LETTER XXIV 



I AM now, my friend, about to take leave of you ; and, at the same 

 time that I give repose to you, let me entreat you to show the same 

 favour to your hounds and horses. It is now the breeding season ; a 

 proper time, in my opinion, to leave off hunting ; since it is more likely 

 to be your servants' amusement than yours ; and is always to the pre- 

 judice of two noble animals, which we sportsmen are bound in gratitude 

 to take care of. 



After a long and tiresome winter, surely the horse deserves some 

 repose. Let him, then, enjoy his short-lived liberty ; and, as his feet 

 are the parts which suffer most, turn him out into a soft pasture. Some 

 there are who disapprove of grass, saying, that, when a horse is in good 

 order, the turning him out undoes it all again. It certainly does ; yet, 

 at the same time, I believe that no horse can be fresh in his limbs, or will 

 last you long, without it. Can standing in a hot stable do him any good ? 

 and can hard exercise, particularly in the summer, be of any advan- 

 tage to him ? Is it not soft ground and long rest that will best refresh 

 his limbs, while the night air and morning dews will invigorate his body ? 

 Some never physic their hunters ; only observing, when they first take them 

 up from grass, to work them gently : some turn out theirs all the year. 

 It is not unusual for such as follow the latter method, to physic their horses 

 at grass : they then are taken up, well fed, and properly exercised, to 

 get them into order ; this done, they are turned out for a few hours every 

 day when they are not ridden. The pasture should be dry, and should 

 have but little grass : there they will stretch their limbs, and cool their 

 bodies, and will take as much exercise as is necessary for them. I have 

 remarked, that, thus treated, they catch fewer colds, have the use of their 

 limbs more freely, and are less liable to lameness, than other horses. An- 

 other advantage attends this method, which, in the horses you ride your- 

 self, you will allow to be very material : Your horse, when once he is 

 in order, will require less strong exercise than grooms generally give their 

 horses ; and his mouth, in all probability, will not be the worse for it. 

 The Earl of Pembroke, in his Military Equitation, is, I find, of the 

 same opinion : He tells us, ' it is of the greatest consequence for horses 

 to be kept clean, regularly fed, and as regularly exercised : but whoever 

 chooses to ride in the way of ease and pleasure, without any fatigue on 



