THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET. 6 1 



■ ing the constitutional difference in horses, as to their 

 varying capacity for performing great tasks ; that is 

 altogether another question. We know that there is 

 a limit to each creature's capacity for improvement; 

 but, so much has use to do with this question, that 

 under a wise cultivation the reserve force, or the 

 power, we will say, of a scrub-horse may be so im- 

 proved, that he could perform easily on any given 

 day or week an amount of work (no reference being 

 made to a mile spurt, by any means) which would be ' 

 impossible for the most superior animal not in " con- 

 dition," although appearing well and moving about 

 glibly enough when taken out for a little drive. 

 This principle, though comprehended in some meas- 

 ure by horsemen, and governing their operations to 

 a degree, is, after all, very imperfectly understood ; 

 that is, they do not " work it for all there is in it." 



FAT AND DISEASE. 



In undertaking to put a "soft" horse into condi- 

 tion there will be at first a decrease in weight. This 

 can not be prevented (even if it were desirable) by 

 increasing his feed, which has all along been excess- 

 ive, considering his work. It will take some time 

 and increase of work before he will require any extra 

 feed, if indeed a diminution may not be desirable 

 (see case given in note to Turf, Field and Farm, p. 24). 

 But when he shall have been brought up to a high 

 condition of power, he may even have become as 

 plump as at the start when he was fat, and still not 

 have any fat about him ; if so, his weight will have 



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