Page:Notes on equitation and horse training.djvu/37

 studied. As a rule any excess of fat disappears with ordinary work.

When giving a sweat, a suitable day and hour should be selected; the horse should be well covered, wrapping especially the parts where there is most fat; work the horse a little at a walk and then gallop him steadily until he is in profuse perspiration; do not hurry about scraping, but let the sweat have plenty of time to exude; uncover the horse little by little and scrape slowly, bearing well on the edge of the scraper to force out the sweat; reblanket the horse and lead him around at a walk for a few minutes; uncover and scrape again; finally walk the horse until he is perfectly dry before returning him to the stable.

There should always be an interval of about five days between sweats and ordinarily three or four will be sufficient. Be careful that the horse does not drink to excess at the next watering.

The first sweat is hard to bring; the third and fourth time it comes more easily.

Purges.—In addition to sweating, it is sometimes of advantage to administer purgatives to reduce the intestines of horses with too much belly.

Before purging, a horse should be put on diet and mashes for forty-eight hours. Either aloes or sulphate of soda may be used as a purgative. Aloes acts directly upon the large intestines and for this reason it is used by preference for taking off belly. It is administered as a ball in doses of 30 to 50 grams (7¾ to 12¾ drams).

Sulphate of soda (Glauber or horse salts) is given dissolved in the drinking water and has the great advantage