266 STABLE ECONOMY. 



right to have them plump, well filled-up ly the time they are 

 called into training. Racers are generally altogether out of 

 work for about three months, many of them for a longer, but 

 few for a shorter time. The whole of this period may be 

 necessary to restore the legs, but much less time suffices to 

 fill up an emaciated horse. If a tolerable feeder, six weeks 

 of repose on a generous diet will recruit the racer, even when 

 his work — to use a stable phrase — has drawn him very fine. 

 But it is not right to hasten flesh upon him so rapidly. If the 

 horse is to lie off for three months, and, in the first two, ac- 

 quires all the flesh he can carry in training, the last month 

 will load him with superfluity, which must be pulled off, at 

 the hazard of the legs, or by means of bleeding, physic, 

 sweating, or alteratives. In the first place, all the grain from 

 which the superfluous flesh is derived, goes to waste ; it is 

 lost. In the second place, the flesh must be removed at con- 

 siderable hazard to the horse, and a large expenditure of time, 

 trouble, and money, to the owner. 



There are manv racers to whom these remarks are not an- 

 plicable. Those of light carcass and hot tempers rarely feed 

 so well as to accumulate fat. They may have what they will 

 eat and drink. But the others, those of deep chests, broad 

 loins, and keen stomachs, must have their allowance of grain 

 regulated by their work. The groom should know with what 

 flesh the horse can go to framing in spring, and he should take 

 care that the requisite quantity is not required too soon. 



PASTURING. 



In another place, I have spoken of grass as an article of 

 food. Its laxative and alterative properties are well known. 

 So far as mere health is concerned, grass is the most salubri- 

 ous food the horse can receive. When eaten where it grows, 

 the horse is said to be turned out — to be getting a run at grass 

 — or he is at grass. When cut, and consumed in the stable, 

 the horse is said to be soiled. 



Pasture Fields differ very widely. Some are composed 

 of only two or three plants ; others of an endless variety. Of 

 the same field some parts are highly relished, and always 

 cropped to the root ; while many others, luxuriant, healthy, 

 and, to the eye, attractive, are never touched, or eaten only 

 when there is nothing else to eat. The soil is sometimes 

 hard and injurious to naked feet, sometimes soft and marshy 

 favorable to the growth of horn but not to a weak hoof. Pas- 



