XI. 



THE CARE OF HORSES. 



SO many treatises have been written concerning 

 the horse and his stable that I should do bet- 

 ter, some critics might think, to let the matter alone. 

 But my excuse is this : I do not mean to write a 

 treatise, but only a chapter; and, unless my knowl- 

 edge of horse books is at fault, the modest task of 

 putting the essentials of the subject in so brief a 

 form has never yet been attempted. The present 

 essay will contain no long Latin words, no medical 

 terms, no vague prescriptions ; it will merely treat of 

 those commonplace things which more learned au- 

 thors are apt to omit. Nor do I pretend to write for 

 the typical horseman, who would scorn to obtain in- 

 formation from the printed page. He knows already 

 all that man can know. I have not forgotten the 



