AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS. 
239 
sity as ever. A horse will never become tractable under 
fear, which is soon excited, as his timidity is proverbial. 
What is rational can only be attained by rational ways; and 
in nature an object cannot be compassed but by means con- 
sistent with nature. The straps were invented without any 
adherence to this maxim; hence their inutility and conse- 
quent downfall. 
Covering the top of the manger with a sheep-skin, the 
woolly side outwards, is a remedy still in vogue amongst 
persons who act and move upon second-hand information. 
This insignificant process continues a favorite, and is very 
sagely recommended as a preventive in many of the provin- 
ces. I have more than once seen it used as a precaution, 
and in London too, above all places! 
The execrable and infamous custom of burning the palate 
of the mouth as an antidote to crib-biting, cannot be too 
strongly reprobated, and must not be passed over in silence: 
but, without stopping to descant on the cruelty of this prac- 
tice, I have merely to observe that the proselytes to it have 
gained very little by their barbarity; as the horse is only 
checked so long as the soreness and tenderness caused by the 
cauterising exist, and no sooner has the pain subsided than 
he recommences operations. Should a gentleman discover 
the wound, the inflictors, ashamed of their proceedings, take 
special care not to divulge the real cause, but quibble and 
prevaricate, till at length I have known them hit upon the 
expedient of informing an inquirer that the poor thing had 
been seared for the lampas, evincing by the subterfuge as 
much ignorance as they possess want of feeling! 
Although a digression, I cannot help remarking that 
burning for the lampas is a stigma to our national character, 
and a disgrace to the veterinary practice. If we would only 
have a little patience, Nature would in due course perform 
her functions. The arrogant attempts of man to render her 
precocious only aggravate the evil, by the unnecessary in- 
fliction of torture on the horse. Let us allow time: Nature 
will help herself without our aid, not only in this instance, 
but in many others where cruelty is the order of the day. 
But to proceed — 
The barbarous and inhuman use of pulleys, chains, and 
straps as correctives, is a mode of treatment attended with 
numberless injuries to men and horses. The latter have 
not unfrequently been rendered unmanageable by them, as 
is proved by the numerous accidents which have occurred 
solely by their application. Several preventives which I 
could name are a shame to humanity: tying- the tongue, the 
ear, and the tail with whipcord, and many other torturing 
rough-riding tricks well known to a certain class of horse- 
men, are equally cruel, and not less prejudicial to the cha- 
racter of the horse, as well as dangerous to the personal safe- 
ty of the owner when using him. Experience teaches, 
that the natural timidity of this noble animal is increased 
by repeated harsh usage; so that he loses all confidence in 
man, makes resistance on every occasion when approached, 
and at length becomes useless, or totally unserviceable. 
As I quote from memory, it cannot be expected that I 
should enumerate all the cruel operations included in the 
nomenclature of remedies for vicious horses, which deserve 
the more appropriate designation of torments. The inflic- 
tions to which that generous animal is subjected, under the 
mistaken notion of eradicating crib-biting or other bad ha- 
bits, and rendering him more subservient to man, are shock- 
ing to relate. The foremost in the rank of wickedness, and 
which I shall select as a concluding elucidation of the sub- 
ject of torture, are the lacerations committed on the tongue 
of the poor ill-treated beast: sometimes by slitting it; on 
other occasions cutting a portion of the tip completely off; 
at other times dividing the nerve; and in some instances 
passing a red-hot tobacco pipe, or wire of an equivalent 
thickness, underneath the tongue, thereby excoriating and 
blistering the most sensitive and tender part of the organ. 
Pro tempore ! pro mores ! these are refinements in cruelty 
which “ out Herod Herod,” and may probably startle some 
of my readers; but, unfortunately, they are but too true. 
But I am weary of the subject, and consider I have advan- 
ced sufficient reasons to convince every person possessing a 
spark of humanity, and at all interested in the welfare of do- 
mestic animals, that it is high time something should be done 
to relieve the sufferings, and rectify the injuries the horse has 
received at our hands. If my feeble efforts to obtain redress 
for him be the means of procuring in his behalf advocates 
of more intelligence and influence than l can boast, I shall 
deem myself amply compensated, and anticipate with con- 
fidence a speedy alteration for the better in the present er- 
roneous system of stable management. 
THE CAPTIVE EAGLE. 
A BALLAD. 
By Charles West Thomson. 
An Eagle sat on the stormy peak 
Of a mountain’s rugged crag, 
Where the winds of the winter whistled bleak 
And uttered their boisterous brag. 
His head was as bald as the cliff where he sat, 
And his neck was as wffiite as its snow, 
And his eye was like that of the mountain cat, 
When he glares on his prey below. 
