PREPACE 

 TO THIRD EDITION OF "CENTAUR." 



*' All tongues sj-teak of liim, and the bleared sights 

 Are spectacled to see him ; your prattling nurse 

 Into a rapture lets the baby cry, 

 While she chats him : the kitchen malkin pins 

 Her richest lockram 'bout her reechy neck, 

 Clambering the walls to eye him ; stalls, bulks, windows, 

 Are smothered up, leads fill'd and ridges horsed 

 With varia1)le complexions ; all agreeing 

 In earnestness to see him." — SHAKEsrEAui:. 



Goriolanus, Act II, Scene I. 



NCOUEAGED hj the intense curiosity 

 and excitement which greeted the appear- 

 ance of this work in 1878, and the exten- 

 sive sale of the second issue, together 

 with its still increasing popularity — 

 which, indeed, has far surj^assed his most 

 sanguine expectations — the Author is 

 induced to publish another edition, and 

 in order to bring the work within the 

 reach of everyone interested in the care 

 and management of horses, he has decided to issue the 

 book in a cheaper form. In arriving at this decision the 

 writer is actuated by a sincere desire to diffuse practical 

 knowledge among people who have horses, either of theii- 

 own, or are entrusted with the care of those of others, as will 

 enable them to obtain the greatest amount of work at the 

 least cost, and with the greatest amount of ease and comfort 

 to the animals themselves. 



There can be no doubt that in many cases — 



' ' Evil is wi'ought from want of thought 

 As well as want of heart, " 



and that much of the cruelty inflicted upon the horse is the 

 result of ignorance rather than intention on the part of the 

 attendant ; therefore, it was with the view to removing this 

 ignorance or carelessness that the Author was constrained to 

 publish this work originally, and the ver}'- encouraging and 

 numerous letters and testimonials he has received from all parts 



