ON THE GENERAL MANAGEMENT OF HORSES. 305 
If the dragoon cannot be spared to take care of bis own horse* 
some steady trustworthy man should be selected from the troop 
for this purpose, and not be changed, except as little as possible, 
all the time the animal remains in the hospital stable. 
VII. Not only every non-commissioned officer, but every dragoon 
should know how to treat a horse whilst he is in physic; yet 
how often do we see the grossest errors committed by both! 
For instance, I have frequently known them throw a feed of corn 
before the animal during the time his physic was in active opera¬ 
tion. No man, surely, can be so ignorant as not to know that 
under such circumstances it must be highly improper to give corn. * 
Horses should always have plenty of water to drink whilst in 
physic, and, if it be brought from a very cold spring, it should 
have the chill taken off, by adding warm to it, or, what is per¬ 
haps better, it may be allowed to stand in the stable some time 
before given. W hen a horse is taken out to exercise in order 
to make his physic operate, his skin should be kept warm: he 
may be covered with a blanket; and when the physic begins to 
operate freely, he should be taken in immediately, and left quiet 
until it sets again. Under these circumstances too much exercise 
would be apt to induce superpurgation, which sometimes termi¬ 
nates in inflammation of the bowels and death. 
VIII. r lhe young horses should not be mixed up with the old 
ones at joining: they should be kept separate, and not so highly fed 
as the rest, at least for some time, until sufficiently seasoned: 
they will frequently be ill, or want physic, and at such times 
they ought to be allowed little or no corn. In their usual feed 
they should have at least one bran mash every day, made very 
sloppy: the evening is perhaps the best time for this feed, they 
ought to be kept in a well ventilated stable, and to have plenty 
of walking exercise : the exercise they generally get in the riding 
school, especially during the period of lunging, is scarcely suf¬ 
ficient to keep them in health. 
IX. Troop horses are liable to get into many bad habits; a 
very common and troublesome one is that of kicking in the sta¬ 
ble against the wall, the post, or the bail, by which they are 
apt to disfigure and lame themselves. Capped hocks and cal¬ 
lous enlargements of the legs are frequent consequences of this 
practice, which may be generally checked or cured if taken at 
the commencement. When allowed, however, to go on un¬ 
heeded for any length of time, it becomes a confirmed vice. 
The non-commissioned officers must therefore be attentive to 
correct this evil at the beginning, and take prompt measures to 
put a stop to it. Whenever they find a horse has been kicking 
during the night, they should have him immediately removed 
