124 PUTTING INTO CONDITION. 



cise in the evening, are the proper times. During 

 the months of March and October, or when he 

 is changing his coat, dispense with the curry- 

 comb, if thin-skinned, and use only the hand- 

 rubber and brush. Moulting, in all hot latitudes, 

 is very slight, yet some horses are a little weak 

 in consequence : a bran mash should be added to 

 the gram every evening if this is the case, and a 

 little sweet gram-flour gruel given in the morn- 

 ing. The hair of the mane and tail is often 

 greatly disfigured by the curry-comb and hand- 

 rubber, making it all scraggy, and giving it the 

 ugly and dirty appearance of mange. Never 

 permit the curry-comb or hand-rubber to go 

 within three inches of either the mane or the tail, 

 and then the hairs of the mane from the near side, 

 that hang over to the off side, will be equally 

 long with the rest; and those nearest the root 

 of the tail will be also long : the hair destroyed 

 in one day by a slovenly mode of cleaning, 

 will take a whole twelvemonth to grow again 

 to a proper length. The comb is often in fault 



ing immediately before or immediately after any grain is un- 

 wholesome, and to some horses dangerous, and after gram 

 quite as much as after barley. Horses of delicate stomachs, 

 indeed all horses, should be watered half an hour before, and 

 half an hour after morning's feeding, to prevent the food 

 swelling in the stomach too much. 



