18 ELEMENTS OF HIPPOLOGY. 



A tail is banged when it is cut square below the end of the 

 dock (Figure 2). It is thinned when it is shortened by pulling 

 and breaking, but not squared off (Figure 4). It is docked when 

 the dock and hair both are cut off from eight to eleven inches 

 from the root of the tail. 



A brand is a mark burned in the skin of a horse, leaving a 

 scar of some definite design to establish ownership. 



Clipping is the process of shortening the hair of the coat 

 by means of clippers. 



Singeing is the process of burning long hairs in the coat 

 until they are the same length as the rest. 



Wire cuts are the scars of wounds made b y barbed-wire 

 fences. They are characteristic in appearance, and frequently, 

 by their location, cast suspicion upon the soundness of the an- 

 imal. Usually the wounds causing them were only skin deep, 

 when the resulting scars are merely blemishes. 



A rope burn is a scar or wound made by chafing the skin 

 of the fetlock by a rope. Like a wire cut, it is usually only 

 a blemish. 



The height of a horse is determined by measuring, in 

 hands of four inches each, the altitude of the top of the withers. 

 A full-grown horse, fourteen hands two inches high (written: 

 14 : 2"), or less, is a pony. 



Generally speaking, a blemish is any irregularity that mars 

 the beauty or symmetry of a horse, while a defect is one that 

 reduces his usefulness. 



The forehand of a horse includes that part in front of the 

 rider. The part in rear is termed the haunches. 



Of a pair of horses, the near one is the left, the off one is 

 the right. The near side of a horse is his left side ; the off side, 

 his right. 



A sound horse is one that is not affected with any disabling 

 disease or injury; an unsound horse is one that is suffering 



