OBJECTS OF GltOOMING. 73 



owing to the sympathy which exists both between the 

 various portions of these respective surfaces, and between 

 themselves, we find that, in cases of derangement of 

 the stomach, &c., the coat becomes dull and unthrifty. 

 In like manner, a return to health will be marked by an 

 improvement in the state of the skin, whose affections 

 are more or less followed by an impaired condition of 

 the digestive apparatus. Experience, as well as physio- 

 logy, teaches us how much the horse's general well-being 

 is dependant on his skin being clean, well polished, and 

 healthy. (For further reference, see Professor Williams's 

 Veterinary Surgery under heading Laminitis.) 



From these considerations we may readily see how 

 important the process of grooming is to the maintain- 

 ance of high condition in the horse. 



I may briefly sum up the objects, sought to be obtained 

 by good grooming, as follows: 1, to remove the scaly 

 part of the outer skin, in order to allow of ready exit 

 to the fluids that flow from the oil and sweat glands ; 

 2, to stimulate, by friction, these glands to increased 

 activity ; 3, to determine blood to the surface of the 

 body, so as to relieve the internal organs ; 4, to remove 

 all superfluous hair, whose presence would tend to check 

 evaporation from the skin ; 5, to induce a healthy 

 state of the skin itself, in which the mucous membranes 

 of the digestive and respiratory organs will tend to 

 participate. 



The skin of the well-groomed horse will be in the 

 best possible condition to play its allotted part, when the 

 system is called upon to perform violent exertion, but not 

 to resist the continued effect of cold during a state of 



