CLIPPING 79 



legs are clipped must suffer more or less from cold, and, 

 moreover, clipping the legs tends to make the hair grow 

 out coarser the next summer. This last remark applies 

 also to the whole coat. The clipping of a horse, 

 especially when it is done year after year, necessarily 

 results in making his coat longer and coarser than it 

 was originally. 



A horse that does not stand about In the streets but 

 is taken out and driven or ridden at a good pace and 

 Is then brought back to the stable, can be clipped with- 

 out suffering, and It will often prevent a great deal of 

 sweating, and therefore is a safeguard against chills. 

 On the other hand, if a horse goes only a short distance 

 every day it is a distinct advantage to his health to get 

 sweated, provided, of course, that he is carefully pro- 

 tected after returning to the stable. 



Unquestionably many hard-working horses such as 

 stage horses will do better clipped than undipped; but 

 in all such cases the legs should be left as they are, and 

 the clipping should be done early In the season, about 

 the first of November. By that date flies have ceased 

 to trouble the horse, and clipping at that season will 

 enable him to grow out a short coat before the severely 

 cold weather arrives. 



There Is another time when clipping is often bene- 

 ficial to a horse, and that is in late winter or early 

 spring when the weather gets warmer, and the horse 

 sweats profusely. In that season horses with a heavy 

 coat will sometimes sweat even In the stable, and If they 

 are worked hard they become reduced In flesh. But If 

 clipping is to be done In the spring It should be done 



