146 HOW TO STABLE 



all times to jump out of their skins from the exuberance 

 of their animal spirit ; yet it is necessary to all housed and 

 stabled horses ; and the farmer, no less than the owner of 

 fast trotters, will find his advantage in having his horse 

 curried and washed, before feeding in the morning, in the 

 • increased play of his spirit, and in the gayety and fitness 

 of the animal for his work; and if, when he brings him 

 in at night, reeking with sweat, drenched with rain or 

 snow, his thighs and belly plastered with thick mud, and 

 his legs covered, as cart-horses' legs mostly are, with thick 

 hair, saturated witli cold water and clogged with particles 

 of mud and sand, he neglects to have him thoroughly 

 cleaned, and made dry and comfortable for the night, he 

 not only commits an act of gross cruelty, but wholly dis- 

 regards his own interest. Unless a horse be cleaned and 

 groomed when in such a condition, he cannot be kept in 

 health ; and if he be fed freely when in such a state, — 

 although the cart-horse is less liable to such ailments from 

 his hardier habits and less impressive constitution, — the 

 chances are that soon he will be attacked by inflammation 

 of the bowels, or lungs, or with spasmodic colic — the race- 

 horse, fast trotter, or highly bred and highly fed roadster 

 would be so attacked, to a certainty — and the failure to 

 dry and cleanse the legs of such a horse, especially if 

 there be a draft of cold wind blowing upon the heels from 

 a crevice under the stable door, as is generally the case in 

 common farm stables, will be almost certainly succeeded 

 by that troublesome, dangerous and foul disease, known 

 as "grease," or more commonly in America as "the 

 scratches." 



It may be well to say here, that the best average heat for 

 a gentleman's stable should be from 60, to not to exceed 65 

 degrees ; that the air should be perfectly dry ; for if there 

 be any moisture about the stables, it will hang about the 



