4 HEALTH. 



to tlie dominion of man, they become liable to pain' and 

 sickness, added to injury through mismanagement and 

 abuse. 



There is the same observable difference between horses 

 turned out to grass, or into the strawyard, or horses kept in 

 stables, and well fed. Those of the former kind will not 

 only endure all the high feeding you can give, especially in 

 cold, wet weather, without becoming disordered, but without 

 getting fat. They will thrive, — their hides will be loose, 

 and their bellies full; but they will not deposit fat upon 

 the ribs. Whereas, the pam peredand stabled horse, will not 

 only cram and feast, but will lay a quantity of fat upon his 

 ribs, and soon become in the stuffed condition of the stall- 

 fed or prize-fed ox. Now, inasmuch as the strawyard 

 horse does not fatten in this manner, it becomes a question 

 if the animal does not grow in greater proportion than the 

 stabled horse ? I have ever considered that, in pursuing 

 the life nearest to its wild or natural state, it was more 

 likely to grow large than to become furnished, and that we 

 by these means shall obtain an animal of greater frame than 

 if he had been kept with the most assiduous care in the 

 stable. 



In a State or Domestication it is, that we look for 

 the transition from health to disease. Were I roundly to 

 assert that the diseases of horses had their origin in domes- 

 tication, though I might be accused of stating that which 

 was not strictly and unexceptionably true, yet should I be 

 instilling highly useful practical notions of their general 

 source into the mind of the veterinary student. Although 

 all but exempt from suffering in their native condition, yet, 

 when they come to be housed, do they evince more suscep- 

 tibility in this respect than any indifferent person w^ould 

 believe. Even the sturdy ass and stubborn mule, when they 

 come to be domesticated, manifest exceeding softness of con- 

 stitution under the effects of medicine ; of which I had some 

 remarkable examples in the course of the Peninsular cam- 

 paign, while in medical charge of a depot, wherein sick mules 

 and asses were received. 



