—In racing advertisements, propositions of different kinds appear, in respect to the weights which are to be carried by the horses who are a year younger or a year older than each other. Such announcements vary, in some degree, between the weights of one place of sport and another; but as the GOLD CUP weights at Oxford are considered a fair criterion of equity, they are here introduced in explanation.
| st. | lb. | |
| Four year olds carry | 7 | 7 |
| Five year olds | 8 | 7 |
| Six year olds | 9 | 0 |
| And aged | 9 | 4 |
WEIGHT for INCHES
.—When a plate is advertised to be run for by horses "to carry weight for inches," it is then called a Give and Take Plate, which see.
WEIGHT to the SCALE
.—Bringing the proper weight to the scale immediately after each heat, is in racing a very important consideration. Whatever weight by the conditions, in either plate, match, sweepstakes, or subscription, a horse is appointed to carry, the rider or jockey must have ascertained before the Stewards, or Clerk of the Course, by the scales and weights publicly affixed to the starting-post of every race ground for that purpose. So soon as each and every heat is ended, such rider or jockey is to ride his horse up to the scales, there to be weighed in immediate succession; and any rider or jockey neglecting so to do, dismounting before he reaches the scale, or not bringing his full weight when there, the horse in either case is deemed equally distanced, and can start no more for that plate or prize, whatever may be its denomination.
WENS
—are enlargements which may appear upon any of the soft or fleshy parts of a horse's body, and are technically termed encysted tumours; but divided into different kinds, which are thus distinguished. One, upon separation, is found to contain a substance somewhat similar to boiled rice, curds, or a bread poultice; a second, a glutinous adhesive coagulum, nearly resembling honey when not in a state of absolute fluidity; a third, in which the substance has every appearance of suet in its progress from the butcher's to the tallow chandlers; and a fourth, with the contents a little like half-melted grease. The only mode of extirpation (where it can with safety be ventured upon) is by the knife; but if, in performing the operation, every part of the cyst or bag is not completely removed, it will always be liable to enlarge again, and render abortive all that may have been done before. Whenever the tumour is so extirpated, the wound is to be dressed in the usual way, and a favourable incarnation and union of parts will soon be obtained.
WHEEZING
—is that seeming difficulty of respiration through the nostrils of a horse, which is by some attributed to a wrong cause; suspecting it to be a contraction or narrowness between the bones and cartilages of the nose. This, to a more nice or accurate observer, does not appear to be the case; on the contrary, attentively investigated, it appears there is very little, if any, doubt to be entertained of its being a defect in the natural inflation of the lungs. Admitting this, it is then a gradational relative to the asthmatic and thick-winded tribe, where some of the finer vessels are obstructed, become impervious, or tubercles formed. In the latter, cure cannot be expected; alleviation may be obtained by a patient perseverance in mild mercurial alteratives; and in all the different shades of these affections of the lungs, originating in plethora and a viscid sizy state of the blood, frequently unloading the vessels of their contents by bleeding, attenuating the blood by antimonials, and enlivening the circulation by pectoral cordial detergents, are the only means upon which an expectation of permanent relief can be entertained.