V2H GROOMING. 



to cleanliness, and the frequent cause of the %acc of starting, and of the 

 most serious diseases of the eye. 



GROOMING. 



Of this niuch need not bo said to the ag'riculturist, since custom, and 

 apparently without ill effect, has allotted 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 rendering his skin more sensible to 

 the alteration of temperature, and the inclemency of the weather, would 

 bo prejudicial. The horse that is altogether turned out needs no grooming. 

 The dandinfi' or scurf which accumulates at the roots of the hair, is a pro- 

 vision of nature to defend him from the wind and the cold. 



It is to the stabled horse, highly fed, and little or irregularly worked, 

 that grooming is of so much consequence. Good rubbing with the brush 

 or the 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 exercise. No horse will carry a fine coat without either 

 unnatural heat or di'essing. They both effect the same purpose ; 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 proprietor of the horse 

 if he were to insist — and to see that his orders are really obeyed — that 

 the fine coat in which he and his gTOom so much delight, is produced 

 by honest rubbing, and not by a heated stable and thick clothing, and 

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

 regularly di'essed every day, in addition to the grooming that is necessaiy 

 after work. 



There is no necessity, however, for half the punishment which many a 

 groom inflicts upon the horse in the act of dressing ; and particularly on one 

 whose skin is thin and sensitive. The curry-coijib should at all times be 

 Hghtly applied. With many horses its use may be almost dispensed "with ; 

 and even the brush needs not to be so hard, nor the points of the bristles 

 so irregular as they often are. A soft brush, with a little more weight of 

 the hand, will be equally effectual, and a great deal more pleasant to the 

 horse. A hair-cloth, while it will seldom irritate and tease, will be almost 

 sufficient wth horses that have a thin skin, and that have not been neg- 

 lected ; the hay wliisp and the linen rubber are the means by which the 

 coat is kept in the most perfect order, and they cannot too generally be 

 had recourse to, for their effect on the skin is most soothing, and to no 

 part of his dressing does the horse, particularly the well-bred one, so will- 

 ingly submit himself as to this. Ailer all, it is no slight task to dress a 

 horse as it ought to be done. It occupies no little time, and demands 

 considerable patience, as well as dexterity. It will be readily ascertained 

 whether a horse has been Avell dressed by rubbing him with one of the 

 fingers. A greasy stain will detect the idleness of the groom. When, 

 however, the horse is changing his coat, both the curry-comb and the 

 brush should be used as lightly as possible. 



Wlioever would be con-vinced of the benefit of friction to the horse's 

 skin, and to the horse generally, needs only to observe the effects pro- 

 duced by well hand-rubbing the legs of a tired horse. While every 

 enlargement subsides, and the painful stiffness disappears, and the legs 

 attain their natural warmth, and become fine, the animal is e^^dently and 

 rapidly reviving ; he attacks his food with appetite, and then quietly lies 

 down to rest. 



