32 
NIMROD ON THE CONDITION 
tem of summering the hunter, and its effects, I have been anxious 
to offer some remarks on a few of its leading points, but which 
other calls on my time have hitherto prevented my doing. 
That Providence seems to have advanced to the utmost verge 
of possibility in the gift of life conferred upon animated beings, is 
obvious to every person who looks at all into nature ; also that, in 
her general laws, the means of preserving life are provided for, 
must be equally apparent; and moreover, that, almost above all 
living things, the horse would not be overlooked. Thus, as Mr. 
Gabriel observes (after instancing the differences in the quantity 
and quality of the natural clothing of sheep, swine, cattle or horses, 
in cold and warm climates), when the thermometer is ranging from 
sixty to eighty degrees, we find the horse with a thin, smooth, 
and glossy coat ; on the contrary, when the mercury has fallen be- 
neath zero, with a thick, rough, and coarse one : so long and 
shaggy, indeed, as to be destructive of all form and symmetry. The 
chief aim of Mr. Gabriel, then, is, to account for and remedy the 
effects of these changes — that from the smooth to the rough coat, 
especially — on the constitution and physical powers of the domesti- 
cated horse ; which he has done with great ability, and a thorough 
knowledge of the nature of the animal in question. 
I am quite ready to admit the deteriorating effects of the changes 
here alluded to on the domesticated horse, and insisted upon by Mr. 
Gabriel in the case of his own hackney ; but I am also ready to 
prove, or at all events assert, that they are to be completely obviated 
by grooming ; and to express my belief that, could it be proved, a 
race-horse, properly trained, comes equally fit to the post on the 
first day of October as he could, by the same means, have been 
made at any other period of the year, when Nature is not at work 
in effecting the change we are alluding to. As to the hacks we 
ride in common, and all the year round, kept in what are termed 
hack stables — perhaps one or two in a stable that might hold four, to 
say nothing of their hanging about when we make our calls, &c. — 
nothing will prevent their coats from breaking and becoming rough 
when the cold weather sets in ; but, in the studs of sportsmen, the 
hacks will generally be found in equal condition with the hunters. 
And why should it be otherwise ] Take the Melton men’s hacks 
for example. Those ridden in the winter are regularly physicked 
at the end of the season, and summered with the hunters ; whereas 
those ridden in the summer are rested all winter, but well phy- 
sicked when they are again taken into work. The fact is, the 
only preventives of broken coats and deteriorated constitutions, at 
all periods of the year, are, plenty of aloes and other alteratives, 
and warmth ; — a July stable, if I may so express myself, all the 
year round. As for myself, I can honestly say, I never felt any 
prostration of strength in the month of October beyond that in 
