Constitution: 205 



I have known a hunter that would perform in the most brilliant manner with staghounds 

 for a burst of twenty-five minutes, galloping in the first flight, and clearing every kind of fence 

 including water and lofty bullfinches in grand style ; at the end of that time she would tumble 

 over a sheep-hurdle, or roll helpless into a ditch without an effort. 



This weakness must not be confounded with the failure of horses fresh from grass, or in 

 dealer's condition ; in both those cases it requires time, slow exercise, and proper food, to get 

 them "fit" for hard or fast work. But where, after a fair day's work in harness or saddle, a 

 horse that is not sickening with any malady will not eat heartily, get rid of him, unless you 

 have a place for him as a fashionable lu.xury. 



There are also horses, especially crib-biters and wind-suckers, which are subject to attacks 

 of colic. This is probably unsoundness, but it may be difficult to prove it. A gentleman of 

 our acquaintance had a capital hunter that was attacked with colic after every hard day with 

 hounds. So regular were the attacks, that the groom was always provided with a colic draught. 

 At length he sold him at the hammer, out of condition. He was bought by a small trades- 

 man fond of hunting, for a small price. Meeting him, or rather recognising the horse one day 

 in the field, I asked how he got on with the colic. " Very well indeed, he has never had but 

 one attack. I feed him myself, am never out more than three hours, and in that time 

 give him two stale rolls I carry for the purpose." He was a sporting baker. 



Another dangerous defect of constitution is a tendency to inflammation of the lungs, or 

 the membranes of the lungs (pneumonia), which often accompanies a narrow chest. Your 

 veterinary adviser should protect you against purchasing a horse with any outward and visible 

 signs of tendency to such maladies, but if a horse of any value is attacked and cured, sell him 

 as soon as possible ; in the case of a low-priced horse with an acute attack, I am convinced 

 that the cheaper plan is to have him killed at once. He will be three months on the sick-list ; 

 the surgeon's bill, night-work included, will be ten or twelve pounds ; and if he comes out a 

 roarer, as he probably will, he will not be worth that sum unless he is big enough and strong 

 enough for a plough or harrow horse. 



" I understand, sir, perfectly ; you want a good hack with a placid temperament." These 



words were addressed in our hearing by George D , the celebrated steeplechaser, and then 



horse-dealer at Kensington, as much noted for his picturesque horse-language as his astounding 

 pluck, to one of his customers famous in days of health as a fine horseman ; a hard man in 

 the hardest riding counties, then reduced by rheumatism and gout to hobbling feebly on foot 

 with the help of a stout cane, or riding in a low park phaeton. 



The phrase, given after George's manner with a most insinuating accent, set me thinking 

 often since how much the comfort of a rider or driver is dependent on his horse's temperament 

 — a temperament suited to his age, his health, spirits, and occupation. The horse in which a 

 lieutenant of light cavalry or a hunting undergraduate would delight would be mounted 

 misery to a Queen's Counsel for his morning exercise, to an invalid taking his first ride after 

 months on a bed of sickness, or to a middle-aged Master hunting his own hounds, however 

 consummate a horseman. And just the same rule will apply to driving-horses. With twenty 

 miles of clear highway before a pair of mail-phaeton horses, you can, if an experienced coach- 

 man, with undamaged nerves, put up with an amount of impetuosity, especially if your carriage 

 is strong and your seat high, that would be absurd and dangerous for a pleasure drive in a 

 crowded city. 



Age, hard work, anxiety, sickness, tell on the finest and the most finished horseman ; the 

 first alone brought, at last, that brilliant cavalry leader, Field-Marshal Lord Combermere, to a 



