How to Clean a Farm Horse.

Wairarapa Standard, Volume XX, Issue 2057, 20 April 1887, Page 2

How to Clean a Farm Horse.

One of the most important things to be observed in the management or farm horses is their cleaning, and yet it may bo safely stated that nothing is more neglected by the majority of farmers. Ihe horse should never be cleaned or harnessed ‘vhile it is eating breakfast. Let horses eat their food iu peace, for many, from sanguine temperament or greed, bolt their oats when handled during the time of feeding. Harness can be quickly enough put on after the feed is eaten, and time should then be taken to comb the mane and tail and use a wisp of straw on the body and legs. When the horses come in at dinner time, they should be at once unharnessed. The feed is then to be given, and before the harness is again put on, the horse should be thoroughly rubbed down with a wisp of straw or hay. If the horses are very warm on coming in, thev should be rubbed down immediately after the removal of th# harness. The cleaning or grooming, which should be done at night, consists first in currying the horse with the comb to free him of the dirt adhering to the hair, and which, being now dry, is easily removed. A wisping of straw removes the roughest of the dirt loosened by the currycomb. The leg* ought to be thoroughly wisped, not only to make them clean, but to dry up any moisture that may be left in the evening ; and at this time the feet should be picked clean by the footpicker—i.e., an iron instrument made for the purpose —of any dir* adhering between the shoe and the foot. The brush is then to be used to remove the remaining and finer portion of dust from the hair, which is cleared from the brush by a few rasps along the currycomb. This wisping and brushing, if done with some force and dexterity, with a combing of the tail and mane, should render the horse pretty clean, but there are more ways of grooming a horse than one, as may be witnessed by the careless and skimming way in which many hired hands do it. The akin of the farm horse should at all times be clean if not sleek, and a slap of the hand upon the horse will show if there is loose dust in the hair. Ths currycomb should not be used below the knees, as it is apt to cause injury. For cleaning the legs and feet, nothing ie better than the water-brush ; and when fitting a horse for the show-yards, it may also be used on the body with water, or even a little kerosene, but the latter is not required for common cleanliness, but merely to impart • temporary gloss. How many farmers can say that their horses are cleaned as thoroughly as we have advised in the above ? How much longer would horses liye, work, and remain healthy if the above suggestions were put into practice ? These are questions which it will be well to consider and answer at leisure.