EAR — EASTERN BLOOD 



Ear. — The ears of a well-bred horse should be small, fine, 

 and rather pointed at the tip, a coarse, round tipped ear 

 being regarded as a sign of bad breeding. They should 

 be set on fairly high but not too close together, and carried 

 erect ; nervous horses and those of defective sight often 

 keep on moving their ears about restlessly, whilst deaf 

 ones usually carry them pointed forwards. The insides of 

 the ears should not have the hairs removed when the horse 

 is singed, as these are protections against the entrance of 

 foreign substances and insects. (See Lop Ears.) 



Ear Marks. — It is a common' practice amongst the 

 owners of horses which run on common land to mark the ears 

 of their foals for the purposes of subsequent identification. 

 Disfiguring notches on the outside edges are objectionable, 

 as they affect the value of the horse in after life, and 

 the best course to adopt, therefore, is to punch a hole in 

 the ear and draw a few pieces of coloured worsted through 

 it. (See Branding, Markings.) 



Eastern Blood has undoubtedly accomplished much 

 for the British horse, the Thoroughbred, Hackney, and other 

 breeds having undoubtedly sprung from the horses which 

 were imported from the East into this country by successive 

 English sovereigns, King John being the first to recognise 

 the value of this blood. James I. owned a horse called the 

 Markham Arabian, and Charles II. gave evidences of the 

 possession of sound judgment by importing a number of 

 valuable mares ; but the three great pillars of the Stud 

 Book undoubtedly are the Byerley Turk, who flourished at 

 the time of William and Mary, the Darley Arabian of 

 Queen Anne's days, and the Godolphin Arabian, who accom- 

 plished great things in the reign of George II. (See Araby 

 Royal Mares, Thoroughbred.) 



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