MATERIAL MISTAKES. 137 



horses. If given at proper times, and, of course, in 

 proper quantities. 



Bran, 



If fresh and perfectly sweet, though not an 

 article of great nutriment, is one without which 

 a stable of horses cannot be kept for a continuance 

 in common health, Currie is an excellent dish. 

 Why do we eat rice with it ? Certainly not to 

 improve its relish, but that the condiment would 

 be too exhilarating to the stomach without this 

 corrective. Bran, after a day of unusual excite- 

 ment to a horse, such as a severely contested race, 

 a steeple chase, match against time, or an un- 

 usually fast thing with hounds, would perhaps 

 save his life, by preventing fever or inflammation of 

 the lungs or stomach. Nothing, in short, is more 

 grateful to a horse, if we find him at all feverish 

 in the evening, and it is then a safe and good 

 thing to give either in lieu of, or in addition to, his 

 usual food at night ; and here is one of the cases 

 where the judgment of the groom or master is 

 called into play. Distress to the horse arises 

 from two causes, each producing, in the first 

 instance at least, two different results ; the one 

 excessive languor and depression, the other rest- 

 lessness and fever; — the former caused by long- 

 continued fatigue, where the frame and spirits 



