188 GENERAL TEE-\T:MEXT OF HORSES. 



But, be it observed, for reasons we have already 

 given, we object to a hunter acquiring a load of 

 flesh in the summer, the produce of succulent food. 

 A moderate use of alteratives is beneficial through- 

 out the summer to horses which live well, but do 

 not work, as, by their mild and gradual impres- 

 sion, a healthy action of the bowels is kept up, as 

 well as insensible perspiration increased. 



The horse not kept in work should be thus treated 

 in the summer : — He should run loose in the bay 

 of a barn, or any large covered place where he gets 

 exercise, and breathes fresh air, without exposure 

 to the sun. His physic, food, &c., should be as 

 before directed ; but as he is now unsliod, and con- 

 sequently cannot have his hoofs filled with any 

 thing which can impart moisture to them, he 

 should be made to stand two hours every day. 

 under cover, in moistened clay. Unless after fir- 

 ing, or severe blistering, when the sedative powers 

 of cold air are efficacious in checking local inflam- 

 mation, we prefer the hunter being housed through- 

 out the night, to his lying out even in a paddock, 

 as he is less liable to disease and accidents ; but we 

 admit that the danger of exposure to night air is 

 greatly diminished by his having been kept cool 

 throughout the day, by which he is less susceptible 

 of atmospheric influence, or the alternation from 

 warmth to cold, tlian if his arterial system had 

 been acted upon by exposure to a mid- day sun. 

 The sticklers, then, for the " dews of heaven,"' and 

 the " bed upon the cool earth,"" may here indulge 

 their predilections ; but, for our own part, we give 



