204 ON RUNNING HORSES 



fenfe. It is a cafe in which the mafter ought 

 to poflefs judgment fufficient to determine. 



Should a horfe, after three dofes of phyfic, 

 regular gallops, and a fweat a week, ftill carry 

 a fhew of fuperfluous fubftance, carry it he 

 might for any thing I fhould care, and I would 

 ■even ftart him flefii and all, rather than at« 

 tempt to break down the texture of it with 

 mercurial purges, or to work the horfe off his 

 legs, and his fpeed, with extra fweats and rat- 

 tling gallops. We have here the reafon why 

 the tendons of hardy horfes are fo often in- 

 jured ; in {e\61, four of the horfes out of fix, 

 which break down upon the turf, receive that 

 injury from errors in training. How often 

 have I heard of horfes, which were before 

 ready to devour the manger, fweated out of 

 their- appetite, and then, if time could poflibly 

 be allowed, to mend the matter, purged with 

 flrong mercurial phyfic. The univerfal pana- 

 cea of purgation, is reforted to on all occa- 

 fions. I remember, fome years ago, the horfe 

 •of a noble Lord being on his way fouthward^ 

 towards Newmarket, chanced to go a little 

 lame, from travelling probably ; he flopped at 

 a feat of his lordfhip, where the head groom 

 fagacioufly afcribing his tendernefs to humours 

 flying about the (lioulders, gave the horfe 

 (worth then at lead five hundred pounds) a 



dofe 



