KEEPING. 23 



KEEPING. 



The keeping a horse for a race is attended with 

 much trouble, and requires great attention : but is 

 more simple than is generally believed by persons 

 wanting experience on that subject. 



A large majority of grooms, even to the present day, 

 are in the habit of giving to race horses large quanti- 

 ties of physic, (though the number engaged in this 

 practice has been diminished within the last ten years,) 

 and for the sake of those very valuable animals, I hope 

 ere long, such an injurious practice will be entirely 

 abolished. All the medicine on earth will never give 

 to a horse speed and bottom, that is naturally deficient 

 in those respects ; and if he is affected at all by its use, 

 it must operate to his disadvantage. 



The plainest and simplest mode of keeping horses, 

 has proved much the best, to all who have ventured, 

 in defiance of old opinions and customs, to use that 

 course. When a horse is in health, the medicine ge- 

 nerally given by grooms, has the effect of relaxing 

 the muscles, enfeebling the system, and expanding the 

 pores of the skin. I am clearly of opinion, that those 

 large doses, which are so often given, never cause a 

 horse, when running, to fetch a longer breath, braced 

 his muscles, added to the elasticity of his tendons, in- 

 vigorated his system, or gave him, in any way, extra 

 powers to perform the task assigned him ; but on the 

 contrary, are frequently the means of throwing a 

 horse out of order, that in all probability, under dif- 

 ferent treatment, would have proved successful, if not 

 master on the turf: indeed, this has sometimes been 

 proved by the change of owners, and when a good 

 3* 



