THE CASE OF FERRYMAN 69 



the price asked for them, if I could have purchased 

 condition at the same time ? But to see a promising 

 horse in the middle of the season, when he is im- 

 mediately wanted, with his coat curling in all directions 

 and his flesh as soft as beef upon him, what expectation 

 is there of any thing but disgrace and danger from the 

 possession of him ? 



As no workman can make good work without good 

 tools ; so no groom, however good, can get a horse 

 into condition without a good stable. In the first 

 place it must be dry — in the next it must be warm. 

 I am aware that what I have to say on this subject 

 will be objected to by some of the old and slow ones, 

 who preach against the dangers of hot stables ; but 

 for my own part, experience has led me to declare, 

 that so far from ever having witnessed the ill effects 

 of a hot stable, I never saw a hunter in good condition 

 out of a cold one. Nay, I will go further, and assert, 

 that a horse, which no exertions of his groom can get 

 to look and to be well in a cold stable in the winter, 

 shall, on his being removed into a warm one,^ be in 

 good condition in a month. Not being a philosopher 

 I cannot explain the why and the wherefore of this 

 apparent phenomenon. All that I can say is, that 

 it is so ; and were I to hear Sir Humphry Davy 

 himself expatiating upon the impropriety of horses 

 being shut up in a hot stable, breathing an under- 

 oxygenated air ; were I to hear him say that atmos- 



^ A moderately warm stable is favourable towards the attainment 

 of good condition. A "hot" stable absolutely pernicious. — The 

 Editor. 



