212 NATURE NO TRAINER FOR THE P. R. 



I suspect Mr. Adam would have made a poor stand 

 against such a man ; and if Johnny Broom, in training, 

 had been substituted for master Abel in his match 

 with Cain, the fight would have turned out differently. 

 It is not the high feeding that hurts man or horse, 

 but the want of work with it. To enable either to 

 withstand inclemency of weather, I allow exposure 

 to weather is necessary ; but then beef-steaks and 

 mutton-chops will enable a man to endure this much 

 better than vegetable marrow. But this description 

 of hardihood is not that which we want : it might be 

 desirable in a post-horse of Tobolsk, but we do not 

 use sledges in Leicestershire, or run across the flat in 

 a deep snow (though by the by I once saw that done) : 

 so, in fact, hardihood is about the last thing we want 

 in the high-bred colt ; and such is the nature of the 

 horse, that, if we were determined to get it, it would 

 unquestionably be at the expense of size, shape, and 

 beauty. Then as to natural food being taken into 

 consideration, we might just as well say it was in- 

 tended, man should go naked. This might or might 

 not have been the intention of nature or providence : 

 if it was, it was only because pilot coats were not 

 then made. If I were obliged to state in three words 

 what quantity of grass I would daily allow a racing 

 colt, and was not permitted to add exceptions to that 

 quantity, I should use the three words none at all. 

 If in general terms I was asked when I would allow 

 a colt or horse his full feed of grass, or, in more 

 vulgar phrase, his bellyful, I should say, never never 

 from the day he could bite it till the day of his death. 

 Now when I answered the first question by saying 

 none at all, I only did so from supposing I was limited 

 to words, and it would be the safest reply I could 



