284 



THE SOUTHERN PLANTER. 



pass many things to which they have not 

 been accustomed ; they fear, and conse- 

 quently avoid close contact with them, by 

 shying out of the way. The human pas- 

 senger will pass horses, dogs, sheep or cat-' 1 

 tie, in most cases, without alarm or avoid- 

 ance — he has seen such from his child- 

 hood ; but let him or her meet a camel 

 coming, the wayfarer will probably, like 

 the horse, shy away from it. It matters 

 not whether it be an omnibus or a camel, 

 if, from, being unaccustomed to meet, 

 either bipeds or quadrupeds feel them as 

 objects of alarm. 



I have some lines back remarked that 

 on horses first coming from the country to 

 London they are apt to shy, but not to 

 start. It will be found to be usually the 

 case : the fact is, the shying prevents 

 their starting. Their attention is so occu- 

 pied by a continuity of objects, at which 

 they shy, that they do not come on any 

 one, as it were, by surprise. If they did, 

 they would start. Starting is usually the 

 result of surprise ; shying that of fear. 



Now, on the contrary, horses in the 

 country will more frequently start than 

 shy, from there being by far fewer objects 

 to shy from ; and, again, their attention 

 not being engaged, a bird flying from a 

 hedge, a wheelbarrow in a ditch, or a 

 man's hat by the side of, or in the road, 

 will frequently cause a start; butthis said 

 hat on the London pavement would pro- 

 bably escape their notice, if that notice 

 was occupied by a coming carriage. Even 

 a London horse, who will after a time 

 walk the streets without either shying or 

 starting, would very probably, it ridden 

 upon Rottenrow, start at a dropped hand- 

 kerchief if it lay in his path. He sees 

 but the one object : it surprises him, and 

 he consequently, probably, starts at it. 



I have endeavored to show the causes 

 of starting and shying, also the difference 

 between the two acts. They arise from 

 his seeing objects that surprise or alarm ; 

 but there is a far worse cause for some 

 horses doing either, which frequently is 

 from their not seeing them clearly. There 

 are far more horses going about London 

 streets with defective eyes "than is 

 dreampt of in our philosophy." 



An acquaintance of mine, with whom I 

 was riding, was mounted on a very clever 

 cob ; he both started and shied, two or 

 three times ; his master, who was an irri- 



table man, laid an ash stick very severely 

 about the cob's ears, saying, with an oath, 

 " I will give you something else to think 

 of than shying;" the poor cob shook his 

 ears at this infliction of severe punishment. 

 Now, I had before this, from seeing him so 

 frequently start and shy from slight causes, 

 and from the peculiar motion of his ears, 

 had my suspicions. " Stop," said I, 

 " allow me to look at your cob's eyes." I 

 did so, and figuratively speaking, found 

 him to be in technical phrase, " as blind as 

 a bat." He certainly would not run 

 against a cab, and could find his way into 

 a stable-door : but his sight was so far de- 

 fective that most things appeared to him, 

 probably as what they were not ; and, as 

 no man can tell what they did appear, it is 

 little wonder the poor brute started. 



I hope this true anecdote will act as a 

 hint to my friends and readers. There 

 are many persons who have slightly de- 

 fective sight, without being aware of it ; 

 depend upon it, many horses have very 

 defective eyes, without their owners sus- 

 pecting anything of the kind. I would 

 recommend to every one who has a horse 

 that shies, if he does so at objects not 

 calculated to cause alarm, to have him ex- 

 amined by a veterinary surgeon ; he will 

 Ihen either learn the worst, or if the shy- 

 ing does not proceed from defective vision, 

 he may then take measures to cure him of 

 an objectionable habit, with a fair prospect 

 of success. 



I have not the smallest doubt but that 

 horses are affected like human beings, 

 with sundry variations of vision. I con- 

 sider the two that are most common are 

 confused and deceptive sight, and short 

 sight. As we can neither ask questions of 

 the animal, nor apply glasses to his eyes 

 to ascertain what kind of defect he labors 

 under, we can only be guided by his acts. 

 Inflammation or weakness of the eyes 

 is easily seen, so are cataract specks on 

 the eye, and many other ailments ; but a 

 horse may, and frequently has very imper- 

 fect vision, without any of these apparent 

 causes. We will suppose that it is with a 

 horse thus situated we have at present to 

 do, and I will, to the best of my ability 

 I and experience, state by what symptoms, 

 or rather by what acts, we may generally 

 [judge of the state of his vision, which to 

 | any one but a scientific professional man, 



