BLINKERS. 247 



supply of hairs so arranged that they exclude dust, 

 flies, and other extraneous objects, while they do 

 not interfere with the passage of sound. 



Therefore, the presence of these hairs is an 

 abomination to the professional eye, and the groom, 

 if left to himself, will remove the hairs as far as 

 possible, sometimes cutting them off, and sometimes, 

 when he wants to be very professional, singeing 

 them down with a candle flame. Deafness is often 

 caused by this atrocious practice ; but that is nothing 

 to the groom as long as the horse is got up according 

 to the prevailing fashion. 



If the reader will again turn to the horse 

 1 Fashion,' on p. 200, he will see that I have ventured 

 to add a pair of ear-stoppers to the blinkers, the 

 gag bearing-rein, the hogged mane, the cropped ears, 

 and the docked and nicked tail, all of which are, or 

 have been, considered necessary to the gratification 

 of the professional eye. 



The real fact is, that blinkers are rather the 

 causes of fright than the preventives, and for this 

 reason. The temperament of the horse is most 

 peculiar, and especially as regards courage. To 

 judge him from one point of view, he seems an 

 arrant coward. To judge him from another, he is 

 one of the most courageous animals on the face of 

 the earth. You may see him scared by a feather 



