will be as little risk of the horse's food being stolen from the
manger, as of the master's from his larder or store-closet. To neglect
a detail of this kind is surely to neglect oneself; since in the hour of
danger, it is certain, the owner has to consign himself, life and limb,
to the safe keeping of his horse.

(1) Lit. "To proceed: when you have bought a horse which you admire
and have brought him home."

(2) i.e. "where he will be brought as frequently as possible under the
master's eye." Cf. "Econ." xii. 20.

Nor is it only to avoid the risk of food being stolen that a secure
horse-box is desirable, but for the further reason that if the horse
takes to scattering his food, the action is at once detected; and any
one who observes that happening may take it as a sign and symptom
either of too much blood, (3) which calls for veterinary aid, or of
over-fatigue, for which rest is the cure, or else that an attack of
indigestion (4) or some other malady is coming on. And just as with
human beings, so with the horse, all diseases are more curable at their
commencement (5) than after they have become chronic, or been wrongly
treated. (6)

(3) "A plethoric condition of the blood."

(4) {krithiasis}. Lit. "barley surfeit"; "une fourbure." See Aristot.
"H. A." viii. 24. 4.

(5) i.e. "in the early acute stages."

(6) Al. "and the mischief has spread."

But if food and exercise with a view to strengthening the horse's body
are matters of prime consideration, no less important is it to pay
attention to the feet. A stable with a damp and smooth floor will spoil
the best hoof which nature can give. (7) To prevent the floor being
damp, it should be sloped with channels; and to avoid smoothness, paved
with cobble stones sunk side by side in the ground and similar in size
to the horse's hoofs. (8) A stable floor of this sort is calculated
to strengthen the horse's feet by the mere pressure on the part in
standing. In the next place it will be the groom's business to lead out
the horse somewhere to comb and curry him; and after his morning's feed
to unhalter him from the manger, (9) so that he may come to his evening
meal with greater relish. To secure the best type of stable-yard, and
with a view to strengthening the horse's feet, I would suggest to take
and throw down loosely (10) four or five waggon loads of pebbles, each
as large as can be grasped in the hand, and about a pound in weight; the
whole to