The ultimate object of training, seasoning, or conditioning, is to fit the horse for performing his work easily, or at least with as little distress as possible. But it is not enough to give him condition; much must be done to preserve it. The muscles, the lungs, the blood-vessels, the nerves, the blood, every part and every organ connected with motion, undergo a change with almost every change in the treatment of the horse. The racer, it is said, must run upon the day for which he has been trained to run. I can not answer for the truth of this; but most likely it is true, if the horse have previously received all the training he is able to receive. It is very well known that horses which have been trained to extraordinary exertions rapidly lose the power of performing them, unless some means are taken to preserve it.

In the first place, the horse must have constant work. By constant, I do not mean daily work. No horse can race or hunt every day. A certain period of rest must be granted to all. For carriage, cart, and saddle horses, the night's repose is, in general, sufficient to recruit them for next day's labor; but hunters, racers, and many mail and post horses, require a longer interval of repose. They may be out only thrice or twice a week, and some of them not oftener than once or twice a fortnight. Still the work is constant. The time they rest is not, or ought not to be, more than sufficient for restoring such vigor as the work demands.