30 THE CONDITION OF HUNTERS 



oxygenated atmosphere, instead of the pure air ; be 

 clothed, sweated, and cleaned — to say nothing of the 

 work he is called upon to perform. If, then, his nature 

 is, as it were, to be thus changed, how can we expect 

 that it can be done but by slow degrees ? " Use," 

 says the old proverb, " is second nature " ; but the 

 word use implies custom, and custom is not established 

 but by length of time. How, then, can we reasonably 

 expect that a horse turned out to grass for the summer, 

 and taken up, full of bad flesh, the first week in August 

 (which is about the time those who are in the habit of 

 turning out their hunters generally take them up), 

 should be in condition and fit to go to hounds by the 

 end of October or the beginning of November ? As 

 I have before observed, we think ourselves lucky if 

 we can bring a race-horse to the post, fit to run, in 

 eight or twelve months ; but a hunter is to be made 

 fit to follow hounds in as many weeks ! Nature, 

 however, let me repeat, will not be put out of her 

 course by violence, and time alone will admit of the 

 change we wish to produce. Training-grooms are 

 well aware of this ; and those who entrust their horses 

 to them have too often occasion to repent of not having 

 sent them sooner to their stables, to prevent their 

 being hurried with their work and condition. If, then, 

 time is so necessary in the hands of a training-groom 

 with a horse which is sure to have been in a certain 

 degree of work and preparation previous to his 

 arriving under his care, what chance can a hunter 

 have to be in condition in November when he is taken 

 out of a rich pasture in August ? Ask a training- 



