FOOD, PHYSIC, AND EXERCISE ii 



slow pace, say about six miles an hour. Pace and 

 want of food must eventually wear out the stoutest 

 beast that ever looked through a bridle. 



Condition is a very important thing in a hunter, 

 and the muscle that is to carry you through a long 

 run cannot be built up in a day. I am a great 

 advocate for keeping horses in as natural a state 

 as possible, but then we must remember that we 

 ask them to do more than ever would be required 

 of them in their natural wild life. The wild horse 

 in the most favourable country would eventually 

 succumb to one that had been corn fed. What 

 we have to do is to increase the animal's mus- 

 cular development by judicious exercise, with hard 

 corn, and at the same time to keep his digestive 

 apparatus in working order. 



Farmers are, I imagine, the largest class of 

 breeders of hunters or ordinary horses, and with 

 few exceptions they cannot afford to give them 

 corn. The consequence of this is, a young horse 

 straight from their hands hardly knows the taste 

 of oats, and his stomach is therefore not accus- 

 tomed to such strong food. You buy one of these 

 young horses, and your groom begins immediately 

 to stuff him with a full allowance of old oats. The 

 result of this is humour and several other com- 

 plaints, because the digestive organs have not been 

 allowed time to accustom themselves to this new 

 food. Nature is a very obliging servant when 

 treated properly, and is often ready to adapt her- 

 self to altered conditions, but she will not be 



