of all lovers of the noble quadruped, and their support in the 

 exact proportion of his ability to impress wholesome instruction 

 upon the more ignorant of the community, from whom 

 undeniably horses suffer many wrongs some intentionally 

 inflicted, but many the outcome of mere thoughtlessness. 



The author of the above named volume has evidently, as 

 he himself states, spent much of his time in the study of his 

 subject, both from practical and theoretical points of view. 

 And we can heartily commend many of his tenets. It is, no 

 doubt, as he says, "not always well even to scold horses 

 when they do wrong ; horses are much more intelligent than 

 most people take them to be ; " and an angry word upon a 

 slight occasion may, upon the next, render the occasion one of 

 real danger, from the sudden memory of the previous rating 

 causing the horse to lose his nerve, and do something foolish to 

 avoid the recurrence of the well-remembered reproof. A shying 

 horse, for instance, will add the reproof or the cut of the whip 

 which he received upon the last offence to his, perhaps, real 

 dread of the object at which he shied, and probably, as the 

 author says, "do something desperate to escape this double 

 source of uneasiness," or a horse who has been struck for 

 stumbling will naturally start off at a gallop after the next 

 mistake of the kind, to avoid the expected punishment ; and a 

 frightened gallop means danger. At the same time Mr. Cook 

 is not wholly averse to punishments when salutary, as, for 

 example, when he most rightly advises prompt reproof, and a 

 cut with the whip " when a horse throws back its ears and 

 lifts its foot up in the stable to kick," instead of the attendant 

 running out of the way, as too often happens with half-taught 

 grooms, the surest way to convert the threat or play into a 

 real kick upon the next occasion. Any temper in adminis- 

 tering such punishments should, however, be avoided, and one 

 blow is enough. 



The author's remarks upon breeding, etc., are much to the 

 point, notably two practical hints, the first being a warning 

 against backing mares in foal when in harness, as a frequent 

 cause of foal slipping ; and the second as to the advantage 

 and size derived by colts from a liberal diet of cow's milk. Land 

 and Water, August 29th, 1891. 



The Horse : Its Keep and Management (By William Cook). 

 Farm and Home, after many complaints says : The recom- 

 mendations as to management are decidedly valuable, and the 

 truth is told as to the general mismanagement as regards feeding, 

 the use of cooked food, watering, bedding, and driving, in terms 

 that should make the average Englishman, with his inborn 

 conceit about all that appertains to matters equine, positively 

 "squirm." There is a ring of genuine originality about the 

 book : it is obviously founded on experience which has led the 

 author into drawing correct conclusions that accord with scientific 

 teaching as well as with practical knowledge, and there is 

 absolutely no "crib" or borrowing of other people's ideas, 

 From Farm and Home, October, 10th, 1891, 



