HALTER SHANKS, GROOMING ARTICLES, ETC. 301 



HALTER SHANKS. 



For all conditions leather has been found to be the best 

 material to use for fastening the horse. Chains last longer 

 but in the event of a horse getting his leg over the fastening 

 he is less easily extricated and the chances of being scarred 

 or breaking a leg are increased. A plain russet strap meas- 

 uring about four feet six in length and an inch and a half 

 wide, with a billet at one end and the other tapered down to 

 a point is the type advised. 



GROOMING ARTICLES. 



"It is impossible to have the stable operations performed well, nor even 

 decently, without good tools and good hands to use them. There should 

 be no want of the necessary implements. A bad groom may do without 

 many of them because he does not know their" use ; but a good groom 

 requires brushes, combs, sponges, towels, skins, rubbers, scissors, bandages, 

 cloths, pails, forks, brooms, and some other little articles, all which he should 

 have, if the horse is to receive all the care and decoration a groom can 

 bestow." — John Stewart, " Stable Economy,'' p. 6j. 



COMBS. 



Mane combs are usually made of bone and in the form 

 shown in Fig. 176. 



Currycombs (see Fig. 177) should be made of wrought iron 

 and the parts strongly riveted together. The ribs should be 

 about three quarters of an inch deep and each one made of 

 a single thickness of iron. Should the use of the currycomb 

 be allowed on the horse it is important that the teeth should 

 be dull, as the majority of currycombs are made with teeth 

 so sharp that they are liable to injure the skin. At the front 

 and back of the comb a rib without teeth is generally fast- 

 ened to prevent the teeth of the other ribs from being pressed 



