ON DRESSING RACE-HORSES. 239 



a boy has been taught his duty, he seldom forgets 

 any thing relative to his horse; or if he does, the 

 groom is very likely, with the aid of an ash plant, to 

 refresh his memory in a way not very pleasant to the 

 boy's feelings. The duty he has to perform in the 

 stables with regard to the dressing of his horse, is 

 sometimes as difficult as that which he has to attend 

 to out of them when riding him. 



As the dressing of race-horses (generally speaking) 

 differs very materially from that of most of our hunters 

 and hacks, I think it necessary to make a few remarks 

 on the subject. It is to be observed that race-horses, 

 on coming into the stables from their daily exercise, 

 are not in that dirty or sweaty state in which hunters 

 and hacks generally are, unless after sweating and 

 running, (this is another matter, and I shall come to 

 it by and bye) ; they, therefore, do not require to be 

 worked at by those who look after them with that 

 degree of labour which is so often requisite in cleaning 

 either of the former. 



I shall first notice the regular method to be pursued 

 in the dressing of a quiet race-horse. The boy, in 

 coming in from exercise, rides his horse into the stable, 

 turns him round in the stall, dismounts, slacks his 

 girths, takes off his hood, bridle, and boots, unbuckles 

 his breast cloth, turns it and the front part of the 

 quarter-piece back, over the saddle. Having put 

 a bit of hay on the ground for the horse to eat, he 

 commences dressing his head, neck, and fore-quarters ; 

 first, by wisping them perfectly clean with a damp 



