SUMMERING THE HUNTER. 183 



other of treating them in the summer months ; we 

 mean, as regards their legs, the treatment of which 

 now forms a conspicuous feature in the science of 

 the stable, particularly the racing stable. Many 

 valuable animals are ruined in consequence of their 

 owners and their grooms not knowing, perhaps not 

 wishing to know, when their legs are going amiss, 

 and consequently stopping them in their work, 

 before the evil gets a-head. It is irksome, no doubt, 

 to give up the use of a hunter, especially if a fa- 

 vourite one, and in blooming condition ; but it is 

 only by such prudent conduct, that we can expect 

 a lengthened enjoyment of his services. It is a 

 lamentable fact that, generally speaking, good-con- 

 stitutioned horses would wear out two sets of legs 

 and feet, w4iich shows the urgent necessity of tak- 

 ing care of them. 



We now take our leave of the old, and, we may 

 add, ruinous system of treating hunters in the 

 summer, and proceed to state how they ought to 

 be treated in the non-hunting months ; as also to 

 offer a few directions for the management of them 

 when in work. To begin, we are far from averse 

 to resting the hunter in the summer, although we 

 cannot shut our eyes to the fact of horses working 

 hard for a great many years in succession, without 

 experiencing Avhat is here meant by "• rest^^'' (name- 

 ly, not having a saddle on their backs for three or 

 four months,) and remaining sound and healthy to 

 the end of a long life. Our great object is, to give 

 the hunter fair play, by preserving, instead of de- 

 stroA^ins:, his condition at the same time that we 



