20 MOUNTED INSTRUCTION 



foot advanced ; the hand nearest the horse is placed upon the animal's 

 hip, gently pushing him over and forcing the weight upon the op- 

 posite hind foot ; meanwhile the other hand is run slowly down the 

 back tendons from below the hock. The leg is grasped under the fet- 

 lock and is slightly raised forward. The shoer now swing's his inside 

 leg under the horse's leg. presses it with his knee and extends it to 

 the rear. Care must be exercised that the foot is not held too high nor 

 carried too far to the rear or outward, for the discomforts of these 

 strained positions will induce the horse to pull his leg away. 



GROOMING 



The Skin Consists Primarily of Two Parts: 



1. The superficial layer containing' no blood vessels and known as 

 the epidermis. This layer consists of cells placed side by side, and 

 more or less modified in shape by their mutual compression and by 

 surface evaporation and drying. As these cells dry, they form scales 

 which fall off continually and form dandruff. 



2. The second or deeper layer contains a large number of blood 

 vessels and is called the dermis or true skin. This layer is formed 

 of somewhat rounded cells and have the selective power of what they 

 shall take up for their own nourishment and on what they shall admit 

 into the circulation from without. Thus certain agents, like iodine 

 and belladonna, are readily admitted, whereas others, like arsenic are 

 excluded. This layer contains fibrous bundles, cells, blood vessels, 

 nerves, glands, gland ducts and hairs. 



Hairs grow from follicles, sacs hollowed out in the skin and extend- 

 ing to its deepest layers. The hair itself is formed of the same kind 

 of cells, firmly adherent to one another by a tough intercellular sub- 

 stance and overlapping- each other like slates on a roof, in a direction 

 toward the free end. There are glands ending in the above sacs which 

 secrete an oily substance which gives glow to the hair and prevents 

 its becoming dry and brittle, and kee])s the skin soft and pliable. 



The fibrous bundles of the true skin contain plain, muscular fibers, 

 which are not controlled by the will, but contract under the influence 

 of cold and under certain nervous influences, as in some skin diseases 

 and in chill or fever, and lead to contraction, tightening or corruga- 

 tion of the skin, contributing to produce what is commonly called 

 "hidebound." Besides these, the horse's skin is furnished with an 

 expansion of red, voluntary muscle, firmly attached to the fibrous 

 bundles, and by which the animals can not only dislodge insects and 

 other irritants, but even shake oft* the harness. The fleshy envelope 

 covers the sides of the trunk and the lower portions of the neck and 

 head, the parts unprotected by the mane and tail, and serves to throw 

 the skin of these parts into i)uckers, or ridges, in certain irritating skin 

 diseases. 



