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THE HORSE,

HEALTH AND DISEASE:

OR, SUGGESTIONS ON

HIS NATURAL AND GENERAL HISTORY./VARIETIES,

CONFORMATION, PACES, ACTION, AGE, SOUNDNESS, STABLING,

CONDITION, TRAINING, AND SHOEING;

WITH A DIGEST OF

VETERINARY PRACTICE.

BY JAMES W. WINTER,

MEMBER OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF VETERINARY SURGEONS, AND

OF THE ASSOCIATION LITTERAIRE D'EGYPTE : LATE

VETERINARY SURGEON TO MEIIEMET ALI AND IBRAHIM PASHA.

LONDON:

LONGMAN & CO.

FARRY & CO., 32 and 33, LEADENHALL STREET.
1852.

Cljrsc iebi pacjis

ARE

RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED

TO

C H A R L E S MILLER A L I) R I D G E, E S Q.

M.R.C.S.L.
OF WITHAM, ESSEX,

AS A SLIGHT TESTIMONY OF THE AUTHOR^ ESTEEM

OF HIS UNINTERRUPTED FRIENDSHIP THROUGH MANY CHEQUERED

YEARS,

AND IN ADMIRATION

OF U1S SCIENTIFIC ATTAINMENTS.

^\-b ^

PREFACE.

A literary production that may tend to the advance-
ment and diffusion of Horse-knowledge cannot be
without public utility. The number and value of
the Horses of Great Britain are sufficient excuse and
apology for such an attempt.

The present work aims at no higher distinction than
that of offering a few suggestions on this interesting
topic, leaving fuller details to be gathered from the
elaborate publications previously issued from the press,
or from a far better teacher than either, — practical
experience.

The writer has endeavoured to make this treatise
a vehicle for introducing to the lover of horses, his
own views on some interesting points of equine eco-
nomy, esteeming it a duty, in accordance with the
famous injunction of the chemical philosopher Boyle,
to contribute to the general, store such facts as pre-
sented themselves to him in the exercise of his art.

In the last portion of subject, the author has been
led to offer a precis of Veterinary Practice, not in
order to induce, or enable, the horse-owner to attempt
the medical treatment of his own animals, and so dis-
pense with the services of the Veterinarian, for such
an object would be nugatory, as well as pernicious to
his best interests, unless, at the same time, it were

VI PREFACE.

possible to establish in his mind the elements and
principles that direct the healing art. The horse-
keeper has no greater enemy, and the Veterinary
Surgeon no better friend, than the unskilled dabbler
in physic. From it, however, he may glean a know-
ledge of the causation of disease, and so be armed for
its prevention. He will learn that it is easier to pre-
vent than cure ; more to his own advantage to ward
off the attacks of disease, than to undertake its treat-
ment.

The young practitioner may also collect from the
pathological and therapeutical axioms, hints which his
own preliminary scientific education will teach him
how to apply. Something may be gained by recapitu-
lation ; and new combinations, even of old thoughts,
are frequently suggestive of considerable improve-
ment.

J. W. W.

Guildford, 8th December, 1845.

CONTENTS,

CHAPTER I.

Natural History and Zoological Classification of the Horse and
his Congeners - ... page i _36

CHAPTER II.

Breeding : The Laws of Propagation, and the principal Varieties
of the Horse 37 — 69

CHAPTER III.

Conformation : Animal Mechanics - 70 — 108

CHAPTER IV.

Paces, Action, Draught, Safety, and Speed - 109 — 137

CHAPTER V.

Demonstrations of the Horse's Age - 138 — 153

CHAPTER VI.

Veterinaiy Jurisprudence - 154 — 171

Vlll CONTENTS.

CHAPTER VII.
Stable Economy ...... Page 172— 217

CHAPTER VIII.
Shoeing - - - 218—234

CHAPTER IX.

Diseases, Operations, Medicines, and Medical Treatment, arranged
alphabetically 235—365

Index --------- 367

THE HORSE,

IN HEALTH AND DISEASE.
CHAPTER I.

NATURAL HISTORY AND ZOOLOGICAL CLASSIFICATION OF
THE HORSE AND HIS CONGENERS.

" Thou shalt be for man a source of happiness and wealth, thy back
shall be a seat of honour, and thy belly a source of riches : every grain of
barley given to thee shall purchase indulgence for the sinner." The Koran.

Accoeding to the ancient Greek My thos, the beautiful
animal forming the subject of this treatise originated
in the contention of two deities, emulous to confer on
mankind the most valuable boon. Minerva created
the olive-tree, when Neptune, to outrival her, gave
the horse.* His noble prowess, bold, majestic front,
" speed of thought," and graceful symmetry, have
alike been the admiration of men of every age, and
the theme of poets of all lands. Job, Homer, Virgil,
Shakespere, and many others, have successively paid
willing tribute of their genius to the elegance of his
form, and the lively animation of his spirit. A friend
to man, an ornament to the earth. No other animal
has contributed so much to the social advancement of
the human race. Speed and endurance, strength and

* It is probable that this poetical allegory was primarily intended to
convey nothing more than that the olive was the fruit of sagacious culti-
vation, and the horse first introduced to their islands by some adventurous
voyager from the adjacent continent ; subsequent poets confirm this
view by representing Neptune as striking the earth with his trident,
and thereby giving existence to the horse.

B

2 THE HORSE.

elasticity, elegance and power, properties so varied
and valuable, are so perfectly combined in this
admirable creature, as to proclaim him without
parallel through the wide circuit of animated nature.

They who first captured the horse in his native wilds,
and constrained him to participate in their own labours,
bestowed on posterity an invaluable obligation. Per-
haps, of all the victories which man has acquired by
the influence of superior intellect over the animate
world, his subjugation may be regarded as the most
noble and valuable. The appropriation of such great
inimal power as he possesses to the purposes of
abour, pastime, or war, mark at once the diversity of
application, and the pre-eminent value of the conquest.
He contributes alike to the pomp and splendour of
the noble, to the ease and pleasure of the affluent,
ind to the assistance and profit of the industrious.
Chivalry itself owes half its romance, and all its name,
to the horse. For a long time mere possession of this
animal appears to have reflected on the owner the
most distinguished honours. The Hippobatre*, the Hip-
pobotes f , the Equites, and the Equestrians of Greece
and Rome, and the Chevaliers and Cavaliers of later
nations, are similarly indebted to the horse for their
title and honours.

So warm has been the admiration excited by the
horse, so general the esteem of his power and beauty,
that it ceases to be surprising that some barbarous
nations of antiquity should have invested him with
almost supernatural qualities. By others, he was re-
garded as the noblest sacrifice that could be offered
to an offended deity. Such was done by the Assyrian
nation, who selected for this sacred purpose the

* From 'Iwttoc, a horse, and /3«iVw, to ascend.

•j" " When the Athenians attacked and defeated the Chalcideans, they
left 4000 colonists in the island to occupy the pasture lands of the Hippo-
botes (knights or feeders of horses), a name given to the most wealthy of
the Chalcideans." — MitforaVs Greece.

USED FOR SACRIFICE. 3

most perfect that could be obtained. It is evident,
from the Hebrew Scriptures, that it was also
anciently common to consecrate horses to the Sun.
Josiah took away those which the kings of Judah, his
predecessors, had reserved as an offering to that lumi-
nary. (2 Kings, xxiii. 2.) In Persia, and among the
Messagetae, horses were also sacrificed to the Sun,
from the impression, as Herodotus alleges, that it was
most proper to offer the swiftest of mortal animals to
the swiftest of immortal beings.* Xenophon also de-
scribes a solemn sacrifice of horses, which was made
with high ceremony : they were the finest that could
be selected, and were led harnessed to white chariots,
crowned, and consecrated to the same luminary. Horses
were also sacrificed to Neptune and the deities of
rivers, being precipitated into the sea or into the
rivers. Sextus Pompeius threw into the sea living
horses and oxen in honour of Neptune, whose son he
professed himself to be. The sacred horses of Ger-
many were white ; they were not employed in any
profane uses, and the populace took presage of what
was to come from their neighings and actions, f

A glance at the variety and quality of the horse's
services will convince us of the inestimable benefit he
is to mankind. Setting aside the beauty of his form,
and estimating him alone by his utility, comparing
his services with those rendered by the other domes-
ticated animals, the balance will be found greatly in

* " Placat e(juo Persis radiis Hyperione cinctum ;

Ne celeri detur victirna tarda Deo." Ovid. Fast. lib. viii.

f Perhaps the white horse emblazoned on the royal shield of Hanover
arose from this circumstance.

After Camillus had besieged and taken the city of Veii, he greatly
disgusted the people of Rome by making a triumphal entry with his
carriage drawn by four milk-white horses, which, being held sacred, were
considered more proper for doing honour to their gods than their generals.
The liberation of horses which Julius Cassar ordered to be made after
the passage of the Rubicon, was probably connected in some way with
the same superstitious feeling.

b 2

4 THE HORSE.

his favour. It is only by doing so that we are
enabled to estimate correctly his real value, to ap-
preciate properly his exertions, and to award his
comparative rank. If he is not found equal to the
dog in intelligence and personal attachment, to the
elephant in strength, or to the camel in endurance,
he certainly takes precedence of them all in general
utility, and universality of application. Exclusive of
the dog, he is endowed with a constitution capable
of withstanding a wider range of thermal alternation
than any other domestic animal ; the scene of his
services extends from the latitude of Tierra-del-Fuego
to the borders of the Arctic circle : the numberless
purposes to which he is so profitably applied, are en-
hanced by the rapidity of his movements, the endur-
ance of his powers, and the grace and beauty of his
proportions.

Animals less generally useful to man than the
horse is, appear to be less widely spread, and incap-
able of sustaining so well the vicissitudes of climate
and variety of soil. Some quadrupeds seem to be
restricted solely to countries to which they are often
so peculiarly adapted by structure and constitution.
Such is the case with the reindeer and the camel. *

* The reindeer, confined as it is to that inhospitable region where the
gloom of the long polar night sheds its benumbing influence, is bountifully
provided by nature with such striking peculiarities of its economy, that
admirably fit it to its indigenous country. The eyes are furnished
with a transparent, nictitating membrane, which the animal projects at
pleasure over them during the frequent violent snow-storms, and through
which it can see sufficiently without exposure of the organ to injury.
The hoofs also are so deeply cleft, and expand so widely upon pressure, as
to form a broad basis of support, and prevent the animal from sinking into
the soft snow. The camel, an animal of a far different clime and confor-
mation, is equally well fitted by nature to the arid and barren sands it is
iised to traverse. On its long and tedious journeys it is often compelled
to fast for a considerable period, sometimes several days together ; to
enable the animal to support this, nature has most providently made a two-
fold provision. The hump consists almost entirely of fat, and is known to
be a reservoir for the sustenance of the animal when deprived of its usual
rations. It is most anxiously examined by the drivers, before commencing

FKAGILITY OF HIS FEET. 5

For all purposes in which speed, combined with
strength, is a desideratum, the horse is pre-eminently
useful: he has superseded the ox in the more im-
proved forms of agriculture, and though some have
contested the economy of the substitution, it will be
found that two sources of great benefit accompany
his employment, viz. the general quickness with which
he performs his laborious operations, and the superior
excellence of his excrements as a manure to the land
upon which he toils.

In some situations circumstances combine to render
the horse, without the assistance of art, an unprofit-
able servant to man. If the country is too rocky, the
wear of the horn of the feet is more rapid than its
growth, and he is consequently lamed. In such coun-
tries, before the invention of soleae, sandals, or iron

a journey of considerable length, in order to ascertain if the camel has
sufficient stock for its nourishment on the desert. During the exertions of
the quadruped this projection gradually decreases in magnitude, or " it
feeds on the fat of its own hump," as the Bedoween Arabs say. The
stomach also is provided with capacious cells for the retention of water,
to refresh and invigorate the animal ; and travellers, aware of the fact,
have sometimes destroyed the camel to get at this supply, and save them-
selves from dying of thirst. Nor are these the only peculiarities of its
structure, for it possesses a most useful apparatus for moistening the back
part of the throat, which is not found in any other animal. The elastic
pads or sole-cushions which cover the bones of the feet, not only prevent
concussion, but retard the conduction of the heat from the burning
soil. The nostrils are capable of being closed at the animal's plea-
sure, so as to exclude the dust or sand ; and further, he is provided
with large glandular bodies at the back of the head, which secrete and
exude a sebacious fluid, tending possibly to preserve the skin of the head
and neck in a lithe and healthy state. My attention was first drawn to
the existence of these glands by my friend Dr. Abbott of Cairo, and I am
not aware that their presence is adverted to by any naturalist who has
written on the anatomical structure of this remarkable quadruped. Yet,
with all these appropriate, apposite, and valuable peculiarities, these
animals are far from being widely spread : the reindeer is confined within
a very narrow circuit, and the camel is altogether incapacitated from
exerting its powers on any other kind of soil than that of its native country.
Fitted, as it so well is, to the plains of Arabia and the surrounding parts,
when placed on land wet and slippery it cannot proceed a hundred yards
without stumbling, and is altogether useless in mountainous, hilly, or
woody countries, and the real scene of its services is contracted beyond
what is generally supposed.

b 3

6 THE HORSE.

shoes, to protect his hoofs from attrition, he was ren-
dered almost a burden. This was the case of old with
Judea. The inhabitants were unable to use cavalry in
their armies. The ass and mule were substituted for
the horse for general purposes; their upright feet
were found to withstand the wearing effect of the
rocks much better than the horse's. At the same
period Egypt and Scythia, Arabia and Persia, abounded
with horses ; the alluvial soil of the former, and the
sandy plains of the latter, were both trodden with com-
parative ease and safety by the horse. ( See Shoeing. )
It is not enough for man to possess and enjoy the
gifts of nature, but he must raise speculative discus-
sions respecting their genesis, and vainly endeavour,
after the lapse of unknown ages, to assign the clime
and country to which they are indigenous, and from
whence, in many instances, their offspring has been so
widely disseminated. With regard to the native
country of the horse, opinions are very conflicting ;
most of them, upon examination, appear to be based
on surmises more or less injudicious, and wholly un-
su stained by sufficient reason or authentic authority.
The course of ages which has elapsed since the horse
became a habitant of the earth may have served so
to alter his primitive symmetry, that even the original
type may not at present exist. A propitious climate
and generous soil will gradually modify and improve
a subordinate breed, while extreme cold, and its at-
tendant stunted vegetation, dwarf and degenerate a
superior race. Variety of form, colour, and constitu-
tion, result from the long continued action of physical
agencies on his frame. The diminutive, shaggy
pony of the Shetland and Orkney Isles, and the
ponderous Flanders cart horse, are alike familiar
examples of the power of the elements to vary his
bulk, and the plasticity of his constitution in accli-
matising and adapting itself to natural circumstances.

NATURAL PECULIARITIES. 7

Perhaps the effect produced by diversity of soil and
temperature on the shape and size of the animal frame
is by no creature more plainly demonstrated than the
horse. These universal agents most materially mo-
dify his structure, reducing or increasing it beyond
the medium, according to the prevalence and de-
gree of their operation. A temperate climate, open,
champaign country, moderately supplied with water,
appear best adapted to his natural habits and consti-
tution. Extremes, both with regard to the tem-
perature of the atmosphere, and moisture or dry-
ness of the soil, are certainly incompatible with the
most perfect developement of his organism. The qua-
lity and length of the hair increases with the coldness
and moisture of the locality; and those diminutive
breeds which inhabit extreme northern countries are
provided with a supernumerary covering, of a woolly
nature, beneath the ordinary coat, well calculated to
ward off the effect of the rigorous character of the
climate. In the south the coat is of a cooler texture,
thinner, shorter, and glossy. As a general rule, the
colours of the horse become lighter as he approaches
the tropics. In this he reverses the law prevailing
over man, whose skin and hair darken in tint towards
the equator. The horses of Arabia are mostly grey,
those of the boreal regions commonly black. The size
and inclination of the hoof is also changed, and adapted
to the nature of the soil ; on wet lands the foot assumes
a flat and expanded appearance, which effectually
prevents the animal from miring in the soil, by the
increase of supporting surface which it offers ; but,
on the contrary, in dry countries, the wall of the foot
becomes more contracted in size and upright in
direction. Nature has bestowed on this noble animal
a constitution capable of withstanding the vicissitudes
of a wide range of temperature ; and so extensive is
his geographical distribution, so numerous his varie-

B 4

8 THE HORSE.

ties, that it has become impossible to declare with
certainty, either his primitive country, or original
breed. He has extended himself, apparently, with
equal facility, over lands characterised by great di-
versity of soil and climate ; and his numerous varieties
or breeds seem to flourish alike in localities to which
they have been gradually modelled by the hand of time,
through the succession of numberless generations.

The majority of writers on this subject are inclined
to regard Arabia as the native land of the horse ; and
certain it is, that there he flourishes in unequalled
perfection. The happy conjunction of speed and
spirit, blended with so much docility and endurance,
have at once attracted and misled them. Others have
founded a reason for claiming Egypt as the original
country of the horse, from the circumstance of his
being incidentally mentioned in Holy Writ as being
there domesticated at an early period ; but certainly
it appears too shallow a warrant for inferring that he
should be indigenous because he was domesticated.
Besides, Egypt is physically unadapted to support the
horse in a state of nature. Without the directing
hand of man, at one season of the year its vegetation
would be completely destroyed by the fervid rays of
the sun, and at another the annual inundations of the
Nile unfit this country from being a natural home of
the horse.

Humboldt, Pallas, and some other naturalists are
inclined to view the barren steppes of Crim Tartary
as his father-land, from the fact of some wild races
being found there at the present day. " It is not," says
Kohl, in his interesting Travels, " till we reach the
heart of Tartary, or the wastes that stretch along the
Sea of Aral, that we meet, for the first time, the horse
really in a state of nature."

Bones of the horse are found in numerous parts of
the old world, buried deeply in depositions which

WILD RACES. 9

must have taken place many thousand years ago.
Some equine fossil remains have also been lately dis-
covered in America, mixed with those of extinct races
of animals ; they cannot but be regarded as proof of
a prior existence of this quadruped in that continent
to the later introduction of it from Europe ; though
by some mysterious revolution of nature he appeared
to have become totally extinct. Remains of the horse
have been found in Britain. The celebrated Kirkdale
cave, in Yorkshire, contains large quantities of his
bones, mixed with those of the elephant, rhinoceros,
ox, deer, tiger, hysena, and other beasts of prey.*

This fact would almost warrant us in placing the
horse among the indigent of our own country; at
least it is satisfactory evidence that he had a very
early existence on the land now forming our island.
The horse was naturalised in Britain long before the
Roman invasion ; at that important historical epoch,
our savage ancestors were found to have already
subdued him to their rude purposes.

In some parts of the world the horse still flourishes
in the unrestrained possession of freedom ;

" With flowing tail, and flying mane,
Wide nostrils — never stretch'd by pain —
Mouths bloodless to the bit or rein,
And feet that iron never shod,
And flanks unscarr'd by sjmr or rod,
A thousand horse, the wild, the free,
Like waves that follow o'er the sea." f

* Professor Buckland, in his Dissertation on these fossil bones, states,
that they were fractured in a manner exactly resembling bones which
have been so treated by the hysena in order to extract the marrow from
them, and for which purpose that animal is provided with jaws and molar
teeth of immense power. As hyaenas are well known to plunder grave-
yards, and prey on the remains of the human subject, the Professor
thought it most probable, from the absence of human remains, that this
country was not peopled at that remote period. The remains of the
other animals found would also render it apparent that there existed, at
that time, a great difference in the climate from that which at present
belongs to this country.

"f" Byron's Mazeppa, xvii.

10 THE HORSE.

Immense troops are said to roam the wild and inhos-
pitable steppes of Upper Asia * : they have been met
with in some of the more northerly provinces of China,
and in the unfrequented regions of central Africa f ;
and but a short time ago, according to Riesbeck, wild
horses existed in Hungary, being possibly the last spot
in Europe upon which they lingered. " There," said
he, " you meet with deserts, in the midst of which, as
in those of Tartary, are troops of wild horses. These
beasts are small, light, but not handsome."

On the extensive savannahs or prairies of both
Americas wander a feral race of horses. From a
point in South America they have dispersed them-
selves over the whole of that portion of the new world,
passed the Isthmus of Panama, and are now rapidly
extending themselves over the valley of the Mississippi.
The ancestors of these self-emancipated troops were
originally introduced into South America by the
Spaniards, at the time of their conquests in that part
of the world. The rapidity with which they have
propagated, and the extent of country which they
now occupy, demands the attention of the naturalist.
According to Azara, horses were first. introduced from
Europe to the South American continent in the year
1535. Others were taken into Paraguay as early
as 1537. Five horses and seven mares were liberated
at the abandonment of the city of Buenos Ayres,

* Wild horses of Tibet: — " About thirteen hands high: a bay colour
ran along the upper part of the neck, and back and sides were of a fawn
or azure colour. Their heads appeared thick and short, but well carried ;
their bodies round and short ; general shape compact, clean ; and tail
thinly furnished with hair." — Moorcroft, Asiatic Researches, vol. xii.
p. 438.

Pallas describes the native and wild horse of the country between the
.Taik and the Volga as being of a colour varying from reddish-bay to fawn
colour. A filly which was captured, and afterwards proved very docile,
was of a size exceeding that of the domesticated horse, and of an Isabella
or light bay, with mane and tail black.

f Mungo Park saw some considerable troops near Ludamar.

WILD EACES. 11

which, with others that afterwards joined them, have
generated the incalculable troops which now exist.
They still show evident mark of the fine Spanish race
from which they descend. They associate together
in considerable bodies in the open parts of the coun-
try, and are exposed, in common with other wild
herbivorous animals, to all the vicissitudes incident to
their state.*

A traveller in Venezuela describes the herds of wild
horses there seen as presenting a beautiful spectacle,
particularly when alarmed. " Instead of flying as the
deer and other timid animals, they gallop round in
compact masses of many thousands, apparently for the
purpose of reconnoitring the strangers, and frequently
advance boldly to within a few yards of the line of
march, where they halt to gaze at the troops, snorting,
and showing every sign of astonishment and displea-
sure, especially at the sight of cavalry. These droves
are always headed by some fine-looking old bashaws,
whose flowing manes and tails plainly show that they

* Humboldt, in his Personal Narrative, describes the struggle which
they maintain against the agencies of nature. The " Ass and Horse," says
he, " originally natives of the cold and barren plains of Upper Asia,
follow man to the New World, return to the savage state, and lead a
restless and painful life in the burning climate of the tropics. Pressed
alternately by excess of draught and humidity, they sometimes seek a
pool, in the midst of a bare and dusty soil, to quench their thirst, and
at other times flee from the waters, and the overflowing rivers, as menaced
by an enemy that threatens them on all sides. Harassed during the day
by gadflies and moschettoes, the horses, mules, and cows find themselves
attacked at night by enormous bats, that fasten on their backs, and cause
wounds that become dangerous, because they are filled with acarida3 and
other hurtful insects. In time of great drought the mules gnaw even the
thorny melocactus, or melon thistle, in order to drink its cooling juice,
and draw it forth as from a vegetable fountain. During the great inun-
dations these same animals lead an amphibious life, surrounded by croco-
diles, water serpents, and manates. Yet, such are the immutable laws of
nature, their races are preserved in the struggle with the elements, and
amid so many sufferings and dangers. When the waters retire, and the
rivers resume again their beds, the savannah is spread over with a fine
odoriferous grass ; and the animals of old Europe and Upper Asia seem to
enjoy, as in their native climate, the renewed vegetation of spring." —
Vol. iv. p. 395, et seq.

12 THE HORSE.

have never been subject to man's control ; and in the
rear the mares and colts follow." Races which have
again resumed the natural state, were lately to be seen
in the woody parts of the lowlands of Jamaica and
Hayti. The Falkland Islands are stocked with con-
siderable troops of wild horses, the offspring of some
left by the French and Spanish colonists in 1764.
They are now hunted for their hides, but are supposed
to have gradually degenerated from the original stock,
and to have lost much of their strength. They have
not sufficient speed to be used in the capture of wild
cattle with the lazo.*

The horse naturally inhabits broad and extensive
plains. He is not an animal calculated for moun-
tainous or wooded districts, and neither is he adapted to
follow the course of rivers, as some others nearly allied
to him do. His habits are nomadic ; left to himself, he
would change his location with the seasons. He is found
wild only in champaign countries, where alone he can
gather sufficient food, and on which his feet will sup-
port him without difficulty or pain. Herbivorous
animals are generally gregarious or congregatory.
The horse does not form an exception to this rule,
but flocks to its kind for mutual protection against
the carnivorous animals. Sociality is with them the
means of preservation. This instinctive feeling is
often powerfully shown in the domesticated races,
for if we sever an individual from its companions it
frequently becomes unthrifty, restless, and evidently
unhappy.

Natural historians, in their endeavours to arrange
the varying objects of animated nature, class the
horse and its congeners in the following manner : —

* " These horses will attack a single person, and their mode of doing so
is by forming a circle round him, and prancing upon him ; hut by means
of the musket they may be readily dispersed." — WedddVs Voyage,
p. 103.

CLASSIFICATION. 13

Division, Vertebrata (possessing a back bone).

Class, Mammalia (such as give suck).

Tribe, Ungulata (hoofed).

Order, Pachydermata (thick-skinned).

Family, Solipeda (uncleft-footed).

Genus, Equus (the horse species).

A considerable discrepancy has arisen among natu-
ralists on the classification of this animal, but the
above certainly appears the least objectionable that
can be formed. The Linnsean system was certainly
unsatisfactory. Linne classed the horse with the
hippopotamus, to form a genus in Order Belluag. By
Erxleben he is placed between the elephant and the
dromedary. Storr was the first to form a distinct
order of the equine family ; he placed it immediately
after that of the Ruminantia, under the appellation
of Solipedes. Cuvier adopted his arrangement, but
subsequently placed this genus among the Pachy-
dermata, which is probably the most judicious classi-
fication ascertainable.

Dental formula : — incisors, f ; canine, in the male
only, \ \ ; molars, f f , = 40.

With the horse is ranked all those quadrupeds whose
generic distinctive is the undivided hoof — the equine
genus.

Equus Caballus, the horse.

E. Hemionus, of Pallas, the dziggtai, Asiatic.

E. Zebra, the zebra, 1

E. Burchelli, > South African.

E. Quagga, the quagga, J

E. Asinus, the ass.

THE HORSE.

Syn. l7T7rog, Greek ; Equus, Latin ; Pferd, German ;
Paard, Dutch ; Hest, Danish ; Hast, Swedish ; Cheval,
French ; Cavallo, Italian ; Caballo, Spanish ; Loschad,

14 THE HORSE.

Russian ; Kon, Polish ; Sukh, Turkish ; Hysdn, Syriac ;
Hozdn, Arabic ; Al, Toorkman ; Ma, Siamese ; Fur or
Pur, Bornou; Soudali, Begharmi; Bilsah, Mandara;
Barree, Timbuctoo ; Soo, Mandingo ; As, PustOo. *

The horse, by far the noblest of the genus, is easily
distinguishable from the rest of the group. His vari-
eties are exceedingly numerous, and differ Avidely in
physical appearance. The effects of climate and other
agencies of nature are displayed on his frame. Zim-
merman asserted, but without very evident reason,
that he arrived at the greatest perfection between the
15th and 55th degrees of northern latitude. The
mare is found capable of generating her species as
early as the second year of her existence ; but it is
detrimental to her own form, and the future energy
of her offspring, thus prematurely to tax the pro-
ductive powers of her frame. It would be far
more profitable to delay this important function until
the fourth or fifth year, when the outline of her form
approximates more closely to the adult, and the vital
energies of the animal economy become more con-
firmed. (See that part of this Work which treats of
Breeding.) Mares, in common with the females of
many other quadrupeds, are subject to a periodical
appetency for the male, which in them is termed
horsinp*. The natural season of its first occurrence
is from the end of March to July, and so providential
is this arrangement, that the foal will be produced at
a time when nourishment will be plentiful for its sup-
port. As great facility of motion appears to have
been designed by nature in the formation of the horse,
many physical peculiarities contribute to ensure that
end. A bulky, pendulous udder, like that possessed
by some of the ruminnatia, would be incompatible

* Dr. Skinner traces the English word horse from the Belgic ros, or
the Tentonic rosz. The latter word might have originated the name of
Roszinaute, which Cervantes gave to the renowned steed of Don Quixote.

LENGTH OF THE COLT'S LEGS. 15

with that quality. The mamma, therefore, is small,
and furnished with only two teats, which supply a
milk of a highly nutritious character, and possessing
a larger quantity of saccharine matter than any other
animal is known to be endowed with.*

The disproportionate length of the foal's f legs,
which is so strikingly apparent when compared with
those of the adult animal, is thought by some natu-
ralists to be provided by prescient nature to enable
the young animal to keep pace with its dam during
flight from any menacing danger. Linne attempted
to ascertain the future height of the colt, by admea-
surement of its legs ; but so much is found to depend
on the quantity and character of the nutriment with
which it is provided during the important period of
its growth, that little reliance can be placed on early
experiments of this kind. The historian, the warrior,
and the horseman, Xenophon, had long ago alluded

* Parmentier submitted the milk of various animals to chemical exami-
nation, and he found that the proportion of ingredients contained was in
accordance with the following table : —

Sugar, mare's, woman's, ass's, goat's, ewe's, cow's.

Whey, ass's, mare's, woman's, cow's, goat's, ewe's.

Cream, ewe's, woman's, goat's, cow's, ass's, mare's.

Butter, ewe's, goat's, cow's, woman's.

Cheese, ewe's, goat's, cow's, ass's, woman's, mare's.
He could not make any butter from the cream of woman's, ass's, or mare's
milk ; and that from the ewe he found always remained soft. From
their general properties he divided them into two classes, one abounding
in serous and saline parts, which included ass's, mare's, and woman's ; the
other rich in caseous and butyraceous parts, as the cow's, goat's, and ewe's,
f The word foal is applied indiscriminately to the young of both sexes;
but as they increase in age they are distinguished from each other by
appropriating the term colt to the male, and filly to the female ; and on
their reaching the period of adolescence, about the fifth year, the former
assumes the title of stallion, or horse, {gelding if castrated,) and the latter
that of mare. The etymology of the word stallion is traced by Beranger
(Horsemanship, i. 171.) to the feudal custom of confining the stallions, kept
to cover mares, in safe and enclosed grounds, but more frequently in the
stable. They were called Equi ad stabidum, by contraction Stallum ;
whence the Italian term Stallone, the French JE talon, the English Stallion,
or stalled horse. Others have supposed it originated from the verb salio,
to leap.

16 THE HORSE.

to the same subject in his Treatise on Horsemanship.
" I now explain," said he, " how a man may run the
least risk of being deceived, when conjecturing the
future height of a horse. The young horse which,
when foaled, has the shank-bones longest, invariably
turns out the largest. For, as time advances, the
shank-bones of all quadrupeds increase but little ; but
that the rest of the body may be symmetrical, it in-
creases in proportion with them."

Puberty commences in both sexes as early as the
second year, but all the structures continue to be gra-
dually developed till the end of the fifth year, by
which time the changes in the teeth are perfected, and
the muscles have acquired a growth and tone which
give to the form the distinctives of adolescence. It
is during the term which elapses between this period
of adult age and that of confirmed virility, that a
further progressive change takes place in the animal
economy ; the powers of the whole frame continue to
acquire strength, and although there is no further in-
crease in height, the parietes of the large cavities,
and the muscles of voluntary motion, assume a fur-
nished and rotund appearance, and render the ani-
mal more capable of enduring continued exertion and
privation ; the vital endurance and resistance being
greater than during the period of adolescence. The
fire and expression of the head, the spirit, character,
and disposition, become also more marked towards
the termination of this epoch.

The natural period of decay of the vital powers,
senility, and mature death, may be conjectured to be
about thirty years ; but few horses, from our barba-
rous system of treatment, attain that term. (See Age.)

The varieties of the horse differ in height and size,
more, perhaps, than those of any other animal domes-
ticated or wild. The shelties of northern Scotland,
and the pigmy Cingalese ponies, often measure little

PACES MOULTING. 1 7

more than thirty inches, or seven and a half hands
in height. Old Philip Skippon, while travelling in Ger-
many, observed a little horse about two feet ten inches
high. A little mare was brought from the East
Indies, in 1765, measuring only twenty-seven inches
in heierht ; it was well formed, and between four and
five years old. Perhaps the smallest on record is one
lately brought likewise from the East, standing only
six and a half hands. It was presented to her
Majesty. Lilliputian breeds of horses exist in the
more northern parts of Sweden, in Iceland, and in
Corsica. On the other extreme, a breed of coach horses
which was cultivated by the desire of George the
Fourth, and rendered fashionable through his pa-
tronage, together with the heavy horses of Nor-
mandy, reach, and often exceed, the height of eighteen
hands (six feet). An American giant horse was ex-
hibited a few years since at the Egyptian Hall,
Piccadilly, which exceeded nineteen hands ; and
another, an English horse, was displayed at the cattle-
show of 1844 — 5, standing nineteen and a half
hands.

The walk, the trot, and the gallop, are the usual
well-known natural paces of the horse ; but the fact of
some individuals contracting the pace called the
amble, without previous tuition, has induced many
writers to regard that also as a natural method of
progression. (See Paces.)

In England and other northern countries, on the
approach of mild weather, the horse, by a natural
process analogous to moulting in birds, divests him-
self of its winter's clothing of long hair, and produces
one of a shorter and cooler texture ; and again, before
the recurrence of cold weather, reassumes his warm
and lengthened coat, to protect himself from the incle-
mency of the approaching season. The autumnal
change is not by any means so general as that which

c

18 THE HORSE.

takes place at the commencement of spring. The
hair is not so completely changed, only a portion of it
being thrown off, and that which remains, with that
which springs up, grows long, and is adapted to the
temperature of the atmosphere. These alternate
changes are not so well marked in countries possessing
an equable temperature, nor even are they so plainly
seen in horses kept in the warm atmosphere of a
close stable all the year round. When the shedding
of the coat commences, the bulbs of the old hair become
pale, and by the side of each a small black globular
body is formed, which is soon developed into the new
hair. Thus the matrix of the new hair is not the old
pulp, but it is based in another productive follicle.
The long hair of the mane, tail, and fetlocks, is not
shed at definite periods with that of the body, but is
replaced by a slower and more uniform process. The
hair of the mane and tail, will, if protected, grow to
almost incredible lengths. It was once the custom in
Germany to encourage the growth of the hair on
those parts, by reeling it up, and the length attained
was exceedingly great. " The mane, forelock, and
tail," says Xenophon, " are given by the gods for
ornament." And again, " AVhen the hairs of the fore-
lock are long, they do not hinder the horse from
seeing, but serve to dash away from his eyes Avhat-
ever gives him pain. It is natural enough to suppose
that the gods gave these locks to the horse instead of
large ears, which they have given to asses and mules,
to protect their eyes from injury."

The property of changing the colour of the hair
with the season, possessed by many animals of the
Arctic regions, adapting them to the temperature, is
also manifested in the horse, though in a much less
degree, for it may be seen that, when constantly
exposed to the elements, the long winter-coat assumes
a much lighter hue than that of its predecessor.

COLOURS. 1 9

The skin of the horse is endowed with another
remarkable and curious property — that of becoming
electrically luminous under certain conditions. I
believe this fact has not been hitherto noticed.
It is somewhat similar to that previously known
to belong to the integuments of the cat, but dif-
fering slightly in its manner of discharge. This
animal electricity appears to be governed, in a
great degree, by the condition of the animal and the
hygrometrical state of the atmosphere. Upon using
a stiff brush or curry-comb, on a dark night in dry
weather, a gleam of electrical light will become per-
ceptible, following the instrument, particularly when
applied over the back, loins, and sides. The discharge
of electricity from the back of a cat is accompanied
with a crackling noise — the usual attendant of elec-
trical phenomena, is isolated, or rises from separate
points, and most evidently inflicts a painful sensation
on the animal : in the horse no such detonation is
heard, the discharge is general, from the whole sur-
face in contact with the instrument, and does not
appear to be at all painful to him.

The horse, in common with many other animals,
is provided with a thin sub-cuticular muscle, cover-
ing the shoulders, flanks, and sides, whose use is to
corrugate the skin, shake off flies, and dislodge other
annoying substances.

The colours of the horse are too well known to
require a lengthened description. The proverb says,
" A good horse cannot be of a bad colour." Domesti-
cation appears to have the effect of multiplying the
colours of animals. The prevailing colour of the
wild species is the bay ; but Foster says, that among
the troops he saw in Central Asia, the dun and the
greyish-brown colours were most frequent. Bell
judges the chestnut to be most common to the Tarta-
rian districts. Sir Francis Head states, that many of

20 THE HORSE.

the horses of the Pampas are piebald. The black
is rarely found among the Arabians. The leopard-
spotted is said to be frequent in China. With us it
ranges from milk-white to coal-black. Some persons
are inclined to give the preference to the darker
colours, from the fact, that among animals generally,
the lighter the skin the weaker the energy. Lord
Bacon seems to have entertained the same idea, when
he asserted white to be the colour of defect. In
some respects, white may be regarded as denoting
debility. Renewed skin generally produces white
hair, and greys become gradually lighter as they
advance in years. Horses with white legs are very
subject to grease, more particularly if the rest of the
body is of a chestnut colour. The most esteemed, as
well as the most common colours, are the bay *, grey,
brown, black, and chestnut. Some breeds maintain a
peculiar and uniform tint. The Flanders horse is
tisually black ; the Suffolk punch chestnut ; the Cleve-
land bred horse is bay ; and a variety common to
Norway is dun, with black mane and tail. The king
of Hanover possesses a breed, which is reserved for
state purposes, of a milk-white colour. Many of
them are albinos, and have the pupils of the eye
red. Some other albino horses are cream-coloured,
or as the French more appropriately term them,
cafe-au-lait coloured.

The sense of smell is so delicately acute in the
horse, that perhaps he is not exceeded in this func-
tion by any other animal. The nose is provided with
a very extensive surface for the distribution of the
olfactory nerve, by the curious foldings of the turbi-
nated bones. It is principally by means of this
faculty he is able to distinguish the qualities of the

* The word bay may have originated from the ancient French term
applied to horses of this colour. Being one they approved of, they used
the appellative of JBayarie loyal, or Trusty Bayard.

OBGANS OF SENSE. 21

plants upon which he feeds, and to reject such as are
of a noxious or poisonous description. Nature, said
Linnaeus, teaches the brute creation to distinguish,
without a preceptor, the useful from the hurtful,
while man is left to his own inquiries. On putting
the fingers into the nostrils, at the upper and out-
ward part, they pass into blind pouches of consi-
derable dimensions. These curious cavities have
nothing to do with smelling, because they are lined
with a reflection of common integument, but they may
possibly be of use in mechanically distending the
external entrance of the nostrils, and thus materially
facilitate respiration during violent exertion. They
are also brought into use when the animal neighs ;
and the Hungarian soldiery slit them up to preclude
the possibility of being prematurely discovered to the
enemy by the exercise of this habit. On the lower part
of the nostril, towards the outer edge, may be seen
the mouth of a small tube, which conveys the tears
from the inner canthus or corner of the eye. It
opens on the skin just before it joins the lining mem-
brane of the nose. This little cavity has often been
mistaken, by unqualified persons, for an ulcer com-
mon in glanderous affections, and the poor animal
has frequently fallen a victim to the error.

Their eyes are large in proportion to those of some
other quadrupeds, and the pupilar opening is of an
oblate elliptical form, with its long axis parallel to
the horizon, thus increasing the lateral field of vision.
Round the edges of the pupil is a curious fringe of
deep plum-coloured eminences, supposed to be ser-
viceable in absorbing the superabundant rays of
light which may be transmitted to the eye. The
horse's sight is excellent, and although not regarded
as a nocturnal animal, he can distinguish objects
at night with great facility. There are but few

c 3

22 THE HORSE.

horsemen who have not benefited by this power when
the shades of night have fallen around them.

The ears are comparatively small, but the conch is
endowed with extensive motion, so as to catch the
sound coming from any quarter. Their hearing is
quick ; and although blindness is so destructively
prevalent among horses, deafness is exceedingly uncom-
mon. During sleep one ear is usually directed forwards,
and the other backwards : when on a march in com-
pany at night, it has been noticed, " that those in front
direct their ears forwards, those in the rear direct them
backwards, 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."
In contests of speed the ears are generally laid back-
wards, so as to offer no opposition to the rapid
progress of the animal. It must be evident that, if
the concave surfaces of these organs be presented for-
wards, they would gather the wind, and slightly
impede progression.

The different vocal articulations to which the horse
gives utterance, are collectively termed neighing ; but
some variety of intonation may be discovered in the
expression of its passions ; as for instance, the cry of
joy or recognition differs markedly from that of desire ;
and anger from playfulness. The females do not
neigh so frequently nor with such force as the males.
For this reason it is that predatory and warlike tribes
prefer mares, as being better adapted, from their
silence, for surprises and reconnoitring. Castration
is known to have a modulating effect on the voice.
M. Herrissant supposed neighing to be produced by
the vibration of two small triangular membranes
found at the extremities of the glottis. In the ass
and mule this structure is wanting, but they are
provided with a more singular apparatus. Hollowed
out of the thyroid cartilage is a small concavity, over

EQUINE PECULIAE1TIES. 23

which is stretched a membrane, similar to the parch-
ment on the head of a drum. When air is forced
behind this substance, a very considerable noise is
produced, though from the absence of muscularity
the vibrations are without modulation, and conse-
quently dissonant.

The intellectual character of the horse is scarcely
excelled by that of any other quadruped. His per-
ceptions are remarkably clear, and his memory excel-
lent. Attachment to those who tend him with kindness
forms a prominent trait in his character. The feats
which he is often taught to perforin evince a high
intellectual capacity. So extraordinary do these often
appear, that they elicit from admiring spectators equal
applause with the biped actor. It is stated by
Beckmann, that a horse belonging to an English-
man was exhibited in Spain, and attracted so much
attention by its sagacity, that it was formally tried,
and condemned by the Inquisition to be burnt
alive, for the supposed possession of an evil spirit !
Travellers in the desert assure us that horses possess
the faculty of directing their course to the nearest
water when hard pressed for that necessary article.
Mr. Cunningham relates, that whenever he had lost
himself when rambling in the woods and wilds of
Australia, he immediately threw the rein on the
animal's neck, confident that he would carry him
home by the most direct route.*

Horses swim with the greatest facility, and the
distance they have been known to perform in the
water exceeds our expectation. A horse that was
wrecked off the coast of South America swam seven
miles to land, and saved its life, f

There exists some important differences in the

* Two Years in New South Wales, p. 298.

f Darwin's Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of H. M. Ships Adven-
ture and Beagle, vol. iii. p. 168.

c 4

24 THE HORSE.

animal economy of the equine family and other herbi-
vorous animals, which, as the inferences from them
are of some consequence, it is necessary briefly to
notice. The horse naturally requires but little sleep,
and even that it often takes standing. In a state of
nature, when fodder is short, to support itself properly,
it is compelled to graze twenty hours out of the
twenty-four. Ruminating animals eat with greater
rapidity, and lie down to chew the cud. The horse
eats no faster than it digests. Digestion in the former
is interrupted, in the latter continuous. This ex-
plains why the horse possesses no gall-bladder, as it
requires no reservoir for that necessary fluid ; for, as
fast as the bile is secreted by the liver, it is carried to
the intestines to perform its important action on the
chymous mass. The stomach of the horse is also
remarkably small and simple, differing widely from
the capacious and complicated structure of the ru-
minant ; but the intestines are long, and the caecum
capable of containing a large quantity of fluid, of
which it is considered the receptacle. The mamma
of the mare is by no means so pendulous and bulky as
that of the cow. The horse's feet, from their com-
pact, undivided nature, are much less liable to injury
during fleet exertion than those of the ox. All these
circumstances tend to establish the individuality of the
horse, and are so many proofs of admirable design for
the purposes to which man has applied him ; for without
these peculiarities he would not be so valuable and
superior, as a beast of continued and rapid motion,
and would consequently occupy a very inferior station.
Linnaeus asserted that the male horse was without
the rudimentary mamma; invariably found in the
males of other animals ; but this naturalist was mis-
taken, for they may be seen on each side of the sheath,
and although of no possible use, still their existence
preserves the uniformity of nature's operations.

THE TABOONS. 25

The horse and zebra possess horny callosities on
the inside of the fore-legs, above the knees, and on
the hocks of the hind-legs ; the ass and quagga have
them only on the the fore extremities.

In a state of nature the horse is purely an herbi-
vorous animal, but under the restraint which domes-
tication imposes, his habits become changed, and
grain and dry grasses form the principal articles of
his diet. Domestication is known to originate many
diseases totally unknown in a natural state, but it
appears to have the effect of augmenting the muscular
power of the animal far beyond its uncultivated
extent.

The taboons, or extensive breeding studs of the
Russian steppes, offer the horse to our notice in a
condition sufficiently bordering on freedom, to allow
of our studying some of his natural habits with more
correctness than it would be possible for us to do in
the artificial condition in which alone we are in the
habit of seeing him in Europe. To Mr. Kohl we are
indebted for an amusing description of these taboons,
which generally consist of a thousand horses. In
such a stud, there are commonly from " fifteen to twenty
stallions, and four or five hundred brood mares. The
stallions, and particularly the older ones, consider
themselves the rightful lords of the community. They
exercise their authority with very little moderation,
and desperate battles are often fought among them,
apparently for the mere honour of the championship.
In almost every taboon there is one stallion who, by
the rule of his hoof, has established a sort of supre-
macy, to which his comrades tacitly submit. Fac-
tions, cabals, and intrigues are not wanting. Some-
times there will be a general coalition against some
particular stallion, who, if he get into a quarrel, is
immediately set upon by ten or a dozen at once, and
has no chance but to run for it. There is seldom a

26 THE HOUSE.

taboon without two or three of these objects of public
animosity, who may be seen with a small troop of
mares, grazing apart from the main body of the herd.
The most tremendous battles are fought when two
taboons happen to meet. The mares and foals on
such occasions keep aloof, but their furious lords rush
to battle with an impetuosity, of which those who are
accustomed to see the horse only in a domesticated
state can form but a poor conception. The enraged
animals lash their tails and erect their manes like
angry lions ; their hoofs rattle against each other with
such violence, that the noise can be heard at a consi-
derable distance ; they fasten on one another with
their teeth like tigers ; and their screamings and
howlings are more like those of the wild beast of the
forest, than like any sound ever heard from a tame
horse. The victorious party is always sure to carry
away a number of captive mares in their triumph.
When the taboon is attacked by wolves, an admirable
spirit of coalition displays itself among the horses.
On the first alarm stallions and mares come charging
up to the threatened point, and attack the wolves with
an impetuosity that often puts the prowlers to instant
flight. Soon, however, if they feel themselves suffi-
ciently numerous, they return, and hover about the
taboon till some poor foal straggles a few yards from
the main body, when it is seized by the enemy, while
the mother, springing to its rescue, is nearly certain
to meet the same fate. Then it is that the battle be-
gins in real earnest. The mares form a circle, within
which the foals take shelter. We have seen pictures
in which the horses are represented in a circle pre-
senting their hind hoofs to the wolves, who thus ap-
pear to have a free choice to tight or let it alone.
Such pictures are the mere result of imagination, and
bear very little resemblance to the reality, for the wolf
has, in general, to pay much more dearly for his par-

THE TABOONS. 27

tiality to horse -flesh. The horses, when they attack
wolves, do not turn their tails towards them, but
charge upon them in a solid phalanx, tearing them
with their teeth, and trampling on them with their
feet. The stallions clo not fall into" the phalanx, but
gallop about with streaming tails and erected manes,
and seem to act at once as generals, trumpeters, and
standard-bearers. When they see a wolf, they rush
upon him with reckless fury, mouth to mouth ; or if they
use their feet as weapons of offence, it is always with
the front, and not the hinder hoof, that the attack is
made. With one blow the stallion often kills his
enemy, or stuns him. If so, he snatches the body up
with his teeth, and flings it to the mares, who trample
upon it till it becomes hard to say what kind of ani-
mal the skin belonged to. If the stallion, however,
fail to strike a home blow at the first onset, he is likely
to fight a losing battle, for eight or ten hungry wolves
fasten on his throat, and never quit him till they have
torn him to the ground." These animals are exposed
to the most severe privations during the winter sea-
son, from a scarcity of provender, when the ground
is covered with snow. If the winter lasts beyond the
average term, they are reduced to the necessity of
eating the thatch from the buildings, and even to
gnaw the hair from each others' tails and manes.
" From the hardships of an ordinary winter, the horses
quickly recover amid the abundance of spring. A
profusion of young grass covers the ground as soon
as the snow has melted away. The crippled spectres
that stalked about a few weeks before, with wasted
limbs and drooping heads, are as wild and mischievous
at the end of the first month as though they had
never experienced the inconvenience of a six months'
fast. The stallions have already begun to form their
separate factions in the taboon, and the neighing,
bounding, prancing, gallopping, and fighting, goes on

28 THE HOUSE.

merrily from the banks of the Danube to the very
heart of Mongolia."

THE DZIGGTAI.

The Dziggtai or Dshikketi of Pallas ; the Equus
Kiang ofMoorcroft; and the Yo-to-tse of the Chinese.
— This animal is alluded to by Aristotle under the
name of hemionos (literally, half-ass) ; who, together
with other ancient writers, describes it as being a
native of the unfrequented parts of Syria. iElian
asserts, that it was frequently found in India. It
was lost sight of by naturalists for a considerable
period, till recognised by Messerschmidt as inhabiting
some of the plains of Upper Asia. To Pallas, how-
ever, we are indebted for almost all that is known
respecting it. According to him, it frequents the
great Mongolian deserts, the plains that lie between
the rivers Onon and Argun, and the great desert of
Gobi between China and Thibet. It is said to
possess only thirty- four teeth ; but this is most pro-
bably an error, arising from the inspection of an
immature jaw. They troop together in bands of
from ten to twenty for company and mutual pro-
tection ; frequent sunny plains, and places where salt-
springs and saline plants abound. They feed in the
meadows, but avoid woody and mountainous dis-
tricts. They are exceedingly shy, cautious, and timid ;
difficult to be tamed ; very swift, and their senses of
smell and hearing are exceedingly acute. In size and
general appearance this animal resembles the mule,
though it is handsomer ; the ears and tail are like those
of the zebra ; the hoofs and body like the ass's ; and
the legs resemble those of the horse. It differs from
these quadrupeds in possessing a very large head, flat
at the forehead, and narrowing towards the nose, and

THE DZIGGTAI ZEBRA. 29

in having a neck more slender and rounded than
the other species of the equidse. It has also a
short, upright, soft, greyish mane, and instead of a lock
of long hair on the foretop, there is a downy tuft
of about two inches long. The voice of this animal
is more grave than that of the horse. It is
capable of enduring much exertion, having been
known to traverse fifty or sixty leagues across the
deserts without drinking. It is captured with dif-
ficulty, from its strength and activity, yet hunting
the dziggtai for the sake of its flesh is a favourite
pastime of the Monguls and Tanguts.

THE ZEBRA.

The Wilde Paard or .Dauw of the Cape Colonists ;
the Equus montanus of Burchell. — Major Harris
describes this beautiful animal as being about twelve
hands high at the shoulder, and eight feet two
inches in extreme length. Shape light and symme-
trical, and legs slender. The feet are small and
upright ; head light and bony ; ears and tail asi-
nine ; the latter blackish, about sixteen inches long,
and tufted at the extremity. Ground colour of the
hair white. The whole of the body, neck, head, and
legs, covered with narrow black bands, placed wider
or closer together; and the upper ones connected with
the dorsal line, but not extending over the belly or
inside the thighs. Mane erect and bushy, alternately
banded white and black. Two transverse black bands
on the ears. Brown stripes on the face, terminating
in a bay muzzle. The zebra has the horny integu-
mentary appendage both before and behind. The
female, like the mare, has but two inguinal mamma?.
Their habits are gregarious, and they inhabit the
mountainous regions only of the Cape Colony.

.BO THE HORSE.

THE EQUUS BURCHELLI.

BurchelVs Zebra; the Bonte Quagga of the Cape
Colonists ; Piitzi of theBechuana and Matabili tribes.
— The male measures thirteen and a half hands in
height, and eight feet six inches in extreme length.
The carcase is circular, and the legs muscular. The
crest is arched, and surmounted by a standing mane, five
inches high, banded black and white. Ears and tail
equine ; the latter thirty-five inches long, flowing and
Avhite. Muzzle black. The coat is short and glossy. Gene-
ral ground colour of the head, neck, and body, sienna,
capriciously banded with black and deep brown trans-
verse stripes, forming various figures, and unconnected
with the dorsal line, which widens towards the croup.
Belly and legs pure white. The integumentary horny
spur on the inside of the knees only. The udder of
the female has four mammae. It inhabits the plains
of the interior beyond the Gareep, in immense herds.

THE QUAGGA.

About the height of BurchelTs zebra, but of more
robust form. Ears and tail equine, as in the preceding ;
the former marked with two irregular black bands.
Crest very high, surmounted by a standing mane, banded
alternately brown and white. Colour of the head, neck,
and upper parts of the body reddish brown, irregu-
larly banded, and marked with dark brown stripes,
stronger on the head and neck, and gradually becoming
fainter, until lost behind the shoulders. Dorsal line
broad ; belly, legs, and tail, white. Female similar ;
niammaB four. Still found within the Cape Colony,

THE QUAGGA. 31

inhabiting the open plains south of the Yaal river, in
immense troops.*

These South African animals resemble each other
so closely, as to appear more as varieties of the same
original stock than distinct animals. The difference
between them consists principally in a slight modifi-
cation of their external markings, produced by some
accident of locality, food, or climate. Mr. Campbell
was the first to make us aware of the migratory habits
of the quagga. As the winter approaches they retire
from the tropics to the vicinity of the Malaleveen
river, which, though farther south, is reported to be
warmer than within the tropic of Capricorn, when the
sun leaves the southern hemisphere. He saw bands
of two or three hundred, all travelling south, when
on his return from the vicinity of the tropic, and
various Bushmen, as he proceeded south, inquired if
the quaggas were coming. Their stay lasts from two
to three months, which in that part of Africa is called
the Bushman's harvest. The lions, who follow them,
are the chief butchers. During the season, the first
thing a Bushman does on awaking, is to look to the
heavens, to discover vultures hovering at an immense
height ; under any of them he is sure to find a quagga
that has been slain by a lion during the night.

The zebra was in all probability the hippotigris of
the Romans. The eloquent Buffon considers the
zebra as the best formed of all quadrupeds, and " the
most beautifully clad by the hand of nature. To the
figure and graces of the horse, it adds the light
elegance of the stag, and the black and white with
which its body is ornamented, are arranged with such
wonderful regularity, that we might almost be disposed

* The account of the three foregoing members of the equine family is
adapted from Major Harris's Wild Sports of Southern Africa, p. 342,
343. The Major captured the specimens from which his descriptions are
given in their native pastures, and may consequently be regarded as an
authority on the subject.

32 THE HORSE.

to imagine that rule and compass had been employed
in their formation." The zebra is broken to the
saddle or collar with great difficulty. The wildness
of their nature is almost insurmountable, but there
can be little doubt that, if they were treated with
gentleness, instead of the general harsh usage too
often the lot of fearful and restive animals, a greater
number might be rendered useful. Having succeeded
in taming two or more, the course to be adopted
should be, to breed exclusively from them, and their
offspring would, if there is any reality in the trans-
mission of mental habits, be found more tractable and
readily broken in.

THE ASS.

Syn. Ovo£, Greek; Asinus, Latin; Ane, French;
Asinus, Italian ; Asno, Spanish and Portugese ; Esel,
German ; Eezel, Dutch ; Asna, Swedish ; Asen and
Esel, Danish ; Homar, Arabic ; Aheia, Abyssinian.

This unfortunate animal does not invariably meet
with the same neglect and ill-treatment which falls to
its lot at present in this country. Asses were once
more highly esteemed in Palestine than horses, for
reasons before stated, and people of the first quality
there commonly rode on them. Deborah, in her song,
describes the great and powerful of Israel by the
expression, " Ye that ride on white asses." ( Judg. v.
10.) At the present day, a breed of white asses,
celebrated for its excellence, is found near Bussorah.
This race is cultivated with the greatest attention,
and is supposed, by Lieut.-Col. Smith, to be as
ancient as the time of the kings of Judah. Jair of
Gilead had thirty sons who rode upon as many
asses, and commanded in thirty cities. (Judg. x.
4.) Abdon, one of the judges of Israel, had

THE ASS. 33

forty sons and thirty grandsons, who rode on
seventy asses. (Judg. xii. 14.) Divines, therefore,
must be in error, when they attribute Christ's riding
on an ass into Jerusalem to humility, because this
animal was at that period, and still continues to be,
commonly used by the most influential persons of the
Holy Land ; in fact, Moses had previously forbidden
the use of horses, on account of their being more
unfitted to the country than asses. Asses exist in
a wild state in many parts of the world, and are
frequently hunted for the sake of their hides. In the
time of Aristotle they were far from being univer-
sally spread ; none were found in Thrace, nor even in
Gaul. At the present time the ass is a rare animal
in the North of Europe. Those of this country
appear to have been originally of two distinct
breeds, characterised by the difference of their
colour — black and mouse colour. In those of the
lighter tint there is a longitudinal list of black ex-
tending down the course of the spine, and a transverse
one crossing it at the withers. In the onager, kou-
lan, or wild ass, these markings are sometimes double.
The Spanish ass is considerably larger than that of
Britain, often measuring fifteen hands, and is valuable
for the generation of mules, conferring on the pro-
duce increased size. Those of Egypt and Barbary
are esteemed for their docility and general use-
fulness. In the former country and in Turkey,
incredible numbers of them are kept in and about
the towns and cities. The asses of Senegal are very
fine. " With difficulty," says Mr. Adamson, speaking
of them, " did I know this animal, so different
did it appear from those of Europe: the hair was
fine, and of a bright mouse colour, and the black
list that crosses the back and shoulders had a good
effect. These were the asses brought by the Moors

D

34 THE HORSE.

from the interior of the country." * In Sardinia is
found a race of asses very little larger than dogs ;
they seldom exceed two feet in height, and are in all
other respects proportionally small. This animal had
been introduced at an early period into these islands,
but curiously became extinct for several years. Hol-
lingshed informs us, that, in the reign of Elizabeth,
" our lande did yeelde no asses ; " but we must not
suppose that this animal, so useful to the poor man,
had not been previously known in England, for there is
satisfactory historical evidence to the contrary. As
early as the time of Ethelred mention is made of the
ass, and again in the reign of Henry III., yet after that
we altogether lose sight of him, until his re-intro-
duction on the revival of our intercourse with
Spain.

HYBRIDS OF THE EQUINE FAMILY.

It has been already ascertained that most of the
members of the Solipede genus will reciprocally pro-
pagate with each other. Mules are produced between
the male ass and mare, and the female ass and stallion.
These are relatively the most important of the whole
group of mules, as well as the most common. Hybrids
have been generated between the horse and quagga.
Pennant relates (Hist. Quad. i. 14.) that the experi-
ment was tried between a he ass and female zebra. They
were kept some time together without success. At
last stratagem was resorted to, the ass was painted so as
to resemble a zebra, and was immediately admitted to
its companion's embraces, and a mule was the pro-
duct. Several mules of this kind have been bred
at the London Zoological Gardens. Cuvier gives

* Voy. Senegal, 212.

MULES. 35

us other cases of the production of hybrid ani-
mals between the ass and zebra. One occurred
at Turin, but the offspring did not survive its
birth. Another instance took place in the mena-
gerie of Paris, — from a female zebra and a Spanish
ass of the largest size proceeded a very well-formed
female mule. This animal proved a little larger than
the mother, but as it grew up assumed much the form
of the father. It was excessively indocile. The ex-
periment was repeated with a horse. Conception
took place, but in the eighth month of gestation the
zebra died. On opening the body a male foetus was
found, without hair, but having the head marked with
black and white stripes.

Mules generally approximate in appearance, consti-
tution, temper, and habits, more closely to the dam
than the sire. The same rule is found to obtain in all
crosses in which extremes have been blended.

Nature most cautiously limits the extension of
hybrid animals ; she seems to regard them as monsters,
and forbids the further multiplication of their ambigu-
ous nature. In England, and other temperate and
more northern countries, neither can the he mule
generate, or the she mule produce ; although anato-
mists have failed to discover any structural impedi-
ment to such a consummation. The prolific effect of
genial warmth on the animal economy is such, that
exceptions have occasionally been noticed in Spain
and Italy, and more frequently in the West Indies. *

* " It may be laid down as a general rule, admitting of very few
exceptions among quadrupeds, that the hybrid progeny is sterile, and
there seems to be no well-authenticated examples of the continuance of
the mule race beyond one generation. The principal number of obser-
vations and experiments relate to the mixed offspring of the horse and
ass ; and in this case it is well established that the he-mule can generate,
and the she-mule produce. Such cases occur in Spain and Italy, and
much more frequently in the West Indies and New Holland ; but these
mules have never bred in cold climates, seldom in warm regions, and still
more rarely in temperate countries. The hybrid offspring of the she-ass

36 THE HORSE.

The hybrids between the horse and ass are of two
kinds, differing much in their respective value and
properties. Those produced by the male ass and the
mare, the true mule, partaking more of the nature of
the horse, we shall, for the sake of distinction, designate
the horse-mule. They are by far the more useful,
being much larger and stronger than the ass-mule, or
those begot by the stallion from the female ass.

The Mule, (Horse-mule). — Syn. Mulus, Latin;
Mulet, French ; Mulct, Italian ; Mulo, Spanish ; Mula,
Portuguese; Maulthier, German; Mul-asna, Swedish.

The product of the male ass and the mare, the
most important of all the mules, resembles, as has
before been stated, the dam rather than the sire, for
though partaking of and combining the physical con-
formation of both parents, yet the character of the
dam predominates. The formation of the head is
perhaps the most exceptionable part of the mule, as
it is generally of a heavy clumsy figure. The length
of the ears is intermediate between that of its parents' :
it possesses a short mane, and the hair on the tail is
scanty. Mules are exceedingly common in Spain, Por-
tugal, Italy, Switzerland, the West Indies, and South
America. Being found better adapted than the horse
for traversing rocky, hilly, or mountainous districts,
they are cultivated in such countries on that account.
They are sure-footed and hardy. They approach the
horse in height, being often fifteen or sixteen hands

and the stallion, the yivvos of Aristotle, and the liinnus of Pliny, differs
from the mule, or the offspring of the ass and mare. In both cases, says
Buffon, these animals retain more of the dam than of the sire, not only in
magnitude, but in the figure of the body ; whereas, in the form of the
head, limbs, and tail, they bear a greater resemblance to the sire. The
same naturalist infers, from various experiments respecting cross-breeds
between the he-goat and ewe, the dog and the wolf, the goldfinch and
canary-bird, that the male transmits his sex to the greatest number, and
that the preponderance of males over females exceeds that which prevails
where the parents are of the same species." — LyelTs Principles of Geology,
vol. iii. p. 2.

THE HORSE-MULE. 37

high. They were formerly much used in Palestine ;
and in Egypt, at the present day, a good mule fetches
as much or more than a horse of medium value.
Mules were anciently employed to draw the carriages
of the Roman ladies. The coaches of the Spanish
nobility are usually drawn by mules. These animals
are indispensable in crossing the Alps or Pyrenees.
Savoy is noted for producing the largest sized mules,
and Spain the finest. The manner of conducting the
mules in the passage of the Cordillera of the Andes is
brought in a lively manner before us by Mr. Darwin, the
talented naturalist to the late surveying voyage round
the world : — " The madrina (or godmother) is a most
important personage. She is an old, steady mare,
with a little bell round her neck ; and wheresoever she
goes, the mules, like good children, follow her. If
several large troops are turned into one field to graze,
in the morning the muleteer has only to lead the
inadrinas a little apart, and tinkle their bells ; and,
although there may be two or three hundred mules
together, each immediately knows its own bell, and
separates itself from the rest. The affection of these
animals for their madrinas saves infinite trouble. It
is nearly impossible to lose an old mule ; for if de-
tached for several hours by force, she will, by the
power of smell, like a dog, track out her companions,
or rather the madrina ; for, according to the mule-
teers, she is the chief object of affection. The feeling,
however, is not of an individual nature ; for I believe
I am right in saying, that any animal with a bell will
serve as a madrina. In a troop each animal carries,
on a level road, a cargo weighing 416 pounds (more
than twenty-nine stone) ; but in a mountainous coun-
try, a hundred pounds less. Yet with what delicate
slim limbs, without any proportionate bulk of muscle,
these animals support so great a burden ! The mule
always appears to me a most surprising animal. That

D 3

38 THE HORSE.

a hybrid should possess more reason [?], memory,
obstinacy, social affection, and power of muscular
endurance, than either of its parents, seems to indicate
that art has here outmastered nature."

The Ass-Mule. — Syn. Tivvog, Greek ; Uinnus,
Latin ; Bardeau, French ; Maul-Esel, German. The
produce of the she ass and the stallion.

It possesses rather a long head, with ears of the
same size as those of the horse. Its mane is short,
but the tail is well stocked with hair. It looks a
thin, flat-sided animal. It is smaller, less useful, and
consequently less common, than the true or horse-
mule.

39

CHAPTER II.

BREEDING.

THE LAWS OF PROPAGATION, AND THE PRINCIPAL
VARIETIES OF THE HORSE.

" We inherited this excellent breed from our virtuous ancestors ; and
on our death they will be inherited by our sons." — A?nru, one of the
Seven Arabian Poems suspended in the Temple of Mecca.

A slight investigation of the causes which have
concurred to develope the power of the domesticated
horse, beyond that previously possessed by his wild
progenitor, will prove that none has been more ac-
tively conducive to this point than a system of
breeding regulated by a correct knowledge of the
natural and physical laws which govern his propa-
gation. The mechanical structure conferred by na-
ture on the horse is destined to give him at once
strength and fleetness ; a combination rarely occurring
in the animal world, and greatly enhancing his utility
to mankind. But these powers, considerable as they
are in an uncultivated state, are found, by a judicious
attention to the particulars of his economy, to be
capable of great additional extension. For instance,
in breeding, a rule obtains among animals, generally,
which is particularly applicable to the horse, — that
the character and form of the offspring are governed,
in a great degree, by those of its parents ; so that by
bringing together male and female endowed with
properties we wish to see transmitted to the foal, we
are possessed of considerable power in moulding the
produce to our desires. But our views with regard

D 4

40 THE HORSE.

to the production of an animal applicable to any parti-
cular purpose are facilitated by observing the great
influence an increased or diminished supply of aliment
has over his proportions. By increasing, to a certain
extent, the nutritive particles of the food, without aug-
menting its bulk, so as to combine a greater supply
in a less space, we confer capabilities of speed ; and,
on the contrary, by giving that which possesses bulk
and volume with nourishing properties, we gradually
add weight and strength to his stature. This is well
demonstrated by the powerful effect productiveness
of soil has on the proportions of the animal fed on
it ; we have only to contrast the shelties of the heathy
moors of Scotland with the cart horse from the rich
fens of Lincolnshire. Thus are varieties of the same
race produced by nature, and thus can they be estab-
lished and perpetuated by man.

The principle, that parents of whatever character
produce young greatly analogous to themselves, has
been practically acted upon for ages past; but the
full power of this fundamental truth was not known
until Bakewell taught the agriculturalist the exten-
sive application it was capable of by the unexpected
improvements he effected in the breeding of sheep.
By acting on the axiom, that like begets like,
he first proved the possibility of originating an
animal of great value from stock offering generally
no such recommendatory qualities. He selected
both parents with the finest discrimination, and by
uniting in their offspring the superiorities they
possessed, laid the foundation of a new and im-
proved race. Perhaps there is no country wherein
the principle of like producing like is, with regard
to horses, at one time so closely adhered to and widely
departed from as in England. Those who breed for
the turf have been taught, by long experience, the
value of the precept, and therefore carefully act upon

"breeding in and in." 41

it, using the utmost caution in the choice of both
sire and dam, so as to combine and render permanent
the qualities possessed by each ; while, on the other
hand, among the general body of agriculturalists, the
most reckless disregard is given to all that foregone
experience has proved correct, and it is not surprising
that they fail in ameliorating their stock, seeing that
they neglect the steps necessary to insure it.

" Breeding in and in" is an expression used to
specify the habit of propagating animals successively
from a race of similar form and closely allied by rela-
tionship. Some have regarded this practice as an
active cause of degeneracy, as unnatural, and calcu-
lated to engender hereditary diseases. But these
evils can only spring from the abuse of the custom.
If proper care be taken to exclude the weakly or
diseased from participating in reproduction, it may
be the means of continuing for an unlimited period of
time those beauties which make the possessors of
them so highly prized. Breeding " in and in," be-
stowing, as it does, the power of maintaining the
excellencies of any breed of stock, and transmitting
those excellencies unimpaired to succeeding gener-
ations, ought certainly not to be disregarded or too
readily abjured. The fine qualities of the native
Arabian are supported from age to age by the jealous
exclusion of every admixture of foreign or baser
blood. The application of like principles to the ge-
neration of our useful animals, has respectively pro-
duced the swiftness of the race horse, the disposition
to fatten in cattle, and the fine-woolled breeds of
sheep; and that which has been originated by art
maybe continued by the same means. By judicious
selection of the parents we can give existence to new
varieties, and by continuing to breed from such per-
fected stock we can perpetuate those qualities. The
evils which so often arise among mankind from the

42 THE HORSE.

union of those too closely allied in blood, may be
altogether obviated in brutes by debarring such as are
tainted with hereditary disease, or of deficient consti-
tutional stamina, from participating in reproduction.

In contradistinction to the above method resorted
to in propagating this useful animal, may be placed
the practice of uniting sire and dam differing, more
or less, in physical proportion, with the view of attain-
ing a combination or mean of their qualities. This
process is aptly denominated " crossing." If directed
with judgment and discrimination, it is a frequent
source of improvement, but has sometimes been mis-
directed and abused by the junction of the most ex-
treme varieties, violating the propriety of nature, and
consequently generating stock of inferior character.
Most of the improvements in our lighter races of
horses have arisen from a cross or intermixture with
those of Eastern origin. It is to the blood of the
Arab and Barb that we trace their present excellence.
Blood alone, of its own innate force, without refer-
ence to other circumstances, seems to confer on its
possessors extraordinary stamina, a power of en-
during and resisting fatigue, and a capability of exe-
cuting feats of muscular exertion, exceeding in a high
degree those qualities in less favoured breeds. In
the infancy of racing the custom prevailed, and was
found exceedingly beneficial, of crossing directly with
horses imported from Arabia. Improvement marked
every fresh infusion of Eastern blood. The Darley
Arabian, the Byerley Turk, the Lister Turk, and nu-
merous others, were brought into this country at great
expense, and gave origin to a progeny celebrated in
the annals of the turf. But a change soon arose, and
these crossings were no longer attended with such
marked benefit ; and, later still, actually produced
degeneration. The custom accordingly fell into dis-
repute, but was relinquished with reluctance. The

" CROSSING." 43

fact was, our own breed of racers, having become so
improved from the first cross, and the strict attention
paid them through a long period, exceeded in speed
the stock from whence they had principally derived
it. The character of racing had also undergone a
complete revolution, and the same properties were no
longer required, without modification in accordance
to the change ; it was therefore very natural that
a further intermixture of Arab blood would fail in
producing the same benefit which had previously at-
tended it. Our heavier sorts of horses have not been
without improvement from a judicious system of cross-
ing with those of analogous nature from other coun-
tries. An instance exists in the benefit which followed
an early importation of the Flemish horse. In breed-
ing animals, no matter of what kind, attempts to
enlarge a native race, by any plan of crossing, will
be found destructive of their energy, if at the same
time a proportionate increase in the supply of food be
not provided ; and such mistaken practices, when ge-
nerally adopted, have been attended with the most
irreparable mischief. For it is a mistake of the most
serious nature to attempt an increase of bulk by
crossing the indigenous race with others of large breed,
without supplying sufficient nourishment to sustain
their enlarged proportions. The attempts which have
been made in India to increase the size of the native
Indian horse by the introduction of stallions from
England must eventually fail, for if the animal result-
ing from the cross is of greater bulk than the soil,
climate, and productions will support and tolerate,
then must it be at a sacrifice of its energy and con-
stitution. India must not look to England for
permanent improvement in her race of horses; the
respective nature of the two breeds are too widely
separated to unite and form a race calculated to excel
and endure on her arid plains. If she wishes to in-

44 THE HORSE.

crease the stature of her horses, she must provide for
that enlargement by augmenting in the same ratio the
quantum of food supplied. Arabians or Persians, of
the purest breeds, are far more likely to be the
means of lasting improvement, from the similarity
of " habitus," and close approximation in form and
size.

In choosing stock for breeding purposes, the atten-
tion must be constantly directed to the object in view,
for, so diversified is the application of the horse, and
so various the points denoting individual aptness to
those uses, as to render it altogether impossible to
particularise any standard that could be recommended
as best adapted in all cases to the views of the breeder.
Neither can it be expected, that in a limited work of
this nature we can enter into the details necessary
to be attended to respectively in the dhTerent breeds.
All that can be done here is, to offer a few general
hints to the attention of those interested in the sub-
ject, whence, it is hoped, some little benefit may
accrue.

From observing what takes place in the generation
of hybrid animals, we are led to infer that in crosses
the female parent more frequently bestows her cha-
racter, form, and attributes, on the progeny, than the
male. This is remarkably the case in the equine
mules. Those of which the mare is the dam, exceed
considerably in height, beauty, and utility, such as
are the produce of the she ass. In breeding from
those of nearly similar conformation, the parent, who
at the time of the consummation of the generative
act possesses the greatest vigour, bestows on the
offspring its principal characteristics. A promulga-
tion of this principle ought to lead to a discontinuance
of the present practice of allowing a stallion, whose
celebrity has rendered him fashionable, to cover mares
too frequently, which, by destroying his energy, occa-

LENGTH OF LEG. 45

sions the distinctives of the female parent to predo-
minate in the offspring. The locomotive organs
of the foal will almost invariably accord with those
of the dam. This possibly arises from the fact of
nature's bestowing on the young animal a power of
accompanying its dam during flight, by giving it long
and slender legs. The fact has been before alluded
to, but it remains to be seen how this influences the
future proportions of the colt. As this length of leg
is proportioned to that of its mother, it follows that
when a cross has been made, and the dam is of larger
size than the sire, the colt's legs, corresponding to
those of the mother more than to those of the male
parent, will confer on it a permanent increase in the
length of limb. On the other hand, when the dam
is more diminutive than the sire, the length of the
foal's legs, being in unison with her's, will be per-
manently of a shorter description.*

From these statements it follows, that in breeding,
if it is desirable to increase the length of leg, without

* " Nature has given to the offspring of many animals (those of the
sheep, the cow, and the mare afford familiar examples) the power at an
early age to accompany their parents in flight, and the legs of such
animals are very nearly of the same length at the birth as when they
have attained their perfect growth. When the female parent is laro-e,
and the foetus consequently so, the offspring will be large at its birth in
proportion to the bulk it will ultimately attain, and its legs will thence
be long comparatively with the depth of the chest and shoulders. When,
on the contrary, the female is small, and the foetus so at the birth, the
length of the legs of the young animal will be short comparatively with
the depth of the chest and shoulders ; and an animal in the latter form
will be generally preferable, either for the purposes of labour, or of food
to mankind." In further elucidation of this interesting subject, Mr.
Knight, the author of the above extract, adds, that he " imported some
Norwegian pony mares, with the intention of obtaining cross-bred animals
between them and the London dray horse, having satisfied himself that
the experiment might be made without danger or injury to the smaller
animal. The bodies and shoulders of the cross-bred animals which he
obtained are exclusively deep, comparatively with the length of their le^s,
which remains unchanged, except that the joints, being greatly larger, on
account of the greatly increased strength of the legs, and being of the
same form, necessarily occupy a little more space. The strength of these
animals appears to be very great." — Knight's Physiological Papers.

46 THE HORSE.

adding materially to the bulk of the frame of the
animal generated, we should select a larger female
than male ; and when the object is to generate a colt
of increased bodily bulk with diminished length of
the motive agents, a small-sized mare should be put
to a more powerful stallion.

In selecting stock for breeding purposes, care should
always be taken to exclude such as are tainted with
hereditary diseases. Certain diseases of the eye have
been frequently observed to be transmitted from parent
to offspring. Again, contraction of the feet, and
founder, when existing in either of the parents, have
re-appeared in the colt. The same applies to ossific
deposits, as spavins and ringbones, where it is sus-
pected the predisposition to them was inherited.
The diseased habit of roaring is sometimes trans-
missible from the parent to the produce.

Stock should not be allowed to generate too early
in life, before their powers are fully confirmed, nor to
continue after their stamina have become impaired by
premature or mature age and decrepitude. A colt of
two years may sometimes possibly get promising and
useful stock ; but if a filly breed before she is three
years old, the produce is frequently diminutive in pro-
portions and deficient in energy of constitution, speed,
or bottom. As a general rule, brood mares ought not
to be allowed to commence before the attainment of
their fifth year. More valuable horses for general uses,
and more good racers for turf purposes, have been
thrown by mares advanced in life, than by those of
immature age. Brood-mares retain the function of
reproduction to a late period. Mr. Pratt's Squint
mare produced seventeen foals, the last being Purity,
Avho was not foaled until the mother had acquired the
age of twenty-four. Purity proved fully equal to any
of her former stock. The Tartar mare bred at the
age of twenty-eight years the celebrated horse Mer-

AGE OF PARENTS. 47

cury, and the next year produced Volunteer, and at
thirty-six she threw the dam of Mr. Hutchinson's
Oberon. Atlanta also bred Rosalind at an advanced
age. In the same manner, some of the most extraor-
dinary stock of former days were the product of stal-
lions advanced in life ; Eclipse, Snap, Young Marsk,
Bottom's Starling, Blank, Partner, and Match'em,
may be instanced as examples. In breeding race
horses it is highly essential that the muscular system
of the stallion should not be allowed to lapse into a
state of weakness from the want of due exercise, for
exercise contributes to his health and muscular
energy, and if he be deficient in either at the time of
copulation, the foal may be reasonably expected to
suffer constitutionally in a similar degree. For a like
reason it is obviously destructive to the stamina of
the foal that the constitution of either of its parents
should have suffered from insufficiency of food or
other debilitating causes : a fact marking the influence
that the vigourousness of the dam's constitution has
on that of her offspring is seen in the superiority of
the produce, where the mare is only allowed to breed
every alternate year, instead of every year. No
animal can be well formed that has been at all stinted
in the supply of nourishment necessary to its fullest
growth and natural demand, from the earliest period
of foetal existence to complete formation of all its
parts. On this account, Mr. Cline, in a short essay
on the form of animals, reprobates the practice of
connecting a diminutive mare with a large-sized horse.
He considered it not alone dangerous to the mother
at the time of parturition, but calculated to diminish
the development of the foal, from the insufficiency of
aliment afforded to it during its intra-uterine exist-
ence, and subsequently by the inadequate supply of
milk.

Connected with the important subject of the

48 THE HORSE.

generation of animal life, is a fact well worthy the
deepest attention of those interested in the improve-
ment of our breeds of horses. It has not hitherto
attracted much attention, and its important effects
are comparatively neglected. Past observation has
already elicited that which future research and experi-
ment may confirm, and either render applicable to
useful purposes, or raise as a warning against the
continuation of the practice. It has already been
noticed, that if the dam should have been previously
impregnated by a horse differing from her somewhat
widely in his characteristics, that that pre-conception
will so materially influence the economy of the female
as to produce a marked and unexpected impression on
the form and nature of the future offspring begotten
by another male. To elucidate this point, it will only
be necessary to state some circumstances which oc-
curred in the stud of the Earl of Morton. He was
desirous of obtaining a mule between a male quagga
and a mare, and selected for that purpose a mare of
nearly pure Arabian blood, and a fine male of the
quagga species, which, copulating, in due time pro-
duced a female hybrid. Subsequently the same mare
was put twice to a fine black Arab stallion, and
produced, first a filly, and afterwards a colt. This
filly and colt, bearing no distinct relationship to the
quagga, yet strongly resembled it. They possessed his
peculiar lists or stripes along the back and across the
forehead ; in the filly the mane was also short, thick,
stiff, and upright, like the quagga's ; in the colt, the
mane was much larger, but so stiff as to arch up-
wards and hang clear of the sides of the neck ; in
other respects they were apparently of equine form-
ation. The same mare was again put to the same
horse, in the expectation that repeated reproduction,
and length of time, would obliterate the peculiar
impression; but the farther the removal from any

TIME OF FOALING. 49

probable influence, the more distinct were the quagga
markings of the produce, and the greater their ap-
parent relationship to that animal. Some paintings
by Agasse, illustrating this curious subject, are
deposited in the Museum of the Royal College of
Surgeons, London. The horse is not singular in
this extraordinary matter, for phenomena of similar
nature have repeatedly been noticed in swine, dogs,
and cats.

Nature has most wisely provided that the birth of
the foal should take place at a period of the year
most favourable to its well-being, but domestication
sometimes so perverts this arrangement as to render
the directing assistance of man requisite for the
resumption of the original and natural course. Some
inconvenience might arise from the foal's falling too
soon in the spring in such a changeable climate as
prevails in this country. The early growth of
the tender offspring would be liable to be checked
by the inclemency of the season, and by the want
of the requisite quantity of milk, seeing that it can
only be supplied when the fodder possesses the ne-
cessary succulence. Indifferent or insufficient ali-
ment to the mother invariably produces a thin
aqueous milk, scarcely equal to sustain the life of the
colt, and uncalculated to confer on him either strength
or vigour.* The evil of foaling too late in the year
is, that the winter sets in before the delicate frame of
the foal has acquired sufficient strength to meet its
severities ; and the disadvantage is permanently dis-

* In the northern countries of the temperate zone the usual time of the
mare's bringing forth is the spring, in natural accordance to the annual
fertility of the earth, in order that the young animal may be properly
provided for ; but, in Egypt, this periodicity of production is somewhat
altered, for, instead of the spring being the time of foaling, by a wise ex-
ception, it succeeds the reflux of the Nile, when the land, by becoming
covered with verdure, is admirably fitted for its support. In that
country the foaling season consequently varies from November to April.

E

50 THE HORSE.

played in the deficiencies of its frame and figure.
The last week in April or the first in May, is generally
recommended as the most proper time in the whole
year for the mare to receive the stallion.

Common assertion fixes the period of gestation, or
the time intervening between conception and foaling,
at eleven months ; but whether calendar or lunar
months are to be understood is not explained. This
discrepancy will appear the more unsatisfactory when
it is recollected that eleven calendar months want but
two days of twelve lunar ones. No attempt has been
made in this country to resolve the question. In
France, M. Tessier endeavoured to arrive at some
degree of correctness as to the average time of ges-
tation, by registering a large number of mares. He
proved that the term of eleven calendar months was
often exceeded by several weeks, and sometimes,
though less frequently, parturition took place within
that period. "In 582 mares, which copulated but
once, the shortest period was 287 days, and the
longest 419 ; making the extraordinary difference of
132 days, and of 82 beyond the usual term of eleven
months." {Blaine 's Vet. Outlines.) On another oc-
casion, an account was kept of the duration of
pregnancy of 101 mares. Of these

3

foaled

in 311 days;

1

j?

in 314 days;

1

»

in 325 days ;

1

?5

in 326 days ;

1

JJ

in 330 days;

47

?}

in from 340 to

350

days ;

25

5J

in from 350 to

360

days ;

21

»

in from 360 to

377

days ;

1

51

in 394 days.

Thus the extremes varied 83 days, while the average
was about 351 days, or fifty weeks one day each. Some

FOALING. 51

breeders entertain an opinion that old brood mares
carry the foal considerably longer than young ones,
but they offer no satisfactory evidence in corroboration
of their view.

The signals of approaching parturition are, enlarge-
ment of the external parts of generation, and a
gummy exudation from the orifices of the teats.
Birth generally takes place within twenty-four hours
after the appearance of the latter symptom, but the
first acts as a warning, by preceding it for several
days.

It is but seldom that the mare requires manual
assistance at the time of foaling, which generally takes
place without difficulty or danger, in the night. The
mare, unlike the generality of quadrupeds, foals stand-
ing. She rarely produces twins, and when double births
do occur, the offspring almost invariably dies. The
custom prevails among some breeders of depriving
the foal of the first milk that is secreted ; they ima-
gine they can improve on nature, and because they
see that the commencing secretion of the udder is
discoloured, they ignorantly infer it must be unwhole-
some, whereas the converse is the fact, for it possesses
properties which materially contribute to the health
and well-being of the young animal. After foaling,
the mare and produce should be placed to grass in
some well-sheltered paddock.

Moderate work, or at all events exercise, is bene-
ficial to mares in foal. Work should only be dis-
pensed with when there exists a predisposition to
abortion ; on all other occasions it will be found
conducive to the health of both dam and foal, and
tend to lessen the danger at birth. It is at all times
proper for mares in foal to lie out during the night,
or at least in a box of considerable dimensions, as they
are by no means so likely to displace the foal as when
under the constraint of a narrow stall.

E 2

52 THE HORSE.

During suckling, hard food decreases the quantity
of milk produced, though possibly it gains in quality
what it loses in abundance, but a daily feed or two of
corn enables the mare to support the double call on
her if she be again in foal.

It is customary to take brood mares to the stallion
on or about the ninth day after foaling, and, if they
then refuse, which is seldom the case, they are
offered again during the succeeding week. There is
little objection to this proceeding, if the mare be in
good condition, and not debilitated by the late process
of reproduction. Should she show symptoms of
weakness, or the owner be desirous of raising the
character of the produce, it is decidedly best to defer
allowing her to receive the horse for a year. On
comparing the appearance, structure, qualities, and
performances of such produce thrown by mares when
breeding every year with their own or other mares'
colts bred at intervals of alternate years, the advan-
tage is decidedly in favour of the latter. And it
is but reasonable to suppose that such should be
the case, for when the economy of the dam is taxed
at the same time to contribute to the formation of the
embryo and to supply the foal by her side with milk,
one or the other, or both, will in all probability suffer
deterioration. But few of the higher mammals breed
and give suck at the same time ; most of the females
of the human race undergo a suspension of the gene-
rative power during the continuance of the act of
suckling, and it is wisely ruled that such should be
the case, for an uninterrupted repetition of the process
of reproduction cannot but have a tendency to under-
mine the stamina of the parent, and, as like generates
like, that debility will be unerringly reflected on the
offspring.

The foal should be early accustomed to feed on
corn, and about the time of weaning, the quantity of

WEANING. 53

it may be advantageously increased. Naturally the
colt sucks nearly ten months, but when mares breed
every year, this time should be abbreviated, and foals
that have fallen in April ought to be weaned during
the following September. When first separated from
their dams, they are usually confined to a paddock, with
warm roomy sheds attached, in which there ought to
be placed a low rack and manger. Both hay and
bruised oats should now be liberally supplied, in pro-
portion to the size and wants of the colts. Carrots
have been recommended as good food for colts ; they
are beneficial as an early food, and may be moderately
supplied when the other food given is deficient in suc-
culence, or the bowels of the colt become costive.
Oats in the straw will induce them to eat corn when
they sometimes refuse it in the thrashed state. Meal,
wheat-bran, or almost any farinaceous food maybe given
them. Colts have repeatedly been reared by hand,
substituting the milk of the cow or ass for that of its
parent. Mr. Blaine cites the cases of Cade and
Milksop, who were so treated, and subsequently proved
good racers. The Arabs never allow the foal to re-
main with the mother more than thirty days after its
birth ; it is then weaned, and for the space of a hun-
dred days more is not permitted to have any other
food than camel's milk; even water is not allowed:
a little wheat soaked in water is then given, but ca-
mel's milk still continues to form the colt's principal
food. Such is the diet for another hundred days, but
during the latter part of this period he is permitted to
feed occasionally upon scanty grass near the tent, and
to drink water. This second space of a hundred days
having fully elapsed, barley is given, and the quantity
of milk increased. The Nedjd Arabs substitute for
corn a paste composed of dates and water. *

* Buckhardt's Notes on the Bedouins and Wahabys.
e 3

54 THE HORSE.

Castration is performed by some breeders before
the colt is weaned, but the prevailing practice is, to
defer this operation until the animal has attained the
age of twelve months. (See Castration.) No young
horses should be kept constantly in the stable, as it
retards their developement, injures their health, and is
particularly destructive to their feet.

BRITISH AND FOREIGN BREEDS OF THE HORSE.

As an appendix to this short notice of the economi-
cal regulations which demand the attention of the
breeder of horses, it will not be improper to offer a
description of the principal British and foreign breeds
and varieties of the animal under consideration. For
an account of most foreign horses we shall be com-
pelled to resort to the works of travellers, who, hav-
ing visited the countries whose animals they describe,
were able to form an opinion of their merits with a
truthfulness governed by the correctness of the judg-
ment.

DOMESTIC BREEDS AND VARIETIES OF THE HORSE.

The original character of the British horse has be-
come almost obliterated. So numerous have been the
importations of animals from abroad, that his true
derivation, like that of the people themselves, is com-
pletely obscured. Each invading band brought with
them, in all probability, horses from their own country .
Thus were introduced Roman, Saxon, Danish, Norwe-
gian, and Norman horses, which, mixing with the
native breeds and with each other, must have nearly
annihilated all trace of the indigenous breeds. Since
these invasions, selections have been made from other
foreign countries. The Arabian, the Turkish, the
Barbary, the Neapolitan, the Andalusian, and the

BRITISH VARIETIES. 55

Flemish horses have been imported, and have pro-
duced changes, the salutary effects of which are still
apparent.

Perhaps the races of British horses least intermixed
with foreign blood of any description, are the shelties
of northern Scotland, the hobbies of Ireland, and the
foresters and ponies of several parts of England ;
mostly of diminutive size, their utility and value is
contracted, and they form a very unimportant section
of the British equidce. Those of Shetland run from
nine to ten hands in height, and are thought large at
eleven hands. The smallest are found in the northern
isles of Yell and Unst. During the very hard winters
they resort to the beach to eat the sea-ware. They
are extremely hardy, and live to a great age, fre-
quently to twenty-six, twenty- eight, and thirty years.
The black ones are considered the best. Some very
small ponies are said to exist in one of the western
islands of Scotland, called Terie, belonging to the
Duke of Argyle.

Among the most distinct races now existing in the
United Kingdoms, or those which have preserved or
created peculiarities which distinguish them from the
general mass, are the Cleveland bays, the Clydesdale
breed, the Suffolk punch, and the Connemara horse,
to which Professor Low has lately drawn public
attention. It is found alone in the county Gal way,
Ireland, and is evidently of Spanish origin, still main-
tained with the utmost purity. Their introduction is
traditionally referred to the year 1588, when some
ships, part of the Spanish Armada, were wrecked on
the western coast. Their height is from twelve to
fourteen hands, and their prevailing colour chestnut,
t— the same as that of the Andalusian race. They are
described as hardy, active, and sure-footed in a remark-
able degree, and still retaining the peculiar amble of the
Spanish jennet.

E 4

56 THE HORSE.

From the imported races, celebrated either for blood
or bone, have sprung varieties, which by judicious
management and cultivation now exceed in their
particular uses the stock from which they have
descended. Our heavy draught horses, the produce
of foreign crossing, now excel their progenitors in
strength as much as our turf horses exceed in fleet-
ness the native Arabian. England is a new Arabia
to the rest of the world, and so high is the present
estimation of British horses of all descriptions that
numbers continue to be annually exported to the
continents of the old and new world. Wherever speed
is considered a valuable acquisition, there does the
English race horse meet with the highest estimation ;
of the fleet he is the fleetest, —

" Sprung from the winds, and like the winds in speed."

When racing first became fashionable among the
gentry of England, horses were imported from the
northern coast of Africa, from Turkey, and from
Arabia, in great numbers, with the view of improving
the domestic breeds, but whether those procured were
of the best character is perhaps doubtful. Still all
the excellencies of the present British turf horse may
be traced to Eastern blood. James the First pur-
chased an Arabian stallion for 500/., certainly a large
sum when the times are considered. Some others
were imported during the Commonwealth. On the
.Restoration, at the commencement of Charles the
Second's reign, the Damascus Arabian was brought
over, and was followed by the Byerley Turk, who
produced some good stock. The Stradling or Lister
Turk was introduced in James the Second's time ; he
became the sire of Brisk, Snake, and many others,
celebrated in the early annals of the sport.* Subse-

* Evelyn, in his Memoirs (vol. i. p. 577.), has left us a description of

FOREIGN IMPORTATIONS. 57

quently the Darley Arab made his appearance in
England ; he was sire of the renowned Flying Childers,
perhaps the fleetest and best-bottomed horse ever
known. He was never beaten, and ran over the
Newmarket Beacon Course (four miles, one furlong,
138 yards) in seven minutes and thirty seconds.
About the year 1730 the Godolphin Arabian was
purchased in Paris, where he is said to have been
employed to draw a water cart. From this horse
many of our best blood are descended. These intro-
ductions proving so beneficial, were succeeded by
others in quick succession ; but after a time, the same
benefit not appearing to follow each importation, the
custom fell into desuetude. The British race horse
now far exceeds its eastern progenitors in height,
power, and speed.

The custom formerly prevailed of running long
distances under heavy weights. Though this was

some other horses of Eastern blood that were brought into this country
in the year 1684: — " Early this morning I went into St. James's Park to
see these Turkish or Asian horses, newly brought over, and now first shewed
to his Maty. There were foure,but one of them died at sea, being three
weeks coming from Hamborow. They were taken from a Bashaw at the
siege of Vienna, at the late famous raising that leaguer. I never beheld
so delicate a creature as one of them, of somewhat a bright bay, two
white feet, a blaze ; such a head, eyes, eares, neck, breast, belly, haunches,
legs, pasterns, and feete, in all reguards beautifull and proportion'd to
admiration ; spirited, proud, nimble, making halt, turning with that swift-
nesse, and in so small a compasse, as was admirable. With all this so
gentle and tractable as call'd to mind what I remember Busbequises
speakes of them, to the reproach of our groomes of Europe, who bring
up their horses so churlishly as makes most of them retain their ill habits.
They trotted like does, as if they did not feele the ground : 500 ginnies
Avas demanded for the first ; 300 for the second; and 200 for the third,
wch was browne. All of them were choicely shap'd, but the two last
not altogether so perfect as the first. It was judg'd by the spectators,
among whom was the King, Prince of Denmark, Duke of Yorke, and
several of the Court, noble persons skill'd in horses, especially Mons.
Faubert and his sonne, (provost masters to ye Academie, and esteem'd of
the best in Europe,) that there were never seene any horses in these parts
to be compar'd with them. * * * They were shod with yron made
round and closed at the heele, with a hole in the middle about as wide as
a shilling. The hoofes most entire."

58 THE HORSE.

sometimes carried to a cruel and unwarrantable
extreme, the practice was conducive to the develope-
ment of the most valuable qualities of the horse. It
led to a combination of strength with speed, and was
consequently of far greater utility to the public
generally than the present system, which is calcu-
lated entirely to promote one object — fleetness.
Neither was it then customary to run so early in life,
before the animal had lost the distinctives of colt-
hood. By the present injudicious racing regulations
both the strength and safety of the animal are disre-
garded, every thing being sacrificed for velocity.

Each different use to which the ingenuity of man
has applied the horse, appears to have called forth
a peculiar kind or breed adapted to it. Thus, in
England, we have generated the race horse by an
intermixture of Eastern blood with the best of our
own produce ; and the hunter has been originated by
combining many of the qualities of the turf horse with
a certain degree of strength necessary to enable him
to support heavier weights, and to continue his exer-
tion for a more extended period. The almost infinite
varieties of the hackney, from the cover hack to the
shooting pony, have each their peculiar gradation of
form adapting them to their respective uses. The same
applies to the charger, and the light and heavy troop
horse. Again, the light draught horses combine the
proportions which give facility of voli-motion, with
those which confer a degree of muscular power
adapted to the weight they are desired to impel.
The farmer's plough horse, though classed with others
under the general term of cart horse, differs widely
from the ponderous dray horse of the London brewer-
ies. They are each bred for distinct uses, and pos-
sess advantages peculiar to themselves, fitting them
to the different purposes to which they are applied.

THE ARAB HORSE. 59

THE ARAB HORSE.
" True riches are a noble and spirited breed of horses." — Mahomet.

Arabia lias long and justly been celebrated for the
beauty and excellence of its race of horses ; the climate
appears as adapted to maturing the powers of the
horse, as the horse is fitted to the roaming and pre-
datory habits of the people. In the conquests of
Islamism we can trace the decimation of Arab blood ;
wherever they went they left an improved and valu-
able breed of horses. The immediate successors of
Mahomet extended their fierce religious conquests
along the northern coast of Africa, and crossing the
Mediterranean subdued the whole of the Peninsula.
To these ambitious inroads are principally due all that
superiority which is, or was, found in the horses of
Egypt, Barbary, and other African states ; and to
this cause Spain owes nearly all the excellence of her
breeds of horses, which once rendered them so highly
prized and eagerly sought by the rest of Europe.
To the influence of Arab blood may also be ascribed
the superiority of the Toorkmun and Persian horses.

In Arabia the horse meets with the most sedulous
care and attention ; at the moment of its birth it is
not allowed to fall to the ground, but is received by the
Bedouins in their arms, and cherished for several
hours, washing and stretching its tender limbs. The
Arabian horse is small Avhen compared with the Eng-
lish racer, but the symmetry of its limbs is perfect.
It is full of fire and spirit, but nevertheless exceedingly
tractable and good-tempered. The form and expression
of the head is admirable. Its endurance is great, and
fleetness considerable. The Arabs are said not to be
so nice in the choice of a stallion as the European
breeders ; for they ascribe the good qualities of the colt
rather to the dam than the sire. They keep their horses

60 THE HORSE.

in the open air during the whole of the year, never
clean them, but are careful to walk them about
gently whenever they return from a ride.

" There are three breeds of horses in Syria : the
true Arab breed, the Toorkmun, and the Kourdy,
which is a mixture of the two former. The Arab
horses are mostly small ; in height seldom exceeding
fourteen hands ; but few are ill formed, and they
have all certain characteristic beauties, which distin-
guish their breed from any other. The Bedouins
count five noble breeds of horses, descended, as they
say, from the five favourite mares of their prophet —
Taueyse, Manekeye, Koheyl, Saklmvye, and Dujlfe.
These five principal races diverge into infinite ramifi-
cations. Every mare particularly swift and hand-
some, belonging to any one of the five chief races,
may give origin to a new breed, the descendants of
which are called after her ; so that the names of
different Arab breeds of the Desert are innumerable.
On the birth of a colt of noble breed, it is usual to
assemble some witnesses, and to write an account of
the colt's distinctive marks, with the names of its
sire and dam. The pedigree is often put into a small
piece of leather, covered with waxed cloth, and hung
round the horse's neck.

" The best pasturing places of Arabia not only
produce the greatest number of horses, but likewise
the finest and most select race. The best Koheyls of
the Khomse are found in Nedjcl, on the Euphrates,
and in the Syrian deserts ; while in the southern parts
of Arabia, and particularly in Yemen, no good breed
exists but those which have been imported from the
north. From all that has come to my knowledge, on
the very best authority, I have no hesitation in say-
ing, that the finest race of Arabian blood horses may
be found in Syria ; and that of all the Syrian districts
the most excellent in this respect is the Hauran,

HORSES OF PERSIA. 61

where the horses may be purchased at first cost, and
chosen among the camps of the Arabs themselves,
who occupy the plains in spring time. The horses
bought up at Basra for the Indian market are pur-
chased at second hand from Bedouin dealers, and an
Arab will rarely condescend to offer a good horse at
a. distant market without a certainty of selling it.
True blood horses of the Khomse, as I have been
credibly informed, seldom find their way to Basra ;
and most of the horses purchased there for the Indian
market belong to the Montefyk Arabs, who are not
very solicitous about giving a pure breed. It might
perhaps be advisable for the great European powers
to have persons, properly qualified, employed in pur-
chasing horses for them in Syria, as the best mode of
crossing and ennobling their own studs. Damascus
would be the best position for the establishment of
such persons. I am induced to suspect that very few
true Arabian horses, of the best breeds, and still less
any of the first rate among them, have ever been
imported into England, although horses of Syria,
Barbary, and Egypt, have passed under the name of
Arabs." — Burckhardts Notes on the Bedouins and
Wahdbys.

HORSES OF PERSIA AND TOORKISTAN.

The Persian horses appear to rank next to the Arab
for beauty and spirit. They seldom exceed fourteen
or fourteen and a half hands in height, yet certainly,
on the whole, are taller than the Arabs. They have
fine foreheads, and are well proportioned, light, and
sprightly. Though lovely creatures to look on, they
are neither so swift as the Arabian, nor so hardy as

62 THE HORSE.

the Tartar horse, and the Shah therefore has always
a stable of the Arabian blood.*

The Toorkmun horse is described by Sir E. K. Por-
ter as scanty in barrel, with long legs, very often ewe
necks, and always large heads ; but when crossed with
the Persian, produces a most magnificent looking
creature, all elegance and elasticity, being of a rather
stronger mould than the Nidjd Arab. This state-
ment is confirmed by the lamented Sir Alexander
Burnes, who being a good judge of horses, his opinion
is valuable. He remarks that " the Toorkmun horse
is a large and bony animal, more remarkable for
strength and bottom than symmetry and beauty. Its
crest is nobly erect, but the length of body detracts
from its appearance in the eye of an European ; nor
is its head so small or its coat so sleek as the brood of
Arabia. This want of ornament is amply compensated
by its more substantial virtues, and its utility is its
beauty. The breed of Toorkmun horse is of the
purest kind. When the animal is over-heated, or has
performed any great work, nature bursts a vein for
it in the neck, which I did not at first credit, till I had
become an eye-witness of the fact. The Toorkmuns

* " Media may be deemed the cradle of what was afterwards denomi-
nated the Persian power ; for it produced not only a hardy race of men,
but also a numerous breed of the finest horses, from whence was formed
the best cavalry of Asia; which were, in fact, Median, although the
superior fortune of Persia communicated its name to those, in common
with the empire at large. It is well known that the Medes held the sove-
reignty of Asia, previous to the Persians. The horses in question were
those bred in the Niscean pastures ; and which were so much famed for
size, and for beauty and swiftness, in almost every ancient historian and
geographer. These pastures are recognised in the beautiful country above
the Mount Zagros, between Ghilanee and Kermanshah. Nisceus was a dis-
trict in Media, remarkable for producing horses of an extraordinary size.
Xerxes' chariot was drawn by them, and the sacred horses in the pro-
cession were Nisaean ; Alexander gave a Nissan horse to Calanus, to
carry him to the funeral pile. The King of Parthia sacrificed one to the
Sun, when Apollonius of Tyana visited his court. Masistius rode a
Nisa?an horse at the decisive battle of Platfea." — RennelVs Geog. of
Herodotus, vol. i. p. 359.

THE TOORKMUN HORSE. bd

cut their horses ; and it is a popular belief among
them that they are then more alert, and undergo
greater fatigue than stallions. The Toorkmuns believe
them to be exceedingly nice in hearing, and will often
trust to their steeds for the alarm of an approaching
enemy. I was particularly struck with the fine crests
of the Toorkmun horses ; and I heard, though I
could not authenticate its truth by observation, that
they are often confined in the stable with no other
aperture than a window in the roof, which teaches the
animal to look up, and improves his carriage. The
contrivance seems fitted to the end. The finer horses
of the Toorkmuns are seldom sold, for their owners
may be truly said to have as much regard for them
as their children. It must not, however, be imagined
that all the horses of Toorkistan are equally renowned ;
for almost every person beyond the Oxus has a mount
of some kind: a great portion of them are very inferior
animals. In Bokhara there are many Kuzzak horses,
a sturdy and little animal, with a shaggy coat and
very long mane and tail, much and deservedly ad-
mired. They are brought from the deserts between
Bokhara and Russia." There is a breed of horses on
the Oxus, curious for being invariably marked by
dimples in some part of the body.

HORSES OF TARTARY.

According to an interesting account of Tartary,
the horses make but a sorry appearance, being narrow-
chested, deficient in buttock, with long necks, inflex-
ible, stilty legs, and no carcass. They are besides of
frightful leanness, but, for all this, are exceedingly
swift, and almost indefatigable. A little grass or moss
contents them.

G4 THE HORSE.

HORSES OF AEGHAUNISTAUN.

The Hon. Mountstuart Elphinston, in offering a
description of the domestic animals of Afghannistaun,
observes, that the horse claims the first notice. " A
considerable number," he continues, " is bred in the
Afghaun dominions, and those of Heraut are very-
fine. I have one or two that had the figure of the
Arab, with superior size. A good breed of the Indian
kind, called Tauzee, is also found in Bunnoo and Da-
maun, and excellent horses of the same kind are bred
between the Hydaspes and Indus ; but in general the
horses of the Afghaun dominions are not remarkably
good, excepting the province of Bulkh, where they
are excellent and very numerous. A very strong and
useful breed of ponies, called Yauboos, is however
reared, especially about Baumiaun. They are used to
carry baggage, and can bear a great load, but do not
stand a long continuance of hard work so well as
mules." — Caubidj i. p. 189.

THE PUNJAB HORSE.

" At Puttee we visited one of the royal studs of
Runjeet Singh. We found about sixty brood mares,
chiefly of the Dunnee breed, from beyond the Hy-
daspes, where the country is of the same description
as Manja, dry and elevated. May not this aridity,
as resembing the soil of Arabia, where the horse at-
tains such perfection, have something to do with its
excellence ? These animals are fed exclusively on
barley, and a kind of creeping grass called ' doodj
which is considered most nutritive." — Burned Travels
in Bokhara, ii. p. 10.

THE INDIAN HORSE. 65

EAST INDIAN HORSES.

" The breeds of horses indigenous to Bengal are not
to be boasted of, whether for temper or other good
qualities. They have generally Roman noses, and
sharp narrow foreheads, much white in their eyes,
ill-shaped ears, square heads, thin necks, narrow
chests, shallow girths, lank bellies, cat hams, goose
rumps, and switch tails ! Some occasionally may be
found in every respect well shaped. They are hardy
and fleet, but incapable of carrying great weights.
Their vice is proverbial ; yet, until they arrive at
four or five years, they are often very docile and
gentle : after that period they for the most part are
given to rearing, kicking, biting, and a thousand
equally disagreeable habits. The farriers of India
commonly confine themselves to the mere shoeing
and trimming of horses, leaving the medical branch to
a set of quacks, called salootras, or horse-doctors, who
will be found to be the most formidable competitors
with our English practitioners in all the cant and
imposition usually attendant on the profession. As
to jockeyship, the Asiatic horse-dealer scorns to yield
the palm to any of our most experienced black-legs !
Not one of them will venture a horse he is about to
sell in the stables of the intended purchaser, unless
attended by one of his own syces, or grooms, who both
knows and is known by the animal. If the horse is
very old or naturally dull, the syce takes care to ply
him with spices and other stimulants; and if vicious,
opium and other anodynes are given ; so that the
horse is absolutely in a state of disguise." — William-
son's Wild Sports of the East.

THE EGYPTIAN HORSE.

The Egyptian horse possesses, as might be expected,
a great infusion of Arab blood. To this it owes all

QQ THE HORSE.

its good qualities ; for the fellahs by whom the prin-
cipal part of the horses of this country is bred, are
highly negligent, and quite innocent of any attempt
at improvement. This probably arises from their own
depressed and enslaved condition, and the insecurity
of their property. Few of the Egyptian horses stand
above fourteen hands, and the majority of them are
considerably under that height. They have neither
the beauty of head which is found in the Nedjd Arab
or in the English thorough-bred horse, for, although the
forehead is as broad, yet the nose is much more elon-
gated, and detracts materially from their beauty. The
neck is short and thick. The barrel circular and
well ribbed. The croup too often falls away from the
horizontal, but the haunches are rotund and muscular.
Their fore-legs are placed considerably under the body,
and they would be regarded in England as " standing
over." This is a formation very general amongst all
classes of horses in the East, and is caused by the
constant habit of hobbling the fore-legs to the hind
ones while in the stable at rest. It offers a good
illustration of the power which a custom continued
for numberless generations has on the proportions and
form of the existing animal. Their legs are exceed-
ing clean, and their feet good and free from contrac-
tion. Splints are nearly unknown. Spavins some-
times occur, from the Arab habit of throwing a horse
on his haunches for display, which is likewise a fre-
quent cause of abdominal hernia. They are active,
enduring, and extremely sure-footed. Few blind
horses are seen, which appears rather extraordinary,
as blindness is so very frequent among the people.
The prevailing colours are the grey and chestnut.
Castration is not practised. The most frequent dis-
eases are mange, farcy, and glanders. Many Egyp-
tian horses find their way into this country under the
name of Arabs.

THE NUBIAN HORSE. 67

THE NUBIAN HORSE.

" At Halfaia and Gerri begins," says the enterpris-
ing Bruce, in his Travels, " that noble race of horses
justly celebrated all over the world. They are the
breed which was introduced here at the Saracen con-
quest, and have been preserved unmixed to this day.
They seem to be a distinct animal from the Arabian
horse such as I have seen in the plains of Arabia
Deserta, south of Palmyra and Damascus, where I
take the most excellent of the Arabian breed to be,
in the tribes of Mowalli and Annecy, which is about
latitude 36° ; whilst Dongola and the dry country
near it seem to be the centre of excellence for this
noble animal ; so that the bounds within which the
horse is in its greatest perfection seems to be between
the degrees of latitude 20° and 36°, and between lon-
gitude 30° east from the meridian of Greenwich to
the banks of the Euphrates. From this extent Fah-
renheit's thermometer is never below 50° in the night,
or in the day-time below 80°, though it may rise to
120° at noon in the shade, at which point horses are
not affected by the heat, but will breed as they do at
Halfaia, Gerri, and Dongola, where the thermometer
rises to these degrees. These countries, from what
has been said, must of course be a dry sandy desert,
with little water, producing short, or no grass, but
only roots, which are blanched like our celery, being
always covered Avith earth, having no marshes or
swamps, fat soapy earth, or mould. I never heard
of wild horses in any of these parts. Arabia Deserta,
where they are said to be, seems very ill calculated to
conceal them, it being flat, without wood or cover:
they must therefore be constantly in view ; and I
never heard any person of veracity say they ever saw
wild horses in Arabia. Wild asses I have frequently

F 2

68 THE HOUSE.

seen alive, but never dead, in neck, head, face, and
tail very like ours, only their skins are streaked and
not spotted. The zebra is found nowhere in Abyssi-
nia, but in the south-west extremity of Knara, among
the Shangalla and Guba, in Narea and Caffa, and in
the mountains of Dyre and Tegla, and to the south-
ward nearly as far as the Cape. What figure the
Nubian breed of horses would make in point of fleet-
ness, is very doubtful, their make being so entirely
different from that of the Arabian ; but if beautiful
and symmetrical parts, great size and strength, the
most agile, nervous, and elastic movements, great en-
durance of fatigue, docility of temper, and seeming
great attachment to man beyond any other domestic
animal, can promise anything for a stallion, the Nu-
bian is, above all comparison, the most eligible in the
world. The horses of Halfaia and Gerri do not arrive
at the size of those in Dongola, where few are lower
than sixteen hands. They are black and white, but
a vast proportion of the former to the latter. I never
saw the colour we call grey, that is, dappled, but
there are some bright bays, or inclining to sorrel."
Vol. vi. pp. 430—432.

HORSES OF SOUTH AMERICA.

On the wide plains of South America roam innu-
merable troops of semi-wild horses, descended from
the fine Spanish race, whose general characteristics
they have not yet altogether lost. Those of the Pam-
pas are described by Miers as a " rather small breed,
half blooded, and for short distances very swift, but
they are soon fatigued, and consequently not so well
adapted to perform the long stages they are obliged
to travel. Every proprietor of an estancia has a par-

THE AMERICAN HORSE. 69

ticular mark, which is burnt in upon the skin of the
animal. It is generally some initial or rude character
about six inches long. When any animal changes its
owner, the seller puts another of his marks, making
it double ; this is called the contrayerro, and denotes
his having no longer claim to the beast. The pur-
chaser then affixes his mark to establish his claim.
These markings are necessary in a country without
fences, and where it frequently happens that herds
belonging to different persons are mixed together."
In the mountains of Venezuela " there is a singular-
looking breed of horses of very diminutive size ; not
neatly formed like ponies, but rather resembling cart
horses in miniature. They have large shaggy manes,
very rough coats, and thick fetlocks, covered with
long hair. They are never shod, nor are their hoofs
ever pared ; so that the horny part projects forwards,
in some instances to nearly a foot in length. This
gives the animal a most awkward appearance, and
suggests the idea of people walking with snow-shoes ;
yet, notwithstanding this apparent incumbrance, they
are very sure-footed little animals, and considered
equal to mules on bad rocky roads."

Tlie Mexican Prairie horse possesses a fine, delicate
head, wide nostrils, slim, tapering, and clean limbs,
small and hard hoofs, and an Arabian symmetry of
form. They troop together in large numbers, headed
by a leader, who, when the whole body are in rapid
motion, circles round them at full speed, driving up
the laggards in the rear, and then returns to his
post in front, with the greatest apparent ease.

NORTH AMERICAN HORSE.

Within the precincts of the United States the horse
has been cultivated with considerable attention. Some

F 3

70 THE HORSE.

of the most improved breeds of Europe have lately been
introduced with marked benefit. In most parts of
North America fast trotting horses are esteemed above
all others. It is the prevalent and fashionable method
of testing the power of their horses ; and certainly
appears well calculated to establish properties highly
useful to the community. The more rapid pace of
the gallop is rejected for the more useful one the trot.
The most remarkable trotters that have ever appeared
in England were brought from the United States ;
amongst them may be instanced Tom Thumb, Rattler,
Rochester, and Confidence. The Americans properly
attack our system of turf breeding : they say we go
for speed, surpassing speed ; and having aimed at
this alone for half a century, and still continuing the
practice, it will not be surprising if we lose everything
else that is valuable.

Tlie naturalized Canadian horse is a sturdy, useful,
and hardy little animal. They bear hardships and
fatigue with astonishing fortitude and resignation.
When in a foam of sweat, they are often compelled to
wait for hours exposed to all the rigours of a Canadian
winter, but without any injury, for they resume their
work, ornamented with icicles, but with their wonted
willingness and good temper.

THE SPANISH HORSE.

Spain appears to have been long celebrated for its
generous race of horses. From this country the
Romans drew large numbers to replenish their cavalry.
The soil and climate seem adapted to develope the na-
tural qualities of the horse. The Moorish irruption in
the year 710, by introducing Eastern blood, tended fur-
ther to heighten the esteem in which they had been
previously held. Near Aranjuez are established the

FRENCH HORSES. 71

royal stables of breeding mares, in which they endeavour
to preserve the Spanish horse in all its ancient beauty.
The building has for inscription, " Vento gravidas ex
prole putaris." The stud consisted formerly of 400
mares and 20 stallions of the choicest selection. Here
also were kept 18 stallion-asses and 300 mares for
breeding mules, so requisite in the mountainous parts
of the country.

FRENCH HORSES.

Arthur Young, in his Tour through France, ob-
serves, that the horses of Limousin are the best of
the kingdom. They are used for the saddle. No
corn is given them until they are five years old, and
they are not worked until they arrive at the sixth
year. The Norman horse is a large and powerful
animal, used almost exclusively for draught. Con-
siderable amelioration has been effected by the in-
troduction of English and Arab blood amongst the
lisrhter sorts of horses, and the Lancashire and other
cart horses among those of a heavier description. The
general character of the French horse is a broad chest
and round barrel, muscular arms, and angular hocks.
In addition, his feet are upright, approaching to those
of the mule ; and he has pendulous lips on a rather
large and bony head. The horses of the Department
of Haute-Marne, according to the account given by
M. Mariot, are of three distinct breeds, of very in-
ferior description. A great many of the Vadicasse
breed of the Basin of the Meuse are sold for the Paris
market. Their colour is roan, height from fourteen to
fifteen hands, head large, and limbs strong, and covered
with hair. These animals are subject to periodical
attacks of diabetes and diarrhoea. The Lingone breed
are less in size, with large heads and pendent ears, a

F 4

72 THE HORSE.

good girth, but sloping croup. Their locality is the
valley of the Marne, and being inured to a stony and
unproductive soil, they are annually purchased, to
the number of 3000, for travelling in the mountain-
ous districts. Those of the Barrois race in the vale
of the Aube, being too small for draught or agricul-
tural purposes, are also used in the mountains, where
they are valued principally for their hardiness, agility,
and quietness.

HANOVERIAN HORSE.

One of the most celebrated breeds of Germany is
possessed by the King of Hanover, some of which are
milk-white and others cream-coloured. Many of the
former are albinoes, having blood-coloured pupils to
their eyes. They have generally a showy, muscular,
and rotund appearance, possess long manes and
tails, and exhibit a deal of knee action. They are
used in purposes of state parade, for which they are
well adapted. This breed is considered as sacred to
royalty, and is cultivated exclusively for the pomp
and grandeur of their appearance. Since the acces-
sion of the Hanoverian dynasty to the British throne,
it has been usual, at different periods, to draft some
of these horses into this country, for the purpose of
drawing the royal carriages on occasions of great
state.

73

CHAPTER III.

CONFORMATION.
ANIMAL MECHANICS.

" External form is an indication only of the internal structure. The
principles of improvement must therefore be founded on a knowledge of
the structure and use of internal parts." — Cline, on the Form of Animals.

It was the favourite practice of the older writers on
the manege to offer to the cavalier unvarying equine
maxims, to assist his judgment in the selection of his
destrier or war horse. Such of these quaint catalogues
of perfection as have been transmitted to us, appear
often particularly well adapted to the character and
wants of their age, when the qualities sought in the
animal were of the most simple kind. But, at the
present time, the uses to which the varieties of this
animal are applied have become so multiplied, and
properties so widely differing in their nature are
now required, as to render aphorisms on the subject
altogether inapplicable. A description which might
apply with force to one of the numerous cultivated
varieties of the horse, would be quite useless on at-
tempting to adapt it to another. From the light and
elastic form of the race horse, we demand simply
speed ; from the dray horse, power and weight : a
graduated union of these properties, or the structural
conformation giving rise to them, constitutes, respec-
tively, the hunter, the hack, and the coach horse.

The Romans were excellent judges of the " points"
or indications of qualities necessary to be attended to
in the choice of a horse. Such of their directions

74 THE HORSE.

as have descended to us fully evince the deep
interest they took in the subject. They prognosticated
favourably of a colt, who, when running in the pas-
tures, showed ambition to outstrip his companions.
Varro has left us the following detail of qualities de-
sirable in the war-horse: — " His head should be small ;
his limbs clean and compact ; his eyes bright and
sparkling ; his nostrils open and large ; his ears placed
near each other; his mane strong and full; his
shoulders flat and sloping backwards ; his barrel round,
compact, and rather small ; his loins broad and strong ;
his tail full and bushy; his legs straight and even;
his knees round and well knit; his hoofs hard and
tough ; and his veins large and swelling boldly
throughout his body."

The Arabian poet Amri Oka'is, a contemporary of
Mahomet, thus expresses his idea of equine perfec-
tion : — " He has loins of the gazelle, and the limbs of
an ostrich., He trots as the wolf, and gallops like a
young fox ; his haunches are large and robust. The
tufted tail trails almost to the earth, and fills up all
the space between the hinder limbs, without inclining
more to one side than the other."

The horseman need not seek for anything more
concise, nor expect to find a more correct and
forcible description of the traits demonstrative of
desirable properties, than Shakspere's well-known
lines : —

" Round-hoof d, short -jointed, fetlocks shag and long,
Broad breast, full eyes, small head, and nostril wide;

High crest, short ears, straight legs and passing strong,
Thin mane, thick tail, broad buttock, tender hide.

Look, what a horse should have he did not lack,

Save a proud rider on so proud a back."

The animo-mechanical construction of the horse
is replete with the beauty of natural design. Certainly
no animal is better fitted than it to the purposes to
which it is applied. In the bare skeleton there is

ANIMAL MECHANICS. 75

much to admire. The parts appear so well adapted
for their separate uses, that we have only to know
that they exist, and be satisfied that they are not
only necessary, but of such paramount importance
that no other possible mechanical arrangement would
so well perform their office. Yet, however striking
the adaptation of the various parts of the body con-
sidered separately, they each contribute towards the
ultimate object desired, and form an assemblage of
mechanical wonders, admirably subservient to unity
of purpose and design.

He possesses many beauties of formation in common
with other animals which approximate to him in size
and figure, but stands alone in the intelligent ex-
pression of his head, the simplicity and compactness
of his digestive organs, the great leverage of his hock,
and the wonderful mechanism displayed in the con-
struction of his hoof.

Bone. — The bones are the passive agents of loco-
motion ; they are the levers upon which the muscles
act. They support the body, and give protection to
the softer parts. Projections from the surfaces of the
bones offer advantageous points for the attachment of
muscles. As these projections act with lever power,
they cannot be too long, for length of leverage mechani-
cally diminishes the required intensity of muscular
force. This is particularly applicable to the spinous
and transverse processes of the vertebras, the point of
the ulna or elbow, and the os calcis of the hock. The
hollowness of bones increases their strength without
adding to their weight, as was first satisfactorily ex-
plained by Galileo, who proved " that two hollow
columns of the same quantity of matter, of the same
weight and length, bear to each other a proportion of
strength measured by the diameter of their internal
excavations." Largeness of bone is not an invariable
criterion of strength, as the density may often con-

76 THE HORSE.

siderably differ. The slender bone of the blood horse
is so much closer in grain, and denser in material,
that it comparatively outweighs the large porous bone
of a badly -bred cart-horse. Joints, being made up of
the articulating surfaces of bones, become the means
of extensive motion, often performed under consider-
able pressure. In order that flexure may be as un-
impeded as possible, and to obviate the occurrence of
disease from the friction which might ensue, it is
important that the bones at the joints should form
considerable expansions, so as to divide the weight as
much as possible, and distribute it over a more ex-
tensive surface.

It is an established law in mechanics, that a simple
joint cannot possess great strength, and yet admit of
considerable motion. In animals, when these two
objects are aimed at, the joint is generally a compound
one, or a series of joints. This is the case in the arch
of the human foot ; strength is there bestowed by the
peculiar arrangement of the bones, enabling them to
bear easily the whole weight of the body, and elas-
ticity is yet maintained by the play between each
separate joint. In the same manner, the hock and
the knee of the horse, being each composed of a series
of joints, accomplishes the same double object. In the
former, the motion is restricted to two bones, whilst
the others are principally employed in receiving the
superincumbent weight of the body and the propelling
lever pressure of the os calcis, and imparting a slight
spring in order to ward off concussive effects. The
motion of each individual joint is insignificant, but
when the effect of a series is combined, the quantity
provided is sufficient, and the strength of the part is
still preserved.

Muscle. — The condition of the muscles — the actual
moving powers of the animal machine, offers many indi-
cations of the horse's real energy. Tiny are the appro-

MUSCULAR ACTION. 77

priate organs of motion, distinguished from the other
tissues of the body by their peculiar texture, and their
vis vitalis or vital contractility. Muscles are made up
of fibres, arranged in bundles, or fasciculi, propor-
tionate in quantity to the required action. The effect
of their contraction is sometimes conveyed to distant
parts by rope-like tendons by which they are termi-
nated. As strong muscles are provided with strong
tendons, we may regard the relative size of the
tendons as indicative of muscular strength. The
muscles perform many different functions in the
animal economy, but the most important for our con-
sideration is the result of their contractions on the
bones of locomotion. The immediate effect of the con-
traction of a muscle is a drawing together of its points
of attachment, increasing in its diameter, but de-
creasing in length. Therefore, in proportion to the
length of the muscular fibres, will be their efficient
contractile power. In all cases where speed is required
long muscles are absolutely necessary, providing for
the complete flexion and extension of the limbs, and
giving the greatest possible scope to the stride ; but
in order that this extensive contraction should be
continued with ease, a due proportion of vital tonicity
of the muscular fibre is independently requisite. No
animal can be strong unless the muscles are well
developed, and of considerable bulk. Power is found
to depend on quantity of the contractile fibre. Ex-
ercise developes the muscular system, enlarging the
outline of the limbs, and increasing the facility and
force of the contraction. Tonicity of the muscular
fibre, constituting the principal element of condition,
is judged of by the firmness of the muscles under the
hand, by the absence of unnecessary tissue between
the bundles, and between themselves and the skin,
giving rise to a prominent, distinct, clean, and
well-marked appearance of each muscle beneath the
integuments.

78 THE HORSE.

A physiological fact, to which sufficient attention
has not been paid, is attached to muscular action. It
is rendered rather remarkable by its being opposed
to what mio-ht have been deduced from reflection
alone on the subject. It might naturally have been
expected, that if a known quantity of muscular tissue
could produce a certain action in a given time, an aug-
mentation of muscular fibre would effect a proportionate
increase in the rapidity of the contraction, — that the
time would be shortened ; but the converse is the fact,
for the smaller the muscles the more rapid the con-
traction ; or, as the quantity of muscular fasciculi
diminishes, the time occupied in the production of their
utmost contraction also decreases. This principle is
completely distinct from that of muscular power, and
must not be confounded with it. Illustrations of it
are found in the muscles closing the eyelids, which
act with proverbial quickness ; in the rapidity with
which the lizard darts on its prey, the fly, so that the
eye fails to mark its instantaneous movements, and
perceives only the effect ; and in the delicate mus-
cles which ply the wings of small birds and insects,
whose swiftness of contraction is incalculable ; in fine,
all small muscles, though of inconsiderable power,
possess this property of vivid action. This explains
why diminutive animals are able to keep pace with,
or often outstrip, larger ones ; why ponies and small
animals are generally more noted for their compa-
rative quickness than those of larger size and greater
power ; and why good trotters are almost invariably
undersized horses.

The Head. — No part of the animal more plainly
illustrates the superiority of breed or blood than the
head. The slightest cross becomes evident in its
contour. It forms a ready and palpable distinctive of
equine aristocracy, and offers us an invariable test of
the spirit and temper. As the horse was intended to
move on occasion with fleetness, a certain length of

THE HEAD. 79

leg was necessarily requisite to the fulfilment of that
design. Yet it was at the same time imperative that
the animal should be able to gather his food from the
surface of the ground. The leno-th of the leg had
therefore to be counteracted by a corresponding
elongation of the head and neck. In the con-
struction of the horse's head, nature had to fulfil
opposite and contradictory objects. A considerable
length was necessary to enable it, in conjunction with
the neck, to reach the ground ; and surface for the
attachment of the large and powerful muscles of
mastication must also be provided ; yet withal as
lightly constructed as possible on account of its
being situated so unfavourably, at the terminus of a
lever. However, it was better that the head
should be elongated than the neck ; for a
heavy weight on a short lever does not act with the
same force as a lighter weight would do with a
longer purchase. The head is constructed with the
greatest possible regard for its lightness. It is di-
vested of all unnecessary covering of flesh. The
bones are comparatively bare. In some parts they
form considerable cavities for the admittance of air
between their inner and outer plates, in order to add
to the general lightness. Still the head must be
regarded as a great weight in an unfavourable posi-
tion, and most effective steps are taken to obviate
an undue exertion of the muscles of the neck in its
support. From the spinous processes of the verte-
brae, particularly those of the cervical and dorsal,
arises a ligament (ligamentum colli), proceeding di-
rectly to the upper and back part of the skull, to
which it becomes firmly attached. This ligamentous
substance is distinguished from most other ligaments
of the body by being highly elastic ; it allows of con-
siderable extension, accommodating itself to the
motions of the head, yet by its contractile power
constituting its chief support.

80 THE HORSE.

The head should articulate with the neck in a free
and graceful manner; and the bones of the lower
jaw should be sufficiently divided to admit of flexure
towards the throat without interruption to respira-
tion. A line drawn from the foretop to the muzzle
cannot be too straight. Should the profile outline
curve outwards, it denotes sluggishness ; a horse with
such a formed head would, in all probability, be unfit
for the saddle. On the contrary, if the bones of the
nose curve inwards, they impede respiration by di-
minishing the free passage of the air. For this
reason we cannot agree with Mr. Darvill, that " from
the lower part of the forehead down to a certain por-
tion of the nostrils, there should be, for a small space
or length, a gradual curve or slight concavity." This
may add something to the beauty of the head,
but cannot certainly facilitate respiration. That
portion of the head from the eyes upwards includes
the cranial cavity or skull, enclosing the sensorium ;
and that from the eyes downwards, the face ; a certain
definite proportion exists between these two parts,
which together constitute a well-formed head ; but if
the facial bones, or those occupying the lower division,
exceed their natural size, it is found that those of the
cranium are diminished, and the effect is, that the
animal invariably proves obstinate, stupid, and heavy.

Ears. — The ears are a good index to the temper of
the horse. They act as a sort of telegraph of his
will. They give us warning of his intentions, and by
so doing often enable us, when they are malevolent,
to prevent their execution. Horsemen generally pre-
fer them rather small than large, and situated not too
far asunder. They should be lively in motion, and,
above all, erect. They give animation and expression
to the head, and plainly indicate the animal's vigour
and endurance.

Eyes As blindness is so exceedingly prevalent

THE LIPS, NECK, AND CEEST. 81

among horses, it is necessary to be rather careful in
the examination of the eyes. The principal diseases
attacking the eye of the horse are ophthalmia and
cataract. The first is characterised by the appear-
ance of a film on the anterior parts of the eye ; the
last, by an opacity of the deeper-seated portions of
it. The eyes should be full, clear, dark-coloured,
and nearly circular. If the eyeball is sunk into the
orbit, producing a corrugated appearance of the lids,
we may suspect latent disease. If a horse shies, we
should be doubly careful in our examination of these
organs, as this habit often arises from defective vision.
Some horses, usually with a considerable quantity of
white about the face, have what is termed wall-eyes.
In these cases the iris is found to be deficient in its
natural colour, giving a white appearance to it. They
are not known to be more liable to affections of the
eye than those in which this peculiar defect is absent,
but certainly it does not increase the beauty of the
animal.

The Lips The lips of the horse are eminently

prehensile. They collect his food and direct its course
to the teeth. As an evidence of breeding they cannot
be too thin ; as an evidence of vigour they should be
kept firmly compressed against the teeth and gums.
If they hang in a pendulous, relaxed state, they offer
a certain criterion of deficiency of muscular enegy.
So true is this, that when horses become distressed or
fatigued from fasting or hard work, the lips are re-
laxed, but immediately resume their natural position
after rest and food ; often forming a useful test of the
honesty of ostlers.

Neck and Crest. — In all animals intended for rapid
progression, it is most advantageous that the neck
should be lightly constructed and of moderate length.
The upper part, the crest, from which the mane
springs, should in these cases also be thin, extending

G

82 THE HORSE.

from the head to the withers in nearly a straight line.
"When this part is curved, the neck assumes a loaded
character, incompatible with speed on the turf. In
the lower portion of the neck the thickness may
increase, in order to facilitate respiration. Some
horses are seen on the race- course and elsewhere in
which the neck immediately in front of the withers
seems tied down, giving it an inverted or upside-
down appearance. The name of ewe or deer-neck has
been applied to this formation, from a supposed simi-
larity of construction. This particular shape, rather
unpleasing to the eye, is not, however, found to
diminish the capabilities of fleetness; some turfites
even preferring it to the more natural form.

The crest of stallions, particularly those of the
heaviest description of draught horses, frequently
becomes exceedingly high, arched, and loaded. In
them this formation may be tolerated on account of
the usefulness of a few extra pounds on the fore part
of the animal, when thrown into the scale against the
weight they are employed to put in motion. It has
a tendency also to balance the animal during his
intercourse with the other sex. On the future size
of this part we possess, in males, a great control.
By postponing the operation of castration, or per-
forming it prematurely, we can increase or retard to
a certain limit its growth and developement. The
command thus attained over the symmetry of this
portion of the frame is often most serviceably em-
ployed in adjusting the proportions of the animal to
our will.

The Fore-Hand. — The fore extremities are so
placed by nature as to bear a large proportion of the
superincumbent weight of the frame. In addition
to one-half of the body, they have to carry
the whole burden of the head and neck, thus
imposing on them a considerable degree more weight

THE FORE-HAND. 83

than is thrown on the hind-legs. Their province is
apparently not to propel, bnt to support and direct.
And in order that they may do this with the greatest
possible ease, and at the same time obviate concussion,
they are attached to the trunk by muscles, and not
by direct bony articulation, as is the case with the
hind extremities. The fact of so much weight being
thrown on and supported by muscles alone, might
lead some to infer that this part of the body was over-
taxed, and would be liable to injury from that cause.
It is not, however, the case. Many provisions are
made to obviate a destructive force being applied to
these apparently weak organs. For this purpose the
greatest possible care appears to have been bestowed
on the mechanical construction of the limb. Among
the most efficient is the oblique direction taken by the
humerus, the bone connecting the scapula or blade-
bone to the arm. Lying, as it does, transversely across
the line of pressure, it interposes, like a double spring,
its elastic play before any force reaches the muscular
attachments.

The comparative weight or substance of the fore-
hand is a point of some importance. In the racer,
without detriment to its muscularity, it is necessary
that it be light, unloaded, and as exempt as possible
from everything not absolutely requisite to its own free
motion. The same applies with nearly equal force to
the hunter, the hack, and lighter description of car-
riage and draught horse. When, however, the animal
is employed to propel considerable weights, an increase
in the bulk of the fore parts of the frame is a desi-
deratum ; and in that class intended for the heaviest
draught work it cannot well be too heavy. In these
instances a loaded shoulder and thick neck are not
only tolerated, but found of the highest utility. The
service derived from extra weight of the fore-hand, in
horses used solely for the draught of heavy burdens, may

G 2

84 THE HORSE.

be thus illustrated. Suppose a horse endeavouring to
make his way up hill overloaded, or as nearly as possible
balanced by his load. He uses all his muscular force
in vain. He cannot advance ; and it is uncertain
which will obtain the mastery, — he, or the load.
This is immediately decided, by placing a boy or other
weight across his shoulders. He is then enabled,
almost magically, to proceed with facility, overcoming
his load by means of a few extra pounds on the fore
part of the body.

With regard to the length of the fore extremities,
it may be resolved into a maxim, governed by
mechanical laws, that the muscular portion of the leg
cannot be too great, nor that of the tendinous too
short. The first are the active motive agents, while
the latter, together with the bones to which they are
connected, are the passive instruments of voli-motion.

The Shoulder. — Two bones {scapula and humerus)
enter into the composition of the shoulder, which are
mostly enveloped in powerful muscles. A certain
proportion of muscularity is necessary to the posses-
sion of any considerable degree of power, or to the
continuance of high exertion. Yet, for these purposes
we must avoid any thing approaching to a loaded ap-
pearance. In horses intended for the turf or the
saddle, the muscles should gradually increase in dis-
tinctness from the neck backwards, so that the shoulder
does not start abruptly from the neck, but almost im-
perceptibly so, leaving it difficult to distinguish the
exact part where the one terminates and the other
commences.

On the direction taken by the scapula, or blade-
bone, considerable importance is deservedly attached.
It is found desirable that this bone should be obliquely
directed backward, so that the lower end meets the
humerus in a slanting direction. A formation of this
sort not only obviates concussion, but increases the

THE SHOULDEK. 85

effective power of the muscles. Bones placed in a
straight line to each other act at a great mechanical
disadvantage. The muscles, in order to overcome the
effect of mal-position, expend a quantity of their con-
tractile force. When, however, the bones meet each
other obliquely, this extra exertion is unnecessary.
The parts are already partially flexed, and can act
with concentrated effect. The limb is elevated
more easily, the action is increased, and all its mo-
tions are greatly facilitated. Mr. Youatt remarks,
that " the power of the muscles is more than doubled
by being exerted in a line approaching so much nearer
to the perpendicular." The same talented and popu-
lar writer directs our attention most judiciously to
another advantage arising from obliquity of the shoul-
der. " The point of the shoulder is projected forward,
and therefore the pillars which support the fore part
of the horse are likewise placed proportionably for-
ward, and they have less weight to carry, and are
exposed to less concussion, and especially to concus-
sion in rapid action. The horse is also much safer ;
for having less weight lying before the pillars of sup-
port, he is not so likely to have the centre of gravity
thrown before and beyond them by an accidental trip ;
or, in other words, he is not so likely to fall ; and he
rides more pleasantly, for there is less weight bearing
on the hand of the rider, and annoying and tiriug
him. It likewise happens, unfortunately, that nature,
as it were to supply the deficiency of action and of
power in an upright shoulder, has accumulated on it
more muscle, and therefore the upright shoulder is
proverbially thick and cloddy ; and the muscles of the
breast, which are designed to strengthen the attach-
ments of the shoulders to the chest, and to bind them
together, must, when the point of the shoulder lies
backwards, and under the horse, be proportionably
thickened and strengthened, and the horse is thus still

G 3

86 THE HOESE.

more heavy before, more unpleasant, and more unsafe
to ride." — The Horse, p. 231-2.

The Arm and Elboiv. — The arm of the horse cor-
responds comparatively with the fore arm of the
human being. It differs from it in construction by
the two bones (radius and ulna) being consolidated
into one when the animal is maturely formed, whereas
in man they always remain separate. The upright
bone, the radius, bears the superincumbent weight,
and the ulna, which projects posteriorly to form the
elbow, gives attachment to muscles, advantageous in
proportion to the degree of its projection. The use
of the elbow-joint is confined to flexion and extension.

Some horses turn their toes slightly inwards, which
inclination, being continued up the leg, tends to throw
out the point of the elbow. No evil consequences en-
sue: on the contrary, it bestows a safe and facile
action ; but it often happens that badly-shaped horses
turn their toes outwards, when the elbow, influenced
by the direction given to the bones of the leg, is thrust
forcibly against the sides of the chest, materially in-
terrupting the progression, and destroying the safety
of the animal.

It is important that the arm should be muscular,
and, whenever speed is required, of considerable length.

The Knee. — Anatomically the knee is a complicated
treble series of joints, most admirably adapted to the
purposes designed. It corresponds to the wrist in
man. Whenever great rapidity of action is required,
the knee should be formed rather longer than usual,
showing well as a joint, broad and flat in front, but
thin when viewed laterally. This formation will con-
fer capabilities of quick flexion. On examining the
back part of the knee, a bone is found projecting con-
siderably; it bears, however, none of the weight of
the body, but is of great importance to the animal in
bending the limb. Into this bone some of the flexor

THE FORE LEG. 87

muscles are inserted, while the tendons of others pass
immediately under it. To give the fullest efficiency to
the action of the former it should stand well out from
the knee, otherwise it originates an appearance desig-
nated among horsemen " tied in at the knee."

The Fore Leg. — The fore leg is composed of the
cannon or shank-bone in front, and two small splint-
bones (lesser metacarpal) behind. The cannon-bone
receives the major portion of the weight, and com-
municates it to the long pastern-bone below, but a
minor part of the burden is transmitted from the
knee to the heads of the splint-bones, which, being
attached by elastic ligaments to the cannon-bone, im-
mediately descend, and so lessen the concussive force.
Sir Charles Bell has some doubts of this being the
function of these bones, and ingeniously suggests that
they are useful in extending the leg when it is flexed.
His original views as to the uses of these little bones
are correct, but he is at fault in arguing that they
possess no other useful mechanical property. There
is nothing contradictory in the assumption of their
performing more than one office. On the contrary,
the function exercised in both cases is very similar,
alike originating in the extensive elasticity assigned
to them ; in the one case descending, to prevent a con-
cussive shock, in the other ascending, to facilitate the
extension of the leg. In order that we may not be
liable to the charge of putting a wrong construction
on his expressions, we give the text illustrating the
discovery in his own words. He hesitates " in admit-
ting the correctness of the opinion of veterinary sur-
geons on this curious piece of mechanism. They
imagine that these movable splint-bones, by playing
up and down as the foot is alternately raised and
pressed to the ground, bestow elasticity and prevent
concussion. The fact certainly is, that by over-exer-
tion this part becomes inflamed, and the extremities

G 4

88 THE HORSE.

preternatttrally joined by bone to the greater meta-
carpal or cannon bone, and this, which is called a splint,
is the cause of lameness.

" I suspect, rather, that in the perfect state of the
joint, these lesser metacarpal bones act as a spring to
throw out the foot, when it is raised and the knee-
joint bent. If we admit that it is the quickness in
the extension of this joint on which the rate of motion
must principally depend, it will not escape observation,
that, in the bent position of the knee, the extensor
tendons have very little power, from their running so
very near the centre of motion in the joint ; and that
in fact they require some additional means to aid the
extension of the leg. * * * *

" I do not therefore conceive that this bone can
add to the elasticity of the foot. But when we
perceive that the head of the splint-bone is behind
the centre of motion in the joint, it is obvious that
it must be more pressed upon in the bent condi-
tion of the joint, when the foot is elevated ; and that
the bone must descend. If the splint-bone be de-
pressed when the limb is raised and bent, and have a
power of recoiling (which it certainly has), it must
aid in throwing out the leg into the straight position,
and assist the extensor muscles of the knee. Further,
we can readily believe, that when the elasticity of
these splint-bones is lost, by ossification uniting them
firmly to the cannon-bone, the want of such a piece
of mechanism, essential to the quick extension of the
foot, will make the horse apt to come clown." *

All those animals which excel in fleetness have the
metacarpal bones relatively short. This is remark-
ably the case in the greyhound, the hare, the fox,
and other quadrupeds celebrated for speed. Of course
length of limb will confer the capability of making

* Bell's Bridgewater Treatise, p. 93.

THE EORE LEG. 89

longer strides, but it is found advantageous that the
other component parts of the extremity should con-
tribute in greater proportion to this result than the
cannon-bones. The muscles do not descend below
the knee, but their action is conveyed by means of
tendons to the points on which they are intended to
act. That these tendons should be well defined and
clear of extraneous tissue is important to their free
action. Mr. Blaine remarks, with great truth, that
" much stress is laid on the necessity that this part
of the leg should be wide when viewed laterally.
Viewed in front, its being thin is favourable, because,
made up as it is principally of bone and tendon, any
addition to it beyond these must consist of useless
cellular matter, or otherwise of matter worse than
useless, as being placed there by disease. Any thicken-
ing of the part, generally or partially, should be looked
upon with suspicion ; as, if natural, likely to interfere
with motion without adding to strength ; or, if acci-
dental, as a mark of acquired injury, the effects of
which are likely to remain." — Ency. Rural SjJorts,
p. 265.

Little doubt can be entertained that the ossification
of the elastic ligament uniting the lesser metacarpals
to the cannon or shank bone is the result of over-
exertion, and that when they have once become firmly
cemented together, originating the disease denomi-
nated splint, they occasion great inconvenience to
the animal if used for rapid work, giving rise to
that invariable indication of hard labour, — the
bent knee, so common and so truly piteous.
The poor animal, dreading to throw any pressure
on the posterior parts of the leg, from the absence
of the natural descent of these little bones, is com-
pelled to impose all the superincumbent weight on
the cannon bone, and thus the leg is kept in a con-
strained position, trembling under its burden.

90 THE HORSE.

The Fetlock and Pastern. — Four bones enter into
the composition of the fetlock-joint; viz. the cannon,
the two sessamoids, and the long pastern-bone. The
lesser pastern-bone serves to transmit the weight
received from the lower head of the long pastern to
the coffin and navicular bones of the foot. In the
fetlock, the most extraordinary provision is evinced
to obviate concussion. We have here another excep-
tion to the general inelastic character of the liga-
ments. From the upper and back part of the cannon
or shank bone arises a strong ligament, endowed with
considerable elasticity, which, passing down the leg,
becomes firmly connected in its course to the sessamoid
bones at the back part of the pastern-joint. It is this
ligament which bears so important a degree of the
stress from the downward play of the fetlock. It elon-
gates upon the receipt of pressure, and, immediately
the weight is removed, materially assists, by its elas-
ticity, the flexor muscles in bending the pastern-joint.
It is named by veterinarians the suspensory ligament,
from its office. When over-taxed this ligament is
sometimes torn through ; the horse is then said, in the
language of the turf, to be " broken down." In this
case the fetlock comes upon the ground, and the animal
is unfit for exertion ever afterwards.

Less obliquity of the pastern-bones is requisite in
the fore legs than behind ; in fact, this formation
generally obtains. In some cases the difference is
remarkable. Nature, having made such extensive
provision for elasticity in the upper portion of the
fore limb, economises as much as possible in order to
increase the strength of the parts below. There is,
therefore, less necessity for obliquity of the pastern
bones of the fore legs than of those behind. Elasticity
and strength may be regarded as antagonistic forces,

as one predominates the other is found diminished.

Consequently, whenever strength is demanded, a more

THE FOOT. 91

upright pastern is indicated than when we require
only elasticity. An oblique direction of the pastern
bones gives to the motions of the animal a flexibility
and ease highly desirable in those used for the
saddle ; but if this oblique inclination is carried be-
yond a certain extent, it is at the expense of the
strength and power of the animal.

The Fore-Feet. — The term of the ivall is applied to
that portion of the foot which can be seen when it is
placed flat on the ground ; at the upper edge, or coronet,
of this, the true hoof, is placed the coronary frog-band, a
ribbon-like tissue, reflected from the frog around the
superior rim of the foot, connecting it with the skin.
The front part of the wall is commonly termed the
toe ; the sides are called the quarters ; and the posterior
parts the heels. At the under surface of the foot we
have the frog, the bars, and the sole.

The true shape of the external parts of the foot is,
as was first demonstrated by Bracy Clark, a segment
of a cylinder, not a section of a cone, as was previously
maintained. " The great utility of this general figure,"
says the ingenious discoverer, " will be striking, if we
consider with how much more power a cylinder em-
braces its contents than a cone, which, enlarging
downwards, would not have prevented the contents of
the foot from slipping through on any strong exertion
of the animal, as the cone is ever presenting a wider
area in this direction. * * * * Besides, if the hoof
had been a cone, by continually growing larger down-
wards, it would have greatly inconvenienced the ani-
mal ; whereas a cylinder always remains the same :
its growth also would prove it, since how could a
circle, once formed at the coronet, receive within it
any accessions afterwards, as such would narrow the
area of the hoof inside ; and that nothing is really
added, a perpendicular section of the hoof shows
plainly." — Hvppodonomia, p. 34. 2nd edit.

92 THE HORSE.

In a well-formed foot there exist some mathema-
tical relations between its different parts, which it is
often of practical importance to bear in mind. A
knowledge of these, the natural comparative propor-
tions, may be of utility, both to the veterinary
practitioner and the horseman, in detecting any de-
viation in shape from nature's standard. It may also
be of service by teaching us what we have to keep in
view in order to preserve the natural shape, and what
to correct Avhen alterations of structure have been
induced.

1. The inclination of the foot from the perpen-
dicular, when placed on a level surface, is at an angle
of about thirty- two degrees. In the hind feet, however,
the angle is naturally a little less.

2. That the depth of the external wall at the toe
is double that of the wall at the heels, including the
frog-band in both cases.

3. The depth of the wall of the foot, measuring
from the coronet to the extreme toe, the length of the
frog, and the space between the inflexions of the
heels, exactly correspond.

4. That the depth of the wall at the quarters,
equals the length of a line drawn diagonally across
the foot at its lower surface — passing from the in-
flexions of the heels over the point of the frog to the
lower eds;e of the wall at the toe.

5. The length of the frog is, compared to the
length of the lower surface of the foot, as t\vo to
three.

6. The circumference of the foot, from heel to heel,
measuring midway between the upper and lower
edges, is four times the depth of the Avail in front.

7. That the bars are half the length of the frog;
not, as they are generally represented, of the same
length.

The inside and outside quarters of the foot differ

THE FOOT. 93

from each other, inasmuch as the former is more
upright than the latter ; the advantage of this forma-
tion arises from the provision of an enlarged base of
support on the outside of the foot, while the per-
pendicularity of the inside quarters obviates the
liability of an injurious interference during progres-
sion with the opposite leg. In consequence of this
peculiarity the under surface of the foot is not per-
fectly symmetrical. Being partly divided by the frog,
we may observe that the divisions do not exactly
correspond to each other, the outer portion bulging
considerably more than the inner, so as to cover a
greater area.

The limits of this work preclude the possibility of
entering into the details of structure of this most
wonderful piece of mechanism. The anatomical con-
struction and physiological action of its component
parts mark, as distinctly as any other work of nature,
the power of the Creator over the material world.
But as my views on one topic in connection with the
foot (the means by which it is enabled to sustain the
body's weight) differ from my veterinary brotherhood,
I am desirous of giving them a brief notice here. The
question is, how are the laminae or plates, which con-
nect by indirect attachments the hoof to the bone,
able to resist the weight of the animal, seeing that
they are not thicker in substance than parchment.
It is also well known that the entire sole can be
removed without endangering the protrusion of the
coffin-bone. The problem is of easy solution. The
plates spring from the internal convex surface of the
hoof in longitudinal strias, running from the coronet
to the sole, and dovetail between similar ones radi-
ating from the external fibrous tissue of the coffin-
bone. They are continued to the heels, and follow
the inflexions of the bars. The only bond of union
between the two separate sets of lamina? is the

94 THE HORSE.

minute vessels that pass from the plates of the coffin-
bone to supply those of the hoof, — arteries, veins,
nerves, and absorbents. On such fragile connecting
agents no force can be thrown without detriment.
The supporting power must spring from some other
source. In all probability it depends on a mechanical
law, which I have not seen noticed or explained in
works on mechanics, but which I think capable of
very extensive application in the useful arts. If three
equal-sized plates of metal, wood, or other material be
taken, and one of them placed between the others,
allowing a portion of it to protrude, then, if the two
outside plates be pressed together by a sight effort, it
will be difficult to force the protruding portion of the
centre plate down. It is necessary to overcome the
resistance of the pressure as well as that of the friction
between their surfaces. If another plate be added, so
as to have two protruding ones, then the same degree
of lateral pressure will require a double perpendicular
force to carry them down to a level. Still increase the
number of plates, and though the pressure may con-
tinue the same, the resistance will be multiplied by the
number of plates. To illustrate this principle in a still
more familiar manner, take a pack of cards, and allow
every alternate one to project in the same way as was
done with the central plate. Then, by laying the cards
edgewise on a table and sqeezing them together with
the finger and thumb, a sufficient power will be
acquired to resist the efforts of the strongest man to
force those projecting to a level with the others. In
this way it is that the laminae act and react on each
other, so as to support by their united effort the
great weight of the animal. At the heels the plates
take an oblique direction, in unison with the fibres of
the hoof, sloping from above forwards, and when
weight falls on them, the back portion of the foot
descends from its elasticity, and thus tends mechanic-

THE THORAX. 95

ally to compress the other plates together, and by
their combined resistance to overcome and firmly
support the weight of the body. Thus the animal's
weight conduces indirectly to its own support. There
are not less than 2,000 laminal surfaces in the hoof,
and a weak compressing agent need only be brought
into action to accomplish all that is required.

Anciently the practice prevailed of using horses
without shoes, consequently it was then desirable to
possess such as had hard, inelastic, and contracted
feet. Artificial means were resorted to to harden the
hoofs, and render them more durable.

The feet of most animals are wisely provided by
nature with a considerable degree of elasticity. This
is familiarly exemplified by the cushions or pads to
the feet of the carnivora ; by the divided hoof of the
ruminant ; and by the arched arrangement of the
pcedal bones of the human foot. Elasticity forms
also an important element in the foot of the horse, —
a function too often neglected in the hygeienic treat-
ment of this organ, but meriting the deepest attention.
" This inestimable property it is that guarantees the
foot from fatigue, preserves it from jar, and the body
from reaction and concussion, and all the injuries
which a too solid resistance would have occasioned
to both, and probably assisting also the animal in his
advances by a return to its former figure after dis-
tension."— Clark's Hipponomy, p. 27.

The Chest The chest contains the chief organs of

animal life, — those of respiration and circulation.
The function of organs so essential to the progress of
the vital processes is governed and modified by the
shape and dimensions of the cavity in which they
are contained. Therefore it is that a correct know-
ledge of the influence of an alteration in the capacity
and shape of the chest, gives us a power of judging
of the relative constitutional vigour of the animal.

96 THE HORSE.

The actual girth of the chest does not correctly
inform us of its internal dimensions. Mr. Clive first
directed our attention to the fact, that two animals
might possess chests of equal circumference, and yet
one have much larger lungs than the other. On the
principle that a circle contains more than an ellipsis,
does a broad chest contain a greater internal area
than a deep one. In proportion as an ellipsis deviates
from the circle, the less does it contain. In the
mechanism of respiration, nature acts upon this law ;
for during inspiration, the chest assumes a circular
form, and consequently enlarges ; while, on expiration,
the sides of the cavity approach each other, reassuming
an elliptical figure, and diminishing its capacity.

The practical inferences drawn from the outward
form of the thorax are important. The facility with
which animals form fat, is governed materially by the
shape and size of the chest. A capacious thorax
contributes to the rapid secretion of the adipose or
fatty tissue ; while a contracted state of this cavity
diminishes, in a remarkable manner, the formation of
that substance. Examples, demonstrative of these
facts, may be seen in the bulldog and greyhound;
the first, celebrated for his breadth of chest, possesses
extraordinary powers of making flesh ; and the last,
from diminished area and elliptical shape of his tho-
rax, rarely accumulates fat. The one is seldom beheld
in a fat or the other in a lean state. The remarkable
disposition to fatten, so manifest in our improved
breeds of sheep and horned cattle, may be traced to
the same cause. Even among horses, where little or
no effort has been made, by selection in breeding, to
alter the form of the chest, we may often observe the
effect of this principle. The true Suffolk punch,
known to possess a round and capacious chest, forms
flesh on a much less quantity of food than suffices for
a similar result in most other breeds. In those ani-

THE WITHERS. 97

mals, then, in which economy of keep is desirable,
breadth of chest, which confers capacity, is requisite.
The same circular form of chest is preferable for horses
of slow draught, from whom substance alone is de-
manded ; but in the racers, intended for the most rapid
progression, a slight deviation from the circular shape
will not be incompatible : as it is important that the
respiratory functions may not be impeded, and yet
that the fore legs should not be so widely separated as
to prevent the hind ones from being projected easily
forwards during the gallop, an increase in depth of
the chest, corresponding in area to its diminution in
breadth, may be allowed. We may judge of the re-
lative rotundity of the thorax, by observing the dis-
tance between the fore legs at the breast. If they
are widely separated, we may infer that the chest is
circular and capacious ; but if the space between them
is narrow, the thorax may be deeper, but it will not
certainly be of any considerable internal area.

The Withers This term is applied by horsemen

to the long upright processes or spines of the first
few dorsal vertebras, rising above the shoulders, and
forming often a considerable ridge. As they give
attachment to the elastic ligament which supports
the head, it will be noticed that an elevated carriage
of the head depends in a great degree on the length
and direction of these spines. When the shoulders
are properly directed backwards, the withers, by being
as it were uncovered, become more prominent ; it is
on this account that connoisseurs of horse-flesh judge
of the safety of the animal by the degree of their
projection, partially imputing to this part the office
performed by the shoulders.

A proper elevation of the withers is indispensable
in the saddle horse ; they serve not only to prevent
the displacement of the saddle, but decrease the liabi-

H

98 THE HORSE.

lity of coming down, and improve the pleasantness
with which the animal carries himself.

Trunk and Loins. — The trunk of the racer is ad-
vantageously long, offering to the animal the required
longitude of body necessary to give efficiency to the
propulsive efforts of the extremities. When strength
is a desideratum, the back and trunk may be of a
much shorter character than that proper to the race-
horse. A union of muscular power, and a compact-
ness of form, is here beneficial, in preventing an
unnecessary dissipation of animal exertion. Shortness
of the loins confers strength. If the ribs be continued
backwards to within a short distance of the bones of
the pelvis, leaving but a small intermediate space
between them and the hips, the horse is said, in the
language of the stable, to be " well ribbed home."
Sometimes it occurs that an additional rib is provided,
which of course remains unknown during the ani-
mal's life, but is well calculated to give this desirable
formation. Horses with great length of loins are
incapable of sustaining a considerable weight on the
back. The elephant is possessed of but three lumbar
vertebra1, and can carry an enormous burden on his
back ; the horse, having five, increases the length of
his loins but diminishes his strength.

The abdominal portion of the trunk remains only
to be noticed. Its condition offers some criteria of
the animal's health and vigour. If it is contracted,
or " tucked up," in an unusual and unnatural degree,
a deficiency of bottom may be suspected ; nay, it
often denotes a state of latent disease. Flat -sided
horses are often weak, and seldom excel either on the
turf or road. A fair and moderate proportion of
belly is generally a good point. Circularity of car-
cass, by interfering less with the movements of the
animal, and yet providing room for the healthy pro-
gress of digestion, is the object to be kept constantly

CROUP AND TAIL. 99

in view. Herring- bellied horses are generally bad
feeders, and bad feeders are always herring-bellied.

Many judges of horse-flesh draw inferences from
the appearance of the sheath. They imagine that an
increase of its size indicates the possession of animal
vigour. This is really true to a certain extent ; but
when it is of too great a capacity, its appearance
becomes offensive to the eye.

Croup and Tail. — The setting-on of the tail is
very characteristic of the breeding of the horse, and
all those having any pretension to blood have it dis-
played in the graceful manner in which the tail is
attached to the body. In well-bred horses the croup
rises more evidently from the pelvis, and the tail
appears to start less abruptly from the frame. This
peculiarity of conformation confers gracefulness of
carriage on the tail, an appearance considered so
desirable, that endeavours are often made to produce
a similar effect by resorting to the barbarous practice
of nicking.

A small, tightly contracted, yet protruding sphincter
of the anus, has for a long time been held as denoting
superior muscular energy of the animal. Mr. Darvill,
in his practical work on the race horse, places great
reliance on this point. He regards it as one of the
best constitutional points belonging to the horse.

Hind- Quarters. — There is less elasticity in the
upper portion of the pelvis than in that of the
thoracic or fore extremities. The reason is obvious ;
this property would here be far less useful to the
animal, and tend also to diminish the effect of muscu-
lar contractility. Elasticity breaks the active force
of muscular contraction, by interposing a spring ; and
all the power which is demanded to overcome the
effect of that spring, is expended wastefully, so far
as the actual propulsion of the animal is concerned.
Therefore it is that nature, in order to give greater

H 2

LOO THE HOUSE.

efficiency to the muscles of this portion of the body,
has attached the hind extremities to the frame by
direct bony articulation, which is not the case with
the front limbs.

The function of the thoracic extremities, as has
already been stated, is to support and direct, while
that of the hinder limbs is to propel the frame. These
simple facts explain, in a few words, the principles
which should direct us in judging of the capabilities
of the animal machine.

In those quadrupeds most celebrated for their speed,
we shall find upon cursory examination that the
hind legs are remarkable for their length, and the
muscles of the loins and quarters for their power
and size. This is the case in the greyhound, the
horse, the hare, and the deer species. By the length
and power of its hind legs alone, the kangaroo makes
the most astonishing leaps. Eclipse, the most cele-
brated horse of the last century, would seem to have
been moulded in accordance to these principles, — the
principles of fleetness. His legs were considerably
shorter before than behind, the fore leg being short-
ened below the knee : he consequently stood higher at
the croup than the withers. He possessed long mus-
cular quarters, with extraordinary wide haunch bones,
which gave him the appearance of going very wide with
his hind legs, or a straddling gait, but was the means
of allowing the legs to be thrown completely forwards
during his wonderful performances. Length of the
bones in this part not only allows the animal to take
a greater stride, but provides that it should be made
vigourously effectual by the corresponding length of
the muscles acting on them. Speed, therefore, de-
pends almost entirely on the pelvic extremities being
sufficiently powerful to propel the whole machine
with vigour and rapidity. If they are deficient either
in length of leverage or muscular energy, the most

THE HIND-QUARTEKS. 101

perfect formation of the rest of the body cannot make
amends ; on the contrary, we often see horses, other-
wise badly formed, excel in consequence of the great
power of their hind legs.

The acceleration of motion will be ever found pro-
portionate to the mechanical force impressed by the
muscles and bones of this part on the rest of the
machine. Being the chief projecting power, the
source of motion, it follows that an increase of the
magnitude and vigour of these parts will augment
the capability of progression. This is in exact accord-
ance with the well-known mathematical axiom, — if
any force generates motion, a double force will gener-
ate double motion, a triple force triple the motion,
whether the force be impressed altogether and at
once, or gradually and successively.

With regard to the comparative length of the upper
and lower parts of the extremity, it will be found,
that as the length above the hock is increased, that
below it is diminished. This is the case also in the
fore limb above and below the knee. If we have
short quarters or shoulders, it follows that the column
of support must be elongated somewhere, which is
then done below the hock and knee. But if the ani-
mal is formed with a deep forehand and long quarters,
the cannon-bones are proportionately diminished in
longitude. This is one reason of the advantage usu-
ally observed to follow the possession of a short can-
non, so generally and properly esteemed.

The Haunch, the Thigh, and the Stifle. — The
haunch is composed of three irregular bones {ilium,
ischium, and pubis) on each side, which, coalescing,
forms an arch for the support of the posterior parts
of the body, and the protection of the pelvic viscera.
These three bones become partially consolidated into
one, and form, at their point of union, a cup for the
reception of the head of the upper or true thigh-bone

H 3

102 THE HORSE.

( femur) into it, forming the acetabulum of the hip joint.
This is a ball-and-socket joint, denominated by horse-
men the whirl or round-bone ; it is deeply covered
with muscles, so as to be imperceptible to outward
view. It is often erroneously supposed to be the seat
of obscure lamenesses, and a great deal of unneces-
sary torture is inflicted on the unfortunate patient.
The prominences of the haunch-bones give advanta-
geous insertion to some of the most powerful muscles
of the body, whose office it is to assist in the propulsion
of the frame. From the hip joint the femur slants
forwards to meet the head of the lower bone of the
thigh (tibia), which, together with the patella, a bone
corresponding to our knee-pan, constitute the stifle
joint. Attached to the tibia is a small long bone
{fibula), whose use is not very evident. The bones
of the lower thigh are directed backwards, forming a
considerable angle with the femur, thus giving to the
muscles acting on the part a mechanical advantage
which they would not otherwise possess, at the
same time the weight is thrown on them so obliquely
as to prevent concussion. The femur and tibia should
be long for the reasons we have alleged when treating
on the hind-quarters : it gives them a double mechani-
cal power; first, by lengthening the muscular fibre
itself, and secondly, by increasing the leverage at
which those muscles act.

The Hock. — The hock joint is a part of great im-
portance for the consideration of the horseman. It
is composed of no less than ten bones, between some
of which extensive motion exists, while between others
the action is inconsiderable, but on them the stress
of exertion falls during progression. The chief mo-
tion of the joint is between the lower head of the
tibia and the astragalus. The os calcis forms an im-
portant feature of this joint: it projects boldly upwards
from the other bones, and gives attachment, more or

HIND LEGS. 103

less advantageous according to its length and direc-
tion, to the tendons of the most powerful muscles
flexing the limb. The pressure reflected by this bone
to those immediately beneath it, during the violent
exertions of the animal, must be enormous. When
this is properly considered, it ceases to be surprising
that these parts are so liable to the disease called spa-
vin, as it is only wonderful that they so long withstand
such extraordinary and severe exertion.

TJie Hind Legs, Fetlocks, and Pasterns. — The
mechanical construction of these parts is very similar
to the corresponding ones of the fore extremities, which
has been before described. There is little difference
in the anatomy of the parts below the knee and of
those below the hock ; they are not, however, exactly
identical, for the cannon or shank-bone is longer in
the hind extremities than before. The outer splint-
bone is also somewhat larger than the inner one. The
pasterns are considerably more oblique in the hind
limbs, for a very evident reason. The elastic play of
the upper part of the fore limb being considerable, a
sloping pastern was consequently less requisite ; but
the hind limbs possessing no such arrangement, and
being attached to the frame by bone, the pasterns are
wisely constructed more oblique than those before.

The Hind Feet The hind feet differ slightly from

the fore ones, though the general character of both
is similar. Some of the points in which they vary
have already been alluded to in the description of the
fore feet. The others, which will now be noticed, are
induced more by position than by the existence of any
anatomical difference. From the greater quantity of
the weight of the body being precipitated on the fore
feet, they become, generally, wider and more openly
expanded than the hind ones. The hind feet are
constructed more strongly, and with less regard to
their elasticity, than those before ; the wall, also, rises

H 4

104 THE HOESE.

somewhat higher, and is rather more upright. The
soles of the hind feet are naturally less elastic. Dis-
ease, from over-exertion, is much more frequent to
the fore feet ; and the same also applies to the injuries
induced by shoeing.

HEIGHT.

The height of the horse is calculated by a measure
called the hand (four inches), and the part generally
taken as the most proper and convenient to give it
is the highest point of the withers, measuring from
the ground. In many instances, however, this only
affords an approximation to his real height, and
therefore must not be regarded as strictly correct. It
should be remembered, that this part is liable to
greater structural variety than any other through-
out the body. A horse with high withers may not
be absolutely so high by some inches as one whose
withers are low. Sometimes it also occurs that the
croup is elevated considerably above the withers. In
these cases the way best calculated to arrive at a cor-
rect estimation of the height of the animal would be,
to ascertain the elevation of each part, croup and
withers, and then take the mean of the two measure-
ments. Allusion has been already made to the
attempts to estimate the future adult stature that
the colt will probably attain, by admeasurement of
his legs (p. 15, et seq.) ; but such computations are
almost nugatory if performed before he has completed
his second year, or at least the inferences are far from
being satisfactory. After that period the causes of
error will be lessened, and indeed the ultimate height
may be then very closely precognised. In full-grown
horses it is found that the length from the exact centre
of the elbow, to the exact centre of the fetlock joint,

HEIGHT. 105

almost invariably equals the distance from the first
point (the elbow) to the top of the withers. At two
years old the bones of the legs have generally attained
their fullest growth, but the depth of the shoulder
and the elevation of the withers increases until the
fifth or even the sixth year. Thus after two years
there is a good criterion of the adolescent stature of
the horse, for we have only to double the length from
the elbow to the fetlock. *

Peculiar names are applied to varieties of the horse,
according to the heights which they attain. Thus all
under thirteen hands (fifty-two inches) are denomi-
nated ponies. The galloway does not exceed fourteen
hands (fifty-six inches). The cob is not altogether
named from its height, but is applied to a sturdy,
stiff-built, short-legged nag.

THE COMPAEATIVE UTILITY AND VALUE OF THE TWO

SEXES.

The male sex of most animals is remarkable for
superior size and strength. This is so generally the
case, that it is customary to regard power as the
peculiar attribute of the male, and effeminacy, as
the term implies, as that of the female. This dis-
tinction is much more evident among the ruminating
animals than the equidas. In the latter it may be
said to be but faintly marked, if at all discoverable.
The two sexes of the horse have each found their
advocates, but they are almost equally valuable and
serviceable ; if the mare was less useful than she
really is, it would materially affect the economy of
their general application. That they are both useful,
and equally so, cannot but be regarded as a providen-

* Sec a communication of Mr. Friend's, in the Veterinarian of Sep-
tember, 1842.

106 THE HORSE.

tial ordination. The mare is not incommoded by any
enlargement of udder, as to interfere with the most
rapid motion, for she is able to contest the palm of
fleetness with the male. She vies with him also in
muscular strength and in general utility. The
mare, in common with females of most animals,
possesses comparatively a greater width of the pelvic
or haunch bones than the male. This circumstance
is so well known in human osteology, that anatomists
can readily assign the sex of the skeleton by admea-
surement of the pelvis alone. An increase in the
lateral capacity of these bones, as has been before
shown when treating of the hind quarters, by offering
enlarged surface for the attachment of the propelling
muscles, and by mechanical position allowing the
hind limbs to be thrown freely forwards clear of the
trunk, facilitates the action, and allows of greater
speed. This advantageous formation bestowed on the
mare would seem to counterbalance any drawback
naturally attending her, and thus she rivals in fleet-
ness and in utility to mankind her companion sex.

The people of South America are prejudiced against
the mare ; it is considered highly disgraceful to use
them for the saddle ; they are consequently reserved
for breeding and a few purposes about the estancias.
Even in this country some people are so extremely
fastidious as to object to the employment of mares, in
this way often rejecting more serviceable animals
than they employ. " It is much to be lamented,"
says the late Mr. Apperley, " that among sportsmen
the prejudice against mares is so strong, as, in con-
sequence, the value of many good hunters, and sub-
sequently many good brood mares, is never known ;
for being so generally rejected by those persons who
would give them the fairest chance of distinguishing
themselves, they fall into the hands of farmers and
others, who cannot for obvious reasons give them

UTILITY OF THE SEXES COMPARED. 107

that opportunity. If we look back to the great per-
formances on the road against time, we shall find that
by far the greater number of them were by mares ;
and Eleanor winning the Derby and the Oaks (in
1801), and the running of Lord Grosvenor's Meteora,
were perhaps never excelled, if equalled, by horses.
The Arabians have always preferred mares to horses.
They have always been found to endure hunger and
thirst, and all other privations, better ; and although
in our climate horses are seldom put to the test in
this respect, yet, when travelling between the tropics
in a desert, it must be a valuable consideration. In
a race, it is true, mares are put on a par with geld-
ings ; but it must be admitted that they are more
perfect in their nature, and, with the exception of the
period of genial desire, I conceive them to be more
than equal to them in any kind of exertion on the
road or in the field." — Nimrod on the Condition of
Hunters, p. 12.

In the celebrated Olympic games mares appear to
have acquired more renown than did ever the other
sex. The mares of Cimon contended for and won,
thrice in succession, the prize in the chariot race.
They were buried in a grave opposite to that of their
master, so famed together in life that they were not
separated by death. This feat was again accomplished
by the mares of Evagoras of Lacedasmon, but, according
to Herodotus, these were the only instances of its occur-
rence. Pliny states, that the Scythians preferred the
mare to the horse, probably for the same reasons that
they are employed by the Bedouin Arabs, because
they seldom neigh, are more docile, produce them
foals, and yield their milk. The enterprising Bruce
assures us, that " no Arab ever mounts a stallion ; on
the contrary, in Nubia they never ride mares. The
reason is plain ; the Arabs are constantly at war with
their neighbours (for so robbery is called in that

108 THE HORSE.

country), and always endeavour to take their enemies
by surprise in the grey of the evening, or the dawn
of day. A stallion no sooner smells the stale of the
mare in the enemy's quarters than he begins to neigh,
and that would give the alarm to the party intended
to be surprised. No such thing can 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 all such surprises and stratagems are
useless to them." — Travels, vol. vi. p. 433.

109

CHAPTER IV.

PACES, ACTION, DRAUGHT, SAFETY, AND SPEED.

" If a horse is fit to go a Travelling-pace, let him do it ; if he is natu-
rally inclined to make Curvets, he must be put to it ; and so of the Demi-
airs, Passadoes, Terre-a-terre, Croupades, Balotades, and Capriols. If he
be not fit for any of these, put him to run the ring ; if he be not cut out
for that, use him as a drudge to go of errands. If none of these suit
him, he will perhaps be fit for racing, hunting, or travelling, or for the
portmanteau, for bundles, or for coach or cart ; or, in short, he may be
fit to turn the mill, or some such use as that ; so that it is the fault of the
horse-man, and not of the horse, if he passes for a jade ; for really there
is no horse but what is fit for some use or other." — Duke of Newcastle s
System of Horsemanship, vol. i. p. 17. — 1743.

In a state of inaction the four extremities of the horse
serve as so many supporting pillars, but during pro-
gression the use of each pair of limbs is essentially
different. While the locomotive impulse is imparted
by the posterior extremities, the anterior ones serve
principally to bear and transmit the burden imposed
upon them, from place to place, at the will of the
animal. Some importance was attached to this differ-
ence of function between the fore and hind limbs when
the physical conformation of the animal was consi-
dered : it is quite as necessary to bear this distinction
in mind now that the several methods of progressive
motion are passed in review.

The bones are of course the chief supporting agents
of the body. They afford by their unyielding nature
sufficient mechanical firmness to the extremities to
enable them to bear the superincumbent weight. But
provision is made at the same time to bestow ease and
elasticity on their motions by the oblique direction in

110 THE HORSE.

which they meet each other, by their articulating
ends being covered with elastic cartilage, by ligament-
ous extension, and by the expansion of the feet when
pressure is thrown upon them. These relieving agents
are called into action during the ordinary and extra-
ordinary exertions of the animal, or even when he is
standing quite still, and on them is reflected a great
share of the horse's weight.* The parts on which
the pressure chiefly falls, and which by great elas-
ticity and other mechanical peculiarities serve to
ward it off, are the suspensory ligaments of the
fetlock joints, and the laminae of the hoofs. On these
points the force is distributed in proportion to their
respective structural power, but it is naturally pre-
vented from falling injuriously on either of them by
the presence of resistant pliability. Still the injurious
effects of taxing the animal beyond his power are often
evident at one or other of these points. In such
cases the suspensory ligament is sometimes severed
by the violence of the strain put upon it, and the cof-
fin-bone is frequently partially torn from its attach-
ments to the wall of the foot, giving rise to flattened
and convex soles, and pumiced feet.

The Walk. — Although there are not two kinds of
the walking pace, yet the relative position of the leg
alters with the rapidity of the pace, so as to give it,
descriptively at least, a double character. In the
slowest walk there are always three feet upon the
ground at a time, forming as it were a triangular
basis of support, continually shifting, yet always pre-
serving the centre of gravity unaffected. As the
pace is increased to the usual walk, two of the legs

* Professor Coleman used familiarly to elucidate the usefulness of elas-
ticity in parrying concussion or jar by instancing the effect produced in
catching a cricket ball : if the hands be held firmly against the ball as it
enters them a disagreeable shock results, but by slightly retracting them,
the momentum of the projectile being gradually abated, no injury follows.

THE WALK. Ill

are flexed at the same moment, and the body is sup-
ported by the others. Walking may be analysed into
four different acts, which occur in determinate order.
Thus, the near fore foot being advanced first, the dia-
gonal extremity, or off hind foot, is next removed from
the ground, then the off fore foot, and lastly the near
hind foot ; the two diagonal extremities always follow-
ing each other in their movements, while the other
two support and project the body. By the simulta-
neous flexion of the diagonal limbs in preference to
those of the same side of the body, the carcass of the
animal is safely preserved in its position, but little
oscillation occurs, and that little being rendered less
by the opposite and counterbalancing motion of the
head and neck. The hind feet are not usually placed
on the exact spot vacated by the fore ones, but, in
good walkers, on level ground, a little in advance of
the impression left by them. This is a matter of
some consequence, as it proves that the animal is en-
dowed with considerable compass of the hind limbs.
A horse of unfavourable form, deficient in power in
the quarters, steps short of the track left by the fore
feet ; but a well-made animal would only do this when
burdened or going up-hill.

The walk of the turf horse is generally good ; Co-
therstone, the winner of the Derby in 1843, Avas par-
ticularly graceful in this pace. The London dray-
horses are drilled into much quicker walkers than the
heavy horses of the country. Many horses can com-
pass five miles within the hour in this pace. Six
miles, the maximum, has occasionally been done. It
is a common observation, that when a horse walks
well, his other paces will also be good ; and this is
likely to be correct, for that symmetry which confers
the one is well calculated to produce the other ; yet,
though this is generally true, exceptions to the rule
often occur. I once possessed a hack that could

112 THE HORSE.

gallop well and trot excellently, still he was never-
theless a most wretched walker.

Slow Draught. — Animal strength was, in all pro-
bability, the earliest motive power employed by man
to abridge his own labours ; and although modern
science has discovered more potent and less expensive
mechanical forces, yet animal exertion, from its pecu-
liar nature, will ever continue of great service to the
human race. In the innumerable industrial purposes
of slow and heavy draught to which the horse is ap-
plied, walking is the general pace. It is therefore
important that animals thus used should be good
walkers, and adapted for the purpose. When it is
desirable to transport great burdens, the weight of
the animals employed should be always commensurate
with the object in view. Power must characterise
the physical construction of our heavy draught-horses.
Against the burden, it is not only requisite to oppose
great muscular energy, but weight must also be thrown
into the scale against it. The fore-hand of the hea-
viest draught horse should be rather depressed and
heavy, and the hind quarters cannot be too muscular.
The breast should be broad, as it demonstrates
the possession of a circular chest, which confers not
only constitutional energy, increases the weight and
improves the wind, but it bestows a capacity of
forming flesh rapidly and economically. The shoulders
may be upright, and all the fore parts of the body, to
a certain degree, loaded. It is desirable that the legs
should be short. The utility of a heavy fore-hand in
horses of slow draught is readily and practically
demonstrated. Whenever it is necessary to move a
greater weight than the animal is fully equal to, a
portion of the burden may be profitably thrown on
the horse's back, so as at once to diminish the weight of
the load, and increase his capability of impelling it.
Another proof exists in the evident advantage re-

HEAVY DRAUGHT. 113

suiting from the use of a heavy yoke for oxen over
every other form of attaching them to their work.
The weight of this instrument placed on their necks
increases their drawing power. A similar motive
may have directed the habitans of Normandy to adopt
their characteristic heavy horse-collars and housings,
for which they are so remarkable.

I am anxious, in this place, to add my anathema
against that inhuman instrument of torture — the
bearing-rein. It is no less detrimental to the utility
of the animal than it is replete with agony to him.
It must have been invented by a savage, and can
only be employed by the insensate. Whence the
benefit of unbearing a draught-horse when going up-
hill ? Because the head can then be thrown into its
natural position, and materially assist by its weight in
drawing the load. If it is beneficial to loose the head
at that time, it must also be so on other occasions.
Look at the elongated mouths of the unfortunate
animals thus so wantonly abused — torn by the bit in
their unavailing efforts to overcome this truly bar-
barous instrument ! What produces that dreadful
disease — poll-evil, but the action of this cruel strap,
constraining the head during the violent exertions of
the animal, producing inflammation and ulceration of
the point upon which it articulates with the spine ?
Poll-evil, so generally supposed to originate from blows
inflicted on the part, is attributable alone to the gag-
ging-rein. I never saw a horse used entirely for the
saddle attacked with this affection. In order to
obtain momentary relief from the torment inflicted
by the bearing-rein on the poll and mouth, the poor
creature is compelled incessantly to toss up his head.
By thus strapping down the head you say, practically,
" I expect you to draw a certain weight, but I will
take away part of your power of doing so." Some
have urged, that the bearing-rein contributes to

i

114 THE HORSE.

the safety of the animal, who, without it, would be
more liable to come down. However applicable such
an argument may be to those employed in quick
draught, though even with them the utility of this
instrument is not only exceedingly doubtful but
fast giving way to a more rational method of treat-
ment, it assuredly does not apply to cart horses,
for little fear is ever entertained of their falling, and
broken knees, so common among the faster breeds, is
rare amongst them.

Horse power is much more economically employed
in drawing than in carrying. This will be explained
at once by reflecting on the mechanical construction
of the body. The legs support the trunk in a hori-
zontal position, and the propulsive power of the hind
limbs far exceeds the capability of the spine to bear
weight. Pressure applied on the spinal column from
above would be more likely to do injury than if ap-
plied in the direction of its course. In the first case
the stress would fall chiefly on the ligaments uniting
the bones of the vertebra?, and in the latter the bodies
of the bones would be themselves brought into action.
Animals, such as the elephant and dromedary, who
are capable of supporting heavy weights on their
backs, have their spines more or less arched upwards ;
a simple modification of construction enabling them
easily to resist vertical pressure. The bridge is no
longer a suspension one, in which the ligaments are
the sole resisting agents, as in the horse, but a mecha-
nical arch, where the weight is borne by the bodies of
the spinal bones themselves. The average strength of
a horse, compared to that of man, is as one to six;
but it has been observed, that three men loaded with
1001b. weight each will ascend a hill much more
easily than a horse carrying 3001b. on his back.

In attaching one or more horses to a load, it should
always be remembered that their strength cannot be
applied without loss if the traces by which they are

THE TROT. 115

appended possess the least elasticity ; for the power
expended in putting the elastic material on the stretch
before the animal exertion can affect the weight to be
moved, is completely thrown away, as far as regards
the actual draught. This is one reason why horses
pull more advantageously when placed abreast than
when attached one before the other: a degree of power
is exhausted in keeping the great length of traces on
the stretch, one horse often, as it were, not exerting
his powers to move the load, but expending a portion
of it in relieving the pressure from his associate's
shoulders.

Our largest description of draught horse is bred in
the northern and midland counties of England, chiefly
in Lincolnshire. It is principally the produce of a
remote cross between the native breed and the heavy
Flanders horse. The lighter sorts of slow draught horses
are the Cleveland, the Clydesdale, and the Suffolk punch .

THE TROT.

This pace being intermediate between the tardiness of
walking and the too exhausting exertion of the gallop,
is the most ordinary method of easy and agreeable
progression. In it the muscular powers of the animal
are prolonged in their action, yet the speed obtained
is considerable. It is the prevailing pace of light
draught ; the energy of the horse when trotting is less
dissipated ; he is collected, and capable of increasing
or diminishing his pace on the least signal.

The camel trots by extending the two legs on the
same side nearly simultaneously, which gives to it
a rolling and unpleasant gait ; but when the trot of
the horse is closely observed, it is found he poises his
body for a time on the diagonal limbs, while the
others are thrown forwards. When the pace is ac-
celerated, there is a short space of time wherein all

T 2

116 THE HORSE.

the feet are off the ground, for before one pair is set
down the other is elevated. As a consequence of two
legs being raised at the same moment, two are also
brought to the ground nearly together, in this manner
dividing the concussive effect between them, and pre-
venting its falling with too great force on one limb ;
so that the hind legs in this pace act not alone as
propellers, but as recipients of a portion of the ac-
quired impetus. According to the rapidity of the trot,
so are the extending muscles of the quarters exerted,
and their action is rendered more efficient by its being
concentrated into a spring or jerk, propelling the body
forwards with greater energy than by a more equable
motion. The Persians, the Arabians, and the Moors
of Barbary and Morocco, whose habits are so purely
equestrian, do not suffer their horses to adopt this
pace, probably from the fact of its being less pleasant
to the rider.

The trot varies in rapidity from four miles to nearly
twenty miles an hour. As it is customary to trot
matches under heavy weights, it has not, I believe,
been correctly ascertained what is the maximum
speed this pace is capable of under a feather weight.
One mile has been trotted in three minutes. Mr.
John Lawrence writes, that " as a man must be born
a poet, so a horse must be born a trotter, or he
certainly will never make one of any consequence in
a racing view. It depends chiefly on form." That
anatomical construction materially influences the mo-
tive power of the animal no one will deny, still
mechanical adaptation, though the principal cause, is
not the only one which contributes to excellence in
trotting;. Size has here a remarkable influence on
rapidity. The fastest trotters are seldom of large
size. Excellence in this pace appears quite incom-
patible with considerable length of limb. The cele-
brated Tom Thumb was about fourteen hands high,
and Mr. Lawton's Little Driver was still lower.

THE TROT. 117

Numerous other instances of the general smallness
of trotters might be adduced in corroboration, were
it necessary ; but it certainly cannot have escaped the
notice of the merest tyro in horse-flesh, that the ma-
jority of fast trotters are diminutive horses, that good
large horses are scarce, while almost every pony is
a miracle. This excellence would appear to arise from
the power they possess of rapid muscular action, as
before alluded to when treating particularly of the
muscles, a power inherent in small muscles, and in-
creasing as they diminish in bulk. It is natural to
infer, that if to the property of alternate vivid con-
traction and relaxation of the muscular tissues, which
prevails in the smaller animals, be added that of pro-
priety of form, the pace will be good. It appears
requisite to preserve a medium between the leverage
of limb necessary to give efficiency to the step, and the
shortness of muscle which bestows rapidity of action.

Horses are said to be cross-made when their fore-
limbs excel in power their companions ; or, on the
other hand, when the hind extremities possess more
compass than those of the fore parts of the body ; in
the latter case, when in action, the shoes of the hind
feet are apt to come in contact with the front ones,
giving rise to the unpleasant noise termed forging.
In both instances the action and pace of the animal
are deficient in that consonance, and the steps want the
regularity and cadence, so admired in the more per-
fectly constructed. In trotting, it is not alone neces-
sary that the limbs should be separately well formed,
but they must accord with their companions in length
of flexion and power of action.

Racking or Running. — A variation of the trot,
which is termed " running " in this country, and
" racking " in America, is possessed by many fast
horses. The celebrated American horse Rattler was
a racker; and indeed in the United States racking

i 3

118 THE HORSE.

matches are quite as frequent as trotting matches ; each
variety of race possessing its admirers and partisans.
This running pace differs from the fair trot, as the legs
are not so much elevated during action, nor are the
steps so long. What appears to be lost in length of
stride, is made up in quickness. Its appearance is
shuffling and unpleasing.

Quick Draught. — To apply horse-power to slow
draught, one principle is chiefly kept in view — to
adapt the weight of the burden to the tractive force
of the animal, but this is not alone sufficient in con-
sidering more rapid draught. Not only is it necessary
to estimate the power of the horse, but his speed, and
the pace desired to be accomplished, must also be
borne in mind. Without reflecting on these together,
we shall be apt to demand more than it is possible he
can render. More horses incur premature death by
the ignorant misapplication of them to purposes for
Which they are not naturally adapted, than from any
other cause, or from all other causes put together.
We often see horses working together at the same
vehicle with widely dissimilar qualifications, or with
equal power as to draught, but of unequal speed.
The saying, so frequent among horsemen, "It is
the pace that kills," is only partially true. It is
equally fallacious and destructive to apply the
weak to pull heavy weights, as it is to put a slow
horse beyond his natural capabilities of speed.
Having ascertained the continuous pace of a horse
to be ten miles an hour, under a feather weight, and
his muscular power or force of traction to be equal to
500 lbs. at a dead pull, it is a matter of simple calcu-
lation to discover what weight he will be able to
draw at any given number of miles under that of his
natural speed. If five miles per hour be the required
velocity, being half of his pace, then the load ought to
be 250 lbs., or one half the burden he is equal to. As

LIGHT DRAUGHT. — SAFETY. 119

you increase the velocity you must decrease the
weight of the load, or, as you increase the burden,
you must decrease the velocity.

With respect to the method of attaching a horse
to his load, in order that he may use his tractive
force without detriment, it is only necessary to
remark, that the traces or attachments should be
inelastic, should take a horizontal direction from the
collar to the vehicle, and should be free in their
course ; for if they are connected with the pad, a
portion of the power is sometimes injuriously thrown
on the back, a misdirection of his strength tending
greatly to exhaust him. In the patent hack cabs,
introduced by Hansom, part of the weight of the
horse is judiciously relieved or balanced by the weight
of the driver, who sits at the back of the carriage.
This arrangement is particularly advantageous when
the horse has a heavily constructed fore-hand, as it
relieves his feet and increases his capabilities of pro-
gression. But it must act detrimentally when the
horse is not fully equal to the propulsion of the cab,
by taking away a portion of the weight which should
be thrown into the collar to assist the draught.

Action, — Safety. — In accordance to the extent or
degree that the animal bends his knees and hocks,
and consequently lifts his feet to a greater or less
distance from the ground, so are the terms high and
low action applied, though in common parlance the
word action denotes that which is high. Action
consists of nothing more than a vigorous flexing of
the joints, particularly that of the knee, to which it is
more generally restricted, and is frequently regarded
as a proof of safety and of the possession of other
valuable qualities. But when this opinion is analysed
it is not found strictly correct, for high action is
often the result of peculiarity of breed, conferring no
great advantage, but contributing more to the pompous

i 4

120 THE HORSE.

manner of progression, ad captdndum vulgus, than to
the speed, safety, or utility of the animal. The breeds
most celebrated for this peculiarity of gait, and in whom
it is found in excess, are the white Hanoverian and the
black Flanders. They are both selected for purposes
of display, the first for the parade of state, and the
last for funeral processions. This excessive and
inordinate knee action results probably from an
absence of the natural balance of power between the
flexor and extensor muscles, and cannot be invariably
regarded as an evidence of general muscular energy.

There are reasons to be drawn from the mechanical
construction of the animal, why the action should be
of a medium character — neither too high nor too low.
As the joints of the extremities project more than
the shafts of the bones, it follows, that if the knee is
bent so as to make the foot pass the opposite leg
at the joints, it will be so much the more likely to
strike and do injury than if it passed at the shaft of
the bone where the space is less encroached upon.
Therefore, if the action is too high, the foot often
strikes the opposite knee, and if too low it is liable
to injure the fetlock -joint. Thus the trot is increased
in safety by the leg being so flexed that the foot
passes the other leg above the fetlock-joint, and yet
beneath the knee. But other disadvantages accom-
pany high action ; for the horse is not only par-
ticularly subject to strike the under part of the
knee with his foot, giving what horsemen term
the " speedy-cut," but he is much sooner distressed
from the greater call on the muscles, and the con-
cussion with which his feet meet the ground is also
materially increased. These are three drawbacks
to the captivating appearance of knee-action, and are
all, more or less, inseparable from it. A horse of
low or moderate action is far more capable of con-
tinued exertion on the road than tiny other ; he is

ACTION. 121

less likely to tire and less liable to the evils which
await concussion. Nimrod forcibly asserts that " one
most essential quality, a sine quel non in a good hack, is,
that he should go near the ground, and yet go safe."

The opinion expressed on knee-action by the ac-
complished Xenophon, in his work devoted to horse-
manship, is not exactly in accordance with our own.
He remarks, that " if the foal, when walking, bends
his knees pliantly, you may reckon it probable that,
when ridden, he will have pliant legs. For they all,
in the course of time, bend their knees much more
pliantly. Flexible knees are justly held in repute,
inasmuch as they render the horse less liable to
stumble and shake the rider than stiff legs." Now,
the true cause of stumbling cannot assuredly be
altogether referred to the degree in which the knees
are bent, for a horse may bend his knees to his chin
and yet be very liable to come down, and another
may scarcely move his feet from the ground and still
be surprisingly sure-footed. It may be traced more
to the manner in which the foot meets the ground,
and to the position of the limb with regard to the
body it supports. If the power of the shoulder is
curtailed by an upright formation, the muscles will
be inefficient in projecting the leg forwards, and will
endanger a loss of the centre of gravity ; or, if the
extensor muscles of the arm are deficient in strength',
the foot, on approaching the ground, will not be
sufficiently elevated at the toe to prevent its being-
doubled under, and thus throw the animal down.

Disease materially affects the natural and usual
motive actions of the extremities, both as respects
the manner in which the feet are withdrawn from,
and replaced on, the ground. Spavins behind, and any
lesion referable to the shoulder and humerus before,
almost invariably tend to produce a sluggish and
incomplete flexion of their respective limbs, and oc-

122 THE HORSE.

casion a dragging of the toes. Many diseases of the
feet are at once revealed, to the practised eye, by the
manner in which they are thrown forwards and
brought to the ground. The motive power may be
still the same, but the animal's experience teaches it
to bring its feet to the earth in a way which gives it
as little inconvenience as possible. Under these cir-
cumstances the action is frequently symptomatic
of disease. The gait, which should be free and fearless,
is become shuffling and hobbling : there exists a fear
to project the feet well forwards, which too evidently
shows that all is not right.

THE AMBLE.

The amble is considered an artificial mode of pro-
gression, as it is generally the result of education.
By some it has been termed a pace of defect, from its
being sometimes naturally assumed by the young,
the weak, and the badly formed. In this pace the
animal is propelled forwards by the nearly simulta-
neous flexion of the fore and hind legs of each side
of the body alternately. It gives a rocking but easy
seat to the rider. Horses are first induced to adopt
it by tying a rope to the fore and hind fetlock of the
same side, so that the legs are compelled to move
nearly together. This pace was formerly much cul-
tivated in this country, and such is still the practice
in some parts of South America, where horses are
broken to it at an early age. When properly in-
structed they are there termed aguilillas, and, when
allowed to breed, propagate a race to which ambling
appears natural. For it is somewhat remarkable that
this manner of locomotion, in common with many
other cultivated habits, is transmissible from the
parent to the offspring, which evince it without any
preliminary instruction .

THE ROHAN. — THE CANTER. 123

THE ROHAN.

The Turks and Egyptians cultivate a pace of ease
called the rohan, differing essentially from the amble,
and horses broken to this pace are used by the affluent
(who object to the trot) for riding in towns, wherein
it is illegal to gallop. The manner of producing it is
by attaching around the pasterns of the hind legs me-
tallic discs or rings, generally of lead, in weight and
number apportioned to the age and strength of the colt,
and the progress of the lessons, which, preventing the
flexion of the fetlock-joints, alters the character of
the pace. The office of the fetlock-joints being per-
formed vicariously by other portions of the limb, has
the effect of decreasing the concussion to the rider,
but gives the animal a very wide-going, broken-backed,
and awkward appearance. After a considerable time
the weights are removed, and the artificial pace re-
mains permanent.

THE CANTER.

In the canter the two fore limbs are elevated and
thrown forward at the same time, and allow of a
similar extension of the hind legs, which immediately
follow. Though both the fore feet are in the air
at the same moment, yet they do not come down
exactly together, as the leading foot meets the ground
an instant before the other. The transition from the
trot to the canter is very readily effected. A peculiarity
of the canter is, that though the motions of either pair
of limbs is almost simultaneous, yet, when the feet
are placed on the ground, they are not in rank, but
one foot is considerably in advance of its companion.
This description applies to both hind and fore feet,
and produces a characteristic sideling appearance in
this variety of progressive motion.

121 the horse.

Mr. Apperley (Nimrod), to whose opinions great
weight is often deservedly attached, gives his decided
preference to the canter as a genteel pace. He says,
" A very quick trot is a most ungentlemanlike pace,
and only fit for a butcher ; besides which, it wears
out a horse much sooner than a canter, from the
weight being thrown on one fore-leg, at the same
time ; whereas in the canter, it is equally divided
between both." There is, however, good cause to
suspect the rectitude of this opinion. The weight is
certainly received with less concussion in the canter
than in the trot, but yet the stress of projection is
much greater. The canter may be advocated on the
grounds of its comparative ease and gracefulness to
the equestrian, and, perhaps, from a slight advantage
as to safety, but it is very questionable whether it is
less laborious to the animal. The alleged superiority
as to sure-footedness, arises, partially from the re-
lieving; manner in which the feet come to the ground,
and partially from the fact that in the canter there
is no period in which the legs are all in the air, as is
the case in the lunging trot and the gallop. The
absence of concussion to the rider makes the amble an
indispensable one for the lady's horse.

THE GALLOP.

The gallop is not the canter with greater speed,
for there is a characterising!; difference. The fore-leirs
are alternately succeeded by the hind-legs. If the
motions of the fore-legs are not exactly simultaneous
in the less rapid gallop, they follow each other in
such quick succession, that when the pace is increased,
the ear fails to detect any interval between the sounds
produced by the fall of the feet. Three sounds are

THE GALLOP. 125

produced, — two by the falling of the fore feet to the
ground one after the other, and one by the hind feet
falling together ; and three sounds are also produced
when there is an interval between the falling of the
two hind feet and none between that of the fore ones.
At the full gallop two sounds only are heard, the alter-
nate beat of the fore and hind feet.

Sir Everard Home has observed, that "from the
walk to the trot, and from the trot to the gallop, there
in an increase in speed generally in arithmetical
progression. A horse that can walk five miles an
hour can trot ten and gallop twenty ; but as the
fatigue is proportionally increased, the distance he
can go will be diminished in the same proportion.
This observation, although it applies to the race horse,
will not do so to the cart horse ; the last is unable to
double his speed by the gallop, for which he is ill
adapted." — Lectures on Com/p. Anat. p. 129. It is
asserted that the celebrated turf horse Hambletonian,
covered 21 feet at a stroke, during a sharply con-
tested race with Diamond. Eclipse, when at the full
extent of his speed, covered 25 feet at each bound,
and moved over 83^ feet in a second.

The Charge. — As the gallop is the pace at which a
cavalry charge is made, and as the effect is generally
commensurate to the rapidity of the charge, it
becomes a question whether or not an improvement
might not be effected in the majority of our cavalry
regiments, by choosing horses of a better breed, by
selecting men of lighter frame, and by equipping them
in the simplest possible way. That which would be
lost in weight might be more than doubled in rapidity.
Racing experience has taught us the effect a few
pounds' weight has on the pace. The cost of keep
would be lessened, and the endurance of both men
and horses increased. In military matters, rapidity is

126 THE HORSE.

sometimes all in all. " The horseman and the horse,"
said Frederick the Great, " should be one animal. They
ought to be a centaur ; and the spur is of more use
than the sabre. The power of cavalry is in the
rapidity of the charge."

Racing. — Our present race-horse measures higher
than those of bygone notoriety. Fifteen hands was
formerly thought an extreme size. Darvill fixes the
most proper standard at 15 hands, or 15 and an inch.

But it must be observed, that though the character
of racing admits of little variety, yet circumstances
must occur in which comparative height is of con-
siderable consequence. In running short or long
lengths, under high or low weights, in courses of a
flat or hilly, or straight or circular kind, the height
as well as the length of the animal, must be a matter
of some importance.

As a general rule, the form of the racehorse should
offer to the eye no violation of the principles of beauty.
A certain consent should prevail throughout the
whole of his structure. Even those points known to
confer esteemed virtues, should not be allowed to
exceed the just propriety of nature's laws. Unison
of shape, a balance of power, and a harmony of the
whole frame, is necessary to perfect symmetry.

The head of the bloodhorse should be small, lisrht,
and clean, and carried gracefully at the end of a neck
of moderate length, deep, thin, and straight at the
crest. The height of the withers is not considered a
material point, but the shoulders should be obliquely
inclined backwards. The back is preferred mode-
rately long and straight, but the loins must be broad
and of great substance. The croup should be con-
tinued in a straight line with the back, so as to give
an increased surface for the attachment of muscles.
The chest must be capacious, and of moderate breadth

THE RACEHORSE. 127

in front. Some discrepancy of opinion exists with re-
gard to the size of the carcass or belly : many
trainers contend that a tucked-up appearance is
favourable to rapidity of progression, knowing that
fleet animals often assume this form ; but I cannot
but regard these opinions as somewhat extreme, and
always prefer the "middle piece " of moderate capacity,
neither too large nor yet contracted. The arm may
be of considerable length, and the upper part, near
the elbow, should be well furnished with muscle.
The knee-joint is advantageously large, and broad
and flat in front. The cannon short, broad, and flat ;
and the fetlocks strongly formed and well knit. The
pasterns should be of a medium length and moderately
oblique. The hind quarters must have breadth,
substance, and length of muscle. (See Conformation,
Chap. III.)

"I like to follow nature; and it is seen that all
animals she intends to be swift are made in the same
manner, with short legs before (and particularly so
from the knee downwards), long in the quarters, with
good length of back, and lower at the shoulders, than
at the rump. Hares, and greyhounds, and deer, are
made thus ; and Eclipse, undoubtedly the first horse
produced for the last century, was formed nearly in
the same mould." — (N. H. Smith's Obs. on Breeding
for the Turf p. 50.) Mr. Darvill places reliance on
the contracted and projecting appearance of the anus,
and regards it as one of the best constitutional points
appertaining to a horse. Should a racehorse possess
this mark of a good stamina, together with " a great
width between the hips, with a good broad surface of
loins, as also a spacious chest, his having these four
constitutional points will make up well for any ap-
parent deficiency of the want of carcass ; and further,
a horse thus formed, as regards the whole of the

128 THE HORSE.

points mentioned, is at all times a good feeder, and
with little trouble he is soon got ready to run, as he
is invariably a good winded horse."

I alluded before to the apparently unnatural length
of the foal's legs, when compared with those of an
adult animal, and also to the opinion that this
singular formation had been regarded as the means
of enabling the young animal to keep pace with its
mother during flight from attacks of wild beasts or
any other menacing danger. Such may, or may not,
have been the object designed by the Creator, or it
may form but one of other useful endowments bestowed
by so striking a peculiarity. Another reason for this
form might be that the colt is better able to reach the
udder of its dam. This length of leg is very evident
for some time, but gradually becomes lost as the
animal approaches the period of adolescence and full
growth. The light body supported by legs capable
of rapid motion confers a fleetness comparatively ex-
ceeding that of the adult animal, the weight of whose
body has increased without a proportionate increase
of the length of his legs. Not that I would advocate
an adoption of this formation in the fully-formed horse,
I am only endeavouring to attract attention to this
peculiarity having originated the practice on the turf
of running young horses ere they become entirely
divested of this legginess. They enter the field at two
or three years old, attain a rapid pace, and contend
for the most valuable stakes offered, without it ever
entering the heads of sporting men, that although
the speed may be good for a short distance, yet the
animal is still incomplete, and is not calculated to
transmit to its offspring, or to benefit the country by
the production of, any useful quality beyond that of
an unsubstantial and short-lived fleetness. I will
extract a short passage from the useful work of Mr.

RACING. 129

Smith (on Breeding for the Turf p. 90.), which
strengthens the opinion I have here expressed. " It
appears," says he, " that our race-horses at present,
in general, measure higher than formerly, since, in
describing the most celebrated stallions of former
times, fifteen hands is called a large horse. I am
aj)t to suppose this proceeds from our stock being
more leggy, and that they have not so much substance,
bone and muscle, and therefore not capable of carrying
such high weights, or running on so well. But is
it not a natural conclusion, that our present style of
racing must have changed the forms of our racers ?
Formerly they ran long distances with heavy weights,
and now short distances with lio;ht weights."

It must be obvious that the practice of racing
should be such as to encourage and promote the
qualities desired to be perpetuated, and such as
are of the greatest public value. Thus in Persia,
continued speed being the object required, the race
is protracted for several days, so as to be a severe
test of endurance ; a quality of considerable im-
portance in travelling from one part of the country
to the other, and in transmitting expresses. On the
contrary, in South America, where sudden speed is
useful, and commonly called for in taking wild cattle,
the race is exceedingly short. In these instances
the qualities sought to be encouraged, are those of
the greatest and most common use. So in England,
something besides speed being requisite, it should be
the study of those possessing influence in these
matters, to direct the public taste to the encourage-
ment of qualities of national importance. Marshal
Marmont judiciously observes on this topic, that " Les
encouragemens, les prix, les primes, devraient etre
calcules sur cles epreuves applicables aux besoins des
divers usages publics et domestiques, et non pas etre
la recompense d'un me rite ideal."

K

130 THE HORSE.

LAWS OF RACING, ETC.

(From the Racing Calendar.)

Horses take their ages from the 1st of January ; i. e.
a horse foaled any time in the year 1845, is one year
old on the 1st of January, 1846.

Catch-weights are, to appoint a person to ride with-
out weighing;. Feather- weight signifies the same.

A Post-Match, is to insert the ages of the horses, in
the articles, and to run any horse of that age, without
declaring till you come to the post to start.

Handicap weights, are weights according to the
supposed abilities of the horses.

Riders must ride their horses back to the winning
post to weigh ; and he that dismounts before, or
wants weight, is distanced.

The horse that has his head at the ending post
first, wins.

If a rider fall from his horse, and the horse be rid-
den in by a person of sufficient weight, he will take
place the same as if it had not happened, provided he
went back to the place where the rider fell.

Horses are not entitled to start without producing
a proper certificate of their age, &c, if required ;
except where aged horses are included, in which case
a horse may start without a certificate, provided he
carry the same weights as an aged horse.

For the best of the plate, when there are three heats
run, the horse is second that wins one. For the best
of the heats the horse is second that beats the other
twice out of three times, though he doth not win a
heat.

When a plate is won at two heats, the preference
of the horses is determined by the places they hold in
the second heat.

When three horses have each won a heat, they only

RACING. 131

must start for a fourth, and their places will be deter-
mined by it. No distance in a fourth heat.

In running of heats, if it cannot be decided which
is first, the heat goes for nothing, and they may all
start again, except it be between horses that had each
won a heat. Horses drawn before the plate is won
are distanced.

A bet made after a heat, if the horse betted on does
not start again, is no bet. A confirmed bet cannot be
off, without mutual consent.

Either party may demand stakes to be made, and
on refusal may declare the bet to be void.

If a party be absent on the day of running, a public
declaration of the bet may be made on the course, and
a demand whether any person will make stakes for
the absent party ; if no person consent to do so, the
bet may be declared void.

Bets agreed to be settled in town or any particular
place cannot be declared off on the course.

The person who bets the odds has a right to choose
his horse or the field ; when he has chosen his horse,
the field is what starts against him \ but there is no
field unless one start with him.

If odds are bet without mentioning the horse till
the race is over, it must be determined as the odds
were at the time of betting.

Bets made in running are not determined till the
plate is won, if the heat be not specified at the time
of betting.

At Newmarket, if a match be made for any parti-
cular day, in any meeting, and the parties afterwards
change the day, all bets must stand ; but if altered
to a different meeting, bets made before the alteration
are void.

Bets determined though the horse does not start
when the words "absolutely" "run or pay," or "play
or pay" are made use of in betting.

K 2

132 THE HORSE.

All double bets are considered as play or pay.

Horses running on the wrong side of a post, and
not turning back, are distanced : horses are distanced,
if their riders cross or jostle.

Money given to have a bet laid, not returned if not
run.

All matches, bets, and engagements are void on
the decease of either party, before determined.

An untried stallion or mare, is one whose produce
has not started in public.

A maiden horse or mare, is one that has never
Avon.

In estimating winnings, it is the practice to consider
the clear sum gained only, and consequently to
exempt the winner's stake. A winner of a sweep-
stakes of 20 gs. each (3 subs.), is therefore not dis-
qualified from running for a 50/. plate, expressed to
be for horses that never won a plate, match, or sweep-
stakes of that value.

A horse walking over or receiving forfeit, except
for a match, to be deemed a winner.

In all nominations and entrances for stakes, sub-
scriptions, and plates, of horses, &c. which have not
started before the time of naming or entering, the
sire, dam, and grandam of the horse, &c, named or
entered, must be mentioned, if known, unless the dam
has a name Avhich is to be found in the Stud-Book or
Racing Calendar ; in which case the name of the sire
and dam will be sufficient. If the horse, &c. named
or entered be own brother or sister to any horse, &c.
havins; a name in the Stud-Book or Racing; Calendar,
it will be sufficient to name it as such. If the dam or
grandam be sister (but which sister must be specified,
if there be more than one), or dam or grandam of any
horse, &c. having a name in the Stud-Book or Racing
Calendar, it will be sufficient to mention her as such.
If the dam or grandam is not known, the sire of the

RACING 133

horse, &c. must be mentioned, together with such
other particulars as will be sufficient to identify the
animal. If a horse has once appeared in the Racing
Calendar by a name, and his pedigree, it will be suffi-
cient afterwards to mention him by his name only,
even though he has never started. If the dam was
covered by more than one stallion, the names of all of
them must be mentioned.

If any horse shall be named or entered without
being properly identified, he shall not be allowed to
start in the race ; but his owner shall be liable to pay
the forfeit, or, if a play or pay race, the whole stake.
All bets on a horse so disqualified for starting are
void.

In case any objection to the qualification of a horse,
on the ground of incorrect pedigree or nomination, be
made before the race is run, the Stewards shall have
the power of ordering that the settlement on such
race shall be suspended until the objection shall have
been investigated ; but if any such objection be made
after the race, it shall not affect the bets, which must
go with the horse that comes in first, provided that
he be of the right age, and not otherwise disqualified
by the laAvs of racing.

No horse, though coming in first, shall be deemed
the winner of any plate, match, or sweepstakes, whe-
ther handicap or otherwise, which shall be proved to
have run, or to have continued to run, under a
false description ; and such disqualification shall re-
main in force until his proper pedigree shall be as-
certained and recorded. But no such objection to
the disqualification of a horse shall be received after
the lapse of twelve months from the time of run-
ning.

In every sweepstakes in which there shall be any
allowance of weight to the produce of untried horses

K 3

134 THE HOUSE.

or mares, such allowance shall be claimed on the
article by each subscriber before the expiration of the
time of naming ; and if not so claimed, no allowance
shall be made, even though the horse or mare should
prove to have been untried at the time of naming.

All stakes for matches, subscriptions, and sweep-
stakes, to be made before the hour of starting for the
first race of the day ; and in default thereof by
any person, he shall pay the whole stake as a loser,
whether his horse comes in first or not, unless such
person shall have previously obtained the consent of
the party or parties with whom he is engaged, to his
not staking. But this rule is not to extend to bets,
which are to be paid and received as if no such omis-
sion had happened.

No person shall start a horse, &c, either in his own
name, or in that of any other person, unless both the
owner and namer of such horse have paid all former
stakes and forfeits ; and no horse shall be permitted
to start for any race, unless all former stakes and for-
feits due for that horse shall have been paid as above,
provided an objection to such horse starting shall
have been made by 10 o'clock in the evening preced-
ing the day of running.

When a horse is sold with his engagements, the
seller shall not have the power of striking the horse
out of the engagements with which he was sold, and
the original subscriber remains liable, in default of
payment by the purchaser.

When a person takes a nomination for a stake, in
which the forfeit is to be declared by a particular
time, and does not declare by the time appointed, he
shall be considered to have taken the engagement on
himself, and his name shall be substituted for that of
the original subscriber.

All stakes or bets, whether expressed to be in gui-
neas or pounds, shall be paid in pounds sterling.

RACING. 135

When the riders of any horses brought out to run
for any race are called upon, by the person appointed
to start them, to take their place for that purpose, the
owner of every horse which comes to the post shall be
considered as liable to pay his whole stake ; and all
bets respecting such horses shall be considered as pay
or play bets.

If in running for any race one horse shall jostle or
cross another, such horse, and every horse belonging
to the same owner, or in which he shall have a share,
running in the same race, shall be disqualified for
winning the race, whether such jostle or cross hap-
pened by the swerving of the horse, or by the foul
and careless riding of the jockey, or otherwise ; and
where one horse crosses the track of another next
behind him, it shall be deemed a sufficient cause of
complaint, even though he be a clear length or more
before the horse whose track he crosses.

In naming or entering for any race where there
shall be any particular conditions required as a quali-
fication to start, it shall be sufficient if the horse were
qualified at the expiration of the time allowed for
naming or entering ; and he shall not- be disqualified
by any thing which may happen after the expiration
of that time, unless so specified in the article ; and if
any additional weight is to be carried by horses
which have Avon one or more plate or races within
the year, it shall be construed to mean the year of
our Lord.

When the qualification of any horse is objected to,
the owner must produce a certificate, or other proper
document, before the race is run, to prove the qualifi-
cation of the horse ; and if he shall start his horse
without so doing, the prize shall be withheld for a
period to be fixed upon by the Stewards, on the expi-
ration of which time, if the qualification be not proved
to the satisfaction of the Stewards, he shall not be

K 4

136 THE HORSE.

entitled to the prize, though his horse shall have come
in first, but it shall be given to the owner of the se-
cond horse. When the qualification of a horse is
objected to after the race is over, the person making
the objection must prove the disqualification.

Where two horses run a dead heat, and the parties
agree to divide the plate or stakes equally, all bets
between those two horses, or between either of them
and the field, must be settled by the money betted
being put together, and divided between the parties,
in the same proportion as the stakes shall have been
divided. If a bet be made on one of the horses that
ran the dead heat against a horse that was beaten in
the race, he who backed the horse that ran the dead
heat wins half his bet. If the dead heat be the first
event of a double bet, the bet shall be void.

No person can run, either in his own name or in
the name of any other person, two horses of which he
is wholly or in part the owner, for any plate. Doubts
having arisen as to the true definition of the word
"plate," the Stewards of the Jockey Club have
decided, that where a sum of money is given to be
run for, without any stake being made by the owners
of the horses (entrance money not being considered a
stake), such prize shall be construed to be a plate:
but where a stake is deposited by the owners of the
horses, which is to go to the winner, and an addition-
al sum of money, or a cup, piece of plate, or other
reward, is offered as a prize to the winner, even
though such additions shall be denominated a plate
by the donor, such race shall be deemed and taken to
be a sweepstakes, and not a plate.

The stakeholder shall be allowed to retain, out of
the stakes in his hands, the following fees for his
trouble, viz.: — For every match one pound; for
every plate, one pound ; for every subscription or
sweepstakes, where the whole stakes exceed 100/., and

RACING. 137

do not amount to 1000/., two pounds : when it
amounts to 1000/., five pounds.

All disputes, arising elsewhere than at Newmarket,
which may be referred to the Stewards of the Jockey
Club, must relate to horse racing, the facts must be
reduced into writing, and be sent by, or with the
sanction of, the Stewards of the races where the mat-
ter in question occurred, and the parties must agree,
in writing, to abide by the decision of the Stewards
of the Jockey Club. But at a meeting of the Jockey
Club, on the 12th of October, 1842, it was unani-
mously resolved, that " the Jockey Club and the
Stewards thereof will henceforth take no cognizance
of any disputes or claims in respect to bets."

138 THE HORSE.

CHAPTER V.

DEMONSTRATIONS OF THE HORSES AGE.

" Never look a crift horse in the mouth." — Stable Proverb.

As a matter of civil economy, it is of importance to
judge correctly of the age of our useful servant — the
horse. This is chiefly accomplished by observing the
natural changes which occur in his teeth, the periods
at which they appear, are shed and replaced, and
the alterations of their form and markings.

The teeth of most animals oifer some criteria, from
which their asre can be estimated with more or less

o

accuracy. Slave-dealers have from time immemorial
regarded the appearances presented by the teeth of
their victims as tests of their age ; and recently, and
in our own country, the same observation has been
called into requisition, in order to carry out the
intentions of the legislature in restricting the em-
ployment in factories of children under a certain age.
The teeth are nearly the sole indices of the age of
the horse, ass, elephant, camel, dog, and the polled
varieties of the ox and sheep, while in other
domesticated animals, as the elk, deer, goat, common
ox and sheep, the horns also present legible indications
of the progress of time.

Reference to the teeth to ascertain the horse's age
is not by any means a practice of recent origin.
Xenophon, in his well-known work on Horsemanship,
alludes to it as an established custom used in the

THE TEETH. 139

selection of cavalry for the Grecian army : he properly
advised a rejection of such horses who had lost the
dental mark. The same facts are subsequently
noticed by Varro, Vegetius, Columella, and other
Roman writers.

The horse, when full-mouthed, possesses forty
teeth — twenty in each jaw. They are named from
their use, position, and character. Those in the
front of the mouth, whose office it is to gather the
food when grazing, are termed incisors, or, more
appropriately, nippers. They are twelve in number,
six above and below ; they do not overlap each other,
as is the case in man, but meet in a broad tabular
surface. From these teeth is principally deduced
the age of the animal. For the sake of description
they are ranged in pairs, as they appear, and the
first pair is called the central, the second the dividers,
and the third the comer nippers. The tushes or
canines come next, one above and below on each side.
They are of a pointed shape, and are convex on the
outer side and slightly concave on the inner surface.
They scarcely ever appear above the gums in mares,
although their rudiments may be discovered on dis-
section imbedded in the maxillary bones. They are
consequently regarded as sexual distinctives. It is
difficult to assign their use ; their position precludes
the possibility of their being used as weapons of
offence or defence. They may be viewed as a link of
uniformity so commonly traced in the animated
world. The grinders or molars are twenty-four in
number. They are teeth of great power. By them
the food is comminuted, and prepared for the
digestive action of the stomach. In order to fit
them for their office, they possess additional inter-
layers of enamel, which prevent their too rapid wear.
The arrangement and number of the horse's teeth
may be represented by the subjoined dental formula.

] >

140 THE HORSE.

Incisors, §•; Canine, in the male only, \ \
Molars, f f; = 40. In common with most animals
the horse is provided with two sets of teeth : those
appearing first are known as the temporary, deciduous,
or milk teeth, and are succeeded by the permanent set.
On comparing the different magnitude of the jaw-
bones of the colt and the adult horse, the necessity
of such a change is at once apparent. By it the
teeth are adapted to the size of the maxillary bones.
The teeth, from their peculiar character and mode of
growth, do not admit of any material increase of
dimension, and nature was therefore forced either to
place the large permanent teeth in small and dispro-
portionate jaw-bones, or to adapt the size of the
teeth by displacement to the growth of the bones that
contained them. The latter process is adopted, and
constitutes one of those remarkable evidences of
creative power with which the living frame is replete.
Three substances enter into the structure of the
teeth : 1. the enamel ; 2. the dental bone, or ivory;
and, 3. a cortical envelope, surrounding the fang.
The enamel differs but little in chemical constitution
from the osseous body of the teeth, and that princi-
pally results from the absence of animal matter from it.
It appears closely analogous to the univalve porcelain-
ous shells, and is the hardest and most indestructible
substance of the body. The dental bone is distinctly
tubular in structure, as was first demonstrated by
Leeuwenhoek, in a communication made by him to the
" Philosophical Transactions" of 1678, and this has
been confirmed by the late microscopical researches
of Purkinje and Muller. These tubuli take a per-
pendicular direction, are extremely small, but capable
of absorbing ink by capillary attraction. No such
tubuli have been traced in the enamel. The teeth,
both incisors and grinders, are being constantly worn
away at the crown, but the loss is supplied by the
gradual, continuous, and equivalent growth from the

NATURAL AGE. 141

root. The horse's teeth are sometimes, but not fre-
quently, subject to disease. It is seldom that any of
them are lost from age, as is the case with man, and
most other animals.

There is some difficulty in estimating the natural
average length of the horse's life, for many obstacles
oppose an inquiry on a scale of sufficient magnitude
to be satisfactory. The numerous evils entailed on
him by the arduous labours, and the restricted and
unnatural habits of a domesticated state, tend greatly
to abbreviate life. After he is rendered prematurely
decrepid, and unfit for further exertion, his course
so generally terminates in the slaughter-house, that
we are almost at a loss for examples to direct our
inquiries. From these, and other reasons, it cannot
be much doubted that his age is generally underrated.
Horses are most erroneously called aged on the obli-
teration of " the mark " from the lower incisor teeth,
which occurs by the completion of the eighth year,
and though it is far from being the natural term of
age and debility, or even of decline of the vital ener-
gies, it too frequently happens that, by that time,
bodily infirmity has been prematurely induced by
over-exertion of their powers, and they are "used
up " to save expense, as the slang phrase designates
this inhuman practice. Horses at twenty years old
are often met with in cases where the least humanity
has been bestowed on their management. Eclipse
died at the age of twenty-five, Flying Childers at
twenty-six. Burns's mare Maggie attained more
than twenty-nine years.* Bucephalus, the cele-

* " It's now some nine-an'-twenty year,

Sin' thou was my guid father's meere ;
He gied me thee, o' tocher clear,

An' fifty mark ;
Tho' it was sma', 'twas weel-won gear,
An' thou was stark."
— The Auld Farmer's New Year Morning Salutution to his Aula1 Mare
Maggie.

142 THE HORSE.

brated horse of Alexander of Macedon, lived till
thirty. The natural term is probably between
twenty-five and thirty years. A faint and un-
certain guide is found in the register of the ages
of some of our most celebrated racing stallions,
recollecting, however, that several of them were de-
stroyed on becoming useless for purposes of the Turf.
The united ages of 93 of these horses amounted to
2005 years, or rather better than 21^ years each
horse. Professor Pessina estimates it at thirty years ;
Mr. Percival rather higher, and Cuvier from 30 to
40. Instances are frequently noticed of horses at-
taining the age of thirty-five, and Mr. Blaine men-
tions one which was attached to the Woolwich riding-
school as being 40. Mr. Titchmarsh, of Kneesworth,
Cambridgeshire, had a grey pony, which died in Feb-
ruary, 1840, at the great age of 41 years. Culley,
in his work on Live Stock, &c, mentions a horse which
had received a ball in its neck at the battle of Preston
(1715), and yet lived until the year 1758 : if it be
allowed to have been four or five years old at the
time of receiving its wound, it must have been nearly
48 years old at its death. Pliny remarks that many
horses attain the age of fifty years, but that mares do
not live quite so long. It is most confidently asserted
that a barge-horse belonging to the Mersey and Irwell
canal company, attained the surprising term of sixty-
two years. The Athenian chronicles record that a
mule had reached the age of eighty ; and, to terminate
the list of equine Methuselahs, Rankin, in his History
of France (vol. ii. p. 315.), cites Flodart, an old his-
torian of that country, who asserts that, in the year
931, a horse had reached the truly patriarchal age
of 100 years.

Blaine, in his Outlines of the Veterinary Art, (p. 40.
4th edition,) ingeniously draws the following com-
parison between the respective ages of man and the

foal's teeth. 143

horse. " The constitution of horses and man may be
considered as in an equal degree of perfection and
capability for exertion, or of debility and decay, ac-
cording as youth or age preponderate. Thus, the
first five years of a horse may be considered as equi-
valent to the first twenty in man ; or thus, that a
horse of five years may be comparatively considered
as old as a man of twenty ; a horse of ten years as a
man of forty ; a horse of fifteen as a man of fifty ; a
horse of twenty as a man of sixty ; of twenty-five as
a man of seventy ; of thirty as a man of eighty ; of
thirty-five as a man of ninety. So far from this com-
parison being in favour of the horse, I am disposed
to think it is too little. Horses of thirty-five years
of age are as common as men of ninety, provided it
be taken into account that there are twenty human
subjects for every horse ; and, unquestionably, a horse
of forty-five is less rare than a man of a hundred and
ten."

When the foal first makes its entry into the world,
the only teeth found above the surface of the gums
are the first and second pairs of molars or grinders,
but within a few days' time, generally about a week,
the first pair of the lower nippers make their appear-
ance, and, at their first exit from the gum, seem to
occupy nearly the whole front of the jaw, and would,
by their length of surface, appear to preclude the
possibility of there being any room left for the others.
The corresponding pair in the upper jaw are not seen
until a few days subsequently. The appearance of
similar pairs, or companion teeth, in either jaw, is
never exactly synchronous, for, throughout all the
mammalia, the lower teeth are found to protrude a
short time before those of the upper jaw. On esti-
mating the great danger from irritation which often
occurs in children when cutting their teeth, this na-
tural ordinance cannot but be regarded as a most

144 THE HORSE.

wise means of guarding the life of the young animal,
for, were the two pair to be each causing constitu-
tional derangement at the same time, the consequences
would be much more frequently fatal.

By the end of the first month, another, or third
molar has been put up, and before six weeks' time
has expired, a second pair of incisors.

The third pair, or corner nippers, make their ap-
pearance soon after the sixth month, and, by the
completion of the year, the fourth pair of molars
have generally arisen.

It now becomes necessary to offer a description of
what is technically termed " the mark" as, from this
time forward, it presents demonstrations of the ani-
mal's age, of great value to the horseman. When
the incisor teeth first appear above the gum their
faces are not tabular and smooth, but they have the
outer edge much more elevated than the inner one,
in consequence of an apparent doubling of the enamel
surrounding the body of the teeth, and then, dipping
in towards the centre.* This inflection of the enamel
is higher and stronger in the front portion of the
tooth than it is in the part presented towards the
tongue, but both edges are more elevated than
the central portion of the tooth, and thus produce
a concavity or fossula in the middle of the tooth's
face, which, being removed from attrition, becomes,
in the course of a short time, nearly black, and then

* " In the horse, these teeth, which are termed nippers, do not cross,
but meet ; consequently, in the grinding of the food by the back teeth,
these teeth are rubbing against one another, and are thus subject to
very great wear. To enable them to resist this, they have an additional
plate of enamel running down the centre, and when the prolongation of
the sac which was sent in to secrete the enamel is taken away, a hole is
necessarily left in the tooth, which, being filled up with particles of the
animal's food and other foreign matter, is usually of a dark colour. This
is termed by jockeys the mark, and they judge of a horse's age by it, as,
of course, when the tooth is ground down the mark disappears." — Lord's
Popular Physiology, p. 56.

THE MAKK. 145

resembles very closely, in shape and colour, the black
eye of a broad bean. It is important to bear in mind
that what is called the mark is not simply a mark or
discoloration, but a distinct concavity in the centre of
the tooth. Discolorations exist on the face of the
tooth long after the disappearance of the true mark,
and would seem to be caused by the varying density
of the surface permitting the absorption of the vege-
table juices in some places, and resisting it in others.
Shortly, however, the elevated rim of enamel gives
evidence of the almost constant friction to which it is
submitted, and wearing gradually down, obliterates,
in its course, the central black concavity or mark,
and produces a flat and even face to the tooth. This
result is erroneously termed by dealers " the filling
up of the teeth," when, in fact, it is the effect of their
being worn down. As the times occupied to wear out
these natural markings of the teeth, though slow, is
usually pretty uniform, they present legible traces of
the march of time, and afford a valuable opportunity
of ascertaining the number of years the animal has
existed.

Thus, the yearling's mouth is usually possessed of
|- temporary incisors and -£ ^ molars, and the mark
is nearly perfect in the corner nippers, rather less so
in the dividers, and almost obliterated from the
central ones ; giving plain evidence of the advance of
time by the progress and effect of detrition.

By an enactment of the Jockey Club, the age of
horses competing for stakes on the turf is to be
reckoned from the first of January, but the more
common as well as the more natural custom is to take
May-day as the birthday of the horse, and to calculate
his age from that date. On this day, every year,
it is customary in some places to decorate the horses'
bridles with ribbons or flowers in commemoration
of the event ; something in accordance to the ancient

L

14G THE HORSE.

festivals of Hippocratia of the Arcadians and Con-
sualia of the Romans, when horses and mules rested
and had their heads crowned with chaplets of flowers.
At two years old the only additional appearance is
that of another or fifth molar and the dental formulary
is — incisors |-, molars £ J-. This addition might be
readily overlooked from the hidden position of the
molars, and indeed reference is but rarely made to
them as demonstrators of the age, for we have it at
once offered by the changed appearance which the
nippers now present. At this period the corner
incisors still possess some portion of the mark ; but it
is much shorter than at the first appearance of the
tooth ; it is but faintly discernible in the dividers,
and is quite obliterated from the central pair. In
addition, the teeth appear much worn down, par-
ticularly the central ones, and they are evidently
becoming disproportionally small for the size of the
mouth ; they take also a separated or divided character,
the spaces between them becoming more and more
distinct, gradually preparing for the important changes
which are soon to take place. About the completion
of the second year the first of the series of displace-
ments commences, and by the uniformity of nature's
operations it occurs in those which were the first seen
above the gum, — that is, the most forwardly situated
pair of grinders. These changes are brought about
by the removal by absorption of the fangs of the
temporary teeth, and by the upward pressure of the
bodies of the permanent ones. As the place occupied
by the last set is not exactly the same as that in which
the milk teeth were placed, but usually a little aside,
in order to accommodate themselves to the enlarged
figure the mouth has by this age assumed, it sometimes
happens that the milk teeth are not thrust out, but
remain standing by the side of the permanent ones, and
often do considerable injury to the lining membrane

TWO- YEAR OLD. 147

of the cheeks and obstruct the performance of mas-
tication. The usual name given to them is that of
wolves' teeth, and their existence may be suspected
whenever the young and otherwise healthy animal
evinces a disinclination to its food or a difficulty of
eating it. They should be removed by mechanical
assistance as soon as discovered.

Between the completion of the second year and the
advent of the third, other important changes take
place. The sixth or last molar makes its appearance,
and, far more important to the subject under con-
sideration, the central pairs of temporary nippers are
now thrust out and succeeded by the permanent ones.
This last change usually occurs at the age of two and
a half years. Interested parties sometimes endeavour
to accelerate or retard this natural event. Thus it is
often the aim of dealers to increase the apparent
age of their colts by accelerating the teething process ;
and in early foaled colts they are able to accomplish
this by good feeding, and by removing those temporary
teeth, Avhose position they are anxious to see occu-
pied by the permanent ones, so as to take away all
impediment to their appearance. By these nefarious
practices they sometimes succeed in rendering a colt
apparently a year older than he really is, and so add
materially to their own gains. Again, in competing on
the turf for valuable stakes or the more important
results of the betting-book, endeavours have often
been made, by taking opposite measures to those
before pursued, selecting such as have been foaled
late in the season, to give to the colt or filly a less
apparent age than it truly possesses. In all cases of
this description, reference should always be made to
the molars, as their changes are least understood, and
they are less likely, from their position, to have been
tampered with.

The last three in each row of the molar teeth,

L 2

148 THE HORSE.

those most remotely situated, are not deciduous like
the three most anteriorly placed.

The three-year-old mouth.

-, . f Temporary \

Incisors. \ _, L J, f

[ rermanent f

Molars ( TemPorary f f
[ Permanent % ^

The second pair of temporary molars are shed soon
after the termination of the third year ; and at about
three and a half years another pair of incisive teeth,
the dividers, are replaced by permanent ones. To-
ward the end of the fourth year the tushes sometimes
show themselves above the gums' surface, but more
generally their appearance is delayed until the
beginning of the fifth year.

The state of the mouth at the completion of the fourth
year will consequently be :

T . f Temporary %■

Incisors. \ ^ r \i

I rermanent ^

Canine, scarcely perceptible, \ -}

Mote. { Temporary \ \
y rermanent f |

At the commencement of the fifth year the third and
last pair of the temporary molars are shed and
replaced ; and as time progresses and the animal
attains four years and a half, the last remaining pair
of temporary incisors, the corner ones, are followed
by their permanent successors. This last change
terminates the teething process. The canines or
tushes have by the end of the year attained nearly
one half an inch in height. The tushes, like the
last^three grinders, are not shed. By this time the
mouth is distinguished by the appellative of full or

FULL MOUTH. 149

complete, being nearly perfect. The young animal,
which hitherto had borne the name of colt or filly,
takes that of horse or mare, according to sex.

The full mouth of a five year old will be possessed of
none but permanent teeth.

Incisors, permanent f ; canine \ \ ; molars, per-
manent |- 1-.

Up to the end of the fifth year the age is judged
of, as has been shown, by the appearance, disappear-
ance, and replacement of the various teeth ; but now
that the teething process is finished, recourse is had
solely to the marks which the incisors bear on their
upper surface.

At six years old the two central nippers, in the under
row, have lost the mark which was plainly discernible
in them all on the completion of the fifth year. As the
incisive teeth appeared at intervals of a year from each
other, so also does the obliteration of the mark follow
the same ratio of time, it taking nearly three years from
the first exit of each tooth from the gum to the complete
wearing out of the black fossula from its face. Thus
the central pair of incisors, which were put up towards
the end of the third year, lose their mark by the at-
tainment of the sixth ; and those pairs which appeared
in the fourth and fifth years retain their markings
until the seventh and eighth years respectively. The
only difference between a five year old and a six year
old mouth is, that in the former the tushes and the
corner nippers have a dwarfish appearance, and all
the nippers possess their marks, and in the latter the
tushes have attained their full length (about an inch),
the corner nippers are on a level with their com-
panions, and the mark has disappeared from the cen-
tral pair.

At seven years the progressive detrition has ob-
literated the mark from the two dividers, in addition
to that which had before taken place from the central

i, 3

150 THE HOUSE.

pair, and the only remaining marks to be seen are
those of the corner teeth. The lanceolate shape of
the tushes is somewhat modified ; they have now
become less pointed than they were a year ago, and
their edges are evidently much more rounded.

When the eighth year is complete, the mark is
effaced from all the lower nippers, and the animal is
most inappropriately styled " aged" in stable par-
lance. At this period the dishonest practice desig-
nated bishoping is sometimes resorted to in order to
simulate the marks characterising youth. The horse
is cast and the head fixed for the convenience of the
operator. A portion of the centre of the tooth is
chased out with a graver's tool, and, by the applica-
tion of a heated iron, the scratches of the instrument
are burnt out, and a black mark left in its place.
Thus, by treating in this way the two corner nippers
they convert the horse, let him be ever so advanced
in years, apparently into a seven-year'old. These mani-
pulations are readily discoverable by the practised eye,
for the hot iron leaves a yellow stain around the edge
of the mark, which does not exist naturally.

After the obliteration of the mark from the lower
nippers, many horsemen advert to the progressive
alterations in the shape of the tushes, or canine teeth.
These appearances are sometimes of great assistance,
and long habit enables the examiner to guess, with
some approximation to correctness, the true age of the
animal : still, the indications they offer form a very
fallible guide, and one on which reliance cannot in
many cases be placed. These teeth are not concerned
in mastication, and though exposed to little wear, yet
they undergo a gradual and perceptible alteration
in figure. At six years they are fully developed,
their shape is lanceolate, being also convex on the
outer side, and channelled on the inner surface. As
time advances their shape alters. The points are

AGED. 151

worn away, and, by passing the finger round the inner
surface of the tooth, we perceive that the channel no
longer exists ; the edges are lost, and it gradually
assumes a cylindrical appearance. In declining years
they frequently evince a tendency to reverse their
pristine form, for instead of being largest at the base,
that part is smaller in circumference than the apex.

After the marks are effaced from the lower nippers,
at eight years, reference is usually made to those
of the upper row, for they invariably retain them
some years longer. The cause of this may be either
attributed to an original deeper indentation of the
marks, or to a diminished wear of the teeth themselves.
Yet the period of disappearance of the marks, so
uniform and regular in the lower teeth, is not by any
means definite or certain in the upper ones ; and, as a
criterion of age, they are consequently deprived of a
chief portion of their value. Experience has, how-
ever, substantiated that the medium, as well as the
most general terms of their disappearance, is from the
two central teeth at some period between the ninth
and tenth years ; from the next pair, between the tenth
and eleventh years ; and from the corner ones, between
the eleventh and twelfth years.

The continental veterinarians endeavour to estimate
the age up to the remotest periods of life. To ac-
complish this, they again refer to the nippers, and
seek to gain intelligence of the progress of time by
the successive alterations in the shape of their wearing
surfaces. The outline, at first oval or ovoid, imper-
ceptibly approximates to the circular, and that figure
is by degrees metamorphosed into the triangular.
Such observations, though correctly founded, cannot,
from the vagueness which must always attend the
changes of form, ever be of any practical value.
A far more important indication of advancing age
is presented in the manner in which the two rows

L 4

152 THE HOUSE.

meet each other. Early in life, at the completion
of the teething process, the upper and lower nip-
pers meet each other in a perfectly perpendicular direc-
tion ; but as time advances this vertical position is by
degrees lost, and gradually changed to an angular
one, by a forward projection of the wearing surfaces
or ends of the teeth, the angle becoming more and
more acute with the increase of age. The lower
row of teeth contributes most to this angularity of
outline, for it appears to exceed the other in the ra-
pidity with which it takes this direction, so that the
lower corner nipper, by projecting forwards rather
more than the upper one, wears a notch in its face
by leaving the most posterior part untouched. So
marked is the dental angle formed by the approxima-
tion of the two rows of teeth in old horses, that it is
surprising it has been so long overlooked by veteri-
nary writers. To the novice in horseflesh it oifers
by far the most readily acquired, as well as the most
enduring clue to the animal's age.*

Other proofs of advanced age are to be discovered
in the general senile look of the animal ; but it must
be remembered that horses got by old stallions and
out of aged brood mares show the external symptoms
of age sooner than those bred from young parents ;
grey hairs make their appearance about the eye-brows
and muzzle, and should the horse have been of a grey
colour, that colour gradually assumes a lighter tint,
and approaches more and more with the advance of
age to a perfect white. The bars, as the waved ap-
pearance of the lining membrane of the mouth is de-
signated, are less distinctly prominent ; there is an
increase in the hollowness over the eyes, and the lips

"'• An instrument to measure the age of horses might easily be con-
structed. All that would be necessary would be to ascertain by a course
of experiments the average angularity of the teeth at different specified
ages, and graduate the instrument for taking the angles accordingly.

ADVANCED AGE.

153

become thinner in substance and much more pen-
dulous. Nature, in order to support the declining
powers, removes by absorption a great portion of
unnecessary and diseased structures, giving a more
prominent appearance to the joints, withers, and
other bony processes, and frequently taking up wind-
galls, splents, and spavins of long standing.

154 THE HORSE.

CHAPTER VI.

VETERINARY JURISPRUDENCE.

He that by injury is griev'd,

And goes to law to get reliev'd,

Is sillier than a sottish drouse,

Who, when a thief had robb'd his house

Applies himself to cunning men,

To help him to his goods again ;

When all he can expect to gain.

Is but to squander more in vain." — Butler.

It has been justly remarked that lawsuits originate
less frequently in the positive dishonesty and bad
faith of the litigants, than in their gross misconcep-
tion of each other's rights and liabilities. If it were
possible to define with accuracy the distinction
between the soundness and unsoundness of horses —
to show what constitutes the one and what the other —
where soundness terminates, and the converse, un-
soundness, begins, and to place a broad line of
demarcation betwixt the two, then would a great
amount of empty cavil and hurtful litigation be
henceforth avoided. But although it may not be
possible to prevent all conflict of opinion or interest,
yet I think it is in the power of veterinarians to
obviate a chief portion of those disgraceful exhibitions
which so frequently occur in our courts of law in
horse causes, to their own disparagement and public
disgrace. To attain this desirable end, some attempt
should be made by the teachers at the different
veterinary schools to come to an understanding on
the subject, grounded on physiological and patho-

SOUNDNESS. 155

logical principles, instead of leaving it, as at present,
to the undirected energy of the student. A few
lectures on veterinary jurisprudence, delivered by
competent persons, would tend much to create a
unison of professional opinion, and, as a consequence,
to increase the public respect for the members of the
veterinary institutions.

From the uncertainty of the exact meaning of the
term " unsound " has arisen a mass of legal conten-
tion. Scarcely two persons entertain the same idea
of it ; lawyers, veterinary surgeons, farriers, horse
dealers, horsemen, sportsmen, and jurymen, each, and
every one, hold different and conflicting notions about
" drawing the line." If " unsoundness " is to express
total absence of disease or bodily imperfection, without
regard to utility, as some contend, then but few
horses will fully warrant the application of the term
to them. Others hold, that " alterations of structure,
attended with interruption or impairment in function,
constitute unsoundness." Mr. Stewart is yet closer
to the mark when he defines " a horse to be sound
when there is no disease about any part of him that
renders, or is likely in future to render, him less
useful than he would be without it." Among the
most remarkable of recorded opinions stands that of
the late Lord Ellenborough, who thought, and laid it
down as an invariable criterion, that a horse costing
more than ten pounds was consequently sound.
However well this might have satisfied the lawyers of
his day, the horsemen of ours are not content that
price should constitute soundness. A poetical vete-
rinarian of the good old school has defined soundness
in the following Hudibrastic lines : —

" When may a horse be called sound ?
When no disease upon't be found,
When neither blind, nor broken-winded,
Nor lameness — just begun or mended,
Nor any cause at time of sale,
That 'gainst his duties may prevail."

156 THE HORSE.

Now, in homely prose, I do think that many more
exceptionable definitions than this are to be found ;
and if maxims were of importance, this might serve
as a rough guide or remembrancer. Some there are
Avho require so many perfections in the animal, that
the sound horse, according to their construction,
would be a matter of curiosity : among these fastidious
censors is Taplin, who thinks it requisite that the
horse should possess " a perfect state of both the
frame and bodily health, without exception or ambi-
guity, the total absence of blemishes as well as
defects ; a freedom from every imperfection, and
from all impediments to sight and action." It will
at once be apparent, from the extreme rarity of the
above description of animal, that by far the greater
portion of useful horses would be unjustifiably con-
demned, and rejected as unsound and unsaleable.
This writer, together with many others, appears
evidently to have taken the word " unsound " in its
general meaning, and have amused themselves by
giving definitions of it. But however well these
definitions may be calculated to elucidate the precise
signification of this word, we are not at all justi-
fied in appropriating it to the imperfections of the
horse. It is not necessary to soundness that a horse
should be absolutely free from every trifling disease,
or of the most faultless anatomical construction.
Blemishes cannot, certainly, of themselves, justify a
rejection, for horses are often not an iota the less
serviceable for many blemishes. Neither can mal-
formation be argued to constitute unsoundness, for
there are very few horses of unexceptionable mould.
We often see them with upright and loaded shoulders,
and other deviations from the model assumed to be
perfect ; yet, though these may constitute defects,
they are not necessarily of themselves a source of
unsoundness. To condemn a horse, because he

DEFINITION OF SOUNDNESS. 157

deviated slightly in structure from the standard of per-
fection, would be unwarrantable. The structural
change, though not partial, should be of sufficient im-
portance to interfere with the functions of the whole
before we are justified in rejection. We must attach to
the word " soundness " nothing more than a present
and prospective fitness or capability of performing duty,
without regard to age, blemishes, or conformation.
A horse is sound, provided there be not a total or partial
loss of function, preventing, or calculated to prevent, the
animal from performing the ordinary duties of a horse
of his class. The principal question to be taken into
consideration is, — Does, or will the deviation from the
normal condition, incapacitate the animal from ren-
dering to the owner the usually required quantity of
labour, at the same time bearing in mind the order
or class to which the horse belongs ? for there are
some functional deviations from the natural standard
constituting unsoundness, or unfitness for one descrip-
tion of employment or labour, which would not be
held objective or detrimental in other kinds. For
example, a modification of structure and function
which would unfit a race-horse, a hunter, a hack, a
charger, or a carriage horse for his duty, might not
in the least impair the utility of a farm-horse, a cart-
horse, or a dray-horse.

The application of the views taken above to those
subjects on which litigation most frequently occurs,
will serve to test the utility of the definition ; for un-
less it will apply, with equal facility, to the minor
bodily affections, as to the more decided and violent
diseases, it is useless.

At the head of the list stand those abnormal con-
ditions of the bones, occurring in different parts of the
body, and named, sometimes from caprice, at others
from situation. The notice given to each lesion is
necessarily brief, but a more full detail of the diseased

158 THE HORSE.

structures, and their probable consequence, will be
found under their respective headings in the latter
portion of this work.*

" Splint or Splent. — This is a disease from which very
few horses are exempt. Disputes have frequently
arisen whether a splint constitutes unsoundness. A
correct knowledge of the anatomy of the parts liable
to this affection is necessary in deciding the point.
It must entirely depend on its situation. If con-
tiguous to the ligaments of the knee-joint, or placed
so as to interfere with the action of the flexor tendons
or suspensory ligament, it will decidedly cause lame-
ness, and ultimately prevent the animal from labour.
Sometimes, when of considerable size, it is struck by
the opposite foot, which produces inflammation of the
part, pain, and lameness. It would be perfectly
ridiculous to reject every horse that has a splint.

"Spavin. — Although a horse may occasionally go
well, and still possess bony enlargements of his hocks,
yet, in the majority of instances, there cannot be a
moment's hesitation in deciding this affection to be
unsoundness.

"Ossification of the lateral Cartilages of the Foot, when
existing in any considerable degree, is decidedly an
unsoundness, and even in slighter cases there must
exist a predisposition to farther disease, which ought
always to be taken into consideration. The same
remarks apply to Ring-bone, which is calculated to
deprive the horse of a very important joint.

"Anchylosis of the Vertebrce, is manifested by backing
the horse, when there is evident straddling or reeling
motion of the hind extremities. Horses so affected
seldom lie down. As it is calculated to prevent the

* The subjoined description is taken, with little alteration, from a short
essay " On the Causes which constitute Unsoundness in Horses" read by
the author of this volume before the London Veterinary Medical Society,
in 1836.

CURB, WINDGALLS, CAPPED HOCK, ETC. 159

animal from performing his ordinary duties, it is
an unsoundness.

" Curb. — Curb is the result of an instantaneous
strain, and therefore if sprung at the shortest time
subsequent to sale, does not render the animal return-
able in consequence of it. The inflammation which
generally follows its advent may subside, and little
remain to discover the matter ; but a horse who has
once thrown a curb, is obnoxious to a repetition of
the same affection ever afterwards. Mr. Coleman
relates an anecdote exemplifying the general igno-
rance of lawyers and the public, on subjects relative
to horses. The learned counsel, Mr. Erskine, in
addressing a jury in a horse cause, said, ' Horse
causes are generally very tedious ; yet the one now
before them would not occupy much of their time, as
he could easily show that the horse was rotten at the
time of sale, for the leg was swelled up to the hock,
and the hock in the horse corresponds to the knee in
man ; and if our legs were to swell up to our knees
as in dropsy, we should stand but a very poor chance.'
The judge and jury fully concurred with the mock
sagacity of this remark, and the plaintiff very unjustly
got a verdict in his favour.

" Windgalls, and other Bursal Enlargements These

are so many certain indications of hard work, but not,
assuredly, convincing proofs of unsoundness. They
often exist without the least apparent inconvenience
to the animal.

" Capped Hock arises from contusions on the point
of the os-calcis. It is certainly a dis-sight, but not
an unsoundness.

" Contraction of the Hoof from its not always in-
capacitating the horse, must be ranked according to
its degree or severity. Some horses work constantly
with an upright narrowed foot with apparent ease
and durability. It must entirely depend upon the

1G0 THE HORSE.

degree of contraction which has taken place, and it
requires a person of observation, and well acquainted
with the subject, to decide upon the probability of
its rendering the animal incapable of labour.

" Corns do not generally prevent the ordinary oc-
cupations of the horse. Much, of course, depends
upon the state and appearance of the corn ; but I am
almost persuaded that, in the majority of instances,
I should reject a horse with a corn or corns as un-
sound, because calculated at some period to deteriorate
the natural usefulness of the animal.

" Sand-crack. — A horse with a sand-crack should be
rejected before purchase, for it cannot be returned
solely in consequence of possessing one after the
transfer is complete, for the rule ' caveat emptor ' ap-
plies in this case ; for if the horse is purchased without
necessary ordinary inspection, the buyer deserves to
be the loser.

" Neurotomy. — No unprejudiced mind will be held
Ions: in hesitation as to the classing; of horses who
have undergone this operation ; they are decidedly
unsound. The operation was performed to alleviate
pain, the effect of disease, and, however well it may
have succeeded, cannot be trusted for any length of
time.

" Broken Knees, Wounds from Cutting, <fyc. — None of
these constitute sufficient grounds for rejection, pro-
vided they do not interfere with the usefulness of the
horse.

" Cough. — A slight recent cough is a temporary un-
soundness, for the animal cannot be said to be able,
while labouring under cough, to accomplish the same
portion of work with equal facility as when free from
it. In order lawfully to be able to return a horse for
cough, it must be proved to have existed prior to
purchase, for very slight exciting causes, such as
change of stabling, dusty food, are sometimes suf-
ficient to produce it.

ROARING, BLINDNESS, ETC. 161

" Thick and broken Wind. — Either of these diseases,
which are only a modification of each other, renders
the animal decidedly unsound.

" Roaring. — A decided roarer cannot be a sound
horse. It is distressing to the horse, and a continual
annoyance to the owner. This affection exists in a
milder form, under the appellation of ' whistling.'
Roaring may generally be discovered by the common
stable trick of turning the horse quickly round in the
stall, or by unexpectedly striking or pretending to
strike, the horse's flanks; but these measures sometimes
fail to elicit it, even when existing to a considerable
degree, and frequently produce a grunt from horses
that never roar at other times. In suspected cases,
suddenly checking the animal when galloping will,
when other means fail, render roaring audible, should
the horse be so affected. But, of course, the efficacy of
this and other means depends much on the seat of
the disease.

" Blindness. — The lawyers have decided that horse-
dealers are at liberty to sell blind horses as sound.
They say any man, by taking usual precaution and
care in examining the object intended to be purchased,
ought to satisfy himself upon so evident a matter.
But veterinarians know well enough that many cases
of incipient cataract and amaurosis may be readily
overlooked, and often require a very keen examination
to discover their existence.

" Spring-halt. — Various opinions are abroad as to
the seat and origin of this nervous affection. We
shall not enter into that question here, for the fact
is, that horses who possess it are not rendered less
useful. Exercise almost always decreases it, and,
forming no impediment to labour, it cannot be classed
as a disease amounting to unsoundness.

" Crib-biting. — Professor Coleman used to remark,
that a horse with this disease may be ' sound or un-

M

162 THE HORSE.

sound ; it depends entirely upon the degree ; and
science can alone determine it. To say that every
horse is unsound that bites a piece of wood is ridi-
culous.' Judge Burroughs entertained nearly the
same opinion. This habit, consisting in efforts to
swallow air, cannot exist long without detriment to
the animal functions. Its continuance destroys the
tone of the stomach, impairs the digestive power,
debilitates the animal, and ultimately decreases his
efficiency ; consequently crib-biting in all stages is
unsoundness.

" Quidding is the result of considerable tenderness
of the mouth and pharynx, and is therefore a tempo-
rary cause of unsoundness, being calculated to render
the animal incapable of active work.

" Loss of a jugular vein has repeatedly been made
the matter of legal contention. It is a fact that some
horses who happen to be deprived of one of these
veins work during the rest of their lives without
apparent inconvenience ; still there is danger, as it
predisposes to staggers and other head affections.
When horses who have lost one of these veins are
turned to graze, the blcod is apt to accumulate about
the head, from the difficulty of its return to the
heart, consequent on the obliteration of one of the
chief channels for that purpose. In such cases the
vessels of the brain become engorged with blood,
there is even intumescence of the side of the head
and face, and the animal evinces undoubted symptoms
of cerebral pressure. Such being the frequent effect
of this defect, it must always be regarded with sus-
picion, and generally as a direct source of unsound-
ness.

" Examination. — There are a few hints as to examin-
ation Avhich may possibly be of service to the horse-
purchaser. A person inexperienced in the mysteries
of horse-dealing, when about to purchase a horse,

EXAMINATION. 163

will always find it to his advantage to secure the
opinion of a professional veterinarian, whose office it
is to guard his employer against imposition, and to
point out any imperfections, blemishes, and sources
of unsoundness that might probably be too obscure
to attract the attention of one unpractised in the
subject. Such assistance is not, however, always
available ; and in these cases the following hints may
be of some utility. In the first place, examination,
to be efficient and satisfactory, must be performed
nee temere nee timide. The horse should be first
rested (supposing him to be brought for approval),
as there are more than one sort of lameness which be-
come less apparent after exercise. Therefore it is
always advisable to take this precautionary measure,
particularly as we have sometimes some very cunning
men to deal with — persons acquainted with the
science of imposition in all its various ramifications.
In the stable it is that the horse discovers himself a
crib-biter, if possessed of that injurious habit. There
he alsopoints or favours, by relieving from all pressure,
such a member as may be diseaseclly affected ; and
attention is at once directed to the suffering part
from the position which he assumes. Some dishonest
dealers, aware of this fact, are in the habit, when
purchasers are expected, of taking the round of their
stables, and giving a sharp stroke of the whip to such
horses as favour a diseased leg: this is technically
called ' waking,' and it answers a double purpose — of
hiding imperfections of the legs and feet, and giving
a fictitious semblance of spirit when again viewed ,
from an anticipation of a repetition of the ' waking.'
Stiffness of the hock, and other more important devi-
ations from the healthy state in this important joint,
are rendered perceptible by moving the horse from
one side of the stall to the other.

" After having allowed the animal to rest for half

M 2

It) 4 THE HOUSE.

an hour, let him be trotted in the slowest manner
possible upon a hard road, (paved, if convenient,) suf-
fering the horse to have nearly the whole length of
the bridle-rein or halter to himself, so as to leave the
head at liberty to suit itself to his motions; and,
should the fore-feet be affected, it will at once be
evident by the up-and-down movement of the head,
and by the different degrees of force with which the feet
are placed on the ground. Should the hind extre-
mities be the seat of lameness, the motion of the head
will not be so good a guide ; but it will reveal itself
by the very apparent effort made by the animal to
throw the weight from the affected to the sound
limb ; and that member is the source of pain which
is placed most carefully and softly upon the ground,
and which remains the shortest time on it : so that
the force with which the foot of the diseased limb
descends to the road, and the time it is suffered to
remain on it, are both diminished ; and the pace is so
devoid of its natural regularity and cadence, that a
practised person can frequently detect lamenesses,
and very slight ones too, by the ear alone. The feet
are examined in order to detect the existence of con-
traction, sole-founder, sand-crack, thrushes, or corns.
The last can only be detected by removing the shoe ;
and it will be proper to do so if there is good reason
to suspect their existence. Corns are found most
commonly in horses that have weak and low heels.
Their position is at the posterior part of the sole, near
the junction of the hoof with the bars ; and their
existence is demonstrated by the horn of the part
showing discoloration of blood when cut away by the
drawing knife. They are frequently the effect of im-
proper shoeing. The flexing part of the fetlock is
sometimes the seat of ulcerated cracks, which are
very painful during their continuance, and evince a
weakness of circulation and constitutional debility.

EXAMINATION. 165

The inner side of the fetlock-joints is looked to in
order to ascertain if the horse cuts ; these blemishes
are readily discoverable. Should he cut from too
high action — the speedy cut — the inside of the
knee is the part injured. Splints are so commonly
the lot of horses, that few are entirely without
them. An opinion as to their harmlessness, or
the contrary, will be influenced by their position
and size. They are easily perceptible, even to the
tyro in horse matters, in passing the hand down
the leg. Little attention is paid to them if they
are small, and not immediately below the knee-
joint, or projecting backwards so as to interfere with
the action of the back sinew or suspensory ligament.
The eye soon learns to detect such departures from
the natural state of the legs as spring from old strains,
callosities, wind-galls, and improper position of the leg
bones as regards each other, giving rise to standing-
over at the fetlocks behind, and grogginess in the
fore-legs. If the tendon or back sinew can be traced
distinctly from the cannon bone, and free from any
enlargement, if, on a side view, the leg be more flat
than round, clean throughout, and of- the natural
perpendicularity, it may be regarded as sound. But
should the legs be bent, the joints tumefied and cal-
lous, the tendon thickened and round, in any part or
throughout the whole of its course, inferences unfa-
vourable to the soundness of the animal must be
drawn. The hocks are searched for curbs and spa-
vins. The first are more readily to be seen by view-
ing the hock sidewise ; and the latter by regarding it
from before or behind. If the motion of the flanks
is too laboured or unnaturally frequent, the healthi-
ness of the lungs may be doubted. But as there are
many gradations of disease of these important organs,
the slightest of which are not always indicated by the
working of the flanks, some other criterion must be

M 3

[66 THE HORSE.

resorted to. This is found in the common practice of
coughing the horse by squeezing the top of the wind
pipe, and observing the character of the cough. This
test is by no means a bad one, though certainly not
infallible. If the lungs are seriously affected, the
cough will be short, dry, husky, and timid, if it may
be so expressed ; the animal fearing, as it were, to
cough in the healthy sonorous manner. The best
situation for examining the eyes is just within the
door of a dark stable, allowing the external light to
fall full on the eye ; when the slightest opacity of the
cornea in ophthalmia, of the crystalline lens or its
capsule in cataract, may be readily discerned. By
alternately shading and admitting light to the eye, at
the same time watching carefully its effect on the
pupil, to see if any or no corresponding dilatation and
contraction takes place, we are enabled to judge of
the presence of paralysis of the optic nerve in gutta
serena. In addition, it is usual and necessary to ascer-
tain if the horse has lost a vein, or whether he bears
the marks of frequent bleedings, of setons, rowels, or
the firing iron.

" Vices. — Vices are not unsoundnesses, and there-
fore require a special warranty. A horse warranted
sound, without any allusion being made to his free-
dom from vice, and afterwards found vicious, would
not be returnable on that account. The most common
vices in harness are, kicking, jibbing, and running away;
a warranty declaring a horse ' quiet to drive,' or
' quiet in harness,' Avould fully meet these points.
Restiveness is frequently more the fault of the rider
or driver than the animal. Shying is most often
caused by some imperfection of the visual organs,
giving rise to distorted appearances of objects on the
retina. It is generally most frequent after sunset
towards dusk. Horses who shy should never be
beat for it, but treated with kindness and firmness.

WARRANTY. 167

Violence increases the evil instead of diminishing it.
In such cases, Xenophon sagaciously remarks, that
' those who drive horses forward with blows inspire
them with greater terror. For they suppose that
when they suffer any injury in such a situation the
suspected object is the cause of it.'

" It is said that a horse that has been bishopped is
returnable, from the fact of fraudulent measures
having been adopted to procure the sale.

" Purchase, warranty, <SfC. — Words do not constitute
a bargain. A purchase is not legal unless earnest-
money, as it is termed, be passed from the buyer to
the seller, in order to ratify the bargain. From that
period the horse belongs to the buyer, who is liable
to all accidents. A written agreement may be used,
and then there is no necessity for money to pass.
In that case it must be signed by both parties con-
cerned, or their agents acting for them. A groom
or servant, acting as agent for his master, can
give a warrant, which is as binding on the employer
as it would have been if given by himself. A pro-
mise of warranty stands for nought in the eyes of
the law. Warranties, to be effective, must be
written, and on which the names of both contracting
parties must appear. The usual form of warranty
is subjoined, drawn on the receipt stamp equivalent
to the sum paid for the horse.

London, May 20th, 1845.

Received of Mr. A. B. the sum of Fifty Pounds,
Ten Shillings, for a bay mare, which is hereby war-
ranted sound, and quiet to drive.

£50 10.5. (Signed) C. D.

It is necessary, in order to return a horse for breach
of warranty, or unsoundness, that the purchaser
be able to prove the existence of the disease, or its

168 THE HORSE.

seeds, at the time of sale. Should the dealer refuse
to take the animal in, on its being presented at his
house or stables, he is liable, should he be wrong, to
all cost for keep, &c. for the whole time after its
being tendered. The horse, when returned, should
be quite as valuable in all respects (excepting the
cause or causes for which he is returned) as when
bought. The purchaser on Avarranty, as decided by
Lord Eldon, in the case of Curtis v. Hannay, is at
liberty to bring his action for the deterioration in
value caused by the unsoundness, without returning
the horse. Lord Loughborough was also of the
same opinion. He observed, " Where there is an
express warranty, the warrantor undertakes that it
is true at the time of making it. If a horse which is
warranted sound at the time of sale be proved to have
been at that time unsound, it is not necessary that he
should be returned to the seller. No length of time
elapsed after the sale will alter the nature of a con-
tract originally false, neither is notice necessary to
be given ; though the not giving notice will be a strong
presumption against the buyer, that the horse, at the
time of sale, had not the defect complained of, and
will make the proof on his part much more difficult.
The bargain is complete, and if it be fraudulent on
the part of the seller, he will be liable to the buyer
in damages without either a return or notice."
Should the purchase be made without a warranty,
the buyer, provided he is able to prove the dealer's
previous knowledge of any defect, can prosecute
for fraud, unless the imperfection should be of
such a glaring character as to be evident to the
most casual observer. This is evidently a ridiculous
distinction, justifying, as it does, direct and open
robbery. Some have urged, as an excuse for this
anomaly of the law, that the legal professors could
not entirely divest themselves of the esprit de corps

LEGAL REGULATIONS RELATING TO HORSES. 1G9

or fellow-feeling, for their brother sharp practitioners
— the copers in horse-flesh.

By a statute of the 12th of Henry VIIL, any man
might seize upon horses depasturing commons if
they were under a certain size. This was probably
enacted with the view to discourage the propagation
of small horses. It remains, I believe, still unre-
pealed.

At common law, if a person keep glandered horses
in his stable so near to that of another as to convey
the infection, he is liable to an action. (Chitty's
General Practice, p. 606.)

" Horse-stealing was formerly a capital offence,
punishable by death, but it is now commuted to trans-
portation. The maliciously wounding, maiming,
killing, &c, of horses or other cattle, is to be pu-
nished, at the discretion of the court, by transportation
beyond the seas for life, for any term not less than
seven years, or by imprisonment for any term not
exceeding four years, and by public or private
whippings, should the court so direct (7 & 8 Geo. 4.
c. 29. § 25. ; 7 & 8 Geo. 4. c. 30. § 16.) The facility
with which horses may be stolen has led to the
enactment of several regulations with regard to their
sale, &c. The property of a horse cannot be con-
veyed away without the express consent of the
owner. Hence, a bond fide purchaser gains no
property in a horse that has been stolen, unless it be
bought in a fair, or an open market. It is directed
that the keeper of every fair or market shall appoint
a certain open place for the sale of horses, and one
or more persons to take toll there, and keep the
place from ten in the forenoon till sunset. The
owner's property in the horse stolen is not altered by
sale in a legal fair, unless it be openly ridden, led,
walked, or kept standing for one hour at least, and has
been registered, for which the buyer is to pay Id.

170 THE HORSE.

Sellers of horses in fairs or markets must be known
to the toll-takers, or some other creditable person
known to them, who declares his knowledge of them,
and enters the same in a book kept by the toll-taker
for the purpose. Without these formalities, the sale
is void. The owner of a horse stolen ma)7, notwith-
standing its legal sale, redeem it on payment or
tender of the price any time within six months of
the time of theft." (Burn's Justice of the Peace,
Chitty's edit., vol. iii. p. 264.)

" In order to obviate the facility afforded by means
of slaughtering houses for the disposal of stolen
horses, it was enacted in 1786 (26 Geo. 3. c. 71.),
that all persons keeping places for slaughtering
horses, geldings, sheep, hogs, or other cattle not
killed for butchers' meat, shall obtain a licence from
the quarter sessions, first producing, from the minister
and two substantial householders, a certificate of
their fitness to be intrusted with the management
and carrying on of such business. Persons slaughter-
ing horses or cattle without a licence are guilty of
felony, and may be whipped and imprisoned, or
transported. Persons licensed are bound to affix
over the door or gate of the place where their busi-
ness is carried on, in legible characters, the words
' Licensed for slaughtering horses, pursuant to an Act
passed in the 2Qth year of his Majesty King George III.7
The parishioners entitled to meet in vestry are autho-
rised to choose annually, or oftener, inspectors, whose
duty it is to take an account and description, &c. of
everj7 living horse, &c, that may be brought to such
slaughtering -houses to be hilled, and of every dead
horse that may be brought to be flayed. Persons

bringinff cattle are to be asked accounts of them-
es o

selves, and if such be not deemed satisfactory, they may
be carried before a justice. This act does not extend
to curriers, fellmongers, tanners, or persons killing

HORSE-DEALERS. 171

aged or distempered cattle for the purpose of using or
curing their hides in their respective businesses ;
but these, or any other persons, who shall knowingly
or wilfully kill any sound or useful horse, &c, shall
for every such offence forfeit not more than 20/., and
not less than 10/." "Horse-dealers are assessed, if
they carry on their business in the metropolis, 25/. ;
and if elsewhere, 12/. lO.s. They are required to keep
books, in which they must enter an account of the
number of the horses kept by them for sale and for
use, specifying the duties to which the same are
respectively liable : these books are to be open at all
reasonable times to the inspection of the officers ; and
true copies of the same are to be delivered quarterly
to the assessor or assessors of the parish in which the
party resides. Penalty for non-compliance 50/."*
This tax cannot but be regarded as exceedingly
unequal and unjust. If it be good to raise money for
purposes of revenue from dealers and traders, why
not extend the practice, and impose taxes on other
branches of trade.

Under the statute 1 & 2 William 4. c. 25., no toll
can be demanded for any horse, ass, sheep, swine, or
other beast or cattle going or returning from water
or pasture, or from being shod or farried, provided
they do not pass 0n the road more than two miles
going and returning.

* M'Culloch's Commercial Dictionary, p. 655.

172 THE HORSE.

CHAPTER VII.

STABLE ECONOMY.

"Goodness moves in a larger sphere than justice; the obligations of
law and equity reach only to mankind*, but kindness and beneficence
should be extended to creatures of every species ; and these still flow
from the breast of a well-regulated man, as streams that issue from the
living fountain." — Plutarch.

The improvements in the stabling of horses, intro-
duced since the establishment of the Royal Vete-
rinary College by members of that institution, have
been very marked. Many diseases engendered by an
improper method of housing these animals have
nearly disappeared. Glanders, Farcy, and Grease,
the former scourges of the cavalry stables, are now
comparatively rarely seen in them. But yet much
remains to be done. In the majority of stables
hygeinic measures are nearly disregarded, and the
directing principles which should regulate their con-
struction are too generally misunderstood or sadly
neglected.

In selecting a site for a stable it is important that
sufficient care be used to insure complete drainage,
both of the Avater falling from the roof and the
urinary secretions of the animals it is intended for.
In either case it is absolutely necessary that the

* This fortunately is not strictly applicable to the present state of our
jurisprudence; for the "obligations of law," upon one point at least —
that of cruelty to our animals — is now "extended to creatures of every
species."

THE STABLE. 173

fluids should be removed, in order to keep the stable
dry ; but this is not the sole reason why the urine
should be speedily conveyed away, for it not only
keeps the flooring in a damp state, but tills the
stable with gases highly deleterious to the health of
the inmates, frequently acting as the predisposing or
exciting cause of dangerous and contagious diseases,
as acute and chronic cough, pneumonia, farcy,
glanders, and inflammation of the conjunctival mem-
brane of the eyes.

It usually happens that the fluids of the stable
are allowed to find their exit by an open paved gutter
at the foot of the stall, or are suffered to be entirely
absorbed by the litter, and removed with the dung
when the stable is cleansed out. An under-ground
drain, originating in a small grating fixed in the
centre of each stall, and communicating with an ex-
ternal reservoir or cistern, is found the most ready
and beneficial method of insuring the removal of the
urine from the stable. This method saves the litter
by keeping the floor of the bed constantly drained,
it decreases the general dampness of the stable, and
adds to the health and comfort of the inmates. In
many of the cart-horse stables in London, a central iron
grating is placed over a small cesspool, but no longi-
tudinal subterranean conduit is constructed to con-
vey the fluid away ; consequently, when it is full, the
grating has to be removed and the contents baled
out. This is a very objectionable practice ; for though
the stalls and litter may be kept dry, yet these col-
lecting cesspools are so many reservoirs of ferment-
ing fluids, increasing the chemical decomposition,
and poisoning the atmosphere of the stable with
ammoniacal vapour. It is far preferable to have a
continuous underground drain, from stall to stall,
throughout the stable, terminating in a sunken
external reservoir, so constructed as to preclude the

174 THE HORSE.

indraught of air up through the drains. Another
advantage is attached to this manner of drainage ; for
as the fluid drains from the centre, there is no longer
any necessity for that declivity of the flooring, which
was requisite when the liquid passed away by the
foot of the stall, for the ends and sides of the pave-
ment of the stall may be of the same level, gradually
bevelling towards the centre point where the grating
is fixed.

The size of the stall must of course correspond in
some measure to the description of horse it is
intended for. It is well that it be of sufficient
width to allow the horse to turn round without being
liable to injure himself, but yet not too wide ; for in
that case the occupant will stand across it, a custom
that may possibly be an indulgence to the horse, but
which is almost always a source of annoyance to the
attendant genius of the stable. The height of the
ceiling or roof should be in all cases high, as it
alloAvs of the free ascent of the air heated and conta-
minated by respiration, and of its removal without
submitting the inmates to a direct draught or current
of air. The floor of the stalls should invariably be
paved. The most usual material employed for this
purpose is the Dutch clinker ; but wooden blocks, and
more latterly the patent elastic caoutchouc pavement,
have been advocated, and in many instances adopted.
The most common width of the stall is six feet. It
is advisable, where a pair of horses only are kept, to
have an extra stall, for the convenience of placing
spare straw or other stable requisites in. When
more horses are stabled together, it is extremely
useful to remove the separation between two of the
end stalls, and construct a box for use on emergencies.
Indeed, horses are invariably found to prosper much
better, when freed from the restraint which a stall
imposes, that a loose box has become almost a sine

VENTILATION. 175

qua no7i to every stable of the least pretension to eco-
nomical arrangement. Boxing of horses is becoming,
happily, more general every clay in localities where
space is not an imperative bar. In all cases of injury
from over-exertion, and whenever disease attacks
the animal, a loose box is a most desirable adjunct
to the stable. Many diseases that would certainly
prove troublesome, if not fatal, were the patient kept
confined to the stall, readily give way to medical
treatment when he is placed at liberty in the box.

In order that stables may be efficiently ventilated,
it is necessary to establish a current of air through
them ; but care should be taken to prevent this simple
change of air from being exalted into a draught.

CD O O

Ventilation is only necessary as a means of exchang-
ing the air that has become unfit for respiration for
the pure atmospheric gases. The temperature should
be regulated by other measures. It is erroneous to
suppose that because stables (such as those of the
generality of farmers) are not air-tight, they are pro-
perly or sufficiently ventilated. They may be very
pervious to the air, and yet but poorly ventilated.
The emanations necessary to be carried off are, the
air expired from the lungs, no longer proper for res-
piration from the quantity of carbon it contains, and
the ammoniacal exhalations of the urinary and fascal
excretions. These, fortunately for our purpose, are
lighter than the common air ; the former from being
rarefied by the internal heat of the animal, and the
latter from the smallness of specific gravity. They,
consequently, rise to the upper part of the stable, and
should there be allowed to find an exit. But, to es-
tablish this, it is not alone sufficient that there is a
passage outwards for the heated gases, but provision
must be made for the re-admittance of fresh air
near the floor. The openings for the entrance and
exit of the air should be covered externally by a

176 THE HORSE.

grating-, and so contrived as to be capable of gradua-
tion. Ventilation by the window can only be partial,
and should not be resorted to. Light should also
be freely admitted to all stables : it is almost as
necessary to health as fresh air. Some have supposed
that horses feed better in the dark ; but this is rather
hypothetical. Continued darkness entices a horse to
lie down more than is necessary, and is also de-
structive to the visual organs.

The supposed eastern origin of the horse has in-
duced some to argue that a high temperature is his
natural element ; still the time since his introduction
here has been so great, that we might now safely sup-
pose him to be perfectly naturalised. As cold has
the effect of lengthening the horse's coat, warm stables
produce the opposite effect, and render it shorter and
more glossy. It is also noticed that he loses flesh in
a cold stable, and consumes more food ; but this is
nothing more than the invariable effect of alternations
of temperature on all animals, and does not prove
that heat is imperatively requisite. Nevertheless, if
benefit is derivable from warmth, care should be
taken that that warmth should not be generated
either by the crowding of horses together, or from
the fermentation of the dung and litter. The required
warmth should be the result of good housing, gener-
ous food, sufficient clothing, and attentive grooming,
rather than artificial heat of any description. To
prevent evil from sudden transitions, the clothing, &c.
should be adapted to the season, and the thermometer
may be kept in the winter time at about 55°, and in
the summer, not much above 60° Fahrenheit.

A great improvement in the economy of the stable
is the daily removal of the litter. It is not alone on
account of the saving effected that it is to be advo-
cated, for, possibly, the extra labour and inconveni-
ence balance the saving of straw effected, but other

BEDDING. 177

more weighty reasons suggest its adoption, by attest-
ing its general conduciveness to health. If retained, it
prevents the quick and perfect drainage of the stall ;
it heats the feet and legs, causing a rapid wiring-in of
the heels, contraction, thrushes, cracked heels, and
swelled legs. A bed in the daytime entices the
animal to lie down too much, and often provokes foul
feeding. Some of our cavalry stables are a disgrace
as well as a loss to the country. At the dictate of
the commanding officer, who possibly likes to see
the horses comfortable, they are kept constantly
bedded up to their knees : the result is, that there is
scarcely a horse fit for actual service in the regiment.
If attempts were made purposely to produce disease
of the extremities, none could be found more de-
structively efficient than this baneful practice. Many
of the evils which are falsely attributed to concussion,
hard roads, bad shoeing, &c, are the evident results of
this unnatural manner of keeping the feet. Veterina-
rians who wish to act honourably by their employers,
should be loud in their remonstrances against the conti-
nuation of this destructive stable custom. It is their
duty to point out its injurious tendency. The most
ancient writer on cavalry affairs extant, Xenophon,
is specific on this point. He says, " It is good to
enjoin the groom to carry out to one place, every
day, the dung and straw from under the horse. When
he does this, he will remove it with the greatest ease,
and, at the same time, do a benefit to the horse."
The Arab litters his khayle with a shallow bed of
dried horse-dung, which is daily removed and exposed
to the sun: a similar practice obtains throughout
Persia. In Egypt the floor of the stable is covered
with fine desert sand, which is repeatedly changed,
and never allowed to be saturated with moisture ; and
in no country in the world are the feet and legs of
horses more free from disease.

N

178 THE HORSE.

The situation of the hay-rack is generally too high ;
and, from its usual sloping position, the hay-seeds are
very apt to fall into the eyes, and irritate them. In
addition, an elevated hay -rack constrains the horse to
take his food in an unnatural posture, and is con-
sequently open to objection on that ground.

Horse Provender, Feeding, <Sfc. — The principles
which should guide us in providing and apportioning
food for the horse, should accord with his economy
and habits. His anatomical construction would lead
to the supposition that he was not so well adapted for
alternate repletion and abstinence as some of the
carnivora and ruminantia. His stomach is small ;
he possesses no reservoir for bile. Digestion is with
him almost a continuous process, and to derive
sufficient nourishment from the grasses of the field,
he is compelled to continue eating for the major part
of his time. The chief inference to be drawn from
these facts is, that he should be fed at intervals not
too widely separated ; that the manner of feeding
should approximate to nature, and be in consonance
with the physiological functions of his digestive or-
gans. In Germany, and other parts of the north of
Europe, it is the laudable custom to feed horses,
when on the road, at very short intervals of time,
with rye-bread. The quantity of labour they are,
through this practice, enabled to perform, is, com-
paratively, remarkable, and that without exhibiting
any of the customary symptoms of distress. Over-
loading; the stomach is a direct and fruitful cause of
acute indigestion, and staggers. Should there be a
large quantity of undigested food in the stomach, and
water allowed upon it, the animal, from some un-
traced connection between the stomach and feet, will
be very liable to suffer an attack of founder.

Many an illustration of the ill effects resulting
from continued abstinence from food is revealed to
the veterinarian. In demonstration of this, the fol-

FEEDING IMPROPERLY. 179

lowing cases may be instanced. Some barge horses,
belonging to a person at Kingston-on-Thames, were
repeatedly attacked with acute indigestion, exhibiting
symptoms very analogous to gripes, but still not
giving way to the usual remedies employed in that
disease. This occurred again and again ; and, on the
last occasion, no less than six horses were attacked
simultaneously. I was then led to make the fullest
investigation of their previous management; when it
came out, that they had been at work from early
dawn to late at night, without food, until they had
completed their labour. They were then fed with
oats and chaff to repletion. One of them died, with
all the recognised symptoms of high inflammation of
the alimentary canal. On a post-mortem examination
being made, which was done immediately, the sto-
mach and bowels were found full of undigested food,
dry and very closely impacted, originating extensive
inflammatory action throughout the stomach and
intestines. No time was to be lost : this, together
with the previous information, had revealed the cause
of the affection ; and measures were promptly taken,
which in all probability saved the others attacked.
The warning given to the owner had its effect ; for,
by properly feeding his cattle afterwards, no recur-
rence of the malady took place. Numerous instances
of similar affections, from the same cause, have fre-
quently come under my notice, in all of which the
complaint had been mistaken for gripes, though no
true spasmodic action was present, and the pain and
irritation arose solely from the presence of a large
quantity of unmasticated and indigestible food in
the primce vice. The nose-bng feeding system, adopted
so generally in London by the owners of cart-horses,
cannot become too common wherever horses labour
long together without returning to the stable. If
this useful practice were more extensively employed

N 2

180 THE HORSE.

in the agricultural districts, among the farm-horses,
the pseuclo gripes would certainly be less prevalent,
and many an useful horse would be saved from an
untimely end.

The kinds of food appropriated to the sustinence
of the life and powers of the horse, in different coun-
tries, is very various. Oats and hay constitute the
chief horse provender of England ; barley and straw-
chaff is given throughout Spain, Portugal, Italy
Turkey, Morocco, Algiers, Egypt, Arabia, and Persia ;
rye is used as a horse-corn in North America, and
rye with rye-straw chaff and rye-bread is employed
in Germany and other parts of northern Europe. A
vetch is largely consumed in Bengal ; and in Bombay
and about the Persian Gulf, a sort of pea, termed
gram, is much used. In some parts of Persia um
husked rice is given as a dry food. Dates are ex-
tensively used among many Arab tribes. Furze, or
whin, is bruised and frequently used as provender for
horses in Scotland and in the Pyrenees. Apples,
vine-tops, and lime leaves are occasionally employed
for the like purpose in the south of Europe. In some
parts of France, and about Naples, couch-roots are
publicly sold as food for horses and mules. Various
other substances are elsewhere applied to this purpose.
Sea-weed is eaten by the ponies of the isles north of
Scotland. Milk*, and even flesh f, either raw or

* " Two of the horses were very handsome, though small ; and on
remarking their extreme fatness, I was surprised at learning that they
were fed entirely on camel's milk, corn being too scarce and valuable for
the Tibboos to spare them : they drink it both sweet and sour ; and
animals in higher health and condition I scarcely ever saw." — Narrative
of Travels and Discoveries in Northern and Central Africa ; by Major
Denham, and others ; 3rd edit, vol i. p. 170.

f Horses have been frequently known to exhibit an inclination for
animal food. A remarkable instance is recorded in the fifth volume of
" The Veterinarian." Butler alludes as follows to the same propensity : - —
" Although his horse had been of those
That fed on man's flesh, as fame goes ;
Strange food for horse ! and yet, alas !
It may be true, — for flesh is grass." Hudibras.

GRASS FOOD. 181

boiled to rags, have been resorted to, as aliments for
the horse. On the southern coasts of Arabia, dried
fish has been used from time immemorial ; and Hero-
dotus mentions that the people living in the vicinity
of lake Prasias were also accustomed to feed their
horses and cattle on fish. The Icelanders, the Faroese,
and the Shetlanders do the same thing, and they also
apply dried whales' flesh, which is generally served
up as a soup, with a small quantity of fodder, to the
like use. " In the northern parts of the state of
Michigan," says Captain Marryat, in his " Diary in
America," " hay is very scarce, and in winter the
inhabitants are obliged to feed their cattle on fish.
You will see the horses and cows dispute for the
offal; and our landlord told me that he has often
witnessed a particular horse lie in wait very quietly
while they were landing the fish from the canoes,
watch his opportunity, dart in, steal one, and run
away with it in his mouth."

The Grasses. — The natural means of subsistence
are the grasses of the field, but in this country, few
horses are entirely restricted to a grass diet. Green
food of itself is insufficient to support the animal
when at hard work ; it is too bulky and innutritious.
On this food alone, the muscles never acquire the
necessary tonicity: the horse is soft, sweating pro-
fusely on the least exercise, and easily exhausted.
When labour is demanded, it is necessary to condense
the aliment given, in proportion to the severity of the
work. From their succulence, the natural grasses
should always form the chief food of brood mares and
foals. They contribute to an abundant secretion of
milk, and are best fitted as early food to the stomach
of the colt. In the adult and hard-working horse,
an occasional recurrence to green food is generally
supposed to purify the blood. Its laxative and al-
terant effect cannot be questioned. Green meat, when

N 3

182 THE HOUSE.

first allowed, acts very perceptibly on the kidneys,
and occasionally produces an eruption on the skin,
which often continues for a long time, in spite of all
remedies.

When the horse is kept on the grasses, whether
natural or artificial, inflammatory disease commonly
assumes a less virulent character, but he is less
capable of resisting the attack of epidemic or epizootic
affections. If the cultivated grasses, such as tares,
clover, lucern, rye-grass, &c, be cut, and given in
the stable, it is termed " soiling." This is a very
general practice, as a means of in-door summering ;
and is also used as a partial summer-nutriment to
those horses whose occupations are not of the severest
description. If continued, or extraordinary exertion
be required, grass should not for some time previous
form any part of the animal's nutriment. Lucern, a
favourite horse-food of the Romans, is now again
very extensively grown. The ease and economy of
its cultivation, the almost continuous supply which it
affords, and the evident relish with which it is
partaken of, would all seem to suggest its more general
culture. Green corn, with the exception of rye min-
gled with vetches, is seldom applied in this country
as horse-food ; but it is used extensively in some parts
of the Continent. In America, green Indian-corn is
highly spoken of; and in other parts of the world
the sugar-cane is planted expressly for the purpose of
being cut while in a green state as food for horses and
cattle ; a practice which might possibly be employed
with advantage in the southern parts of England.
Raw sugar is found to be a nutritive food for the horse :
and it is customary in the department of the Moselle,
among the beet-root sugar factors, to damp their
chaff (chopped-straw) with molasse-water, upon which,
it is said, without oats, they do good service.

Dry Fodder — Hay, Straw, Chaff, fyc. — An expe-

DRY FODDER. 183

riencecl horse-master will always be most particular
in the selection of his hay. He will reject such as is
of a musty, heated, or mow-burnt description ; not
only that is innutritious, but because it is positively
injurious to the animal. Musted or heated hay has
a pernicious effect on the lungs, and often lays the
foundation of broken wind : its continued use injures
the digestive functions, tends to produce indigestion,
foul feeding, and cribbiting. Mow-burnt hay fre-
quently causes acute inflammation of the kidneys ; a
disease always endangering the animal's life, and
calling for the most prompt veterinary attendance.
New hay is likewise considered debilitating. Hay
ought always to be kept nearly twelve months before
consumption. It should smell pleasantly and be sweet-
tasted. Hay, to be properly made, should be ricked
while yet there is a certain portion of the juices of the
grass retained. If stacked while too succulent, it be-
comes mow-burnt ; if wet with rain or dew, it musts ;
and if left until it is too much dried, it cuts out poor
and harsh. When a slight portion of the juices is
retained, the saccharine fermentation is set up, greatly
increasing the sugar contained in the hay, and conse-
quently its nutritive properties ; but if from the pre-
sence of too much moisture, the fermentation pro-
ceed beyond this point, the sugar will be transformed
into vinegar, by the accession of the acetous fer-
mentation. Hence the sweet taste of hay properly
made, and the sour reaction of that which has been
mow-burnt. Salting hay in the rick is a most de-
structive practice. Nothing could be more ill-judged.
Because animals are fond of salt, it was argued, that
if hay were salted, they would always clear their
rack of it, to the last morsel. Such is not the case ;
for much more is wasted than there would be if the
pernicious custom were given up. Salt sprinkled
on new-made hay in the stack, soon attracts mois-

x 4

184 THE HORSE.

ture from the atmosphere, deliquesces, and musts the
whole, however good it might previously have been.
In this manner I have seen many hundred tons of
good hay greatly deteriorated. It is preferable to
adopt any other method of administering salt, than
that of brining the hay in the stack.

Clover hay is esteemed rather more nutritive, weight
for weight, than meadow hay. The daily allowance
of hay will depend on the size of the horse, and the
quantity of corn given. In fast work, large quantities
of hay are improper. A truss a-week is a medium
allowance. A dray-horse will consume more than
twice that quantity. It has been calculated that eight
pounds of meadow hay, or seven of that made from
clover, tares, or sanifoin, are proportionally as nourish-
ing as three pounds of oats.

Almost every kind of straw is used to fodder horses ;
but there is a prejudice in some parts of England
against oat straw. In France, Spain, Germany, and
many other nations, straw, cut short, is used, to the
partial or entire exclusion of hay. Straw is not ap-
plied to any great extent as horse food in this country.
In Egypt, the machine which thrashes the barley at
the same time cuts the straw into short pieces (tibbin).
This is packed in large coarse nets and employed very
extensively as food for horses and camels. Bean and
pea haulm are often given to farm horses. The French,
says Arthur Young, prefer the former for horse-food,
but the latter is more generally esteemed here. In the
straw-yard, horses support a very decent appearance,
throughout the winter, on barley straw alone. It is
not advisable, hoAvever, to restrict horses to a straw diet.
They are much more easily got into working condition
when allowed a feed or two of corn daily in addition.
Mr. Stewart remarks, with his usual expressive
brevity, that " good straw is certainly better than bad
hay ; and possibly, by increasing the allowance of corn,

coen. 185

and cutting the straw, hay might be almost entirely
dispensed with. Though containing much less nutri-
ment, it still contains some ; and it serves quite as well
as hay to divide the corn, and give it a wholesome
size. It must be understood that food ought to pos-
sess bulk proportioned in some degree to the capacity
of the digestive organs. Nutriment can be given in
a very concentrated state; yet it is not proper to con-
dense it beyond a certain point. Corn alone will o-ive
all the nourishment which any horse can need ; but he
must also have some fodder, to give bulk to the corn,
though it need not of necessity yield much nutriment.
Straw, therefore, may be used where hay is used."*
With many practical men, rack-feeding is altogether
discarded. It is considered much more economical
to convert the hay and straw into chaff, and give it
with the corn, in the manger ; thus preventing much
waste, and ensuring due mastication of the corn.

Com. — Nearly all the cerealia have been applied
on different occasions to support the horse. Wheat
is devoured with great relish by him ; but, from its
expensiveness, it is not likely ever to come into general
use as a horse food. When given without prepara-
tion, it is apt to produce colic, and even death, by
over-distention of the stomach, from a fermentation
which it sets up. Maize, or Indian-corn, is attended
with the same ill effects ; but still maize forms a good
and nutritious horse-diet, and is used extensivelv
in the United States and in Canada. The evil at-
tending such cases, in all probability, arises from
the suddenness of the change of diet, and not from
any pernicious principle inherent in the corn, and
might be produced by other of the ceralia. For ex-
ample, when in 1813, the French army entered Spain,
the horses were suddenly put on a regimen of barley

* Stable Economy, p. 189.

186 THE HORSE.

and chopped straw ; numbers of them were carried off,
from this cause, at the commencement of the campaign.
If they had been gradually accustomed to it, no ill
effects would have resulted ; for barley is a wholesome
horse-corn ; more extensively used, as such, than any
other, though rarely given in this country. From
the dampness of the climate of the British isles
favouring its growth, the preference is here given to
the oat, which constitutes almost the sole horse-corn.
Oats, when new, are apt to have a laxative effect on
the horse. It is proper that they should have age
before use, be plump, heavy, sweet, and clean. The
oats brought to London from Ireland, though in
themselves good, are frequently mixed with small
stones, from the habit which there prevails of winnow-
ing the corn on the bare ground. Black oats are
supposed to possess an extra portion of nutritious
matter ; but those which have generally fallen under
my notice have certainly not been celebrated for their
good qualities. The thin-skinned potato-oat is cer-
tainly highly nutritive, but when given without chaff,
it passes too rapidly through the digestive canal ; and
horses do not prosper so well on these as on a coarser
description of oat. Many greedy feeders swallow
much of their corn without proper mastication ; the
oat thus escapes digestion, and is ejected in a whole
state, occasioning considerable loss. To prevent this,
chaff should be mixed with the feed ; or better still,
for old horses, the oat should be previously bruised in
a hand-mill. This practice, from its evident economy,
is becoming very general ; it ensures the digestion of
every grain of corn. Beans, mixed with oats, are in
very common use : they are seldom given alone,
being regarded as too stimulating. They condense a
sreat deal of nutritious matter ; and whenever extra-
ordinary exertion is required of the animal, they
always profitably form a component part of his food.

ANALYSIS OF HORSE FOOD.

187

To washy horses they are indispensable. New beans,
like new hay and oats, have a deleterious effect. Large
quantities of malt are consumed in Holland and Ger-
many for feeding horses ; but malt cannot be so ap-
plied in this country, on account of the heavy duty
imposed by government on the article. The prac-
tice of steeping and partially malting corn for cattle-
food, is however allowed by the excise ; and some of
the farmers of Norfolk and Suffolk avail themselves
of this licence.

From the subjoined table, some idea may be formed
of the relative quantity of nutritive matter contained
in the chief articles used for the artificial support of
the horse.

Table of the Proximate Principles of Horse Food.

Husk or

Starch,

Gluten,

One hundred parts of

Water.

Woody
Fibre,

Gum, and
Sugar.

Albumen,
and Caseine.

Matter.

Saline
Matter.

Field Beans

160

100

40-0

28-0

2-0

30

Barley

150

15-0

60-0

12-0

2-5

2 0

Oats

160

20-0

50-0

14-5

5-6

3-5

Meadow hay-

140

30-0

40-0

7-1

2 to 5

5 to 10

Clover hay

14-0

25-0

40-0

9-3

3-0]

9-0

AVheat straw

12-0

50-0

30-0

1-3

0-5

5 0

Bread. — Horse-bread was anciently extensively
used in this country, but from some reason it has lono-
fallen into disuse. It still continues to be employed
in Holland, Germany, and the north of Europe.
The researches of the chemist leave little doubt that
the panary fermentation which meal undergoes before
it becomes bread, tends materially to increase its
nutritive properties. This is well established : but
whether the gain, by the increase of the assimilative
matter, is sufficient to cover the additional expenses
of labour and fuel necessary to convert raw corn into
bread, is somewhat questionable.*

* The details of some experiments in horse-bread-making on the Con-
tinent, translated from the Recueit de Medecine Veterinaire Pratique, of

188 THE HOESEi

Carrots are the most esteemed of all the edible roots
for feeding horses. Their use is becoming very ge-
neral. Some persons boil them first ; but that is

1837, may furnish some examples of the progress made there in this
branch of stable economy.

" In Sweden, a bread for horse-food has been long fabricated. It is
usually composed of equal parts of rye flour and oatmeal, to which is
added a little salt and, a few drops of eau-de-vie. This bread, baked a
little in excess, is broken and mixed with chaff (chopped straw), and given
to the horses. The saving is 33 fr. 75 c. per horse per year." {Mem. de
VAcademie de Stockholm, 1772.) Nothing, however, is said of the health
and vigour of the horses fed with this bread.

The Journal des Haras (torn. ii. p. 184.) reports, that in Silesia they
supply themselves with bread made with equal moieties of rye and oat
flour.

In 1826, M. Darblay suggested to the Societe d 'Agriculture de Paris, a
bread composed of equal parts of wheat, beans, and barley. His ex-
perience was founded on practical experiments during two months. He
fed two horses of the Berny post with four and a half kilogrammes (nearly
10 lbs. English) of this bread per day. These horses preserved their
usual strength. The economy was 44 centimes per day for each horse.

The bread given in 1829, at the Alfort school, was composed of an equal
quantity of bean flour, rye, and wheat (fourth quality). It rendered the
horses more frothy and liable to sweat.

In 1 833, some establishments of Paris essayed to substitute for a part
of the oats usually given to their horses a bread compounded by M.
Fenlard. To a great proportion of oatmeal was added a less quantity
of barley, bean, and wheat flour, with a little salt.

In 1832, M. Guenier, post-master of Saint Bris, department of Yonne,
commenced by substituting, for three fourths of the ration of oats, an
equal quantity (in weight) of bruised rye. This regimen was continued
for a month. The first results were unfortunate, for out of sixty horses
who were submitted to this regimen, M. Guenier observed, between
October and May, no less than two attacks of indigestion per week, some
of which were very severe. During the course of the summer, he had
thirty cases of founder; but the indigestions were reduced to two per
month, which was attributed to the habitude the horses had acquired for
the food. In 1 835, M. Guenier adopted the following method of feeding :
Best rye, 175 litres; best barley, 25 litres. These 200 litres of grain were
put into a copper cauldron, capable of holding 400 litres, with 150 litres
of water — a sufficient quantity to make a bath for the grains. Heat was
then applied until they burst, when they were removed from the cauldron,
bursting being a sign of their being sufficiently cooked. This mixture
was then baked and cooled in the square, on the understanding that it re-
presented a volume of 500 litres, to be given in the 24 hours, at the rate
of 75 litres for each set of five post-horses, with 10 litres of oats, at least,
per set; or at the rate of 100 litres per set of five horses of fast work,
omitting the oats. This food maintained the horses in good condition.

EDIBLE ROOTS AND TUBERS. 189

unnecessary, as the horse always partakes of them with
the greatest relish when raw. As they are grown in
light sandy soils, they are generally pretty clean, and
do not require washing. If they be washed long
previous to use, they are apt to heat and rot. It is
best to give them in their whole state, as it is far the
least dangerous method. When the horse has been
long deprived of his natural food, carrots appear to
have a beneficial effect on his constitution. If given
too freely at first, they invariably relax the bowels.
Their general action is that of a gentle alterative,
affecting the kidneys, lungs, and skin. Mr. Durham,
of Turnham Green, in a letter to the " Times," urges
the economy of carrot feeding. " At this season of
the year" (November), says he, " I lay in a sufficient
store of either white or red carrots (white preferred)
to last to the spring, and for every stud of eight
horses I deduct from their daily allowance of oats,
(which is four bushels, or 152 pounds,) one bushel, or
thirty-eight pounds ; in place of which I substitute
about seventy-two pounds of carrots (sliced thin, and
then mixed with the chaff and oats, ) in every stud per
day. Now, taking the number of horses working in
the omnibuses round London at eight per omnibus,
and the number of omnibuses at 1400, the saving in
the consumption of oats by omnibus horses only,
would be 1400 bushels, or 175 quarters, per day."

The Swede Turnip is sometimes sliced and mixed
with the corn of agricultural horses. They have a
fattening effect ; but, as they distend the digestive
organs, they are consequently inappropriate for fast-
working horses.

Potatoes, either raw or steamed, are likewise used
for feeding farm horses. Cooking increases their nu-
tritive properties. In the raw state they are too
watery, and have a relaxing effect on the bowels.
Fifteen pounds of raw potatoes is said to be equiva-

190 THE HORSE.

lent in nutriment to four and a half pounds of oats.
Fifty pounds per day of steamed potatoes is the usual
allowance of a farm horse as winter food. On this
diet alone he maintains a good working condition,
and is equal to all the ordinary duties of the farm.
Attempts have been made in France to supersede the
oat by the employment of baked potatoes as horse
food. No inconvenience arose from a complete diet
of baked potatoes ; and the horses to which they were
given did good service during the whole of the season.
In the Hainault, M. P. Goblet Delahaye adopted a
similar plan with satisfaction, as a winter food. He
slightly varied the above process, by substituting a
cake made of baked potatoes and straw chaff. (Journal
des Haras, iii. p. 97.)

Quantity of Food. — It must be always remembered,
that though slow work does not materially impede
digestion, fast work has a direct tendency to suspend
the process. Thus, it is not only improper, and hurtful
to the wind, by mechanically pressing on the lungs, to
load the stomach immediately before undertaking rapid
exertion, but destructive to the tone of the digestive
organs themselves. The quantity and description of
the food should vary with the size and character of
the horse, and the nature of the work on which he is
emploved. With racers and hunters, and other horses
used for fast work, the object kept constantly in view,
is to condense as much as possible the nutriment offered
in the food. In this way the animal is not only able
to undergo more stringent exertion, from the proper
supply of azotised aliment giving vigour and hard-
ness to his muscles ; but the space occupied in the
abdomen by the food is so small, that it allows the
freest action of the organs of respiration. Thus, to
horses of this grade but little hay or other fodder is
necessary. Sometimes none whatever is given. With
hunters, the usual working diet is five feeds or quar-

WATERING. 191

terns of sound oats, with half a pint of beans in each
feed, daily. When fed in this way, a truss of hay a
week is quite sufficient. If hay be given in larger
quantities, it is found detrimental to the wind, by in-
creasing the size and weight of the carcase. Where less
speed and sudden energy are required, the supply of
oats is diminished, and beans are allowed only during
the winter. In these cases the hay is rarely limited.
Farm horses generally receive about two bushels of
oats per week, with chaff and hay during the winter
months, and one bushel of oats, with green meat, in
the summer. Others only allow for the year's consump-
tion of a farm horse, ten quarters of oats, with an acre
of clover, rye-grass, or tares for soiling in the summer ;
hay to the amount of one and a quarter ton, given in
October ; and in November, March, April, and May,
straw chaff, with the produce of a quarter of an acre
of potatoes or Swedish turnips, when neither grass
nor hay is snven. To the heavier draught horses it is

JO O

necessary to allow an increased supply of corn in pro-
portion to their size and the severity of their work.

Watering. — In Arabia and Egypt, horses are com-
monly watered but once a day. In Persia, the custom
is to give them water at sunrise and sunset. In

o

England, they are usually suffered to drink thrice
during the day. In hot weather, the quantity given
at a time is decreased, but it is given more fre-
quently. Broken-winded and washy horses are ge-
nerally restricted in their water during the clay ; but
they should be allowed as much as they choose in the
evening. Hard, or even strange water, disagrees with
many horses ; and for this reason careful trainers
frequently carry sufficient of the water their horses
have been accustomed to partake of, to supply them
until the decision of any important race in which they
may be engaged. Soft water is invariably preferred
by the horse, if he be allowed to select for himself.

192 the house.

When horses are watered in the stable with pump
water, it should be pumped some time previous to
use, and placed in the stable, or allowed to stand in
the sun, according to the season, in order that it may
acquire a temperature near that of the atmosphere.
It is always injudicious to give a large quantity of
water either before work or to a horse heated by
labour. Eacers and hunters are stinted of water for
a day or two before running ; and on the day of
action, none at all is given.

Exercise, Condition, Training. — Mr. Blaine, with
his accustomed point and sagacity, remarks, that " in
a state of nature, the benefits of exercise are con-
stantly in action, as well from the inherent love of
play, as the search after food. This propensity is
wisely given, and strongest in those in whom it is
most necessary : in the young, to enforce circulation,
that the vessels may be stimulated to their deposit
for the growth of parts ; and in the lusty and
plethoric, that the absorbents may be kept in equal
action with the secretins: vessels : we therefore see
such several times in the day race round a field with
all the frolicksome sport of children. In the debile
and the old, in whom the absorption is equal, and
often greater than the deposit, this would be un-
necessary, and they are not equally stimulated by a
love of play. The horse is, therefore, an animal
intended by nature for exertion ; and whenever Ave
deprive him of exercise, we prevent the proper
balance being kept up between different parts of the
frame." *

Exercise is imperatively necessary to a tonic state
of the motive system. Without it, a horse is un-
conditioned, soft in muscle, frothy, and soon ex-
hausted. No greater error can be committed than

* Vet. Outlines, p. 522.

CONDITION. li)3

to suppose that continued cessation from labour in-
creases the power of undertaking it. On the contrary,
a capability of executing the most arduous tasks of
speed, strength, or continuous exertion, is almost
solely attributable to preceding rigorous preparatory
exercise. Condition results from a sufficient supply
of azotised diet, and preliminary exercise propor-
tioned to the labour required : such are the only
elements needful to its perfection. It was formerly a
dictum among; trainers of cocks for the now obsolete
amusement of cock-fighting, — " that the best undieted
cock was unable to encounter the worst that had been
dieted ;" so also, it cannot but be frequently remarked,
that a horse structurally imperfect, when well-con-
ditioned, is enabled to outstrip those of better me-
chanical formation, if unprepared for work, either on
the turf, the road, or in the field. " Air and exer-
cise" says Mr. Karkeek, of Truro, " with a proper
supply of nitrogenised food, such as oats, peas, beans,
&c, contain the grand secret in the art of training.
But these articles also contain a large portion of
starch and fatty matters, and yet, when in proper
condition, the hunter never becomes fat ; and the
reason is, that these substances, by the constant
exercise which is given, are consumed in the lungs,
whilst, under different circumstances, the same horse,
with little exercise and little oats, being fed chiefly
with straw, hay, and turnips — articles that do not
contain a quarter part of the fattening principle of
food contained in the hunter's diet — would be found
plump and fat. Here we have the normal and ab-
normal conditions compared together, as they regard
the capability of horses to undergo fatigue, since the
well-conditioned hunter is capable of undergoing great
exertion with little fatigue, whilst the frothy lather
with which the non-conditioned horse is covered after

o

194 THE HORSE.

very little exertion, evinces undeniable inferiority." *
Hence the benefit of the practice brought into repute
by the writings of the late Mr. Apperley (Nimrod),
of allowing the hunter corn during the summer
months. Instead of being turned to grass, he is
soiled in a box, or small paddock, or green-yard, and
fed moderately with corn. The expense of keep is
increased, but the horse is easier got into hunting
condition, and stands his work much better. Colla-
teral aid would evidently result from a course of
sub-training exercise, so as never to allow the mus-
cular system to become loaded and soft from in-
activity. Through the first part of the summer the
exercise should be moderate, but increased towards
the approach of the hunting season, so that the
animal, by an easy transition, might be duly pre-
pared for the active operations of the field. These
suggestions are strengthened by the observations of
an old anonymous writer on horses, from whom Nim-
rod might possibly have obtained the hint of his sum-
mering system. He says, " It has been remarked in a
celebrated hunt, that the hacks which had been se-
verely worked all summer, have, before Christmas,
been in higher condition, and beat the best hunters,
who have been at grass till September ; — from hence,
as well as for other reasons, I conclude, that the
hunter, instead of having been benefited, had been
injured by his trip to grass, and does not recover it
in less than three months ; consequently had better
have been gently worked all the summer, on green
food with his corn, given in the stable, or if possible
out, in an open cool hovel or stable." f In this ex-
tract may be discovered all the elements of the prac-

* Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, vol. v. part 1.
p. 254.

f Considerations on the Breed and Management of Horses. London,
1778.

TRAINING. J 95

tice so ably recommended by Niinrod, conjoined with
the praiseworthy plan of not allowing the horse's
muscles to lapse into a state of ill-condition from
total desuetude.

On taking a horse from grass, straw-yard, or other
such food occupying considerable space in his abdo-
men, one of the first steps necessary to expedite his
conditioning, and more readily adapt him for his
work, is to administer one or more doses of cathartic
medicine. This assists the reduction of the belly,
and, at the same time, improves the state of the se-
cretions. It lightens the carcass at once, and allows,
by the loss of weight, of exercise being taken without
danger or detriment to the legs or lungs. Corn and
dry food should be given in moderation when a horse
is first removed from a complete grass diet, as it is
liable to produce constipation and other ill effects if
forced too quickly on him. It is not requisite that
so much caution be exercised when he comes from a
straw-yard, but in either case, a nightly bran mash,
or a feed or two of carrots during the day, will enable
us to steer clear of the dangers of sudden repletion.
Sprinkling the hay with water is also of some service
in such cases. The quantity of water should be un-
limited, for there is a greater demand for it to aid
the digestive powers, and the horse is often slightly
irritated and heated from confinement in an atmo-
sphere frequently of a temperature many degrees
higher than that he has been previously accustomed
to. A slight fevering or irritation generally results
on removing horses from the country to stables in
London, and young horses sometimes suffer severely
from this cause.

The practice of sweating horses inside the stable,
by loading them with clothing, tends to clear them of
fat and lighten the carcass ; but this custom should
always be used with care, judgment, and modera-

o 2

196 THE HORSE.

tion. Its immediate and general effect is debilitating,
nearly as much so as the abstraction of blood would
be. A sweat taken in the open air, without clothing,
not only contributes to the removal of fat, but gives
energy to the respiratory, circulatory, and muscular
systems. A great deal is said by trainers of the
necessity of reducing the flesh. This expression is
altogether erroneous, and inapplicable to what takes
place in conditioning horses for work, founded as it
is on false ideas of what is and what is not flesh. Of
true flesh or muscle, a horse can never have too much,
as it is the peculiar organ of motion ; and the greater
the bulk of muscle, the more powerful and effective
will be its contraction. That which is removed by
sweating and exercise is fat and cellular tissue inter-
posed between the muscular fibres ; but exercise ac-
tually augments the bulk of the muscles themselves,
and increases their tonicity and firmness.* Muscles

* Persian and Toorhnnn Training. — Persian horses are sometimes
brought to perform almost incredible journeys by undergoing excessive
training. " When any expedition of great length, and requiring the exer-
tion of much speed, is in contemplation, they commence by running their
horses every day for many miles together ; they feed them sparingly on
barley alone, and pile numuds upon them at night to sweat them, until
every particle of fat has been removed, and the flesh becomes hard and
tenacious, of which they judge by the feel of the muscles, particularly on
the crest, at the back of the neck, and on the haunches ; and when these
are sufficiently firm and hard, they say, in praise of the animal, that his
' flesh is marble.' " — Fraser's Khorasan, p. 270.

"Before a Toorkmun undertakes a foray, or chupao, he trains, or, to
use his own expression, ' cools his horse' with as much patience and care
as the most experienced jockey of the turf, and the animal is sweated
down with a nicety which perhaps is unknown to these characters. After
long abstinence from food, the horse is smartly exercised, and then led
to water. If he drinks freely, it is taken as a sign that his fat has not
been sufficiently brought down, and he is starved and galloped about (ill
he gives this required and indispensable proof. A Toorkmun waters
his horse when heated, and then scampers about with speed, to mix the
water and raise the temperature of the animal's body ! Under this treat-
ment, the flesh of their horses becomes firm, and their bottom incredible.
I have had authentic accounts of their performing a journey of 600 miles
in seven or even in six days. Speed is at all times looked upon as in-
ferior to bottom." — Lieut. A. Burnes'1 Travels into Bohhara, vol. ii. p. 273.
London, 1834.

TRAINING. 197

lose size and power by disuse, and are strengthened
by being exercised ; but the exercise must be carried
something beyond the ordinary and habitual exertion,
in order to stimulate them to their full magnitude
and force. This law applies equally to the involun-
tary as to the voluntary muscles. Thus the power
of the heart, diaphragm, and such other muscles
beyond the influence of the will, or only partially
under its control, are as readily augmented in
strength by the exertion that calls their functions
into perfect action as those of voli-motion. Exercise
should naturally be proportioned to the age and
strength of the horse, and the object desired to be
obtained. Horses that are of a full habit of body
should go but a slow pace and a short distance at the
first trials. As the carcass becomes finer and the
legs improve in stability, the pace and distance may
be increased. Darvill states, that the proper length
of the sweating course of a yearling race colt is two
miles; for a two-year-old, two miles and a half; for
a three-year-old, three miles, or three miles and a
half; and for a four-year-old, four miles. In prepar-
ing for a four-mile race, the colt may have to sweat
four and a half or five miles. When a horse is pro-
perly conditioned for racing, the muscles are freed
from all extraneous matter, as interstitial substance
and fat; the superficial ones should appear clearly
and distinctly separate from each other beneath the
skin ; under the hand they should feel firm and rigid ;
and in action should exhibit the utmost mobility and
vigour. The size of the abdomen must be reduced
so as to be no longer a load to the legs or an
impediment to the fullest action of the lungs. The
food given should condense as much nutriment in
as small a compass as possible. With little modifi-
cation, the same severe system of training is to be
adopted for the steeple-racer and the fox-hunter.

o 3

108 THE HORSE.

Where more substantial service is required, the train-
ing becomes nothing more than conditioning, — the
same thing in substance, though less in degree ; dif-
fering only in the extent to which it is carried.
Horses employed for continuous and slower exertion,
may be allowed to retain a larger carcass, and food
of a more bulky character may be partaken of. De-
scending again to such as are applied to the slowest
description of labour, the food may be selected with
less care as to its capacity, a heavier carcass allowed,
and fat may be tolerated on some parts of the frame
with advantage to the performances of the animal.
But in all cases, from the racer to the dray-horse, the
full product and effect of the muscles of voli-motion
can only be insured by their constant use, exercise,
and action.

Grooming. — There is no great art, but very con-
siderable labour, in dressing or grooming a horse
properly. It is more frequently negligently performed
than done efficiently. The manner in which a horse is
groomed soon tells upon his health, spirits, and ap-
pearance. A good dressing tends to equalise the
circulation, to generate animal electricity, to improve
the excretory action of the skin, and through these
re-act with beneficial effect on the whole system.
Friction applied to the surface of the body may be
regarded as exercise, and, like it, is highly salutary.
It bestows health and energ}^, and health is gene-
rally accompanied with beauty. The less horses are
cleansed inside the stable the better for them and
their companions. If the weather permit, it is ge
nerally best done out of doors. Race-horses are almost
invariably cleansed in the stall, as they are found to
submit to it more quietly than in a freer state. On
removing the clothing (if clothing be worn), the in-
strument first applied is the currycomb. To some
thin-skinned horses the sharp teeth of this implement

GROOMING. 199

is almost intolerable. It should always be used
lightly and carefully. It is considered necessary to
remove dirt and dandriff ; but it is questionable whe-
ther it might not be dispensed with by the substitu-
tion of some less objectionable instrument. A curry-
comb cannot be used without danger of abrading the
skin on the head, hocks, and other surfaces Avhere the
bones are but superficially covered. The ancient
Greeks, for this reason, interdicted the use of any
iron or wooden instrument in cleansing the horse's
head, and directed that it should be washed daily ; —
a practice possibly attended with no ill effect in their
warm climate, but inapplicable in our more temperate
and changeable parallel. For thin- coated horses
the currycomb should be discarded, and the whale-
bone dandy-brush substituted in its stead. This,
with a horsehair rubber, is almost all that is neces-
sary. Horsehair gloves are much used for grooming
in the cavalry stables in India, and they might be
generally adopted here with much advantage, being
eminently serviceable in drying the legs and restoring
the circulation in them in wet and cold weather or
during sickness. After the removal of the dirt and
dust, in the absence of a horsehair rubber, the groom
uses a wisp of hay to gloss the hair with, and then,
sometimes, as a finishing touch, a light linen duster
is passed over the body. The long hair of the mane
and tail is then combed with an appropriate instru-
ment, and the eyelids, muzzle, and anus cleansed with
a moistened sponge. When a horse comes in much
splashed with mud and dirt, a very useful implement
to remove the chief part of it at once is, what is
termed by stablemen the " under-ostler." This is
nothing more than a short-handled broom made of
fine heath. At other times the iron scraper is bene-
ficially substituted to remove moisture, dirt, or per-
spiration; — thus hastening the drying of the skin —

o 4

200 THE HORSE.

a point always of importance. The sooner a horse is
perfectly dried the better ; for nothing tends to lower
the vital energy of the animal more than allowing
him to stand for hours steaming with moisture, and
drying solely by slow evaporation. This point offers
a distinctive test between good and bad grooming.
The great cold produced by the vaporisation of the
aqueous matter reduces the constitutional powers to
such an extent, that if he be fortunate enough to
escape disease, he will invariably require an extra
supply of food to keep him in condition. The benefit
derivable from the modern practice of clipping is at-
tributable solely to the fact of its diminishing cuticular
evaporation. When a horse comes sweating from his
work, in warm weather, it is better to dry him in the
open air, by walking him slowly about, than to take
him at once into the stable, possibly many degrees
colder than the external atmosphere. Sudden checks
are thus avoided ; and he will also have time to re-
cover his wind, and consequently be less likely to
sweat in the stall.

Bathing. — In this country horses are seldom bathed,
but it is the custom in Prussia to attach to the cavalry
barracks a capacious basin for swimming the horses
in. In summer time this is used nearly every day.
During the hot weather it cools and cleanses the skin,
and contributes to maintain the horse in a healthy
state. When in Egypt, I frequently ordered large
numbers of sick and healthy horses to be bathed in
the Red Sea or the Nile, which practice was constantly
attended with the most salutary results.

Fomenting, Bandaging, (jr. — Fomenting is a re-
medial measure often called into use in the stable.
Before the shoulders of young harness horses are pro-
perly hardened to the collar, they often become heated
without being positively galled. In such cases a
fomentation of common salt dissolved in tepid water

FOMENTING, BANDAGING, ETC. 201

forms a general application. It tends to reduce the
extra vascular action of the parts, and prevents worse
consequences. Fomentations are likewise judiciously
applied to the legs after excessive labour. Sponge or
flannel, dipped in hot water, and used in this way,
may be the means of giving great relief to the over-
wrought tendons and ligaments, and prevent many
an unsightly tumefaction. Occasionally fomentations
for the legs are medicated ; but this is unnecessary,
as warm water answers every purpose : strips of linen,
cotton, or flannel, four or five yards long and about a
hand wide, are used to bandage the legs. Sometimes
they are applied wet, at others dry — according to the
object in view. When we desire to fine the legs by
mere pressure, a dry coarse holland or canvass bandage
(the thinner the better) answers the purpose, without
heating the legs. Dry flannel bandages serve best to
sustain the temperature of the extremities in cases
where the circulation is languid, or during the attacks
of disease. They are to be put on immediately after
hand-rubbing. Wet cotton or flannel bandages are
excellent stable articles. They are employed to abate
inflammatory action about the fetlocks and back-
sinews after hard work, and act principally by re-
ducing the local temperature by the constant evapor-
ation carried on from their surface; — consequently,
to be beneficial, they must be kept wet ; for if allowed
to become dry, their presence does absolute injury, by
preventing the natural radiation of heat from the parts
they surround. Bandages may be soaked in warm
water when they are intended to act derivatively,
and in cold when a revulsive or a stringent effect is
desired.

The stable custom of stopping the feet with some
moist substance cannot be too highly recommended.
The only exceptions to its beneficial operation are in
cases where the soles are flat, thin, or abnormally

202 THE HORSE.

convex. Egyptian horses are shod with the Arab
shoe, winch is a flattened plate of iron covering the
entire ground and surface of the foot with the excep-
tion of a small hole in the centre. While the horse
stands in the stable, moist soil or dung is forced
through this hole, and filling the entire space between
the sole and shoe, serves to keep the foot constantly
in a cool, soft, and elastic state. In no country in
the world can the feet of working horses be seen in
a more perfect state, notwithstanding the extreme
aridity and heat of the deserts which they are very
frequently obliged to traverse. I attribute this free-
dom from foot disease, under such adverse circum-
stances, to the feet being so completely and uninter-
ruptedly stopped. Many substances are used for
stopping the feet, amongst which are clay, cow-dung,
and wet moss or tow. Clay is objectionable, from its
liability to dry and harden by the warmth of the foot
and to become impacted between the shoe and foot,
bruising the sole when the animal is in action. Cow-
dung is the most common and perhaps the best of all
stoppings. Wet moss or tow is more cleanly, and
forms useful stojyping where cow-dung cannot be con-
veniently obtained. Mr. Cherry constructed for this
purpose a pad of felt of considerable resistance. It
is put into the foot wet, and fitting itself to the con-
cavities of the sole, constitute a practical, scientific,
and neat stable appliance. The hind feet seldom re-
quire stopping ; the fore feet, however, should be
stopped, nightly, throughout the summer season. It
is more necessary at that time of the year, from the
tendency which the feet then have to become dry,
inelastic, and contracted. It is less requisite during
the winter months ; but whenever the horse stands
for some days together in the stable his feet should
be stopped.

Trimming, Docking, Nicking, fyc. — The mane natu-

'HUMMING, DOCKING, NICKING, ETC. 203

rally divides itself, and falls on both sides of the neck.
Man has thought it more conducive to beauty to dress
it on one side. It is generally made to incline on the
right side of the neck. This was the practice of the
ancient equestrians. Yarro and Virgil give directions
to that effect. Possibly the custom arose from their
habit of mounting on the right side, that they might
grasp the mane to assist them. We mount on the
left side, but still continue to train the mane after
the ancient style on the right. With paired carriage
horses, sometimes the off-side horse has it inclined to
the right and the other to the left, so as to present
the mane of each on the outer side towards spectators.
The practice itself is harmless, but it prevents the
horses from changing sides at their work so often as
they should do. Constantly driving a horse on one
side is apt to produce roaring, from the constrained
position of the head. Cobs and ponies frequently
have their manes cut down to within two or three
inches of the roots. What remains stands erect. This
is called " hogging." The sculptures from the frieze
of the Parthenon of Athens prove this to be an antique
method of treating the mane. They further show
that the ancient Greeks varied this species of unnatural
and barbaric ornament, by cutting notches or portions
equidistant from each other out of the hogged mane,
so that the remaining hair bears some resemblance in
outline to the embrasures of a Norman castle. The
mane of the cart horse requires or obtains little or no
trimming, but grooms almost invariably adojit the
practice of plucking out a portion of the mane of the
lighter sorts of horses, when it becomes, in their esti-
mation, too long. To accomplish this, the mane is
combed, and a few of the longest hairs are seized hold
of and plucked out by manual force. This is rather
a painful performance when attempts are made to
tear out too many hairs at once, and some horses

204 THE HORSE,

evince a determined opposition to it. Occasionally
the mane will not lie well ; this the groom plats, and
loads with small pieces of window lead, which soon
reduces it to the desired inclination.

A great deal of stable art, skill, and taste, is dissi-
pated in fruitless attempts to make the horse's tail
more ornamental than it naturally is. Grooms can-
not agree with the poet, who said, " Nature never made
her works for man to mend." On the contrary, they
think that the particular object of their attention is
capable of great external embellishment. Accord-
ingly, some artistic groom of the last century con-
sidered it a vast improvement on nature's fair pro-
portions to deprive his horses of ears and tail, and
rank and fashion eagerly adopted the barbarous in-
novation.* The former custom, cropping, has happily
fallen into entire disuse ; but the latter, docking, is
still retained, though not practised to the same ridicu-
lous extent as formerly. The tail was given to the
horse both for use and ornament. It is supposed to
facilitate his movements when turning at speed, as a
rudder directs a ship, and it defends him from the
annoying attacks of winged insects f , before whom,
in some climates, without it, he would fall an easy
prey. | But the excuses offered in defence of cur-

* It is related, that the first time George III. saw horses that had been
cropped, they were driven by Lord Tommy Onslow, the prototype of
our four-in-hand school. The King sent for him immediately, and ex-
pressed his anxious desire to obtain some of the earless breed.
t " In thy behalf the crest-wav'd boughs avail

More than the short-clipt remnant of a tail,
A moving mockery, a useless name,
A living proof of cruelty and shame.
Shame to the man, whatever fame he bore,
Who took from thee what man can ne'er restore,
Thy weapon of defence, thy chiefest good,
When swarming flies contending suck thy blood."

Bloomfield 's Farmer's Boy.

X In South Africa, the hyenas are addicted to the nocturnal practice

of biting off the tails of such oxen as fall in their way, in this manner

DOCKING. 205

tailing this member is, that it heats the horse while
at work, and is apt to soil the rider in dirty weather,
and that being domesticated and housed, there is
much less need of a long tail to keep off the flies.

The operation of amputating a portion of the tail,
when performed secundum artem, is effected by a port-
able guillotine, called a docking-iron, constructed by
instrument-makers for the purpose. After tying back
that portion of the hair belonging to the stump in-
tended to be left, and clipping away that from about
the spot where the incision is to be made, a joint is
searched for, and the instrument placed in juxta-
position. The force that will be recpiired for excision
depends greatly on the operator, for if a joint be
judged with precision, the blade of the instrument
will pass easily between the bones, but if the body of
the bone comes under the edge of the knife consider-
able exertion will be requisite to cut through it. It
is not safe in the adult horse to allow the bleeding to
continue until it stops of its own accord. Torsion or
twisting the arteries may be resorted to as a neat way
of stanching the blood, but it recpiires considerable
nerve in the operator when the horse is restive under
the pain inflicted. The same objection applies to
taking up the arteries with a ligature. The usual
method employed by farriers is to sear the bleeding
stump with a ring-shaped iron at red heat, pressi no-
harder and burning deeper into the upper edge of the
dock, in order to improve the carriage of the tail.
Some powdered resin is sprinkled over the surface of
the wound, and melted by a re-application of the heated
iron. This deep burning of the skin at the upper
rim of the stump does no good, and the melting resin
may do positive harm ; both together, from the severe

exposing them to the merciless assaults of swarming insects, which soon
undermine their constitutions, and speedily hurry them into disease and
death.

206 THE HORSE.

irritation they set up, often give rise to a fatal disease
of the nervous system — tetanus or locked-jaw. Some
breeders, by taking the colt when only a few months
old, very unceremoniously perform this operation on
the tail. The young animal is backed to a gate, upon
the top rail of which his tail is rested, and then with
a mallet and a large knife it is chopped off at a stroke,
and without any steps being taken to arrest the haemor-
rhage.

As it has always been regarded a point of value
for a horse to carry his tail at some distance from his
quarters, many attempts have been made to produce
this appearance by art. The torturing operation of
nicking was invented for this purpose. It is now
happily seldom employed. The muscles depressing
the tail were divided with a knife, and the tail strapped
back or put into pulleys to prevent their re-union. It
is very doubtful whether all the benefit is not de-
rivable from keeping the tail exalted, and none what-
ever from the division of the muscles. On this account
Mr. Stewart recommends placing the tail in pulleys
without making any incisions. There can be no ob-
jection to this painless method, and it is possible that
the expected good may spring from it. The peculiar
manner in which an Arab horse carries his tail has for
a lono- time excited admiration. It results from the
form of the croup, which may itself be an effect of art
continued for a long series of ages. It is possible
that this deviation in the position and carriage of the
tail may have been first induced by the invariable
Eastern custom of keeping the tail shorn of its hair
during the period of growth. The colt is docked
early in life, and from that time the dock is kept con-
stantly trimmed until the fourth or fifth year, or even
later. This practice, by removing the weight of hair
which tended to press down the tail during the colt's
growth, has the effect of improving its permanent

TRIMMING. 207

position, and giving rise, in the course of many gene-
rations, to a slight deviation from the usual construc-
tion of this part of the frame.

The tail of the race-horse is worn longer at present
than was formerly the fashion. The grooms have
also an idea that cutting the hair quite straight and
square at the bottom contributes to the beauty of the
horse's appearance, though this opinion is not exactly
in unison with the definition of the beautiful offered
by Hogarth, Burke, and other men of taste. The
same objection applies to the square trim of the short-
docked horses. The switch tail is perhaps better
suited to the light sorts of horses : there is less form-
ality about it, and it is sufficiently removed from the
dirt. In former years it was the fanciful custom of
the manege to tinge the hairs of the mane and tail of
light- coloured horses witli some dye ; this was pos-
sibly in imitation of the Easterns, for the Arabs of the
Hauran, at the present day, dip the ends of the tail
and mane in a watery extract of the henna plant,
which stains them of a red tint.

The heels are a part on which grooms like very
much to display their taste and ability. AVell-bred
horses require no trimming whatever about the fet-
locks, and but little is ever requisite for any other
description of horse. The fine hair from the inside
of the ears should never be cut away, as it exposes
•the thin skin of this part to the bites of blood -suckino-
insects and renders the horse shy about the head.
The long and strong hairs which spring up about
the muzzle and eyebrows are usually clipped off, but
for what reason it is hard to divine. These hairs act
as feelers, having sentient nervous fibrillar terminating
at their roots, which convey the impression received
to the brain. Their presence may be the means of
preventing many an awkward knock in the dark, by
apprising the animal of the situation of objects which

208 THE HORSE.

he cannot see. To remove them from blind horses, for
the same reason, is an act of positive cruelty. Some
grooms carry their trimming propensities to such an
extent as to cut away the eyelashes, a practice which,
exposing as it does the eye to injury, should always
be peremptorily forbidden by the owner.

Clipping. — Nimrod denned clipping to be " a bad
substitute for good grooming ; " but this is rather too
condemnatory of the practice, for, in many cases, evi-
dent benefit has accompanied its adoption. To clip
line-haired or thin-coated horses is as superfluous as
gilding " refined gold." It is also perfectly needless
to practise it in the summer time, when the hair is
almost invariably short ; but the long, rough hair of
the winter coat of horses, sucking up and retaining,
as it does, so much moisture, to be got rid of by slow
degrees, is a fruitful source of loss of energy and health,
and of low condition. Its adoption, therefore, in such
cases may be excused or even advocated. The water,
with which the animal's hair is so frequently saturated,
must be removed either by spontaneous evaporation
or by grooming. If it be allowed to do so by evapor-
ation, a great deal of the animal heat must be ex-
pended in vaporising the fluid, for before water be-
comes vapour it abstracts caloric from whatever ap-
proximates to it. Thus it is far better to be without
gloves than to have on such as are soaking wet ; and
the bather experiences much less cold when wholly im-
mersed in water than when his wet skin is exposed to
the evaporating agency of a gale of wind, though the
air may be several degrees warmer than the water.

Breaking. — That animals should inherit from their
parents a portion of their natural peculiarities is a
most interesting phenomenon. That the traits or
habits which have been originally the product of edu-
cation, and are therefore quite distinct from in-
stinctive endowments, should be transmissible to the

EARLY TRAINING. 209

offspring, is a fact of some importance to those en-
gaged in training animals to particular purposes or
employments. The existence of the transmissibility
of artificial sensorial influences is readily exhibited
among dogs. A well-bred, though unbroken, pointer
dog, when first taken into the field, will often stand at
game without any preliminary instruction, solely
through the influence of mental habitude conferred
by the progenitors ; for the practice of pointing at
game is purely a cultivated habit. The native clogs
of Egypt, when by accident they come on a scorpion,
evince the greatest fear and dread, by barking and
howling, although they have never individually ex-
perienced the tortures of its bite. This dread must
be inherited from their parents by some foregone ex-
perience, for the dogs brought from England do not
show the like horror until they have been bitten. The
progeny of animals trained to any particular purpose
take most readily to the same course as their parents
have been engaged in . The offspring of horses trained
to the chase or other occupations, frequently evince a
surprising aptitude for similar employments. They
exhibit an innate tact for their engagements, and
require but little instruction before they are perfect
masters of their work. It is only by long perseverance
that the wild zebras of the Cape of Good Hope can be
rendered tolerably tractable. The natural wildness
of their disposition appears to have become so deeply
rooted by the uninterrupted possession of their liberty
from the primaeval ages of the world, that it is with
great difficulty they can ever be broken. The same
circumstances occur with the original wild horses
of Asia, whose intractability of disposition seems in-
herent ; while, on the other hand, the mustangs or
feral troopers of the American prairies, springing from
domesticated parentage, but a few generations re-

p

210 THE HORSE.

moved, are much more easily tamed and trained to
the appliances of man.

The rules -which should be adopted in breaking the
horse are founded on similar principles to those now
so beneficially employed in the education of children,
namely, early training and gentleness. Much future
trouble will be evaded by rendering the foal tractable
early in life. With this view he should be mildly
fondled, and accustomed to the presence of men be-
fore he is weaned. After that time the familiarities
should be increased ; he ought to be handled daily,
haltered and led about, have his feet lifted, be rubbed
down, and accustomed to be tied to the manger.
For, as it was long since remarked, " care must be
taken that when a breaker receives the colt, he be
gentle, tractable, and fond of men. For he is gene-
rally rendered so at home by the groom, if the foal
is made to understand that hunger, thirst, and irri-
tation are procured by solitude, and meat, drink,
and freedom from irritation, are procured by men.
When these things take place, foals not only love, but
lono; for men." *

All that is necessary to break an agricultural horse
for draught, is to harness and place him in a team
with a horse before and one or two behind him, letting
him fall gradually into his work without the employ-
ment of any harsh usage. The bit placed in his
mouth should be small and loose ; to prevent extensive
abrasion, it may be lapped round with cloth. Rough
treatment should never be allowed, as he will the
more readily learn what he has to do from the
others' example, and his anxiety to perform his duty
will rather require moderating than any additional
impetus.

* Xenophon's Horsemanship.

BREAKING. 211

The preliminary training of colts intended to be
employed on the turf, the road, or the field, is in
principle the same. Obedience ought to be inculcated
more by firmness and patience than by operating on
the fears of the young animal. " The gods," says
Xenophon, " have granted the ability to men to
inform others, by speech, what they wish done. A
horse, however, cannot be instructed by speech ;
but if, when he does what you wish, you grant
him a favour in return, and when he is disobedient,
punish him, he will be thus trained to obey when
necessary."*

Race-horses are trained while very young, but the
usual age at which other horses are submitted to the
breaker's hands is about three years old. At first
their work should be proportioned to their strength
and condition, many horses being permanently ruined
during the process of breaking by the unnecessary
severity of the lessons, before the joints, ligaments,
and tendons have acquired sufficient resisting power.
Severe breaking lessons, and early immoderate work,
are the ruin of thousands of horses. To require un-
matured organs to perform the severities which adult

* The Duke of Newcastle's opinion on the same subject coincides with
Xenophon's. "There are but two things that can make an accomplished
horse, viz. the hope of reward, and the fear of punishment, which all the
world are influenced by ; and, as far as we know, God has no other means
of exciting his people to virtue, but by the largeness of his infinite re-
wards, and the terror of the pains that are prepared for their crimes.
A horse must be wrought upon more by proper and frequent lessons,
than by the heels, that he may know, and even think upon what he ought
to do ! If he does not think (as the famous philosopher Des Cartes affirms
of all beasts) it would be impossible to teach him what he should do.
But by the hope of reward, and the fear of punishment, when he has
been rewarded or punished he thinks of it, and retains it in his memory
(for memory is thought), and forms a judgment by what is past of what
is to come (which again is thought) ; insomuch that he obeys his rider
not only for fear of correction, but also in hopes of being cherished." —
System of Horsemanship, vol. i. p. 12. 1743.

p 2

212 THE HORSE.

constitutions can with difficulty support, must in-
evitably entail disease, and destroy the future vigour
of the animal. When the headstall and cavesson are
first placed on the colt, the only pace allowed should
be the walk. His lessons should be progressive, not
alone from the necessity of their being so in order
that they may be the more readily received and re-
membered, but because they may be adapted to his
bodily state as regards condition for work. Therefore,
walking exercise for the first few days will be suffi-
cient, and even that will frequently induce profuse
perspirations, showing that it is a tax on the unma-
tured powers of the colt. After a little time he may be
lunged. The object of lunging is to teach obedience
and to perfect the paces. Before the condition of the
colt is established, the continuance of the lunging
lessons should not be long or the rapidity of the pace
too severe, nor the ground on which he is exercised
too heavy. By degrees the pace may be quickened,
and the lessons prolonged. It is usual to have a boy
to follow him ; but this is dispensed with by good
breakers, as it is deemed more advantageous that
he should be taught to slacken or quicken his pace
by word of command. It is bad policy to hasten the
process of breaking beyond the capabilities of the
colt. A month is about the time generally occupied.
The supply of food during the severities of breaking
should be liberal. To improve the sensitiveness of
the mouth, a large bit is selected, having barbels or
players appended to it. This is put on daily for an
hour or two, the bridle rein being buckled to a surcingle
or roller, so as to bear rather tightly on the mouth.
In this state he is " put on bit," as it is termed, by
being turned in the stall and attached to the stall-
posts on each side by the pillar reins. Some practical
benefit is found to follow this rather cruel practice : it

BREAKING. 213

not only increases the sensibility of the mouth, but it
improves the carriage of the head.* When it is in-
tended«that the colt is to be broken for riding, the
saddle is placed on his back for some days previous to
allowing him to be mounted. The breaker should
occasionally throw an arm over the animal's back, and
press rather heavily on him, so as to accustom him to
sustain pressure ; when he suffers this without exhibi-
tion of fear, one of the stirrups should be let down
considerably and the foot placed in it, so that the
breaker may throw all his weight on the saddle. When
familiar with this, he maybe mounted, and taught the
use of the reins, the whip, the heels, or the spur. On
dismounting, the breaker should reward the colt with
a handful of corn or green meat, as on all other occa-
sions when he has exhibited docility or tractability.
Severity in breaking often defeats the attainment of
the desired object, and renders the colt permanently
vicious ; for if he be once induced to put forth his
powers in opposition to the will of the breaker, he will
rarely forget the advantage he possesses in animal
strength over his antagonist. On this subject a
writer on whom the cloak of Nimrod appears to have
most worthily descended, remarks, that " boys, it is
commonly said, will be boys; so will young horses
be young horses. Like youth in mankind, they must
have time to gain experience ; and till they do gain
it, they must be treated accordingly. Horses at best
are but brutes ; and no man can tell what their tem-
pers may be when roused. But the tempers of young

* The lamented Sir Alexander Bnrnes, in his " Travels into Bokhara,"
notices a singular custom prevalent among the Toorkmuns, with the view
of improving the carriage of their horses' heads. They confine them to
a stable, with no other aperture for the admittance of light than a window
in the roof, which, by inducing the animal to look constantly upwards,
gradually improved the usual position of the head.

p 3

214 THE HORSE.

horses never should be roused if gentle usage Avill
prevent it. They seldom or ever are in the hands of
the dealer or man of judgment. It would be rather
an extraordinary proceeding on the part of a dealer
if he was purposely to frighten or irritate the temper
of a young horse in order to ascertain what under
such circumstances he would do.

" There can be no doubt, that of the numerous ac-
cidents we often see and daily hear of, as occurring to
gigs, phaetons, and other vehicles, three out of four
arise from want of judgment in the driver. He is
not aware of what is likely to produce accident ; con-
sequently takes no steps to prevent it. He has pro-
bably no conception that a strap buckled too tight
or left too loose will render a horse uneasy in his har-
ness, irritate his temper, set him plunging, and finally
kicking and running away. This horse might have
been a week since bought of a dealer, might have
been driven in a double or single harness, have always
gone perfectly quiet, and always would have done so
if common judgment had been used. This is all we
have a right to expect from a high-spirited horse. He
does not promise us to carry a phaeton or gig down
hill on the top of his tail, or to be flayed alive by his
harness from our carelessness. If any person ^wishes
one that would permit this, I recommend the gentle-
man to a rocking-horse." *

Breaking to Harness. — When it is desired to break
the colt for light draught, he is generally put for
the first time into a double-break, so that he has a
steady companion by his side. It is preferable to put
the harness on inside the stable, where he is less likely
to be alarmed at its strangeness. He should then be
allowed to stand on bit for some little time to accus-

* Stable Talk, p. 196. et seq. Longman, 1845.

BREAKING TO HARNESS. 215

torn himself to the novelty of his trappings and situ-
ation. Nothing should be strapped or buckled too
tightly about him. The bit should be a very mild
one ; a common snaffle being usually preferred at first,
as its use frequently obviates jibbing — a common
effect of a powerful lever curb bit. His collar should
be made to open at the top, that he may not be un-
necessarily alarmed by passing and repassing it over
his head. When every thing is prepared, he is placed
along side the break-horse in the break, the traces
attached, and the pole-piece but loosely appended.
He is then started, and suffered to fall by degrees
into his work. After a few lessons in this manner
he may be put into single harness. Here it is neces-
sary to add the kicking-strap to his other trappings,
and it is generally the custom to train him in a com-
mon flat-headed hempen halter put on under his
winker-bridle, the end of which running to the eye of
the bit serves as a good purchase for the groom, who
runs by his side. Patience is here, as in many other
situations of life, a great virtue. The colt must not
be hurried. If he appears inclined to stand for a
time, let him do so; nothing is so likely to make
him a jib to force when he shows a disinclination
to proceed. He will soon move of his own accord,
and when he does, let him take whatever road he pre-
fers; the breaks-man office being more of a passive
guardian and director than a dictator.

Pensioning. — In terminating this portion of our
work, it will be but a labour of love to call the at-
tention of all wealthy and charitable fellow citizens
to the subject of pensioning old and faithful equine
servants. The feeling that such devoted slaves should
not be altogether neglected in old age, when past
labour, is not altogether a modern refinement. Plu-
tarch moves us to it by such sentiment and language

p 4

216 THE HORSE.

as the following : — " Goodness moves in a larger
sphere than justice : the obligations of law and
equity reach only to mankind, but kindness and
beneficence should be extended to creatures of every
species ; and these still flow from the breast of a well-
regulated man, as streams that issue from the living
fountain. A good man will take care of his horses and
dogs, not only while they are young, but when old and
past service. Thus the people of Athens, when they
had finished the temple called Hecatompedon, set at
liberty the beasts of burden that had been chiefly
employed in that work, suffering them to pasture at
large, free from any further service. * * * * We cer-
tainly ought not to treat living creatures like shoes
or household goods, which, when worn out with
use, we throw away ; and were it only to teach
benevolence to human kind, we should be merciful
to other creatures." It is recorded of the celebrated
philanthropist Howard, that when his horses became
incapable of labour from age, they remained, for the
rest of their lives, happy pensioners on his bounty.
They enjoyed perfect freedom from toil, and a full
supply of all that old age required. Several fields
were appropriated to their use, and in each of which
was erected a comfortable shed, to which they could
resort in hard weather, where they were certain of
finding the rigours of the season softened by a well-
furnished crib of the best hay, and a manger of either
bran and ground corn, or some other nourishing
food. Other illustrious examples of the exhibition
of charity and goodness to superannuated horses are
happily not wanting, but still the barbarous and
unfeeling practice of slaughtering old and faithful
servants continues with many who have it in their
power to act far differently, and set a laudable
example to those below them. Burns never proved

PENSIONING. 217

his own innate worth and warm-hearted charity more
plainly than in his " New Year's Salutation to his old
mare Maggie."

" An' think na, my auld, trusty servan',
That now perhaps thou's less deservin',
An' thy auld days may end in starvin',

For my last fou ;
A heapit stimpart*, I'll reserve ane

Laid by for you.

We've worn to crazy years thegither ;
We'll toyte f about wi' ane anither ;
Wi' tentie \ care I'll flit thy tether,
To some haind§ rig,
Whare ye may nobly rax || your leather,
Wi' sma fatigue."

* A gallon. t Totter. + Heedful. § Spared. || Stretch.

218 THE HORSE.

CHAPTER VIII.

SHOEING.

" He doth nothing but talk of his horse ; and makes it a great ap-
propriation to his own good parts, that he can shoe hirn himself." —
Shakespeare.

" It is the term elasticity, however, which, by its exercise and use, will
explain, like the principle of gravitation in the hands of the astronomer,
nearly every thing that was before dark and obscure in the arts of the
foot." — Bracy Clark's Poclonomy, 2d edit. p. 68.

It will be found, on searching the records of ages
now grey with time, that before the invention of a
protective shield for the horse's foot, this animal was
comparatively disregarded, and held a far inferior
rank in the estimation of mankind to that which he
at present occupies. Some of the nations of antiquity
preferred the mule or ass, from the superior endur-
ance of their feet, others the camel : in every case the
animal being selected for its physical adaptation to
the state of the soil and climate, and the particular
labour demanded. Thus, previous to the discovery
of horse-shoes to guard his feet from injury, he was
almost useless, if not a burden, in rocky, mountain-
ous countries. This reason, in all probability, induced
Moses to forbid the use of the horse among the
people of Judea. He is not even mentioned in the
Decalogue, though the ox and the ass are. Amos
(vi. 12.) speaks of it as a thing as impracticable to
make horses run upon a hard rock as to plough up
the same rock with oxen. " Shall horses run upon
the rock ? " Something similar may be gleaned from a

VALUE OF THE INVENTION OF HORSE-SHOES. 219

passage in Judges (v. 22.) : — " Then were the horses'
hoofs broken by means of the prancings, the prancings
of the mighty ones."

It is curious and instructive even now to observe,
wherever the horse is employed with unshod feet, the
diminished sphere of his usefulness. In the Pampas
of South America, where horses cost less than shoes
for their feet do, they are consequently ridden with-
out them, and constitute, on the plains, the only
means of rapid conveyance. But, as the traveller ap-
proaches the rocky passes of the Andes, he finds his
steed " quickly become tender-footed in treading over
the sharp stones covering these tracts, and is soon
rendered unable to walk." * Here the high-heeled
and contracted foot of the mule renders him capable
to withstand the attrition of a soil from which the
horse is discarded as useless. The utility of the
horse to man, before varying, circumstantial, and un-
certain, has been confirmed, fixed, and extended, by
the discovery of the art of shoeing.

It was natural that man, always having an eye to
personal profit, viewing the great strength and speed
of the horse abbreviated and decreased in effect by
the unstable state of his feet, should endeavour to
invent remedies to counteract these evils, and thus
insure to himself the services of so powerful an ally.
The first attempt seems to have been to harden and
solidify the horn of the foot, so as to render it more
dry and durable, in direct opposition to the present
treatment of the feet, which is to soften the horn and
render it more elastic. On the turf, with which
nature has clothed the localities generally inhabited
by the horse, the growth of the horn of the foot
equals the wear — it is supplied as fast as demanded ;
but when he is compelled to traverse our common

* Miers' Travels in Chili, La Plata, &c, vol. i. p. 347.

220 THE HORSE.

gravel roads without any artificial defence to his
feet, the attrition is increased, while, the growth con-
tinuing the same, he soon becomes lame from ex-
posure of the vascular parts of his feet. If the streets
of London are eventually entirely paved with wood,
all those horses used exclusively in town, might, with
great advantage, be employed without shoes. By
this their feet would reassume the elastic play natural
to them, the foothold would be improved, and a
saving would result to the public of some thousands
of pounds annually. Even if occasionally used for
short distances on gravel roads, the feet would not
materially suffer ; for a horse with well-formed hoofs
will travel from thirty to forty miles under such
circumstances without detriment. Mr. Bracy Clark
says he once rode a barefooted horse from London to
Calne in Wiltshire (eighty-seven miles), within three
days : he, however, took advantage of the greensward
and sandy places by the road side. Xenophon, who
served in the Grecian army, proposes a process to
harden the hoof, which possibly was much older than
his time. " The outside of the stall," says he, "should
be as good as possible, and would strengthen the feet,
if there were strewed here and there four or five cart
loads of tapering stones, measuring a hand in breadth,
and about a mina in weight, encompassed with iron
braces, that they may not be scattered. * * * *
Stones thus . strewn, strengthen the hollow of the
horse's hoof." * In addition, particular care was
taken to keep the feet free from moisture, in order
that their hardness might not be impaired, f Homer

* Xenophon' s Horsemanship.

f " Moist and smooth stalls injure the hoofs, which are naturally good.
It is also necessary that they be not moist, be sloping, and have sewers ;
and not to be smooth, to have large stones against each other, almost
equal in size to their hoofs ; for such stalls at the same time consolidate
the hoofs of those standing on them." — Xenophon.

THE SOLEA OK SANDAL. 221

previously alludes to "brazen-footed steeds;"* the
prophet Isaiah says, " Their horses' hoofs shall be
counted like flint (v. 28.) ; and in the Book of Micah
(iv. 13.) is found an analogous passage, — "I will
make thine horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs
brass." We find Xenophon, again, commending a
previous veterinary author of the name of Simon, " for
excellently remarking, that good feet are known by
the sound ; the hollow hoof struck on the ground,"
he says, " sounds like a cymbal." In later times, un-
guents were prescribed by VegetiusPublius, Columella,
and others, with the object of toughening the horny
substance of the foot. Roads of broad, flat pavement,
were laid down to obviate the attritive effect of gravel
stones. Thebes had its way-wardens, or officers, to
superintend the repairs of the public roads. Both at
the Herculaneum and Pompeii, streets are found paved
with flat slabs of lava, procured from the neighbour-
ing volcanoes. The Romans constructed paved roads
of great length. They were generally elevated above
the surrounding country, through which they passed.
The Appian Way and the Via iEmilia may be cited
as celebrated examples. Solece or sandals were used
occasionally : these were made of various substances,
and contrived to hook, clasp, or buckle on the hoof,
somewhat on the plan of the horse-sandal suggested
by Mr. Percivall, and used as a make-shift shoe by
huntsmen and travellers of the present day. Both
the Greeks and the Romans were in the habit of ap-
plying temporary solera to the hoofs of horses and
cattle, who were injured by travelling, or for common
service, composed of platted fibres of hemp. Olaus
Magnus informs us that a somewhat similar practice
prevailed in the north of Europe, even so late as the
commencement of the sixteenth century, where cork

* " The brass-hoof d steeds tumultuous plunge and bound,
And the thick thunder beats the labouring ground."

Popes Homer s Iliad, b. xi. 197-

222 THE HORSE.

or teil bark was matted together with, small twigs for
the protection of the feet of both men and horses. *
From all this it is evident, that the invention of at-
taching an iron shoe by means of nails driven through
part of the hoof was an event of great importance to
mankind in extending the services of this desirable
animal to countries where, without them, he would
have been comparatively burthensome.

Considerable discussion has arisen as to the exact
period of time in which horse-shoeing was invented ;
but this probably will never be satisfactorily ascer-
tained. Vossius, and some other antiquarians, would
induce us to believe that the ancients were acquainted
with the art ; but the great weight of authority bears
in a contrary direction. Pegge, Beckmann, Beranger,
and more recently Bracy Clark and Coleman, deny,
with apparent reason, any remote antiquity to it.
We are without any positive or substantial evidence
as to when or where this useful art originated. It is
one of those numerous social contributions to the
common weal, the inventor of which sleeps without
his due fame. There are no facts at present known
which demonstrate its existence previous to the time
of the Norman conquest of this country, and even
then, and for a long time after, it was far from being
generally practised. In the renowned arras of
Bayeux, which was wrought by the ladies of Queen
Matilda's court to celebrate the victories of William
the Conqueror, no shoes are represented on the feet
of the horses, though the figure of the bits, spurs,
buckles, and other trappings are given with minute
fidelity. The equestrian figure of the seal of this
king, according to Speed's representation of it, is also
unshod. Ducarel, in his Anglo-Norman Antiquities,

* " Transeunt homines et equi quasi super clypeos militares

Crates seu arcus levi ac lato subere, seu eortice tiliano contexos, pedibus
propriis ac equorum alligant." — Olai Mag7ii, Gentium Septentrionalium
Historice Breviarium, 1. iv. c. 13. Amstelodami, ]C>69.

ANTIQUITY OF SHOEING. 223

notices the same peculiarity of this seal ; but in those
of subsequent kings the horses are invariably figured
with shoes. The antiquarian Montfaucon has misled
a great many inquirers into the antiquity of horse-
shoeing, by conjecturing that a rust- eaten piece of
iron found in the tomb of Childeric, a Frank king of
the eighth century, might have formed part of a
horse's shoe, as it was pierced with three or four
holes. He has drawn an outline of a shoe, and places
the fragment within that outline, of which it occupies
about one third part ; but it might with equal proba-
bility have formed some portion of the coat of mail
buried with that monarch, or even a piece of corroded
sword-blade, or any other weapon. It is probable that
the custom of shoeing horses with iron shoes was first
practised a little previous to the Norman invasion ; for
when that event took place it was by no means general.
It was introduced into this country by William the Con-
queror, who awarded the fifedom of the city of North-
ampton to one of his followers, in consideration of his
paying a certain annual sum for the shoeing of his
horses ; and it is generally believed that Henry de
Ferres or De Ferrers, who came over with him, re-
ceived that surname because he was entrusted with
the inspection of the farriers ; the descendants of this
De Ferrers, the present Ferrers family, still bear in
their arms six horse-shoes. From that time it spread
gradually over the whole of the civilised world. In
Japan, however, they still use sandals made of matted
straw which fasten round the fetlock with straw bands.
They are soon worn out; but, costing little, are
easily replaced. The Icelanders also were formerly
in the habit of using portions of ram's horn as a sub-
stitute for iron ; and the late Sir A. Burnes heard of a
similar practice among the people of the valley of the
Oxus, who shod their horses with the antlers of the
mountain deer. After forming the horn into a suit-
able shape, they fix it on the hoof with horn pins,

224 THE HORSE.

and never renew it until fairly worn out. It is said
that the custom is borrowed from the Kirghizzes.*

Shoeing, as Professor Coleman used to designate it,
is " a necessary evil," for though it conserves the
feet from too rapid wear, it frequently inflicts exten-
sive injury on them. Amelioration of these ills can
only result from a correct perception of the anato-
mical construction and natural functions of the foot.
Among the most evident and important of these en-
dowments are its elasticity and expansibility ; the
descent of its posterior portions ; the angle which the
hoof naturally forms with the ground plane ; and the
manner of its growth and wear.

Elasticity is a valuable property inherent to the
horse's foot. There is scarcely a portion of this
organ that is not highly furnished with it. The wall,
the arching sole, the frog, and the condensed tissued
cushion above it, all possess elasticity in a high degree.
Indeed, the frog is no bad representative in colour,
consistence, and mechanical resistance, of caoutchouc
itself. Elasticity of the feet of animals, is an illus-
tration of the simplicity with which provident nature
has accomplished its designs. This physical property
exists in the feet of most animals. " The elastic
spring of the unwearied foot " is exemplified in the
flexible arch of the bones of the human foot, the
spongy sole-pads of the carnivora and of the camel
tribe, the spreading, divided hoof of the ruminantia,
and the elastic heel-cushions of the solipedes.

Expansibility of the foot is another mechanical
function, following and depending on its elastic pro-
perties. It is consequently found in greater force
where the elasticity is greatest, — towards the heels
and quarters.

The Descent of the Heels and Quarters of the Wall
is another important and evident property of the
horse's foot : it can be readily demonstrated by

* See Burnes' Travels into Bokhara, vol. iii. p. 180.

MANCIPLES OF SHOEING. 225

leaving a small space between the heels and the shoe ;
while the foot is off the ground the interstice will be
evident, but it disappears when the Aveight of the
animal is thrown upon it. If we examine the upper
surface of an old shoe just removed from the foot,
we shall find other conclusive evidence of this alter-
nate elevation and depression of the posterior por-
tions of the wall. In spite of the constraint of the
nails, the shoe will be found brightened and worn
towards the heels by the incessant attrition of the
hoof in its descent and play upon it, giving incontestable
proof of the great force exerted. To this natural en-
dowment I have before alluded, as contributing to
sustain the weight of the animal by mechanical com-
pression of the lamina?. If this function be destroyed
by the shoe being so closely fitted to the heels as to
prevent its exercise, considerable violence will be done
to the internal parts of the foot. The attachment
between the hoof and the coffin-bone will be endan-
gered, or even partially destroyed, and the toe of the
bone will press down and bulge the sole.

The natural Inclination of the Hoof presents other
important practical considerations. Any great devi-
ation from the normal obliquity of its outline is
detrimental to the permanence and utility of the
organ. The angle which the fore-foot, when in a
natural state, forms with the ground, is nearly 32°,
but the hind feet are usually a little more upright.
The reason of this difference of angularity between
the fore and hind feet may possibly arise from the
fact, that the weight which impinges on the fore feet
falls almost perpendicularly, while that falling on the
hind feet, especially during progression, is directed
from before backAvards. The dissimilarity of incli-
nation is made to meet the difference of the line of
pressure.

22G THE HORSE.

The Progress of Wear and Growth of the Horn must
not be overlooked in our attempts to preserve the
feet in a healthy condition. In the natural state the
chief attrition takes place at or near the toe ; so also
is the growth greatest in front ; but when a shoe is
kept perpetually on the foot, none of the horn can
be worn down at that part ; yet the growth con-
tinues uninterrupted. By this, an alteration is gra-
dually made in the shape and inclination of the foot :
it becomes longer in form, and deviates more and
more from the perpendicular. The judicious horse-
shoer will consequently see the necessity of removing
from this part of the foot such a portion of the horn
' as may tend to restore and preserve its natural incli-
nation.

Frog-pressure is another physiological question for
our reflection. As the frog receives a certain degree of
pressure when the foot is unshod, some attempts ought
to be made to follow nature in her intention, being sa-
tisfied that that plan of shoeing which allows most
freely of the exercise of the original functional endow-
ments of the collective parts of the foot, will be found
most beneficial to the animal, and profitable to his
owner.

Numerous attempts have been made to preserve
the elastic and expansible properties of the feet from
molestation in shoeing;. Among- the most ingenious
of these plans, is Mr. Bracy Clark's jointed shoe; but
as it did not fully accomplish what was desired, its
adoption was not general. The one-side-nailing me-
thod of attaching the shoe allows of the freest expan-
sion of the foot that has yet been attained. The
public are indebted to Mr. Turner, of Regent-street,
for bringing this beneficial plan of shoeing into prac-
tice. It is called the unilateral shoe, and essentially
consists of driving the nails only on the outside quar-

PKEPAMNG THE FOOT FOR THE SHOE. 227

ter and toe, leaving the inner quarter quite at liberty,
though protected by the web of the shoe.

The descent of the heels and quarters is provided for
by placing a piece of leather or felt between the shoe
and the horn of those parts of the foot. The inter-
posed substance, by its compressibility, allows of the
exercise of this necessary function. With the same
view I have frequently employed plates of Indian-
rubber. In 1839, I communicated to the public, in
" The Veterinarian," the results of some experiments
I had made with this substance, and suggested its
general adoption, instead of leather soles. The supe-
rior elasticity of caoutchouc, as well as its great
analogy in physical resemblance to the lower and
posterior parts of the foot, would seem to recommend
it to our notice. A due and healthy proportion of
frog-pressure is obtained by the same means, and by
the employment of leather or felt * in sheets cut to
the shape of the foot, spreading over the whole of its
under surface.

Preparing the Foot for the Shoe. — In removing
the old shoes, it is only necessary to be careful
that the clenches are cut away before the shoe is
wrenched off ; for if that be not done, part of the
crust may be torn away with the shoe. The next
questions are, what is to be cut away, and what al-
lowed to remain ? These will be answered by placing
the foot on a level surface, and observing whether the
toe has too great or too little perpendicularity. If
the inclination approaches too closely to the vertical,
the heels must be lowered ; but if, as most generally
happens, from the greater growth of the horn at the
toe, the angle declines considerably from the natural
inclination (32°), then it will be necessary to excise
a portion of the horny crust at the toe, to reduce the

* " It were a delicate stratagem to shoe a troop of horse with felt."—
Lear, act iv. sc. G.

Q 2

228 THE HORSE.

obliquity to the standard. This appears to be a
rational way of deciding these questions, in con-
sonance with the physiological laws that regulate the
functions of the foot. It also decides as to the allow-
ance or rejection of raised heels or calkins, and of thick-
toed shoes. The paring of the sole is but slightly
called for. It is far too generally overdone. If the
sole be cut away so as to bend under the pressure of
the thumb, it is certainly not well calculated to resist
contusions and wounds, from stones or other hard or
sharp substances ; nor is it able to interpose mechani-
cal resistance against contraction, which a more sub-
stantial sole would offer. Only so much ought to be
pared away as it is evident nature has attempted to
throw off by exfoliation. I am well aware of the
benefit derivable from paring the sole down to the
quick in inflamed feet; but such cases differ widely from
general circumstances, and are no criteria to guide
us. In pumiced feet and flat soles, none whatever of
the sole should be allowed to be cut away by the
farrier. The frosr, from the readiness with which it
can be usually manipulated upon, is almost inva-
riably too much cut. The growth of the frog is much
slower than that of other portions of the horn. It
wears but slowly, even when allowed to come on the
ground, in consequence of its elastic nature. When
removed from ground pressure, the natural stimulus
of reproduction being taken away, it is secreted still
more slowly, and consequently cannot require slicing
off, as is commonly practised by farriers. Another
practice of the generality of horse-shoers, most fatal
to the health of the foot, is that of notching out the
inflections of the Avail at the heels, where it turns to
form the bars. The origin of this pernicious treat-
ment is supposed by Mr. Blaine to have arisen " from
relief being sometimes observed to follow the re-
moval of these parts, in contraction of the foot, when

ENGLISH SHOEING. 229

they press with great force on the frog. From this it
becomes a principle in the minds of the smiths, that it
is a salutary process to every foot ; and as it leaves
a momentary appearance of widened heel, it is not
possible to convince them but that a real enlarge-
ment of the posterior parts of the foot is the con-
sequence. It is hardly necessary to remark, that this
practice is founded in the grossest ignorance, and
that, instead of eventually opening the heels, it tends
permanently to contract them, by weakening the bars :
the practice should therefore, in every instance, be
forbidden, except, as before mentioned, in cases where
the inflected heels contract or ' wire in ' so much as
actually to press the frog between the horny edges,
when it is justifiable, to relieve the immediate pressure,
by cutting out the binding portions of the inflections ;
but it is not to be forgotten, in this case, that the
remedy is only palliative, and more permanent means
should be adopted for the healthy expansion of the
parts." *

Stable shoeing is generally objectionable, on account
of the shoes not being properly fitted to the feet.
The feet are in these cases fitted to the shoes, and
not the shoes to the feet. At the forge, this is obvi-
ated, and the shoe more properly adapted. Applying
the shoe moderately heated to the insensible horn
does not appear to be so fraught with injury as some
have imagined ; for by such means a firm adjustment
of it is readily secured. In the English system of
shoeing, the nails are driven much higher up than
by any other people ; there is consequently so much
the more danger attending its practice, and many
more horses are injured by punctures from the nails.
By the Eastern and Continental plans, it is hardly
possible, from the oblique direction in which the nails

* Blaine s Outlines, Sfc. p. 543.
Q 3

230 THE HORSE.

are driven, to pierce the sensitive portions of the
foot.* The rasping of the crust after the shoe is
fixed does harm if carried towards the coronet, as it
removes the natural cortex of the hoof provided by
the frog-band, which, at its upper edge, unites the
hoof with the skin. Therefore, this ornamental but
useless process of outside rasping should be practised
with care, or not done at all.

Horse shoes are constructed of multitudinous
shapes. The form of the common English shoe is
nearly flat on both sides ; but wherever the least at-
tempt is made towards an improved state of things, the
concave or seated-shoe is used, having generally a
fullered groove for counter-sinking the heads of the
nails. On the foot surface of the shoe a good level
bearing for the outer rim of horn is provided ; but all
that is likely to be opposite to such parts of the foot
as are not intended to bear pressure is bevelled away.
This form of shoe prevents the lodgement of small
stones or gravel between the shoe and the sole. It is
usually fastened on by eight or nine nails driven rather
closer to the heel of the outer than to that of the inner
side. The shoe should not be cut off too short, but
allowed to reach rather beyond the point of junction
of the crust and bar, so as to admit of the heel resting
fully upon it : beyond this, it is not necessary to
carry it, as it might possibly, if too much elongated,
be torn off by overreaching of the hinder foot, which
would not only dislodge the shoe, but seriously en-
danger the safety of the animal. Professor Coleman

* Horse-shoers are responsible for injuries done in shoeing, if they arise
from unskilfulness or neglect. In Scotland there is a special legal enact-
ment on the subject, passed in the reign of James III. By it every farrier
who wounds or pricks a horse's foot through ignorance or drunkenness
is compelled to deposit the value of the horse with the owner until be
Incomes sound, and also furnish another to perform his duty while he
remains unfit for work ; and in case the horse cannot be cured, he forfeits
his value to the owner.

ENGLISH SHOEING. 231

gives the following Aveights as proper for their re-
spective purposes :

Each shoe of a large draught-horse should
weigh ....

Of a small draught-horse

n.s.

oz,

2

10

1

10

1

10

1

4

1

4

0

5

Of a large coach-horse -
Of a small coach-horse -
Saddle-horse
Racing plates about

The farrier, in order to fix the shoe more securely
than nails alone can do, hammers out portions of its
upper edge, so as to have an embracing stay to prevent
dislodgement. These are called clips. At or near
the toe they offer useful support to the nails, and
prevent too great stress being thrown on the clenches.
To the shoes of heavy horses they are almost indis-
pensable. But when clips are drawn out too close to
the heels on both sides, they effectually prevent the
ordinary expansion of the foot, and place the organ in
most unnatural and destructive constraint.

The hind shoes differ in construction from those
before : they are made stouter at the toe, straighter
at the quarters, and, in addition, generally have the
heels turned up to form calkins. In some parts of
Holland the heavy horses are shod with enormous
calkins at the heels, and knobs at the toes, all round,
so that they almost appear to be going on pattens.
When calkins are used, either behind or before, care
should be taken that both heels have the same level ;
for if the weight fall unevenly, it will strain some of
the joints of the foot or fetlock. The hind feet are
less liable to disease from concussion and improper
shoeing than those before. Less care is taken with
them, and the nails may be driven nearer the heels
without danger of injury. The hind feet have greater
pressure to resist during exertion, but bear less

Q 4

232 the iioese.

weight generally, and are subject to less concussion
than those before.

The Hunter's Shoe differs slightly from the seated
shoe in order that it may not be torn off when the
animal is galloping on heavy soils. With this object
less space is left between the foot and shoe than is
otherwise done, and the heels are also cut consider-
ably .shorter to prevent the shoe from being torn
away by over-reaching in a clayey country.

Anti-slipping Shoes. — Since the introduction of the
wood pavement for the Metropolitan streets, numerous
suggestions have been made to overcome its slippery
nature by some modification of the shoe. Mr. Rod-
way's patented plan appears to act pretty well. It
is nothing more than a concave-faced shoe ; the con-
cavity filling with dirt interposes a rough substance
and prevents much slipping. Mr. Powell has also
patented an anti-slipping shoe, the principle of which
differs materially from Mr. Rodway's. It is intended
to present a sharp surface to the wood, which is
thought will have the desired effect. I cannot speak
of its utility, as I have not yet seen it applied. If
London were completely paved with wood, many
thousands of horses might be worked all the year
round entirely without shoes, greatly to their own
ease and benefit, and to the pecuniary advantage of
their owners.

The Bar Shoe is the common shoe with a bar or web
of iron carried over the frog and making a connection
between ends at the heels. This form of shoe is ap-
plied only as a remedial agent in pumiced or other
diseased feet. By its employment the farrier is able
to relieve the diseased parts from pressure, and throw
it on such places as are better able to bear it.

Three-quarter Shoes and Tips. — A three-quarter
shoe is one which has the inner heel or quarter re-
moved ; and a tip is a shoe with both heels taken

THE ANTI- CUTTING SHOE. 233

away. These shoes leaving the heels and quarters
unprotected, though at perfect liberty, are not usually
adapted for road work, but are generally used when
a horse is turned out to grass. The tip was formerly
exclusively employed as a racing shoe ; but, modernly,
a light shoe called a plate has come into general use
on the turf.

Anti-cutting or anti-interfering Shoes. — Many horses,
from improper formation or weakness, are apt to cut or
wound with the side of the shoe the fetlock of the op-
posite leg. This occurs most frequently in such as are
narrow-chested, and who turn out their toes, particu-
larly when they are forced a little beyond their natural
power of speed. Cutting blemishes the animal and
lessens his safety. Young horses, though well formed,
when first forced backwards with a weight on them,
are very subject to cut, from an apparent ignorance
of the position of their legs and the novelty of the
pace. The speedy-cut is more rare, and arises from
a different cause. Speedy-cut is a contusion imme-
diately below the knee, and is seen in broad-chested
horses with high action. The usual remedy or pre-
ventive of cutting, is the employment of a shoe
much thicker on the inside than on the outside quar-
ter, having the inner web bevelled inwards, and
the lower outside edge filed away. This form of
shoe is an ancient * and useful application. By the
outward inclination it gives to the fetlocks, it com-
monly prevents the defect. But there are cases in
which this plan of shoeing is not followed with the

* Gervase Markham recommends a shoe of the same construction to
prevent interfering. His words are : " First let it be turned round as the
common shoe, for the perfect hooffe, and the outside of the shoe, of the
self same flatnesse and thicknesse : but the inside of the shoe, almost from
the toe to the heele, must not be a quarter of an inch broade, yet full an
inch thicke or better, and it must be sette within the hooffe a quarter of
an inch, or there about, and this kind of shoe will cast the horse's foote so
much outward, that he shall hardly at any time touch."

234 THE HORSE.

usual benefit, and we are obliged to resort to other
expedients. The late Mr. Mooreroft Avas the first to
suggest a reversal of the above plan of shoeing as a
remedy in these obstinate cases. He shod such
horses with shoes having the outer quarter thick and
the inner one thin. The same principle is applicable
to those horses that cut behind. In such cases the
shoe at the outer heel should be increased in thick-
ness according to the degree in which he cuts. " The
web of the shoe should gradually become thinner
until it reaches the toe, which should be of the or-
dinary thickness, and from which it should slope off,
and end in a tip in the middle of the inner quarter.
This shoe, in point of effect, would be equally proper
for the fore feet, were it not that in such horses as
are used for the saddle, the fore feet, being more
charged with weight than the hind ones, are much
more liable to be injured, and a horse thus shod on
the fore feet might go unsafe ; therefore it is expe-
dient to let the inner quarter of the shoe be thin, and
reach to the heel, but the outer edge should be be-
velled off, so as to slope inwards. The same kind of
shoe is equally well calculated to prevent the speedy
cut, observing to bevel off still more strongly the
part which strikes, and not put any nails there-
abouts." * This form of shoe I have frequently found
to succeed when all others failed ; but it is objection-
able on account of the awkwardness of its appearance
and the rocking and straddling gait it gives the
animal. The modus operandi of this plan is, that it
obliges the horse to throw more of his weight on
the outer quarter, and compels him to keep his legs
wider asunder during progression, and consequently
prevents a renewal of the blemish.

* The Veterinarian, vol. ix. p. 45.

:do

CHAPTER IX.

DISEASES, OPERATIONS, MEDICINES, AND MEDICAL
TREATMENT, ARRANGED ALPHABETICALLY.

Ars veterinaria post medlcinam secunda est. — Vegetius.

Some of the ancients combined the study of human
and brute medicine, thinking, by such means, to en-
sure a greater perfection in both : and it cannot but be
regretted, as detrimental to the advancement of know-
ledge which all profess themselves anxious to forward,
that so wide a separation should at present exist be-
tween these two branches of the same science. They
are governed by the same grand principles influencing
the animal economy ; the laws of medical and surgical
treatment are alike in both instances ; the access,
course, and subsidence of many of the diseases are
identical ; the operation of therapeutical agents
sometimes similar, at others dissimilar ; in either in-
stance equally instructive, and calculated to reflect a
double light on their properties and mode of action
in each case. If empiricism ought to be avoided, and
extended views of the operation of physiological and
pathological phenomena commended, then is it pro-
fitable to follow the example of the old masters of
the medical art, who ever disdained to confine their
inquiries to an isolated member of the animate world.
The general welfare of mankind demand that they
should go hand in hand. Human medicine should
counsel and direct the veterinary act, and the expe-
rience derived in alleviating the suffering of the brute
tribes be reflected back to advance the parent science.
The benefit which Jenner conferred on the human

23G THE HORSE .

race by the discovery that a little lymph-like matter
of pustules appearing on the cow's udder was a pre-
ventive of small-pox, ought to be an exemplar and
incentive to further research and experiment on ana-
logous subjects. The prevention or cure of rabies is
a valuable subject for the general attention of medical
men, and it cannot be doubted that a systematic study
of comparative pathology would lead to its eradication.
Other diseases that are intertransmissible from man
to brute, and brute to man, might become more ma-
nageable. Glanders is distinctly traceable from the
horse to man. The same applies to mange, itch,
or scabies, which are transferable from dogs, horses,
and camels to man. The ophthalmia which attacked
our troops in Egypt is exactly similar in symptoms
and cure to an aifection of the eyes of the sheep of
this country. Wide-spreading human pestilence is
generally, if not invariably, preceded by epizootics
on the lower animals ; and what Avarning and benefit
misrht accrue from well-directed observations !

It is asserted that the first purgative medicine em-
ployed in human practice, hellebore, was introduced by
Melampus, who discovered it had a similar effect on
goats. A careful study of comparative pathology, and of
the action of medical agencies, would not be unattended
with good. By such a course, many of the existing
anomalies both of human and brute medicine would
possibly be satisfactorily referred to anatomical or
physiological peculiarities of the animal. We might
then ascertain why the salts of lead, as Dr. A. T.
Thompson asserts, are innocuous on the dog (arising
possibly from his power of complete vomition) ; why
it should take but five grains of aloes to purge a man
or a hog, and yet require as much as one or two
drachms toliave the same effect on a dog, and six or
eight drachms for a like result on the bowels of the
horse. The strychnos or vomic nut is poisonous to

MEDICINE — ACIDS. 237

dogs, rats, and many other animals ; while hogs, goats,
and the toucan tribe of birds eat it with impunity.
How is it that the hog devours henbane and foxglove,
and the musk ox feeds on the poisonous leaves of the
Rhododendron dauricum ? Horses eat monk's-hood
(Colchieum autumnale) with impunity, and yet goats
are destroyed by it ; while they, in their turn, devour
tobacco and hemlock without any ill effects. The
American pheasant regales itself on the buds of the
Kalmia latifolia without injury to itself, but its flesh
becomes poisonous to man, even when cooked. Hedge-
hogs will feast themselves on cantharides, and white
ants fatten on opium.

ACIDS.

Acetic Acid, or vinegar, is sometimes heated and
mixed with water as a foment for strains or con-
tusions ; at others it is used cold, diluted, as a cooling
lotion to tumefied legs, &c. It is not often employed
as an internal remedy. Mr. James Clark relates a
case of a horse dying from the administration of a
pint of vinegar, though I have given more than double
that quantity in a case of poisoning with lime without
damage.

Hydrochloric Acid, as an internal medicament, has
been supposed to act as a lithontriptic, or dissolvent
of calcareous collections in the bladder ; but few, if
any, lithontriptic agents can be depended on.

Nitric Acid. — Externally, as a caustic or escharotic
in canker and phagedenic ulcers. Some care is re-
quisite in its application to restrict its effects to the
parts intended to be acted upon.

Sulphuric Acid also is used as a caustic application
to canker of the foot. Largely diluted with water, it

238 THE HORSE.

constitutes a useful wash in some forms of mange.
When given internally, it acts as an astringent and
tonic, the close being from one to two drachms copi-
ously diluted.

ALOES.

The aloe plant grows wild in many intertropical
countries. The aloe perfoliata is wild and common
at the Cape of Good Hope. At Barbadoes and other
West Indian islands the aloe is cultivated to a con-
siderable extent for the sake of its extract or inspis-
sated juice of the leaves, which is the only portion
used in medicine. The aloes brought from the Cape,
the Cape aloes, are much spoilt by ignorance and care-
lessness in preparation. Too much heat is employed :
heat has a destructive effect on the extract, and con-
verts it into a resinous substance. Cape aloes are
cheap, but are generally discarded from veterinary
practice, on account of the uncertainty of their action
on the horse, the Barbadoes extract being used in
preference.

Barbadoes Aloes are imported into this country in
large gourds, and, when good, are of a dull brown or
liver colour, having a strong odour somewhat resem-
bling the smell of the human axilla. The best West
India aloes is prepared by cutting off the largest and
most succulent leaves close to the stalk': these are
immediately put into tubs, and disposed side by side,
in an upright position, that all the free liquor may
drain out at the wound. This juice is then exposed
to the sun in shallow vessels, and gradually evaporated
clown to the proper consistence.

Real Socotrine aloes are seldom offered at the drug
sales. They are imported in too small a quantity,
and at so high a price as to preclude their being used

MEDICINE ALOES. 239

in horse medicine. The Barbadoes extract is alone
extensively employed by the veterinarian. The horse
takes a large dose of this agent to produce catharsis.
It also lies a considerable time in the alimentary canal
before its effects are apparent ; but still it forms a
purgative that is at once safe and effective. Its
action is manifested principally on the large intestines,
more particularly the colon. White recommends
combining aloes with soap as a purgative, in order to
expedite their action ; but he forgets that soap is a
diuretic, and would partially divert the cathartic
property. As a purgative, aloes is generally admi-
nistered in the form of a ball ; but when given in
solution it operates more readily, and possibly with
greater safety. A solution of aloes is generally kept
ready prepared for use.

Solution of Aloes.

Barbadoes aloes - - four ounces.

Water - - - one quart.

Spirits of wine - - two ounces.

Gum arabic - - two ounces.

These ingredients are mixed together, and incor-
porated at a low heat. The dose will vary with the
size and strength of the horse ; but six fluid ounces
will be a medium quantity. In smaller doses it will
not act as a purgative, but as an alterative and nau-
seant, for which purposes it is occasionally given.

A compound tincture of aloes and myrrh is em-
ployed as a traumatic or application to promote the
healino; of wounds.

Compound Tincture of Aloes and Myrrh.

Barbadoes aloes, in powder - two ounces.
Myrrh, in powder - - two ounces.

Alcohol - - - a pint.

Distilled water - - half a pint.

240 THE HORSE.

Digest for a week or ten days, and then either pour
off the clear liquid or filter the whole.

ALTERATIVES.

This term is applied to those medicaments used to
bring about a more natural and healthy state of the
functions of the frame by a gradual and moderate
action. A great deal of misconception is afloat
among farriers and grooms with regard to the modus
operandi of alterative medicines. They attribute to
them a mysterious and occult operation, because no
violent circumstances attend their exhibition ; but yet,
when regarded with attention, these agents evidently
act upon laws known to govern the equine economy
when under the influence of medical substances. The
benefit which results from their employment is effected
by an improvement of the bodily secretions and excre-
tions, particularly those of the skin, bowels, and kidneys,
or by giving an increased tonicity to the soft struc-
tures of the frame. Consequently the medicines given
as alteratives may invariably be resolved into diapho-
retics, laxatives, diuretics, or tonics, when given in
augmented doses.

The Diaphoretic Alteratives are chiefly obtained from
the mineral world. Black sulphuret of antimony,
tartarised antimony, cinnabar, JEthop's mineral, sul-
phur, and calomel stand at the head of this class of
remedies. Diaphoretic or skin alteratives are most
usefully employed in surfeit, mange, hide-bound, farcy,
and grease.

Diaphoretic Alteratives.
No. 1. Sulphuret of antimony - two drachms.

Precipitated sulphur - two drachms.

To be made into a ball with flour and treacle, and
administered daily.

ALTERATIVES. 241

No. 2. Tartarised antimony (anti-

monii potassio-tartras) - one drachm.
Calomel - - - ten grains.

Either given as a powder in a bran mash or in the
form of a ball made of the proper size and consistence
with honey and flour.

Laxative Alteratives. — When slight affections are
traceable to an impairment of the excretory functions
of the intestines, attended with costiveness, the em-
ployment of laxative alteratives is called for. With
this view, small doses of aloes, combined with ginger
or other cordials to prevent griping, and diaphoretic
medicines to act on the skin, are advantageously given
in conjunction.

Alterative Laxative Ball.

Extract of Barbadoes aloes - one drachm.
Sulphur - - - half a drachm.

Black sulphuret of antimony - three drachms.
Cayenne pepper - - half a drachm.

Mixed and made into a ball with linseed meal and
soft soap. Should the above quantity be too small,
and no improvement perceptible in the excretions, the
quantity may be doubled or trebled ; but it is always
secure to commence with the smaller dose.

Diuretic Alteratives. — By augmenting or improving
the action of the kidneys, we remove superabundant
fluid from the system, and improve the general health.
Deposits of aqueous matter, as in swelled legs and
heels, and other cedematous enlargements, are fre-
quently absorbed by rousing the kidneys to increased
activity. Nitre, in doses of from two to three
drachms, dissolved in the water given to drink, is
a frequent stable custom, and often attended with
benefit.

R

242 THE HORSE.

Diuretic Alterative Balls.

Resin, powdered - - one drachm.

Nitrate of potass - - half a drachm.

Venice turpentine - - one drachm.

Made into a ball, and administered once a day, or
every alternate day. Many other substances are given
as diuretic alteratives': among the most valuable may
be instanced cantharides ; but the close should not at
first exceed a grain or two, and even then its action
ought to be carefully watched. Digitalis may also
be sometimes given with advantage as a diuretic al-
terative.

Tonic Alteratives. — When it is the object to improve
the general tone of the system without the direct
exhibition of stimulants and tonics, medicines which
combine some of the preceding alterative properties
with more tonic agents are given. In such cases
many of the preparations from iron or some of the
salts of copper will realise the desired object. Chy-
ryata, gentian, and other bitters are also advantage-
ously administered. Ginger, cayenne pepper, and
pimento are frequently serviceable. Minute doses of
arsenic operate as a powerful tonic alterative, but re-
quire careful management. And, lastly, it must not
be forgotten that change of diet generally acts as a
most beneficial alterative.

Tonic Alterative Balls.

No. 1 . Subcarbonate of iron - one drachm.

Cape aloes - - - one drachm.

Chyryata, ground - - two drachms.

Ginger - - - one drachm.

Made into a mass with flour and honey, and admi-
nistered daily.

ALUM. — AMAUROSIS. 243

No. 2. Black sulphuret of antimony, two drachms.
Cayenne pepper - - half a drachm.

Cantharides - - one or two ors.

&j

Compounded and given as No. 1.

ALUM.

The sulphate of alumina and potassa, a well-known
compound of salt, is of common use, in the powdered
state, in solution, or made into an ointment. On
occasion it is employed as an astringent to foul sores,
grease, and cracked heels. Burnt alum, or alum
deprived of its water of crystallisation, differs but
little in medicinal properties from the common salt.
When alum is used in solution, the usual strength is
an ounce of the salt to a pint of water. The oint-
ment is made by incorporating in a Wedo;ewood
mortar, one part of alum with three parts of lard.
Occasionally solution of alum is used as a stimulant
in inflammations of the eye, or given internally as an
astringent in diarrhoea and other fluxes.

AMAUROSIS.

Amaurosis, gutta serena, buck-eyes, and glass-
eyes, are all terms of the same disease of the visual
organs. In this complaint the eye looks fair, open,
and without blemish, but on close examination it
will be found that the glassy serenity of appearance
springs from a loss of sensitiveness of the optic
nerve, or its expansion the retina. There is no longer
the alternate dilatation and contraction of the pupilary
opening on the exclusion and admittance of light.
That the sight is entirely lost, is shown by the cautious
manner in which the horse steps, elevating his legs as

2-14 THE HORSE.

blind horses usually do in walking, and by the at-
tentive motions of the ears, endeavouring to make
up for the deprivation of sight under which he
labours by catching every sound to direct him. It is
incurable.

AMMONIA.

The most important of the ammoniacal preparations
have been applied to horse medicine.

The hydrocldorate of ammonia is sometimes used as
a topical means of assuaging heat and inflammation ;
but unless the lotion, in which form it is employed,
be applied immediately on the dissolution of the salt,
no benefit can accrue beyond that derivable from
fomentation.

The sesqui-carbonate of ammonia is a valuable in-
ternal diffusable stimulant. In cases of pneumonia,
influenza, low and lingering febrile attacks, the car-
bonate of ammonia will be found a powerful remedy.
When administered in repeated two-drachm doses it
seems to recal the powers of life without the exciting
effect of a common stimulant. Though in opposition
to the theory of medical action adopted from human
practice, the effects of this substance when used in
the excited stage of fevers will be found highly bene-
ficial and conduce to the speedy convalescence of the
animal, I am inclined to think, that in horse and
cattle practice, diffusible stimulants, such as ammonia,
are not used early enough in the febrile attack.
When the coloured races of mankind are attacked with
fevers, it is found, from their greater laxity of fibre,
that they require stimulating medicine much earlier
than white people. A similar distinction, though in-
creased in degree, ought to be made with respect to
horses and cattle, when labouring under fevers.
Their vital energy is still lower than that of the

AMMONIA. ANCHYLOSIS. 245

negro, and they require a corresponding promptness
of treatment. The best form of administering this
remedy is by balls composed of ammonia in coarse
powder, made up with palm-oil and linseed-meal.

The liquor ammonice acetatis (Mindererus's spirit)
is made by adding the sesquicarbonate of ammonia
to vinegar or diluted acetic acid until the acid is
perfectly neutralised. Given in closes of from four
to eight fluid ounces, it is a powerful restorative and
febrifuge. Professor Morton assures us that this
medicine, with the assistance of warm clothing, will
act also as a sudorific, a medical result long a de-
sideratum in veterinary practice, and of the utmost
value in the treatment of disease. Mr. Percivall sug-
gests the application of the liquor ammonias acetatis
as a repellent lotion. For this purpose he directs the
subjoined formulary : —

Liquor ammonia} acetatis, and

Rectified spirit, of each - 4 ounces

Water - - - 1 pint.

Mix. Keep the affected part constantly wet with
this lotion.

Liquor anwwnice, or solution of ainmoniacal gas in
water, is the basis of a liniment of a similar nature
to farriers' oils. By mixing one pint of liquor am-
monias with a quart of olive oil, a stimulating, rube-
facient compound results, which is rubbed into the
skin over indurated swellings, strains, bruises, or
applied as a derivant in sore throat and bastard
strangles.

ANCHYLOSIS.

When high inflammation has been induced by
over-exertion in and about a joint, a deposition of
ossific matter is thrown out, so as to obliterate the

K 3

246 the house.

joint, and consolidate the bones entering into its com-
position into one immobile shaft. When this has
taken place, and the inflexibility is complete, it is
termed anchylosis. There are but few joints of the
body that are not occasionally subject to this product
of violent and continued work. Anchylosis of the
pastern and coffin-joints is the most common. The
fetlock-joint is not often attacked, and the knee and
hock even less frequently. Sometimes the bones of
the spinal column, about the last dorsal and the
lumbar vertebras, are anchylosed. This is revealed
by an unwillingness which the animal (generally an
old one) evinces to turn in the stall, or still more to
lie down, or when down to get up. The treatment
of anchylosis need not be dwelt on, as nothing can be
done to remedy the evil when it is once established.

ANTHELMINTICS : Vide VERMIFUGES.

ANTIMONY.

The metal antimony is the basis of the antimonii
sesqui-sulphuretum, which is extensively employed as
a skin alterative. It may be exhibited in large doses,
even to an ounce, and is generally combined with sul-
phur or nitrate of potass, or both. When pure, but
little caution is necessary in its administration ; but
as it is sometimes mixed with lead, manganese, and
arsenic, a knowledge of chemistry is necessary to detect
the adulteration.

Antimonii potassio'tartras, or tartarised antimony.
As a veterinary therapeutic agent, much discrepancy
of opinion exists as to the value of this compound.
Its efficacy in human medicine has led some veteri-
narians to extol its merits in horse practice beyond
what it deserves ; on the contrary, others assert that

ANTISPASMODICS. ARSENIC- 247

it has no action whatever on the horse. Enormous
doses are said to have been given without any apparent
effect. Still I think it is not without value as a seda-
tive and relaxant. It has been recommended as a
vermifuge in drachm doses every morning for six
successive mornings, before the food is given ; after
which a dose of cathartic medicine is prescribed to
clear the intestines.

As an external application, it is sometimes made
into an unction with lard, in the proportion of a
drachm to an ounce. When well rubbed on the skin,
this ointment sets up considerable irritation, in the
shape of pustular eruptions ; but in unskilled hands
it is apt to produce unsightly sloughs.

The chloride of antimony is sometimes used as an
escharotic in canker, quittor, and grease.

ANTISPASMODICS.

The principal spasmodic affections to which the
horse is subject are colic and tetanus, and the remedies
used to overcome the inordinate muscular contraction
set up in such cases are chiefly sedatives, such as
opium, camphor, belladonna, and hyoscyamus. Other
therapeutic agents act as antispasmodics by exciting
a different action, as the oil of turpentine, alcohol,
nitric ether, and pimento.

arsenic ( Arsenious Acid).

This well-known poison proves to be, in small
doses, a powerful tonic, but one that requires much
watching. It cannot always be safely dispensed, for
occasionally it is found to accumulate in the system
until it acts suddenly with destructive effect. The

B 4

248 THE HORSE.

dose is from half a grain to ten grains. Many cases
of farcy have been radically cured with arsenious
acid, and it also appears to have a beneficial influ-
ence on glanders.

ASTRINGENTS.

Astringents are such medicines as have a con-
stringing action on the relaxed exhalents of the kid-
neys and intestines. Acetate of lead, alum, and
catechu possess such an effect on the renal organs ;
and opium, chalk, kino, catechu, and starch restrain
intestinal defluxions.

BALLING.

Medicine is most generally administered to horses
in cylindrical-shaped masses, of about an inch in dia-
meter, two and a half inches in length, and an
ounce or more in weight. When medicine is given
in this manner, care should be taken that the mass is
plastic, for if given when the balls have been suffered
to become dry and inflexible, fatal results have ensued
from the horse's choking. White knew two horses
killed in this way. I recollect an instance in which
a valuable horse was nearly destroyed by the groom's
thrusting the ball down the animal's windpipe in-
stead of the oesophagus, though lie prided himself
on the facility with which he could give a ball. It
brought on inflammation of the lungs, severe and
lasting. Nimrocl mentions a horse of his own, who
on receiving a ball brought it back through his
left nostril. Drenches are frequently so returned.
The best position for administering a ball is to back
the horse in his stall, when the operator, drawing out

BALLING. 249

his tongue with gentleness with the left hand, passes
his right hand, with the ball, close to the roof of the
mouth, to avoid injury from the teeth, and places it
at the root of the tongue. Generally there is neither
difficulty nor danger in delivering a ball by the hand:
all that is required is a little manual dexterity ; but
occasionally restive opposition is offered by the animal,
when it is necessary to use a balling iron to protect
the hand and arm from injury. This instrument
should be well wrapped with cloth, to guard against
its abrading the bars of the mouth. The open balling-
iron, which allows the hand to pass out by one of its
sides, is the most convenient form for the implement.
A balling-probang most ingeniously constructed, is
sold by the instrument-makers. I have not had any
experience of its general utility, but should suppose
it particularly applicable to giving balls to ponies,
colts, and narrow-mouthed horses. Some horses
have a habit of coughing up the ball instead of swal-
lowing it ; in such cases distinction should be made
between a designed cough and an involuntary one ;
in the latter instance, it will be both proper and safe
to allow the horse to return the ball, but in the for-
mer the mouth may be kept closed by wrapping
the end of the halter round the" muzzle until the
animal has swallowed. A mouthful of water will
sometimes expedite the process. If medicines be in-
tended to act on the stomach, it is best to give them
in solution by drench. In severe catarrhal affections,
when there is great soreness of the throat, no attempt
should be made to give either balls or drenches. For
the convenience of administration, balls are generally
enveloped in paper, but it is necessary to add, that the
paper should be thin and readily soluble. When
wrapped in brown or thick absorbent paper they are
apt to lodge in the oesophagus or gullet. If the paper
be oiled before the ball is wrapped in it, it will not

250 THE HORSE.

only tend to preserve the consistence of the mass, but
will the more readily pass down the oesophagus.

belladonna {Deadly Nightshade).

An inspissated extract from the leaves of this plant
has been introduced into the veterinary dispensatory.
It is highly, spoken of by Mr. Mavor and other
practical men. Its action on the horse is decidedly
narcotic, diminishing muscular and nervous irritation
by its direct sedative influence on the heart. In large
doses it dilates the pupils, and the same effect is pro-
duced by smearing the eyelids with an ointment made
from this substance. The dose of the extract is
about two drachms, repeated at short intervals, in
order to maintain its action.

BLEEDING.

When the object is to abstract blood from the sys-
tem generally, one of the jugular veins is almost invari-
ably opened. Occasionally it is desirable to take blood
from some outlet in close approximation to the part
affected ; this practice is termed local bleeding. In
cases of inflammation of the eye, the temporal artery is
sometimes opened, though the utility of the operation
in such instances is very doubtful ; at other times the
small vessels of the conjunctiva are punctured with a
lancet, so as to derivate immediately from the vascu-
larity of the part affected. The palatine vessels are
opened in determinations of blood to the head, from
undue pressure of the collar, megrims, staggers, and
in lampas. This is effected by plunging a penknife or
lancet into the roof of the mouth, " in a direct line
across the rugae, one inch within the mouth, exactly he-

BLEEDING. 251

tween the middle and second nippers" By adhering
to this rule the artery is divided at its curve, and a
considerable quantity of blood can be thus obtained.
When the vessel is only partially divided by a lonoi-
tudinal section, it is difficult to stop the hasmorrhao-e
in any other way than by repeating the incision and
completely dividing the artery.

Bleeding from the foot is frequently practised in in-
flammations of that part. An easy way of abstracting
blood from this member is to pare down the sole
with a sharp drawing knife to the quick, and then
put the foot into a bucket of tepid water. In this
manner a considerable quantity of blood may be ab-
stracted. Another plan is to cut away the sole at its
juncture with the wall of the foot at the toe, and then
pierce the network of vessels making up the sensible
sole. A great deal of blood may frequently be thus
obtained ; should it flow tardily, the tepid foot-bath
will augment and prolong the current ; this method
is, however, open to some objection.

Bleeding from the saphena vein. — The large and
prominent vein running obliquely up the inside
of the thigh is occasionally opened by making an
incision through its coats with a lancet or fleam.

When it is desirable to revulse blood from about
the shoulder, the plat or plate vein is opened. This is
a favourite operation among farriers in affections of
other parts of the limb which they ignorantly refer to
the shoulder.

Bleeding from the jugular veins is the most common
method of extracting blood from the horse. The
convenience of the situation, and the large size of
these vessels, have caused them to be selected in pre-
ference to any other. In affections of the head,
bleeding from the jugulars is essentially local bleeding,
and in other cases of inflammation, it acts with great
benefit through the sensorium on the system. These

252 the house.

veins, one on each side of the neck, run clown the
holloAv formed by the edge of the levator humeri,
and the mylo-hyodeus and trachea. The upper por-
tion of the vessel is more superficially situated than
the lower. After it passes the middle of the neck, in
proceeding towards the chest, it is accompanied by
the carotid artery, par vagum, and recurrent nerve.
The coats of the carotid have been divided by un-
skilfully bleeding too low down. The jugular vein
is generally opened by the common fleam and blood-
stick, but the lancet is sometimes used by veterinarians
for thin-skinned horses. A spring fleam is sold by
the surgical-instrument makers, which answers the
purpose tolerably well. It is usual to wet the hair
over the part intended to be punctured, in order that
it may lie close and parallel to the incision. If it be
suffered to lie across the edge of the instrument, it
will be necessary to cut through it, or some may be
forced into the orifice, and give rise to subsequent
inflammation of the vein. The vein may be pro-
minently raised by pressing on it with the fingers, so
as to impede the current of the blood. Near the
head the jugular branches, the proper spot for the
incision being about three inches below this bifurca-
tion. It is immaterial whether the vein on the right
or left side of the neck be chosen for the operation.
That on the near side is most convenient for the ope-
rator, being right-handed ; while the small cicatrix
which is left is hid by the mane, if the opening be made
on the off side. An assistant should hold the horse's
head, and cover the eye of the side he is to be bled
from. The operator, holding the fleam between the
finger and thumb, in close approximation to the inte-
guments covering the vessel, while the other fingers
press on the vein below to raise it, with the other
hand holding a blood-stick of moderate size he makes
u blow on the back of the instrument of sufficient

BLEEDING. 253

force to carry its cutting portion through the skin
and coats of the vessel. The incision being made,
the flow of blood is kept up by the pressure of the
receptacle of the blood on the vein below the orifice.
The most common receptacle is the stable bucket,
but a graduated tin blood-can is a far preferable
utensil. The quantity abstracted must always depend
on the size, disease, and diathesis of the animal. A
small quantity taken away quickly from a large ori-
fice, often produces a more beneficial effect on the
animal, than the derivation of an increased quantity
slowly through a small opening. Large horses labour-
ing under inflammatory complaints may lose from
five to eight quarts with advantage. The quantity
taken from smaller ones will be governed by the age,
and by the acuteness of the affection to combat which
the blood is abstracted. In all cases, the pulse is the
only unerring guide. Sufficient having been taken
away, the edges of the orifice are brought together,
free from the intrusion of hairs, and united by pass-
ing a pin through the wound as near as possible to
the surface of the skin, taking hold of but little of
the integument. By observing this rule, the blemish
of a small permanent elevation of the cuticle will be
avoided, as the lips will .unite more in their natural
position than if the pin were driven deeply or un-
evenly through the wound. A small compress of
tow, or hair plucked from the mane or tail of the
animal, twisted round the free ends of the pin, will
effectually prevent further haemorrhage, and finish the
operation. The head is generally tied up for an hour
or two, to prevent his displacing the pin by rubbing
it against the manger.

Some morbid consequences result from immoderate
or unskilful bleedings. The quantity abstracted may
be larger than the urgency of the symptoms of the
disease indicated, or than the animal in a state of

254 THE HORSE.

debility can replace. Bleeding is a powerful and
valuable remedy ; but often sadly misapplied and
abused. By bleeding too low down, and forcing the
instrument too deeply into the parietes of the neck,
the carotid may be punctured. Local phlebitis or
inflammation of the vein sometimes follows the opera-
tion, from some peculiar inflammatory constitutional
tendency, or from the employment of a foul instru-
ment. Horses suffering from mange are particularly
prone to phlebitis. Fortunately, however, there is
seldom any necessity of bleeding them, as vene-
section is almost invariably contra-indicated in mange.
The admittance of air into the vein kills the animal,
by stopping the action of the heart ; yet I have
frequently seen a considerable quantity drawn in
without injury. Bleeding to syncope in the horse is
a dangerous practice. The premonitory symptoms
of approaching faintness are, an inclination to run
back, a wisking of the tail, and an involuntary
passing of the fa3ces. It is said that a horse bled to
fainting is certain to die ; but I once saw one bled to
complete syncope which recovered.

BLISTERS.

The basis of most blistering applicants used in
European countries is the Spanish fly (Cantharis
vesicatovia) ; but in America the C. cinerea and C.
vittata, or potato fly, have been substituted with suc-
cess, are said to vesicate more speedily, with less
pain, and at the same time without any danger of
acting on the kidneys and causing strangury. In
China, the Mylabris cichorei has long been employed.
In some parts of America, the root of the meadow but-
ter-cup (Ranunculus acris) is frequently used as a
vesicant. Blisters are mostly applied in the form

BLISTER?. 255

of an ointment ; but are occasionally preferred of a
thinner consistence. The employment of euphorbium
and turpentine, as adjuncts in blisters, is hurtful, as
they possess only irritating and not vesicating pro-
perties on the horse's skin. It is usual, previous to
the application of a blister, to denude the part to be
blistered of its hair, either by clipping or shaving it
off. Such is only requisite when the legs are to be
subjected to the action of blisters ; for it is too pro-
tractive in cases of internal inflammation, when the
vesicating application is to be made on an extensive
surface with the utmost promptness. In these cases
the ointment must be well rubbed into the hair.
When the legs are subjected to the painful operation
of blisters, not more than two of them should be laid
under their exciting influence at the same time.
Fatal instances of exhaustion from the irritating
effect of blisters have frequently occurred when all
the legs have been blistered at once. A little lard or
palm oil is usefully rubbed into the bend of the
pasterns, in order to shield them from the vesicating
action. In inflammations, blisters produce their bene-
ficial effects by setting up an opposing inflammatory
action in the skin ; but their counter-irritation, or
antagonism, is lost, when the organ attacked is more
irritable than the skin to which the blister is applied.
Thus, inflammations of the eye and throat are not
often relieved by blistering in their immediate neigh-
bourhood, because the tissues of the eye and the in-
vesting membrane of the larynx are both decidedly
more irritable than the skin. And, in addition, by
blistering too near to a tissue under inflammation,
the blood is determined to that part with increased
force, and tends to increase the evil.

Some forms of compounding blistering applications
are subjoined.

256 THE HOUSE.

Common Blister.

No. 1. Cantharides, powdered - one pound.

Palm oil - - - two pounds.

Resin ... one pound.

Wax - - - half a pound.

The three latter ingredients are to be melted to-
gether, and the flies stirred in when the mixture is
getting cool.

A still simpler formula is adopted at the Veterinary
College, which in my opinion is objectionable, and
unfit to be used in inflammatory disease on account
of its containing turpentine.

No. 2. Cantharides, in very fine powder,

Common turpentine, of each - one part.
Hog's lard - - - four parts.

Melt the lard and the turpentine together in a
water-bath, and then add the flies, stirring until cold.

As olive oil has the etfect of dissolving the active
principle of cantharides (cantliaridiri), it forms a good
vehicle of exhibiting it when wanted in a more fluid
state. Such solutions are termed liniments or liquid
blisters.

Liniment of Cantharides.

No. 3. Cantharides, roughly powdered, two ounces.
Olive oil - - - one pint.

Liquor ammonias - - half-a-pint.

Steep the flies in the oil for a fortnight, and, after
straining, add the liquor ammonige.

The following speedy method of making a blister-
ing liniment is adopted from Professor Morton's useful
work on veterinary pharmacy.

No. 4. Cantharides, in powder - one part.

Olive oil - - - eight parts.

BOG-SPAVIN. 257

Digest in a water-bath for two hours, and then filter
for use.

For raising a sudden blister, an acetous solution of
the vesicating principle of the insect may be made by
macerating for eight days two ounces of cantharides
in half-a-pint of acetic acid. The vessel must be fre-
quently shaken during the maceration, and when com-
plete, the whole should be submitted to pressure, and
the liquid strained and filtered for use. A French
method of raising an instantaneous blister might pos-
sibly be of service ; I have had no experience of its
effects, and cannot therefore speak confidently re-
specting it. The plan adopted is, to shave off the
hair to the extent required, and wet the skin with a
rag dipped in highly rectified spirits of wine ; when
the skin is well saturated with the spirit, apply a
lighted match or paper and set it on fire. The con-
tinuance of the flame may be regulated at will, and
prevented from spreading by placing a damp cloth
around the part.

BOG-SPAVIN

Is a bursal enlargement of the hock, which, by im-
peding the current of the blood by pressure on the
principal vein of the extremity, gives it an additional
tumefied and distended appearance. On this account
it is frequently called blood-spavin. It is an un-
soundness. Among the remedial agents best calcu-
lated to alleviate this disease is long-continued pres-
sure ; but the part is exceedingly difficult to banclage.
Repeated blisters and firing are sometimes had re-
course to, but with little probability of effecting a
radical cure.

258 THE HORSE.

bone spavin : vide SPAVrN.
BOTS.

From the French word bouts, ends or extremi-
ties. Bots are the larvae or grubs of the (Estrus
or gad-fly. Reaumur was the first naturalist who
scrutinised closely into the habits and economy of
this remarkable insect, but to Bracy Clark we owe a
great extension of our knowledge on the subject. The
parent fly deposits the little yellow eggs by a viscid
gluten on the hairs of those parts of the body that are
within the reach of the horse's mouth, more particularly
about the fore parts of the body. When the horse
licks himself or his companions, some of these eggs
find their way into the mouth, and thence to the
stomach, where they are speedily hatched by the
warmth of the animal, and attach themselves with
great tenacity to its cuticular portion by two tentaculaa
or hooks. Reaumur states that they will adhere to
the finger so strongly by these hooks as to require
considerable force to dislodge them. Occasionally
the parent fly is seen attempting to enter the anus, in
order to deposit her eggs there. I have repeatedly
noticed this, and Dr. Gaspari has observed the same
thing. Mr. Clark is of opinion, that their presence
in the stomach acts beneficially, by stimulating its
digestive power ; but there is little doubt of their in-
jurious effect when present in large quantities. Mr.
Blaine has known them to be fatal. The late Professor
Coleman instanced a case in which they had eroded the
stomach and penetrated the diaphragm also. Reaumur
had seen fatal results from the presence of large num-
bers of ihyfrL but supposed that a few would be in-
nocuous. M. Yallisnieri counted 700 eggs in one
fly, and relates that they were in all probability the
cause of an epizootical disease that destroyed great

BROKEN KNEES. 259

numbers of horses about Verona and Mantua, in 171 3,
for, on post-mortem examination, enormous quantities
of these parasites were found in the stomach. Me-
dicine has but little power on them.

BROKEN KNEES.

A broken-knee usually excites considerable inflam-
matory action, and that independently of the joint-
capsule being lacerated and the joint itself exposed ;
for, should it be more than a mere abrasion, the divi-
sion of the parts being generally effected by a rough,
irregular surface — the road, the wound assumes, in
consequence, all the untowardness of a contused one,
and in aggravation the air gains admittance to the
serous bag lying immediately under the skin, for the
purpose of secreting a fluid to prevent friction be-
tween it and the deeper- seated parts during the
flexure of the joint ; so that if the skin be completely
dissevered, we have the ill which always accompanies
the laying open of the bursas mucosas, as these secret-
ing capsules are anatomically called. When a horse
breaks his knees to the extent alluded to, a small
quantity of serosity may be observed to escape from
the wound, a circumstance which has led some per-
sons incautiously to conclude that the true joint was
laid open, and the joint-oil flowing. In such cases
of simple broken-knee, the usual plan of treatment is
to clear the part of grit and foreign substances by
tepid fomentations, to clip away such portions of the
divided integuments and loose fibrils of ligament as
may be thought will retard the cure, or render the
surface projecting or uneven when healed. This will
be best performed by the veterinary surgeon, who
from practice is enabled to judge to what extent ex-
cision will be necessary to perfect and expedite the

s 2

260 THE HORSE.

cure. If any of the series of joints of the knee be
penetrated, the constitutional irritation will be still
more severe, and the chance of restoring the animal
to perfect soundness rendered less probable. The
extent of the injury may be ascertained by probing
the depth of the wound, and noticing if there be
any discharge of the yellow, glairy fluid — the joint-oil.
Should the joint-oil be flowing, we then judge of the
comparative chance of restoration by observing which
of the series of joints is pierced. The knee, in front,
is a treble joint, and the motion of each articulation
is not equal. If the joint be opened where there is
the greatest flexibility, the danger will be correspond-
ingly increased. In the upper joint, formed by the
lower end of the arm bone and the superior row of
knee bones, there is no extensive motion ; in the
lowest joint still less ; the principal action being
placed in the central articulation : consequently, if
the capsule of the lowest row be penetrated, the
prognosis will be most favourable ; if that of the upper
tier be the seat of inquiry, a less auspicious termina-
tion may be expected ; and a still more unpropitious
result may be anticipated if the middle articulating
surfaces be exposed. When any of these joints are
penetrated, the chief and immediate object is to close
the opening. This is sought to be accomplished by
plastic poultices, by moderate compresses, and by
cauterising the orifice itself, together with the sur-
face of the wound, so setting up a degree of in-
flammation and intumescence that will mechanically
close the opening. At the same time the leg must be
kept as free as possible from motion, and the general
health of the animal attentively looked to. These
are always cases of considerable danger, and such as
require high skill and scientific tact in their treat-
ment. When the discharge of synovia continues, in
spite of the attendant's exertions to stop it, the suf-

BROKEN WIND. 2(51

fering of the animal will be excessive, and irritative
fever often puts an end to his life. In other in-
stances, though the constitution of the animal is
sufficiently strong to withstand the exhausting effect
of the accident, yet a deposit of bony matter obli-
terates the joint, and unites two or more of the rows
of bones in enduring rigidity, so that the horse will
remain incurably lamed. In favourable instances,
when the flow of synovia is arrested soon after the
occurrence of the accident, the treatment will be
similar to that of other wounds.

BROKEN WIND.

This disease of the respiratory organs sometimes
presents itself as an hereditary disorder, or rather as
the result of a bad formation transmitted from the
parents to the offspring. Thus, such horses as have
the chest of a narrow, confined description, together
with a large and pendulous belly, are naturally pre-
disposed to broken wind. Broken wind is more com-
mon in mares than in horses. It occurs chiefly in
such auimals as are greedy, foul feeders, and in those
that are accustomed to be fed on bulky, innutritious
diet, at long or irregular intervals. Horses are some-
times attacked with this complaint when at grass or
straw-yard. Sharp exercise, or a gallop when the
stomach is gorged, will produce broken wind. Few
horses on whose diet and general treatment care is
bestowed, ever go broken -winded. It attacks those
that are neglected — alternately fed to repletion and
then starved — rested and then immoderately worked.
A peculiar dry, husky cough, almost invariably ac-
companies this affection. The mode in which respira-
tion is performed is also singular. It is not only
quickened and laborious, the nostrils being distended

s 3

262 THE HORSE.

to the utmost, so as to show a portion of the vas-
cular membrane covering the septum, but there is
a remarkable difference in the time and manner of
inspiration and expiration. There no longer exists
the due balance between the act of drawing the breath
in and forcing it out. Inspiration is easy, while ex-
piration is prolonged and difficult. The air appears
to be forced out by a double effort. On watching
the muscles of the flanks, it is evident that after the
principal expiratory act there follows a second auxi-
liary effort, which continues and prolongs the process.
Digestion generally appears to suffer in this com-
plaint ; there is constant thirst, and the horse is very
flatulent. Many hypotheses have been framed to ac-
count for the appearances presented in this affection.
Some have viewed it as proceeding from a rupture of
the air-cells of the lungs, or a state of emphysema,
though broken wind may exist without emphysema,
and emphysema without broken wind. Others have
regarded it as originating from a congested or hepa-
tised condition of the lungs. Mr. Blaine defines it as
a diseased alteration in the functional capacity of the
bronchial tubular ramifications, but neglects to point
out what that particular diseased alteration consists
of. When seeking an explanatory solution of this
question, we should not overlook the particular vital
expansive and contractile power which the lungs
themselves possess ; a power of contraction quite in-
dependent of the muscular action of the parietes of
the chest. Laennec thought this property arose from
the circular fibres of the smaller bronchial tubes pos-
sessing an inherent power of contraction. That the
lungs do possess this contractile force, is evident
whenever a portion of their tissue is exposed to view
during life. Broken wind may probably originate in
a diminution or total loss of this function, so that
instead of the lungs being able to assist in expelling

CAMPHOR. 263

the air from the cells, an extra call is made upon the
muscles of expiration. This explanation will satis-
factorily accord with the double action of the flanks
noticed in broken wind.

Broken wind may be prevented, but cannot well be
effectually cured. Its treatment, when it has once
set in, will be consequently only palliative. The
causes which have produced it, will, if allowed to
continue, tend to keep in activity all the worst fea-
tures of the complaint. The causes which experience
has shown to aggravate the disease are, overload-
ing the stomach with bulky food ; working on a full
stomach ; violent and sudden exertions ; close confine-
ment to the stable ; an immoderate quantity of water ;
dusty hay ; and foul feeding. If these injurious agents
be avoided, and the horse manger-fed, only giving
him a small quantity of hay, and that old and
good, but little bulky food, a moderate supply of
water, taking care to moisten his oats, and occa-
sionally allowing him a few carrots, will all contribute
to render him more easy in imself and serviceable to
his master.

BUTTER OF ANTIMONY t Vide ANTIMONY.
calomel : vide MERCURY.

CAMPHOB.

This substance has considerable influence on the
equine system. In drachm doses, united with opium,
it is a sedative and antispasmodic. Alone, or in
combination with ammonia, it is a powerful restora-
tive in fever. It softens the tone and diminishes the
frequency of the pulse. When given for a continu-
ance, it acts on the kidneys. It is poisonous in large

s 4

264 THE HORSE.

doses, producing delirium and convulsions. Applied
externally, dissolved in oil or spirit of wine, it forms
a common stimulant to strains, tumours, and cal-
losities.

CANKER.

Canker is a disease attacking the foot, particu-
larly the sensitive frog and sole. It is a sub-acute,
unhealthy inflammation of the vascular secreting
surfaces of these parts. There is generally an offen-
sive ichorous discharge, the parts are very painful,
and cannot bear the pressure of the animal's weight ;
and there is an abnormal sprouting, fungous growth,
of a soft, spongy frog and sole. These excrescences
spring up with great rapidity, and often extend them-
selves with the inflammation to the surrounding por-
tions of the foot, so as frequently to destroy a great
part of its horny covering. This disease is most com-
mon in heavy horses, and such as have white and hairy
legs ; it frequently follows, as a secondary affection,
some other lesion of these parts, as thrush, punctured
or bruised sole or frog, corns, quittor, and even from
neglected grease. It occurs most frequently in wet,
undrained stables, and is supposed to be more frequent
in summer than in winter. Moisture is regarded as
a cause of canker ; but moisture uncombined with
heat will not produce it, while heat and moisture,
acting in combination, are the most active exciting
agents. An absence of the natural pressure to the
frog, by the use of high calkins, is supposed by some
veterinarians to be a predisposing cause of this af-
fection.

The treatment of canker is tedious, and can only
be undertaken by those well acquainted with the
phases of the disease. The principal indications are
to restore the natural secretion of horn, and to pre-

CANTHARIDES. 265

vent the disease from extending itself to the other
tissues of the foot. These are best brought about by
free excision of the fungous growths ; by repeated
escharotic dressings, or by continued pressure on the
diseased surfaces ; keeping the parts dry ; and by a
careful attention to the general health of the animal.
A judicious constitutional treatment -will often do
more to expedite the cure than all the other measures
put together. Veterinarians generally pay too little
attention to the advantage that may be reaped from a
constitutional treatment of local disorders both in this
and other diseases. A course of laxatives, followed by
tonics or tonic alteratives, will be found of eminent
service in the cure of canker. Some of the folio win &
escharotics and stimulants are usually selected as local
dressings : — Chloride of antimony, caustic potash,
sulphate and acetate of copper, bichloride of mercury,
and the nitrate of silver. Benefit is found to accrue
from the alternate use of two or more of the sub-
stances employed ; for if one only be adopted, the
part soon becomes habituated to its use and insensible
to its action.

cantharides (Spanish flies).

This insect is miscalled a fly, as it is properly of
the beetle tribe. It is the basis of blisters. ( Vide
Blisters.) The active principle of cantharides is
separable from the other component portions in the
form of colourless crystalline plates, designated can-
tharidin, which are soluble in ether and oils, but not so
in water or alcohol. The internal employment of can-
tharides has been advocated and brought into general
use by Mr. Vines, and it must be confessed that no
equally valuable addition to the veterinary pharma-
copoeia has been recently made. When combined with

266 THE HORSE.

vegetable bitters, as chyryata, gentian, or quassia, it
constitutes a most powerful and efficacious tonic in
debility, anasarca, water-farcy, farcy, and glanders.
The daily dose is from three to six grains of the in-
sect in fine powder. Though cantharides act so power-
fully as a vesicant on the skin, their action is by no
means so energetic on mucous membranes, for it is
said they may be chewed without much affecting the
mouth. Cantharides speedily improve the appetite,
and augment the force and volume of the circulating
fluids. As much as fifteen grains is prescribed by
some practitioners, but such large doses are apt to
counteract the very effect for which they are given ;
and by inflaming the coats of the stomach, throw
the horse off his food. Over-doses of cantharides will
sometimes produce strangury and bloody urine. In
such cases, demulcent and oleaginous drinks should
be administered as soon as possible.

CAPPED-HOCK.

The points of the hock and elbow are very subject
to a similar disfiguring enlargement of the bursal
bags lying immediately under the skin. These en-
largements are soft, fluctuating, painless tumours,
caused, in the majority of instances, by blows and
bruises applied to the part. Kicking in harness or
against the stall post frequently produces them in the
hock ; and lying on a badly paved floor is a fruitful
source of them in both situations. That at the point
of the elbow may arise from the pressure of the heels of
the shoe when lying down. Unless very large, these
tumours rarely offer any impediment to the utility of
the animal. They are more a dissight than an actual
inconvenience. To remove them, the usual plan is
to apply a succession of blisters to the parts ; occa-

CAPSICUM. — CARAWAY SEEDS. — CASTRATION. 267

sionally they are tapped and the fluid drained off,
but this is esteemed a dangerous practice. If pres-
sure could be conveniently applied, it is calculated to
remove them in a safe and harmless manner ; but un-
fortunately it is very difficult to bandage either of the
parts. They frequently disappear of their own ac-
cord.

CAPSICUM.

Capsicum pods are admitted among the veterinary
materias medicae, and form an internal stimulant of
considerable activity. They possess no specific effect
beyond that of a warm stomachic. Scruple doses may
be given.

CARAWAY SEEDS.

The essential oil which these seeds contain acts as
an agreeable carminative and cordial, and serves to
reconcile the stomach to more nauseating medicines.
They are seldom given alone, but most frequently in
conjunction with other restoratives. The dose of the
seeds is from half an ounce to an ounce. White re-
commends the addition of twenty or thirty drops of
the essential oil of caraway seeds to the common
cathartic ball, but for general purposes it is preferable
to use them in the bruised state.

CASTRATION.

The practice of castrating the horse is of very
ancient date. Strabo relates that the ancient Scy-
thians, and Pliny that the Romans, employed cas-
tration in order to render their horses more tract-
able. At the present time, it is more generally per-

2G8 THE HORSE.

formed in this country than in any other, and chiefly
with the same object. Castration acts with marked
effect on the animal economy. In the horse it pro-
duces a sensible alteration of the external configura-
tion, assimilating it more to the feminine character ;
it also modulates and softens the voice, and renders
the temper more placid and docile. The time for its
performance is entirely governed by circumstances.
Whenever it is desirable that the fore-hand should
approach in weight and figure the arched crest and
loaded shoulder of the stallion, the time is protracted
until the young animal has assumed a portion of
these masculine characteristics ; but if the fore-hand
be wanted as light as possible, the operation is per-
formed early in life. From this it will be evident,
that among heavy draught horses early emasculation
is not only not requisite, but that it does permanent
injury to the usefulness of the animal, by preventing
the acquirement of effective weight in the fore-quar-
ters, which weight assists the horse in his muscular
tractive exertions. In them it is not so imperative
that castration should ever be performed ; the only
service that can spring from it is its ameliorating
tendency on the habits and temper, and cart-horses
are seldom so vicious as those of a higher breed.
Race-horses are not often castrated, as they are gene-
rally required for breeding purposes. Castration, as
a means of accommodating the form and figure to
the future employment, is of most service in hacks,
hunters, light-harness, carriage, and post horses, for
in the generality of these cases experience has taught
us that the fore-hand should be light and free. As a
general rule, the danger to be expected from the
operation increases with the age of the animal. It
may be performed early in life without awakening
the sympathies of the constitution, but that is not
always convenient or judicious. The time of castrating

CASTRATION. 269

colts varies from the age of two months to two years, in
accordance with the fancy or judgment of the breeder.
The testicles are present in the scrotum from birth
until the fifth month, about which time they are, by
the retraction of the spermatic cord, drawn through
the abdominal rings into the cavity of the abdomen,
where they remain until the end of the first year, when
they again descend into the scrotum. Occasionally,
one of the testicles fails to reappear in the scrotum,
being obstructed in its descent through the internal or
external abdominal ring ; in such cases, when the time
comes for operating, only one of the testicles can be
removed, and the presence of the other is afterwards
evinced by the " riggish" habits of the animal. Some
objection is justly raised against castrating before the
colt has fully recovered from weaning, or in too cold
or too hot weather. The seasonable period for castra-
tion is when the spring has fairly set in and the grass
is plentiful, and yet before the appearance of annoy-
ing insects, or the accession of hot weather : but
there is generally much difficulty in so timing the
operation as to be free from every objectionable cir-
cumstance. The usual manner of operating is by
casting the colt, and, grasping the testicles in the left
hand to free them from their coverings by making
an incision in the direction of their long axis suffi-
ciently large to allow them to slip out. An instru-
ment called " castrating clams" is then placed round
the vessels proceeding from the testicles, to arrest the
haemorrhage when they are removed. The testes
are cut av^ay with a scalpel, or they are otherwise
cauterised oft* by a hot iron with a cutting edge. The
mouths of the arteries are then seared with a firing
iron at a moderate heat, so as to seal up their divided
ends and prevent the flow of blood. Another me-
thod of castration in general use among our con-
Jinental neighbours, the French, by whom it is pre-

270 THE HORSE.

f erred, is the employment of caustic clams. It
consists in partially laying bare the testes from their
investing membranes, the integuments and dartos
muscle being cut through, leaving the tunica vagi-
nalis intact. Pieces of hollowed elder wood filled
with a paste, the active component of which is corro-
sive sublimate, are then tied firmly on the outside of
the peritoneal covering, over the vessels of the cord,
and allowed to remain until the testes slough away.
Castration by simple excision, as performed on the
human subject, is inapplicable to the horse. Castra-
tion by twitching or ligature is employed occasionally
by country farriers, but is very objectionable, on ac-
count of the pain and irritation that follow it. There
are some hopes that all the benefits of emasculation,
without the danger attending any of the foregoing
operations, may be derived by simply dividing the
pudic nerves. When these nerves are divided, no
erection of the penis can occur, the sexual desire
being at the same time greatly lessened, if not alto-
gether destroyed. It remains for some practical
country veterinarian to establish more fully the
utility of this plan.

CATARACT.

This is a common disease, affecting the deep-seated
portion of the globe of the eye. It often succeeds
specific ophthalmia or other inflammations of the eye,
the lens or its capsule being the parts first attacked,
but extensive disorganisation of the other portions of
the eye soon follows. The operation of "couching"
has been experimentally tried on the horse, but little
advantage Avas found to result from it. There is so
much difficulty in steadying the eye during the
operation, that extensive injury to other parts is very

CATARRH CATECHU. 271

likely to be made during the struggles of the animal,
and the withdrawal of the eye-ball by the combined
action of the muscles is so forcible, from the fears of
the animal, that the humours of the eye are very
liable to be forced out.

CATARRH.

Catarrh is the mild and usual form of common
cold, and epizootic catarrh or influenza a more severe,
wide-spreading, and intense variety of the same affec-
tion. Catarrh generally proceeds from sudden alter-
nations of temperature. There is a watery discharge
from the nose, and occasionally from the eyes. The
lymphatic glands enlarge and inflame, and slight con-
stitutional fever is present, accompanied frequently
with coughing. In a day or two the thin discharge
from the nostrils and eyes alters its character, and
becomes much thicker and even purulent, but this
always marks the wane of the disease. All that the
veterinarian need do as treatment in common catarrh,
is to attend to the improvement of the secretions, and
to keep the inflammatory action down by a moderate
antiphlogistic course.

CATECHU.

An extract from the wood of a variety of the acacia
has been long used for its internal astringent effects.
When combined with opium and chalk, it forms a
useful potion in diarrhoea and dysentery. It is also
given in diabetes. Dose, one to two drachms.

272 THE HORSE.

CATHARTICS OR PURGATIVES.

Purgatives are given to hasten the conditioning of
horses as well as to restore them to health when dis-
eased. When administered to improve the condition,
two or three doses are given at short intervals. From
the great length of the alimentary canal in the horse,
cathartics do not act so readily as in the human subject.
They generally take more than twenty-four hours
to produce their effect. Superadded to the length of
the intestines, the horizontal position of the trunk
may possibly retard catharsis. Most purgatives act
by increasing the peristaltic motion of the intestines,
or by stimulating the secretion of mucus from the
follicles of their internal coat. Laxatives are merely
mild purgatives. It is customary, and highly proper,
to prepare horses for the reception of purgative medi-
cine by giving them one, two, or three bran mashes
previously ; but in cases of inflammation this is not
always practicable, as we are then compelled to act
more promptly. When a horse has been well mashed,
a less dose of the cathartic will operate with much
greater surety and safety than a larger one given
on hard food. Super-purgation is easily produced
in the horse, and it has been the death of thousands
of them. Moderate walking exercise expedites the
action of cathartics, but work or violent exertion
during their operation has frequently caused death.
When the medicine is working, the horse should not
be exposed to wet or draughts, the skin should be
kept reasonably warm by clothing, and the water
allowed ought to be stood in the sun, or have the
chill taken off by the admixture of hot water. The
principal purgatives used in horse medicine are aloes,
croton-oil, calomel, and linseed-oil. The substance
most commonly employed for this purpose is aloes,

CATHARTICS. 273

the others being only had recourse to on particular
occasions, in which aloes is not so applicable. Aloes
acts best when previously dissolved, or rendered soluble
by minute division of its particles. Thus prepared,
it operates more quickly and with less griping than
when merely pounded up with lard. The cathartic
mass recommended by Mr. Morton is highly efficient,
and powerfully increases the activity of the aloes
contained.

Mr. Morton's Cathartic Mass,

" Aloes, broken into small pieces, eight parts.
Olive oil one part.

Treacle - - - three parts.

The aloes and oil are to be melted together in the
bath [water-bath], and when removed from the fire,
the treacle is to be added, stirring the whole toge-
ther. The addition of the last may not, to many
persons, appear a matter of much moment ; but I
have found that on it depends the consistence of the
compound ; for if long boiled (which is at all times
objectionable in the formation of aloetic compounds),
the treacle will render the mass hard and brittle." *
Dose, from six to twelve drachms. In the above
compound I prefer the substitution of good cold-
drawn linseed oil for the olive oil, as I think it in-
creases the cathartic effect, and still preserves its
consistence. A few drops of the oil of amber added
to each ball readily covers the smell of the linseed,
and is considered to hasten the action of the aloes.
Barbadoes aloes should invariably be employed in
preference to those from the Cape, for though they
are both the product of the same family of plants, yet
being prepared in different ways, their properties

* Manual of Pharmacy, p. 35.
T

274 THE HORSE.

are altered. Heat, beyond a certain degree, about
200° Fahr., decomposes the aloetic body, and converts
it into an insoluble resin, which is inert as a pur-
gative, and produces a griping action on the bowels.
If good Barbadoes aloes be prepared in the manner de-
scribed above, and given after grass food or a prepara-
tion of bran mashes, four drachms of the aloes, con-
tained in an ounce of the compound, will be quite
sufficient, but if due preparation have not been given,
six or even eight drachms will be requisite. No food
should be given immediately on purgative medicine,
but water with the chill off may be allowed ad libi-
tum, as it tends to assist the dissolution of the ball,
and expedites its action.

CAUSTICS.

The hot iron, the mineral acids, the nitrate of
silver, the sulphate of copper, the chloride of anti-
mony, and the bichloride of mercury, are the caustics
most commonly used. They act by decomposing the
part to which they are applied, and in cases where
unhealthy actions are set up, tend to destroy the
morbid tissue, and often restore the part to its na-
tural organism.

&*

chalk : vide lime.

CHARCOAL.

Powdered charcoal is frequently employed to
sprinkle on offensive, foul, discharging ulcers, to cor-
rect the fetor proceeding from them. Some apply it
in poultices, but it acts best in powder.

CIIYRYATA. CLYSTERS. 275

CHLORIDE OF LIME : Vide LIME.
CHYRYATA OR CHIRETT^E.

Aii Indian plant of a powerful bitter nature, form-
ing an excellent tonic and stomachic restorative. In
daily doses of from two to three drachms, the efficacy
of this drug is very marked. It agrees with the
stomach much better than the metallic tonics, and is
far more potent than any other bitter of the vegetable
world. In farcy, glanders, anasarca, swelled legs,
and other debile states, this medicine, alone or in
conjunction with assisting remedies, will invariably
be found serviceable. It may be given in infusion
or decoction, or ground and made into balls, accord-
ing to the caprice of the attendant or the indications
of the disease.

CLYSTERS.

Clysters are of great importance in veterinary
therapeutics, for in urgent cases of inflammation
purgatives fail to effect a speedy catharsis, and yet it
is imperative that the bowels should be unloaded as
soon as possible. In such instances clysters are re-
sorted to as a quick and safe remedy. Anodyne ene-
mata are employed in spasmodic affections, as gripes
and tetanus ; astringent clysters in super-purgation
and diarrhoea; and nourishing injections are thrown
into the bowels in prostration and the debile sequels
of inflammatory attacks. There are three ways of ad-
ministering a clyster, — by the ox-bladder and pipe,
by the pewter syringe, and by Reid's patent enema
pump. The last is by far the best, as by its means an
unlimited quantity of liquid may be injected in a short
space of time. The common laxative clyster is com-

T 2

276 the horse.

posed of a gallon or two of warm water, with a hand-
ful of Epsom, Glauber, or domestic salt dissolved in
it. A ley of soft soap is another frequent form.

Astringent Clysters.

No. 1. Tincture of opium - - half an ounce,

Prepared chalk - - two ounces,

Boiled starch - - two quarts ;

given twice or thrice a day. The subjoined ex-
ample, suggested by Mr. Blaine with the same object,
may be of service : —

No. 2. Alum whey - - - one quart.

Boiled starch - - - one quart.

Antispasmodic Clyster in Gripes.

No. 3. Oil of turpentine - - two ounces.

Assafoetida, rubbed down - one ounce.

Olive oil - ' - - four ounces.

Gruel - - - three quarts.

Anodyne Enema in Tetanus.

No. 4. Tincture of opium - - two ounces.

Camphor - - - two drachms.

In either of the last two cases, eminent service has
resulted from the substitution of a tobacco enema.

As strengthening clysters, gruel, broth, or starch,
may be thrown into the intestines.

COLIC.

Spasmodic Colic, Gripes, or Fret. — This is an affec-
tion of the muscular coats of the intestines, charac-
terised by acute pain with occasional remissions, ac-

colic. 277

companied with flatulent distension, together with
spasmodic contractions of those tissues of the bowels
and of the sphincters of the bladder and rectum.
It is a very common disease among horses. That
these animals should have so great a tendency to
spasmodic colic is ascribed by Mr. Bracy Clark, in
his valuable " Essay on the Gripes of Horses," " to
the vastness of the intestinal canal, exposing a pro-
digious surface to be acted upon by the food, and the
extreme thinness of the intestines in the horse, in
proportion to their magnitude, over those of the gene-
rality of animals : whence, from slighter causes, the
process of chylification is more subject to be disturbed
and suspended." The predisposing cause of gripes
may be, an impairment or partial loss of the diges-
tive power. The usual exciting causes are, drinking
largely of cold water when heated, a change or an
irregularity of diet, gorging large quantities of the
artificial grasses, exposure to wet and cold, or indeed
any thing that will depress the vital energy of the
intestines either directly or by sympathy. Simple
spasmodic colic is distinguished from enteritis, or the
red colic of farriers, by the pulse not being at the
onset implicated or altered in its character ; by the
suddenness of the attack, no premonitory symptoms
being exhibited previous to the access of the disease ;
and by the occasional subsidence or remission of the
spasm and pain. Coldness of the extremities is also
present in inflammation of the intestines, but not
necessarily so in colic. The symptoms of gripes
are well known. The animal is suddenly attacked
with pain referable to the abdomen; he evinces an
inclination to lie down, and if allowed to do so, he
will roll from side to side, frequently rising abruptly to
shake himself ; then, pawing the ground, he lies down
and repeats the rolling, occasionally turning his head
towards his flanks, as expressive of the seat of his

T 3

278 THE HOUSE.

suffering, and when in great agony he bites his sides
with considerable force. Then for a minute the pain
ceases, but the paroxysm soon returns, a profuse
perspiration covers his body, and all the evidences of
acute agony are again and again repeated. If these
symptoms be not relieved in a few hours, the disease
runs on to inflammation of the intestines, and fre-
quently destroys the life of the animal. Therefore
the treatment of colic should be prompt. The dis-
ease is to be combated on one of two principles, —
either by giving stimulants to excite and restore the
natural action of the stomach and intestines, and so
overcome the morbid impression, or by allaying the
spasmodic action by therapeutic agents of an anodyne
or antispasmodic character. The first course is the
one most generally adopted, and the most successful
plan of treatment. Doses of oil of turpentine, of
tincture or decoction of pimenta berries or of common
pepper, oil of peppermint, and such stimulants, will
often relieve the animal. It will be more proper, as
being safer, that these excitant remedies should be
tried on the first access of the complaint, while the
antispasmodic anodynes, as opium, hyoscyamus, cam-
phor, ether, and tobacco, may be reserved until there
is fear of the morbific action running on to inflam-
mation. Bleeding, in the latter stage, is also a safe
and valuable antispasmodic. The first two of the
subjoined formulae are stimulating gripe compounds,
the latter partake of a narcotic nature.

No. 1. Spirits of turpentine - - two ounces.

Peppermint water - - one pint.

The turpentine is to be beat up with the yolks of
three eggs before being mixed with the peppermint
water.

No. 2. Tincture of pimenta - - four ounces.

Oil of peppermint - - one drachm.

COLIC. — COLLYRIUMS. 279

No. 3. Tincture of opium - - two ounces.

Camphor powdered - - one drachm.

Water - - - one pint.

No. 4. Sulphuric ether - - two ounces.

Tincture of opium - - one ounce.

Water - - - one pint.

Walking the animal about for a short space of time
will occasionally be found serviceable to expedite the
action of the stimulating remedies ; frictions over the
surface of the abdomen ; saponacious and anodyne
enemata may be thrown up after the hardened and
impached feces within reach have been removed. A
favourite and very efficacious remedy for colic among
the Arabs in Egypt, is to drench the horse with the
water through which the tobacco smoke is passed in
the sheesha or snake-pipe. This liquid is discoloured
by a portion of the tobacco oil which it absorbs dur-
ing the passage of the smoke through it, and from
that it gains its powerful antispasmodic principles.
Sometimes during the paroxysms the animal will pass
a small quantity of urine at a time, giving evidence
that the bladder participates in the extensive spas-
modic action going on ; but more commonly stal-
ing is regarded as a symptom of the abatement of
the violence of the affection, since the spasmodic con-
striction of the sphincture of the bladder has become
relaxed. Such is the ignorant confidence of some
farriers in the value of this token of the cessation of
the complaint, that they direct their entire attention
to making the horse stale.

COLLYRIUMS.

Collyriums, or eye-washes, are sometimes used in the
diseases of the horse's eye. The manner of applying
them is by gently everting the lids, and introducing
a feather wet with the lotion between them.

T 4

280 THE HOUSE.

Antiphlogistic Collyrium.

No. 1. Liquor plumbi subacetatis dilutas half ounce.
Hose water - - - two ounces.

Distilled water - - half a pint.

Astringent Eye-lotion.

Tincture of opium - - two drachms.

Sulphate of zinc - - ten grains.

Rose-water - - four ounces.

Distilled water - - four ounces.

Copper — ( Cuprum).

Two compounds, of which this metal is the base,
are used in medicine, — the acetate and the sulphate.

Cupri acetas, acetate of copper, verdigris. This
salt has been employed internally as a tonic, in doses
of from two to three drachms, but its use is now
superseded by more efficacious and less hazardous
remedies. White gave half an ounce daily, for a con-
siderable time, in a case of glanders, but without any
effect on the disease or inconvenience to the animal ;
thus proving that this salt is less poisonous on the
horse than on the human subject. Externally, it is,
however, a useful detergent and escharotic to quittors,
cankers, foul ulcers, and the callous edges of sores,
its action being much milder than that of the sul-
phate of copper. Mixed with honey and vinegar, it
forms an ancient compound known by the term
aegyptiacum, which is used in thrushes, and in aph-
thous ulcerations of the mouth.

Linimentum yEgyptiacum.

Acetate of copper - - five ounces.

Honey - - - sixteen ounces.

Vinegar - - - seven ounces.

Boiled together until they are incorporated.

COPPER. 281

Another useful stimulating detergent for grease,
cracked-heels, thrushes, and foul treads, may be made
extemporaneously by mixing verdigris and tar, in pro-
portions determined by the required activity of the
compounds.

Cupri sulphas. — Sulphate of copper, blue vitriol.
This cupreous salt has been much extolled as an in-
ternal remedy in glanders and farcy ; and it certainly
possesses considerable influence over them, though it
cannot be regarded as at all approaching to a specific,
even in the milder forms of these diseases. It is an
efficient tonic, of more decided power than any other
produced by the metallic elements ; but it requires to
be continued for a considerable time, and its action
must be carefully watched.

Sulphate of copper may be administered by ball ;
but in such a form it acts with diminished certitude
and efficacy, and but a small quantity can be intro-
duced into the system. However, convenience some-
times dictates its administration by bolus, when the
following formula and doses may be used.

Sulphate of Copper Tonic Ball.

half a drachm
to a drachm.

Sulphate of copper, finely powdered \

Ginger .... one drachm.

Made into a ball of the proper size and consistence
with linseed-meal and treacle.

When the sulphate of copper is given in solution,
much larger doses may be prescribed without danger
than in the solid form. Professor Sewell frequently
gives to the amount of half an ounce to an ounce
dissolved in water ; the corrosive action being pre-
vented by mixing it with some demulcent liquid, as
gruel or linseed-tea. But even in such doses, its ac-
tion is slow ; for no decision as to its ultimate bene-

282 THE HORSE.

ficial effects in curing glanders can be come to under
a period varying from six weeks to three months.
Sulphate of copper is soluble in four parts of Avater at
60° F. Sulphate of copper is used in powder and in
solution as an external stimulant in canker, grease,
and other diseases of the skin of the extremities.

CORDIALS.

From the indiscriminate use of horse-cordials by
grooms, much evil frequently results. The prac-
tice is now happily falling into disuse. If cordials be
ever requisite, it will be after continuous and excessive
exertion, when the powers of digestion flag and re-
quire an artificial stimulation to restore their func-
tion. In such cases the more simple the cordial the
better, and possibly there is none more efficacious
than either of the following.

Cordial Balls.

No. 1. Ground ginger - - one drachm.

Gentian - - - one drachm.

Flour - - - six drachms.

Essential oil of cloves - six drops.

No. 2. Carraway seed, powdered - six drachms.

Chyryata - - one drachm.

Ginger - - - one drachm.

Oil of cinnamon - - six drops.

To be made into balls with treacle or honey.

CORNS.

The only similarity existing between corns in
horses, and the abnormal thickening of the cuticle in
the human subject of like name, is, that they both

corns. 283

attack the feet, and arise from pressure — further
there is no analogy. In the horse, this disease is
seated in that part of the sole of the foot which ex-
tends into the inflections of the heels, having the wall
of the foot on the outer side, and the bar on the
inner. When this affection exists, there is usually
lameness, accompanied with extra heat, and tender-
ness on pressure, of the part attacked. Its presence
is revealed by paring away the superficial portion of
the horny sole of this part ; the inflammation of the
sensible sole having excited it to secrete horn, with
streaks and patches of inspissated blood between its
molecules. On cutting nearer the seat of the corn,
the horn of the sole departs still more from its natural
character ; it is found soft, spongy, and enveloping
a quantity of sanguineous ichor or semi-purulent
matter. When once these perverted secretions be-
come fully established in this part, it is difficult to
restore the natural action. The horn of the sole will
hereafter remain soft and pulpy, if not absolutely
diseased, and the animal will always evince more or
less tenderness from the unprotected state of the sensi-
tive tissues. Therefore the farriers' saw, " once a corn
always a corn,"' is not very wide of the mark. In the
estimation of most practical men, corns are held to
constitute decided unsoundness, and render a war-
ranted horse returnable. The direct and immediate
cause of corns is undue pressure on the vascular sole ;
and this is brought about, in the majority of instances,
by a loss of the natural inclination or angularitv of
the foot. The toe has been allowed to elongate : the
heels have also been lowered, so that the foot declines
too much from the perpendicular, and an increased
proportion of weight falls on the back parts of the
foot. In this way, the inflected portion of the Avail
at the heels receives pressure from above in a direc-
tion nearly horizontal to its fibres, instead of perpen-

284 the horse.

dicularly. On this account corns arc but rarely seen
in the hind feet ; the more oblique direction of the
line of pressure, together with the usual increased
elevation of the heels by the calkins of the shoe, ward
off this lesion. Corns are frequent in low-heeled, flat
feet ; and are more common in the inner heel than in
the outer. But there may exist a considerable quan-
tity of the wall at the heels, and yet from the " wire-
ing in " or contraction, with a misdirection of the
pressure of the superincumbent weight, violence is
done to the sensative parts, and a corn ensues. Shoes
allowed to remain too long on the feet are a frequent
cause of corns, as they become indented into the solar
surface of the foot, and press upon portions not in-
tended to carry weight. With respect to the treat-
ment of corns with a view to their cure or palliation,
the chief indications are to relieve the pressure by
the application of a bar-shoe, or a shoe of the common
description hollowed or " laid oif" over the seat of
the affection ; by restoring the natural inclination of
the foot ; and by the use of escharotic liquids to the
secreting surface after removal of the horn, so as to
stimulate an improved production of insensible horny
sole. For this latter purpose the chloride of anti-
mony applied with pledgets of tow, once or twice a
week, Avill be found serviceable.

CORROSIVE SUBLIMATE : V'ide MERCURY.
COUGH.

Horses, in common with' other animals, are subject
to coughs from irritation of the air-passages. Cough-
ing generally attends common colds, bronchitis, and
epizootic influenza. When accompanying a common
cold, a few mashes, a little gruel, with a dose or two
of laxative cooling medicine, will usually effect a cure.
If the pulse be considerably increased in force and ful-

COUGH. — CROTON TIGLIUM. 285

ness, moderate venesection may prevent further de-
rangement, and expedite the restorative process.

Chronic Cough generally attends an extensive
functional derangement of the respiratory organs
which may have become settled on the animal. It is
found in thick and broken-wind, and other abnormal
states of the lungs, and in the advanced stages of
glanders. Occasionally it exists as a sympathetic
affection, from irritation seated in the intestinal
canal, arising from worms, crib-biting, foul-feeding,
and indigestion. If springing from these latter
agents, the cause must, if possible, be removed, when
the effect will cease without further trouble. In
these and other similar instances, Ave should not
expend our energies in futile attempts to cure disease
by doctoring symptoms. The cause must be sought
with industry, for when found, our future steps are
simple. If cough arise from chronic disease of the
aerating passages, the complete cure will be more diffi-
cult, scarcely repaying the trouble ; considerable relief
will however always attend a judicious plan of diet-
ing. Dry, dusty food should be avoided ; the stomach
must not be overloaded with bulky, innutritious sub-
stances, so as to press on the diaphragm, and by it
on the lungs themselves : the horse should be stinted
of water before work, and the litter removed during
the day, to prevent his eating it — a depraved habit,
frequently attending such complaints as cause, by
an interchanging sympathy, disorganisation of the
digestive and aerating functions. Benefit will also
result from moistening the corn previous to feeding,
and by giving carrots in winter and a moderate
quantity of green food in the summer.

CROTON TIGLIUM.

The purging croton, the seeds of which (formerly
called grana Molucca) yield the croton oil. This is

286 THE HORSE.

a drastic, griping purgative of great power, and
only employable to accelerate the operation of other
cathartic preparations, or when they cannot be con-
veniently administered. It is less nauseating than
aloes, and is consequently of diminished service in
inflammatory attacks. Twenty or thirty drops of
the oil placed on the tongue, when it is impossible to
get the animal to swallow any more bulky agent, as
in rigidity of the jaws in tetanus, will produce purga-
tion. At other times, a tincture, made by digesting
one ounce of croton seeds in a pint of rectified spirit,
can be readily introduced, by mixing about six fluid
drachms with the animal's mash or water. Another
method of employing this powerful cathartic is, to
give from a scruple to half a drachm of the residual
cake after the expression of the oil, made into a ball
with linseed-meal ; but as the cake is of very uncer-
tain strength, depending on the degree of pressure to
which it has been submitted, it is probably best to use
the ground nut itself, of which the dose is three grains.
The apparent discrepancy between the dose of the oil
and that of the substance of the nut, originates from
the fact of the active principle of the croton residing
principally in the testa or skin of the cotyledons being
but partially expressed with the oil. 100 parts of
the kernels of the seeds yield about 60 of the oil,
and 40 of the farinaceous matter.

The following list of the doses of this agent as a
cathartic in the different methods it is given, may
tend to prevent errors on the subject : —

Ground nut - - three grains.

Oil - - - twenty to thirty drops.

Meal (after the expression

of the oil) - - twenty to thirty grains.

Tincture - - - six fluid drachms.

CRIB-BITING. 287

CRIB-BITING.

This remarkable habit arises from a vitiated state
of the digestive organs, brought on by confinement to
the stable, foul feeding, eating musty oats, and mow-
burnt, dusty hay. It never occurs at grass, but oc-
casionally at straw-yard. When this habit is once
acquired, it is seldom eradicated, except in very young-
horses. It is said to arise sometimes from imitation ;
but I think such is rarely, if ever, the case. Most
veterinarians consider it an attempt to draw air into
the stomach ; but Mr. Blaine views it, and I consider
with stronger reasons, as an effort to expel gas from
that viscus. The animal catches hold of the manger
with his teeth, arches his neck upwards so as to
straighten the oesophagus and enlarge the pharynx by
muscular extension, when a short, grunting noise is
heard, accompanying a convulsive contraction of the
muscles about the throat. A modification of this per-
nicious custom, termed " wind-sucking," is performed
without laying hold of the manger, but is essentially
only a variation of the same vice. Indigestion invari-
ably accompanies crib-biting, of which it may be re-
garded both as a cause and a consequence. A crib-
biter's coat is generally rough and staring, and he
seldom carries much flesh. The bowels are usually
flatulent, and by a continuation of the practice, the
incisor teeth are worn and broken away so that he
makes but a poor grazer when turned to grass. Me-
chanical contrivances have been had recourse to, in
order to prevent crib-biting. A strap round the
throat, with a short, thin piece of iron rivetted in the
form of a cross attached to it, and buckled on so as to
press upon the pharynx, is one method ; another is a
muzzle, that allows the animal to take his food, but
effectually prevents his biting the manger.

288 the horse.

CURB.

This term is derived from the French courbe,
curved. Curb is a ligamentary enlargement at the
back part of the hock, about three or four inches from
the point of the os calcis, arising from violence done to
the annular ligament of the hock, or to the thecas
or sheaths of the tendons passing over the joint, by
some sudden exertion of the animal. Thus curbs
frequently result from lunging, racing, leaping, rear-
ing, abruptly stopping, so as to throw the horse on
his haunches, and the like circumstances wherein
sudden stress falls on the part. These strains are of
frequent occurrence in young horses when submitted
to too severe breaking lessons, as lunging on heavy
land, before the strength of the ligamentous struc-
tures is fully established. As badly shaped hocks
predispose the animal to curb, it is said to be here-
ditary ; but its transmission arises solely from the
mechanical construction of the joint. The existence
of a curb is best detected by viewing the hock side-
ways. A curb is a cause of unsoundness ; for if once
this lesion has existed, the parts can rarely be re-
stored to their pristine state, and a recurrence of the
accident may be always feared. The treatment of
curb does not differ from that of other ligamentary
extensions. It must be borne in mind, that rest is
absolutely necessary, and that as long as any degree
of inflammatory action exists. The hair covering
the part and for some distance round should be kept
constantly wet with an evaporating lotion, until the
subsidence of the inflammation. A close or two of
laxative medicine, with bran mashes, will expedite
the progress to amendment. If the back part of the
stall slope outwards, so as to keep this portion of the
hock on the stretch, it should be raised, or a patten-
shoe put on the foot of the diseased limb. A pat-

CYSTITIS DIABETES. 2S9

ten-shoe is nothing more than the common shoe
with a movable piece of bent iron elevating the
heels, and relieving the posterior parts of the ex-
tremity from extension. When the heat and lame-
ness have subsided, stimulating applications are had
recourse to ; sweating blisters are daily rubbed over
the affected part until considerable swelling is pro-
duced : this is allowed to subside previous to a re-
petition of the process. If this plan of treatment be
found inadequate, more potent blistering compounds
are repeatedly applied over the curb ; blisters being
generally found more efficient than the actual cautery.

CYSTITIS.

Cystitis, or inflammation of the bladder, is not a
very common equine disease. It is more frequent in
horses than in mares. When present, the animal
exhibits a constant desire to stale, and if the neck of
the bladder participate in the irritation going on,
the attempt will be ineffectual as the urine is then
entirely suppressed. It is a very dangerous affection,
demanding the most active antiphlogistic treatment,
and all the appliances that the highest veterinary skill
can suggest.

DIABETES.

This disease consists in a profuse discharge of
urine, occasioned by the animal's partaking of such
substances as excite the kidneys to immoderate action.
In rare instances diabetes occurs without apparent
outward cause, and by its debilitating effect under-
mines the constitution of the horse and destroys his
life. The common and simple form of the complaint
frequently originates from feeding on new oats, new
beans, and mow-burnt hay ; or it may sometimes

u

29Q THE HOKSE.

arise from the too frequent or injudicious use of
diuretics. Bleeding increases the affection if the
horse be in low condition. Counter-irritation, by the
application of blisters, is well calculated to augment
the disease, for if the Spanish-fly become absorbed it
will act irritatingly on the kidneys. Laxatives may
be given in the early stage to improve the secretions
of the bowels, taking care to exclude such agents as
are likely to have a diuretic effect. To these may
succeed astringents, such as opium, catechu, alum,
bark, and the powdered leaf of the uva ursi or wortle-
berry, either singly or in combination. The following
may be taken as an example : —

Opium - - half a drachm.

Uva ursi - - two drachms.

Catechu - - three drachms.

Dissolved in a strong decoction of oak or willow
bark, and administered daily.

DIAPHORETICS

Are such medicines as increase the natural exhala-
tion of the skin ; when more powerful, as to occasion
sweating, they are termed sudorifics. Few, if any
medicines can be said to act decidedly as sudorifics
on the horse, but many are found that have a dia-
phoretic effect when properly assisted by warm cloth-
ing and diluting fluids. Among the most efficient of
these are the liquor ammonias acetatis, antimonials,
aloes, in nauseating doses, and camphor. A good
local, mechanical sudorific, is a fresh sheep's-skin,
which by preventing evaporation allows the vessels
of the skin to unload themselves more copiously than
under common circumstances, and the fluid thus
thrown off being condensed augments and continues
the diaphoresis.

DIARRHCEA. 291

DIARRHCEA.

In this disease there appears to be a loss of the
natural balance between the secretion and absorption
in the alimentary canal, the former being in excess
over the latter. Many horses are constitutionally
relaxed or " washy " from mal-formation, having
usually narrow chests, flat sides, tucked-up bellies,
and in addition are badly ribbed. In these cases the
semi fluid feecal matter is expelled by the mechanical
action of the abdominal muscles. Diarrhoea often
arises from intestinal debility and imperfect action of
the liver. Changes in diet, and improper food, as
new oats and hay, will occasion it. A wet skin ex-
posed to cold and evaporation will revulse the fluids
usually exhaled by the vessels of the integuments to
the bowels, and so give rise to diarrhoea. Diarrhoea
occasionally assumes an epidemic, virulent character
among colts in hot seasons. In Egypt, in one breed-
ing stud, belonging to Ibrahim Pacha, no less than
nineteen foals died in the course of a week, out
of twenty-one which had been dropped in that
period. The treatment of this disease is not gene-
rally difficult, but occasionally obstinate and pro-
tracted cases occur. The line to be pursued will be
indicated by ascertaining the cause of the complaint.
If the diet be in error, medicines will be nearly
useless unless that be changed. If exposure to cold
have been evidently the cause, gruel, warm clothing,
and antimonials will be found serviceable. If it
arise from imperfect digestion, tonics may be ex-
hibited; should the cause be intestinal debility, as-
tringents will be of benefit. If the biliary secretion
be deficient or vitiated, advantage will accrue from a
course of mercurials.

u 2

292 THE HORSE

DIGITALIS.

The leaves of the common fox-glove {Digitalis pur-
pura) furnish this most powerful medicine. Digi-
talis is a direct narcotic, and acts without the usual
preliminary exciting effect attending other narcotics.
Its operation is on the circulatory system. In cases
of acute carditis, when the beating of the heart
has been excessive, I have seen the chief, inordinate
throbbing stilled in a few minutes by the administra-
tion of a small dose of digitalis. In such diseases
as pneumonia and pleurisy, its continued use retards
the velocity of the circulation, and gives a peculiar
and favourable intermittency to the pulse. Messieurs
Blaine and Youatt speak most favourably of it, and
their opinions have tended to remove the prejudice
previously entertained against it. Doses, averaging
from twenty to sixty grains, made into a ball, and
given alone, or in conjunction with other active re-
medies, as the peculiarities of the case may suggest,
may be repeated at short intervals during the day.
There is danger from over-dosing with digitalis, as its
inordinate use so reduces the patient as to retard his
convalescence, or lay him open to the attacks of other
diseases. Digitalis acts as a diuretic when exhibited
for a considerable period.

DIURETICS.

Diuretics are such articles as increase the urinary
discharge. The turpentines, resins, nitrate of po-
tassa, and soap are the foremost on the list, but many
other agents produce diuresis, although not usually
ranked among them. This class of medicines is much
abused by the indiscriminate use of those attached to
the stable. The common diuretic mass adopted by
the College is thus given by Mr. Morton.

DIURETICS. DRENCHES. DROPSY. 293

Diuretic Mass.

Take of Resin, pulverized,

Nitrate of potassa, ditto,
Hard soap, of each equal parts.

Beat together, so as to form a uniform mass. Dose
from an ounce to an ounce and a half. I how-
ever prefer the introduction of Venice turpentine, as
it tends to keep the mass in a plastic state.

DRENCHES.

Drenches are not so commonly used in horse as in
cattle medicine. In some modifications of disease
their use is particularly demanded. Whenever medi-
cines are required to act without delay, drenches are
indicated. The previous solution of the article given
expedites its action. Aloes, and many other articles,
act quicker when in solution ; sulphate of copper can
be given in a larger dose, and in a safer manner by
drenching than by balls ; in spasmodic colic, drenches
of turpentine are most commonly administered ; and
when vermifuge medicine is given, it is most efficient
when in a liquid form. In drenching the use of the
bottle should be discarded, and no other instrument
allowed than the ox's horn. Veterinarians should ge-
nerally calculate upon wasting nearly one quarter of
the drench, and increase its strength in accordance.

DKOPSY.

In the horse, dropsies are generally the sequelae
of pre-existing inflammations. That of the chest
(hydrothorax) results from pneumonia, and dropsy
of the abdomen (ascites) follows inflammatory attacks
of the peritonaeum and intestines. In either case the
fluid can be drained off by tapping the cavity which

u 3

294 THE HORSE.

contains it, and, in addition, dependence is placed on
powerful diuretics, such as cantharides and digitalis,
and on external frictions and warm clothing. Such
remedies are pointed out by a knowledge that dropsy
of any cavity depends upon a loss of the balancing
power between deposition and absorption, either from
an increased activity of the exhalants, or diminution
of that of the absorbents.

EMBROCATIONS.

Any external fluid application is an embrocation,
and thus the term embrocation includes a wide range
of remedial agents. Lotions are included under this
head, but liniments are more properly smearing
liquids. The common saline embrocation is com-
posed of —

Hydrochlorate of ammonia - two ounces.

Vinegar - - - one pint.

This form may be modified into a cooling lotion
by the addition of two ounces of nitrate of potash to
a pint of water, omitting the vinegar. Evaporating
lotions may be made by adding spirit or camphorated
spirit to water, in the proportion of an ounce of spirit
to eight of water.

Stimulating embrocations may be compounded of
soap liniment and liquor ammonia? — five parts of the
former to one of the latter ; or by diluting the tinc-
ture of cantharides with soap liniment or camphorated
spirits.

EMETIC TARTAR, Vide ANTIMONY.
ENTERITIS.

Enteritis is an acute inflammatory disease of the
muscular and cellular structures connecting the pe-

ENTERITIS. 295

ritoneal and mucous coats of the intestines. It is
called red colic by farriers, from the highly injected
state of these tissues after death. If the internal
or mucous coat of the intestinal canal be attacked
with inflammation, diarrhoea, or dysentery will be ex-
hibited ; if the outward or peritoneal tunic be the seat
of excited action, the term 'peritonitis is used to dis-
tinguish the affection, for peritonitis may, and fre-
quently does, exist as a primary and distinct disease ;
enteritis does not, however, maintain so separate a
character, but most commonly implicates the perito-
naeum in the inflammatory progress. The symptoms
of enteric disease closely resemble those of spasmodic
colic or gripes, but it is imperative that the medical
attendant should be readily able to distinguish be-
tween them, as remedies that are serviceable in one
complaint would be calculated to increase the other.
Enteritis may be distinguished from colic by its more
gradual access; by presenting febrile indications, such
as an excited small pulse and coldness of the ex-
tremities ; by the greater tenderness of the belly ; and
by the non-intermittence of the outward evidences of
suffering. In enteritis the horse frequently lies down,
but seldom rolls on his back as in colic. As the dis-
ease advances the pulse runs high, and has a wiry
feel. The breathing is accelerated, and the membrane
lining the nostrils high coloured. A profuse per-
spiration covers the body. The poor patient kicks
and bites his belly and flanks ; looks wistfully at his
sides with signs of pain ; stamps his feet ; and shifts
his position from side to side. The disease is rapid in
its course, and if not checked the animal soon falls a
prey to it. Cold sweats succeed as the powers of life
decline, and the pulse becomes hurried and scarcely
perceptible at the jaw; the energies of the animal
are speedily prostrated, and death ensues. The most
prevalent causes of inflammation of the intestines

u 4

296 THE HORSE.

are, exposure to cold ; reaction after drinking large
quantities of water when heated ; the passage of food
in an undigested state from the stomach to the intes-
tines ; hardened and impacted faeces ; intussusception ;
and unfavourable terminations of acute indigestion
and spasmodic colic. Treatment. — The most impor-
tant agent in the treatment of this disease is blood-
letting. Large and repeated quantities must be ab-
stracted, until the pulse is beneficially acted upon.
If the patient be young and strong, from five to eight
quarts may be taken from a large opening as
rapidly as possible. Back-rake, to remove the scy-
balas, and throAv up copious laxative enemata, fol-
lowed by repeated injections of soap and water, or
tepid water in which a small portion of opium has
been dissolved. Apply mustard cataplasms to the
whole surface of the abdomen, succeeded, if neces-
sary, by blisters of cantharides. A pint of linseed oil
may be administered, with or without gruel, as an
aperient, which, if not effective, may be followed by
a couple of drachms of aloes dissolved in water,
with half an ounce of tincture of opium, every
three hours. Meanwhile, attempts should be made to
equalise the circulation by exciting the cuticular ex-
cretions, by warm clothing, frictions, and flannel
bandages to the extremities. When the paroxysms
pass off, and the bowels are opened, the strength of
the patient should be supported by linseed tea, gruel,
malt and bran mashes, and other simple and digestible
articles.

FARCY.

Farcy and glanders are both modifications of the
same disease, but farcy is a milder form, and less
dangerous to the life of the animal, as well as more
easily cured than glanders. They are both diseases
of the same vessels — the lymphatics or absorb-

FARCY. 297

ents, spring alike from the elimination of a virus
or animal poison, and are generally connected with
constitutional debility. Farcy may be regarded as an
external or cuticular manifestation of the disease,
while in glanders the more deep-seated tissues suffer.
Farcy was formerly considered a disease of the veins,
but that mistake is readily explained by the know-
ledge that the absorbents accompany the veins in
their courses throughout the body. Thus the dis-
eased enlargements of the absorbents, which occur
in the track of the large saphena veins, on the inside
of the thighs, were erroneously viewed as seated in the
veins themselves ; but the attack is confined to the ac-
companying absorbents. Farcy generally breaks out
in those parts most remotely situated from the centre
of circulation, as the hind and fore extremities, and
the lips and face. In this country, I believe, the
hind legs are much more frequently the seat of the
disease than the fore ones ; but some notes which I
took of forty-six cases in Egypt, attacked with farcy
about the same time, and which were sent in for
treatment, would not show that there existed, in that
place, the same peculiarity. Of that number, nine-
teen were attacked in one of their fore limbs, sixteen
in one of the hind legs, two had it both before and
behind, and nine, including two mules, were princi-
pally affected on the head and trunk. A mare, while
suffering under this complaint, gave birth to a foal,
which was perfectly healthy and remained so, but was
not allowed to suckle his own mother. When the
disease appears in the legs it is generally accompanied
with oedema or dropsical enlargement of the limbs.
Whenever any obstruction is offered by the valves of
the absorbent vessels, the irritating lymph resting
there produces a swelling ("farcy bud"), followed
by unhealthy suppuration and ulceration of the coats
of the vessel and the integument immediately covering

298 THE HORSE.

it (farcy sores and pipes). As the poison passes on-
wards through the lymphatic glands they exhibit an
inflamed, indurated, and, ultimately, an ulcerated ap-
pearance. When this disease confines itself to the
absorbents of the skin, superficial, circular eruptions
are spread over the body; this form is termed by
grooms and farriers the " button farcy." Canker and
crease will sometimes run on into farcy. If farcy be
allowed to proceed unchecked by medical treatment,
it gradually implicates the deeper-seated lymphatic
vessels, and contaminates the whole system. The
inter-maxillary glands enlarge, tuberculous matter is
formed in the lungs, the membrane lining the nasal
cavities becomes ulcerated, and all the manifestations
of glanders are established. Causes. — Farcy, like
o-landers, is rarely a contagious disease. However,
when the matter falls on an abraded or mucous sur-
face, predisposed to the reception of the disease by the
debility of the animal, farcy or glanders is reproduced.
It may be generated by inoculating greasy or cracked
heels with the farcied sanies ; but when an attempt
is made to introduce it into the system of a strong
healthy horse, it is successfully resisted. Farcy re-
sults from general debility, or appears as the sequela
of other diseases. It is most common in young and
old horses, either before the full establishment of the
animal powers or when they are undermined by age.
Insufficient food combined with hard work, and damp
and ill-ventilated stables, are fruitful sources of
farcy. Treatment. — The chief dependence in the
treatment of this complaint is on constitutional reme-
dies. Thus, as the disease is essentially one of debility,
the food should be generous and tempting : — malt,
and speared corn, and beans, with good clover hay,
or tares and carrots, should be ungrudgingly supplied.
The use of molasses has been suggested. The stable
should be efficiently ventilated : as therapeutic agents,

FARCY. FEVER. 299

tonics, and alteratives, should be given. Professor
Sewell recommended a daily drench of six drachms of
the sulphate of copper in solution with a little gum
The exhibition of the arsenious acid in minute quan
tities is sometimes attended with beneficial results
Other mineral tonics, as the preparations of antimony
zinc, and mercury, are also administered. Cantha
rides, combined with ginger and chyryata, possess
powerful influence over this complaint, and possibly
of all known remedies are most worthy of confidence.
Bleeding, setons, rowels, and other discharges, can-
not but do injury, increase the depression of the vital
powers, and strengthen the disease. The cauterising
budding-iron, at a red-heat, should be applied to
the ulcers or farcy bud, as no other stimulant will
effect so speedy and beneficial an action on them,
for the majority of stimulating mineral powders tend
to augment the ulcerative process. If washes be
used, the lead lotion will be of more service than any
other. Mr. Blaine has experienced beneficial effects,
in long protracted cases of farcy, with enlarged limbs
and oedema, from sea-bathing with daily doses of salt
water. He also recommends the application of sea
water as an embrocation several times a day. —
Blaine's Veterinary Outlines, p. 394.

FEVER.

Fever is occasionally a primary, idiopathic, and
distinct equine disease, running its whole course in a
simple synochial form ; but more generally such ma ■
infestations are of short endurance, and from some
idiosyncracy attached to the horse, it speedily dege-
nerates into local inflammation of some important
organ of vitality. Otherwise fever exists as a symp-
tomatic attendant on original inflammation, and mil
be treated of under the proper heads.

300 THE HORSE.

FIRING.

The employment of the actual cautery is of very
ancient date. It is an important and powerful agent,
though it has lately fallen somewhat into disrepute :
other means, less violent and painful, have been intro-
duced to effect the same ends for which the firing-iron
was formerly the only remedy. The hot iron is gene-
rally employed as a counter-irritant in deep-seated
inflammations about the joints of the extremities,
though it is said, with truth, to possess other proper-
ties besides that of merely diverting a portion of the
irritation going on to the skin. In Egypt and Arabia
the heated iron is almost the sole native remedy for
every equine complaint. A fine stallion was pointed
out to me which was said to have been cured of glan-
ders by being scored over the face with the hot iron.
Firing may be divided into superficial, mediate, and
deep. Superficial firing has scarcely more counter-irri-
tant action than a good blister, with the disadvantage
of being a permanent blemish. Mediate firing is more
potent, and possesses a contractile effect on the skin,
endowing that with a bandage-like action on the parts
situated beneath. If the skin be penetrated, and the
cellular tissue entered, as in deep firing, these advan-
tages are permanently increased. We have only to
be careful not to isolate any portion of the skin, so as
to diminish its supply of blood, and thus cause ulcera-
tions, sloughing, and blemishes. When the cellular
tissue is entered, in deep firing, the cells become obli-
terated, and a bracing effect results. That this is the
case, we have only to refer to the distressing and
frightful contractions which often follow scalds and
burns in the human subject ; or, it is rendered still
more evident, when dropsical effusions take place into
the cellular membrane of the legs of a patient who

FIRING. FISTULOUS WITHERS. 301

has previously suffered from ulcers in the same situ-
ation. Wherever the irritation of the ulcerative
process has extended itself, there will the cells be
entirely sealed up, and no effusion can take place at
that part.

Firing is employed instead of caustic applications
in many surgical instances. In open knee-joint it is
used to arrest the flow of synovia, and in farcy the
buds or ulcers are most beneficially seared with the
budding-iron. The actual cautery is also of eminent
service in arresting haemorrhages.

FISTULOUS WITHERS.

This arises from an inflammation of the fibro-liga-
mentous structures covering the points of the dorsal
vertebrae, brought on by unequal or continued pres-
sure. When injury has been given to this part, and
heat, tenderness, and swelling are evinced, attempts
should be made to reduce it at once by fomentations,
cooling applications, evaporating lotions, &c; but if
these measures prove unsuccessful, and an abscess
form, the matter should be early let out, by making
a puncture with an abscess-lancet. A pledget of
tow, smeared with digestive ointment, may be placed
in the cavity, allowing a small portion of the hemp to
protrude at the lips of the opening, to prevent their
too speedy union. This pledget should be frequently
changed, in order to absorb the matter as soon as
formed ; for if it be allowed to collect, it will, by its
gravity, burrow down between the muscles, and form
extensive sinuses. When the case has been so ne-
glected that this has already taken place, the shortest
and least painful method of cure is, to pass a seton
from the bottom of the sinus towards the shoulder,

302 THE HORSE.

so as to ensure a drain or dependent outlet for the
matter.

FOMENTATIONS.

Fomentations are liquid washes, generally warm,
consisting either of simple water, or water medi-
cated. They are usually applied to the affected part
by means of flannels soaked in the fluid, and partially
wrung out. They lessen the pain and swelling of
inflamed parts by opening the pores of the skin and
exciting the capillaries to activity. Warm water will
answer all these purposes, but frequently it is pre-
ferred to render the liquid more emollient by adding
a decoction of marsh-mallows, or anodyne by the addi-
tion of an infusion of poppy capsules. The heat of a
fomentation should seldom exceed 100° Fahrenheit.
Hot verjuice or vinegar is by some considered a good
foment for the fetlocks and back-sinews when tume-
fied. For the like purpose some stable-men place
great reliance in a fomentation made by boiling com-
mon salt in milk until half the milk is evaporated.
The affected parts are bathed with this fluid for a
considerable time, and then the remainder is thickened
with bran, and applied as a poultice. The camphor
foment is made by mixing half an ounce of camphor,
two ounces of acetic acid, and ten ounces of common
vinegar.

FOUNDER.

This is an inflammatory attack on the sensible
laminae, or plates uniting the coffin-bone to the wall
of the hoof, and the other vascular portions of the
foot. It is an acute and painful disease, and is fre-
quently caused by over-driving on hard roads ; long

FOUNDER. 30o

standing on board ship ; reaction, produced by cover-
ing the feet with litter after long exposure to wet and
cold ; metastatic transference of inflammation from
other parts of the body ; and by sympathy from over-
distention of the stomach, or by a sudden change of
corn diet, — as from oats to wheat, rye, or barley.
Stallions are more liable to this disease than geldings
and mares, probably from the greater weight of the
fore-hand. Founder generally attacks both fore-feet,
but occasionally only one of them suffers ; sometimes,
however, all four feet are simultaneously inflamed.
When first attacked, the horse evinces pain by con-
tinually shifting his position, and, should the fore-feet
be the seat of the disease, he places the hind ones for-
wards, underneath the body, so as to relieve those be-
fore of part of the pressure. As the complaint ad-
vances, the pulse gets up, the breathing increases in
frequency, the animal lies down, mostly stretching-
out his legs at full length, occasionally regarding the
pained parts with an expressive interest, and flinching
on the application of the slightest touch to them.
The feet are hot, and the arteries of the fetlock throb
with increased violence. If the inflammation be al-
lowed to take its own course, it frequently terminates
by a sloughing, separation, or exfoliation of a portion,
or the whole of the hoof. The most active antiphlo-
gistic remedies are called for. The horn of the sole
and crust should be thinned by the knife and rasp ;
blood should be abstracted from the toe {vide bleed-
ing), and from the jugular vein, which may be re-
peated if the inflammation continue. Hot and cold
fomentations, evaporating lotions, followed by moist
poultices, enveloping the whole of the foot, may be
applied. Pounded ice, placed in cloths, and wrapped
about the feet, is often attended with good results ;
but some care is requisite in gradually discontinuing
the use of this substance, in order to prevent reaction.

304 THE HORSE.

It is the practice of some veterinarians to apply blis-
ters to the pastern and coronet in the early stages of
this complaint ; a custom which I have never seen
attended with beneficial results, and think more in-
clined to increase than diminish the excited action in
the immediate neighbourhood. Attention should be
paid to the general health ; laxatives and nauseating
medicines may be given, with a low diet of green
food, bran, mashes, and the like.

GENTIAN.

The root of the Gentiana lutea is a serviceable vege-
table bitter stomachic. Combined with other medicinal
agents it is found extremely beneficial in anasarcal
swellings of the extremities, farcy, glanders, low fevers,
impairment of the digestive organs producing washi-
ness. It is useful to promote restoration after attacks
of disease, and indeed in all cases of general debility,
in which tonics are indicated, It is usually given in
conjunction with chyryata, quassia, camomile, cin-
chona bark, ginger, the mineral tonics, and Spanish
fly. When the gentian root is given alone, the dose
is about three drachms in fine powder, made into a
ball with honey or treacle. It combines well with
the salts of iron, not producing decomposition, as
many other vegetable astringents do. Gentian root
is a good antiseptic, and on this account a tincture
or infusion is useful in destroying the fetidness of
fistulous and other ulcerations.

GINGER.

Ginger is a cordial, stimulant, and carminative.
Ginger is also a good adjunct with the cold saline

GLANDERS. 305

purgatives ; it also prevents the griping effect that
sometimes accompanies the administration of aloetic
purges improperly prepared. Mr. Morton advises its
combination with cathartics on the ground that it
rouses the vitality of the intestinal surface generally,
and renders it more susceptible of their influence.
The dose of this root as a cordial is from two to four
drachms, but when given as a stimulant in flatulent
colic, more than double the quantity may be admi-
nistered.

GLANDERS.

The nature, cause, prevention, and treatment of
this bane of horse-flesh have of late years become
much better understood than they were formerly. The
improvements in modern stabling of cavalry horses
have almost completely stopped the ravages once so
rife amongst them. Glanders and farcy are essen-
tially modifications of one genus of disease, the chief
cause of both being constitutional debility, induced
by improper habitation. Glanders is only infectious,
or even contagious, in circumstances where the reci-
pient has been subjected to equally bad treatment, so
as to predispose him to the reception and propagation
of the poison. In deciding on the infectious or non-
infectious nature of the disease, we should not over-
look the fact that when it breaks out in a stable, the
same causes that have originated it in one instance are
operating with equal force on the other tenants ; and
instead of subsequent cases being the product of infec-
tion, they are merely the offspring of the working of
the same agents. Like causes produce like effects.
M. Galy, a French veterinarian, is a great partisan
of non-infection. In 1837 he proposed to the Mi-
nister of War the institution of certain experiments,

x

306 THE HORSE.

in order to set the question at rest. His offer was
accepted. Horses labouring under glanders were
mixed with others perfectly sound. The experi-
ment was so successful that no other horses were
attacked, from the absence of a cause sufficiently
potent to its production ; and on the proposition of
M. cle Champagne, Inspector-General of the studs, it
became a question to reconsider the ordinance of the
16th of July, 1784, which required the destruction of
all glandered horses. Sometimes, when glanders
shows itself in constitutions favourable to its recep-
tion, it runs a speedy and fatal course, attacking in
succession the deep-seated lymphatic glands, the me-
senteric glands, and the organs of respiration — this
constitutes the acute form of glanders. Chronic
glanders is less virulent and rapid in its progress. It
usually showrs itself by a discharge from the left nos-
tril in the first instance.

Causes. — Among the most active causes of glanders
are collecting together a great number of horses in a
small or ill- ventilated stable, so as to compel them to
breathe an atmosphere poisoned with exhalations from
the skin, lungs, dung and urine of their companions.
If the crowding be excessive, the causes soon operate.
The closing of the hatches on board the transports
in the Quiberon expedition during a storm glandered
nearly all the horses. In 1843 Mehemet Ali freighted
three ships with horses from the shores of the Black
Sea. They were perfectly healthy on being shipped,
but the great majority were glandered by their close
confinement before they arrived at Alexandria. Low
feeding, combined with imperfect aeration, is a fre-
quent cause of glanders. Structural mal-formation of
the chest, by lowering the vital resistance, predisposes
to the reception of this complaint. Young horses
are more liable to glanders than the adult. In this
country it is most common in the winter season, from

GLANDERS. 307

the lowering effect of cold and the prevalence of close
stabling, while in hotter climates it rages with the
greatest force in the summer.

Symptoms. — Glanders is generally ushered in by
some slight febrile disturbance ; a portion of the usual
supply of corn or other food remains unconsumed ;
the horse looks heavy about the eyes, and the lips are
more pendulous than common ; quickly, a glairy,
viscid discharge flows from one or both nostrils. The
membrane covering the septum of the nose loses
its natural colour, and assumes a pallid hue, the vivid
arterial crimson of the capillaries being changed to a
bluish leaden colour. Ulceration of this tissue is also
frequently present — invariably so in the latter stages,
but not necessarily at the commencement of the
disease. The intermaxillary glands tumefy from the
absorption of the virus, and are tender when pressed.
In acute glanders the discharge soon becomes more
copious and offensive, the lungs are attacked with
tubercle, and the animal rapidly declines ; but in the
chronic form of glanders, the nasal discharge may
remain unaltered, and the horse support his appear-
ance for many months, and occasionally for years.

Treatment. — This disease is not now considered so
hopeless as it was formerly. Numerous cases of suc-
cessful treatment show that it can be subdued by
therapeutic agents. The great drawback to the esta-
blishment of a judicious system of combating this
affection has been an unscientific and unwarrantable
recourse to violent medicinal preparations. All the
most active poisons have been employed again and
again without success. In pursuance of this blind,
empirical plan, Mr. Coleman gave, in the vain hope of
finding a specific, "the various preparations of
arsenic, antimony, copper, zinc, mercury, &c, helle-
bore, aconitum, digitalis, hyoscyamus, cicuta, bella-
donna, &c. &c, but all without any specific or

x 2

308 THE HORSE.

curative effect ; " while some of these substances given
in moderate doses have since been discovered to pos-
sess considerable curative influence over the disease.
The affection being supposed to be generated by, as
well as to generate, an animal virus or poison, powerful
medical poisons were introduced into the system to
combat it. A more correct pathological knowledge
of glanders has led, and will lead to a more rational
method of treating it. If the complaint spring from
such causes as have been enumerated, no plan of
treatment can be successful unless based on a removal
of them. Debility being both a cause and a result of
the disease, our aim should be directed to rouse, sup-
port, and strengthen the powers of the constitution.
Accordingly, such remedies as have a stomachic and
tonic action have been found most beneficial. Mr.
Sewell has cured many cases of confirmed glanders
by administering a solution of sulphate of copper in
moderate doses. Mr. Vines prefers cantharides, bark,
capsicum, cubebs, ginger, gentian, quassia, and such
agents as improve the health and condition, by in-
creasing the appetite, and through it the powers of the
circulation. By adopting such principles, I cured
more than fifty cases of glanders in the stables of the
Egyptian Transit Company. The salts of iron, such
as the sulphate, carbonate, and ioduret, are of essential
service in glanders. Considerable benefit often arises
from the continued use of the sulphuret of antimony
combined with tonics. Chyryata, as a vegetable bitter
and stomachic, is a powerful adjunct to mineral pre-
parations, or to cantharides. When cantharides are
employed, not more than three, four, or five grains
should be given daily, as there will be less danger of
over-dosing ; for as soon as the animal is observed to
refuse a portion of his usual rations, all that is neces-
sary is to desist from the medicine for a day or two.
Since nearly all the medicines possessing a curative

GREASE. 309

effect on glanders act by restoring the health by the
improvement of the digestive powers, strict attention
must be paid to the diet. The food should be of the
best and most nutritious character, given without
restriction, the quantity being alone governed by the
extent of the animal's appetite: — speared corn, malt,
sound oats, beans, and clover-hay, with an occasional
recourse to green food or carrots. The horse should
not be put to work, but daily exercise in the open air
should be taken.

GLYSTERS. Vide CLYSTERS.
GREASE

Is a low inflammation of the sebaceous glands of the
skin of the heels and fetlocks. Under this disease the
glands enlarge and discharge a thin offensive humour.
Cracks or ulcerations of the flexing portions of the
skin are also frequent concomitants of grease. In
bad cases the follicles of the skin assume a fungus or
grape-like appearance. Grease is a disease that at-
tacks horses of weak constitutional powers, and ap-
pears most commonly in the hind legs, they being
farthest removed from the centre of circulation.
Chestnut horses with white legs, are said to be more
subject to grease than any other colour. It frequently
appears in heavy cart-horses of lax fibre and with
thick fleshy legs.

Causes. — Bad stable management is a common
cause of grease. Wet legs, damp stables, deficient
exercise, under or over feeding, injuries to the heels,
want of cleanliness, and great acclivity of the stall,
by putting the parts on the stretch. Grease occurs
frequently from an inflammatory re-action set up
after the legs have been exposed to wet or snow,
increased by the litter preventing a free radiation of
the heat generated. Grease is sometimes a constitu-

x 3

310 THE HORSE.

tional disease, established by nature to counteract
some functional disturbance of the internal structure :
in such cases it is injudicious to check it too suddenly
by the employment of remedial agents.

Treatment. — In the simplest forms, grease is best
combated by the internal administration of diuretics
and alteratives, with bran, linseed-meal, carrot, yeast,
or alum poultices applied locally. Saturnine lotions,
and weak solutions of sulphate of copper, are also
useful. Ointments are not often employed in the
treatment of this affection ; but the following, from
the French of Vatel, is occasionally useful : —

Grease Ointment.

Cupri sub-acetatis - - 1 part.

Lard - - - - 4 parts.

Honey - - - - q. s.

To make an ointment.

It can be diminished in activity by increasing the
proportion of honey. Before application, it is well to
wash the affected part with soft soap and water.

When there is a disposition to the grapy enlarge-
ments, the quickest as well as the most humane prac-
tice is to remove them by the actual cautery. This
prevents loss of blood, and excites a restorative and
healthy inflammation in the surrounding parts. At-
tention should be paid to the diet, by mashes, carrots,
and other alterative food ; and nourishing farinaceous
substances should be supplied where the debility of
the animal calls for it.

gripes. Vide COLIC.
GRUEL.

There are as ninny ways of making gruel for sick
horses as there are for the human patient. It may

GRUEL. — GUMS. 311

be made by simply stirring some oatmeal into warm
water, but it is far more digestible when boiled. It
takes about a pint of meal to make a gallon of good
gruel, and it should be made by mixing the meal with
the water — cold, then placing it on the fire, continue
to stir until it has boiled for a short space, when it is
to be set aside to cool. When gruel is used as a
dilutent it ought to be made thin, but if given as a
restorative to debilitated or convalescent horses, it
should be made thick, and may even be rendered more
tempting by being sweetened with sugar, honey, or
treacle. Wheat flour makes a more nutritious gruel
than oatmeal. Particular care as to cleanliness should
be taken in making gruel ; for if compounded in dirty
vessels, or smoked over the fire, the horse will not
take it voluntarily.

White-water is made by stirring a handful or two of
flour or oatmeal into a bucket of water : it forms a
good diluting drink.

Bran-tea and hay-tea are made by pouring boiling
water upon bran or hay, and covering up the vessel
until cool. They also furnish a grateful and nutri-
tious liquid.

GUMS.

Gums, such as gum arabic and gum tragacanth, are
sometimes employed as demulcents. Solutions of gum
are conveniently given in drenches of sulphate of
copper, to shield the stomach from its corrosive action.
Gums are also occasionally used in the pharmacy to
facilitate the mixture of oil and water.

x 4

312 THE HORSE.

HELLEBORE ( BLACK ).

The acrid roots of the HeUeborm niger or black
hellebore, has been introduced into the veterinary
pharmacopoeia as a local stimulant in fistulous ulcer-
ations of the poll and withers. By sinking a fibre of
the root into each sinus, and allowing it to remain
until the discharge shows an improved action, much
good has been accomplished. For this discovery we
are indebted to Mr. E. Stanley of Banbury. I have
occasionally found it equally serviceable when intro-
duced in the same way into the pipes of a quittor ; it
appears, by a combination of its peculiar stimulating
properties with that of the pressure of a foreign body,
to bring about a new and healthy action in the callous
tissues of the sinuses.

HELLEBORE ( WHITE ).

The Verafrum Album. — Though all parts of this
plant are extremely active and poisonous, yet the root
only is selected as the officinal portion. It was intro-
duced into horse medicine by Mr. Percivall as a
nauseant. It is given in doses of from twenty to
thirty grains, at intervals of four or six hours, until
its depressing action is apparent. In unskilful hands
it is a dangerous medicine, for if its action be carried
too far it has often proved fatal. It undoubtedly is
powerfully sedative, on the system, but it is not more
speedily or certainly so than digitalis, and assuredly
cannot be considered as safe. As an external appli-
cant, white hellebore is of great utility in the cuticu-
lar disease, mange. For this purpose it may be made
into an ointment, or otherwise, combined with an
infusion of tobacco, and with lime-water. — ( Vide
Mange.)

HERNIA. INFLUENZA. 313

HERNIA.

Hernia, or protrusion of the intestines from their
proper cavity, is not a very frequent lesion among
horses. Occasionally foals are dropped with con-
genital hernia. Hernia ventralis, or hernia of the
forward part of the abdomen, sometimes occurs from
sudden exertion. It is often seen among the horses
of the Easterns, whose pride it is, when riding, to
check the animal in his speedy career, and bring him
to a sudden halt. Inguinal and scrotal hernia occur
among stallions, but the latter may occasionally exist
to a limited extent without any apparent inconveni-
ence ; indeed I have more than once found it present
in stallions after death from other causes, in whom
its existence was never dreamt of.

INFLUENZA.

This is a sub-acute inflammation of the mucous
membranes of the body, disordering by sympathy
the whole system. Influenza generally assumes an
epizootic type, spreading over extensive tracts, rag-
ing, disappearing, then breaking out again, neither
confining itself to country or town, or any particular
district or locality. The exciting cause of influenza is
almost universally supposed to be some aerial poison
or infectious miasm, generated by natural causes, and
spread by the winds. This poison being received
into the system by the lungs contaminates the blood
and all the secretions from it. The following descrip-
tion of the symptoms was written some time ago by
one well known to the author. " The character of the
disease varies according to the season of the year, as
well as the state and condition of the animal at the

314 THE HORSE.

time of the attack ; and although it exhibits characters
in common, yet the epidemic of one year will be
marked with some symptoms common to most of
those it attacks, which will not appear with the epide-
mic of the next. In the autumn and winter months,
the pulse is quick and weak, indicating the debilitated
state of the animal. In the spring and summer
months, the disease assumes a more active character.
In some, it bears a resemblance to common fever ;
in others, it is marked from the beginning by severe
constitutional disturbance. In one, the eyes are most
affected ; in a second, the lungs ; in a third, the respir-
atory passages ; in a fourth, the brain is attacked ;
in a fifth, the digestive mucous surfaces, diarrhoea su-
pervening, and the animal sinks under its operation.
The principal features of the disease, at its commence-
ment, are a dead and unhealthy appearance of the coat,
head and ears cold, with drooping, dejected counte-
nance, mouth warm, dry, and feverish, the lips swelled ;
considerable tumefaction of the eyelids, and sometimes
enlargement of the parotid, and one or both of the
lymphatic glands ; eyes nearly closed, and flowing
with tears ; redness of the nasal and conjunctival
membranes, usually accompanied with a yellow dis-
charge (though in some cases it has a green hue),
which appears like a mixture of lymph, pus, and
mucus ; total loss of appetite ; sore throat is generally
present, and sometimes considerable cough, and a
most common accompaniment is swelled legs : but in
all cases there is great and rapid supervention of de-
bility ; this alone is a pathognomic symptom character-
istic of the disease, and of the fever that accompanies
it ; the flanks tucked up ; great disinclination to move
or turn in his stall ; an apparent stiffness of the whole
muscular system, attended with a remarkable degree
of tenderness upon the least touch : when moved, he
stagers and reels about : the dung and ' urine are

INFLUENZA. 315

voided in small quantities, and with apparent difficulty;
the pulse is accelerated to about sixty, small and
weak ; the respiration is not usually at first affected,
but if relief be not obtained at the onset, the inflam-
mation extends to the bronchial passages, and rapidly
assumes every symptom of pneumonia, of an intense
character."

Treatment. — In this disease our usual derivative
resources must be used with care and discrimina-
tion. Bleeding, and other depletive measures, must
be directed by the state of the pulse, the condition
and age of the animal, and the extent and con-
tinuance of the disease. Early in the attack, moderate
bleeding, to the amount of four or five quarts taken
from a large orifice, will be generally beneficial. If
the horse be debilitated, staggers in his walk, and has
a pulse both quick and small, then no blood must be
abstracted. Aperient medicines of a mild character
may be given, with laxative clysters, but care must
be taken not to over-excite the intestines by purgatives.
A formula combining a febrifuge, with mild aperient
and diuretic medicines which I have found of great
value, is subjoined.

Carbonate of ammonia - 1 drachm.

Aloes - - - 1 drachm.

Nitrate of potass - - 1 drachm.

Made into a ball with palm oil and flour.

If spontaneous purging set in, active astringents
should be promptly administered. The exhalents of
the skin should be called into action by warm clothing,
bandages to the legs, hand-rubbing, &c. The box
should be sufficiently ventilated. A vapour bath to
the head, made by half filling a nose-bag with bran
or saw dust, and scalding it with water. This is tied
on over the nose, and promotes secretion from the
nose, sinuses of the head, and the air passages. It
must not, however, be kept on so long as to distress

316 THE HORSE.

the animal, and is more applicable when the disease
has continued for some days. At the same time,
blisters may be applied to the neck, chest, and throat.
As long as febrile symptoms show themselves, the
diet must be low — green meat, mashes, and gruel ;
but as soon as the more active demonstrations of the
disease are subdued, assiduous care should be taken
to promote the restorative process by a more generous
and coaxing diet ; for this purpose, malt mashes,
speared corn, boiled linseed, carrots, and an alterna-
tion of the artificial grasses may be employed, with
the occasional exhibition of a mild stomachic: as the
appetite returns, the horse may be put upon his usual
food.

IODINE.

Iodine or its compounds have not hitherto been
much employed in horse medicine. The inward
administration of iodine, with external use of the
simple iodine ointment, has been successfully tried in
the reduction of indurated glands, remaining after
bastard strangles, influenza, and catarrh. I have seen
the iodine of potassium ointment tried for the reso-
lution of large splints, and with very flattering results ;
but extreme care is necessary, as it sometimes produces
an extensive ulceration of the integument. In 1836,
at the suggestion of Mr. Morton, I tried the curative
effect of ioduret of iron in a case of glanders with
complete success. The commencing dose was ten
grains bi-daily, combined with gentian. This was
gradually increased until each dose amounted to
twenty grains ; at the same time the nostrils were
syringed with a dilute solution of the chloride of lime,
and the most nutritious diet supplied. In less than
a month all symptoms of the disease had disappeared,
and the horse was greatly improved in condition.

IRON. — JAUNDICE. 61 <

IRON (FERRUM).

Some of the preparations of this metal may be
beneficially employed in horse medicine. Of all
the metallic compounds they are the most simple
in their eiFects. Their action is more or less of
a tonic character, giving additional colour to the
blood and muscular tissues, and increasing the force
and fulness of the circulation. The subcarbonate of
iron (ferri subcai^bonas) is not very powerful, and re-
quires to be continued for some length of time before
its effects are evident. The dose is from four to eight
drachms. Sulphate of iron (ferri sulphas) is more
active, and has been used with success in some forms
of glanders. Dose — four drachms. It is a tonic
and astringent. The alkalies, soap, and astringent
vegetable infusions, decompose it, therefore it cannot
be given in combination Avith any of them.

JAUNDICE.

An uncommon affection in the horse. The
reason of which is evident, for as it generally arises
from some obstruction in the vessels collecting- or
conveying the bile from the liver to the duodenum,
and as this passage in our patient is simple and short,
without the usual reservoir, the gall-bladder, such
stoppages are so much the less likely to occur. Yet
occasionally obstructions do take place even in the
uncomplex gall-duct of the horse, and the bile is then
rapidly absorbed and carried into the system, tinging
the skin and mucous membranes of the eye and mouth
yellow — " the yellows " of the farriers. In this
form of the complaint, it will be generally noticed,
that the bowels from losing their natural stimulant

318 THE HORSE.

become costive, and the appetite is impaired or
lost. Therefore the remedies employed are such as
will restore the natural secretion of bile, and excite
the peristaltic motion of the intestines, such as ca-
lomel and aloes in small and repeated doses. Another
form of jaundice attends internal disease as a symp-
tomatic companion. Occasionally it arises from a
morbid flow of bile.

KUMREE.

This is a disease attacking horses in India during the
periodical rains. It exhibits itself as a paralysis of
the hinder limbs, produced by dropsy of the theca ver-
tebralis, or sheath of the spinal marrow. The natural
deposition of fluid is allowed to exceed its healthy
proportion by a diminution of the activity of the
absorbents, or an increase of that of the exhalents.
Horses with kumree go pretty fairly on level ground,
though they always show a weakness about the loins ;
but on ascending or descending a hill the fluid gravi-
tates to one part of the theca, and by pressing on the
medulla spinalis gives rise to paralysis of the motor
nerves situated below the point of pressure. Mr.
Moorcroft opened the frontal sinus, and evacuated the
fluid by elevating the posterior extremities of the
animal, but death ensued on the tenth day from symp-
tomatic fever. The most reasonable plan of treatment
appears to be the administration of such medicines as
increase the action of the absorbents without debili-
tating the animal. With this view moderate doses of
cantharides, repeated daily, might by combining tonic
with diuretic properties be attended with benefit.
Blistering along the course of the spine might assist
the attainment of the same end.

LAMPAS. LAXATIVES. 319

LAMPAS.

This term is applied to a slight intumescence of the
gums and rugae or bars of the palate, existing in sym-
pathetic connection with some derangement of the
stomach, liver, or intestines, though not materially
affecting the health. Accordingly, applications to the
roof of the mouth, such as burning, scarifications, and
medical stimulants, although they may occasionally tem-
porarily relieve the tenderness of the part, will not
remove the tendency to the re-appearance of lampas.
The cause, whether it be worms in the primce vice, bad
food, or improper treatment, must be ascertained and
removed, and lampas, the effect, will readily subside
of itself.

LAXATIVES.

Laxatives are agents that act as mild purgatives.
Diminished doses of cathartics, as of aloes and calomel,
will frequently operate as laxatives. Linseed oil in
half-pint doses is a safe and expeditious laxative.
Bran is a mechanical laxative. Nature provides pe-
riodical laxatives. Grass, twice a year — spring and
fall — is endowed with relaxing properties ; and that
of the salt marshes is so all the year round.

LEAD (PLUMBUM).

Three of the combinations of this metal are ad-
mitted as veterinary officinal preparations: — viz.
The carbonate, the acetate, and the liquor plumbi
diacetatis. The plumbi carbonas, or carbonate of
lead, is used, when powdered, to sprinkle on wounds

320 THE HORSE.

and ulcers to dry them up. The plumbi acetas. Taken
internally, the acetate of lead is a powerful astringent
and sedative, but it is seldom prescribed in horse
medicine. Externally, when dissolved in a large por-
tion of water, with a little distilled vinegar to prevent
decomposition, it constitutes an excellent collyrium in
ophthalmia. A drachm to a pint of water makes a
powerful local application to farcy buds and ulcers,
and to some other forms of cuticular disease. Liquor
plumbi diacetatis, or Goulard's extract, is of nearly
similar properties to the preceding compound. It
acts as a sedative on the skin, and in external inflam-
mations of the eye. Mr. Morton, in his Manual of
Veterinary Pharmacy, recommends " a valuable lini-
ment for excoriated surfaces, or after the appli-
cation of a blister, made by triturating together one
part of the solution of the diacetate of lead and four
parts of olive oil." The formulary for the composition
of the liquor plumbi diacetatis dilutus kept for general
use is

Solution of acetate of lead - one drachm.
Distilled water - - one pint.

Proof spirit - - - one drachm.

lime (calx).

Lime is generally prepared from its natural car-
bonates, by exposing them to a strong red heat.
It is but slightly soluble in water at any tempera-
ture, but more so in cold than in hot water. Ac-
cording to Mr. Phillips's experiments 10,000 grains
of water at 60° dissolve only 9*7 grains of lime.
In this state of solution it is used in veterinary medi-
cine, under the appellation of liquor calcis, or lime
water.

LIME. 321

Liquor Calcis. — To half a pound of lime pour
twelve pints of water ; cover the vessel directly, and
set apart for three hours, when the clear fluid is to
be poured off, and kept in well-stoppered bottles for
use. Lime water exhibited internally is found ser-
viceable in diabetes or profuse staling, and it is also
a good vermifuge.* Externally, it is a useful deter-
gent in mange, surfeit, mallenders, and foul ulcers.

Carbonas Calcis Prceparatus. — Prepared chalk.
Chalk is an antacid and astringent. It checks diarrhoea
when combined with opium, catechu, or starch. The
dose is about an ounce, but no harm will result in
such cases if a much larger quantity be administered.

Calx Chlorinata. — Chloride of lime. This is a
combination of chlorine and lime in so weak a manner
that the chlorine is set free when exposed to the air,
and the lime left in the form of a carbonate. On this
peculiarity depends its valuable disinfecting properties ;
the freed chlorine decomposes any deleterious or fetid
gases that may be floating in the atmosphere. Solu-
tions of chloride of lime, in the proportion of a pound

* On one occasion I was called to attend a case of poisoning from
this agent. The animal, a fine cart-stallion, was supposed to have
worms, and a neighbouring farrier being consulted, it was resolved,
after fasting the animal all day, to administer a solution of lime : to ren-
der the attainment of the desired object certain, he most injudiciously
stirred up the slaked lime from the bottom of the bucket in which the
solution was made, and in this manner gave an unknown quantity of the
caustic earth. Its effects soonbecame alarmingly apparent; the lips were
blistered, excoriated, and swollen, the buccal membrane spotted with red
patches, long ropes of slime depended from the mouth ; the eyes were
most sensitively affected, the lids hanging half closed, tumefied, and dis-
charging tears ; the urine when passed was high coloured, and the fasces
hard, dry, and covered with a deep-brown crust, indicative of internal
heat. Pulse seventy, and full. There was an unwillingness to move,
and a total loss of appetite. — Treatment. V. S. to eight quarts : as an
acid was chemically indicated, I administered a quart of common vinegar,
diluted, as being the soonest procurable. The change from this time was
magically beneficial : in less than three hours afterwards he was able to
pick a little bran mash, and had evidently overcome the pernicious
effects of the poison. Subsequently he was drenched with ten ounces of
linseed-oil and a quantity of gruel. In a few days he was able to return
to his work, although the prostration in the first instance had been alarm-
ing. I give this case as a caution to prevent a recivrrence of similar
accidents by the employment of ignorant empirics.

322 THE HORSE.

to a gallon of water, is a valuable applicant in foul
phagedenic ulcers or wounds, and in grease and
mange. Mr. Youatt recommends its internal use in
flatulent distension of the stomach, in doses of a pint
to a quart.

LINSEED.

Infusion of linseed, or linseed-tea, is given as a
demulcent in coughs, catarrhs, and sore throats.
Linseed-meal makes a good emollient poultice, and
forms a proper vehicle for giving bulk to balls. Lin-
seed-oil is one of the safest cathartics known. In
doses of from a pint to a quart it acts with a certitude
and gentleness unknown to any other cathartic. As
a vermifuge it is highly valued.

lotions : vide embrocations.

MALLENDERS AND SALLENDERS.

These terms, borrowed from the old menage, are
applied to scurfy eruptions of the skin — the former at
the back or bending part of the knee, and the latter
in the most forward, flexing, portion of the hock.
They arise from insufficient grooming ; the sebaceous
glands of the parts being excited by the accumulated
dirt and the dried salts of the perspiration, to a dis-
eased secretion, accompanied with scaly exfoliations
of the cuticle. Washing with soap and water, to-
gether with the subsequent application of astringent
lotions, soon remedy these trifling departures from
the healthy state.

MANGE.

An eruptive itching, and contagious affection of the
skin, said to arise from the presence of the acarus, or

MANGE. 323

itch insect. Mange usually first shows itself about
the mane and tail ; the roots and bulbs of the long
hairs of which eventually become diseased, and on
pulling some of them out, pus is found adhering to
them. It soon spreads itself to other parts of the
body, divesting the skin of patches of hair about the
neck, shoulders, croup, and loins. When arising
spontaneously, it appears, in the majority of instances,
in such as are emaciated ; and these also take it more
readily by contact, while sound-constitutioned horses,
even when exposed to contagion, resist and overcome
its attacks. Mange is generally regarded as a local
disease ; but as its causation is so materially aided by
debility, we should not overlook constitutional reme-
dies when endeavouring to cure it. With this view,
errors in diet should be rectified ; generous food should
be liberally supplied : the changes may be rung on
carrots, vetches, and speared corn, so as to produce
an alterative effect on the system. Tonics may also
be given with advantage, combined with sulphur,
antimony, or even the mercurials. Before the use of
external applications, the skin should be well washed
with soft soap and water, and an occasional repetition
of the practice will be of service. Mr. Blaine recom-
mends a wash composed of —

" White hellebore - two ounces.

Tobacco ----- two ounces.

Lime-water, strong and fresh made one pint.

Water three pints.

Boil the hellebore and tobacco in the three pints of
water to a quart ; when cold, add the lime-water. Put
the whole into a bottle, and cork it well, pouring it
out as wanted." I have frequently used this formula,
and found it highly efficacious, but think the addition
of a couple of ounces of sulphur increases its curative
virtues.

Diluted creosote and oil of tar have been success-

324 THE HORSE.

fully appplied as a remedy for mange, but the chief
objection is their offensive odour. Equal parts of
Stockholm tar, cocoa-nut oil, and bees' wax, melted
together, and rubbed into the skin with a stiff brush,
will often remove this complaint when other means
fail.

MASHES.

Mashes constitute the chief part of the provender
of a sick or convalescent horse, and they are also
given as prophylactic means of preserving the animal's
health. Mashes are most commonly made of sweet
bran, by pouring boiling water on it, in a bucket, so
that they may be, when well mixed, soft, or about the
consistence of a poultice. There are but few horses
who will not eat a bran mash, and these may be
induced to do so by mixing a little corn with it, so
as to make it more palatable to them. Bran mashes
are of themselves slightly laxative, and for this reason
should be repeatedly had recourse to when horses
stand too long in the stable and become costive. A
mash given on Saturday night obviates any ill effects
of standing still on Sunday ; and for heavy draught
horses the practice of allowing one at that time will
tend much to keep those that are high-fed in health.
Bran mashes are also given preparative to more
active cathartic medicine, as, by their preliminary
laxative effect, they remove hard food from the intes-
tines, and promote an easier purgative action. On
this account it is generally the custom to allow horses
bran mashes the day previous to their being put
under the operation of cathartics, and to continue
their use until the purging ceases, or in stable lan-
guage, till the physic has set. Steaming bran mashes,
placed in a nose-bag, are adverted to, to clear the
head in catarrhal affections. Malt mashes are most

MASHES. — MERCURY. 325

important restoratives to diseased and debilitated
horses. They are both nutritive and tempting, and
many a horse's life has been saved by recourse to this
food. Malt should not be scalded to make a mash ;
for if the temperature of the water be too high, the
malt will clog together, and be less relished by the
patient. Another form of mash, though it can
scarcely be included in that category, is partially ger-
minated or speared corn. By moistening corn in a
heap for twenty-four hours, and then spreading it
out to the air until the germinating process is set up, a
change takes place in its proximate constituents, and
sugar is the immediate product. Hence it affords
nutriment with less difficulty of assimilation, and in
weakened constitutions this property is of value.
Where corn is employed in this manner, it must not
be sprouted in too large quantities, but made from
day to day, as consumed, for it is apt, when kept too
long, to grow sour and mouldy.

MERCURY (HYDRARGYRUM).

The mercurial preparations admitted into the
equine pharmacopoeia are mercurial ointment, the
ointment of the nitrate of mercury, calomel, corro-
sive sublimate, and iEthiops-mineral.

Unguentum Hydrargyri Fortius. — Strong mercurial
ointment. " Take of purified lard twenty-three
ounces, prepared suet an ounce. First rub the mer-
cury with the suet and a little of the lard until the
globules disappear ; then add the remainder of the
fat, and mix." The milder mercurial ointment is
made by diluting the above with twice its weight of
lard. The strong mercurial ointment is rubbed on
the skin covering ossific deposits and callous tumefac-
tions of the extremities, to promote absorption. It
is also endermically applied with benefit in some

Y 3

326 THE HORSE.

forms of hepatic disease : when introduced in this
manner, it is found to act more powerfully on the sys-
tem without deranging the bowels. The milder oint-
ment is used in scurfy eruptions of the skin, as mal-
lenders, and it has also been occasionally employed in
some of the modifications of mange.

Ungumtum Hydrargyri Nitratis, or ointment of the
nitrate of mercury.

Purified mercury - one ounce.

Nitric acid - - eleven fluid ounces.

Prepared lard - - six ounces.

Olive oil - - four fluid ounces.

Dissolve the mercury in the acid ; then mix the solu-
tion, while it is hot, with the lard and oil melted
together. This ointment is used as an outward sti-
mulant and detergent in the varied forms of cutaneous
eruptive diseases.

Hydrargyri Chloridum. — Proto- chloride of mer-
cury, calomel. Notwithstanding the value of calo-
mel in human medical practice, it is not much used
by the veterinarian. As a purgative it can seldom be
depended upon, and is considered unsafe. When given
repeatedly it is apt to accumulate in the system and
produce sudden ptyalism or salivation ; consequently,
it is necessary to follow its administration by laxatives
or purgatives, a course not always convenient or even
proper. At the Veterinary College it is much used
as a vermifuge, being given in doses of from one to
two drachms at night, followed in the morning by an
aloetic purge. In torpidity of the liver, calomel is
admissible and useful. Solution of calomel in lime-
water (two drachms to the pint), " black- wash," is
sometimes used to excite a healthy action in ulcers.

Hydrargyri Bichloridum, corrosive sublimate, has
been prescribed as a tonic alterant, by some practi-
tioners, in glanders and farcy, in daily doses of from

MERCURY. MYRRH. 327

ten to twenty grains, but it always requires atten-
tive watching. It is used extensively as an eschar-
otic, and occasionally in mange, and for the destruc-
tion of lice. For the last purposes, an aqueous solu-
tion is made of a few grains to the ounce. This is
also of service as a stimulating lotion in chronic
grease.

Hydi^argyri Sulphiiretum Nigrum. — The black
sulphuret of mercury, iEthiops-mineral. This pre-
paration of mercury possesses considerable power as
a tonic in farcy, glanders, and in cases of inveterate
mange. Blaine recommends its more frequent use as
an alterative and vermifuge. The dose is from two
to three drachms, given in the horse's corn, once or
twice a day, until the breath is offensively affected, or
it acts perceptibly on the kidneys.

MYRRH.

This is a gum-resin. It has been prescribed in-
ternally as a tonic, in doses of one or two drachms,
but is now replaced by more efficient agents. Its
principal use is as a traumatic in spirituous solution,
alone or in combination with aloes.

Simple Tincture of Myrrh.

Myrrh - - - four ounces.

Rectified spirits - - three pints.

Macerate for a fortnight, and filter for use.

Compound Tincture of Myrrh.

Simple tincture of myrrh - two pints.

Aloes, powdered - - three ounces.

Macerate as before, and strain.

x 4

328 THE HOUSE.

NARCOTICS.

Narcotics are supposed to act primarily on the
brain and nerves, and through them on the vascular
system. They cause a depression of the vital power.
Their first action is imagined to be exciting, but this
is quickly followed by the sedative effect. The prin-
cipal narcotics are opium, digitalis, hellebore, and to-
bacco.

NEPHRITIS.

Nephritis, or inflammation of the kidneys, some-
times makes its appearance among horses. It is
highly dangerous. It generally arises from eating
mow-burnt hay or musted oats ; from revulsion of
the circulating fluids by exposure to cold, rain, and
evaporation, particularly over the loins ; over-exertion
will also occasionally bring it on. The animal ex-
presses great pain, standing with his hind legs wide
apart, and repeatedly endeavouring to stale, but
usually without effect, or only in small quantities, and
that discoloured and bloody. The indications offered
by the pulse tell of the progressive inflammation : in
the commencement of the attack it is full and frequent,
but eventually more rapid and oppressed. Pressure on
the loins gives pain. Treatment. — Free and repeated
bleedings, back-raking, clysters, and a mercurial or aloe-
tic purge. Nothing possessing a diuretic action should
be administered, as it would only increase the evil. For
this reason, blistering applications, into whose compo-
sition the Spanish beetle, or even turpentine, enters,
must be discarded. Sinapisms may be used instead.
A sheep-skin, just stripped from the animal, and put
over the loins with the woolly side outwards, will
promote an active local diaphoresis. It is usually

NEUROTOMY. 329

recommended to keep the horse short of water dur-
ing the continuance of nephritis, but I regard the
practice as injudicious. Nauseating doses of aloes
may be given every two or three hours.

NEUROTOMY.

It was found that if the nerves of sensation were
divided between the brain or medulla spinalis and the
parts they supply, that no sentient perceptions from
the parts below the section would be transmitted to
the sensorium, until, in the progress of time, the
divided ends of the nerve again united. If a short por
tion of the nerve were removed, the loss of sensation
would be still further prolonged, until a reproduction
of nervous tissue reunited the severed fibrils. Pro-
fessor Sewell availed himself of these facts, and applied
them to the treatment and cure of disease of the feet
of the horse. To him the public are entirely indebted
for the introduction of this valuable veterinary thera-
peutic agent. He states that he has performed it suc-
cessfully in more than eleven hundred cases. If the
nerves be divided above the fetlock-joint, all sensation
in the foot will be destroyed ; but as these nerves give
off branches just above the joint, to supply the front
portion of the foot and side cartilages, it will be evident,
that if the section is made below the fetlock, that feel-
ing in the foot will not be entirely removed. On this
account the high operation is found most beneficial
in cases of ring-bone, ossified cartilages, quittor, and
sand-crack; and the low operation in joint capsular
disease, contraction, and in tetanus, from punctures
of the sole or navicular joint. Neurotomy is inappli-
cable in cases of inflamed laminae, founder, and in
flat or convex soled or pumiced feet. If the nerve be
simply divided, though there be a retraction of the ends,

OoO THE HORSE.

they it will unite again in less than two months. In
quittor, sand-crack, or when only one of the cartilages
is diseased, it is only necessary to divide the nerve on
the affected side ; but in all other cases it is best to di-
vide the nerves on each side. When the unnerving
effect is wished to be continued for some considerable
time, a portion of the nerve is cut away, varying from
half an inch to an inch in length. Possibly, part of
the advantage accruing to cases of chronic inflam-
mation of the feet arises from the circulation and
the temperature being simultaneously diminished with
the section of the nerve.

The operation is easily performed. The horse is
cast, and the leg intended to be operated upon firmly
secured. The pulsations of the artery direct the in-
cision through the skin. The artery, vein, and nerve,
accompany each other down the leg, the nerve
lying most towards the back parts of the leg is known
by its silvery reflection. The nerve is elevated by a
tenaculum or by a bent needle, and cut asunder from
beneath upwards. When a portion is to be excised,
the upper incision should be made first, as, by so
doing, the severe and painful paroxysm that accom-
panies its division will not be repeated. The small
wounds made in the integuments may be drawn to-
gether by suture or compress, so as to bring about
a union by the first intention, or they may be left
entirely to nature's restorative powers.

NITRE.

The nitrate of potassa, or nitre, is frequently used
as a cooling diuretic. It is given in fevers, coughs,
and catarrhs. Most frequently it is combined with
an adjuvans or assisting agent, in accordance with the
object in view. As a febrifuge, it may be combined
with carbonate of ammonia, and with tartar emetic, or

OPHTHALMIA. 331

other antimonials : in colds and coughs, it may be
dissolved in linseed-tea, or any other demulcent drink.
A moderate dose is about three drachms, but much
larger quantities are frequently given by farriers. I
have seen a horse poisoned with nitre, but could not
ascertain the dose given. As a diuretic, it may be
conveniently dissolved in the water given to the horse
to drink. A solution is sometimes applied outwardly
to gangrenous wounds.

OPHTHALMIA.

Common ophthalmia, or inflammation of the con-
junctiva, generally arises from mechanical injuries to
the eye ; occasionally it is an attendant on catarrh
and other epidemic inflammatory complaints. It
usually gives way to the remedies found most efficient
in reducing local inflammations, such as topical bleed-
ings, fomentations, astringent applications, blisters,
&c. But another kind of ophthalmia attacks the eye of
the horse, which is far less certain in its cause, course,
and cure, termed specific or periodical ophthalmia. This
affection is destructive to the functions of the eye,
and is supposed to be both constitutional and heredi-
tary. It does not appear to be much under the in-
fluence of surgical and medical treatment ; attacks
one eye, to disappear and be reproduced in the same
or the opposite globe, thus alternating from eye to eye
until one or both are destroyed. Specific ophthalmia
is less a superficial disease than common ophthalmia.
It does not confine itself to the outward covering of
the eye, but invades, simultaneously, or in rapid suc-
cession, the other portions of the visual globe. The
eye-lids are swollen, and partially closed to exclude
the rays of light ; the eye-ball is retracted into the
orbit, and the haw, itself inflamed, is forced over the
front part of the organ ; there is a discharge of scald-

332 THE HORSE.

ing tears ; the pupil is contracted ; the humours of
the eye turbid ; and the conjunctiva injected. At
other times the disease is more mild at the commence-
ment of the attack ; there is only a simple opacity of
the cornea, which intermits at irregular intervals
without any primary derangement of the deep por-
tions of the ball of the eye. The causes of this sin-
gular complaint are not well defined, but there can
be no doubt that hereditary predisposition is a fre-
quent source of it. Congestion of blood about the
head, from pressure of the collar, disturbances of the
digestive organs from bad food, and insufficient ven-
tilation, may originate or increase the liability to this
ophthalmia. Hurtrel d'Arbobal regards dentition as
an occasional cause of this periodical disease, and I
think with good reason, as it generally appears in
young horses during the process of teething, and is
increased by the mastication of hard and dry food.
The treatment of specific ophthalmia does not essen-
tially differ from that of common inflammations of
the conjunctival membrane. Fomentations, colly-
riums, bleeding from the angular vein, scarifications
of the vessels of the lids, setons passed near the eye,
rowels under the throat, blisters, laxative medicine,
and soft diet, are among the usual means adopted,
sometimes with success, but too often without any
attending benefit. Some practitioners have advo-
cated the destruction of one eye in order to save
the other ; and from the long prevalence of the cus-
tom among farriers, together with the knowledge of
the physiological fact, that the loss of one organ of
sensation has a tendency to strengthen the other, and
also granting something for the counter-irritation
which must be set up, it is not unreasonable to sup-
pose this line of practice may frequently be success-
ful, though I have had no direct experience of its
effects. The natives of Egypt, when attacked with

opium. 333

the epidemic ophthalmia of the country, commonly
resort to this somewhat anomalous operation in order
to preserve the sight of one eye.

OPIUM.

This is a well-known powerful sedative and anti-
spasmodic on the horse. Though enormous doses
can be given in health without producing sleepiness,
yet in diseases of nervous excitation small quantities
act with decisive energy in allaying the irritation.
Professor Coleman denied the power of opium on this
quadruped. Possibly the reason why this agent does
not produce somnolency in the horse is, that he is an
animal that sleeps but little, and therefore is almost
insensible to such an action, although it may operate
otherwise as a sedative : consequently those who
deny the influence of opium from such grounds,
form their opinions on erroneous premises. In te-
tanus its effects are markedly efficacious. In doses
of two or three drachms, in spasmodic colic, the
benefit is sometimes striking. As an astringent, in
diarrhoea or superpurgation, opiate clysters are em-
ployed to restrain the inordinate excretion and the
accompanying tenesmus, with good effect. In en-
teritis, a dose of opium, preceded by blood-letting,
often puts a period at once to the disease. For this
purpose, a couple of drachms is given dissolved in
warm water as a drench, and repeated at hourly inter-
vals, if necessary. As an anti-spasmodic, a spirituous
solution is generally preferred.

Tincture of Opium.

Opium, powdered, two and a half ounces.
Proof spirit, two pints.
Macerate for fourteen days, and strain.

134 THE HORSE.

PERITONITIS.

This is an inflammation of the peritoneal covering
of the intestines, differing in its symptoms but little
from enteritis, or inflammation of the intestines them-
selves. Peritonitis seldom arises spontaneously, but
mostly from mechanical injuries, such as inflammation
extending up the spermatic cord after castration, abdo-
minal wounds, hernia, strangulation of the intestines,
membranous strains, and injuries during leaping or
galloping. In the course of the disease the other
tissues of the intestines become involved in the inflam-
matory action, and its treatment is consequently
similar to that of enteritis.

PIMENTA.

The pimenta berry, or Jamaica allspice, was intro-
duced into horse-medicine as a stimulating anti-
spasmodic, by Mr. Bracy Clark. He advocated its
employment in gripes, in the form of tincture, in doses
of four ounces every hour, until relief was obtained.

Tincture of Pimenta.

Pimenta berries, bruised - - one pound.

Proof spirits - - - six pints.

Macerate for fourteen days, and filter.

PNEUMONIA, OR PNEUMONITIS.

An inflammation of the substance of the lungs.
Pneumonia is rapid and dangerous in its course and
terminations, and is a disease to which horses in a state
of domestication appear particularly predisposed. The
causes are supposed to be plethora, from high feeding

PNEUMONIA. 335

and want of exercise ; over-exertion when out of con-
dition ; revulsion of the circulating fluids, by hot cloth-
ing and close stabling, followed by exposure to cold,
particularly in the spring and autumn during the
shedding of the coat, and by alternations from cold to
heat : occasionally it rages in almost an epizootic form
when the spring continues wet and cold. Young
horses are very liable to it. Mucous irritation of the
trachea, the bronchia, or the air-cells, sometimes
degenerates into active inflammation of the paren-
chyma of the lungs. Pneumonia is not frequently
ushered in by any enduring premonitory symptoms,
its attack being generally sudden. A shivering is
noticed ; the ears and legs become unnaturally cold ;
the animal is languid and dull ; refuses his food ; the
breath is elevated in temperature ; the mouth hot,
clammy, and dry. As the disease takes confirmed
hold, the breathing quickens, the flanks heave, the
inspirations become somewhat longer than the expira-
tion, which is short and painful. He stands with his
fore-legs separated, in order that the muscles attach-
ing the limbs to the chest may assist in expand-
ing that cavity, by drawing the ribs outward. The
pulse, at first variable and depressed, now becomes
irregular, rapid, and scarcely perceptible. Patches of
perspiration occur, but the sweating is rarely so
copious as when the bowels are the subject of in-
flammatory action. Death ensues, often as early
as the second day from the commencement of the
attack ; but commonly that event does not take place
till about the sixth day, or even at a more extended
period.

Treatment. — As the lungs are highly vascular, vital
organs, it is evident that venesection must have con-
siderable influence on them when suffering from an
increased determination of blood or congestion. Co-
pious bleedings from a large orifice, in the early stages

336 THE HORSE.

of the complaint, is the sheet-anchor in the treatment
of pneumonia. If the finger be kept on the pulse,
the relief is observed to be almost immediate. The
obstructed and oppressed state of the circulation
perceptibly decreases. The pulse, before wiry and
irregular, becomes, by the abstraction of blood, more
full, equal, and regular in its vibrations. Even after
the first bleeding, should the respiration maintain an
unnaturally exalted state, and the pulse continue bound-
ing and strong, we must again recur to venesection.
Endeavours should be made to equalise the circulation,
by clothing, bandages to the legs, and by the admit-
tance of a pure, cool atmosphere — a well-ventilated
box being far preferable to a stall. Water should be
placed at the disposal of the animal, and he should be
kept free from interruptions and annoying disturb-
ances. From the intimate sympathy which exists
between the lungs and intestines, the administration
of purgative medicine in pneumonia is often found to
be followed by a transference of the inflammatory
action to the bowels ; therefore, if costiveness be
present, endeavours must be made to relieve it by
back-raking, enemas, and mashes. Nauseating, seda-
tive, diaphoretic, and mild diuretic medicaments are
most to be depended on in pneumonia. If laxatives
be imperatively requisite, small doses (five or six
ounces) of linseed oil will be found safer than aloes.

Blisters of cantharides may be applied to the chest
and sides. As a valuable nauseant and sudorific, Mr.
Percivall recommends the white hellebore root (vera-
trum album radix), prescribed as follows : —

White hellebore - - from a scruple to

half a drachm.
Powdered camomile flowers half an ounce.
Simple syrup - q. s.

PNEUMONIA. 337

To be made into a ball, and administered every
third or fourth hour.

When the high state of irritation is apparently sub-
siding, Mr. Blaine suggests the administration of the
following compound, repeated in accordance to the
urgency of the symptoms : —

Antimonial powder - - two drachms.

Digitalis (powdered fox-glove) - two drachms.
Nitrated potass (nitre) - three drachms.

Supertartrate of potass (cream

of tartar) - •• - three drachms.

I have always placed considerable reliance on the
use of the sesquicarbonate of ammonia, when the first
shock of inflammation is overcome : though it is in
opposition to the spirit and theory of human medi-
cine {vide ammonia, sesquicarbonate). In accordance
with the doctrine of the schools, Mr Blaine urges,
" that direct stimulants are admissible only in cases
where the severity of the inflammatory symptoms has
relaxed;" but experience has taught me that horses
bear early stimulation much better than the human
patient, and that the lower state of their vital resist-
ance demands it. A ball formed of

Sesquicarbonate of ammonia,

coarsely powdered, from - one to two drachms.
Nitrate of potass - - two drachms.

Powdered resin - - two drachms.

Aloes - - - half a drachm.

Made into a ball with palm-oil and ground linseed,
and given every two, three, or four hours, until the
state of the secretions is improved, and the demand for
them less urgent.

Setons across the chest or behind the elbows are of
paramount importance in assisting the counter-irrita-
ting action of the blisters already recommended.

z

338 THE HORSE.

"While the disease continues but little attempt
should be made to force food on the animal. Nature
is the best guide. A few tares may be placed before
him, of which he will occasionally pick a few stalks.
A potion of linseed-tea or thin gruel may also be
offered him, but drenching in the early stages should be
avoided, as unnecessarily disturbing the patient. Dur-
ing the convalescence of the animal, nutritive drenches
and food may be supplied, and he may be walked about
in fine weather, the distance and continuance of the
walks being regulated by his returning strength.

POLL-EVIL

Is originally a deep-seated abscess near the junction of
the head and neck, the matter of which, being pre-
vented by the vertebral bones from opening down-
wards, makes its outlet at the poll, and appears there
in the shape of an extensive, fistulous, spreading ulcer.
Its situation is primarily beneath the yellow cervical
ligament, or pax-wax, in the ligaments and condensed
cellular tissue connecting the first bones of the neck to
the occiput. Almost the sole cause of this painful
affection is the use of the bearing-rein, which, by
keeping the head in an unnatural position, throws
an injurious stress on the ligaments when the
animal exerts himself in drawing. Hence it is
seen exclusively in horses employed in draught,
particularly those of the heaviest description. Its
treatment is very similar to that of fistulous withers.
We must endeavour to obtain a depending opening to
drain the matter formed and in the course of secre-
tion, by passing a seton obliquely through the muscle
and integuments. Our next object will be to stimulate
the fistulous and callous lining of the ulcer to a more
healthy action, by the application of escharotics, as
the diluted mineral acids, solutions of the nitrate of
silver, perchloride of mercury, &<\, not forgetting that

POULTICES. 339

an occasional recurrence to an opposite plan of treat-
ment, the employment of saturnine and sedative
lotions, will frequently be found beneficial. If such a
course be adopted in the early stage of the disease,
no recourse will be required to be had to the abhorrent
method of scalding, so common among farriers in their
endeavours to cure poll-evil.

potass, vide nitre.

POULTICES.

Poultices are generally made of bran or linseed
meal. They are often of the utmost service in abating
inflammations in the extremities. As poultices pro-
duce their beneficial action by the emollient effect of
the moisture they contain, they should be invariably
kept wet. If allowed to dry, they ferment, and
impede the radiation of the animal heat from the
diseased part, so as to do absolute injury. In applying
them to the extremities, care should be taken not to
tie on the canvass or cloth in which they are wrapped
so tightly as to obstruct the circulation, for in such
cases, instead of assuaging the inflammation, they will
increase it. Poultices of stale beer grounds, boiled
carrots, or powdered charcoal, correct the fcetidness
of foul, ichorous, discharging surfaces, as in grease,
&c. Poultices wet with Goulard's extract frequently
induce the production of healthy granulations in
wounds and ulcers. Poultices into which a large por-
tion of alum enters are of advantage in cracked heels.

PURGATIVES, vide CATHARTICS.
QUASSIA.

Infusion of quassia forms an excellent tonic bitter
drench, admissible whenever the administration of
tonics is called for.

z 2

340 THE HOUSE.

QUITTOR

Is a fistulous ulceration, showing itself at or about
the junction of the skin with the hoof. Sometimes it
is brought on by injuries to the bottom of the foot,
such as punctures, bruises, and wounds from flints,
granite, &c, which giving rise to inflammation ex-
tending to suppuration, and no outlet being formed
through the insensible and unabsorbable horn for the
passage of the pus, it collects and forces its way
upwards, discharging itself at the coronet. Occasion-
ally, however, quittor results from direct injuries to
the coronet, as treads, over-reaches, and abrasions.
When the lesion is allowed to proceed without treat-
ment, extensive separations of the wall of the foot from
the sensible parts takes place ; the side cartilages also
become implicated in the inflammation set up, and
not unfrequently the bones themselves are extensively
diseased. In most cases it will be necessary to thin
the sole, and examine well into the utility of making
a dependent drain for the sanies and matter formed,
more particularly if the injury has commenced from
mechanical violence to the bottom of the foot, and
matter is collected under the sole. Such portions of
the sole as have lost their attachment to the living
structures should be cut away, but I am no advocate
for a rash and indiscriminate removal of the partially
separated wall of the foot. As the inflamed parts
swell, and are encompassed on all sides by hard horn,
it is desirable to give as much relief as possible by
thinning the sole, rasping the wall over the sinuses,
and by constantly enveloping the foot in a large and
moist poultice. Stimulants may be injected with a
syringe into the pipes or sinuses, and retained there by
closing the orifice with a pledget of lint. Consistent
caustic substances may be introduced with eminent ser-
vice : plugs of linen or flax, dipped in solutions of

RABIES. 341

the protochloricle of mercury, and impregnated with
melted wax, tar, or resin. A still better " coring out"
medicament may be made by pounding a few raisins
up with a few grains of the acetate of copper. Such
compounds are introduced into the sinuses by a flexible
blunt-pointed probe. When the diseased pipes are
straight, and it can be conveniently done, the actual
cautery may be used by preparing small cylindrical
irons, adapted to the size of the sinuses, into which
they are to be passed at a red heat. Such treatment
will often save a great deal of trouble, and at the same
time relieve the animal from a repetition of irritating
caustic applications.

RABIES, MADNESS, OR HYDROPHOBIA.

This dreadful disease has no spontaneous origin in
the horse, but is invariably communicated to him by
the virus contained in the saliva of carnivorous ani-
mals, such as bites from rabid dogs. Mr. Youatt says
that it follows the innoculating bite at some period
varying from three to eight weeks, while Mr. Blaine
gives a longer range to the incubation of the rabid
virus, and thinks that the time of its appearance is
from five weeks to three months ; but that its attack
is always quickest when the bite is received in the
head. I recollect a case that would appear to confirm
this last assertion, for the horse was bitten in the lips,
and after the lapse of twenty days the violent symp-
toms of rabies showed themselves. As is usually the
case, the wounds having previously healed, again
opened, and discharged a fluid excretion. Soon after
the attack the animal is truly mad, he lashes about,
destroying everything before him, covered with perspi-
ration, and apparently unconscious of the injuries he is
doing to himself by his frantic conduct. As the disease
advances there is usually a paralysis of the hinder

z 3

342 THE HOUSE.

extremities, and the melancholy scene is generally
terminated by death, within twelve hours of its com-
mencement. It is said that the saliva of a rabid
horse will communicate the disease. The treatment of
rabies must be prophylactic or preventive, for when
once the symptoms are fully established, no cure is
known. As soon as possible after the bite has been
received, the wound should be washed with soap and
water, the hair shaved off from the surrounding parts,
and such portions as are punctured or lacerated may
be carefully dissected away, so as to remove all con-
tamination. Caustics or the hot iron may be after-
wards applied to the surface of the wound. The
nitrate of silver is most commonly employed, and is
even preferred by Mr. Youatt (a good authority on
the subject) to the actual cautery. With respect to the
administration of internal medicine, there is no agent
at present known upon which the least reliance can be
placed.

RAKING.

The process of removing the fceces impacted in the
rectum by the hand is termed back-raking. It is of
great service when constipation accompanies inflam-
matory attacks, and in such cases it should be always
practised before the injection of clysters. Boys per-
form this operation with the greatest ease, as their
hand is much easier admitted. It should be done slowly,
and before commencing, the hand and arm ought to be
oiled, in order to facilitate their introduction.

red colic : vide enteritis.

RESIN.

Resin is one of the most active agents on the list of
diuretics. It produces its effects without deranging
any other functions of the body, and may be admin-
istered almost under any circumstances. It is gene-

RESIN. — RINGBONE. 343

rally combined with assisting materials, such as
nitre, soap, turpentine, juniper, &c. ; but this is
almost needless, for it acts well on the kidneys
without any other substance to aid or correct its
operation, and only requires some body to keep its
particles in a divided state. The dose of resin is from
three to eight drachms.

Resin enters into the composition of adhesive
charges and of digestive ointments, for dressing
wounds, setons, rowels, and other issues. For the
latter purposes a good ointment may be made as
follows : —

Unguentum Resince

Resin, powdered - - two pounds.

Yellow wax - - - one pound.

Lard - - - four pounds.

Melt together at a low heat, and while hot strain
through a coarse linen cloth.

RINGBONE.

When exostosis extends itself around the pastern
joint it is termed ringbone. It arises from concussion.
Bony matter is deposited in the room of cartilagi-
nous or ligamentous substance, often to the extent
of completely obliterating or anchylosing the joint.
When it has proceeded thus far, all treatment is use-
less ; but prior to that event, during the progress of
the inflammation, counter-irritation should be actively
employed. Sweating-blisters repeated at short in-
tervals, setons, and the actual cautery may be resorted
to.

ROARING.

Any obstruction to the free transit of the air
through the respiratory passages will cause an unna-
tural noise. Such sounds, the result of a departure

z 4

344 THE HORSE.

from the healthy state, are, when more moderate,
termed by the people of the stable, piping, wheezing,
whistling, &c. Possibly the most frequent cause of
roaring is a paralysis or even partial absorption of the
small muscles opening and closing the glotis or en-
trance to the wind-pipe. This often arises from the
use of the bearing-rein; from driving carriage horses
always on the same side, so that the head and neck
being twisted this portion of the trachea is thrown
into and kept in an unnatural position, Avhich, by being
repeated from day to day, puts one set of muscles en-
tirely out of use, and eventually produces the obstruc-
tion to the passage of the air which causes the noise.
The long-legged, gaunt, carriage horses, so much pa-
tronised by George the Fourth, are exceedingly predis-
posed to this lesion. Thickening of the lining mem-
brane of the larynx, membranous bands, the product
of pre-existing inflammations, sometimes produce
this imperfection. The prevalent custom of "cough-
ing" horses, by pinching the laryngeal cartilages, may
give rise to roaring, from the accession of inflamma-
tion followed by a deposition of lymph permanently
thickening the investing membrane, and probably
producing adhesions, As roaring is proved to be in-
heritable, roarers should never be bred from : some
peculiarity of formation existing in the parent may
be transmitted to the offspring and reproduce the
same defect, or at least predispose to its reproduction.
The treatment of roaring must accord with the sup-
posed cause. Mr. Sewell's plan in such cases as are
supposed to arise from the bearing-rein, is to keep the
animal tied up, with his head elevated. If there be rea-
son to suspect that irritation is still going on, setons
may be introduced near the part affected ; and should
there be evidence of the presence of higher inflam-
matory action, blood may be abstracted, and subse-
quently, sweating blisters rubbed in over the throat.

BOWELS. — SANDCBACK. 345

BOWELS.

These issues act by producing a counter or opposing
irritation in the subcutaneous cellular membrane, that
they may detract the inflammatory action from a more
vital or important organ to the unimportant part in
which they are introduced. A pathological law appears
to rule all inflammatory processes, and establishes that
no two extensive inflammations shall exist simulta-
neously. Thus in deep-seated inflammations, the
swelling of a rowel and the rising of a blister is re-
garded, and with good reason, as a favourable ap-
pearance, Avhile their inactivity proclaims the unim-
peded progress of the internal disease. Rowels are
commonly made of a circular piece of leather, having
a hole in the centre and wrapped round with tow.
They are introduced, after making an incision through
the skin, by scissors constructed for the purpose, and
separating a portion of the integument from its attach-
ments. They should be dressed daily as soon as a
discharge is established.

SANDCBACK.

This is a division of the horn of the hoof in the
course of its fibres. It almost invariably makes its
appearance in the inside quarter of the fore-feet, by
reason of the less strength of the inner portion of the
hoof. In the hind-feet the crack is sometimes seen at
the toe. Sandcrack in the fore-feet is generally caused
by an unnatural elevation of the toe, great stress
taking place at the point of fracture during the exer-
tions of the animal. Sometimes they originate from
treads or injuries at the coronet to the frog-band, so
that the secretions of the hoof being impeded, the part
grows down in an imperfect manner. Some feet seem,
from an inherent brittleness of horn, to be parti-

346 THE HORSE.

cularly liable to sandcrack. This defect is a source
of unsoundness, as it is always liable to prevent the
horse from performing his proper duties. The general
plan of treating sandcrack, is to separate the divided
from the growing portion of the horn by a rasp or a
firing-iron, and then (should inflammation be ab-
sent from the crack) to seal it up with pitchy sub-
stances, at the same time relieving the part imme-
diately beneath from the pressure of the shoe by
chambering it out. To prevent a recurrence of the
disjunction before the growth of horn from above
downwards is completed, Mr. Blaine recommends
us to " melt some shoe-maker's wax, and smear all
over the hoof ; and before it is quite cold, bind upon
the wax, neatly, evenly, and firmly, about three yards
of tape, so as to include as much of the hoof as may
be within the turns : fasten off with a hard knot, and
again over the whole smear more wax, and lastly
smooth it into an even surface. After all, rub over a
little lard or other greasy substance, to prevent the
pitchy matter from sticking." *

sedatives : vide narcotics.

SETONS.

Setons are employed with the same view as firing,
blisters, and rowels, — that of producing a counter-
acting inflammation ; but setons can be used in situ-
ations and under circumstances in which the others
are inadmissible. They are generally composed of
a piece of coarse tape, occasionally smeared with
some stimulating unguent, introduced beneath the
skin by a strong flat needle, and secured there by the
ends being tied into large knots. Setons are much
more employed by our continental neighbours than by

* Outlines of the Veterinary Art, p. 562.

SETONS. 347

ourselves, although Mr. Sewell has been the means of
rendering them more fashionable than they hitherto
were. They do not blemish so much as firing or
rowels, and they can be applied in a greater variety
of instances. Setons are advantageously introduced
as a means of obtaining a depending orifice in poll-
evil, fistulous withers, and other ulcerative processes,
where the matter, by its gravity, burrows downwards.
In inflammatory disease, and in chronic enlargement
of the joints, thecas, capsules, bursa?, ligaments, &c,
they are equally applicable and serviceable. By some
practitioners they are introduced within the eye-lid
in ophthalmia and opacity of the cornea, but their
utility in that position is very questionable. Setons
are passed through the substance of the frog in dis-
ease of the navicular joint. To derive all the possi-
ble benefit from setons, they should be moved daily
and kept clean and dressed with the common resin
ointment.*

silver. — Nitrate of Silver {Lunar Caustic.)

This is a powerful caustic and escharotic. It is
frequently used to excite a new action in unhealthy
wounds, and in ulcers, cankers, and quittors. Under
some circumstances its employment externally to the
skin is attended with benefit, for when diluted with
lard it forms a good stimulant in ossified cartilages,
incipient spavins and splints, and appears to promote
the activity of the absorbents.

Spanish fly: vide cantiiarides.

spavins.

This term is derived from a synonymous French
word esparvin. Considerable discrepancy exists among

* Ung. Resinje, p. 343.

348 THE HORSE.

veterinarians as to the exact original seat of spavin,
but I select Mr. Percivall's, as it conforms with my
own opinion. He regards it as an exostosis " upon or
near to the inner and lower part of the hock. In its
origin and progress it is very similar to a splint ; in-
deed, it may be, in reality, purely a splint, although,
from its situation, we denominate it a spavin. To ex-
plain this, a spavin may, and commonly, we believe, does
arise from an inflammation of the cartilago-ligamentous
substance connecting the head of the inner small me-
tatarsal to that of the canon-bone, without any accom-
panying disease of the bones of the hock ; and this, ter-
minating in ossification, maybe a splint as to its nature,
but is a spavin as to its situation. If, however, the
inflammation extends from this cartilago-ligamentous
substance to the ligaments and bones of the hock, and
terminates there in the effusion of bony matter ; or
if the exostosis of the inner metacarpal bone itself is
so placed as to disturb the motions of the joint, then
does a spavin differ from a splent." Young horses
are most subject to splents, old ones to spavins. Spa-
vin, in all its forms and stages, constitutes unsoundness.
The lameness is often great, and most commonly per-
manent. Spavined horses exhibit a disinclination to
lie down, from an instinctive perception of the diffi-
culty and pain in rising again. Spavins are caused
by long-continued exertion, and by sudden strains in
leaping, drawing, or galloping. When the presence
of spavin is suspected, from slight lameness behind,
with an enlargement and increased temperature of
the joint at the spavin place (the inner and lower part
of the hock), and from evident stiffness of the joint
itself, the animal should be placed in a state of com-
plete rest, and every means taken to subdue, by timely
appliances, the further progress of the ossification.
For this purpose counter-irritation, in all its varied
forms, is to be had recourse to. Stimulating lotions,

SPAVINS. SPLINTS. M9

blisters, repeated again and again, and tiring the in-
teguments over the immediate seat of the disease and
around the hock. Considerable dependence is properly
placed by some on the seton, as a means of deflecting
the inflammation from its seat without the liability of
increasing the general vascular action of the joint,
which might be effected by the irritation set up by
blistering and firing. On rest and the seton, there-
fore, will our principal dependence be placed in at-
tempting to restore the joint to a state approaching
that of health. The chance of success will be ruled
by the length of time the evil has been present, and
by the extent of the exostosis. We may be able to
subdue the inflammation and remove the lameness,
but it is impossible to restore completely the primitive
flexibility of the joint. When remedied so far as to
render the horse serviceable, it is judicious, in order
that a recurrence of the lameness may not take place,
to place the animal to less violent and slower work ;
as by such a course his utility may be prolonged to
an undetermined period.

SPLENTS OR SPLINTS.

The small metacarpal bones are united to the
shank or canon bone by a fibro-ligamentous substance,
which being over-worked, inflames, and is transmuted,
by a natural process, into bone, so that the three
bones are completely cemented together. But when
the ossifying process is set up it rarely confines itself
to the attaching ligament alluded to, but throws out
on one or both sides of the metacarpals small bony
deposits, which, by distending the periosteum, or
membrane immediately investing the bones, gives rise
to inflammation and pain, and sometimes to lameness.

350 THE HORSE.

Besides pressing on the inelastic periosteum, splints
frequently interfere with the action of the tendons
and ligaments of the leg, and in this manner produce
considerable additional evil. When they are thrown
out high up the leg, they are liable to implicate some
of the ligaments of the knee-joint, and when appear-
ing on the inside of the metacarpals, they may obstruct
the free action of the flexor tendons. When a large
splint arises on the inner surface of the leg, it forms a
prominence that is very likely to be struck by the
opposite foot when the animal is in motion, and so
cause additional pain and inflammation. Splints
appear mostly in young horses ; it being frequently
observed that when the animal becomes old, they are
absorbed, and disappear of themselves. They are not
necessarily a cause of unsoundness, as many of the
most valuable and serviceable horses have splints, and
yet work well and soundly, without the least impedi-
ment from them : however, if a horse be found lame
from a splint, or its size or position be such as to call
up reasonable suspicions detrimental to his utility, it
will be the veterinarian's duty to point out the injuri-
ous tendency of the defect, and to reject, as liable to
become less serviceable from the lesion at some future
day. The treatment of splints at present differs from
the olden practice of removing them by the mechani-
cal aid of mallet and chisel. When distension of
the periosteum is the source of pain and lameness in
the incipient, growing, splint, Mr. Sewell's elegant,
scientific, simple, and short operation (though fear-
fully christened) is worthy of general adoption. Sub-
cutaneous periosteotomy, as Mr. S. terms it, is easily
performed ; and I have seen many instances in which
its effect of removing the lameness has been instanta-
neous and permanent. It consists in making a small
opening through the skin above or below the splint,
and introducing a narrow blunt-pointed bistoury to

SPLINTS. — STAGGERS. 351

cut through the periosteum on the most prominent
part of the bony enlargement. This operation, by
destroying the tension on the periosteum, relieves
from pain, but does not in the least diminish the bulk
of the splint. Pressure, by means of leaden com-
presses, is sometimes resorted to, to promote the
removal of splints. The rationale of the action of pres-
sure in removing bony or other morbid enlargements
is, not that it increases absorption but that it dimi-
nishes deposition ; it allows absorption to proceed as
usual, but stops secretion : nearly for the same reason
that we see these diseased deposits voluntarily removed
in old age when the assimilative powers are ebbing and
do not keep pace with the full demands of the animal
economy. Setons, vesicants, and, in bad cases, where
the ligaments are involved by the irritation set up,
deep punctures are made into the part with a pointed
firing iron.

STAGGERS.

This is the farriers' term for inflammation of the
brain. Properly, it is divided into two distinct va-
rieties : — that arising of its own accord from direct
inflammation of the encephalon (idiopathic phrenitis),
and that springing from disorganisation of the diges-
tive organs (symptomatic phrenitis, or stomach stag-
gers). Neither forms are very common; and do
not, therefore, require a lengthened description in a
brief work of this nature. In 1785-6, this disease
raged with great violence among the farm-horses of
the midland counties. Scarcely any of the agricul-
turists of that district escaped without serious loss.
Many lost six, eight, or nine of their best waggon-
horses. It appeared to be a modification of stomach
staggers, and was attended with a violent fever and

352 THE HORSE.

delirium. In both varieties of the disease there is
evident cerebral disturbance ; at first drowsiness, le-
thargy, drooping or resting the head, dilated pupil,
and injected conjunctiva ; afterwards, the pulse and
breathing become much elevated. In idiopathic
staggers, these symptoms pass rapidly on to exhibi-
tions of phrensy The horse is truly delirious, and it
is dangerous to come near him. He passes small
quantities of offensive urine, and hard, dry fasces.
Large quantities of blood must be abstracted, and
every attempt made by the administration of power-
ful cathartic medicine to act on the bowels. In sto-
mach staggers, the phrenitic symptoms are generally
more moderate. The cause is mechanical distension
of the stomach with unmasticated or indigestible
food. Blood may be taken from the strong, and sti-
mulants given to rouse the dormant powers of the
stomach. If gas be present in that organ by the fer-
mentation of the ingesta, vinegar is a useful remedy.
These medicines may be followed by aloetic drenches,
in order to carry the crudities through the alimentary
canal. Clysters may be thrown up, and vesicating
embrocations applied to the flanks and sides.

STARCH.

Starch drenches are occasionally used in diarrhoea,
or a solution of starch is administered, per anam, in
clysters.

STRANGLES.

In all probability, this term originated from the diffi-
culty of deglutition, which frequently accompanies the
affection. It shows itself in young horses, and is re-
garded by some as a specific or constitutional disease,

STRANGLES. 353

to which all must submit, and, when an animal has once
passed its ordeal, a fear of its recurrence need not be
anticipated. The access of this disease is marked by
circulatory derangement, the pulse being slightly ex-
alted, accompanied with exhibitions of symptomatic
fever, cough, and sore throat. The parts around the
throat swell, and there is tenderness about the sub-
maxillary glands, which sometimes extends to the
parotids. The animal refuses to drink, and seldom
eats his rations of food. There is a flow of saliva
from the mouth, and of a semi-purulent discharge
from the nose. Occasionally the lungs participate in
the inflammation set up, and the breathing becomes
more hurried. Treatment. — Bleeding must only be
resorted to in strangles, when the lungs have fallen
under the disease, or other highly inflammatory ap-
pearances present themselves. Sometimes, by acting
revulsively, it tends to prolong the attack, or reduces
the strength of the animal so much, that the affection
lapses into farcy or glanders. Steaming mashes are
appended to the head, and the skin covering the
glands between the jaw stimulated or blistered to
promote suppuration. As soon as fluctuation of the
matter is very perceptible, an opening may be made
at the part which points, and the pus evacuated. A
pledget of tow should then be introduced into the
orifice, to keep the abscess open for a few days.
Gentle walking exercise will tend much to restore
the strength of the animal. Green food, from its suc-
culence and easy mastication, is most preferable in
strangles. When the symptoms have relaxed, and
the appetite returns, plenty of nourishment should
be supplied ; and if the debility which generally fol-
lows the disease be great, malt mashes and tonic me-
dicine will be found beneficial.

A A

354 THE HORSE.

SPRING-HALT, OR STRING-HALT.

Termed in some parts of Scotland click-spavin.
This is more a species of defective action than a dis-
ease. It essentially consists of a spasmodic contrac-
tion of the flexor muscles of the legs, by which the
extremities are caught up in a rapid and unnatural
way. It is seen most often in the hinder legs, but some-
times it shows itself in those before. Opinion is di-
vided as to the exact seat or cause of this lesion, some
contending that it arises from irregularity of nervous
supply, or of disease of the nerves themselves, and
others viewing it as originating from a loss of the
balancing or antagonistic power resident in those
muscles that are grouped in opposition regulate each
other's action. No course of treatment has yet been
promulgated by which this unsightly defect can be
removed. This affection is very common, but seems
to impede but slightly the progressive movements of
the animal. The chestnut race-horse Guildford pos-
sessed it in a remarkable degree in both hind legs, but
yet the horse was not withdrawn from the turf in
consequence. It shows itself most at the commence-
ment of exertion, usually disappearing as the animal
grows warm at his work.

SULPHATE OF COPPER: Vide COPPER.

SULPHATE OF IRON: Vide IKON.

SULPHATE OF LEAD: Vide LEAD.

SULPHATE OF ZINC I Vide ZINC.

SULPHUR.

Internally prescribed, sulphur acts with decided
effect as an alterative. It improves the condition

TAR. TETANUS. 355

and appearance of the coat, and, combined with
antimonial preparations, is particularly useful in hide-
bound, scurfy states of the skin, in mange and surfeit.
When given alone, in large doses, it operates as an
aperient. Externally it is employed as an adjunct in
mange mixtures.

TAR.

This substance is sometimes given internally
in coughs, but its most common application is exter-
nally. Tar enters largely into stoppings for diseased
feet, forming, for that purpose, a good stimulating,
penetrating ingredient. When tar is diluted with
equal parts of oil it forms a dressing much used
for the hoofs ; but I think, in this case, it is misap-
plied, for its action is to prevent the absorption of
moisture, and thus tend to increase instead of diminish-
ing the brittleness of the horn. An excellent liniment
may be compounded by melting two parts of tar and
two parts of cocoa-nut oil with one part of yellow
wax. This may be used with advantage as a mange
dressing, and as a detergent in most descriptions of
scabby, eruptive skin affections. It should be rubbed
in with a rather stiff brush or a piece of hair-cloth,
and it will be found less objectionable, and fully as
effective, as any other more vaunted compound.

TETANUS, OR LOCKED-JAW.

Tetanus is essentially a disorder of the nervous
system. It would appear that the motor nerves par-
ticipate most deeply in the morbid irritation and
excitability of which these organs are susceptible.
The disease first shows itself by a contraction or
continued stiffness of the voluntary muscles about the

a a2

356 the horse.

throat and jaws, until the jaws become immovably
fixed or locked. The muscles of the eye so retract it
as to produce a permanent squint, and throw the haw
partially over it. All the muscles of the neck, trunk,
and extremities appear rigidly contracted. The tail
is cocked, and the ears erect and set pointing forward.
Profuse sweats cover the body, and the pulse and
breathing become unnaturally excited ; if no favourable
turn take place, the suffering and deprivation of food
wear the animal out in a few days. The most common
cause of tetanus is the repulsive action of cold, either
applied suddenly while the horse is sweating from ex-
ertion, or more slowly by the continuance of evaporation
of moisture from the skin. Again, it often arises from
wounds, particularly when in the feet, and from such
operations as docking and castration. Worms in the
intestines will occasionally produce tetanus. Locked-
jaw is generally a fatal disease. If it arise from
wounds or injuries, it is usual to attempt a removal of
the irritation by anodyne fomentations, freely laying
the parts open, dividing the nerve above the injury, or
to excite a new inflammation by stimulation. If from
docking, a re-performance of the operation is recom-
mended. When it originates from other causes, an
antiphlogistic plan of treatment is generally followed.
Large quantities of blood are abstracted, and after the
bowels are opened, the most powerful sedatives are
given. As it is extremely difficult to administer bulky
medicines, those of condensed activity are selected.
The purgative most generally employed is croton-oil,
and the sedative a strong solution of opium. Blistering
along the whole course of the spine is sometimes found
serviceable. Son**, practitioners recommend covering
the body with fresh sheep-skins, and confining the
patient to a warm atmosphere ; while again, others
pursue an opposite course, and dash large quantities
of cold water over his body, — possibly on the prin-

TIIOROUGH-PIN. THRUSH. 357

ciple of " similia similibus curentur." If by any of
these means the jaws can be but partially opened, so
that the attendants can introduce a small pipe into
the mouth and administer fluid nourishment, there are
good hopes of recovery. Nourishing clysters may be
thrown up, and if practicable the stomach-pump may
be used, to convey gruel directly into the stomach.

THOROUGH-PIN.

This is merely a bursal enlargement of the hock,
showing itself on both sides of the joint — hence its
name. It is most common in draught-horses, but
seldom interferes much with their utility. Its treat-
ment is similar to that of windgalls and other enlarged
bursas.

THRUSH, OR FRUSH.

Is a diseased action of the sensible frog, resulting
from inflammation, in which it secretes and discharges
a foetid, semi-purulent fluid. The cleft of the frog is
almost invariably the primitive seat of the disease.
Thrushes are sometimes produced by the heat and
foulness of the stable, but most commonly contraction
of the foot is its cause. Thrushes are supposed to
act as a drain of morbid matter from the system, and
obviate other affections, so that suddenly checking
them is not always unattended with derangement of
some other organ. Neglected thrushes often degene-
rate into canker. Horses Avith thrushes are always
tender- footed, and should a stone happen to press on
the affected frog they go very limping for a few steps ;
otherwise thrushes do not generally materially impede
the usefulness of the animal ; but yet it must not be
forgotten, that their presence usually marks the com-

358 THE HORSE.

mencement or advance of contraction. Treatment. —
If the thrush or thrushes occur in open feet from the
decomposing fermentation of foul litter, the simple
course will be to prevent a continuance of the exciting
circumstances, acting solely on the medical axiom,
sublata causa, tollitur effectus. When contraction is
the cause, our attempts should be equally directed to
a removal of the producing agent, but at the same
time medical astringents may be serviceably applied
to the parts. A pledget of tow, or other similar sub-
stance, previously soaked in a mixture of tar and
dilute sulphuric acid, or of tar and either the sulphate
of copper, alumina, or zinc, powdered, and introduced
into the cleft of the frog with a blunt spatula, and
allowed to remain, while the more exposed parts of the
froo- should be brushed over with some of the same
compound. Almost any of the mineral astringents will
operate to check the progress of thrushes. Should
the disease have extended itself to other portions of
the frog, regular stoppings of any stimulating mixture
should be secured with compresses of tow and splints
of wood, the dressings being renewed every day, or
at furthest every alternate day.

TOBACCO.

Tobacco is powerfully narcotic when given inter-
nally, but the proper means of availing ourselves of
this valuable property is not yet understood. Tobacco
enemas are of eminent service in obstinate constipa-
tions of the bowels, and in tetanus and some other
spasmodic affections. Allusion has been made at p.
279., to the Arab method of employing this agent in
gripes. Infusions of tobacco enter largely into mange
mixtures, and are also destructive of parasitic insects.

tonics. 359

TONICS.

The list of veterinary tonics is rather long. Among
those selected from the mineral world are the carbonate,
the sulphate, and the ioduret of iron ; arsenious acid ;
and the sulphates of copper and zinc. From the ve-
getable kingdom are taken the different varieties of
bark, chyryata, gentian, quassia, ginger, cayenne,
pepper, and carraway seeds ; and from the insect
tribes is derived one of the most valuable tonics —
cantharides. The particular action of eacli article in
the above list will be found detailed under its name.
A few examples of the method of combining these
materials into tonic masses will suffice.

Tonic Balls.

STo. 1. Subcarbonate of iron -

- four parts.

Gentian root -

- two parts.

Ginger

one part.

Meal -

- one part.

Made into balls with treacle. Dose — an ounce of

the mass.

STo. 2. Sulphate of iron

- three parts.

Chyryata

one part.

Meal -

- one part.

STo. 3. Ginger

- two parts.

Bruised carraways

one part.

Meal -

- five parts.

Cantharides, in the proportion of three grains
to each ball.

No. 4. Cascarilla - - - two parts,

Quassia ... two parts.

Gentian - - - two parts.

Cayenne pepper - - two parts.

Made into balls, as the first example. Dose, about 1 oz.

A A 4

360 THE HORSE.

A useful tonic and carminative draught may be
made by infusing two ounces of camomile flowers,
and the same quantity of aniseed, in a quart of
water, and, after straining, to add two ounces of sul-
phuric ether. This quantity is sufficient for two
doses.

TRACHEOTOMY.

It is sometimes necessary to make an artificial
opening into the windpipe. Occasionally, in stran-
gles, the upper passage for the air becomes obstructed ;
the same takes place in some cases of roaring ; in
such instances, that the animal may be able to breathe,
it is necessary to make a fresh passage for the air. A
case occurred to me, in which I was compelled to
perform it, in order to maintain the life of the animal.
The horse had a large and increasing polypous tu-
mour in the nasal cavities, almost entirely intercept-
ing the passage of the air. The trachea was opened,
in order that respiration might be carried on during
the removal of the enlargement. Mr. Blaine men-
tions a distressing case of a gunpowder explosion,
which so tumefied the horse's nose as to prevent free
inspiration, and render the operation of tracheotomy
imperative. The operation is thus accomplished: —
The horse is cast, and an incision made through the
integuments in the course of the trachea ; these flaps
being held back, a portion of one of the rings of the
windpipe is cut away, so as to allow the admission of
a pewter pipe, constructed for the purpose, and se-
cured to the neck by tapes. Through this pipe the
animal breathes, and it will be therefore necessary to
inspect it once or twice a day, to see that it does not
clog up with inspissated matter, and thus endanger
the life of the animal.

TURPENTINE. VERMIFUGES. 361

TURrENTlNE.

The common semifluid turpentine is one of the best
diuretics that we possess. Its dose is about half an
ounce. It also enters into the composition of diges-
tive ointments. Of the oil of turpentine, still larger
quantities are used in horse medicine. In gripes, it
forms an excellent antispasmodic, in three-drachm
doses. It is also said to possess vermifuge qualities ;
but, in this respect, its action is not so decisive as on
the human patient. It is often employed as an ex-
ternal stimulant, but, in all cases of inflammatory
disease, its action, though prompt, is too irritative to
allow of its being applied to the skin — the exciting
effect on the system more than balancing the coun-
ter-irritation it sets up.

verdigris : vide copper.

VERMIFUGES.

Those agents which assist in expelling worms from
the intestines are termed vermifuges. Of these, the
most commonly employed are calomel, lime-water,
aloes, and linseed-oil. A dose of calomel, given over-
night, followed by a moderate aloetic purge in the
morning, will often expel large quantities of these
intestinal parasites. A lime-water drench is a harm-
less and efficacious means of destroying them. A
pint of linseed-oil on an empty stomach is, perhaps,
the most certain vermifuge on the list. Arsenic is
sometimes employed for this purpose, but I cannot
speak as to its effects. ( Vide Worms. )

vinegar : vide acids.

362 THE HORSE.

WARTS.

Warts often exist in large quantities on some
horses, and are a constant source of annoyance to
them. The quickest method of removing them is to
dissect them out with a sharp scalpel, and apply a
small budding-iron to stanch the bleeding. A paste
of lard and arsenic is a useful caustic application for
destroying warts. The chloride of antimony is also
used for this purpose by some practitioners. Mr.
Blaine advises a daily dressing of

Muriate [chloride] of antimony - two drachms.
Powdered savin - - - one ounce.

Lard - - - an ounce and a

half.

WINDGALLS.

When the tendinous continuations of muscles pass
over bony prominences or joints, across ligaments,
or in close connection Avith each other, their points of
contact are surrounded by a synovial sac, secreting a
glairy fluid, to prevent friction. From continued and
excessive exertion these sacs, or bursa? mucosas, become
enlarged by the distension of an over-secretion of
the fluid. Such enlarged capsules are termed wind-
galls by farriers, and bursa? mucosae by the medical
profession; but neither term is correct, for they
neither contain wind, nor are they mucous bags.
These enlargements are most common about the joints,
particularly the fetlock, to which the term windgalls
is distinctively applied, others being named according
to some peculiarity of form or situation. These swell-
ings are seldom the cause of much suffering to the
animal. They are generally slow, chronic, painless en-
largements,— the standing record of hard work. They

WINDGALLS. — WORMS . o G 3

are partially removed by the pressure of bandages, by
stimulating liniments to the skin, by blisters, firing,
and other such means as tend to promote the absorp-
tion of their contents. Of all these means, bandages
are the least objectionable, and the most effective. If
a thin, coarse, canvass roller be applied, with com-
presses on the enlarged sacs, and kept constantly
wetted with cold water, or an evaporating lotion, we
exert the combined action of pressure and cold on the
absorbents. The old practitioners were often in the
habit of opening these bags and evacuating their
contents, but their example is now seldom followed,
for there is nearly as much irritation and danger
from laying them open as in perforating a joint
itself.

WORMS.

Among the entozoa or intestinal worms common to
the horse are the Ascaris lumbricoides, a long round
worm, often measuring a foot in length, principally
inhabiting the intestines, but sometimes ascending to
the stomach ; the Ascaris vermiadaris, or threadworm,
about two inches long, frequenting the lower bowels;
and the Oestrus equus or bot, hatched in the stomach.
{Vide Bots). When a horse has worms, our attention
is usually attracted to the fact by observing a pecu-
liar dry, yellowish, chalky matter adhering round the
anus ; his coat stares, and he looks unthrifty, from the
sensitive sympathy existing between the intestines
and skin ; he rubs his tail against the stall-post, and
frequently has a dry cough. Occasionally he is sub-
ject to repeated attacks of gripes. Intestinal worms
are most frequently found in debilitated horses ; they
follow as a consequence of debility, which they serve
also to increase. It should not be overlooked that
many of the entozoa originate in the low stamina of
the animal upon which they are parasites : as one

36-i THE HORSE.

form of life lowers others commence, is an established
law throughout the animate world. To prevent their
access, therefore, we have only to keep our horses in
good condition, and they will resist all parasitic
attacks. Many medicinal agents are employed to
detach worms from the primse via?. The filings of
pewter, tin, or iron, are used as mechanical agents,
but with little certainty. Purgatives act on them
by augmenting the peristaltic action of the intestines,
and by exciting an increased flow of mucus, so as to
loosen their attachments and sweep them away.
Bitters are generally destructive to the subordinate
forms of life, and these worms are not entirely free
from their action. Lime-water is a good vermi-
fuge. Linseed oil, given fasting, will be also found
highly efficacious in expelling both sorts of the
ascaridaj. Turpentine, so valuable as a vermifuge in
the human subject, is, for this purpose, nearly inert
on the horse.

zinc (zinci).

Of this metal the sulphate is principally used.
It possesses an astringent and tonic property, though
seldom internally administered. Its chief use is in
solution, as an external application, in diseases of
the eye, to wounds, sores, and ulcers. As a
collyrium in ophthalmia, Professor Morton recom-
mends the use of the acetate of zinc in preference to
the sulphate. This is readily formed for use, as he
suggests, " by mixing a solution of the acetate of lead
with the sulphate of zinc, when a double decompo-
sition takes place, and two new salts are formed — a
soluble acetate of zinc, and an insoluble sulphate
of lead."

TABLE OE DOSES.

365

TABULAR VIEW OF THE MOST COMMON DOSES OF THE AGENTS
EMFLOYED INTERNALLY IN HORSE MEDICINE.

Substance.

Aloes, Barbadoes

Cape

Alum -
Ammonite carb.
Liq. amnion, acet.
Antim. sulph.

pot. tart. -

Arsenic

Belladonna

Camphor

Cantharides

Capsicum

Carraway-seeds -

Catecbu

Chalk -
Chyryata
Copper, acetate of

sulphate of

Croton oil
Digitalis
Gentian
Ginger -
Hellebore (white)
Iron, subcar. of -

sulphate of

Lime water
Linseed oil
Hyd. chlorid.

bi-chlorid.

sulph. nig.

Myrrh -

Nitre -

Opium -

Pimenta (tinct.)

Resin

Turpentine

Oil of turpentine

Dose.

six drachms
eight drachms
three drachms
two drachms
six drachms
four drachms
one drachm
one to ten grains
two drachms
one drachm
three grains
one scruple
six drachms
two drachms
one ounce
two drachms
two drachms
half a drachm
twenty drops
thirty grains
three drachms
three drachms
twenty-five grs. -
six drachms
four drachms
two quarts
twelve ounces
two drachms
ten grains -
two drachms
two drachms
three drachms
two drachms
four ounces
four drachms
half an ounce
three drachms

Action.

purgative.

purgative.

astringent.

febrifuge.

febrifug.e

alterative.

sedative.

tonic.

narcotic.

sedative, antispasmodic.

tonic.

stomachic.

carminative.

astringent.

absorbent.

bitter tonic.

tonic.

tonic.

drastic purgative.

sedative.

bitter tonic.

cordial.

nauseant.

tonic.

tonic.

vermifuge.

cathartic.

laxative.

tonic alterant.

alterative and vermif.

tonic and astringent.

diuretic.

sedative & antispasm.

stimulant, antispasm.

diuretic.

diuretic.

antispasmodic.

I N D E X.

Abdomen, the shape of, a good
test of the animal's health and
vigour, 98.

Action, 119; high and low, ih.;
utility of moderate action, 120;
Nimrod's opinion on, 121 ; Xe-
nophon's, ib. ; disease modifies
action, ib.

Acids, — Acetic, 237 ; Hydrochlo-
ric, ib. ; Nitric, ib. ; Sulphuric, ib.

Afghaun horse, account of, 64.

Age, natural lengthof the horse's life,
l6, 141 ; the teeth referred to as
demonstrating the age, 1 38 ; full
mouth, 139 ; names and position
of the teeth, ib. ; temporary and
permanent teeth, 140; anato-
mical structure of the teeth, ib.;
age of the horse compared to
that of man, 143 ; the mark,
145; the yearling's mouth, ib. ;
age of race-horses reckoned from
the 1st of January, 145; two-
year-old mouth, 146; wolves'
teeth, 1 47; three-year-old mouth,
148 ; four-year-old mouth, ib. ;
five-year-old mouth, 149 > six-
year-old, ib. ; seven-year-old, ib.;
eight-year-old, 150; how judged
of after the loss of mark, 1 50 ;
might be measured, 152, n.

Aged brood-mares, the produce of,
46.

Aged stallions beget good foals, 47.

Albino horses, 20.

Aloes, — Cape aloes, 238 ; Barba-
does, ib. ; solution of, 239; com-
pound tincture of, ib.

Alteratives, their action explained,
240; Diaphoretic alteratives, ib.;
Laxative alteratives, 241 ; Diu-
retic alteratives, ib. ; Tonic al-
teratives, 242.

Alum, its medical uses, 241.

Amaurosis, 243.

Amble, the, described, 122; culti-
vated in South America, ib.

America, remarkable trotters of, 70.

American opinion of English sys-
tem of breeding, 70.

Ammonia, hydrochlorate of, 244;
carbonate, ib. ; Liquor ammonite,
245 ; Liquor ammonite acetatis, ib.

Amri Okai's, his description of the
horse, 74.

Anchylosis of the vertebra, un-
soundness of, 158 ; described,
245.

Animal mechanics, 75.

Antimony, the sulphuret, 246;
tartarised, ib. ; the chloride, 247.

Antispasmodics, 247-

Anus, inferences drawn from, QQ.

Apperley, Mr. See Nimrod.

Arab horse, 5Q.

Arabia, conjectured to be the native
country of the horse, 7-

Arabian blood, effects of its intro-
duction, 42.

Arm and elbow described, 86.

3G8

INDEX.

Arsenic, its medicinal uses, 247-
Ass, description and varieties of, 32.
Ass-mule, 38.

Asses and mules more useful than
the horse in rocky countries, 5.
Astringents, 248.

Balling, 249.

Balls, alterative, 240 ; cathartic,

273 ; diuretic, 293 ; fever, 337 ;

tonic, 359.
Bandaging the legs, 201.
Barley, analysis of, 187.
Bathing, practised in Prussia, 200 ;

salutary effects of, ib.
Bay, origin of the term, 29, n.
Beans, as food, 187.
Bearing-rein, its inhumanity, 113;

the cause of poll-evil, ib.
Bedding, evil of allowing it to re-
main during the day, 176.
Bell (Sir Charles) his opinion on

the use of the splent-bones, 87.
Belladonna, its medical properties,

250.
Betting regulations, 130.
Bladder, inflammation of, 289-
Bleeding, 250, et seq.
Blindness a cause of unsoundness,

l6l. See Amaurosis, Cataract.
Blisters, 254, et seq.
Bog-spavin, 257-
Bones, their leverage, 75 ; utility

of their hollowness, ib. ; those

of the blood-horse dense, 76 ;

mechanical action of, ib.
Bots, 258.

Bowels, inflammation of, 294.
Bran-tea, how made, 311.
Bread, as horse food, 187-
Breaking, 208 ; artificial sensorial

influences transmissible, 209 >

advan tages of early training, 210;

breaking agricultural horses, ib.;

for the saddle, 213; to harness,

214.
Breed of horses, singular one in

Venezuela, 66.
Breeding : Mare breeds at two

years old, 13 ; " in and in," 41 ;

" crossing," 43 ; in India, ib. ;
influence of the dam, 44 ; period
of commencing, ib. ; every al-
ternate year, good effects of, 45-
50 ; Cline's opinion on parental
contrasts, 45 ; breeding back, 48 ;
Earl of Morton's experiments,
ib. ; period of gestation, 50 ;
foaling, 51 ; American opinion
of English turf-breeding, 70.

Breeds, domestic, 54 ; importation
of foreign, 57-

British race-horse, 56.

Broken knees not an unsoundness,
16'0; treatment of, 259-

Broken wind, nature of, 26l.

Buckland on the fossil bones of the
horse, 8.

BufTbn's character of the zebra, 31.

Calomel, 326.

Camel, description of, 4, n.; its
back well adapted to support
weights, 1 14.

Camphor, its medical uses, 26*3.

Canadian horse, 70.

Canker, description and treatment
of, 264.

Canter, the, described, 1 23 ; less
concussive than the trot, 124.

Cantharides, medical properties of,
26"5.

Capped hocks, a cause of unsound-
ness, 159; described, 266.

Capsicum, 267.

Caraway seeds, 267.

Carrots, a useful horse-food, 188 ;
economy of, I89.

Cartilages, ossified, unsoundness of,
158.

Castration, 54 ; its effects on the
form, 79 ', how performed, 267,
et seq.

Cataract, its nature, 270.

Catarrh, 271.

Catechu, 271.

Cathartics, or purgatives, their ac-
tion and preparation, 272, et seq.

Cavaliers and Chevaliers derive
their name from the horse, 2.

INDEX.

369

Caustics,used in horse medicine,274.

Chalk, an antacid and astringent,
321.

Charcoal, its medicinal use, 274.

Charge, the, described, 1 25 ; sug-
gestions on, ib. ; Frederick the
Great's remark on, 126.

Chest, capacity and shape of, 95 ;
Mr. Cline's opinion on the, 96 ;
the form of, ib. ; governs the for-
mation of fat, ib. ; circular form
preferable for horses of slow
draught, 97 ; how judged of, ib.

Chloride of lime, a disinfectant,
321.

Chyryata, a useful tonic, 275.

Climate, its diverse effects on the
horse, 6.

Cline, Mr., his opinion of parental
contrasts, 4-7 ; on the form of
the chest, 96.

Clipping advocated, 208.

Clysters, 275.

Cold, its action on the hair, 7-

Colic or gripes, causes and treat-
ment of, 276, et seq.

Collyriums or eye-washes, 279-

Colours of the horse, 19-

Colts reared by hand, 53.

Condition, 4 ; dependent on mus-
cular tonicity, 77 ; how produced,
192, et seq.

Connemara horse, 55.

Contraction, its unsoundness, 159.

Copper, its medical uses, 280.

Cordials, 282.

Corrosive sublimate, 326.

Covering, 52.

Corn, as food, 185; analysis of
different sorts, 187.

Corns constitute unsoundness, 160 ;
seat of, 282; treatment, 284.

Cough, when unsound, 160 ; treat-
ment of, 284.

Crest, 79.

Crib-biting, its unsoundness, l6l ;
arises from a vitiated state of the
digestive organs, 287.

Cross-made horses forge, 117.

Crossing in breeding, 42.

B

Croton, its use as a purgative, 285.

Croup, the form of, 9$.

Curb, an unsoundness, 159; its

causation and treatment, 288.
Cystitis, or inflammation of the

bladder, 289-

Darvill on training the race-horse,

197.

Dental formulary of the equidse, 13.

Design exhibited in the construc-
tion of the horse, 71.

Diabetes, cause and treatment of,
289

Diaphoretics, 290.

Diarrhoea, nature and treatment of,

291.

Digitalis (fox-glove), its properties
in horse-medicine, 292.

Diuretics, 292.

Docking, 204, et seq.

Domestication, its effects, 24.

Dongola horse, 68.

Doses, table of the doses of medi-
cines most frequently adminis-
tered, 365.

Draught, light, 118; how horse-
power should be applied, ib.;
velocity should be proportionate
to the load, ib.; method of at-
taching to load, 119.

Draught-horse, should be heavy be-
fore, 83; where bred, 115;
draught slow, 112; pernicious
effect of the bearing-rein on,
113; the horse better adapted
for drawing than carrying, 114;
elasticity of attachments detri-
mental to draught, ib.

Drenches, administration of, 293.

Dropsy, 293.

Dziggtai, 28.

Ears of the horse, 22 ; an index

of temper, 80.
East Indian horse described, 65.
Egypt, claimed as the birth-place of

the horse, 8 ; foaling season in,

49, n.
Egyptian horse, description of, 65.
B

370

INDEX.

Elasticity of the foot, 224.

Elephant's hack constructed for
carrying burdens, 114.

Embrocations, their use, 294-.

Emetic tartar. See Antimony.

Enteritis, or inflammation of the
intestines, 294-, et seq.

Equites and Equestrians derive their
titles from the horse, 2.

Equus Burchellii, 30.

Etymology of the word horse, 13 ;
of stallion, 14, n.

Ewe-neck, what, 82.

Examination: of the eye, 81 ; ge-
neral, how performed, 162, et
seq.

Exercise, natural to the horse, 192 ;
its important influence on condi-
tion, ib.

Expansibility of the foot, 224.

Eyes, 21, 80; shying dependent
on defective vision, 81 ; wall-
eyes described, ib.

Fabled origin of the horse, 1 .

Farcy, nature and treatment of,
296, et seq.

Farriers of India, 65.

Feet, the fore, 91 ; the hind, 103.

Fetlock, its construction, 90.

Fever in the horse, 299-

Firing, or the application of the
aetual cautery, 300.

Fistulous withers, cause and treat-
ment of, 301.

Flying Childers, his performance,
57.

Foal : length of leg, 14, 45 ; wean-
ing of, 53.

Foaling season, 49«

Fomentations, 302.

Fomenting, its utility, 200.

Foot: fore-feet, their character, 91 ;
hind-feet, 103 ; true shape of
the foot, 91 ', mathematical pro-
portions of the feet, 92 ; how
they support the weight, Q3 ;
the feet of most animals en-
dowed with elasticity, 95.

Fore-hand described, 82.

Fore, leg, how composed, 87 ; use
of the splent-bones, ib. ; Sir
Charles Bell's opinion on, ib. ;
best shape of, 89.

Forging, how caused, 117-

Fossil-bones of the horse, 8.

Founder, or inflammation of the
lamina?, 302, et seq.

Frederick the Great on cavalry, 126".

French horse described, 71.

Galileo on the hollowness of bones,
15.

Gallop, the, described, 124; Sir
E. Home quoted, 125 ; speed of
Eclipse, ib.

Gentian, a good tonic medicine,
304.

Gestation, period of, 50 ; moderate
work during, proper, 51.

Giant horse, 16.

Ginger, a cordial and stomachic,304.

Glanders, symptoms, cause, and
treatment, 305, et seq.

Glysters. See Clysters.

Godolphin Arabian, 57-

Grass-food, 181.

Grease, cause and treatment of, 309-

Gripes or colic, 276.

Grooming, its beneficial effects on
the health, 198 ; the use of the
curry-comb somewhat objection-
able, 199 ; horse-hair rubbers
advocated, ib.; injurious effects
of allowing the horse to remain
wet, ib.

Gruel, how made, 310.

Gums used in horse-medicine, 311.

Hair, moulting of, 17; electrical

state of, 19; colour of, 19-
Hanoverian hqrse, 72 ; remarkable

for high action, 120.
Hansom's cabs judiciously formed

for relieving the horse, 119-
Haunch, the, described, 101.
Hay-rack, position of, 178.
Hay, 182 ; how best made, 183;

ill results of salting, ib.
Head, the, illustrates breed, 78 ;

INDEX,

371

why long, 79 ; how supported,
ib. ; should be straight in front,
80 ; Toorkmun method of im-
proving the carriage of, 213, n.

Hearing, sense of, 22.

Height, future height estimated by
measure of the colt's legs, 15,
1 04 ; peculiar names applied ac-
cording to height, 105.

Hellebore (black), its use in fistu-
lous idcers, 312 ; (white), seda-
tive action of, ib.

Hereditary diseases, 46.

Hernia, or protrusion of the intes-
tines, 313.

Hind-feet, 103.

Hippobatse and Hippobotes derive
their titles from the horse, 2.

Hock, description of the hock-joint,
102.

Horse, great utility of, 3 ; distri-
bution of, 4, 13 ; more useful
than the ox for farming purposes,
5 ; wild horses of Asia, 8, 9 > of
Africa, 9 ; of Europe, ib.; of
America, 10; of the Falkland
Islands, ib. ; natural habits of
the, 1 1 ; derivation of the word,
1 3, n. ; formed for speedy mo-
tion, 14; colours of, 19 j pecu-
liarities of the, 23 ; British va-
rieties of, 54 ; the Arab, 59 ;
the Persian, 6l ; the Afghaun,
64 ; the Punjab, ib. ; the East
Indian, 65 ; the Egyptian, ib. ;
the Nubian, 67; the South
American, 68 ; the North Ame-
rican, 69 ; the Spanish, 70 ; the
French, 71 ; the Hanoverian,
72 ; intellectual character of the,
23.

Horse-mule, 36.

Horsing, 14.

Humboldt's description of the South
American horse, 11, n.

Humerus prevents concussion, 80.

Hybrids of the equidte, 34.

Indian horse, described, 65 ; im-
provement of, 43.

B

Indigenous country of the horse, 6.

Inflammation of the bowels, 294 ;
lungs, 334 ; kidneys, 328 ; brain,
351.

Influenza, cause, symptoms, and
treatment of, 313.

Inquisition, horse burnt by order
of, 23.

Intestines, inflammation of, 294.

Iodine, its medical uses, 31 6.

Iron, salts of, employed in medi-
cine, 317.

Jaundice in the horse, 317-
Joints, their mechanical action, 76.
Jugular vein, loss of, its unsound-
ness, 162.

Karkeek, Mr., on condition, 193.

Kidneys, inflammation of, 328.

Kindness to animals inculcated by
Plutarch, 215; by the poet
Burns, 21 6.

Knee, anatomy of the, 86 ; broken
knees not an unsoundness, 160.

Knight, Mr., his opinion on breed-
ing, 45, n.

Kohl's Travels quoted, 8, 25.

Kumree, a disease prevailing among
horses in India, 318.

Lampas or tumefaction of the gums,

319-
Lawrence, his opinion of trotters,

116.

Laws of racing, 130.

Laws relating to horses, 167 ; to
horse-stealing, 1 69 ; to horse-
slaughtering, 170 ; to horse-
dealers, 17 !•

Laxatives, medicinal and natural,

319-

Lead, salts of, employed in medi-
cine, 319.

Legs, the fore, 87 ; the hind, 113.

Length of the foal's legs, 14, 45 ;
128; neck, 76.

Life, natural length of the horse's,
16.

" Like begets like," 40.

Lime, its medical uses, 320.
2

372

INDEX.

Lime-water, poisoning by, 321, n.
Linniean classification of the horse,

12.
Linne's opinion on the mammas, 24.
Linseed, its various uses, 322.
Lips, description of the, 81.
Litter, evils resulting from allowing

to remain in the stall in the day

time, 176.
Loins, the, described, QS.
Lungs, inflammation of, 336.
Lyell on mules, 135, n.

Mallenders and sallenders, 322.

Malt-mashes, 324.

Mane, trimming the, 203 ; "hog-
ging," ib.

Mange, its origin and treatment,
322, et seq.

Mares commended, 106; more
successful in the Olympic games
than horses, 107; preferred by
the Scythians and Arabs, ib.

Mark, the, of the teeth described,
145 ; when lost, 150.

Marking horses in South America,

69,

Marshal Marmont on racing, 129-

Mashes, method of making and
uses of, 324.

Median horse, 62, n.

Medicine, the study of human and
brute medicine anciently com-
bined, 235 ; diversity of action
of medical agents on different
animals, 236.

Mental character of the horse, 23.

Mental properties transmissible to
the offspring, 208.

Mercury, medicinal preparations of,
325; mercurial ointment, ib.;
nitrate of mercury ointment, 326';
calomel, ib. ; corrosive sublimate,
ib. ; black sulphuret of mercury,
327.

Mexican horse described, 69.

Migrations of the quagga, 31.

Milk, comparative analysis of, 14;
first milk useful to the toll,
51.

Moorcroft quoted, 9> n.

Morton, Earl of, remarkable expe-
riments in breeding, 48.

Moulting, 17.

Mules, 34.

Muscle, the subcuticular, 19.

Muscles, the organs of motion, 76 ;
tonicity of the, 77 ," remarkable
principle of muscular action, 78.

Myrrh, its medical uses, 327.

Narcotics employed in horse medi-
cine, 328.

Neck and crest, best form of, 81 ;
modified by castration, 82.

Nephritis, or inflammation of the
kidneys, nature and cause, 328.

Neptune, horses sacrificed to him, 3.

Neurotomy, its influence on the
future soundness of the animal,
l60 ; character, benefits, and
method of performing, 329.

Nimrod on action, 121 ; on the
canter, 124; on condition, 194.

Nitre, a diuretic, its doses, 330.

Norman horse, 71 •

North American horse, 69-

Nostril, slitting of, 21.

Nubian horse, 67-

Oats, as food, 186; analysis of,
187.

Ointments, blistering, 254 ; diges-
tive, 343.

Ophthalmia, common and specific,
331.

Opium, its sedative power, 333.

Organs of sense, 20.

Origin of the horse, fabulous, 1.

Paces of the horse, 17, 109; the
walk, 110; the trot, 115; rack-
ing, 117; the amble, 122; the
rohan or rowaan, 123 ; the can-
ter, ib. ; the gallop, 124; the
charge, 125; racing, 126.

Pampas, horse of the, 66.

Parturition, symptoms of approach-
ing, 51.

Pastern, the, described, 90 ; ob-

INDEX.

373

liquity of, more requisite behind
than before, ib.

Pensioning, 215.

Periodicity of production, 49.

Peritonitis, or inflammation of the
peritoneal covering of the intes-
tines, 334.

Persian horses, 6l.

Pimenta, a stimulating antispas-
modic, 334.

Pneumonia, or inflammation of the
lungs, 334, et seq.

Poll-evil, 338.

Poneys, very small ones, 16 ; of
Shetland, 55.

Potass. See Nitre.

Potatoes, as horse food, I89.

Poultices, how made, 339.

Power of the horse better exerted
in drawing than carrying, 114.

Propagation of the horse rapid in
America, 10.

Puberty, commencement of, 16.

Punjab horse, 64.

Purchase, precautions before, 167,
et seq.

Purgatives. See Cathartics.

Quagga, 30 ; mules of the, 34, 48.

Quarters (hind) described, 99 ;
always long in speedy animals,
100; shape of in Eclipse, ib. ;
the propellers of the frame, ib.

Quassia, an excellent tonic, 339.

Quick draught. See Draught.

Quidding, a temporary unsound-
ness, 162.

Quittor, its nature, cause, and
treatment, 340.

Rabies or hydrophobia, 341.

Race-horse, 56, 126, 127; Mr.
Smith on the, 127, 129.

Racing, former practice of, 58 ;
present system, 126 ; length of
the colt's legs how conducive to
speed, 128; in Persia, 129; i'1
South America, ib. ; Marshal
Maimont on, ib. ; laws of, 130.

Racking or running described, 117;

cultivated in the United States,

ib.
Raking, its utility in constipation,

342.
Red colic. See Enteritis.
Reindeer, character of, 4, n.
Resin, its uses, 342.
Resin ointment, 343.
Ringbone, 343.
Roaring, unsoundness of, 160; its

nature and treatment, 343, et

seq.
Rohan, or rowaan, a pace of ease

cultivated in the East, 123.
Romans, good judges of the horse,

73.
Rowels, their utility in inflamma-
tions, 345.
Russian breeding studs, 25.

Sacred horses of Germany, 3.

Sallenders, 322.

Sandcrack, an unsoundness, 1 60 ;
its nature and treatment, 345.

Sedatives. See Narcotics.

Sense, organs of, in the horse —
smell, 20; sight, 21; hearing,
22.

Setons, convenient and useful
counter-irritants, 346.

Sexes, the, compared, 105.

Shakspere's description of the horse,
74.

Shape of the neck, 81.

Sheath, inferences drawn from its
size, 99.

Shedding the coat, 17-

Shetland horse, 55.

Shoeing, importance of, 5, 218 ;
Xenophon's method of hardening
the hoofs, 220 ; the solea or
sandal, 221 ; antiquity of the
art of, 222 ; introduced into
England by William the Con-
queror, 223 ; properties of the
foot necessary to be conserved
in, 224 ; elasticity, ib. ; ex-
pansibility, ib. ; descent of the
heels and quarters, 225 ; the
natural inclination of the hoof,

374

INDEX.

ib. ; the progress of wear and
growth of the horn, 226 ; frog
pressure, ib. ; preservation of
these properties, ib. ; preparing
the foot for the shoe, 227 ;
stable shoeing objectionable, 229;
the English shoe, 230 ; the ful-
lered shoe, ib. ; weight of shoes,
231 ; calkins, ib. ; the hunter's
shoe, 232 ; anti-slipping shoe,
ib. ; the bar shoe, ib. ; the three-
quarter shoe and tip, ib. ; anti-
cutting shoe, 233.

Shoulder, how composed, 84 ; form
of, ib. ; advantages of oblique
direction of the, 85.

Sight of the horse, 21.

Silver, nitrate of, 347.

Sleep of the horse short, 23.

Smell, sense of, in the horse, 20.

Soil, its diverse action on the feet
of the horse, 7-

Soundness, difficulty of agreeing on,
155; Mr. Stewart's definition of,
ib.; Taplin's, 156; the author's,
157; applied to lesions of the
frame, ib. ; splints, 158 ; spa-
vins, ib.; ossified cartilages, ib. ;
anchylosis of the vertebrae, ib. ;
curb, 1 59 ; wind-galls, ib. ;
capped-hocks, ib. ; contraction,
ib. ; corns, 160 ; sandcrack, ib. ;
neurotomy, ib. ; broken knees,
ib. ; cough, ib. ; roaring, ib. ;
blindness, l6l ; springhalt, ib. ;
crib-biting, ib. ; quidding, 1 62 ;
loss of a jugular vein, ib. ; exa-
mination, ib. ; vices, 166; pur-
chase and warranty, 167 ; horse-
stealing, 169 ; horse-slaughter-
ing, 170 ; horse-dealers, 1 71.

Spanish fly. See Cantharides.

Spanish horse, 70.

Spavins, unsoundness of, 158; bog
spavin, 257 ; seat and treatment
of, 347, et seq.

Speared corn, a tempting food, 325.

Speed, greatly dependent on the
length and power of the hind
quarters, 100.

Splint, in what it consists, 89 ; un-
soundness of, 158; situation,
cause, and treatment of, 349,
et seq.

Spring-halt, 354 ; does not consti-
tute unsoundness, l6l.

Stable economy, 172 ; good results
of improved stabling, ib. ; pro-
per site of a stable, ib. ; draining,
173 ; size of stalls, 174 ; height
of, ib. ; boxing of horses, 175;
ventilation of the stable, ib. ;
admission of light, 1 76 ; tem-
perature of the stable, ib ; re-
moval of the litter, ib. ; provender,
principles of feeding, 178; kinds
of food, 180 ; the grasses, 181 ;
dry fodder, hay, &c, 182; hay-
making, 183 ; salting hay, ib. ;
straw, 184 ; corn, 185 ; analysis
of different foods, 187; bread,
ib. ; carrots, 188 ; the turnip,
189; tne potato, ib. ; quantity
of food, 190 ; watering, 191 ;
exercise, condition, training, 192 ;
condition, 193 ; grooming, 198 ;
bathing, 200 ; fomenting, ban-
daging, &c, ib. ; trimming, dock-
ing, nicking, &c, 202 ; clipping,
208 ; breaking, ib. ; breaking to
harness, 214; pensioning, 215.

Staggers or apoplexy, 351.

Starch, its uses, 352.

Stewart, Mr., his definition of
soundness, 155.

Stifle, the, 101.

Stomach of the horse, small size
of, 24.

Stopping the feet highly beneficial,
201 ; clay objected to, 202 ;
Mr. Cherry's pad, ib.

Strangles, description and treat
ment, 352, et seq.

Straw as fodder, 184.

Stud, Spanish breeding, 70.

Suckling, 52.

Sulphate of copper. See Copper.

Sulphate of iron. Sec Iron.

Sulphate of lead. See Lead.

Sulphate of zinc. See Zinc.

INDEX.

375

Sulphur, its action, 354.
Sun, horses sacrificed to the, 2.
Sweating inside the stable weaken-
ing, 195.
Sweating blisters, 256.
Swimming, 23.

Taboons,or Russian breeding studs,
25.

Tail, setting-on of the, QQ ; dock-
ing the, 205 ; trimming the,
207 ; dyeing the, ib.

Taplin's definition of soundness,
156.

Tar, its various uses, 355.

Tartarian horse, 63.

Teeth, tests of age, 138 ; the
horse's teeth, 1 39 ; anatomical
construction of, 140.

Temper shown by the ears, 77-

Tessier, M., his records of gesta-
tion, 50.

Tetanus, or locked-jaw, 355, et seq.

Thigh, the, 101.

Thorough-pin, 357-

Thrush, or Frush, its seat, nature,
and treatment, 357>

Tincture of myrrh, 327 ; of opium,
333 ; of pimenta, 334.

Tobacco, its medicinal uses, 358.

Toes, ill consequences of their
being turned in or out, 86.

Tonics, list of, 359 J tonic balls,
ib. ; tonic drench, 360.

Toorkmun horse, 6l.

Tracheotomy, how performed, 36'0.

Training, 192, et seq. ; Persian
and Toorkmun plans of training,
196, n.

Trimming, the mane, 202 ; the
tail, 204 ; the heels, 207 ; the
ears, ib.

Trot, the, described, 115; com-
pared to that of the camel, ib. ;
objected to by the Easterns, 1 16 ;
rapidity of the trot, ib. ; influ-
ence of size on, ib. ; accordance
in the power of the hind and
fore limbs necessary to, 117-

Trunk and loins, the most advan-
tageous construction, 98.

Turnip (Swede), used for horse
food, 189.

Turpentine, its uses as a diuretic
and antispasmodic, 36l.

Udder of the mare small, 14.
United States, horse of the, 67.

Varro's description of the horse,

74.
Venezuela, singular breed of horses

in, 66.
Verdigris. See Copper.
Vermifuges, 36l.
Veterinary Jurisprudence, 154. See

Soundness.
Vices, 166.
Vinegar. See Acids.
Voice of the horse, how produced,

22.

Walk, the, described, 110; maxi-
mum pace in the, 111; good
walkers usually good in their
other paces, ib.

Wall-eyes, 81.

Warranty, 167-

Warts, how removed, 362.

Watering the horse, 191.

Weaning, 53.

Weight of fore-hand, its use, 80.

White, the colour of the sacred
horses of Germany, 3.

of the Romans 3, n.

White-water for sick horses, how-
made, 311.

Wild horses of Asia, 8 ; of Africa,
9 ; of Europe, ib. ; of America,
10; of the Falkland islands, ib.

Windgalls, sound or unsound, 159';
nature and treatment of, 362.

Withers, use of an elevated con-
struction of the, 97 ; high
withers indispensable to the
saddle-horse, ib.

Worms infesting the bowels of the
horse, 363.

376

INDEX.

Xenophon's opinion on the future
height of the colt, 15 ; on ac-
tion, 121 ; on age, 139 ; on the
daily removal of the litter, 177-

Youatt, Mr., his remarks on the
utility of the slanting shoulder
quoted, 85.

Young (Arthur), his opinion of
the French horses, 71.

Zehra, 29 ; mules of the, 34.
Zinc, medical utility of its salts,

364.
Zoological classification of the

horse, 12.

THE END.

%t

London :

Printed by A. Spottiswoodf,

New- Street- Square.

Map

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