PREVENTABLE DISEASES 33 



in actual war or our training for war, are 

 kept free from preventable disease and death 

 while we are in the field with them. 



These diseases are, I repeat, preventable, 

 and if somebody should ask, as the late King 

 Edward asked, "If preventable, why not 

 prevented ?" I say that, if not prevented in 

 the case of the horse who lives in an easily 

 looked-after space, and does not mix with 

 other horses in overcrowded stables, the 

 reason is, and can only be, because man is 

 too lazy to protect his best friend from 

 unnecessary and perhaps fatal sickness. 



And now we pass from the subject of pre- 

 ventable sickness. You have your horse and 

 you know how to keep him well. You must 

 also make him fit for the work that is before 

 him ; you must attend to his necessities and 

 comfort generally, and you must know how 

 to treat those accidents and little ailments 

 which horse-flesh is heir to — a lot, perhaps 

 you will think, to face in one lecture, but 

 really not so, as everything about the horse is 

 simple and common sense and easy if you do 



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