HUN
H U R
two of good old oats well lifted fhould be given him .; this will make him have more inclination to water, and will alfo make the water fit better on his ftomach, than if he drank fall- ing. After this he is to be tied up and drafted. If in the do- ing of this he opens his mouth, as if he would bite, or at- tempts to kick at the perfon, it is a proof that the teeth of the currycomb are too fharp, and mult be filed blunter. If after this he continues the fame tricks, it is through wanton- nefs, and he mould be corrected for it with the whip. The intent of currying being only to raife the dull, this is 'to be brufhed off afterwards with a horfe- tail nailed to a handle, or any other light brufh. Then he is to be rubbed down with the brum, and dufted a fecond time ; he fhould then be rub- bed aver with a wet hand, and all the loofe hairs, and what- ever foulnefs there is, fhould be picked off. When this is done, and he is wiped dry as at firft, a large faddle-cloth is to be put on, reaching down to the f purring place ; then the faddJe is to be put on, and a cloth thrown over it that he may not take cold : Then rub down his legs, and pick his feet with an iron picker, and let the mane and tail be combed ■with a wet mane-comb. Laftly, it is a cuftom to fpurt fome beer in his mouth juft before the leading him out of the fta- fcle. He fhould then be mounted, and walked a mile at lean; to fome running water, and there watered ; but he muft only be fuffered to take about half his water at one drinking. It is the cuftom of many to gallop the horfe at a violent rate
- ss foon as he comes out of the water, but this is extremely
wrong for many reafons. It endangers the breaking a horfe's wind more than any other practice, and often has been the 'occafion of burftmg very good horfes. It ufes them alfo to the difagreeable trick we find in many horfes, of running away as foon as ever they come out of the water ; and with fome it makes them averfe to drinking, fo that they will ra- ther endure thrrft, and hurt thcmfelves greatly by it, than bring on the violent exercife which they remember always fol- lows it. The better way is to walk him a little after he is ■■out of the water, then put him to a gentle gallop for a little while, and after this to bring him to the water again. This fhould be done three or four times, till he will not drink any ,<more. If there is a hilly place near the watering place, it is always well to ride up to it ; if otherwife, any place is to be cbofen where there is free air and fun. That the creature may enjoy the benefit of this, he is not to be galloped, but walked about in this place an hour, and then taken home to the ftable. The pleafure the horfe himfelf takes in thefe air- ings when well managed, is very evident, for he will gape, yawn, and fhrug up his body ; and in thefe, whenever he would ftand ftill to ftale, dung, or lifter) to any noife, he is not to be hindered from it, but encouraged in every thing of this kind.
The advantages of thefe airings are very evident, they purify the blood, teach the creature how to make his breathing agree with the reft of the motions of his body, and give him an appetite to his food, which Hunters and racers, that are kept ftalled up, are otherwife very apt to lofe. On returning from airing the litter in the ftable mould be frelh, and by ftif ing this, and whiftling, he will be brought to ftale. Then he is to be led to his ftall, and tied up, and again carefully rub' bed down ; then he fhould be covered with a linnen cloth next his body, and a canvas one over that, made to fit him, and reaching down to bis legs. This, as the duke of New- caftle obferves, is a cuftom which we learnt of the Turks, who are of all people the moft nice and careful of their horfes. Over this covering there fhould be put a body-cloth of fix or eight (traps ; this keeps his belly in fhape, and does not hurt nim. This cloathing will be fufficient while the weather is not very (harp, but in fevere feafons, when the hair begins to rife and ftart in the uncovered parts, a woollen cloth is to be added, and this will always prove fully fufficient. Different horfes, and different feafons, make variety of the ■degree of cloathing neceflary ; but there always is an obvious rule to point out the neceflary changes, the rough nefs of the coat being a-mark of the want of cloathing, and the fmooth- nefs of it a proof that the cloathing is fufficient. Therefore if at any time'the hair is found to ftart, it is a notice that fome farther cloathing is to be added.
If the horfe fweat much in the night, it is a fign that he is over fed, and wants exercife, this therefore is eafily remedied. An hour or more after the horfe is come in from his airing, the groom fhould give him a wifp of clean hay, making him eat it out of his hand ; after this let the manger be well cleaned out, and a quartern of oats clean fifted be given him. If he eats up this with an appetite, he fhould have more given him ; but if he is flow and indifferent about it, he muft have no more. The bufinefs is to give him enough, but not to -cloy him with food.
If the horfe gets flefh too faft on this home feeding, he is not to be ftinted to prevent 'ft, but only his exercife encreafed $ this will take down his flefh, and at the fame time give him ftrength and wind. After the feeding in the morning is over, the ftable is to be {hut up, only leaving him a little hay on his litter. He need be no more looked at till one o'clock, and then only rubbed down, and left again to the time of his .evening watering, which is four o'clock in the furnmer, and
three in the winter. When he has been watered, he muft fee kept out an hour or two, or more if neceflary, and then taken home and rubbed as after the morning watering. .Then he is to have a feed of corn at fix o'clock, and another at nine at night ; and being then cleaned, and his litter put in order and hay enough left for the night, he is to be left till morn- ing. This is the direction for one day, and in this manner he is to be treated every day for a fortnight, at the end of which time his flefli will be fo hardened, his wind fo impro- ved, and his mouth fo quickened, and his gallop brought to fo good a ftroke, that he will be fit to be put to moderate hunting. During the time that he is ufed in hunting, he muft be ordered on bis days of reft exactly as is directed for the fortnight when he is in preparation ; but as his exercife is now greatly increafed, he muft be allowed a more ftrength* ning food, mixing fome old fplit beans at every feeding with his oats.
And if this is not found to he fufficient, the following bread muft be given : Let two pecks of old beans, and one peck of wheat be ground together, and made into an indifferently fine meal ; then knead it into dough with fome warm water, and a good quantity of yeaft ; let it lie a time that it may rife and fwell, which will make the bread the lighter; then make it into loaves of a peck each, and let it be baked in a flow oven that it may be thoroughly done without being burnt ; when it is taken out of the oven, it muft be fet bottom upwards to cool ; when it is one day old the cruft is to be chipp'd off, and the crumb given him as food. When this is ready, he fhould have fome of it at leaft once in the day ; but it is not to be made the only food, but fome feeds are to be of oats alone, fome of oats and this bread, and fome of .oats and beans mixed together. The making a variety in this manner, being the beft of all methods of keeping up the appetite, which is often apt to fail.
The day before the horfe is to hunt, he muft have no beans,' becaufe they are hard of digeftion, but only fome oats with this bread ; or if he will be brought to eat the bread alone, that will be beft of all. His evening feed fhould, on this day, be fomewhat earlier than ufual ; and after this he is only to have a wifp of hay out of the groom's hand till he return from hunting. See the article Hunting, Cyd, HUNTING Saddle. See the article Saddle. HURRERS, in our old writers. The cappers and hat-makers of London, formerly one company of the haberdafhers were called by this name. Staiv's Survey of London, p, 312. HURRICANES (tycl.) —Great mifchiefs are done to our vef- fels about the Caribbee Iflands and elfewhere by means of the Hurricanes, and at the time of year when they are moft fre- quent, which is in the midft of furnmer. It has been ufual with our captains to fend to' the negroes to know whether there would be any within a week or ten days, in which they were very rarely difappointed, the natives having, by long ob- fervation, acquired a way of prognoft Seating them, which fel- doms fails. The method of thus foretelling them, as com- municated by one of the natives to captain Langford, de- pended on thefe obfervations : All Hurricanes, come on either on the day of full moon, or at the change, or on fome of the quarters. If the Hurricane is to come on at the full moon, the figns are to be obferved at the change, and they are thefe : The iky will appear very turbulent, and the fun will look more red than at other times ; a great calm alfo, with no clouds or fogs about the hills, is another fign ; for the highlands fcldom are feen to be fo, unlefs by this accident of an enfuing Hurricane at fuch a time. Alfo there ,will be heard a great murmuring noife in wells, or other hollows of the earth ; and at night the ftars will look very bright, but they will have barrs about them. The north-weft iky will look very black and foul ; the fea fwelling ftronger than at other times ; and fometimes that day the winds will blow very ftrong wefterly for about two hours. At the full moon there happen the fame figns, if the Hurricane is to be about the quarters, and there is feen a hazy circle about the moon, and fometimes the fame day about the fun. The like figns muft be taken notice of on the quarter days of the moon, in the months of July, Auguft, and September. All the Hurricanes about Jamaica begin with a north wind, and on the wind's coming about eaft they ceafe. It is obfer- vable, that the air is much colder during thefe Hurricanes than at other times ; but Ligon, and fome others, fond of relating ftrange ftories, make it much more fo than it really is, the tailors who have been in thefe ftorms, declaring that they have felt no fuch chillinefs as thofe authors relate. The wind during the Hurricane is fo ftrong, and varies fo fnft between the north and north-eaft point, that it is impoffible for any fhip to anfwer the veerings of it 3 it is hence that all the art of the tailors often cannot prevent the backs of the; veffels from being broken, and the maits carried by the board. The main-maft of a fhip of four hundred tun, will be in an inftant wreathed like a wyth, and borne by the board before they can hand a fail. Phil. Tranf. N° 36. Swifferland is fubject to very violent Hurricanes, which do great mifchief, and that in a very Angular manner. Thunder and lightening are frequent with them in winter as well as in furnmer; and the more violent ftorms of thefe, are fometimes
attended
