PRACTICE OF FEEDING. 265 



ed every morning. If the legs have not been much abused, 

 and the horse have no lameness, he ought to have exercise 

 every day. If the back sinews be much swollen, little or no 

 exercise should be given for the first four or six wetks. If 

 the horse be lame he must rest till sound. The feet should 

 always be defended by light shoes to prevent further injury of 

 the hoofs, and to permit of out-door exercise. Thrushes, if 

 there be any, are to be dressed every second day ; and if very 

 bad, a leather sole may be applied under the shoe. The shoes 

 need removal, and the feet dressing, every five or six weeks. 

 If the hoofs be much broken and of slow growth, the shoes 

 should be strong enough to wear at exercise for six or eight 

 weeks. At the end of four, they may be removed, eased off 

 the heels, and the nails driven in the old holes. 



If the horse be rather lusty at the conclusion of his running, 

 he will require less grain, more exercise, and perhaps a dose 

 of physic. If the legs be good, he may have exercise every 

 day, and a sweating gallop once a fortnight. If the legs be 

 much out of order, the horse must rest, and get two or three 

 doses of physic. At first he should have little grain. He 

 must be reduced in flesh before his legs can be restored. 



Some racers are stalled all winter, and if fit for daily ex- 

 ercise they are almost as well in stalls as in loose boxes. 

 But when lameness, injured legs, or great emaciation, forbids 

 exercise abroad, the horse, for a while at least, must have a 

 loose box, where he will have motion enough to prevent 

 swelled legs, stiffness, repletion, and the fatigue and weari- 

 someness produced by long confinement. 



Too much physic, I think, is given in the racing stables. 

 If the legs be good, and the horse lean, he needs no physic 

 at the conclusion of his running. Engorgement of the legs 

 demands two or three doses, which, for a lean horse, should 

 be mild, for a lusty horse pretty strong. But it seems to be a 

 common practice to give three doses, whether the legs need 

 them or not. It is said, that the physic prevents the horse 

 from getting foul, that is, too plethoric : and for a time it does 

 so. But if other circumstances do not demand physic, would 

 it not be as well to limit the allowance of food ? It is the- 

 high feeding, the system of feeding beyond the work, that 

 produces the plethora It would surely be easier and safer 

 to give less food, than to give physic for preventing or curing 

 the evils arising from too much food. 



It appears to me that both hunting and racing grooms feed 

 the idle horses too fast. If lean when laid out of work, it is 



23 



