510 
ON THE INFLUENCE OF EXERCISE 
deeper hue. Again, a slackened circulation becomes the occasion 
of oedematous swellings in the limbs, windgalls, &c. ; and these are 
observed to disappear in the ratio in which exercise is enforced. 
Eighthly, inaction augments the sensibility of the skin. It 
becomes relaxed, and the animal, in consequence, is rendered more 
susceptible of external influences. 
Ninthly, long sojourn in the stable notably affects the vision. 
Tenthly, the horse neglected to be exercised grows indocile, 
and especially so should he be young. Through idleness he con- 
tracts all sorts of bad habits in the stable ; he rubs himself, crib- 
bites, kicks, & c. 
All these inconveniences disappear under suitable and sufficient 
exercise. Exercise it is that determines the strength of the mus- 
cles, the assimilation and absorption of the juices. It has a tend- 
ency to enlarge the cavity of the chest, by rendering respiration 
more easy of performance ; and it checks excess of fat, by favouring 
transpiration ; making good the saying of the groom, that exercise 
is as good as a dose of physic. In a word, exercise and labour 
constitute the best preparative for fecundity, at the same time that 
it insures health and longevity. 
Notwithstanding that exercise exerts great and wholesome in- 
fluence upon the horse, such advantage cannot be insured but 
under such conditions as the following : — 
1. Providing the exercise be judiciously apportioned to the 
strength of the horse. 
2. Providing the exercise be of a kind suitable to his nature. 
3. Providing every requisite attention be paid him after exer- 
cise. 
That which is especially hurtful is the excess, whether it be of 
food or of work. It is into the effects of over-fatigue that it is our 
business now to inquire. 
Every over-worked animal wears out the faster. Frequently, 
a single act of brutal or inhuman treatment is sufficient to ruin a 
good horse for ever, especially one of an ardent temperament. 
Violent exercise, urging the animal beyond his powers, tends, 
l To over-excite the muscular power, and that, directly influ- 
encing the organic life, causes quicker expenditure of the vital 
energy. 
2. To abate to too great a degree the plastic power. Muscular 
strength may be lowered to that degree that repose even and im- 
proved feeding become insufficient to recover it, whence results 
exhaustion of the entire orgasm. 
3. To diminish the suppleness and pliancy of the locomotive 
levers. In proportion as the muscles become stiff from over-ex- 
ertion, the sinews grow relaxed, and the joints in the end anchy- 
