REMARKS ON THE CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 645 
at a time, when they are young and tender, in the months of 
May or June; but this should not be repeated more than three 
or four times, as they tend to make horses very foul, and when 
in pod are most injurious to them. It is not every one who keeps 
hunters that has paddocks to turn them into; nor, indeed, do 
they fall to the lot of many : but when they are to be had, the 
advantage is very great, as a horse is safe in them, and the 
smaller they are, within reason, the better; for it is not the grass 
that we want, but the exercise and the moisture of the ground 
for their feet, and the bracing effects of the pure air. If only 
one or two hunters are turned into a large paddock, and the 
grass grows upon them, some sheep should be put in to keep it 
down. Their bite also sweetens the herbage, and makes it more 
nutritious; but paddocks should never be mown. Paddocks, 
however, are always to be made, and at a trifling expense. A 
small piece of ground, say thirty square yards, is sufficient. 
Let it be hurdled round, and then lined with faggots, reared up 
from seven to eight feet high. A stallion may be kept in these 
places with the greatest safety as to his breaking out of them, 
for he will never attempt it so long as he cannot see through or 
over his fence. The faggots, so far from being worse, are better 
for the use they are put to, and they are within the reach of 
every one who resides in the country, at five shillings a score, if 
he do not grow them himself. The hurdle that lets the horse in 
and out should often be changed, and then he will be still less 
inclined to attempt to break out.” 
“ However beneficial this turning out a horse in the summer 
may be, it is comparatively trifling with the advantages that are 
to be reaped by a winter’s run. I have seen horses, as it were, 
renovated in their constitution, by being turned out for a winter; 
and as far as relates to their legs and feet, it is, I think, the only 
time when any thing effectual can be done for them, when the 
injury has been considerable.” 
These pithy and valuable extracts, at the same time that they 
serve to expose our author’s views in regard to summering the 
hunter, demonstrate a sagacity and an experience on the subject 
no less worthy of the admiration of the professional man than of 
the sportsman himself. The leading consideration in summering 
the hunter is to maintain his condition ; or, rather, we would say, 
to guard against his losing that which we know both by educa¬ 
tion as medical men, and experience as sportsmen, once lost, 
will require much time and pains to be re-acquired. Change of 
food is necessarily productive, in the animal constitution, of al¬ 
teration of structure : though parts cannot be said to change 
their nature under this influence, yet do they become greatly 
altered both in texture and in tone. 
