2i8 RIDING FOR LADIES. 



winter ; in fact, whether the animal is doing work or not. 

 A good substantial feed at 7 A.M., and another twelve 

 hours later, with one of hay only (but plenty of it, and of 

 the best) at noon, is all the food that need be given. 

 Horses fed thus do not, on even very long days, miss any- 

 thing except their midday repast, whereas, if accustomed 

 to a solid feed of corn in the middle of the day, the vacuum 

 created by the want of it must certainly tell upon the 

 animals, and render them in a great degree unfitted for 

 ftheir tasks. 



Let your horse, then, be fed as I have directed, and you 

 will (confidently speaking) find him quite able and ready 

 •for the long days which are so trying to horses that are 

 not in condition, as well as to many that are. 



Look to his shoeing a day or two before you want to 

 use him, and when I say " look," I mean for you to do it 

 yourself, and not merely inquire of the servant whether it 

 has been done, unless, indeed, he is one of those treasures 

 who are as rarely to be met with as the proverbial four- 

 leaved shamrock, or the horse that is a day over six years 

 old. Grooms will not, as a rule, trouble themselves much 

 about the shoeing department, except at the most incon- 

 venient times ; when they don't want you to go out, for 

 instance, it is quite surprising how quickly they contrive to 

 discover that the horse must go to the forge. I know all 

 their little tricks perfectly well, and the length of time, too, 

 that they generally find it necessary to be absent when that 

 forge business is declared to be a necessity that cannot be 

 done without ; therefore, it will be well to look to it akvays 



