PASTURING. 273 



particularly in a warm stable. If the horse go out at the end 

 of summer or in autumn, he should go before his winter coat 

 is on. If its growth be completed in the stable, its subse- 

 quent increase may not be sufficient to keep the horse warm. 

 In autumn, he should not go out while moulting. For eight 

 or ten days previous he should not be groomed. The dust 

 and perspiration which accumulate upon the hair, seem in 

 some measure to protect the skin from rain and from flies. 

 The feet should be dressed, and the grass shoes, or plates, 

 applied a week before turning out. If injured by the nails, 

 the injury will be apparent before much mischief is done. 

 At grass it might not be noticed so soon. On the day of 

 going out, the horse should be fed as usual. If he go to grass 

 when very hungry he may eat too much. Indigestion will 

 be the result, and next morning the horse will be found dead. 

 Weather permitting, night is usually chosen for the time of 

 turning out. The horse is not so apt to gallop about. Let 

 loose in the daytime, many are disposed to gallop nil they 

 lame themselves, and to try the fences. 



In autumn, or early in spring, the stable preparation for 

 grass is often insufficient. If the horse be tender, or the 

 weather unsettled or cold, he may require to be taken home 

 every night, for perhaps the first week. For eight or ten 

 days longer, it may be proper to house him on very wet or 

 stormy nights. If there be no sheds in the field, it is an act 

 of charity to bring the horse home when there is snow on the 

 ground. The stable assigned to him should always be cool, 

 not so cold as the external air, but never so warm as if he 

 were accustomed to it. 



Confinement. — Some horses are not so easily confined at 

 pasture. They break or leap the fences, and wander over 

 the country, or proceed to the stable. The fore feet are 

 sometimes shackled in order to confine them ; but these fet- 

 ters, if long worn, are apt to alter the horse's action, render- 

 ing it short, confined, irregular, at least for a time, till he re- 

 gain the use of his shoulders. Sometimes the horse is tied 

 by a rope to a stake driven in the ground. He requires 

 almost constant watching, for he must be often shifted as he 

 eats down the grass, and he may get his legs entangled in 

 the rope. He may cast himself, and receive severe injury, 

 without he be immediately relieved. Sometimes the horse 

 is tied to a stake, which he can drag about the field. He 

 soon finds that he can walk where he pleases, but he can not 

 run, and seldom atteirpts to leap. This also is liable how- 



