37 
LECTURE ON THE INFLUENCE OF EXERCISE ON 
MAN AND ANIMALS. 
[From “La Clinique Ve'terinaire continued from vol. xx, page 515.] 
“ L’inactivite est la source de tous les maux.” 
Statics and dynamics both prove that man is able at his will 
almost to augment or diminish the power of the horse, providing 
he knows well how to regulate his exercise. Power residing in 
muscle, he may render it hereditary even to the third generation. 
Witness the famous trotters of OrlofPs stud. We know that 
Count OrlofF obtained these by crosses between strong Danish or 
Russian mares and Arabian stallions. 
The progressive development of strength and power depends 
likewise on the feeding following the weaning; — on both, the 
quantity and quality of the aliments, on the grooming, on the ma- 
nagement ; lastly, on the period and season of castration. 
It must be admitted as a principle, that there exists a vast dif- 
ference between the two properties demanded in a superior horse, — 
speed and strength. It is easy to obtain of an animal what strength 
it is capable of, so as to suit him to the work required of him ; but 
it is not equally easy to render him triumphant in the race, this 
last being in an essential degree under the influence of climate. 
On the Duration of Exercise. 
Endurance of exercise may be regarded as the prime founder of 
strength. It determines the measure of capacity (capability) of the 
animal. Experience has proved that, on an average, the horse 
who expends 100 kilogrammes of strength will withstand this effort 
for eight hours daily, whether in bearing, an average length of time, 
100 kilogrammes while standing, or in trotting gently for eight 
hours without any burthen. 
The proportion here given is to be considered as the datum for 
regulating exercise. Beyond this, exercise becomes work, that is 
to say, strength begins to fail under fatigue. 
The conservation of animals requires that we at all times dimi- 
nish the burthen in ratio to the increase of speed, and vice versa. 
The same principle ought to serve as a regulation for the duration 
of exercise. 
