SUMMERING THE HUNTER. 179 



the hand, if not with the eye/' But here the ana- 

 logy between the horse turned out to grass in the 

 summer, and the horse sent to a straw-yard in the 

 winter, ceases. The latter loses flesh, and becomes 

 hide-bound, both of which will find a remedy in a 

 return to more generous food in the stable, with 

 the assistance of alterative medicine ; and he will 

 speedily resume his condition. But it will not be 

 so with the grass-fed hunter. He has accumulated 

 a load of soft, unhealthy flesh, which must be got 

 rid of at the expense of his legs and feet ; or, in 

 the language of grooms, " it must be exchanged 

 for better flesh, the produce of hay and corn."" By 

 feeding ad lihitum^ however, he has so pl^thorised 

 his system, and trespassed upon his digestive or- 

 gans, that this is become not merely a work of la- 

 bour and time, but one of no small risk to the gene- 

 ral soundness of his constitution. Nor is even this 

 the extent of the mischief. Under the most favour- 

 able circumstances, it is not in the power of a groom, 

 how good soever he may be, to bring the grass-fed 

 hunter into the field, fit to be ridden with hounds, 

 until the hunting season is half expired. For proof 

 of this assertion, we need only go to the race-horse, 

 who cannot be made fit to run under, at least, six 

 months' preparation, although he has not been at 

 grass since he was six months old. Nature will not 

 be put out of her course by violence ; and horses 

 can only be got into good condition by degrees, by 

 long-continued slow work at first, increasing in 

 pace as their condition increases ; and it has been 

 the attempt to get the grass -fed hunter into some- 



