450 
THE INFLUENCE OF TONICS. 
became rusty, and flesh wasted, but still her eyes denoted im¬ 
provement, and she felt equal to a stone more weight : appetite 
still precarious. 
Early in the autumn, happening to be at Winchester, I men¬ 
tioned her case to Mr. Moulden, V.S. of that place. He con¬ 
firmed Mr. Biggs’ suspicion—that the ducts of her liver were 
clogged, and that that organ did not perform its functions. 
He accordingly administered a preparation of arsenic, combined 
with powerful aromatics, which acted on her constitution like a 
charm. From that time she has stood her work well, and eaten 
as much corn as I should ever wish her to eat. Her eyes look 
bright and full; no hanging down the head as before; she has a 
crest hard and full, and all her muscles are luxuriant ; and I have 
since given her two common, mild doses of purging physic, 
which operated just as I wished. 
Second summer:— the present. Up to this period, I have ridden 
this mare on the road : every one who sees her, admires her; 
and I was offered £100 for her, at Ascot, by a celebrated Leices¬ 
tershire sportsman. I wish, however, to keep her, to prove, still 
further than I have proved, the benefit of the in-door system ; 
and to recommend patience in the management of horse flesh, 
without which, hundreds of good horses are annually thrown 
away. “ The first six years,” said a well-known hard rider in the 
Craven hunt, to me, “ that I rode my old chesnut horse, he was 
never well; the last nine, he was never ill.” He 
pursues the in-door system; and I scarcely think it necessary to 
give my opinion, that, had the mare I am speaking of been 
turned out to grass the two last agreeable summers, she would 
not, at this moment, have been worth £15 in any fair in Eng¬ 
land ; but, in all probability, she would have died. 
It will be recollected, I have been a strong advocate for tonics, 
in my several letters on condition , published in the Sporting Ma¬ 
gazine ; and their effect in restoring the tone of the digestive 
organs, in this instance, cannot be too publicly made known. 
I will only trouble you with one other remark :—About the 
middle of last summer, a certain sporting baronet, well known to 
the veterinary profession at the west end of the town, wished to 
exchange a horse of his own breeding for this mare. I told him 
in my letter, dated July 2, 1829, that I could not recommend her 
as a hunter, for she was not good in diet. Such was decidedly 
the case the first winter; but, last winter, she surprised me greatly 
by the improved style of action she displayed in going over deep 
ground; and, should I live to ride her the forthcoming season 
with hounds, I have every reason to believe, from the change that 
