HORSEMANSHIP.] HORSE 195 if more than a mile or two from home, or if the day has been at all severe, should get his horse some gruel at the nearest inn or cot tage, or, failing gruel, a little tepid water, with or without a handful or two of flour stirred into it. A horse s stomach is small in proportion to the size of his body; he should not therefore be kept without sustenance of some sort longer than is necessary. Should the animal show signs of great distress, he should be got into the first stable that is readied, or if there is not one handy into a shed, and the more airy it is the better. The head and legs should be well rubbed; clothing should be put on the body, and a cordial of some sort administered as quickly as possible, sherry, spirits, or beer will do ; and a veterinary surgeon should be sent for at once. When the hunter returns to his own stable, he should first have his pail of warm gruel and linseed made according to the receipt given above; and after he is dressed, it will only be necessary to see whether he feeds as usual. If he does not, water with the chill off may be given to him. Should lie be merely fatigued, a night s rest in an airy box will soon restore him; and here it may be observed that all stables should include at least one loose box for the recep tion of a horse returning from hunting; rest cannot be so satisfac torily taken in a stall. The treatment of horses legs is a most important part of stable management, and one which is but too often imperfectly understood by men who, though nothing but strappers, call themselves grooms. In many stables it is the custom to wash the feet and legs of horses returning from work, but the practice is calculated to pro duce cracked heels, a state of things which often results also from a too frequent use of wet linen bandages. The better plan is to forbid the use of water above the hoof; and, as soon as the hunter comes ill, some rough serge bandages (kept for the purpose) should be put loosely on his legs. These may be removed after the rest of his body has been dressed, when the legs will be found quite dry, and the mud will crumble off like sand, while half the labour that would have been needed to dry the washed legs will suffice to brush every particle of grit from the hair anil skin. The legs should then be well hand-rubbed, and the ordinary bandages may be put on for about four hours; on their removal more hand-rubbing should take place. A constant use of bandages is to be deprecated, unless it is ordered for some particular purpose by the veterinary surgeon. The reader has been already warned against being his own vete rinary surgeon ; but there are certain minor casualties to which every horse is liable, and which an average groom should know how to treat. A very common cause of a hunter being laid up is a blow on the leg, which may be either on the skin or on the sinew. If on the skin, the leg should be bathed with hot vinegar and water, in equal proportions, three or four times a day. A blow on the bone often causes a bony enlargement, but beyond constituting a blemish is of no importance. A blow on the sinew is generally the cause of a long period of lameness, and firing may be needed. If the blow be only a slight one, bathing in cold water is the be.st thing that can be done. Cutting is sometimes the result of malformation of the legs, and Cuttim?, sometimes the result of fatigue, for some horses will now and then brush themselves after a long and tiring day, who never do so in going to cover. A boot and change of shoeing must be resorted to. Corns are to be laid at the door of the shoeing smith. They Corns. arise from the shoe being too tight, or from its being nailed too near the heel. A careful groom should superintend the shoeing, and should instruct the smith to pare the sole at the seat of the corn, and to take cave that the new shoes do not press upon the sole. The sole must be kept well pared and dressed with tar. Should the corns be so bad as to suppurate, hot linseed me;d poultices should be applied, and work dispensed with. Thrush is a diseased state of the frog, caused, in most instances, Thrush. by the feet being neglected in the stable. The diseased parts should be cut away, and the openings in the hoof stopped with tow dipped in tar. Cracked heels generally owe their existence to the legs having Cracke been left wet after washing. In the early stages cut the hair from heels. the sore part, wash with warm water, dry, and apply .glycerin lotion. If riding or driving a horse with cracked heels, never allow the sores to be rubbed with grease before starting, as the dust or dirt will cling to this, and by getting into the sore make it worse, than ever. An over-reach is a not uncommon occurrence in the hunting Over- field. An old piece of linen, folded three or four times, should be reach. soaked in water and fastened on the place, and a piece of oiled silk should be kept on over the linen to prevent evaporation. Sore backs are very troublesome to get rid of, and would not Sore happen so often as they do were more attention |>aid to the back. fitting of the saddle and the way it is stuffed. Most saddlers put too little stuffing in a saddle, and so after it is used a few times the inside becomes hard. When the skin is found to be rubbed, use. the wet linen and oiled silk as for an over-reach, and afterwards chloride of zinc lotion. Fever in the feet is generally the result of too much knocking Fe73T in about on hard roads. Directly lameness appears, take off the shoe feet. and place the foot in cold water, putting on a poultice at night. PART III. HORSEMANSHIP. Horses being ridden for several distinct purposes, viz., in the cavalry service, fur hunting, racing, steeple-chasing, on the road, and in the school, there are separate styles of horsemanship adapted to each purpose, and a rider excelling in one is not of necessity a proficient in the others ; in fact few persons, if any, are equally good, for instance, at military or manege riding and at steeple-chasing. The first step in horsemanship is to mount a horse ; but for the performance of this apparently simple feat no fixed rule can be laid down for the guidance of the civilian. Hiving taken up the reins, the rider should stand at his horse s near shoulder facing towards the tail, and in that position hold the stirrup with his right hand for the reception of his left foot. By standing at the shoulder the ri-.ler is out of harm s way in the event of the liurse kicking while he mounts. It is perfectly easy to carry out these directions when the man and horse are both of middle height ; but it is simply impossible for a short man to mount a horse of 1G hands high in such a manner, he must risk the kick and stand where he can reach the stirrup behind it. Having gained the saddle, the necessity arises for seat and hands. The fact that the seat of a civilian rider must vary to some extent according to the size and shape of the animal upon which he finds himself, does not preclude certain principles from applying in the formation of it, and it is towards the proper under standing of these principles, and the adoption of the right position of the legs and body, that good instruction is desirable at the outset. The ^reat desideratum in a seat on horseback is that it should be firm, and this for two reasons. In the first place, a rider with an insecure seat is apt to be thrown by any unexpected movement the horse may make, such as a slight stumble, or shying ; and secondly, without a fiim seat, the acquirement of good hands is well nigh hopeless, because, when the balance is once disturbed, the rider will have to depend on something else for the maintenance of his seat, and this other means of support will generally take the shape of "riding the bridle," a practice as much opposed to good horsemanship as it is injurious to the horse s mouth. Having gained the saddle, the rider should seat himself in the middle of it, and should never allow any part of his person to overlap the cantle, as is but too often seen. Many rules are given for adjusting the stirrups to the proper length before mounting, but in practice they are not to be depended upon, first, because all men are not made in quite the same proportions ; secondly, where two men are of equal height, the man with the thicker and rounder legs will require a shorter stirrup than the one with lean and flat legs ; and thirdly, men of any build will need a shorter stirrup on a wide hur.se than on a nirrow one, besides which, if a horse pulls at all, another hole or two will give the rider additional power over his animaL The proper length of stirrup, then, cannot be rotinfactorilj ascertained till the rider is mounted. Sitting well in tht middle of the saddle, the thighs being turned in, and the heels drawn somewhat back, the stirrup leathers may be let out or taken up until the tread of the stirrup is on * level with the inner ankle bone, and at this length, when
the rider stands up, his fork will clear the pommel of the
