AND GROOM A HORSE. 145 



greater part of the 3'ear, and which feeds only on grass, 

 with some slight addition of oats, and mashes, certainly is 

 not applicable to the farm-horses of the United States ; 

 which are, for the most part, if not altogether, stabled for 

 the greater part of the year, or ia winter, at least ; fed on 

 artificial food ; kept warm, to a certain extent ; and which, 

 of course, must be cleaned daily, especially after severe 

 work, or exposure to wet, if they are to be kept in health 

 and working condition. 



"It is to the stabled horse," Youatt continues, "highly 

 fed, and little or irregularly worked, that grooming is of 

 the highest consequence. Good rubbing with the brush, 

 or the currycomb opens the pores of the skin, circulates 

 the blood to the extremities of the body, produces free 

 and healthy perspiration, and stands in the room of exer- 

 cise. No horse will carry a fine coat, without either 

 unnatural heat, or dressing. They both effect the same 

 purpose, but the first does it at the expense of health, and 

 strength ; while the second, at the same time that it pro- 

 duces a glow on the skin, and a determination of the blood 

 to it, rouses all the energies of the frame. It would be 

 well for the proprietor of the horse if he were to insist, 

 and to see that his orders are really obeyed, that the 

 fine coat in which he, and his groom so much delight, is 

 produced by honest rubbing, and not b}^ a heated stable 

 and thick clothing, and, most of all, not by stimulating, 

 or injurious spices. The horse should be regularly 

 dressed every day, in addition to the grooming that is 

 necessary after work." 



It is true, in a measure, that the necessity of regular 

 dressing, wisping, currying, brushing and, hard rubbing is 

 far greater in the case of highly pampered horses, fed in 

 the most stimulating manner, principally on grain, kept in 

 hot stables, always a little above their work, and ready at 

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