184 GENERAL TREATMENT OF HORSES. 



rest him ; and in this we think, that, by prevent- 

 ing exhaustion in his work when he returns to it, 

 we offer him much more than an equiv^alent for the 

 fancied enjoyment of his " snuffing the air in his 

 native liberty,'' and " making his bed on the cool 

 ground,'' so stoutly insisted upon by many of the 

 old school, who will not march with the times, and 

 who cannot divest themselves of prejudices, how 

 dear soever they may cost them. 



The period of " turning ?fp," not " o?^^," hunters 

 towards the close of the season should depend on 

 circumstances. Those whose legs may be doubtful, 

 should be the first thrown out of work ; and after 

 them old ones, who, how well soever they may go 

 over a country when it is soft, are in danger of 

 breaking down when it becomes hard, as it always 

 does in March, particularly in ploughed countries. 



The first act of a groom, when his horses have 

 done their work for the season, is to give them two 

 doses of mild physic, which, by their eff'ect on their 

 legs, will greatly assist him in discovering the 

 amount, if any, of the injury that may have been 

 done to them. Should anything serious exhibit 

 itself, we recommend him (unless he be a first-rate 

 professor of his art) to avail himself of the advice 

 of a veterinary surgeon, as to the steps proper to 

 be taken ; and the sooner those steps are taken, the 

 better will it be for his horses. The barbarous, the 

 senseless, practice of blistering, generally the two 

 fore-legs, and often the hinder ones also, previously 

 to turning out, under the old system, is now, we 

 are glad to say, abandoned, not only on account of 



