The School of Recreation | Page 9

this
Use, these excelling Fennets, tho' they are good too.
Having furnished your self with a Horse thus qualified, you are to
observe his right and due Ordering, before your designed Racing.
Bartholomew-tide is the most proper time to take him from Grass; the
day before being Dry, Fair, and Pleasant: That Night let him stand
conveniently, to empty his Body; the next day Stable him, and feed him
with Wheat-straw that day, and no longer; lest you exceeding that time,
it straighten his Guts, heat his Liver, and hurt his Blood; for want of
Straw, Riding him Morning and Evening to Water, Airing, or other
moderate Exercises will serve. Then feed him with good old sweet Hay,
and according to the Season, and Temperature of his Body clothe him;
for a Smooth Coat shews Cloth enough, and a Rough Coat want of it.
Observe likewise where you Water, your Race-Horse, that it be a
Running Water, or clear Spring, far distant (a Mile or more) from the
Stable, adjoyning to some Level; where after he has once well drank
Gallop him, and so Water and Scope him till that he refuse to drink
more, for that time; then Walk him gently Home (being an Hour on
your way, or more) clothe, and stop him round with soft Whisps, and let
him stand an Hour upon his Bridle, and after feed him with sweet
sound Oats, throughly dryed either with Age, Kilne, or Sun; if he be
low of flesh, or bad Stomacht, add a third part of clean Old Beans, or
two parts of Oats, or Wash his Oats in strong Beer or Ale.
For Dressing take these Rules. Dress your Horse twice a day, before
you Water him, both Morning, and Evening, thus: Curry him after he is
uncloath'd, from his
Ear-tips to his Tayle, and his whole Body intirely
(save his Legs under the Knees, and Cambrels) with an Iron-Comb;
then Dust him, and Rub him with a Brush of Bristles over again; Dust
him again, and wetting your hand in clean Water, rub off all the loose
Hairs, and so rub him dry as at first; then with a fine _Hair Cloth_ rub
him all over; and lastly, with a fine Linnen Cloth; and then pick his
Eyes, Nostrils, Sheath, Cods, Tuel, and Feet clean.
The best Food for your Racer, is good, sweet, well dryed, sunned, and

beaten Oats: Or else Bread made of one part Beans, and two parts
Wheat (i.e.) two Bushels Wheat, to one of Beans, ground together:
Boult through a fine Range half a Bushel of fine Meal, and bake that
into two or three Loaves by it self, and with water and good store of
Barm, knead up, and bake the rest in great Loaves, having sifted it
through a Meal-sieve: (But to your finer, you would do well to put the
whites of Twenty or thirty Eggs, and with the Barm a little Ale, 'tis no
matter how little water:) With the Courser feed him on his Resting days,
on his Labouring days with the finer.
The best time for feeding your Runner on his Resting days is, after his
Watering in the Morning, at One a Clock at Noon, after his watering in
the Evening, and at nine or ten a Clock at nights: On his Days of
Labour, two Hours after he is throughly Cold outwardly and inwardly,
as before.
As for the Proportion of Meat, I shall not confine your Love to a
Quantity, only give him a little at once, as long as his Appetite is Good:
When he begins to fumble and play with his Meat, hold your hand, shut
up your Sack.
As for his Exercise it ought to be thrice a Week, as his bodily
Condition requires; if he be foul, moderate Exercise will break his
Grease; if clean, then as you judge best, taking heed of breaking his
Mettle, or discouraging him, or laming his Limbs. Before you air him,
to add to his Wind, it is requisite to give him a raw Egg broken in his
Mouth: if your Horse be very fat, air him before Sun rising and after
Sun-set; if lean, deprive him not of the least strength and Comfort of
the Sun you can devise. To make him Sweat sometimes by coursing
him in his Cloaths is necessary, if moderate; but without his Cloaths, let
it be sharp and swift. See that he be empty before you course him; and
it is wholesome to wash his Tongue and Nostrils with Vinegar; or piss
in his Mouth, before you back him. And after his Exercise, cool him
before you come home, house, litter and rub him well and dry; then
cloath him, and give him after every Course a