HORSE
—is the name of the most beautiful, the most useful, and the most valuable, animal, this or any other nation has to boast: the majestic extent of his formation, the graceful ease of every motion, the immensity of his strength, the smooth and glossy surface of his skin, the pliability of his temper, and, above every other consideration, his rapidity of action, and general utility, render him highly worthy the care, attention, and pecuniary estimation he is now held in from one extremity of the earth to the other. He is the most spirited and most powerful of all creatures; yet the most generous, docile, grateful and obedient to the purposes of man as an individual, as well as to all the agricultural and COMMERCIAL advantages of society at large. He may be justly termed the great main-spring of PLEASURE to one class, and of PROFIT to the other; without whose aid, the eternal routine of both must come to immediate termination, constituting a CHAOS very far beyond the most fertile imagination to conceive or describe.
The natural history, the form, and general utility, of the horse, is become so perfectly familiar to every eye, that the less will be required upon those points in explanation. The various pleasurable purposes, and useful talks, to which horses are appropriated in this country, has long since demonstrated the consistency of cultivating, by select and judicious propagation, each particular kind of stock, so as to render it individually applicable to the use for which it is intended. The numbers annually produced, and annually destroyed, within the circle of our own isle (even in time of peace) exceed common conception, and of which no computation can be tolerably formed. The long list constantly bred for, and engaged upon, the TURF; the SPORTS of the FIELD; the national establishment of MILITARY CAVALRY; the carriage horses of the opulent, rattling through every street of every city and large town in the kingdom; the thousands employed in AGRICULTURE, as well as all the DRAFT work of the METROPOLIS; in addition to the infinity annexed to MAIL and STAGE COACHES, as well as to the POST WORK, and those useful drudges denominated ROADSTERS, in the possession of every class of people, constitute an aggregate that in contemplation excites the utmost admiration.
The constantly increasing OPULENCE, or the constantly increasing LUXURY, has rendered the demand for horses so very superior to the example of any previous period, that no comparative statement of former and present value can hardly be ascertained. The fashionable rage for expeditious travelling, and of being conveyed at the rate of EIGHT or NINE miles an hour from one part of the kingdom to another, is the absolute furor of the times, and supported at an immense expence by those whose peculiar personal pride prompts them to display the advantages resulting from opulence, and the privileges from ostentation; to the incessant misery and premature destruction of thousands, whose services would be insured for years by a more moderate and HUMANE mode of treatment. The incredible increase of light carriages of every description, has opened such a field for the use of horses of airy form, and easy action, that they are now in eternal request, at more than double, and in many purchases TREBLE, what they were to be obtained for no more than twenty years since.
The different kinds of horses bred for various purposes, pass under the denomination of RUNNING HORSES, HUNTERS, CARRIAGE HORSES, CART HORSES, ROADSTERS, and HACKS. The first are propagated in the racing studs of the most opulent characters, and appropriated entirely to the decision of sporting engagements upon the TURF; many of which, after having displayed their powers in this way, then become HUNTERS of the first class, and are frequently sold at three and four hundred guineas each. Carriage horses, with which the gay and fashionable are now whirled through the western streets of the metropolis with the most incredible velocity, were formerly considered the good, safe, substantial English hunter, and might forty years since have been purchased for thirty or five-and-thirty pounds, which was at that time about the current value: they are not now, however, from the constantly accumulating demand, and incessant destruction, to be procured in a state of youth and purity, at less than nearly three times that sum. Cart horses of great size, strength, and adequate powers, are principally furnished by the midland and northern counties, for the coal and corn trade, as well as the commercial purposes of the city and suburbs, where they command an incredible price: small and inferior sorts are bred in, and dispersed through, almost every other county in the kingdom. Roadsters and HACKS may be supposed to include that great infinity of all sizes, descriptions, and qualifications, with which every road, every common, and every pasture, seem so plentifully to abound.
If superior judgment and circumspection were ever truly necessary in the selection and purchase of a HORSE, they are become doubly so, when the object of pursuit is proportionally difficult of attainment. To direct the eye, to form the judgment, and to check the natural impetuosity of the young and inexperienced purchaser, some few remarks are indispensibly necessary to shield him from the rock of fascination, upon which so many have repentantly foundered. The mind of man should never be more itself, never more adequate to the task of cool deliberation and patient observation, than in the simple examination of a horse for sale. Deception in dealing is so truly systematic, and so truly honorable in the present age, that the mind cannot be too closely fortified for all events: whether the subject is to be sold by AUCTION, or by private contract, the property of a GENTLEMAN, or the offer of a dealer, the ground of self defence should be precisely the same.
It is the fixed and invariable rule with every DEALER, to affect, at first, a perfect indifference respecting the horse he wishes most to get rid of; and he always makes a point of never giving the unequivocal price of any horse till he has been seen out of the stable; during which time of shewing out, he, as well as his emissaries and attendants, are occasionally engaged in watching most attentively every trait of the intentional purchaser's countenance, anxious for a single sign of approbation, by which to regulate the magnitude of his demand; asking five, ten, fifteen, or twenty guineas more than he originally intended, in proportion as he finds the enquirer fascinated with his object of perfection, and disposed to purchase. Before the horse is brought out, it is in vain to entreat the ceremony of "figging" may be dispensed with; it is declared a custom of honor amongst the fraternity, and must be complied with.
This prelude performed, and his stern thrown upon his back like the tail of a squirrel, he is literally driven into action; the WHIP (with which he is privately alarmed in his stall twenty times a day) cannot be permitted to lay dormant even upon the present occasion, particularly when its flaggellating flourish can be displayed to so great an advantage; the irritating severity of the lash, so retentively dreaded, he furiously flies from, and affords an attracting specimen of speed you may look for in vain upon any future occasion. After this curious exhibition of his ACTION, the horse still trembling with a dread of the deadly instrument waving in his sight, it will be proper to make a minute and careful examination of his shape, make, PROBABLE PERFECTION, or possible blemishes and defects, if the horse is permitted by the DEALER to stand quiet, a favor which is not always to be obtained.
This done, place yourself directly opposite to the horse's head at two yards distance, in which position, casting your eyes upon his ears, and dropping them gradually from one point to another, you command, at a single view, the effect of his countenance, the good or bad state of his EYES, the breadth of his breast, the fate of his KNEES, the appearance of SPLENTS, as well as the growth and uniformity of the FEET. Changing your place to a side view, at similar distance, you have there the curve of the CREST, the circumference of the BONE, the depth of the CHEST, the length of the BACK, the strength of the LOINS, the setting on of the TAIL, and the fashionable finish of the hind quarter; without which, individually perfect, he cannot be in possession of the symmetry that is known to constitute a handsome and well-bred horse.
Looking at him behind, it is instantly perceived, whether he stands well upon his legs, and is formed wide, firm and muscular across the GASKINS, or narrow and contracted, bearing what is termed a "bandy-hocked" or "cat-hammed" appearance. The same moment affords opportunity to observe, if BLOOD SPAVINS are perceptible within side, BONE SPAVINS without, or CURBS on the back of the HOCK; as well as SPLENTS upon any one of the legs, and whether he cuts either behind or before. If blood or bone spavin is observed, it is necessary to recollect (however attracting the object may be in other respects) they sooner or later produce LAMENESS to a certainty; and although they are not deemed absolutely incurable, they open a field to the disquietude and anxiety of BLISTERING, firing, &c. with the additional and consolatory ultimatum of a farrier's bill. Splents are by no means so critical, or dangerous, if seated forward upon the shank-bone, and not likely to interfere with, or vibrate in the action of the tendon, passing under the denomination of the "back sinews;" in which case, a good and otherways valuable horse need not be declined for so slight a cause, where no injury is like to be sustained.
Having proceeded thus far in the examination with strict attention, it becomes equally necessary to descend minutely to the FEET, in search of CRACKS, CORNS, THRUSHES, COMPRESSION of the HOOF, NARROW HEELS, or fleshy protuberances of the inner, and consequent projection of the outer sole. The state of the WIND is next the object of enquiry, which is done by making the customary and critical experiment of pinching the GULLET or windpipe with considerable force, nearly close to, and just behind the jaw-bone: should the horse, upon such pressure, force out a sound substantial cough, (which is sometimes repeated,) the safety of the wind is ascertained: on the contrary, should nothing be produced but a faint hollow wheezing, with a palpable heaving of the flanks, the state of the wind may be justly suspected. Should any doubt arise upon the decision, (which sometimes happens with the best and most experienced judges,) let the horse be put into brisk action, and powerful exertion, when the roaring at a distance, the laboured respiration, and the preternatural heaving of the flank, after a brisk gallop of two thirds of a MILE, will determine the state of the wind, without the least chance of being mistaken.
The EYES, that were only superficially noticed as matter of course in the front view, when the horse was first brought out of the stable, now become the necessary objects of minute, patient, and judicious investigation. If they are clear, full and prominent in the orb, reflecting your own figure from the pupil, without any protrusion of the haw from the inner corner, any inflammatory enlargement of the lids, or any acrid weeping from either, there is then every well-founded reason to believe they are not only safe, but GOOD. On the contrary, should there appear a seeming sinking of the orbs, with a perceptible indentation, and a wrinkled contraction above the eyelids, they are very unfavorable symptoms, indicating impending ill, and should not be encountered, but with an expectation of certain loss. A small pig eye should be examined with great caution; they are better avoided, if possible, as their future state is not only to be considered exceedingly doubtful, but they are always objected to, and productive of vexatious rebuffs, when a horse is again to be sold. A cloudy muddiness beneath the outer covering of the eye, or a milky thickening upon the surface, denotes present defect, and probability of future blindness; in all which cases, prudence should prevent such subject from becoming an object of attraction.
The AGE, if asked of a dealer, is declared "rising six" or "rising seven;" for it must be held in remembrance, that their horses are never acknowledged younger than "FIVE," or older than "SIX OFF"; and what is still more extraordinary, in addition to this convenience, they possess the sole PATENT for regeneration, having it always in their power to make a ten years old horse SIX, with the very desirable advantage to a purchaser, that he shall never be more (by the mouth) so long as he lives. This extra effort of ART, or renewal of age, passes under the denomination of "BISHOPING," (which see,) where a description of the operation will be found. The AGE of a HORSE by the mouth is not dissimilar to abstract points in politics with coffee-house politicians, largely talked of, but little understood; which circumstance alone has laid open a perpetual field for this eternal and remorseless imposition: to remedy which, as much as the nature of the case will admit, and that a matter of so much utility may with very little attention be perfectly understood, a PLATE is annexed, and accompanied with such explanatory matter, as will render it easy to every comprehension. See Colt.
Having gone through, with precision, all that can possibly present itself upon the score of examination, in respect to age, shape, make, figure, and action, we arrive at the very ultimatum of enquiry, respecting the WARRANTY of his being perfectly SOUND. What that warranty is, and how far it is to extend, requires a more correct and limited line of certainty than seems at present to be understood. BLEMISHES and DEFECTS are supposed by some not to constitute unsoundness, provided the ACTION of the horse is not impeded by their appearance; whilst, on the contrary, it is as firmly urged by the impartial and disinterested, that no horse ought to be sold as, or WARRANTED "perfectly sound," but in a state of natural and unsullied perfection. This criterion is the more necessary to be ascertained, and laid down by some principle of law, because the numerous litigations in every successive TERM demonstrate, that various opinions prevail, according to the INTEREST, CAPRICE, or PECUNIARY convenience, of individuals concerned; to carry, support and confirm which, even the prostitution of TRUTH and HONOR must become subservient. And this "glorious uncertainty of the law" is so clearly comprehended by the Gentlemen of the Long Robe, that when a HORSE CAUSE is coming on in any of the Courts, an observation immediately follows, that "whoever SWEARS the hardest will obtain it."
To prevent suits of such description, (which sometimes happen between gentlemen of equal honor, and strict integrity,) it is much to be wished, some direct and unequivocal mode of distinction could be legally ascertained, how far a general "warranty of soundness" is to extend, and where the line of perfection or imperfection is to be drawn; as for instance, to establish, by LAW or CUSTOM, some fixed and invariable rules, by which the soundness of a horse might so far be insured between BUYER and SELLER, as to render unnecessary such LAW-SUITS as are invariably supported by a subornation of perjury on one side or the other. Nothing, perhaps, could conduce more to a cause so desirable, or tend more to constitute a criterion of equity between all parties, if once established, and mutually understood; that no horse should be deemed SOUND, and sold with such WARRANTY, but in a state of PERFECTION, entirely free from lameness, blemish, and defect, not only at the time of transfer, but never known to have been otherways: admitting which mode of dealing to form the basis of equity between one man and another, an additional observation naturally presents itself, as a collateral consideration clearly implied, though not particularly expressed; that a horse sold bona fide sound, and admitted on both sides to be so at the time of purchase, should have no right to be returned under any plea whatever; for it is universally known, that any horse so sold, must be as liable to fall lame, become diseased, or even to die, in one hour after DELIVERY, as in any other hour of life. Then where can be the equitable consistency of returning a horse positively SOUND when sold, upon the plea of lameness or disease, when the time of attack has been merely a matter of chance between one and the other?
No juvenile or inexperienced purchaser should be too eager and hasty in his pursuits, or too easily fascinated with a seeming object of GENERAL ATTRACTION. It is exceedingly easy to purchase "in haste, and repent at leisure:" none should be instantly allured by sudden show, and short inspection; too much trial cannot be obtained, nor too much patience persevered in during the examination. The sportsman of prudence, and personal experience, never even speaks upon the price, without previously RIDING the subject in question; this he does in a remote and quiet situation, then in a busy one. In the former, mount, dismount, and mount again; survey and critically examine him in a state of nature, when calm, and at a distance from those he knows to be his persecutors as well in as out of the stable: it is for want of these precautions, that there are so many dupes to artifice, who purchase the dullest jades, without adverting for a moment to the furious effect of WHIP, SPUR, and ginger; the dealer's best friends.
As it is by no means a proof of judgment to purchase hastily, so, having once purchased, it should be an invariable maxim never to part too rashly. Innumerable are the instances where horses have been disposed of in the moments of caprice, and precipitately sold for fifteen, twenty, or thirty pounds, that have afterwards produced an hundred or an hundred and fifty guineas. When a horse of promising appearance, and pleasing action, is rode upon trial, great allowance should be made for the state of his mouth: he may not only have been accustomed to a different bit or BRIDLE, but may probably have been some time ridden by a previous OWNER of very different temper and disposition. One man rides with a tight, another with a slack rein: one is a petulant, refractory, impatient rider, who not unfrequently makes his horse so by his own indiscretion; when, on the contrary, a mild, serene, and philosophic rider (who ruminates upon the imperfections of the animal he bestrides, as well as his own) often enjoys the inexpressible satisfaction of making a convert to his own good usage and sensibility; constituting, by such patient perseverance, that very horse a desirable object of acquisition, even to those who had, upon too slight a foundation, or too short a trial, discarded him as unworthy any service at all.
Experience affords ample demonstration, that the tempers of HORSES are as much diversified as the tempers of those who RIDE or DRIVE them; and it will not be inapplicable for the young to be told, or the OLD to recollect, that a great number of horses are made restive and vicious by ill usage, and then unmercifully whipped, spurred, and beaten for being so; in corroboration of which fact, there are numbers constantly disposed of "to the best bidder," as invincibly restive, at the hammer of a REPOSITORY, that would in a few weeks, by gentle and humane treatment, have been reformed to the best tempers, and most pliable dispositions. Those who have been most attentively accurate in observation and experience, well know, that personal severity to horses for restiveness or starting, very frequently makes them worse, but is seldom found to make them better: it is, therefore, certainly more rational, more humane, and evidently more gratifying, to effect subservience by tenderness and manly perseverance (divested of pusillanimity and fear) than by means of unnatural severity, often tending to render "the remedy worse than the disease."
Horses, when at liberty, and in a state of freedom, although they are exposed to the different degrees of heat and cold, (encountering the utmost severity of the ELEMENTS in opposite seasons,) are well known to be in more constant health, and less subject to morbidity, than when destined to the scanty confines of a STABLE, and brought into USE; the causes of which are too numerous, and too extensive, to come within the limits of a work of this kind. It is, however, to be presumed, very many of the SEVERE, DANGEROUS, and, finally, destructive disorders to which they are so constantly subject, and so perpetually liable, are produced much more by a want of care and attention in those who OWN or superintend them, than to any pre-disposing tendency in the animal to disease. In farther elucidation of which, see "Groom."
The disorders to which horses are perpetually incident, may be reduced to a few distinct heads, as the acute, chronic, dangerous, infectious, and accidental; the major part of those partaking of a joint description, and technical complication. For instance, staggers, flatulent or inflammatory cholic, fevers, pleurisy, inflammation of the lungs, and strangury, may be ranked amongst the acute and dangerous. Glanders and FARCY are admitted to be infectious, and in advanced stages, incurable. The GREASE, SURFEIT, MANGE, ASTHMA, &c. may be termed chronic. Accidents and incidents include colds, coughs, swelled legs, cracked heels, wind-galls, strains, warbles, sitfasts, and a long train of trifles, by far the greater part of which originate in carelessness, inhumanity, and indiscretion. A description of all will be found under their distinct heads; and the means of alleviation and cure must be derived from the most popular practitioners, or the works of those who have written professedly upon the subject of Veterinary Medicine and Disease.
Horses having for so many centuries continued to increase the ease, comfort, pleasure, and happiness, of all descriptions of people, they have at length, by the fertile invention of national financiers, been found equally capable of becoming materially instrumental to the support of Government, in a degree beyond what the utmost effusions of fancy could have formed, as will be seen by the very judicious scale of gradational taxation, accurately copied and annexed. And as there was no other distinct head, where the DUTIES upon CARRIAGES could with propriety be introduced, they are here included also, as no inapplicable addition to requisite information, in which so many are individually concerned.
Duties on Horses.
| Duties on Horses for riding, or drawing Carriages. | ||||||
| No. | At per horse. | Total per Year | ||||
| £. | s. | d. | £. | s. | d. | |
| 1 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 6 | 12 | 0 |
| 3 | 3 | 12 | 0 | 10 | 16 | 0 |
| 4 | 3 | 15 | 0 | 15 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | 3 | 16 | 0 | 19 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 28 | 7 | 0 |
| 8 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 32 | 8 | 0 |
| 9 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 36 | 13 | 6 |
| 10 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 41 | 0 | 0 |
| 11 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 45 | 2 | 0 |
| 12 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 49 | 4 | 0 |
| 13 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 53 | 12 | 6 |
| 14 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 57 | 15 | 0 |
| 15 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 61 | 17 | 0 |
| 16 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 66 | 0 | 0 |
| 17 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 70 | 11 | 0 |
| 18 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 75 | 3 | 0 |
| 19 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 79 | 16 | 0 |
| 20 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 85 | 0 | 0 |
| And so on for any Number. | ||||||
On Horses and Mules.
| Duties on other Horses, and on Mules. | ||||||
| No. | At per horse | Total per Year | ||||
| £. | s. | d. | £. | s. | d. | |
| 1 | 0 | 12 | 6 | 0 | 12 | 6 |
| 2 | 1 | 5 | 0 | |||
| 3 | 1 | 17 | 6 | |||
| 4 | 2 | 10 | 0 | |||
| 5 | 3 | 2 | 6 | |||
| 6 | 3 | 15 | 0 | |||
| 7 | 4 | 7 | 6 | |||
| 8 | 5 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 9 | 5 | 12 | 6 | |||
| 10 | 6 | 5 | 0 | |||
| 11 | 6 | 17 | 6 | |||
| 12 | 7 | 10 | 0 | |||
| 13 | 8 | 2 | 6 | |||
| 14 | 8 | 15 | 0 | |||
| 15 | 9 | 7 | 6 | |||
| 16 | 10 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 17 | 10 | 12 | 6 | |||
| 18 | 11 | 5 | 0 | |||
| 19 | 11 | 17 | 6 | |||
| 20 | 12 | 10 | 0 | |||
| And so on for any Number. | ||||||
Duties on Carriages.
| Duties on Carriages with four Wheels, for private Use. | ||||||
| No. | At per Carriage. | Total per Year. | ||||
| £. | s. | d. | £. | s. | d. | |
| 1 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 36 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | 12 | 10 | 0 | 50 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 | 13 | 0 | 0 | 65 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | 13 | 10 | 0 | 81 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 98 | 0 | 0 |
| 8 | 14 | 10 | 0 | 116 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 | 15 | 0 | 0 | 135 | 0 | 0 |
| And so on for any Number. | ||||||
| Duties upon Stage Coaches, and Post Chaises, with four Wheels, at 8l. 8s. 0d. each. | |||
| No. | |||
| £. | s. | d. | |
| 1 | 8 | 8 | 0 |
| 2 | 16 | 16 | 0 |
| 3 | 25 | 4 | 0 |
| 4 | 33 | 12 | 0 |
| 5 | 42 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | 50 | 8 | 0 |
| 7 | 58 | 16 | 0 |
| 8 | 67 | 4 | 0 |
| 9 | 75 | 12 | 0 |
Duties on Carriages with Two Wheels.
| £. | s. | d. | ||
| Drawn by one Horse | 5 | 5 | 0 | each |
| Drawn by Two or more | 7 | 7 | 0 | |
| Taxed Carts | 1 | 4 | 0 |