THE CARE OF HORSES. 307 
In cold weather the advantages of rubbing down 
are more real; but if the horse be in a sweat, and the 
stable be cool, there is danger in the process, unless 
three or four men can be employed init. “The horse 
must immediately be rubbed dry, when he comes in,” 
say most of the books; but in the mean time, for it 
cannot be done in a moment, the horse catches cold. 
The better way is to let him stand for a minute or 
five minutes, according to the temperature, and “steam 
off,” then blanket him, and rub his head and neck dry. 
Every stable should have at least one hood, to be used, 
for example, when a horse goes to the blacksmith shop 
in excessively cold weather, and more especially to be 
used in the stable. In cold weather, whenever a 
horse comes in thoroughly wet, either with rain or 
sweat, I put on a hood, removing it as soon as the 
hair is dry. If the whole body be wet with rain, one 
thick blanket should be put on, to be followed in 
about five minutes by another, and perhaps two more, 
for under these circumstances heavy blanketing is 
necessary. The water will go to the top blanket, 
leaving the one next to the horse perfectly dry, —al- 
though this result is the opposite of that which the 
inexperienced person would expect. 
And how about the legs? Their proper treatment 
is summed up in the old stable aphorism: “If they 
are wet, dry them; if they are dry, leave them dry.” 
Nothing could be more irrational than the practice, 
formerly common and not yet extinguished, of sluicing 
the horse’s legs with water immediately on his coming 
into the stable. This might perhaps be done without 
harm, if the legs could be dried at once after the 
washing; but this operation would be a long one, and 
