262 THE COMPLETE FOXHUNTER 



way an epidemic of coughing invariably set in, and 

 this would go right through the stable. 



"Coughing," which in horses seems to be very like 

 influenza in human beings, of course varies a great 

 deal in its severity, but with some grooms horses may 

 be coughing badly one day, and will be hunting again 

 in less than three weeks. On the other hand, where 

 there is a groom who coddles, six weeks will elapse 

 before the horse is at work again, and if the cough 

 happens to come in the middle of the season there 

 must be a great deal of inconvenience. 



It stands to reason that a horse which has to face all 

 sorts of severe winter weather, clipped and un- 

 sheeted ; who has to be taken slowly to covert when 

 the thermometer is close to freezing point ; who may 

 be from eight to ten hours in pouring rain ; and who is 

 in the habit of travelling long distances home at a slow 

 pace, when it is cold, dark, and often wet, must be hardy 

 if he has to retain his health. It is on account of what 

 he has to go through that a horse of delicate constitu- 

 tion often fails as a hunter. As long as the sun is on 

 his back, and the work is not too severe, such a horse 

 will get along all right ; but when autumn has given 

 way to winter and the temperature is low, the delicate 

 horse very easily takes cold. 



A horse which is rather delicate in his younger days 

 can often be gradually hardened, and we have known 

 hunters which were always ailing in their first season, 

 and which afterwards became quite normal in this 

 respect. Irish horses are often very hardy in their 

 young days, but many young horses, between the time 

 they leave the breeder and the time they pass into the 

 possession of the hunting man, go through an interreg- 

 num which is spent in a dealer's stable. It goes without 



