iniSH HOESE.] 



THE HOESE, AND 



[native Hotisn. 



value ; but he seldom has the elegance of the 

 English animal. He is larger headed, more 

 leggy, ragged-hipped, angular, yet with great 

 power in the quarters, much depth beneath 

 the knee, stout and hardy, full of fire and 

 courage, and among the best leapers in the 

 world. He is not generally, however, so tall as 

 the English horse, being stunted in his growth ; 

 for the poverty and custom of the country 

 impose upon him much hard work, at a time 

 when he is unfit for labour of any kind. For 

 this reason, too, the Irish horse is deficient in 

 speed. There is, however, another explanation 

 of this; and that is, that the thorough-bred 

 Irish horse is not equal to the thorough-bred 

 English. Comparatively speaking, he is a 

 weedy, leggy, wortliless animal, and very little 

 of him enters into the composition of the 

 hunter or the hackney. 



For leaping, the Irish horse has long been 

 considered unrivalled. It is not, however, the 

 leaping of the English horse, striding, as it 

 were, over a low fence, and stretched at his 

 full length over a higher one. It is rather the 

 proper jump of the deer — beautiful to look at, 

 and, both in height and extent, unequalled by 

 the English horse. Much of this difterence 

 of leaping in the two countries, no doubt, 

 depends on the training, and on the nature of 

 the fences in Ireland, where there are so many 

 inclosures with stone walls. 



There are very few horses in the agricultural 

 districts of Ireland, exclusively devoted to 

 draught. The minute division of the farms 

 renders it impossible for them to be kept. 

 The occupier even of a tolerably sized Irish 

 farm, wants a horse that shall carry him to 

 market, aud draw his small car, and perform 

 every kind of drudgery — in short, a horse of all 

 work; therefore the thorough draught-horse, 

 whether Leicestershire or Suffolk, is rarelv 

 found in Ireland. 



If we look to the general commerce of Ire- 

 land, there are few stage-waggons, or drays 

 ■with immense cattle belonging to them. In 

 the north, some stout horses are employed in 

 the carriage of linen ; but the majority of the 

 garrons used in agriculture or commercial pur- 

 suits, are miserable and half-starved animals. 



There is a native breed in Ulster, hardy, and 

 sure-footed, but with little preteusion to either 

 beauty or speed. 

 42 



THE HORSE IN HIS NATIVE STATE. 



We have purposely reserved, till now, our de- 

 scription of the horse in his native state, as seen 

 in the boundless Llanos, or savannas and 

 prairies of South and JS'orth America, where he 

 is entirely free, and where he is seen to the 

 greatest advantage amidst his native pastures. 

 To form anything like a correct idea of this 

 noble animal in his native sim|)licity, we must 

 not look for him in the pastures or the stables 

 to which he has been consigned by n)an ; but 

 in those wild and extensive plains where he 

 has been originally produced, whether in the 

 Old or the New World, and where he ranges at 

 will and riot in the unrestrained license of a. 

 rich, a varied, and a luxuriant vegetation. In 

 this state of haj^py independence he disdains 

 the assistance of man, which only tends to 

 servitude. In the interminable Llano, or 

 prairie, where he wanders at liberty, he seems 

 no way incommoded by the inconveniences to 

 whicii he is subjected in Europe. The verdure 

 of the broad expanse of grass supplies his 

 wants ; and the climate that never knows a 

 winter, is, perhaps, more congenial to his con- 

 stitution than any other, as he naturally seems 

 to be fond of heat. His enemies of the forest 

 are but few, for none but the larger kinds will 

 venture to attack him : and any one of these he 

 is, singly, mostly able to overcome; while, at 

 the same time, he is content to find safety in 

 society ; for the wild horses of those countries 

 always herd together. A gentleman describ- 

 ing what he himself had witnesvsed with a 

 friend whilst travelling in South America, thus 

 notices the horse in his native or wild state : — 



"About half-past ten we discerned a crea- 

 ture in motion at an immense distance, and 

 instantly started in pursuit. Fifteen minutes' 

 riding brought us near enough to discern, by 

 its fleetness, that it could not be a butialo; 

 yet it was too large for an antelope, or a deer. 

 On we went, and soon distinguished the erect 

 head, the flowing mane, and the beautiful pro- 

 portions of the wild horse of the prairie. He saw 

 us, and sped away with arrowy swiftness, till he 

 gained a distant eniinence, when he turned to 

 gaze at us, and suff'ered us to approach within 

 four hundred yards, and then bounded away 

 again in another direction, with a graceful 

 velocity delightful to behold. We paused, for 



