TREATMENT MUST BE \'ARIED AS REQUIRED. 105 



undoubtedly an essential in training; yet were all horses 

 physicked alike, the lives of some would be endangered, 

 whilst others would be hardly affected. 



In some horses the urinary organs are so defective that it 

 is necessary after severe work to give them spirits of nitre in 

 the water ; for without it, not only would the animals suffer 

 great pain, but inflammation would set in and death follow. 

 Again, of two horses, one will probably be predisposed to 

 constipation, the other to relaxation of the bowels ; to treat 

 both alike would be tantamount to killing one of them. 

 There are other differences of constitution and temperament 

 in different animals too numerous to specify, which can only 

 be discovered in each individual by a practised eye ; and 

 these should be dealt with as the particular case indicates. 

 Moreover the time at our disposal is short. Horses, like 

 company, are continually coming and going, whilst each 

 season brings its addition of yearlings. One mistake is often 

 sufficient to produce disaster. "Break but a link in the 

 chain and it is useless," is an aphorism to be borne in mind in 

 connection with training, and not less the one that tells us 

 " One man may lead a horse to the water, but twenty cannot 

 m.ake him drink ; " which latter applies with equal force to 

 edibles, for " Druid " tells us in " Post and Paddock " that 

 John Scott could never coax V^oltigeiir to eat. 



The treatment of preparation would be incomplete 

 without this caution against a conclusion that it is to be 

 achieved by following any dogmatic rule. There is another 

 point on which a word of advice should be said — the frequency 

 of running in public. 



I am not an advocate of doing this too often, and when I 

 do run my horses I like them to be fit. It is perilous to do 

 otherwise even when you think you have something in hand ; 



