thp: life of a sportsman 



you are not goin<; to expend hay and corn on liorses when they 

 do no work ! The expense of hunters is quite enough in the 

 winter months ; but surely, sir— — ' 



' Leave those matters to me,' said Frank Raby ; ' if the S(|uire 

 lias no very good old oats, purchase twenty quarters of the best 

 for me, the next market day, and let the hovels and paddocks 

 be run up without delay, as my horses will be ready to be put 

 into them by the first w^eek in May. But I have forgotten one 

 thing ; I understand you will have both lucern and wanter tares 

 ready by that time ; and you must order a cart-load of them to 

 be brought to the hunters, whenever my groom tliinks it proper 

 to give them.' 



' The lucern and the tares will be very young at the time 

 you specify,' resumed the steward. 'It will be a sore waste to 

 cut them,' 



' The younger the better,' answered our young sportsman ; 

 ' there is no purpose to which you can put them, that wall pay 

 half as well as that for wdiich they are required by me. But do 

 not alarm yourself, Robson ; I shall not want many of them, 

 having been informed by the best groom of the present day 

 that much green food of any sort is injurious to the condition 

 of hunters ; and on their condition does half of their excellence 

 depend. Indeed, the longer I live, the more I am convinced of 

 the truth of Mr. Warde's maxim, that " the goodness and shape 

 of horses go in at their mouths." ' 



The faithful steward having satisfied himself that the 

 sanction of his master had been obtained for this outlay of 

 capital, assured ' Mr. Francis ' that his orders should be 

 immediately executed, and with as much economy as possible, 

 observing, at the same time, that, although he had never 

 given the subject a moment's consideration before, yet he was 

 inclined to be of his opinion as to the condition of the horses, 

 which no doubt would be very much affected by the sudden 

 change of keep. 



' Besides,' added he, ' your horses, sir, will be wy/'<? in the 

 paddocks. Since I have lived with the Squire, we have had 

 three good hunters spoiled — two by being kicked by others, 

 and one gored by an ox. I have heard Dick the huntsman say 

 that he never rode but one hunter that he could not find the 

 bottom of, in the course of the season, and that was a roan 

 horse, called Marplot, which was obliged to be kept at house 



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