Mud- Fever. 



475 



The rider likes to be met in his dressinj-room, before he takes ofif his boots, with a breakfast- 

 cup of good coiisoinme, or of tea, to support him under the exertion of undressing and dressing ; 

 and so, too, the good horse should have something to cheer him before undergoing the salutary 

 " shampooing," which is the true word for first-class grooming. 



It has been assumed throughout in these instructions to the young fox-hunter that cither 

 his horses, being thoroughbred, carry a fine coat through the winter in spite of living in a 

 healthy, cool stable, or that they have been duly clipped or singed, a practice once as much 

 disputed as that of summering hunters in stables instead of in grass land, and now just as 

 completely settled in favour of the artificial system. The man who insists on riding a hunter 

 in a long rough coat should confine himself to a maximum pace of eight miles an hour. The 

 man who keeps his stables hot in order that his hunters' coats may shine is only to be 

 compared to the Chinaman who burned down his house to roast a pig. 



MUD-FEVER. 



Mud-fever is an irritation of the legs and belly, which often breaks out in wet seasons 

 so acutely as to stop horses in their work ; it has usually been supposed to be caused by want 

 of care in washing and drying the hunter's legs after returning home ; but balance of evidence 

 is against washing. 



"Some years ago," wrote Mr. Oliver to TIte Field, in 1S74, "I asked an acquaintance, a very 

 hard rider with stag-hounds, how he managed with his horses, as he often left off long distances 

 from home, would make for the nearest railway station, give his horse a feed, put him into 

 a train without clothing, seldom reaching home before ten or eleven o'clock. Did not his 

 horses get cold or mud-fever .'' ' No,' he said ; ' mine never do, because I won't have a spark 

 of mud touched until next morning ! ' Now, I had been used to insist on my horses being 

 groomed after hunting till they would not ' soil a white glove ; ' but, in spite of all the care 

 taken of them, they were unfortunate, while my acquaintance's horses, more roughly treated, 

 always looked well, and one thing was patent to those who hunted with him — he was bad to beat. 



" I've tried both ways, and now neither in summer nor winter will I allow a horse's 

 legs to be washed or bandaged. My hunters are clipped, legs and all ; as they come in 

 from hunting, so they stay till next morning, not a spark of mud is removed, and they 

 escape mud-fever." 



CLIPPING AND SINGEING. 



Horses change or moult their hair, except the mane and tail, twice a year — in the 

 autumn and in the spring. In the autumn they cast the fine silky glossy coat of summer, 

 and by degrees put on a coarser hair, thick in proportion to the quality of the animal, and 

 the cold he has to endure. Shetland and Highland ponies carry a fleece as thick and as 

 long as Lincoln sheep, while thorough-bred horses in training, which are always under cover, 

 when not at exercise, heavily clothed, and carefully groomed, are generally as sleek in winter 

 as in summer. 



There is no doubt that a great many horses are every winter oppressed by the growth 

 of a natural great coat, which might be reduced materially, in weight and coarseness, by 

 extra care and work on the part of the grooms who have charge of them. But sucli efforts 

 take time. Time is money, and the whole tendency of the nineteenth century has been to 

 save time and money whenever possible by mechanical means. 



