$0 THE HORSE. 



corn,) there is this advantage, they eat the less hay, 

 consequently, they have soon finished their supper 

 and get to rest ; while the next morning they are in 

 better courage and all the fitter for their work. Never 

 be induced to stint a horse of his corn on account 

 of any violence or fretfulness of his temper ; give 

 him his full quantity, and it will be found to act upon 

 him as a sedative ; and as he gains fat, he will become 

 proportionably quiet and self-satisfied. But on the 

 dull horse food has a contrary effect, and stablemen 

 say, when they see an animal of this sort, sleek, fat 

 and lively, that the corn pricks him. Let it not be 

 imagined, however, that these effects are produced 

 by one or two days' feeding. Such desirable changes 

 can be wrought only by a continuance of good man- 

 agement for some time. Neither let it be supposed 

 that a poor horse will not get fat. Feed him well, 

 indulge him by walking up hill, and always pulling 

 up to a walk when he begins to get warm on the 

 neck, and in six weeks he will not appear like the 

 same animal. The same remark applies also to the 

 fretful horse, with this difference, that it is necessary 

 to exercise more patience to get him to walk at first, 

 and to abstain from applying to him the whip on any 

 occasion, until he feels himself comfortable, which 

 also may be in about six weeks. To tell a practised 

 horseman not to use the whip to a fretful horse 

 would be a needless caution, but to others, particu- 

 larly beginners, it is not so ; as there are many who 

 would almost as soon be without a horse at all, as be 

 restricted to using the whip only as often as neces- 

 sary. The notions of such persons consist in the 

 pleasure of using the flogger, flanking and cracking 

 away, in grand style ; not that they would be pleased 

 with an animal constantly requiring the lash ; but 

 they wish to show off, perhaps to astonish a customer, 

 or to excite a gape from a few idlers at an inn door, 

 little reflecting that they generally leave behind them 



