xii PREFACE. 



venture to treat him when diseased. What is 

 here written has been gained by study from 

 works of others,* and what professional men 

 have taught me, interspersed throughout with 

 my own observations. Proceeding from an 

 undiploma'd hand, these are not supposed to 

 be infallible; but though errors may exist, 

 they will not lead far out of the right path, 

 and perhaps will aid a novice when buying, 

 and afterwards tend to prevent him ruining his 

 horse by injudicious treatment, more than if 

 he pounced on a scientific veterinary volume. 

 These learned books are but ill-adapted to a 

 person who has neither had experience, nor 

 given the subject any attention ; and they are 



* This acknowledgment was the cause of my book, when in ma- 

 nuscript, being much depreciated, and by one of the very persons 

 who, no doubt, will most benefit by it. "Compile!" said he, "any 

 body can compile." Now, discoveries of this kind are of a Iforeen, 

 and also of a jealous hue. How are our ideas confirmed, and how 

 is our information got, if not from books ? All amateur writings 

 must of necessity be more or less compiled ; but it is only amateurs 

 who have studied, and reflected, and had practice on such a subject 

 as horseflesh, that are capable of translating scientific and technical 

 English for the understanding of their brethern. Nearly the whole 

 of the last part of this work, to say nothing of much of the pre- 

 ceding parts, will be a compilation, then, if you like, from various 

 professional and other authors ; but as I have had some little experi- 

 ence, I resef ve to myself the liberty of extracting from those whose opi~ 

 nions approach nearest my own. 



