i62 THE CONDITION OF HUNTERS 



decisive, that if we wait for directing symptoms we 

 are lost. The progress of them is frequently, and 

 indeed generally, so rapid, that unless speedily arrested 

 in their course, mortification, and consequently death, 

 ensues. In many instances, however. Nature gives 

 us timely notice, as in the case of the race horse in his 

 work. The practice of his trainer is — after he has 

 gone through his first preparation — to feed and to work 

 him as long as his constitution supports him ; and 

 when Nature says " enough " — by his appetite failing 

 him, and other symptoms which will be hereafter 

 explained — he has physic, green meat, and rest, and 

 then starts fresh again ; or, in their more technical 

 and not inexpressive language, " becomes free " ; for 

 they are well aware that, so long as the wheels of nature 

 are clogged, the machine cannot proceed as it should do, 

 and the whole system becomes deranged. Judging, 

 therefore, by the rule of optics, is a most essential 

 qualification in a groom. 



The common appellation, then, given to this change 

 in the animal economy of the horse is, that he has 

 become foul ; or, in other words, that his blood is 

 vitiated and his system over-excited ; nor can it be 

 much better expressed. That he should become so, 

 from the unnatural state of excitement in which he 

 is kept, unless preternatural means be taken to correct 

 it, is by no means to be wondered at ; but as habit 

 lessens the noxious influence of all changes in animal 

 economy, and finally gets the better of Nature herself, 

 we have nothing to fear if we are awake to impending 

 circumstances. That such is the fact, has been pretty 



