328 _ STABLE ECONOMY. 



ground, and enables the rider to feel lameness, should there 

 be any not previously observed. 



PRESERVATION OF WORKING CONDITION. 



The ultimate object of training, seasoning, or conditioning, 

 is to fit the horse for performing his work easily, or at least 

 with as little distress as possible. But it is not enough to 

 give him condition ;' much must be done to preserve it. The 

 muscles, the lungs, the blood-vessels, the nerves, the blood, 

 every part and every organ connected with motion, undergo 

 a change with almost every change in the treatment of the 

 horse. The racer, it is said, must run upon the day for which 

 he has been trained to run. I can not answer for the truth 

 of this ; but most likely it is true, if the horse have previous- 

 ly received all the training he is able to receive. It is very 

 well known that horses which have been trained to extraordi- 

 nary exertions rapidly lose the power of performing them, un- 

 less some means are taken to preserve it. 



In the first place, the horse must have constant work. By 

 constant, I do not mean daily work. No horse can race or 

 hunt every day. A certain period of rest must be granted to 

 all. For carriage, cart, and saddle horses, the night's repose 

 is, in general, sufficient to recruit them for next day's labor ; 

 but hunters, racers, and many mail and post horses, require a 

 longer interval of repose. They may be out only thrice or 

 twice a week, and some of them not oftener than once or twice 

 a fortnight. Still the work is constant. The time they rest 

 is not, or ought not to be, more than sufficient for restoring 

 such vigor as the work demands. 



Agents that injure Condition. — Condition for work 

 may be impaired or entirely destroyed in six ways. Disease, 

 continued pain, idleness, excess of work, excess of food, and 

 deficiency of food, all operate more or less against working 

 condition. There are several other agents by which it may 

 be impaired or destroyed, but those only which I mention 

 seem to deserve particular notice. 



Disease of a febrile character, or an inflammation in any 

 of the vital organs, may attack the horse suddenly, and in 

 one hour render him unfit for any work. If it were possible 

 to remove such a disease on the same day, or at least in two 

 or three days, the horse might still retain a portion of the 

 condition he previously possessed. But this is not always 

 possible. Between the disease and the cure the horse is 



