216 UNASKED ADVICE. 



will lie, worn out and diseased in body, but possessing 

 the same brave heart as of old, trundle a four-wheeler, 

 against time, to catch a train, containing, say a rural 

 family of four adults, three children, and their combined 

 luggage, and " go on " at the wretched trade, whose 

 wages are blows and hunger, when a .worse one would 

 sink under his load of misery. Think of this, individuals 

 before mentioned, and sell your old slave, whose glory 

 has been reflected on to you so often, to save yourselves 

 5Z., 20Z., or 50Z-. if you choose if you can ; but call your- 

 selves no longer by the honourable term of sportsmen, 

 and if you are at a loss for a designation come to me for 

 one ! Yet it is, after all, no affair of mine what becomes 

 of my neighbours' horses, but in no way is the ingrati- 

 tude and hard -hear tedness of our fellow -creatures so 

 apparent as in their treatment of dumb animals, and 

 horses specially. A dog cries out if you hit him, and 

 probably sulks ; a horse suffers in silence, and exerts 

 himself the more. 



Having glanced at the miseries entailed on that noble 

 animal Equus Caballus by unsoundness, let us see whether 

 it be possible to at all events ward them off for a time 

 in fact, to preserve our horses sound, and consequently 

 useful, and entitled to kind treatment for a little longer 

 space in his natural life. Most people who know any- 

 thing about the horse know that his natural life extends 

 to from twenty-five to thirty years. I have known a few 

 horses who have lived over the latter age, and worked to 

 within a short time before their demise; but they are 

 rare instances ; and the oldest of them was only thirty- 

 three " off," nor was his work latterly very severe. He 

 was an old carriage horse. I also know a hunter of 

 twenty-one at least I saw him in the field last season, 



