AIR. 345 



safety will permit, and the shoe be rounded at the toe, or have that shape 

 ffiven to it which it naturally acquires in a fortnight from the action of such 

 a horse, the animal may not stumble quite so much ; or if the disease 

 which produced the habit can be alleviated, some trifling good may be 

 done, but in almost every case a stumbler should be got rid of, or put to 

 Blow 'and heavy work. If the latter alternative be adopted, he may trip as 

 much as he pleases, for the weight of the load and the motion of the 

 other horses will keep him upon his legs. 



WEAVING. 



This consists in a motion of the head, neck, and body, from side to side» 

 like the shuttle of a weaver passing through the web, and hence the name 

 which is given to this peculiar' and incessant action. It indicates an im- 

 patient, irritable temper, and a dislike to the confinement of the stable ; and 

 a horse that is thus incessantly on the fret will seldom carry flesh, or be 

 safe to ride or drive. There is no cure for it, but the close tying up of the 

 animal, except at feeding time. 



Chapter XX. 

 THE GENERAL MANAGEMENT OF THE HORSE. 



This is a most important part of our subject, even as it regards the farmer, 

 altliough there are comparatively few glaring errors in the treatment of the 

 agricultural horse : but it comes more especially home to the gentleman, 

 who is too often and too implicitly under the guidance of an idle, and 

 ignorant, and designing groom. 



We will arrange'the most important points of general management under 

 the following heads ; 



AIR. 



A supply of pure air is necessary to the existence and health of man and 

 beast. In some agricultural stables, the supply, if not too great, is care- 

 lessly and injudiciously admitted ; for the wind blows in from every 

 quarter, and beats directly upon the animal. When he has been well 

 seasoned to this, it seems to do him little harm, except that he has an un- 

 thrifty coat, and is out of condition. The common error, however, is to 

 exclude as much as possible every breath of air, and to have the atmos- 

 phere of the stable, hot, contaminated, and unwholesome. The effect of 

 several horses being shut up in the same stable is to render the air un- 

 pleasantly hot. A person coming from without cannot breathe it many 

 minutes without profuse perspiration. The horse stands hour after hour in 

 it, and sometimes clothed ; and then his covering is suddenly stripped off, 

 and he is led into the open air, the temperature of which is thirty or forty 

 degrees below that of the stable. Putting the humanity of the thing for a mo- 

 ment out of the question, we ask, must not the animal, thus unnaturally and 

 absurdly treated, be subject to rheumatism, catarrh, and inflammation of the 

 lungs? It has been replied, that the horse keeps himself warm by exercise 

 while he is thus exposed, and that a man, using strong exertion, cares little 

 about the quantity of clothing upon him. Is the horse constantly in motion 



