CONDITION AND CONDITIONING 



boxes should " take out," and what is more, they 

 should be taken out after each meal, washed and 

 sunned if possible. If a certain time is allowed 

 for the consumption of grain, horses will learn it, 

 the light feeders eat as much or more, and not be 

 disgusted with a balance steaming under their 

 noses. 



On days that no work is to be done, the feed- 

 ing must be regulated accordingly ; and if any acci- 

 dent, etc., is likely to prevent outdoor work for an 

 extended period, a mild dose of physic may be 

 given at once to advantage, which, with rather 

 laxative food, will prevent any tendency to 

 feverish symptoms from its sudden and abso- 

 lute cessation. 



There are so many dozens of little details which 

 bear directly upon this most important matter 

 that one hardly knows how to stop or where to 

 begin. Various rarely considered details, such as 

 the condemnation of many horses as subjects to 

 fits, which suffer from nothing but disordered 

 liver and digestion generally ; the value of bleed- 

 ing in certain cases, where a horse is nervous, shy 

 feeding, and generally upset ; the treatment of feet 

 and legs with relation to maintenance of health, — 

 these and dozens of other matters must be left 



71 



