EVILS ARISING FROM THE PRACTICE, 43 
harm. Yet, for a fanciful purpose, he is subjected to all kinds 
of anomalies: kept improperly warm in the stables; made to 
take a daily condition-ball—and all for the removal of his 
greatest possible comfort, and the substitution for it of his 
summer coat in the depth of winter ! Who shall say how many 
horses are annually lost in this way? And yet, with many, 
nothing but time and bitter experience will alter the practice. 
One thing may be safely predicated of it, a fact indeed that 
has not escaped even superficial observers—the horse with the 
most glossy coat is least seen in public; that with the roughest, 
the most often. 
But when once the love of popularity, in whatever form, 
takes hold of the senses, folly is apt to oust reason. It is 
difficult to say to what lengths this may not be carried to secure 
the object of the ambition of the hour, or, it may be lifetime. 
When its idol is the appearance of the horses, the stable 
becomes a hot-house, its inmates, sudatory creatures, whose 
stomachs are made the receptacle of the contents of a chemist’s 
shop. This is hardly an exaggeration; for it is not possible 
to tell the ingredients of the condition-ball, or their possibly 
deadly effect. We know full well that many a man who has 
charge of his master’s hack or carriage-horse, has been detected 
administering the harmful ball, or even arsenic in a crude 
form, to give the coat the desirable glossy appearance in 
winter as well as summer; with the one inevitable result— 
the death of the unfortunate animal and the punishment of 
the man; the latter richly deserved, it must be admitted. 
Gentlemen are too willing to judge the condition of their 
horses from the appearance of the coat. Were they to ask 
the desired information from the trainer, whose pleasure, duty, 
and interest it is to supply it, it would be more satisfactory 
to both. And though the result might not agree with the 
