xl. 



horses which are apparently able to recuperate their energies in a standing- 

 posture do not lie down. 



In some cases it may be that they have stiff backs, and hence experience 

 a difficulty in rising. Others, having once been halter-cast, will not assume the 

 recumbent position, so long as their heads are tied. 



Although a horse may for a long time stand still, the recumbent position 

 is certainly the one in which most repose is obtained ; and a horse never 

 works so easily, nor wears so well, as when he spends six or seven hours daily 

 in this way. The legs and the joints are, under these circumstances, not so 

 liable to become stiffened. Some horses, which will not in the general way 

 lie down in their stalls, may be induced to do so. by transferring them to a 

 comfortable, loose, and well-bedded box. 



With regard to rest, just a little more may be profitably said. Too much 

 rest is as damaging as too little. 



A writer in the Graphic^ of August 29th, 1885, speaking of " summering" 

 hunters, gives some good hints. He writes regarding these points : 

 "Already v/e hear the preparatoiy notes of the next fox-hunting season, and 

 within a few days in more than one district cub-hunting will begin, in order 

 to scatter the litters, and teach the newly entered hounds somewhat of their 

 regular business. All horses, too, which have been ' summered ' after the 

 olden fashion, by being turned out to grass for some months, must now be 

 taken up, and gradually got into condition to give any hope of their being 

 at all fit for their work by the winter. Happily, better counsels now 

 generally prevail in equine management, than those which were considered 

 orthodox but a few years ago. The turning out of hunters in meadows to 

 be tormented by flies, or shutting them up in out-houses or large barns, to 

 lead wretched, monotonous lives, and perhaps contract diseases brought on 

 by inactivity, are now practised at a discount." This is very true, and we 

 may say with the above writer, that the best plan is always to give regular, 

 but not exacting exercise. 



We have now completed our introduction, and we hope that this short 

 sketch of the present and the future, as compared with the past, may do 

 something to dispel some of those illusions which, like dark clouds, still 

 remain to stay the advancement of the Art and Science of Veterinary 

 Medicine and Surgery. 



