390 GROOMING. 



to him than to have the dirt brushed off his limhs. Regular 

 g-rooming, by rendering his skin more sensible to the alteration of 

 temperature, and the inclemency of the weather, would be preju- 

 dicial. The horse that is altogether turned out, needs no groom- 

 ing. The dandriff, or scurf, which accumulates at the roots of 

 the hair, is a provision of nature to defend him from the wind 

 and the cold. 



It is to the stabled horse, highly fed, and little or irregularly 

 worked, that grooming is of so much consequence. Good rubbing 

 with the brush, or the curry-comb, opens the pores of the skin, 

 circulates the blood to the extremities of the body, produces free 

 and healthy perspiration, and stands in the room of exercise. No 

 horse will carry a fine coat without either unnatural heat or 

 dressing. They both effect the same purpose ; they both increase 

 the insensible perspiration : but the first does it at the expense of 

 health and strength, while the second, at the same time that it 

 produces a glow on the skin, and a determination of blood to it, 

 rouses all the energies of the frame. It would be well for the 

 proprietor of the horse if he were to insist — and to see that his 

 orders are really obeyed — that the fine coat in which he and his 

 groom so much delight, is produced by honest rubbing, and not 

 by a heated stable and thick clothing, and most of all, not by 

 ist-Tfiulating or injurious spices. The horse should be regularly 

 ^ressed every day, in addition to the grooming that is necessary 

 after work. 



When the weather will permit the horse to be taken out, he 

 should never be groomed in the stable, unless he is an animal of 

 peculiar value, or placed for a time under peculiar circumstances. 

 Without dwelling on the want of cleanliness, when the scurf and 

 dust that are brushed from the horse lodge in his manger, and 

 mingle with his food, experience teaches, that if the cold is not 

 too great, the animal is braced and invigorated to a degree that 

 cannot be attained in the stable, from being dressed in the open 

 air. There is no necessity, however, for half the punishment 

 which many a groom inflicts upon the horse in the act of dressing ; 

 and particularly on one whose skin is thin and sensible. The 

 curry-comb should at all times be lightly applied. With many 

 horses, its use may be almost dispensed with ; and even the brush 

 needs not to be so hard, nor the points of the bristles so irregular, 

 as they often are. A soft brush, with a little more weight of the 

 hand, will be equally eflectual, and a great deal more pleasant to 

 the horse, A hair-cloth, while it will seldom irritate and tease, 

 will be almost sufficient with horses that have a thin skin, and 

 that have not been neglected. After all, it is no slight task to 

 dress a horse as it ought to be done. It occupies no little time, 

 and demands considerable patience, as well as dexterity- It will 



