290 THE IMPROVED ART OF FARRIERY. 



the narrow compass in which it is at present comprised. 

 But whilst there is so much, and such evident variety, 

 the mischief which accrues from adhering to one ge- 

 neral course must be, one would suppose, sufficient 

 to induce a change of practice. It is admitted on all 

 hands that no man would ask another to repair or 

 regulate a piece of machinery except the person so 

 employed was fully acquainted with its constituent 

 principles. But there seems to be an extraordinary 

 latitude allowed in every thing that relates to horses ; 

 and every stable-boy who can ride and clean a horse, 

 is supposed to be perfectly acquainted with the animal 

 economy and the cause and cure of diseases, without 

 possessing one particle of knowledge on the subject 

 of anatomy, or of the nature and effect of drugs. 



He acquires a certain train of reasoning from his 

 elders, and talks in the same profound style about hu- 

 mours, &c., and in due time bleeds, purges, and sweats, 

 without mercy, every horse that happens to fall under 

 his hands. That many a good horse has died under 

 such an ordeal is an indisputable fact, nor is it less 

 certain that many a good racer has been beat solely 

 from the bad effects of the treatment before men- 

 tioned. 



That such a system as the one alluded to is not ab- 

 solutely necessary to qualify a horse for the business 

 of the turf, has been proved at more periods than one. 

 The following instance may serve as an illustration 

 of this fact. About seventy or eighty years ago, a 

 sporting gentleman. Sir Robert Fagg, (of the county 

 of Sussex), was in possession of the best blood on the 

 turf at that day, but the super-excellence of his horses 

 was such, that he found it difficult to make any matches 

 without giving very great odds in weight. 



He therefore kept his horses in a very rough state, 



