106 TREATMENT OF HORSES 



and more particularly so in the spring; for it is, 

 as I have before observed, at this season of the 

 year that race horses are very subject to fall 

 amiss in coughs and colds, or, what is much 

 worse, to get severe attacks of the distemper, from 

 which many of them are not only ill for the 

 greater part of the spring, but, what is very com- 

 mon, their constitutions suffer so much after- 

 wards, from the effects of the complaint, as to 

 render them useless for the greater part of the 

 racing season. This, therefore, shews how ne- 

 cessary it is, not only for grooms to attend strictly 

 to the clothing of their horses, but also, to pre- 

 vent their horses from falling amiss, to be most 

 particularly attentive to the ventilating of their 

 stables, agreeably to the various changes of the 

 atmosphere (see Vol. I. Chap. 3, on Ventilation). 

 The morning being dry over-head, the horses are 

 got ready to go out, being comfortably clothed; 

 next their skins they should have their soft, warm 

 blankets, which should be long enough to reach 

 from the middle or near the top of the horse's 

 neck, to the top of his tail, and they should be 

 broad enough to lap well under his belly, for I 

 have a great dislike to a race horse's belly being 

 wet; which would otherwise frequently happen, 

 as the water will occasionally lie in the vales or 



