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FOOD AND GENERAL TREATMENT. 425 



and the curry-comb and brush, with the addition in summer- 

 time, of th^ tub of cold water and a good sponge, will be of 

 essential service, and in some degree ameliorate the animal's 

 prison-life. Many horses kept in stables suffer from a con- 

 stant fever of the skin, and for this trouble good currying is 

 a most excellent remedy. It acts as a counter-irritant and 

 affords great relief. 



The difference between the appearance of a horse that is 

 habitually well rubbed down, and that of one in whose keep- 

 ing this is neglected will be very perceptible to the least ob- 

 servant, i^o intelligent keeper of the horse but is well 

 aware how greatly hand-rubbing excites the secretions of the 

 skin upon the legs, and causes the hair to shine with unusual 

 glossiness. The skin is warmed and made pliant by the rub- 

 bing, the unctuous fluid flows forth, and the whole surface is 

 oiled from E"ature's own fountain. In all diseases of the 

 skin, rubbing and currying is quite as essential a part of the 

 treatment as medication, and very often even more so. 



This being so important a branch of stable management, 

 and the subject one of such universal applicability, we in- 

 troduce the remarks of Youatt, upon the same Jopic : 



" Of grooming, there need not much be said to the agricul- 

 turist, 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 be prejudicial. The horse 

 that is altogether turned out needs no grooming. The 

 dandrifl', or scurf, which accumulates at the roots of the hair, 

 is a provision of i^ature to defend him from the wind and 

 the cold. ' 



"It is to the stabled horse, highly fed, and little or irregu- 

 larly worked, that grooming is of so much consequence. 

 Good rubbing with the brush or the curry-comb opens the 

 pores of the skin, circulates the blood to the extremities of 



