226 THE CONDITION OF HUNTERS 



It has never yet happened to me not to be able 

 to get a short coat upon a hunter, or to make him 

 dry soon, and not break out again after a run, when 

 summered in the house and subjected to a proper 

 course of alterative medicines when in his work ; 

 but should I ever be in possession of a horse whose 

 state of body renders him liable to such inconveniences, 

 I would instantly have him clipped. With common 

 precautions — an extra rug and a hood at exercise for 

 two or three days after the operation — no danger ^ 

 need be apprehended ; and I will take upon myself 

 to say that a clipped horse will come out once, if not 

 twice more in a month, and at the same time keep up 

 his flesh better, than one with a long, thick coat. Not- 

 withstanding this, the natural short coat is to be pre- 

 ferred, and is, 7iinety-nine times in a hundred, to be 

 obtained by proper stable management. 



In the second part of Mr William Percivall's 

 *' Elementary Lectures on the Veterinary Art" (with 

 the perusal of which, as far as I have yet gone, I am 

 extremely well pleased) are some interesting remarks 

 which apply indirectly to clipping. " The coat of the 

 horse," says he, " is shed twice during the year — a 

 phenomenon exhibited with great regularity so long 

 as the animal remains wild : but as soon as he is 

 domesticated, this process is influenced by many 

 circumstances connected with the stable manage- 

 ment ; though by none, perhaps, more than the 

 temperature of the stable. Heat," adds he, " is 



^ It is a general' practice to clip hunters in the present day. — 

 Editor. 



