Page:Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management.djvu/1969

Rh A page is supposed as a rule (that is where no man-servant is kept) to do duty, to a certain extent, for all.

The Head of the Stables.—The establishment we have in view will consist of coachman, groom and stable boy, who are capable of keeping in perfect order four horses, and perhaps a pony. Of this establishment the coachman is chief. Besides skill in driving, he should possess a good general knowledge of horses; he has usually to purchase provender, to see that the horses are regularly fed and properly groomed, watch over their condition, apply simple remedies to trifling ailments in the animals under his charge, and report where he observes symptoms of more serious ones which he does not understand. He has either to clean the carriage himself, or see that the stable boy does it properly.

The groom's first duties are to keep his horses in condition. In the morning, about six o'clock, or rather before, the stables should be opened and cleaned out, and the horses fed, first by cleaning the rack and throwing in fresh hay, putting it lightly in the rack, that the horses may get it out easily; a short time afterwards their usual morning feed of oats should be put into the manger. While this is going on, the stable boy should remove the stable dung, and sweep and wash out the stables, in order to keep them sweet and clean. The real duties of the groom follow: where the horses are not taken out for early exercise, the work of grooming immediately commences. The curry-comb ought not to be necessary if a horse is in good condition, but a good strapping with a damp wisp is the principal thing requisite; the horse should be strapped so that every hair is touched and cleaned to the root. The best wisp is made from a hay band, untwisted, and again doubled up after being moistened with water; this is applied to every part of the body, as the brushing has been, by changing the hands, taking care in all these operations to carry the hand in the direction of the coat. Stains in the hair are removed by sponging, or, when the coat is very dirty by the water brush; the whole being finished off by a linen or flannel cloth. The horse cloth should be put on by taking the cloth with both hands, with the outside next you, and with your right hand to the off side, throw it over his back, placing it no farther back than will leave it straight and level, which will be a foot from the tail. Put the roller round, and the pad piece under it, about six or eight inches from the fore legs. The horse's head is now loosened; he is turned about in his stall to have his eyes and nose sponged out, his head and ears rubbed and brushed over every part, including throat, with the dusting cloth, finishing by "pulling his ears," which all horses seem to enjoy very much. This done, the mane and foretop should be combed out, passing a wet sponge over them, sponging the mane on both sides, by throwing it back to the midriff, to make it lie smooth. The horse is now turned to his head stall combed out, cleaning it of stains with a wet brush