86 CHAPTER 8. 



for their huntsmen ; and it is quite certain that gentlemen's horses during 

 the day do not generally do more work than the huntsman's. 



152. Kind of exercise most suitable for hunters in summer. 



The system of throwing hunters out of work in summer is, for reasons 

 given above, we believe, little more than a prejudice founded on ignor- 

 ance, custom, and supposed economy. When the hunting season is over, 

 the kind of exercise best suited to the particular animal should be 

 adopted. 



Saddle work may suit some, harness may be better adapted to others, 

 whilst a few may require to be led. We only urge that horses should 

 get sufficient exercise of some sort; but we believe that on the whole 

 light harness work answers the best. 



153. Objections made to harness work. 



Many owners object to saddle horses being put into harness because it 

 is apt, they think, to make them go heavy in hand. Heavy harness work 

 no doubt has this tendency, because horses in drawing large loads lean on 

 the collar in order to assist the draft by their weight ; but light harness 

 work is not open to this objection. Nothing, for instance, can be more 

 suitable for hunters in summer than a pair-horse brougham, provided the 

 coachman has " hands." Coachmen, however, very generally have heavy 

 " hands," and the complaint of the ill effect of harness work will more 

 often be found to be due to this cause than to any inherent effect of draft. 



154. Hunters in autumn to be occasionally exercised in deep ground. 



While it is obviously desirable, as a general rule, to select sound ground 

 for exercise, whilst it would probably be injudicious to gallop a horse in 

 a deep ploughed field, yet some exercise in deep ground at a smart trot 

 with or without clothing, according to circumstances, should not be 

 neglected in the preparation of the hunter in autumn. It is as neces- 

 sary to accustom a horse to the ground in which he will have to go, as it 

 is to accustom him to the pace required of him. 



155. Hard condition to be antecedent to fast work. 



Before quitting this portion of his subject, the Author desires to repeat 

 that horses cannot be galloped into condition. If a horse is weak, fast or 

 severe work will only make him weaker ; if he has a big belly, fast work 

 will produce disease ; if he is soft, fast work will make him run up light. 

 Hard condition must be antecedent to galloping ; and if the condition is 

 really hard, very little galloping is necessary to put the horse in wind. 



156. Of " two hours " so-called exercise. 



It has been stated above, that two hours' exercise during the day, pro- 

 vided that in that time a distance of ten miles is traversed, is sufficient 



