HORSES AND HOUNDS. 11 



At five years old tliey may be capable of doing a fair day's 

 work, but they do not arrive at their perfection of strength 

 until seven. If at two years old, it can do no harm to canter a 

 young horse in training over a mile course, with a feather 

 weight upon his back ; by the same rule a young horse intiaided 

 for hunting, should be allowed to canter or gallop at will, in a 

 good large open pasture, and I will venture to say he will be all 

 the better for it. 



My own brood mares and colts were treated in the manner I 

 have thus described, and the result of my system of breeding 

 was this, that for the drafts sold, which I considered unfit for 

 hunting purposes, at four years old, I obtained, the lowest price 

 thirty-five guineas, and the highest eighty guineas. One only 

 was sold at the first low figure. Those I kept were, of course, 

 the most valuable, and for one which I rode myself, I was 

 oftered 200 guineas ; but price would never tempt me to part 

 with a horse which suited me. By returning the brood mares 

 to their paddocks, the end of October, and keeping them there 

 until they have foaled, all risk of their injuring each other, 

 when heavy, will be avoided, and until they become so, the 

 more exercise, in moderation, the better. To all animals in a 

 state of gestation, nothing is more injurious than confinement 

 in small cramped places, and this alone is often productive of 

 fatal consequences, either to the offspring or the mother, some- 

 times to both. I could quote many instances to prove this fact, 

 were it necessary, but we need only refer to the parturition of 

 animals in a state of nature, to establish this point. The earlier 

 foals are produced, the stronger they will generally prove. 

 From the second week of February until the end of April are 

 the best months. Those foaled during the summer are often 

 weak, and require much more care throughout the ensuing 

 winter, neither will they ever arrive at the same state of per- 

 fection as the early bred. The treatment of mares and foals will 

 form the subject of my next chapter. 



