SUMMERING HORSES. 445 



time necessary to begin to restore the com, and to leave off par- 

 tially or entirely the green food. By the end of August, at 

 latest, hay should form the principal kind of fodder, with two 

 feeds of oats, or thereabouts, according to the fleshiness of the 

 horse. If he is much wasted, more must be given, and if the re- 

 verse, one feed a day will be enough. The shoes may now be 

 tacked on, and the horse walked out regularly every morning 

 on the grass for an hour or two. In the middle of September 

 the training for the hunting season begins, and at that time the 

 summering may be considered at an end. Water sliould be 

 constantly supplied during the whole summer in the box, so 

 that the horse may drink when thirsty. The coat is left entirely 

 undressed. Physic will be required two or three times, or 

 oftener if the stomach is much upset by the long-continued work 

 and fasts of the previous winter. Nothing tries the constitution 

 of the horse more than these long fasts, which are not suited to 

 his small stomach ; this, from its size, requires to be replenished 

 every four hours at most, yet it is often six, eight, or ten before 

 the tired hunter gets even a bucket of gruel, and no wonder, 

 then, that he requires a fortnight to come round for a similar 

 day's work. Condition balls, &c., &c., will rarely be required ; 

 but sometimes, in spite of all the green food and other adjuncts, 

 the stomach remains obstinately out of order, and the food seems 

 to do no good. Here a stimulus or stomachic is required, and a 

 warm cordial stomach-ball, once or twice a week, will be of great 

 service. See Diseases of the Horse. 



