NETTLE RASH— NEW FOREST PONY 



his nostrils, is sometimes placed over the muzzle of a hard 

 puller in order to check him. 



Nettle Rash. — See Surfeit. 



Neurotomy is an operation which involves the cutting 

 through of a nerve, its object being to relieve the horse from 

 pain when he is worked if he is suffering from diseased limbs. 

 It should not be performed upon a horse which has thin or 

 bad feet, and it may be added that the effects of the operation 

 are not invariably permanent, owing to the ends of the nerve 

 where it was cut reuniting after a time. Neurotomy causes 

 numbness of the limb below the point where the nerve was 

 severed, and hence there is always some risk attached to 

 riding, or driving in a light vehicle, a horse that has been 

 operated on, as the loss of the sense of feeling in the feet 

 may cause him to place them on something which may 

 bring him down. 



New Forest Pony, — A breed of ponies has been culti- 

 vated in this district for centuries ; indeed, the records of the 

 Exchequer show that payments were made by the Crown 

 for their sustenance as far back as ii 66. Unfortunately, like 

 all the other ancient breeds of British horse, the New Forest 

 pony has suffered a great deal from the effects of injudicious 

 crosses introduced by well-meaning, but foolish persons as 

 improvements. Some fifty years ago Arab blood was tried 

 with fairly satisfactory results in some cases, so far as the 

 production of a serviceable working pony was concerned, 

 but the old type was practically lost. Thoroughbreds had, 

 however, been used long before that period, one of the stallions 

 which served in the district having been Marske, the sire of 

 Eclipse. The New Forest ponies of the present day vary 

 a good deal, but the average height is a liberal 13 hands; 

 they are good gallopers and jumpers, though many are 

 inclined to be goose-rumped. They for the most part have 



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