40 



THE xMODERN SYSTEM 



greatly contribute to recover his lost ap- 

 petite. 



Though I term this walking exercise, 1 do 

 not mean you are not to exceed a walk the 

 whole time you are out ; that, perhaps, if the 

 weather was very thin and cold, might in- 

 crease the stiffness ; but I call that walking 

 exercise, which puts the blood in free circula- 

 tion, without overheating it ; you may, there- 

 fore, give the Horse a gentle gallop for a short 

 distance, but not to cause him to break out in 

 a sweat, particularly after giving water : gallop 

 by way of warming it. Choose the airiest 

 place for exercise, such as open downs, or 

 high and dry grounds ; and at your return to 

 stable, your Horses, if they were not very sick 

 indeed, will find their appetite. 



Horses tha. tecome weary and sicken at a 

 day's hunt, whicM may be the case with good 

 Horses at the commencement of the season, 

 or young Horses, till they get properly sea- 

 soned to their work, will require some days to 

 recover, before they are fit to hunt again. A 

 week's respite may be necessary with some; 

 others will recover in half the time. The 

 sooner the Horse comes to his appetite, the 

 sooner he will be fit for labour, provided you 

 have not been nursing him with warm mashes 

 and comfortable drinks as they are termed, 

 which has a tendency to relax and open the 

 body, and should only be given when the 

 Horse is in reality ill ; but loss of appetite 

 from over-fatigue only requires rest to recover 

 it ; therefore, avoid all the stable nostrums, 

 which we are sorry too many of them abound 

 vv^ith. 



With regard to heat, or inflammation from 

 the saddle or girths, washing the parts with 

 gonlard, is equal, or I may say, the best thing 

 you can use ; and to the legs, if hot and 



swollen with fatigue, is the best repellent and 

 cooler, and should be always kept ready at 

 hand for such occasions. To prepare it, get a 

 quart bottle, and take 



Extract of lead - - 4 drams. 

 Water sufficient to fill the bottle. 



The stable should never be without this lotion ; 

 it is cheap, efficacious, and ought always to 

 be at hand. 



Washing the legs which may have received 

 scratches, &c. in hunting with the goulard 

 lotion, will heal them quicker than any other 

 application. 



The feet are likewise to be attended to at all 

 times ; at the Horse's return home, all road- 

 dirt, or gravel, should be carefully picked out ; 

 and particularly notice that gravel is not lodged 

 under the shoe at the heels and quarters, as 

 by such lodgment of gravel, com may be pro- 

 duced, with all its natural consequences of 

 tenderness and lameness. When you wash 

 the legs with warm water to cool and refresh 

 them, it will also at the same time relieve the 

 feet, which of course must have undergone a 

 considerable quantity of labour; water is be- 

 neficial to the feet ; we find the feet less injured 

 by travelling on wet roads than on dry ones ; 

 and the hoof at grass being continually wet 

 with the dew and moist ground, is in a better 

 state than when kept in the stable ; the casual 

 wet you meet with in exercise on the roads, or 

 the moisture of the turf or grass you exercise 

 on, will contribute to preserve the foot from 

 the injury which continually standing in a hot 

 and dry stable occasions. I have not the 'east 

 doubt that one half of the pleasure Horses kept 

 in London, incur lameness, and are ruined by 

 standing so much in the stable. 



