426 AMERICAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 



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 dressing. They both eftect 

 the same purpose. They both increase the insensible perspi- 

 ration ; but the first does it at the expense of health and 

 strength; while the ^second, at the same time that it pro- 

 duces 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 groom 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 dressed every day, in addition to the 

 grooming that is necessary after work. 



" When the weather will permit the horse to be taken out, 

 he should never be groomed in the stable, unless he is an 

 animal of peculiar value, or placed for a time under peculiar 

 circumstances. Without dwelling on the want of cleanliness, 

 when the scurf and dust that are brushed from the horse 

 lodge in hi| manger, and mingle with his food, experience 

 teaches that, if the cold is not too great, the animal is braced 

 and invigorated to a degree that can not be attained in the 

 stable, from being dressed in the open air. There is no ne- 

 cessity, however, for half the punishment w^iich many a 

 groom inflicts upon the horse in the act of dressing; and 

 particularly on one whose skin is thin and sensible. The 

 curry-comb should, at all times, be lightly applied. With 

 many horses, its use may be almost dispensed with; and eV^en 

 the brush needs not to be so hard, nor the points of the bris- 

 tles 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 suflicient with 

 horses that have a thin skin, and that have not been neglected. 

 After all, it is no slight task to dress a horse as it ought to 

 be done. It occupies no little time, and demands consider- 



