TheEquine |

TheEquine : "Reasons of the need of grooming.


The question is often asked, 'why does the stabled horse require constant grooming, whilst the same horse turned out into a field does well enough without it?'

The question cannot be answered in the form in which it is put. It is not the fact of living under cover, but the active work and the high feeding of the stabled horse, which necessitates grooming. Cavalry horses in camps, for instance require grooming just as much, and in some respects more than they do in barracks. It is the work and the food, not the shelter, which constitutes the difference between the domesticated animal and the horse in a state of nature.

By work, and especially fast work, the secretions of the glands of the skin are enormously increased. Furthermore, the horse, which is worked hard, must be fed on highly nutritious food; and from this cause also the secretions of the skin are largely increased. Nature must be assisted by artificial means to remove these increased secretions, or the pores of the skin will become clogged and the health will be deteriorated."