The Treatment of Horses 



may come is, however, more than balanced in the 

 case of hunters by the loss of condition. But let 

 us suppose that by choice or necessity we have 

 summered our horses out of doors. They have 

 had some corn and plenty of water. But they will 

 come up very fat and gross, and have to be got 

 into condition again. I knew a cob that came up 

 so fat that she could not get between the shafts of 

 the cart, and she had to be run almost for a week 

 before she was sufficiently reduced. The custom 

 is to give a dose of physic when the horse is taken 

 up from grass. But I dislike drugs for horses, 

 and in twenty-five years I have only given one 

 dose of aloes, and that was to a racing pony. In 

 the first place, when the horse is brought up 

 the stable should be kept as cool as possible. 

 They should not be rugged as long as the nights 

 are mild. Corn should not be given at first in 

 any quantity. My own plan is, feed on bran and 

 linseed, the latter boiled to a jelly, for a week. 

 About half through the week I mix corn with the 

 mashes, and twice a day I give a simple alterative 

 powder in the food. The mashes are gradually 

 discontinued and corn substituted ; from the first 

 I give plenty of long hay. The work is accom- 

 modated to the food, slow at first. I do not take 

 them out of a walk for the first week, and then no 

 pace faster than a steady hound trot is desirable 

 for another fortnight. The exercise and food 

 should be gradually increased until the horses are 



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