TliE HORSfi. 7 



regarding tlieir treatment, may be partly owing to 

 the expensiveness, or voluminoiisness of such treati- 

 ses, requiring either more money or time than it 

 may be convenient to afford for that purpose. To 

 which may be added, that hitherto there has not 

 been a single work issued from the press of general 

 and complete utility on this subject. 



Here, then, the reader may perhaps ask. What am 

 I to do ? I take every possible care of my horse ; 

 he has abundant food ; yet he is not what I could 

 wish him. Another may say,-^ — I do not think great 

 feeding good for the health of a horse, from an idea 

 that too much food causes broken wind, or from an 

 apprehension of bringing on inflammatory disorders. 

 To go through the reasons, pro and con, that people 

 might urge in vindicating each his own particular 

 mode of treatment of the noble animal subject to 

 their charge, would be a mere waste of words. 

 Ask them to explain why they do this or that, and 

 although they may give you an answer perfectly com- 

 placent to themselves, they never succeed in making 

 converts of others. Hence, it is apparent, that 

 their judgment is not based uj)on any rational 

 foundation. To correct erroneous opinions on this 

 interesting question, to qualify horses to work with 

 ease to themselves, and also to contribute to the plea- 

 sure of their owners, constitute the intent andobject 

 of this little tract. 



That horses ought to lemain sound, and would do 

 so, to a much later period of life than is the fact at 

 present, will, it is hoped, be demonstrated in the 

 course of these pages. That every thing animate 

 must decay by the progress of time, is an axiom 

 too trite to be dwelt upon ; but trees or men may 

 decay prematurely for want of proper culture, and 

 so may horses. Transplant a tree to an unconge- 

 nial soil or situation, and it will cease to thrive ; or 

 it may perish through some injury to the roots ; or 



