FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 



coach horse spends his " leisure " (?) time in work 

 of various kinds, from which his care-taker 

 profits, and the constant eye of the owner, or 

 some capable representative, is the only thing to 

 keep horses and men up to the mark. A team 

 running on a local coach was found to be very 

 thin, whereas all the other horses on the road 

 held their flesh. Not until after the sale was it 

 found that the poor brutes had never been fed in 

 the middle of the day, the grooms at each end 

 of their stage " supposing " that the others had 

 fed them while the master knew nothing about it 

 personally, but left all to chance. 



Teams should never be changed at their 

 stables, but the fresh " change " led out at least 

 half a mile, so that they may be well " on their 

 feet " and ready ; while the old team so thor- 

 oughly " cools out " and tranquillizes heart and 

 respiration in its walk home, that no harm can 

 come to it. Grooms may object, but that is 

 of little moment, and many a possibly damaged 

 horse will be saved. 



With a ''long ground," that is, a stage which a 

 fresh team works each way, to change the teams 

 to every few weeks, horses last much longer. No 

 cold-blooded horse can long endure being thor- 



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