542 HISTORY OF THE 



entirely over, we flatter ourselves that, to the 

 general reader, at least, these chapters may not be 

 found altogether barren of interest, as yielding him 

 some little insight into the training and manage- 

 ment of the horse in his noblest form — that of the 

 British, and as Dibdin aptly termed him, the 

 " high-mettled racer." Should fuller information 

 be desirable, we would recommend the works of 

 Messrs. Nicholas Hankey Smith and Darvill, as 

 perhaps the best ; both these gentlemen having 

 written after much practical acquaintance with 

 their subject. 



The next point to which we would direct the 

 attention of our reader, is the use of physic in the 

 training stable, not as administered to horses la- 

 bouring under serious diseases, and which require 

 the services of the veterinary surgeon, but in 

 those cases which come directly into the province 

 of the trainer. 



The occasions we refer to, are w^hen at the end 

 of the autumn, and in the spring, the animal has to 

 undergo a regular course of physic, or when in 

 training, the state of his legs or any minor ailment, 

 may require the use of medicine. On the con- 

 clusion of the racing season, after being kept for 

 some months on dry and highly nourishing and 

 stimulating food, and constantly in work on the 

 hard soils of the different race-courses and exer- 

 cising grounds, three or four doses of physic, ad- 

 ministered with an interval of about ten davs or 



