308 



NEW ENCiLAM) FARMER, 



April 16, 1630. 



UBRART OP USEFUL. KNOWLEDGE. 



[Caiili 



nxid from paft 

 ■IIAI'TER V. 



700.] 



•niC Dll TKItCNT HKKEDS OK ENGLISH 

 HORSES. 



h 



to their owners more tljnii a hundred and sixty young horses, be advnntagcous, and whether stout 

 thousand noundsexrhisivcof |.U.te» and cups.— , ness and usellilncss may not thus heeonie«i 

 Tliis fine animal died in 1789, at the age of twen- ; too much sacrificed to speed : whether there .. 

 tvfive vears ' ^'^ danger that an animal designed for service ina). 



More than twenty years after the Darl.iy Arabi- \ in process of time, he frittered away ahnost to 

 an, and wlicn the value of the Arabian blood was shadow of what he was,m order that at two yeat , 



, His crest, lofty and arched almost to a fault, vviU | and yet they concern the agricuhuralist too, f. 

 th- he.utv vet peculiarity of his form, distinguish him from every other horse. | racing is principally valuable as connected w.l 



111.. LL.iuty, yLt peruuarii/ oi ins ■ .| ,, t'. . ... ..:_...:- si,oulders, almost breedmp, and as the lest of breeding 



ECLIPSE 



EcLirnt wao got by Marsk, a grandson of Barl- 

 lett's Cliilders 



Of 

 much h.is been said. The very gieul size, obli- 

 <iuily, and lowness of his shoulders were the ob- 

 jects of general remark — with the shoitncss of 

 his forc-quarlcrs, his ample and finely proportion- 

 ed quarters, and the swelling muscles of his fore- 

 arm and thigh. Of his speed no correct estimate 

 can be fiirmud, for ho never met with an opponent 

 suflicieiitly fleet to put it to the test. 



He was bred by the Duke of Cumberland, and 

 sold at his death to Mr Wildman, a shcej) sales- 

 man, for sevcntyfivc guineas. Colonel O'Kelly 

 purchased a share of him from Wildman. In the 

 spring of the following year, when the repi-tatioii 

 of this wonderful animal was at its height, O'Kel- 

 ly wished to become sole owner of him, and 

 uought the remaining share for one thousand 

 pounils. 



Eclipse was what is termed a thick winded 

 borse, and puffed and roared so as to bo heard at 

 a considerable distance. For this or some other 

 cause, he was not brought on the turf until he 

 was five years old. 



O'Kelly, aware of his horse's power.s, had back- 

 ed him freely 1)11 his first race, in May 1769. This 

 exciteil curiosity, or, perhaps, roused suspicion, 

 and some persons attempteil-to watch one of his 

 trials. Mr John Lawrence says, that ■ they were 

 a little too late ; liiit they found an old wouiaii 

 who gave them all the infiirmation tliey wanted. 

 On l!i()uiriug whether she hail seen a race, she re- 

 plied that she could not tell whether it was a race 

 or not, but that she had just seen a horse with 

 white legs running aw ay at a monstroRS rate, and 

 another horse a great way behind, trying to riir. 

 after him ; but she was sure he never would catch 

 the while legged horse if he ran to the world'send.' 

 The first heat was easily won, when O'Kelly, 

 observiii;;; that the rider had been pulling at Eclipse 

 during the whole of the race, offered a wager that 

 be placed the horses in the next licat. Tliis 

 eeemed a thing so highly improbable, that he im- 

 mediately had bets to a large amount. Being 

 called on to declare, he replied, ' Eclipse first and 

 iho rest nowhere !' The event Justified his pre- 

 diction : nil the others were distanced by Eclipse 

 with llio greatest case ; or, in the language of the 

 turf, they had no place. 



In the spring of the fidlowing year, ho beat Mr 

 Wentwortli's Hui-ephalus, who hail never before 

 been eoncpieriMl. Two days afterwards he distanc- 

 ed Mr Hlrode's Pensioner, a very good horse ; and, 

 in the August of ilie sanin year, he won the great 

 ■ubticriplion at York. No horse; daring to eiiler 

 against him, he closed his short career of seven- 

 teen nionlhs, by w.nlkiiig over th>! Newmarket 

 course fi>r the king's plale, on October the IHih, 

 1770. Ho WHS never beaten, nor ever paid fiir- 

 feil, and won fijr his owner more thai) tweiityfive 

 thnusand pouii'Is. 



Eclipxo v^aH ufterwards nnployed as a stallion, 

 and produced ilu- extrnordinary number of three 

 hundred and thirlyfuur winners, and these netted 



fully established. Lord Godolphin possessed a old, over the one-mile-coursc, he may astonish th 

 beautiful but singularly-shaped horse, which ho ! crowd by his fle.;tness,-are questions that n.or 

 called an Arabian, but which was really a barb. | concern the sporting man than the agriculiuralisl 



St 



He had a sinking behind his 

 as peculiar, and a corresponding elevation of the 



The horse enters into the spirit of the race i 



a'nis the loins. His muzzle was uncom- ] thoroughly as does his rider, and, without wh 



inonly fine, liiS head beautifully set on, his shoul- 

 ders capacious, and liis quarters well spread out. 

 He was picked up in France, where he was actu- 

 ally employed in drawing a cart ; and when he 

 was afterwards presented to Lord Godolphin, he 



or spur, will generally pxcrt his energies to the u 

 most to beat liis opponent. It is beautiful to 

 him advancing to the starling-post, every motit 

 evincing bis eagerness. The signal is given, ai 

 he springs away — he settles himself in his stride 



was in that nobleman's stud a considerable time the jockey becomes a part and portion of hn 

 before his value was discovered. It was not un- every motion of the arms and body correspond 

 til the birth of Lath, one of the first horses of with, and assisting the action of the horse, 

 that period, that his excellence began to be a,.pre- he goes, eager, yet husbaiidmg his powers. 



Liiai MCI Hill, iiiatiJic5\-*>-\-»i^<»'-'--'*n »* ", , , . »■. -* 



ciated. He was then .styled an Arabian, and be- length, when he arrives at that distance lr< 



came, in even a greater degree than the Uarley, which the rider kt.ows that he will /.rf Aom« at t 



the founder of the modern thoroughbred horses, top of his speed, the hmt is given, and on he ru. 



I died in 1753, as the age of twenty. line. es. Then the race in reality begins, an.l e« 



An intimate friendship subsisted between him nerve is strained to head his competitor Ih. 



,1 a cat, which cither sat on his back when he too, comes the art of the rider, to keep the ho, 



was ill the stable, or nestled as closely to him as 

 she could. At his dealli, the cat refused her food, 

 and pined away, and soon dicil. — Mr Holcroft 

 gives a similar relation of the attachment between 

 a race-horse anil a cat, which the courser would 

 take in his mouth and place in liis manger and 

 upon his back without Inirtiiig her. Chillaby, 

 called from his great ferocity the Mad Arabian, 

 whom one only of the grooms dared to approach, | 

 and who savagely tore to pieces the image of a I 

 man tliat was purposely placed in his way, had 

 his peculiar attachment to a Iamb, who used to 

 employ himself for many an hour, in butting away 

 the flics from him. 



Another fine foreign horse, was tho Wellf.s- 

 i.EY AaAniAN; the very picture of a beautiful 

 wild horse of the desert. His precise country 

 was never determined. He is evidently neither a 

 perfect Harb, nor a iierfect Arabian, but from some 

 neighboring province, where both the Barb and 

 Arabian would expand to a more perfect fulness 

 of form. This horse has been erroneously select- i 

 ed as the pattern of a superior Arabian, and there- 

 fore we have introduced him; few, however, of 

 his proilucc were trained who can add much to 

 his reputation. 



It has been imagined that the breed of racing 

 horses has lately very considerably degenerated. 

 This is not the case. Thorough-bred horses were 

 formerly fewer in luimbor, and their performances 

 created greater wonder. Tho breed has now in- 

 creased twenty fold, and superiority is not so easi- 

 ly obtained among so many comiictitors. If one 

 i-ircunislanco could, more than any other, produce 

 this degeneracy, it would be our absurd and cruel 

 habit of bringing out horses too soon, ami the fre- 

 (pienl fnihiro of their legs before they have come 

 to their full power. Chililcrs and Eclipse did not 

 appear until they were five years old ; but many 

 of our best horses, ond those, perhaps, w ho would 

 have shewn equal excellence with the most celc- 

 brale.l racers, arc fiiiindercd and destroyed before 

 that perioil. 



Whether the introduction of short races, and so 



within his pace, and with admirable gi're and ta 

 add to the length of every stride. Then, perha 

 the spur, skilfully applied, may be necessary 

 rouse every dormant energy. A sluggish lur 

 iiiT horse may need more punishment than I 

 humane observer would think justifiable. ] 

 tl e natural ardor of the race-horse, roused at 

 moment of the grand struggle, by the model 

 application of the whip and spur, will bring I 

 through if he can win. 



Forrester will afford suflicient illustration of 

 natural emulation of the courser. — He bad v 

 many a hardly contested race ; at length, o< 

 weighed and over-matched, the rally had c 

 nienccd. His opponent, who had been wail 

 behind, was gaining upon him ; he overtook 1 

 and they continued ipiile close to within the 

 tance. It was a jioiiit that could scarcely be 

 cided. But Forrester's strength was failing, 

 made one desperate plunge — seized his aiiK 

 nist by the jaw to hold him back, and could sea 

 ly be forced to quit his hold. In like maniie 

 horse belonging to Mr Uuin, in 1753, finding 

 adversary gradually passing him, seized him 

 the leg, and both riders were obliged to dismr 

 in order to separate the animals. Let us I 

 pause and ask, would the butcherly whipping 

 cutting which seems so often to form the cxpe< 

 and necessary conclusion of the race — llie i 

 posed display of tho skill of I he rider — th 

 lalion of the thoughtless or unfeeling spectatc 

 would these have carried such horses over 

 additional inch of ground ? They would I 

 been thrown abroad — tliey would have shorte 

 their stroke — and perhaps would have become 

 raged and siis()eflded every exertion. The h 

 is as susceplible of pleasure anil pain as ourscl 

 He was committed to us for our proieelion 

 our use ; he is a willing, devoted servaiil. \\ In 

 did we derive the right to abuse him : Iiili 

 speaks tho same language. Many a race hog I 

 lost by the infliction of wonton cruelty.* 



• One of Ihc severest plMc-r»ccs on reconi, w«s n I 

 CarliBic, in 1761, and iu which there were no fewer 



