 
 the toe, and physic, will be resorted to as useful auxiliaries when much inflammauon 
 arises. 
 
 In searching the foot to ascertain the existence of prick, there is often something very 
 censurable in tlie carelessness vdth which the horn is cut away between tlie bottom of 
 the crust and the sole, so as to leave little or no hold for the nails, while some montlis 
 30 
 
284 THE HORSE. 
 
 must elapse before the horn will grow down sufficiently fax for the shoe to be securely 
 fastened. 
 
 When a free opening has been made below, and matter has not broken out at the coro- 
 net, it will rarely be necessary to remove any portion of the horn at the quaa-ters, although 
 we may be able to ascertain by the use of the probe that the separation of the crust ex- 
 tends lor a considerable space above the sole. 
 
 In the angle between the bars c, p, 218, and the quarters, the horn of the sole has 
 sometimes a red appearance, and is more spongy and softer than at any other part. The 
 horse flinches when this portion of the horn is pressed upon, and there is occasional or 
 permanent lameness. This disease of the foot is termed corns : bearing this resemblance 
 to the corn of the human being, that it is produced by pressure, and is a cause of lameness, 
 but differing from it in that the horn, answering to the skin of the human foot, is thin and 
 weak, instead of being thickened and hardened. When it is neglected, so much inflam- 
 mation is produced in that j^art of the sensible sole that suppuration follows, and to that, 
 quittor, and the matter either undermines the horny sole, or is discharged at the coronet. 
 
 The cause is pressure on the sole at that part, by the irritation of which a small quantity 
 of blood is extravasated. The horn is secreted in a less quantity, and of a more spongy 
 natui-e, and this extravasated blood becomes inclosed in it. 
 
 This pressure is produced in various ways. When the foot becomes contracted, the 
 part of the sole inclosed between the external crust which is wiring in, and the bars 
 which are opposing that contraction (see cut, p. 218,) is squeezed as it were in a vice, 
 and becomes inflamed ; hence it is rare to see a contracted foot without corns. When 
 the shoe is suffered to remain on too long, it becomes imbedded in the heel of the foot : 
 the external crust grows down on the outside of it, and the bearing is thrown on this 
 angular portion of the sole. No part of tlie sole can bear continued pressure, and in- 
 flammation and corns are the result. From the length of wear the shoe sometimes 
 becomes loosened at the heels, and gravel insinuates itself between the shoe and the 
 crust, and accumulates in this angle, and even eats into it and wounds it. The bars are 
 too frequently cut away, and then the heel of the shoe must be bevelled inward, in order 
 to answer to this absurd and injurious shaping of the foot ; and by this slanting direction 
 of the heel of the shoe inward, an unnatural disposition to contraction is given, and the 
 sole must suflfer in two ways, in being pressed upon by the shoe, and being squeezed 
 between the outer crust and the external portion of the bar. The shoe is often made 
 unnecessarily narrow at the heels, by which this angle, seemingly less disposed to 
 bear pressure than any other part of the foot, is exposed to accidental bruises. If, in 
 the paring out of the foot, the smith should leave the bars prominent, he too frequently 
 neglects to pare away the horn in the angle between the bars and the external crust ; or 
 if lie cuts away the bars, he scarcely touches the horn at this point ; and thus, before 
 the horse has been shod a fortnight, the shoe rests on this angle, and produces corns. 
 The use of a shoe for the fore feet, thickened at the heels, is, and especially in weak 
 feet, a source of corns, from the undue bearing there is on tlie heels, and the concussion 
 to which they are subject. 
 
 The unshod colt rarely has corns The heels have their natural power of expansion, 
 and the sensible sole at this part can scarcely be imprisoned, while the projection of 
 the heel of the crust and the bar is a sufficient defence from external injury. Corns 
 seem to be, to a certain degree, the almost inevitable consequence of shoeing, which, 
 by limiting, or in a manner destroying, the expansibility of the foot, must, when the sole 
 attempts to descend, or the coffin bone has a backward and downward direction (see cut, 
 p. 193,) imprison and injure this portion of the sole ; and this evil consequence is in- 
 creased when the shoe is badly formed, or kept on too long, or when the paring is omitted 
 or injudiciously extended to the bars. By this unnatural pressure of uie sole, blood is 
 thrown out, and enters into the pores of the soft and diseased horn which is then secreted : 
 therefore we judge of the existence and the extent of the corn by the color and softness 
 of the horn at tliis place. 
 
 The cure is difficult ; for as all shoeing has some tendency to produce pressure here, 
 it is difficult to get rid of the habit of tlirowing out tliis diseased horn when it is once 
 contiacted. 
 
 The first thing to be done is well to pare out the angle between the crust and the bars. 
 Two objects are answered by this ; the extent of the disease will be ascertained, and one 
 cause of it removed. A very small drawing knife must be used for this pui-pos^. The 
 corn must be pared out to tlie very bottom, taking care not to wound the sole. It will 
 then be discovered whether there be any effusion of blood or matter underneath. If this 
 be suspected, an opening must be made through the horn, the matter evacuated, the 
 separated horn taken away, the course and extent of the sinuses explored, and the ti-eat- 
 
THRUSH. 236 
 
 ment recommended for quittor adopted. Should there be no collection of fluid, tlie 
 butyr of antimony should be applied over the whole extent of tlie corn, after the horn 
 has been thinned as closely as possible. The object of this is to stimulate the sole to 
 throw out more healthy horn. In bad cases a bar-shoe may be put on, so chambered, 
 that there shall be no pressure on the diseased part. Tliis may be worn lor one or two 
 shoeings, but not constantly, for there are few frogs that would bear the constant pres- 
 sure of tlie bar-shoe ; and the want of the pressure on the heel, generally occasioned by 
 their use, would produce a softened and bulbous state of the heels, which would of itself 
 be an inevitable source of lameness. 
 
 In the great majority of cases the corn is either confined to the inner quarter of the foot, 
 or crust. That this should be the case may be easily imagined, from what we have said 
 of contraction being most frequent in the inner quarter. The shoe, unfettered on tlie 
 inner side, rnay, in corn on that side, be applied with great benefit if the country be not 
 too heavy, or the pace required from the horse too great. 
 
 Next is to be considered the cause of the corn, which a careful examination of the 
 foot and the shoe will easily discover. The cause being ascertained, the etlect may, to a 
 great extent, be afterwards removed. Turning out to grass, after the horn is a little 
 grown, first with a bar-shoe, and afterwards with the shoe fettered on one side, or with 
 tips, will often be serviceable. A horse that has once had corns to any considerable extent 
 should, at everp shoeing, have the seat of corn well pared out, and the butyr of antimony 
 applied. The seated shoe (hereafter to be described) should be used, with a web suffi- 
 ciently thick to cover tlie place of corn, and extending as far back as it can be made to 
 do without injury to the frog. 
 
 Low weak heels should be rarely touched with the knife, or any thing more be done 
 to them than lightly to rasp them, to give them a level surface. The inner heel should 
 be pai'ticularly spared. Corns are seldom found in the hind feet, because the heels are 
 stronger and the feet are not exposed to so much concussion ; and when they are found 
 there they are rarely or never productive of lameness. 
 
 Is a discharge of offensive matter from the cleft of the frog. It is inflammation of 
 the lower surface of the sensible frog, and during which pus is secreted together with, 
 or instead of horn. When the frog is in its sound state the cleft sinks but a little way 
 into it ; but when it becomes contracted or otherwise diseased, the cleft extends in 
 length, and penetrates even to the sensible horn within, and through this unnaturally 
 deepened fissure the thrushy discharge proceeds. It is caused by anything that interferes 
 with the healthy structure and action of the frog. We find it in the hinder feet oftener 
 and worse than in the fore, because in our stable management the hinder feet are too 
 much exposed to the pernicious effect of the dung and the urine, moistening, or as it were 
 macerating, and at the same time irritating them. The distance of the hinder feet from 
 the centre of the circulation would, as in tlie case of grease, more expose them to accu- 
 mulations of fluid and discharges of this kind. In the fore feet thrushes are usually 
 connected with contraction. We have stated that they are both the cause and the effect 
 of contraction. The pressure on the frog from the wiring of the heels will produce pain 
 .and inflammation, and the inflammation, by the increased heat and suspended function 
 of the part, will dispose to contraction. Horses of all ages, and in almost all situations, 
 are subject to thrush. The unshod colt is frequently thus diseased. 
 
 Thrushes are not always accompanied by lameness. In a great many cases the ap- 
 
 Eearance of the foot is scarcely, or not at all altered, and the disease can only be detected 
 y close examination, or the peculiar smell of the discharge. The frog may not appear 
 to be rendered in the slightest degree tender by it, and therefore the horse may not be 
 considered by many as unsound. Every disease, however, should be considered as legal 
 unsoundness, and especially a disease which, although not attended with present detri- 
 ment, must not be neglected, for it would eventually injure and lame the horse. All 
 other things being right, a horse should not be rejected because he has a slight thrush, 
 for if the shape of the hoof be not altered, experience tells us that the thrusu is easily 
 removed ; yet if the tlirush be not soon removed, it will alter the shape of the foot and 
 the action of the horse, and becomes manifest unsoundness. ^The progress of a 
 neglected thrush, although sometimes slow, is sure. The frog begins to conti-act in size, 
 it becomes rough, ragged, brittle, tender. The discharge is more copious and more 
 offensive — the horn gradually disappears— a mass of hardened mucus usurps its place — 
 this easily peals off, and the sensible frog remains exposed — the horse cannot bear it to 
 be touched — fungous granulations spring from it — they spread around — the sole becomes 
 underrun, and canker steals over the greater part of the foot. 
 
 There are few errors more common or more dangerous, than that the existence of 
 thrush is a matter of little consequence, or even, aa some suppose, a benefit to the horse. 
 
2» THE HORSE. 
 
 — a discharge for superabundant humours, — and that it should not be dried up too quickly, 
 and in some cases not dried up at all. If a young colt, fat and full of blood, has a bad 
 thrush, with much discharge it may be prudent to accompany the attempt at cure by a 
 dose of physic or a course of diuretics ; a few diuretics may not be injurious when we 
 are endeavouring to dry up thrush in older horses : but disease can scarcely be attacked too 
 soon or subdued too rapidly, and especially a disease which steals on so insidiously, and has 
 such fatal consquences in its train. If the heels once begin to contract through the baneful 
 effect of thrush, it will with difficulty, or not at all, be afterwards removed. 
 
 There are many recipes to stop a running thrush. Almost every application of an 
 astringent but not too caustic nature will have the etlect. The common iEgyptiacum 
 (vinegar boiled with honey and vci'digrease) is a very good liniment; but the most 
 effectual and the safest, diying up the discharge speedily, but not suddenly, is a paste 
 composed of two ounces of blue and one of white vitriol powdered as finely as possible, 
 and rubbed down witli one pound of tar and two of lard. A pledget of tow covered 
 with it should be introduced as deeply as possible, yet without force, into the cleft of 
 the liog every night, and removed in the morning belbre the horse goes to work. At- 
 tention should at the same time, as in other diseases of the foot, be paid to the apparent 
 cause of the complaint, and that cause should be carefully obviated or removed. Before 
 the application of the paste, the frog should be examined, and every loose part of the 
 horn or hardened discharge removed; and if much of the frog be then exposed, a larger 
 and wider piece of tow covered with the paste may be placed over it, in addition to the 
 pledget introduced into the cleft of the frog. It will be necessary to preserve the frog 
 moist while the cure is in progress, and this may be done by filling the feet with tow 
 covered by^common stopping, or using tlie felt pad, likewise covered w'ith it. Turning 
 out would be prejudicial rather than of benefit to thrushy feet, except the dressing be 
 continued, and the feet defended from moisture. 
 
 Is a separation of the horn from the sensible part of the foot, and the sprouting of 
 fungous matter instead of it, and occupying a portion of, or even the whole of the sole 
 and frog. It is the occasional consequence of bruise, puncture, corn, quittor, and 
 thrush, and is extremely difficult to cure. It is more frequently the consequence of 
 neglected thrush than of any other disease of the foot. It is oftenest found in, and is 
 almost peculiar to the heavy breed of cart horse, resulting partly from constitutional pre- 
 disposition. Horses with white legs and thick skins, and much hair upon their legs, — 
 the very character of many of oiu- dray horses, — are subject to canker, especially if they 
 have had an attack of grease, or their heels are habitually thick and greasy. The dis- 
 position to canker is certainly hereditary. The dray horse likewise has this disadvan- 
 tage, that in order to give him foot-hold, it is necessary to raise the heels of the hinder 
 feet so high, that all pressure on the frog is taken away, its functions are destroyed, and 
 it is rendered liable to disease. Canker, however, arises more from the peculiar injury 
 to which the feet of these horses are subject from the enormous shoes with which they 
 are covered, the bulk of the nails with which these shoes are necessarily fastened to the 
 foot, and the strain of the foot, in the violent although short exertion in moving heavy 
 weights ; but most of all from the neglect of the feet, and the filthiness of the stable in 
 these establishments. Although canker is a disease most difficult to remove, it is easily 
 
 5»revented. Attention to the punctures to which these heavy horses, with their clubbed 
 iset and brittle hoofs, are more than any others subject in shoeing, and to the bruises 
 and treads on the coronet, to which with their awkwardness and weight they are so 
 liable, and the greasy heels which a very slight degi'ee of negligence will produce in 
 them, and to the stopping of the thrushes, which are so apt in them to run on to the sepa- 
 ration of the horn from tne sensible frog, will most materially lessen the number of can- 
 kered feet. Where>this disease often occurs, the owner of the team may be well assured 
 that there is gross mismanagement either in himself, or his horsekeeper, or smith, or sur- 
 geon, and it will rarely be a difficult matter to detect the precise nature of that misman- 
 agement. 
 
 The cure of canker is the business of the veterinary surgeon, and a most harassing and 
 tedious business it is. The principles on which he proceeds are first of all to remove the 
 extraneous fungous growth, and here probably he will call in the aid both of the knife 
 and the caustic, or the cautery ; he will cut away every portion of horn which is in the 
 slightest degree separated from the sensible parts beneath. He will next endeavour to 
 discourage the growth of fresh fungus, and to bring the foot into that state in which it 
 will again secrete healthy horn : here he will remember that he has to do with the surface 
 of the foot ; that this is a disease of the surface only, and that there will be no necessity 
 for those deeply-corroding and torturing caustics whicli will eat to the very bone. 
 A slight and daily application of the chlonde of antimony, and that not where the new 
 
 c J^'ttiSItt^ 
 
WEAKNESS OF THE FOOT. 287 
 
 horn is forming, but only on the surface which continues to be diseased, and accompanied 
 by as firm but equal pressure as can be made — and the careful avoidance of the slightest 
 degree of moisture — the horse bein^ exercised or worked in the mill, or wherever the 
 foot will not be exposed to wet — and that exercise adopted as early as possible, and even 
 from the beginning if the disease is confined to the sole and frog — these means will suc- 
 ceed if the disease is capable of cure. Humanity, perhaps, will dictate, that, considering 
 the long process of cure in a cankered foot, and the daily torture of the caustic, and the 
 sulfering which would otherwise result from so lai-ge or exposed a surface, the nerves of 
 the leg should be divided to take away the sense of pain ; but then especial care must 
 be taken that the horse is placed in such a situation, and exposed to such work, that, being 
 insensible to pain, he may not injuriously batter and bruise diseased parts. 
 
 Medicine is not of much avail in the cure of canker. It is a mere local disease ; 
 or the only cause of fear is, tliat so great a determination of blood to the extremities, hav- 
 ing existed during the long progress of the cure, it may in some degree continue, and 
 produce injuiy in another torm. Grease has occasionally followed canker. They have, 
 although rarely, been known to alternate. When one has become better, the other has 
 appeared, and that for a considerable period. It may, therefore, be prudent, when the 
 cure of a cankered foot is nearly effected, to subject tlie horse to a course of alteratives 
 or diuretics. 
 
 OSSIFICATION OF THE CARTILAGES. 
 
 We have spoken (page 222) of the side cartilages of the foot, occupying (see cut, 
 page 197) a considerable portion of the external side and back part of the foot. They 
 are designed to preserve the expansion of the upper part of the foot, and to preserve it, 
 when that of the lower part is limited or destroyed by shoeing. These cartilages are 
 subject to inflammation, and the result of that inflammation is, that the cartilages are 
 absorbed, and bone is substituted in their stead. This ossification of the cartilages fre- 
 quently accompanies ringbone, but it may exist without any affection of the pastern joint. 
 It is oftenest found in horses of heavy draught. It arises not so much from concussion, 
 as from a species of sprain, for tlie pace of the horse is slow. The cause, indeed, is not 
 well understood, but of the elfect we have too numerous instances. Veiy few heavy 
 draught horses arrive at old age without this change of structure. 
 
 In the healthy state of the loot, these cartilages will readily yield to the pressiue of the 
 fingers on the coronet over the quarters, but, by degi-ees, the resistance becomes greater, 
 and at length bone is formed, and the parts yield no more. No evident inflcimmation of 
 the foot, or gi'eat, or perhaps even perceptible lameness accompanies this change : a mere 
 Blight degree of stiffness may have been observed, which, in a horse of more rapid pace, 
 would have been lameness. Even when the change is completed, there is not in many 
 cases any thing more than a slight increase of stiffness, little or not at all interfering with 
 the usefulness of the horse. When this altered structure appears in the lighter horse, 
 the lameness is more decided, and means should be taken to arrest the progress of the 
 change : these are blisters or firing ; but, after these parts have become bony, no opera- 
 tion will restore the cartilage. 
 
 Connected with ringbone the lameness may be very great. This has been spoken of 
 in page 197. 
 
 WEAKNESS OF THE FOOT. 
 
 This is more accurately a bad formation, than a disease ; often, indeed, the result of 
 disease, but in many instances the natural construction of the foot. The term weak foot 
 is familiar to every horseman, and the consequence is too severely felt by all who have 
 to do with horses. In the slanting of the crust from the coronet to the toe, a less angle 
 is almost invariably formed, amounting probably to not more than forty instead of forty- 
 five degrees ; and after the horse has oeen worked for one or two years the line is not 
 straight, but a little indented or hollow, midway between the coronet and the toe. We 
 have described this as the accompaniment of pumiced feet, but it is often seen in weak 
 feet, which, although they might become pumiced by severity of work, do not othei-wise 
 have the sole convex. The crust is not only less oblique than it ought to be, but it has 
 not the smooth, even appearance of the good foot. The surface is sometimes irregularly 
 roughened, but it is much oftener roughened in circles or rings. The form of the crust 
 likewise presents too much the appearance of a cone ; the bottom of the foot is unnatu- 
 rally wide in proportion to the coronet ; and the whole of the foot is generally, but not 
 always, larger than it should be. 
 
 When the foot is lifted, it will often present a round and circular appearance, with a 
 fullness of frog, that would mislead the inexperienced, and indeed be considered as almost 
 the perfection of structure ; but, bein» examined more closely, many glaring defects will 
 be seeu. The sole ia flat, and the smith finda that it will bear little or no paring. The 
 
298 THE HORSE. 
 
 bars are small in size. They are not cut away by the smith, but they can be scarcely said 
 to hav^e any existence ; tlie heels are low, so low that the very coronet seems almost to 
 touch the gi-ound ; and the crust, if examined, seems scarcely thick enough to hold the 
 nails. Horses with these feet can never stand much work. Tney will be subject to corns, 
 to bruises of the sole, to convexity of the sole, to punctures in nailing, to breaking away 
 of the crust, to inflammation of the foot, and to sprain and injiuy of the pastern, and the 
 fetlock, and the tlexor tendon. These feet admit of little improvement. Shoeing as 
 seldom as may be, and with a light, yet wide concave web ; little or no paring at the time 
 of shoeing, with as little violent work as possible, and especially on rough roads, may 
 protract for a long period the evil day, but he who buys a horse with these feet will sooner 
 or later have cause to repent his bargain. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 ON SHOEING. 
 
 The period when the shoe began to be nailed to the foot of the horse is uncertain. 
 William the Norman introduced it into our country. 
 
 We have seen, in the progress of our inquiry, that while it affords to the foot of the 
 horse that defence which seems now to be necessary against the destructive effects of 
 our artificial and flinty roads, it has entailed on the animal some evils. It has limited or 
 destroyed the beautiful expansibility of the lower part of the foot ; it has led to contrac- 
 tion, although that contraction has not always been accompanied by lameness ; in the 
 most careful fixing of the best shoe, and in the careless manufacture and setting on of 
 the bad one, much injury has often been done to the horse ; yet, as we have already stated 
 to nothing like the extent which some have fancied or fe£u-ed. 
 
 THE CONCAVE-SEATED SHOE. 
 
 The proper form and construction of the shoe is a subject deserving of very senous 
 inquiry, for it is most important to ascertain the kind of shoe that will do the least mis- 
 chief to the feet. We subjoin a cut of that which we sb'ongly recommend for general 
 purposes. It is in use in many of our best forges, and is gradually superseding tlie flat 
 and^the simple concave shoe. The following cut exhibits the near fore shoe 
 
THE PREPARATION OF THE FOOT. 239 
 
 It presents a perfectly flat surface to the ground, to give as many points of bearing aa 
 possible, except that, round the outer edge, there is a groove or fuller, in which the nail 
 toies are punched, so that, sinking into the fuller, their heads project but a little way, 
 and are soon worn down level with the shoe. The ground surface of the common shoe 
 used in the country is somewhat convex, and the inward rim of the shoe comes first on 
 the ground ; the consequence of this is, that the weight, instead of being borne fairly on 
 the crust, is supported by the nails and tlie clenches, which must be injurious to the crust 
 and often chip and tear it. 
 
 The web of the shoe is of the same thickness throughout, from the toe to the heel ; 
 and it is sufficiently wide to guard the sole from bruises, and as wide at the heel as the 
 frog will permit, in order to cover the seat of corn. 
 
 On the foot side it is seated. The outer part of it is accurately flat, and of the width 
 of the crust, and designed to support the crust, and tlie crust only, for it has already been 
 proved that by the crust alone, or rather by the union between the numerous little plates 
 
 Eroceeding from the crust and the covering of the coffin-bone, the whole weight of the 
 orse is supported. Towards the heel this flattened part is wider and occupies the whole 
 breadth of the web, to support (see p. 218) the heel of the crust and its reflected part of 
 the bar ; thus, while it defends the horn included within this angle from injury, it gives 
 that equal pressure upon the bar and crust, which is the best preventive against corn, 
 and a powerful obstacle to contraction. 
 
 It is fastened to the foot by nine nails, five on the outside, and four on the inner side of 
 the shoe ; those on the outside extending a little farther down towards the heel, because 
 the outside heel is thicker, and stronger, and there is more nail-hold ; the last nail on the 
 inner quarter being farther from the heel on account of the weakness of that quarter. 
 For feet not too large, and where moderate work only is required from the horse, four 
 nails on the outside, and three on the inside, will be sufficient ; and the last nail being far 
 from the heels will allow more expansion there. 
 ■ The inside part of the web, is bevelled off', or rendered concave, that it may not press 
 upon the sole. Notwithstanding our iron fetter, the sole does, although to a very incon- 
 siderable extent, descend when the foot of the horse is put on the ground. It is unable 
 to bear constant or even occasional pressure, and if it came in contact with the shoe, the 
 sensible sole, between the horny sole and the coffin-hone, would be bruised, and lame- 
 ness would ensue. Many of our horses, from too early and undue work, have the natu- 
 ral concave sole flattened, and the disposition to descend and the degree of descent are 
 thereby increased. The concave shoe, prevents, even in this case, the possibility of inju- 
 ry, because the sole can never descend in the degree in which tlie shoe is bevelled. A 
 snoe bevelled still further is necessary to protect the projecting or pumiced foot. 
 
 While the horse is travelling, dirt and gravel are apt to insinuate themselves between 
 the web of the shoe and the sole. If the shoe were flat they would be easily retained 
 there, and would bruise the sole and be productive of injuiy ; but when the shoe is thus 
 bevelled off", it is scarcely possible for them to remain. They must be shaken out every 
 time the foot comes in contact with the ground. 
 
 The web of the shoe is likewise of that thickness, that when the foot is properly 
 pared, the prominent part of the frog shall lie just within and above its ground surface, 
 so that in the descent of the sole the frog shall come sufficiently on the ground, to enable 
 it to act as a wedge, and to expand the quarters, while it is defended from the wear and 
 injury it would receive if it came on the ground with the first and full shock of the 
 weight. 
 
 Tne nail hole's are, on the ground side, placed as near the outer edge of the shoe as 
 they can safely be, and brought out near the inner edge of the seating. The nails thus 
 take a direction inwju-d, resembling the direction of the crust itself, and take firmer hold ; 
 while the strain upon them in the common shoe is altogether prevented ; and the weight 
 of the horse being thrown on a flat surface, contraction is not so likely to be produced. 
 
 The smith sometimes objects to the use of this shoe on account of its not being so ea- 
 sily formed as one composed of a bar of iron, either flat or a little bevelled. It likewise 
 occupies more time in the forming ; but these objections would vanish, when the owner 
 of the horse declared that he would have him shod elsewhere ; or when he consented, as 
 in justice he should, to pay somewhat more for a shoe that required better workmanship 
 and longer time in the construction. 
 
 THE PREPARATION OF THE FOOT. 
 
 We will suppose that the horse is sent to the forge to be shod. If the master would 
 occasionally accompany him there, he would find it much to his advantage. The old 
 shoe must be first taken off. We have something to observe even on this. It was retained 
 on the foot by the ends of the nails being twisted off", turned down, and clenched. These 
 clenches should be first raised, which the smith seldom takes the trouble tlioroughly to do : 
 
240 THE HORSE. 
 
 but after going carelessly round the crust and raising one or two of the clenches, he takes 
 hold first of one heel of the shoe, and then of the other, and by a violent wrench separates 
 them from the foot, and by a third wTench, applied to tlie middle of the shoe, he tears it 
 off. By this means he must enlarge every nail hole, and weaken the future hold, and 
 sometimes tear off portions of the crust, and otherwise injure the foot. The horse gene- 
 rally shows by his flinching that he suffers by the violence witli which this preliminary 
 operation is performed. The clenches should always be raised or filed off; and where 
 the foot is tender, or the horse is to be examined for lameness, each nail should be partly 
 punched out. Many a stub is left in the crust, the source of future £innoyance, when 
 this unnecessary violence is used. 
 
 The shoe having been removed, the smith proceeds to rasp the edges of the crust. Let 
 not the stander-by object to the apparent violence which ne uses, or fear that the foot 
 will suffer. It is the only means he has, with safety to his instruments, to detect whether 
 any stubs remain in the nail holes ; and it is the most convenient method of removing 
 that portion of the crust into which dirt and gravel have insinuated themselves. 
 
 Next comes the important process of paring out, with regard to which it is almost im- 
 possible to lay down any specific rules. This, however, we can say with confidence, 
 that more injuiy has been done by the neglect of paring, than by carrying it to too great 
 an extent. The act of paring is a work of much more labor than the proprietor of the 
 horse often imagines ; the smith, except he be overlooked, will give himself as little trou- 
 ble about it as he can ; and that, which in the unshod foot would be worn away by contact 
 with the ground, is suffered to accumulate month after month, until the elasticity of the 
 sole is destroyed, and it can no longer descend, and the functions of the foot are impeded, 
 and foundation is laid for corn, and contraction, and navicular disease, and inflammation. 
 That portion of horn should be left on the sole, which will defend the internal parts 
 from being bruised, and yet suffer the external sole to descend. How is this to be mea- 
 sured ? The strong pressure of the thumb of the smith will be the best guide. The 
 buttress, that most destructive of all instruments, being banished from the respectable 
 forge, the smith sets to work with his drawing knife, and he removes the growth of horn, 
 until the sole will yield, although in the slightest possible degree, to uie very strong 
 pressure of his thumb. The proper thickness of horn will then remain. 
 
 If the foot has been previously neglected, and the horn is become very hard, the 
 owner must not object if the smith resort to some means to soften it a little ; and if he 
 tcikes one of his flat irons, and having heated it, draws it over the sole, Eind keep it a 
 little while in contact with it. When the sole is thick, this rude and apparently barbar- 
 ous method can do no harm, but it should never be permitted with the sole that is regu- 
 larly pared out. 
 
 The quantity of horn to be removed in order to leave the proper degree of thickness 
 •will vary with different feet. From a strong foot a great deal must be taken. From the 
 concave foot the horn may be removed until tlie sole will yield to a raoderata pressure. 
 From the flat foot little need be pared ; while the pumiced foot will spare nothing but 
 the ragged parts. 
 
 The paring being nearly completed, the knife and the rasp of the smith must be a 
 little watched, or he will reduce the crust to a level with the sole, and thus endanger the 
 bruising of the sole by its pressure on the edge of the seating. The crust should be 
 reduced to a perfect level, all round, but left a little higher than the sole. 
 
 The heels will require very considerable attention. From the stress which is thrown 
 on the inner heel, and from the weakness of the quarter there, it usuedly wears consider- 
 ably faster then the outer one ; and, if an equal portion of horn were pared from it, it 
 would be left lower than the outer heel. The smith should, therefore, accommodate his 
 
 {)aring to the comparative wear of the heels, and be very careful to leave them precisely 
 evel. 
 
 If the reader will recollect what we have said of the intention and action of the bars, 
 he will readily perceive that the smith should be checked in his almost universal fond- 
 ness for opening the heels, or, more truly, removing that which is the main impediment 
 to contraction. That portion of the heels between the inflection of the bar and the frog 
 should scarcely be touched, at least nothing but the ragged and detached parts should be 
 cut away. The foot may not look so pretty, but it will last longer without contraction. 
 The bar Ukewise should be left fully prominent, not only at its first inflection, but as 
 it runs down the side of the frog. The heel of our shoe is designed to rest partly on the 
 heel of the foot, and partly on the bar, for reasons that have been already stated. If tlie 
 bar is weak, the growth of it should be encouraged, and it should be scarcely touched at 
 the shoeing until it has attained a level with the crust. We recall to the recollection of 
 our readers, the observation which we have made in page 218, that the destruction of 
 the bars not only leads to contraction by removing a powerful impediment to it, but by 
 adding a still more powerful cause in the slanting direction which is given to the bearing 
 at the heels, when the bar does not contribute to the support of tlie weight. 
 
CALKINS. 241 
 
 It will also be apparent that the horn between the'crust and the bar should be carefully 
 pared out. Eveiy horseman has observed the relief which is given to the animal lame 
 with corns when this angle is well thinned ; a relief, however, which is but temporaiy, 
 for when tlie horn grows again and tlie siioe presses upon it, the torture of the animal is 
 renewed. 
 
 The degree of paring to which the frog must be subjected will depend on its promi- 
 nence, and on the shape of the foot. The principle has already been stated, that it must 
 be left so far projecting and prominent, that it shall be just within and above the lower 
 surface of the shoe, if will then descend with the sole, sufficiently to discharge the func- 
 tions which we have attributed to it. If it be lower, it will be bruised and injured ; if 
 it be higher, it cannot come in contact with the ground, and thus be enabled to do its 
 duty. The ragged parts must be removed, and especially those occasioned by thrush, 
 but the degree of paring must depend entirely on this principle. 
 
 It appears, then, that the office of the smith requires some skill and judgment in order 
 to be properly discharged ; and the horse proprietor will find it his interest occasionally 
 to visit the forge and complain of the careless, or idle, or obstinate, and reward, by some 
 trifling gratuity, the expert and diligent. He should likewise remember that a great deal 
 more depends on the paring out ot the foot than on the consh-uction of the shoe ; that 
 few shoes, except they press upon the sole, or are made outrageously bad, will lame 
 the horse ; but that he may be very easily lamed from ignorant and improper paring out 
 of the foot. 
 
 THE PUTTING ON OF THE SHOE. 
 
 The foot being thus prepared, the smith looks about for a shoe. He should select one 
 that as nearly as possible fits the foot, or may be altered to the foot. He will sometim^^s 
 care httle about this, for he can easily alter the foot to the shoe. The toe-knife is a very 
 convenient instrument for him, and plenty of horn can be struck off with it, or removed 
 by the rasp, to make the foot as small as the shoe ; while he cares little, although by this 
 destructive method the crust is materially thinned where it should receive the nail, and 
 the danger of puncture is increased, and the danger of pressure upon the sole is increased, 
 and a foot so artificially diminished in size will soon grow over the shoe, to the hazard of 
 considerable or permanent lameness. 
 
 While choosing the shoe we must once more refer to the shape of our pattern shoe; 
 the web is of equal thickness from toe to heel. A shoe, thinner at the heel than at the 
 toe, by letting down the heel too low, is apt to produce sprain of the flexor tendon, and 
 a shoe thicker at the heels than at the toe is fit only to elevate the frog, to the destruction 
 of its function, and to its own certain disease, and also to press upon and to batter and to 
 bruise that part of the foot which is soonest and most destructively injured. 
 
 It is expedient not only that the foot and ground surface of the shoe should be most 
 accurately level, but that the crust should be exactly smoothed and fitted to the shoe. 
 Much sldll and time are necessary to do this perfectly with the drawing knife. The 
 smith has adopted a method of more quickly and more accurately adapting the shoe to 
 the foot. He pares the crust as level as he can, and then he takes the shoe, at a heat 
 something below a red heat, and applies it to the foot, and detects any little elevations 
 by the deeper color of the burned horn. This practice has been much inveighed 
 against ; but it is the abuse and not the use of the thing which is to be condemned. If 
 the shoe be not too hot, nor held too long on the foot, an accuracy of adjustment is thus 
 obtained, which the knife would be long in producing, or would not produce at all. If, 
 however, the shoe is made to burn its way to its seat with little or no previous prepara- 
 tion of the foot, the heat must be injurious both to the sensible and insensible parts of ,j 
 the foot. •»'-' 
 
 The heels of the shoe should be examined as to their proper width. Whatever be the 
 custom of shoeing the horses of dealers, and the too prevalent practice in the metropolis, 
 of giving the foot an open appearance, although the back part of it is thereby exposed to 
 injury, nothing is more certain, than that in the horse for work, the heels, and particu- 
 larly the seat of corn, can scarcely be too well covered. Part of the shoe projecting 
 outwai-d can be of no possible good, but nither an occasional source of mischief, and 
 especially in a heavy country. A shoe, the web of which projects inward as far as it 
 can, without touching the frog, affords protection to the angle between the bars and 
 the crust. 
 
 Of the manner of attaching the shoe to the foot the owner can scarcely be a compe- 
 tent judge ; he can only take care that the shoe itself shall not be heavier than the work 
 requires — that for workaUttle hard the shoe shall still be light, with a bit of steel welded 
 
 31 
 
 _^5^^ 
 
242 THE HORSE. 
 
 into the toe — that the nails shall be as small, and as few, and aa far from the heels, as 
 may be consistent with the security of the shoe ; and that, for light work at least, the 
 shoe shall not be driven on so closely and firmly as is often done, nor the points of the 
 nails be brought out so high up as is generally practised. 
 
 There ai-e few cases in which the use of calkins (a turning up and elevation of the 
 heel) can be admissible in the fore-feet, except in frosty weather, to prevent the 
 slipping of the feet. If, however, calkins are used, let them be placed on both feet. If 
 the outer heel only be raised with the calkin, as is too ofen the case, the weight cannot 
 be thrown evenly on the foot, suid undue sti'aining and injury of some part of the foot or 
 of the leg must be tlie necessaiy consequences. Few things deserve more the atten- 
 tion of the horseman than this most absurd and injurious of all the practices of the forge. 
 One quarter of an hour's walking, with one side of the shoe or boot raised considerably 
 above the other, will painfully convince us of what the horse must suffer from this too 
 common method of shoeing. We cannot excuse it even in the hunting shoe. If the 
 horse be ridden far to cover, or galloped over much hard and flinty ground, he will in- 
 evitably suffer from this unequal distribution of the weight. If the calkin be put on the 
 outer heel to prevent the horse from slipping, either the horn of that heel should be 
 lowered to a corresponding degree, or the other heel of the shoe should be raised to the 
 same level by a gradual thickening. Of the use of calkins iu the hindei' foot, we shall 
 presently speeik. 
 
 These are portions of the upper edge of the shoe, hammered out, and turned up so 
 aa to embrace the lower part of the crust, and which is usually pared out a httle to re- 
 ceive the clip. They are very useful, as more securely attaching the shoe to the foot, 
 and relieving the crust from that stress upon the nails which would otherwise be inju- 
 rious. A clip at the toe is almost necessaiy in every draught horse, and absolutely so 
 in the horse of heavy draught, to prevent the shoe firom being loosened or torn off by the 
 stress which is thrown upon the toe in the act of dravdng. A clip on the outside of each 
 shoe at the beginning of the quarters will give security to it. Clips are likevrise neces- 
 sary on the shoes of all heavy horses, and of all otliers who are disposed to stamp, or 
 violently paw vdth their feet, and thus incur the danger of displacing the shoe ; but they 
 are evils, in that they press upon the crust as it grows down, and should only be used 
 when circumstances absolutely require them. 
 
 THE HINDER SHOE. 
 
 In forming the hinder shoes it should be remembered that the hind limbs are the 
 principal instruments in progression, and that in every act of progression, except the 
 walk, the toe is the point on which the whole frame of the animal turns, and from which 
 it is propelled. This part, then, should be strengthened as much as possible ; and there- 
 fore, the hinder shoes are made broader at the toe than the fore ones, and the toe of 
 the foot, which is naturally broader than that of the fore-foot, is still further widened by 
 rasping. Another good effect is produced by this, that the hinder foot being shortened 
 there is less danger of overreaching or forging, and especially if the shoe be wider on 
 the foot surface than on tlie ground one ; and thus the shoe is made to slope inward, jind 
 is a little witliin the toe of the crust. 
 
 The shape of the hinder foot is somewhat different from that of the fore foot; it is 
 straighter in the quarters, and the shoe must have the same shape. For carriage and 
 draught horses generally, calkins may be put on the heels, because the animal wall be 
 thus enabled to dig his toe more firmly into the ground, and urge himself forward, Jind 
 throw his weight into the collar with greater advantage. But the calkins must not be 
 too high, and they must be of an equal height on each heel ; otherwise, as ha-i been 
 "stated with regard to the fore feet, tlie weight will not be fairly distributed over the foot, 
 and some part of the foot or of the leg will materially suffer. The nails in the hinder 
 shoe may be placed nearer to the heel than in the fore shoe, because, from the compara- 
 tive little weight and concussion thrown on the hinder feet, there is not so much danger 
 of contraction. 
 
 DIFFERENT KINDS OF SHOES. 
 
 The shoe will vaiy in substance and weight with the kind of foot, and the nature of 
 the work. A weak foot should never wear a heavy shoe, nor any foot a shoe that will 
 last longer tlian a month. Here, perhaps, we may be permitted to caution the horse-pro- 
 prietor against having his cattle shod too much by contract, unless he binds down his 
 farrier or surgeon to remove the shoes once at least in every montli ; for if the contrac- 
 
THE EXPANDING SHOE. 243 
 
 tor, by a heavy shoe, and a little steel, can cause five or six weeks to intervene between 
 the shoeinga, he will do so, although the feet of the horse must necessarily suifer. The 
 shoe should never be heavier than the work requires. An ounce or two in the weight 
 of the shoe will sadly tell before the end of a hard day's work. This is acknowledged 
 in the hunter's shoe, wliich is narrower and lighter tlian that of tlie hackney with even 
 smaller feet than the hunter ; and it is more decidedly acknowledged in the racer, who 
 wears a shoe only sufficiently thick to prevent it from bending when used. 
 
 THE HUNTING SHOE. 
 
 The hunter's shoe is different from that of the hackney in shape as well as weight. 
 It is not so much bevelled off as the common concave seated shoe. Sufficient space 
 alone is left for the introduction of a picker between the shoe and the sole, otherwise, 
 in going over heavy ground, the clay will get in, and by its tenacity loosen, and even 
 tear off the shoe. The heels likewise are somewhat shorter, that they may not be torn 
 off by the toe of the hind-feet when galloping fast, and the outer heel is frequently and 
 injudiciously turned up to prevent shpping. The reader will remember what we have 
 just said of this. If calkins are necessary, let, at least, both heels have an equal bearing. 
 
 THE BAR-SHOE. 
 
 A bar-shoe is a very useful contrivance. It is the continuation of the common shoe 
 round the heels, and by means of it the pressure may be taken off some tender part of 
 the foot and thrown on another which is better able to bear it, or more widely and equally 
 diffused over the whole foot. It is principally resorted to in cases of corn, the seat of 
 which it perfectly covers — in pumiced feet, the soles of which may be tbus elevated 
 above the ground and secured from pressure, — in sand-crack, when the pressure may be 
 removed from tlie fissure and thrown on either side of it — in thrushes, when the frog is 
 tender, or is become cankered, and requires to be frequently dressed, and the dressing 
 can by this means alone be retained. In these cases the bar-shoe is an excellent contri- 
 vance, if worn only for one or two shoeings, or as long as the disease requires it to be 
 worn, but it must be left off as soon as it can be dispensed with. If it be used for the 
 protection of a diseased foot, however it may be chambered and laid off the frog, it will 
 soon be flattened down upon it ; or if the pressure of it be thrown on the frog to relieve 
 the sand-crack or the corn, that frog must be very sti'ong and healthy which can long 
 bear the great and continued pressure. More mischief is often produced in the frog than 
 previously existed in the part which was relieved. It will be plain that in the use 
 of the bai'-shoe for corn or sand-crack, the crust and the frog should be precisely on a 
 level, and the bar should be the widest part of the shoe, to afford as extended bearing as 
 possible on the frog, and therefore less likely to be injurious. Bar-shoes are evidently 
 not safe in frosty weather; they are never safe when inuch speed is required from the 
 horse, and they are apt to be wrenched off in a hea\y, clayey country. 
 
 Tips are short shoes, reaching only half round the foot, and worn while the horse is at 
 grass to prevent tlie crust being torn by the occasional hardness of the ground, or by the 
 pawing of the animal ; and the quarters at the same time being free, the foot disj)03ed 
 to contract has a chance of expanding and regaining its natural shape. 
 
 THE EXPANDING SHOE, 
 
 Our subject would not be complete if we did not describe the supposed expanding 
 shoe. It is either seated or concave like the common slioe, with a joint at the toe, by 
 which the natural expansion of the foot is said to be permitted, and tiie injurious conse- 
 quences of shoeing prevented. There is, however, this radical defect in the jointed shoe, 
 uiat the nails occupy the same situation as in the common shoe, and prevent, as do the 
 nails of the common shoe, the gradual expansion of the sides and quarters, and allow 
 only of a hinge-like motion at the toe. This is a most imperfect accommodation of the 
 expansion of tlie foot to the action of its internal parts, and even this accommodation is 
 afforded in the slightest possible degree, or rather can scarcely be afforded at all. Either 
 the nails fix tlie sides and quarters as in the common shoe, and then the joint at the toe 
 is useless ; or if that joint merely opens like a hinge, the nail-holes in the shoe can no 
 longer correspond with those in the quarters which are unequally expanding at every 
 point ; and, therefore, there will be more stress on the crust at these holes, which will 
 not only enlai-ge them and destroy the fixed attachment of the shoe to the hoof, but will 
 often tear away portions of the crust. This has, in many cases, been found to be the 
 
244 THE HORSE. 
 
 effect of tlie jointed shoe ; the sides and quarters of the foot have been broken until it 
 has become difficult to find nail-hold. This shoe, to answer the intended purpose, should 
 consist of many joints, running along the sides and quarters, which would make it too 
 complicated and expensive and frail for general use. 
 
 While the shoe is to be attached to the foot by nedls, we must be content witli the con- 
 cave seated one, taking care to place the nail-holes as far from the heels, and particularly 
 from the inner heel, as the state of the foot and the nature of the work will admit ; and 
 where the country is not too heavy nor the work too severe, even omitting the nails on 
 the inner side of tlie foot. Shoes nailed on the outer side, and at the toe, are more se- 
 cure than some would imagine, while the inner quarter will be left free, to prevent con- 
 traction, or to arrest its progress. 
 
 The attempt, however, to lessen the evils produced by shoeing is most praiseworthy ; 
 and men like Mr. Bracy Clark deserve the respect and the thanks of the public, although 
 their labors may not be crowned with success. Every contrivance permanently to fix the 
 shoe on the foot without the use of nails has failed ; but a make-shift shoe has been con- 
 trived, and is to be procured at most saddlers, which is easily carried in the pocket, and 
 put on in a minute or two if a shoe is lost in hunting or on the road ; and which will re- 
 main securely attached to the foot, and prevent iiijury to it, during a journey of thirty or 
 forty miles. 
 
 FELT OR LEATHER SOLES. 
 
 When the foot is bruised or inflamed, the concussion or shock produced by tlie hard 
 contact of the elastic iron on the ground gives the animal much pain, and causes a short 
 and feeling step, or even lameness, and aggravates the injury or disease. A strip of felt 
 or leather is sometimes placed between the seating of the shoe and the crust, which, 
 from its want of elasticity, deadens or materially lessens the vibration or shock, and the 
 horse treads more freely and is evidently relieved. This is a very good contrivance 
 while the inflammation or tenderness of the foot continues, but a very bad practice if 
 constantly adopted. The nails cannot be driven so surely or so securely when this sub- 
 stance is interposed between the shoe and the foot ; the contraction and swelling of the 
 felt or leather from the effect of moisture or dryness will soon render the attachment of 
 the shoe less firm ; there will be too much play upon the nails ; the nail-holes will en- 
 large, and the crust will be broken away. 
 
 After wounds or extensive bruises of the sole, or where the sole is thin and flat and 
 tender, it is sometimes covered with a piece of leather, fitted to the sole, and nailed on 
 with the shoe. This may be allowed as a temporary defence of the foot ; but there is 
 the same objection to its permanent use from the insecurity of fastening, and the strain 
 on the crust, and the frequent chipping of it ; and there are these additional inconve- 
 niences, that if tlie hollow between the sole and the leather be filled with stopping and 
 tow, it is exceedingly difficult to introduce them so evenly and accurately as not to pro- 
 duce some partial or injurious pressure — ^that a few days' work vrill almost inveiriably so 
 derange the padding as to produce partial pressure — that the long contact of the sole with 
 stopping of almost every kind will produce, not a healthy, elastic horn, but horn of a 
 scaly, spongy nature — and that if the hollow be not thus filled, gravel and dirt will insin- 
 uate themselves, and cause unequal pressure, and eat into and injure the foot. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII 
 OPERATIONS 
 
 These belong more to the veterinary-surgeon than to the proprietor of the horse, but 
 a short account of the manner of conducting the principal ones should not be omitted. 
 
 It is frequently necesseirj' to bind the human patient, and in no painful or dangerous 
 operation should this preliminary be omitted. It is more necessary to bind the horse, 
 who is not under the control of reason, and whose struggles may not only be injurious 
 to himself but dangerous to the operator. 
 
 The trevis is a machine indispensable in every continental forge ; even the quietest 
 horses are there put into it to be shod. It is to be found in many of our country forges, 
 and is occupied by horses that cannot otherwise be shod without manifest danger to the 
 smith. It seldom, however, finds a place in our improved forges, although it >vould be 
 
BLEEDING. 245 
 
 useful for docking, firing, and many other purposes. The horse is confined within enor- 
 mous bars of wood, and slung there, but many have been destroyed in their determined 
 resistance to such restraint. 
 
 The side-line is a veiy simple and useful method of confining the horse, and places 
 him in suificient subjection for the operations of docking, nicking and slight firing. The 
 Ion'' line of the hobbles, or a common cart-rope with a noose at the end, is fastened on the 
 pastern of one hind-leg. The rope is then brought over the neck and round tlie withers, 
 and there tied to the portion that comes from the leg. The leg may thus be drawn so far 
 forward, tliat while the horse evidently cannot kick with that leg, he is disarmed of the 
 other ; for he would not have suflicient support under him if he attempted to raise it. 
 Neither can he easily use his fore-legs, or, it he attempts to use them, one of them may 
 be lifted up, when he becomes nearly powerless. If necessary, the aid of the twitch or 
 the bai'nacles may be resorted to. 
 
 For every minor operation, and even for many that are of more importance, this mode 
 of resti-aint is sufficient ; especially if the operator has active and determined assistants : 
 and we confess that we are no friends to the casting of horses if it can possibly be pre- 
 vented. When both legs are included in the hobble or rope (as in another way of using 
 the side line), the horse may appear to be more secure, but there is greater danger of his 
 falling in his violent struggles during the operation. 
 
 For castrating and severe firing the animal must be thrown. The construction of the 
 hobbles is well known to eveiy fju-rier, and almost to every proprietor of horses. We will 
 only say that the safety of the horse and of the operator will require the use of the im- 
 proved hobbles, by which any leg may be releT;sed from confinement, and retui-ned to it 
 at pleasure ; and, when the operation is ended, the whole of the legs may be set at liberty 
 at once without danger. The method of putting the legs as closely together as possible 
 before the pull — the necessity of tlie assistants all pulling together — and the power, which 
 one man standing at the head and firmly holding the snaffle bridle, and another at the 
 haunch pushing trie horse when he is beginning to fall, have in bringing him on the pro- 
 
 ?er side, and on the very spot on which he is intended to lie, need not to be described, 
 'his, however, is a method of securing the horse to which we repeat tliat we are not par- 
 tial, and to wMch we should not resort except necessity compelled, for in the act of fall- 
 ing, and in the struggles after falling, many accidents have occurred both to the horse 
 and the surgeon. 
 
 Among tlie minor methods of restraint, but sufficient for many purposes, are the twitch 
 and the barnacles. The former consists of a noose passed through a hole at the end of a 
 sti-ong stick, and in which the muzzle is inclosed. The stick being turned, the muzzle 
 is securely retained, while the horse suffers great pain from the pressure — sufficiently 
 gi'eat to render him comparatively inattentive to that which is produced by the operation ; 
 at the same time, he is afraid to struggle, for every motion increases the agony caused by 
 the twitch, or the assistant has power to increase it by giving an additional turn to the stick. 
 
 The barnacles are tlie handles of the pincers placed over and inclosing the muzzle, and 
 which, being compressed by the assistant, give pain almost equal to that of the twitch. 
 These may appear to be barbarous modes of enforcing submission, but they are absolutely 
 indispensable. In a few instances, the blindfolding of the horse terrifies him into sub- 
 mission ; but this is not to be depended upon. The twitch should be resorted to when 
 the least resistance is offered ; and when that, as it occasionally does, renders the horse 
 more violent, recourse must be had to the side-line or the hobbles. 
 
 In painful examination of the fore-leg or foot while on the ground, the otlier foot should 
 be held up by an assistant ; or, if his aid be required in an operation, the knee may be 
 fully bent, and the pastern tied up to the arm. When the hind-leg is to be examined in 
 the same way, the fore-leg on that side should be held or fastened up. 
 
 BLEEDING. 
 
 The operation of Bleeding has been already described (p. 142), but we would remind 
 cur readers of the necessity, in every case of acute inflammation, of making a large 
 orifice, and abstracting the blood as rapidly as possible, for the constitution will thus be 
 the more speedily and beneficially affected ; and also, of the propriety of never determin- 
 ing to take a precise quantity of blood, but of keeping the finger on the artery until the 
 pulse begins to change ; until ihe strong pulse of fever becomes softer, or the animal is 
 laint, or the oppressed pulse of inflammation of the lungs is rounder and fuller. 
 
 In cases of inflammation, and in the hands of a skilful practitioner, bleeding is the 
 sheet-anchor of the veterinarian ; yet few things are more to be reprobated than the in- 
 discriminate bleeding of the groom or the farrier. 
 
 The change which takes place in the blood after it is drawn from the vein is very dili- 
 ently noticed by many practitioners, and is certainly deserving of some attention. The 
 ilood coagulates soon after it is taken from the vein. The coagulable part is composed 
 
 b] 
 
246 THE HOUSE. 
 
 of two substances, that which gives color to the blood, and that in which the red particles 
 float. These, by degrees, separate from each other, and the red particles sink to the 
 bottom. If the coagulation takes place slowly, the red particles have more time to sink 
 through the fluid, and there appears on the top a thick, yellowish, adhesive coat, called 
 the butfy coat. It is supposed that the slowness of coagulation, and the thickness of 
 bnfty coat, are indicative of inflammation, and of the degree of inflammation. 
 
 In a healthy state of the system, the coagulation is more rapid, the red particles have 
 not time to fall through, and the buify coat is thin. These appearances are worth observ- 
 ing ; but much more dependence is to be placed on the pulse, the change of the pulse, 
 and the symptoms generally. When the horse is exhausted, and the system nearly broken 
 up, the blood will sometimes not coagulate at all, but be of one uniform black color, and 
 loose texture. When the blood runs down the side of the vessel in which it is received, 
 the coagulation will be very imperfect. When it is drawn in a full stream, it coagulates 
 slowly ; when more slowly, or from a smaller orifice, the coagulation is more rapid ; 
 therefore, all these extraneous circumstances ariecting so much the coagulation and con- 
 sequent appearance of the blood, the pulse, and the general symptoms, should be the 
 chief ob'ects of regai-d. 
 
 BLISTERING. 
 
 Of Blisters we have also spoken when treating of the various diseases to which they 
 are applicable. The principle on which they act is, that no two intense inflammations 
 can exist in neighboring parts, or perhaps in the system, at the same time. Hence we 
 apply some stimulating acrimonious substance to the skin, to excite external inflamma- 
 tion, and to lessen or draw away inflammation in some deeper seated and generally not 
 far distant part. Thus we blister the sides in inflammation of the lungs — the beUy in 
 that of the bowels — the legs in that of the cellular substance surrounding the sheaths of 
 the tendons, or the sheaths themselves, and the coronet or the heel in inflammation of the 
 navicular joint. 
 
 Blisters have likewise the property of increasing the activity of the neighboring vessels : 
 thus we blister to bring the tumour of strangles more speedily to a head — we blister to 
 rouse the absorbents to more energetic action, and take away tumours, and callous and 
 even bony substances. 
 
 The judgment of the practitioner will decide when the desired effect will be best pro- 
 duced by a sudden and violent action, or by the continuance of one of a milder nature. 
 Inflammation should be met by active blisters ; old enlargements and swellings will be 
 most certainly removed by milder stimulants — by the process which farriers call sweat- 
 ing down. 
 
 There is no better blister ointment or active blister than the Spanish fly, mixed with 
 the proportions of lard and rosin already mentioned, p. 147. The best liquid or sweating 
 blister is an infusion of the fly in turpentine, and that lowered with neat's foot oil accord- 
 ing to the degree of activity required. 
 
 In preparing the horse for blistering, the hair should be clipped or shaved as closely as 
 possible, and the ointment thoroughly rubbed in. Much fault is often found with tho 
 ointment if the blister does not rise, when the real blame should be attiibuted to the idle- 
 ness of the operator. 
 
 The head of the horse must be tied up for the first two days ; except that, when the 
 sides are blistered, the body-clothes may be so contiived as to prevent the horse from 
 nibbling and blemishing the part, or blistering his muzzle. At the expiration of twenty- 
 four hours, a little olive or neat's foot oil maybe applied over the blister, which will con- 
 siderably lessen the pain and supple the part, and prevent cracks in the sldn that maybe 
 difficult to heal. The oil should be ajiplied morning and night, until the scabs peel ofl'. 
 When they begin to loosen, a lather ot soap and water applied witli a sponge may hasten 
 their removal, but no violence must be used. 
 
 Every particle of litter should be carefully removed from the stall, for the sharp ends 
 of the straw coming in contact with a part rendered so tender and irritable by the blis- 
 ter, vnll cause very great annoyance to the animal. After the second day the horse may 
 be suffered to lie down ; but still the possibility of blemishing himself should be pre- 
 vented by a cradle or wooden necklace, consisting of round strips of wood, strung toge- 
 ther, reaching from the lower jaw to the chest, and preventing the horse from sufficiently 
 turning or bending his head, to get at the blistered part. 
 
 A blister thus treated will rarely produce the slightest blemish. When the scabs are 
 all removed, the blister may be repeated, if the case should appear to require it, or the 
 horse may be turned out. 
 
 In inflammations which threaten life, a blister can scarcely be too active or too exten- 
 sive. In inflammation of the lungs it should reach over the whole of the sides, and the 
 greater part of tlje brisket ; for, should a portion of the fly be absorbed, and produce 
 
FIRING. 247 
 
 strangury (inflammation, or spasmodic affection of the neck of the bladder,) even this 
 new irritation may assist in subduing the tirst and more dangerous one ; but in blis- 
 tering for injuries or diseases of the legs or feet some caution is necessary. When speak- 
 ing of the treatment of sprain of the back sinews, p. 192, we stated, that " a blister 
 should never be used while any heat or tenderness remains about the part," for we should 
 then add to the superficial inflammation, instead of abating the deeper seated one ; and 
 enlargements of the limb and ulcerations might follow, which would render the horse 
 perfectly unserviceable. When there is a tendency to grease, a blister is a dangerous 
 thing, and has often aggravated the disease, in winter, the inflammation of the skin 
 produced by blistering is apt to degenerate into grease ; therefore, if it should be neces- 
 sary to blister the horse during that season, great care must be tedcen that he is not ex- 
 posed to cold, and, particularly, that a current of cold air does not come upon the legs. 
 
 The inhuman practice of blistering all round, and perhaps high on tlie leg at the same 
 time, cannot be too strongly reprobated. Many a valuable horse has been lost through 
 the excessive general irritation which this has produced, or its violent effect on the uri- 
 nary organs ; and this has been particularly the case, when con-osive sublimate has en- 
 tered into the composition of the blister. 
 
 If strangury should appear, the horse should be plentifully supplied with linseed tea, 
 which is thus best prepared — a gallon of boiling water is poured on half a pound of lin- 
 seed ; the infusion suliered to stand till nearly cold, and the clean mucilaginous fluid then 
 poured oif. Three-quarters of a pound of Epsom salts should also be given, dissolved 
 in a quart of water, and, after that, a ball every six hours, composed of a scruple of opi- 
 um, and a drachm of camphor, with linseed meal and treacle. 
 
 Half a pound or a pound of good mustard powder, made into a paste with boiling wa- 
 ter, and applied hot, will often produce as good a blister as canthcirides with far more 
 swelling. It is a preferable one, where, as in inflammation of the kidneys, the effect of 
 cantharides on the urinary organs is feared. Hartshorn is not so effectual. Tincture of 
 croton makes an active liquid blister. 
 
 FIRING. 
 
 Whatever seeming cruelty may attend this operation, it is in many cases indispensa- 
 ble. The principle on which we have recourse to it is similar to that which justifies the 
 use of a blister ; by producing superficial inflammation we may be enabled to remove a 
 deeper seated one, or we may excite the absorbents to take away any unnatural bony or 
 other tumour; it has also tliis additional advantage, tliat, while it raises intenser external 
 inflammation than we can produce by other means, it is the most powerful agent that we 
 have at our disposal. Humanity, however, will dictate, that on account of the inflam- 
 mation which it excites, and the pain which it inflicts, it should only be had recourse to 
 when milder means have failed, except iu those cases in which experience has taught us 
 that milder means rarely succeed. 
 
 The part which is to be submitted to the operation is shaved, or the hair is cut from it 
 as closely as possible with the trimming scissors. Tliis is necessary to bring the iron 
 into immediate contact with the skin, and likewise to prevent the smoke that will arise 
 from the burned hair from obscuring the view of the operator. The horee must then 
 be thrown. This is absolutely necessary for the safety Wh of the operator and the ani- 
 mal. The side line is applied in a shorter time, and so many hands are not wanted to 
 cast the horse ; but no person can fire accurately, or with the certainty of not penetrating 
 the skin, except the horse is effectually secured by the hobbles ; and although accidents 
 have occurred in the act of throwing, yet many more have resulted to the operator, the 
 assistants, or the horse, in a protracted operation like this, when the side-line only has 
 been used. 
 
 The details of the operation belong to the veterinary surgeon. The greind points to 
 be attended to are to have the edge of the iron round and smooth — the iron itself at, or 
 rather below a red heat — to pass it more or less rapidly over the skin, and with slighter 
 or greater pressure according to the degree of heat — to burn into the skin untU the line 
 produced by the iron is of a brown color, rather light than dark, and by all means, to 
 avoid penetrating the skin. Leaving the additional cruelty of deep firing out of the 
 question, we may depend on it that it the skin is burned through, inflammation and ul- 
 ceration, and sloughing will ensue, which will be with much difficulty combated — which 
 will unavoidable leave unnecessary blemish, and which have destroyed many valuable 
 horses. It may happen, nevertheless, that by a sudden plunge of the animal the skin 
 will be unavoidably cut through. The act of firing requires much skill and tact, and the 
 practitioner cannot be always on his guaird against the struggles of the tortured beast. 
 It will, also, and not unfrequently occur, that the skin, partially divided, will separate in 
 two or three days after the operation. This must not be attributed to any neglect or un- 
 
 .^iMPf^i!^ 
 
248 ""' THE HORSE. 
 
 skilfulness of the surgeon, and the ulceration thus produced will be slight and easily 
 treated, compared with that caused by the actual burning through of the skin. 
 
 Some practitioners blister immediately after firing. As a general usage it is highly 
 to be reprobated. It is wanton and useless cruelty ; but it may be required in bony 
 tumours of considerable extent, and long standing, and interfering materially with the 
 action of the neighboring joint. Spavin accompanied by much lameness, and ring-bone 
 spreading round the coronet, and involving the side cartilages, or the pastern joint, may 
 justify it. The inflammation is rendered more intense, and of considerably longer dura- 
 tion. In old affections of the round bone it may be admitted, but no excuse can be made 
 for it in slighter cases of sprjun or weakness, or staleness. 
 
 On the day after the operation, it will be prudent gently to rub some neat's foot oil, or 
 lard over the lines. This will soften the skin, and render it less likely to sepzirate or ulcer- 
 ate ; a bandage would add to the irritation of the part. Any cracks of the skin, or ulcer- 
 ations that may ensue, must be treated with the calamine ointment already recommended. 
 
 It will be evident that there is an advantage derived from firing to which a blister can 
 have no pretension. The sldn, partially destroyed bj'the iron, is reinstated and healed, 
 not merely by the formation of some new matter filling up the vacuity, but by the gradual 
 drawing together and closing of the separated edges. The skin, therefore, is lessened in 
 surface ; it is tightened over the part, and it acts as a salutary and permanent bandage. 
 Of the effect ot pressure in removing enlargements of every kind, as well as giving 
 strength to the part to which it is applied, we have repeatedly spoken ; and it is far from 
 being the least valuable effect of the operation of firing, that, by contracting the skin, it 
 affords a salutary, equable, and permanent pressure. It was on this principle, but the 
 practice cannot be defended, that colts which were not very strong on the legs, used to be 
 fired round the fetlock, and along the back sinew, or over the hock, to brace and strength- 
 en the parts. It is on the same principle that a racer or hunter, that has become stale 
 and stiff, is sometimes fired and turned out. For whatever reason the horse is fired, 
 he should, if practicable, be turned out, or soiled in a loose box, for three or four months 
 at least. The full effect intended to result from the external irritation is not soon pro- 
 duced, and the benefit derived from pressure proceeds still more slowly. In the thick- 
 ened and tender state of the skin, and the substance beneath, for some weeks after firing, 
 a return to hard work would be likely to excite a new inflammation, and cause even worse 
 mischief than that which before existed. 
 
 Some weeks pass before the tumified parts begin to lessen, and they only who have had 
 experience in these cases would imagine how long, with gentle voluntary exercise, the 
 process of absorption is carried on. He, therefore, who would expect that much good 
 should accrue from the operation of firing, must be content to give up his horse for three 
 or four months ; but if he will use him sooner, and a worse lameness should follow, let 
 him blame his own impatience, and not the inefficiency of the means, or the WEint of 
 skill in the surgeon. 
 
 The firing in every case should be either in longitudinal or parallel lines. On the back 
 sinews, the fetlock, and the coronet, this is peculiarly requisite, for thus only will the skin 
 contract so as to form the greatest and most equable pressure. 
 
 The practitioner may pride himself in the accuracy of his diamonds, lozenges and 
 feathers, but plain straight lines, about half an inch from each otlier, wiU form the most 
 advantageous mode of firing. The destroying of deeply seated inflammation, by the ex- 
 citing ot violent inflammation on the skin, is as well obtained ; and common sense will 
 determine, that in no way can the pressure which results from the contraction of the skin 
 be so advantageously employed, to which we may add, tliat it often leaves not the slightest 
 blemish. 
 
 Are pieces of tape or cord, passed by means of an instrument resembling a large needle 
 either through abscesses, or the base of ulcers with deep sinuses, or between the skin and 
 the muscular or other substances beneath. They are retained there by the ends being 
 tied together, or by a knot at each end. The tape is moved in the wound twice or thrice 
 in the day, and occasionally wetted with spirit of turpentine, or some acrid liquid, in order 
 to increase the inflammation which it produces, or the discharge which is intended to be 
 established. 
 
 In abscesses, such as tumours in the withers or the poll, and when passed from the 
 summit to the very bottom of the sweOing, setons are highly useful, as discharging the 
 fluid and suffering any fresh quantity of it that may be secreted to flow out ; and, by the 
 degree of inflammation which they excite on the inside of the tumour, stimulating it 
 to tlirow out healthy granulations which gradually occupy and fill the hollow. In deep 
 fistulous wounds they are indispensable, for except some orifice be made for the matter 
 to flow from the bottom of the wound, it will continue to eat deeper into it, and the heal- 
 
JSICKING. 24» 
 
 ing process can never be accomplished. On these accounts, a seton passed through the 
 bottom of the ulcer in poll-evil and fistulous withers is of so much benefit. 
 
 Setons are sometimes useful by promoting a discharge in the neighborhood of an in- 
 flamed part, and thus diverting and cariying away a portion of the fluids which overload 
 or would othei-wise more distend the vessels of that part : thus a seton is placed in the 
 cheek with considerable advantage, when the eyes are inflamed ; we confess, however, 
 that we far prefer a rowel under the jaw. 
 
 With this view, and to excite anew and different inflammation in the neighborhood of 
 a part already inflamed, and especially so deeply seated and so difficult to be got at as the 
 navicular joint, a seton has occasionally been used with manifest benefit, biit we must 
 peremptorily object to the indiscriminate use of the frog-seton for almost every disease 
 of the frog or the foot. 
 
 In inflammations of extensive organs setons afford only feeble aid. Their action is too 
 circumscribed. In inflammation of the chest or the intestines a rowel is preferable to a 
 seton ; and a blister is far better than eitiier of them. 
 
 On the principle of exciting the absorbents to action for the removal of tumors, as 
 spavin or splent, a blister is quicker in its action, and far more eflectual than any seton ; 
 and firing is still more energetic. Many horses have been blemished for life by the seton 
 being torn out, and ulcerations, difficult to heal, having been produced ; while week after 
 week has often passed on, and the owner has been deprived of the use of the animal, 
 without the tumour, or the lameness which it caused, being in the least degree diminished. 
 
 The shortening of the tail of the horse is an operation which fashion and the conven- 
 ience of the rider require to be performed on most of those animals. The length of 
 the dock, or stump, is a matter of mere caprice. To the close-cropped tail of the wa- 
 gon-horse, however, we decidedly object, from its perfect ugliness, and because the ani- 
 mal is deprived of every defence against the flies. The supposition that the blood which 
 should have gone to the nourishment of the tail, causes gi-eater development and strength 
 in the quarters, is too absurd to deserve serious refutation. It is the rump of the animjJ 
 being wholly uncovered, and not partly hidden by the intervention of the tail, that gives a 
 false appeai'ance of increased bulk. 
 
 The operation is simple. That joint is searched out which is the nearest to the desired 
 length of tail. The hair is then turned up, and tied round with tape for an inch or two 
 above this joint ; and that which lies immediately upon the joint is cut ofl^. The horse 
 is then fettered with the side line, and the veterinary surgeon with his docking machine, 
 or the farmer with his carving knife and mallet, cuts through the tail at one stroke. Con- 
 siderable bleeding now ensues, and frightens the tinrid or the ignorant ; but if the blood 
 were suffered to flow on until it ceased of its own accord, the colt, and especially if he 
 were very young, would rarely be seriously injured. As, however, the bleeding would 
 occasionally continue for some hours, and a great quantity of blood would be lost, and 
 the animal would be somewhat weakened, it is usual to stop the haemorrhage by the ap- 
 plication of a red-hot iron to the stump. A large hole is made in the centre of the iron 
 that the bone may not be seared, which would exfoliate, if it were burned with any se- 
 verity, or diop ofl' at the joint above, and thus shorten the dock. The iron rests on the 
 muscular parts round the bone, and is brought into contact with the bleeding vessels, 
 and very speedily stops the haemorrhage. Care should be taken that the iron is not too 
 hot, — and that it is not held too long or too forcibly on the part, for many more horses 
 would be destroyed by severe application of the cautery, than by the bleeding being left 
 to its own course. Powdered rosin sprinkled on the stump, or indeed any other applica- 
 tion, is worse than useless ; it causes unnecessary irritation, and sometimes extensive ul- 
 ceration ; but if the simple iron be moderately applied, the horse may go to work imme- 
 diately after the operation, and no dressing will be afterwards required. If a slight bleed- 
 ing should occur after the cautery, it is much better to let it alone, than to run the risk 
 of inflammation or locked-javv, by reapplying the iron with the greater severity. 
 
 Some farmers dock their colts a few days alter they are dropped. This is a commen- 
 dable custom on the score of humanity ; no colt was ever lost by it ; and we do not be- 
 lieve that the growth of the hair or the beauty of the tail is in the least impaired. 
 
 This barbarous operation has long been sanctioned by fashion, and the breeder and the 
 dealer must have recouise to it, if he would obtain a ready sale for his colts. It is not, 
 however, practised to the extent that it used to be, nor attended by so many circumstan- 
 ces of cruelty. 
 
 We must here inti-oduce a small portion of our anatomy, which we had reserved for 
 32 
 
 ..^g.^. 
 
250 THE HORSE. 
 
 this place. We have spoken p. 130, of the eighteen dorsal vertebrae or bones of the 
 back (see d, p. 129), and the five lumbar vert«JDrae, or bones of tlie loins (f, p. 129). 
 The continuation of ftie spine consists of the sacnim or five bones, {h, p. 129,) which, al- 
 though separate in the colt, are in the full grovv^n horse united into one mass. The bones 
 of the ilium, the upper and side portion of the haunch, articulate strongly with the sa- 
 crum, forming a bony union rather than a joint. The spinal maiTow, and the blood-ves- 
 sels generally, here begin to diminish, and numerous branches of nerves are given out, 
 wliich, joined by some from the vertebrae of the loins form the ner^^es of the nind legs. 
 The. bones of the tail, {i, p. 129,) are a continuation of those of the sacrum. They are 
 fifteen in number, gi-aduaJly diminishing in size, and losing altogether the character of 
 the spinal vertebrae. Prolongations of the spinal marrow run through the whole of them, 
 and likewise ai-terial vessels, being a continuation of those which supply the sacrum. A 
 great deal of attention is paid by those who are acquainted with the horse to this contin- 
 uation of the sacral and tail bones. From the loins to the setting on of the tail, the line 
 should be nearly straight, or inclining only a little way downward. There is not a surer 
 test of the breed of the horse, than this straight line from the loins to the tail ; nor, as we 
 have shown, when speaking of the muscles of the quarters, is there any circumstance so 
 much connected with the mechanical advantage wdth which these muscles act. 
 
 The tail was given to the horse to perfect the beauty of his form ; to assist in directing 
 his course when he has not the guiding hand of man ; and more particularly to enable 
 him to defend himself from the insects by which in every climate he is annoyed. 
 
 There are three sets of muscles belonging to the tail, one raising it (a, p. 202), another 
 depressing it, (b, p. 202), and a third set giving it a side motion, in every direction when 
 acting singly, or very powerfully lowering it when acting together. It would seem that 
 the depressor and lateral muscles are much more powerful than the erector muscles, and 
 that when the horse is undisturbed, the tail is bent down close on the buttocks ; but when 
 he is excited, and particularly when he is at speed, the erector muscles are called into 
 action, the tail is elevated, and there is given to him an appearance of energy and spirit, 
 which adds materially to his beauty. To perpetuate this character of fire, the operation 
 of nicking was contrived. The depressor muscles, and part of the lateral ones are cut 
 through ; and the erector muscles are left without any antagonists, and keep the tail in 
 a position more or less erect, according to the whim of the operator, or the depth to which 
 the incisions into the muscles have been carried. 
 
 The operation is thus performed. The side line is put on the horse, or some deem it 
 more prudent to cast him, and that precaution we should be disposed to recommend. The 
 hair at the end of the tail is securely tied together for the purpose of afterwaurds attaching 
 a weight to it. The operator then grasps the tail in his hand, and lifting it up, feels for 
 the centre of one of the bones (the prominences at the extremities will guide him to this), 
 from two to four inches from the root of the tail, according to the size of the horse. He 
 then with a sharp knife divides the muscles deep from the edge of the tail on one side 
 to the centre, and continuing the incision across the bone of the tail, he makes it as deep 
 on the other side. One continued incision, steadily, yet rapidly made, will accomplisn 
 this. If it be a blood horse this will be sufficient. For a hunter, two incisions are usu- 
 ally made, the second being about two inches below the first, and likewise as nearly as 
 possible in the centre of one of the bones ; tlie reason of which is, tliat the incision, in 
 order perfectly to divide the muscles that brii'g down the tail, must be so deep, as, in the 
 neighborhood of a joint, to endanger the wounding of the ligament which ties the bones 
 together, or the substance which is interposed between the joints, and thus by destroying 
 the joint to render the tail deformed. 
 
 On a hackney or cocktail, a third incision is made ; for fashion has decided that his tail 
 shall be still more elevated and curved. Two incisions only are made in the tail of a 
 mare, and the second not very deep. 
 
 When the second incision is made, some fibres of the muscles between the first and 
 second incisions will project into the wounds, and which must be removed with a pair 
 of curved scissors. The same must be done with the projecting portions from between 
 the second and third incisions ; and the wounds should be carefully examined to ascertain 
 that the muscles have been equally divided on each side, othenvise the tail will be car- 
 ried awry. This being done, pledgets of tow must be introduced deeply into each gap, 
 and confined, but not too tightly, by a bandage. A very profuse bleeding will alone 
 justify any tightness of bandage ; and the ill consequences which have resulted from 
 nicking are mainly attributable to the unnecessary force which is used in confining these 
 pledgets. Even if the bleeding, immediately after the operation, should have been very 
 great, the roller must be loosened in two or three hours, otherwise swelhng and inflam- 
 mation, or death, may possibly ensue. Twenty-four hours after the operation, the 
 bandage must be quite removed ; and then, all that is necessary, so far as the healing 
 of the wounds is concerned, is to keep them clean. 
 If, however, the tail were suffered to hang down, the divided edges of the muscles 
 
 j/f^m^-^ 
 
EESTIFNESS. 281 
 
 would come again in contact with each other and close ; the natural depression of the 
 tail would remain; and the animal would have been punished for no purpose. The 
 wounds must be liept open, and that can only be accomplislisd by forcibly keeping the 
 tail curved back, for two or three weeks. For this purpose, a cord one or two feet in 
 length, is affixed to the end of tlie hair, which terminates in another divided cord, each 
 division going over a pulley on either side of the bacic of the stall. A weight is hung 
 at either extremity, sufficient to keep the incisions properly open, and regulated by the 
 degree in which this is wished to be accomphshed. The animal will thus be retained in 
 an uneasy position, although, after the lirst two or three days, probably not one of acute 
 pain. It is barbarous to increase this uneasiness or pain by alHxing too great a weight 
 to the cords ; for it should be remembered, that the proper elevated cui-ve is given to the 
 tail, 710^ by the weight keeping it in a certain position for a considerable time, but by the 
 depth of the first incisions, and the degree in which the wounds are kept open. By 
 every ounce of weight beyond that which is necessary to keep the incisions open, un- 
 necessary suffering is inflicted. Some practitioners use only one pulley ; others do not 
 use any but put on a light gii-th, and tie a cord from the end of the tail to the girth, 
 bending it over the back. The double pulley, however, is the least painful to the horse, 
 and more perfectly secures the proper elevation and sti-aight direction of the tail. 
 
 The dock should not, for the first three or four days, be brought higher than the back. 
 Dangerous irritation and inflammation would probably be produced. It may, after that, 
 be gradually raised to an elevation of forty-five degrees. The horse should be taken out 
 of the pulleys, and gently exercised once or twice every day ; but the pulleys cannot 
 finally be dispensed with, until a fortnight after tiie wounds have healed, because the 
 process of contraction, or the approach of tlie divided parts, goes on for some time after 
 the skin is perfect over the incisions ; and the tail would thus sink below the desired 
 elevation. 
 
 If the tail has not been unnecessar-ily extended by enormous weights, no bad conse- 
 quences will usually follow ; but if considerable inflammation should ensue, the fail must 
 be taken from the pulley, and diligently fomented with simple waim water, and a dose 
 of physic given. Locked jaw has in some rare instances followed, under which the 
 horse generally perishes. The best means of cure in the early state of locked jaw is 
 to amputate the tail at the joint above the highest incision. In order to prevent the hair 
 from coining olF, it should be unplatted and combed out every fourth or fifth day 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE VICES, AND DISAGREEABLE OR DANGEROUS 
 HABITS OF THE HORSE. 
 
 The horse has many excellent qualities, but he has likewise defects, and these occa- 
 sionally amounting to vices. Some of them maybe attributed to natural temper; for 
 the human being scarcely discovers more peculiarities of habit and disposition, than does 
 the horse. The majority of them, however, as perhaps in the human being, are conse- 
 quences of a faulty education. Their early instiuctor has been both ignorant and brutal, 
 and they have become obstinate and vicious. 
 
 KESTIFNESS. 
 
 At the head of the vices of the horse we place restifness, tlie most annoying, and the 
 most dangerous of all. It is the produce of bad temper and worse education , and, like 
 all other habits founded on nature and stamped by education, it is inveterate. Whether 
 it appears in the form of kicking, or rearing, or plunging, or bolting, or in any way that 
 threatens danger to the rider or the horse, it rarely admits of cure. A determined rider 
 may, to a certain degree, subjugate the animal ; or tlie horse may have his favorites, or 
 form his attachments, and with some particular person he may be comparatively or 
 perfectly manageable ; but others cannot long depend upon him, and even his master is 
 not always sure of him. We will speak of the most likely means of cure, or escaping 
 from danger, as it regards the principal forms imder which restifness displays itself; but 
 we must premise jis a rule that admits of very few exceptions that he neither displays 
 his wisdom, nor consults his safety, who attempts to conquer a restif horse. 
 
 An excellent veterinary surgeon, and a man of great experience in horses, Mr. Castley, 
 
252 THE HORSE. 
 
 truly says, in " The Veterinarian," " From whatever cause the vicious habits of horses 
 may originate, whether from some mismanagement, or from natural badness of temper, 
 or from what is called in Yorkshire a mistelch, wlienevcr these animals acquire one of 
 them, and it becomes in some dejp-ee confirmed, they very seldom, if ever, altogether 
 forget it. In reference to driving, it is so true, that it may be taken as a kind of apho- 
 rism, that if a horse kicks once in harness, no matter /'rom what cause, he will be liable 
 to kick ever afterwards. A good coachman may drive him, it is true — and may make 
 liim go, but i;e cannot make him forget his vice ; and so it is in riding. You may con- 
 quer a restif horse ; you make him ride quiet for months, nay almost lor years together, 
 but I ciflirm, that under otlier circumstances, and at some future opportunity, he will be 
 sure to return to his old tricks again." 
 
 Mr. Castley gives two singular and conclusive instances of the truth of this doctrine. 
 " When a very young man," says he, " I remember purchasing a horse at a fair in the nortli 
 of England, that was offered very cheap on account of his being unmanageable. It was 
 said that nobody could ride him. We found that the animal objected to have any thing 
 placed upon his back, and that, when made to move forward with notliing more than a 
 saddle on, he instantly threw himself down on his side with great violence, and would 
 then endeavor to roll upon his back. 
 
 " There was at that time in Yorlcshire, a famous colt-breaker, known by the name of 
 Jumper,* who was almost as celebrated in that countiy for taming vicious horses into 
 submission, as the famed Whisperer was in Ireland. We put this animal into Jumper's 
 hands, who took him away, and in about ten days brought him home again, certainly not 
 looking worse in condition, but perfectly subdued and almost as obedient as a dog : for 
 he would lie down at this man's bidding, and only rise again at his command, and carry 
 double or anything. I took to riding him myself, and may say, that I was never better 
 carried for six or eight months, during which time he never showed the least vice what- 
 ever. I then sold him to a Lincolnshire farmer, who said that he would give him a sum- 
 mer's run at grass, and show him a very fine horse at the great Horncastle fair. 
 
 " Happening to meet this gentleman the following year, I naturally enough inquired 
 after ray old friend. « Oh,' said he, 'that was a bad business — the horse turned out a 
 sad rebel. The first time we attempted to mount him, after getting him up from grass, 
 he in an instant threw the man down vdth the greatest violence, pitching him several 
 yards over his head ; and after that he threw every one that attempted to get on his back. 
 If he could not throw his rider, he would throw himself down. We could do nothing with 
 him, and I was obliged at last to sell him to go in a stage-coach.' " 
 
 In the next story. Jumper's counterpart and superior, the Irish Whisperer, is brought 
 on the stage, and, although he performs wonders, he cannot radically cure a restif horse. 
 "At the Spring Meeting of 1804, Mr.Whalley's King Pippin was brought on the Cur- 
 ragh of Kildare to run. He was a horse of the most extraordinary savage and vicious 
 disposition. His particular propensity was that of flying at and worrying any person who 
 came within his reach, and if he had an opportunity, he would get his head round, seize 
 his rider by the leg with his teeth, and drag nim down from his back. For this reason he 
 was always ridden in what is called a sword ; which is nothing more than a strong flat 
 stick, having one end attached to the cheek of the bridle, and the other to the girth of 
 the saddle, a contrivance to prevent a horse of this kind from getting at his rider. 
 
 "King Pippin had long been difficult to manage and dangerous to go near, but on the 
 occasion in question he could not be got out to run at all. Nobody could put the bridle upon 
 his head. It being Easter Monday, and consequently a great holyday, there was a large 
 
 * Those of our readers who were connected with the contested elections for Yorkshire, 
 will recollect Jumper, covered with orange plush from top to toe, and scampering in every 
 direction over the country. Sometimes he would exchange this for a bear-skin, enveloped 
 in which, and mounted occasionally on a buffalo, he was a most formidable object. He 
 had extraordinary power over animals of various species, for he tamed to tlie saddle a 
 buffalo for Mr. Tempest, and a pair of rein-deer for harness for Lord Fitzwilliam. But 
 this charm consisted chiefly in fearlessness, and brute force, accompanied by considerable 
 tact. He would generally try rough measures first ; and in his perilous encounters with 
 some of his ti-oublesome scholars, had nearly every bone in his body fractured. Sullivan's 
 method was altogether different^— force was rarely resorted to. The enemy surrendered 
 to him at discretion and without a struggle. Jumper, however, seemed to have some 
 charm about him, for when he had, by dint of punishment, striven in vain to conquer an 
 unruly horse in the market-place of Wakefield — he alighted — stood on the near side of 
 the horse — brought the animal's head almost back to his off shoulder by forcibly pulling 
 at the off rein, and then sternly gazed at him over the withers for two or three minutes. 
 The animal began to tremble, and broke out into a profuse perspiration. Jumper then 
 loosened his hold of tlie rein, and patted and caressed the horse, who immediately follow^ 
 him round the mar,kel-place perfectly tamed. 
 
 e% 
 
RESTIFNESS. 253 
 
 concourse of people assembled at the Curragh, consisting principally of the neighboring 
 peasantry ; and one countiyinan, more fearless than the rest of the lookers-on, forgetting, 
 or perhaps never dreaming tliat the better part of courage is discretion, volunteered 
 his services to bridle the horse. No sooner had he committed himself in this operation, 
 than King Pippin seized him somewhere about the shoulders or chest, and says Mr. 
 Watts (Mr. Castley's informant), ' I know of nothing I can compare it to, so much as 
 a dog shaking a rat.' Fortunately for the poor fellow, nis body was very thickly covered 
 with clothes, for on such occasions an Irishman of this class is fond of displaying his 
 wardrobe, and if he has three coats at all in the world, he is sure to put them all on. 
 
 ' This circumstance in all probability saved the individual who had so gallantly volun- 
 teered the forlorn hope. His person was so deeply enveloped in extra-teguments, that 
 the horse never got fairly hold of his skin, and I understand that he escaped with but little 
 injury, beside the sadly rent and totally ruined state of his holyday toggery. 
 
 ' The Whisperer was sent for, who having arrived, was shut up with the horse all night, 
 and in the morning he exhibited this hitherto ferocious animal, following him about the 
 course like a dog — flying down at his command — sulfering his mouth to be opened, and 
 any person's hand to be introduced into it — in short, as quiet almost as a sheep. 
 
 " He came out the same meeting, and won a race, and his dociUty continued satisfactory 
 for a long time ; but at the end of about three years his vice returned, and then he is said to 
 have killed a man, for which he was destroyed." 
 
 It may not be uninteresting in tliis connexion, to give some account ot this tamer of 
 quadruped vice. However strange and magical his power may seem to be, there is no 
 doubt of the truth of the account that is given of him. The Rev. Mr. Townsend, in his 
 Statistical Survey of Cork, first introduced him to the notice of the public generally, 
 although his fame had long spread over that part of Ireland. We, however, give the 
 following extract from Croker's Fairy Legends and Traditions of Ireland, Part II. p. 200, 
 for the tact seems the work of some elfin sprite, rather than of a rude and ignorant 
 horse-breaker. 
 
 " He was an awkward, ignorant rustic of the lowest class, of the name of Sullivan, but 
 better known by the appellation of the Whisperer ; his occupation was horse-breaking. 
 The nickname he acquired I'rom tlie vulgar notion of his being able to communicate to 
 the animal what he wished by means ot a whisper, and the singularity of his method 
 seemed in some degree to justify the attribute. In his own neigliborhood, the notoriety 
 of the fact made it seem less remarkable, but I doubt if any instance of similar subjugating 
 talent is to be found on record. As far as the sphere of his control extended, the boast 
 of veni, vidi, vici, was more justly claimed by Sullivan than by Caesar himselt. 
 
 "How his art was acquired, and in what it consisted, is likely to be forever unknown, 
 as he has lately (about 1810) left the world without divulging it. His son, who follows 
 the same trade, possesses but a small portion of the art, having either never learned the 
 true secret, or being incapable of putting it into practice The wonder of his slcill con- 
 sisted in the celerity of the operation, which was performed in privacy without any ap- 
 Earent means of coercion. Every description of horse, or even mule, whether previously 
 roken or unhandled, whatever their peculiar habits or vices might have been, submitted 
 without show of resistance to the magical influence of his art, and in the short space of 
 half an hour became gentle and tractable. This eflect, though instantaneously produced 
 was generally durable. Though more submissive to him than to others, they seemed to 
 have acquired a docility unknown before. 
 
 " When sent for to tame a vicious beast, for which he was either paid according to the 
 distance, or generally two or three guineas, he directed the stable, in which he and the 
 object of the experiment were, to be shut, with orders not to open the door until a signal 
 was given. After a tete-a-tete of about half an hour, during which little or no bustle 
 was heard, the signal was made, and, upon opening the door, the horse appeared lying 
 down, and the man by his side, playing with him like a child with a puppy dog. From 
 that time he was found perfectly willing to submit to any discipline — however repugnant 
 to his nature before." "I once," continues Mr. Townsend, "sawhisslcill tried on a 
 horse, which could never before be brought to stand for a smith to shoe him. The day 
 after Sullivan's half hour's lecture, I went, not without some incredulity, to the smith's 
 shop, with many other curious spectators, where we were eye-witnesses of the complete 
 success of his art. This, too, had been a troop horse, and it was supposed, not without 
 reason, that after regimental discipline had failed, no other would be found availing. I 
 observed that the animal appeared terrified whenever Sullivan either spoke or looked at 
 him ; how that extraordinary ascendancy could have been obtained, is difficult to con 
 jecture. 
 
 " In common cases this mysterious prepai-ation was unnecessary. He seemed to pos- 
 sess an instinctive power of inspiring awe, the result, perhaps, of natural intrepidity, in 
 which, I believe, a great part of^his art consisted ; though the circumstance of the tete-a 
 tete shows that, on particular occasions, something more must have been added to it. A 
 
254 THE HORSE. 
 
 faculty like this would in some hands have made a fortune, and I understand that great 
 offers were made to him, for the exercise of his art abroad. But hunting was his pas- 
 sion. He lived at home in the style most agreeable to his disposition, and nothing could 
 induce him to quit Duhallow and the fox hounds." 
 
 Mr. Castley witnessed tlie total failure of the younger Sullivan. He says, " we have 
 in the regiment a remai-kably nice horse, called Lancer, that has always been very diffi- 
 cult to shoe, but seven or eight years ago, when we first got him, he was downright vi- 
 cious in that respect. When the regiment was stationed at Cork, the farrier-major sought 
 out the present Sullivan, the son of the celebrated Whisperer, and brought him up to the 
 barracks in order to try his hand upon Lancer, and make him more peaceable to shoe ; 
 but I must say this person did not appear to possess any particular controlling power 
 over the animal, more than any other man. Lancer seemed to pay no attention what- 
 ever to his charm, and, at last, fairly beat him out of the forge. Time, however, and a 
 long perseverance in kind and gentle treatment, have effected what force could not. The 
 horse is now pretty reasonable to shoe." 
 
 BACKING OR GIBBING. 
 
 One of the first species of restifhess, taking them in alphabetical order, is backing or 
 eibbing. These are so closelv allied that we nardly know how to separate them. Some 
 horses have the habit of backing at first starting, and that more from playfulness than 
 desire of mischief A moderate application of the whip will usually be effectual. Others, 
 even at starting, exhibit considerable obstinacy and viciousness. This is frequently the 
 effect of bad breaking. Either the shoulder of the horse had been WTung when he was 
 first put to the collar, or he had been foolishly accustomed to start in the break vp-hill, 
 and, therefore, all his work coming upon him at once; when it being much more difficult 
 to draw the break up-hill, than to back and let it run down-hill, he gradually acquired this 
 dangerous habit. 
 
 A hasty and passionate breaker will often make a really good tempered young horse 
 an inveterate gibber. Eveiy young horse is at first shy of the coffar. If he be too quickly 
 forced to it, he will possibly take a dishke to it, that will occasionally show itself in the 
 form of gibbing as long as he lives. The judicious horse-breaker will resort to no sever- 
 ity, even if the colt should go out several times without touching collar. The example 
 of his compjmion will ultimately induce him to take to it voluntarily and efl^ectually. 
 
 A large and heavy stone should be put behind the wheel before starting, when the 
 horse, finding it more difficult to back tnan to go forward, will gradually forget this un- 
 pleasant trick. It will likewise be of advantage, as often as it can be managed, so to start 
 that the horse shall have to back up-hill. The difficulty of accomplishing this will soon 
 make him readily go forward at once. A little coaxing, or leading, or moderate flagella- 
 tion, win assist in accomplishing the cure. 
 
 When, however, a horse, thinking that he has had enough of work, or has been impro- 
 perly checked or corrected, or beginning to feel the painful pressure of the collar, swerves, 
 and gibs, and backs, it is a more serious matter. Persuasion should here first be tried ; 
 and, afterwards, reasonable coercion, but no cruelty ; for the brutahty which is often ex- 
 ercised in attempting to compel a gibbing horse to tlu-ow himself habitually into the col- 
 lar, never yet accomplished the purpose. The horse may, perhaps, be whipped into mo- 
 tion, but if he has once begun to gib, he will have recourse to it again whenever any 
 circumstance displeases or annoys him ; and the habit will be rapidly, and so completely 
 formed, that he will become insensible to all severity. 
 
 It is useless and most dangerous to contend with a horse determined to back, unless 
 there is plenty of room, and, by tight reining, the driver can make him back in the pre- 
 cise direction he wishes, and especially up-hill. Such a horse should be immediately 
 sold, or turned over to some other work. In a stage-coach as a wheeler, and psuticularly 
 as the near- wheeler : or, in the middle of a team at agricultural work, he may be service- 
 able. It will be useless for him to attempt to gib there, for he will be dragged along by 
 his companions whether he will or no ; and, finding the inutility of resistance, he will 
 soon be induced to work as well a# any horse in the team. This reformation will last 
 while he is tlius employed, but, like restifness generally, it will be delusive when the 
 horse returns to his former occupation. The disposition to annoy will very soon follow 
 the power to do it. Some instances of complete reformation have occurred, but they 
 have been rare. 
 
 When a horse, not often accustomed to gib, betrays a reluctance to work, or a deter- 
 mination not to work, common sense and humanity will demand that some consideration 
 should be taken, before measures of seventy be resorted to. The horse may be taxed 
 beyond his power. He soon discovers whether this is the case, and by refusing to pro- 
 ceed, tells his driver that it is so ; and the utmost cmelty will not induce many norses to 
 make the slightest effort, when they are conscious that their strength is inadequate to the 
 
BLEEDING. 255 
 
 task. Sometimes tlie withers are WTung, and the shouldei-s sadly galled ; and the pain, 
 which is intense on level ground and with fair draught, becomes insupportable when he 
 tugs up a steep acclivity. These things should be examined into, and, if possible, recti- 
 fied ; lor, under such circumstances, cruelty might produce obstinacy and vice, but not 
 willing obedience. 
 
 Those who are accustomed to horses know what seemingly trivial circumstances oc- 
 casionaly produce this vice. A horse, whose shoulders are raw, or that have frequently 
 been so, will not start with a cold collar. When the collar has acquired the warmth of 
 the parts on which it presses, the animal will go without reluctance. Some determined 
 gibbers have been reformed by constantly wearing a false collar, or stiip of cloth round 
 the shoulders, po that the coldness of the usual collar should never be felt ; and others 
 have been cured of gibbing by keeping the collar on night and day, although the animal 
 is not able to lie down so completely at full length, which the tired horse is always glad 
 to do. When a horse gibs, not at starting, but while doing his work, it has sometimes 
 been useful to line the collars with cloth instead of leather ; the perspiration is readily 
 absorbed, the substance which presses on the shoulders is softer, and it may be far more 
 accurately eased off at a tender place. 
 
 This is either the consequence of natural ferocity, or a habit acquired fi'om the foolish 
 and teasing play of grooms and stable boys. When a horse is tickled and pinched by 
 thoughtless and mischievous youths, he will first pretend to bite his tormentors ; by de- 
 
 frees he will proceed farther, and actually bite them, and, very soon after that, he will 
 e the first to cnallenge to the combat, and without provocation seize some opportimity 
 to gripe the incautious groom ; and then, as the love of mischief is a propensity too easily 
 acquired, this war, half playful, and half in earnest, will become habitual to him, and 
 will degenerate into absolute viciousness. Nothing can here be done in the way of 
 cure ; kindness would aggravate the evil, and no degree of severity will correct it. Pre- 
 vention, however, is in the power of every proprietor of horses. While he insists on 
 gentle and humane treatment of his cattle, he should systematically forbid this horse- 
 play. It is that which can never be considered as operating as a reward, and thereby 
 rendering the horse tractable ; nor does it increase the affection of tlie animal for hi3 
 groom, becaues he is annoyed and irritated by being thus incessantly teased. 
 
 GETTING THE CHEEK OF THE BIT INTO THE MOUTH. 
 
 Some horses that are disposed to be mischievous try to do tliis, and are very expert at 
 it. They soon find what advantage it gives them over their driver, who by this manosu- 
 ^Te loses almost all command. Harsh treatment is here completely out of the question. 
 All that can be done is, by some mechanical contrivance, to render the thing difficult or 
 impossible, and this may be managed by fastening a round piece of leather on the inside 
 of the cheek of the bit. 
 
 KICKING. 
 
 This, as a vice, is another consequence of the culpable habit of grooms and stable-boys 
 of teasing ttie horse. That which is at first an indication of annoyance at the pinching 
 and tickling of the groom, and without any design to injure, gradually becomes the ex- 
 pression of anger, and the eflbrt at mischief. There is no cure for this vice ; and he 
 cannot be justified who keeps such a kicking horse in his stable. 
 
 Some horses acquire a habit of kicking at the stall or the bail, and particularly at night, 
 from mere irritability and fidgetiness. The neighboring horses are disturbed, and the 
 kicker gets swelled hocks, or some more serious injuiy. This is also a habit very diffi- 
 cult to correct if suffered to become established. Mares are far more subject to it than 
 horses. 
 
 Before the habit is inveterately established, a thorn bush or a piece of furze fast- 
 ened against the partition or post will sometimes effect a cure. When the horse finds 
 that he is pretty severely pricked he will not long continue to punish himself. In con- 
 firmed cases it may be necessary to have recourse to the log, but the legs are often not a 
 little bruised by it. A rather long and heavy piece of wood attached to a chain is 
 buckled above the hock, so as to reach about half way down the leg. When the horse 
 attempts to kick violently, his leg will receive a severe blow from this, and the repetition 
 of the blow w'ill soon teach him to be quiet. 
 
 A much more serious vice is kicking in harness. From the least annoyance about the 
 rump or quarters, some horses will kick at the most violent rate, and destroy the bottom 
 of the chaise, and endanger the limbs of the driver. Those that are fidgetty in the stable 
 are most apt to do this. If the reins should perchance get under the tail, the violence 
 
256 THE HORSE. 
 
 of the kicker will be most outrageous ; and while the animal presses down his tail so 
 tightly that it is almost impossible to extricate the reins, he continues to plunge until he 
 has demolished every thing behind him. 
 
 This is a vice standing foremost in point of danger, and which no treatment will often 
 conquer. It will be altogether in vain to try coercion here. If the shafts are veiy 
 strong and without flaw, or if they jire plated with iron underneath, and a stout kicking 
 strap used, which will barely allow the horse the proper use of his hind limbs in progres- 
 sion, but not permit him to raise them sufKcienUy for the purpose of kicking, he may be 
 prevented from doing mischief; or if he is harnessed to a heavy cart, and thus confined, his 
 efforts to lash out will be restrained : but it is a verjf^ unpleasant thing frequently to wit- 
 ness these attempts, although ineffectual, to demolish the vehicle ; and the shafts or theg 
 kicking sti-ap may possibly break, and extreme danger may ensue. A horse that has 
 once begun to kick, whatever may have been the original cause of it, can never be de- 
 pended on again ; and he will be very unwise who ventures behind him. 
 
 UNSTEADINESS WHILST BEING MOUNTED. 
 
 When this merely amounts to eagerness to start (very unpleasant, indeed, at times, for 
 many a rider has been thrown from his seat before he was fairly fixed in it), it maybe 
 remedied by an active and good horseman. We have known many instances in wmch, 
 while the elderly, and inactive, and fearful man, has been making more than one ineffectual 
 attempt to vault into the saddle, the horse has been dancing about to his annoyance and 
 danger ; but the animal had no sooner been ti'ansferred to the management of a younger 
 and more agile rider, than he became perfectly subdued. Severity will here, more de- 
 cidedly than in any other case, do harm. The rider should be fejirless ; he should care- 
 lessly and confidently approach the horse, mount at the first effort, and then restrziin him 
 for a while, patting him, and not suflering him to proceed until he becomes perfectly quiet. 
 These horses should not be too highly led, and should daily have sufficient exercise. 
 
 When the difficulty of mounting arises not from eagerness to start, but unwillingness 
 to be ridden, the sooner such horse is disposed of the better. He may be conquered by 
 a determined rider, but a sldlful and determined horseman alone will manage him ; and 
 even he will not succeed without frequent and even dangerous^ contest3 that will mar all 
 the pleasure of the ride. 
 
 This sometimes results from playfulness, carried indeed to an unpleasant and dangerous 
 extent ; but it is oftener a vice, and is a desperate and frequently successful effort to un- 
 horse the rider. The horse that has twice decidedly and dangerously reared, should 
 never be ti-usted again, imless indeed it be the fault of the rider — unless he has been 
 using a deep cui"b and sharp bit. Some of the best horses will contend against these, and 
 then rearing may be immediately and permanently cured by using a sname bridle alone. 
 
 The horse-breaker's remedy, that of pulling the horse backward on a soft piece of 
 
 Sound, is worthy of him, and would be practised only by reckless and brutal men. 
 any horses have been injured in the spine, and others have broken their necks, by 
 being thus suddenly brought over; while even the horse-bieaker, who fears no danger, 
 is not always able to extricate himself from the falling horse. If rearing proceeds from 
 vice, and is unprovoked by the bruising and laceration of the mouth, it fully partakes of 
 the inveteracy which attends the other divisions of restifhess. 
 
 RUNNING AWAY. 
 
 Some headstrong horses will occasionally endeavor to bolt with the best rider. Others, 
 with their wonted sagacity, endeavor thus to dislodge the timid or unskilful. Some are 
 hard to hold, or bolt only during the excitement of the chace ; others will run away, 
 prompted by a vicious propensity alone. There is no cure here. That method which 
 affords any probabihty of success, is to ride such a horse with a strong curb and sharp 
 bit ; to have him always firmly in hand ; and if he will run away, and the place will 
 admit of it, to give him (sparing neither curb, whip, nor spur) a great deal more run- 
 ning than he likes. 
 
 VICIOUS TO CLEAN. 
 
 It would scarcely be believed to what an extent this exists in some horses, that are 
 Otherwise perfectly quiet. It is only at great hazard that they can be cleaned at all. 
 The origin of this is probably some maltreatment. There is a great difference in the 
 sensibility of the skin in different horses. Some seem as if they could scarcely be made 
 
SWALLOWING WITHOUT GRINDING. 257 
 
 to feel the whip ; others cannot bear a fly to alight on them without an expression of an- 
 noyance. In young horses the skin is peculiarly delicate. If they have been curried 
 with a broken comb, or hardly rubbed with an uneven brush, the recollection of the torture 
 they have felt makes them impatient, and even vicious, during every succeeding opera- 
 tion of the kind. Many grooms, likewise, seem to delight in producing these exhibi- 
 tions of uneasiness and vice : although when they are carried a little too far, and to the 
 hazard of the limbs of the groom, the animals that have been almost tutored into these 
 expressions of irritation, are brutally kicked and punished. 
 
 This, however, is a vice which may be conquered. If the animal be dressed with a 
 lighter hand, and wisped rather than brushed, and the places where the skin is most 
 sensitive be avoided as much as thorough cleanliness will allow, the horse will gradu- 
 'ally lose the recollection of Ibrmer ill-treatment, and become tractable and quiet. 
 
 VICIOUS TO SHOE. 
 
 The correction of this is more peculiarly the business of the smith ; yet the master 
 should diligently concern himself with it, for it is oftener tlie consequence of injudicious 
 or bad usage than of natural vice. It may be expected that there will be some difficulty 
 in shoeing a young horse for the first few times. It is an operation which gives him a 
 little uneasiness. The man to whom he is most accustomed should go with him to 
 the forge ; and if another and steady horse were shod before him, he might be induced 
 more readily to submit. We cannot deny, that after the habit of resisting this neces- 
 sary operation is formed, force may sometimes be necessary to reduce our rebellious 
 servant to obedience ; but we affirm that the majority of horses vicious to shoe are ren- 
 dered so by harsh usage, and by the pain of correction being added to the uneasiness of 
 shoeing. It should be a rule in every forge that no smith should be permitted to strike 
 a horse, much less to twitch or to gag him, without the master-farrier's order ; and that 
 a young horse should never be twitched or struck. There are few horses that may not 
 be gradually rendered manageable for this purpose by mildness and firmness in the opera- 
 tor. They will soon understand that no harm is meant, and they will not depart from 
 their usual habit of obedience ; hut if the remembrance of corporal punishment is con- 
 nected with shoeing, they will always be fidgety, if not dangerous. 
 
 This is a very serious vice, for it not only exposes the animal to occasional severe in- 
 jury from his own struggles, but also from the correction of the irritated smith, whose 
 limbs, and even whose File being in jeopardy, may be forgiven if he is sometimes a little 
 too hard-handed. Such a horse is very liable, and without any fault of the smith, to be 
 pricked and lamed in shoeing ; and if the habit should be confirmed, and should increase, 
 and it at length becomes necessary to cast him, or to put him in the trevis, the owner 
 may be assured that many years will not pass ere some formidable and even fatal acci- 
 dent will take place. If therefore, mild treatment will not correct the vice, the horse 
 cannot be too soon got rid of. 
 
 Horses have many unpleasant hubits in the stable and the road, which cannot be said 
 to amount to vice, but which materially lessen their value. 
 
 SW.\LLOWING WITHOUT GRINDING. 
 
 Some greedy horses swallow their corn without properly grinding it, and the power 
 of digestion not being adequate to the dissolving of the husk, no nutriment is ex- 
 tracted, and the oats are voided whole. This is particularly the case when horses of 
 unequal appetite feed from the same manger. The greedy one, in his eagerness to get 
 more than his share, bolts a portion of his corn whole. If the farmer can without con- 
 siderable inconvenience so manage it that every horse shall have his separate division 
 of the manger, the horse of smaller appetite and slower feed would have the opportunity 
 of grinding at his leisure, witliout the fear of his share being stolen from him by his 
 neighbor. 
 
 Some horses, however, are naturally greedy feeders, and will not, even when alone, 
 allow tliemselves time to chew or grind their corn. In consequence of this, they carry 
 but little flesh; they are not equal to severe work ; and if their rack has been supplied 
 with hay when the corn was put into the manger, their stomachs will become distended 
 with half-chewed and indigestible food ; they will be incapable of exertion for a long 
 time after feeding, and, occasionally dangerous symptoms of staggers will occur. The 
 remedy is, not to let such horses fast too long. The nose-bag should be the companion of 
 every considerable journey. The food should likewise be of such a nature that it cannot 
 be easily bolted. Chaff should be plentii'ully mixed with corn, and in some cases, and 
 especially in horses of slow work, should, with the corn constitute the whole of the 
 food. Of this we shall treat more largely under the article " Feeding." 
 
 In every case of this kind the teeth should be very carefully examined Some of them 
 
 33 
 
258 THE HORSE. 
 
 maj' be unduly lengthened, particularly the first of the grinders ; or they may be ragged 
 at the edges, and may scratcn and wound the cheek. In the first case the horse cannot 
 
 Eroperly masticate his food ; in the latter he will not : for these animals, as too often 
 appens in sore throat, would rather starve than put themselves to much pain. 
 
 CRIB-BITING 
 
 This is a very unpleasant habit, and a considerable defect, although not so serious a 
 one as some have represented. The horse lays hold of the manger with his teeth, 
 violently extends his neck, and then, after some convulsive action ot the throat, a slight 
 grunting is heard, accompanied by an apparent sucking or drawing in of air. Whether, 
 however, air is actually drawn ki, and thus the horse becomes more subject to colic than 
 one without this trick, or whether a portion of air is expelled, showing the previous ex- 
 istence of tlatulence and a disposition to colic, are points that have not been settled among 
 veterinarians. 
 
 The horse is evidently making the edge of the manger a fixed point, by means of 
 which he may overcome that obstacle which the formation of the soft palate and the 
 back part of the mouth [see page 120) would present to either the expulsion or draw- 
 ing in of the air, if accomplished through the medium of the mouth. When we consider, 
 however, that any air expelled from the stomach might easily find a passage through the 
 nostril, without the action of crib-biting ; while it would be difficult or impossible, with- 
 out some alteration in the natural form and action of the parts at the back of the mouth, 
 and particularly the depression of the epiglottis or covering of the vrindpipe, to convey 
 air to the stomach, we are inclined to conclude, that this fixed point is used to enable the 
 animal to accomplish this alteration, and suck up and convey a portion of air into the 
 stomach. 
 
 The effect of crib-biting is plain enough. The teeth are injured and worn away, 
 and that, in an old horse, to a very serious degree ; a considerable quantity of corn is often 
 lost, for the horse will frequently ciib with his mouth full of corn, the greater part of 
 which vsdll fall over the edge of the manger ; and much saliva flows out while the manger 
 is thus forcibly held, the loss of which must be of ocrious detriment, as impairing the 
 digestion. The crib-biting horse is notoriously more subject to colic than other horses 
 usually are, and to a species difficult of treatment, and even dangerous. Although 
 many a crib-biter is stout and strong, and capable of all ordinary work, these horses do 
 not generally carry much flesh, and have not the endurance of others. On these ac- 
 counts, ci-ib-biting has very properly been decided to be unsoundness. 
 
 It is one of those tricks which are very contagious. Every companion of a crib-biter 
 in the same stables is likely to acquire the habit, and it is the most inveterate of aU 
 habits. The edge of the manger will in vain be lined with iron, or with sheep-skin, or 
 with sheep-skin covered with tar or aloes, or any other unpleasant substance. In defi- 
 ance of the annoyance which these may occasion, the horse will in a very short time 
 again attack his manger. A strap buckled tightly round the neck, by compressing the 
 windpipe, will prevent the possibility of this action ; but the strap must be constantly 
 woi'n, and its pressure is too apt to produce a worse affection, viz : an irritation in the 
 windpipe, which terminates in roaring. 
 
 Some have recommended turning out for five or six months ; but this has never suc- 
 ceeded except with a young horse, and then rarely. The old crib-biter will employ the 
 gate for the same purpose as the edge of his manger, and we have seen him gallop 
 across a field for the mere object of having a gripe at a rail. Medicine will be altogether 
 thrown away in this case. 
 
 The only remedy is a muzzle, with bars across the bottom ; sufficiently wide to enable 
 the animal to pick up his corn and to pull his hay, but not to grasp the edge of the 
 manger. If this be worn a very long time, the hoi-se may be tired of attempting that 
 which he cannot accomplish, and may possibly for a while forget the habit ; but in the 
 majority of cases the desire of crib-biting will return with the power of gratifying it. 
 
 The causes of crib-biting are various, and some of them beyond the control of the 
 proprietor of the horse. We have said that it is often the result of imitation ; but is 
 more frequently the consequence of idleness. The high-fed and spirited horse must be 
 in mischief, if he is not usefuUy employed. Sometimes, but we believe not often, 
 it is produced by partial starvation, whether in a bad straw-yard, or from unpalatable 
 food. An occasional cause of crib-biting is the frequent custom of grooms, even when 
 the weather is not severe, of dressing them in the stable. The horse either catches at 
 the edge of the manger or at the edge of the partition on each side, if he has been turned, 
 and thus he forms the habit of laying hold ot these substances on eveiy occasion. 
 
OVERREACH. 259 
 
 WIND-SUCKING. 
 
 This bears a close analogy to crib-biting. It arises from the same causes ; the same 
 purpose is accomplished ; and the same results follow. The horse stands with his neck 
 bent ; his head drawn inward ; his lips alternately a little opened and then closed, and a 
 noise is heard as if he were sucking. If we may judge from the same comparative 
 want of condition, and the flatulence which we have described under the last head, 
 either some portion of wind enters the stomach, or there is an injurious loss of saliva. 
 This diminishes the value of the horse almost as much as crib-biting ; it is as conta- 
 gious, and it is as inveterate. The only remedies, and they will seldom avail, are tying 
 the head up, except when the horse is f(?eding, or putting on a muzzle, with sharp spikes 
 towards the neck, and which shall prick him whenever he attempts to rein his head in 
 for the purpose of wind-sucldng. 
 
 Of this habit we have already spoken at page 196, and we would advise the owner of 
 a cutting horse, without trying any previous experiments of raising or lowering the heels, 
 to put on the cutting foot a shoe of even thickness from heel to toe, not projecting in the 
 slightest degree beyond the crust, and the crust itself being rasped a little at the quarters ; 
 ana to let that shoe be fastened as usual on the outside, but with only one nail on the in- 
 side, and that almost close to the toe. The principle on which this shoe acts has been 
 explained at page 189. 
 
 NOT LYING DOWN. 
 
 It not uncommonly happens that a horse will seldom or never lie down in the stable. 
 He sometimes continues in apparent good health, and feeds and works well ; but gene- 
 rally his legs swell, or he becomes fatigued sooner than another horse. If it is impossi- 
 ble to let him loose in the stable, or to put him into a spare box, we know not what is to 
 be done. No means, gentle or cruel, will force him to lie down. The secret is that he 
 is tied up, and either has never dared to lie down through fear of the confinement of the 
 halter, or he has been cast in the night, and severely injured. If he can be suffered to 
 range the stable, or have a comfortable box, in which he may be loose, he will usually 
 lie down the first night. Some few horses, however, will lie down in the stable, and not 
 in a loose box. A fresh, well-made bed will generally tempt the tired horse to lie down. 
 
 OVERREACH. 
 
 This unpleasant noise, known also by the terms '' clicking," " overreach," &c. arises 
 from tlie toe of the hind foot knocking against the shoe of the fore foot. In the trot, 
 one fore leg and the opposite hind leg are first lifted from Uie ground and moved forward, 
 the otlier tore leg and the opposite luriH leg remaining fixed ; but, to keep the centre of 
 gravity within the base, and as the stride, or space passed over by these legs, is often 
 greater than the distance between the fore and hind feet, it is necessary that the fore 
 feet should be alternately moved out of the way for the hind feet to descend. Then, as 
 occasionally happens wdth horses not perfectly broken, and that have not been taught 
 their paces, and especially if they have high hinder quarters and low fore ones, if the 
 fore feet are not raised in time, the hind feet will strike them. The fore foot will gene- 
 rally be caught when it has just begun to be raised, and the toe of the hind foot will 
 meet the middle of the bottom of the fore foot. It is a very disagreeable noise, and not 
 altogether free from danger ; for it may so happen that a horse, the action of whose feet 
 generally so much interferes with each other, may advance the hind foot a little more 
 rapidly, or raise the fore one a little more slowly, so that the blow may fall on the heel of 
 the shoe, and loosen or displace it ; or the two shoes may be locked together, and the 
 animal may be thrown ; or the contusion may be received even higher, and on the tend- 
 ons of the leg, when considerable swelling and lameness may follow. 
 
 If the animal is young, the action of the horse may be materially improved ; otherwise 
 nothing can be done, except to keep the toe of the hind foot as short and as round as it 
 can safely be, and to bevel off and round the toe of the shoe, like that which has been 
 worn by a stumbler for a fortnight, and, perhaps, a little to lower the heel of the fore 
 foot. 
 
 A blow received on the heel of the fore foot in tliis manner has not unfrequently, and 
 especially if neglected, been followed by quittor. 
 
260 THE HORSE. 
 
 Some hot and irritable horses are restless even in the stable, and paw frequently and 
 violently. Their litter is destroyed, the floor of the stable broken up, the shoes worn 
 out, the feet bruised, and the legs sometimes sprained. If this habit does not exist to any 
 great extent, yet the stable never looks well. Shackles are the only remedy, with a 
 chain suliiciently long to enable the horse to shift his posture, or move in his stall ; but 
 even tliese must be tcuien oli" at night, otherwise the animal will seldom lie down. 
 
 QUIDDING. 
 
 A horse will sometimes partly chew his hay, and suffer it to drop from his mouth. If 
 this does not pi-oceed from iiTCgular teeth, which it will be the busmess of the veterinary 
 surgeon to rasp down, it will be found to be connected with sore-throat, and then the 
 horse will exhibit some other symptom of indisposition, and the swallowing of water 
 will be accompanied by a peculiar gulping effort In this case the disease (catarrh, with 
 sore throat) must be attacked, and tlie quidding will cease. 
 
 This is a very pleasant and perfectly safe amusement for a horse at grass, but cannot 
 be indulged in the stable without the phanee nf his beio"" dangerously entangled with 
 the collar rein, and being cast. Yet, although the hoise is cast, and bruised, and half- 
 stran^-led, he will roll again on the following night, and continue to do so as long as he 
 lives. The only remedy is not a very pleasant one to the horse, nor always quite safe ; yet 
 it must be had recourse to if the habit of rolling is inveterate. " The horse," says Mr. 
 Castley, in the Veterinarian, " should be tied with length enough of collar to lie down, 
 but not to allow of his head resting on the ground ; because, in order to roll ovei', a horse 
 is obliged to place his head quite down upon the ground." 
 
 We have briefly treated of the cause of this vice at page 77, and observed that while 
 it is often the result of cowardice, or playfulness, or want of work, it is at other times the 
 consequence of a defect of sight. It has been remarked, and we believe very truly, 
 that shying is oftener a vice of half or quarter-bred horses, than of those who have in 
 them more of the genuine racing blood. 
 
 In the treatment of shying it is a great importance to distinguish between that 
 which is the consequence of defective sight, and that wliich results from fear, or new- 
 ness of objects, or from mere affectation or sldttishness. For the first, the nature of 
 which we have explained at page 77, every allowance must be made, and care must be 
 taken that the fear of correction be not associated witli the imagined existence of some 
 terrifying object. The severe use of the whip and the spur cannot do good here, and are 
 likely to aggravate the vice tenfold. A word half encouraging and half scolding, with 
 a gentle pressure of the heel, or a slight touch of the spur, will tell the horse that there 
 was nothing to fear, and will give him confidence in his rider on a future occasion. It 
 should be remembered, however, that although a horse that shies from defective sight 
 may be taught considerable reliance on his rider, he can never have the cause of the 
 habit removed. We may artificially strengthen the hujnan sight, but the horse's must be 
 left to itself. 
 
 The shying from skittishness or affectation is quite a different affair, and must be con- 
 quered : but now? Severity is out of place even here. If he is forced up to the object 
 by dint of correction, the dread of punishment will afterwards be associated with 
 that object, and on the next occasion, his startings will be more frequent and more dan- 
 gerous. The way to cure him is to go on, turning as little as possible out of the road, 
 giving the animal a harsh word or two, and a gentle touch with the spur, and then taking 
 no more notice of the matter. After a few times, whatever may have been the object 
 which he chose to select as the pretended cause of affright, he will pass it almost with- 
 out notice. 
 
 In page 176, under the head "breaking in," we have described how the colt may be 
 cured of the habit of shying from fear or newness of objects, and if he then be accustomed 
 as much as possible to the objects among which his services will be required, he will not 
 possess this annoying vice when he grows to maturer age. 
 
 Mr. John Lavwence, in his last pleasing work on the Horse, says, "These animals 
 generally fix on some particular shying butt ; for example, I recollect having, at differ- 
 ent periods, three hacks, all very powerful ; the one made choice of a wind-mill for the 
 
TKIPPING. 261 
 
 object or butt, the other a tilted wa^on, and the last a pig: led in a string. It so happen- 
 ed, however, that I rode the two Ibrmer when amiss from a violent cold, and they then 
 paid no more attention to either windmills or tilted wagons than to any other objects, 
 convincing me that their shying when in health and spirits was pure atFectation ; an aJlec- 
 tation, however, which may be speedily united with obstinacy and vice. Let it be treated 
 with marked displeasure, mingled with gentle, but decided firmness, and the habit wiU 
 be of short endurance."* 
 
 Shying on coining out of the stable is a habit that can rarely or never be cured. It pro- 
 ceeds from the remembrance of some ill-usage or hurt which the animal has received in 
 the act of proceeding from the stable, such as striking his head against a low door-w-ay, 
 or entangling the harness. Coercion will but associate greater fear and more determined 
 resistance with the old recollection. Mr. Castley, to whom we are indebted for much 
 that is valuable on the subject of the vices of the horse, gives an interesting anecdote, 
 which tends to prove that while severity will be worse than useless, even kind treatment 
 will not break a confirmed habit. " I remember a very fine grey mare that had got into 
 this habit, and never could be persuaded to go through a door- way without taking an im- 
 mense jump. To avoid this, the servants used to back her in and out of the stable; but 
 the mare happening to meet with a severe injury of the spine, was no longer able to 
 back ; and then I have seen the poor creature, when brought to the door, endeavoring to 
 balance herself with a staggering moticn upon her half-paralyzed hind extremities, as if 
 making preparation and summoning up resolution for some great eflbrt ; and then, when 
 urged, she would plunge headlong forward with such violence of exertion, as often to 
 lose her feet, and tumble down " altogether most pitiable to be seen." " This I merely 
 mention," he continues, " as one proof how inveterate the habits of horses are. They 
 are evils, let it always be remembered, more easy to prevent than cure." 
 
 SLIPPING THE COLLAR. 
 
 This is a trick at which many horses are so clever that scarcely a night passes with- 
 out their getting loose. It is a very serious habit, for it enables the horse sometimes to 
 gorge himself with food, to the^ imminent danger of staggers ; or it exposes him, as he 
 wanders about, to be kicked and injured by the other horses, while his restlessness will 
 often keep the whole team awake. If the web of the halter, being first accurately fitted to 
 his neck, is suffered to slip only one way, or a strap is attached to the halter and buckled 
 round the neck, but not sufficiently tight to be of serious inconvenience, the power of 
 slipping the collar will be taken away. 
 
 He must be a skilful practitioner or a mere pretender who promises' to remedy 
 this habit. If it arises from a heavy forehand, and the fore legs being too much under 
 the horse, no one can alter the natural frame of the beast : if it proceeds from tenderness 
 of the foot, grogginess, or old lameness, these aliments are seldom cured ; and if it is to 
 be traced to habitual carelessness and idleness, no whipping will rouse the drone. A 
 known stumbler should never be ridden, or driven alone, by any one who values his 
 safety or his life. A tight hand or a strong bearing-rein are precautions that should not 
 be neglected, but they are generally of little avail ; for the inveterate stumbler will rarely 
 try to save himself, and this tight rein may sooner and farther precipitate the rider. If, 
 
 * "We will suppose a case, a very common one, an every-day one. A man is riding 
 a young horse upon the high-road in the country, and meets a stage-coach. What with 
 the noise, the bustle, the imposing appearance altogether, an^ the slashing of the coach- 
 man's whip, the animal at its approach erects his head and crest, pricks his ears, looks 
 affrighted, and no sooner comes alongside of the machine than he suddenly starts out of 
 the road. His rider, annoyed by this, instantly commences a round of castigation with 
 whip, spur, and curb, in which he persists until the horse, as well as himself, has lost his 
 temper ; and then one whips, spurs and pulls, and the other jumps, plunges, frets, and 
 throws up his head, until both, pretty well exhausted by the conflict, grow tranquil again, 
 and proceed on their journey, though not for some time afterwards in their former mutual 
 confidence and satisfaction. Should they in their road, or even on a distant day, meet 
 with another coach, what is the consequence ? That the burse is not only more alarmed 
 than before ; but now, the moment he has started, being conscious of his fault, and ex- 
 pecting chastisement, jumps about in fearful agitation, making plunges to strike into a 
 fallop, Euid attempting to run away. So that by this correction, instead of rendering his 
 orse tranquil during the passsge of a coach, the rider adds to the evil of shying that of 
 subsequently plunging, and perhaps ninning away." — The Veterinarian, by Messrs. 
 Percival and Youatt, vol. i. p. 96. 
 
262 THE HORSE. 
 
 after a trip, the horse suddenly starts forward, and endeavors to break into a canter, the 
 rider or driver may be assured that others before him have fruitlessly endeavored to 
 remedy the nuisance. 
 
 If the stumbler has the foot kept as short and the toe pared as close as safety will per. 
 mit, and the shoe be rounded at the toe, or have that shape given to it which it naturally 
 acquires in a fortnight from the action of such a horse, the animal may not stumble quite 
 so much ; or if the disease which produced the habit can be alleviated, some triding 
 good may be done, but in almost every case a stumbler should be got rid of, or put to 
 slow and heavy work. If the latter alternative be adopted, he may trip as much as he 
 pleases, for the weight of the load and tlie motion of the other horses will keep him 
 upon his legs. 
 
 WEAVING. 
 
 This consists in a motion of the head, neck, and body, from side to side, like the shut- 
 tle of a weaver passing through the web, and hence the name which is given to this pe- 
 culiar and incessant action. It indicates an impatient, irritable temper; and a dislike to 
 the confinement of the stable; and a horse that is thus iftcessantly on the fret will seldom 
 carry flesh, or be safe to ride or drive. There is no cure for it, but the close tying up 
 of the animal, except at feeding time. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 THE GENERAL MANAGEMENT OF THE 
 
 HORSE. 
 
 This is a most important part of our subject, even as it regards the farmer, although 
 there are comparatively few glaring errors in the treatment of the agricultural horse : 
 but it comes more especially home to the gentleman, who is too often and too implicitly 
 under the guidance of an idle, and ignorant, and designing groom. 
 
 We will arrange the most important points of general management under the follow- 
 ing heads : 
 
 A supply of pure air is necessary to the existence and health of man and beast. In 
 some agricultural stables, the supply, if not too great, is carelessly and injudiciously ad- 
 mitted : for the wind blows in from every quarter, and beats dii-ectly upon the animal. 
 When he has been well seasoned to this, it seems to do him little harm, except that he 
 has an unthrifty coat and is out of condition. The common error, however, is to ex- 
 clude as much as possible every breath of air, and to have the atmosphere of the stable, 
 hot, contaminated, and unwholesome. The effect of several horses being shut up in 
 the same stable is, to render the air unpleasantly hot. A person coming from without 
 cannot breathe it many minutes without profuse perspiration. The horse stands hour 
 after hour in it, and sometimes clothed ; and then his covering is suddenly stripped off, 
 and he is led into the open air, the temperature of which is thirty or forty degrees below 
 that of the stable. Patting the humanity of the thing for a moment out of the question, 
 we ask, must not the animal, thus unnaturally and absurdly treated, be subject to rheu- 
 matism, catarrh, and ijiflammation of the lungs ? It has been replied, that the horse 
 keeps himself warm by exercise while he is thus exposed, and that a man, using strong 
 exertion, cares little about the quanity of clothing upon him. Is the horse constantly 
 in motion after his great coat and all his body clothes have been stripped from him, and 
 he has been turned out naked, when the mercury in the thermometer is below the 
 freezing point ? Does he not often stand, hour after hour, in the road or the street, while 
 his owner is warming himself within, and this perhaps after every pore has been opened 
 by a brushing gallop ; and his susceptibility to the painful and the injurious influence 
 of cold has been excited to the utmost ? 
 
 It is not so generally known as it ought to be, that the return to a hot stable is quite as 
 dangerous as the change from a heated atmosphere to a cold and biting air. Majjy a 
 
AIR. 263 
 
 horse, that has travelled without harm over a bleak country, has been suddenly seized 
 v^^ith inflammation and fever when he has, immediately at the end of his journey, been 
 surrounded with heated and foul air. It is the sudden change of temperature, whether 
 from heat to cold, or from cold to heat, that does the mischief, and yearly destroys a 
 multitude of horses. 
 
 The stable should be as large, compared with the number of horses which it is destined 
 to contain, as circumstances will allow. A stable for six horses should not be less than 
 forty feet in length, and thirteen or fourteen feet wide. If there be no loft above, the 
 inside of the root should always be plastered, to prevent direct currents of air and occa- 
 sional droppings from brokeji tiles ; and the heated and foul air should escape, and cool 
 and pure air be admitted, by elevation of the central tiles ; or by large tubes carried 
 through the roof, with caps a little above them to prevent the beating in of the rain ; or 
 by gratings placed high up in the walls. These latter apertures should be as far above 
 the norses as they can conveniently be placed, by which means all injurious draught will 
 be prevented. 
 
 If there is a loft above the stable, the ceiling should be plastered in order to prevent 
 the foul air from penetrating to the hay above, and injuring both its taste and its whole- 
 someness ; and no openings should be allowed above the racks, through which the hay 
 may be thrown into the rack, for they also will permit the foul air to ascend to the pro- 
 vender, and, in the act of filling the rack, and while the horse is eagerly gazing upward 
 for his food, many a grass-seed has fallen into his eye, and produced considerable in- 
 flammation ; while at other times, when the careless groom has left open tlie trap-door, 
 a stream of cold air beats down on the head of the horse. 
 
 The stable with a loft over it should never be less than twelve feet high, and proper 
 ventilation should be secured either by tubes carried up through the loft to the roof, or 
 by gratings close to the ceiling. These gratings or openings should be enlarged or con- 
 tracted by means of a covering or shutter, so that during spring, summer, and autumn, the 
 stable should possess nearly the same temperature with the open air, and, in winter, a tem- 
 perature not more than ten degTces above that of the external atmosphere. A hot stable 
 has, in the mind of the groom, been long connected with a glossy coat. The latter, it is 
 thought, cannot be attained without the former. To this we should reply that, in winter, 
 a thin, glossy coat is not desirable. Nature gives to every animal a warmer clothing 
 when the cold weather approaches. The horse acquires a thicker and a lengthened coat, 
 in order to defend him from the surrounding cold. Man puts on an additional and a 
 warmer covering, and his comfort is increased and his health preserved by it. He who 
 knows any thing of the horse, or cares any thing for his enjoyment, will not object to a 
 coat a little longer and a little roughened, when the wintry wind blows bleak. The coat, 
 however, need not be so long as to be unsightly ; and warm clothing, even in a cool 
 stable, will, with plenty of honest grooming, keep the hair sufficiently smooth and glossy 
 to satisfy the most fastidious. The over-heated air of a close stable saves much of this 
 grooming, and therefore the idle attendant unscrupulously sacrifices tlie health and saiety 
 of the horse. 
 
 If the stable is close, the air will not only be hot, but foul. The breathing of every 
 animal contaminates it ; and when, in the course of the night, with every aperture, even 
 the key-hole, stopped, it passes again and again through the lungs, the blood cannot undergo 
 its proper and healthy change ; digestion cannot be so perfectly performed, and all me 
 functions of life are injured Let the owner of the valuable horse think of his passing 
 twenty or twenty-two out of the twenty-four hours in this debilitating atmosphere. Na- 
 ture does wonders in enabling eveiy animal to accommodate itself to the situation in 
 which it is placed, and the horse that lives in the stable-oven sutlers less from it than 
 would scarcely be conceived possible ; but he does not, and cannot, possess the power and 
 the hardihood which he would acquire under other circumstances. 
 
 The air of the improperly close stable is still further contaminated by the urine and 
 dung, which rapidly ferment in the heat, and give out stimulating and unwholesome va- 
 pors. When a person first enters an ill-inanaged stable, and especially early in the 
 morning, he is annoyed not only by the heat of tlie confined air, but by a pungent smell, 
 resembling hartshorn ; and can he wonder at the inflammation of the eyes, and the chroruc 
 cough, and the inflammation of the lungs, with which the animal, who has been shut up 
 in this vitiated atmosphere all night, is often attacked ; or if glanders and farcy should 
 occasionally break out in such stables ? It has been ascertained by chemical experiment, 
 that the urine of the horse contains in it an exceedingly large quantity of hartshorn ; and 
 not only so, but that, influenced by the heat of a crowded stable, and possibly by other 
 decompositions that are going forward at the same time, this ammoniacal vapor begins 
 to be rapidly given out almost immediately after the urine is voided. 
 
 When disease begins to appear among the inhabitants of these ill-ventilated places, is 
 it wonderful that it should rapidly spread among them, and that the plague-spot should 
 be, as it were, placed on the door of such a stable ? When distemper appears in spring 
 
264 THE HORSE. 
 
 or in autumn, it is in ve^ many cases to be traced first of all to such a pest-house. It is 
 peculiarly fatal there. The horses belonging to a small establishment, and rationally 
 treated, have it comparatively seldom, or have it lightly ; but, among the inmates of a 
 crowded stable, it is sure to display itself, and there it is most of all fatal. The experience 
 of every veterinary surgeon, and of every large proprietor of horses, will corroborate this 
 statement. Agriculturists should bring to tlieir stables the common sense which directs 
 them in the usual concerns of life ; and should begin, when their pleasures and their pro- 
 
 f)erty are so much at stake, to assume that authority, and to enforce that obedience, to the 
 ack of which is to be attributed the greater part of bad stable-management and horse- 
 disease. Of nothing are we more certain, than that the majority of Sie maladies of the 
 horse, and those of the worst and most fatal character, are directly or indirectly to be at- 
 tributed to the unnatural heat of the stable, and the sudden change of the animal from a 
 high to a low, or from a low to a high temperature. 
 
 Having spoken of the vapor of hartshorn, which is so rapidly and so plentifully given 
 out from the urine of a horse in a heated stable, we take next into consideration the sub- 
 ject of litter. The first caution is frequently to remove it. The early extrication of gas 
 shows the rapid putrefaction of the urine ; and the consequence of which will be the rapid 
 putrefaction of the litter that has been moistened by it. Every thing hastening to decom- 
 position should be carefully removed where life and health are to be preserved. Every 
 portion of the litter that has been much wetted, or at all softened by the urine, and is be- 
 ginning to decay, should be swept away every morning : the greater part of the remainder 
 may then be piled under the manger, a little being left to prevent the painful and injurious 
 pressure of the feet on the hard pavement during the day. The soiled and macerated 
 portion of that which was left should be removed at night. 
 
 No heap of fermenting dung should be suifered to remain during the day in the comer 
 or in any part of the stable. With regard to this, the directions oi the master should be 
 peremptory. 
 
 The stable should be so contrived that the urine shall quickly run off, and the offensive 
 and injurious vapor from the decomposing urine and the litter will tlius be materially 
 lessened : if, however, the urine be carried away by means of a gutter running along the 
 stable, the floor of the stalls must slant toward that gutter, and the dechvity will some- 
 times be so great as to strain the back sinews, and become an occasional, although unsus- 
 pected cause of lameness. Mr. R. Lawrence well observes that " if the reader will stand 
 for a few minutes with his toes higher than his heels, the pain he will feel in the calves 
 of his legs will soon convince him of the truth of this remark. Hence, when a horse is 
 not eating, he always endeavors to find his level, either by standing across the stall, or 
 else as far bacjc as his halter will permit, so that his hind legs may meet the ascent of the 
 other side of the channel." 
 
 This direction of the stall is also a frequent cause of contraction of the heels of the 
 foot, by throwing too great a proportion of the weight upon the toe, and removing that 
 pressure on the heels vdiich tends most to keep them open. Care therefore must be taken 
 that the slanting of the floor of the stalls shall be no more than is sufficient to drain off 
 the urine with tolerable rapidity. Stalls of this kind certainly do best for mares ; but for 
 horses we much prefer those with a grating in the centre, and an inclination of the floor 
 on every side towards the middle. A short branch may communicate with a larger drain, 
 by means of which the urine may be carried off to a reservoir outside the table. Traps 
 are now contrived, and may be procured at little expense, by means of which neither any 
 offensive smell nor current of air can pass through the grating. 
 
 The farmer should not lose any of the urine. It is from the dung of the horse that he 
 derives a principal and the most valuable part of his manure. It is that which earliest 
 takes on the process of putrefaction, and forms one of the strongest and most durable dres- 
 sings. That which is most of all concerned with the rapidity and the perfection of the 
 decomposition, is the urine. 
 
 The reasons why the horse should always stand on litter have been given at page 227. 
 Humanity and interest, as well as the appearance of the stable, will induce the general 
 m-oprietor of the horse to place a moderate quantity of litter under him during the day. 
 The farmer who wants to convert every otherwise useless substance into manure will 
 have additional reason for adopting this practice ; especially as he does not confine him- 
 self to that to which in towns and in gentlemen's stables custom seems to have limited 
 the bed of the horse. Pea and bean-haum, and potatoe-top, and heath, occupy in the 
 stable of the farmer, during a part of the year, tlie place of wheaten and oaten straw. It 
 should, however, be remembered, that these substances are disposed more easily to fer- 
 ment and putrefy than straw, and therefore should be more carefully examined, and ofteuer 
 removed. It is the faulty custom of some farmers to let the bed accumulate until it 
 
GROOMING. 265 
 
 reaches almost to the horse's belly, and the bottom of it is a mass of dung. If there 
 were not often many a hole and cranny through which the wind can enter, and disperse 
 the foul air, tlie health of tlie animal would suiter. 
 
 This neglected branch of stable-management is of far more consequence than is gen- 
 erally imagined ; and it is particularly neglected by those for whom these treatises are 
 principally designed. The farmer's stable is frequently destitute of any glazied window ; 
 and has only a shutter, which is raised in warm, and shut down in cold weather. When 
 the horse is in the stable only during a few hours of the day, this is not of so much con- 
 sequence ; nor of so much, probably, to horses of slow work ; but to carnage horses and 
 hackneys, so far at least as the eyes are concerned, a dark stable is little less injurious 
 than aibul and heated one. To illustrate this, reference may be made to the unpleasant 
 feehng and the utter impossibility of seeing distinctly, when a man suddenly emerges 
 from a dark place into the full blaze of day. The sensation of mingled pain and gidduiess 
 is not soon Ibrgotten ; and some minutes pass before the eye can accommodate itself to 
 the increased light. If this were to happen every day, or several times in the day, the 
 sight would be irreparably injured : or possibly, blindness would ensue. Can we won- 
 der, then, that the horse taken from a dark stable into a glare of light, and feeling, prob- 
 ably, as we should do under similar circumstances, and unable for a considerable time to 
 see any thing around him distinctly, should become a starter, or that the frequently re- 
 peated violent effect of sudden light should induce intiamniation of the eye, so intense as 
 to terminate in blindness ? There is, indeed, no doubt that horses kept in a dark stable 
 are frequently notorious starters, and that starting has been evidently traced to this cause. 
 
 Farmers Icnow, and should profit by the knowledge, that the darkness of the stable is 
 not unfrequently a cover for great uncleanliness. A glazed window, with leaden divi- 
 sions between tlie small panes, would not cost much, and would admit a degree of light 
 somewhat more approaching to that of day ; and at the same time, would render the 
 concealment of gross inattention and want of cleanliness impossible. 
 
 If plenty of light be admitted, the walls of the stable, and especially that portion of 
 them which is before the horse's head, must not be of too glaring a color. The constant 
 reflection from a white wall, and especially if the sun shines into the stable, will be as 
 injurious to the eye as the sudden changes from darkness to light. The perpetual slight 
 excess of stimulus will do as much mischief as the occasional, but more violent one, whea 
 the animal is taken from a kind of twilight to the blaze of day. The color of the stable 
 therefore, should depend on the quantity of light. Where much can be admitted, the 
 walls should be of a grey hue. Where darkness would otherwise prevail, frequent 
 whitewashing may in some degree dissipate the gloom. 
 
 For another reason it will be evident that the stable should not possess too glaring a 
 light. It is the resting-place of the horse. The work of the farmer's horse, indeed, is 
 confined principally to the day, but the labors of others ai-e demanded at all periods. 
 The hour of the exertion having passed, the animal returns to his stable to feed and to 
 repose, and die latter is as necessary as the rormer, in order to prepare him lor renewed 
 work. Something approaching to the dimness of twilight is requisite, to induce the ani- 
 mal to compose himself to sleep. This half-light more particularly suits horses of heavy 
 work, and who draw almost as much by the weight ot carcass which they can throw into 
 the collar, as by the degree of muscular energy of w^hich they are capable. In the qui- 
 etness of a dimly-lighted stable they obtain repose, and accumulate flesh and fat. Dealers 
 are perfectly aware of this. They have their darkened stables, in which the young 
 horse, with little or no exercise, and fed upon mashes and ground corn, is made up for 
 sale. The round and plump appearance, however, which may delude the unwary, soon 
 vanishes with altered treatment, and the animal is found to be unfit for hard work, and 
 predisposed to every inflammatory disease. The circumstances, then, under which a 
 stable somewhat darkened may be allowed, will be easily determined by the owner of 
 the horse ; but, as a general rule, dark stables are unfriendly to cleanliness, and the fi'e- 
 quent cause of the vice of starting, and of the most serious diseases of the eyes. 
 
 Of this much need not be said, since custom, and, apparerrtly without ill effect, has 
 allotted so little of the comb and the brush to the farmer's horse. The animal that is 
 worked all day, and turned out at night, requires little more to be done to him than to 
 have the dirt brushed off' his limbs. Regular grooming, by rendering his skin more sen- 
 sible to the alteration of temperature, and the inclemency of the weather, would be pre- 
 judicial. The horse that is altogether turned out needs no grooming. The dandrilf or 
 
 34 
 
266 THE HORSE. 
 
 scurf which accumulates at the roots of the hair is a provision of nature to defend him 
 from the wind and the cold. 
 
 It is to the stabled horse, highly fed, and little or irregularly worked, that grooming is 
 of so much consequence. Good rubbing with the brush or the currycomb opens the pores 
 of the skin, and circulates the blood to the extremities of the body and through the minute 
 vessels of the skin, and produces free and healthy perspiration, and stands in the room 
 of exercise. No horse will carry a fine coat without eitlier heat or dressing. They both 
 effect the same purpose ; they both increase the insensible perspiration ; but the first 
 does it at the expense of health and strength, while the second, at the same time that it 
 produces a glow on the skin, and a determination of blood to it, rouses all the energies of 
 the frame. It would be well for the proprietor of the horse if he were to insist upon it, 
 and to see that his orders are really obeyed, that the fine coat in which he and his groom 
 so much delight, is produced by honest rubbing, and not by a heated stable and thick clo- 
 thing, and most of all, not by stimulating or injurious spices. 
 
 When the weather will permit the horse to be taken out, he should never be groomed 
 in the stable. Without dwelling on the want of cleanliness, when the scurf and dust 
 that are brushed from the horse lodge in his manger, and mingle with his food, experience 
 teaches, that if the cold is not too great, the animal is braced and invigorated from being 
 dressed in the open air, to a degree that cannot be attained in the stable. There is no ne- 
 cessity, however, for half the punishment which many a groom inflicts upon the horse in 
 the act of dressing ; and particularly on one whose skin is thin and sensible. The curry- 
 comb should at all times be lightly applied. With many horses its use may be almost dis- 
 pensed with ; and even the brush need not be so hard, nor the points of the bristles so 
 irregular as they often are. A soft brush, with a little more weight of the hand, will be 
 equally effectual, and a great deal more pleasant to the horse. A hair cloth, while it will 
 seldom irritate and tease, will be almost sufficient with horses tliat have thin hair, and that 
 have not been neglected. 
 
 Whoever would be convinced of the benefit of friction to the horse's skin, and to the 
 horse generally, need only observe the effect produced by well hand-rubbing the legs of 
 a tired horse. While every enlargement subsides, and the painful stiffness disappeeu's, 
 and the legs attain their natural warmth, and become fine, the animal is evidently and 
 rapidly reviving ; he attacks his food with appetite, and tlien quietly lies down to rest. 
 
 Our observations on this important branch of stable-management must have only 
 slight reference to the agricultural horse. His work is usually regular and not exhaust- 
 ing. He is neither predisposed to disease by idleness, nor worn out by excessive exer- 
 tion. He, like his master, has enough to do to keep him in health, and not enough to 
 distress or injure him : on the contrary, the regularity of his work prolongs life to an 
 extent rarely witnessed in the stable of the gentleman. Our remarks on exercise, then, 
 must have a general bearing, or have principal reference to those persons who are in the 
 middle stations of life, who contrive to keep a horse for business or pleasure, but cannot 
 afford to maintain a servant for the express purpose of looking after it. The first rule we 
 would lay down is, that every horse should have daily exercise. The horse that, with 
 the usual stable feeding, stands idle for three or four days, as is the case in many esta- 
 blishments, must suffer. He is disposed to fever, or to grease, or, most of all, to diseases 
 of the foot ; and if, after these three or four days of inactivity, he is ridden fast and far, is 
 almost sure to have inflammation of the lungs or of the feet. 
 
 A gentleman or tradesman's horse suffers a great deal more from idleness than he does 
 from work. A stable-fed horse should have two hours' exercise every day, if he is to be 
 kept free from disease. Nothing of extraordinary or even of ordinary labor can be 
 effected on the road or in the field without sufficient and regular exercise. It is this alone 
 which can give energy to the system, or develop the powers of any animal. 
 
 How then is tliis exercise to be given ? As much as possible by, or under the superin- 
 tendence of, the owner. The exercise given by the groom is rarely to be depended 
 upon. It is ineflicient, or it is extreme. It is in many cases both irregular and injurious. 
 It is dependent on the caprice of him who is performing a task, and who will render that 
 task subservient to his own pleasure or purposes. 
 
 In training the hunter and the race-horse regular exercise is the most important of all 
 considerations, however it maybe forgotten in the usual management of the stable. The 
 exercised horse will discharge his task, and sometimes a severe one, with ease and plea- 
 sure, while the idle and neglected one will be fatigued ere half his labor be accomplished, 
 and if he be pushed a little too far, dangerous inflammation will ensue. How often, 
 nevertheless, cfoes it happen, that the horse that has stood inactive in the stable three or 
 four days, is ridden or driven thirty or forty miles in the course of a single day ? This 
 rest is often purposely given to prepare for exti-a-exertion ; — to lay in a stock of strength 
 
FOOD. 267 
 
 for the performance of the task required by him : and then the owner is surprised and 
 dissatisfied if the animal is fairly knocked up, or possible becomes seriously ill. No- 
 thing is so common and so preposterous, as for a person to buy a horse from a dealer's 
 stable, where he has been idly fattenin}^ for sale for many a day, and immediately to give 
 him a long run after the hounds, and complain bitterly, and think that he has been im- 
 posed upon, if the animal is exhausted before the end of the chase, or is compelled to be 
 fed home suffering from violent inflammation. Regular and gradually increasing exer- 
 cise would have made the same horse appear a treasure to hie owner. 
 
 Exercise should be somewhat proportioned to the age of the horse. A young horse 
 requires more than an old one. Nature has given to young animals of every Kind a 
 disposition to activity ; but the exercise must not be violent. A great deal depends 
 upon the manner in which it is given. To preserve the temper, and to promote health, it 
 should be moderate, at least at the beginning and the termination. The rapid trot, 
 or even the gallop, may be resorted to in the middle of the exercise, but the horse must 
 be brought in cool. If the owner would seldom intrust his horse to boys, and would 
 insist on the exercise being taken within sight, or in the neighborhood of his residence, 
 many an accident and irreparable injuiy would be avoided. It should be the owner's 
 pleasure, and is his interest, personally to attend to all these things. He manages every 
 other part of his concerns, and he may depend on it, that he suffers when he neglects, 
 or is in a manner excluded from his stables. 
 
 The system of manger-feeding is becoming general among farmers. There are few 
 horses that do not habitually waste a portion of their hay ; and by some the greater part 
 is pulled down and trampled under foot, in order first to cull the sweetest and best locks, 
 and which could not be done while the hay was enclosed in the rack. A good feeder 
 will afterwards pick up much of that which was thrown down ; but some of it must be 
 soiled and rendered disgusting, and, in many cases, one-third of this divison of their 
 food is wasted. Some of the oats and beans are imperfectly chewed by all horses, 
 and scarcely at all by hungry and greedy ones. The appearance of the dung will suffi- 
 ciently evince this. 
 
 The observation of this induced the adoption of manger-feeding, or of mixing a por- 
 tion of chaff with the corn and beans. By this means the animal is compelled to chew 
 his food ; he cannot, to any great degree, bolt the straw or hay ; and while he is forced 
 to grind that down, the oats and beans are ground with it, and yields more nourishment ; 
 the stomach is more slowly filled, and therefore acts better on its contents, and is not so 
 likely to be overloaded ; and the increased quantity of saliva thrown out in the lengthened 
 grinding of the food, softens it, and renders it more fit for digestion. 
 
 If, when considerable provender was wasted, the horse maintained his condition, 
 and was able to do his work, it was evident that much might be saved to the farmer, 
 when he adopted a system by which the horse ate all that was set before him ; and by de- 
 grees it was found out that even food somewhat less nutritious, but a great deal cheaper, 
 and which the horse either would not eat, or would not properly grind down, in its natural 
 state, might be added, while the animal would be in quite as good plght, and always 
 ready for work 
 
 Chaff may be composed of equal quantities of clover or medow hay, and wheaten, 
 oaten, or barley straw, cut into pieces of a quarter or half an inch in length, and mingled 
 well together ; the allowance of oats or beans is afterwards added, and mixed with the 
 chaff. Many farmers very properly bruise the oats or beans. The whole oat is apt to 
 slip out of the chaff and be lost; but when it is bruised, and especially if the chaff is a 
 little wetted, it will not readily separate ; or, should a portion of it escape the grinders, 
 it will be partly prepared for 'digestion by the act of bruising. The prejudice against 
 bruising the oats is, so far as the farmer's horse, and the wagon horse, and every horse 
 of slow draught is concerned, altogether unfounded. The quantity of straw in the chaff 
 will always counteract any supposed purgative quality in the bruised oats. Horses of 
 quicker draught, except they are naturally disposed to scour, will thrive better with 
 bruised than with whole oats ; for a greater quantity of nutriment will be extracted from 
 the food, and it will always be easy to apportion the quantity of straw or beans to the 
 eflfect of the mixture on the bowels of the horse. The principal alteration tliat should 
 be made in the horse of harder and more rapid work, such as the post horse, and the 
 stage-coach horse, is to increase tlie quantity of hay, and diminish that of straw. Two 
 trusses of hay may be cut with one of straw. 
 
 Some gentlemen, in defiance of the prejudice and opposition of the coachman or the 
 
 froom, have introduced this mode of feeding into the stables of their carriage horses and 
 ackiieys, and with manifest advantage. There has been no loss of condition or power. 
 
268 THE HORSE. 
 
 and considerable saving of provender. Tliis system is not, however, calcidated for the 
 hunter or the race horse. Their food must be in .smaller bulk, in order that the action 
 of the Iimgs may not be impeded by the distention of the stomach ; yet many hunters 
 have cone well over the field, who have been manger-fed, the proportion of corn, how- 
 ever, being materially increased. 
 
 For the agriculturaJ and cart horse, eight pounds of oats and two of beans should be 
 added to eveiy twenty pounds of chalf ; and thirty-four or thirty-six pounds of the mix- 
 ture will be sufficient for any moderate sized horse, witli fair, or even hai-d work. The 
 dray and wagon-horse may require forty pounds. Hay in tlie rack at night is, in this 
 case, supposed to be omitted altogetlier. The rack, however, may remain, as occasion- 
 ally useful for the sick horse, or to contain tares or other green meat. 
 
 In order to prevent some horses from turning much of the chalf out of the manger in 
 their search for the oats, small iron bars may be placed across it, and the provender plen- 
 tifully .sprinkled with water, but the water should be applied only at the time of feeding, 
 for the wetted mixture would soon become sour and mouldy. 
 
 Horses are very fond of tliis provender. The majority of them, after having been ac- 
 customed to it, will leave the best oats given to them alone, for the sake of the mingled 
 chalf and corn. We would, however, caution the farmer not to set apart too much 
 damaged hay for the manufacture of the chaff. The horse may be thus induced to eat 
 that which he would othertvise refuse; but if the nourishing property of the hay has 
 been impaired, or it iuu acquired an injurious principle, the horse will either lose condi- 
 tion, or become diseased. More injury is done by the eating of damaged hay or musty 
 oats than is generally imagined. There will be sufficient saving in the diminished cost 
 of the provender by the introduction of the straw, and in the improved condition of the 
 horse, without poisoning him with the refuse of the farm. 
 
 While the mixture of chaff with the corn prevents the corn from being too rapidly 
 devoured, and a portion of it swallowed whole, and therefore the stomach is not too 
 loaded with that on which, as containing the most nutriment, its chief digestive power 
 should be exerted, yet, on the whole, a great deal of time is gained by this mode of feed- 
 ing, and more is left for rest. When a horse comes in wearied at the close of the day, it 
 occupies, after he has eaten his corn, two or three hours to clear his rack. On the sys- 
 tem of manger-feeding, the chaff being already cut into small pieces, and the beans and 
 oats bruised, he is able fully to satisfy his appetite in an hour and a half. Two addi- 
 tional hours are therefore devotetl to rest. This is a circumstance deserving of much 
 consideration even in the farmer's stable, and of immense consequence to the postmaster, 
 the stage-coach proprietor, and the owner of every hard-worked horse. 
 
 Manger food will be the usual support of the farmer's horse during the winter, and 
 while at constant or occasional hard work ; but from the middle or end of April to the 
 end of July, he may be fed with this mixture in the day, and turned out at night, or he 
 may remain out during every rest day : a team in constant employ should not, nowever, 
 be suffered to be out at night, after the end of July. 
 
 The farmer should take care that the pasture is thick and good ; and that the distance 
 from the yard is not too great, nor the fields too large, otherwise a very considerable 
 portion of time will be occupied in catching the horses in the morning. He will like- 
 wise have to take into consideration the sale he would have for his hay, and the necessity 
 for sweet and untrodden pasture for his cattle. On the whole, however, turning out 
 in this way, when circumstances will admit of it, will be found to be more beneficial for 
 the horse, and cheaper than soiling in the yard. 
 
 The small farmer's horse is sometimes fed on hay or grass alone, and the animal, 
 although he rarely gets a feed of corn, maintains himself intolerable condition, and does 
 the work that is required of him ; but hay and grass alone, however good in quality, or 
 in whatever quantity administered, will not support the horse under hard work ; and 
 therefore other substances, containing a larger proportion of nutriment in a smaller com- 
 pass, have been added. We will briefly enumerate them, and consider their comparative 
 value. In almost every part of Great Britain, the Oat has been selected as that portion 
 of the food which is to afford the principal nourishment. It contains seven hundred and 
 forty-three parts? out of a thousandof nutritive matter. The oat should be old, heavy, dry, 
 and sweet. The new oat will weigh ten or fifteen per cent, more than the old oat ; but 
 the difference consists principally in watery matter, which is gradually evaporated. The 
 new oat is not so readily ground down by the teeth as the old one, and forms a more 
 glutinous mass, difficult to digest, and, when eaten in considerable quantities, is apt to 
 occasion colic and even staggers. The old oat forms, when chewed, a smooth and 
 uniform mass, which readily dissolves in the stomach, and yields the nourishment which 
 it contains, and perhaps some chemical change may have been slowly effected^n the old 
 oat, disposing it to be more readily assimilated. Oats should be plump, bright in color, 
 and free from unpleasant smell or taste. The musty smell of wetted or damaged corn is 
 caused by a fungus which grows upon the seed, and which has an injurious enect on the 
 
FOOD. 269 
 
 nrinaiy organs, and often on the intestines, producing profuse staling, inflammation of 
 tile Icidney or colic, and inflammation of the bowels. 
 
 Tliis musty smell is removed by kiln-drjnng the oat, but care is here requisite that 
 too great a degree of heat is not employed. It should be sufficient to destroy the fungus 
 without injuring the life of the seed. The kiln-burnt oat, however, is not so grateful to 
 the animal : it acquires a heating quality — causes increased discharge of mine, and not 
 unfrequently produces inflammation of the eyes, and mangy atlections of tlie skin. 
 
 Of the quantity of oats in the chart' we have already spoken. An improvement 
 would be ertected, by cutting the unthreshed oat straw into chaff. The expense of 
 threshing would be saved. 6at straw is better than barley straw, but docs not contain 
 so much nourishment as that of wheat. 
 
 When the horse is fed on hay and oats, the quantity of the oats must vary with his size 
 and the work to be performed, la winter, four feeds, or nine or ten pounds of oats a day, 
 will be a fair allowance for a horse of fifteen hands one or two inches high, and Ihat has 
 moderate work. In summer, half the quantity, with green food, will be sufficient. 
 
 Oatmeal will form a poultice, more stimulating than one composed of linseed meal 
 alone — or they may be mingled in diflerent proportions as circumstances may require. In 
 the form of gruel it constitutes one of the most important articles of diet for the sick horse — 
 not indeed forced upon him, but a pail containing it being slung in his box, and of \^ hich 
 he will soon begin to drink when water is denied. In cases of poisoning, or of over 
 purging, it is useful whether administered by the mouth, or as an injection. 
 
 White-water, made by stirring a pint of oatmeal into a pail of vrater, the chill being 
 taken from it, is an excellent beverage 'for the thirsty and tired horse. 
 
 Barley is a common food of the horse on various parts of the continent, and, until the 
 introduction of the oat, seems to have constituted almost his only food. It is more nutii- 
 tious than oats, containing nine hundred and twenty parts of nutritive matter in every 
 thousand. There seems, liowever, to be something necessary besides a great proportion 
 of nutritive matter, in order to render any substance wholesome, strengthening, or fatten- 
 ing. Except where horses are very hardly worked, barley does not seem in our country 
 to agree with them so well as oats. They are more subject to inflammatory complaints, 
 and particularly to surfeit and mange. When barley is given, the quantity should not 
 exceed a peck daily. It should be always bruised, and the chatf should consist of equal 
 quantities of hay and barley-straw, and not cut too short. If the farmer has a quantity 
 of spotted or unsaleable barley which he wishes tlius to get rid of, he must very gradually 
 accustom his horses to it, or he will probably produce serious illness among them. For 
 horses that are recovering from illness, barley, in the form of malt, is often serviceable, as 
 tempting the appetite and recruiting the strength. It is best given in mashes ; water, 
 considerably below the boiling heat, being poured upon it, and the vessel or pail kept 
 covered for half an hour. 
 
 Grains fresh from the mash-tub, either alone, or mixed with oats or chaff, or both, may 
 be occasionally given to horses of slow work ; they would, however, aflbrd very insuffi- 
 cient nourishment for horses of quicker or harder work. 
 
 Wheal is in Great Britain more rarely given than barley. It contains nine hundred and 
 fifty-five parts of nutritive matter. When farmers have a damaged or unmarketable 
 sample of^ wheat, they sometimes give it to their horses, and, being at first used in small 
 quantities, the horse becomes accustomed to it, and thrives and works well. It must, how- 
 ever, always be bruised and given in chafl^. Wheat contains a greater proportion of gluten, 
 or sticky adhesive matter, than any other kind of grain ; it is difficult of digestion, and 
 apt to cake and form obstructions in the bowels. This will oftener be the case if the 
 horse is suffered to drink much water soon after feeding upon wheat ; for the water pass- 
 ing rapidly through the stomach and small intestines, in its way to the ccecum, (see page 
 162,) carries off with it all the starch, which is the most nourisliing, and leaves this sticky 
 mass behind, which accumulates and hardens, and obstructs the intestines, and often de- 
 stroys the horse. A horse that is fed on wheat should have very little hay. The propor- 
 tion should not be more than one truss of hay to two of straw. Wheaten flour, boiled in 
 water to the thickness of starch, is given with good effect in over purging, and especially 
 if combined with chalk and opium. 
 
 Beans. — These form a striking illustration of the principle, that the nourishing or 
 strengthening effects of the difierent articles of food depend more upon some peculiar 
 property which they have, or some combination which they form, than on the actual 
 quantity of nutritive matter. Beans contain but five hundred and seventy parts of nutri- 
 tive matter, yet they add materially to the vigor of the horse. There are many horses 
 that will not stand hard work without beans being mingled with their food, and these not 
 horses whose tendency to purge it may be necessaiy to restrain by the astringenCy of the 
 bean. There is no traveller who is not aware of the difference in the spirit and continu- 
 ance of his horse if he allows or denies him beans on his journey They afford not merely 
 a temporaiy stimulus, but they laay be daily used without losing their power, or producing 
 
270 THE HORSE. 
 
 exhaustion. Two pounds of beans may, with advantage, be mixed with the chaff of the 
 agricultural horse, during the winter. In summer, the quantity may be lessened, or the 
 beans altogether discontinued. Beans are generally given whole. This is very absurd ; 
 for the young horse, whose teeth are strong, seldom requires them ; while the old horse, 
 to whom they are in a manner necessary, is scarcely able to masticate them, swallows 
 many of them whole which he is unable to break, and drops much corn from his mouth in 
 the ineffectual attempt to break them. Beans should not be merely split, but crushed ; 
 they will even then give sufficient employment to the grinders of the animal. Some post- 
 mastei-s use chaff with beans instead of oats. With hardly-worked horses they may pos- 
 sibly be allowed ; but in general cases, the beans, without oats, would be too binding and 
 stimulating, and would produce costiveness, and probably megrims or staggers. 
 
 Peas are occasionally given. They appear to be in a slidit degree more nourishing 
 than beans, and not so heating. They contain five hundred and seventy-four parts oi 
 nutritive matter. For horses of slow work they may be used ; but tlie quantity of chaff 
 should be increased, and a few oats added. They have not been found to answer with 
 horses of quick draught. It is essential that they should be crushed ; otherwise on ac- 
 count of their globular form, they are apt to escape from the teeth, and many are swallowed 
 whole. Exposed to warmth and moisture in the stomach, they swell very much, and may 
 painfully and injuriously distend it. 
 
 Many horses have died after gorging themselves with peas, and the stomach has been 
 found to have been burst by their swelling. If a small phial is filled with peas, and warm 
 water poured on them, and the bottle tightly corked, it will burst in a few hours. 
 
 Herba"-e, green and dry, constitutes a principal part of the food of the horse. There 
 are few tilings with regard to which the farmer is so careless as the mixture of grasses 
 on both his upland and meadow pasture. Hence we find, in the same field, the ray grass, 
 coming to perfection only in a loamy soil, not fit to cut until the middle or latter part of 
 July, and yielding little aftermath ; the meadow fox-tail, best cultivated in a clayey soil, 
 fit for the scythe in the beginning of June, and yielding a plentiful aftermath ; the glaucus 
 fescue grass, ready at the middle of June, and rapidly deteriorating in value as its seeds 
 ripen ; and the fertile meadow grass, increasing in value until the end of July. These 
 are circumstances, the importance of which wiU, at no distant period, be recognized. In 
 the mean time, Sinclair's account of the different grasses, or the condensation of the most 
 important part of his work in Sir Humphry Davy's Agricultural Chemistry, are well de- 
 serving of the diligent perusal of the farmer. 
 
 Were there not too many proofs that the very refuse of the farm is often devoted to the 
 keep of the aoricultural horse, it would be needless to repeat that the animal that works 
 constantly an3 hard should have the best food, and plenty of it. Old hay, as having longer 
 undergone that slow process of fermentation by which the sugar that it contains is de- 
 veloped, is far more nutritive and wholesome than new hay. Mowburnt hay is more 
 injurious to horses than to any other of the domestic animals, and is a fruitful source of 
 disease. 
 
 Where the manger system of feeding is not adopted, or where hay is still given at night, 
 and chaff and corn in the day, there is no error into which the farmer is so apt to fall as to 
 give an undue quantity of hay, and that generally of the worst kind. If the manger sys- 
 tem is good, there can be no necessity for hay, or only for a small quantity of it ; but if the 
 rack is overloaded, the greedy horse will be eating all night, instead of taking his rest ; 
 and when the time for the morning feed arrives, his stomach will be already filled, and he 
 will be less capable of work, from the want of sleep, and from the long-continued disten- 
 tion of tlie stomach rendering it impossible for the food to be properly digested. 
 
 It is a good practice to sprinkle the hay with water in which salt has been dissolved. 
 It is evidently more palateable to the animal, who will have the best unsalted hay for that 
 of an inferior quality that has been moistened with brine ; and there can be no doubt that 
 the salt very materially assists the process of digestion. The preferable way of salting 
 the hay would be to sprinkle it over the different layers as the rick is formed. From its 
 attraction for water, it would combine with that excess of moisture which, in wet seasons, 
 is the cause of too rapid and violent fermentation, and of the hay becoming mowburnt, 
 or the rick sometimes catching fire, and it would become more incorporated with tlie hay. 
 The only objection to its being thus used is, that the color of the hay is not so bright ; but 
 this would be of little consequence for home consumption. 
 
 Of the value of Tares, as forming a portion of the late spring and summer food of the 
 stabled and agricultural horse, there can be no doubt. They are very nutritive, and they act 
 as a kind of medicine. When surfeit-lumps appear on the skin, and the horse begins to 
 rub himself against the divisions of the stall, and the legs swell, and the heels threaten to 
 crack, a few tares, cut up with the chaff, or given instead of a portion of the hay, will of- 
 ten afford immediate and perfect relief. Ten or twelve pounds may be given daily, and 
 half that weight of hay subtracted. It is an erroneous notion, that, given in moderate 
 quantities, they eitlier roughen the coat or lessen tlie capability for hard work. 
 
FOOD. 271 
 
 Rye Grass affords a valuable' article of foa', but is inferior to the tare. It is not so 
 nutritive ; it is apt to scour ; and occasionally, and late in the spring, it has appeared to 
 become injurious to tlie horse. 
 
 Clover, lor soiling the horse, is inferior to the tare and the rye grass, but, nevertheless, 
 is useful when they cannot be obtained. Clover hay is, perhaps, preferable to meadov? 
 hay for chaff; it will sometimes tempt the sick horse, and may be given with advantage 
 to those of slow and hea\y work ; but custom seems properly to have forbidden it to the 
 hunter and the hackney. 
 
 Lucern, where it can be obtained, is preferable even to tares, and sainf-foin is su- 
 perior to lucern. Although tliey contain but a small quantity of nutritive matter, that is 
 easily digested, and perfectly assimilated : they speedily put botli muscle and fat on the 
 horse that is worn down by labor, and they are almost a specific for hide-bound. Some 
 farmei-s have thought so highly of lucern as to substitute it for oats. This may do for the 
 agricultural horse of slow and not hard work ; but he from w'hom speedy action is sometimes 
 required, and the horse of all work, must have a proportion of hard meat within him. 
 
 The Swedish Turnip is an article of food the value of which has not been sufficiently 
 appreciated, and paiiicularly for agricultural horses. Although it is far from containing 
 the quantity of nutritive matter which has been supposed, that, like the nutiiment of the 
 saint-foin ajid the lucern, seems to be capable of easy and complete digestion. It should 
 be sliced with chopped straw, and without hay. Thirty pounds of the turnip, with two 
 or three quarterns of oats, and six pounds of straw, will be sufficient for a horse of mod- 
 erately hard work. Hackneys have been kept on them with a less quantity of oats. 
 
 Carrots. — The virtues of tliis root are not sutficiently known, whether as contributing 
 to the strength ajid endurance of the healthy horse, or the rapid recovery of the sick one. 
 To the healthy horse they should be given sliced in his chatf. Half a bushel will be a 
 fair daily allowance, and the two pounds of beans, and three pounds of the oats, may be 
 withdrawn. There is little provender of which the horse is fonder. Some farmers allov? 
 a bushel of can-ots with chaff, and witliout any oats ; and the horses are said to be equal 
 to all agricultural or slow work 
 
 Potatoes have been given, and with advantage, in their raw state, sliced with the chaff; 
 but where it has been convenient to boil or steam them, the benefit has been far more evi- 
 dent. Some have given boiled potatoes alone, and horses, instead of rejecting them, 
 have soon preferred them even to the oat ; but it is better to mix them with the usual 
 manger feed, in the proportion of one pound of potatoes to two and a half pounds of the 
 other ingredients. The use of the potato must depend on its cheapness, and the facility 
 for boiling it. Half a dozen horses would soon repay the expense of a steaming boiler 
 in the saving of provender, without taking into the account their improved condition and 
 capability for work. A horse fed on potatoes should have his quantity of water materially 
 curtailed. 
 
 Furze has sometimes been given during the winter months. There is considerable 
 trouble attending the preparation of it, although its plentifulness and little value for other 
 purposes would, on a large farm, well repay that trouble. The furze is cut down at about 
 three or four years' growth ; the green branches of that and the peceding year are cut 
 off, and bruised in a mill, and then given to the horses in the state in which they come 
 from the mill, or cut up with the chatf. Horses are very fond of it. If twenty pounds 
 of the furze be given, five pounds of straw, the beans, and three pounds of the oats, may 
 be withdrawn. 
 
 It may not be uninteresting to conclude this catalogue of the different articles of horse 
 food with a list of the quantities of nutritive matter contained in each of them ; for 
 although these quantities cannot be considered as expressing the actual value of each, be- 
 cause other circumstances besides the simple quantity of nutriment seem to influence their 
 effect in supporting the strength and condition of the horse, yet many a useful hint may 
 be derived when the farmer looks over the produce of his soil, and inquires what other 
 grasses or vegetables might suit his soil. The list is partly taken from Sir Humphry Da- 
 vy's Agricultural Chemistry : — 1000 parts of wheat contain 95-5 parts of nutritive mat- 
 ter; barley, 920 ; oats, 743 ; peas, 574 ; beans, 570 ; potatoes, 230 ; red beet, 148 : pars- 
 nips, 99 ; carrots, 98. Of the grasses, 1000 parts of the meadow cat's tail contain at the 
 time of seeding 98 parts of nuti-itive matter ; narrow-leaved meadow grass in seed, and 
 sweet-scented soft grass in flower, 95 ; narrow-leaved and flat-stalked meadow grass in 
 flower, fertile meadow-grass in seed, and tall fescue in flower, 93 ; fertile meadow-grass, 
 meadow-fescue, reed-like fescue, and creeping soft glass in flower, 78 ; sweet-scented 
 soft grass in flower, and the aftermath, 77 ; florin, cut in winter, 76 ; tall fescue, in the af- 
 termath, and meadow soft grass in flower, 74 ; cabbage, 73 ; crested dog's tail and brome 
 flowering, 71 ; yellow oat, in flower, 66; Swedish turnips, 64 ; narrow-leaved meadow 
 grass, creeping beet, round-headed cocksfoot, and spiked fescue, 59 ; roughish and fertile 
 meadow-grass, flowering, 56 ; florin, in summer, 54 ; common turnips, 42 ; saint-foin,, 
 and broad-leaved and long-rooted clover, 39 ; white clover, 32 ; and lucern, 23. 
 
272 THE HORSE. 
 
 The times of feeding should be as equally divided as convenience will permit ; and 
 when it is likely that the horse will be kept longer than usual from home, the nose-bag 
 should invariably be taken. The small stomach of tlie horse is emptied in a few hours; 
 and if he is suffered to remain hungry much beyond his accustomed time, he will after- 
 wards devour his food so veraciously as to distend the stomach and endanger an attack 
 of staggers. When tliis disease appears in the Au-mcr's stable, he may attribute it to va- 
 rious causes ; the true one, in the majoritj' of instances, is irregularity in feeding. If the 
 reader will turn back to page 82, he will be convinced that Siis deserves more serious 
 attention than is generally given to it. 
 
 When extra work is required from the animal, the system of management is often in- 
 judicious ; for a double feed is put before him, and as soon as he has swallowed it, he is 
 started. It would be far better to give him a double feed on the previous evening, which 
 will be digested before he is wanted, and then he may set out in the morning after a very 
 small portion of corn has been given to him, or perhaps only a little hay. One of the 
 most successful methods of enabling a horse to get well through a long journey is to give 
 him only a little at a time while on the road, and at night to give him a double feed of 
 corn and a full allowance of beans. 
 
 Water. — This is a part of stable management little regarded by the farmer. He lets 
 his horses loose morning and night, and they go to the nearest pond or brook and drink 
 their fill, and no harm results ; lor they obtain that kind of water which nature designed 
 them to have, in a manner prepared for them by some unknown influence of the atmos- 
 phere, as well as by the deposition of many saline admixtures. The difference between 
 nard and soft water is known to every one. In hard water soap will curdle, vegetables 
 will not boil soft, and tlie saccharine matter of the malt cannot be fully obtained in the 
 process of brewing. There is nothing in which the different effect of hard and soft water is 
 so evident as in the stomach and digestive organs of the horse. Hard water, drawn fresh 
 fi'om the well, will assuredly make the coat of a horse unaccustomed to it stare, and it 
 will not unfrequently gripe and otherwise injure him. Instinct or experience has made 
 even the horse liimseU conscious of this, for he will never drink hard water if he has ac- 
 cess to sort : he will leave the most transparent and pure water of the well for a river, 
 although the water may be turbid, and even for'the muddiest pool.* He is injured, how- 
 ever, not so much by the hardness of the well-water as by its coldness — ^pai-ticularly by 
 its coolness in summer, and when it is many degrees below the temperature of the atmos- 
 phere. The water in the broolc and the pond being warmed by long exposure to the air, 
 as well as having become soft, the horse drinks freely of it without danger. 
 
 If the hoi-se were watered three times a day, and especially in summer, he would 
 often be saved from the sad torture of thirst, and from many a disease. Whoever has 
 observed the eagerness with which the overworked horse, hot and tired, plunges his muz- 
 zle into the pail, and the difficulty of stopping him until he has drained the last drop, 
 may form some idea of what he had previously suffered, and will not wonder at the vio- 
 lent spasms, and inflammation, and sudden death, that often result. 
 
 There is a prejudice in tlie minds of many people against tlie horse being fairly sup- 
 
 Elied with water. They think that it injiu-ies his wind, and disables him for quick and 
 ard work. If he is gallopped, as he too often is, immediately after drinking, his wind 
 may be irreparably injured ; but if he were oftener suttered to satiate his thirst at the 
 intervals of rest, he would be happier and better. It is a fact unsuspected by those who 
 have not carefully observed the horse, tliat if he has frequent access to water he will not 
 drink so much in the course of the day, as another who, to cool his parched mouth, 
 swallows as fast as he can, and knows not when to stop. 
 
 On a journey a horse should be liberally supplied with water. When he is a little 
 cooled, two or three quarts of water may be given to him, and after that his feed. Be- 
 fore he has finished his corn two or three quarts more may be offered. He will take no 
 harm if tliis be repeated three or four times during a long and hot day. 
 
 It is a judicious rule with ti-avellers, that when a horse begins to refuse his food, he 
 should be pushed no farther that day. It may, however, be worth while to try whether 
 this may not proceed from thirst, as much as from exhaustion, for in many instances his 
 appetite and his spirits will return soon after he has partaken of the refreshiu]^ draught. 
 
 Management of the feet. — This is the only division of stable management that remains 
 to be considered, and one sadly neglected by the carter and gioom. The feet should be 
 carefully examined every morning : for the shoes may be loose, and the horse would 
 have been stopped in the middle of his work ; or the clenches may be raised, and endan- 
 
 fer the wounding of liis legs; or the shoe may begin to press upon the sole or heej, and 
 raise of the sole, or corn, may be tlie result ; and, the horse having stood so long in the 
 
 * Some trainers have so much fear of hard or strange water, that they cany witJi 
 them to the different courses the water that the animal has been accustomed to drink, 
 and that they know agrees with it. 
 
UNSOUNDNESS. 273 
 
 stable, every little increase of heat in the foot, or lameness, will be more readily detect- 
 ed, and serious disease may probably be prevented. 
 
 When the hoi-se comes in at night, and after the harness has been taken off and stowed 
 away, the heels should be well brushed out. Hand-rubbing will be preferable to wash- 
 ing, especially in the agricultural horse, whose heels, covered with long hair, can scarcely 
 be dried again. If the dirt be suffered to accumulate in tliat long hair, the heels will 
 become sore, and grease will follow ; and if the heels are washed, and particularly during 
 the winter, grease will result from the coldness occasioned by the slow evaporation of 
 the moisture. The feet shovdd be stopped — even the feet of the farmer's horse, if he 
 remains in the stable. No clay stopping should be used, for it will get hard and press 
 upon the sole : cowdung is the best stopping to preserve the feet cool and elastic ; but 
 before the stopping is applied, the picker must be run round the whole of the foot, be- 
 tween the shoe and the sole, to detect any stone which may have insinuated itself there, 
 or a wound on any other part of tlie sole. For tlie hackney and hunter, stopping is in- 
 dispensable. Alter several days' hard work it will allbrd veiy great relief to take the 
 shoes ortj having put plenty of litter under the horse, or to turn him, if possible, into a 
 loose box ; and the shoes of every horse, whether hardly worked or not, should be re- 
 moved or changed once a month. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 ON SOUNDNESS, AND THE PURCHASE AND 
 SALE OF HORSES. 
 
 There are few sources of greater annoyance both to the buyer and the seller of the 
 horse, than disputes with regard to tlie soundnes of the animal. Although, in describing 
 the various parts of the horse, we have glanced at the connection of certain natural con- 
 formations, and some alterations of structure, and accidents, and diseases, with the ques- 
 tion of soundness and unsoundness, it may not be uninteresting to those for whom our 
 work was designed, if we now bring into one point of view the substance of that which 
 has been scattered over many pages. 
 
 That horse is sound in whom there is no disease, nor any alteration of structure in any 
 part which impairs, or is likely to impair his natural usefulness. That horse is unsound 
 that labours under disease, or that has some alteration of structure that does interfere, or 
 is likely to interfere with his natural usefulness. The term '' natural xisefuhiess'' must be 
 borne in mind. One horse may possess great speed, but is soon knocked up ; another 
 will work all day, but cannot go beyond a snail's pace: one with a heavy forehead is 
 liable to stumble, and is continually putting to hazard the neck of his rider ; another, 
 with an irritable constitution and a washy make, loses his appetite and begins to scour 
 if a Uttle extra work is exacted from him. The term unsoundness cannot be applied to 
 either of these ; it would be opening far too widely a door to disputation and endless 
 wrangling. The buyer can discern, or ought to know, whether the form of the horse is 
 that which will render him likely to suit his purpose, and he should try him sufficiently 
 to ascertain his natural strength, endurance, and manner of going. Unsoundness, we 
 repeat, has reference only to disease, or to that alteration of structure which is connected 
 with, or will produce disease, and lessen the usefulpess of the animal. 
 
 These principles will be best illustrated by a brief consideration of the usual supposed 
 causes of unsoundness. 
 
 Broken-knees certainly do not constitute unsoundness aiter the wounds are healed, 
 unkss they interfere with the action of the joint, for the horse mav have fallen from 
 mere accident, or through the fault of the rider ; but no person would buy a horse with 
 broken-knees until he had thoroughly tiied him, and satisfied himself as to his form and 
 action. 
 
 Capped Hocks may be produced by lying on an unevenly paved stable with a scanty- 
 supply of litter, or by kicking, in neither of which ca^es would they constitute unsound- 
 ness, though in the latter they would be an indication of vice ; but in the majority of 
 instances, they are either the consequence of sprain of the hock, and accompanied by 
 enlargement of it, when they would be unsoundness. A special warranty should always 
 be taken against capped hocks. 
 
 Cmtractton is a considerable deviation from the natural form of the foot, but not ne- 
 
 35 
 
274 THE HORSE. 
 
 cessarily constituting unsoundness ; it requires, however, a most careful examination on 
 the part of the purchaser or veterinary surgeon, to ascertain that there is no heat ahout 
 the quarter, or ossification of the cartilage ; that the frog altliough diminished in size, is 
 not diseased ; that the horse does not step short and go as if the foot were tender, and 
 that there is not the slightest trace of lameness. Unless these circumstances, or some 
 of them, are detected, a horse must not be pronounced to be unsound because his feet 
 ai'e contracted, for many horses with strangely contracted feet, are never lame : a special 
 warranty, however, should be required where the feet are at all contracted. 
 
 Corns manifestly constitute unsoundness. The portion of the foot in which they are 
 situated will not bear the ordinary pressure of the shoe ; and any accidental additional 
 pressure from the growing down of the horn, or the introduction of dirt or gravel, will cause 
 serious lameness. They render it necessary to wear a thick and heavy shoe, or a bar shoe 
 to protect the weakened and diseased pait ; and corns are very seldom radically cured. 
 
 Cough. — This is a disease, and consequently unsoundness. However slight may be 
 its degree, and of whatever short standing it is, although it may sometimes seem scarcely 
 to interfere with the usefulness of the horse, a change of stabling, or slight exposure to 
 wet and cold, or the least over-exertion, may at other times cause it to degenerate into 
 many dangerous complaints. A horse, therefore, should never be purchased with a cough 
 upon him without an especial warranty ; or if, the cough not being observed, he is pur- 
 ceased under a general warranty, he may be returned as soon as it is discovered. 
 
 Roaring, Wheezing, Whistling, High-blowing, and Grunting, being the result of alter- 
 ation of structure or disease in some of the air passages, and interfering with the perfect 
 freedom of breathing, and especially when the horse is put on his speed, without doubt 
 constitute unsoundness. There are decisions to the contrary, which are now universally 
 admitted to be erroneous. Broken wind is still more decidedly unsoundness. 
 
 Crib-biting. — Although there is some difference of opinion among veterinary surgeons 
 on this point, crib-biting must be regarded as unsoundness, This unnatural sucking in 
 of the air must be to a certain degree injurious to digestion, must dispose to colic, and 
 so interfere with the strength, and usefulness, and health of the horse. Some crib-biters 
 are good goers, but they probably would have possessed more endurance had they not 
 acquired this habit ; and it is a fact well estabhshed, that as soon as a horse begins to 
 become a crib-biter, he, in more than nine cases out of ten, begins to lose condition 
 He is not, to the experienced eye, the horse he was before. It may not lead on to abso- 
 lute disease, or it may rarely do so to any considerable degree ; but a horse that is defi- 
 cient in condition, must, to that extent, have his capability for extraordinary work 
 diminished, although not so often as to be apparent in ordinary work, and so far, the horse 
 is unsound. Were there no other consideration, the wear of the front teeth, and even 
 the frequent breaking of them, make a horse old before his time, and sometimes render 
 it difficult or almost impossible for him to graze, when the state of the animal or the 
 convenience of the owner require that he should be turned out. 
 
 Curb constitutes unsoundness while it lasts, and perhaps while the swelling remains 
 although the inflammation may have subsided ; for a horse that has once thrown out a 
 curb, is, for a while at least, very liable to do so again on the slightest extra exertion. 
 A horse, however, is not returnable if he should spring a curb five minutes after the pur- 
 chase, for it is done in a moment, and does not necessarily indicate any previous un- 
 soundness or WfcoJiness of the part. 
 
 Catting, as rendering a horse liable to serious injury of the legs, and indicating that he 
 is either weak, or has an awkwardness of gait inconsistent with safety, should be consid- 
 ered as unsoundness. Many horses go lame for a considerable period after cutting them- 
 selves severely ; and others have dropped from the sudden agony, and endangered them- 
 selves and their riders. As some doubt, however, exists on this subject, and as it is a 
 very material objection to a horse, cutting, when evident, should have its serious conse- 
 quences provided against by a special warranty. 
 
 Enlarged Glands. — The enlargement of the glands under the jaw has not been so much 
 considered as it ought, in our estimate of the soundness of the horse. Simple catarrii 
 will occasionally, and severe affection of tht chest will generally be accompanied by 
 sweUing of these glands, and which does not subside lor a considerable time after the 
 cold or fever has apparently been cured. To a slight tnlEirgement of the glands under the 
 jaw much attention need not be paid ; but if they are of considerable size, and especially 
 if they are tender, and the gland at the root of the eai partakes of the enlargement, and 
 the membrane of the nose is redder than it should be, we should hesitate in pronouncing 
 that horse to be sound. We should fear the commencement, or the insidious lurking of 
 disease. 
 
 Enlarged Hock. — A horse with enlarged hock is unsound. The structure of this com- 
 plicated joint being so materially affected, that although the horse may appear for a con- 
 siderable time to do ordinary work well, he will occasionally fail even as to that, and a few 
 days' hard work will always lame him. 
 
UNSOUNDNESS. 276 
 
 T)ie Eyes. — That inflammation of the eye of the horse which usually terminates in 
 blindness of one or both eyes, has the peculiar character of remitting or disappearing for 
 a time, once or twice, or thrice, before it fully runs its course. The eye, after an attack 
 of inflammation, regains so nearly its former natural brilliancy, that a man well acquainted 
 with horses will not always recognise the traces of former disease. After a time, how- 
 ever, the inflammation returns, and the result is unavoidable. A horse from four to six 
 years of age that has had one attack of this complaint, is long afterwards unsound, how- 
 ever perfect the eye may seem to be, because he carries about with him a disease that 
 will again break out, and eventually destroy the sight. Whether, therefore, he may be 
 returned or not, depends on the possibility of proving an attack of inflammation of the 
 eye, prior to the purchase. Next to direct evidences of tliis are appearances about the 
 eye, of which the veterinary surgeon at least ought not to be ignorant. They have been 
 described at page 90. They consist chiefly of a puckering of the lids towards the inner 
 corner of one or both eyes — a difference, although perhaps only a slight one, and not dis- 
 covered except it be looked for, in the size of the eyes ; a gloominess of the eye, a dullness 
 of the iris, a little dullness of the transparent part of the eye generally ; a minute, faint, 
 dusky spot, deep in the eye, and generally with little radiations of white lines proceeding 
 from it: if these symptoms, or the majority of tliem, were observed at the time of pur- 
 chase, the animal had assuredly been diseased before, and is unsound. Starting is an 
 equivocal proof. It is usually an indication of defective sight, but it is occasionally a 
 trick. Connected, however, with the appearances just described, it is a very strong cor- 
 roborative proof. 
 
 If a man buys a horse actually blind, he may repent of his bargain, but he cannot get 
 rid of it. He should be more careful, and the law will not protect him if he does not use 
 common precaution. 
 
 Lameness, from whatever cause arising, is unsoundness. However temporary it may 
 be, or however obscure, it lessens the utility of the horse, and renders him unsound for 
 the time. How far his soundness may be afterwards affected, must depend on the circum- 
 stances of the case. A lame horse is for the time an unsound one. 
 
 Neurotomy. — A question has arisen how far a horse that has undergone the operation 
 of the division of the nerve of the leg (see page 87,) and has recovered from the lame- 
 ness with which he was before affected, and stands his work well, may be considered to 
 be sound. In our opinion there cannot be a doubt about the matter. Does the operation 
 of neurotomy render a horse as capable of work as he was before he became aiJ'ected 
 with the disease on account of which, and to relieve him from the torture of which, the 
 nerve was divided .' Is the operation of neurotomy so invariably followed by capability, 
 and continued capability of ordinaiy and even extraordinaiy work, tliat they may regularly 
 be considered as cause and effect ? The most strenuous defenders of the nerve operation 
 cannot affirm this. They can only say that they partially succeed in almost every fair 
 case ; that they perfectly succeed in the majority of cases ; but they cannot deny that the 
 horse will batter and bruise that foot, when he has lost sensation in it, which should have 
 been tenderly used ; that even the hoof will sometimes be lost, after operations performed 
 with the greatest judgment ; that the lameness will sometimes return, after tlie animal 
 has gone sound, one, two, or three yeai'S ; and that, after all, there is a little unpleasant- 
 ness, and even unsafeness in the action of the horse, from the peculiar manner in which 
 the foot meets the ground when its feeling is destroyed ; and that the horse is more liable 
 to accidents, for he will travel on without warning his rider of the evil, after a piece of 
 glass has penetrated his foot, or a stone has insinuated itself between the sole and the 
 shoe ; and thus irreparable mischief will be done, before the cause of it can possibly be 
 detected. A horse on whom this operation has been performed may be improved — may 
 cease to be lame, may go well for many years ; but there is no certainty of his continu- 
 ing to do so, and he is unsound. 
 
 Ossification of the lateral cartilages constitutes unsoundness, as interfering with the 
 natural expansion of the foot, and in horses of quick work almost invariably producing 
 lameness. 
 
 Pumiced-fool. — When the union between the horny and sensible lamellae, or little plates 
 of the foot (see p. 224,^ is weakened, and the coffin-bone is let down', and presses upon 
 the sole, which yields to this unnatural weight, and becomes rounded, and comes in con- 
 tact with the ground, and gets bruised and injured, that horse must be unsound, and 
 unsound for ever, because tliere are no means by which we can lift up the coffin-bone 
 again into its place. 
 
 Quidding. — If the mastication of the food gives pain to the animal, in consequence of 
 soreness of the mouth or throat, he will drop it before it is perfectly chewed. This, as an 
 indication of disease, constitutes unsoundness. Quidding sometimes arises from irregu- 
 larity in the teeth, which wound the cheek with their sharp edges; or a protruding tooth 
 renders it impossible for the horse to close his jaws so as to cnew his food tlioroughly. 
 Quidding is unsoundness for the time ; but the unsoundness wiU cease when tlie teeth 
 
276 THE HORSE. 
 
 are properly filed, or the catarrh relieved, or the cause of this imperfect chewing re- 
 moved. 
 
 QiUttor is unsoundness. 
 
 Ring-bone. — Although when the bony tumour is small, and on one side only, there is 
 little or no lameness, and there are a few instances in which a horse with rin^-bone has 
 worked for many years without lameness ; yet, from the action of the foot, and the stress 
 upon the part, the inflammation and the formation of bone have such a tendency rapidly 
 to spread, that we must pronounce the slightest enlargement of the pasterns or around the 
 coronet, to be a cause of unsoundness. 
 
 Sandcrack is manifestly unsoundness ; but it may occur without the slightest warning, 
 and no horse can be returned for one that is sprung after purchase. Its usual cause is 
 too great brittleness of the crust of the hoof; but there is no infallible method of detecting 
 this, or the degree in which it must exist to constitute unsoundness. When the horn 
 round the bottom of the foot has chipped off so much that only a skilful smith can fasten 
 the shoe without pricking the horse, or even when there is a tendency in fee horn to 
 chip and break olf in a much less degree than this, the horse may probably be returned 
 as unsound, for this brittleness of the crust is a disease of the part, or it is such an cdtered 
 structure of it as to interfere materially with the usefulness of the animal. 
 
 Spavin is unsoundness, whether tiie bony or the blood-spavin. In the first, lameness 
 is produced, at least at starting, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, and there is en- 
 largement of the hock, which rapidly spreads with quick and hard work, although the 
 horse may be capable of, and may even get better at slow work. If there be no lameness, 
 we would yet reject a spavined horse, because the bony enlargement is too near a very 
 important and complicated joint, and on the least injury or sprain of that joint, would 
 spread over it, and materially interfere with its motion. 
 
 Blood-spavin is unsoundness, because, although it may not be productive of lameness 
 at slow work, the rapid and powerful action of the hock in quicker motion will produce 
 permanent, cdthough not considerable lameness, and which can scarcely ever be with 
 certainty removed. 
 
 Spleiit. — It depends entirely on the situation of the bony tumour on the inside of the 
 shank-bone, whether it is to be considered as unsoundness. If it is not in the neighbor- 
 hood of any joint, so as to interfere with its action, and if it does not press upon any liga- 
 ment or tendon, it can be no cause of unsoundness, although it is often very unsightly. 
 It does not lessen the capabihty and vcJue of the animal. Of this we have treated at 
 length at pages 188 and 226. 
 
 Stringhalt. — This singular and very unpleasant action of the hind leg cannot be term- 
 ed unsoundness. It is an irregular communication of nervous energy to some muscle of 
 the thigh, observable when the horse first comes from the stable, and gradually ceasing 
 on exercise, and has usually been found in those horses that have a more than common 
 degree of strength and endurance. 
 
 Thickening of the Back Sinews. — Sufficient attention is not always paid to the fineness 
 of the legs of the horse. If the flexor tendons have been sprained so as to produce con- 
 siderable thickening of the cellulai- substance in which tlieir sheaths are enveloped, they 
 will long afterwards, or perhaps ever after, be liable to sprain from causes by which 
 they would otherwise be scarcely affected. The continuance of any considerable thick- 
 ness around the sheaths of the tendons indicates previous and violent sprain. This very 
 thickening will fetter the action of the tendons, and after much quick work will, from 
 the very friction, occasionally renew the inflammation and the lameness ; therefore, 
 such a horse cannot be sound. It requires, however, a little discrimination to distinguish 
 this from the gumminess or roundness of leg, peculiar to some breeds. There should be 
 an evident difference between the injured leg and the others. 
 
 Thoroughpin, except it be of great size, is rarely productive of lameness, and therefore 
 cannot, when unaccompanied by lameness, be termed unsoundness ; but as it is the con- 
 sequence of hard work, and now and then does produce leuneness, the hock should be 
 most carefully examined, and there should be a special warranty against it. 
 
 Thrush. — There are various cases on recoid of actions on account of thrushes in horses, 
 and tlie decisions have been much at variance, or perfectly contradictory. Tlurush has 
 not been considered by legal men as unsoundess : it seemed to be necessary to prove lame- 
 ness, or probable injury to the foot. We confess, however, that we are inchned to con- 
 sider tlirush as unsoundness. We are compelled to consider it so according to our defini- 
 tion, that every disease is unsoundness. It is inflammation of the lower surface of the 
 inner or sensible frog, and the secretion or tfurowing out of pus, almost invariably accom- 
 panied by a slight degree of tenderness of the frog itself, or of the heel a httle above it 
 and if neglected, leading to diminution of the substance of the frog, and separation of 
 the horn from the parts beneath, and undermining, and the production of fungus and can- 
 ker, and ultimately a diseased state of tlie foot, destructive of the present, and danaMX)US 
 to the future usefulness of the horse. 1^ 
 
WARRANTY. 277 
 
 Windgalls. — There are few horses perfectly free from windgalls, but they do not in- 
 terfere with the action of tlie fetlock, or cause lameness, except when they are numerous 
 or large. They constitute unsoundness only when they cause lameness, or are so large 
 and numerous as to render it likely that they will soon cause it. 
 
 In the purchase of a horse the buyer usually receives, embodied in the receipt, what 
 is termed a warranty. It should be thus expressed : — 
 
 " Received of A. B. forty pounds for a grey riare, warranted only five years old, sound, 
 free from vice, and quiet to ride cind diive. 
 
 £40. C. D." 
 
 A receipt, including merely the word 'warranted,' extends only to soundness, — 'war- 
 ranted sound, extends no further; the age, freedom from vice, and quietness to ride and 
 drive, should be especially named. This warranty extends to every cause of unsound- 
 ness that can be detected, or that lurks in the constitution at the time of sale, and to every 
 vicious habit which the animal has hitherto shown. To establish a breach of the warranty, 
 and to be enabled to return the horse or recover the price, the purchaser must prove that 
 it was unsound or viciously disposed at tlie time of sale. In case of cough, the horse 
 "must have been heard to cough previous to the purchase, or as he was led home, or as 
 soon as he had entered the stables of the jiurchaser. Coughing, even on the following 
 morning, will not be suflicient ; for it is possible that he might have caught cold by 
 change of stabling. If he is lame, it must be proved to arise from a cause that could not 
 have occurred after the animal was in the purchaser's possession. No price will imply a 
 warranty, or be equivalent to one ; there must be an express warranty. A fraud must 
 be proved, in the seller, in order that the buyer may be enabled to return the horse or 
 maintain the action for the price. The wananty should be given at the time of sale. A 
 warranty, or a promise to warrant the horse, given at any period antecedent to the sale, 
 is invalid ; for the horse is a very perishable commodity, and his constitution and his 
 usefulness may undergo a considerable change in a few days. A warranty after tlie sale 
 is invalid, for it is given without any legal consideration. In order to complete the pur- 
 chase, there must be a transfer of the animal, or a memorandum of agreement, or 
 the payment of earnest-money ; the least sum w ill suffice for eai-nest. No verbal pro- 
 mise to buy or to sell is bindmg without one of these ; and the moment either of these 
 is effected, the legal transfer of property or delivery is made, and whatever may happen 
 to the horse, the seller retains or is entitled to the money. If the purchaser exercise any 
 act of ownership, by using the animal without leave of the vendor, or by having any 
 operation performed or done to hun, or medicines given, he makes him his own. The 
 wan-anty of a servant is considered to be binding on the master.* 
 
 If the horse should be afterwards discovered to have been unsound at the time of war- 
 ranty, the buyer may return it. Although not legally compelled to give notice to the 
 seller of the discovered unsoundness, it will be better for it to be done. The animal should 
 then be tendered at the house or stables of the vendor. If he refuses to receive him, it is 
 cruel to tie up the poor beast in the street, and leave him to the tender mercies of the 
 other party ; it will be more advisable to send the animal to a livery-stable, for an action 
 (the horse having been tendered) may be brought for ex-penses as well as for price. The 
 keep, however, can be recovered only for the time that necessarily intervened between 
 the tender and the determination of the action. Is it not legally necessary to return the 
 horse as soon as the unsoundness is discovered. The animal may be kept for a reasona- 
 ble time afterwards, and even proper medical means used to remove the unsoundness ; 
 but courtesy, and indeed justice, will require that the notice should be given as soon as 
 possible. Although it is stated, on the authority of Lord Loughborough, that "no len"-th 
 of time elapsed alter the sale will alter the nature of a contract originally false ;" yet 
 there are cases on record in which the plaintiff was non-suited because he did not give 
 notice of the unsoundness in a reasonable time. The extent of this reasonable time must 
 depend on many circumstances. It used to be supposed that the buyer had no right to 
 have the horse medically treated, and that he would vitiate the warranty by doing so. 
 The question, however, would be, has he injured, or diminished the value of the horse 
 by this treatment ? It will generally, however, be prudent for him to refrain from all 
 medical treatment, because the means adopted, however skilfully employed, may have an 
 unfortunate effect, or_.what he does may be misrepresented by ignorant or interested ob- 
 servers. 
 
 When a horse is returned, and an action brought for the price, it will be indispensable 
 that in every other respect, except the alleged unsoundness, the animal shall be as perfect 
 and valuable as when bought. 
 
 The purchaser, possibly, may like the horse notwithstanding his discovered defect, and 
 he may retain and bring his action for the depreciation in value on account of the un- 
 
 * The weight of authority decides that the master is bound by the act of the servant. 
 Lord Kenyon, however, had some doubt on the subject. 
 
278 THE HORSE. 
 
 soundness. Few, however, will do this, because the detention of the horse will cause a 
 suspicion that the defect was of no great consequence, and will give rise to much cavil 
 about the quantum of damages, and, after all, very slight damages will probably be ob- 
 tained. f 
 
 Where there is no warranty, an action may be brought on the ground of fraud, but this 
 is very difficult to be maintained, and few possibly will hazard it. It will be necessary to 
 prove that the dealer knew the defect, and that the purchaser was imposed upon by his 
 false representation ; and that, too, in a case in which a person of ordinary circumspec- 
 tion might have been imposed upon. If the defect was evident to every eye, the pur- 
 chaser has no remedy — he should have taken more care ; but if a warranty was given, 
 it extends to all unsoundness, palpable or concealed. Although a person should ignorantly 
 or carelessly buy a blind horse, warranted sound, he may return it — the warranty is 
 his guard, and prevents him from so closely examining the horse as he otherwise would 
 have done ; but if he buys a blind horse, thinking him to be sound, and without a war- 
 ranty, he has no remedy. The law supposes every one to exercise common circumspec- 
 tion and common sense. 
 
 A man should have a more perfect knowledge of horses than falls to the lot of most, 
 and a perfect kno\vledge of the vendor too, who ventures to buy a horse without a 
 waiTanty. 
 
 If a person buys a horse warranted sound, and discovering no defect in him, and rely- 
 ing on the warranty, resells him, and the unsoundness is discovered by the second pur- 
 chaser, and the horse returned to the first purchaser, or an action commenced against him, 
 he has his claim on the first seller, and may demand of him not only the price of the 
 horse, or the difference in value, but everj' expense that may have been incurred. 
 
 Exchanges, whether of one horse absolutely for another, or a sum of money being 
 paid in addition by one of the parties, stand on the same ground as simple sales. If there 
 IS a warranty on either side, and that is broken, the exchange is vitiated ; if there be no 
 warranty, deceit must be proved. 
 
 The subject of trial is a very intricate one, and we are inclined to think that the dealer 
 is often very ill-used. It is well known that a horse from a dealer's stable is seldom or 
 never fit for hard work until he has undergone some preparation and training. It is right 
 that the purcha.ser should have a trial of him, but he should try him in a fair way— in a 
 way consistent with the state in which the animal is. If a horse from a dealer's stable 
 is galloped far and fast, it is probable that he will soon show distress ; and if he is pushed 
 farther, inflammation and death may ensue. The dealer rarely gets recompensed for 
 this ; and if it should occur soon after the sale, the horse is returned, or an action is 
 brought for its price. When accidents have arisen in the fair trial of a horse, the de- 
 cisions of the courts of law have been strangely contradictory ; and, indeed, it is often 
 difficult to determine whether the fault rests with tlie horse or the rider. If the horse be 
 detained after the specified time of trial, he is supposed to be sold, and with all his faults. 
 
 In London, and in most great towns, there are repositories for the periodical sale of 
 horses by auction. They are of great convenience to the seller, who can at once get rid 
 of a horse with which he wishes to part, without waiting month after month before he 
 obtains a purchaser, and who is relieved from the nuisance or fear of having the horse 
 returned on account of breach of the wairanty, because in these places only two days are 
 allowed for the trial, and if the horse is not returned vsdthin that period, he cannot be 
 returned afterwards. They are also convenient to the purchaser, who can thus in a large 
 town soon find a horse that will suit him, and which, from this restriction as to_ the 
 returning the animal, he will obtain twenty or thirty per cent, below the dealer's prices. 
 Although an auction may seem to offer a fair open competition, theie is no place at which 
 it is more necessary for a person not much accustomed to horses to take with him an 
 experienced friend, and when there to depend on his own judgment or that of his friend, 
 
 t '•' I take it to be clear law, that if a person purchases a horse that is warranted, and it 
 afterwards turns out that the horse was unsound at the time of the warranty, the buyer, 
 may, if he pleases, keep the horse, and bring an action on the warranty ; in which he vpill 
 have a right to recover the difference between the value of a sound horse, and one with 
 such defects as existed at the time of warranty ; or he may return the horse, and bring 
 an action to recover the full money paid ; but in the latter case, the seller has a right to 
 expect that the horse shall be returned to him in the same state he was when sold, and not 
 by any means diminished in value ; for if a person keeps a warranted article for any 
 length of time after discovering its defects, and when he returns it, it is in a worse state 
 than it would have been if returned immediately after such discovery, I think the party 
 can have no defence to an action for the price of the article on the ground of non-compli- 
 ance with the warranty, but must be left to his action on the warranty to recover the 
 difference in the value of the article warranted, and its value when sold." — Curtis v. Han- 
 nay. 3 Esp. 83. 
 
THE SKIN AND ITS DISEASES. 279 
 
 heedless of the observations oi* majioeuvres of the by-standers, the exaggerated commen- 
 dations of some horses, and the thousand faults found with others. There are always 
 numerous groups of low dealers, copers, and chanters, whose business it is to delude and 
 deceive. 
 
 1 The principal repositories in London, are Tattersall's at Hyde Park Corner, on Mon- 
 day and Thursday, at one o'clock, for racers, hunters, and superior horses of every kind, 
 although many that are good for nothing find their way there. Young's at the Bazaar 
 in King Street, Portman Square, on Tuesday and Saturday, at twelve o'clock, for horses 
 of eveiy description ; and where, likewise, horses are always standing for private sale. 
 Dixon's, in Bajbican, for machiners of every kind, and generally the best of them, with 
 occasionally good hackneys ; and Morris's, in St. Martin's Lane, for draught horses and 
 hackneys of every grade and value. Horses should be sent two days before the sale ; 
 and it should be so contrived, if possible, that they should be placed about or beyond the 
 middle of the catalogue ; so that they may be brought out when those persons who lie 
 abed until after noon, begin to appeal'. If the horses are bought in, the owner will have 
 to pay 3s 6d per night for their keep, and 6s. for the offering them for sale : if they are 
 sold, he will be charged with five per cent, for the auction-duty, five per cent, for com- 
 mission, and the keep ; and the balance may be received the day after the period of tiial 
 expires. 
 
 One of the regulations at the Bazaar is exceedingly fair, both with regard to the pre- 
 vious owner and the purchaser : viz. 
 
 " When a horse, having been warranted sound, shall be returned within the prescribed 
 period, on account of unsoundness, a certificate from a veterinary surgeon, particularly 
 describing the unsoundness, must accompany the horse so returned , when, if it be 
 agreed to by tlie veterinary surgeon of the establishment, the amount received for the 
 horse shall be immediately paid back ; but if the veterinary surgeon of the establish- 
 ment should not confirm the certificate, then, in order to avoid further dispute, one of 
 the veterinaiy surgeons of the college shall be called in, and his decision shall be final, 
 and the expense of such umpire shall be borne by tlie party in error." 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 THE SKIN AND ITS DISEASES. 
 
 The skin of the horse differs little in construction from that of other animals. It 
 consists of three pails, the cuticle or scarf skin externally — very thin, and somewhat 
 transparent, as is proved by the action of a blister when tlie cuticle is raised from the 
 true skin beneath, in the form of cdmost pellucid bladders. The dandrifl'or scurf, which 
 is brushed out in grooming, consists of scales or portions of the cuticle detached in the 
 gradual change or renewal of this membrane. The parts within the frame as they are 
 separated are carried off by tlie absorbents — the outer skin is more readily got rid of, in 
 the form of scales. The cuticle is produced by the true skin, and is perforated by aQ 
 its pores, whether exhalent or absorbent ; and it adheres to the true skin through the 
 medium of these pores, and likewise of little eminences or projections, which seem to 
 be prolongations of the nerves of the skin. 
 
 It is doubtful whether the horse possesses to any considerable degree the sense of 
 touch, or whether he is able to ascertain the form and nature of bodies by impressions 
 made through the medium of the nen^es of the skin. The skin is thinner about the 
 muzzle than at other parts, because it is devoid of hair, but we never see this animal 
 examining bodies by moving or rolling them about vrith his muzzle. He seems to ex- 
 amine them simply by the smell. 
 
 Beneath the cuticle is a thin soft substance, through which the pores and eminences 
 of the true skin pass ; and on which the horse depends for his color. The dandriff or 
 scurf of a black horse is as white as that of the lightest grey ; and the skin beneath is 
 of the same hue in all. The soft substance is called the rete viucosum, from its web-like 
 structure, and its soft mucous consistence. 
 
 Under this is the true skin, very different in different breeds ; thin and highly sensible 
 in the blood horse ; thick, and, fortiuiately for the animal, endowed with far less sensi- 
 bility, in the common cart horse. Over a great part of the frame it lies upon a very 
 singular muscle, peculiar to quadrupeds, and more extensive and powerful in thin-skin- 
 ned and thin-haired animals than in those of thicker hides. It reaches from the poll over 
 
2S0 THE HORSE. 
 
 the whole of the carcass, and down to the arm before, and stifle behind. By its contrac- 
 tion the skin is puckered in every direction ; and if it acts strongly and rapidly, the 
 horse is not only enabled to skake off any insect or fly that may annoy him, but some- 
 times to displace a great part of his harness ; and we have seen determinedly vicious 
 horses shedce themselves so violently that the most expert rider could scarcely keep his 
 seat. This muscle also assists the skm in bracing that part of the frame which it covers, 
 and perhaps it gives additional strength to the muscles beneath. It is called the pannU 
 calus camosas of fleshy pinnacle or covering. 
 
 The skin answers tiie double purpose of protection and strength. Where it is neces- 
 sary that the parts should be bound and knit together it adheres so tightly that we can 
 scarcely raise it. Thus the bones of the knees and the pasterns and the tendons of the 
 legs, on which so much stress is frequently thrown, are securely tied down and kept in 
 their places. It is in order to take additional advantage of this binding and strengthening 
 power that we fire the legs of overworked horses, in whom tlie sinews have begun to 
 start, and the ligaments ot the joints to swell, or be displaced. We find tlie skin tight 
 along the muscles of the back and loins, and down the yet more powerful muscles of the 
 quartei-s ; but in other places it seems to be destined only to protect the parts beneath, 
 and there it is loosely attached, that it may not interfere with the motions of the animcil. 
 About the brisket, and within the arms and at the flanks, it hangs even in folds, to allow 
 for the extraordinary distension of those parts in rapid action. 
 
 Of its strengtli we have abundant proof, both in the living and dead animal. Its 
 fibres are interlaced in a most curious and intricate manner, so as, when living, to be 
 scarcely lacerable. It olfers considerable resistance even to the knife, and is converted 
 into leather after death. 
 
 It is while the animal is alive, one of the most elastic bodies with which We are ac- 
 quainted, It not only perfectly adapts itself to the slow grovsiii or decrease of the body, 
 and appears equally to fit, whether the horse is in the plumpest condition or reduced to 
 a skeleton, but when a portion of it is distended to an extraordinary degree in the most 
 
 fiowerful action of the muscles, it in a moment again contracts to its usual dimensions, 
 t is principally indebted for this elasticity to almost innumerable little glands which 
 pour out an oily fluid that softens and supplies it. When the horse is in health, and 
 every organ discharges its proper functions, a certain quantity of this unctuous mat- 
 ter is spread over the surface of the skin, and is contained in all the pores that penetrate 
 its substance, and the skin is pliable, easily raised from the texture beneath, easily dou- 
 bled between the finger and thumb, and presenting that peculiar yielding softness and 
 elasticity which experience has proved are the best proofs of the condition, that is, the 
 general health of the animal. Then, too, from the oiliness and softness of the skin, 
 the hair lies in its natural and proper direction, and is smooth and glossy — another 
 proof of the condition of the horse. When the system is deranged, and especi- 
 ally the digestive system, and the vessels concerned in the nourishment of the animal 
 cease to act, or act feebly, the vessels of the skin immediately, and to a very marked de- 
 gree, sympathize ; and tnis oily secretion is no more thrown out, and the skin loses its 
 pliancy, and it is difficult or almost impossible to take it up between the finger and 
 thumb, and, losing its pliancy, it seems to cling to the animal, and we have that pecu- 
 liar feeling which we call 
 
 HIDE-BOUND. 
 
 Hide-bound is not so much a diminution of the cellular or fatty substance between the 
 ekin and the muscles and bones beneath, as it is an alteration in the skin itself. It is 
 a hardness and unyieldingness of the skin from the want of the oily matter on its surface, 
 and in its substance, which has just been mentioned. It is precisely the diflference 
 which is presented to the feeling by well-curried and supple leattier, and that which has 
 become dry and unyielding. 
 
 The surface of the skin becoming dry and hard, the scales of the cuticle no longer yield 
 to the hau-, but, separating themselves in every direction, turn the hair various ways, and 
 give that staring coat or irregular direction of the hair which accompcuiies want of con- 
 dition. This state of the skin, by proving the impaired functions of the vessels of the 
 skin, shows the impaired function of the vessels]eveiy where, and particularly those of the 
 stomach and bowels. The horseman should remember that hide-bound is not so much a 
 disease, as a symptom of disease, and particularly of the digestive organs ; and our reme- 
 dies must be applied not so much to the skin, (although we have, in friction and in 
 warmth, most valuable agents in producing a healthy condition of the integuments,) as 
 to the cause of the binding of the coat and the state of the constitution generally. 
 Every disease that can ailect the general system is likely to produce this derangement 
 of the functions of the sldn. Glanders, when become constitutional, is strongly charac- 
 terised by the unthi-ifty appearance of the coat. Chronic cough, grease, faccy, and 
 
PORES OF THE SKIN. 281 
 
 founder, are accompanied by hide-bound ; and diet too sparing, and not adequate to the 
 work exacted, is an unfailing source of it. If the cause be removed, the effect will 
 cease. 
 
 Should the cause be obscure, as it frequently is — should the horse wear an unthrifty 
 coat, and his hide cling to his ribs, without any apparent disease, we shall be warranted 
 in tracing it to sympathy with the actual, although not demonstrable suspension of some 
 important secretion, and, we repeat, generally in the alimentary canal : therefore a few 
 mashes, and a mild dose of physic, are first indicated, and, simple as they appear to be, 
 they often have a very beneficial effect. The regular action of the bowels being re-esta- 
 bUshed, that of all the organs of the frame will speedily follow. If the horse cannot be 
 spared for physic, alteratives may be administered. There is no better alterative for 
 being hide-bound and having an unthrifty coat than that which is in common use, and 
 which we have so often recommended, levigated antimony, nitre, and sulphur ; and 
 given, in these cases, in doses of two drachms of the first, three of the second, and four 
 of the last, and repeated every night in a mash, or in the form of ball. The peculiar 
 effect of the antimony and sulphur on the skin, of the sulphur on the bowels, and of the 
 nitre on the urinary organs, will be here advantageously combined. 
 
 Should the horee not feed well, and there be no indication of fever, a slight tonic may 
 be added, as one diachm of gentian, and half a drachm of ginger ; but In the majority 
 of cases attended by loss of condition, and an unthrifty coat, and hide-bound, tonics 
 and aromatics should be carefully avoided. The cause of the impared action of the 
 vessels being removed, the powers of nature will generally be sufficient, and had better 
 be let alone. There are not any more dangerous medicines in common use in the stable, 
 and especially in cases like these, than tonics and cordials. They often arouse to fatal 
 action a tendency to fever that would otherwise have slept, or they produce a state 
 of excitement near akin to fever, and apt to degenerate into it. By the stimulus of a 
 cordial the secretions may be suddenly roused, and among them, this unctuous secretion 
 from the pores of the skin, so necessary to apparent condition ; but the effect soon passes 
 over, a repetition of the stimulus is necessary— the habit is soon formed — the dose must 
 be gradually increased, and in the mean time the animal is kept in a state of dangerous 
 excitement, and the powers of nature must be eventually impaired. 
 
 Friction may be employed with advantage in the removal of hide-bound. It has re- 
 peatedly been shown tliat it is one of the most efficacious instruments we can use to call 
 into exercise the suspended energies either of the absorbent or secreting vessels. 
 Warmth may likewise be employed, not warmth of stable, which has been shown to be 
 so injurious, and that in a much more important way than the mere want of condition, 
 but warmth of clothing. But before tliis can be fully considered, the hair by which 
 the skin is covered must be described. 
 
 THE HAIR. 
 
 The hair is the natural clotliing of all our domestic quadrupeds. It is some protection 
 from violence, and more so from cold ; and it varies with the climate in which they live. 
 It springs from below the skin. There are found on the cellular and fatty substance, im- 
 mediately in contact with the internal surface of the skin, numerous little bulbs, which 
 penetrate into and pass through the true skin, and which ariiving at the cuticle, the hair 
 protrudes from the summit of them. The hair itself, when examined through a micro- 
 scope, is seen to be a little tube, containing a pulpy matter, wliich runs through the whole 
 length of it, by which probably the hair is fed and rendered pliant ; and the loss of 
 which under disease may add to the hard and unthrifty feeling of the coat of a horse out 
 of condition. There is no essential difference in the structure of the hair in different 
 parts, as the mane, the tail, and the body, except that the former is larger, longer and 
 stronger. 
 
 The base of the bulb whence the hair proceeds being beneath the true skin, it is easy 
 to perceive that the hair will grow again, although the cuticle may have been desti'oyed. 
 A good blister, although it may remove the cuticle, and seemingly for a while the hair 
 with it, leaves no lasting blemish. Even firing, lightly and skilfully performed, and not 
 penetrating through tlie skin, leaves not much blemish ; but when, in broken knees, the 
 true skin is cut through, or destroyed, there will ever remain a spot devoid of hair. The 
 metliod of hastening and perfecting the reproduction of the hair has been described 
 in p. 189. 
 
 POKES OF THE SKIN. 
 
 Beside the openings already mentioned through which proceeds this unctuous fluid to 
 supple and soften the skin, there are others more numerous, through which a vast quan- 
 tity of aqueous fluid escapes, and perspiration is carried on ; and, as in the human being, 
 
 36 
 
282 THE HORSE. 
 
 this actually exists in a state of health and quietness, although imperceptible, yet, when 
 the animal is excited by exercise, or labors under some stages of disease, it becomes 
 visible, and appears in tlie form of drops. 
 
 This process of perspiration is not, however, so far under the control of medicine as 
 in the human being. We can, indeed, abate those profuse perspirations which accom- 
 pany want of conditioa, or moulting, or disease, but we cannot easily produce or increase 
 tile visible perspiration. 
 
 We are not aware of any -nodicine that will certainly produce it. Warm clothing 
 seems occasionally to effect it, but this is more in appearance than reality. The insen- 
 sible perspiration cannot escape through the mass of clothing, and assumes a visible 
 form. This, perhaps, is the case, even when sheep-skins are applied over the back and 
 loins in "locked jaw ;" and they produce a good effect, acting as a warm poultice over 
 the part, and so contributing to relax the muscular spasms. There are, however, some 
 medicines, as antimony and sulphur, which have an evident and very considerable effect 
 on the skin, in opening its pores and exciting its vessels to action. 
 
 Of the existence of absorbent vessels on the skin, or those which take up some fluid 
 or substance, and convey it into the circulation, we have satisfactory proof. A horse is 
 even more easily salivated than the human being. Salivation has been produced by 
 rubbing a splint with mercurial ointment, previous to blistering ; and a very few drachms 
 rubbed on the inside of the thighs will probably produce a greater effect than the practi- 
 tioner desires. 
 
 From some parts of the skin there are peculiar secretions, as that of grease in the 
 heel, and mallenders in the knee. 
 
 MOULTING. 
 
 Twice in the year the hair of the body of the horse is changed. The hair of the 
 main and tail remains. The bulbous root of the hair does not die, but the pulpy matter 
 seems to be removed from the root of the hair, which, thus deprived of its nourishment, 
 perishes and drops off, and a new hair springs at its side from tne same bulb. As this is 
 a process extending over the whole of the skin, and requiring a very considerable ex- 
 
 ;enditure of vital power, the health of the animal is generally affected at these times, 
 'hat energy and nervous and vital influence, which should support the whole of the 
 frame, is to a great degree determined to the skin, and the animal is languid, and unequal 
 to much hard work. He perspires greatly with the least unusual exertion, and if he is 
 pressed beyond his strength becomes seriously ill. 
 
 The treatment which the groom in this case adopts is most absurd and dangererous. 
 The horse, from the deranged distribution of vital power, is disposed to fever, or he 
 labors under a slight degree of fever, sufficiently indicated by the increased quickness 
 of pulse, redness of nose, and heat of mouth. The lassitude and want of appetite 
 which are the accompaniments of this febrile state, are mistaken for debility ; and cor- 
 dials of v£irious kinds, some of them exceedingly stimulating, are unsparingly adminis- 
 tered. Common sense would require, that in this deranged distribution of power, exci- 
 tants should be scrupulously avoided ; not only no cordiaJs should be given, but the usual 
 quantity of food should be diminished — bran mashes should be given — a little fever or 
 alterative medicine should be administered, such as that which we have just described, 
 and the horse should be a little more warmly clothed, and sudden or too great exposure 
 to cold should be guarded against. There is no doubt that spices hasten the process 
 of moulting. The old hair is evidently more speedily thrown off, and the new produced, 
 but this at the expense of greater derangement of the constitution — greater fever — and 
 no little danger, if, during this process ot moulting, and while nature is thus unnaturally 
 forced on, disease of a (ebrile character should attack the animal. Friction may be 
 allowed, to assist the falling off of the old hair, and to loosen the cuticle for the appear- 
 ance of the new hair, but it should be gentle. The currycomb should by no means be 
 used — even the brush should not be applied too hard or too long. The old hair must not 
 be forced off before the young hair is ready to take its place. The exercise should be 
 moderate — the clothing rather warmer than usual, and the water chilled. Nature adapts 
 the coat to the climate and to the season. The Sheltie has one cis long and as thick as 
 that of a bear; and as the summer is short and cold too in those northern islands, the 
 coat is rough and shaggy during the whole of the year. In the deserts of Arabia, where 
 the winter is rarely cold, the coat remains short and glossy throughout the year. In our 
 climate, the short covering of summer is succeed in autumn by one of considerably 
 greater length and thickness ; and that in its turn yields in the spring to the lighter cloth- 
 ing which summer requires. As a thin and glossy coat adds to the beauty of the horse, 
 and is identified, to a great degree improperly, with his condition, an artificial system has 
 been adopted, by which tiie coat shall remain of nearly the same length, and that a short 
 one, during the year. Nature changes it with the change of season ; man contrives that 
 
COLOR. 283 
 
 there shall be no change of season in the stablo. It is always summer there — always 
 sufficiently hot to make a lon^ coat useless, and therefore nature, who accommodates 
 herself to circumstances, does not give it The exposure to cold during the few hours 
 of exercise may roughen the coat lor a little while, but tlie hot clothing and the hot air 
 of more than twenty hours out of the twenty-four, give the character to the covering 
 which nature bestows on such an animal. This system is not now carried to tlie inju- 
 rious extent that it used to be, but it yet partakes too much of absurdity and danger. 
 The inflammatory complaints to which these hot-house animals are subject, and the 
 average shortness of their lives, are sufficient proofs of the error of the practice. 
 
 The farmer has, or should have, little to do with this artificial management of the coat, 
 and he may be assured that his hackney, or his hunter, if he does occasionally venture 
 to follow the hounds, will, with his winter hair upon him, be to all intents and purposes 
 in as full condition, and as sti-ong and as stout, as the glossiest-coated horse in the field, 
 if he has been sufficiently and properly fed and trained for the purpose. 
 
 Hunters that are summered out, as reason and humanity demand, sliould, however, if 
 they ai-e to wear the short fashionable coat, be taken up before the end of June, not only 
 because the grass may then begin to fail, and the ground to grow hard, and the flies to 
 annoy, but that they may be accustomed to the warmth of the stable by day and by night, 
 for a sufficient time before the moulting season commences, and that the coat may be 
 accommodated to that warmth ; for if they are sulfered to remain out until the autumnal 
 coat begins to grow, no grooming will remove it until the following spring. 
 
 As to the newly invented practices of clipping, and its supposed improvement, shaving 
 the horse, and especially the hunter, such deviations from nature rarely come to any good. 
 There may not be so much perspiration hanging about the hair when the hunter, warmed 
 by a long burst, comes to a check on a piercing day, and therefore the cooling process of 
 evaporation in such a situation may not be so long continued ; but let it be remembered 
 that this cold must be abundantly more intense, when the frosty air comes in immediate 
 contact with the heated sldn. It is during these pauses of action that the animal wants 
 clothing to protect him from the chilling injurious eflfect of the piercing blast upon the 
 opened steaming pores of the skin. While the animal is in action, a sulficient supply of 
 heat is obtained by the effect of that action on tlie capillaries, and the increased develope- 
 mentof temperature ; but when tlie action is suspended, some clothing, natural or arti- 
 ficial, something through which the animal heat shall not escape, is absolutely necessary 
 to prevent tlie chilling of the frame, the exhaustion of vital power, and the dangerous 
 reaction of fever. 
 
 The color of the hair admits of eveiy variety, and each color becomes in turn fash- 
 ionable. The color of the hair, like that of the skin, is influenced by, or depends on, 
 that of the mucous mesh-work under the cuticle. There are comparatively few perfectly' 
 white horses now remaining. The snow-white palirey, with its round carcass, and barb 
 head, originally from Spain, or perhaps from Barbary, and rarely exceeding the size of 
 a Galloway, is now neai-ly extinct. Some yet remain in the possession of the Duke of 
 Montrose They are of good constitution and pleasant in their paces. The majority of 
 white horses are those that have become so. Light-grey colts begin to grow white before 
 they are five years old, especially if they have not much dark mixture about the joints. 
 
 Grey horses are of diflijrent shades, from the lightest silver to a dark iron grey. The 
 silver grey reminds the observer of the palfrey, improved by an admixture of Arab-blood. 
 He does not oiten exceed fourteen hands and a half high, and is round carcassed — light 
 legged — with oblique pasterns, calculated for a light carriage, or for a lady's riding ; seldom 
 subject to disease — but not very fleet, or capable of hard work. 
 
 The iron grey is usually a larger horse ; higher in the wuthers, deeper and thinner in 
 the carcass, more angular in all his proportions, and in many cases a little too long in the 
 legs. Some of these greys make good hackneys and hunters, and especially the Irish 
 horses ; but they are principall)- used for the carriage. They have more endurance than 
 the flatness of the chest would promise ; but their principal defect is their feet, which are 
 liable to conti-action, aaid yet that contraction not so often accompanied by lameness as in 
 many other horses. 
 
 The dappled grey is generally a handsomer and a better horse : all the angular points 
 of the iron grey are filled up, and with that which not only adds to symmetry, but to use. 
 AVhether as a hackney, or, the larger variety, a carriage-horse, there are few better, espe- 
 cially since his form has been so materially improved, and so much of his heaviness gol 
 rid of, by the free use of foreign blood. Tliere are not, however, so many dappled greys 
 
284 THE HORSE. 
 
 as there used to be, since the bays have been bred with so much care. The dappled grey 
 if dark at first, generally retains his color to old age. 
 
 Some of the greys approach to a nutmeg, or even bay color. Many of these are hand- 
 some, and most of them are hardy. 
 
 The roans, of every vaiiety of color and form, are composed of white mixed with bay 
 or red, or black. In some it seems to be a natural mixtrire of the colors ; in others it 
 appears as if one color was powdered or sprinkled over another. They are pretty horses 
 for ladies or hght carnages, and many of them easy in their paces, but they do not usually 
 display much blood, nor are they celebrated for endurance. If they should have white 
 fore legs, with white hoofs, they are too often tender-footed, or become so with even a 
 little hard work. 
 
 The strawberry horse is a mixture of sorrel with white ; usually handsome and pleasant, 
 but more celebrated for tliese qualities than for strength and endurance 
 
 The pied horse is one that has distinct spots or patches of ditlerent colors, but almost 
 invariably of white with some other color. They are not liked as hackneys, on account 
 of their peculiarity of color, nor in teams of horses ; but they look well when tolerably 
 matched in a phaeton or light carriage. Their value must depend on their breed; but of 
 themselves they have no peculiar character, except that a white leg and foot is as suspi- 
 cious in them as it is in the roan. 
 
 The dun, of the Galloway size, and with considerable blood, is often attached to the 
 curricle or the phaeton ; but the larger is a true farmer's or miller's horse, with no great 
 speed, and not always extraordinary strength, and sometimes a little of a drone, yet a good- 
 tempered, good-feeding, good-constitutioned, useful horse enough. Varieties of the dun, 
 shaded with a darker color, or dappled, and with some breeding, and not standing too high, 
 are very beautiful, and are sought after for light carriages, and particularly for ladies to 
 drive. 
 
 The cream-color, of Hanoverian extraction, with his white iris and red pupil, is appro- 
 priated to royal use. Attached to the state -carriage of the monarch, he is a superb animal. 
 His bulky, yet perfectly-formed body, his swelling crest, and his proud and lofty action, 
 as if conscious of his ofHce, qualify him for the service which is exacted from him, but 
 we have no experience how far he would suit other purposes. 
 
 Of the chestnuts there are three varieties — the lightest red or the sorrel, usually with 
 white about them, either on the face or the legs ; generally lightly made, yet some of them 
 bulky enough for the heaviest loads. Their color is generally considered objectionable. 
 Many of them have no breeding at all, and the best bred are supposed to be somewhat 
 deficient in endurance. 
 
 The light chestnut, with less red and a little more bay or brown, is considered as a pre- 
 ferable horse, especially if he has no white about him, or only a small portion of it ; yet even 
 he, although pleasant to ride, is sometimes irritable, and generally weak. We must except 
 one variety, the Suffolk punch ; a heavy horse, and adapted for slow work, but perfect in 
 his kind, which no labor can daunt, no fatigue overcome. This is a breed now, unfortu- 
 nately, nearly extinct. The present vaiiety, however crossed, is not equal to the old 
 Suffolk. 
 
 The dark chestnut is as different a horse from the hackney-hght-chestnut as can be ea- 
 sily imagined ; round in the carcass, powerful in the quarters, hut rather fine in the legs : 
 possessed of great endurance, and with a constitution that rarely knows an ailment, ex- 
 cept that the feet are small and disposed to contraction, and that accompanied by lame- 
 ness, and that the horse is too often of a hot and unmanageable temper. 
 
 Of the bays, there are many varieties, and they include the veiy best of our horses of 
 every description. The bright yellow bay, although very beautiful, and especially if his 
 mane and tail are black, is the least valuable, because the lightness of his color seems to 
 give him some tenderness of constitution. The proper bay, with no white about him, 
 and black from the knees and the hocks to tlie feet, is tlie most desirable of all colors ; 
 he has generally a good constitution, naturally good feet, and, if his conformation is not 
 faulty, will turn out a valuable horse for almost every purpose. 
 
 As we approach to the brown, we find in the bay-brown not always so much show 
 and action, but more strength and endurance, and more usefulness. He usually has 
 more substance than the lighter bay, and more depth of leg ; and, could we find the 
 same degree of breeding, he would be as handsome, and more valuable. A good bay- 
 brown or a brown horse, with a sufficient quantity of blood, is indeed a good horse. 
 
 When, however, we arrive at the browns, it is necessary to examine the degree of breed- 
 ing. This color is not so fashionable, and therefore these horses have been considerably 
 neglected. There are many good ones, and those that are good are valuable ; but many 
 of them are only a half or a quarter bred, and therefore comparatively coarse, yet useful 
 for the saddle and for harness, for slow work, and occasionally for that which is more 
 rapid. 
 
 The black-brown is generally more neglected so far as its breed is concerned, and de- 
 
MANGE. 285 
 
 serves to be examined more carefully. It frcquontlj^ however, retains much of the 
 goodness of constitution of the brown and bay-brown. 
 
 Of the black greater care has been taken. The heavy black of Lincolnshire and the 
 midland counties is a noble animal, and would be almost beyond price if he could be 
 rendered more active. The next in size forni the majority of our wagon-horses, and 
 perhaps our best ; and on a smaller breed still, and to the improvement of which much 
 attention has been devoted many of oiu- cavalry are mounted. A few black thorough- 
 bred horses and black hunters have been seen, but the improvement of horses of tliis 
 color has not been studied, except for the purposes that have been mentioned. Their 
 peculiar high action, while not unobjectionable lor draught, and desirable for the parade, 
 woidd be unbearable in the roadster ; and some have said, that black horses are more 
 subject to vice, disease and blindness, than any other color. This charge is not, per- 
 haps, true to its full extent, but there certainly aie a gieat many worthless black horses 
 in every part of the country. 
 
 After all, tliere is an old saying, that a good horse cannot be of a bad color ; and it is far 
 more necessary to attend to the conformation and points of the horse than to his color. 
 These observations, however, although they admit of many exceptions, may be useful 
 in guiding to the judicious purchase of tlie horse. 
 
 Large pimples or lumps often suddenly appear on the skin of the horse, and especially 
 in the spring; and occasionally they disappear as quickly as they came. Sometimes 
 they seem to be attended with great itching, but at others they appear not in the least 
 to annoy the animal. When they have remained a few days, the cuticle frequently peels 
 off, and a small scaly spot, though rarely a sore is left. This is called a surfeit, from its 
 resemblance to some eruptions on the skin of the human being, when indigestible or un- 
 wholesome food has been taken. These lumps are, in some cases, confined to the neck ; 
 but they oftener spread over the sides, back, loins, and quarters. The cause is enveloped 
 in some obscurity. The disease most frequently appears when the skin is iiTitable du- 
 ring or after the process of moulting, and when it sympathises most with any disorder of 
 the stomach ; therefore, some veterinary surgeons have attiibuted it to indigestion. It has 
 been known to follow the eating of poisonous herbs or mow-burnt hay, but much of- 
 tener it is to be traced to exposure to cold when the skin was previously irritable and 
 the horse heated by exercise ; it has also been attributed to the immoderate drinking of 
 cold water when the animal was hot. It is obstruction of some of the pores of the skin 
 and swelling of the surrounding substance, eitlier from primaiy affection of the skin, or 
 from its sympathy with the digestive organs. 
 
 ' Bleeding will always be beneficial — from three to five quarts may be taken, according 
 to the strength of the horse, the extent of the eruption, and the degree of fever. Physic 
 never does good. If surfeit be connected with some unhealthy aiiection of the stomach 
 or intestines, it is that which the nausea or subsequent action of the purgative increases. 
 Alteratives will be found useful — and particularly the alterative which was recom- 
 mended for hide-bound (p. 280), and in the same doses. These should be given on 
 several successive nights. The night is better tlian the morning, because the warmth 
 of the stable will cause the antimony and sulphur to act more powerfully on the skin. 
 The horse should be warmly clothed. — half an hour's walking exercise should be given, 
 an additional rug having been thrown over him — such green meat as can be procured 
 should be used in moderate quantities, and the chill should be taken fi-om the water. _ 
 
 Although the eruption may disappear after the bleeding, and that very quickly, it will, 
 if the horse be exposed to cold, come out again as suddenly, and as extensively as be- 
 fore. It will rarely, however, be advisable to repeat the bleeding. 
 >• Should the lumps, after several of these alternate appearances and disappearances, 
 remain, and the cuticle and the hair begin extensively to peel off, a worse affection is 
 to be feared, for it is far from unusual for surfeit to precede or degenerate into mange. 
 This disorder, therefore, shall next be considered. 
 
 Is a pimpled or lumpy eruption. After a while the vesicle breaks, the cuticle and the 
 hair fall otf, and there is, as in obstinate surfeit, a bare spot left covered with sciurf ; but 
 some fluid oozes from the skin beneath, and this scurfiness changes to a scab, which 
 likewise, soon peels off, and leaves a wider spot : sometimes another scab succeeds to 
 the first, but oftener a mere scaly, greasy-feeling, bare spot remains. This is attended 
 with considerable itching and tenderness, and thickening of the skin, which soon be- 
 comes more or less folded or puckered. The mange generally first appears on the 
 neck, at the root of the mane, and its existence may be pretty truly ascertained, even 
 
286 THE HORSE. 
 
 before the blotches appear, and when there is only considerable ichiness of the part, by 
 the ease with wliich the short hair at the root of tlie mane is plucked out. From the 
 neck it spreads upward to the head, or downwards to the withers cUid back, and occa- 
 sionally extends over the whole carcass of the horse. 
 
 One cause of it, although an unfrequent one, has been stated to be neglected or inve- 
 terate surfeit. The more common cause is contagion. Amid the whole list of diseases 
 to which the horse is exposed, there is not one more highly contagious than mange. If 
 it once gets into a stable, it spreads through it, for the shghtest contact seems to be suf- 
 ficient lor the communication of this noisome complaint. 
 
 If the same brush or currycomb be used on all the horses, the propagation of mange 
 is assured ; and horses feeding in the same pasture with a mangy one rarely escape, 
 from the propensity they have to nibble one another. Mange in cattle has been propa- 
 gated to the horse, and from the horse to cattle, but there is no authenticated instance 
 of tlie same disease in the dog being communicated to the horse. There is as much 
 difference in the character and appearance of mange in tlie horse and dog, as between 
 either of them and the itch in the human subject ; and the itch has never been commu- 
 nicated to the quadruped, nor the mange of the quadruped to the human being. 
 
 Mange has been said to originate in want oi cleanliness in the management of the 
 stable. The comfort and the health of the horse demand the strictest cleanliness. The 
 eyes and tlie lungs frequentl}* suffer from the noxious fumes of the putrifying dung and 
 urine ; but, in defiance of common prejudice, there is no authentic instance of mange 
 being the result. It may, however, proceed from poverty. When the animal is half- 
 starved, and the functions of digestion and the powers of the constitution are 
 weakened, we have seen, in the cases of liide-bound and surfeit, that the skin 
 soon sympathises, and we can imagine that mange may occasionally be produced instead 
 of surfeit and hide-bound. Every farmer has proof enough of this being the case. If 
 a horse is turned on a common, where there is scarcely sufficient herbage to satisfy his 
 appetite, or if he is placed In one of those straw-yards which, under the management of 
 mercenary and unfeeling men, are the very abodes of misery, the animal comes up a 
 skeleton, and he comes up mangy too. Poverty and starvation ai-e fruitful sources of 
 mange, but it does not appear that filth has much to do with it, although poverty and 
 filth generally go hand in hand. 
 
 The propriety of bleeding in cases of mange must depend on the condition of the 
 patient. If mange be the result of poverty, and the animal is much debilitated, bleed- 
 ing will be adding power to the cause of the disease. Physic, however, is indis- 
 pensable. It is the first step in the progress towards cure. A mercurial ball will be 
 preferable to a common aloetic one, as more certain and effectual in its operation, and 
 the mercury having probably some influence in mitigating the disease. In this, however, 
 mange in the horse resembles the itch in the human being — that medicine alone will 
 never effect a cure. There must be some local application. There is this further simi- 
 larity, that that which is most effectual in curing mis disgraceful complaint in man, must 
 form the basis of every local application as it regards the horse. Sulphur is indispensable 
 in every unguent for mange, it is the sheet-anchor of the veterinary surgeon. 
 
 In an early, and not very acute state of mange, one ounce of the flowers of sulphur 
 should be well rubbed down with an equal quantity of ti-ain oil, and half an ounce of 
 common turpentine. Farriers are fond of the black sulphur, but that which consists 
 of earthy matter, with the mere dregs of the sulphur, cannot be so effectual as the 
 flowers, which are pure subUmed sulphur. A tolerably stout brush, or even a curry- 
 comb, lightly applied, should be used wherever there is any appearance of mange, to 
 remove the dandriff or scurf. After that, the horse should be washed with strong soap 
 and water as far as the disease has extended ; and when he has been thoroughly dried, 
 the ointment should be well rubbed in with the naked hand, or with a piece of flannel. 
 More good will be done by a little of the ointment being well rubbed in, than by a 
 great deal merely smeared over the part. The rubbing should be daily repeated. The 
 sulphur seems to have a direct influence on the disease — the turpentine has an indirect 
 one, by exciting some irritation on the skin of a different nature to that produced by the 
 mange, and under the influence of which the irritation of mange will be diminished, and 
 the disease more easily combated. During the application of the ointment, and as soon as 
 tlie physic has set, an alterative ball or powder similar to those recommended for the other 
 affections of the skin, should be daily given. If, after some days have passed, no pro- 
 gress should appear to have ceen made, half a pound of sulphur may be well mixed 
 with a pint of oil of tar, or, if that is not to be obtained, a pint of Barbadoes tar, and 
 the affected parts rubbed as before. On every fifth or sixth day the ointment should 
 be washed off with warm soap and water. The progress towards cure will be ascertained 
 the skin will be cleansed, and its pores opened, for the more effectual application of the 
 ointment. 
 
 The horse should be well supplied with nourishing, but not stimulatine food. As 
 
DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 287 
 
 much green meat as he will eat should be given him, or, what is far better, he should be 
 turned out if the weather is not too cold. It may be useliil to add, that, after the hoise 
 has been once well dressed with either of these liniments, the danger of contagion ceases. 
 It is necessary, however, to be assured that eveiy mangy place has been anointed. 
 
 It will be prudent to give two or three dressings after the hoise has been cured ap- 
 parently, and to continue the alteratives for ten days or a fortnight. The cure being 
 completed, the clothing of the horse should be well soaked in water, to which a fortieth 
 part of the saturated solution of the chloride of lime has been added ; after which, it 
 should be washed with soap and water, and again washed and soaked in a solution 
 of the chloride of lime, as before. E\ery part of the harness should undergo a similar 
 purification. The currycomb may be scoured, but the brush should be burnt. The 
 rack and manger, and partitions, and every part of the stable which the horse could 
 possibly have touched, should be well w-ashed with a hair broom, a pint of the chlo- 
 ride of lime being added to three gallons of water. All tlie wood-work should then 
 be scoured Vvith soap and water, after which a second washing of the chloride of lime 
 and water will render all secure. Some farmers have pulled down tlicir stables when 
 they have been thoroughly infected with mange. Tliis is being unnecessarily cautious. 
 The efficacy of the chloride of lime was not then known : and if is carefully and suffi- 
 ciently applied to every part of the stable and its furniture, there cannot afterwards be 
 danger. 
 
 Eveiy case of itchiness of the skin should be regarded with suspicion. When a horse 
 is seen to rub the root of his tail, or his head or neck, against the manger, the parts .should 
 be carefully examined. Some of the hair may have been rubbed or torn off, but if the roots 
 remain firmly adherent, and there be only redness and not scurfiness of the skin, it pro- 
 bably is not mange, but only inflammation of the skin, from too great fulness of blood. 
 A little blood should be taken away — a purgative administered, and the alteratives 
 given. The mange ointment cannot do harm, and may possibly prevent this heat of the 
 skin from degenerating into mange, or stop the progress of mange, if it has commenced. 
 If a scurfiness of skin should appear on any of the points that are pressed upon by the 
 collar or harness, the veterinary surgeon will do right to guard against danger, by altera- 
 tive medicine and the use of the ointment. 
 
 These are tumors of variable size, arising first from the cuticle, and afterwards con- 
 nected with the true skin by means of the vessels which supply the growth of the tu- 
 mors. They are found sometimes on the eye-lids, on various parts of the skin, and on 
 the prepuce. They must be removed by an operation. If the root be very small, it may 
 be snipped asunder with a pair of scissors, close to the skin, and the root touched with 
 the lunar cautic. If the pedicle or stem be somewhat larger, a ligature of waxed silk 
 may be passed firmly round it, and tightened every day. The source of nutriment being 
 thus cut off, the tumor will, in a few days, die and drop off. If they are large, or in con- 
 siderable clusters, it will be necessary to cast the horse, to cut them off close to the skin, 
 and sear the root with a red-hot iron. Unless these precautions are used, the warts will 
 speedily sprout again. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 A LIST OF THE MEDICINES USED IN THE TREATMENT 
 OF THE DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 
 
 He will rarely consult his own interest, who, not having had the advantage of vete- 
 rinary education, undertakes the treatment of any of the serious diseases of his horses. 
 Many of the maladies of the horse so nearly resemble each other — and are so continu- 
 ally varying their character, and require, in their different stages, so diiierent a treatment , 
 and in the plainest case not only the characteristic symptoms of disease are obscure, but 
 even the indications of returning health, or increasing danger, cften scarcely ascertaina- 
 ble— so that the sick horse, as well as the human being, needs the care of one whom study 
 and experience have qualified for the task. A list, however, of the drugs generally used 
 with a sUght account of their liistoiy, adulterations and medicinal effects v\ ill be interest- 
 
288 THE HORSE. 
 
 ing to the horse-proprietor as well as to the veterinary surgeon ; and may occasionally be 
 useful when professional aid cannot be obtained. 
 
 Aloes. — There are two kinds used in horse practice, the Barbadoes and the Cape. The 
 Socotorine, preferred by the human surgeon, are very uncertain in their effect on the 
 horse. Of the Barbadoes and the Cape, the first are much to be preferred. The Barba- 
 does aloes are obtained principally from the island of Barbadoes, and are the juice of the 
 large leaves of the aloe boiled to a considerable thickness, and then poured into gourds 
 in which they gradually harden. The true Cape is the extract of a species of aloes chiefly 
 cultivated at the Cape of Good Hope. The Socotorine aloes are of a brown color, inclin- 
 ing to red, and brittle. The Barbadoes aloes are black, with a shade of brown, of an 
 unctuous feeling, with a stronger smell, broken with difficulty, and the fracture dull. The 
 Cape are darker colored, stronger smelling, veiy brittle, and the fracture perfectly glossy. 
 Every person who uses much aloes should buy them in the mass, and powder them him- 
 self, and then, by attending to this account of the difference of the three, he can scarcely 
 be imposed upon. Aloes purchased in powder are too often sadly adulterated. The Cape 
 may be powdered at all times, and the Barbadoes in frosty weather, when enough may 
 be prepared, to be kept in closed bottles, for the year's consumption. They may also be 
 powdered when they have been taken from the gourd, and exposed to a gentle heat for 
 two or three hours before they are put into the mortar. Fifteen ounces of the powder, 
 mixed with one ounce of powdered ginger, and beaten up with eight ounces of palm oil, 
 and afterwards divided into the proper doses, will form a purging mass more effectual, and 
 much less likely to gripe, than any that can be procured by melting the drug. If the 
 physic is given in the shape of ball, it more readily dissolves in the stomach, and more 
 certainly and safely acts on the bowels when made up with some oily matter, like that 
 just recommended, than when combined with synip or honey, which are apt to ferment 
 and be themselves the causes of gripes. It is also worse than useless to add any diuretic 
 to the mass, as soap or carbonate of soda. The action of these on one set of organs will 
 weaken the action of the aloes on another. A physic mass should never be kept more 
 tlian two or three months, for after that time it rapidly loses its purgative property. 
 
 Directions for physicing, will be found at p. 166. We will only add that, as a pro- 
 moter of condition, the dose should always be mild. A few fluid stools will be sufficient 
 for every good purpose. Violent disease will alone justify violent purging. 
 
 Three drachms of Barbadoes aloes will have as much purgative power as four of the 
 Cape, exclusive of griping less and being safer. If the horse is well mashed, and care- 
 fully exercised, and will drink plenty of warm water, the Cape may be ventured on, or 
 at least mixed with equal quantities of the Barbadoes ; but if there be any neglect of 
 preparation for physic, or during the usual operation of the physic, the Cape are not to 
 be depended upon, and may be dangerous. 
 
 Some persons are fond of what are called half-doses of physic. Three or four drachms 
 are given in one day, and three or four on the following, and perhaps, if the medicine 
 has not operated, as in this divided state it will not always, two or three additional 
 drachms are given on the third day. The consequence is, that the bowels having been 
 rendered irritable by the former doses, the horse is over-purged, and inflammation and 
 death not unfrequently ensue, when the effect of the three becomes combined. In phys- 
 icing a horse, whatever is to be done should be done at once. Whatever quantity is inten- 
 ded to be given, should be given in one dose. 
 
 The system of giving small doses of aloes as alteratives is not good. These repeated 
 small doses lodging in some of the folds of the intestines, and at length uniting, often pro- 
 duce more effect than is desirable ; and it is never safe to ride a horse far or fast, with even 
 a small dose of aloes within him. 
 
 Most of all objectionable is the custom of giving small doses of aloes as a nauseant, in 
 inflammation of the lungs. There is so much sympathy between the contents of the chest 
 and the beUy of the horse, and inflammation of one part is so likely to be transferred to 
 another, tiiat it is treading on very dangerous ground, when, with much inflammation of 
 the lungs, that is given which will stimulate and may inflame the intestines. 
 
 Aloes are most commonly, because most easily, administered in the form of ball, but 
 in a state of solution their effects is most speedy, effectual and safe. Two ounces of 
 aloes, and one ounce of gum (to suspend the imj^erfectly dissolved portion of the 
 aloes), are put into a pint of boiling water, and the mixture frequently stirred. When 
 it is cold, two ounces of tincture are added, as an ai'omatic, to prevent the griping of 
 the aloes, and also to keep the mixture from fermenting. The aloes must not be boiled 
 in the water ; even five minutes' boiling would take away much of the purgative effect 
 of the drug. The dose of the solution should vary from six to eight ounces. 
 
 Aloes are useful in the form of tincture. Eight ounces of powdered aloes, and one 
 ounce of powdered myrrh, should be put into two quarts of rectified spirit, diluted 
 with an equal quantity of water. The mixture should be daily well shaken for a fort- 
 night, and then suffered to stand, Uiat the undissolved portion may fall to the bottom. 
 
MEDICINES. 289 
 
 This will constitute a veiy excellent application for wounds, whether recent or of long 
 standing, and indisposed to heal. It is not only a gentle stimulant, but it ibrms a ttiin 
 crust over the wound, and shields it from the action of the air. 
 
 The principal adulteration of aloes is by means of resin, and the alteration of color 
 is concealed by the addition of charcoal, or lamp black. This adulteration is easily 
 enough detected, by dissolving the aloes in hot water. All aloes contain some resinous 
 matter, which the water will not dissolve, and which has very slight purgative eliect. 
 The excess of this resin at the bottom of the solution will mai'k tne degree of adulte- 
 ration. 
 
 Jllleralives are a class of medicines the nat>n-e and effect of which are much mis- 
 understood, and which are liable to much abuse. It is a very convenient name to ex- 
 cuse that propensity to dose tiie horse with medicines, which is the disgrace of the gi-oom, 
 and the bane of the stable. By alteratives we understand those drugs which ertect some 
 slow change in the diseased action of certain paits without interfering with the lood or. 
 work ; but by common consent the term seems to be confined to medicines for the dis- 
 eases of the ciiculation, or of the digestive oigans, or of the skin. If a horse is heavy 
 and incapable of work from too good keep, or if he is off his food from some temporaiy 
 indigestion — or if he has matige or grease, or cracked heels, or swelled legs, a few 
 alteratives are prescribed, and the complaint is gradually and imperceptibly removed. 
 For all skin atii^ctions there is no better alterative than that so often recommended in 
 tliis treatise, consisting of black antimony, nitre, and sulphur. If there is any tendency 
 to grease, two drachms of resin may be added to each ball. If the complaint be accom- 
 panied by weakness, a little gentian and ginger may be further added, but we enter our 
 protest against the ignorant use, and almost against the use in the most skilful hands, of 
 mercury in any form, or any of the mineral acids or mineral tonics, or heating spices, as 
 alteratives. We indeed should be pleased if we could banish the term alterative altoge- 
 ther. The mode of proceeding which reason and science would dictate is to ascertain 
 the nature and degree of the disease, and then the medicine which is calculated to restore 
 the healthy action of the part, or, of the frame generally. 
 
 ^luiii is occasionally used internally in cases of super-purgation in the form of alum- 
 whey, two drachms of the powder being added to a pint of hot milk ; but there are 
 much better asbingents, although this may succeed when others fail. If alum is added 
 to a vegetable astringent, as oak-bark, the power of both is diminished. Its principal 
 use is external. A solution of two drachms to a pint of water forms alone, or with a 
 .scruple of white vitriol, a very useful wash for cracked heels, and for grease generally ; 
 and also for those forms of swelled legs attended with exudation of moisture through the 
 .skin. Some add the Goulard lotion, forgeting the chemical decomposition that takes 
 place ; the result of which is, that the aluinine, possessing little astringency, is detached, 
 and two salts with no astringency at all, the sulphate of lead and the sulphate of pot- 
 ash, are formed. 
 
 The Burnt Jllum is inferior to the common alum for the purposes mentioned, and we 
 have better stimulants, or caustics, to apply to wounds. 
 
 ^Immonia, is, to the annoyance of the horse, and the injury of his eyes and his lungs, 
 plentifully extricated from the putrefying dung and urine of the stable ; but, when com- 
 bined with water in the common form of hartshorn, it is seldom used in veterinary prac- 
 tice. It has been given, and with decided benefit, and when other things have failed, iu 
 flatulent colic; and is best administered in the form of the aromatic spirit of ammonia, 
 and in doses of one or two ounces, in warm water. 
 
 Chloride of Avitnonia, or sal ammoniac is scarcely deserving of a place in our list. It 
 is not now used internally ; and as an astringent embrocation, it must yield to several 
 that are more effectual, and less likely to blemish. 
 
 Jlnodynes. — Of these there is but one in horse practice. Opium is the only drug that 
 will lull pain. It may be given as an anodyne, but it will also be an astringent in doses 
 of one, two, or three drachms. 
 
 Antimony. — There are several valuable preparations of this metal. 
 
 The Black Svlphuret of Jntimouy, a compound of sulphur and antimony, is a good 
 alterative. It is given with more sulphur and with nifa-e, in vaiying doses, according to 
 the disease and the slow or rapid effect intended to be produced. The maximum dose» 
 and especially if it is to be continued, should >iot exceed four drachms. It should never 
 be bought in powder, whatever trouble there may be in levigating it, for it is often 
 grossly adulterated with lead, manganese, forge-dust, and arsenic. The adulteration 
 may be detected by placing a little of the powder on a red hot iron plate. The pure 
 sulphuret will evaporate without the slightest residue — so will the arsenic, but there 
 will be an evident smell of garlic ; a portion of the lead and the manganese will be left 
 behind. 
 
 Emetic Tartar — the tai'trate of potash and antimony, or a combination of super-tar- 
 trate of potash and oxide of antimony, is a very useful nauseant, and has considerable 
 37 
 
290 THE HORSE. 
 
 effect on the sWn. It is particularly valuable in inflammation of the lungs, and in 
 every catarrhal affection. It is given in doses of one drachm, or one drachm and a 
 half, and combined with nitre and digitalis. It is also beneficial in the expulsion of 
 worms. Here it must be given in doses of two drachms, and with some mechanical 
 vermifuge, as tin-filings, or ground-glass, and administered on an empty stomach, and 
 for several successive days. Although it may sometimes fail to expel the worm, it ma- 
 terially improves the condition of the horse, and produces sleekness of the coat. To a 
 slight degree the emetic tartar is decomposed by the action of light, and should be kept 
 in a jar, or green bottle. It is sometimes adulterated with arsenic, which is detected by 
 the garlic smell when it is placed on hot iron, and also by its not giving a beautiful gold- 
 colored precipitate when sulphuret of ammonia is added to a solution of it. 
 
 Antimonial Powder — Powder of oxide of antimony, with phosphate of lime. This 
 is the factitious James's powder, and is used as a substitute for that medicine, in many 
 diseases of a febrile character. The dose is from one to two drachms. The late IVIr. 
 Bloxam used to trust to it alone in the treatment of epidemic catarrh in the horse, and 
 he was very successful. It is, however, decidedly inferior to the emetic tartai'. This, 
 too, is adulterated with chalk, and plaster of Peiris, and burnt bones, and other white 
 powders, and that to so shameful a degree, that little dependence can be placed on the 
 antimonial powder usually sold by druggists. Muriatic or sulphuric acid will detect 
 most of these adulterations. 
 
 Chloride of antimony is formed by distilling corrosive subUmate with antimony. The 
 butter-like matter which is produced (whence the common name, Butyr of Antimony) 
 has a strong affinity for water, which it attracts from the atmosphere, and thus becomes 
 converted into a fluid. The less water it is suffered to attract to itself, the more pow- 
 erful it remains, and therefore it should be kept in stopped bottles ; and the proof of its 
 goodness is its weight. It is decidedly the best liquid caustic we have ; it is most manage- 
 able, and its effect can most readily be ascertained. As soon as it touches any muscular 
 or living part, a change of color is perceived on the part ; and the effect of the caustic 
 can be fairly judged of by the degree of change. For corns, canker, indisposition in 
 the sole to secrete good horn, wounds in the foot not attended by healthy action, and for 
 every case where the superficial application of a caustic is needed, the chloride of anti- 
 mony is unrivalled. 
 
 Antispasmodics. — Of these our list is scanty, for the horse is subject only to a few 
 spasmodic diseases, and there are fewer medicines which have an anti-spasmodic effect. 
 Opium stands first for its general power, and that exerted particularly in locked jaw ; 
 and oil of turpentine as almost a specific for spasm of the bowels : camphor, assafcetida, 
 and various others, used on the human subject, have very doubtful effect in the horse, or 
 may be considered as almost inert. 
 
 Arsenic. — Were it not that some practitioners continue to use it as a tonic, in doses of 
 from ten to twenty grains daily, and others use it to core out old ulcers, we would not 
 include it in our list, for we have little faith in it. There are better and safer tonics, and 
 far better and safer caustics. The method of detecting the presejice of arsenic, in cases 
 of poisoning, has been described at page 158. 
 
 Astnngents are medicines that contract the living fibres, and thus close the mouths of 
 small vessels, and restrain inordinate and dangerous discharges. Opium, alum, and 
 catechu are powerful astringents in arresting intestinal and urinary evacuations ; and 
 alum and the superacetate ot lead are astringents applied externally. 
 
 Balls. — The usual and the most convenient mode of administering many medicines 
 is in the form of balls, compounded with oil, and not with honey or syrup, on account of 
 their longer keeping soft and more easily dissolving in the stomach. Balls should never 
 weigh more than an ounce and a half, or two ounces, otherwise they wiU be so large as 
 to pass with difficulty down the gullet. They should not be more than an inch in diame- 
 ter and three inches in lengtli. The mode of delivering balls is not difficult to acquire ; 
 and the balling iron, while it often wounds and permanently injures the bars, occasions 
 the horse to struggle more than he otherwise would against the administration of tlie 
 ball. The horse should be backed in the stall ; — ^the tongue should be drawn gently out 
 with the left hand on the off-side of the mouth, and there fixed, not by continuing to 
 pull at it, but by pressing the fingers against the side of the lower jaw. The bcdl, be- 
 ing now talcen between me tips of the fingers of the right hand, is passed rapidly up the 
 mouth, as near to the palate as possible, until it reaches the root of the tongue ; it is then 
 dehvered with a slight jerk, and the hand being immediately withdrawn and the tongue 
 liberated, the ball is forced through the pharynx into the oesophagus. Its passage should 
 be watched down the left side of the throat ; and if it is not seen going down, a slight 
 tap or blow under the chin will generally cause the horse to swallow, or a few 
 gulps of water will carry it down. If the gullet should be small, or strictured, and the 
 ball should remain in some part of it, the method of removijig it has been described in 
 page 128. , 
 
MEDICINES. 291 
 
 Blisters ai'e applications to the skin which separate the cuticle in tlie form of vesicles 
 containing a serous fluid. They excite increased action in the vessels of the skin, by- 
 means of which this fluid is thrown out. The part or neighboring parts are somewhat 
 relieved by this discharge, but more by the inflammation and pain which are produced, 
 and which lessen the intlammation and pain previously existing in some contiguous part. 
 On this principle we account for the decided relief often obtained by blisters in inflamma- 
 tion of the lungs ; tlieir efficacy in abating deeply-seated inflammation, as that of sprain of 
 the tendons, ligaments, or joints ; and the necessity of removing first, in these latter cases, 
 the superficial inflammation caused by the sprain, that inflammation of a diflJerent kind 
 may be excited instead of it, to which the deeply-seated inflammation of the part will be 
 more likely to yield. The blisters used in horse-practice are composed only of can- 
 tharides or the oil of turpentine, to which some have added a tincture of the Croton- 
 nut. The method of forming the best blister is mentioned at page 147. 
 
 Bole Armenian is an argillaceous eartli combined with iron, and is supposed to possess 
 some astringent property. The propriety of its being best administered inwardly is 
 doubtful ; for it may remain in the intestinal canal, and become the nut of a stone. On 
 account of its supposed astringency, it is employed externally to give consistence to 
 ointments for grease. Even the bole Armenian has not escaped the process of adidtera- 
 tion, and is lai-gely mixed with interior earths. The fraud may be suspected, but not 
 satisfactorily detected, by the color of the powder, which should be a bright red. 
 
 Burgundy Pitch. — SeeKesin. 
 
 Calamine. — See Zinc. 
 
 Calomel. — See Mercury. 
 
 Camphoi is the produce of one of the laurus species, a native of Japan, and is imitated 
 by passing a stream of chlorine through oil of turpentine. The efficacy of this drug 
 when used internally is very doubtful. The camphor ball is a favorite with the groom, 
 and occasionally administered by the veterinary surgeon, but seemingly, with no defi- 
 nite object, for it has not been yet determined whether it is to be considered as a seda- 
 tive, antispasmodic, or stimulant. It is however, a stimulant, when applied externally. 
 In the form of camphorated oil, it promotes the absorption of fluids thrown out beneath 
 the skin, the removal of old callus, and the suppleing of joints stiff' from labor. Com- 
 bined with oil of turpentine it is more effective, but in that combination it occasion- 
 ally blemishes. 
 
 Cantharides are the basis of the most approved and useful veterinary blisters. The 
 cantharis is a fly, the native of Italy and the south of France, destroyed by sulphur, 
 dried and powdered, and mixed with palm oil and resin, in the proportions directed at 
 page 147. Its action is intense, and yet superficial; it plentifully raises the cuticle, but 
 never injures the ti'ue skin, and therefore never blemishes. The application of other 
 acrid substances is occasionally followed by deep-seated ulcerations ; but a blister, com- 
 posed of the Spanish fly alone, while it does its duty, leaves, after a few weeks have 
 passed, scarcely a trace behind. The art of blistering consists in cutting, or rather 
 shaving tlie hair perfectly close — then well rubbing in the ointment, for at least ten 
 minutes — and aftei"wards, and what is of the greatest consequence of all, plastering a 
 little more of the ointment lightly over the part, and leaving it. As soon as the vesicles 
 have perfectly risen, which will be in twenty or twenty-four hours, the torture of the 
 animal may be somewhat relieved by the application of olive or neat's-foot oil, or any 
 emollient ointment. 
 
 When too extensive a blister has been employed, or, from the intensity of the original 
 inflammation, the blister has not risen, (for no two intense inflammations can exist in 
 neighboring parts at the same time,) strangury, or great difficulty in passing urine, or even 
 suppression of it, has occurred. The careful washing off of the blister, and the adminis- 
 tration of plenty of warm water, with opium, and bleeding if the symptoms run high, 
 will generally remove this unpleasant effect. 
 
 An infusion of two ounces of the flies in a pint of oil of turpentine, for several days, 
 is occasionally used as a liquid blister ; and when sufficiently lowered with common oil, 
 it is called a sweating oil, for it maintains a certain degree of irritation and inflammation 
 on the skin, but not sufficient to blister, and thus gradually abates or removes some old or 
 deep inflammation, or cause of lameness. 
 
 Cantharides have lately been recommended to be given internally, in doses, daily, or 
 twice in the day, of five grains, and increasing the dose to fifteen grains, for the cure of 
 glanders. The experiments are yet too few and indecisive to admit of any satisfactory 
 conclusion. In these doses the fly has not been injurious, and the experiments are well 
 worth prosecuting. 
 
 Canaways. — "niese and ginger are retained as the only cordials requisite for the horse. 
 
 Castor Oil is here introduced again to warn the horse-owner and the practitioner against 
 the too frequent use of it. If it is a purgative in the horse, it must be given in the enor- 
 
292 THE HORSE. 
 
 roous and expensive doses of a pound or a pound and a half; even then it is uncertain in 
 its etfect — olten giipes, and is unsafe and dangerous. 
 
 ' Catechu, Japan esu-th, yet no eartli, but extracted from the wood of one of the acacia 
 trees, is a very useful astringent. It i& eiven in superpurgation, in doses of one or two 
 drachnis, with one or one and a half dracnui of opium, as a yet more powerful astiingent ; 
 four drachms of chalk, to neutralize any acid in the stomach or bowels, and two drachms 
 of powdered gum being also added, to sheath the over-irritated mucous coat of the intes- 
 tmes. It is not often adulterated in our countiy, but grossly so abroad — fine sand and 
 aluminous earth being mixed witli the extjact. It should not be given with any alkali, 
 yet the prescription just recommended contains chalk. But although the chalk, being an 
 alkali, weakens the cistringency of the catechu, it probably neutralizes some acid in the 
 stomach or bowels, which would have diminished the power of tlie catechu to a greater 
 degree. It must not be given in conjunction with any metallic salt, lor the tannin or 
 gaflic acid, on which its power chiefly or entirely depends, has an affinity for all metals, 
 and will unite with them, and form a gallate of them, possessing little Jistringent energy. 
 Common ink is the union of this tannin principle with iron. 
 
 A tincture of catechu is sometimes made by macerating three ounces of the powder in 
 a quart of spirit for a fortnight. It is very excellent for wounds ; and, with the aloes, 
 constitutes all that we want of a balsamic nature for tlie pui-pose oi hastening the heal- 
 ing process of wounds. 
 
 Caustics. — These are sometimes necessar)' to destroy fungous excrescences, or stimulate 
 indolent ulcers, or remove portions of cellular substance or muscle infected by any poison. 
 They are the butyr of antimony — blue vitriol — verdigris — con'osive sublimate — lunar 
 caustic, and sulphuric acid. See these different substances. 
 
 Chalk is used only in combination with catechu for superpurgation, and in the propor- 
 tions directed under the article Catechu. The prepared or levigated chalk is generally 
 prefered. 
 
 Camomile. — The powder of the flower is a useful vegetable tonic, and the mildest in 
 our list. It is given in doses of one or two drachms, and is exhibited in the early stage 
 of convalescence to ascertain whether the febrile stage of the disease is passed, and to 
 
 Erepare the way for a more powerful tonic, the gentian. If no acceleration of pulse or 
 eat of mouth, or indication of return of fever, accompanies the cautious use of the ca- 
 momile, the gentian, with carbonate of iron, may be safely ventured on ; but if the gen- 
 tian had been used first, and a little too soon, there might have been a considerable, and 
 perhaps dangerous return of fever. 
 
 Charcoal is a useful antiseptic, and, mixed with a poultice, readily removes the foetid 
 smell of unhealthy ulcers, or cracked heels. 
 
 Charges are thick adhesive plasters spread over parts that have been strained or weak- 
 ened, and, being applied to the skin warm, adhere for a considerable time. The follow- 
 ing mixture makes a good charge — Burgundy or common pitch, five ounces ; tar, six 
 ounces ; yellow wax, one ounce, melted together, and when they are becoming cool, half 
 a drachm of powdered cantharides well stirred in. This must be partially melted afresh 
 when applied, and put on the part with a lai'ge spatula, as hot as it can be without giving 
 the animal too much pain. Flocks of tow should be scattered over it while it is warm, 
 and thus a thick and adhesive covering will be formed, which cannot be separated from 
 the skin for many months. This is applied for old sprains of the loins, and also strains 
 of the back sinews. The charge acts ia three ways — by the slight stimulant power 
 which it possesses it gradually removes all deep-seated inflammation — by its stimulus and 
 by its pressure it promotes the absorption of any callus or thickening beneath ; and, acting 
 as a constant bandage, it gives tone and strength to the part. 
 
 Clijsters. — These are useful and too often neglected means of hastening the evacuation 
 of the bowels, when the disease requires their speedy action. The old ox-bladder and 
 wooden pipe may still be employed, and a considerable quantity of fluid may be tlirown 
 into the intestine ; but the patent stomach and clyster-pump of Mr. Reid is fai- preferable, 
 as enabling the practitioner to inject a greater quantity of fluid, and in a less time. 
 
 Two ounces of soft or yellow soap, dissolved in a gallon of warm water, will form a 
 useful aperient clyster ; it will detach or dissolve many irritating substances that may have 
 adhered to the mucous coat of the bowels. For a more active aperient, eight ounces of 
 Epsom salts, or even of common salt, may be dissolved in the same quantity of water : 
 a more active injection, but not to be used if much purgative medicine has been previously 
 given, may be composed of an ounce of Baibadoes aloes, dissolved in two or three quarts 
 of warm water. If nothing else can be procured, warm water may be employed ; it will 
 act as a fomentation to the inflamed and uritable surface of the bowels, and will have no 
 inconsiderable effect even as an aperient. 
 
 In cases of over-purging or inflammation of the bowels, the injection must be of a 
 soothing nature : it may consist of gruel alone ; or if the purging be great, and difficult 
 
MEDICINES. 298 
 
 to stop, the gruel must be tliickcr, four ounces of prepared or powdered chaJk being well 
 mixed vvitli or suspended in it, with two scruples or di-achms of powdered opium. 
 
 No oil should enter into tlie composlion of a clyster, except tliat linseed oil may be 
 used for the expulsion of the a^carides, or needle-worms. 
 
 In epidemic catarrii, when the hoi-se sometimes obstinately refuses to eat or to drink, 
 his strength may be supported by nourishing clysters; but they should consist of thick 
 gruel only, and not more than a quart should be administered at once, lor a greater 
 quantity would be returned soon after the pipe is withdrawn. Strong broths, and more 
 particularly ale and wine, ai'e dangerous ingredients ; they may rapidly aggravate the 
 lever, and should never be administered, but under tlie superintendence, or by tlie direc- 
 tion of a veterinary surgeon. 
 
 The principal art of administering a clyster consists in not friglitening the horse. The 
 pipe, well oiled, should be very gently introduced, and the fluid not too hastily thrown up ; 
 and its heat should be as neai'ly as possible tliat of the intestine, or about 96 degrees of 
 Fahrenheit's thermometer. 
 
 Copper. — There are two combinations of tliis metal used in veterinary practice ; the 
 verdigris or subacetate, and the blue vitriol or sulphate. 
 
 Verdigris is the common rust of copper, produced by vinegar, or any thing sour, or 
 even common salt. It is given internally by some practitioners, in doses of two or three 
 drachms daily, as a tonic, and particularly for the cure of farcy. It is, however, an 
 uncertain and dangerous medicine. The corrosive sublimate, with vegetable tonics, as 
 recommended at p. 103, is preferable. Verdigris is, however, usefully applied externally 
 as a mild caustic. Either alone, in the form of fine powder, or mixed with an equal quan- 
 tity of the sugar (superacetate) of lead, it eats down proud flesh, or stimulates old ulcers 
 to healthy action ; when boiled with honey and vinegar, it constitutes the farriers' Egi^-p- 
 tiacum, certainly of benefit in cankered or ulcerated mouth, and no bad application for 
 thrushes ; but yielding, as regards both, to better remedies, which have been mentioned 
 under the proper heads. Some practitioners use alum and oil of vitriol in making tlieir 
 Egyptiacum, lorgeting tlie strange decomposition which is produced. 
 
 Blue Vitriol, is the union of sulphuric acid and copper ; it is a very favorite tonic with 
 many, and has been vaunted as a specific for glanders ; while others, and we think pro- 
 perly, have no very good opinion of it in either respect. As a cure for glanders, its repu- 
 tation is now nearly passed by ; as a tonic, when the horse is slowly recovering from 
 severe illness, it is dangerous, and its internal use should be confined to cases of long 
 continued discharge from the nose, when catarrh or fever have ceased. It may then be 
 given with benefit in doses of from one to two drachms twice in the day, but it should be 
 combined with gentian and ginger. It is principally valuable as an external application, 
 dissolved in water in the proportion of two drachms to a pint, and acts as a gentle stimu- 
 lant; but when an ounce is dissolved in the same quantity of water it becomes a mild 
 caustic. In the former proportion, it rouses old ulcers to a healthy action, and disposes 
 even recent wounds to heal more quickly than they otherwise would do ; and in the latter 
 it removes fungous granulations or proud flesh. The blue vitriol is sometimes reduced 
 to powder and sprinkle upon the wound for this purpose, and is a good application for 
 canker in the foot. 
 
 Cordials ai'e useful or injurious according to the judgment with which they are given. 
 Wlien a horse comes home thoroughly exhausted, and refuses his food, a cordial may be 
 beneficial; it may rouse the stomach and the system, and may prevent cold and fever; 
 but it is poison to tlie animal when administered after the cold is actually caught and fe- 
 ver begins to appear. More to be reprobated is the practice of giving frequent cordials, 
 that, by their stimulus on the stomach, (the skin sympathising so much with the stom- 
 ach,) a fine coat may be produced. The artificial excitement of the cordial soon be- 
 comes as necessaiy to enable the horse to do even common work, as is tlie excitement of 
 the dram to sustain the animal spirits of the drunkard. 
 
 To recall the appetite of the horse slowly recovering from illness a cordial may some- 
 times be allowed ; or to old horses that have been worked hard and used to these excite- 
 ments when young ; or to draught horses, that have exhibited slight symptoms of staggers, 
 when their labor has been unusually protracted, and their stomachs left too long empty ; 
 or mixed with dinretic medicine, to fine the legs of the overworked and debilitated animal ; 
 otherwise tliey should never find a place in the stable, or be used at the discretion of the 
 carter or the groom. The most hannless cordial if abused, and the best if given with 
 discretion, is composed of four parts each of carraway powder and bruised raisins, and 
 two each of ginger and palm oil, well beaten into a mass. 
 
 Corrosive Siibliinate. — See Mercuiy. 
 
 Cream of Tartar. — See Superacetate of Potash. 
 
 Croton Tiglii. — The croton-nut has not been long introduced into veterinary practice, 
 although it has been used ti-om time immemorial by the inhabitants of India as a powei-- 
 ful purgative. An oil has been extracted from it, and used by the surgeon ; the meal is 
 
294 THE HORSE. 
 
 adopted by the veterinaiian. It is given in doses from a scruple to a half a drachm, and, 
 from its acrid nature, in ball with an ounce of linseed meal. When it does operate, the 
 effect is generally observed in six or eight hours, and tlie stools are profuse and watery, 
 and the patient frequently griped. On account of its quick operation, it may be given in 
 locked jaw and staggers ; and also in dropsy of tlie chest or belly, from the watery and pro- 
 fuse stools it produces ; but it is often uncertain in its operation, and its griping and the 
 debility it occasions are serious objections to it as common physic. A turpentine tinc- 
 ture of the powdered nut makes an active blister ; but not so eifectual or so safe as the 
 cantharides. 
 
 Diaphoretics, are medicines that increase the sensible and insensible perspiration of the 
 animal. (See p. 282.) These, as it regards the horse, are neither many nor powerful. 
 Antimony in its various forms (see p. 289), and sulphur, have some effect in opening the 
 pores of the skin, and exciting its vessels to action, and especially when assisted by 
 warmth of stable or clothing, and therefore useful in those diseases where it is desirable 
 that some portion of the blood should be diverted from the overloaded, and inflamed, and 
 vital organs of the chest, to the skin or the extremities : but only the diaphoretics on which 
 much confidence can be placed, and especially to produce condition, are warm clotlung 
 and good grooming. 
 
 Digestives are applications to recent or old wounds, as mild stimulants to produce a 
 healthy appearance and action in them, and to cause them more speedily to heal. A 
 weak solution of blue vitriol is an excellent digestive ; so is the tincture of aloes, and the 
 tincture of myrrh. The best digestive ointment is one composed of three parts of the 
 common calamine ointment (Turner's cerate) and one of common turpentine. 
 
 Digitalis. — The leaves of the common fox-glove, gathered about the flowering time, 
 dried carefully in the dark, and powdered, ana kept in a close black bottle, form one of 
 the most valuable medicines in veterinary practice. It is a direct and powerful seda- 
 tive, diminishing the frequency of the pulse, and the general irrability of the system, and 
 acting also as a mild diuretic ; it is therefore useful in every inflammatory and febrile 
 complaint, and particularly in inflammation of the chest. It is usually given in combi- 
 nation with emetic tartar and nitre. The average dose would be one drachm of digitaUs, 
 one and a half of emetic tai-tar, and three of nitre, and repeated twice or thrice in the 
 day. Digitalis seems to have an immediate effect on the heai t, lessening the number of 
 its pulsations ; but lessening them in a singular manner, not by causing it to beat more 
 slowly, but by producing certain intermissions or pauses in its action. When these 
 become marked ; when at every sixtli or seventh beat, the pulsations are suspended, 
 while two or three could be slowly counted, this is precisely the effect which is intended 
 to be produced ; and however ill the horse may appear to be, or however alarming this 
 intermittent pulse may seem to the standers-by, from that moment the animal will begin 
 to amend. The dose must then be diminished one-haJf, and in a few days it maybe omit- 
 ed altogether ; but the emetic tartar and the nib-e should be continued, even for some 
 days after the practitioner deems it prudent to tiy the effect of mild vegetable tonics. 
 There is no danger in the intermittent pulse thus produced ; but there is much danger 
 when the digitalis fails to produce any effect on the circulation. The disease is then too 
 powerful to be arrested by medicine. Digitahs requires watching ; but the only conse- 
 quence to be apprehended from an over-dose, is, that tlie patient may be reduced a little 
 too low, and his convalescence retarded for a day or two. 
 
 In the form of infusion or tincture, digitalis is very useful in inflammation of the eyes. 
 It is almost equal in power to opium, and it may with gi-eat advantage be alternated 
 with it, when opium begins to lose its power. The infusion is made by pouring a quart 
 of boiling water on an ounce of the powder. A portion of the liquid should be introdu- 
 ced into the eye. Of the tincture one or two drops should be inh-oduced. To form the 
 tincture, three ounces of the digitalis should be added to a quart of spirit. 
 
 The infusion has been serviceable in mange ; but there are better applications. 
 
 Diuretics constitute a useful, but much abused class of medicines. They stimulate 
 the kidneys to secrete more than the usual quantity of urine, or to separate a greater than 
 ordinary proportion of the watery parts of the blood ; but the deficiency of water in tlie 
 blood thus occasioned must be speedily supplied, or the healthy circulation could not be 
 carried on, and it is generally supplied by the absorbents taking up the wateiy fluid in 
 some part of the frame, and carrying it into circulation. Hence the evident use of diu- 
 retics in every dropsical affection, in swelled legs, and also in inflammation of fever, by 
 lessening the quantity of tlie circulating fluid, and therefore the quantity which is sent 
 to inflamed parts. 
 
 All this, however, is produced by the kidneys being stimulated to increased action, 
 and if this stimulus is too often or too violently applied, the energy of the kidney may 
 be impaired, or, inflammation may be produced, that inflammation may be of an acute 
 character, and destroy the patient ; or, although not intense in its nature, it may by fre- 
 quent repetition assume a chronic character, and more slowly, but as surely, do irrepara- 
 
MEDICINES. 295 
 
 ble mischief. Hence the necessily of attention to tliat portion of the food which may 
 have a diuretic power. Mow-burnt hay and foxy oats ai-e the unsuspected causes of many 
 a disease in the horse, at first obscure, but ultimately referable to injury or inflammation 
 of the urinary organs. Hence, too, the impropriety of suflering medicines of a diuretic 
 nature to be at tlie command of the ignorant carter or groom. In swelled legs, cracks, 
 grease or accumulation of fluid in any part, and in those superficial eruptions and in- 
 flammations which are said to be produced by humors floating m the blood, diuretics are 
 evidently beneficial; but they should be as mild as possible, and should not be oftener 
 given or continued longer than the case requires. For some cautions as to the admin- 
 istration of diuretics, and a list of the safest and best, the reader is referred to page 169. 
 The expensive Castile soap, and camphor, and so often resorted to, are not needed ; tlie 
 common liquid turpentine is quite suflicient in all ordinary cases, and nitre and digitalis 
 may be added if fever is suspected. 
 
 Drinks. — Many practitioners and horse proprietors have a great objection to the ad- 
 ministration of medicines in the form of drinks. A drinJf is not so portable as a ball, it 
 is more troublesome to give, and a portion of it is usually wasted. If the drink contains 
 any acid substance, it is apt to excoriate the mouth, or to irritate the throat already sore 
 from disease, or the unpleasant taste of the drug may unnecessai-ily nauseate the norse. 
 There are some medicines, however, which must be given in the form of drink, as in 
 colic, and the time, perhaps, is not distant when purgatives will be thus administered, 
 as more speedy and safer in their operation. In cases of much debility and entire loss 
 of appetite, all medicine should be given in solution, for the stomach may not have suffi- 
 cient power to dissolve the paper in which the ball is wrapped, or the substance of the ball. 
 
 An ox's horn, the larger end being cut slantingly, is the usual and best instrument for 
 administering drinks. The noose of a halter is introduced into the mouth, and then, by 
 means of a stable fork, tlie head is elevated by an assistant considerably higher than for 
 the delivery of a ball. The surgeon stands on a pail or stable basket on tCe off-side of 
 the horse, and draws out the tongue with the left hand ; he tlien with the right hand 
 introduces the horn gently into the mouth, and over tlie tongue, and by a dexterous 
 turn of the horn empties the whole of the drink into tlie back part of the mouth ; the 
 horn is now quickly withdrawn, and the tongue loosened, and the greater portion of the 
 fluid must be swallowed. A portion of it however will often be obstinately held in the 
 mouth for a lon^ time, and the head must be kept up until the whole is swallowed, 
 which a quick, but not violent slap in the muzzle will generally compel the horse to do. 
 The art of giving a drink consists in not putting too much in the horn at once ; intro- 
 ducing the horn far enough into the moutli, and quickly turning and withdrawing it, 
 without bruising or wounding the mouth, the tongue being loosened at tlie same mo- 
 ment. A bottle is a disgraceful and dangerous instrument to use. 
 
 Elder. — The elder leaf, boiled in lard, forms an emollient ointment, usefully applied 
 to inflamed and irritated parts. 
 
 Epsom Salts. — See Magnesia. 
 
 Fomentations open the pores of the skin and promote perspiration in the part, and so 
 abate the local swelling, and relieve pain and lessen inflammation. They are often 
 used, and with more effect when the inflammation is somewhat deeply seated, than when 
 it is superficial. The effect depends on the warmth of the water, and not on any herb 
 which may have been boiled in it. They are best applied by means of flannel, frequently 
 dipped in the hot water, or on which the water is poured, and tlie heat should be as 
 great as the hand will beai'. The benefit tliat might be derived from them is much im- 
 paired by the absurd method in which the fomentations are conducted. They are rarely 
 continued long enough, and when they are removed, the part is left wet and uncoveretl, 
 and the coldness of evaporation succeeds to the heat of fomentation. The perspiration 
 is thus suddenly checked, the animal suffers considerable pain, and more harm is done 
 by the extreme change of temperature than if the fomentation had not been attempted. 
 
 Gentian stands at the head of the vegetable tonics, and it is a stomachic as well as a 
 tonic. It is equally useful in chronic debility, and in that which is consequent on severe 
 and protiacted illness. It is generally united with camomile, ginger, and, when the 
 patient will bear it, carbonite of iron. Four drachms of gentian, two of camomile, 
 one of carbonate of iron, and one of ginger, wiU make an excellent tonic ball. An in- 
 fusion of gentian is one of the best applications to putrid ulcers. 
 
 Ginger is as valuable as a cordial, as gentian is as a tonic. It is the basis of the cor- 
 dial ball, and it is indispensable in the tonic ball. Altliough it is tlifficult to powder, 
 the veterinary practitioner should always purchase it in its solid form. If the root be 
 large, heavy, and not worm-eaten, the black ginger is as good as the wliite, and con- 
 siderably cheaper. The powder is adulterated with bean-meal and the sawdust of box- 
 wood, and rendered wjirm and pungent by means of capsicum. 
 
 Goulard's Extract. — See Lead. 
 
 Hellebore, White, is a powerful nauseant, and lowers botli the force and the frequeacy 
 
296 THE HORSE. 
 
 of the pulse, and is therefore given with good effect in various inflammations, and parti- 
 cularly that of the lungs ; but it requires watching. In the hosi)ital of the veterinary- 
 surgeon, or in the stable of the gentleman who will supj^rintend the giving and the ope- 
 ration of eveiy medicine, it may be used with safety ; but with him who has to trust to 
 others, and who does not see tlie horse more than once in twelve or twenty-four hours, 
 it is a dangerous dru^. If it is pushed a little too far, trembling and giddiness, and 
 purging foUovv, and the horse is sometimes lost. The hanging of the head, and the 
 frothing of the mouth, and more particularly the sinking of the pulse, would give warn- 
 ing of danger; but the medical attendant may not have the opportunity of observing 
 tliis, and when he does observe it, it may be too late. Its dose varies from a scruple to 
 half a drachm. In doses of a drachm it could not be given with safety ; and yet, such 
 is the diifi^rent effect of medicines given in different doses, that in the quantity of an 
 ounce it is said to be a diuretic and a tonic, and exhibited with advantage in chronic 
 and obstinate grease. 
 
 Hemlock is used by some practitioners, instead of digitalis or hellebore, in affections 
 of the chest, whether acute or chronic ; but it is inferior to both. The dose of the pow- 
 der of the dried leaves is about a drachm. 
 
 Infusions. — The active matter of some vegetable substances is partly or entirely ex- 
 tracted by water. Dried vegetables yield their properties more readdy and perfectly 
 than when in their green state. Boiling water is poured on the substance to be infused, 
 and which is previously grossly pounded or powdered ; the vessel, is then covered and 
 placed by a fire. In five or six hours the transparent part may be poured off, and is 
 ready for use. In a few days, however, all infusions become thick, and lose their virtue, 
 from the decomposition of the vegetable matter. 
 
 The infusion of camomile is advantageously used instead of water in compounding 
 a mild tonic drench : the iiffusion of catechu is useful in astringent mixtures ; the infu- 
 sion of linseed is used instead of common water in catarrh and cold ; and the infusion 
 of tobacco in some injections. 
 
 Iodine. — This substance is but lately introduced into veterinary practice, and has been 
 given with effect in doses of five grains daily, to reduce the enlarged glands which 
 sometimes remain after catarrh. It has likewise power in reducing almost every species 
 of tumor, and may be tried where it would be dangerous to use the knife. 
 
 Iron. — Of this metal there are two preparations adopted by veterinarians. The rust, 
 or Carbonate, is a mild and useful tonic in doses from two to four drachms. The Sulphate 
 (green vitriol or copperas) is more powerful but should never be given in early stages of 
 recovery, and alwa)-s with caution. The dose should be the same as that of the carbo- 
 nate. The sulphate has lately been recommended for the cure of that deceitful stage or 
 form of glanders, in which there is nothing to characterise the disease but a very slight 
 discharge from the nostrils. It is to be dissolved in the common drink of the horse. It 
 is worth a trial, but too sanguine expectations must not be encouraged of the power of 
 any drug over this intractable malady. Iron should be given in combination with gen- 
 tian and ginger, but never with any alkali or nitre, or soap or catechu, or astringent 
 vegetable. 
 
 Forge water used to be a favorite tonic with farriers, and also a lotion for canker and 
 ulcers in the mouth. It owes its power, if it has any, to the iron with which it is im- 
 pregnated. 
 
 Juniper, Oil of. — This essential oil is retained because it has some diuretic property, 
 and is a pleasant aromatic. It may, therefore, enter into the composition of the diuretic ball. 
 
 Lard. — This or palm oil is far preferable to honey, or treacle, or syrups, for making up 
 balls, because the ball more readily dissolves in the stomach. It likewise renders a pur- 
 gative less liable to gripe. It is the principal basis of all ointments. 
 
 Laudanum. — See opium. 
 
 Lead. — Combinations of this metal are admitted into veterinary practice. The sub- 
 acetate is common under the name oi' Extract of Lead, or Goulard's Extract. It is used 
 in the proportion of a drachm to a pint of water in the early stages of inflammation of 
 the eye ; but is inferior both to the opium and digitalis, and cannot be used in combi- 
 nation with either. In double the proportion it is serviceable in superficial inflamma- 
 tions of various kinds, or in poultices for the feet where there is much inflammation or 
 fain ; but in cases of sprain, or deep injury, or inflammations, it is perfectly useless, 
 f white vitiiol or alum are added to tlie lead, the efficacy of all the ingredients is 
 destroyed. 
 
 The Sugar of Lead is the acetate or superacetate of that metal. This, dissolved in 
 water in the proportion of two drachms to a pint, makes an extemporaneous Goulard's 
 Lotion, but not more valuable than the former. 
 
 WTiite Lead (carbonate of lead) is sometimes sprinkled, in the 'form of fine powder, 
 and with advantage, on swelled legs, where the skm is very red and irritable, and mois- 
 ttire is exuding tnrough it. It is used alone or mixed with paste, or a bread-and-water 
 
MEDICINES, 297 
 
 poultice : 
 
 3 : but lead, although in (he fust mentioned form a great favorite with many per- 
 sons, might, without great loss, be expunged from the Veterinary Pharmacopceia. 
 
 Lime was formerly sprinkled over cankered feet and greasy heels, but liiere are less 
 
 Gainful caustics, and more eliectual absorbents of moisture. Lime water is rarely used, 
 ut the Chloride of Lime is exceedingly valuable. Diluted with twenty times its quan- 
 tity of water, it should help to form the poultice applied to every part from which there 
 is the slightest olfensive discharge. The tcetid smell of fistulas' withers, poll-evil, c:in- 
 ker, and ill-conditioned wounds, is immediately removed, and the ulcers are more dig- 
 posed to heal. When mangy horses are dismissed as cured, a v, ashing with the diluted 
 chloride will remove any inloction tliat might lurk about tliera, or which they might cany 
 from the place in which they have been confined. One pint of the chloride mixed with 
 three gallons of water, and brushed over the walls and manger and rack of the foulest 
 stable, will completi ly remove all infection. All horse furniture worn by a glandered or 
 mangy animal wlil be eilectually purified in the same w'ay. Internally administered, it 
 seems to have no power. 
 
 Liniments are oily applications of the consistence of a thick fluid, and designed either 
 to sooth an inflamed surface, or, by gently stimulating the skin, to remove deeper-seated 
 pain or inflammation. As an emollient liniment, one com])osed of half an ounce of ex- 
 tract of lead and four ounces of olive oil will be useful. For sprains, old swelling, or 
 rheumatism, two ounces of hartshorn, the same quantity of camphorated spirit, an ounce 
 of oil of turpentine, half an ounce of laudanum, and a drachm of oil of origanum, may 
 be mixed together ; or an ounce of camphor may be dissolved in four ounces of sweet 
 oil, to which an ounce of oil of turpentine and a drachm of oil of origanum should be 
 afterwards added. A little powdered cantharides, or tincture of cantharides, or mus- 
 tard powder, will render either of tliese more powerful, or convert it into a liquid 
 blister. 
 
 Linseed. — An infusion of linseed is often used instead of water, for the drink of the 
 horse with sore throat or catarrh. A pail containing it should be slung in the stable or 
 loose box. Thin gruel, however, is preferable ; it is as bland and soothing, and it is more 
 nutritious. Linseed meal forms the best poultice for almost every purpose. 
 
 The oil of linseed is not a certain, but always a safe purgative. It must be given, 
 however, in doses of a pint or a pint and a half 
 
 Lotions. — Many of the best lotions have been already described, in the chapters which 
 treat of the various diseases of the horse. 
 
 Magnesia. — The sulphate of magnesia, or Epsom Salts, should be used only in pro- 
 moting the purgative eflect of clysters, or, in repeated doses of six or eight ounces, 
 gently to open the bowels at the commencement of fever. Some doubt, however, 
 attends the latter practice ; for the dose must often be thrice repeated before it will act, 
 and then, although safer than aloes, it may produce too much irritation in the intestinal 
 canal, especially if the fever be the precursor of inflammation of the lungs. 
 
 Mashes constitute a very important part of horse provender, whether in sickness 
 or in health. A mash given occasionally to a horse that is otherwise fed on drj meat 
 prevents hiin from becoming dangerously costive. To the overworked and tired horse 
 nothing is so refreshing as a warm mash with his usual allowance of corn in it. The 
 art of getting a horse into apparent condition for sale, or giving him a round and plump 
 appearance, consists principally in the frequent repetition of mashes, and from their 
 easiness of digestion and tiie mild nutriment which tliey atiord, as w-ell as their laxative 
 eflect, they form the principal diet of tlie sick horse. 
 
 Mashes are made by pouring boiling water on bran, and stirring it well, and then co- 
 vering it over until it is sufllciently cool for the horse to eat. If in tlie heat of sumnier 
 a cola mash is preferred, it should, nevertheless, be made with hot water, and then suf- 
 fered to remain until it is cold. This is not always sufficiently attended to by the 
 groom, who is not aware that the etficacy of tlie mash depends principally on the change 
 wluch is effected in the bran and other ingredients by the boiling water rendering them 
 more easy of digestion, as well as aperient. If the horse refuses the mash, a tV?w oats 
 may be sprinkled over it, in order to tempt him to eat it ; but if it is previously designed 
 tliat corn should be given in the mash, it should be scalded witli the bran, to soften it 
 and render it more digestible. Bran mashes ai-e very useful preparatives ior physic, and 
 they are necessary during the operation of the physic. They very soon become sour, 
 and the manger of the horse of whose tliet they ibrm a principal part, should be daily 
 and carefully cleaned out. 
 
 When horses are weakly and much reduced, malt mashes will often be palatable 
 to them and very nutritive : but the water that is poured on the malt mash should be 
 considerably below the boiling heat, or the malt will be set, or clogged together. If 
 owners were awai-e of the value of a malt mash, it would be oftener given when the 
 horse is rapidly getting weaker fi-om protracted disease, or when he is beginning to reco- 
 ver from a disease by which he has been much reduced^ The only exception to their 
 38 
 
298 THE HORSE. 
 
 use i8 in cases of chest effection, in which they must not be given too early. In grease, 
 and in mange accompanied by much emaciation, maJt mashes will be peculiarly useful, 
 and especially if they constitute a principal portion of the food. 
 
 Mercury. — The Mercurial Ointment is prepared by nibbhig quicksilver with lard, in 
 the proportion of one part of mercury to thiee of grease, until no globules appear ; the 
 piactitioner should, if possible, prepare it himself, for he can neither get it pure nor of the 
 proper strength from the druggist. It is employed with considerable advantage in pre- 
 paring splents, spavins, or other bony or callous tumours, for blistering or firing. One or 
 two drachms, according to the nature and size of the swelling, may be daily well rubbed 
 in ; but it should be watched, for it sometimes salivates the horse very speedily. The 
 tumors more readily disperse, at the application of the stronger stimulant, when they 
 have been thus prepared. Mercurial ointment in a more diluted form is sometimes ne- 
 cessary for the cure of mallenders and sallenders : and in very obstinate cases of mange, 
 one-eighth part of mercurial ointment may be added to the ointment re-commended at 
 page 286. 
 
 Calomel, the submuriate or protochloride of mercury may be given, combined with 
 aloes, in mange, surfeit, or worms ; yet better alteratives and more efficient vermifuges 
 have been described. It is admissible in some cases of chronic cough, in farcy, and in 
 jaundice, but it is not a medicine that seems to agree with the horse. Alone it has little 
 purgative effect, but it assists the action of other aperients. It is given in doses from a 
 scruple to a drachm, but must not be too often or too long repeated. As soon as the 
 gums become red, or the animal begins to quid or drop his hay, it must be discontinued. 
 
 Corrosive Sublimate — the oxymu^iate or bichloride of mercury, combined with chlo- 
 rine in a double proportion, is a useful tonic in fai'cy, and perhaps the most to be depend- 
 ed upon. It should be given in doses of ten grains daily, and gradually increased to a 
 scruple, until the horse is purged, or the mouth becomes sore, when it may be omited 
 for a few days, and resumed. Some have recommended it as a diuretic, but it is too 
 dangerous a medicine for this purpose. It is used externally in solution ; and in sub- 
 stance in quittor, as a stimulant to foul ulcers ; and in proportion of five grains to an 
 ounce of rectified spirit in obstinate mange or to destroy vermin on the skin. It is, 
 however, too uncertain and too dangerous a medicine for the horse proprietor to venture 
 on its use without the sanction of a veterinary surgeon. 
 
 ^thiop's Mineral, the black sulphuret of mercury, is not often used in horse prac- 
 tice, but it is a good alterative for obstinate surfeit or foulness of the skin, in doses of 
 three drachms daily. Four drachms of cream of tartar may be advantageously added 
 to each dose. 
 
 Mint. — If the use of an infusion or decoction of this plant, or of the oil that is ex- 
 tracted firom it, can be at any time admited, it is as a vehicle in which the oil of turpen- 
 tine and laudanum may be administered in cases of colic. 
 
 Myrrh may be used in the form of tincture, or it may be united to the tincture of aloes 
 as a stimulating and digestive application to wounds. Diluted with an equal quantity of 
 water, it is a good application for canker in the mouth, but as an internal medicine it 
 seems to be inert. 
 
 Nitre. — See Potash. 
 
 Nitrous Mlher, Spirit of, is a very useful medicine in the advanced stages of fever, fof 
 while it to a certain degree rouses the exhausted powers of the animal, and may be deno- 
 minated a stimulant, it never brings back the dangerous febrile action which was sub- 
 siding. It is given in doses of three or four drachms. 
 
 OUs —The farrier's list contains many of them, but the scientific practitioner has dis- 
 carded the CTeater part ; those that are worth retaining wiU be found under the names of 
 the vegetables from which they are extracted. 
 
 Ointments. — These have been fully described under the accidents and diseases in which 
 their use is required. 
 
 Olives, Oil of. — This is sometimes given as a purgative when aloes or other aperients 
 cannot be obtained. It is useless to give it in a less quantity than a pint, and then it is 
 uncertam in its operation, although harmless. In all liniments and ointments, spermaceti, 
 or even linseed oil, may be substituted without detriment, and the peculiar smell of the 
 latter may be subdued by oil of aniseed or origanum. 
 
 Opium. — However underrated by some, there is not a more valuable drug on our list. 
 It does not often act as a narcotic except in enormous doses ; but it is a powerful anti- 
 spasmodic, sedative, and astringent. As an antispasmodic, it enters into the colic drink, 
 and it is the sheet anchor of the veterinarian in the treatment of tetanus or locked jaw. 
 As a sedative, it relaxes that universal spasm of the muscular system, which is the cha- 
 racteristic of tetanus ; and perhaps it is only as a sedative that it has such admirable effect 
 33 an astringent ; for when the irritation about the mouths of the vessels of the intestines 
 and kidneys is allayed by the opium, undue purging and profxise staling are necessarily 
 arrested. It should, however, be given with caution. It is its secondary elTect which is 
 
MEDICINES. 299 
 
 sedative, and, if ffiven in cases of fever, its primary effect in increasing the excitation of 
 the frame is marked and injurious. In the early and acute stage of lever, it would be 
 bad practice to give it in the smallest quantity ; but when the fever has passed, or is pass- 
 ing, there is nothing which so rapidly subdues the irritability that accompanies extreme 
 weakness ; and it becomes an excellent tonic, because it is a sedative. 
 
 If the blue or green vitriol, or cauthai'ides, have been pushed too far, opium soonest 
 quiets the disorder they have occasioned. It is given in doses of one or two drachms ; 
 either the powdered opium being made into a ball, or the crude opium dissolved in hot 
 water, and given with its sediment. Other medicines are usually combined with it, accord- 
 ing to the circumstances of the case. 
 
 Externally, it is useful in ophthalmia. In the form of decoction of the poppy head it 
 may constitute the basis of an anodyne poultice ; but it must not be given in union with 
 any alkali, witii the exce[ition of chalk, in over-purging ; nor with the superacetate of 
 lead, by which its joowers are materially impaired, nor with sulphate of zinc, or copper, 
 or iron. 
 
 From its high price it is much adulterated, and it is rare to meet with it in a state of pur- 
 ity. The best tests are its smell, its taste, its toughness and pliancy, its fawn or brown color, 
 and its weight, for it is the heaviest of all the vegetable extracts, except gum arable ; yet 
 its weight is often fraudulently increased by stones and bits of lead being concealed in it. 
 The English opium is almost as good as the Turkish, and frequently sold for it ; but is 
 distinguishable by its blackness and softness. 
 
 Palm Oil, when genuine, is the very best substance that can be used for making masses 
 and balls. It has a pleasant smell, and it never becomes rancid. 
 
 Pitch is used to give adhesiveness and firmness to charges and plasters. The common 
 pitch is quite as good as the more expensive Burgundy pitch. The best plaster for sand- 
 crack consists of one pound of pitch and an ounce of yellow-beeswax melted together. 
 
 Physic. — The cases which require physic, the composition of the most effectual and 
 safest physic ball, and the mode of treatment under pliysic, have been already described 
 at page 166. 
 
 Potash.— Two compounds of potash are used in veterinary practice. The Nitrate of 
 Potash, Nitre, is a valuable cooling medicine, and a mild diuretic, and, therefore, it should 
 enter into the composition of every fever ball. Its dose is from two to four drachms. 
 Grooms often dissolve it in the water. There are two objections to this : either the horse 
 is nauseated and will not drink so much water as he ought ; or the salt taste of the water 
 causes considerable thirst, and disinclination to solid food. Nitre while dissolving mate- 
 rially lowers the temperature of water, and furnishes a very cold and useful lotion for 
 sprain of the back sinews, and other local inflammations. The lotion, however, should 
 be used as soon as the salt is dissolved, for it quickly becomes as warm as the surrounding 
 air. The Supertartrate of Potash, Cream of Tartar, is a mild diuretic, and, combined 
 with iEthiop's mineral, is a useful alterative in obstinate mange or grease. 
 
 Poultices. — Few horsemen are aware of the value of these simple applications in abat- 
 ing inflammation, relieving pain, cleansing wounds, and disposing tiiein to heal. They 
 are fomentations of the best kind continued much longer than a simple fomentation can 
 be. In all inflammations of the foot they are very beneficial, softening the horn, hard- 
 ened by the heat of the foot, and contracted and pressing on the internal and highly sen- 
 sible parts. The moisture and warmth are the useful parts of the poultice ; and that 
 poultice is the best for general purposes in which moisture and warmth are longest retained. 
 Perspiration is most abundantly promoted in the part, the pores are opened, swellings are 
 relieved, and discharges of a healthy nature ])rocured from wounds. 
 
 Linseed meal forms the best general poultice, because it longest retains the moisture. 
 Bran, although frequently used for poultices, is objectionable, because it so soon becomes 
 dry. To abate considerable inflammation, and especially in a wounded part, Goulard may 
 be added, or the linseed meal may be made into a paste with a decoction of poppy heads. 
 To promote a healthy discharge from an old or foul ulcer; or separation of the dead from 
 the living parts, in the process of what is called coring out ; or to hasten the ripening of 
 a tumor that must be opened ; or to cleanse it when it is opened, two ounces of common 
 turpentine may be added to a pound of linseed meal : but nothing can be so absurd, or is 
 so injurious, as the addition of turpentine to a poultice that is designed to be an emollient. 
 The drawing poultices and stoppings of farriers are often highly injurious, instead of 
 abating inflammation. 
 
 If the ulcer smells offensively, two ounces of powdered charcoal may be added to the 
 linseed meal, or the poultice may be made of water, to which a solution of the chloride 
 of lime has been added in the proportion of half an ounce to a pound. As an emollient 
 poultice for grease and cracked heels, and especially if accompanied by much unpleasant 
 smell, there is nothing preferable to a poultice of mashed carrots with charcoal. For old 
 grease some slight stimulant must be added, as a little yeast or the grounds of table beer. 
 
 There are two errors in the application of a poultice, and particularly as it regai-ds the 
 
800 THE HORSE. 
 
 legs. It is often put on too tight, by which the return of the blood from tlie foot is pre- 
 vented, and the disease is increased instead of lessened : or it is too hot, and unnecessary 
 pain is given, and the inllammation aggravated. 
 
 Potuders. — Some horses are very difficult to ball or drench, and the violent struggle that 
 would accompany tlie attempt to conquer tliem jnay heighten the fever or inflammation. 
 To such horses powders must be given in mashes. Emetic tartar and digitalis may be 
 generally used in cases of inflammation or fever; or emetic taitar for worms ; or calomel 
 and even the farina of the Croton nut for physic ; but powders are too often an excuse for 
 the laziness or awkwardness of the carter or groom. The horse frequently refuses them, 
 especially it his appetite has otherwise begun to fail ; the powder and the mash are 
 wasted, and the animal is unnecessarily nauseated. All medicine should be given in the 
 form of ball or drink. 
 
 Rakuig. — This consists in introducing the hand into the horse's rectum, and drawing 
 out any liardened dung that may be there. It may be necessaiy in costiveness or fever, 
 if a clyster pipe cannot be obtained; but an injection will better effect the purpose, and 
 with less inconvenience to the animal. The intioduction of the hand into the rectum is, 
 howe^'lM•, useful to ascertain the existence of stone in the bladder, or the degree of dis- 
 tention of the bladder in suppression of urine, for the bladder will be easily felt below the 
 cut ; and at the same time by the heat of the intestine, the degree of inflammation in it or 
 in the bladder may be detected. 
 
 Besiii. — The yellow resin is that which remains after the distillation of oil of turpen- 
 tine. It is used externally to give consistence to ointments, and to render them slightly 
 stiznulant. Internally it is a useful diuretic, and is given in doses of five or six drachms 
 made into a ball with soft soap. The common Uquid turpentine, is however preferable. 
 . Bowels. — The manner of rowelinsr has been described at p. 147. As exciting intlam- 
 malion on the surface, and so lessening that which had previously existed in a neighbor- 
 ing, but deeper-seate(l part, they are decidedly inferior to blisters, for they do not act so 
 quickly nor so extensively ; therefore they should not be used in acute inflammation of the 
 lungs or bowels, or any vital part. When the inflammation, however, although not 
 intense, has long continued, rowels will be serviceable by producing an irritation and 
 discharge which can be better kept up than by a blister. As promoting a permanent, 
 although not very considerable discharge and some inflammation, rowels in the thighs are 
 useful in swelled legs, and obstinate grease. If fluid is thrown out under tlie skin in 
 any other part, the rowel act^ as a permanent drain. When sprain of the joint or the mus- 
 cles of the shoulders is suspected, a rowel in the chest will be serviceable. The wound 
 caused by a rowel will readily heal, and with little blemish, unless the useless leather of 
 the farrier has been inserted. 
 Salt, common. — See Soda. 
 
 Sedatives are medicines which subdue irritation, repress .spasmodic action, or deaden 
 pain. We will not inquire whether they act first as stimulants ; if they do, their effect 
 IS exceedingly transient, and is quickly followed by depression and diminished action. 
 Digitalis, hellebore, opium, turpentine, are medicines of this kind. Their eifect in differ- 
 ent diseases, or stages of disease, and the circumstances which indicate the use of any 
 one of them in preference to the rest, are considered under their respective titles. 
 
 Silver. — One combination only of this metal is used, and that as a manageable and ex- 
 cellent caustic, viz. the Lunar Causiic. It is far preferable to the hot iron, or to any acid, 
 for the destruction of the part, if a horse should have been bitten by a rabid dog, and it 
 stands next to the butyrof antimony for the removal of fungus generally. 
 
 Soda. — The chloride of soda is not so efficacious for the removal of unpleasant smells 
 and all infection, as the chloride of lime, but it is exceedingly useftil in changing malig- 
 nant and corroding and destructive sores into the state of simple ulcers, and in ulcers 
 that are not malignant it much hastens the cure. Poll evil and fistulous withers are much 
 benefited by it, and all farcy ulcers. It is used in the proportion of one part of the 
 solution to twenty-four of water. 
 
 Common Salt (chloride of sodium) is very extensvively employed in veterinary practice. 
 It forms an efficacious aperient clyster ; a solution of it has even been given as an ape- 
 rient drink. Sprinkled over the hay, or in a mash, it is very palateable to sick horses ; 
 and in that languor and disinclination to food which remain after severe illness, few things 
 will so soon recall the appetite as a drink composed of eight ounces of salt in solution. 
 To horses in health it is more useful than is generally imagined, as promoting the diges- 
 tion of the food, and consequently, condition. Externally appUed, there are few better 
 lotions for inflamed eyes than a solution of half a drachm of salt in four ounces of water. 
 In the proportion of an ounce of salt to the same quantity of water, it is a good embro- 
 cation for sore shoulders and backs ; and if it does not always disperse warbles and tumors 
 it takes away much of the tenderness of the skin. 
 
 Soap is supposed to possess a diuretic quality, and therefore enters into the composi- 
 tion of some diuretic masses. See Resin. By many practitioners it is made an ingredient 
 
MEDICINES. 301 
 
 in the physic ball, but uselessly or even injuriously so ; for if the aloes are finely powdered 
 and mixed with palm oil, they will dissolve readily enough in the bowels without the aid 
 of the soap, while tlie action of the soap on the kidneys will impair the purgative eli'ect of 
 the aloes. 
 
 Starch may be substituted with advantage for gruel in obstinate cases of purging, both 
 as a clyster, and to support the strength of the animal. 
 
 Stoppings constitute an important, but too often neglected part of stable management. 
 If a horse is irregularly or seldom worked, his feet are deprived of moisture ; they become 
 hard, and unjielding, and brittle, and disposed to corn, and contraction, and founder. 
 The very muck of a neglected and filthy stable would be preferable to habitual standing 
 on the cleanest litter without stopping. In wounds and bruises, and corns, moisture is 
 even more necessary, to supple tlie horn, and relieve its pressure on the tender parts be- 
 neath. As a common stopping, nothing is belter than cowdung with a fourth part of 
 clay beaten well into it, and confined with splents from the binding of the broom, or the 
 larger twigs of the broom. In cases of wounds a httle tar may be added ; but tar, as a 
 common stopping, is too stimulating and diying. Pads made of thick felt have lately 
 been contrived, which are fitted to the sole, and, swelling on being wetted, ai'e sufficiently 
 confined by the shoe. Having been well filled with water, they will continue moist during 
 the night. They are very useful in gentlemen's stables ; but the cow-dung and clay are 
 sufficient for the farmer. 
 
 Sulphur is the basis of the most effectual applications for mange. It is an excellent 
 alterative, combined usually with antimony and nitre, and particulaily for mange, surfeit, 
 grease, hidebound, or want of condition ; and it is a useful ingredient in the cough and 
 fever ball. When given alone, it seems to have little effect, except as a laxative in doses 
 of six or eight ounces ; but there are much better aperients. The black sulphur consists 
 principally of the dross after tlie pure sulphur has been separated. 
 
 Tar melted with an equal quantity of grease forms the usual stopping of the farrier. 
 It is a warm or slightly stimulant, and therefore useful, dressing for bruised or wounded 
 feet ; but its principal virtue seems to consist in preventing the pertetration of dirt and 
 water to the wounded part. As a common stopping it has been stated to be objection- 
 able. From its warm and drying properties it is the usual and proper basis for thrush 
 ointments ; and from its adhesiveness, and slightly stimulating power, it often forms an 
 ingredient in applications for mange ; some practitioners give it, and advantageously, 
 mixed with the usual cough medicine, and in doses of two or three drachms for chronic 
 cough. The common tar is as effectual as the Barbadoes for every veterinary purpose. 
 The oil, or spirit (rectified oil) of tar is sometimes used alone for the cure of mange, but 
 it is not to be depended upon. The spirit of tar, mixed with double the quanti^ of 
 fish oil, is, from its peculiar penetrating propert}^ one of the best applications for hard 
 and brittle feet. It should be well rubbed with a brush, both on the crust cind sole, every 
 night. 
 
 Tinctures. — The medicinal properties of many substances are extracted by spirit of 
 wine, but in such small quantities as to be scarcely available in veterinary practice for 
 internal use. So much aloes or opium must be given to produce effect on the horse, 
 that the quantity of spirit necessary to dissolve it would be injurious or might be fatal. 
 As appUcations to wound or inflamed surfaces, the tinctures of aloes, digitalis, myn'h, and 
 opium, are highly useful. 
 
 Tobacco, in the hands of the skilful veterinarian, may be advantageously employed in 
 cases of extreme costiveness, or dangerous colic ; but should never be permitted to be 
 used as an external application for the cure of mange, or an internal medicine to pro- 
 mote a fine coat. 
 
 Tonics are valuable medicines when judiciously employed ; but, like cordials, they 
 have been fatally abused. Many a hoi-se recovering from severe disease has been des- 
 troyed by their too early, or too free use. The veterinary surgeon occasionally adminis- 
 ters them injuriousl)% in his anxiety to gratify the impatience oi his employer. The mild 
 vegetable tonics, camomile, gentian, and ginger, and, perhaps, the carbonate of iron, may 
 sometimes be given with benefit, and may hasten the perfect recovery of the patient ; 
 but there are few principles more truly founded on reason and experience, than that dis- 
 ease once removed, the powers of nature are sufficient to re-establish health. Against the 
 more powerful mineral tonics, except for the particular purposes that have been pointed 
 out under the proper heads, the horse proprietor and the veterinarian should be on his 
 guard. 
 
 Turpentine. — The common hquid turpentine has been described as one of the best di- 
 uretics, in doses of half an ounce, and made into a ball with hnseed meal and half a 
 drachm of ginger. It is added to the calamine or any other mild ointment to render it 
 stimulating and digestive, and from its adhesiveness and slight stimulating power, it is 
 an ingredient in mange ointments. The oil of turpentine is an excellent antispasmodic. 
 For tne removal of colic it stands unrivaled. (See page 163.) Forming a tincture 
 
302 THE HORSE. 
 
 with cantharides, it is the basis of the " sweating blister," used for old strains and swell- 
 ings. As a blister it is far inferior to the common ointment ; as a stimulant frequently 
 apphed it must be sufficiently lowered, or it may blemish. 
 
 Vinegar is a very useful application for sprains and bruises. Equal parts of boiling 
 water and cold vinegar will form a good fomentation. Extract of lead, or bay salt, may 
 be added vdth some slight advantage. As an internal remedy, vinegar is rarely given, 
 nor has it, except in very large doses, any medicinal power. The veterinarian and the 
 horse-owner should manufacture their own vinegar. That which they buy may contain 
 sulphuric acid, and pungent spices, and irritate tlie inflamed part to whicii it is applied. 
 
 Wax. — The yellow wax is used in charges and some plasters to render them less 
 britUe. 
 
 Zinc. — The impure corbonate of zinc, under the name of Calamine Powder, is used 
 in the preparation of a valuable healing ointment. Five parts of lard and one of resin 
 aie melted together, aad when these begin to get cool, two parts of the calamine, reduced 
 to an impalpable powder, ai-e stirred in. The calamine is sometimes sprinkled with ad- 
 vantao'e on cracked heels, and superficial sores. 
 
 The sulphate of zinc, white vitriol, in the proportion of three grains to an ounce of 
 water, is an excellent application in ophthalmia, when the inflammatory stage is pcissing 
 over ; and quittor is most successfully treated by a saturated solution of white vitriol 
 being injected into the sinuses. A solution of white vitriol of less strength forms a wash 
 for grease that is occasionally useful, when the aluin or blue vitriol does not appeal- to 
 succeed. 
 
ON DRAUGHT. 
 
 The investigation of the subject of draught by animal power, to which this treatise 
 is devoted, and which will form an appropriate supplement to an account of the Horse, 
 has long and frequently occupied tlie attention of tlieoretical and practical men ; so 
 much so, that our object will be to collect what has been said and done, and, by arranging 
 it raetliodically, to show in what manner the information may be applied and rendered 
 useful, rather than to attempt to produce any thing absolutely new upon the subject. 
 Notwithstanding, however, all that has been written, if we open any of the authors who 
 have treated the subject, in the hopes of obtaining direct practical information, we shall 
 be much disappointed. 
 
 It might have been expected that the particular result of every method known and in 
 use for the conveyance ot a load from one spot to another, by animal power, whether by 
 sledges, by wheel-carriages, or by water, as in canals, being so constantly and neces- 
 sarily a matter of practical experiment, which would have been accurately known and 
 recorded ; but the contrary is too much the case. 
 
 The theoretical investigations have been mad^ with two little reference to what really 
 takes place in practice ; and the practical portion of tlie subject has not generally been 
 treated in that useful and comprehensive manner which it desei-ves and demands. 
 
 In fact, there is hardly a question in practical mechanics on which, though much has 
 been written, opinions are apparently less fixed ; or on which the information we do 
 possess is in a less defined and available state. 
 
 One great object of research has been the average force of traction or power of a 
 horse. 
 
 If we consult the most approved authors and experimentalists, Desaguilliers, Smeaton, 
 &c., we find this power variously stated as equal to 80lbs. lOOlbs. loOlbs. and even 2001bs : 
 we are therefore left almost as ignorant as before ; but the knowledge of this average 
 power is fortunately of little or no use in practice. It is the application and efiect of 
 that power which alone is useful ; and tliat is governed by circumstances always vaiy- 
 ing and dissimilar, such as the form and state of the road, the structure of the carriage, 
 the size and friction of the wheels, Stc. &.C.; and scarcely any too cases of draught 
 would, as regards the effect of the power of tlie horse, present precisely the same result. 
 
 The difference of opinion here manifest is still more remarkable when existing on a 
 purely practical question. 
 
 In the inquiries instituted by a committee of the House of Commons in 1806 and 
 1808, on the subject of roads and carriages, two well-informed practical men, Mr. Rus- 
 sel, of Exeter, and Mr. Deacon, of Islington, the most extensive carriers in England, 
 were examined upon an important question, %'iz., the advantage or disadvantage of a 
 particular form of wheel. It was stated by one tliat, having given tlie wheels in ques- 
 tion a twelvemonth's trial, he found tliat they tended to injure the road and increase the 
 draught in the proportion of four to five ; while it was stated by the other, who had also 
 made the experiment on a large scale , tliat he found they materially assisted in keeping 
 the roads in repair, and diminir-hed the draught in the proportion of five to four. 
 
 Amidst such conflicting and contradictory opinions, it would appear difficult to come 
 to any useful conclusion, and we might natui-ally be disposed to adopt a very common 
 practice, that of taking an average result. 
 
 A little consideration, however, will show tliat these apparent discrepancies and contra- 
 dictions arise, in great measure, from attempting to generalize and apply to practice the 
 results of experiments made in, and therefore applicable only to, particular cases. 
 
 The results of experiments thus made at various times ana places, and without that 
 identity of condition and circumstance so necessary when standard rales are to be de- 
 duced from them, have, nevertheless, been used for that purpose ; and this circumstance 
 combined with the various and distinct points to be considered before we can estimate 
 accurately what even constitutes draught, will perhaps account for the disagi-eeraent 
 amongst the practicsJ and scientific authorities alluded to on the subject. 
 
 We must therefore examine severally all these points ; and then, by considering theit 
 relative beaiing upon each other, we may hope to reconcile the ditterent opinions ad- 
 
 303 
 
804 THE HORSE. 
 
 vanced, without which we cannot collect from tliem any information which will lead 
 us to a practical and beneficial result. 
 
 We shall proceed to divide the subject under separate and distinct heads, and under 
 each head to examine the methods or means now in use, or which have been proposed, 
 and endeavor to estimate their comparative advciutages by availing ourselves of what is 
 already wiitten and known upon each. 
 
 It will be necessary first, however, to explain and define clearly some terms which 
 will occur frequently in the course of this paper, and especially the word " draught," 
 which is the title itself of tlie treatise. 
 
 This word is used in such a very general and vague sense, that it would be difficult, 
 if not impossible, to give an explanation which should apply equally to all its diiierent 
 meanings. 
 
 In the expression draught by animal power, it would seem to mean the action itself 
 of drawing, while, on the other hand, it is frequently used to signify the amount of 
 power employed, also the degree of resistance, as when we say the draught of a horse, 
 or the draught of a carriage. Draught power is also an expression used. We shall, 
 however, in the course of this treatise, confine our use of tlie word to two meanings — 
 draught, the action of dragging — and draught, the resistance to tlie power employed to 
 dr^ any given weight. 
 
 ■ Force of traction is another expression requiring explanation ; but here we must 
 enter into more detail, and shall give at once a practical illustration of our meaning. 
 
 A force is most conveniently measured by the weij,ht which it would be capable of 
 raising ; but it is not therefore necessaiily applied vertically, in which direction weight 
 or gravity acts. 
 
 If a weight of lOOlbs. be suspended to a rope, it is clearly exerting upon this rope a 
 force of lOOlbs. ; but if the rope be passed over a pully void of friction, and continued 
 horizontally, or in any other direction, and then attached to some fixed point, the weight 
 still acts upon all parts of this rope, and conseqently upon the point to which it is fixed, 
 with a force equal to lOOlbs : and so invei-sely, if a horse be pulling at a rope with a 
 force which, if the rope were passed over a pulley, would raise lOOlbs., the force of 
 traction of the horse is in this case lOOlbs. Spring steelyards being now commonly in 
 use, we may be permitted to refer to them as alfording another clear exemplification of 
 our meaning. In pulling at a steelyaid of tliis description, whether the force be exerted 
 horizontally or vertically, the index will, of course, show the same amount ; and, conse- 
 quently, if the strength of the horse be measured by attaching the traces to one of these 
 steelyards, the number of pounds indicated on the dial will be the exact measure of the 
 strain the horse exerts, and the amount of strain is called his " force of traction." 
 
 Having fixed as nearly as possible the meaning of these terms, which will frequently 
 occur in the course of our progress, we shall proceed to the division of the subject. 
 
 It is evident that there are three distinct agents and points of consideration in the 
 operation of draught, which are quite independent of each other. They are — First, the 
 moving power and mode of applying it ; Secondly, the vehicle for conveying tlie weight 
 to be moved ; Thirdly, the canal, road, or railway, or what may be generally termed the 
 channel of conveyance. 
 
 All these individually influence the amount of draught, and require separate consider- 
 ation ; but the mode of combining these diiierent agents has also a material etiect upon 
 the result : consequently, they must be considered in relation to each other ; and to ob- 
 tain the maximum useful ettect, with the greatest economy, in the employment of any 
 given power, it is evidently necessary that tliese different agents should not only each be 
 the best adapted to its purpose, and perfect to the greatest possible degree, but also that 
 they should all be combined to the greatest advantage. 
 
 We shall proceed at once, then, to examine the different agents now employed, the 
 modes of applying them, and the proportionate efffects produced. 
 
 And, first, with regard to the species of moving power; — 
 
 This may be of two kinds, animal and mechanical. 
 
 By animal power we mean the direct application of the strength of any animal to 
 dragging or pulling, as in tlie simple case of a horse dragging a cart. By mechanical, 
 the application of any power tlirough the intervention of machinery ; the source of power 
 in this latter case may, however, be animal strength, or a purely mechanical agent, as a 
 steam engine. 
 
 The latter is the only species of mechanical power which has been attempted to apply 
 practically to locomotion ; and therefore that alone we propose to compai'e with the ani- 
 mal power. 
 
 Now, although these two powers, viz., simple animal power and the steam-engine, 
 may in most instances be applied so as to produce tlie same effect, and may, therelbre, 
 to a superficial obsen'er appear similar, yet tliere do exist such essential differences iii 
 the mode of action, or the means by which the effect is produced, tliat there are many 
 
ON DRAUGHT. 305 
 
 cases in which the one may be used, wherein the other may be totally inapplica- 
 ble. 
 
 In this treatise, draught by animal power is indeed the principal object of considera- 
 tion ; but as, at the present moment, there appears to be a great ellort making to super- 
 sede animal power entirely by mechanical, — to dismiss our old servant, the horse, and 
 supply liis place by the steam-engine, it may be as well, in justice to the Ibrmer, lo say 
 a tew words in his defence, and to take a rapid and general view of the distinguishing 
 features of the two agents. 
 
 To enter into all their respective merits, and to weigh their comparative advantages 
 under all circumstances, would involve us in many questions foreign to our immediate 
 point of consideration, and would embrace subjects which may supply matter for future 
 consideration well worthy of our attention. It is sufficient for our present purpose to 
 show that there still exist great objections to the universal application of machinery to 
 draught, objections which do not equally apply to the use of animal power ; and on the 
 other hand, that there are many advantages in the latter, which are not yet obtained by 
 the former ; and that animal power continues, for all the ordinary purposes ol' traific 
 upon common roads, to be the most simple in its application, and certain in its eflect. 
 
 We shall confine ourselves particularly to the consideration ol'tliat part of the question 
 which relates to the slow transport of heavy goods, as being the most important branch 
 of the subject, especially for agricultural purposes. Economy is, of course, the grand 
 desideratum in the consideration of this question ; consequently, the comparative expense 
 of the two powers, supposing them ior the moment equally convenient and applicable, 
 will first demand our attention. 
 
 A difficulty curises here, however, from the want of a certain measure of comparison. 
 The power of a one-horse engine is by no means exactly the same thing as that of a 
 horse. As we have before stated, the mode of applying them being ditlerent, the vai-ia- 
 tions in the results are dilierent, and consequently the elfects do not bear a constant pro- 
 portion to each other, under different circumstances ; we must therefore be careful not 
 to fail into the mistalce which we have ourselves pointed out as a very common source 
 of error, viz., the drawing general conclusions from data obtained in a particular case. 
 We shall take the power of the horse, and that of the steam-engine as ascertained prac- 
 tically on railways, where the ehect of each is less influenced by accidental circum- 
 stances, and consequently can be better ascertained than on a road. We shall confine 
 our calculations ot expense to this paiticular case, and then endeavor to discover how 
 far the same results are to be expected, or what modifications aje likely to take place, 
 and what alterations are to be made m the results under different circumstances. As re- 
 gards the first, viz., the comparative cost of animal and mechanical power on a railway, 
 we cannot do better than quote the words of the late Mr. Tredgold upon this subject, 
 and we accordingly extract the following from his work upon Kailwa3's : — 
 
 " The relative expense of ditlerent moving powers for railways is an interesting inquiry, 
 and tlie same materials being necessary to estimate the absolute expense for any time or 
 place, it is desirable to give some particulars, to aid the researches of those who wish to 
 make such compeu-ative estimates. The annual expense of a horse power depends on — 
 
 " 1. The interest of purchase-money. 
 
 " 2. Decrease of value , 
 
 "3. Hazard of loss. 
 
 " 4. Value of food. 
 
 " 5. Harness, shoeing, and farriery. 
 
 " 6 Kent of stabling. 
 
 '• 7. Expense of attendance. 
 
 " According to the average duration of a horse in a state fit for labor, of the descrip- 
 tion required on a railway, the first three items may be estimated at one-fourth of the 
 purchase-money ; the food, harness, shoeing, &,c., including in the 4th, 5th, and 6th, will 
 most likely not exceed 40Z. per annum, nor yet be much short of that amount ; and sup- 
 posing one man to attend to two horses, this would add 15/. 12s. if the man's wages 
 were 2s. per day ; and, at tliis rate, the labor of a horse of the value of 20Z. would cost 
 60Z. 12s. per )'ear; or, since there are 312 working days in the year, the daily expense 
 would be 3s. 10 l-2rf., or 186 farthings. But tlie power of a horse is about 125lbs, when 
 travelling at the rate of three miles per hour, and the day's work eighteen miles. 
 
 "The annual expense of a high-pressure locomotive engine, or steam carriage, con- 
 sists of — 
 
 " 1. The interest of the first cost. 
 
 " 2. Decrease of value. 
 
 "3. Hazard of accidents. 
 
 " 4. Value of coals and water. 
 
 "5. Renewals and repairs. 
 
 "6. Expense of attendance. 
 
 39 
 
306 THE HORSE. 
 
 " It is difficult to procui'e these particulars from the experience of those who employ 
 engines; we will therefore annex, by way of example, such sums as we think like^to 
 cover the expense. The first cost of the engine and its carriage may be stated at 501. 
 per horse power, and its decrease of value and hazaid w ill render its annual expense 
 about one-lil'tli of its first cost, or lOZ. per annum per horse power. The expense of 
 fuel and water per day will not be less tlian one bushel and a half of coals per horse 
 power, and fourteen cubic feet of water; and, taking the coals at Gd. per bushel, and 
 the water and loading with fuel at 3d., the annual expense will be 15L 12s. ; the renew- 
 als and repairs, at 20 per cent, on the fust cost, will be lOZ., which is as little as can be 
 expected to cover them. Attendance, suppose one man and one boy for each six -horse 
 engine, at 6s. per day, or Is. per day lor each horse power, or 15/. 12s. per annum ; 
 therefore tlie total annual expense of one horse-power would be 511. 4s., or 158 farthings 
 per day." This power is equal to a force of traction of 166^ lbs. for tbe same number 
 of miles per day as the horse ; but from this gross amount of power we must deduct that 
 necessary to move the engine with its supply ol' coals ; this will reduce it at least to 155lbs.; 
 consequently, in the one case we have a lorce of tiaction of 125lbs., at an expense of 
 186 farthings, and, in the other, a Ibrce of 155lbs, at an expense of 158 iaitliings ; and 
 reducing thvm both to one standard quantity of work done, we find the expense of the 
 
 horse is i.|s = 1.488, and of the locomotive engine 1.019, or about as 147 is to 100. In 
 
 1 2T . ° 
 
 this case, therefore, there appears to be a decided economy in the use of the steam-engine, 
 and accordingly its application has become very general, and is becoming more so eveiy 
 day. 
 
 _ Let us now examine what alterations are requisite, before we can apply these calcula- 
 tions to the case of draught upon common roads. Supposing both species of power equally 
 convenient and applicable, and confining our observations merely to the amount of power 
 and proportionate expense. 
 
 The force of traction of the horse, and the yearly cost, will remain so nearly the same, 
 that for our present purpose we may consider tliem quite unaltered. Not exactly so with 
 the locomotive engme. 
 
 All the parts of the machine must be made much stronger and heavier, and conse- 
 qiiently more expensive for road work than for a railway, and, therefore, the first cost 
 will be greater — the wear and tear will also be greater, and as the work will be more 
 variable, the consumption of fuel will be increased as well as the price, which, generally 
 speaking, will be much less on a line of railway, than it can possibly be elsewhere. 
 
 Still all these circumstances will not influence the result so much as the increased efl^ect 
 of the weight of the engine. On a railway with the cairiage, as now constructed, the 
 force of traction is not much more than_l._or_ |_of the weight moved; consequently, 
 
 150250 ° T 1 J ' 
 
 the power necessary to move the engine itself is not very considerable. On a road, how- 
 ever, this proportion is materially altered ; here the average force required to move a well- 
 constructed carriage cannot be estimated in practice, at less, even when the roads are in 
 good repair, tlianJL; the engine, according to the construction of the best locomotive 
 engines now in use, will weigh, with its carriage and fuel, at least one-half ton, or 1120 lbs. 
 per horse power, and JL of 1120 is nearly 45 lbs., which we have to deduct from the 
 gross power of the engine, and which leaves only 121-f lbs. as the available power. The 
 proportional expense of the horse and the steam-engine is now therefore about as 115 to 
 100, and this without taking into account the causes of increased expenditure already 
 alluded to as regards the prime cost, the repairs, and tlie consumption of fuel. From these 
 calculations it would appear, that even if mechanical power was found as convenient 
 and applicable in practice as horse power, still no great economy can be expected from 
 the employment, upon common roads, of smedl locomotive engines, such as the best of 
 those now in use, and known to the public, unless it be in cases where other means may- 
 fail to produce some particular efliect which may be required ; if, for instance, a consid- 
 erable velocity is necessaiy, the power of a horse is very nearly exhausted in moving his 
 own body, and then there can be no doubt that a mechanical agent, in which power may 
 always be exchanged for a proportional velocity, will have some advantages on a very 
 good road which in fact approaches very nearly to a railway. But in every case in which 
 velocity is not a principal object, as in the one now under consideration, and where, con- 
 sequently, little momentum is acquired, and frequent though slight obstructions occur, 
 as on an ordinary road, an animal appears to possess decided advantages. He adapts 
 himself admirably to the work, increasing or diminishing his efforts according to the 
 variations of the draught, resting himself, as it were, and acquiring vigor where his utmost 
 strength is not called for, and thus becomes enabled to make exertions far beyond his ave- 
 rage strength where any impediment or obstruction is to be overcome. Indeed, he appears 
 rather to increase the average effect of his powers by these tdterations of exertion and 
 comparative relaxation ; and when it is considered that the draught will, in an ordinary 
 road, frequently vary in the proportion of six or eight to one, and that these changes may 
 
ON DRAUGHT. SOt 
 
 succeed each other suddenly, the importance of such an accommodating faculty will be 
 immediately appreciated. 
 
 By mechanical power, such as a steam-engine affords, these advantages are not easily 
 obtained. Without great weight or rapid motion no momentum can I3e acquired ; and 
 the can'iage itself, not being in rapid motion, and tlie necessary economy in weight preclu- 
 ding the use of a dy-wheel, any small obstruction will check, and perhaps totally stop 
 the machine. For instance, supposing the carriage to be advancing steadily under the 
 effect of a force of ti-action of SOOlbs., and that a stone or rut suddenly causes a resist- 
 ance, which it would require 600 or 800 lbs. to overcome, a case by no means rare even 
 on tolerable roads ; if the impetus or momentum of the mass be not sufficient to carry it 
 over this obstruction, the machine must stop until some increased power be given to it. 
 
 It is also to be remembered, that when we are accustomed, in practice, to consider as 
 the average power of a horse is the average excess remaining over and above tliat neces- 
 sary to carry his own body ; and that in all ordinary cases he is able to maintain and con- 
 tinue nearly the same exertions, although the comparative di'aught of the carriage be 
 considerably increased. Thus, if the road be slightly muddy or sandy, or newly graveled, 
 the draught, as we shall see more accurately laid down when we come to the subject 
 of wheeled carriages, will be double and even ti-eble what it is on the same road when 
 freed from dust or dirt ; but tlie average power of the horse remains nearly the same, 
 and practically spealring, equal under both circumstances ; that is to say, that the power 
 necessary to move the weight of the horse's body, which forms no inconsiderable portion 
 of his whole power, is not materiallj'- increased by a state of road which will even treble 
 the draught of the carriage ; consequently, tlie excess, or available portion of his power, 
 remains unimpaired, and the full benefit of it, as well as of any increased exertions of the 
 animal, is felt and is applied solely to dragging the load. 
 
 JSlot so with a locomotive steam-engine, because beyond the power necessaiy to per- 
 form the work of dragging the load, an additional power must be provided to move the 
 engine itself. In other words, if an engine of ten-horse power be capable of dragging 
 a certain load, the weight of this engine forming a portion of the load to be moved, a 
 con-esponding portion of the power is unprofitably absorbed in moving it, and the excess, 
 or remaining power, is alone available for useful purposes, and can alone be compared to 
 the animal or horse power. Now, if the draught is augmented, as we have just supposed, 
 by any sand, dirt, or roughness of the road, or any other impediment, the force required to 
 move the useless weight (of the engine) is proportionally increased ; it may eren, as we 
 have stated, be doubled or trebled ; and the whole power of the engine remaining the 
 same, the surplus or remaining portion is considerably diminished, and that at the very 
 moment when, cis before stated, it produces only one half or one-third the ellect. 
 
 Moreover, if at any part of the road a power equal to twentj- horses is required, the 
 engine, as regards its construction, must be a twenty-horse engine. It is erroneous to 
 suppose that a steam-engine, because it is a high-pressure engine, can therefore, as occa- 
 sion requires, be worked for any length of time beyond its nominal power, by merely 
 raising tne steam. Every part of a machine is calculated and arranged for a certain pres- 
 sure and corresponding power, and tliat is the real power of it. It is optional to work at 
 or below that power, but, if below, it will be to a disadvantage, and the bulk and weight 
 of the machine will be as great as if it were always worked to its full extent, and both 
 have to be carried over all those parts of the road where a far less power would be sufH- 
 cient. The velocity of the carriage might indeed be increased, while traveling on the 
 
 food and level portion of the road, but these alterations in the speed and power cannot 
 e effected without a considerable degree of complexity, weight and expense in the ma- 
 chinery, and as we are confining ourselves to the consideration of the case where velocity 
 is not required, and might even be an inconvenience, the excess of power will be wasted. 
 These objections to the use of mechanical power, in certain cases, are pointed out, not 
 as being insurmountable obstacles to the use of machinery, but as serious difficulties 
 which, in practice, have not yet been overcome. In fact, there is not at present any prac- 
 tical substitute for horse power on common roads, and as far as the public is concerned 
 nothing has yet been done. We, therefore, must consider them as objections remaining 
 to be overcome ; and we are compeled to draw the conclusion, that at the present moment, 
 animal power (always confining ourselves to the question of the economical transport of 
 heavy goods upon common roads) is superior to any mechanical agent, and that beasts of 
 draught, and particulai-ly the horse, are not only the most ancient, but still remain the most 
 advantageous source of power. 
 
 Long experience has pointed out various modes of applying animal power ; but it is 
 frequently ill directed, owing to the want of an adequate knowledge of the mechanical 
 structure of the animal, and the manner in which he exerts his strength. 
 
 In the most powerful steam-engine, if too great a resistance be applied, or practically 
 speaking, if we attempt to make it do more work than it is calculated for, there is an im- 
 mediate loss of power, in consequence of the diminution of velocity caused thereby ; and 
 if we continue to oppose a still greater resistance, we reach the point at which it is unable 
 
308 
 
 THE HORSE. 
 
 to overcome it, and it ceases to produce any effect. Again, a very small obstacle may be 
 so applied as greatly to impede an engine of considerable power, or even to stop it alto- 
 gether. The power of an engine is limited, and resistance must always be proportioned 
 to it ; and there is a proportion beyond which it is useless to go, and less thaxi which would 
 not absorb the whole Ibrce. 
 
 An animal is but a beautiful piece of machinery, and although perfect in its construc- 
 tion, and wonderfully accommodating in its movements, it stul, like the engine, has a 
 limited power, and has its peculiar modes of action, its strong and its fpeble parts ; and 
 we must well consider its structure, to be able to apply the resistance in that degi-ee, and 
 in that manner which shall enable it to produce the greatest etiect. The consideration 
 of the comparative elfiects of the exertions of a man and a horse will at once exemplify 
 this, and lead us more clearly to the knowledge of the peculiar qualities or faculties of 
 the horse. 
 
 If a horse be made to carry a heavj'^ weight rapidly up a steep ascent, or if a man be 
 employed to drag slowly a heavy carriage along a rough road, the strength of both will 
 be soon exhausted, and little effect produced ; but if a man may be made to cany a weight 
 up a ladder, and if a horse draw a heavy ccirriage along a road, they will each produce a 
 considerable effect : yet, in the former case, the horse and the man are as strong as in the 
 latter, but their power is not properly applied, and is consequently wasted. 
 
 These different results are easily explained, by considering the mechanical structure of 
 the two bodies, and the mode in whicn their musculcu: strength is exerted. 
 
 The action of pulling is effected in either case by throwing the body forward beyond 
 the feet, which form the fulcrum, and allowing the weight of the body, in its tendency to 
 descend, to act against the resistance applied horizontally, and drag it forward ; as the 
 resistance yields, the feet are carried forward, and the action renewed, or rather continued. 
 
 Let A {Jig. 1.) be the centre of gravity, or the point in which the whole of the weight 
 
 F^. 1. 
 
 Fig. 2. 
 
 of the body may be supposed to be accumulated, and B the fulcrum, or point of resistance 
 AC the direction of the power to be overcome. 
 
 If the legs are inflexible, the body, acting by its gravity, tends in its descent to descnbe 
 a circle around the point B, but is opposed by the resistance AC ; and it is proved by the 
 law of the resolution of forces, that if BD be drawn parallel to AC, the lengths of the 
 lines AD, AB, and DB represent respectively the proportions between the vveight of the 
 body, the strain upon the point of support, and the effect produced ; that is, if AD be 
 taken as the measure of the weight of the body, then AB is the measure of the strain 
 upon the legs, and BD or AE the power pulling in the direction of AC. 
 
 Consequently, the effect increases with the weight of the body and the distance which 
 it is thrown beyond the feet, and is limited only by the capability of resistance at B, or 
 the muscular strength of the legs. This is evidently the case in practice ; for even if 
 the body were brought nearly horizontal, when its weight would act to the greatest ad- 
 vantage, still, if the legs are incapable of resisting the strain, they would yield, and no 
 effect be produced. In a man, this muscular strength of the hmbs is very great, and he 
 can lift or carry immense weights, and ascend easily, even loaded, a ladder ; but he is not 
 well adapted to the purpose of dragging ; as his own weight is small proportionably to 
 his strength ; and the centre of gravity is low, and by the consfruction of his body, can- 
 not be thrown far beyond the fulcrum at his feet ; consequently, however capable his legs 
 may he of resisting a great strain, AE remains small, and his muscular force is not advan- 
 tageously brought into action. 
 
 A. horse, on the contrary, by the formation of the body, can reheve his weight pai-tly 
 from his fore legs ; and, extending his hind legs as in Jig. 2, throw the centre of gravity 
 
ON DRAUGHT. 
 
 309 
 
 a considerable distance in front of his feet B. AE is here proportionably much greater 
 than in the former case, and the whole of his ibrce is, therefore, advantageously employed. 
 He is ill fact, by his mechanical consti-uction, a beast of draught. 
 
 The same traui of reasoning which has here pointed out the species of work peculiarly 
 adapted to the diiterent structure of tlie man and horse, if continued further, will now 
 serve to show the circumstances under which the power of the latter is best applied, and 
 the greatest effect produced. 
 
 We shall here consider both the quality of the draught and the degree. 
 
 And first, it is to be observed, that although the weight of the animal's body is tlie im- 
 mediate cause in the action of pulling, yet, ais before stated, it is by the action of the 
 muscles in advancing the legs and raising the body, that this cause is constantly renewed, 
 and tlie eifort continued. The manner, and the order of succession in which a horse 
 tlius litis and advances his legs may, of course, influence the movement of his body, and 
 ought therefore to be examined into : accordingly we find that many writers upon draught 
 have touched upon this part of the subject, but they appear to have contented themselves 
 with inventing in their closet the manner in which they conceived a horse must have 
 moved his legs, rather than to have taken the trouble to go out of doors to see what really 
 did take place, and, consequently, many have arrived at erroneous conclusions. The 
 ancient sculptors, who generally studied nature so faithfully, either neglected this point, 
 or otherwise our modern horses, by constant artificial training, have altered their step : 
 for we find in the celebrated frieze, from the Parthenon at Athens, a portion of which, 
 now in England, is more commonly known under the name of the Elgin marbles, the only 
 horses which are represented trotting, have both their legs on the same side of the body 
 raised at once, the other two being firm upon the ground — a position which horses of the 
 present day never assume while trotting. 
 
 In the case of these relievos, it is true that there are only four horses, out of more than 
 two hundred, which are in the action of trotting, all the others being represented in a 
 canter or gallop ; and only two of these four cu-e entirely in the foreground, and distinct 
 from the other figures. It would not be safe, therefore, to draw too general a conclusion 
 from this example alone ; but we have another decided proof of the remark we have made, 
 in the case of the four horses of the church of St. Marc at Venice. 
 
 Whether this was then the mode of trotting or not, it is certain that it is never seen to 
 occur in nature in the present day ; and indeed it appears quite inconsistent with the. 
 necessary balancing of the body, and was, therefore, more probably an error of the artist. 
 
 It perhaps may have been found diificult or troublesome to watch the movement of a 
 horse's legs ; but a very little practice will enable any body to verify what we are about 
 to state ; by keeping near the side of a horse that is walking, it will be easily seen that 
 immediately after the raising of either of the hind legs from the ground, the fore leg of 
 the corresponding side is aJso raised, so that the latter leaves the ground just before the 
 former touches it. If the fore legs be then watched, it will be seen that, immediately 
 
 Fig. 3. 
 
 after tlie movement of either of these, the hind leg upon the opposite side is put in action, 
 so that the order of succession appears to be in walking, as numbered in Jig. 3. 
 
310 THE HORSE. 
 
 If the horse be now examined from a short distance, it will be seen that, when he is 
 walking freely, the successive movements of the legs are at equal intervals of time, and 
 that the muscular force of one limb only is brought into action at the same moment. But 
 if a horse, which is dragging a load wi*;h some considerable exertion, be watched, it will 
 be seen that he then acts longer upon his legs, and allows a less interval of time for rais- 
 ing and advancing them ; and at the same time, the regularity of the movement is gene- 
 rally destroyed ; the limbs on the same side generally being moved more simultaneously, 
 or at nearer intervals of time than those at the opposite corners : thus, the muscular forces 
 of two limbs are always acting together, the movement of the whole body is less continued 
 and uniform than in the former case ; but each impulse is more powerful, and a resistance 
 which would be too great for the muscles of one leg, is overcome by the united exertion 
 of two. We shall point out hereafter, the necessity of attending to this in the application 
 of this power to draught. 
 
 In trotting, the action is of course quicker, and a less resistance will, as might be ex- 
 pected, cause the horse to move his legs at two intervals instead of ai. four equal inter- 
 vals of time : indeed a horse accustomed to go in harness generally acquires the habit 
 of that action. There is this striking dilference between trotting and walking : in walk- 
 ing, we have seen that the interval between the movement of the legs on the same side 
 was less than the other interval of time : in trotting, on the contrary, the legs situated 
 diagonally, or at opposite corners, move almost simultaneously. Owing to the velocity 
 and the momentum which the body acquires in consequence of that velocity, in trotting 
 fast, the successive impulses are less distinctly perceptible, and the movement more con- 
 tinued and uniform than in a slow trot, or in walking. 
 
 In galloping, the movement is totally different : the forelegs are thrown forward nearly 
 simultaneously, and the hind legs brought up quickly, and nearly together ; it is, in fact 
 a succession of leaps, by far the greatest interval of time elapsing while the legs are ex- 
 tended after the leap is taken : this is the position, therefore, which catches the eye, and 
 which must be represented in a drawing to produce the effect of a horse in a gallop, 
 although it is the moment when the animal is making no exertion. 
 
 The canter is to the gallop vei-y much what the walk is to the ti-ot, though probably a 
 more artificial pace. The exertion is much less, the spring less distant, and the reet 
 come to the ground in more regular succession : it is a pace of ease, quite inconsistent 
 with any exertion of draught. 
 
 The consequence of these peculiar movements in the limbs of the animal is, that a 
 succession of impulses is conveyed to the body ; and when the movement is slow, and 
 the body of the horse does not acquire any considerable impetus or momentum, the re- 
 sistance should be such as to receive each of these impulses, and leave the horse unrestrained 
 in the intervals. 
 
 It must, therefore, be a rigid resistance, void of elasticity. 
 
 It must not, however, be a constant, unremited resistance. 
 
 For it is a well-known fact, that, however powerful may be the muscles of a limb, they 
 must not be kept constantly on the stretch. Thus we feel even more fatigue by stand- 
 ing than by walking, because one particular set of muscles is then kept constantly 
 exerted. It is evident, therefore, that the resistance or draught must not be perfectly 
 constant but should afford frequent opportunities of relaxing the efforts. Neither 
 must it be a yielding resistance, as in that case the animal could not make any great ex- 
 ertion ; for if he applied too much power, he would be liable to fail forwai-d, and should 
 he at any time fall short of the necessary exertion, he would be drawn back by the 
 strain, and it would require a considerable erfort to restore the motion. 
 
 If a horse be made to drag a rope passing over a pulley and descending into a well 
 with a certain weight, say of 200lb3. attached to it, it is obvious that he could not make 
 an effort greater than 2001bs. without instantly considerably increasing his velocity, which 
 would be a waste of power ; nor must he for an instant relax his efforts, or fall below that 
 mark, for he would then be unable even to resist the pull, and would be overcome by the 
 weight. Such an extreme case as this, of course, is not likely to occur often in practice, 
 but the disadvantage of the principle is obvious. 
 
 An arrangement of this sort is, indeed, sometimes made use of, for raising the earth 
 from excavations, or the materials of a building ; but the exertion is continued only for a 
 few seconds, or for a distance of not more than ten or twenty yards : if prolonged, the 
 inconvenience would be seriously felt, as it is, to a certain degree, in towing canal boats ; 
 the length and curve of the rope give an elasticity to the strain, and the necessity of keep- 
 ing the rope out of the water, or from dragging along the towing-path, compels the animal 
 to keep up a constant, unremited pull, and that, too, in an oblique direction, so as to throw 
 him into an unfavorable position. We accordingly find that, under these circumstances, 
 the average work of a horse is equivalent only to about four-filths of that given by Smea- 
 ton, Desaguilliers, and others, who estimated the power of the horse from the work done 
 
ON DRAUGHT. 311 
 
 in a horse-mill, where the resistance is inelastic, and all circumstances favorable, with 
 the exception of the circular path. 
 
 The disadvantage of this kind of resistance is well known to carmen, thongh of course 
 without consideration of the reason. A horee is said to pull better when he is ciose to 
 his work, that is to say, when he is attached at once to the body to be moved, because 
 eveiy exertion he makes is then communicated at once to the mass ; but the leader of a 
 team, unless he keeps the ti'aces constantly on the stretch, may frequently waste a pow- 
 erful efiort without producing much elfect upon the carriage. 
 
 Another inconvenience resulting from harnessing horses in a team, or one before the 
 other, is, that tlie leader, by tightening the traces, is continually relieving the strain from 
 the body horse, and reciprocally the body horse liom the leader; so that these horses 
 labor under all the disadvantages of a long, elastic, and constantlj' yielding connexion 
 witli the load, which is not only fatiguing to them, but, in cases where the resistance 
 is variable, prevents the full and united eliect of their exertions being properly commu- 
 nicated to the carriage. For, if a slight obstacle, as a rut or stone in a road, checks the 
 progress of the vehicle, the shaft horse can immediately throw his whole weight into the 
 collar, and the united etiect of his strength and impetus is conveyed unimpaired to the 
 vehicle, and forces it over the obstacle ; but if any elasticity is interposed between the 
 power and the resistance, as in the case of the traces of the leader of a team, the whole, 
 or the greater part of the ertectof impetus is lost, and that force, which, if concentrated 
 in one eliort, would effect the object, being lengthened into a continued and compara- 
 tively feeble pull, is insufficient. 
 
 If we wish to destroy the impetus of a body moving with violence, we receive it with 
 yielding resistance ; the action of catching a cricket-ball exemplifies Ihis perlectlj' ; and 
 therefore, if the full effect of momentum is wanted, all elasticity in the direction of 
 the movement should be avoided. 
 
 We have entered rather fully into the consideration of this particular point, because the 
 principle is not only applicable to the mode of communicating the immediate action of 
 the moving power, but will be found also of considerable importance when we arrive at 
 the subject of wheel carriages. 
 
 A consideration of these various points brings us to this conclusion, that the draught 
 ought neither to be constantly uniform or without remission, nor yet yielding or elastic : 
 suaden shocks or violent changes in the velocity must also evidently be disadvantageous, 
 as tending to distress and injure the animal. 
 
 Having determined upon the necessaiy quality of the resistance, we will proceed to 
 examine into the quantity or the degree of resistance or draught, and the speed best 
 adapted to the exertion of the animal. The useful etiect of a horse, or the work done, 
 must evidently depend upon three things, viz : the rate at which he is made to travel, 
 the power of traction he can exert, and the number of hours he can continue to work 
 daily at that speed ; and where there is no fixed condition which determines any one of 
 these, such as a particular load to be moved, or a certain velocity which it is desirable 
 to attain, or a limited time to perform the work in, then the object must be to search 
 for tiiose proportions of the three by which, at the end of the day, tlie greatest quantity 
 of work shall have been produced. 
 
 With respect to the first two, viz., the speed and pow'er exerted, it will be obvious, 
 that where a horse travels unloaded, the greatest distance he can go in any given time for 
 several days in succession without injurious fatigue, is the limit of his velocity : on the 
 other hand, the load may be so great, that he can scarcely put it in motion — this is the 
 limit of his power ; in both cases, the useful eliect is nothing. But between these limits 
 of velocity and power, there is a proportion which afibids the maximum quantity of effect 
 and which, therefore, must be the most advantageous lor the application of horse-power. 
 
 It has been asserted by theorists, and the theory appears to be supported by experience, 
 that the velocity corresponding to this maximum, or that at which a horse working con- 
 tinually a certain number of hours per day will do the most work, is equal to half the 
 extreme or limit of velocity of the same horse working the saiue number of hours un- 
 loaded ; and that the force of ti-action corresponding to this speed, is equal to half the limit 
 of his power. For instance, if six hours be the length of a day's work decided upon, 
 and if a horse working that time can go six miles per hour unloaded, and therefore pro- 
 ducing no useful efiect, and supposing the limit of power of the same horse be equal to 
 250 lbs., it is found that he will do the most W'ork in the same number of hours when 
 drawing a load at the rate of half six, or three miles per houi- ; and half of 250 or 125 lbs. 
 will be the strain corresponding to this speed. Our next step, then, must be to find 
 these limits : now, the limit of velocity depends upon the length of time during which 
 the speed is kept up ; we subjoin therefore a table deduced from experiments, and which 
 represents the proportion of the duration of labor and maximum velocity of the average 
 of horses accustomed to their respective velocities. 
 
312 THE HORSE. 
 
 Hours. 
 Duration of labor ----1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 10 
 
 ^^dr.Yr'pttt!°''1 ^'i i«i «i '^ «^ « ^i ^^ ^5 
 
 This within the range here given may be considered as very nearly the law of decrease 
 of speed by increased duration of labor ; and at the first glance we see the great advan- 
 tage of reducing the speed and prolonging the exertion. There are, however, many 
 causes to limit the duration of a day's work of a horse. Tredgold, in his work on Rail- 
 ways, before quoted, says : " The time assigned for the day's work of a horse is usually 
 eight hours ; but it is certain, from experience, that some advantage is gained by short- 
 ening the hours of labor ; and we have observed, that a horse is least injured by his labor, 
 where his day's work is performed in about six hours ; where the same quantity of labor 
 is performed in less than six hours, the over-exertion in time shows itself in stiticned 
 joints, while the wearying effects of long-continued action become apparent, if the dura- 
 tion of the day's work be prolonged much beyond eight hours. Indeed, under the man- 
 agement of a good driver, a full day's work may be completed in the time before men- 
 tioned — six hours — with benefit to the health and vigor of the animal." 
 
 We may be permited, however, to abandon the idea of improving the health of the 
 animal, or of rendering his business a pleasure to him — an attempt, the success of which 
 is, we should think, very questionable, and content ourselves with endeavoring to check 
 the barbarous practice of working horses to death either by overdriving or overloading 
 them ; and we shall, as is generally the case, consult our own interests and follow the 
 dictates of humanity at the same time, by not injuring so useful an animal ; and we think 
 experie'nce proves there will be no danger of doing this by working eight or nine hours 
 a day. By refering to the table above, we see that the maximum velocity of the ave- 
 rage of horses conesponding to eight hours' work is five miles and a half per hour, con- 
 sequently, the rate at which he would travel when loaded is a little more than two miles 
 and a half per hour. There is no doubt that some horses could conveniently travel faster; 
 but as the speed must generally be governed by that of other horses, the average is, in 
 this case, the rate to be adopted. Tne force exerted under these circumstances depend- 
 ing upon the quality of the horse, it is very difficult to obtain even an approximate value 
 of it, unless the experiment be made upon each individual horse ; it is fortunately how- 
 ever, of no great consequence in practice, because if we feel sure that we are employing 
 all the power we can command to the greatest advantage, it is not of any very great im- 
 portance that we should know the exact amount of that power. 
 
 In comparing animal horse-power with that of the steam-engine, we estimated it at 
 about 125 lbs., but we believe that, with tolerably good horses, it may generally be taken 
 at more than thafe 
 
 We have thus far confined our attention to the cases where velocity, as well as dura- 
 tion of labor, was left to choice ; this is fai- from being always the case. In stage-coaches, 
 or other conveyance for passengers, speed is absolutely necessary, and it only remains to 
 learn how that speed can be obtained with the greatest economy. The following table, 
 extracted from Tredgold, will show the great reduction in the effect produced by increas- 
 ing the velocity. 
 
 The first column being the velocity or rate per hour, continued for six hours per day; 
 the second represents the force of traction of which the animal is capable ; and the third, 
 the comparative effects produced. A force of traction of 125 lbs. continued for six hours 
 at the rate of three miles per hour being taken as the standard, and considered equal to 
 the arbitrary number 1000. 
 
 Miles per 
 
 horn-. 
 
 
 Force of traction 
 
 in 
 
 lbs. 
 
 
 Effect produced, 
 
 2 
 
 . 
 
 . 
 
 . 
 
 166 
 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 888 
 
 3 
 
 . 
 
 . 
 
 . 
 
 125 
 
 
 
 . 
 
 . 
 
 1000 
 
 H 
 
 . 
 
 . 
 
 . 
 
 104 
 
 
 
 . 
 
 . 
 
 972 
 
 4 
 
 . 
 
 . 
 
 . 
 
 83 
 
 
 
 . 
 
 - 
 
 888 
 
 4J 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 62^ 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 750 
 
 5 
 
 . 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 41^ 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 555 
 
 H 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 36^ 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 - 
 
 500 
 
 If, however, the hours of labor be lessened, taking the velocity corresponding to the 
 greatest useful effect, the results will be much greater, and the velocity may be raised 
 much higher, as will be seen in the following Table. 
 
 Here the firet column is the length of days' work, the second the best velocitj' corres- 
 ponding to that time, or half the limit of velocity shown in Table (1), and the third co- 
 lumn the comparative effect produced, the force of traction being in each case 125 lbs. 
 
ON DRAUGHT, 
 
 3IS^ 
 
 Duration of labor in hours. 
 2 
 3 
 4 
 5 
 6 
 7 
 
 Velocity, miles per Uour. 
 
 - - 5^ - - 
 - 4i- - 
 
 - - 3§ - - 
 
 3i - 
 3 
 
 ■ ■ ?* ' : 
 
 Effect produced. 
 
 578 
 
 709 
 
 813 
 
 909 
 1000 
 1063 
 1110 
 
 To attain higher velocity it is necessary still further to reduce the load, and the next 
 Table is calculated upon the supposition of the strain being only one half the last, viz., 
 62^lbs ; this is about the average exertion of each horse in a four-horse heavy stage-coach. 
 Duration of labor, hours per day. Velocity. Effect produced 
 
 4 5^ - - - - 613 
 
 3 62 .... 534 
 
 2 74 .... 434 
 
 1 11* - . - - 307 
 
 In mails or light coaches, where ten, eleven, and even eleven and a half or twelve miles 
 an hour is attained, the average strain of each horse is barely 40lbs.; and the effect pro- 
 duced, or value of work done, not much move than one-half the above. 
 
 It must be remembered, that these tables are all calculated upon the supposition of the 
 road being good, and the work such as not to cause any immediate injury to the animal, 
 and is adapted only to the average qualit}'' of horses. They are not therefore at once ap- 
 plicable as data for calculations in all ordinary cases, but only serve to show the com- 
 parative forces which may be exerted under different degi-ees of speed. The results or 
 effects of this force will alwaj^s be influenced by the quality of the resistance as we have 
 already observed in the cases of slow traveling, but in rapid traveling the power is much 
 more expensive, owing to the great loss which we see by the tables is sustained by in- 
 creased velocity; and it is, therefore, the more important to study well the means of ap- 
 plying the power in question. 
 
 In this rapid traveling, the bad consequences of a unifonn and constant strain is still 
 more felt by the horses, and the necessity of occasional relief is still more urgent than at 
 low velocities. It is universally admitted by horse proprietors and postmasters, whose 
 interests make them peculiarly sensible on this point, that a flat piece of road is more 
 destructive of horses than the same length of road where gentle rises and alternate flat 
 and swelling ground occur; and that a long hill is easier surmounted where there are 
 occasional short levels, and even descents, than when the whole is one uniform ascent. 
 
 It only remains for us, before we dismiss the subject of the moving power, to consider 
 the particular mode of applying it, or the manner of harnessing the horses. 
 
 Under this head comes the question of the best direction of the traces, or, as it has 
 generally, but less clearly been called, the angle of inclination of the line of traction. 
 This question appears to have been always considered one of great importance : the 
 point has been frequently discussed, and various opinions have been advanced ; some 
 Having recommended it to be horizontal, others inclined ; and, as they have each in their 
 turn, in demonstrating the correctness of their own theory, proved the error of others, 
 there can be no presumption in laying them all aside, and in taking a different, but at the 
 same time, a more simple and practical view of the case. By referring to a figure sirai- 
 lar to that by which we showed the mode of action of the horse in pulling, we see that if 
 AD represent that portion of his whole weight which is relieved from his forelegs, and 
 ~" ' AE the direction of tlie traces, then AF 
 
 is the measure of the horizontal pull 
 upon the carriage. Now, AF bears a 
 constant proportion to AB, which rep- 
 resents the strain upon the legs ; and 
 AD being constant, AB, and conse- 
 quently, AF, increase or diminiuh ac- 
 cording as the angle ADB is increased 
 or diminished : that is to say, tlie hori- 
 zontal pull applied to the carriage is 
 proportionate to the strain upon the 
 legs ; but they are both dependent upon 
 tlie angle formed by the traces, increas. 
 /^B ~ 5 ing or diminishing as the latter are in. 
 
 clined downwards or upwards from the collar ; so that whether the traces be inclined 
 upwards, as./ig-. 4. or downwards, as fig. 6, or whether they be horizontal, as./?g-. 5, makes 
 no difference in the manner of pulling. In the first case, a portion of the animal's weight 
 is borne by the traces, and is transferred by them to the carriage. AF is here small, but 
 the strain upon the legs AB is also proportionably less than in the second case, where the 
 40 
 
3H 
 
 THE HORSE. 
 
 Fig. 5 
 
 traces are honzontal. In fig. 6, 
 where the traces incline down- 
 wards, we see that the horizon- 
 tal force AE is much more con- 
 siderable ; but, at the same time 
 AB is increased, and conse- 
 quently the muscular exertion 
 required in the legs is propor- 
 tionably ^eat ; in fact, here a 
 portion ol the weight of the load 
 IS transferred to his shoulders. 
 
 To render this more clear to 
 our own feelings, we will put 
 tile case of a man. We have 
 already seen that an able-bodi- 
 ed man is more adapted for lift- 
 ing than pulling ; consequently, 
 in nis case it would be advanta- 
 geous to throw a certain portion 
 of the weight upon him, oy ma- 
 king him pull upwards, as in 
 fig. 7, or wnat we are more ac- 
 customed to see, and which 
 amounts to the same thing, ap- 
 plying his strength to a whed- 
 barrow,^g. 8, and we have fre- 
 quently seen an ordinary man 
 wheel SOOlbs. in this manner. 
 
 If, however, we take a per- 
 son accustomed to hard work, 
 and consequently not so strong 
 Fig. 8. 
 
 in the legs, although he may be unable even to lift the wheelbarrow which the other 
 moved with ease, still he may, by pushing horizontally, put in motion a considerable 
 load ; and lastly, in the case of an invalid who can barely carry his own weight, if 
 he lean on the back of a garden chair, he will not only walk himself, but push on the chair ; 
 or a child who is yet too weak to stand, can, if part of his weight be supported in a go- 
 cart, not only move himself, but also the frame which supports him. These are very- 
 familiar and homely comparisons, but they are cases exactly similar to the three posi- 
 tions of the traces ; and the argument will equally apply to horses as to men. It is true, 
 we rarely use for draft a horse that cannot stand ; but the case is very possible that a 
 large heavy horse, otherwise not sti'ong, or one which it was not desirable to fatigue, 
 plight pull better and longer, if part of tiie weight was borne upon the carriage, or if, 
 in other words, the traces pulled upwards. And we know by experience, that in the 
 case of stage-coaches, where, owing to the speed, the weight of the horse's body is 
 already generally a burden to him, it is disadvantageous to increase that weight by inclining 
 the traces much downwards ; on the contrary, where we wish to obtain the utmost effect 
 of a powerful horse, of a horse that is jnuscular, but without much weight forward, it 
 is highly advantageous to augment the effect of his gravity by inclining the traces even as 
 much as 15°, or about 1 upon 3 ; the strain upon the traces will be then considerably 
 increased, and the effect augmented, provided always that he is able to exert the neces- 
 sary strength in his legs. As far, therefore, as the mere force of traction is concerned, 
 there is no particular angle which will always produce the greatest effect — but it must 
 depend upon the particular capability of the horse ; and tliis in its turn varies, and is 
 affected by circumstances ; for the same horse that upon a level road requires no addi- 
 
ON DRAUGHT. 
 
 315 
 
 tion 
 hill 
 
 1 to his weight, might be materially assisted by a slight addition when ascending a 
 , if not continued too long ; and most horses would be benefited considerably by me 
 opposite arrangement in a descent, that is, by a portion of their weight being born up ; 
 they should at least have no additional load thrown on them while descending a hill. 
 
 There is also a time, when inclining the traces downwards is almost indispensable : 
 it is when dragging a four-wheeled wtigon over a rough broken road. If the front 
 wheel, which is generally small, meets with an obstable by falling into a hole, or stopping 
 against a stone, it requires no profound reasoning to show, that a force pulling upwards 
 in the direction AB, fig. 9, will raise the whole wheel over 
 the obstacle with much greater facility than if appUed hori- 
 zontally, as AC ; this is the only circumstance, unconnected 
 with the horse, tliat ought to govern the direction of the 
 traces, and the degree of the inclination here must, of 
 course, still be proportioned to the power of the horse. 
 We see therefore that, in proportion as the horse is stronger, 
 or that we are disposed to make hi;n exert a greater effort, 
 the traces should be inclined downwards from the collar ; 
 -with a good average horse, perhaps, one-sixth or one-se- 
 venth of the distance from the collar to the extremity with a horse of inferior capabilities, 
 arising from wealuiess in the limbs, and not want of weight, or witli an ordinary horse 
 when traveling above six miles an hour, the traces should be nearer tire horizontal line, 
 except when the circumstance of a rough road, before alluded to, requires some modifi- 
 cation of this. To be able to apply these rules generally in practice, it would be neces- 
 sary to have some means of altering the traces while on the road ; as we have stated 
 that they should be differently aiTanged according as the road is level or rough, or as- 
 cending or descending, this would not be difficult to contrive, and has, indeed, been sug- 
 gested by some writers upon this subject; but it is probable that, except in stage- 
 wagons where the same carriage goes along a gi-eat extent, and consequent variety of 
 road, it will be sufficient to adjust the traces according to the avearge state of the roads 
 in the neighborhood ; and we cannot greatly err, if we bear in mind, that, inclining the 
 traces downwards from the collar to the carriages, amounts to the same thing as throwing 
 part of the weight of the load on to the shafts, a thing frequently done in two-wheeled 
 carts, and a manoeuvre which all good carmen know how to pat in practice. The im- 
 possibility of inclining the traces of the leaders, owing to their distance from the car- 
 riage, is an additional reason to those given before, why tliey (the leaders) cannot, 
 when required, exert such an effort as the shaft-horse wheeler ; and on rough cross-roads, 
 is a great argument in favour of harnessing horses abreast. 
 
 Yet what can be more contrary to the riues here laid down than the injudicious mode 
 
 FiB. 10. 
 
 frequently adopted in harnessing horses ? How constantly do we see the efTorts of horses 
 paralysed by misapplication of their respective qualities ! In the annexed sketch, (fig. 
 10,) for instance, which represents a very common specimen of this, the light, muscular, 
 little horse, which is capable of considerable exertion, is nearly lifted from the ground, 
 and prevented from making any exertion, by the traces leading upwards ; while the 
 feeble old horse, scarcely capable of carrying his own body, is "nearly dragged to the 
 ground, and compeled to employ his whole strength in carrying himself, and even part of 
 
316 
 
 THE HORSE. 
 
 the weight of the leader ; so that the strength of the one willing to work is not employed 
 and the other is so overloaded as to be useless. ' 
 
 The mode of attaching the traces does not admit of much variety. The shoulders have 
 always been made use of for tliis purpose. 
 
 Homer, who is supposed to have lived about 900 
 years B. C., describes very minutely, in the 24th book 
 of the Iliad, the mode of harnessing horses at the time 
 of the seige of Troy, nearly three tliousand years ago ; 
 but if we suppose that his description was taken from 
 the harness in use, in his own time, it is still referring 
 to a period about twenty-seven centuries back. 
 
 A simple strap, formed of several thicknesses of 
 leather, so as to be very stiff, and fitted well to the 
 neck and shoulders, served as a collar, as seen at A A, 
 (figs. 11, 12.) A second strap B B. passed round 
 the body, and was attached to the shoulder strap at 
 the withers. At this point was fixed the yoke, C C, 
 which was fixed to the pole. 
 
 Fig. 12. 
 
 A pair of horses were thus yoked together, without traces or breechings, as oxen are 
 seen at the present time in many parts of the country. 
 
 This was a simple arrangement, but by no means a bad one ; and it would appear 
 that they performed all the manoeuvres of cavalry with chariots and horses thus harnessed. 
 The pair yoked to the pole were called yoked horses ; abreast of these was frequently 
 placed what was called an outer horse, with a simple shoulder-strap or collar F F, and a 
 single trace, G G, passing inside, as in fig. 13. Sometimes there were two of these 
 horses, one on each side, each furnished with his strap or collar and trace. 
 
 These straps, if well fitted, were not bad ; but as tliey must have pressed in some de- 
 gree upon the throat, they could not be equal to the collar of the yoked horses, still less 
 to the collar at present used. 
 
 In more modern times these shoulder straps gave place to the breast strap. A horse 
 can no doubt exert a considerable strain against such a strap, but in action it must im- 
 pede the movement of the shoulder. 
 
 In some parts of South America the trace is fixed to the pummel of the saddle, which 
 in its turn is well secured to the horse by saddle-girths, breast-straps, and breechings ; 
 and we are informed that horses in this manner drag very considerable loads. It resem- 
 bles completely the harness of the ancients, with the addition of the breechings. It is, 
 of course, a mere temporary arrangement, convenient only as requiring no preparation. 
 The trace is, in fact, the lasso of the rider, which is always fastened to the saddle ; and 
 when he has entangled it round the horns of a bull, or attached it to any thing he 
 may have occasion to transport, he takes one or two turns of the thong round the pum- 
 mel of the saddle, and the horse will at full gallop drag the load after him. Here the 
 load being generally upon the ground, the trace must inclin» rwsiderably downwards ; 
 
ON DRAUGHT. 
 Fig. 13. 
 
 317 
 
 and this, added to the weight of the rider, will perhaps account in some de^ee for the 
 extraordinary effects of a young powerful horse goaded to the utmost, and continuing 
 the exertion only for a short time. 
 
 A gentleman who traveled some time in this part of America, and frequently wit- 
 nessed the practical effects of this arrangement, has suggested the propriety of introduc- 
 ing it into the artillery, by means of which a number of horses might in an instant be 
 attached to a gun, to extricate it from any heavy or broken ground in which it might be 
 entangled. Certainly, the length of these traces would enable these additional horses 
 to secure a good footing ; and any number of horses might thus be made to lend their 
 assistance in time of need. We do not pretend, however, to judge of the practical utility 
 of this measure, but merely record the suggestion of another. 
 
 The collar now generally used is an improvement upon the ancient shoulder-strap 
 described by Homer ; and it is probably the best possible mode of attaching the traces 
 to the horses. If the connexion is made at the proper place on the collar, the latter bears 
 flat and evenly upon the muscles which cover tlie collar-bone, and the shovdders of the 
 horse are left almost as free in their action as if the collar were not there. About A, 
 (figs. 14, 15, p. 318,) is the point'of the shoulder where the trace should come ; and a 
 little inclination downwards, which can easily be effected in the case of the shaft-horse 
 by the shafts, and in the others by the belly-band, will, if necessary, prevent the collar 
 rising up, and inconveniencing the throat of the horse. 
 
 Reflecting upon the various circumstances which we have shown to occur in the ap- 
 plication of animal power, and the various conclusions we have drawn while considering 
 the best and most advantageous apphcation of this power — and we must be excused the 
 frequent repetition of the terms, for the sake of the clearness gained by it — it would 
 appear that the resistance should be as much as possible rigid and inelastic, so as to receive 
 immediately and unimpaired the direct effects of the slightly irregular exertions of the 
 animal ; that this resistance should not be such as to yield directly to a sudden impulse ; 
 that it should be so far uniform as to be ti-ee from violent changes or sudden shocks, but 
 not so constant as to zdlow of no remission, nor of those alternations of exertion and 
 comparative relaxation which we have stated to be advantageous to the perfect develope- 
 ment of animal power. 
 
 That, as regards the degree of resistance, where velocity is not required, a force of 
 traction of from lOOlbs. to 1251bs., or even 150 lbs.,* according to the strength of the 
 horse, continued for eight hours a day, at about two and a half to three miles per hour, 
 
 * The load which will produce this amount of draught will be determined when we 
 consider the subject of the roads, on the quality of which it will be seen that tliis mainly 
 depends. . 
 
S18 
 
 THE HORSE, 
 
 Fis- 14. 
 
 Fig. 15. 
 
 is the best proportion of quantity and duration of labor ; that where six or eight miles per 
 hour is required, the duration of the day's work should be shortened to five or six hours, 
 and the draught reduced to 80lbs. or lOOlbs. At still higher velocities the draught must 
 not exceed SOlbs. or 601bs., and the time of working two or three hours. But this speed 
 can only be attained by the sacrifice of the horse ; and consequently the question will 
 rather be what the horse is capable of doing than what can be done with economy ; and 
 it becomes a matter of calculation depending altogether upon the first cost of the horse, 
 and the profits arising from his employment 
 
 With respect to the mode of harnessing the horse, it is hardly necessaiy to say that 
 great care should be taken in fitting the collar and in attaching the traces to the proper 
 point. As to the direction of the traces, it must, as we have shown, entirely depend upon 
 the circumstances of the case. Where the draught is heavy and slow, if the road be good, 
 the traces should be neaj'ly horizontal, unless the journey be short, or the traffic be only 
 in one direction, and the cart return empty, or unless any other reason render it desirable 
 to compel the horse to exert himself more than he would naturally do ; the traces should 
 then be inclined downward towards the carriage, with an inclination perhaps of one upon 
 four or five, provided always that the horse is capable of continuing the exertion which, 
 by the additional load thrown upon his shoulders, he is thus called upon to make. If, in 
 the same case of low speed, the road be very heavy, or broken and rough, the proportion 
 of draught upon each horse must be lessened, but the ti-aces should be attached still lower 
 to the carriage, at a slope of one upon three or four, by which much greater power is 
 given to the animal to drag the load over any obstruction. 
 
 At all high velocities, the traces should generally be horizontal. The cases of rough 
 roads or powerful horses may slightly affect this arrangement, as at low velocities, but not 
 in so great a degree. 
 
 We will now proceed to examine the mode in which these conditions are practically to 
 be fulfilled, and the result of the application of the principles which we have laid down, 
 by considering the subject of the vehicles for conveying the weight to be moved. 
 
 Those in present use are boats, as canal boats, sledges, and wheeled carriages, which 
 last of course include every species of carriage, whether wagon or cart, heavy or light. 
 
 Canal boats and canals we suspect are going fast out of use, and will very shortly give 
 place entirely to railways ; but still it must be many years before this can be effected; 
 and in the mean time, the produce of the most extensive manufactures in the world, and 
 the supply of immense masses of people, will be transported over these beautifully smooth. 
 
ON DRAUGHT. 319 
 
 level noiseless roads ; and, even if their beds were dry, and become the course of rail- 
 ways' (an event which may perhaps befall some of them,) we must, out of respect for the 
 ext-aordinary benefits we have derived fi-om their assistance, and the almost incredible 
 etfect they have produced upon the commerce and riches of the country, have devoted a 
 few lines to that part of their consideration which bears upon our subject, viz. the draught 
 
 of canal boats. , , , • ^i. n 
 
 The great advantage in the transport of goods by water conveyance, is the smaUness 
 of the power required. A body floating in water is left so very free in its movements, 
 that motion may be gradually communicated to it by any power however small, at least the 
 limit is veiy far removed ; but although a very slow movement may thus easily be obtained, 
 the sUghtest increase of speed causes a very great increase of resistance. 
 
 The resistance to a body moving in a fluid, arises principally from the striking of the par- 
 ticles of the fluid against the front of the moving body, so that if the speed of the vessel 
 be increased, not only does it encounter a proportionably greater number of pai-ticles, but 
 also it is struck by each witli a force proportionate to the velocity, and consequently the 
 resistance is found to increase as the square of the velocity ; thus, if the speed of the 
 vessel be trebled, the number of particles, or the quantity of water which it meets in its 
 progress for a certain space of time, is trebled, and the resistance of each particle being 
 also three times zs great, owing to the boats striking it witli treble the velocity, the uni- 
 ted effect is nine times as great ; therefore, if in the first instance it required one pound 
 to draw the vessel, it would now require nine, but nine times the weight or resistance, 
 moved at tliree times the velocity, will require twenty-seven times the quantity of power 
 in action ; consequently, we see tliat the resistance increases as tlie square of the velo- 
 city, and the power required to be exerted for a given time increases as the cube of that 
 velocity. 
 
 There are some other causes of resistance, which do not vary in this proportion, but 
 at moderate velocities ; and in all ordinary cases this may be considered as a tolerable 
 approximation to the real law of tlie increase, and shows at once the impossibility of 
 using water conveyance where speed is required. The draught of an ordinary canal 
 boat, at the velocity of 2^ miles per hour, is about _i_ of its weight, tliat is to say, a 
 canal boat, with its load weighing 33 tons, or 7,^,920 lbs., is moved at the rate mentioned, 
 by a force equivalent to 80lbs., being _ l _ part of the load. This is found by Mr. Bevan 
 to be the result upon the Grand Junction Canal, and a force of traction of SOlbs., is here 
 found to be equivalent to a horse power. The average power of an ordinary horse is 
 certainly rather more ; and in the commencement of this paper, we mentioned this as 
 an instance of a small effect beiu^ produced, most probably owing to the peculiar ap- 
 
 Slication of the power. We believe it to be the case, and think it likely, that if the 
 isadvantages before alluded to, arising firom the mode of applying the power, could be 
 removed, the effect might be raised to lOOlbs., or 120 lbs. of traction, and consequently 
 the load moved would then be 40 or 50 tons ; this is an increase well worthy of consi- 
 deration. 
 
 We now come to the consideration of the means of ti'ansport employed on land. 
 These are sledges, rollers, and wheel carriages. The order in which they are here men- 
 tioned, is probably that in which they were invented or first employed. A sledge is cer- 
 taiidy the rudest and most primitive form of vehicle ; the wheeled carriage, and even the 
 placing the load itself upon rollers, is the effect of a much more advanced state of the 
 mechanical arts, and is probably of much later date than the sledge. 
 
 When man first felt the necessity or the desire of transporting any article from one 
 spot to another, he doubtless endeavored to lift or carry it : if it proved too heavy 
 for him to carry, he would naturally endeavor to drag it. Here, frequent experiments 
 would soon show him how much less labor was required to drag a body with a smooth 
 surface in contact with the ground, than when the contrary was the case ; and if the 
 body to be moved did not itself present a smooth surface on any of its sides, but was, on 
 the contrary, rough and angular in all directions, he would naturally be led to interpose 
 between it and the ground some plane surface which should prevent the angles and pro- 
 jections of the body from entering the ground and impeding the progress ; and we may 
 presume that sledges were thus very early brought into use. When attempting to trans- 
 port still heavier masses, the accidental pressure of round stones, or a piece of timber, 
 may have shown the advantage of interposing rolling bodies, and thus may rollers have 
 been invented and first brought into use. 
 
 These steps appear natural and Hkely to have led to these results ; they are at any 
 rate suflScient to account for the first introduction of these two means of facilitating 
 transport, but no steps of this kind appear capable of leading to the beautiful yet simple 
 contrivance of a wheel. 
 
 A roller is by no means an imperfect wheel, as it may at first appear to be ; they 
 have nothing in common but their rotatory or revolving action, but the effect of this mo- 
 
320 THE HORSE. 
 
 tion is totally different in the two. In a roller, friction is avoided altogther by it, in a 
 wheel it exists as completely as in a sledge, but the sliding surfaces being at the centre 
 of the wheel, instead of on the ground, are always the same, and being under control, 
 may be kept in that state which shall cause as Uttle friction as posssble : moreover, the 
 friction is at a point where we have the means of overcoming it, by acting with the 
 power of a considerable lever, as we shall hereafter show. 
 
 There is, indeed, a kind of roller, which partalces somewhat of the character of the 
 wheel, but without possessing the advantages of it. 
 
 This species of roller may have been an intermediate step between the two, and we 
 shall therefore describe it, when we have dismissed the subject of sledges and rollers. 
 
 In England sledges are at the present time very little in use. In some commercial 
 towns the facility with which bulky and heavy aiticles can be placed upon them without 
 being raised to the height of a cai-t, has caused them still to be employed, but even in 
 these cases, they are in general used only upon the pavement where the friction is not 
 considerable, and for shoi-t distances, in which case, the saving of labor, in loading and 
 unloading, more than compensates for the increase of power absorbed by the draught. 
 Low-wheeled trucks would, however, in these cases possess the same advantage, and 
 might be substituted for them, if this advantage is so indispensable : for agricultural pur- 
 poses they are almost become obsolete, and for aU purposes of traffic between distant 
 points, they are quite abandoned. 
 
 It is only in the north of England and in some parts of Cornwall, that they are some- 
 times used in farms, but wherever good roads exist and mechanical ails keep pace with 
 the improvements of the age, they have given place to wheel carriages. An examina- 
 tion into their nature and action will immediate!)' account for this. 
 
 A sledge is merely a frame, generally of wood, upon which the load is placed, and 
 resting at once upon the ground, the friction between the under surface of the sledge and 
 the ground bears a considerable proportion to the load ; but if the ground be very uneven 
 and full of holes, the sledge, by extending over a great surface, avoids the holes, and 
 slides only upon the eminences, which being naturally the stones or tlie hard portions of 
 the ground, cause less friction ; on such a road, a wheel would be continually sinking 
 into those holes, and thus oppose considerable resistance, and would also expose the 
 load to frequent danger of upseting. 
 
 It would appear, therefore, that over broken ground, or even upon a very bad uneven 
 road, a sledge may be more advantageous than wheels, and its extreme simplicity of 
 construction renders it very economical as regards first cost ; but the ground must indeed 
 be veiy bad, or the country be very poor and httle cultivated, where the formation of roads 
 would not amply repay themselves by allowing the use of wheels ; for the power re- 
 quired to dravv a loaded sledge will be at least four or five times greater than that 
 required for an equally loaded cart upon a tolerable good road. 
 
 The draught of a sledge, even upon the pavement, is about one-fifth of the load, so that 
 to draw a ton weight, requires a force of traction of about four hundred weight ; upon 
 roads the friction will be much greater ; it is difficult to state its amount, as it must 
 depend so much upon the nature of the ground, but with the load before mentioned, viz. 
 one ton, the force of traction will probably vary from five to seven hundred weight ; over 
 a strong rocky surface the resistance of a sledge will be much the same as on pavement. 
 Its use, therefore, must be confined to very particular cases, where the absence of roads, 
 or the want of means, prevents the adoption of more improved vehicles ; and these cases, 
 are fortunately too rare in England to render it worth our while to bestow much time upon 
 its description. 
 
 Sledges are generally formed of two longitudinal pieces of timber, four or five feet 
 apart, with their lower edges shod with iron ; and transverse planks, bolted to these, form 
 the floor, and they are thus easily constructed. The ti-aces should be more inclined than 
 with wheeled carriages, because the friction bearing a greater proportion to the load it is 
 more advantageous to throw a portion of that load upon the horse, and being used upon 
 uneven ground it is more important to be able to lift the front of the sledge over obstacles. 
 
 Although in this country the use of sledges is very limited, in many parts of the world 
 they constitute the best, and indeed, the only means of conveyance. Upon ice the fric- 
 tion is so trifling that they oppose less resistance even than wheels, for the reasons before 
 stated of their covering a larger surface, and thereby sliding over those asperities which 
 would impede the progress of a wheel ; upon snow the advantage is still more decided ; 
 where a wheel would sink a considerable depth and become almost immoveable, a sledge 
 will glide upon the thin frozen crust without leaving a trace, and with an ease truly won- 
 derful. In all cold climates they are consequently in general use ; and the depth of win- 
 ter is there the season for the transport of merchandise. 
 
 The Esquimaux with their dogs, the Laplanders with their rein-deer, and the Rus- 
 sians with horses, use the sledge to a great extent in the winter, over the frozen rivers or 
 the hard snow. 
 
ON DRAUGHT. 
 
 821 
 
 In the wann climates, on the contrary, not only are they now almost unknown, but the 
 records which refer to periods so far removed as 3000 years make no mention of such 
 conveyance. 
 
 Rollers come next under consideration ; they certainly afford the means of transporting 
 a heavy weight upon land with less power than any other means with which we are 
 acquainted ; their motion is not necessaril)' attended with any friction. A cylinder, or a 
 sphere, can roll upon a plane without any rubbing of the surfaces whatever, and conse- 
 quently without friction ; and, in the same manner, a plane will roll upon this roller with- 
 out friction ; in practice, tliis is more or less the case, according to the perfection of work- 
 manship in the formation of the rollers, and, if the cylindrical, the care with which they 
 are placed at right angles to direction at which they are to move. There is only one source 
 of resistance which is inseparable from the use of rollers, viz., the uneveness of the sur- 
 faces, or the yieldings of the malerial, which amounts to nearly the same thing. 
 
 A circle resting upon a straight line can only touch it in a single point, and the contact 
 of a cylinder with a plane is merely a line ; consequently, if the material of the roller, 
 and the surface on which it rolled, were perfectly hard and inelastic, such would be their 
 contact, whatever weight might be placed upon the roller. 
 
 But in practice no such material can be obtained, and 
 rollers, on the contraiy, are generally made of wood, and 
 when loaded they must yield until the surface A B, fig. 16, 
 is proportionate to the pressure. Still, if the substance 
 were perfectly elastic, that is to say, if it would return to its 
 original form with the same force and velocity which were 
 required to distort it, this alteration would not cause any 
 resistance ; tlie elasticity at E would tend to raise the back 
 of the roller wth a force D E,fig. 17, equal to, and exactly 
 similar, but opposite to C B. and would consequently bal- 
 ance it. 
 
 Although pefect elasticity is unattainable, yet most hard 
 substances possess this quality to some extent ; conse- 
 quently, when the load is not sufficient to crush the vuiteri- 
 als, the resistance is not much increased by even a consid- 
 erable yielding, — provided this yielding, as we have before 
 said, arises from elasticity. Thus if a bladder be filled 
 with air and used as a roller, the resistance will not be 
 greater than if a perfect and hard cylinder were employed, 
 althougfh the bladder may be nearly flattened under the 
 weight ; — but the permanent compression of the roller and 
 the crushing of dust or other extraneous substances lying 
 in the way are the great impediments to its movement; 
 these constitute a resistance in the direction B C, which 
 is not counterbalanced by any force arising from elasticity 
 on the opposite side. The effect of this resistance is de- 
 pendent upon the diameter of the roller, diminishing when the latter is increased, tliough 
 not in so rapid a proportion. 
 
 If A B C be a circle, let a horizontal force P be applied at G, fig. 18 ; if an obstacle be 
 
 placed at E, the force P will tend to push the roller 
 over the obstacle, and will act with a lever equal to G 
 F, and for all small obstacles G F may be considered 
 equal to G D the diameter. The weight upon the 
 roller pressing it down, acts with a lever equal to 
 
 E F ; but E F is equal to ^ G~F, X \/^ D^ there- 
 fore E r, which is equal to F D, remaining constant, 
 and the diameter being increased, E F increases only 
 as the square root of diameter, and consequently 
 the force necessary to advance the roller is inversely 
 as the square root of the diameter ; that is to say, if 
 a roller be increased four times in diameter, the re- 
 sistance arising from the causes now under consid- 
 
 1 
 eration will be reduced to or one-half, and ifj 
 
 1 
 
 increased nine times in diameter, the resistance will be only equal to or one-third. 
 
 This being the only source of resistance to the action of a roller, it will easily be 
 41 
 
322 
 
 THE HORSE. 
 
 conceived that, in practice, by laying a plank, or any other plane surface, upon the 
 eround, and preparing in like manner the lower surface of the body to be moved, and 
 interposing rollers between the two, a very great weight may be moved with com- 
 paratively sm<dl power ; but, on the other hand, there is a serious practical inconve- 
 lence attending the use of a roller, which prevents its adoption except in very particular 
 cases. 
 
 A weight woved upon rollers proceeds at twice the rate of the roller, for if C. fig 19, 
 "■ ' " be the centre of the roller, D the point of contact with the 
 
 ground, and E that with the weight to be moved, and W 
 the weight, if this weight be put in motion, the point D is 
 for an instant stationary, since it is in close contact with 
 the ground. The diameter E C D moves, therefore, round 
 the point D as a centre, and consequently, E being twice 
 as far from D cis C is, describes E e twice as great a dis- 
 tance as C c ; fresh points are now brought to the summit 
 and in contact with the ground, and again the latter is 
 stationary, while the former moves twice the distance 
 which the point C does. The summit therefore, or that 
 point which is in immediate contact with the weight 
 always moves with twice the velocity of the centre of the 
 roller ; but the velocity of the centre is, of course, that of 
 the roller and the velocity of the point E, which is incon- 
 tact with, and is moved by, the weight, is the same as 
 that of the weight moved ; therefore, as the weight is forced forward, it moves at twice 
 the rate of the roller, it will gain upon the rollers, and others must be continually sup- 
 plied in front — an inconvenience much felt in practice. 
 
 This confines the use of the roller to cases where the distance is verj^- short, or where 
 the weight conveyed is exceedingly great, and reduction in the resistance of more im- 
 portance than the inconvenience alluded to. 
 
 The most remarkable instance of the application of rollers is the transport of the rock 
 which now serves as the pedestal of the equestrian statue of Peter the Great at St. Pe- 
 
 tersburgh. 
 
 Fig. 21. 
 
 This rock, a single block of granite, was discovered in the centre of a bog, four miles 
 from the water side ; it weighed, after being cut into a convenient shape, 1217 tons. 
 Notwithstanding its enormous weight it was raised and turned upon its side and placed 
 upon a frame. A road was made across the bog, and a timber railway laid down ; the 
 whole was then left till the depth of winter, when the boggy ground was frozen and the 
 operations then commenced. The railway consisted of two lines of timber aa a a, (Ags. 
 20, 21, 22,) furnished with hard metal grooves ; similar and corresponding metal grooves 
 were fixed to the under side of the sledge, and between these grooves were placed the 
 rollers, which were spheres of hard brass, about six inches diameter. The impossibility 
 of confining cylindrical rollers to a perfectly parallel direction, and \yithout which the 
 friction would have been considerable, rendered the adoption of spherical roUers or baUa 
 running in a groove a matter of necessity, as otherwise the small surface upon which they 
 can bear, and the consequent danger of crushing, or at least flattening that surface, is a 
 serioui objection to spheres ; once placed upon the rollers, it was drawn by means ot 
 
ON DRAUGHT. 
 Ft.?. 22. 
 
 823 
 
 capstans. The resistance does not appear to have been great, considering the enormous 
 weight, since sixty men at the capstans with treble purchase blocks moved it with ease. 
 The transport of this enormous rock under such disadvantageous circumstances of 
 country, over a distance of four miles, and its subsequent passage of thirteen miles by 
 water in a vast cassoon or vessel constructed for the purpose, was a work suroassing 
 any tiling of the sort attempted by the ancients, and, indeed, in modern times the only 
 thing which can be compared to it is the dragging a ship of the line up a slip ; the weight 
 is in this case nearly the same as that of the rock, but the distance traversed is short, 
 and the difficulties to be overcome much less. A plane of inclined timber is prepared 
 and well greased ; a frame of wood, technically called a cradle, is fixed under the vessel, 
 it is floated on to the incline plane and drawn up by the united efibrts of a number of 
 well-manned capstans, with powerful tackle in this case no rollers are used ; it is a 
 sledge, the surface being well covered with grease to lessen the friction. 
 
 We have stated that there was a particular construction of roller which might be con- 
 sidered, as regards its form merely, an interme- 
 diate step between the roller and the wheel. 
 It consists of a roller vrith the diameter of 
 the extremities increased as in fig 23 ; the 
 only advantage of this roller is that the body 
 rests upon the small part of the roller, see fig. 
 24, and when put in motion, will not gain so 
 rapidly on the rollers ; or in other words, the 
 roller will move with more than half the ve- 
 locity of the body. A mere inspection of 
 fig. 25, is sufficient to show that the velocity 
 of the centre, C, will be to that of the body 
 resting on the point B, as C D to B D, so 
 that if the ends of the rollers are twice the 
 size of the intermediate part, C D will be equal 
 to two-thirds of B D, and the roller will move 
 at two-thirds of the rate of the body ; a less 
 number of rollers are therefore required, and 
 the resistance is somewhat diminished by 
 having larger rollers in contact with the 
 ground. 
 
 In using a roller of this sort, the idea may 
 have struck the workman, or it may have oc- 
 cured accidentally, to confine the spindle of 
 the roller, and compel it to move with the 
 body ; and thus a clumsy pair of wheels, 
 fixed to a spindle, would have resulted from 
 his experiment. Such a supposition is quite 
 gratuitous, as we have no record of any such 
 contrivance having existed before wheels were 
 
 Fig 25. 
 
324 THE HORSE. 
 
 made ; indeed it is inferior both to the roller and the wheel : the only argument in favor 
 of such a theory is, that rollers of this sort have been employed in comparatively mo- 
 dern times. 
 
 At Rome, in 1588, an obelisk, 90 feet high, of a single block of stone, weighing up- 
 wards of 160 tons, and which had originally been brought from Egypt, was removed 
 from one square, in which it stood, to another in the Vatican, and there again erected in 
 the spot where it now is. 
 
 In dragging this through the streets of Rome, it was fixed in a strong frame of wood, 
 which rested upon a smaller frame, which were furnished each with a pair of rollers, or 
 spindles, of the form above referred to ; they were turned by capstan bars : indeed they 
 cannot be better described than by stating that they resembled exactly the naves of a 
 
 Eair of cart wheels (all the spokes being removed,) and fixed to a wooden axle. If a 
 eavy wagon lay upon a pair of these, we can conceive that by putting bars into the 
 mortices of the naves, we could force th^in round, and thus advance the wagon ; but 
 the resistance would evidently be greater than if either rollers or wheels were employed. 
 
 All the difficulties incidental to the use of the roller appear to be surmounted, and all 
 objections met, by the contrivance of the wheel. 
 
 The wheel being attached to the load, or to the carriage which contains it, moves with 
 it, is part of the machine, and consequently as we require only the number of wheels 
 immediately necessary for the support of the load, we can atfbrd to construct them of 
 those dimensions and materials best suited to the purpose. By increasing their diameter, 
 we are enabled to surmount impediments with much greater facility, as we have shown 
 in the case of the roller ; and although there is a resistance arising from friction at the 
 axle, which does not exist in the roller, yet this may be so reduced, by increasing the 
 diameter of the wheel, as to form an inconsiderable part of the whole resistance, or 
 draught of the carriage. 
 
 Of the first introduction of the wheel we have no record whatever. The principle 
 appears to us so simple as to have been necessarily the result of pure invention, almost 
 inspiration ; while at the same time, it is so exceedingly efiective and perfect, as hardly 
 to admit of improvement. 
 
 The great antiquity of wheeled carriages or chariots precludes all hopes of discovering 
 their origin. About fifteen hundred years before the Christian era they appear to have 
 been in common use amongst the Egyptians in the warfare. Pharaoh despatched six 
 hundred chosen chariots in pursuit of the Israelites, immediately that he was informed 
 of their escape, while the rest of the cu-ray followed with all the chariots of Egypt : here, 
 therefore, they were in constant use, and serving as the cavalry of the present day. 
 
 Moreover the oldest records which enter into any detail of their construction described 
 them in a very forward and perfect state. 
 
 At the siege of Troy, nearly tliree thousand years ago, they formed, according to 
 Homer, the cavalry of the Greeks and Trojans ; and every officer or hero of good blood 
 possessed, at least, a pair of horses and a charioteer. 
 
 These chariots being built to run over broken ground, where no roads existed, were 
 made low and broad, and they were by no means badly contrived for the purpose for 
 which they were intended ; the wheels were constructed with a nave and spokes, felloes 
 and tires ; and the pole, a, appears to have been fixed on the axle-tree, b, in the manner 
 shown in fig. 26. The body of the chariot was placed upon this frame. The team 
 
 Fig. 26, 
 
 generally consisted, as we have before stated, of a pair of horses, attached to the pole ; 
 six and even a greater number of horses were, however, frequently harnessed abreast, 
 but in that case a second pole was generally affixed to the axletree, so as to have a pair 
 of horses attached to each pole, and the axletrees themselves were always made nearly 
 as long as the whole width occupied by the horses. 
 
ON DRAUGHT. 325 
 
 They appear to have had light chariots for more tlompstic purposes, and four-wheeled 
 carriages lor conveyance of heavy goods ; and certainly King Priain, when he went to 
 the Grecian camp to ransom the body of his son Hector, traveled with some degree of 
 comfort and luxury : he rode himself in a beautiful new built traveling carriage, drawn by 
 favorite horses, while the ti'easures, intended as a ransom, were conveyed in a four- 
 wheeled wagon drawn by mules. All these details, as well as the mode of harnessing 
 the horses, which operation, it must be confessed, was performed by Priam himself ana 
 his sons, are fully described in the twenty-fourth book of the Iliad. 
 
 That Homer was well acquainted with the construction of the spoked wheel running 
 freely upon the axletree, and, perhaps, even with the mode of hanging tlie body of the 
 carriages upon straps, for springs, in the same manner as the public coaches are to this 
 day in many parts of France, and even in the neighborhood of Paris, is evident from the 
 passage in which he describes Juno's chariot. He there says, while Juno was putting 
 the golden bits to the horses, Hebe fastened on the wheels to the iron axles. " These, 
 wheels had eight brazen spokes, and the felloes were of gold, and the tires of brass." — 
 " The seat was fastened with gold and silver cords." 
 
 This, of course, gives us Homer's ideas of perfection in a chariot. 
 
 All the epithets which could convey ideas of swiftness, were applied to these chariots 
 and to the horses, but we have no positive information as regards the real velocity with 
 which they would travel : as roads were scarce, and probably at best merely tracks, much 
 could not be expected from vehicles constructed under such circumstances ; the wheels 
 were small, from 20 to 30 inches diameter, and all the parts of the chariots excessively 
 heavy, so as to resist the repeated shocks to which they were subject. 
 
 The chariots represented upon the Frieze of the Parthenon, before alluded to, and which 
 is probably upwards of 2200 years old, are very light in their construction, and only want 
 springs to be called gigs. 
 
 The advancement of all the branches of the mechanical arts has necessarily introduced 
 many improvements in the details of the construction of the wheel itself, as well as in 
 that of the axle and the rest of the carriage, and by this means no doubt increased very 
 greatly the use and advantage of it ; but it is a remarkable fact, that these improvements 
 nave been confined exclusively to the workmanship and mechanical detail, and that the 
 principle has remained exactly the same, and has not even received any wddition during 
 this immense lapse of time. 
 
 Upwards of 3000 years ago, the wheels appear to have been independent of each other 
 and running upon fixed axles ; we can say no more of tlie most improved wheel of tlie 
 most finished carriage of the present day. 
 
 We are far from intending to cast any slight upon modern invention, or to compare the 
 groaning axletrees and creaking wheels of the ancients with the noiseless CoUinge's axles 
 of the nineteenth century ; but truth compels us to acknowledge that a period of thirty 
 centuries, more than half the time which is supposed to have elapsed since the creation 
 of the world, has produced no radical change nor brought into action any new principle 
 in the use of the wheel as applied to carriages. 
 
 The particular form and construction of the wheel, as well as of all the other parts of 
 the carriage, however, admit of great variety, and the draught is materially affected by 
 their variation. We shall, therefore, after examining the action of wheels in general, 
 describe the mode of construction now adopted, and then endeavor to point out the ad- 
 vantages and disadvantages of the various forms which have been given to the difierent 
 parts of it. 
 
 First let us examine the theory of it, and suppose it acting on a level plain. 
 
 The wheel being a circle, the centre will remain always at the same height, and conse- 
 quently will move parallel to the plane in a perfectly level line : if any weight be attached 
 to or suspended from its centre, tnis will also move in a continued straight line without 
 rising or falling, and consequently when once put in movement, there is nothing to check 
 its progress (neglecting for the moment the slight resistance of the air,) and it will re- 
 quire no force to keep it in motion so long as the wheels continue to turn. 
 
 We have therefore in this case only to examine into the force necessary to turn the 
 wheels. The wheels, if left to themselves, would roll on with perfect freedom, whatever 
 might be their weight, or whatever weight might be attached to them, provided nothing 
 in the mode of attaching that weight impeded meir revolution ; but in practice we cannot 
 admit of the load revolving with the wheel, and we have no means of suspending it to 
 the wheel, except by means of an axle fixed to the load, and passing through the centre 
 of the wheel. This axle presses upon the lower surface of the hole, and consequently 
 when the wheel revolves causes a friction proportionate to the load upon the axle. This 
 friction is then the only source of resistance to the motion of a wheel, under the circum- 
 stances here supposed ; and it is the action of this friction, the degree in which it affects 
 the draught, and by what means this eifcct is increased and diminished, that we are now 
 about to consider. 
 
D 
 
 326 THE HORSE. 
 
 Let C, fig. 27, be the centre of a wheel, of which 
 C D is the radius, and C A that of the axle passing 
 through the wheel, and which being fixed to the load 
 does not revolve with the wheel. 
 
 If a force C B be applied to the centre of the 
 wheel, tending to advance it in the direction B, the 
 point D being in contact with the ground, the wheel 
 IS compeled to turn or roll, and the force C B in 
 turning the wheel acts with a leverage equal to C D, 
 but the friction between the axle and the wheel is 
 at the point A, and in preventing the turning of the 
 wheel it acts only at the extremity of the lever C A ; 
 consequently if C D be ten times as great as C A, 
 the force C B need only be equal to one-tenth of the amount of the friction, and, as a 
 general nile, the radius of the axle, and the friction remaining the same, the force neces- 
 sary to overcome the resistance, arising from this friction, will be inversely as the radius 
 or the diameter of the wheel, or, in other words, the draught will, in this case, diminish ex- 
 actly in proportion as the diameter of the wheel is increased. 
 
 The exact ainount of resistance occasioned by friction will depend upon the nature of 
 the substances in contact at the axle, as well as upon the proportionate dimensions of the 
 wheel and axle. 
 
 The friction between polished surfaces bears a certain proportion to the pressure : if 
 the pressure is doubled, the friction will, within certain limits, be also doubled ; but the 
 proportion between the friction and the pressure is only constant so long as the same sub- 
 stances are employed : it varies very much with different substances. Thus, with soft 
 wood sliding upon soft wood the friction amounts to one-fourth or one-third of the pres- 
 sure, while between hard brass and iron, the surfaces smooth and oiled, the resistance 
 may be as low as _i_ of the pressure. The relative advantages, therefore, of different ma- 
 terials, as applied to the axle and box of a wheel, is a point of much consequence. 
 
 Metals, generally speaking, are the best adapted for this purpose. Owing to their hard- 
 ness, the friction between them is small, and they will bear without injury a greater pres- 
 sure, proportionably to the surface ; and, from their strength, the axle may be of much 
 smaller dimensions than if made of wood ; and we have proved that a reduction in the 
 diameter of the axle causes a proportionate reduction in the resistance caused by friction. 
 In consequence of these advantages, iron or steel axles, working in iron boxes, are now 
 almost universally adopted. The friction in this case, when the parts are in proper order, 
 greased, and the pressure upon them not excessive, amounts to about one-eighth, or, at the 
 most, one-fifth of the pressure or weight ; suppose it one-sixth, and if the diameter of the 
 wheel is to that of the axle as 18 or 20 to 1, which is about the proportion in a large two- 
 wheeled cart, the whole resista ce arising from friction at the axle will be equal to i of 
 1 or of Ji_ which is equal to _1_ and _i_ respectively. So that to move one ton 
 
 iT 20 ^ 108 120 ^-^ 
 
 would not, in the latter case, require a force ot traction greater than IS^lbs.; and having 
 overcome this resistance, the force of traction required remains nearly the same at all 
 velocities ; that is to say, friction is not materially affected by velocity : therefore the re- 
 sistance arising from it is not sensibly augmented by a considerable increase in the speed. 
 In practice, however, the fi:iction at the axle is far from being the geatest impediment to 
 the motion of a carriage. We have hitherto, for the purpose of considering friction alone, 
 supposed the surface upon which the wheel moved as perfectly hard, smooth, level, and 
 plane : we need hardly say that such can never be the case in a road. The firiction, how- 
 ever, remains, practically speaking, the same, and the laws which govern the amount and 
 the effects of it remain unaltered ; and we have only to ascertain what is the additional 
 resistance, arising from other sources, to obtain the whole draught of the carriage. We 
 have already stated, when pointing out the difference between the roller and the wheel, 
 that the movement of the latter was attended with two sources of resistance, viz., fric- 
 tion at the centre, which we have considered, and another, which is common botli to 
 the wheel and the roller, arising from impediments in the road, or the yielding of the 
 materials. 
 
 The laws which affect the amount of this latter are, of course, the same in a wheel 
 as in a roller. 
 
 We have found that the power required to overcome it is inversely as the square root 
 of the diameter ; therefore, by increasing the diameter of the wheel, the effect of friction, 
 which is inversely as the diameter, diminishes much more rapidly than that caused by 
 impediments in the roads ; and on ordinary roads, with common carts, the amount of the 
 latter is about three times as great as that of the former, and when the roads are at all 
 i&jured bv weather or by neglect, or if they are naturally heavy or sandy, it bears a much 
 
ON DRAUGHT. 327 
 
 greater proportion. A light four-wheeled cart, weighing, with its load, lOOOlbs,* was 
 repeatedly drawn upon dinerent sorts of roads, the average of a number of experiments 
 gave the following results : 
 
 Description of Road. Force of Traction required 
 
 to move the Carriage. 
 
 Turnpike road, — hard, dry ... SO^lbs. 
 
 Ditto dirty .... 39 
 
 Hard, compact loam ..... 53 
 
 Ordinary by-road 106 
 
 Turnpike road — new graveled ... 143 
 
 Loose, ScUidy road ..... 204 
 
 The friction at the axles, which were of wood, was, of course, nearly constant, and 
 probably absorbed at least i of the weight, or 12^1bs. of the force of traction, leaving, 
 
 therefore, for the resistance caused by the road in the different cases, as under — 
 
 Description of Road Force of Traction required to move tlie Carriage, 
 
 independent of the Friction at the Axles. 
 
 Turnpike road — hard, dry, about - . - 18 lbs. 
 
 Ditto dirty 26^ 
 
 Ditto new graveled ... 130^ 
 
 Loose, sandy road . - . . . .19l| 
 
 so that in the last case, one by no means of rare occurrence in many parts of the country, 
 the portion of draught immediately caused by the slate of the roads was ten times as 
 great as on a good tmiipike road, and about fifteen times as great as that which 
 arose from friction at the axles. It would be hopeless to attempt to remedy this 
 by increasing the size of the wheel : the experiment was made witli wheels of the 
 ordinary size. To double their diameter would evidently be attended, in practice, with 
 insurmountable difficulties ; and yet, even if this were effected, it would barely reduce 
 the total amount of the draught by one-fourth ; but tlie form of the wheel may materially 
 influence the state of the road, we shall, therefore, proceed to consider the various forms 
 employed. 
 Some years ago, when the principal turnpike roads of the kingdom were at many 
 
 f)arts, at particular seasons of tne year, in little better condition than that on which the 
 ast experiment was tried, various attempts were made to reduce the resistance, by using 
 narrow wheels. These attempts, and the laws which it was found necessary to enact to 
 prevent the entire destruction of the roads, led, at last, to curious results, having gradu- 
 ally caused the introduction of the worst-formed wheel which could probably be invented, 
 either as regards increasing the draught or the destruction of the roads. 
 
 To understand these alterations clearly, we must describe the principal features of tlie 
 wheel now in use. 
 
 The general construction of it presents a striking instance of strength arising from the 
 judicious union of substances of very different qualities — wood and iron. 
 
 A strong circular frame of wood, composed of different segments, called felloes, is 
 bound together by a hoop, or several hoops of iron, called tires, which thus, at the same 
 time that it gives great strength, protects the outer surface from wear. 
 
 The nave, a circular blocK of wood, is sustained in the centre of this frame by the 
 spokes, which, instead of being in the plane of the felloes, form a cone : this is cedled 
 the dishing of the wheel. The object of it is to give stiflhess, to resist laterial shocks, 
 as when the wheel slips sideways, into a rut or hole. A reference to a comparative 
 view of the wheel, with and without dishing, will more clearly explain our meaning. 
 Fig. 28, is a wheel with the spokes all in one place : fig. 29, a wheel with a considerable 
 degree of dishing. 
 
 * The experiment was not made with a load of exactly lOOOlbs., but the proportions of 
 the results are calculated to this standard. The public are indebted to Mr. Bevan for 
 these as well as a great number of other highly useful and practical experiments upon 
 the effects of power in various cases. 
 
THE HORSE. 
 
 Fig. 28. 
 
 Here it is evident that a small pressure on the nave in^. 29, vpould have a tendency to 
 push It through, and would meet with but little resistance. In fig. .30, on the contrary, 
 this iorce would be opposed at once by the direction of the spokes, which form an arch, 
 or dome, that cannot be flattened without bursting the felloes, or tires. The dishing, 
 therefore, gives the wheel a very great degree of stiffness and strength, which it would 
 not otherwise possess. 
 In consequence of this conical form, the necessity of keeping the lower spokes which 
 ^^S- 30. ^^^T^ support the weight as vertical as possible, has required 
 
 that the whole wheel should be placed oblique, and the 
 axle bent downwards, as in fig. 30 : this, as we shall 
 hereafter show, is attended with very serious evils. As 
 a wheel is intended to roll upon the ground, without 
 friction, it is natural to suppose that the outer surface 
 of the tires should be cylindrical, as it is the only form 
 which admits of the wheel rolling freely in a straight 
 line ; but it is nevertheless the form of this surface, its 
 breadth, and the degree of dishing which have varied 
 so much from the causes before mentioned, viz., the 
 state of the roads, and to the consideration of which 
 we will now return. 
 
 A road, however much neglected and out of repair, 
 will generally have, at a certain depth, a hard bottom ; 
 above this will be a coat of mud of loose stuff, more or less deep, according to the material 
 used, and the frequency of repair or the quantitj' of wet to which it may oe exposed. It 
 is sinking through this, until it reaches the hard bottom, that causes the resistance to the 
 progress of the wheel : whether the wheel be wide or narrow, it must squeeze or gi-ind 
 its way to the bottom of this mud ; a narrow wheel evidently displaces less, and therefore 
 offers less resistance. The great object of carriers, then, was very naturally to place as 
 great a load as they could upon wheels, which were as nan-ow as possible, consistent with 
 the necessary strength. 
 
 ■ It was soon perceived that the entire destruction of the roads would be the consequence 
 of this very system, which had its origin in the bad state of the roads. A certain width 
 of tire proportionate to the load was therefore required by law. The endeavor to evade 
 this law was the cause of the absurd form of wheel we are about to describe and to 
 condemn. 
 
 In apparent obedience to the law, the felloes of the wheels were made of an excessive 
 Fig. 31. breadth ; but to retain the advantages of the narrow wheel, 
 
 the middle tire was made to project so far beyond the others, 
 (see fig. 31,) that it in fact constituted the wheel, the others 
 being merely to give a nominal, and not a real width. The 
 enormous loads which it was found advantageous to place on 
 these wheels rendered it necessary to give them a considera- 
 ble degree of dishing, to resist lateral shocks, and, besides, 
 the carriers were by this means enabled to give a great width 
 of floor to the carriage, still keeping the vehicle in the com- 
 mon tracks or ruts, so that the wheels ultimately assumed the 
 form represented, fig. 32. 
 If such a machine had been constructed, for the express 
 
ON DRAUGHT. 
 
 329 
 
 purpose of grinding the materials of the road to powder, or of serving as a check, or drag, 
 to the wagon, it might, indeed, have been judicious, but as a wheel it was monstrous. 
 Fig. 32. Yet tliis is the form of wheel upon which the contra- 
 
 dictory opinions refered to in the first page of this 
 treatise, were given before a Committee of the House 
 of Commons. A carrier of Exeter advocated these 
 wheels, and, in support of his opinion, adopts them 
 to this day. But a few days ago we saw one of his 
 wagons with wheels which, although only about 
 twelve inches wide, were six inches smdler at the 
 outside than at the inside. Such a cone, if set a 
 rolling and left to itself, would run round in a circle 
 of little more than twenty feet diameter. What must 
 be the grinding and the fjiction, then, when it is con- 
 stantly compeled to go on in a straight line ? yet 
 enough has been written and said upon this subject 
 to convince, we should imagine, tlie most prejudiced 
 of the absurdity of the system. 
 We shall repeat tlie principal arguments which were made use of at the time of the 
 inquiry mentioned. 
 
 Mr. Cummins took great pains, by constructing models, to show that conical wheels 
 Fig. 33. were not adapted for rolling in a straight line 
 
 by making a small conical wheel run over 
 longitudinal bars, as in fig. 33. It was seen 
 that if the middle part of the tire rolled upon 
 the centre bar without moving it, the bar A 
 was pushed backwards, while the bar C was 
 pushed forwards ; clearly showing if, instead 
 of sliding bars, the wheel had moved upon a 
 road, how much it must have ground the road. 
 and what a small portion of the tire was truly 
 1-olling. 
 
 That such must have been the case is, in- 
 deed, easily proved without a model. We will 
 talve only three diiferent parts of the wheel 
 and consider them as independent hoops of 
 diiferent diameter ; if these hoops are com- 
 peled to go the same number of revolutions 
 
 S'" / / ~~ ^'^^ large one will evidently gain upon the 
 
 P^^li y^- second, while tlie third will beleft far behind. 
 
 filiill/''''^ Now, if, instead of being independent of each 
 
 other, they be fixed to the same axle, and compeled to revolve together, the large bone not 
 being able to advance faster than the others, must tear up the ground. The smaller one, 
 on the contraiy, being dragged forward faster than it would naturally roll, must drag up the 
 ground ; and this is what must take place, and does, with any but a cylindrical wheel, 
 and that to a very considerable extent. ; 
 
 Suppose, for instance, a conical wheel, of an average diameter of five feet; that is to 
 say, that the centre advances about fifteen feet to every revolution of the wheel. If the 
 inner tire be six inches larger in diameter than the outer tire, the circumference of it will 
 be about eighteen inches greater ; therefore, at each revolution of the wheel the inner 
 tire would naturally advance eighteen inches more than the outer tire : but they are com- 
 peted to go over the same distance of ground. The one or the other, therefore, must 
 have disturbed the ground, or, what is nearer the truth, upon every fifteen feet run of road, 
 the former has passed over nine inches less ground than the development of its circum- 
 ference, the latter nine inches more — the one pushing back the ground, the otlier dragging 
 it forward. 
 
 Every child Icnowsthat the front wheel of a carnage goes oftener round than the hind 
 wheel. If then, the front wheel were obliged to make only one revolution to every revo- 
 lution of tlie other, but still impeled at the same rate, it must be partly dragged over the 
 road. If these wheels be placed side by side, instead of one being in fi-ont of the other, 
 the effect must be the same. Now, suppose them to be the outer and inner tire of the 
 same wheel, the circumstances are not thereby altered ; the smaller circle and the larger 
 circle cannot both roll upon the ground. A conical wheel is then constantly twisting the 
 surface upon which it rests, and hence arises a->vei'y considerable resistance, as well as 
 destruction to the roads. 
 
 If these arguments are not suflicient to decide the point completely, let the reader bear 
 in mind simi>ly, that a cone, when left to itself, will always roll in a circle. The frus- 
 
 42 
 
330 
 
 THE HORSE. 
 
 Fig. 35. 
 
 trum of a cone, AB, Jig. 34, is only a portion of the entire cone, ABC, which will roll 
 
 round the point C ; if this entire 
 Fig. 34. cone be completely severed at the 
 
 point B, the two parts will still con- 
 tinue to roll round the same point, 
 and if the portion BC be now ab- 
 stiacted, the motion of the remain- 
 der will not be altered. If a wine- 
 glass or decanter, any thing which 
 IS not of the same size at the two 
 parts which are in contact witli the 
 surface on which it rests, be rolled 
 upon a table, those who are not al- 
 ready too familiar with the fact to 
 require an illustration of it, will im- 
 mediately see the truth of this state- 
 ment. If then, a wheel thus form- 
 ed would naturally quit the straight 
 line ; when compeled to follow it, 
 it is clear that exactly the same 
 effect must be produced as when a 
 cylindrical mill-stone, as infig. 35, 
 which would proceed in a straight 
 line, is compeled to follow a cur- 
 ved line, and is constantly twisted 
 round the centre C, it would grind 
 every thing beneath it to powder. 
 Yet these traveling grindstones 
 have been in use upwards of twenty years, to the destruction of tlie roads, and at a great 
 expense of power to those who have persisted in employing them. 
 
 The increased strain upon the axles, from this constant tendency of the wheel to be 
 twisted outwards, with the consequent friction, is a source of resistance absorbed and 
 rendered comparatively inconsiderable, by the far greater friction on the ground ; but it 
 is not the less a cause of great increase of draught, and the union of all these serious dis- 
 advantages justifies, we think, our assertion, that such a wheel is as injudicious a con- 
 bivance as could possibly be invented. We trust they will not long continue to disgrace 
 our wheelwrights, and injure our roads. 
 
 We hope that none of our readers will consider tliat we have wasted our arguments 
 upon a point too self-evident to require proof In reply to this, however, we will state 
 that, at the last meeting of the parties interested in the management of a considerable 
 portion of a principal road in the middle of England, the question was considered, and it 
 was agreed to encourage the use of conical wheels, as at least equal to, if not superior 
 to cylindrical ones, by allowing them to run at a less toll than that required by act of Par- 
 liament. 
 
 The cylindrical form is the only one which ought to be admited. As 
 a wheel must, however, always be liable to sink a little into the road, 
 and cannot be expected always to bear perfectl)' flat upon tlie ground, 
 the surface of the tires should be slightly curved, and the edges rounded 
 oif, as in Jig. 36. As the rounding is rendered necessaiy by the yield- 
 ing of the road, its degree must depend upon the state of the road, and 
 the form of the wheel may approach more nearly to the true cylinder, in 
 proportion as the roads approach nearer to perfection in point of hard- 
 ness and flatness. When the roads are good, a very little dishing will be 
 sufllcient, and a slight incUnation of the wheel from the vertical will 
 make it correspond with the beirrel or curve of the road, which is now 
 generally very trifling. 
 
 Next to the form, the breadth of the wheel is the point requiring 
 most consideration ; it is one, however, which depends entirely upon 
 the state of the road. 
 
 We have seen, that the displacement or crushing of the materials 
 forming the upper surface of the road is one of the principal causes of 
 resistance. If the whole mass of the road were formed of a yielding 
 substance, into which the wheel would sink to a depth exactly propor- 
 tionate to the weight bearing upon it, it is probable that gi-eat breadth 
 would be advantageous, so that the wheel might form a roller, tending 
 to consoUdate the materials rather than cause any permanent displacement; but, in the 
 improved state of modern roads, it may safely be considered that such is never the case 
 
 Fig. 36. 
 
ON DRAUGHT. 
 
 331 
 
 A road as we have before stated, always consists of a hard bottom, covered with a stra- 
 tum, more or less thick, of soft, yielding material. A wheel, even moderately loaded, 
 will force its way through, and form a rut in this upper coating. The resistance will be 
 nearly proportionate to the breadth of this rut ; the depth of it will not increase in the 
 ratio of tiie pressure. In considering, then, simply, the case of a single wheel or a pair 
 of wheels forming two distinct ruts, it is evident that it should form as narrow a rut as 
 possible, but that it should not in any degree crush or derange the core or hard basis of 
 the road. When a rut is thus formed, a small track or portion of the road is for a time 
 rendered clean and hard, and consequently capable of bearing a greater load than before, 
 and with less injury. It is, then, highly important in a four-wheel carriage that the hind 
 wheels should follow exactly in the track of the front wheels. If rollers were neces- 
 sary for the road, as if, for instance, it was merely a bed of clay, then indeed, but only in 
 such a case, would it be judicious to cause the wheels to run in different tracks, as has 
 been proposed, and was carried into effect under the encouragement of an act of parlia- 
 ment. Such wheels were called sti'addlers ; they might have been necessary tools for the 
 preservation of such roads as then existed, but the increased draught soon taught the 
 public to evade the law which encouraged them. 
 
 Mr. Deacon, one of the principal carriers in England, in an excellent practical work 
 on wheel-carriages, published in 1810, describing these wheels, says, " If the axle of a 
 six-inch wheel is of that length to cause the hind wheels to make tracks five inches out- 
 side, the tracks of the fore-wheels, and nine-inch wheels seven inches outside, they are 
 then called straddlers, and are allowed to carry a greater weight than if not so. The 
 original intent of these was most excellent ; but the effect has been defeated by the car- 
 rier or other person not only making the bed or axle contrary to what was intended, but 
 also by carrying with them a false collar, with a joint therein, to put on and take off at 
 
 Eleasure ; so that they have no great difficulty in making the wheels straddlers a little 
 efore they come to a weighing machine, and making them not so when they have pass- 
 ed the same." 
 
 On modern roads such an arrangement would hardly be beneficial even to the road 
 itself, and would nearly double the amount of draught. 
 
 Too great care and precaution cannot be taken to insure the wheels running in the 
 same track. Let it be remembered that, on a good road, the forming the rut is the cause 
 of three-fourths, and oftener five-sixths of the whole resistance. Narrow wheels, there- 
 fore, running in the same track, without doubt ofi'er the least resistance, provided there 
 •s surface sufficient to bear the weight, without destruction to the foundation of the road. 
 
 Six inches in breadth of the flat or cylindrical part, a b, fig. 36, independent of the 
 rounded edges, will be quite sufficient, in a wheel of ordinary size, to bear a ton without 
 injury to the roads, if in good condition ; and according as the weight upon each wheel 
 is more or less than this, the breadth should be proportionably increased or diminished. 
 
 While upon the subject of wheels, it may be as well to state the several new modes of 
 consti'ucting wheels lately introduced, which severally possess their merits and disadvan- 
 tages. The last improvement is that known under the name of " Jones" patent wheels. 
 
 It consists in making the felloe of a single ring of cast iron. The nave, which is also 
 of cast iron, is suspended in the centre by eight wrought iron rods : these rods are crossed 
 or alternately dished inwards and outwards, to give stifihess, which is thus obtained 
 without affecting the cylindrical form of the whole. 
 
 Fig. .37. Fig. 38. 
 
332 
 
 THE HORSE. 
 
 Fig. 37 and 38, represent different views of this wheel, F F being the cast iron felloe, 
 S S the spokes, and N tlie nave. 
 
 These wheels have been adopted to a great extent in London, and tlierefore we may- 
 conclude that they are found to answer ; but they are expensive, and not easily repaired, 
 except at the original manufactory, and therefore we should think are not so well adapted 
 for agricultural as for commercial purposes, and in a large town where the means of re- 
 pair may be at hand. 
 
 The most simple innovation upon the original wooden wheel is the cast iron nave. 
 This we should think must be much less liable to wear than the wooden nave, which is 
 literally honeycombed with the mortices for the spokes ; and a wheel of this sort can 
 be repaired by the most ordinary wheelwright, provided he has one of the castings at 
 hand. 
 
 We should strongly recommend that these naves should be made with a double row 
 of sockets for the spokes, so as to cross the dishing of them in the same manner as 
 those of the wrought iron wheels described above ; and we think they would then form 
 a strong, durable, and economical wheel. There might be some danger from the effects 
 of wet or damp remaining in the cast iron sockets, and attacking the wood; but we 
 should think a small hole bored into the socket to allow the moisture to escape, and 
 common precaution in painting these parts, would prevent any evil consequences. 
 
 With respect to the size of wheels, we have shown that wheels of large dieimeter cer- 
 tainly offer less resistance than small ones ; but expense and weight cause a limit to this. 
 From 4 ft. 9 in. to 5 ft. 6 in. is a good size for cart-wheels, and is about the limit where 
 any great increase of diameter would cause more inconvenience and expense than 
 would be compensated for by any advantage gained ; and if much less in diameter than 
 this, the draught is unnecessarily augmented. 
 
 Yet the front wheels of a wagon are always below this standard, rarely exceeding four 
 feet, and frequently much less. This is a serious evil attending the use of four wheels; 
 it is an arrangement originally made for the purpose of enabling the front wheels to 
 lock under the body of the wagon, which may thus turn in a small space. 
 
 Now it rarely happens that a wagon is required to turn short round, and it cannot cause 
 any serious inconvenience if it be rendered altogether incapable of doing so. 
 
 In this respect a great improvement has taken place within a few years. In the place 
 of those moving mountains which were formerly dragged slowly along upon immensely 
 heavy and broad, but low, wheels, we now see, particularly on the roads leading north- 
 ward from London, a great number of light, well-built wagons, with much larger wheels, 
 especially the front wheels, which, instead of being small enough to turn under the floor 
 of the wagon, are about four feet six inches in diameter. As those wagons ai'e used only 
 on the road, and ai-e never required to turn in a small compass, but a very small action 
 is allowed to the fore-axle, and the floor and body of the wagon is continued from end to 
 end of nearly the same width. 
 
 A wagon with part of the floor and body cut away, so as to form a sort of recess for 
 the front wheels to turn into, allows of all the movements that can be required, except in 
 the crowded streets of a town, and by this arrangement there is nothing to prevent the 
 front wheel being made of large diameter, as in the case just described. Our present 
 object, however, is not to enter into a detailed description of how we should build a 
 wagon, but simply to recommend the use of large front wheels, as tending much to 
 diminish the draught. An intelhgent wheelwright will always know how to construct 
 a wagon so as to admit of tliis. 
 
 The consideration of the subject of the wheels naturally includes that of the compara- 
 tive advantages of two-wheeled and four-wheeled carriages. Upon this point opinions 
 differ as much as upon any of those we have already considered ; and we fear that we are 
 not likely to do more than to arrange the different opinions given by others, without 
 
ON DRAUGHT. 33S 
 
 advancing any of our own. If we sncceed, however, in doing this clearly we shall 
 have done much, because we may thus enable each individual to separate those argu- 
 ments which apply particularly to his own case ; and combining these opinion^ with his 
 own judgment, he will be more likely to arrive at a just conclusion than if he were alto- 
 gether unaided by the experience of others 
 
 The advocates of hght two-wheeled carts assert that a horse working alone is capable 
 of performing more work than when fonning one of a team ; and that in consequence of 
 this increased effect, there is a saving of expense nearly in the proportion of three to 
 two, or one-third. 
 
 The advocates for wagons assort, on the conti'ary, that it requires that each horse in 
 a single-horse cart should be of a superior quality, and, therefore more expensive than 
 those of a team, where the average power only is considered ; that the wear and tear, 
 first cost, and expense of attendance of several small carts, is greater than that of a wagon 
 carrying the same load, and that in consequence there is an economy obtained by the 
 latter in a proportion of about four to three. 
 
 Numbers of facts and the results of long experience are adduced on either side, all of 
 which convey much useful information, and the substance of the whole appears to be, 
 that with light single-liorse two-wheeled carts, good horses are able to draw greater 
 loads, and do more work in proportion than a wagon team ; that these carts are easier 
 loaded and unloaded; do less injury to the roads, and that they do not require more 
 horses in action than are suthcient for the work to be performed. 
 
 On the other hand, it is found tliat the horses must be stronger and better fed ; that 
 being entirely dependant on their own exertions, although doing more work, they are 
 more fatigued, and sooner knocked up ; that on rough roads they are liable to be skaken 
 and injured by the sudden movements and shocks of the cart, all of which are conveyed 
 by the shafts directly to the horse ; that in ascending or descending hills the whole 
 weio;ht being above the axle-tree, it destroys the balance, and is thrown too much upon 
 the horse in the former case, or tends to raise him from the ground in the latter, which 
 even if any alteration of the balance be found advantageous, is exactly the contrary of 
 what would be necessary. 
 
 That with a wagon — the average power of several horses is obtained — horses of infe- 
 rior quality may therefore be used ; they are not so much fatigued, because by relieving 
 each other they can alternately exert themselves or relax. Greater loads can be carried 
 with less attendance of drivers, and they are less liable to accidents ; they are easier 
 withdrawn from any hole, or forced over any obstruction, because only half the load 
 being upon each pair of wheels, the whole force of the team is applied successively 
 to each half of the load, consequently in any bad road the power occasionally required 
 is less, although the draught of the carriage, properly spf aking, is greater than that of a 
 two-wheeled cart. These various arguments would appear to lead to the conclusion, 
 that upon good roads, and for short distances, with good liorses, two-wheeled single- 
 horse carts are the best ; but that with inferior roads and ordinary horses, light four- 
 wheeled wagons, with a team of three or four horses, are the most advantageous. 
 
 Two-wheeled carts with two horses are decidedly inferior to either of these : the 
 shaft horse suffers all the inconveniences complained of in the single-horse cart, and the 
 leader does not produce more effect than when in a wagon team. 
 
 It is impossible to decide generally upon the comparative merits of the different ar- 
 rangements, because the result depends entirely upon the circumstances of the case. 
 
 We may, however, endeavor to unite in some degree the advantages claimed by both. 
 The draught of a cart is less than that of a wagon for several reasons : amongst others, 
 because the wheels are larger and the horse produces more effect, because his force is 
 applied immediately to the resistance. A light wagon with large front wheels would 
 not be much inferior in point of draught to the cart, and two horses abreast in double 
 shafts would work with equal advantage to the single horse ; while an additional horse 
 may always be applied when an excessive load or the state of the roads should require it. 
 
 AH that we have said with respect to the size and contrivance of wheels is equally 
 applicable to light carriages as to heavy, and we shall now proceed to consider the difier- 
 ent modes of placing the loads upon the wheels. 
 
 It might appear at first sight chat this would not affect the amount of the draught ; that 
 provided a weight to be moved were placed upon the wheels, and the wheels put in mo- 
 tion, that nothing more could be required. Upon a perfectly level smooth plane, and 
 with a constant force of traction, this would, indeed, be the case ; but, in practice, the 
 conditions are entirely altered. Impediments are continually met with which ob- 
 struct the progress of the wheels, and the draught is constantly varying by the different 
 inclinations of the road : it is, therefore, necessary to study the means by which impedi- 
 ments can be easiest overeome, and by which the resistance thus caused will afiect the 
 animal, which is the source of power, in the least disadvantageous manner. 
 
 We have, in the commencement of this treatise, proved, that impetus is necessary to 
 
334 
 
 THE HORSE. 
 
 overcome an obstruction, and that elasticity in the direction of the movement is destructive 
 of the full effect of impetus. 
 
 When, therefore, the wheel of a carriage comes in contact vv^ith any impediment, it is 
 most essential ttiat the whole of the impetus or momentum which the carriage has already 
 obtained, should be brought into full action, to force the wheel forward. To effect this, 
 no elasticity should intervene between the wheel and the load, at least, in the direction 
 of the motion that is longitudinally ; otherwise, as we instanced in the case of catching 
 a cricket-ball, a force which would be quite irresistible if opposed by a rigid resistance, 
 is checked with ease by a very little degree of elasticity ; so with a wheel meeting'a small 
 stone, if the load were so placed, or hung upon the wheels, as to allow free or elastic 
 action longitudinally, that is, in the direction of the movement, the wheel being stopped 
 against the stone, the whole load would be gradually checked, and brought to a full 
 stop ; whereas, if this same load had been fixed firmly to the wheel, its impetus would 
 have carried the wheel over the stone, with very little loss of velocity. 
 
 In the first case, it would be necessary for the horses to drag the load over the stone by 
 m£iin force ; in the latter, they would only have to make up by degrees for the loss of 
 velocity which the mass had sustained in passing over the stone. The quantity of power 
 required will indeed be the same in either case ; but in the one, the horses must exert it 
 in a single effort, while in the other, this momentary exertion is borrowed, as it were, from 
 the impetus of the mass in motion, and being spread over a greater space of time, as fai- 
 as the horses are concerned, only augments in a small degree the average resistance. It 
 is thus that the fly-wheel of a steam-engine in a rolling-mill, accumulates power, some- 
 times for several minutes, till it is able to roll, with apparent ease, a large mass of metal, 
 which, without the effect of the fly-wheel, would stop the engine immediately; or, to 
 mention a case more to the point, in the operation of scotching a wheel, a large stone, 
 and even a brick, will render almost immoveable a wagon, which, when in motion, would 
 pass over the same stone, without any sensible alteration of speed. It is most essential, 
 therefore, that the effect of the momentum of the load should in no way be reduced by 
 any longitudinal elasticity, arising either from the injudicious application of springs, or 
 weakness in the construction of the carnage. 
 
 The action of impetus, and the effect of an injudicious mode of hanging the load, is 
 of course more sensible at high than at low velocities, and in a carriage hung upon springs, 
 than in a wagon without springs, but although not so sensible to the eye, it nevertheless 
 affects the draught materially even in the latter case. Carriages hung upon springs, as 
 in fig. 39, which are called C springs, and which admit of very considerable longitudinal 
 
 Fig. 39. 
 
 movement in the body of the carriage, are notoriously the most heavy to pull ; and cabno- 
 lets which are hung in this manner, are expressively called in the stable, horse murderers, 
 and require heavy powerful horses to drag them, while lighter animals are able to drag 
 much greater weights in Stanhopes and spring-carts, which do not admit of this elasticity 
 This is one of the reasons why the draught of a two-wheeled cart is less than that ot 
 a wao-on. In a cart the horse pulls at once on the shafts, which are fixed immediately 
 both to the load and to the axletree, so that not only the impetus ol the load, but also ot 
 the horse, acts directly and without elasticity upon the wheel. In a wagon, owing to the 
 smallness of the front wheels, there is a considerable space between the fore-axle and 
 the floor of the wagon, which is filled up with pieces of timber, called bolsters, this admits 
 of considerable play in the parts, and except in new built or very strong wagons, there is 
 
ON DRAUGHT, 835 
 
 never that firm connexion between the load and the wheels, which we have stated to be 
 necessary. Large wheels would bring the axletrees much nearer the floors of the wagons, 
 and, therefore, admit of a much stronger and firmer mode of attachment, which would 
 be found to produce a very considerable ellect in diminishing the draught. 
 
 We have been very particular in confining our observations to longitudinal elasticity, 
 or yielding in the direction in which the power is applied, and in which the progressive 
 movement takes place ; because, elasticity in any other direction, instead of increasing 
 the draught, tends very much to diminish it. Let us suppose the load placed upon per- 
 fectly easy springs, which allow it to move freely in every direction, except longitudinally, 
 when any one of the wheels comes in contact with a stone, the elasticity of the spring 
 will allow it to run over the stone without sensibly raising the load which is upon it, and 
 the force which is required to pull the wheel over the stone, will be restored again by the 
 descent of the wheel from the stone, which will tend to impel the mass forward, with 
 exectly the same force as was required to draw it up to the top of this impediment ; with- 
 out this elasticity it would be necessary to raise the whole load with a sudden jerk, and 
 thus instantaneously impart rapid movement to the whole mass, which would absorb much 
 power, and which would by no means be returned by the load falling down from the stone. 
 We see, therefore, that the use of springs is to enable the wheels to rise and fall accord- 
 ing to the inequalities of the ground, while the load continues one constant equable mo- 
 tion. The advantages of this action are very clearly pointed out, in-a letter addressed to 
 the Committee on the Highways of the Kingdom, by Mr. D. Giddy, and given in the 
 Appendix to their first report, printed in the year 1808 ; and this letter explains so clearly, 
 and in such few words, the whole theory of wheels, as well as springs, that we think we 
 cannot do better than quote it at length. 
 
 " Taking wheels completely in the abstract, they must be considered as answering two 
 different purposes. 
 
 " First, They transfer the friction which would take place between a sliding body, and 
 the rough uneven surface over which it slides, to the smooth, oiled perijiheries of the axis 
 and box, assisted by a leverage in the proportion of the diameter of the wheel to the axis. 
 
 *' Secondly, They procure mechaniceJ advantage for overcoming obstacles, by intro- 
 ducing time proportioned to the square roots of their diameters, when the obstacles are 
 small as compared with the wheels ; and they pass over transverse ruts or hollows, 
 small in the same comparison, with an absolute advantage proportioned to their diame- 
 ters, and a mechanical one proportionate to the square roots of these diameters. 
 
 " Consequently, wheels thus considered, cannot be too large ; in practice, however, 
 they are limited by weight, by expense, and by experience. 
 
 " With reference to the preservation of roads, wheels should be made wide, and so con- 
 stnicted, that the whole breadth may bear at once ; and every portion in contact with the 
 ground, should roll on without any sliding. 
 
 " It is evident from the well-known properties of the cycloid, that the above conditions 
 cannot all unite, unless the roads are perfectly hard, smooth, and flat ; and the felloes of 
 the wheels, with their tire, are accurate portions of a cylinder. These forms, therefore, 
 of roads and wheels, would seem to be asymptotes, towards which they should always 
 approximate, but which, in practice, they are never likely to reach. 
 
 " Roads must have some degree of curvature to throw off water, and the peripheries 
 of wheels should, in tliere transverse section, be as nearly as possible tangents to this 
 curve ; but since no exact form can be assigned to roads, and they are found to differ 
 almost from mile to mile, it is presumed, that a small transverse convexity given to the 
 peripheries of wheels, otherwise cylindrical, will sufiiciently adapt them to all roads ; and 
 that the pressure of such wheels, greatest in the middle, and gradually diminishing to- 
 wards the sides, will be less likely to disarrange ordinary materials, than a pressure sud- 
 denly discontinued at the edges of wheels perfectly flat. 
 
 " The spokes of a wheel should be so arranged, as to present themselves in a straight 
 line against the greatest force they are in common cases likely to sustain. These must 
 evidently be exerted in a direction pointed towards the carriage, from lateral percussions, 
 and from the descent of either wheel below the level of the other : consequently, a cer- 
 tain degree of wliat is termed dishing, must be advantageous, by adding strength ; whilst 
 this form is esteemed useful for protecting the nave, and for obviating the ill effects of 
 expansions and contractions. 
 
 "The line of traction is theoretically best disposed, when it lies exactly parallel to 
 the direction of motion ; and its power is diminished at any inclination of that line, in 
 the proportion of the radius of the wheel to the cosine at the angle. When obstacles 
 frequently occur, it had better, perhaps, receive a small inclination upward, for the pur- 
 pose of acting with most advantage when these are to be overcome. But it is probable, 
 that different animals exert their strength most advantageously in different directions ; 
 and, therefore, practice alone can determine what precise inclination of the hne is best 
 adapted to horses, and what to oxen. These considerations are, however, only applica- 
 
336 THE HORSE 
 
 ble to cattle-drawiiiff immediately at the carriage ; and the convenience of their draft, 
 as connected with the insertion of the line of traction, which continued, ouglit to pass 
 through the axis, introduces anotlier limit to the size of the wheels. 
 
 " Springs were in all likelihood first applied to carriages, with no other view than for 
 the accommodation of travellers : they have since been found to answer several impor- 
 tant ends. They convert all percussions into mere increase of pressure ; thus preserv- 
 ing both the carriage and the materials of the roads from the effect of blows ; and small 
 obstacles are surmounted when springs allow the frame and wheels freely to ascend, 
 without sensibly moving the body of the caniage from its place. 
 
 " If the whole weight is supposed to be concentrated on springs very long, extremely 
 flexible, and with the frame and wheels wholly devoid of inertia, this paradoxical con- 
 clusion will inost certainly follow ; that such a carriage may be drawn over the roughest 
 road without any agitation, and by the smallest increase of force. 
 
 " It seems probable that springs, under some modification of form and material, may 
 be apj)licable with advantage to the heaviest wagon." 
 
 And there can be no doubt, that, in the words of the writer, the application of springs 
 would be highly advantageous. At high velocities, as we have before said, the efiect 
 of springs is still greater. What we have instanced as regards springs, is generally well 
 known and understood. All stage-coaches, and many traveling carriages, hang upon 
 grasshopper springs, which allow of perpendicular without any longitudinal action. It 
 would be much to the interests of horse masters if the mode of suspending post-chaises 
 were a little more attended to. The more elasticity, or in other words, the more action, 
 there is in grasshopper springs, the more effect will it produce in diminishing the 
 draught : witn a C spring a very contrary effect is produced. 
 
 A carriage hung upon C springs may certainly be made the most comfortable to the 
 rider, but all the ease that can be required, and much more than is found in the gene- 
 rality of post-chaises, may be obtained by well constructed grasshopper springs, and with 
 considerable advantage to the horses. 
 
 The practice of loading coaches as high as possible to make them run light, as the 
 coachmen have found by experience, is only a mode of assisting the springs. The mass 
 being placed at a greater height above the wheels, acting at the extremity of a longer 
 lever, is not so easily displaced laterally by any motion of the wheels, which, therefore, 
 may rise and fall on either side as they run over the stones, without producing any sudden 
 concussions upon the load, which swings to and fro with long, easy movements ; it is pro- 
 bable also, that the weight, being thus swung from side to side, may, upon good roads, 
 diminish the draught, as it is in fact generally running upon two of the wheels ; while, in 
 the other direction, it equally admits of the front and hind wheels successively passing 
 over any impediments ; and yet, by the manner in which it is fixed upon the springs, it 
 does not admit of any longitudinal elasticity. 
 
 The fact of coaches thus loaded running light has been clearly proved by the failure of 
 what were called Safety Coaches, in which the only difference consisted in placing the 
 load very low. These coaches, although completely answering their purpose of safety, 
 were discontinued solely, we believe, from their being found destructive of the horses. 
 
 Experiments, nevertheless, have been made to prove that this was only an idle prejudice 
 of coachmen ; but universally received opinions, even if leading to erroneous conclusions, 
 which is hardly possible, must always have some good foundation ; and coachmen although 
 they may not have been so much so at the time these experiments were published (in 
 1817,) are certainly now rather an intelligent class of men. We should, therefore, prefer 
 risking a theory, if a theory were necessaiy, in support of their prejudices rather than in 
 opposition to them. The experiments alluded to were not, in our opinion, made under 
 the circumstances which occur in practice. Small models (tlie wheels being seven inches 
 in diameter) were drawn along a table across which were placed small strips of wood 
 to represent the obstructions met with in a road ; but these strips of wood came in con- 
 tact with each pairof wheels at the same time, and never caused any lateral motion. They 
 produced, therefore, a totally different effect from that which takes place in a road, where 
 the action rarely affects more than one wheel at a time, or if two, they are almost invaria- 
 bly those two on the same side of the carriage ; consequently, in the model, the wheels 
 in passing over an obstruction, threw the whole weight backwards in a direction exactly 
 opposite to the movement required ; while in practice, the carriage is generally thrown 
 sideways, which does not affect its forward motion. 
 
 The conclusions drawn from these experiments are, therefore, as might be expected, 
 at variance with practical results, and directly contrary to the opinions of those whose 
 daily experience ought to enable them to judge correctly. 
 
 The effects, also, of velocity and momentum must be difficult to imitate in models. 
 
 The advantage of placing the load high will not, however, equally apply at low velocities, 
 still less when springs are not used : it may frequently, indeed, in the latter case, produce 
 quite a contrary effect. 
 
ON DRAUGHT 887 
 
 In a rough road, the increased force with which the load would be thrown from aide 
 to side might prove very inconvenient, and even dangerous, and would certainly be lia- 
 ble to increase the resistance when the front wheels meet with any obstruction ; but this 
 it must be particularly remembered is only ti'ue in the case of slow velocities and car- 
 riages without springs. 
 
 We have now considered in succession the various parts of tlie vehicle for conveying 
 the weight, and shown in what manner they afiect the draught, and how they should be 
 constructed so as to diminish as much as possible the amount of this draught. We have 
 endeavored to point out the advantages and necessity of attending to the construction and 
 size of the wheel. Thus it should be as nearly cylindrical and vertical as possible, and 
 of as large a diameter as can conveniently be admited. 2dly, That there should be a 
 firm, unyielding connexion in the direction of the movement between the power em- 
 ployed, the weig-ht moved, and the wheels ; in other words, that the force should always 
 act directly and without elasticity both upon the load and upon the wheels ; and that the 
 impetus or momentum of the load, when in movement, should always act in the same 
 manner, without elasticity in propelling the wheels ; — and lastly, that it is highly advan- 
 tageous to interpose as much elasticity as possible by means of springs in a vertical 
 direction between the wheels and the body, so that the former may rise and fall over stones 
 or irregularities in the road without communicating any sudden shocks to the load ; and 
 we believe that the proper application of springs in all cases, even with the heaviest 
 loads would be found productive of great good eltlect. • 
 
 Attention to those points will tend to diminish considerably the amount of draught 
 As far as regards friction at the axles, and the resistance in passing over obstacles in the 
 road, it will assist the favorable application of the force of fraction when obtained from 
 animal power ; but that which we have shown to be the most considerable source of resis- 
 tance is unfortunately least affected by any of those arrangements. We allude to those 
 arising from the yielding or crushing of the material of the road ; we have seen that on 
 a good turnpike-road the draught was increased in the proportion of thirty to forty, or 
 about one-third, by the road being slightly dirty ; and that, on a heavy, sandy road, the 
 draught was increased to 205, or nearly seven times. Springs will not affect this ; and 
 increasing the diameter of the wheel even will be of very slight assistance ; nothing but 
 removing at once the prime source of this evil, improving the roads, can remedy this. 
 We are thus naturally led to the third division of our subject, viz., the road or channel 
 of conveyance. In considering this as a branch of the subject of draught by animal power, 
 we shall merely point out what are the principal desiderata in the formation of a good 
 road, and what are the evils principally to be avoided. To enter into all the details of 
 their construction, dependant as it is on the different materials to be found in the neigh- 
 borhood, their comparative cost, the quality of the ground over which the road is made, 
 and many other points, would be to enter upon a much more extensive field than is at 
 all required for the proper consideration of the subject of draught by animal power. 
 The requisites for a good road is all that we shall indicate. 
 
 Channel of conveyance, in a general point of view, must include canals, roads and rail- 
 ways. Of the first, however,we shall say little ; their construction does not materially affect 
 the amount of draught, and we have already examined the mode of applying the power, and 
 the quantity of effect produced ; we shall proceed, tlierefbre, at once to the question of 
 roads. 
 
 The inquiry into the best form and construction of wheel carriages has taught us what 
 we might indeed have foreseen, that perfection in a road would be a plane, level, hard 
 surface ; to have learned this only would not have advanced us much, as such perfection 
 is unattainable ; but we have learned also the comparative advantages of these different 
 qualities of hardness, smoothness, and level. We have come to the conclusion that slight 
 alterations of level which shall vary the exertion required of the animal, without at any 
 time causing excessive fatigue, are rather advantageous for the full development of his 
 power than other\vise ; that the inconvenience of roughness is obviated by the use of 
 springs, and that even when the ordinary carts and wagons without springs are used, still 
 the resistance arising from mere unevenness of surface, when not excessive, is not nearly 
 so great as that which is caused by the yielding of the substance of the road. Hardness, 
 therefore, and consequently the absence of dust and dirt, wMch is easily crushed or dis- 
 placed, is the grand desideratum in roads. 
 
 To satisfy this condition, however, smoothness is to a certain degree requisite as the 
 prominent parts would be always subject to abrasion and destruction ; for the same rea- 
 son, even if for no other, ruts and every thing which can tend to form tliem must be 
 avoided. 
 
 A road should, in its transverse section, be nearly flat. A great curvature or barrel, 
 as it is termed, is useless ; for the only object can be to drain the water from it ; but if 
 there are ruts, or hollow places, no curvature will effect this ; and if the road is hard and 
 smooth, a very slight inclination is sufficient. Indeed, an excess of curvature is not only 
 
 43 
 
838 
 
 THE HORSE. 
 
 useless with the present construction of carriages, but facilitates the destruction of the 
 road ; for there are few wheels perfectly cylindrical ; yet these, when running on a 
 
 barreled or curved road, can beat 
 Fig. 38. Fig. 39. only upon one edge, as in fig. 38. 
 
 The conical wheels still in use, 
 although much inclined at the 
 axle, are never sufficiently so to 
 bring the lower surface of the 
 wheel even horizontal, and there- 
 fore are constantly running upon 
 the edge, as in fig. 39, until they 
 have formed a rut, coinciding with 
 their own shape. In a barreled or 
 curved road, the mischief done 
 will, of course, be great in pro- 
 portion to this curvature. This 
 form, is, therefore, michievousas 
 well as useless Six or eigiit inches 
 rise in the centre of a road of twenty feet wide is amply sufficient to ensure drainage, 
 if drainage is not effectually prevented by ruts or hollow places, and is a curve to which 
 the position of the wheel may be easily adapted. 
 
 The hardness of the surface, the most important feature, will, of course, principally 
 depend upon the materials used, and the formation of the road, and still more upon the 
 •state of repair in which it is kept. It is easy to form a good road when the foundation is 
 already laid by the existence of an old one ; leveling the surface, — applying a covering 
 of eight or ten inches in thickness of broken stones, — having no round or smooth sur- 
 faces, the hardest that can be obtained, — and securing good drainage at the sides is all 
 that is required ; but constant repair and unremiting attention is necessary to keep a 
 road thus formed in good condition . 
 
 These repairs and attention do not consist in laying on, at certain intervals of time, 
 large quantities of materials, but in constantly removing the sand which is formed, and 
 which, in wet weather, holds the water, and prevents drainage ; in filling up as quickly 
 as possible, with fresh materials, any ruts or hollows ; and in keeping clear aU the 
 drains, and even in scraping little drains from ruts, or such parts of the road as may 
 contain the water, and which it may not be possible immediately to fill up. 
 
 By attention to these points, those who are interested in the preservation of the roads, 
 and the expenses attending it, will find that economy will ultimately be the result ; and 
 those who are interested in diminishing the labor and expense of draught, we shall only 
 refer again to the table (page 30) of the resistance of a wagon upon different roads, from 
 which they will see, that a horse upon a clean road will do one-third more than upon one 
 slightly muddy ; more than four times as much as upon newly laid gravel, and nearly 
 seven times as much as upon a heavy, sandy road. 
 
 No arguments that we can put forward can at all strengthen the eflTsct that such facts 
 must produce ; and we shall, therefore, quit the subject of roads, and conclude our ob- 
 servations on draught by a few words explanatory of the object of rail-roads and their 
 effects as regards duninishing draught. 
 
 The great desideratum in the formation of a good road is the facilitating the rolling of 
 the wheels. We have shown that, for this purpose, a hard, smooth surface is necessary ; 
 and, as this is only required for the wheels, two longitudinal tracks, of such surface, 
 of proper width, are sufficient for the mere passage of the carriage. If, therefore, there 
 is a considerable traffic between two points along a line of road, without much interrup- 
 tion from crossing, all the qualities of a good road may be obtained in a very superior 
 degree, by having two parellel rails, or tracts of wood or iron, raised a little above the 
 general level of the grou.nd, with a graveled road between tlie rails. This is a rail-road. 
 It evidently combines the advantages of a good foot-hold for horses, with those of sniooth 
 and hard surfaces for the wheels to roll upon. It requires, however, that the carriages 
 should be all nearly alike, as regards the width and form of the wheels ; and experience 
 has proved that such a road is not generally worth constructing, unless the traffic is suf- 
 ficient to allow of carriages being built expressly for that or similar roads. This being 
 the case, the form and dimensions of the rails, and the general construction oi the car- 
 riages, are uncontroled by any other consideration than tliat of diminishing draught. 
 
 A considerable improvement upon this point may, therefore, be expected in the rail- 
 way over the common road. The railway, as constructed upon the plan at present con- 
 ceived to be the best, consists of two parallel bars of wrought iron, about two inches 
 and a half broad on the upper surface, and about six inches deep placed at a distance of 
 about five feet: these bars are supported upon, and finnly fixed to blocks of stone, from 
 one foot to two feet square, and at intervals of three feet. 
 
ON DRAUGHT. 
 
 839 
 
 F;V. 40 
 
 a 
 
 -=ffl: 
 
 ^^ 
 
 a 
 
 ■&S1 
 
 ^ 
 
 a 
 
 m- 
 
 Fis: 41. 
 
 aaa, fig. 40, represents a side view of one of these bars, of which 6 is a section 
 c c c are the blocks of stone on which it rests. Fig. 42 is a perspective view of a pair 
 of these parallel bars, constituting together the railway; and ^g-. 41 represents an end 
 ~ view of the rail with a pair of wheels. The 
 
 ground is afterwards filled up nearly to the level of 
 the bars, leaving only about one inch of their upper 
 edge exposed : upon this the wheels run. The 
 wheels are generally of cast iron, about three feet 
 in diameter, and slightly conical, with an ed^e or 
 flange inside, to guide them in the centre of the 
 rails. This brief description is sufficient to give a 
 general idea of the construction of railways, which 
 is all ihat is necessaiy for our present purpose. It 
 will be easily conceived that hard, cast-iron wheels, 
 running upon smooth edges of iron in this manner, 
 can meet with but little resistance except those 
 arising from friction at the axle. Accordingly, we find upon a well constructed railway, in 
 good order, that the resistance does not exceed, in any sensible degree, that which must 
 
 Fig. 42 
 
 X 
 
 K 
 
 c 
 
 arise from this cause. It has been found that a force of traction of lib. will put in mo- 
 tion a weight of 180, 200, and even, in some cases, 2501b. : so that a horse, ex- 
 erting an effort of only 1251b., would drag on a level 10 tons. This is about ten 
 times the average effect of his work upon a good common road, and as it eirises from 
 the hardness and smoothness of the road, we cannot conclude our observations by a more 
 striking and unanswerable argument than this, in proof of the immense advantages 
 and saving of expense which would result from greater attention to the state of the 
 roads. 
 
i 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Action of the hackney described, 23. 
 
 high, not indispensable in the hack- 
 ney, 23. 
 
 .^thiop's mineral, an alterative, 298. 
 
 Age, natui-al of the horse, 115. 
 
 of the horse as indicated by the teeth, 
 
 108. 
 
 other indications of, 115. 
 
 how ascertained before eight years, 
 
 108. 
 
 after eight years, 115. 
 
 Air, a supply of pure, necessary for the 
 health of the horse, 262. 
 
 All abroad, what in the action of the horse, 
 183. 
 
 Aloes,Barbadoes,far preferable to Cape,287. 
 
 the best physic, 166. 
 
 ■ description of tlie different kinds of. 
 
 287. 
 
 288. 
 
 288. 
 
 -principal adulterations of, 289. 
 
 - solution of, its composition and use, 
 
 ■ tincture of, its composition and use. 
 
 Alteratives, the best, 281, 289. 
 
 nature and effect of, 289. 
 
 Alum,the use of in restraining purging, 289. 
 solution of, a good wash for grease, 
 
 289. 
 burnt, a stimulant and mild caustic 
 
 for wounds, 289. 
 American horse, description of the, 16. 
 Ammonia given in flatulent colic, 289. 
 
 chloride of, medical use of, 289. 
 
 carbonate of, its medical use, 289. 
 
 vapor of, pentifuly extricated from 
 
 dung and urine, 289. 
 
 • most injurious to the eyes 
 
 and lungs, 91, 289, 
 Anchylosis of bones, what, 131. 
 Anderson, Dr., his account of the Galloway, 
 
 45. 
 Animal power compared with that of the 
 
 steam-engine, 304. 
 its advantage over mechanical, 
 
 except where veloci^ is required, 306. 
 Animals, zoological divisions of, 48. 
 Anodyne, opium the only one to be de- 
 pended on, 289. 
 Antea-spinatus muscle, description of the, 
 
 183. 
 Anticor, nature and treatment of, 135. 
 
 Antimonial powder,a good febrifuge, 290. 
 Antimony, black sulphuret of, method of 
 
 detecting its adulterations, 289. 
 used as an alterative 
 
 and diaphoretic, 289. 
 
 Antimony, chloride of, one of the best liquid 
 caustics, 290. 
 
 tartarized, used as a nauseant, dia- 
 
 phoretic and worm medicine, 290. 
 
 Antispasmodics, nature of, 290. 
 
 Apoplexy, nature and treatment of, 81. 
 
 Aqueous fluid, an, why placed in the laby- 
 rinth of the ear, 65. 
 
 humor of the eye, description of the, 
 
 73. 
 
 Arab breed, the, introduced by James 1, 21. 
 
 Arabia, not the original country of the 
 horse, 2. 
 
 few good horses there even in the 
 
 seventh century, 3, 8. 
 Arabian horse, history of the, 8. 
 
 -Bishop Heber's description 
 
 ■ comparison between, and the 
 
 ■ first introduced into Scotland, 
 
 of, 9. 
 
 Barb, 6. 
 
 18. 
 
 - general form of, 9. 
 
 - qualities of, 9, 
 
 •scanty nourishment of, 1. 
 ■treatment of, 9, 10. 
 ■vai-ieties of, 8. 
 
 Arabs, attachmentof to their horses, 10. 
 
 value their mares more than their 
 
 horses, 26 
 
 Arched form of the skuU, advantage of, 59. 
 Arm, description of the, 184. 
 action of, explained on the principle 
 
 9f the lever, 184, 185. 
 
 extensor muscles of the, 185. 
 
 flexor muscles of the, 187. 
 
 full and swelling, advantage of, 187. 
 
 should be muscular and long, 186 
 
 Arsenic, medical use of, 290. 
 
 treatment under poison by, 158. 
 
 Arteries, description of the, 136. 
 
 terminations of, 141. 
 
 generally improper to bleed from, 
 
 124. 
 
 • of the arm, description of the, 205. 
 — of the face, 94. 
 
 neck, 124. 
 
 shoulder, 205. 
 
 inside of the thigh, 205. 
 
 outside of the thigh, 205. 
 
 Astringent medicines, the principal, 290. 
 
 Athelstan, his attention to the improvement 
 of the horse, 17. 
 
 Atlas, anatomy of the, 120. 
 
 Attechi, the, an Arabian breed, 8. 
 
 Axle, friction of the, dependent on the ma- 
 terial employed, 326. 
 
342 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Axle, the diameter being diininished lessens 
 
 the friction, 32(5. 
 Azoph, Tartaiy horses traced to the siege 
 
 of, 3. 
 
 Back, general description of the, 131. 
 
 proper form of tlie, 24, 130. 
 
 long and short, comparative advan- 
 tages of, 131. 
 
 anatomy of the, 130. 
 
 ■ muscles of the, 132. 
 
 Backing the colt, 178. 
 
 a bad habit of the horse, usually ori- 
 gin of it, 254. 
 
 Back-sinews, sprain of the, 171, 
 
 thickening of the, constituting un- 
 soundness, 276. 
 
 Balls, the manner of giving, 290. 
 
 the manner of malang, 290. 
 
 Barb, description of the, 6. 
 
 comparison between, and the Arabian, 
 
 6. 
 
 Barley considered as food for the horse, 269. 
 
 Barnacles, use of the, as a mode of restraint, 
 245. 
 
 Bar-shoe, the description and use of, 243. 
 
 Barrel of the horse, proper shape of the, 40. 
 
 Bars, description and office of the, 218. 
 
 proper paring of, for shoeing, 240. 
 
 not paring out the horn between 
 
 them and the crust, a cause of corns, 
 234. 
 
 - folly of cutting tliem away, 218, 227, 
 
 234. 
 
 227. 
 
 removal of, a cause of contraction, 
 
 corns, 234. 
 - of the mouth, description of, 106. 
 
 Bavarian cavalry horses, anecdote of, 33. 
 
 Bay horses, description of, 284. 
 
 Beans good for hardly worked horses, and 
 that have a tendency to purge, 269, 
 
 should always be crushed, 269. 
 
 Bearing rein, the use and abuse of, 104. 
 
 Berners, Juliana, authoress of the first book 
 on hunting, 42. 
 
 Bible, earliest history of the horse, in the, 2. 
 
 Bile, account of the, 167. 
 
 Bishoping the teeth, description of, 114. 
 
 Biting, a bad habit, and how usually acqui- 
 red, 255. 
 
 Bitting of the colt, 177. 
 
 Black horses, description and character of, 
 285. 
 
 Bladder, description of tlie, 171. 
 
 inflammation of, sjTnptoms and 
 
 treatment, 171. 
 
 neck of, 171. 
 
 • stone in the, 171. 
 
 Bladders along the under part of the tongue, 
 
 117. 
 Blain in the cow, 117. 
 Bleeding, best place for general, 143. 
 
 directions for, 142, 245. 
 
 from veins rather than arteries, 124. 
 
 finger should be on the pulse during, 
 
 138, 245. 
 
 Bleeding, importance of, in inflammation, 
 138. 
 
 at the toe described, 143. 
 
 comparison between fleam and lan- 
 
 cet, 142. 
 
 Blindness, usual method of discovering, 74. 
 discovered by the pupil not dilating 
 
 or contracting, 74. 
 
 hereditaiy, 9 1 . 
 
 of one eye, 74. 
 
 Blistering all round at once, barbarit)' and 
 danger oi; 246. 
 
 after firing, absurdity and cruelty of. 
 
 248. 
 Blistei's, best composition of, 147, 246. 
 
 best mode of applying, 147, 246. 
 
 caution with regard to their applica- 
 
 tion, 140, 291. 
 
 the principle of their action, 291. 
 
 use of, in inflammation, 147, 291. 
 
 • comparison between them and row- 
 
 els and setons, 249. 
 Blood, change in after bleeding, 143, 245. 
 
 changes in during respiration, 144. 
 
 coagulation of, 245. 
 
 of the horse, drunk for food, 6. 
 
 horses, very subject to conti-action. 
 
 • spavin, nature and treatment of, 142, 
 
 227. 
 
 245. 
 
 Blue vitriol, a tonic for the horse, 293 
 Boats, the difficulty of drawing, increasing 
 
 rapidly with the velocity, 319. 
 
 calculation of the power requisite to 
 
 draw them, 319. 
 Bog spavin, nature and treatment of, 208. 
 Bole-Armenian, medical use of, 291. 
 Bolting the food, how restrained, 257. 
 Bone-spavin, nature and treatment of, 208. 
 Boots, singular ones, 5. 
 Bots in the stomach, natural history of, 159. 
 not usually injurious. 
 
 160. 
 
 Bournou horse, description of the, 7. 
 Bowels, inflammation of the symptoms and 
 
 treatment of, 164. 
 Brain, description of the, 59. 
 inflammation of the, 83. 
 
 Breadth of wheels, depending on the road, 
 330. 
 
 Brealcing in should commence in the se- 
 cond winter, 175. 
 
 description of its various stages, 176. 
 
 necessity of gentleness and patience 
 
 in, 175. 
 
 of the fanner's horse, 175. 
 
 of the hunter or hackney, 177. 
 
 the South American, 4. 
 
 - cruel Arabian method of, 9. 
 
 Breast-strap, advantage and disadvantage 
 
 of, 316. 
 Breeding, on, 26, 172. 
 
 as applied to the farmer's horse, 25 
 
 other horses, 27. 
 
 qualities of the mare of as much 
 
 importance as those of the horse, 26, 
 172. 
 
INDEX 
 
 343 
 
 Breeding, peculiarity of form and constitu- 
 tion inherited, 172. 
 
 • influence of good keep on Uie colt. 
 
 ■in and in, observations on, 174. 
 • distiicts, the same formerly as now. 
 
 47. 
 
 20. 
 
 Brittleness of the hoof, remedy for, 217. 
 
 Broad and nairow wheels, comparison be- 
 tween, 328. 
 
 Broken back, what, 51. 
 
 Broken knees, treatment of, 188. 
 
 melliod of judi^ing of the dan- 
 ger of, 188. 
 
 when healed, not unsound- 
 ness, but tlie form and action of the horse 
 should be careluily examined, 273. 
 
 Brokeji wind, nature and treatment of, 153. 
 
 intluenced much, and often 
 
 caused by the manner of feeding, 154. 
 
 distinguished from thick wind. 
 
 ness, there should be a special warranty 
 against it, 203. 
 
 Carbon of the blood got rid of in respiration, 
 144. 
 
 Carbonate of iron, a mild tonic, 296. 
 
 Carraways, a good aromatic, 291. 
 
 Carnage -horses prociuced by crossing the 
 Suffolk with a hunter, 30. 
 
 Carriages, wheel, first introduction of, 27. 
 
 Carriages, two and four-wheeled, compari- 
 son between, 332. 
 
 liglit, should have no longitudinal 
 
 elasticity in the hailing or springs, 334. 
 
 disadvantage of C springs in, 334. 
 
 ■ hung on straps or springs in the time 
 
 153. 
 
 Bronchitis, nature and treatment of, 149. 
 Bronchotomy, the operation of, 129. 
 Brood mare, description of the, 174. 
 
 should not be too old, 174. 
 
 ■treatment of, after covering. 
 
 174. 
 
 ■ after foaling, 174. 
 
 Brown horses, description of, 284. 
 Buccinator muscle, description of the, 95. 
 Burleigh, Lord, his opinion of hunting, 42. 
 Busbequius, his interesting account of the 
 
 Turkish horse, 14. 
 Butyr of antimony, the best liquid caustic, 
 
 290. 
 
 Calculi in the intestines, 163. 
 
 Calkins, advantages and disadvantages of, 
 
 241. 
 
 sliould be placed on both heels^ 242. 
 
 Calmuck horse, description of the, 13. 
 Calomel, the use of, in veterinary practice, 
 
 298. 
 Camphor, the medical use of, 291. 
 Canadian horse, description of the, 16. 
 Canals, advantages antl disadvantages of, 
 
 318. 
 smallness of power requisite for the 
 
 transmission of goods by them, 318. 
 Cajial boat, calculation of the draught of, 
 
 319. 
 ease of draught of, might be in- 
 creased by a different mode of applying 
 
 the power, 319. 
 Canker of the foot, nature and ti-eatment of, 
 
 236. 
 Cannon, or shank-bone, description of the, 
 
 189. 
 Canter, action of the horse during, 310. 
 Cantharides form the best blister, 291. 
 
 given for the cure of glanders, 291. 
 
 Capillaiy vessels, the, 138. 
 Cappadocian horses sent to Arabia, 3. 
 Capped hock, nature and treatment of, 198. 
 
 description of, 207. 
 
 although not always unsound- 
 
 of Homer, 324. 
 
 Carrots, excellent effects of in disease, 152, 
 154, 168, 271. 
 
 Cart, two-wheeled, computation of the fric- 
 tion of, 326. 
 
 Carts, two-wheeled, can perform propor- 
 tionably more worlc than wagons, 332. 
 
 easier loaded, and do 
 
 not so much injure the roads, 333. 
 
 -require better horses 
 
 and more attendants, 333. 
 
 - the horse sooner knock- 
 
 ed up, and injiu-ed by the shocks of the 
 shafts, 333. 
 
 on good roads and 
 
 for short distances superior to wagons, 
 333. 
 
 with two horses, disadvantage of, 
 
 3.33. 
 
 have less draught than wagons, rea- 
 son why, 334. 
 
 Cartilages of the foot, description and ac- 
 tion of the, 222. 
 
 ossification of 
 
 the, 237 
 Castley, Mr., on the restifness of the horse, 
 
 252. 
 Castor-oil not a purgative for the horse. 
 
 167, 291. 
 Castration, method of, 178. 
 
 proper period for, 177. 
 
 Cataract in the eye, nature of, 75, 88. 
 
 cannot be operated on, in 
 
 the horse, 75, 92. 
 
 -method of examination 
 
 for, 75. 
 Catarrh, description and treatment of, 149. 
 
 distinguished from glanders, 98. 
 
 distinguished from inflammation of 
 
 the lungs, 145. 
 Catarrhal fever, nature and treatment of,149. 
 
 infectious, 96. 
 
 distinction between it and in- 
 
 flammation of the lungs, 145. 
 
 Catechu, a good astringent, metliod of giv- 
 ing, and adulterations of, 292. 
 
 Caustic, an account of the best, 292. 
 
 Cavalry horse, description of the, 32. 
 anecdotes of the, 33. 
 
 Cawl, description of the, 168. 
 Cerebrum, description of the, 59. 
 Chalk, its medical use in the horse, 292. 
 
344 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Chaff, attention should be paid to the good- 
 ness ol" the ingredients, 268. 
 
 i — best composition of, 267. 
 
 ■ — when given to the hard-worked 
 
 hoi-se, much time is saved for repose, 
 268. 
 
 quantity of, necessaiy for different 
 
 kinds of horses, 268 
 
 Camomile, a mild tonic, 292. 
 
 Channel of the jaws, what, 108. 
 
 Charcoal, useful in a poultice, and as an an- 
 tiseptic, 292. 
 
 Charges, composition and use of, 292. 
 
 Chariot, price of, in Solomon's time, 3. 
 
 description of that of Priam, 325. 
 
 of Juno described, 325. 
 
 on the frieze of the Parthenon, de- 
 scription of, 325. 
 
 Chariots, war, the ancient British, 17. 
 
 used by the Egyptians 1500 
 
 years before the Christian era, 324. 
 
 at the seige of Troy, 324. 
 
 — description of the ancient, 
 
 324. 
 
 of the ancients,could not move 
 
 with much velocity, 325. 
 
 Charles I patronized racing, 21. 
 
 Chest, the anatomy of the, 129. 
 
 proper form of the, 40, 129, 153. 
 
 cut of the, 129. 
 
 the importance of depth of, 130. 
 
 narrow and rounded, compaiison be- 
 tween, 129, 153. 
 
 round, often connected with thick 
 
 wind, 1-53. 
 
 dropsy of the, 146. 
 
 ■ founder, description of, 135, 144. 
 
 Chestnut horses, varieties of, 284. 
 Chester, races first established at, 21. 
 Chiilaby, friendship between him and a cat, 
 
 37. 
 Chinese horse, description of the, 12. 
 Chinked in the chine, what, 131. 
 Chloride of Hme, an excellent disinfectant, 
 
 297. 
 of soda, useful in unhealthy ulcers, 
 
 300. 
 Choroid coat of the eye, description and use 
 
 of the, 72. 
 Chronic cough, nature and treatment of, 96. 
 Chyle, the formation of, 161. 
 Ciliary processes of the eye, description of 
 
 the, 73. 
 Cineritious matter of tlie brain, nature and 
 
 function of the, 59. 
 Circassian horse, description of the, 13. 
 Clicking, cause and remedy of, 259. 
 Clipping, objections to, 283. 
 Clips, when necessary, 242. 
 Clover, considered as an article of food, 271. 
 Clysters, the composition and great useful- 
 ness of, 292. 
 directions as to the administration 
 
 of, 293. 
 Clydesdale horse, description of tlie, 30. 
 Coaches, calculation of the power of horses 
 
 in drawing according to tlieir speed, 313. 
 
 Coaches loaded high, run lighter, especially 
 in rapid traveling, 336. 
 
 safety, heavy draught of, 336. 
 
 Coach horse, description of the, 27 
 best breed of, 27 
 
 Coat, fine, connected by the groom with a 
 heated stable, 262. 
 
 persons much too solicitous to pro- 
 
 cure it, 282. 
 Cochlea of the ear, description and use of 
 
 the, 66. 
 Cocktail horse, mode of docking, 251. 
 CoEcum, description of the, 161. 
 Coffin-bone, description of the, 220. 
 
 lamella;, or leaves of, 221. 
 
 Cold, common, description and treatment of, 
 149. 
 
 Colic, spasmodic, description and treatment 
 of, 162. 
 
 Colar, the best method of attaching the tra- 
 ces to the horse, 317. 
 
 proper adaptation of to the shoulder, 
 
 175. 
 
 Colon, description of the, 160, 161. 
 
 Color of the skin, remarks on the, 263. 
 
 Colt, early ti'eatment of the, 26. 
 
 Coinplexus major, description of the, 94, 
 122, 131. 
 
 minor, description of the, 94, 123. 
 
 Concave seated shoe, the, described and re- 
 commended, 238. 
 
 Conestoga horses, description of the, 16. 
 
 Conical and fiat wheels, comparison be- 
 tween, 328. 
 
 wheels, extreme absurdity of, 329. 
 
 strange degree of friction and drag- 
 
 ging with them, 329. 
 
 • afford great resistance and destroy 
 
 the road, 330. 
 
 • are in fact traveling grindstones, 
 
 330. 
 
 Conjunctiva, description of the, 71. 
 
 appearance of, how fai- a test of 
 
 inflammation, 71. 
 Contraction of the foot, nature of, 225. 
 the peculiarity of 
 
 the lameness produced by, 227. 
 
 • how far connected 
 
 with the navicular disease, 229. 
 
 ■ is not the necessary 
 
 consequence of shoeing, 226. 
 
 - produced by neglect 
 
 of peuring, 226. 
 
 the shoes too long, 226. 
 
 natural moisture, 226. 
 
 • wearing 
 
 • want of 
 ■ the re- 
 
 moval of the bars, 227. 
 
 ■ inflam- 
 
 mation of the foot, 227. 
 
 — unequal 
 exercise without preparation, 227. 
 
 • not so much produced by litter 
 
 as imagined, 226. 
 Contraction of the foot, the cause rather than 
 the consequence of thrush, 227. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 845 
 
 228. 
 
 cured, 228. 
 
 - best mode of treating, 
 
 — rarely permanently 
 does not necessai-ily 
 
 imply unsoundness, 226. 
 
 althoujrh not necessa- 
 
 rily unsoundness, should have a special 
 warranty against it, 273. 
 
 — blood horses very sub- 
 
 ject to, 227 
 
 Convexity of the eye, the proper, not suffi- 
 ciently attended to, 77. 
 
 Copper, the combinations of, used in vete- 
 rinary practice, 29.3. 
 
 Corded veins, what, 102. 
 
 Cordials, tlie use and abuse of in the horse, 
 293. 
 
 Cornea, description of the, 71. 
 
 mode of examining the, 72. 
 
 its prominence or flatness, 71. 
 
 should be perfectly transparent, 71. 
 
 Corns, \he nature and treatment of, 234. 
 
 produced by cutting away the bars, 
 
 234. 
 
 not paring out the foot 
 
 between the crust and bars, 234. 
 ■ pressure, 234. 
 
 ing, 216. 
 
 216. 
 
 217. 
 
 ■ proper degree of its slant- 
 
 - proper thickness of the, 
 
 - brittleness of, remedy for, 
 the cause of 
 
 sandcrack, 230. 
 Crystalline lens, description of the, 75. 
 Cuboid bones, description of the, 206. 
 Cuneiform bones, description of the, 206, 
 
 210. 
 Curbs, nature and treatment of, 207. 
 
 hereditaiy, 26. 
 
 the sUghtest vestige of, constituting 
 
 unsoundness, 208. 
 Cuticle, the, description of, 279. 
 Cutis, or true skin, the, account of, 274. 
 Cutting, cause and cure of, 196, 259. 
 
 constitutes unsoundness, 274. 
 
 away the foot, unfounded prejudice 
 
 ■ verj' difficult to cure, 234. 
 -constitute unsoundness, 274. 
 
 Coronary ligament, description of the, 217. 
 
 — the crust principally pro- 
 duced from, 217. 
 
 ring, description of the, 217, 213. 
 
 Coronet, description of the, 217. 
 
 Corrosive sublimate, treatment under poison 
 by, 158. 
 
 the best tonic for farcy, 103, 110. 
 
 Cossack horse, description of the, 14. 
 
 beaten in a race by English 
 
 blood horses, 14. 
 
 Cough, nature and treatment of, 149. 
 
 constitutes unsoundness, 274. 
 
 • chronic, nature and treatment of, 152. 
 
 Cow hocks, description of, 211. 
 
 Cozakee horse, description of the, 11. 
 
 Cracks in the heels, treatment of, 214. 
 
 Cradle, a safe restraint upon the horse when 
 blistered, 246. 
 
 Cream-colored horses, account of, 284. 
 
 peculiarity in their eyes, 
 
 73. 
 
 of tartar, a mild diuretic, 293. 
 
 Crib-biting, the sucking in of air, 258. 
 
 causes and cure, 253. 
 
 injurious to the horse, 258. 
 
 constitutes unsoundness, 274. 
 
 Cricoid cartilage of the wind-pipe, the, 126. 
 
 Cromwell,01iver, his stud of i-ace horses, 21. 
 
 Cropping, absurdity of, 61. 
 
 Croton, the farina of, used as physic, 167. 
 
 Crusaders, the improvement of the horse 
 neglected by them, 18. 
 
 Crust of the foot, description of the, 216. 
 
 composition of the, 217. 
 
 consisting within of numer- 
 ous hornv plates, 218. 
 
 against, 226. 
 Cyhndrical wheels, description and advan- 
 tage of, 330. 
 
 DandrirF, the, nature of, 279. 
 
 Darley Arabian, account of the, 22, 34. 
 
 Dartmoor ponies, description and anecdote 
 
 of, 46, 
 Denham, Major, interesting account of the 
 
 loss of his horse, 11. 
 Depressor labii inferioris muscle, descrip- 
 tion of the, 95. 
 Devonshire pack-horse, description of tlie, 
 
 45. 
 Diabetes, nature and treatment of, 170. 
 Diameter of wheels, the eifect of, increasing 
 
 the, 323. 
 Diaphoretics, their nature and effects, 294. 
 Diaphragm, description of the, 136, 155. 
 Digestion, process of it described, 156, 161. 
 Digestives, their nature and use, 294, 
 Digitalis, highly recommended in colds and 
 
 all inflammatory complaints, 294. 
 Dilator magnus lateralis muscle, description 
 
 of the, 95. 
 
 naris lateralis muscle, description of 
 
 the, 95. 
 
 Dishing of wheels described, and effect of, 
 328. 
 
 both inward and outward effect of. 
 
 331. 
 
 Distemper, nature and treatment of, 149. 
 Distressed horse, treatment of the, 43. 
 Diuretic medicines, use and abuse of, 169, 
 
 213, 294. 
 Docking, method of performing, 249. 
 Dogs, danger of encouraging tliera about the 
 
 stable, 87. 
 Dongola horse, description of the, 7. 
 Draught, theory of, 28, 303. 
 
 has not been sufficiently 
 
 explained, 303. 
 Draught implies the moving power, the ve- 
 hicle, and the road, 304. 
 
 the moving power pcirticularly con- 
 
 sidered, 304. 
 
 44 
 
346 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Draught, considered in respect of the resist 
 
 ance, 304. 
 calculation of, according to velocity 
 
 and tune, 313, 318. 
 
 • much influenced by the direction of 
 
 the traces, 313 
 
 the line of, should be parallel to the 
 
 direction of motion, 335. 
 
 • in cattle should pass through tlie axle 
 
 of the wheels, 336 
 in bad roads may have a slight incli- 
 nation upward, 335. 
 
 resistance of, should be as much as 
 
 possible firm and inelastic, 317, 337, 
 
 how increased by the state of the 
 
 road, 327, 337. 
 
 ■ does not injure the riding of the far- 
 
 mer's horse, 25. 
 
 ■ of carriages, calculation of, on differ- 
 
 ent roads, 327. 
 of boats, difficult}' of, increasing rap- 
 idly with the velocity, 319. 
 
 - calculation of the power of. 
 
 Egypt, horse propagated from it to other 
 countries, 3, 7. 
 
 not known in, at the time of Abra- 
 ham, 2. 
 
 Elasticity in the construction of carriages, 
 difference between longitudinal and in 
 any other direction, 335, 337. 
 
 Elbow, advantage of depth of, 186. 
 
 capped, 185. 
 
 fracture of, 185. 
 
 •punctured, 185. 
 
 Elder, in the composition of an emollient 
 ointment, 295. 
 
 El^in marbles, proportions of the horses un- 
 laithfuUy represented on, 309. 
 
 Elizabeth, Queen, number and value of 
 horses much diminished when she reign- 
 ed, 21. 
 
 a staunch huntress, 42. 
 
 319, 
 
 of the sledge, 319. 
 
 of the roller, 319, 
 
 horse, the heavy, 29 
 
 horses, the inferior ones about the 
 
 metropolis, wretched state of, 32 
 Dray horse, proper form of the, 31. 
 the largest, bred in Lincolnshire, 
 
 31. 
 
 usually too large and heavy, 31. 
 
 Drinks, how to administer, 295. 
 
 compai'ison between them and balls, 
 
 295. 
 Dropsy of the chest, 135. 
 
 heart, 136. 
 
 skin, 135. 
 
 Drum of the ear, description and use of the, 
 
 64. 
 Dun horse, the, account of, 284. 
 Duodenum, description of the, 161. 
 Dutch horse, description of the, 16. 
 
 Ear, description of the external parts 60, 61. 
 
 internal pju'ts, 63. 
 
 bones of the, description and use, 63. 
 
 labyrinth of the, 65. 
 
 cut of the mechanism of, 62. 
 
 ■ muscles of the internal part 
 
 Emetic tartar, used as a nauseant, diapho- 
 retic, and worm medicine, 289. 
 Enamel of the teeth, account of the, 109. 
 Enigmatical account of the horse, 20. 
 English horse, history of the, 17. 
 
 — first crossed by the Romans, 
 
 17. 
 
 of the, 64. 
 
 indicative of the temper, 61. 
 
 • cUpping and singeing of tlie, cruelty 
 
 of, 62 
 
 East Indian horse, description of the, 11. 
 
 Eclipse, pedigree and history of, 36. 
 
 Edward II introduced Lombardy horses in- 
 to England, 19. 
 
 Ill, the breed of horses much im- 
 proved by, 19. 
 
 introduced Spanish horses, 19. 
 
 •had running: horses, 19. 
 
 improved by Athelstan, 17. 
 William the Con- 
 
 querer, 18. 
 
 • by John, 19. 
 
 not used for the plough in 
 
 early times, 18. 
 Entanglement of the intestines, description 
 
 of, 163. 
 Epidemic catarrh, nature and treatment of, 
 
 149. 
 malignant, nature and treatment of, 
 
 151. 
 Epilepsy, nature and treatment of, 86. 
 Epsom salts, used as a purgative, 167, 297. 
 Ethmoid bone, description of the, 59. 
 Eustachain tube, description and use of the, 
 
 65. 
 Ewe-neck,unsightliness and inconvenience 
 
 of, 40, 123. 
 Exchanores of horses stand on the same 
 
 ground as sales, 278. 
 Exercise, directions for, 267. 
 
 the necessity of regular, 266, 
 want of, producing grease, 215. 
 more injury done by the want of it. 
 
 Effect of the horse's labor, limited by his 
 
 velocity and his power, 311. 
 Esypt, earliest domestication of the horse 
 
 In, 2. 
 
 than by the hardest work, 266 
 
 Exmoor poney, description of the, 45. 
 
 Expansion shoe, the, description and use 
 of, 243. 
 
 Expense of horse, calculation of the annual, 
 305. 
 
 Extensor pedis muscle, description of the, 
 185, 204. 
 
 Extract of lead, the use of it much over- va- 
 lued, 296 
 
 Eye description of the, 66. 
 
 cut of the, 70. 
 
 healthy appearance of the, 66. 
 
 -inflammation of, common, 90, 
 
 specific, 90. 
 
 causes, 91. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 347 
 
 275. 
 
 ness, 275. 
 
 appear, 91. 
 
 Eye, inflammation of, medical treatment of, 
 
 90, 92. 
 • untractable nature of, 
 
 90. 
 
 consequences of, 92. 
 
 -marks of recent, 91, 
 
 - constitutes unsound- 
 
 ■ when most likely to 
 
 -hereditary, 91. 
 
 method and importance of examining 
 
 it, 71. 
 
 indicative of the temper, 66. 
 
 the pit above, indicative of the age, 53. 
 
 muscles of the, 78. 
 
 wounds of the, 88. 
 
 Eye-brows, substitute for, 67. 
 Eye-lashes, description of, 67. 
 
 folly of singeing them, 68. 
 
 Eye-lid, description of, 67, 68. 
 
 Face, description of the, 92. 
 
 cut of the muscles, nerves, and blood- 
 vessels of, 94. 
 
 Falling in of the foot, what, 224. 
 
 False quarter, nature and ti'eatment of, 231. 
 
 Farcy, a disease of the absorbents of the 
 skin, 102. 
 
 connected with glanders, 101. 
 
 both generated and infectious, 102. 
 
 symptoms of, 102. 
 
 treatment of, 103. 
 
 buds, what, 102. 
 
 Farmer's horse, description of the, 25. 
 
 not injured by draught, 25. 
 
 Feeding high, connected with grease, 215. 
 
 regular periods of, necessity of at- 
 tending to, 82, 273. 
 
 ■ manner of, has much influence on 
 
 , Fits, symptoms, causes, and treatment of, 
 
 86. 
 Fitzherbert, Sir A., his description of the 
 horse, 20. 
 
 his the eai-liest treatise 
 
 broken wind, 154, 
 
 Feeling of the mouth, constant, indispensa- 
 ble in the good rider, 23. 
 
 Feet, good, importance of, in the hunter,41. 
 
 the general management of, 272. 
 
 attention to, and stopping at night, 
 
 recommended, 273. 
 
 Felt soles, description and use of, 244. 
 
 Fetlock, description of the, 195. 
 
 Fever, idiopathic or pure, 140. 
 
 • symptoms of, 140. 
 
 •symptomatic, 141. 
 
 Fibula, the, description of the, 204. 
 Finland horse, description of the, 15. 
 Firing, mode of applying, 251. 
 should be in longitudinal or parallel 
 
 lines, 248. 
 
 should not penetrate the skin, 247. 
 
 absurdity and cruelty of blistering 
 
 after, 248. 
 Firing, horse should not be used for some 
 
 montlis after, 247. 
 
 advantage of over blistering, 248. 
 
 Fistula lacrymalis, 68. 
 
 in the poll, 120. 
 
 Fistulous withers, treatment of, 133. 
 
 on agriculture, 20. 
 
 Flanders horse, description of the, 15, 32. 
 
 our lieavy draught horses ad- 
 vantageously crossed with it, 15. 
 
 Flat roads more injuiious to horses than 
 those with sliglit incfpiajities, 313. 
 
 Fleam andlancet,comparison between, 142. 
 
 Flexor of the ai-m, descrijifion of the, 186. 
 
 metatarsi muscle, description of the, 
 
 205. 
 
 pedis perforatus, the perforated mus- 
 cle, description of the, 186,204. 
 
 pedis perforans,the perfoi'ating mus- 
 cle, description of the, 186, 204. 
 
 Flying Childers, on account of him, 35. 
 
 Foal, early treatment of, 175. 
 
 early handling of, important, 175. 
 
 ■ importance of liberal feeding of, 175. 
 
 time for weaning:, 175. 
 
 Fomentations, theory and use of, 139, 295. 
 Food of the horse, observations on, 267. 
 
 a list of the articles of. 
 
 268. 
 
 ■ should be apportioned to 
 
 the work, 272. 
 Foot, description of the, 216. 
 
 diseases of the, 223. 
 
 canker in the, nature and treatment 
 
 of, 236. 
 
 corns in the " 
 
 contracted '' 
 
 false quarter of the " 
 
 founder of the, acute " 
 
 chronic " 
 
 234. 
 225. 
 231. 
 223. 
 225. 
 223. 
 
 •inflammation of the 
 
 • navicular joint of the, disease in, na- 
 
 ture and treatment of, 228. 
 
 overreach of the 
 
 prick in the 
 
 pumiced 
 
 quittor in the 
 
 sandcrack in the 
 
 thrush in the 
 
 tread on the 
 
 weakness of the 
 
 wounds in the 
 
 230. 
 232. 
 224. 
 231. 
 
 230. 
 235. 
 230. 
 237. 
 232. 
 
 Forehand, proper form of, 40. 
 
 Forehead, diflerent form of, in the ox and 
 
 horse, 56. 
 Fore-legs, description of, 178. 
 
 diseases of the, 190. 
 
 proper position of the, 198. 
 
 Forge-water, sometimes used, 296. 
 
 Forrester, an example of the emulation of 
 the horse, 38. 
 
 Founder, acute, symptoms, causes and treat- 
 ment of, 223. 
 
 chronic, nature and treatment of, 
 
 225. 
 Foxglove, strongly recommended in colds 
 
 and all fevers, 294. 
 Fracture of tlie skull, treatment of, 79. 
 
348 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 French horse, description of the 16. 
 
 Friction, compaiison of, in the wheel and 
 roller, 320. 
 
 on the axle, dependent on the mate- 
 rial employed, 326. 
 
 is not materially increased by the 
 
 velocity, 326. 
 
 reduced, as the diameter of the axle 
 
 is diminished, 326 
 
 • inveraely as the diameter of the 
 
 wheel, 326. 
 
 at the axles of light carriages, con- 
 sidered, 337. 
 
 Frog, horny, description of the, 219. 
 
 sensible, description of the, 219, 221. 
 
 action and use of the, 222. 
 
 . -pressure, question of the, 220. 
 
 proper paring of, for shoeing, 240. 
 
 diseases of the 235. 
 
 ■ stay, the, 217. 
 
 Frontal bones, description of the, 53. 
 
 sinuses, description of the, 54. 
 
 perforated to detect glanders, 
 
 54. 
 Furze,considered as an article of food, 271. 
 
 Gall, account of the, 167. 
 
 bladder, the horse has none, 167. 
 
 Galloping, action of the horse, during 310. 
 
 Galloway, description of the, 44. 
 
 anecdotes and performances of the, 
 
 45. 
 
 Gaucho, the South American, description of, 
 4. 
 
 his method of taldng and breaking 
 
 the wild horse, 4. 
 
 's boots, curious manufacture of, 5. 
 
 General management of the horse, 262. 
 
 Gentian, the best tonic for the horse, 295. 
 
 German horse, description of the, 15. 
 
 Getting the cheek-bit into the mouth, me- 
 thod of preventing, 255. 
 
 Gibbing, a bad habit, cause of it and means 
 of lessening it, 254. 
 
 Ginger, an excellent aromatic and tonic, 
 295. 
 Glanders, nature of, 98. 
 
 symptoms of, 96, 97. 
 
 slow progress of, 97. 
 
 appearances of the nose in, 97. 
 
 detected by injecting the frontal si- 
 nuses, 54. 
 
 ■ distinguished from catarrh, 98. 
 
 -from strangles, 98. 
 
 100. 
 
 ■ connected with farcy, 102. 
 
 • treatment of, 100. 
 
 ■causes of, 99. 
 
 - both generated and contagious, 99, 
 
 Glanders, oftenest produced by improper 
 stable management, 99. 
 
 mode of comniunication of, 100. 
 
 prevention of, 101. 
 
 anecdote of its speedy appearance, 
 
 99. 
 
 Glands, enlarged, it depends on many cir- 
 cumstances whether they coiistitute un- 
 soundness, 274. 
 
 Glass-eye, nature and treatment of, 92. 
 
 Gleet, nasal, nature and treatment of, 96. 
 
 Glenoid cavity of the temporal bone,descrip- 
 tion of the, 107. 
 
 Glutffii muscles, description of the, 202. 
 
 Godolphin Arabian, an account of the, 6, 
 37. 
 
 Goulard's extract, the use of it much over- 
 valued, 296. 
 
 Gracilis muscle description of the, 201. 
 
 Grains, occasionally used for horses of slow 
 work, 269. 
 
 Grapes on the heels, treatment of, 215. 
 
 Grasses, neglect of the farmer as to the pro- 
 per mixture of, 270. 
 
 Grasshopper springs, description of, 336. 
 
 would be advantageously adopted in 
 
 post-chaises, 336. 
 
 Grease, nature and treatment of, 213. 
 
 cause of, 215. 
 
 farmer's horse not so subject to it as 
 
 others, 214. 
 
 ■generally a mere local complaint. 
 
 214. 
 
 Greece, early domestication of the horse in, 
 2. 
 
 the horse introduced there from 
 
 Egypt, 2. 
 Grey horses, account of the different shades 
 
 of, 283. 
 Grinders, construction of the, 110. 
 Grinding of the food accomplished by the 
 
 mechanism of the joint of the lower jaw, 
 
 108. 
 Grogginess, account of, 196. 
 Grooming, as important as exercise to the 
 
 horse, 265. 
 
 opens the pores of the skin, and gives 
 
 a fine coat, 266. 
 
 ■ directions for, 266. 
 
 Grunter, the, is unsound, 274. 
 
 Guinea coast, description of the horse of the, 
 
 7. 
 Gullet, description of the, 128. 
 foreign bodies in, 128. 
 
 Gutta Serena, nature and treatment of, 92. 
 
 Habits, vicious or dangerous, 251. 
 Hackney, description of the, 22, 25. 
 proper action of the, 23. 
 
 Hair, account of the, 281. 
 
 question of cutting it from the heels, 
 
 215. 
 Hall, Bishop, extract from, on breeding, 26. 
 Hamilton, Duke of, the Clydesdale horses 
 
 owe their origin to him, 30. 
 Harnessing, the best mode as it regards 
 
 draught, 313. 
 
 method of, in the time of Homer, 
 
 $15. 
 
 Haunch, description of the, 199. • 
 Vvide, advantage of, 199. 
 injuries of the, 199. 
 joint, singular strength of the, 199. 
 and thigh bones, advantage of tlie 
 
 oblique direction of, 199. 
 Haw, curious mechanism of the, 69. 
 diseases of, 90 
 
INDEX. 
 
 849 
 
 Haw, absurdity and cruelty of destroying 
 
 it, 70. 
 Hay considered as food, 270. 
 
 mowburnt, injurious, 270. 
 
 old preferable to new, 270. 
 
 Head, anatomy of the, 52. 
 
 tlie numerous bones composing it, 
 
 reason of, .52. 
 ■ cut of tlie bones of the, 53. 
 
 section of tlie, 53. 
 
 -importance of proper setting on of 
 
 the, 40, 122. 
 
 its shape, indicating the breed, 53. 
 
 ■beautiful provision for its support. 
 
 ■Captain his account of the South 
 
 56. 
 
 American horse, 4 
 Hearing of the horse very acute, 33. 
 Heavy black horses, account of, 32. 
 their preparation for their 
 
 work, 30. 
 Heart, description of the, 136. 
 
 its action described, 136. 
 
 inflammation of the, 136. 
 
 dropsy of the, 136. 
 
 Heber, Bishop's account of the Arabian, 9. 
 Heels, question of cutting the hair from 
 
 them, 215. 
 
 low, disadvantage of, 216. 
 
 proper paring of, for shoeing, 240. 
 
 washing of the, producing grease, 
 
 215. 
 Hellebore, white, used in inflammation of 
 
 the lungs and fevers, 295. 
 Helmsley Aiabian, account of the, 21. 
 Hemlock, sometimes poisonous when eaten, 
 
 158. 
 given in inflammation of tlie chest, 
 
 296. 
 
 Henry VIH, tyrannical regulations con- 
 cerning the horse by him, 20. 
 the breed of the horse not materially 
 
 improved by him, 20. 
 Hereditary diseases on, 26, 91, 172. 
 Hernia, the nature and treatment of, 167. 
 Hide-bound, the nature and treatment of, 
 
 280. 
 High-blower, the, description of, 155. 
 
 is unsound, 274. 
 
 Highland poney, description of the, 46. 
 Hind legs, description of the, 199. 
 
 arteries, veins, and nerves of the, 205. 
 
 wheels should follow the precise 
 
 track of the fore ones, 331. 
 Hip joint, the great strength of the, 199. 
 Hips, ragged, what, 199. 
 Hissar, the East India Company's sale of 
 
 horses at, 11. 
 Hobbles, description of the best, 245. 
 Hock, the advantage of its numerous sepa- 
 rate bones and ligaments, 209. 
 
 ■ capped, 198, 211. 
 
 cow, 211. 
 
 description of the, 198. 
 
 ■ enlargement of the, nature of and 
 
 how affecting soundness, 199, 274. 
 inflammation of the small bones of, 
 
 a frequent cause of lameness, 210. 
 
 Hock, the principal seat of lameness be- 
 hind, 207. 
 
 lameness of the, without apparent 
 
 cause, 210. 
 
 point of,advantage of length in, 210. 
 
 Homer, method of harnessing horses in his 
 time, 315. 
 
 Hoof, cut of the, 218. 
 
 description of the, 216. 
 
 Horizontal direction of the traces when pro- 
 per, 318. 
 
 Horn of the crust secreted principally by 
 the coronary ligament, 217. 
 
 once separated from the sensible part 
 
 within, will never again unite with it, 
 233. 
 
 Horse, the American, description of, 16. 
 
 Arabian, description of, 8. 
 
 not the native of Arabia, 2. 
 
 — English, improved under Athel- 
 
 stan, 17. 
 
 Barb, description of, 6. 
 
 Bournou, description of, 7. 
 
 cavalry, 32. 
 
 and chariot races formed part of 
 
 Olympic games, 1. 
 
 • calculation of the annual expense 
 
 of, 305, 
 
 Chinese, description of, 12. 
 
 Circassian, description of, 13. 
 
 was trained to draught before he 
 
 was mounted, 2. 
 Coach, proper form, qualities, 
 
 breed of, 27. 
 
 Cossack, description of, 14. 
 
 neglected by the Crusaders, 18. 
 
 Dongola, description of, 7. 
 
 Dutch, description of, 16. 
 
 early history of, 1. 
 
 when first domesticated in Egynt 
 
 and Canaan, 2. 
 
 - not domesticated until after many 
 
 other animals, 2. 
 propagated from Egypt to other 
 
 countries, 2. 
 
 — East Indian, description of, 11. 
 
 — the flesh of, eaten, 6. 
 
 English, history of, 17. 
 
 farmer's, description of, 25. 
 
 Finland, description of, 15. 
 
 Flemish, description of, 16. 
 
 French, description of 16. 
 
 general management of, 262. 
 
 German, description of, 15. 
 
 of the Guinea coast, description of. 
 
 -heavy black, description of, 285. 
 ■ for heavy draught, description of. 
 
 29. 
 
 tyrannical regulations respecting, 
 
 Henry VIII, 20. 
 
 hiring, early regulations of, 18. 
 
 Hungarian, description of, 15. 
 
 Iceland, description of, 15. 
 
 Italian, description of, 16. 
 
 much improved by John, 19. 
 
 ■ Lombardy, when first introduced 
 
 into England, 19. 
 
350 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Horse, the, market, first account of, IS. 
 
 native country of, uncertain, 18. 
 
 Norwegian, description of, 15. 
 
 Persian, description of, 12. 
 
 English, not used for the plough 
 
 in early times, 18. 
 
 power, calculation of, 28, 303, 312. 
 
 •depending on circumstances 
 
 continually varying, 303. 
 
 ■varying with his speed, Ta- 
 
 -compared with that of the 
 
 ble of, 312. 
 
 steam-engine on railways, 304. 
 
 • compared with that of the 
 
 steam-engine on common roads, 305 
 
 -mechanically considered, su- 
 
 Iceland horse, the, description of, 15. 
 Ileum, description of the, 161. 
 Intlammation, nature of, 138. 
 
 treatment of, 138. 
 
 hot or cold applications to, guide in 
 
 the choice of, 140. 
 
 importance of bleeding in, 138. 
 
 when proper to physic in, 139. 
 
 of the bladder, 171. 
 
 bowels, 163. 
 
 • distinction between it 
 
 periorto artificial, 308. 
 
 •there is yet no practical sub 
 
 stitute for, 307 
 
 — price of, in Solomon's time, 3. 
 
 -prices of, at different periods, 17, 
 
 19, 20. 
 
 ca, 4. 
 
 ■sagacity of 24. 
 
 -can see almost in darkness, 72. 
 
 ■ South Amercian, description of, 4. 
 instinct and sagacity of, 4. 
 
 ■ management of, in South Ameri- 
 
 Spanish, description of, 16. 
 
 ■ Spanish first introduced into Bri- 
 
 tain, 19. 
 
 Swedish, description of, 15. 
 
 Tartarian, description of, 6, 13 
 
 English, thorough-bred, superior 
 
 to the Arabian, 34. 
 
 Toorkoman, description of, 13. 
 
 Turkish, description of, 14. 
 
 wild, description of, 3. 
 
 English, improved under William 
 
 the Conqueror, 18. 
 
 zoological description of, 48. 
 
 •heavy, exposed to grease, 215. 
 
 Horses, immense number of, in the armies 
 of some ancient eastern monarchs, 1. 
 
 numerous in Britain at the invasion 
 
 of the Romans, 17. 
 
 Howell the Good, his laws respecting the 
 horse, 17. 
 
 Hungarian horse, the, description of, 15. 
 
 Hunter, the, general account of, 38. 
 
 • proper degree of blood in, 39. 
 
 ■ ■ form of, 39. 
 
 — ■ spirit of, 42. 
 
 anecdotes of, 42. 
 
 management of, 41. , 
 
 • symptoms of dangerous distress 
 
 ■ management of the, when dis- 
 
 in, 43. 
 
 tressed, 43. 
 
 •summering of, 43. 
 
 Hunting, the earliest book on, written by a 
 
 lady, 42. 
 
 shoe, description of the, 243. 
 
 Hyde Park, races established in, by Charles 
 
 I, 21. 
 
 Hydrothorax, symptoms and treatment of, 
 
 146. 
 
 and colic, 164. 
 
 brain, 83. 
 
 eye, 90. 
 
 foot, 223. 
 
 kidneys, 170. 
 
 liver, 167. 
 
 lungs, 144. 
 
 stomach, 158. 
 
 -veins, 125 
 
 Influenza, nature and treatment of, 149. 
 Infusions, manner of making them, 296. 
 Inoculation, the best test of the existence of 
 
 glanders, 98. 
 Intercostal muscles, description of the, 135. 
 Intestines, description of the, 160. 
 diseases of the, 162. 
 
 Intus-suspection of the intestines, treatment 
 of, 163. 
 
 Invertebrated animals, what, 48 
 
 Iodine, usefulness, of, in reducing enlarged 
 glands, 296. 
 
 Iranee horse, description of the, 11. 
 
 Iris, description of the, 74. 
 
 Irish horse, description of the, 47. 
 
 Iron, the carbonate of, a mild and useful to- 
 nic, 296. 
 
 sulphate of, a stronger tonic, 296. 
 
 recommended for the 
 
 cure of glanders, 296. 
 
 Italian horse, description of the, 16. 
 
 Itchiness of the skin, should always be re- 
 garded with suspicion, 287. 
 
 James I, established the first regulations for 
 racing, 21. 
 
 nitroduction of the Arabian blood by 
 
 him, 21. 
 
 Jaundice, symptoms and treatment of, 168. 
 Jaw, the lower, admirable mechanism of, 
 
 107. 
 
 upper, description of, 105. 
 
 Jejunum, description of the, 161. 
 John, the breed of horses improved by, 19. 
 Jointed shoe, the description and use of, 243. 
 Jones's patent wheels, a description of, 331. 
 Jugular vein, anatomy of the, 95, 124. 
 Jumper, the horse breaker, anecdotes of his 
 
 power over animals, 252. 
 Juniper oil, use of, 296. 
 Juno, harnessing her own horses, 325. 
 
 Kadischi, an Arabian breed of horses, 8. 
 Kicking, a bad and inveterate habit, 255. 
 Kidneys, description of the, 169. 
 
 "nflammation of, symptoms and treat- 
 
 ment of, 176. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 S51 
 
 Kidneys, stone in the 171. 
 
 King Pippin, anecdotes of him as illustra- 
 ting the inveterateness of vicious habits, 
 252. 
 
 Knee, an anatomical description of the, 187. 
 
 knees broken, treatment of, 188. 
 
 Kochlani, the Arabian breed of horses, 8. 
 
 Knowledge of the horse, how acquired, 50. 
 
 Labyrinth of the ear, description and use of 
 
 the, 65. 
 Lachrymal duct, description of the, 68. 
 
 gland, description and use of, 68. 
 
 Lamellae or laminae, horny, account of the, 
 
 218. 
 
 • fleshy the, account of, 218. 
 
 weight of the horse 
 
 supported by the, 218. 
 Lameness, shoulder, method of ascertaining, 
 
 179. 
 from whatever cause, unsoundness, 
 
 275. 
 Lampas, nature and treatment of, 106. 
 
 cruelty of burning the bars for, 107. 
 
 Liminae of the foot. See Lamellae. 
 Lancet and fleam, comparison between, 142. 
 Lard, use of in ointments and balls, 296. 
 Lcirynx, description of the, 126. 
 Lasso, description of the, 4. 
 
 explanation of the power of the, 316. 
 
 Laudanum, use of in veterinary practice, 
 
 296. 
 Lead, the compounds of, used in veterinary 
 
 practice, 296. 
 extract of, its use much over-valued, 
 
 296. 
 
 ■ sugar of, use of, 296. 
 
 • white, use of, 296. 
 
 Leather-soles, description and use of, 244. 
 Leg, cut of the, 88. 
 
 description of the, 189. 
 
 Legs, fore, should be straight and perpen- 
 dicular, 198. 
 
 hind, anatomical description of, 212. 
 
 - of the hackney, should not be lifted 
 
 too high, 23. 
 
 of the horse, movement of when 
 
 walking, 309. 
 
 Legs of the horse, different when drawing, 
 309. 
 
 also different when trotting, 
 
 310. 
 
 swelled, 213. 
 
 Levator humeri muscle, description of the, 
 94, 123, 182. 
 
 Lever, muscle action explained on the prin- 
 ciple of the, 180, 185. 
 
 Ligament of the neck, description and elas- 
 ticity of the, 58, 121. 
 
 Light, theory of, 76. 
 
 refraction of, 76. 
 
 Lightness in hand, of essential consequence 
 in a hunter, 39. 
 
 Lime, the chloride of, exceedingly useful 
 forbad smelling wounds, &c., 297. 
 
 Lime, the chloride of, exceedingly useful to 
 cleanse stables from infection, 297. 
 
 Lincolnshire, the largest heavy black horse 
 
 bred in, 31. 
 Liniments, the composition and use of, 297. 
 Linseed, an infusion of, used in catarrh, 
 
 297. 
 
 meal forms the best poultice, 297. 
 
 oil, as a purgative, 167, 297. 
 
 Lips, anatomy and uses of the, 104. 
 
 the, the hands of the horse, 104. 
 
 Litter,the, cannot be too frequently removed, 
 264. 
 
 propersubstances for. 264. 
 
 contraction not so much produced 
 
 by it as some imagine, 226. 
 Liver, anatomy and use of the, 167. 
 
 inflammation of the, 167. 
 
 rupture of the, 167. 
 
 Load, the lying high increases the lightness 
 of draught, 336. 
 
 may be dangerous in rough 
 
 road, 337. 
 
 Locked jaw, symptoms, cause, and treat- 
 ment of, 83, 85. 
 
 Loins, description of the, 132. 
 
 Lombardy horse, the, when introduced into 
 England, 19. 
 
 Longissimus dorsi muscle, description of 
 the, 133. 
 
 Lucerne, considered as an article of food, 
 271. 
 
 Lunar caustic, a very excellent one, 300. 
 
 Lungs, description of the, 143. 
 
 inflammation of the, symptoms of. 
 
 144. 
 
 causes of, 144. 
 
 ■ how distinguished 
 
 from catarrh and distemper, 145, 151. 
 treatment of, 146, 
 
 147. 
 
 bleeding in, 146. 
 
 importance of early 
 
 rowels or setons in, 147. 
 
 -blisters preferable to 
 
 -consequences of. 
 
 146. 
 
 Madness, symptoms and treatment of, 86. 
 
 Majinniss horse, description of the, 11. 
 
 Maiiomet, two horses only in his whole 
 army, 3. 
 
 Malcolm, Sir John, his anecdotes of the 
 Arabian horse, 10. 
 
 Malignant epidemic, the nature and treat- 
 ment of 96. 
 
 Mallenders, nature and treatment of, 211. 
 
 Mammalia, the, an important class of ani- 
 mals, 48. 
 
 Mane, description and use of the, 124. 
 
 Mange, description and treatment of, 285. 
 
 causes of, 286. 
 
 ointment, recipes for, 285. 
 
 ' highly infectious, 285. 
 
 method of purifying the stable after. 
 
 287. 
 
 Manger-feeding, the advantage of, 267. 
 Marble, the immense block of, at St. Pe- 
 tersburgh, how moved on rollers, 322. 
 
352 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Mare, time of being at heat, 174. 
 
 going with foal, 174. 
 
 best time for covering, 174. 
 
 management of, when with foal, 174. 
 
 ■after foaling, 174 
 
 more concerned thein the horse in 
 
 breeding, 26. 
 
 Mares preferable to geldings for the farmer, 
 26. 
 
 prejudice against riding of, 4. 
 
 never ridden by the Africans, 7. 
 
 alone ridden by the Arabs, 7. 
 
 used for food, 6. 
 
 selection of, for breeding, 26. 
 
 Mark of the teeth, what, 110. 
 
 Markham"s Arabian, account of, 21. 
 
 Mashes, importance of their use, 297. 
 
 best method of making, 297. 
 
 Masseter muscle, description of the, 95, 
 108. 
 
 Maxillary, bones, anatomy of the, 105. 
 
 Mediastinum, description of the, 136. 
 
 Medicines, a history of the most useful, 287. 
 
 Medullary substance of the brain, nature 
 and function of the, 39. 
 
 Megrims caused by an undue quantity of 
 blood pressing on the brcdn, 80. 
 
 symptoms of, 80. 
 
 treatment of, 81. 
 
 apt return, 80. 
 
 Melt, description of the, 168. 
 
 Memory of the horse, instances of, 24. 
 
 Mercurial ointment, the use of, in veterina- 
 ry practice, 298. 
 
 Merlin, the sire of many of the Welsh po- 
 nies, 45. 
 
 Mesentery, description of the, 161. 
 
 Metacarpels, description of the, 189. 
 
 Midriff, description of the, 136. 
 
 Mint, an infusion of, or the oil of, occasion- 
 ally used, 298. 
 
 Moisture, want of, a cause of contraction, 
 226. 
 
 Moon-blindness, nature of 90. 
 
 Morocco barb, the, account of, 21. 
 
 Moulting, the process of, 282. 
 
 • horse usually languid at the time of, 
 
 ■ no stimulant or spices should be 
 
 portant than their bulk, 213. 
 
 Muscular action, the principle of, 185. 
 
 Muzzle, the organ by which. the horse com- 
 monly exammes bodies, 279. 
 
 Myrrh, the use of, for canker and wounds, 
 298. 
 
 Narrow and broad wheels, comparison be- 
 tween, 328. 
 
 Nasalis labii superioris muscle, description 
 of the, 94. 
 
 Naves, cast iron, to wheels, advantage of, 
 332. 
 
 description of the best 
 
 Muscles of the eye, description of the, 78. 
 
 face, " 94. 
 
 ■ neck, " 122. 
 
 ■ ribs, " 135. 
 
 ■ shoulder-blade, " 182. 
 
 lower bone of the 
 
 shoulder, " 181. 
 
 ■ advantageous direction of, more im- 
 
 construction of, 332. 
 Navicular bone, description of the, 192, 221, 
 228. 
 
 action and use of the, 221, 228. 
 
 joint disease, nature and treatment 
 
 of, 228. 
 
 how far connected with 
 
 ■the cure very uncertain. 
 
 contraction, 229. 
 
 229. 
 
 Neapolitan horse, description of the, 16. 
 Neck, anatomy and diseases of the, 120. 
 
 description of the arteries of the, 124. 
 
 description of the veins of the, 124. 
 
 bones of the, 120. 
 
 proper conformation of the, 121 
 
 comparison between long and short, 
 
 122. 
 
 loose, what, 123. 
 
 Neptune, the horse first appeared at the 
 
 stroke of his tridents, 2. 
 Nerves, the, construction and theory of, 60. 
 
 spinal, compound nature of, 60. 
 
 of respiration, origin and function of. 
 
 60. 
 
 282 
 
 given, 282. 
 
 ■ mode of treatment under, 283. 
 
 Mounting the colt, 177. 
 
 Mouth of the horse, description of the bones 
 
 of, 105. 
 ulcers in, treatment of, 
 
 127. 
 should be always felt 
 
 lightly in riding, 23. 
 
 • importance of its sensi- 
 
 Neurotomy, or nerve operation, object and 
 effect of it, 87. 
 
 manner of performing it, 88. 
 
 cases in which it should or should 
 
 bility, 104. 
 
 ■ when the horse may be ssdd to have 
 
 a perfect one, 114. 
 Moving power, animal theory of, 304. 
 
 ~ mechanical, theory of, 304. 
 
 Mowburnt hay injurious, 270. 
 
 Muscles of the back, description of the, 132. 
 
 breast, " 135. 
 
 - of the face, 94. 
 
 not be performed, 89. 
 
 - a vestige of the performance of it. 
 
 constitutes unsoundness, 275. 
 Newcastle, the Duke of, his opposition to 
 
 the introduction of the Arabian blood, 21. 
 New-forester, description of the, 45. 
 Newmarket, races established at, by Charles 
 
 1,21. 
 
 description of the different courses 
 
 at, 38. 
 Niclcing, method of performing, 250. 
 
 useless cruelty often resorted to in 
 
 it, 251. ^ .„ 
 
 Nitre, a valuable cooling medicme, and mild 
 diuretic, 298. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 863 
 
 Nitrous rether, spirit of, a mild stimulant 
 
 and diuretic, 298. 
 Norman horse, description of the, 16. 
 Norwe^an horse, description of the, 15. 
 Nose, description of the bones of the, 93. 
 of the horse, slit to increase his wind, 
 
 15, 94. 
 Nostrils, description of the, 92. 
 
 ■ chronic discharge from the, 96. 
 
 how distinguished 
 
 from glanders, 96. 
 
 -the membrane of, important in as- 
 
 certaining disease, 95 
 
 ■ importance of an ex^nded one, 94. 
 
 ■ slit by some nations to increase the 
 
 wiiid of the horse, 94. 
 Not lying down, the consequence of and 
 
 cure for, 259, 
 Nutriment, the quantity of, contained in tlie 
 
 diiferent articles of food, 271. 
 
 Oats, the usual food of the horse, 269. 
 
 should be old, heavy, dry and sweet, 
 
 268. 
 
 kiln-dried, injurious to the horse, 269. 
 
 proper quantity of, for a horse, 269. 
 
 bruised preferable to whole, 269. 
 
 Oatmeal, excellent for gruel, and sometimes 
 used as a poultice, 269. 
 
 Obelisk at Rome, the curious method of 
 moving it, 324. 
 
 Occipital bone,description of the, 57. 
 
 (Esophagus, description of the, 128. 
 
 O'Kelly, Colonel, anecdotes of him, and 
 Eclipse, 37. 
 
 Old Mask, the sire of many of the nev^ fo- 
 resters, 45. 
 
 Olive oil, as a purgative, 167, 298. 
 
 Omentum, description of the, 168. 
 
 Opacity of tlie eye, nature and treatment of, 
 92. 
 
 Operations, description of the most impor- 
 tant, 244. 
 
 Opium,its great value in veterinary practice, 
 298. 
 
 adulterations of, 298. 
 
 Orbicularis muscle of the eye, description 
 of the, 67,95. 
 
 oris muscle, description of the, 
 95, 104. 
 
 Orbit of the eye, fracture of, 80. 
 
 Ossification of the cartilages, cause and 
 treatment of, 237. 
 
 Ouseley, Sir GJore, his account of the ruins 
 of PersepoUs, 2. 
 
 Over-physicing, treatment of, 165. 
 
 Over- reach, nature and treatment of, 231, 
 259. 
 
 often producing sandcrack or quit- 
 tor, 231. 
 
 Oxygen of the air unites with the cjirbon of 
 the blood in respiration, 144. 
 
 Pace, the effect of, in straining the horse, 28. 
 Pachydermata, an order of animals, 49. 
 Pack-horse, description of the, 46. 
 Pack-wax, description of the, 57 121. 
 45 
 
 Palate, description of the, 105. 
 
 bleeding place in the, 105. 
 
 Palatine artery, description of the, 106. 
 Palm-oil, the best substance for maldng up 
 
 balls, 299. 
 Palsy, the causes and treatment of, 86. 
 Pancreas, description of the, 168. 
 Panniculus carnosus muscle, description of 
 
 the, 280. 
 Paiietal bones, description of the, 55. 
 Pai-ing out of the foot foi slioeing,directions 
 
 for, 240. 
 
 neglect of. 
 
 a cause of contraction, 225. 
 Parkinson on Live Stock, extracts from, 47. 
 Parotid gland, description of the, and its 
 
 diseases, 95, 117. 
 Parthenon, description of the chariots on the 
 
 frieze of, 325, 
 Pasterns, description of the, 193, 196. 
 
 bones of the, 196. 
 
 cut of the, 193, 197. 
 
 proper obliquity of the, 24, 41, 195. 
 
 Patella or stifle bone, description of the, 204. 
 
 Pawing, remedy for, 260. 
 
 Payment of the smallest sum completes the 
 
 purchase, 277. 
 Peas, sometimes used as food, but should be 
 
 crushed, 270. 
 Pectorales muscles, description of the, 122, 
 
 133, 135. 
 Pericardium, description of the, l36. 
 Peronseus muscle, description of the, 204. 
 Persian horse, description of the, 12. 
 
 celebrated before the Arabian 
 
 was known, 12. 
 
 management of, 12. 
 
 race, description of a, 13. 
 
 Perspiration, insensible, no medicines will 
 certainly increase it, 282. 
 
 Peter the Great, the immense block of mar- 
 ble, constituting the pedestal of his statue, 
 how moved, 322. 
 
 Pharynx, anatomy of the, 120. 
 
 Physic ball, method of compounding the 
 best, 288. 
 
 should never be given in inflamma- 
 
 tion of the lungs, 288. 
 
 ■half doses of, objectionable, 288. 
 
 Pied horses, account of the, 284. 
 Pigmentium nigrum, account of the, 72. 
 Piper, description of the, 155. 
 Pit of the eye, indicative of the age, 53. 
 Pitch, its use for chargers and plasters, 299. 
 Pithing, a humane method of destroying ani- 
 mals, 121. 
 Pleura, description of the, 136. 
 Pleurisy, nature and treatment of, 149. 
 Pneumonia, nature and treatment of, 144. 
 Poisons, account of the most frequent, 153. 
 Poll evil, cause and treatment of, 121. 
 
 importance or the free escape of the 
 
 matter, 121. 
 Poney, varieties of the, 45. 
 Poplitae.us muscle, description of the, 205. 
 Porter's, Sir R. Ker, account of the Persian 
 
 horse, 12. 
 
354 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Post, the first establishment of it, 27. 
 Post-chaises, greisshopper springs would be 
 
 advantageously adopted in, 336. 
 Postea spinatus muscle, description of the, 
 
 183. 
 Potatoes considered as an article of food, 
 
 271. 
 Poultices, their various compositions, man- 
 ner of acting and great use, 140, 299. 
 Powders, comparison between them and 
 
 balls, aoo. 
 Power of draught in the horse, illustrations 
 
 of, 28. 
 ■ calculation 
 
 of, 303. 
 compared 
 
 with that of the human being, 308. 
 compared 
 
 with that of a steam-engine on railways, 
 
 304. 
 
 on common roads, 306. 
 
 on bad roads, 307. 
 
 ■dependent on his weight and 
 
 muscular force, 308 
 
 ■ how diminished when towing a 
 
 boat on a canal, 310. 
 
 ■ greater when close to his work, 
 
 •depends on his strength, and 
 
 311. 
 
 the time he can exert it, 312. 
 
 ■diminution of, according to his 
 
 speed, table of, 312, 313. 
 
 Preparation of the foot for shoeing, 240. 
 
 Pressure on the brain, effect of, 80. 
 
 Priam's chariot, a description of, 325. 
 
 harnesses his own horses, 325. , 
 
 Prices of horses at different periods, 17, 19, 
 21. 
 
 Prick in the foot, treatment of, 232 
 
 in searching for, injurious 
 
 method of removing the horn, 233. 
 
 Profuse staling, cause and treatment of, 170 
 
 Puffing the glims, a trick of fraudulent 
 horse-dealers, 53. 
 
 Pulling, the action of, explained, 308. 
 
 Pulse, the natural standard of the, 137. 
 
 varities of the, 137. 
 
 importance of attention to the, 137. 
 
 most convenient place to feel it, 137 
 
 the, should be watched during bleed- 
 ing, 138 
 
 Pumiced feet, description and treatment of, 
 224. 
 
 do not admit of cure, 224. 
 
 constitute unsoundness, 275. 
 
 Pupil of the eye, description of the, 73. 
 
 mode of' discovering blind- 
 ness by, 73. 
 
 Purchase, to complete the, there must be a 
 memorandum, or payment of some sum, 
 however small, 277. 
 
 Purging, violent, treatment of, 165. 
 
 Quarters of the horse, description of the, 
 202. 
 
 importance of their 
 
 Quarters of the foot, description of, 216. 
 
 the inner, crust thin- 
 
 ner and wealcer at, 216. 
 
 ■folly of lowering the, 217. 
 
 Quidding tlie food, cause of, 260. 
 
 unsoundness while it lasts. 
 
 276. 
 Quittor, nature and treatment of, 231. 
 
 the treatment of, long and difficult. 
 
 exercising the patience both of the prac- 
 titioner and owner, 232. 
 is unsoundness, 276. 
 
 Rabies, symptoms of, 86. 
 Races, early, mere running on train scent, 
 21. 
 
 frequent cruelty of, 38. 
 
 'different kinds of described, 38 
 
 regular, first established at Chester 
 
 and Stamford, 21. 
 
 ■ regulations for, established by James 
 
 1,21. 
 
 patronised by Charles I, 21. 
 
 Persian, description of, 13. 
 
 short consequences of their intro- 
 duction, 38. 
 
 ■ at Smithfield, 18 
 
 Race horse, the history of, 33. 
 
 form of, 34. 
 
 action of, 38. 
 
 emulation of, 38. 
 
 whether exclusively of foreign 
 
 breed, 34. 
 Racks, no openings should be allowed above 
 
 them, 263. 
 Radius, description of the, 184. 
 Ragged-hipped, what, 199. 
 
 no impediment to action, 199. 
 
 Railways, mechanical advantage of, 29, 338. 
 comparison of horse and mechanical 
 
 power on, 304. 
 
 ■ description of, 338. 
 
 Railways increase the power of the horse 
 
 tenfold, 339. 
 Raking, the operation of, 300. 
 Rat-tails, nature and treatment of, 212. 
 Rearing, a dangerous and inveterate habit, 
 
 256. 
 Recti muscles of the neck, description of 
 
 the, 123. 
 
 thigh, description 
 
 muBcularity and depth, 202. 
 
 of, 200. 
 
 Rectus muscle, description of tlie, 200. 
 Rectum, description of the, 160, 162. 
 Reducing speed, and prolonging exertion, 
 
 advantage of in horse labor, 311. 
 Refrafction of light, the theory of, 76. 
 Refractive power of the eye, account of the, 
 
 76. 
 Reins, description of the proper, 104. 
 Repositories, account of the principal in 
 
 London, and their regulations, 278. 
 Resin, its use in veterinary practice, 300. 
 Resistance in draught, principally caused 
 
 by the ruts, 331. 
 Respiration, description of the mechanism 
 
 and effect of, 143. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 S55 
 
 Respiratory nerves, the, 60. 
 
 Restifness, a bad habit, and never cured, 
 
 252. 
 anecdotes in proof of its inveter- 
 
 ateness, 252. 
 Retina, description of the, 74, 75. 
 Retractor muscle of the eye, description of 
 
 the, 79. 
 Ribbed-home, advantage of being, 130. 
 Ribs, anatomy of the, 134. 
 Richard Cceur de Lion, account of his Ara- 
 bian horses, 18. 
 Richmond, Duke of, his method of breeding 
 
 good carriage horses, 30. 
 
 anecdote concerning, 42. 
 
 Riding, directions for, 23. 
 
 Ringbone, nature and treatment of, 197, 198. 
 
 constitutes unsoundness, 276. 
 
 Roach-backed, what, 131. 
 
 Roads, how^ affected by different w^heels,331. 
 
 how influencing the proper breadth 
 
 of the wheels, 330. 
 the great extent to which they affect 
 
 the drauglit, 337. 
 
 soft and yielding, far more disadvan- 
 
 Rowels, use of, and method of applying, 147, 
 manner of inserting, and their ope- 
 
 ration, 300. 
 comparison between them, blisters, 
 
 and setons, 249. 
 Running away, method of restraining, 256. 
 
 horses, first account of, 19. 
 
 Rupture, treatment of, 167. 
 
 of the suspensory ligament, 195. 
 
 tageous than rough ones, 337. 
 slig-ht alterations in their level ad- 
 
 337. 
 
 vantageous, 337. 
 
 ■ hardness, the grand desideratum in. 
 
 ■should be nearly flat, 337. 
 ■absurdity of much curvature in, 337. 
 necessity of constant repairs and at- 
 
 tention to them, 338 
 
 ■ calculation of the degree by which 
 
 resistance is increased by bad ones, 338 
 
 Roan horses, account of, 284. 
 
 Roaring, the nature of, 126. 
 
 constitutes unsoundness, 274. 
 
 proceeding from inflammation, 127. 
 
 proceeding from tight reining, 127. 
 
 ■ — ■ buckling in crib- 
 biting, 127. 
 
 •treatment of, 127. 
 
 Rollers, calculation of the draught of, 319, 
 
 320. 
 how probably first invented oi 
 
 brought into use, 319. 
 comparison of their power with that 
 
 of wheels, 319. 
 
 mechanism and principle of, 319. 
 
 •particular circumstances in which 
 
 Ruts, the cause of three-fourths of the re- 
 sistance indraught, 331. 
 
 Rye-grass considered as an article of food, 
 271. 
 
 Sacrum, description of the. 
 
 Saddle-backed, what, 131. 
 
 galls, treatment of, 134. 
 
 Saddling of the colt, 177. 
 
 Safety coaches, the heavy draught of, 336. 
 
 Sagacity of the horse, 24. 
 
 Sainfoin used as an article of food, 271. 
 
 Saint Domingo, wild horses in, 6. 
 
 Sal ammoniac, the medical use of, 289. 
 
 Saliva, nature and use of (he, 1 17. 
 
 Salivary glands, description of the, 117. 
 
 Sallenders, nature and treatment of, 211. 
 
 Salt, use of in veterinary practice, 300. 
 
 value of, mingled in the food of ani- 
 mals, 270. 
 
 Sandcrack, nature and treatment of, 230. 
 
 ^.most dangerous when proceeding 
 
 from tread, 230. 
 
 liable to return, unless the brittle- 
 
 ness of the hoof is remedied, 230. 
 
 ■ constitutes unsoundness, 276. 
 
 their use is advantageous, 321. 
 
 ■ the weigfht moves with double the 
 
 Sartorius muscle, description of the, 201. 
 
 Sclerotica, description of the, 72. 
 
 Scouring, general treatment of, 165. 
 
 Semicircular canaJs of the ear, description 
 and use of the, 66. 
 
 Sedatives, a list of, and their mode of action, 
 300. 
 
 Semiramis, number of horsemen and chari- 
 ots possessed by, 1. 
 
 Serratus magnus muscle, description of, 
 the, 178. 
 
 Sesostris, number of chariots possessed by, 
 1. 
 
 Sessamoid bones, admirable use of in obvia- 
 ting concussion, 194. 
 
 Setons, mode of introducing, 250. 
 
 cases in which they are indicated. 
 
 velocity of them, and therefore fresh rol- 
 lers must be supplied in front, 321. 
 
 the immense block of marbltf at St. 
 
 Petersburgh, description of its being 
 moved on them, 322. 
 
 a particular construction of, very 
 
 useful, 323. 
 
 Rolling, danger of, and remedy for, 260. 
 
 Roman nose in the horse, what, 93. 
 
 Round-bone, the, can scarcely be dislocated, 
 200. 
 
 ■ sprain of, description and treatment 
 
 of, 203. 
 
 250. 
 
 comparison between them and row- 
 els and blisters, 250. 
 
 Setting on of the head, the proper, 122. 
 
 Shalokh-horse, description of the, 13. 
 
 Shank-bone, the, 189. 
 
 Shetland poney, description of the, 46. 
 
 Ship, the method of dragging it up a slip, 
 323. 
 
 Shoe, the concave seated, cut of, 2.39. 
 
 described and re- 
 
 commended, 238. 
 the manner in Avhich the old one 
 
 should be taken off; 240. 
 the putting on of the, 241. 
 
356 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Shoe, the, should be fitted to the foot, and 
 not the foot to the shoe, 241. 
 
 description of the hinder, 242. 
 
 the bar, 243. 
 
 the tip, 243. 
 
 ^the hunting, 243. 
 
 the jointed, or expansion, 
 
 244. 
 
 Shoeing, not necessarily productive of con- 
 traction, 225. 
 
 preparation of the foot for, 239, 240. 
 
 the principles of, 238, 
 
 singular, 16. 
 
 Shoes, wearing too long, a cause of contrac- 
 tion, 226. 
 
 Short-bodied horses, when valuable, 41. 
 
 Shoulder, anatomical description of the, 
 178. 
 
 slanting direction of the, advanta- 
 geous, 179,''1S0, 185. 
 
 when it should be oblique, and when 
 
 upright, 181, 182. 
 
 sprain of the, 179. 
 
 lameness, method of ascertaining. 
 
 179. 
 
 Shoulder-blade, muscles of the, 182. 
 
 why united to the chest by 
 
 muscle alone, 178, 
 
 - lower bone of, the description of, 18 1, 
 
 184. 
 
 ■muscles of the, 183. 
 
 Shying, probable cause of, 77, 260. 
 
 treatment of, 260. 
 
 on coming out of the stable, descrip- 
 tion of, 261. 
 
 Side-line, description of the, 244, 
 
 Silver, the nitrate of, an excellent caustic, 
 300. 
 
 Sinuses in the foot, necessity of following 
 them as far as they reach, 233. 
 
 Sitfasts, treatment of, 134. 
 
 Skeleton of the horse, description of the, 49 
 
 Slcin, anatomical description of the, 279. 
 
 function and uses of it, 280. 
 
 pores of the, 28 1 . 
 
 when the animal is in health, is soft 
 
 and elastic, 280. 
 
 Skull, anatomical description of the, 52. 
 
 arched form of the rooti 58. 
 
 fracture of the, 79. 
 
 Smithfield-market, early account of, 18. 
 
 Sledges, calculation of the draught of, 319. 
 
 description of the mechanism and 
 
 use of, 320. 
 
 ■ where, more advantageous than 
 
 wheels, 320 
 
 where very disadvantageous, 320. 
 
 calculation of the power of, 320. 
 
 ■ their advantage in traveling over ice 
 
 and snow, 320. 
 
 -Esquimaux, an account of the, 320. 
 
 Slipping the collar, remedy for, 261. 
 Smell, the sense and seat of, 93. 
 
 very acute in the horse, 93. 
 
 Soap, its use in veterinary practice, 300. 
 Soda, the chloride of, its use in ulcers, 300. 
 Sole, the horny, description, 220. 
 
 Sole, the homy, descent of, 220. 
 
 proper form of, 220 
 
 — management of, in shoeing, 
 
 220. 
 
 ■the sensible, 221. 
 
 Soles, felt or leather, their use, 244. 
 
 Solomon imported horses from Egypt, 3. 
 
 Sound, theoiy of, 62, 64. 
 
 Soundness, consists in there being no dis- 
 ease nor alteration of structure that does 
 or is likely to impair the usefulness of 
 the horse, 273. 
 
 considered with reference to the 
 
 principal causes of unsoundness. 
 South American horse, description of the, 
 
 3,6. 
 
 management of the, 4. 
 
 method of harnessing it, 316. 
 
 Spanish horse, description of the, 16. 
 
 when introduced into England, 19. 
 
 Spasmodic colic, nature and treatment of, 
 
 162. 
 Spavin, blood, nature and treatment of, 142, 
 
 208. 
 
 is unsoundness, 276. 
 
 bog, cause, nature and treatment of, 
 
 142, 208. 
 
 bone, " " 208. 
 
 -why not always accompanied 
 
 by lameness, 209. 
 
 ■ is unsoundness, 276. 
 
 Spavined horses, the kind of work they are 
 
 'capable of, 209. 
 Speed of the horse producing rapid diminu- 
 tion of power, 313. 
 Speed and time of labor the most advanta- 
 geous proportion of, 318. 
 
 sacrifice of the horse in endeavoring 
 
 to obtain, 319. 
 Speedy-cut, account of, 190. 
 Sphenoid-bone, description of the, 58. 
 Spinalis dorsi muscle, description of the, 
 
 133. 
 Spine, description of the, 129. 
 Spleen, description of the, 168. 
 Splenius muscle, description of tlie. 94, 122, 
 
 183. 
 Splent-bones, description of the, 189. 
 Splint, nature and treatment of, 189. 
 is unsoundness, 276. 
 
 Sprain of tiie back sinews, treatment of, 
 191. 
 
 — sometimes re- 
 
 quires firing, 192. 
 
 ■ any thickening 
 remaining after, constitutes unsoundness 
 of, 276. 
 Spring steel-yard, the force of traction illus- 
 trated by, 304. 
 Springs to carriages, theory of their effect, 
 335, 337. 
 
 with some modifications might be 
 
 adapted to the heaviest wagons, 336. 
 
 great advantages of, in rapid travel- 
 
 ing, 336. 
 
 Springs, grasshopper, description of, 336. 
 C, disadvantages of, 334, 336. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 S57 
 
 Stables, hot and foul, highly injurious, 262 
 daik, occasional cause of inflamma- 
 tion of the eye, 91. 
 
 • hot and foul, frequent cause of in- 
 
 flammation of the eye, 91. 
 
 . lungs, 262. 
 
 ■ glanders, 91 
 
 should be large compared with the 
 
 number of horses, 263. 
 
 -the management of, too much neg- 
 
 I Strain, uniform and constant in draught, 
 
 bad consequences of, 313. 
 Strangles, symptoms and treatment of, 118 
 
 distinguished from glanders, 97. 
 
 the importance of blistering early 
 
 lected by tlie owner of the horse, 263 
 — ceiling of, should be plastered, if 
 
 there is a loft above, 263. 
 should be so contrived that the urine 
 
 will run off", 264. 
 
 the stalls should not have too much 
 
 decUvity, 264. 
 
 ■should be sufficiently light, yet with- 
 
 out any glaring color, 265 
 
 •importance of coolness and cleanli- 
 
 ness in, 91, 99, 145 
 
 • infection of, removed by the chloride 
 
 of lime, 297 
 Staggers, stomach, symptoms, cause and 
 
 treatment of, 81. 
 
 generally fatal, 81. 
 
 producing blindness, 82. 
 
 sometimes epidemic, 82. 
 
 mad, symptoms and treatment of, 83. 
 
 Staling, profuse, cause and treatment of, 
 
 170. 
 Stallion, description of the proper, for breed- 
 ing, 173. 
 Stamford, races first established at, 21. 
 Stanhopes, advantage of the construction of, 
 
 334. 
 Starch, useful in superpurgation, 301. 
 Stargazer, the, 123. 
 Steam-engine, comparison of the, with the 
 
 exertion of animal power on railways, 
 
 304. 
 
 - common roads, 305. 
 
 calculation of the expense of, 305 
 
 small, little advantage in expense 
 
 over horse power, 306. 
 Steeple-hunt, description and censure of 
 
 the, 44. 
 Stifle, description of the, 204. 
 
 accidents and diseases of the, 205. 
 
 Sterno-maxillaris muscle, description of the, 
 
 95, 123, 183. 
 Sternum, or breast-bone, description of the, 
 
 134. 
 Stirrups, not used in South America, 5. 
 Stomach, description of the, 156. 
 
 very small in the horse, 156. 
 
 inflammation of the, 158. 
 
 pump, recommended, 82. 
 
 Stone in the bladder, symptoms and treat- 
 ment of, 171. 
 
 kidney, " 171. 
 
 Stoppings, the best composition of, and their 
 
 great use, 301. 
 Straddlers, wheels so called, description of, 
 
 331. 
 
 • objection to, 331. 
 
 . curious method of evading the law 
 
 concerning, 331. 
 
 in, 119. 
 
 Strangury produced by blistering, 247. 
 treatment of, 247. 
 
 Strawberry horse, account of the, 284. 
 Stringhalt, nature of, 212. 
 
 is not unsoundness, 276. 
 
 Structure of the horse, importance of a 
 
 knowledge of, 51. 
 Stylo-maxillaris muscle, description of the, 
 
 95, 183. 
 Sublingual gland, description of the, 118. 
 Submaxillary glands, description of the,117. 
 artery, description of the, 95. 
 
 Sub-scapulo hvoideus muscle, description of 
 
 the, 95. 
 Suffolk punch, description of the, 30. 
 
 honesty and continuance of 
 
 the old breed, 30. 
 
 Sugar of lead, use of, 296. 
 
 Sullivan, the Irish whisperer, anecdotes of 
 his power over the horse, 253. 
 
 the younger did not inherit the pow- 
 er of his father, anecdote of this, 254. 
 
 Sulphate of copper, use of in veterinary 
 practice, 289. . 
 
 iron, ' " 296. 
 
 magnesia, " 297, 
 
 zinc, " 302. 
 
 Sulphur, an excellent alterative and ingre- 
 dient in all applications for mange, 301. 
 
 Summering of the hunter, consideration of, 
 44. 
 
 Surfeit, description and treatment of, 285. 
 importance of bleeding in, 285. 
 
 Suspensory ligament, beautiful mechanism 
 of the, 194. 
 
 rupture of the, 195. 
 
 Suspensory muscle of the eye, description 
 
 of the, 78. 
 Sweating blister, composition of, 291. 
 Swedish horse, description of the, 15. 
 Swelled legs, cause and treatment of, 213. 
 most frequently connected with de- 
 
 bility, 213 
 Sweet-bread, description of the, 168 
 Sweet spirit of nitre, a mild stimulant and 
 
 diuretic, 298. 
 Sybarite horses, anecdote of, 33. 
 Sympathetic nerve, description of the, 60. 
 
 Tail, anatomy of the, 250. 
 
 the setting on of the, a character of 
 
 breeding, 250. 
 
 Tapetum lucidum, beautiful color and de- 
 sign of the, 72. 
 
 Tar, its use in veterinary practice, 301. 
 
 Tares a nutritive and healthy food, 270. 
 
 Tartary horses, description of the, 6, 13. 
 
 descent of, traced to the siege 
 
 of Azoph, 3. 
 
 Tarzee horse, description of the, 11. 
 
 Team, disadvantages of draught in, explain- 
 ed, 311. 
 
358 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Team, their united power, not equal to the 
 calculation of so many horses, 311. 
 
 Tears, the secretion and nature of the, 68. 
 
 how conveyed to the nose, 68. 
 
 sometimes shed by the horse from 
 
 pain and grief, 68. 
 
 Teeth, description of the, as connected with 
 age, 108. 
 
 Thorough-pin, constitutes unsoundness,276. 
 Thrush, nature and treatment of, 235. 
 
 the consequence, rather than the 
 
 at birth, 109. 
 
 2 months, 109. 
 
 12 months, 109. 
 
 18 months, 110. 
 
 2 years, 110. 
 
 the front sometimes pushed out, that 
 
 the next pair may sooner appear, and the 
 horse seem to be older thein he is. 111. 
 
 — — ■ 3 years. 111. 
 
 3^ years, 112. 
 
 4 years, 112. 
 
 4^ years, 113. 
 
 5 years, 113. 
 
 6 years, 113. 
 
 7 years, 114. 
 
 -8 years, 114. 
 
 change of the, 
 
 — enamel of the, 
 
 111. 
 
 109. 
 
 ■ irregular, inconvenience and danger 
 of, 116. 
 
 mark of the, 109. 
 
 frauds practised with regard to the. 
 
 111. 
 
 diseases of the, 116. 
 
 Temper denoted by the eye, 66. 
 
 by the ear, 61. 
 
 Temperature, sudden change of, injurious 
 
 effect of, 262. 
 Temporal bones, description of the, 55. 
 Tendons of the leg, the, should be distinct 
 
 and far from the shank bone, 191. 
 Tetanus, symptoms, causes and treatment 
 
 of, 84. ' 
 Thick wind, nature and treatment of, 153. 
 often found in round chested 
 
 horses, 153. 
 Thigh and haunch bones, advantage of the 
 
 oblique direction of the, 200. 
 ■ lower bone of the, description of, 
 
 the, 204. 
 
 and muscular, 205. 
 
 204. 
 
 -should be long 
 
 - muscles of the, 
 -upper bone of 
 
 - muscles of the 
 
 ■ outside, 202. 
 mechanical cal- 
 culation of tlieir power, 203. 
 the horse should be wider at it than 
 
 the, description of, 200. 
 inside of the, 201. 
 
 at the haunch, 203. 
 Thirst, strange effect of, on horses, 6. 
 Thorough-bred horses, the quality of has 
 
 not degenerated, 38. 
 Thorough -pin, nature and treatment of, 
 
 205. 
 
 cause of contraction, 227. 
 
 its serious nature and consequences 
 
 not sufficiently considered, 235. 
 - constitutes unsoundness, 276 
 
 Thyi-oid cartilage of the wind-pipe, descrip- 
 tion of the, 126. 
 
 Tied in below the knee, nature and disad- 
 vantage of, 40, 190. 
 
 Tips, description and use of, 243. 
 
 Toe, bleeding at the, described, 143. 
 
 Tongue, anatomy of the, 116 > 
 
 diseases of it, 116. 
 
 bladders along the undeipart of it, 
 
 117. 
 
 Tonics, an account of the best, 301. 
 
 their use and danger in veterinary 
 
 practice, 301. 
 
 Toorkoman horse, description of, 13. 
 
 Toorky horse, description of tlie, 11. 
 
 Towing, power of the horse, how diminish- 
 ed in, 310. 
 
 Traces, the direction of them, very impor- 
 tant in draught, 319. 
 
 proper angle of the, 314, 318. 
 
 the proper inclination of them, de 
 
 pending on the kind of horse and the 
 road, 314, 318. 
 
 -the, should be inclined downward 
 
 on rough roads, 315. 
 
 inclined downward, the same as 
 
 throwing a part of the weight on the 
 shafts, 315. 
 
 direction of them, rarely attended 
 
 to, 315. 
 
 • the manner of affixing them in South 
 
 America, 316. 
 Track, importance of both wheels running 
 
 in the same, 331. 
 Traction, the force of, explained, 304. 
 
 illustrated by reference 
 
 to the spring steel-yards, 304. 
 
 ■the, proper line of, very important 
 
 in draught, 313. 
 Training, principles of, 41. 
 Transversalis costarum muscle, description 
 
 of the, 182. 
 Trapezius muscle, description of the, 182. 
 bone, description of the, 187, 190. 
 
 Traveling, different rate of, at different 
 
 times, 27. 
 Tread, nature and treatment of, 231. 
 
 often producing sandcrack or quittor. 
 
 231. 
 Tredgold, Mr., his comparison of moving 
 
 power in draught, 305. 
 Trevis, description of the, 245. 
 Triceps femoris muscle, description of the, 
 
 202. 
 Tripping, an annoying and inveterate habit, 
 
 261. 
 Trochanter of the thigh, description of the, 
 
 200. 
 
 importance of the 
 
 202. 
 Trotting, action of the horse, during, 310. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 359 
 
 Trotting, position of the limbs in, unfaithfully 
 
 represented in the Elgin marbles, and the 
 
 church of St. Mark, 309. 
 Turbinated bones, description of the, 93. 
 Turkish horse, description of the, 14. 
 Turnips considered as an article of food, 
 
 271. », 
 Turpentine, the best diuretic, 169. 
 oil of, an excellent medicine in 
 
 spasmodic colic, 163. 
 
 ■ a useful ingredient in many oint- 
 
 Vitriol, blue, use of, in veterinary practice, 
 293. 
 
 296. 
 
 ments, 302. 
 Tushes, description of the, 112, 115. 
 Twitch, description of the, 245. 
 
 UkrEiine, horses of the, direction of, 3. 
 Ulcers in the mouth, treatment of, 119. 
 Ulna, description of the, 184. 
 Unguiculata, a tribe of animals, 48. 
 Ungulata, a tribe of animals, 48. 
 Unsoundness, contraction does not always 
 
 cause it, 225. 
 being discovered, the animal should 
 
 be tendered, 277 
 
 ■ the tender or return notle- 
 
 - green 
 
 - white 
 
 302. 
 
 Wagon horse, the, 32. 
 Wagons, inferior horses may be used in 
 them, compared with carts, 332. 
 
 horses drawing, not so fatigued as 
 
 in carls, 333. 
 
 require fewer drivers, and are not so 
 
 liable to accidents, 333. 
 
 with inferior roads and ordinary 
 
 horses preferable to carts, 333. 
 
 ■ with large front wheels, advantage 
 
 ■ particularly with two htjrses 
 
 of, 332. 
 
 abreast, 333. 
 
 - reason why they have more draught 
 
 gaily necessary, 277. 
 
 - the horse may be returned 
 
 and action brought for depreciation in 
 value, but this not advisable, 277 
 
 ■ horse returned for, must be 
 
 as valuable as before in every other re- 
 spect, 277. 
 
 ■ medical means may be 
 
 adopted to cure the horse, 277 
 
 they are, however. 
 
 better declined, lest in an unfortunate is- 
 sue of the case they should be misrepre- 
 sented, 278. 
 
 Unsteadiness whilst mounting, remedy for, 
 256. 
 
 Utero-gestation, the period of, 174. 
 
 Vastus muscle, description of the, 200. 
 Vatican, the obelisk in the, curious method 
 
 of moving it, 323. 
 Vehicles of draught, comparison of the best, 
 
 Veins, description of the, 141. 
 
 of the arm, description, &c. 202. 
 
 of the neck " 124. 
 
 of the face " 94. 
 
 of the shoulder " 202. 
 
 inside of the thigh " 200. 
 
 of the outside of the thigh 202. 
 
 inflammation of the, treatment of, 125. 
 
 Verdigris, an uncertain medicine, when 
 
 given internally, 293. 
 
 a mild caustic, 293. 
 
 Vertebrated animals, what, 48. 
 Vices of horses, account of the, 251. 
 Vicious to clean, a bad habit that may be 
 
 conquered, 257. 
 • to shoe, a bad habit that may also be 
 
 conquered, 258. 
 Vinegar, its use in veterinary practice, 302. 
 Vision, theory of, 76. 
 Vitreous humor of the eye, account of the, 
 
 75. 
 
 than two-wheeled CcU-ts, 334. 
 Walking, movement of the legs in, 309. 
 
 different when drawing a load,309. 
 Wall-eyed horses, what, 73. 
 
 whether they become blind, 73. 
 
 War horse, description of the ancient, 19. 
 Warbles, treatment of, 134. 
 Warranted, the word extends only to sound- 
 ness, 277. 
 Warranty, the form of a, 277. 
 
 breach of, how established, 277. 
 
 no price will imply it, 277. 
 
 when there is none, the action 
 
 must be brought on ground of fraud, 277. 
 Warts, method of getting rid of, 287. 
 Washing of the heels, productive of grease, 
 
 215. 
 Washy horses, description and treatment of, 
 
 165. 
 Water generally given too sparingly, 272. 
 
 management ofon a journey, 273. . 
 
 the difference in effect, between hard 
 
 and soft, 272. 
 spring, principally injurious on ac- 
 count of its coldness, 272. 
 in the internal part of the ear, use 
 
 of, 65. 
 
 stomach of the horse, the, 161. 
 
 farcy, nature and treatment of, 103. 
 
 conveyance, singular smallness of 
 
 power required in, 319. 
 
 •resistance to, increases with 
 
 the square of the velocity, 319. 
 
 ■ power to be exerted, in, in- 
 
 creases as the cube of the velocity, 319. 
 Water dropwort, poisonous, 158. 
 hemlock, poisonous, 158. 
 parsley, poisonous, 158. 
 
 WaxT.ised in charges and plasters, 302. 
 Weakness of the foot, what, 237. 
 Weaving indicating an irritable temper, and 
 
 no cure for it, 262. 
 Weight, calculation of the power of the 
 
 horse to overcome, 29. 
 Wellesley Arabian, account of the, 9, 38. 
 Welsh poney, description of the, 45. 
 Wheat considered as food for the horse, 269. 
 inconvenience and danger of it. 
 
 269. 
 
360 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Wheels, the principle on which they act ex- 
 plained, 323, 325, 335. 
 
 effect of increasing the diameter of 
 
 the, 324. 
 
 -no record of the time of their inven- 
 
 tion, 324 
 
 spoked; known to Homer, 324. 
 
 little improvement of the principle 
 
 of, from the earliest times, 325. 
 
 principle of, on a level surface, 325. 
 
 ■ theory of the degree of friction at- 
 
 Wheezer, description of the, 155 
 Whipping sound, cruelty of, 29. 
 Whisperer, the, anecdotes of his power 
 
 over the horse, 252. 
 Whistler, description of the, 155. 
 is unsound, 300. 
 
 tending them, 325, 335 
 
 friction of on tlie axle, dependant on 
 
 the material employed, 326. 
 
 ■consideration of the various forms 
 
 of, 327. 
 
 dishing of, described, 827. 
 
 advantages of, 328, 335. 
 
 conical and fiat, calculation between 
 
 the effects of, 303, 328. 
 
 -obliquely placed, ill consequences 
 
 of, 328. 
 
 ■ narrow and broad, comparison be- 
 
 tween, 328. 
 
 • conical, strange degree of friction 
 
 and dragging with, 329. 
 
 -traveling grindstones, 329. 
 
 description of, and proper rounding 
 
 of the edges, 330, 335. 
 
 cylindrical, the best form, 330, 335. 
 
 ■ but influenced by the state of 
 
 the road, 330. 
 
 - hind, should follow the precise track 
 
 of the fore ones, 331. 
 
 considered as to their effect on the 
 
 road, 331, 335 
 Wheels, straddlers, description of, and their 
 
 effect, 331. 
 ■ proper breadth of, in proportion to 
 
 the load, 331. 
 
 James's patent, description of, 331. 
 
 with cast iron naves, 332. 
 
 size of, 332, 335. 
 
 advantage of large front ones, 332. 
 
 should have a veiy slight convexity 
 
 in the fcentre, 335. 
 
 - should have the spokes so arranged 
 
 as to present themselves against the great- 
 est force, 335. 
 
 White Turk, the, account of, 21. 
 
 White lead, use of, 29i?. 
 
 vitriol, its use in veterinary practice. 
 
 Wild horse, description of the, 3, 8. 
 William the Conqueror, improvement ef- 
 fected in tbe English horse by him, 18. 
 Wind-broken, nature and treatment of, 153. - 
 galls, description and treatment of. 
 
 193, 198. 
 
 ■ unsoundness when they cause 
 lameness, or are likely to do so, 277. 
 Windpipe, description of the, 125. 
 
 the, should be prominent and 
 
 loose, 125. 
 
 -opening the, 128. 
 
 Wind-suckine, nature of, and remedy for. 
 
 259 
 
 ■ thick nature and treatment of, 153. 
 
 Wiring-in of the heels, nature and treatment 
 
 of, 225. 
 Withers, description of the, 122, 132 
 
 high, advantage of, 132. 
 
 fistulous, treatment of, 133. 
 
 Wolves teeth, what. 111. ^^ 
 
 Work of the horse, should not exceed six f?^^ 
 
 hours per diem, 311. . 
 Worms, different kinds, and treatment of, 
 
 165. 
 Wounds in the feet, treatment of, 232. 
 
 in the mouth, treatment of, 119 
 
 ^ 
 
 Yellows, symptoms and treatment of the, '^*^ii^ 
 
 "•'^. 
 
 Yew, the leaves of, poisonous, 158. 
 Yielding resistance, the effect of in neutra- ^<*^ 
 "izing impetus, 311. C^ 
 
 Zoological classification of the horse, 48. 
 
 Zygomatic arch, reason of the strong con- 
 struction of the, 56. 
 
 Zygomaticus muscle, description of the, 
 95. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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