Page:Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management.djvu/1971

Rh wisp him over with a handful of straw and a flannel cloth; if the cloth is dipped in some spirit all the better. He should wash, pick, and wipe dry the legs and feet, take off the bridle and crupper, and fasten it to the rack, then the girths, and put a wisp of straw under the saddle. When sufficiently cool, the horse should have some hay given him, and then a feed of oats: if he refuse the latter, offer him a little wet bran, or a handful of oatmeal in tepid water. When he has been fed, he should be thoroughly cleaned, and his body clothes on, and, if very much harassed with fatigue, a little good ale or wine will be well bestowed on a valuable horse, adding plenty of fresh litter under the belly.

Harness.—Every time a horse is unbridled, the bit should be carefully washed and dried, and the leather wiped, to keep them sweet, as well as the girths and saddle, the latter being carefully dried and beaten with a switch before it is again put on. In washing a horse's feet after a day's work, the master should insist upon the legs and feet being washed thoroughly with a sponge until the water flows over them, and then rubbed with a brush till quite dry. Harness, if not carefully preserved, very soon gets a shabby, tarnished appearance. Where the coachman has a proper harness room and sufficient assistance, this is inexcusable and easily prevented. The harness room should have a wooden lining all round, and be perfectly dry and well ventilated. Around the walls, hooks and pegs should be placed for the several pieces of harness, at such a height as to prevent their touching the ground; and every part of the harness should have its peg or hook — one for the halters, another for the reins, and others for snaffles and other bits and metal work: and either a wooden horse or saddle-tree for saddles and pads. All these parts should be dry, clean and shining. This is only to be done by careful cleaning and polishing, and the use of several requisite pastes. The metallic parts, when white, should be cleaned by a soft brush and plate powder; the copper and brass parts burnished with rottenstone powder and oil; steel with emery powder — both made into a paste with a little oil.

Carriages being valuable and costly have to be most carefully dealt with. They should be carefully cleaned before putting away, and the coach-house should be perfectly dry and well ventilated, for the wood work swells with moisture; it shrinks with heat, unless the timber has undergone a long course of seasoning; it should also have a dry floor, a boarded one being recommended. It must be removed from the ammoniacal influence of the stables, from open drains and cesspools, and other gaseous influences likely to affect the paint and varnish. When the carriage returns home, it should be carefully washed and dried, and that, if possible, before the mud has time to dry on it. This is done by