732 VETEEINAEY HYGIENE 



A hunter must have his winter coat removed, and conse- 

 quently must have clothing to take its place. The horse 

 at slow draught work neither requires the coat removing 

 nor clothing, not even in the coldest winter ; the troop horse 

 if lying idle all the winter should be undipped and un- 

 rugged, if worked during these months he must be prepared 

 for it by clipping and the coat artificially replaced. 



Animals performing fast or severe work with a long coat, 

 suffer an unnecessary drain on the system; the sweat of 

 the horse is not a simple mixture of water and salts, but of 

 water, proteid, and salts, and the observed loss of flesh 

 which followed horses being worked undipped, as was 

 frequently the practice a generation ago, is thus readily 

 explained. 



The chance of chill following the return to the stable of 

 an undipped animal, with a long wet winter coat that takes 

 two men an hour to dry, has not been exaggerated. The 

 chances of chill would be still greater but for the presence 

 of the above-mentioned proteid and the extraordinary 

 amount of saline matter in the sweat. 



We must clearly distinguish between the necessities of a 

 business stable, and the requirements of the stable contain- 

 ing horses of pleasure. 



In the former summer clothing is out of the question, 

 a rough blanket, wool lined, preferably with a crupper to 

 insure it being kept in its place, and a buckled breast piece 

 is all that is required. The fastening should either be 

 secured to the blanket or the ordinary roller applied. With 

 the former care must be observed that the stitching does 

 not injure the back, or that it is not pulled up so tightly 

 that the piece of webbing comes down on the spine and 

 inflicts injury. 



There is nothing to beat a well padded roller, but few 

 rollers are well padded, and even when so in the new state, 

 through use they rapidly flatten and the entire pressure 

 comes on the spine. Sore backs from either of these 

 causes are common, while the remedy in either case is 

 obvious. 



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