Necessity and Objects of Clothing - Nature of Clothing - Amount of Clothing Necessary as a Protection against Cold - Various Kinds of Clothing - Quarter Sheet - Roller - Roller Cloth - Breast Cloth - Rug - Tail Guard - Hood-Under Rug - Head Collars - Halters - Bandages.

THE somewhat arbitrary grouping made in this section has been adopted so as to include all the usual articles which a horse wears in and out of the stable, and which are unconnected with riding and driving.

Necessity And Objects Of Clothing

In considering the necessity of clothing in a stable, we have to take into account the altered conditions of warmth under which a horse finds himself on being brought into a stable from the open. In a box or stall he is deprived of the frequent exercise which helps to keep his blood at a due rate of circulation when he is at liberty; the thickness and length of his coat become reduced by grooming and clipping, and the dandruff (scaly particles of outer skin) and hair oil, which aid in protecting his body from cold, are more or less removed by grooming. On the other hand, the building in which he resides, shelters him to a greater or less extent from bleak winds and changes of temperature; the air contained in it is usually hotter than that in the open; the bedding, as a rule, affords a warmer couch than the animal could obtain outside; and he is generally better fed. Although circumstances vary so much in different cases that it is impossible to make an exact estimate, I think we may say, speaking generally, that a horse without clothing is about as well off in a well-appointed stable as he would be in the open. Seeing that a horse when in the open and in an unclipped condition, is less liable to disease than when stabled and clipped, or stabled and unclipped, we may conclude that as he requires no clothing when undipped in the open, he will need none when undipped in the stable. The question of clothing, therefore, appears to resolve itself into one of the horse being clipped or undipped; clothing being a necessity during inclement weather in the former case, but not in the latter. During warm weather a horse of course requires no clothing to protect him from chill.

The only case in which a groomed horse would usually need clothing outside, is when he is kept standing in cold or wet. We may see from the remarks made about Russian cab horses (p. 36), that if a horse is undipped, ungroomed, and accustomed to exposure, he will, as a rule, suffer no ill effects from being kept standing for a considerable time under the influence of a far lower temperature than we have ever experienced in England. Grooming and stabling increase a horse's susceptibility to cold so much, that with an ordinary stabled horse it is always a safe proceeding, when practicable, to put a rug over him when he has to stand in the open if the air is even chilly, and especially if the animal is hot after recent exercise. It would be still better to keep him moving at a rate appropriate to the effect which the coldness of the air has on him, and with or without a rug as the case might demand. To give an idea of what I mean by the air being chilly I would estimate the temperature of such air at from 450 F. to 320 F., on the understanding, of course, that the higher the wind, the more severe would be the effect of the cold.

Waterproof clothing put over the ordinary clothing is often employed when sending horses by train, and is very useful during wet weather. We have seen (p. 35) that the saturation of the coat with water greatly diminishes its power of keeping the animal warm. When he is out at work, protection against atmospheric damp by clothing should not be obtained at the expense of checking the evaporation of perspiration from the skin; for if that occurs, the coat will become more or less wet from sweat, and the horse will be liable to suffer from chill when the waterproof covering is removed. Hence, such a covering should be permeable to air and vapour. Notter and Firth tell us that "a well prepared waterproof material will permit of a candle being extinguished, when blown through a 1-inch pipe at a distance of 6 in." The following method for waterproofing cloth is given in Cooky's Encyclopoedia of Practical Receipts: "Rub the wrong side of the cloth with a lump of beeswax, perfectly pure and free from grease, until it presents a light, but even, white or greyish appearance; a hot iron is then to be passed over it, and the cloth being brushed whilst warm, the process is complete."

Clothing is sometimes useful for drying a horse which is brought in out of the wet or which has been washed all over, and when it is not convenient to have him rubbed dry. The process is similar to, though on a larger scale than, the familiar one of leaving an ordinary saddle on the back of a sweating horse for twenty minutes or half an hour, by the end of which time the sweat which was in the hair immediately under the saddle, will have passed into the absorbent panel, and the part in question will be dry. A similar effect would be produced with a felt numnah; but not with a leather saddle cloth, or with a panel covered with leather. We see the same thing occur when a horse's legs which are wet, have woollen bandages put on them. In all these cases, the absorbent material, whether rug, panel, or bandage, should be removed as soon as it has served its purpose, and a dry protective covering, applied. After removing the second protective covering previous to work for instance, it is well to stimulate the circulation of the part by friction, so as to prevent the occurrence of chill.

As a rule, clothing is necessary for preserving the cleanliness of a horse's coat in the stable, in the event of his lying down on his droppings or on contaminated portions of litter. In this respect its utility is self-evident.

The judicious use of clothing aids the action of food in maintaining the temperature of the body. A portion of the food digested by the horse is expended in keeping the body at a more or less uniform degree of heat (about 99.50 F.). As this temperature is considerably higher than that of the atmosphere in cold weather, and as the body undergoes a continual process of cooling by radiation and by evaporation; protection by clothing will help to diminish this loss, and will consequently cause a saving in food. If the weather be warm or if the amount of clothing be excessive, the use of clothing, instead of being economical, will, by over-stimulating the skin, cause loss of weight and possibly debility. We may therefore conclude that the employment of clothing in this respect may be limited to that which will be sufficient as a protection from chill.

Grooms are greatly addicted to the use of clothing for the production of a glossy coat; because this form of polish can be obtained without the expenditure of "elbow grease," which entails more or less hard work. We may be quite sure that the coat which owes its sleek appearance to the effect of an inordinate quantity of clothing, to residence in a hot stable, or to both these influences, will "stare" far worse and much more quickly under the effect of a cold wind, than one which has been produced under healthy stable conditions; because the skin of the former is more susceptible to chill than that of the latter. We may safely conclude that the only legitimate gloss on a horse's coat is that obtained by health and good grooming.

We sometimes find that suitable clothing is useful in protecting a horse from the attacks of flies, which are specially-irritating during the autumn and in wooded parts of the country. This application of clothing is generally limited in England to the employment in the open of a net to cover the ears of harness horses. In hot countries, eye-fringes and light clothing are in frequent use for this purpose.

The benefit to be obtained by the use of clothing for developing condition is doubtful. I think it is safest in all cases to trust solely to exercise and grooming to stimulate the skin with the object of promoting health and vigour; for, independently of the consideration of the increased susceptibility to chill, we have the fact taught us by practical experience that the stimulation of the skin by clothing, particularly if the clothing is heavy, has a debilitating effect on the animal. In this case, the effect of clothing is similar to that of a long (unclipped) coat.