LECTURES ON HORSES. 
127 
castrated, but not with geldings deprived of their testicles at the 
very early age they commonly are. I have on numerous occasions 
essayed to determine the sex of a horse — gelding or mare — by exa- 
mining the face when first confronted with the stable door ; but I 
have found myself in error too often to think of drawing any dis- 
tinct traits of difference between their countenances, and have been 
forced to confess I knew not whether I were looking at a mare or 
a gelding. Still, a great deal more information than appears to be 
imagined may be gleaned from a happy knack of catching the ex- 
pressions of horses’ faces — the science of horse-physiognomy. 
I possess an esteemed acquaintance on the turf — a gentleman 
whose judgment in the choice of a racer, by everybody intimate 
with him, is on all occasions appealed to — who will not purchase a 
thorough-bred horse unless his countenance be such as he approves 
of. An ill-visaged, bad-tempered looking horse he invariably de- 
clines at any price. His common practice in selecting racers out of 
large studs is to have the horses for sale brought first to the door or 
window of the stable, to give him an opportunity of surveying their 
countenances ; after which he only sees out such as he has in phy- 
siognomy found faultless. 
I remember one day, while in Ireland, accompanying my friend 
from Dublin into the country, in a buggy, to his chateau, when, as 
we were riding along, I perchance observed to him, what a pretty foal 
was running by the side of a thorough-bred mare in a field by the 
road-side. “ Yes,” replied he ; “ and that foal looks to me as if he 
were got by ,” a racing stallion then in England. “ How 
can that be,” said I, “ when the horse is not in this country ]” 
“ Why,” returned he, “ the mare must have been imported in 
foal.” “ Oh, then I suppose you know that to have been the case.” 
“ No ! indeed, I know nothing further than that the foal’s face has 
the identical expression of the old horse’s.” “Then you really 
must excuse my saying, that it appears to me you are forming an 
opinion of the sire of the foal upon very slender grounds.” “ Slen- 
der as you suppose them, I will make you a wager of a guinea they 
prove correct.” “ Done !” — The way to settle the dispute was 
ready enough : the farm-house of the property lay about half a 
mile out of the high road. Thither we drove ; saw the proprietor, 
a stranger to both of us ; and from him learnt, to my surprise and 
loss of the wager, that the colt was got by the horse named, the 
mare having been purchased in England, and brought over in foal. 
This little anecdote will serve to remind us, as connoisseurs in 
horses, that we are not in the habit of paying all the attention we 
ought to the heads of horses, and in particular to that part of them 
we call the face. We are told, the countenance is “ the peculiar 
property of man” — is the mind pourtrayed in the face : call it what 
