CLIPPING TIME REQUIRED. 109 



That every man may have his horse well clipped, I 

 should recommend him — no matter how expert the 

 clipper may be — to demand that at least twenty-four 

 hours be occupied by one man over the operation, for 

 it is utter folly for men to pretend to clip a horse 

 properly under this time. 



I am acquainted with a professional clipper who 

 maintains that ( he can clip a horse as well in seven 

 as in twenty -four hours/ the truth of which statement 

 I am not in a position to dispute, not having witnessed 

 any of his i twenty-four hours' work ; ' but that his 

 seven hours' clipping is a most disgraceful performance, 

 I can faithfully certify. That a horse should be taken 

 extreme care of, and not be allowed to move out- 

 side the stable for a week after clipping or singeing, is 

 quite an exploded doctrine. He is far less likely to 

 catch cold after than before the operation, and the only 

 difference in his condition will be, that he may be ridden 

 at a much faster rate without the same fear of injury. 



It is a practice, now very common, to leave the 

 saddle place undipped that the horse may be less liable 

 to saddle-galls ; to which I have only to say, that 

 I have found such a practice most productive of the 

 very evil it is supposed to prevent. 



It is, moreover, only reasonable that this should be 

 so ; for in proportion as the skin is saturated with 

 sweat and filth, so will the irritation caused be great or 

 little. It was also a fashion, happily now well-nigh 

 exploded, of leaving the long rough hair on the hun- 

 ter's legs for the purpose of warding off injury from 



