36 



HORSE— DISEASES AND REMEDIES. 



with. The hair which grows an inch or 

 more in length beneath the jaw, being of 

 he same nature as the rest of the coat, can 

 only be singed off with advantage, and it 

 should be done as fast as it gjows, espe- 

 cially if the singeing is not universal, or 

 there will be a different color presented in 

 these parts. Nothing gives a horse such 

 a low-bred appearance as a goatlike 

 beard, and the trimming of this part 

 alone will completely alter the char- 

 acter of the animal where the hair 

 has been at all long. The legs are 

 trimmed partly by singeing, and part- 

 ly either by clipping or pulling out the 

 hairs. Great dexterity is required to 

 manage this performance in a workrnan- 

 like manner, so as to avoid the stale and 

 post-like appearance which is presented 

 by a leg clipped all over (without a cor- 

 responding clipping of the body), and at 

 the same time to remove all, or nearly all, 

 the superfluous hair. In the summer a 

 clipped leg is totally inadmissible, and 

 even from the legs of a badly bred horse 

 the hair may be pulled by gradually work- 

 ing at it for a little time every day with 

 the fingers, armed with powdered resin. 

 This prevents the hair slipping through 

 them, and by its aid such a firm hold may 

 be obtained that, as we said before, per- 

 severance will enable the groom to clear 

 the legs entirely, with the exception gen- 

 erally of a strong lock of hair behind the 

 pastern. When this is very obstinate it is 

 allowable to use the scissors to clear away 

 the hair below the horny growth which is 

 found there, but there should always be 

 left a slight fringe round this, so as to 

 avoid the sharp and stiff outline presented 

 by the clipped leg. In the winter, the 

 arms and backs of the knees, as well as 

 the bosom and the insides of the quarters, 

 will generally want singeing, whether the 

 body is submitted to the lamp or not ; but 

 in the summer, even if any long hairs are 

 left there, they are easily removed by the 

 hand armed with resin. Unless general 

 clipping or singeing is practiced, the front 

 surfaces of the legs do not require trim- 

 ming at any season of the year. 



The mane is not usually cut, but 

 formerly it was a very common practice 

 to " hog " it, that is, to cut it to a sharp- 

 pointed ridge, sticking straight upwards 

 from the crest, and giving that part the 

 appearance of extraordinary height, 



Sometimes, however, the mane is very 

 thick, and then for the sake of appear- 

 ances, it is necessary to thin it, which is 

 done by twisting a small lock at a time, 

 round the comb, and pulling it out ; this, 

 gives some little pain, but apparently 

 not much, and evidently not more than 

 the trimming of the legs, and not so- 

 much as in pulling out the feelers or 

 bristles growing out from the nostrils. 

 A small lock of mane is generally cut 

 just behind the ears where the head of 

 the bridle rests, as it would otherwise lie 

 beneath that part in an untidy manner. 



In trimming the tail various methods 

 are adopted, when it is cut square ; for 

 if the hairs are allowed to grow to the 

 full length, no interference is necessary 

 beyond an occasional clipping of their 

 points to prevent them from breaking or 

 splitting. A square tail, however, wheth- 

 er long or short, demands the careful 

 use of the scissors or knife, without 

 which the horse to which it belongs is 

 sadly disfigured. Two modes are prac- 

 ticed — in the first, the tail is carefully 

 combed out, and then allowing it to fall 

 in its natural position, it is gathered up 

 in the hand just above the part to be cut 

 off, and here a sharp knife is drawn 

 across it backwards and forwards, with- 

 out notching it, till it passes clean through. 

 The tail is then released, and any loose 

 hairs projecting are removed with the 

 scissors. The second mode is not so 

 easy, but when well carried out is more 

 satisfactory to the eye, inasmuch as it is 

 capable of giving a sharper and more de- 

 fined edge to the square tail. As in the 

 first method, the tail is carefully combed 

 out; it is then held by an assistant's 

 hand, placed beneath the root of the 

 dock, as nearly as may be in the position 

 which it assumes in the animal out of 

 doors. While thus poised the operator 

 takes a pair of sharp scissors, and holding 

 the blades horizontally open, he insinu- 

 ates one of them through the middle of 

 the tail at the place to be cut, passing it 

 straight backwards, and cutting the hair 

 quite level from the central line to the 

 outside on his own left. Then reversing 

 the blades, and keeping to the same 

 level, he cuts towards the right, and if he 

 has a good eye. and can use his hands in 

 accordance with its dictates, he will have 

 presented a very prettily squared tail. 



