348 MOULTIKG. 



roadster. Black horses have been said to be more subject to vice, disease, 

 and blindness, than those of any other colour. This charge is not true 

 to its full extent ; but there certainly are a great many worthless black 

 horses in every part of the country. 



After all, there is an old saying, that a good horse cannot be of a bad 

 colour ; and that it is far more necessary to attend to the conformation and 

 points of the animal than to his colour. The foregoing observations, how- 

 ever, although they admit of many exceptions, may be useful in guiding to 

 the judicious purchase of the horse. 



MOULTING. 



Twice in the year the hair of the body of the horse is changed. The 

 short fine coat of summer would afford little protection against the winter, 

 and that of the winter would be oppressive to the animal if it appeared 

 during the summer. The hair of the mane and tail remains. The bulbous 

 root of the hair does not die, but the pulpy matter seems to be removed 

 from the root of the hair, which, thus deprived of its nourishment, perishes 

 and drops off, and a new hair springs at its side from the same bulb. The 

 hair which is produced in the autumn, is evidently different from that 

 which grows in the spring ; it is coarser, thicker, and not so glossy as the 

 other. As moulting is a process extending over the whole of the skin, 

 and requiring a very considerable expenditure of vital power, the health 

 of the animal is generally affected at these times. That energy and nervous 

 and vital influence, which should support the whole of the frame, is to a 

 great degree determined to the skin, and the animal is languid, and un- 

 equal to much hard work. He perspires greatly with the least unusual 

 exertion, and if he is pressed beyond his strength becomes seriously ill. 



The treatment which the groom in this case adopts is most absurd and 

 dangerous. The horse, from the deranged distribution of vital power, is 

 disposed to fever, or he laboui^s under a slight degree of fever, sufficiently 

 indicated by the increased quickness of pulse, redness of nose, and heat of 

 mouth. The lassitude and want of appetite which are the accompani- 

 ments of this febrile state, are mistaken for debihty ; and cordials of 

 various kinds, some of them exceedingly stimulating, are unsparingly ad- 

 ministered. At length, vidth regard to the hunter, the racer, and even in 

 the hackney and the carriage horse, the scissors or the lamp are intro- 

 duced, and a new method is established of guarding against this periodical 

 debility, setting at defiance the occasional exposure to cold, and estabHsh- 

 ing a degree of health and strength previously unknown. Friction may 

 be allowed, to assist the falling off of the old hair, and to loosen the cuticle 

 for the appearance of the new hair, but it is somewhat more gently applied 

 than it used to be. The currycomb is in a gTeat measure banished, and 

 even the brush is not applied too hard or too long. The old hair is not 

 forced off before the young hair is ready to take its place. 



Nature adapts the coat to the climate and to the season. The Sheltie 

 has one as long and thick as that of a bear ; and, as the summer is short 

 and cold in those northern islands, the coat is rough and shaggy during 

 the whole of the year. In the southern parts of our country the short 

 and light and glossy coat of summer gradually yields to the close and 

 heavy, and warm clothing of winter. In the deserts of Arabia, where 

 the winter is rarely cold, the coat remains short and glossy throughout 

 the year. These are wise and kind provisions of nature, and excite our 

 admiration. 



