344 THOUGHTS UPON HUNTING. 



horses ; and his mouth, in all probabiHty, will not be the 

 worse for it. ' " 



The Earl of Pembroke, in his Military Equitation, is, 

 I find, of the same opinion : — He tells us, " it is of the 

 ** greatest consequence for horses to be kept clean, regu- 

 ** larly fed, and as regularly exercised : but whoever chooses 

 *' to ride in the way of ease and pleasure, without any 

 ** fatigue on horseback ; or, in short, does not like to 

 ** carry his horse, instead of his horse's carrying him — 

 " must not suffer his horse to be exercised by a groom ; 

 " standing up on his stirrups, holding himself on by means 

 " of the reins, and thereby hanging his whole dead weight 

 " on the horse's mouth, to the entire destru(5tion of all that 

 " is good, safe, or pleasant, about the animal."— And 

 in another place he says : " Horses should be turned 

 " loose somewhere, or walked about every day, when 

 " they do not work, particularly after hard exercise : 

 " swelled legs, physic, &c. will be saved by these means, 

 " and many distempers avoided." — He also observes, that 

 ** it is a matter of the greatest consequence, though few 

 " attend ro it, to feed horses according to their work. 



