104 STABLE MANUAL AND HORSE DOCTOR 



days, and prevent him only from taking any but the 

 most moderate exercise. Generally speakincr, from three 

 to four drachms of aloes are quite sufficient for your purpose ; 

 and they may be occasionally repeated as circumstances may 

 require. Previous to giving physic, keep your horse for 

 half a day at least on bran mashes, which species of food, 

 with a little hay, must be all that is allowed him until his 

 dung becomes tolerably firm, or, in stable language, is " set," 

 Without this precaution you will run the risk of inducing 

 gripes. Water with the chill taken off should also be given 

 during the operation of a purgative, and the horse be kept 

 tolerably warm. Walking exercise will at first be all that 

 he will comfortably endure after his ball has left off working 

 iiim, and this must be increased by degrees. 



Having by this means brought your horses into such a 

 state as to enable them to stand hard work, it should be 

 your care, by regular exercise and careful attention to their 

 diet, grooming, and other matters connected with their well- 

 doing, to see that they are not suffered to fall off in strength 

 and condition. 



CHAPTER VII 



THE VICES OF HORSES, AND THEIR REMEDIES 



The neglect of early kind treatment and association with 

 mankind is the most prolific source of obduracy in the horse. 

 Much of the disposition which characterises the animal at 

 a mature age is established in his youth. The seeds of 

 rebellion, obstinacy, and strife are readily sown by the hand 

 of ignorance and indiscretion ; like noxious weeds, they 

 thrive more vigorously than those of obedience, docility, 

 and cheerfulness. As that of the child, the education of 

 the horse should commence at an early age, and both should 

 be treated with kindness. Pleasure should be associated 

 with early lessons, obedience inculcated by firmness, not by 

 brutal severity. 



It is an unfortunate fact for creatures of instinct only 

 that their tuition is mostly entrusted to that class who 

 have but a small share of reasoning faculty themselves ; 

 and what they have, bad temper and worse feeling fre- 



