DURING THE WINTER MONTHS. 97 



opens the stables, and, as the liorscs are not 

 now in training, he orders the boys to give them 

 a small portion of hay, to eat or amuse them- 

 selves with; their heads being let down, and the 

 bales put up, the stables are again shut at five 

 o'clock in the evening, or, as the month ap- 

 proaches towards its end, it may be a little later. 

 The horses are left to rest from this period un- 

 til about eight o'clock, when the groom again 

 opens the stables, and the operation of taking 

 down the bales, chaining up the horses' heads, and 

 setting the beds fair, is repeated. If the groom ob- 

 serves any horse to have lain down, and perhaps, 

 by rolling in his stall, to have displaced his 

 clothing, he is to order such horse to be stripped, 

 to be wiped over, and re-clothed. The hoods 

 being thrown on the quarters of all the horses 

 in the stable, their manes and tails combed 

 out, their legs for a short time rubbed, their 

 beds set fair, their heads let down to reach 

 the manger, and the latter cleaned out, they 

 are all fed, and the bales put up, when the 

 stables are again to be locked. While the horses 

 are feeding, the boys get their suppers; after 

 which they return with the groom to the sta- 

 bles, when the horses have their hay given them 

 and their heads let down, and their quarters 



VOL. II. H 



