0 ONTENTS 
or 
YOLU M E I. 
I. THE HORSE. 
HISTORY. 
The Equine Family, and the species commonly recognised. — The Ass ; 
his country, habits in the wild state, and early subjugation. — Re¬ 
markable effects of domestication on his temperament and physical 
powers ; his patience, sagacity, and useful services. — Comparison 
between the Ass of Africa and Asia.—The Breeds of Europe. — 
Naturalization of the Ass in the New World.—The hybrid progeny 
of the Ass and Horse. — Value of the Mule as a beast of burden in 
arid and rocky countries.—Expediency of extending the cultivation 
of the Mule in the British Islands.—The Zebra, and the Common 
and Striped Quaggas. — Characters of these species ; the fitness of 
some of them for domestication, and their vast numbers.—The 
Dziggithai.—The Common or Domestic Horse ; his form, habits, 
and adaptation to the services of man; his condition in the wild 
state; his country, and the effects on his form and temperament 
of climate, food, and domestication; his early subjugation and His¬ 
tory.—Distinction between the African and Asiatic Horse. — The 
Barbs. — The Horses of the countries of the Euxine and Caspian. — 
The Horse of Arabia; his affinity with the races of the Caucasus 
and Asia Minor ; his services in the countries where he is reared. 
*—The Horses of Persia and Turcomania; of the countries of the 
Kalmuks and Eastern Asiatics ; of the countries of the Western 
Tartars, and of Hindostan.—The Horses of Europe ; of the Ukraine; 
of ancient Greece, and Turkey in Europe; of Ancient and Modern 
Italy ; of Spain, France, Germany, and the British Islands. — The 
progressive changes of the Horses of England, and the formation of 
the Race-Horse, by an admixture of the blood of the horses of Bar¬ 
bary and the East.-—The Horse as naturalized in America; his 
escape from human control, and multiplication in a state of liberty ; 
the characters and treatment of the emancipated horses, and modes 
of subduing them.—Acquisition of the Horse by the Indians, and 
the remarkable consequences. — Horses of the countries of the Anglo- 
Americans ; of the Canadians, and West India Islands, Pages i-xxii 
1.—THE RACE-HORSE. 
The progressive steps in the formation of a race of horses of recognised 
lineage, of peculiar characters, and destined exclusively for the Course. 
— Recording of their pedigrees, and the effect in preserving the ac¬ 
quired characters, and purity of descent. — Notices of Horses of dis¬ 
tinction on the Turf; the White and Byerly Turks, the Godolphin 
Barb, the Darley Arabian, the Flying Childers, Herod, Eclipse, 
Matchem, and others. — Characters, conformation, and colour of the 
Race-IIorse; rearing, education, and training.—The practices of 
the Course. — The Race-courses of England : Newmarket, Epsom, 
Ascot, Goodwood, Doncaster, &c.—The Thorough-bred Horse, and 
the causes of his superiority over all others for the Course. — Racing 
with half-bred Horses, and objections to the system.—Inferiority of 
the Arabs and other Oriental Horses for the Turf. — The Steeple¬ 
chase; its uselessness and cruelty.—Laws of the Turf. — Balancing 
the powers of Horses by weights.—Former and present practice of 
the Turf regarding the weights to be carried, and the length of 
the Course.—Trials of the speed of Horses, and the results. — Classes 
of persons connected with the Course. — Boys of the stables ; their 
duties, habits, and the means of bettering their condition. — Jockeys; 
their duties and qualifications ; their weights, modes of riding, and 
system of wasting or training. — Examples of this class in the cases 
of Buckle, Ci-iifney the elder and younger, Robinson, and others. 
—Training-grooms,and public establishments for training.-—Owners 
ol Horses, and influential supporters of the Turf.—Anecdotes illus¬ 
trative of this class; the Duke op Cumberland, Mr O’Kelly, the 
Earls op Grosvenor and Derby, the Dukes of Queensberry and 
Hamilton, the Prince of Wales, the Marquis of Rockingham, 
Sir Henry Vane Tempest, &c. —The other classes of persons who 
support the Turf, for the purposes of amusement or gambling.— 
Remarks on the institution of the Course as a system of Public 
Games ; its importance as perpetuating a race of Horses, which are 
made to communicate the property of “ blood” to the other races ; 
its effects on national character and manners.-The frauds which 
take from the interest and utility of the spectacle; the withdrawing 
of Horses ; the running to lose; deceptive trials ; the getting up of 
favourites ; the gambling of jockeys and trainers; confederacies, &c. 
—Exemplification of these abuses, and their effects.—The necessity 
of curbing the abuses of the Turf, to preserve these national sports 
to the country, and render them subservient to the useful purposes 
to which they can be applied.—Effects of running Colts before they 
have acquired the necessary maturity of bone and muscle : the bad 
consequences not confined to the Horses of the Turf, but extended 
to all the breeds of the country to which this noble race of Horses 
communicates its properties, . . . 1—22 
2.—THE HUNTER. 
The Hunter, formed by an admixture, with the native races, of the Horses 
of Barbary and the East, rarely directly, but through the medium 
of the Race-horse.—The Hunter cultivated with less exclusive atten¬ 
tion to purity of descent than the Race-horse, and constituting a 
Class, rather than a Breed, of Horses.—Distinctions between the 
form and character of the Race-horse and of the Hunter.—Differ¬ 
ence between the older system of hunting and that now pursued.— 
Increased speed of the modern chase, and the effect on the kinds of 
the Horses employed.—Practice of the modern hunting-field con¬ 
sidered with relation to the changes in the form and characters of 
the Horses.—High estimation in which the English Hunter is held, 
and the great drain of the breeding mares to foreign countries, 23—26 
3.—THE CONNAMARA HORSE. 
Description of the Connamara Horse, forming a race of elegant Ponies 
found in the extreme west of Ireland.-—Its Spanish origin.—The 
neglect of the breed, and its retention of the characters of the An¬ 
dalusian race, .... 27 
4.—CLASSES OF BRITISH HORSES. 
History and character of the ancient Horses of the British Islands.— 
Use of the chariot by the ancient Celtse in the manner of the nations 
of the East.—Effects on the native Horses,—of the Roman invasion, 
of the Saxon colonization, and of the Norman Conquest.—Changes 
produced on the native Horses by a communication with Northern 
Europe, then with the countries of the Mediterranean, and at length 
by the institution of the Course.—Horses of the Zetland Islands; 
their diminutive size ; their speed, sagacity, and docility.—Ponies of 
the Orkney Islands.—Ponies of the Highlands of Scotland, and of 
