286 CLOTHING. 



much in different cases that it is impossible to make an 

 exact estimate, I think we may say, speaking generally, that a 

 horse without clothing is about as well off in a well-appointed 

 stable as he would be in the open. Seeing that a horse when in 

 the open and in an undipped condition, is less liable to disease 

 than when stabled and clipped, or stabled and undipped, we 

 may conclude that as he requires no clothing when undipped 

 in the open, he will need none when undipped in the stable. 

 The question of clothing, therefore, appears to resolve itself 

 into one of the horse being clipped or undipped ; clothing 

 being a necessity during inclement weather in the former 

 case, but not in the latter. During warm weather a horse 

 of course requires no clothing to protect him from chill. 



The only case in which a groomed horse would usually need 

 clothing outside, is when he is kept standing in cold or wet. 

 We may see from the remarks made about Russian cab 

 horses (p. 36), that if a horse is undipped, ungroomed, and 

 accustomed to exposure, he will, as a rule, suffer no ill effects 

 from being kept standing for a considerable time under the 

 influence of a far lower temperature than we have ever 

 experienced in England. Grooming and stabling increase a 

 horse's susceptibility to cold so much, that with an ordinary 

 stabled horse it is always a safe proceeding, when practicable, 

 to put a rug over him when he has to stand in the open if 

 the air is even chilly, and especially if the animal is hot after 

 recent exercise. It would be still better to keep him moving 

 at a rate appropriate to the effect which the coldness of the 

 air has on him, and with or without a rug as the case might 

 demand. To give an idea of what I mean by the air being 

 chilly I would estimate the temperature of such air at from 

 45 F. to 32 F., on the understanding, of course, that the 

 higher the wind, the more severe would be the effect of 

 the cold. 



Waterproof clothing put over the ordinary clothing is often 



