118 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. [Pub. Doc. 



It is the fashion at present to dock carriage and saddle 

 horses. We have gone back to the fashions of the early 

 part of the century in ladies' dress and in trimming horses. 

 I have never owned a docked horse. I prefer the full tail, 

 though it is sometimes convenient to "bang" it. Many 

 people think a long, full tail is useful to defend the horse 

 from flies. That is not so. No horse can swing a long tail, 

 even to defend his quarters. He can use a " banged " tail. 

 The horse of the desert and the African barbs, " Sprung 

 from the winds, and like the winds in speed," have grand, 

 flowing tails of wavy hair. The wavy effect may be pro- 

 duced by braiding while in the stable. The Arabs carry the 

 tail much better than other breeds. The reason is that their 

 tails are well set on, and it is the custom to shear the hair 

 from the dock of the colt. Horse breeders know that the 

 foal carries his tail high and arched, but when the yearling 

 has a full growth of hair, often matted with burs or heavy 

 with rain or mud, the dock is pulled down by the weight 

 and the arching is lost. 



Coarse hair about the heels is natural, but I confess to a 

 prejudice against it and have it clipped. 



The hair o-rowinof in a thick tuft inside the ear must never 

 be touched. Ignorance sometimes removes it with the scis- 

 sors, but it is a defence against flies and other insects that 

 would secure lodgment upon the sensitive skin inside the ear. 



The long hairs Avhich grow upon the muzzle are often 

 plucked. These are not superfluous ; they have a valuable 

 use, having sensitive power like the whiskers of the cat. 



It is the fashion to cut off" the mane as well as the tail. 

 Let us hope that the old fashion of cropping the ears will 

 not be revived. The mane is of no use in the domesticated 

 horse. In a state of nature it is coarse, stands up and falls 

 on both sides of the neck. It is to defend the horse from 

 the teeth of his enemy, which aims to seize him at the crest 

 and drag him down. For thousands of years men have 

 trained the mane to fall on the right side, but it still has to 

 be coaxed. Virgil speaks of it as falling on the right side. 

 The Greeks cropped the mane as we do in hacks and polo 

 ponies. This is seen in the Elgin marbles and other ancient 

 statuary. The best bred and thinnest skinned horses have 



