The horse should be groomed every day. This keeps the pores of the skin open and the hair bright and glossy. When horses are working hard, the harness should be removed during the noon hour. During the cool seasons of the year, whenever a horse is wet with sweat, it should on stopping work, or when standing for awhile, be blanketed, for the animal is as liable as man to get cold in a draft or from moisture evaporating rapidly from its skin.
EXERCISE
If the pupil will take an ordinary tape measure, he can make some measurements of the horse that will be very interesting as well as profitable. Let him measure:
- 1. The height of the horse at the withers, 1 to 1.
- 2. The height of the horse at croup, 2 to 2.
- 3. Length of shoulder, 1 to 3.
- 4. Length of back, 4.
- 5. Length of head, 5.
- 6. Depth of body, 6 to 6.
- 7. Daylight under body, 7 to 7.
- 8. Distance from point of shoulder to quarter, 3 to 3.
- 9. Width of forehead.
- 10. Width between hips.
Note. Many interesting comparisons can be made (1) by measuring several horses; (2) by studying the proportion between parts of the same horse.
Proportions of a Horse
1. How many times longer is the body than the head? Do you get the same result from different horses?
2. How does the height at the withers compare with the height at the croup?
3. How do these compare with the distance from quarter to shoulder?
4. How does the length of the head compare with the thickness of the body and with the open space, or "daylight," under the body?