158 THE BARB AND THE BRIDLE. 



say that he should do nothing up to the 31st of October but 

 walking and trotting, while on the first day of November his owner 

 may come down from town and give him a rattling gallop with 

 hounds. Surely such extremes are not reconcilable with common 

 sense ! 



Let me now say a word about washing horses, about which also 

 •considerable diversity of opinion exists, some maintaining that the 

 brush and wisp alone ought to keep the horse's skin in proper form, 

 and others advocating washing partially. 



In my time I have tried all sorts of stable management, and I 

 beheve the truth is as follows : Nothing is more conducive to a 

 horse's health than washing, with either cold or tepid water. But 

 if you adopt the cold Avater system, you must be sure that it is done 

 in a place where there is no draught. It should be commenced in 

 summer time. There should be two thoroughly good stablemen in 

 the washing box, and a boy to carry water from the pump. The 

 horse's head and neck should be thoroughly washed, brushed, 

 scraped, sponged, and leathered, and a good woollen hood put on. 

 His body washed thoroughly in the same way, and a good rug put 

 on. Then his legs equally well done, and bandaged. Let him then 

 be put into his box for a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes, 

 stripped and dressed by a man who will let his shoulder go at him, 

 not one who will play with him. When thoroughly dressed his coat 

 will shine hke new satin, and his whole manner will tell you how 

 refreshed he is by his bath. The washing cannot be done too 

 quickly consistent with thorough good work. Two good men and 

 a smart boy ought to wash, clothe, and bandage a horse in five 

 minutes, or they are not worth their salt. 



If the cold water system is begun in summer, and regularly 

 followed up, it can be carried on throughout the winter, no matter 

 how severe the weather may be, and an incalculable advantage of 

 the system is that a horse so treated is almost impervious to cold 

 or catarrh. 



But to carry the treatment out, a lot of first-class stablemen are 

 indispensable, men who — no " eye servants" — do their work con 

 <imore^ and take a genuine pride in their horses. If the thing is 



