" IN MEDIO TUTISSBIUS IBIS„" 213 



make; for had I said '' what he likes," he would 

 shortly be good for nothing. Had I said, " only ten 

 pounds," that for three hundred days out of the three 

 hundred and sixty-five would be ten pounds too much ; 

 so, by giving none, of two evils I am satisfied I should 

 choose the least : though an evil it would be, but 

 most decidedly a fill of grass of any sort should be 

 unknown to the racing or hunting colt. 



Many persons may say, by feeding colts so early 

 and so much on corn I should be soAving the seeds of 

 many disorders in the future horse. If that assertion 

 came from one among the many who knew better 

 than myself, I should bow with deference to their 

 opinion ; but if it came from one who does not know 

 better, I should say I do not at all think this Avould 

 be the result ; for with proper air, exercise, mashes, 

 and physic, with a little green meat given at my dis- 

 cretion, and not taken at the colt's, I trust I could 

 keep him tolerably straight, notwithstanding warmth 

 and oats ; and I am quite sure I could not do this 

 without a free use of both — or, in perhaps more 

 proper terms, / think so. But to avoid argument, 

 and not to rely too much on my own opinion, sup- 

 posing high-feeding even does produce a predisposition 

 to certain disorders, men will hunt and race — at least 

 I trust in God they will continue to do so as long as 

 Ave are Englishmen ; and Avhile they do this, they Avill 

 have horses fitted for both. That we cannot ffet 

 these by rearing a colt in any way bordering upon a 

 state of nature is quite indisputable : therefore, sup- 

 posing the arguments against artificial rearing brought 

 forward by those in favour of a more natural mode 

 are correct, it just amounts to this, we must go with- 

 out hunters and race-horses, or we must run the risk 



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