650 REMARKS ON THE CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
crease the size, consequently the weight of the carcass ; to in¬ 
jure the wind, and destroy the digestive powers. Among the 
brute creation we find extraordinary instances of long abstinence, 
but the horse is not of that tribe. He is a voracious animal, and 
requires a daily supply of food : nevertheless it is advisable that 
his appetite should never be cloyed, but that he should always 
appear eager for his food on his groom coming to him after being 
shut up his regular time; and if one handful of good hay be 
found in his rack, he should have no more till next stable time, 
when his appetite will be sharp. If given to eat his straw, the 
setting muzzle in this case must be made use of.” 
“ In consequence of the lateness of the hour of meeting with 
hounds, now seldom before eleven o’clock, hunters do not require 
so much food as they formerly did when out a much longer time 
from their stables; and there is no doubt, but at the pace the 
hounds now go, an empty stomach is necessary, or why put the 
muzzle on the race-horse ? In Leicestershire, this short allow¬ 
ance of hay has been carried to a great extreme; but a full belly 
will not do for that country ; and amongst the Meltonians, horses 
are not required to come out often, owing to their generally having 
large studs.” 
“ Hunters are not always to be fed alike. Allowance should 
be made for the distance to covert; for, when a horse has got to 
go twelve or fourteen miles in the morning to meet hounds, he 
may be allowed a little more hay overnight, than if he had but 
four or five, as he will empty his stomach on the road, and there 
is reason to expect a long day. As to whether a hunter should 
have any water on the morning of hunting, that is a point not so 
much considered as it ought to be, for we should be guided by his 
constitution. If he is apt to scour, and throw off his meat on the 
road, I should recommend his having none ; but if, on the other 
hand, he holds his meat well in him, has some distance to go, 
and is not called on before ten or eleven o’clock in the day, he 
should have six or eight swallows, or go-downs as the grooms 
call them, between five and six in the morning. This quantity of 
water, or more, is always given to a race-horse on the day he runs 
his race, as it makes him enjoy his food, and digest it afterwards, 
and it is all absorbed by the time he is called on to run. Nothing 
is so apt to make horses scour as change of food and water ; for 
which reason it is advisable that a hunter should go from his own 
stable to meet hounds, if the distance does not exceed fifteen or 
sixteen miles, rather than sleep out. If, however, he does sleep 
out, and is affected by the change, he should be watered before 
he leaves home, and have very little where he sleeps, which will 
in some measure counteract the evil.” 
