The scraper is sometimes termed a sweat-knife. In some stables it is just a piece of hoop iron, about twenty inches long, by one and a half broad; in the racing and hunting-stables it is made of wood, sharp only on one edge, and having the back thick and strong. When properly handled, it is a very useful instrument. The groom taking an extremity m each hand, passes over the neck, back, belly, quarters, sides, every place where it can operate; and with a gentle and steady pressure, he removes the wet mud, the rain, and the perspiration. Fresh horses do not understand this, and are apt to resist it. A little more than the usual care and gentleness at the first two or three dressings, render them familiar with it. The pressure applied must vary at different parts of the body, being lightest where the coat and he skin are thinnest. The scraper must pass over the same places several times, especially the belly, to which the water gravitates from the back and sides. It has little or nothing to do about the legs; these parts are easily dried by a large sponge, and are apt to be injured by the scraper.

This operation finished, the horse, if hot, must be walked about a little, and if cool, he must be dried.