When it is desirable to keep the horse warm without endangering the purity of the air, he maybe clothed. Coarse slow-working horses require clothing only when sick. A fine coat is not much wanted in these animals; yet if they have to stand in cold stables, and especially when the stables are not fully occupied, even these would be none the worse of a cover during some of the sharp winter weather. In the hunting and racing stables, clothes are used nearly all the year round, and they should be so wherever it is important to make the coat lie smoothly. The stable may be more completely ventilated when the heat of the horse's body is retained by appropriate clothing. Stage-coach and post-horses are not usually clothed, but a few covers are always kept for the sick and the delicate. The cavalry horses are never clothed.

Clothes Are Of Different Kinds

There is one suit for winter and another for summer; besides extra-heavy clothing, used in hunting and racing stables for sweating the horses. The last are termed sweaters, and consist of one or more sheets of blanket-like stuff. Sometimes when copious sweating is necessary, a single blanket is put on and covered by several old or half-worn quarter-pieces. These require to be frequently washed. That which lies in contact with the skin is apt to become hard and dirty. Unless it be soft and clean it galls the horse, and refuses the perspiration. When soaked in sweat it should be rinsed in cold water before being dried. When two hoods are put on, the outermost alone should have ear-pieces. That below it requires only ear-holes.

A full Winter Suit is composed of a hood, which envelopes the head and neck, a breast-piece for the bosom, and a quarter-piece for the body. This is sometimes termed a kersey-suit. It is made of a stuff so called, and is edged with worsted tape. A woollen rug is often employed as an addition to the ordinary suit, for very cold weather. Hoods are not much used except in hunting or racing-stables; they are useful, however, at times, for sick horses, for sweating, and for exercise under physic, or in severe winter. The clothing in most general use for winter is merely a horse-blanket, or rug of sufficient size to cover all the body. The girth which secures the clothing is termed a roller, or surcingle. It should be broad, that it may be tight without producing uneasiness, and padded, that it may not lie upon the spine. When the horse is narrow-loined, a breast-strap made of web is necessary to keep the cloth and girth from slipping back.

The summer-clothing is composed of white or striped cloth, linen, or calico. It consists of a single sheet of small dimen sions. It is almost entirely an ornamental covering, but it is useful to keep off flies and dust, and to prevent the hair from staring.

Weather Clothing

When horses go to exercise, they usually go out in the stable-clothing, to which a hood and a blanket, or quarter-piece, may be added, if the weather demand them. But many require some defence while performing their work. This is particularly the case with carriage horses that have to stand for two or three hours exposed to the night air. A small quarter-piece, made of Mackintosh's water-proof cloth, is getting into use. It is thrown over the harness, to which it is attached; it keeps the horses dry without heating them. Heavier clothing would be desirable when the horses are standing, but it would make them sweat profusely, even at a slow pace, and is therefore objectionable. A good driver will endeavor to keep his horses in motion. At night, when a crowd renders motion impracticable, he might be, and often is, provided with a pair of rugs, which can be thrown over the horses till they be ready to start. Long standing in the cold, however, always benumbs a horse's legs, and should be avoided as much as possible, by occasional or constant motion. During wet weather, a piece of oil-cloth is sometimes worn across the loins of cart-horses; it keeps the rain off parts that have little motion and no natural defence. Some also use a neckpiece.

The owners of horses employed in street-coaches, are becoming more careful than they were wont. They generally have some sort of covering for the horses when standing in the weather. Water-proof sheets of different sizes, to cover one, or a pair of horses, are in use to protect them from rain. This stuff, however, is apt to make them perspire very much, when they are the least heated. Stage-coach horses usually have a light quarter-piece put on with the harness, and withdrawn when the coach is ready to start.

Tearing Off The Clothes

Some horses destroy a great many clothes. They endeavor to pull them off, and tear them all to pieces. There are only three modes of preventing this trick; the hinder portion, or the whole of the quarter-piece, may be made of hair-cloth, lined by a softer material to lie next the skin. Few horses like to touch this harsh substance with their teeth and lips; but some will not rest till they manage to tear it off. A staff of wood is sometimes used; one extremity is attached to the collar, the other to the sur-vifdn. This prevents the horse from turning his head round to get at the clothing, but it also prevents him from lying down. The other mode is to tie the horse's head to the hayrack; of course he must be liberated when he is to lie down or to feed.

In some stables the clothing is removed every night. The clothes last a great deal longer, but the practice of removing them at night, is advisable only when the clothing is light, or when the stables are warmer at night than in the daytime, which is generally the case.

Application And Care Of The Clothes

In putting on the hood, care must be taken that the ears are fairly inserted, the eyes clear, and the strings sufficiently tight to keep the hood in its place without galling the skin. The breast-piece must not be drawn up so much as to press upon the windpipe when the horse's head is directed to the ground. The quarter-piece should be thrown well forward and subsequently adjusted by drawing it back, so as to lay the hairs, not to raise them, by pulling the cloth forward or sidewise. The surcingle is to be placed on the middle of the back, and the pad fairly adjusted. Both the surcingle and the breast-band are to be just tight enough to keep the clothing in place. Sweating-clothes are to be closely and generally applied, but must not descend so far upon the horse's legs as to encumber his action. The breast-band and the breast-piece are to be quite slack. The saddle alone keeps them from shifting backward.

All the clothing is to be shook and dried every morning, after dressing the horse. The loose hair and dust can be removed by beating and brushing. A small birch broom is convenient for taking off loose hair; that which is packed and woven into the cloth does no harm. When soiled by urine, the clothing must be wholly or partially washed with soap and water. The summer clothing is to be repaired, washed, dried, and laid carefully away, on the approach of winter. Now and then it may be examined and aired. The woollen articles, when out of use, are to be kept perfectly dry; they should be examined every month, brushed, and aired in the sun.