Jt'.'TV 1> TUFTS UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES 9090 013 408 212 Wet amily Libra teiinary Medfcine Cun 5 Schoc erinary Medicine at Tufts Univ( North Grafton, MA 01 536 jam J PHILOSOPHICAL AND PRACTICAL TREATISE ON HORSES, AND ON THE MORAL DUTIES OF MAN TOWARDS THE BRUTE CREATION. By JOHN LAWRENCE, « For that which befalleth the sons of men, befalleth beasts ; even one thing befalleth them : as the one dietb, so dieth the other; yea, they have all on# breath ; so that a man hath no pre-eminence above a beast : All go unto one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again. ECCLESIASTES. Sunt enim animalia post hominem, ita ars veterinaria post medicinam se* eunda est. yecetiu*, Neque omnia, neque nihil. SECOND EDITION. VOL. I. LONDON: PRINTED BY C. WHITT1NGHAM, Dean Strut, Fetter lane, FOR H. D. SYMONDS, PATERNOSTER-ROW. 1802. / ADVERTISEMENT TO THE SECOND EDITION. r\ a late publication of Mr. Blaine, a very respectable ve- terinary anatomist, the credit of this work, as far as re- gards medical treatment, is attacked in a very marked, and I conceive, not altogether candid manner. My answers to this gentleman, for whose opinions I should have considera- ble deference, did they rest on the ground of his own ex- perience and practice ; together with certain farther addi- tions and corrections, will be found in the following pages of the second volume: Pa. 231. 285. 305. 310. 325. 359. 363. 376. 426. 447. 454. 478. 517. 541. 566. 572. 592. 608. 611. I had flattered myself, that I should have had no farther occasion to recur to the unpleasant task of defending the reputation and practice of our established veterinary writers ; at least, that some more able advocate would have arisen ere now, in so just and generous a cause. But I find the same plan, the commencement of which appeared to me so illiberal and unjust, is incessantly pursued; the works of our best writers are to be calumniated, and consigned to ob- livion ; and the public deprived of the great benefits to be obtained from such an original and excellent source of in- struction. By the numerous publications, all of the same even tenor, issuing of late years from the leisure of veteri- nary surgeons, it would appear, that they desire to impress the world with an idea, that all veterinary knowledge origi- nated IV ADVERTISEMENT. nated at St. Pancras ; and that previously to the establish- ment of the College, we were unillumined, in this country, with a single ray of genuine science. We are not only pestered with the perpetual repetition of new discoveries, but, according to the professions of these writers, the Col- lege was instituted for the mere purpose of speculation and discovery; of overturning all former practice, and of begin- ning, as one of them expresses it, ■ intirely de novo* Pretensions of this extravagant nature, feebly too, as they have been supported, may, and in truth, already have been, of considerable prejudice to the cause of the Veteri- nary College; an excellent public institution, which reflects great honour on the liberality of the present times, and, from the influence and example of which, the country has experienced eminent advantages. It needs no argument to prove, nor any apology, that the ends of such an institu- tion will be best answered by the promulgation of a rational and humane system of veterinary practice, whether derived from previous authority, or present experience. If, in the warmth of my zeal for the defence of former writers, to whom I have acknowledged so much obligation, I have been unmindful of the merits of my cotemporaries, or have injuriously thrown into the shade any man's exer- tions or laudable attempts at new discovery, nothing will give me greater pleasure, than to acknowledge and retract such error, on a' fair representation of the fact. In certain directions concerning Shoes (Vol.11, p. 231.) to which, as they formerly stood, exceptions were made in the public papers, I freely confess some alteration was re- quired ; it will appear that I have made a material onc r and that there is now little danger of error or miscon- struction. In the medical department, I have retained the use ©f cordials and warm aromatic seeds, professedly excluded from ADVERTISEMENT. v from the new practice. This I have done from frequent experience of their good effects in certain cases; at the same time, pointing out the common abuse of such articles. Con- sidering the present fashionable retrenchment of the veteri- nary materia medica, and that nothing farther is now held necessary, than to ring the changes upon Barbadoes aloes, radix ipecac, tartar emetic, and vitriol in substance, it will appear that I have been very redundant : but reflecting on constitutional idiosyncrasy, and that from various occult causes, or in different circumstances, a medicine shall have anomalous effects in the same disease, I have thought pro- per to note most of those simples or compositions, which have been found, by experience, to operate efficaciously on the body of the horse. If I have retained some forms of rather an injudicious or equivocal description, I believe, there are none liable to any very particular exceptions, into whatever hands they may fall. I omitted to state, in its proper place (Vol. 2. p. 379) that in the low fever of horses, attended with sudden great debility, antimonial wine, with a moderate quantity of lau- danum, given at intervals, in acidulated and sweetened herb drinks, has often succeeded, when the common doses of nitre and cremor tartar have had a nauseating and debili- tating effect. My acknowledgements to Doctor Downing have been sufficiently liberal. The Doctor's book, I have, at last discovered, to be a tolerably accurate copy of Topham on the Diseases of Cattle. The composition of this last is the strangest medley of good sense, and ineffable nonsense, that I have ever perused ; and it afforded me as hearty a laugh, as I have enjoyed from reading Rabelais or Cervantes. The manuscript, I should conjecture, of some person of the name of Topham, fell into the hands of the school-master, exciseman, or clerk of the parish. It is Pipes's second edi- tion of his master's love letter, Aftei VI ADVERTISEMENT. After the late recommendation of Bull-baiting from such high authority, it is disheartening to offer any thing on the subject of justice and kindness to beasts. It is almost equally discouraging, to reflect on the total want of discrimination, from mere passion and prejudice, in the professed advocates of humanity. In real probability, this last is the greater bar to reform. How are we to reconcile a classification of Bull-baiting, Boxing, and Horse-racing, with the genuine logic of humanity or common sense ? The principle of the first is totally inadmissible on the score of barbarity and in- justice, and a pure defect of necessity. It is against the improper practice solely, of the other, that a word can be urged. Are we to abolish the use of wine, because mad- men and fools get drunk ? Is there no difference between staking the abhorrent and fear-stricken animal to the torture, and voluntary combats — none between extreme and lin- gering torments, and euthanasia, or easy death ? The amateurs of Trotting, in the Metropolis, have lately witnessed the extraordinary performances of the brown mare Phenomena. In her first great match, she trotted seventeen miles, in somewhat less than fifty-three minutes, carrying five stone. 1 in vain laboured for a number of years, to convince our trotting jockeys of the proportional effect of weight in that pace ; my book, how- ever (Vol. I. p. 242) has succeeded, where I personally failed. Little doubt can now remain, that one or two of the horses named in the chapter on trotting, were able to have performed twenty miles in one hour ; and that with much less injury to themselves, than usually accrued from their performances with high weights. It is requested of the classical reader to pardon the adoption of the spurious word equestrian, which has, some how or other, crept into use, in writings of this species ; he will do the author an additional favour by furnishing him with a more legitimate term. PREFACE, [" N all matters of indifference, I efteem it a due and laudable acl; of complacence in the individual, to follow eftablifhed cuflom — I therefore write a Preface : and, as I have gene- rally obferved, that long-winded prefaces are flighted, I am refolved mine (hall not be of that defcription. But I have a motive of greater weight. It behoves me, not only out of that high refpecl which I owe the Public — but alfo, in juftice to myfelf, to apologize for the weak and defective, and, too probably, prolix and tedious execution of the enfuing work ; which, in truth, is the offspring of a mind not the moft brilliant by nature, enfeebled, and rendered confufed and irritable from chronic bodily weaknefs, and of a memory, at intervals, fcarce fufficiently re- tentive for the ordinary purpofes of life. If it be demanded, why write, then ? — My anfwer is, a 2 I have IV PREFACE. I have been impelled by two of the moft pow- erful incentives in nature. Thus much being premifed, the Reader will not expect to find, in my book, that orna- mented and polilhed ftyle, fo much the delight and rage of the prefent period, a copious and entertaining range of imagination, or the ca- riofajelicitas of ex predion ; fuch are the pleaf- ing attributes of happier writers: he. will no doubt reft content, provided he meets with the true and the ufeful only ; in which, I prefume to flatter myfelf, he will not be totally difap- pointed. However it may turn out, he may be afTured, that what I have fet before him, is the beft, in all refpects, in my power to provide, under the aliedged circumftances. There will be found, in the courfe of the work, certain allufions, and indeed open pro- feftlons, which may, perhaps, be held by many of too free a nature, or extraneous to the fub- je£i ; but let it be good-naturedly remembered, that minds of a certain caft are not at all times in their own government ; that it is a little hard that truth mould require an apology ; that an eflential to the propagation of it, is to leave writers PREFACE. writers as free as poflible of reftraint ; that hu- man liberty requires a reciprocity of opinion in all things; that Nature feldom exhibits per- fect models ; and that where the fund of dis- cretion is over large, the quantum of honefly is not always proportionate. I cannot help thinking it a queftion, much more confequential to the good morals and well- being of mankind, whether a writer has at- tempted to controvert or obfcure a general truth, than whether he has made free with this fyflem, or that opinion, however, or by what- foever authority, it may have been fan&ioned and eftablifhed. After all, my mind is flill fenfible of an anxiety, left my offering mould be unworthy the public acceptance : here I will comfort myfelf with the good old faw, which warrants, that fomething is to be learned, even from the raoft indifferent book ; and farther, that it is fcarce poflible for a man tolerably acquainted with his fubjecl;, to write feven or eight hundred pages, without furnifhing hints adequate to the value of fourteen millings, to a Reader inte- refted therein. Sentences. VI PREFACE. Sentences, faulty in their conftru&ion, and various repetitions, may eafily have efcaped my notice, as did a few errors of the prefs, on my examination of the proof meets ; of thefe Iaft, the moft material, I hope, will be found in the lift below. ERR.-n.-l. Page 21, line 16, read progreflion. 28, 11, read obfervation. — , 23, read ftatue, inftead of ftatute. 30, 12, read principal. , — , 20, read operandi. 127, 5, omit no — inftead, add, arid. 129, — — 4, read fentiments. 144, 3, read confequencc, inftead of conftderatioa. 197, 4, from bottom, read furfive. in, 7, from top, read carcafej. 246, 8, from bottom, read ftirrup. 277, 3, ditto read luxations. 3or, 7, ditto for treated, read expatiated. 308, 14, ditto for? read !. 314, 8, ditto add at after be. 342, 5, ditto read flexor. 352, 11, ditto add and after truth CONTENTS. CONTENTS. VOLUME I. CHAPTER I. Introductory chapter— De/ign of the work — Critical account of Veterinary Writers — Impartial examination of Mr. Taplin's plea of originality - - - - i CHAPTER TI. On the Horfe in general - - ? - - - 78 CHAPTER III. On the Rights of Beafts 117 CHAPTER IV. On the Hackney and Hunter - - 164 CHAPTER V. On the Paces, and the Equeflrian Art ; or, modern Method of Riding on Horfeback, aspraclifedbybothfexes 226 CHAPTER Vlli CONTENTS. CHAPTER VI. On Draft Cattle, and their Ufe and Ma- nagement, both in Town and Country - 280 CHAPTER VII. On the Manege - - 33 2 CHAPTER VIII. On the Art of Shoeing -338 A TREATISE ON HORSES. INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. SHOULD an apology be held neceffary, for a new Treatife on Horfes, fince we already poffefs fo many in our language, and feveral of them of univerfally acknowledged excellence, I beg leave to fubmit the following apologetical reflections to the judgment of the enlightened and impartial Reader. It is a common obfervation, of which I feel it neceffary to aflume my fhare, that the Horfe, of all animals the mod valuable, becaufe the mod conducive to the ufe and enjoyment of man, has been, from the earliefl times, confi- dered as an object, deferving the mod fedulous and benevolent attention in all civilized coun- tries. That fuch obfervation will apply with peculiar force to our own country, is evinced by a race of Horfes adapted to every poflible vol. i. b purpofe, 2 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. purpofe, far fuperior to the races of all other nations ; and it is obvious, that our national improvement in equeftrian fcience, according to the invariable laws of nature, has been gra- dual and progreflive, and that it can only arrive at its ultimate point of attainable perfection, through the unwearied labour and recorded ex- perience of fucceflive practical writers. Upon a fubjeci, then, of fuch extent as that of the Horfe, taken in all his various points of view — fuch as the genus, and its different fpe- cies ; his natural rights, in other words, his claims as an animal endowed with fellow feel- ing, on the moral juftice and humanity of man; the molt advantageous felection and applica- tion of the various fpecies, with their improve- ment ; the proper management of all whilfl; in health, and employed in pleafure or bufinefs ; their juft proportional relation with the medi- cal and healing art in a ftate of difeafe ; their confequence as an article of commerce — it is fcarce pofTible but that fomething both new and ufeful may be offered. Allowing a juft and ample portion of defert to former Writers, whether ancient or modern, they muff necefla- rily be fuppofed to have partaken of the com- mon imperfections of men, and cannot have intirely exhaufled the fubjecl:. Even the changes unavoidably effected by the mere lapfe of time, and the various and conftant improve- ments INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 3 ments and additions to the flock of veterinary knowledge, mull of themfelves be confidered as matter of novelty and intereft. Such are the inducements, blended with the legitimate expe6lation of that reward conferred by the encouragement of his countrymen, which may be fuppofed to call forth a new author in their fervice ; as to his ability and fitnefs for the talk he has undertaken, it becomes him to be fdent, and patiently to fubmit his caufe to the impar- tial judgment of the public. But it is neceffary, in compliance with eftab- lifhed ufage, to fay a few words on the precife nature and propofed condu6l of the enluing Work. It is my ambition to write a general hiftory of the Horfe, both in ficknefs and in health ; to afford information in all points con- cerning him, as far as my own obfervation and practice (which have extended to mofl defcrip- tions of this animal) and a diligent review of the works of other authors, fhall bear me out. An occafional adduclion of the fentiments of other men, will at once enable me to do juflice to their merits, confer an additional value on my own book, and contribute to the fatisfac- tion of fuch of my readers as may require other authority, but do not poffefs fufficient leifure or inclination for the trouble of farther recourfe. On the medical and chirurgical part of the fubjecl: (not having the honor to belong to b 2 thofe 4 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. thofe profeflions) I can pretend to no claim of originality ; but the acquaintance which a na- tural propenfion has incited me to cultivate with our belt veterinary writers, and fome fmall experience which I have had in the application of the medical art to the fubject in queftion, will, I humbly hope, fecure me from the danger of falling into errors of very confiderable mag- nitude, either in the remedies, or the authorities which I (hall recommend. My method in this department will be, to give a catalogue of all the known difeafes of Horfes, and under each diflin6l head to defcribe the nature and fymp- toms of the difeafe, recommending (in general) either fuch method of cure as I have myfelf experienced to be fuccefsful, or the authority which I judge moll intitled to refpect. In difficult or doubtful cafes, I {hall allow the reader a proper choice of authorities. There is, however, one branch of my fubject. (and that a very material one) which I mult beg permiffion to pafs, with little or no notice, I mean the flud, or breeding fyftem ; not only, becaufe to handle that matter to any fatisfaclory purpofe, would fwell the prefent treatife to an inconvenient bulk, but becaufe my experience therein has hitherto been very limited. At fome future and diftant period, I flatter myfelf with hopes of being able to produce fomething on that head akfo, conducive to public utility ; • • but INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 5 but which will materially depend upon the fuc- cefs of my prefent endeavours. In fuch work (granting it fhould be carried into effett) I (hall not confine myfelf to breeding of Horfes folely, but extend my attention to live flock in general, including pigs and domeflic poultry, in the breeding and rearing of which, I have had as much and as extenfive practice as moft men, and have been as careful to regifter it. To thofe who may object, that in the courfe of this work, I defcend too much into minute details, and apparently trifling circumftances, I muft beg leave to obferve, that although them- felves may be connoifleurs, there are num- bers among us fo totally uninformed refpecling Horfes, that even the inferior fpecies of intelli- gence may be to fuch both ufeful and accep^ table. Befides, a relation of the particular ufages of our prefent equeftrian fyftem, may adminifter to the curiofity (at leaft) of pofterity. I have not indeed the vain conceit of fuppofing myfelf capable of inftru&ing our great judges of Horfes, our men of the turf in particular — of thefe, I fpeak, as my mafters in the fcience ; and my only expectation is, that they will find their own opinions and practice faithfully re- flected in my books. But the moft important part of my tafk, and that which lies neareft my heart, is to endea- vour to leffen the fum of animal mifery in the b 3 world 6 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. world — to implore a more generous and hu- mane treatment of thofe poor ufeful animals, which nature has placed under our dominion, and entrufted to our care — to remind mankind of the unprofitablenefs and meannefs, as well as the heinoufnefs of cruelty — in particular, to convince them, if poflible, that to be compaf- fionate and liberal to that mod excellent and ufeful creature, the Horfe, is both their intereft and their duty. In fine, I (hall endeavour to trefpafs as little as poflible upon the patience of my Readers ; but I mud beforehand make bold to folicit their indulgence, if I fhould be now and then tempt- ed to digrefs awhile ; engaging, at the fame time, that it fhall not be upon fubjecls either inutile or frivolous. I proceed to give fome account of former veterinary writers, chiefly of our own country ; with the double view of directing the inquifitive Reader's attention to the proper fources of in- formation, and of refcuing the characters of our original writers of merit, from the hands of pilfering compilers ; who are too often fuc- cefsful in running away with the applaufe due only to their matters ; and in rearing a tempo- rary reputation upon very (lender pretenfions. The firft of our original writers upon Horfes, of any note, was Thomas Blundevill, of New- ton Flotman, in Norfolk ; by his own defcrip- tion, INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. J tion, a poor gentleman ; he lived in the reign of Elizabeth. His works, which were publifh- ed in three treatifes, were all feparately dedi- cated to the famous Earl of Leicefter. They comprize the whole of the fubjecl:, that is to fay, breeding, management, diet, and phytic. In his time, and the preceding, his countrymen (however advantageoufly the cafe has been fince reverfed) were in the conftant habits of obligation to foreign countries, as well for the amelioration of their breed of horfes, as for inftructions on every point relative to their management. The military manege was the prevailing tafle of the time, and the inftru&ion of it in England, almoft entirely in the hands of foreigners, either Italian or French; a con- fiderable number of whom were conflantly entertained by the court, and encouraged by the nobility and gentry, either as riding-mafters, orferrers. Blundevill appears to have had a competent (hare of learning, and to have been himfelf the tranflator of thofe foreign works, whence, as from the fountain head of knowledge, he drew the chief of his rules. He gave the firft Englifh names to feveral implements of Horfe- manfliip, then introduced; as well as to a variety of difeafes, until his time not defcribed in the Englifh language; and many fucceeding writers availed themfelves not only of his B 4 tranflation 8 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. tranflation of the foreign veterinary writers, but of his own proper knowledge and expe- rience of the fubjecl;. With refpect to the merits of Blundevill, as a veterinary writer, he undoubtedly pofieffed a thorough practical knowledge of the animal on which he treated, as far as the lights of the time, in which he lived, extended. Englifhmen had not yet learned to reafon for themfelves, and the bar- barous practice of the Continental Manege, by which the moll generous and docile of all animals was driven to obedience by torturing bits, and cruel ufage, inftead of being gently reduced by foothing means, and by the help of implements uninjurious to his tender flefh, was in full force among them. Thus we are prefented in Blundevill's book with plates of near fifty different bits; with an account of fpoons, gags, ring (hoes, trammels for pacing, and a variety of inftruments of torture, alto- gether as ufelefs to any good purpofe, as they were fenfelefs and cruel. But, however, gene- rally a flave to authority in thefe matters, we fometimes find the Englifhman getting the better of this author, and prompting him to queftion the real utility of fuch rigorous meafures to force obedience; a remarkable inflance of which we have in his declaration, that notwithflanding the variety of patterns for bits which he had exhibited, he really thought INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. g thought three of them only (and they are of the mildeft) fully fufficient for all purpofes of horfemanfliip ; which is reducing the matter pretty near to the flandard of our prefent practice. One however cannot help being difgufled at his repeated advice, to beat the horfe about the head with a cudgel. There are no doubt many ufeful obfervations in his book; but from fucceeding improvements in the veterinary art, Blundevill's work has long fince ceafed to poilefs any other recommenda- tion, than that of curiofity. About the fame period, and fbmewhat later, arofe divers other writers on horfes; as Mor- gan, Mafcal, Martin, Clifford, and others, of whofe books I at prefent know nothing beyond the names of the authors; and it is highly probable their works contain little elfe than a tranfeription of the veterinary practice of the ancients, and a repetition of the fame fyftem of management which we find in Blundevill ; had they made any improvements in the art, they would, in all probability, have been handed down to us, and their works in confequence preferved from the fatal gulph of oblivion. But there is another writer of nearly the fame period, if not of greater merit, at leaft of more good fortune, than thofe I have jufl now mentioned. It is the redoubtable Gervafe Markham, for more than a century, the oracle of lO INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. of fapient grooms, the fiddle of old wives, and the glory of bookfellers. After having pain- fully laboured through his works, it remains with me a doubt, whether this famous writer ever poffefTed any real knowledge of the horfe, or of the art veterinary, from his own practice and experience. He was, in my opinion, nothing better than a mere vulvar and illiterate com- piler; and his works (fome few things excepted) are fluffed with all the execrable tralh that had ever been invented by any writer, or pra&ifed by any farrier, ancient or modern, on the fub- je£t of horfes. It is neceffary, however, that we do jufiice to the character of Gervafe Markham ; he certainly poflefled a fpecies of merit which has not defcended to all his fuc- ceflbrs, the copiefts and plagiarifts: he very honeftly gives the names of thofe authors from whom he derives his knowledge. Markham's works were printed and reprint- ed, to the twentieth, and for aught I know, to the fortieth edition. At leaf!;, the celebrated name of Gervafe Markham was made ufe of by the bookfellers to a vaff number of compi- lations, not only upon the fubjecl of Horfes, but of hufbandry, gardening, and houfe- wifery. The mifchiefs which have been occafioned by the extenfive circulation of this man's books, are incalculable. They brought almolt as INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 11 as many evils and cruel inflictions upon poor helplefs animals, as the opening of Pandora's Box did upon the human race : and notwith- flanding the author lived till after the reftora- tion, and publifhed an edition of his works, in which he boafts of fifty years practice; we find no improvement refulting from his long experience, but that the work which received his lafl hand, is but a mere repetition of the bar- barous and unmeaning abfurdities of ancient practice. From the works of Gervafe Markham, and his famous receipts, all the old grooms and farriers, who (unfortunately for the animals committed to their care, and the proprietors of them, were able to write and read) obtained all their veterinary knowledge, their fkill in operations, and their wonderful tricks ; nor is the fame of this great writer altogether unknown to fome of our elder fages of the ftable, even at this day : and I mud beg leave to advife every owner of Horfes, who regards their welfare and his own intereft, as foon as he mail be apprifed that his groom or farrier is in pofTeffion of Markham's works, or indeed any of that ftamp, to purchafe fuch dangerous commodities out of their hands ; and to put them to more harmlefs and necef- fary purpofes, than thofe to which ignorant people would moil probablv apply them. As 12 INTRODUCTORY CPIAPTER. As thefe books are now happily become fomewhat fcarce, and few of my readers may perhaps have enjoyed an opportunity of pend- ing them, it may not be amifs to fkim a little of their cream, for the entertainment of the curious. Worms s from Markhcmis Maijler-Peece, 16th Edition, 1703. 4C The violence of the red worms are won- derful, for I have feen Horfes whofe ftomach has been eaten quite through with them ; fo that the meat which they eat could not abide in their ftomach, but fell upon the fwallowing into the body, making the body fwell like a tun, and fo died with huge torment." This will be acknowledged on all hands, to be a molt wonderful and curious cafe. Now for a prefcription intirely fit to be coupled with fuch a cafe ; and it may be here obferved, that Mark- ham was very liberal, and generally allowed his readers their choice of three methods of cure for all difeafes, namely ; the good, better, and belt. The following are two of his good cures for worms — " Other ancient farriers ufe only to give the horfe for this difeafe the warm guts of a new-flam hen or chicken, being thrufl down the horfe's throat ; and fure it is pairing good, efpecially if a little fait be mixed with them 3 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. I3 them, and this muil be done three mornings faffing, keeping the horfe from drinking three or four hours after — others ufe to bind about the fnaffle or bit, man's dung new made,and fo ride him therewith." Of tired, Horfes, page 74. After difcourfing rationally enough upon tired horfes, old Gervafe thus proceedeth. " Then for the cure of any of all thefe pro- ceeding from dulnefs, fearfulnefs, and unwil- lingnefs, you (hall take ordinary window glafs, and beat it into fine powder ; then take up the fkin of each fide the fpur-vein, between your finger and your thumb, and with a fine awl or bodkin, make divers fmall holes through his (kin, then rub glafs powder very hard into thefe holes ; which done, do but mount his back, and do but offer to touch his fide with your he^ls, and be fure if he have life in him, he wall go forward. Now, if it be fo that your horfe tire in fuch a place, as the neceffity of your occafions are to be preferred before the value of your horfe, and that you muft feek unnatural means to controul nature ; in this cafe you fhall take (where the powder of glafs, &c. cannot be had) three or four round pebble flones, and putj them into one of his ears, and then tie the ear that the flones fhall not fall out, 14 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. out, and the noife of thofe (tones will make the horfe go after he is utterly tired ; but if that fail, you (hall with a knife make a hole in the flap of the horfe 's ear, and thruft a long rough ft ick, full of nicks, through the fame, and ever as the horfe flacks his pace, fo faw and fret the flick up and down in the hole ; and be fure whilft he hath any life he will not leave going. Many other torments there are," &c. &c. Of the falling of the Crejl, p. 175. " The falling of the horfe 's creft, is, when the upper part of a horfe's neck, which is called the creft, leaneth either to the one or the other fide, and will not ftand upright, as it ought to do. It proceedeth, mod commonly, from poverty, and very hard keeping," &c. Here follows one cure by firing ; then he proceeds — " Other farriers ufe for this infirmity, firft to caft the horfe upon fome foft dunghill, or other eafy place, and with a knife to cut away the fleih on the hanging or under fide of the creft, even from the fore end thereof to the hinder end, fix inches broad and two inches thick, or fomewhat more in the middle thereof where it is thickeft ; then groping the creft with your hands, to pare the thickeft part thereof till it come all to one thinnefs; then holding the horfe ftill faft bound, to cover all the INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 15 the place with great handfuls of fwines-dung, prepared for the purpofe, and hold it to the fore place an hour together, until the blood be f launched ; then let the horfe arife, and lead him into the liable, tying him in fuch fort, that he may neither rub his neck nor lie down ; then the next morning take good (lore of burnt allum, beaten to powder, and drew it all over the fore place, and fo let him Hand for two days after, without any (lining, left the wound fhould bleed again, Sec. &c. — which done, you (hall to thofe plats with thongs of leather, fallen a cudgel of a foot and half long : then to the midft of that cudgel you fhall hang a piece of lead, with a hole in it, of fuch weight as will poife the creft up even, and hold it in its right place. Then (hall you draw his creft on that fide the weight hangs, with a hot draw- ing iron, even from the top of the creft down to the point of the fhoulder, making divers ftrokes one inch and an half from another ; then (hall you lay upon the burnt places a plaifter of pitch, tar, and rofin, melted together; and fo let the weight hang till all the fore places be healed, and there is no queftion but the creft will ftand both upright and ftrongly." I am forry to fay, that I have given but a moderate fpecimen of the cruelties formerly inflicted upon this brave and unoffending animal : but inftead of irritating our ferifihility by l6 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. by exclamations againft fuch meafures of bru- tality and follv, let us congratulate ourfelves upon the happinefs and advantage of living in an age and country, when even the vulgar mind revolts at and defpifes them. The following curious direction, w T hich is to be found in the old editions of Markham, I addrefs to many of my brethren of the bridle, who have repeatedly allured me, with an ex- prefTive dafh of corrective wifdom in their looks, " that it fignifies nothing talking, we (hall never get better than the old books, and the old cuftoms." Running Horjes. " For the ordering of your running Horfe, let him have no more meat than to fuffice nature, drink once in twenty-four hours ; and dreffing every day once at noon only." To make a white far in any part of a Horfe 9 page 307. " Other farriers ufe, after they have fhaved it, to rub the place well with fait ; and then, twice every day for a fortnight, to warn it with the broth wherein a moldy-warp and fome fwines sxeafe hath been fodden." I have no right in the world to difpute the efficacy of this receipt, INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER; 1J receipt, becaufe, after all poflible enquiry among the old wives of my acquaintance, I have been unable to trace the fignification of a moldy- warp, or whether it be fifh or flefh. Perhaps fome gentle reader may be able to help me out at a dead lift. I prefume, by this time, the reader has had enough of Gervafe Markham ! Early in the reign of James I. came forth An Hipponomie, or The Vineyard of Horfeman- (hip, by Michael Baret, graced with a number of dedications, one of which was to •* Charles I. when prince." The fate of this writer is fome- what lingular, and truly unmerited; for not only has his work funk into utter oblivion with the public (no uncommon cafe) but I know not of any author who has vouchfafed even to mention it ; neverthelefs, I will venture to pro- nounce, that upon an impartial examination, it will be found by far the ableft work of the kind, whether we confider the learning of its author, his practical knowledge of the Horfe, or the utility of his rules, which our language could boaft of, until the prefent century. Michael Baret, of Holland, in Lincolnshire, like his predeceflbr Blundevill, a poor gentle- man, poffeffed no common (hare of that fpecies of erudition, fo highly in vogue, and efteemed fo effentially necelfary to a polite education, in the reign of pedantry and James. His argu- vol, i. c ments l8 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. ments, upon whatever fubjecl;, whether the mod abftrufe and recondite, or the mod common ; whether he attempts to difcriminate and fix upon the precife point which divides fpeed from ftoutnefs in horfes, or to regulate the ceconomy of bits, halters, and faddles ; are all drawn from Euclid, Ariftotle, and the Schools, and prefent themfelves in the regular logical array of ma. mi. and con. to confront, or rather to confound the prefumptuous fceptic. He had read Dee's prefaces before, The Devil and Euclid, o'er and o'er. His book contains many more learned quo- tations than pages, and the fluency of his ftyle, and his powers of amplification, are upon a level with his learning. He was moreover well read in many branches of ufeful fcience, and whoever will be hardy and patient enough to wade through the tedious labyrinths of his vineyard, and candid enough to make allow- ance for the quaintnefs of his ftyle, and the frequent unnatural ftrangenefs of his concep- tions, the mere confequence of the then pre- vailing education ; (hall find great ftore of im- portant and ufeful obfervations, by no means inapplicable even to the prefent enlightened period. But the name of Baret ought ever to be mentioned with honour and refpecl, were it only INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 10, only on the confideration that he was the firft of our countrymen who directed his efforts to expofe, and write down, the barbarous and dif- gufting foreign practice of breaking horfes, which then generally prevailed; and on fuch account furely his book muft have been ac- ceptable to that truly excellent, humane, and good-natured prince, to whom it was addrefled. He reprobates, in a becoming and forcible manner, the ufe of lacerating and torturing bits, trammels for pacing, {hoes of advantage, weights on the loins, and all fuch abfurd and illegitimate methods of training the horfe; recommending from right reafon, and his own experience, the adoption of mild bits, and none other than gentle and perfuafive methods, attempered with firmnefs, and occafionally neceflary feverity. This rational and manly practice he confirms with the philofophic ob- servation, that whatever conqueft is obtained by mere violence, is only exterior and tempo- rary. The reader will I truft excufe me, if (feduced by my natural inclination) I am rather diffufe upon the merits of a writer who is the advocate of humanity. Baret treats of breeding, and of horfeman- fhip in all its different branches, but not of veterinary medicine. He corrects Morgan in fome peculiar notions, and condemns his con- llant recourfe to phyfic, which, in his own c 2 opinion. 20 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. opinion, fliould be fparingly exhibited in the ftable. The mod valuable part of his work, is that which treats upon breaking, riding, and management. It is fomewhat remarkable, that the feat on horfeback, recommended by Barct in the reign of James I. is precifely the fame as that praclifed by our jockies and fporting men of the prefent day; as are alfo his rules for the management of brood mares, and the early training of racing cattle. He alfo de- fcribes and recommends (under the denomi- nation of a help) the wriggling motion of the bridle in a race, as we fee it praclifed at pre- fent, by jockies. The canter after water (fo much decried by fome writers) prevailed in his time, and had his approbation. It appears, by his book, that in thofe days it was a com- mon cuflom to match their hunters to run after the hounds. He particularizes the bell-courfe, or regular race; the race to and again; the race back and again, with the wild-goofe chace; which lad I apprehend to be the fame, as has been fmce called fteeole-huntin^. If we look farther into the opinions of this author, we (hall find him exhibiting finking proofs of the imbecility and inconfiftency of the human mind; for although he generally employs his pen (and that with fufficient warmth) in defence of fuch, as without rifk, may be fly led pure and demonflrable truths, and INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 21 and in condemning the mean flavery of autho- rity and prejudice, yet we eafily difcover, that he too, has his referves in favour of particular opinions, which are not all beholding to reafon for their fupport. He was fo enamoured with the manege, and the fyflem of regulating the progreflive motions of the Horfe by art (a practice in which he no doubt excelled) that he fuppofed all the defects of Horfes arofe merely for want of proper training; which, in his ideas, would not only prevent reflivenefs, {tumbling, going too wide before or behind, and the defeel ufually arifing from a cock- throppled neck, but even jadifhnefs and enter- fering. Slighting thofe divifions, or modes of progrefhons, which nature herfelf hath pre- ferred to the Horfe, and which, for that reafon (with the leave of Michael Baret, and all other riding-maflersj muft be the bed, he efteemed no faddle-horfe perfeel which had not been taught an artificial pace; without even ex- cepting running horfes, which he fuppofed by fuch means, might all be rendered flout and tough, whatfoever nature might have pre- vioufly decreed in their ftamina or conforma- tion. I wonder indeed he did not open an academy to teach human cattle to amble. This author affures us, with a gravity befit- ting the fubjecl;, that Horfes, as well as men, were originally created perfeel ; but that the c 3 former 22 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. former have degenerated in confequence of the curfe intailed upon mankind by original fin; which faid curfe, with all its lamentable refults, neceflarily extended to the brute crea- tion. What a faultlefs race of couriers might have fcoured along our plains, but for the theft of that fatal nonpareil; and what a ferious bufinefs it was in the olden time to rob an orchard. The authors, who next prefent themfelves in our veterinary catalogue, are De Grey and Snape ; of the former, whofe book I have not looked into thefe many years, all I recollect. is: that he was an advocate for breeding Horfes upon the plan of having the foals drop- ped in the winter feafon, to which fingular opinion, I believe, he made few converts; and that he, in a certain difeafe, the name of which I have forgot, prefcribes prepared toads as an infallible remedy. He direcls the old cruel method of baking the toads, which I particu- larly advert to, that I may have an opportunity of commending the humanity of the editor of a late edition of Ouincy's Difpenfary, who re- commends previoully to fmother the animals with fulphur. Snape was farrier to King Charles II. and the little he has left, proves him to have been a writer of a very different character from the laft- mentioned. He publifhed the Anatomy of the Horfe, availing himfelf of the labours of Ruini, and INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 23 and other Italian anatomifts, in aid of his own practical obfervations. This fyftem has fince been the conflant guide of all our veterinary writers; and is, doubtlefs, a very fufhcient one for any perfon who has been bred to the pro- feffion of furgery, and defires to obtain a know- ledge of hyppiatric anatomy. Snape intended, it feems, to have written a regular treatife on the difeafes of Horfes, but from whatever caufe of difappointment, he publifhed only fome fhort notes, on a few of them. This is to be regretted, if we may judge from his obfervations upon the glanders, and the foun- dered foot, which are in the higheft degree judicious; and prove him to have been far fuperior in rational knowledge to his cotempo- rary veterinarians. The late Edward Snape, farrier to George III. has frequently allured me, that he was lineally defcended from the famous farrier of that name. That loyal and illuftrious cavalier, the noble Duke of Neweaflle, the one half (but whether the better, or not, let the ponderous volumes of each decide) of " that (lately pair," in the fame reign, favoured the world with a folio upon the fubjecl of Horfes. There is but little in his Grace's work at all applicable to the pre- fent times, or indeed at all interefting ; unlefs it be his defcriptions of the Horfes of different countries, in which it may be prefumed the c 4 Duke 24 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. Duke (being a great amateur) had more expe- rience than could be attainable by any private perfon. From that period, to the reign of George I. we had no equeftrian, or veterinary writer, of any note, until Sir William Hope publifhed his Complete Horfeman. This work confifts of a tranflation of the French writer Solleyfell, to which is fubjoined an original treatife by Sir William, where fome practical remarks are to be found worthy of remembrance. It is not to be contemplated, without aftonifh- ment, that, previous to the lad-mentioned period, no man of the medical profeflion in England, had thought it worth his while to beflow a part of his attention upon the nature and difeales of Horfes, notwithstanding the immenfe and growing confequence of the animal to the higher ranks of fociety in parti- cular; and that the breed had, for near two centuries, been an object of greater concern in this, than in any other country. Indeed the breeding and management of Horfes had pro- ceeded in the regular and natural train of im- provement, and had kept equal pace with other arts ; but veterinary medicine had under- gone little or no change, hnce the days of Blundevill and Markham, either in theorv or practice. The wretched, ill-fated animal, after being maimed and crippled in the fervice of his INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 25 his unrelenting matter, was configned to addi- tional and ufeiefs torture under the hands of an ignorant and brutal farrier, who mangled his devoted limbs with fenfelefs and inapplicable operations, or drenched his body with naufeous and unmeaning flops; of the merits of which, the judgment of the doclor and his patient were nearly upon a level. The broth of fod- den whelps, dogs t--d and wine, chickens guts, human ordure frefh from the alembic, had not yet ceafed to be numbered among the choiceft veterinary fpecifics ! At length arofe William Gibfon, deftined to the honor of being the firft of his country- men (and I believe of any country in Europe, during the prefent century) who applied the fcience of medicine to the brute creation, and who promulged a regular fyftem of veterinary practice, founded on the permanent bafis of true medical principles. Gibfon was bred a furgeon, and lived in Duke-ftreet, Grofvenor-fquare, as lately as the year 1750, where he had praftifed veterinary medicine for many years. He had ferved (if I am rightly informed) as furgeon to Colonel Churchill's regiment of horfe, in Oueen Anne's wars, when, it is to be prefumed, he firft ob- tained a knowledge of the difeafes of horfes; and as his veterinary practice continued after- wards for upwards of forty years, and was at fome 26 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. periods very extenfive, his experience muff have been greater, and more to be depended upon, than that of any other man either before or fince his time. His works firft came abroad between the years 1720 and 1730, and con- fided of his Farrier's Guide, in one volume; his treatife on dieting Horfes, and his Farrier's Dif- penfary. This laff, I have never yet had an opportunity of feeing. An edition of his chief work, The Farrier's Guide, he publifhed in the year 1750, revifed by him for the laft time, and enlarged to two volumes. His books are written in a plain, unaffected, perfpicuous ftyle, and evince him to have been a man of deep reflection, of candour, and of a moil refpe£table {hare of medical knowledge. His mind being fo thoroughly replenifhed with his fubjecl, and affecting utility in preference to the graces of compolition, he is frequently too diffufe, fome- times tedioufly prolix ; but fuch of his readers as aim at folid information, rather than trifling amufement, will on that head find little to regret. He very freely acknowledged the little he owed to preceding writers, which chiefly confided in the names and catalogue of difeafes. No author abounds fo much in cautions againft the ignorant and temerarious practice of farriers and grooms, more particu- larly in the article of violent purges; and his works are totally free from the barbarous ab- furdities INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 27 furdities of his veterinary predeceflbrs, ex- cepting one folitary inftance, where his philo- fophy and good fenfe fuflkring a momentary fuipenfiou, i.e incautioufly recommends the flupid and cruel practice of attempting to dilate narrow heels, an inch or two, by the infer- tion of a fplint of iron in the frufh, which was to be previoufly cut open with a fleam, in order to the reception of the iron ; as though it were equally practicable to force nature from her deflined courfe, as, experience teaches us, it is, to aflift her in it by gentle and legitimate means. But it is indeed wonderful that they flopped where they did, and that Markham, or fome other conjuror of the enlightened days of yore, did not recommend an attempt to in- creafe the longitudinal dimenfions of a horfe's neck, by virtue of an operation of the mecha- nic powers. Of this abfurdity, however, as well as of feveral others of minor confequence, the judicious Gibfon has purged his writings in the laft edition. Indeed he enjoyed, in the interim, the advantage of confulting the in- valuable work of Dr. Bracken, of whole re- marks (made, it is true, w r ith here and there a fpice of the ufual petulance of that eccentric writer) he has numerically taken the advan- tage, but without acknowledging the obliga- tion, which he furely might have done without (hame, confidering the great learning and medical 28 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. medical ability, as well as equeftrian know- ledge, of his competitor. The chief merit of Gibfon, is, as a writer on veterinary medicine and furgery ; in thofe lights, his works are above all price, for they are the productions of a judicious and well- qualified profeHional man, who defcribed his own extenfive practice. As an equellrian or fportfman, he had no pretenfions ; but had neverthelefs formed, and apparently from his own obfervations, the juileft ideas of the nature and true conformation of Horfes, as well as of their defefts. In fine, this author mud ever be efleemed as the father of veterinary fcience, to whom all fucceedingr authors, as well as all true lovers of the Horfe, are under infinite obligation ; and when fome wealthy and ge- nerous fportfman (hall hereafter have erected a (lately and comfortable manfion, for the ac- commodation of the noblefi. and belt of all brute animals, let him alio rear a monument of his own good fenfe, tafle and gratitude, by adorning the edifice with a ilatute of William Gibfon. Between the firft publication o^ Gibfon's, and the appearance of Bracken's books, came out a Treatife on Farriery, dedicated to Sir Robert Walpole, by M. Allen; who appears to have been one of the better kind of farriers, and to have feen much practice ; but whofe book INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 20, book I mention, merely becaufe the perufal of it confirmed me in an old opinion, namely, of the incompetency of illiterate men, whatever may have been the extent of their practice, to judge in cafes of philofophy or phyfics. Science refides in the records of the practice and experience of many men, during many ages ; and can only be obtained by reading and fludy. The juftly celebrated Dr. Bracken, whofe name is familiar to the ear of every fportfman, (lands next in order of time. As a writer, he is perhaps as fmgular a character as ever ap- pealed to the judgment of the public. Highly refpeclable for his erudition, of a judgment molt profound on all fubjecls which he under- takes to difcufs, poffeffing a mod penetrating power of mind to detect. fophiRry and difcover truth (the characleriftic of fterling ability) he yet failed in decorum of character as an author, and in the art of delivering himfelf with propriety in compofition ; although ever perfpicuous, his fly le is generally mean, and his arrangement and manner loofe, defultory, and incoherent ; occafionally, his vulgarity, and even infipidity, exceed all bounds. Who would fuppofe, after this, that he could poflibly have had a relifh for the beauties of com- pofition? and yet that indubitably appears to have been the cafe, from the obvious warmth of 30 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. of his mind, when he quotes that fublime and inimitable defcription of the Horfe from the book of Job, and from the partiality which he fo frequently expreffes for fome of the mod polifhed writers. Bracken was a pupil of that great medical luminary, ProfelTor Boerhaave, and afterwards went through regular courfes of anatomy and midwifery at Paris. On return to his own country, he acled in the double capacity of phylician and practitioner in midwifery. His principle works were — Notes on Captain Bur- don's Pocket Farrier, publifhed in 1735. — The Midwife's Companion, 1737. — A Treatife on Farriery, 2 vol. 1731. — Lithiafis Anglicana, a pamphlet ; and a tranflation from the French of Maitre-jan, on the eye. This author lived at a period of time when the true principles of phyfic had already been difcovered, and the modus operande of medi- cines was well known ; and he feems to have obtained a very ample fhare of fuch knowledge, both from theory and experience. It is agreed, I underftand, that, fince that time, no new dif- coveries have been made in fundamentals at leaft ; unlefs we are to reckon as fuch the chymical principles of M. Lavoifier ; the me- dicinal ufe of factitious airs, being by no means as yet fully eflablifhed. He was very fevere upon pretenders of all kinds ; and his judgment INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 3I judgment refpecling the efficacy of certain pretended fpecifics, in particular Mrs. Stephens' folvent for the ftone, and the Ormfkirk remedy for canine madnefs, has been fully confirmed by fubfequent experience. The Doctor was himfelf a fportfman, well known upon the turf, and in the habit of train- ing feveral horfes annually. His two volumes of farriery comprehend the whole of the fubjecl: of the Horfe, excepting the military manege, which he prpfeffes not to underiland ; indeed upon the art of fhoeing he fays little, but that little ferves to convince us that he entertained the jufteft ideas upon the matter, and fuch as are, at this inftant, prevalent with our practi- tioners of bed repute. His books are gener- ally, in all matters of importance, as applicable to the occafions of the prefent time, as if writ- ten but yefterday ; and the errors in them fo few and infignifkant, that they are unworthy the trouble of enumeration. Confidering his great judgment in Horfes, as well as medical knowledge, I (hall not fcruple to place Dr. Bracken at the head of all veterinary writers, ancient or modern ; an opinion in which I am fupported by the judgment of the public, his Treatife on Farriery having palled through a greater number of real editions, than that of any writer on Horfes fmce ; notwithstanding the 32 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. the vulgarity of his ftyle, and the total want of attraction in his manner. A number of editions of the works of a new writer, haflily puffed off, form no fatisfaclory proof of his merit ; but the ultimate judgment of the pub- lic is ever infallible. To Gibfon and Bracken, fucceeded Bartlet and Ofmer, both regular bred furgeons. Bart- let may be looked upon as the commentator of Gibfort and Bracken, whofe redundancies he judicioufly pruned, and whofe fyftems he reduced to a compafs more convenient to the generality of readers. He alfo contributed confiderably to public information, from his own genuine flock of veterinary knowledge ; but in no refpecl was his book of greater fer- vice to the country, than by the communication of the celebrated M. la Foffe's -Theory of Shoeing, and management of the feet ; from which (although by no means perfect, or indeed often practicable) the hint was firft taken of improving our wretched and unna- tural fyftem of (hoeing, or rather of cramping and clogging the feet of our Horfes. Bartlet's Preface to the Gentleman's Farriery is particu- larly excellent, and to the purpofe : and I have no doubt, has acted as a ftimulus to many gentlemen of the faculty to undertake veteri- nary practice. I have fome obfcure recollec- tion INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 33 tion of " A Compendium of Farriery," written by Bartlet, but am uncertain as to the fact, and have at the inftant no means of enquiry. Ofmer bequeathed to his country a Treatife on the Lamenefs and Difeafes of Horfes, which, notwithstanding certain errors and excentrici- ties, and his attempt to fupport the vain and unphilofophic notion of the melafticity of the tendons (whilft he allows elafticity to the fibres of which thofe tendons are compofed) is gener- ally excellent, replete with practical utility, and the apparent refult of much experience. His obfervations on epidemics in cattle, commonly called diftemper, are well worth the attention of the veterinary furgeon; but his fyftem of horfe-moeing, and treatment of the feet, forms the mod valuable part of his work ; on that branch of the veterinary art he may indeed be efleemed our original writer, from whofe ideas our prefent improved practice has originated. This facetious and good-natured writer (fuch Ofmer feems to have been) alfo publifhed a whimfical pamphlet, under the title of, " A Differtation on Horfes," in which he affects to be diflatisfied at our diftinguifhing that par- ticular fpecies of the Horfe, deftined to the courfe, by the ufual denomination of blood ; contending, that we ought rather to (tile them fine, or foreign horfes. In this fpecies he had great (kill, accompanied by no fmall prejudice vol. 1. d in 34 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. in their favour. His pamphlet affords good information on the origin of the racing breed in this country ; and had fome of his remarks been attended to, many a thoufand, which has been groundlefsly lavifhed away in the ftuds, might have been fpared. He has written with confiderable (kill on the mechanic powers of motion in thofe living engines called Horfes ; and, on all the above-recited topics, if he has not abfolutely hit the exact, medium of truth, he has at leaft made a very near approach, and has faid enough at once to animate and afliil fucceeding enquirers. To this fhort, but meritorious lift of writers on Horfes, during the prefent century ; which, by general confent, are efteemed our Englifii veterinary dailies ; I think in juftice ought to be added the refpeclable names of Berenger, and Lord Pembroke. The work of the former is a Treatife on the Military Manege, ancient and modern ; a fubject on which I poflefs no information from experience. My Lord Pembroke's book ought to be confulted by every gentleman who keeps a horfe, and who wifhes to have that moil important part of him, the foot, in a ftate of prefer vation. Mr. Clarke fills the refpe£lable office of his Ivlajefly's farrier for Scotland. He has pub- lifhed two treatifes ; on fhoeing, and on the prevention of difeafes in horfes ; and has ac- quitted INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 35 quitted himfelf with that ability, which we had a right to expect, from a mafter of his profef- fion, and, at the fame time, a man of found underftanding, and good judgment. If my memory ferve me faithfully, he was the firft of our writers who taught — that unftuous and greafy applications, by clofing up the pores, and preventing the neceffary emiflion of the perfpirable fluid, really impeded, in place of promoting, the growth of ungular and horny fubftances ; and who recommended, in lieu thereof, that Horfes hoofs mould be flopped with clay, and wafhed with water. Without being intirely convinced of the truth of the propofition, refpecling unctuous applications (on which I fhall explain myfelf in proper place) I can very fafely recommend the water in all cafes, and in mofl the clay, from my own experience. Over and above the writers already adverted to, a number of gentlemen of the profeflion of furgery, fmce the days of Gibfon and Bracken, whofe names I cannot immediately recollect., have publifhed treatifes on farriery ; with very laudable intentions, no doubt, for the promotion of veterinary knowledge; but although their feveral works contain now and then a ufeful remark of their own, yet their obligations to the original writers are fo extenfive, as to ren- der farther obfervation unneceflary. That d 2 juflice $6 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. juftice, liowever, which we owe to departed merit, to the reputation of defunct, as well as of living authors, requires that the merits of Mr. Taplin's pretended original work fhould be fairly and candidly difcufTed ; the reader will find, bye and by, that I have indifpenfible bufinefs with the Gentleman's Stable-Direc- tory. Of the mere compilers, authors of Sportf- mens' and Farriers' Dictionaries, and Difpen- faries, retailers of infallible noftrums, hereditary receipts, and fo forth ; we have had many more than quant, fiiff. in the courfe of the prefent century. Thefe worthy labourers in the vin- yard may be chara&erifed as follows ; fome of them had, perhaps, a fuperficial knowledge of Horfes, but none at all, either of phyfic or forgery ; others, had a [mattering of medicine, without any knowledge of Horfes ; but the greater part of them, feem to have known nothing at all, of either the one or the other. The irrevocable fentence of public opinion has long fince palled upon thefe books ; their very titles have been long forgotten. There are yet one or two compilations, which I by no means intend to include in this general cenfure. Mr. Topham's Book, I have not yet had an opportunity to perufe. Mr. Mill's Treatife on Cattle, is in fome re- fpefts a ufeful compilation ; particularly as a book INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 37 book of reference to thofe authors of different countries, who have treated on veterinary fub- jecls. It alfo (ketches out a good general out- line of practice for the veterinary furgeon : But how much to be regretted it is, that this gentleman, who, although a man of learning, of good understanding, and good fenfe, was utterly devoid of practical knowledge of Horfes, or of anv of thofe animals on which he under- took to treat, had not fubmitted his manufcript to the correction of fome friend of experience in thofe matters. Such a difcreet proceeding might have faved the reputation of his book, by purging it of many errors, fome of which are of fo extraordinary a complexion, that it is fcarce poffible for a man who has any know- ledge of the matter to perufe them with a grave face. What pig-breeder but muit fmile at the directions of Mr. Mills, to cut pigs at fix months old ; and to put flores up to fat upon wheat, allowing them fcarce any thing to drink ? Whilft Mr. Mills is quoting our late writers on farriery, or Sharpe on the operations of furgery, he is always rational and inflruclive ; but why attempt to revive the exploded and irrational whimfies of Vegetius and the an- cient writers? Even the authority of the Maifon Riijlique will, at this time of day, and m this country, fail to induce the enlightened d a fportfman 38 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. fportfinan to give his horfe a dofe of fublimate, freih butter and red wine, on taking him up from grafs. Nearly all that is faid on the fub- jert of breeding in Mills's book, will be ridi- culed as obfolete and inapplicable, as well as irrational, by the Englifh breeders of the prefent time. After having introduced a treatife on live flock in general, it is impomble not to recollecl a late excellent work of that kind, written by Mr. George Culley, a Northumberland farmer, and which ought to be in the hands of every, farmer in Britain. It is the only original work of the kind in our language, and contains, in a fmall compafs, a molt valuable fund of information (chiefly from the author's own experience) concerning the different breeds of animals in ufe among us at the prefent time, with their comparative merits. Mr. Culley s chief attention feems to have been paid to - horned cattle and fheep ; but what he fays relative to Horfes is truly interefting. He is an advocate for the late Mr. Bakewell's Syftem of Breeding Cattle, in and in, that is to fay, from the neareit affinities ; provided they be of the beft breed which is to be procured, and of the trued fymmetry ; a fyftem in direct oppo- fition to the old one, of eroding breeds, which ftill maintains its ground in our fluds of Horfes. There is no doubt but this new me- thod INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 39 thod has produced the mod valuable, and the rnoft beautiful cattle, ever feen in England. This author alfo recommends the barrel (hape in cattle, with fmall bone, as the quicker! feeders, in preference to depth and large bone. Enquirers after truth, although they may not, any more than myfelf, be precifely of the fame opinion with this author, in all points; will yet find their ideas expanded, and the fphere of their information enlarged, by a perufal of his work; which, confidering the univerfal attention paid of late years to agri- cultural topics among us, I wonder much has not paffed through a greater number of edi- tions: as to its merits in refpecl of flyle, if plain, unaffected good fenfe, concifenefs and perfpicuitv, are yet to be numbered among the merits of a compofition, Mr. Culley's book has a great deal to boall. After having fpoken fo fully of the authors of our own country, it may be expected that I fhould not be entirely filent, in regard to thofe of our neighbours the French; a (hort difcuf- fion, with a recurrence to facls generally known and admitted, may perhaps enable me to determine on which fide refls the fuperiority in veterinary knowledge. The ardent, inqui- fitive, penetrating genius of the French, is ever puftiing them forward in fcientific purfuits. France has always abounded much beyond this d 4 country 40 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. country in public inftitutions. The French have long had the advantage of a public vete- rinary fchool, which has produced feveral very eminent writers. In the laft century we had no writer on farriery to put in competition with Soleyfell, unlefs we except Snape, who wrote but little. Whence then has it hap- pened, that notwithftanding all thefe advan- tages, with that of a milder climate fuperadded, the balance of improvement has all along gone with this country ? Let the French themfelves, and the world at large, judge of the fact, who have invariably given a preference to Englifh Horfes. Whence has it happened, that not- withflanding their numerous learned treatifes, and their veterinary hofpitals and fchools, their liable ceconomy fhould in general have been fo bad, even at the manfions of their princes, that thoufands of fine Englifh Horfes have ac- tually fallen a facrifice to it? I can folve this difficulty in no other way, than by attributing our fuperiority to that almofl univerfal paffion for Horfes, not only as objefts of utility, but of pleafure and fport, which has fo long prevailed in this country ; it has ferved to diffufe a practical knowledge of the proper treatment of thefe animals, through- out all ranks and degrees of the people. The French are more confined in the ufe of the Horfe than the Englifh ; and the {lately manege excepted, INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 41 excepted, are by no means fuch expert horfe- men. For the fame reafon, that is to fay, becaufe the Horfe has never been fo practically underftood in France as in England ; at leaft within the prefent century, their writers of this period have been, I conceive, inferior to ours in effentials. La Fofle, Bourgelat, and St. Bel, had a great deal of fcience, they defcribed, accurately and well, the theory of motion in Horfes, and their geometrical proportions ; they had abundance of veterinary practice at their infirmaries ; but which, I have been given to underftand, was not unfrequently governed by a rage for experiment, rather than Readily conduced upon the true principles of medical philofophy. I muft own they appear to me good writers, but too much theorifts. I may be a partial, or what I think more probable, an incapable judge ; but in my opinion there is more folid and ufeful knowledge to be drawn from the Englifh, than the French veterinary writers. In rural ceconomies, this country has alfo preferved a fimilar fuperiority; and yet France has enjoyed the advantage of numerous inftitutions, favourable to that fcience, and of an infinity of writers and fpeculators there- upon. In whatever they have failed, the defect may be fairly attributed to their late defpotic fyftem of government, which devoured the fineft country, and {lifted the energies of the 42 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. the mod emulous and enterprizing people upon earth. A country and a people, which, under the cheering aufpices of liberty, muft infallibly excel in all things. The Republic has already begun to cultivate the arts and fciences in the mod effectual manner, by the eftablimment of a new academy upon a grand and extenfive national plan. Veterinary fcience occupies a place in the htft clafs. The following citizens, namely, Thouin, Gilbert, Teffier, Cels, Parmentier, Huzard, are ap- pointed residentiary members. Huzard pub- limed, laft year, a ufeful little tract on the pre- vention of the glanders. Charles Vial de Saint Bel, died in the year 1793, in the profeflbrfhip at the London Vete- rinary College, to which he was introduced by the favour of two noble Earls; and which office he filled, much to his own reputation, and to the fatisfaction of his noble patrons, and all concerned in that truly ufeful and patriotic inftitution. Mr. St. Bel's works have been collected, and publifhed in an Englifh drefs, for the benefit of his widow. They contain much to intereft every proprietor of Horfes; but the chief novelty in the collection, is, the effay on the geometrical proportions of the famous racer Eclipfe. The reader may, if he pleafe, fmile, and quote the father of bur- lefque poefy — As INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 43 As whip'J tops, and bandied balls, Tbe learned bold, are animals ; So Horfes tbey affirm to be, Mere engines made by geometry. But he will ftill find that the animal ftruclure, its proportions and progreflive powers, are the proper fubjecls of geometrical and mathemati- cal calculation; and that St. Bel and the French writers, have treated on this branch of equeftrian fcience in a very comprehenfive, perfpicuous, and fatisfaclory manner. In this particular they excel, and I know of none of our Englifh writers who has attempted it, ex- cept Oliner ; he appears indeed to have under- ftood the mechanical principles of progeflion in Horfes ; but was obvioufly unprepared to elucidate them in a precife and fcientific way. I would wifh to recommend warmly this part of St. Bel's works, with the valuable plates annexed, to the attention of the fporting reader; he will find great help in thofe rational and well-grounded theories, towards forming juft ideas of the mofl perfect fhape, and mod ad- vantageous mode of progrefhon in thofe Horfes deflined to the courfe. I fhall have occafion to examine St. Bel's fyflem of fhoeing, in its proper place; as alfo mofl of thofe fubjecls which are handled in his writings. As to the numerous attempts hitherto made in the French fchools to cure the glanders, I mult own, I fee nothing 44 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. nothing to wonder at in their ill fuccefs. It appears evident to me (I fay this after good advice) that many of thofe hectic patients died of the doctor. I have now arrived at a very difagreeable part of my tafk, which were the omiflion at all confident with my propofed plan, with fair hifloric truth, or common juftice, I would gladly have avoided. It is to examine the pretended originality of a living author, who has endeavoured to build a name on the ruins of poflhumous reputation; who has attacked the Hefencelefs dead, and with an arrogant rudenefs torn the laurel from the brows of uni- verfally acknowledged merit. The reader to whom thefe fludies are familiar, will imme- diately recognife in my defcription, the author of The Gentleman's Stable Directory. Before I proceed, I may with the utmoft truth difclaim all motives of perfonal intereft or refentment. I have not the honor of an acquaintance with Mr. Taplin, either directly, or through the medium of any connection whatever. Yirgilium tantum vidi. The fum of my information refpecting him perfonally, is, that he is a good practical veterinary fur- geon, and that he has erecled, at a confiderable expence, and upon a large fcale, a fuite of flables, with all convenient and neceflary offices, by him denominated, " The Equeflrian Recep- tacle." INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 45 tacle." It is againft his books folely, that I have any objections to urge; and in fupporting thefe, I fhall endeavour to treat the author himfelf with as much refpect and confidera- tion, as the nature of the cafe, and a candid inveftigation of the truth, will poflibly admit. Some eight or ten years paft, the fporting world, including thofe who had pretenfions to veterinary fcience, were a good deal fuprized by the advertifement of a book, under the title of The Gentleman's Stable Directory; which profeffed to teach " an entire improved mode of practice," and to exhibit " occafional remarks upon the dangerous, and almoft obfo- lete practice of Gibfon, Bracken, Bartlet, Ofmer, and others." As thofe authors were then, as well as now, in the higheft. repute, and as it was generally underflood that they owed their great reputation to their fteady adherence to the principles of truth and common fenfe, and to their intimate knowledge of that philo- fophical and rational medical practice, which had fully obtained in their time; a new author, whofe magnificent prornifes extended beyond all this, was taken up with avidity ; but to be laid down again, by thofe who were qualified to judge, with derifion, mingled with aftonifh- ment. To imitate for once the laudable exam- ple of Mr. Taplin, who fpeaks of other men, be it bad or good, with the moil unreflrained freedom 46 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. freedom — it appeared that the fo highly vaunt* ed Stable Directory, inflead of being a varia- tion from, or an improvement of the pre- tended obfolete and dangerous practice of Gibfon, Bracken, Bartlet, and Ofmer, was merely a compilation from it; the matter varied indeed with confiderable art in fome places, in others copied in the mod barefaced manner; and the whole fyftem of plagiarifm attempted to be concealed under the cloak fometimes of downright ribaldry, at others of pretended experience, or affected invective. So far was this work from exhibiting any thing new to public attention, a regard for truth obliges me to declare, that after a number of diligent perufals, I have fcarce difcovered a fingle idea, on the fubjefts of either medicine or management, which is not to be found in the original authors above- cited. I mull be underftood here to mean, rational and valuable ideas ; becaufe there are fome others of a diffe- rent character in the Stable Directory (it is true they are thinly fown) which are moll certainly not to be found in Gibfon or Bracken. As to the flyle of Mr. Taplin's books, none will quellion its originality, few perhaps will envy it. For examples of one fpecies of the fublime, of pompous phrafeology, not always encumbered with meaning, and (lately circum- locution, they may undoubtedly vie with any compofitions INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 47 compofitions in our language. It had how- ever been better, had this author confulted Lowth's Grammar, as well as the veterinary writers, previous to adventuring abroad; fmce he has invited his reader "to fink a tedious hour in the ferious tafk of criticifm!" I have heard the new lines of plagiarifm (truck out by this ingenious veterinarian, fpoken of with admiration, as a wonderful and fuccefsful ftroke of refined policy. Amongft the generality of copiefts who with to borrow a reputation, mum is the order of the day, as to the names of their god-fathers, the original writers. Mr. Taplin, on the contrary, with a confidence that would do honor to a courtier, or even to a patriot, boldly brings forward the names of thofe writers from whom he has compiled his book ; and after loading their memory with obloquy, accufing them of fheer ignorance, and attempting to expofe their characters with what he imagines to be ridi- cule; very coolly and deliberately, tranfcribes their opinions and their practice ; and compla- cently viewing himfelf arrayed in his borrowed plumage, with a moft becoming modefty, con- gratulates the world, upon the immenfe bene- fits it is about to derive from his entirely new and original fyftem. He rightly judged, from the natural indolence and ignorance of the far greater number of readers, that they would much 48 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. much rather take his word, than be at the pains of poring over mufty authors; that literary men feldom bellowed their attention upon fuch fubjecrs ; and even if detected by the difcerning few, he trufled to the novelty of his phrafes, to the charms of his diclion, and the thunders of his eloquence, for the murages of the unthinking many. Provided he could incite folly to clap her hands, and draw her purfe-ft rings, he cared not a fig how much, or how long, poor wifdom flared. Another fource of fecurity, he was fenfible he had drawn his draughts from the fountain head; and provided a fhopkeeper fells a good mar- ketable commodity, the buyer is little folicitous to enquire how, or from whence, he obtained it. I have been detailing the opinions of my veterinary and fporting friends; for my own part, I, who am naturally credulous, and apt to believe the profeflions of all men, am more inclined to fuppofe Mr. Taplin really in earned, and that he was deceived by an over-weaning opinion of himfelf, rather than actuated by unfair intentions. We read, that the difciples of a certain philofopher, having eaten cummin feeds, until they were as pale: really fancied themfelves as wife as their matter; fo Taplin, having pored over the leffons of his mailers, Gibfon and Bracken, until they were thorough- ly grounded in a convenient memory, at length actually INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 49 actually fuppofed them to have been the ori- ginal offspring of his own brain. Whenever he puts it in my power, I fhall be happy to pay him a better compliment. But to our proofs — without which words are vain, and may be defamatory and unjuft. To prove all that I have aliened, it will be by no means neceffary to go through the Stable Directory flep by ftep; fuch would be a dry and tedious bufinefs: a few leading quo- tations, from the moft prominent paffages, will effectually eftablilh my pofition; any curious reader who may require (till farther fatisfac- tion, need but compare the Stable Directory with the original writers referred to, and he cannot fail of obtaining it, to the utmoft. By way of a general compendious analyfis of " The Gentleman's Stable Directory," vol. the firft, take the following. This original author has made no addition of the fmallefl confe- quence, to the lilt of medicines, or change in the mode of adminiffration prefcribed by thofe writers fo often cited, but invariably prefcribes the fame, either literally, or in effect; ufually indeed ringing the changes with fynonimous medicines, but thefe (till fele£ted from one or other of the authors; and making occafional inconfequential alterations in quantities. The whole fyftem of management he recommends, is to be found (as hath been already obferved) vol, 1. e in jO INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. in thofe authors. He adopts their very ideas, upon almoit all occafions; nay even the great- er part of his witticifms are derived from the fame fource, without even excepting the fugar fops, which he has chewed after Gibfon. Horfemanflrip he leaves to Hughes and An- gelo : the fhape and make of Horfes to fportf- men; and the art of fhoeing to the operative farrier. Refpecling the original information con- tained in Mr. Taplin's fecond volume, he is perfectly welcome to all the reputation he may be able to obtain from that fource: fuch knowledge is undoubtedly his own, fmce he choofes to claim it ; and has long been the common property of every body elfe. On hunting (his forte) he has made a. number of ufeful remarks, but fo trite, that they are at the finger's ends of every gentleman's groom, who has attended his matter in the field a couple of feafons — on breeding Horfes, he has not given us a tittle of information, good or bad, which might not have been purchafcd cheaper of anv farmer's carter; and on racing and the turf, he has faid enough to excite the mirth of every fportfman, and to convince him that, there, Mr. Taplin was really not at home. Mr. Taplin's general method is, to make huge complaints of " empyrical practice, dan- gerous experiment" and the lamentable igno- rance INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. gl ranee of farriers and grooms, and die grofs defects of the old fyftem; at the fame time obliquely hinting, or even roundly aflerting, that fuch dangerous errors, and unfkilful prac- tice, are derived from the works of thofe writers, with whofe names he has adorned his title-page: but the enquirer after the true ilate of the cafe, may find the felf fame complaints of the dangerous errors of ancient praclice, delivered as much at large, and in language much more rational and to the purpofe, in the works of Gibfon, Bracken, and Bartlet, particu- larly in the preface to Gibfon's firit publication, and in that of Bartlet ; the attentive perufal of which I would warmly recommend to all perfons defirous of the acquifition of veteri- nary knowledge: and where they will find the very efience of the Stable Directory. He thus attempts to turn the proper arms of thofe writers againft themfelves. I have Mr. Taplin's eighth edition before me, and (hall pafs over thefe models of the brilliant, the eloquent, and the intelligible, his dedication, and his addrefs to the reader, in order to make a quotation from page xiii of his preface ; where he courageoufly and modeftly proceeds as follows : " Well aware of the arduous talk of attempting to eradicate vulgar and habitual prejudices, in favour of ancient practice, or the improbability of reconciling attachments e 2 of 52 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. of long (landing to the rational fyftem of mo- dern composition ; and the little chance of exploding intirely the heterogeneous and in- confiftent farrago fo long in ufe, univerfal fatisfaction is not to be expected ; or approba- tion obtained. But when a clear, open, and candid comparifon is drawn by the more en- lightened, between the accumulation of contra- rieties, in the laboured prefcriptions of Gibfon and Bracken, with the indigcjled obfervations of the more intelligent, though lefs prolix and digreftive Bartlet ; the leaft doubt is not enter- tained, but every degree of favour will be (hewn to a fyftem of practice founded on reafon, fupported by experience, and juftified by a general knowledge of medicines, their principles, properties, preparations and effects." Again (and to this quotation I mud defire the reader's particular attention) in the chapter of obfervations, page 5, he farther proceeds, " To produce a cafe exactly fimilar in the world of farriery, let us take a furvey of the medical abilities of Gibfon, who certainly w T rote much better on the fubjecl than Brack- en ; where we (hall find ordered, in n fingle prefcription for a purging ball, two ounces of aloes, with the addition of the other ufual purging articles ; though modern practice and experience fixes the cftablifhed proportion at exactly half, or at moft five eighths, to the flroncreft INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. $$ ftronsjeft horfes, with the cathartic aids before mentioned. He alfo molt courageoufly re- commends half an ounce of calomel, or fub- limed mercury in a fingle ball ; and fpeaks of the internal adminiftration of the moft power- ful poifons, corrofive fublimate or red preci- pitate, as a matter of courfe : the proportion for a dofe being curioufly afcertained by the fublime menfuration of a filver two pence; as if a premium had been abfolutely provided by an act. of Parliament, for the general extirpa- tion of the breed of Horfes," &c. &c. My purpofe in making the above quotation is, to exhibit a flagrant in fiance, wherein Mr. Taplin has moft grofsly deceived himfelf, or attempted to deceive his readers. To avoid all temptation to harfhnefs of language, I fhall fimply ftate the matter of fact. \ leaving the decifion and confequent obfervations to the juitice and candor, or refentment of the dif- cernin? reader. In the firft place, it has been already ob- ferved, that after the publication of Dr. Brack- en's books, Gibfon had the difcretion to correct thofe errors in his latter editions, which Brack- en had pointed out in his firft. Thefe will be found by a collation of his firft edition of farriery, in one vol. and his edition of 1750, in two vols, with Bracken's Farriery. 1 he chief of thefe corrections are as follows — a e 3 ftrong 54 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. flrong purge in lofs of appetite — ditto in moon eyes — ditto farcy — quantity of rhubarb in lax or fcouring — aftringent injection for prevention of glanders — ufe of dock-root in broken wind — error relative to a property of air — cruel method of extending narrow heels. But the medical reputation of Gibfon had been per- fectly fafe, granting that he had admitted the form of purge, of which Mr. Taplin complains, into his corrected edition. It mull not be forgot that Gibfon recom- mends the purge in qutftion exprefsly for the ilrongeft and mod robufl: Horfes ; and fuch he had no doubt been in the habit of attending, if we confider of what kind, troop-horfes were in thofedays. Mr. Taplin's experience, I fup- pofe, had not extended to draft cattle, or he would have known, that there are thoufands of that defcnption, upon which, even two ounces of aloes, with the addition of the other ufual purging articles, would have no immoderate or dangerous effect.. Half an ounce of calomel is often given at this day in a fingle dofe, both here and in the French fchools, as appears in St. Bel's works. But let us call up Father Gibfon himfelf, to defend his own reputation, in the article of ftrong purges, and violent re- medies of all kinds. " Mod farriers, for cheap- nefs, make ufe of allum, black foap, burnt vitriol, and fuch things ; fome exhibit corro- sive INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. $$ SIVE SUBLIMATE OR RED PRECIPITATE, AS MUCH AS WILL LAY UPON A SILVER PENNY; but as thefe laft medicines, viz. the fublimate and precipitate, cannot be ufed internally with- out great danger, efpecially to brute creatures who can never be brought to take fuch things as are proper to carry off their ill effects, they OUGHT THEREFORE NOT TO BE GIVEN IN any case." Gibfon's Farrier's New Guide, 5th edition, 1727, page 146. — " I need not ac- quaint any one, who knows what belongs to horfe-keeping, how much mifchief has been done by purging Horfes, either when the ingre- dients have been bad, or when the purges have been made too ftrong, or when they have been ill-timed." Gibfon's New Treatife on the Dif- eafes of Horfes, 2d edition, 1754, page 221, vol. 1. — " Thofe purges are the molt efficaci- ous, and the molt fafe, that work off with the lcaft ficknefs. The iirfl purge fhould al- ways be mild,unlefs where a Horfe's conflitution is well known to be hardy and ftrong; for fome Horfes are indeed fo ftubborn in their conftitu- tions, that fcarce any thing will move them. Neverthelefs miftakes of this kind may bring on a fuperpurgation, which is always danger- ous," &c. page 226 — " If a Horfe be of a robuft conflitution, and a good feeder, he may be purged with the common aloes, though I have generally myfelf ufed the fuccoirine, and always e 4 advifed $6 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. advifed it to others." page 231. — " That which ufually goes by the name of Barbadoes aloes is of a dark colour, and very rank fmell, and fo rough in its operation, that many Horfcs have been killed by it." page 232. — " One of theie purges (mild ones) may be given every week, and continued for a month or fix weeks ; which method will bring down the fwelling of his legs more effectually than by giving (Irong purges, which often, by their vio'ence and harlh operation, break down the conflitutions of the ftrongeit Horfes, and render them liable to many infirmities and diforders. I have al- ways found, by experience, mild purges the mod efficacious, in molt of the maladies where purging is neceffary ; and I have often met with great fuccefs in administering thofe that are no more than alteratives, where the purgative ingre- dient has feldom exceeded half an ounce, or fix drachms of the fineft aloes; which only opens their bellies, and makes their dung foft and loofe, but by entering more into the blood, are more permanent in their effects," &c. page 191, vol. 2. — " In regard of laxative and purg- ing glyfters, &c. — I would advile the practi- tioner never to be over liberal of his purging ingredients, even in thofe cafes where purging is intended, efpecially with folutions of coarfe aloes, w T hich I have obferved to work and gripe Horfes to a very great degree, even fo as to excite INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 57 excite feverifh, and fometimes convulfive fymp- toms ; and by that means have added ftrength to the diftemper, which they were intended to abate ; and I have often remarked the quan- tity of the purgatives given in Horfes glyfters fliould not be fo large in proportion as thofe given to men, becaufe of the horizontal pofi- tion," &c. page 248, vol. 1, vide alfo page 29, vol. 2. The ftrongefl purge I have been able to find in Gibfon's two volumes, which now lav before me, is as follows, page 258, vol. 1. Take fined fuccotrine aloes, an ounce and a quarter, frefh jalap two drachms, fait of tartar three drachms, native cinnabar half an ounce. With which let the reader, who is in the fmallefl degree converfant in forms of purges, intended for Horfes, compare the following out of Mr. Taplin's Stable Directory, page 141, vol. 1. Take fuccotrine aloes ten drachms. ' calomel and jalap in powder, each two drachms and a half, rhubarb and ginger, of each a drachm and a half, fyrup of buckthorn or rofes. Again, 58 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. Again, page 263. Take of Barbadoes aloes ten drachms. ./Ethiop's mineral fix drachms, cream of tartar and India rhubarb, of each two drachms, ginger in powder, fyrup of buck- thorn, &c. &c. jalap two drachms. In Gibfon's prefcription the purging ingredi- ents (to exclude the cinnabar) amount to an ounce and half, or ten drachms. In Taplin's firft, the cathartic articles, one of which is mercury, make fixteen drachms and half. In Taplin's fecond, the faid articles amount to fourteen drachms, exclufive of the acthiops ; and the aloes is of the coarfe, or violent fort. To return to the cautious and rational ad- monitions of Gibfon (of which alone enough might be extracted from his works to fill a good Stable Directory,) a few more of them {hall fuffice. Speaking of the farcy, he fays, page 222, vol. 2. " Many of our common farriers ufe arfenic or corrofive fublimate,. after opening the buds, putting a fmall quan- tity into each, &c. &c. — but many Horfes have been poifoned by thofe things, efpecially with the arfenic and fublimate, when they have fallen into the hands of ignorant perfons. Now as to internals, thev ought to be both efficacious and fafe, yet when once the farcy is advanced to this degree, nothing is more common INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. ^Q, common than to exhibit the mofl harfh and rugged things that can be devifed, agreeable to the common maxim, that a defperate difeafe muft have a defperate remedy : and with this view fome give inwardly from four to eight ounces of lapis caliminaris, and fome have further added two ounces of tutty, in fine pow- der," &c. &c. page 223. — " Others go yet fur- ther, as with an intention to kill or cure, by adminiflering drinks made with green vitriol, or copperas, rock allum, Roman vitriol, and oil of vitriol boiled in chamber-lye; with hemp -feed, hen's dung, hemlock, and common fait. This medley has often been tried in many defperate cafes, though I cannot fay I ever heard its fuccefs much boafted of," &c. page 224. I have already engaged to ftate fimply the matter of facl, in the above quotations; indeed any comments of mine would be totallv unne- cefTary, they muft infallibly have been antici- pated by the leaft difcerning reader. As we are on the fubject. of purges, this may be as proper a place as any, to introduce a few curfory obfervations on thole prefcribed by Mr. Taplin. I have before obferved, that in Mr. Taplin's compilation, the prefcriptions are generally felecled from the original writers. The reader will find this to be the cafe in a mod remarkable manner with refpecl to the forms of purges; on which Mr. Taplin has rung 60 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. rung the changes, to no fort of improvement, either in refpect of delicacy, elegance, or effect. One variation he has introduced, which is laughable enough; he has ordered a folitary drachm of cremor tar. in purge, No. l. which quantity to be fure muft have a powerful effeft in the body of a hoi fe. That innocent flourifh merited nothing farther than a fmile; but it is very reprehenfible in him, who is the perpetual advocate of gentle remedies, and who effecls to defpife the idea of expcncc in drugs; in open defiance of the many cautions of his preceptors, to encourage not only the ufe of Barbadoes aloes, but even of diagridium in horfe-phyfic. All our bed writers notice the mifchiefs occa- fionally done by the ufe of plantation aloes in ignorant hands, and myfelf have feen feveral Horfes fall a facrifice to it. I once incautioufly, and contrary to my ufual cuftom, entruffed an ignorant fmith or farrier to purge a hackney mare; and as thole doctors always make ufe of cheap or common aloes, the bufmefs was per- formed fo. effectually, that the mare purged in torrents, three or four days; at the end of which period, I found her an excellent living anatomical fubject. To my complaints, the doclor anfwered, by poking in the dung, and exultingly fhewing me the immenfe load of greafe and humours, from the danger of which, he had relieved my fortunate hackney. I found filcnce became me, feeing the fault was my INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 6l my own; but I then made a vow, which I have religioufly kept for eighteen years, and find myfelf (till lefs difpofed than ever, to break. When in due time I effayed to mount this mare, (he bent under me like a twig, although I could then have ridden confiderably lefs than nine ftone. I was under the neceflity of giving her fix months run abroad, but am not certain that herconPdtution ever recovered the (hock. Bracken has entered a very proper caveat againft the ule of diagridium, in particular, in his 2d vol. p. 143, where he relates the death of the beft racer he ever poffeffed, from a purge in which that drug was one of the in- gredients. I knew an inftance perfectly iimilar myfelf. A poor fellow with a very large family, who was unfortunately a good judge of race horfes, after many unfuccefsful trials, at length either bred or purchafed a well- fhaped colt, of good fize, that manifefted indu- bitable proofs of running. The colt's flefh did not come off fo well in training as the fimple owner fuppofed neceflary; and as the ufual quantum of aloetic phyfic had been adminif- tered, it was fagely determined that an addi- tional dofe was indicated, with the aid of fome article of greater power and efficacy. A proper dofe was given in the morning, and about twelve at night the poor man was called up 02 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. up to attend the agonized victim of his igno- rance and folly; which he did with too late and unavailing tendernefs, and an aching heart; for in a few hours, all attendance was unneceflary ; the nag was dead. I quellioned the man, and have reafon to believe he killed his horfe with a dofe of common aloes, af- filed by a drachm or two of diagridium, or gamboge. It appears, evident to me, that all draflic or dangerous cathartic articles, ought to be omit- ted in thofe formula? which are intended indif- criminately for the ufe of all perfons, who without any knowledge of medicine, are in the habit of purging Horfes ; were it only on the following confiderations : many fuch are not very accurate in regard to weight ; and, befides, probably think, that if fo very fmall a quantity of a drug can work beneficial effects, an addi- tion to it mud be attended with proportional benefit. Grooms in general are diffatisfied after they have adminiftered a purge, unlefs it rattles away in a hurricane ; and on a mortify- ing difappointment of that kind, always make up their minds not to be foiled a fecond time. I have now and then chanced to enquire of one of thefe fages, what became of fuch and fuch a Horfe, which I had known to have been in training; more than once I have been anfwered with the mod perfect, non chaldnce, " Oh, INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 63 " Oh, he died in phyfic;" if I wondered, it was becaufe I heard fucli news fo feldom. To return to the purging receipts in Mr, Taplin's book, many of them are liable to considerable objection; fome are very injudi- cious and incongruous compofitions. Thofe intended againft worms, are very needlefsly compofed of Barbadoes aloes, and other rough and dangerous articles, too probable to annoy the Horfe as well as the vermin, He has ordered an addition of two drachms and a half of calomel to purge, No. 3. which already contained common aloes and diagridium ; and yet he had in his obfervations (page 5.) made a violent outcry becaufe Gibfon prefcribed half an ounce of calomel in a fingle ball. zEthiop's mineral and fulphur, alfo jalap and India rhubarb, we find frequently jumbled together, I fuppofe for the fake of variety and (hew. Such mode of prefcription is no doubt original ; at any rate it was neither purloined from Gibfon, Bracken, or Bartlet. The India rhubarb appears to me to contain (I caution the reader that I am fpeaking without autho- rity) a good deal of refin, fimilar in quality and effects to that of jalap. I have frequently witneffed a confiderable degree of naufea and diforder, both in human and brute patients, from taking this inferior kind of rhubarb; and cannot help apprehending that thofe gentle- men. 64 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. men, who purchafe curious rhubarb phyfic for race-horfes, are very likely to be difappoirited in their views, unlefs they are certain that the bell Turky rhubarb is made ufe of; for which the India fort is, according to my obfervation, a very poor and improper fuccedaneum. In cafes where rhubarb feems to be indicated, I have reafon to think that the finefl fuccotrine aloes, is much to be preferred to India rhubarb. If in a purge, an additional ftimulus is re- quired in aid of the aloes, nothing is more fafe and efficacious, than a fmall quantity of jalap. t From purges, I (hall (kip over much multi- farious (to borrow a very elegant and correct. Taplinian phrafe) as well as laughable and inconfntent matter, and make a halt at the commencement of the claffification; for chap- ters, it feems, are too old and unfalhionable a term for that entire new work, " The Stable Directory," which is for ever to fupport itfelf upon the " bajis of its own origin!' In the firft clafs then, fplents are handled : on this head our author firfl of all, according to laudable cultom, either affetls to ridicule, or cenfures at large, the opinions and praclice of thofe who preceded him; then adopting both in part, concludes by recommending a very imperfect and imfafe copy of an effe6tual mode of extir- pation to be found in Gibfon. He forgot to tell INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 6$ tell us alfo, where he learned to ridicule the . idea of removing corns and warts, by a courfe of purgatives and diuretics. Bracken alfo laughed at it. I own that I here entirely aoree with Mr. Taplin, in his " verification of an obfervation," — that it is a paltry practice in authors, to fwell their writings at the expence of a reader's underftanding, ' as well as his purfe. A very few lines would have con- tained all he apparently knew, or could have laid with propriety, on the fubjecl of fplents and fpavins. On the head of wind-galls, Mr. Taplin is evidently reafoning (perhaps plaufi- bly enough) on the experience of others; to be fatisfied of this, let the reader refer to Gib- fon and Bartlet. I had palled the two chapters on lamenefs and (trains, unnoticed, on which the ideas in general are rational, and judiciouily enough felefted from the belt authorities, but for the defire of remarking a very fingular pofjtion of the author. On the opinion of Ofmer, that ten- dons are inelaftic bodies, Mr. Taplin fagely obferves, " How this writer or his readers could reconcile fuch palpable abfurdity and contradiction, I am at a lofs to conceive; or how a tendon can be elongated, that has no elafticity, I am yet to learn." However fond of hard words, and wonderfully correcl in vol. i. f their 66 INTP ODUCTORY CHAPTER. their application, Mr. Taplin may in general be, he has, I fear, (rumbled as to the fignification of elafticity. If he recollect., he will find there are a number of things, befides a roll of pilgrim's falve, and a wetted catgut, which are inelaftic, and Rill capable of elongation. On the author's wonderful, modefl, and entertaining lucubrations, under the head, farcy, it is impoflible to be filent. The re- marker here, who is able to preferve mild and temperate language, may furely pretend to a decent portion of philofophy. For my part, I (hall, as before, confine myfelf, as much as poffible, within the compafs of mere fa£l; making few comments, but fhifting the load to the fhoulders of the gentle reader, leave him to fmile with pity and contempt, or frown with indignation, as may happen to fuit his idioc- racy of mind. Our great original writer quotes Bartlet as follows : s: the true farcy is properly a dillem- per of the blood-vefiels, which generally follows the track of the veins;" and then canters on at the following extraordinary rate — " What in- finite fatisfaction mufl it afford every reader, to be informed from the fountain-head of in- ff.ruc~t.ion, that the blood-veffels generally follow the track of the veins ! Anxious for informa- tion, and open to conviction, I receive the intelligence o INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 67 intelligence with gratitude; and although my retentive faculties are deceptive and imper- fect, I (hall exert their utmoft influence to preferve, in high efteem, fo excellent a monitor ; making no doubt but it will prove highly fatisfa&ory to the curious, to be inform- ed they need not look for a diftemper of the blood-veffels in the track of the inteftines." Is it poffible that Mr. Taplin, who has made books, and blurred fuch a confiderable quan- tity of paper, could be fo ignorant of the moil fimple and obvious rules of grammatical con- cord, as not to know, that vejfels in the plural, could not govern the verb follows, which is in the fingular number? Of courfe, that Bartlet both intended, and correctly expreifed, that the farcy, not the blood-vcffcls, generally followed the track of the veins. Taplin proceeds — " Previous to the prefent improved and rational fyftem of cure, it may be applicable to introduce one of the promifed obfervations, upon the dangerous and almoft obfolete practice of others, or rather the mofl cruel experiments, and infernal perfecutions that were ever invented, or could be fuppofed to enter into the mind of man, for the preven- tion, or cure, of difeafe. In the lafl article treated on, we produced a tolerable fyftem of cruelty; but in the farcy (as a more perplexing f 2 difeafe, 68 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. difeafe, and greater excitement to judgment or madnefs) we have fire upon fire, or effectual cauterization treble refined. As they advanced in danger, they increafed in courage, and ad- hering invariably to the general intention of " kill or cure, Sec. &c. — Began with oil of vitriol, and oil of turpentine, &c. &c. on opening the buds put in a fmall quantity of corrofive mercury, arfenic,*' &c. ' But' fays the writer (here he means Gibfon) ' let it be remembered, that many a Horfe has been poifoned by thefe medicines ignorantly ufed, and in too large, quantities.' — " This very acknowledgement (continues Taplin) for which I confefs I am under infinite obligations, will ferve to corro- borate my former affertion, that fome fyftem has long been neceffary to refcue this mofl ufeful and fuffering animal." — From stabula- RIAN IGNORANCE AND EMPIRICAL CONFI- DENCE! After all this, what man relying upon the integrity, and common fenfe, or fanity of in- tellect., in Taplin, but would naturally fuppofe that Gibfon (the author juit quoted) had re- commended the above irrational, cruel, and vulgar practice? Neverthelefs, on a bare refe- rence to Gibfon, he will be aftonifhed (if he be a flranger to the tactics of the Stabje Directory) to find, that from the faid author, Taplin INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 69 Taplin learned both his complaints againft the old and vulgar practice he fo vehemently decries ; and alfo, in great meafure, his method of curing the farcy. I mufl beg leave to refer the reader to my 23d page, in which the quotations materially intereft the prefent bufinefs-, another reference to Gibfon will place the whole in the cleared light. " Thofe who ufe nothing but a decoc- tion or juices of herbs, fuch as wormwood, rue, alder, ragwort, horehound, and many other fuch like fimples, with a mixture of wood- foot, brandy, or aqua vitae, have a much better chance to cure the farcy, if they begin in time, and take care to make proper applications outwardly, as there is nothing in fuch ingre- dients but what is friendly to the animal con- flitution ; and the foot is certainly of great ufe in many cafes, &c. &c. — But in an inveterate kind, or when the farcy has grown fo, by its continuance, or by ill management, nothing can come in competition with mercurial and antimonial preparations, as I have often found from experience." — Gibfon, vol. ii. p. 225. Mr. Taplin now commences his " new, im- proved, and rational fyftem of cure," with fome of the cautions of Dr. Bracken, and the aloetic purge and antimonial alterative (very little altered) by him recommended; proceed- ing to patch up different forms of prefcription f 3 from 70 INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. from Gibfon and Bartlet, which any other man, with a very fmall fhare of pharmaceutical fkill, might have performed juft as fortunately as himfelf. Much dependance, however, muft not be placed in the Stable Directory, for information relative to the nature, or cure of the farcy ; more particularly if confirmed and inveterate. But it is on the poll-evil, that ProfefTor Taplin outdoes all his former outdoings. An extract or two from thence cannot fail to amufe the reader. " We are told" (he fays) the poll- evil is, &c. &c. — You are then inltrucled to fcald, with a compound of oil of turpentine, corrofive mercury, verdigreafe, Roman vitriol, green copperas, and train oil : thefe are to be poured fcalding hot into the wound," Sec. " What are we to think of the profeffional knowledge, or abilities of an author (of Bart- let, to wit, whom he had before ftiled an author of merit and repute) who could fanclion with his name, the recommendation of a prac- tice fo infamous and deteftable, that no one rational or confident idea, can be produced or pleaded, to prove its propriety?" — " Sorry I am to acknowledge this genuine and unadul- terated fpecimen of the immaculate perfection of the practical treatise, has been repeatedly put in practice by fools or knaves, whom ignorance has milled, or confidence betrayed ; INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. Jl betrayed; to the evident deftruclion of num- bers that have died in the moft excruciating agonies, finking unJer the load of accumu- lated miferv and perfecution, devoted victims to a fyftem replete with the moft unparalleled cruelty that the heart could diclate, or the hand direct." — " And in pity to a fpecies, &c. let us hope that this damnable doctrine may be univerfally exploded, and buried in eternal oblivion." I know not how the generality of my readers may feel, or how they may relifh and digeft thefe choice morciaux ; but fuch as have fome knowledge of the fubjecl, or whofe minds may chance to be in unifon with mine, will believe me, when I aflure them, that the firft tafte of this cream of the Stable Directory, inftantly conjured up into the glafs of my imagination* a certain old pi&urefque ftanza, which moft of us (Taving your prefence moft reverend critics) have, I dare fay, repeated at fchool, beginning, There was a man ■, 2 ON THE RIGHTS OF BEASTS. affection for man, in the Arabian courfer. Amongft our northern neighbours, of Tarta- rian defcent,the brute creation has found learned and powei ful advocates ; of the mod eminent of whom, was John Erifchen, an Icelandic gen- tleman, who, about forty years fince, publifhed at Copenhagen his Treatife M De Philippia Ve- terum ;" or, of the Affection of the Ancients for Horfes. I regret never to have enjoyed an op- portunity of perufmg this book, which, I am informed, is written in pure and elegant Latin. Humanity and benevolence to helplefs beafls, is (in general) a certain indication of genero- fity of foul, and of a natural love of juflice. If it be real, not occafional or affumed, depend, fuch a foul harbours no feeds of lurking trea- chery. But I do not mean that partial kind of charity, which embraces only black cats and robins, bccaufe, forfooth, the one wears a coat of a fortunate colour, and the other is a facred bird. A pretty conceit truly, that the old Gen- tleman's colour mould be the harbinger of good luck ; and that robins, the moft fpiteful and quarrelfome of all birds, two of whom are never feen upon one bum, fhould be entitled to an exclufive and privileged companion : in one fenfe, perhaps, it may be perfectly right, to flyle robin-redbrealts, God Almighty's chofen dicky-birds ; fince they look upon all the reft of the feathered tribe as Pluliftines, and enter- tain ON THE RIGHTS OF BEASTS. 163 tain an antipathy towards them, perfectly He- brew. To be genuine, and of catholic ufe, all principles mud be permitted to have their uni- verfal efTecl. The following verfes, which I cut, I know not when, and out of I know not what news- paper, I infert to have the pleafure of telling the author, whoever he be (if chance mould di- rect this book into his hands) that I read the goodnefs of his heart, in the humanity of his mufe. EPITAPH ON A FAVOURITE HORSE. Though long untrodden on poetic ground, On me no Pegafean duit is found ; Your kind afliftance, gentle Mules, lend, To pay this tribute to a parted friend ; Let no rough trotting lines my theme difgrace, But fmoothly canter in harmonious pace. Sorrell, deceas'd, demands my grateful lay, The willing Sorrell to his lateft day. Upright he jogg'd through life's myfterious round, In Temper gentle, Conftitution found. Stranger to Vice, no guilty Start he knew, Excell'd by none, and equall'd but by few. Whether the full portmanteau to fuftain, Or proudly gallop o'er th' extended plain : To fmoke the foremofl in th' eager chace, Or fliine unrivall'd in the unequal race ; Sorrell, in each, two grateful Lords obey'd, Who lov'd him living, and lament him dead. m 2 CHAP. [ i6 4 ] CHAP. IV. ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER. ' SHALL begin with generals, proceeding to A particulars, as they prefent themfelves to my recollection ; but rather fludying compre- henfion and ufe, than the graces of method and arrangement. Time, which is continually changing all things, has, in courfe, induced various altera- tions in the nomenclature of the ftable. Horfes, for the different purpofes of the faddle, were in former days, termed nags, amblers, pacers, STIRRERS, TROTTING-HORSES, HOBBIES, great-horses, or horfes for the buff-sad- dle (for war) hunting-horses, coursers, race-horses. The appellatives, whether fynonymous or diftinctive, in prefent equeftrian ufe among us, are road-horses, riding-horses, saddle- horses, nags, chapmens horses, hacks, hackneys, ladies horses, or pads, hun- ters, running-horses, racers, race- horses, gallopers, managed-horses, chargers, troop-horses, post-hacks, or POST-HORSES, TROTTERS, CANTERING HACKS, or canterers, horfes which carry double, galloways, and PONIES. Chapmens Horfes, or common road-hacks, are of the flrong and ferviceable kind, having little ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER. 165 Jittle or no racing-blood, and calculated for thofe fervices in which much fpeed is not re- quired. Hack, or Hackney, is the general term for a road-horfe, and by no means con- veys any fenfe of inferiority, or refers exclu- fively to horfes let out for hire. By trotters, we do not underftand now, as formerly, horfes which have been merely accuftomed to that pace, but fuch as excel at it, in refpecl: of fpeed ; a fimilar obfervation holds, refpeHing canterers, but it ufually refers to their powers of continuance. Gallopers mean race-horfes. The terms galloway and poney, refer folely to height. All under thirteen hands, are denomi- nated ponies ; from that height to thirteen three, they are called galloways ; at fourteen hands they are deemed fized horfes. Of foals, the male is called a colt-foal, the female a filly- foal, yearlings, two-year-old, &c. In the technical phrafeology appropriated to this fubject., a bred horfe is underftood to be one of the pure racing, or Oriental blood ; the degrees of its commixture with the common blood, or breed of this country, are fignified by the terms, three-parts bred, half-bred, blood- horfes, or having a mew of blood. The characleriftic figns of blood, are finenefs of fkin and hair, fymmetry, and regularity of proportions ; length ; flatnefs, and depth, par- ticularly in the moulder and girting-place ; fwell of the mufcles, and fhew of fubftance in m 3 the l66 ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER. the fore-arms and thighs ; leannefs and fytnme- try of the head, large and bright eyes, pafterns fomewhat longer, and more inclining than com- mon, and deer-like hoofs. Of thefe'a horfe will generally partake in proportion to his de- gree of blood. Since we acquire fymmetry, eafe of motion, fpeed and continuance, in proportion to the racing blood our hacknies and hunters poflefs, it may be demanded, why not make ufe exclu- fively of full-bred horfes ? Ofmer has fpoken decidedly in their favour. I have heard it af- firmed by a fportfman, that there is the fame difference of motion between a racer and a common bred horfe, as between a coach and a cart. It is moreover a fact, although it does not lie upon the furface, that no other horfes are capable of carrying, with expedition, fuch heavy weights ; and were a thirty (tone plate to be given, and the diftance made fifty miles, it would be everlaflingly won by a thorough-bred horfe. There is only one way in which a bred horfe would be beat at high weights. It would be (to ufe a queer phrafe) by making it a ftand- flill race ; in that cafe, I would back a cart* horfe ; I think he would beat a racer by hours. Thorough-bred hacks are the moil docile and quiet, and the leafl liable to fhy of all others ; they alfo fweat lefs on a journey. He who poffeffes a thorough-bred hack or hunter, ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER. l6j Hunter, fufficiently fhort-legged, lively, and aclive; which bends its knees, and goes well above the ground, and has found tough feet; has perhaps obtained every qualification he can wifh, for the road, except trotting; which he mull never expecl, in any extraordi- nary degree, in a bred horfe. But Horfes of fuch a defcription are not common, becaufe unfit for the turf; and nobody, as yet, has bred racers exprefsly for other purpofes. The dif- advantage of bred cattle, for the road, or field, are, too great delicacy, rendering them fuf- ceptible of harm, from wet and cold ; tender- nefs of legs and feet ; too great length of leg and thigh, and pliability of iinew, which gives a more extenfive compafs to their ftrokes, than is convenient to the common bufmefs of riding, or even of hunting; their ftride alfo, natural fluggilhnefs, and tender feet, occafion them to be unfafe goers* Which then is the mofl proper fpecies for the road? or rather (fince it is agreed that blood is abfolutely neceffary) how much ought a hackney to have? I believe he ought either to be three parts bred, as much as to fay, one got by a racer, out of a half bred mare, or vice verfa.; or one which is produced from good-fhaped hackney ftock on both fides, both fire and dam having: fome blood. I incline to the latter. In thefe mediums you may fecure fufficient m 4 delicacy, J 68 ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER. delicacy, fymmetry, fpeed, and continuance; without any of the difadvantages attendant upon full blood. The produce of three-parts bred mares and race-horfes (which might be called feven-eighths bred, if we wanted a new term) have too generally all the difadvantages of the latter, without the benefit of their pecu- liar qualifications. The ancient prejudice of the fuperior fitnefs of the land of one Englifh county above another, for the produ&ion of faddle-horfes, and the fuppofed pre-eminence of Yorkfhire, Northumberland, and Durham, has been of late years fully and completely expofed The Hie of Ely, Norfolk, and Suffolk, have for fome years paft, bred the beft hacks, and the faitei! trotters in England. It follows not, however, from thence, that equally good flock may not be bred in any of the other counties, provided they have as good flallions and mares, and purfue the bufinefs with as much induftry. I was laughed at on all fides, fome vears ago, for referring the whole matter to cuftom, plenty of land, and convenience; and for aflerting, that horfe-breeding might be carried on elfewhere, with equal or even fupe- rior advantages to thole experienced in York- fhire. The influence of cuftom over the human mind is truly wonderful, and beyond all doubt the real caufe of the tardy progrefs of improve- ment. ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER. 169 ment. An old farmer, was making bitter complaints of the high price of cart-horfes, and the heavy tax it laid upon hufbandry. I aiked him why he did not breed his own Horfes, fince they paid fo well. " Aye, aye," faid he, " but you know this is not a breeding county." The good man, rented fifteen hun- dred acres of land, full half of which was fit for little elfe but pafturing of cattle. Even Mr. Marfliall, before quoted, althbugh he has made many very judicious obfervations, relative to Horfes, has not been, or rather was not, at the time of writing his Rural Oecono- rny of Yorkfhire, able to fleer clear of the con- tagious influence of eftablilhed prejudice; doubtlefs becaufe it related to a fubjec~i, upon which he had not bellowed a thorough exami- nation. He obferves; " In Norfolk, the breed- ing of faddle-horfes has been repeatedly at- tempted without fuccefs. Yorkfhire ftallions have been, and (till are, fent into Norfolk in the covering feafon. The foals may be hand- fome, but they lofe their form as they grow up. On the contrary, in Yorkshire, let the foal which is dropped be ever fo unpromifmg, it will, if any true blood circulate in its veins, acquire fafhion, ftrength, and activity, with its growth/' He feems to refer thefe advantages to " the influence of climature on the conftitu- tion;" and adds, that no man has yet been able to I7O ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTEK. to breed Arabian horfes in England; Englifti horfes in France, or Germany ; nor Yorkfhire horfes in any other diftricl: of England. Only the general principle of this reafoning appears to be juft ; the application is totally erroneous. There can exift no doubt of the favourable influence of genial climature, and rich paftu- rage. But it remains to be proved, that York- fhire has ever excelled all other parts of Eng- land, either in thofe refpe&s, or in the fuperior quality of their Horfes; the reverfe, however, at this time, needs no proof. In the number of Horfes bred, there can be no doubt of the fuperiority of Yorkfhire, but it appears to me, that the proportion of bad ones, has been full as large in that as in any other county. The Yorkfhire bred Horfes have long and often been remarked, for their heavy heads, round, gummy legs, and general want of fymmetry. Thefe defects were ever vifible enough, in many of the long, heavy, lumbering, half-bred ftallions of that county. It is highly probable, that the ill fuccefs, with which, according to Mr. Mar- shall's account, the early attempts of the Nor- folk breeders was attended, may have been oc- cafioned, among other difadvantages to which new undertakings are ever liable, by the very circumflances of their introducing Yorkfhire flock. Their own native flock was in all refpe£ts preferable ; from which, aflifted by the racing ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER. ljl racing breed, they with their neighbour county- Suffolk, have fupplied the metropolis of late years with faddle-horfes of fuperior form and eftimation to thofe of Yorkfliire. The reafonings of this excellent author, owing merely to the caufe already hinted, are not a whit more conclufive, on the fubjecr. of race-horfes ; of which more in its place. St. Bel alfo, afks very gravely for a folution of the difficulty, why Suffolk has a peculiar breed of horfes, and why they cannot be bred elfewhere? Experience teaches there is no difficulty at all in the cafe. Any other county having made choice of, and fet off originally with that peculiar fpecies (there lies the jet of the bufinefs, I believe) would have all along produced much fuch another breed, varying in a trifling degree, from local cir- cumftances. I know of no county in England, in which I would not pledge myfelf to produce a race of Suffolk horfes, [o original in all refpecls, as to defy the penetration of the beft jockies of that county. But it muff be effected, by a more perfect method, than that which I have known praclifed by perfons refident in fome of thole, which are faid not to be breeding counties. They have been defirous of breeding the lar^e black cart horfes, but after repeated trials, have relinquifhed it, from an alledged impoffibility of bringing them up to the required fize ; and yet their grafs land has 172 ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER. has been equal, or fuperior in goodnefs, to that of the native foil of thefe famous cattle. On enquiry, I always found, that they indeed fent their mare to a thorough-bred Horfe of the fpecies in requeft, but that (he herfelf was fure to be one of the common ftock of their own county. I have known more than one perfon attempt to breed racers upon the fame plan, and with equal fuccefs. Major Jardine, in his entertaining and in- ftruclive letters from Barbary, Spain, &c. ob- ferves, very juflly, that the world feems to be divided, for men, as well as cattle, into breed- ing and feeding countries ; the determinations however, to either, I think ufually depend upon accidental circurnftances. The natural fuperiority of one Englifh coun- ty over another, as to the point in queftion, has always been over- rated. Some local diflinc- tions, no doubt, mult exift; for inftance, the hardy mountaineers of Wales and Scotland, excel in ftrength of conftitution, ability to carry weight, and toughnefs of feet; but are deficient in fize, figure, and fpeed. I have obierved, upon the little attention, merited by the colour of Horfes, with reference to their good or bad qualities. In fome re- fpecls, it may intereft nice and curious people, who are more folicitous about external appear- ance, than great and ufeful qualifications. Thus, ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER. I73 Thus, greys and browns, fpot and ftain very, much, with the dirt and fweat, and are made dry and clean with great difficulty ; the ftains remaining longer upon them, than on other colours. Light greys, nutmeg-coloured horfes, and red roans, if well-bred, perhaps exhibit that fymmetry to the beft advantage, which is the concomitant of high-racing blood. The latter never fail to remind fportfmen of the old fchool, of the famous Sedbury, faid to have been the jufteft proportioned horfe ever bred in England; on this head an exception mud be made in refpe& to the legs and hoofs of Horfes, which conltant experience has {hewn to be beft. when of a dark colour. For their temperaments, both mental and corporeal, the drifted analogy may be found in the human fpecies. We obferve among Horfes, the hot, irritable, and weak; the cold, phlegmatic, flow, and durable; with all the various intermediate gradations. It can be only by way of refreshing the memory of his readers, when an author prefumes to counfel them, to make choice of a medium. Hot horfes are generally fpeedy and fafe goers, pleafant to ride, the beft flying leapers, and their legs ftand clean and dry, in the ftable; but (hort and eafy tafks, of all kinds, fuit them beft; they are unfit to carry heavy weights, and if they feed well when they play, they 1J4 ON TIIE HACKNEY AND HUNTER. they are fure to lofe their appetite in work. It muft be noted, neverthelefs, that there is a fpecies of this genus, which may be flyled, refolute horfes; thefe, notwithflanding their heat and choler, will endure to the very laft, and in the hands of thofe who have (kill and ability fufficient to manage them, will beat all other horfes. Of this fpecies, precifely, was the celebrated Eclipfe. It is only ringing the changes, to particu- larize the incidental qualities of the cold, phleg- matic, and dull ; they are, among a variety of diforders, particularly liable to fwelled legs, greafe, and difeafes of the eyes, befides being flow, and liable to fall. There is ftill a variety, partaking of the phlegm, and, in fome degree, of the inconveniences of the lad-mentioned, which have ftrong conftitutions, feed well, and are fit for a long day, and conftant work; whofe want of fpeed is compcnfated by their powers of duration ; in a word, ftout horfes. Of the extremes ; the flow, and flout horfe, is certainly of more value than the hot, uncertain, and fpeedy one, in all fituations, but upon the turf. The tempers of Horfes, like thofe of their m afters, are various, endowed with a greater or lefs proportion of intelligence, fagacity, and feeling; and it is but too often, the bead evinces the greater degree of rationality. Their difpofitions ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER. I75 difpofitions admit, conveniently enough, of the following clarification ; the docile and gene- rous, the ftupid and unnoticing, and the per- verle and rebellious. In all thefe, the more they are treated with reafon, temper, and com- panion, the more they conduce to the eafe, the profit, and contentment of man ; and this, I am convinced by experience, will be acknowledged by none more readily than by thofe, who, hav- ing been accuftomed to the contrary, will vouch- fafe to make fair trial of fuch methods. As to the firft, or the docile and -enerous, it is in- conceivable to thofe who have not made the pleafing eflay, to what a degree of perfection their faculties may be brought, by rational and conciliating ufage. In a very (hort time, cor- rection becomes perfeclly ufelefs, and the whip and fpur.the mere harmlefs inftruments of your direction. The found of his mailer's voice, is at once loved, feared, and obeyed, by a gene- rous, and well-managed Horfe. Inflead of a reluclant and treacherous flave, you have ob- tained an humble, and faithful friend, a willing (harer in your toils, and in your pleafures ,; even an agreeable companion, who, although he cannot converfe, underftands you well ; who takes every hint, every indication, from your hand or voice, in an inflant; and plainly (hews a. pride and pleafure in obedience, whether it be to conftrain himfelf for your eafe, or to lay put the whole of his powers, even unto death, for I76 ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER. for your fervice. While fuch advantages are practicable, through the eafy and pleafing mean of humanity, who would take the pains to be a tyrant ? It is well known that Tome Horfes, although rather ill-natured to their own fpecies (for which it is difficult to affign a reafon) are exceedingly attached to the human, and will play with their keepers, with as much apparent delight, as fpaniels ; but horfe-play is proverbially danger- ous, and I have thence witneffed feveral fatal accidents. The fecond clafs, or the flupid and unno- ticing, it is obvious, can never be mended by harm, and cruel ufage. It can only ferve to increafe the natural torpor of their difpofition, and render their bodies mfenfible and callous ; in fact, to lefTen their ufe, and increafe their owner's trouble. A poft-boy would fay to me, " Ah, mafter, your fine reafons would never bring my nodes through their ftage." Thefe practical fages are, however, not always right. It feems to me, at lead plaufible, that if they did not deaden their horfes feelings, by a pre- mature, and too free ufe of the whip and fpur, they would fave their arms and legs much la- bour, and their mailers a great deal of horfe- flefh. The perverfe and rebellious, or vicious horfes, are of two kinds, thofe which are fo from natural predifpofition, and fuch as are rendered ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER. I77 rendered reftiff, or vicious, from infufficient breaking, or acquired habits. The firft is ever a loft cafe, whatever the moft fkilful domitor equorum may pretend to the contrary ; and in the fecond, the cure is but uncertain at beft, which will be allowed, by all thofe, who have confidered the mighty power of habit, even among us two-legged animals, who vaunt fo highly of the ftrength of our reafoning facul- ties. The difciples of Locke will deny the ex- iftence of innate qualities, fuch as I have fup- pofed. They fhould, I think, furnifli fome new hypothefis, on which to account for the fol- lowing facls, the truth of which will be allowed, by all who have had much experience in Horfes. Two colts, of like age, fhall be broke at the fame time, by perfons of equal (kill, or by the fame perfon. They (hall be treated precifely in the fame manner, in all refpe&s ; and yet the one fhall be tamed to obedience, with only the common difficulties, and remain perfectly quiet; whilft the other, even if rendered fomewhat tame at firft, (hall always obey with reluctance, and continue felf-willed and reftiff all his life. Reftivenefs, and various other qualities, bad or good, are alfo known to be fometimes heredi- tary, and to run through many generations. Do not thefe natural tendencies, (granting their exiftence) either in man, or beaft, arife from the accidental variation of fpecific quantity in vol. 1. n the I78 ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER. the elements which compofe the animal mafs, or compound ; from its peculiar ftruclure, and organization ? It is impoflible, by any mode of calculation, which includes the probable rifks, to attach the value of a fingle penny to the living carcafe of a determined reftiff, or vicious horfe ; and it is the interefl; of every unfortunate proprietor of fuch an one, to knock him on the head, in pre- ference to being obliged to keep, and ufe him. The conqueft gained over his will, is always temporary and uncertain ; in a fingle moment, more than the worth of his whole life of fer- vices is kicked down, and perhaps fome melan- choly accident induced. Many darning young blades, I know, are fond of exhibiting their prowefs, and their (kill, upon thefe intractable animals ; but I really think it a pity, that fuch as have anv brains to lofe, mould rilk a frac- ture, in fo uninterefting and contemptible a bu- fmefs. In thefe cafes, chance often throws them into fituations, in which neither their ilrength, nor courage, can be of much ufe to them. The laft accident of this fort, I particularly no- ticed, happened to a man, who had both his thighs broken, by his horfe taking it into his head, to go down with him into the area of an houfe, near Leicefler Fields. It is laughable to fee a man patting and cheruping a reftiff horfe, and the fubtle animal fucking ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER. ijQ * fucking up his wind, turning his eyes, and leer- ing, as if to fhew the contempt he entertains for his rider. In a confirmed cafe, mild methods rather do harm, even if they have a temporary fuccefs ; it is only putting off the evil occafion, which the enemy will watch, in order to obtain an advantage. An abfolute conqueft, on every contention, muft be obtained over his will, if pofiible ; to which nothing will be fo condu- cive, as the repeated, and forcible ftrokes of a good pair of fpurs, and the vigorous applica- tion of the bed end of your fhelala to his mouth, legs, and the mufcularpart of his thighs. When the defect of obedience has arifen merely from improper treatment, common fenfe will naturally prefcribe mildnefs and patience, mixed with proper degrees of feverity. But there are certain kinds of vicious Horfes (rendered fo by tricks, originally taught them, and fubfequent cruel ufage) of which it is ne- ceffary that I fpeak particularly, for humanity fake, as they are mod truly deferving of com- miferation. Thefe are, biters and kickers, w T hich no ftranger can approach with fafety, and of which every man ought to be aware, who at- tends a repofitory, or fair. Nothing can more forcibly exemplify the wonderful power of ha- bit, than the aftions of thefe wretched and irri- table creatures ; for it is clearly evident, they are acled upon by an involuntary impulfe, N 2 which l80 ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER. which no defire of their own, or dread of the moft fevere punifhment, can enable them to counteract, when feized with the fit. It is, per- haps, a fpecies of madnefs. I have known one of each kind, kept more than a twelvemonth, merely by way of making the experiment, whether it were poflible to cure them. The greateft feve- rity, inftead of breaking their fpirits, ferved only to enrage, and render them worfe ; nor had kind ufage any material effe£i: towards their cure. They were both mares, and moft excellent workers. What is very fingular, in the biter, although fhe was fo favage in the ftable, that befides a number of inferior accidents, (he tore out the entrails of a boy, (he yet never difco- vered the leaft inclination to bite out of doors, in any fituation whatever. The wanton cruelty which is exercifed upon thefe creatures, renders them infinitely more dangerous ; for, being accuftomed to look upon all mankind as their enemies and torturers, they always (land prepared for offence ; and men, who tranfgrefs in that way, would do well to confider what accident they may be preparing for forne innocent perfon. I fpeak from the recollection of having feen a kicker, at a cer- tain repofitory, which one of the attendants took a great pleafure in exhibiting to a groupe of idle fellows. It was a mare, and thefe bar- barians amufed themfelves by thrufting flicks into ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER. l8l into her burden and fundament, and whipping her in a mod cruel manner. The foolifh prac- tice of the boys in the running (fables, of teach- ing their horfes to kick, is alfo well known ; I cannot tell whether it prevails, at prefent, in the degree it formerly did ; but I have often wondered it did not attract the attention of the proprietors of thofe horfes, probable, as it was, to be attended with fuch ferious mifchiefs. Many years ago, I had occafion to accompany a friend to fee a horfe, called King Priam. It appeared, the horfe had learned his leffon per- fectly, for the inftant we flood behind him, he faluted us with both his heels, which very for- tunately brufhed my friend's hat off — one half- inch farther, and he had never wanted another hunter. There are many, no doubt, who will ridicule thefe obfervations ; but how patiently would I bear their mirth, could I be certain that only one perfon were benefited by my cautions, or one fmgle animal more humanely treated. If there be any fafe method of approaching vicious animals, it is to warn them with a fome- what loud and fevere voice, but to avoid all appearance of offence. Since habits are retained with fuch invincible bbflinacy by Horfes, it is furely of the utmoft importance to inculcate good ones very early, and to (rifle evil ones in the birth. I have n 3 known l82 ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER. known fome Horfes take it into their heads* that they never ought to pafs pigs led in {kings, tilted waggons, or windmills, and which they never could be prevailed upon to do, by fair means, to the end of their lives ; except, in- deed, when they were nek, in which cafe, Horfes feldom or never {hy. It is a mijiaken notion to fuppofe, that Horfes always (hy from fear ; it is frequently the mere confequence of a fpecies of affeclation, of a brifk flow of fpirits, and a fenfe of being above their work ; and it is a good joke, to fee what a wonderful deal of trouble fome of our equeftrians give themfelves, to urge their horfe, either by force or foothing, to approach the dreadful objeel, which, in good truth, the frolic being nearly over, he fears or regards, juft as little as them- felves. Thus certain gallants have a fine op- portunity of (hewing their courage, when their faftidious and delicate ladies affe£l to be fright- ened. Correction mufl be ufed, with a very fparing hand, to fhy and fkittifh Horfes, and paf- fion ought ever, in fuch cafes, to be fupprelfed. The rider (hould be prepared, without fuffering his horfe to perceive either preparation, or fo- licitude, and ought rather to flacken the reins. If correction, and urging forward, be abfolutely neceffary, it ought to be adminiftered with the fpur folely, aided by the calf of the leg, knee, and bridle ; if you whip a horfe for (hying, you incur ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER, l83 incur the rifk of driving him to the everlafting habit of flying out of the road ; a charming practice, in dark nights, and dangerous ways. As for the fize of Horfes, perhaps fixteen hands ought to be the extreme, for whatever purpofe, either of faddle or draught. I believe, on the ftrength of my own experience, and what I more refpecl:, the opinions of men who have had the Iongeft and greater! practice, that all poflible advantages may be concentred within that compafs, and numberlefs difadvantages re- fultinff from over-fize, avoided. It has been faid, that " a great, good horfe, will beat a little one ;' and there is no doubt, but where the goodnefs, in all points, is equal, the largefl rauft be the bed; but we generally find, in all animals, that as they advance beyond the ufual ftandard, they lofe in fymmetry, in proportion as they gain in bulk. It is rare to fee a man, of fix feet fix, well fhaped. Among Horfes, perhaps, the fmalleft fize, or ponies, are, upon the average, of the trueft make. The Latins fay, Ineft fua gratia parvis — what is little, is pretty. A hunter, or charger, fhould be between fif- teen hands, and fifteen three. It is obvious, that in the field, low Horfes can never clear their leaps fo well, or carry a man fo gallantly over the coun- try, as thofe of a commanding fize. The molt advantageous height of a hack, is between four- teen and fifteen hands one inch. A lady's horfe, either for road, or field, fhould never exceed N 4 fifteen, I84 ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER. fifteen. The convenience of ponies and gallo- ways, for the fummer feafon, and their incon- venience, in deep roads and dirty weather, are in the way of every body's obfervation. It is a truth, like numberlefs others, much better known than pract-ifed, that Horfes fhould never be put to fevere labour whilft young. Our doing fo much violence to their flrength, in this country, whilft their iinews are yet too flexible and tender, and have not acquired due fubftance and tenfity, is the occafion of their growing old fo foon, and becoming, at fuch a premature period of their lives, totally unfit for any, but the loweft drudgery. We have had fome inftances of Horfes reaching forty years of age, but thirty feems to be, in general, their lateft period ; and it may be compared to the human date of three-fcore and ten. As man is in the flower of his flrength, from thirty-five to forty years of age ; by a parity of reafoning, our Horfes would be in their higheft ftate of perfection, for flrength, toughnefs, vigour, and expertnefs at their bufinefs, from ten to fifteen, were we honeft and humane enough, to allow them the fair chances of exiftence. That fuch theory will not treacheroufly abandon us in practice, as is too often the cafe, I have reafon to be convinced, from fome pleafing experi- ments of my own, and from the obfervation of thofe of other people. What a happy plan, where ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER. 185 where we can make humanity, and intereft, co- incide — but do they not always coincide? What a faving to individuals, and the country at large, to double almoft the period of fervice in that vaft number of our Horfes, which are now prematurely torn to pieces, and deftroyed. I fhall embrace every opportunity which pre- fents, in the courfe of this work, to point out the means mod conducive to this defirable end. Horfes, for flow-draft (the lead injurious of all their labour) may be put to gentle work, in careful hands, even at two years old, without fuftaining any injury ; and it is the cuftom of the country : but great care ought to be taken, never to put them upon long and heavy jobs, or fubjecl them to heats and colds, and piercing winds ; and, in particular, not to {train them at dead pulls ; for amongft an infinity of acci- dents, to which, in that green age, they are lia- ble, hurts in the loins are to be apprehended, from which they never after recover. Every body will tell you, that road-horfes and hunters fhould not be worked until five years old ; and it is moll true : the latter, indeed, ought not to endure many fevere runs, the firft feufon. But it is not enough, that young Horfes are not worked hard ; that is to fay, ridden fafi, or long journeys ; for whatever bone they may have, no high weight ought to come upon their backs, until they have attained, at leaft, five years l86 ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER. years growth. From the improvident cuftom of* over- weighting them too early, even if they are ridden flow, arife windgals, fplents, fpavins, weaknefs of the joints, and that common tribe of defects, which are the confequence of over- itretched ligaments. The Enghfh have been ridiculed by foreign- ers, for " making curtails," both upon their kings and their Horfes. As to thofe made upon the latter, I think there can be no doubt of the utility. Long tails, for which fome people are fuch warm advocates, fetting afide the incom- modity to the rider, of being fanned by them, dirty or clean, do not in their appearance convey that idea of expedition upon which qui* affections are fo bent in this country ; buckled up, they to be fure have the air militair, but do not look fportfman-like, which is our mark. A horfe will carry even a better full tail (a long one I mean) for having been docked ; and it is an old opinion, which carries a fhew of reafon with it, that by abridging the tails, you flrengthen the loins of Horfes. As what I have to fay upon the tails of Horfes, is of a general nature, I may as well lay it in this place, and have done with it. It has ever been my favourite ftudy (when leifure was permitted me) to endeavour by all feafible means, to leffen the miferies of animals, and it io true, this principle lias often forced me to turn ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER. 187 turn executioner. I had heard of many acci? dents, fome of them fatal, from Horfes being docked at too late a period, and by bungling blackfmiths ; and indeed I had feen feveral operations of the kind, which made me fick. It occurred to me, that colts ought to be docked early, whilft the tail is tender and grifley; which operation I ever afterwards per- formed, upon my own, myfelf, with a good (harp kitchen knife, with all poffible fuccefs, and which I wi(h to recommend as a general cuflom. The two laft I docked, were, one about three months, the other about three weeks old ; the one got by a cart, the other by a bred horfe. Thefe colts were perfectly tame and handy (a (late in which I always chufe to have them) and whilft eating a few carrots, they fuffered me to tie their hair up fecundam artem, and to make the ftroke, which curtailed them in an inftant; and with fo little pain, that they fcarce left their carrots. The ufuai quantity taken off, agrees in length with the width of a man's hand ; but perhaps it ought to be rather more from the confideration of its being done fo early. The bred colt was fo indifferent about the matter, that he fuffered me, about half an hour afterwards, to lay hold of his tail again, and make a ligature to flop the blood. If a flux of blood be not defired, a ligature may be made, previous to the ope- ration ; l88 ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER. ration; but in cafe of plethora, dullnefs, or heaviness about the head and eyes, it may be prefumed that bleeding will benefit the colt, and the wound may be intirely neglecled. If any application be thought neceffary, nothing is fo proper as French brandy. No twitching, trammelling, fearing with hot irons, nor any of the barbarous Vulcanian apparatus, is here required; and what will weigh more than all the reft, with certain of my readers — no far- rier's bill. Of nicking, I (hall fay but little; in truth if nobody were more attached to it than I am, the art would foon be loft, from difufe. At prefent, I muft allow, we fet Horfes tails in a more natural form, than fome years back, when it was the cuftom to cock them bolt up- right, in a moft burlefque, and prepofterous manner, and a young horfe, with his blazing meteor difplayed a poftcriore, looked juft as naturally and in character, as a young fellow with his head enveloped in the curls of an enormous perriwig. My prejudice in favour of every thing appertaining to the turf, may perhaps warp my judgment ; but I am all for broom or racing tails, fuch as are " cut fquare by the Ruftian ftandard;" thefe, I think, are be- coming and natural to all forts and fizes of Horfes, but more particularly at this time, now the ihew of blood is fo univerfal. As to the art ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER. 189 art of nicking; every dealer or farrier can per- form it. Bartlet's fuppofed improvement, I underftand, did not fucceed. I fpeak not from my own knowledge. I have alfo cropped yearlings. It is appa- rent, in that time, or at any rate, at two years old, whether from the over-fize, ill-fhape, or pofition of the ears, it will be ever neceffary to crop the nag; and if fo, there is an obvious convenience in having it done early, and before he comes into work; and I have never found that the after-growth of the ear, fpoiled the crop. There is one difadvantage in this bufinefs, which however fome people will think an advantage. It furnifhes an opportu- nity of deception. One of the colts mentioned above, I fold to a dealer at two years old; being cropped and docked, and neither his ears nor tail bearing the lead mark of recent operation, he in one fmgle day more reached four years of age; and was actually fold at Winchefter fair, as a four year old. The practice of caftrating Horfes, fo univer- fal in this country, is no doubt founded upon the moll rational experience of its ufe and propriety; viewing it even in the light of huma- nity, it is preferable. We do not find that inferiority in geldings for any fervices, which theoretical reafoning upon the matter might lead us to fuppofe. The difference between the I9O ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER. the fexes, I judge to be, that mares are neither able to carry or draw fuch heavy weights as Horfes, or geldings; and that Horfes have the fuperiority in thofe two refpecls. The chief difadvantage of mares, is their faintnefs, and lofs of appetite, during their horfing time; continuing, perhaps, two or three days, at feveral intervals in the fpring; but this is, in truth, of fo fmall import, that thou- fands of people who work mares, perceive nothing at all of the matter; and this trifling inconvenience is infinitely overbalanced by the confideration, that if an accident fhould hap- pen to render your mare totally unfit for labour, (lie may ftill produce you a fubftitute. Mr. Marfhall has recommended fpaying mares very flrongly, which he fuppofes a new idea; but fuch does not appear to be the cafe, as I have feen an advertifement, fixty or feventy years old, of grafs for fpayed mares. There can be no doubt but mares might be cut with equal fafety as heifers ; but, I conceive, by no means with equal, or indeed any probable advantage. We have all the reafon in the world to be Satisfied, with the labours of our mares un- fpayed; now mould an accident happen to a fpayed mare, we could not eat her, as we could a heifer. For many years pad, the people of this country, have wifely adhered to the natural PACES ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER. ICjl paces of the Horfe, which are walk, trot, canter and gallop. The canter is a natural pace (although many Horfes require to be taught) as is obvious, from colts of a few weeks old performing it in a handfome manner. In former days, when factitious principles of all kinds were in vogue, and were held fo indifpenfible; and when the itudies of men feemed to be directed to an inverfion of the order of nature, in fo many refpefls; they did not forget to fupplant her in the motions of their Horfes, by forcing them into artificial paces. Thus Markham, and the old writers, defcribe pacing and racking, which they took the pains to teach their Horfes by cruel and dangerous methods. Thefe motions were a kind of mixture, or confufion of the natural paces, as may be conceived from the mode in which they were taught, namely, by forcing the Horfes to go with their legs tied. Racking, it feems, was that irregular run, be- tween a trot and a gallop, which we often at this time oblerve a horfe to fall into, when badly ridden, and of which many Horfes acquire the habit. Pacing was not entirely out of vogue in Brackens days, and I have known one pacing-horle, within my own memory, they called him a natural-padder ; but his padding feemed to me to proceed either from fome defect, or from bad riding. I mall 10,2 ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER, I (hall defer awhile fpeaking farther of the paces, and proceed to the proper (hape and qualifications of faddle-horfes. And firft, with refpecl: to beauty in Horfes ; ftri&ly fpeaking, it is the necefTary refult of fymmetry, and exa6t proportions ; but neverthelefs, many thorough- fhaped Horfes are not accounted handfome ; and more, which have a beautiful and gallant appearance, are far enough from being tho- roughly well made. This requires no explana- tion. In this country, where fpeed is the firft object., provided a horfe be well made in the cardinal points (if I may be permitted that ex- preflion) or thofe parts moft immediately con- tributory to action, beauty is taken for granted, by the knowing ones. Has he a large head ? Well, he carries it himfelf ; the queftion is, does he carry it faff, and in a good place? Is he a ragged hipped one ? Never mind, he is well filleted. — Goofe-rumped ? What o'that, he rifes well before, and is deep in the girt. — There is, however, a very erroneous notion, which has been long current, but, moft af- furedly, is not fterling. It is faid, that " Horfes of all (hapes and makes, may be goers." This verifimilitude has taken its rife, from Horfes of fough and unpleafi ng appearances, but in re- ality, poffefling confiderable extent in the moft material parts, being often endowed with great powers of action. I have heard, it was the faying • ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER. I93 faying of old Frampton, or old Bracken, or fome other great judge, that " Horfes always go with their fhoulders." In truth, no horfe with a fmall, fleet, upright fhoulder, was ever a goer. Goodnefs depends fo far upon (hape, that whenever you have obtained hack, hunter, or racer, right in the material points, you are fure of fome qualification above the common run ; you have got either extraordinary fpeed, or great powers of continuance ; which will, again, materially depend upon animal tempera- ment. The material points are, a deep and oblique fhoulder, length, width in the quarters, and free courfe for the wind. Flatnels, and depth, are the bans, or princi- ple of fpeed ; but to produce ftrength, good- nefs, and beauty, fubllance is neceifary. So to fpeak, rotundity, fwelling over a deep and flat ground, forms the true {hape of a nag ; this is moft apparent in the counter (houlder, and deep oval quarter. A hack, or hunter, ought to be (haped, in all points, exactly like a race-horfe, bating fome- what of his length ; the abatement for the hunter, it is obvious, need not be fo confide- rable. As to the defects of Horfes, and parts most liable to defect, here follows a ca- talogue of the principal ; which a man ought to have in his mind's eye, whilft about to make vol. 1. o a purchafe; ig\ ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER. a purchafe ; more particularly, if unattended with warranty : viz. Head ill set on, or too long, eyes, age, wolve's teeth, bladders in the mouth, gigs, glanders, jogged underthe jaw, hide-bound, broken wind, crib- biter or ticker, run-a-way, restiff, vi- cious, neck-reversed, or cock-throp- feled, ewe or deer-necked, shoulder straight and heavy, chest narrow or wide, high on the leg, broken knees, round legs, and grease, windgalls, si- news down, splent, oslet, speedy cut, knock, mallenders, hurts in the joints, toes turned outor in,feet soft or hard, large, small, or deep, quitter, false quarters, ringbone, sandcrack, groggy, founder, thrushes, corns, high-goer, daisey - cutter, fore- low, shallow girth, hollow-backed, bream-backed, long -backed, broken - backed or me- grim, light carcase, bursten, ragged- hipped, droop-arsed, dutch or round buttocks, hipshot, stiffled, lame in whirlbone, spavins, bone and bog, curb, thoroughpin, capped hocks, or hougii- boney, sallenders, sickle-hammed, cut behind, hammer and pinchers, or over- reach, wrong-end first, stringhalt. A horle ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER. 195 A horfe may be good with a large head, provided it (hews fymmetry, is joined to the neck with a curve, or is wide enough in the upper part of the jaw-bones, to admit of being pulled in, without impeding refpiration ; other- wife, a heavy, fat head, forebodes dulnefs and diftemper, particularly of the eyes. A long head occafions the horfe to bear heavy upon the hand (however good his mouth may be) as foon as his flow of fpirits is over. A head too (hort (as St. Bel obferves) detracts from the equipoife of the body ; it certainly detracts from the idea of proportion, as well as a too long one ; and without alledging any particular inconveniences belonging to it, I think we fel- dom fee a capital horfe with a very (hort head. The eye fhould be viewed in a good light, or rather in the fun-fhine, the examiner (land- ing in the (hade. It ought to be bright and tranfparent, as it were, to the bottom, and free from haze, dulnefs, or cloud. The dull, or coal-black eye, or that encircled with a blue cloud, are precarious. As to external confor- mation, the eye fhould be fomewhat prominent, without being too full and large ; the large glaffy eye, is always fufpicious ; as is alfo the fmall pig-eye. Thick, moift eye-lids denote a flux of humours. It is eafy to diftinguifh exter- nal accidents, of the probable danger of which, it appertains to experience to determine. 02 It 10,6 ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER. It is faid, Roman-nofed Horfes are generally {tout and hardy. The term Jlout, in equeftrian language, applies invariably to the courage, not the fubltance of the horfe. The mouth, to be perfect, ought to contain the bit handfomely, and well ; and to be of fuch juft temper, as to be able to bear confide- rable pre flu re with the fnaflle, and yet be fen- fible of the leaft directing motion of the rider's hand : alfo, to be free of wolves teeth, namely, irregular ones, which may cut the tongue, gums, or infide of the lips, in maftication ; of gigs and bladders, which get between the teeth ; and the teeth themfelves, untouched by art. I once purchafed a mare, in very low condition, which did not amend, although Hie did, or in- deed was able to do, fcarce any work. She ate little, particularly of hay, which fhe was ob- ferved to take into her mouth, and drop out again, without being able to chew it. On a nearer infpection, it appeared, all her teeth had been filed down ; and there is no doubt, but the miferable creature foon Rink under her work, for want of due fuflenance. It was with regret, but I was obliged to part with her. A difcharge from the noftrils, even if it be fomewhat thick, may be nothing more than a cold ; but if it be attended with a fwelling of the glands, under the throat, it indicates a dif- eafe offome (landing, of which the confequence may ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER. I97 may be both trouble and danger. As to the Glanders, granting the difcharge to have been fupprefled by art, the difeafe is indicated by an over quantitv of foam in the mouth, by fwell- ing of the glands, and by the deadnefs of the hair, which will come off with the fligheft pull of the fingers. Broken Wind is difcovered by the quick and irregular heavino- of the flanks. : j nd a more than ordinary dilatation of the noitrils ; fome- times alfo, by a confumptive appearance of the body. But the ufual method of trying the foundnefs of -a horfe's wind, is, to cough him ; which is performed by preffing the upper part of the wind-pipe, with the finger and thumb. The ftrong, clear, and full tone of the cough, prove his wind to be found ; if, on the con- trary, the note be ihort, whiftling, and hufky, the horfe is afthmatic, and unfound. Horfes labouring under the word ftage of this difeafe, are flyled, in the language of the repofitory, Roarers, from the noiie they make in work, of very little of which they are capable. Broken- winded mares are generally barren, although I have heard of one, which bred a whole team of horfes, after (lie became afthmatic. Some pen- five and thick-winded horfes, are, of all others, the ftrongeft, and mod thorough-winded. They catch their wind with difficulty at firft ; but it o 3 • comes lCj8 ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTEK. comes more free and clear, as their aclion in- creafes. Ewe j or deer-necked Horfes, have fre- quently fine moulders, and are fad goers ; and when the neck does not belly out too much, and the head is well fet on, and the jaw-bones wide, they may be made to ride light in hand, and handfomely ; but if they are much cock- throppled, and the head is at the fame time fet on abruptly, they muft always bear heavy on the hand. In this cafe, art affords no remedy ; and it is only tormenting the horfe fruitlefsly, to attempt it: when you bear, with great force, upon the martingale, you choke him. Let it be obferved, that the need of a martingale, de- tracts confiderably from the worth of a horfe. I mould conceive, at leaft, five pounds in twenty. There is a defective form, which I have often feen, but cannot well defcribe, called by the French, a falfe, or hatchet neck ; it is thin, and ftraight along the throat, having a cavity between the top of the fhoulder and the withers. Thin, loofe, and fwivel-necked horfes, carry their heads up in the air, particularly if (hort-headed, or tender -mouthed. When a martingale is ufed to palliate a natural defect, the bits, and curb, ought ever to be of the mildeft. Long, rain-bow necks, are more for beauty, and ornament, than real fervice. They feldom belong to capital goers. It is eafy to conceive, ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER. lgg conceive, that a long and bulky neck, muft en- cumber, and retard progreffion, by deflroying the equipoife of the machine ; alfo, that with a fhorter neck, the horfe has a lefs diftance to fetch his wind. The form and fize of the shoulder, is ob- vioufly a point of the firft importance. St. Bel, fpeaking of the mechanical caufes, of the power of progreffive motion, in every animated machine, fays, " The bones and mufcles are fim- ply an apparatus of columns, levers,pullies, cords, wedges, &c. the combined operations of which occafion greater or lefs fpeed ;" — and, " on the good or bad conftruclion of the fhoulder, pro- greflion materially depends, as its motion deter- mines that of the inferior parts. A long and oblique (boulder, is the indication of fpeed, be- caufe, in proportion to the length, and obli- quity of that part, the farther the arms of the lever will be extended, and the greater will be the portion of the circle which it will defcribe." In order to capital action, and that the horfe may extend his legs very far forward, the fhoulder muft fall backward from a deep breaft in an ob- lique direction (the fternum, or keel, fomewhat projeftingj and, leflening by degrees, go fairly up to the top of the withers. Mr. Culley (whole ob- fervations have always weight) is partial toHorfes wide a-top, upon the withers ; and fuppofing the (boulders to be, at the fame time, very ob- o 4 liquely 200 ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER. liquely placed, there can be no doubt but fuch Horfes will carry greater weight, in proportion, and with equal fpeed. They are alio, in ge- neral, eafy goers. The famous Mother Nee- fom, according to Bracken's account, was fo (haped ; and I have known fome fuch, with ca- pital action: but this is rare, fuch forms being, in general, flraight-mouldered, and wide-cheft- ed, and by no means diflinguifhed for fpeed. The extreme obliquity, or ftant of the moul- der, it mult be obferved, is requifite only for the running-horfe, and even amongft them, it is rare, extent of moulder, providing it be flat and deep, or wide, always conferring propor- tional powers of progreflion. The flraight heavy-fnouldered horfe, is evidently, unfit for any purpofe, but flow draft; both the weight, fimpiy confidered, and its mal-pofition, imped- ing progreifion. This accounts for well-fhaped Horfes, being more capable of high weights, than others with much greater (hew of fub- ftance. A high and well-placed (boulder, is accom- panied with all forts of advantages, of which it is a very eminent one, that a proper place is thereby fecured for the faddle, without the ufe of a crupper, the need of which, as well as of a martingale, decreafes the value of a horfe. I have faid that the (houlder-blades ought to reach up to the top of the withers, diminishing gradually, ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER. 201 gradually, that the withers be not too thick and wide. But this indeed is a rare perfec- tion. Many, which are efteemed good fhoul- ders, have a cavity between their upper ex- tremity and the withers, admitting the faddle too forward, and bringing the weight too far before the centre. The lead experienced eye will readily deter- mine, whether a horfe be leggy, or too high upon the leg. It is very apparent, when the legs form the mod confpicuous part, and appear too long for the carcafe. The horfe is weak in proportion, but it detracts more from flrength and continuance than fpeed. The legs being very fhort, is alfo a defect, and of a contrary tendency. But legs are never too long, when the horfe is fufficientiy deep in the carcafe. The knees muft be wide and flrong, but lean, and free from puffinefs ; the hair bear no veftige of derangement. A nice eye, will in- ftantly detect any accident which may have happened to the knees from a fall, even if vears have fmce intervened : there will be either an inequality of the furface, a few flaring hairs, or thofe which have grown after a cut will be of a different colour, or will be too long, and fo not lie level with the reft. The back part, or bend of the knee, is the fituation of mallenders, oj chops; the inner fide, fomewhat 202 ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER. fomewhat below it, of the fpeedy cut, which h occahoned by flrokes of the hoof in going. If the wounds have been healed, an excref- cence will be dillinguifhed by the finger, or the hair will appear to flare. Trembling knees denote injury, from excefs of labour, which is generally without remedy. Osletts, are long excrefcences fituated under the knee, on the infide, and fometimes contract, the joint. Splents are of the fame nature; their place is upon the (hank ; they are fufficiently palpable, either to fight or feeling, but of no detriment, when they do not interfere with the finews. They feldom increafe in fize, after fix years old. When they are fo placed, as to contract, the finews, it is much the cheapen, and fafeft way, to deem them incurable. If the legs be round and flefhy, and no preternatural heat, or extraordinary pulfation is to be difcovered in them, by handling, it may be their natural fhape. They will be fubjeft to greafe and fcratches, and belong to a horfe of inferior kind. A good flat leg may have become round, hot, and fwelled, either by over-work, or the want of it, and from flanding week after week, tied up in a hot liable. The horfe may fhift and change his feet, from the pain in his legs, and yet the main fmew may not have fuhained any material injury; for when that lias really happened, he will ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER. 2O3 will be fure to inform you of it, by putting his leg and foot forward, in a loofe, faint, and faltering way. If he fland thrufting out his fore-leg boldly, as if from wantonnefs, and retting on his heels, he is groggy; that is to . fay, his finews are contracted, or his feet bat- tered. To try how far the horfe has been in- jured, let him be walked about for half an hour, when the fwelling of his legs will, in all probability, fubfide. If you then obferve the tendo achilles, or main finew, diftincl from the fhank ; if on p reding it with the finger towards the bone, you find it firm, and tenfe ; if you difcover by the feel, no foft, fpongy finews between the fhank and the tendon, no extraor- dinary pulfation, but that all is well-braced, and wiry ; you may conclude the fwellings not dangerous. A perfon of experience, with a nice and difcriminating finger, will fcarce ever fail to detecl lamenefs in the back finews; but I muff declare, that I have never yet in my life, met with fuch perfons among common grooms, and farriers; who never attend to any other fymptoms in thefe cafes, than heat and tenfion; whereas thofe fymptoms may have prevailed, in a very flight degree, or may be pad, and the finews remain in a very lax and unfound Rate. I met with a remarkable example of this, very lately. Two men were returning from the houfe of a veterinary prac- titioner 204 ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER. titioner of fome note, with a fine young coach- horfe, which went lame. Upon enquiry, he had been lame fometime, and neither them- felves, their mailer, nor the do&or, could poffibly difcover the feat of his lamenefs, but they had bliflered his pattern- joints, and taken feveral other fteps at a hazard. I examined him out of curiofity. He had fcarce flood (till a minute, before he fet his near fore-leg out. I found the foot and joint perfectly cool, and apparently without complaint. I had him walked upon foft ground, and obferved, he threw his fore-arms freely, and far enough forward, by which I was convinced of the foundnefs of his moulders. On preffing the back fmew of the near fore-leg, the horfe flinched, and on farther examination, I found the finews foft and flabbv, with fome little heat and beating. It was in vain, that I com- municated this difcovery to the men, or that I demanded of them, whether, independent of other ailments, which they fuppofed the horfe might have, that which I had found, was not fumcient to make him halt? No. One faid he was lame behind, the other, that the lame- nefs was in his fhoulder, and that he knew a farrier who could remove it at a certainty. There feems a flrange difpohtion in the flable people, to attribute effects to occult and imaginary caufes, when the real ones are fo obvious 3 ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER. 205 obvious, that one would wonder, how common fenfe could poflibly avoid {tumbling upon them. Hones, which plainly tell of themfelves, that they are lame from hard and hot feet, and over- {trained back-line ws, are ufually contra- dicted by their keepers or doctors, who rather choofe they mould be lame in the flioulders. Should the cheft be of a peculiar thin make, and have a cavity in front, the bufinefs is done at once, and the cafe declared a chert-founder. That difeafe is then perhaps hereditary, as I have more than once feen foals, of only a few days old, with the faid cavity, and all the appearance of a waited cheft. To be ferious, I have alfo feen a cafe of a recent and fudden foot- founder, with the cheft remarkably {hrunk, and a violent palpitation in the cavity, for which Ofmer accounts very rationally. The flioulders feldom receive any other damage from labour, than concuffions, which occafion ftiffnefs and cramp. It is very plain, that the articulations of the lower joints and the hoofs, enduring the fevereft fervice from being obliged to fupport the whole natural and im poled weight, muft be mod exoofed to accidents. When the horfe wounds his pattern joints, in going, it is called knocking. If the places be healed, an efcar will be difcovered by the finger, or the frefh-grown hair will be long .and uneven. The fpcedy-cut, and knock ar capital 206 ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER. capital defects in horfes; the former natural, and pafl all remedy, the latter fo likewife, except it be the confequence of weaknefs and low condition. The width of a Horfe's cheft is no fecurity againft knocking, nor is it occa- fioned by the narrownefs of the cheft, the ftroke being given by the toe or heel; ofcourfe thofe horfes are liable to it, which turn the toe either out or in. In the latter cafe, they are flyled pigeon-toed. In a natural defe£t of this kind, it is ever productive of difappointment and mifchief to liflen to the propofed remedies of grooms and fmiths from {hoeing; fmce your horfe would knock, or cut in the fpeed, with his hoofs, if ridden without fhoes. The only remedy, is never to ride him without thofe round leather guards, which have of late years been adopted. To be properly formed for aclion, a horfe ought to go with his feet as near together before, as poffible, without brufh- ing the hair, and proportionally wide behind. When they proceed in the contrary form (a cafe by much too frequent) they are faid to go with the wroncr end firlt. Windgalls, improperly fo called, are en- cyfted tumours, or bags filled with a gelatinous fluid or jelly, which being preffed from the tendons by over-weight or exertion, Magnates between the joints, and forms for itfelf thofe cylts or bags. Their fituation upon the paf- tern ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER. 207 tern-joints is well known. Some horfes are very little fubjeft to them, even if hard-work- ed; others will have them before they have done any work at all. If not too large, and they feel elaftic and difappear on reft, they do not render the horfe unfound ; but if large, and foft to the touch, they become exceeding painful, and the horfe foon grows lame. The only radical cure is excifion, which I have experienced, and mall defcribe in its place. The ring-bone, is a hard, or bony excref- cence, upon the coronet, which fometimes al- moft furrounds the top of the hoof, occahoned perhaps, by the iron lock, which has faftened a clog or fetter; it alfo may proceed from no via- ble caufe, and is then fuppofed to be hereditary. However, I have never yet known it effectually cured; the horfes fuppofed to be cured, never (landing found in work. A QUITTOR, Or HORNY QUITTOR, Or whlt- low, is alfo fituated on the coronet, or between hair and hoof. Thofe which I have feen, were immediately above the infide quarter; when deeply feated, is no otherwife curable, than with the lofs of part of the hoof, whence a feam, or apparent partition, up above the heel, called a false quarter. In this latter cafe, the foundnefs of the horfe can fcarce ever be depended on, and he is liable to drop down fuddenly 208 ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER. fuddenly on his way, as I have more than once experienced to my cod. The sand-crack, is a fmall cleft on the external furface of the hoof. No horfe ought to work a fingle day with one, becaufe if neg- lected, or aggravated by work, the crack may enlarge, and end in a quittor, and falfe quarter. Of the founder in feet, cheft, or body, the fymptoms are fo well known, as to need no defcription. Progreflion feems univerfally im- peded. The horfe bears upon his heels, and inclines backward. Few recover, even if the difeafe be fudden and acute. Running-thrushes, are a foetid difcharge from the frog, the aperture of which, in con- fequence, appears moid, the horn perhaps decayed. It indicates a ftrong, full habit, and hard feeding, and has been well compared by Bartlet, to the copious excretion of fweat from human feet, which it would be dangerous to repel. To talk of curing running thrufhes, is merely to amufe. Horfes much liable to them, will always have tender heels, and mould be ridden with bar-fhoes. Corns, upon horfes, bear no analogy with thofe upon the human feet; indeed the term is a miihomer. There are flill callous, horny excrefcences about horfes feet, fimilar enough, in all rcfpecls, to human corns, but they are not ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER. 20g not fo diftinguifhed. We are to fuppofe the feet of Caefar's horfe had proper corns. The ailment, in queftion, is called by the French blame> and is, properly, a bruifed fpot or fpeck upon the fole of the heel, wearing either a red and bloodfhot, or black appearance, according as it is recent, or otherwife, as we obferve of the fame accident in the human nail. Its mod common origin is from bad (hoeing, and is curable by the contrary. I have cured, per- fectly, very bad corns of two years {landing, which never afterwards appeared, in the courfe of years, the hack dying in my poffefTion. The feet, in general, may be divided into the extremes of hard and foft, bQth of which are too frequently met with. I have had two hacks with feet of each kind; one of which, I rode conftantly nine, the other, occasionally, three or four years. For too hard feet I know of no remedy, except their constantly running abroad, and then a fortnight's work upon the road, will render them fo feverilh and painful, that your horfe will be crippled; in fhort, will have the appearance of an incipient founder. Over- (Iron z and hard hoofs, are faid to occa- fion lamenefs, by compreffing the internal ftru&ure of the foot. Their appearance is ufually high and deep, fometimes like afs- hoofs, very hollow, with fcarce any frog; fometimes much contracted a-top by the coro- vol. j. p nary 210 ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER. nary rings ; at others, deep, thick, and clubbed, and the Horfe, though found, goes in a fumb- ling way. I have, now and then, feen Welch Horfes with this laft defcription of feet, which foon become lame in the ftable. Soft feet, and low tender heels, may do great fervice through- out, with bar fhoes, and conftant attention. Bred hacks are apt to have the feet too fmall ; and often you will find Horfes, with feet of the right black flint colour, and to all appearance unexceptionable, and yet they will (land no fervice on the road. Aliquando bonus dormitat Homerus, and I think Dr. Bracken's wits mud have been at any rate fleepy, when he corrected Sir William Hope, for the affertion, that tender -footed horfes bear heavy upon the hand; a faft, of which I have had long, and troublefome conviftion. We do not often catch the good Doclor napping; but I can mention a'nother inftance. To oblige his friend, Sir William Parfons, as it mould feem, Bracken difgraced his excellent work, by inferring a cruel and ridiculous pre- tended remedy for cutting behind; which was, to fallen a knotted whip-cord between the horfe's thighs: as if the infliclion of tortures, could polfibly change mal-conformation, or flrengthen weaknefs. How like to the cruel fophiftries of ignorant and cold-hearted politi- cal quacks, who punifli misfortune in terrorem. Heavy- ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER. 2ll Heavy-fhouldered horfes, and high hammer- ing goers, beat and founder their feet. The ill confequences of being fore low, in a faddle-horfe, are fufficiently obvious ; but to a pack-horfe, it is an advantage. The old pre- judice, in favour of fhort backs, round barrels, and carcafe ribbed home up to the huggen- bones, feems to have given way to the reafon- ings of Bracken; and the idea of an equal, and proper diftribution of length, is in general adopted by our fporting people. Indeed, to view the back of a horfe, merely as a bearing fixed upon upright columns, the intent of which is folely to (land under a given weight, a fhort bearing would have the preference ; but as the back of a horfe is deftined to move, as well as fuftain weight, it muft be confidered how far a defect of its longitude, and an irre- gularity in the general difpofition of length, retards action. Our Jockies fay, " A racer," they might have faid a goer, " muft have length fomewhere." That is perfectly juft; but in confequence, it always happens, that a horfe which wants length in his back, will be fure to have it in fome improper place, the legs for inftance. Short-backed (tallions are very apt to get leggy, fpider-lhaped ftock. A horfe which {lands over a great deal of ground, may be a goer, merely by virtue of his general p 2 length 212 ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER. length, if his fhoulder be not too unfavourably made. The fpine, being too fhort, is not fufficiently pliable, and the want of room between the ribs, and hip-bones, occafions the entrails to be fo prelfed towards the lungs in action, as in a confiderable degree to impede infpiration. Length of back will always be found advan- tageous, when there is fufficient general fub- ftance, and particularly, width and fwell of the mufcles in the loins and fillets; but fhort backs, are infinitely to be preferred to long thin (hapes, with hollow flanks, and narrow weak loins. Hollow backs are apparently weak, and the curvature of the fpine, muff in degree hin- der action, as well as all other irregularities of form. Horfes of this form, have fometimes a ver r elevated crePt, look handfomely mounted, give an eafy, convenient feat, and are pleafant goers. High, or bream-backed horfes, throw the faddle forward, and are liable to be galled bv it, and are often hard flumping goers. But a horfe (unlefs a capital one be the object.) muff never be rejected, merely on account of being either hollow, or fwine- backed. . I am uncertain, whether a mare, fo much hurt in her loins, as to be called broken- backed, would breed; but thoroughly con- vinced ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER. 2I3 vinced that every horfe of that defcription fhould be knocked on the head. They are fometimes ftyled Megrim Horses. They will feed, and even get fat. The defecl; is difcovered by trotting them brifkly about two hundred yards, when they will infallibly fink down upon their buttocks; this they will do upon being put to any labour: it is totally incurable. I have feen but two of this kind, one of which I w T as unlucky enough to pur- . chafe ; and, to amend the matter, he handled his fore-feet with all the dexterity of a pugilift; a vice, no doubt, acquired from the abufe the poor animal had fuffered, in conic juence of his deplorable misfortune. A finking;;, is fometimes obferved at the ex- tremity of the back, as if it were parted from the rump by a crofs-line, inflead of the fillets being oval and elevated ; it detracts from ftrength. The hip-bones, being fharp and not handfomely turned, the horfe is faid to be ragged-hipped; a defect., in point oi beauty, according to the rule laid down in Hogarth's Analyfis. The large carcased horfe is generally robuft and durable, eats much, requires much water, and digefts well. One with a light greyhound belly is fpeedy, molt probably hot; if loofe, and weak-loined, he is feldom worth his keep. Thefe are fuch as give their jockies p 3 the 214 ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER. the flip, by running through the girths. But a light carcafed horfe, deep in the girth, and well filletted, may be among the mod excellent, both for fpeed and duration. Such are often found to be good and fufficient feeders, and of rare temperament. The goose-rump is, as well as the ragged hip, another angular infringement of Hogarth's curve of beauty. If the rump be too high, the hinder will prefs, too much, upon the fore- quarters in action. When the quarters droop, they are, in courfe, too fhort, and the tail is fet on too low. Round, full buttocks, (hew the common, or cart-breed. To be hipped, or hipshot, is to have one hip lower than the other, and the flefh wafted on that fide. It may arife from a blow or {train. A horfe lame in the whirl- bone, or hip- joint, drags his hind-leg after him, and drops backward when he trots. This lamenefs, and that of the ftifle, if taken in time, and the fub- ject. be young, are always curable. The bay gelding, which I fold to the late Mr. Beaufoy, member for Yarmouth, and which he rode, I believe, near feven years, I purchafed lame in the whirl-bone, at five years old. Stifled, or lame in the stifle. The ftifle is tne knee-pan of the thigh ; the liga- ments, ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER. 215 merits, by which it is articulated to the great bone of the hock, are fometirnes over-ftretc ti- ed, and the {title-bone may be moved, in all directions, by the hand. The horfe will go lame, and only touch the ground with his toe. Bone-spavins are, in the hind, what fplents are in the fore-legs ; but always of much worfe confequence, becaufe ufually nearer the joint. They are to be felt on the infide of the hough, or hock. They are faid to be hereditary, as well as acquired by drains, the llgnification of which perhaps is, that a Horfe may be predif- pofed to them, by a natural moiftnefs of con- ilitution and laxity of the tendons. They occafion lamenefs, either perpetual, or at inter- vals; and as, nine times out often, this is the cafe, after a pretended cure, it is fafeft to hold them incurable. Spavins, by the pain they occafion, generally prevent a horfe from get- ting flefh. Bog-spavins, termed by the French, veffi- gons, and improperly called blood-fpavins by our farriers, are fwellings like windgalls, fituate in the hollow or infide of the hock, and may alfo be feen and felt, on each fide, without. When thefe prevail to any great degree, or the infide of the hock feels puffed or flabby, inftead of clofe, dry, and elafhc, it is the certain indica- tion of hard fervice ; and although it is often p 4 neglecled s 2l6 ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER. neglected, even by dealers, it is of the utmoft confequence to examine the hocks minutely. We have the authority of Bracken, for their being fafely curable, by ex ci lion, as well as windgalls; of which I entertain no doubt, al- though I have never experienced it. When they are large, they occahon lamenefs, parti- cularly at intervals. I have feen heavy, over- grown, three year olds, although they had never been worked, troubled with bog-fpavins. A curb, is a fpavin fituated along the back part of the hock, juft below the elbow, or extremity. It runs tapering downwards. After the curb has been extirpated by fire, I have ufually feen the horfe go lame. Capped-hocks, formerly named by Blun- deville, hough-bony. This is a fwelling on the point of the hocks, become callous. It is the general cafe of kickers, which wound their hocks by linking againft hard bodies. Jardons, are hard tumors upon the bend- ing of the ham, on the outfide. They arife, in managed horfes, from their having been kept too much upon their haunches, and occa- fion lamenefs. Sickle-hams, or fickle-houghs, in Horfes, may be compared to knock or nap-knees in men. The legs bend, the hocks approach each other, and the feet are thrown out. It is an indication of weaknefs, as is every other breach of ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER. 2\J of proportion. Such horfes, when young, are often lame in the hocks, and will cut them- felves notwithstanding they appear to go wide. They are reckoned fpeedy. Sallenders are, behind, the fame as mal- lenders before. Rat-tails, scratches, crown-scab, grease, &c. are all vifible enough, or to be felt upon the (hank, coronet, and pafterns. What has been faid of knocking before, ap- plies exactly to cutting behind. Good fhape and condition are a fecurity againfl this. A faddle-horfe ought to be frigate-built, (harp in the keel, and Spreading behind, in the quar- ters; of courfe he ought to go wide behind. When a wide-going horfe cuts, it indicates weaknefs in the loins. To go hammer and pinchers, is to over- reach, and Strike the hinder toe upon the fore- heel; the wound thus occafioned was formerly called an attaint. A horfe which throws his haunches well forward in action, may occa- sionally Strike the heel of the fore-fhoes, and Such frequently do it ; but thofe which do it at every Stroke, and difcover it by the noife their Shoes make, are very dangerous to ride; in fact:, fit for nothing but draft. When the thigh is too long, and the angle formed by the hock too extenfive, the Horfe is fubjecl to Spavins, from 2l8 ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER. from the too great weight thrown upon the hocks, alfo to over-reach. The strinc-halt, called by the old far- riers, the mary-hinchcho, every one knows to be a fudden and preternatural catching up one or both the hinder legs in action. The caufe, obvioufly proceeding from over-contrac- tion, no writer, that I know of, has attempted precifely to afcertain. All receipts for its cure are good waile paper. In horfes which have it not in a very high degree, it is fometimes fcarce perceptible, but vifible enough after a hard day's work. They mould fland in a loofe liable, and be as much abroad as pofftble. They are not deemed unfound. I have heard the late Mr. Tatter fall fay, he fcarce ever knew a firing-halted horfe which was not a good one. As much is generally averred in favour of rat-tailed ones. Perhaps their whole tendinous fyllem, is tough, firm, and dry. The crib-biter, formerly called a ticker ', is fometimes diitinguifhed by his dead coat, and thin appearance. Thefe horfes will (land biting at the rack, or manger, or even at a pod, throwing themfelves backward, and fuck- ing in the air with greedinefs. It is a habit acquired when they are young, and which never forfakes them ; as I have known grown chiM reii, of thirty years of age, fuck their tongues. Crib-biters are apt to ruin their teeth. ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER. 210, teeth. I know not why, but I think bred cattle mod fubject. to it. A variety of rules have been laid down, to determine the feat of lamenefs in Horfes, few of which, I believe, to be infallible. Very little elfe is to be difcovered by the old method of turning a horfe, which is lame before, fhort round, than that you have increafed his pain. Ofmer fays, if a horfe drags his toe upon the ground, the ligaments of the fhoulder are cer- tainly drained, or perhaps even the fcapula, or blade-bone diflocated, backward or for- ward. But drains of lefs confequence may happen to the fhoulder, which are very diffi- cult to diftinffuifh from thofe feated in the o lower extremities. In fuch cafe, I know of no other rule by which to judge of the foundnefs of the moulders, than that which I have al- ready noted in Italics, a few pages back. Both the hand and the eye mould be feduloufly em- ployed, in the endeavour to form a correci judgment; the former much more than is ufually the cafe. The paftern-joint mould be turned by the hand, in order to difcover any lurking uneafmefs. The patient himfelf, al- though unable to fpeak, will give very plain indications, in particular, by conflantly at- tempting to favour the injured part. In ltrains of the coffin-joint, or bone of the foot, the horfe will ftand with the toe only touching the ground. 220 ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER. ground. In a hot, or surbated foot, he will be alternately changing, or lifting up his feet. If a foot be pricked, or gravelled, or if the fhoe fet hard upon the foal or heel, or in (hort, if the horfe have any complaint againfl the fmith, he will frequently fhew it, by fetting the injured foot upon the other. Going fhort, and catching up the feet, as if the horfe was treading upon hot iron, alfo denotes uneafy (hoes, or tender feet. Horfes with cramped or contracled finews, or hurt in the knee joints, as poft-hacks frequently are, will fall down fudden- ly in their walk. If a horfe trot fideways, fome- times with one, fometimes with the other foot firft, or if he perpetually tend to one fide of the road, it (hews univerfal fliffnefs from hard labour, and the want of a long run at grafs. Hurts in the loins are known by a rolling or wavering motion of the hind-quarters. In a fudden jerk or drain of the loins, the horfe will feem to go, as it were, whole, and fixed behind, and upon his heels, as if foot-foun- dered. Horfes are not fo often lamed in the back-finews, behind, as before; but I have known feveral cafes of the tendon of the hind- leg being fuddenly let down, and, in the courfe of two or three weeks, by the help of bandage and aftringents, braced again and placed in Jiatu quo. The fymptoms were, lamenefs, and drooping fuddenly at intervals ; inflammation and ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER. 221 and tenfion; after thefe had fubfided, a palpa- ble laxity, and foftnefs of the tendon. The flying lameneffes, as they are ftyled, in the moulders, and lower joints of young, or unfeafoned horfes, it is the cuflom of farriers to attribute to peccant humours. I mull boldly avow my fcepticifm on this head, although Gibfon and Bartlet be of the oppofite party. They might jufl as well (in general) I con- ceive, lay thefe griefs to the charge of the lunar influence. They are often nothing more than the confequence of fudden and un- ufual exertion upon young and tender fibres, or thofe unaccufiomed to ftrefs and action. I know that copious bleeding and purging, much to the credit and emolument of the groom or farrier, are ufually prefcribed, and with fuccefs ; but I have alfo repeatedly feen a loofe (fable, or a fortnight's run abroad, fuc- ceed full as well. So much for humours which Jly about a horfe; they much oftener fly about the brain of his keeper. Horfes are, in truth, fometimes fubjecl: to rheumatic pains, and the faatica, or hip-gout. It is the opinion of many, that there is no neceluty for great fubftance in the fnank and paftern, provided the finew be large and dil- tincl, and the loin wide and good ; in which, it is infilled, the chief ftrength of the Horfe re- fides. Baret and Ofmer, are of that opinion; but 222 ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER. but I think it fcarcely corre&, fince an equal diflribution of fubftance, is obvioufly as necef- fary, as of length. Ofmer, no doubt, intended to fpeak comparatively between the different fpecies, and it is certain, that the fouthern bred horfe, with his fmall hard fhank, and large, dry, and tough finew, is able to move with a much larger proportional weight, than the thick grofs horfe of thefe northern countries. Neverthelefs, to be able to carry weight, a large fmew fhould be attached to a fhank, and joints proportionally large; and the whole fupported by a foot of compafs fufficient to form a fteady foundation. It is the refult of my conftant obfervation, that hacks, with large bone under the knee, will always endure mod rattling over the hard road. Horfes formed too bulky upwards, for their lower extremities, are liable to various acciden- tal lamenefTes and defects, merely from the unequal preffure of their own, weight. Hence windgalls, fplents, fpavins, and particularly crookednefs of the joints. Thefe, and all early-grown cattle, fhould be put to work very late, in which cafe, they will improve ; otherwife will feldom fland found long. It is a mathematical truth, that a crooked joint can- not be fo flronc: as a ftrai^ht one, as a column is flrong, in proportion as it is perpendi- cular. There ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER. 223 There is a certain reafon why St. Bel did wrong in not quoting Ofmer by name. In one cafe, he has very properly corrected him. Ofmer, though an excellent writer, was a little too pofitive. He offers a method of fhoeing, or paring one fide of the foot of a colt, which is infallibly to prevent his ever turning out his toes. But he erred in fuppofmg the defecl to be the mere' confequence of early habit, fince it is no doubt almoft ever the refult of natural conformation, and his propofed remedy might be attended with dangerous confequences. He, perhaps, received the opinion of the Sta- gyrite too literally, " that Nature never errs/* which, if predicted of her original determina- tions, is unqueflionable ; but if of fpontaneous and fortuitous acliion, is contradicted by every day's experience. It is a very juft obfervation, that a horfe " can fcarce go too wide behind," and, that he ought to be very wide acrofs the knee, fore- arm, thigh, and hock. But I have, as well as Bracken, feen now and then one, which ex- ceeded in thofe particulars, and which were inapt for aclion in confequence, but robuft and hard feeders. A Horfe mult obvioufly lofe flrength, if the hind legs be too far extended, and I have thence feen that wavering of the croup, noted by St. Bel, in both (addle and draft horfes, 224 ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER. hones. Too extenfive quarters prefs too much upon the fore-parts, and occasion the horfe to over-reach. I know not whether it has been hitherto remarked, that a horfe going wide behind, appears to an unfkilled obferver, to be lame of that hind-leg, upon which his eye is fixed, notwithflanding it be perfectly found ; but fo it certainly is. The health and condition of animals, is af- certained by the glofs, fleeknefs, and evennefs of the coat. If the horfes hair (tares, or flicks out, and look dead, he is difeafed, or ill -fed. If nits appear upon the extremity of the hairs, he has been lately at grafs. The fiens of vice and ill-nature in Horfes, mutt be fought in the eyes and countenance. A vicious horfe, when he lays his ears and looks back, expofes the whites of his eyes, and his malicious intentions are very vifibly painted in his countenance. He ftands commonly with his neck fixed, as if prepared for offence. Care fhould be taken to difcriminate. The beft-natured horfes will, on the approach of man, lay their cars, fmile (for they are mod truly rifible animals) and move their necks to and fro, in a wanton and playful manner. There is an exprdlion of noblenefs and gene- rality beaming from the eye of a good, and well-tempered horfe; and it is grievous, often to ON THE HACKNEY AND HUNTER. 225 to fee the friendly advances of this excellent, this next to human creature, treated with furly indifference, or cruel (tripes. Jockies fay, " a Horfe (hould carry his head in a proper place, when mounted;" How is that? So that his chin, or under jaw, recline fomewhat under his windpipe, and his neck and head form a portion of a circle. But this relates only to a flow pace. In the purchafe of a horfe, with the ufual warrant, we will fuppofe, the buyer ought to attend firfl of all to the mod important con- fiderations, in which being fatisfied, it is vain to hefitate, fmce as the cafe ftands, he may not meet that fatisfaclion every day. Thefe, I think, are — age, ability to carry his weight, fafe going, and good feet ; freedom from knocking, cutting, or over-reaching; that there be no need of martingale, or crupper; fpeed. What has been already faid of form and blood, the reader will find as ftri&ly applica- ble, in general, to the hunter as the hackney ; but the former not being required to trot, or to go much over hard-roads, are additional arguments in favour of thorough blood. Nor can it be doubted, that a bred horfe (if not too high upon the leg) from the cleannefs of his make, and the flrength of his finews, is the fitted to carry twenty (lone, over the deepeft and mod inclofed country. vol. i. q I have 226 ON THE PACES, AND I have oblerved, that the Irifh hunters are the higheit leapers in the world, from their being early trained thereto* Would it not be advantageous, to bring all our colts of fize and figure to the bar? Good ftanding-leapers, are, I think, generally fcarce; and fome, which are good in that refpect., will hefitate and bog- gle at their flying leaps. Perhaps an early attention might remedy thofe defects. CHAP. V. ON THE PACES, AND THE EQUESTRIAN ART, OR MODERN METHOD OF RIDING ON HORSEBACK, AS PRACTISED BY BOTH SEXES. RESUME the defcription of the natural ■*■ paces, walk, trot, canter, and gallop, com- mon to all Horfes; but of which, the trot is the bed pace of the northern, the gallop of the fouthern horfe; and this diflinclion arifes from their different conformation. In progreflion, the feet fhould be put for- ward in an even and rectilinear direction, and the farther the fore-legs are advanced, the greater is the profpecl: of fpeed, the hinder-quarters, being thrown forward, in due proportion. The THE EQUESTRIAN ART. 227 The feet fhould be lifted up a middling diftance from the ground, fo that the knee may appear handfomely bent, in action, parti- cularly in the trot. Horfes which lift their feet too high, are fubjeft to the fpeedy cut, and may be very rough goers. Although fome- times very fpeedy, their labouring method of going, detracts from the power of continuance. Some of them alio, depending intirely upon their high form, are very carelefs, and when they do fall, fcorn to do things by halves. In the other extreme, are the daifey-cutters, namely, fuch as fkim along the furface with a flraight knee, thefe are abfolutely ufelefs, ex- cept they are racers or cart-horfes. There are, however, fome horfes, which go near the ground, and yet are perfectly fafe by day, from a natural care; but they are difagreeable night hacknies, their folicitude to keep them- felves up, being a conftant fource of alarm to themfelves, and their rider. The walk, is generally long and finding, in proportion to the blood of the horfe, con- trarywife, (hort and muffling. All Horfes are improved confiderably in their walk, by keep- ing them long and frequently to it, patting them on the quarter with the fwitch, and obliging them to walk fairly without muff- ling. Six miles in one hour, is the utmoft that Q 2 has 228 ON THE PAQ-E-S, AND has ever been performed by a horfe, in the walking way. The true trot is performed with a quick and ftraight forward motion, and a bended knee. The horfe which points out his fore- legs, and goes with his knee ftraight, is no trotter, whatever the old jockies may have faid of their pointing trotters ; they lofe time by overftriding : nor are fuch ufually good hacks. But it matters not how far a trotter fteps for- ward, provided his knee be fufficiently bent. Some trot too fhort, and taking up their feet rapidly, appear to fet them down almoft in the fame place. Thefe are commonly bone- fetters ; but I have known, now and then, one of them, perform fifteen miles in one hour. The utmoft fpeed of an Englifh trotter (and I have reafon to believe they excel all others) is a mile in about two minutes, fifty-feven feconds. Sixteen miles in one hour, has been trotted fufficiently often, and with high weights; in my opinion, eighteen is upon the trotting cards. Perhaps ten miles might be performed in half an hour. The ftory of a gentleman's horfe in Billiter-fquare, which trotted thirty miles in lefs than an hour and a half, to be found in Bewicke's Quadrupeds, and in other publi- cations, is, no doubt, the account of a capital performance, upon paper ; but it is nonfenfe elfewhere. THE EQUESTRIAN ART. 229 eliewhere. In Ruflia, Sweden, and Holland, they have faft trotters ; and, I have heard, fu- perior in fpeed to ours, but my informants were not jockies. The canter, is an abbreviation of the gallop. The fore-legs fhould be put fomewhat farther forward, than in the trot, the knees handfomely bent, the horfe reclining fufficient- ly upon his haunches. If he bend his neck gracefully, rein well, and deal out his legs and feet, in an even, and elegant manner, there is no pace, in which a horfe appears with fuch grace and beauty. It is truly the ladies pace, In the canter, the near or left foot leads the way. The horfe is brought into a canter, by preffing the right hand curb rein, and at the fame time, lightly and frequently touching his left fide with the fpur. When perfect., he will take the pace eafily, and without hefitation, on perceiving the accuftomed hint, whatever that may be ; and, in the fame manner, will inftantly {top, and fink into his walk, without boggling or danger. This excellent, and mod pleafant pace, of the Horfe, from our general defective fyftem of breaking, is not fufficiently attended to. Every colt, intended for the road, or field, ought to be taught as handfome a canter, whilfl in tackle, as his form will admit; inftead of which, the few canterers we have, ufually Q 3 are 23O OxN THE PACES, AND are to be taught that pace, in their work ; our four and five years old, too often coming up out of the country, as raw, and ignorant of their paces, as mountain goats. The canter has been fuppofed incompatible with fafl trotting, or at leafl an impediment to it, which is a vulgar error; the extent of the ilroke, and degree of bending the knee, being nearly equal (with trotters) in both paces. Nor does the cufiom of cantering at all add to the danger of a trotter's flying out of his pace, which is the confequence of unfkilful riding; and, in that cafe, he goes into a gallop, not a canter. Occafionai cantering is moreover a great relief to fall trotters, which are ever more (hook and hurt, than any other defcrip- tion of Horfes. Want of practice, is the general reafon why Horfes will not canter long and fteadily ; yet there are certainly many which cannot be brought by any means to perform it well. Others again, from their natural fhape and inclination, will canter away freely, nine or ten miles per hour, and continue it a whole ftage. I have even known fome, which would canter pleafantly fourteen miles within the hour. Thefe may be properly ftyled cantering hacks, and are very valuable. It is a pace to which all bred hacks ought to be accullomed, as they have feldom much expedition in their trot, and THE EQUESTRIAN ART. 23 1 and are the leafl liable to be (hook by the hard road, in a canter. It is unneceffary to fay much of the gallop, in this place, it not being a pace calculated for road fervice. Common road hacks generally gallop too high, befides leaving their quarters too far behind them; fome of them, neverthe- lefs, free from thofe defecls, have run twenty miles in one hour. Having fome fmall pretentions, as a trotting- jockey, the liberal reader will, I truft, grant me permiffion to mount my hobbv, and dilate awhile upon my favourite pace. No argu- ments need be expended, in proving the trot to be the moll ufeful of all the paces; the fuperior price of thofe horfes, which excel at it, (landing in good ftead. Faft-trotting too, is equally contributory to fport, as to bufinefs, and affords the amateur, or him who rides only for exercife fake, every day opportunities of gratification, which cannot fo conveniently, or frequently be obtained, upon the turf. I am ignorant how long it has been the fafhion to cultivate this pace, fince trotting matches have never been admitted into our racing annals, and all authors are filent upon the fubjecl:; but fuppofe it be a natural conco- mitant of our improvement in the breed of Horfes. Our mixed breed, or chapmens' horfes, are bed calculated to excel in this way/ Q 4 Perhaps 232 ON THE PACES, AND Perhaps there never was an inftance of a bred horfe being a capital trotter, or of performing more than fourteen miles in one hour; or if fuch inftances have been, they are fo rare as not to affecl the general principle. The reafon of this inability in the racer, I apprehend, to confift chiefly in his too great pliability of fmew, which occafions him to outftride the limited compafs of the trot, and in the delicacy of his feet and joints, which will not permit him to endure the rude concufhon of the hard road, inevitable in faft trotting. A trotter, as well as a racer, " rnufl have length fomewhere," it muft not however ex- ceed in the. legs. Horfes, in general, trot well in proportion to the excellence of their fhape, as 1 have already defcribed it; and it fcarce need be remarked, of what confequence it is for a trotter, on account of the feverity of his fervice, to go clear of all his legs, and to have ftrong feet. But although an extenfivc counter fhoulder is abfolutely neeeflary to faft trotting, yet that extreme obliquity, or ftant, fo much in requeft for the racer, is not fo to the trotter; or rather perhaps would be difadvantageous. There is a certain fixednefs (fo to fpeak) re- quired in the trotting horfe; he muft not over- ftnde or out-lunge himfelf, for the injtant he Jlr aightens his knee (remark) he is beat. He muft alfo throw his haunches well in. If that natural THE EQUESTRIAN ART. 233 natural rapidity, that wire edge of fpeed, is not to be acquired, yet proper fhapes will un- doubtedly trot, and trotters are to be bred. They are divided into fair and running trotters, of the latter (ufually) fpeed is the beft. I am a bungler at defcription, and can only fay, that the runner is diftinguifhed by a rolling motion, and does not bend his knees fo much, or flep out, fo far as the fair trotter. His pace, I conceive, to be fomewhat fimilar to the racking of former days, already mention- ed; it has alfo the appearance of being occa- fioned by hurts in the joints ; and old battered trotters frequently become runners in their latter days. Or, after all, it may be occasioned by bad breaking, and fuffering a confufion of the paces. Horfes which jump and bound along like bucks, will never make trotters. An idea prevails with many, that trotting horfes are naturally (tumblers, or at leaft dangerous to ride. It is totally unfounded. They are, perhaps, merely from their mode of going, among the fafeft ; nor is there any pe- culiar danger in the mod rapid trot, provided your hack be well-fhaped and found. The notion has arifen from the miferably battered {late of mod horfes of this defcription. It may not be held unentertaining or unufe^ ful, to fuch as are fond of the fport of trotting, if I dedicate a page or two to the memory of the 234 ON THE PACES, AND the chief of thofe horfes which I have known to excel in this way. It is but juft, that they fhould inherit their fair portion of that cele- brity, which the page of equeftrian annals confers on their elder brethren of the turf. The renowned Blank, may be looked upon as the father of trotters, fince from his baftard fon, Old Shields, or Scott, the trotting ftallion, have proceeded the beft, and the greateft number of horfes of that qualification: and to Shields and Ufeful Cub, the Ifle of Ely, Cam- bridgefhire and Norfolk, are in a great meafure indebted for their fame, in the production of capital hacknies. Cub was got by a black cart-hoife, out of a chapman's mare; ofcourfe his trotting (lock have run too much upon the round moulder and buttock, and have been more remarkable for their fpeed, than floutnefs. The fafteft trotter, as I have good reafon to fuppofe, w T hich has ever been tried in England, was called Archer, from the name of the perfon who brought him to London; and from his having been bred in Norfolk, it is probable he was of the family of Old Shields. He was a bay gelding, full fifteen hands high, and mailer of fifteen done. Being the pro- perty of Marfden, the dealer, who alio pofTefled the old one eyed black gelding, at that time iiippofed to be the fpeedieft trotter in England, for THE EQUESTRIAN ART. 235 for one or two miles, they were tried together; and Archer proved to have the greateft fpeed, even for the fhorteft diflance. I afterwards myfelf faw the black horfe timed with the {top- watch, two miles, the lafl of which he perform- ed considerably under three minutes. With refpecl: to the other, the rapidity of his burft, in the courfe of a mile's trotting (which I have witneffed) was truly aftonifhing; and I cannot conceive the rate of it could be below twenty- five miles per hour. It has been faid of late, that an old gelding, the property, I believe, of one Cartwright, which cut in the fpeed, was as faff as Archer, which I know from trials to be groundlefs, and that the old horfe had not fpeed enough to trot along fide Archer a fingle inftant. This noble animal was. ibt- tifhly and cruelly murdered, about ten years ago, by being trotted over the road in a hard froft. He performed fixteen miles, in fifty- four minutes and a half, carrying about eleven flone. The exceflive making which he fuffer- ed from the hardncfs of the road, brought a fever and inflammation upon his feet, which, with the aid of fuppreffed perfpiration, and improper treatment, foon killed him. As Archer was the fpeedieit, the well-known brown mare, which died the property of Bifhop, proved herfelf the ftouteft,that is to fay, the moll. Jailing trotter in the world. This mare was full 236 ON THE PACES, AND full fifteen hands and a half high, with bone fufficient to carry twenty flone ; (hewed fome blood, with a mixture of the cart-breed, fuch as we frequently fee in farmers hacks. Her neck was fhort, her fore -hand well elevated, her fhoulder deep, and counter-form, but not very oblique; nor was (lie proportionably deep in the girth. She had fufficient general length, but was not long in the back, yet had plenty of room between her ribs and huggon-bones, with good fillets. Her quarters were amply fpread, and fhe flood well before. In her latter days fhe was a dafhing goer, inclining to the run; but was never remarkable for f peed, nor ever able, as I underfland, to trot the mile in three minutes. In the year 1783, or thereabouts, (he trotted over the Epfom road, fixteen miles in fifty- eight minutes and a half, carrying twelve flone, rode by Mr. Aldridge, who at prefent keeps the Repofitory in St. Martin's-lane. This I faw, and it was then faid to be the firfl time, that fixteen miles in one hour, with twelve flone, had ever been trotted. In Oclober 1791, being then eighteen years old, fhe trotted on the Rumford road, fixteen miles in fifty-eight minutes, fome odd feconds, with twelve flone, or thereabouts, beating Green's horfe, for fifty pounds. It was probably, within her powers, to THE EQUESTRIAN ART. 237 to have trotted thirty miles in two hours; which diftance was actually trotted, in two hours and ten minutes, by Ogden's cheftnut mare. The brown mare died January 30, 1794. She had been nearly ftarved by running the winter in a park near Hounflow; and the morning (he was taken home, dropped down dead, as the boy was exercifing her, after water. Very good portraits of the above two mares, may be feen in a monthly mifcellany, by no means unentertaining, called the Sport- ing Magazine. A grey mare, called the lockfmith's mare, a running trotter, trotted feventy-two miles in fix hours. In 1793, Crocket's grey mare trotted one hundred miles in twelve hours, and had twenty minutes to fpare. A five year old, fon of young Pretender (which Pretender was got by Hue and Cry, fon of Old Shields, out of a bred daughter of Lord Abingdon's Pretender) I have been informed, trotted, in 1792, in Lincolnshire, fix- teen miles in fifty-nine minutes, carrying fif- teen flone. In April 1 792, the yellow bay gelding, called Spider, and the old cheftnut gelding, then near thirty years of age (above-mentioned in the name of Cartwright) trotted thirty-two miles 238 ON THE PACES, AND miles in two hours, between Stilton and Cam- bridge, ridden by the fame perfon, weight nearly ten flone. Spider trotted the firfl twen- ty-four miles in an hour and an half, bating a minute and half; and the old chefntit horfe the remainder. It was faid, that they could have performed thirty-four miles within the given time. Spider was full fifteen hands, appeared three- parts bred, and by his long four head, (hewed like the family of bay Malton. He knuckled very much before, and had been fired behind for a fpavin, and fometimes could fcarce rife when laid. It is remarkable, this horfe had palled through the hands of feveral dealers, who never fufpe£led his trotting, but called him a blood-horfe. They alfo fuppofed him jinked in the back, from his lamenefs, on account of the fpavin. He died in 1793. He was by no means fpeedy. My own brown mare, known by the name of Betty Blofs, was the flowed of all capital trot- ters ; but at five years old, trotted fifteen miles in one hour, carrying fourteen flone, although fairly miftrefs of no more than ten. She after- wards trotted fixteen miles within the hour, at ten flone, with as much eafe to herfelf, and her rider, as could any hack whatever. She was nearly broken down at four years old, had bad feet, and befidcs had too much blood for a trot- ter, THE EQUESTRIAN ART. 239 ter, having been got by Sir Hale's Com- moner, out of a three-part bred daughter of Rattle, fon of Snip. Although fo flow a gal- loper, that it was a mere burlefque upon racing, to match her, (he beat feveral well-bred hacks over the courfe, by dint of running every yard of the ground ; and there is no doubt but fhe could have performed twenty-two miles in one hour, with eight ftone. She repeatedly walked five miles within the hour, and, perhaps, was not to have been matched in Britain, for variety and excellence of qualifications, being in the firft degree docile, pleafant- tempered, and fafe, a tough and everlafting hack, a good hunter, and a capital lady's pad. It is with a melan- choly pleafure that I thus write the eulogium of a poor departed fervant, which cheerfully contributed, during nine years, to the comfort and convenience of my life. It is well enough known, to thofe who re- queft them, that capital trotters, whether for a fingle mile, or for didance, are always fcarce, and command a high price ; and that it is ex- tremely difficult to obtain them, until they are in fucn a battered ftate, that they are fcarce fafe to ride ; the madnefs and folly of their owners, always wearing out the legs and feet of thefe horfes, in teaching them their pace. As horles trot from their (liapes, I would recom- mend it to fuch fportfmen, as defire a hack of this 240 ON THE PACES, AND this kind, to purchafe a promifing one in his youth, either from his own fearch, or through the means of a dealer, who knows fomething of the matter, which, in truth, but few of them do. If a young trotter be obtained, it will be per- ceived, in an inltant, whether he has a natural great bent of fpeed ; but if not, granting he be thorough-fhaped, and can trot a mile in four minutes handfomely, he may improve, and be- come capital for a long diftance. In training a young trotter, take a long time, keep him al- moft always within himfelf, never trot him with a flack rein, or fuffer him to hitch, lead with one leg, or to get into a confufed run be- tween trot and gallop ; but accuftom him to pull well and Iteadily at you. Always ob- lige him to finifh his trot in a walk, never in either canter or gallop ; in which latter cafe, caufe him to turn round, as is the cuftom in a trotting race. No hack is fit to trot any con- iiderable diftance until riling fix years old ; but it is remarkable that trotters, unlike gallopers, do not lofe their fpeed from old age, many having been known to trot as fafl at twenty, and even near thirty years of age, as they did in their prime ; a folid recompence, furely, for the extraordinary care which thefe horfes de- mand. As it is obvious, that the damage which trotters receive, in their feet, joints, and fmews, THE EQUESTRIAN ART. 24I finews, arifes from their violent and incelTant thumping the hard road, common fenfe will naturally prefcribe moderate and fparing exer- cife, and foft ways ; and whenever you fee a fellow wantonly rattling his trotter over a pavement, you may very fairly prefume, a natural affinity, between the fcull of the jockey, and the materials with which his courfe is ftrewed ; and even if you go fo far as to wifh a happy contact be- tween them, humanity herfelf fhall forgive you. I would even recommend training a trotter on the turf, wherever that advantage can be ob- tained ; far from rendering a hack unfteady in his trot, when he afterwards comes upon the road, he will trot more fteadily for it, the chief reafon for a good trotter flying into his gallop (befide bad jockeyfhip) being the forenefs of his joints and feet. They muft have the beft grooming, and the conftant ufe of a loofe liable. To be able to perform fixteen miles in one hour, a horfe muft have fpeed enough to trot a mile in confiderably lefs than three minutes and a quarter. If he be full of meat, and in work, from a fortnight to a month's training is fuffi- cient ; and that by no means in the fevere and rattling way which it is ufually praclifed by our Smithfield jockies, who fometimes contrive to win their match, and lofe their nag. Four miles trotting in the morning, through the laft vol. 1. r of 2/J2 ON THE PACES, AND of which you mnjl come along, and good walk- ing exercife in the afternoon, is fully fufficient. This ought to be preceded by a gentle dofe of phyfic. If a trial, all the way through, be held neceflary, let it be as long as poffible (confident with condition) previous to the race. Trotters fhould always be ridden with a double-reined bridle, moderately curbed ; and with refpecl; to a jockey, I would advife a pre- ference to be given to one who belongs to the running flables, and that not entirely on the confideration of weight. Suppofing one of this defcription to be rather unaccuftomed to trotting, he will train on fufficiently in the courfe of exercife : and will have, at his fingers ends, certain important points, of which the common trotting- jockey will always be igno- rant. The reafon ufually afhgned for fetting a huge thundering fellow upon a trotter, rolling from fide to fide, fawing his jaws, and beating him out of his ftroke, is, forfooth, that the weight may Ready the horfe, and the jockey be flrong enough to hold him ; as if it did not re- quire pulling with infinitely more effect, and judgment, to make a waiting race with a hot and powerful horfe, which is fo often and fo well performed over the Beacon courfe, by a rider of eight ftone. In trotting matches, no attention is ufually paid to weight, unlefs it be to fet up a fufficient lump, THE EQUESTRIAN ART. 243 lump, for the fage reafons aforefaid; and I have actually known twelve ftone chofen in preference to nine. But I fubmit it to fporting men, whether it confift with reafon to exclude the general principle in this cafe, or whether weight can poffibly be without its exacl: (hare of confequence, in a pace which fometimes equals the rate of iw T enty-five miles per hour. For my own part, I am perfectly fatisfied on this head, not only from theory, but repeated experience ; and can affure thofe, who wifh to profit by trotting matches, that they will find their account, in paying due attention to the weight they put on horfe-back. Let the fportf- man beware, how he makes his match in the winter feafon, when the roads are deep and heavy ; and, if made in fummer, the proper time for a trotting race is early in the morning, when the leaft impediment will be experienced from traffic. Colt-breaking has not that attention among us, which its importance demands. There is a general want of well-qualified men in this way, as w T ell as of good farriers. Our chance-medley breeders either break their horfes themfelves, or commit it to perfons equally ig- norant ; whence the number of our Garroons, the breed and education of which are fo well matched. r 2 I have 244 ON THE PACES, AND I have already given divers hints on this part of the fubjecl:, and once more repeat my ad- vice of teaching the colt a good canter. If it fhould be held proper to learn him to leap the bar, the utmofl care mufl be taken that he be not fuffered to do it with a heavy weight, which may, in an inftant, let down his tender finews. It by no means injures a colt, of fize and bone, to put a collar upon him, provided the draft be light and eafy ; for inftance, plow- ing light fands ; his knowing how to draw, may be of after ufe and profit. The utmoft care mould be ufed to teach a colt his paces diftinElly. You will obferve a number of Horfes, trained and ridden bv little farmers and countrymen, which confufe and jumble the paces one into the other, muffling between walk and trot, and trot and gallop, till they acquire a kind of racking pace, from which it is no eafy tafk to reclaim them : or they will, perhaps, do one pace only. If the colt be unfavourably made forward, and it ap- pear from the mal-conformation of his neck, and the ill-fetting on of his head, that he can never have a handfome carriage, double care muft be taken to give him a well-tempered mouth, the only thing which can poMibly ren- der a horfe, of this unfortunate defcription, to- lerable. Such THE EQUESTRIAN ART. 245 Such as (hew much blood, or (loop forward, and lounge in their gait, in the ufual manner of bred cattle, ought to be well fet upon their haunches. The future goodnefs and value of the nag materially depend upon early tuition. If he be defective in bending his knees, let him be rid- den daily in rough and ftony roads ; or if that fail, caufe him to be ridden every day, for a month, or more, with blinds. Being blinded, he will naturally lift up his feet. I have expe- rienced the ufe of it. When a colt is refractory, it is ufual to tame him, by riding him immoderately over deep earth. It is a filly cuftom, and often produc- tive of great mifchieft, by weakening the tender joints of a young horfe, breaking his fpirit, or rendering it totally delperate. Coolnefs and perfeverance are here the requifites ; there is no horfe with a ftomach fo proud, which a level courfe will not bring down. The moil proper period for breaking a fad- dle-colt, is the ufual one, when three years old. In the common mode of performing this pre- mier act of horfemanfhip, there is very little variation, fince Baret's days ; or rather, it may be faid, we have univerfally adopted his im- proved method. A head-ftall is put upon the colt, and a caverfane over his nofe (from the old Italian word, cavazana, Engliihed, by r 3 Blundeville, 246 ON THE PACES, AND Blundeville, cavetfan, or head-ftraine) with reins. He is faddled, then led forth with a long rein, and, in due time, lunged, or led around a ring, upon fome foft ground. As foon as he has become tolerably quiet, he is mounted, a proper mouth and carriage given, and his paces taught. When fufficiently in- ftru&ed, he ought (in general) to be difmiffed, until the following fpring ; an early period for ferious bufinefs. There are fome, who choofe to defer break- ing their colts until four years old, for which they often find juft caufe of repentance, in the ftrength and ftubbornnefs of the horfe ; fuch practice would, however, be at lead fomewhat more fafe, if a favourite method of mine were adopted, which is, to accuftom colts to hand- ling, to the halter and the bit, immediately upon their weaning. On the iubjefl, of riding on horseback, it is rather a hazardous tafk for an author to fay any thing ferious, after the immortal Bun- bury 's exquifite burlefque of Geoffrey Gam~ bado, which has convulfed all thofe of the prefent time, who have any tolerable portion of the animal rifibile in their compofition. One would alfo wonder how there could be any unfkilful or barbarous horfemen among us, fmce fuch judicious and humane rules have been long fmce attainable, for the moderate fum THE EQUESTRIAN ART. 247 fum of one (hilling, in the truly excellent pam- phlet of my old acquaintance, Profeffor Charles Hughes. But thus it is ; neither the light but poignant fhafts of ridicule, nor the fage admo- nitions of us pains-taking authors, are able to prevail upon the bulk of people to become good jockies. Hear old Blundeville upon this affair : — " Of which knowledge, what lacke we Englifh haue had, and fpeciallie haue at this prefent, is beft feene at a mufter, when the Oueene's Maieftie hath need of horfes and horfemen, where oftentimes you (hall fee fome that fit on their horfes like wind-fkaken reeds, handling their hands and legs like weauers : or if the horfeman be good, then the horfe for his part fhal be fo broken, as when he is fpurred to go forward, he wil go backward : and when his rider would haue him to turne on the right hand, he will turne cleane contrarie : and when he mould flop he will arme himfelfe, and run awaie, or elfe flop fooner than his rider would haue him, or ufe fuch like toies." Hear farther the warm-headed, but well-meaning Michael Ba- ret : — " Alfo, hee muff carry his body upright, neither yeelding too farre backe (as if hee were pulling at a great tree, nor too forward as if he were afleep, for thefe two motions ferve to -other ends (as hereafter (hall be " fhowne) neither to fit on one fide, like a r 4 " crabj t( CI 248 ON THE PACES, AND " crab, or to hang hi body oner as if he were " drunken, as I have feen fome horfemen doe. " Neither ought he to carry his legs fo clofe " to his horfe's fides, that hee cannot give any " motion therewith, except hee firft thruft " them forth. — Neither mull he carry his legs " (out) flaring like flilts (without ioynts, as " Saint George painted on horfe-backe) be- " fore his horfe's fore-fhoulder," &c. I have been as correct as poifible, in the orthography of the above quotations, for the ufe of that worthy gentleman, who lately publifhed certain genuine Shakefpearian MSS. ; and who, no doubt, has more in petto, for the farther amufe- ment of the public. The prefent times, mature however they ought to be in the fcience, are far enough from deficient in caricatures of horfemanfhip. Obferve that tall, thin figure, riding up Rotten Row. bolt-upright upon his horfe, as though he were impaled, his ft irrup -leathers of an excef- five length, the extremity of his toe barely touching the ftirrups, as if afraid of it ; his lily hands adorned with ruffles volant, and his head with a three-cocked hat, as {harp as a north- eafter ; the head of his fteed decked out with extraordinary trappings, and the flern fecured by a crupper. This is a Toe-jockey, or a taylor on horfe-back. But let not my readers milundcrfland me. I here fpeak not of aclual, but THE EQUESTRIAN ART. 249 but virtual taylors ; fueh, by virtue of a figure. Far be it from me, to fpeak with th<* lead difre- fpeft of a profeflion, which has produced fo many heroes, in the ninth degree fuperior to ordinary men. To go no farther, witnefs that noble Engliflr tayior to whofe memory one of the chief cities of Italy erefted a ftatue, on ac- count of his military virtues — thofe gallant taylors, who, in the war before the laft, plunged with their horfes into the Thames, and fwim- ming acrofs, haftened to gather laurels in the bloody fields of Germany — and that Hercules in fields of more pleafant defcription, the cele- brated tayior of Brighton. Let it be remem- bered alio, that every profeflion which con- duces to public and private benefit, is honour- able — and, moreover, that it would ill become a poor author to write contumelioully of tay- lors, who are, in general, fuch creditable men. Some you will fee, who, under the mijlaken notion, that it is the go, to lean forward, be- caufe they have feen fomethmg like it, at a race ; hang quite over their horfes necks : thefe equeftrians make a fmall miftake, by bending at the hip-joint inftead of the middle of the fpine, which, by protruding their poftic parts, gives them the femblance of being juft in the aft of offering an oblation to the neceffary goddefs. Others thru ft their legs out from the horfes fides, in defiance of all ordinary gate- ways, 25O ON THE PACES, AND ways. Behold that knowing dog from Rum- ford, or the interior of Effex, with a quid in h^s mouth, an Indiaman waving from his fipirrzCj his horfe muffling along, dot and go one, or budging forward in that delightful rack, be- tween trot and gallop ; the rider's whole foot, and part of his leg, thruft through the ftirrup, and his toe projecting downward, as if he meant to dig a hole in the road ; he rows the living engine along, by alternately flriking the flank and (houlders with his -heel and toe, whilft his arms, in unifon, beat the devil's tattoo againft his own fides. The modern feat on horfe-back, and it feems to have owed its eftablilhment to reafon, con- firmed by experience, is, to fet naturally and eafily upright upon .your faddle, as you would in your chair ; your knees about as much bent, and turned inward, your toes fomewhat out, and upward, your leg falling nearly ftraight, and your foot home in the ftirrup ; your back- bone prepared to bend in the middle, upon oc- cafion, your elbows held clofe to your fides, your hands rather above the horfe s withers, or the pommel of the faddle, and your view di- rected between his ears. This is the true turf or Newmarket feat, and the be ft exemplifica- tion of it, that I am able to give, is the por- trait of Samuel Chifney, the jockey, upon a horfe THE EQUESTRIAN ART. 2§l horfe named Baronet, once the property of his Royal Highnefs the Prince of Wales. The decline of Ridingr-houfe forms in this country, and the univerfal preference given to expedition, fully confirm, the fuperior ufe and propriety of a jockey-feat. Indeed, our riding- fchools are now confiderably reformed from the ftiffnefs of ancient practice, in all refpecls ; but the reader, on a reference to Hughes's publication, will find we do not entirely agree. It was the practice formerly in the fchools, and, indeed, pretty generally upon the road, to ride with the tip of the toe only in the flirrup ; as if it were of more confequence to prepare for falling with fafety, than to endea- vour to fit fecurely. Thofe who preferve a partiality for this venerable cuftom, I would advife to fufpend a final judgment, until they have made a few more efTays upon a huge, cock-tail half-bred ; of that kind, I mean, which " cannot go, and yet won't (land dill ; 3S and will dart from one fide of the road to the other, as if they really defired to get rid of their bur- den. Nor is the ball of the foot a proper reft ; chiefly, becaufe inconvenient to that, erect, or rather almofl kneeling poiture, which is re- quired in fpeedy riding. The riding-houfe feat is preferved, by the balance or equipoife of the body, folely ; that recommended here, by the firm hold of knee, which is obvioufly flrength- ened by the oppofite dire6tions of the knee and toe, the one in, the other outward. The ufe of a fixed feat is to enable the rider to give his horfe the proper pulls, without which every 1?5 V 2 ON" THE PACES AND every experienced jockey knows he can neither go fleadily and well, nor lafl his time. It is not the cuftom of the fchools to fpur the horfe with a kick ; but fpurring is always fo performed, upon t,he road and field ; as the military mode of giving that correction would quite derange a jockey-feat, and would be on other accounts inconvenient. The late M. St. Bel intended to have pre- fented us w T ith an eflay upon Englifn equita- tion ; a fubjecl, wherein I judge he would have failed, from a want of practical experience. His intention was doubtlefs to have recom- mended our return to the military or riding- houfe forms, to which alone, he had been accuf- tomed, in his .own country ; the conftant aim alfo of pur riding-mailers : fo much in nature it is, to be prejudiced in favour of our own pecu- liar habits, an argument which I have no objec- tion to- fee turned againfl: myfelf. The war, in truth, has very much diffufed the habit of mili- tary riding, and we had, two or three years fince, a very curious example of it upon the turf. A gentleman engaged to ride four miles againft another, with the condition of preferving the military feat and attitude, throughout the courfe, which he performed, and won the match. We are not however to conclude from a fingle fact, that fuch is the mod fafe, eafy, and advantage- ous mode of jockeyfhip, or that he who is (killed in one particular, is of necefTity, equally expert in every other branch of an art or fcience. Major Jardine fays, that men are frequently good officers of foot, and yet have very little knowledge THE EQUESTRIAN ART. 253 knowledge of the peculiar duties of the caval- ry; and to take an example from lower life, many dealers in fat flock, have little or no judgment in lean Mores. There are many perfons unaccuflomed to riding on horfeback, who, when they occafion- ally monnt, are very juftly anxious both for their perianal fafety, and their appearance. It is for the benefit of thefe I write. If they will immediately adopt my rules, they will not only make a refpe&able horfeman-like appear- ance, but will place themfelves in the line of improvement, and in a fituation the bed cal- culated to infure their fafety. Inflead of being unable to keep their fpurs from the horfe's fides, they would, with a proper feat, expe- rience confiderable difficulty in reaching them. It is too often neglected, even by people who are fond of horfes, to teach their children a good feat, thinking it probably quite fufficient if they can but flick faft; and I have feen young gentlemen riding with their fathers, in a ery vulgar and unbecoming ftyle. I cannot fpeak to the antiquity of the Englifn fafhion of riling in the ftirrups during a trot, and of preferving time with the motions of the body, in unifon with thofe of the horfe ; but I think the knowledge of it is difcoverable in Baret, and in no author before him. It would be fuperfluous to give directions on this prac- tice \ 254 0N THE PACES, ANft tice, which will be inflantly acquired by obfef- vation and ufe. The fame may be faid of the gallop, which is performed, on the rider's part, like certain other pleafant actions, kneeling; the pulling of the horfe helping to keep the rider fleady. In the canter, the rider fets upon his feat, as in an eafy chair. The method of giving the wriggling helps with the bridle, either in the gallop, or fwift trot, to encourage a horfe forward, muft be acquired by practice. The firft-rate Englifh Horfes, and the befl examples of horlemanlhip, are to be feen in Rotten Row, Hyde Park; where for many years pafl, it has been the prevailing cuftom to take the morning ride, and where no perfon of decent habit and demeanour is refufed ad- mittance. The following directions for a juft feat on horfeback, are tranferibed from Blundeville, " And fee that you do not only fit him boldlie, " and without feare, but alfo conceive with " yourfelf, that he and you do make as it were " but one bodie: and that you both have but " one fenfe and one will. And accompanie " him with your bodie in any mouing that he " maketh, alwaies beholding his head right " betwixt his eares, fo as your nofe maie di- " reftlie anfwer his foretop. Which fhall be " a figne unto you to know therebie, whether " you fit right in your faddle or not. And let " the THE EQUESTRIAN ART. 255 u the ridge-bone of your back be euen with his. And let your left hand, holding the reanes of the bridle, be euen with his creaft, " and in anie wife keep your thighes and knees " clofe to the faddle, holding downe your legs " ftraight, like as you do when you are on " foote. And let your feete reft upon the " flirrups in their due places, both heele and " toe Handing in fuch fort, as when you (hall " turne your head, as farre as you can on " the one fide, without mouing your body, " and looking downward to your ftirrup : you " (hall perceiue that your toe doth dire£llie " anfwere the tip of your nofe : and according " as the faddle is made, fo fhally ou ride long " or (hort. But alwaies let your right ftirrup " be (horter than the other by half a hole.'" — Page 5, firfi Book of The Art of Riding. Likewife his legs muft be pendant of an equal diftance from the horfe's fides, his feete fo leuil in the ftirrops, as they are " when he walketh on the ground, neither muft his ftirrop lethers be fo long, that his chiefeft labour (hall be to keepe his feet in them (for fo a man (hall loofe his true feat by ftretching his legges, as if they were on the tenters) nor fo inert that he (hall be rayfed from his true feate (the pitch of his knees being diflpcated from the points " of the faddle) nor ought one ftirrup to be " longer a <( f( a a a a st ft St ii 2$6 ON THE PACES, AND " longer than the other (in my judgment) " although many worthy men haue fet that " order downe. My reafon is, in regard the " man muft haue a true and vpright feate, and " nature hath made his legges (which are the " fupporters thereof) one not longer than " another, but of an equal length ; therefore I " cannot fee how the body mould be kept " direct, the legges one of them hanging fider " than another." — Baret, chap. 13. Before I refume the thread of my own dif- courfe, I (hall prefent the reader with a few ufeful hints from Mr. Hughes. If you would mount with eafe and fafety, (land rather before the ftirrup than behind it ; " then with left hand, take the bridle fhort, and the mane together, help yourfelf into the ftir- rup with your right, fo that in mounting, your toe do not touch the horfe. Your foot being " in the ftirrup, raife yourfelf till you face the " fide of the horfe, and look directly acrofs " the faddle, then with your right hand, lay " hold of the hinder part of the faddle, and " with your left, lift yourfelf into it. " On getting off the horfe 's back, hold the " bridle and mane in the fame manner as when you mounted, hold the pommel of the faddle with your right hand; to raife your- felf, bring your right leg over the horfe's back, let your right hand hold the hind part " of a ts a (t €6 a tS tt a ts THE EQUESTRIAN ART. 257 " of the faddle, and (land a moment on your " ftirrup, juft as when you mounted. But " beware that in difmounting, you bend not your right knee, left the horfe fhould be touched by the fpur. Grafp the reins with your hand, putting your little finger between them. Your ^nd muft be perpendicular, your thumb uppermoft upon the bridle. " Suffer him not to finger the reins (the groom, in holding the horfe) but only to meddle with that part of the headftall, " which comes down the horfe's cheek : to hold a horfe by the curb, when he is to ftand (till, is very wrong, becaufe it puts him to need- lefs pain, " When you are troubled with a horfe that is vicious, which flops (hort, or by riling of " kicking endeavours to throw you off, you " muft not bend your body forward, as is com- " monly praclifed in fuch cafes ; becaufe that " motion throws the breech backward, and il moves you from your fork or twift, and cafts you out of your feat: but the right way to keep your feat, or to recover it when loft, is, to advance the lower part of your body, " and to bend back your (houlders and upper part. In flying or Jianding leaps, a horfe- man's beft fecurity is, the bending back of the body. " The rifing of the horfe does not affect the vol. 1. s riders tt ft ft tt tt a a a tt ti tt tl a tt 258 ON THE PACES, AND rider's feat ; he is chiefly to guard againft the la(h of the animal's hind legs ; which is beft done, by inclining the body backward. Ob- ferve farther, that your legs and thighs are " not to be (liffened, and, as it were, braced up, " but your loins (hould be lax and pliable, like " the coachman's on his box. By fitting thus " loofely, every rough motion of the horfe will " be eluded; but the ufual method of fixing " the knees, only ferves, in great {hocks, to af- " fifl the violence of the fall. To fave your- " :felf from being hurt, in this cafe, you muff. " yield a little to the horfe's motion ; by which " means you will recover your feat, when an * unfkilful horfeman would be difmounted. w Take, likewife, particular care not to ftretch " out your legs before you, becaufe, in fo do- foal twitched to ;uch excefs, by a ftupid, heavy- handed fellow, that her lip burfl afunder, and the mare threw herfelf upon the ground in a ftate of defperation, and would not rife until the cord was loofened. It is here neceffary to give the reader a cau* tion againfl the too ufual error of precipitate meafures of improvement. A gentleman finds his horfe conftantly tender-footed, flinching and Humbling. The farrier is applied to, he makes great promifes, and every (hoeing the horfe goes worfe. The owner now, with his favourite author in his hand, takes up the foot of his horfe, and perceives with indignation that he is fhod right wrong, in the very teeth of orthodoxy. The farrier is again fent for, and damn'd for a thick-headed fon of a bitch, not worthy to (hoe Balaam's afs ; and, in fine, or- dered, at his peril, to fhoe immediately and ftrict.ly according to the given pattern. The fellow (hakes his wife noddle, grins, and makes his $62 ON THE ART OF SHOEING. hi* bow. The nag being fhod, according to or- cer, is mounted by his fanguine and delighted mailer, who now fuppofes all his troubles at an end ; but, alas ! he has only made an exchange of errors, his horfe goes like a cat in pattens, he can't trot a yard. The poor animal, as if he were in fault, is now checked with the curb, fpurred, curled, abufed, and rode home again. Another meeting takes place with the farrier, who now afTumes airs of confequence, on ac- count of his fuperior (kill and fore- knowledge of what had happened. They both join in ri- diculing book-knowledge in the art of (hoeing, and the folly of authors who pretend to /hoe all horfes by one common Jlandard. The nag is fhod again in the old way, goes better imme- diately in confequence of the change ; but in a very fhort time, having no feet to go upon, is fold for a iVw pounds to the mail coaches, where they are made to go, whether they can or not. The error lies in fuppofing a horfe able to go well in proper fhoes, or indeed any fnoes at all, whofe (bles, frogs, and heels are fo reduced, as to be fcarce able to bear his own weight. In fuch cafe, the only remedy is to turn him inftantly to grafs, with narrow plates upon the walls of his hoofs, to prevent their being broken, until his heels and frogs (hall have grown to their natural flate, and then to put him ON THE ART OF SHOEING. 363 him into the hands of a fkilful farrier, who may always preferve them in that (late, by flriclly following the rules of Ofmer and Clarke, fup- pofing the hoofs to be naturally found ; if other- wife, I have nothing better to propofe, than to repeat my own favourite method of the bar- fhoe. But of all things in the world, let no man put faith in farriers, or their pretended cures by (hoeing, in cafes like thefe. There is only one farrier equal to the talk, which is Nature ; and fhe always performs her opera- tions fub jove, abroad. I think I cannot too much recommend the practice, hinted at in the beginning of this chapter, of hammering the external furface of the fhoe fomewhat concave ; its great ufe in fecuring a horfe's footing over convex (tones, mud ftrike every one, and it is unattended by any countervailing difadvantage. On a refer- ence, I find it mentioned by Sollyfel, as well as that ancient author whom I quoted. It mud be of infinite ufe to town cart-horfes more par- ticularly, but I think it a practice w T hich merits univerfal adoption. Refpeciing the fingle calkin, or ufual turning up of the hinder (hoe of the faddle horfe, I mull acknowledge I fee nothing in it either of prejudice or utility. If the horfe have the ufe of his frogs upon the ground, he will want nothing elfe to preferve him from flipping ; and if 364 ON THE ART OF SHOEING. if otherwife, he flips with his toe not his heel. As to calkins upon the fore-heels, I am con- vinced nothing refults from them but mifchief and danger in any cafe. In frofly weather, or upon a chalky or flippery country, (harp-head- ed, four-edged ice nails, made of the hardeft fluff, are the only fecurity; unlefs, as an addi- tional one, it be thought proper to indent the welts and toes of the fboes, which may have confiderable effect. In this affair, there is cer- tainly an exception to be made with regard to cart-horfes, which are obliged to buck with heavy loads, an exertion in which the flrefs materially lies upon the heels, and naoft of all the hinder ones. The cafe is the fame with the (haft-horfe, in going down- hill. It is a quef- tion, whether their frogs would, in thofe re- fpects, be fufflcient ; if not, calkins behind might, as ufual, be adopted, but not at any rate be- fore. To recapitulate, all horfes with good feet fhould, and well and fafely may, be (hod with flat, light, narrow-webbed fhoes, made of the hardeft iron ; thefe fhoes fhould be formed thickeft at the toe, and thinnefl: and narrowefl: at the heel, that the animal may have that equal and fleady bafe, which nature intended him. I fliall conclude this chapter, with the beft profefiional advice I have been able to procure upon ON THE ART OF SHOEING. 365 upon certain practical and operative parts of the fubjeft. St. Bel propofes the following weights, each fhoe, for the refpeclive defcriptions of Horfes, which, at any rate, form a good general outline, to be varied according to circumftances, at the difcretion of the operator. lb. oz. For the heavieft cart-horfes - - - 212 lighter ditto ----- 1 1 2 ■ heavieft coach-horfes - - I 12 lighter ditto -----14 faddle-horfes in general, from 1 2 to 10 os. racers ------- 05 to 4 oz. The faired opportunity of making trial of the true principles of the art, is that prefented by the colt at his firil fhoeing, when his hoofs are in a (late of natural perfection, and previ- ous to his being habituated to any particular cuftom. This occafion ought to be zealoufly embraced, in particular if the prefent owner means to keep the horfe for his own ufe ; and, indeed, if it were pomble to difrufe fuch ideas amomj our breeders, that circumftance alone would have a mod powerful tendency towards the neceflary reformation. As the matter ftands, the feet even of our four and five year olds, are too generally put out of a ftate of fpeedy amendment. I have $66 ON THE ART OF SHOEING. I have given my opinion as to the depend- ance which ought to be placed on the opera- tions of farriery, for the recovery of thin, weak, and damaged feet : I have not a whit more refpecl for the various manoeuvres praclifed with the intent of curing convex or pomiced feet — of the different modes of {hoeing in ufe to prevent interfering — or of the operation of unfoling, and of various others which might be named. As to any tampering with pomiced feet, or thofe where the foles belly out, and the horfe is obliged to walk upon them, it is at- tended with conftant pain, without hope of amendment, to the animal: the (horteft and cheapen 1 way is to knock him on the head, or fuffer him to take his chance abroad. I have no reverence at all for the memory of the inventors of the different kinds of fhoes, the ufe of which, in different cafes, has been fo offentatioufly let forth by writers ; they appear to me ingenious contrivances, without ufe, and generally full of cruelty. The ufual methods of fhoeing, taken to prevent a horfe from cut- ting, generally give him an uneven, and confe- quently unfafe pofition upon the ground; and after all, he continues to interfere. Drawing the fole, I look upon to be an abominable, and to the bell of my knowledge, ever an ufelefs operation. I fpeak not on my own experience, for ON THE ART OF SHOEING. 367 for although farriers have more than once pro- pofed it to me, I never would permit it ; but I have made it my bufinefs to enquire for many- years pair, and I have never yet heard of a horfe which was worth nine-pence after it. The general directions are, never to pare the fole, frog, or binders, any. more than to cut them level, and ftrip them of rotten and fcaly parts ; but I muff confefs I have feen feet To exceedingly luxuriant in growth, and fo tough, that they would bear, nay perhaps require fome little paring; but the danger to be apprehended from the want of paring, was ever a feather when weighed againfl that of trufting a fmith to perform it at difcretion, buttrefs in hand. — In this cafe, I have generally flood over the operator myfelf, ready to cry out — No more, doctor. The directions, how r ever, do not ex- tend to the cruft or w T all, which in deep, con- cave, hard feet, mull be at any rate taken down, becaufe its growth continually binds and contracts the quarters, dries up the frogs, and prevents their neceffary contact, with the ground. The fize and flrength of the feet, and the fitu- ation of the fro£s, are the belt, meafure for the due performance of this. Whenever it becomes abfolutely neceffary to cut the bars or frogs, never fufTer it to be per- formed in the ufual way of blackfmiths, that is to fay, inwards or downwards, one of the molt defl.ruct.ive 368 ON THE ART OF SHOEING. deftru&ive of all their manoeuvres, but always let them be fhaved horizontally, or flat ; and it is fo dangerous to cut too near in the frog, that in cafe of a confiderable bulk in that part, it is even better to thicken the {hoe-heels a trifle, and fo to bring them and the frog upon a level and even bearing. For a foot in a found and natural flate, the breadth of the (hoe at the heels, (hould be one-half of its breadth at the toe, and its fubftance decreafe by degrees from the toe, fo as to be one-half thinner or weaker at the extremity of the heels ; notwithstanding this decreafe of width at the heel of the (hoe, it will be (till wide enough to ftand out fome- what beyond the cruft, and thereby be pre- vented from getting within the heel as it grows. The form of the fhoe mud exactly correfpond with the outline of the foot, and ever be made thicken 1 externally at the rim, and gradually thinner internally next the horfe's fole, a form directly oppofite to the common concave fhoe ; this will leave juft room enough (and there ought to be no more) between the edge of the (hoe and the fole, for the introduction of the pecker, which is ufed to remove fmall (tones and gravel accidentally lodged. Mr. Clarke fays, he has frequently obferved a fwelling of the legs immediately above the hoofs, attended with great pain and inflammation, and a dif- charge of thin ichorous and foetid matter, which he ON THE ART OF SHOEING. 369 he attributed to the compreflion made upon the internal parts of the feet, by the common con- cave, long, and heavy (hoes ; and that from the fame caufe chiefly proceed moll of the difeafes of the feet, founder, hoof-binding, narrow heels, foul thrufhes, bleime, high foles, and the like. I have been long convinced of the truth of this obfervation. As to the difpofition of the nail-holes, every farrier knows that in the fore-feet, the toe is thickeft and (Iron^eR • in the hinder feet, the heels ; according to the French proverb, quoted by Blundville, devant derrier, dcrrier devant — before behind, behind before. There is a complaint of very ancient (land- ing, againft fmiths, for needlefsly multiplying nail-holes, and making their nails too large ; by which the cruft is fo torn, as fcarce to leave found fpace to drive a nail. It is the cafe even now with many of our country (hoers, who are not fatisfied unlefs theyjkewer on the (hoes. Old Blundeville's directions herein are not amifs, who fays, the nail-heads (hould be fquare, and not fo broad beneath as above, but anfwerable to the pierced holes, which they {hould fill ; and above which they (hould not appear more than the thicknefs of the back of a knife. — The (hanks of the nails to be fomewhat flat, differ towards the head than below, and the points (harp, without hollownefs or flaw. As vol. 1. b b to 370 ON THE ART OF SHOEING. to the number of nails in a (hoe, the following table is according to the direction of ProfeiTor Saint Bel : For Racc-horfes, fix — three on each fide. — • — Hacks, Hunters, &x. feven ; four on the outfide, and three within ; the infide quarter being weakeft. ■ Mail-Coachers, Poft-horfes, &c. fame number. — large Horfes, four on each fide. — heavy Cart-horfes, five on each fide. Solleyfel fays, that common fmiths, in order to prevent pricking the horfe with their large nails, pierce the (hoe too near the edge, which practice, in time, ruins the foot. - The (hoe being fall nailed, the lefs there re- mains to be rafped the better, and that inflru- merit fhould only be ufed as high as the rivets, but never above them,becaufe, in the nrft place, it is unneceflary, and becaufe the furface of the hoof is much injured, and difpofed to dry by being rafped ; farthermore, a heavy and care- lefs hand is extremely apt to touch with the tool the origin of the nail juft beneath the co- ronet, where it is extremely fenfible ; the con- fequence of which is a fmall wound or bruife, ending frequently in a fandcrack. Every foot mould be kept as mort at the toe, as is confident with the fafety of the craft, and the proper mape of the foot. My Lord Pembroke's rule is, to cut the toe fquare, and afterwards round off the angles ; and Laurentius Ruflius, ON THE ART OF SHOEING. 37I Ruflius, who wrote fome centuries before the noble Earl, fays, that a (hort toe, and a narrow, light, and ftraight (hoe, make a large and ftrong hoof, and a firm leg. In taking down the toe, Solleyfel forbids the ufe of the buttrefs, di- recting it to be done with a paring knife, after the (hoe is fixed, which is to be purpofely fet back, as far as neceflary. This, he fays, will occafion a derivation of nourifhment backward towards the heels, and in time greatly ftrengthen and enlarge them ; which falutary confequence is, indeed, well known to us If the rafp is at all ufed in this bufinefs, it ought to be confined to the toe, and laid on in fuch wife as to render it as thick as pollible, in tender-footed horfes. The only advantageous method that I could ever difcover of (hoeing deep ftrong feet, with CONTRACTED NARROW HEELS, is that of La Fofle, with the half- moon fhoes ; the cruft be- ing previoufly taken down, as before directed. The horfe being prefumed already lame, will travel very little more fo, from his quarters be- ing expofed, and as being totally unfit at any rate for expeditious riding, a little tendernefs and flinching may well be borne in a flow pace, fince the fliort (hoes will be daily con- tributing towards his cure, whilft large, hol- low, and long ones would only be aggravating the difeafe. The fmiths render thefe feet finally b b 2 ufelefs, 372 ON THE ART OF SHOEING. ufelefs, by rafping them, and paring the foles ? under pretence of giving them eafe, which, in faft, caufes them to dry and contract ftill more : the only means whence they can poihbly get eafe is, by the expanfion of the quarters, to be attained from the animal's weight borne upon them ; the frog, alfo, which appears dried and fhrunk up, will expand and increafe in bulk from the fame caufe. Some feet of this de- fcription will be thus rendered good, and the remedy is pleafant, from being void of trouble or expence ; but if the horn be of a certain peculiar hard and faulty contexture, or the bones and internal procefles of the feet mate- rially damaged, which will be difcovered after a few times fhoeing with the fhort (hoes, all remedies hitherto propofed, from the days of Solleyfel (the grand empyric for feet) to the prefent, are worfe than the difeafe. For the flat foot, the author juil men- tioned advifes the following treatment : — Forge a fhoe as ftraight as poilible from the toe to the fpunges, that is to fay, not fo circular as ufual, with holes pierced very near the edge ; after this fhoe is nailed fail, there mould be about half an inch of horn left to be cut with the knife from the toe, and in proportion round the fides. The fhoe is on no account to be made concave next the foot, although it may rather ON THE ART OF SHOEING. 373 rather touch the fole, but to be hammered hol- low externally. The horfe may be expected to flinch a little from the fhoe fetting fome- what upon the fole ; but beware he be not pricked. Every time of change, the fhoes are to be made ftill ftraighter at the toe, which is to be kept fhort, but not at the quarters ; and in three or four times changing, the author pro- mifes an amendment in the (hape of the feet. I have never experienced this, nor have I much opinion of its utility, or of any meafures tend- ing to throw nature out of her deft ined courfe by violence. A foot naturally flat and thin, will be Co ftill, or rendered worfe, by forcible attempts at amendment. The only practice to be depended upon, I believe, in this cafe, is to keep the toe as fhort as poflible, never to di- minifh the fubftance of the cruft, fole, or bind- ers, and to fhoe always in bars, making ufe of the fmalleft nails. Our modern Englilh bar fhoe is a judicious improvement of the ancient planche, or pancelet, of which Blundville and others had fo high an opinion, for ftrengthening and giving fubftance to weak feet. The late Doc- tor Snape, farrier to his Mnjefly, had a very ingenious hand at forging this kind of fhoe, as I have often experienced. Joint-shoes for all feet, vaulted fhoes for pomiced or convex foles, patten fhoes, lunettes, or half-moons, thick at heel, thofe with a but- b b 3 ton 374 ON THE ART OF SHOEING. ton or mouldering on the infide, to (land clear of a falfe quarter, and thofe formed thickeft on the infide, to prevent interfering, are very an- cient inventions, and fufhciently known to far- riers. I have faid, that interfering is ufually occa- fioned by a preternatural turn or twift of the pattern joint, which gives the toe an oblique direction, either inward or outward ; or perhaps the defect may not lie in the lower, but in the upper extremity of the leg ; in this cafe, it ought to be conhdered, that thofe meafures of (hoeing, the aim of which is to give the foot a flraight pofition upon the ground, muft at the fame time inevitably expofe the ligaments to unufual draining ; the confequences of which may be much worfe than thofe of cutting or knocking. Here follow, however, the bell di- rections for (hoeing a horfe which interferes. A careful farrier always examines and notes which branch of the old (hoe is mod worn, and acts accordingly. When the toe is turned outward, the (Irefs lies chiefly upon the inward quarter, of courfe the inward quarter mud be left untouched, and the thicknefs of the (hoe on that fide increafed ; the external branch of the (hoe being made thin, and that quarter of the hoof alfo reduced in proportion. The whole operation ought to be performed to fuch a nicety, that the foot may bear equally upon all ON THE ART OF SHOEING. 375 all parts of its circumference. To amend this pofition, farriers have formerly made the inner branch of the (hoe exceflive thick, and even raifed it upon cramps ; which muff always have very ill confequences, particularly as the horfe interferes with the heel, and the mifchief is done with the foot lifted up ; whence it fol- lows, that the forced ftraight pofition on the ground, is at laft of no confequence to the main end. When the horfe is pigeon-toed, that is, turns his toes inwards, the mode of fhoeing ufually adopted, is juft the reverfe of the above. After all, if any good can poffibly be done in thefe cafes, it mud be from leaving nothing on the inner fide, with which a horfe can ftrike him- felf ; but with this view, an injudicious ope- rator frequently reduces the hoof till it is irre- coverably weakened, the horfe has an uneven pofition upon the ground, and dill interferes. For hammer and pinch e r s, or over-reach- ing, fhort fore-fhoes, and a reduction of the toes of the hinder-feet, is the method directed ; after which, and fuppofing the horfe can go with his quarters expofed, he will mod proba- bly ftill flrike his fore-heels with what you have left of his hinder toes. I have never feen, or indeed at all confidered the form of the ox's (hoe, fo am unable to judge of the propriety of the following methods given by Saint Bel. The ox is either (hod b b 4 with 376 ON THE ART OF SHOEING. with a flat plate of iron, having fix or feven nail-holes on the outer edge, accompanied with a projection of four or five inches of iron at the toe, which paffing the cleft of the foot, is bent over the hoof; or with eight fhoes, one under each nail ; otherwife with four, one un- der each external nail ; or only two, one under the externa] nail of each fore-foot. END OF THE FIRST VOLUME. INDEX. A. Allen, farrier, account of his book, page 28. Authors, French, on the fubjecl:, 39. Arabia, an original breeding country, 86. 161. Animals, difle&ions of, alive, 129. 133. Admiral, a certain, anecdote of, 144. Anecdote, repofitory, 180. Running- liable do. 181. Of two fellows with a managed horfe, 335. Of a farmer, 359, Art, equeftrian, 226. 246. True feat on horfe- back, 250. 253, 254. 260. 263. 265, 266. 268. Archer, the fafteft trotter, 95. Foolilhly killed, 235- Authorities, medical, againft the received the- ory of obftru&ed perfpiration, 291. Agriculture, 37^ INDEX. Agriculture, Annals of, 302. Warmly recom- mended to all farmers, 322. AfTes, a few words upon, by defire, 329. B Breeding, not included in this Treatife, 4. The Author's future intentions on that head, 5. Buffalo, American, queftion concerning, 323. Blundville, Thomas, our earlieft writer upon horfes, account of, 6. His patterns, and opinion of bits, 8. 247. 25 t. 369. Baret, Michael, author of the Hipponomie, or Vineyard of Horfemanfhip, 17. An advo- cate for the humane treatment of horfes, 19. Suppofes horfes involved in the guilt of ori- ginal fin, 21. 221. 247. 25,5. 270. Bracken, Dr. account of his works, 29. Say- ing of, 193. 200. 210, 211. 223. 293. Bartlet, veterinary writer, 32. 208. 221. Berenger, writer on horfemanfhip, 34. Blank, the father of trotters, 234. Bifhop's brown mare, 235. Bel, Saint Charles Vial de, veterinary writer and profeffor, 42. 199. 223. Anecdote of, 252. index. 379 252. 347. Anecdote of one of his work- men, 358. Belgium, an original breeding country, 86. Booth, anecdote of, 96. Blood, ufe and abufe of, 98. Its figns, 165. Quantity neceflary, 167. Its pre-eminence in the field, 225. Its ufe in cart-horfes, 299. Beafts, Rights of, 117. Specified, 120. Ought to be acknowledged by the State, 123. Butchers, Manchefler, cruel anecdote of, 124. Boy, anecdote of, 137. Boarding- fchool houfe-keeper, anecdote of, 141. Bunbury, Henry Efq. the firft of Englifh ca- ricature painters, 246. Backfides, fore, 261. Byfield Adoniram, his ditty, 292. Bakewell, of Difhley, the greateft improver of Englifh live (lock, died November 1795, 3 8 - 2 97- 33°- Brewery, ufe of draft-oxen in the, 328, C. Clarke, farrier for Scotland to Geo. III. a va- luable writer on (hoeing, &c. 34. 363. 368. Compilers characterized, 36.. Culley, 380 INDEX. Culley, on live flock, 38. 199. 280. 297. 299. 3 2 4- Coachmen, grooms, and carters, neceffary di- rections to, 149. Their cruelty, 150 to 153. Calves, barbarous treatment of, 158. Counties breeding, old prejudice thereon, 168. Curtails, or docking, the Author's new me- thod, 186. Cropping, 189. Caftrating, ibid. Coach-horfe lame, account of, 204. Colt-breaking, 243 to 246. 264. Cart-colt taught to back, 300. Chifney Samuel, jockey, 250. Cuflom bad, of hoftlers, 273. Of knowing blades, 274. Draft cattle, 280. Wheel carriages, 281. Light horfes driven, and of different colours, 282-3. Accidents, 284 to 286. College Veterinary, its utility, 344. D. Daifey cutters, 227. Darvin, Dr. 278. Democratic INDEX. 38.I Democratic writers, inconfiftency in a given cafe, of many Englifh, 312. Democrat, a red-hot one, 316. E. Erifchen John, a writer on horfes, 162. Eclipfe, the celebrated racer, 95. 174. Evangelifta of Milan, inventor of the martin- gale, 264. Equitation, female, 274. Prefent mode intro- duced by Q. Elizabeth, 276. F. Fofle La, a celebrated French writer, 41. 347. an experiment with his fhoes, Fluzard, M. his Treatife on the Studs of Eu- rope, 104. Favourite horfe, epitaph on, 163. Furniture horfe, modern, 262. Foot-founder, late cafe of, 270. Farmer Norfolk, his Brazil breed, 296. Farmers barns and ricks, the fafefl public de- pots, 316. Horfes feet worn off, 339. Fifafchi 382 INDEX. Fifafchi Caefar, an Italian Equeftrian writer, 340. Foot of the horfe defcribed, 342. Fatalifte, Jaques le, a work of Diderot, 121- G. Grey De, veterinary writer, 22. Gibfon William, account and character of, 25. 221. Gelding, old flea-bitten grey, anecdote of, 148. Gambado Geoffrey, the burlefque profeflbr, 246. Gymnaflica Medicina, of Dr. Fuller, 278. H. Hope, Sir William, author of the Complete Horfeman, and Abbreviator of Solleyfel, 24. 210. Huzard, French writer on the Glanders in 1794, 42. Horfe, the account of, 84. Horfes of the an- cient Britons, 87. Regulations thereupon under Hen. VII. and VIII. Their quality in the reign of Eliz. and the races then known, 89,90. Horfe-racing, 90. Free export of al- lowed, INDEX. 383 lowed, 91. Arrived at perfection, 95. De- feats accounted for, 98 to 102. Foreign, 102 to 109. External conformation of, 110. Age of, by the mouth, 113. Colours, 116. 172. Bred-horfe, 165. Their tempera- ments, 173. 175. Reftiffones, 178. Biters and kickers, 179. Shying, 182. Size, for all purpofes, 183. Age for labour, 184. Paces, 190. Shape and qualifications for faddle, 192. Summary of their defects, 194. Signs of health, of vice, 225. Chief confi- derations in purchafe, ibid. Leaping, 226. Paces refumed, ibid. Carrying heads high, 260. Pofl-horfes, machiners, &c. various reflections upon, 284 to 293. Cart-horfes, 293. Particular defcription of the cart-horfe, 294. Different breeds of them, 295. Pre- ference decided, 296. Ufeful breed in Suf- folk and Norfolk, 296. Size and weight, reflections on, 299. 303. Labour of Norfolk and Suffolk horfes, 303. Proper trim of a cart-horfe, 308. Stable care, 309. Hobby Scotch, anecdote of, 94. Humanity miflaken, concerning animals, 160. Hackney and Hunter, 164. Various appella- tions, ibid. Horfe 384 INDEX. Horfe in Billiter Square, ftory of, 228. Hughes Charles, ProfefTor of Horfemanfhip, 247. 256. 274. Horfeback exercife on, remarks on, 277. Hufbandry, a profeflion befitting gentlemen, and the learned, 321. Why fometimes un- fuccefsful with fuch, ibid. Philofophy of agricultural regulation, ibid. Hue and Cry, the trotting ftallion, anecdote of, 360. I. Ireland, flate of equeflrian affairs therein, 1796, 108. Indians, red, of Newfoundland, 140, Jockies butchering, 146. Anecdote o f a young, and a Smithfield fportfman, ibid. Toe- jockies, 248. Jardine Major, his obfervation, 172. 252. James, on wheel-carriages, 328. K. King a certain, anecdote of, 143. Kelly fadler, Strand London, 266. London, INDEX. 385 1 , L. London, certain citizens of, the high condition of their cart-horfes, 305. • Laws grave, refpecling foreft ailing, farting, bull-baiting, and dealing with the devil, 312. 318. Landlords, patriotic meafures recommended to, 322, 326. M. Manege, the prevailing fafhion in Eliz. reign, 7. Its barbarity, 8. 332. Englifh horfes unfit iyt it, 335. Markham Gervafe, account of, 9. His writ- ings uangerous in the hands of ignorant people, 1 1. Mills, his Trcatife on Cattle, 36. Meetings popular, 135. Man in public office, anecdote of, 154. Marlhall, an excellent writer on hufbandry, 100. 169. 190. 322. Mares fpayed, 190. MS.S. Shakefperian, 248. c c ' Monopoly, 3§6 INDEX, Monopoly, as vulgarly applied, a folecifm, Sporting Magazine, 237. N. Newcaftle, D. of, his writings on horfeman- fhip, 23. Neapolitan peafant, anecdote of, 139. Nicking, 188. O. Ofmer, veterinary and equeflrian writer, ac- count of, 33. 205. 219. 221. 223. 293. 348. 363- Oxen, or Horfes, the queftion difcufTed, 322 to 329. Shoes for oxen, 375. P. Pembroke Earl of, writer on horfemanfhip, 34. 33 6 - 35 8 - 37°- Purges of farriers and grooms, fpecimens of, 60, 61, 62. Parrhafius, bloody anecdote of, 131. Parfon of Pentlow, in Suffolk, anecdote of, 131. Ploughman, INDEX. 387 Ploughman, country inhumanity of, 150. Poftillions, weight of, reflections upon, 291. Dead pulls, obfervations thereon, important to humanity, and anecdote, 300 — 1. Plowing with too many horfes, 330. 332. Qualities innate, their exiflence, 177, R. Rhubarb Indian, 63. Ramfay Chevalier, his abfurd notion concern- ing fouls, 83. Rotten Row, 254. Riding journey, 268. Feeding, 270. Racket, a convenient one carried by every man, 314. Rules and Regulations for the Cavalry, lately publilhed, 336. Ruflius Laurentius, an Italian veterinary writer, 37 1 - c c 2 Snape, 388 IND£X. s. Snape, farrier to Cha. III. his character, 22. Edward, farrier to Geo. III. 23. 373. Science Veterinary, clafs of at Paris, in 1795- Names of the members, 42. Sharpe on the operations of furgery, cafe from. Scalding remedy for fiftula, cafe of, 72. Souls of beafts, 78. 82. 119. Shark, the race-horfe, account of, 107. Smithfield drovers, cruelty of, 153. Market, propofed abolition of, 155. Temporary re- gulations, 158. Speed utmoft, of Englifh horfes in each pace, 95. 227 to 231. Saddles Englifh, improvements therein, 265. Surgeons veterinary, recommended particularly to all confiderable horfe-keepers, 290. Shafts ought, in no cafe, to bear on the thill- horfe, 304. Sunday, good portion of it to be devoted (in London) to the care of cart-horfes, 307. Society Comet,and their coadjutors, the writers of nonfenfical and inflammatory paragraphs, 311. Society, INDEX. 389 Society Highland, 329. Shoeing, 338. Ancient mode of, 339. Of the Italians, 340. External furface of (hoe, concave, ibid. Method of the common far- riers, 344. Of the better kind of farriers, 345-6. Of the prefent defects of thefe laft, 346-7. 350. Ofmer's method practicable with nine- tenths of the faddle, and all the cart-horfes, 348. How to (hoe the remaining tenth, ibid. Safety and convenience of the Englim bar- (hoe, for quarters and frogs incurably tender, 349. 373. Accidents from the round- furfaced (hoe, 352. Reformation to be ex- pected only from the exertions of owners of horfes, ibid. Cart-horfes, in London, the unprofitable and cruel method in which they are (hod, 353 to 358. Preliminaries to be infifted upon, 359. Abufes of fmiths, 361. Error of precipitant attempts at improvement exemplified, 361. Feet of, reduced by bad (hoeing, to be previoufly recovered at grafs, 362-3. Weights of (hoes for all defcrip- tions, 365. Importance of (hoeing properly at firft, ibid. Various manoeuvres, and forms of (hoes, opinion of, 365. Drawing the fole, abominable, ibid. Exceptions relative to paring, 366. Form and breadth of (hoe, 368. Number of nails, 370. Toe (hort, 37°. 390 INDEX. 370. Various forms, 373-4. Interfering, 374-5. Hammer and pinchers, 375. Ox's flioe, 375. Solleyfel, French veterinary writer, 24. 363. 370. 1, 2, 3. T. Taplin, William, author of the Stable Di- rectory, 36. Examination of that work 5 44 to 78. Topham, on the Difeafes of Cattle, 36. Tally-ho, a ftallion, account of, 107. Titus, anecdote of, 139. Tatterfall, fen. faying of, 218. Trotters, Continental, 229. Celebrated, fhort account of, 234. 239. Training of, 241. Trueman, Harford, and Co. Meflieurs, 303. Terms of monopoly, foreftalling, and regrating, cant, 310. Tail, drawing by the, in Ireland and Scotland, Taylors, actual and virtual, 249. U. Veterinary writers, different ones mentioned, 9. Venous, Lord Raymond, anecdote of, 142. Witchcraft, INDEX. 391 W. Witchcraft, anecdote of, 142. Wager for a thoufand, propofed, Suffolk and Norfolk draft-horfes againft the heavy blacks of London and Berkfhire, 302. Y. Young, Arthur, Efq. the greateft of all prac- tical writers on Hufbandry, his works recom- mended to all concerned, 322. Yarke, or yerk, in the manege, 334. BOOKS Printed for H. D. SYMONDS, Paternoster Row. Political (Economy, Culture ok Waste Lands, Plant- ing, and Rural Affairs, Infcribed to the Landholders of the County. THE MODERN LAND STEWARD. In which the Duties and Functions of Stewardship are confidered and explained, with their feveral Relations to the Landlord, Tenant, and the Public. By the Author of the New Farmer's Calendar, &c. &c. Price ios. 6d. in Board?. "No gentleman of landed property mould be without this volume : it fulfils the pretenfions of its title page in a refpeclable manner, and will be a ufeful manual for allland-ftewards honeftly zealous in their vocation." slgricultwal Magazine, April, \%o\. THE NEW FARMER'S CALENDAR; or, Monthly Remembrancer for all Kinds of Country Business: comprehending all the material Improvements in the New Huf- bandry, with the Management of Live Stock. Infcribed to the Farmers of Great Britain. By a I|armer and Breeder. CONTENTS. Calendar, pointing out the Bufinefs Woods and Plantations. of every Month in the Year, as it Tillage and Fallowing. regards preparing the Land, Sow- The Drill HuPoandry. ing and Harvesting the various Dibbling. Crops, and the Management of Seed. Cattle. Blights. Hiring and Stocking Farms. Couife of Crops. Soils and Manures. Cattle Crops. The Implements of Hufbandry. Winter Prefervation of Roots, &c. Draining. - Meadow and Paflure. Fencing. Live Stock, Breeding and Improve- The Farm Yard, its Form and Ma- ment. nagemen'.. Horfes, Neat Cattle, Sheep, Swine, Vermin. Rabbits, Poultry, &c. Irrigation and Warping. Fourth Edition. In One large Volume, 8vo. Price 9s. in boards. CRITICAL RECOMMENDATION OF THIS WORK. " We have reviewed this article at fome length, becaufe it well deferved notice; as a manual of arguments for the new hufbandry, it may have im- portant effects on agriculture. It is feldom that an epitome is written with an agreeable vivacity: but this work is a complete exception to that rule. A competent knowledge of the Hufbandry of Flanders and the Continent, is difplaycd throughout; and we pronounce, without hefitation, that fo much valuable argument and information on agriculture, was never offered to the public in fo fmall a bulk." Commercial and Agricultural Magazine for May, 1800. See alfo London Review, May, 1 800. ine sat Tui 20 load North Grafton, MA 01 536 \ ^ T s \ r *> J \ K \ J