AND GKOOM A HORSE. 147 



horses in tlie sliape of a mist, and tlie animals, when thej^ 

 are brought into the open air, although their skins will be 

 as fine as can be imagined, will shiver as if thej had just 

 made their exit fi:oin a warm bath. 



In stables such as this, a single good blanket, breast- 

 plate and roller, will be a sufficient clothing, though a 

 holland sheet, under the woollen rug, is very serviceable 

 in keeping the skin smooth and the coat unruffled. A 

 hood and cover should be added when the horse is taken 

 out for slow exercise. It is common, in America, in 

 winter, in unusually cold weather, where horses arc ex- 

 pected to be driven fast, and to have to stand still, alter- 

 nately, at shop doors or in visiting, to see them clothed, 

 under their harness, in hoods and blankets. This plan 

 can, evidently, do no good; the animal, while working 

 last, is as much more heated by the covering, as he ia 

 afterward more protected by it when standing still ; add 

 to which, if the clothing be, as probably it will, saturated 

 with perspiration while the animals are in motion, it will 

 be frozen, or rendered entirely cold and clammy, so soon 

 as the motion ceases; and will in that state affect the 

 animals injuriously instead of beneficially ; just as it would 

 affect a man, to wrap him up, when sweating profusely, 

 in a heavy wet overcoat. If anything of this sort be re- 

 quired, the only rational way is to have the rugs or 

 blankets at hand, dry and warm, in the boot of the car- 

 riage, and to throw them over the backs of the animals^ 

 and buckle them across their chests, so soon as they 

 are pulled up, removing them and restoring them to a 

 dry place before again getting under way. Such is the 

 rationale of out- door clothing. There is, however, no ob 

 jection to the use of a water-proof covering over the loins 

 of a horse, when he is taken out to be used through the 

 whole of a cold, rainy or sleety day, particularly if it be 



