THIRSTY HORSES. 417 



No one, veterinary surgeon or layman, is justified 

 in using a twitch that will make the animal subse- 

 quently difficult to handle. If any of my readers 

 wish to know how a twitch can be applied without 

 this drawback, they should consult my husband's 

 book, Illustrated Horse Breaking. Of all horses, a 

 good hunter which passes into the hands of an 

 incompetent master, is most to be pitied. The 

 wretched condition of many hunters is truly pitiable. 

 Their skins, instead of showing the glow of health, 

 present a dried-up, kippered-herring appearance, and 

 some of the poor things have the miserable half- 

 starved look of Berlin cab horses, chiefly because 

 they live as a rule in a constant state of thirst, 

 owing to the objection their grooms have of allowing 

 them a sufficiency of water to drink. Such parched 

 animals will quickly tell their mistress this secret, 

 by loudly neighing, if, when she goes near their 

 boxes or stalls, she takes up and rattles a stable 

 bucket. This thirst torture is abominable cruelty. 



In this country, grooms, as a rule, are given a free 

 hand in the feeding and management of horses, 

 with frequently disastrous results, owing to the 

 consequent system of commissions and tips from 

 horse dealers, corn dealers, saddlers and shoeing smiths. 

 In India and the Colonies, horse-owners usually 

 take a practical interest in the welfare of their equine 

 servants, which are therefore properly fed, and have a 

 plentiful supply of fresh water to drink. Almost all 

 hunting grooms keep horses in loose boxes tied up 



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