,—which for time immemorial has been in use to signify a seminary for youth only, has at length acquired, by the refinement of fashion, the honour of giving more dignity to what has hitherto passed under the denomination of A RIDING SCHOOL; now transformed, by the sublimity of the superior classes, into an "EQUESTRIAN ACADEMY;" of which more will be found under the proper and distinct heads of Manege and Riding School.
ACCLOYED
—is almost obsolete, and will be buried in oblivion with the last FARRIER of the old school. It has been formerly used to signify an injury sustained in the foot by shoeing; as when a nail had swerved from its proper direction, and punctured (or pressed too close upon) the membranous mass so as to occasion lameness, the horse was then said to be "accloyed:" but no well-founded derivation is to be discovered for a term of so much ambiguity.
ACHE
;—pain arising from different causes, originating in blows, wounds, inflammations, and colds; as for instance, the CHRONIC RHEUMATISM, which may be termed a CONTINUAL ACHE.
ACRIMONY
—is a state of the blood disposed to only certain degrees of disease, by the quantity of serum becoming too great for the proportion of crassamentum, with which, in its state of active fluidity, it is combined for the purpose of regular circulation, so invariably necessary to the standard of health. Blood thus divested of its adhesive property, soon displays in HORSES a tendency to what are termed acrimonious diseases, originating in, and dependent upon, the impoverished state to which it is reduced. Hence arises a train of trouble and disquietude more vexatious than alarming, more troublesome than expensive; as cracked heels; cutaneous eruptions of the dry and scurfy kind; a dingy, variegated, unhealthy hue of the coat; and frequently a seemingly half starved contraction of the CREST. These palpable effects of acrimony in the blood, are produced much more by the penury and indifference of the master, (or the neglect of his servant,) than any disposition to disease in the horse. Experience has sufficiently proved, that a sufficient quantity of proper and healthy food is so indispensably requisite for the support of the frame, and every office of the animal œconomy, that a want of such due supply must be productive of acrimony in a greater or a less degree; to obtund which, and counteract its effects, recourse must be had to alimentary invigorants and antimonial alteratives, as will be found more medically explained in "The Gentleman's Stable Directory;" or, "Taplin's Compendium of Farriery."
ACTION
—is a word in constant use with the SPORTING world, and horse-dealing fraternity, to express the peculiar property of a horse by his good or bad action: speaking of him as a subject possessing superior powers, he is called "a horse of exceeding fine action;" meaning it to be understood, he is not to be found fault with; that he is calculated to make a very valuable roadster, "as he trots within himself (that is, with ease to himself) fourteen or fifteen miles an hour;" implying an unequivocal proof of his speed in that pace: that he goes in high style, "well above his ground;" meaning, that he lifts his legs light, quick, and freely, without dwelling or tripping, so as to be entitled to the degrading appellation of "a daisy cutter," by going too near, and of course always liable to fall.