338 



The Horse. 



Vol. IY. 



quantities of solids or fluids they require for 

 the preservation of health, is scarcely to be 

 expected of them. Some persons have a 

 fanciful theory in favour of giving them 

 drugs, both in their meat and water ; others 

 think that filthy water is better than the 

 clearest, as they will drink more sparingly 

 of it; but horses are not likely, any more 

 than human beings, to grow healthy upon 

 poison, or to fatten upon filth. 



In choosing a horse, consider well for what 

 work you intend him. If you want him for 

 two or more purposes, judge of his qualities 

 with reference to the most important of those 

 objects. 



To commercial men, who now seldom ride 

 on horseback, but who make their journeys 

 in gigs, a good harness-horse is the deside- 

 Tatum. This is more especially the case 

 where the traveller has to convey weighty 

 samples or patterns. But for the exact kind 

 of horse best fitted for such uses, it would 

 be extremely difficult to lay down any fixed 

 rule. All we can do is to give some general 

 instructions, by means of which, with a little 

 attention, the judgment of persons may be 

 materially assisted in the selection of ani- 

 mals for use, as well as in keeping them 

 ready for their work. 



Horses for the road should never be under 

 fourteen hands high, rarely less than fourteen 

 and a half, and never above sixteen. As a 

 general rule, fifteen hands and a half should 

 be the extent. If your horse be required to 

 draw a light chaise, without much incum- 

 brance, he may be small, and the better for 

 being three parts blood. Where there is 

 more weight to contend against, you must 

 choose a heavier horse. Bear in mind that, 

 as a rule, there must always be weight to 

 contend with weight. A heavy animal, by 

 merely throwing his bulk against the collar, 

 materially assists in moving his load, while 

 the lighter one, if over-weighted, has all to 

 do by muscular power, which soon becomes 

 exhausted ; for, in the latter case, the horse 

 is continually straining to effect by violence 

 that which in the former is accomplished by 

 weight only. Otherwise, give each horse 

 his burthen in proportion to his weight, and 

 the blood horse would kill the other in a 

 very short time. For the heavier loads, 

 therefore, speed and breed must be abandon- 

 ed for weight; and the horse must have the 

 round arched neck, large rotund barrel (or 

 body,) and rounded hind quarters. 



On the proper age of the horse much pre- 

 judice exists, and many false notions prevail. 

 One person supposes that if he buys a horse 

 Vhen he is young, it must last him so much 

 the longer than if he had bought him at a 

 more advanced age. Others, again, imagine 

 that having purchased a young horse, they 



are not likely to be serious losers by him, it 

 they sell him again while the mark remains 

 in his mouth. This may be all very well 

 with those who have more horses than they 

 can possibly exercise, and which are, there- 

 fore, unused to a day's work. 



Persons in business full well know that 

 they do not pay men's wages to persons in 

 their employment until they have arrived at 

 the age of twenty-one; not from any unjust 

 motive, but because they have not attained 

 the strength of manhood to enable them to 

 perform men's work. It is their competency 

 to go through so much labour that entitles 

 them to full wages. Now, the horse must 

 be from seven to eight years old to put him 

 on a par with a man of twenty-one. Yet 

 people are so misjudging, or rather they are 

 so ignorant of this fact, that they imagine 

 the horse is better calculated for hard work, 

 or long journeys, before than after the age 

 mentioned. If experience could teach thera, 

 they might readily perceive the younger the 

 horse is, the sooner he will be strained and 

 worn out, by being overtasked. Where the 

 work is light, and the stay frequent, at places 

 no great distance apart, and provided you 

 drive moderately, a six year old horse may 

 suit your purpose ; that is, if you are par- 

 ticularly anxious to have a mark in his 

 mouth ; if not, one of seven or eight would 

 be preferable. In cases where the loads car- 

 ried are light, and you do not often rest any 

 length of time on your route, or if your 

 vehicle is heavy, and you do not drive at a 

 very moderate pace, never choose a horse 

 under eight years old, and then he will last 

 you longer and serve you better than any 

 young one. Stage-coach proprietors, and 

 all great dealers in horses, do not consider 

 them aged until after their sixteenth year ; 

 and provided they have not been subject to 

 ill-usage, they will be fa«nd sound and in 

 good condition long after that period. 



Old Ehves, the celebrated miser, would 

 not permit his colts to be broken in until 

 they were six years old : the consequence 

 was that when his horses were upwards of 

 twenty years of age, upon their backs he 

 was able to beat any other cattle in the field 

 in hunting. All that is required for work 

 are young legs, and what are termed old 

 mouths. This description of horse is abso- 

 lutely necessary for the heavy wagon and 

 four-wheeled carriages. 



It must, nevertheless, be admitted, that 

 horses may also be too old ; but so long as 

 they are sound upon their legs, and keep up 

 their condition, they are always better suited 

 for hard work than young ones. At the 

 present moment there is living a grey mare, 

 the property of a surgeon in the neighbour- 

 hood of Finsbury square, upwards of forty 



