112 ON PHYSIC. 



very unpleasant discovery ; — more particularly so, with 

 a craving horse, and one which may, perhaps, be hea- 

 vily engaged. The first thing to be done with this 

 horse, as with one in common use, is to stop his work , 

 and such external application as may be thought best 

 to answer the purpose of subsiding the inflammation, is 

 applied to the leg by the groom ; and with a view of 

 assisting to relieve the inflammation, and to forward the 

 cure with as little delay as possible, the groom also 

 gives a strong dose of physic, for a mild one would not 

 have much effect on such a horse, while he is at rest ; 

 but this will be more fully explained by and bye, when 

 I treat of the physicking of race-horses generally. A 

 veterinary surgeon would give a horse in common use 

 a dose of physic, with a view also to assist in subsid- 

 ing the inflammation of the leg; and if the horse be 

 lusty, he would in all probability bleed him, which I 

 think is a very good practice, and one which I have 

 always followed; and generally speaking, it is very 

 similar to that which I believe every veterinary sur- 

 geon in private practice, adheres to. But then the 

 veterinary surgeon has only one object in view in phy- 

 sicking and bleeding his patient, which is that of re- 

 lieving the inflammation in the local part ; and should 

 the horse in common use, put up flesh during the time 

 of his recovery, it may be considered (as I have al- 

 ready observed) rather as an advantage than otherwise. 

 Now, the groom in giving a dose of physic yo a horse 

 in training, with a bad leg, has the same object in 

 view as the \ eterinary surgeon, — to relieve the inflam- 



