CHAPTER XXI. 



NEVER MIND'S FIRST SWEAT PREPARATION, AND METHOD PUR- 

 SUED BREEDING TROTTERS PEDIGREES. 







PRECEPTOR. The morning is all that we could ask. 

 There could not be a better time for the business we have 

 on hand. The air is warm without murkiness, and the 

 breeze is only sufficient to keep it in motion. By the time 

 the sun is a few degrees higher, the vital fluid will be as 

 bland as that ladened with the fragrance of rose and 

 jasamine wafted from the gardens of Ghul. It is a great 

 annoyance to prepare a horse for a sweat, and have the 

 time appointed unpropitious; though if the weather is not 

 too bad I prefer to give it, than to postpone to another 

 time. Should the weather be such that it would be im- 

 politic to attempt the sweating, I should put it off for three 

 or four days, commencing again the preparation from the 

 outset. I do not like to muzzle a horse two nights in 

 succession, though there are some very gross feeders that 

 require the appliance of the muzzle at all times, to keep 

 them from eating the bedding. Even in such a case I 

 would rather substitute some other material for bedding 

 than straw, though there is nothing else so well adapted 

 for the purpose. Sawdust soon heats from the mixture 

 of urine, and is then very detrimental to the horse's feet; 

 and there is danger to the lungs from the particles of dust 

 that arise whenever the horse moves. In the summer 

 time, I prefer sand to any other substitute. By filling the 

 stall to a depth of six or eight inches, the horse has a very 



