278 STABLE ECONOMY. 



swelled legs, bad eyes, and other plethoric affections it 

 which horses are so prone after being stabled. But some 

 people — among whom we often find medical practitioners — ■ 

 who have more science than sense in these matters, declare 

 that they can not understand how physic should do anything 

 of this kind. Perhaps it is no great matter whether they 

 understand it or not. The question is, has the physic the 

 power ascribed to it? It has. There are many cases in 

 which physic is not required ; there are some in which it is 

 improper ; some in which it is absolutely demanded ; and 

 many in which it is useful. It is given too indiscriminately, 

 and generally before it is wanted. 



To a lusty horse, one or two doses may be given for the 

 purpose of reducing him, for removing superfluous fat and 

 flesh. The physic may be strong, sufficiently so to produce 

 copious purgation. It empties the bowels, takes up the car- 

 case, and gives freedom to respiration ; it promotes absorp- 

 tion, and expels the juices which embarrass exertion. Work, 

 sweating, and a spare diet of condensed food, will produce 

 these effects without the aid of physic. But purgation 

 shortens the time of training, and it saves the legs. If the 

 horses must be rapidly prepared for work, with as little haz- 

 ard as possible to his legs, he must have^physic. The first 

 dose may be given on the day he comes from grass ; the 

 others, if more than one be necessary, at intervals of eight or 

 ten clear days. 



A lean horse, newly from grass, requires no physic till he 

 has been stabled for several days, and perhaps not then. By 

 the time the horse has acquired flesh sufficient to stand train- 

 ing, his bowels are void of grass, and his belly small enough 

 to permit freedom of respiration. At the end of a fortnight 

 or three weeks, the lean horse ought to-be decidedly lustier. 

 If too much so, if acquiring flesh too rapidly, one dose of 

 physic may be given, strong enough to produce smart pur- 

 gation, and prevent the evils I have spoken of as arising from 

 plethora. If the horse is not taking on flesh so quickly as he 

 should, he may have two, perhaps three mild doses of physic, 

 just strong enough to produce one or two watery or semifluid 

 evacuations. If the horse eat a great deal without improving 

 in condition, he is probably troubled with worms, and half a 

 drachm of calomel may be added to each dose of physic. If 

 not feeding well, there is probably a torpid state of the diges- 

 tive apparatus, produced by a bad or deficient diet. In such 

 a case mild physic is still proper, and in addition, the horso 



