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 JOHNA.SEAVERNS 
 
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REMARKS 
 
 ON THE 
 
 CONDITION OF HUNTERS, 
 
 TMH CHOICE! OF HOHSES, 
 
 AND 
 
 tHEIR MANAGEMENT : 
 
 In a Series of ramiliat Letters, originally Published in The StonxiNG 
 MAGAiiXN£ between 1822 and 1828. 
 
 3V NIMROD. 
 
 WITH NOTES AND A COPIOUS INDEX. 
 
 Si quid novisti rectiUs Istis, 
 Candidus imperii : si iioii, his utere iiiecuni. 
 
 HOllACK. 
 
 lonDon : 
 
 PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY M. A. PITTMAN, 
 
 18, WARWICK SQUARE. 
 
 Sold al?o by J. M. Kichaubson, 23, Cornhill; CrtArrLE, Pall 
 Mall; Booth, Portland Place; arid K. AcKEiiMANN, juu. Eclipse 
 Sporting Gallery, Regent Street. 
 
 1831. 
 
ADVERTISEMENT. 
 
 The very flattering Avay in which the " Letters 
 on Condition" were received by the Sporting World 
 generally on their first publication, coupled with 
 the fact that no positive instructions relative to this 
 interesting topic are to be met with in the numerous 
 farriery books already before the public, and of the 
 almost total silence of our veterinary ^Ariters re- 
 garding a subject of such paramount importance to 
 owners of studs, has induced the Proprietors of the 
 Sporting Magazine: (in which old-established 
 Work they originally appeared at intervals froin 
 1822 to 1828), in compliance with nunierous and 
 repeated applications from Noblemen and Gentle- 
 men, not only in this country, but on the Continent 
 and in our Settlements abroad, to collect and reprint 
 them in one uniform volume. 
 
 It may be proper to state, that not the slightest 
 alteration has been made from the originals by the 
 individual on whom the task devolved of preparino- 
 them for the press : he has merely added some 
 notes by way of explanation or elucidation, recpiired 
 by the lapse of tinie and the change of circumstances 
 under which they now appear. For the conveni- 
 ence of the reader, and for facilitating reference, the 
 volume is accompanied Avith a very copious Index. 
 
 London, October 1831. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 Introduction »«»e«t »«•»»« «s»se« sjtoss »»»««» >»«■, x 
 
 Letter L — Condition of Hunters •.•.»...» « . « , 3 
 
 Letter IL — Objections against turning hunters out to 
 
 a summer's run at Grass — Physic . . * t . . . = 38 
 
 Letter IIL— The effects of Condition — the stable;, and 
 
 stable management 55 
 
 Letter IV. — Stable management continued— case of 
 
 Ferryman • » <.o. . 68 
 
 Letter V.—Hot and cold stables— treatment after 
 a severe day- — clothing — hay and water- 
 cleanliness— over-reaching 77 
 
 Letter VI. — Strong work indisjiensable — ill effects of 
 too much rest— necessary qualification of the 
 groom • . • .....,,, 90 
 
 Letter VII. — Treatment of hunters in the summer* • . .103 
 Letter VIII. — Hard Meat versus Grass— Physic- 
 Exercise • ' Ill 
 
 Letter IX. — On the Foot <- 130 
 
 Letter X. — On the Foot, in continuation 142 
 
 Letter XL — Condition resume 158 
 
 Letter XII. — Precautions to be taken in the moultinp- 
 
 season— sweating" • 107 
 
 Letter XIII. — Treatment after a hard and long run 
 
 Clipping c 18.5 
 
 Letter XIV.— Objections answered 20S 
 
vi - CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 Lettf.r XV.--Advice to Farmuers— Breeding— Tveat- 
 
 ment of brood mares and colts—Clipping- .219 
 Letter XVI.— Advantages of Clipping— Salt Blarshes 
 
 _Hay— Green JMeat • « 236 
 
 Letter XVIL— Disadvantages of Clipping— Treatment 
 —Comparative expense of summering in the 
 
 stable and at grass— Firing 255 
 
 Letter XVHI,— Condition of Hunters resumed 276 
 
 Apoplexy, Staggers, Vertigo, or IMegrims. .201 
 
 Broken Wind ^ • - 283 
 
 Bangs and Blows • • • • • 286 
 
 Broken Knees • • » « • 287 
 
 Blisters. • • • " " • 288 
 
 Blindness - • • o . .290 
 
 Blood Vessels 297 
 
 Bleeding » 297 
 
 Curbs •••• 300 
 
 Corns -.'- • 302 
 
 Capped Hocks. 304 
 
 Castration • 304 
 
 Crib Biting 305 
 
 Catarrh or Cold • 300 
 
 Colic ' •• 307 
 
 Coat and Clipping • 310 
 
 Cutting or Interfering 314 
 
 Distemper ,,...,,,.. ,314 
 
 Diseases Hereditary ^ • • • ♦ 315 
 
 Docking • . • • » 317 
 
 Diuretics 319 
 
 Fever ...» 322 
 
 Farcy «... • 323 
 
 Firing 324 
 
 Glanders 325 
 
CONTKNTt-. VU 
 
 LkTTER X.VIll.COnlinUcd. Page 
 
 Grease ♦ 32u 
 
 Humouvb • • • • • '^'^O 
 
 Inflammation, general and local 331 
 
 Foot Lameness 339 
 
 Lampas •••• '••' 427 
 
 Legs big * ... ' 42U 
 
 iMolten Grease • - 432 
 
 Nerving * . . . . .... 432 
 
 Physic » . . . . 435 
 
 Ringbone • - . • 440 
 
 lloaring ...^ ..... 441 
 
 Rowels * 450 
 
 Teeth = -451 
 
 Salt ...... 455 
 
 Sandcrack ' • • • 456 
 
 Spavins « . • » « . • • 457 
 
 Splents -.oc».oo»co .o<,...459 
 
 Staked Horses 460 
 
 Strangles < < 461 
 
 Stringhalt = 403 
 
 Sinews . • ...... 464 
 
 Sore Backs ,....»,..... 466 
 
 Staliles 467 
 
 Thick Wind. = ,.....,...,.. 479 
 
 Thorns in Legs, and Stubs » , . . . . . 484 
 
 Thorough-pin ■> 186 
 
 Windgalls ,....= 486 
 
 Worms » c^-. . . . . . 487 
 
 Yellows ............. 4 6 1 ..... ^', .,..,. . 488 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 f ' Doubtless God might create a better berry than the strawberry, 
 but doubtless God never did." 
 
 Dk. Boteler (a Physician of old). 
 
 M. HE following remarks on the choice of Horses, 
 their management, and condition, are founded on 
 the experience of upwards of twenty years, some 
 part of which was purchased at the price at which 
 that commodity is generally sold ; and although I 
 am aware that we have not much to learn from the 
 " old ones" on this subject, yet it may amuse some 
 of my readers to see how far their ideas and our 
 own accord ; as also to shew in what esteem and 
 honour the Horse was held by them. 
 
 The object of Dr. Paley's Natural Theology 
 is to infer intention and design from the general 
 mechanism and evidences of art apparent in the 
 animal frame \ and certainly divine wisdom is in 
 nothing more conspicuous than in the infinite variety 
 of living creatures of different constructions — every 
 part of them being formed with stupendous skill, 
 and fitted with the utmost nicety to the pui-poses 
 
 B 
 
I INTRODUCTION. 
 
 for which they appear to have been intended. The 
 relative adaptation of their parts to their specific 
 purposes is one of the strongest evidences of design 
 in Him who made them ; and in no instai^ce is this 
 more clearly and positively demonstrated than in 
 the animal of which I am about to treat. The 
 description of THE HORSE has been deemed a 
 subject not unworthy of the best and ablest writers 
 of antiquity ; nor indeed has it been considered be- 
 neath the notice of inspiration itself : for grand and 
 sublime as have been the allusions to him by ancient 
 and modern authors, they all fall short of, and are 
 lost in, the majestic language applied to him by Job 
 (ch. xxxix) : " He paweth in the valley, and re-' 
 joiceth in his strength : the glory of his nostrils is 
 terrible. He swalloweth the ground with fierce- 
 ness and rage, neither believeth he (for joy) that it 
 is the sound of the trumpet." The horse has also 
 given birth to many beautiful similies. Juvenal 
 compares a degenerate person of quality to a broken 
 down race-horse ; and Tibullus elegantly intro- 
 duces an old worn-out racer to shew the transition 
 of all human glory. The tongue of an empty-pated 
 fellow has been humorously compared to a race- 
 horse, as going faster for the less weight it carries. 
 As to Homer and Virgil, they put even a poet's 
 license to the stretch when they touch on this sub- 
 ject. Each of them makes his horses of heavenly 
 extraction ; and the former takes as nuich pains to 
 trace the pedigrees of his horses as he does those of 
 his heroes. Twice he compliments Greece on the 
 beauty of her women, and her horses ; and makes 
 those of Achilles immortal, after having stood still 
 
 f^. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 3 
 
 and wept for the death of his friend Patrochis. In 
 his description of the coach-horses of Diomed, he 
 descends even to their clothing in the stable ; which 
 seems to have been ornamented in a manner suitable 
 to the tinsel and tawdry taste of an Asiatic Prince. 
 Neither has Virgil been behind-hand with him 
 here ; for, with a true Homeric spirit, he tells us 
 that the horses which Csesar consecrated when he 
 passed the Rubicon wept, and refused their food on 
 the day of their master's death. Of Virgil, how- 
 ever, it may be justly observed, that he gave to the 
 world what, in his day, must have been considered 
 most useful information respecting this noble 
 animal ; and whenever he has an opportunity of 
 introducing him in his poem, he descends to the 
 minutest particulars as to colour, shape, furniture, 
 &c, and dwells upon him in a manner that plainly 
 shews the particular esteem in which he held 
 him. 
 
 It is difficult to determine the nature of animal 
 life, but it is evident that it cannot exist without 
 certain organised parts ; and in proportion as this 
 organisation is complete, is the vigour it possesses. 
 When we compare the different species of animals 
 we find each of them possessed of powers and facul- 
 ties peculiar to themselves, and well adapted to the 
 peculiar sphere of action allotted to them. Mere 
 strength requires solidity alone ; but when, as in the 
 horse, it is united with that suppleness and activity 
 which we see them possess, what a multitude of 
 combining powers must it not require! What 
 levers, springs, &c. must be called into play ; and 
 how small a space do they occupy, at the same time 
 
 b2 
 
4 INTRODUCTION, 
 
 allowing full liberty of action ! Look at the fetlocks 
 of a horse, how small they are ! and yet we find 
 them capable of lifting a great weight in addition to 
 his own, to the height of five, six, or even seven 
 feet* from the ground, and supporting it again in 
 its descent with vastly increased force. 
 
 All bodies, animate or inanimate, derive their 
 beauty, more or less, from their aptitude to the 
 uses for which they were intended ; though among 
 the former some may be said to derive it from cir- 
 cumstances independent of this aptitude. Birds, 
 for instance, appear conscious and proud of their 
 ornamental plumes, and take no small pains to clean 
 and preserve them. What enamel, however, can 
 be much finer than the lustre of some horses' skins ? 
 In the latter — the inanimate world — variety, regu- 
 larity, and just proportions of their different parts, 
 constitute their principal beauty ; for what would 
 become of the wreathed and fluted column under a 
 pile disproportionate to its strength ? If, therefore, 
 symmetry and proportion are necessary to form a 
 perfect figure, where are they more frequently met 
 with than in the horse ? That elegance of form in 
 which there is no unnecessary weight to oppress 
 the muscles, is particularly conspicuous in the 
 better sorts of our English horses, when brought 
 into condition for hunting or racing. The regu- 
 larity and just proportion of their limbs confer a 
 peculiar grace and beauty on the body to which 
 
 * It is wonderful what a bound or spring some horses have the 
 power of exerting. In 1821 Mr. Mytton's horse^ "the Hero/' 
 cleared timber seven feet in height, with a very short run to it, 
 in Mr. Jellico's grounds in Shropshire, with Mr. M.on his back. 
 
INTRODUCTION. O 
 
 they belong ; and when we consider the good quali- 
 ties they possess — the fire and spirit of their tempera- 
 ment, yet general docility — the agility of their move- 
 ments, which we call action — their courage, their ac- 
 complishments, passive forbearance — and, above all, 
 their indispensable utility — we cannot be surprised, 
 that in all ages and in all countries they liave been 
 objects of admiration and gratitude. If, therefore, 
 the logic of Socrates be admitted, that what is good 
 is beautiful, and that fitness is essential to beauty— 
 the horse must " bear the bell" among the animal 
 creation. Exclusively of his beauty, if he be not 
 the strongest, he is the bravest and fleetest in the 
 forest ; and if custom had not dignified the lion 
 with the title of " king of the beasts," reason would 
 have bestowed it on the horse. 
 
 To some animals Providence has imparted 
 strength, to others subtlety 5 some are made dread- 
 ful by their ferocity — perhaps, in the first instance, 
 by way of warning mankind from a state of in- 
 difference which too great a security might produce : 
 but in the horse is implanted this happy combina- 
 tion of qualities, which render him so particularly 
 subservient to the pui-poses and uses of man. Were 
 his nature, with his gigantic strength, different to 
 what it is, it would be impossible to tame him ; for 
 education never alters nature. Fortunately, how- 
 ever, it is no less true than extraordinary, that ani- 
 mals which are most timid are hardest to be tamed ; 
 whereas those which, like the horse, are of a bold 
 and generous disposition — having less fear because 
 they have less suspicion — rather solicit than avoid 
 the kind offices of man 
 
6 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Frenchmen, generally speaking, are bad judges of 
 animal life : but let us hear what one of them says 
 on this subject*. " Of all animals the horse has the 
 finest turn of shape, is the most noble in his inclina- 
 tions, the most liberal of his services, and the most 
 frugal of his food. He would sooner die under the 
 weight of his labours than decline them* Is he to 
 bear his master himself, he seems sensible of the 
 honour. He studies how to please him ; and, at 
 the least signal, varies his pace ; is always ready to 
 slacken or redouble, or precipitate it, when he is 
 acquainted with his master^s will. Neither the 
 length of the journey, nor the uneasiness of the 
 way, nor ditches, nor rivers the most rapid, can dis- 
 courage him. He springs through every obstacle, 
 and is a bird whose career no impediment can 
 check." Thus far the Frenchman goes on very 
 well, and has described the sort of horse for which 
 a Melton man would have no hesitation in giving 
 five hundred guineas ; but when he comes to a more 
 minute description of his form, he produces one 
 which is only fit to carry a Frenchman. He says, 
 *' he should have a small head, be high and thin 
 chested, of a well-turned shape, with a belly some- 
 what round and tight, and thin legged. This," 
 he adds, "is the most proper for services of a 
 genteel nature, will do honour to his rider in 
 performing feats of chivalry, will excel in the 
 chase or course, and will be serviceable in tra- 
 velling, or in pursuit of the enemy." He finishes 
 by saying that the most valuable saddle horse is 
 
 * Spectacle de la Nature, 
 
INTRODUCTION. 7 
 
 the English gelding, the Spanish genet, or the 
 Arab. 
 
 That able zoologist, the late Mr. Pennant, very 
 justly observes, that the horse is found in England 
 of many mingled breeds, whilst most other countries 
 produce only one. Our race-horses, he adds, de- 
 scend from Arabian stallions, and the genealogy 
 faintly extends to our hunters. The strength and 
 courage of our draught horses are derived from those 
 of Germany, Flanders, and Holstein. The British 
 cavalry was remarkable even in the time of Julius 
 Csesar, yet we know not what was the primitive 
 breed. 
 
 Fabulists have accounted for the original birth 
 of the horse in two ways : first, that Neptune 
 created him by a stroke of the earth with his tri- 
 dent ; and, secondly, that he was begotten of the 
 wind. These are grand and poetical ideas: but 
 what Neptune had to do with horses, unless it 
 were with the hippocampi, or sea-horses, I am at a 
 loss to imagine : and although it appears he took 
 one of his names from his skill in breaking them, 
 yet I never hear of the relation between them but I 
 think of the Irishman and his horse marines. Fabu- 
 lists, painters, and poets, however, do not stop 
 here ; and although Noah is said to have refused 
 a passage in the ark to the mule, they are not satis- 
 fied till they surpass nature, and attempt to unite 
 in one figure what she has wisely divided between 
 two. By destroying nature, they substitute in- 
 fii-mities; and, however beautiful their centaur, 
 their Pegasus, their satyr, their dolphin, or their 
 mermaid, may appear in a picture or a poem, they 
 
8 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 would cut a sorry figure were they realized : and I 
 have always been of opinion, that a brawny young 
 fellow, stark naked, with a huge pair of wings on 
 his back, might {tali auxilio) just as soon be taken 
 for a devil as an angel. In this manner they, have 
 deformed and dishonored both man and horse, by 
 creating a centaur ^ and, strange to say, many 
 grave writers contend for the actual existence of 
 the monster. Plutarch mentions one as having been 
 seen at Corinth; and Pliny, who ought to have 
 known better, says he himself saw one embalmed in 
 honey, which had been brought from Egypt to 
 Rome by the Emperor Claudius. This, however^ 
 is not the last upon record ; for St. Jerome men- 
 tions, in the life of Paul the Hermit, that a centaur 
 had been seen by St. Anthony. Now, as one good 
 father could not, with propriety, doubt the veracity 
 of another good father, it seems he only doubted the 
 eye-sight of the Saint, and suspected the object to 
 have been an illusion of the devil. I think we may 
 fairly conclude that these monsters never existed 
 but in the imagination of a madman, or a poet, or 
 of some outlandish Greek who first saw a man upon 
 a horse's back, which is not altogether an unnatural 
 conclusion. Few stories, however, are moi*e famous 
 in historical fable than the battle of the centaurs 
 Avith the Lapithee, when they all got drunk at a 
 wedding. 
 
 Authors are divided as to the time when men 
 first mounted horses ; but from passages in the 
 Bible, it appears that we are indebted to Egypt for 
 the equestrian art. That it was cultivated in 
 Homer's time is certain ; and it seems the Greeks 
 
INTRODUCTION. 9 
 
 transmitted it to tlie Romans, who soon excelled 
 their masters. Herodotus, in Thalia, speaks of 
 hunting on horses in the time of Darius : also, hi 
 Melpomene, that the Amazons hunted on horse- 
 back with their husbands. Xenophon tells us 
 Cyrus did so when he exercised himself and his 
 horses. Ovid speaks of Castor and Pollux being- 
 mounted on horses whiter than snow at the hunt- 
 ing of the Calydonian boar. It does not, however, 
 appear that horses were brought into Greece long 
 before the Trojan war. 
 
 Several countries have claimed the honour of 
 being famous for their breed of horses ; butTartary 
 seems to be the indigenous one. They were great 
 breeders also in Argolis, Cappadocia, and in Mace- 
 donia. In the latter country, there were kept in 
 the Royal stud three hundred stallions and thirty 
 thousand mares ; but Epirus, formerly a kingdom 
 of Greece, seems to have been the Yorkshire of 
 the East. According to all that has been said on 
 the subject, great attention was paid to preserve the 
 breeds pure. In Tartary, a bad race-horse was 
 immediately castrated; and among the Arabians, 
 the certificate of leap and produce was delivered 
 with all the forms and accuracy of a title-deed to 
 an estate. They had three classes of horses in 
 Arabia : first, noble ; next, nearly so ; and the 
 third, common. These answer to our thorough- 
 bred, half-bred, and cart-horse. To obtain posses- 
 sion of the first class has always been very difficult ; 
 and many interesting anecdotes are upon record of 
 those whose necessities have compelled them to 
 part with them. 
 
10 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 After what has been said, supposmg it to be 
 true, we cannot wonder at the high honours that 
 have in all ages been paid to the horse, and that he 
 has made so conspicuous a figure in the history of 
 every country. Darius was chosen King of Persia 
 by the neighing of his horse, and it has been 
 gravely asserted that Alexander Avould never have 
 pushed his conquests half so far as he did, had not 
 Bucephalus stooped to take him on his back. The 
 history of this horse is elegantly blended with that 
 of his master. It appears that when brought for 
 Philip to purchase, he was extremely restive, but 
 was soon made to submit to the courage and 
 superior horsemanship of his son. This so pleased 
 the father, that, kissing him, he exclaimed, " Oh, 
 my son, seek some kingdom equal to thy worth, for 
 Macedonia is too little for thee." We are farther 
 told that he built a city in honour of the horse, and 
 called it after him. If history is to be credited, one 
 Roman Emperor raised his horse to the Consulate, 
 and another made him a guest at table, where he 
 was fed with gilt oats out of an ivory manger : his 
 stable was of marble, his collar set with pearls, and 
 his clothing of rich purple, fit for a Bishop. In 
 Morocco, horses were made saints*, and when the 
 King went abroad, he caused one of them to be led 
 before him richly accoutred, and his tail held up by 
 a Christian. Oriental Princes always sent a horse 
 as a present to their favorites. When Trajan 
 stayed at Antioch, several petty Princes sent him 
 presents — among which was a horse, that, when 
 brought before him, kneeled and bowed to him. 
 « "The World." 
 
INTRODUCTIOlV. 11 
 
 It is told of Cyrus, that having had one of his 
 famous grey horses drowned in passing a large 
 river in Asia, he was so vexed that he stopped the 
 course of it, and divided it into three hundred and 
 sixty channels. So attached was this great Prince 
 to horses and horsemanship, that among his subjects 
 it was considered a disgrace to be seen publicly on 
 foot. Among the ancient Grecians, horsemen were 
 placed above the commonalty, and next to those of 
 the highest rank and fortune. The same respect 
 Avas also paid to the Roman Equites ; and in the 
 present day a sub in a dragoon regiment thinks 
 himself equal to a captain of foot. 
 
 No trifling respect, if not honour, is paid to the 
 horses of our own country. They exceed all other 
 animals at least tenfold in their value ; and their 
 comfort and convenience are, generally speaking 
 strictly attended to. William the Conqueror im- 
 proved the breed of English horses, as did the Earl 
 of Shrewsbury in his (William's) time. In Ed- 
 ward the Sixth's reign an Act was passed to make 
 stealing a horse felony without benefit of clergy, 
 but it did not extend to other cattle ; and in that of 
 Harry the Eighth, all persons whose grounds were 
 inclosed were obliged to keep tAVO brood mares of a 
 certain size. 
 
 We are now arrived at such perfection in the 
 breeding and/orcm^ of horses, if I may be allowed 
 such an expression, that we have nothing to learn 
 from those who have gone before us : but iXieprin- 
 ciples laid down by ancient writers on this sub- 
 ject, particularly by Virgil and Pliny, both good 
 
12 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 judges, are strictly correct. The former says, if 
 you want to win a prize at the Olympic games, 
 consult the dam of your colt. This was exactly the 
 opinion of the late Lord Grosvenor, the greatest 
 breeder of race-horses this country ever saw. The 
 present Earl has confirmed it by breeding very 
 extensively from Thunderbolt, but it has been only 
 out of two or three of his best mares that he could 
 get a winner. This has also been very strongly 
 exemplified at the last Newmarket meetings by the 
 produce of the Duke of Grafton's famous mares 
 winning all before them*. 
 
 It is much to be lamented that among sports- 
 men the prejudice against, mares is so strong, as, in 
 consequence, the value of many good hunters, and, 
 subsequently, many good brood mares, is never 
 known 5 for being so generally rejected by those 
 persons who would give them the fairest chance of 
 distinguishing themselves, they fall into the hands of 
 farmers and others, who cannot for obvious reasons 
 give them that opportunity. If we look back to the 
 great performances on the road against time, Ave 
 shall find that by far the greater number of them 
 were by mares 5 and Eleanor^ winning the Derby 
 
 * The produce of Coquette, Diana, Piquet, Miltonia, Parasol, 
 Medora, Prudence, and Penelope, won (thirty times), in 1822, prizes 
 amounting to 11,3171. 
 
 f This excellent mare when in training had forty-nine engage- 
 ments, and was the winner of twenty-eight prizes : she was the suc- 
 cessful competitor for both the Derby and Oaks at Epsom ; she also 
 won the King's Plates at Newmarket and Lincoln ; the Gold Cups 
 at Oxford, Newmarket, and Egham; and 25671. 5s. in specie. 
 Eleanor was dam of Nell by Johnny, Muley by Orville, Troilus by 
 Walton, Adivehy Partisan, My Aunt Nan by Pioneer, &c. &c. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 13 
 
 and the Oaks (in 1801), and tlie running of Lord 
 Grosvenor's Meteora*, were perhaps never excelled 
 if equalled by horses. The Arabians have always 
 preferred mares to horses. They have been found 
 to endure hunger and thirst, and all other privations, 
 better 5 and although in our climate horses are sel- 
 dom put to the test in this respect, yet, when travel- 
 ling between the tropics in a desert, it must be a 
 most valuable consideration. In a race, it is true, 
 mares are put upon a par with geldings ; but it must 
 be admitted that they are more perfect in their 
 nature, and, with the exception of the period of 
 genial desire, I conceive them to be more than 
 equal to them in any kind of exertion on the road 
 or in the field. 
 
 By the Spanish proverb, " He that Avill have a 
 mule without a fault must keep none." Per- 
 fection is seldom found in any living being; but 
 certain it is, that of all animals in which perfec- 
 tion, or as near to it as their nature will admit, is 
 required, it is in a horse to carry a man or a woman 
 on the road : and were I requested by a friend to 
 purchase a good hack for him, I should consider 
 him to have given me a commission ten times more 
 difficult than if he had requested me to purchase 
 half a dozen hunters ; and for the foUoAving rea- 
 sons : — In the first place, the price offered for a 
 hack is seldom sufficiently great to induce the 
 
 * Meteora's career was truly brilliant. In addition to 14.801. she 
 won the Oaks at Epsom, the Royal Plate at Chelmsford, two Classes 
 of the Oatlands, the Audley End Stakes, twice One-third of 25gs. 
 Subscription, the Jockey Club Plate, two Cups at Stamford, the 
 Somerset Stakes, and the Cup at Brighton: She died in 1821. 
 
14 INTRODUCTION, 
 
 owner to part with him if he is really a good one ; 
 and to be a good one, he must not only be a hunter 
 inmi7iiature, but he must be possessed of many 
 good qualities that may be dispensed with in a 
 hunter. A horse may have twisted fore legs, 
 fleshy feet, thrushes, or corns; may be startlish, 
 fretful, and awk^vard in his slow p^ces, and yet be 
 a brilliant hunter over a country*. But the quali- 
 fications of a good hack are so numerous as to be 
 almost disheartening to look for them : he must 
 have good fore legs as well as good hinder ones : he 
 must have perfect feet, a good mouth, not given to 
 start, safe on his legs, gentle in his temper, and 
 quiet to ride on all occasions. A fidgetty hack, 
 however good in his nature, is very unpleasant, and 
 in hot weather insupportable. He is fit for nothing 
 but to ride to covert at the rate of twenty miles in 
 the hour ; and in that case his being a little eager 
 to get on may be immaterial, as the disease and the 
 remedy travel together. I remember asking a 
 young Oxonian whether his hack was a good one, 
 and his answer was, " Capital ! he ran away with 
 me every yard of the road (fourteen miles) to covert 
 this morning." For such quick work, however, it 
 is necessary that a hack should be well bred. A 
 low-bred one will go very pleasantly at this rate 
 for about ten miles, when he will begin to roll 
 
 * What I have now asserted was completely verified by that cele- 
 brated horse The Clipper'. His fore-legs were so twisted that he was 
 generally booted to go to covert, and his temper so awkward that it 
 was necessary that some one should accoiDpany the boy who rode 
 him to open the gates. It is almost unnecessary to add that he was 
 the property of Mr. Lindo, and perhaps the most brilliant hunter 
 that ever appeared in Leicestershire. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 15 
 
 about and become unsafe. In the language of 
 grooms, he will " cry out for his mamma." There 
 are very few exceptions to this rule, for nature 
 seldom goes out of her course to oblige any man. 
 
 There is one most essential quality, a sine qua 
 mn in a good hack, which is, that he should go 
 near the ground, and yet go safe. Perhaps it may 
 not be generally known that a horse may go vert/ 
 7iear the ground , and never make a trip; and that 
 another may lift his knee up almost to his nose, and 
 yet be an arrant tumble-down. Were I to say 
 which was the safest animal in all its paces that 
 ever came under my observation, I should have no 
 hesitation in saying it was a mare that was in my 
 own family for upwards of fifteen years, that 
 touched every stone which she passed her foot over, 
 but never made a mistake in all that time. Lift- 
 ing up the leg, or what the London people call the 
 " knee-up action," has nothing to do with a horse 
 going safe on the road. It is not on the taking up of 
 the foot, but on the putting of it down, that the safety 
 of a horse's action depends. Although I do not go 
 so far as to say (though it has been said) that the 
 fore-legs are merely pillars under the body of a 
 horse, and have little to do with his action, yet I do 
 maintain that they are entirely obedient to the 
 shoulder ; and if the shoulder command that the 
 toe shall touch the ground first, instead of the foot 
 coming down flat, with the heel well down, it is 
 no matter how high the foot is taken up by the 
 bending of the knee. What I have said may 
 appear rather paradoxical ; but a little considera- 
 tion will establish the justness of my observation. 
 
16 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 When the leg is bent, as in action, in the form of a 
 C, and the foot suspended in the air, turning 
 inwards, with a curve towards the body, were it in 
 that state to come in contact with a stone or any other 
 substance, it would pass it over without resistance 
 — being, as it were, at that time in a flaccid state ; 
 but when the foot approaches the ground, the limb 
 is extended, and the whole weight of the fore quar- 
 ters is about to be thrown upon it. If, then, the 
 base for that weight be not even and firm — if the 
 toe dig into the ground before the bearing is com- 
 pleted, a trip, and a dangerous one, is the conse- 
 quence. My argument is exemplified thus. Man 
 Avalks very near to the ground, but seldom strikes it 
 with his toe. Follow him over a path where the 
 snoAV is deep enough to trace him, and you will 
 immediately perceive that he strikes the snow with 
 his heel, but scarcely ever with his toe. If he did, 
 he would constantly be injuring himself, and would 
 soon become a cripple. The action of a man pro- 
 ceeds from his hips \ whereas that of a horse, as far 
 as his fore legs are concerned, is from his shoul- 
 ders ; but the principle is the same with each : each 
 is a piece of curiously-wrought mechanism; and 
 according to the correctness of that mechanism is 
 their action true. 
 
 Ay hen I try a horse with the view of purchasing 
 him for a hack, my trial is a very short one. I get 
 on his back, and, loosing his head, let him walk a 
 hundred yards on a foot-path. If nature has de- 
 signed him to stick his toe into the ground 
 instead of putting his foot down quite flat, by which 
 alone he can go safe^ he will do so two or tlu-ee 
 
INTRODUCTION. 17 
 
 times before he goes that distance. There are little 
 undulations in a road of that description which are 
 scarcely perceptible, and for that reason will imme- 
 diately detect this sort of action. If, on the other 
 hand, he walk smoothly over it without touching 
 it, I try his other paces, and if I like them I have 
 no reason to fear his tumbling down. There are 
 other ways in which horses fall down on the road. 
 One is by sudden starting, w^ien their legs " fly 
 from under them," as it is termed 5 and another by 
 what is called " a false step," that is, by placing 
 the foot on a ^tone that rolls from under itj or 
 from the giving way of any substance on which 
 they may tread j also from the corns or thrushes, in 
 which case they come down to the ground more 
 suddenly, and with greater violence than when the 
 fall is occasioned by a stumble. Falls, however, of 
 this nature generally proceed from want of energy 
 in their action, and a good use of their hinder legs ; 
 but as circumstances of this nature will occur on all 
 roads, it shews the necessity of never trusting a hack 
 entirely to himself. With the exception of post-boys 
 and commercial travellers, few persons have ridden 
 the road more than I have done ; and I attribute the 
 trifling number of falls I have had to never trusting 
 my horse. I have always made it a rule to feel his 
 mouth lightly, and generally more with the bradoon 
 than with the curb, and for the following reasons : 
 In the first place, to go safe on the road, a horse 
 must carry his head where nature intended he 
 should carry it, and by riding him on the bradoon 
 he will ])e the more inclined to do so. Secondly, 
 by always feeling his mouth, liOAVever lightly, you 
 
 c 
 
18 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 are enabled to give liim assistance immediately on 
 liis legs failing him, Avhen a very little will be suffi.- 
 cient to restore the equilibrium: but if you ride him 
 on the curb, with a loose rein, he may be nearly 
 down before you feel him ; and when the centre of 
 gravity is lost it is not so easily restored. Feeling 
 a horse's mouth in this way is a still greater secu-^ 
 rity from falls proceeding from any of the last men^^ 
 tioned causes, as so little previous warning is gene- 
 rally given. A few years since I was riding to 
 covert with a master of fox-hounds who rode heavy, 
 and seeing him going along at the rate of twelve 
 miles in the hour, up and down hill, with his reiris 
 on his horse's neck, I observed to him that I should 
 be afraid to trust him. His answer was, that " he 
 could not fall." The very next time he rode him, 
 however, he did fall, rolling completely over him ; 
 and, had it not been that the ground was soft, must 
 in all probability have killed or seriously hurt him. 
 However pleasant and wholesome horse-exercise is, 
 it has been remarked that no man who gets on a 
 horse knows how or when he shall get off him ; and 
 certain it is, that when, under any circumstances, 
 we trust our safety to another, the insurance be- 
 comes dou])ly hazardous. Common precautions 
 therefore are neither to be despised nor neglected. 
 A leg, a thigh, or a skull is soon fractured ; and a 
 a really good and safe hack is not only, as I before 
 mentioned, the most scarce and difficult horse to be 
 met with, but invaluable to a man who rides much 
 on the road, particularly after a certain time of life 
 has gone by. 
 
 Although it is not necessary, ox tp be expected^ 
 
INTRODUCTION. 19 
 
 that a hack should be a hunter, yet a hunter, to be 
 perfect, shoukl be a good back, and his value is much 
 increased by his being so. I remember hearing 
 a person speaking of a hunter, by a covert's side in 
 Leicestershire, which was for sale 5 and, among 
 other good qualities, he mentioned that he was 
 a nice horse to carry a woman on the road. 
 ^' Whose horse is that?" exclaimed my Lord May- 
 nard, who was within hearing. " I will give two 
 hundred guineas for him; for a horse that will 
 carry a Avoman Avell will always carry a man." 
 The chief paces for a hack to carry a gentleman are 
 the walk and the canter. A very quick trot is a 
 most ungentlemanlike pace, and only fit for a 
 butcher; besides which it wears out a horse much 
 sooner than a canter, from the weight being all 
 thrown upon one fore leg at the same time ; AA^hereas, 
 in the canter, it is equally divided between both. 
 Added to this, a canter is much more easy, as well 
 as safer to the rider, the horse having his haunches 
 more under him than Avhen he trots, thereby more 
 likely to recover himself in case of making a mistake, 
 which the best is sometimes subject to. Fast trot- 
 ting also distresses a horse more than cantering, 
 because in the one he is going up to the top of his 
 speed, and in the other much below it. Trotting, 
 however, has been more in vogue lately in the 
 sporting world; and the match between JMr. 
 Barnard's mare, of the Arabian breed, and Captain 
 Coltson's horse, for 500gs. was a wonderful per- 
 formance. It appears that the mare, who won, 
 did the last mile wjthin six seconds of the rate of 
 twenty n^les in the hour without being pushed — the 
 
 c2 
 
W INTRODUCTION, 
 
 speed of the horse having fallen off. Had the race 
 been continued for one other mile at the pace the 
 mare did the last, she tvoulcl have trotted ten miles 
 in the eoctraordinary short space of half an hour 
 and fifty-two seconds'^. 
 
 Some cantering horses appear to consult the ease 
 and comfort of their riders by never breaking into a 
 trot until pulled up for that purpose ; and I have met 
 with a few in my time that did not appear to })e 
 going more than eight or nine miles in the hour, 
 and yet were gomg eleven. This is the perfection 
 of action in a hack ; and I never see one getting over 
 the ground in this delightful and smooth manner, 
 but it brings to my recollection the anecdote of 
 a gentleman who sent for his huntsman into his 
 dining-room to inquire after the sport of the day 5 
 when, after describing the country he had drawn 
 over, and the run he had had, he finished by saying 
 
 that " his hounds went like hell and d ?z, and 
 
 the old mare carried him like oil! " 
 
 Demosthenes being asked what Avas the first 
 point in oratory ? replied— ^action. What the 
 second? — action. What the third ? — action. Had 
 the sage Grecian been catechised in this way as to 
 his opinion of a horse, he could not, with all his 
 eloquence, have expressed himself more aptly \ for 
 action is everything : without it the finest form is 
 of no avail; althougli in justice we must admit 
 
 * This event took place on Tuesday, June 4th, 1822, in the 
 Grove Park, near Gerrard's Cross, Bucks, over a two-mile circle. It 
 was to trot nine miles against each other, and to start at different 
 ends of the two miles. It was as fine a race as ever was run, and both 
 were neck and neck at the seventh mile, when the horse began to fall 
 a little off his speed. 
 
INTRODUCTION. 21 
 
 that Ave do not often find very tine shape and make 
 unaccompanied by it. Sometimes, however, there 
 is an helplessness and want of energy about a well- 
 shaped horse which we cannot account for — arising, 
 perhaps, from some physical cause not apparent to 
 the eye. I have frequently been asked my opinion 
 of a horse when standing in the stable. My answer 
 has invariably been, " Let me get upon his back, 
 and I will tell you." A judge, however, may form 
 some idea of what a horse is before he mounts him, 
 from the position of those two most essential points 
 — the shoulders, and the hinder legs ; for if they 
 are not in their proper places, it is in vain to look 
 for true action. You may as well expect an ass to 
 play the fiddle, as a horse to carry his rider plea- 
 santly, unless he have good lengthy shoulders and 
 well-bent hinder legs. A friend of mine, who is 
 become fastidious in his judgment, goes so far as to 
 say that no horse can have a good mouth with straight 
 hinder legs. He is so far correct, inasmuch as no 
 horse Avith straight hinder legs can pull together ; 
 therefore neither his head nor his heels can be where 
 they ought to be ; and consequently he can never be 
 fit to carry a gentleman. 
 
LETTER L 
 
 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 Ha d some sensible and rational groom given 
 to the world the result of his practice in the stable, 
 I should not have taken up my pen on this humble 
 subject, conceiving he would have been better 
 qualified for the task. But as no instructions of this 
 nature are before us, and they appear to be much 
 wanting, I will endeavour to furnish them to the 
 best of my ability. It is not from veterinary sur- 
 geons, or from books on farriery, that this informa- 
 tion is to l3e derived. Mr. White's is the only one 
 on this subject that I ever was possessed of. It 
 appears to be written by a man who understands 
 his profession, and his practice is rational and safe. 
 He has a long chapter on condition ; but he writes 
 as a veterinary surgeon, treating scientifically of the 
 anatomy and pathology of the horse, and stating 
 such defects as operate against getting a horse into 
 condition — as also reconnn ending some preventives 
 of disease after hunting, &c. But for directions as 
 to work, feeding, and other means by Avhich Ave are 
 to get a horse fit to appear by a covert-side, we look 
 in vain. Mr. White, hoAvever, as I before observed, 
 is a veterinary surgeon j and it is not, generally 
 
M CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 speaking, from veterinary surgeons that we are to 
 expect such directions. Their attention is turned 
 to more important subjects ; and it is from those 
 alone who have made it either the business or 
 amusement (labor ipse voluntas) of their lives to 
 superintend the management of hunters, that we are 
 to receive practical and useful directions. Among 
 the latter I may class myself. For twenty years of 
 my life I have had a stud of hunters ; and although 
 I have had two as good grooms as fall to the lot of 
 most men, I never gave them controul over my 
 horses in the stable j but acted on the principle that 
 two heads may be better than one, and that the 
 person who rides the horse is a better judge of his 
 state than the person who cleans him. 
 
 I shall endeavour, therefore, to detail the result 
 of my own practical observations on this most 
 essential point — a point on Avhich depends not 
 only the place which every man who rides to 
 hounds is to maintain in the field, but his safety in 
 that place ; and — what is of no small importance, 
 from the high prices at which horses have lately 
 been sold — the safety of his horse afterwards. 
 
 In illustration of argument, or in corroboration 
 of facts, it is impossible to avoid sometimes talking 
 of oneself, particularly on such a subject as this; 
 but I beg the reader to understand that it is my wish 
 to suggest, rather than dictate. I shall, therefore, 
 merely describe that method of treating the hunter, 
 hi his preparation for the field, which I have found 
 to be the most safe and advantageous — leaving 
 others to judge of its propriety, and to adhere to 
 theii* o^n plans, if they prefer them to mine. The 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 25 
 
 bituatioii of a liunter, well ridden up to hounds, is 
 one of great peril and danger ; and it may be some 
 recommendation to the plan I have pursued, that in 
 a long series of years I have never had the distem- 
 per in my stable, nor more than one dead horse 
 dragged «^ut of it. I may also add that I have had 
 more than jny share of success with my horses. 
 
 ]Mr. Locke was of opinion that such is the 
 diversity of the tastes and relishes of men, that it 
 Avould be difficult to ^Ynte a book which might not 
 please some ; and one of the " old ones" has ob- 
 served, that every man should do somethhig to make 
 himself useful and profitable to mankind If, then, 
 by communicating the result of my experience on 
 this subject, I may amuse some, and be the means 
 of enabling others who pursue the diversion of fox- 
 hunting, to do justice to the physical powers of 
 their horses, and thereby diminish their suflferings 
 (for suffer they nuist), from the Avork Avhich they 
 are put to perform, I shall not think my time has 
 been mis-employed* It is a subject on which 
 theory is worth little. The information required 
 must be the result of practice or close observation 
 alone. Be it remembered, that it w^as at the sug- 
 gestion of a cobbler that the Grecian painter altered 
 the shoe of his figure. If I differ from some old- 
 established rules, it will be on the principle that no 
 notions, however handed down to us, Avhich our 
 reason cannot approve, should influence our judg- 
 ment in matters of this nature, but we should be 
 solely guided by what appears rational and true ; 
 and " he who will not reason is a bigot, and he who 
 cannot is a fool." Ignorance and prejudice are 
 
26 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 fading fast, and common sense finds its way into the 
 stable, as well as into other departments of general 
 economy, and knowledge predominates over igno- 
 rance and error, as man governs other animals. 
 
 The word " condition " is one of the widest 
 latitude. Dr. Johnson defines it thus : — " a quality 
 by which anything is denominated good or bad*" 
 Strictly speaking, therefore, the adjective ' good,' 
 or ' bad,' is wanting to give it its proper significa- 
 tion. It has, however, been generally applied in a 
 favorable light. Our old writers were wont to call 
 men of rank and fortune "gentlemen of condition," 
 and in our own times, if we see a horse, or a piece 
 of land, looking well, we are apt to say " they 
 are in condition." As, however, by the word con- 
 dition, Avhen applied to the horse, we mean a state 
 quite contrary to a state of nature, it follows that 
 art is necessary to produce it 5 and as all measures 
 which tend to throw nature out of her destined 
 course hj violence are bad, it also follows that 
 time, great caution, and judgment are necessary in 
 the use of them 5 for which reasons it is not in the 
 power of every man calling himself a groom to get 
 a horse into condition. In the first place, it 
 requires a larger stock of strength of mind than 
 persons of this description are generally possessed 
 of, to induce them to lay aside old prejudices and 
 customs 5 and, what is a still harder task, to acknow- 
 ledge that they know nothing. That there are 
 scientific grooms it is true ; men capable of getting 
 a stud of horses into perfect condition without the 
 master's eye ; but it is not in the power of every 
 man who keeps his hunters to get them. They are 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 2f7 
 
 scarce ; and their demands for wages, and other 
 concomitant expenses, are not within the reach of 
 us all. 
 
 In the common language of the stable, a horse 
 is said to be " in condition" when he is full of 
 flesh, has a shining coat, and a healthy look 5 
 whereas, with all these outward appearances, being 
 in perfect health, he may be quite incapable of 
 exerting his physical powers with effect: for 
 although, in some measure, the skin may be said to 
 be the complexion of a horse, yet it is more by the 
 feel than by his look that his good or bad condition 
 is to be appreciated. 
 
 It is well known that animals in a state of 
 domestication exhibit powers unknown in their Avild 
 and natural state j and so does man. With respect 
 to the latter, it has been ascertained by the hynano- 
 meter, or measure of strength, of Regnier, that the 
 physical powers of man hi a savage state are only 
 as 51 to 69 of that of a Frenchman, and 7 J of that 
 of an Englishman. Good food, aided by exercise, 
 invigorates the muscles by consolidating the flesh ; 
 and the texture of the body depends, in great mea- 
 sure, on the food on which all animals live. 
 
 Next to the nature and accomplishments of a 
 hunter, his condition is of the first importance. In 
 my own opinion it has ahvays been considered of 
 such paramount necessity^ that I have thought no 
 pains or expense ill bestowed to obtain it ; having 
 so often proved that a middling horse in condition 
 will beat a good one not fit to go. The system 
 which I have adopted for upwards of twenty years 
 is noAv becoming more general 5 but Avhen I first 
 
^8 CONDITION 6F HUNTERLi 
 
 Commenced it, it was quite contrary to that pursued 
 by my friends and neighbours; and particularly 
 obnoxious to my groom, who told me my horses 
 would be ruined — that every feed of corn they ate 
 in the summer was thrown away upon them — that 
 their legs would be spoiled — their feet conti-acted ; 
 and that they would be blind, broken-winded, &c. 
 The system I allude to is, never o give a hunter 
 what is called " a summerh' run at grass/' and, 
 except under particular and very favorable circum^ 
 stances, never to ttiim him out at all. 
 
 When the utility of any generally adopted prac- 
 tice becomes doubtful, it is entitled to a fair dis- 
 cussion 5 but before we condemn it we should be 
 certain that it is wrong ; and when a man takes 
 upon himself to contradict received opinions, and 
 prejudices sanctioned by time, he should bring 
 valid proof of what he asserts. He should set aside 
 the authority of others, and use his own reason. 
 He should refer to his own experience, which is 
 the surest test of truth. When, however, a gentle- 
 man undertakes to interfere Avith his groom in the 
 management of his stable, he has no trifling diffi- 
 culties to contend with. The pride of science is 
 humble ^^^hen compared with the pride of igno- 
 rance ', and ignorance and presumption accompany 
 each other. He must, therefore, be prepared for a 
 contest ; but he has the staff in his own hand, and 
 he is wrong if he yields it to another. 
 
 I am now called upon to state why I consider 
 the practice of turning out hunters to what is called 
 " a summer's run at grass," to be injurious to them, 
 and why I prefer my own plan of never turning 
 
CONDITION OP HUNTERS. 29 
 
 them out at all, except, as I before observed, under 
 particular and favorable circumstances. 
 
 As I was not in the world fifty years ago, I can- 
 not tell what hunting was in those days ; but I have 
 often conversed with those who have seen, and 
 described it 5 and I should conceive that the Revo- 
 lution of the French empire could not have been 
 more complete than has been that of fox-hunting 
 within the period alluded to. The style of the 
 hound, the horse, and the man* who rides him, 
 have all undergone a change in the regular march 
 of time 5 and fox-hunting has not been excluded 
 from that blaze of new light that has dawned on 
 our present age. Whither this light will extend, 
 or what it will set fire to, is not for me to trouble 
 myself about here. It is enough for me to observe, 
 that whenever improvement finds its way into one 
 part of an establishment, it must be accompanied 
 by improvement in others, or the benefit of it is 
 lost 5 and if the fox t and the hounds go faster in 
 1822 than they did in 1772, the horse that follows 
 
 * A modern fox-hunter, stepping out of his carriage by a covert 
 side, looks more like as though he were going a-courting than fox- 
 hunting. Those of the Old School thought this was carried too far. 
 The late Mr. Forrester, of Willy Hall, in Shropshire, who hunted 
 that country many years, gave his coverts, when far advanced in life, 
 to a pack of fox-hounds set up in his neighbourhood by some far- 
 mers. Having ridden out one day to see them, he was asked how 
 he liked them .'' " Very much indeed," replied the veteran : 
 " there was not one d — d fellow in a white-topped boot among 
 them." 
 
 t A fox found by the drag, as was the custom in former days, 
 as soon as it was light, and before he had digested his chicken, could 
 not be supposed to run so fast as one whipped out of an acre of gorse 
 at one o'clock in the afternoon, as is the fashionable time at present. 
 
30 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 them must go faster also. When I began to look 
 at fox-hoimds, on a pony, m the Christmas hlidays, 
 they appeared to me to be a different khid of ani- 
 mal to those which I have seen since. Compara 
 tively speaking, harriers now go the pace of fox- 
 hounds in those times, and fox-hounds that of grey- 
 hounds. The style of horse, the seat upon him, 
 have all been revolutionized, and fox-hunting in 
 some countries must soon change its name to 
 " racing after afoocP When a celebrated hard 
 rider comes to confess that he was beaten two miles 
 in twenty-two minutes, Avith a good horse and a 
 good start, which I was witness to with the Duke 
 of Rutland's hounds, what can be the difference 
 between going over Leicestershire on a hunter 
 after a fox, or going over the Beacon at New- 
 market on a race-horse? The pace, Avhen going, 
 must be nearly the same \ and the only thing that 
 can enable the hunter to continue it, is the relief 
 he gets by being pulled up at his fences. If, there- 
 fore, the pace of a hunter— and it is the pace that 
 kills — is anything like the pace of the race-horse, 
 the preparation for that pace should be in some 
 measure similar, or we must admit that he has not 
 fair play. 
 
 There is an expression at the beginning of this 
 paper which is entitled to particular consideration. 
 I say, that " all measures which tend to throw 
 nature out of her destined course hy violence are 
 bad (j). 26)." Noav we must be aware that nature 
 never intended that a horse should eat a peck or 
 six quarterns of corn in a day, besides beans or 
 peas j be kept in an u«dev oxygenated atmosphere. 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 31 
 
 instead of the pure air ; be clothed, sweated, and 
 cleaned — to say nothing of the work he is called 
 upon to perform. If then his nature is, as it were, 
 to be thus changed, how can we expect that it can 
 be done but by slow degrees ? " Use," says the old 
 proverb, " is second nature ;" but the Avord use 
 implies custom, and custom is not established but 
 by length of time. How, then, can we reasonably 
 expect that a horse turned out to grass for the sum- 
 mer, and taken up, full of bad flesh, the iirst week 
 in August (which is about the time those who are 
 in the habit of turning out their hunters generally 
 take them up), should be in condition, and fit to go 
 to hounds by the end of October, or the beginning 
 of November? As I have before observed, we 
 think ourselves lucky if Ave can bring a race-horse 
 to the post, fit to run, in eight or twelve months j 
 but a hunter is to be made fit to follow hounds in 
 as many Aveeks ! Nature, hoAvever, let me repeat, 
 Avill not be put out of her course by violence, and 
 time alone Avill admit of the change Ave Avish to 
 produce. Training-grooms are Avell aAA^'are of this ; 
 and those Avho entrust their horses to them have too 
 often occasion to repent of not having sent them 
 sooner to their stables, to prevent their being hur- 
 ried Avith their Avork and condition. If, then, time 
 is so necessary in the hands of a training-groom 
 Avith a horse Avhich is sure to have been in a certaui 
 degree of Avork, and preparation, previous to his 
 ai'riving under his care, AAdiat chance can a hunter 
 have to be in condition in November Avhen he is 
 taken out of a rich pasture in August? Ask a 
 training-groom to look at a hunter that is Jit to go^ 
 
32 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 and observe what lie says. He will first feel his 
 crest, and then laying his hand flat on his ribs, he 
 will tell you if he likes him. " This horse is Avell : 
 his flesh feels as if it had been taken off, and well 
 put on again." Now, as before a horse can be in 
 condition his bad flesh must come oft' him, as cer- 
 tain as the horn at the top of his foot must 
 find its way to the bottom of it, think what time it 
 must take to accomplish this change, if it is to be 
 accomplished, without injury ? In proof of what I 
 assert, look at all persons' hunters in the month of 
 March. They are then in condition^ just as there 
 is no further occasion for it, and with most of them 
 it is all going to be destroyed by four months' run 
 at grass. Observe to a friend at the beginning of 
 the season, whose horse has been at grass in the 
 sunmier, that he is not looking well, but is sweat- 
 ing, and all in a lather as he trots along, and he 
 will tell you " it is the month of November — a 
 month so bad for horses ; but in a short time he 
 will look as well as any man's horse," What an 
 excuse would this be for Mr. Prince or Mr. Rob- 
 son, should they bring a race-horse to the post out 
 of condition at the Houghton Meeting in Novem- 
 ber! A horse, if he is a sound one, is to be got 
 into condition by any given period of the year, if 
 time be allowed to do it as it should be done. 
 
 A friend of mine, who has tried the powers of a 
 horse as much as any man could do, has justly 
 observed, that " grass is a very good preparation for 
 a bullock for Smithfield market, but a very bad one 
 for a hunter." As for myself, I have long been of 
 opinion that more hunters are ruined by being 
 
 # 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 33 
 
 turned out to grass, than persons are generally 
 aware of; and when I see one in bloommg condi- 
 tion going to be tm-ned out for the summer, I 
 always think that it is almost even betting that he 
 never is in condition again. When I first set out 
 in life hunters were turned out under circumstances 
 still more unfavorable than they are at present. 
 They were not even physicked ; but, as soon as hunt- 
 ing was over, their clothes were stripped off, and 
 after being turned out for an hour or two for a few 
 times in the middle of the day, to prepare them for 
 the change, they were sent to take their chance — 
 perluxps on some strong feeding land — to meet the 
 young grass, as it was called, and there to remain 
 until about the 12th of the succeeding August. 
 This was done under the false impression that spring 
 grass purges horses ; whereas it has been clearly 
 proved that if a horse goes out to grass foul, 
 he comes up from it still more foul. The load 
 of bad iiesh he acquires in this state may be 
 termed a sort of " oleaginous dropsy," the effect of 
 a general atony of the absorbents, created by the 
 immense quantity of succulent food he devours, 
 and by the sudden stop put to the evacuations by 
 sweating, and other means resorted to when in 
 regular work. In later times horses have had the 
 advantage of being cleansed by physic before they 
 are turned out ; but even this cannot prevent the 
 evils attending the practice of giving a hunter what 
 is called " a summer's run at grass." To say 
 nothing of the accidents they are subject to when 
 turned out at large — as most diseases of horses 
 ^rise from plethora — their being at liberty to 
 
S4 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 gorge themselves uncontrolled is frequently pro- 
 ductive of diseases of various kinds. Nor, indeed, 
 can we wonder at it. Habit, or rather custom, 
 cannot so far overcome natiu*e as to admit of an 
 animal being kept eight months in the year in a 
 warm stable, and in an equal temperature, and the 
 other four to be exposed to the noon-tide heat and 
 midnight cold with impunity. These extremes 
 cannot fail to produce an increased action of the 
 arterial system. Inflammation often attacks (per- 
 haps unperceived) those organs which are most 
 readily influenced by local irritation ; hence blind- 
 ness, and what is vulgarly and stupidly called "a 
 grass cough"-^— ending in broken wind, or roaring- 
 are produced, 
 
 I have hitherto appeared to have been speaking 
 of the evil of turning hunters out to grass, as far 
 only as regards the state of their bodies, without 
 a reference to that of their legs and feet, which 
 have generally been the chief consideration with 
 those who have pursued that plan. I have, how- 
 ever, no hesitation in saying that the idea of a 
 summer's run at grass being beneficial to the legs 
 of a hunter is a most erroneous one, and that Avith 
 respect to the feet, they may, by proper manage- 
 ment in the stable or loose house, derive all those 
 advantages which they would receive from grass. 
 As what I am going to say on this subject may be 
 contrary to the generally received opinion of many, 
 I shall l)e careful to assert nothing but what I have 
 confirmed by actual experience. I have had in my 
 stable, as all men who have kept tliem must have 
 had, two hunters with their legs equally round, 
 
 
CONDITION OP HUNTERS. 35 
 
 full, and '^ knocked about," as we are apt to say, 
 by a season's hard work — full of bangs, blows, and 
 contusions of all descriptions. I have turned one 
 of them out to grass, after being properly phy- 
 sicked, and I have kept the other in a loose house, 
 also well cleansed by physic. At the end of two 
 months I have found the legs of the horse in the 
 loose house perfectly tine, and reduced to their 
 natural size ; and I have found those of the other, 
 which was at grass, as x'ound, or nearly so, as when 
 he first went out. Let us give ourselves time to 
 inquire into this matter, and ^ve shall no longer 
 wonder at the result of the experiment. If we in- 
 jure one of our own limbs by a strain, a blow, or any 
 other cause, €lo we continue to use it, or do we give 
 it rest? Does a horse in training injure one of his 
 legs by a blow or a strain, which from the nature of 
 his work he is so liable to, does he go on with his 
 Avork, even if not lame, or is he " indulged," as 
 they call it in the stables, with two or three days' 
 walking exercise, which they term rest .^ All this 
 applies to the hunter. To say nothing of his gallop- 
 ing over the hard ground— perhaps leaping — I think 
 I may venture to assert, that, at the most moderate 
 calculation, he travels on an average at the rate of 
 half a mile in the hour, or twelve miles in the course 
 of the day and night. At this pace, if he is at grass 
 for three months, he travels one thousand miles. 
 Some horses, I have no doubt, exceed this dis- 
 tance ; but the thousand miles, or say five hundred 
 if you like, must be a bad recipe for limbs which 
 have been injured by hard Avork and strains, and 
 
 d2 
 
36 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 whose sinews and fibres have lost much of their 
 proper tone and vigour. 
 
 Before I proceed any further on this subject I 
 do not wish the reader to suppose that I am averse 
 to hunters being turned out, as I before observed, 
 " under favorable circumstances," the nature of 
 which I shall explain hereafter. All that I con- 
 demn is the practice of throwing a horse out of his 
 condition by a long run at grass. I am aware that 
 the dews of the evening may be favorable to the 
 feet of horses; but I also contend that they can, by 
 proper management, receive all those advantages 
 in a loose house during the summer months. As I 
 have set out by promising to assert nothing but what 
 T have experienced the truth of, I shall state the 
 case of a horse of m}^ own which was in my stable 
 for fifteen years, with the exception of one winter's 
 run. He Avas a thorough-bred horse, and had run 
 several times at Newmarket and other places. 
 He had a. chronic cough on him when I first 
 became possessed of him, which affected him after 
 his water, and when he got foul in his body. His 
 feet, as is too often the case with thorough-bred 
 ones, were disposed to contract. He was also a 
 hard-feeding, gorging horse, and took ten drachms 
 of aloes, generally aided by calomel, to stir his 
 bowels. Now as it was not tried I cannot presume 
 to say what would have l^een the result of the 
 experiment; but I have every reason to believe 
 that had that horse been turned out to grass for half 
 those fifteen summers he would have been broken- 
 winded. When I shot him, at twenty-one years old, 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 37 
 
 he was in beautiful condition ; and his feet remained 
 perfectly sound until within three months of his 
 death, when disease attacked one of them, and I 
 thought it too late in life to attempt to remove it. 
 
 In the case of masters of hounds, I am aware 
 that the plan of keeping hunters up in the summer 
 cannot be so easily accomplished, from the number 
 of their stud 5 therefore servants' horses must take 
 their chance. They are, however, generally taken 
 up soon, and get into work by degrees, in cub 
 hunting, which gives them an advantage ; and 
 Avear-and-tear of horses of this description is to be 
 calculated upon as a matter of course by those 
 who keep fox-hounds. When Lord Sefton hunted 
 Leicestershire, his own horses, that cost him six or 
 eight hundred guineas each, were ridden about in 
 the summer quietly, with the hounds, although 
 they were turned out at night under favorable cir- 
 cumstances. It was impossible to exceed the con- 
 dition these horses were in, to carry high weiglit. 
 
38 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 LETTER 11. 
 
 OBJECTIONS AGAINST TURNING HUNTERS 0«rT TO A SUMMER'S 
 HUN AT GRASS.— PHYSIC. 
 
 My princijial objections against turning hun- 
 ters out to a summer's run at grass, as far as 
 relates to their legs, consist of three. The first is, 
 the great risk Ave run of injuring their legs by the 
 work we are obliged to give them, tvhen heavy ^ 
 to get rid of the load of flesh which they have 
 accumulated at grass. My eyes were opened on 
 this subject by witnessing the progress of a stable 
 of hunters belonging to a friend of mine, with 
 whom I AA^as on intimate terms. He was a heavy 
 man, and generally had a stud of five or six hunters, 
 which he was in the habit of turning out for a 
 summer's run in strong feeding land. The conse- 
 quence was, they came up overladen with flesh 
 about the last week in July, or the first in August. 
 When in the stable no man's horses were better 
 looked after, for he was a good judge of such 
 matters ; but towards the end of September, or the 
 beginning of October, I always found that out of 
 these five or six horses he had two or three lame 
 ones. On questioning him as to the cause of their 
 lameness, I was generally told they had thrown out 
 a bit of a splent, got a blow on their legs, or some 
 trifling reason was assigned. It, however, too often 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 39 
 
 happened that they Avere either obliged to go 
 through the process of blistering, perhaps the ope- 
 ration of tiring, and then not fit to ride till after 
 Christmas. I, however, soon found out that it was 
 the work these horses were doing, before they were 
 fit to work — the galloping under this loadoff^esh — 
 that destroyed their legs ; and the example before 
 my eyes led me, twenty years ago, to the determina- 
 tion that turning out a hunter to a summer's run at 
 grass to help himself to as much food as he pleased 
 to eat, and accumulate this load of flesh, Avhicli 
 Avas to be got rid of oidy at the expense of his 
 legs, was a most pernicious system, and was the 
 cause of the number of lame horses which I met 
 with in the stables of my friends. From that period 
 to the present I have never given a hunter a sum- 
 mer's run at grass, nor Avould I recommend any one 
 to do it who wishes to be well carried to hounds, 
 and to preserve his horse to a good old age. Rest 
 from his labours, I admit, is essential to a hunter 
 as Avell as to a race horse. It will not do to have 
 him always going ; or, like the race horse, he will 
 get stale. Green meat is also necessary 5 at least, 
 cooling and wholesome ; but that is to be had in a 
 loose house ; and a small piece of land — a few 
 square yards — if his OAnier has no paddocks, is suffi- 
 cient for him to exercise himself in, and keep him- 
 self in health. If it Avere not so, Avhat Avould be- 
 come of stallions that live this kind of life for 
 twenty years together, and do well ? The influence 
 of habit on animal economy is very strong, and 
 soon overcomes nature* 
 
 With respect to the feet of hunters, all the 
 
40 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 advantages obtained at grass are witliin our reach in 
 the stable. I have heard and read a great deal 
 about horn contracting in oil and expanding in 
 water: but we want neither oil nor water. It is 
 moisture that we require, and not wet. The latter 
 is so far from being serviceable to the feet of 
 horses, that it is really injurious. Let those who 
 doubt what I say keep a horse for six months in 
 sponge boots, and see what a state his feet will be 
 in. We read in history that the horses in Hanni- 
 bal's army were rendered useless by travelling 
 three days successively in water. Their hoofs (for 
 shoes they had none), we are told, came off. They 
 would have travelled for thirty days over a sandy 
 desert with less inconvenience. By watering a 
 hunter three times a day in the summer at a pond, 
 or in a running stream, and keeping his feet 
 stopped, three times a week, with cow-dung mixed 
 with clay, or damp (not wet) tow stuffed into them, 
 we have all the advantages that can be obtained in 
 this respect, by turning him out to grass. As to 
 what we hear, or read, of the bad effects of stand- 
 ing on hot litter, as disposing horses' feet to contract, 
 I do not listen to it, as my answer is — what busi- 
 ness has a hunter to be standhig on hot litter ! 
 There always is clean straw to be had, and a boy 
 to set his bed straight, whether in a stall or in a 
 loose house. 
 
 ]My second objection to turning hunters out to 
 grass is one which escapes the observation of 
 manyj and that is, the great stress which is laid 
 upon the sinews of the fore-legs of most hunters 
 lohen in the act of gracing. It is Avell known that 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 41 
 
 the legs of horses are sekloni, if ever, luucii longer, 
 at any period of their lives, than they are when 
 they are foaled, or at least at the expiration of the 
 first year j and that the body, when at maturity, 
 rises to the height prescribed, as it were, by 
 the length of the legs. This, however, chiefly 
 applies to horses which have been reared in 
 a natural state, and not forced by corn, Avhich most 
 colts now are, that promise to make valuable or 
 first-rate hunters. In this case, more than usual, 
 or, we may venture to say, intended gro^vth of the 
 body takes place, which, whilst it adds much 
 to their value, and produces what we so much 
 prize — the short-legged horse of power and size- 
 yet it makes it very difficult for such a horse to 
 reach the ground Avith his mouth, his head being tso 
 far from it when erect. Indeed, he cannot do it 
 without either half kneeling down, or greatly 
 straining his fore-legs. I lately witnessed a strik- 
 ing proof of what I here assert : I saw a remark- 
 ably fine hunter in the act of fillhig hhnself with 
 grass ; and the only way in which he could get at 
 it was by placing one fore-foot close to his hind 
 ones, and the other close to his mouth, when it 
 was on the ground, and even then there was a 
 tremor in his legs which too plainly shelved the 
 stress laid upon them to enable him to reach his food. 
 We have all experienced this, more or less, as we 
 have let our horses stoop to drink in shallow water. 
 My third and most essential objection to turn- 
 ing hunters out to grass is, not so nuich on ac- 
 count of their legs and feet— for A^dthout good legs 
 and feet horses may go very Avell over a country — 
 
42 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 but it is the destruction of their condition which is 
 so detrimental to them, for it is impossible that it 
 can be restored by the time they are required to go 
 into the field again*. 
 
 With respect to the effect of condition on the 
 horse, it is in the stable of a post-master that I take 
 my stand. When I see a pair of under-sized, ap- 
 parently worn-out, horses put to what,^ in the 
 language of the road, is called " a bounder," that 
 is, a gentleman's carriage with three in and two 
 out — with " everything belonging to the family," 
 as the post-boys say, " but the kitchen grate :" 
 when I see these animals draw this load a fifteen- 
 mile stage in the morning without difficulty, re- 
 turn home, and take another such a load in the 
 evening: — when I see them, with skins as fine as 
 race horses, standj out exposed to all weathers, 
 washed all over when they are hot, and all this 
 with impunity; I ask myself what enables these 
 animals to do this ? Is it their natural physical 
 strength? Is it the goodness of their nature? 
 JMy reasoning faculty^ tells me it is neither. They 
 would both fail* No ! it is solely to be attributed 
 
 * It so happened that whilst (July 26, 1822) in the act of ^vriting 
 this, the groom (as he is called) of a neighbouring gentleman 
 called on me with a message from his master, and the following con- 
 versation passed between us : — " Has your master taken up his 
 hunters?" — "No, Sir, he never takes them up till the first of 
 August; but this year he has only one to take up." — " How so?" — 
 " He has sold one, and the other cUed last week." — " Of what did 
 he die ?" — " Of the blood." — " What do you mean by the blood ?" 
 — " He was so terribly fat, his blood stagnated : the mare is terribly 
 fat too." — " How shall you get it ofFher ?" — '' Oh, we sweats it off." 
 — " How are her legs?"—" Very middling." Here the conversa* 
 tion ended. 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 43 
 
 to the six, eight, ten, twelve, perhaps, fourteen 
 years' hard meat which they have got in them — 
 to that consolidation of flesh, that invigoration of 
 muscle, that stimulus to their nature, which this 
 high keep has imparted to them— which give them, 
 as it were, a sort of preternatural power ; inasmuch 
 as but for that stimulus they would never be able to 
 perform more than half of what we see them do. It 
 is true that during the progress of this preternatural 
 state, or, what on the road is called the seasonings 
 many of them lose their eyes, get big legs, &c. ; but 
 this is chiefly owing to no preventive means being 
 taken by their owners, who tind it more to their 
 account to let them take their chance of losing an eye^ 
 or perhaps both, than to lose their work, from phy- 
 sicking, &c. which cannot be done without rest from 
 their labours. I have, however, no hesitation in 
 saying that a horse, provided he is of a sound, good 
 constitution, may be kept on hard meat, and highly 
 fed, for twenty years, if he live so long, without 
 suffering in his wind, limbs, or eye-sight, if he be 
 Avell groomed, and what the veterinary surgeons 
 call prophylactic or preventive remedies are 
 properly administered. We all know that from 
 the great length of the arterial system, horses are 
 subject to inflammatory complaints ; but these com- 
 plaints are acknowledged either to proceed from 
 atmospheric causes, or to accompany sudden changes 
 of food, temperature, &c. and more commonly 
 attack horses that may be said to be only " half in 
 condition," horses that are ridden about the country, 
 and exposed to such disposing causes. What these 
 preventives are I shall take occasion to mention as 
 
44 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 I proceed. To the three objections which I have 
 now stated to turning out hunters to a sunmier's run 
 at grass, I might add a fourth ; and that is, the bad 
 effects which arise from the constant stamping of 
 their feet to get rid of the flies, which materially 
 injures them, and is often productive, not only of 
 splents, but of ringbones, than which nothing is 
 more difficult to cure. 
 
 Having recapitulated the disadvantages of the 
 too common method of turning hunters to grass for 
 the summer, I shall now state in what way they 
 should be treated during those months when 
 hunting ceases. My first object, it plainly appears, is 
 to obtain condition, and to obtain it in a manner 
 least injurious to the animal ^ve have to deal with ; 
 and as it is useless taking up time in exposing past 
 errors, I will proceed to detail the plan I would 
 pursue ^vere I a servant employed to get a stud of 
 hunters into condition. It has been the fashion of 
 late to be intricate on the plainest subjects; but 
 saying much does not prove much. " JVo?i est quod 
 multa loquamur.^^ My argument will be the vul- 
 gar one of experience; and I will endeavour to 
 make myself understood, so that, should any gentle- 
 man choose to let his groom read what I have 
 "written, he may not mistake my meaning. In my 
 humble opinion writing on such subjects as these 
 should he nothing more than a sort of literary con- 
 versation between the writer and the reader ; and, 
 after all, as Aristotle observes, perspicuity without 
 meanness is the perfection of style ; and common 
 expressions must be best; for, had they not been 
 proper, they -would not have been common. 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 45 
 
 I have before made some comparisons between 
 the race horse and the hunter {p. 30), conceiving 
 the treatment of the one to be in many respects 
 applicable to the other. I need not repeat my con- 
 viction that condition is equally essential to both. 
 The chief points of difference between them appear 
 to be in the sort of work they are called upon to 
 perform. The one is not more than a few minutes in 
 completing his task ; whereas the other is often ten 
 or twelve hours about his. The preparation, there- 
 fore, must be different ; and much as I admire the 
 economy of the racing stal)le, particularly their 
 feeding and regularity, I would not fix upon a train- 
 ing groom as exactly qualified to get a stud of hun- 
 ters into condition, any more than I would choose a 
 thistle-whipping huntsman to hunt a pack of fox- 
 hounds. In the first place, the training groom 
 would be apt to draw his horses too fine for the con- 
 tinued fatigue they have to go through ; and in the 
 next, although I admit that there is no strength 
 without wind, yet he would be inclined to give them 
 more of quick work than is necessary to prepare a 
 hunter for the field. Good flesh, as I before ob- 
 served, is strength; and in the preparation of a 
 hunter, particularly if he be to carry a heavy man, 
 to get him Jiigh injiefih and strong in imrk^ is the 
 perfection of the art of grooming. In one respect, 
 however, the race horse and the hunter are nearly 
 on equal terms. Each must have work, and each 
 must have rest. The only difference between them 
 here is, that the former rests in winter, and the 
 latter rests in sunmier. Neither of them can be 
 always on their legs, or they will be equally stale 
 
46 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 ill their way. But when the race horse rests, his 
 condition is going* on. He may have some green 
 ineat given to him, if there is any to be had at 
 the time ; but at all seasons of the year he is iievev 
 deprived of his corn. 
 
 Lest it should be supposed that I am averse 
 to turning hunters out at all in the summer months, 
 it will be better, perhaps, not to proceed farther 
 without explaining myself on that head. So far 
 from being averse to it, I would strongly recom- 
 mend it, under favorable circumstances. In case 
 of having recourse to blistering, it is most service- 
 able ; and after firing, almost necessary — but then 
 they should be turned out only at nighty and into a 
 place where there is but little grass, and have two, 
 if not three feeds of corn a day, but nothing else 
 to eat till they go out, unless it be a few vetches, for 
 four or five days 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 evexy one 
 who keeps hunters that has paddocks to turn them 
 into ; nor, indeed, do they fall to the lot of many : 
 but Avhen they are to be had, the advantage is 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 with them to keep it 
 down. Their bite also sweetens the herbage, and 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 47 
 
 makes it more mitritious ; but paddocks sliould 
 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 suffi- 
 cient. Let it be hurdled around, and then lined 
 with fagots 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 the fence. The fagots, 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 inclir.e 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 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 anything effectual can be done 
 for them, when the injury has been considerable. 
 
 I think I need say no more to convince the 
 reader of my full conviction of the injurious method 
 of turning hunters out to a summer's run at grass, 
 and shall conclude that part of my subject with an 
 anecdote which a friend of mine furnished me Avith 
 the other day, so much to the point that I hope I 
 shall be pardoned for introducing it here. I only 
 lament that I have not the pleasure of knowing the 
 
48 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 lady ill question, that I might have an opportunity 
 of conversing further with her on a subject on vi^hich 
 her ideas were so congenial with my own. My 
 friend Avas walking in the streets of London, when 
 his eye was attracted by a remarkably fine pair of 
 long-tailed coach-horses, which, by the arms on the 
 pannel of the carriage, appeared to ])e the property 
 of a rich old maid. On complimenting the coach- 
 man on their comely appearance, he remarked that 
 " they were very well for their age — one of them 
 ])eing twenty-six, and the other twenty-three years 
 old."—" I suppose," said my friend, " they have 
 been much indulged." — " Not they, indeed. Sir," 
 said Coac/tee ; " they work as hard as anybody's 
 horses on these London stones, and my mistress 
 goes all over England with them to the watering- 
 places in the sunnner; and as for grass, they have 
 never tasted it since we have had them, for she says 
 she is sure it mould give them the belly-ache.''' The 
 old lady, it seems, acted on the good old principle 
 of letting ivell alone ! 
 
 Before I enter upon the system which I have 
 pursued, and which I so strongly reconmiend, I 
 will make a few remarks on what is called the Old 
 Plan— that is, giving a hunter three months' run at 
 grass, and taking him up the end of July or begin- 
 ning of August — accompanied with some observa- 
 tions on what I conceive to be the best and safest 
 method of treating them under such disadvanta- 
 geous circumstances. The common method of 
 treating the hunter that has been at grass has been 
 to bleed him the third or fourth day after he comes 
 to the stable, and about the seventli or eighth to 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 49 
 
 give him his first of a series of three doses of phy- 
 sic. The only remark that I have to offer here is, 
 that the bleeding is not only useless, but improper ; 
 and the Avaiting seven or eight days for (in the 
 language of grooms) " a little hard meat in him ," 
 before he has his first dose, is also equally absurd. 
 As I shall have a good deal to say about physic, 
 and its effects, in another place, I shall only observe, 
 that, as physic is to be given at any time, and under 
 any circumstances, with perfect safety, the sooner 
 the hunter has his first dose after he comes into the 
 stable, the better he is enabled to withstand the 
 sudden change from the natural to the artificial 
 state to which we are al;)out to subject him ; and 
 the sooner will his habit of body be prepared 
 for that excitement which his subsequent exercise 
 and change of diet are certain, more or less, to pro- 
 duce. I have seen some of my acquaintance give 
 their hunters physic when at grass, with the hope 
 of preventing their getting too fat ; but their expec- 
 tations have failed, inasmuch as the aptitude to get 
 flesh always increases after a horse has been well 
 cleansed by physic, as training-grooms can more 
 particularly vouch for. If, however, a person does 
 turn his hunters to grass, I see no objection to their 
 giving them physic if they suspect them to be foul 
 or getting very gross in their habit, as they may do 
 it with perfect safety in all weathers, provided the 
 dose does not exceed four or five drachms of the 
 Barbadoes aloes. It may be the means of forward- 
 ing their condition, by getting sooner into work, 
 when taken up for the season. 
 
50 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 As the system of getting hunters in condition 
 which have been at grass is, in most respects, so 
 well known, it would be presuming in me to attempt 
 to give directions respecting it ; I will, therefore, 
 merely detail the plan I would pursue, had I a horse 
 to deal with under such circumstances. My direc- 
 tions to my groom should be as follows. 
 
 The hunter should be taken up certainly not 
 later than the twentieth of July. Soon after this 
 period the nights begin to get chilly, and his coat 
 would receive a check if exposed to them. It 
 would lose that soft, silky feel, which it gene- 
 rally has if the horse is in perfect health pre- 
 viously to that time. When first taken to house he 
 should be kept as cool as possible, and, if it can be 
 avoided, there should not be more than one horse in 
 every other stall^ be the stable ever so large. We 
 will suppose a man has six hunters, perhaps all kept 
 in one stable in the winter. When his horses are 
 first taken up, he should not put more than tAVO or 
 three at farthest into it, and the rest into a hack- 
 stable or loose house, with the doors or windows 
 open, so as to keep the temperature as low as he can. 
 As time is precious, and, as before observed, physic 
 is nothing more than the means of cleansing by 
 evacuation the stomach and intestines, as sweating 
 gets rid of the superfluous flesh and fat, the sooner 
 he has his first dose the better. As his bowels will 
 be relaxed by the grass he has been eating, his 
 physic should be milder than usual ; but that must 
 depend upon previous knowledge of the constitution 
 of the horse. Generally speakings five drachms, 
 
CONDITION OP HUNTERS, 51 
 
 and a half would be sufficient, if well prepared by 
 bran mashes beforehand. It is ridiculous to see a 
 horse in physic in July, just taken out of the open 
 air, where he has been for three months, clothed 
 up and hooded. He wants nothing of the sort : he 
 may be ridden out naked ; and if he refuse warm 
 water, which most probably he will, he may drink 
 at the first pond or running stream he meets with 
 in his exercise. No one holds the danger from the 
 operation of physic more cheap than I do. I could 
 fill a volume with all the nonsense I have heard 
 grooms, and sometimes their masters, talk on this 
 subject. I conceive that, with common caution, a 
 horse is in no more danger from a dose of physic 
 than his master is from a dose of salts. I do not 
 approve of strong physic ; because it is useless to 
 give it, when mild, with proper preparation, will do 
 what is required of it ; but it is not in the power of 
 a drachm or two of good aloes to destroy a horse, 
 A great Welch Baronet lost two if not three of 
 his hunters one year in physic ; but the fault must 
 have been in the drug, or some great mistake must 
 have been made. A valuable horse of my own 
 once had a double dose given him by a mistake 5 
 the consequence was, he purged for three days and 
 nights. I administered strong gruel with a horn — 
 for he was very sick — to support him through the 
 sharp fire ; but not finding it produce the desired 
 effect, and seeing his back-bone plainer than I liked 
 to see it, on the third day I gave him a wine-glass 
 of liquid laudanum, and all was well. I observed 
 he soon recovered his strengtli and appetite, and was 
 
 E 2 
 
521 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 none the worse in a few days. All this, however, 
 is a digression from my present subject. 
 
 To return to the hunter. By the time he is 
 ready for his second dose,' he will be in some mea- 
 sure reconciled to the change of temperature — from 
 the open air to that of a confined stable — and a 
 little more caution is necessary during the operation 
 of it. Unless the weather happens to be very warm, 
 he should have a hood on him if he goes out early 
 in the morning, and, at all events, oiie warm body 
 cloth, or his coat may receive a check which it will 
 not recover for some time. If he has had his first 
 dose, a day or two after he was taken up — say the 
 20th of July — allowing seven clear days between 
 the setting of each dose, he will be through it all 
 by about the 17th of August, up to which time, and 
 for a week afterwards, he should have nothing but 
 gentle walking and trotting exercise, of about an 
 hour and a half at a time, before the heat of the 
 day 5 and by no means should a brush be laid upon 
 him, as it opens the pores of his skin, and renders 
 him more susceptible of cold. Indeed, all the 
 grooming he requires at this time is to have his legs 
 well rubbed — particularly with the hand — three 
 times a day, and oftener if the circulation be lan- 
 guid, and his body well wisped with a good solid 
 hay wisp, a little damped. Should a horse have 
 had some physic at grass in the summer, or late in 
 the spring, before he was tiu*ned out, and not appear 
 foul, it may be better to stop a fortnight or three 
 weeks between his second and third dose ; and, if a 
 bit of soft ground can be found, to give him a little 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 53 
 
 work in the time. If his two other doses did not 
 work him hard, it will be advisable to add half a 
 drachm of aloes to the third dose, as it will take 
 more to move his bowels now than it did be- 
 fore he got the hard meat into him, and had a little 
 work. 
 
 Haying said that there is nothing to fear from 
 the operation of physic, I beg to be understood to 
 mean provided the horse has been properly pre- 
 pared to receive it, and the drugs are good of their 
 kind. By giving him two large loose mashes for 
 two days in succession, the bowels become so 
 relaxed as to prevent the possibility of danger j and 
 by an alteration lately made by the veterinary sur- 
 geons, of having the horse exercised on the day he 
 takes the hall^ a milder one does the business, and 
 the operation is much quickened. It generally 
 begins to work on the evening of the day he takes 
 it, and by stable time the next evening it is begin- 
 ning to set, and the horse is comfortable and well, 
 instead of enduring perhaps thirty-six hours of con- 
 tinued sickness. I have made up a great deal of 
 physic at home, chiefly Mr. White's No. 2, only 
 varying the quantity of aloes ; but I strongly recom- 
 mend my readers to procure it from a veterinary 
 surgeon in their neighbourhood, as professional 
 men prepare it in a safer and more convenient form, 
 and cold water may be given with it, with safety, 
 if a horse refuses warm. Grooms do not like this 
 alteration of exercising the horse on the day he 
 takes the ball, and will tell us it ought to lie in 
 them for a day, or it does not operate so well. One 
 
54 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 moment's reflection will convince us that as there 
 can be no virtue in the aloe but that of clearing the 
 intestines, the sooner it does its office the better. 
 They might as well say that an emetic should lie a 
 whole day in a man's stomach before it is suffered to 
 operate. If calomel were administered in the ball, 
 there might be some reason for its slow progress, 
 but nothing else can justify it. 
 
CONDITION OF HUNXiJUS. 55 
 
 LETTER III. 
 
 THE EFFECTS OF CONDITION — THE STABLE, AND STABLE 
 MANAGEMENT. 
 
 In all matters of domestic economy, maxims 
 pass from mouth to mouth, and are established by 
 tradition, without even making the experiment, as 
 that might at once give them the lie. We seldom 
 inquire into the causes of things continually before 
 our eyes. Flabitual acquaintance renders them 
 familiar to our observation, and checks that curio- 
 sity which is the strongest incentive to knoAvledge. 
 We see such things, but never inquire how they 
 came to be so. The phenomena of disease — the 
 phenomena of life itself— are not more unsearchable, 
 or more difficult to account for, than are those 
 changes and alterations which take place in the 
 condition of horses. I once heard a veterinary sur- 
 geon of great repute declare, that he would give 
 live hundred guineas if he could find out why a 
 blind horse should have a smooth coat in winter 
 and a rough one in summer, which happens to nine 
 out of ten. 
 
 We are too apt to look upon a horse as a piece 
 of mechanism which we can use at our pleasure, 
 without ever considering that the machine must be in 
 order before we can avail ourselves of its power. A 
 horse out of condition, and a horse in condition. 
 
$6 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 certainly bears more resemblance to himself than a 
 horse-chesnut does to a chesniit horse, but he is 
 assm'edly a very different-looking animal in one 
 state to what he is in the other. In persona^ if 1 
 may be allowed the expression, he is the same — 
 in re, quite another being : in the one state, he is 
 comparatively weak and powerless — in the other, 
 equal to greater exertion of power and speed com- 
 bined than any other animal which the hand of 
 nature has formed. It has lately been the fashion 
 to put the powers of man in competition with those 
 of a horse, on a journey. Clad in a flannel jacket 
 and trowsers, he may travel over as much or more 
 ground in a week than a horse 5 but put a propor- 
 tionate weight upon his back, and see where he 
 would be ! Surely the well-attested fact of Mr. 
 Highwayman Nicks' ride to York must set this 
 matter at rest* ! 
 
 The period is now arrived when the condition 
 of hunters is put to the test. Previous to the month 
 of November no man who has anything else to 
 amuse himself with, or who has a regard for his 
 neck, or his horse, should be seen by a covert's side 
 unless it be on a hack cub-hunting, which after all 
 is but a melancholy recreation. The ditches are 
 
 * In 1696j Nicks, a noted highwayman, robbed a gentleman at 
 Gad's Hill, in Kent, about four in the morning ; but, apprehend- 
 ing that he was known to the person he had robbed, made for 
 Gravesend, where he lost an hour in waiting for the ferry-boat, yet, 
 by crossing the country to Huntingdon, and then keeping to the 
 northern road, he reached York, and appeared on the bowUng-green 
 in the evening, as he proved upon his trial for this robbery. The 
 Jviry acquitted him, thinking it impossible he could be at two places 
 so greatly distant between sun and sun. 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. &7 
 
 not only so full of grass, or so " blind," as we say, 
 that the best hunter on earth may be deceived into 
 a fall 5 but the country in other respects is not fit. to 
 ride over. However soft it may be at the surface 
 from the autumnal rains, the substratum is hard ; 
 and where cattle have trodden in the preceding 
 winter, holes remain, which are not at this time 
 visible, but w hich serve as a sort of trap for horses' 
 feet, and are particularly dangerous and injurious to 
 old horses. It is not necessary that a hunter should 
 be a perfectly sound horse — that is to say, provided 
 he be not ridden over a country till it is in a state 
 to receive the pressure of his w^eight, without jarring 
 him at his fences or in his gallop. By the first or 
 second week in November, this is generally the case j 
 and if a horse has been in the hands of anything like 
 a groom, he ought by this time to be pretty well pre- 
 pared for the field. By long-continued slow work 
 — but increasing in pace as his condition increases 
 — assisted by proper stable management, he ought 
 now to appear by the covert's side Avith credit and 
 advantage. What this work should be, and in 
 what this stable management should consist, shall 
 be the subject of the following pages. 
 
 The condition of a horse must proceed by slow 
 degrees : it is the Avork of time 5 and it is in vain to 
 expect it on any other terms than as the result of a 
 long course of preparations,yo//oi<?6'f/ hy severe ivurk. 
 In a clear fortnight after he has had his last dose 
 of physic he should begin to do some Avork ; for 
 without it no progress can be made. This, hoAA^- 
 ever, should be gradual ; and for the first month 
 should consist of long protracted exercise, rather 
 
58 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 than what is called " good work." He should be 
 kept out of his stable for three or four hours in the 
 course of the day ; and if ridden gently across a 
 country, and now and then with a pack of harriers 
 (weather permitting), it will greatly promote his 
 condition, by hardening his flesh, increasing his 
 strength, and improving his wind. At this time 
 the use of alteratives is indispensable. By their 
 mild and gradual impression a healthy action of the 
 bowels is obtained, and thereby what, in stable 
 language, is called " fog," (but which might 
 more j^roperly be termed debility, or depression of 
 strength,) is got rid of, and the general appearance 
 and condition of the animal much improved. In* 
 deed, without the use of alterative medicines— 
 exclusively of physic — no hunter can .be got into 
 blooming condition ; that is to say, to look well in 
 his skin, to dry immediately after a sweat, and to 
 be in full vigour of body. Of these medicines 
 there are several sorts in use ; but the diuretic and 
 diaphoretic are in my opinion the best. It is 
 almost needless to observe that the latter act 
 upon the skin : but as sensible perspiration in the 
 horse is not to be obtained by medicine without 
 difficulty, and having recourse to larger doses than 
 may be safe or convenient for him to take when at 
 work, and it is insensible perspiration that we wish 
 to obtain, these alteratives should be combined ; 
 for it is from their gradual and almost imper- 
 ceptible operation that we are to look for the effect 
 we wish to produce. Antimony forms the principal 
 diaphoretic ; and from its weight, a sufficient quan- 
 tity—one ounce divided into four parts-may be given 
 
CONDITION OP HUNTERS. 59 
 
 him every day in his corn for eight days together; 
 but this should be given when tlie weather is warm, 
 or danger from catching cold may arise, from the 
 pores of the skin being relaxed. With proper pre- 
 cautions, however, none is to be apprehended, and 
 the effect on the general health and appearance of 
 the horse is striking. If the diaphoretic alterative, 
 in the quantity above stated, be not given before a 
 horse begins to work, and the weather becomes 
 cold and wet, it is better to combine it Avith the 
 diuretic, by giving him a very mild urine ball twice 
 a week, for three weeks in succession, with half an 
 ounce of antimony, finely levigated, in each ball. 
 These medicines combined Avill check that excite- 
 ment of the general habit which always accom- 
 panies a transition from rest to work, purify the 
 blood, and give tone and vigour to the system. 
 Nitre has been much used by grooms as a cooling- 
 diuretic, and a preventive of disease from such 
 causes 5 but it must be borne in mind that nitre is a 
 strong repellant, and of a debilitating nature. 
 
 All this, however, Avithout a good stable, and 
 good stable management, is of no avail. It is a 
 maxim as old as Hippocrates himself, that food 
 should be proportioned to labour. Diet, therefore, 
 is a most essential point to be attended to in pro- 
 moting and preserving the condition of a horse , 
 for, as evacuation is the cure, repletion is the cause 
 of disease. Horses in a state of nature are subject 
 to few disorders. As has been elegantly observed, 
 " they contract no disease from unseasonable 
 indulgence or inordinate revellings : the pure 
 stream their drink— the simple herb their repast : 
 
60 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 neither care disturbs their sleep, nor passion in 
 flames their rest." The state, however, in which we 
 keep them for the different purposes to which we 
 apply them, is strangely at variance with this tem- 
 perate and natural state 5 and it is only by constant 
 recourse to physic and exercise that we can preserve 
 their health under such trying circumstances. 
 
 We are told that in former times, before wheat 
 was found out, oats fed the vassal and his lord, as 
 they now do many a Welch Squire and Scottish 
 Laird. Formerly Avheat was given to race horses, 
 as more nourishing than oats ; but now the latter 
 form the chief food for all descriptions of horses. 
 Beans, however, have for some years been allowed 
 to hunters, and when given with discretion are 
 most beneficial. I remember hearing Mr. Warde 
 exclaim, as his hounds were settling to their fox, 
 and he expected a good run, " Now we shall see 
 what gentlemen's horses eat old oats, and what e^t 
 new." I am inclined to think that this distinction 
 may be applied to those horses which eat beans, 
 and those which eat none j for they help to bring 
 them home at the end of a long day, and support 
 their strength in a run. They are said to dispose 
 the constitution to inflammatory complaints, which 
 I believe to be the case when given in large quan- 
 tities to horses of plethoric habits, and whose work 
 is moderate , but when given in proper quantities, 
 are most nutritious and wholesome. Two single 
 handfuls in each feed of corn is the allowance for a 
 hunter who is fed (as he ought to be) five times a-day. 
 
 In the quantity of hay given to a hunter there is 
 also a great alteration within my recollection, not 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 01 
 
 more than half the quantity being now put before 
 him. About eight pounds a-day, or one truss 
 a-Aveek, is considered sufficient for a hunter that 
 will eat five feeds of corn per day. A larger quan- 
 tity is found to increase the size, consequently the 
 weight of the carcase, to injure the wind, and 
 destroy the digestive poAvers. 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 
 ahvays appear eager for his food on his groom 
 coming to him after being shut up his regular time 5 
 and if one handful of good hay be found in his rack, 
 he should have no more till next stable time, Avhen 
 his appetite Avill be sharp. If given to eat his 
 straAv, the setting-muzzle, in this case, must be 
 made use of. 
 
 In consequence of the lateness of the hour of 
 meeting Avith hounds — noAv seldom before eleven 
 o'clock — hunters do not require so much food as 
 they formerly did, Avhen they Avere out a much 
 greater number of hours from their stables ; and 
 there is no doubt, but at the pace hounds noAV go, 
 an empty stomach is necessary, or Avhy put the 
 muzzle on the racehorse? In Leicestershire this 
 short alloAvance of hay has been carried to a great 
 extreme; but a full belly Avill not do for that coun- 
 try ; and amongst the Meltonians horses are not 
 required to come out often, OAving to their generally 
 having such large studs. 
 
 Hunters are not ahvays to be fed alike; 
 
62 CONDITION OF HUNTERS, 
 
 allowance should be made for the distance to 
 covert \ for when a horse has to go twelve or four- 
 teen miles in a 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 Avater on 
 the morning of hunting, that is a point not so much 
 considered as it ought to be, for we shouldbe guided 
 by his constitution. If he is apt to scour, and 
 throw off his meat on the road, I should recommend 
 his having none 5 but if, on the other hand, he holds 
 his meat well in him, has some distance to go, and 
 is not called on till 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 the 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 upon 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, and be subject to the 
 effects alluded to. 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. One would suppose that this apparent 
 derangement of the bowels would be most injurious 
 to a horse which has to follow hounds j hut I 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS, 68 
 
 remember being in the company of a very heavy 
 and desperate rider, when this suljject was dis- 
 cussed, and he assured us, that were he called upon 
 to say on what day he considered himself to have 
 been carried across a country in the best style, and 
 with the least distress, he should say that it was by 
 a horse that scoured most violently on his road to 
 covert, and looked like a shotten-herring when he 
 got on his back. All, therefore, that can be said on 
 this subject is, that there are exceptions to all rules, 
 and that the case in point is in favour of an empty 
 stomach and a short allowance of hay. One thing- 
 is certain, that it is scarcely possible to tire a sound 
 man, when in strong exercise, with an empty belly j 
 but give him a good dinner and a bottle of wine, 
 and he is soon defeated. 
 
 When on this subject, perhaps I may be excused 
 for introducing an anecdote of a naval officer, who 
 resided some years back not a hundred miles from 
 Gloucester. The captain had a very good mare, 
 on which he appeared one day by the covert side as 
 usual, when, on some one remarking that she 
 scoured very much, he observed that she had got a 
 dose of physic in her. It appeared that his groom, 
 thinking that a little rest Avould be of service to 
 himself and the mare, had given her a dose of phy- 
 sic without his master's knowledge ; but the cap- 
 tain was not to be shoved off in that way, and after 
 d — g his eyes about half a dozen times, sent her to 
 covert, and rode her the run,Avhich she performed as 
 if nothing more than common had occurred. This, 
 we must also admit, is in favour of an empty belly. 
 
64 CONDITTON OF HUNTERS. 
 
 I now come to the corner-stone of all conditions 
 in horses — ^the stable, and stable management — the 
 latter of which has undergone considerable altera- 
 tion since I first began to keep hunters. 
 
 Were I to I'ecount the numerous instances of 
 the benefits arising from good, and the evils, dis- 
 asters, and dangers which I have witnessed from 
 bad, condition in my own and other persons' hunters, 
 I could fill a volume. I shall, however, content 
 myself with one or two instances of the beneficial 
 consequences of good condition. 
 
 A very intimate friend of mine, well known in 
 the sporting world, and an excellent judge, gave 
 one hundred and fifty guineas for a horse palled 
 " Hermit ;" but soon after he purchased him he was 
 obliged to go into Leicestershire — not to hunt, but 
 for the purpose of having the advice and assistance 
 of the famous Doctor Chesher, for an injury of his 
 spine, occasioned, it was supposed, by riding a hard- 
 pulling horse. Being obliged to remain under his 
 care for the space of two years, he took a house, and 
 amused himself in the winter with his greyhounds, 
 of which he had some of the best in England, as 
 they proved themselves by their running at New- 
 market and other places. During this time Hermit 
 was kept in lavender. He had an excellent loose 
 box, and his condition went on the same as if he 
 had been constantly hunted. In the summer he 
 was physicked, soiled, fed with carrots, and ridden 
 quietly about, with every now and then a gentle 
 sweat. In the winter he was regularly sweated, 
 ridden with the greyhounds, and had soiiie good 
 brashing gallops, by wliicb means, sbcI being in the 
 
CONDITION OP HUNTERS, 65 
 
 hands of an excellent groom, his condition was as 
 perfect as it was possible to make it. He looked 
 hig, and rather full of flesh ; but it was that sort of 
 flesh which increased rather than diminished his 
 strength. 
 
 It is true that Hermit was a particularly fine 
 fencer, and, if I may be allowed to apply such an 
 epithet to a horse, he was an elegant goer in all his 
 paces; but when well clapped to over a country, he 
 had not the reputation of being a stout horse. It 
 might be said of him, as was said of another horse 
 by a celebrated sporting character who wanted to 
 account for his not turning out to be quite so bril- 
 liant a hunter as he had represented him to be to a 
 person who had purchased him — that he was a very 
 good horse when he went his own pace, but when 
 he wanted him to go his pace, he did not suit him. 
 This I take to have been in some measure the case 
 with Hermit. When the pace was not tremendously 
 quick, he was a delightful horse to ride over a coun- 
 try, with a perfect snaflle-bridle mouth, and he 
 could hop over all the gates in the country with the 
 elegance of a Vestris. In Leicestershire, however, 
 he was unknown as a hunter, any farther than now 
 and then appearing by a covert's side, with his 
 Owner on his back, but who was forbidden the plea- 
 sure of riding him to hounds. Notwithstanding 
 this — notwithstanding that he had never been seen 
 to do anything in that country but canter up and 
 down by the side of a covert, and hop over a gate or 
 two, which was as easy to him as going through it 
 — yet, strange to say, he was purchased by the late 
 
 F 
 
66 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 Capt. St. Paul, at the enormous price of sixhundi-ed 
 and fifty guineas ! ! 
 
 NoAV, reader, we will suppose that this Hermit, 
 who only four years before was purchased at the 
 vulgar price of thirty-five pounds, had been turned 
 out for the two preceding summers in one of those 
 fat meadows in Gloucestershire by the Severn's 
 side, where his owner lived, and had been taken 
 up in the months of July or August, where, under 
 such circumstances as I have mentioned, Avould 
 have been found the six hundred and fifty guinea 
 customer ? No ; it was to his blooming condition 
 — the work of two years — and to that alone, that 
 his owner was indebted for the immense price he 
 got for him. His frame was brought to a pitch of 
 perfection, by a continuation of high keep and 
 good grooming, that made him quite a different 
 animal to what nature had intended him to be. 
 
 A curious and rather unfortunate circumstance 
 attended Hermit's dehut in Leicestershire with his 
 new master on his back. In a most severe burst, 
 he stood still in the middle of a field, and went into 
 strong convulsions. His rider bled him in the 
 mouth for instant relief, which being observed by 
 Mr. Loraine Smith, a caricature soon made its 
 appearance, representing the scene described, under 
 Avhicli were written the following words : " An 
 Apostle administering relief to a distressed Hermit." 
 It is but justice to observe that the horse was not 
 well when he went out in the morning; and all Avho 
 have witnessed Captain St. Paul's manner of 
 " putting them along," can easily conceive the pos-. 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 67 
 
 sibility of his riding a better horse than Hermit 
 into convulsions. In the course of a short time, 
 however, Hermit came to the post again, and vras a 
 great favorite of his master's for many years after 
 he quitted Leicestershire. 
 
 F 2 
 
68 CONDITION OlF HUNTERS. 
 
 LETTER IV, 
 
 STABLE MANAGEMENT— CASE OF FERRYJIAN. 
 
 Horses are to be purchased in all places and 
 at all times, but condition is not to be purchased 
 with them j for which reason, he who wants to 
 increase his stud should always buy his horses in 
 the spring of the year, having then the summer 
 before him, in the course of which, if the animal 
 is a sound one, his condition can be accomplished. 
 Upon this principle I looked into Tattersall's some 
 years since in the month of May, when I perceived 
 a strong, cross-boned looking horse, with some good 
 hunting shape about him^, " going " at 50/., and 
 before I could get around him to ken him over, he was 
 " gone." Finding he was purchased by a dealer, 
 I gave him five pounds for his bargain, and took 
 him away with me. Soon after my arrival at home 
 I met with a person who knew him, and who 
 informed me that he was got by Joe Andrews, and 
 was a capital fencer, but that he could not be kept 
 in condition in the stable 5 that his legs always 
 filled after work ; and, in short, to use his own 
 emphatical words, he looked like a hunted devil in 
 ,the winter. 
 
 Here, then, was a field for experiment. On 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 69 
 
 looking at this horse, I accounted for his not being 
 kept in condition by being satisfied that he never 
 was in condition. He loooked all head and shoul- 
 ders, and his belly was gone. I was immediately 
 convinced that there was a debility and a want of 
 tone about him that could alone be got rid of by 
 an entire change of his constitution, and which 
 change could only be effected by the stimulus of 
 high keep, assisted by alterative medicines and good 
 grooming. Suspecting that his organic powers 
 were weakened, and to prepare him for the change, 
 I gave him three doses of very mild physic, only 
 five drachms of aloes at intervals of twelve days, 
 which I found quite sufficient to work him after 
 two days preparation by mashes. In the course of 
 the summer I put him through three courses of mer- 
 curial alteratives, and gave him three feeds of good 
 old oats per day. He was never out of his loose 
 box, except to drink at a pond twice a-day, and ate 
 no green meat, with the exception of a few vetches 
 twice, for six days in succession. He had three 
 more doses of physic, equally mild, in the month of 
 September, and I hunted him the following season. 
 I found him exactly what my friend had described 
 him to be— an uncommonly fine fencer and a good 
 winded horse, but in other respects no better than 
 the common run of hunters. When they were 
 sick, he was far from well, and no liberties could 
 be taken with him. His legs filled after work, his 
 flesh melted away like butter in the sun, and he 
 would not come again, after a hard day, under u 
 week or eight days. 
 
 The next summer I treated this horse precisely 
 
70 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 in the same manner as in the preceding one, 
 with the exception of giving hun two bushels of 
 oats a-week, if he would eat them ; and at the 
 commencement of the second season I witnessed 
 the change that had taken place in his constitution. 
 His legs were perfectly fine before and after work, 
 and he fed well ; his body spread, and his carcase 
 dropped j and he did not sink, as before, from the 
 effect of a good day's work. Hounds, on some 
 days, could neither go too fast nor too long for him ; 
 and in consequence of his clearing a high timber 
 fence at the end of an hour heat pace, I sold him to 
 a Noble Lord for two hundred guhieas, who, from 
 his being so capital a brook-jumper, changed his 
 name to Ferryman, and one day saw out all the 
 second horses on him with Sir Thomas Mostyn's 
 hounds, in a most severe nm from Shuckburgh, 
 bringing his rider a long distance home at night, 
 when several horses were left hi all parts of the 
 country. 
 
 Notwithstanding what I have said this was not 
 naturally a good horse. When I first had him I 
 could beat him to a stand-still in a quarter of an 
 hour, and to the last he had his good and bad days. 
 In some respects he was favored by nature. From 
 his great length of frame he had a particularly 
 smooth way of going over ridge and furroAV, Avith- 
 out which no horse can live long over a country at 
 anything near the top of his speed : leaping was, 
 comparatively, little exertion to him, and his pipes 
 were remarkably clear. With all these advantages, 
 however, it depended upon whether he were fit to 
 go that he could carry a man to hounds 5 he required 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 71 
 
 but little work, for if not above himself he was soon 
 beaten. To sum up all, when his condition was 
 good he was good. If not lit to go, he would not 
 — he could not go ; for he was by nature a very mid- 
 dling horse. 
 
 I think I have in this instance clearly shewn 
 the good effect of condition, or the power of art 
 over nature. With respect to the horse in question 
 it is certain that in a natural state he was a bad 
 horse. In an artificial state — that is, in good con- 
 dition, from a long succession of hard meat and 
 strong work— his natural defects were removed, 
 and he became a good horse 5 for at times he was 
 a brilliant hunter, and certainly one of the most 
 gentlemanlike horses that was ever ridden over a 
 cotmtry. I shall mention one other circumstance 
 respecting him, and then dismiss the subject. 
 
 On going one day into my stable I observed my 
 groom in the act of giving him a dose of physic, 
 and was proceeding to turn his head around again 
 to the manger, but not seeing the ball go down his 
 gullet, I desired him to let him remain where he 
 was. In about five minutes he brought the ball 
 back again through Ms left nostril into my hand. 
 This being something new to me I was alarmed, 
 and sent for a neighbouring farrier, who was very 
 expert at the operation, to give him the next ball, 
 when, after a struggle, he produced it in the same 
 way, but it was followed by a small quantity of 
 blood. The farrier told me he had only once 
 Avitnessed a case at all similar to this, and that was 
 of a stallion to whom a whole e,gg was given, which 
 got up into his head and killed him. Whether this 
 
72 CONDITION OP HUNTERS. 
 
 easy passage from tlie throat to the head had any 
 thmg to do with the clearness of wind which Ferry- 
 man possessed, I leave others better acquainted with 
 anatomy to determine. 
 
 I think I need add no more to prove the value 
 I set upon the condition of a hunter — being no 
 less in many instances than that of the horse him- 
 self. For example, how many horses have I seen 
 that I should have been glad to have purchased at 
 much more than the price asked for them, if I 
 could have purchased condition at the same time ? 
 But to see a promising horse in the middle of the 
 season, when he is immediately wanted, with his 
 coat curling in all directions, and his flesh as soft 
 as beef upon him, what expectation is there of any 
 thing but disgrace and danger from the possession 
 of him ? 
 
 As no workman can make good work without 
 good tools ; so no groom, however good, can get a 
 horse into condition without a good stable. In the 
 first place it must be dry— in the next, it must be 
 warm. I am aware that what I have to say on this 
 subject will be objected to by some of the old and 
 slow ones, who preach against the dangers of hot 
 stables; but, for my own part, experience has led 
 me to declare, that so far from ever having witnessed 
 the ill effects of a hot stable, I never saw a hunter 
 in good condition out of a cold one. Nay, I will 
 go further, and assert, that a horse, which no exer- 
 tions of his groom can get to look and to be well 
 in a cold stable in the winter, shall, on his being 
 removed into a warm one, be in good condition in a 
 month. Not being a philosopher I cannot explain 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 73 
 
 the why. and the wherefore of this apparent pheno- 
 menon. All that I can say is, that it is 6o y and 
 were I to hear Sir Humphry Davy himself expa- 
 tiating upon the impropriety of horses being 
 shut up in a hot stable, breathing an under-oxyge- 
 nated air 5 were I to hear him say that atmospheric 
 air was the very pabulum of animal existence; 
 that it is contrary to nature and nature's laws to 
 breathe any other— I should listen to it all, unable 
 to answer him ; yet I should say to ray groom, don't 
 mind what the philosopher says j stop up every 
 crevice in the stable, taking care only that there be 
 a pipe or two to take out the foul air. Never 
 mind the fresh air, enough of that will find its way 
 through the key-hole, but let there be a vent for 
 that which is fetid* It is not in compliance with 
 the prevailing fashion of the times that I speak 
 this language. Were my object to keep a horse 
 merely in a state of convalescence, I should keep 
 him in a cool stable ; l:>ut if I want to prepare him 
 to follow a pack of fox-hounds, with a man upon his 
 back determined to ride hy the side of them ^ I must 
 keep him in a warm one. Why this is so I cannot 
 exactly prove ; but that does not alter the case : 
 my argument is the vulgar one of experience : 
 " seeing is believing ;" and we might as well reject 
 the truth of geometry, because we maybe unable to 
 comprehend the higher branches of it, as deprive 
 ourselves of the effect because we are ignorant of 
 the cause. 
 
 " Felix qui potuit verum cognoscere causam." 
 We are all, however, wise after experience \ 
 and a man should be committed for contumacy who 
 will not believe what he sees* 
 
74 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 I have always thought that there is a striking 
 analogy between a horse and a man, as far as their 
 condition is concerned. Each enters on his training 
 with physic, and concludes it with severe work: 
 each is at his best when least reduced by sweats : 
 each is capable of doubling his natural and ordinary 
 poAvers. The skhi of the horse is also his com- 
 plexion; and it is not until the prize-fighter strips 
 in the ring that his good or bad condition is ascer- 
 tained. Nothing can exceed the beauty and lustre 
 of some horses' skins Avhen in what is called 
 " blooming condition j" on the other hand, nothing 
 can be more unsightly, or even appalling, than the 
 death-like appearance of the staring coat of half- 
 starved dog-horse awaiting his fate in the kennel 
 orchard on a cold winter's day. Let us therefore 
 l)estow a little time hi endeavoring to discover 
 why a Avarm, or what by many would be called a 
 hot, stable is essential to the good condition of the 
 horse. 
 
 It is with all improvements upon old systemSj 
 as with every infant science, we believe before we 
 consider, and condemn before we investigate; by 
 Avhich the simplest truths are too often disputed. In 
 the first place, we nmst recollect that the horse is 
 originally a native of a warm country; and we need 
 go no farther than the Scotch Highlands or Welch 
 mountains to prove that he degenerates in a cold 
 one. We, therefore, may conclude that warmth is 
 congenial to his existence. In the second place, as 
 we find the body is as regularly renewed and 
 replenished as is the sweat of the brow, whatever 
 promotes that renovation — which Avarmth, by 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 75 
 
 increasing the circulation, must do — is in this case 
 beneficial. In the third place, they Avho attend to 
 such matters will find that the constitution and habit 
 of a horse undergo a change Avdien kept for some 
 time in a Avarni stable, favora1)le no doubt to the 
 work he has to perform as a hunter in the stable of 
 a hard-riding man. He is not that gross animal 
 which he might otherwise be if a hard feeder, and 
 kept in a state more nearly approaching to a state of 
 nature. This ^^^e may attribute to the increase of 
 insensible perspiration, occasioned by increased 
 circulation, Avhereby the grosser particles of the 
 body f^y off and are got rid of. In this state he Avould 
 bear some comparison with a well-fed English 
 farmer, when put to perform feats of activity with 
 a man of more refined habits of life, where nineteen 
 times out of twenty he Avould be defeated. From 
 the atJiletcG of ancient Greece and Rome to the 
 present day, the first process of training has con- 
 sisted in purifying the 1)ody, and preparing the way 
 for increase of vigour and activity. This Avas not 
 only done by phygic, but by SAveating, Avhicli more 
 effectually removes the superfluities of flesh and 
 fat 5 and, when added to exercise^ promotes absorp- 
 tion and secretion, and invigorates all parts of the 
 body. I do not mean to say that I Avoiild keep a 
 horse in a state of perspiration 5 but I would keep 
 him in a state of warmth sufficient to increase his 
 circulation, and keep his coat doAvn close to his 
 skin, Avhich is a certain criterion of his being Avarni 
 and comfortable. 
 
 As there is an analogy between a man and a 
 horse in Avork, let us carry it a little further, and 
 
76 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 ask whether, after a hard day's exercise in the 
 winter, a man would recover sooner if he passed his 
 evening in a warm room, or if he passed it in a 
 bivouac, or in a room that was cold and damp? 
 This I think would decide the question between a 
 warm and cold stable for a hunter after the fatigues 
 of the day* I shall, therefore, conclude my 
 remarks on this part of my subject with observing, 
 that if it be possible to get a horse to live well in a 
 cold stable, which would be a novelty to me, all 
 the grooming on earth would never get him to look 
 well in a damp one. A horse is all but a barometer, 
 being most sensibly affected by change of weather* 
 As to hot stables being prejudicial to a horse's eyes 
 or lungs, I will not admit it to be case, provided 
 there be a vent for the foul air to escape, and no 
 accumulation of foul litter be suffered to remain. 
 It is that which does the mischief; and all grooms 
 who suffer a horse's bed to become foul, or a heap 
 of damp or wet litter to remain in the stable 
 because they are too idle to take it out-side the 
 door, ought to be kicked out of it. 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 77 
 
 LETTER V, 
 
 JIOT AND COLD STABLES — . TREATMENT AFTER A SEVERE 
 DAY — CLOTHING —, HAY AND WATER — CLEANLINESS—.. 
 PVER-REACJJINQ. 
 
 I NEVER had a liunter go blind in my posses^ 
 sion, althougli I have always used very warm 
 stables, not lower than 53° of the thermometer in 
 the winter time. As to coughs being produced by 
 hot stables, I should much sooner suspect them to 
 be the produce of cold or damp ones. Blindness, 
 we know, is frequently an hereditary complaint; 
 but coughs and broken wind and blindness ^(?r«?- 
 raJly arise from plethora, the consequence of bad 
 grooming, in not having recourse to preventive 
 measures in the stable, and suffering horses to 
 accumulate a great quantity of bad flesh in the 
 summer. In a large mass of blood, as in the 
 horse, humours will circulate \ and there is in some 
 horses a strong disposition to get flesh and become 
 plethoric, which accounts for their becoming foul 
 in their work so nuich sooner than others, and 
 requiring so much more Avork to prepare them 
 for the field or the starting post. When Goosander, 
 the dam of Sailor, winner of the Derby in 1820, 
 was in training, they Avere obliged to stop and sweat 
 her the fourth day on a journey — such was her 
 aptitude to get flesh. 
 
78 CONDITION OF HUNTERS, 
 
 Although witli all descriptions of horses this 
 is the better extreme of the two, it is very injurious 
 to legs. I once had a horse of this descrip- 
 tion, which it was with difficulty I could keep in 
 any place without knocking his legs to pieces with 
 work. I sold him to a friend for a large sum, and 
 entreated him not to turn him out with his other 
 horses in the summer, as, knowing his constitution, I 
 feared the consequence — exclusively of the loss of 
 two years' condition which he then had in him. 
 He, hoAvever, was turned out, and came up 
 extremely fat, with Avhat is called a grass cough 
 upon him. In a fortnight after he had been in the 
 stable he was attacked with inflamed lungs, and in 
 a month he was broken-winded. 
 
 Setting aside natural defects and pulmonary 
 disease, which we call " distemper," arising gene- 
 rally from atmospheric causes, I should as soon 
 look for the glanders in my stable as a blind or 
 broken-winded horse, if managed in the way I have 
 described— the chief advantage of which consists in 
 not subjecting nature to violent and sudden changes, 
 and in preventing horses from helping themselves 
 to food ad lihitwn in the summer. 
 
 It is quite a mistaken notion that a horse with 
 a long coat on his back is less liable to catch cold 
 than one that has a short one. Were I in a 
 situation in life that required my riding about the 
 country, putting my horse into all sorts of stables, 
 and trusting him to all sorts of grooms, I would use 
 every means to put a good coat on him, and for the 
 following reason : — in the first place, it lies closer 
 to him, and is warmer 5 and in the next, it is much 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 79 
 
 sooner dry. When a horse has a long hollow coat 
 upon him, the wintl blows it up and exposes his 
 skin ; but, what is Avorse than all, it is many hours 
 before it is dry after a sweat, or rain, during which 
 time it must contain all the chilling properties of 
 wet clothes. A horse with a short fine coat is not 
 subject to that sudden and premature shedding of 
 it which JMr. Richard Lawrence, in his excellent 
 paper on diseases of the lungs*, mentions as one of 
 the causes of inflammatory attacks. Although the 
 skin may be said to be generally the complexion of 
 a horse, there are some horses which no exertions 
 of a groom can get to wear a good coat, and are 
 exceptions to the rule of looking well and being 
 well, of which the famous Parasol was one, even 
 when quite fit to run. 
 
 Another argument against hot stables is, that 
 horses kept in them are liable to catch cold in bad 
 weather by a covert's side. My answer to this is — 
 that if his rider will not let his horse stand still too 
 long, and iviU keep on his hack, there is no danger 
 of his catching cold. There is considerable 
 warmth in the pressure of a saddle to a horse's 
 back with weight upon it ; and there is tliat kind 
 of animation in horses with hounds which keeps 
 their blood in circulation. 
 
 NoAv I think I have said enough on the subject 
 of getting hunters into condition ; and the next thing- 
 is to keep them in it ; to make them perform their 
 work to our satisfaction, and to get as much out of 
 them as we can for our money without injuring 
 them 5 for in " bringing a hunter round again," as 
 * See Sporting Maga^imt N. S. vol, ix. p. 226, 
 
BO CONDITION OF HUNTERS, 
 
 we say, after a severe run, good stable management 
 is put to the test ; and in which some grooms will 
 jBUch excel others, as all gentlemen who have known 
 the pleasure of having a good one arid the misery of 
 a bad one can testify. I have no hesitation in say- 
 ing that one man shall bring a horse out again in 
 four clear days in better form than another shall in six. 
 
 Although it is impossible that an uneducated 
 man, ignorant of the relative powers of medicines, 
 can be a good farrier ; yet, as a man may be a good 
 farmer or a good gardener without having read 
 Cato de Re Rustica, or Mago the Carthaginian ; so 
 it is possible that a man who cannot write his name 
 may be a good groom, provided he have been 
 brought up under a good one, and only acts upon 
 what he has seen to be experimentally efficacious, 
 and does not venture out of the beaten track. As, 
 however, no man can make good work without good 
 tools, so no servant can do his duty by a stud of 
 hunters without proper materials to go to work with. 
 He must have a good stable, some loose boxes, and 
 a good saddle-room with fire-place : he must 
 have lots of horse-clothes of all descriptions, ban- 
 dages, hot water, gruel, lancets, tweezers, and a few 
 drugs — the very best old hay and corn, good 
 exercising ground, and, aboveall, plenty of strength 
 in his stable ; for there are two ways of th-essing a 
 horse— one to warm him, and the other to starve 
 him. Dressing a horse vigorously removes ob- 
 structions in the smaller vessels, promotes the cir- 
 culation of the blood, and in bad weather is a 
 substitute for exercise. 
 
 As skill and judgment are necessary in reco- 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS, 81 
 
 vering a hunter after a severe day, which I shall 
 treat of presently, so are they wantmg to prepare 
 him for it j and if not prepared he cannot go, for, as 
 old Frampton, Master of the Horse to William the 
 Third, observes, "the hest undieted cock is unable 
 to encounter the worst that has been carefully 
 dieted:" and so it is with a hunter 5 for a middling 
 horse fit to go will beat a very good one that is 
 not so. 
 
 With regard to a horse coming round after a 
 hard day, even supposing him to be in the hands of 
 the best of grooms, that must in some measure 
 depend on the stuff he is made of 5 but, generally 
 speaking, he should come out about the sixth day 
 after the severest run. If his legs have received 
 no injury, he should come out three times in a fort- 
 night, at least during the open weather 5 and he will 
 be the better for being out twice a week if there 
 have been no tiring days. Some horses require much 
 more work than others; but none of them can^o the 
 j^aoe, and continue it over a country, unless they are 
 in strong work. Were I asked when I was best 
 carried for an hour without a check, I should say 
 it Avas by a horse on whose back I had been nine 
 hours with hounds on the preceding day. This, 
 of course, was the effect of accident. A boy 
 mistook a pot of blistering ointment for one of 
 liniment for the heels, and ru])bed it well into all 
 my horses. The horse I allude to, having been the 
 property of an old lady, and looked after by her 
 coachman, had had his legs trimmed, which made 
 the hair strong and bristly, so that he suffered less 
 than the rest ; and by the help of a couple of urine 
 
82 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 balls and fomentation he soon recovered. The 
 consequence v/as, I rode him these two days in 
 succession, and I shall never forget the way in 
 which he carried me on the second. Milton, the 
 dealer, gave 250 guineas to a master of fox-hounds 
 for this horse when fourteen years old, and sold 
 him to a Metropolitan sportsman, who broke his 
 leg the first day he rode him. 
 
 I never had the curiosity to ascertain the num- 
 ber of days' hunting I have had in any one season, 
 much less the number of times any one particular 
 horse had carried me j but I recollect the celebrated 
 Captain Barclay telling me, on the last day of Sir 
 Thomas Mostyn's hunting for the season, that he 
 had been carried eighty-two times that winter by 
 four horses — being twenty times and a half to each 
 horse — which struck me as being a great perform- 
 ance, considering the Captain's weight, and the 
 strength of the country (the Bicester) in which he 
 hunted. 
 
 General rules cannot be individually applied j 
 but there is one respecting a hunter which I have 
 h^ld inviolable ; and that is, that under all circum- 
 stances, whether the intervals between his hunting 
 have been long or short, he should have a sweat, 
 and go for a mile nearly at the top of his speed on 
 the day before hunting. I have generally adopted 
 the following plan : — ■ 
 
 Let some heavy clothes be put on him, and, 
 with a light weight on his back, let him go at a 
 gentle rate six or eight times around a large field 
 that rides a little deep, till he sweats kindly. Let 
 him be followed to the place by a man^with some 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 83 
 
 dry clotlies and a scraper, and, taking him into 
 some building, or under a warm hedge, let him be 
 well scraped, and have on his dry clothes. Then, 
 if short of Avork, let him have a good gallop for a 
 mile, and walk home. This treatment, with proper 
 care, is unattended with any danger of catching 
 cold, and, if followed by a proper allowance of hay 
 and water, will give him a wonderful advantage 
 over those horses which have not been doing what 
 he has done, provided he drop into a quick thing 
 with hounds the next day. I have seen hunters 
 led to be sweated by a boy riding a hack \ but how- 
 ever great an advocate I may be for preserving horses' 
 legs by keeping weight off them as much as possible, 
 yet a horse caiinot, in my opinion, be worthy the name 
 of a hunter if he cannot carry a boy in his exercise. 
 Having laid some stress upon the words, proper 
 allowance of hay and water on the day before hunt- 
 ing, I will proceed to state what I consider that 
 allowance to be. In the first place, if a horse will 
 eat his corn in the morning without water, he should 
 have none till he comes in from exercise, and is 
 done up, which should be by ten o'clock at farthest 
 He should then have half a pail of water*, and a 
 proportion of his hay, which should not exceed, for 
 a moderately-sized horse, ten pounds a-day. He 
 should then be shut up till four, when, before he is 
 dressed over, he should have another half pail of 
 Avater, and no more until he returns from hunting 
 the next day, unless it be a few swallows on the 
 
 * On days not preceding hunting this quantity of water is not 
 sufficient. He may have three-parts of a pail in the morning, or a 
 few swallows at night. 
 
84 CONDITION OF HUNTERS, 
 
 morning lie hunts, wlien his groom first comes to 
 him. If this quantity of hay is not sufficient to 
 satisfy his appetite, and there is an appearance in 
 the morning of straw in his manger, as if he had 
 been eating it, the setting-muzzle should he put on 
 him at ten o'clock, and he should remain on it for 
 the night, hut his groom should be with him by five 
 in the morning, to relieve him. He should then have 
 his two feeds, at an interval of an hour, and proceed 
 to the covert at a gentle pace. If when there — 
 provided he have been treated in the way I have 
 prescribed — he cannot carry his rider as he ought 
 to do, we must conclude nature forbids it, as he 
 will have had every assistance from art. 
 
 Long days with hounds — by which I mean 
 severe running, with perhaps a brace of foxes, and 
 upAvards of twenty miles home afterwards — are 
 most injurious to hunters, and call forth all the 
 skill and judgment of their grooms to recover them 
 from their effects. If mere fatigue be the conse- 
 quence, rest, that vis medicatrlv oiaturce^ will do 
 all that is necessary : but if a horse is what is 
 called over-marhed^ his groom must be on the alert. 
 There are two or three directing symptoms which 
 cannot easily be mistaken. In the first place, his 
 appetite fails him, and he is very greedy for his water. 
 His respiration is not so smooth as it should be, and 
 there is a considerable relaxation in the muscles in 
 the interstices of the hips. Notice should also be 
 taken of his pulse ; but if that is not understood by 
 his groom, the inside of his eyelids should be 
 examined, and if fever is denoted by them he should 
 lose a gallon of blood, but not otherwise. A pec- 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 85 
 
 toral balJ, and two ounces of nitre in his water, 
 should be given him ; and, instead of his corn, he 
 should have what gruel he Avill drink, and a large 
 bran mash, made rather thin, and nearly cold, 
 which will be not only most grateful to him, but, 
 by relaxing his bowels, will prevent fever, which is 
 certain, more or less, to accompany him. Some- 
 times inflammation comes on very rapidly after a 
 hardday, bidding defiance to all precautions, and 
 too often, if it does not destroy him, renders the 
 horse unfit for a hunter, as it generally terminates 
 in his feet. If he does not cast his hoofs entirely, 
 they become what is termed " pumice," and take a 
 long time to recover. Horses that have had fever 
 in their feet generally go on their heels afterwards, 
 and the inside of their feet becomes convex, instead 
 of being concave. 
 
 I had a remarkable instance in my own stable 
 of the rapidity with which inflammation of this sort 
 attacks horses that have been over-marked. I had 
 seen one very quick thing of flfteen minutes, and 
 another of an hour, over the finest part of Leicester- 
 shire; and although my horse Avas at one time a 
 good deal beat, he came home very cheerfully, and 
 I had no reason to expect mischief. Before nine 
 o'clock that night, however, he w^as quite blind, 
 and nothing but the assistance of a veterinary sur- 
 geon, who was at hand, and who took nine quarts 
 of blood from him that night, and three more the 
 next morning, besides physic, clysters, &c. saved 
 his life. On the third day his eyesight returned, 
 but the fever settled in his feet, and he was only 
 fit for harness at the expiration of tAvelve months. 
 
86 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 This happened in the month of November 5 and 
 previously to my purchasing him he had been 
 turned out on very good land for the summer 
 months, to which I. attributed the loss I sustained 
 by him : for had he been in my possession six 
 months sooner, I feel confident it would not have 
 happened, as there was nothing in that day's sport 
 to have injured a horse whose condition had been 
 the work of time; 
 
 When I first began to keep hunters, we knew 
 nothing of those great restoratives in the stable — 
 jiannel bandages^ hot water for legs^ and gruel. 
 Except in case of illness they were never thought 
 of. An old writer on farriery, the Sieur La Fosse, 
 speaks of " the great advantage of keeping horses' 
 legs warm, as preventing glanders and other acci- 
 dents 5" but it is only within these few years that 
 bandages have been applied as part of the clothing 
 of a hunter — the benefit of which is, in my opinion, 
 incalculable. By their use circulation is kept up 
 in those parts where it is apt to be most languid ; 
 and the practice of washing legs in very warm 
 water, and swathing them in large folds of flannel, 
 takes off soreness and inflammation from blows 
 and other injuries, which all hunters are liable to 
 in a run over a strong country. Another advantage 
 attending them is, that they admit of a horse behig 
 shut up in half the time it formerly required to 
 clean him, which enables him to lie down, or roll, 
 which he will always do if in a loose house, before 
 he gets stiff from his work. 
 
 When a horse has had a very hard day, I have 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 87 
 
 found the following treatment safe and effectual in 
 bringing liini round again quickly. 
 
 There is a cleanliness in not letting a hunter be 
 taken into his stable until the rough dirt which 
 hangs about him is removed 5 for which purpose he 
 should be taken under a shed or into another stable ; 
 and the quickest method of removing it is by the 
 means of a birch broom. Three minutes will 
 accomplish this. He should then be taken into his 
 own stable, have two or three quarts of tepid gruel, 
 and his feet and legs above Ms knees and houghs 
 should be well Avashed in water nearly hot. When 
 sponged well with strained sponges, one set of 
 bandages should be swathed around them. His 
 head and body should be well dried, which, if he 
 is full of hard meat, will not occupy more than an 
 hour, when he should be shut up in a loose house, 
 well littered down, and a small feed of corn 
 allowed him. In about two hours his groom should 
 come to him again 5 his bandages should be taken 
 off, his legs well wisped and hand-rubbed, his head 
 and body lightly brushed over, and a dry set of 
 bandages put on. A luke-warm mash, with a feed 
 of oats in it, and three parts of a |)ail of tepid water, 
 Avith a very small quantity of hay, Avill make him 
 comfortable for the night ; and on the following 
 morning he should go to exercise as soon as it is 
 light, and be Avalked for an hour Avith an extra 
 cloth and a hood. He should have tepid Avater all 
 that day, and a liberal alloAA^ance of it, Avith his 
 usual oats if he Avill eat them, but no beans. If 
 his appetite fails him, and does not return before 
 
88 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 shiitting-iip time that evening, lie should have half 
 a cordial and half a diuretic ball mixed together 5 
 which, with a liberal allowance of tepid water, and 
 an hour and a half walking exercise on the third 
 day, Aviil so far recover him as to enable him to 
 return to his former high feed on the fourth ; on the 
 iifth or sixth have a sweat ; and on the seventh be 
 fit for business again (as far, at least, as his consti- 
 tution is concerned) after the hardest day^ and will 
 carry his rider with more ease to himself than if he 
 had not gone through it. 
 
 When a horse is in all other respects right, and 
 in prime condition, it is one of the most provoking 
 circumstances attending a stable of hunters to find 
 him with a bad over-reach^ which will prevent his 
 hunting for a fortnight, or perhaps more. This 
 injury has been generally supposed to have been 
 inflicted by the toe of the shoe ; to obviate which 
 blacksmiths most commonly square it, when they 
 shoe a hunter, leaving a small portion of the hoof 
 projecting over it. Ten years ago (from 1823), a 
 good judge of these matters informed me that over- 
 reaching was not done by the toe, hut by the inner 
 edge of the inside of the shoe ; and taking me into 
 a blacksmith's shop, he convinced me of it by pass- 
 ing my finger along this edge of a new shoe, which 
 I found was almost as sharp as a knife. It is in the 
 act, it appears, of drawing back the hind leg, after 
 having by an over-exertion of the hind quarters 
 over-stepped the fore leg, that this incision is made 
 (often half way up the sinews), which I always 
 considered was done by the toe. When made 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 89 
 
 acquainted with this, my surprise ceased at seeing 
 horses' heels and sinews nearly cut off by what I 
 supposed to be the blunt or almost round edge of 
 the outside of the shoe. I have ever since had the 
 inside edge of the hind shoes what the blacksmiths 
 call " bevelled," or rounded off, and have never 
 had an over-reach. All horses are more or less 
 subject to over-reach, particularly in countries 
 Avhere there is much brook-jumping. 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 LETTER VI. 
 
 STRONG WORK NECESSARY — ILL EFFECTS OF TOO MUCH 
 REST — NECESSARY QUALIFICATION OF THE GROOM. 
 
 ANIMALS-~particularly horses which we take 
 under our protection — are no longer strangers to 
 pain and sickness; but, like ourselves, struggle 
 through a " frail and feverish being " in continual 
 danger of their lives from illness ; besides a thou- 
 sand accidents to which they are exposed from the 
 uses to which we apply them, and the various 
 functions and operations ^vhich man, not nature, 
 calls upon them to perform. It is a subject, there- 
 fore, beneath no one's consideration as to whence 
 these evils arise, and how they may be remedied : 
 to which may be added, that in few articles which 
 contribute to the amusements of the upper ranks in 
 life is there a larger capital embarked than in good 
 hunters — several studs of which, within my know- 
 ledge, have cost their owners no less than five 
 thousand pounds, and upwards. Now, as Mr. 
 Richard Lawrence observes in his Essay on Dis- 
 eases of the Lungs, to which I alluded in my last 
 {p. 79), horses kept in a forced and preternatural 
 state are " always on the verge of some inflamma- 
 tory disease," the man who may point out one single 
 hint for their preservation, or suggest any expedient 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 91 
 
 by which their powers may be applied to advan- 
 tage, and with safety, by those who have purchased 
 them so dearly, is as much entitled to be heard, 
 and does as much good in his way, as the skilful 
 and scientific artificer who invents the most power- 
 ful and complicated machine. The one by the 
 help of his mental faculties produces mechanical 
 poAver far exceeding natural force j so the other by 
 his humble means increases animal power in a 
 ratio comparatively great. 
 
 A celebrated professor of physic in a neigh- 
 bouring nation, in the luxuriancy of his imagination, 
 considered man as a machine, and attempted to 
 explain the phenomena of animal economy by me- 
 chanical and physical principles. The pride of 
 man, however, which will scarcely stoop to take a 
 lesson from the instinct of brutes, however home it 
 may apply to him, felt insulted by this comparison 
 of intellect Avith force, and the Doctor got scouted 
 for his pains. Were I, in the indulgence of my 
 fancy, to compare a horse to anything so nmch 
 beneath him as that which could be formed by 
 man, I should say he resembled cm organ^ on 
 which, if the pipes and tubes are in order, and the 
 belloAVs good and strong, a merry tune may be 
 played with the help of a delicate finger. How then 
 this instrument (to our pleasures) is to be kept in tune 
 shall be the subject of my farther observations. 
 
 Next to the article of food in the condition of a 
 race horse or a hunter, is to be considered the work 
 he is to do ; for without the one it is no matter how 
 Avell he may be supplied with the other : and we 
 may just as reasonably expect crops to arise out of 
 
92 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 the ground without awaiting the ordeals of nature, 
 as to see a horse in condition without a long con- 
 tinuance of good food and strong work. In 
 administering work to the race horse consists the 
 chief art of training ; and it is a matter of no less 
 importance with a hunter in the stable of a man 
 who wishes to distinguish himself in the field, and 
 not to run the risk of killing his horse evert/ time 
 he goes out. 
 
 As far as regards the last mentioned circum- 
 stance, the chief consideration with me has always 
 been— not how long or how severe the day's sport 
 may have been, but how my horse has heenprepared^ 
 for it ; and it is a consolation to hard riders to 
 observe, that, in my experience in the field, out of 
 the great number of horses which I have seen tired, 
 or what is called " dead beat," with hounds, I have 
 never once known death to be the consequence, 
 unless it were to those who were short of work, 
 and not sufticiently prepared. Were I to enume- 
 rate all the instances with which I am acquainted 
 of horses being lost from this cause, it would be 
 tiresome and unprofitable to the reader; but this 
 much I will venture to assert — that it is not in the 
 power of the best run a fox can shcAV to cause the 
 death of a good hunter, in good condition, and fairly 
 ridden, provided he have been out with hounds 
 and seen a run within the five or six preceding days, 
 and had a good sweat with a good brushing gallop 
 after it on the day before, with proper attention as 
 to feed, &c. in the stable. A horse may be so 
 tired as to lie down in the field, yet it is generally 
 the fault of his owner if worse consequences ensue. 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 93 
 
 I have before observed that I never had but one 
 dead hunter (p. 25) drawn out of my stable, though 
 I have had many tked ones come into it j and I 
 in great part attribute my good fortune in this par" 
 ticular to the invariable rule I have made, let the 
 weather be ever so bad, to give my horse some good 
 strong work, and to cause him to sweat freely on 
 the day before hunting. I have always been aware 
 that when the wheels of nature are clogged, the 
 machine cannot only not go on as it should do, but 
 is in constant danger of being broken or destroyed. 
 
 It may be here observed that the race horse 
 does not sweat on the day before he runs. This I 
 admit is true ; but the race horse in training, when 
 well, is always going. He does not, like the hun- 
 ter, lie still — with the exception of an hour's walk- 
 ing exercise — for two or three days after his last 
 day's work. 
 
 Having had a good deal to do with private 
 training, I may be allowed to say that the very best 
 effects are to be found from gentle sweats, often 
 repeated. They keep a horse light and free in his 
 body, without that injury to his legs by what are 
 called " brushing gallops," in which every sinew 
 about him is put to the hazard. Long-continued 
 exercise, we are all aware, is of the greatest use in 
 unloading the bowels, giving firmness and elasticity 
 to the muscles, and promoting the general secre- 
 tions ; but a horse cannot be fit for such severe and 
 trying exertions as he is put to in the field unless his 
 vessels are kept clear and open, and his blood in a 
 proper state of fluidity — frequently cleansed of its 
 excrementitious matter, which so powerfully contri- 
 
9% CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 butes to disease, after work. This can only be 
 clone by repeated perspiration ; and I have heard 
 veterinary surgeons say that tlie perspirable matter 
 which flies off through the pores of the skin is of 
 more consequence, as ftir as clear wind and condi- 
 tion are concerned, than all the other secretions. 
 
 What I have now said chiefly applies to the 
 state of the blood. The state of the bowels is 
 equally important. Rest not only generates a 
 redundancy of blood and humours, but the bowels 
 become overloaded, and distend beyond their pro- 
 per size, in which state violent exertion must always 
 be attended with danger. In perusing an old 
 article on farriery, I recollect being gravely told 
 that a horse should not be ridden with fox-hounds 
 under three weeks after a dose of physic, or with 
 stag-hounds under a month. All this is laughable 5 
 but, if true, what would become of the race horse, 
 who sweats six days after his physic sets ? For my 
 OAvn part, were I to know to a certainty that I were 
 to see a severe day's sport with hounds, I should 
 prefer riding a horse which had gone through a 
 dose of physic ten days before : I should prefer 
 this, not only as a preventive of danger after it, but 
 with the confldence that I should be better carried 
 than if he had not had it. 
 
 The ill effects of rest, and the good effects of 
 work, on the powers and energies of a horse are 
 astonishing. In long-continued rest his flesh be- 
 comes soft and flabby, and the muscles lose their 
 elasticity, and even their substance. This is parti- 
 cularly exemplified in the human subject ; for, let a 
 man forego the use of one of his legs for twelve 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. ^ 
 
 months, the muscles of that leg will fall away, 
 though they will m some measure recover on his 
 resuming the action of the limb. With horses 
 lame in the feet this is also plainly shewn. The 
 muscles of the chest fall away, because they 
 are not called into their proper action, which a 
 cripple has not the power of doing, although he 
 may work every day. This gave rise to the vulgar, 
 but now nearly exploded idea of chest-foundered 
 horses, whereas such a complaint does not exist. 
 The evil lies in the feet ; and the wasting of the 
 muscles of the chest is the effect, and not the cause. 
 In strong work, when a horse is sound every muscle 
 and fibre of his body are braced, as it were, until 
 they become as tough as whipcord. 
 
 Not only the muscles of the body, but the lungs 
 also, are powerfully strengthened by good work. 
 The quickness of respiration by repeated galloping 
 produces an elasticity in these organs far above their 
 ordinary pOAvers; and as, particularly with hunters, 
 wind is strength, it is a consideration of the highest 
 importance to a man who rides over a country, as far 
 as himself, as well as his horse, is concerned, that 
 his hunter be in good ivind, for Avithout it the best 
 fencer is powerless and dangerous. 
 
 As far as relates to the proper attenuation of the 
 blood, the advantage oi frequent sweating is too 
 obvious to require much notice here. Let a horse, 
 highly fed, have nothing but walking exercise for 
 some time, and the first day he is made to perspire 
 his sweat will lather like soap suds. The second 
 day that lather will be much thinner, and the third 
 the perspiration will run [off him as clear as water. 
 
96 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 That perspiration is the grand duct by which the 
 impurities of nature are carried off, requires no argu- 
 ment of mine to shew ; and so far from a horse being- 
 got into condition without frequent recourse to it, 
 even acock cannot be brought into the pit until he has 
 gone through the operation of sweating. All those 
 gentlemen jockeys who know what it is to waste to 
 ride, have found the full effect of this grand relief 
 of nature in the light and volatile feel which they 
 experience after having lost three or four pounds 
 Aveight in a walk in clothes, and a good smoking 
 between the blankets afterwards. When they get up 
 and are fresh dressed, they feel as if they could fly ; 
 and for my own part I have often envied the feel of 
 a race horse walking back to his stable after having 
 had a sweat. 
 
 Exclusively of the extreme debility and laxity of 
 fibre produced by it, many serious evils frequently 
 arise among hunters from a long respite from Avork 
 in the winter, unless proper preventive measures are 
 had recourse to. I am no friend to quacking, in 
 either horses or men, when they are well. I 
 remember the speech of the dying man : — " I was 
 well, I wished to be better, and here I am," said 
 one who attempted to mend a good constitution. 
 Nevertheless, being exactly of Mr. Richard Law- 
 rence's opinion, that inflammatory attacks are to be 
 apprehended with horses in a state in which the 
 constitution is preternaturally excited, preventive 
 measures must be used to guard against them. In 
 the summer, green food, moderate alloAvance of 
 corn, and turning out at night, are cooling remedies 
 al>vays at hand j but not so in the winter : and I have 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS, 97 
 
 always been apprehensive of mischief in my stable 
 after a long continued frost. The organs of respi- 
 ration are the most likely to be affected, and many 
 horses have become roarers during such- a period. 
 This is not confined to horses, for in the human 
 species pulmonary complaints are always more fre- 
 quent after a severe winter. 
 
 A fcAv days after the breaking up of the frost at 
 the latter end of 1822, a gentleman with whom I 
 had a slight acquaintance Avas galloping by the 
 side of me in some deep ground 5 and on hearing his 
 mare more musical than she should be, and having 
 been in the habit of seeing her go to hounds before 
 the frost set in, I asked him how long she 
 had been a roarer ? He seemed surprised, as 
 well as alarmed, at the question j but the next 
 time I met him he admitted that the mischief 
 was done. 
 
 This circumstance, although in corroboration 
 of what I have advanced as to the evils attending: 
 long rest, without measures being taken to coun- 
 teract them, was trifling in its consequences to 
 another which I witnessed some years ago in Lei- 
 cestershire. One of the most distinguished mem- 
 bers of the Old Melton Club went to town at the 
 commencement of a long frost, leaving in his stable 
 sound and well perhaps the best hunter of that day 
 in England. On his return, when the country was 
 open, he ordered this horse to the covert's side, with 
 another for himself, giving directions to his groom 
 to ride him quietly after the hounds to prepare him 
 for the next day. On coming to a check, aftev 
 
 H 
 
98 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 some slow hunting, this celebrated sportsman 
 observed to a friend, in a jocular manner, " here he 
 comes, roaring away: who can he be?" Who 
 was it but his own horse, which had become a 
 roarer in the stable during the long-continued frost, 
 and from no other apparent cause ! Thus was a 
 horse, worth at that time one thousand guineas, 
 spoiled by doing nothing. 
 
 The instances which I have noAV mentioned 
 are only two among many which I have met with 
 of a similar khid ; and I have always guarded 
 against them in my own stable by precautionary 
 measures — by lessening my horses' corn at least 
 one feed per day ; taking their beans from them ; 
 and invariably giving them a dose of physic, fol- 
 lowed by a mild urine ball, if time will permit, or, 
 what may be better, a fcAv carrots chopped into 
 their morning and evening feeds. Carrots have a 
 particularly cooling property, and act as an altera- 
 tive by the kidneys. Bran mashes, cold, are also 
 useful, but they must not be too frequently given, 
 as they are of a very lowering nature. 
 
 Although I object to the frequent use of bran 
 mashes with horses that are to follow hounds, yet I 
 have always made it a rule to give each horse one 
 large lukewarm mash in the course of the week, 
 taking care that he do not have it within two days 
 of his turn to hunt. Bran mashes, made thin, 
 expel the contents of the bowels without increasing 
 the secretions, and are great preservatives of general 
 health. 
 
 The following are what I take to be the chief 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 99 
 
 points on which the judgment of a groom is to be 
 exercised : — To know when a horse becomes foul 
 in his body ; Avhen he is up to his mark, and when 
 he is below it ; how to check incipient disease j 
 how to treat horses that are not quite sound, so as 
 to keep them on in their work ; how to preserve 
 their feet, and how to feed them. He should also 
 know how to treat thorns, strains, common wounds 
 and blows, which are perpetually happening to 
 hunters' legs j but when any mischief of a more 
 serious nature may occur, he ought, if he has his 
 master's interest at heart, immediately to send off for 
 the best veterinary surgeon in his neighbourhood j 
 for when disease lies beyond the reach of manual 
 detection, a groom (however clever he may be as a 
 groom), if he attempts a cure, is travelling in a 
 Avilderness of error, and the expedients he may 
 resort to may be worse than the original evil, I 
 will here offer a few remarks on each of the above 
 heads. 
 
 With respect to feeding — one of the first con- 
 siderations — I believe I have said all that I con- 
 ceived to be necessary on this subject atjo. 83, to 
 which I have nothing to add, but to remind my 
 brother sportsmen of what I have before so strongly 
 enforced, viz. that food should he j)roportioned to 
 work^ or plethora, the root of all evils, will be pro- 
 duced. " Plethora," says Boerhaave, '' is created ; 
 by everything that maketh a great quantity of good 
 chyle and blood, and at the same time hindereth 
 their attenuation, corruption, and perspiration, 
 through the pores of the skin." This authority is 
 
 H 2 
 
100 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 sufficient to enforce attention to the golden rule to 
 to wliicli I have just alluded. 
 
 A stint in the alloAvance of hay must be strictly 
 enforced if we wish to preserve our horses to a good 
 old age. We have heard of the scelera aquarum 
 as applied to the human species, although sports- 
 men are not apt to be afflicted by such evils ; but 
 the mischief arising from an improper use of hay, I 
 take to be incalcidahle. In the stables of the fast 
 coaches this has been proved almost to demonstra- 
 tion. These horses are only allowed half a truss 
 each for the seven days, and a broken-^^inded horse 
 is now scarcely heard of among them. I have 
 taken some pains to ascertain this fact by my OAvn 
 personal inquiries. One proprietor, who has nearly 
 fifty horses at work — many of which are in as fast 
 coaches as any that travel the road—assured me 
 lately tliat he had not one broken-winded horse in 
 his yard ; Avhereas, before he stinted them in their 
 hay, he generally had one in five in that state. A 
 further proof of the good effect of this sumptuary 
 law in the stable is, that the horse ^vhich lives 
 chiefly upon corn requires less water than one 
 whose belly is distended with hay ; and it must 
 make no small difference to a horse whether he be 
 taken from an empty or a full rack, ^vhen put to 
 a coach that starts off^ and continues to run, 
 at the quick rate of eleven or twelve miles in 
 the hour. 
 
 Having, as before observed, had a goad deal to 
 do Avith private training {p. 92), I may be allowed 
 1q say that I consider the prase^t system off eding 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 101 
 
 the race horse to be very nearly applicable to that 
 of feedmg the hunter of the present day ; and the 
 trifling shade of difference bet^veen them exists only 
 in reference to the ^vork each has to perform. 
 Here, however, the difference is much less than it 
 was formerly 5 and may now be said rather to apply 
 to the sort of horse we have to deal with than to 
 the business he is put to. Strong and severe work 
 is as necessary to the one as to the other : and to get 
 a horse of a naturally hardy constitution quite lit to 
 go to hounds, in some countries, requires that he 
 should be nearly as much in training as if he were 
 going to run a four-mile heat at King's Plate 
 weights. The whole system of hunting is so revo- 
 lutionized that the preparation which a horse now 
 requires is very different to Avhat it was in former 
 times. The hour of meeting is seldom before 
 eleven 5 the find generally quick and certain; and 
 horses are often not more than five or six hours 
 from their stables after the l^est day's sport 5 and the 
 ground they go over is frequently not so much as a 
 plating race horse performs in conteudiui;- three or 
 four-mile heats. Having said this, I see no reason 
 to doubt the propriety of feeding, sweating, and 
 muzzling the hunter much in the same manner as 
 the race horse, only making due and proper allo^,v-= 
 ance for the relative nature of their work 5 particu- 
 larly as to not stripping the hunter too much 
 of his flesh ; or losing sight of the natural differ- 
 ence between the thorough^ljred horse and the 
 cock-tail. 
 
 Jt is my firm conviction that no less than nine 
 
102 CONDITION OF HUNTERS* 
 
 hunters out of ten that appear by the covert side- 
 taking into account the present speed of hounds- 
 are short of quick work, for the pace they are 
 made to go ; and let me impress one circum- 
 stance on the mind of the reader — that, barring 
 epidemic complaints and accidents, no horses 
 6njoy such uninterrupted good health as those in 
 training. 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTEUS. 103 
 
 LETTER VII. 
 
 'JTitEATMENT OF HUNTERS IN THE SUMMEK. 
 
 As the mariner at tlie expiration of one voyage 
 repairs liis Ijark for the next, so should the sports- 
 man at the conclusion of one season set about get- 
 ting his horses into good tune for the one which is 
 to come. I shall, therefore, now proceed to state 
 how I should reconuuend a hunter to be treated 
 Avhen the season is at an end — supposing him to 
 finish it " sound, and well up to his mark." 
 
 The first step I should take would be to put him 
 into a loose box, if convenient, and by degrees 
 diminish his corn, giving him an hour's walking- 
 exercise every morning as usual. I should then 
 give him two doses of physic, ^vhich would not 
 only cool his habit of body so as to prevent the 
 danger of inflammatory attacks, but would have 
 that effect on his legs as to enable me to see what 
 injury had been done to them in his work :--- -whe- 
 ther there Avere any ligamentary enlargements — 
 any injury to the joints or sincAvs — any callous sub- 
 stances produced by bloAVS— -or^ in short, anything 
 going wrong. The clear state of his legs Avhich 
 this treatment will produce Avould prevent the possi- 
 bility of working in the dark, as they will become 
 Jiner, to use the language of grooms, in three Aveeks 
 
104 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 than they would at the expiration of a three months' 
 run at grass in the sunnner. 
 
 I cannot but be a^vare that I may in some degree 
 be encroaching on the practice of the veterinary 
 profession ; but such is the esteem in which I hold 
 that highly useful body of men— -every r<?«/ member 
 of which is a treasure in the neighbourhood in 
 which he resides — that so jf\ir from it l)eing my wish 
 to take a guinea out of their pockets, I should pre- 
 fer putting one into them, or giving them any 
 encouragement to which they are so justly enti- 
 tled 5 and I have no hesitation in saying that it 
 would answer to aiiy sportsman \vho keeps hunters 
 to call in the assistance of one of them to look 
 over his stud at the end of every season, and to sub- 
 mit them to his treatment and superintendance 
 during the summer months, -which would rej)ay him 
 well in the end : for Avhatever may be the experi- 
 ence of a gentleman or his groom in such matters, 
 the veterinary surgeon, from his anatomical know- 
 ledge of the animal, is enabled to see defects which 
 are not observable by others, and to meet the danger 
 before it becomes insurmountable. By way of 
 illustration take the following example in my own 
 stable. 
 
 A few years ago I had a remarkably clever 
 grey horse, for which I gave 220 guineas. At the 
 end of the season, when only six years old, he lost 
 his action, and went like an old post-horse, being 
 to all appearance groggy. With the most perfect 
 feet and legs, and without a visible sign of anything 
 Avrong, I became alarmed, and could only account 
 for it by supposing that I had given him a shake 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 105 
 
 at a leap with a considerable drop into a road 
 A\^liich was hard, on the last day of hunting him. I 
 determined, however, not to rely on my own judg- 
 ment, and sent for the nearest veterinary surgeon of 
 eminence in his profession (JMr. Samuel Palfrey), 
 Avho was at first as nuich puzzled as I was ; but, 
 on a minute examination of his legs, he discovered 
 two incipient splents, as they are termed, very little 
 larger than peas, growing out just under the joints 
 of the knees. These being removed by the opera- 
 tion of two mild blisters, the horse recovered his 
 action, and my alarm was at an end. 
 
 NoAV it is very probable that had this horse 
 been in the hands of a groom he might have been 
 put to all kind of torture in the stable, or, what is 
 more likely if in the possession of many persons, he 
 would have been turned out to grass -with the 
 hopes of that being the cartJioUcon for all such 
 cases, and with the assurance that he^ would come 
 up sound at the expiration of his three months' run. 
 What, however, would have been the conse- 
 quence ? AVhy, the splents would have grown, 
 though perhaps the lameness might have disap- 
 peared ; and when the horse came into work again 
 at the commencement of the next season, inflamma- 
 tion would have returned, and it would have been 
 more than probable that half the season might have 
 passed away before he could have appeared by a 
 covert's side again. Here then is the old adage 
 verified-—" a stitch in time saves nine." 
 
 Indiscriminate blistering of hunters' legs has 
 been generally resorted to previous To their being 
 turned out, or thrown out of condition for the sum- 
 
106 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 mer, under what I may venture to call the old sys- 
 tem of management, now pretty nearly exploded. 
 In my noviciate I followed this practice myself, 
 and have since been an observer of it in the stables 
 of others, but have long since pronounced it to be 
 a waste of drugs, an unnecessary torture to the 
 animal, and not once in twenty times of the small- 
 est benefit. On the contrary, I have frequently 
 seen it highly injurious, distending the vessels so 
 much beyond their natural state as never to recover 
 their proper tone again : and, indeed, this is almost 
 certain to be the case if applied when any active 
 inflammation is going on in the limb. My experi- 
 ence, indeed, has led me to place but little faith in 
 blisters to horses' legs, unless the injury to which 
 they are applied has been of very short duration. 
 As to their reducing callous substances and obsti- 
 nate splents and curbs, to which they are too often 
 ignorant] y applied, a sponge with cold water is 
 equally effective, and divested of the torture. As, 
 preparatory to firing, in some particular cases, 
 and in all those of incipient excrescences of bone — 
 such as splents, curbs, and hotie spavins, Just hud^ 
 ding — the tiiuely application of a blister will nine 
 times out of ten effect a cure ; and when to these 
 you add their use in diverting hiflannnatory attacks 
 of lungs, bowels, eyes, and feet, when applied 
 externally to the body, you close the catalogue of 
 their virtues — by no means a scanty one. 
 
 The following is the most effectual method of 
 blistering, when the occasion for it is serious : — 
 Let it be applied, without any corrosive matter in 
 it, in good time in the morning ; and early on the 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 107 
 
 following day let the leg be, washed in warm 
 Avater with soft soap, and the blister repeated. A 
 liberal allowance of water, Avith two ounces ol 
 nitre, or a very mild urine ball, will be found safe 
 and efficacious during the operation. 
 
 For injuries to horses' legs when they are 
 serious or of long standing, firing, with time, 
 is my favorite remedy. I must here make one 
 observation; and that is, that I have ever been 
 sparing of punishment to horses w^hen it could be 
 avoided, not only on the score of humanity, but 
 from a natural regard which I have always had for 
 so noble an animal. I must take heed, therefore, 
 how I speak of firing a horse being a " favorite 
 remedy" with me, or I may have some canting 
 moralist on my back, and be set down for the 
 greater brute of the t^vo. 
 
 Perhaps there are few sportsmen who arrive 
 at a good old age without having themselves 
 experienced the potential cautery. When applied 
 to a horse's leg it is called the actual cau- 
 tery, being administered in the form of a red-hot 
 iron. In both cases the operation is severe; but 
 the impression on my mind is, that horses suffer 
 more by severe blistering than they do by firhig. 
 In the first place, when fired, they are uncon- 
 scious of what is being done to them, and, in the 
 next, they are so alarmed by being thrown down 
 and confined, and are so exhausted by struggling, 
 that I do not think they feel near so much as might 
 be apprehended. 
 
 In April 1822 I had a hunter of mine fired in 
 both his fore-legs. Previously to the operation he 
 
108 CONDlirON OF HUNTERS. 
 
 was blistered as I ^vis}^ed — Ijesides strengthening 
 his legs, Avhich appeared about to give Avay— to 
 reduce a callous substance that had formed on one 
 of his tendons. Being of an irritable temper in the 
 stable, he suftered nuich by the blistering, and was 
 so uneasy that I was obliged to have a man to stand 
 at his head ^vith a small switch in his hand, for six 
 hours, to prevent his rubbing one leg against the 
 other, by which he would have blemished himself. 
 When ready for the operation I sent him to be fired, 
 with orders to my servant to lead him gently home 
 afterwards. Being a resolute horse he struggled 
 much on being thrown, but when down and secured 
 he did not appear to feel anything. When he 
 got up, and his head turned towards home, he was 
 so full of play that the servant was obliged to ride 
 him, or he would have broken away from him on 
 the road. The same operator fired another hunter 
 for me the followinsj week for a young ringbone. 
 He merely put a twitch on his nose, and he never 
 stirred a foot from the ground. The consequences 
 of these operations were, that the ringbone on one 
 horse was stopped in its progress to lameness ; and 
 the enlargement on the tendon of the other, although 
 of more than twelve months' standing, quite disap- 
 peared, and his legs all in place again. Now 
 all the Ijlistering ointment that ever was made 
 would not have effected one of those cures, if it had 
 the other : and with respect to the relative suffer- 
 ing caused by the operations of blistering and firing, 
 I have only to observe that the effect of firing is 
 merely local, Avhereas the anguish of a severe 
 blister deranges the whole system, and often pro- 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 109 
 
 duces strangury and other spasmodic aiiections. I 
 shall conclude this part of my subject by observing 
 that I have never fired a horse when I thought 
 other means would answer the end; but I would 
 do it on the principle that I m ould go to a dentist 
 and have a tooth drawn, rather than suffer pro- 
 tracted pain and illness from temporary or pallia- 
 tive measm*es. The operation in both cases is 
 severe, but soon over 5 and I shall never think we 
 are debarred of inflicting a certain degree of pain 
 on animals given to us for their services, if those 
 services cannot be available on otiier terms. 
 
 Having given the hunter his physic, and the 
 liberty of a loose box, his legs will be reduced as 
 nearly to a state of nature as can be expected after 
 what they have gone through, or after the injuries 
 they may have received. If no ligamentary enlarge- 
 ments, or callous substances on the sinews or on 
 the tendons, should appear, a man may congratu- 
 late himself that his horse has been so fortunate as 
 to escape them, and his legs may go on for another 
 year ; but they should be minutely inspected, and 
 by one who knows the evils when he sees them 
 (no mean accomplishment), und, htiving found 
 them, circumstances alone nmst direct us to which 
 of the two remedies must be applied. If blistering 
 will reach the cause, it has certainly the reputation 
 of being the milder operation of the t\vo ; but if the 
 injury is considerable, the parts Avhere it exists 
 material, and of more than one or two months' 
 standing, nothing but the actual cautery can be 
 depended on. With those horses Avhich carry high 
 weights fring is too often a -sine qua mm; for wheii 
 
110 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 once nature gives way under sucli circumstances, 
 notiiing short of so violent a remedy will restore 
 the injured parts. Curbs, splents, and, above all, 
 blows on the legs, are frequently very obstinate to 
 deal Avith, often requiring repeated blisters, followed 
 by firing, to get rid of them. 
 
 With respect to horses' feet in the summer, 
 thei*e are tAvo opinions amongst good judges as to 
 whether the fore shoes should be on or not — the 
 hoofs, in the latter case, being often rasped around 
 the toe to prevent them chipping or splitting. For 
 my own part I prefer the tip, or half shoe, leaving 
 the frog to press on the ground. A few nails 
 around the front of the hoof cannot be injurious 
 provided the heel be left free from them. If a 
 horse's foot is inclined to become convex, or 
 pumice, then he should go without his shoes, on 
 the same principle as the inside of the blacksmith's 
 hand becomes hard by the constant use of his ham- 
 mer. 1 had a fine hunter with this sort of feet, 
 Avhich I restored to their proper form by making 
 him stand on flags all day for three months in suc- 
 cession. The internal part of the foot, which had, 
 as it were, dropped from its proper place, was forced 
 back to it again, and the disease, if I may call it 
 such, did not return. 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. Ill 
 
 LETTER VIII. 
 
 HARD MEAT verSllS GRASS.— PHYSIC. 
 
 From the experience of graziers and butchers, 
 as well as by tlie reports of the meat markets, we 
 find that the present summer [1823] — if " summer" 
 it can be termed — has been particularly unfavorable 
 to the beasts of the field, and consequently to those 
 hunters which have been managed under the old, and 
 perhaps too common, system of a three months' run 
 at grass ; and, as there is nothing like proofs I sa- 
 tisfied myself of the truth of what I have asserted in 
 the following manner : — Knowing that a neighbour 
 of mine had his hunters out, as usual, I rode to his 
 house to see them ; and wishing to put matters to 
 the test, I tool: a horse of my oAvn with me that had 
 been summered, if I may use such a word, nearly, 
 though net exactly, according to the method I have 
 recommended, and I will state the result in detail. 
 My horse had had two doses of physic since the 
 last season, was not turned out till the first Aveek in 
 June, and then only at night, on a third year's lea 
 which had been closely fed down in the spring. 
 During the bad weather he lay in at night, and was 
 turned out at four in the morning, taken up at ten 
 A.M., and out again at five in the evening till nine, 
 when he was housed for tlie night. When only out 
 
112 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 at night he had a small portion of hay in the mid- 
 dle of the day, and two feeds of oats, to which were 
 added, as the weather was cold, during the rest of 
 the time he was out, a double handful of beans, not 
 split, in each feed. When in the stable, by day, 
 he Avas exposed to great circulation of air, as the 
 casements were taken out of the Avindows and the 
 door open. My neighbour's horses, seven in num- 
 ber, had been turned out as soon as hunting was 
 over into a field of eight acres of tolerably good 
 land, always used for the purpose, Avith plenty of 
 shade and AA^ater, and had had no physic since the 
 commencement of the last season. Himself and 
 his groom entered the field Avith me, and I Avas 
 nmch struck Avith the sad appearance of the horses. 
 The " qui color albus erat nunc est contrarius aJho " 
 might have been aptly applied here. There Avere 
 two g'rey horses in the field, but there Avas very little 
 Avhite about them. The black horse Avas anything 
 but black, the chesnut a kind of dun, and the bay 
 horses presented a kind of sickly compound of red 
 and yelloAV, AA'hich it is not in my poAver to define. 
 There Avas no reflection of the solar rays on their 
 skins, and they had altogether a miserable appear- 
 ance. Three out of the seven had coughs, their 
 crests Avere Ioav, their bellies large, and their action 
 feeble. 
 
 On my remarking to the OAvner of these horses 
 hoAV ill they looked, he observed, that they did very 
 Avell in that field last year, and that they came up 
 in AAdiat he called " very good condition." — " That 
 is A^ery possible," said I, " becausejast summer Avas 
 one of an hundred. The grass was roasted till it 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 113 
 
 resembled hay, but iioav your horses are starved." 
 — " How can that be," replied my friend, " Avhen 
 there is so much grass ?" — '^ That there is grass," 
 replied I, " I admit ; that is to say, in places under 
 the shade of trees and in wet spots, which they will 
 eat, as you or I would eat a dog or a cat when starv- 
 ing : but they would as soon eat the fungus that 
 grows amongst it as touch it now ; and where the 
 feed is sweet, you perceive they have gnawed it un- 
 til there is no bite left to support so large an animal 
 as a horse, and particularly one whose appetite was 
 a short time since satiated with high keep." I 
 now remarked to him the difference between my 
 horse and any one of his seven. The coat of my 
 horse was of its original colour, and lay close to his 
 back: he was full of vigour and strength, rather 
 fatter than I wished to see him 5 but dirty as he 
 was — having been only taken up the day before (the 
 10th of July) — Ave could see a gloss doAvn his 
 quarters and shoulders, and his flesh Avas as 
 firm as if he had been in Avork. He had no 
 cough, but appeared in perfect health ; and, 
 by Avay of experiment, I rode him rather fast for 
 about a mile and a half on my OAvn road home, to 
 see Avhether he Avould perspire quickly, AAdiich he did 
 not, though full of glee, and eager to get home, and, 
 as it happened on that day, under a hot mid-day sun. 
 NoAv let us contrast, if they can be contrasted, 
 the advantages and disadvantages of these tAvo plans, 
 and balance the account betAveen them. It is true 
 that my neighbour's horses Avill have cost nothing 
 but the value of about an acre of ground to each horse 
 from the period of their being turned out until they 
 
 I 
 
114 CONDITION OF HUNTERS, 
 
 are taken into the stable again ; and mine, supposing 
 him to have consumed bis acre of grass, and to have 
 had his two feeds of corn a-day, since the tinie the 
 others were deprived of it, will have cost, in addition, 
 144 quarterns, or nine bushels of oats, and about one 
 and a half of beans, the expense of which does not 
 amount to more than two pounds. Now we will 
 suppose, for the sake of argument, that necessity 
 required that either one of my friend's horses, or iny 
 own, were to have been exposed for sale in a week 
 from the time the comparison was made — what, 
 may I ask, would have been the result? Why, I 
 will venture to assert Avithout fear of contradiction, 
 that as two gentle sweats and some good wisping 
 would have made my horse look nearly as Avell as 
 when in Avork, he would have produced an addition 
 of twenty-five per cent, on his value beyond that of 
 my neighbour's ; and therefore, supposing them to 
 be each worth 100/. Avhen in condition, he would 
 have paid 25/. for having eaten a twelfth part of 
 that value in corn. 
 
 We may look at it in another light. If the 
 condition of my horse, by the superior firmness of 
 his flesh, and his increased vigour, be so nuicli bet- 
 ter in the month of July or August, how much 
 better still must it l)e in the month of November, 
 when he will be called upon to follow hounds — 
 particularly so, A^dien in the interval he has to go 
 through that wonderful process of nature, the 
 change of his natural covering, or coat, which so 
 visibly affects him ! Were a man told that he 
 must write a book, or build a house, in three months, 
 would he do either so well as if he had a longer 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 115 
 
 period allowed him to arrange and consider the 
 subject for the one, or to select and season the 
 materials for the other ? This applies still more 
 powerfully to the horse, inasmuch as all operations 
 of nature require a stated time. 
 
 As I was returning home from inspecting my 
 neighbour's hunters, I was amused as well as in- 
 structed by the following conversation, wdiich took 
 place between one of his tenants (a farmer) and my- 
 self :—" Mr. 's horses," said I, " look badly." 
 
 " Why, yes," said the farmer; " I told the 'Squire 
 so some time back ; but I don't hold with the way 
 in which some of you gentlemen keep your hunters. 
 You keep them in a warm stable, full of good corn, 
 for eight months in the year, and then turn them 
 out to shift for themselves the other four. Now," 
 added he, " this is not the way I like to keep my 
 cart horses. I like to keep them pretty well all the 
 year around ; for if they are kept up and down (ver- 
 l^atim), there is sure to be something the matter 
 with them — grease, or some humours." These 
 were precisely his words, and I registered them 
 carefully in my recollection 5 for nothing can be 
 more true than that tlie greatest evils arise to 
 horses from subjecting them to extremes of food, as 
 also of heat and cold. Philosophers tell us that if 
 this globe were to experience, in the space of one 
 year, the heat of the torrid and the cold of the 
 frigid zones — which it undoubtedly would do w^ere 
 the elliptic to make an angle of twenty degrees 
 more than it does with the equinoctial line — three 
 parts of it would be uninhabitable, as neither plant 
 nor animal could sustain the two extremes ! With 
 
 1 2 
 
116 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 reference, then, to the unnatural condition of 
 horses, and the unnatural purposes to which we 
 apply them, the more consideration I give to the 
 subject, and the more my experience teaches me, 
 the more I am convinced that, with few excep- 
 tions, the stable is the place for hunters ; and that 
 subjecting them to sudden changes of diet, and to 
 the vicissitudes of this uncertain climate, is pro- 
 ductive, or at least the predisposing cause, of nine- 
 tentlis of the diseases and evils (to say nothing of 
 accidents) which happen to them : and were I to l)e 
 told that I were to receive a good annuity subject 
 to the life of a horse, I would keep him in the 
 stable all the year, as the most likely means, with 
 proper exercise and grooming, of preserving him to 
 a good old age. I have been more confirmed in 
 this opinion by conversation I have had at different 
 times Avith officers of dragoon regiments, on the 
 numerous diseases — glanders in particular — to 
 which troop horses are liable ; and I have generally 
 found them to proceed from the following causes 
 — namely, bad grooming, want of physic, to their 
 only being what may be termed " half in condi- 
 tion," and, under all these unfavorable circum- 
 stances, to their being exposed to the vicissitudes of 
 weather, and sudden transitions from heat to cokl 
 and from cold to heat. In perusing a treatise on 
 glanders, written very ably by a ]Mr. Smith, late 
 Veterinary Surgeon to the 2d Dragoon Guards, I 
 Avas forcibly struck Avith the propriety and truth of 
 the following remark : — " How the animal econo- 
 my," says he, " is affected by such alterations of 
 temperature and constitution of the atmosphere will 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 117 
 
 readily appear, if we consider that all animals have 
 a standard of heat Avhich is necessary to be main- 
 tained for the preservation of health. Of course 
 all deviations from this standard must affect the 
 system according to the degree or duration of its 
 application j and as they have a power of resisting 
 everything that has a tendency either to augment or 
 impair this common standard, when the animal is 
 placed in a degree of heat above it, the power of 
 generating cold will be excited to preserve the 
 natural temperature of the body 5 and Avhen exposed 
 to a degree of cold below the natural standard, the 
 power of generating heat "will be excited to main- 
 tain the natural temperature of heat. Therefore, 
 when the animal is placed under such circumstances 
 the constitution has two powers to contend with, 
 which, though salutary and refreshing when duly 
 proportioned, yet, when carried to excess, threaten 
 its dissolution. Although it may be more fatiguing 
 to the constitution to oppose heat than cold, yet, 
 ivhen exhausted hy its infiucnce, it is more suscep- 
 tible to the impressions of cold 5 and, Vvdien enfeebled 
 by any cause, as disease, labour^ &c. is more liable 
 to be injured by the alternate influence of either. 
 Therefore," he adds, " when horses stand exposed 
 to the influence of the sun throughout the day, the 
 action of the heart and arteries is increased, and the 
 blood forced to the extremities with great velocity, 
 the minute vessels are distended, and their power so 
 much exhausted that Avlien tlie air becomes cold 
 and dense in the evening their functions are either 
 suspended or destroyed. Hence/' continues Mr. 
 Smith, " arises the first stage of glanders, which 
 
118 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 disease, for once that it is produced by infection, is,'* 
 lie thinks, " ninety-nine times to be attrijnited to 
 sudden transitions from heat to cold." 
 
 Now although, fortunately for those who turn 
 out their hunters, they are generally taken up again 
 before the most trying period to the constitution 
 arrives— namely, August or September, when hot 
 days are succeeded by chilling fogs at night — yet I 
 think we may venture to assume that those horses 
 nuist be foaled for the purpose, and made of more 
 than common materials, which could submit with 
 impunity to having their saddles and bridles taken 
 otr as soon as they come home, and turned out into 
 a field to roll themselves in the dirt, and fill their 
 empty and debilitated stomachs with cold spring 
 Avater * ! 
 
 Although " among a multitude of proofs one 
 does the business," and one would satisfy me as 
 Avell as a hundred, yet, having others to convince, I 
 thought I would submit the propriety of turning- 
 hunters out to grass for the summer to one more 
 test ; so, the morning after I had seen my neigh- 
 bour's horses, I got upon my hack, and rode to a 
 park some miles distant, where I knew some hun- 
 ters were turned out, and where they were charged 
 five shillings a week for their keep, from the supe- 
 
 * " One great source of disease in horses is the improper treat- 
 ment of them after they have been heated by exercise and hard 
 labour. For though they come in covered with sweaty they are often 
 exposed to the cold air uncovered, while their legs and thighs are 
 washed with cold water, and not unfrequently they are allowed to 
 drink freely of cold water. Hence arise inflammation of the lungs, 
 bowels, or other internal parts, colds, chills," &c. &c.— See White's 
 Vet. Diet, p. 190. 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 119 
 
 I'ior character of the pasture. Had I entertained 
 any doubts, hoAvever tritliug, on the disadvantages 
 of a suiniiier's run, my visit to this park would have 
 dissipated them all : but I had here a particularly 
 ftworable opportunity of selecting one sul^ject out 
 of several that I met with, either of which would 
 have been sufficient Avith which to illustrate the 
 solidity of my argument 5 and this was a chesnut 
 mare, the property of a gentleman who had sent 
 her twenty miles to run in this park. Now it so 
 happened, that, as I was riding along the turnpike 
 road, the second week in JMay, I met this mare on 
 her road to this park. Having ridden in the same 
 race with her for some Hunter's Stakes about three 
 weeks before, I had observed that she was looking 
 remarkably blooming and well, and when I met 
 her in the road she was but little altered in her 
 condition. Her crest was up, her muscles hard, 
 her legs quite in place, her eye was lively, and her 
 skin was beautiful. When I saw the same mare 
 in the park, only nine weeks after I had seen her on 
 her road thither^ I knew her, undoubtedly because 
 I expected to find her, but had I met her anywhere 
 else I certainly should not have taken her for the 
 same animal. Her crest was gone, her carcase was 
 swollen, her eye was dull, her action was languid, 
 and her colour, from having been an excellent 
 chesnut, was become (for I can compare it to 
 nothing else) like that of half-baked gingerbretid, 
 without the smallest gloss on her coat, which lay 
 hollow on her back ; and, to sum up all, she looked 
 as if she were rotten. 
 
 Now it is by no means my intention to imply 
 
120 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 that this mare was rotten, but I only wish to enforce 
 the striking' contrast between her former and pre- 
 sent appearance 5 but of this, however, I will not 
 only pledge my existence, but, what would be 
 worse than the loss of life, I will consent to be con- 
 demned to live upon horse-flesh the rest of my days, 
 if this mare, by any skill of her groom, by any art, 
 save that of magic, ccm he reinstated m the condition 
 in which she urns ivhen I met her in the road^ until 
 hunting is over the ensuing season, I should 
 here observe that the rest of the horses in this 
 park looked equally bad as the mare I have been 
 speaking of. 
 
 In my rides about the country in the month of 
 May 1823, 1 met two other hunters on their road to 
 grass for the summer. I asked the servant who was 
 leading them whither he was taking them ? He 
 ansAvered, to a tenant of his master's, who always 
 summered them for him in his meadows. " Is it 
 not a pity," said I, " to turn them out now they are 
 in such fine condition, and their legs appear so 
 good ?" — " Oh, no," said the man, " it will do them 
 a deal of good." — " Are t/oii quite Avell in health?" 
 said I. Not knoudng the drift of my question, 
 John smiled, but made no reply. " Have you any 
 bodily complaint ?" — " None, Sir," was his reply. 
 " Would you wish to be better than you are?" He 
 said he should not. " Then," replied I, " you 
 should have persuaded your master to have kept his 
 horses at home, which would have saved you and 
 him a great deal of trouble between this and 
 Christmas." 
 
 In corroboration of the hard-meat system^ I 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 121 
 
 was particularly struck with an observation of the 
 Earl of Darlington, respecting the horses of some 
 officers of a light dragoon regiment who hunted 
 Avith his hounds in the Raby country. " I know 
 not how it is," said his Lordship, " but no expense 
 or trouble is spared with my hunters, and my 
 stables are excellent ; but none of them look like 
 these officers' horses." Now, as far as my experi- 
 ence has led me, I have never had reason to think 
 that officers' horses in general vrere well groomed. 
 On the contrary, their being called upon at all 
 hours, and the almost constant access to barrack 
 stables, must be much against them; but these 
 minor evils are light in the scale agahist a long 
 continuance of good hard meat and pretty regular 
 exercise. 
 
 If we convince a man against his will, Ave are 
 told that we do nothing, for he inmiediately relapses 
 to his former opinions. This reminds me of a pas- 
 sage in Cicero, when writing on the immortality of 
 the soul : — " I know not how it is," says he, " but 
 when I read I assent ; but when I put away the 
 book, and begin to think on the subject, all that 
 assent vanishes." So much for the effect of preju- 
 dice in a mind so highly cultivated as his ! How, 
 then, can we wonder at its taking still stronger hold 
 on many of us less favored mortals ? Cicero, 
 however, could not satisfy himself jjy experiment ; 
 but we can : and let me conclude this part of my 
 subject with the exhortation to every sportsman who 
 rides hard, and wishes to be carried well over a 
 country, never to let his horses get out of what is 
 called " good hard meat "—the only ground- work 
 
lis CONDITION OF HUNTERS* 
 
 of condition. It may be asked, would I work 
 them ill summer ? Certainly not ; but of the two 
 extremes I have no hesitation in saying that gentle 
 work, with corn, is better for a hunter than no work 
 Avithout corn, for reasons which I have before shewn. 
 
 Having mentioned in a former Letter Q). 49) 
 that I should have something more to say on physic, 
 I conceive the present to be the most proper time 
 for communicating it. It is true that in strengthen- 
 ing and augmenting the capacities of the body be- 
 yond their ordinary poAvers, whether in a man or a 
 horse, the evacuating process is always had recourse 
 to 5 but, before we apply our theory, we should be 
 acquainted with the constitution of the subject to be 
 operated upon ; neither must Ave lose sight of local 
 circumstances and exceptions. 
 
 I AA^as once flogged at school for making a rule 
 absolute Avhen it Avas not so, and I have never for- 
 gotten the lesson. NotAvithstanding this, I am one 
 of those who for some years of my life submitted to 
 the practice of my groom to give my liorses three 
 doses of physic in succession at the commence- 
 ment of their being Avhat is called " got into con- 
 dition for Avork 5" and I am almost ashamed to add, 
 that, Avithout taking the trouble to give it a mo- 
 ment's consideration, I Avas led to join AAdth him in 
 his creed that less AA^ould not* do, fo7' the hmjirst 
 stirred up the humours^ and the last carried them 
 off'/ My better judgment at length convinced me 
 that this practice Avas an erroneous one, often pro- 
 ductive of serious mischief, and by no means to be 
 made general. Common sense might at first dic- 
 tate to us, in these Avords — " If your horse be well, 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 123 
 
 why physic him at all ?" Experience, lioAvever, has 
 proved to us, that, to guard against the preternatural 
 excitement produced by high keep and strong work, 
 a sort of periodical evacuation of the system by the 
 bowels is necessary to preserve the health, if not 
 the life of a horse, as repletion would be almost in- 
 variably the consequence 5 but why these three doses 
 are to be hurried indiscriminately through every 
 horse that is to be prepared for hunting, in the 
 month of July or August, I have yet to learn : and 
 what led me to a serious and rational consideration 
 of this subject, so as to doubt the propriety of the 
 practice, was,. first, the reason my groom generally 
 gave me for it , and, secondly, its effect on my horses. 
 As for my groom's reasons for these three doses 
 in a fortnight, the only effect they had upon me, 
 Avhen I took the trouble to consider them, Avas to 
 make me smile at their absurdity, and to banish 
 them from my mind with the contempt they 
 merited. The effect^ hoAvever, of these three doses 
 of strong physic afforded a salutary hint, Avhich I 
 did not so soon lose sight of. At the expiration of 
 tlie third dose I aKvays found a urine l^all, or, per- 
 haps tAvo, Avere to be given to get rid of a fulness of 
 the legs, Avhich AA^as said to be ahvays produced by 
 physic. " Indeed, then," said I, " are the means to 
 Avhich Ave resort to strengthen the nervous system, 
 and to prepare it for severe exertion, productive of a 
 contrary effect? Are Ave bringing on debility, of 
 which swelling of the legs is the most infallible 
 proof, by means intended to produce the opposite 
 effect? Something must be Avrong here, and Ave 
 must endeavour to alter it." 
 
124 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 The effect of medicine on horses is only very 
 lately thoroughly understood 5 and when we look 
 back into old writers on farriery, we are as much 
 astonished that more horses were not killed by some 
 of their cathartic drenches, as that any of them were 
 cured by some of their absurd nostrums. There is 
 an admirable hit at these ignoramuses in Buck- 
 law's recipe for a strain, in the Tales of my Land- 
 lord. " Take," says he, " a fat sucking mastiff? 
 flay and bowel»him, stuff him full of black and grey 
 snails, roast a reasonable time, and baste with oil 
 of spikenard, saffron, cinnamon, and honey, anoint 
 with the gripping, working it in." After all there 
 is no great exaggeration in this. A relation of 
 mine— -a clergyman, educated at Eton and Oxford 
 —-stood by and saw a country farrier give three 
 pounds of shot and two ounces of gunpowder in a 
 pint of milk, to a mare of his labouring under vio- 
 lent inflammation of the lungs, with great difficulty 
 of breathing. About five minutes after she had 
 taken it she staggered a few paces, and fell dead on 
 the spot. ]\Iy friend being a prudent man, I re- 
 monstrated with him on the impropriety of Avasting 
 so much powder and shot, as the twentieth part of 
 the dose, in a more compressed form, would have 
 produced more speedy relief. 
 
 At the period to which I allude, when I first 
 directed my attention to the operation and effect of 
 physic, I had a horse, to which I have before 
 alluded, and which, as never having been what 
 could be called a perfectly sound horse, but having 
 stood fifteen years in my stable, with the exception 
 of one winter's run, a model of condition, has been 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 125 
 
 a sort of landmark to me in directing the operations 
 of my stable. This horse was in the habit of 
 taking ten drachms of Barbadoes aloes and one 
 drachm of calomel, hi his three doses, in succes- 
 sion, and Avhich appeared barely sufficient to pro- 
 duce the desired effect. Now I have good reason 
 to believe that this horse had been in the habit of 
 takins: his ten drachms of aloes and his one drachm 
 of calomel from the time he came out of training 
 at five years old, and therefore less would not do ; 
 but for some years before he died he received all the 
 benefit that could be derived from physic, by what 
 I conceive to be not more than half the dose- 
 namely, seven drachms of Barbadoes aloes, and 
 no calomel. This alteration was effected by a bet- 
 ter method of administering it. His bowels were 
 relaxed the two preceding days by at least half a 
 dozen loose bran mashes : he was kept very short of 
 hay during this time, and' set upon the muzzle at 
 night ; and he had a considerable portion of exer- 
 cise on the day on which he took the ball, with as 
 much tepid water as he would drink, before he felt 
 nausea from the ball. Thus was the same effect 
 produced from a much less powerful, and- — as must 
 be the case Avhere drastic medicines are concerned 
 —also from a much less dangerous cause, and the 
 constitution relieved from the powerful impression 
 of mercury. The practice of physicking horses 
 in this mild and rational manner is now so weW 
 understood that it is nearly disarmed of all appre- 
 hension of danger, which formerly attended it. 
 Amongst the improvements, boiling the aloes is 
 
126 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 a material one, much of the irritating nature 
 of the drug" being got rid of by that means. 
 This, we must allow, is a great point gained, 
 and no small consolation to those who have 
 valuable studs of hunters and race horses, who 
 so frequently have to go through this unnatural 
 process. 
 
 When necessary, I am a great advocate for 
 mercurial physic ; but considerable caution is 
 required during its operation, from the subtle 
 nature of the drug. Though I have administered 
 it very frequentjy, I never found any bad conse- 
 quences to ensue, with proper care and attention 5 
 but I have known several instances of horses 
 being lost from its effects through careless and 
 unskilful management. It is the property of 
 mercury to stimulate the whole secreting system 
 more equably than any other medicine that we 
 know of ; and it is the only remedy to be de- 
 pended upon to thoroughly cleanse and change a 
 foul habit of body to a healthy one, by exciting 
 action in the glands, and giving increased energy 
 to the absorbents ; but, if given in too large 
 quantities, it weakens and exhausts by its too 
 powerful impression. In the hands of a groom 
 it is not ahvays to l3e trusted ; but in all cases 
 of chronic cough, great disposition to foulness, 
 farcy-humours or ulcers, and worms, it is, when 
 judiciously applied, a safe, and the only effec- 
 tual medicine. I confess I was once rather sur- 
 prised to see some thorough-bred colts belong- 
 ing to a friend of mine exposed to heavy rain 
 
CONPITION OF HUNTERS. 127 
 
 with a dose of mercurial physic then in opera- 
 tion 5 but it was under the direction of a very 
 eminent veterinary surgeon, who ordered it, and 
 who said he would bear them harmless. The 
 only way of guarding against cold is to be 
 superior to its influence, which I conclude was 
 the case Avith these colts running in a state of 
 nature. 
 
 One of the advantages of the hard-meat system 
 
 in the summer is the forward state in which we 
 
 find a horse on the first day of August; and I name 
 
 that day, because on or about that time hunters 
 
 which have been altogether out for the summer 
 
 are generally taken up. Instead of being that 
 
 dropsical-looking animal, out of all form and shape, 
 
 that a horse from grass is, he Mants nothing but a 
 
 sweat or two to put him, to all appearance, in place. 
 
 His flesh, in which I include his muscles, is firm 
 
 and elastic, and he has not that superfluous load of 
 
 it, with a redundancy of blood, that good pastures 
 
 create, and is therefore not so liable to those 
 
 inflammatory complaints ^^'llich so frequently attend 
 
 a sudden change of diet. To a horse in this state 
 
 I would never give more than two doses of physic 
 
 before hunting connnences, and those as mild as 
 
 his constitution will admit. Circumstances must 
 
 direct us when to admini.ster another, which I shall 
 
 allude to hereafter when writing on the duties and 
 
 qualifications of a groom. Generally speaking, 
 
 a hunter thus prepared Avill go on in his Avork 
 
 until tlie first interruption from frost, when a 
 
 third dose may be most beneficially administered 
 
128 CONDITION OF HUNTERS, 
 
 One of the principal auxiliaries to the con- 
 dition of hunters is long-continued exercise, or 
 what grooms call " keeping them out." A helper 
 — the lighter the better — should ride one horse 
 and lead two, one on each side of him. I have 
 never l)een fond of too much walking ; for in this 
 pace, as may be seen by the track of his foot- 
 steps, there is a great exertion of the hind leg 
 of a horse, by which curbs and spavins are often 
 occasioned. In the " jog trot," as it is termed, 
 the hind leg falls short, and is comparatively 
 in a state of ease. I have, therefore, always 
 directed my groom, when travelling horses on the 
 road, to trot them gently the greater part of the 
 journey ; and I recommend that pace to hunters 
 at exercise, where the ground is not too hard 
 or uneven. In the months of September and 
 October they should go out early in the morn- 
 ing, on account of the bracing effects of the air, 
 but always in clothes and hooded, and be kept 
 out for three hours at a time. During these 
 months the brush should be very sparingly used, 
 it being the moulting season Avith them ; and a 
 damp hay-wisp is better, for ol)vious reasons. A 
 few years since I saw a stud of hunters at 
 Christmas, whose owner had not suffered a brush 
 to be used to them up to that period, and their 
 skins were particularly glossy and fine. It is 
 difficult, however, to restrain grooms from the 
 use of them, unless they are under lock and key, 
 A^diich was the case in this instance. When speak- 
 ing of exercise, I should have observed that high 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 129 
 
 ground should be chosen for this purpose, if within 
 easy reach, as wonderful benefit is derived from 
 gentle Avork against a hill, and a great relief to' 
 legs. Add to this, the breathing a purer air is of 
 no small advantage when the lungs are excited by 
 action. 
 
130 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 LETTER IX. 
 
 ON THE FOOT. 
 
 Experimental philosophy has been hard put 
 to it in its researches into the foot of the horse. 
 Indeed Nature herself seems to hav.e exerted her 
 very nicest art before she could form anything in 
 the shape of animate substance capable of being 
 hammered with the force of a sledge-hammer, 
 and all this with impunity, for twenty years in 
 succession. To accomplish this she has had 
 recourse to all the art and power of mechanism 
 — to springs and cushions, pulleys and levers, 
 and to every contrivance to prevent concussion in 
 the internal parts of it 5 whilst the outward part is 
 composed of a substance of all others the most 
 suited to its purpose, being firm enough to bear the 
 weight of the horse and his burthens, and admirably 
 adapted to the adhesion of nails, by which shoes 
 are affixed to it for its protection. Notwithstand- 
 ing, however, the unrivalled excellence of the work- 
 manship, it is too often unequal to the purposes to 
 which we apply it 5 and the diseases and injuries 
 of the feet of horses form a bane for which no anti- 
 dote has hitherto been discovered, and which so 
 frequently blast the hopes and expectations of the 
 sportsman, who goes to bed at night in the belief 
 that he has a horse in his stable ^vovth five hundred 
 
CONDITION OP HUNTERS. 131 
 
 guineas, and when he gets up in the morning finds 
 him not wortli as many shillings. 
 
 What I have to say on this subject is the result 
 of experience, never having seen a proper dissection 
 and injection of the foot of a horse ; and perhaps it 
 is well for me that I have not — for I remember 
 hearing my Lord Maynard declare that he had 
 never had a happy moment since he had witnessed 
 that operation ; " for now" said his Lordship, 
 " I expect my horses to be ruined every time they 
 step over the sill of their stable door." From the 
 numerous horses, however, that I have seen cut up 
 in the boiling house, added to the great attention I 
 have paid to the subject, I have, I think, a pretty 
 correct idea of the form and construction of the 
 horse's foot, and the causes of the diseases that 
 attack it — I wish I could add that I were able to 
 point out the cure. 
 
 It is, perhaps, presumptuous to say what may 
 have been the intentions of the Creator. Might 
 we be allowed to conjecture whether it were 
 intended that the foot of a horse should be shod 
 Avith iron, and that the horse should be driven or 
 ridden on hard roads— from the adaptation of the 
 parts my humble faculty supposes ])oth j and yet we 
 must express our surprise why so many ages should 
 have passed over before such ends should have been 
 effected ; as, from what I have heard and read on 
 the subject, there is no proof of shoeing horses, as 
 we shoe them, being practised until the ninth cen- 
 tury of the Cliristian sera ; and we must admit that 
 he was a bold man who first ventured to drive nails 
 into Ihe foot of a living horse. I may be told that 
 
 K 2 
 
132 CONDITION OF HUNTERS, 
 
 we have only negative proof of tliis, inasmuch as 
 there is no mention of horses being shod with iron 
 by any of the ancient writers on husbandry, horse- 
 manship, or the veterinary art ; neither is there any 
 representation of horse-shoes in any of the remains 
 of ancient sculpture, although the artists of anti- 
 quity were so minute in their designs as even 
 not to omit a nail in the wheel of a carriage. 
 No mention is made by their historians of shoe- 
 ing-smiths or horse-shoes forming part of the 
 materiel of an army ; ])ut Ave have numerous in- 
 stances of their cavalry being obliged to halt on 
 their march on account of their horses' hoofs being 
 worn down and spoiled. On this account it was 
 that they so much esteemed horses with hard feet 
 The Bible speaks of these, whose hoofs were 
 " counted like flint;" and Homer and others, of 
 " iron and brazen-footed horses, ^vith loud sounding 
 feet" — all which, with the equl souipides of the 
 Roman Poet, we may consider as poetical orna- 
 ments. That the ancients had a contrivance to 
 protect their horses' feet, by a kind of sock fas- 
 tened on them is certain ; and to this day, in some 
 eastern countries, these socks are used and sold to 
 travellers by persons stationed for that purpose on 
 their roads. We all remember — as a political 
 event of some interest was attached to it — Vespa- 
 sian's coachman stopping on the road to put shoes 
 on his mules, which no doubt were shoes of this 
 description. Indeed socks are now sold (1823), 
 similar to what we may conclude these to have 
 been, to be used when a hunter loses a slioe in the 
 field. They are made to fasten under the flap of 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 133 
 
 the saddle till wanted; and, but for the weight of 
 them (about 71bs.), they ^vould be a desirable ap- 
 pendage to a sportsman. They buckle around the fet- 
 lock joint, and the bottom of them is shod with iron*. 
 
 Shoeing horses is not now universally prac- 
 tised, as in many of the eastern countries they are 
 still ridden bare-footed. It is most probable that 
 the practice of shoeing became more general as 
 gravel Avas used for roads ; for, although paved 
 roads were in use in very early times, they were not 
 so injurious to feet as sharp iiinty gravel. I have 
 read that William the Conqueror introduced horse- 
 shoes into England, and that Henry de Ferrers, 
 who came over with him, got that surname because 
 he was entrusted with the inspection of the farriers, 
 and that his descendants still bear six horse-shoes 
 in their arms. It is further added, that that Sove- 
 reign gave the town of Northampton to some per- 
 son as a fief, in consideration of his paying a stated 
 sum yearly for the shoehig of horses. 
 
 Nature is seldom defective in her work ; j)ut, 
 without proper consideration, we might be induced 
 to think that she had been so Avith respect to the 
 hoofs of horses and the teeth of human beings. 
 Before, however, we can substantiate this charge, 
 Ave must prove that it Avas intended that horses 
 
 • Of the " horse-sandal or removable horse-shoe/' invented by 
 Mr. Percivall in 1830, that gentleman says, " I am not merely a 
 reviver or restorer, but ' an original inventor,' since this is the first 
 thing of its kind which has appeared before the pubKc with any 
 chance of success." The sandal consists of two parts : the slioe — the 
 iron part, or that which defends the bottom of the foot and sustains 
 the wear ; and the straps, composed of web, whereby the shoe is fas- 
 tened to the foot. It is not only light [its Kwiyht not exceeding half 
 a pound) and conveniently portable, but strong and protective. 
 
131 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 should carry heavy weight on their backs, or be driven 
 at the rate we drive them on hard roads, or that hu- 
 man beings should eat and drink boiling-hot food j 
 for I believe that the t^eth of savages, in a state of 
 nature, are said to last to the latest period of their 
 lives. With regard to Europeans, it is certain 
 that their teeth, generally speaking, do not endure 
 half their natural existence ; and Avere it customary 
 to ascertain the age of a man, as we do that of a 
 horse, by looking into his mouth, we should gene- 
 rally find at the age of forty as great a lack of 
 grinders as Sancho did in the jaws of his master 
 after one of his renowned battles. 
 
 It cannot be denied that the treatment and dis- 
 eases of horses' feet embrace a subject of the high- 
 est importance, not only to a sportsman, but to all 
 who possess valuable studs for the common pur- 
 poses of life. It is a subject on which I could 
 write a volume — the result of observation and prac- 
 tice. Indeed, it may be said that enough has been 
 written upon it already j and we must also admit 
 that no small quantum of quackery and book- 
 making has been the result. We have had shoes 
 of all descriptions, some of which must excite a 
 smile j and the short reign they had proved their 
 inutility and folly. My experience, however, has 
 led me to the following bold conclusions — first, 
 that the origmal form of a horse's foot has nothing 
 to do with his soundness j secondly, that contraction 
 of the hoof is the effect, and not the cause of 
 disease j thirdly, that unless Nature has done her 
 part effectually, by forming the foot of good mate- 
 rials, all the art of ]Mr. Coleman and the whole 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 135 
 
 body of veterinary science is of no jivail ; and, 
 lastly, when disease has once thoroughly taken pos- 
 session of this delicately-formed organ, the boiler 
 is the only remedy. 
 
 With respect to my first assertion, it would be 
 as preposterous to say, that because a man may have 
 a neat leg and foot, or an elegantly-turned hand, he 
 were never to be attacked with gout or rheumatism 
 in either of them, as to suppose, that because a 
 horse may have a perfectly-formed foot he is never 
 to be subject to disease. Much as I am an advo- 
 cate for good shoeing, it would be equally prepos- 
 terous to assert, that unless a horse be shod agree- 
 ably to one or tAvo particular systems he is to be- 
 come a cripple. When we consider how many 
 various methods of shoeing are practised in different 
 countries, Ave must be Avell aware that they cannot 
 all be agreeable to nature 5 therefore we must con- 
 clude that shoeing is not the chief coii.sideration, as, 
 in spite of its very Avorst application, some horses 
 continue sound in their feet for a great number of 
 years, Avhilst others, shod by the fii*st practitioners 
 of the art, are irrecoverably lame before they have 
 Avorn out a dozen sets of their orthodox shoes. 
 The Sieur La Fosse enumerates no less than six 
 diseases incident to the foot of the horse ; and yet, 
 compared Avith present knoAvledge, he seems to 
 liave been ignorant of the true anatomy of the 
 parts he treats of, though Ave must give him credit 
 for opening the Avay to future science. Wlien, 
 hoAvever, Ave consider the delicacy and intricacy of 
 the structure, Avith all its various articulations, Ave 
 cannot wonder at its not being perfectly compre- 
 
136 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 liended at first sight. As under the roof of our 
 parents we imbibe our first notion of things, it 
 may be allowable to go back to such data. In my 
 father's stable, although — from his principle of 
 treating them, working them with a belly-full of 
 grass in the summer, and of hay, good or bad, in 
 the winter, with " abhorrence of physic "-■'-every 
 other horse in it Avas broken-winded, yet (and I 
 was a close observer) I only remember one at all 
 tender in his feet, though they were shod by a 
 blacksmith who never heard of the principles of 
 nature in his life — who never knew there w^ere 
 such things as bars in the foot of a horse, but who 
 took his butteris and pared hoof and frog' till he 
 was tired, and then made a red-hot shoe* do the 
 rest of the business ! Let not the reader imagine 
 that this was a system I approved of, for I think the 
 good old gentleman had much luck on his side, and 
 only mention it to shew that some horses attain 
 their twentieth year — which several of his did— 
 perfectly sound in their feet, though shod by a 
 smith who violated all the principles of nature, save 
 one — that is, he suffered the shoe to rest on the crust, 
 Avhich is the chief natural bearing of the horse. 
 
 * When the late celehrated Colonel Thornton kept fox-hounds 
 in Yorkshire, he was extremely particular about the shoeing of 
 his horses. Taking up one of their feet one day, he observed that a 
 hot shoe had been appHed to it. " Tell that rascal of a blacksmith," 
 said be to his groom, " if he ever dares to apply a hot shoe to a 
 horse's foot of mine again, I will apply one to his ." (The rea- 
 der must guess the rest.) A short time afterwards, as the Colonel 
 ■was returning from hunting he caught poor Vulcan in the fatal act, 
 when, galloping up to him, with the assistance of two of his whip- 
 pers-in, he made good his promise, and stamped him a posteriori 
 with the insignia of his profession. It is unnecessary to add that 
 the actual cautery was in this case a sovereign remedy. 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 137 
 
 However lightly I may have noAV spoken on this 
 suhject, no man holds good shoeing to be more 
 essential than myself ; and, to prove what I assert, 
 I some years since made myself acquainted with 
 the operative part of preparing a horse's foot for his 
 shoe with the drawing knife, under the tuition of 
 a tirst-rate performer from the College. Having 
 done so, I was ever afterwards enabled to direct 
 those Avho shod my horses, and found the best 
 effects from my instructions. In one instance, in 
 particular, I found them of infinite advantage. I 
 went to spend the summer months, a few years- 
 since, with a friend Avho resided in the interior 
 of the principality of Wales 5 and conceiving that 
 gentle exercise at that period would be serviceable 
 to two valuable hunters I then possessed, I took 
 them with me. Dreading the uncontrolled opera- 
 tion of the butteris in the hands of a Welch 
 blacksmith, I took my drawing knife with me, and 
 the first time my horses wanted shoeing I prepared 
 their feet myself. Contrary to my expectation the 
 Welchman approved of and profited by the ex- 
 ample I set hhn; and, in a very few lessons, 
 became a slioer on the principles of nature, which 
 Avas also of no small importance to my friend, aa^io 
 had eight coach horses (seven greys and a piebald) 
 in his stable at the time, which Messrs. Tattersall 
 afterwards sold for him for as many hundred 
 pounds. 
 
 Were I to purchase a horse at a large price I 
 should certainly like to see him wath a fine cir- 
 cular foot, sound and elastic frogs, and strongly- 
 defined bars. I should like to see the hoof full in 
 
138 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 the front, free from ribs or seams, and of a dark 
 shining colour. But when I have seen all this, am 
 I to imagine that I have got a horse whose feet 
 are secure from disease ? Am I to imagine that so 
 long as I contrive to preserve this circular foot, 
 these sound and elastic frogs, and these well-dehned 
 bars, I am to have a sound horse '? Let me not 
 take such " flattering unction" to my soul ! No : 
 this horse is liable to disease in his feet as Avell as 
 another whose hoofs are narrow — whose heels are 
 high — whose frogs never touch the ground— -pro- 
 vided Nature formed them in siwha?uoidd, and also 
 provided she formed them of good materials. If 
 this were not the case, what would become of the 
 mule, the donkey, and the Arabian ? I could bring 
 a hundred proofs of the truth of Avhat I am now 
 advanchig, but will only state one or two at present. 
 In I8I8 I heard of a very clever well-bred 
 young horse, the property of a clergyman in 
 Bedfordshire, that had gone well one day for half 
 an hour with the Oakley hounds, when the country 
 was very deep, and was to be sold for one hundred 
 and thirty guineas. I went to see him for the purpose 
 of purchasing him. But I must here enter a little 
 into detail, for the sake of establishing one point. 
 
 On my arrival at this gentleman's residence he 
 Avas on a visit to a friend, so that I only saw his 
 horse in the stable ; but, as he was expected at home 
 early the next morning, I gave him the meeting at 
 an appointed hour. On examining this horse's 
 feet, previously to taking him out of his stall, I found 
 them perfect. I had him trotted at the end of the 
 bridle down hill, upon pavement, when he went 
 
CONDITION OF HtJNTERS. 139 
 
 perfectly at his ease ; and after riding him a short 
 time I purchased him at the price stated, and had 
 him led by a careful servant of my own into 
 Leicestershire, at three easy days' journey of 
 twenty miles each. The fifth day after he arrived 
 I got on his back to ride him to covert, and found 
 he was lame. Immediately mounting another 
 horse I ordered my groom to get his shoe off, and 
 to put his foot into warm water*, supposing his 
 lameness to proceed from some trifling cause. My 
 horse, however, was never sound again ; -dndbecauae 
 I could not prove that he was lame before I became 
 possessed of him, I never saw a shilling of my 
 money again. 
 
 Now I must here observe, that wiien I saw this 
 horse on the morning previous to my purchasing him 
 I thought he did not stand quite square on his fore* 
 legs, but that he seemed to have one of them — the 
 faulty one — a little more forward than the other. 
 I observed it again when I saw him the next day, 
 and mentioned it to his owner, who assured me that 
 it was only caused by his looking over the side of 
 his stall at another horse — adding, that as he had 
 bred him he could answer for his never having been 
 lame in his life. All this was very true. The 
 horse never had been lame ; but, at the time I am 
 speaking of, incipient disease existed in his foot, 
 and the travelling into Leicestershire produced 
 inflanmiation and lameness. The veterinary sur- 
 geon who attended him declared, that if he Avanted 
 to make a drawing of the foot of the horse he 
 should have been glad to have taken his for a model, 
 so perfectly was it formed in all its parts and 
 
140 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 features. On dissection, two years afterwards, all 
 this fine form was obliterated, and a total derange- 
 ment of the necessary organs of action presented 
 itself. Neither all the skill of the College, nor 
 all the art of the shoer, would have been of any 
 avail here, so rapid was the progress of the disease. 
 The next is an instance e contra. Three years 
 ago I heard of a horse, the property of a farmer 
 near Gloucester, that had been going particularly 
 well with Colonel Berkeley's and Air. Hornyold's 
 hounds, and Avas for sale ; but though he was 
 what we call " all over a hunter," no one would 
 purchase him, because he had " small contracted 
 feet," as they were denominated, aiid was " certain 
 to be lame." His price Avas 150 guineas. Being 
 at this time on a visit to IMr. Hornyold, I got on my 
 hack the next morning, and rode to see him. I 
 found him just as he had been described to me, 
 Avith small feet, high heels, and frogs not within an 
 inch of the ground \ but, convinced of his sound- 
 ness, I bought him for 150/. and sent him part of 
 the road that evening into Warwickshire, Avith 
 orders to my groom to give him a dose of physic 
 previously to my ridhig him with the hounds. He, 
 hoAvever, very soon attracted the eye of a celebrated 
 sporting character in that country, Avho rides heavy, 
 and Avho gave me the price of another good horse 
 for him, in addition to Avhat he cost me, and does 
 me the honour to call hini " Nimrod." He has 
 never been at all lame, or even tender in his feet, 
 nor Avould his oAvner take 500 guineas at this 
 moment, if such a price aa ere offered for him. 
 I may here add that Hermit (^^. 64), Avho Avas sold 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 141 
 
 for so large a price in Leicestershire, had very 
 narrow heels with very small frogs, but was never 
 lame from such causes in his life, and was most 
 particularly good on the road. On talking over 
 these matters lately with a friend of mine, who has 
 been a great breeder of race horses, and has had 
 much experience in others, he observed, " You re- 
 member my Currycomb colt ! I neveritook such pains 
 with any horse's feet in my life, as I did with his, 
 to make them perfect, but he Avas never sound after 
 four years old. My Zodiac horse, that I rode so 
 many seasons, had very narrow feet, with scarcely 
 any frogs at all, and never was lame in his life." 
 
142 CONDfTION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 LETTER X 
 
 ON THE FOOT— IN CONTINUATION, 
 
 " It is absurd to suppose there are no final causes, because we do not 
 see the efficient cause. The equaUty of three angles, of a triangle 
 with two right angles, cannot be made to be, though there may 
 be some other thing prior to it, without which it cannot be. My 
 horse, which is lame, cannot be made lame, though there may be 
 a cause for his being so : — there may be a nail in his foot." 
 
 Petwin's " Letters on the Mind'' 
 
 We attempt in vain to account for some of the 
 dispensations of Providence, Init to snffer seems the 
 natural attribute of mortality. The natural dis- 
 eases, however, of horses are but few 5 and, in 
 justice to humanity, it must be admitted that they, 
 as well as others which owe their existence to man, 
 have occupied their share of attention 5 and we 
 cannot, Avithout impeaching the mercy of the 
 Creator, for a moment imagine that there are many 
 diseases without their remedies. It is, however, a 
 maxim in physic that to find out the disease and its 
 cause is half the cure 5 though it often happens 
 that the former is the more difficult point to 
 accomplish. 
 
 I cone hided my last letter with soi^e observa- 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 143 
 
 tions on the foot of the horse, with a promise of 
 continuing them in this. " When the ploughman 
 took the hehn," says the fable, " the gods left him 
 to himself ;" and I must be cautious how I enter into 
 this field of art, or I may be compared to the man 
 who set about learning animal economy by dissect- 
 ing a statue. Nevertheless, as all knowledge is 
 progressive, few practical sciences arrive at per- 
 fection until they become the objects of general 
 inquiry ; and therefore I may be allowed to con- 
 tribute my mite to the fund. Experience often 
 points out guides more certain than any theory, and 
 one triumphant certainty is worth a thousand 
 doubts. At all events evidence cannot cheat us, but, 
 on the contrary, has that sovereign dominion over 
 our minds, against which argument has no chance 
 to contend. 
 
 Although it is well that every man should have 
 some idea of the operations of nature, few have 
 much knowledge of anatomy, unless intended for 
 the medical or veterinary profession ; but without 
 its demonstrative evidence, all is doubt and un- 
 certainty, and we go on, accounting for one thing 
 by supposing another, until we exhaust every 
 species of error. Find out the cause and remove 
 it, and the effect ceases ! Remove the film, and the 
 sight is clear! 
 
 In searching for truth it is useless to expose 
 former mistakes and errors : we should only look 
 to well-established facts, and to the unexpected 
 discoveries which present themselves. In my last 
 letter on this su])ject I ventured to oppose the long- 
 veceived opinion — an opinion emanating from the 
 
144 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 liigliest* authority— that contraction of the foot 
 was a cause of himeness, and, that unless the frog 
 received pressure, disease, and consequently lame- 
 ness, were the certain effects. Now, the natural 
 consequence of this opinion has been the stumbling* 
 block I alluded to in shoeing, giving birth to th-e 
 expansion shoe, the thin-heeled shoe, and the 
 artificial frog, Avhich have, in their turns, ruined 
 many thousand horses. The reader may exclaim, 
 " Surely this is bold language !" It may, I allow, 
 appear presumptuous in an humble individual like 
 myself to state my opinion in opposition to that of 
 such a man as Mr. Coleman, to whom we are, after 
 all, indebted for laying down the first real 
 principles of veterinary science in this country 5 by 
 whose means they have been conveyed to all parts of 
 the kingdom 5 and to whom may be traced that light 
 which has recently and generally been thro^vn on 
 the art which he professes. We are all, however, 
 wise after experience ; and my experience has fully 
 demonstrated that thick toest and thin heels will 
 lame the soundest horse that was ever foaled, when 
 
 • The Veterinary College. 
 
 t Mr. Coleman recommends shoes three times thicker at the toe 
 than the heel. In fair play, however, to him and his followers, this 
 disproportion has not been persisted in. Alluding to these shoes, 
 Mr. Peall, professor of the Dublin Society, thus expresses himself: 
 " Experience of many years has convinced me that no other prin- 
 ciples of shoeing than those which Mr. Coleman has laid down are 
 capable of preserving the foot of the horse from disease;" but 
 at the end of the same chapter he informs us, that " the thin-heeled 
 shoes recommended by the professor had been laid aside for some 
 time at the London Veterinary College, from the experience of their 
 inutility." We are indebted to Mr. Goodwin for this amusing 
 extract ; but as it comes from Dublin wc must excuse all faults. 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 145 
 
 jyut to severe ivork^ and that pressure on the frog is 
 by no means essential to, or a wide circuhir hoof 
 by no means a proof of, the soundness of the foot. 
 
 With respect to the first of these positions, I 
 have often experienced a converse effect. I have 
 more than once had a horse in training, Avhose 
 sinews shewed some symptoms of giving way; 
 when, on lowering the toe and raising the heel, 
 those sinews have been relaxed, and the horse has 
 gone on well in his work. 
 
 With regard to the frog, I am fully aware 
 that Nature never furnished an animal with such 
 an organ without appropriating to it some useful 
 function; but, on a nicer examination of the 
 foot of a horse than that which a living subject 
 presents us with, it is very evident that the heels, 
 and not the frog, form the first natural bearing for 
 liis weight ; and, in a state of nature, the latter 
 will not touch the ground on a level and hard 
 surface until the crust of the former is worn down, 
 as I have a hundred times ^vitnessed in colts which 
 have travelled a long distance barefooted. Add to 
 this, that however well adapted the frog may be to 
 act by second causes, and also to prevent injury to 
 the parts beneath it, yet (speaking plainly), from 
 the stuff it is made of, so highly elastic — when con- 
 sidered as a preventive of contraction — its powers 
 of opposing horn and iron must be very feeble 
 indeed. 
 
 As I shall, hereafter, offer some remarks on 
 preparing the foot for the shoe, in which attention 
 to the frog and its properties will not be overlooked, 
 I shall now proceed to the important discovery to 
 
 L 
 
146 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 which I alhided in my last, relating to the nature 
 and seat of the disease called " founder, or groggy 
 lameness" — a discovery which has hitherto never 
 been noticed by veterinary writers, with the 
 exception of one or two who have lately touched 
 upon it. The reader will observe that it is a 
 disease strictly confined to the fore feetj; so that the 
 last^mentioned organ, the frog, can have no 
 peculiar relation to it, as that organ exercises its 
 functions equally in all the feet. 
 
 Now the following is the manner in which I 
 stumbled upon this (to me) new light in the veteri- 
 nary horizon, in which I am much inclined to 
 think there is still some twilight remaining, which 
 the bright sunshine of knowledge and experience 
 has yet to dispel. Happening to go to London the 
 latter end of September. 1823, I was requested by 
 a friend in the country to purchase a hunter for him, 
 for Avhich purpose I went to the Bazaar. There I got 
 into conversation wdth Mr. Turner, the head veteri- 
 nary surgeon to this splendid establishment, and 
 who also so well performed his part in the rostrum 
 on the auction days. On my looking at the feet of 
 some horses, and making some observations on 
 them which were in unison with his ideas and 
 practice, he entered freely into the subject, and at 
 last spoke of " tlte navicular disease." Now it so 
 happened (and here I must expose my ignorance), 
 that though I knew there was such a joint in the 
 foot as this, yet I was ignorant of its technical 
 appellation* ; and therefore was obliged to ask for 
 
 » I knew this bone by the name of the nut, or shuttle bone, and 
 was also aware of the joint it formed with the flexor. 
 
CONmTlON OF HUNTERS. 147 
 
 an explanation, which, in the most obliging and 
 scientific manner, he instantly furnished me with ; 
 at the same time informing me that the discovery 
 of this disease, as the seat of founder^ was due to a 
 brother of his, who practised the veterinary art at 
 Croydon in Surrey. 
 
 Now I have heard and read a great deal about 
 diseases of the foot. I have heard some attribute 
 them to ossification of the cartilages ; whilst I have 
 heard others attribute them to contracted hoofs or dis- 
 eased frogs. On the other hand, I have heard a keen 
 sportsman declare he vi^ould give a hundred guineas 
 if he could get a good running thrush into one of 
 a favorite horse's fore feet, to make it as sound as 
 the other, which had a thrush. I was myself con- 
 vinced that contraction, or pressure on frogs, had 
 nothing to do with lameness or soundness of the 
 foot whatever, but I had never heard of the 
 " navi cular disease." 
 
 Being all for demonstration, when I can get it, 
 and convinced that there are but two ways of 
 obtaining knowledge — one from our own expe- 
 rience, and the other from the experience of 
 others — I obtained from his brother an introduc- 
 tion to Mr. Turner, and waited on him at his 
 residence at Croydon^ where I found he was the 
 son of an eminent practitioner of his art, and a 
 highly respectable character, and was himself, though 
 a young man, in full possession of all the veteri- 
 nary practice of that populous and sporting country. 
 
 On my arrival at Croydon Mr. Turner was pre- 
 pared with one dissection of the leg of a horse just 
 killed, to shew me the original structure of the 
 
 l2 
 
148 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 interior of the foot ; and with another denuded of 
 hair and flesh, so as to enable him to point out to 
 me the situation and office of the navicular bone 
 and joint, wherein, he contends, the seat of the 
 disease called " founder, or groggy lameness," is 
 invariably to be seen; and by the very clear and 
 able manner — suited to my capacity on such 
 subjects — in which he unfolded the evidence 
 necessary to establish the fact, I shall be able to 
 detail it, I trust, in such language as may be 
 intelligible to the reader, being similar to that 
 in which it was conveyed to me. 
 
 The navicular bone has its derivation from the 
 Latin Avord '''navis" being supposed to resemble a 
 boat; but, in my opinion, the old appellation of 
 " shuttle bone" need not have been disturbed, as 
 the resemblance here is the stronger of the two. 
 By that wonderful organ — the great Jiexor ten^ 
 don of the leg — passing immediately under this 
 bone, and articulated with it, the joint called the 
 " navicular joint" is formed. Immediately under 
 this joint is the fatty or elastic frog, also one of 
 the greatest curiosities in nature ; and under that is 
 the horny or elastic frog. It is also worthy of 
 remark, that the navicular bone passes across the 
 foot, from one side to the other, just above the 
 centre of the frog, forming, as it were, a double 
 joint with the pastern bone and the flexor tendon ; 
 thereby acting as an auxiliary supporter to the 
 coffin bone, in receiving the Aveight from above. 
 On this Aveight being received from the pastern, the 
 navicular bone descends AAdtli the pressure, inclin- 
 ing backwards, conA^eying the Aveight to the fatty 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 149 
 
 frog, und thereby acting as a powerful spring to all 
 that portion of the foot which is jiosterior to the coffin 
 bone. On inspection of this joint, in its healthy 
 state, the navicular bone (which forms the joint 
 with the flexor tendon, by a corresponding con- 
 vexity in the centre of the bone) presents an 
 exquisitely polished surface, resembling a shell, 
 though at the same time it is highly vascular, and 
 has the power of secreting that phenomenon in 
 animal economy, st/novia, or joint oil, by which the 
 parts are lubricated when in action. 
 
 Now it appears most clearly that there are two 
 distinct causes for the disease of the navicular 
 joint — one, from any effectual opposition it may 
 meet with in its descent, as above described 
 (and which descent, as it receives the weight jper- 
 pendicularli/, and not obliquely, as with the coffin 
 bone, is essential to prevent concussion) ; and the 
 other, by inflammation, which attacks the synovial 
 membrane which lines the joint, and which may 
 proceed from various causes; though I should 
 imagine concussion, or jar to the foot, to be the 
 principal one ; notwithstanding, to opjjo^-e concur-' 
 aion to a certain extent^ seems to be the principal 
 intention of the parts in question. 
 
 From the information IMr. Turner was so kind 
 as to afford me, and from the specimens he pre- 
 sented me with, I am enal)led to form the following 
 notions of the disease of the navicular joint:— 
 First, inflammation attacks the membrane lining 
 the joint, .succeeded by a dimunition of the 
 synovia, and a general stoppage to the healthy 
 secretion of the parts. The consequence of this is 
 
150 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 increased friction, succeeded by abrasion of the 
 delicate and highly sensible membranes of Avhich 
 they are composed. Secondly, absorption from the 
 centre of the bone takes place, causing a hole in it 
 very similar to that which we see in a carious 
 tooth : and, lastly, a strong adhesion of the tendon 
 to this hole, forming a disease the most prevalent, 
 and at the same time the most formidable to which 
 the horse is liable. In slight cases I found there 
 had only been an absorption of the cartilage which 
 covers the bone, without any loss of, or hole in, the 
 bone itself, and then there was little or no adhesion 
 of the tendon to the bone. 
 
 Now to all those who have experienced the 
 painful and distressing effect of a small bone 
 spavin in a horse, it must at once be obvious that 
 to create action in a joint in the state above 
 described must be the cause of excessive suffering 
 to the animal; yet such is the case with all groggy 
 horses. 
 
 Of the extreme sensibility of joints Ave need 
 no further proof than to be told that the most 
 trifling exposure of their cavities very often termi- 
 nates fatally, by excessive irritation. Even bones 
 cannot rest or move upon each other with impunity, 
 but are protected by ligaments which surround their 
 joints, and by a fine vascular membrane which lines 
 their different cavities. 
 
 Whatever may be the credit due to IMr. Turner 
 for his able and satisfactory researches into this 
 dreadful disease, it is but just to observe that it has 
 not altogether escaped the notice of others. Mr. 
 Coleman, in all his publicationsj has never 
 
CONt>ITION OF HUNTERS. 151 
 
 reverted to this disease 5 though I understand that 
 since his attention has been directed to it by Mr. 
 Turner, he has admitted it. Mr. Goodwin did 
 mention one instance of it in a late publication, in 
 the case of a gentleman's hunter whose foot he 
 dissected: but to Mr. Turner cilone is the merit of 
 establishing the incontrovertible fact oi' its being 
 the general seat of founder in the foot of the 
 horse. These gentlemen, however, spea'i of it as 
 an individual instance ; and it nmst be highly grati- 
 fying to Mr. Turner to find that eminent practitioner 
 Mr. Goodwin (veterinary surgeon to his IMajesty, 
 and whose book I have perused with the greatest 
 pleasure) stating, that " altitough this disease might 
 have been previously known to exist in particular 
 cases," (only one of which appears hi his practice,) 
 " it was not understood to be the general cause 
 before Mr. Turner investigated the subject." 
 
 For my own part I hate a hovering faith, and 
 would at any time ride a hundred miles rather 
 than remain in doubt on a subject of this interest- 
 ing nature. On my vicAving IMr. Turner's specimens 
 all scepticism vanished, but some curious reflec- 
 tions came across my mind. " Why," said I to 
 myself, " do w^e take so many opinions upon trust, 
 when we have ears to hear, and eyes to see, for 
 ourselves? If this fact be established, what must 
 after-ages think of those volumes of error that 
 have gone forth to the Avorld on a subject surely of 
 no such impenetrable difficulty'? or that one humble 
 individual should have it in his power to say, that, 
 after all the exertions of the veterinary body, not 
 only has no cure been yet discovered, but no real 
 
152 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 cause demonstrated, for hy far the most common 
 disease incident to the theme and subject of their 
 inquiries and labours ? As for contracted hoofs, I 
 have ah-eady stated my opinion of them in terms 
 which cannot be mistaken. They have no more to 
 do with the cause of lameness than the pen I now 
 hold in my hand. Among Mr. Turner's specimens 
 is the most contracted foot I ever saw, for the heels 
 fairly overlap each other, with no appearance of 
 Irog. It, however, carried an old horse quite sound 
 to his dying day; but the navicular bone and joint 
 are as sound as adamant. Had it been in the 
 power of mere outward compression to have lamed 
 a horse, this horse must have been lame ; but this I 
 do not believe to be the case, and I will state 
 my reasons why. 
 
 Every part of the internal cavity of the foot 
 which could be affected by pressure, being of an 
 elastic nature, and no joint being within its imme- 
 iliate injfluence, contraction, from whatever cause it 
 may proceed, cannot come on so rapidly but that 
 the parts would adapt themselves to the change. 
 How frequently are hind feet contracted — but when 
 have we heard of lameness as the consequence ? 
 Should contraction arise from the mechanical 
 effect of shoeing, which must he progressive, \\\eYii 
 is a still slighter chance, from the reason just stated, 
 of disease being produced by it. 
 
 Were anything wanting to convince me that 
 the seat of foot lameness is in the navicular joint, 
 1 should take my stand in the hinder hoof. This, 
 it appears, never founders. But why, may I ask, 
 does it not ? The answer is— -it does not receive 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 153 
 
 coiicus>sioii sufficient to injure the navicular joint: 
 it conies ohliqueli/, and not perpendicularly, to the 
 ground, as does the fore foot ; neither does it 
 support anything like the same quantity of Aveight. 
 
 NoAV, for the sake of argument, it may be 
 asserted, that as, from the form of the animal, it 
 was necessary that the fore legs should carry a 
 greater proportion of the animal (say nothing of 
 the rider) than the hinder ones, Nature has been 
 deficient in not providing accordingly. To this I 
 answer, that for all natural purposes she has pro- 
 vided ; but not against going at the rate of twenty 
 miles in the hour, with additional Aveight, and 
 opposed to tAvo of the hardest substances AVe have- 
 iron and stone. It is " the pace that kills" here, as 
 Avell as in other cases; and to the moderate pace 
 at Avhich horses in foreign countries are ridden (a 
 fact universally alloAved) is to be attributed the 
 more general absence of foot lameness, and not to 
 their clumsy method of shoeing, AA^hich I shall 
 allude to hereafter. We may add to this, that the 
 horses on the Continent are, for the most part, a 
 different sort of horse to those used for the com- 
 mon purposes of life in this country ; not that I 
 mean to say the navicular disease is not sometimes 
 found in our cart horses, as Avell as those of a 
 superior breed, as has been demonstrated by Mn 
 Turner. 
 
 A groggy horse cannot be mistaken. Froni 
 haying been so much on "the road" my eye is 
 quite familiar to them ; and I knoAv them Avheil 
 I see them standing in the stable. They stand in 
 a position peculiar to themselves, leaning obliquely 
 
l54 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 backwards, as it were, to ease the fore feet, and 
 trying to rest their weight more on the toe than on 
 the heel. This woukl not be the case Avere the 
 himeness produced by pressure on the cartilages, as 
 then the impression Avould be general. 
 
 When some of my acquaintance, avIio may 
 be said to have been great yoo^men as well as great 
 horsemen all their lives, come to read what I have 
 now written, they Avill, I think, be convinced that 
 they have had a good deal of their trouble for nothing 
 — not but Avhat I highly appreciate the value of an 
 open and wide foot in a hunter, in keeping him above 
 ground over a deep country, as I would draw out 
 manure on tender land in a broad and not a 
 narrOAV-Avheel cart 5 but I allude to those whose 
 anxiety has been so great to preserve open feet 
 as a preventive of disease. To one friend of mine 
 this particularly applies. He had a very valu- 
 able gig horse, which he never drove in the winter, 
 hecauae he said he had such narrow feet that he 
 Avould certainly be a cripple, unless he passed 
 the winter months in screw shoes, by means of 
 which, I admit, his feet did appear to be some- 
 what wider at the heels when he came up in the 
 spring, though they soon resumed their old shape. 
 These narrow feet, however, never failed him, for 
 the navicular bone was sound. 
 
 NoAV I have no doubt but this was the disease 
 which " the ancients" (amongst whom I include the 
 common farriers of the last century) termed " coffin 
 lameness." As most of them are, fortunately 
 (for horses), now in their own coffins, it is no harm 
 to say that they could not have given a much stronger 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 155 
 
 proof of their ignorance 5 for, from the oblique 
 direction of that bone, added to its being sur- 
 rounded by, and embedded in, springs, its injury 
 must be of rare occurrence. 
 
 When I say that hijury to the navicuhir joint 
 proceeds from concussion, are we not surprised that 
 mischief is not done every time a man leaps his 
 horse into a hard stony road ? General rules, how- 
 ever, never apply to individual cases : and in no 
 part of animal economy is there more variety than 
 in the foot of the horse, not only as to its shape, 
 hut as to what it is made of. I have had horses 
 whose feet have been very perfectly formed that 
 could not go at alhvithout their fore shoes ; and I had 
 one, which I sold to Mr. Lechmere Charlton for a 
 large price, that carried me from the further end of 
 WitchAvood Forest in Oxfordshire, to Bourton on 
 the Hill in Gloucestershire, a distance of at least 
 eighteen miles, in two hours, without a fore shoe, 
 and without the smallest injury to his foot, which 
 Avas a narroAV one — by the bye not a soft country to 
 go over, and the shoe was off at the finish of a 
 capital run, so that I knoAV not what distance the 
 horse might have gone barefooted. 
 
 I must noAV bring this letter to a conclusion, 
 but shall resume the subject, it being, in my 
 opinion, one of the most interesting that ever 
 occupied the attention of a sportsman, as far as the 
 stable is concerned. In the mean time it may not 
 he amiss to observe, that as concussion appears 
 likely to produce foot lameness, by peculiarly, 
 affecting the part I have been treating of, it should 
 
156 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 be avoided as much as is consistent with absolute 
 necessity for it, and valuable hunters should be 
 kept off hard roads as much as it is possible to do 
 so*. This applies merely to concussion. 
 
 Inflammation of the synovial membrane which 
 lines the joint may arise from other causes, Avhich 
 it may be more difficult to describe. It may be 
 well to observe, that suffering horses to go a long 
 time Avithout being shod, or removed, and thereby 
 suffering the sole to become morbidly thick, may be 
 one cause of inflammation, as offering too much 
 resistance to the descent of the navicular joint. 
 Standing long in the stable, and then suddenly 
 called into action, is also very likely to derange 
 these highly-sensible parts, as indeed it is the 
 cause of various bodily complaints. 
 
 I have now only to observe, that were I to have 
 a horse struck with foot-lameness I Avould send that 
 horse to Mr. Turner, and say to him, " Here, Sir, 
 is a patient for you : as you know his disease, you 
 are the most likely man to cure him." I should 
 then take my leave, Avishing him all possible 
 success in his profession, to which he appears 
 eminently entitled. If he succeeds in his labours, 
 and finds out the cure^ as he has found out the 
 disease, he will then have found " the basis for the 
 
 * On returning home from hunting with a friend of mine who 
 was riding a horse he had purchased from me, and was trotting him 
 at the rate of nine miles an hour on the high roadj whilst I was 
 riding by the side of it. — "Why," said I, "do you knock your 
 horse's feet about in that way, when you can avoid it?" His answer 
 was — " If they will not stand what he is now doing, he is not worth 
 what I gave you for him." This was bad logic. 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS, 157 
 
 repose of his profession," which a brother member 
 of it rather prematurely boasted of. Let him, 
 however, persevere in liis endeavours, and he will 
 be sure of his reward. The words of the poet apply 
 to us all : we know not what we can do till M^e 
 tiy:- 
 
 — Quid ferre recusent- 
 Quid valeant humeri 
 
158 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 LETTER XI. 
 
 CONDITION RESUMED, 
 
 As the latter end of July is the period when 
 all hunters should be in the stable, I resume my 
 remarks on " ComlHion" and shall continue them 
 until I have concluded what I have to say on the 
 subject. I make no apology for the minuteness of 
 the detail, as 1 am well convinced the suljject is one 
 which Avill command the attention of my readers ; 
 and I am happy to be able to communicate the 
 pleasing fact, that numbers of my brother sports- 
 men have adopted my system of summering the 
 hunter, with the anticipation of the best results. 
 I have also had an opportunity during a late 
 excursion through some of the best hunting coun- 
 tries, of hearing of, or seeing, numerous studs of 
 hunters summered in this manner, belonging to 
 sportsmen of the very first order, who adopted it long 
 before I put pen to paper on the subject. Among 
 others I called on Mr. Weedon, the Earl of 
 Plymouth's groom, Avhose opinion, as one of the 
 best hunting grooms in England, I was anxious to 
 obtain. I found that he carried the object of con- 
 dition still further than I do, as he informed me 
 that all those horses of his Lordship which were 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 159 
 
 flesh on their legs were walked out for an hour or 
 two every morning during the summer. Mr. 
 Weedon has lived fourteen years (reckoning from 
 1824) with Lord Plymouth ; and to any one who 
 has witnessed his Lordship's style of riding across 
 a ctDuntry, it must be evident, that, unless Mr. 
 Weedon knew his business well, he would not have 
 remained fourteen years at the head of perhaps 
 one of. the most valuable studs of hunters in 
 England. Mr. W. is also a man of manners and 
 education superior to the generality of persons 
 hlling situations similar to his own, which induced 
 me to go several miles out of my road to see him. 
 
 There is always a delicacy between sportsmen, 
 which forbids them prying into the stables of each 
 other, at any period of the year ; therefore I did 
 not even express a wish to see Lord Plymouth's 
 hunters (about seventeen in number), but called on 
 Mr. Weedon at his residence, Avhich is about a 
 mile and a half from the Earl's seat in Worcester- 
 shire. It appeared he had never heard of NiMROD 
 or his letters ; but when we came to compare notes 
 on the subject of condition of hunters, I could 
 almost have persuaded myself that he had been the 
 author of them, instead of myself— so exactly did 
 our sentiments tally. With respect, however, to 
 giving hunters walking exercise throughout the 
 summer, he there goes a step beyond me, but on 
 mature reflection I am convinced he is right. 
 On talking the matter over, each of us referred to 
 Mr. Potter, the Earl of Sefton's celebrated groom, 
 M'ho always adopted that plan, and to whose very 
 superior condition I have before alluded. " When 
 
160 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 horses are fresh and Avell on their legs," said Mr. 
 Weedon, " the advantage of always keeping them 
 going in this gentle Avay, is incalculaljle at the 
 commencement of the season. It invigorates their 
 whole frame, strengthens the muscles, preserves 
 their bowels free, and keeps them from getting 
 out of shape and form." 
 
 On conversing with Lord Molyneux, at Chester 
 races, on Potter's stable management, his Lordship 
 told me that he was now steward to his father, and of 
 course had nothing to do Avith the horses 5 but we 
 both agreed on the very superior form the Earl's 
 hunters were in when he hunted Leicestershire ; 
 and, as I before observed, they were always walked 
 out with the hounds in the sunnner. On my ask- 
 ing Lord Molyneux after the horse he called 
 Oajford, he told me he was quite well, but had had a 
 tremendous operation performed upon him by Mr. 
 Walton, the veterinary surgeon at Liverpool, in 
 consequence of a humour which had settled in his 
 sheath, and which he attributed to his having been 
 turned out to grass. I saAV this very first-rate horse 
 a short time afterwards in London, looking re- 
 markably well I but I shall have occasion to speak 
 of him again, when describing the celebrated 
 Ditchley day with Lord Middleton's hounds when 
 he hunted Warwickshire, and Avhen Lord Moly- 
 neux rode this horse, and was o?ie of three who 
 saw it. 
 
 During my excursion I spent a day with Mr. 
 Lockley, who has ever been celebrated for the 
 condition of his horses ; and knowing that he had 
 a very favorite hunter, for which he had refused a 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 161 
 
 large sum of money, I had some curiosity to see 
 how he was treated. I found him in his stall, out 
 of which, with the exception of travelling into 
 Leicestershire, and other hunting countries, he had 
 not been for three years— not even into a loose box. 
 He had been soiled for a fortnight on clover, which 
 had let his carcase down a little ; but in every other 
 respect he was fit to go to hounds at a week's 
 notice, and his groom had ridden him ten miles 
 that morning on the road. 
 
 On my journey homewards I saw the Earl of 
 Jersey's groom, and found his horses treated 
 exactly in the same manner as Lord Plymouth's, 
 with the exception of their not being ridden out. 
 They Avere, night and day, in large loose places, 
 Avith chains across the doors, which Avere open ; 
 and they Avere full of corn. I asked his groom, 
 Avhoni I have knoAvn many years— and a most 
 excellent servant he is, and high in his master's 
 confidence— Avhether he kept their shoes on or off? 
 Avhen he told me they Avore half shoes, or tips, 
 merely because they kept the stopping in their feet, 
 by \A^hich means they Avere ke})t moist. 
 
 When on the subject of feet (though I have 
 much more to say on that head as I proceed), 
 and their treatment in the summer, I cannot pass 
 over a passage I have met Avith in Mr. GoodAvin's 
 Avork, On the Biaeaaes of the Feet, \vhicli I here 
 transcribe. The situation Mr. GoodAA'in has so long 
 held under his Majesty, as Avell as his reputation and 
 experience, set all cavilling at defiance. 
 
 " I have invariably observed," says Mv. Good- 
 Avin, " Avhere horses are turned out to grass during 
 
 M 
 
162 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 the dry and hot summer months, that on hringmg 
 them up to be put into stable condition, their feet 
 are in a much worse state than they were when 
 they went out, dried up, and so hard and brittle, 
 that, on the application of a tool to bring them 
 into a form fit to receive a shoe, the horn breaks 
 like a piece of glass, and all the naturally tough 
 and elastic property is lost, so that it requires some 
 months to remove the bad effects. If it is neces- 
 sary that a horse should be put out of work during 
 the hot and dry weather, I prefer a large box or 
 shed, and soiling with green food 5 by which means 
 two objects are gained — viz. all the injurious effects 
 of a drying wind or a meridian sun on the hoofs 
 are avoided, which creates such an excessive evapo- 
 ration of the natural moisture absorbed into the 
 horn from Avithin, that it not only becomes dry, 
 hard, and brittle, but the Avhole horny box tightens 
 on the sensible parts, and frequently produces great 
 mischief. But in a loose place moisture may be 
 applied in any desirable way. The other advan- 
 tage of a shed or box is, that horses are sheltered 
 from the terrifying effects of flies and heat. Horses 
 at grass are much inclined to thrushes j and whe- 
 ther they have shoes or tips, or are without either, 
 it is necessary frequently to inspect their feet, and 
 to remove all superfluous horn, otherwise the foot 
 will grow out of all form." 
 
 I think I have now said enough of the evils 
 attending summering hunters in the field 5 and I 
 think the foregoing observations of ]\Ir. Goodwin's 
 Avill be an answer to all those who say " it is abso- 
 lutely necessary for their feet." That they can 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 163 
 
 exist sound and well for fifteen years Avitliout it, 
 my own experience has assured me 5 Ijiit the foiloAv- 
 ing Avell-authenticated tVict out-herods Hetod. 
 The circumstance is thus related in the 8th vol. of 
 the Sporting Magazine^ p. 160 : — " Lately died, 
 at Barnstaple in Devonshire, a chesnut horse, in his 
 39th year. He was well known in many Hunts 
 thirty years ago. The gentleman in whose posses- 
 sion he died, bought him at two years old, at which 
 time he took him to house, and rode him, sum- 
 mer and winter, for between twenty and thirty 
 years, without ever turning him out^ and he died of 
 an accident at last." 
 
 Philosophers will tell us, that there is a condi- 
 tion which is natural, and a condition which is not 
 natural, to all bodies animate or inanimate, liquid 
 or solid. So much for the operation of external 
 causes ! Now most men will admit that the natu- 
 ral condition of the asH is for the most part a sorry 
 one, having more than his share of that vis inertice 
 which keeps things in their places. Internal 
 causes, however, operate Avith him most forcibly; 
 and it is Avonderful how this vis inertia: is changed 
 into a vis vivida by a plentiful alloAvance of good 
 oats and beans. I beg pardon for introducing so 
 mean an animal as this to the notice of the reader, 
 when speaking of what relates to the horse, but time 
 has been when this patient and better deserving, 
 slave w^as held in higher estimation*. In the for- 
 mer state, hoAvever, he suits my purpose best, though 
 the question might be asked — Avhat has an ass to 
 
 * It is somewhat singular that in the Decalogue we are com- 
 manded not to covet our neighbour's ass, but not a word is said about 
 the horse. 
 
 M 2 
 
164 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 do with the condition of the horse ? My answer is, 
 that the ass, when in condition, is so i'&vpro tempore 
 exalted in the scale of beings, as nearly to approach 
 the horse ; as the following anecdote will prove. 
 
 On my return from Epsom races on the Derby 
 day (1824), my attention was attracted to what is 
 vulgarly 'yclept a " donkey chaise," in which were 
 a man and a woman of no small dimensions, gohig 
 at a very rapid pace, and drawn by a small ass. 
 Curiosity led me to follow them, when, as far as I 
 could judge by the pace of my own horse, I found 
 they were going at the rate of nine miles an hour 
 on a very indifferent road. On being observed by 
 a friend, he rode up to me and told me he had seen 
 this humble vehicle on its way to the course in the 
 morning give what is called the go-bt/ to several 
 carriages-and-four, and that he was equally struck 
 with the extraordinary appearance and action of the 
 animal. On my asking the owner of him a few 
 questions about him, he informed me that he had 
 done three miles in fifteen minutes with him on the 
 road for a wager, and that he would back him to 
 do it in less; at the same time giving me his 
 address, when I found he was a blacksmith residing 
 at IMitcham in Surrey. " Do you keep your ass 
 on Mitcham Common ?" said I, anticipating his 
 answer. " Oh, no," replied the son of Vulcan, " he 
 has never been out of my stable for three years, and 
 he eats as good oats and beans as your horse does." 
 — " It is accounted for," said I to my friend : so we 
 pulled up our horses, and gave Neddy the road. 
 
 Before I finally take leave of the evils of sum- 
 mering horses at grass, I must be allowed one word 
 
CONDITION OP HUNTERS. 165 
 
 more. The reader will recollect mjr illustrating 
 some of m}^ arguments against it, by describing the 
 Htate in which I saw seven hunters (p. 112) the pro- 
 perty of one gentleman, at the conclusion of the 
 last summer; and also one mare Q). 119) which I 
 went to look at on purpose. I have now to add, 
 that one of the eight horses died in the course of 
 the winter, and six of the other seven were never 
 in condition at all, and the mare died after the 
 first good run she dropped into. In a pecuniary 
 point of view, including accidents and all other 
 casualties, I have no hesitation in asserting, 
 that in the course of twenty years the bullock- 
 feeding system of summering hunters shall be 
 fifty per cent, against those who adopt it ! 
 As to accidents, they are as numerous as tm- 
 looked for; and I know not when I should 
 have done enumerating them were I once to 
 begin. At Chester races, a gentleman by the name 
 of Purshouse, well known in Staffordshire as a 
 good sportsman and a still better rider, came up to 
 me, and said, " You remember my pigeon-eyed 
 horse ?" — " To be sure I do," replied I : " he was 
 a hunter, and could carry Aveight well ; and I have 
 been often delighted to see you ride him across a 
 country." — " I shall never do it again," added he 5 
 " for he is gone broken-winded. I turned him out 
 to grass in the summer, when he used to amuse him- 
 self by galloping around his pasture till he was 
 heated, and then lying down in a pond to cool him- 
 self. He did it too often, and inflammation of the 
 lungs was the consequence." 
 
 During the season for physicking hunters, let 
 
166 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 me strongly recaniineiid all my brother sportsmen 
 to caution their groonis against giving too strong 
 (loses to their horses, and to prepare them well by 
 bran mashes. IMisfortunes, they say, seldom come 
 alone ; and when ^t Chester r^ces I was also in- 
 formed of a sad mistake on this important subject, 
 #liich had that week occurred in the stable of an 
 old schoolfellow of mine, and a brilliant performer 
 over a country, in the Cheshire Hunt, Avhose groom 
 had given a horse of his ten drachms of aloes, \vii\i- 
 out a sufficient preparation, and he was buried on 
 the day I heard the story, having lately been pur- 
 chased in Leicestershire for either three or four 
 hunch-ed guineas. — Another death by physic, occa- 
 sioned by bad management, came to my ears a few 
 weeks since. This was the case of a horse which I 
 sold at two years old, and was noAv five. He was very 
 promising for a hunter, and Mr. F. Holypak was in 
 treaty for him, when death put an end to everything. 
 I have before observed that I never lost, or had 
 a horse in any danger, in physic ; but with siicli 
 horses as are at all apt to be griped it is desirable 
 to give the dose overnight, as in that case the 
 symptoms would shew themselves in the day time, 
 when relief would be more readily administered. 
 I shall, however, have much to say on this subject 
 at another time. 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 167 
 
 LETTER XII. 
 
 PRKCAUTIONS TO BE TAKEN IN THE MOULTING SEASON- 
 SWEATING. 
 
 Nature so delights in freshness that she will 
 not suffer her creatures to wear their old clothes 5 
 and to the horse — no doubt her favorite — she 
 has given two suits in the year — one in the 
 spring and the other in the autumn. The periods 
 alluded to — but particularly the autumnal one 
 — are the most trying of any to those kept in an 
 artificial state — the constitution being by the law 
 of nature more than commonly susceptible to mor- 
 bid impressions. Thus it is, that, comparatively 
 speaking, so few gentlemen's hunters commence the 
 season in blooming condition ; at least, it is one of 
 the principal obstacles to that desirable end. Peo- 
 ple, in the warmth of their imagination, seldom 
 advert to causes and effects 5 but the animal econo- 
 my is affected in so many various and unlooked- 
 for ways, that a groom, to be sure of his object, 
 must ever be on the alert. He will soon find out 
 there is no catholicon for getting horses into con- 
 dition. He nuist investigate 5 he must reflect 5 he 
 must exercise his reason, and make all the use of 
 his common sense, if he has any. 
 
 The months of August and September is the 
 usual season when horses which have lived well 
 
168 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 begin to cast off their summer coats j and it is, or at 
 least it ought to be, the period when those used for 
 the purpose of hunting have gone through their 
 course of physic. It is, however, too often tlie sea- 
 son in which injury is done to the coat of a hunter, 
 which he does not get the better of till Christmas 
 is past. I have before observed that no horse, or 
 at any rate not more than one in a hundred, will be 
 in blooming condition until he has (besides his 
 physic) gone through a course of alteratives to 
 sweeten and correct the acrimony of his blood, and 
 in Avhicli alteratives there is always a portion of 
 mercury. Now the difficulty is to give him this 
 medicine, and to give him his work also, without 
 injuring, or what in the stable is called " setting," 
 his coat. Many persons, on this account, postpone 
 sweating their hunters until the moulting season is 
 gone by j but with proper treatment this precaution 
 is not necessary, and the delay is fatal to the condition 
 of their horses. The secret here merely consists in 
 keeping them warm, particularly on the days they 
 sweat, and thus avoiding a sudden constriction of 
 the pores— -more than usually susceptible by the 
 diaphoretic properties of the medicine they are 
 taking. Indeed I must go one step further, and 
 assert, that if, at this trying season, a horse is 
 exposed to a stream of cold air, after having had 
 his blood vessels extended by exercise, and his skin 
 relaxed by medicine, the bloom Avill be taken off 
 him as effectually as if he had been turned out into 
 a straw-yard for a week. The blush on the human 
 face is scarcely more transient than the bloom on a 
 horse's skin — so intimately connected are its^ 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 169 
 
 extreme and minute vessels with the vascidar sys- 
 tem at large. It may, indeed, so truly he called 
 his complexion, that a man of observation, in the 
 habit of daily inspecting his stable, can see with a 
 glance of his eye if his horse is doing well or not. 
 In the degrees of discernment, then, consists the 
 merit or demerit of a groom 5 and even then, unless 
 he knows the causes of effects— the why and the 
 Avherefore — all is still darkness. 
 
 As a fine genius is said to be a man at his high- 
 est perfection ; and as, next to man and woman, the 
 horse is the paragon of animals, so may we call 
 him, when in the highest possible condition, the 
 next fairest sample of a happy combination of 
 nature and of art. The bow, however, must not 
 always be bent. It was observed by Hippocrates 
 that the health of man was most precarious Avhen 
 arrived at the highest pitch 5 and I am sure this may 
 be applied to the horse. In this respect training 
 grooms are, generally speaking, the best physiolo- 
 gists, and more awake to the sudden alterations 
 which take place in those under their care 5 or, in 
 the more humble language of the stable, when a 
 horse hecomes foul. Inasmucli, then, as prevention 
 is preferable to remedies, is this a most important 
 part of a groom's services to his master, as he may 
 be the means of checking incipient disease. 
 
 There are progressive stages in all diseases ; 
 but those of an inflammatory nature, and to which 
 horses in condition are most exposed, are often so 
 active and decisive, that if we wait for directing 
 symptoms Ave are lost. The progress of them is 
 frequently, and indeed generally, so rapid, that 
 
170 CONDITION OF HUNTERS, 
 
 unless speedily arrested in tlieir course, mortifica-' 
 tion, and consequently death, ensues. In many in- 
 stances, however, Nature gives us timely notice, as 
 in the case of the race horse in his work. The 
 practice of his trainer is — after he has gone through 
 jiis first preparation — to feed and to Avork him as 
 long as his constitution supports him; and when 
 Nature says " enough" — by his appetite failing 
 him, and other symptoms Avhich Avill be hereafter 
 explained-^-he has physic, green meat, and rest, and 
 then starts fresh again ; or, in their more technical 
 and not inexpressive Language, " becomes free ;" 
 for they are well aAvare that, so long as the Avheels 
 of nature are clogged, tlie machine cannot proceed 
 as it should do, and the whole system becomes 
 deranged. Judging, therefore, by the rule of 
 optics, is a most essential qualification in a groom. 
 
 The common appellation, then, given to this 
 change in the animal economy of the horse is, that 
 he is become foul ; or, in other Avords, that his blood 
 is vitiated and bis system over-excited 5 nor can it 
 be much better expressed. That he should become 
 so, from the unnatural state of excitement in Avhich 
 be is kept, unless preternatural means be taken to 
 correct it, is by no means to be Avondered at ; but as 
 habit lessens the noxious influence of all changes 
 hi animal economy, and finally gets the better of 
 Nature herself, Ave have nothing to fear if Ave are 
 aAvake to impending circumstances. That such is 
 the fact, has been pretty Avell ascertained by other 
 animals as Avell as horses. The celel^rated Mr. 
 Abernethy procured a rabbit, six Aveeksold, and fed 
 it Avith f ivbbage Avhich had been grown upon flan- 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. ll'l 
 
 nel, sprhMed loith clisfMled water : the animal pre- 
 served its health as perfectly as if it had been run- 
 ning' in a warren. The no less celebrated Dr. 
 Fordyce enclosed in glasses, filled with common 
 water, some gold and silver fish. He changed the 
 water every three days, and Avithout any other food 
 the fish lived and thrived for fifteen months. He 
 then exchanged this Avater for c?2'.s^«7/e^ water, and, to 
 prevent the probability of insects getting access 
 within the vessel, he closed it up carefully ; but the 
 fish gre^v and performed all their natural functions 
 as perfectly as if they had been swimming in a pool. 
 Either the Brahmin who lives entirely upon vege- 
 tci,bles and water, or the Englishman who is carni- 
 verous and drinks brandy, must violate his nature \ 
 but we find each of them living to a good old age. 
 
 Now as relating to horses, there is little 
 doubt, but that, as the blood is the mainspring of 
 life, it is to the viscid and unhealthy state of it that 
 this foulness of habit is to be attributed ; but let not 
 the reader imagine that high keep and warm sta- 
 bles are alone to bear the blame. No !—- the (ie- 
 rangement of this vital fluid is more often occa- 
 sioned by poor, bad living, than by good ; but the 
 treatment in the one case is very different to the 
 other, and in the latter much more difficult to suc- 
 ceed in. In the progress of human existence, in- 
 deed, I will venture to assert that for one case of 
 disease arising mlely from generous living, fifty 
 may be traced to the want of it. Intemperance is 
 nowhere to be commended , but " air, exercise, and 
 good ixourishment^^ said Sir Astley Cooper, in iiis 
 lecture on scrofula at St. Thomas's Hospital, " are 
 
172 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 the three great pomts to be atteiKlecl to in the pre-* 
 servation of healtli. There is no other specific," 
 adds he, '^ for the cure of this disorder, and he who 
 says there is, attempts to gull mankind by the asser- 
 tion of what is not true." For my OAvn part, I 
 have known many water-drinkers*, but I never 
 could find out that they lived longer than wine 
 drinkers, provided the latter kept within the bounds 
 of moderation, and followed the sports of the field. 
 '' Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for 
 thy stomach's sake," said Paul the Apostle, in his 
 tender regard for his dear friend Timothyt. As 
 we are now, however, speaking of horses in condi- 
 tion, I must confine myself to the effects of high, 
 and not of low keep. 
 
 To preserve health the blood must be kept as 
 nearly as possible in a state agreeably to the 
 standard of health. If viscous or thick, it cannot 
 pass as it should do through the finer vessels of the 
 lungs. If serous, or watery, it is unequal to the 
 functions of life. The due medhmi, then, must, 
 if possible, be preserved, and this can only be done 
 
 * An excellent anecdote is on record of the great Chief Justice 
 Mansfield. Probably with a view to prolong his own days^ he was 
 always anxious^ when old witnesses were in Court, to know their 
 customary habits of life. It so happened that two very old men by 
 the name of Elm were one day the objects of his inquiry. " You 
 are a very old man," said his Lordship to the elder brother ; " I sup- 
 pose you have lived a very temperate life." — ''Never drank any- 
 thing but water, my Lord," said Mr. Elm. " Nor you neither, I 
 suppose," said the Judge, addressing himself to the younger brother, 
 " When I could get nothing else, my Lord," was the reply. " I 
 always took my glass with my friend." — " Well, then," replied his 
 Lordship, " all that we can say is, an elm will flourish, wet or dry." 
 
 t 1 Tim. V. 23, 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 173 
 
 by feeding, medicine, and work. The great object 
 of condition in liorses being to increase the livhig 
 power, in how far this is to be effected without 
 risking the health and life of the animal, consists 
 the whole art of grooming. It remains, then, now 
 to point out how and when a groom is to be aware 
 that he is pushing this system beyond what nature, 
 with all the precautions of art, will bear. 
 
 The distinguishing symptoms of foulness in a 
 hunter are these : — He appears unwell without any 
 specific disease. His mouth is hot, his eyes look 
 dull, and somedmes yellow. His coat loses some 
 of its usual gloss, and stares between the hip bones, 
 and sometimes on the poll of the neck. His 
 appetite frequently remains good ; but he is more 
 than usually anxious for his Avater. His heels are 
 scurvy, and sometimes crack. He stales often, but 
 a little at a time. His urine is highly coloured, 
 and his excrements hard, and often covered with a 
 slimy fluid. He is dull when at exercise, and 
 frerpiently coughs without any appearance of hav- 
 ing taken cold. He loses flesh, and looks dry in 
 his skin. His legs and ears are often cold, the 
 latter being frequently found wet after exercise, 
 and sometimes deprived of part of their covering. 
 His ' crest falls 5 the whole tone of his system 
 appears relaxed 5 and, "vvithout his groom exactly 
 knowing why, he is not the horse he Avas a Aveek 
 ago. 
 
 Bleeding (or AA'hat the grooms call " changing' 
 the blood") used to be the fiivorite system pursued 
 in this case 5 but I have long since abolished 
 bleeding in my stable, except in cases of inflamma- 
 
174 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 tory attacks, or when horses have been over marked 
 with hounds — in the former of which it cannot be 
 done too speedily, or too copiously, so as not to 
 reduce too much. Periodical bleeding was in 
 former times considered essential to the health of 
 man 5 but such symptoms of repletion and such 
 motions were excited at the returning periods, as 
 rendered the operation necessary even to preserve 
 life. 
 
 Before we apply our theory we must consult 
 the constitution of our horse, and also attend 
 to circumstances. In all cases w^e may rest 
 assured of one thing — viz. that from whatever cause 
 any ill effect may proceed, that effect will never 
 cease to shew itself until the cause which pro- 
 duces it be removed. In all common operations 
 the operator is apt to look at the ultimate end of 
 his Avork, without considering the intermediate 
 steps which are to lead him to it; but this will not 
 do in the stable. The operation of getting a horse 
 into condition is so opposite to that which is 
 purely mechanical, that circumstances are to be 
 anticipated, as well as provided for, beyond what 
 we first bargain for. 
 
 As there can he no condition without work, I 
 am supposing that the symptoms before alluded to 
 occur when horses are in full exercise. In the 
 racing staljle the most common plan pursued is, 
 a dose of physic, some green meat, and a remission 
 of work for a fevv days ; and this generally restores 
 them to their former strength and vigour. With 
 hunters, however, one of these recipes — the green 
 meat — is never to be exhibited when they are in 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 175 
 
 work, neither is it always convenient to give up the 
 use of a horse for a period sufhcient to enable him 
 to go through a dose of physic with advantage. 
 Alteratives alone must then be depended upon, and 
 several are recommended for this purpose. The 
 black bcills sold by farriers, and generally used as 
 alteratives, are merely composed of Castile soap, 
 turpentine, and antimony— the latter of which I 
 have before recommended, on my own experience, 
 as one of the safest and best correctors of the 
 acrimony of the blood with ^vhich we are ac- 
 quainted 5 and without some such auxiliary to our 
 common stable management I have ventured to 
 assert that feAv horses can l^e brought into, and 
 kept in, perfect condition. 
 
 Although the word surfeit may be considered 
 an indefinite term, yet there is a species of foulness 
 in the habit of our horses which comes under that 
 denomination, and is produced by a sudden con- 
 striction of the pores of the skin, when exposed to 
 a stream of cold air, after having been expanded by 
 severe exercise. Here the blood is most materially 
 affected, as the matter which should have been throAvn 
 off by perspiration is thrown back upon the circula- 
 tion, and the whole mass of it is at once contami- 
 nated. The symptoms here cannot be mistaken, as 
 they almost immediately sheAV themselves in the 
 staring and unkind appearance of the coat. — by a 
 cough, swelling of the legs, or, in some instances, 
 by a violent inflammation of the lungs, Avhich 
 comes on about the third or fourth day. In the 
 mildest of these cases a change of the blood, or, 
 more properly speaking, an alteration in the quality 
 
176 CONDITION OF HUNTERS* 
 
 of it, is absolutely necessary 5 but this must be the 
 work'of time. 
 
 On the first appearance of this change for 
 the worse in the condition of a hunter, I have 
 endeavored to stop its progress by giving him 
 half a drachm of calomel with a drachm of 
 emetic tartar over-night, and a dose of physic 
 in the morning, and have several times suc- 
 ceeded in doing so. When time and circum- 
 stances Avould not admit of the calomel and physic, 
 from a drachm to two drachms of tartar emetic, 
 in half an ounce of cordial ball, may be given 
 every other day for a week — taking especial care 
 that more than common attention be paid to the 
 horse whilst under the effect of the medicine, by 
 keeping him warm, in and out of the stable ; Avith 
 plenty of leg rubbing, a bountiful supply of straw, 
 and tepid water. Gentle exercise also at this time 
 — but not to create perspiration — is most material. 
 
 The effect of medicine upon horses has been 
 only lately thoroughly understood j and although 
 there is, certainly, a relative connection betAveen 
 animal and human medicine, yet their relative 
 effects have been very much mistaken. When 
 Mr. Taplin wrote \\\^ Sporting Dictionary , in which 
 he professed to treat of the diseases of horses, the 
 veterinary art in this country was only in its infancy, 
 and therefore his authority had some weight* 
 Being bred, and practising as, an apothecary, he was 
 not aware of the vast difference between the inter- 
 nal structure of the stomach of a man and that of 
 a horse, which naturally led him into a wilderness 
 of error. Thus, Avhen speaking of emetic tartar, 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 177 
 
 which I have no hesitation in pronouncing one of 
 the safest and most efficacious medicines that can 
 be employed in the stable, he tells us, " that it is 
 the most powerful, and, in respect to horses, one of 
 the most prostituted medicines in the whole Materia 
 Medica, and is only introduced (in his book), and 
 its properties described, that the sporting world 
 may be sufficiently guarded against its dangerous 
 effects !" This writer then proceeds to express sur- 
 prise, that, as seven or eight grains will sometimes 
 destroy a man, a horse should be expected to take 
 twenty times that quantity with impunity ! " Dead 
 horses, however, any more than dead men," says 
 the Doctor, " tell no tales ;" which must have 
 have been, no doubt, sometimes consoling to him 
 in his two-fold 'profession. What would he have 
 said to the large quantities of arsenic, and the two 
 drachms of corrosive sublimate* at one dose, now 
 given to horses as a tonic, and from which the best 
 effects are experienced ? The Doctor seems to have 
 overlooked the good advice of Persius — "to say 
 little on what Ave do not understand." 
 
 As almost all diseases of horses are of an 
 inflammatory nature, the good or ill condition 
 depends upon the pure or impure state of his blood • 
 and which, as far as nature is concerned, can only 
 be regulated, to a certain standard, by food and 
 exercise. Allowing each of these to be administered 
 to the best possible advantage, yet there is that 
 disposition to change-— generally leaning to plethora 
 —in the habit of all animals under preternatural 
 * See White f voLii« 
 N 
 
178 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 excitement, that occasional evacuations by the 
 bowels, or .else a course of alteratives, are neces- 
 sary every six weeks, or two months at farthest, to 
 preserve them in uniform health. The evacuation 
 I allude to is a light close of physic, not exceeding 
 six or six and a half drachms of Barbadoes aloes, 
 with the bowels well prepared by from four to six 
 bran mashes beforehand ; and when I speak of 
 alteratives, I mean those which induce a healthy 
 action of the howeh and skin by their gradual and 
 mild impression, and not those which act strongly 
 on the kidneys^ and are termed diuretics 5 to most of 
 which, with hunters, I have the greatest possible 
 objection, for reasons which I shall state hereafter. 
 Alteratives, however, I must observe, are only 
 expected to preserve a horse in his condition ,' for 
 without physic not one in a hundred Avill ever 
 arrive at his best ; or, at least, remain so for the 
 period for which his services are required. 
 
 In a former letter (p. 93) I have stated that I 
 never had but one dead hunter dragged out of my 
 stable, and that event Avas occasioned by a sudden 
 collapsion of the pores, from standing still by a 
 covert's side in rain Avhilst a fox was dug out, 
 after a short burst of only twelve minutes, but just 
 enough to do the mischief; neither do I recollect 
 but tu'o instances of dangerous inflammatory attacks, 
 in both which cases the horses recovered and did 
 well. In addition to this, I now declare that I 
 never had ahorse that went blind in my possession ; 
 I never had one that went broken-Avinded ; I 
 never had a horse suffer from worms ; neither did I 
 
CONDITtON OF HUNTERS. 179 
 
 ever experience lameness from thrushes, cracked 
 heels, farcy, or what are vulgarly called humours. All 
 this goodfortune I attribute to three simple causes :— 
 first, to never turning horses out, except in cases ot 
 accident 5 secondly, to give them plenty of exer- 
 cise, generally bordering upon work ; and thirdly, 
 to never suffering them to go more than six weeks, 
 or two months, when in work^ without giving them 
 either a dose of physic or alteratives, which, dis- 
 charging by the skin, the bowels, or the kidneys, 
 act sufficiently for my purpose. 
 
 I have before described what I consider the 
 best method of physicking horses, in the progress ol 
 which I have never had an accident. I have always 
 borne in my mind what I have learnt in conversa- 
 tion with veterinary surgeons, that, though the 
 stomach of a horse be proverbially strong, yet the 
 intestines through which the drugs have to pass 
 are extremely delicate, and highly sensible to any 
 thing of an acrimonious nature. The alterative I 
 have chiefly made use of has been the common 
 antimony of the shops, giving an ounce per day, 
 for eight days in succession — with the occasional 
 addition of a little yellow resin. When strong 
 symptoms of foulness appear, and it is inconvenient 
 to physic, I then prefer the emetic tartar as an alter- 
 ative, which has lately become a very fashionable 
 medicine in the stable, and certainly quicker and 
 more powerful in its operation than the anti- 
 mony. With the latter, however, a great deal of 
 good grooming and care is necessary, or mischief 
 may ensue from its stimulating property; as it may 
 
 n2 
 
180 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 indeed from tlie antimony, if the system be over* 
 charged with it. When fouhiess of habit pro- 
 ceeds still further than this, and amounts to a 
 cutaneous disease, I stop short in my practice, as 
 mercurial or other preparations are necessary, 
 which I am afraid to encounter. I only profess 
 Avhat is termed the prophylactic, or preventive, art. 
 When disease appears I fly to the first veterinary 
 surgeon I can meet with. 
 
 I must now return to the former part of this 
 letter. As there can be no condition without 
 work, the hunter, to be in good form by November, 
 must now begin, and in the course of the months 
 of August and September he should have some 
 gentle sweats — at least one in each week. Having 
 clothed him pretty heavily for this purpose, put a 
 light boy upon him to ride liim, or have him led in 
 a soft meadow ; or, if you have not that at your com- 
 mand, in a fallow field which has been rolled and 
 dragged in the course of a preparation for a wheat 
 crop. The common exertion to get over such 
 ground, at the same time that it will benefit his 
 general action as a hunter, will soon cause hhn to 
 sweat, though he do not exceed a trot of about seven 
 or eight miles an hour. If the iweather be never 
 so warm, take him into a well-sheltered place to 
 scrape him, so as not to expose him to a stream of 
 air : for this being his moulting season, his skin 
 will be very susceptible of cold — more particularly 
 so if he is at the same time taking the emetic 
 tartar, or any other alterative. When nearly dry 
 —which, if he has been treated as I recommend in 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. l8l 
 
 the suiiinier, he will soon be — put a dry hood and 
 other dry clothes upon him : let him walk* quietly 
 for twenty minutes, or half an hour, when he Avill 
 be in good order for dressing. The currycomb, 
 with blunt bars to it, and the hay wisp, are the 
 only implements to be used in dressing him, as he 
 will part with his dust sufficiently for present 
 condition in his sweats. Let him have his water 
 tepid, and be shut up for six hours without being 
 disturbed. 
 
 The plan I have laid doAvn Avill greatly tend to 
 promote the condition of a horse by unloading the 
 vessels, purifying the blood, increasing his muscle, 
 and setting him quite free in his body — the proof 
 of which will very shortly shew itself in the shin- 
 ing and healthful appearance of his skin, and the 
 increased liveliness of his spirits. It will also 
 secure him from the risk of inflammatory com- 
 plaints, by diminishing the disposition to plethora, 
 which must naturally arise from eating the quan- 
 tity of corn (unassisted by such evacuation) which 
 hunters should now be allowed — viz. five good feeds 
 in the tAventy-four hours. Grooms should always 
 recollect that fever Avill accompany repletion : it is, 
 indeed, against the manifest law of nature to cal- 
 culate otlierwise. 
 
 I must here observe that the system just laid 
 down cannot be pursued in the month of August 
 (if indeed in the month of September) Avith a 
 
 * The pace, after sweating a hunter at this time of the year, 
 must be regulated by the temperature of the air. Walking will 
 generally do, but the circulation must be kept alive till he is in his 
 stable. 
 
182 CONDITION OF HUNTKRS. 
 
 hunter which has had his summer's run at grass, 
 but only with one which has been properly sum- 
 mered ; and it does not require a conjurer to inform 
 us which of the twain will be most fit to go to 
 hounds in November ! 
 
 When speaking of the coat or hair of horses, 
 it must be remarked that the coat itself is not 
 always an index of their general health, as there 
 are some who, at certain periods of the year, never 
 have a good one ; but the skin is always a criterion 
 to judge by. If that feels dry, with hard lumps 
 upon it, and is of a dusty hue, with a scurf 
 arising on the surface of it, Ave may depend upon 
 it our horse is not in kind condition — even should 
 there be no affection of his lungs, which, under 
 such circumstances, is always to be apprehended. 
 We may be sure his skin is preternaturally dis- 
 tended, and Avants relaxing by such medicines as 
 will act gently on its fibres, and also improve the 
 general health. It is by the state of the skin that 
 naturalists decide Avhether the climate is, or is not, 
 too severe for animals which are not indigenous to 
 it. If Avhat is called " the yolk" rise on the sur- 
 face of it, the animal will exist and do Avell, but 
 not otherAvise. Those inveterate disorders, grease 
 and mange, are chiefly cutaneous. 
 
 Returning once more to the present season of 
 the year — a season on Avhich so much good or evil 
 hereafter depends — I have only to urge the abso- 
 lute necessity of administering alterative medicines 
 to hunters first beginning to Avork ; and the only 
 precaution necessary to preserve the bloom on theii' 
 coats, or to secure them from any inconvenience 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 188 
 
 from their effects, is to keep tliein wanii, l)otIi in 
 and out of the stable ; to ii;ive them plenty of hand- 
 rubbing* to their legs, with a liberal allowance of 
 good old corn. There are many grooms Avho 
 delay giving their horses severe exercise till the 
 month of October 5 but — I speak froni experience 
 -—horses so managed are not in condition on this 
 side Christmas. That there can be no condition 
 without long-continued ^vork, is as true as that 
 there would be no day if there were no night. 
 
 Mr. Professor Coleman, I understand, has 
 given it as his opinion that horses may be gouty, 
 and I see no reason why they should not be so. 
 That they are bilious (though said not to possess 
 the gall bladder), by improper secretion of the 
 liver, there is no doubt. Whenever, therefore, I 
 see a horse going wrong, I always inspect the inside 
 of his eyelids, and his mouth, and if I perceive any 
 disposition to a yellow tinge I give him a mild dose 
 of mercurial physic, and all is well again. This 
 complaint — by no means an uncommon one, and to 
 Avhich all sorts of cattle are liable — is better known 
 by the appellation of "the yellows;" and with 
 such as are in a state of nature the cure is by 
 simple remedies. 
 
 As there is nothing like a little practical infor- 
 mation, I give the following detail: — This day 
 (August 15, 1824) I had a hunter sweated. She 
 had on her a thick blanket-rug, under a quarter- 
 sheet and breast-plate, with a single hood. She 
 was once walked around a fallow-field (fresh 
 rolled and dragged) of sixteen acres, just to enable 
 her to throw off some of her meat. She trotted 
 
184 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 three times around it, and cantered twice. She 
 then walked home, about a quarter of a mile, to 
 her stable, where (as it rained) she was scraped. 
 I stood by with my watch in my hand, and in 
 twelve minutes her neck was dry. At the expira- 
 tion of nineteen minutes she was dry all over, 
 having been well wispedj and, after walking out 
 for a quarter of an hour, she was brought in and 
 dressed. In an hour she was shut up, having had 
 half a pail of tepid Avater, and her corn. 
 
 It must be observed that the mare in question is 
 very forward in her condition, otherwise she would 
 not have dried so soon. It was only her second 
 sweat, but it ran off her like rain Avater. She Avas 
 soiled, at different times, in the summer, but never 
 lay out, and has had a course of alteratives since 
 her physic. 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 185 
 
 LETTER XIII. 
 
 TREATMENT AFTER A HARD AND LONG RUN.— CLIPPING. 
 
 The cock was sacred to ^sculapius, by reason 
 of his extreme vigilance. In a former letter I have 
 observed that one of the chief points on which a 
 groom has to exercise his judgment is, in being- 
 apt to discover w^hether a horse be over-marked 
 after a severe day's work with hounds. I have 
 already detailed the directing symptoms of this too 
 frequent occurrence: but although I have stated 
 what I have found, by my own experience, to be 
 the best way of treating him after ^A'hat I have 
 termed " a very hard day," yet I have not men- 
 tioned what I consider to be the most effectual 
 measures to be adopted when his life appears in 
 danger. A bad horse will seldom lose it in this 
 honorable way ; but a good one, not properly pre- 
 pared, will too often go till he dies. 
 
 When a horse is very much exhausted after a 
 long run with the hounds, a noise will sometimes be 
 heard to proceed from his inside, which is often 
 erroneously supposed to be the beating of his 
 heart, whereas it proceeds from the excessive 
 motion of the abdominal muscles. All horses, 
 however, who die from exertions beyond the 
 
186 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 limits of vital power die from suffocation; and 
 on this account, as soon as we perceive a horse to 
 he much over-marked, he should have from three to 
 four quarts of blood drawn from his neck imme- 
 diately on his getting home, to relieve the pressure 
 on his lungs ; and one ounce of carbonate of am- 
 monia (salt of hartshorn, a powerful stimulant) 
 should be given him every four hours during that 
 night, and part of the next day, in a ball. Although 
 he should be put into the coolest stable that can be 
 found— nay, indeed, into an open shed, Avell littered 
 down, if the symptoms are alarming — yet a strong 
 determination of the blood to the surface should 
 be kept up by friction of the legs, belly, and head, 
 and by very warm clothing on the body. A good 
 cordial ball, or a pint of mulled port wine w^ell 
 spiced, should also be given him, and his bowels 
 should be relieved by a clyster of w^arm gruel. 
 If the action of the heart and arteries do not 
 soon abate, he should be well blistered behind 
 his elbows, and lose some more blood 5 and I 
 think I may venture to say that if this treatment 
 does not save his life there is too much reason to 
 fear he is beyond the reach of man. 
 
 INIany persons are apt to imagine that when 
 horses are over-marked cordials are improper, and 
 that the reducing or repellant system is alone to 
 be pursued. This, however, is quite a mistaken 
 notion ; for although bleeding is resorted to hi 
 order to relieve the pressure on the lungs, from tlie 
 greatly increased action of the heart and arteries, 
 yet a stimulus is afterwards wanting to assist almost 
 expiring nature* 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 187 
 
 Permit iiie to lay great stress on the propriety 
 of putting a horse, which may be thus unfortunately 
 situated, in a place where he has free access to air, 
 for a hot stable is destructive to him. When one 
 of Lord J)erby's huntsmen's horses came home last 
 season in a very exhausted state, after a very tiring 
 run with a second deer, this error was committed, 
 he was put into his usual stall, and the usual 
 warmth of the stable was increased by the presence 
 of almost every servant in the house, who came 
 from motives of humanity to inquire after the fate 
 of a favorite old horse. Had he been well littered 
 down under an open shed, he would have had some 
 chance for his life ; whereas, in the situation in 
 which he Avas placed, he had but little, and he died 
 the next day. 
 
 I remember witnessing a very strongly-marked 
 instance of the dangerous effects of placing horses 
 in warm stables before the circulation of the blood 
 is restored to its proper standard. We had killed 
 a fox with Lord JMiddleton's hounds in Warwick- 
 shire, close to the house of a gentleman avIio was 
 out, and who asked several of us to take some 
 refreshment. Cantering forward to order it, he 
 thoughtlessly put the mare he had been riding into 
 her stall among four other horses, and proceeded 
 to the house. We had scarcely sat down to our 
 luncheon, when he called me out of the room to 
 inform me his mare was ill. On going to the 
 stal)le I found her on her knees. " She is fault- 
 ing," said I : " bring her into the air, and she Avill 
 recover ;" which she almost immediately did, and, 
 
188 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 after walking gently about for twenty minutes, she 
 returned to her stable comfortable and well. 
 
 Although it has been the fashion in the Old 
 School to condemn the use of cordials, yet I have 
 no hesitation in saying, that in the hunting stable 
 such medicines are invaluable 5 and were a pint of 
 port Avine made warm ^vith spices given to a hun- 
 ter after a very hard day's A^'ork, I have no doul)t 
 but it Avould be as serviceable to him as it would 
 be to his master. After all, what is fatigue? It 
 is a sudden exhaustion of strength, producing lan- 
 guor and faintness — the consequence of too great a 
 hurry of the animal functions ! Whatever, then, 
 speedily removes these distressing symptoms, and 
 gives strength and cheerfulness to the body, cannot 
 fail in being beneficial. 
 
 In all those distempers which dissipate the ner- 
 vous fluid or animal spirits, I am certain cordials 
 are good 5 and in all obstructions Avhereby the per- 
 spirable matter is thrown back on the circulation, 
 producing a sudden diminution of strength, Avith 
 increased languor and AA^eight, they cannot fail to be 
 of service. In the commencement of colds they 
 are very effectual, by increasing insensible perspira- 
 tion \ and to horses Avhich are Avhat is termed 
 " Avashy," and which throw off their meat, or to 
 those Avhich are much beloAV their mark, they are 
 extremely beneficial, as they not only invigorate 
 the blood, but increase the elasticity of the muscles 
 and strengthen the Avhole nervous system. 
 
 Let me not be understood to recommend the 
 use of cordial balls on every trifling occasion, such 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 189 
 
 as a horse refusing to eat a feed of corn. In my 
 experience Avitli liunters I have never been much 
 troubled with bad feeders— it being nineteen times 
 out of twenty the fault of the system pursued with 
 them, if a horse will not eat sufficient for the pur- 
 poses he is applied to. Only let him be well 
 cleansed with physic, and kept on good hard meat^ 
 and I will answer for his eating enough. Nothing 
 is so prejudicial to a shy feeder as being part of 
 the year in, and part out of, his stable. By being 
 always kept in, and fed regularly^ his appetite 
 returns, as it were mechanically, at stated periods \ 
 and if kept quiet, he will eat his allowance in the 
 twenty-four hours. Keeping horses quiet has more 
 to do with feeding than people are aware of j and I 
 have had a fcAV horses in my time, Avhich, though 
 they would not pick up their corn quite clean in the 
 day time, would eat half a bushel in the course 
 of the night, if given to them. 
 
 Fretting and nervous horses are very apt to 
 refuse their feed in strange places. A friend of 
 mine came to see me last hunting season, and in 
 consequence of my stables being within hearing of 
 the cry of hounds in the kennel, one of his horses 
 would not touch his corn for two whole days. 
 Not having a cordial ball at hand, I gave him a 
 tea spoonful of kyan pepper on the third day, 
 Avhich so stimulated his stomach that he set to 
 and ate voraciously. This was a receipt of the 
 late Lord Stawell's for horses that were delicate 
 feeders. 
 
 The use of tonics is not sufficiently applied in 
 
190 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 the progress of a hunter's condition. At certain 
 periods, particularly in the month of Octoher, horses 
 ai'e subject to considerable debility, which tonic 
 medicines alone will remove. There are mineral 
 tonics which are well known to every one ; but for 
 valuable horses there is nothing like the best Peruvian 
 bark, from which I have experienced the best possible 
 effects. Mr. Manning, Lord Jersey's head groom, 
 recommended it to a very delicate, but a very bril- 
 liant, horse of mine some years since, and his gene- 
 ral health was Avonderfully improved by it. He 
 had a weeping at his eyes from the lachrymal 
 glands, a laxity of body, an indisposition to carry 
 flesh, and general debility about him, which a 
 steady perseverance in the bark entirely removed. 
 
 It has been a standing apophthegm with the 
 doctors of old times that Nature never purges her- 
 self unless she wants purging. Of the human sub- 
 ject I do not treat ; but with cattle this certainly is 
 the case. If a cow or an ox at grass purge, or 
 " shoot," as it is called, a dose of physic, about the 
 same as you would give to a horse, will invariably 
 cure it. Some horses, however, have always re- 
 laxed bowels, but still keep themselves in con- 
 dition. Mr. Warde has a chesnut mare — one of 
 the finest animals of her sort that I ever saw — who 
 is always in that state, but nevertheless she is always 
 ecpial to her work. The best treatment for such 
 horses is constant hard food, with the occasional 
 use of cordials and tonics. 
 
 To preserve health, a balance must be preserved 
 between the higesta and the egesta j consequently 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 191 
 
 another requisite in a groom is, observing a proper 
 medium betAveen repletion and evacuation, I have 
 before observed that the greater part of diseases of 
 horses arise from plethora, and plethora from hj^h 
 keep. Nevertheless withont high keep horses can- 
 not do their work with hounds as it ought to be 
 done 5 and, generally speaking, hunters do not eat a 
 sufficient^ quantity of corn, particularly if they are 
 to carry high weights, Road coach-horses, in some 
 stables, set us a good example for feeding ; and I 
 have no hesitation in saying, that in the hands of a 
 good groom, or in the stable of a gentleman who 
 knows what a hunter should be, a horse in open 
 weather, when he can do work, should have what 
 corn he can eat. 
 
 I have always accustomed myself to get upon 
 my horses now and then in the progress of their 
 condition (and I strongly recommend the practice 
 to my brother sportsmen), just to enable me to feel 
 them under me j and I am almost inclined to assert 
 that I can perceive the difference of an extra feed 
 of corn per day in the increased vigorous action of 
 the animal. Reflection, however, must not sleep, 
 and we must proportion Avork to the diet, so as to 
 keep the circulation alive, and prevent the blood 
 from becoming viscid ; for there is a standard here 
 to be observed which mHI not admit of variation : 
 and if we overload the system with more than the 
 efforts of nature — assisted even Avitli such exercise 
 as at this season of the year can be given them — 
 can get rid of, something Avill soon grow wrong. 
 Here, then, it is that those useful auxiliaries, alte- 
 rative medicines, are so essential. 
 
192 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 Horses tliat have been well kept in the summer 
 will sometimes have their bodies covered Avith 
 lumps, or " bumps," as they are called, having 
 somewhat the resemblance of the effect of a sting 
 from a wasp or a bee ; but nothing alarming is to be 
 apprehended from them. On the contrary, they in- 
 dicate increasing vigour : and a mild course of 
 diaphoretic and diuretic alteratives, assisted by not 
 less than three or four hours' gentle exercise every 
 day, Avill, in good time, remove them. 
 
 Had I been bred to the veterinary science, or 
 had, or rather availed myself of, opportunities of 
 witnessing scientific dissections of the horse, I 
 should have been able to have spoken with a nicer 
 accuracy on various points which I have now ven- 
 tured to write upon. Amongst others, I should 
 have had it in my power to enter more at large on 
 the subject of wind, wdiich, we all know from expe- 
 rience, varies so much in different horses. Doctor 
 Paley, in his Natural Theology^ informs us, that 
 in the human body there is a reciprocal enlarge- 
 ment and contraction of the chest, to allow for the 
 play of the lungs ; and Keill {Jlnat. p. 220) ob- 
 serves, that in an easy respiration the breast bone 
 is thrust out one-tenth of an inch — allowing space 
 for forty-two cubic inches of air to enter at every 
 such inspiration. In deeper inspirations, he adds, 
 the capacity of the chest may be so increased as that 
 the lungs may be distended with seventy or one 
 hundred such inches of air. The thorax, says ano- 
 ther celebrated anatomist, forms a kind of bellows, 
 sucli as never have been, nor probably will be, 
 made by any artificer whatever. 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 193 
 
 Now it does not cippeai' that any motion of the 
 thorax takes place Av^hen the lungs of horses are 
 agitated, which the oblique position of them pre- 
 vents 5 but their action shews itself in the flanks 
 by the motion of the abdominal muscles. Whe- 
 ther then a horse be or be not clear in his wind 
 must depend on the degree of elasticity which these 
 parts, together with the diaphragm, possess ; and as 
 the fibres and muscles of all animals relax Avith 
 rest, it is by gradual but severe exercise of them 
 that this elasticity can be brought to the greatest 
 perfection it is capable of. Horses with deep 
 chests generally possess clear wind, and we must 
 observe that such is the form of the greyhound. 
 
 How provident soever Nature may have been 
 in the formation of the animal in question, the 
 goodness of his wind, after going a certain distance 
 at a rapid rate, will chiefly depend on the work he 
 has been doing. Thus it is with a human beuig. 
 The divers after pearls in the Gulf of Persia, Avho 
 remain under water for such a length of time, are 
 obliged to keep themselves in the filmost constant 
 practice of diving, or they would be unable to per- 
 form their task. There are numerous organs, 
 appendices to the lungs, employed in the act of 
 breathing 5 and all of them being either muscular 
 or elastic, require to be kept in tone to preserve 
 their power and elasticity. In proof of this, on 
 the dissection of human subjects who have coughed 
 themselves to death, the lungs have been found to 
 be almost the only sound part of their bodies. 
 
 I have said before, that the muscles and fibres 
 of all animals relax with rest. Wishing to avoid 
 
 o 
 
194 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 asserting anything on subjects of this nature but 
 what I have proved by the safest of all tests — expe- 
 rience — I must here, once more, have recourse to 
 my o^vn stable 5 and I hope the example I am about 
 to produce will not be lost on my brother fox- 
 hunters. Some years since I went to spend the 
 week at that long-established and truly sporting 
 carnival, Shrewsbury Hunt 5 and on the Wednes- 
 day Sir Richard Puleston's hounds met at Atcham, 
 the seat of Lord Berwick, about four miles from 
 the town. I had out on that day a very good mare, 
 called Barmaid ; and as I had also at that time a 
 very good groom, Barmaid was very fit to go. I 
 likcAvise had in the field a bay horse, which I had 
 purchased a few days before from JMr. Underbill, 
 the great Shropshire horse-dealer, and which, as 
 might be expected, was not at all fit to go. I rode 
 the mare myself, and my groom rode the horse, with 
 directions to put him along as far as he could with- 
 out distressing him, and then to pull him up. It 
 so happened that we had a remarkably fine run 
 over the severest part of Shropshire — the base of 
 the Wrekin — when our fox, being headed, retraced 
 his steps, and was killed in the plantation where 
 we found him. There was a large field out, and 
 of course a great deal of distress ; but the mare 
 carried me close to the hounds the Avhole way, 
 took hej- fences clear to the last, and enabled me to 
 see what I do not recollect to have ever seen since — 
 namely, a young hound snatch at the fox as he met 
 him in a ride in the covert, Avhen dying before the 
 pack 5 but on his shewing him his teeth, with a 
 sort of convulsive grin peculiar to this gallant ani- 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 195 
 
 mal in the last struggle for liis life, the puppy 
 dropped his stern and suffered the fox to pass him* 
 Now coiDes the sequel of the story. In conse- 
 quence of this run Sir Richard purchased Barmaid 
 to carry his huntsman, Avhicli she did in capital 
 style for several seasons, and was killed (mind, 
 reader !) — not by what I can exactly call a blank 
 day, but by trotting up and down Mr. Whitmore's 
 coverts, at Apley in the Shiffnal country, with a 
 fox which never broke away at all ! The fact was, 
 this mare was a very hard feeder, and required a 
 great deal of Avork 5 but a long frost having sud- 
 denly broken up, she was called upon before she 
 was fit to go, and her vessels being overladen by 
 rest, death, by suffocation, was the consequence. 
 
 Now then for the horse. Being by nature a 
 game one, he went farther Avithout shewing his 
 distress than a bad horse would have done ; and my 
 groom — a better judge in the stable than out — not 
 having sufficient discrimination, did not pull him 
 up in time ; and although he did not go half the 
 distance the mare went, he was obliged to be left 
 that iiight within four miles of Shrewsbury, where 
 I saAV him, on my road home, in such a state that I 
 offered him in the evening for ten pounds to any one 
 Avho Avould have him, though I had given nearly 
 a hundred for him a few days before. He, how- 
 ever, recovered; and having made Underbill an 
 allowance to take him again, he sold him to a gen- 
 tleman in that country, avIio rode him a season or 
 two, Avhen he Avas also purchased by Sir Richard 
 PulestoUj to carry this same huntsman, Avhich he 
 did for several seasons. He Avas not a fast horse? 
 
 o 2 
 
196 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 but wlieii fit to go lie would not easily tire, and lie 
 lived to be an old horse. 
 
 The above is, I think, a pretty strong proof of 
 tlie absolute necessity of preparing a horse ivell 
 before he goes to hounds, and the danger of riding 
 him when unprepared. Numerous, however, as 
 these instances are, they do not appear to make that 
 hnpression upon sportsmen which they ought to do 5 
 and I repeat my assertion, bold as it may appear, 
 that, taking England throughout, not one hunter in 
 ten is fit to go to a covert's side. I will also ven- 
 ture to add, that provided a horse — not what I call 
 " well prepared " — can go half an hour at a clipping 
 pace with hounds, taking his fences Avell to the last, 
 it is in the power of his groom to make him go for 
 forty minutes equally well— an advantage of no 
 small importance at the time, to say nothing of the 
 diminution of risk from the effect of the exertion he 
 is put to. There is a market, also, in which these 
 additional ten minutes Avould put an additional hun- 
 dred guineas, if not more, on his value. 
 
 There is another stumbling block too often in 
 the way of my brother sportsmen in their stables 5 
 and that is, they do not sufficienly regard the con- 
 stitutional peculiarities of their horses, but are too 
 apt to prepare them all nearly alike 5 whereas a 
 wide difference exists in the treatment of them. 
 To prove this we must go to the racing stable. 
 Lord Foley's Ospray, by Eagle out of Miss Furcy 
 (sister to Chippenham) by Trumpator, would nei- 
 ther take a dose of physic, nor stand training in any 
 way ; yet, when taken out of his paddock, he could 
 beat half the horses at Newmarket for half a milci 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS, 197 
 
 Lord Oxford's Victoria, was obliged to be physicked 
 after every race she ran, and in one instance (well 
 known to all country trainers) worked it off on the 
 road from one country race to another, but winning 
 at both places. The dam of Sailor, as I before 
 mentioned, Avas obliged to stop a day on her jour- 
 ney to sweat, such was her disposition to feed ; 
 whilst Mr. Mytton's Euphrates never wears a set- 
 ting muzzle. When Major Pigot had York and 
 Mantidamun, he himself told me that the one horse 
 had three doses of physic in the same space of time 
 that the other had seventeen ! 
 
 In a correspondence I have had with Mr. Wee- 
 don, my Lord Plymouth's groom, on the subject of 
 sweating hunters in the month of September, he 
 very properly observes, that in such matters " no 
 given rule can be laid down which is not lialjle to 
 some exceptions ;" but in general, he tells me, he 
 sweats his horses twice a week. " This I do," said 
 he, " in soft ground, with as -little clothing as I 
 can help, except when a horse happens to be very 
 stout, and then I think more clothes necessary. 
 These points," added he, '^' must be regulated by 
 the groom, who ought to study the different consti- 
 tutions of the animals, and give them exercise 
 suited to their strength." These are ]\Ir. Wee- 
 don's own words on this essential point , and the 
 reader will find they are much in unison with what 
 I have hitherto said on the subject, which from so 
 good a judge I cannot but consider as a compli- 
 ment. 
 
 On the method of sweating hunters, Mr. AVee^ 
 don makes the following observation : — " As to the 
 
198 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 method of sweating hunters, some think it imma- 
 terial 5 but I consider it the most safe to ride them 
 singly. But should I have a horse, the legs of 
 which have become stale, I clothe him well, and 
 have him led by a lad on a hack, and sweated in 
 that way." With valuable horses, such as Mi*. 
 Weedon had to deal with, this precaution is good. 
 
 There is one sentence in the letter which exactly 
 accords with my doctrine in the stable. " The 
 time," says Mr. W. " I begin to condition my 
 hunters (though^ as I observed to you before^ they 
 are partly in condition all the year) is about the 
 middle of August. I trot at a moderate rate, but 
 sufficient to warm them, and thus until the middle 
 of September, when I begin to sweat." 
 
 There is Ijut one point on which Mr. Weedon 
 and myself are at issue. He tells me he gives his 
 horses from &ur to five hours' ivalking exercise at 
 this period of the year. In one of my letters on 
 this subject I have stated my objections to long- 
 continued walkingjand those objections are founded 
 on my own experience, and the experience and 
 opinions of others carrying niore weight than my 
 own. The only cases of diseased hocks in horses 
 previously sound, which have occurred in my stable, 
 have been produced by travelling at a foot pace on 
 the road ; and I gave a very good reason why such 
 should be the case. Bullocks walking up to Lon- 
 don market, laden ^vith flesh, frequently throw out 
 spavins on the road. 
 
 In a former letter I have, I think, said nearly 
 enough on the subject of stinting hunters with hay, 
 but I have not been sufficiently explicit as to wuter 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 199 
 
 — in the administering which considerable judg- 
 ment is necessary, in a stable of hunters of all ages, 
 sizes, and constitutions. Every man at all ac- 
 quainted with anatomy will tell us, that when the 
 stomach and intestines are filled with water, the 
 viscera press against the diaphragm, by which 
 means the lungs are impeded in their functions, and 
 temporary suffocation takes place when the animal 
 is put to quick work. Indeed it was the old and 
 generally well-received opinion, that, by galloping- 
 horses up hills in this state, the air vessels of their 
 lungs were ruptured, and broken wind was the 
 consequence. 
 
 As water is the only diluent a horse takes, a 
 certain quantity is of course essential to his exist- 
 ence 5 but to such as are not clear in their wind — 
 from whatever cause it may arise — no more than 
 Avhat is sufficient to promote digestion should be 
 given on the day before hunting, and none after 
 three in the afternoon. A very .small j^ortion of hay 
 should also be given them, and the setting muzzle 
 put on at night. 
 
 They Avho are so unfortunate as to possess 
 finely-formed horses, with all the accomplishments 
 of a hunter, excepting clear wind (and how often 
 do we meet with such horses !), will find the great- 
 est advantage in attending minutely to these parti- 
 culars. Such horses should likewise be always 
 kept internally clean by physic, as their desire for 
 water will be thereby diminished, and they should 
 never be more than six weeks or two months with- 
 out some evacuating medicine \ neither should they 
 in the hunting season be ever five days without a 
 
200 CONDITION OF HUNTERS, 
 
 sweat. The cure here, we must remember, can 
 never be radical, but it may be palliative ; and 
 therefore we should try all means in our power to 
 promote it. 
 
 It is, I know, generally supposed that the horse 
 is, by nature, a voracious animal, and will not 
 endure long abstinence ; but I think experience 
 teaches to the contrary, and we have it on authori" 
 ties not to be disputed. Travellers inform us that 
 the inhabitants of Eastern countries ride their 
 horses for two or three days together at a slow 
 pace — only giving them a handful of herbage every 
 eight hours, and they only drink once in twenty- 
 four. We know the power of education in cre- 
 ating the disposition and temperament of animals, 
 and therefore I see no reason to doubt the fact. 
 Mr. White informs us, in his Veterinary Dictionary^ 
 of his having kept a horse a month without water, 
 and that at the end of it he appeared to be cured of 
 broken wind. 
 
 The size of a horse's stomach when compared 
 with animals of his bulk is small j and could hun- 
 ters live entirely on corn, I have no hesitation in 
 saying they could do their work better ^A-ithout 
 eating any hay 5 but this they cannot do. It may 
 not be, perhaps, generally known that corn alone 
 will sometimes get the better of the digestive 
 powers, forming itself into a ball in the stomach, 
 Avhich is sometimes ruptured by it. I have, how- 
 ever, in more than one case, debarred a horse from 
 eating any long hay — only giving him a sieve full 
 of cut hay (saint-foin, if it could be procured) in 
 each feed of oats, and have found the b^st effect? 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 201 
 
 from it, when the pipes have not been so clear as 
 I coukl wish. 
 
 When on the subject of hay it may not be 
 amiss to state what I have found to be the best sort 
 for horses that follow hounds. It should be grown 
 on sound land, be full of flowers, of colour ap- 
 proaclung to green ; not dusty, or shewing signs of 
 being what is called " mow-burnt," and it should 
 feel hard in the hand. It should be fresh from the 
 rick, or it imbibes moisture from the air; and 
 when of this description, a little of it is sufficient, 
 as it will supply in quality what it wants in quan- 
 tity. Oats should be short and sweet, and should 
 rattle as they are put into the bin, and if of the last 
 year's growth but one they are to be preferred. 
 
 I have a little more to say on the subject of 
 water. All alterations of diet affect the animal 
 economy ; but with horses in high condition nothing 
 does it so quickly and visibly as a change of water. 
 The number of pumps and ponds between New- 
 market and Doncaster will, nineteen times out of 
 twenty, secure the St. Leger Stakes to the north- 
 country horses, and ince versa with our great 
 Stakes in the south. I had not been at Brighton 
 three days last winter before I experienced the 
 effect of the Avater in the altered appearance of 
 my horses. 
 
 I do not approve of the practice of constantly 
 giving hunters warm water in the house. It should 
 stand in the stable for at least one night before it is 
 used, and then it is perfectly safe, when horses have 
 not been sweated^ or been Avith hounds. As, how- 
 ever, a draught of cold water has always a slight 
 
203 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 effect on the circulation, a hood or extra cloth 
 shoiikl be thrown over a liorse's loins after he has 
 partaken of it. 
 
 A handful of bran stirred up in a bucket of cold 
 water has a two-fold effect. It softens the quality 
 of the water, and from the colour it imparts to it 
 encourages horses to drink gruel when tliey come 
 home after hunting. The danger of giving cold 
 water after a severe run, or after profuse sweating, 
 I need not expatiate upon. The stomach — that 
 great centre of sympathy — partakes too much of the 
 general exhaustion of the system not to be highly 
 sensible to such an extreme. When its blood-vessels 
 are distended, which no doubt they are after severe 
 exertions, cold water will sometimes produce a 
 total stagnation of the blood, and immediate death 
 
 will ensue. A friend of mine lost a valuable gig 
 horse in this way. He was driving him one very 
 hot day, and by way, as he thought, of refreshing 
 him, gave him a few swallows of water out of a 
 deep well, and he was dead in half an hour. At 
 all seasons of the year water that is exposed to sun 
 and air is to be preferred, but that which runs over 
 gravel is always cold. 
 
 Although cold water, after great exertion, is 
 dangerous, yet it is wonderfully refreshing to horses 
 that are exhausted. I remember once tiring a 
 horse in the wildest part of Northamptonshire, and 
 no village at hand. I left him in the field with my 
 groom, scarcely able to walk ; but he brought him 
 liome (sixteen miles) that night, recovering his 
 strength and spirits, as he told me, after every sip 
 of water he gave him on the road. The present 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 203 
 
 system of giviHg gruel to liorses on their road 
 home, and when they get into their stable, is a njost 
 excellent one, and greatly promotes their recovery 
 from fiitigue. 
 
 Horses that are troubled — as many a good hun* 
 ter is-^-with chronic cough should have great atten- 
 tion paid to them in their Avater. They invariably 
 cough after drinking it, which too plainly shews the 
 effect it has upon them. They should be kept very 
 short for two du^s before hunting. Their bowels 
 should be kept free by physic, and an occasional 
 loose cold bran mash will lessen their desire for, 
 and obviate the necessity of, much Avater. Having 
 had a horse of this description many years in my 
 stable, I speak from good experience j and I found 
 great benefit from the occasional use of the fol- 
 lowing medicine: — Tartar emetic, three ounces 5 
 calomel, eight drachms 5 purified opium, half an 
 ounce ; made into twenty-four balls, and give two 
 per day, till effect be produced. I always have 
 found horses which are subject to chronic cough 
 naturally hard feeders. By no means should they 
 be bled, as bleeding only aggravates this complaint. 
 Frequent gentle sAveats, producing a determination 
 to the surface of the skin, and thereby relieving the 
 lungs, should never be omitted. 
 
 What a man has ahvays to do should be done 
 Avell ; therefore it may not be amiss to state Avhat 
 is considered by grooms to be the best method of 
 treating a horse Avhen in the stable. Whoever has 
 noticed an experienced nurse handling a young 
 infant must observe a peculiar method of touching 
 it, AA'hich nothing but practice can give her. Thus 
 
204 CONDITJON OF HUNTERS, 
 
 it is with a groom. There is a method of handling 
 a horse peculiar to one who knows' his business, 
 which a bystander, who is a judge of such mat- 
 ters, cannot mistake. Even in the act of stripping 
 him — before he puts his hand upon him to 
 dress him — there is a method to be observed. Hav- 
 ing secured his head and muzzled him, he first 
 unbuckles his roller and the near side of his breast 
 plate ; when passing his left hand down the spine 
 of the horse, he draAvs the clothes ofF, over his 
 tail, and throws them into one side of the manger. 
 By this method every hair in his skin Avill lie 
 smoothly. When his clothes are replaced, having 
 been well shaken, they should be put some inches 
 forwarder than they are intended to remain ; Avhen 
 the groom, going just behind the tail of his horse, 
 should draw them gently down to their proper 
 place, for the reason before mentioned. The roller 
 and breast plate being buckled, a hood, or a linen 
 rubber, should be thrown over the quarters. No- 
 thing looks so awkward as to see a groom pulling 
 a horse's clothes in an opposite direction to his 
 coat, which nmst be the case if he puts them on 
 lower down, or nearer to the tail, than he intends 
 them to remain. In general the head and neck are 
 dressed before the body is stripped, for which pur- 
 pose the horse should be turned round in his stall ; 
 and when his legs are rubbed, first with straw and 
 then Avith the hand, the toilette is completed. 
 
 When a groom Avho knows his business has 
 stripped a horse, he should feel him, to judge how 
 he is getting on in his condition, and ^diether he 
 be getting his flesh pn tl\e right points. Having 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 205 
 
 satistied himself on this head — having stripped 
 himself (that is to say if he be a ^vorking groom) 
 —he sets to work to dress him — an operation in 
 Avhich some greatly excel others. There is, how- 
 ever, no harder work than dressing a horse as he 
 should be dressed— taking into account the atmo- 
 sphere in which the workman breathes. 
 
 A good dressing to a horse is, I have reason to 
 believe, a far greater benefit than we are apt to give 
 credit for. It produces an afflux of blood to the 
 surface, promotes a general circulation of the 
 system, gives 'elasticity to the lungs, and greatly 
 assists wind and digestion. The brush, when 
 vigorosly applied, has a medicinal effect on the 
 spiracula of the skin — a great relief after sweating. 
 It must resemble the benefit derived from the use of 
 the flesh-brush to the human frame, so much 
 esteemed in the warmer countries previous to the 
 wearing of linen. The ancients had an instrument 
 which they called a " strigil," Avliich they employed 
 for this purpose ; and to which Persius alludes 
 when speaking of the Roman baths — 
 
 " I puer, et strigiles Crispin! ad balnea defer." 
 
 The dust in horses' skins, though it may be 
 called an extraneous matter, secreted by the vessels 
 of the skin, has, no doubt, its use hi keeping the 
 animal warm, and affording nourishment to the 
 roots of the coat. Sweating, with the vigorous 
 application of the brush, will alone remove it : and 
 for this reason the use of the brush should l)e 
 very limited during the moulting season. Among 
 the many advantages of keeping hunters in the 
 
206 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 house in the suiiinier, may be reckoned that of their 
 changing their coats sooner, and, consequently, 
 being better prepared to meet the cold weather 
 when it comes* 
 
 The late punishing times have enforced economy 
 upon most people ; and all good judges have given 
 up the use of body-clothes and breast plates in the 
 stable, and only use them at exercise, Avhere they are 
 necessary, in the winter, to prevent their clothes 
 blowing back when meeting the Avind. A sort 
 of blanket is now used, which is manufactured 
 in the North of England, and is very warm and 
 comfortable^ and comparatively of trifling cost. If 
 I had all the money now before me which I have 
 expended in body clothes, it would purchase me a 
 good hunter — for they are soon demolished it 
 horses sleep in them. Very few saddlers know 
 how to make them properly — scarcely ever cutting 
 them deep enough or long enough for full-sized 
 horses. I am, however, a great advocate for Avarm 
 clothing in the stable. It promotes the insensible 
 perspiration that is ahvays going on through the 
 pores of the skin, and tends to keep horses in 
 health. 
 
 It may be expected that I say something on the 
 lately-adopted practice of clipping hunters. The 
 grand object of a groom is to make his horses look 
 as if they were Avell groomed, AAdiich they cannot 
 do unless they have a fine short coat j therefore, of 
 course, he conceives a fine short coat to be condu- 
 cive to health and condition, and no doubt it is. 
 I should certainly prefer seeing a horse of mine 
 Avith a fine short coat Avithout the aid of clipping ; 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 207 
 
 but if that were not to be accomplished, I Avoukl 
 certainly have him clipped. The advantages of a 
 short, and the disadvantages of a long", coat, I have 
 already treated of j but having since met with a 
 passage in Mr. Smith's* Treati6e on the Glanders, 
 in which he speaks of the latter as one of the pre- 
 disposing causes of that fatal complaint, I cannot 
 perform my duty to the reader more satisfactorily 
 than by giving his own Avords on this interesting 
 subject, which equally apply to clipping : — 
 
 " A very dangerous effect of debility, or being- 
 out of condition," says Mr. Smith, p. 18, " is, that 
 the subject has a long rough coat, Avhich retains 
 the perspiration excited by exercise, and even in 
 cold Aveather, when the exercise is not such as to 
 excite sweat, the insensible perspiration which is 
 constantly issuing from the extremities of the 
 cutaneous vessels is condensed among the hair, 
 and appears on the surface like dew ; wdiereby cold 
 is produced on the surface of the body, occasioning 
 too great a determination of blood to the lungs, 
 or other important viscus, Avhich is always in 
 proportion to the diminution of the cutaneous per 
 spiration." 
 
 As it always has been, and ever will be, with 
 most innovations on old-established systems, objec- 
 tions have been made to clipping horses, and some 
 silly reasons given for them. Among others it is 
 asserted that it will shorten their lives, and that 
 sooner or later they will go blind — for neither of 
 which assertions do I see the slightest foundation. 
 That they may be susceptible to cold, if exposed to it 
 
 * Late veterinary surgeon in the 2tl regiment of Light Dragoons. 
 
208 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 soon after the operation, is rational to conclude ; but 
 in all my inquiries from the owners of such horses 
 I did not find this had been the case. One gentle- 
 man gave it a pretty good trial. His horse was 
 finished clipping on the Thursday, and he swam or 
 forded a canal three times with him on the Friday 
 with Lord Berkeley's stag-hounds, and he Avas not 
 the least the worse for it. Fat sheep, we know, are 
 shorn in the months of February and March, and 
 are exposed to the air with impunity, which has 
 often excited my surprise. Some days, however, 
 should always elapse between clipping and Avork. 
 
 The value of any acquisition is only to be 
 estimated by its usefulness. Never having tried 
 clipping, I cannot speak from my own experience ; 
 but I have been informed that horses so treated will 
 do their Avork better, and come round sooner, than 
 they did before 5 and I think it is easily accounted 
 for. I was told that a master of fox-hounds had 
 tried it in his stable with the best effect ; and 
 having had the honour of being introduced to him 
 in the spring of 1824 at Messrs. Tattersall's, he 
 confirmed what I had heard. It is a very nice 
 operation, and requires much practice and no 
 little skill to do it well 5 but as Nature is not 
 easily imposed upon, it is always to be detected. 
 Some gentlemen's grooms attempt it, but none of 
 those whom I have seen succeeded Avell. There 
 are people in London who do it at two or three 
 guineas per horse ; and, as it is the work of tAVO 
 days, it is worth the money to do it AA^ell. 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTJERS. 209 
 
 LETTER XIV. 
 
 OBJECTIONS ANSWERED. 
 
 It is a principle in unison with all well-known 
 facts that our will has no power over our belief 5 
 and to doubt nothing and to understand nothing 
 are much the same. In the common walks of life 
 the moment a man steps a little from the beaten 
 track, that moment is he opposed in his march; 
 and were he to yield to every obstacle he meets 
 with, his progress would be but slow. He Avould 
 resemble the man who went to a fox-chase resolv- 
 ing not to leap; whereas, to the fearless and 
 experienced horseman, half the pleasure of that 
 noble diversion consists in getting clear over, or in 
 breaking down, the barriers which oppose him. 
 
 In the progress of my letters on the condition 
 of hunters I have certainly gone a little out of the 
 beaten track ; or, in other words, I have travelled 
 in a road not much frequented. In the progress of 
 these letters, also, I have ventured to condemn a 
 system practised by, I fear, more than two-thirds of 
 my brother sportsmen ; and I have attempted to 
 prove that that system is wrong. Had I Avritten 
 these letters more than twenty years ago, when the 
 method I have recommended was first used by 
 myself, and but very partially adopted by others, I 
 
 P 
 
210 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 should have been naturally prepared for opposition ^ 
 but in these communicative times I am only sur- 
 prised that the advantages of it have not circulated 
 throughout all sporting countries — even to the 
 county of Forfar. 
 
 My first opponent was the Bit of a Jockey ; 
 but I have done with him — not conceiving that 
 (though, perhaps, a useful Avriter on other matters) 
 a person Avhose sporting days, by his own account, 
 were ended before ours began, and who never saw 
 Buckle ride*, can be authority for any practical 
 system now adopted in the sporting world. As 
 well might a man sit down and Avrite a topographi- 
 cal description of London and Westminster, and 
 in the concluding chapter inform us that he had 
 never seen the horse at Charing-cross ! 
 
 My next opponent was The Old Sportsman, 
 who talked of " mashed potatoes and Swedish 
 turnipst" as the best food for hunters, and wished &^ 
 
 us to believe that horses and dairy maids did their 
 work better when rough in their coats. His hounds, 
 however, were all for the pot, and, by his own 
 account, found more hares than foxes. The first 
 bloAV is said to be half the battle ; but I had the 
 last with him, and I do not think he will resume 
 the contest. 
 
 Next comes a correspondent under the signature 
 of " X. B.," who commences his letter by sayings 
 " Does not your valuable correspondent Nimrod 
 think too much of his horse having five years' old 
 oats and beans in him ? If this were absolutely 
 
 * See Sporting Magazine, vol. xiv. N.S. j). 14.4. 
 t See Sporting Magazine, vol. xi. N.S. p. 268. 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 211 
 
 necessary," continues he, "what would become of 
 our two and three-year-old horses in the race ? We 
 find they can run full as well as those at a more 
 advanced age. In 1823 and 1824 the Craven 
 Stakes were won by two year-olds*." My 
 answer to this is— first, that in mi/ country two 
 year or three-year-old colts cannot have five years^ 
 hay and cOrn in them ; secondly, / did not nay it 
 tvas necessary for a hunter. He concludes the 
 sentence by telling us, " / believe the two-year-old 
 colts are taken from grass in September, to run in 
 Apdl." 
 
 Now on all subjects but one I hate the words 
 " I believe." One man believes one thing, and 
 another man believes another— neither of them 
 Avithin two distances of the mark, nor could an 
 argument of a thousand years bring them one whit 
 the nearer. What would a Cambridge Professor 
 say to a man who approached his chair and talked 
 of heliemng'^ "Bring me demonstration, Sir," 
 he would say, " and I will listen to you !" Now 
 had X. B. taken the trouble to inform himself on 
 this subject Ijefore he put pen to paper, he would 
 have found that no two-year-old colt taken from grass 
 (which in the sense he applies it, in opposition to 
 corn, of course means grass only) in September 
 ever did, or — we may safely add— ever will, win 
 the Craven. He would have found that such colts 
 have as much corn as they can eat from the time 
 they leave the dam, and even before they are 
 
 * In 1823j by the Duke of Rutland's b. c. Scarbrough by Catton, 
 dam by Haphazard ; in \%9,\>, by Lord Verulara's ro, c Vargas^ by 
 Orville out of Vittoria by Sorcerer. 
 
212 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 weaned ; and th^t in these days a well-bred colt, 
 with engagements over his head, may be said 
 to be in training from the very day he is foaled ! 
 As to grass, there certainly may be some in the 
 paddock he is reared in, but it forms a small por- 
 tion of his food even in the com*se of the first 
 year. That a two-year-old colt should win the 
 Craven is anything but extraordinary— indeed the 
 race is made for him. The course is but a little 
 more than a mile*, and when the weights were 
 fixed the chances must have been considered equal. 
 Were the race, however, over the B. C. instead of 
 where it is, where would be the two-year-old? 
 His only chance then of winning it would be to 
 -^Vii five years' old corn into him, and the recipe 
 would be worth something. 
 
 The circumstance X. B. brings forward of 
 Trajan, taken from grass, being beaten by Match'em, 
 is rather a singular way of recommending the 
 grazing system ; and his (Trajan) having distanced 
 two others (he does not say what) in the race, does 
 not mend the matter at all 5 as, for aught we know, 
 they may have been at grass also — may have 
 bolted, or tumbled, or God knows what — as it is 
 sixty-two years since (1755) the event he alludes 
 to took place. 
 
 When X. B. speaks of four months' training 
 being sufficient for the race-horse, he talks equally 
 out of book 5 and I had nearly forgotten my 
 good manners, and said he talked something 
 else, when he told us he should be delighted to see 
 a valuable hunter of his gallop about a hard field 
 
 * Across the Flat, one mile two furlongs twenty-four yards. 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 213 
 
 in the summer till he was hot. Were it possible 
 that, during such frolics, a horse could be divested 
 of his skin, and we could have a peep at the 
 internal machinery of his frame, we should see 
 such twists and contortions of his joints, that, if 
 they did not make us tremble for the safety of 
 them, would at least satisfy us that they must be a 
 bad recipe for any injuries those joints may have 
 received in their work in the winter. As to exer- 
 cising horses in the summer, let those who think it 
 amuses them practise it, on the score of humanity 5 
 but, for my own part, I never yet saw a horse out at 
 exercise that did not wish to return to his stable. 
 
 In your last Number* a gentleman from For- 
 farshire (a sportsman, I am certain) comes for- 
 ward, and, after enumerating " pot bellies, running 
 thrushes, pleasant roaring," (awkward music for 
 those who pay to hear it,) &c. &c., as the concomi- 
 tants of the grazing system, energetically says, 
 ^' J^niv take my jdan I The hunter," says he, 
 " must be turned out when days and nights are 
 warm." Here, unfortunately, he is opposed by one 
 of our first writers on the veterinary art, who says, 
 " I have always found that when the greatest heat 
 prevailed in the course of the day, the nights were 
 cool, the fogs more copious and heavy, and that 
 diseases amongst horses were then most prevalent." 
 Nothing can be more true than this. In proportion 
 as the action of the heart and arteries has been 
 excited by the warmth of the day, the greater must 
 be the effect of the damp and vapours of the night. 
 
 " The effect," saystlie North Briton "on the 
 * See Sporting Magaxine, vol. xy,N,S. p. 19%, &c. 
 
214 CONDITION OF HUNTJSRS. 
 
 sinews and joints of the hunter, by a run at grass, is 
 pastdou])tin my experience." May I request him to 
 state whether he have proved the result, by a close 
 application of his system with the one I recommend. 
 His recommending turning horses out to grass as a 
 preventive of botts, cannot but create a smile, and 
 is one of the thousand instances we meet with of a 
 man sitting down to write oil subjects hefore^ in- 
 stead of after, he has given himself time to thiiik. 
 If we are to believe writers on natural history, 
 horses kept in the house cannot have hotts : they 
 are the larvae of a fly that only molests him iii 
 the sunshine ; but to whose existence and propaga- 
 tion they are as essential as the air we breathe is to 
 our own lives. Hear Avliat a very highly-esteemed 
 writer* on the diseases of horses says on this sub- 
 ject: — " The flies from which these botts are 
 produced inhabit the country, and do not come 
 near houses, at least not near those of great towns ; 
 and therefore horses are never liable to have botts 
 in their bodies if they have been kept in the house, 
 especially in town, during the summer and autumn." 
 
 Your Northern correspondent concludes his 
 letter by lamenting that so many promising young 
 race-horses are nipped in the bud Ijy early training j 
 but as all the great stakes are for young ones, the 
 owners of them will make their hay Avhen the sun 
 shines. 
 
 In the same Number X. B. again comes for- 
 ward. He begins by telling us that a horse shut up 
 in a well-littered stable in the summer must he hi 
 a fever, or in a state of perspiration. Aivay with 
 all such trash. If this Avere the case, what would 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 215 
 
 become of all the race-liorses, post-horses, coach- 
 horses, covering stallions, wagon-horses, saddle- 
 horses, and all others used in the hot months? 
 Take a horse from grass and put him into a warm 
 stable, and no doubt he will sweat; but not so if 
 kept on hard meat, or Avith occasional soiling. 
 
 X. B. talks of lessening the quantity of a 
 hunter's food, instead of physic, to prevent plethora ; 
 and of changing the n8,ture of it for that which is 
 " less solid and more easy of digestion." Surely 
 here is the Old Sportsman come again with his 
 Swedish turnips and mashed potatoes! All this 
 tender food may do very well for a lady's pad, or 
 for the lady herself 5 but such language, when 
 applied to the hunter, is absurd. His remarks on 
 physic are equally unfortunate, and the " / believe''^ 
 again stares us in the face. 
 
 I have just found out that X. B, must be an 
 Irishman. He tells us that " when the late 
 Colonel IMellish had a stable of hunters all in high 
 condition^ he could seldom have the horse he 
 wished, as they were frequently amiss and obliged 
 to have physic." As this gentleman paid me a 
 handsome compliment in the concluding sentence 
 of his letter, I ought not to be too hard upon him ; 
 but in future I shall not notice the observations of 
 one who appears so little qualified to offer them. 
 
 I am sorry to observe that many of my brother 
 sportsmen are convinced of the evils of turning 
 hunters to grass, and yet subject them to them all. 
 I lately had a remarkal)le instance of this. A friend 
 of mine, riding very heavy and very hard, came to 
 see me, and by Avay of punishing him for biting 
 
216 CONDITION OF HUNTERS, 
 
 one of his other horse's eyes out in the morning, he 
 rode one of his hunters, a horse I have known for 
 many years, and few people have a better when fit 
 to go. On my observing that he looked like any- 
 thing but what he should be, I asked him what he 
 had been doing with him in the summer? " What 
 I ought not to have done with him," was his reply : 
 " I turned him out to grass. He has lost all his 
 muscle, and he is not half the horse he was when 
 he went out. Besides this," added he, " he has 
 got a bad kick on his hock, and is under the hands 
 of the veterinary surgeon at — — , who thinks the 
 enlargement will be reduced by continued fomen- 
 tations." 
 
 The next morning my friend and myself rode 
 out together. His horse was wet with sweat, 
 whilst the one I rode (summered in his stall, with 
 only ten days' soiling) was as dry on every part of 
 his body as when he came out of the stable. 
 
 Your sceptical readers shall have a little more 
 demonstration. A mare which I rode last winter 
 (1823-4) met with an accident 5 and being got 
 by Walton out of Highland Lass, I thought she 
 might breed me a racer, so I put her to the horse, 
 and turned her out. She soon got very fat and 
 sound; but, not proving with foal, I took her up 
 after being out nearly three months, and she has 
 had every justice done by her since she has been in 
 the stable. She stands in a stall between two that 
 have been summered in the house, and chalk is not 
 more unlike cheese than is her condition unlike 
 that of her neighbours. One of these is the mare 
 that wh^ sweated in August till " the sweat ran off 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 217 
 
 her like water," which X. B. seems to think so 
 cruel and so Aveakeuing. Perhaps he is not aware 
 that some of our first-rate stallions are sweated 
 once a week during the covering season. 
 
 After what I have now said I have done with 
 producing proofs of the good effects of summering 
 the hunter in the house; and shall conclude the 
 subject with mentioning an occurrence which 
 happened— rather apropos — Avith the mare I have 
 just been speaking of. I rode her to call on my 
 next-door neighbour, who keeps a pack of fox- 
 hounds ; and Avhen he saw her, he exclaimed, 
 " Ah ! you have had your mare clipped, have 
 you?"—" No," said I, " she is not clipped, 
 but she is in clipping condition," which is a 
 much better thing. She now dries after a SAveat 
 in three minutes, Avhich my neighbours can 
 testify. Where is the horse Avhich has been 
 summered in the fields that Avill do this ? Another 
 circumstance took place Avith the Brighton har- 
 riers last Avinter. I Avas riding another mare Avhich 
 had three years' hard meat in her, Avhen Ave were 
 caught in a very heavy shoAver of rain. In about 
 ten minutes after it Avas over, ]\Ir. Carr, the gentle- 
 man Avho manages the LcAves harriers, rode up to 
 me, and said, " Your mare puts me in mind of a 
 dirty boot by the side of a clean one." — " Why so ?" 
 said I, " Because she is dry, and every other 
 horse (seventy in number) in the field is wet," Avas his 
 ansAver. This must denote increased vigour of body. 
 
 I seldom hunt in October, for more reasons than 
 one. First, the flies have not done stinging the 
 horses; secondly, the country is not fit to ride 
 
218 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 over, and thirdly, I have always been of opinion 
 that the month of October should be solely devoted 
 to the master of the hounds and his servants. Mr. 
 Chute's hounds, however, being within easy reach 
 of me, on the 22d October 1824 I went out with 
 them 5 and on the road to covert I overtook the 
 pack. "How all the horses sweat this morning!" 
 said the huntsman: " see how it runs off them !"— 
 " My horse does not sweat," said I, " I am certain." 
 On my servant coming up with him he was as dry 
 as when he went out of the stable. What is this a 
 proof of ? I have now, however, done with proofs. 
 In my twelfth letter on this subject I spoke of 
 tonic medicines being essential to the condition of 
 some horses at this season of the year j and have 
 been called upon to state what I consider the best 
 mineral tonic used for this purpose. The following 
 ball, given two or three times a week till effect be 
 produced, will be found to answer the desired end: — 
 
 Sulphate of iron, h ounce. 
 
 Ginger 1 drachm. 
 
 To be made into a ball in the usual way. 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 319 
 
 LETTER Xy. 
 
 ADVICE TO FABMEBS — BREEDING — TREAT3IENT OF BROOD 
 3MARES AND COLTS — CLIPPING. 
 
 The mind sleeps and is refreshed. It is now 
 two months since I have put pen to paper on my 
 favorite subject— the condition of hunters ; so 
 return to it with increased pleasure. Although I 
 have been silent, my eyes and ears have not been 
 shut. 
 
 In my last I observed that I had something to 
 say on this subject to farmers. My object is to in- 
 duce them to breed horses, being convinced that no 
 other stock on their farms can pay them so well. 
 When, however, I recommend theni to breed 
 horses, I mean that they should set about it as it 
 ought to be done, or they had better leave it alone 5 
 for I speak without fear of contradiction when I 
 assert, that, generally speaking, no branch of rural 
 economy has been more abused and neglected than 
 this. It is useless, however, to expose errors that 
 have passed : let us endeavour to avoid them. 
 
 Under proper management a good three-parts- 
 bred mare may be a little fortune to a farmer. I 
 knew one in the neighbourhood of Ludlow which 
 did not beffin to breed until she had Ccwried that 
 
220 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 ornament to fox-hunting, the late Sir John Hill, of 
 Hawkeston, for eleven seasons, when she produced, 
 if I n;ay so express myself, a thousand pounds' 
 worth of horse-flesh in the space of seven or eight 
 years. I myself g*ave two hundred and sixty gui- 
 neas for two of her colts ^I'hen rising four years 
 old, and they both proved good hunters. From 
 what other stock, may I ask, could such a return be 
 made ? I may safely assert, that the produce of 
 this mare more than realized the fee simple of the 
 land that reared them. 
 
 I have not time to be prolix, therefore must 
 come to the point. When a prudent man lets loose 
 his capital, his first consideration is whether it will 
 return to him again? In this instance he may 
 make sure of it if he will follow these simple direc- 
 tions : — Let him purchase a well-bred mare, not so 
 much regarding her size as her points and action — 
 particularly requirmg that she have a sound consti- 
 tution and good legs. Let him send her to a horse 
 also of good form, wiih freedom of action and a 
 sound constitution ; also being particular as to the 
 state of his legs and feet. Never let him breed 
 from a naturally infirm horse, Avhose legs have 
 shewn more than ordinary weakness* ; and, above 
 all, let him fix upon one which has what the vete- 
 rinary profession call a short canon — that is, the 
 bone extending from the knee to the fetlock, com- 
 monly called the shank bone. Let him begin to 
 
 • Though of course we should prefer legs that have never given 
 way, yet a stallion that has raced much is not to be rejected because 
 he has broke down at last ; but we should carefully avoid those 
 wl^ich have throvni out curbs, spavins, ring-bones; &c. 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 221 
 
 breed from liis mare before she is much injured by 
 work ; as in that case, if she does not breed to 
 please him Avith her first and second foal, he can 
 dispose of her and purchase another. 
 
 A very celebrated fox-hunter has observed, that 
 " the goodness of horses generally goes in at the 
 mouth." Let the breeder, then, bear this in mind, 
 and take care that the foal be dropped early, and 
 the dam well fed for the first two months with 
 bran mashes, carrots, &c. till the spring grass 
 arrives. If the mare should prove a good nurse, 
 the colt will not require corn till he is weaned, 
 Avhich on no account should be delayed beyond the 
 first or second week in September. Here the grand 
 mistake has arisen, to which we are indebted for 
 such numbers of mis-shapen horses as this country 
 abounds in. Farmers, in general, never think of 
 weaning their colts till after IMichaelmas, long be- 
 fore which period there is little or no virtue in 
 grass, but, on the contrary, it is sour and un^vhole- 
 sonie. 
 
 From weaning time to the following IMay, the 
 colt should be well kept on a full allowance of sweet 
 hay, with at least two good feeds of oats per day, 
 and he should he kept icann. He should have a 
 head collar on, with a small strap hanging down to 
 his knees, which will admit of his being handled 
 every day ; and every two months his toes should be 
 rasped, and his heels opened a little Avith the dra^v- 
 ing knife. In March or April he should have t\\'o 
 mild doses of physic, Avhich will cause him to 
 grow ; and when the weather is Avarm he should lie 
 turned out into a good upland pasture for the sum- 
 
222 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 nier, with plenty of shade and water, but taken up 
 every month to have his legs exammed and his toes 
 rasped. The second week in September he should 
 be housed again for the Avinter, when his belly 
 should be the measure for his corn* When docked, 
 his tail should be left eight inches in lengthj Avhich 
 will preclude the disagreeable necessity of having 
 the operation repeated. 
 
 Early in the following spring, when turned two 
 years old, he should be broken, but not backed ; 
 and physicked as before directed. In the first or 
 second week in June he should be cut* j and when 
 recovered he should be turned out for the summer; 
 M'^hen taken up again for the winter, he should 
 have two mild doses of physic, and be very well 
 kept, giving him a few carrots, or a large bran mash 
 once a week. Very early in the spring he should 
 have a little more very mild physic 5 and in a fort- 
 night afterwards he should be backed, and taught 
 his paces by a person who understands the business. 
 Idleness, from this time forth, will he an enemy to 
 hhn 5 and as soon as he is perfect in his paces he 
 should do what in the training stables is called " a 
 little work." Exercise will strengthen his legs, 
 enlarge his muscles, improve his form, and make 
 him grOAv. From this time forth he should be 
 treated as a horse in every respect but in his work, 
 Avhich should be moderate till the fifth year j but 
 
 * Though I have spoken of two years of age being the best time 
 for cutting coltSj yet this must depend on circumstances. If the 
 owner of him has not a convenient place to keep him in, he must cut 
 him the first year. Also, if he is hkely to be too large for his legs, or 
 what is termed *' top heavy/' the first year is to be preferred. 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 223 
 
 previously to that time a customer Avill always be 
 ready for him, and if his owner is disposed to part 
 Avith him, his average price will be from one to two 
 hundred sovereigns. 
 
 When I say a colt should be treated as a horse 
 after the third year, I mean, of course, that he 
 should be treated after the system I have laid down 
 for hunters, and not allowed his summer's run at 
 grass. Hard meat will make him powerful and 
 handsome : grass Avill render him, comparatively 
 speaking, heavy, pot-bellied, and shapeless. 
 
 What I am now" going to advance may appear 
 like straining the point 5 but I am convinced of the 
 truth of it, and therefore boldly assert it. It is my 
 confirmed opinion, that unless a colt be what is 
 called " deformed," it is in the power of good keep, 
 exercise, and physic, to make him wlvdt is termed 
 " a fine horse," and one that will sell for a large 
 price, either for harness or the saddle. No one 
 but those AA ho have witnessed it are aware of the 
 improvement in shoulders, thighs, gaskins,&c.from 
 good old oats and Ijeans, accompanied by regular 
 Avork and proper riding. Being a great man for 
 lyrooj] I will mention one instance, which is as good 
 as a hundred. 
 
 Five years ago, i. e. in 1820, I Avas riding to 
 meet hounds in Oxfordshire, on a five-year-old 
 horse, Avhich I had just purchased, and which Avas 
 much out of condition. I Avas joined by a brother 
 sportsman AA'hose experience in horses Avas consider- 
 able, and Avho Avas going on the same errand. 
 " What have you got there ?" said he, Avith some 
 expression of surprise. — " A brute," said I, " that 
 
224 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 I purchased the other day out of a Welch drove." 
 -"-" I thought he was not your sort," continued he. 
 Having summered this horse after the system I 
 adopt, I happened to come across my brother sports- 
 man with the same pack of hounds the following 
 season, just as I was mounting " the brute out of 
 the AVelch drove," Avith the intention of riding him 
 for the day. — " Yoic have a very neat horse there^^ 
 said he: " where did you get him?" — " Oh," said 
 I, " you know him." — " No," replied he, " I never 
 saw him before." — " What !" said I, " do you not 
 recollect the brute out of the Welch drove ?" — I 
 sold this horse the following season to Mr. Vincent 
 Corbet for two hundred guineas — having previously 
 refused that sum from him for another person. 
 
 When stating matters of fact on subjects so 
 interesting to sportsmen, no one who belongs to that 
 honorable class Avould object to his name being men- 
 tioned, by way of producing proof, without which 
 argument goes for nothing. The gentleman I allude 
 to is Mr. Martin, of Ham Court in Worcestershire, 
 a very hard rider to hounds, and whose father suc- 
 ceeded to the estates of the late Major Bland, who 
 hunted that country when I first rode over it. 
 
 As another instance of the captivating proper-- 
 ties of condition I might mention that when at 
 Hungerford, in January 1825, I sold one of my 
 horses, which I considered under my weight, to 
 Mr. Starkey, of Spy Park in Wiltshire, who told 
 a friend of mine afterwards that he bought him 
 more for his condition than anything else. 
 
 One word more to farmers. If those who fol- 
 low hounds, or who breed good horses without 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 225 
 
 doing this, would pay more attention to the condi- 
 tion of their horses, by keeping them up in the 
 summer, putting good instead of bad flesh upon 
 them, they woukl be very well paid for their hunt- 
 ing, or their troujjle. They may take my word for 
 it, there never Avas sucli a demand, I might almost 
 say outcry, for hunters as there is at the present 
 day*. It is very well known to many of my ac- 
 quaintance that I have lately had several earnest 
 requests to purchase hunters for my friends, but I 
 have been quite unable to comply with them. I 
 will not say I might not have seen two or three 
 horses that may have suited them, but I could not 
 think of recommending them on account of their 
 want of condition ; for what is a hunter Avithout 
 condition ?— a source of vexation, disappointment 
 and danger. 
 
 All persons do not set the same store by condi- 
 tion that I do ; but if tliey were as much alive to 
 the advantages of it, they could not fail to do so. 
 The following fact will best sliew the price I put 
 upon it : — A blank sheet of paper Avas offered to 
 nie about six weeks back, by a gentleman Avho 
 keeps hounds, with a request that I Avould write my 
 own cheque (i- e. a cheque for my own price) on his 
 banker, and he Avould sign it, for a mare, Avhich is 
 certainly a model of the art of grooming as relates 
 to the condition of a hunter , but Avhich offer I 
 refused — saying, I should not refuse such an offer 
 
 * Pyevious to turning out a stag one day last season before Lord 
 Derby's hounds, I breakfasted at a gentleman's house in Surrey. 
 Our party consisted of eight ; and five of them were eagerly inquiring 
 after hunters.. 
 
226 CONDITION OF HUNTERSc 
 
 for the mare, but I could not part with her condi- 
 tion. Wishing to advance nothing of this sort 
 without the accompanying corroboration, my cus- 
 tomer was Mr. Taylor, of Holleycombe Lodge^ the 
 Member for the city of Wells. 
 
 I have now to notice two communications in 
 your November Number on this highly interesting 
 subject— -the Condition of Hunters. The first is a 
 very able Letter from Cheshire on the subject of 
 clipping, to which I shall allude more fully at a 
 future opportunity ; but as the author, EquestrIS, 
 asks my opinion, it is — that I would have every 
 horse clipped that has got a long coat; and it would 
 answer extremely well if one or two men in the 
 neighbourhood of every Hunt would perfect them- 
 selves in the art of doing it ; for they would have 
 plenty of custom. Caution, however, should be 
 observed. Mi\ Farquharson lost one of his best 
 horses last season in consequence of riding him too 
 soon after the operation was performed. On the 
 other hand, Mr. Bartlett, the dealer in Oxford- 
 street, told me last season that his horse was 
 clipped on the Thursday, and on the Friday he 
 swam a canal three times with the Berkeley stag- 
 hounds, and no ill effects were produced. 
 
 The other letter which calls for my attention is 
 from tlie same part of the world, and treats of the 
 effects of the late distemper among horses*. It 
 concludes with the following passage : — ^" Though 
 1 cannot subscribe to all the doctrines advanced by 
 your ingenious correspondent Nimrod, yet I 
 gladly add my mite to the proof that it is a very 
 * See Importing Magasme, vol. xv. N,S. p, 96. 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 227 
 
 mistaken notion to give liunters a summer's run, 
 under the idea of freshening their feet and legs. I 
 can now call to mind five hunters turned out last 
 summer perfectly sound, and which became lame 
 at grass." Now this I consider a main prop to my 
 argument, as it is evident the writer knows what he 
 is about, if he be not a professional man. If, as he 
 asserts, the stable or loose house is the best place 
 for the legs and feet, no doubt can remain as to its 
 being the best for the body, where extremes of heat 
 and cold, as well as accidents, can be avoided — 
 setting aside the folly of putting a load of flesh on 
 an animal, which must almost all come off again at 
 the expense of his legs. When speaking of ex- 
 tremes of heat and cold, reader, mark this ! The 
 thermometer stood two degrees lower on the twentij- 
 fourth of June 1824 than it did on Christmas-day I 
 This is the old story over again, but it cannot be 
 too deeply impressed on the observation of the 
 reader. " Nunquatn nimis dicitur quod nunquam 
 satis diseiturr '-''''' A man cannot repeat those 
 things too often which we cannot too minutely 
 observe," is somewhere about the English of it. 
 
 I wish I had not again to notice your corre- 
 spondent X. B., as but little pleasure or amusement 
 can arise to the reader from an argument in which 
 I may, without presumption, assert my opponent is 
 no match for me. " What impudence !" says one : 
 " What assurance !" says another: and many there 
 are, no doubt, who think that impudence and assu- 
 rance are synonymous terms, whereas nothing can 
 be more opposite to each other. The one is a mere 
 boldness which a man assumes from a pretension to 
 
 Q 2 
 
228 CONDITION OP HUNTERS. 
 
 qualities lie does not possess ; the other, the natural 
 consequence of that consciousness of being right 
 which arises in every man's breast when he knows 
 that he is so. To the one we owe nothing ; but to the 
 other Ave are indebted for the greatest treasures of 
 antiquity — for, neither Cicero nor Demosthenes, 
 neither Ovid nor Horace, would have written as 
 they did, had they not talked of the immortality of 
 their works, and of the monuments that would be 
 raised to their posterity; and I honour the judgment 
 of a people who allowed them a reputation which 
 it was their interest to support. 
 
 Notwithstanding what I have said, I am in 
 perfect good fellowship Avith X. B., and shall be 
 happy to hear from him on any other subject than 
 that of the condition of hunters and race horses, on 
 whicli I not only repeat my conviction that he has 
 nothing worth communicating to the sporting 
 Avorld ; but there are not wanting those who think 
 that he has obtruded his opinion without any pre- 
 tensions to its being heard. It is true, as he 
 asserts, philosophers of old did believe a thing pos- 
 sible, and attempted to prove it afterwards 5 but 
 where, may I ask, is X. B.'s proof? Surely not in 
 the boy (what a specimen of grooming!) who had 
 the care of the black mare just taken out of a pad- 
 dock, and gave her too much corn ; or in the ride to 
 Tonbridge Wells in the month of April. ^' JSfe 
 sutor ultra crefulam^'' said Apelles to the cobbler. 
 
 X. B. argues strangely. When speaking of the 
 races between Match'em and Trajan, in which 
 Trajan was beaten twice, he says, " When I spoke 
 of four months being sufficient, was it not to enable 
 
CONDITlOiN OF HUNTERS. 229 
 
 Trajan to run as he did, and that the extra traming 
 he afterwards had did not mend the matter ?" Cer- 
 tainly, I assert, it did not ; because Match'em, the 
 horse he was beaten by each time, had ]m extra 
 training also. Had he stood still after the first race, 
 Trajan might have won the second 5 but we may 
 say of him, 
 
 " He, like the hindmost chariot wheel, was curst. 
 Still to be near, but ne'er to be the first." 
 
 X. B. accuses me of perverting the meaning of 
 his words. If he writes in allegory, he should tell 
 me so ; but when speaking to matters of fact, I 
 must take him literally. He could not but have 
 seen that I was writing in irony when I spoke of 
 putting five years' corn into a two-year-old ; though 
 it would not be the first nor the second tune that 
 an old one has started as a young one. 
 
 X.B.is rather happy in his allusion to what the 
 hunter did when he was a foal ; but perhaps it will 
 occur to hhnself that he has done some things when 
 he Avas a boy which it might be dangerous for him 
 to attempt now. Let us dismiss the subject, then, 
 with this request— that he will keep his pity for 
 others, and not offer it to me, for there is a pitiful- 
 ness in pity which I abhor. If I give it, I never 
 wish to receive it. 
 
 I have now a word for another correspondent— 
 a ]Mr. Smith, of Woodhouses* — Avho has ven 
 tured to contradict my assertion, that a noise, or 
 beating, which is often heard in the inside of a 
 hunter after a very severe run with hounds, pro- 
 ceeds from the motion of the abdominal muscles, 
 * See Sporting Magazine, vol. xv. N.S. p. 135. 
 
230 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 and not Iroiii the heart. I beg leave to inform I^Ir. 
 Smith that I have too often experienced this to 
 believe his or any other man's assertion to the con- 
 trary 5 and as it happens, I have two bits of proof 
 close at hand— for on these matters (as I say of Mr. 
 Warde's homids) I go not a yard Avithout the scent. 
 Even eloquence, without conviction, goes for no- 
 thing ; and on paper it is still more essential. 
 
 About a fortnight ago we ran a fox upwards 
 of fourteen miles, from point to point, with the 
 Hambledon hounds , and having ridden a horse 
 not half in condition, he was, as might be ex- 
 pected, somewhat distressed — never having had 
 Avhat could be called a check the whole way. 
 When he got to his stable — having trotted him 
 rather briskly to it, to enable me to send a hack to 
 a friend— he had not recovered himself, and the 
 motion of the abdominal vessels was as plainly to 
 be heard as the chiming of the church clock. 
 Having my present object in view, I sent for I\Ir. 
 Ayleward, the farrier, who resides at Alresford, to 
 witness it ; and not content with this, but wishing 
 for further corroborating testimony, I took the Rev. 
 Mr. Norris, who resides near Havant (who had 
 also seen the run), into my stable, and convinced 
 him of the fact. What is singular, Mr. Norris 
 told me, that when he saw what I had written on 
 this subject in one of my letters on the condition of 
 hunters, he spoke of it to a veterinary surgeon 
 in his neighbourhood, Avho immediately confirmed 
 the truth of it — adding, that the noise could not 
 proceed from the heart, unless the heart lay where 
 it should not lie. 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 231 
 
 A short time since, a gentleman by the tiam€ of 
 Taylor — who resides at Beworth, and hunts regu- 
 larly with Mr. Villebois'jOi'the Hambledoa hounds 
 — informed me that a friend of his had a liorse, in 
 the inside of ^vhieh, towards the hinder part of his 
 body, he always heard a beating noise after a run, 
 but could not satisfy himself whence it proceeded. 
 I then told him it was from a convulsive action of 
 the abdominal muscles. The noise is not at all 
 like the beating of tlie heart; and the ear innnedi- 
 ately directs us to the seat of it. 
 
 Mr. Smith also doubts the use of cordials 
 when a horse is much exhausted after a run ; but 
 an appeal to conmion sense will save me the trouble 
 of replying here. BIr. Smith may be a veterinary 
 surgeon, which I think he is ; and he may lie an 
 <jxcellent practitioner 5 but witli all the res[)ect 
 Avhich I have always expressed tow^ards that highly- 
 useful profession, there are points on which men 
 who have much experience in riding, and the 
 management of, hunters, can dictate a little to them. 
 Is it to be supposed that either themselves or my- 
 self could direct IMr. Robson how to bring a race 
 horse to the post ? 
 
 I do not feel authorised in saying more on 
 clipping the hunter at present, never having tried 
 it ; but there is sufficient proof abroad of its good 
 effects, and particularly in the letter of your cone- 
 spondent Q.*, in your October Number. He is one 
 of the straight-forward ones, I am certain ; and I 
 can fancy myself sitting opposite to him in the twin 
 arm-chair, talking over the sports of the day, for I 
 
 * §ee ^portiny Magasim, vol. xv. N.S, p. 48. 
 
232 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 think we are of the same kidney. Mark this ex- 
 pression in his letter! One of his horses was 
 clipped last season ; but " this year," adds he, " from 
 proper management^ he will not need the scissors." 
 I could shew him one or two in my stable which it 
 would puzzle any scissors to clip. A barber might 
 shave them, and that would be all that could be 
 done to them. 
 
 There is one part of Q.'s letter which I do not 
 approve of, and that is his motto—" Nugis addere 
 pondus." He must allow me to say — and I am sure 
 as a sportsman he will admit the justness of my 
 observation— that nothing which tends to fit that 
 noble animal, the horse, for the severe, if not 
 almost unjustifiable exertions we put him to, and 
 thereby alleviate his suiferings, can come under the 
 denomination of trifles. As the Poet says— > 
 
 " That heart is hard in nature, and unfit 
 For human fellowship, as being void 
 Of sympathy, and therefore dead alike 
 To love and friendship both, that is not pleased 
 With sight of animals enjoying life ; 
 Nor feels their happiness augment his own." 
 
 Without applying these lines to Q., whose 
 apostrophe to his favorite old hunter rescues him 
 from the charge, too much importance cannot be 
 attached to this subject. For my own part, I 
 almost adored the horse before I could ride him. 
 How much then must my regard for him be in- 
 creased in gratitude for all the pleasure he has 
 afforded me ! It grieves me to see him abused ; 
 but abused he must be Avhen ridden after hounds, at 
 the pace they now go, when he is not in proper 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 233 
 
 condition for the purpose— and how few do we see 
 that are so ! The horse is a generous animal, and 
 waits not to be asked whether he can do what we 
 require of him. He goes till he dies. But we 
 should not trespass on his generosity : no ; Ave 
 sliould give him every assistance our reason, our 
 judgment, and our experience can dictate j and I 
 think I have said enough on this subject to make 
 the most sceptical of your readers believe that he 
 cannot be equal to his work till the greater part of 
 liis labours are at an end, unless he has been treated 
 on the system I recommend. It is now becoming 
 pretty general in some countries ; I wish it may be 
 so in all : and if what I have written may tend to 
 make it so, not only will one object be obtained j 
 but I shall derive an inward satisfaction of mind 
 on which I can put no price. For this shall my 
 sins be forgiven me ; and the sun of my old age will 
 set without a cloud. 
 
 I think Q. was imposed upon when he was told 
 of " the cocktail that ran four miles from grass, 
 and came in with a dry crust on her coat." I cer- 
 tainly have a mare (not the one I have before spoken 
 of) whose condition is so perfect, that if hounds 
 are running up-Avind, and slacken their pace a little, 
 she becomes dry, as several of my brother sports- 
 men have witnessed 5 and, what makes it more 
 remarkable, she is of a hot and fractious temper. 
 
 In one of my former letters on this subject I 
 spoke of a method of shoeing a hunter, so as effec- 
 tually to prevent his cutting himself by over-reach- 
 ing his legs in deep ground, or in leaping brooks. 
 It is sometimes difficult to convey our ideas on 
 
234 
 
 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 paper to the minds of otliers without the help of the 
 pencil; and some of my brother sportsmen have told 
 me they could not exactly comprehend what part of 
 the shoe I recommended to be bevilled off. I 
 exiled it " the inner edge of the inside of the 
 shoe ;" but the following sketch will more clearly 
 define it. 
 
 I have never had an over-reach since I have 
 used these shoes, but I frequently see them when 
 the precaution is omitted. A gentleman (Major 
 Pester) had his horse very much cut a short time 
 since with ^Ir. Villebois' hounds ; but on my ask- 
 ing him the question, I found the edge of the shoe 
 was not bevilled off. 
 
 P. S. In proof of the profits ai'isingfrom breed- 
 ing half-bred colts for hunters, vjhen they are 
 reared as they should he reared^ I have to mention 
 that Mr. Martin, of whom I have already spoken, 
 sold a four-year-old colt (quite untried), a short 
 time since, to Mr. Langston for two hundred gui- 
 neas ; and Mr. Drake refused the same sum for a 
 half-bred colt of the same age, from Sir Henry 
 Goodricke, a few days sinqe. 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 235 
 
 I omitted to mention one very essential })art of 
 the education of a colt designed for a liunter. 
 His action — particularly that of his shoulders- 
 will be greatly benefited by riding hhn up and 
 down hills, and trotting him gently in deep ground. 
 He should also be taught to leap at three years old. 
 If there should be the least appearance of a curb, 
 tlie iron sliould at once be applied. 
 
236 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 LETTER XVI. 
 
 ADVANTAGES OF CLIPPING — SALT MARSHES— 'HAY—GBEEN 
 
 MEAT. 
 
 One of our ancient historians observes, that 
 Avhen he tells us what he has heard, he leaves us 
 to form our own opinions as to the truth of it ; but 
 when he describes what he has seen, he speaks to 
 men, and expects to be believed. Theory certainly 
 gives us an advantage ; but in all matters of external 
 nature, it is experience that proves. 
 
 I have already declared that I have long since 
 been free'd from vulgar prejudices and bigotry to 
 ancient customs. I will not go so far as to assert" 
 that I Avould do so and so, because our forefathers 
 had not done so and so before me ; yet their not 
 having done it would by no means deter me from 
 the attempt : for, if we may judge from modern im- 
 provements, we have too much reason to think that, 
 with a few exceptions, they were a very dull race 
 of men. Other circumstances also tended to rid 
 me of those bars to improvement ; and nothing more 
 than a passage I met Avith some years ago in one of 
 our Greek authors. Being now on my travels I 
 have not the volume to refer to, but the following 
 is the substance. 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 237 
 
 The Emperor Darius (a pretty straight-'forward 
 one, I believe), growing sick of hearing of the 
 ancient customs of his people, and that nothing was 
 right but what had been done by them in past ages, 
 had recourse to the following expedient to cure 
 them. He sent for a dozen of his subjects, and put 
 to them the following cpiestion : — " What reward 
 shall I give to you if you will promise to eat your 
 fathers and your mothers when they die ?" His 
 subjects, with one voice, exclaimed, they hoped His 
 Majesty would not repeat so unnatural a request, 
 as nothing he could give them — not even his king^ 
 dom — would induce them to comply with it. On 
 a signal being given, twelve Indians, brought thi- 
 ther for the purpose, were ushered into the Royal 
 presence, and to whom the Emperor, through his 
 interpreter, put the following question :— " What 
 reward shall I give to you not to eat your fathers 
 and your mothers when they die ?" The savages 
 fell upon their knees, and with yells and lamenta^ 
 tions implored the King not to enforce such a 
 command, as nothing should induce them to forego 
 so signal an act of respect to their departed 
 parents. 
 
 Having thus written it may be easily imagined 
 that I was not to be deterred from clipping a 
 hunter because my forefathers had never clipped 
 one before me ; but on the contrary, being eager to 
 adopt any experiment which may tend to pro- 
 mote my favorite object — the condition of the 
 hunter — I availed myself of the first favorable 
 opportunity of trying itj and I now give the 
 result. 
 
2SS CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 In November 1824 I purcliased a horse of fair 
 character, formerly the j)roperty of Mr. George 
 Delme. He had been turned out to grass in the 
 summer; had had his three doses of physic; had 
 been hunted ; and was Avhat is called " in condi- 
 tion." When J however, I came to ride him, I 
 found him tjuite l)elow the mark, and not so good 
 by a stone as from his form and action he ought to 
 have been. He had a long thick coat upon him, 
 and was what grooms call '^ very bad to dry"— <- 
 always breaking out three or four times in the 
 course of the evening of the day on which he 
 hunted, and his ears were generally cold and wet. 
 In addition to these signs of debility, he always had 
 a damp feel to the hand, down his quarters, in the 
 stable, after only common exercise, and he sweatee} 
 with very little exertion. I gave him some tonic 
 medicines (bark and gentian root), during the 
 operation of which the dampness on his quarters 
 ceased, and he appeared more healthy and vigorous ; 
 but on leaving off the medicine the symptoms 
 returned. I then had him clipped; and in the 
 course of a fortnight the good effects M^ere visible. 
 His llesh increased ; his muscles grew larger; he 
 did not sAveat so soon; he dried sooner; and the 
 dew on his quarters, Avhen in the stable, was very 
 seldom to be perceived. He broke out, however, 
 as it is termed, after every day's hunting as before, 
 and continued to do so till the end of the season ; 
 neither will anything obviate that, or put him into 
 condition, but being summered upon hard meat. 
 
 It has never yet happened to me not to be able 
 to get a short coat upon a hunter, or to make hini 
 
CONDITTON OF HUN'TERS. 239 
 
 flry soon, and not break out again after a run, 
 when summered in the house, and subjected to a 
 proper course of alterative medicines Avhen in his 
 work ; but should I ever be in possession of a 
 horse whose state of body renders him liable to 
 such inconveniences, I would instantly have him 
 clipped. With common precautions— an extra 
 rug and a hood at exercise for two or three days 
 after the operation — no danger* need be appre- 
 hended ; and I will take upoii myself to say that a 
 clipped horse will come out once, if not twice 
 more in a month, and at the same time keep up his 
 flesh better, than one with a loijg thick coat. Not- 
 withstanding this, the natural short coat is to be 
 preferred, and is, ninety-nine times in a hundred, 
 to be obtained by proper stalile inanagemeiit. 
 
 In the second part of Mr. William Percivall's 
 Elementary Lectiires on the Veterinary Art (with 
 the perusal of which, as far as I have yet gone, I 
 am extremely well pleased) are some interesting 
 remarks which apply indirectly to clipping. " Tlie 
 coat of the horse," says he, " is shed twice during 
 the year — a phenomenon exhibited with great 
 regularity so long as the animal remains wild; but 
 as soon as he is domesticated, this process is 
 influenced by many circumstances connected with 
 the stable management ; though by none, perhaps, 
 more than the temperature of the stable. Heat," 
 adds he, "is absolutely and indispensably neces- 
 sary to the production of a flne coat: cleanliness, 
 friction, and attention to the general health — all 
 comprised in good grooming — contribute to this 
 
 * Lord Jersey gave four hundred guineas for a hunter in 1824, 
 and clipped him the next day. 
 
240 CONDITION OF HUNTERS, 
 
 condition of the hair ; but the principal, the 
 essential agent is heat^ either generated by warm 
 clothing or conveyed by natural or artificial ten^- 
 perature. To explain the operation of heat upon 
 the skin and coat— it must, in the first instance, 
 determine an unusual flow of blood to it, and 
 probably increases the circulation of the cutaneous 
 system \ the natural consequences of which are an 
 augmentation of its secretions among others of the 
 perspirable fluid, and of the unctuous or oleaginous 
 matter that pervades the hair : this gives a renewed 
 suppleness to the skin, and a kindly feel and 
 gloss to the coat. Without the agency of heat, 
 then, it is absolute nonsense to talk of making 
 horses look well in their coats. A strong 
 sympathy," however, adds Mr. Percivall, " exists 
 between the skin and the alimentary canal ; and we 
 might ad hijimtum bestow our labour on the former 
 Avithout effect, unless we were at the same time to 
 direct our attention to the latter." 
 
 Now, although Ml'.'Percivall afterwards insists 
 on the necessity of well-ventilated» stables, he 
 completely bears me out in my assertion at the 
 commencement of my labours on this interesting 
 subject—" that no horse can look well in a cold 
 stable ; neither can any hunter be in blooming 
 condition without the use of alterative medicines ; 
 and that, by some means or other, to be in health, 
 he must have a short coat, which will enable the 
 perspired matter to escape." 
 
 With reference to clipping, or to short natural 
 coats, it may not be amiss to observe that Mr. 
 Percivall speak? of horses in certain climates that 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 241 
 
 • 
 
 are hairless j and it appears that Mr. Sewell, in the 
 course of his visit to the Continental veterinary 
 schools, met with, at Berlin, " a preparation of the 
 skin of an African horse, which had not the 
 slightest appearance of a single hair upon it." 
 
 I now beg leave to offer my sentiments on the 
 operation of clipping the hunter in a few Avords. I 
 would recommend every horse to be clipped if 
 turned out to grass in the summer, as affording the 
 only possible chance of getting him into condition 
 for hunting, till hunting is almost over; and I 
 would clip every horse on wliich I could not get a 
 good coat by any other means 5 but I should much 
 prefer a natural short coat, close in its texture, 
 glossy to the eye, a little unctuous or oily to the 
 touch, and quite free from curl or scurf. I should 
 then, and only then^ be sure that my horse was 
 well. 
 
 I should enter more upon the benefits resulting 
 from this practice had they not been so clearly 
 defined by a master-hand under the signature of 
 Equestris :— This writer says, " I must own 
 myself a very decided advocate for the clipping of 
 hunters, having observed such horses to have had a 
 most decided advantage, during the last season, 
 with the Cheshire, Sir Richard Puleston's, and 
 Sir Thomas Stanley's fox-hounds, as well as with 
 the Chester harriers, noAv under the very superior 
 management of Captain Puleston. Experience 
 and observation are, in this matter, worth a bushel 
 of a priori reasoning 5 but scientific argument and 
 rational explanation are not wanting to aid and 
 enforce the practice of clipping. In the first place 
 
 R 
 
212 CONDITIO!^ OF HUNTERS. 
 
 and to begin with the most tritiinj^ reason — 
 the horse is a pound lighter ; and the coat affording 
 litthji resistance to the brush, your groom is not half 
 so soon fatigued in dressing, and lays double 
 strength upon the surface. This causes a greater 
 determination to the extreme vessels, and the 
 insensible perspiration is proportionably increased. 
 TV e invariably find a connexion between the action 
 of the skin and that of the intestines ; and this is 
 sufficiently evident in a well groomed horse \ the 
 lacteals of the l^owels seem to have a corresponding- 
 action communicated to them — they absorb and 
 select the pabulum of the blood with increased 
 vigour— the secreting vessels of the stomach fur- 
 nish the gastric solvent more abundantly—the 
 liver more readily acts, and separates those vitiated 
 parts which have fulfilled their duties in the cir- 
 culation, and require to be thrown out of the 
 system, but in their transit, in the form of bile, 
 perform other important uses, in stimulating the 
 intestines to that regular peristaltic motion which 
 secures a change of particles to the vessels which 
 absorb the nourishment for the blood. But the 
 abdominal viscera do not alone benefit by the more 
 intimate friction which is admitted to the skin of 
 a cUiypcd horse. The lungs are wonderfully assisted 
 the more the insensible prespiration is increased: 
 the less work for them to accomplish, the less will 
 be the determination to the internal vessels ; and 
 conse(piently the less risk of congestion in the 
 minute bronchial ramifications of the lungs. Every 
 man of information knows that most important 
 changes are effected on the blood in passing through 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 243 
 
 the lungs ; the blood is carried to them in a black 
 state, or venous blood : it is returned of bright red 
 colour, or Avhat is called arterial blood. No^v this, 
 we know, is effected by the atmospheric air being- 
 freely admitted to the air cells of the lungs. In 
 respiration, the air is vitiated, as well as diminished 
 in bulk. This is readily shewn by breathing, through 
 a bent tube, the air of a glass jar inverted over 
 water : after a few inspirations, it Avill be found so far 
 spoiled that it will not support combustion, and, 
 being iwurcd upon a lighted candle, Avill instantly 
 extinguish it. Thus, if the vessels of the lungs 
 are in an overloaded state, the atmospheric air 
 cannot get free admission ; the proper (diang<3s 
 cannot be effected in the blood ; a quickened respi- 
 ration takes place ; and, in order to supply the want 
 of capacity, the horse heaves in his Hanks, and 
 .becomes thick-winded, and by no means lit for 
 quick work, 
 
 " Further, I think the practice of clipping 
 is eminently useful, as it affects the habits and 
 reasoning of grooms, Avhose ignorance of all true 
 anatomical and physiological information is scarcely 
 to be wondered at, considering the erroneous 
 doctrines of their masters. The groom is universally 
 anxious that his horse should carry a fine coat ; and, 
 to effect this, the heat of the stable is to be raised by 
 every means in his pou'er 5 and, in consequence, 
 the formation of ammoniacal gas takes place, and 
 is diffused through the building, which, owing to 
 tlie Avant of proper ventilation, cannot escape : 
 therefore those highly delicate and sensitive organs, 
 the eye ai^d the lungs, are exposed to all the 
 
 R 2 
 
214 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 destructive effects, not of the heat merely, but of 
 the pestilential etHuvium raised and held in atmo- 
 spheric solution by this heat. When the horse is 
 well clipped the coat is fine, and lies well without 
 any trouble ; therefore the groom does not find it 
 necessary to raise the heat of his stable beyond a 
 proper point, to affect that which he fancies, but I 
 do not, to be a sine qua non of good condition- 
 namely, a fine coat. Never let us forget that 
 condition is that state of the body in which the 
 various powers of the horse are fitted for the most 
 active and useful exertion 5 and this must mainly 
 depend upon the lungs : therefore, if the atmosphere 
 contain effluvia not useful in purifying the blood as 
 it passes through the lungs \ but, on the contrary, 
 positively pernicious, the volume of pure air respired 
 must be less fit for the use of the lungs in an 
 inverse ratio to the heat of the stable. I hope to 
 see the day when this will be acknowledged by 
 racing grooms, when I anticipate, that, instead of 
 the constitution of that beautiful animal, the race 
 horse, being ruined generally, and unfit for the 
 turf at eight years old, he will be in reality, what 
 nature designed, only just come to his prime. As 
 a general rule, I wish to persuade all grooms to 
 thinli, Avhenever a stable is so warm or so close as 
 to give the slightest irritation to the eyes of the 
 person coming out of the open air, it is then not in 
 a fit state for any horse to breathe, and he cannot 
 breathe it without detriment to his condition, 
 although I allow it may contribute to the smooth- 
 ness of his coat, which is, in my opinion a totally 
 different thing. 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 215 
 
 '^ A sporting friend of mine, who is always to 
 be found in the front ranks in the Nottinghamshire 
 Hunts, heats his stable by hot air, insisting " that 
 the horse is an animal which delights in heat ; and 
 being found in the highest perfection in warm 
 climates, a warm atmosphere must be natural to 
 him, and therefore most proper :" but I contend, 
 that a horse, like the Arabian or Persian, always 
 breathing pure uncontaminated warm air, with its 
 full proportion of oxygen, picketed perhaps without 
 any covering, or at most sheltered from the rain 
 only by a tent, and, whenever exercised abroad, still 
 surrounded by the same pure and warm atmosphere, 
 cannot fairly be drawn in comparison Avith the 
 English horse, which, to be useful, must be exposed 
 to every variation of our variable climate. 
 
 ^' We are keeping our pampered field and turf 
 horses in a temperature in which we, with the heat 
 of our bodies only at 98, could not long exist 
 without inducing disease, either in the active iorm 
 of fever and inflammation, or in the more imper- 
 ceptible, though equally destructive forms of 
 scrofula, hepatitis, and a long et cetera of chronic 
 diseases. How then can we expect that the horse, 
 with the animal heat at 104, and therefore more 
 fitted to withstand cold than ourselves, should 
 retain his health for many years when subjected to 
 such murderous discijiiine '^ Surely the sensations 
 of the animal itself nuist be the best criterion of 
 what nature requires ; and I will venture to say 
 that nine horses out of ten will, if the stable door 
 be open, instantly walk out into tlie fresh air, 
 instead of remuiuing in the close contaminated 
 
1^46 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 atmosphere which our wise grooms and their 
 eqiially wise masters insist upon being best fitted to 
 brhig the muscular power of the horse to the 
 greatest perfection. 
 
 " 1 hail with delight any plan, any idea, 
 which, however remotely, saves my favorite horse 
 from the hprrible discipline of living in s^n atmo- 
 sphere where the proper changes and purifications 
 cannot take place in the lungs, and from the 
 egregious folly of pampering an animal in a heo,t of 
 seventy degrees, when his utility depends upop his 
 being able to perform his work with coipfortand 
 ease in an atmosphere of forty," 
 
 " Great benefit has to my knowledge," observes 
 another correspondent (SnaffLe), '' frequently 
 arisen from a summer i*un in a salt marsh,, where 
 a part was daily flooded at high water, and 
 where the pasture was pot too luxuriant, and thp 
 necessary shelter afforded. It has, I am aware," he 
 continues, " its disadvantages ; among which may 
 be nundjered the dangers likely to arise from 
 huddling so many horses together as are generally 
 found in a marsh, and that it does not suit 
 all constitutions, or, generally speaking, young 
 horses." 
 
 As Snaffle asks my opinion on this plan 
 I readily give it, acknowledging at the same 
 time that I never tried it, nor Avould I recom- 
 mend any one to do so. About two months 
 ago I spent a week with a friend of mine in 
 Warwickshire, who, amongst all the agreeable 
 things this Avorld can afford, has three good hunters 
 in his stable. " Now," said he to me, " I have 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 247 
 
 found out how to get hunters into condition ! Don't 
 preach to me about hard meat and alteratives ; Imt 
 give me a good salt marsh." Going the next day 
 into the stable, I saw his favorite horse with a very 
 enlarged hock. " What's this. Will ?" said I to 
 his groom. " He Avas kicked in the salt marsh, 
 Sir," replied Will. — " This is a clever grey horse," 
 resumed I to his groom ; "what makes him so 
 thin ?" — " He has been in a salt marsh." — " What 
 is the matter with his hock, that it appears twice 
 as big as the other?" — " He was kicked in the salt 
 mai-sh, Sir." — " Are you certain," continued I, 
 " that neither of them has caught the glanders ?" 
 On his assvu'ing me that neither of them had, I 
 told him his master was always a lucky man, or 
 he would not have come off so cheap. So much, 
 then, reader, for the benefit of a salt marsh. But 
 ^' what is salt without its saltness ?" is a question 
 which has been asked before. 
 
 As I find I have still some opponents to my 
 plan of summering the hunter in the house, and 
 though some of them are so feeble tliat they are 
 scarcely worth a remark; yet, upon the principle, 
 that " JVihil tam firmmn eat cui pericuhim mm sit 
 etiam ah invalklo f^ or, in humble English, that 
 " the strongest things are in danger from the 
 weakest;" I shall bring forward a little more 
 testimony to my aid, as I have it so close at hand. 
 
 In the first place, I rode the horse of which I 
 have just been speaking one very wet day this last 
 season with Mr. Warde's hounds. I had another 
 horse out which had Ijeen summered in the stable, 
 and which returned home at the same time with 
 
248 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 the other-— each drenched with rain. The liorse 
 summered in the stable was dry and had his clothes 
 on in little more than half an hourj whilst the 
 one summered in the fields was not dry after three 
 hours' hard labour being bestowed upon him by 
 two stout men. This was the first Aveek in De-^ 
 cember. 
 
 The following is a still stronger case. In the 
 month of January 1825, I spent a week with Mr. 
 Smith, Avho has the management of the Hamble- 
 don hounds; and as there Avere no convenient 
 public stables at hand, he Avas kind enough to give 
 me tAVO stalls among his OAvn stud. It so happened 
 that Ave returned together one day after hunting 5 
 and Avhilst lounging about the kennel, about half 
 an hour elapsed previous to our going into the house. 
 In this short period the horse I had been riding 
 was dry, and had his clothes on; Avhilst the heads and 
 fore-quarters of those Mr. Smith and his men had 
 been riding Avere not finished dressing, neither 
 Avere their saddles taken off. I had the clothes taken 
 off my liorse to convince ]\Ir. Smith that he Avas 
 perfectly dry ; and I need not add that he expressed 
 his opinion satisfactorily as to which Avas the better 
 plan — summering the hunter in the house, or sum- 
 mering him, as his had been, in the fields. 
 
 On talking over this matter Avith Sir Belling- 
 ham Graham — than Avhoni no man of his years has 
 had more experience in good horse fiesli — he told 
 me that in the summer of 1821 he unfortunately 
 turned out an old favorite of his, which had been 
 ten years in the stable, and he Avent broken-Avinded 
 in six weeks ! " Though getting an old horse," 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 249 
 
 said Sir Bellingham, " I would Avillingl}/ give one 
 hundred guineas to have him as good now as he 
 was the day he was turned out" 
 
 I couhl bring forward innumerable instances 
 similar to the above, but my greatest triumpli is 
 now at hand : — Mr. Harvey Combe, with Avhom I 
 had passed a few days whilst hunting with the Old 
 Berkeley hounds, and who, I had previously heard, 
 and was soon convinced, was a strenuous opposer of 
 the system of summering hunters in the house, and 
 no argument of mine appeared to make the least im-- 
 pression upon him. On the last evening of our meet'- 
 ing, hoAvever, he addressed me thus : " I certainly 
 have opi)osed your plan, but I never shut my eyes to 
 conviction; and, from what I have seen of your 
 horses, and the manner in which they have carried 
 you, I shall not turn my horses to grass again 
 in the summer." 
 
 Meeting with Henry Oldaker the next morn- 
 ing, on my road to Sir Thomas JMostyn's hounds, I 
 addressed him thus : " Oldaker, I congratulate 
 you." — "On what, Sir?" said he. ''^ Why," 
 replied I, " next season you will ride across the 
 country like a gentleman ; your horses Avill be 
 kept in condition in the summer." — " Mr. Combe 
 told me so yesterday," continued Oldaker. 
 
 Now, reader, one hundred sovereigns is a very 
 pretty " find" in any man's pocket, and particularly 
 so in one which is sometimes draAvn a blank ; but, 
 as I hope for salvation, I would not take tliat sum 
 for this admission of Mr. Combe's. It had no 
 little additional weight Avith me, as coming i'rom a 
 jnan, oot only a good judge of most things, but 
 
250 CONDITION OF HUNTERS, 
 
 a man remarkable for a natural independence 
 of mind and manner, Avliicli is observable at ij'st 
 sie:lit. 
 
 Dm-ing the months of March and April almost 
 all horses look well; hut I should be unjust to 
 myself and to the system I am advocating, were I 
 not to state that all through the early part of the 
 season the condition of my horses was admitted, by 
 all who saw them with the different packs of hounds 
 with which I hunted, to be very superior. I should 
 also be unjust towards my brother sportsmen were 
 I not to inform them of every circumstance that 
 might contribute to this superiority ; and one is, the 
 .strict attention I imy to the quaUty of the hay my 
 horses eat ivhen getting into condition. As there 
 is nothing like chapter and verse upon these matters, 
 I now state, that with fifty tojis of hay in my own 
 rick-yard, I sent five miles for that which I consi- 
 dered much superior, and for ^vhich I gave five 
 guineas per ton. 
 
 During the early part of the seasoji there was one 
 property attending the condition of my horses which 
 I must be allowed to mention, andwhich particularly 
 attracted the noti<>e of my jjrother sportsmen j and 
 that is— /Zf^ clean appearance oftJieir skins after 
 sweating. When Ave see a thick scum, having a 
 resemblance to paste, hanging upon a horse after 
 profuse sweating, Ave may be assured his blood is 
 not in a proper state ; and this is almost invariably 
 the case up to the end of February Avitli horses 
 Avhich have been sunnnered in the fields, and Avhose 
 blood has not been aa^cII cleansed l>y alteratives or 
 SAveating, of Avhich, under those circumstances, time 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 251 
 
 Avill not sufficiently admit. Some people will tell 
 us they do not regard seeing their hunters lather 
 when they sweat: ^I never suffer mine to do so in 
 the field in the hunting months. 
 
 I was nnich pleased with an observation made 
 to me a short time ago by IMr. Wilde, veterinary 
 surgeon, of Oxford, when shewing me his con- 
 veniences for summering his hunters, of which he 
 has a considerable number, for the use, not of the 
 reading, but of the sporting part of the University. 
 " That quantity of grass," said he, " (from lOOlbs. 
 to loOlbs. in weight,) which a horse eats per day, 
 when left to his oAvn discretion, distends his 
 bowels, and consequently weakens the powers of 
 his digestion to such a degree, that, when he comes 
 all at once to live on hard food, danger from 
 inflammatory complaints must always attend him. 
 As to the evils from grazing to hunters' legs and 
 feet, those," conthmed he, " are innumerable. Reat^ 
 and not gallopping about, kicking and stamping, is 
 what hunters' legs require." 
 
 Although summering hunters in the stable is, as 
 I have before observed, becoming pretty general in 
 some counties, yet I have reason to believe that I go 
 one step farther than most others do, in giving them 
 but a small quantity of green meat. The advantage, 
 however, of stinting them in this article of food 
 in the summer is very evident in the Avinter ; and I 
 lately proved it in one instance, by a conqiarison 
 with a horse out of a stable long celebrated for 
 condition — namely, that of Sir Henry Peyton. We 
 had run a fox very sharply with Sir Thomas 
 INIostyn's hounds for twenty-five minutes, and came 
 
252 CONDfTION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 to an awkward check owing to a change of scent. 
 Observing Sir Henry's horse smoking very much, 
 and the one I was riding not smoking at all, but 
 getting dry about the neck and shoulders, I rode 
 up to her Sir Henry and pointed out the relative 
 state of our steeds — at the same time remarking to 
 him, that hunters should eat but a small quantity of 
 green food in the summer, and that only at 
 intervals. Sir Henry's horses have for many years 
 been summered in the house, eating plenty of corn, 
 but I have reason to believe more grass than is 
 good for them. 
 
 I have often been asked Avhat quantity of green 
 meat I would give a hunter in the summer. My 
 ansAver is — as much (repeated at intervals during the 
 months of May and June) as will relax his bowels 
 for tliree or four days together, and then put him back 
 on his hay. It is a very good plan to mix hay and 
 grass together; and in my opinion, vetches (if 
 given at all) should nev^er be given for any length 
 of time alone. Soiling animals in the stable is a 
 practice of very old date, having formed part of the 
 Virgilian system. 
 
 I have also been more than once asked whether 
 I do not make rather afreeuseof antimonial altera- 
 tives. ]My answer has been, that I do so—being 
 convinced that hunters, Avhich must not be sweated 
 like race horses, but which ought to have as much 
 good keep in them as they have, cannot be got 
 clean in their habit, and put into proper condition 
 without^ them. Of their efficacy I was by accident 
 convinced very early in life, by a circumstance which 
 occurred in my own family. ]My father was a 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 253 
 
 Ijetter judge of books than of horses, but, as a 
 matter of course, had always a certain number of 
 the latter in his stables, though condition was a 
 stranger there. One year, however, by the help of 
 a Welch pony, the riif, or mange, was introduced 
 amongst them, and they were all regularly dressed 
 over before the saddle-room fire wdth sulphurous 
 and mercurial preparations; and Tegular courses of 
 mercurial and antimonial alteratives were adminis- 
 tered to them. The effect of all this Avas so great that 
 the old gentleman used ever afterwards to declare 
 that he never had his horses in condition hut once^ 
 and that was owing to their having the mange. The 
 effect, however, Avas visible for twelve months 
 afterwards. 
 
 I have given the foUoAving alterative Avith the 
 greatest success \ and to horses gross in their 
 habit one ball every Aveek may be taken. It also 
 acts as a febrifuge after a severe day's Avork — 
 
 Cinnabar of antimony 3 ounces. 
 
 Balsam of sulphur .2 ditto. 
 
 Camphor 1 ditto. 
 
 Nitre 4 ditto. 
 
 To be made into ten balls. 
 
 It happened to myself some years since to have 
 a brilliant hunter in my stable 5 but of so vicious 
 a disposition that all attempts to clean, Avitli Avisp 
 or brush, certain parts of his body Avere attended 
 Avith great personal danger. Wishing to avoid 
 accidents, I ahvays had him Avashed Avith AAarm 
 water and soap, to Avhich he quietly submitted, and 
 Ave dried him as Avell as his temper Avould alloAv us. 
 It then occurred to me that Avashing hunters Avhich 
 
25i CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 had very fine coats might ha beneficial, inasmuch 
 as it woukl be the means of their being cleaned 
 quickly, and the effect of the Avarm water and the 
 friction Avould be beneficial to them after their 
 fatigue. I lately found out, during my visit to 
 IMelton, that Sir Henry Goodricke had done it for 
 some time past in his stables in Leicestershire, and 
 had experienced from it the very best results. 
 
 All the world knows that Sir Henry is one of 
 the very hardest riders of the day, and, us such, quite 
 awake to the necessity of having his horses in 
 condition. Here, however, he goes one step beyond 
 me 5 for he not only gives his hunters the best hay 
 and oats with their green meat in the summer 
 (with exercise also), but he adds beans to their 
 food. In the treatment of horses' legs also Sir 
 Henry knows what he is about, and I have taken 
 a leaf out of his book. 
 
 It is extremely gratifying, to me to learn that 
 the system reconmiended will not only be very 
 generally adopted, but that the subject itself is 
 becoming one of uiterest and consideration among 
 gentlemen who hunt, and not left, as before, to the 
 sole discrimination of their grooms. When once it 
 is considered, its inqwrtance is self-evident 5 and 
 the direction of it ought to proceed from those 
 Avho are best able to appreciate its value. Hereto- 
 fore hunters, with some exceptions, have not had 
 fair play. 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTER8. 255 
 
 LETTER XVII. 
 
 DISADVANTAGES OP CLIPPING — TREATMENT COMPARATIVE 
 
 EXPENSE OP SUMMERING IN THE HOUSE AND AT GRASS 
 FIRING, 
 
 " Reward sweetens labour." This is a proverb 
 almost as old as Time, and it speaks the language 
 of Truth. I have received so many flattering 
 testimonies to the benefits derived from my system 
 of summering the hunter, that I sit down again to 
 the task with renewed vigour. One individual^ hoAv- 
 ever (perhaps of the description of persons wdio 
 would not believe though one rose from the dead), 
 says he cannot afford to summer his hunters in the 
 house. I flattered myself I had succeeded in making 
 it appear, that, in the end, it were by far the 
 cheaper Avay of keeping them ; for, independently 
 of the fact, that four horses so sunmiered will 
 do the Avork of Ave sunnnered in the fields, 
 should it be a man's object (as the term is) 
 to keep Ilia money togetlier hi his stable^ the fasci- 
 nating power of high and blooming condition, 
 with firm flesh and prominent muscle, Avill alone 
 effect it — for that will ahvays coimnand customers. 
 For my own part, I can safely assert, that almost 
 all the good luck I have had with my horses has 
 l)een the result of a perseverance in keeping them 
 upon hard meat, and secure from the mischievous 
 
256 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 effects of tlie unrestrained use of their legs, and 
 the sudden, and consequently dangerous, changes 
 of this variable climate— setting accidents quite 
 out of the question. 
 
 I have hitherto carefully avoided asserting any- 
 thing on my present subject but what has been the 
 result of experience in my own, or in some other 
 man's, stables 5 and it is my intention strictly to 
 adhere to this prudent plan. I shall therefore 
 (having tried it) proceed to give my opinion of 
 clipping the hunter, which will only occupy a few 
 lines. 
 
 AVere I to give a good price for a promising 
 young horse for the purpose of making him a hun- 
 ter, and keeping him for my own use, and a man 
 were to come into my stable and tell me he would 
 give me one-third of his value if I would have him 
 clipped, I would refuse his offer. I look upon 
 clipping as nothing but a bad substitute for good 
 grooming, and an operation attended with several 
 disadvantages. In the first place, when once per- 
 formed it must always be repeated 5 and in the 
 second, it is a constant eye-sore to a person Avho is 
 fond of seehighis horses looking well, as it effectually 
 destroys that bloom on the skin which is notonlyso 
 beautiful, but also so confirmatory of the sound 
 health of the animal ; and lastly, by depriving him , 
 of the protection ^vhich a short thick coat, lying 
 close to the body, affords him against the scratch- 
 ing of thorns and briars, it very frequently causes a 
 horse to refuse rough places in a fence which he 
 would not have refused before. It is a remedy to 
 be sure, or at least a palliative 5 but I had rather a 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 257 
 
 liorse of mine should endure the disease it is in- 
 tended to relieve, until I could bring a better medi- 
 cine to his aid ; and were I to become possessed of 
 a hunter which required clipping, I would put uj) 
 with his long coat and evening sweats, until, by 
 strengthening his general system, I got rid of the 
 latter, to Avliich the former is by no means a certain 
 contributor. It is quite possible— and I have 
 an instance at this moment in my own stable 
 —for a horse to have a long coat* (and some 
 horses at certain periods will not wear a short 
 coat), but still to look very blooming to the eye, 
 and dry immediately after a sweaty as is the case 
 with the horse I speak of. I am not weak enough 
 to suppose that clipping will not continue to be 
 practised because one individual disapproves of it 5 
 but I may be allowed to say I will never after 
 this year practise it again. The horse I had clipped 
 last winter nnist now, I fear, be clipped again, for I 
 abhor the sight of him in his present state— his coat 
 somewhat resembling a poodle dog , but his evening 
 sweats are got rid of by the method I pursued with 
 him in the summer, which I shall presently detail. 
 Clipping may be all very well for tiiose who cannot, 
 or will not, get their horses into condition by other 
 means 5 and to such only do I recommend it. 
 
 It may not, perhaps, be uninteresting to detail 
 
 * Two or three of my brother sportsmen have tolil me tha 
 keeping their horses up in the summer has not shortened their coats 
 so much as they expected ; but they all said they dried immediately 
 after coming into their sfcabies, and were not subject to evening 
 sweats after hunting — a most material point gained. I am happy to 
 say I have not met with one man who has had rcarson to repent 
 having followed my advice. 
 
258 CONDITION OF HUNTERS, 
 
 the way in which I treated my hunters during the 
 summer of 1825, taken from minutes made in each 
 succeeding week. They were six in numher, and 
 their treatment is severally described. 
 
 From the regular course of alterative medicine 
 which my horses go through in the course of the 
 hunting season, it often happens that at the conclu- 
 sion of it there is no immediate call for physic, and 
 such Avas the case with them last spring. They 
 ceased from their labours on the 20th of April, and 
 (Avith the exception of one that was tired) conti- 
 nued their usual food, with very gentle exercise, 
 till the seventh of May, when they had their shoes 
 taken off and some grass given them in the day 
 time, but racked up at night with hay ; ajid so 
 treated till the nineteenth of the same month, when 
 they were put entirely upon hay again. On the 
 eleventh of June they were soiled again in the day 
 time, till the twentieth of that month, when they 
 were prepared for physic, which they had on the 
 twenty-second. From that time four of them never 
 tasted grass again 5 but the other two had a few 
 vetches (say about an arm-full) mixed with their 
 hay every other day till the sixth of July, when they 
 w^ere ail shod, and began gentle exercise. From the 
 seventh of May to the sixth of July — a period 
 of eight weeks and four days-— these horses were 
 without shoes, their feet having been closely pared 
 down ; and they w^ere thus treated. Nos. ] and 2 
 were in a building sixteen yards long by six A^ide, 
 well littered down, and with an outlet into a small 
 green-yard, in which there was a running stream. 
 No. 3 was in a covered building, twelve yards long 
 by six wide, one half littered down, and the other 
 
CONPITION OF HUNTERS. 259 
 
 half a Avell-paved brick floor, but no other outlet. 
 No, 4 was ill a box, eighteen feet by eighteen, kept 
 quite dark to keep out the flies, which terrified liim 
 to an uncommon degree. Tliis horse was turned 
 out into a small paddock forty yards squ.'U'e, about 
 six times in the course of the summer, after the sun 
 was set, but no fence we coukl make wouhl confine 
 him there. No. 5 was fired, and stood in a stall 
 all day, but put into the paddock in the cool of 
 the evening and very early in the morning. No. 6 
 was kept in an airy box, but, being vicious, was not 
 out in the paddock so often as I wished her to be. 
 Each horse had three quarterns of oats per day, and 
 three of them had a single handful of beans in each 
 feed.... Each horse also stood two hours every day 
 in a clay-box. The clay-box is a covered building, 
 sixteen feet by twelve, on the floor of which a 
 wagon load of clay was spread, and about every 
 third morning two or three buckets of ^vater Avere 
 thrown over it. I consider this a most essential 
 benefit to horses' feet, increased, no doubt, by their 
 walking a certain distance every day barefoot, with 
 their soles thinly pared and their frogs well let 
 down on the ground. On the eighteenth of July 
 they each had one other mild dose of physic 5 and 
 in the month of August each horse ate half a pound 
 of antimony — an ounce a day for eight successive 
 days*. This is all the physic my horses have had 
 
 * A very sporting character in the North of England wrote to me 
 last year to ask me whether I did not think the quantity of antimony 
 here used excessive ? 1 answered his letter by assuring him that I 
 had always found the best effects from it. It corrects the acrimony 
 of the blood, promotes the secretion, and F might almost say ensures 
 future condition. As a proof of this, it is in some shape or other the 
 
 s 2 
 
260 CONDITION OP HUNTERS. 
 
 since the last Imiiting season, nor do I expect tliey 
 will require any more till after Christmas 5 but they 
 have partaken freely of alterative medicine, some 
 of them, whose nature is gross, having had one 
 alterative ball every week*. 
 
 Now then let us make a little calculation as to 
 the expense of summering these horses in the Avay 
 I have been describing, and compare it with what 
 they would have cost at grass. We will call the 
 period nine weeks, for the sake of avoiding frac- 
 tions. When in work, six horses in my stable 
 ate exactly three hundred weight of hay per week ; 
 but in these large loose places, allowing for waste 
 and better appetites, we Avill give them nearly 
 double the quantity, and say, six horses shall eat 
 iive hundred weight per vveelc. 
 
 Two tons five cwt. of hay, at 4l. per ton £9 
 
 Seventy-one bushels of oats, at 4s. per bushel. . .14 4 
 Beans ,.., 1 10 
 
 24 14 
 Six horses at grass nine weeks, at 4s. per week. . . 10 16 
 
 Difference £13 18 
 
 leading article in all alterative medicines for man or horse. A cler- 
 gyman in Devonshire wrote to me some time since, referring me to 
 an article in the Encyclojjredia Britannicu, containing a curious 
 account of a highly-beneficial experiment on feeding pigs by the help 
 of this drug. 
 
 * Alterative medicines are necessary in the summer montlis with 
 horses that eat corn. They keep off inflammatory attacks and im- 
 prove their general health. A neighbour of mine lately lost a valu- 
 able horse which he Avas making up for sale. He lived on green 
 meat and corn ; but was seized with inflammation of the lungs, and 
 died. Oh my asking him whether he had any alterative medicine 
 given him in the course of the summer, he replied he had not. I 
 had seen this hor?e run in the spring, looking very lusty in his Avork, 
 and just the sort of horse to be affected by the treatment he received. 
 Had he lived on hay and corn, instead of green meat antj com^ it ii 
 my opinion he might not have been attacked as he was,, 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 261 
 
 Thus it appears that the difference in the 
 expense of six horses summered in the house, and 
 six liorses summered in tlie fields, only amounts, 
 after all, to 13/. 18*. ; three pounds of which Avould 
 at least be repaid in manure made in the time. As 
 to the sum of 13/. 18.y., at least t\vice that amount 
 would be realised in the value of any one of the 
 horses if he were exposed to sale at the commence- 
 ment of the following hunting season. 
 
 " You are a great man for proof," said a friend 
 to me a short time since ; " why do you not offer 
 the following bet to the sporting world, and I will 
 go your halves ?"— Let two hunters be tried to 
 within half a pound of each other, on the twentieth 
 of April, when hunting generally is at an end— -and 
 let one be turned out to grass on the first of I^Iay, 
 and taken up on the first of August ; and let the 
 other be summered on your plan in the house. 
 Give the horse summered in the fields a stone 5 and 
 run him tAvo miles for two hundred guineas on the 
 first of Noveml3er." I\Iy ansAver to this was, that, 
 in the first place, the sum proposed Avas unnecessa- 
 rily large for the object of deciding the (juestion ; 
 and, in the next place, 141b. was great weight to 
 give ; but as far as one hundred guineas for the 
 match, and lOlbs. as the weight given, I was open 
 to any man who Avould accept the challenge ; and 
 think it but fair to say I have no doubt of the 
 result. 
 
 I perfectly agree with my friend in thinking 
 that on matters of this nature proof is everything 5 
 and by way of proving the value of condition, I am 
 willing to expose the history of my own stable. 
 
262 " CONDITION OF HUiVTERS. 
 
 which will shew that the value of the animal does 
 not consist in the prime cost, but in the effect pro- 
 duced by condition. I have five horses now in my 
 stable, v/hicli cost onl?/ one hundred and ninety-four 
 guineds, and one which cost severity i For the last- 
 mentioned horse I have been twice offered 200^8. 
 and once offered 150gs. For two of the others I 
 was last season offered my own price. One t)f the 
 five I purchased for fifteen pounds. She was twice 
 sent to Tattersall's, and was also at half the Com- 
 mission Stables in London, but, although got by 
 Walton out of Highland Lass by Highland Fling, 
 a son of Spadille, no one ^vould offer five pounds 
 for her, and no wonder. She was a weakly-looking 
 animal, with a liollow back, a dejected counte- 
 nance, and a pot-belly, and said, to be half blind. 
 She has now been nearly three years in my stable 5 
 and I will shew her (i hate boasting) for symme- 
 try, power, and action, against anything of her 
 size ; and I have no hesitation in saying she is 
 equal to as much weight again as she was lohen I 
 purchased her. 
 
 When discussing the subject of summering 
 hunters lately with a friend, who is an advocate for 
 the grazing system, he made use of the following 
 expression :— -" I dare say it nuiy be all very Avell 
 to keep them in the house in the sunmier, but then 
 they have not the benefit of the rest which they get 
 ^vhen at grass." I could not help smiling at this 
 strange perversion of facts ; and ventured to ask him 
 Avhether^ if he were to be examined in Natural 
 Philosophy, and asked, loJiat is rcst-"—\\e Avould 
 answer, motion f and that would uot be a ^vilit less 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 263 
 
 absurd. If rest be desirable for a hunter's legs 
 after the labours of a winter, surely he nuist obtain 
 it more effectually in a small confined place than 
 when suffered to run over a large track of land, 
 stamping the ground with his feet for sixteen of 
 t\venty-four hours of the day rmd night. I also 
 put the following question to hiin : — " 8ui)pose I 
 were to say to you, I am going to send one of my 
 hunters as far as York, Avill you let my servant 
 lead yours in his hand — ivould you not think I 
 were mad ?" He answered in tlie affirmative j and 
 I believe he thought I really was so, when I told 
 him I had rather a hunter of mine were led to 
 Edinburgh and back, than that he should be turned 
 out to grass (I mean merely as far as regards his 
 legs and feet); and for this reason :— When travel- 
 ling on turnpike roads as they are now formed, a 
 horse has a ffat and even surface for his foot to bear 
 upon, and he might tiavel at a sIoav rate j but -when 
 turned out on hard and uneven ground, abounding 
 with holes, cart-ruts, &c. 'vvith the privilege of 
 choosing his own pace, injury is irequently done 
 to the cartihiii'es of the foot udiich is never after- 
 wards removed. My experience has led me to be- 
 lieve, that in most hunters of a certain age that 
 have been ridden hard o\'er a country, there is more 
 or less of ossification of the cartilages of the fore 
 feet (as Avell as the large flexor tendon which passes 
 over the navicular bone), o^\iiig to the violent in- 
 flammation the lamiiicC liaA'e been suJjjected to in 
 the excess of action in leaping, &c. to v/hich these 
 parts have been exposed. Should this not be the 
 case, the fetlock joints of hunters are all apt to be 
 
« 
 
 264 - CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 injured, and the ligaiiieiils siirroiiudiiig tliem l^e- 
 conie inflamed and rigid, wliicli accounts for their 
 so often going feelingly (as it is called), though not 
 absolutely lame, for the first hundred yards from 
 their stable door. Stepping on sloping uneven 
 ground immediately detects this injury 5 and what 
 I have said on this subject leads me to the follow- 
 ing conclusion, which perhaps may be new to some, 
 and rather sceptically received by others. It is my 
 firm opinion, however, that if horses had to travel 
 at a moderate rate— say nine or ten miles an hour 
 —over a road faced with iron, hut presenting a per- 
 fectly level mrface^wQ should have very few horses 
 lame in the feet. It is a well-known fact, that 
 though they go much faster now than they did 
 before Mi\ MacAdam taught us ho^v to make our 
 roadsj there are not half the post horses foundered 
 in their feet at the present time that were so when 
 ruts and (piarters aljounded in ail roads, and the 
 aninuils scarcely \i\\ew what it w^as to step uj)on a 
 level surface, and have an even bearing for their 
 feet. Exclusively of the fact of my having seen 
 many horses which would trot quite sound on a 
 levelj hard road, but Avould be invaria])ly lame on 
 that which was sloping and uneven, my mind was 
 made up on the subject by ocular demonstration in 
 one of my own hacks, the particulars of which I 
 ^viil give. Some years since I Avas in the habit of 
 frequently visiting a friend who resided twenty 
 miles from his county town, but Avho generally 
 rode over to it in the sunmier months on the mar- 
 ket day, being sure to meet some sporting friends; 
 and wdien I ^vas at his house I never failed to accom- 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 265 
 
 pany him. By ^v^dy — as he erroneously supposed-— 
 of favoring" our horses, we went ahout twelve miles 
 of the twenty through green lanes and fields, or 
 what is commonly called " a bridle-road ;" and Ave 
 always rode fast. In those days I had a very good 
 hack, which I was in the habit of riding long dis- 
 tances on hard turnpike roads, without ever per- 
 ceiving any injury to his fetlock joints or feet; but 
 it was not so after these twenty-four miles, at a 
 quick pace, through these green lanes (in a deep 
 country, always harder in the summer), Avhere the 
 foot scarcely ever was indulged wdth an even bear- 
 ing, and the joints always on the twist. When I 
 went into the stable in the morning I ahA^ays found 
 his fetlock joints full and sore, and he invarialjly 
 Avent stitY and feeling ui)on them Avhen first taken 
 out. My friend, however (one of the old-fashioned 
 sort), Avould never believe that the hard turnpike 
 road AA-as much less injurious than his green lanes, 
 and for the reason I have already given : for Avhicli 
 reason I again assert, that I had rather a hunter of 
 mine Avere led five hundred miles on a good turn- 
 pike road than that he should be turned out for a 
 summer's run ; and here I confine myself entirely 
 to the legs and feet. As far as the great panacea 
 reH is concerned, as also his general bodily health 
 and condition, the journey to Edinburgh Avould be 
 much in his favour. 
 
 I nuist noAv return to one part of my subject, on 
 Avhich I have been (I think I shall prove) unfairly 
 dealt Avith by one or tAvo of the Old School, Avho 
 have advocated summering hunters in the fields ; 
 and I am more anxious to do so inasmuch as it 
 
266 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 relates to a charge of cruelty towards my favorite 
 animal, which I should very unwillingly remain 
 under. " How cruel," they say, " to keep a horse 
 in a prison on a fine summer's day, and not allow 
 him to snuft" the breeze--"to make his bed on his 
 native earth — and partake of the common enjoyment 
 of nature !" Now, reader, mark what I have to say* 
 F'or what reason tlies* were sent into the world 
 is not for us to inquire, Init here they are 5 and one 
 Avould ahnost imagine that a curse, like our own, 
 Was entailed upon the animals they persecute. 
 Certain, however, it is, that their harassing proper- 
 ties are a considerable alloy to the common enjoy- 
 ment even of those animals (cows, sheep, &c.) 
 Avhich are every day exposed to the noon-day sun — ■ 
 and this for at least fourteen of the twenty-four 
 hours in the summer season. But how greatly 
 nmst this annoyance be increased to thin-skinned 
 well-bred hunters ! and what will they not do to 
 get away from it ? I will state a case or two that 
 came under my own observation iii the course of 
 the sunnner of 1&25. 
 
 * It is no harm, I trust, to moralize a little even on so humble a 
 theme as mine : — It is the idea of immortality which apologises lor 
 human sorrows, and renders our present condition in the smallest 
 degree intelHgible ; but the suflering of animals is quite beyond our 
 ken. To this, with a very considerable proportion of them, the va- 
 rious kinds of flies most essentially contribute. Sterne, in his Trh- 
 trani Shandy, with his usual taste, introduces a poor negro girl in the 
 sausage shop, with a bunch of white feathers in her hand, flapping 
 away the flies, but not killing them. " 'Tis a pretty picture !" said 
 ray Uncle Toby ; " she had suffered persecution. Trim, and had 
 learnt mercy." This comes well from a Sentimental Traveller ; but, 
 for my own part, I wish the tyrant Domitian had annihilated the 
 race of them with his bodkin. 
 
CONDITlOrV OF HUNTERS. 26'/ 
 
 One of my horses, No. 4, I have ah'eady said, 
 is more than usually terrified by Hies. My helper 
 came to nie one day, and said he could not go into 
 the box to him. Knowing him to be a tine-tem- 
 pered horse, I became alarmed when I saw him 
 rearhig and kicking to a violent degree, and thought 
 he was seized with the staggers. At length, how- 
 ever, I espied a Hy in a certain part of his hinder 
 quarters, which was with much difficulty removed, 
 and he then was quieit as before. I endeavored 
 several times to turn this horse into a paddock 
 early in the morning and late at night, but nothing 
 but a brick wall seven feet high would have con= 
 lined him in it ; and I should like to shew many of 
 my sporting friends one fence Avliich he came over 
 to make his way to his stable door. All through 
 the warm months of August and Septendjer this 
 horse was obliged to go to his exercise covered toith 
 C'lothhig^ and all attempts to ride him with harriers 
 in October Avere useless, as he would kick to such 
 a degree, the moment a fly settled upon him, that 
 it was dangerous to go near him. 
 
 Now, reader, let me ask you what would have 
 l)ecome of this animal (No. 4) had he Jjeen turned 
 out into some gentleman's park for the sunnner '? 
 Perhaps you will say he would have become used 
 to the flies in time. We do not see that thick- 
 hided bullocks and cows become reconciled to 
 them, nor do I think it would have been the case 
 Avith my horse \ but, alloAA'ing the fact, this circum- 
 stance Avould not have come to his relief until he 
 had most materially injured his legj:> and feet by 
 galloping and stamping \ and us to his body, I am 
 
268 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 satisfied that it would have been reduced to a skele- 
 ton. No. 6 also, the only one besides the two I 
 have mentioned which Avas turned into the pad- 
 dock, came four times over the gate, though bushed 
 up with thorns, to get back to her sta])le. So much 
 then for the cruelty of keeping hunters in the house 
 in the summer I and I think I may be allowed to 
 say, a prison— -if a stable can be called one- 
 must lose its horrors Avhen its inmates make 
 such desperate efforts to return to even its solitary 
 cells. 
 
 The late beautiful summer (1825) was a very bad 
 one for getting hunters on in their work. The grass 
 land Avas very hard and bad for legs ; and in the county 
 in Avhich I reside (Hampshire) the falloAvs Avere so 
 rigid and lumpy that it Avas dangerous to gallop or 
 even trot horses in them 5 and the consequence AA^as, 
 that my horses Avere at least a month backAA^arder 
 in their AA'ork than they Avere the year preceding, 
 as it AA^as the 30th of August l^efore I could give 
 either of them a sAveat : but this is better than 
 knocking their legs to pieces, Avhich does not suit a 
 short stud like mine. In the very hot AA^eather, 
 hoAvever, I made a fcAv observations AA'hich are not 
 irrelevant to my present j)urpose— particularly as to 
 the charge of cruelty in keeping hunters in the house 
 in the summer. On the 24th J uly— one of our hottest 
 days, and I fix upon it as being sixteen days after 
 my horses Avere stalled for the Avinter — ^the ther- 
 mometer Avas one degree higher at two o'clock at noon 
 in my tAVO four-stall stables — in each of Avhich three 
 horses had stood and slept for those sixteen days 
 and nights — than it Avas in the entrance-hall of my 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS, 2C)9 
 
 liouse, which is twenty-three feet higli, and contains 
 three large windoAvs and six doors, and the aspect 
 due East. Now, Avill any one tell me that the most 
 tender animal—- even a delicate hysterical young 
 lady — could be injured by breathing such an atmo- 
 sphere as this? But this is not all. I removed 
 the thermometer on the same day, and at the same 
 hour, into the shade — giving it the advantage of 
 being close to a piece of water— and there it Avas 
 four degrees higher than in my two four-stall sta- 
 bles ! Here then the wise objection to horses 
 standing " sweating in the stable's in the summer 
 time," returns to its native insignificance. 
 
 It may be asked Avhether I took any pains to 
 keep my stables cool ? I answer, none, but those 
 which are Avithin every man's reach. I opened the 
 air-valves over the horses' heads ; took the case- 
 ments out of the AvindoAvs, and darkened the 
 stable as much as I could by placing old horse-cloths 
 against the AvindoAvs, Avhich latter method very 
 nmch contributes to keep iiies from entering, as Ave 
 knoAV they Avill not play in the dark. Against 
 another summer, hoAvever, I mean to be provided 
 with straAv mats, to fit the open parts of the 
 AvindoAvs, Avhich, if made thin enough, Avill sufli- 
 ciently admit external air, and, by being dipped 
 three or four times a day in Avater, Avill, by evapora- 
 tion, greatly cool the internal air, as Avell as com- 
 pletely defeat the i^ies. 
 
 OAving to the multiplicity of stables AAdiich my 
 horses are likely to inhabit in the course of this 
 Avinter, my object has been to keep them as cool as 
 I could ; consefpently I did not put the casements 
 
270 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 into my stable Avindows imtil the tifth of Septem- 
 ber, when the thermometer suddenly dropped to 
 52 in the shade ; and I kept them naked till the 
 nineteenth of that month j and they now only lie 
 in a single rug, with three panes of glass out of each 
 window in their stables. The thermometer in the 
 stables this day (November 18th, 1825), is only at 
 56, three or four degrees Ijelow ^vliat I should 
 wish it to be, if my horses were to be stationary. 
 This cool treatment, however, turns to account , 
 for they are just returned from a week's residence 
 in a Avretched stable, but no ill consequences have 
 ensued j and this is a bad thne of the year for such 
 experiments. 
 
 When in L<eicestershire last season. Sir Harry 
 Goodricke asked me my opinion of firing - the 
 hunter. Now, although I intend to treat upon this 
 part of our stable discipline as I proceed Avith my 
 subject, I told Sir Harry that I scarcely felt myself 
 justified in giving a decided opinion on the effect of 
 tiring, as I did not think I had had a dozen horses 
 fired in the course of my life. I certainly have 
 had wonderful luck with tlie legs of my hunters j 
 and I attribute it to caiises which I must not now 
 stop ^o describe ; but among the chief are, the 
 frequent use I make of alteratives — keeping away 
 general as well as local inflammation (the principal 
 causes of almost all disease) j also never hurrying 
 my horses in their work, wdien first getting into 
 condition ;— (the late Sam Chifney was of opinion 
 that there Avas as much art in training horses' legs- 
 to stand work, as in training their bodies to run 5) 
 — the frequent use of bandages, and a loose place 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS, 271 
 
 after work ; and, lastly, the absolute rest* I give 
 them in the early part of the summer, which enables 
 the limbs to regain their almost primitive tone and 
 vigour. There are cases which I shall hererd'ter 
 speak of, in which firing, however skilfully per- 
 formed, is of no avail; but in justice to the opera- 
 tion, or rather to the necessity for it — for it is a 
 sharp one — ■! have no scruple in saying, that, ivhen 
 properlif executed (but the task is frequently 
 difficult), it succeeds much ofteuer than it fails. 
 It so happens that I have two horses in my pos- 
 session now that I have fired since I have 
 possessed them ; one because the sinews were about 
 to give way, and the other because the legs always 
 filled after a hard day, with occasional symptoms 
 of lameness— all of Avhich symptoms have since 
 disappeared 5 and in the other case the operation 
 completely succeeded. Nevertheless, when it 
 can be avoided it should never be had recourse 
 to ; and the present system of mercurial charges, 
 applied in the summer time to horses' legs, greatly 
 diminishes the necessity for it. Mr. Field, of 
 Oxford-street, makes these charges in a strong 
 adhesive form — pitch and other things being 
 applied; but, by Mr. Kueny's (of Nottingham) 
 
 * Osmer^ a farrier of great celebrity in the early part of the last 
 century, whose authority has never been doubted by any one, has 
 this forcible passage on the effect of rest, p. 74, edit. 3. " ^V'ith 
 respect to rest, the farrier has a gieat advantage by blistering and 
 firing, because the leg is so inflamed hereby that it is in)possible to 
 ride the horse for a considerable time after the operation ; so that if 
 he happens to get sound it is generally thought to be the effect of 
 blistering and firing, which ought, in reality, to be imputed to the 
 rest he has had." 
 
272 CONDITION OF HUNTERS, 
 
 direction, I applied the common mercurial* plaster 
 of the shojis to the fore legs of one of my horses, 
 to which some attention of this sort Avas necessary, 
 and the result was quite satisfactory^ In all recent 
 cases of enlarged joints, or tendons a little out of 
 their place, nothing can be better than this applica- 
 tion — mercury, Ave know, being the most powerful 
 absorbent we have. The plaster is made up accord- 
 ing to the London Pharmacopoeia, and to be had 
 at all druggists' shops at live shillings per pound. 
 One pound makes a charge for two legs, and it is 
 applied in the following manner : the ointment is 
 melted and put on warm — some deer's hair being 
 stuck on it, as in the case of common charges. 
 Each leg is then pretty tightly bound Avith a linen 
 bandage, which is scAved on the leg, and cut open 
 in the front at the expiration of fourteen days, and 
 opened, in part, sooner, if the legs appear to SAvell. 
 By Mr. Kueny's advice I repeated this charge at 
 the interval of a month, and I strongly recommend 
 it (or Mr. Field's, Avhich I have also seen applied 
 Avith equal success) to tiie notice of all my brother 
 sportsmen. If it ansAvers the purpose of saving- 
 legs from giving Avay, and removing enlargements, 
 equally Avith the actual cautery, every man of com- 
 mon humanity Avill rejoice — to say nothing of the 
 advantage gained in not blemishing our horses. 
 
 The reader must be aAA'are of the disadvantage 
 I labour under in treating of so many subjects in 
 so limited a space 5 they nmst expect, therefore, 
 that I shall have occasion to return to some of 
 them at a future opportunity— -particularly the 
 * Ask for t\\^ meicuyial plaste?, and not mereurial ointment. 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 273 
 
 preparing hunters for their work, with the least 
 possible expense of legs, which can only be clone 
 to advantage with horses of a gross habit of body- 
 by the effect of alterative medicines. As the hunt- 
 ing season, however, is noAV commenced, 1 wish to 
 guard my brother sportsmen against an evil which 
 has deprived me of three good hunters in my time j 
 but Avhich might have been avoided if proper 
 precautions had been taken — I mean fever in the 
 feet, and other inflammatory attacks, produced by 
 severe work with hounds. I do not so much 
 address myself now to those persons who keep first- 
 rate grooms, as they are generally aAvake to this 
 danger 5 but many of my brother sportsmen, who, 
 though eijually fond of the sport, and desirous of 
 keeping in the front rank, may not have that 
 advantage. 
 
 After a severe day every horse ought to have 
 some gentle medicine, if it were only to keep off' 
 fever, and bring him sooner into the field again ; 
 and, in general, the alterative ball recommended in a 
 former letter (j). 253) will be sufficient. Should he, 
 however, appear much distressed, one of the fol- 
 lowing balls should be given, v»^hich, by its stimu- 
 lating quality, and its general effect on the secre- 
 tions, will greatly tend to restore him, and prevent 
 ill consequences : — 
 
 Ethiops Mineral 8 ounces. 
 
 Diapente 8 ounces. 
 
 Balsam of Sulphur ...8 ounces. 
 To be made into sixteen balls. 
 
 The above, the reader will observe, is one of 
 theold-lashionedi'ecipes, but they may be assured 
 
 T 
 
274 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 of its good effects. It was the favorite iiostruin of 
 the noted Mr. Perry Wentworth, and was given to 
 me by INIr. Peacock of Basingstoive, who has 
 attended my stables since I4i«'Ve resided in this 
 country. 
 
 Bleeding should not be had recourse to unless 
 symptoms of danger appear ; and though glystcrs on 
 these occasions are recommended, I do not think 
 they are of much use, as they do not reach the 
 cause. What I here recommend, it will be 
 observed, is chiefly a preventive, but which, if I 
 had adopted, might have saved me three valuabl*e 
 horses. 
 
 I have not said all I wish to say on this 
 subject. — The fore-feet of horses after severe days 
 should be well fomented, and put into a large bran 
 poultice at night. Bole ammoniac should be 
 sprinkled over the poultice just before it is applied, 
 which prevents its softening the frogs. If any 
 soreness appear in the feet when the horse goes to 
 exercise in th« morning— wliich is apparent by 
 his placing the greater part of his Aveight on his 
 hind legs— -he should h& immediately bled in the 
 foot-veins, which is a very simple operation. All 
 tliis is on what is called the prophylactic system ; 
 or, in plainer English, on the good old principle 
 that " a stitch in time saves nine." 
 
 I conclude my present letter with the following 
 hint : — Last autunm twelve-month I purchased a 
 mare at Messrs. Tattersall's for thirty-nine guineas. 
 She Avas the property of Mr. Payne, of Selby Hall 
 in Northamptonshire, and, as I afterwards learnt, 
 Avas sent up to be sold for Avhat she would fetch, 
 
COxNiHTiON OF HUNTERS. 275 
 
 being a tremendous puller. On getting lier home 
 I tried her in all the bridles I Avas possessed of^ 
 but could make nothing of her, and was on the 
 point of sending hep back to the luunmer, to get 
 what I could for her, Avheii a thought struck me 
 that I could try what my saddlers, j^f essrs. Wliip[>y, 
 could do for me Behig a man of fe\v words on 
 these occasions, I wrote them the following note : — 
 " BroAAii mare ver.su.s Nimrod 5 you know Avhat 
 I meaui" They hnniediately sent me down the 
 fac simile of the bridle Mr* Lindow used to ride 
 The Clipper in, which is in the follo\ving form :--- 
 The length of the cheek is nine inches ; that of 
 the port two inches and a half 5 and there are 
 three players hanging down over the tongue, Avhich 
 prevent the mouth from getting dead. AVhen I 
 tirst rode her in it she attempted all her old tricks, 
 (JMr. Payne told me, in Leicestershire, that she ran 
 aA\ay with him over three gates before he got a i)ull 
 at lier,) rushing at her fences, and running her 
 head anywhere 5 Ijut she soon found out that she 
 A\'as mastered, and I now ride her in a conmion 
 bridle Avith the greatest ease. "VYhen M\\ Cliad- 
 A\'ick saAV me on her one day last season Avitli Lord 
 Anson's hounds, he observed, the Cli|)j)er was the 
 only bridle that was e\'er made for a hard pulling 
 hunter, as, Avith all its severity, it never produced 
 a dead mouth— -Avhich I certainly found to be true. 
 Of conrse it requires a light hand, or danger Avould 
 a=t-tend il; at fences. 
 
 t2 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 LETTER XVIIL 
 
 CONDITION OF HUNTERS RESUMED. 
 
 May 18, 1828. 
 
 It is upwards of two years since I Avrote my 
 last letter on this interesting subject, but I noAV 
 intend to pursue it to its coriclusion. 
 
 In these my labours I am encouraged and 
 solaced by one reflection. Four seasons have now 
 elapsed since I awakened the attention of my 
 brother sportsmen to a different treatment of their 
 hunters at the various periods of the year , and I 
 have never yet had this cast in my teeth — " / have 
 tried your plan / Ihave followed your directions in 
 my stable ; hut I have received no benefit there- 
 from.''^ On the contrary, I have had assurances 
 out of number of the excellent and permanent 
 effects derived from a steady perseverance in them ; 
 and, as Truth is called the daughter of Time, I 
 think I am justilied in coming to the conclusion — 
 that I AM RIGHT. Certain is it, I have had some 
 opponents; ])ut theory alone has been brought to 
 bear against me, and that could not stand long*. 
 
 * I am bound to say that one heavy weight and well-knowft hard 
 rider told me, two years ago, he should take up his pen and oppose 
 my in-door system. As he is well capable of doing justice to his 
 subject, I wish he had done so ; at the same time he would; I hope, 
 have told us of " the vcty had luck," as it is called, whidi he has 
 had in his stable for some years past, but to which I give a very 
 dift'erent appellation. 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 277 
 
 Classically speaking-, we might as Avell give the 
 preference to the historian Livy's eloquent account 
 of Hannibal's celebrated Passage of the Alps, to 
 that of the soldier Polybius, who personally ex- 
 plored his route. 
 
 NoW;, lest I should be deemed presumptuous, 1 
 shall take this opportunity of counteracting such 
 an impression. About two years back a hard- 
 riding Warwickshire sportsman addressed me thus: 
 — " We are highly indebted to you for ?/«Mr excel- 
 lent plan of treating hunters in the summer."™ 
 '^ Pardon me," I said ; " it is not my plan ; it was 
 known and practised before I was born."-"-" That 
 might be," replied my friend; '^' but to yourself is 
 due the credit of having made manifest what was 
 not made manifest before." This, then, is the 
 credit I take ; and here ends my preface. 
 
 I am not aAvare that, at the present moment, I 
 have anything very particular to add on the subject 
 of summering the hunter — nothing certainly as 
 far as theory can direct me; but a little practical 
 matter must always be welcome to those who have 
 studs. At the coficlusion of last hunting season 
 (?'. e. the season of 1826 and 1827), I hired 
 Thomas Morris, Mw Hay's groom, for the Marquis 
 of Cleveland; and having heard from several of 
 the very superior condition of Lord Cleveland's 
 hunters this last winter, 1 wrote to Thomas JMorris 
 to know how they had been treated in the summer, 
 and I here transcribe liis answer: — " January 2, 
 1828. My stud is looking as well as any I ever 
 saw, and all the gentlemen in the country praise 
 them much, I have not a lame jiorse among the 
 
278 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 twenty-tliree we liave here (Newton House), which 
 is not often the case in any stables at this ])erio(l of 
 the year. Part of the stud Ave re kept in boxes all 
 the summer, and the remainder were kept in stables 
 all day, and turned out at night. Each horse had a 
 bushel of corn per week^ and came up very wtW, 
 I never had horses in better condition in my life." 
 I am proud to think that my labours on this subject 
 have not been thrown away on so old a sportsman 
 as Lord Cleveland. 
 
 Although in the progress of these letters I may 
 be again called upon to revert to the ill effects of 
 turning out horses in the summer, I shall dismiss it 
 now with only one observation, which particularly 
 applies to the misconceived notion of a summet\s 
 run giving rest to a horse. 
 
 It is the idea of immortality that apologises for 
 our sorrows, and renders the present condition of 
 humanity in the smallest degree intelligible. The 
 sulferings of animals must ever remain a paradox ; 
 but here I had better put a finger on my lip — for I 
 believe we are told God gives no account of his 
 conduct to us children of men. However that they 
 are not exempt from the general curse is too 
 apparent to admit of cavil ; and among their 
 natural tormentors flies may be reckoned first*. 
 
 I am not going to descant upon every species of 
 the fly, from the gnat which plays in the sun beam 
 to the pestiferous zimb which depopulates countries, 
 and whose distant hum strikes terror into the 
 
 * Virgil speaks of the moaning of cattle in a state of nature ; 
 and thus says St. Paul : " Foe we know that the whole creation 
 groaneth in pain together until now," 
 
CONDTTION OF HUNTERS. 279 
 
 rhinoceros and elephant, and makes them coat 
 themselves in mail* to resist him ; but simply of 
 those Avell-known insects which so unceasingly 
 annoy our horses and cattle in hot weather in this 
 country. Now we all remember (indeed we can 
 never forget it) the hot summer of 1826. Hot jis 
 one of its most oppressive days was, I could not 
 persuade myself to remain in the house ; and on 
 the ninth of July, when the sun was at its height, 
 walked down to one of my meadows, in which 
 there were a brood mare, two two-year-ohls, and 
 two yearling colts. There was water — a running 
 brook — in tlie meadow, and there was also plenty 
 of shade. But where did I tind these suffering' 
 animals? Did I hnd them in the shade, .suh teg- 
 mine fagi ? No ; the oestrus was there. Did I 
 find them in the water ? No ; the blood-suckers 
 were there also. I found them crowded together 
 in the middle of the held ; at one time rubbing 
 each other's heads together to get rid of the smaller 
 flies from their ears and eyes — the latter highly 
 inflamed ; then stamping their feet with violence 
 against the ground ; then walking a sort of figure 
 not very unlike that of a modern quadrille ; and 
 lastly — all patience under their suffering being 
 exhausted — galloping from one end of the field to 
 the other as hard as their legs Could carry them. 
 Let me ask you, reader, do you call this rest? 
 
 I have hitherto treated cliiefly of the condition 
 of the horse, and consequently of the horse in a 
 state of health. It Avill not, I am sure, be expected 
 
 They roll themselves in mud, and mire, which, when dry, coats 
 them over like armour. The prophet Isaiah speaks of this fly. 
 
280 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 that I slioukl enter into what is technically and 
 correctly termed the pathology and physiology of 
 this useful animal; or the anatomy of his all- 
 complicated hut wonderfully formed frame. It 
 would, indeed, be presumptuous in me to attempt 
 to do so, and shall let that part of my subject 
 remain in the hands of those who, by education 
 and experience, are alone able to handle it with 
 effect. No; all I shall attempt will be to point 
 out some of the most usual causf s of rendering 
 good horses valueless — adding to my observations 
 the result of full thirty years' experience of the 
 nature and value of the various attempts to counter- 
 act and remove them ; Init dwelling more particu- 
 larly on what is too often lost sight of, namely, the 
 causa causce, or pretlisposing cause. " JiJst hemg- 
 niim^ et plenum mgenui pudoris^ fateri pei' quos 
 projiteris;^^ says Pliny; and I am bound to declare, 
 that when travelling beyond the limits of my own 
 experience, I shall trespass pretty freely on the 
 pages of others — particularly on those of IMr. 
 William Percivall, whose Elementary Lectures on 
 the Vetermary Art I have read with unbounded 
 pleasure ; and ]\Ir. Goodwin's valuable work ou 
 Shoeing and Diseases of the Feet^ to which I 
 have previously alluded. Exclusively of the excel- 
 lent information Mr. G.'s book contains, it claims 
 great merit for the plain and comprehensible 
 language in which such information is conveyed to us. 
 Amongst the most prominent and frequent 
 of "the curses on good horse-flesh" are the follow- 
 ing, which I have arranged alphabeticallv, it l^eing 
 my intention to notice them all in their turns. 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 281 
 
 Wishing, however, not to alarm the sensihility of 
 the reader, I beg to state that some of them will be 
 very slightly passed over. 
 
 Apoplexy, Staggers, Ver- 
 tigo, or Megrims. 
 
 Broken Wind. 
 
 Bangs and Blows. 
 
 Broken Knees. 
 
 Blisters. 
 
 Bowels, inflamed. 
 
 Bleeding. 
 
 Blindness. 
 
 Cold, Cough, recent and 
 chronic. 
 
 Corns. 
 
 Curb. 
 
 Cholic. 
 
 Coat and Clipping. 
 
 Cutting. 
 
 Crib-biters. 
 
 Capped Hocks. 
 
 Disease, hereditary. 
 
 Distemper, at all ages. 
 
 Docking. 
 
 Foot-lameness and Shoe- 
 ing- 
 
 Farcy. 
 
 Fever. 
 
 Firing 
 
 Grease. 
 
 Glanders. 
 
 Humours, local and general. 
 
 Inflammation. 
 
 Lampas. 
 
 Lungs, inflamed — at all ages, 
 at all periods of the year, 
 and in an all situations. 
 
 Legs, big. 
 
 Nerving. 
 
 Physic. 
 
 Roaring. 
 
 Ring-bone. 
 
 Rowels. 
 
 Stables. 
 
 Sinews. 
 
 Sore Backs. 
 
 Spavins. 
 
 Splents. 
 
 Staked Horses. 
 
 Strangles. 
 
 Strains. 
 
 String Halt. 
 
 Salt. 
 
 Salt and water, its effects on 
 legs. 
 
 Sand-crack. 
 
 Teeth. 
 
 Tliorough Pin. 
 
 Thorns in Legs. 
 
 Wind. 
 
 Ditto, thick. 
 
 Windgalls. 
 
 Worms. 
 
 YelloAvs, &c. &c. 
 
 APOPLEXY, STAGGER.1, VERTIGO, OH MEGRIMS. 
 
 I never had a horse afflicted with staggers, but 
 have seen several. I take the complaint to be 
 generally the effect of a distended stomach, caused 
 
282 CONDITION OP HUNTERS, 
 
 by a bad digestion, and obstructions in the alimen- 
 tary canal, creating ;ni impulse of blood to the 
 head. It is sometimes also occasioned by worms, 
 A careful groom will always foretel an attack, and 
 ought to prevent it : but should it be otherwise, 
 very copious bleeding is all that should be attempted 
 until medical aid arriv^es ; for it is a disease which 
 requires very vigorous measures, and is altogether 
 pf an appalling nature. 
 
 Affections of the brain and convulsive disorders 
 are by no means of rare occurrence in horses ; 
 for instance, the vertigo, or megrims, in coach 
 horses — although from a more judicious mode of 
 feeding we see less of the latter than formerly. 
 Such horses are unsafe either to ride or drive 5 but 
 it is not always that the affection is apparent at 
 first sight, and fre(|uent impositions are the conse- 
 quence, I saw a mare last week whose bi*ain I 
 knew had been very considerably affected. I had 
 her brought out for my inspection 5 admired her 
 action nuich; and, had I not been apprised of it, I 
 question Avhether I might not have overlooked a con- 
 vulsive twitch of her head, which she gave at about 
 every tenth stroke in her trot, which was perfect. 
 
 By way of strengthening my assertion, that 
 disorders of this nature proceed from bad groom- 
 ing and irregular and improper feeding, I extract 
 the following passage from Lecture 76 of Mr. 
 William Percivall, on Staggers, and hope the 
 lesson Avill not be lost on the reader: — 
 
 " Soon after my father entered the service of 
 the Ordnance, at Woolwich, it became the custom 
 there to turn horses, who had become low in con- 
 
CONDITTON OF IIUNTKRS. 283 
 
 dition, and stale upon their leg's from ^vork, into the 
 niarslies to recruit their stren.^th. During the 
 months of July, August, and September, no case 
 was more common than an attack of staggers among 
 those horses; which niy father attributed to tlje 
 luxuriant pj^sture they were suddenly turned into 
 (which invariably loaded them with fV^t, <'md con- 
 sequently plethorised their systems), combined 
 with the dependent posture of the head, and the 
 sultry heat they were exposed to in marshes desti- 
 tute of places for shade." 
 
 I once was possessed of a hunter which had had 
 a slight aifection of the brain, but I did not know 
 it at the time. He t\vitched his head in liis slow 
 paces nuich like the mare I have been speaking of; 
 but no excitement was left, and an admirable 
 hunter was he. I purchased him for thirty pounds ; 
 and, after summering liim well, sold him to the 
 Honorable Mr. Bathurst, Avho was then on a visit 
 at Heythorpe, for one hundred and thirty, having 
 previously christened him " Kingham," in conse- 
 quence of his carrying me in capital style over 
 very severe ground, called Kingham Field, in 
 Oxfordshire— jumping the brook at the extremity 
 of it at the finish of a very sharp thing witli 
 the Duke of Beaufort's hounds. 
 
 BROKEN WIND. 
 
 Here is another stomach case. HoAvever, after 
 a horse is once broken-winded, it is almost a waste 
 of words to say nmch about him. The only cure is 
 the copper; for as Mr. W. Percivall (Lecture 38) 
 says, *' Regarding the horse as the slave of man, if 
 
284 CONDITEON OF HUNTERS. 
 
 his wind be organically impaired, lie is useless to 
 liis possessor : he may he blind, lame, farcied, and 
 even glandered, and yet continue in some measure 
 serviceable 5 but no sooner has his respiration 
 become constitutionally embarrassed than he is 
 found to be incapable of undergoing farther lal^our." 
 
 What broken wind really is, appears to me to 
 be still somewhat of an undecided point ; neither 
 have dissections, by the most skilful practitioners, 
 by any means solved the prol)lem. The best proof 
 of this is to be found in the several views taken of 
 it by our ablest writers on the veterinary art, each 
 differing, and some most materially, from the other. 
 Whether the air-cells of the lungs are ruptured or 
 not, to this moment appears doubtful; but such 
 must have been the presumption before the com- 
 plaint Avas christened. 
 
 One point, I believe, is allowed. Broken wind 
 is ninety-nine times in a hundred preceded by 
 chronic cough. Now, were I a groom, I should 
 have but little fear of chronic cough (from which 
 indeed one-third of our hunters are not at this 
 moment free) 5 for as the said cough is in ninety-nine 
 cases out of a hundred produced by plethora, occa- 
 sioned by bad grooming, improper food, and inatten- 
 tion to the state of the bowels, I should know what 
 I had to contend Avitli, and, by regarding it as the 
 warning voice, steer my course accordingly. 
 
 Mr. W. Percivall says (Lecture 38), " Exer- 
 cise — at least laborious and unpreiKired-for exer- 
 cise (an excellent epithet this) — is an obvious 
 source to which we may trace this disease (i.e.oi 
 the lungs)." Nothing ca,n be more true than this : 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 285 
 
 yet my experience has never presented me witli an 
 instance of a man taking his unprepared horse into 
 the fiekl, and (although thousands have been killed 
 by it) riding Mm iinth houmls until his ivind tva.s 
 broken. It is certainly a general impression that a 
 horse's Avind can be broken by hard riding up 
 hills, &c., and I remember when I was of that 
 opinion myself, but I soon renounced the error. 
 Mr. P. here only alludes to the cause, or source. 
 
 Most veterinary writers attribute this disease to 
 the consecpiences of high keep. Here, no doubt, they 
 are correct 5 but if good grooming were not for the 
 most 2^art a match for the effects of high keep^ what 
 would be the fate of our race horses^ which eat 
 almost as much corn as they can swallow from the 
 first month of their existence 'i^ Amongst them a 
 broken-winded horse is a rarity. 
 
 If a man has a broken- winded horse in his sta- 
 ble, and (which is often the case) still finds him 
 serviceable, he tells hhn, almost as plainly as if he 
 could speak to him, AA'hat treatment to pursue. He 
 is thirsty: then keep off symptomatic fever by 
 attention to his boAvels, &c. He breathes with 
 difficulty : then diminish the circulathig power by 
 the same means, and keep him in a well-ventilated 
 stable, and short of food before work. 
 
 I have reason to believe there is a great simi- 
 larity in the suffering of a badly broken-A\'inded 
 horse and the human asthmatic. A very intimate 
 friend of mine Avas violently affected Avith asthma 
 for fifteen years of his life. Although the horse 
 never recovers his natural health Avhen once he 
 becomes broken-Avinded, my friend got rid of his 
 
286 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 asthma about twelve years back, and has enjoyed 
 excellent health since. He attributes his recovery 
 to going- to India with his regiment ; but he has 
 frequently told me no earthly consideration would 
 tempt him to accept of existence accompanied by 
 that disease. 
 
 Now when we consider, first, how great are 
 the restorative powers of the horse, and what able 
 hands the veterinary art is in, we may marvel at no 
 cure being found for this too-frequent griev- 
 ance. But so it is 5 and so Avill the disease be per- 
 petuated as long as horses are made use of and 
 domesticated by man 5 and, I think I may add, as 
 long as the \\'orld stands. In a state of nature it 
 does not exist 5 therefore it behoves every one who 
 can afford it to put to death badly broken-winded 
 horses, for we may be assured their suffering is great. 
 
 BANGS AND BLOWS. 
 
 Sportsmen are necessarily exposed to these evils 
 in their stables. If the injury be on the sinew, and 
 severe, the safest way is to give up the horse for the 
 season, or it may be necessary to give him up for 
 ever. B'ows on the sinews are very serious griev- 
 ances. ]My treatment has always been this : A 
 dose of physic, and foment till inilannnation sub- 
 sides : then gently stimulate \ and if any enlarge- 
 ment remains after the horse gets to work, I have 
 the leg bathed twice a day in a pail of cold water 
 in which a double handful of salt has been infused. 
 The stinmlant has always been Lemon's Essence 
 (diluted with brandy or rum), of which I haye 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 28T 
 
 used some scores of bottles in my time. The 
 saturnine poultice of JMr. White is often applied 
 with ert'ect. 
 
 It may be here remarked, that giving up a 
 horse for the season is pleasanter in theory than in 
 practice. Admitted : but in the end it ^vall prove 
 economy 5 and let it be remembered, that in all 
 stables of hunters which are ridden anywhere near 
 hounds, the calculation scarcely admits of not more 
 ttian four sound horses in five. When at Quorn 
 last, I took the trouble of comparing notes on this 
 head ; and I found only about every sixth horse out 
 of work, which I considered a very moderate share 
 for horses that belong to hounds. 
 
 BROKEN KNEES. 
 
 I have little to offer here. The first two hun- 
 ters I ever possessed having broken their knees on 
 the road, made me careful in the use of knee caps 
 for travelling, when the mischief generally occurs. 
 I can remember when these things, called knee 
 caps, were a constant source of torment, not only 
 for ever coming loose and slipping down, but seri- 
 ously injuring the skin in wet weather, and, conse- 
 quently, dirty roads. Since I have used those 
 made ]jy JMessrs. Whijtpy, Avhich are elastic, 
 nothing of the sort has happened ; and, as far as 
 the action of the joint is concerned, a horse might 
 be ridden over a country in them. So much for 
 " the march of intellect," which in this instance 
 has benefited us. 
 
 I have no faith in the various nostrums for the 
 
288 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 cure of broken knees. When inflammation is sub- 
 dued we must trust to nature for the rest, with the 
 exception of its being advisable to blister mildly, in 
 the apprehension of any enlargement of the parts, 
 which will happen if the injury have heen exten- 
 sive. Hair is easily reproduced, provided nature 
 be not violated j but if it be, a blemish is the result. 
 Mr. W. Percivall tells us (Lecture 33), " that if 
 the rete vel corpus mucoffum, which consists of a 
 line, delicate, laminated tissue, that is interposed 
 between the cuticle and cutis, and regarded as 
 their corresponding medium, if this part be de- 
 stroyed, it is very doubtful whether it ever be rege- 
 nerated." He says it is the opinion of some that it 
 never will, though he himself holds the point in 
 doubt; but, adds he, " if the cutis vera, and conse- 
 quently the bulbs of the hair, be injured, a scar, or 
 bare place, is the consequence — a few light-coloured 
 or white hairs only gro^Aung upon the place, which 
 appear to be the oifsprhig of defective jjulps." 
 
 A sportsman thinks little of a broken-knee in a 
 hunter, provided the blemish be not very great, or the 
 action of the joint rendered defective by it. I re- 
 member selling a horse iifteen years back for a large 
 price in Leicestershire— forgetting to tell the pur- 
 chaser he had a broken knee until the deal Avas 
 concluded, Avith the exception of the money being 
 paid. Scarcely a remark was made by him on my 
 informing him of it, and he paid me the following 
 morning;. 
 
 I never argue against the use of anything by 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 289 
 
 the abuse of it : we might as well inveigh against 
 gold and silver at once; but I confess I am a deter- 
 mined enemy to the indiscriminate use of strong 
 blisters. The legs of many horses are made of 
 such good and lasting materials that they ])id defi- 
 ance to such treatment ; but can anything be more 
 absurd than the (I am sorry to say) still prevailing 
 practice of blistering a sound horse all-fours previ-- 
 ous to turning him up for the summer? Is not 
 the eflfect of blister to excite violent inflammation 
 on the parts to which it is applied, and conse- 
 quently to relax the cellular membrane or skin ? In 
 all cases of lameness arising from weakness and 
 relaxation of the Hmb, their application nmst be 
 most injurious ; and to their use do I attribute the 
 ruin of many hundreds of English hunters. Add 
 to this, the common method of applying blisters (as 
 a practical writer observes) cannot l)e supposed to 
 do any real service ; no advantage can possibly 
 accrue from merely irritating the surface of the 
 skin. In order to render them effectual they should 
 be repeated till healthy pus is obtained. 
 
 I Avas pretty effectually ciu'ed of the indiscrimi- 
 nate use of blisters very early in life 5 and the les- 
 son, having cost me a himdred and thirty guineas, 
 made a rather lasting impression. I roused the 
 sleeping lion, and could not pacify him again ! I 
 now nearly confine the application of blisters to 
 Ijony excrescences in their very incipient state, 
 among which of course are included spavins, splents, 
 and ring-bones ; also to the external surface of the 
 body, as counteractors of internal inflannnation, or 
 counter-irritants, as they are called ; and here they 
 
 u 
 
290 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 avail but little unless very speedily had recourse to. 
 Hjudmously applied in strains, I do not condenni 
 their use, as they serve to unload the vessels near 
 the affected part. 
 
 Here comes another of the curses on good 
 horse-liesh. " Although the diseases to which the 
 eye of the domesticated horse is obnoxious," says 
 Mr.W. Percivall, " when compared in number with 
 the many set down by opthalmic writers to the 
 organ in man, are certainly very few, yet there is 
 one among them that has proved in all ages of 
 veterinary medicine so pestilential, and that even at 
 the present day so obstinately pursues its end in 
 spite of all remedial measures, that this of itself 
 is a sufficient reason for us to become well 
 acquainted with the anatomy and physiology of the 
 eye, and pay more than ordinary attention to it in a 
 state of disease." It is scarcely necessary to observe 
 the writer here alludes to cataract. Noav it may 
 with propriety be asked, why not remove a cataract 
 from the eye of a horse as well as from that of a man ? 
 My only answer is, it has been tried, and found 
 to be impracticable 5 but Mr. W. Percivall plainly 
 tells us why. In the first place, a horse in specta- 
 cles would be awkward even on the road (among 
 blind ditches particularly so) ; and, after the loss of 
 the natural lens, art nmst supply the deficiency. In 
 the second, cataract being almost invariably a 
 secpiel of inflammatory action, and various other 
 parts being at the same time likewise the seat of 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 291 
 
 disease, it is rarely unaccompanied with morbid 
 alterations in other textures : in fact, adds he, it too 
 often happens that there is a total disorganization 
 of the whole globe. Unless, therefore, we can 
 perform miracles as well as operations, and restore 
 all these altered parts to their pristine condition, 
 we had better never think of handling a cataract 
 knife. 
 
 Now, although two years ago I had it in my 
 power to state that up to that period I never had 
 had a hunter go blind in my possession, yet I con- 
 sider this in some measure fortuitous, and will not 
 suffer it in the least to diminish the caution neces- 
 sary in purchasing highly-priced horses. Of course, 
 although I was once careless enough to give two 
 hundred and twenty guineas for a horse which had 
 a small cataract in one eye, I have for the most 
 part examined the eyes of, horses I have been about 
 to purchase most minutely, and with what little 
 skill I am possessed of, in reference to that delicate 
 organ ; but I am decidedly of opinion that none but 
 professional men are able to give a true judgment 
 upon it, and even theirs can only safely apply to its 
 present state. " In these inspections," continues Mr. 
 Percivall, " Ave should not depart satisfied with 
 barely looking into the organ : we ought to com- 
 pare one eye with the other ; mark the prominence 
 of the membrana nictitan6' ; the transparency and 
 convexity of the cornea ; the pellucidity of the 
 aqueous humour 5 the colour and brilliancy of the 
 iris ; the colour, figure, and size of the pupil ; the 
 magnitude, blackness, and prominence of the cor- 
 pora nigra; and last, but not least, of all, repeatedly 
 
 U 2 
 
292 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 mark the activity with which the pupil alters its 
 dimensions on suddenly admitting light to the eye. 
 Surely this will convince us that we private gentle- 
 men are incompetent to this task*. 
 
 The following are stated by Mr. P. as unfa- 
 vorable prognostics : — a sunken or gloomy aspect 
 of the eye altogether, compared with the other ; 
 prominence of the membrana nictitanfi y a watery 
 state of the eye ; dimness of the cornea, particularly 
 around its margin ; dulness or discoloration of the 
 iris; corpora nigra^ yellowish or spotty; pupil 
 smaller than the other, perhaps hazy or milky, or 
 containing a minute white speck in its centre, which 
 is incipient cataract. 
 
 Now then for my own experience on this subject^ 
 if that be worth anything \ and it amounts to this : 
 Were I to go into my stable in the morning, and 
 perceive an eye of one of my horses closed up, with 
 evident signs of inflannnation, but without being- 
 aware Avhence that inflammation proceeded, I 
 should say to myself, " /'// bet ten to one that eye 
 never gets well againP But should I say this in 
 despair? No : I should bleed and physic, perhaps 
 put a seton in the cheek— and in a few days 
 appearances would flatter me \ but in ninety-nine 
 cases in a hundred the pleasing delusion Avould be 
 all I should reap from my pains. The paroxysm 
 would return, disappear, and return again; and so 
 on till cataract iinally closed the scene. As to 
 
 * I have a mare in my possession now, stone blind from cata- 
 ract ; ^ but I could sell her to any common purchaser as sound, if he 
 only looked superficially into her eyes. 
 
CONDITION OP HUNTERS. 293 
 
 topical applications, I hold them most cheap. 
 Laudamim dropped into the eye will certainly allay 
 irritation j but what chance has it to combat with 
 this disease? Setons in the cheek, and rowels in 
 tlie jaw, I have also seen tried a hundred times at 
 least, but they very seldom answer the end. The 
 fatal issue — permanent blindness-— is almost inse- 
 parable from this species of inflammation. 
 
 Now it will not be expected that I can take up 
 my pen on this subject, and use it without a refer- 
 ence to my favorite hobby — condition. Let us 
 then see how far the two subjects are connected. 
 
 Speaking of this species of opthalmia, Professor 
 Coleman was led to believe that a contaminated 
 atmosphere, which is known to engender farcy and 
 glanders, sows the seed of disease in the present in- 
 stance ; and that horses running wild, and breathing 
 the untainted open air, are never thus affected. 
 The Professor, however, qualifies this assertion ])y 
 saying, " lie never saw such a case ," but I can tell 
 him I have seen many. I have had two cart lillies 
 go blind within these last two years, which were 
 never in a stable in their lives until affected with 
 the disease, which has resisted all attempts at 
 removal. This leads me to observe, that Jierc it 
 must have been a constitutional disease — constitu- 
 tional in its origin, but local in its consequences. 
 
 I have, however, very little doubt but this de- 
 structive disease may, like most others, be traced 
 to a derangenient of the digestive organs and the 
 skin, and therefore affords additional excitement to 
 good grooming in the stable, with nice attention to 
 the state of the bowels Regularity of food, and 
 
294 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 of the temperature they live in, must also be 
 attended to if we wish to keep our stable sound 5 
 and I have little hesitation in saying, that to oppo- 
 site circumstances is much of that deprivation of 
 sight to be attributed, which horses, otherwise 
 sound, are at all jjeriods of their lives so subject to. 
 Some of my sporting friends, who have more money 
 to spend in horse-flesh than has ever fallen to my 
 share, have endeavored to laugh me out of my fre- 
 quent use of alteratives and laxatives; but the 
 longer I live the more am I convinced that without 
 their frequent use we are never sure of our stud. 
 
 Whether blindness in horses be hereditary I do 
 not take upon myself to determine, although I could 
 name the produce of several which have been cer- 
 tainly given to go blind. This part of my subject 
 is beyond my depth, and I had better let it alone. 
 I certainly do not see why blindness may not be 
 hereditary as well as other diseases j and it is a 
 well-known fact, that nine in ten of the stock of a 
 certain horse, who unfortunately visited Worces'* 
 tershire some years back, had either curbs or spa- 
 vins in their hocks. 
 
 Whether or not horses are near-sighted I will 
 not venture to pronounce, although I see no good 
 reason why a preternatural convexity of the cornea 
 should not exist, as in man. I certainly have had 
 several horses which appeared not to be able to 
 appreciate some of the connnonest objects on the 
 road until they came close to them, although they 
 have been those of every-day occurrence 5 and this 
 does not look unlike it. A hack I purchased last 
 
CONDITION OP HUNTERS. 295 
 
 year in Yorksliire must, I tliiak, have been thus 
 aifected. JiUliough bred in Yorkshire, a, heap of 
 stones by the road-side was an object of terror 
 to him ; and although I once rode him over twenty- 
 one in succession, he shy'd when he approached 
 the twenty-second \ I have also had horses with 
 apparently very perfect eyes which I could never 
 persuade to leap flying. 
 
 Mr. W. Percivall says, " the loss of one eye 
 does not enfeeble sight, because the other acquires 
 greater energy, though it much contracts the field 
 of vision." It is, however, said to render the con- 
 ception erring ; and the cause of mis-judgment of 
 distances is the one commonly brought forward to 
 prove this. Now the following experiment satisfies 
 me, that as far as leaping fences straight before 
 Jthn, the loss of an eye is no detriment to a horse. 
 I sit at this present moment with a pencil-case held 
 just at the end of my nose, and, shutting one eye, it 
 exactly hides from my view the handle which opens 
 this door. I shut the other eye, and the said pencil- 
 case just covers the back of a Dictionary in a book- 
 case seven feet from the door. Here then is great 
 error of conception as far as relates to focal dis- 
 tance 5 and if I were to follow the direction of the 
 pencil-case it would at one time lead me to the 
 Dictionary and at another to the door, according to 
 the eye through which I looked at it ; but when I 
 stand four yards from the window^ and have the 
 pencil-case held up to one of the panes for my view, 
 it does not appear to vary more than one inch 
 when looked at with either eye, which cannot 
 
296 CONDITION OF HUNTERS, 
 
 at all affect a horse judging liis focal distance at a 
 fence*. 
 
 Notwithstanding tliis, and notwithstanding 
 some of the very hest hunters I ever saw have heen 
 one-eyed horses, I do not like them. Unless very 
 handy, and of excellent tempers indeed, they are 
 apt to strike trees and gate-posts on their blind 
 sides ; and where is the horse that at times does not 
 require to have all his eyes about him ? A twig, 
 or briar, will also sometimes injure the sound eye, 
 and then danger is at hand. Nothing, however, 
 can exceed the structure and economy of the eye, 
 particularly as to its protection from injury ; and 
 so careful has the Creator been that his creatures 
 should enjoy the blessing of sight, no animal is 
 produced with less than two. Nor is tliis all ; 
 although the image of every object is pictured on 
 the retina of each eye, whilst Ave have two, yet we 
 do not see the object double, but the same as if we 
 looked at it with only one ; and as each can singly 
 perform the otHces of vision, the loss of one is not 
 so material to either man or beast. 
 
 The horse, as Mr. Percivall tells us, enjoys a 
 much wider range of lateral vision than man, and 
 he can direct it backwards, which the latter is 
 unable to do. This extensive and varied view not 
 only serves to guide hini in his rambles in quest of 
 food; but, adds he, since Ms principal iveapons of 
 defence are his heels^ with what certainty could he 
 have directed their stroke without this faculty 'i 
 
 • Mr. Perciyall observes, that the peculiar beauty in the struc- 
 ture of the eye, hxj ii>}iich it adjusts itself to thedistanoeofthe object of 
 vision^ forms a subject yet open to inquiry. 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 397 
 
 BI4OOD VESf5EIiS. 
 
 " One great and evident design in the distribu- 
 tion of arteries," says that eminent jdiysiologist, 
 Mr. W. Percivall, " is to direct them in their 
 course, that they may be out of the way of injury 
 and pressure; or else so to arrange their connnuni- 
 cations, that the pressure to which they are on occa- 
 sions imavoiihibly subjected may not altogether 
 arrest the circulation." Here are accounted for 
 the very few instances we meet with of horses 
 breaking blood-vessels, to which accidents, from 
 the violent exertions they are put to, we might 
 naturally conclude them most liable. I never saw 
 but two: one, a hunter in Warwickshire, which — 
 staggering a few yards from the tirst fence he had 
 taken, after our fox broke covert— died almost 
 instantly. The other was one of Sir Harry 
 Goodricke's hunters in Leicestershire 5 but this 
 was only a small vessel, and, after bleeding copiously 
 from nose and mouth, he was, I believe, none the 
 worse for it. Lord Chas. Somerset's Scorpion died 
 from a broken blood-vessel, after running a severe 
 , race at NcAvmarket (1813) ; Sir John Cope's fjivorite 
 old hunter dropped dead under him from the same 
 cause ; and I know two instances only of this acci- 
 dent happening to coach horses, both of which reco- 
 vered. When any animal -is put to exertion beyond 
 the limits of vital poAver, the circulation of the blood 
 in the lungs will sometimes produce suffocation. 
 
 BLEEBING. 
 
 Error has had full scope here ; l)ut when we 
 consider that, although the circulation of the blood 
 
298 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 is one of the most important discoveries in tlie 
 whole history of physic, it has been involved in 
 the greatest difficulties, our surprise will cease, 
 more egpecially when we recollect in what ignorant 
 hands the lancet and phleme are to be found, and 
 often in full practice. However, as it is on the 
 increased or diminished velocity of this fluid that 
 health or disease depends, it is quite evident that a 
 knowledge of those diseases which are influenced 
 or produced by an increased action of the heart and 
 arteries, and those which are the result of a diminu" 
 tion in the vital powers, must be indispensably 
 necessary to guide the judgment in the important 
 operation of blood-letting, 
 
 The following passage is welj worthy of being 
 impressed on the minds of all who are in possession 
 of horses :— The erroneous opinion that bleeding 
 pan be productive of no ill consequences, can 
 only arise from a total ignorance of the foregoing 
 observations. The practice of abstracting blood 
 under every circumstance (which is too common) 
 nmst be attended with the greatest hazard and 
 danger; for in all diseases attended with a 
 languid circulation, or where there is a thinness or 
 putrescency of the fluids, blood-letting must be 
 highly injurious, by induchig a greater degree 
 of debility, and favoring the disposition to 
 tranerene or mortification. Here then is the 
 necessity of consulting the pulse of a horse 
 before his veins are opened, which not one groom 
 in a hundred knows even where to find, but Avhich 
 the regular practitioner looks for as his land-mark. 
 Certain is it, that a judicious use of the phleme 
 
C^ONDITION OF HUNTERS, 299 
 
 is one of the most important operations in fiirriery, 
 and our chief dependance in the early stag;es of 
 acute and dangerous] inflammation ; for when this 
 has been copiously resorted to, medicine acts under 
 the most favorable circumstances, and thousands of 
 lives are annually saved by it. Within my recollec-^ 
 tion, however, a wonderful change has taken place 
 in this department of stable management. In the 
 tirst place, periodical bleeding is entirely abolished 
 in the modern system of grooming; and I should 
 just as soon think of cutting a horse's head off as 
 opening a vein unless some symptoms called for it*. 
 ^' The more you bleed, the more you must bleed," 
 is a truism no one will attempt to shake ; and if 
 you want to make a man or an animal fat and 
 phlethoric, bleed him frequently 5 but it is in the 
 quantity of blood abstracted from a horse that the 
 greatest alteration has lately taken place, and the 
 bold practice has been attended with the very best 
 results, A lesson on this head was given me 
 many years back by an eminent medical man. 
 " Your favorite amusement," says he, ^^ subjects 
 you to hard blows. Never fail being blooded 
 after a bacUiaH, but remember th'is'— there is 
 economy in lilood as well as in everything else, and 
 you will find it economical to lose as much as you 
 can hear to lose the first time your arm is opened." 
 T have ever since availed myself of this hint ; and 
 
 * It is the custom to bleed cart horses periodically in my neigh- 
 bourhood. Having to combat with long-estabHshed usage, 1 had a 
 ilifficulty in preventing the practice in my own stable ; but expe- 
 lience proves the inutility of it. Nothing tends to plethora in man 
 or horse so much as repeated bleeding. 
 
300 CONDITION OF HUNTERS, 
 
 v/lienever I do bleed a horse, I take care that, 
 with few exceptions, not less than a gallon (is 
 the quantity taken. To shew how safely this 
 may be done, Mr. Lucas, veterinary surgeon, of 
 Atherstone, took three gallons from a horse of 
 mine between nine o'clock at night and eight the 
 following morning, to save his life from an attack 
 of acute inflammation, produced by his being 
 ridden a severe run without being forward enough 
 in his condition. In bleeding I prefer tlie phleme 
 to the lancet — first, because it forms rather a larger 
 oriiice 5 and secondly, because I have known several 
 accidents from the other. The phleme should be 
 kept sharp and briglit, and not (for horses) exceed 
 3-8ths of an inch in depth. 
 
 I confess I have never seen much benefit 
 derived from topical bleeding; but let it not be 
 supposed that I mean to deny the benefit of it. I 
 only here speak from my own experience. I have 
 seen eye-veins opened for the eyes ; plate-veins for 
 the shoulders ; but in my opinion the jugular bears 
 the bell. One hint, however, should not be disre- 
 garded — bleed in proportion to .strength and povjers 
 or life. 
 
 CURBS. 
 
 Curbs are for the most part treated lightly by 
 writers on the veterinary art. Mr. White affords 
 only five lines to the subject in the first edition of 
 his Pharmacopoeia ; but to sportsmen they are very 
 troublesome customers. They may have their 
 origin in a blow : but I think Ave may safely con- 
 clude, that, as hunters are more subject to them 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 301 
 
 than any other description of horse, they gene- 
 rally proceed from the violent exertion of the 
 hinder legs in carrying Aveight, at a rapid jjace, 
 through deep ground, and also from the effect of 
 leaping. 
 
 "The hock joint," says Mr. W. Percivall, 
 " probably has more exertion to endure than any 
 one in the body ; and although well defended, and 
 farther strengthened by the tendons that run over 
 it, it is the seat of several diseases — an additional 
 argument," adds he, " to shew its utility in progres- 
 sion." This accomplished writer (Lecture 30, on 
 the Muscles of the Hind Extremity) thus describes 
 two of the most powerful muscles in this part of 
 the hind leg. " The extensors have nothing more 
 to do than simply to raise the foot from the ground, 
 and carry it forward under the trunk; the flexors 
 have, in the extension of the hock, not only to keep 
 the foot firm upon the ground, as a fulcrum, but to 
 advance the whole machine, and restore the per- 
 pendicular of the hind extremities. This operation 
 has been Avell compared to the impulsion of a boat 
 by means of oars ; supposing the vessel to represent 
 the body of the animal, and the oars the hind legs, 
 the waterman imitates the extensors of the hock 
 while tugging at his oars, and the flexors in pro- 
 jecting them out of the water." I have more than 
 once seen horses lame frdhi injury to these muscles, 
 but they have very soon recovered. 
 
 Curbs being produced by inflammation, followed 
 by eft'usion, the means of cure readily present 
 themselves. Connnon sense or reason Avould 
 naturally prescribe repellent lotions, physic, &c. ; 
 
302 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 but these are only auxiliaries. The plan I have 
 always adopted has been — first, a dose of physic, 
 then immediately to blister (mildly), and repeat 
 the hl'uter as soon aiid as often as circumstances 
 will admit. Mr. W. Percivall recommends a patten- 
 shoe being put upon the foot of the affected limb, 
 in order to relax the extensor muscles of the hock. 
 I have had, as may be expected, several cases of 
 curbs in my stable; but I have generally found 
 them yield to repeated blistering; and have not 
 often, that I recollect, had recourse to firing. I 
 have occasionally worked horses whilst the disease 
 existed, and still they have progressed towards 
 soundness. By this, ho\vever, I do not mean to 
 say that curbs are to be made light of— for, on the 
 contrary, they are very much to be dreaded ; and I 
 never rode a good run, over a deep country, that I 
 did not expect to be favored Avith one : and the 
 very best formed hocks are not exempt. ]Mr. Per- 
 civall's Lecture on this subject is most interesting 
 and satisfactory. 
 
 Of corlis I have had very little, if any, expe- 
 rience in my own stable; and I have reason to 
 think the disease, if it can be called one, is now 
 nearly confined to post and coach horses, Avhose 
 feet are, from their situation, unavoidably neglected, 
 and are often shod by contract. Horses that Avork 
 on limestone roads are more subject to corns than 
 those Avhich travel over gravel ; but I was not pre- 
 pared to hear they are in some measure periodical. 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 303 
 
 The smith, however, who shoes my liorses, shoes 
 about two hundred post and coach horses 5 and he 
 assures me that numbers of them are affected at 
 particular times, and at others they are compara- 
 tively free from them. "Very wet roads," he says, 
 " are one exciting cause." 
 
 If we examine the right hand of any hard- 
 working mechanic, we shall find what exactly 
 corresponds Avith our idea of a corn. The 
 cuticle of the palm (as in the case with the heel or 
 the sole of the foot) grows morbidly thick by the 
 effect of external pressure j but this is in reality a 
 different disease from what has been so named in the 
 horse's foot. " The only approach to a corn," says, 
 Mr. W. Percivall (Lecture 32), " that we meet 
 with, are those horny or cuticular exuberances 
 that grow upon the inward part of the arms. These, 
 however, cannot be considered as morbid excres- 
 cences 5 for they are unexceptionably present in 
 horses, as well as in asses and mules." 
 
 The following recipe was given me by a very 
 old sportsman, who assured me it was i)ifaUihlc : — ' 
 
 Venice turpentine, half a pound. 
 Tar, half a pint. 
 White rosin, one ounce. 
 Burgundy pitch, one ounce. 
 
 The above to be boiled up and applied dailij on 
 a pledget of tow. Before applying it never fail 
 to scrape the part with a drawing knife, and in six 
 dressings the corn ^vill disappear. Crcdat Jiidamii^ 
 non ego y but it is among the simples, and worth 
 the experiment at least. I confess I looked for 
 something rather more caustic. 
 
304 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 CAPPED HOCKS. 
 
 I have nothing farther to offer on this head. It 
 is slightly touched upon by Mr. Percivall, and his 
 theory is plausible enough. It has not, however, 
 been my good fortune to see it put into practice 
 with success , and therefore I shall let it pass. In 
 my OAvn experience, I have never seen a capped 
 hock reduced. They are certainly great eye-sores 5 
 but, as lameness is very rarely the consequence, 
 they are not greatly to be regarded or dreaded. 
 
 CASTRATION. 
 
 A necessary operation with horses j but, I have 
 ahvays been of opinion, carried to too great an 
 extent in this country. Mr. Percivall very pro- 
 perly observes that in itself it is one, the successful 
 performance of which gains but little credit, 
 though its unfortunate issue may irretrievably lose 
 a man his professional reputation. " I would not 
 operate," says he, " during the season of changing the 
 coat, nor even just prior to that period, from fear of 
 interrupting the process, or checking it altogether 5 
 neither would I choose frosty or sultry weather : 
 but, above all, it is advisable to suspend the opera- 
 tion when the flies abound. If the subject have 
 passed the colt period of age, I would recommend 
 a dose of aperient medicine before the operation be 
 undertaken, unless he should be already living on 
 green food." 
 
 Again : After the operation, Mr. P. recommends 
 the animal should be housed. " Turning out 
 afterwards," says he, " even supposing that^ the 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 305 
 
 season, both from the absence of flies and the 
 congeniality of the weather, permit, I am decidedly 
 averse to. A roomy, loose, ventilated box is the 
 best apartment for the patient, and green meat, 
 when it can be procured, the most suitable pro- 
 vender. The surface of the body should be kept 
 warm J and a purge may with benefit be adminis- 
 tered to him. The less that is done over and 
 above this, the better for the future welfare of the 
 animal." 
 
 The same writer, however, very properly 
 observes, in a former part of his lecture, that with 
 horses who have been raced or hunted, it is a 
 proper precaution to ascertain whether they are 
 free from hernia before this operation is performed, 
 its presence being by no means uncommon. 
 
 CRIB-BITING. 
 
 It has been asserted that this habit or vice, 
 whichever Ave choose to term it, is more prejudicial 
 to character than to bodily exertion. This is in 
 part true \ for Ave are all aAvare how many first-rate 
 horses, of all descriptions, are crib-biters. In my 
 own stable I am not able to state that I have seen 
 any ill effects from the habit, but I have never had 
 ahorse very much given to it, or one which could not 
 be in great measure prevented by a strap. Hoav- 
 ever, although I last year gave one hundred 
 guineas for a crib-biter, I have generally taken the 
 advice Avhich an old sportsman and excellent judge 
 of a horse Avhispered in my ear many years back — 
 " Never buy a crilj-biter," said he : " Jie is always 
 getting worse^^ 
 
 X 
 
306 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 CATARRH, OR COLD. 
 
 That facetious writer, Tapliii, says, " if a 
 gentleman could carry his horse in his pocket he 
 would never catch cold;" by which he implies that 
 neglect is generally the cause of the complaint. 
 This being the forerunner of various and more 
 serious diseases — inflamed lungs amongst the 
 number— deserves very serious attention 5 and I 
 well remember the old joke of a celebrated Lon- 
 don physician, who always asked l|is patients, Avhen 
 they told him they only had a ccdd, whether they 
 would wish to have the plague ? 
 
 "The treatment of catarrh is very simple," 
 says Mr. Percivall (Lecture 33). " If there be no 
 concomitant febrile action, or but little, the con- 
 finement of the horse for a few days in a stable of 
 mean temperature, warmly clothed, and fed 'with 
 bran mashes in lieu of corn, with the aid of a few 
 doses of laxative and diuretic medicine, will restore 
 him to health 5 at the same time, if there be much 
 submaxillary tumor, or any cough or soreness of 
 the throat, an ounce or more of the infusum lyttcn^ 
 should be rubbed either under the jaw or about the 
 throttle. Should febrile irritation manifest itself in 
 the system, from two to four quarts of blood may 
 be detracted, and either what I call the sedative 
 ball exhibited, or hellebore in combination ^A'ith 
 aloes. Many practitioners are in the habit of 
 bleeding, almost invariably, in catarrh ; still it is 
 often uncalled for. When there is much reddening 
 of the membrane, with but little discharge, and a 
 dry hard cough, I am an advocate for it. There is 
 * Cautharides. 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 307 
 
 certainly one advantage in bleeding early, wliicli is, 
 that it is seldom necessary to bleed again. The 
 blister, in most cases, should be repeated about 
 once or twice a-week." 
 
 On chronic catarrh, Mr. Percivall thus ably 
 expresses himself: — " The duration of the acute or 
 inflammatory symptoms of catarrh, even if the 
 disease be allowed to take its course, will seldom 
 exceed ten days or a fortnight j but then it is very 
 apt to run into the chronic or third stage. The 
 animal feeds well, is in good spirits, and appears 
 to enjoy healthy and yet a copious efflux of thick, 
 white, and perhaps grumous matter shews itself at 
 the nostrils — now and then only at one of them — 
 which nothing we can employ, either locally or 
 generally, seems to have any influence on. This 
 gleety condition of the membrane is now and then 
 folloAved by unequivocal symptoms of glanders. 
 The remedies I have generally had recourse to 
 here are — some tonic drench, occasional doses of 
 laxative medicine, a rowel under the jaw, two or 
 three feeds of beans in the course of the day as a 
 substitute for corn, and moderate exercise in the 
 open air. In cases in which cough and tenderness 
 about the throttle have been connected Avith the 
 gleet, I have experienced good effects from the 
 application of a blister along the course of the 
 windpipe, from the jaw nearly to the sternum, and 
 its repetition once a week." 
 
 COLIC. 
 
 1 have now to touch upon a very interesting 
 subject with all who possess horse-flesh, inasmuch 
 
 X2 
 
308 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 as considerable difficulty is apparent to all but 
 regular practitioners in deciding between the 
 symptoms of what we call colic, gripes, or fret, and 
 that still more dangerous complaint, enteritis, or 
 inflammation of the bowels— for it must be con- 
 fessed that to common eyes they are very nnicli 
 alike, but require very different treatment. Pre- 
 viously then to aid being called in, it may be useful 
 to distinguish these symptoms. 
 
 " An attack of gripes (which consists ii,i a 
 spasmodic contraction of some portion or portions 
 of the intestinal canal) is most commonly quite 
 sudden ; the malady makes its appearance Avithout 
 any precursory or even accompanying febrile com- 
 motion. Although the pulse is accelerated during 
 the paroxysms of pain, fever is neither a precursor 
 nor an early concomitant, nor is there any other 
 symptom of ill health. Let it be observed, how- 
 ever, that the pain subsides at intervals, wJiich in 
 never the case in enteritis. Some will insist that 
 the horse rolls upon his back in the former, but 
 never in the latter complaint ; but this must not be 
 depended upon as an unerring guide. The proxi- 
 mate cause of colic is a spasmodic constriction of 
 the small guts ; and although drinking cold water 
 in hot weather will sometimes produce it, indiges- 
 tible food, green meat, or musty hay in particular, 
 is the general predisposing cause." 
 
 My own experience confirms what I have now 
 quoted from Mr. Percivall. Among my cart horses 
 (ten in number) scarcely a month in the year 
 elapses Avithout one of them being attacked with 
 colic, excepting when they are eating barley straw 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 309 
 
 instead of hay ;/o/ barley sfratv is remarkably easy 
 of digestion. My remedy, however, is always at 
 hand. I leave a bottle of oil of turpentine within 
 reach of my wagoner, labelled with this inscription ; 
 and which I never yet knew to fail : — " Two 
 ounces of this to be given in a pint of warm gruel, 
 for the fret*." 
 
 I learn from Mr. Percivall, that this is recom- 
 mended at the Veterinary College, but that his 
 father adds to it one ounce of tincture of opium. 
 I highly approve of this, and very lately put it to 
 the test. A neighbouring farmer had a horse 
 which had been in an agony from the fret for 
 nearly ten hoars, and in his absence my assistance 
 was requested by his son. The turpentine alone 
 did not remove it so soon as I expected 5 but the 
 laudanum, combined, did. So intense had been 
 the animal's sufferings that I took a gallon of blood 
 from his neck, apprehending inflammation ; which 
 operation, though not generally recommended, is, I 
 think, on the safe side, venesection itself beings as 
 Mr. P. observes, a7i afitispasmodic. 
 
 I have a very high opinion of the medicinal 
 effects of oil of turpentine in many diseases of 
 cattle. At the recommendation of an eminent 
 Dorsetshire grazier I have given it to coavs and 
 other horned cattle with the best effect, and par- 
 ticularly as an alterative when they are not doing 
 Avell. I also administered it to two hoven, or 
 blown, cows, and found it very beneficial. 
 
 * In ray younger days cordial carminative medicines were gene- 
 rally employed to remove this disease, but they often failed, and 
 were troublesome to administer. 
 
310 CONDITION OF HVNTERS, 
 
 I must do Mr, White the justice tq say he has 
 {p. 41, sixth edition) veiy plainly laid down the 
 distinguishing symptoms of flatulent colic (or 
 gripes) and enteritis, which cannot well be mis- 
 taken ; but having always considered the latter as 
 so dangerous and devastating a disease, it would be 
 presumptuous in me to attempt to say much about 
 it* Having, however, been a frequent spectator — 
 and at my own cost too — I may be allowed tP say 
 that as, with horses in a high state of excitement, 
 it often comes on with scarcely any notice, we 
 should always be on the watch for it, and look 
 attentively to the bowels. I may also be allowed 
 to add this : If medical aid be not immediately 
 at hand, two or three gallons of blood (according 
 to the patient's strength) should be taken from the 
 neck ; a very active, but oily, cathai'tic in a drink 
 (for its more speedy effect) should be given ; 
 clysters — raking by the hand having been first 
 performed. Be quick in all your motions, and 
 particularly in sending for the best veterinary sur- 
 geon, for a few hours often does the busipess ! ! 
 
 COAT, AND clipping;. 
 
 In one of my former letters I have noticed the 
 changes that take place in the coats of horses; 
 the effect the moulting season has on the constitu- 
 tion ; and I have also given my opinion on clipping, 
 and which opinion I shall never alter. The hair 
 being a covering which Nature has provided for the 
 skin of animals to protect them from cold^ //e«if,and 
 eocternal injury, to deprive them of it is an outrage 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 311 
 
 on Nature, Avhicli can never stand its ground ; and 
 although the practice is on the increase, and 
 although in some individual cases I do not condemn 
 it, yet, generally speaking, it is nothing but a sub- 
 stitute for bad grooming and idleness. 
 
 Mr. W. Percivall's "Lecture (32d) on the 
 Hair of the Horse " is extremely interesting to any 
 one who has curiosity to inquire into the wonderful 
 operations of Nature, and the coat of this animal 
 holds a conspicuous place even there. Why a horse 
 should change his coat twice every year it is not for 
 us to inquire ; but in what manner the change is 
 effected may not be unworthy of detail. 
 
 A hair, it seems, is composed of three parts — 
 the bulb, the root, and the stem. At moulting 
 time the pulpy substance at the root of the hair 
 shrinks and dries up ; the stem, consequently, no 
 longer supplied with nourishment, loses its support 
 and falls off; at the same time a new pulp appears 
 by the side of the old one, which, during the 
 absorption of the latter, grows and gives root to a 
 new hair ; so that the pulp and stem only, and not the 
 bulb, undergo the process of regeneration. " The 
 coat of the horse," adds Mr. P. " is shed twice 
 during the year — in spring and autumn — a pheno- 
 menon exhibited with great regularity so long as 
 the animal remains wild ; but as soon as he is 
 domesticated, this process is influenced by many 
 circumstances connected with his stable manage- 
 ment, though by none more perhaps than by the 
 temperature of the stable." 
 
 With reference to the influence of colour on 
 horses' coats, the following is worthy of remark :— • 
 
312 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 Tlie three primitive colours— -those of which all the 
 other appear to be either shades or combinations— are 
 white, red, and black. According to Richerand, 
 the lighter the shade the finer the hair j as a proof 
 of which, he says, there are fewest hlach hairs in a 
 square inch of skin, more chesnut, and most light' 
 coloured. " This assertion," says Mr. Percivall, 
 '^ our observation appears to confirm ; for it is com- 
 paratively uncommon to meet with a black tho- 
 rough-bred horse, though it is a very prevailing colour 
 among cart horses 5 and the glossy silken cofit, for 
 Avhich the former is so much admired, is in none 
 more conspicuous than in those that are light- 
 coloured." 
 
 The effect of a good dressing on the coat of a 
 horse, ripe in his condition, is too well known to 
 require even a word ; but the cause may not be 
 apparent to all. It seems there is an unctuous mat- 
 ter emitted from numbers of that infinity of pores 
 which the skin has on its surface, Avhich keeps up 
 a constant greasiness of it ; and this abounds so 
 plentifully in those parts subject to friction, such as 
 the bend of the knee and hock, as often, from want 
 of cleanliness, to generate a troublesome disease. 
 Warmth and friction consequently contribute to the 
 condition of the hair, by increasing the circulation 
 of the cutaneous system ; the natural consequences 
 of which, says Mr. P., are, an augmentation of its 
 secretions, among others of the perspirable fluid, 
 and the unctuous or oleaginous matter* that per- 
 
 * This, I believe, is stated on the autliority of a celebiated Ger- 
 man physiologist ; but other writers say the oily matter here allude*} 
 to arises from a vast number of sebaceous foUicles, 
 
CONDITION OP HUNTERS. 313 
 
 vades the hair. This gives a renevv^ed suppleness 
 to the skin, and a kindly feel and gloss to the coat. 
 
 I am happy to have it in my power to quote the 
 following passage, as it is so completely corrohora- 
 tive of Avhat I have before written on this part of my 
 subject :— " The appearance of the hair," says Mr, 
 Percivall, " may be adduced as a sign of internal 
 derangement. The fact is, this is one of the most 
 remarkable instances we have of the sympathy 
 existing between the skin and the alimentary 
 canal 5 and we might ad hijinitum bestow our 
 labour upon the former without effect, unless we 
 were at the same time to direct our attention to the 
 latter. Here a dose of physic, or, ivhat is hetter^ 
 some laxative tnedicine, is required to render the 
 currycomb and brush availing in polishing the coat 
 of the horse." 
 
 On the occasional stare of the coat this accom- 
 plished writer is worth hearing : — " Simply taking 
 a horse," says he, " into an atmosphere colder than 
 the one he has been habitually exposed to, will 
 make the hair stare. Now this can be no other 
 than the effect of contraction, not cri the skin itself, 
 but of the muscular fibres which adhere to it — the 
 panicidiis carnosus. In truth, it is something simi- 
 lar to Avhat happens in the erection of the bristles, 
 though that is a voluntary act, while this is not 
 dependent on the will. In the one case cold is the 
 stimulus to contraction j in the other, volition." 
 
 I know of nothing to add on this subject, except 
 the remark, that, although the coats of entire horses 
 are universally finer than geldings, yet I know of no 
 superiority in this particular betAveen geldings and 
 
314 CONDITION OP HUNTERS. 
 
 mares. From the nature of mares being entire, we 
 might have looked for a different result. The question 
 why hlind horses generally have a fine coat in win- 
 ter and a rough one in summer, nujst, I suppose, 
 continue to remain unanswered. 
 
 CUTTING LEGS ', 
 
 Or Interfering^ as it is called by some. I think 
 owners of horses troubled with this great fault are 
 not sufficiently aware that striking one leg against 
 the other is often a defect of the upper, as Avell as 
 the lower extremity of the leg. In choice of young 
 horses I have carefully avoided those Avhich hit 
 their legs, particularly the hinder ones. The 
 speedy-cut often arises from excess of action, but 
 knocking the hind legs together is an infallible sign 
 of weakness. Shoeing may remedy it a little 5 but a 
 plain leather boot is most to be depended upon ; for, 
 as Bracken observes, " a goose will always go like a 
 goose." 
 
 DISTEMPER. 
 
 As in dogs, so in horses, this complaint remains 
 among the secrets of physiology. It is a species of 
 epizootic* catarrh, more particularly confined to 
 racing stables, and to those of London and West- 
 minster 5 although horses in the country, and in the 
 most airy situations, are by no means exempt from 
 it. Thousands of good horses are destroyed by it 
 every year hi England, but its virulence is not 
 always equally destructive. 
 
 * The word epidemic is improperly applied to diseases of cattle. 
 It is from the Greek f?!"' ^t^os, on the people : Episootic is the 
 proper word here. 
 
CONDITION OP HUNTERS. 815 
 
 The distemper has been raging throughout the 
 present spring (1828), the abnost natural conse- 
 quence, I believe, of long-continued easterly winds. 
 I have a mare ill with it at this moment, and I may 
 as well describe her case. I had ridden her 
 twenty-five miles to dine with a friend, and as I 
 was returning next day found her unusually dull for 
 the last five miles, coughing only once. On offer- 
 ing her water I found she had a difficulty in swal- 
 lowing when her head teas loivered to the stream-^ 
 which immediately directed me to blister her 
 throttle as soon as I got home, and the next morn- 
 ing she lost a gallon of blood. She has, up to this 
 moment (June), been labouring under the disease 
 for sixteen days, during which time she has not 
 drunk two pails of water. This, however, is 
 immaterial ; fo;' she has lived on sloppy mashes 
 and g^een meat, with occasional alteratives, so 
 that she is not much reduced in condition. 
 Although her throat, in spite of four blis- 
 ters, was excessively sore, I never considered her in 
 danger, because I kept off fever by a cooling diet 5 
 and here, I think, is the great secret in this com- 
 plaint. She now goes out to exercise, although 
 she is weak, and lies down half the day 5 but in a 
 week or ten days, with the help of a cordial ball or 
 two, I expect she will be as well as ever. Here, it 
 may be observed, the disease was met in its very 
 early stage, which is a very great advantage ; and 
 she breathed fresh air. Had she been in a close London 
 stable I think it would have gone hard with her, 
 
 DISEASES HEREDITARY. 
 
 A certain writer on these subjects, who in his 
 
316 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 day obtained some celebrity, but at the present 
 time would ])e thought lightly of, speaks of the 
 grease in horses being transmitted by hereditary 
 taint of sire or dam from one generation to another. 
 Without going quite so far as the writer I am 
 alluding to, it is my firm conviction that breeders of 
 horseflesh do not sufficiently attend to the point in 
 question — hereditary disease. That blind horses 
 and mares produce stock disposed to go blind, no 
 one, I think, can doubt. Such stallions as Coun- 
 tryman, and twenty more besides, would set the 
 matter at rest on that head. Mary, by Precipitate, 
 produced three roarers by three different sires ; and 
 even one of her produce, when put to a fourth 
 horse, produced a roarer, and one of the worst I ever 
 heard in his work. It is well known that Waterloo 
 has a club-foot, and some of his produce have club 
 feet*. Curbs, spavins, and splents -we also know 
 are entailed on the progeny of various otherwise 
 good sorts of horses ; and although these may 
 sometimes have their origin in mal-formation of the 
 frame, yet that does not alter the matter at all. 
 This, however, is not exactly the case with legs— - 
 some of which (as with the Sir Peter blood), how- 
 ever good to look at, will not stand training for any 
 
 • When we look at the performance of Waterloo, we may safely 
 pronounce, that, but for this defect, he would haVe been the first 
 race horse this country has produced since the days of Childers and 
 Eclipse. "NV^ith respect to roaring, we all remember the case stated 
 in 1824, by Mr. Perry, veterinary surgeon, of SwafFham, of Mr. 
 Dewing's Dragon, the Norfolk stallign, whose stock inherited 
 roaring ; and which circumstance led to the question of here- 
 ditableness of roaring being put to Mr. Cline, the surgeon, who 
 decided against it.^ 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 317 
 
 length of time. Although the (Question of heredi- 
 bleness is rather too coiiiprehensive for me to enter 
 upon with a chance of throwing any new light upon 
 it, yet our knowledge of animal economy, whether 
 human or brute, confirms the point as to most 
 kinds of diseases, as also perfect or defective con- 
 formation. In oxen, sheep, and swine, the disorders 
 called the foul, the rot, and the husk will be perpe- 
 tuated from generation to generation. As to the 
 hereditary intluence of form, I can illustrate the 
 force of that without gohig far from home; my 
 right ear has been slit by a sabre : I have two chil- 
 dren marked in the right ear. 
 
 I have heard several persons say, they would 
 not breed from a mare which had become groggy in 
 her feet. I have always thought this is carrying 
 the objection too far ; for though it may be admitted, 
 that, if the mare's feet had been more vigorously 
 constituted, she might not have become lame in 
 them, yet it is but too probable, that, in this case, 
 the predisposing cause nuiy be traced to the treat- 
 ment she has been subject to, and not to constitu- 
 tional defect. If I had a good mare of this 
 description, I Avould have her nerved, and breed 
 from her with every expectation of success. 
 
 DOCKING. 
 
 As nearly every horse used for pleasure under- 
 goes this operation, it would almost appe^u- a waste 
 of Avords to bestow a line on the subject; but, 
 whether it be from the consequent frequency of the 
 operation, or carelessness after it, I do not pretend 
 to determine, fatal accidents often arise from it* 
 
318 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 Notwithstanding this, and the severity of the ope- 
 ration, we have been, I fear, too fond of it in our 
 hunters' stables, and I am obliged to confess that 
 taking two inches off horses' tails has now and then 
 put fifty pounds into my pocket. 
 
 Looking to the main chance, however, I have 
 never docked a horse of late years without giving 
 him a light dose of physic after it, and at least a 
 iveekh' rest from anything like severe work ; for a 
 locked jaw is by no means unfrequently the conse- 
 quence*; I have always applied the actual cautery 
 to staunch the blood after the amputation of the 
 ^tump, but have made it a point to stand by, and 
 restrict the use of it as much as possible, prevent- 
 ing unnecessary torture. On this head I shall 
 transcribe the words of IMr. W. Percivall, hoping 
 they will be as deeply impressed on all who have 
 occasion to have this operation performed, as they 
 reflect credit on their author. 
 
 " There is only one objection that can be 
 urged to the use of the actual cautery : some may 
 not regard it as such, but I consider it to be one of 
 great moment, inasmuch as it is grounded upon that 
 Avhicli a veterinary surgeon ought never to lose sight 
 of in the course of his practice — humanUy, The 
 animal will literally shriek with agony — and really 
 in the present unskilful and barbarous manner in 
 Avhich that terrific veterinary surgical instrument, 
 a red hot iron^ is made use of, I do not know what 
 
 * In Mr. Wilkinson's (of Newcastle) report of successful prac- 
 tice in cases of locked jaw, nine of twenty-four of those cases came 
 on after docking, from ten days to a month after the operation.— See 
 Hinds' Veterinary Surgeon, page 414. 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 319 
 
 can excite more exquisite and poignant pain. Let 
 me implore veterinary surgeons, then, to take this 
 into their most serious consideration, and not to 
 trifle Avith the feelings of a poor brute, Avho, if he 
 could in language retort upon them, would accuse 
 them, and with the greatest justice^ of cruelty 
 grafted upon prejudice." 
 
 Docking colts when at the mare's foot has 
 been recommended, as, by taking the Aveight from 
 the extremity of the tail, it Avill be carried higher 
 when the animal arrives at maturity, and render 
 nicking unnecessary. The latter savage act, hoAV- 
 ever, is noAv nearly exploded; and having never 
 tried the former, I cannot speak to its merits. The 
 proper length for the docks of hunters, or other 
 pleasure horses — at least those of full size — is eight 
 inches; Avhich, alloAving for a fourth part of that 
 length in hair, forms a fair medium bet\A'een tAvo 
 extremes. A good tail is a great set-off to Avell 
 turned hind quarters ; but to my own eye nothing 
 is more disfiguring than the &tvhJi, unless it be on 
 a Avell-bred galloAvay. 
 
 Human nature must blush at some of her 
 errors. When I Avas a boy, all cart horses Avere 
 docked close to their quarters, under the erroneous 
 impression of making them strong in the spine. 
 At that time of day, this cruelty Avas heightened 
 by it being the practice of farmers, Avith fcAV 
 exceptions, to turn out their cart horses in the 
 summer — a system noAV nearly exploded in all good 
 husbandry. 
 
 DIURETICS. 
 
 I have sufficient reason to be convinced that 
 
320 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 thousands of horses are rendered unserviceable by 
 the violent and indiscriminate use of diuretic balls, 
 and particularly so when given during the time of 
 their being liable to be put to strong Avork. Too 
 great an increase of the urinary secretions very 
 much impoverishes the blood, and subjects horses 
 to numerous and often fatal diseases. " The horse," 
 observes Mr. Percivall, " who rarely perspires but 
 under exertion or pain, has probably, of all other 
 animals, the most susceptible kidneys." 
 
 On this subject the reader had better hear 
 what Mr. Percivall says in his 55th Lecture : — 
 " The general use of diuretic medicines, coupled 
 Avith the known susceptibility of the organ itself, 
 renders the kidney the seat of frequent disordered 
 function, and now and then of violent and destruc- 
 tive disease. The disordered function is probably 
 the result of increased action, which may or may 
 not amount to inflammation : if it do not in the 
 first instance, the frequent repetition of the stimu- 
 lus does not fail to give rise to it, most likely in the 
 chronic form 5 and this languid inflammation, 
 which within certain limits Avould die aAvay on a 
 total discontinuance of the existing cause, aggra- 
 vated from time to time by the same injurious 
 diuretic influence, becomes at last established, and 
 then never leaves the parts until it has even defeated 
 its own progress, by inducing disorganization, indu- 
 ration, scirrhus, ulceration, and suppuration." 
 
 Having quoted such high authority, it only 
 remains for me to say that I have long been very 
 shy of ushig strong diuretic balls in my stable, 
 and, from a wish to avoid a necessity for them, have 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS, 321 
 
 been so strenuous an advocate for alterative medi- 
 cines. When I do give a urine ball to a valuable 
 horse, I generally mix some cordial ball vt^itli it ; 
 for the former produces extreme debility of the 
 system, and frequently, by repetition, incurable 
 diseases of the kidneys. 
 
 In the purchase of hay, and in the management 
 of my own, I have always avoided having it too 
 much fermented, or mow-burnt, as it is called ; for, 
 from its great excitation of the kidneys, it greatly 
 debilitates, and produces, in coach horses, the com- 
 plaint termed " the Vwh^'' a certain sign of a dis- 
 ordered stomach, and impoverished habit. Ship 
 oats, or indeed any that have been heated and 
 become stale, will have an injurious effect on the 
 kidneys, and for that reason ought to be carefully 
 avoided. 
 
 It is scarcely necessary to say that horses which 
 sweat frequently and profusely stale but little; 
 so little, indeed, that grooms are now and then 
 apprehensive of something wrong, and a urine ball 
 is the consequence. This proves the sympathy 
 between the skin and the kidneys, and accounts for 
 the good effect of our mild diuretic alteratives. 
 Let me not, however, be supposed to condemn the 
 occasional use of diuretic balls; for I am well 
 aware of their eminent services in several com- 
 plaints; and it is by their power of causing a 
 reversion of action in favour of the kidneys that 
 Ave generally remove dropsical SAvellings of horses' 
 legs. They are also useful to cart horses, whose 
 robust frames are better able to withstand them ; 
 and they are also very serviceable when an evacuant 
 
 Y 
 
322 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 is wanting (as on a journey), and there is not time 
 to give physic. Carrots act as a slight diuretic 
 with horses; for which reason they are excellent 
 alteratives, hut must be given with caution in severe 
 work. 
 
 Much is said about the signs of healthy urine 
 voided by a horse. The food he lives upon has so 
 much to do with it, that it is impossible to apply 
 any general rule. When healthy, it is of an amber 
 colour, and of a peculiar pungent smell. It is a 
 bad sign when a horse stales often, and in small 
 quantities, for it indicates internal inflammation, 
 
 FEVEn; 
 
 Whether or not horses are subject to what is 
 called simple or pure fever, appears to have been a 
 disputed point. That they are very often, indeed, 
 labouring under that which is symptomatic, needs 
 no confirmation ; neither can they ever be long free 
 from it whilst put to violent exertions, and subject 
 to the various mechanical injuries they meet with 
 in hunting, racing, on the road, and at grass. 
 Hunters are never free from fever after a severe run 
 with hounds ; and whether they live or die depends 
 on the height to which such fever extends. It is 
 this consideration which induced me to recommend 
 alterative medicine and plenty of tepid Avater on 
 the day after hunting, which I have always found 
 most beneficial in restoring the appetite, by diminisli- 
 ing the increased circulation produced by severe 
 and long continued work. 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 323 
 
 FABCy, 
 
 I have had no experience in this dreadful 
 malady 5 neither do I think it is of frequent occur- 
 rence in the stables of sportsmen, or of others 
 Avhere common attention to cleanliness and decent 
 grooming is observed. In its early stage a cure is 
 found by means of the actual cautery and mercury ; 
 but, v/hen suffered to get well into the system, 
 .Death is the best doctor. Mr. W. Percivall thus 
 describes it : — " It may be defined to be an inflam- 
 mation and suppuration of the superficial order of 
 the absorbents 5 it does not aftect the deep-seated 
 order — they do not appear susceptible of the irrita- 
 tion. This fact is not more extraordinary than 
 niany analogous ones to be found in human medi- 
 cine. Such ig the case in respect to itch, small- 
 pox, measles, gout, &c. Itch does not disease the 
 stomach or bowels ; gout is not a cutaneous malady : 
 certain parts are liable to certain diseases ; and the 
 skin of the horse, as Avell as that of man, has its 
 peculiar affections, amongst which we may rank 
 mange, grease, various eruptions, andy«r<??/." 
 
 " Although a contagious disease, in order to 
 communicate farcy it is necessary," adds Mr. P., 
 " that the matter from the nose should come into 
 actual contact with some bare or abraded part 
 of the skin ; and this, when we come to consider 
 how uniformly the skin is covered with hair, and 
 the mode in which we confine and stall our horses 
 in this country, is next to impossible in the stable, 
 and is very far from being likoly to happen at grass. 
 With respect, then, to one farcied horse communicat- 
 ing the disease to another, we may be very positive 
 
 y2 
 
324 CONDITION OF HUNTERS, 
 
 in refusing credence to this. In fine, where there 
 is one case of farcy that can be satisfactorily traced 
 to contagion, Professor Coleman reckons there are 
 a thousand in which its origin is spontaneous, or in 
 which it is a concomitant of glanders." 
 
 I have said thus much, because this disease is 
 vulgarly termed dangerously catching, which cer- 
 tainly is not the case, It often ends in glanders, 
 
 I 
 
 I have fired very few horses in my time, cer- 
 tainly not a dozen; but from the experience I have 
 had of the mercurial plaster, I should fire still less 
 if my years could come over again. My opinion 
 of firing has often been asked ; and my answer has 
 always been, that if adopted from real necessity, and 
 not from caprice, it is the best accessary to other 
 means of cure for cases of severe injury to sinews, 
 as well as for all bony excrescences. The actual 
 cautery, when applied to the leg, appears to me to 
 act thus : — -On the fire reaching the membrane or 
 sheath of the tendon, some of its glands are 
 destroyed, and by the tendon becoming more rigid 
 a bandage is formed*. A great authority lays it 
 doAvn that firing benefits the hunter, but spoils the 
 race horse. This, however, is not always the case, 
 although much too near the truth to be pleasing to 
 
 * If the fire reach no farther than the skin, says Osmer, little 
 advantage can accrue to the tendon ; but the fibres of the skin will 
 become contracted and less pliant, and thus a bandage is formed; 
 If the tendon be burnt, the consequence will be still worse; and in 
 either case the velocity of motion will be impeded. 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 325 
 
 such as are called upon to adopt the practice in 
 their racing stables. To go only a few years back, 
 Crouch, the trainer, told me he considered Claude 
 Lorraine, by Rubens, quite as speedy a racer after 
 he was fired, for a very bad leg, as he was before 5 
 and his winning the Great Gloucestershire Stakes 
 at Cheltenham hi 1825 seemed to confirm his 
 assertion. This, however, may be considered an 
 exception to the general rule. 
 
 The grand mistake commonly made in firing Is, 
 having recourse to the operation before the parts 
 are ready for it. Every atom of inflammation 
 should be got rid of by repellant lotions and 
 repeated doses of physic ; and if the horse is quite 
 sound and fit for work before he is fired, he has 
 a nuich better chance of remaining so afterward. 
 I am a great advocate for the out-door system after 
 firing. Had I a valuable hunter that required the 
 irons for an injured sinevt^, I Avould fill his belly 
 every day during the cold months with good hay, 
 old oats, and beans, and expose him to the winter's 
 blast, housing him only at night. 
 
 GLANDERS. 
 
 Thank Heaven, I have had no experience of 
 glanders at my OAvn cost, although I have witnessed 
 much of its ravages in other people's stables ! Mr. 
 White thinks the chances of finding out a remedy 
 are not yet out, and I wish his words may prove 
 true ; whilst Mr. Sewell, of the Veterinary College, 
 gave us to understand he had found it, which 
 words certainly did not prove true. A friend of 
 
326 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 mine gave liim a fair trial. He purchased t\vo 
 young and otherwise healthy horses, which were 
 infected with this disease, and placed them under 
 IMr. SeAvell's care, but a bullet closed the scene. 
 It must surely appear extraordinary to some of the 
 Old School, that neither Doctor Green nor the 
 dews of Heaven have any chance of contending 
 with this dire disease ; but, perhaps, they account 
 for it in this way : — I believe the horse, in a state 
 of nature, is not often subject to glanders 5 as he 
 has, however, been so long domesticated, it rather 
 astonishes us that the remedy should still remain 
 unknown. 
 
 Although glanders is supposed to be a contagi- 
 ous disease. Professor Coleman is of opinion that 
 not one horse in ten thousand so receives the ma- 
 lady. I have ahvays been of this opinion, and 
 was the means of administering comfort to a friend 
 of mine in Surrey, three years ago, who wrote to 
 me in a great fright, informing me he had a glan- 
 dered horse in his stud, and that his hunters must 
 catch it, as they stood in the same stable with him, 
 and, moreover, had eaten of a bran mash which he 
 had partaken of, it having been removed from 
 his manger to theirs ! I answered his letter by 
 assuring him there was no danger unless the 
 poisonous matter had been applied to any place 
 where the skin was broken, which was not likely 
 to be the case. That glanders is conmiunicable by 
 inoculation, and engendered in impure air, is a fact, 
 1 believe, that no one doubts 5 and it is also pro- 
 duced generally, I believe, from sudden exposure 
 to the vicissitudes of heat and cold, and cold and 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 327 
 
 heat; but I believe it not to be infectious except 
 under peculiar circumstances, and in its very worst 
 stage. 
 
 Professor Coleman has witnessed several cases 
 of recovery from chronic glanders, where the dis" 
 ease has run itself out, which no doubt was the 
 case with that fine chesnut hunter which Mr. 
 Harben rides in the New Forest — the only instance 
 I know of complete recovery from this fatal 
 disorder. I really believe it to be incurable by 
 art. 
 
 I should imagine there are few persons, having 
 kept numerous horses of various kinds for several 
 years of their lives, Avho have not now and then 
 imagined they have had a glandered one. It was 
 my oAvn case a short time since, but the alarm 
 proved to be a false one. As I think Mr. White 
 properly distinguishes the symptoms of those diseases 
 Avhich may be taken for glanders, I shall take the 
 liberty of quoting him here. — " In catarrh there is 
 often a discharge from ])oth nostrils; but it is 
 attended with cough, dulness of the eyes, and 
 general indisposition, Avhich is not the case in 
 glanders. In strangles there is frequently a dis- 
 charge from the nostrils, and a swelling under 
 the jaw. Here also the discharge proceeds 
 from both nostrils: the matter is generally of a 
 whitish colour, like the matter of an abscess. The 
 swelling under the jaw is more diffused than in 
 glanders ; it is also tender, becomes gradually 
 larger, tmd at length suppurates and bursts. 
 Strangles are also attended with general indisposi- 
 tion, dulness of eyes, and coughs and not uufre- 
 
328 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 qiiently, before tlie swelling suppurates, there is a 
 considerable difficulty in swallowing." 
 
 Were it necessary to shew how very intimately 
 connected are the treatment of horses in health 
 and the preservation of them from disease, we have 
 only to peruse a Avork upon glanders, published by 
 the late Veterinary Surgeon of the Second Dragoon 
 Guards, in which he clearly proves that in the 
 army glanders is the almost inevitable consequence 
 of the local situations in which cavalry is too often 
 placed when on actual service or on shipboard; 
 and even in quarters where the discipline of a 
 regiment is at variance with the well-doing of the 
 horses. 
 
 The following curious experiment in glanders 
 was performed by Mr. Coleman, and is introduced 
 by Mr. Percivall to prove the contagious as well as 
 constitutional nature of the disease ; and also to 
 disprove the assumption of Mr. Hunter, that the 
 blood of glandered horses does not become dis- 
 eased. An ass was l>led till he fell from exhaus- 
 tion. The blood of a glandered horse was con- 
 ducted into his empty veins until he shewed every 
 sign of perfect resuscitation. The consequence 
 was, the ass became violently glandered in the space 
 of five days ! 
 
 GREASE. 
 
 Thanks to a better system of treating horses of 
 all descriptions, this filthy disease has nearly taken 
 its departure from all but the very worst regulated 
 stables. I never had it in mine to any degree until 
 the winter of 1827-8, wheji a mare that had been 
 
CdNDITION OF HUNTERS. 329 
 
 I'umiing ill the " Ninirod Soutliaiiiptou" coaclij 
 and Avhose constitution had been much excited 
 ]jy high keej) for several previous years, was 
 severely affected with it hi both her hind heels. I 
 attributed it to her coming from as much corn 
 as she could eat to none or next to none, pro- 
 ducing a morbid state of the blood, with a 
 languid circulation in the extremities, which in 
 consequence became a prey to the disease^ She 
 was as bad as she could be in what may be termed 
 the first stage of the disorder. In short she 
 could scarcely limp out of the stable, and her 
 heels were offensive to the last degree. Caring but 
 little whether she lived or died, as she would not 
 breed, I thought her a fair subject for practice, and 
 treated her thus : — I had her heels washed every 
 other night with Avarm water and soap^ and then 
 lapped up in a simple bran poultice 5 persevered in 
 giving her three parts diuretic and one part cordial 
 balls, as often as her constitution Avould endure 
 them, and a good allowance of oats and beans* 
 She is now (July 1828) as free from the disease as 
 she Avas on the day she Avas foaled. I am, hoAV- 
 ever, quite convinced there is more than one stage 
 of grease in which all attempts at cure are fruit- 
 less. Mr. Percivall details the successful issue 
 of his father's treatment of a most inveterate 
 case of two years' standing, but the patient Avas 
 subject to a very painful operation. Grease has 
 been called the chilblain of the horse, but in my 
 opinion improperly. Good grooming Avill prevent 
 grease, but no care can exempt young children 
 
330 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 from chilblains. It is asserted that thorough-bred 
 horses never have grease. 
 
 HUMOURS. 
 
 Theory on this subject has undergone a great 
 change within the last twenty years. True it is 
 that horses Avhicli live well, and are not properly 
 treated, are liable to a morbid and vitiated state of 
 the blood, the virulence of which (the grease for 
 instance) is sufficiently proved by the difficulty Avith 
 which it is got rid of, and the animal restored to its 
 natural and healthy state. The characteristic 
 strength and vigour of the horse, however, is amply 
 disphiyed by the innnense and long-continued local 
 discharge which he will sometimes undergo, with- 
 out the constitution appearing to be much affected 
 by it. 
 
 From what are termed humours, or more 
 properly speaking foulness of habit, I have suffered 
 very little, and lay my good luck to the account of 
 the druggist and the balling-iron, and to an impres- 
 sive lesson or two in early life. 
 
 It is well known that a very considerable 
 number of hunters have passed through my hands, 
 and of course some of them horses of high charac- 
 ter, by the prices I obtained for them. In short, at 
 one time of my life, my friends used to tell me, 
 that, from the frequent purchases I made, there 
 Avas but a shade between me and the licensed 
 horse-dealer. It might have been so j but we will 
 let that pass , and I Avill proceed to state one fact, 
 which I thinjv I may say is nearly, if not quite, 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 331 
 
 unequalled in the annals of horse-dealing — I 
 
 NEVER HAD A HORSE RETURNED TO ME AS 
 
 UNSOUND ; and, as I assert this in the face of the 
 world it is fair to assume that my assertion is 
 correct. Perhaps it may be asked what has this 
 to do with the present subject— that of humours ? 
 I\Iy answer is, I kept my horses clean in their 
 habits, and, barring accidents, consequently sound. 
 On the subject of what grooms term humours, 
 Osmer writes thus: "There is a lameness proceed- 
 ing from humours; that is to say, the blood and 
 juices are viscid, not passing readily through the 
 various canals of circulation. Obstructions arise, 
 by Avhich the soft parts are affected with pain, and 
 lameness ensues, sometimes in one pari, sometimes 
 in another." 
 
 liffLAMMATION, GENERAL AND LOCAL, 
 
 I now come to the second deep curse on good 
 llorse-flesh, inseparable perhaps from the treatment 
 it receives in subjection to the use of us lords of 
 the creation, but from which even a life of nature 
 is not always free. High keep, however, assisted 
 by bad grooming and badly-ventilated stables, is 
 the great abettor of that infianmiatory action which 
 so often presents itself in such appalling forms, 
 and frequently Avithout any apparent cause. The 
 horse, however, is certainly prone to inflannnatory 
 conq)laints. 
 
 All things considered, I have escaped pretty 
 well in my own stable from the effects of inflam- 
 matory attacks, whether general or local, and can 
 
332 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 only number six cases beside the two I have men- 
 tioned. The first, a five-year-old horse, died from 
 an attack of inflamed lungs, occasioned by a 
 chill with hounds. The second, seized with 
 general inflammation, had a very narrow escape, 
 but recovered by the attention of Mr. Wild, V. S. 
 of Oxford, and I sold him for two hundred 
 guineas^ He was in no wise far the worse for 
 it, which I take to be an unusual case. The 
 third was seized with general inflammation, 
 owing to being over-worked with hounds. His 
 life was saved by the skill of Mr. Lucas of Ather- 
 stone; but his feet came off, and he was worth 
 nothing afterwards as a hunter. The fourth, an 
 alarming attack of general inflammation, occa- 
 sioned by neglect of a helper who had the care 
 of him in the absence of myself and my groom. 
 His life was saved by the judicious treatment of 
 the late Mr. Palfrey of Worcester, and I sold him 
 for two hundred guineas* He was, however, 
 always queer in his feet, from the effects of his 
 illnesSj though he hunted six seasons* The fifthj a 
 case of general inflammation, was in imminent 
 danger for many days ; but being a stallion reco- 
 vered rapidly, and I sold him the same season for 
 one hundred and fifty immids. The sixth, a 
 desperate case of inflamed lungs. After extreme 
 Buffering for eight days (during which time and for 
 seven succeeding days he never laid doAvn, and his 
 life was despaired of), he was saved by the skill of 
 Mr. Fryer, near Northallerton, in Yorkshire. This 
 horse recovered, all but a slight cough on first 
 coming out of tlie stable on a cold liiorning, and 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 333 
 
 I sold him at the latter end of the year 1827 for 
 one hundred guineas, subject to this cough. 
 
 I must offer a remark here : with the exception 
 of one, each of these cases occurred when I was 
 absent from my horses. The reader may fairly ask, 
 then, do I mean to imply by this, that, had I been 
 tvith them, they would not have been so attacked ? 
 I do not go this length ; but thus far will I go — 
 namely, that barring epizootic affections, so preva- 
 lent at particular seasons of the year, it is in the 
 poAver of a good groom — I mean a man of under- 
 standing, who looks to the state of the bowels, and 
 to symptoms which he is equal to comprehend and 
 to take for his guide — to secure his stable against 
 these internal complaints, unless produced by 
 unmerciful riding after hounds, or on the road. Of 
 course I must also bar chills caught by neglect of 
 inferior servants ; but these seldom occur in regular 
 hunting establishments. In the case of the stal- 
 lion, however, I did not act with my usual vigi- 
 lance. The horse was brought to covert for me, 
 and I mounted him ; but perceiving him dull, and 
 mimindfiil of passing objects, and also touching 
 little obstacles with his toe, so contrary to his 
 natural action, I sent him home directly, ordering 
 him to be copiously bled, and his corn diminished, 
 but I did not suffs,ciently raise the warning voice. 
 Having another horse in the field, I pursued the 
 chase; and when I saw my sick horse, the next 
 day but one, it recpiired all the skill of a very 
 eminent practitioner to preserve his nearly for- 
 feited life. Had I ordered the veterinary surgeon 
 
334 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 to be sent for the moment my servant got home, 
 I shoukl have acted a much Aviser part. 
 
 I am of opinion that horses having become 
 subject to severe inflammatory attacks, scarcely 
 ever are themselves again; and I will never in 
 future purchase one which I know to have been so 
 afliicted. The only hunter I ever had go blind in 
 my possession was at death's door with general 
 inflammation before I was j^ossessed of Mm y and 
 to that, I dare say, might his blindness be chiefly 
 attributed. Previously to his illness I offered a 
 hundred guineas for him, and purchased him after- 
 wards for fifty 'pounds ; so that his owner must have 
 been somewhat of my way of thinking. 
 
 It is not for me to enter physiologically into 
 this dangerous complaint, Avhich I think is well 
 described by Mr. White. " Inflammation," says 
 he, " consists in an increased action of the heart 
 and arteries, when general ; Avhereby the blood 
 circulates Avith unusual velocity, throwing the whole 
 system into derangement: and when local^ the 
 increased action is in like manner confined to the 
 vessels of that part." That which is general, he 
 tells us, " is often produced l)y plethora, and is 
 only an effort of Nature to get rid of so much 
 superfluous blood; and when local, that superfluous 
 blood is determined to some particular part, fre- 
 quently falling upon some of the internal organs, 
 such as lungs, eyes, bowels, &c." Bracy Clark 
 also confirms this : but, in my opinion, with hunters, 
 chills, by a sudden constriction of the capillary 
 vessels; being ridden with hounds when not 
 
CONDITION QF HUNTERS. 335 
 
 properly prepared for severe work 5 Avaiit of atten- 
 tion to the state of the bowels ; and, above all, 
 sudden changes of system, are the general predis- 
 posing causes of all inflammatory attacks of the 
 nature I have been describing. 
 
 JMr. Bracy Clark observes, " A much greater 
 number of horses that are high fed, and stand 
 much at rest in close warm stables^ die of diseases 
 which are brought on them from the want of 
 regular exercise, especially in great towns, than 
 from any other class of diseases to which they are 
 liable." In this I coincide, and it is in support of 
 my argument that good grooming is a preven- 
 tive of them ; but are we to conclude from this, 
 that high keep, want of exercise, and hot stables, 
 alone produce these diseases? Certainly notj 
 although it is too much the fashion with veterinary 
 surgeons to lay them to such causes. JMr. W. 
 Percivall, indeed, tells us (Lecture 77) the horse is 
 an animal destined by N^ature to breathe an atmo- 
 sphere of the purest kind ; in proof of the salubrity of 
 which to him, suffer him to remain in his native fields, 
 and he will live long and ail nothing." Although 
 sorry to differ from such high authority as this, I 
 cannot here give my assent. Acute diseases are not 
 only not confined to a life of art, but Avhen they make 
 their attack on a life of nature the resistance is 
 extremely weak. In the sunnnerof 1828 a veteri- 
 nary surgeon in Oxfordshire witnessed the death of 
 four colts out of six from internal inflanmiation, 
 although they never had been in a stable since they 
 were foaled ! ! I say *' witnessed," because I find 
 he was not called in to them until the disease had 
 
336 CONDITION OF HUNTE|IS. 
 
 inade some progress, and then, in their compara- 
 tively defenceless state, his assistance was of no 
 p,vail. But I need not go into Oxfordshire for 
 evidence in this case. I need only refer to my own 
 establishment. Since I have resided here, now 
 (?'. e. 1828) six years, my average stock has been 
 about twenty-five head of horned cattle, and sixteen 
 or seventeen horses ; the former living as nearly as 
 possible what may be termed a life of nature, the 
 latter always housed. Of the former, I have lost 
 half a dozen by disease ; of the latter, not one. 
 For once that my horses have required the aid of 
 medicine for disease, it has been administered ten 
 times to my cattle. So much for the natural frailty 
 of animal life ! 
 
 Mr. White, whose authority I respect because 
 he deals in reason, and is, I think, generally near 
 his mark, tells us that almost all the diseases of 
 horses may be attributed to improper treatment, 
 either in regard to feeding, exercise, state of the 
 stable, or shoeing j and I am quite certain that, 
 barring epizootics, most inflammatory attacks are 
 to be thus accounted for. It is quite rational to 
 conclude, that, if the ingesta exceed the egesta, 
 derangement must ensue. It is, however, astonish- 
 ing how little people in general regard the state of 
 their horses' bowels, althougli they are every day 
 reminded of the necessity of attention to their own. 
 
 I will produce one fact here in support of my 
 argument, although it is to be hoped that there are 
 but few instances of such treatment, or, I should 
 rather have said, neglect. A neighbour of mine 
 had a horse which he used as a stud horse, and last 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 337 
 
 year (1827) he was seized with inflammation of the 
 bowels, and died. On opening him it was found 
 lie had laboured under a most powerful constipation 
 of the bowels, which nothing, after a certain period, 
 could remove. " How long was it since he had 
 physic ?" said I to his owner, when condoling with 
 him on the loss he had sustained. " He never had 
 any," was the reply 5 and, on inquiry, I found he 
 had had him in his possession more than live years. 
 Now horses of this description are of all others the 
 most in need of temporary evacuants, from the state 
 they are kept in, sometimes living high, and at 
 others low, and for the most part debarred their 
 regular exercise. 
 
 When the internal organs are disordered, cure 
 must depend on knowledge of the structure of the 
 parts where disease is situated. We require not 
 only a practical knowledge of the living subject, 
 but also the testimony of the dead one \ and such 
 being the case I shall bring this subject to a close. 
 When I say that the most active measures, directed 
 by the l)est veterinary skill, are every day unable 
 to check the determined violence of acute, or in- 
 deed of chronic, inflannnation, it would ill become 
 me to say one word bearing any relation to the 
 medical treatment to be pursued, beyond the 
 scarcely necessary hint, that, if advice be not 
 immediately to be had, copious bleeding may he 
 safely fractised ; l)ut it would be better to leave 
 the bowels alone until the nature of the inflannna- 
 tion be ascertained, as in some cases violent purging 
 is destructive. Rowels also are of little service in 
 
 Z 
 
338 CONDITION OF HUNTERS, 
 
 the acute stage of inflammation, and blistering had 
 better await the veterinary surgeon's arrival. 
 
 Animal economy is so strongly affected by 
 all alterations of food and atmosphere j we cannot 
 be surprised that to sudden changes of condition 
 may be referred the exciting causes of many of these 
 inflammatory attacks j and I believe this is theory 
 which no one disputes. We may then safely infer 
 that a well-ventilated stable with good grooming, 
 food proportional to exercise, attention to the 
 bowels, and as little exposure to extremes of all 
 kinds as can, under all circumstances, be avoided, 
 is the best security against the dangerous and so 
 often unlooked-for diseases of which I have been 
 now speaking. Thus, Mr, Percivall tells us (Lec- 
 ture 38), Avhen pointing out the causes of diseased 
 lungs : — " If cold produced it, pneumonia ought to 
 be more prevalent at this time : so also, by parity 
 of reasoning, we may argue that it is not heat; for 
 many horses in hot climates are exposed to a higher 
 degree of heat in their natural than in their do- 
 mestic state. AUernations of ihefie conditions^ 
 however, appear to be powerfully influential in the 
 production of this disease— a fact which the know- 
 ledge of the physiology of the lungs may lead us to 
 understand ; since no part of the animal is so much 
 under the operation of changes of temperature as 
 the mucous membrane lining the nose, windpipe, 
 and air cells, with which cold or heated air must 
 actually come in contact at every inspiration, in a 
 manner I have before pointed out. If we couple 
 this physiological truth, then, with the exciting- 
 causes of inflammation in general, need we feel 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 339 
 
 surprised when we find that this membrane, of all 
 other parts, suffers from the operation of such 
 agents '?" Now the volume of this work, from 
 which I have extracted the foregoing, was not pub- 
 lished when I urged my arguments against the 
 danger of exposing horses, which have been kept in 
 warm stables for nine months of the year, to the 
 cold and frosty nights of May and June, and thus 
 accounted for so many of them becoming roarers. 
 
 Again — " With respect to change of food ^^^ 
 gays Mr. P., " there cannot be a doubt but it must 
 dispose, from its being the chief cause of plethora, 
 to general diathesis of the system ; and so far it 
 contributes to the production of pneumonia, or any 
 other inflammatory affection." 
 
 I shall now conclude this subject with observ- 
 ing that Mr. Percivall devotes upwards of seventy 
 closely printed pages to these inflammatory com- 
 plaints, Avhich he expatiates on Avith his usual 
 ability. The reader will not expect me to follow 
 him into his treatment of them : but let those who 
 have studs keep a sharp look-out, for inflannnatory 
 complaints are never far from their stable doors. 
 If a horse appears dull ; looking heavy in his eye ; 
 drooping his head ; becomes restless, frequently 
 shifting his legs ; let his owner not Avait for the 
 short cough and dilated nostril (which most likely 
 his groom Avould do), but let him send express for 
 the best advice he can procure ! 
 
 FOOT LAMENESS. 
 
 A spirit of inquiry has lately pervaded all ranks 
 of the people, and I have not altogether remained 
 
 z 2 
 
340 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 passive : on the contrary, on this particular subject 
 — one of such vital importance to an animal to 
 which I am so ardently attached — I have travelled 
 many hundred miles, and spent many pounds, in 
 seeking for instruction and knowledge. 
 
 On all subjects connected with science I have 
 ever been partial to the interlocutory style. We 
 have not only some of the brightest ornaments of 
 antiquity for our model — the Bible itself not form- 
 ing an exception — but another advantage appears to 
 accompany it. We often glean information from 
 the questions, as well as from the answers given to 
 them ; and it enables the writer more minutely to 
 divide his subjects. I shall, therefore, assume 
 the signature B, and reply to the questions of my 
 brother dialogist A. 
 
 A. You say you are about to write on the com- 
 plicated diseases of horses' feet, and on shoeing ! 
 Have you the vanity to imagine you can offer any- 
 thing new and satisfactory on a subject upon which 
 one would suppose inspiration itself could scarcely 
 throw any new light ? 
 
 B. Why should I be deprived of vanity, that 
 choicest given of Heaven? We are all subject to 
 speculative errors, and doubtless I am not Avithout 
 my share : but here I shall speak the powerful and 
 practical language of experience, and facts shall be 
 the basis of my reasoning. Now then to business. 
 
 A. Do you attribute the frequent instances of 
 horses being lame in their feet to the evils of bad 
 shoeing ? 
 
 B. Certainly not — inasmuch as the form of the 
 shoe is concerned. Provided no injury be done by 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 341 
 
 driving the nails improperly, I aviII answer for it 
 no horse ever was or ever Avill be lamed from 
 merely wearing an ill-constructed shoe. I would 
 pledge my very existence, that, out of fifty horses 
 shod by the most inexperienced apprentices that 
 ever practised the art, not one of them shall be lame 
 from this cause alone. 
 
 A. I imagine you do not mean to assert that bad 
 shoeing Avill not alter the natural form of the foot? 
 
 i^. Bad shoeing will alter the natural form of 
 the foot 5 but not once in a hundred times will it 
 of itself produce lameness — not even from corns. 
 
 A. To what then do you attribute the very 
 frequent occurrence of foot-lameness ? 
 
 J3. Principally to these causes : — Natural nial*" 
 conformation, or rather weak organisation of the 
 internal parts of the hoof ^ inflammation, and fever 
 produced by excitement of high food and hard 
 riding or driving 5 concussion from beating the 
 ground on the road and at grass 5 irregular and 
 unprepared-for work \ improper position of the 
 limb, occasioning an uneven tread ; and, above all , 
 the pace. " It is the pace that kills." 
 
 A. Do you mean to say contraction Avill not be 
 produced by bad shoeing, and that contraction will 
 not produce lameness ? 
 
 jB. Bad shoeing, as I have said before, may 
 alter the form of the foot j ]:)ut I have yet to see an 
 instance of contraction alone producing lameness in 
 the foot of a horse. On the contrary, my experi- 
 ence has justified the conclusion that the narrow 
 mule-like foot is the foot most likely to stand, unin- 
 jured, very severe work on the road. Asses, mules, 
 
342 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 and ponies bear me out here 5 for they are nevei* 
 lame in their feet, though they are contraction 
 exemplified. I am convinced that contraction of 
 the hoof, when not natural, is the effect of internal 
 inflammation of it j but I have never seen a solitary 
 instance of its being the caiiae of lameness* This, 
 it will be remembered, is not the first time I have 
 broached this opinion. It will be recollected I 
 stated in illustration of it, my having purchased a 
 hunter in Gloucestershire for 150/. {p. 140), which, 
 although a known good one, no man in Colonel 
 Berkeley or I\Ir. Hornyold's Hunts would buy 
 because he had very narrow feet, and consequently 
 must he lamei Now this horse Avas sold, by 
 IMessrs. Tattersall, for eighty guineas, as sound on 
 his feet as when he was foaled, after six more sea- 
 sons' hunting, carrying a very heavy Aveight. 
 
 A» Do you mean to say you prefer a narroAV to 
 a wide foot ? 
 
 B* By no means. I very much prefer a Avide 
 foot for a hunter, for reasons Avhich I need 
 not state ; and on the road, a horse having a 
 firmer basis to support his body, treads more 
 securely on a Avide foot than on a narroAV one , but 
 very fcAV Avide feet, Avhich have generally thin 
 soles, if not Ioav heels, Avill stand severe battering 
 on the road. 
 
 A' Do you mean us to understand that it mat- 
 ters not Avhether a horse be ill or Avell shod ? 
 
 B. I do not go so far as this 5 but I am quite 
 convinced that the art of the mechanic, hoAvever 
 skilfully employed, is only an auxiliary to the 
 soundness of horses' feet. To shew you, however, 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 343 
 
 how important I consider good shoeing to be, I 
 hazard the presumption that it even preserves the 
 Torm and shape of the natural foot. I mean to 
 imply this : You shall keep your horse live years 
 without shoes, and doing nothing but running wild 
 in his pasture : I will keep my horse shod, doing 
 work, and in the stable : and at the end of the live 
 years — provided no internal disease, proceeding 
 from causes which I have before enumerated, has 
 attacked them — the feet of my horse shall be not 
 only as sound as those of yours, but in a firmer and 
 better form for any kind of hard work j and I see 
 no reason why it should not be so. Nature is 
 liberal to those who cultivate her, and has no ob- 
 jection to our following and embellishing her ; but 
 it is [)y violating, forcing, and counteracting her 
 that the mischief here is done. 
 
 A. Then you mean at once to assert that shoe- 
 ing is not a general cause of foot-lameness? 
 
 B. General conclusions cannot be drawn from 
 individual cases ; but, speaking generally, I do not 
 think it is. When executed on its worst plan it 
 has not alone the power to produce lameness ; but 
 when in conformity to the principles of Nature, it 
 is a protection and a preventive of disease. Pardon 
 here the following short digression. 
 
 When time was young, and earth in a state of 
 nature, horses might not require shoes ; but that 
 they should so long have been without them as a 
 defence to the foot, I have always considered a 
 serious reflection on the inventive genius of man- 
 kind. Let us look, however, to the result. The 
 most serious inconveniences, attended with great 
 
344 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 loss of liuinaii life, were the consequences of horses 
 not being shod. Armies v/ere rendered useless — 
 (Hannibal's, for instance, when opposed to Scipio, 
 whose horses were unfit for service by the bad 
 roads they had marched over ; those of Mithridates 
 in Bithynia, and a score other instances) — and, in 
 short, the value of the animal was comparatively 
 small. To this, indeed, Ave may ascribe the pre- 
 ference given to asses over horses in the ear- 
 lier stages of society for all domestic purposes; 
 for, notwithstanding the pains they took in 
 selecting those Avith strong hoofs that " shall 
 be counted like flint," and loud sounding hoofs 
 -— Avhich, by the bye, must have been narroAv 
 and hollow ones— and old Xenophon's recipe* 
 for hardening them, they were but of little ser- 
 vice to them. 
 
 A, NoAV then explain to me what you consider 
 good shoeing 5 and tell me whether there is any 
 general principle to be acted upon, either in pre- 
 paring the hoof or in the form of the shoe. 
 
 B. That there is no general system to be pur* 
 sued in shoeing, is best proved by the well-known 
 fact, that all system-mongers and their systems 
 have gone to pot together, and we now hear no 
 more of them. 
 
 A. Of course, then, you Avill shew us in Avhat 
 way different kinds of horses are to be shod, so as 
 to prevent as much as possible the probability of 
 their feet receiving injury from shoes ; and also in- 
 form us how they should be treated generally, so 
 
 • Vegetius mentions a salve — " quo iingulic nutriantur, et medi- 
 carainis beneficio subscrescat quod itineris attriverat injuria." 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 345 
 
 as to ward off the other evils of which you have 
 spoken. 
 
 B. You have allotted nie a task which no man 
 yet born can perform. It is in no man's poAver to 
 alter the natural mal-organisation of animal struc- 
 ture. If the hoofs of a horse are defective — which 
 many are from the time of birth-— and his tread is 
 uneven, nothing will prevent his being lame if 
 exposed to high keep and fast work — the former, 
 however, not being always essential. 
 
 A. When you speak of horses' hoofs being defec- 
 tive from birth, do you mean in external form — 
 such as too thick or too thin in the sole : too hiirh 
 or too low, too wide or too narrow, in the heels ? 
 
 B. I except all shapes and forms. ]\Iy experi- 
 ence — and I have })aid for it — instructs me, that 
 such feet as you Avould take for models are often 
 defective from birth. Disease often attacks them 
 previously to their being exposed to injury ; but 
 should it so happen that feet of this description are 
 attached to legs imjjroperfy placed^ it is next to a 
 miracle if they Avill endure hardship. 
 
 A. Will not good shoeing remedy this de- 
 fect, and render a horse sound at six years old, 
 which may have been struck Avith foot lameness at 
 four ? 
 
 B. It might do so by producing a more even 
 tread ; and after the wonderful changes I have seen 
 effected by shoeing in the horses at Carlton Palace, 
 under the direction of Mr. Goodwin, which he has 
 so ably demonstrated by casts, I will not say it is 
 not so; although My. Goodwin told me that in 
 one instance — a three-year-old colt, purchased for 
 
346 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 His Majesty, which was struck with foot-lameness 
 at grass when a three-year-okl, and continued Lame 
 for eleven years — no relief could be o'otained. I 
 have a case now (July 1828) in my own stable 
 Avhich applies well here. It is of a four-year- old 
 mare which I bred myself, and had not been shod 
 more than six times, and then by an excellent 
 hand* I was riding her on the road at the rate 
 of ten miles an hour, Avhen all of a sudden she 
 dropped very lame in the near fore-foot. With 
 difficulty I got her to Reading, and left her 
 at the Crown Inn for the night. The next day 
 she walked home, and the usual means were 
 resorted to in order to cool her foot — for it was 
 evident the injury was there — and she soon be- 
 came sound. This mare^ however^ will he a 
 cripple for the rest of her life ; and all the art 
 of a Goodwin, a Turner, or the Professor him- 
 self, Avill never keep her sound if put to severe 
 work. She now goes sound aft€r she gets a 
 mile from her stable ; but the navicular bone is 
 injured, and no human art can restore her. At 
 the same time I nmst observe, that if I w^anted 
 a model of a finely-formed foot 1 would take it 
 from the one I have been speaking of 5 for it is 
 perfect as far as outward appearance goes. But 
 here is " the young disease, that must subdue at 
 length." 
 
 A, I cannot help thinking you will lose all 
 your credit with the public for having said that bad 
 shoemg will not lame horses. 
 
 B. The experience of my life has confirmed 
 the truth of my assertion j and, if I liked it, I need 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 347 
 
 not go from my oavii cart-horse stal^les for tlie proof 
 of it. But I will go farther a-tield. I will go to 
 the two Principalities of Wales, into the very 
 remote parts of them, where shoeing is performed 
 in the most clumsy manner. There, excepting 
 among those used in coaches and post-chaises, you 
 never see a lame horse* Now the question is — 
 why do you not? I answer, because you never see 
 a horse going more than five miles an hour, and 
 corn is very sparingly given. I have sojourned a 
 great deal in those parts, and never did I see a 
 thorough-bred Welchman, drunk or sober, ride 
 beyond that pace. I say again — '^ it is the jxice" 
 — the telling jj ace, the high condition we so much 
 boast of, and not the iron defence of a shoe, that 
 lames one half o{ our horses. Take off their shoes, 
 and all of them would be lame. I mean, then, here 
 clearly and distinctly to give it as my opinion, that 
 if horses Avere never to be ridden more than live 
 miles in the hour, and fed very sparingly with 
 corn, they would never be lame in their feet, 
 whether shod ill or shod well, unless in cases of 
 constitutional disease — as was the case of the 
 three-year-old of His Majesty's just mentioned, 
 who was struck with foot-lameness before he was 
 put to work, or shod. 
 
 A. Will you tell me what you consider good, 
 and what you consider bad shoeing ? And will you 
 afterwards state the most likely course to pursue 
 to keep horses sound in their feet from causes 
 unconnected with shoeing ? 
 
 B. I will do so at a future opportunity. 
 
348 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 A. Will you tell me what you consider a per- 
 fect foot ? 
 
 B. It is obvious that a perfect foot is one that 
 is formed agreeably to the best pattern that Nature 
 presents to us 5 and Avhen we consider that the 
 contents of it are highly sensible, being composed 
 of bones, tendons, ligaments, nerves, arteries, and 
 veins, we must look upon it as one of the finest 
 specimens of the plastic art. I do not, however^ 
 recpiire what is called a perfect foot — perfect I 
 mean to the eye — for I have seen many such not 
 worth sixpence each. I require one (no matter in 
 what form, although 1 should prefer a Avide one for 
 a hunter, and a tolerably Avide enough one for a 
 hack) which is made of firm materials, and able 
 to resist disease. This, however, can only be 
 proved by experience. For instance, I thought I 
 had a pair of beautifully-formed feet under the 
 four-year-old filly I bred, and so I have; but I 
 would not give sixpence a dozen for such for my 
 pace on the road. I do not believe the tread has 
 anything to do with this case, as the structure of 
 my mare's shoulders and fore-legs is very true, and 
 her knees and pasterns excellent. 
 
 A. If you had a horse with an ill-shaped foot, 
 apparently inclined to contraction, Avould you take 
 any steps towards bringing it to a better form? 
 
 B. Certainly not. If the horse be sound, let 
 well alone j for, as JMr. Goodwin observes, " were 
 all horses whose hoofs are deformed to be under 
 treatment, three-fourths of those in the United 
 Kingdom would be put out of work;" I have seen 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 349 
 
 a great deal of injury done by blacksmiths opening 
 the heels of horses with their drawing-knife, and 
 putting on shoes too wide for the foot. This prac- 
 tice gets them many a half-crown, and ruins thou- 
 sands of horses. A gentleman sends a horse to 
 their shop, and the following is generally the 
 blarney on this occasion : — " If you had not sent 
 this horse here. Sir, you would soon have had him 
 lame : only see how his heels are gro^vn together !" 
 The operator now sets to work, unmercifully, with 
 his butteris or drawing-knife, and when he has cut 
 a great cleft on each side of the frog — to the 
 evident weakening of the heels which support the 
 greater part of the animal's weight — and placed a 
 shoe nearly straight at the quarters, too wide for the 
 foot and heels, and consequently giving it the 
 appearance of being open, he exclaims, " there. Sir, 
 noiv you have a fine open foot." I have said before, 
 I do not insiiit upon an open foot, for I have seen 
 as many horses lame Avith them as I have Avith strong 
 and narrow heels, and such as incline inward ;|at 
 the same time I should much prefer an open foot, 
 if it be firm a one, for very obvious reasons. 
 
 A. Then you mean to say, the art of the 
 mechanic is only an auxiliary to the sound state of 
 a horse's foot ;f and that, whether he be shod ill, or 
 whether he be shod well, he will always be liable 
 to be lame from causes totally unconnected Avith 
 shoeing ? 
 
 B. That is decidedly my opinion ; and I take 
 my stand on the hind foot, which is never the seat of 
 
 founder, although composed of precisely tlie same 
 materials as the fore-foot, and not only subject to, 
 
350 CONDITION OF HUNTERS, 
 
 all the inconveiiience of nailing the shoe on it, but 
 to a considerable share of neglect into the bargain ; 
 for we are well aware grooms of q,n inferior order 
 never pay much attention to the hinder feet. I 
 must, however, go farther here : — the hind leg is 
 subject to more diseases than the fore leg ; but how 
 happens it that the foot is not? Again, how 
 happens it that I may over-n;ark or distress my 
 hoi'se in a run, and in a few hours a violent fever 
 shall attack his fore-feet, whilst his hinder ones 
 remain as they "vVere? I am noAV alluding to a case 
 where there shall .have been no beating the hard 
 road ; no concussion (for my horse shall have been 
 going over his fetlocks in dirt, and only for half an 
 hour) 5 no mal-structure of his limbs, for he shall 
 be a well formed one \ and, if you like it better, he 
 shall have been ridden barefoot. 
 
 Now what is the consequence of this half 
 hour's burst ? Why, that my horse shall be lame 
 in his fore-feet, from this time forth evermore, but 
 that his hinder feet shall feel no injury whatever ! 
 What then am I to conclude from this ? TVhy, I 
 naturally conclude that tlwre is a predisposition to 
 disease in the fore-feet of horses^ which not only 
 does not exist in the hinder ones, but ivith which 
 shoeing has nothing' to do, 
 
 A. Your argument is forcible, but you have 
 been alluding to hunters, and not to road-horses, 
 and it is to the latter that the system of founder 
 chiefly applies. 
 
 B, I admit of but very little distinction here. 
 It signifies not much whether I ride a horse very 
 hard over a country, or whether I rattle him fifty 
 
CONDITION OP HUNTI3RS. 351 
 
 miles on the road. In either case fever will he 
 produced hy the eoaeitement^ and that fever has 
 nndouhtedly a determinatmi to the senaihle parts of 
 the fore- feet. — I consider the following statement 
 highly confirmatory of the opinion I have ventured 
 to give : — " When a horse," says ]\Ir. Goodwin, 
 " has heen lame for some time, without any 
 apparent cause, this disease (founder) is then 
 generally supposed to exist. It prevails among all 
 sorts of horses, but 7iever occurs in the hind feet. 
 I cannot give a better illustration of it than by 
 relating the following case, which occurred in a cele- 
 brated hunter. When I saw the horse, he had then 
 been lame two or three years, and it had been sup- 
 posed that he was merely tender or sore from some 
 slight cause 5 but in spite of all the remedies that 
 were adopted, the disease increased progressively 
 until he became excessively lame, exhibitmg all 
 the distressing symptoms observed in severe cases 
 of contraction. Various opinions have been formed 
 as to the seat of the disease ; as almost every part 
 of the fore-legs, shoulders, and feet, bore the marks 
 of a variety of operations A\'hich had been per- 
 formed — blistering, firing, rowelling, &c. After 
 having minutely examined into the nature of the 
 case, my opinion led me to state that there was no 
 prospect of relief, and that, notwithstanding the 
 hoofs had every appearance of perfection^ the 
 cause of lameness would be discovered on dissec- 
 tion to exist in the foot. 
 
 " The gentleman to whom the horse belonged 
 immediately directed that he might be destroyed , 
 
352 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 mid after death sent me tlie feet for dissection. 
 There Avas no reason whatever to believe that any 
 change of the form or structure of the horn was 
 the cause of the lameness; but on prosecuting the 
 dissection, I found that a considerable degree of 
 ossification had taken place in the large flexor 
 tendon, which passes over the navicular bone ; 
 adhesions also between the bone and the tendon ; 
 the articular cartilages were denuded, and the body 
 of the bone had Ijecome carious. The disease in 
 both feet was nearly similar. — Tlie symptoms and 
 appearances," adds Mr. G. " in all cases of this 
 kind of lameness are much the same ?" 
 
 Now, may I ask, where is the man who will 
 say No to these three questions : — Was not this 
 disease totally unconnected with the external struc- 
 ture of the foot ? Was it not produced by inflam- 
 mation i And might it not have happened if the 
 horse in question had gone l^arefoot all his life? — 
 Surely no one wdll pretend to say that concussion 
 does not take place Avith or without shoes ; and 
 which Nature must have been aware of when slie 
 provided so carefully against it. 
 
 A. But is it not generally supposed that concus- 
 sion, increased by the resistance of an iron shoe, 
 is the general cau^seof foot lameness'? 
 
 B. I should soon bewilder you and myself were 
 I to enter fully into this subject. One reason Mr. 
 Coleman gives for the large dray horses never being- 
 lame in their feet is, the innnense weight which 
 at every step is imposed on them ; whilst others 
 say that nothing but concussion produces the 
 
CONDITIOIV OF HUNTERS. 353 
 
 mischief. Mr. Bracy Clarke has told us, that so 
 long as we have an inflexible, unyielding substance 
 affixed to a flexible elastic foot, so long shall we 
 have lande horses; and Mr. Bracy Clarke does not 
 stand alone here. 
 
 A. Why then has not the ingenuity of 
 man found out a remedy for the evil, by invent- 
 ing elastic shoes giving way to the extension of 
 the foot ? 
 
 jB. What! have you never heard of the various 
 patent expansion shoes of Mr. Bracy Clarke and 
 others ? 
 
 A. What is become of them ? 
 
 JB. Did I not tell you that the systems and 
 system-mongers Avere all gone to pot together? 
 Expansion shoes have been tried, and not found to 
 answer ; therefore it is fair to conclude that mere 
 concussion is not the root of the evil. The root of 
 tJie evil is the j}ace y and injlammation is produced 
 by the consequence of that pace ^ unaccompanied by 
 good grooming to counteract it. If concussion 
 alone were the cause, surely the ingenuity of the 
 Avhole body of veterinary surgeons would have 
 found some certain and feasible method of provid- 
 ing against it; but it all ends in this: — TVith 
 shoes, at the pace we ride our horses, and from 
 our high keep, we shall ahvays have one-fifth of 
 them more or less injured in their feet : imthout 
 shoes, all u'ould be lame : so of two evils we should 
 chuse the lesser. 
 
 Never having tried them, I can give no opinion 
 of the effect of what are called expansion shoes--* 
 
 A A 
 
354 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 but ill reading on the subject, I have found such 
 stuff as this : — That when a smith is nailing a shoe 
 of the common make on the foot of a horse, the 
 foot, when held up by the said smith, is in its most 
 collapsed state, and narrower in consequence of 
 the weight being removed from it^ — Now I will 
 answer for it, that the Avidth of ten thousand 
 horses' feet shall be taken when standing under 
 their weight, and not an atom of difference in 
 the external form will be found on taking the 
 foot up. 
 
 A. Then you are of opinion that no shoe has 
 been as yet produced that can be said to prevent 
 concussion, admitting that to be one exciting cause 
 tt> lameness? 
 
 B. *' An inquiry into the structure of the foot," 
 says Mr. Goodwin, " will alone shew that it is 
 impossible to suggest a form of shoe which can 
 admit of all the functions of the foot being duly 
 performed ; and that shoe," adds he, " is the most 
 entitled to our notice which gives the least incon- 
 venience to the animal, and allows of the most 
 natural position to the feet, either when in action 
 or at rest." When in Devonshire, four years ago, 
 I certainly saAV a shoe made by Mr. Rogers, V. 8. 
 of Exeter, the most likely of any I ever met with 
 to counteract the effects of an inflexible substance 
 nailed to a flexible organ, on which great weight 
 is to be placed ; and, as far as concussion can be 
 allowed its share in producing the diseases of 
 feet, might certainly prove an antidote. I have 
 shewn it to several practical men, who admired 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 355 
 
 it much, provided it could be brought into general 
 use— the only sure test of its merit. The annexed 
 figure is ufac simile of Mr. Rogers's shoe : — 
 
 I have given this drawing of it, as it is not in 
 my power to describe the name of the joint, if such 
 it can he called, which enables the shoe to expand 
 with very little force of the hands applied to the 
 heels of it. On taking one heel in one hand and 
 the other in the other hand, iind holding the shoe 
 to the light, the expansion of the nick or hinge A 
 is very apparent to nearly the eighth of an inch. 
 At first sight we might exclaim, surely this shoe, 
 from being so nearly cut through at the toe, must 
 break when exposed to much friction! — but this 
 does not appear to be the case. Mr. Rogers shewed 
 me one that had been carried three hundred and 
 twenty miles on a Avheel-horse in the mail, and 
 which was no more worn than any common shoe. It 
 must, however, be observed that these shoes are 
 manufactured by what, in white-smithery, is 
 termed plating, and afterward reduced to steel 
 temper j which circumstance alone will ever pre- 
 
 AA2 
 
356 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 elude their general use, and therefore they will 
 experience the ftite of all other systems. 
 
 I now come to another antidote for concussion, 
 which, as it appeared easy of access, I thought I 
 would try the effect of. I allude to a thick piece 
 of leather, resembling that which composes the 
 sole of a walking shoe, placed so as to cover the 
 surface of the foot, and the shoe nailed through it. 
 As a farther advantage to feet that had been 
 injured, stoj)jnng, of a very adhesive nature, was 
 applied to the cavity of the foot, and all, including 
 the frog, was well secured by this leathern sole. 
 Mr. Sewell, of Water Lane, Strand (brother I 
 believe to Mr.S. of the College), Avas the operator; 
 and having a well-bred hack in London, with 
 rather mule-like feet, and a little the worse for the 
 many thousand miles she had galloped on the road 
 Avitli me in the two preceding years, I thought her 
 a fit subject for experiment ; so took her myself to 
 the forge, and witnessed the whole process— paying- 
 seven shillings for the operation on the two fore 
 feet. 
 
 Now then for the result. I got on her back in 
 Piccadilly, intending to ride her home (fifty miles) 
 to dinner on a -short winter's day, therefore the 
 pace was quick. The roads also were extremely 
 wet; and as I was walking her up Egham Hill, 
 only nineteen miles from town, I took the oppor- 
 tunity of looking at her feet, when I found one of 
 the leathern soles Avas entirely destroyed by the 
 friction of the gravel, at the pace I had ridden ; but 
 the other Avas firm in its place. Conceiving, from the 
 mule-like form of this mare's feet, that they were 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 357 
 
 best adapted for this contrivance, and finding it 
 unequal to the purpose I had applied it — namely, 
 twelve miles an hour, on a wet gravelly road, and 
 also finding no difference in the gait of my mare — 
 I never again rode in leathern shoes, but placed 
 them to the account of the systems. 
 
 There are, however, advocates for anything 
 that is new, or a little out of the common way. A 
 neighbour of mine who hunts on the Hampshire 
 Hills, and is a little particular about his horses, 
 has them shod over a leathern sole, and tells me lie 
 finds it answer. My opinion on this subject 
 is, that if his horses have bad thrushes, the 
 leatliern covering may be useful ; but, as far as my 
 experience of horses going over flints in the winter 
 has led me, T consider them beneficial, and not 
 injurious to their feet. 
 
 Mr. Rogers, of Exeter, sent me another kind 
 of shoe, intended to ward off concussion. This 
 has a spring on the near heel. The shoe was 
 accompanied by a certificate from the horse-keeper, 
 of its having travelled some hundred miles on the 
 foot of a mail coach horse, and the spring was in 
 static quo ; but I conceive it is too powerless to be 
 of any service in arresting concussion under so 
 weighty an animal as a coach-horse. I very well 
 remember the noise that was made about IMr. 
 Bracy C larke's jointed shoe, Avhich was to preserve 
 horses' feet to the latest periods of their lives ; on 
 tlie principle — a just one truly — of imparting to the 
 shoe the same degree of elasticity that the foot 
 itself possesses. This was to have formed " the 
 basis for the repose of the profession ," but the 
 
358 CONDITION OF HUNTERS, 
 
 dream was of sliort duration— the stress on the 
 nails in the shoe was found to be injurious to the 
 hoof. Such of my readers, hoAvever, who will be 
 at the trouble of looking for it, will find in volume 
 xxviii. of the Sporting Magazine (j). 210) a copy 
 of a patent Mr. Clarke obtained for another shoe, 
 which A¥as to remedy every evil supposed to have 
 its origin in shoeing. I will not attempt a descrip- 
 tion of it ; but such a farrago of nonsense never 
 before emerged from the brains of a sensible man, 
 which Mr. C. is allowed to be, and it is the 
 multitude of these futile productions that has 
 brought discredit on the practice of shoeing, and 
 induced so many to pronounce it quackery. 
 
 A. What is your opinion of the necessity of 
 pressure on the frog ? Has not Professor Cole- 
 man asserted that unless the frog receive pressure it 
 becomes diseased ? 
 
 B. Were a learned mathematician to tell a 
 ploughman that the three angles of a triangle are 
 equal to two right angles ; or that the square of 
 the hypotenuse of a right angled triangle is equal 
 to the sum of the squares of the two sides; the 
 ploughman is, I believe, bound to believe it on the 
 skill and knowledge of his informer, because his 
 own ideas on the subject will not enable him to 
 dispute the fact. Not so here*. And, perhaps, had 
 
 * Had the Professor ridden as many hundreds of thousands of 
 miles on the road as I have ridden, on all sorts of feet, he would 
 have long since been convinced that not one horse in a thousand is 
 safe with the frog in contact with the ground. Without weight on 
 his back he might be so ; but, when carrying his rider, he will be 
 constantly flinching when stepping on hard surfaces, particularly 
 broken stones* 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 359 
 
 the mathematician touched upon ploughing, the 
 ploughman might have had the best of the argu- 
 ment. The theory, however, of the frog is beauti- 
 ful. " No animal, nor any part of an animal," 
 says the Professor, ^' can be preserved in health, 
 where the natural functions are prevented." Again ; 
 " When the frog is not sufficiently pressed upon, 
 it becomes soft from the accumulation of the fluid 
 which it naturally secretes in great abundance 
 from the fatty substance which lies immediately 
 under the tendon." It is also part of Mr. Cole- 
 man's theory, that, without pressure on the frogs, 
 the cartilages of the coffin bone no longer act upon 
 the coronary ring ; and that, as the horn is secreted, 
 it takes a wrong direction in consequence of this 
 want of action on the cartilages ; and hence, he 
 says, all the disease which takes place. '^ The 
 frog," says White, " resembles a wedge; but 
 towards the heel, where it becomes Avide and 
 expanded, there is a separation in the middle, which 
 is continued to the heel. When the frog receives 
 the pressure of the horse's weight, this separation 
 is increased, and consequently becomes wider ; and, 
 as it is connected with the heels of the crust, the 
 same effect must be produced upon them." Again : 
 Mr. White says, more forcibly, " the sensitive 
 frog resembles a wedge : its point is to the toe, 
 whence it Ijecomes gradually wider and larger; 
 it is divided by a cleft in its centre towards the 
 hind part, by which it is enabled to expand or 
 become wider Avhen exposed to pressure." 
 
 Now all this would lead us to hnagine, that, if 
 we wish to preserve the feet of our liorses in a 
 
360 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 sound state through life, we have nothing to do 
 but to let their frogs touch the groimd, and all is 
 sure to he right. Mr. Coleman must have been 
 of this opinion Avhen he obtained patents for his 
 iron frogs, and anchor shoes, and thin-heeled shoes, 
 which, if I had Lord Plymouth's or Sir Harry 
 Goodricke's studs, should not be used in my stable 
 under a premium of fifty pounds per day; but he 
 does not stop here : he adds, that where the frog 
 does not touch the ground, disease must he the 
 consequence. 
 
 Now, although the Professor, I believe, stands 
 alone here — (for White, Goodwin, and most other 
 writers on this subject deny the assertion) — facts, 
 and not words, will alone satisfy me ; and there- 
 fore I proceed to experience. 
 
 More than four-fifths of the horses I have had 
 have been those whose frogs never came in contact 
 with the ground when standing on firm ground ; 
 and yet I can reckon up but six cases of foot lame- 
 ness ; and those in very perfect feet to look at, with 
 fine prominent frogs. I nmst, however, go farther 
 a-field than my own stable. Let a man start at 
 Hyde Park Corner, and go the Land's End in Corn- 
 wall, a distance of about three hundred miles ; in 
 coaching work, and in posting work, he will find at 
 least two thousand horses. Now, I will answer 
 for it, five hundred of those shall be perfectly sound 
 horses, including what are called riding post-chaise 
 horses, which must he sound^ or they could not 
 carry the post-boys ; and yet the frogs of not more 
 than a dozen of these shall receive pressure from 
 the ground, during the summer months fit least 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 361 
 
 which are the most trying to the feet. Out of the 
 two thousand horses — ahnost always in the stable 
 too — there will not be found a hundred with dis- 
 eased frogs. I looked over a very large posting 
 establishment on the Bath Road a short time ago 
 to ascertain these points, and I could not find half 
 a dozen diseased frogs 5 but a great many in a very 
 perfect state, which belonged to feet many years at 
 work, but 7iot coming in contact tvith the ground. 
 On my asking if it was usual to stop the feet in 
 these stables, I was answered, only in a few parti- 
 cular cases. 
 
 The best proof of the folly of insisting on the 
 necessity of the frog receiving pressure to prevent 
 disease, is to be found in the total abandonment of 
 Mr. Coleman's thin-heeled shoe, as it is called, 
 after a very fair trial both in and out of the army. 
 '' Had it proved itself to be a preferable plan," says 
 Mr. Goodwin, " it Avould certainly, with the trial 
 it has had, have been adopted at this period in 
 every forge ; instead of which I believe it Avould 
 be difficult to find even one in any part of the king- 
 dom where it is generally employed *." 
 
 • I think the following extract from Mr. Goodwin settles the 
 point of the thin-heeled shoe, and all other attempts to make the frog 
 of a horse, which wears any shoe at all, come in contact with the 
 ground : — " When a horse is shod with this thin-heeled shoe, the 
 position of the leg and foot is unnatural, and continually upon the 
 strain, when the toes are raised so much above the heels : and this 
 must be the situation of all horses shod thus, except in those which 
 have become mule-shaped by contraction. Therefore it is these only 
 which will bear a diminution of horn at the toe equal to a reduction 
 of the shoe at the heels, which Mr. Coleman urges the necessity of 
 paying due attention to. Sprains in the tendons and ligaments, as 
 ^ell as fatigue in the muscles of the leg," adds Mr, G., " often occur 
 
362 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 I believe I have before stated my conviction of 
 the little chance such a bit of spongy substance as 
 the elastic frog of a horse has to resist the united 
 power of iron and horn ; as well as my experience 
 of hundreds of horses continuing sound to a good 
 old age with scarcely any frog at all. 
 
 A. What do you call a perfect foot ? 
 
 B. A sound foot. 
 
 A, Do you not insist on a circular base , wide, 
 open heels, and prominent frogs '{ 
 
 B. On neither, for I have so often found them 
 delusive. At the same time I should prefer them, 
 being more agreeable to nature, I like a good- 
 sized foot for all purposes, but it must not be too 
 large in a race horse or a roadster, / must, how- 
 ever, have a good pastern above it, or the best- 
 organised feet mat/ Jail. 
 
 A. How would you examine a horse's foot 
 before purchase ? 
 
 B. I would first stand in his front and examine 
 the wall or crust. If I sslw it indented about an 
 inch and a half below the coronet, and a ring, or 
 rings, running round it, I should not buy: / 
 should suspect previous disease. If these symptoms 
 were not present, I should take up the foot and 
 examine the ground surface of it, and I should not 
 reject a good hunter because he might have narrow 
 
 from their being thus unusually exerted." And he concludes by 
 saying, " he has never observed that horses thus shod are less liable 
 either to contraction or to corns. On the contrary," adds he, " I 
 have remarked that it (the low-heeled system) is particularly injuri- 
 ous to weak feet, and disposes the heels to shelve forward ; the foot, 
 in consequence, loses its equilibrium, and the horse goes unsafe, and 
 is continually tripping and blundering in his paces." 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 363 
 
 heelsj thrushy frogs, or even i^one at all. There is, 
 however, a foot we call '^ a weak foot," which I 
 should certainly reject, however open the heels and 
 prominent the frogs — at least, if the price were 
 higli. Independently of the appearances before 
 spoken of, there is such a deficiency of horn in feet 
 of this description that they never stand road-AVork, 
 and shoes are never secure on them. They have 
 seldom any heels ; require great care in shoeing ; 
 and, next to the actual pumice, are the most trou- 
 blesome to a groom to keep right. 
 
 These weak feet, however, it must be observed, 
 are generally wifle and open, and nearly, if not 
 quite, circular atthejr base ; and on this subject Mr. 
 Goodwin may be aptly quoted : — " ]\Iuch has been 
 said by Mr. Cojeman (says he) about the circular 
 form of the hoof being an unerring principle of 
 nature, and when so formed it is by him considered 
 as a test of its perfection ; but as the class of hoofs 
 I have here described is numerous, and very gene- 
 rally circular, I contend that a circular form fur- 
 nishes no proof of the perfection of the foot." It 
 may now be asked, what is the best shoe for a 
 healthy foot ? which question I shall answer pre- 
 sently. 
 
 A. Having connected the proper structure of 
 the pastern joint with a foot likely to stand sound, 
 have the goodness to explain yourself on that 
 point. 
 
 B. I have already said, that the tread of a horse 
 has much to do with the ill or well doing of his 
 feet ; but I shall here present you with a passage 
 from Mr. Hinds, where I think you Avill meet with 
 
 -'7 
 
364 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 a satisfactory reply. " When the pastern bones 
 (great and small) rise one above the other too up- 
 rightly, the small one receives the whole concus- 
 sion, and communicates the jar to the very minute 
 construction in the internal foot. The jarring of 
 liis pace in them is very great, both to the 
 horse and his rider. Such horses are very liable 
 to go lame occasionally, but they recover by 
 rest : the principal damage is done to the sensible 
 sole *." 
 
 Again : " The just form or elevation of the 
 foot in front, upon which mainly depends its form 
 ]>ehind, has been discussed by various writers, but 
 remains yet awhile uncertain and unsettled." Mr. 
 Bracy Clarke judged thirty-three degrees of eleva- 
 tion from the ground to be the best form of foot. 
 Mr. Hinds thinks (and so does Mr. Goodwin) it 
 should be thirty-five, and that any material devia- 
 tion from it is an approach towards disease. " Did 
 we require," adds he, " more argument to prove 
 this to be the proper elevation, a conclusive one 
 could be found in the well-known circumstance of 
 those hoofs of horses which are very upright in 
 early life becoming the lowest when the animal 
 gets old j whilst those hoofs which come near the 
 standard of excellence in youth (forty-five degrees) 
 retain the same form, as nearly as the injuries of 
 shoeing admit of, to an extreme old age." This 
 
 * Mr. Hinds says — " I have found the best form of the hoof dif- 
 fer, according to the shape of the two pasterns, as they regard the 
 hoof and each other : deeming that the best, in its particular case, 
 where the small one follows the same declination as the hoof, and the 
 large pastern descends twenty degrees nearer to the upright." 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 365 
 
 bears an analogy to the human frame. If the 
 bones of the leg were perpendicular over the part 
 which first touches the ground, Ave should come 
 down with a sudden jolt ; instead of Avhicli we 
 descend in a sen)icircle, the centre of which is the 
 point of the heel. 
 
 I have ever had an insuperable objection to 
 horses with short upright pasterns ; and Avhen Ave 
 consider that there are thirty-six bones in the foot 
 of a man, in order that there may be so many 
 joints, it is evident hoAV our Maker has provided 
 for the elasticity of our motion. Horses, then, Avith 
 short and straight pasterns, may be compared to a 
 carriage not placed on springs. They have no 
 elasticity of motion 5 they are dead sIoav in dirt 5 
 and their feet are soon destroyed on the road. 
 
 The little extract I have taken the liberty of 
 presenting you Avith from Mr. Hinds' Avork, on the 
 proper form, or rather elevation, of the pastern joint 
 as connected Avith the health of the foot, is very 
 consonant to my ideas of one of the chief causes ot 
 foot-lameness, but to Avhich very few people are 
 sufficiently aAvake. How many hundred times have 
 I heard a conversation similar to the folloAving 
 between tAvo sportsmen by a covert's side : — " How 
 fresh and Avell the old horse looks ! Hoav many 
 seasons have you ridden him?" — " Ten; and his 
 legs and feet are as good noAv as they Avere Avhen I 
 first had him." Now the questions arise — Why 
 has this horse lasted so long ? Avhy are his legs and 
 feet so good at the end of ten seasons'? He has been 
 ridden very hard, and shod hy at leaist Jiffy hlach" 
 smitha in Ms time.'' 
 
366 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 I will answer these questions in a very few 
 woi'ds, and I trust satisfactorily. In the first place, 
 this horse has been in good hands and well 
 groomed ; but something else has contributed to 
 acquire him the character of " this good old horse" 
 ^ — as sound at fifteen as he was at five years old. 
 Yes ; he is a good horse, because he is a 
 WELL-CONSTRUCTED HORSE : bccause (though 
 this good property is not always visible) his shoul- 
 ders are oblique 5 his arm comes well out of his 
 shoulder 5 he has a finely-expanded knee-joint 5 a 
 short cannon, or shank bone ; and, above all, a 
 strong, but oblique fetlock, at an angle of forty-five 
 degrees, or near it — all of which combined give 
 him an even tread*. 
 
 A. You have said this good property, by which 
 I understand you to imply jt^raper structure^ is not 
 always visible ; may I ask you for an explanation of 
 that expression ? 
 
 B. I mean to imply, that Ave do sometimes meet 
 with what are called " twisted forelegs " on horses 
 which have stood sound to a late period of life ; but 
 so completely is a horse a piece of complicated ma- 
 chinery, it is possible that, despite of the twist in 
 some part of his fore-leg, the tread may be even, 
 and thus his feet have been preserved. Mr* Hinds 
 speaks very rationally, and, in my opinion ^ very 
 conclusively on this very important point. — " Some 
 horses cut," says he, " in consequence of treading 
 on the outer quarter ; on the contrary, by punishing 
 
 * " The Phoenomena mare/' says Mr. Hinds, " unquestionably 
 the first trotter of her inches in our days, never did her work in style: 
 nobody could account for her alchievements, upon the view." 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 367 
 
 the inner quarter in treading, others contract a dis- 
 position to quittor and ring-bone : both instances 
 of mal-formation, or bad built {as I call it), pro- 
 duce splents, diseases of the frog, of the sensible 
 sole, and of the coronet, as the case may be. How 
 the various modes of wrong treading are brought 
 on, remains to be examined into hereafter. Mean- 
 time, it may not be amiss to observe, that the right 
 mode and make may be discovered by noticing the 
 proportions of those horses, that, by the acknow^ 
 ledged just symmetry of their bones, the agreement 
 in size of one limb Avith another, and the faultless 
 manner in which these are attached to the body, 
 go tolerably free from any such diseases, until old 
 age, accident, or the misapplication of their powers, 
 brings on disease." 
 
 " There are," continues Mr. H., " three kinds 
 of mal-formation, or bad shape, attendant on the 
 limbs of horses, which I consider orighud faults 5 
 those others to which they give rise being but 
 secondary ones. 1st. That Avherein the leg is ill- 
 formed in itself. 2d. When it is badly joined to 
 the body. 3d. When the fore-legs disagree with 
 the hind ones in length or quantity. Each — by 
 being attended by its respective defect in going, as 
 to safety, speed, or strength, and liable to incur one 
 or other of the ills enumerated, as appearing on the 
 legs and feet — is Avorthy of the reader's separate 
 consideration ; although it frequently happens that 
 an individual horse is afflicted with all three faults 
 at the same time ; the two first being found toge^ 
 ther, subsequently producing the other also." 
 
 A. Although, in your Tenth Letter on the 
 
368 CONDITION OF HUNTERS* 
 
 " Condition of Hunters" (see p. 142), you attri- 
 buted foot-lameness to several causes totally uncon- 
 nected with shoeing, you appear now to lay more 
 stress on the evils of a faulty tread of the foot than 
 you did then. 
 
 B. I was always of opinion that the natural 
 tread of the horse was most material to the welfare 
 of every part of the limb — particularly of the foot ; 
 and hence I have always insisted on oblique shoul- 
 ders, and good lax and springy pasterns \ well know- 
 ing that without them there is no calculating 
 on the services of horse-flesh, at whatever price it 
 may have been purchased 5 but since I have resided 
 in Hampshire this opinion has been unalterably 
 confirmed, and I can illustrate my reasoning 
 thus :— 
 
 Among the Irish and Welch peasantry, who 
 from their infancy go in great measure barefooted, 
 you see, by the thickness and roundness of the calf, 
 that their tread has been a natural one, and conse- 
 quently that the form of the leg remains natural 5 
 but meet a Hampshire-bred labourer of five-and- 
 twenty years of age — otherwise well enough 
 formed — and if you look for his legs you can find 
 nothing like legs. You will find two sticks, or 
 bones, or rather stUta^ Avhich support his body, but 
 the muscle has all disappeared, even at this early 
 age. Shice about his eighth year his foot, ancle, 
 and toes have been confined so tightly by an iron-* 
 bound half-boot, made of leather of an almost un- 
 yielding substance, and very tightly laced, that a 
 distorted tread has been produced by it ; and thus 
 have his legs and feet been injured. 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 369 
 
 A. It would appear as if you thought that the dis- 
 eases of the foot of the horse sometimes have their 
 origin in the leg. 
 
 B. Undouhtedly I do ; for is not the foot a part 
 of the leg? The posterior joint of the leg is 
 situated in the foot. All diseases are secondary 
 causes. When diseases of the feet cannot be 
 traced to any specific cause, they are fairly attri- 
 butable to ailment of the whole system dropping 
 into the legs; and fever in the feet decidedly so, in 
 my opinion, when both are so afflicted. Therefore 
 it was that I noticed this disease along with the 
 strain of the tendons, to which I attribute its 
 origin, as much as to other causes of general heat of 
 the foot. Indeed the whole structm-e of the foot of 
 the horse is so peculiarly curious that it almost 
 deserves a separate study ; but we must keep in 
 mind, whilst considering its ailments, that the great 
 irritation kept up by its extreme action is readily 
 connnunicable from the , one to the other ; so that 
 we cannot intelligibly separate the leg from the 
 foot when speaking of the ailments of either. 
 
 A. Are you not a bold man to attribute, com- 
 paratively, so small a portion of the evils of shoeing, 
 good or btid, to the production of foot-lameness ? 
 
 B. Perhaps I am, because on this subject peo- 
 ple appear to be very tenacious of their respective 
 opinions, and very apt to be cross with such as dis- 
 sent from them, or venture to offer any of their own* 5 
 
 * All writers on controversial subjects — this in particular — 
 should take pattern by La Fosse. " These subjects/' (foot-lameness, 
 &c.) says he, " would be inexhaustible, if I should enlarge upon all 
 those thf\t are the subjects of this book ; but I lettve it to those of 
 
 B B 
 
370 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 and were I only a theorist, I sliould shrink from the 
 task. Here, however, I bring the experience of 
 facts to my aid, and take my stand on the hind 
 foot. Independent of facts, however, it is an 
 axiom in logic, that where certain evidence is not 
 to be found, a number of probable arguments carry 
 considerable weight with them, even in matters of 
 speculation. 
 
 Now I think no one will dispute these facts : — 
 First, the hind foot is a fac simile of the fore foot. 
 Secondly, the hind foot is, as I said before, more 
 unfavorably shod, as far as the tread is concerned, 
 having generally, even for road work, one side of 
 the shoe turned up 5 and for fast work in coaches, 
 generally both. Thirdly, the frog, from the fact 
 just stated (the calking or corking), never receives 
 pressure from the ground, i, e, the road. Fourthly, 
 it would be idle to say the hind foot does not en- 
 counter concussion : I maintain tliat it does, and to 
 a very considerable extent. Look at a horse going 
 in, what we call, a hand canter on the road — the 
 favorite pace of all road riders who want to make 
 haste — with fifteen stone on his back , Avill any one 
 tell me this horse's hind feet do not strike the 
 ground, when he is thus thrown back upon his 
 haunches with very considerahle force f I think 
 no one can materially gainsay what I have now 
 
 my fraternity, who are more learned and skilful than myself, to pub- 
 lish what I may have forgotten ; and hope that the little hght I have 
 thrown upon our art, which is yet too much in obscurity, will engage 
 them to bring it to perfection ; and for my part, I declare I shall 
 be sincerely obliged, not only to those of nay profession, but also to all 
 lovers of horsemanship, if they will be so kind as to shew me my 
 errors, as well as communicate their own reflections and discoveries,." 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS, 371 
 
 stated ; AND YET it is not upon record 
 
 THAT A HORSE WAS EVER GROGGT, OR FOUN- 
 DERED, IN A HIND FOOT ! 
 
 But, Avlien we come to consider the point, is 
 tliere anything extraordinary in this ? Are there 
 not diseases peculiar to the fore leg, and are there 
 not diseases peculiar to the hind leg ? Thrush 
 attacks the fore foot ; canker, the hind one. I 
 never saw a splent on the hind leg, but I have seen 
 hundreds on the fore leg. Ringbone attacks the 
 hind leg — the foot indeed — twenty times for once 
 we find it in the fore one. Sandcrack never attacks 
 the hind foot, though in its form it is generally 
 more upright than the fore foot. Stringhalt is 
 peculiar to the hind leg, although I saw one 
 instance of it hi the fore leg. Inflammation of the 
 lungs affects the fore feet ; inflammation of the 
 bladder, the hinder ones. As for spavins, curbs, 
 and thorough-pins, they are naturally confined to 
 the hind legs, the seat of disease being there. 
 
 But one word more about concussion, and its 
 influence on horses' feet. Look at a race horse 
 going over some of our English race courses, after 
 two months' drought, with nine stone on his back, 
 and at the very top of his speed : he is then cover- 
 ing from fifteen to eighteen feet at a stride, on 
 ground as hard as marble ; and it is quite evident 
 that the span in the gallop must give a shock in 
 proportion to its length. Now we find race horses 
 often sore in their feet from this hard usage ; their 
 sinews also often give way, and now and then a bone 
 breaks ; but there are fewer groggy horses among 
 thorough-bred ones that have been some years in 
 
 B B ^ 
 
372 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 training, than among otlier descriptions that are put 
 to hard work in the summer. 
 
 A. I hope you will enter more fully into what 
 you consider to be the chief excithig cause of foot- 
 lameness ; and that you Avill not be afraid to speak 
 out. 
 
 B. You must recollect the inscription which a 
 celebrated ancient placed over the entrance into his 
 school : — " Let none enter here who is not initiated 
 in science.'''' This was an awkward rebuke, and 
 might be justly applied to me were I to enter into 
 all the intricacies of speculation which this subject 
 has given birth to ; ])ut, undaunted by the criticisms 
 of any one, I shall give you the result of my expe- 
 rience, encouraged by the well-known remark that 
 there is no arguing against facts. 
 
 A. Of course you will shew us not only in what 
 way a horse should be shod to prevent the proba- 
 bility of his foot being injured by wearing shoes ; 
 but also inform us how he should be treated, so as 
 to ward otf diseases and injuries which so often 
 attack that most essential part, proceeding, us you 
 ajfirm^ from very different sources. 
 
 B. It is certainly my intention to make this 
 attempt 5 and shall begin with preparing the foot 
 for the shoe, and pointing out the proper position 
 of the latter, which, as far as counteracting injury 
 from the use of it, is a point of the very first im- 
 portance. I shall, however, previously oiter to your 
 notice the following letter, which 1 am sure will 
 be read Avith attention, as Avell as afford matter for 
 comment. The writer is a well-knoAvn sporting 
 Baronet, many years piaster of hounds ; one w^o 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS* 373 
 
 lias paid extraordinary attention to the shoeing of 
 his horses ; in ^A-hose house I have spent many 
 pleasant months 5 to whose society I am indebted 
 for much useful knowledge in the purchasing and 
 management of hunters 5 in short, I may say of my 
 friend, that he is " vir harum rerum jpentisshnus.'''' 
 His remarks, it will be observed, chiefly apply to 
 the necessity of placing the weight on the heels of 
 the horse, instead of having them sloped away, to 
 (what he terms) the great inconvenience and injury 
 of the animal. 
 
 " Bear Nimrod — According to your request 
 I conmnmicate to you my sentiments as to the 
 best mode of treating horses' feet, and shoeing, as 
 far as my knowledge on those subjects will enable 
 me. No one doubts the necessity of keeping the 
 feet free from pain and inflammation, which occur- 
 rences, whether arising from accidental or consti- 
 tutional causes, always produce ill effect, and also 
 some visible ones on the legs ; and which effects, 
 generally (I had nearly said in all cases in the first 
 instance), are attributable to some imperfection in 
 slioeing ; and Avhich, in my opinion, is the primary 
 cause of all the crippled appearances so fre(piently 
 seen in the limbs and motion of this noble animal. 
 
 " The mere mechanical process of fitting and 
 fastening the shoes to the feet is done by most 
 London blacksmiths, when pains are taken, as well 
 nearly as it can be performed, provided the fashion 
 (and there are fashions in all trades) of driving the 
 nails too near the surface of the horn — in other 
 words, not taking sufficient depth in the hoof— is 
 
374 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 not fastidiously attended to ; but wliicli, if done to 
 the nicety proposed, will never long keep the shoe 
 fast, and must end in breaking away the portion of 
 the foot through which the nails pass. 
 
 " Common experience therefore teaches us that 
 two shoeings in London disfigure the feet more 
 than six in the country ; and from the sole cause to 
 which I have alluded — namely, that of driving the 
 nails too superficially, or too near the external sur- 
 face of the wall of the foot. 
 
 " I am far from thinking that in other respects 
 the feet of horses are not materially improved by 
 the operations of the London workmen; for, in 
 preparing the feet for the reception of the shoes, 
 they have infinitely more skill and knowledge than 
 any country blacksmith possesses : nevertheless they 
 are not sufficiently scientific and observant to com- 
 plete this most necessary part of the art on such 
 principles as will ensure ease and comfort to the 
 animal, and give confidence to the person who is 
 destined to use it. 
 
 " The seated shoe is, without doubt, the most 
 consistent with every principle of utility, ease, and 
 safety, and therefore to be preferred. By it, all the 
 sensible parts of the foot are protected, and those 
 on which Nature intended to place the burthen are 
 made exclusively useful — giving protection at the 
 same time to every other part, and encouraging that 
 expansion which gives relief and security in every 
 progressive step taken. 
 
 " The description of this shoe is known to 
 every one who at all reflects on the means of pre- 
 serving the hoof in a perfect state, and my 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 375 
 
 observations shall be confined to paring the feet for 
 the reception of it. On this subject, hi some 
 particulars, I believe I differ from many, and some 
 of the esteemed and most skilful practitioners of 
 the age, in the veterinary art. I imagine I differ 
 from Mr. Field, the ablest man by far (from long 
 experience and knowledge in the diseases of horses) 
 of the present day; and from his son, the first 
 brilliant star which ever shone in the science he 
 professes, and, I might add, in any other in his 
 time: and I come to this conclusion, that, with 
 very rare and extraordinary exceptions, no horse 
 ought to have corns to cripple the feet, or pains in 
 them to render them uncomfortable ; and, to pre- 
 vent these maladies, the feet should be properly 
 prepared, and the weight laid Avhere it ought to 
 press, i. e. on the insensible parts (for no sensible 
 effects can be produced on insensibility, though 
 visible ones may — I am sure I shall be understood 
 by those who have knowledge) ; and consequently, 
 it" the iron should come in contact with the hoof 
 properly, no injury can by possibility occur. 
 
 " On the heels of the feet it is obvious, then, 
 that the greatest weight of the animal, and any 
 additional weight with which it may be laden, 
 should be placed ; and therefore the heels should 
 be lowered, and not shortened according to the old 
 prevailing custom, so that the shoe may come well 
 on the back part of the foot ; and they should be 
 lower than the extremity of the frog, half the 
 thickness of the heel of the shoe, ivliatever that 
 thickness may hd 
 
 " The heels should not be allowed to press on 
 
376 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 the frogs, and the bars should be kept strong, and 
 ahle to perform the functions required of them. 
 
 " I have no corns or thrushes, and I may add 
 diseases of the feet, in my stable ; and, as a general 
 rule, I should say, if the horse be a hunter, and in 
 use, keep the shoes only a little wider than the 
 horn of the foot at the heels, shod only as long as 
 the heels 5 and the shoes should he hevilled off at 
 the heels, that the hind shoes may not catch. These 
 are necessary precautions, particularly to those who 
 hunt in deep countries. 
 
 " If the horse be used for other purposes than 
 the field, the shoe should be equally divided on the 
 heel; in other words, the heel should be exactly 
 in the middle of that part of the shoe which covers 
 it; and no shoe should extend beyond the heel, 
 backward, after the foot has been properly prepared. 
 I know I shall have a host to contend Avith in this 
 particular. Nevertheless I am convinced (allow- 
 ing there are some, and but few, instances to Avhich 
 this mode would not be applicable) that I shall 
 have convej*ts to my opinion after a fair and candid 
 trial. 
 
 " The toes should be made short, to encourage 
 the growth of horn in other parts of the foot, as 
 well as for safety in the action of the horse ; and 
 the sole should never l^e made too thin, or thinner 
 than when it will yield to the hard pressure of the 
 thumb. 
 
 " If from these hints you and the public can 
 glean any useful knowledge, I shall feel unfeigned 
 pleasure ; but, if I shall have laboured unprolitably, 
 I shall experience only a limited satisfaction in 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. S77 
 
 having endeavoured to comply with your Avishes, 
 without extending the benefits which ought to be 
 the result of attentive o1)servations and some 
 experience ; and Avhich results, if successful, every 
 liberal mind would gladly distribute for the 
 comfort of the most useful and most ill-used 
 animal in the creation. 
 
 " I remain, yom-s, &c. 
 
 " Cribb." 
 
 "March 27, 1828." 
 
 A. I have perused your friend the Baronet's 
 letter with great attention, and find he is well 
 versed in the art of shoeing, having, it seems, taken 
 much pains to become so. 
 
 B, You remember the speech Shakspeare puts 
 into the mouth of Portia when describing to 
 Nerism the character of the Neapolitan Prince, 
 one of her suitors : " Aye, that's a colt indeed, for 
 he doth nothing but talk of his horse ; and he 
 makes it a great appropriation to his own good parts 
 that he can shoe him hhnself : / am much afraid 
 my Lady his mother played false with a smith. 
 The sarcasm of the Bard, however, does not apply 
 to the jmthor of that letter. " IMy Lady his 
 mother" played false with no one ; neither can my 
 friend talk only of a horse : hni this nuich I will 
 say, if fortune had not bestowed ten thousand a 
 year upon him, he would have been a capital black- 
 smith. 
 
378 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 A. Of course you will favour us with a com- 
 ment or two on his letter. 
 
 B. Not at present. I shall wait and see 
 whether I am not anticipated in that task by some 
 of the veterinary profession, being bound to give 
 them the precedence. The only remark I shall at 
 present make on the subject is, that I perfectly 
 agree with IMr. White, when he tells us, that many 
 people have attended chiefly to the form of the 
 shoe, and not to its appiicatmi to the hoof ; which 
 error has done more mischief, and made more 
 enemies to the Veterinary College, than all the 
 prejudices of grooms and farriers. 
 
 A. Although you have spoken lightly of shoe- 
 ing as the general and proximate cause of foot- 
 lameness, yet I imagine you are a great advocate 
 for its being done scientifically and well. 
 
 B. Mr. Coleman has told us, that, if the art of 
 shoeing be judiciously employed, the foot will not 
 be more liable to disease than any other organ j 
 but I must withhold my assent here. I have already 
 said there is a disposition to inflannnation of the 
 laminpe of the foot, when the whole system, as well 
 as the individual part, is much excited by work and 
 high keep, which the shoe has very little to do 
 with 5 neither is this all : much as I admire the 
 internal structure of the hoof of a horse ; much as 
 I am convinced that it bears the stamp and impres- 
 sion of Divine art, yet it is not, neither can it ever 
 be, made equal to the uses to which we put it, 
 although it may be so to all the functions required 
 of it in a natural state 5 and, therefore, shoe them 
 how we may, we shall always have lame horses. 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 379 
 
 A. Coming to the point then, tell me, first, how 
 you thuik a horse's foot should be prepared for his 
 shoe; and, afterwards, how he should be shod. 
 
 JB. The man is yet unborn who can answer 
 either of these questions in the way you put them. 
 Almost every horse's foot has some peculiarity 
 attached to it ; so it is ({uite impossible to prescribe 
 any general rules here. It is indeed by attempting 
 to apply general principles that much mischief has 
 ensued. 
 
 A. Will you detail to me a system to be pur- 
 sued with horses' feet most likely to preserve them 
 in health and their natural form to a late period of 
 their lives ? 
 
 B. I am not altogether well adapted for 
 this task, and for the follovving reason — very 
 few horses have remained in my possession 
 more than three years, and by far the greatest 
 part of them not for so long a period. I had one, 
 however, fifteen years in my stable, with the excep- 
 tion of three months' run in the winter; and I will 
 tell you the result of that individual instance. This 
 horse became my property at seven years old, 
 having been out of training a])Out tvro years. He 
 had a strong narrow hoof, with almost perpendicu- 
 lar heels (much inclined inwards); small but 
 healthy frogs; and ])eautifully formed pasterns. 
 He was struck with foot-lameness in his tAventy- 
 second year, and shot; but previously to that time 
 he was never known to be lame in a foot, standing 
 road-work particularly well. I observed the fol- 
 lowing plan as far as regarded his feet. I never 
 suffered his shoes to remain on more than a month. 
 
380 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 and often not so long, before tliey were removed ^ 
 and his hoofs ivere generally stopped Avitli damp tow. 
 I take it to ])e highly important to regulate the 
 periods of shoeing and removing, according to the 
 nature of feet; and I am convinced great mischief 
 is the result of a contrary mode of proceeding. A 
 gentleman asks his groom if his horse does not 
 Avaut shoeing? The groom looks at the fihoes^ 
 whereas he should look at the feet. Some horses 
 can scarcely wear their shoes too long; others 
 require the drawing-knife to their feet at the end of 
 three Aveeks. I will now endeavour to point out 
 in what way I like to have my horses shod for the 
 road and field, and how they should be treated in 
 the stable, as far as relates to their feet— always 
 bearing in mind the well-knoAvn axiom, that Art 
 is never so perfect as Avhen it imitates Nature. 
 Having commenced Avith a notice of it, I will pro- 
 ceed to the strong foot. 
 
 A. Have the goodness to explain to me Avhat 
 you mean by a strong foot. 
 
 B^ By a strong foot, I mean one Avhich is deep 
 and holloAA', when the crust is always thick and 
 strong. This is a foot which requires to be fre-' 
 quently refreshed (if I may be allowed the expres- 
 sion) jjy application of the draAving knife, and 
 should be pared down Ioav. It has a great dispo- 
 sition to secrete horn, the strength of Avhich may 
 create a compression on the interior parts of the 
 hoof, and which, AAdien added to the exciting causes 
 of high keep and Avork, may produce lameness in 
 spite of the best shoeing. The toe of this foot 
 should be kept short, as it Avill cause the entire of 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 381 
 
 the lioof to floiirisli, and to shoot out new horn from 
 the coronet. If contraction be ever the proxmiato 
 cause of lameness, the stricture of this deep crust, 
 when assisted by hard ricUng, is said to produce it, 
 by bringing on ossification of the cartihxges of the 
 foot, by which its action is destroyed. When this 
 takes place to a great degree, Avhat is called anclii)' 
 hsis is produced, and the animal treads as it v/ere 
 on stilts. I have a mare in my possession v,'hich is 
 a true spechnen of this extreme degree of foot- 
 lameness. 
 
 A. May I now ask you to describe a weak 
 foot? 
 
 B. A weak foot is one that greatly imposes on 
 young, and indeed I may add old, ]>urchasers of 
 horses. It is generally of a circular base, Avith 
 open heels, and a fine flourishing frog. This foot 
 cannot well be shod too seldom ; and, when shod, 
 the sole should be pared with the greatest caution, 
 as there is at the best of thnes scarcely enough of 
 horn to protect the internal sensible parts. The 
 heels of feet of this description are also generally 
 loAV, causing considerable strain on the flexor ten- 
 dons of the leg. For this reason horses with low 
 heels should have their toes kept short, which Avill 
 cause their heels to grow higher. Weak and thin 
 feet cannot be kept too dry, all wet stopping being 
 injurious to them. On tlie contrary, the use of the 
 tar ointment, or anything else that will nourish 
 and harden the sole and crust, is to ])e recom- 
 mended. Feet of this kind are not altogether to 
 l)e discarded for hunters, but they require con- 
 siderable pare; and there is one bad property 
 
382 CONDITION OF HUNTERS, 
 
 belonging to them — namely, if a shoe is cast, they 
 are unequal to the weight of the animal they 
 ]}elong to, and he must be led in hand to the nearest 
 blacksmith's shop. 
 
 A' How should feet of this description be 
 ghod ? 
 
 J^, The draAving-knife or butteris must be 
 yery spaiingly used; rather a wide, but at the 
 game tinie light, concave-seated shoe should be 
 applied, and the toe kept short. Great pains should 
 be taken in the application, as well as the form, 
 pf shoe for a foot of this description; and the 
 inore points of support that can be given to it, the 
 Ijetter will the horse travel, 
 
 A. Is it absolutely necessary the shoe should 
 be seated? 
 
 JB. By no means. Feet of this description 
 have generally sufficient concavity of sole for any 
 other shoe, without their receiving pressure to 
 occasion lameness — particularly so, if attention be 
 paid to the crust to prevent its wearing away. If 
 room be left between shoe and sole to pass the 
 point of a picker, no danger is to be apprehended 
 from any form of shoe, provided it be well fitted to 
 the foot. 
 
 A. Are feet of this form liable to disease ? 
 
 jB, Equally so with those of any other when 
 exposed to strong exciting causes — the pace for 
 instance, and keep proportioned to the pace. 
 
 A. What is the most difficult foot to preserve 
 in a sound or even useful state ? 
 
 B. That to which the name oi pumice is given; 
 and to which the foot I have just spoken of in 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS, 383 
 
 some measure approaches. gWhen we consider 
 that ill a pumiced foot, such is the convexity of the 
 sole, that when the horse is barefooted his weight 
 rests upon it instead of the crust, we can easily 
 conceive the difficulty there is in applying shoes to it. 
 As the pumiced foot is most commonly the 
 result of fever* in that part, I consider myself 
 fortunate in only having experienced two cases of it 
 in my own stud. One was such a bad one that I 
 gave it up in despair ; but the other happening to 
 the best hunter I ever Avas possessed of, I took great 
 pains, and restored him. According to Mr. Good- 
 win, all horses are subject to pumiced feet that are 
 put to fast work. " In horses," says he, " where the 
 gecretion of horn is insufficient to meet all the pur- 
 poses required (and my observations lead me to 
 estimate their number at about one half), it (?. c. 
 pumice) is found, even at an early age, after hav- 
 ing been shod a few times only ; for as the crust 
 and laminee are thin and weak, they are unequal to 
 support the weight which Nature intended, by 
 which the peculiar structure and connection between 
 the horny and sensible laminae should be chieHy 
 borne by them. This does not wholly arise from a 
 defect of Nature, for Nature did not intend that the 
 animal should be shod, kept in hot stables, or go so 
 fiist upon the hard roads. As the disease increases 
 the coffin bone and the internal contents of the hoof 
 sink, and bear down upon the horny sole, Avhich, 
 
 * Mr. Goodwin (whose authority I will not presume to question) 
 says, the principal cause of pumiced feet is a defective production of 
 horn in the sole, crust, and lamina, the frog being generally stronger 
 than the other parts. 
 
884 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 being thin and Aveak, gives way, soon losing its 
 concave appearance, and becomes convex*." 
 
 After this explanation of Mr. Goodwin no more 
 need be said of the cause of pumiced feet, when 
 not proceeding from fever. The treatment of this 
 disease requiring all the art of the veterinarian, I 
 shall not enter into it farther, but merely state 
 how I treated my own horse, whose feet Avere 
 decidedly pumice, and I never rode him a good run 
 in a deep country that he did not lose one, and 
 generally both, of his fore shoes. 
 
 I set to work with him in the summer months, 
 I rasped down the crust of his two fore feet nearly 
 to the level of the sole, and then as nearly as pos- 
 sible followed the advice Xenophon gives in his 
 De Re Equeatri ; being well assured that the 
 preservation and hardening of the base of the foot 
 must have been an object of vast importance pre- 
 viously to the use of shoes — it being, indeed, as we 
 learn from History, one of the most valuable points 
 in consideration in the purchase of horses for the 
 saddle. 
 
 According to the instructions of the Athenian, 
 I made my horse stand bare-footed on round stones, 
 or jjitchhig as it is called, for three or four hours 
 each day, which, as it were, forced the sole back by 
 their pressure, and soon altered the form of his feet. 
 I should however, observe, that, previously to 
 
 • Doubtless Mr. Goodwin is right here as to the coarser sorts of 
 horses, particularly those bred in low countries, whoso feet are soft 
 and spongy ; but with well-bred hunters, pumiced feet are, nineteen 
 times in twenty, the effect of fever. I am happy, however, to 
 observe here, that I am seconded by Mr. Goodwii) in my assertioi^ 
 ^hat shoeing has oft^n nothing to do with foot-lameuess. 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 385 
 
 putting him on the stones, I made him stand for 
 six hours without his shoes on a level surface of 
 flags, the propriety of which I have since had 
 reason to doubt. As in his case the sole had not 
 descended low enough to come in contact with the 
 flags, I imposed too much weight on the crust and 
 laminse, and therefore did what is wrong. How- 
 ever the result of the experiment was satisfactory. 
 I rode my horse another season , he did not cast his 
 shoes as before ; his feet were very much more con- 
 cave, and I sold him for two hundred and eighty 
 guineas. I should add, that I made free use of the 
 tar ointment to every part of the foot, and kept 
 the toes short. 
 
 A. Did you never suffer from feet of an oppo- 
 site form to those you have novv^ been describing— I 
 mean those unnaturally concave? 
 
 B. No : with the exception of the old horse just 
 spoken of, the only cases of foot-lameness I have 
 been subject to have been those of, apparently, 
 naturally-formed feet, wide and open in the heels, 
 circular at the base, and shcAving no symptoms of 
 conipresssion in front. Perhaps I may attribute my 
 good fortune here to my constant practice of never 
 sulfering shoes to remain on healthy feet more than 
 three weeks or a month at farthest. 
 
 Of the two extremes I should much prefer the 
 over-concave to the over-convex foot. The former, 
 by care and good grooming, can generally Ije pre- 
 served to a good old age; but for the latter, 
 palliatives, but no radical cure, can with any cer- 
 tainty be looked for. 
 
 c c 
 
386 CONDITION OF HUNTEKS. 
 
 A^ Having described feet of various forms, will 
 yoii now give me your idea of a perfect foot ? 
 
 B, I have long found out that there is scarcely 
 anything in the world of nature or art that comes 
 under that denomination. My experience has 
 shewn me that there is a mixture of wisdom and 
 folly, vice and virtue, good and evil, both hi men 
 and things, and consequently I do not look for per- 
 fection in anything, I will, however, tell you 
 what I consider a good foot^ and one likely to 
 endure to old age, with the assistance of good 
 grooming, or else none at all. 
 
 A, What do you mean by the ^ssistanpe of po 
 grooming at all ? 
 
 B. Well may you ask the question ; it is 
 certainly a negative virtue : but is it not a well- 
 known fact that poor horses-'-gipsies' horses, and 
 those which lie about in lanes— are seldom lame in 
 their feet ? 
 
 To begin: I like a moderately'-sized foot, 
 moderately concave, which ensures a sufficiently 
 strong crust; but much depends on its being com- 
 posed of well-tempered horn. I like to see the 
 crust strong at the heels and quarters, being then 
 more likely to resist the effects of an ill-applied 
 shoe; and I have always found high heels the best 
 to stand hard-riding on the road. Indeed the best 
 feet I have ever met with for this purpose have 
 been the mule-shaped ones of Irish horses, and, 
 next to them, the Welsh, I prefer open heels, if 
 naturally so ; but I would never suffer them to be 
 cut away for appearance sake. As Mr. Goodwin 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 387 
 
 says, a horse's lieels sliould be well hach^ and the 
 nearer they approach to tlie back of the frog the 
 better. As to the frog, I like to see a good one ; 
 but I have seen so many horses that have remained 
 perfectly sound in their feet, after very severe trials, 
 to a late period of their lives, with scarcely any 
 frog, that I confess I do not lay so much im- 
 portance to this much-talked-about organ as my 
 reading upon it might induce me to do. The 
 theory is beautiful certainly, but practice lessens 
 the force of it. 
 
 The following passage from Mr. Good^vin (so 
 much to the purpose) shall close my remarks on 
 this part of my subject :-— " The hoofs of horses 
 are constantly growing; the crust is secreted or 
 produced by the coronary ring \ the horny sole is 
 secreted by the sensible frog, and the horny 
 laminae by the sensible laminse ; all of which are 
 elastic, and have motion. The weight of the horse 
 is sustained by the internal and superior part of the 
 crust, the laminae connecting the coffin bone to it; 
 and the weight is in this case suspended to the 
 inside of the hoof." 
 
 Again : " When the navicular and coffin bones are 
 pressed down by the superincumbent weight of the 
 animal, the laminas elongate, and the crust is 
 drawn downward at the same moment. As these 
 bones descend, the horny sole also descends and 
 flattens, which forces the heel, quarters, and 
 bars to expand, at the same time that the weight is 
 removed; as, when the horse is in action, and the 
 foot is off the ground, these parts again contract, 
 producing an alternate expansion and contraction, 
 
 c c2 
 
388 CONDITION OF HUNTERS, 
 
 The extent of motion in the crust, Avhen supporting 
 the Aveight of the animal, will depend on its thick" 
 ness and power to sustain it. 
 
 " This is well shewn by the difference of 
 appearance between a strong hoof and a Aveak one. 
 The former presents a regular slope from the 
 coronet to the lower partj whereas the latter 
 becomes hollow, wrinkled, and deviates greatly 
 from the straight line 5 and the curve is oftentimes 
 so great as to give the hoof the appearance of 
 turning up at the toe." 
 
 A. The difference between a perfect and im- 
 perfect hoof is satisfactorily explained here l)y Mr. 
 Goodwin; but how is it that you have not quoted 
 Mr. William Percivall on tliis interesting subject ? 
 
 jB. For the best of all reasons — I have nothing 
 to quote from his able pen. In the last page of his 
 last Lecture (vol. iii. p. 502), he thus writes : — 
 " The foot has been passed over by design. I con- 
 sidered that what new or original matter I might 
 have found to offer on the subject, Avould hardly 
 warrant me to break up that ground afresh which 
 has already been so extensively cultivated, through 
 the labours of Messrs. Coleman, Clarke, and Good- 
 win ; and, therefore, I have refrained from making 
 this important part an unprofitable addition to the 
 present series of lectui es." 
 
 A. Have you suffered much from fever in the 
 feet of your horses after very severe work ? 
 
 B, Not a great deal ; only in two instances to 
 the irremediable lameness of the animals afflicted, 
 though I had others partially affected. Having 
 always been in dread of this sever^,vxsita,tion,I h^ve 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 389 
 
 made it a rule to take precautionary measures with 
 liorses I have considered not quite lit to go 5 and it 
 is with such that the mischief generally prevails. 
 I have, hoAvever, long been of opinion, that fever in 
 the feet, to a certain degree, attacks horses much 
 oftener than we suspect, and that it is a very general 
 cause of lameness in the fore-feet. Mr. Hinds has 
 the following passage on this subject, Avhich is 
 very confirmatory of what I have advanced: — 
 " When Ave reflect upon the strict accordance 
 between the structure of the fore foot and the 
 hind, and then look? over and lament the nume- 
 rous disorders that the first is liable to, whilst 
 the hinder one is comparatively free, if given 
 t(,s reason to imuse. But without entering upon an 
 elaborate investigation of this difference as to 
 health, I come to the conclusion, that we ought to 
 attribute diseases of the feet, as I have already those 
 of the body, to the excessive heat of the vascular 
 system, promoted by the great exertions the aninuil 
 is put to, and the rude concussions the fore-feet in 
 particular endure at every step, thus creating heat, 
 and attracting hither any evil humours that may 
 afflict the body generally." — Again, Mr. Hinds thus 
 Avrites at page 472 : — " Time and hard work, and 
 the heat of the blood, occasion brittle hoofs, and 
 distortions, with numerous disorders, that attach 
 to the foot generally, or belong to the sole only." 
 
 There is a remarkable passage with which Mr. 
 Goodwin commences his tenth chapter of the second 
 edition of his excellent work on Shoeing. " When 
 I published my first edition," says he, " I omitted 
 to devote a chapter to this subject— namely, Fever 
 
390 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 in the Feet ; for at that period I did not consider 
 it to be strictly connected with shoeing. How- 
 ever, since then I see it in a different light, and 
 have been induced to offer some observations on 
 this disease." — Now in my humble opinion — for I 
 still speak with deference, and am only guided by 
 what I have seen — fever in the feet is to a certain 
 degree connected with shoeing, inasmuch as to its 
 influence are the changes hi the form of feet in 
 great measure to be attributed ; and to accommodate 
 the bearing of the shoe to those changes, should 
 the attention and skill of the shoe'r unceasingly be 
 directed. 
 
 Mr. Goodwin thinks that fever in the feet is 
 often produced in hunters by their taking high 
 leaps on hard ground, or going fast over stones or 
 flinty ground 5 also by a chill occasioned by riding 
 the animal into water when heated 5 and likewise 
 by standing some months on board a ship, without 
 any other support to the foot but what is derived from 
 the crust — producing inflannnation of the laminee. 
 This is all very true ; but with hunters it gene- 
 rally proceeds from over-excitement of the vascu- 
 lar system, by high food, and severe w^ork. 
 
 xi. Do you approve of the use of sponge boots 
 and warm water to the feet and fetlocks of hunters 
 after a very hard day's work with hounds ? 
 
 jB. With horses which have naturally good and 
 strong feet, I very much approve of them, and for 
 this reason — there is always inflammation of the 
 glands, which the warm water is calculated to 
 abate, and all kinds of fomentation serve to prevent 
 induration of the ligamentous parts of the feet, 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 391 
 
 fetlock, &c. Osiiier mentions a fact that fully 
 confirms this : " When the fetlock of a stag, which 
 had run many miles before hounds in dry and hot 
 weather, was dissected, the mucus was of a very 
 sanguhie colour ; and this must be the case with 
 horses which carry high weights, and receive jars 
 in their limbs from leaping." — I always treated a 
 horse I rode four seasons, and who. was generally 
 very sore after severe work, in the following man- 
 ner, and found the greatest benefit from it. His 
 feet and fetlocks were well fomented with hot 
 Avater, and then lapped up in flannel, and the sponge 
 boots applied 5 but previously to the application of 
 the latter his coronets were well rubbed with spirits 
 of turpentine, which created a strong irritation of 
 the surface, as was apparent by the restlessness he 
 evinced for a short time afterwards. The effect of 
 this operation, however, was very apparent on his 
 going to exercise the next morning, as he moved 
 comparatively sound. The external application 
 relieved the interior infiamed parts, and, by keep- 
 ing the outer sole thin, he continued sound enough 
 for a hunter till his fourteenth year. This horse had 
 had an attack of fever in his feet, and, but for the 
 care I took of him, would have had pumiced soles, 
 and not worth his skin. It is to horses of this 
 description that loose boxes are indispensable. 
 
 A. You speak of the outer sole ; describe to 
 me what is called the inner sole. 
 
 B. The inner sole is nothing but an expansion 
 of one of the flexor tendons of the leg continued 
 to the bottom of the foot, covering the navicular 
 bone. 
 
392 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 A. Will you describe to me what you consider 
 the best method of treating and preserving the feet 
 of horses in the stable at all periods of the year ? 
 
 B. Great discrimination is to be used with 
 horses' feet in the stable — I mean as regards 
 stopping. With such as require stopping I have 
 always used danip tow, in preference to clay and 
 cow dung, because, if there does exist a necessity— 
 which Nature points out to us there does— -of a 
 uniform pressure on every part of the foot, tow 
 certainly affords it, as will be seen by the impress 
 sion made upon it by the foot when taken out Avith 
 a picker. It is, however, necessary to observe, that 
 a horse is not a duck, and that the constant applica- 
 tion of moisture to his feet is not only not neces- 
 sary, but very often injurious. 1 have had several 
 very sound horses whose feet 1 never stopped at all ; 
 on the contrary, I kept them as dry as I could, by 
 the application of the tar ointment. To such 
 feet moisture is injurious. There are some soles, as 
 well as frogs, Avhich can only be preserved sound by 
 keeping them dry in the stable, and promoting the 
 secretion of horn by the use of the tar ointment only. 
 
 For horses whose feet are strong, and rather 
 inclined to inflannnation, I am very fond of what 
 is called i\\Qstvah^ which, when well saturated with 
 Avater, is tied round the outside of the coronets, 
 hanging over the entire of the crust. I have seen 
 the best effects produced by use of these swabs in 
 promoting the growth of horn from the coronet, 
 to the very great improvement of the foot j but I 
 have yet to see any improvement of this sort the 
 result of internal stopping. 
 
CONDlTJON OF IltJNTERS. 393 
 
 yl. Will you tell me the best way to treat the 
 feet of coveniig stallions, and all other horses 
 Avhich remain for a long thne in loose boxes, with- 
 out being exercised and groomed ? 
 
 B. I think no covering stallion should be so 
 treated, unless he is a cripple; but on this head I 
 will give you better authority than my own. 
 " Horses," says Mr. Goodwin, " when constantly 
 kept in a loose place Avithout work (and this applies 
 particularly to covering stallions), are suifered, as 
 their shoes have little or no wear, to remain a much 
 longer period without having them removed than 
 they should be ; and their feet become exceedhigly 
 diseased and distorted in consequence. The best 
 treatment to follow with horses so situated is, to 
 cover the base of the foot with a strong leather 
 
 sole, the heels having been previously rasped to .i 
 level with the frog, and the toes shortened. The 
 leather sole should be soaked in Avater to render it 
 pliant, and an iron tip in the shape of the foot, 
 should be riveted to it : a compress of toAV, satu- 
 rated in an unguent of hog's-lard and tar, should 
 be placed in the cavities between the bar and the 
 frog, and also into the cleft of the frog; the sole 
 Avith the tip should be then nailed on. This 
 defends the frog from the eifects of urine and dirt, 
 and preserves it from thrushes 5 at the same time 
 that it affords an elastic bearing to the sole, and 
 expands the hoof by the pressure it affords to the 
 Avhole base of the foot." Owners of horses obliced 
 to be kept always in the stable-"-as many are — 
 Avill do Avell to attend to these directions of Mr. 
 Goodwin, 
 
t394 CONDlTIOx\ OF HUNTERS. 
 
 A. Have you suffered much from thrushes 1 
 
 B. I do not recollect a single instance of 
 havino; a horse out of Avork from a thrush. Tlie 
 horse I have spoken of as having been fifteen years 
 in my stable Avas often threatened Avith thrush in 
 the frogs of his hind feet ; and being of a foul habit, 
 and a greedy feeder, he Avould no doubt have 
 suffered from it had he been in some stables : but 
 the great attention I paid to his general health, in 
 consequence of his chronic cough, prevented it 
 coming to anything serious. I confess myself a 
 complete sceptic as to thrush being the consequence 
 of want of pressure on the frog. I take it to be 
 nothing but a vent for foulness of habit, and a run 
 at grass in a Avet summer is almost a certain pro- 
 moter of it. Were I a veterinary surgeon, I should 
 make no bones about stopping a running thrush, 
 Avhich so many of my friends, not of the pix)fession, 
 have been afraid to do, lest blindness should be 
 produced by it — the balling iron Avill ahvays in this 
 instance be a match for the dreaded evil: neither 
 should I be sparing of the knife j for Ave can never 
 expect a union of sound Avith unsound flesh. The 
 reader may be convinced that neither thrushes nor 
 corns Avill molest his hunters to any amount, if 
 he Avill only keep them from running Avild in Avet 
 pastures, ;uid not suffer their systems to become 
 foul ! 
 
 A. Did you ever try Mr. Cherry's elastic pads 
 for stopping horses' feet? 
 
 B. I have \ and I think the principle on Avhicli 
 they are intended to act is a good one. Without at 
 all assenting to the fiat of IMr. Coleman, namely, that 
 
CONDITION Or HUNTERS. 395 
 
 " the frog must Jiave prcssure^or he diseased ^^^ j^et, 
 as it is quite evident that Avhen a horse is ruimiiig 
 Avild oil ground which Avill receive the impression of 
 his foot, every part of the ground-surface receives 
 pressure from the earth on which he treads, there 
 is fair reason to believe Nature intended suchshouhl 
 be the case, and designed her work accordingly. 
 Again, by dividing the weight of the animal, the 
 crust and lamiuce are relieved, and therefore advan- 
 tage is gained by equally distril^uting the pressure ; 
 for it is in great measure owing to imposing so 
 much weight on the laniiiice and crust that pumice 
 feet are produced. " Hunters," says IMr. Goodwin, 
 " derive the beiieht of this partial bearing on the 
 uncovered parts of the foot during the time they are 
 in the field :" but when we consider the length of 
 time they are in the stable without this relief, and 
 the violent concussion the feet sustain in hunting, it 
 is a matter of surprise that they are not more often 
 subject to disease than Ave noAV find them to be. 
 " Professor Coleman," says Mr. Cherry, in a small 
 pamphlet which he published in recommendation 
 of his elastic horse-pads or stoppings, " has repeated, 
 at pagtJ 33 of his book on Shoeing, the well-known 
 fact, that ' no animal, or any part of an animal, 
 can be preserved in health, where the natural func- 
 tions are perverted;' but with the physiological 
 fact, tJiat everij part of an animal^ to conthme 
 healthy^ must perform itsfaiictlous, so strongly im- 
 pressed on his mind, and so much insisted on by 
 him on all occasions, he seems, in his zeal to enforce 
 the necessity of pressure to the frog, to have totally 
 overlooked the sole, notwithstanding it forms about 
 
396 CONDITION OF llUNTEltS* 
 
 two-thirds of the ground-surface of the foot, and is 
 naturally so much exposed." 
 
 Now we must admit, the force of JMr. Cherry's 
 remark — that is to say, he has an equal right to 
 enforce the necessity of pressure on the sole, as the 
 Professor has on the frog ; and doubtless the elastic 
 stoppings he has invented ensure that pressure more 
 equally than the mere stuffing in damp tow, which 
 I have been in the habit of doing for several years 
 past. I nuist, hoAvever, add one remark here, in 
 allusion to the general cry out for pressure, and the 
 stress laid by veterhiary writers on the evils of horses 
 standing in stables deprived of this pressure, except 
 on the crust and laminae. Now, were my horses 
 to stand on bare pavement, I should cry out as 
 nuich as they do ; but when I go into my stable, 
 and see my horses standing on a good bed of dry 
 straAV, I am well convinced that there is jjressure 
 doth 0)1 frog and sole, \vhich the shining appearance 
 of the frog plainly denotes, although that frog may 
 be half an inch from the ground Allien the foot is 
 placed on a level surface. 
 
 From the elastic nature of ^Ir. Cherry's pads, 
 they are undoubtedly Avell calculated to create that 
 kind of pressure, which he properly terms support, 
 to the sole of the hoof, which it is presumed it 
 receives from the earth, partly by its immediate 
 contact, and partly by supporting the hoof to ^vhich 
 the sole is attached. Experience has shewn that 
 an unyielding support to this part— -an iron shoe, for 
 instance— cannot be endured with impunity 5 there- 
 fore custom has sanctioned its being left Avithout 
 any to the under-surface of it, which he proves to 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 307 
 
 be injurious. Whether this be or not the real 
 state of the case — that is to say, Avhether pressure 
 on the entire ground-surface of a healthy hoof 1)0 
 al)solutely essential — I \vill not take upon myself 
 to determine; but had I heard of these elastic stop- 
 pings at the time I Avas doctoring the horse I have 
 lately spoken of for a strong disposition to pumiced 
 feet, I should have had great expectations from the 
 use of them. Mr. Clierry's own words Avill best 
 confirm the reasonableness of my hopes : — *■' Many 
 of these feet," says he, " with a full frog and the 
 hoof circular, have the latter thin and weak ; the 
 sole is thin and weak in the same proportion ; so 
 that the foot, instead of having a certain degree of 
 concavity, becomes flat, and in many cases convex. 
 When convexity takes place, all sorts of expedients 
 in regard to the form of shoes are had recourse 
 to ; but none of them arrest the progress of the 
 evil, since they are all resorted to with a view to 
 prevent the sole being pressed on. But when these 
 expedients can no longer be employed A\dth etfect, 
 the treatment which I have suggested as being 
 advisable, generally in a moderate degree, is 
 adopted to the opposite extreme, and the soles, from 
 having had no pressure at all, are, by taking oft" the 
 shoes, exposed to pressure in the greatest degree. 
 This is done with a view to relieve the hoof, and at 
 the same time to press the sole upwards towards its 
 original situation. In these weak feet, the benefit 
 to be derived from filling the concavity of tlie foot 
 and shoe with some substance that shall give sup- 
 port to the sole, must be peculiarly evident ; since, by 
 giving uniform and constant support to a weak sole, 
 
398 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 and thereby relief to a weak hoof, the tendency to 
 flatness and convexity will in most cases be over- 
 come, and the necessity for rest without shoes be 
 prevented." 
 
 Now as thinness of hoof and sole is a very 
 common occurrence with hunters, occasioning (say- 
 ing nothing of apprehensions of unsoundness) great 
 trouble in the management of the feet, and difli- 
 culty of having their shoes secure, it is a great 
 point gained if a remedy for the evil be produced ; 
 and without being able to speak from experience, 
 not having sufficiently tried them, it certainly 
 appears probable that Mr. Cherry has succeeded 
 here by the means of his elastic pads. Mr. Cole- 
 man, it seems, has not insisted on the necessity of 
 pressure on the sole, trusting to the crust and frog 
 for support ; although, as Mr. Cherry observes, the 
 sole forms two-thirds of the ground-surface of the 
 foot, and is naturally so much exposed. Now the 
 following passage, with which IMr. Cherry con- 
 cludes his pamphlet, is greatly in favour of his pre- 
 sumption, that all parts of the hoof should contri- 
 bute to the support of the body : — " If the ideas 
 that I have expressed of the form and functions of the 
 horse's foot are correct, there can then be no doubt, 
 that to make him stand on the hoof only, or even on 
 the hoof and frog jointly, without pressure or 
 support to the bars and sole, is a violent perversion 
 of the functions of all those parts, and tends to 
 produce contracted feet when the hoof is strong, 
 and convex feet when the hoof and sole are weak ; 
 and that to keep the hollow of the foot filled with 
 any stiff substance that can be forced in by the 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS, 399 
 
 strength of a man's finger or thumb, under the 
 precaution before mentioned of picking out the foot 
 every day, or with any substance ca|>able of afford- 
 ing support to the whole surface of the foot, is one 
 of the means most likely to diminish those evils." 
 
 Three years ago I made considerable use of Mr. 
 Cherry's elastic pads, considering them an improve- 
 ment on my former system of the damp tow : for 
 various sorts of sound feet I still consider them so ; 
 but my experience led me to doubt their good 
 effects on those which are to a certain degree foun- 
 dered. Indeed Avhen I used them with a mare I 
 then had, evidently injured in the navicular joint — 
 but, with attention and care, sound enough for any 
 purpose-'-they produced inflammation and suffering, 
 so much so that I was obliged to discontinue 
 them. 
 
 There was another objection to them in my 
 stables, as my horses were lying loose : they were 
 frequently found to have quitted the foot, and a 
 considerable time was occupied in hunting for them 
 in the straw. On my mentioning this defect to 
 Mr. Cherry, he assured me it could be remedied by 
 being more careful in selecthig those which 
 exactly fitted the foot, but which grooms will not 
 always trouble themselves to do. Were it not for 
 this trifling inconvenience, I much admire the 
 principle of them, and strongly recommend their 
 use in flat and weak feet, as also in all others that 
 are sound, being very likely to contribute their 
 share in keeping them so. 
 
 No one can read what I have been now writing 
 Avithout feeling convinced how completely in the 
 
400 CONDITION OF HUNTERS, 
 
 dark all the old codgers of tlie last century must 
 liave been, when they Avere for ever dinging into 
 the ears of the young ones that they Avere destroy- 
 ing the feet of their horses by suffering them to 
 stand upon litter. Their practice, if there be any 
 truth in modern discoveries, was the one of all 
 others most likely to injure their horses ; for, hav- 
 ing the litter taken from under them in the day- 
 time, they not only could never rest their feet by 
 lying down, but the Aveight of their bodies Avas 
 alone supported by the angular rim of the crust (for 
 in those days the frog Avas generally cut aAvay), 
 imposing more Aveight on the laminse and other 
 sensible parts of the foot. I consider a clean bed 
 of straAV most essential to the Avell doing of horses' 
 feet ; and it is quite clear that Avhen at grass in dry 
 summers the injury I have alluded to cannot possi- 
 bly be avoided, as little or no natural stopping is 
 then to be found, to help to divide the burthen Avith 
 the crust. Take up the foot of a horse at such a 
 period as I am speaking of, and^ even if shod, it Avill 
 be found to be free from dirt, Avhich is shaken out 
 in the act of stamping the ground to scare the iiies ; 
 and if not shod, it is impossible there can be any. 
 
 A, As your horses must have been shod by a 
 vast number of different hands, of course you have 
 had several of them Avhat is called pricked in shoe- 
 ing, or injured by the nails, in the sensible parts of 
 the foot ? 
 
 B. Strange to say, I never experienced an in- 
 jury of this nature. I have, hoAvever, always been 
 unable to account for the infrequent occurrence of 
 it in this country, for, until late years, he Avas 
 
CONDITION OP HUNTERS. 401 
 
 reckoned the best workman who could drive a nail 
 highest into the crust, and of course nearest to the 
 quick. I have often interrogated these artists as to 
 how they could so nicely judge their distance, 
 when the answer has uniformly been-—" Oh ! the 
 head of the hammer tells when we are going 
 wrong :" that is to say, they are directed by the 
 sound the nail emits when propelled through the 
 horn. When, however, we consider how com- 
 pletely these gentry are ignorant of the internal 
 structure of the foot, the rare instances of foot- 
 lameness from the wrong direction of a nail may 
 be almost recorded amongst the miracles. 
 
 A. What do you think of the French system 
 of shoeing ? 
 
 B. I think we have taken some useful hints 
 from our Gallic neighbours as to the direction of 
 the nails, wdien the system is not carried too far. I 
 cannot do better than give you a short quotation 
 from IMr. Hinds on this part of my subject :—■ =• 
 " Notwithstanding the French method of punching 
 has been spoken of in terms of approbation, and 
 their mode of driving and clinciiing loiv is recom- 
 mended to imitation, let it not be supposed that in 
 other respects they make the best shoeing smiths in 
 the world, but the contrary. Their finest shoeing 
 is sad slovenly work to look at 5 and this very 
 excellence of theirs is more attributable to lazi- 
 ness than to design or plan. As one instance of 
 this undesirable quality, they assign two men to 
 placing the shoe, a lacquey holding the foot and 
 bringing the tools, Avhilst le marechal himself 
 hammers it on with much pomp." 
 
 D D 
 
402 CONDITION OF HUNTERS, 
 
 Mr. Goodwin has an admirable chapter upon 
 nailing^ in which he says, the various methods of 
 nailing on the shoes of diiferent countries all par- 
 take, more or less, of the French system ; from 
 which, on the modified plan, he thinks the preser- 
 vation of the crust and the security of the shoe are 
 very advantageously combined. For my own part, 
 I have always considered the native French shoe, 
 with a convex ground surface, only fit for a pumice- 
 footed dray horse, and such as never ought to be 
 carried more than three miles in the hour. 
 
 A- Do you think foot-lameness is increased in 
 this country within the last twenty years ? 
 
 B. Certainly ; the fine state of the roads has 
 increased the pace of all kinds of travelling, and 
 inflammation of the feet has kept pace Avith it. 
 Where limestone is used on Mac Adam's plan, 
 corns are produced in great abundance, as well 
 as other inflammatory attacks of the internal 
 organs of the hoof. 
 
 A- I think you have satisfied my curiosity, if 
 you have failed to convince me, on the principal 
 points connected with foot-lameness ; and you may 
 conclude the subject with informing me in what 
 Avay you think the foot of a horse should be pre- 
 pared for the shoe ; and then how the shoe should 
 be formed and applied. 
 
 B. You have given me enough to do, but I 
 will not shrink from the task ; and shall give you 
 the result of my experience, and nothing beyond 
 that. I shall also venture to state, that as the dis- 
 eases of feet are only, in my' opinion, partially attri- 
 butable to shoeing, measures quite unconnected 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 403 
 
 with the blacksmith are essential to the soundness 
 of studs, in whatever work they may be employed. 
 
 I will commence this part of my subject with 
 preparing the foot for the shoe. Here no general 
 rules can be applied, but we should follow Nature 
 as nearly as we can. If we find the base of the foot 
 approach to a circular form, and the sole concave 
 and firm, very little skill is necessary in preparing 
 the hoof ; and as to the shoe^ all that is to ])e done 
 is, to take care that it corresponds as nearly as pos-? 
 sible with that form. There is, however, one 
 general rule which cannot be deviated from ; viz, 
 either the hoof or the shoe must be concave^ as the 
 sole cannot bear pressure from so hard a surface as 
 iron, although it may endure it from ]Mr, Cherry's 
 elastic pads. Mr. Goodwin says it is impossible 
 to suggest a form of shoe which can admit of all 
 the functions of the foot being duly performed ; 
 which, if correct, shews the necessity of adopting 
 that which does the least injury ; and such 
 will be the one that corresponds the nearest with 
 Nature, 
 
 From La Fosse downwards to the writers of 
 the present day, fears have been expressed of the ill 
 consequences of paring the sole, which my experi- 
 ence cannot confirm. On the contrary, my experi- 
 ence has taught me that the soles of horses that 
 feed highly, and are put to severe work, should 
 never go more than three Aveeks without this opera- 
 tion being performed. Indeed I have given it the 
 appellation of refreshing the feet 5 and so far from 
 its having the effects so many authors have ascribed 
 
 p D :^ 
 
404 CONDITION OP HUNTERS. 
 
 to it-— namely, of producing contraction and founder 
 — I am decidedly of opinion that less danger is 
 incurred of injury to the navicular or shuttle bone 
 (and other internal parts of the hoof, which are put 
 into motion when the horse is in action), hy keep- 
 ing the sole elastic j and this, in strong, healthy 
 feet, can only be done by the frequent use of the 
 butteris or drawing knife— unless in cases of horses 
 being ridden over flinty ground in the Avinter 
 months, which of itself has this effect. I heard a 
 very hard-riding gentleman say that he had his 
 horses either newly shod or removed every fourteen 
 days* ! With regard to the frog — being a sceptic 
 as to the necessity of its coming into contact Avith 
 the ground — I have never troubled myself much 
 about it, leaving it to the discretion of the black- 
 smiths of the present day, who seldom cut away 
 more than the rotten or superfluous parts 5 and if 
 they do. Nature very soon supplies the loss. 
 
 On preparing the hoof for the shoe, Mr. Good- 
 win anticipates all my wishes on that essential 
 point. " When hoofs," says he, " are protected 
 by shoes, the consumption of horn by wear and tear 
 is nearly prevented 5 but as the growth of the hoof 
 is constantly going on, it is evident Ihat all the 
 
 * The evils of not removing shoes in time are clearly pointed 
 out by Mr. Goodwin : — " The starting of the clinches/' says he, 
 " arises from the shoe getting closer to the foot after it has been 
 on a short time ; and as the bearing is only on the outward edge, 
 it imbeds itself in some degree within the crust : thus the distance 
 between the nail-hole on the foot-side of the shoe and the clinch 
 must be shortened ; so, as the shoe gets closer to the foot, the 
 clinches are pushed farther through the hoof, which produces the 
 starting of the clinches, and invariably £ttten(,ls the English mannei; 
 p.f shoeing." 
 
CONDrxlON OF HUNTERS. 405 
 
 superfluQUs parts will require to be removed at 
 every period of shoeing ; otlierAvise it would run 
 into a state of exuberance, similar to the human 
 nails if they w^ere not cut. Tlie lirst part to be 
 reduced is the toe, which should be removed with 
 a knife or rasp on the sole-side of the foot, keeping 
 in view the necessary curve. The next parts are 
 the heels, which should, if they descend beloAV the 
 frog, be rasped to bring them on a level w^ith it. 
 Having attended to these two points, it will then be 
 seen how much it is necessary to remove from the 
 quarters, leaving them full and strong, but in a 
 straight line from the heels to the curve, which 
 allows the foot, when in action, a flat part to land 
 on, and describes a space equal to the landing part 
 of the foot when shod with a straight shoe. This 
 direction differs a little from the French ' adjusting 
 balance,' inasmuch as they direct four points of 
 adjustment at the toe, and two at the heels, which 
 leaves the quarters rounded, and renders the foot 
 not so secure on the ground. The sole must next 
 be attended to ; the superfluous parts Avhich have 
 appeared since the last shoeing should be removed ; 
 this will leave it concave, and the crust or Avail 
 lower than the sole. - The next and last part 
 Avhich requires attention is the frog. If it be full 
 of horn. Arm and even on its surface, cleft, and 
 sides, it will not require the ufcHi)f the knife 5 but 
 if it be too large, rough, or uneven in its appear- 
 ance, all the superfluous parts should be removed in 
 the way I have described in the chapter on 
 Thrushes. The foot Avill now be ready to receive 
 the shoe." 
 
406 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 I\Ir. Hinds has the following passage on Shoe 
 ing, which very much accords with my ideas and 
 experience : — " Some feet," says he, " have the 
 wall very thick, and the shoe will require a good 
 bearing ; if very thin, it cannot carry a heavy shoe, 
 though it stand most in need of defence. Again, 
 the horn of some horses' feet is so well tempered 
 and stout, that they may be permitted to go with- 
 out shoes without danger, if not worked on stony 
 roads. Time^ however^ and hard icorh^ and the 
 heat of the blood, occasion brittle hooJ\ and distoi'' 
 tions, with numerouti disorders that attach to the 
 foot generally^ or belong to the sole only. When 
 these ailments begin to shew their effects, the 
 actual shoe-maker, or ' fire-man,' as he is called, 
 must adapt his work according to the new pattern 
 thus cut out for him ; and here begins his inge- 
 nuity. In some cases he will even have to adopt a 
 differently shaped defence for the same set of 
 feet." 
 
 In preparing the foot for the shoe, I wish not 
 to be thought an advocate for too much paring 
 away of the sole. Always submissive to higher 
 authority, I do not presume to say that disease may 
 not be produced by carrying this process to an 
 extreme. That the soles of hunters, however, or of 
 any other description of horses which are subject to 
 high excitement of the system, should not be suf- 
 fered to grow luxuriant, is a fact my experience 
 ]ustiffes my pronouncing, with the firmest convic- 
 tion of the truth of it. 
 
 I can remember the day when country black- 
 smiths knew nothing of 'what we call the bars of a 
 
CONDITION OF UUNTERS. 407 
 
 horse's hoof ; and I do not believe we had more 
 lame horses than we have now, if so many. I ad- 
 mit it looks well to see a foot prettily drawn out, 
 Avith these bars well defined ; but I confess I think 
 there has always been a little humbug here. 
 
 Of course the crust or wall of the hoof must be 
 pared to give a new foundation, and the sole be- 
 tween bar and crust should be taken out before the 
 heels are cut ; but I have always been averse to too 
 much rasping the outward part of the crust, parti- 
 cularly that on the inner side of the foot. Rasp- 
 ing at the toe I have ever encouraged, as nothing 
 makes a foot flourish more. 
 
 I will not attempt to direct the preparing of 
 diseased feet, as I have had but little to do with 
 them, and the subject is above my hand. The bar 
 shoe is very useful here ; and indeed by no means a 
 bad shoe for coach horses, with even good feet, at 
 certain times of the year ; but it is a horrible shoe 
 to ride upon, as no horse can be sure Avitli it. 
 
 I have reason to believe a vast number of falls 
 on the road are occasioned by horses wearing their 
 shoes too long. The points of wear should be con- 
 sulted ; and it should be borne in mind that some 
 horses are much harder wearers, as the term is, 
 than others. Light-bodied horses are less liable to 
 have diseased feet than those which are heavy on 
 their legs, and for reasons not merely in reference 
 to their weight — they are generally less foul in 
 their habit, and consecpiently less prone to inflam- 
 matory diseases. 
 
 A, You have said you consider a perfect foot a 
 
408 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 sound foot. Be a little more explicit, and descrilje 
 Avliat you consider a good hunter's foot. 
 
 B. I confess my experience is all in favour of 
 what may be called rather a strong foot, with 
 smooth horn, and plenty of it, and heels rather 
 high than otherwise 5 because it is much easier to 
 lower them than to produce a contrary effect. I 
 have always been apprehensive of sprained sinews 
 in horses which have low heels, and they require 
 very gfeat precaution in shoeing, to ensure their 
 standing sound. Large feet certainly are advan- 
 tageous to a hunter in deep ground ; but, if out of 
 proportion to the animal's size, are very apt to 
 injure his action and make him tire, in addition to 
 being slow. Lord Jersey's Cecil (a hunter) v/as 
 an exception here. He appeared far from being a 
 well-bred one ; but his excellence in dirt was attri- 
 buted to his very large feet. He was, however, if I 
 mistake not, remarkably clear-winded for a cock- 
 tail. Snow-shoes enable the Laplanders to travel 
 jjetter in snow, but their natural agility and action 
 must be destroyed by them. 
 
 There is no system in shoeing ; the great art is 
 to consult the natural tread, and, as Mr. Goodwin 
 says, that shoe is the most entitled to our notice 
 which gives the least inconvenience to the horse, 
 and allows of the most natural position to the feet, 
 either when in action or at rest. " When feet are 
 shod," says this clear and comprehensive writer, 
 " the weight and bearings of the animal are totally 
 different, and unlike tlie condition of feet Avithout 
 shoes j for more labour is required of those parts 
 
CONDITION OP HtNTERS. 409 
 
 which have more weight imposed on them, and 
 consequently less when Aveight has been removed. 
 And when we compel particular parts to bear more 
 weight than they are required to sustain in a state 
 of nature, Ave equally dispose them to disease, as 
 when Ave remove from other parts that Aveight 
 Avhich they Avere intended by Nature to support. 
 Hence the importance of strictly scrutinizing the 
 principles and properties of the different kinds of 
 shoes, to ascertain Avhicli are calculated to produce 
 the least mischief to the feet, and therefore most 
 entitled to general adoption." 
 
 In shoeing a hunter, other things are to be 
 considered exclusively of the mere fitting on the 
 shoe : — first, its security ; secondly, its ground 
 surface 5 and thirdly, its reference to the safety of 
 the rider, by obviating the chances of over-reaching 
 and cutting. 
 
 " The convexities and concavities of the hoof," 
 says ]Mr. GoodAvin, " give rise to a form admirably 
 calculated to embrace the ground Avith a firm and 
 secure grasp 5 the projecting parts penetrate the 
 earth, Avhile the holloAV parts of the hoof admit the 
 earth to fill up their cavities, and to form as it 
 Avere a kind of dovetail." Thus, then, it appears, 
 that the nearer Ave foUoAV Nature here, the more 
 likely Ave shall be to ride securely over a country, 
 for the angular rim of the hoof alone is a great 
 safeguard against slip})ing. Thus a horse ridden 
 in plates is safer in his turns on a race course than 
 one ridden in shoes, because he obtains, Avhat is 
 called, a better foot-hold in the ground AA'ith the 
 one than Avith the other. The rim of the connnon 
 
410 
 
 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 English shoe, however, has not, till very lately, 
 been deemed sufficient security for the fore shoes 
 of a hunter, and never for the hinder ones — a turn 
 up, or catch, having been always used to the 
 latter. 
 
 I have spoken before of the evils supposed to 
 arise from the use of the catch on the fore shoe, as 
 distorting the tread of the horsey and quoted 
 the authority of an old master of fox-hounds in 
 confirmation of the evils alluded to. Neverthe- 
 less, in some countries — those which are hilly for 
 instance, and where chalk forms part of the soil — 
 something more than the plain surface of the shoe 
 is absolutely wanting, or horses are apt to spread* j 
 as the term is, and becojiie lame. The shoe best 
 calculated of any I have met with to obviate the 
 necessity of the catch, and keep horses from slip- 
 ping, is the cast-iron shoe of Mv. Goodwin, of 
 which I here subjoin a sketch. 
 
 It is called the concave-seated shoe, which, as 
 far as the foot-surface is concerned, is by much the 
 
 * By spreading, is meant the feet slipping outwards, or laterally 
 under the body. 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 411 
 
 best calculated for general use ; and a mere view 
 of the ground-surface is sufficient to convince us, 
 that, from its c oncavities and convexities united, it 
 must take good hold of the ground. The nails 
 also are pitched outwards, which add to the secu- 
 rity of it on the hoof. 
 
 With respect to these shoes preventing slip- 
 ping, I can speak from very sufficient proof. I had 
 ridden in them one day in Warwickshire, after a 
 very wet night, and it so happened that we gal- 
 loped doAvn a sloping meadow, where I observed 
 the horses slipped exceedingly, but that the one I 
 was riding slipped very little. Determined the 
 next morning to make myself better acquainted 
 with the fact, I rode to survey this meadow, and 
 soon traced the footsteps of my own horse, and 
 satisfied myself of the firnmess with which he had 
 trodden. I should in fairness observe, he was 
 newly shod, which might add sometldng to the 
 virtue of the shoes j but this is by no means 
 essential. 
 
 I confess I admire the principle of the concave 
 surface of shoes, Avhether for the field or road j 
 and if the epithet pretty can be applied to a horse- 
 shoe, it may be justly so to the one of which a 
 sketch is here given. 
 
 In spite of some cavils that have been raised 
 against cast-iron shoes — merely, I believe, because 
 of their novelty — I Avish never to ride on any otlier. 
 I have had a pretty fair trial of them, and have 
 never found one of them break or get at all out 
 of place : and as to the endurance, or Avear, I con- 
 sider it to be as nearly as possible e(pial Avith the 
 
412 CONDITION OF HUNTERS* 
 
 common shoe. Objections have been started 
 against them, inasmuch as in feet which require 
 frequent shoeing, and do not secrete horn quickly, 
 tlie nail-holes will occur at the same spot; but I 
 cannot say I ever found this inconvenience. It 
 must ])e a bad hoof that will not give fresh hold 
 to nails in the course of three Aveeks, or a month ; 
 and the latter time, between shoeing, should always, 
 if possible, be given to feet of this description. 
 
 IMr. Hinds speaks of the rigidity of cast-iron 
 being at entire variance with all our notions and 
 experience of elastic hoof. It may be so; but 
 how much so is wrought-iron? 
 
 I am happy to say I have never experienced 
 any difficulty in the use of Goodwin's shoes. They 
 are to be had in sizes from No. 1 to 24 — from the 
 smallest pony to the largest dray-horse. Should 
 they not lit, there is no difficulty in altering them ; 
 the country-smith has nothing to do but to make 
 them of AA hat is called blood-red heat (avoiding 
 the Avliite, or welding heat); and Avhen he has 
 made them Avider or narroAver as occasion may 
 require, he should thro^v them on the ground to 
 cool, not put them into Avater. In price, they are 
 full as cheap as the Avrought shoe. 
 
 I have been as yet speaking of the cast-iron 
 shoes for hunting. I have never used them ex- 
 clusively on the road, and merely, I believe, 
 because our hacks are so apt to be shod in differ- 
 ent parts of the country. I have seen IMr. Good- 
 Avin's cast-iron road shoe. It is not seated on the 
 foot-surface, but is flat ; it has a curve at the toe to 
 prevent tripping in horses that are prone to that 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 413 
 
 habit ; and has altogether a very coinfortable and 
 easy appearance as to the seat for the crust and 
 lieels, and I always think the more points support 
 the better. 
 
 On the curve at the toe, or the French adjusture 
 of the shoe, as it is termed, and which is some- 
 thing new to us Englishmen, Mr. Goodwin Avrites 
 thus: — "On adverting to the advantages at the 
 curve at the toe, I have to observe, that if the fore- 
 legs in action were lifted up in a perpendicular 
 line Avithout any bend or motion in the joints, the 
 adjusture would be useless 5 but I still remain of 
 the same opinion, that the bend in the shoe of 'the 
 toe facilitates the flexion of the knee, fetlock, and 
 coronet joints, and assists materially in rendering 
 the action of the horse more natural. It has been 
 asserted, that such a form of shoe is contrary to the 
 natural state ; but if investigation be made among 
 horses whose feet have never been shod, as we find 
 in many parts of Prussia, we shall observe them 
 Avorn very similar to the shape of an old shoe.", 
 
 Gentlemen Avho have studs Avill do well to 
 endeavour to have their hunters shod by one 
 servant belonging to the forge he may send them 
 to, and by no means forget to give liim three or 
 four half croAvns in the course of the year to drink 
 success to fox-hunting. No man can shoe a horse 
 Avell, unless he bestows time and pains upon him ; 
 both of which, I know by experience, are to be 
 purchased at the price I have mentioned ; but, 
 otherwise, they Avilltoo often be wanting. I repeat, 
 'iio horse can he ahod well, if shod in a hurry. 
 
 If the ablest mechanic Aveve to attempt to 
 
414 CONDITION OF HUNTERS, 
 
 remedy the irregular movement of a watch, whilst 
 he remained jo-norant of the structure and manner 
 of acting of some of the principal springs, he 
 would be certain to do more harm than good. 
 Thus then does it appear somewhat miraculous 
 that injury from nailing does not oftener occur, con- 
 sidering it is trusted to those who are almost — 
 indeed we may say entirely — ignorant of the inter- 
 nal structure of the parts on which they operate. 
 " Nailing," says Mr, Hinds, " is a very important 
 operation, and requires much previous study of the 
 formation and functions of the internal sensible 
 parts of the foot:" but whence is this knowledge 
 derived? or to how many of those thousands of 
 apprentice boys who are daily employed in this 
 apparently nice operation is it imparted ? 
 
 With hunters, however, nailing is of very great 
 importance— "first, as to security of the shoe ; and 
 secondly, because it is necessary so often to remove 
 the shoes of hunters, that, if nailing be clumsily 
 performed, or the nails made of bad iron that splits 
 in driving, great injury is occasioned to the crust, 
 which requires a long time to remedy. The 
 counter-sink head is a very great improvement ; 
 because it then seldom gets struck ojEf by the force 
 with which it comes against the ground ; and we 
 have this advantage in Goodwin's cast-iron shoes. 
 
 Any gentleman may satisfy himself of the good 
 or bad quality of the nails his blacksmith uses. If 
 they will not bear crooking three or four times 
 with the hammer without breaking, he may be 
 assured they are made of bad iron, and Avill most 
 likely split in driving, I have also been very par- 
 
CONDITION QF HUNTERS. 415 
 
 ticular about the clinching of hunters' shoes, I 
 never suffer them to be rasped off with the hoof, 
 but have the point hammered back into the foot, 
 as you would clinch the lid of a deal box, or a 
 rivet. 
 
 There are also other improvements in modern 
 
 shoeing. The nail is now driven more outwards 
 
 than formerly ; so that the point comes out but a 
 
 small distance above the rim of the shoe. Here is 
 
 security from pricking, and a firmer hold to the 
 
 nail. The number of nail-holes also are reduced 
 
 to seven, instead of eight, as formerly, leaving out 
 
 the one next to the inside heel. This allows 
 
 motion of the quarters and heels when the horse is 
 
 in action. Mr. Goodwin does not recommend 
 
 carrying the nails all round the foot, but prefers 
 
 leaving a solid place at the toe, which is the prhi- 
 
 cipal point of wear. Mr. Goodwin's chapters on 
 
 Fullering, PimcJtmg, Frosting, and Nailing, are 
 
 vastly Avorth the perusal of all gentlemen who are 
 
 anxious to preserve the feet of their horses 5 and 
 
 indeed his book throughout is highly interesting, 
 
 not only as giving the result of very extensive 
 
 practice, but as conveying the meaning of the 
 
 author in language that cannot be misunderstood. 
 
 He has made the foot his study, and I really think 
 
 he has made himself master of his subject. 
 
 Having boldly asserted that I do not consider 
 shoeing by any means the general and proximate 
 cause of foot-lameness, but having attributed it to 
 several other causes quite independent of shoeing, 
 it remains for me to state in what way my expe- 
 rience has directed me to endeavour, not only to 
 
416 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 find the remedy for, but to prevent it. Let me 
 however, before I begin, repeat the following 
 sentence of Mr. Hinds: — "Time, and hard work, 
 and the heat of the blood, occasion brittle hoof, 
 and distortions, with numerous disorders that attach 
 to the hoof generally, or belong to the sole only." 
 It hereby appears that if I am wrong I am not 
 the only one in error. 
 
 I have already said, that every good run a horse 
 is ridden with hounds — every time a horse is driven 
 ten miles an hour in a coach — so many times does 
 that horse sustain what is called temporary fever. 
 Now, as fever is the consequence of inflammation ; 
 as inflammation is the consequence of fever ; and as 
 we know there is a strong natural disposition to a 
 determination of these inflammatory symptoms to 
 the fore feet of horses, there cannot exist a doubt 
 but there would be a vast number of horses lamed 
 from severe work and high keep, even if they were 
 to be ridden or driven without shoes, and if the 
 ground they trod on were lined with materials as 
 springy and elastic as the Vicar of Harrow's 
 velvet cusJiion. 
 
 I do not think that, on reflection, we can be at 
 all surprised that such is the case. " The great 
 heat of his (the horse's) blood," says Hinds, " com- 
 bined with his bulk, and the amazing exertions he 
 is compelled to make, altogether predispose him 
 to incur fever of the whole system, or inflammation 
 of particular parts, according to concurring cir- 
 cumstances." 
 
 Having stated my conviction that much the 
 greater mumber oC horses ave lamed, from ex.cite^ 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 417 
 
 ment of the general system, it now remains for me 
 to say wiiat measures should be adopted to counter- 
 act this predisposing cause. Nothing' hut the 
 haIlmg''iron and the auxiliary of good grooming 
 ivill do it ! but the balling-iron and the auxiliary of 
 good grooming will do it. The longer I have to 
 do with horses, the more am I convinced that it is 
 to foulness of habit the lameness and blindness of 
 one half that are lame and blind are to be attri- 
 buted. Consider, first how they live, and then 
 how they work ! One is as contrary to nature as 
 the other ; and as we cannot expect the domesti- 
 cated horse to do what we require of him in these 
 rapacious days, unless we have recourse to art, we 
 must also have recourse to art to keep him free 
 from disease. Even when constantly stabled, this 
 is as much as we ought to expect : but when sub- 
 ject to the alternations of climate, and changes from 
 hot stables to green fields, and from green fields to 
 hot stables ; from good hay and corn to sour grass, 
 and from sour grass to good hay and corn 5 the 
 difficulty is still increased. 
 
 A. Then you think that disposition to disease, 
 and particularly to those of the feet, maybe met by 
 corrective and repellant medicines ? Would you 
 then dose your horse with physic after every severe 
 day's work ? 
 
 B. Here I cannot do better than quote ]\ir. 
 Hinds once more. " How much longer^'' says he, 
 " is the horse to he treated ivith nothing else hut 
 violence ?" No ; I would not physic him after 
 every severe run ; but I would give him something 
 to check the increased circulation occasioned by 
 
 E K 
 
418 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 tliat run, and restore it as quickly as possible to the 
 standard of health. When the hlood is broudit 
 into a feverish state, local inflammation is so fre- 
 quently gendered, that we ought to he constantly 
 on the guard against it. As is the case with men, 
 some horses are of a more irritahle habit of hody 
 than others, and consequently more easily excited ; 
 but an alterative ball can never be ill applied after 
 work. I am quite certain that thousands of horses 
 are annually ruined from want of the precaution 
 I am speaking of '*'. 
 
 Horses not lit to go — by this I mean horses 
 grazed in the field in the summer, and brought to 
 the covert's side in November, and all others short 
 of work, and otherwise ill-groomed— are continu- 
 ally in danger of inflammatory attacks, particularly 
 after a run with hounds. That inflammation thus 
 produced has a determination to the fore feet, no 
 man who has kept hunters Avill deny. But the feet 
 alone do not suffer; the legs come in for their 
 share — not, however, without increasing the lia- 
 bility of injury to the feet. After every day's 
 severe work, inflammation more or less attends the 
 flexor tendon of the leg, conducting that inflamma- 
 tion to the sole, the shuttle-bone, and the hoof, 
 
 * In 1828, Peer, of Southampton^ told me his coach horses were 
 out of sorts ; a good deal troubled with the lick ; and several of them 
 out of work, in consequence. I persuaded him to have a hundred of 
 my alterative balls made up, and to give each of them one a week. He 
 did so, and found no more of the lick; The reader will remember 
 that there is camphor in them. Now the following description of 
 the properties of camphor was given me by a M. D.:— " Camphor 
 (said he) is at once an emollient, an anti-spasmodic, an anodyne, a 
 febrifuge, and a sedative." 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 419 
 
 What is this, then, but fever in the feet? and what 
 but contraction, pumiced soles, and irremediable 
 lameness are the result? 
 
 JMedicine, however, is not the only panacea 
 here^ — rest is indispensable ; and I cannot do better 
 than quote IMr. Hinds on this subject, as his 
 authority will go farther than my own :— " The 
 sheath itself," says he,. " is attached to the two 
 pasterns, of which it thus becomes the tendon or 
 support; Avhence the back sinew and its sheath, or 
 flexor, together, obtain the plural — tendo7is. 
 Within the sheath is secreted a milky fluid, in- 
 tended for lubricating the parts during the very 
 great action to which they are liable in every effort 
 of progression. As happens in all other secretions, 
 this one sometimes fails to produce enough for the 
 intended purpose, when the sinew and its sheath 
 adhere together, or at least do not act with free- 
 dom ; the consequence Avhereof is lameness in a 
 greater or less degree, Avhich may be temporary 
 only, or become permanent, according to circum- 
 stances. If the dryness and adhesion be trivial, as 
 happens after hard work and a night's I'est (mind 
 this, reader!), the horse, upon getting warm, loses 
 the lameness this deficiency has occasioned, for the 
 secretion has been thereby renewed, and the lubri- 
 cation is now supplied in sufficient quantity : but 
 the horse falls lame again next day probably 5 and 
 if he cannot be allowed rest, it is seven to one that 
 he becomes permanently lame." Again, Mr, 
 Hinds tells us, with a good deal of humour, that 
 the favorite panacea of the French veterinarians is, 
 ''take off the shoe and pare the footP This -is to 
 
 ee2 
 
420 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 say, you must then give the aiimial rest, and rest 
 will do what we cannot. This is their practice in 
 all cases of strain ; " for," adds Mr. Hinds, " the 
 marechaUerie were ill able to retain their sick 
 horses in quarters upon urgent occasions of active 
 service, unless they could demonstrate the fact 
 upon the view to their superiors. And here," con- 
 tinues Mr. li. (farther on in the page), " I will 
 candidly allo\A', at setting out, that our neighbours 
 took a correct view of the general cause of all 
 lameness. Those strains Avhich occasion inflam- 
 mation of ligaments, tendons, and muscles, always 
 communicate/ei'er to the foot ^ whence arise thrush, 
 canker, sand-crack, &c. &c." 
 
 Now as it is impossi))le to separate the leg 
 from the foot, is it not evident that injury to the 
 one, by over-exertion or strain, produces lameness 
 in the other? and the quotations I have here 
 availed myself of prove, that it is economy in a man 
 who hunts regularly to have an extra horse or two 
 in his stud. It is the calling on them too soon 
 before absorption has taken place — before excite- 
 ment has subsided — that ruins half our hunters 
 before they have served half their time, by crippling 
 them in their legs and feet ; and this is of neces- 
 sity still oftener the fate of coach horses. If 
 hunters past their eighth year Avere to be shewn 
 out of the stable on stones, as the dealers shew 
 their young horses, and no whip to alarm them 
 was made use of, not one in three would shew 
 sound. Shoeing, however, has very little to do 
 with it. 
 
 " Let a horse," says Hinds, '^ have a loose stall 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 421 
 
 after any stage of strain, or disorder of the limbs; 
 look after his evacuations, and cause them to be 
 regular — a simple fever (or inflanniiation) of the 
 foot depending very often upon nothing more than 
 one or other of these being stopped, which affects 
 the whole animal system sometimes, to say nothing 
 of a single limb." 
 
 A. If you fail to convince others, you certainly 
 have convinced me that general iiitlanmiation of 
 the vascular system of the horse is the principal 
 cause of foot lameness: — that poor horses, which 
 travel slowly and live low, however ill they may 
 be shod, are never lame in their feet ; but that 
 highly-fed horses, when ridden hard, Avould be 
 equally liable to be lame in their feet if not shod 
 at all, and ridden in very soft ground: — that cuu' 
 cushion cannot be the proximate cause, the hind 
 foot giving evidence that cannot easily be con- 
 futed — besides, have Ave not authority from the 
 fountain head, for saying, that the feet of horses 
 which have high action are preserved good, orving 
 to the liressure they siustainjrom that high action 'i- 
 Do then, therefore, conclude the subject, by telling 
 me how I should treat my horses so as to stand the 
 best chance of avoiding the ill effects of this 
 general inflammation ? 
 
 jB. With coach, post, and road horses, little 
 more can be done for them. There is no time to 
 physic them ; they cannot be alloAved sufficient 
 rest for Nature to come effectively to their aid, and 
 vast numbers of them must remain lame. But 
 with hunters, I am decidedly of opinion that a 
 better method of grooming will in time alleviate 
 
422 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 all kinds of laineiiess, though it cannot remove it^ 
 and especially that of the feet. The regular 
 in-door system, insuring superior condition, and 
 consequently less exhaustion after work, will 
 do much towards preserving horses sound 5 and 
 in addition to this, the march of intellect is 
 making its way among hunting grooms. Few of 
 them have yet arrived at any knowledge of the 
 pulse 5 but they consult prognostics more than they 
 were wont to do, and the best results will be derived 
 from their increased circumspection. 
 
 " Costiveness," says JMr. Hinds, " may be 
 considered an original disease, and as orifi pro- 
 ducing, as well as being produced by, fever." 
 How often, however, have I gone into hunting 
 stables, and seen horses shewing the greatest 
 difficulty in emptying their bowels of hard and 
 very dark-coloured pellets, and yet pronounced 
 by their grooms to be " fit to go to hounds to-mor- 
 row 1" At other times I have seen horses labour- 
 ing under evident suppression of urine, but still 
 said to be quite well and right ! Let a veterinary 
 surgeon, however, put his hand on the pulse of 
 those horses, or let an unscienced man of only 
 common observation put his hand into such horses' 
 mouths, and either of them Avill tell a very differ- 
 ent story. Dung and urine are the best indica- 
 tions of the general state of the body 5 and unless, 
 as I have said before, a groom looks attentively at, 
 and watches these, he is never sure of his horses. 
 
 A. Has it been your practice to attend to these 
 particulars in your own stable? 
 
 B. Undoubtedly it has. The lirst thing I do 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 423 
 
 on entering my stable is to look to the state of each 
 horse's bowels : if I see them constipated, I order 
 a loose bran mash, or a light dose of physic, as 
 circmnstances may require : if I see foulness or 
 difficulty in the urinary discharge, a mild altera- 
 tive is given : and I would never suffer a hunter to 
 go more than six weeks v/ithout a light dose of 
 physici Without it, functional derangement^ 
 visceral obstructions, will take place 5 and the 
 Avords, " keep the primce vies free^'' should be 
 Avi'itten over every stable door. The kidneys also 
 will get inactive, and they demand no less atten- 
 tion. 
 
 A. Notwithstanding all this, you have given 
 us a catalogue of inflammatory cases in your stable 
 as well as in that of your neighbours. 
 
 B. I have ; but I consider it very small, and I 
 have already told you that most of them occurred 
 when I Avas absent from my stud. Had all my 
 casualties ended in deaths they would not have 
 exceeded the misfortunes of many tip-top staljles I 
 could name hi the course of one year. 
 
 A. Have you been very particular about venti- 
 lation ? 
 
 B. Of late years I have : but for the first six of 
 my keeping hunters I thought little about it j and it 
 so happened that during that period I had no case of 
 inflammation in a stud of from six to eight horses ; 
 neither do I recollect one of foot lameness : but, as 
 my late much lamented neighbour was wont to tell 
 me, " I teas always a devil of afelloio for physic.^^ 
 White's flrst publication — which I remember I 
 studied hard, but which my old groom thought 
 
424 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 lightly of, saying, whenever I chanced to quote him^ 
 " Oh, Sir, you must not mind him ; he is one of 
 those soldier-gentlemen ; he knows nothing oi hun- 
 ters ! " — gave me the first insight to the benefits of 
 free circulation of air in a stable, on which / now 
 set very great store. In short, let the prophylactic 
 art be practised how it may, horses are never safe 
 when breathing contaminated air ; and a good circu- 
 lation of the vital principle is by no means incompa- 
 tible with a warm and comfortable temperature— 
 up to 63°. 
 
 A. Then I am to conclude, that in keeping 
 horses very clean internally — their being constantly 
 subject to some cooling regimen after severe work — 
 great attention to their feet in summer and winter — 
 and regular attention to the state of their secre- 
 tions — chiefly depend the healthy state, not only of 
 the whole system, but of their feet in particular ? 
 
 B, That is undoubtedly my opinion. From 
 the high state of excitement in which horses that 
 are subject to constant and fast work are kept, we 
 can never expect to remove " the curse upon good 
 horse-flesh" entirely ; but it is by the means I have 
 pointed out — assisted Vidtli the best shoeing we can 
 get — that we are most likely to palliate and 
 dhninish its direful effects. Let us, however, take 
 this into the account : — some horses are l)y nature 
 so robust that they resist all kinds of disease ; some 
 so delicate that nothing we can do for them Aviil 
 enable them to do well ; some very prone to inflam- 
 matory complaints ; and others, Avhose feet are made 
 of soft and half-organized materials, Avill never 
 stand quick work on the road beyond a very limited 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 425 
 
 period of their lives. Climate, and treatment dur- 
 ing coltliood, have a good deal of influence here. 
 
 There is one other great error in grooming 
 which I particularly Avish to notice. A severe 
 day's work often leaves a distressing languor about 
 a horse, which food ^vill not remove. Having 
 gently operated upon the bowels, a regular course 
 of tonic medicines is here the only sovereign remedy, 
 but it is very seldom thought of. I have before alluded 
 to the pre-eminent benelits of tonics in the stable. 
 
 The hot mouth, the dull eye, Avith inflamed eye- 
 lid, in the horse, which has been excited by high 
 food and hard work, bear a .strict analogy to the 
 foul tongue, the feverish skin, the blood-shot eye, 
 and flushed face (after dinner) of the man who has 
 lived too well, and, in the language of the stable, 
 become foul. This reminds me of an anecdote of 
 a certain Chaplain to a regiment who Avas ahA-ays 
 the last to leave the mess-room. Nature at length 
 cried " enoiigh^^ and his Reverence called on a 
 Scotch physician of great eminence to see Avhat he 
 could do for him, and began to describe his malady. 
 " Stop, Sir," said the Doctor, " I know Avhat is 
 the matter Avith you hetter than you do yourself. 
 You haA^e tivanty yearti^ dert inyou^ Avhich I shall 
 endeavour to get out of you." This Avas precisely 
 the case Avith the Parson. He had a fine constitu- 
 tion; and had he been regularly cleaned out, as 
 horses highly excited absolutely require to be, his 
 life (prematurely cut off) might have been spared 
 to a good old age. 
 
 With the exception of sudden cold, or chill, I 
 am fpiite convinced that all inflammatory complaints 
 
426 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 in horses proceed from three causes only, indepen- 
 dently of epizootic contagion — viz., breathing foul 
 air, over-excitement of the vascular system by high 
 food and work, and Avant of attention to the natural 
 secretions, among which I include sweating. Thus, 
 the head is as likely to be injured as the foot, and 
 the foot as the head; for the whole mass of blood is 
 brought into a feverish state^ Now we cannot 
 always Ije physicking (for strong and stimulating 
 purgatives often induce rather than check these 
 evils), so my favorite system of alteratives must be 
 had recourse to. " The opposition of a few," says 
 Mr. Hinds (speakhigof alteratives), " is no obstacle 
 to this commendation of an o))scure but safe and 
 certain class of medicines ," and, as far as my expe- 
 rience has gone, I am free to admit that in hun- 
 ters' stable I have been more indebted to alterative 
 medicines than to that universal dciiXioYicow^yJiysic ; 
 which, though at times it is indispensable, has 
 ruined, blinded, and destroyed thousands upon 
 thousands of good horses ! 
 
 I am not aware that I have anything to add to 
 this part of my subject, which, with the others I 
 have treated of, I shall now luring to a close. I 
 make no doubt but I shall be severely commented 
 upon for presmiiing to offer an opinion, so directly 
 in opposition to the highest authority, on the com- 
 parative harmlessness of iron horse shoes ; but my 
 experience fully justifies every word I have said. 
 That iron shoes improperly aj^plied alter the form 
 of feet, and are one of the many causes of foot lame- 
 ness, I should be a blockhead to deny 5 but for once 
 that the cause i> to be traced to them, it is to be traced 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 427 
 
 fifty times to other sources. Theory, I admit, points 
 the finger straight to the shoe : practice and experi- 
 ence of all kinds ofhor.ses^ and all kinds- of ivork to 
 ivkich they are applied^ as clearly direct us to tlie 
 whole vascular system and it all ends in this : — Keep 
 your horses poor \ use them gently ; shoe them ill, or 
 shoe them well \ and they will be sound in their feet 
 ivitliout cither physic or care. Feed your horses 
 highly ; ride or drive them hard ; shoe them as well 
 as they can be shod , and one fourth part of them 
 Avill sooner or later be lame in their feet, ivith 
 physic and care* 
 
 LAMPAS. 
 
 I have before said that human nature often 
 blushes for some of her errors ; and so indeed she 
 ought. Is it possible that it was ever contemplated 
 by Him who formed the animal, that an unbroken 
 colt should be submitted to the excpiisite torture of 
 a red hot iron tearing away the palate of his mouth ? 
 I cannot believe it; and in only one instance did I 
 ever sutler the villanous operation to be performed 
 on a horse of my own. My regard for the noble 
 animal induces me to present to my readers the 
 following admirable extract from IMr. William 
 Percivall's Lecture on the Diseases of the ^louth 
 of the Horse : — " The Lampas is a name given by 
 Avriters on farriery to a sAvelling or an unnatural 
 prominence of some of the lowermost ridges or 
 bars of the palate. I should not have thought it 
 Avortb while to have taken up time ^\itli this sup- 
 posed malady, but that it has called forth the inflic- 
 
428 CONDITION or HUNTERS. 
 
 tioii of great torture on the animal by way of 
 remedy, and that it has been a cloak for the prac- 
 tice of much imposition on tliose who have been 
 in the habit of consulting farriers on the diseases of 
 their horses. I allude to the cruelty and barba- 
 rity of burning the palates of horses so affected. 
 Equally consistent Avould it be — and Avere it con- 
 sistent, more requisite — to cauterize the palates of 
 children who are teething 5 for the truth is, that 
 the palate has no more to do Avith the existing dis- 
 ease (if disease it can be called) than the tail has. 
 Lampas is neither more nor less than a turgidity of 
 the vessels of the palate, consequent upon that in- 
 flammatory condition of the gums which now and 
 then attends the teething process ; but, notwith- 
 standing this plain and simple truth, the animal 
 (and I believe this is owing to its not having been 
 explained before) continues to be persecuted for it, 
 even by some professmnal men, as well as far- 
 riers, up to this hour. The practice is a stigma 
 upon our national character, and a disgrace to the 
 professors of veterinary science. 
 
 " Teething in children, indeed, is novv^ and then 
 a season of restlessness and pain, and was one— 
 before surgeons were in the habit of using the gum 
 lancet — of anxiety and danger 5 but it is not so with 
 horses : they never have any feverish irritation 
 created in the system, though they have some ten- 
 derness of the gums and palate, and though some 
 few, in consequence of this tenderness, cf/d their 
 food, or refuse to eat any but what is soft and unir- 
 ritating. In such a case, if anything requires to be 
 done, we ought to lance the gums, not the palate ; 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 429 
 
 but I do not remember ever to have had occasion 
 to do this but once." Mr. F. then states a case 
 wherein the life of a horse was endangered by his 
 inability to masticate his food ; when, on a minute 
 examination, two little tumors, red and hard, were 
 discovered in the situation of the posterior tusks, 
 which, Avhen pressed, appeared to give the animal 
 insufferable pain. On lancing them down to the 
 teeth the evil was removed, and the horse very soon 
 restored to his usual good health. I sincerely hope 
 this circumstance will be deeply impressed on all 
 owners of studs. 
 
 LEGS (big). 
 
 What is termed a big leg, is generally the 
 result of swelling taking place in the sheath of 
 tendons after violent strains, and those, perhaps, 
 not properly treated 5 also from blows, where the 
 parts become lined by a thick coat of lymph ; also 
 from a deposition of morbid fluid in the cells of 
 bones. The bones themselves, indeed, sometimes 
 become thick from external injuries — that is to say, 
 the body of the bone is occasionally found thickened 
 from a deposition of bony lamina over the original 
 bone. Again, I read, that bones will somethnes 
 lose their vitality, and theneighl)ouring vessels will 
 take on the ossiiic action, and deposit a consider- 
 able quantity of new bone to supply its place. 
 
 So much for the theory of big legs. They are 
 eye-sores, it is true ; but thousands of good hunters 
 and coach horses have them, and are as sound as 
 when they were foaled. Indeed it is a rare circum- 
 stance to see an old hunter's legs quite free from 
 
430 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 these callosities, altlioiigli not so rare since the in- 
 door system has been pursued in the summer 
 months, ns, by the help of i-est and proper regimen, 
 absorption takes place more freely. 
 
 Barring the effects of severe accidents, nothing- 
 more contributes to the general healthy state of a 
 horse's legs than keeping him internally clean, ^,nd 
 bandaging his legs with flannel after severe Avork, 
 so as not only to determine the blood to the skin, 
 but to increase the circulation of it throughout the 
 limb. Warm water and a loose box are auxiliaries. 
 The legs of many hunters, however, will get round, 
 do what we will Avith them j but I Avould never 
 take active measures Avith them unless lameness 
 AA^ere the consequence. Bathing callous legs in 
 cold salt Avater* is very strongly to be recommended. 
 On this part of my subject I shall quote Osmer, 
 Avhose sentiments so accord Avith my OAvn, and Avith 
 the result of my experience in guarding against the 
 consequence of severe Avork : — " To remove the 
 inflammation of the glands," says he, " and to pre- 
 vent an induration and enlargement of the liga- 
 mentous parts, and the integuments of the fetlock 
 joint — the consequence of repeated violence — it is 
 a good custom for all sportsmen to cause the joints 
 of a horse, after a day's hunting, to be well fomented 
 Avith flannels dipped in Avarm Avater 5 and some 
 Avarm flannel clothes or rollers should be moderately 
 bound thereon for the ensuing night." 
 
 Before I dismiss this part of my subject I must 
 observe, that in nothing do horses differ so much as 
 in the nature, or rather quality, of their legs. 
 
 * Put two double handfuls of salt into a pail of cold water. 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 431 
 
 True it is, that perfect security against accidents 
 is not consistent witli the scheme of Nature : on the 
 contrary, we inay stiy, a certain insecurity is inse- 
 parable from the delicacy of all animal structure, 
 Nevertheless, some horses are hard-ridden for seve-? 
 ral successive years, and yet their limhs remain 
 uninjured. This can only be accounted foi*, I 
 think, by the balance between the power of exer- 
 tion, and the capability of resisting the shock that 
 exertion produces, being pretty equally divided. 
 For instance, a horse with a heavy man on his back 
 must receive a severe shock in alighting from a high 
 leap ; but still, if the inert power of resisting that 
 shock bear a relation to the muscular poAver with 
 which he springs at it, he is not likely to receive 
 injury from it*. I am not now going to enter into the 
 mechanical structure of the animal, and thence to 
 account for the vast difference we find in the legs of 
 horses ; but I have always preferred those in which 
 the shank or cannon-bone is short, and which are a 
 long time in drying after having been wetted with 
 water. I also require a large grasp of flat, roj)y 
 sinews, not caring so much about the main size of 
 the bone, as the material of the adjacent parts. 
 Let me conclude this subject by observing, that 
 good grooming and the balling-iron are great pre- 
 servatives of legs : neither should good shoeing be 
 overlooked 5 as the position of, and the bearing upon, 
 the shoe has much to do with the health of the 
 flexor muscles and tendons of the limbs. 
 
 • This is the case with a man. The elasticity of his limbs is 
 always accommodated to his activity. Were it not so, half the 
 Opera dancers would break down# 
 
433 CONDITTOiV OF HUNTERS, 
 
 MOLTEN GUEASK, 
 
 From all the nonsense that I met with early in 
 life on the supposed disease called Molten Grease, I 
 was inclined to think there was no such disorder. 
 However, the number of horses I have seen killed 
 from the effects of hard riding, when not in proper 
 condition for it, has induced me to include it among 
 the various symptoms attending violent general in- 
 flammation j and certainly more likely to be found 
 in fat horses than lean ones. A good twenty 
 minutes' burst over a deep country may kill the 
 best horse in England, if fat in his inside 5 and then 
 we may as well, or rather better, say, he died from 
 his grease or fat being melted, as from our own stu- 
 pidity or inhumanity in riding him with hounds 
 when he is not fit to go. 
 
 KEBVINGj 
 
 Or JVeurotomi/, as IMr. Percivall classically 
 designates it. — I never have had this operation per- 
 formed on a horse of my own ; but I am confident 
 it will stand the test of ages. It is an act of mercy 
 towards such horses as are in the hands of those 
 wdiose circumstances ohltge them to use them, 
 although severely afflicted with lameness below the 
 fetlock joint ; and for slow work they answer all 
 the purposes of naturally sound horses. For brood 
 mares also which are in pain from their feet, it should 
 always be resorted to, as it is a great point to enable 
 them to carry their load comfortably when they 
 become heavy in foal ; and IMr. Percivall, in his 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 433 
 
 Elementary Lecturea^ mentions two instances of 
 sterility having been removed by it. For hunters, 
 or hacks, I cannot recommend it ; for, as it evi- 
 dently produces a kind of paralysis of the lower 
 extremity of the limb, it cannot be expected that 
 they can have that free use of it which ensures 
 safety to the rider. I have, however, seen two 
 hunters go very well after being nerved, one of 
 them the property of Mr. Maxse. The operation 
 was })erformed by Mr. Kuney, of Nottingham; 
 but it failed in another of that gentleman's stud. 
 I have seen coach horses in fast coaches go well 
 enough when nerved 5 but their action is generally 
 unnatural, and they are apt to break their legs on 
 false, uneven ground. 
 
 To Mr. Sewell, of the Veterinary College, are 
 we indebted for the now common practice of nerv- 
 ing for foot-lameness : and although IMr. Goodwin 
 states a few cases wherein the loss of the foot, and 
 consequently the horse, was the result ; yet, on the 
 other hand, he speaks of horses, of no use to the 
 owner before the operation vras performed, having 
 continued at severe work after it for five years -with- 
 out any return of lameness : " and," adds he, " I see 
 no reason why they may not be as effective as they 
 now are for many years to come." 
 
 The following remark of Mr. Goodwin on this 
 very interesting subject is aa'cII worthy of notice :-— 
 " It has been stated that the hoof and foot waste 
 after the operation ; but I am glad to know that this 
 observation is imaginary. I have observed in hoofs 
 where the operation has been performed a more 
 plentiful production of horn than before, and a 
 
 F F 
 
484 CONDITION OF HtJNTERSi 
 
 greater disposition to groAv in the natural form : 
 and I think this is a consequence to be expected ; as 
 the irritable state of the foot being destroyed by the 
 division of the nerve, the secretion of the horn is 
 likely to go on more freely. When the operation 
 has been performed before any considerable change 
 of structure has taken place, I have no doubt that 
 the original cause is removed altogether, by the 
 animal being enabled to bear the full proportion of 
 weight on the lame foot." 
 
 As these Letters may be read where this opera- 
 tion and its results are as yet but little knoAvn, I 
 here give JMr. Goodwin's Avords in the description 
 of it :— 
 
 " The operation itself is very simple. Having 
 first ascertained the coiu'se of the artery by the 
 pulsation, an incision is made through the skin 
 about an inch and a half in length ; and on 
 removing the cellular substance (the skin), the 
 artery, vein, and nerve are all shewn running toge- 
 ther, the nerve on the inside of the artery, and 
 close to it. A needle may be readily passed under 
 it, leaving a thread, which, on pulling a little, 
 enables the operator to separate the nerve from the 
 artery with ease, and to take out as nmch as is con- 
 sidered necessary. The skin should then be closed 
 Avith adhesive plaster, or a stitch, which sometimes 
 heals by the first intention \ after which bleeding 
 and physic are useful. When it is performed 
 below the fetlock joint there is less chance of the 
 part operated on Jjeing struck by the o])posite leg* 
 It likewise leaves a small branch of the nerve 
 undivided, Avhich supplies the forepart of the foot. 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 435 
 
 SO that sensation will not be wholly destroyed, 
 though I find it best to divide the nerve al)ove the 
 joint on the outside of the leg." — It appears there 
 are instances of sensation returning by the nerve 
 uniting, Avhen a second operation has been neces- 
 sary, and has succeeded. 
 
 PHYSIC. 
 
 In my second letter on " Condition of Hun- 
 ters," Cp, 49,) I touched a little on this head, but 
 promised to return to it at a future time, it being 
 one of the greatest importance to all owners of 
 horses. I am happy, however, to have it in my 
 power to state, that, in consequence of the late 
 general diffusion of veterinary science by the seve- 
 ral works which have been published, the modus 
 operandi is now so much better understood, that 
 fewer accidents arise from the improvident use of 
 immoderate cathartic medicines than when I first 
 started in life, or Avhen I commenced writing 
 these Letters. AVhen I look back, indeed, and 
 reflect upon the copious doses of aloes, good or 
 bad, which we were in the habit of administering, 
 I cannot persuade myself that the intestines of our 
 horses were not better lined than they are at present. 
 I ought, however, to go back to a still earlier 
 period, when fourteen or sixteen ounces of aloes, 
 with other auxiliaries, composed what was called a 
 mild dose of physic* ! ! 
 
 * On this subject I lately stumbled upon the following sage re- 
 mark of some would-be critic on Professor PeaU's (Professor and 
 Lecturer to the Dublin Society) Observations on the Diseases of 
 Horses. It is to be found in vol. xlix. of the Sporting Magaxinc, and 
 
 F F 2 
 
436 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 The method of administering physic to the 
 horse, and his treatment in its operation^ being now 
 pretty generally understood, and, I have reason to 
 believe, practised under the guidance of moderation 
 and reason, I shall not dwell on it long 5 but the 
 point on Avhich it is most difficult to decide is, at 
 what periods it is most advantageous to give it to 
 horses in high condition. In cases of internal 
 inflammation — to which, next to copious blood- 
 letting, ^^'e know it to be the most powerful check — 
 we do not stand in need of a guide. As an auxili- 
 ary to condition, it is acknowledged to be as essen- 
 tial as good hay and corn. But the secret consists 
 in knowing when it should be given to preserve 
 the condition it has so much contributed to 
 establish 5 and it is certainly best understood in 
 racing stables, Avhere, amidst what we might be 
 
 must create surprise, that so lately as 1816 there could have been 
 found a writer, pledging Ms own experience for what he advanced, 
 that had the courage to obtrude such nonsensical, and, at the same 
 time, dangerous doctrine on the notice of Englishmen. " In the 
 mean time," he says, " he (Professor Peall) is, or appears to be, a 
 sharer in that timidity which practitioners have affected (mark this 
 word) of late years, with respect to the quantity of fine aloes to be 
 prescribed as a dose for a horse ; prescribing ten drachms as a strong 
 and one ounce and a half as a very strong dose for a large carriage or 
 cart horse. Now we pledge ourselves, on the sure ground of experi- 
 ence, and of having purged horses of every description, from the 
 racer to the cart horse, that ten drachms of fine aloes is an ordinary 
 and mild dose for saddle horses, generally insufficient in purgative 
 efficiency for many ; and that one ounce and a half administered to a 
 cart horse would be about equal in point of effect to currying his hide 
 with a lady's flesh-brush." An eminent Veterinary Surgeon at this 
 time gives a dose of one ounce and a half of Barbadoes aloes ; and a 
 well-known Professor testified in Court, that one ounce and a half to 
 three ounces of the best aloes might be given to a horse in one dose ! 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS, 437 
 
 induced to term the excesses of jyliysic and sweat" 
 ing, the ultra of condition is to be seen. 
 
 Tiie theory of purgation is a subject which it 
 will not be expected I should enter upon at any 
 length. Suffice it to say, that the two principal 
 objects are, to unload the bowels of matter that is 
 of no farther service to the body, and therefore only 
 an incumbrance to it 5 and to excite a determina- 
 tion of blood to the internal surface of the intesti- 
 nal canal, in order that some of it may be 
 evacuated in the form of secretion. Thirdly, 
 cathartics increase the influx of the biliary and 
 pancreatic secretions, and therefore promote health 
 by their influence on the digestive organs. 
 
 I Avas much pleased with one of those pithy 
 hints which Mr. Abernethy gave his pupils at a 
 late lecture. " Gentle medicines," said he, " bring 
 about the secretions ; I do not like to hidly the 
 organs into health.''^ This exactly accords with 
 my ideas of the eftects of physic on horses. I am 
 quite certain that a gentle purgative should be given 
 to every horse full of hard meat once in six weeks 
 throughout the year, exclusively of somewhat 
 stronger physic at particular seasons, such as 
 before and after work, and the consequent changes 
 in quantity and quality of food. The febrile heat, 
 occasioned by the severe work we give them, causes 
 a deficiency in that mucus (as every observant 
 groom must be aware of, whenever he sets fair his 
 horses' bed) which facilitates the passage of the 
 food, and which deficiency of course produces 
 costiveness, and all its dangerous consequences. I 
 am quite sur« that not only is this treatment bene<- 
 
438 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 ficial to general condition, but a mean of warding 
 off those inflammatory attacks to whicli all horses, 
 ])ut particularly those who eat much corn, are so 
 subject. When bowels are overloaded no animal 
 is safe ; for the coats of the intestines lose their 
 proper tone, and a healthy secretion is denied 
 them. 
 
 What I have now said is founded on my own 
 practical observation, more deeply impressed on 
 my mind by the several narrow escapes I have had 
 of losing valuable horses from not paying atten- 
 tion to their bowels, when qpparentli/ in the best of 
 health ; b\it I am anxious that the reader should 
 be furnished with still better authority ; and shall 
 therefore present to him the following passage iVom 
 Mr. William Percivall's Lecture on Purgation and 
 Purgative Medicines : — 
 
 ^' I shall next cursorily point out the healthy 
 states, and some of the diseased or disordered con- 
 ditions of body, in which we are in tlie habit of 
 administering cathartic medicines : for purgatives 
 are sometimes given in health, as preparatives, or 
 auxiliaries to putting horses into condition ; whereas 
 they are never given in disease but to remove that 
 which is the cause of the malady, or that which has 
 more or less influence in its progress or continu- 
 ance. The simplest view we can take of the 
 exhibition of a dose of cathartic medicine is the ex- 
 pulsion of the fsecial contents of the large intestines 
 in a shorter time than they otherwise Avould have 
 been discharged. This is what is called " un- 
 loading the bowels ;" and is the principal intention 
 in purging horses th-at have been recently taken 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTKRS. 439 
 
 up from grass. But it is scarcely possible thus to 
 limit its operation; for every laxative i\\^i we 
 administer must iii some degree augment the in- 
 testinal secretions, if not the biliary and pancrea- 
 tic as weW, and thus remotely be productive of 
 other consequences. When Ave improve the con- 
 dition of a horse in apparent health by the ad- 
 n)inistration of alteratives, or laxatives, or cathar- 
 tics, we are said to accomplish it by urging the 
 various organs employed in the digestive process to 
 a more vigorous performance of their functions ; 
 but if all the melioration the animal's constitution 
 has evidently experienced be duly estimated, this 
 confined reasoning appears to be inadequate and 
 unsatisfactory. There would seem to be disorder 
 or derangement somewhere in the system in all 
 these cases, the removal or rectification of which, 
 either temporary or permanent, was the remote 
 effect of the medicine, and that on Avhich its salu- 
 tary efficacy depended. Hoav much do a few 
 well-timed doses of laxative medicine contribute to 
 restore the condition of a poor horse ! — how in- 
 fluential soiling is in inducing a thriving diathesis, 
 and promoting fatness and sleekness, and every 
 otlier appearance of robust health ! — and yet these 
 meliorated states probably were not preceded by 
 any signs whatever of disorder or disease ! And 
 it is in the alterative and laxative forms that 
 cathartics are so beneficial in promoting health that 
 appears to be flagging: in fact, they areeftectually, 
 uiider such circumstances, veritable tonics." 
 
 Again.--^" There are certain manifestly disor- 
 dered states of body also in Avhicli laxatives are 
 
440 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 preferable to purgatives in full closes. In all cases 
 of habitual pursiness or thickness of breath from 
 previous organic disease, in broken wind, and in 
 permanent roaring, in evident imperfection of the 
 digestive process, and in some cutaneous affections, 
 their judicious exhibition will often be found to 
 be eminently serviceable." 
 
 As nothing that I can write can so satisfac- 
 torily account for the operations of properly-applied 
 cathartics, or laxatives, as auxiliaries to the con- 
 dition and the general safety of horses' health, I 
 shall conclude this part of my subject by saying, 
 that I never used any kind of oils as laxatives to 
 promote condition 5 but have found great benefit 
 in two drachms of Barbadoes aloes, Avith one 
 drachm of ginger, made into a very small ball, and 
 given (generally) two mornings in succession. 
 All the experiments Mr. W. Percivall has made 
 on oils, as cathartics in horses, have proved them 
 uncertain, if not dangerous, in their operation. 
 
 RING-BONE. 
 
 It has three times happened to me to have 
 horses lame without being able to ascertain the 
 cause, and on sending them to veterinary surgeons 
 for examination, the answer has two or three times 
 been — "incipient ring-bone." No ring-bone, 
 however, appeared. 
 
 Horses with short unyielding pasterns, that 
 have been worked on hard roads Avhen young, are 
 most subject to this disease— and a most formid- 
 able one it is : for nothing but the red-hot iron has 
 any chance to contend with it, and eyex\ tluit wUl 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 441 
 
 not always do. A very small excrescence at the 
 junction of the pastern with the coronary bone will 
 sometimes produce violent lameness, and resist all 
 remedies ; whereas another as big as one's fist is 
 comparatively harmless. In 1820 I gave a farmer 
 in AYorcestershire 80/. for a horse with a ring- 
 bone as big as half a twopenny loaf. lie had, in 
 consequence, been sold for 15/. ; and the veteri- 
 nary surgeon avIio fired him (a person of great 
 eminence in his profession) assured me he must 
 ever be lame. After riding him a season, I sold 
 him for 150/., and he was never lame afterwards 
 from that cause. 
 
 BOARING. 
 
 Here is" one of the very deep curses on good 
 horse-flesh, and nearly as destructive as foot-lame- 
 ness. How many hundred-— aye, I may say thou- 
 sand — otherwise fresh, young, and sound horses 
 have I seen afflicted with this disease, and there- 
 fore, in most cases, useless for fast work ! I am 
 happy to say, however, it has been my good fortune 
 never to have had a horse turn roarer in my own 
 stable, having entered it sound ; and I only pur- 
 chased two, which cured me of going to that 
 market again. One nearly broke my neck at a 
 fence, having entirely lost all his powers in the 
 space of five fields ; and the other I christened The 
 Bull, for he could have been heard half a mile off 
 if he got into deep ground. Notwithstanding this, 
 I have seen two brilliant hunters that were roarers. 
 
 If any one wishes to become acquainted with 
 this most insidious disease, he must read Mr, 
 
442 CONDITION OF HUNTERS, 
 
 William Percivall's Lecture on it (p. 242, vol. ii.)5 
 occupying" about twenty pages. I wish my 
 limits would allow of my transcribing it here, 
 for it could not fail being highly interesting to 
 every owner of horses. After denominating the 
 different degrees of the complaint —•> such as 
 piping, wdieezing, whistling, high blowing, and 
 grunting — he enters upon Avhat he terms the ratio 
 ^'t/mptomatum, or theory of roaring. " I may 
 observe," he says, " that it bears an analogy to 
 croiip^ both in relation to the proximate cause, 
 and to the parts affected : but we must be on our 
 guard not to carry this comparison too far, or it will 
 lead us into serious pathological en'orj for, 
 although I may broadly assert that the proximate 
 cause of roaring is grounded on cynanche trachealis^ 
 tlie inflammation does not put on that type which 
 makes croup so formidable and dreaded a malady 
 in a human being ; neither is it confined to the 
 years of innuaturity. When roaring does happen 
 in colts, it generally exists as a mode of termina- 
 tion of strangles : the catarrhal affection that 
 accompanies strangles now and then continues long 
 after the Avound in the throat is closed up; leaves 
 the laryngeal membrane thickened, and perhaps 
 ulcerated ; and thus lays the foundation of this 
 disease. 
 
 " But not only catarrhal affections, many that 
 are considered as inflammation of the lungs termi- 
 nate in roaring; for, in truth, the symptoms of this 
 species of membranous inflammation are not, at all 
 times, so diagnostically marked as to enable us to 
 steer clear of this error: and wbat renders 
 
COxNDITION OF HUNTERS. 443 
 
 cynanche tracheaUs infinitely more obscure and 
 insidious in its attack and course is, tliat in the 
 majority of cases inflammation is of that mild 
 chronic type which is apt to escape the notice of 
 those to whom we must look for the first reports of 
 ill health : and hence it is, that we are continually 
 meeting with so many roarers, in whom nothing is 
 known about the inflammatory action to which 
 they owe their present malady. Seeing then that 
 cynancJie tracheaUs is the common forerunner of 
 roaring, and that upon our knowledge of the one 
 must mainly depend our competency to treat the 
 other, I shall here detail the symptoms by which its 
 existence is indicated." 
 
 Mr. Percivall here describes the usual sym- 
 ptoms of violent cold and cough, with its ordinary 
 concomitant — fever ; and concludes thus :-— " In 
 some cases, when the inflammation is at its height, 
 spasms of the larynx come on ; during the con- 
 tinuance of which respiration is carried on with 
 so much distress that the animal is, every now and 
 then, threatened with suffocation ; or the breathing 
 may become more embarrassed from a thickening 
 of the membrane which lines the glottis. Did 
 the disease," continues Mr, P. " connnonly mani- 
 fest itself in this acute form, there would be no 
 room for doubt as to the nature and tendency of 
 the case ; but, as I observed before, it approaches 
 and creeps on in that insidious way, that the foun- 
 dation of roaring is actually laid before it is dis- 
 covered that the proximate cause — inflammation — 
 has been present in the air passages : at least so it 
 is with the generality of cases." 
 
444 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 The causes oi cynanche^ Blr. Percivall tells us, 
 are similar to those which ffive rise to what we call 
 common colds and pulmonary affections in general 5 
 but that it sometimes proves to be an extension or a 
 sequel of the former, and a precursor of the latter. 
 Mechanical injur}^, however, frequently produces 
 roaring 5 and especially that occasioned by horses 
 standing for many hours in the day on the bearing 
 rein, by which their hirynges are compressed, and 
 trachcEC distorted, to an extent nature never intended 
 they should be. On this part of the subject Mr. 
 Percivall v\a*ites thus : — "It may be remarked here 
 (speaking of mechanical injury being a proximate 
 or exciting cause of roaring), that simple flexion of 
 the pipe itself, from the forcible and continued 
 incurvation of the nose towards the chest, has been 
 known to produce roaring. Mr. William Good- 
 win, Veterinary Surgeon to His Majesty, informed 
 me, that, during his professional avocations at St. 
 Petersburg!!, his attention was repeatedly drawn to 
 several horses, who by himself and others had been 
 declared to be roarers, in consequence of their hav- 
 ing got rid of the complaint in the manege. These 
 horses, it appears to me, roared from unnatural 
 flexure of the Avindpipe ; and this distortion, the 
 Russian system of equitation, which consisted in 
 the continual elevation of the head and projection 
 of the nose, was well adapted to counteract, and in 
 process of time remove. The inconvenience, at 
 flrst, is only temporary ; the intervals of relaxation 
 give the parts an opportunity, for a time, of recover- 
 ing their wonted tone and shape 5 but repeated and 
 long-continued acts of such violence may so 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 445 
 
 enfeeble their elastic powers, that permanent de- > 
 formity of the larynx or pipe may result, and the 
 malady may become an irremedialjle one." Noav, 
 having the pleasure of Mr. William Goodwin's 
 acquaintance, he has not only made me acquainted 
 with several of the facts here alluded to by IMr. 
 Percivall, but shewed me a very curious specimen 
 of a diseased larynx, produced entirely from pres- 
 sure. When on the subject of mechanical injury 
 to this highly-sensible part, it may not be amiss to 
 state, that Mr. Sewell strongly censures the prac- 
 tice of buckling neck straps, or the throat- latches 
 of collars and bridles, tightly ; but my experience 
 cannot produce me any ill consequences from this 
 practice, which I have seen carried to a very con- 
 siderable and, I dare say, unwarrantable extent 
 with crib-biters, and horses which are given to rid 
 themselves of their collars in the night. 
 
 Now it will not be expected that I am to follow 
 Mr. Percivall into all the causes and degrees of 
 roaring which he produces, and which he so ably 
 expounds ; but if I had never read his lecture on 
 the subject, and been asked what I conceived to be 
 the most prevalent causes of this so very connnon 
 disease, I should have answered nearly in these 
 words : — I am inclined to think that wherever 
 there has been considerable inflammation in parts 
 of such delicate structure as those which become 
 the seat of this diease, although that inflannnation 
 may terminate in resolution, yet it will generally 
 leave behind it some remains, whicli an experienced 
 anatomist would detect. Effusion we are con- 
 vinced has taken place 5 and, in most cases, we 
 
446 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 may naturally suppose, that in proportion to the 
 (juantity of this effusion, which still remains un- 
 absorbed by the constitution, will the degree of 
 roaring- be determined*. Thus severe colds (or 
 indeed inflammation of the lungst) which produce 
 much membranous inflammation are doubtless the 
 most connnon causes of roaring j and therefore 
 should be as much as possible guarded against : 
 nor should we ever lose sight of the well-known 
 fact, that constitutions of horses vary exceedingly 5 
 and that, like human beings, some of them are not 
 only more delicate than others, but particularly 
 irritable about the throat and chest. " Such ani- 
 mals," says JMr. Hinds, " should be exposed as 
 little as possible to any violent weather, or sudden 
 change of temperature. These are the kind of 
 animals that benefit greatly, or suffer the most, by 
 a summer's run at grass, according to the heat, the 
 dampness, or dryness of the season, and the pre- 
 cautions used previously to, and at, the turning out." 
 On this subject IMr. Hinds writes thus, and I think 
 with great propriety : — " A simple cold consists in 
 
 * " The most common effect of inflammation of the air pas- 
 sages/' says Mr. Percivall, "is a thickening of the living membrane j 
 which if it happen in that part of it that lines the chambers of the 
 nosC;, will give rise to that thickness and pursiness in the breath in 
 which consists the complaint of the high-blower. But the part 
 where this increment offers the most impediment, and consequently 
 the greatest inconvenience, is the glottis, the fissure of which is very 
 sensibly diminished by the morbid thickness of its lining ; and thus 
 is produced roaring, or confirmed roaring ; or, if the opening be much 
 contracted, whistling.'* 
 
 t Mr. Percivall produces one instance (a rare one he ackliow- 
 ledges) of the lungs being the seat of roaring. There was no dis- 
 ease of the larynx or trachea, so that bronchotomy Was tried> blit 
 without efFecti 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 447 
 
 slight iiiflciiiimatioii of the niembraue that lines 
 the nose, Aviiulpipe, Sic. \ as -we find, in all other 
 inflammatory disorders, variations in the symptoms 
 occur, according to the previous constitution of the 
 individual, and its previous condition. For ex- 
 ample : if two equal animals be exposed to a 
 chilly night air, that horse Avhioh had performed a 
 journey previously to turning out Avould catch a 
 cold for certain — the other most probably would 
 escape j but if both had performed the same journey, 
 let us suppose, and one of them laboured under 
 the constitutional defect of adhesion of the pleura, 
 he would acquire the more malignant cold, known 
 as inflammation of the lungs — his less unhappy 
 mate, a simple cold. In proportion that the attack 
 may be more severe, the symptoms increase, as does 
 the danger. Passing the hand down over the 
 windpipe at the epiglottis, the animal will shrink; 
 he Avill soon evince difficulty of swallowing, and 
 refuse his food; injiammation has begun P^ 
 
 I think most people are in error as to the terms 
 for the various degrees of roaring. It is very com- 
 mon to hear a person say " my horse is a bit of a 
 whistler," Avlien he means to imply he is not an 
 absolute roarer. Now whistling is the ne plus 
 ultra of roaring. Mr. Percivall details the result 
 of an experiment he made on an ass, to ascertain the 
 degree of restriction necessary to produce roaring. 
 He passed a ligature of broad tape around the ani- 
 mal's windpipe, about one-third of the Avay doAvn 
 the neck. " The tape," says he, " Vv^as first drawn 
 with moderate tightness, and the animal roared 
 when made to trot ; the pipe was then compressed 
 
448 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 to about half its natural calibre, and the animal 
 whistled." 
 
 It is quite evident there is no cure for roaring. 
 " Some of my professional contemporaries," says 
 jMr. P., " have contended hard for celebrity Avith 
 the obstacles that are encountered in this alluring 
 field for experimental research 5 but they would 
 have spared themselves much labour if they had 
 (and it is generally the nearest road to cure after 
 all) directed their investigation vigilantly, but 
 patiently, to the cause instead of the removal of the 
 disease. AVhich of them, I should like to know, 
 can attenuate a thickened and indurated mem- 
 brane ? or Avhich of them can remove an organized 
 band which crosses the passage ? In a word, 
 wdiich of them can proceed secundum artem to 
 cure a disease of the nature of which he, by his 
 oAvn confession or silence, is either doubtful or 
 ignorant ?" A^o 5 if I may be allowed to speak after 
 such authority as this, I should say, that all Ave have 
 to do is to take every means in our poAver to com- 
 bat inflammation, and so get rid of predisposing 
 causes. An operation called bronchotomy, Avhich 
 consists of an opening into the larynx or trachea, 
 Avas much in fashion some years ago, in conse- 
 quence of once proving successful in cutting out 
 one of those bands of lymph Avhich cross the Avind- 
 })ipe 5 but it soon got into discredit from the great 
 uncertainty attending it. I once saAV it performed 
 upon a horse in London, to Avhich instantaneous 
 relief, from great distress in breathing, was re- 
 quired, and it certainly had the desired effect; but 
 I did not hear the result* 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 419 
 
 I am always pleased to see the disgusting 
 quackery, and, what is worse, the bare-faced im- 
 position of ignorant farriers of the Old School 
 arrayed in their proper colours. "C later," (the 
 author of Every Man his own Farrier^ which has 
 just gone through the twenty-fourth edition !) says 
 ]Mr. Percivall, " presents us with a very innocent 
 recipe for the dispersion of these trifles — a fevV 
 aniseeds and car aw ay seeds, and a little ' Dover'' s 
 powder mixed with the yolk of an egg." On 
 coupling this with the assertion of a certain veteri- 
 nary writer, which from his professional reputation 
 must, I think, have been made without considera- 
 tion, Mr. Percivall thus energetically expresses 
 himself : — " I need not expatiate on such state- 
 ments ; I trust I have said enough to expose the 
 baseless fabrication of them, and to convince 
 scientific practitioners of the necessity of investi- 
 gating causes before they proceed to unravel or 
 remove effects." 
 
 I am also not a little delighted to find on such 
 very high authority as IMr. Percivall, that turning 
 out hunters in the summer is one of the predispos- 
 ing causes of this irremediable complaint. " 7\oo 
 imdo/nesticated horses,^' says he, " out of three, 
 under five years old, that are taken from cold situa- 
 tions and kept in warm stables, and fed upon the 
 ordinary ration of provender, will receive catarrh. 
 But even domesticated horses that are advanced 
 in years, and that have been accustomed to such 
 changes, do not always escape unless some pre- 
 cautionary measures be taken; for hunters taken 
 
 up from grass in August or September, unless due 
 
 a G 
 
450 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 tittention be paid to the temperature of the stable, 
 and their clothing and regimen, are often the 
 subjects of catarrhal attacks." Let such as persist 
 in grazing their hunters note this remark*, and 
 reflect upon the annual loss to which they subject 
 themselves ; for I am quite certain half the roarers 
 we have are made so by the in-and-out system. 
 Recent cough becomes chronic cough 5 and 
 chronic cough ends in roaring: for, let us recollect, 
 chronic cough is often the remains of an ill-cured 
 cold, though no cough may have attended it in its 
 first stage. 
 
 HOWELS. 
 
 My experience has been anything but favorable 
 to rowels. As a counter-irritant, they are too tardy 
 in their operation to be of nmch use in inflannna- 
 tory complaints — on the contrary, they must, for a 
 time, increase fever. Farmers and stage Avagon 
 proprietors Avere much in the habit of inserting 
 rowels in their horses 5 but even with them the 
 practice is on the decline. In cases of great 
 grossness of habit, such as big legs, &c. they may 
 be useful, when circumstances will not admit of 
 time and rest to put other remedies to the test. 
 Their chief use appears to be in counteracting 
 the unftivorable termination to inflammatory com- 
 plaints. 
 
 * I lately remarked to a medical gentleman who rode past my 
 house on a very neat hack — " You have a good-shaped one there," 
 said \, " with the right sort of shoulders and hind legs for the road." 
 — " I have so," said the Doctor; " but he is ruined. I turned him 
 out, and he came up a roarer ! Doctors ought to be better judges; 
 for in these cases sero medicina paratur !" 
 
CONDITION OP HUNTERS. 451 
 
 Such of my readers as are inelined to know the 
 history of horses' teeth, and the changes that take 
 place in them, must read Mr. W. Percivall's most 
 interesting lecture on this subject, in the second 
 volume of his Elementary Lectures^ where it 
 occupies forty-five pages of pretty close type. For 
 the most part we gentlemen-sportsmen think but 
 little of the teeth of the horse farther than as a 
 test of his age ; but the following extract will 
 shew that a diseased tooth may be frequently the 
 predisposing cause to that dull and listless appear- 
 ance which horses often assume, and which is attri- 
 buted to other causes, and consequently erro- 
 neously treated : — 
 
 " Diseases of the teeth," says Mr. P. " is a sub- 
 ject upon which I have but little to offer. The 
 horse appears to be but very rarely afflicted Avith 
 those distressing pains, called tooth-ache, by Avhich 
 the lives of many human beings are embittered; 
 and a most fortunate circumstance it is for him ; 
 for, if he were, I know of no signs by which he 
 could with certainty direct our attention to the 
 seat of pain, nor of any means Ave have of eradi- 
 cating it by extraction. Still I have several pre- 
 parations now before me, the inspection of which 
 leaves little doubt in my mind, that the animals 
 from Avhom they Avere taken Avere subjects of tooth- 
 ache ; and, if I may venture an opinion from 'poi^t 
 mortem appearances, of a most acute and irreme- 
 diable description." (Here follow two accurately 
 defined cases.) 
 
 " Again : a horse, the property of Government 
 
 G G 2 
 
452 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 became a patient of Mr. Cherry's for a copious 
 efflux of fetid discoloured pus from the near nostril, 
 unaccompanied with any submaxiliary tumor or 
 apparent ulceration of the pituitary membrane. 
 For two or three months the case was treated as 
 glanders ; but no steps having been gained towards 
 melioration, a consultation was held, and the 
 horse was eventually shot. On examination of 
 the head, the third molaris was discovered in part 
 eroded by caries : about one third of its fang was 
 deficient, and the remainder rotten. The tooth 
 was loose in consequence of the formation of an 
 abscess within its alveolus which had established 
 a free vent into the contiguous chamber of the 
 nose. The antrum was partly blocked up by inter- 
 nal osseous deposition. 
 
 " Now, had the molar teeth been examined in 
 this case prior to death, it would unquestionably 
 have led, from the circumstance of one being loose, 
 to a shrewd suspicion of the nature of it, and might 
 have been the cause of saving a life valuable to the 
 service. It behoves the practitioner, therefore, to 
 be on his guard in pronouncing the sentence of 
 death in such affections as these, which are all 
 huddled together at the present day, and styled 
 chronic glanders — an indefinite and ill-understood 
 nialady, and one under which the above case must 
 have for ever remained buried in oblivion, had not 
 the most laudable motives prompted ]\Ir. Cherry 
 to inspect the parts post mortem.^^ 
 
 On calling a short time since on Mr. Cherry, a 
 most able member of his profession, he shewed me 
 a file to be applied to horses' teeth, and doubtless 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS* 453 
 
 with the greatest effect. The molares or grinders 
 become irregular or jagged, which prevents the 
 proper grinding of the food ; and thus quidders, or 
 
 cudders, are produced to j^the ruin of thousands of 
 good horses. 
 
 Although most gentlemen, on opening a horse's 
 mouth, can tell whether he is a young or an old 
 one, yet I have often marvelled at the very few of 
 my sporting friends who have made themselves suffi- 
 ciently master of this subject to know the age of a 
 horse, by his teeth — which, as far as I can recol- 
 lect, I studied about the same time as I studied my 
 Greek grammar, and doubtless with much more 
 pleasure. The knowledge I acquired on this im- 
 portant head has not only been profitable to myself, 
 but highly so to several of my friends when in the 
 act of making new purchases. My knowledge 
 here, however, has only extended to the eighth or 
 ninth year, trusting to other appearances than the 
 teeth for ascertaining the age of such as are older ; 
 and it was not until I perused Mr. W. Percivall's 
 Lecture that I was aware that M. Pessina, Pro- 
 fessor and Director of the Veterinary Institution at 
 Vienna, has made it evident, that, what I may term, 
 the demonstrative changes in horses' teeth proceed 
 regularly to the tioenti/sivth year! A French 
 veterinary periodical pamphlet also, treading in 
 the steps of M. Pessina, recapitulates the annual 
 changes to the twenty-first year. 
 
 M. Pessina observes, there is an after-cjrowth 
 or continued accretion of the teeth ; for, if there 
 were not, the gums in the course of time would 
 h9,ve to grind the food» He estimates the wear 
 
454 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 according to the breed of the horse : hi one that is 
 thorough-bred, at one line per annum ; in others, 
 at one line and a half. The shoot from the jaw is 
 supposed to be equal to this ; so that the original 
 length of every tooth is still preserved. Horses 
 kept at grass Avear more than others. 
 
 M. Pessina computes the natural age of the 
 horse at thirty. We have several in stances in this 
 country of horses living to beyond forty ; and Mr- 
 Percivall produces the well-authenticated one of the 
 Mersey and Irwell Navigation horse that died at 
 sixty-six. As is natural to conclude, Mr. P. much 
 regrets the head of the last-named animal should 
 not have been presented to some public veterinary 
 establishment — adding the just remark, that in 
 indifferent hands it became comparatively value- 
 less. 
 
 I read with pleasure Mr. Percivall 's signs of 
 age in the horse unconnected with the teeth, and I 
 am certain they will be acceptable to my readers : 
 — " The head grows lean and fine ; the features 
 look more striking ; the hollows over the eyes 
 deeper 5 the eyes themselves grow irritable, and 
 twinkle ; the cheeks become lank ; the gums and 
 soft palate pale and shrunk ; the sub-maxiliary 
 space is capacious : and grey hairs make then- 
 appearance in various places, more particularly over 
 the eyes and about the face. In regard to the body 
 generally, it also makes a more striking display of 
 its shapes than in any former part of life ; the neck 
 grows thin and fine ; the withers grow sharp, and 
 give an appearance of increased length and obliquity 
 to the shoulder 5 the back sinks; the quarters 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 455 
 
 assume a more blook-like turn, and seem to 
 lengthen ; tumors of all kinds, spavins, splents^ 
 windgalls, &c. generally become in part or wholly 
 absorbed ; the legs feel sinewy and free from puff, 
 though they may evince instability and weakness. 
 NoAv-a-days it is not often that we meet with 
 horses thus advanced in years 5 still more rarely, 
 with any that have grown decrepit from age," 
 
 Salt is now become much in use in stables of 
 all descriptions. In my younger days the grand 
 specific for a bad sprain in a horse's sinews was a 
 cataplasm made of common salt and white of egg 
 mixed with vinegar and oatmeal. Salt is now, 
 however, put to other purposes, and given internally 
 to all sorts of cattle with very excellent effect 5 and 
 appears likely to be as much esteemed among the 
 essentials to the well-doing of the brute race in our 
 day, as it was formerly of the human. I really 
 think it a good alterative — particularly in the cart- 
 horse stable, where I have experienced its good 
 effects, by increasing the urinary secretions and 
 preventing humours. When applied to horses' legs 
 in the way in Avhich I have before spoken of it 
 Cp.2Sl), it u'ill be found beyond expectation effica- 
 cious: I mean, bathing legs in cold salt and Avater, 
 to promote absorption, and to reduce enlargements 
 from blows, sprains, &c. 
 
 Osmer, Avhose authority is good, relates a 
 striking fact in allusion to salt-petre taken inter- 
 nally, A horse with the mad staggers broke out of 
 
456 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 a stable at a powder-mill, and got to a cistern of 
 water in wliicli there was so much salt-petre that it 
 was barely in a state of fluidity. He SAvallowed 
 several gallons, which, by promoting a copious 
 secretion of the urinary passages, cured him in a 
 very short time. As nitre, however, in large doses 
 is very apt to irritate the stomach, it should never 
 be given so, unless mixed with some mucilage. 
 The great use of nitre acts as a check on the con- 
 stitution of horses in very high health; for too 
 much health is often the cause of disease. 
 
 SAND-CRACK. 
 
 It is somewhat curious that the only instance of 
 sand-crack that ever happened to my stud, was to 
 a new hoof—never shod — on a mare that had been 
 at grass nearly twelve months ; and to which case I 
 have before alluded. From so many years' adhe- 
 rence to the in-door system, with all descriptions of 
 horses Avliich have fallen to my lot, mine would 
 have been the stables which many persons would 
 look to for this destructive disease ; Avhereas it does 
 not produce one single instance. I was, early in 
 life, nearly persuaded that unctuous applications 
 were injurious to hoofs ; but my experience soon 
 gave me proof to the contrary ; and I have always 
 used the following foot ointment : — Venice turpen- 
 tine quarter of a pound, mixed in half a pound of 
 fresh hog's lard — a recipe in very general use in 
 racing stables. 
 
 On the above subject, I was delighted to find 
 myself so fully corroborated by Mr=^ Goodwin,, late 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 457 
 
 Veterinary Surgeon to His Majesty, in liis excel- 
 lent work upon Shoeing : — " It has been stated by 
 some," says lie, p. 859, second edition, " that un- 
 guents will not penetrate into the horn of horses' 
 feet; but let those who doubt it attend tlie forge, and 
 examine those feet which are constantly stopped 
 with the tar unguent, or indeed any unguent which 
 has a distinct colour 5 and if the experiment is made 
 on a white hoof, they will have ample testimony of 
 the depth to which unguents will penetrate. After 
 the unguent has been used a little time, let a slice 
 of the frog be taken off, cutting into the growing 
 horn ; give it a sharp bend, with the newly cut part 
 outward ; when, on inspecting the bent part, it will 
 be plainly seen the unguent is oozing through the 
 horn. This shews that it is necessary to record 
 facts from observation, and not from imagination. 
 I suspect that all the experiments, which have in- 
 duced veterinarians to state to the contrary, have 
 been made on the dead hoofs." 
 
 SPAVINS. 
 
 I have had no experience in spavins— that is to 
 say, I have never had a horse lame with them. I 
 have possessed several hunters with what are called 
 hlood-fipavins (a preternatural expansion of the ves- 
 sel passing over the hock), but I never regarded 
 them, as I have always found them harmless. 
 This, however, is not always the case. I have also 
 had several horses with every appearance of hone- 
 spavins — that is to say, bony enlargements of the 
 iiiside of the hock joint., It has been ray good for-: 
 
458 CONDITION OF HUNTERS, 
 
 tune never to have suffered by their presence, no 
 lameness having been produced by them. Some 
 years since I sokl a hunter for a good price in Mr. 
 Tattersall's yard. " Do you warrant him sound ?" 
 said he. — " To be sure I do," replied I : " I have 
 ridden him nearly three seasons, and he has never 
 been once lame." — " But he has t\vo bone-spavins," 
 resumed Mr. T. — " I know he has," was my reply. 
 The horse remained sound, and gave his owner the 
 greatest satisfaction. 
 
 I am sorry to say a great deal of unnecessary 
 torture has been inflicted upon horses in attempts-— 
 most of which have been unsuccessful — to cure this 
 too common disease. Amongst these, taking up 
 the vein, as it is called, has ranked nearly first on 
 the list ; but, thank Heaven ! the operation is noAv 
 only confined to the lowest orders of country far- 
 riers, for the smothering one half of Avhom there 
 ought to be a law*. I shall conclude this subject 
 
 * " This NiMBOD would be a second Draco," J think I hear one 
 of my readers exclaim ; but I mean what I say. It would be no- 
 thing short of an act of humanity and justice to the brute creation, 
 who are as much entitled to our protection as our own fellow-crea- 
 tures ; or at least we have no greater right to ill-use and torment 
 them. That ignorant country farriers put thousands of animals 
 every day that passes over our heads to dreadful and useless torture, 
 it requires not my assertion to set forth ; and I will just relate one 
 instance to which I was an eye-witness in 1827: — I was riding 
 along a bye-road, not five miles from my own house, when I saw a 
 horse tied to a blacksmith's door — his head being confined in a twitch 
 •i^and a smoke issuing from his body similar to that of a newly -lighted 
 fire. I was at a loss to conjecture whence or from what substance 
 this great smoke could arise. Oh, reader ! you will shriHk when I 
 inform you, that this smoke issued from the withers of this poor 
 horse — ^lie having a fistula in a dreadful state of disease, the virjj 
 sinuses of ivhich this ignorant and unfeeling savage had burnt out 
 with a broad red-hot iron ! ! 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 459 
 
 by observing, that, although in incipient cases firing 
 or very severe corrosive blistering may cure a bone- 
 spavin, they are wholly inefficient after a certain 
 time, and in cases where the lameness has been 
 considerable. 
 
 Pex'haps I may attribute my not having suf- 
 fered by spavins to the great attention I have paid 
 in my purchases of horses to the proper form of the 
 hinder legs. I received a lesson on this point in 
 very early life, and never lost sight of it afterwards. 
 There is a particular formation of the hock joint, 
 which, in severe work, will nearly ensure either 
 spavins or curbs. 
 
 The proper way to examine the hocks of a 
 horse is, to stand in the front of him, and look at 
 them, as it were, between his forelegs. 
 
 SPI/ENTS. 
 
 Perhaps I have been what is termed lucky in 
 this respect, for I have never had a horse lame 
 from splents but once ; and that case has been 
 already recorded in these pages, on account of its 
 singularity in the first place, and held out as a bea- 
 con to those who summer their horses in the fields 
 in the second. I should make it a rule never to 
 touch a splent unless it produced lameness, which 
 it does not once in a hundred instances. Blister- 
 ing, as I have before said, often rouses the sleeping- 
 lion, and the whole bone becomes enlarged,so as often 
 to occasion it being struck by the foot of the other 
 leg. That stupid method, resorted to only by the 
 
460 CONDITION OF HUNTERS, 
 
 ignorant, of puncturing a splent with a shoemaker's 
 aAvl, and then hammering it, or rubbing it with the 
 handle of a pitchfork, is also greatly to be con- 
 demned. The greatest proof of the general harm- 
 lessness of splents is, that they are never found on 
 the legs of old horses, and unless they have been 
 improperly treated. 
 
 STAKED HORSES, 
 
 It may be readily supposed, that, from the num- 
 ber of years I have followed fox-hounds in the 
 strongest inclosed counties of England, I have 
 witnessed the death of several hunters by dropping 
 short at their fences, and alighting with the belly 
 on the points of dead stakes, or live growers, either 
 of which will have the effect of letting out the 
 intestines ; neither does it require a deep wound to 
 do this, as the rim of the belly is but thin. Once 
 in particular I saw a most distressing case, which 
 occurred Avhen ]\Ir. Corbet hunted Warwickshire. 
 Towards the close of a very fine run, a brook pre- 
 sented itself to our career. Four of us charged it 
 in a line, and got Avell over ; but as we were going, 
 best pace, over the next field but one^ Will Bar- 
 roAV, the huntsman, called out to ]Mr. Tarleton, of 
 Bolesworth Castle, Cheshire, to this effect : — 
 " Stop, Sir; your horse's guts are out." On look- 
 ing at him, I saw his intestines hanging down to 
 the ground ; and, it is almost needless to add, I 
 saw his remains on their road to the flesh-gallows 
 the next morning. 
 
 New previously to the arrival of a veterinary 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 461 
 
 surgeon, there is only one thing to be clone l)y a 
 horse Avhich is staked. The protruded intestines 
 should be replaced as carefully as possible ; and, 
 without any time being lost, a pocket handkerchief 
 should be applied to the orifice so as to prevent the 
 admission of air. The saddle should be taken off; 
 and by means of the girths tied together by the 
 pocket handkerchiefs of friends — for generally some 
 of the field pull up on such occasions as these— a 
 bandage over the part should be formed. The 
 horse should then be walked quietly to the nearest 
 stable, and there await the arrival of medical aid. 
 In case the intestines do not protrude, this is, I 
 believe, as safe a plan as can be pursued. 
 
 In all these cases we lament our inability to 
 administer a cathartic which Avill operate quickly 
 on the bowels of a horse, but this appears to be a 
 difficulty not yet overcome. 
 
 STttANGtiES. 
 
 Of course I have had my share of strangles^ 
 which is, I believe, the only innate disease of 
 horses. It is a most distressing complaint, attended, 
 no doubt, occasionally with acute sutfering ; and 
 why it should fall to the lot of every horse, ass, or 
 mule, to be afflicted with it, is not for us to inquire. 
 As Nature, however, inflicts the wound, she also 
 generally provides the cure, and I never trouble 
 myself about a colt Avhich has strangles at grass. 
 The act of hanging down his head for his food — 
 which he must perform, or starve — greatly accele- 
 
462 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 rates the crisis 5 and the thirst which the fever 
 produces, and from which he would suffer more 
 if in the house, is checked by the cooling pro- 
 perty of the grass. Great emaciation, how- 
 ever, is often the consequence of this disease, 
 and care and good grooming are very necessary 
 after recovery. 
 
 When strangles attacks a horse of mine in the 
 house, I always pursue this plan. I feed him 
 almost entirely on cold sloppy bran mashes, or 
 very young green food j keep him in a warm, but 
 well-ventilated atmosphere, and let him wear a hood 
 till he is well ; and never let him go out till matter 
 is formed. I confess I have seen but little benefit 
 from fomentations, embrocations, &c. I have been 
 told, that as in strangles no absorption can take 
 place in consequence of the crisis producing sup- 
 puration, as well as plentiful discharge from the 
 nostrils, physic is not necessary 5 but I conceive it 
 highly so, and I have no doubt many subsequent 
 disorders are produced by the neglect of it, in 
 horses living a life of art. It is singular that 
 this disease should only be infectious to young 
 horses ; those that escape it in youth never being 
 afflicted with it after the adult period. 
 
 An attack of strangles often alarms the owners 
 of horses ; for the symptoms not only do not gene- 
 rally differ, but in many there is a perfect identity 
 existing between the two diseases 5 and that which 
 is termed bastard strangles often ends in glanders. 
 Symptoms, however, are doubtless often taken for 
 disease, and disease for symptoms. 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS; 46g 
 
 STRING-HALT. 
 
 There has been a good deal of speculative 
 amusement about this rather common defect , but 
 the ablest practitioners of the veterinary art are, I 
 believe, quite at sea as to the cause, or cure. I never 
 saw but one horse with the string-halt in the forie- 
 leg. He Avas going about five miles an hour in a 
 baker's cart, and it gave a singular appearance 
 to his action. The bakei* told me he Avas not 
 a shilling the Avorse for itj for the purpose he put 
 him to. 
 
 The folloAving is my OAvn experience of string- 
 halt : — I purchased a horse in Ireland for 251. 
 Avhich had it in both hind legs to a great degree, 
 but no horse could beat him over the Kildare 
 country Avith the little parson on his back Avho Avas 
 the OAA'ner of him. I sold him to Colonel Wardle, 
 Avho rode him several years. He afterAvards be- 
 came the property of a ])rother-in-laAv of mine, 
 Avho rode him till he reached his tAventy-sixth 
 year. He Avas then shot Avith AAdiole stockings, for 
 I really believe he never fell doAAii in his life. I 
 am much inclined to think the peculiar action of 
 horses thus affected renders them safe on the road. 
 IMr. Benson bought a horse, called Jack-Catchy 
 from me, Avhen he hunted in Warwickshire, and, 
 I l^elieve he AA^as never better carried — the horse 
 continuing sound for several seasons, although he 
 had string-halt to a considerable degree in one 
 liind leg. I once had a hunter AA'hich had it in 
 both his hind legs, AAdien, being ••' turned over in 
 his stall," as the grooms say, but never Avhen out of 
 
464 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 of his stable j and I liad also a cart mare much 
 afflicted with it j and here it is an evil. On the 
 road, it is no detriment to her ; but at plough, 
 when going very slow, it breaks the uniformity of 
 her action, and consequently interferes Avith that of 
 the others. Several good race-horses have been 
 partially affected by string-halt. 
 
 Although all muscular and ligamentous parts 
 are liable to lameness, horses are seldom lame 
 above the leg. Nine times in ten the injury lies 
 between the knee and the ground. I have no 
 reason to complain of injuries to my stud from 
 sprains, having experienced very few bad cases. I 
 can only recollect breaking down one hunter (by a 
 down-leap on to a hard road), and one hack — a 
 thorough-bred one, who broke down in both hind 
 legs at the same moment, when going at the rate 
 of fifteen miles an hour on a turnpike road. 
 
 There has been a wonderful deal of nonsense 
 Avritten about sprains in horses' legs*— such as pre- 
 
 * When we read the following passage in Taplin's '' Sporting 
 dictionary," Ave must agree it was high time that some of our regu- 
 larly-bred veterinarians should take up their pens, " A sprain," 
 says he, " is a preternatural extension, or forcible elongation, of the 
 tendons, or a sudden twist of some particular joint, by which the 
 ligamentary junction sustains an injury, and produces lameness. 
 Horses having encountered such accidents should be turned out in a 
 still and quiet pasture, where they may be free from alarm and dis- 
 turbance. When at unrestrained liberty, it is natural to conclude 
 they adapt the gentleness of their motion to the state of their case, 
 and exert themselves no more than a proper respect to their own 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 465 
 
 teriuitiiral extension, and forcible elongation, of the 
 tendons, &c. &c. 5 but us long as I have been ena- 
 bled to consult my reason on such matters, I have 
 always treated a sprain as a violent inflammation of 
 the part, and done all in my power to repel it by 
 fomentations, cooling lotions, and a dose or two of 
 physic. Rest— -absolute rest — however, is the 
 grand specific : and does not the animal tell us 
 this ? for when a horse goes lame, is he not then 
 resting the injured limb ? 
 
 Blistering and firing, as I said before, are cou- 
 pled together like two hounds, and one or the other 
 of them generally is resorted to in the cure of bad 
 sprains. If there is enlargement afterinflammation 
 is subsided, some stimulant must be used 5 but, 
 since I have experienced the effect of the mercurial 
 plaster, I am quite out of conceit with blistering. 
 If firing must be resorted to, the operation should 
 not take place till some months after the injury 
 has been done, and until the horse has done a little 
 gentle work. 
 
 Bones, tendons, and ligaments have little or no 
 sensibility till diseased, but then they are ex<j[ui- 
 sitely sensible, and horses suffer nmch bodily pain 
 in bad sprains of their limljs ; and hence the great 
 necessity of physic, bleeding, and otherwise unload- 
 ing the vessels near the affected parts. 
 
 Bad riders are very apt to lame their hunters in 
 riding them over a country. If it v/ere possible to 
 
 safety may render secure. It is a self-evident fact, that a restoration 
 of elasticity or strength of part is more likely to be obtained by rest, 
 and the eflbrts of nature, than any topical application that can be 
 made !" Well done, Mr. Taplin ! 
 
 H H 
 
466 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 give every man a good hand on his horse, there 
 woiikl not be so many lame ones as there are at 
 present. I have reason to believe there have not 
 been so many hmiters lamed in then- sinews since 
 the practice of caulking the outside of the fore shoe 
 has been discontinued. Mr. Warde assures me he 
 has found a difference of at least one half. 
 
 On the subject of breaking down, as it is 
 called, I met with the following passage in a work 
 called The Veterinary burgeon j or^ Farriery 
 taught on a nev) and easy Plan^ by John Hinds, 
 V.S. : — " Cause of breaking down — Simple 
 relaxation of the tendons and ligaments that sup- 
 port and keep together the pastern bonesi Groom- 
 ing overmuch by hand-rubbhig the heels until the 
 tendon is divested of most of its muscular covering, 
 and it becomes naturally cool and elastic." To 
 this passage is annexed the following note : — 
 " This hand-rubbing causes lymphatic absorption 
 of muscle, until tendinous substance supplies its 
 place \ and as the former state had been too fleshy 
 and warm, so is the latter too cold or elastic." I 
 make no comment here. 
 
 SORE BACKS. 
 
 It is many years since I have had occasion to 
 discontinue the use of a horse by reason of a sore 
 back. Common attention to saddles (made by 
 good saddlers), by drying, beating, and brushing the 
 pannels of them after use, is all that is wanted 
 here. Heavy women, hoAvever, and many horse- 
 men, from a peculiarity of seat, are apt to wring 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 467 
 
 horses' backs. The skin also of some horses is 
 so tender that it will gall with very slight pres- 
 sure, as was the case witli Shamrock 5 and 
 I was obliged to ride him with a sheep-skin 
 under his saddle to my no small discomfiture, for it 
 has a very ungentlemanlike appearance by a covert's 
 side in Leicestershire. Sore backs are easy to 
 cure if the injury does not extend to bones or liga- 
 ments. Strong repellent lotions, if the skin is not 
 broken, are the best means to apply at first 5 but if 
 a sit-fast takes place, either the knife or some very 
 strong detergent ointment must be had recourse to. 
 I have seen some very aAvkward cases of sore backs, 
 proceeding from various causes, and often very dif- 
 ficult of cure. They require a nice treatment, and 
 veterinary aid should be timely called in. On a 
 horse receiving an injury of this sort, it is always 
 advisable to strip him of his clothing, as the heat of 
 it adds to inflanmiation, and retards the cure. Re- 
 collect ! poll-evil J fistula, and sit-fast, are very near 
 relations. 
 
 STABLES. 
 
 Having, in a vast number of instances, seen 
 horses produced in very bright condition from very 
 indifferent stables, I was for many years of my life 
 very indifferent about the structure of them. Few 
 men, however, have put their good and bad proper- 
 ties to the test more than I have done, in the roving 
 life I have generally led with my horses in the 
 winter months. It may appear strange, but in my 
 
 H H 2 
 
468 -CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 younger days, I cared little what sort of a building 
 my horses were put into, provided I had it in my 
 power to stop up every hole and crevice about it, 
 and as nearly as possible approximate it to a hot- 
 house. As for ventilation, I never dreamed about 
 it 5 neither did I consider it at all essential to the 
 health of my stud. All I can say is, that, with 
 such fearful odds against me, I had no inflamma- 
 tory complaint in my stable until I had been an 
 owner of hunters for more than ten years, during 
 more than eight of which my daily morning saluta* 
 tion to my groom in the winter was — " Well, Ned, 
 is the stable warm and comfortable?"—-" Pretty 
 well^ Sir."--" That's right, Ned : put lots of dung 
 outside the door j stop up every crevice over their 
 heads ; stuff the foot of your old stocking in the 
 key-hole ; and mind there is no cracked pane in the 
 window." Now it is quite evident that Ned* and 
 his master were two ignorant boobies, notAvith- 
 standing which their horses looked, and were, well. 
 I nmst also add, that this practice was not confined 
 to my own stable, but was in pretty general use 
 with some of my neighbours, who liked to see their 
 horses look bright and well 5 and furthermore, I am 
 <|uite satisfied inflannnatory attacks were not more 
 frequent or fatal among hunters at the period I am 
 speaking of, than they are at present. 
 
 In a small pamphlet on the Diseases ofHorsesi^ 
 
 * This Netlj it must be observed, was a most excellent groom> 
 and, having sei'ved me faithfully for nine years, obtained lOOl. per 
 annum wages as hunting groom, and now keeps a very respectable inn. 
 
 t By Mr. Edward Hickman, V.S. &c. published in 1823, and 
 dedicated to John Mytton, Esq. 
 
CONDITION OP HUNTERS. 4G9 
 
 tlie writer chiefly attributes Avliat may be termed 
 the indisposition of horses to the improper con- 
 struction of stables , and for which he considers the 
 county of Salop to be notorious. " The conse- 
 quences," says he, " of an ill-ventilated stable are of 
 a very serious nature ; they are not calculated upon 
 until your horse points them out in language not to 
 be misunderstood 5 and, unless the most active mea- 
 sures are adopted, the rapid progress of the diseases 
 produced by it will baffle all your endeavours, and 
 your horse become unsound for life. When a 
 stable is too much crowded or ill-ventilated, a very 
 'powerful 'poison is generated there — the pernicious 
 effect of which soon shews itself, especially if you 
 bring a fresh horse wdthin its sphere of action." 
 IMr. H. then proceeds : " A hunter is brought from 
 grass in full health— -he is put into a crowded ill- 
 ventilated stable — in the course of the night, or on 
 the following day, he is seized with a violent shi- 
 vering ; irritation in the throat follows, wath a 
 cough, difficulty of breathing, and inflamed eyes." 
 Mr. PL now produces some cases of horses thus 
 affected, which, however, we can only look upon as 
 the natural consequence of bringing a horse, which 
 for three or four months has been breathing fresh 
 air in his pasture, all at once to respire the hot and 
 stimulating atmosphere of a crOAvded or ill-venti- 
 lated stable. 
 
 Now notwithstanding my conviction of tlie 
 high temperature in which a horse kept all the year 
 round in the stable will live and enjoy the highest 
 health, yet my common sense points out to me the 
 necessity of the means of ventilation. These means 
 
470 CONDITION OF HUNTERS, 
 
 however, should, for hunters or race horses, be 
 limited. No streams of air* ; no broken windows 
 (for a horse should stand in an equal temperature, 
 and this he can never have if the windows of his 
 stable are broken, as it will then depend on the 
 point the wind blows from) ; but small wooden 
 tunnels, ascending through the roof, the tops of 
 which should be constructed so as to prevent the 
 rain descending through them. 
 
 It does not require a philosopher to point out 
 to us, that, when the air of any building becomes 
 more rarified than the external air, a wind or cur- 
 rent of air is pouring in from the crevices of the 
 windows and doors, to restore the equilibrium; 
 but the light air with which the room is filled 
 must find vent, in order to make way for the heavy 
 air which enters. This fact is proved in the fol- 
 lowing way, and has often been the sport of 
 children. If we set adoora-jar, and hold a candle 
 near the upper part of it, we shall find that the 
 flame will be blown outwards^ shewing there is a 
 current of air flowing out from the upper part of 
 the room. Now if we place the candle ou the 
 floor, close by the door, we shall perceive, by the 
 inclination of the flame, that a current of air sets 
 into the room, and therefore the flame will be 
 blown imvards. In fact, the current of warn) 
 light air is driven out to make way for the cold air 
 which enters; and this, I believe, is the case in the 
 grander scale of Nature. Tlie light air about 
 the Equator, which expands and rises into the upper 
 
 If any cold air be allowed to enter a stable^ it should, as Mr- 
 Hickman observes^ be tbroiigh apertures at the bottom of the back waU. 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 471 
 
 regions of the atmosphere, ultmiately flows thence 
 back to the Poles, to restore the equilibrium. 
 
 The influence that cold, combined with humi- 
 dity, exercises over the animal economy, is too well 
 known to be dwelt or enlarged upon, and I never 
 yet saw a horse produced in perfect condition from 
 a cold and damp stable. The latter evil property 
 is not sufficiently appreciated ; but, very early in 
 life, I saw its baneful influence. A friend of mine, 
 residing under the Broadway hills in Worcester- 
 shire, paid the greatest attention to the condition 
 of his hunters, but never could attain it there, 
 although, to the eye, his stable was everything we 
 could desire, and it ivas ivarm and well ventilated. 
 When his stud moved to Stratford-on-Avon in 
 Warwickshire, where his stable was very inferior 
 to look at, they immediately improved in their con- 
 dition. The fact was, the first-named stables were 
 damp, although he drained them; and the latter 
 were dry, 
 
 Mr. Percivall (Lecture 38) says— "He that has 
 clean and cool stables Avill have a healthy stud ; 
 and the converse of this will never fail to engender 
 disease. Above all other considerations then, in 
 taking the colt fron^ his natural state, it behoves 
 us to guard him from the vicissitudes of cold and 
 heat, and to keep him in an atmosphere as pure as 
 that of which we have just deprived him." This is 
 strongly in favour of the regular in-door system ; 
 for we know the out-door system is anything but 
 regular : yet, with great deference to Mr. P., he 
 has gone a little too far here. In the first place, it 
 is inipossible to keep a stable as pure as tlie open 
 
472 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 air; and, in the next, it is by no means essen- 
 tial to a horse's health that it should be so, or 
 that he should be kejit cool — on the contrary^ if a 
 hunter or race-horse. I maintain the contrary, on 
 experience ; and aflirm, that a temperature of sixty- 
 two or sixty-three is almost essential to the perfect 
 condition of horses. Here, with respect to the 
 race horse, I am backed by Mr. Darvill in his 
 Treatise on Training the Engliah Race Horse, 
 who says, that thorough-bred horses, Avhich have 
 originated in a hot climate, are not to be got into 
 racing condition imless kept in a stable of a cer- 
 tain temperature of heat, which he estimates at 
 sixty-three*. 
 
 Another writer on the diseases of horses says — 
 " The moment parturition is accomplished, the sub- 
 sequent existence of animals depends so much on 
 respiration that they enjoy health, activity, and 
 vigour, or become enfeebled, emaciated, and dis- 
 eased, according with the degree of purity, or the 
 state of contamination of the atmosphere in which 
 they- breathe. For it is to be observed, that the 
 air, in its passage through the lungs, undergoes a 
 decomposition— the oxygen, or vital part, being 
 absorbed by the blood ; and with this fluid, carried 
 to every part of the system— to Avhich it imparts 
 life and vigour — the azotic gas thrown off by expi- 
 
 * Mr. Darvill properly observes, there should be a thermometer 
 in every stable, which should be consulted before it is shut up at 
 night. When on this subject also, Mr. Percivall writes thus : — "I 
 ever, to tlie extent of my power, inculcated ventilation, which I 
 have always found to be compatible with as much warmth to the 
 skin as was necessary to the production and preservation of a fine 
 coat." 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 473 
 
 ration, though it may retain its ehislicity, is never- 
 theless deprived of that vivifying principle essen- 
 tial to life : hence it will appear that disease must 
 necessarily prevail in stables where a great number 
 of horses stand together." Now this is very pretty 
 theory, and in part correct in principle — that is to 
 say, were a parcel of horses, just taken out of 
 their pastiu'es, or from camp, huddled together in a 
 close ill-ventilated stable, with bad grooming to 
 boot, the effect would be as described : but had the 
 writer visited the great stable at Quorn in Leices- 
 tershire, for the last twenty-five years, and seen 
 thirty horses standing in it, all in perfect condition, 
 Avhat would become of the greater part of his 
 theory? It reminds me of Mr. Darvill's remarks 
 (himself one of the profession) on the writings of 
 such veterinary surgeons as have treated of getting 
 horses into condition, where he speaks thus: — " It 
 does not appear," says he, " in any of their (the 
 veterinary surgeons) works which I have read, that 
 those authors have done much in this respect, for 
 these poor fellows (grooms), beyond that of recom- 
 mending them to keep their horses in cold stables.!" 
 I have good reason to believe there is no vapour 
 whicli acts more offensively on the eye-sight than 
 animal excretions; and our own feelings convince 
 us of this whenever we enter a dirty staljle. Here, 
 however, a great change has taken place in the 
 practice of grooms, and a most beneficial one it is 
 to liorses under their care. The old plan was to 
 put a very large l)ed of straw in a horse's stall 
 twice a-week, removing very little of tlie foul litter 
 at other time-i. The consequence was a great 
 
474 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 accumulation of offensive matter, the greater part 
 of which is now removed every day, and fresh straAv 
 supplied. Another improvement has also suggested 
 itself. The truss is cut through with a hay-cutting 
 knife, which makes the straw go much farther, and 
 for this obvious reason — when it is of tolerably 
 long groAvth, one end of it gets stained, whilst 
 the other is quite clean ; but in this case, of course, 
 it must all be thrown out together. 
 
 Apologizing for this trifling digression, I pro- 
 ceed to state, that a clean, Avholesonie, warm, and 
 dry stable is a great desideratum in getting horses 
 into condition ; and, although I would not carp at 
 trifles, yet if a person were to say to me, " I will 
 build you stables for eight hunters for your own 
 use," the following should be the plan. 
 
 I would have two four-stalled stables, in which 
 I would keep only six horses—?, e, three in each ; 
 and I would have a loose box at the end of each. 
 If possible I would have a southern aspect, with 
 Avindows opening from the top or downwards \ or 
 else on a pivot in the centre, and placed so high in 
 the wall, that, when open, the air may be circulated 
 through the stable, without affecting one horse 
 more than another ; and the height of the interior 
 should be only twelve feet in the clear. I would 
 have the stalls paved nearly flat, Avith only a 
 trifling inclination to the centre; in each of Avhicli 
 there should be a small grating over the drain, and 
 the stalls should be no more than six feet wide. 
 There should be at least twelve feet behind the 
 horses, and the exterior Avails and doors should be 
 very thick. The Avooden partition Avails of the 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 475 
 
 loose boxes should be only nine feet high, with 
 wooden bolts to the doors j and each box should not 
 exceed ten feet square. The saddle-room, Avell 
 fitted up Avith saddle cupboards, boiler, &c. should 
 be in the centre of the building ; in the front of 
 which there should be a passage, under cover, for 
 horses to stand in when their legs are washed. 
 Of ventilation I say nothing, that being a matter of 
 course ; but I would have the sides of the stalls 
 nine feet high at the head, with sm9,ll iron racks, 
 and pillar reins for each horse to be dressed in, 
 I should always be very particular about the Btall?* 
 posts ; for these ave very frequently the cause of 
 severe injury. When I went to see the King's 
 stables at the new palace at Pimlico, I was 
 astonished to see almost every other horse in them 
 with capped hocks. On inspecting the stallrposts 
 I perceived the cause. They were of fluted stone, 
 and with angles, which proved that Mr. Nash 
 knows nothing about the inside of stables^ Stall- 
 posts should be made of wood, quite smooth and 
 circular; and they should extend to the ceiling, or 
 at least ten feet high. 
 
 JMethinks 1 hear the question asked — Would 
 you not have more loose boxes ? A trifling addi- 
 tion converts each stall into a box. Two bars, 
 from the two centre stall-posts to the wall, convert 
 these stalls into loose places, quite sufficient for the 
 purpose we require of them ; and the horse that is 
 loose is prevented, by a very simple contrivance, 
 from annoying the one that is tied up. In 
 the stables of Sir John Dashwood King, at 
 Halton House, Bucks, I first saw this used. It 
 
476 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 consists of a light cast-iron guard, hitched to the 
 stall-post in the first place, and then to the top bar 
 or rail, and extending only far enough to prevent 
 the loose horse touching the quarters of the one tied 
 up with his mouth, which otherwise he would be 
 inclined to do: thus it is evident, that, out of eight 
 horses, four may always be loose, which, in my 
 oj)inion, is quite sufficient for horses in constant 
 Avork. One little improvement, however, may be 
 sufi'eested here. To one of the loose boxes at the 
 end, there should l)e an outside door 5 then, in 
 case of a liorse expected home out of stable hours, 
 he may be taken into his box and dressed without 
 disturbing the stud. 
 
 When we consider that after every hard day's 
 work Avith hounds an effusion of lymph takes place 
 in. all those parts AAdiich are exposed to severe fric- 
 tion, it is unnecessary to remark that the sooner 
 absorption of tliat lymph takes place, the sooner is 
 our horse fit for work, and the less liable is he to 
 become injured from the effects of bangs or blows 
 Avhich his legs may liaA^e received. Noav an 
 admirable auxiliary here is the poAA^er a horse has, 
 Avhen loose, to shift his position as often as he feels 
 inclined, and to put his AAdiole frame into motion, 
 to the very great relief of all the muscles and 
 joints in his frame. Loose boxes are also recom- 
 mended for mares in the spring of the year, for 
 reasons too obvious to specify, and for all horses 
 labouring under disease, or lame, and for such as 
 carry very heavy Aveights. 
 
 The permanent objection to loose boxes, for 
 general use, consists in the great space of ground 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 477 
 
 stud loose. Indeed it is not only unnecessary to do 
 so, but in some cases I am far Irom being an advo- 
 cate for loose boxes — at least the constant use of 
 them. In the lirst place, to horses ^Ahich have 
 thin, fleshy feet, with thrushy frogs, they are 
 decidedly injurious. They are equally so to crib- 
 biters and horses inclined to be vicious ; although 
 these inconveniences should be overlooked for a day 
 or two after a very severe run, for the reasons I 
 have just stated. 
 
 Scarcely a year passes over but some ne^v plan 
 or plans present themselves for improvement of 
 stables : amongst them is one which Mr. Dickenson, 
 of New Park Street, Southwark, London, has 
 published to remedy the ill effects and lessen the 
 waste of corn, caused by the manner of feeding a 
 horse, by which he spills a great portion, and 
 swallows a great deal unmasticated, which passes 
 through the body unchanged. IMr. Dickenson has 
 invented his masticator, Avhich is employed in the 
 iblloAving manner : — A part of the manger, about 
 eighteen inches long, is separated from ;tlie rest by 
 a partition, into which the feed of corn is put, and 
 over this the masticator — whicli is made of a thin 
 plate of wrought iron, about one inch less both in 
 length and breadth than the receptacle in ^vluch it 
 is put — uniformly cut out into scpiare holes about 
 live-eighths of an inch diameter. The horse, in 
 feeding, works this plate about with his mouth and 
 tongue, and easily extracts the corn as rapidly 
 as he can thoroughly masticate it, proceeding at 
 length to clear away every grain, when the masti- 
 cator lies flat upon the bottom of the manger* 
 
478 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 they occupy, so that it is impossible to keep a hirge 
 The beneficial consequences that result are, an 
 increased facility of digestion, uiducing health and 
 enjoyment to the horse, and the saving of a con- 
 siderable portion of corn, commonly wasted in the 
 ordinary way of feeding. 
 
 NoAv taking for granted that this statement is 
 correct as far as relates to the horse being enabled 
 to get at his corn through the interstices of this 
 machine, I hesitate not to say it must be used with 
 benefit to some very greedy feeders ; but as for the 
 better masticating the corn, there is a simpler method 
 of obtaining this end, by first bruising it in a milL 
 This method, so often preached up, has always 
 hitherto been lost sight of again ; but it is once 
 more reviving in the stables of those who are good 
 judges of such matters. I am fully convinced of 
 the very great saving produced by it — I would say, 
 at least, one part in four — and I think it will soon 
 come into very general use. If oats and beans will 
 grow and flourish, after having passed through the 
 stomach and intestines of the horse, let me ask 
 the physiologist what nutriment could the animal 
 have derived from them ? 
 
 As Mr. Dickenson may be considered a prac- 
 tical man— having more than once been seen in 
 Leicestershire, and always particularly attentive to 
 his horses — and a leaping-bar being a kind of 
 accompaniment to a stable, I present my readers 
 with a description of his. Tavo upright posts are 
 fixed ill the ground, between which the bar is made 
 to revolve between two axles, situated as here 
 drawn. In order to keep the bar poised in the 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 179 
 
 situation shewn, weights are suspended at the ex- 
 treme ends; so that in leaping, should a horse 
 push or strike against the bar, it bends do\A'n to the 
 earth before him, and he infallibly clears it, even 
 if he were not to leap a foot high. As some horses 
 may not be disposed to leap when they have dis- 
 covered the trick of the bar, it may be loaded with 
 more weight, and they may thus be punished into 
 the performance^ The bar may also be fixed by 
 bolting it with a little bolt shot into the side posts. 
 The notches in the posts are to receive the axles of 
 the bar, to raise or loAver it as required. Tliis may 
 be said to be a sort of cockneyish contrivance, but I 
 think there is merit in it, and I am far from con- 
 demning the use of leaping bars, as it is so much 
 the fashion now not to consider a horse a perfect 
 hunter unless he will leap timber in a stand. 
 
 THICK WIND. 
 
 As jMr. Percivall very justly observes, the 
 theory of a disease consists, first in discovering 
 its seat, and then in demonstrating its nature. Now 
 in this instance I shall attempt neither the one nor 
 the other; but it may be naturally supposed, that, 
 in the numerous horses I have ridden and driven, I 
 have seen vast difference in the natural state of the 
 wind. Some, though apparently sound, can do but 
 little in fast Avork— I mean Avith hounds— unless 
 
480 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 vevj/ ivell prepared ; whilst others can go a sharp 
 burst, even if [tsiken by surprise. By thick-Avinded 
 horses, however, ^ve generally imply those whose 
 organs of breathing are diseased, many of Avhich, 
 with care, can go a good pace either in or out of 
 harness. 
 
 I have had several thick-winded horses in my 
 stable. I never found them better for anything in 
 the shape of pectoral medicine, nor do I approve 
 strong physic. Light doses — little more than alter- 
 atives — frerpiently administered, have most effect, 
 with plenty of exercise, and a regular adherence to 
 the hard meat and in-door^ system. I am perf(3ctly 
 aAvare that it would be in vain for me to talk to 
 half the w^orld of the hnpropriety of letting such 
 horses as these— or even broken-Avinded ones— live 
 entirely on green meat Avhen it can be had 5 but 
 my experience has convinced me it is highly 
 injurious. Does not flatulency accompany every 
 stage and degree of disordered respiration? Why 
 then load the stomach with a heap of such food as 
 must from its nature produce it? No — good 
 grooming, plenty of Avork, good hay and oats, 
 frequent discharges of the bowels, and occasional 
 use of tonics, Avill alone render a thick-Avinded 
 horse equal to all that can be expected from him— - 
 not forgetting the setting muzzle the night before 
 fast Avork, if he be given to eat his litter. 
 
 On the bad effects of a distended stomach, even 
 on horses that are sound, I Avill quote from Mr. 
 PercivalPs able and most entertaining Lecture on 
 the Stomach — Avhich, in the horse, is smaller in 
 proportion to the size of the animal than any other 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 481 
 
 we know of:— '^ The stomach," says lie, " is 
 situated principally in the left hypochondrivmi, 
 which it nearly fills, extending more or less into the 
 epigastrium, according to its state of distention 5 its 
 anterior part lies in contact with the liver 5 its left 
 extremity is opposed to the diaphragm and spleen; 
 it lies in part upon the small, but mainly upon the 
 large intestines. It is evident that the full and 
 empty conditions of the stomach will affect its 
 position in relation to the neighbouring viscera, and 
 that the motions of tlie diaphragm will alter its 
 situation ; for during the recession of that muscle, 
 it must be pushed into the umbilical region. On 
 the other hand, the action of the diaphragm will 
 be interrupted by distention of the abdominal 
 viscera, and more particularly by fulness of the 
 stomach; for increased pressure will counteract its 
 efforts to recede, and the chest, under these circum- 
 stances, will be expanded by the other inspiratory 
 agents — the intercostal muscles, and those passing 
 from the ribs to the fore extremities. This accounts 
 for the inaptitude of horses recently fed to undergo 
 violent exertion, and the increased embarrassment 
 in perspiration that hard work then occasions, 
 why they sliould be sooner blown ; and why they 
 will, if pressed, absolutely sink from exhaustion. 
 Hence the practice of keeping hunters short of 
 water, and feeding them unusually early, and on 
 corn only, on the morning of hunting." 
 
 Some most interesting facts relating to wind in 
 horses are elucidated in IMr. Percivall's Lecture on 
 the Physiology of the Stomach. He plainly shews 
 us that Nature must have intended this animal for 
 
 1 I 
 
482 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 the greatest exertions of speed, from the care she 
 has taken in the formation of this essential part. 
 '' First of all," says Mr. P. " let us inquire why 
 Nature, who has given four stomachs to the ox and 
 sheep, should have restricted so large an animal 
 as the horse to one, and should have made that one 
 much smaller, in comparison to the bulk of the 
 body, than those of man and quadrupeds in 
 general — a fact of which I have already given some 
 demonstration, by actual comparative admeasure- 
 ment. And what makes this investigation the 
 more curious and iiiteresting is, that, although 
 the stomach of the horse will contain so little, 
 his consumption of food is not only greater than 
 that of carnivorous and many other animals, but 
 the aliment on which he lives is of that kind 
 which necessarily occupies very considerable space, 
 either in or out of the body. A man pro- 
 bably will consume about a pound and a half of 
 solid food at a meal ; a horse, we Avill say, about 
 six pounds — all, or a great proportion of which may 
 be hay ; and this, in respect to bulk, will occupy 
 twelve or even twenty times the space that a pound 
 and a half of any sort of cooked meat or vege- 
 tables will ; and yet the stomacli of the latter will 
 not contain three times as much as that of the 
 former* ! One natural and self-evident conclusion 
 from the foregoing fact is, that the food Avhich a 
 horse eats cannot remain long" in his stomach — that 
 portions of it must successively pass into the intes- 
 
 * The stomach of a middle-sized man will contain more than 
 three quarts of water; whereas that of an ordinary-sized horse, whose 
 body exceeds his in weiglrt and bulk by eight times, will not hokl 
 more than t}irce gallons^, or foiir times the fiuantity of tlie lean's. 
 
COXDlTtON OF HUNTERS. 483 
 
 tinal canal, at short intervals, during the time of 
 feeding, in order to make room for those last 
 swallowed. — It would appear, then (adds Mr. 
 P., p. 502), that the stomach of the horse, in 
 comparison to that of other animals, is made 
 proportionally small, in order to render him more 
 effective as an animal of speed and burthen, and in 
 course more useful for the various puqjoses for 
 which he is employed by man," — i\Ir. Coleman 
 says, the horse is the only animal that can be com- 
 pelled to take ^-iolent exertion after a full meal. 
 
 IMr. Percivall tells us, that in the horse the 
 gastric process of digestion is very active, and it 
 was necessary that it should be so ; " for being an 
 animal," says he, "that feeds beyond what in others 
 constitutes satiety— distention of stomach — chyle 
 must be continually flov.ing out in order to make 
 room for the aliment he continues to take in." Of 
 course, as he o])serves, the duration of this process 
 varies with the nature of the food; but the follow- 
 ing experiments will refute what I have heard so 
 often insisted upon — namely, that a horse cannot 
 endure long fasting without considerable exhaustion 
 and danger to his general health :— ^' December 
 1823, a young female ass was taken up from grass 
 and kept fourteen hours A\'ithout food or water, A 
 quartern of oats was then given to her, which she 
 ate in about tu-enty-five minutes. Six hours after- 
 wards she was bled to death. The stomach con- 
 tained both grass and corn \ the former occupied 
 the vascular part ; and the boundary line between 
 it and the corn, which all laid in the cuticular 
 pouch, precisely corresponded with that formed by 
 
 112 
 
484 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 the borders of the sensible and insensible linings. 
 The grass was dark-coloured, soft, and pulpy, and 
 had much the appearance of chopped or mashed 
 boiled spinach. The corn preserved its colour, was 
 sheathed in a layer of nuicus, was humid, and 
 emitted a faint sour odour !" We may conclude 
 from this, that no danger can arise from a hunter 
 being absent ten or twelve hours from his manger. 
 
 As almost all defects of wind are produced by 
 inflammation of some parts of the organs of respi- 
 ration, and which inflannnation is caused by catch- 
 ing cold, or by bad grooming, which occasions 
 plethora, &c. it behoves us to expose the extreme 
 excitability of these organs as little as we can help 
 to the predisposing cause. 
 
 THORKS IN LEGS AND STUBS. 
 
 There are few cases of mechanical injury to which 
 the horses of fox-hunters are more liable than thorns 
 in their legs, or stubs in their frogs or fetlocks. 
 These subjects have been very little noticed ])y 
 veterinary writers j but there is a field for a display 
 of their knowledge in the art of extracting, and 
 healing. With thorns, of course the first point to 
 be desired is extraction 5 but then it is often difficult 
 to find the seat of them : also, when the seat of 
 them is found, they are not always easy to be got 
 at; in which case I have never been sparing of the 
 knife or lancet. Sometimes, however, Ave are 
 compelled to wait for suppuration, which must be 
 encouraged as much as possible. In tAvo instances 
 it has happened to me, that four or five gatherings 
 of pus have been collected and discharged before 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 485 
 
 the thorn Avoiild make its appearance — it having 
 been, of course, deeply seated. I have the point 
 of a black-thorn, three quarters of an inch long, 
 now in my possession, that a hunter of mine carried 
 nearly a Avhole season in his fetlock joint, causing 
 suppuration after every day's work. He was a 
 game horse, or he would not have worked sound 
 AVith it, which he never failed doing when he had 
 got a mile from his stable. Had he not been 
 worked he would have been ruined for life. 
 
 The following case will shew how necessary 
 it is to cut and search for thorns^ when there is 
 every reason to believe a horse is lame from that 
 cause. Some years since I sold a mare to an inti- 
 mate friend for a good round sum. The second 
 season he lamed her 5 and, after having been 
 severely fired by the late Blr. Walton, V. S., of 
 Shiffnall, she was turned out for the sunnner. 
 When she came into work again the following 
 autumn, a large black-thorn issued from ))ctween 
 hair and hoof! She was then sound; but it 
 availed nothing, for she caught cold at grass 5 
 became a roarer 5 and this capital mare— for there 
 were few better— was thus rendered useless from 
 want of proper management. 
 
 More hunters are ruined by stubs or splinters 
 of wood rumiing into their legs and feet, than by 
 thorns. Indeed, when we reflect on the many 
 hundred times in the course of a season that hun- 
 ters, ridden in close woodland countries, alight, 
 from high banks, on ground nearly covered with 
 sharp pohited stubs, from which fagots, stakes, &c. 
 have been cutj Ave must confess our surprise that 
 
486 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 accidents do not oftener happen. Many good horses, 
 however, are, I fear, annually lamed by being 
 stubbed, as ^ve call it, many of which are so far 
 injured as to be destroyed. 
 
 In the first place there is no judging of Avounds 
 but from appearance and locality , therefore a de- 
 scription of them is useless. Add to this, it so 
 often happens that ligaments, tendons, or nerves 
 become wounded, the treatment of which — fatal 
 consequences being always so near at hand — re(|uires 
 all the skill of the regularly-bred veterinarian, who 
 alone is fit to direct it, and observe the attempts of 
 Nature in their progress. Contused and lacerated 
 as the parts are from accidents of this nature, we 
 cannot be surprised at the violent inflammation 
 which too often ensues. 
 
 THOKOUGH-PIN. 
 
 Alost old hunters have them to a certain 
 degree. Like jjlood sjjavins Avhich they strongly 
 resemble, the less they are tampered with the 
 better. If they do produce lameness, a dose of 
 physic and rest are the best remedies. 
 
 WINDGALLS- 
 
 A windgall is an enlargement of the nnicous 
 capsule of the pastern joint, filled with fluid, and 
 not air, therefore improperly christened. In legs 
 not made of the best materials they are generally 
 found, more or less, if they have been used on the 
 road at an eaidy age : whereas^ in better organized 
 
CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 487 
 
 limbs, no ill usage can produce them. Although I 
 would not give a large price for a horse whose legs 
 were nuich " wind-galled," yet I am at a loss to 
 produce an instance of lameness arising from them 
 in my own stable. They often appear to be 
 absorbed by rest, but return after hard work. I 
 should rather be without them^ 
 
 #ORMS. 
 
 I think lightly of worms- A dose of mercu- 
 rial physic has always answered the end in my 
 stable 5 but I have very seldom had occasion' to 
 resort to it on this account. Horses that are 
 properly physicked, and regularly dieted, are but 
 little subject to worms— that is to say such as are 
 liable to injure them. As for bots, we learn from 
 IMr. Bracy Clarke, they have a salubrious influ- 
 ence on the stomach of the horse, by promoting 
 digestion. Be this as it may, very few horses— 
 none I believe which have been at grass late in the 
 summer — are free from bots. Their natural 
 history, provided it be correctly given us, is ex- 
 tremely curious j and it is no less extraordinary that 
 no medicine which can be administered to a horse 
 will occasion their death. " That Nature," says 
 IMr. Percivall, " should have created an animal, 
 and designed it as an inhabitant of the stomach of 
 another animal, without some good, but, I suspect 
 unknownend^l think, in unison with others, highly 
 improbable, and irreconcilable with other beauti- 
 ful and more readily-explained operations. I am, 
 however, for my own part, unable to draw up the 
 curtain which is here interposed between fact and 
 design." 
 
488 CONDITION OF HUNTERS. 
 
 YELLOWS. 
 
 As horses have been pronounced gouty, there is 
 no reason why they shoukl not be bilious 5 and, 
 when bilious, yellow. I never had but one horse 
 affected Avith the yellows, and he was soon put 
 right by a mercurial purge. The complaint is 
 caused by bad grooming; but it is one that greatly 
 debilitates, and good grooming is very necessary on 
 recovery. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 ERRATUBI. 
 After the sheet was put to press we received the following 
 communication from Nimrod : " In speaking of the effects 
 of hot and cold stables,' p. 77, for ' I have always used very 
 warm stables^ not lower than f fly-three degrees of the ther- 
 mometer in the winder time/ read, sixty 'three." 
 
IND EX. 
 
 Abernethy's (Mr.) experiment on a rabbit, 170 
 
 Action of the hackney described, 15 
 
 Action, importance of, 20 
 
 Age, signs of in the horse, unconnected with the teeth, 454 
 
 Alterative medicines, the importance of, 58, 175, 178, 191, 
 260, 418, 426 
 
 Alterative ball, recipe for, 253 
 
 Anecdotes: — of Lord Maynard, 19; a Gentleman and his 
 huntsman, 20 ; Mr. Forester of Willy Hall, 29 5 an old 
 Lady and her carriage horses, 48 ; Nicks, a highway- 
 man, 56 ; a Naval Officer, 63 ; Col. Thornton, 136 ; a 
 blacksmith at Mitcham, 164; Lord Blansfield, 172; a 
 young hound and a dying fox, 194; Emperor Darius, 
 237; a regimental chaplain and a Scotch physician, 
 425 
 
 Animal life, difficulty of determining the nature of, 3 
 
 Animals the most timid, hardest to tame, 5 
 
 Antimony, mildness of, as an alterative, 179 
 
 Antimony, efficacy of, 253 
 
 Apoplexy, caused by bad digestion, &c. 281 
 
 Apoplexy, treatment of, 482 
 
 Arabia, three classes of horses in, 9 
 
 Ass, result of an experiment on the stomach of an, 483 
 
 Ball, alterative, recipe for, 253 
 
 Ball, laxative recipe for, 440 
 
 Ball, mineral tonic, essential to condition in particular cases, 
 
 218 
 Ball, stimulating, in cases of distress, recipe for, 273 
 Bangs and blows, treatment in cases of, 286 
 
490 INDEX. 
 
 Barclay's (Capt.) performance in the Bicester country, 82 
 Barmaid, a favorite hunter, case of, 194 
 Beans, the proper allowance of, for a hunter, 60 
 Bevilled shoe, sketch of a, to prevent over-reach, 234 
 Black balls, of what materials composed, 175 
 Blacksmith of Mitcham, anecdote of a, lf)4 
 Bleeding, indispensable in cases of inflammation and over- 
 mark, 174 
 Bleeding, importance of, 297 
 Bleeding, cautions regarding, 300 
 
 Bleeding, comparison between the phlenie and lancet in, 300 
 Blindness, general observations on, 290 
 Blistering, observations on, 105 
 l^listeriiig, the most effectual method of, 100 
 Blistering and firing, 6n the relative sufferings caused by, 
 
 108 
 Blisters, cautions against the indiscriminate lise of, 288 
 Blood vessels, on the rupture of, 297 
 Body, general state of the, indicated by the dung and urine, 
 
 422 
 BoerhaaVe's definition of the plethora, 99 
 Bone, navicular, situation and office of the, 148 
 Bowels, relaxed, singular instance of, in a marc belonging to 
 
 Mr. Warde, 190 
 Bran mashes, use and abuse of, 98 
 Breaking down, cause of, 466 
 Breeding, the principles of, well understood by Virgil and 
 
 Pliny, 11 
 Breeding, no branch of rural economy more neglected than, 
 
 219 
 Breeding, profits derivable from, 220, 234 
 Bridle, description of Mr. Lindo's, called the clipper, 275 
 Bronchotomy, description of the operation called, 448 
 Brood mares, owners of inclosed grounds obliged to keep 
 
 two, temp. Henry VIII., 11 
 Broken knees, remarks on, 287 
 
 Broken wind caused by the impropel' use of hay, 100 
 Broken wind, considerations on, 283 
 
 Camphor, description of the properties of, 418 
 Canter, the favorite pace of road riders, 19, 370 
 
INDEX. 491 
 
 Capped hocks, notice oi) 30-1 
 
 Capped hocks, prevalence of, in the King's stables at Pimlico, 
 
 475 
 Caricature, description of a hunting, 66 
 Castration, the proper period for, 222, 304 
 Catarrh or cold, treatment of, 306 
 
 Changes, proof that habit lessens the influence of all, 170 
 Cherry's elastic pads for stopping horses' feet, 394 
 Chronic cough, treatment of, 203 
 Chronic catarrh, symptoms of, and remedies for, 307 
 Cleanliness, the importance of attending to in stables, 473 
 Clipper, The, Mr. Lindo's brilliant hunter, 14 
 Clipping hunters, considerations on, 206 
 Clipping, the author's opinion on, 226, 238, 241, 256, 310 
 Clipping, advantages of, 236 
 Clipping, benefits resulting from, enumerated by Equestris, 
 
 241 
 Clipping, disadvantages of, 256 
 Cleveland (IMarquis of), treatment alid state of the stud of 
 
 the, 277 
 Coffin lameness of the ancients, the navicular disease, 154 
 Coleman (Mr.), first principles of veterinary science in 
 
 this country developed by, 144 
 Coleman's (Mr.) opinion that horses may be gouty, 183 
 Colic, spasmodic, description and treatment of, 307 
 Colt, treatment of the, 221 
 Colt, when designed for a hunter, 235 
 Coombe (ftlr.) Harvey, a convert to the in-door plan, 249 
 Condition, preliminary remarks on, 23 
 
 Condition, silence of veterinary writers on the subject of, 23 
 Condition, Dr. Johnson's definition of the word, 26 
 Condition, the importance of, 27 
 Condition, the effect of, 55 
 Condition the work of time only, 57 
 Condition, the beneficial consequences of good, 64 
 Condition, dependent on the state of the blood, 177 
 Constitutional peculiarities, irapm-tance of attending to, shewn 
 
 in the cases of Lord Foley's Ospray, Lord Oxford's 
 
 Victoria, the dam of Sailor, Mr. Mytton's Euphrates, 
 
 Major Pigot's York and Mantldamvm, 197 
 Contracted feet— the effect not the cause of disease, 134 
 
492 i>fDEx. 
 
 Contracted foot, extraordinary specimen of a, 152 
 Cooper (Sir Astley), extract of from the lecture of, on Scro- 
 fula, 171 
 Cordials, the use of, in cases of distress, recommended, 18(J 
 Corns, nature and treatment of, 302 
 Crib-biting, a few words on, 305 
 Cub-hunting, a melancholy recreation, 56 
 Curbs, nature and treatment of, 300 
 Cutting, cause of and remedy for, 314 
 Cyrus, devotedness of, to horses and horsemanship, ll 
 
 l)arius, anecdote of the Emperor, 237 
 
 Diet, an essential point to be attended to, 59 
 
 Disease, navicular, description of the, 148 
 
 Diseases hereditary, considerations on, 294, 315 
 
 Diseases of the feet, extract from Mr. Goodwin's treatise on, 
 
 161 
 Diseases peculiar to the fore and hind feet, 371 
 Distemper, nature and treatment of, 314 
 Diuretics, use and abuse of, 319 
 Divine wisdom, infinity of, 1 
 Docking, on the operation of, 317 
 
 Eleanor, performances and produce of, 12 
 
 Emetic tartai-, IMr. Taplin's erroneous opinion regarding, 
 
 177 
 Emetic tartar, more active in its operations than antimony, 179 
 English horses, the breed of, improved by William the 
 
 Conqueror, 11 
 Equestrian art, by whom first cultivated, 8 
 Eujihrates (Mr. Mj^^tton's), constitutional peculiarity of, 197 
 Evacuation, periodical, necessary to preserve health, 123, 
 
 178 
 Exercise, instructions regarding, 128 
 Exercise, advantages of walking during the summer, 160 
 Exercise, the benefits resulting from moderate and regular, 
 
 after the colt is perfect in his paces, 222 
 
 Farcy, Mr. Percivall's description of, 323 
 
 Farmer's, a, opinion on the treatment of hunters, 115 
 
 Farmers, advice to, on the subject of breeding, 219, 224 
 
INDEX, 493 
 
 Favvler, horrible instance of cruelty perpretrated by an igno- 
 rant country, 458 
 Farriery, absurd nostrums of some of the old writers on, 124 
 Farriery, bleeding one of the most important operations 
 
 in, 298 
 Feeders, recipe for delicate, by Lord Stawell, 189 
 Feeding, remarks on, 61, 83, 99 
 
 Feet contracted — the effect not the cause of disease, 134 
 Ferryman, a hunter, particulars of, 68 
 Fever in the feet, causes of, 388, 416 
 Fever, hunters never free from, after a severe run, 322, 41 6 
 F'ield's mercurial charges, notice of, 271 
 Firing, observations on, 107, 271, 324 
 Flannel bandages, benefits derivable from the use of, 80 
 Flies, sad annoyance to hunters exposed to noon-day sun, 266, 
 
 278 
 Foal, early treatment of, 221 ; time for weaning, 221 
 Foot, form and construction of the horse's, 130 
 Foot, original form of the, unconnected with soundness, 134 
 Foot, case of incipient disease in a perfectly formed, 138 
 Foot, contracted — an instance e contra, 140 
 Foot, extraordinary specimen of a contracted, 152 
 Foot, a perfect, one of the finest specimens of the plastic 
 
 art, 348 
 Foot, description of a weak, 363, 381 
 Foot, description of a strong, 380 
 
 Foot, pumice, the most difficult to preserve sound, 382 
 Foot, description of a good, 386 
 Foot, essentials to constitute a good hunter's, 408 
 Foot lameness, the infrequency of, in foreign countries 
 
 compared with England, 153 
 Foot lameness attributable to weak organisation of the 
 internal parts of the hoof, fever produced by ex- 
 citement of high food and hard riding, concussion, im- 
 proper position of the limb, &c., 341, 353, 363 
 Foot lameness, shoeing not a general cavise of, 343 
 Foot lameness, infrequency of in Wales, 347 
 Foot lameness, causes of the increase of, 402 
 Foot lameness, general inflammation of the vascular system 
 
 the ]irincipal cause of, 421 
 Fordyce's (Dr.) experiments on gold and silver fish, I7I 
 
494 INDEX. 
 
 Forester, Mr. of Willy Hall, anecdote of, 29 
 
 Foulness, the distinguishing symptoms of, 173 
 
 Foulness, treatment for, 179 
 
 Founder, in the foot, the navicular -joint the general seat 
 
 of the, 151 
 Founder, the foot never the seat of, 349, 371 
 Fox-hunting, change in tlie system of, 29 
 French system of shoeing, observations on, 401 
 Fret. See Colic. 
 Frog, on the functions of the, 145, 359, 387 
 
 Qlanders, extract from Smith's Treatise on the, 116, 207 
 Glanders, considerations on, 325 
 
 Gold and silver fish. Dr. Fordyce's experiments on, 171 
 Goodricke (Sir H.)^ treatment of the hunters of, in the 
 
 sun^mer, 254 
 Goodwin on Diseases of the Feet, extract from, IGl 
 Goodwin (Mr.), on preparing the hoof for the shoe, 404 
 Goodwin's (Mr.) sketch of the concave seated shoe invented 
 
 by, 410 
 Goodwin's (Mr.) cast-iron road shoe, description of, 412 
 Goosander (dam of Sailor), notice of, 77 
 Goosander, constitutional peculiarity of, 197 
 Grafton, the Duke of, turf winnings of, in 1822, 12 
 Graham's (Sir Bellingham) opinion of the in-door system, 248 
 Grease, nature and treatment of, 328 
 Green meat, advantage of stinting hunters in, 251 
 Groggy horses, peculiar position of, in the stable, 153 
 Groom, necessary qualifications of the, 99, 203, 109 
 Grosvenor, Lord, a great breeder of race-horses, 12 
 Govity, that horses may be. Professor Coleman's opinion, 183 
 
 Hack, difficulty of procuring a good, 13 
 
 Hack, requisite qualifications of a s^ife, 13 
 
 Hack, mode of trying the paces of a, 1 6 
 
 Hack, walking and cantering the chief paces for a gentle- 
 man's, 10 
 
 Hair of the horse, account of the, 31 1 
 
 Hair, warmth and friction contribute tq tlie condition ofj 
 and Ayhyj 312 
 
INDEK. 495 
 
 Havel meat versus grass, 111 
 
 Hard meat system, corroboration of the superiority of the, 
 
 120, 127, 215, 223, 227, 247 
 Hay, daily allowance of, for a hunter, 01 
 Hay, on the improper useof^ in stables of fast coaches, 100 
 Hay, the best kind of for hunters, 201 
 Hay, the quality of, a first-rate consideration, 250 
 Hay, mow-burnt, debilitating efiects of, 321 
 Hay and water, proper allowance of, on the day before 
 
 hunting, 83, 199 
 Health, periodical evacuation necessary to preserve, 123 
 Health, the three great points to be attended to in the j)re- 
 
 gervationof, 172 
 Heat and cold, remarkable extremes of, 227 
 Hermit, a celebrated hunter, particulars of, 64, 140 
 Hero, Mr. IMytton's horse, wonderful leap taken by, 4 
 Hind's (Mr.) remarks on shoeing, 406 
 
 Hoof, a wide circular, no ju'oof of soundness of the foot, 145 
 Hoof, contraction of tlie, the effect not the cause of lame- 
 ness, 342 
 Horse, the, held in high esteem by the ancients, 2 
 Horse, the bravest and fleetest of animals, 5 
 Horse, description of the, by a Frenchman^ Q 
 Horse, fabulous origin of the, 7 
 Horse, high honours paid to the, by the ancients, 10 
 Horse and man, analogy between, as regards condition, 74 
 Horse, comparison of the, to an organ, 91 
 Horse, delicacy of the intestines of the, 1 79 
 Horse, necessity of preparing a, 7vcll before he goes to 
 
 hounds, &c, exemplified, 195 
 Horse, best method of treating the, when in the stable, 203 
 Horse, signs of age in the, unconnected with the teeth, 454 
 Horse, proper way to examine the hocks of a, 459 
 Iloi'se, smallness of the stomach of the, 482 
 Horse-stealing made felony, without benefit of clergy, lemp, 
 
 Edward VI., 11 
 Horses* coats, remarks on the colour of, 312 
 Horses' skins, the beauty of, when in " blooming condition," 
 
 74 
 Horses sensibly affected by change of weather, 7'S 
 Horses, form of ulterative Jjal), recommended for gross, 25S 
 
496 INDEX. 
 
 Horses, fore feet of, method of treatment after a severe day, 
 
 274 
 Horses, convulsive disorders of frequent occurrence in, 282 
 Horses, the best method of treating the feet of, in the stable, 
 
 392 
 Horsemen, advice to, when on the road, 18 
 Humours, Osmer's definition of the term. See Foulness. 
 Hunter, not necessary that a, should be perfectly sound, 57 
 Hunter, a truss of hay weekly sufficient for a, 61 
 Hunter, remai*kable case and death of an old, in Devonshire, 
 
 163 
 Hunter, the distinguishing symptoms of foulness in a, 17 ' - 
 Hunter, practical information on sweating a, in the middle 
 
 of August, 183 
 Hunter, remarks on shoeing the, 408, 414 
 Hunters, elegance of form of English, 4 
 Hunters, danger of turning out for the summer, 33 
 Hunters, high condition of Lord Sefton's, 37, 159 
 Hunters, objections against turning out to a summer's run at 
 
 grass, 38 
 Hunters, treatment of, during the summer, to obtain con- 
 dition, 44 
 Hunters, turning out, under certain circinnstances highly 
 
 beneficial, 46 
 Hunters, remarks on the old plan of treating, 48 
 Hunters, system proposed on taking up, 50 
 Hunters, advice regarding the feeding and watering of, 62 
 Hunters, treatment of, after a hard day, 84, 86 
 Hunters, treatment of, the day preceding- going out, 82 
 Hunters, treatment of, during the summer, 103 
 Hunters, treatment of, in August and September, 180 
 Hunters, the absolute necessity of administering alterative 
 
 medicines to, Avhen first beginning to work, 182 
 Hunters, treatment of, after a " iieri^ hard day," 185 
 Hunters, Mr. Weedon's method of sweating, 197 
 Hunters, the best kind of hay for, 201 
 Hunters, small quantity of green food in the summei- 
 
 sufficient for, 252 
 Hunters, beneficial effect of washing with warm water and 
 
 soap, 254, 390 
 
INUEX. 497 
 
 Hunter!^, detail of treatment ol' six^, the property of the 
 author, during the summer of 1825, 258 
 
 Hunters, turning out in the summer one of tlie predis- 
 posing causes of roaring, 449 
 
 Hunters, plan of stabling for eight, 474 
 
 Hunting, strong work indispensable the day before, 93 
 
 Plunting, tlie system of, revolutionised, 101 
 
 Huntsman and a gentleman, anecdote of a, 20' 
 
 In-door system, proof of the superiority of the. 111 
 Inflammation, rapidity of, in cases of ovcniiark, 85 
 Inflammation, the precursor of navicular disease, 149 
 Inflammation, copious bleeding in cases of, necessity of, 174 
 Inflammation, general and local, remarks on, 331 
 Inflammation, Mr. White's description of the term, 334 
 Inflammatory complaints, three causes of, 426 
 Interfering. See Cutting 
 Introduction^ 1 
 
 Jersey (Lord), treatment of hunters belonging to, 161 
 
 Job, sublime description of the horse by, 2 
 
 Johnson's (Dr. Saml.) definition of the word "condition," 26 
 
 Joint, navicular, situation and office of the, 148 
 
 Joints, of the extreme sensibility of the, 150 
 
 Julius Cuesar, British cavalry famous in the time of, 7 
 
 Knee-caps, superiority of, manufactured by Messrs, Whippy, 
 287 
 
 La Fosse, liberality of, as a controversialist^ 369 
 
 Lameness. See Foot Inflammation 
 
 Lampas, nature and treatment of, 427 
 
 Lampas, barbarity of burning the palate for, 428 
 
 Leaping bar, description and sketch of IMr. Dickenson's, 478 
 
 Legs, big, treatment of, 429 
 
 Life, blood, the mainspring of, I7I 
 
 Lindo (IMr.), account of The Clipper, a horse belonging to, 
 
 14 
 Lindo (Mr.), description of his bridle for hard-pulling 
 
 hunters, 275 
 Locked jaAv frequently the consequence of docking, 318 
 
 K K 
 
498 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Lockley (Mr.), treatment of a favorite hunter the property 
 
 of, 160 
 Loose boxes, permanent objections to, for general use, 476 
 
 Mansfield, anecdote of Lord, 172 
 
 Mantidamun (Major Pigot's), constitutional peculiarity of, 
 197 
 
 Mare, description of the sort to breed from, 220 
 
 Mare, management of the, after foaling, 221 
 
 Mares, preference given to by the Arabians, 13 
 
 Mares, prejudice against, to be lamented, 12 
 
 Slashes, vise and abuse of bran, 98 
 
 Mayjiard, anecdotes of Lord, l9, 131 
 
 Medicine, policy of administering gentle, after a severe day 
 to prevent fever, 273 
 
 Mercurial physic, caution requisite diiring the operation of, 
 126 
 
 Mercurial plaster, in recent cases of enlarged joints, or ten- 
 dons out of place, a useful applicatidn, 272 
 
 iSIercurial charges, made by i\lr. Field, supersede in great 
 measure the necessity for firing, 271 
 
 Meteora, performances of, 13. Death of, ib. 
 
 jMolten grease, notice of, 432 
 
 iMoulting season, precautions to be taken in the, 167 
 
 Muscles, convulsive motion of the abdominal, after a long 
 run, erroneously supposed to be the beating of the 
 heart, 185,- corroboration of this position, 230 
 
 IMytton (IMr.), high leap cleared by, on Hero, 4 
 
 Nails, test of the quality of, 414 
 
 Narrow feet, particular case of, in a gig horse, 154 
 
 Nature, the powder of art over, exemplified in the case of 
 
 Ferryman, 68 
 Naval officer, anecdote of a, 63 
 
 Navicular joint, disease discovered by Mr. Turner, 146 
 Navicular joint, the general seat of founder in the foot, 151 
 
 346 
 Nerving, effect of, 433 
 
 Nerving, manner of performing the operation, 434 
 Nicks, a highwayman, extraordinary performance of, 56 
 
INDFS. 499 
 
 Oats, old, most proper for hunters, 201 
 
 Objections to the in-door system answered, 209 
 
 October^ reasons for not hunting in tlie month of, 217, 2G7 
 
 Oil of turpentine, efficacy of, in spasmodic colic, 309 
 
 Okl lady and her carriage horses, anecdote of an, 48 
 
 Organ, comparison of the horse to an, 91 
 
 Osmer (W.) on the Diseases of Horses, extract from, 214 
 
 Osmei-'s opinion of the effect of rest, 271 
 
 Ospray (Lord Foley's), constitutional peculiarity of, 197 
 
 Overmark, symptoms of, 84 ; and mode of treatment, 84, 
 
 174, 186 
 Over-reach, all horses subject to, 89 
 
 Paddocks, advantages of, 46 
 
 Parasol, constitutional jDeculiarity of the racer, 7^^1 
 Pennant (Mr.), on English horses, 7 
 Percivall (Mr.), inventor of the horse-sandal, 13.3 
 Percivall's Lectures on the Veterinary Art, extracts from, 
 on clipping, 239 ; Lecture 76, affections of the brain 
 and convulsive disorders, 282 ; Lecture 38, broken- 
 wind, 283 ; Lecture 33, brokeii knees, 288 ; Lecture 30, 
 on the muscles of the hind extremity, 301 ; Lecture 
 32, corns, 303 ; Lecture 33, catari'h, 306 ; Lecture .Vi, 
 diuretics, 320 ; Lecture 38, causes of diseased lungs, 
 - 338 ; purgation and purgative medicines, 438 ; roaring, 
 442 ; diseases of the teeth, 451 ; stables, 471 ; the 
 stomach, 480 
 Peruvian bark, valuable properties of, 190 
 Pessina's (M.) remarks on teeth as denoting age, 453 
 Physic, general remarks on the operation and effect of, 435 
 Physic, danger of administering strong, 51, 165 
 Physic, mild mercurial, recommended in presence of the 
 
 yellows, 183 
 Plethora, Boerhaave's definition of, 99 
 Potter (Mr.), the Earl of Sefton's groom, notice of, 159 
 Precautions to be taken in the moulting season, 167 
 Pumiced feet, the most difficult to preserve sound, 382 ; in 
 hunters most commonly the result of fever, 384 ; treat- 
 ment of a case of pumice, 384 
 
 Rabbit, Mv. Abernethy's experiment on a, 1 70 
 
500 iNPf:x. 
 
 Race-liorses, Lord Gi-oavenor a gi-cat breeder of, 12 
 
 I?ace-hovscs, wheat formerly given to, GO 
 
 Recreation, cab-hunting a mehwcholy, 56 
 
 Rest, ill effects of too biuch, 94 
 
 Rest, Osmer's opinion of the effect of, 271 
 
 Rest, misconceived idea tliat a summer's run affords to a 
 horse, 378 
 
 Ringbone, nature and treatment of^ 440 
 
 Roaring, the nature of, 441 
 
 Roaring, turning out luniters in the summer one of the pre- 
 disposing causes of, 449 
 
 Rogers (Mr.), inventor of a shoe to ward off concussion, 
 354, 357 
 
 Rowels, use of and operation, 450 
 
 Rules, general, inapplicable to particular cases, 155 
 
 Salt;, value of, in veterinary practice, 455 
 
 Salt marsh, on the benefit arising from a summer's run in a, 
 246 ; disadvantages and danger of tlie practice, 247 
 
 Sandal, description of the horse, 133 
 
 Sand-crack, treatment of, 457 
 
 Scotcli physician and a regimental chaplain, anecdote of a, 
 425 
 
 Scrofula, extract from Sir Astley Cooper's lecture on, 171 
 
 Sefton (Lord), superior condition of the hunters belongitig 
 to, 37, 159 
 
 Sheep, the bite of, sweetens the herl)age, 46 
 
 Shoe, on preparing tlie hoof for the, 402 
 
 Shoe, the cast-iron concave seated, sketch of, 410; testi- 
 mony in favour of, 411 ; objections to, 412 
 
 Shoes, variety of; 144, 353, 360 
 
 Shoeing, the antiquity of, 131 
 
 Shoeing, various methods of, in different countries, 135 
 
 Shoeing a hunter, method of, to prevent his cutting him- 
 self by over-reaching in leaping brooks, or in deep 
 ground, 88, 233, 376 
 
 Shoeing, not a general cause of foot lameness, 343, 378, 
 384 
 
 Shoeing, when executed on the principles of Nature, a pro- 
 tection and preventive of disease, 343 
 
 Shoeing, remarks ouj hy a sporting Bai'onetj 378., 
 
INDKX. 501 
 
 Shoeing-, remarks on the Frendi system of, 401 
 glioeing, the great art of, to consult the natural tread, 408 
 Sinews, lameness in the, treatment in cases of, 404 
 Hkin, state of the, always a criterion to judge by as regards; 
 
 general health, 182 
 Smith on Glanders, extracts from, 116, 207 
 Sole, description of tiie inner, 891 \ 
 
 Sore back, treatment of, 40G 
 Soundness, original form of the foot unconnected withj 
 
 134 
 Spasmodic colic, efficacy of oil of turpentine in cases of, 
 
 309 
 Spavins, nature and treatment of, 457 
 Splents, notice of, 459 
 
 Sportsmen, strong prejudices against mares, by, 12 
 Sprain, Tapiin's definition of a, 464 
 Sprains, the grand specific for, 465 
 Spring, the best time to purchase hunters, 68 
 Stable and stable management, 64 
 Stable, to be good, must be warm and dry, 72 
 Stable, best method of treating a horse when in the, 203 
 Stable, benefit of free circulation of air in the, 424 
 Stables, temperature of, 77^ 424, 472 
 
 Stables, the evils attending ill-ventilated, 469 ; damp, 471 
 Stables, Mr, Dickenson's plan to prevent the waste of corn 
 
 477 
 Stables, plan of for eight hunters, 474 
 Stables, the importance of cleanliness in, 473 
 Staked horses, 460 
 
 Stallion, description of the proper, for breeding, 220 
 Stallions, treatment of the feet of covering, 393 
 Stawell's (Lord) recipe for delicate feeders, 189 
 Stopping horses' feet. Cherry's elastic pads for, 394 
 Strangles, symptoms and treatment of, 401 
 String-halt, a few words respecting, 463 
 Strong work indispensable the day before hunting, 93 
 Stubs, in frogs and fetlocks, treatment of, 4(»4 
 Summer, treatment of hunters in the, 103, 110 
 Summer of 1825, detail of treatment of six hunter^, 
 
 belonging to the author, during tlie, 258 
 Summer's run, proof of the disadvantages of a, 119, 21 g, 
 
502 INDEX. 
 
 Summering hunters in the field, evils attending, 161, 164 
 Summering in the stable and at grass, comparative expenses 
 
 of, 260 
 Surfeit, symptoms of, 175; treatment in cases of, 176 
 Sweats, the benefits resulting from gentle, often repeated, 
 
 93 
 Sweating, detail of practical information regarding a hunter 
 
 in the middle of August, 183 
 Sweating hunters, Mr. Weedon's method of, 197 
 
 Taplin's (air.) state of the veterinary art at the time of his 
 writing the Sporting Dictionary, 176 
 
 Tartary, famous for its breed of horses, 9 
 
 Teeth, remarks on the, 451 
 
 Teeth, signs of age in the horse unconnected with the, 454 
 
 Thermometer, "the importance of keeping a, in stables, 472 
 
 Thick wind, nature and treatment of, 479 
 
 Thorns in legs, frequently dillicult to find the seat ot^ 484 
 
 Thornton, Col,, anecdote of the late, 136 
 
 Thorough-pin, treatment of, 486 
 
 Thrnshes, observations on, 394 
 
 Timid animals hardest to be tamed, and why, 5 
 
 Tonics, the influence of, in promoting condition, 425, 190 ; 
 mineral tome ball, recipe for making, 218 ^ 
 
 Training, remarks on, 93, 100 
 
 Training conducive to health, 102 
 
 Treatment in cases of overmark, 84, 174 
 
 Treatment after " a very hard day," 1 85 
 
 Trotting match, particulars of a, 19 
 
 Turner (Mr.), discoverer of the seat of the navicuhir dis- 
 ease, 146 
 
 Ventilation, the necessity of, in stables, 469, 472 
 Vetches, when in pod, injurious to horses, 46 
 Veterinary surgeons, policy of encouraging, 104 
 Veterinary science, first principles of, in this country, origi- 
 nated with Mr. Coleman, 1 44 
 Victoria (Lord Oxford), constitutional peculiarity of, 197 
 
 Wales, foot-lameness seldom seen in, and Avhy, 347 
 Walking exercise, during tlie summer, advantages of, 160 
 
INDEX, 503 
 
 Warde's (IMr.) opinion respecting old and new oats, (iO 
 Water, the importance of minutely attending to the (juantity 
 
 given, 83, 199,203 
 Water, change of, quickly affects horses in condition, 201 j 
 danger of giving cold after a severe run, or when in a 
 profuse sweat, 202 
 Weather, horses sensibly affected by change of, 70 
 Weedon (Mr.), Lord Plymouth's groom, notice of, 158; his 
 
 method of sweating hunters, 197 
 Whippy and Co., advantages of the knee Caps made by, 287 
 White's Veterinary Dictionary, extract from, 118 
 Wilde's (IMr.), veterinary surgeon of Oxford, Opinion of the 
 effect of grass on a hunter, when left to his own dis- 
 cretion, 251 ; advantage of stinting horses in green 
 meat during the summer, evident in winter, prdved to 
 demonstration, 251 
 Wind, general remarks on, 192 
 Windgalls, nature and treatment of, 486 
 Winnings of the Duke of Grafton in 1822, 12 
 Winter's run, advantages of a, as regards legs and feet, 4f 
 Wisdom, infinity of divine, 1 
 Worms, treatment of, 487 
 
 Yellows, treatment of, 183, 488 
 
 York (Major Pigot's), constitutional peculiarity of, 197 
 
 Young hound and a dying fox, anecdote of a, 194 
 
 THE END. 
 
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