CHAPTER VII. 



EXERCISE. • 



115. — Possessing large fibrous muscles, intersected with the 

 strongest motor nerves, and with arteries that supply both with 

 a continuous stream of highly oxygiuated blood, the horse is in 

 every respect adapted for motion, and cannot long be deprived 

 of it without lessening his health and efficiency. In some of the 

 most ancient wars we read of, the aim of each party was to get 

 their enemies cavalry shut up where the horses could get no 

 exercise, well knowing that without exercise they would soon 

 become useless. Tying up in a stable, where he cannot even turn 

 round, is a great violation of all his natural habits, and one that 

 should never be practised except on horses that get a great deal 

 of daily exercise in the open air. Cart or plough horses that 

 work in the open air eight or ten hours a day, will take little 

 harm from the restriction, altliough they would be much better 

 with liberty to change their position in the stable as often as they 

 please. Horses whose work is short and fast, demand the 

 indulgence of a loose box for their long resting hours, and when 

 the work of any horse is irregular he can only be kept fit for it 

 by giving him regular exercise in any long intervals that occur 

 between his working days. 



116. — The young horse intended for slow work may be put 

 to some useful occupation as soon as he comes up from grass, or 

 as soon as he is broken in, but for most descriptions of fast 

 work, where horses are valuable, and are treated carefully, the 

 grass fed horse will be gradually inured to a change of food, 

 and be merely exercised for some time before he will be put to 

 hard work. 



The racer's work is almost all exercise, intended to qualify 



