118 HUNTING 



perspiration would accumulate and dry in the long coat, and 

 chills, together with other illnesses, would be invited. Many 

 years ago a barbarous custom of cropping a hunter's ears was 

 in vogue. The objectless cruelty was practised because cropped 

 ears were thought to give a game look to a horse, no consider- 

 ation being paid to the poor creature's sufferings ; and at that 

 period the horse's dock was a matter of very few inches. Happily 

 these savage ideas have passed away, and though many bad 

 and stupid fashions are revived, it need not be feared that these 

 will be among the number. When ear-cropping was common 

 it was usual to bleed the hunter before summering him, but 

 this absurdity, which must have cost our forefathers dearly, 

 since many horses did not survive the practice, is happily un- 

 known at the present day. There is, and there always will be, 

 something new to be learnt about the horse, as about the man. 

 Veterinary science, however, has made such great progress that 

 it must be an altogether exceptional case for which adequate 

 treatment cannot be found, while accurate general knowledge 

 is always extending. Horses are no longer bled as they used 

 to be at times when their vital forces required to be sustained 

 instead of diminished, and a hundred other ridiculous customs 

 have vanished. The most invaluable medicines for horses are 

 sweet stables, an abundance of sound, wholesome food, sufficient 

 exercise, and kind treatment. The horse is not entirely the 

 servant but also the friend of his owner, and friendly considera- 

 tion is his just due. A man who gives less fails to discharge 

 a debt of honour. 



