48 HORSE PORTRAITURE. 



think all that is claimed to be gained by a course of physic, 

 can be got at safer to the animal and easier to ourselves, 

 than by balling and drenching ; but in the case some 

 aperient or alterative will be required. Your horses are 

 just in the order I would like to have them to commence 

 work, fat, but not overloaded with flesh. They show 

 they have been well wintered, getting their rations of hay, 

 corn and oats as regularly as the hour came for them to 

 have it. The idea of starving or freezing out horses has 

 long been exploded with me, and must have originated in 

 some one who was so confoundedly mean that he grudged 

 the horses the grain that was necessary for them to retain 

 their stamina. My idea of wintering a trotter is to turn 

 him in a large, roomy box, first having prepared him 

 by taking off the clothes he has been wearing, putting 

 lighter ones on, removing them so that he may get a 

 good thick coating of hair that will protect him better 

 than the artificial application of blankets ; his shoes 

 pulled off of course. Adjoining this box let there be a 

 yard well littered with straw, and every day, that is not 

 too stormy, give him the run of the yard for several 

 hours. Have the best of timothy cut when the seed is 

 just forming, or rather when the bloom is entirely off ; 

 well cured, but not exposed to the sun and air till half of 

 its nutritious qualities have been wasted. Have a large 

 manger, in which the horse can turn this hay over, se- 

 lecting the part of it that suits him best ; but if good and 

 properly cured all will be eaten. This manger should 

 take up the whole end of the box, high enough that in 

 rolling there will be no danger of getting in it ; built per- 

 pendicularly, so that if inclined to paw while eating, the 

 knee will not hit it as would be the case were it sloping 

 from him. On one end of this manger set a porcelain lined 

 feed trough, or in lieu of that a common cast iron kettle 

 that will hold two or three pails full. Give him, at regu- 



