PRICKED.—A horse is said to be _pricked_, when, in SHOEING, any one of the nails is accidentally or injudiciously driven too near the membranes with which the box of the hoof is lined: this may happen with the most expert operator by a sudden inversion of the point when in its _seeming_ proper direction. A tenderness and halting is also very frequently occasioned by the nails passing _close to_, and pressing _upon_, the internal parts, which, by tight _clinching_, constitutes so great a compression, that pain (particularly in action) inevitably ensues; in which case instantly taking off the shoe, well oiling the hoof, replacing the shoe with more care and less force, will prove it a mere temporary inconvenience. When a horse is suspected to be pricked, in consequence of going lame immediately after having been shod, and not before, it is then of course natural to conclude some injury has been sustained during the operation of shoeing, and that he does not go lame in consequence of any previous accident. Circumstances thus tending to justify the inference, a careful examination should be made without delay: the nails should be extracted singly in succession; and when the shoe is off, a proper degree of pressure should be made with the PINCERS, to ascertain the _tender_ part. This done, it is too much the custom, particularly with the obstinate of the old school, to recur to their usual practice of devastation, by an immediate and immoderate definition of parts, under the plea of an "absolute necessity for going to the bottom," to _prevent_ what most probably is by no means likely to ensue. If the particular nail is discovered by which the injury has been sustained, opening the spot of its insertion in a very trifling degree upon the surface, and pouring in a small quantity of FRIAR'S BALSAM, or compound TINCTURE of MYRRH, will in general allay the irritability, harden the punctured part, and subdue any tendency to inflammation: on the contrary, should any painful symptoms of impending maturation appear, emollient poultices, and warm digestives, should be applied to the bottom of the foot, to obtain a discharge from that part, that the formation of A QUITTOR may, if possible, be prevented. PRICKET.—The male produce of the BUCK and DOE (fallow deer) is so called at two years old, when he begins to put forth his head. PRICKING—is the unsportsmanlike act of _tracking_ a HARE by the points of her feet, upon the paths and highways, when the hounds are _at fault_: it is a common practice, and can only be justified where hares are exceedingly scarce, and difficult to be found, with packs very small in number, or deficient in effect; but it is a custom too mean and degrading to be permitted with hounds of eminence, who must kill their game with a reputation _untainted_, or not kill at all.