170 
THE COTTAGE GARDENER. 
June 2. 
and, as liis horse is entirely used for riding, he vehemently 
protests against the noble animal doing any servile work. 
He takes high ground, and, altogether, you had better not 
read the following sentence to Caleb, or you will never hear 
the last of it. 
My father was accustomed to say, “ No blessing upon our 
country since we have changed our coursers into beasts of 
burden and tillage. Has not Allah made the horse for the 
race, the ox for the plough, and the camel for the transport 
of merchandise ? There is nothing gained by changing the 
ways of Allah.” 
So much for the Arabian horses. To return to our own 
“ faithful hut humble steed,” as Sir Robert Peel once styled 
his pony. 
Do what we may, these articles will take on themselves 
somewhat of the nature of the eccentric little brute, the 
subject of them. We do not proceed with the even me¬ 
thodical pace of the regular old hack. Starting off, it may 
he, with the very steadiest resolves, at a fair round trot; 
anon, “ our "trot becomes a gallop soon, in spite of curb or 
rein,” and we get carried along, like Gilpin, farther than we 
intended. But no matter: by and by we have time to 
breathe ourselves at a leisurely foot’s pace, the pace after all 
| in which the pony most excels; the multifarious vocations 
of our pony require from his faithful hut humble historian 
| sundry digressions from well-beaten roads into the bye-ways 
and green lanes of rural (economics; and just now I am 
going to stand by and see “pony” attended to after an 
excursion. 
First, he must have his feet well washed out, and 
picked clean of all bits of gravel, Ac., his legs and the 
under part of his body very quickly rubbed dry, his ears, if 
cold, well chafed with the hand till the circulation is re¬ 
stored. This done, he must be put into the stable, a little 
clean straw shaken under him, and a small feed of corn 
administered. All this will not take more than a quarter 
of an hour or so. Caleb may now get his own dinner with 
an easy conscience, or he may throw a few buckets of water 
over the conveyance before the dirt dries upon it; he may clean 
his harness; attend to his cucumbers and melons; he may 
milk his cows ; he may do anything, he has an hour or two’s 
law before he need go near the pony again. By this time, rest, 
food, and warmth, will have recruited the pony. The glow 
first set up by chafing the ears and rubbing the legs dry, will 
have gradually extended itself over the whole skin ; greatly 
in aid of Mr. Caleb’s exertions when he commences in earnest 
the work of rubbing down. Now if this had been set about 
at first the labour would have been much greater, because 
of the want of any assistance from the reaction in the skin 
j itself; the process would have taken more time, and would 
j have been an annoyance to the poor animal, who wants to 
j he quiet awhile, and is ready for his corn, if he he good for 
anything. Again, if you have got him rubbed dry at once, 
before reaction is established, ten to one hut this ■will shew 
itself afterwards by the hreaking-out of a profuse sweat, just 
when you would wish to leave the stable, everything finished 
to your satisfaction! 
But, if nothing whatever is done at the horse at first when 
he comes in, there is danger of his getting a chill; the 
blood may forsake the surface, and, in vulgar parlance, be 
“ thrown in ” upon some important organ, as the lungs for 
instance ; and, if no care is taken to get the legs dry forth¬ 
with, you may he visited by that constant associate of idle 
grooms and miry roads called “ grease in the heels.” You 
can always see the extremities made dry and attended to 
forthwith ; hut it is really impossible for Caleb Balderstone, 
with his many vocations, always to find time to rub a horse 
completely dry the instant he conies home ; he may have to 
wait hours to he fully attended to; and there is a great deal 
in habit in these matters. The healthy, natural tone of the 
skin should never be sacrificed by hot clothing, close stables, 
Ac. It is greatly assisted by plenty of good corn. A horse 
in good keep gets dry in half the time it takes to dry a half- 
starved animal. 
We were looking at pony’s feet just now. There are, as 
it were, two different types or styles of foot, even amongst 
ponies. One round, broad, and rather flat, like the ox’s 
hoof; the other more oval-shaped, narrowed, and hollower, 
like the foot of a mule. The former sort is natural to flat, 
clayey soils, the ploughed fields, and where the roads are 
level but heavy, the work uniform, and the speed even and 
moderate. The latter best withstands the severe con¬ 
cussions occasioned by going nimbly over hard, stony, hilly 
country. The general conformation often goes with the i 
foot. “Expede Herculem” they used to say; Hercules j 
being the Latin name of a horse. Since the days of Xeno- ' 
phon and of Y r irgil, the foot has been considered of the j 
very greatest importance. The round-footed horse has | 
often a capacious, round chest, capable of furnishing plenty 
of good blood to a rather gross body, and thick, almost 
clumsy limbs. Now, a chest of this kind has not much 
power of being distended beyond a certain limit, and, accord¬ 
ingly, the animal, though capable of great ordinary exertion, 
is rather put about when called upon for extraordinary 
efforts. But the oval foot is accompanied, not seldom, by 
a narrower but very deep chest, a high chine, and a slighter 
and more sinewy form. This oval chest is capable, relatively 
to its size, of greater dilation, when needed, than the round ; 
and, altogether, the animal is better adapted to make great 
temporary efforts, whether of increased speed, or in spring¬ 
ing up a hill; though the other will take a heavier load, and 
get through a vast deal of work at a fair, even pace. 
This narrow, hollowed foot is liable to become contracted, 
and is much benefited by the cool grass, or by an occasional i 
stopping with cow-dung when altogether in the stable. But i 
the broad foot is very apt to get too moist, and the fleshy I 
central part, called the frog, will sometimes inflame, smell 
badly, and so get what is called thrush. It may be neces¬ 
sary here to apply a pledget of tow, with tar, at [night, i*e- 
moving it in the morning. There has an excellent method 
of shoeing been lately introduced, which consists in securing 
the shoe well at the toe, and only fixing the nails on the 
outside of the foot. This enables the sole to contract and 
expand almost as freely as if the animal were not shod at 
all: it is a great preventive of lameness. If the pony is 
expected to do much towards his living by jobbing about 
in the cart, the shoes should be provided with very small 
heels or calkins ; otherwise not. 
The round, punchy form, above alluded to, is the best 
where there is much farm-work, and a drag of a phaeton to 
try at; but such a horse is rather liable to become broken- 
winded, being much given to stuffing himself with hay, and 
he will not always stand corn very well. The food, how¬ 
ever, and especially the water, should he strictly attended 
to ; and the subject habituated gradually to an aristocratic 
allowance of oats, and weaned of his vulgar fondness for 
hay. This kind is often dun, or brown-coloured, or roan. 
The dark cliesnut, or iron-grey, has more frequently a nar¬ 
rowed foot, and is of the form better adapted for riding, 
drawing a light gig, and for occasional farm-work. 
A domesticated animal, he the same horse, cow, fowl, or 
pig, must have a certain amount of food merely to enable it 
to exist: we can only expect it to pay for the keeping by ren¬ 
dering us anything notable in the shape of muscular power, 
muscular flesh, fat, butter, milk, eggs, Ac., in return for an 
additional quantity and more excellent quality of food judi¬ 
ciously given. “Feed well,” was the Roman farmer’s motto. 
“ Feed well.” 
P.S. I hope to he enabled to give your readers some cal¬ 
culations of the expense of keeping a stout pony, or small 
horse and chaise, upon strictly utilitarian principles, in a 
future article, if I may he allowed so to do.— Vibgyor. - 
[Permission is given.—E d. C. G.] 
DISEASED DIGESTIVE ORGANS IN A 
DORKING HEN. 
YVHICH ARE BEST LAYERS ? 
A fortnight ago, a fine Dorking hen (two years old), who 
had the run of a park, and every advantage as to diet and 
care, was brought to me by the woman who had charge of t 
the lot with an immensely distended crop; she had observed j 
it increasing for the last three days, but the hen was other- I 
wise in good health, eating well and laying, though she could i 
scarcely move, as her crop actually touched the ground when 
she was standing up. Having read in your journal of the 
good effects of cleaning the crop out in obstinate cases of 
indigestion , and fancying this might he one, I had an incision J 
