ON HORSE M ANSHIP. 239 



The head mud be waflied with water : as there are 

 many bones in it, it would hurt the horfe to rub them 

 with iron * or wood. 



The Forelock fhould be wafhed alfo : this tuft of hair, 

 though pretty long, does not obftrui5t his fight, but is 

 a defence to his eyes. Providence certainly has fur- 

 nifhed the horfe with it, inilead of the long ears which 

 alTes and mules have for the fame purpofe. 



The T'ail and Mane fhould like wife be wafhed and 

 cleaned, that the hair may grow ; for the longer the 

 tail is, the farther the horfe is able to reach f, in 

 bruiliing ofi whatever may difturb him ; and the Mane 



is 



* This implies that the Greeks ufed Inftruments for the purpofe of 

 cleaning their horfes, as we do Curry-combs ; and perhaps the moderns 

 are indebted to them for thefe utenfils. 



•f- Thefe obfervations are fo true and juft, that one would almofl 

 think it needlefs to dwell upon them -, yet fuch is the cruelty and ab- 

 furdity of our notions and cuftoms in cropping, as it is called, the ears- 

 of our horfes, docking and nicking their tails, that we every day fly in 

 the face of reafon, nature, and humanity. Nor are the prefent race of 

 men in this iOand alone to be charged with this folly, almoft unbe- 

 coming the ignorance aud cruelty of favages ; hutxhtn fore-fathers, fe- 

 veral centuries ago, were charged and reprehended by a public canon, 

 for this abfurd and barbarous praftice : however, we need but look in- 

 to the ftreets and roads to be convinced, that their dcfcendants have 

 not degenerated from them; although his prefent Majejly^ in his wif- 

 dom and humanity, has endeavoured to reclaim them, by iflliing an 

 order that the horfes which ferve in his troops fhould remain as nature 

 defigned them : 



Who never made her work for vwn to mend, Dryden. 



The 



