312 



The Horse. 



Vol. IV. 



" Hast thou wiven the horse strength ; Hast 

 thou clothed his neck with thunder? Canst 

 thou make him afraid as a grasshopper? The 

 glory of his nostrils is terrible. He pavveth 

 in the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength : 

 he goeth on to meet the armed men. He 

 mocketh at fear, and is not affrighted ; neither 

 turneth he back from the sword. The quiver 

 rattleth against him, the glittering spear and 

 the shield. He swalloweth the ground with 

 fierceness and rage ; neither believeth he that 

 it is the sound of the trumpet. He saith 

 among the trumpets, Ha, ha ; and he smell- 

 eth the battle afar off, the thunder of the cap- 

 tains and the shouting." 



Such is the description given in holy writ 

 of this superb animal ; but it is now our task 

 to treat of all that relates to the use of him, 

 in a plain and familiar style, adapted to all 

 capacities. 



The value of horses mainly depends up- 

 on their soundness and capability for work. 

 It is, therefore, of the utmost importance to 

 keep them in the most healthy condition. 

 Yet, this being universally allowed, it is a 

 constant and general complaint that so few 

 of these valuable animals are preserved in a 

 proper state. But it is surprising that those 

 who so complain do not perceive that the 

 blame principally rests with themselves, as 

 the remedy lies solely in their own hands, so 

 far, at least, as any remedy can be applied. 

 There can be no doubt that persons who em- 

 ploy horses wish to get all the work they can 

 from them, without decreasing their value; 

 but that they do not effect this desirable ob- 

 ject is evident from the prevalence of the 

 complaints made upon the subject. The 

 general employers of horses, more particu- 

 larly men of business and commercial men, 

 seem to think that a knowledge of the horse 

 is implanted within them by nature ; and this 

 overweening confidence leads them into an 

 infinity of errors, and prevents them reading 

 what better-informed persons have said upon 

 so important a topic. Nor do such persons 

 take even common precautions in the treat- 

 ment of these animals, by attending to expe- 

 rience or example ; but they trust the care 

 and health of their horses to ostlers and 

 others who have but a secondary interest in 

 preserving them in good condition. It is only 

 fair, however, to admit that the little benefit 

 derived by persons keeping or entrusted with 

 horses from works already published regard- 

 ing their treatment, may be partly owing to 

 the expensiveness, or voluminousncss, of 

 such treatises, requiring either more money 

 or time than it may be convenient to afford 

 for that purpose. To which may be added, 

 that hitherto there has not been a single work 

 issued from the press of general and complete 

 utility on this subject. 



Here, then, the reader may ask. What am 

 I to do? I take every possible care of my 

 horse ; he has abundant food ; yet he is not 

 what I could wish him. Another may say, 

 — I do not think great feeding good for the 

 health of a horse, from an idea that too much 

 food causes broken wind, or from an appre- 

 hension of bringing on inflammatory disor- 

 ders. To go through the reasons, pro and 

 con, that people might urge in vindicating 

 each his own particular mode of treatment of 

 the noble animal subject to their charge, 

 would be a mere waste of words. Ask them 

 to explain why they do this or that, and al- 

 though they may give you an answer per- 

 fectly complacent to themselves, they never 

 succeed in making converts of others. Hence 

 it is apparent that their judgment is not based 

 upon ariy rational foundation. To correct er- 

 roneous opinions on this interesting question, 

 to qualify horses to work with ease to them- 

 selves, and also to contribute to the pleasure 

 of their owners, constitute the intent and ob- 

 ject of this little tract. 



That horses ought to remain sound, and 

 would do so, to a much later period of life 

 than is the fact at present, will, it is hoped, 

 be demonstrated in the course of these pages. 

 That everything animate must decay by the 

 progress of time, is an axiom too trite to be 

 dwelt upon ; but trees, or men, may decay 

 prematurely for want of proper culture ; and 

 so may horses. Transplant a tree to an un- 

 congenial soil, or situation, and it will cease 

 to thrive ; or it may perish through some in- 

 jury to the roots; or from other causes ope- 

 rating against the laws of nature; whereas 

 under different circumstances, it might con- 

 tinue to prosper much longer. The writer 

 of this remembers the grief of a friend at the 

 decline of an ornamental and valuable timber 

 tree, in consequence of his driving a large 

 spike nail into the trunk, not thinking at the 

 moment it would do the least injury. In an- 

 other instance, a person, in order to improve 

 his grounds, raised a bank of earth around 

 some elm trees, which, to his astonishment 

 and regret, died. So it is with men and other 

 animals : climate, soil, situation, and the na- 

 ture of their employments, have the most 

 important bearings upon their health, sound- 

 ness, and capacity for usefulness. 



Our present object, therefore, is to recom- 

 mend the most judicious method of treating 

 the horse, with the view of correcting false 

 notions and of increasing the value of that 

 beautiful animal. Analogy will show us that 

 this project is not so impracticable as many 

 persons might imagine. The gardener has 

 brought many tender plants from the East to 

 flourish, even in the rigour of a northern win- 

 ter. The Ethiopian will live in Greenland; 

 the Laplander in Africa ; but they would pro- 



