46 NOTES FOR HUNTING-MEN 



pull up at public-houses, within a five-mile radius 

 of your house, you will be pretty safe in getting rid 

 of your head man. 



Directly the horses return from exercise they 

 should be groomed. One out of each pair of horses 

 will generally have to wait his turn. He should 

 be bandaged and rugged up loosely until the groom 

 is able to attend to him. Should the animals come 

 in with legs wet, all the horses should be bandaged 

 up immediately. Their bodies can then be dried, 

 and the bandages removed, by which time the legs 

 will be nearly dry. 



Each horse in my stable has two sets of band- 

 ages, the rough or drying bandages being white, 

 whilst the others are blue. I can then see at once 

 that the former are only used for their proper 

 purpose, viz. : to save time in drying the legs, and 

 not left on permanently, as lazy stablemen are apt 

 to do, to save the trouble of drying the legs properly. 



The evening stable hour is a most important 

 one, and should be mainly devoted to wisping. 

 Using a wisp properly is somewhat of an 

 art, which is seen to perfection in the best 

 of our racing stables. Its object is not primarily 

 to make the horse's coat look well - though it has 

 this effect — but to brace his muscles up and give 

 them tone ; much in the same w^ay as shampooing 

 and massage act on the human athlete. A hunter 



