THE IIOKSE. 47 



of cxtraorclinary, or even of ordinary labor, can be effected on the road 

 or in the tield without sufiicicnt and regular exercise. It is this alone 

 Avhich can give energy to the system, or develop the powers of any 

 animal. 



The exercised horse will discharge his task, and sometimes a severe 

 one, with ease and pleasure ; while the idle and neglected one will be 

 fatigued ere half his labor is accomplished; and, if he is pushed a little 

 too far, dangerous inflammation will ensue. How often, nevertheless, 

 does it happen, that the hoise which has stood inactive in the stable 

 three or four days, is ridden or driven thirty or forty miles in the course 

 of a single day ! This rest is often purposely given to prepare for extra 

 exertion — to lay in a stock of strength for the performance of the task 

 required of him ; and then the owner is surprised and dissatisfied if the 

 animal is fairly knocked up, or possibly becomes seriously ill. Nothing 

 is so common and so preposterous as for a person to buy a horse from a 

 dealer's stable, where he has been idly fattened for sale for many a day, 

 and immediately to give him a long run after the hounds, and then to 

 complain bitterl}'-, and think that he has been imposed upon, if the 

 animal is exhausted before the end of the chase, or is compelled to be 

 led home suffering from violent inflammation. Regular and gradually- 

 increasing exercise would have made the same horse appear a treasure to 

 his owner. 



Exercise should be somewhat proportioned to the age of the horse. 

 A young horse requires more than an old one. Nature has given to 

 young animals of every kind a disposition to activity ; but the exercise 

 must not be violent. A 2:reat deal depends upon the manner in which 

 it is given. To preserve the temper, and to promote health, it should 

 be moderate, at least at the beginning and the termination. The rapid 

 trot, or even the gallop, may be resorted to in the middle of the exercise, 

 but the horse should be brought in cool. 



Management of the Feet. — This is the only division of stable manage- 

 ment that remains to be considered, and one sadly neglected by the 

 carter and groom. The feet should be carefully examined every morn- 

 ing, for the shoes may be loose, and the horse would have been stopped 

 in the middle of his work; or the clenches may be raised, and endanger 

 the wounding of his legs ; or the shoe may begin to press upon the 

 sole or the heel, and bruises of the sole or corn may be the result ; and, 

 the horse having stood so long in the stable, every little increase of heat 

 in the foot, or lameness, will be more readily detected, and serious dis- 

 ease may often be prevented. 



When the horse comes in at night, and after the harness has been 

 taken off and stowed aw.-^y, the heels should be well brushed out. Hand- 

 rubbing will be preferable to washing, especially in the agricultural 

 horse, whose heels, covered with long hair, can scarcely be dried again. 

 If the dirt is suffered to accumulate in that long hair, the heels will be- 

 come sore, and grease will follow ; and if the heels are w^ashed, and 

 particularly during the winter, grease will result from the coldness oc- 

 casioned by the slow evaporation of the moisture. The feet should be 

 stopped — even the feet of the farmer's horse — if he remains in the 

 stable. Very little clay should be used in the stopping, for it will get 



