This is not altogether an ornamental operation, but as it is performed chiefly or only where decoration is attended to, this seems to be the proper place for taking notice of it. I have said that the hair of the body is anointed by an oily kind of matter, which serves in some measure to repel the rain. The long hair of the heels is anointed in the same way, but these parts are more liable to become wet, and the oily or lubricating fluid is secreted in greater abundance here than elsewhere. It is produced by the skin, and has a slightly fetid smell, which becomes intolerable when the skin is the seat of the disease termed grease. This fluid is easily washed off, but it is soon replaced; the greater part of it is removed by brushing and washing the hair, especially with soapy water, and it is some time ere the hair and skin are again bedewed with it. Dry friction with the hand or a soft wisp stimulates the skin to furnish a new or an extra. supply. This is one good reason for hand-rubbing, an operation seldom performed by untrained grooms. "Take care of the heels, and the other parts will take care of themselves," is an old saying in the stable, and a very good one, if it mean only that the heels require more care than other parts.

In some horses, particularly those that have little hair about the legs, the hollow of the pastern is very apt to crack; the anointing fluid is not secreted in sufficient quantity to keep the skin supple; it is always dry, and whenever the animal is put to a fast pace, the skin cracks and bleeds at the place where motion is greatest. Lotions are applied which dry the some, but do not prevent the evil from recurring; hand-rubbing must do this. The legs of some horses are apt to smell or to itch, particularly when they stand idle for a day or two. Others, cold-blooded, long-legged horses, are troubled with cold legs while standing in the stall. These things are generally disregarded among coarse horses; if they disappear, it is well, if not, they are neglected till they become more formidable. But little evils of this kind often produce much annoyance to those who own horses of greater value. It is difficult to avoid them altogether among horses that are not in good condition, loaded with fat, or plethoric; yet, frequent hand-rubbing does much. Some grooms give it five or six times a-day; so much is seldom required, indeed never, except under disease : but it does no harm that I know of, if it do not make the heels too bare.

To be of any use, it must be done in a systematic manner and in good earnest. If the horse be perfectly quiet, the man will sit down on his knees, and, with a small soft wisp, or cloth-rubber in each hand, he will rub upward and downward, or he will use his hands without the wisp, particularly if the hair be fine and short; much force is not necessary, indeed it is pernicious. In coming down the leg, the pressure should be light; and in passing upward, it must not be so great as to raise or break the hairs.

Many stablemen perform this simple operation always in the same way; they pass over the leg as if they merely meant to smooth or lay the hair. To polish the hair, if that be all which is required, this is sufficient. But to stimulate the skin, to clean it, to disperse gourdiness, and to excite the secretion by which the hair is anointed, there must be some friction, some rubbing against or across the hair, as well as along it; the hollow of the pastern has most need of this, and there the rubbing should be across the hair, with the palm of the hand. When the legs are cold, as they generally are in inflammatory diseases of internal organs, it is usual to raise some degree of heat in them by hand-rubbing. For effecting this the friction must be considerable. The hands, one on each side of the leg, must pass rapidly upward and downward, and with a moderate degree of pressure. When necessary to do this, the hair is broken, rubbed out, or raised into curls, but in such cases this must in general be disregarded; at other times the friction need not be so great, and should not.

After a day of severe and protracted exertion, gentle and frequent friction is very useful for restoring the legs, and for preventing the cold swelling to which the legs of many horses are liable after work, but it is improper where there is any swelling hot and painful. The hind always requires more than the fore legs. The friction seldom requires to be carried higher than the hock or knee-joints.