98 STABLE ECONOMY. 



require little care, though more would make them look better. 

 But stablemen who know this are apt to treat all the horses 

 alike. The young and the delicate must have additional care 

 till they are inured to exposure. 



All horses, whatever be their age, condition, and work, are 

 most easily injured by exposure to cold, after they have been 

 heated by exertion. Every man may have proof of this in his 

 own person. After perspiring he feels cold and disposed to 

 shiver, though by this time the skin may be quite dry. It is 

 the same with the horse. Before he has been heated he might 

 stand in the cold, or with his coat wet for perhaps half an 

 hour, without any danger ; but after he has perspired pretty 

 freely from exertion, motionless exposure in a cold atmosphere 

 for fifteen minutes will do him more harm than he would re- 

 ceive in thirty minutes before the exertion ; or, in the one 

 case, he would be none the worse — in the other, he w^ould 

 have a cough next day. 



Therefore, a wet horse requires most care when his work 

 has heated him. He must be dried more quickly, or kept in 

 motion for a longer time than if he had not been excited. 



It is continued cold that does the mischief in all cases ; 

 some, from habit, will bear much more than others, but none 

 seem able to bear it so well after as before perspiring. The 

 intolerance of cold seems to remain for an hour or two after 

 the horse is quite cool, and to increase as the skin loses its 

 heat. 



The first symptom of approaching danger is staring of the 

 coat ; if the horse be immediately put into a warm stable, or 

 warmly clothed, or put in motion, he may, and probably will, 

 escape. The second symptom is shivering, which ought to 

 be quickly arrested by applying warmth. There is no danger 

 in exposure, so long as the skin remains comfortably warm 

 or hot. 



To Remove the Mud. — There are two ways of removing 

 the mud. One may be termed the dry, and another the 

 wet mode. The first is performed by means of the scraper 

 and the currycomb, or a kind of brush made of whalebone, 

 which answers much better than the currycomb. In most of 

 the well-regulated coaching-stables, the strappers are never 

 allowed to apply water to a horse that has come muddy off the 

 road [and in no stable should the mud be allowed to be re- 

 moved from the horse by washing, except he be hand-rubbed 

 dry]. The usual practice is to strip off the mud and loose 

 water by the sweat knife ; to walk the horse about for ten 



