422 HORSE PORTRAITURE. 



we would be foolish to use them so indiscriminately as to 

 endanger the health, or clog the appetite. My favorite 

 beverage in the morning is coffee, and though I relish a 

 cup of good black tea at times, the decoction of the 

 Arabian berry, when rightly prepared, is the accom- 

 paniment I most fancy to the matutinal meal. But I 

 have expatiated so much on the pleasures of good cheer 

 that you will have a right to think I am more of a gourmet 

 than I am. A horse is better for neither being a gross or 

 delicate feeder, and I have always schooled myself not to 

 be over-fastidious about my food, while my hearty ap- 

 petite causes me to relish almost everything of which 

 people are fond. 



PUPIL. Talking of peaches reminds me that their sea- 

 son is close at hand, and they are among the delectables 

 which I prize exceedingly. Strawberries, raspberries, 

 peaches, grapes, and pears I have a fondness for, which 

 almost amounts to a passion, and I gratify this appetite 

 by consuming quantities that appear frightful to some; 

 and I have often been told that I would kill myself, if I 

 devoured such loads; yet I never found any damage to 

 arise from this wholesale consumption. I think fruit is 

 to man what green, succulent herbage is to the horse a 

 promoter of good .health, and certainly a source of pleas- 

 ure which does no injury. As I am a pound or two over 

 the standard weight, I suppose it would be as well that I 

 should restrain my appetite somewhat, so that the horses 

 would not have to drag more load than is required. 



PBECEPTOE. The effect of a few pounds' weight in trot- 

 ters is hardly appreciable ; that is, when the extra amount 

 consists in four or five pounds of flesh in the driver. Race 

 horses are different, though I think the disadvantages of 

 a slight excess of weight are over-estimated. The story 

 of the stable key in the pocket of the boy has been told 

 so often, that the belief in the dogma, that an ounce or 



