310 THE HORSE 



lemperature may vary in the spring from freezing-point at daybreak to 70'' 

 Fahrenheit at midday. 



The corn should be first withheld, and only hay and a few bran mashes 

 given, then a dose of physic, after which one rug may be removed, then the 

 second after an interval of a few days; the temperature of the stable should 

 also be lowered by degrees, leaving a window open first and then a door, 

 while all attempts at grooming should be abandoned to allow of the natural 

 weather-proofing to accumulate on the skin. Two or three weeks should be 

 occupied in this tempering process if the animal has been well clothed and 

 kept in a warm stable, while less time will suffice for others with more natural 

 coat or less artificially cared for. It should be a si7ie qua non of any turn 

 out or pasture, that a hovel should exist which does not open to the east, and 

 while not so low as to risk striking the poll in going in and out, the back 

 part of it should be higher than the front, as afibrding a darker portion 

 more free from flies. The shade of trees may be grateful in other respects, 

 but they afford no protection from flies, certain kinds making them their 

 chosen home, as with those velvet-footed fiends which descend upon their 

 victims in shaded lanes and draw blood almost before the horseman dis- 

 covers the cause of the animal's discomfort. In fly-infected districts one 

 can understand horse-owners being determined, after one or two trials, never 

 to turn out again, since flies will feed upon decomposed material one 

 moment and infest the eyes of horses at another ; but all pastures are nob 

 affected, and in the choice of a run regard should be paid to the object for 

 which it is intended. Sometimes this is for the purpose of removing inflam- 

 mation from the legs and feet, at others it is intended to renovate the 

 general health ; while, again, the most frequent I'eason for pasturing is to 

 save the greater expense incurred in the stable. Different kinds of pasture 

 and seasons of the year are best fitted for each of these intentions, as we 

 shall presently see after examining into the nature of the former. 



Upland pasture may consist of fine dry enclosures out of floods' ways, 

 where clover and other plants, exactly suited to the constitution of the 

 horse, grow in profusion, mixed with the best grasses. In the early 

 summer season these are generally put up for mowing, and it is not until 

 the aftermath makes its appearance that they are available for grazing in 

 many districts, but it is not good management of land to mow it year after 

 year, and in all grass districts there is early keep to be had, though it be 

 shared with stock other than horses. 



With the changed conditions of agriculture — alas that it should be for the 

 worse ! — farmers in the vicinity of towns and with some of the commor-cial 

 aptitude of their inhabitants, lay themselves out to receive hunters and 

 other horses to keep, and find it possible to pay a second rent in the shape 

 of advertisements. These should not be accepted without examination, as 

 many fly-bitten wrecks are brought home in the autumn too poor to be got 

 up again and a disgrace to the establishment. The character both of the 

 place and the man should be taken into consideration before sending one's 

 horses away. Good water, as well as shelter from inclement weather, are 

 essential conditions. Grass keep from May to July is worth double as 

 much as aftermath, and the farmer will reasonably expect a better scale of 

 payment. 



If autumn grass were as good, the turn-out would still be of less value. 



