KEEPING. 25 



A horse should be given such practice as he is well 

 able to bear. As those animals frequently differ in 

 every respect so widely from each other, it is impos- 

 sible to lay down any rule that should govern, relative 

 to the speed or quantity of practice necessary for horses 

 in training. 1 will only remark, that a horse should 

 be practised in a moderate gallop, the distance he is 

 intended to be run, moving briskly every time he passes 

 the stand, and for a short distance on the back of the 

 ground: he then should be walked about a mile, and 

 again gallopped in manner first directed. Some fleet 

 and delicate horses require very little practice indeed; 

 while other hardy and hard bottomed horses require 

 and can bear verv hard practice. But the appetite of 

 a horse is the best criterion, as relates to that subject. 



If a horse refuses to eat, it is an evidence that his 

 practice is either too hard or too quick ; when he eats 

 heartily, it is a proof that he is able to bear what is 

 given him. When a horse is first taken into keeping, 

 his allowance for the first two or three days, should 

 be rather short ; which should be offered four times a 

 day. His exercise should be walking, for the first 

 three or four days ; two or three times the distance, or 

 round the course of his contemplated race j after which 

 time, his food may be increased with his exercise, 

 and he may be regularly fed with from two quarts at a 

 feed to four quarts. His food should be often changed 

 and prepared thus : his hommony (Indian corn ground 

 coarse) should be first winded, then thrown into clean 

 water, so as to separate the part that is nutritious from 

 the husk and chaff; the oats should be lightly beaten 

 in a common hommony mortar, to separate them from 

 the hull or chaff, which may be blown off; his fodder 

 should be stemmed whenever it is discovered he has 



