4 HORSE AND MAN. 



trotting, cantering, turning, reining back, and moving from 

 one side to the other for a few steps, I begin to take them out- 

 side, and they will then need only a few days to make* them 

 pleasant to ride in the open. In this way, I first of all make 

 them into hacks. During the following two or three months 

 I repeat, in the open air, the work which my horses have 

 learned in the school, so as to make them light and supple in 

 their natural paces. Thus, from September to the end of 

 December, nothing but care and repose ; from January to 

 March, breaking in the school ; from April to June, confirma- 

 tion, outside, of the work learned during the preceding 

 months. In Jul}^ I send my horses for their holiday to 

 grass, leave them loose in the fields, and give them oats. 



In August I resume work in the open, and as the animals 

 have rested and got strong, I begin at the same time high 

 school riding. My horses being handy, light and well 

 balanced, their progress is rapid, and I generally finish their 

 school training towards the end of December, with a limit of 

 two or three months one way or the other, according to the 

 difficulties which I have to overcome and the extent of the 

 instruction. I then give them another holiday of a fortnight 

 and immediately after that I take them out hunting if pos- 

 sible. I do not consider their education complete until I 

 have tested them in all these wa)-s. 



In this manner I obtain an excellent hack for spring and 

 summer, a hard}' hunter for autumn, and a pleasant school 

 horse for winter. 



FEEDING. 



I feed my horses liberally, especially as regards oats, of 

 which I giv^e them lo quarterns a day. This makes them 

 lively, but not more so than I wish. I give them only a small 

 quantity of oats in the morning, so as not to overload their 

 stomachs ; but I allow them all they can eat in the evening, 



