VI PREFACE. 



pet theory to advertise to the public. My success, if success 

 attend my efforts, will be due to the patience with which I 

 have studied the subject, and th-e entire absence of passion 

 and prejudice in writing out the views thus obtained. I 

 confess my indebtedness to many books and many authors. 

 The cumbersome volume of veterinary practice, the quaint 

 mediaeval treatise, and the sensational pamphlet of the profes- 

 sional 'Miorse-tamer " who perambulates the country to-day, 

 astonishing the uninitiated with the tricks of his trained 

 ponies, have alike supplied me with material for reflection. 

 I wish to give in a condensed form the aggregated wisdom 

 of all, to the end that whoever may purchase this work shall 

 have the sum and substance of what is known concerning 

 the horse. 



I do not deceive myself so far as to suppose that I have 

 wholly succeeded ; for the subject is a vast and intricate one, 

 and man's performance is seldom equal to his desire. Still 

 it may be that enough has been done to vindicate the motive, 

 and serve the public. If this should be the verdict of my 

 patrons, I shall rest content. If any should express surprise 

 that one in my profession should devote his leisure to such a 

 purpose, I have this to say. That to me it has been a labor 

 of love in the first place for the noble animal of which I 

 write, and whose existence and services have ever been and 

 are to-day closely connected with the commercial, social, and 

 religious development of the country ; and, in the second 

 place, I acknowledge the presence in my heart of a desire to 

 associate myself in every honorable way with that class of 

 my countrymen, to which, by birth, early education, and pres- 

 ent aspiration, I belong, — the agricultural class. Compelled 

 by the obligation of public life to pass the larger part of my 

 time in cities, my mind and lieart continually revert to 



