THE EAR. 245 



Their object is to prevent the horse from seeing 

 objects which will frighten it. Why a horse should 

 be frightened when it is driven, and not frightened 

 when it is ridden, is rather difficult of comprehension. 

 If we accept the assumption that a horse must be 

 frightened at objects which it can see, we ought to 

 be consistent and assume that it must be frightened 

 at sounds which it can hear. And, to be consistent, 

 we ought to stop the horse's ears as well as blind its 

 eyes. Indeed, seeing what pranks are played with 

 the horse, I very much wonder that ear-stoppers 

 have not come into fashion long ago. Perhaps they 

 might have done so, if they could have been adorned 

 with a Greek or Latin title, such as Otoclids or 

 Auriclauders, made ornamental, and, like blinkers, 

 could bear the crest of the owner. There are many 

 men still living who can remember when a horse 

 was considered quite unfit to be looked at unless his 

 ears were cropped close to his head, just as was the 

 case only a few years ago with many breeds of 

 dogs. 



At the present day we should say that the whole 

 beauty of the head was destroyed by the loss of the 

 mobile ears, which indicate the emotions which pass 

 through the animal's mind, and that the horse was 

 hopelessly disfigured. We might also say that to 

 crop the horse's ears was indirectly dangerous to 



