1004 PRACTICE OF AGRICULTURE. Pakt III. 



recover it when lost, is to advance the lower part of your body, and to bend back your shoulders and ujipcr 

 part. In flying or standing leaps, a horseman's best security is the bending back of the body. The rising 

 of the horse does not affect the rider's seat ; he is chiefly to guard against the lash of the animal's hind 

 legs, which is best done by inclining the body backwards. But the usual method of fixing the knees in all 

 cases of danger only serves, in great shocks, to assist the violence of the fall. To save yourself from being 

 hurt, in these cases, you must yield a little to the horse's motion ; by which means you will recover your 

 seatjif displaced, or keep it at such times as would dismount an unskilful horseman. 

 " 6679. If your horse grows unruly, take the reins separately, one in each hand, put your arms forward, 

 and hold him short, but do not pull hard with your arms low ; for, by lowering his head, he has the more 

 liberty to throw out his heels : but if you raise his head as high as you can, this will prevent him from 

 rising behind. Is it not reasonable to imagine, that, if a horse is forced towards a carriage which he has 

 started at, he will think he is obliged to attack or run against it ? Can it be imagined that the rider's 

 spurring him on, with his face directly to it, he should understand as a sign to pass it ? These rational 

 queries are submitted to the serious consideration of such as are fond of always obliging their horses to 

 touch those objects at which they are, or affect to be, frightened. 



6i}80. htdlffcrent horsemen, Lawrence observes, should never venture on horseback without spurs. 

 Those who reflect upon the predicament of being placed between a deep ditch and a carriage, at which 

 their horse shies, will see the necessity of this precaution. 



J6(>8,l. Previously to 7nounting, every pe;r8on will find his account in examining the state of both horse 

 and furniture with his own eyes and hands ; for, however good and careful his groom may generally be, it 

 isia niaxim, that too much ought not to be expected from the head of him who labours with his hands. 

 I^sides, all such sedulously avoid trouble, particularly in nice matters. For example, see that your curb 

 is^^rijght ;. that your reins are not twisted ; that your girths, one over the other, still bear exactly alike ; 

 tlwt the paid be not wrinkled up ; but, above all, that your saddle lies exactly level upon the horse's 

 back. 



6t)8i Otir getting off the horse's back, hold the bridle and mane hi the same manner as when you 

 mounted, hold the ponrmel of the saddle with your right-hand ; to raise yourself, bring your right leg over 

 the horse's l)ack, let your right-hand hold the hind part of the saddle, and stand a moment on your stirrup, 

 just as when you mounted. But beware that, in dismounting, you bend not your right knee, lest the horse 

 should be touched by the spur. 



6(i83. The jockey nwdc of riding is practised in its fullest extent in racing. With 

 some modification it is also in use by many who esteem themselves excellent fox. 

 hunters. With still greater modidcation it is by its advocates practised also on the 

 road. English post-boys unite these two kinds of riding in a manner at once easy to 

 themselves and horses. True jockey riding consists in the use of a snaffle bridle, which 

 is held firmly ; and, as an advocate for it expresses himself, to enable the rider to give 

 his horse the proper pulls. To this end, the same writer recommends a firm se;;t, up- 

 right, and as you would sit in a chair, with the knees nearly as much bent, and turned 

 inward; the toes somewhat out and upward; the leg falling nearly straight, and the 

 foot home in the stirrup [Jig. 849.) ; elbows close to the sides ; hands rather above the 

 horse's withers, or pommel of the saddle; and the view directed between his cars. The 

 same writer further advocates the jockey mode, by commenting on the decline of rid. 

 ing. house forms, and the universal preference given to expedition, which, as he says, 

 fully confirm the superior use and propriety of a jockey-seat. Indeed, our riding- 

 schools are now, he continues, considerably reformed from the stifTiiess of ancient practice in all respects. 

 It was the custom formerly in the schools, and indeed pretty generally upon the road, to ride with the 

 tip of the toe only in the stirrup; as if it were of more consequence to prepare for falling with safety, 

 than to endeavour to sit securely. Those who preserve a partiality for this venerable custom, we would 

 advise to suspend a final judgment, until they have made a few more essays upon a huge cock-tail half- 

 bred, of that kind which ' cannot go, and yet won't stand stifl,' and will dart from one side of the road to 

 the other, as if he really desired to get rid of his burden. Nor is the ball of the foot a proper rest ; chiefly 

 because inconvenient to that erect, or rather almost kneeling, posture, which is required in speedy riding. 

 The riding-house seat is preserved by the balance or equipoise of the body solely; that recommended here 

 by the firm hold of the knee, which is obviously strengthened by the opposite directions of the knee and 

 toe, the one in, the other outward. 



Sect. XIV. Feeding of Horses. 



6684. The feeding of horses generally is an important feature in their management. In considering the 

 food for horses, we are apt to locate our notions to the matters around us, without taking into account 

 that every country has its peculiar products. White observes, that the best food for horses is hay and 

 oats; and had he added for English horses, it might have been just, but without such notice the assertion 

 is much too confined. " In some sterile countries, horses are forced to subsist on dried fish, and even vege- 

 table mould ; in Arabia, on milk, flesh balls, eggs, broth, &c. In India, horses are variously fed. The 

 native grasses I judge very nutritious. Few, perhaps no oats are grown in India. Barley is not commonly 

 given to horses ; indeed, it is rarely grown. In Persia, barley is a common food for good horses. In some 

 parts of India (in the Mahratta country), salt, pepper, and other spices are made up into balls, as big as 

 billiard balls, with flour and butter, and thrust down the animal's throat. It is supposed to give them 

 animation and fine coats : no doubt it promotes digestion. Meat broth (especially sheep's head) i$ also 

 given to horses. English gentlemen sometimes adopt these usages. Difterent kinds of grain are given 

 to horses in different parts of India. In Bengal, a vetch, something like the tare, is used. On the western 

 side of India, a sort of pigeon pea, called gram (Cicer arietinum /,.), is the usual food ; with grass in the 

 season, and hay all the year. Indian corn or rice is, I think, seldom if ever given to horses in India as 

 ordinary food. In the West Indies they are fed on maize, Guinea corn, and sugar-cane lops ; and, in 

 some instances, on the sugar itself, in the form of molasses. In France, Spain, and Italy, besides the 

 grasses, the leaves of limes, vines, the tops of acacia, the seeds of the carob tree, &c. are used." 



6685. The food of British horses may be divided into herbage, grain, roots, and mixtures. Of herbage^ 

 the principal kind is the proper gramina, eaten either moist or dried into hay. When eaten moist in 

 their natural state, such a horse is said to graze ; but when these matters are cut, and carried into the 

 stable to a horse, he is said to be soiled. Hay is herbage cut during its flowering and seeding processes ; 

 which being subjected to the action of the sun and air a proper time, are then collected into large masses 

 called ricks, where a certain degree of fermentation takes place before the matter is fitted to become 

 wholesome or nutritious, or before it receives such alteration as fits it for resisting further decompo, 

 sition and decay. The judicious management of this fermentative process forms one of the greatest desi- 

 derata in hav-inaking. Pursued to a proper extent, the remaining moisture acting on the farinaceous 

 parts, as the 'seeds, &c., in conjunction with the heat evolved during the process, as it were malts the 

 whole, and sugar is produced. Pushed beyond this, the hay becomes carbonised, and mow-burnt ; its nu- 

 tritive properties are lessened, ancLits noxious qualities increased, it being found in this state to excite 

 diabetes, sweating, and extreme weakness and emaciation. (6425.) The quality of the hay is too little 

 attended to, but which is of very great importance; and more particularly so where little corn but 

 much hav is given. Hay should therefore be of the best, whether meadow, clover, or mixed Many 

 horses thrive best on clover hay, particularly draught horses. It is very grateful to horses, and it saves 

 muc waste of saliva ; to sprinkle bay with water has the same effect, but it should only be done as it is 

 wanted. 



