STABLE OPERATION*. 99 



minutes if he be warm or wet and the weather fair, otherwise 

 he stands a little in his stall or in an open shed ; then the 

 man begins with the driest of those that have come in together. 

 Much of the surface mud which the scraper has left about the 

 legs is removed by a straw wisp, or a small birch broom, or 

 the whalebone brush ; the wisp likewise helps to dry the 

 horse. The whalebone brush is a very useful article when 

 the coat is long. That, and the currycomb, with the aid of a 

 wisp, are almost the only implements coaching-strappers re- 

 quire in the winter season. It clears away the mud and 

 separates the hairs, but it does not polish them. A gloss such 

 as the coat of these horses requires, is given by the wisp. 

 The whalebone brush is sometimes too coarse, and many 

 horses can not bear it at any lime, while others can suffer it 

 only in winter. After the mud has been removed with this 

 brush, the matted hair parted by the currycomb, and the horse 

 dusted all over with the wisp, his feet are washed, the soles 

 picked, the shoes examined, the legs and heels well rubbed, 

 partly by the hand and partly by the wisp, and the mane and 

 tail combed. In the best of these stables he is well dressed 

 with the bristle brush before he goes to work. In other 

 stables the usual mode of removing the mud is by 



Washing. When the horse is very dirty he is usually 

 washed outside the stable ; his belly is scraped, and the re- 

 mainder of the mud is washed off at once by the application 

 of water. Some clean the body before they wash the legs ; 

 but that is only when there is not much mud about the horse. 

 They do so that he may go into the stable quite clean. He 

 soils his feet and legs by stamping the ground when his body 

 is being cleaned. It matters little whether the dressing com- 

 mence with the body or with the legs , but when the legs are 

 washed the last thing, they are generally left undried. In 

 washing, a sponge and a water-brush are employed. Some 

 use a mop, and this is called the lazy method : it is truly the 

 trick of a careless sloven ; it wets the legs but does not clean 

 them. The brush goes to the roots of the hair, and removes 

 all the sand and mud, without doing which it is worse than 

 useless to apply any water. The sponge is employed for 

 drying the hair, for soaking up and wiping away the loose 

 water. Afterward, the legs and all the parts that have been 

 washed, are rendered completely dry by rubbing with the 

 straw-wisp, the rubber, and the hand. Among valuable horses 

 this is always done ; wherever the legs have little hair about 



