Stern fishing, is by fixing a boat (for without, roach of any size are hardly to be caught,) to the stern of a vessel returned from a voyage, whose bottom is foul, and furnished with insects, which the fish greedily devour. The line should not exceed four feet, the float be within a foot of its top, and the rod very short; the bait to be three or four gentles, and dropt close to the ship’s sides, not allowing the bait to swim more than eight or nine feet; begin at the first of the ebb-tide, and for two hours the roach will bite freely.—Daniel.
Road, s. Large way, public path; ground where ships may anchor.
Roadster, s. A hackney, a horse kept for the road.
The hackney, more than any other variety of horse, adds to our health and comfort; we ride him for amusement, and he transports us long distances on our personal avocations. On some only of these occasions speed is desirable; but on all safety is indispensable; and next to that, is the ease with which his motions are performed. These requisites remove the hackney still further than the hunter from that form which best suits the purposes of the racer. In the hackney, therefore, we scrutinise his fore quarters with the same attention that we pay to the hinder parts of the racer; for, as to the purposes of the latter, the fore parts are subordinate to the hinder, so in the hackney, speed being infinitely less important than either ease or safety, and particularly the latter, it is essential that his fore parts be so formed as to ensure these properties. And here it may not be irrelevant to inquire, on what does the safety of action mainly depend? Is it on any particular care of the animal himself in his progression? or does it necessarily arise out of certain peculiarities in his formation, dependent on such an elevation of his feet as will ensure his not stumbling by any erroneous placing of them? The close observer, I think, will answer, that both are concerned: many horses go safely, and yet by no means elevate their legs high; but such are attentive to their steps; and when they see stones or other risings in their path, carefully avoid them. In my early practice I was called on to examine a horse intended for the French court, at the stables of that veteran dealer Choppin. I objected to the horse that he went close to the ground, which even his owner could not deny: but he still argued, that, although he appeared to go near the ground, yet that he was particularly safe in all his paces; and, as a lure to the purchase, would have offered a bet, that on the roughest ground he would not make one trip. As the animal in all other respects was desirable, ground purposely stony in the extreme was chosen, over which he was tried; and it was singular to remark, that in every pace he accommodated the elevation of his feet exactly to the elevations of surface they were to pass over; but it was with a kind of frightful nicety to the observer. On the same ground, many high actioned horses, from inattention to the matters on it, might have tripped by meeting any unusual rising; or, by placing one of the feet on a rolling stone, might have fallen altogether. But it is not hence meant to argue, that the most careful hackney, which does not naturally elevate his feet, is a desirable one. Horses, it is true, are in a great degree crepuscular, and see in a very moderate light. But would such a horse be safe to ride at a brisk trot along an uneven road in a dark night? Or even in a long day, might not fatigue bring his feet down without his usual caution?
The fore-hand of the hackney, therefore, should be elevated, and his shoulder by all means must be oblique; so that he may not only lift up his feet, but also ride pleasantly and lightly in hand, as it is termed by horsemen. To which latter valuable quality it is also essential that he have a neck of just proportions, and that his head be particularly well placed on it, so as to afford him room for flexing himself to the action of the bridle, which, in the hands of a good rider, will sometimes constrain him to throw himself on his haunches, and at others to carry himself forward for more speedy progression. The remainder of the fore limbs ought to present a perfectly vertical line to the pastern, which should have such length and obliquity, and such only, as shall bring the toe directly under the point of the shoulder. The body should be circular, neither long nor very short; his saddle-placing good, his flank on a plane nearly with the rest of his carcass, his loins wide, and his croup gently curved only, to allow of a graceful setting on of the tail. From hence downwards, the principles already laid down when treating on the exterior formation generally, will apply; particularising only, that for this variety of horse a good foot ought never to be dispensed with. Height is not so essential in the hackney as in the hunter; it need never to exceed fifteen hands two inches: in most cases it may, with more propriety, range between fourteen hands three inches, and fifteen hands one inch. Altogether, his frame should be compact, without being in the least clumsy; and with this form, the more breeding he shows, short of full blood, the better.—Blaine.
Roan, a. Bay or sorrel, with grey or white spots interspersed.
The roans, of every variety of colour and form, are composed of white mixed with bay, or red, or black. In some it seems to be a natural mixture of the colours; in others it appears as if one colour was powdered or sprinkled over another. They are pretty horses for ladies or light carriages, and many of them easy in their paces, but they do not usually display much blood, nor are they celebrated for endurance. If they should have white fore legs, with white hoofs, they are too often tender-footed, or become so with even a little hard work.—The Horse.
Roar, v. To cry as a lion or other wild beast; to cry in distress; to sound as the wind or sea; to make a loud noise.
Roaring, s. A disease in horses.
The causes of roaring, which I shall here use as a type of the whole, are remote and proximate. The remote causes are mostly inflammation, acute or chronic, in the tracheal tube itself. Occasionally it is brought on by the effects of inflammation on other parts, as of the salivary glands in strangles, or of those abscesses which not unfrequently occur in violent catarrh in the vicinage of the pharynx. Structural alteration in the lungs, as hepatisation, has occasioned it (Percivall’s Lectures, vol. ii. p. 256). Obstructions accidentally formed by exostoses, cicatrisations, &c., or extraneous substances lodged in the cavities leading to the trachea, may any of them occasion it. Barriere notices a case of roaring dependent on the lodgment of a piece of riband within one of the nasal fossæ; and Godine another, brought on by a displaced molar tooth. The proximate cause might, with propriety, include these accidental obstructions, but they are mainly to be looked for in an extravasation, partial or extensive, of coagulable lymph; which, becoming organised, forms a permanent obstruction. When it is extensively spread over the larynx, it produces wheezing; when it constringes the rimaglottis, a whistling sound is the consequence, and is often heard in our own respirations under catarrh, or in the ordinary respirations of some asthmatic persons. Whoever has handled the throats of many old horses, must have observed the hardened state of the larynx, which almost resisted all attempts to what is termed ‘cough them.’ This ossification of the laryngeal cartilages is not an uncommon cause; and a similar state in the cartilages of the trachea is productive of it also. A very common case also of roaring is a band of lymph stretched across the tracheal tube; at others, an internal ring of the same matter simply diminishes its diameter. The obstruction is sometimes so considerable as to excite piping or roaring on the slightest exertion; in general cases, however, roaring is only exerted when forcible inspirations and expirations are made; for it is, I believe, equally produced by the one as by the other. Mechanical obstructions to free respiration may eventually be productive of roaring: the custom of tightly reining in our carriage-horses, there is reason to think, produces it often; and Mr. Sewell is of opinion, that the practice of using tight throat-lashes, or neck-straps, may lead to it. In furtherance of which opinion, it may be recollected, that horsemen have a very general supposition that crib-biting ends in roaring, in thick wind, or in broken wind: may not the tight collar-strap also here tend to the former of these affections? The custom of ‘coughing’ horses, and so frequently as it is practised in fairs, may be readily supposed as a cause. A horse passes from fair to fair, having his unfortunate throat brutally pinched thirty or forty times each day. Is it to be wondered at if inflammation take place, and adhesive deposit follow?