THE ARABIAN HORSE. 



formed by nature as to difcharge conftantlj what is depolited in it, by 

 infenlible perfpiration, the highly foetid fmell of which is a proof of the bad 

 quality of the humours fo difcharged. It is well known, that obftru&ed 

 peripiration is frequently the caufe of the moll ferious, and even fatal 

 diforders, and when this obltrudion takes place in a part defigned by nature 

 to evacuate the grolTelt humours, the mifchief, thereby occalioned, mult be 

 proportionably increafed. Now the application of hot iron to the hoof, 

 inevitably producing this effe6t, by blocking up and deftroying the mouths of 

 thefe emundories, the humours of courfe Itagnate in and about the foot, 

 where they often occalion the moll troublefome complaints ; and if, by 

 exceflive exercife, they are prevented from fettling there, they are then taken 

 up again into the habit, in a highly vitiated Itate, and, being depolited in 

 various parts, are the caufe of moil of the complaints to which the Englilh 

 Horfes are fubjed, from which thofe of Arabia are entirely free. But we trult 

 enough has been faid to point out the mifchievous confequences of this 

 highly injurious practice, and to excite the attention of thofe who value their 

 Horfes, to this important fubjed. 



We are well alTured, that an Arabian frequently rides his Horfe an 

 hundred miles in a day ; and can there be a doubt that this decided 

 fuperiority, in their travelling, arifes from the very great care which is taken 

 of their feet, and not from their being better fed, as the Engliih Horfes have 

 certainly the advantage in that particular ? In Ihort, it is highly probable, 

 that nine out of ten Humbling Horfes, are indebted to the farrier for this 

 defed, which fo much lelTens their value, as to render them almolt good for 

 nothing ; for, of what confequence are all the excellent qualities and elegant 

 forms of a Horfe, if he has not a/ foot to Hand upon ? 



The poet Virgil, who never fails to catch the Hriking tints of nature, in 

 his juft and animated defcriptions, lays great flrefs on the hoof of the Horfe, 

 as a moll material part ; and, in his fublimer flights of poetry, is not contented 

 to call the Horfe merely Equus, the Heed, but emphatically adds the 

 epithet fonipes (a), or founding-footed. In the beautiful and lpirited 



(a) Virg. JEn. 4. 135. 11. 600. 638. 



