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.