86 STABLE ECONOMY. 



being clothed, little dandruff in, or dust on their hair] to soil 

 the stable. 



Inferior stablemen sometimes dress a horse very wretch- 

 edly. That which they do is not well done, and it is not 

 done in the right way. They are apt to be too harsh with 

 the currycomb. Some thin-skinned horses can not bear it, 

 and they do not always require it. It should be applied only 

 when and where necessary. This instrument loosens the 

 mud, raises and separates the hair ; and when the hair is 

 long, the comb cuts much of it away, especially when used 

 with considerable force. It is not at all times proper to thin 

 a horse's coat suddenly, and, when improper, it should be 

 forbidden. Having raised and separated the hair, the comb 

 should be laid aside. To use it afterward is to thin the coat ; 

 and in general, if the coat be too long, it should be thinned 

 by degrees, not at two or three, but at ten or twelve thinnings. 

 Tiien, the currycomb has little to do about the head, legs, 

 flanks, or other parts that are bony, tender, or thinly covered 

 with hair. When used in these places it should be drawn in 

 the direction of the hairs, or obliquely across them, and lightly 

 applied. The comb is often too sharp. For some horses it 

 should always be blunt. The horse soon shows whether or 

 not it is painful to him. If the operation be absolutely neces- 

 sary, and can not be performed without pain, the pain must 

 be suffered. But it is only in the hand of a rude or unskilful 

 groom that the comb gives any pain. Some never think of 

 what the horse is suffering under their operations. They 

 use the comb as if they wanted to scrape ofl^ the skin. They 

 do not apparently know the use of the instrument. Without 

 any regard to the horse's struggles, they persist in scratching 

 and rubbing, and rubbing and scratching, when there is not 

 the slightest occasion for employing the comb. On a tender 

 skin, the comb requires very little pressure ; it should be 

 drawn with the hair, or across it, rather than against it, and 

 there should be no rubbing. The pain is greatest when the 

 comb is made to pass rapidly backward and forward several 

 times over the same place. It should describe a sweeping, 

 not a rubbing motion. 



For some tender horses even the brush is too hard. In the 

 flank, the groin, on the inside of the tbigh, there can be little 

 dust to remove which a soft wisp will not take away, and it 

 is needless to persist in brushing these and similar places 

 when the horse offers much resistance. In using it about the 

 head or legs, care must be taken not to strike the horse with 



