The Stable Handbook 



two horses come up from grass with something 

 very like mud fever and a most decided thrush, 

 the latter a complaint which ought to be almost 

 unknown in a well-regulated stable. 



They had been summered in some meadows 

 where there was a stream. Their legs and feet 

 required considerable care to bring them round, 

 and the experience only confirmed my distaste to 

 turning horses out. At the same time, while I 

 dislike turning out horses for a whole summer, I 

 see no disadvantage and a considerable economy 

 when we have the use of a grass field in turning 

 out a working horse from time to time when he is 

 not wanted. In the case of small horses, cobs, and 

 ponies, it is, in the part of the country where I 

 live, quite the custom to do this. Horses which 

 are corn fed, turned out occasionally, should always 

 be taken up by day in hot weather, by night in 

 cold, kept in in wet weather altogether, and 

 should have one feed of corn at least, even on the 

 days when they do no work at all. 



I am not prepared to say that a run out at grass 

 for a few hours once or twice a week may not do 

 a horse good. There are, however, many people 

 who turn horses out altogether when not in use, 

 and this is done in the case of both hunters and 

 carriage horses. It is cheaper and less trouble 

 than any other mode of keeping them, and thus 

 some people of experience now think horses are 

 benefited by the rest and change. Whatever good 

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