EVILS ARISING FROM THE PRACTICE. 43 



harm. Yet, for a fanciful purpose, he is subjected to all kinds 

 of anomalies : kept improperly warm in the stables ; made to 

 take a daily condition-ball — and all for the removal of his 

 greatest possible comfort, and the substitution for it of his 

 summer coat in the depth of winter ! Who shall say how many 

 horses are annually lost in this way .-' And yet, with many, 

 nothing but time and bitter experience will alter the practice. 

 One thing may be safely predicated of it, a fact indeed that 

 has not escaped even superficial observers — the horse with the 

 most glossy coat is least seen in public ; that with the roughest, 

 the most often. 



But when once the love of popularity, in whatever form, 

 takes hold of the senses, folly is apt to oust reason. It is 

 difficult to say to what lengths this may not be carried to secure 

 the object of the ambition of the hour, or, it may be lifetime. 

 When its idol is the appearance of the horses, the stable 

 becomes a hot-house, its inmates, sudatory creatures, whose 

 stomachs are made the receptacle of the contents of a chemist's 

 shop. This is hardly an exaggeration ; for it is not possible 

 to tell the ingredients of the condition-ball, or their possibly 

 deadly effect. We know full well that many a man who has 

 charge of his master's hack or carriage-horse, has been detected 

 administering the harmful balls, or even arsenic in a crude 

 form, to give the coat the desirable glossy appearance in 

 winter as well as summer ; with the one inevitable result — 

 the death of the unfortunate animal and the punishment of 

 the man ; the latter richly deserved, it must be admitted. 



Gentlemen are too willing to judge the condition of their 

 horses from the appearance of the coat. Were they to ask 

 the desired information from the trainer, whose pleasure, duty, 

 and interest it is to supply it, it would be more satisfactory 

 to both. And though the result might not agree with the 



