When some severe work has been done, so as to occasion perspiration, the ears should not be more neglected than the rest of the body; and when they are dried by hand-rubbing and pulling, the horse will feel refreshed.
As already recommended, cleaning out of doors should be forbidden. If one could rely on the discretion of servants, cleaning might be done outside occasionally in fine weather; but licence on this score being once given, the probability is that your horse will be found shivering in the open air on some inclement day.
The groom always uses a picker in the process of washing and cleaning the feet, to dislodge all extraneous matter, stones, &c., that may have been picked up in the clefts of the frog and thereabouts; he also washes the foot with a long-haired brush. In dry weather, after heavy work, it is good to stop the fore feet with what is called “stopping” (cow-dung), which is not difficult to procure. Wet clay is sometimes used in London for the purpose in the absence of cow-dung. Very useful, too, in such case will be found a stopping composed of one part linseed-meal to two parts bran, wetted, and mixed to a sticking consistency.
The evidence of care in the groomed appearance of the mane and tail looks well. An occasional inspection of the mane by the master may be desirable, by turning over the hairs to the reverse side; any signs of dirt or dandriff found cannot be creditable to the groom.
Bandaging.—When a hunter comes in from a severe day, it is an excellent plan to put rough bandages (provided for the purpose) on the legs, leaving them on while the rest of the body is cleaning; it will be found that the mud and dirt of the legs will to a great extent fall off in flakes on their removal, thus reducing the time employed in cleaning. When his legs are cleaned and well hand-rubbed, put on the usual-sized flannel bandages. They should never remain on more than four or six hours, and when taken off (not to be again used till the next severe work) the legs should be once more hand-rubbed.
Bandages ought not to be used under other circumstances than the above, except by order of a veterinary surgeon for unsoundness.
In some cases of unsoundness—such as undue distension of the bursæ, called “wind-galls,” the effect of work—a linen or cotton bandage kept continually saturated with water, salt and water, or vinegar, and not much tightened, may remain on the affected legs; but much cannot be said for the efficacy of the treatment.
For what is called “clap,” or supposed distension of the back sinew (which is in reality no distension of the tendon, as that is said to be impossible, though some of its fibres may be injured, but inflammation of the sheath through which the tendon passes), the cold lotion bandaging just described, in connection with the directions given under the head of “Shoeing” ([page 82]), will be found very serviceable.
Grooms’ Requisites are usually understood to comprise the following articles:—a body-brush, water-brush, dandriff or “dander” brush, picker, scraper, mane-comb, curry-comb, pitchfork, shovel and broom, manure-basket, chamois-leather, bucket, sponges, dusters, corn-sieve, and measures; leather boot for poultices, clyster syringe (requiring especial caution in use—[see page 159, note]), drenching-horn, bandages (woollen and linen); a box with a supply of stopping constantly at hand; a small store of tow and tar, most useful in checking the disease called thrush ([page 135]) before it assumes a chronic form; a lump of rock-salt, ready to replace those which should be always kept in the mangers to promote the general health of the animals as well as to amuse them by licking it; a lump of chalk, ready at any time for use (in the same manner as rock-salt) in the treatment of some diseases, as described, [pages 154] and [160].
Singeing, there is little doubt, tends to improve the condition of the animal; so much so, that timid users do well to remember that animals which, before the removal of their winter coat, required perpetual reminders of the whip, will, directly they are divested of that covering, evince a spirit, vigour, and endurance which had remained, perhaps, quite unsuspected previously. In fact, in most cases, the general health and appetite seem to be improved.