PREPARATION FOR FAST WORK. 309 



water lodges in a sponge, only there is no apparent commu- 

 nication between the cells of the tissue, for the fat lies where 

 it is placed, without sinking downward. Fat is the surplus 

 of nutrition. When the food is so abundant as to produce 

 more nutriment than the system needs, the residue is stored 

 away in the form of fat. When the food becomes unequal to 

 the demand, the fat is reconverted into blood, or a nutritious 

 juice, equal to that derived from the food. But as this fat 

 can not be rapidly converted into nutriment, certainly not 

 while the horse is hunting or racing, it had better not be 

 there. It is a useless weight which the horse must carry, 

 and, from its situation, it may embarrass the parts upon 

 which motion depends. Besides the fat, there are probably 

 some watery or serous juices, quite as useless or injurious 

 under exertion. In the stables the superfluous matter is termed 

 the waste and spare, and the removal of it is termed, drawing 

 the horse fine. 



Slow-work horses may carry much superfluous flesh with- 

 out any inconvenience. Saddle and carriage horses are not 

 supposed to be in good condition unless they be tolerably 

 plump. Mail-horses can not carry much, and it must be all 

 on the outside, not in the belly ; hunters carry less, and ra- 

 cers the least of any others. But, for short distances, it is 

 not usual to draw the racer very fine. For a four-mile race, 

 the horse must be drawn as fine as it possible to make him, 

 without exhausting him. It is obvious that the means by 

 which superfluous flesh is removed, will also remove that 

 which is useful, if persisted in beyond a certain point. When 

 carried too far, the horse becomes unwilling to exert himself, 

 dull, feeble, and careless about his food. These symptoms^ 

 accompanied by emaciation, show that he is overtrained. The 

 trainer is proceeding too fast or too far with his operations. 

 There is no rule to guide him, but the state of the horse. One 

 may be drawn a great deal finer than another. So long as the 

 horse goes cheerfully to his work, and to his food, the trainer 

 may proceed : he may stop so soon as the horse has wind 

 and speed for the distance. 



Superfluous flesh is removed partly by sweating, partly by 

 purging, and partly by exertion. When all is taken away 

 that is likely to incommode the horse, further reduction haz- 

 ards the legs when there is no need to hazard them. 



It appears, then, that the trainer may have to lighten the 

 carcass, he may have to put flesh on the horse, or to take it 

 off him ; and be always has to give tone to the muscles, and 



