216 THE HORSE. 



is said that the effect is usually to increase the spirits and liveli- 

 ness of all the horses submitted to it. During the operation of the 

 bath, the preparatory room should have had its doors and windows 

 thrown freely open, and it should be left in this state when the 

 horse returns to it, some grooms liking to have a strong draught 

 through it while the horse is being cooled. In this process there 

 is a considerable variation in the practices adopted in those stables 

 where this novel kind of sweating is introduced. Some grooms 

 wash the horse all over with cold water; others dash the water 

 over the whole body the moment he comes from the bath, while 

 a third set content themselves with the free admission of a current 

 of cold air to the skin. Time must determine which of these plans 

 is the best, but I am told on excellent authority, that they have 

 all been tried with advantage. The fact is that when the skin is 

 sweating freely under the stimulus of heat, and before its vessels 

 are beginning to flag in their action, cold in any shape may be ap- 

 plied, so long as it is not continued long enough to reduce the 

 pulse below its natural standard. Again, there are some grooms, 

 who, after they have applied cold water, return the horse to the 

 bath for a few minutes, the air in it being reduced to about 100 

 of Fahrenheit, and on bringing him out, take him at once to his 

 box or stall, when he is dressed as usual, till he is perfectly dry, 

 after which he is clothed and fed. 



As MAY NATURALLY BE EXPECTED, "the stable mind" is very 

 much agitated by this innovation on established usages. On the 

 one hand, it is argued by the thick-and-thin supporters of the bath, 

 that, with the aid of walking exercise alone, and without a single 

 gallop, a horse may be got into perfect condition, either for the 

 race-course or the hunting-field. I have been told by a gentleman 

 whose authority is fairly to be relied on, that he has ridden a 

 stableful of horses thus prepared, in the front ranks of the crack 

 countries, and that he never was so well carried in his life. None 

 of them were galloped, except by himself; and until the season 

 (1860-1) began, not one of them had been taken off a walk, as far 

 as he knew, and he said he had the greatest confidence in his 

 groom. On the other hand, the opponents of the bath hold that 

 it only removes fat and fluids of all kinds, and that fast work must 

 be given to the same extent as without it, the additional sweat 

 produced by the former exhausting the horse very materially, to 

 the prejudice of his condition. As far as my own opinion goes, I 

 am inclined to believe that the truth lies between these opposite 

 extremes; and that though a horse may be made light and airy by 

 means of the bath and walking exercise alone, his muscles cannot 

 be braced and rendered bigger, as they are by actual fast work. 

 Incredible as it may appear, I have been told on very high author- 

 ity, that a horse sweated twice, or even three times in the week, 



