The Horse and the Country to Select 



Stabling, forage, and grooming cost the same for 

 any horse. These should be bought at the end of 

 a season if possible. Light weight and all hunters 

 are cheaper then, and they can be conditioned by 

 next cubbing season. As to condition, it takes 

 some weeks to put it on — long, steady, and slow ; 

 walking and trotting daily exercise is needed — 

 say, from the end of July in early mornings, 

 to allow your horse going to the meet in Sep- 

 tember ^^ nearly " fit. The requisite physic should, 

 of course, be administered previously. And all 

 this, so that a ^* good thing" may be enjoyed 

 early in the season. 



The number of horses required varies with 

 the country : a single mount for the provincial 

 hunt to the six or eight in the shires. Here and 

 in the Midlands you can hunt four days a week 

 with six horses, two being required out each 

 day, there being generally a good run in the 

 afternoons. The above number would allow 

 for the casualty list. In the Midlands the 

 hunt servants are allowed two horses per diem ; 

 and an open season free from frosts is not 

 the most expensive in horse-flesh. Size of horses 

 requisite to a hunting-man is computed by his 

 weight and length of leg : thus, a man 5 feet 10 

 inches (weight, say, 12 to 13 stone) requires a 

 15.3 to 16 hands horse. Small horses are best if 

 you can ride them ; they are handier, hardier, and 



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