THE CAVALRT HOUSE.] MODERN VETEKINAEY PRACTICE. [oBAroHX homi. 



troopa were found quite rqual to the task of 

 repelling the forniidiihle charge of the cuiras- 

 siera at Waterloo. ]n a national point of 

 view, there are few objects to which the evo 

 of government ought to be more vigilantly 

 directed, than to the improvement of our 

 cavalry horses, or to the due proportioning of 

 their capacity to the duties they have to 

 perform. "If from the habit of running short 

 distances," says the author of The ILorse, " and 

 at the very early ages of one and two years, 

 with light weights, there is a deterioration in 

 the strength and stoutness of our thorough- 

 bred horses, they will become every year less 

 and less fitted for getting stock sufficiently 

 hardy and powerful to do credit to the courage 

 and discipline of our cavalry." 



thorouQ;h-bred horses, and thus another variety 

 of coach-horse is produced, of ligliter form and 

 higher breeding ; and many of the superior 

 Cleveland curricle and four-in-liand horses are 

 now nearlv thorough-bred. The bay colour is 

 in the most general estimation, but the grey 

 are not unfrequently used." 



The principal points to be looked at in the 

 coach- horse are a deep and well-jiroportioiied 

 body, bone under the knee, and tough feet, 

 perfectly sound, and somewhat open. 



Before, and in some parts, the cruelties prac- 

 tised towards the coach-horse were very great, 

 often arising out of the competition of different 

 proprietors; but these are now much dimi- 

 nished. A more generally enliglitened senti- 

 ment of humanity pen^ades the country in 

 reference to the brute creation; still, in the 

 metropolis, instances of cruelty may not unfre- 

 quently be witnessed towards the over-worked 

 horses of the omnibus and cab. 



The former kind of vehicle, w"hen first used 

 in London, had usually three horses ; but now 

 it has generally only two. These trot and 

 stagger up Holborn-hill, Blackfriars-bridge, 

 and other metropolitan hills, with little allow- 

 ance made for their acclivity, thus punishing the 

 poor animals, and distressing their wind ; when 

 perhaps only the difference of five or ten 

 minutes' delay in the journey, might enable the 

 horses to perform it with comparative ease. 



The Erench say, "England is a hell for 

 horses;" but qualify the censure by a compli- 

 ment that " England is a paradise for women." 

 But however the complimentary portion of 

 this sentence may be taken, the censure as 

 respects our treatment of the horse, remains 

 in all its severitv. 



THE CAVALRY HORSE. 



In the breeding of cavalry horses, a different 

 proportion of blood is necessary, according to 

 the kind of service for which they are in- 

 tended. Some of those for the lighter troops 

 have more blcod in them than others, and the 

 household troops are from half to three-fourths 

 bred. Eormerly the cavalry horse was large 

 and heavy ; and, notwithstanding the grand 

 and imposing action which he exiiibited, with 

 the beautiful style of going to which he was 

 trained, he was "found wanting" when brought 

 into active service. Yet our heavy household 



THE CART OR DRAUGHT HORSE. 



The cart breed was the cross between the 

 Norman stallions and the largest of the 

 Elanders mares, a race substituted in latter 

 years for the pack-horse — bved probably from 

 our own breed and Norman horses — when the 

 improvements in roads enabled the adoption 

 of wheel-carriages for the transit of mer- 

 chandise, to supersede the conveyance by back 

 loads. Thus the aboriginal blood — impoverished 

 by an uninterrupted course of breeding in- 

 and-in — by the introduction of fresh seed, 

 became renovated and invigorated; the com- 

 mon consequence of such change whether in 

 animal or vegetable life. 



It speedily became obvious to all who were 

 engaged in breeding cattle of every description, 

 that vast advantages resulted from the change 

 OF BLOOD, Hence arose the practice of hiring 

 the males of various kinds from distant 

 districts for the season. It is to this practice, 

 as much as the improved methods of treatment, 

 that we owe the excellence of every species of 

 our live stock. Perhaps, it is hardly necessary 

 to observe, that to the difference of soil, is 

 to be attributed such variation in the latter 

 breeds, as have now settled into distinct 

 classes. 



Cleveland horses of the heavy sort, have 

 been known to carry upwards of seven hundred 

 pounds, sixty miles in twenty-four hours, four 

 times a week. 



The Suffolk Punch, a horse of a slower pace, 

 is the produce of the Norman stallion aud 



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