THE EYE. OF THE MASTER 87 



to improve, who may have been in a farm 

 stable. It is no use in any case to have a 

 man who does not Hke horses, or who is 

 afraid of them. Beyond that, and reasonable 

 honesty and willingness to do what he is told, 

 my own requirements would not go. It may 

 be suggested that I am expecting great pati- 

 ence on the part of the master, but that 

 is one of the first necessaries to a poor man. 

 All that I can say is that I have twice had 

 men who had never seen a hunter in the 

 stable till they came to me, and that my 

 horses were never better looked after, perhaps 

 seldom so well. 



The first thing for the master to do is to 

 overlook everything that is done, at first re- 

 gularly, and then from time to time at irregular 

 intervals. One of the great points of stable 

 management is regularity in hours of feeding 

 and grooming. I do not say of watering, as 

 I am strongly in favour of keeping water 

 always in the stalls. This is not as a rule 

 approved of by grooms, and one of the best 

 I ever had, would always put down a slight 

 cough in one of the horses to " swilling all 

 that there cold water." I always make a point 

 of being present at the grooming once a day, 

 so very much depends on a horse's skin being- 

 kept in healthy condition. Besides, all boys, 



