18 THE DISEASES OF HOUSES, 



and incurable disease, too often the result of the ignorance or wan- 

 tonncss of the master to whom he ha3 given the services of his best 

 days ; for it is astonishing how ignorance, prejudice, and passion, blind us 

 to our best interests, even in money matters, and perhaps in f ^w instances 

 is this so strongly marked as in the treatment of the lower animals. 

 The comparatively ruined horse at the very time when he requires the 

 gentler treatment, easier work, and greater care which long and willing 

 service would seem to have purchased the right to, is handed over for a 

 money consideration to a new owner, whose greed or whose need urges him 

 to force out of the poor beast, by whip or spur or angry voice, the utmost 

 exertions that abused nature has left him the power of yielding at a cost 

 of pain and suffering as incalculable as it is unheeded by the thoughtless, 

 the cruel, and the ignorant. That excellent Society for the Prevention 

 of Cruelty to Animals has done much to hinder cruelty and assuage 

 the sufferings of horses, but their officers are not ubiquitous, nor are their 

 powers all-reaching; nor, indeed, has fear of the law such power to prevent 

 suffering as a correct knowledge of the animal's constitution, requirements, 

 and capabilities gives, producing, as it does, a rational system of feeding 

 and general treatment, resulting in his increased usefulness, the preven- 

 tion of disease incapacitating to work, and, in consequence, adding at onco 

 to the master's profits and the horse's comfort. There are, however, 

 those who will not be taught, and whose brutality can only be curbed by 

 the dread of punishment. To srch the poet's words apply— 



The fear of hell's the hangman's whip 

 To keep the wretch in order, 



and, therefore, for the repression of the incorrigibly cruel, those too 

 brutish in nature to appreciate a system of kindness, and too blindly 

 stupid to see that cruelty to their beast is ultimate loss to them- 

 selves, and that to grind out the life and energies of their horse at an 

 unknown and unconsidered amount of suffering, treating it as though 

 it were an inanimate machine, is penny wise and pound foolish. A broken 

 winded horse is not such an accession to the stable as to make any person 

 desirous of owning him, and no man would care to drive one who could 

 afford a sound one, if at all ambitious to excel in horse flesh, but a fair 

 plea may be urged that where a number are kept and one has become 

 diseased in this way, a few pounds should not be allowed to outweigh all 

 other considerations, and that, if slow, suitable work can be found for him, 

 he should be retained rather than be handed over to the tender mercies of 

 the dealer, or of those who will work the life out of him with no other 

 feeling or intention than to make as much out of him as possible, while 

 he lasts. There are the stronger reasons for this because, by proper feed- 

 ing and judicious use, putting to slow and light work for which 

 such a horse is alone fitted, together with proper palliative medi- 

 cines, the animal will retain a great measure of usefulness, and more 

 than earn his corn for many years ; indeed, by patient and persistent 



