OJJ PHYSIC. 115 



other dose of physic. Should this dose of physic not 

 lighten the horse of his flesh as much as the groom 

 could wish or expect, it will conjointly with the walk- 

 ing exercise the horse has, certainly prevent him from 

 getting into a more plethoric state, and the leg is every 

 day continuing to get stronger. Three or four days 

 after the second dose of physic has set, the groom be- 

 gins to think of giving the horse a few short gentle 

 gallops, daily, on as level a piece of ground as he can 

 get for the purpose — that is, it should be even and flat, 

 free from any rises or falls in any part of it. And care 

 should be taken with a horse which may have had a 

 bad leg, to bring him by degrees to his usual gallops, 

 gradually increasing the length and pace, until the, 

 groom observes the horse's wind is good enough to 

 enable him to go through a gentle sweat with tolerable 

 ease to himself. 



The next thing the groom has to consider is, the 

 sort of boy he is to put up to ride the horse in his 

 sweat. He should be one selected from among the 

 best riding boys he has, and one that is in high prac- 

 tice in riding of sweats. Such a boy knows how to 

 carry the groom's orders into execution, according to 

 the state of the ground, or the condition the horse may 

 be in. And as soon as the boy has got the horse well 

 away, and settled to the pace, he sits quietly down in 

 the saddle, and keeps a pretty fast hold of the horse's 

 head ; yet, at times, by giving and taking at gentle 

 pulls, he takes care to keep the horse's mouth alive. 

 This gives him the advantage of always having a pull 



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