2i8 HORSEMANSHIP. 



The quantity of clothing depends on circumstances. My 

 opinion is that in order to keep up a good coat, one with 

 " the Pigburn polish " on it, the stable being, as it ought to 

 be, cool and thoroughly ventilated, to a certain extent horses 

 must be kept warm with clothing. Nature provides them 

 with a long and thick winter coat, according to their breeds, 

 and this w^e clip or singe off, leaving the animals as bare as 

 a freshly scalded porker. Thus denuded of their coats. 

 I am not railing at the very necessary practice — we must 

 restore the covering in some form or another, but there is no 

 occasion to do so with compound interest in the form of 

 super-heated stuffy stables and piles of heavy blankets. The 

 circulation of the blood of any horse, and especially of one 

 consuming large quantities of flesh-forming and heat produc- 

 ing food, enables him to withstand transitions from heat to 

 cold, and degrees of cold without injury or suffering, such as 

 may make us shiver to think of. Comfort is all that is 

 necessary ; in all cases the golden mean between too much 

 and too little should be the hit, and that mean will best be in- 

 dicated by the sheen of the coat and the warmth apparent to 

 the hand when thrust between the rug and the coat. A 

 horse's warmth ought, to a great extent, to proceed from his 

 " body lining " — his food. I do not advocate a cold stable, 

 and stipulate for a comfortable^ and above all, a thoroughly 

 dry one. We must bear in mind that gentlemen's and 

 ladies' horses are in their stables, taking one day with 

 another, possibly twenty hours out of the twenty-four, and 

 that when breathing the open air they are at work. Conse- 

 quently, the proper warmth and purity of the air they breathe 

 in the stable is a matter of vital importance. In these days 

 of sanitary engineering there can be no difficulty in securing 

 a system of ventilation which, without creating draughts, 

 will let impure air out and pure air in, The warmth of an 



