222 GRADUAL TRAINING 



that a raw colt will require at least the same time, or 

 longer, to be reduced to anything like decent 

 order? And as in the case of the former, so especially 

 in the case of the latter, the exercise must be gradual and 

 progressive. 



To get hunters into condition, it is customary to com- 

 mence with walking exercise only for the first month, 

 during which one or two doses of physic are 

 generally given. They then proceed to trot and canter 

 for the next month, after which they are considered fit 

 to have a gaUop or sweat with a lad of light weight upon 

 their backs. Thus gradual is the process of training 

 horses for the hunting field ; and if so much time and 

 caution are to be bestowed on them, is it not quite obvious 

 that less ought not to be given to young horses which have 

 never been ridden before, and have in addition a thorough 

 education to undergo ? The greatest obstacles to getting 

 horses into condition are the inside fat and flabby state 

 of the flesh, the usual results of long rest and high feeding ; 

 and in proportion to the decrease of these, will be the 

 increase of muscle. This superfluity of flesh and fat in a 

 horse cannot be summarily dissipated by a dose or two of 

 physic and a few sharp gallops ; for as the accumulation 

 ha . been gradual, so must the dispersion of it be so too. 



