AFTER HUNTING loi 



After all riding a horse home seems the 

 natural way and as with everything else there are 

 two ways of doing this, the right way and the 

 wrong. Some men, immediately the day's sport 

 is over, set off home at a hard trot, and scarcely 

 ever draw rein till they are at their stable door. 

 The result is that their horses are heated, and 

 that it probably takes hours to get them properly 

 dried. And then they wonder that their horses 

 go wrong ! 



Even if hounds have not had a hard day 

 it is wrong to ride a horse hard home from hunt- 

 ing. On a comparatively easy day a horse 

 goes over a great deal of ground — much of it 

 very deep perhaps — he does a good deal of 

 jumping, which is a big strain on his powers 

 and he should never be ridden hard on the 

 homeward journey. 



When the day's sport is over the sportsman 

 should set out at a walk. If there is any stable 

 convenient he should get his horse to stale if 

 he can but if there is not he should take the earhest 

 opportunity of getting him to do so. His 

 horse will find it an immense relief and will 

 carry him home all the better. 



If the day has been a very hard or a very 

 long one then the horse should have the chance 

 of some gruel. Some horses will not drink 

 out of a pail with a bit in their mouths, so it 

 is as well to put the horse into a stable and take 

 the bit out of his mouth at first, for he may if 

 offered the gruel without these precautions, blow 



