324 SOME GENERAL REMARKS. 



such works are as aids and guides to knoAV- 

 ledge and treatment, it is principally by 

 personal acquaintance with, and careful ob- 

 servation of, the interesting animal himself 

 that the tyro learns about him ; and we may 

 say without exaggeration that the horse 

 affords a study for a lifetime. No situation 

 is more helpless than that of one who in 

 mid-age (as circumstances require so many 

 to do) sets up a saddle horse or carriage, 

 without previous experience. Such an one 

 is utterly at the mercy of his groom, who 

 may be, in small establishments usually is, 

 a mere gardener or cowman, whose ignorance 

 of the animal he is required to attend is 

 often surpassed only by his self-confidence. 

 Any reader so situated we strongly advise to 

 assume at once himself the office of " Master 

 of the Horse " ; otherwise the man Avill be 

 his master as well as the animal's. Many 

 will proffer him advice. " In a multitude 

 of counsellors there is safety," we are upon 



