AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 
while the feet of the longer-reached animal will sink deep, 
and he will wear himself out by efforts to disengage him- 
self. 
Every horseman knows how much more enduring is a 
_ short-bodied Horse in climbing hills, although perhaps not 
quite so much in descending them. This is the secret of 
suiting the Race Horse to his course; and unfolds the ap- 
parent mystery of a decidedly superior Horse on a flat and 
straight course, being often beaten by a little Horse, with 
far shorter strides, on uneven ground, and with several 
turnings. 
The loins should be broad;—the quarters long;—the 
thighs muscular;—the hocks well bent, and well under 
the Horse. 
The reader needs not be told how essential temper and 
courage are. A hot, irritable brute is a perfect nuisance, 
and the coward that will scarcely face the slightest fence 
exposes his owner to ridicule. 
It is true that the farmer may enjoy a good day’s sport 
on the Horse that carries him to market, or possibly occa- 
sionally performs more menial drudgery; but the frothy 
lather with which such a Horse is covered in the early 
part of the day, evinces undeniable inferiority. There is, 
however, one point on which the untrained Horse has the 
advantage. Accustomed to all weathers, he rarely suffers, 
when, after a sharp hurst, there comes a sudden check, and 
the pampered and shivering stabled Horse, is exposed with 
him for a considerable time to a piercing north-easter. 
The one cares nothing about it; the other may carry home 
the seeds of dangerous disease. 
The Hunter may be fairly ridden twice, or, if not with 
any very hard days, three times in the week; but, after a 
thoroughly hard day, and evident distress, three or four days’ 
rest should be allowed. They who are merciful to their 
Horses, allow about thirty days’ work in the course of the 
season; with gentle exercise on each of the intermediate 
days, and particularly a sweat on the day before hunting. 
It is very conceivable, and does sometimes happen, that 
entering as fully as his master into the sports of the day, 
the Horse disdains to yield to fatigue, and voluntarily 
presses on, until nature is exhausted, and he falls and dies; 
but, much oftener, the poor animal has, intelligibly enough, 
hinted his distress; unwilling to give in, yet painfully and 
faulteringly holding on. The merciless rider, rather than 
give up one hour’s enjoyment, tortures him with whip and 
spur, until he drops and expires. 
Although the Hunter may be unwilling to relinquish 
the chase, he who ‘is merciful to his beast,’ will soon re- 
cognize the symptoms of excessive and dangerous distress. 
To the drooping pace and staggering gait, and heaving 
flank, and heavy bearing on hand, will be added a very 
Dob 
105 
peculiar noise. The inexperienced person will fancy it 
to be the beating of the heart; but that has almost ceased 
to beat, and the lungs are becoming gorged with blood. 
It is the convulsive motion of the muscles of the belly, 
called into violent action to assist in the now laborious 
office of breathing. The man who proceeds a single mile 
after this ought to suffer the punishment he is inflicting. 
Let the rider instantly dismount. If he has a lancet, 
and skill to use it, let him take away five or six quarts of 
blood; or if he has no lancet, let him cut the burs with his 
pocket-knife as deeply as he can. The lungs may be thus 
relieved, and the Horse may be able to crawl home. Then, 
or before, if possible, let some powerful cordial be admi- 
nistered. Cordials are, generally speaking, the disgrace 
and bane of the stable; but here, and almost here alone, 
they are truly valuable. They may rouse the exhausted 
powers of nature; they may prevent what the medical man 
would call the reaction of inflammation; although they are 
the veriest poison when inflammation has commenced. 
A favourite Hunter fell after a long burst, and lay 
stretched out, convulsed, and apparently dying. His mas- 
ter procured a bottle of good sherry, from the house of a 
neighbouring friend, and poured it down the animal’s 
throat. The Horse immediately began to revive; soon 
after got up; walked home, and gradually recovered. The 
Sportsman may not always be able to get this, but he 
may obtain a cordial-ball from the nearest farrier, or he 
may beg a little ginger from some good house-wife, and 
mix it with warm ale, or he may give the ale alone, or 
strengthened with a little rum or gin. When he gets 
home, or if he stops at the first stable he finds, let the Horse 
be put into the coolest place, and then well clothed and 
diligently rubbed about the legs and belly. The practice 
of putting the animal thus distressed, into ¢ a comfortable, 
warm stable,’ and excluding every breath of air, has de- 
stroyed many valuable Horses. 
The Farmer’s Horse. 
The Farmer’s Horse is an animal of ad/-work—to he rid- 
den oceasionally to market or for pleasure, but to be prin- 
cipally employed for draught. He should be higher than 
the Road Horse: about fifteen hands and two inches may be 
taken as the best standard. A Horse with a shoulder 
thicker, lower, and less standing than would be chosen in 
a Hackney, will better suit the collar; and collar-work 
will be chiefly required of him. A stout, compact Horse 
should be selected, yet not a heavy cloddy one. Some 
blood will be desirable, but the half-bred Horse will gene- 
rally best suit the farmer’s purposes. He should have 
