124 MODERN FARRIER. 



sidered by their owners as more handsome or agree- 

 able. The ears of the horse are seldom of such a 

 shape or size, as to render them inconvenient to the 

 animals, or to unfit them for the purposes for which 

 nature has designed them. This may, however, 

 sometimes happen ; and there are some cases of ; 

 wounds or diseases that may render cropping neces- .' 

 sary : but in performing this operation, it should 

 always be kept in mind, that as no part of the ani- 

 mal is made in vain, no more of the ears should be k 

 taken away than what is absolutely necessary. l| 



The operation of cropping is performed by an in- 

 strument called the cropping iron, and a shape of i 

 the size of which it is intended the ear shall be, is ^ 

 applied to the ear to mark the line of section. After i 

 the ear is cut, the skin and muscles recede consider- 

 ably from the gristly part ; but this seems of little 

 consequence, and the wound heals in a few days 

 without any other attention than confining the ani- 

 mal within doors, and keeping him on a moderate, J 

 cooling diet. Horses' ears are sometimes trimmed, 

 as the grooms call it ; that is, they are deprived of 

 the fine soft hair that lines the inside of the cavity. 

 This practice is equally absurd with cropping, as 

 will appear from the following observations of Mr, 

 Clark. 



The ears of horses, as of other animals, (says Mr. 

 Clark,) are covered on the inside with a short down, 

 intermixed with long hairs, which line the external 

 cavity of the ear, which seems designed by nature to 

 prevent harsh sounds from making too great an im- 

 pression upon the brain, and likewise to prevent the ; 

 cold air, rain, dust, flies, &c. from annoying the in- 

 ternal ear. The means commonly used to remove 

 this down, &c. is by the scissors, the flame of a can- 

 dle, or that of a burning torch. Both the latter are 

 cruel and barbarous, and cause a deal of pain to the 

 animal, not only from the blisters that sometimes 

 rise on the ear after this manner of singing them, 



