If, on the contrary, the coat is rough, hollow, staring different ways, of a variegated hue, with a tinge of dust or scaly scurf beneath the surface, the perspirative matter has been thrown upon the circulation by a collapsion of the porous system, the blood is become sizey, and disposed to morbidity, in proportion to the preternatural weight by which it is overloaded, and the obstructions it has to encounter in its passage through the finer vessels, occasioned by the languor of the circulation.
It is no uncommon thing for HORSES in tolerable GOOD CONDITION to go _all to pieces_, particularly in the autumn months, without the least cause to be assigned, the least reason to be suggested, by either MASTER or GROOM. Certain it is, that to two successive acts of indiscretion, (or error in judgment,) this very prevalent defeat may be attributed, without the least fear of being at all _wrong_ in the conclusion. GROOMS and COACHMEN, in general, totally unmindful of the _great heat_ of their stables during the night, throw open the doors immediately upon coming in the morning, (regardless of even _frost_ or _snow_,) and frequently so continue during the whole ceremony of "mucking out" and carrying away the dung, if not with the addition of _stripping_ and _dressing_ the horses into the bargain.
That the measure of indiscretion may be complete, the ceremony not unfrequently terminates in a three or four gallon pail of _hard cold_ water from the PUMP in the _yard_ or _mews_; immediately after which, a judicious observer will perceive
"Each particular hair to stand on end, "Like quills upon the fretful porcupine."
This prevailing practice has frequently laid the foundation of various ills, not one of which were ever attributed to the right cause. Such an accumulation of _chilling frigidity_ immediately succeeding the extreme heat of the night, has often produced diseases _without end_, at least those which _ended_ only with _life_. COLDS, COUGHS, FEVER, (original or symptomatic,) INFLAMMATION of the LUNGS, BAD EYES, BROKEN WIND, SWELLED LEGS, CRACKED HEELS, DROPSY in the _chest_, with a long list of _et ceteras_, or even death itself, may be occasioned by circumstances which in themselves appear so _trifling_, yet they sometimes prove of considerable magnitude, and would attract the necessary attention of any humane man looking after his _own_ horses; but in the present age of _duplicity_ and _deception_, are very little likely to affect the _sensibility_ or _integrity_ of those looking after the horses of _others_.