HUNTING FROM LONDON 227 



on the vet. seeing her, he proclaimed the beast to be 

 suffering from enlargement of the heart, persuaded me 

 to allow her to be moved to his stable, where she was 

 cupped and physicked. She was then reported as unfit 

 for ever hunting again; and I was recommended to 

 part with her. That very night I had a communica- 

 tion from a customer of the vet's ; and the next morning 

 a bargain was struck between us; he taking the mare, 

 sick as she then was, having first contracted with the 

 doctor to get her well for a stated sum. 



" My misfortunes did not end here. My new horse 

 was reported to me as refusing his food; and, as my 

 groom now announced, 'He's no use to us;' and so here 

 again I was forced to change. It, however, happened 

 that a friend wanted an animal, admired mine, heard 

 my story of his non-feeding propensity, asked my 

 price, and took him off my hands. 



"Three days after I met my friend; asked, of course, 

 how the horse fed. ' Why,' said he, ' I particularly 

 noticed him. The first day he came to me he ate five 

 feeds, and looked round for more. I rode him forty 

 miles this morning; and the last mile he was as fresh 

 as the first. I never possessed an animal of such en- 

 durance,' &c. &c. This was quite enough. I now for 

 the first time questioned the honesty of my groom. He 

 excused himself by hinting the horse might have been 

 ill from change of stable or water, or something else 

 that an artful man has ready on similar emergencies. 



" A second year I trusted him in the country, but 

 within three weeks he returned home, three or four 

 horses being knocked up. I now, therefore, attributed 

 all my misfortune to bad stable-management. I now 

 found it necessary to pay myself some attention to this, 

 and gained on every occasion all the information I 

 could. My groom and I soon parted. I only pos- 

 sessed one mare when he left : her I sent at once to 

 livery hunting stables. When she arrived there, in 

 spite of all the condition-balls that had been forced 

 down her throat, she was not fit to go. She, however, 

 daily improved and carried me one day a week to stag- 

 hounds through that season, and finished quite fresh 

 enough to hack through the summer. I engaged a 

 young man as groom, who only professed to strap to a 

 horse and turn him out clean. I ordered every thing 

 in the stable, and discarded physic and messing of all 

 kinds. 



