LETTER XIII 



TREATMENT AFTER A HARD AND LONG RUN — CLIPPING 



THE cock was sacred to ^Esculapius, by reason 

 of his extreme vigilance. In a former letter 

 I have observed that one of the chief 

 points on which a groom has to exercise 

 his judgment is, in being apt to discover whether a 

 horse be over-marked after a severe day's work with 

 hounds. I have already detailed the directing symp- 

 toms of this too frequent occurrence ; but although 

 I have stated what I have found, by my own experi- 

 ence, to be the best way of treating him after what 

 I have termed " a very hard day," yet I have not 

 mentioned what I consider to be the most effectual 

 measures to be adopted when his life appears in 

 danger. A bad horse will seldom lose it in this 

 honourable way ; but a good one, not properly pre- 

 pared, will too often go till he dies. 



When a horse is very much exhausted after a long 

 run with hounds, a noise will sometimes be heard 

 to proceed from his inside, which is often erroneously 

 supposed to be the beating of his heart, whereas it 

 proceeds from the excessive motion of the abdominal 

 muscles.^ All horses, however, who die from exertions 



^ This sound is due to spasm of the diaphragm or midriff, as it is 

 more popularly called. — Editor. 



175 



