EARS.—As the ears constitute much of the beauty of a horse, according as
they are _well_ or _ill_ shaped, so from their situation, they are sure
to become early objects of observation. If they are small, soft, and
fine, curving inward in a small degree at the point, perfectly erect,
and spirited in action, they give the animal a very noble, majestic, and
commanding aspect: on the contrary, when a horse points his ears
forwards, he bears the appearance of looking eternally for _mischief_,
and always preparing to _start_ at every object he meets, which is no
very pleasant sensation to the rider. Horses of this description are
seldom remarkable for the _safety_ of their _eyes_; a purchaser cannot
be too circumspect in his examination before he makes him an
acquisition. Horses having coarse, long, foul ears, set on too low, and
hanging down on the sides, are called _mule_ or _lop eared_ horses; and
if of good form in other respects, and of some value, they are in
general cropped to improve their appearance. The greater part of the
racing stock of old _Herod_, one of the best stallions ever bred in
England, were _foul_, _long_, and _wide_ in their ears, which is to be
seen in almost the whole of their progeny.
PAIN in the ear of a horse is discoverable immediately by its
flaccidity, and painful deprivation of erection. The ear lays nearly
flat either one way or another; the horse is almost every minute giving
violent shakes of his head, which he as constantly leaves hanging down
on the side affected; from which circumstances alone the seat of pain
may with certainty be ascertained. Pains in the ear may arise from
various causes, as colds, blows, the insinuation of, or sting from,
_forest flies_, _bees_, _wasps_, or _hornets_. If the first is known to
be the cause, the stimulus excited by mildly rubbing the inside with the
half of a newly divided onion, will soon relieve the pain. If from a
blow, rubbing the ear inside and out with two table-spoons full of
camphorated spirits, mixed with two tea-spoons full of extract of
saturn, will relieve. If from a sting, a plentiful impregnation of fine
olive oil, to give the skin the power of expansion, will be right in the
moment of increasing inflammation; after which, the swelling may be
allayed with common white wine vinegar, verjuice, or strong vegeto
mineral water.
TRIMMING the EARS on the inside is a very common practice, and adds
considerably to the neatness and cleanliness of the head and appearance;
but care should be taken never to let it be done during rainy weather,
sharp and severe winds, or in the winter season; dreadful colds, as well
as dangerous diseases, have often been produced by these means, without
knowing from what cause the ill effect has been derived. The operation
of trimming should be performed in warm, open, mild weather, and with
SCISSARS in preference to the _flame_ of a _candle_; which, with the
additional use of the _twitch_, only serves to put the poor animal to a
double degree of unnecessary misery. After the ears are trimmed, they
may be rubbed over the inside with a small quantity of fresh butter, or
a piece of fine linen impregnated with olive oil, both of which are
excellent preventives to cold after the operation.
ECLIPSE,—the name of the most famous horse (since _Flying Childers_)
ever produced or trained in this or any other country. He was bred in
Windsor Great Park by the _Culloden_ (or Great) _Duke of_ _Cumberland_,
being foaled during the celebrated eclipse in the year 1764, from which
his name was taken. He was got by _Old Marske_, dam (_Spilletta_) by
_Regulus_; her dam (_Mother Western_) by _Smith's_ son of _Snake_;
grand-dam by LORD D'ARCY's _Old Montague_, &c. &c. Upon the decease of
his Royal Highness, the stud were sold by auction at the Park Lodge;
where _Eclipse_ (then a yearling) was purchased by MR. WILDMAN for 46
guineas, and afterwards sold to COLONEL O'KELLY (his last and only
possessor) for 1700 guineas. In 1769, when five years old, he won two
50's at Epsom; 50 at ASCOT HEATH; the King's 100 guineas, and 50, at
WINCHESTER; the 100 guineas, the bowl, and 30 guineas, at SALISBURY; and
the King's 100 guineas at CANTERBURY, LEWES, and LITCHFIELD.
In 1770 he received forfeit 600 guineas, and won the King's 100 guineas
at NEWMARKET; the King's 100 guineas at GUILDFORD; the same at
NOTTINGHAM; the same and 319 at YORK; the King's 100 guineas at LINCOLN;
150 guineas, and the King's 100 guineas _again_ at NEWMARKET, where
orders having been privately given by his owner, "to go off at _score_,
and run the whole four miles for _speed_," he double distanced his
opponents, and was then taken out of training for want of a competitor.
From this time he continued as a stallion at Epsom, in Surry, and
afterwards at Cannons, the seat of Colonel O'Kelly, in Middlesex, where
he died on the 27th of February, 1789, in the 26th year of his age;
leaving a progeny of winners and stallions who are transmitting his
blood to posterity in directions too numerous to be obliterated to the
end of time.
He was sire of _Firetail_, _Soldier_, _Corporal_, _Serjeant_, _Don
Quixote_, _King Fergus_, _Nina_, _Charlemont_, _Competitor_,
_Gunpowder_, _Hidalgo_, _King Hermon_, _Meteor_, _Pegasus_, _Scota_,
_Serpent_, _Squeak_, _Stripling_, _Devi Sing_, _Eliza_, _Poor Soldier_,
_Big Ben_, _Spitfire_, _Fair Barbara_, _Adonis_, _Mercury_, _Lily of the
Valley_, _Volunteer_, _Bonnyface_, _Jupiter_, _Venus_, _Antiochus_,
_Dungannon_, _Maria_, _Henley_, _Soujah ul Dowlah_, _Grimalkin_, _Dian_,
_Thunderbolt_, _Lightning_, _Spinner_, _Horizon_, _Miss Hervey_,
_Plutus_, _Pluto_, and _Comet_; exclusive of a great number of winners,
for the list and particulars of which, reference may be made to
WEATHERBY's "_Stud Book_," _and_ "_Racing Calendar_."
EARTH.—A fox beating his pursuers when hunted, and taking refuge _under
ground_, is then said to have _earthed_, or gone to earth. Some of these
earths are situate in old chalk pits, forming such different channels
and ramifications amidst the roots of trees in woods and coppices, that
it is impossible to dig them out; but where there is the least
probability of success, it is never relinquished; upon the established
and well-founded principle, that the hounds are always _entitled to
blood_ after a GOOD CHASE. A wanton and unnecessary destruction is,
however, at no time to be justified, particularly in a country _thin_ of
_foxes_; such unthinking devastation is frequently productive of a
_blank_ day at the end of a season.
EARTH-STOPPER—is an indispensible part of a FOX-HUNTING establishment,
whose business is principally performed by night. His department is to
visit and stop the strongest earths in the district intended to be
hunted on the following day. This is usually effected between the hours
of ten at night and four in the morning, by means of _bushes_,
_brambles_, _earth_, &c. to furnish which, he is provided with a
hand-bill, spade, candle and lanthorn, a hardy rough poney, terriers,
and of course _a pocket pistol_, to recruit the spirits amidst the
dreary scenes it is become his occupation to explore. It is also his
business to _re-open_ the EARTHS after the sport of the day, that the
FOXES may not fall victims to other modes of destruction.
ELDER—is a tree common in most hedges in the country, bearing a fruit
called ELDER-BERRIES, from which people make a very good wine. It is,
however, only mentioned here to remind the reader, that the _flowers_
are a very excellent ingredient in fomentations, and sporting gentlemen
should never be without them: they should be gathered in the heighth of
the bloom, properly dried, and preserved for use.
ELECAMPANE,—a root formerly in much estimation for its efficacy in
coughs and disorders of the breast and lungs; hence the reputation it
has attained in pectoral compositions for the use of horses. The great
difficulty, however, of procuring any thing like the _genuine root_ in
_powder_ from the medical retail shops, must ever prevent any great
gratification of expectation, to those who rely too much upon the
properties it is said to retain.
EMBROCATION;—a name given to SPIRITUOUS, VOLATILE, or SATURNINE
applications in a liquid form; either as _corroborants_, _stimulants_,
_repellents_, &c. and in most cases they are doubly efficacious, if
their use is preceded by sponges dipt in a hot decoction, prepared from
those garden aromatics called "FOMENTATION HERBS."
EMOLLIENTS—are such external applications as mollify the surface, and
alleviate any stricture upon the surrounding parts: they supple the
solids, as well as sheath and soften any asperity of the fluids.
FOMENTATIONS are of this class, and prove of the greatest utility in all
tumefactions, enlargements, and many lamenesses of HORSES, with those
practitioners who have judgment and patience to bring them perseveringly
into use. From the relaxing property of emollient topics, and their
sheathing of acrimony, it is that they are good sedative applications,
when pain from tension or irritation is excited: from nervous sympathy,
their efficacy is conveyed to distant and deep-seated parts, and thus it
is that the warm bath proves in most cases so powerful a sedative.
EMOLLIENTS, whether in the use of _fomentations_, or the application of
_poultices_, by relaxing the fibres, and increasing the congestion of
fluids, greatly promote suppuration, to effect which in all inflammatory
tumours, they should be immediately brought into use.
ENTRANCE OF HORSES—is the ceremony of entering horses (at the particular
places appointed) on a certain day previous to the races at any city,
borough, or town, where the plates to be run for are given and
advertised. Horses intended to run, are "to be SHEWN and ENTERED,"
paying _two_ or _three_ guineas "_entrance money_," (according to the
custom of the place,) and in general _five shillings_ to the CLERK of
THE COURSE. For all plates given by HIS MAJESTY, or his R. H. the P. of
WALES, no other entrance money is permitted, or paid, but the
before-mentioned fee to the clerk of the course.
ENTRANCE of HOUNDS—is the introduction of _young hounds_ to the PACK;
with whom, at a proper age, they are incorporated, for their initiation
in the kind of chase to which they are then to become appropriate. This
is a matter so truly professional, and so entirely dependent upon the
judgment of the HUNTSMAN and his _attendants_, that neither instruction
or entertainment can be derived from literary description.
EPILEPSY,—a disorder in horses, bearing some similitude to APOPLEXY and
STAGGERS; for which the same medical means are applied for relief.
EQUERRY—is an appointment of much honour in the home department of HIS
MAJESTY, under the sole direction of the MASTER of the HORSE. There are
FIVE EQUERRIES in this official situation, one of whom is called the
_first_: of the other four, two are always in waiting to attend upon HIS
MAJESTY in every equestrian excursion, whether on the _road_, to the
_field_, or in the _chase_, with whom His Majesty most graciously
condescends to converse familiarly. His Royal Highness the PRINCE of
WALES, the DUKES of YORK, GLOUCESTER, and other branches of the ROYAL
FAMILY, have likewise attendants of this description.
EQUERRIES—apply equally to those in a more subordinate situation, who
personally officiate in the STABLES of the CROWN, and to whom is
entrusted the _breaking_, _managing_, and _preparing_ saddle-horses of
every description for the KING'S use. Some of the out-riders who attend
upon the family, pass also under the same denomination.
ESCAPE,—the name of a horse of great beauty, excellent symmetry, and
much celebrity. He was bred by MR. FRANCO, and got by _Highflyer_ out of
a _Squirrel_ mare; he was foaled in 1785; and in the First Spring
Meeting at NEWMARKET, 1789, he beat the PRINCE OF WALES'S _Cantoo
Baboo_, from the ditch-in, for 200 guineas. He was then purchased by his
Royal Highness, and in the Second Spring Meeting he received forfeit
from _Alexander_, and _Clown_, 100 guineas each. In the First October
Meeting of the same year, he beat _Nimble_ across the flat 200 guineas.
The Craven Meeting, 1790, he beat _Grey Diomed_ over the Beacon 500
guineas; and won the great subscription purse at YORK, beating _Actæon_,
and _Gustavus_. The Craven Meeting, 1791, he beat _Skylark_,
_Highlander_, _Glaucus_, _Halkin_, _Meteor_, and _Buffer_, a
subscription of 50 guineas each: two to one on _Skylark_. First October
Meeting the same year, he beat _Grey Diomed_ over the Beacon Course 8st.
7lb. each for 1000 guineas. Two days after, he beat him again for the
renewed 140 guineas. In the second October Meeting he won a subscription
purse (twelve subscribers) over the Beacon, beating _Chanticleer_,
_Skylark_, _Grey Diomed_, _Harpator_, and _Alderman_, with the odds four
and five to one against him. When taken out of training, he covered at
Highflyer Hall at ten guineas a mare, and half a guineas the groom.
ESCHAR—is the prominence remaining upon the cicatrix of an _ill-cured_
wound, or the scab frequently seen to form a projecting apex upon a
broken knee; or where some injury has been left to cure itself by an
effort of nature, without the least interposition of art. If it is a
scab only, and not of long standing, it may in general be brought away
spontaneously, by occasional softenings with small quantities of
camphorated spermacæti liniment; if, on the contrary, they are rigidly
seated, and have acquired a degree of callosity in the nature of a
_sitfast_, there is no other mode of cure, but by extirpation with the
knife and forceps.
ESTRAY, OR STRAY,—appertain equally to _horse_, _mare_, _bull_, _ox_,
_cow_, _sheep_, or, in fact, any head of cattle, who having strayed from
its own home, common, waste, or lair, into a strange MANOR, or LORDSHIP,
and there found without an owner, is then called an ESTRAY, or _stray_:
in which case it is an established custom, sanctioned by LAW, and
founded in EQUITY, that such _stray_ is proclaimed, and his or her marks
described, by the common crier, in the three next nearest towns on the
market-day; and if the stray is not claimed within a year and a day of
the time on which it was publicly cried, and fully described, it then
becomes the property of the LORD of the MANOR where it was found. If the
owner makes the claim within the time limited, he is liable to pay
_reasonable charges_ for finding, keeping, proclaiming, &c. An estray
must be kept without labour, uninjured, and properly fed, till
reclaimed, or the time above mentioned is expired.
EUPHORBIUM,—an article whose acrid and stimulative property renders it
only applicable to one medical purpose, and that externally; it
constitutes a principal ingredient in the preparation of BLISTERING
OINTMENT for HORSES, where its proportion, if managed properly, should
be exactly equal with its corresponding article CANTHARIDES, commonly
called _Spanish flies_.
EVACUANTS—are such medicines as gently stimulate the intestines, and
urinary passages, to a more speedy secretion and expulsion of their
excrementitious contents. The term is applicable to both PURGATIVES and
DIURETICS; the effect of which is to remove plethora in horses, and to
prevent the consequent viscidity of blood; which, when a horse is
overloaded in his frame, and the solids too grossly distended, soon
displays itself in _swelled legs_, _cracked heels_, cutaneous _scurfy
eruptions_, _grease_, _farcy_, or some _one_ of the many ills frequently
produced by an accumulation of HUMOURS originating in a corrupt or
vitiated state of the fluids, inconsiderately neglected, or probably
never attended to. Those who will condescend to dedicate a little time
occasionally to the palpable utility of EVACUANTS, either as
preventives, or the means of cure, (in a variety of cases,) will never
stand in need of a monitor to promote their use.
EVACUATION—is that part of the ANIMAL ŒCONOMY, without a regular
preservation of which, the frame of man or beast cannot long continue
free from PAIN or DISEASE. Next to the _aliment_ necessarily received
for the support of life, EVACUATION is the very effort of NATURE upon
which HEALTH must principally depend. Little penetration is requisite to
comprehend most perfectly a system so plain as to require but very
concise explanation. Consistency should be observed, and attention
should be paid, to what the frame receives by FOOD, and what it
discharges by the different _evacuations_; for if the body (within any
given time) accumulates much more by unreasonable and unnecessary
supplies, than the EFFORTS of NATURE can carry off by her different
emunctories in the _evacuation_ of _excrements_, the foundation of
disease follows of course. The fluids become thick and stagnant, the
circulation languid, the solids preternaturally distended, and their
elasticity partially destroyed; hence arises that infinite number of
distorted VALETUDINARIANS with which the streets of the METROPOLIS so
plentifully abound, and by whom the constantly increasing MEDICAL SHOPS
and MEDICINE WHAREHOUSES are principally supported.
By adverting to these considerations, it will immediately appear, that
even a temporary suppression of the natural evacuations must, in the
first instance, inevitably prove the basis of _pain_ or _disquietude_,
and lastly of DISEASE. In the human body, great attention should be paid
to _diurnal_ evacuation, if a wish to preserve health is at all
entertained. Infinite are the miseries originally brought on, and for
years continued, (_to a lingering death,_) by an inconsiderate neglect
or indolence in respect to the due proportion to be observed between
_repletion_ and _evacuation_.
This attention is not more necessary in the human frame, than it is with
the HORSES of those who indulge the least desire to have their studs in
high health and perfect condition. When a horse is observed to get above
himself, or, in other words, to become loaded with flesh, too full in
the carcase, round in the legs, thick in the wind, dull in the stable,
and heavy in action, EVACUATION cannot be too soon promoted as a
preventive to impending disease.
EXCRESCENCE.—Any preternatural enlargement is so called; but it is
principally, and most properly, applied to those of a spongy nature, as
WARTS and WENS, as well as a polypus upon any particular part. In all
_wounds_ of HORSES, if they are of considerable magnitude, fungous flesh
increases very rapidly, and frequently disconcerts the young or
injudicious VETERINARIAN; who, erroneously adopting _caustics_ and
_escharotics_, too often renders the remedy more destructive than the
disease. FUNGOUS formation of this kind passes also under the technical
denomination of EXCRESCENCE, and is best reduced by superficial
scarification in lines transverse and longitudinal; the dressings then
consisting of strong red precipitate digestive ointment with lint, &c.
Excrescences of the _warty_ kind will always submit to repeated and
persevering applications of BUTTER OF ANTIMONY, OIL OF VITRIOL, or any
other escharotic, but they are not to be laid on with too liberal a
hand. Wenny deep-seated substances (erroneously called excrescences)
require very warm stimulants, and powerful spirituous applications, for
a great length of time, before any expectation of repulsion or
obliteration can be entertained.
EXERCISE.—The great advantages resulting from EXERCISE, to both man and
beast, are now so universally understood, both in theory and practice,
that animadversion here must be considered matter of superfluity: those,
however, who wish for a more enlarged or scientific disquisition, will
find _fifty pages_ in the second volume of the GENTLEMAN'S STABLE
DIRECTORY appropriated to this particular head.
EXPEDIATE—is a term transmitted from one book to another by former
writers, but is at present little used in either THEORY or PRACTICE. It
implies the cutting out the centrical ball of the foot of a dog, or such
claws as shall totally prevent his pursuit of game. In earlier times,
when the FOREST LAWS were more rigidly enforced, the owner of any dog
not expediated, living within the district, was liable to a fine for
non-obedience.
EXTRAVASATION—applies only to such fluids as may, from any accidental
cause, or injury sustained, escape from the tubes or vessels in which
they were confined; when they from such extravasation become stagnant,
laying the foundation of an obstruction terminating in an enlargement,
probably disagreeable to the eye, and some impediment to action.
Extravasated lymph, oozing from ruptured fibres, lay most invariably the
foundation of almost every tumefaction to which we can advert; and
evidently demonstrates the necessity for reflection before we proceed
_to blows_, when it is recollected what serious and lasting injuries by
blows may be sustained.
EYES.—The state of the EYES in every horse constitutes so much of the
value and excellence in respect to their _good_ or _bad_ formation, that
proper, nay extreme, circumspection ought to be used in the examination
previous to purchase. The best and most experienced judges of horses are
sometimes seriously disappointed, and not unfrequently deceived, in a
superficial survey, and too hasty decision: in fact, there is no _point_
of the ANIMAL upon the merits of which (in a variety of instances) it is
so difficult to form an accurate, at least an _infallible_, opinion as
upon the parts before us. If at first sight you are attracted by their
bright, bold, prominent appearance, and observe they are sufficiently
clear and transparent to reflect your own figure in the eye as you stand
before it, and the horse neither _winks_, _blinks_, or rolls the orbs of
the eyes about, as if _feeling for the light_ when brought out of the
stable, there is then every well-founded reason to believe they are not
only _safe_, but PERFECTLY GOOD. On the contrary, when the EYE appears
_flat_, as if sunk in its orbit, with a palpable vacuum round the orb,
between it and the eye-lid, it is a very unfavourable indication;
particularly if there should be no defluxion (or inflammatory discharge)
from the eye, to justify the idea of a temporary injury having been
sustained by a BLOW, BITE, or some such _accident_, neither to be
foreseen or guarded against. If there is a palpable indentation above
the orbs, and a wrinkled contraction of the eye-lids towards the
forehead, they are invariable symptoms, or certain signs, of impending
danger, and the subject cannot be ventured upon without a very great
probability of certain loss when he is again offered for sale.
A small _pig-eye_ should be likewise carefully avoided, as they are
seldom to be depended upon; the subject is frequently addicted to
_starting_, and the future state of the eye in general _doubtful_. A
cloudy muddiness within the outer humour of the eye, (giving it an
opaque appearance,) or a milky thickening of the surface, denote present
_defect_, and great probability of approaching _blindness_. It becomes,
therefore, in all cases of doubt, a matter of self-preservation, to have
in memory this admonition, that it will be more advantageous (evidently
more prudent) to reject an object of impurity and partial attraction,
than to purchase in haste, and "repent at leisure."