HIDE-BOUND. 383 



balls, — perhaps too many of them, — on the whole not hcing rn<^r'-'.i.:'eable at this 

 critical period, yet not productive of a great deal of good. At ii j.gdi the animal 

 rallies of himself, and although not so strong and full of spirits as he ought to be, is 

 hardier and more lively than he was, and able to struggle with the cold of the coming 

 winter.* 



What a desideratum in the management of the horse would be a course of treat- 

 ment that would render all this unnecessary ! This desideratum has been found — 

 a free escape of perspiration, a moist and softened state of the skin, an evident in- 

 crease of health and capability of enduring fatigue, and working on shorter supply 

 of food than he could before. This is said to be performed by the clipping and singe- 

 ing systems. 



Mr. Thomas Turner, who was almost one of the earliest advocates of these sys- 

 t3ms, states that during the months of October and November an inordinate growth 

 (•f hair is observed over the whole surface of the body, and in many horses as early 

 as the beginning of September, and almost invariably prevails, more or less, in every 

 horse that is not thorough-bred. The debilitating effects thereby induced are profuse 

 perspiration on the least possible exertion — depression of the animal spirits, and tem- 

 porary loss of appetite. The immediate removal of all the superfluous hair by close 

 clipping, instantly proves so powerful a tonic to the animal, that he unhesitatingly 

 affirms it to be inferior to none at present known in our pharmacopoeia. Mr, Turner 

 adds, — "Now, signal as the success of clipping has been, I do entertain a hope, and 

 am of opinion that, in the majority of instances, it may be superseded by singeing 

 under certain modifications.""!" 



We may not, perhaps, be able satisfactorily to explain the apparently magical 

 effects of clipping and singeing on the general constitution, and particularly the wind 

 of the horse, or the respiratory functions generally, but there is no doubt of their ex- 

 istence. An increased tone is given to the system generally ; and probably, in some 

 way not yet sufficiently developed, the increased current of the electric fluid may 

 have much to do with it. 



Mr. Snewing gives an interesting account of the effect of clipping on two horses 

 in his establishment. He had a cob, with a fixed catarrh of several months' stand- 

 ing. It did not interfere with the animal's general health, but was a source of con- 

 siderable annoyance. At length the owner determined to sell him ; but first he had 

 him clipped. After a few days his attention was drawn to the circumstance, that 

 either the horse's cough must have left him, or, from repeatedly hearing it, he had 

 ceased to regard it. He watched the animal, and, truly enough, he found that the 

 rough had entirely disappeared. He rode him through the winter and the following 

 summer, and there was no return of it. 



The other instance was in a mare which he had after this one was sold. In the 

 months of August, September, and October, 1R41, she was continually the subject of 

 intermittent cough. He had her clipped, and in a few days she ceased to cough, ami 

 has not been heard to cough from that time, 



HIDE- BOUND, 



This is not so much a diminution of the cellular or fatty substance between the 

 skin and the muscles beneath, as it is an alteration in the skin itself. It is a hard- 

 ness and unyieldingness of the skin from the want of the oily matter on its surface 



* Mr. E. Gabriel, V. S., on the Treatment of the Horse in Autumn. — Veterinarian, vol. 

 xiii. 627. 



t Veterinarian, vol. xiv., 18. 



In justice, however, to an excellent sportsman, Nimrod, we must quote another opinion, 

 and with that the subject shall be left to the consideration of our readers. " On the subject 

 of clipping, I cannot agree with Mr. Gabriel as to the call for it, much less admit its almost 

 universal adoption. I would clip road-coach horses, and a hunter that had been summered 

 entirely at grass, despairing of condition on any other terms. It is a mere substitute for good 

 grooming. As for its almost universal adoption, such is far from being the case. I did not 

 see three clipped horses last year (1840); at Melton, in the Quorn stables, not one, nor in 

 Mr. Foljambe's. Singed ones I did see to a certain extent ; but a hardy-riding Meltonian 

 told me that he would have no more spirits of wine charged in his groom's book. ' A mere 

 substitute,' said he, 'in my stable for the old-fashioned elhow-gren=e.' In my opinion the 

 horse is not yet foaled which cannot be got into perfect condhion without this outrage on na- 

 ture.'" — The Velprinarian, vol. xiv., p. 35. 



