HANDBOOK OF THE TURF. 63 



the exchequer, each year, six horseshoes with the sixty-two 

 nails belonging to them. This custom has continued ever since 

 and from it originates the "counting of the horseshoes and 

 hobnails " on swearing in the London sheriffs at the Court of 

 Exchequer of the present day. 



Coupling'. That part of the sacrum where it joins the 

 lumber vertebra ; the point where the top of the ribs unite with 

 the vertebral column. 



While Flying Eafon had a strong, broad loin and excellent conpling, 

 there was a gracefivl, downward curvature of the spine in front of 

 the coupling which gave him in some tlegree the appearance of 

 being slightiy sway-backed.— S. W. Farlin. 



Coiirag'e. That instinct or inbred quality of physical 

 power which asserts itself in endurance and staying effort ; the 

 best evidence that a horse possesses high breeding and splendid 

 ancestry. 



"Well-bred horses, properly broken, are more courageous than coarsely 

 bred ones.— The Book of tlie Horse, S. Sidney. 



Course. A track ; the distance or direction laid out for 

 a race course. 



Courser. A racer or swift running horse. Hugh the 

 Great of France, in the year 930, presented to Athelstan, one 

 of the Anglo-Saxon kings of England, whose sister, Edelswitha, 

 he had married, several running horses, the equos cursores of the 

 chronicler. Coursers are also mentioned among the horses of 

 Henry VIII. of England, in 1509; and Anthony Fitzherbert, 

 who wrote the earliest English work on agriculture, 1534, 

 speaks of the corser as a horse dealer. 



Crack. Great ; famous. A crack jockey, a crack driver 

 — persons great in their respective lines. 



Cracked ; Crocked. To become tired ; to give up ; 



to quit. 



In the stretch I called on Manzanita, and after trotting head-and-head 

 for nearly a furlong with Belle Hamlin the latter cracked, and 

 Manzanita Avon In 2 :16i. — Training the Trotting Horse, Charles 

 Marvin. 



Cracked Heels. Fleshy heels, the inflammation of 

 which is due to a fungus, or grease ; scratches, canker, or foot- 

 mange. It is an unsoundness. 



Cracker- jack. A horse with a very low record; a fast 

 horse ; a record-breaker. 



Creep. When the pneumatic tire of a bicycle sulky 

 wheel becomes loose from the felloe, it is said to " creep." 



Crest. The upper part of the neck extending from the 

 withers to the ears. 



Cribbing ; Crib-biting, is associated with the serious 



