THE HORSE. 253 



man, to get him high in flesh and strong in work, is 

 the perfection of the art of grooming." The reader 

 will have observed, that Nimrod gave a similar 

 opinion respecting the condition of fast coachhorses. 

 In this I most cordially agree ; good firm flesh is 

 indeed strength, but it has ever been too much the 

 custom of trainers, whether of horses or men, to 

 make too free with this good flesh, and to lay the 

 bones too bare. I could give a long list of cases, in 

 which the fact is but too apparent, at the tail of 

 which might be adduced a late very prominent ex- 

 ample in the pugilistic (we must not say boxing) 

 ring. Sound logic will not result from arguing in 

 extremis. There may, for ought I know, be horses 

 which require sweats, in order to bring them into 

 condition for the field ; but I well know, there is no 

 general necessity, nor has it been the general prac- 

 tice ; and the instances are innumerable, of horses 

 never having had a sweat, brought to the covert side 

 in the highest condition, whether internal or external, 

 of which they directly, sur le champ, afforded the most 

 satisfactory proof in the field. But crack trainers say, 

 and most correctly, a l horse cannot run fat.' There 

 is, however, an item in this case not generally ad- 

 verted to. Oats and beans are not only good, but 

 indispensable things, and too many, both proprietors 

 and trainers there are, who entertain the notion, that 

 a horse cannot have too much of a good thing, un- 

 mindful of that corrective which ought to accompany 

 the old saying — too much, even of a good thing, is 

 good for nothing. All horses intended for excessive 

 exertions, must be fed to the utmost calibre of their 



