ye THE CONDITION OF HUNTERS 



which the famous Parasol was one, even when quite 

 fit to run. 



Another argument against hot stables is, that horses 

 kept in them are liable to catch cold in bad weather 

 by a covert-side. My answer to this is — that if his 

 rider will not let his horse stand still too long, and will 

 keep on his back, there is no danger of his catching 

 cold. There is considerable warmth in the pressure 

 of a saddle to a horse's back with weight upon it ; 

 and there is that kind of animation in horses with 

 hounds which keeps their blood in circulation. 



Now I think I have said enough on the subject of 

 getting hunters into condition ; and the next thing is 

 to keep them in it ; to make them perform their work 

 to our satisfaction, and to get as much out of them as 

 we can for our money without injuring them ; for 

 in " bringing a hunter round again," as we say, after 

 a severe run, good stable management is put to the 

 test ; and in which some grooms will much excel 

 others, as all gentlemen who have known the pleasure 

 of having a good one and the misery of a bad one 

 can testify. I have no hesitation in saying that one 

 man shall bring a horse out again in four clear days 

 in better form than another shall in six. 



A man may be a good farmer or a good gardener 

 without having read Cato de Re Rustica, or Mago 

 the Carthaginian ; so it is possible that a man who 

 cannot write his name may be a good groom, provided 

 he have been brought up under a good one, and only 

 acts upon what he has seen to be experimentally 

 efficacious, and does not venture out of the beaten 



