GG THE NOBLE SCIENCE. 



mended for sound precept, and that it will be well with 

 yourself and your horses if you adhere to the rules they 

 contain. To the publication of these letters are we in- 

 debted for the commencement of a new era, a general 

 revolution, in the treatment of horses. Many were the 

 prejudices to be contended with, before the folly of the 

 old regime was sufficiently manifested. Every one is 

 inclined to be, more or less, 



" Laudator temporis acti, 



Se puero ;" 



and it was some time before the new doctrine of summer- 

 ing a hunter in the stable, in preference to turning him 

 out to grass, was generally accepted and established, but 

 " magna est Veritas et prcevalehit ;" it is now difficult to 

 find any one so bigoted to the ancient usages of his fore- 

 fathers as to consign a valuable hunter to all the torment 

 of heat and flies, — the lamenesses, the grass coughs, and 

 all the catalogue of ills engendered by what was termed 

 the indulgence of a summer's run.- — A run, indeed, well 

 calculated to deprive him of the chance of any run in the 

 winter. — It has been my custom to have them turned 

 out into soft paddocks for two hours about sunrise and 

 sunset, and to keep them through the remainder of the 

 day and night in loose boxes. I have seen very good ac- 

 commodation afforded in large barns, which, by movable 

 partitions of rails or hurdles, may be divided into several 

 compartments, where they may be served with lucern, 

 tares, or sainfoin. An artificial bed of clay may be 



