HORSE— CARE AND MANAGEMENT. 



sweat. We have tried the plan repeat- 

 edly, and known it tried by others still 

 more frequently, but we have never heard 

 of any ill effects resulting. Very often a 

 sweat is exceedingly inconvenient, either 

 from the difficulty in getting ground, as 

 happens in towns, or from the infirm 

 state of the legs. But soap and water 

 can always be obtained, and if carefully 

 used there is not the slightest danger at- 

 tending them. Of course, after the re- 

 moval of a long coat the skin requires an 

 extra protection in-doors in the shape of 

 3. double allowance of clothing, and it 

 Avill be necessary to avoid standing still 

 out of doors, though, as we have before 

 remarked, on the whole the risk of taking 

 cold by horses Worked hard enough to 

 sweat them is less if they are clipped 

 than if they have their long coats on. 



Horse Singeing requires less practice 

 than clipping, but it cannot be done with- 

 out some little experience of its difficul- 

 ties, and a novice generally burns the skin 

 as well as the hair. To keep a horse's 

 coat in good order it must be singed sev- 

 eral times during the autumn, beginning 

 as soon as the new growth has attained a 

 length of half an inch beyond what is 

 usual. The singeing lamp is then passed 

 lightly over the whole body, and soap 

 and water being used, as we have de- 

 scribed under the head of clipping, or a 

 sweat given if that plan is preferred, the 

 coat is left for a fortnight or two weeks 

 till it has grown another half inch, when 

 the process is repeated, and again a third, 

 and even a fourth time if necessary. On 

 account of these repeated applications of 

 the lamp, the professed singer is not so 

 often employed as the clipper, especially 

 as the former's work is not so difficult to 

 perform as that of the latter. 



The lamp now in common use is at- 

 tached to a wide copper comb made like 

 a rake in principle, and is so arranged 

 that the teeth raise the hair and draw the 

 ends into the flame. Where gas is pro- 

 curable the comb is attached to the gas 

 pipe by a flexible tube, and the lamp con- 

 sists merely in a number of holes perfo- 

 rated along the edge of the comb, so 

 that a series of jets of gas are lighted, 

 and burn so strongly, that the coat is com- 

 pletely removed as near the skin as the 

 teeth of the comb raise it. If gas can- 

 not be obtained, a wide wick of cotton is 



inserted in a flat holder, and the ends 

 protruding to the level of the teeth, while 

 a reservoir filled with naphtha supplies 

 them with that inflammable fluid, a con- 

 stant flame is maintained, but not nearly 

 equal in strength to that from gas. As 

 the coat is not allowed to grow so long 

 before it is singed, so the clothing need 

 not be much increased after its removal, 

 and, indeed, in well regulated stables, 

 there is little or no change required. 

 Singeing is performed in less than one 

 quarter the time* of clipping, and a shil- 

 ling's worth of naphtha is enough for one 

 horse, unless his coat is unusually long. 



Horse Shaving was introduced some 

 years ago to a limited extent, but it re- 

 quires so long a confinement of the horse 

 after it was performed that it was soon 

 abandoned. The hair is lathered and cut 

 off with the razor as closely as from the 

 human chin, and unless this is done ex- 

 actly at the right time, the growth subse- 

 quently is too short or too long. Instances 

 have been known in which horses have 

 remained naked until the next spring, and 

 were thereby rendered perfectly useless, as 

 they were chilled directly their clothing 

 was removed. The only advantage in 

 shaving over clipping is to be found in 

 the reduced labor required ; a good razor, 

 or rather set of razors, soon going over 

 the surface. But the invention of singe- 

 ing did away with this superiority, and 

 the shaving of horses is therefore one of 

 the fashions of a day which have now dis- 

 appeared. 



Horse Trimming. — The jaws, nostrils, 

 ears, legs, mane and tail, are all more or 

 less subjected to the care of the groom, 

 w r ho removes superfluous hairs from each 

 or all by various means, as follows : 



The jaws, nostrils and ears are singed, 

 the last named not being touched inside, 

 as the internal hairs are clearly a protec- 

 tion of the delicate lining membrane of 

 the ear from the cold and wet. The long 

 bristles of the nostrils may either be cut 

 off, pulled out, or singed off, but the first 

 plan is the easiest and the most humane. 

 There are, also, some bristles about the 

 eyes which are generally removed, but it 

 is very doubtful whether many an eye 

 would not be saved from a blow in the 

 dark if they were left untouched. Fash- 

 ion, however, dictates their removal, and 

 her orders must generally be complied 



