HI 



EQUID^E. 



EQUID/E. 



691 



times the roguery is carried further ; the next tooth is slightly 

 touched with the engraver and the cautery ; but here the dishonest 

 dealer generally overreaches himself, for the form and general appear- 

 ance of a six-year-old horse can rarely be given to one who has passed 

 his eighth year. The eighth year having passed, it is difficult to 

 decide on the exact age of the horse. The incisors of the upper jaw 

 are then the best guides. At nine years the mark is said to be worn 

 away from the central teeth ; at eleven, from the next pair ; and at 

 twelve, from the corner ones. The tush likewise becomes shorter and 

 blunter. 



There are many circumstances which render a decision as to the 

 age of the horse very difficult after the marks are eifaced from the 

 lower incisors, and even before that period. Horses always kept in 

 the stable have the mark much sooner worn out than those that are 

 at grass, and it is impossible to form any calculation at all as to 

 crib-biters. 



Of the age to which the horse would naturally arrive it is impossible 

 to say anything satisfactory. Many have exceeded thirty, and some 

 of them even forty years ; but, from ill usage and over exertion, 

 the majority come to their end before they have seen nine or ten 

 years. 



The 'Proper Conformation of the Horse. A very general account 

 only can be given of this, for it varies essentially with the breed and 

 destination of the animal. There are some points however which are 

 valuable in horses of every description. The head should not be dis- 

 proportially large, and should be well set on, that is, the lower jaw- 

 bones should be sufficiently far apart to enable the head to form that 

 angle with the neck which gives free motion and a graceful carriage to 

 it, and prevents its bearing too heavily on the hand. The eye should 

 be large and a little prominent, and the eyelid fine and thin. The ear 

 should be small and erect, and quick in motion. The lop-ear indicates 

 dulness or stubborness ; and when it is habitually laid too far back 

 upon the neck, there is too frequently a disposition to mischief. The 

 nostril in every breed should be somewhat expanded : it can hardly 

 be too much so in the Racer, the Hunter, the Roadster, and the Coach- 

 Horse, for these animals breathe only through the nostril, and would 

 be dangerously distressed when much speed is required of them, if the 

 nostril could not dilate to admit and to return the air. The neck 

 should be long rather than short. It then enables the animal to 

 graze with more ease, and to throw his weight more forward, whether 

 he is in harness or galloping at the top of his speed. It should be 

 muscular at its base, and gradually become fine as it approaches the 

 head. The withers should be somewhat high in every horse, except 

 perhaps that of heavy draught, and it does not harm him, for there is 

 larger surface for the attachment of the muscles of the back, and they 

 act at greater mechanical advantage. A slanting direction of the 

 shoulder gives also much mechanical advantage, as well as an easy and 

 pleasant action, and a greater degree of safety. It must not however 

 exist in any considerable degree in the horse of draught, and particu- 

 larly of heavy draught. The chest must be capacious, for it contains 

 the heart and the lungs, the organs on which the speed and endurance 

 of the horse depend. Capacity of chest is indispensable in every 

 horse ; but the form of the chest admits of variation. In the Waggon- 

 Horse the circular chest may be admitted, because he seldom goes at 

 any great speed, and there is comparatively little variation in the 

 i|iiantity of air required ; but in other horses the variation is often 

 fearful. The quantity of air expended in the gallop is many times 

 that required in hard work. Here we must have depth of chest, not 

 only as giving more room for the insertion of the muscles on the 

 action of which the expansion of the chest depends, but a conforma- 

 tiou of the chest which admits of that expansion. That which is 

 somewhat straight may be easily bent into a circle when greater 

 capacity is required; that which is already circular admits of no 

 expansion. A few words more are all that our limits permit us to 

 add, and they contain almost all that is necessary to be added on the 

 conformation of the Horse : " The loins should be broad, the quar- 

 ters long, the thighs muscular, and the hocks well bent and well under 

 the horse." 



General Management of the Horse. The foal, as soon as it is 

 dropped, should be turned with its dam into a sheltered and good 

 pasture, in which there is a hovel for occasional retreat from the wind 

 and rain. Some hay or corn, or both, should be allowed, if it is early 

 in the season, or the grass has scarcely begun to shoot. There is 

 nothing no detrimental to the colt as insufficient food. It should be 

 regarded as a fundamental principle in breeding, that if the growth is 

 checked by starvation, beauty and energy and stoutness will rarely be 

 .'d in after-years. 



In five or six months, according to the growth of the foal or the 



of the farmer, the weaning may take place. The colt 



nlionld be removed from his former haunts to some distant rick-yard, 



or confined to a stable until he becomes a little reconciled to the loss 



of his ilam. 



In the ensuing spring the breaking may commence ; a process on 

 which will materially depend the temper and value of the horse, and 

 tin' pleasure of the rider. The foal should be handled and haltered, 

 and led about by the servant who has the chief care of him, and whose 

 i -ondtict towards him slionM always be kind. " The principle," says 

 the author of ' The Horse,' " on which the after-usefulness of the 



AT. HIST. DIV. VOL. II. 



animal is founded, is early attachment to and confidence in man, and 

 obedience, resulting principally from these." 



With regard to the Racing Colt, the processes of breaking and train- 

 ing are injuriously and cruelly completed in the second year, and 

 thousands of horses are irreparably injured by this early exaction of 

 labour and speed ; but in the Hunter, the Hackney, the Agricultural 

 and the Carriage-Horse, the serious part of this business is not entered 

 upon until the third year. 



A horse is well broken when he has been taught implicit and cheer- 

 ful obedience to his rider or driver, and dexterity in the performance 

 of his work. A dogged, sullen, spiritless submission may be enforced 

 by the cruel and brutal usage to which the breaker so frequently has 

 recourse ; but that prompt and eager response to the slightest intima- 

 tion of the rider's will that manifest aim to anticipate every wish, 

 that gives to the horse so much of Ms value -must be built on habitual 

 confidence and attachment. The education of the horse should be 

 that of the child. Pleasure should be as much as possible associated 

 with the early lessons ; while firmness, or, if need be, coercion muat 

 establish the habit of obedience. 



The breaking being accomplished, the management of the Horse 

 will vary according to his breed and destination ; but the good usage 

 of our domesticated slaves should be regarded as a principle that 

 ought never to be violated. The Agricultural Horse is seldom over- 

 worked, and on large farms is generally well fed ; perhaps in many 

 cases too much above his work. This however is an error on the 

 right side. A very slight inspection of the animal will always enable 

 the owner to determine whether he is too well or not sufficiently fed. 

 The size of the horse, and the nature of the work, and the season of 

 the year, will make considerable difference in the quantity and the 

 quality of the food. The following accounts will sufficiently elucidate 

 the general custom : " Mr. Harper, of Bank Hall, Lancashire, ploughs 

 seven acres per week, the year through, on strong land with a team of 

 three horses, and allows to each weekly two bushels of oats, with hay, 

 during the winter six months, and during the remainder of the year 

 one bushel of oats per week, with green food. Mr. Ellman, of Qlynde 

 in Sussex, allows two bushels of oats, with peas-haulm or straw, with 

 but very little hay, during thirty winter weeks. He gives one bushel 

 of oats, with green food, during the summer." * There is very little 

 difference in the management of these two gentlemen, and that pro- 

 bably arising from circumstances peculiar to their respective farms. 

 The grand principles of feeding with reference to agricultural horses 

 are, to keep the animal rather above his work, to give him good and 

 wholesome food, and, by the use of the nose-bag or other means, never 

 to let him be worked more than four or five hours without being baited. 



The horse of quick work, the Stage-Coach Horse and the Poster, 

 should be allowed as much as he will eat, care being taken that no 

 more is put in the manger than he will readily dispose of. The 

 quantity actually eateu will depend on the degree of work and the 

 natural appetite of the horse, but it may be averaged at about 66 Ibs. 

 of chaff, IT^lbs. of beans, and 771bs. of oats per week. When the 

 work is unusually hard, the quantity of oats may be diminished, that 

 of beans increased, and a portion of barley added. 



During the sporting season the Hunter is well fed, and with that 

 kind of food which contains a great proportion of nutriment in little 

 compass. A small quantity of hay, rarely more than 8 Ibs. or lOlbs. 

 per day, is allowed, and less than that on the day before work. The 

 quantity of corn may vary from 14 Ibs. to 16 Ibs. daily. There is a 

 prejudice in. most hunting stables, and probably well founded, against 

 chaff, and it is seldom that the beans and oats are bruised. A bran- 

 mash is given after a day of more than usual fatigue, and is serviceable 

 at other times, when there has not been more thau ordinary work, 

 provided that at least two days are suffered to elapse before the horse 

 is again taken into the field. 



No horse should be urged on after he has exhibited unequivocal 

 symptoms of distress, such as a drooping pace, a staggering gait, ii 

 heavy bearing on the hand, a rapid inspiration like a hurried sigh, 

 and a peculiar convulsive action of the dinphragm, as though the 

 heart were violently beating against the side. The loss of blood, the 

 administration of some cordial medicine, and slow leading to the 

 nearest stable, are the best restoratives at the moment of distress ; 

 although the cordial would be absolutely destructive a few hours 

 afterwards, when inflammation had commenced. 



The hunting season having passed, the horse used to be turned into 

 the field as soon as the grass had begun fairly to sprout, and there, 

 with his feed or two feeds of corn diiily, and his hovel, into which ho 

 might retreat from the sun or the storm, he remained until the middle 

 of June, or the flies began to bo troublesome. It was delightful to 

 see how much he enjoyed this short period of liberty ; aud well had 

 he earned it. Of late years however it has become the fashion to 

 confine him to his box, whence ho stirs not except for an hour's 

 walking exercise on the road, until he is taken into training for the 

 next winter's business. 



Nothing can be so erroneous or cruel as this. There are few horses 

 that have not materially suffered in their legs and feet before the 

 close of the hunting season. There cannot be anything so refreshing 

 to their feet as the damp coolness of the herbage which they tread at 

 that period, and there is no physic which so safely and effectually as 

 * ' Agricultural Survey of Sussex,' pp. 378, 381. 



2 Q 



