Ill 



will not take it. Do not give liim ivJiole oatmeal, for if not steeped 

 beforehand it is likely to give colic. Then jog him home at five miles 

 an hour. Nothing is worse than walking him slowly or trotting him 

 fast after a long, hard day, unless it be to leave him shivering in the 

 cold while you go into a friend's house to regale yourself. 



Before twelve o'clock on a hunting day let your man jout a quart of 

 good old oatenmeal into a bucket, and on it pour as much hoillnri 

 water as it will take up ; put a cover over the bucket and leave it beside 

 a fire till the horse comes home. Let the man also put a feed of oats 

 into another bucket, with as much hoiliiuj water as it will take up, 

 cover over the oats with dry bran about four or five inches deep, and 

 leave it also beside the fire till the horse returns. 



Directly the horse comes home have cold water put to the bucket of 

 oatenmeal, and let him take a good drink of strong gruel, not lukewarm, 

 as some people give it, which is -as little refreshing to a thirsty horse as 

 it is to a thirsty man, but with the chill only taken off. When the 

 man goes for the gruel he should take advantage of the opportunity to 

 mix up the bran and oats well together, and let them soak till the 

 horse is ready for them. Then, leaving his saddle on, let him be washed 

 down from head to foot as quickly as possible. Scrape the heavy wet 

 ofi" immediately and put on his clothing and bandages, but don't wisp 

 or further clean him till next day. Let him eat hay during this pro- 

 ceeding. In fifteen or twenty minutes he will be quite dry ; then let 

 the clothes be removed and dry ones put on, but do not take off the 

 saddle till the perspiration has comijletely dried up. 



All this should be done in a spare stall. When finished, bring the 

 horse into his box-stall well and deeply littered with fresh clean 

 wheaten straw, let him roll if he will, and drink from the bucket in the 

 stall as much water as he chooses, and then give him the scalded oats 

 and bran. Put on dry bandages, and, if late, leave him to rest for the 

 night. It is a bad thing to overload a horse's stomach after a long 

 day's fast, therefore, unless he comes home early, I would give him only 

 the one meal at night. He will feed all the better next day. 



A smart groom will, by adopting this method, have his horse com- 

 fortably done up for the night half an hour after he comes in, unless 

 he is a fretful beast that " breaks out." 



If a horse does not eat the scalded oats readily, give him a mash 

 of boiled potatoes, which he is sure to eat. When fatigued, and after 

 long fasting, he will not eat hard dry oats with nearly the same relish 

 nor will he digest it so well as the nice warm soft preparation w^hich I 

 describe. If he has endured cold or wet, flaxseed well steeped for four 

 or five hours, and mixed with his mash, is a capital preventive against 

 coughs. 



There are, of course, horses of such peculiar temperament and fasti- 

 dious taste that the foregoing treatment may not exactly suit, but they 

 are the exception. 



Though a horse can drink a great deal at a time when very thirsty 



