119 



point. Feeding is a matter of opinion. Three or four feeds of 

 corn a day, with a few beans, and a moderate allowance of hay, is 

 quite sufficient for a horse doing moderate London work. The usual 

 allowance for a horse is : Corn, 1 peck per day, which makes three or 

 four feeds ; hay, 1-|- trusses a week ; straw, 2 trusses a week ; and 

 a warm bran mash twice a week in the place of a feed of com. 

 Grooming is of the greatest consequence ; for, by removing the dirt 

 from the skin, you allow the animal to perspire freely, thus saving 

 the kidneys from unnecessary labour. Good food, pure air, and 

 cleanliness are the great secrets of health. 



MANAGEMENT OF HUNTERS. 



We will first consider the treatment of the horse who has just 

 finished a season's hunting, and is required for gentle hack or draft 

 work through the summer. When his last day's hunting is over 

 prepare him by bran mashes for physic ; put him in a roomy loose 

 box, and give him four or five drachms of aloes, take off his shoes, 

 and give him, when the medicine has acted, two small feeds of com 

 (4lb.), and 81b. of hay a-day ; no exercise. xA.bout the beginning of 

 May, for a fortnight, give him only 41b. of hay, making up the rest 

 with green meat (clover, &c,) 



In the middle of May leave off the green forage, and gradual!}' 

 increase his corn to 101b. and his hay to 121b. by the first week in 

 June, during which time give him gentle walking exercise, gradually 

 increasing from the middle of May to the first week in June to two 

 hours a day, when he will be in a fit condition to do gentle hacking 

 or draft work, which can be gradually increased, and he will be all 

 the better for the six to eight weeks' rest he has had. Whilst 

 in the loose box his feet should be looked to and pared out occasionall3\ 

 and he should have one good grooming a-day. Unless overworked 

 he will derive no harm from being used during the months of July, 

 August, and September. 



On the 1st of October begin to prepare him for the hunting 

 season by (if necessary) giving him four or five doses of aloes, then 

 two to three hours' walking exercise for a week. The second week 

 in October give him one hour's walking, then one hour's gentle 

 trotting, then one hour's walking exercise daily ; by the end of the 

 second week in October his coat will have set ; he may then be 

 singed or cHpped. (Great care should be taken that he should be 

 kept warm, and not subject to sudden chills during the latter part of 

 September and the beginning of October, as his coat is then chang- 

 ing, and it will all depend upon this as to what sort of a winter coat 



