THE HORSE : ITS KEEP AND MANAGEMENT. 5 1 



more likely to go wrong." Coachmen and grooms usually 

 said, " Horse dealers are such rogues, they take our 

 masters in with horses that have been pampered up, and 

 they go lame after we begin to work them." No doubt 

 there is a great deal in the latter, and I am sorry to say it 

 is often the case. I asked many gentlemen how they 

 accounted for the large percentage of carriage horses and 

 trotting nags going lame, so much more than draught 

 horses, (which usually go by the name of cart horses). All I 

 could get from that quarter was, "Oh, that has always been 

 a mystery, which has not been fathomed yet." 



None of these answers seemed to be satisfactory, and 

 I thought I would at least try to find out why there was 

 such a difference between the carriage and cart horses in 

 this respect, and so clear the mystery up. 



In my boyhood 1 have watched horses in the stables 

 for hours, with just a little glimmer of light. In the Winter 

 evenings I would rather spend two or three hours lying 

 upon a piece of straw in the stable, watching the habits of 

 the horses, than I would by the fireside. Many 

 things I learned during these times of observation 

 have been very useful to me during my life, 

 but I cannot say that I have solved the mystery yet. 

 In many instances the cause cannot be accounted for. 



Some fourteen or fifteen years ago I discovered a clue 

 to it, and thought I had found out the secret at last ; 

 but although it may not always be the cause of the 

 horses going lame, I believe, at any rate, it is in many 



