468 TRIMMING THE TAIL. 



should not have the hair trimmed so .short as small, stocky, 

 close-knit animals. The person who does the trimming 

 should be provided with a comb, a dandy brush, a long, heavy 

 straight pair of shears (see Fig. 219) and a pair of curved 

 scissors. (See Fig. 220.) The hair should first be brushed 

 straight down with the dampened brush and then combed 

 and parted in the centre along the top of the bone. The 

 end of the bone is held by an assistant in a position as near 

 as possible to that in which it is naturally carried. With the 

 large straight shears the hair is cut until the general outline 

 of the desired form is obtained, when the comb and dandy 



FIG. 221. 



brush are again employed in parting and combing the hair. 

 The cutting now progresses more slowly, the length and 

 shape of the two sides is made uniform, and at short inter- 

 vals the horse is trotted up and down to enable the trimmer 

 to see the effect of his work. If the tail is very heavy the 

 hair underneath is evenly cut out with the curved scissors. 

 Another method employed is to have the assistant hold a 

 flat board under the horse's tail. The hair is parted and 

 combed out flat and then cut on the board with a sharp 

 knife. Any long hairs, etc., are trimmed with the straight 

 shears. This manner of cutting the hair is very effective 

 with thin-tailed horses, but is not so accurate when the hair 



