300 THE IMPROVED ART OF FARRIERY. 



whether he has been kept at hard meat, with proper 

 exercise, or whether he has run a considerable time, 

 or late in the season at grass. All this, and several 

 other circumstances necessary to be attended to, ought 

 to be duly considered before any purging medicines 

 are administered : for example, if a horse has run long 

 at grass, and is of a plethoric and full habit of body, 

 evacuations by purging, and diuretic medicines to a 

 certain degree, are necessary, together with lengtli 

 of time, good feeding, and regular exercise. But if a 

 horse be of a lean, low, or dry habit of body, whether 

 it may proceed from the want of proper food, from 

 fatigue, or any other cause, can it be proper to reduce 

 him still lower by repeated evacuations of any kind ? 

 There is such an inconsistency in this practice, that it 

 would not even deserve to be noticed were it not too 

 much practised every day ; for with some people it is 

 no matter of consideration with them what state 

 of body a horse may be in — that is, whether he be of a 

 fat and full, or lean and dry habit of body, still he is 

 said to be full of humours, and which must be purged 

 off before he is fit for running or hunting. 



When a horse has undergone the regular purging, 

 and the ceremony of taking cordial balls, he is galloped 

 and sweated in his clothes at certain intervals. By 

 this unhealthy system he is relaxed ; and when sud- 

 denly exposed to cold, he stands all in a heap, with 

 his back up, his legs drawn together, and his tail close 

 to his buttocks, shivering and shaking like an aspen- 

 leaf. Such a horse may be said to be half blown be- 

 fore he begins to start. 



Indeed no horsa can be taken up fat from grass, and 

 sweated both suddenly and violently, without pro- 

 ducing weakness and exhaustion. A horse thus mis- 

 used, will be all in a lather of sweat before he has run 



