82 CHAPTER 8. 



usually very fat and soft. They sweat freely, and in consequence are very 

 liable to chills, coughs and colds, if neglected after exercise. Their respi- 

 ratory organs also are unused to any violent exertion, and hence are very 

 subject to disease, if injudiciously excited. The digestive powers of their 

 stomachs are also frequently debilitated and deranged by the constant 

 use of tonics. 



143. Exercise of riding or harness horses. 



For horses in ordinary condition, such as those used for riding or 

 driving, two hours' work in the course of the day, provided that in that 

 time a distance of ten miles is traversed, is a fair quantum. 



When the owner cannot give this amount of work to his horses, he 

 should insist on his servants exercising them in the morning for such a 

 period as will make up this time and distance each day. There is nothing 

 servants dislike so much as properly exercising horses. It takes up, of 

 course, a good deal of their time, and makes no immediate outward show. 

 Far more horses in gentlemen's stables suffer from too little than from 

 too much regular work. 



143a. Exercise in wet weather. 



When the weather forbids exercise, grooming is the best substitute. 

 The Author particularly calls attention to this, because, where there is no 

 external sign of dirt, servants are very apt to neglect cleaning the pores 

 of the skin. 



144. Exercise of hunters. 



Hunters generally get work enough during the season, but are seldom 

 fit to go till it is half over. We propose to consider, first, why they are 

 not fit to go, and, secondly, how they may be got fit by the beginning of 

 the season. 



It will be admitted that hunters are tolerably fit at the end of the 

 season. It has been asserted in these pages, though many for various 

 reasons will question it, that " condition " is cumulative, i. e. goes on and 

 increases with time. 



If " condition " is cumulative, why should not a horse be in better form 

 at the beginning of a season than he was at the end of the previous year 1 

 Are there any insuperable difficulties in the way? Is the expense too 

 great? Are not the wear and tear and liability to accident far greater 

 in horses that are not fit to go than in those which are thoroughly fit? 

 Is it not a fact, that when a hunter has got thoroughly well seasoned, 

 neither weak nor over fresh,- he seldom comes to grief ? 



It is alleged, however, that there are insuperable difficulties in the way 

 of maintaining hunters in condition through the summer, that legs and 

 feet will not stand continual work, that horses hard wrought in winter 

 require rest in summer, that ground suitable for exercise cannot be found, 

 and, lastly, that keeping horses up through the summer is very expensive. 



We will take these objections seriatim. Whilst we fully admit that 

 the highest development of the powers of nature, such as that required 



