PRACTICE OF FEEDING. 257 



he is turned to pasture, and fed entirely upon grass ; by anoth- 

 er, he is kept ahnost constantly within doors, receiving a little 

 grass, some hay, and a small allowance of grain. The last is 

 the mode recommended and introduced byNimrod. Former 

 ly it was the custom to turn all hunters to grass as soon as 

 hunting was over ; but in many parts of England this practice 

 has been abandoned. For a long time it was universal. It 

 was supposed that the horses were as well at grass as they 

 could be in the stable, and they were kept at much less cost. 

 Possibly some people might believe that summer grazing was 

 necessary for the horse's health, but that does not appear to 

 have been insisted on until Nimrod began to deny the propri- 

 ety of turning out. Numerous scribblers appeared to oppose 

 him. It was contended that a summer's run at grass is abso- 

 lutely necessary, exclusive of its economy. The labors of the 

 winter, it was said, have shattered the constitution, the legs, 

 and the feet. The horse has been injured by his work. Rest 

 and his natural food alone can restore him to usefulness. The 

 moisture of the ground is good for his hoofs, and the open air 

 for his lungs. Grass is the most salubrious food the horse can 

 have ; it is cooling, refreshing, alterative ; it allays the excite- 

 ment produced by work and high keep ; it clears away obstruc- 

 tions, sweetens the blood, relaxes the bowels, purges off the 

 humors, renovates the whole body, and puts the inside to 

 rights. Moreover, the repose which a horse obtains at grass, 

 rectifies, braces, and strengthens, all the parts that his hard 

 work had shaken and relaxed. Moreover, again, it would be 

 the very death of a hunter, and very cruel, to keep him stabled 

 all the year. 



I dare say it is evident that the most of this is sad non- 

 sense. Grass and fresh air can be given in the stable quite as 

 well as in the field. Moisture is easily applied to the feet ; and 

 for rest, if rest be necessary, the stabled horse has decidedly 

 the advantange. 



Objections to Grazing Hunters. — There are only two. The 

 horse loses his hunting condition, and he acquires so much 

 flesh that his legs and feet are apt to be injured in taking the 

 superfluous flesh off" him. It is true that a pasture may be so 

 bare or so crowded that an accumulation of flesh or fat can 

 not take place. The horse may even be starved to emacia- 

 tion. Still he would lose his hunting condition, even though 

 he obtained neither more nor less flesh than he might carry 

 at work. Unless the horse have more exercise, a faster kind 

 of exercise than he takes at grass, he can not keep his hunt- 



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