CLIPPING. 277 



slip off over the tail and fall, and might be trodden 

 upon and killed. But if the tail were nicked and 

 stuck up, the rider would be caught upon it, and 

 then he could hold on by the saddle as long as the 

 horse reared, and regain his seat when the animal 

 came on all fours again. 



HAVING caused as much harm as possible to the 

 foot and the mouth, and the eye and the neck, and 

 the spine and the tail, the professional eye casts its 

 baleful glance upon the Body, and demands that it 

 shall be deprived of its natural covering just when it 

 most needs protection. 



The horse, like many other animals, has two 

 sets of clothes : a cool and light suit for the summer, 

 ancl a warm and heavy coat for the winter. 



In the course of nature these clothes are re- 

 gularly exchanged, and the horse puts on his long- 

 haired winter dress before the cold weather comes 

 on. But, unfortunately for the horse, the long, 

 natural winter coat is to the professional eye as great 

 an abomination as the long natural mane and tail, 

 and so, either by clipping or singeing, the warm 

 winter coat is cut as short as that which is intended 

 only for summer wear. 



Here, then, is another of the many ingenious 

 devices by which man does his best to shorten the 



