950 



PRACTICE OE AGRICULTURE. 



Part III. 



<.'M7. The common horse, justly considered as the noblest of quadrupeds, is found In a 

 wild slate ill the deserts of" Great Tartary, in the southern parts of Siberia, and in Other 

 parts of Asia, anil in the interior of Africa. He lias long been domesticated and cul- 

 tivated in most parts of the earth, for the various puqioses of war, hunting, parade, the 

 saddle, and draught ; and in some places, partly for his flesh and the milk of the female. 

 The parts of a horse, when no longer endued with life, are applied to various useful pur- 

 poses. The blood is used as manure. The bones are broken and boiled, to produce oil, 

 and are afterwards ground into an excellent manure ; some of the bones are also employed 

 in the mechanical arts. The flesh supplies food for the domestic carnivorous animals, 

 the cat and dog ; for carnivorous birds, kept for amusement or curiosity ; for fish, &c. 

 We shall consider the horse in regard to its varieties, organology, anatomy, physiology, 

 diseases, breeding, rearing, training, feeding, and working 



Sect. I. Varieties of the Horse. 



*621S. The varieties of the domestic horse are numerous. The indigenous horse of every 

 country, operated on by climate, assumes that form best adapted to its locality. Man 

 would soon, however, be led to mix with the native breeds that variety which presented 

 in its aboriginal state the finest form and most valuable qualifications. This being 

 found centred in the horses of Arabia, Persia, and Barbary, the inhabitants of Europe 

 generally sought an amelioration of their own breeds by an admixture of oriental 

 blood. 



6219. The Arabian horses {Jig. 81S. is a portrait of one brought by Buonaparte from Egypt, and now 

 gig living in the royal garden of Paris,) are reckoned the 



best, and the solicitude with which the Arabs preserve 

 these horses pure and unmixed is remarkable. The 

 care with which they are nurtured, and the skill dis- 

 played in their equestrian management, are no less 

 admirable. None but stallions of the finest form and 

 purest blood are allowed access to their mares, which 

 is never permitted but in the presence of a professional 

 witness or public officer, who attests the fact, records 

 the name, and signs the pedigree of each. The Per- 

 sian horses are considered next in value; and after 

 them the horses of Andalusia in Spain. The Barbary 

 horses are descended from the Arabians, and much 

 esteemed. Jackson (Empire of Morocco, p. 48.) men. 

 Sn tions one very fleet variety, used for hunting the 

 || J ostrich, and fed entirely on camel's milk. The horses 

 of India, though active and not ill formed, are small 

 ■"^^ and vicious, the climate being unfavourable to their 

 greater developement. Those of Tartary are of a 

 moderate size ; but strong, muscular, full of spirit, and active. The Tartars are considered skilful riders. 

 Like the Kalmucks, they eat the flesh of horses as we do that of oxen, and use their milk either in curd 

 or fermented. 



6220. Of the European varieties of the horse, those of Italy were formerly in greater 

 esteem than at present ; but still those of the Neapolitans shine both under the saddle 

 and in traces. Great numbers are bred in Sicily ; those of Sardinia and Corsica are 

 small, but active and spirited. The Swiss horses partake of the same qualities. 



6221. The Spanish horses have long been highly esteemed. Theinvasion of the Moors, in 710, brought 

 a vast influx of oriental blood into Spain ; and the continuance of the Moorish yoke during several cen- 

 turies produced altogether so improved a race there, that the best Spanish horses are preferred by some 

 to the Barbs. The Spanish Genette has long been celebrated for its elegance, sprightliness, and durability. 

 The best breeds of Spain are generally finely carcased, and well limbed, active, ready, and easy in their 

 paces, docile and affectionate to their owners, full of spirit and courage, but tempered with mildness and 

 good-nature ; they are, for the most part, of a moderate size. Those which are bred in Upper Andalusia 

 are deemed the most valuable. The Portuguese horses, or rather mares, were famous of old for being 

 very fleet and long-winded ; but of late, it is said, they are much degenerated. 



France abounds in horses of all kinds, whose origin may be traced to a mixture of their native 

 breeds with the Asiatic introduced by the irruption of the Goths, and originally received from the 

 Scythians, and the true eastern blood received from Spain, Barbary, and Arabia. With these admixtures, 

 however, the horses of France have not yet borne a high character throughout Europe; and although 

 under the dominion of Napoleon more than two hundred pure Arabian stallions were imported, and the 

 northern states plundered of their choicest specimens, by which the breeds have been much improved; 

 still France imports \carly vast numbers from this country, particularly hunters and high bred carriage 

 horses. Of their own breeds, Limousin furnishes some good saddle horses, and hunters also. Next to 

 those, Normandy claims precedence for a well-formed and useful breed. There are also very good bidets, 

 or ponies, in Auvergne, PoitOU, and Burgundy. Lower Normandy and the district of Cotentin furnish 

 some very tolerable coach horses, and which are more active and appear more elastic in their motions 

 than the Dutch horses. They have, however, a noble race of large draught horses equal to any seen in 

 England, and among which the chesnut colour seems to prevail. The French horses generally are apt 

 to have their shoulders although oblique, yet too loose and open, as those of the Barbs are usually too 

 confined and narrow. 



6223. The Flemish horses are inferior in value to the Dutch, having usually large heavy heads and 

 necks ; their feet also are immoderately large and flat, and their legs subject to watery humours and 

 swellings. 



i I Holland furnishes a race of horses which are principally serviceable in light draught work : thp 

 best come from Friesland, 



6225. Germany is not destitute of good horses. The native breeds, heavy and ill. formed, received their 

 first improvement from admixture with the Asiatic horses In after-times the Geimans obtained still 



