STABLE ROUTINE, FEEDING & WATERING. 159 



In this way, a good groom can look after three 

 ponies well during the polo season. Plenty of work 

 will keep the men out of mischief, especially if they are 

 by themselves in a livery stable. It is much better 

 to have one man to three ponies, provided he rides 

 well, and to hire a boy every polo day to help to 

 hold the ponies on the ground, than to employ two 

 men to look after three ponies, and thus encourage 

 idleness. Two men will, however, be necessary for 

 four ponies which are regularly played. A groom 

 who is in charge of three ponies can, at exercise, ride 

 one and lead the other two, one on each side, in 

 a field. 



Some ponies do well on 9 lbs. (3^ feeds) of the 

 best old oats a day ; others require more ; but 1 2 lbs. 

 is sufficient for the biggest-framed and hungriest pony. 

 From 10 to 12 lbs. of hay, most of it to be given at 

 night, is a good allowance. We can give the oats 

 mixed with a couple of double handfuls of chaff (hay 

 cut up short in a chaff cutter). 



If oats have an undue tendency to make a pony's 

 dung loose, we may with advantage bruise the oats, 

 and before giving them, allow the pony some hay to 

 eat. The precaution of giving hay before feeding, 

 giving it at feeding time, mixing it in the form of 

 chaff in the corn, and bruising the oats, are adopted 

 with the object of making the horse eat more slowly 

 and masticate his corn more thoroughly than he 

 would othervv^ise do. We can be certain that a pony 

 bolts his corn, only by the fact that he does not digest 

 it, which we can see if it passes out in the dung with- 

 out having been fully acted upon by the digestive 

 fluids, or if it produces diarrhoea. Dry bran, say a 



