the sixth part of his Polyolbion. This kind was probably destined to mount our gallant nobility or courteous knights for feats of chivalry. From these sprung, to speak the language of the times, the flower of coursers, whose elegant form added charms to the rider, and whose activity and managed dexterity gained him the palm in that field of gallantry and honor. The increase of our inhabitants, and the extent of our manufactures, together with the former neglect of internal navigation to convey those manufactures, multiplied the number of horses: an excess of wealth, before unknown in these islands, increased the luxury of carriages, and added to the necessity of a culture of these animals: their high reputation abroad has also made them a branch of commerce, and proved another cause of their vast in

crease.

In France, horses of the Bretagne breed are strongly made, and have generally black hair, or brown-bay; and good legs and feet, with a hardy mouth, and a head short and fleshy; but in general they are clumsy. The horses of Franche Comté are said to have the legs of tigers, and the belly of a hind; but they are short and thick, and of a middle size; being much more proper for drawing than riding. The horses of Gascony are not unlike those of Spain; but they are not so handsome nor so active, and therefore they are more proper to draw carriages. The Limosin horses are very vicious, and are good for little till they are six years old. Their color is generally bay, or a bay-brown. The horses of Normandy are much like those of Bretagne; and those of Poitou have good bodies, legs, feet, and eyes; but they are far from being handsome. The horses of Germany are more handsome than those of Belgium and are of great use for carriages, and the army, especially for drawing artillery. They have a great deal of hair about the legs; are not large, but are well set; and yet have tender feet. The Hungarian horses are excellent for the coach, as well as for riding; but they are large, though well proportioned; are of all colors, and in general very swift. The Danish horses are low, short, and square; but they have a fine head and short hair. The horses of the Low Countries are very fit for the coach, and they are often known by the name of Flanders mares. The Polish horses are like the Danish; only they have not so fine a forehand; their color is generally a bright bay, and that of the outward peel of an onion; and they are fiery and vicious. The horses of Switzerland are pretty much like those of Germany. Those of Piedmont are fery, of a middle size, and of all sorts of colors; their legs are good and handsome, their eyes fine, their ears small, and their mouths good; but they do not carry their heads well. The horses of Naples and Italy are generally ill made and lean; they never do well in a colder climate. The Spanish horses are well made and handsome, as well as very active and nimble; they have good eyes, handsome legs and heads, and are easily managed; The Turkish horses are of different shapes; but are generally swift, though their mouths are bad. Most of them are white, though there are other colors; and they are in general large, hardy, strong, and fit for the road. The horses of Bar

bary, commonly called barbs, have strong hoofs and are fine racers: they preserve their vigor to the last; some of them are used as stallions in Britain. The horses of China are very vigorous, though low in height. Those of the Eluth Tartars are good and full of fire, and their size is much the same as the Polish horses; they are afraid of nothing, not even of the lions and tigers. In various parts of Hindostan they are numerous, and of all colors; but generally of the middle size, though there are some as large and as handsome as those in Europe. The wild horses of Tartary differ little from the tame; but are so swift, that they will avoid the arrows of the most skilful hunters.

HORSES, DRAUGHT, in farming, are a sort of coarse-made horses destined for the service of the cart or plough. These, for what is called the show draught, are to he chosen of an equal height; for otherwise, when put into the cart, one draws unequally with the other. The draught horse should be large bodied and strong loined, and of such a disposition as rather to be too dull than too brisk, and rather to crave the whip than to draw more than is needful. Mares are the fittest for this use for the farmer, as they will be kept cheap, and not only do the work, but give a yearly increase of a foal. They should have a good head, neck, breast, and shoulders; for the rest of the shape, it is not of much consequence. Draught horses should be always kept to that employ. Some put them to the saddle on occasion, but it does them harm, alters their pace, and spoils them for labor. The draught horse ought to have a large broad head, because horses of this shaped head are less subject than others to diseases of the eyes. The ears should be small, straight, and upright; the nostrils large and open, that he may breathe with the more freedom. A horse with a full and bold eye always promises well. On the other hand a sunk eye and an elevated brow are bad signs The horse is esteemed fittest for this purpose, also, that has a large and round buttock, which neither sinks down nor cuts. He must have a firm and strong tail, and the dock must be thick and well furnished with hair, and placed neither very high nor very low. The legs should be rather flat and broad than round; the roundness of the leg being a fault in a horse destined to labor that will soon ruin him. As to the hinder legs, the thighs should be fleshy and long, and the whole muscle which shows itself on the outside of the thigh should be large and very thick.

Nothing is so essential to the health of these serviceable creatures as cleanliness; if they are fed ever so well, and not kept clean, they will be subject to numerous diseases. The servant who has the care of them ought to be up very early, and to clean the racks and mangers from all filth. The currying of them must be carefully performed every morning, but not in the stable, for the dust to fall upon the other horses. After the horses are dusted, you should twist a wisp of straw hard up, and, wetting it in water, rub the legs, shoulders, and body. Many of the diseases of draught horses, are owing to bad water. If there be any running stream in the neighbour

hocd, they should always be led to that to water every day in summer, but in winter well-water is warmer and better for them. If there be a necessity of giving them well-water, in summer, it must be drawn up some hours before the time, and exposed to the sun-beams in tubs or troughs; marsh-water, or that of lowland ditches, is worst of all. When the laboring horse has drunk his water, he should have his oats given him, carefully sitted. It is a common practice, as soon as a horse is come in from his work, to rub down his legs with a hard wisp of hay; but the best judges of horses absolutely condemn this, and observe, that after hard labor it brings down humors into them, and makes them stiff. The rubbing itself is wholesome, but the doing it when the creature is hot is the mischief. The racks are to be well supplied with hay, and the horses should be left to rest and eat about two hours, and then led to water; after this they should be fed. In the evening, the first thing to be done is to examine the feet, and see if any thing is amiss about the shoes. A very material thing for the preservation of all sorts of cattle, but of none so much as draught horses, is fresh and clean litter.

In old horses, the eye-pits are generally deep; but this is only an equivocal mark, being also found in young horses begot by old stallions. The most certain knowledge of the age is to be obtained from the teeth. Of these a horse has forty; twenty-four grinders or double teeth, four tushes, and twelve fore-teeth; mares have no tushes, or at least very short ones. It is not from the grinders that we know the age; it is discovered first by the fore teeth, and afterwards by the tushes. The twelve fore-teeth begin to shoot within twelve days after the colt is foaled. These first or foal teeth, are round, short, not very solid, and are cast at different times, to be replaced by others. At the age of two years and a half the four middle fore-teeth are cast, two in the upper jaw and two in the lower. In one year more four others drop out, one on each side of the former, which are already replaced. When he is about four years and a half old he sheds four others, and always next to those which have fallen out and been replaced. These four foalteeth are replaced by four others, but are far from growing so fast as those which replaced the eight former, and are called the corner-teeth; they replace the last four foal-teeth, and by these the age of a horse is discovered. They are easily known, being the third both above and below, counting from the middle of the jaw. They are hollow, and have a black mark in their cavity. When the horse is four years and a half old they are scarcely visible above the gum, and the cavity is very sensible; at six years and a half they begin to fill; and the mark continually diminishes and contracts till seven or eight years, when the cavity is quite filled up, and the black spot effaced. After eight years, these teeth ceasing to afford any knowledge of the age, it is judged of by the tushes: which are four teeth adjoining to those last mentioned; and, like the grinders, are not preceded by any other teeth. The two in the lower jaw usually begin to shoot at three years and a half, and those of the upper

jaw at four; continuing very sharp-pointed till six. At ten the upper seem blunted, worn out, and long, the gum contracting itself as its years increase; the barer therefore they are, the older is the horse. From ten to thirteen or fourteen years little can be seen to indicate the age; but at that time some hairs of the eye-brows begin to turn gray. This mark, however, is, equivocal, horses from old stallions or mares having gray hairs in the eye-brows when they are not above nine or ten years old. In some horses the teeth are of such a hardness as not to wear; and in such the black mark always subsists, being never effaced by time; but the age of these horses, which are called beguts by the French, is easily known; the hollow of the tooth being filled up, and at the same time the tushes very long. This is more common in mares than in horses. The age of a horse may be also known, though less accurately, by the bars in his mouth, which wear away as he advances in years.

When the horse is without blemish the legs and thighs are clean, the knees straight, the skin and shank thin, and the back-sinew strong and well braced. The sinews and the bones should be so distinct as to make the legs appear thin and lathy, not full and round. The pastern joints should never be large and round, nor must there be any swelling near the coronet. The hock should be lean and dry, not puffed up with wind. With regard to the hoof, the coronet should be equally thick, and the horn shining and grayish. A white horn is the sign of a bad foot, for it will wear out in a short time; and likewise when the horn is thin, it is liable to be spoiled in shoeing, and by travelling hard on stony grounds. This is best known when the shoe is taken off; for then the verge all round the sole will appear thin, and the horse will wince at the least touch of the pincers. A strong foot has the fibres of the hoof very distinct, running in a direct line from the coronet to the toe, like the grain of wood. In this case care must be taken to keep the foot moist and pliable. The greatest inconvenience attending a hard strong foot is its being subject to rifts and fissures, which cleave the hoof quite through sometimes from the coronet down to the bottom. A narrow heel is likewise a defect; and, when it is not above two fingers in breadth, the foot is bad. A high heel causes a horse to trip and stumble often; and the low one, with long yielding pasterns, is very apt to be worn quite away on a journey. Too large a foot in proportion to the rest of the body renders a horse weak and heavy. The head of a horse should be small, and rather lean than fleshy. The ears should be small, erect, thin, sprightly, and pointed. The forehead, or brow, should be neither too broad nor too flat, and should have a star or snip thereon. The nose should rise a little, and the nostrils should be wide, that he may breathe more freely. The muzzle should be small, and the mouth neither too deep nor too shallow. The jaws should be thin, and not approach too near together at the throat, nor too high upwards towards the onset, that the horse may have sufficient room to carry his head in an easy graceful posture. The eyes should be of a middle size, bright, lively, and full of fire. The tongue should

be small, that it may not be too much pressed by the bit; and it is a good sign when his mouth is full of white froth, for it shows that he will not soon be overheated. The neck should be arched towards the middle, growing smaller by degrees from the breast and shoulder to the head. The hair of the mane should be long, small, and fine; and, if it be a little frizzled, so much the better. The shoulder should be pretty long; the withers thin, and enlarge gradually from thence downwards; but so as to render his breast neither too narrow nor too gross. A thick shouldered horse soon tires, and trips and stumbles every minute; especially if he has a thick large neck at the same time. When the breast is so narrow that the fore-thighs almost touch, they are never good for much. A horse of a middle size should have the distance of five or six inches between his fore-thighs, and there should be less distance between his feet than his thighs near the shoulders when he stands upright. The body of a horse should be of a middling size in proportion to his bulk, and the back should sink a little below the withers; but the other parts should be straight and no higher behind than before. He should also be home-ribbed; but the short ribs should not approach too near the haunches, and then he will have room to fetch his breath. When a horse's back is short in proportion to his bulk, and yet otherwise well limbed, he will hold out a journey, though he will travel slow. When he is tall, at the same time with very long legs, he is but of little value.

The wind should never be overlooked in the

choice of a horse and it may easily be known by his flanks, if he is broken-winded, when he stands quiet in the stable; because he always pinches them in with a very slow motion, and drops them suddenly. A thick-winded horse fetches his breath often, and sometimes rattles and wheezes. This may be always discovered when he is put to brisk exercises. The temper of a horse should always be observed; a vicious horse generally lays his ears close to his pole, shows the whites of his eye, and looks sullen and dogged. An angry horse may be known by his frowning looks; and he generally seems to stand in a posture of defence. When he is very vicious he pays no regard to the groom that feeds him however, some horses that are ticklish will lay back their ears, and yet be of a good disposition. A fearful horse is apt to start, and never leaves it off till he is old and useless. A fretful horse is very unfit for a journey; and you may discover his temper as soon as he gets out of the stable. A dull, heavy, sluggish horse may be easily known, whatever tricks are used to rouse his spirits.

With regard to the color of a horse, the bright bay, and indeed all kinds of bays in general, are accounted good colors. The chestnut horse is generally preferable to the sorrel, unless the former happens to be bald, or party colored, with white legs. Brown horses have generally black manes and tails, and their joints are of a rusty black. Those of this color that are dappled are much handsomer than the rest. Horses of a shining black, and well marked without too much white, are high in esteem for their beauty. A star, or

blaze, or white mazzle, or one or more feet tipped with white, are thought to be rather better than those that are quite black. Of grays, the dappled are accounted best; though the silver gray make a more beautiful appearance, and often prove good. The iron gray with white manes and tails are thought not to be so hardy. Grays of every kind will turn white sooner or later; but the nutmeg gray, when the dappled parts incline to bay or chestnut, are said to be good hardy horses. Roan horses have a diversity of colors mixed together; but the white is most predominant. They are all generally hardy, and fit for the road; and some are exceedingly good. Those of a strawberry color most resemble the sorrel, and they are often marked with white on the face and legs. When the bay is blended with it, he seems to be tinctured with claret; and some of these prove to be very good. Dun, sallow, and cream-colored horses have a list down their backs; and their manes and tails are black. Dun horses are seldom chosen by gentlemen; and yet they may be very useful to the country farmer. The sallow and cream-colored are more esteemed, both for beauty and use. Those horses that are finely spotted with gay colors like leopards are a great rarity, and for that reason are only in the hands of great men.

HORSES, RACE. See RACING. HORSEBEAN, n. s. Horse and bean. A small bean usually given to horses.

Only the small horsebean is propagated by the plough. Mortimer. HORSE BLOCK. n. s. Horse and block. A block on which they climb to a horse. HORSEBOAT, n. s. Horse and boat. A boat used in ferrying horses.

HORSEBOY', n. s.

Horse and boy. A boy employed in dressing horses; a stable-boy.

Some horseboys, being awake, discovered them by the fire in their matches. Knolles's History. HORSE BREAKER, n. s. Horse and break.

One whose employment is to tame horses to the

saddle.

breakers, and tamers of wild beasts.

Under Sagittarius are born chariot-racers, horse-
Creech.

HORSECHEST'NUT, n. s. Lat. æsculus. Horse and chestnut. A tree. It hath digitated or fingered leaves: the flowers, which consist of five leaves, are of an anomalous figure, opening with two lips: there are male and female upon the same spike: the female flowers are succeeded by nuts, which grow in green prickly husks. Their whole year's shoot is commonly performed in three weeks' time, after which it does no more than increase in bulk, and become more firm; and all the latter part of the Summer is occupied in forming and strengthening the buds for the next year's shoots.

The horsechestnut grows into a goodly standard.

Mortimer. HORSE COURSER, n.s. Horse and courser. Junius derives it from horse and cose, an old Scotch word, which signifies to change; and it should therefore, he thinks, be written horsecoser. The word now used in Scotland is horsecouper, to denote a jockey, seller, or rather changer of horses. It may well be derived from course, as

One that serves in wars on horseback. Encounters between horsemen on the one side, and foot on the other, are seldom with extremity of danger; because, as horsemen can hardly break a battle on foot, so men on foot cannot possibly chase horsemen. Hayward.

In the early times of the Roman commonwealth a horseman received yearly tria millia æris, and a foot soldier one mille; that is more than sixpence a-day to a horseman, and twopence a-day to a foot soldier. Arbuthnot on Coins.

I saw him urge as fleet a steed
As ever served a horseman's need.

Byron. The Giaour.

A rider; a man on horseback.

With descending showers of brimstone fired, The wild Barbarian in the storm expired; Wrapt in devouring flames the horseman raged, And spurred the steed in equal flames engaged. Addison.

A horseman's coat shall hide Thy taper shape, and comeliness of side.

Prior.

They please themselves in terms of hunting or horsemanship. Wotton

Peers grew proud, in horsemanship t' excel; Newmarket's glory rose, as Britain's fell. Pope. HORSEMANSHIP, in its utmost latitude, comprehends whatever relates to the knowledge of the make, color, age, temper, and qualities of horses; their respective countries and climates, with the method of breeching, breaking, propagating, &c.; the discovery of the uses or services they are fitted for; whether for war, the race, the saddle, or labor; and forwarding and accommodating them for these purposes.

In this general sense it also includes the knowledge of the defects and diseases of horses, and the remedies proper for them, with the several operations requisite thereto; and thus comprehends the whole art of farriery. But the word is most commonly used for the art of riding and directing a horse to advantage; not only in the ordinary motions, but more especially in the managing, or making him work upon volts, airs, &c., and in this view chiefly we propose to consider it.

SECT. I.-OF PREPARING HORSES TO BE MOUNTED.

Though most horses are bought at an age when they have already been backed, they should be prepared for the rider with the same care, gentleness, and caution, as if they had never been handled, in order to prevent accidents, which might otherwise arise from a skittishness or other causes: and, as it is proper that they should be taught the figure of the ground they are to go

apon when they are at first mounted, they should be previously trotted in a longe on circles, without any rider.

The earl of Pembroke's directions on this subject are:-Put an easy cavesson upon the horse's Lose, and make him go forward round you, standing quiet and holding the longe; and let another man, if you find it necessary, follow him with a whip. All this must be done very gently, and but a little at a time; for horses are spoiled by overmuch work more than by any other treatment whatever; and that by very contrary effects; for sometimes it drives them into vice, madness, and despair, and often stupifies and totally dispirits them.

The first obedience required in a horse is going forwards; till he performs this duty freely, never think of making him rein back, which would inevitably make him restive; as soon as he goes forwards readily, stop and caress him. Remember in this, and every other exercise, to use him to go equally well to the right and left; and, when he obeys, caress him and dismiss him immediately. If a horse that is very young takes fright, and stands still, lead on another horse before him, which probably will induce him to follow. 'ut a snaffle in his mouth; and, when he goes freely, saddle him, girting him at first very loose. Let the cord which you hold be long and loose; but not so much so as to endanger the horse's entangling his legs in it. Small circles, in the beginning, would constrain the horse too much, and put him upon defending himself. No bend must be required at first; never suffer him to gallop false; but, whenever he attempts it, stop him without delay, and then set him off afresh. If he gallops of his own accord, and true, permit him to continue: but, if not, do not demand it of him at first. Should he jump, shake the cord gently upon his nose, and he will fall into his trot again. If he stands still, plunges, or rears, let the man who holds the whip make a noise with it; but never touch him till necessary to make him go on. When you change hands, stop and caress him, and entice him to come up to you for by presenting yourself, as some do suddenly before horses, and frightening them to the other side, you run a great risk of making them shy. If he keeps his head too low, shake the cavesson to make him raise it; and in whatever the horse does, whether he walks, trots, or gallops, let it be a constant rule, that the motion be determined, and really such as is intended, without the least shuffling, pacing, or any other irregular gait.

SECT. II.—OF PLACING THE RIDER, AND REN

DERING HIM FIRM ON HORSEBACK.

The greatest attention, and the same gentleness that is used in teaching a horse, should also be observed in training his rider. Every method must be practised to create and preserve, both in man and horse, all possible feeling and sensibility; contrary to the usage of many ridingmasters, who seem industriously to labor at abolishing these in both.

As many essential points depend upon the manner in which a man is at first placed on horseback, it ought to be attended to with exact

ness. The absurdity of putting a man, who perhaps has never been on horseback before, upon a rough trotting horse, to which he is obliged to cling with all the force of his arms and legs, is sufficiently obvious. No man can be well seated on horseback, unless he be unconstrainedly master of the balance of his body; and at his ease; which cannot be, if his attention be otherwise engaged; as it must wholly be in a raw unprepared horseman on a rough horse.

The first time a man is put on horseback he should be placed upon a very gentle horse; and not attempt to trot him till he is quite easy in the walk; nor gallop, till he trots properly. Nor should horses be made to trot till they are obedient, and their mouths well formed on a walk; nor to gallop, till the same be effected on a trot. When he attains firmness in his seat, the more he trots rough horses the better. This is the best, easiest, and shortest method: by it a man is soon made a sufficient horseman; but in the other methods a man contracts all sorts of bad habits, and rides worse every day. Before a man mount he should be taught to know if the curb be well placed; that is, when the horse has a bit in his mouth, which at first he should not; but only a snaffle, till the rider is firm in his seat, and the horse also somewhat taught: likewise if the nose-band be properly tight; the throat-band somewhat loose; and the mouthpiece neither too high nor too low in the horse's mouth, so as not to wrinkle the skin nor to hang lax; the girths drawn moderately, but not too tight; and the crupper and the breast-plate properly adjusted. A very careful hand may venture on a bit at first, and succeed with it; only with colts it is better to avoid any pressure on the bars at first, which a curb, though ever so gently used, must in some degree occasion. When the bridle, &c., have been well looked to, let the man approach the horse gently near the shoulder; then, taking the reins and an handful of the mane in his left hand, let him put his foot softly in the left stirrup, by pulling it towards him, lest he touch the horse with his toe; then, raising himself up, let him rest a moment on it with his body upright, but not stiff; and after that, passing his right leg clear over the saddle, without rubbing against any thing, let him seat himself gently down. He must be cautious not to take the reins too short, for fear of making the horse rear, run, fall back, or throw up his head; but let him hold them of an equal length, neither tight nor slack, and with the little finger between them. Horses should be accustomed to stand still to be mounted, and not to stir till the rider

pleases. All soldiers are instructed to mount and dismount equally well on both sides, which may be of great use in times of hurry and confusion.

The rider should be placed in his saddle, with his body rather back, and his head held up without stiffness; seated neither forwards, nor very backwards: with the breast elevated a little, and the lower part of the body a little forwards; the thighs and legs turned in without constraint, and the feet in a straight line neither turned in nor out. By this position the natural weight of the thighs has a proper pressure, and the legs are