418 THE HORSE. 



dogs, or poultry, will not get among it. If it .cannot be easily 

 removed without scattering it across the stable or yard, a solu- 

 tion of quicklime may be dashed over it, before it is taken from 

 the stall. 



Dressing afier Work.— This operation varies according to 

 many circumstances ; it is influenced by the kind of horse, the 

 state and time in which he arrives at the stable. Slow-working 

 horses merely require to be dried and cleaned ; those of fast 

 work may require something more, and those which arrive at a 

 late hour are not usually dressed, as they would be by coming 

 home earlier. The principal objects in dressing a horse after 

 work are to get him dry, cool, and clean. It is only, however, 

 in stables tolerably well regulated, that these three objects are 

 aimed at or attainable. Carters, and other inferior stablemen, 

 endeavor to remove the mud which adheres to the belly, the 

 feet, and the legs, and they are not often very particular as to 

 the manner in which this is done. K a pond or river be at 

 hand, or on the road home, the horse is driven through it, and 

 his keeper considers that the best, which I suppose means the 

 easiest, way of cleaning him. Others, having no such conve- 

 nience, are content to throw two or three buckets of water over 

 the legs. Their only way of drying the horse is by sponging 

 the legs, and wisping the body, and this is generally ^one as if 

 it were a matter of form more than of utility. There are some 

 lazy fellows w^ho give themselves no concern about dressing the 

 horse. They put him in the stable, wet and dirty as he comes 

 off the road ; and after he is dry, perhaps he gets a scratch 

 with the curiycomb, and a rub with the straw wisp. Fast- 

 working horses require very different treatment. The rate at 

 which they travel renders them particularly liable to all those 

 diseases arising from or connected with changes of temperature. 

 In winter, the horse comes off the road, heated, wet, and be- 

 spattered with mud; in summer, he is hotter, drenched in 

 perspiration, or half dry, his coat matted, and sticking close to the 

 skin. Sometimes he is quite cool, but wet, and clothed in mud. 

 The treatment he receives cannot be always the same. In sum- 

 mer, after easy work, his feet and legs may be washed and dried, 

 and his body dressed in nearly the same manner that it is dress- 

 ed before work. The wisp dries the places that are moist with 



