170 THE HORSE OWXER's 



since custom, and apparently without ill effect, has allot- 

 ted so little of the comb and brush to the farmer's horse. 

 The animal that is worked all day, and turned out at night, 

 requires little more to be done to him than to have the 

 dirt brushed off his limbs. Regular grooming, by render- 

 ing his skin more sensitive to the attraction of tempera- 

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

 dicial. The horse that is altogether turned out needs no 

 grooming. The dandruff, or scurf, which accumulates at 

 the roots of the hair, is a provision of nature to defend 

 him from the wind and cold. It is to the stabled horse, 

 highly fed and little or irregularly worked, that groom- 

 ing is of so much consequence. Good rubbing with the 

 brash and currycomb, 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 exer- 

 cise. No horse will carry a fine coat without either un- 

 natural heat or dressing. They both effect the same pur- 

 pose ; 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 pro- 

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

 orders are really obeyed, that the fine coat in which he 

 and his groom so much delight is produced by hand rub- 

 bing and not by a heated stable and thick clothing, and 

 most of all, not by stimulating or injurious spices. The 

 horse should be regularly dressed 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 



