Or draws sand till the sand of his hour Glass stands still.”
Dibdin’s Race Horse.
To cover a Horse with heavy Clothes while he is in a hot Stable, and to strip him stark naked when he goes out into the Cold Air, is, I think, as absurd a custom as can easily be imagined!—Gentle Reader, how would You like to have your Great Coat put on while sitting by your Fire-side in your Snug Parlour, which is of the comfortable temperature of 60, and have it pulled off when you went out, and were obliged to stand two or three hours with a cold wind blowing upon you of a chilling temperature of 40, and perhaps Raining hard into the bargain?
Such treatment is as uncomfortable to a Horse as it would be to a Man; and is the cause of the otherwise unaccountable premature mortality of these valuable animals, especially of our London Carriage Horses, which are often kept standing still exposed to the open air in cold and damp weather for hours together!
When Carriage Horses are taken out in Wet Weather, they should have Water Decks over their Loins, and be kept moving about every ten minutes.
Where the ceiling of a Stable is low, and there is no window, the best way to ventilate it is by a funnel passing up through the Stable Ceiling, and through that of the Loft above.
Stables should be aired every day by keeping the Doors and Windows open during the absence of the Horses. Experience teaches us how agreeable, and indeed how indispensable fresh Air is in our own Apartments: it is equally so to Horses; and one would almost suppose that Persons who neglect to give it them never enjoyed the benefit of fresh Air themselves.
As good Master George Markham tells us, in his Way to Wealth, 4to., 1638, p. 9, “Coach Horses, by reason of their many occasions to stand still, must be inured to all Hardnesse.”
Never let Carriage Horses be clothed while in the Stable, but desire your Coachman to carry their Body Clothes with him, and put them on when they have a waiting Job, as he does his own Box Coat;—the former will be as comfortable to his Horses, as the latter is to himself.
A Coachman should make it a Rule (especially when he finds it cold enough to put on his Great Coat) every quarter of an hour to move his Horses about a little, and to draw round some Corner, so as to get out of the Wind. It is not so much their being long out of Doors, but their long standing quite still in a current of Cold Air, that injures Horses.