DURING THE WINTER MONTHS. 101 



derately warm and dry, and then the horses may 

 be out as early as nine o'clock; but, as the 

 month advances, the days get shorter, the morn- 

 ings get colder, and the weather is becoming 

 more uncertain, the winds are frequently high, 

 and it is often wet over head; the time there- 

 fore of the horses going out in the morning pro- 

 gressively gets later, indeed the hour of their 

 going to exercise in winter can hardly be said 

 to be generally determined; but, when all fa- 

 vourable circumstances concur, ten o'clock in 

 the morning is the most convenient hour for 

 the horses to go out at this season of the 

 year. 



The clothing of the horses, either in or out 

 of the stables, should, at all times, be paid the 

 strictest attention to, by increasing or diminishing 

 their clothes, according as the temperature of 

 the atmosphere may vary; and, as the clothing 

 of race horses differs materially from that of 

 horses in common use, I shall make a few re- 

 marks on this subject. — The clothes the horses 

 sleep in at night and stand in during the day 

 are usually called their standing clothes ; these 

 consist of the old check clothes, and such of the 

 blanket-like sort of sheets, that, from use, have 



