TREATMENT AFTER A HARD RUN i8i 



for such horses is constant hard food,with the occasional 

 use of cordials and tonics. 



To preserve health, a balance must be preserved 

 between the ingesta and the egesta ; consequently 

 another requisite in a groom is, observing a proper 

 medium between repletion and evacuation. I have 

 before observed that the greater part of diseases of 

 horses arise from plethora, and plethora from high 

 keep. Nevertheless without high keep horses cannot 

 do their work with hounds as it ought to be done ; 

 and, generally speaking, hunters do not eat a sufficient 

 quantity of corn, particularly if they are to carry 

 high weights. Road coach-horses, in some stables, 

 set us a good example for feeding ; and I have no 

 hesitation in saying, that in the hands of a good groom, 

 or in the stable of a gentleman who knows what a 

 hunter should be, a horse in open weather, when he 

 can do work, should have what corn he can eat. 



I always accustomed myself to get upon my horses 

 now and then in the progress of their condition (and 

 I strongly recommend the practice to my brother 

 sportsmen), just to enable me to feel them under me ; 

 and I am almost inclined to assert that I can perceive 

 the difference of an extra feed of corn per day in the 

 increased vigorous action of the animal. Reflection, 

 however, must not sleep, and we must proportion work 

 to the diet, so as to keep the circulation alive, and 

 prevent the blood from becoming viscid ; for there 

 is a standard here to be observed which will not admit 

 of variation : and if we overload the system with more 

 than the efforts of nature — assisted even with such 



