114 STABLE ECONOMY. 



about them the better. The moisture which that little takes 

 up can be easily removed : both the skin and the hair can be 

 made perfectly dry before evaporation begins, or proceeds so 

 far as to deprive the legs of their heat. It is the cold pro- 

 duced by evaporation that does all the mischief; and if there 

 be no moisture to create evaporation, there can be no cold — 

 no loss of heat, save that which is taken away by the air. If 

 there were more hair about the heels, they could not be so 

 soon nor so easily dried. If the man requires ten minutes to 

 dry one leg, the last will have thirty minutes to cool ; if he 

 can dry each in two minutes, the last will have only six minutes 

 to cool, and in that time it can not become so cold as to be 

 liable to grease. Whenever, therefore, the legs must be dried 

 by manual labor, they should have little hair about them. 



But in coaching and posting-studs, and among cart-horses,- 

 the men can not, or will not bestow this care upon the legs ; 

 they have not time, and they would not do it if they had time. 

 A team of four horses, perhaps, comes in at once, the legs all 

 wet, and, it may be, the whole skin drenched in rain. Before 

 eight of the legs can be rubbed dry, the other eight have be- 

 come almost dry of themselves, and are nearly as cold as they 

 can be. These horses should never have the heels trimmed: 

 they can not have too much hair about them. They do indeed 

 soak up a great deal of water, and remain wet for a much 

 longer time than those that are nearly naked ; but still they 

 never become so soon nor so intensely cold. Evaporation 

 can not proceed so rapidly ; the vapor is entangled among the 

 hair, and can not escape all at once. The evaporating process 

 proceeds for a long time, but so slowly that the skin has time 

 to furnish the necessary quantity of heat before it becomes 

 very cold. If these horses had naked heels, there would be 

 little difficulty in drying them ; but the little trouble it requires 

 is too much, and then it must be repeated as the water trickles 

 from the body downward, making the legs as wet as ever ; but 

 in truth the men can not get them all dried before some be- 

 come cold. 



Possibly this explanation may be considered as insufficient. 

 I can appeal to observation. During two very wet winters I 

 have paid particular attention to the subject. My practice 

 has brought it before me whether I would or not ; I have had 

 opportunity of observing the results of trimming and of no- 

 trimming, among upward of five hundred horses. Nearly 

 three hundred of these are employed at coaching and posting, 

 or work of a similar kind, and about one hundred and fifty are 



