HAIR ON THE LEGS OF CART-HORSES, 219 



is jp healthy and untrammelled action, its temperature, on 

 account of the free evaporation of perspiration, is consider- 

 ably under that of the deeper structures, even when the 

 thermometer stands, say, ii^"" Fahrenheit in the shade. If, 

 under such circumstances, clothing be worn, the garments will 

 soon become almost, if not quite, as hot as the surrounding 

 air, evaporation will be checked, except from the exposed 

 parts, the temperature of the skin will rise, and the cooling 

 process of radiation will be more or less stopped. In this 

 case, any gain which may be obtained in lessening the 

 absorption of heat, as persons do in hot countries, by wearing 

 white will be a direct gain. During the summer months in 

 tropical latitudes, the hair on a horse's body will, usually, be 

 so short and thin, that its presence will offer no impedi- 

 ment to the action of the skin. Agreeably to the foregoing 

 observations, we find that black and brown horses stand heat 

 best ; and that white — especially if they have pink skins — and 

 grey animals sustain it comparatively badly. I have fre- 

 quently observed on hot days in tropical climates that, other 

 things being equal, grey horses sweated far more readily 

 and profusely than those of darker shades. 



Hair. — The possession of a fine glossy coat will naturally 

 indicate that the skin is in active working order, and conse- 

 quently in good condition for removing the surplus heat 

 generated in the body by hard labour. The Desert Arabs, 

 who have no objection to a thick mane, consider that unless 

 a horse has a thin tail, he cannot be of high caste. The 

 same idea seems to have given rise to the saying that one 

 never sees a bad rat-tailed horse. 



Hair on the Legs of Cart-horses. — It is a common 

 belief that cart-horses with a good supply of hair on the legs 

 have better bone than the cleaner limbed animals. Mr. 

 G. M. Sexton, secretary to the English Cart-horse Society, 

 in his essay on cart-horses, writes as follows: *'One of the 

 characteristics of the Shire horse is to have hair on the legs. 



