ON PHYSIC. 137 



1 will now proceed with my observations on phy- 

 sicking of race-horses that may have been in regular 

 training for two or three seasons ; and for the purpose 

 of clearly elucidating this matter, the horses I shall 

 fii'st make choice of, shall be those of pretty strong 

 constitutions ; I mean, such horses as are generally 

 selected for country running, and that are in high 

 training at the time there may be occasion to physic 

 them — say, for example, in the month of July, or 

 August; for at this time, their bodies have become 

 much changed from the state of condition which they 

 are in, compared with that state in which some of 

 them were when physicked in the autumn or spring. 

 The constitutions of such horses have become well 

 braced, from the high feeding and strong exercise 

 they have had ; and their intestines have also been 

 so much accustomed to the stimulus of aloes, that 

 it makes it extremely difficult to purge them when it 

 becomes necessary to do so, for the purpose of refresh- 

 ing them. 



It is to be observed, that country-plate horses have 

 to come to post much more frequently than those 

 which are younger, and which are generally kept 

 in reserve by their owners, for the various great stakes 

 which are run for at Newmarket, York, Doncaster, 

 or Epsom. Those horses engaged in country running, 

 may be said, during the summer, to be travelling a sort 

 of circuit. They are contending for His Majesty's, 

 and the various country and town plates, which are 

 given at the different racing meetings. As they are 



