48 
IMPROVEMENT OF AGRICULTURAL HORSES. 
are the frequent consequences, and the animal's usefulness 
in the future is seriously lessened. 
No doubt can exist about the* propriety of keeping the 
horse from work until his growth is perfected, and this will 
not happen until nearly five years of age ;* but there is 
much cogency in the objection to the expense attendant 
upon keeping an animal idle and in every way unproductive 
during this time. Between three and four years we may 
allow that most well-grown colts may be brought gradually 
into active use without much danger, if care be taken to 
prevent any undue exertion at first; although we are doing 
some violence to correct principles in conceding so much. 
The horse once taken upon the farm commences his 
stable life in earnest, and upon the treatment he meets 
with will depend the preservation and improvement of those 
qualities we have endeavoured up to this time to cultivate. 
It will not be necessary to attempt a dissertation upon 
stable buildings and fittings, or upon the general manage¬ 
ment of the occupants. The sins committed in this way are 
not those of ignorance. Every farmer is aware that his 
horses should be housed in well-proportioned, commodious, 
well-ventilated, properly lighted, and efficiently drained sta¬ 
bles; he is also alive to the fact that good quality and 
a proper quantity of food, medium temperature, scru¬ 
pulous cleanliness, and general attention to the animal’s 
comforts are essential to his well-being; the difficulty is 
that he does not realise the amount of injury resulting 
from neglect of these conditions; he knows that the oppo¬ 
site system is injurious, but he has hardly an idea of the 
extent to which the mischief reaches. It does not occur to 
him probably that, if he persists in keeping his horses from 
their youth in a cold, badly-constructed stable, a compensa¬ 
tion in the shape of a thick, rough coat will be a necessary 
result; that accumulation of dirt and moisture about the leg 
will lead to hardness of integument and disturbance in the 
circulatory and secretive functions, predisposing to cracked 
heels and grease. He is possibly unmindful of the fact that 
the want of good grooming leaves the skin with its numerous 
pores obstructed by the accumulation of dirt, and disposes 
to mange and surfeit; that irritating vapours from stagnant 
manure disturb the eyes and nostrils ; that inferior provender 
deranges the digestion; and that disproportionate work 
wears out the animal mechanism with wasteful rapidity. 
* The roundness of back and defective quarters so frequent in the worst 
specimens, are considered, and with reason, to be due in great part to the 
effects of too early use. 
