Iv PREFACE. 
have been introduced into general use, and it is therefore now 
somewhat behind the times. For these reasons the author of this 
work has thought that a book, combining all the above subjects, 
treated in a practical manner, and in a style popularly intelligible, 
yet containing the most recent views of eminent authorities in 
veterinary knowledge, would supply a deficiency which has long 
been complained of by all who are interested in the proper 
management of the horse. 
In order to compress within the limits of one volume the infor- 
mation which has hitherto been spread over so many, it has been 
necessary to forego all attempts at illustration by anecdote or by 
records of cases; and the several chapters, therefore, will be found 
to contain only what is absolutely necessary for the elucidation 
of each subject, with the aid of numerous engravings, carefully 
executed by the Messrs. Dalziel, after drawings by Barraud, 
H. Weir, Zwecker, Scott, &c. &c. For the first 304 pages the 
author has drawn solely upon his own resources; but in the 
remaining chapters he has received the assistance of two veterinary 
surgeons of good standing in their profession. Since the first 
edition appeared, the chapters on the anatomy of the bones and 
ligaments have been entirely rewritten, and numerous errors which 
had crept in there and elsewhere, from causes which it is un- 
necessary to explain, have been carefully corrected. It is therefore 
hoped that the utility of the book, which has been so well received 
by the public in its imperfect state, will be increased as an aid to 
the large class for whom it was written; and if the author has 
succeeded in attaining this object, it will be a source of pride and 
gratification to him that he has been enabled to promote the 
interests of those who keep horses, as well as to ameliorate the 
treatment of the noble animal which forms the subject of his book. 
