THE EFFECT OF HEAT ON ANIMALS 139 



ache and sunstroke, and now wear a hat, through which 

 the ears project. It is fastened under the horse's chin 

 by strings, and gives him a curiously civilized and 

 un-Oriental air. In London our omnibus companies 

 ' stand drinks ' to their animals in exceptionally hot 

 weather. The favourite beverage is oatmeal and water. 

 The horses know the stages at which this will be sup- 

 plied, and show the greatest eagerness to get it. 



English harness, though excellent for cool weather, 

 is very trying to horses in the great heat. The 

 multiplicity of straps and the hot collar form a net- 

 work of wet, hot lines across the animal's back and 

 flanks. Soldiers sweating under the pressure of cross- 

 belts and side-belts on a summer march soon realize the 

 feelings of the over-harnessed horses, and take the view 

 that the light American harness, worked with a breast- 

 plate in place of a collar, is probably far more comfort- 

 able for the animal. The violent perspiration of some 

 horses, though it looks uncomfortable, is in all likeli- 

 hood a relief to them. There is nothing worse for a 

 horse than to be ' hide-bound,' and the only discomforts 

 which the opposite symptoms entail are the danger of 

 sores being caused by harness rubbing on the wet skin, 

 and the risk of chills, to which horses are equally subject 

 with human beings in hot weather. One driver of the 

 writer's acquaintance always maintained that one of his 

 horses could sweat at pleasure, and did so whenever he 



