NGN SUBITO. 373 



eat considerably more at a meal than they can pro- 

 perly digest for some hours afterwards. But the 

 horse who has eaten the last lot of hay allowed him 

 by six o'clock the evening before hunting is in a 

 very different situation : that (say) six pounds of 

 hay is very shortly digested ; and though a loaded 

 stomach is bad, if there is not sufficient left on it to 

 prevent its craving for food, sickness and debility 

 follow. It is the same with water : absolute thirst 

 should never be allowed ; a mere inclination to drink 

 is another thing ; I always had my hunters watered 

 four times a-day upon this principle ; they were 

 consequently never what could be called absolutely 

 thirsty, and greedy horses were more content 

 to have the quantum reduced each time the day 

 before hunting, than they would have been if 

 watered less frequently. I always with animals acted 

 as nearly as I could on the same principle I would with 

 myself: if for any purpose I wished to diminish the 

 ordinary quantity of liquid I take during the twenty- 

 four hours, a slight diminution at each meal would 

 not inconvenience me ; but if I was told I must not 

 take a single cup of tea or a glass of wine and water 

 or any thing else at supper, still less any liquid at 

 breakfast, I am quite satisfied I should feel any thing 

 but comfortable, or very kind in disposition during 

 the day. My horses should neither get more food 

 nor water from six o' clock on one morning until ten 

 the next than other persons ; but I do not like the 

 aut Ccesar aut nullus system of many grooms. I 

 would diminish the quantity taken as much as them, 

 but begin diminishing the quantum at six on the 

 preceding morning: I should then owe my horse 

 a handful of hay and a few go-downs of water 



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