SUMMERING HUNTERS 53 



two or three weeks he was turned out for a 

 few hours in the middle of the day and some 

 mild night he was left out to take his chance. 

 Generally however there was a hovel in which 

 he could shelter if the weather was rough. 



He was brought up from grass in the begin- 

 ning of August — generally about the twelfth, 

 and a curious looking object he frequently was, 

 all belly. The reduction of this encumbrance 

 was at once set about ; after the horse had been 

 in the stable about a week or perhaps a shorter 

 time, he was ' prepared ' for physic and given 

 a pretty stiff dose of aloes. If a horse had a 

 tendency to ' get his back up ' after a pro- 

 longed rest I have known nervous grooms take 

 advantage of the sickness caused by the physic, 

 to mount him. 



Regular exercise now commenced. Two 

 hours' walking a day was the minimum and this 

 was continued for three weeks. Then a slow 

 trot of a couple of miles or sometimes more was 

 introduced into the work and by the middle of 

 September a second and lighter dose of physic 

 was given. After that had worked off, it was 

 the custom to give a sharp canter twice a week 

 and then an occasional sweating gallop was 

 given. The horse was heavily sheeted and given 

 a half -speed gallop of some four miles. Indeed 

 the conditioning of a hunter was pretty much 

 on the same lines as the directions given at an 

 earlier date by Blome, Markham, Fairfax and 

 other writers, for the training of racehorses. 



