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It is a bird of passage, but breeds in this country, and migrates in October. Like the kestrel, the hobby was used in the humbler kind of

falconry, particularly in what was called daring of larks: the hawk was cast off; the larks, aware of their most inveterate enemy, were fixed to the ground through fear; by which means they became a ready prey to the fowler, by drawing a net over them.

Hobby is also used in some countries, Ireland and Scotland more particularly, for a small horse or pony, and thence is derived the name of the child's toy, since the time of Sterne used figuratively, but universally, for the ruling fancy of

a man.

HOCK, or HOUGH. See HAM. HOG-STEER (amongst Hunters).

A wild boar three years old.

M. de Buffon," was over this proud and spirited animal, which shares with him the fatigues of war and the glories of battle. Even in a domestic state, the horse is bold and fiery not less intrepid than his master, he faces danger and defies it; he delights in the din of arms, and is animated with an ardour equal to that of man; on the course and in the chase, his eyes sparkle with emulation. Though bold and intrepid, he is docile and tractable: he knows how to govern and check the natural vivacity and fire of his temper. He not only yields to the hand, but seems to consult the inclination, of his rider. Constantly obedient to the impression he receives, his motions are entirely regulated by the will of his master. He, in some measure, resigns his very existence to the pleasure of man. He delivers up

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HOODING A HAWK. Is to his whole powers; he reserves nofit her with a large easy hood, which should be put on and taken off very frequently, with careful watching and gentle handling, until at length she takes no offence.

HOOF of a HORSE, Or CRUST. The horny part which covers the foot, and defends the soft and moveable parts which compose it. It consists of the hoof or horn, the coffin, the frush, the sole, the frog, the lift, the heel, the toes, the pastern. See HORSE. HOOK. See ANGLING. HORSE. "The most noble conquest ever obtained by man," says

thing; he will rather die than disobey. Who could endure to see a character so noble abused? Who could be guilty of such gross cruelty? Yet this character, though natural to the animal, is in some measure the effect of education, which commences with the loss of liberty, and is finished by constraint."

The motions of the horse are chiefly regulated by the bit and the spur; the bit informs him how to direct his course, and the spur quickens his pace. The mouth of the horse is endowed with an amaz.

ing sensibility; the slightest mo- but so as to render his breast neition or pressure of the bit gives him ther too narrow nor too gross. A warning, and instantly determines thick-shouldered horse soon tires, his course. and trips and stumbles every min

The horse has not only a gran-ute, especially if he has a thick deur in his general appearance, but large neck at the same time. When there is the greatest symmetry and the breast is so narrow that the fore proportion in the different parts of thighs almost touch, they are never his body. The regularity and pro- good for much. A horse of a midportion of the different parts of the dle size should have the distance of head give him an air of lightness, five or six inches between his fore which is well supported by the thighs, and there should be less strength and beauty of his chest. distance between his feet and his He erects his head as if willing to thighs near the shoulders when he exalt himself above the condition of stands upright. other quadrupeds: his eyes are The body or carcase of a horse open and lively; his ears are hand-should be of a middling size in some and of a proper height; his proportion to his bulk, and the back mane adorns his neck, and gives should sink a little below the wihim the appearance of strength and thers; but the other parts should boldness. be straight, and no higher behind than before. He should also be home-ribbed; but the short ribs should not approach too near the haunches, and then he will have room to fetch his breath. When a horse's back is short in proportion to his bulk, and yet otherwise welllimbed, he will hold out a journey, though he will travel slow. When he is tall, at the same time with very long legs, he is of little value.

The shape of the horse, unquestionably, surpasses that of all other domestic animals. The head should be small, and rather lean than fleshy: the ears small, erect, sprightly, thin, and pointed the forehead, or brow, neither too broad nor too flat, and have a star or snip upon it: the nose should rise a little, and the nostrils be wide, that he may breathe more freely the muzzle small, and the mouth neither too deep nor too shallow the jaws thin, and not approach too near together at the throat, or too high upwards towards the onset, that the horse may have sufficient room to carry his head in an easy graceful posture. The eyes should be of a middle size, bright, lively, and full of fire: the tongue small, that it may not be too much pressed by the bit; and it is a good sign when his mouth is full of white froth, for it shows a wholesome moisture.

The breed of horses in Britain is as mixed as that of its inhabitants : the frequent introduction of foreign horses has given us a variety that no single country can boast of: most other countries produce only one kind; while we, by a judicious mixture of the several species, by the happy difference of our soils, and by our superior skill in management, may triumph over the rest of Europe in having brought each quality of this noble animal to the highest perfection.

The neck should be arched to- All our best horses, for the last wards the middle, growing smaller century, have been either entirely by degrees from the breast and derived from, or deeply imbued shoulders to the head: the hair of with, the blood of the Darley and the mane long, small, and fine; Godolphin Arabians: these have and if it be a little frizzled so much produced stock of vast size, bone, the better: the shoulders pretty and substance, and at the same time long; the withers thin, and enlarged endowed with such extraordinary, gradually from thence downwards, and before unheard-of powers of

in their method of breeding: we know of no particular distinctions, either in the soil or climate; nor does the climate of England approach more nearly to that of the primitive habitation of this animal than that of France. "The Old Forester," an anonymous corres

speed and continuance, as to render | England, as regards their breed of it probable that individuals of them horses, is impossible; unless we have reached nature's goal, or the refer it to neglect, and ignorance ultimate point of perfection. The descendants of these Arabians have rendered the English coursers superior to all others, not only in the race, where, indeed, they had long excelled, but as breeding stock; and this country has no longer any need of a foreign supply, the breed being fully established both in qua-pondent in the "Sporting Magazine,” lity of blood and sufficiency of num- says, "That if the French governbers. This cause has long operated ment laid out as many louis as it against the many foreign horses now does francs in the attempted subsequently introduced, and which improvements in horses, so long as have all, since the Godolphin Ara- the system at present adopted conbian, proved very inferior to our tinues, and the great mass of the native stallions. In all probability, people remains the same, no danger the greater part have been of mixed of the English being out-done, as or spurious races; nor can the im- breeders of horses, is to be appreportation of such horses, at a risk hended for the next five hundred possibly, present any fair chance of years." utility or profit at the present time. Yet, like the purchaser of a lottery ticket, who may hit upon the 20,000l. prize, even the importer of a horse from the Levant hopes to be the drawer of a Godolphin.

The keen avidity with which English horses are sought, by our continental neighbours, as well as the Americans, together with the number of entire horses sent by the company to the East India settlements; show at once the superiority, and evidently proves the preeminence we have attained in the breed of these noble animals, over all other countries in the world. Such is the persevering industry, and thirst of improvement inherent in Englishmen, that little is to be apprehended from our retrograding on this point-we may, indeed, be termed a nation of sportsmen-we have been called a nation of shopkeepers, by one who, when he first obtained power, exercised it in appropriating to his own use the stud of a German Prince, who had raised it, at a great expense, through a son of our Morwick Ball.

To account for the great difference that exists between France and

Several countries have claimed the honour of being famous for their breed of horses, but Tartary seems to be the indigenous one. They were great breeders also in Argolis, Cappadocia, and in Macedonia. In the latter country, we are told, that three hundred stallions and thirty thousand mares were kept in the royal stud. According to all that has been said on the subject, great attention was paid to preserve the breed pure. In Tartary a bad racehorse was immediately castrated; and among the Arabians, the certificate of leap and produce was delivered with all the forms and accuracy of a title-deed to an estate. They had three classes of horses in Arabia: first, noble; next, nearly so; and the third, common. These answer to our thorough-bred, halfbred, and cart-horse. To obtain possession of the first class has always been very difficult; and many interesting anecdotes are upon record of those whose necessities have compelled them to part with them. See ARABIAN HORSE.

For a RACER, we require that the greatest quantity possible of bone, muscle, and sinew should be

concentrated in the smallest bulk. | lofty forehead, a good mouth, and Every part in such a horse should a strong gallop. be, as it were, condensed, and each organ bear evident marks of capacity for quick and continued progression. In addition to great flexibility, and some length, the limbs should be strongly knit and symmetrically arranged: the chest should be deep and capacious, and the hinder extremities particularly furnished with strong muscles, operating on extended open angles.

The HUNTER should have more bulk, and greater extent of form, to

enable him to carry more weight, and to support it for a longer time. In other respects, as almost the same qualities are requisite, so nearly a similar form, but more extended, is necessary for a race-horse. For if it requires that the racer should be very powerfully formed behind, to propel him forward in the gallop, so it is equally necessary that the hunter should be well formed in his loins, and well let down in his thighs; that he may have strength to cover his leaps.

All our best hunters are now thorough-bred horses, or as nearly so as possible, and are far superior in every respect to the old English hunter. However, in the choice of a hunter, care should be taken that he is neither long-waisted nor leggy; he should have as much bone as possible, straight pastern-joints, and good feet; spreading haunches, and well-knit joints. He should be at least fifteen hands high, with a

In the HACKNEY we look with as much anxiety to his fore parts as we do to the hinder parts of the racer and hunter; in them the fore parts are rather subordinate to the hinder, but in the hackney, on the contrary, the hind parts may be regarded as of rather less consequence; for however speed is desirable, yet it is secondary to safety. The head should be small, and well placed, and well set on a neck of due length: the withers high, the shoulders muscular without being too heavy; and, above all, they should he deep and placed obliquely. The fore legs should be perfect throughout, standing straight and well under the horse: and, what in the hunter and racer is of less consequence, is here indispensible, viz. that the elbows should be turned well from the body. The feet, also, it is requisite, should be perfect, and the whole of the limbs free from stiffness. Height is not so essential; indeed, the best size of the hackney is from 14 to 15; he should also be square set, without being in the least clumsy; and when with this form, the more breeding he shows, short of full blood, the better.

Age of a Horse. The usual method of ascertaining the age of a horse is by examination of his teeth. Of these a horse has forty: twentyfour double teeth or grinders, called back or jaw teeth, twelve above and twelve below, by which he chews and grinds his provender, but as the animal becomes old they wear smoother; twelve fore-teeth or nippers; and four tushes or bit teeth. Mares have no tushes, or rarely ever short ones. It is, first, by the fore-teeth or nippers, and afterwards by the tushes, not by the grinders, that we calculate the age.

A colt is foaled without teeth: in a few days he puts out four, called pincers or nippers; soon after appear the four separaters, next to the pincers; it is sometimes three

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or four months before the next, | is judged of by the tushes, which, called corner teeth, push forth. like the grinders, are not preceded These twelve colt's teeth in the by any other teeth. The two in front of the mouth continue without the lower jaw usually begin to shoot alteration, till the colt is two years at three years and a half, and those or two years and a half old; which of the upper jaw at four; continuing makes it difficult, without great care, very sharp-pointed till six. At ten to avoid being imposed on during the upper seem blunted, worn out, that interval, if the seller find it and long, the gum contracting itself his interest to make the colt pass as its years increase; the barer for either younger or older than he therefore they are the older is the really is the only rule then to horse. From ten to thirteen or judge by is his coat, and the hairs fourteen years little can be seen to of his mane and tail. A colt of indicate the age; but at that time one year has a supple rough coat some hairs of the eyebrows begin to resembling that of a water-spaniel, turn gray. This mark, however, is and the hair of his mane and tail equivocal, horses from old stallions' feels like flax; whereas a colt of or mares having gray hairs in the two years has a flat coat and straight eyebrows when they are not above hairs like a grown horse. The first nine or ten years old. In some or foal teeth are round, short, not horses the teeth are of such a hardvery solid, and are cast at different ness as not to wear, and in such the times to be replaced by others. At black mark is never effaced; but the age of two years and a half the the age of these horses, which the four middle fore-teeth are cast, two French term bégus, is easily known, in the upper jaw and two in the the hollow of the tooth being filled lower. In one year more four others up, and at the same time the tushes drop out, one on each side of the very long. The age of a horse may former, which are already replaced. also be known, though less accurately, When he is about four years and a by the bars in his mouth, which half old he sheds four others, and shrink as he advances in years. always next to those which have fallen out and been replaced. These four foal-teeth are replaced by four others, but are far from growing so fast as those which replaced the eight former, and are called the corner teeth: they replace the last four foal-teeth, and by these the age of a horse is discovered. They are easily known, being the third both above and below, counting from the middle of the jaw. They are hollow, and have a black mark in their cavity. When the horse is four years and a half old they are scarcely visible above the gum, and the cavity is very sensible; at six years and a half they begin to fill; and the mark continually diminishes and contracts till seven or eight years, when the cavity is quite filled up and the black spot effaced. After eight years, these teeth ceasing to afford any knowledge of the age, it

HORSEMANSHIP. The art of riding or managing horses.

"If you would mount with ease and safety, stand rather before the stirrup than behind it: then with left hand, take the bridle short, and the mane together, help yourself into the stirrup with your right, so that in mounting, your toe do not touch the horse. Your foot being in the stirrup, raise yourself till you face the side of the horse, and look directly across the saddie, then with your right hand lay hold of the hinder part of the saddle, and with your left, lift yourself into it.

"On getting off the horse's back hold the bridle and mane in the same manner as in mounting, hold the pommel of the saddle with the right hand; to raise yourself, bring your right leg over the horse's back, let your right hand hold the hind part of the saddle, and stand a mo

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