HORSE. 



HORSE. 



remarkably sure-footed. Horses of this kind 

 are very serviceable and useful; are capable 

 of performing a great deal of light active work, 

 and are rarely so high-priced as the larger 

 J' 



'-s. Of these there are an endless va- 

 riety, both in fine shape and value. The Welch 

 pony is perhaps the most beautiful of the class. 

 He has a neat small head andbarrel that is at 

 once round and deep, good feet, short, strong 

 joints, flat legs, with high withers. Some of 

 the most beautiful ponies of England are of this 

 breed. 



The New Fo'resters are commonly very ill- 

 made, coarse, ragged, large-hipped, ugly ani- 

 mals, but active, enduring, hardy, and easily 

 maintained upon very coarse food. The same 

 remarks will pretty generally apply to those of 

 Exmoor and Dartmoor in Devonshire. 



Of the Scotch breeds, the Highland is the 

 largest, and the most useful ; those of the 

 Shetland Isles, called in the north shelties, (PI. 

 13, A-,) range between 7^ and 9 hands in 

 height, are often small-headed, beautiful, good- 

 tempered, and docile. They have commonly 

 short necks, low and thick shoulders, short 

 backs, possess great strength, and will fatten 

 upon the coarsest food. 



The Irish Horse. In the rich grazing districts 

 of Roscommon and Meath, many large tho- 

 roughbred horses are reared, that were formerly 

 distinguished for their large, coarse, ragged, 

 rawboned appearance, but the breed has been 

 very materially improved by the introduction 

 of superior stallions and other means, so that 

 now many of the Irish horses claim an equality 

 with the best of those of England. The Irish 

 horse is commonly beautiful, fiery, yet good- 

 tempered, easily excited, of great endurance, 

 and perhaps the best leaper in the world. The 

 Irish Hunter is represented in PI. 13, i, from 

 Lowe's work on British animals. 



Feeding Hwses. The best method of feeding 

 horses, especially those belonging to the farm, 

 is a question highly interesting to the farmer. 

 Many are the substances employed for this 

 purpose, such as oats, oatmeal, barley, bran 

 beans, peas, potatoes, turnips, carrots, parsnips, 

 hay, sainfoin, clover, rye-grass, straw, grains, 

 and sometimes oil-cake : bruised gorse or furze 

 is excellent. The oats are best given when 

 bruised, the potatoes should be steamed and 

 mixed with chaff and salt ; hay and straw are 

 economically cut into chaff. In many of the 

 stables about London, hay is never put into the 

 rack. Thus in the stables of Hanbury and 

 Truman, each horse is allowed per day 18 Ibs, 

 of cut hay and straw (one-eighth of the latter) 

 14 Ibs. of bruised oats, and 1 Ib. of bruised 

 beans; half a pound of salt per week is also 

 given ; in summer the beans are withdrawn, 

 and the oats increased. In France the daily 

 rations allowed to the heavy cavalry horses 

 are, oats 10 Ibs., hay 10 Ibs., straw 10 Ibs. ("On 

 the Norman Horse," Quart. Journ. of Jlgr.j 



Dr. Sully, of Wivelscombe, some years since 

 gave the following statement of the different 

 articles of food which his horses received to 

 keep them in excellent condition. He, too, haC 

 no racks in his stables. (Ibid. vol. ii. p 

 726.) 



640 



The advantage of cooking the food for horses 

 has been advocated by Mr. Dick, Ibid. vol. iii. 

 p. 1024; and in many cases is a practice highly 

 to be commended. An apparatus for steaming 

 food for horses with an engine is given, Ibid. 

 vol. vi. p. 33 ; and Mr. Fisher details the mode 

 of feeding them with potatoes, Com. Board of 

 Jlgr. vol. iv. p. 335. A machine for bruising 

 grain for horses is described in Quart. Journ. 

 ofjlgr.vo]. v. p. 100. 



The number of horses of all kinds in Eng- 

 land is estimated by Mr. M'Culloch, to be from 

 1,400,000 to 1,500,000, which, at an average 

 value of from 12/. to 15/., ma\? e s their total 

 value from 18,000,000?. to 22,500,QOOJ. In 1832, 

 the riding-horse duty was paid ibr 182,878 

 horses. (Com. Diet.) 



It appears from the statement accompanying 

 the census of the United States in 1840, tiiiu 

 the number of horses and mules in the Union 

 was 4,333,669. 



The Wild Horse. The horse is still found 

 wild in Africa, in Tartary, and in America, in 

 the Southern continent, of which last country 

 they are said to be sometimes found in droves 

 of iO,000. It is here that they seem to act bo.'h 

 in self-defence, and for the attack of their en&- 

 mies, with a subordination and union of pur- 

 pose that is not a little curious. It seems that 

 they have some bold and strong horse for their 

 chief, who is their courageous leader in the 

 onset, the first to direct their retreat. They 

 close, at some intelligible signal, upon their 

 enemies, and trample them to death. These, 

 amongst the natives of America, are neither 

 very numerous nor dangerous. The leopard, 

 tiger, and lion of the New World are very in- 

 ferior animals to their namesakes of the olden 

 continents. Man is their greatest enemy; they 

 are hunted and captured by the Guachos with 

 their lassos, or even killed for their skins and 

 flesh, in considerable numbers. These wild 

 American horses are not particularly fast, but 

 they can endure great fatigue, and, when once 

 tamed, are exceedingly docile. Other wild 

 horses are found in various parts of the world, 

 but nowhere in a state of nature does he equal 

 the size, the form, the speed, or the strength of 

 the domesticated horse. 



For an interesting account of the wild horses 

 of South America, see the Farmer's Register, 

 vol. ii. 



Good keep and good management, indeed, 

 strangely improve the appearance of even the 



