DRESSING OR GROOMING 273 



Bracken or Fern makes a tolerably good bed for a rough carthorse, or 

 hardy pony or donkey, but no one would think of using it in a private 

 stable. 



Sawdust is seldom employed as litter, its cost being quite as great as, and 

 often more than, straw. It is only in or near saw-mills, where there is an 

 unusually large supply of sawdust on the premises, that it can be used 

 advantageously. During the summer months it answers well enough, but it 

 is too cold for use in our winters. It has the disadvantage that it soon 

 heats when wetted with urine, and ammonia is then given off profusely, so 

 that great care must be exercised to change it as soon as it becomes soiled. 

 All drains m.ust be stopped up, and every day the soiled parts must be 

 removed, and replaced with fresh. 



Sand is used in some parts where it is very plentiful, instead of litter, and 

 it must be treated in much the same manner as I have described for saw- 

 dust. It is however cold and hard, and anything but satisfactoiy. When 

 it is used all drains must be carefully stopped up. 



Refuse Tan is very commonly introduced as a bedding for horses while 

 being summered, in the belief that it is much cooler to the feet than sti^aw. 

 It has all the disadvantages of sawdust. I have often seen a box in which 

 tan had been left for weeks without change, the groom expecting that it 

 would retain the urine of the horse without decomposition, although his nose 

 ought to have convinced him to the contrary. It is a capital material if it 

 is kept dry, but every one who has seen the heat which is given out by it in 

 a hothouse, will understand that it is not to be allowed to come in contact 

 with fluid, and especially urine, or decomposition will quickly supervene. 

 The cost is seldom more than that incurred in carting it, which will depend 

 upon the distance from the nearest tan-yard. 



Forest Leaves are not readily procurable except in some very few locali- 

 ties, and I may therefore dismiss them with the remark that there is no 

 objection to their use with which I am acquainted. Ponies at all events 

 may be comfortably bedded with them. 



Bean Straw is far too hard and unyielding to make a comfortable bed, 

 and if it must be used I should prefer cutting it into chaff rather than 

 employing it in this way. 



DRESSING, OR GROOMING 



By the term Dressing is generally understood the purification of the 

 skin which the horse requires. He is never in the highest health unless the 

 pores are kept free from the scurf which forms on them whenever he sweats, 

 and the object of the strapping which he receives at the hands of his groom 

 is to get rid of this mechanical obstruction, as well as to brace the nerves of 

 the surface by the friction of the brush or wisp. This dressing must be 

 renewed daily, even if the horse has not been sweated, and each time that 

 he comes in from work it is necessary to repeat it. The former operation is 

 or should be conducted in the same manner every day, but the latter will 

 vary according to the state of the animal when he comes in, that is to say, 

 depending upon whether he has been sweated and is cool again, or if he is 

 still wet, or has been in the rain with or without exercise enough to warm 



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