256 



FAULTS INSEPARABLE FROM STABLES. 



the sudden fall in the pavement announces that the posterior hoofs have 

 reached the gutter, within the hollow of which the toes are immediately 

 depressed. 



Such an attitude being attained, all stress upon the flexor tendons is 

 removed from the backward legs. The bones, while the toes can bo 

 depressed, sustain the weight of the haunches. Partial ease is thereby- 

 secured, and with the new sensation, a numbing torpor creeps over the 

 animal. Its feelings are soothed by present pleasure, and the senses, 

 thrown off their guard, grow dead to all outward impressions. The 

 victim of former ages, when taken from the rack, must still have endured 

 agony ; but the lull occasioned by the cessation of acute torture threw 

 the sufferer into a lethargy, which is reported to have resembled the 

 luxury of sleep. So is it with the horse. The forefeet are still under- 

 going torment; but, under partial relief, the animal seems to doze, or 

 becomes unconscious to the facts around it. 



THE HIND FEET AEE EASED IN THE GUTTER. 



The horse is tranquilly luxuriating, and cozily reveling in the moments 

 of forbidden ease, when the groom quietly returns to the stable. His 

 eyes rest upon that "abominable wicious creatur, agin brakin o' the 

 law 1" The animal has actually dared to indulge in so much ease as 



