CARE AND MANAGEMENT OP ANIMALS 737 



like so dirty as the idle horse living in the open ; the skin 

 acts at work which is the explanation of the difference. 



Animals, particularly mules, may be kept wonderfully 

 clean by giving them merely a sand-bed to roll on after 

 they have come in from work. Horses get as fond of this 

 as mules, and go instinctively to the sand-bed on returning 

 from work. It is their natural way of ' dressing ' them- 

 selves, while sand, though it may make the coat harsh, 

 certainly cleans the skin. 



The grooming of horses living in stables is quite another 

 operation ; it is, or should be, thorough. It can hardly be 

 carried to excess, for there is clothing available to take the 

 place of the removed epithelium and fat, while the exercise 

 of friction to the body causes the fat already in the skin to 

 give that gloss to the coat which is so much admired in a 

 stabled animal. Such horses are no doubt more liable to 

 chill on exposure, though it is difficult to say how much of 

 this may be due to the removal of clothing and how much 

 to the removal of dandruff. 



To thoroughly groom a horse is hard work ; to give the 

 animal the full benefit of grooming the work should be 

 done with vigour, long strokes of the arm across and with 

 the hair, and at the same time pressure. The weight of the 

 body must be put into the brush, by which means the 

 capillaries in the skin are stimulated, and the full effects of 

 massage to the muscles obtained. 



In those countries where massage is understood, as in 

 the East, special leather pads are used on the hands, and 

 brought down alternately on the muscles with some con- 

 siderable force. Horses enjoy it, while the effect on their 

 muscles is admirable. 



There is a great deal of difference between the thorough 

 grooming of the racing stable and the brush over that the 

 majority of horses get, and the chief reason of this we 

 have explained, it is simply part of their preparation and 

 training. 



The best time to groom a horse is in the morning ; the 

 grooming of a tired horse is never attempted by those who 



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