by men or other
horses in use. Stables should be as light as living rooms, but with
louvers to darken them in summer, in order to keep out the flies. An
ample supply of cold and hot water without troubling the cook is
essential in a well-managed stable.

Large stables are magnificent, but a mistake. Four or five horses are
quite as many as can be comfortably lodged together. I have seen hunters
in an old barn in better condition than in the grandest temples of
fashionable architects.

It takes an hour to dress a horse well in the morning, and more on
return hot from work. From this hint you may calculate what time your
servant must devote to his horses if they are to be well dressed.

If you are in the middle class, with a small stud, never take a swell
groom from a great stable--he will despise you and your horses. Hunting
farmers and hunting country surgeons train the best class of grooms.

When you find an honest, sober man, who thoroughly knows his business,
you cannot treat him too well, for half the goodness of a horse depends,
like a French dish, on the treatment.

FOOTNOTES:

[114-*] "Hints on Horses and Hunting," by Senex.

[Illustration: SIDE SADDLE.]

CHAPTER IX.

ON HORSEMAN'S AND HORSEWOMAN'S DRESS, AND HORSE FURNITURE.

On bits.--The snaffle.--The use of the curb.--The Pelham.--The
Hanoverian bit described.--Martingales.--The gentleman's saddle
to be large enough.--Spurs.--Not to be too sharp.--The Somerset
saddle for the timid and aged.--The Nolan saddle without
flaps.--Ladies' saddle described.--Advantages of the hunting-horn
crutch.--Ladies' stirrup.--Ladies' dress.--Hints
on.--Habit.--Boots.--Whips.--Hunting whips.--Use of the
lash.--Gentleman's riding costume.--Hunting dress.--Poole, the
great authority.--Advantage of cap over hat in hunting.--Boot-tops
and Napoleons.--Quotation from Warburton's ballads.

If you wish to ride comfortably, you must look as carefully to see that
your horse's furniture fits and suits him as to your own boots and
breeches.

[Illustration: CURB-BIT.]

When a farmer buys a team of oxen, if he knows his business he asks
their names, because oxen answer to their names. On the same principle
it is well to inquire what bit a horse has been accustomed to, and if
you cannot learn, try several until you find out what suits him. There
are rare horses, "that carry their own heads," in dealers' phrase,
safe