TRAIXIXG THE B ACE-HORSE. !()/ 



of tlii.s animal How look into books, not only read- 

 ins: them, but reflecting upon what they read. 

 Having been told, on indisputable authority, that 

 the highly rarified air and arid soil of Arabia pro- 

 duce muscular power and firmly condensed bone in 

 the horse, not to be found elsewhere, and that the 

 antelope, the fleetest animal in the world, is fleeter 

 there than in any other part of the globe, they 

 have naturally been led to the conclusion, that the 

 opposite agents of humid atmosphere and succulent 

 food have a directly opposite eft'ect ; that, by in- 

 creasing flesh and humours, they tend in proportion 

 to diminish muscular firmness, solidity of bone, and, 

 consequently, elasticity of action, the main-spring 

 of both speed and endurance ; in short, to alter, if 

 not to destroy, all those points v/hich are so pecu- 

 liarly characteristic of the animal in which they 

 themselves are interested. They have at length 

 found out, that the race-horse should have not an 

 ounce of unnecessary bulk in his frame ; on the 

 contrary, that he should have as much power as 

 can possibly be produced in a given space ; and 

 that all this can only be eff'ected here by something 

 approaching to the means by which it is eftected 

 elsewhere. A knowledge of these facts, then, has 

 produced a substitute for the natural advantages of 

 the horse of the Desert, in warm sheds, very small 

 and dry paddocks, and hard, dry food, for our 

 racing colts, instead of large paddocks, plentifully 

 clothed with grass, often of the coarsest descrip- 

 tion, imperfectly formed sheds, and not more than 

 half the corn eaten by them at present. As wf 



