. . • , ' ^. i J . /vNDBOOK lill |l s ^Bpl!^'' .'■V. .y,^#lrt^£. '^^^^^^^^^^^^^^1 ^^■^ 1 1 k \ 1 \ o\ /-v /^>y. TUFTS UNIVERSITY UBRARIES 3 9090 014 549 394 ^fl^bater FafT% Llbraiy cjf Veterlwnf *tedlcli» Cummings School c^ Veterinary Medicine « Tufis L .' . .:ity 200 WestDoro Road North Grafton, MA 01535 THE COUNTRT HANDBOOKS Edited by Harry Roberts The Stable Handbook A TNl'lCAI. HUN TEK S HEAD A USIvI'Ll. rivOVl.NLlAL HL The Stable Handbook By T. F. Dale John Lane^ The Bodley Head London andNeiv York mdccccvii Turnhuil \ff Spears, Printers, Edinburgh Prefatory Note THE text of this book speaks for itself, but a few words may be useful with regard to the illustrations. The Stable Handbook is professedly a book for men of moderate means. Why, then, it may be asked, illustrate it with portraits of horses and ponies of a class which must be beyond the means of the majority of readers. My answer is this : These pictures are object lessons, just as the prize-winner at the show is intended to be an object lesson to breeders. To train the eye to judge of horses none but the very best models should be set before it. The reader who will examine the illustrations will be able to see for himself what are the best models approved by experienced judges, and having educated his eye to these, be better quali- fied to judge of what he wants when he comes to buy for himself. These pictures will also enable us to distinguish between mere prettiness and useful points. Then they will serve to bring before us the different types that are useful for the varying work to which a horse may be put, and this will steady our judgment when buying. If we wish for a general purpose horse, one that we can ride or Prefatory Note drive, we shall choose one that approximates more or less to the type of the animal fitted for the work we want. If we want, for example, a horse to ride, and only occasionally for harness, we should look out for the useful hunter type, or the polo and riding pony sort ; if, on the other hand, we want a horse chiefly for harness, and only for occasional saddle work, we should lay most stress on harness qualities. VI Contents Page Prefatory Note ...... v CHAPTER I The Stable ...... i CHAPTER II Forage . . . , . . • *3 CHAPTER III The Poor Man's Hunter . . . .26 CHAPTER IV The Harness Horse . . . . .47 CHAPTER V The Treatment of Horses at Grass — Some Simple Remedies — Recapitulation . . . .64 Index ....... 87 VU List of Illustrations A Typical Hunter's Head A Useful Provincial Hunter- . Frontispiece The Stable . To face page 2 This, though somewhat magnificent, shows the head-room partitions and flooring, which are equally possible in our own stables, though in a plainer style. An Inexpensive Range of Boxes — Ranelagh Club A Comfortable Box for a Cob A Simple Saddle Room and Stand The Best Sort of Manger A Group of Useful Horses at Grass There is sufficient feed, yet the horses are no gross, there is a good supply of water — a mos important point Sensibility : The Head of a Thoroughbred (Per SIMMON) .... The King's Stallion, Dlamond Jubilee This is worth study as an object-lesson on the points of a horse. Note the sensible head, the well-raised shoulder, the depth of the girth, the strength of the loins, the well-defined knees and hocks, the short-cannon bones, and the easy slope of the pasterns. ix List of Illustrations The Pheasant, A Well-Known Pony of the Polo AND Riding Type . . . To face page 24 This is, for harness and saddle, for ride and drive ponies, the right sort to look for in animals 15 hands and under. An Excellent Type of an All-Round Useful Horse . . . . . . ,, 26 Her forehand is excellent. Note the kindly, sensible head and eyes. Being a mare, she looks a little light in the back ribs, but would probably stay well. She has good bone, weight enough for harness work, yet carries her saddle in the right place, and would have courage for a hunter or temper for the road. A Typical Thoroughbred Mare and Foal . ,, 28 Showing quality difficult to define, easy to perceive. Good Hunter over any Country . , . ,, 30 Up to any Weight; hard to Find . . ,,32 Limerick Irish Hunter , . . ,, 34 An Irish horse with quality. The lie of the shoulder and depth of girth suggest that it would carry a fair weight, say 14 stone, and stay well ; is probably a fast horse. Substance and Quality Combined . . . ,,3^ Baronet, the Well-Known Prize-Winner. Belonging to Mr J. H. Stokes . . . . ,, 38 This horse is of hunter type, which is the most generally useful of English horses, and greatly sought after by foreign buyers. The position of the man on his back shows the horse's fine riding shape and immense power. Silver Cloud . . . . . ,, 40 A good type of useful hunter make and shape. A horse that can do anything, and safe to ride in a cramped country. JList of Illustrations Brampton . ... To face page Af/i^ The portrait hardly does the horse justice. He was a prize-winner, and carried a heavy weight to hounds in Leicestershire. Yet in the collection of pictures before us no horse com- bines speed and power better. The picture is worth careful study. The horse has been approved by some of the best judges of the day. Shetland Pony . . . . . ,, 46 A capital type of useful all-round pony for ladies and children. This is quite a typical sort for country work. An American Trotter . . . . ,, 48 Hackney Mare Rosadora . . . • j5 So A harness mare, a useful type for brougham or wagonette. This mare would draw a good weight for a long distance. She would not stand much saddle work, as her forelegs show. Typical Hackneys . . . . . ,, 52 A very nice head, the shape of which recalls us to the fact that the hackney, like the thoroughbred, traces his origin back to Eastern sources. It is well worth study, since the head is no unimportant matter when we are buying a horse. Note the position of the eyes high up in the face, the slight concavity in the out- line of the profile, and the boldly-designed, clean- cut nostril and lips. A beautiful head of a pony full of character. This was taken from a hackney pony, a breed which has much Welsh blood in it. A Fine Type of Pony (Welsh), Good to Ride or Drive, the Most Generally Useful Animal IN A Small Stable . . . . ,, 54 A Very Useful Hardy Sort for Harness in a Hilly Country — Plain but Good . . >> 56 xi Ltist of Illustrations Belchton Royal .... To face page 5S Here we have an almost perfect type of harness horse well worth studying by those who wish for work and style. A hardy, bold horse, with weight and courage. An American . . . . . ,, So Hardy, ugly, useful, and as a rule capable of a great deal of work. They are less pleasant horses than English, but often cheap and useful. Peanut . . . . . . ,, 64 Smart, active pony of the Polo and riding type. A useful sort for saddle or harness. Brood Mares . . . . . ,, 66 Welsh Pony Stallion. The Property of Mr John Jones ) Dinarth Hall . . . , ,, 70 Berkeley Flash . . . . . ,, yz Pony sense and character. Skeleton of the Horse . . . . ,, 7S Parts of the Foot . . . . • >» 79 Correct Position of Hind Legs . . . Page 79 Bones of the Hind Leg . . . . u 80 Bones of the Fore Leg . . . . >> 8i Teeth of the Horse at Different Ages . . »> 8* Teeth of the Horse at Different Ages — Continued ,, 83 Teeth of the Horse at Different Ages — Continued ,, 84 Teeth or the Horse at Different Ages — Continued ,, 85 Teeth of the Horse at Different Ages — Continued ,, 86 The Stable Handbook S'TABLE HANDBOOK Chapter I. — The Stable THE first thing the would-be horse keeper has to provide is a stable. A horse may live, or at least exist, in an unsuitable stable, but he will never thrive or do all the work we require, or of which he is capable, in one which lacks the three primary requisites of space, air, and cleanliness. Thus the fittings must be such as will enable the groom to observe the last precept without undue labour. While I would never allow a man to scamp his work, I should always endeavour to make him feel that I was willing, in every legiti- mate way, to save him unnecessary trouble. We are not dealing now with those larger establish- ments where there is a man and a boy to do every- thing. Our groom may have work in the garden, may help in the kennel or the poultry yard, may look after the cow, or may assist in the house. There will in many cases be riding-boots to clean, and in not a few houses water to be pumped up. Thus in the fittings of our stable we have to consider not only necessity, but also convenience A I The Stable Handbook and the saving of labour. In a small country house we shall generally find two kinds of stable. First, the builder's idea of a two-stall stable for what he would call " a villa residence suitable to a retired gentleman." Such stables generally have every fault that a stable can have. Brick floors, with a drain in the middle of the stall or loose box, is the worst and most usual fault. Cheap mangers of varnished wood and a hay rack half way up the wall. Then they are dark and stuffy, the air space is deficient, and yet, as the work is not too good, they are draughty in the wrong place. The other kind, and far better, is where the stables have been con- structed out of cart stables or outhouses, and still better is where we find simply outhouses — it little matters how rough if they are sound and weather proof. Out of such buildings we can easily make our own stables. Let me give an instance of a set of stables I devised for a friend. The house was an old farm- house, and the stables, with the one exception of a small pony box and a stall, were made out of a series of outhouses which had been used for carts, cows, and chickens. What we had to begin with was four walls and a fair slate roof, and floors of bricks or earth of various degrees of foulness and disrepair. Now, the most important, indeed indis- pensable, matter in a stable is a hard floor and one that is easily kept clean. One difficulty was re- moved by the fact that there was no inside drain 2 is T^he Stable of any kind, and it was easy to carry off the water to an open gutter outside, and thence away to the drainage system of the house through an ordinary trap. The greatest of all difficulties and dangers being thus disposed of, all I did was to lay down a concrete flooring to each stable, with a slight slope, so that the water could be carried out of the building by the simple process of sluicing down with a pail and broom. The concrete was ridged to give the horses a foot-hold on it, and when the floors were dry and firm they were ready for use. Then the walls were lime-washed, and a coating of yellow wash gave the stables a clean and cheerful appearance. Whitewash is bad for the horses' eyesight, and in any case the yellow tinge on the walls looks neat and clean. Cheap iron mangers were put in and a ring to hold a bucket, and the inside was complete. There were no hay racks, nor were they wanted. Now came the question of ventilation. There were no windows, but the half-door, of which the upper half was always open by day and, except in very bad or severe weather, by night, supplied light. Two iron bars were placed across the upper half of the door, for I have known a horse to jump out of such stables. Yet it was necessary, as I have said, sometimes to shut the upper half of the door at night, or when the wind was from the south-west, to which quarter the stables faced, so across the door and under the eaves a row of The Stable Handbook ventilators were placed, so that there was a current of air overhead, but quite clear of the horse when he was lying down or feeding. One or two of the boxes were rather smaller than I could have wished, but one has to make the best of what one has, and in practice the horses did very well in these stables. The cost was very small, and I provided accommodation for seven horses and a pony, which proved very satisfactory throughout two hard hunting seasons. In this case, ornaments and fittings were reduced to a minimum because money was an object ; but the air and cleanliness were, in fact, perfect, and the space, if not ample, was sufficient. This is reducing the items of ornament to the lowest, no doubt, but we had everything we wanted, and even a spare stall in which the horses were done up on their return from work, so that each box was clean and fresh when the horse was placed in it for the night. Supposing, however, I had not found the boxes ready made, but had succeeded to a stable with a row of stalls, what should I have done or advised? If possible, I should have made the stalls into boxes. I think for hard-worked horses a box is practically indispensable. It is, perhaps, a luxury for the rich man's stud ; for that of the poor man, a necessity. But it is often possible to turn a row of stalls into boxes by the sacrifice of a single stall and by shifting the partitions so as to give 4 The Stable additional space to each box. Then doors can be added to the box, or stout wooden poles placed across the opening. This is an inexpensive plan which is adopted in India, and I have employed with advantage in England. Nevertheless, the doors look neater, are more convenient, and are worth the extra expense. The bars I have used in houses rented for the season to make a roomy stall into a useful box. Anything is better than having a horse tied up. He cannot rest and he cannot amuse himself, and many horses fret a good deal when tied up, especially if they have been accustomed to a loose box. By one means or another I nearly always avoid having my horses tied up, but not quite always, for I recollect one furnished house in a hunting country, rented for the season, where there was only one box among four horses and no possibility of contriving another. The plan adopted was to put the horses into it in turn. The one that had been out hunting had the box on its return and occupied it the next day, or until the next horse came in, and in this way we managed to do fairly well with the moderate accommodation provided. The moral of this story is twofold : if you cannot have what you want, you must do what you can, but do not take a house without seeing it and the stabhng. What I write about boxes applies particularly to hunters, but scarcely less to those horses which 5 The Stable Handbook are used by a professional or business man in the course of his work. If I were building or remodelling stables on a place of my own, I should certainly have all the accommodation in the form of loose boxes, with perhaps a single stall, which can be squeezed in where a box would not be possible. This is useful to tie up strange horses in, or as a place to clean your own animals when they come in after a hard day. This, I think, is an excellent plan. But as in small stables, for one reason or another, extra space is often wanted, I should then have the doors of one or more of the boxes removable at will, so that bails could be slung between two horses that will now be tied up in the space where one stood before. As to the dimensions of the boxes they need not all be the same size. If I was building I should hke no box to be less than 14X lox 14. But we shall find in practice very few stables are more than 10 feet from the floor to the ceiling. It is from a practical point of view impossible to lay down a rule as to the number of cubic feet of air to be allowed to each horse. But taking 1500 as a fair average allowance we may consider every foot above that as a gain, every one below as a disadvantage. In those stables where the space is deficient the owner must be more than ever vigilant to see that doors and windows are left open freely. I think the sense of temperature 6 The Stable and one's nose are fair tests of the state of the stable. That is, as one comes out of the air the atmosphere of the stable should not strike warm upon one's face, nor should any odour at all, other than that of clean hay and straw assail one's nostrils. I regard, however, 12x9 ^^ ^^^ minimum space allowable for a box, nor can a stable be really wholesome with a ceiling less than 10 feet high. In one case where I found a low ceiling there was a loft over the stable. This is always a bad plan, and I secured a fine additional space by removing the flooring of the part of the loft that was over the stalls and loose boxes. This gave plenty of air and made up for the rather too limited area of the boxes below. There is, however, a great dis- advantage in a small box, and it is greater in a small establishment than a large one, for a horse takes a certain amount of gentle exercise moving about a roomy box, and though this does not altogether make up for the outdoor work every horse ought to do each day, yet it is better than nothing if, as often happens, there is no one to exercise the horse on any given day. Again, however, we cannot always do what we will and must make the best of things as they are. To show for how many of the comforts of the stable ample space makes up, I can give an in- stance. On one occasion I had two horses more than the number provided for. Accordingly I sent for the village carpenter, and with some fear 7 The Stable Handbook and trembling I rigged up two rough boxes in a barn which was nearly as big as a church, and thus, to put it mildly, had a good deal of ventila- tion. Even the flooring was brick and I had no time to have any change made. Of course I knew that as it was a barn, and had always been used as such, the brick floor at least could not be foul. I picked out the two horses I cared least about and put them in there. Of the whole stud none did better than these. It was the winter of 1901-2, when, as everyone will recollect, we had plenty of frost and snow. The temperature could have been little or no higher than the air outside, and, except that they were sheltered from the rain and wind, the horses might almost as well have been outside. Yet they throve, and although I gave them each an extra rug I am not sure I should do this now. Next to plenty of ventilation dryness is a matter of great importance. No horse will flourish in a damp stable. This is one of the advantages of concrete floors, that damp is unlikely to work up. Stables which have the sun morning and evening, or at any rate for part of the day, are the best, because it is easier to dry them, and also because the generally inefficient windows of stables give more light. A stable cannot be too light, though there are very few stables belonging to small houses that are at all sufficiently cheerful and well lighted. How important light and ventilation are 8 The Stable we can gather from the marked improvement in the health of the horses of the great omnibus companies since these matters received a careful and intelligent attention. My readers may take for granted that when their horses do not thrive, in most cases it is the fault of the stables in which they live. After all, in the country, with the help of the local bricklayer and the village carpenter, I have seldom found much difficulty in making stables light and airy. Nothing of course can do away with the unmitigated evil of a drain under the stable, nor would I take any house where such existed, unless I was allowed to do away with it altogether. I have known cases where the cess- pool of the stable drains was actually under the floor of the stable. No horse could be fit to go that lived in such conditions. Another common and most faulty point in the construction of modern stables is the loft for the storage of forage which is placed directly over the stalls and loose boxes. The one advantage of this arrangement is that it saves labour. But important as this is in a stable conducted on economical lines, I consider the disadvantages to outbalance what- ever saving there may be. And this brings me to a very important matter, the storage of the hay and corn. A man who lives in a county town, or still more in the country, will find it a great economy to buy his forage some time ahead, and to do this he must have somewhere 9 The Stable Handbook to put it. This space is wanting in most stables. Nevertheless, it is well worth the expense of pro- viding the necessary space, not only because you are able to buy in the cheapest instead of the dearest market, but because in the case of hunters you can thus be sure to obtain the old oats which only are of use to condition them for hard work. Nevertheless, you will find that suitable space for the storage of any quantity will often be absent, and you will have to make it for yourself. But these matters will be better discussed in the chapter on forage, and to that I will leave them. To recapitulate then, the first thing in a stable is to have sound dry flooring without drains so that no liquids shall stand and stagnate. The scent of ammonia is a sure sign that things are not right. This flooring should be either of concrete or bricks, with a single channel laid in cement, so that nothing can penetrate through the joints. If of concrete the surface must be scored so as to give foothold. Horses should live as nearly in the open air as possible, but not in a direct draught. Doors and windows should open freely and easily, and there should be ventilating bricks under the eaves to carry off the foul air from the top. In a long building, even when composed of separate boxes, there should be a free course for the air the whole length of the building, which can of course easily lo T^he Stable be managed by placing ventilators at each end of the building and then taking out a brick or making an opening in each partition over the horses' heads. The interior should be light and cheerful, the walls tinted with yellow wash, and the windows clean and well placed. I like boxes opening into a yard with the half doors described above so that the horse can look out and see what is going on. The stupidity, so-called, of the horse, is to some extent the result of the dullness and monotony of his life. Separate boxes with an outlook are better far than solitary confinement in a box entirely shut off, or, I think, than the noise and disturbance of a long row of boxes. The objec- tion to this plan is that the men have to be exposed as they pass from box to box in bad weather, and that the food and bedding are apt to be wetted as the rations are served out. The forage should not be kept in a loft over the stables. If other arrangements can be made, and the floor of the loft is removed, we have gone far towards having a healthy stable. Dryness, how- ever, is of extreme importance. Should reflooring the stables be necessary — and in the case of most stables which we are entering upon for a long tenancy this ought to be done — the opportunity should be taken to raise the floor if possible at least a few inches above the level of the yard outside. There is not much difficulty about this when there II The Stable Handbook is sufficient head room to allow it. Country doctors and clergymen, or those who take an old farm-house with the intention of turning it into a hunting-box or inexpensive country cottage, will find their account in having the floors of the stables taken up and dug out to a depth of at least two feet. I venture to say that they will be not seldom astonished and horrified at the foulness of the floor. Ordinary bricks and cobble stones should invariably be dug out and removed ; they are quite unsuitable for the man who wishes to keep a healthy stable. There is no need for ornamentation or paint or polish, but every care should be taken to avoid sharp corners, rough edges, or wood splinters, against which a horse may injure himself. I should like to add that all doors should be six or seven feet wide, but this is perhaps a counsel of perfection in country stables. 12 Chapter IL — Forage THIS is the one chapter in the book in which I shall not be found on the side of apparent economy. Nothing is more extravagant than inferior oats and hay. The reader may be assured that I have made every effort to lessen the cost of my stables. I have never gained the smallest real advantage from foreign oats or hay, nor even from buying inferior samples of English grown stuff. With hunters I have always found the best to be the most satisfactory, and with other hard worked horses I would rather buy better stuff and give less of it. Moreover, in a small stable it is not worth while to have two qualities of food going at the same time. More can be achieved by avoiding waste and extravagance than by saving in the actual cost of the hay and oats. The reader will note that I put the hay first as being of the greatest importance. Hay is nowadays always expensive to buy, and is more often wasted than anything else in the stable. The quality of the hay he eats is very important to a horse doing fast or hard work. Moreover, I am pleased when having eaten his oats, the horse shows a disposition to clear up all his hay ; nor should I grudge him a little over his daily ration. There is one incidental but strong argument for 13 The Stable Handbook the use of peat-moss litter. I have found that there is no waste of hay when I use it, and my hunters have picked up from it every single blade of their allowance. On the other hand, when horses are bedded on straw a great deal of hay is wasted, being trampled down and soiled. But to return : the only saving to be effected is by buying in the cheapest market available, and storing up one's hay and corn. Nothing is more extravagant than living from hand to mouth in the matter of forage. Thus, as already pointed out, it is worth while to construct a granary and a hay store if you have them not on the place. If, however, we go on the principle of making the best of what we have, we shall find that in nine cases out of ten there is a loft over the stable with which we must do the best we can. First the floor should be examined, so that neither the dust from the forage shall descend on the horses nor the exhalations from the stable poison the hay. Then you may proceed to calculate how much hay you can store there. If you are fortunate in a three or four stall stable you will probably find that the loft over the stable or coach house is calculated to hold about a ton of hay and one of straw. If you fill up the area with hay and use peat-moss instead of straw, almost two tons and a half of hay can be packed there. Hay in trusses occupies less space for an equal weight than straw. This gives you rather more 14 Foragi than the consumption of one horse for a year, and you must look about to see what other outhouses you have that can be turned into hay stores. I have often found that the coach house can be so used with advantage, and a temporary building erected for the carriage, provided you have only one or at most two. At all events you should try and have a year's supply for every horse in hand, which for four horses would be about ten tons. This, of course, implies that you have to go into the market, and, buying your stores and hay, cart them and store them at once. But there are other ways for the man who has a little ready money available. Look round the neighbourhood where you live. You will see the hay fields, note those that grow the best grasses. Then if you see that a field is well saved, with the grasses well in flower, and not seeding when the stack is made, buy from the farmer the whole or a part if you can. It is well to remember that outsides are no use to the man who only keeps horses, but that the farmer can use them profitably. If you buy thus you may safely give it the same year. I think hay well saved is in November more nourishing and wholesome than hay eighteen months old. It is probably a trifle cheaper and it maybe goes a little further. Again, you may own or rent some land, and make your own hay, and be not a buyer but a seller after you have provided for your own needs. 15 The Stable Handbook To do this successfully requires a little knowledge, and some time expended. Haymaking is pro- verbially uncertain, and of late years a further difficulty has been added to saving a crop of hay successfully. This is the scarcity of labour in country places. You may have your crops ready for cutting, the weather may be fairly favourable. You may look at your fields and know that every day is so much loss to the quality of the crops. For the man who makes hay for his own use is much more concerned with the quality than the quantity of his crops. Farmers often wait too long to cut in order to obtain more weight, but our horse master will care more for quality. I would cut as early as possible, and even risk possible rain rather than let the bloom go off my crop. Early mowing rather increases our prospect of obtaining labour, as the chances are that we shall be first in the field. Nevertheless, we must be prepared for many disappointments. An ingenious friend of mine who has London friends gives a kind of hay- making party, and enlisting his guests and all the servants, in-door and out-door, succeeds often in saving his crops without much outside labour. All alike work hard until the crop is gathered in. Thus he makes twenty to thirty tons of hay in the year, and finds very little need to buy from farmers or dealers. But if you have not much land, or none at all, or the grass on what you have is inferior, then i6 Foragt recourse must be had to purchase. You will then find it well worth while to study the way to judge of the quality of hay. For if you are to obtain the quality you require at about the market price, it is absolutely necessary that you should buy it your- self. No man who wishes to have his horses fit, and to economise, must ever allow a servant to buy anything. Thus the master must be able to judge of the quality of what he buys, and to be able to know for himself what may be the value of stable grumblings. This after all only requires ordinary pains and intelligence. If I am satisfied with what I have bought I pay but little attention to the com- plaints of the groom. That is, I take no great stock of it in my own mind, but I always pay respectful attention outwardly to complaints, because, first, the man is only doing his duty in reporting anything he thinks is wrong, and secondly, if you ask him for proof, and he is really only discontented because he has not made enough out of the purchase, he is very likely to give himself away. The following is an instance of this : A certain master bought a considerable quantity of oats from a good sample. They were stored in the granary, and the week's supply served out to the corn bins. " I don't like them last oats, sir, and what's more, the 'orses don't either." '^ What's wrong?" enquired the master. Whereupon he was conducted round the stable B 17 The Stable Handbook and shown the mangers half full of rejected food. Then he drove off to consult the farmer, a man of known probity, and an excellent sports- man. The farmer thought a moment. '*Have you a stable cat, sir ? " "Yes, what has that to do with it?" *' You make him give the horses some fresh oats out of the granary. If they don't eat 'em I'll take the lot back." Accordingly the master returned, looked at the mangers, ordered the rejected oats to be taken away, and a fresh supply brought from the granary. These were eagerly devoured. Then the master opened the bin, and put his nose in. " Tell you what, Simmons, it's not the fault of the oats, but the bin is dirty ; you've left it open, and cats or mice or something have got in. Don't let it happen again, and mind the horses mustn't refuse their food while you are here," nor did they. This was an old trick, but like many old tricks, makes its appearance again from time to time. No sensible man objects to tradespeople and dealers feeing his groom if they choose. Even under the strictest rule a groom can help their interests, but such fees must never take the form of a definite commission ('' dustoor," as an Anglo-Indian would call it) on any given purchase. But I have left my readers in ignorance of the way to tell good hay from bad, old hay from new ; the former being much the more important of the i8 sensibility: the head of a THOIv'oUGHBKED (iKk-^l.M.MwA I Fi orape 'g' two. All that is necessary is that the hay, being otherwise of good quality, should have been long enough in the stack for the fermentation to have run its course. A good sample of hay should then be of a brownish green hue, crisp and hard, not flabby to the feel, with the grasses in flower, and not in seed, and it should have a sweet and pleasant perfume and taste. It should not be too sappy, and this is the best way of distinguishing old from new hay. The sap should have had time to dry out of the stems, and remain only in the knots. The greater part of the nourishment of a horse in hard condition is derived from oats, but a healthy state of the stomach and intestines comes from the consumption of a proper quantity of hay in good condition. A horse's health depends on the hay he eats, his strength, speed, and endurance on the oats, and therefore we have now to consider the way to buy oats, and the right kind to choose. The nutritive value of oats depends on their weight. A heavy oat makes more flour, and has less husk than a light one. Therefore we should not buy oats unless they range from 38 lbs. to 42 lbs. to the bushel. I would rather pay more for the latter, because they have a feeding value which is greater than the difference in price. But we have to consider not only the weight, but the quality, so to speak, of the individual grains. The following are the points to look for : — 19 TChe Stable Handbook 1. In a sample the grains should be about the same size. 2. They should be hard and dry, and fill out their husk well. 3. The skin should be thin and the kernel hard. Oats should be almost without odour or taste ; if they have an earthy odour they are new, if a slightly bitter taste they are old. To look at, the oats should be clean, and, if new, should be bright. Take them up in your hand, and pour them out, and they should rattle like hard peas. If you have a granary, and can have the grain kept dry and free from mice, and are careful to turn over new oats every ten days, that will be found a considerable economy. You can then buy oats newly thrashed, white or black does not much matter, though I prefer white. But they must be kept dry, and their chamber, of say 14X 14X lo, should not rest on the ground, and should be cemented inside with Roman cement or the mice will certainly get in and your expense and labour be wasted. But whether you buy old oats or new, whether you have a year's supply or only a month or two, it is still necessary to keep them in a clean and mouse-proof store or bin. Having thus provided for the purchase and storage of oats and hay we have the two necessary requisites for feeding a horse. Everything else in the way of forage is additional, and the use of 20 S iJ _: u u a_« o Forage peas, beans, linseed, and carrots, depends upon the age, constitution, and health of the horse. The other necessary article for a stable of hard-working horses is bran. I am very fond of bran, both wet in the form of mashes and dry mixed with the food. But it has become less valuable of late, because the nutritive qualities are extracted so thoroughly nowadays, and the price has gone up, so that bran is a serious item in a small stable. Nevertheless, so far as I know, there is no alterna- tive to its use. We must comfort ourselves as best we may with the reflection that bran, given judiciously, saves much physic, and is a preventive of many minor ailments. Nothing else is suitable for the all-important weekly mash. Given dry it prevents the horse from bolting his food and assists the digestion. A horse that has bran mixed with his oats will not pass undigested grains. If, however, the bran bill is too heavy then we must use chop, i.e. clover hay passed through a chaff cutter. Carrots in small quantities are always use- ful, but are not always procurable. I never could succeed in buying many in the Midlands. They are, however, an easy crop to grow, and it is no bad plan to give up a section of the kitchen garden to them. There are besides these beans, which are used in many stables. Beans are useful but should be used very sparingly. Of year old English beans not more than 2 lbs. a day may be given to old 21 The Stable Handbook horses and to delicate feeders. The danger of having beans in your stable is that grooms are fond of giving them too often and too many at a time. The stimulating effect of the bean being proverbial, they think the more they give the greater results may be looked for. Beans should be split before being used. For young horses I prefer split peas, and I think a small allowance, about 3 lbs. between the four feeds, is useful to young horses in very hard work. The moment that, for any reason, a horse is not working really hard the beans and peas should stop. That is, to a horse doing three days a fortnight in the hunt- ing-field, I would allow 2 lbs. beans if he was over eight years, 3 lbs. peas if he was under that age. In other cases I would give them occasionally, if particularly hard worked, or in very severe weather ; but perhaps they are not sufficiently often used to be kept in the bin. Beans if used when they are not required do so very much more harm than they do good if wanted, that I am unwilling to keep them except in a hunting-stable. Then comes linseed, and about the value of this I have no doubt whatever. I have used it rather freely in my own stables for more than twenty years, and believe that I have found it most beneficial. The one point to be careful about is to obtain the best linseed. It is my custom to boil the grain to a jelly and use it with the bran mashes. The late Captain Hayes had a theory 22 R orage that linseed meal was better either than linseed or the oil. I have never tried the meal, and have discarded the use of oil except as a mild purgative, and I am thoroughly satisfied with boiled linseed. It forms once a week, or oftener if required, a part of the regular dietary of my stables. It is my idea that it obviates the necessity for using medi- cine in many cases in which drugs might be neces- sary. And for drugs in the stable I have a great distaste. The conclusion of the whole matter is this. Only the best hay and oats are really worth buy- ing. They repay us in the health and working power of the horse. Economy can only be con- sulted by buying in the lowest market and storing for future use, and this again is only possible to the man who has his stable expenses in hand, so that he can spend ;^loo or so in the spring for forage to be consumed the following year. Now not every one can do this, and like other people with moderate incomes, he has to pay a higher price to a corn-dealer and to buy his corn as he wants it. Or again, the horse-owner, for whom I am especially writing, may not and will not have storage for a large quantity of hay and corn. We now turn to another important topic, that of the bedding for the horses. These are saw- dust, sand, peat-moss, and straw. The second I dislike \ the first I have never used, though I have seen it in the late Duke of Beaufort's time in the 23 The Stable Handbook Badminton stables. To my mind the choice is confined to the last two. I will set down their advantages and disadvantages as I have found them. Of the economy in the matter of hay, which the use^ of peat-moss brings with it, I have written, and this to me goes far to decide the question. When I have provided my horses with the best old hay, I Hke to see them eat it and not trample it under foot. Peat-moss saves labour. It is far less trouble than straw. Where straw is used it is absolutely necessary that every bed should be put outside the stable every morning. This is a great deal of trouble to the grooms and some bother to the master to enforce it. The peat-moss only requires, first, that the Htter should be raked to the sides of the box or stall, so that for some hours each day the horse shall stand on the bricks or concrete. With due care, I have found no ill effects to the hoofs of the horses. I am liberal in the way of getting rid of all the soiled portion. I would rather that a groom threw away too much than too little. I like the way peat moss deodorizes a stable. As manure it is, I think, inferior to straw. At least I could obtain 6d. a load less for the contents of my dung-pit when I used peat-moss than when I used straw. As a matter of fact, I do not think one can dogmatise about the value of any manure, so much depends on the soil you want it for. As to cost, I do not think that in small stables there 24 o ^ 1) > -nt 2 ■" Foragi is much diiference between peat-moss and straw. From the place where I am writing this, I should say peat-moss was, owing to the railway charges, the more expensive of the two. Lastly, horses will not eat peat-moss, and I find many horses, especially recently imported Irish horses, are very fond of straw, and prefer it to hay sometimes. This must be qualified by the assertion of some people that horses will eat peat-moss litter, but I have not found mine to do so. Straw is clean, looks well, and is fairly easy to buy, and I think, perhaps, hunters rest on it better after a hard day, but I am not quite sure of this. If straw is used, I always have two beds, one for night and one for the day, but I found a difficulty in making grooms pick it over carefully enough. As manure, whether for the garden or farm, I greatly prefer it to peat-moss. In any case, I think peat-moss is the best for a small stable. Yet I confess that if money was no object I should prefer to use nothing but straw. The stable unquestionably looks so much better with straw beds and neatly plaited borders. 25 Chapter III. — The Poor Man s Hunter A RICH man can have different horses for special purposes — hunters, hacks, and carriage horses. But the man who only keeps one or two must make his horses serve several purposes, and I have owned animals that were excellent in any position. For example, I bought a mare and she ran in single harness or a pair, as leader or wheeler in a tandem, and she was a deHghtful hack and a capital hunter. I had her for many years, and her original cost was thirty pounds. She was by a thoroughbred horse out of a half Exmoor mare. She was a well-shaped mare, but she was cheap because she was small, barely 15 hands, and thus not large enough for a big carriage nor for a high-class hunter. It is the man who looks for economy in stable management who will also wish for horses at a moderate price. To buy a useful horse at a moderate price is not easy, but it is not impossible if you go the right way about it. In the first place one must not go into the markets when there is most demand. We must also bear in mind that if we buy a cheap article it may be useful to us but it may not be saleable. The chances are that if you buy the class of horse I have in my mind, he 26 T^he Poor Man s Hunter will, should you wish to part with him, bring back no more, and most likely less, than you gave for him. Most men are better buyers than they are sellers, and my own experience is, that next to buying a good horse, the most difficult thing in the world is to sell him. The fact is that while there is always a first-rate market for horses of the best kind, whether for saddle or harness work, for the medium animal there is an uncertain demand. But it is with such horses that we have to be content, and as we are seeking horses for pleasure or business, and not for profit, it is comfortable to remember that, as in the case of the mare noted above, there are many treasures of courage, speed, and endurance hidden among the mass of ordinary working horses. As I look back I am rather surprised to find how few bad horses I have had, considering that I have only once or twice paid any thing like a high price for them. Only two were wholly bad in the sense of being useless. With most horses one can obtain some pleasure and a good deal of work. But the natural question is : ** How am I to find the animal I want } I am no judge." Now, I would remind the reader here of the old story of the sergeant marching reservists into camp. "Now, men, pull yourselves together ; you are not nearly so drunk as you think you are." So I would say 27 The Stable Handbook that people are often not nearly such bad judges of a horse as they think they are. If a man can ride fairly and drive moderately well, he has it in his power to become, with pains and experience, a very fair judge of a horse and quite able to pick one out for himself. The man who can ride and drive has the means of learning two very important points about a horse : first, whether the animal can go ; and secondly, whether it is fairly manageable. The mistakes that would-be purchasers make are two : first, they ask too much advice, when their own common sense would be a far better guide ; and in the next place they try to do, or to get a friend to do for them, what can only be done by the veterinary surgeon. For most people a veterinary examination by a reputable and qualified practitioner is desirable. It is not always necessary to refuse a horse that is otherwise suitable because of a technical unsoundness, but the opinion of a veterinary surgeon is valuable. If a horse carries you well and trots fairly well in harness, and passes the veterinary surgeon, it is more than likely that he will be serviceable enough. Nevertheless, there are a few points that may be noted. First, look at the horse's eye. There is no mistaking the expression of a horse with a kind and sensible look in his eyes. It is not merely a large, full eye we want, for very wild and nervous horses have these, but a certain clear, 28 The Poor Maris Hunter tranquil look different from the startled, shifting glances of the nervous or vicious horses. Nor do I like a small narrow eye, but still I have known such horses to improve on acquaintance. Then I object to a short, thick neck. Even if a horse have a muscular, masculine neck, there is no reason why it should not be placed on his shoulders at the right angle and rising with an elegant curve from the shoulders to the ears. This is not a mere matter of appearance. Horses with necks so put on, carry their heads in the right place. The bit acts easily in their mouths, and they are easier and safer to ride and jdrive than animals with short, stumpy necks or long and weak ones. The next point is depth of girth. If you run your eye from the point where the wither joins the back to that behind the elbow the horse should be deep. If the body is light and shallow the horse will appear long in the \q^. Thus, if a horse seems to stand high off the ground and to look tall you may suspect a light body, and such a horse is not usually a stayer. A point to be noted is the way the forelegs are put on. If too far back, so that when the horse is standing the legs are much behind the points of the shoulders, I should reject him. Such a horse is more than likely to come down when you ride him. A horse with a shoulder that looks upright may do fairly well, but a horse with a loaded shoulder and his fore- legs much under him I would not have. If he has 29 T^he Stable Handbook straight round legs reject him at once without more ado. If the toes turn in that is a greater disad- vantage than turning out. A speedy cut in front is bad and worse still behind. My own idea as to the latter defect is that I should not reject a hunter for it, if I wanted him only for the chase. But I should not take a general utility horse with these defects of action. Many good hunters are bad roadsters. Besides, the man who wants to hunt cheaply must put up with a good deal. I like a horse for general purposes to have not only what are called good back ribs but rather a round barrel and his hindlegs well placed, and this may be judged by the eye first, but even more by the action. If a horse brings his hindleg well forward in the walk so that the print of the hind shoe is in front of that of the fore then we may be tolerably sure. Nor would I buy a horse that had not good feet. I should prefer a foot approaching what is called a donkey foot to a large weak hoof. But in any case the hoof should be hard, shiny, and smooth ; vertical corrugations make me doubt- ful. The frog should be clean looking and elastic, and free from smell. Corns are an absolute disqualification for a utility horse, and should be looked for carefully. For a horse that has hard work to do I like a pastern with an easy slope, and would forgive many defects sooner than an upright short pastern. I have never rejected a 3° The Poor Maris Hunter horse because his pasterns were too long, and never had reason to regret not doing so. But after all, the great matter in a general pur- pose horse is his action. A horse with smooth easy level action not too high, that puts his feet down well, should not be rejected. I never have possessed or known a useful horse with hackney blood, and I look out for the signs of this breeding jealously. The coarse head and neck, the foreleg tied in below the knee, the round action, all tell a tale. But this exclusion of the hackney from the utility stable does not include what are called hackney ponies, so called because they are in the Hackney Stud Book. They are only there because it was at one time the only book open to ponies, and have none of the softness of the hackney of the showyard. I am not depreciating the hackney in his or her place. They are de- lightful horses and they have improved greatly of late years, but that place is not in the general utility stable. They are, as Sir Richard Green Price says, bad to ride. Bearing these points in mind, and comparing what you have read here with the horses you see on the roads, your eye will soon become trained to note the leading points of a good formation. You will not, of course, expect to find them all combined in any one horse, and you will lay more or less stress on any one of them, according to the principal purpose for which you require the 31 TChe Stable Handbook horse. Thus if you want a horse to hunt in a deep country, the depth through the heart will enable him to stay through a long hunt ; a short- backed horse will go up hills with more ease to himself than a long horse with slack loins. In any case you need good legs and hocks and well- shaped feet ; yet all these points must be modified by your experience of the horse in saddle or harness, for the courage, dociHty, and gameness of a horse go for much, and will often compensate for apparent defects of bodily structure. If, on the whole, you like a horse, then proceed to ride and drive him. The first thing to do is to put the saddle on, and note where it rests on his back. It is a great point for the saddle to be carried on the right place. Once mounted, start off at a quiet walk, and you will be able to notice how he uses his shoulders. This is a much greater point than any apparent slope as viewed when standing alongside the horse. Nor is it difficult to judge of. If a horse strides away easily and freely, the shoulders are right. Now trot steadily for a mile or so uphill and down, and then turn the horse round, and, easing the rein, let him walk back with his head free. If he does this without tripping or stumbling, and at a fair pace, moving freely and easily, the chances are he is all right. Now take him into a field and gallop him smartly round twice. When he pulls up note how soon and in what way he blows his 3^ The Poor Man s Hunter nose. A horse that does this soon and easily is probably all right in his wind and fairly fit to go. Now for the harness. Watch him carefully as he is put to ; note if he or she seems nervous and ticklish. A horse that tucks its tail down and winces as the cart is brought on to it, or that lays back its ears, should be regarded with suspicion. Now take the reins, settle yourself quietly in your seat, and speak to the horse. If he walks off easily and steadily that is a point to the good. Watch his ears and his action. If the former move easily and freely, not with a quick, twitching, nervous action, that is another point gained. So, too, the action should be free, level, and easy. If you are not a very good coachman, I would allow some one to drive him whom he knows. Horses, other- wise quiet, are often shy with strangers. For these reasons you should always speak to a strange horse before riding or driving him. All horses are very much affected by the voice, and I think too by a gentle, firm touch of the hand. The nervousness of a timid man is soon communi- cated to a horse. A certain quiet firmness is one of the secrets of success in dealing with horses. Women are often able to ride and drive horses that rebel against the rougher handling of a man. But I must acknowledge that I have gone a little too fast, for I have not said where the re- quired animals, useful and not too expensive, are to be found. In order to be successful, a certain c 33 The Stable Handbook amount of time, trouble, and expenditure are necessary. *'Howdo you manage to give three hundred guineas for your hunters ? " was a ques- tion once asked of an extravagant and impecunious young man. ** Oh ! it's not the three hundred for the horse that troubles me ; it is the three quid of ready to go and see him with," was the reply. But it is the occasional expenditure of the " three quid of ready" that is a considerable factor in the successful purchase of the poor man's horse. Such animals will not come to you ; you must go to them. They are to be found, but they must be looked for. I could find, without much difficulty, if money was forthcoming, a hunter or carriage horse or polo pony, but the poor man's horse is not so easy to discover. The sort of horse we want, strong, active, en- during and docile, must be sought in his native place, where he is bred ; useful as he is the price does not admit of his being sent far from home. The wise man wanting a useful horse will turn his attention to one of those districts where there is the right foundation of moorland pony blood. I should go to Ireland, to Wales, or to the West of England, confident that I should obtain what I wanted. Then there is the New Forest. A friend of mine there has two cobs about 13. 3 that draw a fair sized wagonette from the station to his house. Three miles in twenty minutes is what he expects of them. With these 34 -1 -77 «J The Poor Man s Hunter pony-bred cobs and horses the presumption is that they are sound. They have not always perfect manners at first, but with careful riding and driving they improve rapidly. Pony-bred horses are naturally docile. Like ponies them- selves they require plenty of regular work to keep them in order. It will be noted that in this chapter I have confined myself to small horses, because for general purposes I consider that such are the best and most useful. A good big horse may be better than a good little one, but he is certainly more rare and much more expensive ; and indeed, so far as work is concerned, the small horse will beat the big one. All the cavalry work that has lived in history has, with the exception of a few famous charges, been achieved by men riding small horses. Just now the fashion runs to big horses, and I confess to a liking for a big horse to ride, but then I have lived a good deal in grass countries. Even there at the prices I pay I have done really better with the small and middle-sized horses. But for ordinary country or town work, for doctors and other professional men, small horses or even ponies are far more useful. We do not make enough use of ponies for hard work in the country. A light four-wheeled dog-cart or a wagonette, with a pair of ponies from 12.2 to 13.2, would do more work and last longer, I be- lieve, than any other conceivable combination of 35 The Stable Handbook horseflesh. Two ponies of that size cost no more than a single horse to buy and if anything less to keep, even allowing for the fact that you have eight feet to shoe instead of four. Horses running in company go further and tire less than in single harness, and why people who have work to do in the country do not make use of our admirable breeds of ponies in pairs or tandems is a puzzle to me. They will do a great deal more work than one horse, and even if (for them) highly fed scarcely cost as much to keep. Moreover, a well-kept, well-mannered, pair of ponies is more saleable than the average useful horse. The Welsh cob pony or the Dartmoor are suit- able for this kind of work. They have rather more substance than the Exmoor or New Forest. But I think one loses very little in hardihood or en- durance in the first crosses with the thoroughbred or hackney pony. For harness purposes the latter cross is useful. The hackney pony has very few hackney faults and many of the virtues of his Welsh or Fell ancestry. Indeed, he has very little hackney in him at all. If you want cheap and useful animals to drive there is nothing like a pair of good ponies from 12.2 to 14 hands. If you want a hack to ride and to put in a quiet day now and then with foxhounds or in harness you will find 14 hands a convenient height. This, however, I think, is a useful rule. Always drive animals that are wanted for use in the saddle in a 36 The Poor Maris Hunter light four-wheel dog-cart. There is little weight on the back and forelegs, the wheels are close together, and the brake can be easily and effectually used. If, however, something larger is required I have often found the right horse in hilly countries. A light active cart horse is generally used in these districts by the farmers, and an active mare of this description often throws a quite admirable colt to a well-bred horse. Such a one I know well. He does the whole work of a family living some miles from the station, and takes his turn to do a day's hunting in a hilly country. For staying power he is unequalled, and there are few practicable fences that will stop him. Another by a thoroughbred horse out of a cart mare is a brilliant hunter, and looks like winning a steeplechase. No doubt, however, the soft spot would stop him when it came to galloping four miles over a country at three - quarter speed. But he is a capital horse at the price paid for him, and with the exception of a fiddle-head very good to look at. Of course there are other ways of buying a useful horse. I have very often picked them up at Tattersalls', bought them at sales of coach horses, of cub hunters, and I once bought a very useful colt at the sale of the effects of a farmer who was, as the auctioneer's bill had it, ** declining agriculture." Never buy of a friend or sell a 37 The Stable Handbook horse to one, unless, indeed, you prefer his money to his friendship. To buy at auctions you need to be a fair judge, and also to be able to ride and drive sufficiently well not to want a trial. Speak- ing in the direct confidence that ought to exist between author and reader, I should say, however, that such people are the exception. But there is no reason why you should not improve, and the more you do the more pleasure will your stable give you. There is, I think, some excellent advice in what I have said, but good precepts are like Opie's paints : they require to be mixed with brains. So far, I have written about the general purpose horse, but as most people will find that they can or must spare a little more for the stable than they had at first intended, I have always found that I have at least a horse more in my stable than I am supposed to have. Nor does the additional ex- pense amount to much so long as you do not require extra help in the stable. One man can look after two horses and a pony if the master keeps them in work. But it is evident that where there is only one man he cannot afford much time for exercising or going out with the carriage. Still it is wise to keep the wages bill down, for I have noticed that so soon as you add a second man, be it only a helper for the hunting season, the whole scale of your establishment goes up. Why the butcher's and baker's bill should increase 38 C o 9 S ixi -=13 O rt C w i o (u to c o o P r- ^ i .S O ^ O o c Tihe Poor Man s Hunter because you keep another horse or add a second man to your stable staff is inexplicable, but it does most undoubtedly do so, and all housekeepers where there is a stable will bear me out in this. In the same way when you separate the functions of your horses and keep one as a hunter you have made a step up in the scale of your expenditure. Curiously enough, books on hunting or stable management scarcely ever seem to contemplate one hunter, yet the man with one horse is in reality a familiar figure in most hunts. The stamp of horse needed for a one-horse man in the provinces is, as I have said before, to be found on the borders of Wales, of Exmoor or Dartmoor, in the New Forest, and in Ireland. In fact, wherever farmers use an active, short-legged cart horse, and you know that there is a good thoroughbred In the district. I should try Radnorshire or West Somerset nowadays, and should not expect to fail. The Irish horse is no doubt the best, but to get him at all you want to buy him young, and to ride him very carefully till he is seasoned. The Irish horses I have imported seem never to have had any hard food. But supposing that you have bought a stout, useful, well-bred horse for a hunter, how much work will he do ? Everyone will tell you, three days a fortnight ; but many horses can do two a week, though few people will acknowledge to more than the traditional three days a fortnight. 39 The Stable Handbook If they appear out oftener they have just ridden on to the meet to see the hounds. But I believe in reality that no hard and fast rule can be laid down. If a horse is seven years old, is healthy, and has two years' hard food in him, I take him out whenever he is fit and well and hounds are at a convenient distance. My own rule is never to stop at home if I have a horse fit to go. In most years the inevitable frost and snow will keep one in quite long enough. On the other hand, while I never leave a horse fit and well in his stable, I never take one out that is ailing or injured in the smallest degree. There is nothing more fatal than to say, '*Oh, it is only a blow," and go out all the same. As long as there is tender- ness or heat anywhere there is danger, and the horse should stay at home or be confined to walk- ing exercise. As I believe in hard work for a horse, so I believe in good food and plenty of it. Practically, I would let a horse have as much as he could eat of grain so long as his dung remained healthy, and his mouth pink and clean. Directly a horse is taken off hard work reduce his grain. But though a horse may be worked hard, and will do with ease more than the conventional amount of work, yet you must take care of him. Do not jump unnecessary fences, neither allow yourself to turn away from one that comes in your line because you consider your horse. If you know he cannot jump it, that is a reason. But we 1° The Poor Maris Hunter may remember that a hunter's powers in the way of leaping are bounded much more by our fears than by his strength. I am always being astonished at what horses can do, ridden boldly and well. Nevertheless, the old maxim that a fence takes more out of a horse than a gallop over a forty-acre field is worth remembering. But a crowd, pushing and swaying in a gateway, also takes a good deal out of a horse, and it is better to jump the first two or three fences until you have a lead at the gates. As to the best way to cross a country, I have so recently written of that in '■'■ Foxhunting in the Shires," that I will not repeat it here. Besides, it would take up too much space. But there are other ways of saving your horse, especially if you hack on to the meet, and in riding home. For example, I walk up steep and lonely hills, regardless of my boots. This relieves a horse very much. I start early and go on very steadily, and like, if possible, to put the horse into a stable for a short time before the hunt begins. On a hunting morning I feed and water exactly as usual, only being careful that all is finished an hour before I start, however early that may be. After the sport is over, I always give gruel or chilled water and trot steadily home, getting off to ease the horse at steep hills. Before starting for home I shift the saddle an inch or two further forward or backward, as I have a fancy this eases the horse. If the way is long, I get down to walk 41 The Stable Handbook alongside the horse now and again. But if the distance is not more than ten miles, a steady six mile an hour trot, that will take a horse to his own stable door, is perhaps best, with, of course, intervals of walking, which should always include the last mile. The man with one horse should also make short days. He should turn his back on hounds at 3 p.m. If circumstances take him far from home, so that the horse is late and the hours of absence from the stable are long, it will generally be wise to forego the next hunting day. The man with one horse must recollect that if anything goes wrong he loses his hunting altogether, while his neighbour with a large stable need scarcely lose a day. The former may comfort himself, however, with the thought that one horse, hard worked and well cared for, seldom does go wrong. In a small stable where the horses are wanted to work, two causes of equine ailments are absent — idleness and over-feeding. Plenty of food and plenty of work is the secret of health. Of course I am assuming that the horse is not too young and in hard con- dition. The poor man's hunter should work nearly all the year round. I would throw him up at the end of the season for a fortnight or three weeks, and then put him to steady work in saddle or harness. But the pace at which the work is done should be moderate, and the road work not excessive in point of distance or 42 T^he Poor Maris Hunter the weight drawn. The master should have his coming hunting season always before his mind. A horse so treated will condition himself; he should want no physic. All that will be needed will be a few weeks gentle work, which may be taken with the hounds when they go out cub-hunting in the early morning. A horse so treated will, if he is of the right sort, work on for years, improving steadily. I am bound to say, however, that I think the man with one horse will see more sport in a good pro- vincial county than he would in the shires. I say a good provincial county, because there is one draw- back to many coiinties, which certainly is against the one-horse man, and that is the time it takes to find a fox. When the draws are long, a horse has often done nearly, if not quite, his day's work before the run begins. Another point to bear in mind is that it is an economy of horseflesh to ride slowly at your fences. A number of flying fences, though in themselves insignificant, take more out of a horse striding over them at a gallop than larger fences taken at a slow pace. The late Colonel Anstruther Thomson, who was a big man, went slowly at his fences, even when he was Master of the Pytchley, and I could men- tion many masters of hounds, who are successful in being with their hounds, who do the same. It is obvious that if you drop in for a run of 43 The Stable Handbook any note you must at some point in the chase gallop. To save your horse, then, means to fall back into the ruck out of the place where you can see hounds work, so that the economy must come at the fences. Necessity may oblige us to keep only one horse. Again we may not be able to spare more than one day in the week for the hunting-field from our other occupations. But if we can manage two horses and a pony we shall, of course, be able to do a great deal more at no very great addition of expense. One man can look after the three, as we have seen, and we ought to have about three days a week on the average. Now, if you really like hunting the more you have the more you want, and there is no time when I feel so keen as when I come back comfortably tired after a good day with hounds. It adds to the enjoyment of the pleasant hour between your return and dinner to reflect that you are going out the next day, and it adds to the pleasure of the visit to the stable to see the horse you are going to ride the next day lick up eagerly his last feed of corn, and to find that the one that has come home is like his master com- fortably tired and hungry. There is one thing I always do that I think is due to one's horse, though it is very old-fashioned. When I come in from hunting I like to see the horse take his gruel, have his bandages put on, 44 ■55 1* o III cS C c 'X V 1: >. 5 > -T3 i) > lA Q, a ex a ^\E>ULA 05 CftLClS Coffin BoWE Bones of the Hind Leg 80 SMALL PASreRN Bones of the Fore Leg o 82 83 Rvf Years Teeth of the Horse at different Ages — Continued 84 SixVpa^3, Teeth of the Horse at different Ages — Continued 85 Teeth of the Horse at different Ages — Continued Index Accidents, minor, 68, 69, 70 "Admirable Crichton," an, 37 Ailments, idleness and over- feeding causes of, 42 ,, minor, 68, 69, 70, 7I5 7^' 73. 74 Airiness, importance of, 7, 10 Badminton stables, 23, 24 ,, volume on driving, 5* Bandages, 69, 70, 73, 74 Beans, 21, 22, 57 ,, harm of giving too many, 22 ,, stimulating effect of, 22 Beaufort, Duke of, 23 Bedding, 23, 24, 25 Bits, 60, 61, 62, di Blistering, 69 Bran-mash, 21, 57, 73, 74 Bran, value of, 21 Bridie, double, 60, 61, 62 Bridles, 60, 61, 62, 63 Carrots, 21 Cesspool, danger of, 9 Cheek, the, 60, d-i^ Chilled water for tired hunter, 41 Chop, 21 Clark, Mr Jeffreys, 60 Clover-hay, 21 Corn-bins, dirty, 18 Corn, storage of, 9, 14 Corns a disqualification, 30 Crops, when to cut, 16 Curb, the, 62 Cuts, treatment for, 69 Dartmoor, 36, 39 Doors, proper size for, 12 Drains, 2, 3, 9 Driving a pair, hints on, 55, 56 ,, Badminton volume on, 52 „ importance of skilful, 49> 50 Drove, a Cabuli, 55 Drugs, avoidance of, 23, 67, 69,71 Dryness, importance of, 8, 11 Embrocations, use and abuse of, 70, 71 England, 5 ,, West of, 34 Exmoor, 26, 36, 39 Feeding, care in, 57 Fences, when to jump, 40, 41, 43 Fever, mud, dd, 71, 73 Firing, 69 Firmness, value of, 33 Fittings, points to be con- sidered in, I Flooring, 2, 3, 8, 10, 12, 72 Food, advantage of good, 13, 76 ,, should be bought by master, 17 ,, supply for one horse, 15 87 Index " Foxhunting in the shires," 41 Gag, the, 60, 61 Girths, 59, 60 Glycerine, 73 Grass, treatment of horses coming up from, 67, 68 ,, turning horses out to, 64, 65, dS Grooming, 76 Grooms' fees and commissions, 18 Gruel for tired hunter, 41 '< Grula" as a pick-me-up, 71 Hackney pony, convenient height for, 36 ,, virtues of, 36 Hackney stud-book, 31 Harness-horse, pedigree of useful, 57 ,, points to be noticed in choice of, 33 ,, rations for, 57 ,, useful, 56, 57 Harness-room, the, 58 Harnessing and unharnessing, know^ledge of, 51, 52 Hay, buying from farmer, 15 ,, buying in market, 15 ,, foreign, 13 ,, making own, 15, 16 ,, storage of, 14 ,, value as food, 19 ,, way to tell good from bad, 18, 19 Hayes, theory of Captain, 22 Haymaking, successful way of, 16 Health, food and work the secret of, 40, 42 Heels, cracked, 71, 73 Horse, advice in choosing a, 26,27, 28j29» 30j 3Ij32j 33 Horse, best places for obtaining a useful, 34, 39 ,, care of tired, 41, 42, 44, 45 ,, Eastern plan of break- ing in, 63 ,, economical way of keeping, 64 ,, exercise of, 76 ,, for hard work, 30, 31 , , hard work good for, 40 ,, rest necessary for sick, 40 ,, search for poor man's, 34 ,, with smooth action, 31 Horse-keeping, recapitulation of main principles of, 75, 76, 77 Horses, advantage of driving a pair of, 36 ,, cruelty of tying up, 5 ,, fashion in big, 35 ,, improved condition of omnibus, 9 ,, Irish, 25, 39 ,, to avoid, 29, 75 ,, treatment of sick, 68, 69.70, 7i»72>73> 74 ,, work accomplished by small, 35 Hunter, amount of work to be got out of, 39, 40 ,, for deep country, 32 ,, treatment at end of season of, 42, 43 Hunting, enjoyment of, 44 India, 5, 70 Ireland, 34, 39 Labour, scarcity of, 16 Lameness, treatment for, 74 Light, importance of, 8 Linseed, 21, 22, 23, 73, 74 88 Index Linseed oil as a purgative, 23 ,, value of, 22, 23 Litter — peat-moss, sand, saw- dust, straw, 23, 24, 25 London, 16 Loose-boxes, 4, 5, 6, 7 ,, indispensability of, 4 Mangers, 2, 3 Man-of-all-work as groom, i Manure, 24, 25 Mare, a delightful, 26 ,, with Arab strain, 45 Market Harborough, 60 Martingale, the, 61 Midlands, the, 21 Motors, advantages and dis- advantages of, 47, 48, 49 Mud fever, dS, 71, 73 Nervousness, effect on horses. New Forest, 34, 36, 39 Oats, foreign, 13 ,, hints in buying, 20 ,, nutritive value of, 19 ,, value as food, 19 Ointment, iodoform, 69 Outhouses, how to make stables from, 2, 3 Peas, 21, 22, 57 ,, split, 22 Peat-moss, 14, 23, 24, 25 Pelham snaffle, 62 Pony, Dartmoor, 36 ,, Exmoor, 36 i ,, New Forest, 36 ! ,, Welsh, 36 I Pony-bred horses, docility of. | 35 'I Price, Sir Richard Green, 31 Puller, a hard, 61 Purgative, linseed oil as a, 23 Pytchiey, Master of the, 43 Radnorshire, 39 Reins, curb, 61 ,, safety, 63 Remedies, simple, 23, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74 Riders, careful and careless, 75 Saddle-horse, points to be noticed in choice of, 32, 33 Saddles, 59, 60 Sand, 23 Sawdust, 23, 24 Shoeing, 76, 77 Snaffle, the, 60 ,, Pelham, 62 Somerset, West, 39 Stables, draughty, 2, lo ,, effect of employing second man in, 38 ,, faulty construction of, 2, 9, 72 ,, three primary requis- ites for, I, 76 Stalls, purpose of, 6 Stokes, Mr, 60 Strains, treatment for, 73, 74 Straw, 14, 23, 24, 25 ,, storage of, 14 Tandem-driving, cart for, 53 ,, hints on, 50, 5i» 52, 53. 54» 55 Tandem-whips, 54 Tar, Stockholm, 72 Tattersalls, useful horses at, 37 Temperature of stables, 6, 7, 8 89 Index Thomson, Colonel Anstruther, 43 Thrush, dd, 71, 72 Ventilation, importance of, 3, 8, 10, II Veterinary surgeon's opinion, 28, 68 Voice, effect on horses, 33 Wales, 34, 39. 57 Walls, advantage of yellow- washed, 3, II ,, disadvantage of white- washed, 3 Water, diseases from want of, ,, provision of, 65, 76 Wounds, treatment for, 69 Webster Family Library of Veterinary Medfcjne Cummings School c • Veterinary Medicine at Tufis I ' .'ity 200 Wesiboro Road North Grafton, MA 01536