THE HUNTER AT HOME. 



The management and conditioning of hunters has, as we 

 all know, made great progress in the last fifty years. It 

 is seldom indeed that we hear of horses dying after a 

 hard day, unless there is some good reason for such mis- 

 fortune beyond the severity of the day; yet, in the 

 recollection of most of us, it was a comparatively common 

 thing to hear of horses dying in the field, and soon after 

 their arrival at home. Horses '^ stop'^ occasionally now, 

 but they do not die, unless there be, as I have just 

 remarked, some cause independent of the gallop for their 

 demise. If a horse has anything wrong with him at 

 starting, a very moderate day's sport may finish him; 

 but when such is the case he has no business at the 

 covert side. 



All stud grooms who are good for anything understand 

 the management of " their" horses, as they call their 

 masters' studs, well enough for any average emergency j 

 indeed, the chances are that they have more knowledge 

 of the treatment of hunters' accidents than the generahty 

 of veterinary surgeons, for the clear and obvious reason 

 that their lives have been passed in contemplation of the 

 mishaps peculiar to one description of horse, whereas the 

 veterinary surgeon, though his general knowledge of 

 horses is undeniable, may have a large practice, with 

 hardly any hunter cases in it. Hence, I suppose it 

 happens that many mishaps peculiar to hunters are all 

 but ignored in veterinary works, which treat of diseases 



