HORSES. ').) 



CLIPPING. This prevents undue perspiration in 

 horses that are worked hard, and they are less subject 

 to colds than horses with long coats. This is explained 

 by the fact that horses that have long coats perspire 

 very readily when working. The perspiration does not 

 quickly evaporate through the hair, and the coat be- 

 comes saturated and hangs on the animal in much the 

 same manner as would a wet blanket on a man. Exper- 

 ience has proved to me in a large number of instances 

 that clipping horses is a great hygienic improvement 

 on the old-fashioned way of allowing the old coat to 

 remain on until spring. 



LOSS of KNEE ACTION. This sometimes occurs 

 as a result of some acute disease. It is also frequently 

 caused by working a young animal too hard, and I have 

 frequently had my patrons say : "I gave one thousand 

 or twelve hundred .dollars for that team, and when I 

 bought it six months ago it had splendid action ; now 

 it looks like a pair of old hack horses." On inquiry I 

 have found that the horses which are probably only 5 

 years old, have been in the carriage for 3, 4, or 5 hours 

 a day. The reason they have lost their stylish action 

 is that the wear on the nervous system has been more 

 than the supply of nerve producing elements would 

 justify. This is also the case when good action dis- 

 appears after sickness. And I may say here that this 

 alone explains why some horses lose their speed after a 

 severe attack of illness. It is my opinion that speed 

 and fine action depend much more on the quality of 

 development of the nervous system than it does on 

 muscular development. 



