GROOMING. 67 



The question cannot be ans \vercd in the form in which it is put. It 

 is not the fact of living under cover, but the active work and the high 

 feeding of the stabled horse, which necessitates grooming. Cavalry horses 

 in camps, for instance, require grooming just as much, and in some re- 

 spects more than they do in barracks. It is the work and the food, not 

 the shelter, which constitutes the difference between the domesticated 

 animal and the horse in a state of nature. 



By work, and especially by fast work, the secretions of the glands of 

 the skin are enormously increased. Furthermore, the horse which is 

 worked hard must be fed on highly nutritious food ; and from this cause 

 also the secretions of the skin are largely increased. Nature must be 

 assisted by artificial means to remove these increased secretions, or the 

 pores of the skin will become clogged and the health will be deteriorated. 



The greater the action of the skin, the greater must be the attention 

 paid to it. As long as the horse remains in a state of nature, taking only 

 the exercise required for gathering his food, and feeding only on laxative 

 diet, grooming is not needed, because the debris of the food and the 

 excretions of the system are carried off mainly by the action of the bowels 

 and kidneys. The cart horse, whose work is slow, can get 011 with veiy 

 little grooming. The hunter and the racehorse, on the other hand, 

 whose whole systems are developed to the utmost, require much more 

 grooming than is necessary for carnage and ordinary riding horses. 



Grooming, or in other words, cleanliness of the skin is not, as many 

 suppose, a mere matter of appearance, or of a rough or smooth coat ; 

 but it is essential to the general health and condition of the domesticated 

 animal. This fact will become more plain after we have considered the 

 structure of the skin and its glands. 



100. Structure of the Skin. 



The skin is a dense, yet porous, membrane investing the whole body. 

 It is composed of two layers, namely, the outer or upper, called the cuticle 

 or scarf skin, which is hard and insensitive, and an under or inner layer 

 called the cutis or true skin, which is sensitive and vascular. These two 

 layers are easily separated, as is seen in cases of slight burns or in the 

 vesicles raised by a blister. 



The cutis, or true skin, is thick and full of blood-vessels, nerves, and 

 absorbents. From it the layers of cells which constitute the cuticle, or 

 outer skin, are formed. Each cell is originally round and filled with 

 moisture ; but as the moisture evaporates the cells become flattened, and 

 being laid in a series one over the other, they form the cuticle or outer 

 skin. 



The outer scales are constantly being cast off in the form of dandriff 

 or scurf, and are as constantly renewed by the secretion of new cells 

 from the true skin below. 



The skin varies very much in substance. In. parts much exposed, as 

 in front of the knee, it is very thick ; in parts less exposed, as behind 

 the knee, it is thin ; whilst on the inside of the thigh, where it is not 

 exposed at all, it is very thin. 



