STABLE ROUTINE, FEEDING & WATERING. 157 



heard men complain that they could not play their 

 ponies because their animals were too impetuous, 

 which was entirely the fault of the respective owners, 

 who, if they had given their ponies three or four 

 hours' walking exercise in the morning before playing, 

 would have had far pleasanter rides. The fact of 

 many ponies having to go from six to ten miles to the 

 polo ground, has a most beneficial effect on their spirits 

 and temper. I always give my own young ponies 

 from two to four hours' walking and slow trotting 

 exercise every morning up and down a hilly grass 

 field, except on the day after playing, when I allot 

 them only sufficient to remove their stiffness, for which 

 one hour will be quite enough. The good effect on 

 legs and feet of this hour's work will be greatly 

 increased it the exercise can be given early in the 

 morning in a grass field where the herbage is long, 

 and while the dew is still on it. Even a better plan, 

 if practicable, is to have them first walked about up 

 to their knees and hocks in water. 



STABLE ROUTINE, FEEDING, AND WATERING. 



Strict regularity should be observed in the feeding 

 of ponies, and the requirements of each of them 

 should be separately studied ; for what will suit one, 

 may not answer with another. The following- 

 arrangement of hours and diet will be found ap- 

 plicable to the average pony in hard polo work : — 



6 a.m. : The stable should be opened at this hour, 

 and the ponies should get a few go-downs of water, 

 (say, a third of a bucket full) and half a feed of 

 oats (which, if good, will weigh i J^ lbs.), and a little 

 chaff. If a full feed be given, the ponies, as a rule, 



