OF FARRIERY. 



297 



who when asked what he hked best, said rum ; 

 the next thing best, rum ; the next, rum ! 



If asked what was the best remedy to 

 adopt, we should reply humanity! the next, 

 humanity 1 the next, humanity ! Could we 

 but introduce humanity among the drivers of 

 our Horses, there would be no law necessary 

 for the prevention of cruelty. But the poor 

 Horse ! that noble animal (the mo^t generous 

 of all quadrupeds), from time immemorial, has 

 been cursed with the association of man, of 

 the lowest grade, and whose cruelties towards 

 him, as well in the stable* as on the road, 

 the knowledare of which sickens the heart of a 

 humane man, and makes him regret to belong 

 to the species. 



But we are aware, however our indignation 

 may be aroused by perpetrators of such atro- 

 cious cruelty, that the way to reform them is 

 not by abuse ; if we could convince them that 

 a Horse has feelings, and that they would go 

 and sin no more, our right hand of fellowship 

 should be extended to them; and we could 

 almost answer for a general amnesty from the 

 Horse himself, who has been so long the 

 object of their tyranny and oppression.' 



The way to improve a man is to teach him 

 self-respect. An enlightened man will make 

 allowances for those who have not received 

 the same advantages as himself; and will dis- 

 tinguish between ignorance and sheer bar- 

 barity. The humane servant has often been 

 compelled to perform, under the mandate of a 



* It oflen happens that when a horse is lame in one foot, 

 he will favour it by standing: on the other; and in order to 

 disguise this lameness, it is no uncommon thing to pare 

 away the sound foot till they come to the sensible sole, and 

 by introducing glass, or some haid substance in it, it be- 

 comes as painful as the other. Thus both feet being 

 equally painful, with a whip at his extremities, lameness is 

 not discovered. 



cruel and imperious master, on pain of dis- 

 missal, acts of cruelty towards the Horse, 

 which has made his very soul shudder. How 

 many jockeys have received orders to w in, it 

 even the entrails of the Horse should draff on 

 the ground, with the threat of dismissal if they 

 did not *. 



If then to establish humanity would be the 

 greatest protection to the Horse, how desirable 

 would be its culture. We know it can only 

 be done effectually by the kind and fostering 

 hand of education. We have heard much of 

 the match of intellect, and are very willing to 

 believe it is in progression. The working 

 classes have their institutions, from v\ hich they 

 may obtain the most important results ; but 

 the culture of the affection and duty of man 

 towards the lower creation of animals in this 

 country, we cannot but think has been deplo- 

 rably neglected. It is true we have some 

 honourable exceptions, we have a Society for 

 the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the 

 promoters of which, in their attempts to vin- 

 dicate the rights of humanity, have more often 

 met with ridicule than assistance. It is rather 

 to isolated individuals that we are indebted 

 for the struggle of obtaining humanity to ani- 

 mals, than to a generous sympathy in its 

 favour; and it is with pain we come to the 

 conclusion, that in England there is an apathy 

 and indifference towards the brute creation, 

 which ill accords with a nation, in many other 

 respects, remarkable for its high character 

 and generous feeling. 



If the drivers of Horses, however, have been 

 generally divested of feeling, and of the 



* Mr. John Lawrence relates having had a conversaticn 

 wi(h a jockey, who bitterly cried, and who assured hini, 

 that he was compelled either to punish the horEe in the 

 way he did, or be ruined by leaving his place. 



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