I 



DRESSING, OR GROOMING. 133 



but it should merely have the chill taken off, so that in dipping 

 the hand into it, no sensation of cold is produced. 



DRESSING, OR GROOMING. 



BY THE TERM DRESSING is generally understood the purifica- 

 tion of the skin, which the horse requires. He is never in the 

 highest health unless the pores are kept free from the scurf which 

 forms on them whenever he sweats, and the object of the strapping 

 which he receives at the hands of his groom is to get rid of this 

 mechanical obstruction, as well as to brace the nerves of the sur- 

 face by the friction of the brush or whisp. This dressing must be 

 renewed daily, even if the horse has not been sweated, and each 

 time that he comes in from work it is necessary to repeat it. The 

 former operation is or should be conducted in the same manner 

 every day, but the latter will vary according to the state of the 

 animal when he comes in, that is to say, depending upon whether 

 he has been sweated and is cool again, or if he is still wet, or has 

 been in the rain with or without exercise enough to warm him, or 

 lastly, if he has been ridden or driven through dirty roads or over 

 a deep country. Each of these conditions will therefore require a 

 separate consideration. 



THE USUAL MORNING'S DRESSING is commenced either as soon 

 as the horse has done his early feed, or on coming in from exer- 

 cise, if such is allowed or enjoyed. The utility of grooming after 

 work cannot be denied, for it would be absurd to contend that a 

 horse coming in wet and dirty should be left in that state till the 

 next day; but it is perhaps necessary to explain to the idle groom 

 that it is not a mere polishing of the surface of the coat which is 

 wanted, but a deep steady pressure of the brush into the roots of 

 the hair, so as to remove all the scurf which collects around them 

 and clogs the pores, through which the sweat ought to be allowed 

 to exude freely. Practically it is found that an hour's good strap- 

 ping daily, not only gives a polish to the coat, but it causes the 

 secretion of a fine oil, which has a tendency to throw off water, 

 and thus may save the horse exposed to the rain from catching 

 cold. Moreover, it certainly stimulates the nerves so as to enable 

 them to bear exposure to the weather, which would otherwise tell 

 injuriously on an animal which is covered up with thick clothing 

 in-doors, and stripped of everything, even of the long coat which 

 nature gives him, when he is submitted to the " pelting of the piti- 

 less storm.'' When the horse is turned out to grass, he is washed 

 by every shower of rain, and though his coat continues to look 

 dirty on the surface, yet the skin itself is braced by the winds and 

 cleansed by the waters of heaven. Not so, however, in-doors. 

 Here his clothing keeps his coat short, and keeps up a continual 

 state of insensible perspiration, the watery particles of which pass 



