American Veterinary Review. 
DECEMBER, 1898. 
All coimtiunications for publication or in reference thereto should be addressed to Prof, 
Roscoe R. Bell, Seventh Ave. Union St., Borough of Brooklyn, New York City. 
EDITORIAL. 
EUROPEAN CHRONICLES. 
The Hackney HoRvSE. —At this time when the hackney 
seems to be the fashionable horse in the United States, the true 
origin of the name may be of some value to those of onr readers 
who are interested in zootechny. 
The name hackney is of French origin. In times gone by, 
some horses used for some special purpose were known in 
France as haquet,, haqitenee,, the latter being a lady’s saddle 
horse and corresponding to what was called in England the nag , 
pad, or lady’s horse ; and when the Normans came to England 
they applied the name of their own P'rench haquen'ee to the 
nag or pad ; one became synonymous of the other. 
But what is considered a perfect hackney to-day is far from 
the original haqnenee or nag; crossing and improvements in 
breeding have changed the character of his predecessors, of his 
godfather, and if we can believe the description that Prof. A. 
Reul gives in the Annales de Belgique, the true hackney of to¬ 
day possesses very little of the character of the French 
haqnenee or of the true English nag. Indeed, according to 
Prof. Renl, the following is the character of a perfect hackney : 
“Not of large size, those of 15 hands high are not rare; its head 
must be small, short, well carried, with kind and energetic features , 
the forehead wide, the face rather narrow, but in proportion to the size 
of the nasal cavities ; the eye large, the ear short and active ; the neck 
of average length, with well developed muscles, high above and slightly 
arching. The back straight, well muscled, especially to the loins and 
croup. The withers high, clean and bony ; shoulder long and in good 
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