66 



boWly at the ears, cropping will greatly im- 

 prove him, and the closer it is performed the 

 better ; therefore it is preferable, on the whole, 

 to leave his ears as nature formed them. 



A short-b.icked, compact horse, of good 

 courage, and his neck formed as above, vvill 

 look exceeding vi^ell if he be cropped, and will 

 have a very bold and warlike appearance j but 

 tliat this effect rnay be produced by the opera- 

 tion of cropping, it must be done in a particu- 

 lar manner. 



In cropping horses, those who perform it 

 affect to give the ears the appearance of natu- 

 ral ones by pointing them at the top j and from 

 the resemblance they bear to foxes* ears, it 

 is called foxing ; but this has not the effect of 

 giving the animal a bold, courageous look, so 

 much as if the ears were quite rounded at 

 top ; that is, when the ears are cut right across, 

 and rather close, and the corners rounded 

 off instead of being carried to a point. After 

 a horse has been cropped, no hair should ever 

 be cut from the inside of the ears ; but if the 

 hair grows longer than the ears, it should be 

 cut even with them, but never inside, for the 

 two following reasons: first, that the hair 



