948 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Part III. 



the utmost consequence if the journey is to be of several days continuance, or if it is to consist of a 

 great distance in one or two days, that the baitings are sufficiently long to allow the horse to digest his 

 food : digestion does not begin in less than an hour, and is not completed in less than three ; consequently 

 any bait that is less than two hours, fails of its object ; and such a horse rather travels on his former 

 strength than on his renewed strength, and therefore it cannot continue. After a horse is fed he will 

 sometimes lie down ; by all means encourage this, and if he is used to do it, get him a retired corner stall 

 for the purpose. 



6070. The night baiting of a journeying horse should embrace all the foregoing particulars, with the ad- 

 dition of foot stopping ; and care that his stable be of the usual temperature to that to which he is accus- 

 tomed ; and that no wind or rain can come to him : give him now a full supply of water ; if he has been 

 at all exposed to cold, mash him, or, if his dung be dried by heat, do the same ; otherwise, let a good pro- 

 portion of oats and beans be his supper, with hay, not to blow on half the night, but enough only to 

 afford nutriment. 



6071. When returned home from a journey; if it has been a severe one, let the horse have his fore shoes 

 taken off, and, if possible, remove him to a loose box, with plenty of litter ; but if the stones be rough, 

 or the pavement be uneven, put on tips, or merely loosen the nails of those shoes he has on ; keep the 

 feet continually moist by a wet cloth, and stop them at night if the shoes be left on ; mash him 

 regularly, and if very much fatigued, or reduced, let him have malt or carrots, and if possible, turn him out 

 an hour or two in the middle of the day to graze : bleeding or physicking are unnecessary, unless the 

 horse shows signs of fear. If the legs be inclined to swell, bathe them with vinegar and chamber-lye, and 

 bandage them up during the day, but not at night, and the horse will soon recover to his former state. 



SuBSECT. 4. Of Horses in Curricles and Coaches. 



6072. In worUng and managing horses in curricles, two wheel chaises, and similar 

 cases, great feeling and nicety is required, not to overload or overdrive the animal ; 

 to see that the weight is duly proportioned between the wheels and horse's back, 

 and that the harness does not pinch ; but no directions on this head can be of much use, 

 unless the driver be a humane and considerate person, and one who sets a just value 

 on the services of the noble animal committed to him. In Russia, the drivers of 

 two wheel carriages, as 

 droscheys, sledges, and 

 others, corresponding to 

 our gigs and curricles, 

 have a barbarous custom 

 of teaching the horses to 

 turn round their heads, 

 the one to the left, and 

 the other to the right (^^. 

 635.), the sight of which 

 is very offensive to a stranger. 



6073. In working and managing coach horses, the same attention to grooming in all 

 its departments is required as for saddle horses. Coach horses should never be brought 

 into full work before they are five years old : when well fed on hard food they may be 

 worked at an average of thirty miles a day at twice. In general they should not be 

 longer than five or six hours in the yoke at a time. Their principal meals should be in 

 the morning and after their work is over for the day, as the action of trotting fast mate- 

 rially impedes digestion. 



SuBSECT. 5. Working of Cart, Waggon, and Farm Horses. 



6074. In working and managing cart and waggon horses, a similar attention is 

 requisite as for coach horses, though perhaps in a somewhat less degree, the animal being 

 hardier. 



6075. The working and managing of farm horses includes the age at which they are 

 put to work, the quantity of work they should perform, and their feeding and general 

 management. 



6076. The age at which horses are put to full work, in the labors (f a farm, is usually 

 when four or five years old, according to the nature of the soil, and the numbers of the 

 team ; but they are always understood to be able to pay for their maintenance after they 

 are three years old, by occasional work in ploughing and harrowing. Brown thinks it 

 probable they might be put to work at four years old, were the same attention paid to 

 their breeding and rearing, that is paid to cattle and sheep. 



6077. The work which a farm horse ought to perform is evidently a question of circum- 

 stances, which does not admit of any precise solution, a two -horse plough may, on an 

 average, work about an English acre a day throughout the year ; and, in general, 

 according to the nature of the soil, and the labor that has been previously bestowed on it, 

 a pair of horses, in ploughing, may travel daily from ten to fifteen miles, overcoming a 

 degree of resistance equal to from four to ten hundred weight. On a well made road, the 

 same horses will draw about a ton in a two wheeled cart for twenty or twenty-five miles 

 every day ; and one of the better sort, in the slow movement of the carrier or waggoner, 

 commonly draws this weight by himself on the best turnpike roads. In some places horses 

 are in the yoke, when the length of the day permits, nine hours, and in others ten hours a 

 day, but for three or four months in winter, only from five to eight hours. In the former 

 season they are allowed to feed and rest two hours from mid-day, and in the latter they 



