178 HORSE 



before. A certain virtue was said to lie in a " right-sided-maned 

 horse," as such an one was selected to assist in capturing a 

 famous "fuath" or spectre at Inveran, called by Lowlanders a 

 " baugh." A beautiful black horse used to frequent a road near 

 Loch Ness, till a resolute Highlander, meeting him one night, 

 drew his sword in the name of the Trinity, and struck at his 

 head, securing a small hook — by one account — or a bridle, which 

 ended the supposed "kelpie" or water-horse. This bridle has 

 also been termed "brang," a halter, which is the origin of the 

 Scotch term for an instrument of old fastened round the jaws of 

 a scolding woman. A horse-halter is also termed "iadastar," 

 iadastur, iadhastar or adhastar, i.e., ni tha 'g iadhach mu 'n tor, 

 ceann an eich, and the bridle-rein "airghean," a name for the 

 bit being "bealbhach." A man if met riding on a white horse 

 is supposed to be able to name a cure for any illness ; this belief 

 is said to extend beyond the Highlands. Whooping-cough is 

 said to be cured by passing the patient three times beneath the 

 belly of a piebald pony, a rarity. Mare's milk is said to be a 

 specific for this ailment, certainly a more practical one ; while a 

 horse's cough itself is " fothach," glanders in a horse is " Grain- 

 easadh." The superstition as to the horse-shoe, so prevalent still, 

 is because either a horse or an ass was in the stall when Christ was 

 born ; the shoe, however, must be found. A word for horse food 

 is "dosdan." In the island of Mull the ghost of Ewen Maclaine, 

 Loch Buidhe, Eoghan a chinn bhig, Ewen of the little head, who 

 was killed in a fight, is seen riding on a dun or mouse-coloured 

 pony, which goes up hill and down dale with equal speed; the 

 knowing ones, in that island, point out the prints of the pony's 

 shoes or hoofs. This apparition is said not to be confined to Mull, 

 but to have been seen in the remotest of the Hebrides, and even 

 in Ireland. A figure of this horse or pony, with Ewen on its 

 back, is sculptured on his tomb in lona. The Irish race of horses 

 was (and perhaps still is) a fine one, as is evident from the many 

 passages which occur in Irish literature, and in the Brehon Laws 

 descriptive of a good horse. One horse (M^Murrough's) was said 

 to be worth 400 cows, which, at .£3 per cow, would be about 

 £1200, a large sum in the days of yore, though hardly up to the 

 price paid in later days, viz., .£30,000 for a celebrated staUion 

 and race-horse. In 1486-7 horses were so dear in Ireland that a 

 milch-cow and a heifer were often given for a colt. A horse 

 when valued against other stock is estimated as being equal to 

 any of eight foals, four one-year-olds, two two-year-olds, one 

 three-year-old, or one one-year-old filly. Another estimate in 

 " Coilpeachadh," or equalising for souming purposes, is eight foals, 

 four one-year-old fillies, two two-year-old fillies, one three, and 

 one one-year-old filly, or two cows. Horses are put or taken to 

 the fields on St Bridget's Day — La Bride bheirear gearrain thun 

 nan fonn. The name of an island set apart for horse-grazing is 



