ANIMAL MANAGEMENT. 



Shorten- Shortening of collars. —'Yo shorten a collar under these circumstances 



ing of jg ^ great mistake, for if it is shortened to fit when the animal has very httle 



collars. Q^ j^g neck, it is certain that it will be much too short for him when he has 

 put up flesh again ; besides, a collar once shortened can only be length- 

 ened with difficulty. Yet collars which are too long allow of considerable 

 play, and play means friction. The horse losing flesh must not be 

 allowed to wear a long collar, it should be artificially shortened to prevent 

 damage, but it should not be cut. In the same way loss of flesh means a 

 collar too wide ; to stuff a collar under these circumstances means that 

 it is too tight when the horse puts up muscle, and yet a wide collar is a 

 source of friction and injury. Here again we must reduce the width, not 

 actually by stuffing, but artificially, in a manner described below. 



Apart from the reasons given against stuffing and shortening the 

 collars of working horses, there is the waste of material, the loss of 

 time entailed by a man having to shorten and re-stuff collars, and in a 

 fortnight's time having to try and make them longer. While the collars 

 are undergoing this course the horses are idle, yet the most completely 

 satisfactory alteration can be carried out in a few minutes without 

 interfering in the slightest degree with the collar itself, and without 

 stopping the horse's work. 

 How to How to reduce the width of a collar.— Th^ method is this : — To make 



reduce the a collar narrower, mark the region with chalk, and observe how much 

 width of ^QQ wide the collar is ; a strip of numnah is cut the desired length and 

 the edges shaved off ; three or more leather thongs are put through the 

 edge of it, and the whole tied round the body of the collar, the hames 

 passing over the thongs keep the numnah in its place. If the collar is 

 still too wide another strip of numnah is put in at the desired place with 

 the edges shaved off, and this is repeated until the desired amount has 

 been introduced to stop all lateral movement. Some saddlers like to 

 stitch the numnah strips in, or to use straps and buckles instead of 

 leather thongs ; it is quite unnecessary, though perhaps neater in 

 appearance. 



If a collar is too deep it can be altered in the same way by raising 

 it on the shoulders to the desired height, and strips of numnah 

 inserted — ^just below where the collar opens — until it is retained at its 

 proper height on the shoulders. These numnah strips are, of course, 

 put in on both sides, and so arranged as not to interfere with the 

 neck. 



Such is the simple, expeditious, and absolutely satisfactory way of 

 altering a collar when horses are performing hard work. By adopting 

 these measures horses may be kept at duty which would otherwise 



collar. 



