58 HORSE-MASTERSHIP 



or any part of it, then the merciful bullet is, 

 unfortunately, the *' only way." A broken 

 leg in the horse is, I am sorry to say, 

 in 99 cases out of lOO, best treated this 

 way. The horse cannot be got really to 

 rest the painful part, and, even if slung, he 

 soon, with a broken leg, renders himself an 

 object of pity, from which death, mercifully 

 given by the bullet In the middle of the fore- 

 head. Is indeed relief. 



I fear that by this I must have thoroughly 

 tired you out, so let me, before we separate, 

 recall your minds to the most important part 

 of this lecture by reminding you of a very 

 well-worn story taken from the classics. 

 You have all, I am sure, heard of the twelve 

 labours of Hercules, which were imposed 

 upon him by his enemy Eurystheus. The 

 fifth of these labours was to clean out the 

 stables of Augeas. These stables contained, 

 in addition to some horses, many thousands 

 of oxen and goats, and they had never been 

 cleaned out. The poor animals were buried 

 in their own excrement, and, although history 



