76 NOTES FOR IIUjNTING-MEN' 



If you decide to summer entirely in the stable, 

 give your animal a liberal allowance of green food — 

 fresh-cut grass, lucerne, or vetches, according to the 

 locality and season of the year. This will be a 

 hsalthy change from the stimulating winter diet, and 

 will do away with the need of the dose of physic which 

 most grooms think necessary at the beginning of 

 the ' conditioning.' During these months horses 

 should do well (in addition to the green fodder) 

 with one-and-a-half bushel of oats, and one-and-a- 

 half hundredweight of hay per horse. No hard and 

 fast rule can of course be laid down, but the 

 average requirements ought not to exceed these 

 amounts. 



This most important preparation for the winter 

 Condition- should begin not later than the middle 



"'^ of August. My own orders are as 

 follows : 



August 15.— Give ^^olking exercise one-and-a- 

 half hour, increasing the daily ration of corn to 

 three feeds (10 lbs.), and cutting half of the hay 

 allowed (say 12 lbs.) into chaff. 



Se^jt ember 1. — The exercise can be increased to 

 two-and-a-half hours, with a daily slow trot of two 

 to three miles on the softest ground that can be 

 found, and uphill if possible ; nothing is better for 

 developing a hunter's muscle than slow trotting 

 uphill. The corn should, at the same time, be 



