178 TRAINING IN INDIA 



accompanied by some risk, as the nights there are then 

 getting cold — especially towards the end of that month — 

 and animals whose livers are more or less deranged by the 

 effects of the preceding hot weather, are very liable to get 

 congestion of that organ from the sudden change of 

 climate. (See " Veterinary Notes for Horse Owners "). 

 If an owner intends sending his horses to such places, 

 I would advise him to do so before the hot weather 

 commences. 



It appears that the worst kind of climate for a horse 

 to live in is a damp hot one, like that of Bengal, for 

 instance. A damp, cold climate, like that of Scotland, is 

 not incompatible with the breeding of good horses, provided 

 they be treated more or less as exotics. But the best of 

 all is a dry warm one. During the excessive heat of 

 several hot weathers at Meean Meer and at Cawnpore, 

 both of which places possess a very dry climate, I have 

 never found that the horses I kept suffered in any way 

 from the great heat, as long as they were well protected 

 from the direct rays of the sun, and had a free circulation 

 of air through their stables. Although I do not say that 

 horses will thrive quite as well during the hot weather 

 and rains in the plains as in cooler climates, such as Dehra 

 Doon and Bangalore, still I do not think the balance is 

 very much in favour of them, especially when we take 

 the cases of horses that it would be injudicious to train 

 on a hilly course. In making these remarks, I again except 

 all hot, damp climates, in which it would be most unwise 

 to keep valuable horses during the trying months of the 

 year. 



Mozufferpore, possessing as it does a race-course covered 



