430 CLEANING THE SHEATH. 



heels is due to carelessness on the part of the stable servants, 

 and when it occurs the master may satisfy himself as to the 

 cause by personally supervising the work of drying the legs 

 for a few days. The habit of drying the legs with woollen 

 bandages is not recommended. It originated in supplement- 

 ing the drying with rubbers, but when practised by lazy 

 servants, the preliminary drying is omitted. 



The mane and tail should be thoroughly washed from 

 time to time. Once a month in the winter is sufficiently 

 often, but during the dusty weather of the summer months 

 the mane and tail should be washed two or three times each 

 week. The skin at the roots of the hair should be washed 

 with soap and a water-brush and the hair well lathered and 

 all parts thoroughly rinsed with clear water. 



CLEANING THE SHEATH. 



The sheaths of all geldings and stallions should be thor- 

 oughly washed out with castile soap and warm water and 

 then carefully rinsed with cold water. During the summer 

 months, when the roads are very dusty, the cleaning of this 

 part should be done at least once a month but in winter it 

 will not be necessary to repeat the washing at such frequent 

 intervals. As the neglect of this work is not likely to be 

 detected, its omission is a common fault. 



Each servant should have a basket about two feet long, 

 eight inches deep and a foot wide, in which the grooming 

 articles should be kept. By such means the brushes, 

 sponges, etc., are kept together, and there is less likelihood 

 of their becoming lost, misplaced or converted into obstruc- 

 tions. 



" From the same want of rule (but sometimes from want of convenience 



