222 ON SADDLE HORSE 



However, to make further remarks on the author's 

 reasons for giving physic to horses to assist in getting 

 them into condition, will not in any way benefit my 

 readers. There are certainly two causes for giving 

 physic on those occasions — I believe, not more than 

 two — yet our author has not been pleased to notice 

 either of them, in any part of his treatise on 

 " condition." 



Now, it is but fair to presume, that if the author had 

 been acquainted with the two causes (which are stated 

 in the preceding chapters on that head) for giving 

 physic, and the advantages to be derived from its effects 

 in getting horses of a certain description into racing 

 condition, he would have mentioned them. But he 

 tells us, in the commencement of page 252 — " As the 

 horse's allowance of oats is increased, so should his 

 exercise be ; and if this be properly managed, there 

 will be no absolute necessity for bleeding or medicine." 



Thirdly, (p. 254) is the author's advice relative to 

 what kind of exercise is proper to bring a horse into 

 condition ; and from the manner in which he has con- 

 cluded the latter part of the following paragraph, I 

 presume he means also grooming. 



" During the first week of the horse's being taken 

 into a stable, walking exercise is most proper ; but after 

 this, it may be gradually increased to a trot, or a 

 canter ; and if the exercise occasions any degree of per- 

 spiration, he should be carefully cleaned, and otherwise 

 attended to, as soon as he gets into the stable." 



The principles the author has laid down in his 



