6 INTRODUCTION. 



to remedy this by cropping the ears. It was once 

 the fashion to crop all horses, whether the ears were 

 large or small. It was a barbarous practice : it gave 

 an unnatural appearance to the horse ; it interfered 

 materially with the hearing, for the vibrations of sound 

 could not be so numerously and perfectly collected : 

 it sometimes produced inflammation that led on to per- 

 fect deafness. 



The inside of the ear is lined with soft hair. — It was 

 placed there to keep out insects. The groom, how- 

 ever, finds great fault with it, and often cuts it out 

 with his scissors, or singes it away with his candle. If 

 he does not make very troublesome sores, and render 

 the horse difficult to halter, he will at least expose the 

 animal to annoyances from which nature had pur- 

 posely given a defence. 



The Tongue. — There are some peculiarities in the 

 mouth of the horse with which horsemen should be 

 acquainted. The tongue is considerably shorter than 

 that of the ox. The horse does not, like the ox, 

 gather its food with the tongue; neither does the 

 sense of touch reside in the tongue of the animal ; 

 therefore the reason for the difference is perceived. 



The Bars. — The palate is divided into numerous 

 transverse ridges, called bars. They are duplicatures 

 of the membrane of the palate, and contain a con- 

 densed tissue which is highly vascular. They are 

 arranged in different directions; one half, which are 

 placed forward, looking towards the throat; the other 

 half facing the mouth. Consequently, they retain upon 

 the tongue any portion of the food that has been per- 

 fectly masticated; and until the muscles of degluti- 



