EXERCISE. 13Y 



the field, without sufficient and regular exercise. It is tliis 

 which alone can give energy to the system, and develop the 

 powers of any animal. 



In training the race-horse, or the horse for hunting pur- 

 poses, regular exercise is the most important of all considera- 

 tions, however much it may be neglected in the usual manage- 

 ment of the stable. The exercised horse will discharge his 

 task, and sometimes a severe one, with ease and pleasure ; 

 while the idle and neglected one will be fatigued before half 

 his labor is accomplished ; and, if he is pushed a little too far, 

 dangerous inflammation will ensue. -How often, nevertheless, 

 does it happen, that the horse which has stood inactive in the 

 stable for three or four days, is ridden or driven thirty or 

 forty miles in the course of a single day! The rest is often 

 purposely given in order that he may be prepared for extra 

 exertion — to lay in a stock of strength for the performance 

 required of him — and then the owner is surprised and dissatis- 

 fied if the animal is fairly knocked up, or possibly becomes 

 seriously ill. N'othing is so common and so preposterous, as 

 for a person to buy a horse from a dealer's stable, where he has 

 been idly fattened for sale for many a day, and immediately to 

 give him a long run, and then to complain bitterly, and think 

 that he has been imposed upon, if the animal is exhausted be- 

 fore the end, or is compelled to be led home suffering from 

 violent inflammation. Regular and gradually increasing ex- 

 ercise would have made the same horse appear a treasure to 

 his owner. 



Exercise should be somewhat proportioned to the age of the 

 horse. A young horse requires more than an old one. Na- 

 ture has given to young animals of every kind a disposition to 



