TN THE STABLE AND AT WORK. 43 



head on the near side. Never use the comb on head, mane 

 nor tail. Carefully brush the left side of the head until it is 

 clean and shiny. Then proceed to the neck, thence to the 

 shoulders, using the comb now to loosen up the hair and 

 dirt, and only advancing as the portion under consideration 

 is thoroughly cleansed and beautified. Before touching the 

 body scrape, brush, clean and smooth the left side of both 

 forward legs. When all of this side has been well groomed 

 down to the last hair of both hind feet, the tail must be 

 carefully and persistently brushed. This done, proceed to 

 the right side of the head and follow the formula given for 

 the left side. If the head is difficult to groom satisfactorily, 

 rub the hair the wrong way with the brush and then smooth 

 it. This will soon conquer the worst case and do it agree- 

 ably to the horse. 



Be gentle with the horses. Nervous excitement deranges 

 the digestive organs. Worry the horse by voice or whip and 

 he will be thin, no matter what you feed him. Even a 

 horse appreciates a musical voice, with a kind intonation. 



In cleaning horses after coming in from work, or in the 

 morning, if the floor back of your stalls is large enough to 

 clean horses in, they should be cleaned there in preference 

 to the stall. Put a screw-eye in the wall up as high as you 

 can reach, tie a hitch rein with a snap to it ; right opposite 

 to this, in the stall post, put another screw-eye or screw ring, 

 lead your horse out and snap the hitch rein in the side 

 ring of the halter, then tie the halter rein in the ring 

 opposite. You can get around him without trouble, and 

 if he should happen to be a biter, he can't get at you. 



After going over his body with currycomb, take a com- 

 mon broom and brush all the dust off of him you can. It 

 will take out lots of dust in a short time. If your comb is 

 new and teeth sharp, run a file over them a few times. 



