374 THE HORSE. 



with the least unusual exertion, and if he is pressed beyond his strength 

 becomes seriously ill. 



The treatment which the groom in this case adopts is most absurd and 

 dangerous. The horse, from the deranged distribution of vital power, is 

 disposed to fever, or he labours under a slight degree of fever, sufiiciently 

 indicated by tlie increased quickness of pulse, redness of nose, and heat 

 of mouth. The lassitude and want of appetite which are the accompani- 

 ment of this febrile state, are mistaken for debility ; and cordials of 

 various kinds, some of them exceedingly stimulating, are unsparingly 

 administered. Common sense would require that, in tiiis deranged dis- 

 tribution of power, excitants should be scrupulously avoided ; not only 

 no cordials should be given, but the usual quantity of food should be 

 diminished — bran mashes should be given — a little fever or alterative medi- 

 cine should be administered, such as that which we have just described, 

 and the horse should be a little more warmly clothed, and sudden or too 

 great exposure to cold should be guarded against. There is no doubt that 

 spices hasten the process of moulting. The old hair is evidently more 

 speedily thrown off, and the new produced, but this at the expense of greater 

 derangement of the constitution — greater fevei' — and no little danger, if, 

 during this process of moulting, and while nature is thus unnaturally forced 

 on, disease of a febrile character should attack the animal. Friction may 

 be allowed, to assist the falling off of the old hair, and to loosen the cuticle 

 ibr the appearance of the new hair, but it should be gentle. The curry- 

 comb should by no means be used ; even the brush should not be applied 

 too hard or too long. The old hair must not be forced off before the young 

 hair is ready to take its place. The exercise should be moderate ; the 

 clothing rather warmer than usual, and the water chilled. Nature adapts 

 the coat to the climate and to the season. The Sheltie has one as long and as 

 thick as that of a bear; and as the summer is short and cold too in those 

 northern islands, the coat is rough and shaggy during the whole of the 

 year. In the deserts of Arabia, where the winter is rarely cold, the coat 

 remains short and glossy throughout the year. In our climate, the short 

 covering of summer is succeeded in autumn by one of considerably 

 greater length and thickness; and that in its turn yields in the spring to 

 the lighter clothing which summer requires. As a thin and glossy coat 

 adds to the beauty of the horse, and is identified, to a great degree 

 improperly, with his condition, an artificial system has been adopted, by 

 v.'hich the coat shall remain of nearly the same length, and that a short one, 

 during the year. Nature changes it with the change of season; man con- 

 trives that there shall be no change of season in the stable. It is always 

 summer there; always sufficiently hot to make a long coat useless, and 

 therefore nature, who accommodates herself to circumstances, docs not 

 give it. The exposure to cold during the few hours of exercise may 

 roughen the coat for a little while, but the hot clothing and the hot air of 

 more than twenty hours out of the twenty-four, give the character to the 

 covering which nature bestows on such an animal. This system is not now 

 carried to the injurious extent that it used to be, but it yet partakes too 

 much of absurdity and danger. The inflammatory complaints to which 

 these hot-house animals are subject, and the average shortness of their lives, 

 are suflicient proofs of the error of the practice. 



The farmer has, or should have, little to do with this artificial manage- 

 ment of the coat, and he may be assured that his hackney, or his hunter, 

 if he does occasionally venture to follow the hounds, will, with his winter 

 hair upon him, be to all intents and purposes in as full condition, and a^ 



