86 PUTTING INTO CONDITION. 



much grass. Continue this for a week or ten days, 

 and then prepare him for physic. This is the only 

 time I shall urge you, without a very good reason, to 

 give physic ; but on first coming out of the stables 

 (if he has not been physicked since he came out of 

 the boat, which }^ou should inquire, for many of the 

 dealers are great physickers) he will be safer ; and, if 

 thin, get into condition quicker by a mild dose.* 

 Prepare him, therefore, as directed, and give over 

 night a drachm of calomel, and at daybreak the fol- 



* J. Stewart, p. 48. ' ' Hundreds of horses have been ruined or destroyed 

 by the first journey they have made after being purchased. The buyer has 

 been ignorant, that, to command even moderate work from a horse, he must 

 be prepared for it very gradually, and by a systematic course of treatment." 



Horses never thrive well in Bombay during the rains. If purchased from 

 the stables in April or May, they should be physicked and sent off to the Dec- 

 can by the 1st of June : the benefit will be great, if properly looked after. 



A short time since I heard the following dialogue between two of my bro- 

 ther amateurs, one a civilian, the other a militaire. 



Civilian. Are you fond of physicking horses? 



Militaire. No, I never yet physicked a horse, and never would. I never 

 knew any good come from physic. 



Civilian. Well, I differ from you. I never had a horse come into my pos- 

 session, I did not immediately physic ; and ever would. If I had fifty, I would 

 physic them all to-morrow. 



Now, there are some individuals in almost every camp holding exactly these 

 opinions : they never give a thought, nor care a button, whether the horse re- 

 quires physic, or not : they are persons who have never seen a stable properly 

 managed ; have most likely never had a valuable horse, and most certainly 

 never ought to have one. One always physics, because it is his custom to do 

 so : the other never physics, because it is his custom not to do so. 



But worse than the above are some of those fresh-landed sportsmen, who, 

 with pockets well lined, have, previous to embarking, obtained a slight insight 

 into their grandfathers' or uncles' great studs, and therefore they would have 

 us believe they must intuitively have great knowledge of horseflesh, like the 

 strolling boys that played the jews-harp, saying, they must be good musicians 

 for their fathers belonged to the town band. These people commit more cru- 

 elty, havoc, and ruin in one year than their careless or less wealthy brethren do 

 in a dozen ; and I never knew one that could harden the flesh and get a horse 



good wind, and at the same time preserve the legs clean, and the heels open. 



