A full suit of clothing consists of a quarter sheet, with fillet strings and button loops, breast cloth, roller, roller-cloth, tail-guard, hood, and a set of woollen bandages, with an under rug, if required. The button loops are used to loop up the fillet strings when desired, as in the stable and with mares. A head collar, knee caps, and hock caps may be regarded as accessories. In the clothing of racehorses (Fig. 36), the quarter sheet does not usually come as low down as in that of hunters or carriage horses.

Clothing is generally divided into warm clothing and light clothing, and into day clothing and night clothing. The best warm clothing is made of kersey, or of fawn or striped blanketing, both of which should, of course, be "all wool." The stoutest blanketing is thicker, heavier, and more loosely woven than kersey, and is consequently warmer, though it is not so strong and durable. Light clothing is made of cotton, linen, or jute, and in this country is used only by day. Warm clothing is generally bound with livery cloth. The usual colour for light clothing is check; and for warm clothing fawn or check. With a stable of several horses it is well to have a distinctive colour or pattern for the clothing, so that the horses when at exercise can be distinguished by it ,and that stolen clothing can be recognised. The best and cleanest clothing is generally retained for day duty. Instead of keeping particular sets of clothing for respective day and night use, it is better to divide them into sets which will be used only out of doors, and sets which will be put on only in the stable; for the groom will then be deprived, as far as the clothing is concerned, of the undesirable incentive to tie the horses up during the day. We may study both economy and cleanliness by employing a non-woollen covering (canvas, jute or cotton) for the rugs or quarter sheets used in the stable.

The Quorn Hunt adopt the plan of clothing horses during the season with a kersey quarter sheet and a blanket rug; the former being used over the latter by day, and under it by night. The Quorn quarter sheet is in reality a rug; because it is not provided with a breast cloth (see next page). I have already indicated that this amount of clothing is too much for hunters in England.

Quarter Sheet

The quarter sheet is cut out for the neck, and has a strap to buckle across the breast. Its full length for, say, a 16 h. 2 in. hunter, is 6 ft. measured along its lower part. It is provided with plaited fillet strings, which serve to prevent the rear corners of the quarter sheet from flying about when on the horse, and which are looped up when the clothing is worn by the horse in the stable. That portion of the quarter sheet which goes over the withers should be fitted to the part, so that the withers may not become inflamed from undue pressure.

Roller

The roller is a form of surcingle which helps to prevent the body clothing from becoming shifted out of its proper position when on the horse. It is well to have the roller provided with a breast-girth so as to obviate the risk of its working backwards. The pad of the roller should be carefully stuffed, in order that there may be no danger of the centre of the pad pressing on the top of the withers, which is an occurrence that is a not unfrequent cause of inflamed withers. Messrs. Champion and Wilton have introduced a very useful plan (Fig. 37) of shaping the front part of the centre of the pad of the roller so as to give additional protection against pressure. Generally, rollers are made either entirely of leather, with the exception of the stuffing; or of webbing. The former are stronger and wear longer than the latter, but as they have less grip on cloth, they are more apt to slip back or round the horse. This objection to leather rollers may be removed to a great extent by making slits in the sides of the roller, and lining the pad with serge.

Fig. 36. Racehorse in clothing.[Photo by Clarence Hailey, St. John's Wood and Newmarket].

Roller Cloth

The roller cloth plays the part of a saddle-cloth to the pad of the roller, under which it is placed, so as to protect the quarter sheet or rug, as the case may be, from wear.

Breast Cloth

The breast cloth is the piece of cloth which comes across the breast and buckles on to the quarter sheet near the withers.

Rug

A "rug" is practically a quarter sheet and breast cloth all in one. The objection that it rubs the hairs off the points of a horse's shoulders may be removed by lining the rug at these parts and under the withers with linen. For economy and convenience sake, a rug is usually provided with a surcingle that is supposed to act the part of a roller, which duty the surcingle is unable to properly fulfil on account of its being unprovided with a pad.

Tail-Guard

A tail-guard is a piece of cloth which is attached to the upper portion of the tail by means of tapes, and is connected to the roller by a crupper. It is used to prevent a horse rubbing his tail. The prevention and treatment of this form of disfigurement are discussed at some length in Veterinary Notes for Horse-Owners.

Fig. 37. Arrangement to prevent the Roller pressing on the withers.

Hood

A hood is attached round the neck by tapes, and is connected to the quarter sheet by a strap and buckle, so that the hood may not fall down about the horse's ears in the event of its becoming displaced, as for instance, by the animal lowering his head. Owing to the fact that the length of the neck (by reason of the elasticity of the suspensory ligament of the head and neck) varies greatly according to the position in which the head is carried, it is difficult to arrange a hood comfortably for use at night. Consequently, it is well not to employ ordinary long hoods on horses in the stable. We may get over the difficulty by using a short hood or "nightcap" as it is called. It is probable that the partial protection which a short hood gives, while leaving a large portion of the neck bare, is apt to render the wearer liable to catch cold. A long hood is a useful form of protection when travelling, especially by train and on the deck of a ship during inclement weather.

When a head-collar is worn with a hood, the former should be placed over the latter. If the reverse of this be done, the hood will not fit the animal's head properly.

Under Rug

An under rug is simply a square or rectangular horse rug. When used for additional warmth it is generally put under the quarter sheet or rug.