NECESSARY QUALIFICATIONS OF GROOM 97 



the hunter of the present day ; and the trifling shade 

 of difference between them exists only in reference to 

 the work each has to perform. Here, however, the 

 difference is much less than it was formerly, and may 

 now be said rather to apply to the sort of horse we 

 have to deal with than to the business he is put to. 

 Strong and severe work is as necessary to the one as 

 to the other ; and to get a horse of a naturally hard 

 constitution quite fit to go to hounds, in some countries, 

 requires that he should be nearly as much in training 

 as if he were going to run a four-mile heat at King's 

 Plate weights. The whole system of hunting is so 

 revolutionised that the preparation which a horse 

 now requires is very different to what it was in former 

 times. The hour of meeting is seldom before eleven ; 

 the find generally quick and certain ; and horses are 

 often not more than five or six hours from their stables 

 after the best day's sport ; and the ground they go 

 over is frequently not so much as a plating race-horse 

 performs in contending three or four-mile heats. 

 Having said this, I see no reason to doubt the pro- 

 priety of feeding, sweating, and muzzhng the hunter 

 much in the same manner as the race-horse, only 

 making due and proper allowance for the relative 

 nature of their work, particularly as to not stripping 

 the hunter too much of his flesh, or losing sight of 

 the natural difference between the thorough-bred 

 horse and the cock-tail. 



It is my firm conviction that no less than nine 

 hunters out of ten that appear by the covert side — 

 taking into account the present speed of hounds — 



