Groom s Work. 



507 



pressly for the purpose — narrow cylinders, in fact, as high as a horse's knees. A powerful 

 garden syringe with and without a rose is a useful appliance in a hunting stable. 



The prongs of stable forks are of steel ; but, in consequence of several horses being 

 severely pricked at the Agricultural Horse Show, I imported wooden forks from France, 

 and they have given general satisfaction. A rack in which every set of forks, brooms, or 

 floor brushes has to be placed, is a necessary fitting for every stable or " mess " of six 

 horses. 



For cleaning the stone or asphalte floor of a stable with water, the india-rubber 

 "squeege," used to clean the foot-pavements and asphalte roadways of the City of London, 

 may be used with advantage, in addition to the ordinary stable brooms and whalebone 

 brushes. 



STALL KITTED UP. 



Where three or more horses are kept, the better plan is to have a regular store, and lay in a 

 stock of everything from each manufacturer — i.e., brushes from the brushmaker, forks and iron 

 buckets from the ironmonger, and so on. This will make a saving of from fifteen to twenty-five 

 per cent, in articles of the best quality. Sponges may be bought by the pound, or by the hundred- 

 weight, according to the consumption. 



GROOMING. 



Horses may and do work slowly with little or no grooming ; but the best cannot be maKde 

 of them, either for work or appearance, without perfect cleaning, accompanied by a good deal 

 of friction. 



" The outer skin of the horse is continually being renewed by the secretion of cells from the 

 true skin below, and its outer scales are continually in their turn being cast off in the form 

 of the scurf, which is found in the currycomb on which the groom has cleaned his brush. 

 In the skin, having their origin a little below the true skin, are two sets of glands, viz., 

 the sweat and the oil glands. The sweat glands secrete perspiration, and terminate by 

 long-necked tubes on the surface of the skin. The oil glands secrete an oily substance. 

 Each hair tube has one or more oil glands opening into it. It is the oil secreted by these 

 glands which gives gloss to a well-groomed coat even in cold weather.* The oil glands are 



* Lieut.-Colonel Fitzwygram's "Lectures on Stable Management.' 



