66 Stable Servants and 



work, are required to be full of flesh to give them a grander 

 and more imposing appearance. 



The hunter having hard, fast, and long-continuous work 

 to perform, greater care is required in feeding him. Some 

 hunters are delicate feeders, and cannot under any circum- 

 stances be induced to eat more than three quarterns of corn 

 and beans in the twenty-four hours ; consequently they 

 never look well, are never quite fit, and cannot come again 

 more than once in ten days or a fortnight. Such horses 

 must be got fit as best they may by changing the diet as 

 often as possible, and by giving only a little at a time, but 

 frequently. By changing the diet I mean, by sometimes 

 giving old beans with the corn, at other times old white 

 peas, and adding at one time good hay chaff, at another 

 clover chaff, and occasionally a few pieces of chopped 

 carrot mixed with the corn — in fact, trying almost every- 

 thing that will tempt a delicate horse to feed. 



From five to six quarterns of corn, with a few good old 

 beans or white peas, and ten or twelve pounds of good old 

 meadow hay, is the average daily food of a hunter going 

 three days a fortnight. It is a great mistake to get a hunter 

 too fine, as, the work being hard and long-continued, he 

 must be full of muscle and strong, but at the same time in 

 good wind. It is difficult to lay down any definite rules 

 for feeding hunters, as some require much more food than 

 others to keep them in the same condition. As soon as 

 convenient after a day's hunting the horse should have 

 some gruel — it is better than corn, as being easy of 

 digestion and more invigorating for a tired horse. A hack 

 will require from three to four quarterns of corn a day, and 

 about the same quantity of hay as the hunter. His work 

 is much lighter and he requires a more round and fleshy 

 appearance. Beans are only occasionally necessary foi 

 hacks, and t^en only when much exposed to bad and wet 

 weather. Harness horses must be fed in much the same 

 way as hacks, but much depends upon their size and the 

 work they are required to perform. Ponies require about 

 two quarterns of corn daily, and seven or eight pounds of 

 hay, some even less than that, as they are invariably hardy, 

 and unless hard worked will keep fat on very little. Horses 



