123 



MASHES FOR HORSES. 



Take a feed of oats, a double handful of linseed for eacli horse, 

 and boil for three hours ; then turn into a large tub or earthenware 

 pan, and add as much bran, with just enough warm water to moisten 

 the whole through ; put a cloth over it, and let it stand an hour, 

 then mix it well, and feed as soon as it is cool enough. This mash is 

 very useful when horses in hard condition •'• dry up " and grow thin 

 in spite of continual feeds of corn. 



PREPARING A HORSE FOR GRASS. 



Gradually cool the stable, or change it for a loose box, remove all 

 clothing, let the scurf and dust accumulate on the coat, give a gentle 

 dose of physic, and take away the corn by degrees. In three weeks 

 the horse will be fit to turn out. 



SHAVING HORSES. 



To shave horses, you should not be sooner or later than the last 

 week of October or the first week of November. The great art of 

 shaving is to get the coat completely wet to the bottom with a good 

 lather of white soap. You make the horse sweat a little, and 

 then commence. Tou cannot shave the head ; you must clip it as 

 well as you can, and clip the legs without a comb ; clip up, not round. 

 When done oil them all over and wipe them with a soft towel, and 

 if they are in good condition there is no danger of their catching 

 cold. Exercise them with the clothes on, and strap them well with 

 a nice leather, and in eight or ten days you may hunt them. When 

 they are shaved, their coat never gets bristly. 



SQUARING horses' TAILS. 



There are two ways of squaring the tail. In either case it should 

 be carefully combed out. Then to proceed to cut it, either take up all 

 the hairs carefully in the hand without disturbing the arrangement, 

 and, squeezing them tightly, cut off all together with a sharp knife ; 

 or, secondly, take a pair of sharp scissors, and, holding the tail to 

 about its natural fall by the aid of the groom's hand under the 

 dock, pass the point of one blade straight back through the middle 

 of the tail, and cut outwards to either side in as few snips as 

 possible. Then reverse the scissors and cut the other half to the 

 same level. 



STABLES. 



Elevated and dry ground, which admits of perfect drainage with 

 most facility, is to be preferred ; and the frontage of stables, as far 



