GROOMING, RUBBING, SCRAPING 59 



warm, as readily and freely as he will drink cold 

 water. 



In summer the careful groom will always have a 

 bucket of water standing in the sun, for use in watering 

 and sponging. 



THE LEGS 



The legs should be kept clean mainly by brushing 

 with a stiff brush, and they should be washed only under 

 exceptional circumstances. In warm weather it will 

 do no harm to wash the legs before the horse goes out; 

 but they should not be washed when he comes in 

 except on an exceedingly hot day — when the ther- 

 mometer is at, say, 85° or over. In ordinary weather, 

 the legs should never be washed when the horse comes 

 in after work. No matter how muddy the legs may 

 be, do not wash them — unless you are prepared to rub 

 them perfectly dry or to rub them partly dry, and then 

 bandage with thick bandages. 



A horse coming in on a rainy, muddy day, needs to 

 have his legs made warm and dry as soon as possible. 

 Therefore, rub the legs dry, or if the hair is too long 

 or time is too short for that, rub them off quickly with 

 a wisp of hay or straw, so as to remove some of the 

 mud, and then bandage rather loosely with a thick 

 bandage or two thin bandages. This will keep the 

 horse's legs warm until they become dry, when the mud 

 can be rubbed off. You often hear it said that to rub 

 the legs when they are wet and muddy Is bad, because 

 you rub the mud Into the skin. This theory Is not borne 

 out by the facts, and was probably invented by some 



