84 THE CONDITION OF HUNTERS 



a liberal allowance of it, with his usual oats if he will 

 eat them, but no beans. If his appetite fails him, 

 and does not return before shutting-up time that 

 evening, he should have half a cordial and half a 

 diuretic ^ ball mixed together ; which, with a liberal 

 allowance of tepid water, and an hour and a half 

 walking exercise on the third day, will so far recover 

 him as to enable him to return to his former high feed 

 on the fourth ; on the fifth or sixth have a sweat ; 

 and on the seventh be fit for business again (as far, 

 at least, as his constitution is concerned) after the 

 hardest day, and will carry his rider with more ease to 

 himself than if he had not gone through it. 



When a horse is in all other respects right, and in 

 prime condition, it is one of the most provoking cir- 

 cumstances attending a stable of hunters to find him 

 with a had over-reach, which will prevent his hunting 

 for a fortnight, or perhaps more. This injury has 

 been generally supposed to have been inflicted by 

 the toe of the shoe ; to obviate which blacksmiths most 

 commonly square it, when they shoe a hunter, leaving 

 a small portion of the hoof projecting over it. Ten 

 years ago (from 1823), a good judge of these matters 

 informed me that over-reaching was not done by the 

 toe, but by the inner edge of the inside of the shoe ; and 

 taking me into a blacksmith's shop, he convinced me 

 of it by passing my finger along this edge of a new shoe, 

 which I found was almost as sharp as a knife. It is 

 in the act, it appears, of drawing back the hind leg, 



^ Cordial and diuretic balls should always be obtained from a 

 veterinary surgeon, and not from non-professional sources. 



