PREPARATION FOR FAST WORK. 325 



at which the legs are so safe. When the horse is kept at it 

 for several successive hours, he may be Aitigued ; but the 

 fatigue falls upon the muscles, not upon the joints nor the 

 tendons. The horse may lie a great deal after much walking 

 exercise, but it rarely makes him lame. Cart-horses often 

 travel ten hours a day, for months together ; and though all 

 their work is performed at a walk, they have no spavin till 

 they are overburdened, and not often then. 



Walking exercise empties the bowels — gives the horse 

 good use of his limbs — gives him an appetite for food — pro- 

 motes the secretion of the lungs, the skin, and the bowels — 

 and when much is given, under a good rider, it teaches the 

 horse to walk quickly and gracefully. Even at the beginning, 

 however, all the exercise need not be given at a walk. The 

 horse, whatever be his condition, is always able to take some 

 faster exertion. The walk, the trot, the canter, and the gal- 

 lop, may alternate one with another, no more of either being 

 exacted than the horse can bear without injury. But when 

 intended to perform his work at any particular pace, at canter- 

 ing for example, he is to get as much of that as it is safe to 

 give him. A lady's horse would be ill prepared if most of his 

 exertion were a trot. The preparatory exertion should re- 

 semble the work as soon and as far as it is safe to give it. 



The slow paces make the horse leg-weary. If he lie more 

 than six hours out of the twenty-four, his legs being sound, 

 he is getting too much exercise. Fast paces endanger the 

 lungs of an untrained horse. The rider should know when 

 he has gone as far and as fast as it is safe to go. Existing 

 distress is indicated by signs which do not require much ex- 

 perience to recognise them. They are described in connexion 

 with the accidents of work. 'J'he sij^ns which indicate the 

 approach of distress are not so well marked, but they are quite 

 visible. The first is rapid and short respiration ; the second 

 frequent protrusion of the muzzle, as if the horse wanted more 

 rein ; and the third is a deep, prolonged inspiration, some- 

 thing like a sigh, in which the rider feels his legs thrown 

 apart by the expansion of the horse's chest. Quickness of 

 respiration is a necessary consequence of exertion, and it is a 

 symptom of distress only when excessively rapid and short. 

 The protrusion of the muzzle shows that the horse is at near- 

 ly all he can do. This is not to be mistaken for the pull of a 

 horse eager to get away ; he quickens his pace as he gets his 

 head free. When distress is coming, the head is often darted 

 downward or forward ; and though more rein be given, the 



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