I 



EXERCISE. 351 



to the horse. A hair cloth, while it will seldom irritate and tease, will be 

 al-nost sufficient with horses that have thin hair, and that have not been 

 neglected. 



Whoever would be convinced of the benefit of friction to the horse's 

 skin, and to the horse generally, need only observe the effect produced by 

 well hand-rubbing the legs of a tired horse. While every enlargement 

 subsides, and the painful stiffness disappears, and the legs attain their 

 natural warmth, and become fine, the animal is evidently and rapidly 

 reviving; he attacks his food with appetite, and then quietly lies down 

 to rest. 



EXERCISE. 



Our observations on this important branch of stable-management must 

 have only slight reference to the agricultural horse. His work is usually 

 regular and not exhausting. He is neither predisposed to disease by 

 idleness, nor worn out by excessive exertion. He^ like his master, has 

 enough to do to keep him in health, and not enough to distress or injure 

 him : on the contrary, the regularity of his work prolongs life to an extent 

 rarely witnessed in the stable of a gentleman. Our remarks on exercise, 

 then, must have a general bearing, or have principle reference to those 

 persons who are in the middle stations of life, who contrive to keep a horse 

 for business or pleasure, but cannot afford to maintain a servant for the 

 express purpose of looking after it. The first rule we would lay down is, 

 that every horse should have daily exercise. The horse that, with the 

 usual stable feeding, stands idle for three or four days, as is the case in 

 many establishments, must suffer. He is disposed to fever, or to grease, 

 or, most of all, to diseases of the foot; and if, after these three or four days 

 of inactivity, he is ridden fast and far, is almost sure to have inflammation 

 of the lungs or of the feet. 



A gentleman or tradesman's horse suffers a great deal more from idle- 

 ness than he does from work. A stable-fed horse should have two hours' 

 exercise every day, if he is to be kept free from disease. Nothing of ex- 

 traordinary, or even of ordinary labour can be effected on the road or in 

 the field without sufficient and regular exercise. It is this alone which 

 can give energy to the system, or develop the powers of any animal. 



How then is this exercise to be given ? As much as possible by, or 

 under the suprintendence of, the owner. The exercise given by the ^room 

 is rarely to be depended upon. It is inefficient, or it is extreme. It is in 

 many cases both irregular and injurious. It is dependent on the caprice 

 of him who is performing a task, and who will render that task subservient 

 to his own pleasure or purposes. 



In training the hunter and the race-horse, regular exercise is the 

 most important of all considerations, however it may be forgotten in the 

 usual management of the stable. The exercised horse will discharge his 

 task, and sometimes a severe one, with ease and pleasure, while the idle and 

 neglected one will be fatigued ere half his labour be accomplished, and 

 if he be pushed a little too far, dangerous inflammation will ensue. How 

 often, nevertheless, does it happen, that the horse that has stood inactive 

 In the stable three or four days, is ridden or driven thirty or forty miles in 

 the course of a single day ? " This rest is often purposely given to prepare 

 for extra-exertion; to lay in a stock of strength for the performance of the 

 task required of him: and then the owner is surprised and dissatisfied, if 

 the animal is fairly knocked up, or possibly becomes seriously ill. Nothing 

 is so common and preposterous, as for a person to buy a horse from u 



