44 THE HOESE AND ITS DISEASES. 



light, must be too palpably clear to require much eluci- 

 dation ; for in such state, with the full and increased 

 power of hearing, they are incessantly on the watch to 

 discover what so constantly affects one sense, without 

 the expected gratification of the othar. To this eternal 

 disappointment may be attributed the alternate stare and 

 twinkling of the eye-lids, so common to every description 

 of horses that stand in the most remote part of dark 

 stables, at each time of being brought forward to face 

 the light, as well as the additional observation, that 

 being accustomed to see things but imperfectly in 

 the stable, when brought into action upon the road, 

 they are so much affected by the change, that they 

 become habitually addicted to stop or start at every 

 strange or sudden object that approaches ; the stiffness 

 of the joints, the swelling of the legs, the severity of the 

 cracks, the frequency of the thrush, the contraction of 

 hoofs, the difficulty of respiration, the want of general 

 cleanliness ; the want of pure air and regular exercise, 

 may be justly attributed all the ills we have just recited ; 

 and that such assertion may lay impartial claim to proper 

 weight, in the scale of reflection let it be first remem- 

 bred, that horses in the situation I allude to, are 

 constantly living in certain degrees of heat, not only 

 beyond the state required by nature, but very far 

 exceeding even the stable temperature of horses in 

 regular training for the turf. That this may be better 

 understood by those whose situation in life has precluded 

 the chance of such inspection, and that body of readers 

 in various and distant parts of Ireland, who never have, 

 and perhaps never may, make a survey of public stables, 

 I think it necessary to introduce an exact representation 

 of systematic inconsistency, perfectly exculpated from 

 even the slightest suspicion of exaggeration. 



As I have observed, and it is universally admitted, 

 that there is no rule without some exception, so the 

 following description may have some, but very few, to 

 boast of. 



