STABLE MANAGEMENT. 101 



the system on account of debility or want of tone in the vital powers, it 

 seems to him that the remedy is in a wrong direction. The horse re- 

 quires not depletion but tone. The vital powers will best recover them- 

 selves under the influence of rest, good feeding, good grooming, hand- 

 rubbing, and pure air and a little walking exercise. 



198. Physic. 



Some few words on Physic can hardly be omitted in a treatise on stable 

 management, though physic will scarcely ever be required, if the manage- 

 ment be really good. 



Some owners of horses give physic periodically, others only when pre- 

 paring for fast work a horse that has been out at grass or is from any 

 cause out of condition. Three doses of purgative medicine are by many 

 supposed to be necessary for the preparation of a horse for hunting. 



Sensible men do not give physic unless it is needed ; and they avoid 

 giving it, when the object sought can be attained by other and less 

 injurious means, such as by an alteration of diet or exercise. 



Most physics are poisons more or less strong, and why put ever so small 

 a quantity of poison into the system unnecessarily? It is probable 

 enough that horses do occasionally require medicine ; but there is no 

 sense in giving it when not required. 



The physic given on these periodical occasions is usually purgative. 

 If the stomach and intestines are healthy and have nothing in them 

 which needs to be forcibly ejected, why disarrange them by thrusting on 

 them medicine? 



The old-fashioned answer, we presume, would be " to prevent their 

 getting out of order." How the disturbance of a healthy system can be 

 supposed to effect this, we must leave to others to explain. Few horses 

 on the average enjoy such good health as troop horses, and yet from one 

 year's end to another they never, unless really ill, get physic. 



Let medicine then be restricted to those cases in which it is really 

 required, and even then let it be given as sparingly as possible. 



If proper and timely notice is taken of the premonitory symptoms of 

 ailments, little active treatment will ever be necessary. Bran mashes 

 instead of corn for a day or two, deprivation of hay, a cooler stable, and 

 above all a loose box, with plenty of pure fresh air will probably do all 

 that is needed, and will do it much better and more safely than physic. 



199. Bran mashes. 



Whilst the periodical administration of purgative medicine is injurious, 

 it is yet good practice to give horses on Saturday evening, if Sunday be 

 a day of rest, a cold bran mash in lieu of the evening feed of corn. Bran 

 mash is cooling and slightly laxative, and therefore a fitting preparation 

 for a day of rest. 



A warm bran mash for a sick horse is made by pouring boiling water 

 on bran in a pail, and covering it with a cloth to retain the steam. A 

 handful of dry bran thrown on the top of the mash will answer the same 

 purpose. 



