56 THE HORSE BOOK. 



groom him at least once a day, and give him not 

 less than eight miles on the road, rain or shine, 

 every week-day. The feeding should be done the 

 same as when the horse is worked, but, of 

 course, so much grain will not be necessary. 

 This idea of deliberately letting a horse get 

 down skin-poor, so that he may be ^' built up 

 again," is all bosh. Better keep him in good 

 shape, round and pleasant to look at, though 

 not loaded with tallow, at all times. When you 

 find a stallion let down thin in cold weather you 

 will generally hear his owner making excuses 

 for the lack of flesh and the dirty coat. It is a 

 cardinal principal in business never to make an 

 excuse or to get into a place where one has to 

 be made. The man who keeps his stallion in 

 poverty all winter may have won out at it, but 

 if he has it is in spite of, not because of, his 

 practices. 



When it comes to beginning the season with a 

 stallion that has been worked it is a very sim- 

 ple matter to hitch him up and start him on his 

 rounds, if he is to travel. In good hard flesh he 

 can make a long distance each day and feel all 

 the better for it. A stallion that has been 

 worked all winter should have no trouble in 

 making as much as twelve miles a day or even 

 more if it is necessary. With a stallion not ac- 

 customed to the harness, eight will be enough. 

 If the stopping places to be made do not neces- 



