SEMABKs.] THE nOESE, AND VETEEINAEY PEACTICE. [eemaek3. 



In concluding this portion of our subject, we 

 must observe, that the less a person has to do 

 with medicine, whether for himself or his horse, 

 the better; but there are occasions when it 

 will assist nature, alleviate pain, and clear the 

 way for a more speedy cure than might be 

 expected if nature were left entirely to her 

 awn operations. Physicking horses is very 

 common when they are taken up from grass, 

 and its administration is, generally, admitted 

 to be beneficial when they feed badly, and 

 appear heavy, and especially if the eyes and 

 mouth are of a yellowish colour. Proper 

 attention to the airing of the stable, to its 

 perfect cleanliness, and to feeding, exercise, 

 and training, is the great duty to be attended to 

 by those to whom the management of horses is 

 assigned. Open air exercise is, above all things, 



essential to the well-being of every animal 

 endued with the powers of locomotion. To 

 the horse it is especially necessary ; for, if kept 

 in a stable without it, his degeneration becomes 

 extremely rapid. This is soon evidenced by 

 the decline of muscular power, and by the gen- 

 eration of disease in both the digestive and 

 respiratory organs ; by the growth of the 

 hoof; the elongation of the toe; the inflamma- 

 tion of the frog ; and, in short, by the whole 

 body becoming diseased. Exercise is, there- 

 fore, not only essential to his health, but to 

 his very existence. Let this, then, be regularly 

 attended to, in conjunction with cleanliness 

 and a proper regimen ; and it will be found that 

 medicine will not be required very often by 

 the noblest conquest which man has made over 

 the brute creation. 



