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third week he recovers his powers, and can con- 

 verse all the evening, though he may have followed 

 his game with ardour all the day. A post-horse, 

 or a machiner, will often eclipse the performances 

 of the best-fed horse in a dealer's stables. I re- 

 collect, at the age of sixteen, riding a post-horse 

 nearly as old as myself, above sixty miles in less 

 than nine hours, and he came in almost as fresh 

 as when he started. I felt ashamed of being seen 

 on the back of such a lath-like, worn out, famished 

 hack ; but it was a case of necessity, and I had no 

 alternative. When he brought me home so gaily, I 

 felt as proud of him as I was before ashamed ; and 

 I will answer for it, that not one in twenty of the 

 high-fed cattle of our London stables would have 

 done half the work, simply for this reason — that 

 they want that vigour which exercise alone can 

 impart. 



A very important duty of the groom is stopping 

 the feet at night ; it is not necessary to do this 

 every evening, but every alternate evening it is 

 desirable. A mixture of clay and cow-dung is the 

 usual and the best stopping; the effect of it is to 

 keep the feet cool, and the horny substance of the 

 sole and frog moist and elastic. Any man who 

 doubts this, can easily satisfy himself by leaving 

 one foot open for a week or ten days, and stopping 

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