520 The Book of the Horse. 



if he has two sets of harness, one of them with as little metal ornament as possible ; but if 

 the equipage is to be turned out in first-rate style every day, the coachman must have a 

 strapper to assist him. With a strapper three iiorses may be kept in first-rate condition. 



A strong willing boy is often better than a man under a groom or coachman. Some of 

 the best grooms are made out of boys thirteen or fourteen years old, fresh from a parish 

 school, who know nothing about stable business, but are fond of horses and not afraid of 

 them, under the discipline of a really good stableman, glad of an assistant to save his back 

 and joints. An intelligent boy, fond of animals, and accustomed at school from infancy to 

 obey the slightest wish of a master, will learn nearly as much in six months as an uneducated 

 clown in six years. Boys are mischievous certainly, and apt to be idle if not looked after, 

 but they are observant, imitative, zealous, afraid of punishment, fond of praise, easily re- 

 warded, able to bend and twist in all forms without trouble, and less tempted to intemperance 

 and petty pilfering than the ordinary run of full-grown strappers. A boy gets on all the 

 better if he has no bad habits to cure, as he might have if he has commenced his stable 

 education by " fettling " a butcher's or baker's pony. But a groom boy with no master to 

 teach and look after him is not an arrangement to be commended to any one who can afford 

 anything better. 



On the subject of wages, no rate can be stated and no rule laid down, except that a 

 good servant's wages should be raised until he feels that he will not " better " himself by 

 seeking a new place. Always make a present twice a year to a groom who does his duty, 

 quite irrespective of his wages. It is a solid hint that you appreciate his zeal. 



An experienced horseman will recognise a good or bad stableman the moment he takes 

 hold of a horse to dress him. The real groom has a familiar trick in every movement, just 

 as a first-class nurse has when she takes hold of " the very latest thing in babies." The trained 

 groom always begins by pulling and drying the ears of a tired horse. 



A boy cannot strap a horse thoroughly — that wants height and strength — but he can 

 wash one, clean the mane and tail, hand-rub the legs (a most important operation), put on 

 bandages, and clear away the superfluous hairs of the legs, better than a man. 



A man of the middle class commencing to keep horses should prefer grooms from the 

 stables of the masters of subscription packs of fox-hounds to those from the stables of great 

 noblemen where a scale of hereditary lavishness has prevailed ; but this maxim chiefly applies 

 to small stables and ordinary grooms. If a coachman has only to drive, and the wages are 

 no objection, there is no reason why the wife of a latelj'-become-rich mine-owner or contractor 

 should not engage the ex-coachman of a duchess, or the son of a new-rich-man the stud-groom 

 of an aristocratic habitue of Melton, except that he would probably not be able to use any 

 one of his dozen hunters without his stud-groom's permission. 



Poor men's horses are often worn out with too much work and not enough oats and 

 beans, while rich men's horses become diseased from the efi"ects of hot stables, over-clothing, 

 over-feeding, and insufficient and irregular exercise. 



LIVERIES. 



Before a horse-owner decides to put his servants in any more distinctive livery than a 

 great-coat bearing his initials on the buttons, he should make up his mind to the expense of 

 having it changed often enough to appear always fresh. Nothing is more common, and 

 nothing has a more shabby appearance than an ill-fitting, faded, threadbare livery. The ga)-er 

 the colour the more frequently must the clothes be renewed. With ordinary wear and tear. 



