i74 HORSE S. ij. 



V. TREATMENT OF WORKED HORSES. In 

 a DiiVid where the working of oxen has 

 been for many ages the eftablifhed practice, 

 it cannot be expedted that any very accurate 

 management of DRAUGHT-HORSES can have 

 taken place. But in a country which has 

 always been confidered as the fou.rce of good 

 HUNTERS, and the fchool of good horfeman- 

 ihip, it may be reafonably fuppofed that a 

 iuperiority of management prevails. 



This, however, is not, from what I have 

 feen, the cafe. The only ftriking feature of 

 igerrrcnt which has caught my notice is, 

 that of turning hunters and other hard- 

 ridden horfes out into the field in the day- 

 time in winter j cold or warm, and fornetimes 

 wet or dry : a practice which has been cried 

 tip by many great horfemen, and is to be met 

 with in every part of the kingdom ; though 

 nowhere fo prevalently, perhaps, as in this 

 country. 



It has always ftruck me as a bad prac- 

 tice. Neverthelefs, in compliance with the 

 cuftom of the place I was in, I let a mare, 

 which I rode into the country in 1782,- 



run 



