Basil Blackshaw, an incomparable painter and a countryman who knows more about animals, wild and domestic, than anyone else you're likely to come across, was on the phone. First a word or two about an item which appeared here on rat-catching as practised in northern England, with terriers and what-not. He had stories from the same part of the world to make the hair rise on the back of your neck. Of men who carried rats inside their shirt, of jolly fellows who went on the chase (indoors, from memory) with hunting crops and whips. But also a lot of good news. Basil loves Staffordshire dogs, (he just calls them Staffs) and he has a new one and a lovely one. Then to horses. Did he read something here, perhaps, about whins being good to put a shiny coat on them? He did, indeed, a longish time ago. And the knowledge came from a remarkable book, Furze by A.T. Lucas. The publication date was 1960 - The Stationary Office published it for the National Museum of Ireland. It is a most readable and endlessly painstaking work about furze, gorse or whins, in every aspect of the farming life - as hedging, as material for making tools, but above all as fodder. And it has been used for cattle as well as horses, and indeed other farm animals.
The sheer volume of the sources is intimidating, but the book is an easy read for anyone. The answer to Basil's question is not given directly in regard to the sheen on the horse's coat, but furze/whins are described in terms of being "excellent", "very good" and even helpful in medical conditions. The term excellent would surely imply a good glossy coat for Basil's horse which, he mentioned, was running somewhere. The whins, of course, have to be pounded to a pulp so that the prickles are well dissolved. Some farmers just looked on it as a substitute for hay in winter, and some mixed it with other fodder. Its use may go back to pre-Norman times, and certainly was in wide use in the Wexford area in the 17th century. What is intriguing in the book is the number of illustrations of stone and wooden troughs; and a machine like an old turnip slicer. The book is out of print, unfortunately. Good luck, Basil, with the horse.