250 THE HORSE. 
a fortnight or three weeks till it has grown another half-inch, when the 
process is repeated, and again a third, and even a fourth time if necessary. 
On account of these repeated applications of the lamp, the professed 
singer is not so often employed as the clipper, especially as the former’s 
work is not so difficult to perform as that of the latter. 
The lamp now in common use is attached to a wide copper comb made 
like a rake in principle, and so arranged that the teeth raise the hair and 
draw the ends into the flame. Where gas is procurable the comb is 
attached to the gas pipe by a flexible tube, and the lamp consists merely 
in a number of holes perforated along the edge of the comb, so that a 
series of jets of gas are lighted, and burn so strongly, that the coat is com- 
pletely removed as near the skin as the teeth of the comb raise it. If gas 
cannot be obtained, a wide wick of cotton is inserted in a flat holder, and 
the ends protruding to the level of the teeth, while a reservoir filled with 
naphtha supplies them with that inflammable fluid, a constant flame is 
maintained, but not nearly equal in strength to that from gas. As the 
coat is not allowed to grow so long before it is singed, so the clothing need 
not be much increased after its removal, and, deed, in well regulated 
stables there is little or no change required. Singeing is performed in less 
than one quarter the time of clipping, and a shilling’s worth of naphtha is 
enough for one horse, unless his coat is unusually long. 
SHAVING was introduced some years ago to a limited extent, but it 
requires so long a confinement of the horse after it is performed, that it 
was soon abandoned. The hair is lathered and cut off with the razor as 
closely as from the human chin, and unless this is done exactly at the 
right time, the growth subsequently is too short or too long. Instances 
have been known in which horses have remained naked until the next 
spring, and were thereby rendered perfectly useless, as they were chilled 
directly their clothing was removed. The only advantage in shaving over 
clipping is to be found in the reduced labour required ; a good razor, or 
rather set of razors, soon going over the surface. But the invention of 
singeing did away with this superiority, and the shaving of horses is there- 
fore one of the fashions of a day which have now disappeared. 
Trimmine. The jaws, nostrils, ears, legs, mane, and tail, are all more 
or less subjected to the care of the groom, who removes superfluous hairs 
from each or all by various means, as follows :— 
The jaws, nostrils, and ears are singed, the last named not being touched 
inside, as the internal hairs are clearly a protection of the delicate lining 
membrane of the ear from the cold and wet. The long bristles of the 
nostrils may either be cut off, pulled out, or singed off, but the first plan 
is the easiest and the most humane. ‘There are, also, some bristles about 
the eyes which are generally removed, but it is very doubtful whether 
many an eye would not be saved from a blow in the dark if they were left 
untouched. Fashion, however, dictates their removal, and her orders must 
generally be complied with. The hair which grows an inch or more in 
length beneath the jaw, being of the same nature as the rest of the coat, 
can only be singed off with advantage, and it should be done as fast as it 
grows, especially if the singeing is not universal, or there will be a different _ 
colour presented in these parts. Nothing gives a horse such a low-bred 
appearance as a goatlike beard, and the trimming of this part alone will 
completely alter the character of the animal where the hair has been at all 
long. The legs are trimmed partly by singeing, and partly either by clip- 
ping or pulling out the hairs. Great dexterity is required to manage 
this performance in a workmanlike manner, so as to avoid the stale and 
