THE CURRYCOMB. 413 



the head, legs, flanks, or other parts that are bony, tender, or 

 thinly covered with hair. "When used in these places it should 

 be dj*awn in the direction of the hairs, or obliquely across them, 

 and lightly applied. The comb is often too sharp. For some 

 horses it should always be blunt. The horse soon shows whe- 

 ther or not it is painful to him. If the operation be absolutely 

 necessary, and cannot be performed without pain, the pain must 

 be suffered. But it is only in the hand of a rude or unskilful 

 groom that the comb gives any pain. Some never think of 

 what the horse is suffering under their operations. They use 

 the comb as if they wanted to scrape off the skin. They do not 

 apparently know the use of the instrument. AVithout any re- 

 gard to the horse's struggles, they persist in scratching and rub- 

 bing, and rubbing and scratching, when there is not the slight- 

 est occasion for employing the comb. On a tender skin, the 

 comb requires very little pressure ; it should be drawn with the 

 hair, or across it, rather than against it, and there should be no 

 rubbing. The pain is greatest when the comb is made to pass 

 rapidly backward and forward several times over the same place. 

 It should describe a sweeping, not a rubbing motion. 



For some tender horses even the brush is too hard. In the 

 flank, the groin, on the inside of the thigh, there can be little 

 dust to remove which a soft wisp will not take away, and it is 

 needless to persist in brushing these and similar places when the 

 horse offers much resistance. In using it about the head or legs, 

 care must be taken not to strike the horse with the back of the 

 brush. These bony parts are easily hurt, and after repeated 

 blows the horse becomes suspicious and troublesome. For thin- 

 skinned, irritable, horses the brush should be soft, or somewhat 

 worn. 



Where the currycomb is used too much, the brush is used 

 too little. The expertness of a groom may be known by the 

 manner in which he applies the brush. An experienced ope- 

 rator will do as much with a wisp of straw as a half-made groom 

 will do with the brush. He merely cleans, or at the very most 

 polishes the surface, and nothing but the surface. The brush 

 should penetrate the hair and clean the skin, and to do this 

 it must be applied with some vigor, and pass repeatedly over 

 the same place. It is oftenest drawn along the hair, but some- 



