528 Breedwfj and Management of Horses on a Farm. 
imperfectly, or but slowly, arterlalizetl (as I shall hereafter ex- 
plain), but the heart, in some measure overpowered and weak- 
ened by the quantity of its contents, is unable to combat success- 
fully with the resistance offered to its action, and contracting but 
feebly cannot propel the blood with sufficient power through every 
part of the frame. Those parts most remote from it are of course 
those which primarily suffer the most, and hence the circulation 
through the cutaneous vessels is first rendered sluggish and imper- 
fect by over-distention of the stomach, and is subsequently still 
further enfeebled by the action of a cold and moist atmosphere. 
From these causes, when frequently repeated, may very readily be 
induced a morbid state of one or more parts of the body, slowly 
but surely assuming the form of chronic disease, and possibly re- 
sulting in a disorganized state of some internal organ which no 
future attention or skill can remedy or much improve. The 
diseases to which the horse, while at grass, is most obnoxious are 
very generally confined to the respiratory organs, and if turned out 
at an improper season of the year, or when imperfectly prepared 
for the sudden change from a warm stable to the open air, he will 
very frequently, when taken up, be found to be a roarer or to have 
chronic cough, or some other disease of the lungs, which will ren- 
der him of little value. Many horses, too, of a greedy disposition, 
when turned into deep, succulent, and luxuriant pastures, are sub- 
ject to congestion of the brain, causing the disease termed "stag- 
gers," which in some instances superinduces actual inflammation 
of the organ affected, and is then named " mad staggers." This 
malady, to which many horses that are prone to become fat and 
pursy are extremely liable, is in some measure accelerated by the 
position of the head while grazing, in addition to the plethora oc- 
casioned by over-feeding. A minor species of staggers, known as 
" megrims," if not the actual disease itself, may also be at any 
time brought on by improper and too high feeding in the stable, 
if continued for any length of time ; but there the horse being 
constantly under the eye of the master, such a state can only be in- 
duced by persistence in a system of bad management, which is the 
offspring of ignorance or inattention. 
From the time the young colt is taken from the dam, if the sea- 
son of the year be propitious, he should be turned into a large 
piece of sound, dry, upland pasture, where, to obtain his living, he 
will have to take considerable exercise, by which his growth, vigour, 
and stamina will be materially accelerated and improved; and 
should the grass be insufficient either in quantity or quality to afford 
a proper degree of nourishment, one or two quarterns of old oats, 
weighing at least forty pounds to the bushel, should be allowed 
him daily. The farmer, who seeks to rear a first-rate species of 
young horse of any breed, cannot be too deeply impressed with the 
