THE HORSE.-NO. 1. 
11 
THE HORSE.—No. 1. 
Although various articles have appeared from 
time to time in our preceding volumes, on the sub- j 
ject of the horse, we still feel as if we had not paid 
that attention to this noble animal to which his 
intrinsic merits and invaluable services entitle 
him. We now propose, in a series of articles, to 
discuss him; his history in America; the various 
races here; the sources whence derived ; the modi¬ 
fications, changes, improvements, and deteriorations 
arising from our climate, mode of breeding, feed¬ 
ing, tastes and necessities; the anatomy of both the 
bones and the muscles ; the modes of breeding now 
in use, both good and bad, with the true principles 
of breeding, as shown by the practice of skilful 
breeders, and recognized by the most eminent 
authorities on the horse; and finally, the proper 
method of rearing, breaking, gait-making, match¬ 
ing, and preparing for market. 
W e are constantly entrusted with orders to pur¬ 
chase horses, as well for use here, as for shipment 
to distant portions of the country, and particularly 
the South. In the- execution of these orders, we 
are necessarily asked many questions regarding 
horses, and their various qualities. Many inquiries 
now constantly made of us will be anticipated, and 
our correspondents saved much needless trouble, 
by having the means to order understandingly; and 
when their orders are properly executed, to receive 
and appreciate the animals sent them. This, of 
itself, would be a sufficient reason for discussing, 
in our pages, what we have above proposed. But 
we have still a stronger inducement; the endless 
impositions practised in the sale of horses, not only 
as to value and soundness, but as to the various 
kinds, need exposure. Almost every man fancies 
himself a capital judge of the horse, in every respect, 
except his soundness; and he is so, if his own tastes 
and •peculiarities are the standard for determination. 
But the tastes of the mass of those who own or use 
horses are far from being a standard of excellence, 
and hence, when horses are purchased under the 
direction of such judgments as are formed by the 
mass, disappointment, in most cases, is the result. 
Upon this defective taste and bad judgment, knavery 
practises; and the frauds effected, and the money 
expended and wasted, are incredible. Would those 
who purchase horses without the requisite know¬ 
ledge, trust themselves to an honest dealer to fur¬ 
nish them, or employ some reliable person having 
the necessary qualifications to purchase, these 
impositions, in* the main, would he avoided. The 
honest dealer must be paid for his honesty (as 
indeed integrity must be in every pursuit), and in 
case he has unfortunately sold ahorse which proves 
less than represented, he will ever be ready to 
receive him back, or make amends by a rebate in 
price. Any person, however honest, is liable at 
times to sell an unsound horse; disease may be ip 
the system, and the horse be unsound, and yet it 
will not develope itself at the moment, and still, 
within a day, it may develope, and the horse is 
diminished in value, or worthless, or soon dead. 
In such a case, an honest dealer will repay a part or 
the whole of the price. 
Gentlemen at a distance, and particularly at the 
South, frequently order horses through their com¬ 
mercial correspondents here. The orders are 
entrusted to dealers, and it is impossible that the 
merchant here can do otherwise. He who buys and 
sells cotton, sugar, &c., well, will not often buy 
horses well, and few cotton factors will trust them¬ 
selves to do so. They do the best that lies in their 
power; but they have a poor assurance that their 
orders will be executed well, and with integrity. 
In such cases, a competent person of integrity, with 
no motive but a commission, should be selected to 
view the horses before they are purchased, if he be 
not employed to make the purchase. An honest 
veterinary surgeon would be a proper person for 
such a purpose. A merchant putting himself in 
the hands of a dealer will, in most cases, be cheat¬ 
ed. We every week see instances of this. Horses 
with unsound fore feet, if even the disease be so 
slight as to be not perceptible before shipment, will 
badly stand a sea voyage. Few horses lie down 
at sea, A diseased fore foot is soon overtaxed, and 
the weight of the carcase is thrown upon the hind 
quarters, and the loins are strained excessively. In 
such a case violent inflammation of the kidneys is 
almost inevitable. If the hind leg be diseased, 
the fore foot always is overworked, and often 
severe founders arise; and fevers always will set 
in, which will be followed by contraction of the 
hoof, rendering the horse unsound, and finally 
worthless. A horse diseased in the lungs (the 
worst of all diseases) may, by a few cordial halls 
and doses of medicine, appear sound when he goes 
on shipboard ; if he sails but slightly diseased, he 
will land at his port of destination mined ; and if he 
be much diseased, he will not survive the voyage. 
Horses are frequently shipped from the North on 
Southern orders, in an unsound condition, and, with 
the least stress of weather, die. The loss is imputed 
to the sea. Had the horses been sound when ship¬ 
ped, they would have survived, and done good ser¬ 
vice. Many unsound ones, when landed at their 
port of destination, are deemed to have been ruined 
by the voyage, when in truth they were shipped in 
a diseased condition. Sound horses are like sound 
men ; they endure well; and a voyage, unless one 
of great length, and in weather of great violence, 
has but little effect on them. Instances of the loss 
at sea of diseased horses we have known, and the 
voyage received the blame which belonged to the 
dealer or agent who shipped, while escaping censure 
and receiving a rich reward, all the richer by his 
fraud. For his worthless, unsound horse, he 
received the price of a sound one, and the sea hid 
the proof of his iniquity ; and had the horse escap¬ 
ed the sea, his condition would have been ascribed 
to it. 
There is still another method of fraud. A gen¬ 
tleman wishes a particular kind of horse, or from a 
particular region. He knows only the name of the 
kind of horse he wishes, but does not know the 
proper horse to answer to that name ; or he knows 
the region from whence he desires to derive a horse, 
but he has no means of knowing if indeed he came 
from thence. He may desire a Morgan horse, or a 
Messenger, and your rascally dealer or dishonest 
agent always can furnish him; he may desire a 
horse from the North, and the same dealer and 
agent will fill the order with a gouty, corn-fed, 
Western brute. 
