296 SWEATING CRAVING HORSES. 



remain on longer than while their bodies are be- 

 ing dressed after long sweats or severely contest- 

 ed races; and more particularly are they useful 

 in case of horses having run heats of two or four 

 miles. On no other occasions than those just 

 mentioned are bandages to be used about the 

 legs of horsesy (diseased legs being excepted); 

 nor should they remain on for a longer period 

 than 1 have advised; if they were allowed to re- 

 main on all night, the probability is, that the 

 groom would be led into an error. For, as it is 

 an invariable rule with him, or at least it should 

 be, the first thing in the morning to examine 

 the legs of those horses that may have sweat- 

 ed the day previous, if the bandages remained 

 on, their legs would most likely be found per- 

 fectly fine, although perhaps one or other of 

 a horse's legs or fetlock joints may have received 

 an injury — on the tendons of the former, or 

 ligaments of the latter — neither of which inju- 

 ries may be visible on examination, as the band- 

 ages, being left on up to the period above-men- 

 tioned, would from heat, and a certain degree of 

 pressure, act somewhat upon the principle of 

 fomentations and poultices, in preventing the na- 

 tural enlargement that would otherwise arise 

 from an injury done to any part; and thus, as I 



