CONDITIONING.] 



THE HOESE, AND 



[teimmins. 



imder-worked, being full of good meat and 

 heart, the easy remedy is to favour and ride 

 him carefully the first week or two; but 

 should the training groom set you upon him 

 liarassed and weakened by too much exercise, 

 he will get worse as the season advances, and, 

 perhaps, be totally ruined by the end ; ex- 

 clusive of the risk of failing in a long and 

 important day. Old hunters from spring 

 grass, which they ever ought to enjoy, can 

 scarcely be trained too lightly. The true test 

 is, to see that their wind in its course is free 

 nnd unembarrassed. To this point, however, 

 their exercise must at any rate extend. The 

 lighter the horse's clothing the better, in 

 view of the heats and colds he must necessarily 

 undergo in the chase. An early morning's 

 gallop, at a good steady stride, but not speedy, 

 of a mile or two, with a canter after water in 

 the afternoon, is sufficient for the hunter, and 

 two months ought to bring him into good 

 condition. A young horse may have, once a 

 week, a tolerably sharp rally for one or two 

 miles, a method which should never be prac- 

 tised with a seasoned hunter ; to which, indeed, 

 walkino- exercise may be often substituted for 

 the gallop. 



Some think that even the simple process 

 now described is not necessary, and that 

 horses that are taken up and worked in the 

 day, and with a feed or two of corn, and 

 turned out at night, with an open stable or 

 shed to run into if they please, are as active, 

 healthy, and enduring, as those which are 

 most carefully trained, and confined to the 

 stable during the hunting season. Many a 

 farmer has boasted that he could beat the 

 most numerous and the best appointed field, 

 and that his horse never wanted wind, and 

 rarely tired. 



It is true that the farmer may enjoy a good 

 day's sport on the animal that carries him to 

 market, or possibly, occasionally performs more 

 menial drudgery; but the frothy lather with 

 which such a horse is covered, in the early 

 part of the day, unmistakeably evinces his 

 inferiority. There is, however, one point in 

 which the untrained horse has the advantage. 

 Accustomed to all weathers, he rarely suffers, 

 when, after a sharp burst, there comes a sudden 

 check, whilst the pampered and shivering 

 stabled horse is exposed with him for a con- 

 126 



siderable time to a piercing north-easter. The 

 one cares nothing about it ; the other may 

 carry home the seeds of dangerous disease. 



TRIMMING. 

 Many gentlemen attached to their horses, 

 are sometimes fond of trimming them. This 

 operation frequently fills up a leisure hour in 

 the morning, and there is a self-gratification in 

 being able to perform it without the assistance 

 of any one. AYe have known some gentlemen 

 so celebrated for squaring a horse's tail, that 

 they have frequently been invited to perform 

 that operation for many distant friends ; con- 

 sequently it will not be out of place to in- 

 troduce the method of performing this opera- 

 tion in the most gentlemanly and skilful 

 manner. 



Trimming is one of the principal duties in 

 the business of a groom, and every one who 

 has the care of horses, should qualify himselt 

 to perform it, as it is allowed to set off an 

 animal to much advantage. Many horses are 

 exceedingly troublesome to trim, and, in order 

 to accomplish it, require most extraordinary 

 means to be adopted. We have known large 

 sums of money given for trimming such 

 troublesome horses. We are of opinion that 

 the animals become so from the improper 

 methods taken with them at first, by those 

 who had not patience to coax, nor ability to 

 accomplish by compulsion, and therefore em- 

 ployed such means as made the horse des- 

 perate, without being able to effect their pur- 

 pose. Most horses have such a dislike to be 

 trimmed, particularly about the head, that 

 few stand without the twitch ; and if they 

 stand tolerably quiet with that, it is as much 

 as can be expected ; but if, with a little coaxing, 

 it can be done without the twitch, it will be 

 the better. There is great care, skill, and 

 judgment required in trimming: care, that 

 you do no injury, by the unsteadiness of the 

 horse, with your scissors; skill, that you may 

 not disfigure him by scoring, notching, and 

 the like ; and judgment to trim him in such a 

 style as will be most proper and advantageous 

 to his appearance. 



Begin at the head— first, with the foretop, 

 and clip close and smooth only that part on the 

 forehead which is in the way of the front of the 

 bridal and stall-collar. Next clip away that 



