124 THE SUMMERING OF HUNTERS. 



first week in May to the second week in June. The 

 grass is sweet during this time, and the weather 

 such as to be enjoyed by one who has been confined 

 in a stable through the winter months. All repairs 

 of parts where blistering and firing are needed 

 should take place during this time, because the flies 

 offer a great objection to these operations when 

 they begin to tease, as they invariably find a " raw" 

 place about an animal if there be one. At the end 

 of the hunting season the owner of a well-ordered 

 stud calls in the most experienced veterinary sur- 

 geon he knows. In these days of railway travelling 

 distance goes for little. A careful examination of 

 a hunting stud after a hard season by an experienced 

 veterinary surgeon is simply priceless to the hunt- 

 ing-man. At this time the horses are carefully 

 gone over, and notes made of their requirements. 

 It may be that some serious patching has had to be 

 done during the winter to keep the horses going. 

 Now has come the time for the patches to be 

 mended or the horse cast aside. The parts which 

 have to receive attention at skilled hands are those 

 parts — the limbs — which have been put to the most 

 exertion throughout the season, and if we circum- 

 scribe this area further we shall find that it is the 

 greasing or lubricating apparatus and the bones 

 which have to receive curative attention. The 

 bones have, perhaps, given trouble in the form 

 of exostoses, each exostosis receiving a name 

 according to its situation — " spavin " on the hock ; 



