BROKEX-WINDED HORSES. 203 



horses — amongst them, carrots in the winter, and 

 green meat in the summer. We approve of a few 

 carrots in the winter, but object to green meat, 

 unless in small quantities. Is not flatulency the 

 distinctive feature of a disordered respiration I And 

 what promotes that equally with loading and dis- 

 tending the stomach with green food ? The small 

 dimensions of a horse's stomach, evidently show 

 what nature intended him for, namely, to ^o fast ; 

 and the pathologist would very soon convince us 

 that, in proportion as that organ is distended, will 

 the respiratory organs be oppressed. Hence the 

 indispensable practice of not allowing hunters their 

 usual allowance of food and water on the morning 

 of hunting ; as also of putting the setting muzzle 

 on the racer the night before he runs. The food 

 most proper for all horses, but particularly for such 

 as are not perfect in their wind, is that which con- 

 tains most nourishment in the smallest compass or 

 space. 



But we must not overlook the treatment of the 

 sound hunter before and after hunting ; as we con- 

 sider the lives of more than half of those hunters 

 which have been lost from the effects of severe 

 chases, to have been lost from w^ant of knowledge 

 of how they should have been treated, at either the 

 one or the other of these periods. It is matter of 

 doubt whether it be in the power of hounds to 

 maintain a chase long enough to cause the death 

 of a horse, fairly ridden with them, provided that 

 horse have been properly treated in the summer, 

 and is in what is called strong work, or quite fit to 



