150 THOUGHTS ON HUNTING 



to grass : it cools their bodies, and is of service to them : it may be given 

 either in their water or in their corn : I sometimes give an ounce in each. 



To such of my horses as are thick-winded, and such as carry but little 

 flesh, I give carrots. In many stables they are given at the time of feeding, 

 in the corn : I prefer giving them at any other time ; for it is a food which 

 horses are so fond of, that if by any accident you should omit the carrots, 

 I doubt whether they would eat the corn readily without them. 



I think you are perfectly in the right to mount your people well : 

 there is no good economy in giving them bad horses : they take no care of 

 them, but wear them out as soon as they can, that they may have others. 



The question that you ask me about shoeing, I am unable to answer : 

 yet I am of opinion, that horses should be shod with more or less iron, 

 according as the country wherein they hunt requires ; but in this a good 

 farrier will best direct you. Nothing, certainly, is more necessary to a 

 horse than to be well shod : the shoe should be a proper one, and it should 

 fit his foot. Farriers are but too apt to make the foot fit the shoe. 1 My 

 groom carries a false shoe, which just serves to save a horse's hoof, when 

 he loses a shoe, till it can be put on again. In some countries you see 

 them loaded with saws, hatchets, etc. I am glad that the country in 

 which I hunt does not require them. In the book that I have just quoted, 

 you will find the shoeing of horses treated of very much at large. I beg 

 leave, therefore, if you want further information on that head, to refer 

 you to it. 



Having declared my disapprobation of summer hunting, on account 

 of the horses, I must add, that I am not less an enemy to it on account 

 of the hounds also : they, I think, should have some time allowed them 

 to recover the strains and bruises of many a painful chase ; and their 

 diet, in which the adding to their strength has been, perhaps, too much 

 considered, should now be altered. No more flesh should they now eat ; 

 but in its stead should have their bodies cooled with whey, greens, and 

 thin meat. Without this precaution, the mange most probably would 

 be the immediate consequence of hot weather ; perhaps madness Direful 

 malady ! 



1 I venture to give the following rules on shoeing, in a short and decisive manner, as 

 founded on the strictest anatomical and mechanical principles laid down by the best masters : 

 The shoe should be flat, and not turned up at the heel, or reach beyond that or the -toe. ; 

 but the middle part should extend rather beyond the outward edge of the hoof, that the hoof 

 may not be contracted ; the outward part of which may be pared, to bring it down to an even 

 surface, to fit it for the fixing on of the shoe. If the foot be too long, the toe may be pared, or 

 rasped down ; which, in many cases, may even be necessary to preserve the proper shape of 

 the hoof, and bring the foot to a stroke and bearing the most natural and advantageous. 

 Neither the horny sole, or frog (meant by Nature for the guard of the foot and safety of the 

 horse), are upon any account to be pared, or cut away. The small, loose, ragged parts that 

 at times appear, should be cut off with a pen-knife ; but that destructive instrument called 

 the butteris, which, in the hands of stubborn ignorance, has done more injury to the feet of 

 horses than all the chases of the world, should be banished for ever. 



