Page:Willich, A. F. M. - The Domestic Encyclopædia (Vol. 2, 1802).djvu/518

4 86] HOR pliable ; as it is subject to fissures and cracks, by which the hoof is sometimes 1 cleft through the whole length of the coronet. A narrow heel is iikew i<e a great defect ; and, if it do not exceed two fingers in breadth, it forms an imperfect foot. A High heel often causes a horse to trip and stumbl ; while a low one, with long, yielding pasterns, is apt to be worn away on a long jour- ney. On the other hand, a foot disproportionately large, renders the animal weak, and clumsy in its gait. The head of a horse ought to be small, an 1 rather lean than fleshy ; his ears should be erect, thin, sprightly, and pointed ; the neck arched towards the middle, taper- ing gradually towards the head ; the shoulders rather long ; the wi- thers thin, and enlarge by degrees as they extend downwards, yet so as to render his breast neither too gross nor too narrow. Such are the principal characters, by which the best form and proportion of that useful animal may be deter- mined. — Those of our readers who wish to obtain more extensive in- formation relative to this interest- ing subject, may with advantage peruse Ten Minute's Advice to every Gentleman going In purchase a Horse, &c. (l'Jmo. Js.) j a small work, but which is replete with practical information. Horse-bean. See vol. i. p. 203. HOUSE-BREAD, an expensive preparation, given to horses, and consisting of wheat, oats, and beans ; to which are sometimes ad'icil, aniseed, liquorice, eggs, and al ; at others, rye and white-wine, There are three kinds of bread usual y allowed to race-horses, for tin- sec md, third, an . ton. th nights' feeding j all ul which are prepared HOR with wheat, and heans worked with yeast ; the difference in the propor- tions is as follows: in the first sort, a tripls quantity of beans is used to one part of wheat ; in the second, equal portions of both a e employ- ed ; in the third, three-fourths of wheat are added to one part of beans ! These artificial stimulants, how- ever, produce only a temporary ef- fect ; nor do they contribute to the future health and prosperity of the horse. Indeed, we doubt whether, in the present unprecedented state of the market, horse-racing can be reconciled to the principles of jus- tice and humanity ; unless it be ad- mitted, that the fluctuating, though always exorbitant, price of corn, wit in the last two years, must be attributed chiefly to the vile arts and evasions of the law, practised by monopolizers, regraters, fore- stalled, &:c. These pests of socw ety have apparently succeeded in creating a constant factitious scar- city, which, it is to be apprehend- ed, will prevail, and elude the ut- most vigilance of the magistrate, till the circulating medium be re- gulated, and the bank-notes of pri- vate individuals reduced to their true value. After this involuntary digression from the subject, we shall conclude with stating a very useful practice, that is followed in many parts of Denmark and Gem. any, with a view to preserve the health of that noble animal, the horse; and at the same time to keep him in " good prd r." It simply consists in mix- ing a handful of the dried and pul- verized seed of the common nettle, every morning and evening, with his allowance of oats. Others add a handful of salt to each meal, and occasionally a few boiled carrots, which