154 • HORSES. 



Put him to hard, steady work and he will possibly- 

 pass through the "seedy" stage, which is, neverthe- 

 less, a curative stage. At first he acts weak — he is 

 weak — but the effect will be, if the new regimen 

 be persevered in, to prevent the possibility of dis- 

 temper or other forms of disease which would very 

 likely " attack " him, sooner or later, if continued on 

 the old regimen ; and in a reasonable time (depend- 

 ing upon the degree of his disease, natural constitu- 

 tion, and the discretion or tact of his trainer or at- 

 tendant) he will be in every way improved. Speak- 

 ing from a worldly-wise stand-point, it may be said 

 that if a man owns a fat horse and wants to sell him 

 to the best advantage, he should find a fool and sell. 

 If, on the other hand, he has a naturally fine animal 

 disordered in this manner, and desires, for his own 

 satisfaction or use, to make him trustworthy, there is 

 but one way to do it, viz. : to inaugurate a system 

 of regular and tolerably hard service, and, of course, 

 give him enough to eat, whether at two or three 

 meals a day. At the same time, if his fat horse is 

 satisfactory as he is ; if he never expects to have 

 occasion to make any sudden heavy demands upon 

 him, in the shape of long hard drives ; if he doesn't 

 want the bother of remodeling him, preferring to 

 take the chances of his getting sick and getting out 

 of it without serious inconvenience, why, he had best 

 keep right along in the old way. 



