THE SUMMERING OF HUNTERS. 123 



on instead of shoes, to give him plenty of green 

 meat, some hay and oats, and allow his skin to 

 accumulate filth ad lib., and in this plight to pepper 

 at him with blister and firing-iron. This treatment, 

 like turning him out to grass, as aforesaid, is also 

 far from wise. We shall find good points in both 

 these extreme forms, and we now propose to single 

 them out and discuss their application. Our plan is 

 a large loose box, a large field, scrupulous clean- 

 liness, green meat, corn and hay, and perhaps some 

 blister, some firing-iron. 



Striking an average, fox hunting ceases in April, 

 and the flies begin to cause annoyance in the latter 

 part of June. I^-om the middle of June to within 

 a month of the commencement of the hunting season, 

 one or other of the following sources of discomfort 

 is present ; we have either heat, dryness, and flies ; 

 or we have cold and wet. In any case a horse which 

 has been used to a stable can find no kind of per- 

 sonal comfort in living constantly in the open air 

 at this season. 



We stated that the fox-hunting season ended 

 about April, and that the flies began to cause annoy- 

 ance in the latter part of June. We also stated that 

 the horse in high condition could be abruptly thrown 

 on a changed diet. Supposing a hunter has to be 

 shelved for the summer, and thrown quite out of 

 condition, there can be no doubt that a run at grass 

 is not only desirable, but can be secured with a 

 minimum amount of inconvenience from about the 



