TURNING HORSES OUT 67 



horses gradually back into condition, they will 

 soon have stale-legged and lame horses. One or 

 two seasons of "turning out" and bringing up 

 and abruptly putting into work will often trans- 

 form a valuable, sound horse into a "screw." Al- 

 though the legs and feet are the parts that suf- 

 fer most from this treatment, a horse shows it 

 also in his "top," for it takes a long while to bring 

 back the bloom and finish that go with good con- 

 dition, after being turned out. 



Of course it is a problem for many owners 

 difficult to solve satisfactorily, what to do with 

 their horses when they go away for three months, 

 particularly those horses that are practically 

 sound and in good working condition. It is such 

 an easy solution of the problem to turn them out 

 at some good farm, where they will be sufficiently 

 fed, and kept in safety in a loose box and have a 

 run in a paddock, and only cost fifteen dollars 

 per month apiece. The question is: Wouldn't 

 it pay better to give thirty dollars and have the 

 horses kept in condition, so that they are ready 

 to work as soon as their owners need them? 

 When we come to consider the danger, loss of 

 time, and wear and tear incidental to recondition- 

 ing, we must emphatically answer, yes. In the 

 above remarks we have only considered this ques- 

 tion from the standpoint of horses that are prac- 

 tically sound and in good condition, but it is 



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