10 illE HORSE. 



plishment of being good riders, and they are early 

 accustomed to the sports of the field. With " all 

 appliances and means to boot," it would be strange 

 if they did not possess the best horses, the best 

 trainers, and the best grooms. But the mere travel- 

 ler's horse is comparatively a son^y affair, the master 

 having little spare time to see to the wants of his 

 steed, but leaving him to the mercy of rapacious 

 ostlers, or people utterly unfit to be entrusted with 

 the management of horses. Yet the poor hack of 

 the commercial traveller is, o* ought to be, as pre- 

 cious to him as the most high-blooded racer to a 

 patron of the turf. Men of business seem to think 

 their horses mere machines ; and they seldom study 

 how to make the most of them. Brush off the dirt 

 which offends the eye, or spoils the clothes, and give 

 the animal a regular portion of food. Wheels must 

 be greased, or the naves would burn, and the pro- 

 gress of the carriage stopped. So with horses ; they 

 must be fed, by the same rule as you grease caiTiage 

 wheels, or they would in like manner be brought to 

 a termination of their career. Why, then, so much 

 apathy towards those four-footed sei'\'ants who con- 

 tribute largely to the pleasure of the rich, and are 

 the means by which multitudes are in the habit of 

 procuring their daily bread 1 What, for example, 

 would the commercial traveller do without his horse. 

 Why, the horse is part and parcel of his very exist- 

 ence. And who has so little time to look after 

 him ? Yet, with the same opportunities now at his 

 command, he might, from the knowledge he may 

 acquire by the perusal of these pages, turn his horse 

 to much better account, save himself much expense 

 in the course of the year, get the animal to do his 

 work in a better manner, and with the pleasing re- 

 flection that he has also prevented the infliction of 

 needless suffering. In fact, the reader will find, by 

 paying a littla attention to the remarks now ad- 



