GENERAL STABLE MANAGEMENT 51 



In connection with this subject, I should like 



to say a few words as to the advisability of taking 



a horse in to sjruel when out at all late. 



Gruel 



I think (with one's second horse, or if you 

 have been riding one all day) it is both a kindness 

 and advantageous if you have more than ten miles 

 home, to take a horse in, let him stale, have a little 

 gruel, and a mouthful of hay. 



Many men will say to you : ' Oh, no, never go in ; 

 much better to jog a horse home and get him into 

 his own stable.' But I am afraid in many cases 

 they either want to get home, or forget that they 

 themselves have broken their fast, and slaked their 

 thirst, during the day, whilst their horses have not, 

 although Nature means them to do so more fre- 

 quently than we men. Of course, if you are going 

 in to liquor up, smoke and ' coffee-house,' leaving 

 your horse to the tender mercies of a strange groom 

 in a draughty stable, it will do him more harm 

 than if he had gone straight home ; but if you are 

 sportsman enough to see that your horse is 

 properly looked after before you go in and refresh 

 yourself, you will find that he will travel home 

 with you all the fresher, and, if the day has been 

 an exhausting one, come round quicker than if he 

 had had a long jog home on an empty stomach. 



You will find, under ' gruel ' and ' mash, the 

 routine I have carried out on every hunting day. 



E 2 



