THE HORSE. 101 



from their food by their more powerful fellows, which 

 ever seem to take a selfish and malicious delight in 

 their mastery over such ; this consideration parti- 

 cularly applies to aged horses with worn out or young 

 ones, with imperfect mouths, with which mastication 

 is a business requiring more time, than with vigorous 

 horses, having full and good mouths ; the former are 

 not only harassed, being deprived of the comfort of 

 their meals, but their spirits are cowed and broken, 

 and their strength and ability for labour gradually 

 wasted : the care of a carter or home keeper looking 

 on, is but a poor security, as few fellows of that des- 

 cription are inclined to overfatigue their heads with 

 such humane and peculiar considerations; and in 

 reference even to the superior and meritorious few, 

 the task of any effectual defence of the weak is alto- 

 gether above their ability. 



I recollect a horrible relative circumstance which 

 occurred during my residence, many years since, in 

 Hants. A gentleman farmer, who kept a fine stylish 

 team of horses, accidentally introduced one into his 

 stables of inferior size and description ; this so offended 

 the pride of his head carter, that he determined to 

 rid himself of the degrading incumbrance, which the 

 miscreant actually effected by putting the poor inferior 

 animal to the severest labour, and urging him on with 

 the severest torture of the whip ; in addition to which, 

 he constantly placed the poor affrighted victim at 

 feeding time, next to the master horse of the team, by 

 which he was bitten about the head and neck in a 

 most barbarous manner, his feeding prevented, and 

 his ability for the extra labour so cruelly imposed on 



