22 THE HORSE : ITS KEEP AND MANAGEMENT. 



their horses which they hunt with from three to four times 

 a week ? Why, the best oats they can buy, and 'but very 

 little else. I think it is not important for me to state in 

 this little work how to feed hunters, because most of those 

 who hunt usually have a reliable man to see after them, who 

 is thoroughly up to his work. 



Though there are plenty who keep horses, and may 

 either feed them themselves or have a man to do it, I do 

 not care who the man is, if he is not fond of horses he is 

 not a good horse-keeper. A person may be fond of 

 horses, and not know how to feed them, but on the other 

 hand, if he is not fond of the animals he will never know 

 how to feed them properly, because he will not take pains 

 enough. Now the London cab horses, which work very 

 hard and make long days, will often eat half-a-bushel of 

 oats in a day, and yet are not big horses, but run from 

 fourteen hands, two inches to fifteen hands, three inches. 

 It is very seldom the poorest cab master allows his horses 

 less than a peck and a half a day. Very often if carriage- 

 horses about that size were to be allowed as much corn 

 there would be no holding them. I consider a peck a day, 

 with good hay, enough to feed a horse say from fourteen to 

 fifteen and a half hands, that is of course one which only 

 does just medium work. Should a carriage horse go a long 

 journey and have extra work to do, by all means give it 

 extra corn, as much as it will eat. 



Those who drive can soon tell whether the horse is 

 having too much corn in proportion to the amount of work 

 it is doing. If it is, the legs will soon begin to swell, and 



