THE GENERAL TRAINING AND PREPARING OF HORSES 303 



other hand, he is Dot an advocate of a constant supply being always beside 

 the animal in the stable. 



Grooming. A very important point in connection with the preparation 

 of all horses is to secure the services of a thoroughly reliable and com- 

 petent man to attend to the grooming and other details of stable manage- 

 ment, as no one can possibly calculate the number of horses which have 

 failed in their preparation in consequence of the carelessness of those who 

 have them in charge. Proper grooming is, in short, only of secondary 

 importance to food and exercise, and yet many an owner or trainer will 

 trust a valuable animal to the care of an inexperienced lad, or an unsteady 

 man, simply because the wages paid to such people are lower than those 

 demanded by a thoroughly competent groom. 



The Stable accommodation for horses in training should, of course, 

 be warm, yet airy. The admission of a plentiful supply of fresh air is con- 

 sequently a necessity, though, on the other hand, the presence of draughts 

 will assuredly affect the well-being of the horse. In stating that the stable 

 should be warm, it is not implied that the temperature should be un- 

 naturally high, or that any approach to stuffiness should exist. If the 

 ventilation be defective, so that the ingress of fresh and the egress of foul 



7 O O 



air is rendered impossible, the horses are pretty certain to suffer in their 

 respiratory organs, and indeed in their general health and stamina. Avoid 

 overclothing a horse in training; rather treat him as you would yourself, by 

 giving him an extra rug when the night promises to be cold, and relieving 

 him of a superfluity of woollen blankets when the weather is mild. 



System. Above all things, the person entrusted with the responsi- 

 bility of preparing a horse, whether it be for work or show, should en- 

 deavour to act by system. It is his duty to make himself familiar with 

 the peculiarities, constitutional and otherwise, of each individual animal, 

 and to lay down the method of treatment for each. . By adhering to the 

 general regime he has determined upon he will soon discover whether it is 

 adapted to any particular horse, and if it is not, he will be enabled so to 

 modify it as to meet the requirements of the animal. On the other hand, 

 if there is no method in force, the trainer cannot possibly tell in which 

 respect his plans have failed, and the horse goes back in condition for the 

 lack of that inspiration which the trainer vainly looks for in the dark. 



Food. Of course the best English oats and sweetest upland hay should 

 form the staple food of all horses which are undergoing a preparation, the 

 addition of clover, carrots, beans, and the like being regarded more in the 

 light of adjuncts to the diet than as ordinary fare. For soft food many 

 trainers prefer boiled oats to bran, which some ironically refer to as being 

 as beneficial to a horse as saw-dust; and it is better to feed a horse four 



