HORSE— CARE AND MANAGEMENT. 



37 



•On the other hand, if these organs are 

 •defective, or if he wants experience, he 

 -will have notched the end of the tail in 

 •a most unsightly manner. If the groom 

 wishes to try his hand in this operation, 

 he should get hold of a long tail, and 

 begin far below the point where the 

 squared end is intended finally to be. 

 This will afford him five or six experi- 

 mental cuts, and if he cannot satisfy him- 

 self, as he nears the proper length, that 

 he will be likely to succeed, he can still 

 ■call in the aid of a more skillful operator 

 before it is too late. The hair of the tail 

 grows so slowly, that two or three months 

 are required to remove the disfigurement 

 which is sometimes caused in this way, 

 and consequently it behooves the groom 

 to be doubly careful, for his own sake as 

 well as his master's. 



To make the mane lie smoothly on its 

 proper side, which it sometimes obsti- 

 nately refuses to do, it must be plaited in 

 .small locks, and the ends loaded with 

 lead, if it cannot be made to lie down 

 without. An experienced groom, how- 

 ever, will generally succeed in so man- 

 aging the plaits that they lie close to 

 the neck, which is all that can be effected 

 by the aid of lead, but sometimes the 

 hair is so obstinate that nothing else will 

 •effect the object in view. 



HORSE, BANDAGES, Use and Applica- 

 tion of. — Bandages are applied to the 

 4egs of the horse for three different pur- 

 poses. First, to give support to the 

 blood-vessels and synovial capsules ; sec- 

 ondly, as a vehicle for applying cold lo- 

 tions ; and thirdly, for drying and warm- 

 ing them. 



For the mere purpose of support either 

 linen or flannel bandages may be put on, 

 according to the weather, and the ten- 

 dency to inflammation. The legs of 

 reasoned old horses are seldom so prone 

 to become hot as those of young ones, 

 and excepting in very warm weather, 

 flannel bandages seem to suit them bet- 

 ter than linen. On the contrary, if flan- 

 nel is applied to the legs of a colt, even 

 if they are not inclined to inflame, they 

 will become hot and uncomfortable, and 

 he will learn to tear them off, in which 

 ■some horses become perfect adepts. 

 Whichever kind of bandage is put on, it 

 ^should be previously tightly rolled with 

 the strings inwards, then taking it in the 



right hand, and unwrapping about six 

 inches, they are laid against the canna 

 bone on the side nearest to the groom, so 

 that the folds shall have a tendency to 

 unroll from him and not to him. While 

 the left hand keeps the end from slip- 

 ping, the right passes the roll of bandage 

 closely round the leg till it meets the left, 

 when the latter, still pressing the end 

 against the leg, lays hold of the roll, and 

 allows the right to be brought back to 

 meet it on the other side. After which 

 the coils are repeated till the whole band- 

 age is run out and the leg encased, one 

 row being slightly above or below the 

 level of the next, as may be required. 

 The great art consists in avoiding un- 

 equal pressure, and yet giving sufficient 

 to accomplish the purpose for which ban- 

 daging is designed. From the projec- 

 tion backwards of the pastern-joints, it is 

 impossible to make the folds lie perfectly 

 smooth, and there must be loose parts, 

 which however are covered over by the 

 next turn. No written description, how- 

 ever, will suffice to teach this little oper- 

 ation, and the young groom should watch 

 a good bandager, and imitate him as ex- 

 actly as he can. The strings at the end 

 serve to tie the bandage on, and these 

 also must neither be so tight as to cut the 

 leg, nor so loose as to allow the bandage 

 to fall down. 



When cold lotions are to be applied by 

 means of bandages, linen is the proper 

 material, as flannel is too bad a conduc- 

 tor of heat, by evaporation, for the pur- 

 pose. The whole bandage, after being 

 rolled up moderately tight, should be 

 dipped in cold water, or in the lotion 

 which may be recommended, and then 

 while quite wet, it is to be applied in the 

 way which we have just described. The 

 following lotion is useful for the purpose : 



Take of Tincture of Arnica a wine-glass- 

 ful ; Nitre, one-half ounce ; Sal Ammoniac, 

 one ounce; Water, half a bucketful. 

 Mix and use by dipping the bandages in 

 before applying them, and wetting them 

 with the solution afterwards by means of 

 a sponge. 



If the groom is careful, he may remove 

 inflammations of the leg better by means 

 of dipping them in cold water, or the 

 above lotion may be applied with a 

 sponge every half-hour, holding each leg 

 over the bucket, than with the aid of band- 



