38 PATIENCE NECESSARY. 



have to effect — the change of the whole cumulative 

 organs, the secretions, absorbents, as well as the whole 

 muscular and nervous system ! Amongst the many 

 difficulties you will be sure to encounter, let ' nil des- 

 perandum' be your motto. Commence your work 

 slowly but surely — use gentle means — and to use Dr. 

 Abernethy's words, don't begin 'by bullying your 

 (horse's) guts into order.' It is true that I have wit- 

 nessed two or three animals reduced in about three 

 weeks from a state of Aldermanic obesity to fair con- 

 dition for a country flat race. But in this, great care 

 and experience was required, repeated stoppages in 

 work, counteraction of nervous depression, and loss of 

 appetite by means of tonics, &c, which is a course of 

 treatment never to be recommended, I may say, always 

 to be avoided, if possible. 



As surely as a political revolution upsets the entire 

 organisation of a state, so does a rapid revolution from 

 obesity to condition upset and unduly stimulate the 

 whole nervous system of the horse. In the first place, 

 you must study the constitution of your horse very 

 closely, and if you are not very gifted in that desirable 

 faculty, ( diagnosis,' don't satisfy yourself too rapidly 

 on the subject. 



If you have ten horses in training and treat all of 

 them in the same way, you will assuredly, unless they 

 all have similar constitutions, which is not probable, 

 have only a few of them in good condition. 



Of all things throw routine overboard altogether, 

 and use the intelligence that Providence has blessed 



