THE BEAIK THE SEAT OF POWER. 393 



doin of motion to the lower pastern and navicular joints, 

 and acting as an additional spring, to preserve those deli- 

 cate articulations from injury by concussion. The round, 

 medium-sized foot, with proper strength of horn, we 

 have discussed before. While the neck has nothing to do 

 with progression, a proper form is requisite ; this we also 

 noticed in our conversation on sweating. 



The great reservoir of power is the brain, and, confident 

 as I am that it has more to do with making the successful 

 trotter or race horse the superior of his compeers, than 

 either osseous or muscular formation, yet, as it is not in 

 as tangible a form, I speak of it with delicacy, the fact 

 being incapable of demonstration, and only to be ascer- 

 tained by inference. For instance, we have seen horses of 

 perfect frame, whose bodies were a type of ninety in a 

 hundred that have shown themselves possessed of speed 

 and endurance, their condition perfect, and brought to the 

 post by those who could manage them in the best man- 

 ner, yet not worth, as racers, the last feed of oats they eat. 

 Again, we have known instances of the utter prostration 

 of strength from the fumes of a substance that could not 

 possibly injury the stomach, but which acted at once on 

 the brain and nerves. I am acquainted with a man who 

 travels over the country every spring castrating colts. He 

 never "throws them," merely putting a twitch on their 

 nose, on which he has rubbed something, which he also 

 causes them to smell. They never move while he is per- 

 forming this painful operation. I ascribed it to the twitch, 

 and laughed at him for deluding people with the idea 

 that the smelling had any influence. A veterinary surgeon, 

 a graduate of the Royal College, was of the same opinion, 

 and attempted the operation with only the aid of the 

 twitch. At the first stroke of the knife the colt kicked him 

 over, and became perfectly unmanageable. A few snuffs 

 from the bottle, and he stood without moving a muscle 



