PREFACE. 



Finding myself a standing reference among my 

 friends and acquaintance on matters relating to 

 horse-flesh, and being constantly in the habit of 

 giving them advice verbally and by letter, I have 

 been induced to comply with repeated suggestions 

 to commit my knowledge to paper, in the shape of 

 a Treatise or Manual. 



When I say that my experience has been prac- 

 tically tested on the road, in the field, on the turf 

 (having been formerly a steeplechase-rider, as well 

 as now a hunting horseman), with the ribbons, 

 and in a cavalry regiment, I must consider that, 

 with an ardent taste for everything belonging to 

 horses thus nourished for years, I must either 

 have sadly neglected my opportunities, or have 



