FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 



veterinarian alike. We have adopted wholesale, 

 the systems prevalent in England with but little 

 inquiry into their necessity or appropriateness 

 to this country and climate, and have accepted 

 the dictum of ignorant and non-practical men 

 without comment or personal experiment, making 

 our animals fit the treatment instead of suiting 

 the methods to them. It is really astounding 

 that intelligent and wide-awake men will gravely 

 consult an employee in such matters and be ex- 

 actly guided by his opinion, when in their own 

 business affairs they neither request nor accept 

 the advice of their subordinates — men frequently 

 really able to competently advise. If John says a 

 horse needs physic, forthwith he gets it ; if James 

 — who does n't know a splint from a spavin — con- 

 demns a horse as unsound, so it must be ; if 

 Charles decides that the horses had better not 

 go out, they generally stay in. One does not 

 consult the cook about the china, or the maid 

 about the linen — where does the other servant 

 come in that he must necessarily be an authority ? 

 In the first place we keep our horses too warm, 

 stables too close, and use clothing too heavy. The 

 race-horse people have the right idea about this 

 matter, and one never sees more healthy, bloom- 



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