TREATMENT AFTER A SEVERE DAY 77 



track. As, however, no man can make good work 

 without good tools, so no servant can do his duty by a 

 stud of hunters without proper materials to go to 

 work with. He must have a good stable, some loose 

 boxes, and a good saddle-room with fire-place : he 

 must have lots of horse-clothes of all descriptions, 

 bandages, hot water, gruel, and the very best old hay 

 and com, good exercising ground, and, above all, 

 plenty of strength in his stable ; for there are two 

 ways of dressing a horse — one to warm him, and the 

 other to starve him. Dressing a horse vigorously 

 removes obstructions in the smaller vessels, promotes 

 the circulation of the blood, and in bad weather, is a 

 substitute for exercise. 



As skill and judgment are necessary in recovering 

 a hunter after a severe day, which I shall treat of 

 presently, so are they wanting to prepare him for it ; 

 and if not prepared he cannot go, for, as old Frampton, 

 Master of the Horse to William the Third, observes, 

 " the best undieted cock is unable to encounter the 

 worst that has been carefully dieted ; and so it is 

 with a hunter ; for a middling horse fit to go will beat 

 a very good one that is not so. 



With regard to a horse coming round after a hard 

 day, even supposing him to be in the hands of the 

 best of grooms, that must in some measure depend 

 on the stuff he is made of ; but, generally speaking, 

 he should come out about the sixth day after the 

 severest run. If his legs have received no injury, he 

 should come out three times in a fortnight, at least 

 during the open weather ; and he will be the better 



