EXERCISE. V2<i 



EXERCISE. 



Our observations ou this important branch of stable-management must 

 have only a slight reference to the agricultural horse. His work is usually 

 regular and not exhausting. He is neither pi^edisposed to disease by idle- 

 ness, nor worn out by excessive exertion. He, like his master, has enough 

 to do to keep him in health, and not enough to distress or injure him : on 

 the contrary, the regularity of his work prolongs life to an extent rarely 

 witnessed in the stable of the gentleman. Our remarks on exercise, then, 

 must have a general bearing, or have pi-iucipal reference to those persons 

 who are in the middle stations of life, and who contrive to keep a horse 

 for business or pleasui-e, but cannot afibrd to maintain a servant for tko 

 express purpose of looking after it. The first rule we would lay down is, 

 that every horse should have daily exercise. The animal that, with the 

 usual stable feeding, stands idle for three or four days, as is the case in 

 many establishments, must suffer. He is predisposed to fever, or to 

 grease, or, most of all, to diseases of the foot ; and if, after three or four 

 days of inactivity, he is ridden far and fast, he is liable to have inflamma- 

 tion of the lungs or of the feet. 



A gentleman or tradesman's horse suffers a great deal more from idle- 

 ness than he does from work. A stable-fed horse should have two hours' 

 exercise every day, if he is to be kept free from disease. JS^othing of ex- 

 traordinary or even of ordinary labour can be effected on the road or in 

 the field without sufficient and regular exercise. It is this alone which 

 can give energy to the system, or develop the powers of any animal. 



How then is this exercise to be given ? As much as possible by, or 

 under the superintendence of, the owner. The exercise given by the 

 groom is rarely to be depended upon. It is inefficient or it is extreme. 

 It is in many cases both irregular and injurious. It is dependent upon 

 the caprice of him who is performing a task, and who will render that 

 task subservient to his own pleasui'e or purpose. 



In training the hunter and the race-horse, regular exercise is the most 

 important of all considerations, however it may be forgotten in the usual 

 management 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 fatigTied ere half his labour 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 three or four days, is ridden or driven thirty or forty miles 

 in the course of a single day ! This rest is often purj)osely given to pre- 

 pare for extra-exertion ; — to lay in a stock of strength for the performance 

 of the task required of him : and then the owner is surprised, and dissa- 

 tisfied if the animal is fairly knocked up, or possibly becomes seriously ill. 

 Nothing is so common and so preposterous, as for a person to buy a horse 

 from a dealer's stable, where he has been idly fattening for sale for many 

 a day, and immediately to give him a long run after the hounds, and then 

 to complain bitterly, and think that he has been imposed upon, if the animal 

 is exhausted before the end of the chase, or is compelled to be led home 

 suffering from violent inflammation. Regular and gTadually increasing 

 exercise 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. Nature has given to young 

 animals of every kind a disposition to activity ; but the exercise must not 

 be violent. A great deal depends upon the manner in which it is given. 

 To preserve the temper, and to promote health, it should be moderate, at 



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