WINTERING POLO PONIES. 389 



weight between heel and toe should be carefully considered, 

 because reduction of the slope of the foot by lowering the 

 heels or thickening the toe, may put undue strain on the 

 suspensory ligament or back tendons. I have discussed this 

 point in Veterinary Notes for Horse-Owners. 



I think the best system of summering hunters is to turn 

 them out every day in the late afternoon, as soon as the flies 

 have gone to rest, and take them up, say, about 9 o'clock in 

 the morning, before the flies recommence business. I would 

 give the horses three feeds of corn (total, about 7 Ib.) 

 daily, first thing in the morning, at noon, and last thing at 

 night ; and would let them have as much healthy hacking as 

 practicable. 



The management of hunters which are worked throughout 

 the summer as chargers, hacks, trappers, etc., would not of 

 course come under the heading of summering. 



WINTERING POLO PONIES. 



As polo ponies are the only working horses which are usually 

 wintered, I shall here refer only to them. Mr. E. D. Miller's 

 Modern Polo contains such an able and full account of this 

 subject, that I need only touch on the general conclusions 

 of that author. The pony may spend the first two 

 months of the slack time from the 1st September to the 

 1st April, at grass without corn, provided that the "keep" 

 is plentiful, and the animal is young, vigorous and accli- 

 matised. If he finds the exposure trying, he may have a 

 couple of feeds of corn daily. Mr. Miller considers " that 

 the best food for ponies when turned out is 4 Ibs. of split 

 beans mixed with plenty of old hay cut up into chaff, 

 divided into two feeds, to be given morning and evening, 

 and about 10 Ibs. of hay in the middle of the day. My 

 ponies thrive better on this allowance of beans than on 

 double the amount of oats." All the ponies should get three 



