226 MODERN FARRlEll. 



There is a general practice among the grooms, in 

 many places, of giving their hunters wheat-straw as 

 soon as they take them up from grass. They say 

 they do this to take up their bellies ; but there 

 seems much reason to disapprove of this. The 

 change is very violent, and the nature of the straw 

 so heating and drying, that there seems great reason 

 to fear that the astringent nature of it would be 

 prejudicial, more than is at first perceived. It is 

 always found that the dung is hard after this food, 

 and is voided with pain and difficulty, which is in 

 general very wrong for this sort of horse. It is 

 better therefore to avoid tliis straw-feeding, and to 

 depend upon moderate airing, warm clothing, and 

 good old hay and old corn, than to have recourse to 

 any thing of this kind. 



When the horse has evacuated all his grass, and 

 has been properly shod, and the shoes have had 

 time to settle to his feet, he may be ridden abroad, 

 and treated in this manner : the groom ought to 

 visit him early in the morning, at five o'clock in the 

 long days, and at six in the short ones ; he must 

 then clean out the stable, and feel the horse's neck, 

 flank, and belly, to find the state of his health. If 

 the fiank feels soft and flabby, there is a necessity of 

 good diet to harden it, otherwise any great exercise 

 will occasion swellings and goutiness in the heels. 

 After this examination, a handful or two of good 

 old oats, well sifted, should be given him ; this will 

 make him have more inclination to water, and will 

 also make the water sit better on his stomach than 

 if he drank fasting. After this he is to be tied up 

 and dressed. If in the doing of this he opens his 

 mouth, as if he would bite, or attempts to kick at 

 the person, it is a proof that the teeth of the curry- 

 comb are too sharp, and must be filed blunter. If 

 after tliis lie continues the same tricks, it is through 

 wantonness, and he should be corrected for it.— r- 

 Then he is to be rubbed down with the brush, and 



