74 HOUSE MANAGEMENT IN INDIA. 



inactivity ; hence such an animal should, when he is at 

 rest, be provided with an adequate supply of warm 

 clothing to make up for the loss of protection, afforded 

 by the scaly part of the outer skin, and by the increased 

 amount of hair possessed by him in an ungroomed 

 condition. 



Washing the Horse. This practice is most injurious, 

 for it not alone removes the natural oil from the skin, 

 thereby rendering the coat dull, but is also apt to 

 produce chill, which, I need hardly say, is the fruitful 

 source of many equine ailments. Water has no power to 

 remove the scaly part of the outer skin, its effect being 

 confined alone to any dust or mud that may have fallen 

 on the coat. Our best authorities, Colonel Sir F. Fitz- 

 wygram among the rest, are unanimous in condemning 

 the custom of washing the animal. Mud-fever, a form of 

 inflammation of the skin, which extends more or less 

 over the legs, and sometimes over the lower surface of the 

 abdomen is caused by this practice. It is a common com- 

 plaint in England, though rare in India. Professor 

 Williams writes as follows on this subject : " It will be 

 generally known that the winter of 1871 was a very wet 

 one, and consequently mud-fever, a very prevalent disease. 

 Speaking one day to a large cab-proprietor and job-mas- 

 ter in this city, and casually referring to the prevalence 

 of sore legs from this disease, he informed me that none 

 of his cab-horses were so affected, whilst his job-horses 

 were all more or less so. The reasons he gave were that 

 the cab-horses were never groomed at night ; that they 

 came in at all times, dirty and wet, were turned into 

 their stables, but never groomed till the morning ; the 



