34 THE CONDITION OF HUNTERS 



round, full, and " knocked about," as we are apt to 

 say, by a season's hard work — fuU of bangs, blows, 

 and contusions of all descriptions, I have turned one 

 of them out to grass, after being properly physicked, 

 and I have kept the other in a loose house, also well 

 cleansed by physic. At the end of two months I 

 have found the legs of the horse in the loose house 

 perfectly fine, and reduced to their natural size ; and 

 I have found those of the other, which was at grass, 

 as round, or nearly so, as when he first went out. Let 

 us give ourselves time to inquire into this matter, 

 and we shall no longer wonder at the result of the 

 experiment. If we injure one of our own limbs by a 

 strain, a blow, or any other cause, do we continue to 

 use it, or do we give it rest ? Does a horse in training 

 injure one of his legs by a blow or a strain — which from 

 the nature of his work he is so liable to — does he go on 

 with his work, even if not lame, or is he " indulged," 

 as they call it in the stables, with two or three days' 

 walking exercise, which they term rest ? All this 

 applies to the hunter. To say nothing of his gallop- 

 ing over the hard ground — perhaps leaping — I think 

 I may venture to assert that, at the most moderate 

 calculation, he travels on an average at the rate of 

 half a mile in the hour, or twelve miles in the course 

 of the day and night. At this pace, if he is at grass 

 for three months, he travels one thousand miles. 

 Some horses, I have no doubt, exceed this distance ; 

 but the thousand miles, or say five hundred if you like, 

 must be a bad recipe for limbs which have been in- 

 jured by hard work and strains, and whose sinews 



