“THE HUNTING SEASON."

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1202, 15 March 1895, Page 24

“THE HUNTING SEASON."

By M. H. Hayes, F.R. C.V.S.. in Bailey's Magazine. The advice most seasonable at this time of the j ear is undoubtedly that relating to hunters, which having to carry us through long days, and over difficult country should be our first care. I may commence my sermon in the stable. The hunter needs a loose-box, well bedded down and secure from disturbance, so that he may rest his legs and feet and thus give them the best possible chance of recovering from the ill-effects of undue tension, blows and .concussion. Some grooms (I have caught my own doing the same thing) for obvious reasons, like to tie up the h6rse so that he cannot lie down during the day, even in a loose-box, and to have the bedding stowed away in a corner. This tendency should be promptly and severely repressed. As the animal has to do his work for several hours unclothed in the open, ami in a more or less cold atmosphere, it is evident that the air which he breathes in his stable should not alone be pure, but should be at a temperature equal to, or not much higher than the outside air. The rule of having a window partly open is, as we all Unow, conducive to health in the case of men and women, and should be followed with horses. Without going into any technical dissertation, I may state that liability to roaring is proportionate to liability to catching cold. Hence heated (especially with foul air< stables are a frequent cause of this malady among hunters, which, being without clothing by the covert side or during a check, have their organs of breathing often greatly taxed by the inclemency of the weather, particularly when heated after a gallop. Perfect ventilation, but no draughts, should be our maxim. If on opening the stable the first thing in the morning, eay six o'clock, we find that moisture is deposited inside the stable on the the glass of the window or windows, we may rest assured that the house of our horses is not properly ventilated. At the same time we should note if there is any smell of ammonia inside the stable, and, if there is, we should adopt suitable remedies in the form of cleaning and disinfecting. I need hardly say that we should clothe our hunters warmly, and give them deep, clean bedding.

Physiology teaches us that, as the horse has a small stomach and voluminous irites tines, he should be frequently fed.' Experience, which is even a better schoolmaster than science, tells that the horse—unlike the cow, which grazes quickly, and then takes a comparatively long time to ruminate—naturally eats “ little and often/’ We all recognise this fact by feeding a horse frequently (say four or five times) during the day ; but what about the night I may well ask? Experience tells us two other things, namely, that a horse is a very “light” sleeper, and that his system requires frequent supplies of food during the night. As regards the “lightness” of a horse’s sleep, I may remark that during the seven years I was 'a lieutenant in a field battery of artillery I very rarely indeed saw a horse asleep when, as I bad constantly to do, I visited the “ lines ” at night.

I have at different times taken horses to India, and to England from India by steamer, and though I missed a night without seeing how they were doing, I never once, no matter how noiselessly I made my approach, caught them napping. They were however, always ready to eat. For many years I have made it a practice of giving any of my horses which were in hard work a late feed at night about ten o’clock, and have proved the advantage of so doing. I am further convinced that they would do still better if they got another feed about two o’clock in the morning, which would hardly be practicable,. unless it were done by an automatic mechanical feeder, like the one invented by Mr Clarke, the Bugby saddler. The hours of feedingvaried, of course, according to circumstances —which I would recommend are :—Gam., 10 a.m., 2 p.m., 6 p.m., -and 10 p.m., at which time I would give feed. On hunting mornings, supposing that the hounds meet at eleven o'clock, I would have the second feed given at nine o’clock. As to quantity of food, I find the best rule with hard-worked, healthy horses is to give them as much oat 3 and hay as they will eat ; to allow them 41b or 61b daily, and to keep a lump of rock salt in their mangers. They certainly digest’ their food best when they get their corn and hay at the same time. The difficulty I experience is not to prevent them eating too much, but to get them to eat enough. \ Experience and physiology tell me that the best rule for watering horses is to give them as much water as they choose to drink immediately they come in from work, and to let them have a constant supply of water in their stalls or boxes. [ If this latter pro- _ vision cannot be carried, out, the animals should be given as much water as they will drink before each feed. I never take the chill off the water for them —firstly, because I have never seen any good in doing so, and, secondly, because I have always found that,, they relished cold water more than water with the chill off. In all my experience with horses, I have never seen any ill effect. from watering horses according to the foregoing principles, which I have proved to be sound in practice as they are good in theory. . (To be continued.) \ ij.