144 ON PHYSIC. 



A groom, finding it difficult, by the means generally 

 adopted, to keep such a horse in proper form, to come 

 a long length at a racing pace, gives him a dose of 

 physic on the morning he sweats, in order to lighten 

 him of his flesh, as well as to take the staleness out of 

 him which the work has occasioned. 



It is customary over night or very early in the 

 morning, to set this sort of horse for his sweat, and in 

 the morning he is clothed up, and goes over the sweat- 

 ing ground, for the length and at the pace the groom 

 directs. The horse, after being pulled up, is brought 

 in and turned round in the stall, and the customary 

 portion of clothing is then thrown on him, which occa- 

 sions the horse to discharge most profusely through the^ 

 pores of his skin for ten minutes, or a quarter of an 

 hour. He is afterwards scraped, dressed, and clothed 

 up, by which time his respiration and pulse have be- 

 come tranquil. His physic is now given him, and he 

 is then sent out to take the usual gallop, whic h it is 

 customary for horses to take after sweating. This 

 gallop, I shall by and bye endeavour to prove, may, 

 in some instances, be advantageously dispensed with. 

 The horse, after taking his gallop, is brought into the 

 stable, is well dressed, comfortably clothed, and treated 

 as is usual on such occasions ; but from the length of 

 time he has been set, and from the profuse manner in 

 which he has been sweated, he is very anxious for his 

 food and water, both of which are given him as di- 

 rected by the groom; but as he is generally inclined 

 to take more freely of the latter than the former, it 



