OF FARRIERY. 



481 



examination is required to detect all that may 

 prove disadvantageous or injurious to its func- 

 tion, the proper performance of which is of so 

 much importance, that the propulsion of the 

 whole machine depends chiefly upon it. 



The colour of the Horse's hair is considered 

 by some persons to be of considerable im- 

 portance, in spite of the old adage, " that a 

 good Horse is never of a bad colour." Bays 

 and browns are considered generally good 

 colours, as they have almost invariably black 

 legs, and as a consequence, good black hoofs, 

 which colour is always preferable to white 

 ones. Cliesnut colours and roans are much 

 approved of. The dark iron-grey is often the 

 colour sought after ; yet, as they advance in 

 years, they gradually become lighter, and at 

 the a^e of eight or nine years old, will be 

 almost entirely white. Grooms, no doubt, 

 have an objection to this colour, and with 

 some justice ; for they stain themselves so 

 frequently by even lying down, that it is 

 almost impossible to keep them clean, without 

 frequently washing them, and which makes 

 them liable to take cold. There is also an 

 objection generally to the natural softness of 

 their hoofs, which prevents the shoes from 

 being well and (irmly fixed. 



We have enumerated the points of the 

 Horse (good and bad) sufficiently intelligible, 

 we hope, to make our readers tolerably well 

 acquainted with the essential properties that 

 constitute an effective animal. We should be 

 glad if we could sufficiently put them on their 

 guard against the nefarious and cheating 

 practices of what are called Horse-chuunleis. 

 There is scarcely a newspaper published in 

 which they do not figure in ; sometimes as 

 advertisers, sometimes before the magistrates 

 as swindlers. The Horse seems a conductor 



to all sorts of villany, he is himself the object 

 of their desperate cruelties, and is surrounded 

 by the most heartless of mankind. There is 

 no article of commerce carried on, in which a 

 man has more right to have his suspicions ex- 

 cited than in Horse-dealing. If a man goes 

 to a repository to buy a Horse, it is ten to one 

 but he meets with a chaunter to oppose him. 

 He runs up the price to the mark, and gives 

 the Horse a good character, and expresses his 

 high admiration at his great qualities. The 

 same is done in Smithfield, and other places of 

 private bargain, where the cfiaunter will ap- 

 proach, and make an open, though fallacious 

 offer, bidding very near the price asked. 



There is another swindling method prac- 

 tised among farmers' servants, or countrymen 

 who are not likely to know much about coun- 

 try notes. They are what you call liberal 

 purchasers, and pay what is asked ; but pay 

 in worthless money. This has been done so 

 frequently with success, that it seems astonish- 

 ing, that a man who feels himself incompetent 

 to know good money, does not step into some 

 respectable shop, and inquire if the banks 

 were known, before he consented to part with 

 his Horse to strangers. This would defeat 

 the object of the sharpers. The countryman 

 is so pleased with the liberality of his cus- 

 tomer, that we may suppose it disarms him of 

 any suspicion ; and like the yokel in London, 

 who meets with such kind friends in the 

 streets, who take such an anxious interest in 

 his affairs, that they cannot rest satisfied till 

 they see his money fairly deposited in his 

 watch-fob pocket ; they only lose their con- 

 fidence when they find out they have been 

 cheated, and discover they have been made 

 the dupes of conduct, which their simplicity 

 might lead them to suppose proceeded from 

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