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" In the mash after hunting some add a quart of malt (bruised) to 

 the usual quantity of bran and oats, or put about three double- 

 handfuls of fresh bran into half a pailful of tepid water, stir it with 

 the hand, and let the horse drink off a portion ; then give a double- 

 handful of oats with a sprinkhng of dry bran and a little hay, and 

 bed the horse up, and leave him for an hour or more ; then return, 

 take off the bandages, dress the horse thoroughly well, and rub his 

 legs. Give more tepid water as before, an average feed of corn and 

 hay, and leave him for the night. 



" The above is not only good practice for hunters, but for tired, 

 hard ridden and driven horses of all classes. 



" Next morning give him q, good grooming — lead him out for about 

 ten minutes to take off any stiffness, and if he has a loose box he 

 won't want any further exercise the day after hunting. On the 

 other non-hunting days, two hours' walking exercise is enough, but 

 the day before hunting, one hour's walking exercise, and a steady 

 three-mile canter, is a good thing. 



" If a good-constitutioned horse, and not overweighted, he should 

 (bar accident)* do his three days a fortnight regularly. No physic, 

 unless absolutely necessary, should be given during the hunting 

 season ; and if a frost sets in, three hours a day walking exercise 

 till the ground gets soft, then a steady canter or two, will prevent 

 him losing much of his condition till the arrival of open weather. 



*' The hunting groom should never neglect the custom of carefully 

 examining the legs and feet of the horses when they have returned 

 home and been dressed, for the purpose of detecting any thorns, 

 stubbs, or overreaches by which they may have suffered ; the parts 

 of the limbs most likely to sustain injury by thorns, and their 

 retention in the skin, are the knee, the front of the pastern or fetlock 

 joint of the fore-limb, and likewise the coronet, where strong thorns 

 and stubbs of wood are sometimes found imbedded in a downward 

 direction, under the upper margin of the hoof. When one of these 

 foreign bodies is discovered, means should be used to get hold of it 

 with a pair of forceps, and endeavours should be made to draw it 

 out whole, failing which, a linseed poultice should be applied around 

 the part, which, in the course of two or three days, generally leads 

 to the expulsion of the thorn along with the purulent secretion set 

 up. Warm fomentations, with flannel bandages dipped in the same, 

 then wrung out, and loosely applied to the horse's legs, form the 

 best remedy, and lead soonest to the perfect healing of these small, 

 though not unfrequently troublesome, wounds." 



