N A T U R A L H I S T O R Y o f N O R WA Y .
The Norway horfes ate fiot uftCommon in Denmark, for they
are carried thither, Where they are admired for their neat- find
elegant make, and their ftrength ;' they are generally final!) but
well-proportioned,4 plump and round ; the-largeft and belt an?
from Guldbranfdal, Surendal and Larendal;. the pedants breed
them, for I never heard thei^ vtas one ftud,here. Their colour
is generally a deep bay, with black manes and tails ^ and a
black; brown, grey, of llghtifh ftioufe-cot|ur ftreak along ;the
back ; -but black is feldom feen ; m lfty hardly one. - -f j f f a re
kept on poor and fcanty food, but are in as good condition-as
otfcs that five better. A pOafanfs horfe hardly e y e r i e s
corn, yet, tho’ they live on nothing but hay, they amfmnted
and fwift. / . x jL / i n *
Hormod Torf remarks in his Hift.Norv. p. 4. lib. 8. cap.Jg.
that Anno 1302, a man, whofe name was* Augmund Hugh-
leickfon, and who was afterwards hanged at Nord .N^f^ £ ear
Bergen, was the firft who gave his horfes oats in this coun#y,
whence hehad the ntdc-name of Horfe-Com, -Quod rm-Nowegia
.primus equos avena]#ver|t. ' L J I 'L '
The horfes here art not fobje& to to many dileales as m molt
other countries j and iu , particular the - ftaggers,, which they
feldom have naturally, W ^iSe g e t l t by
old age» It is hot ufual here, as in moft otter places, to geld
horfes ; For which rfeafon they are full of fpirit and ftrength,
and are preferable to geldings. But as ftone-horfes often are
vicious, his excellence the ftadtholder Guldenlbue, in his time,
ordered that moft of the horfes fbould be gelded ; that there
Should be only two ftone-horfes hi each village. This made as
much mifchief among the peafints, as was done before by the
horfes; for the commonality do not love to have heW..cpftoms
introduced; and if they do come amongft them, tbey muftget
in very gradually. Thefe orders of the ftadtholder were executed
in out very few towns, and are now quite negle&ed it
was, hbwever, a well-grounded law, as may be obferved by this :
in the fields and clefes, for Two miles (ten Englifli miles) about
Bergen, according to an aotient cuftom, no peafant dare keep a
trave of them, firft namteg horfes and-oxen. According to Aldrovaud’aojbiniQO, d&efe
the .general name of Jusmenta a juvando. This rule feould be obfervedin human
fociety-, the moft ferviceable member fhould" have the preference. Hr.Jac. Theod.
Klein, in his lately publifhed Difpofitio Quadruped, p. 3 3.» not fatisfied ‘With
‘Monf. Buffon’s method, but claffes quadrupedes rather according to their parts f and
agrees in that with H. C. LinriSeus in his Fauna Suecica, who, in that^efpeft, ridicules
Buffon rather too Severely. Jo. Jac. Schmidt« in his Philico Biblicof p, 424? & *ecl'
treatS 'largelyon the diftinfitions, preference and pre-eminence of beafts.
mare ;
N A T U ft. | H I S T O R Y o£ NOR W A Y. $
jnare; ,fb that .tjhere nothing ufed but ftone-horfes. The
realbn that there are no coach-roadd fit for horfes to draw in
yoked; but all that; corner to town by land, is brOught in pack’d
upon the horfes back;, and tte peafeqts drive two,4 three, or four
at a. time bef^.rftom^ as: Ä -o th^places they do afles.
thefe loaded horfes to meet with mares, there would be fre!.^*^"*«*
quently mifchief - as it is managed, the horfe-man muft take coadwoad».
great care, and fit faft in the fiddle, for when thefe horfes meet
in the narrow roads, they feldom pafi without a fignal of
animofity.
The Norway horfes are better.^ riding than drawing; their
walk is eafy ; ?they go dancing along, and they are always full
of . fpirit ; they are very fore-footed, a circumftance highly
neceflary: in thefe bad t roads. The fine Danifh horfes could not
igo m them, without hazarding theif own lives and their Riders,
i When they go up and down a fteep cliff on ftones like fteps,
they firft tread gently with one foot, to try if the ftone they
Touches faft ; and-in this they muft be left to their own manage1-
ment, or the beft rider that is ivill run the riique of his neck:
when they are tb go down a very fteep and flippery place, they,
in a forprifing manner, draw their hind legs together under them,
and Aide down.
They fhow a great deal of courage whpn they fight with the
wolves and. bears, which they are oft obliged to do, particularly
the latter ; for when the horfe perceives; any of them near, and
has a mare -or gelding with him, he puts the weaker behind
him, .and attacks his antagonift vyith his fore-legs, which he ufes
like drumfticks. to ftrike withal; aad comes off ufoally the
conqueror! |
Many of the people of falhion would not believe this, till
ftadtholder Wibe, in king Frederic the fourth’s prefence, made
the experiment, with one of his coach-horfes, at Fredericfberg.
This creature fell upon a bear let loofe againft him, Mid laid him
prefently dead: but fometimes the bear, who has double ftrength,
gets the advantage, and especially if the horfe happens to turn
about to kick with his hind-legs. If he attempts this he is
ruined; for the bear inftantly leaps upon him, and fixes him-
felf on his back: in this cafe he gallops off with his angry rider,
till by lofi of blood he drops down.
S E C T . II.