GBEEK HOBSEs.] MODEEN VETERINARY PRACTICE. [onEEK nouBEi. 



morning by being represented as drawn by 

 four milk-white horsoa in a rose-coloured 

 chariot. These are all striking evidences of 

 the might and majesty possessed by tiio horse 

 in the Grecian mind, and of the noble pur- 

 poses for which they believed him to have been 

 ordained. The chariot of the Sun is, in Ovid's 

 beautiful fable of Phaeton, drawn by grey- 

 footed steeds ; and Ereehouius, a prince, is by 

 profession, a horse-breaker. In the tlurd 

 Georgia of Virgil, his wonderful performances 

 are thus immortalised : — 



" Bold Erecboinus was tlie first who joined 

 Four horses for the rapid race desigu'd, 

 And o'er the dusty wheels presiding sat: 

 The LajiithDe to chariots add the state 

 Of bits and bridles ; taught the steed to bnund. 

 To run tlie ring, and trace the airy giound ; 

 To stop, to fly, the rules of war to know, 

 T'obey the rider, and to dare the foe." 

 A modern reader, therefore, must enter some- 

 what into the sentiments and feelings of anti- 

 quity, in order to perceive the beauty or 

 propriety of Theocritus's comparison of Helen 

 to a horse, or of Solomon's likening his love 

 "to a company of horses in Pharaoh's cha- 

 riots." The light in which the horse is thus 

 considered as an ornament of royalty, or an 

 appendage of war — not only ornamental, but 

 efficient — is explanatory of many passages 

 scattered over the pages of the Old Testament, 

 and of those of the Greek and Latin Classics. 

 In the days of Xenophon, 600 years later 

 than those of Solomon, the price of a good 

 horse was about 50 danks, or £27 12s.; at 

 least, such was the price paid by Senthes, the 

 Thracian, to Xenophon, for the steed whereon 

 he rode during his retreat from Babylon. As 

 this general was a skilful horseman, as well as a 

 good judge of a horse, it is interesting to see 

 the opinions which, in his age, prevailed re- 

 specting the points of that animal. 



" The firsfc thing which ouglit to to looked 

 at," says he, " is the foot ; for as a house 

 Avould be of no use, though all the upper 

 parts of it were beautiful, if the lesser parts of 

 it had not a proper foundation — so a horse 

 would not be of any use in war if he had 

 tender feet, even though he should have all 

 other good qualities ; for his good qualities 

 could not be made any valuable use of. Thick 

 lioofs make a horse's foot better than thin 

 ones; and it must not be forgotten to see 

 c 



whether the hodfs are high or low, and near 

 the ground both before and behind. The 

 pasterns, or bones immediatt-ly above the 

 hoofs and below the fethtcks, ought not to be 

 straight like those of a goat, for this would 

 shake the rider ; and such legs are more sub- 

 ject to inflammation : nor ought tlieso bones 

 to be too low, for the fetlock would bo chafed 

 and ulcerated if the horse w(;re ridden over 

 ploughed grounds or among stones. The 

 bones of the legs, being the supporters of the 

 whole body, ought to be large ; not, however, 

 too thick with veins. The thighs, under the 

 shoulders, are both strong and graceful when 

 they are large ; and when the chest is also 

 large, it greatly contributes, not only to the 

 beauty and strength of the horse, but to his 

 being able to continue a long time in one 

 pace. The neck should proceed from the 

 chest, and it should be free about the bend ot 

 the head, which should have a small cheek. 

 The eyes should stand well out ; the nostrils 

 be wide, and the ears small. The loins should 

 be broad and short ; the haunches large and 

 fleshy, and such as to correspond wiih the 

 sides and chest of the animal." 



Such is the description of Xenophon ; to 

 which we may add that of Blundeville, who 

 thus speaks of the Greek horses: — "The 

 horses of Greece have good legs, great bodies, 

 comely heads, and are of a high stature ; and 

 very well made forward, but not backward, 

 because they are pyn-buttocked. ISTotwith- 

 standiug, they are very swift, and of a bold 

 courage. But of all the races in Greece, both 

 the horses and mares of Thessaly, for their 

 beauty, bigness, bounty, and courage, of all 

 authors, are most celebrated. For which 

 cause, Xerxes, on his coming into Greece, 

 made a running of horses in chariots, to be 

 proclaimed only in Thessaly, because he would 

 have his own horses to run with the best 

 horses in Greece. Julius Caesar, being dicta- 

 tor of Rome, knowing the courage of tiiese 

 horses, was the first that ordained them as a 

 spectacle before the people, to fight with wild 

 bulls, and to kill them." 



After the Greeks, the Romans followed 

 pretty much in the same path, in reference to 

 the management of the horse. Chariot and 

 horse-races were, at an early period, nitro- 

 duced among them ; and down to the reigns of 



9 



