THE HOKSE. 
47 
of extraordinary, or even of ordinary labor, can be effected on the road 
or in the field without sufficient and regular exercise. It is this alone 
which can give energy to the system, or develop the powers of any 
animal. 
The exercised horse will discharge his task, and sometimes a severe 
one, with ease and pleasure ; while the idle and neglected one will be 
fatigued ere half his labor is accomplished ; and, if he is pushed a little 
too far, dangerous inflammation will ensue. How often, nevertheless, 
does it happen, that the horse which has stood inactive in the stable 
three or four days, is ridden or driven thirty or forty miles in the course 
of a single day 1 This rest is often purposely given to prepare for extra 
exertion — to lay in a stock of strength for the performance of the task 
required of him ; and then the owner is surprised and dissatisfied if the 
animal is fairly knocked up, or possibly becomes seriously ill. Nothing 
is so common and so preposterous as for a person to buy a horse from a 
dealer’s stable, where he has been idly fattened for sale for many a day, 
and immediately to give him a long run after the hounds, and then to 
complain bitterly, and think that he has been imposed upon, if the 
animal is exhausted before the end of the chase, or is compelled to be 
led home suffering from violent inflammation. Regular and gradually- 
increasing exercise would have made the same horse appear a treasure to 
his owner. 
Exercise should be somewhat proportioned to the age of the horse. 
A young horse requires more than an old one. Nature has given to 
yonng animals of every kind a disposition to activity ; but the exercise 
must not be violent. A great deal depends upon the manner in which 
it is given. To preserve the temper, and to promote health, it should 
be moderate, at least at the beginning and the termination. The rapid 
trot, or even the gallop, may be resorted to in the middle of the exercise, 
but the horse should be brought in cool. 
Management Ol the Fret. — This is the only division of stable manage- 
ment that remains to be considered, and one sadly neglected by the 
carter and groom. The feet should be carefully examined every morn- 
ing, for the shoes may be loose, and the horse would have been stopped 
in the middle of his work ; or the clenches may be raised, and endanger 
the wounding of his legs; or the shoe may begin to press upon the 
sole or the heel, and bruises of the sole or corn may be the result ; and, 
the horse having stood so long in the stable, every little increase of heat 
in the foot, or lameness, will be more readily detected, and serious dis- 
ease may often be prevented. 
When the horse comes in at night, and after the harness has been 
taken off and stowed away, the heels should be well brushed out. Hand- 
rubbing will be preferable to washing, especially in the agricultural 
horse, whose hr covered with long hair, can scarcely be dried again. 
It the dirt is sutiered to accumulate in that long hair, the heels will be- 
come sore, and grease will follow ; and if the heels are washed, and 
particularly during the winter, grease will result from the coldness oc- 
casioned by the slow evaporation of the moisture. The feet should be 
stopped — even the feet of the farmer’s horse — if he remains in the; 
stable. Very little clay should be used in the stopping, for it will get 
