244 RIDING FOR LADIES. 



the same time, the very smallest necessity for administering 

 warm food at all periods when nourishment is given ; on the 

 contrary, a change of diet will be found very beneficial, and 

 summer feeding ought to differ from that of winter, both in 

 quantity and temperature. In saying this, however, I do 

 not for a moment mean to convey that hunters, even when 

 not in use, should ever be allowed to drop out of condition. 

 I don't believe they should, unless completely invalided and 

 not likely to be able to do any work during the ensuing 

 season. I think they ought to be fed with a proportion of 

 oats, though somewhat less than in winter time, and be 

 kept in regular exercise every day. I have already said 

 that I approve of driving hunters in harness during the 

 off season, and having seen it tested, I can speak for the 

 efficacy of it. 



I have often been asked whether a horse ought to be 

 given the same quantity of boiled food as of unboiled ; in 

 other words, if the process of cooking occasions the food 

 to swell to twice its natural size, and so to fill, say, two 

 measures in place of one, ought the two measures to be 

 given to the horse 1 My answer is, certainly, if the animal is 

 a voracious feeder, and is able to make a complete clearance 

 of all that is in his manger, even after getting the two 

 measures, — but I do not believe that one horse out of a 

 hundred will be capable of doing so, or will show the least 

 inclination to make use of so large a bulk of food. My 

 experience has been, that about three-fourths of the quan^ 

 tity of cooked food is all that a horse will or can possibly 

 eat, and even this amount is unusual — a trifle more than 



