HORSES AND HOUNDS. 51 



against turning horses out to grass at all. Tliey say it takes 

 them at once out of condition, that is, from hard flesh and mus- 

 cle, the result of hard feeding, and that you have to do this 

 over again before the horse is fit to work. I grant it is the 

 case to a certain extent ; but the question is, under which sys- 

 tem the horse will do most work, and last longest in health and 

 strength ; in short, be of most value to his owner, for that is the 

 point which most men consider, and that only. My answer is, 

 that a horse which has the benefit of a summer's run at grass 

 every year, will last many years longer and do more work, and 

 hard work too, in the season, than the horse which is constantly 

 kept in condition, as the term is, and fed upon corn, winter and 

 summer. The cord that is always strained will snap the soon- 

 est. I have heard it objected also, that horses when turned out 

 to grass become as fat as bullocks, that they are driven wild by 

 flies, get kicked by others, become broken-winded and roarers, 

 fill their legs with windgalls by stamping, and, in short, that 

 they are nearly ruined by it. I can only say, in thirty years' 

 experience, I never met with any of these evil results from my 

 usual plan of summering horses, and I will shortly state the 

 course I invariably pursued. Our hunting season expired with, 

 the first week of April ; after that the horses were only wisped 

 over once a day, not dressed : the corn taken off from four feeds 

 per diem to two, which were mixed with a large portion of hay- 

 chaff, and given as usual at four times ; the clothes were thrown 

 loosely on (a single rug) without any girth, the shoes taken pff, 

 and the feet pared down as far as we could go without draAving 

 blood. The first fine day all the horses were turned out in a 

 dry pasture, with not much grass in it, where there were shade 

 and water, for an hour or two at first. If it rained they were 

 caught up again, and rubbed dry when brought into the stables. 

 " Didn't they gallop and tear about the field, and try to kick 

 each others' legs off?" No, they did no such thing, their feet 

 were rather too tender for much galloping, and not being utter 

 strangers to each other, they generally began feeding quietly, 

 and so went on amicably together. They were always brought 

 into the stable in the evening, and had a feed of corn with, 

 plenty of hay and chaff, and a rack of hay at night ; also a feed 

 of corn in the morning before let out, until the weather became 

 more settled, and they had become gradually inured to the 

 change. After that they remained out, day and night, except 

 in hot weather, when they were taken up in the morning about 

 ten o'clock, and remained in their loose boxes until the_ cool of 

 the evening. There was also a large open shed in which they 

 could at any time take refuge from a storm. Their feet wero 



£2 



