138 PUTTING INTO CONDITION. 



he is high in spirit, produced by kindness, and 

 regularity of feeding : when he is fresh on his 

 legs, and they are as clean and unblemished as on 

 the day that he was foaled : and when all this 

 has been brought about while he has been kept 

 in an open pendal, so that with one extra head 

 and body covering put over the single blanket, 

 he could go on a march, or be hunted, and sleep 

 in the open mydan, in the cold weather, without 

 showing or feeling the slightest bad effect from 

 it. This is the acme of perfection of condition. 



HOW TO KEEP CONDITION. 



As continual gentle exercise is the surest way 

 to preserve health and prevent disease, so never 

 omit, when unable to ride yourself, to let the gora- 

 walla mount for an hour's walk, both morning 

 and evening, giving some of the grain boiled 

 every other night ; this, when a horse is idle, or 

 only at ordinary riding, being the chief part of the 

 secret in keeping that plump appearance over the 

 quarter : but, if even for upwards of a month he 

 has nothing but w^alking-exercise, reduce the grain, 

 if he is fat, and feed partly on green food ; and 

 be cautious that the change from any soft feeding 

 to dry feeding, and from common exercise to 



