In the Stable, Field, and on the Road. 35 



intelligent men among them, men who have made the 

 horse the study of their lifetime, therefore it is not fair 

 or just to call all grooms fools. There is no doubt that 

 if there were more facilities given to the groom to study, 

 we should find many bright men amongst them. We 

 send women to the hospitals to train for nurses, and find 

 it a great success and an immense help to the surgeon. 

 Yet more the pity that there is no class in the college of 

 Veterinary Surgeons where the grooms could go through 

 a course of nursing the sick and afflicted horse. A class 

 of this sort would bring the intelligent men to the front ; 

 they could pass an examination, and receive a certificate 

 qualifying them as fit to take charge of sick horses. The 

 man holding such certificate would be of great value to 

 the veterinary surgeon and gentlemen who employed 

 them. They would not be the class of men whom we too 

 often find in the position of coachmen and grooms, and, 

 because they are ignorant, cause a stigma to be cast upon 

 the whole fraternity. I am bound to say with Tom Hood 

 that " evil is wrought by want of thought as much as 

 want of heart." How often do we hear gentlemen and 

 grooms asking each other if their horses cough. It is a 

 very rare occurrence that I have to answer " Yes," yet 

 there are times when both man and horse take cold 

 without any given cause, but they are very rare oc- 

 currences. Then you may well ask, " How do horses 

 catch cold ? " Some will tell us, by standing about in 

 the cold, which in some cases is true, and it is won- 

 derful that a great many more horses do not catch 

 cold when we see grooms out under the pretence of 

 exercising, but in reality going from one public-house 



