THE HORSE. 217 



driven too long at a rate of speed, or of draught, be- 

 yond his powers. A too profuse expenditure of the 

 nervous fluid and consequent exhaustion ensue, and 

 the horse drops. Of course, this must be a more 

 frequent occurrence in hot weather ; indeed, inciden- 

 tally unavoidable, without the greatest precaution, as 

 I have before remarked ; but there is a great misfor- 

 tune attached to the case, drivers think too slightly 

 of it. On the occasion of a horse dropping, the 

 coachman has said to me, " O, he is only a little sick, 

 he'll come again !" and the last instance of the kind 

 that came under my notice, we drove a leader that 

 had fallen, half a stage over a dreadful hilly country. 

 But let no man flatter himself that, after a coach- 

 horse has had this seizure repeatedly, he will ever 

 afterwards recover his pristine goodness. The lick I 

 have sometimes seen in my stables formerly ; and one 

 horse in particular, which was subject to it, was also 

 given to eat the dung of other horses. I think Nim- 

 rod is correct in attributing this habit to crudities in 

 the stomach (and whether or not I have ever tried it I 

 have forgotten), I should recommend salt, or salt and 

 sulphur, equal parts, with the addition of cream of 

 tartar, should that seem to be indicated ; a table 

 spoonful to be given morning and night, in the feeds 

 of corn, during a week or two. The best and first 

 hunter I ever rode, a grandaughter of Old Sampson, 

 she fully mistress of seventeen stone, and I a five 

 stone jockey, would eat raw flesh, as greedily as the 

 finest corn. I have an anecdote to give of her anon. 

 To return to Nimrod and his excellent correspon- 

 dent, Mr. Buxton, (page 162). Breaking horses to 



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