AMERICAN PREFACE. 



It may be thought, perhaps, by some, presumptuous on the 

 part of any American, to undertake the editing with a view of 

 improvement, of a work of the standard reputation of Stewart's 

 Stable Economy. But it must be recollected that the climate 

 and much of the food, and, consequently, the general manage- 

 ment of the horse in Great Britain, are so different from what 

 they necessarily must be in North America, that great injury is 

 often done to this noble animal by following British instruc- 

 tions too closely in his rearing, and above all, in his stable 

 management. 



The horse, both theoretically and practically, has been a 

 favorite study with me from childhood ; and for the past ten 

 years, I have been more or less engaged in breeding and 

 rearing them on my farm, and in breaking and fitting them 

 for market. I also had in early life, during a residence of 

 nearly two years in the north of Europe, the advantage of 

 studying the stable economy of large military establishments , 

 and in my recent trip to England, I took every opportunity 

 to inform myself, by personal inspection, on the subject of the 

 horse in general, and particularly his rearing and stable treat- 

 ment ; and in so doing, examined alike the thorough-bred, the 

 hunter, the roadster, the farm, and the dray horse. 



Mr. Stewart evidently knew little of chymistry, either 

 animal or vegetable ; and in speaking of these matters in- 

 cidentally, particularly regarding the composition of food, the 

 effects of cold and heat on the animal, &c., &c., has made 



