but inexpensive vehicle, and stout harness, with also saving-collar, knee-caps, and kicking-strap-no bearingrein. He should be led by ropes or reins (in single harness on both sides of the head), and tried on a level, or rather down than up a slight inclination. The place selected should be one where there is plenty of unoccupied roadway.

Better begin in double harness, and let the breakhorse with which the driver is to start the carriage be strong and willing, so as to pull away the untried

one.

The Neck usually suffers during the first few lessons in training to harness; and until that part of it where the collar wears becomes thoroughly hardened by use, it should be bathed with a strong solution of salt and water before the collar is taken off, that there may be no mistake about its being done at once. Should there be the least abrasion of the skin, do not use salt and water, but a wash of 1 scruple chloride of zinc to 1 pint of water, dabbed on the sore every two or three hours with fine linen rag, and give rest from collar-work till healed; then harden with salt and water; and when the scab has disappeared, and the horse is fit for harness, chamber the collar over the affected part, and employ for a while a saving-collar. A sore neck will produce a jibbing horse, and therefore requires to be closely attended to in his training.

EXERCISING.

It is desirable that a master should appoint a particular place for the exercising of his horses, coupled with

strict injunctions to his groom on no account to leave it. No master should give his servants the option of going where they please to exercise, their favourite resort being often the precincts of a public-house, with a sharp gallop round the most impracticable corners to make up the time. An occasional visit of the master to the exercising ground is a very salutary check upon such proceedings.

The best possible exercise for a horse is walking-the sod or any soft elastic surface being better than the road for the purpose; and if the latter only is available, use knee-caps as a safeguard.

Two hours' daily exercise (if he gets it) at a fast walk will be enough to keep a hack fit for his work; and it is usual with some experienced field-horsemen never to allow their hunters, when once up to their work, to get any but walking exercise for as much as four hours daily, two hours at a time—that is, when they desire to keep them "fit."

Ladies' and elderly gentlemen's horses ought most particularly to be exercised, and not overfed, to keep them tame and tractable, and to guard against accidents.

The foregoing directions refer to the preparations for the master's work, and are what I should give my groom.

Sweating. In case it is desirable to prepare an animal for any extraordinary exertion, the readiest, safest, and most judicious means is by sweating, carefully proceeded with, by using two or three sets of body-clothes, an empty stomach being indispensable for the process, and a riding-school, if available, the best place for the necessary exercise,—a sweat being thus sooner obtained free from cold air, and the soft footing of such a place

saving the jar on the legs more even than the sod in the field, unless it happen to be very soft.

Sweating is a peculiarly healthy process for either man or beast; and to judge of the benefit derived by a horse through that means, from the effect of a heavy perspiration through exercise on one's self, there seems little doubt that it is very renewing to the physique.

Ringing or Loungeing with a cavesson, though not ordinarily adopted, except by the trainer, is nevertheless most useful as a means of exercise. It is a very suitable manner of "taking the rough edge off," or bringing down the superabundant spirits of horses that have been confined to the stable for some time by weather or other similar cause producing restiveness, and is peculiarly adapted for exercising harness-horses where it may not be safe or expedient to ride them.

WORK.

The master on the road or in the field using his bearer for convenience or pleasure, will do him less injury in a day than a thoughtless ignorant servant will contrive to accomplish in an hour when only required to exercise the beast.

To the advice already given, never to allow your horses to be galloped or cantered on a hard surface, it is well to add, refrain from doing so yourself. On the elastic turf these paces do comparatively little harm; but for the road, and indeed all ordinary usage, except hunting or racing, the trot or walk is the proper pace. My impression coincides with that of many experienced sportsmen, that one mile of a canter on a hard surface

C

does more injury to the frame and legs of a horse, than twenty miles' walk and trot: for this reason, that in the act of walking or trotting the off fore and near hind feet are on the ground at the same moment alternately with the other two, thus dividing the pressure of weight and propulsion on the legs more than even ambling, which is a lateral motion; while in anything approaching to the canter or gallop, the two fore feet and legs have at the same moment to bear the entire weight of man and horse, as well as the jar of the act of propulsion from behind.

Ambling is a favourite pace with the Americans, whose horses are trained to it; also with the Easterns. It is, as before mentioned, a lateral motion, much less injurious to the wear and tear of the legs than either canter or gallop on the hard road, the off fore and hind being on the ground alternately with the near fore and hind legs.

Though unsightly to an Englishman's eyes, this pace is decidedly the easiest of all to the rider, and may be accelerated from four to six or eight miles an hour without the least inconvenience. Some American horses are taught to excel in this pace, so as to beat regular trotters.

By trotting a horse you do him comparatively little injury on the road; but observe the animal that has been constantly ridden by ladies (at watering-places and elsewhere), who are so fond of the canter: he stands over, and is decidedly shaky on his legs, although the weight on his back has been generally light. Observe, on the contrary, the bearer of the experienced horseman; although the weight he had to carry may have been probably what is called "a welter," his legs are right enough.

The softness of the turf, as fitting it for the indulgence of a gallop, is indicated by the depth of the horse-tracks; there is not much impression left on a

hard road.

It should be always borne in mind that "it is the pace that kills," and unless the wear and tear of horse-flesh be a matter of no consideration, according as the pace is increased from that of five or six miles per hour, so should the distance for the animal's day's work be diminished.

For instance, if you require him to do seven miles in the hour daily, that seven miles must always be considered as full work for the day; if you purpose going eight miles per hour, your horse should only travel six miles daily at that rate; if faster still, five miles only should be your bearer's limit; if at a ten-mile rate, then four miles; or at a twelve-mile rate, three miles per day. But of course such regulations apply to daily work only, as a horse is capable of accomplishing a great deal more without injury, if only called upon to do so occasionally.

A man may require to do a day's journey of thirty miles, or a day's hunting, and such work being only occasional, no harm whatever to the animal need result; but about eight or ten miles a-day at an alternate walk or trot (say six-miles-an-hour pace) is as much as any valuable animal ought to do if worked regularly.

No horse ought to be hunted more than twice a-week at the utmost.

The work of horses, especially when ridden, ought to be so managed that the latter part of the journey may be done in a walk, so that they may be brought in cool.