122 THE POCKET AND THE STUD. 



lieve, were awfully slow coaches, so they had need 

 be for hay -fed nags to follow them : however, when- 

 ever I saw the parson's stud, which I frequently 

 did, the entire were not only in good flesh, but fat, 

 one and all. This eccentricity in stable feed did 

 not arise from parsimony (as his old pensioners 

 showed), but from finding that, with his work, 

 really good hay kept his horses in good condition, 

 so far as looks and also good spirits went. 



Independent of improper quantities of hay, and 

 also of improper hay, being often given to horses, 

 much mischief is often done by giving hay at im- 

 proper times, than which nothing can be more 

 injurious (save and except giving bad hay) : but 

 as I think it always desirable to bring something 

 like proof of what I say when I can, I will now 

 produce an instance of the bad effects of giving 

 hay at improper hours, which will, probably, and 

 indeed very naturally, bring more conviction than 

 anything I could say merely grounded on my 

 individual experience and opinion. 



Shortly after my taking the management of the 

 horses that worked a coach over seventy-five miles 

 of ground, on my going down by the coach, the 

 coachman mentioned rather a singular circumstance 

 respecting the middle stages of the journey, which 

 was, that the horses going from that particular 

 change were frequently attacked by staggers, but 

 he hardly recollected one instance of its occurrence 



