vj 



GROOMING AND STABLE MANAGEMENT 



59 



owners, is to see clipped horses standing outside 

 stores or theatres shivering in the cold while 

 their mistresses are enjoying themselves within. 

 Well-cared-for private horses are as a rule 

 better when clipped, but I think that commercial 

 horses which stand about in their daily rounds 

 are better undipped, unless they perspire very 

 freely. The length of the coat, the work re- 

 quired, and the amount the horse perspires are 

 factors which decide whether the horse should 

 be clipped or not. The London bus-horse was 

 always better when clipped. 



233. The most humane way of clipping horses 

 in a country that has a cold winter is to clip 

 the body only, and to leave the legs from about 

 nine inches above the knees and hocks un- 

 dipped. The long hairs on the fetlocks can be 

 taken off. I strongly advocate the frequent use 

 of hand rubbing of the coat in the autumn, thus 

 keeping it short and thin and often avoiding the 

 necessity for clipping. In milder climates, such 

 as in England, light and heavy commercial 

 horses are frequently dipped on the lower part 

 of the body and upper part of the legs, as shown 

 in P. 516. This leaves a warm coat on the 

 body, lessens the amount of perspiring, and 

 renders the horse less liable to cracked-heels, 

 etc. All mud must be thoroughly brushed out 

 of the legs upon return from work. It is gener- 

 ally necessary to clip horses in England several 

 times during the winter. 



234. Clipping means shortening the hairs of 

 the coat (temporary hairs) by means of shears. 

 The coat may be shortened or thinned, and 

 therefore made cooler, by other means, as 

 singeing, hand rubbing, use of indiarubber, and 

 good grooming. Singeing must be done by an 

 experienced man, and is best done with a gas 

 lamp made for the purpose, as it can be easily 

 regulated. Oil or spirit lamps are dangerous , 

 the oil may be spilt and cause a fire. Singeing 

 should never be done over straw bedding ; if 

 done in the stall, the bedding must be removed. 

 Good grooming and a large amount of hand rub- 

 bing will remove a great number of the hairs of 

 the coat, and thus lighten it. It may be made 

 still lighter by being rubbed with a piece of 

 indiarubber held firmly in the hand and drawn 

 in the direction of the coat. Private horses are 

 often singed after they are clipped to improve the 

 look of the coat and to round off the ends of 

 the hairs, which, by closing, strengthens them. 

 Clipping, by squaring off the ends of the hairs, 

 leaves them in a bristly state and causes the 

 coat to be more susceptible to irritation ; a coat 

 when first clipped stands up (stares), and does 

 not lie down smoothly. This will allow dirt and 

 cold more readily to gain access to the skin. 

 Horses which suffer from cracked heels 

 (scratches) are better with their fetlocks left 

 undipped. 



Thin-skinned horses, or horses ridden by bad 



riders, are better left with a patch, the shape 

 of the saddle, on the back undipped, so as to 

 afford extra protection. Hunters are often not 

 clipped below the hocks and knees ; this is 

 advisable in muddy countries, as the mud does 

 less harm to the legs when the coat is left long, 

 and the danger of chill is considerably reduced 

 if the horses are shipped home by train. Hunters 

 are sometimes clipped on the body only. 



235. The long hairs inside the ears should 

 never be clipped ; they are there for a very good 

 purpose, and their removal may cause deafness 

 or other damage to the ear by allowing cold and 

 foreign objects to gain access. Long hairs pro- 

 jecting beyond the cartilage of the ear may be 

 trimmed off with the scissors. I was sorry to 

 see some of the horses at an international horse 

 show with their ears clipped in this way ; it 

 proves gross ignorance. On no account must the 

 eyelashes or the muzzle hairs be clipped. The 

 best method of clipping a horse is to use a 

 machine clipper, worked by hand or by an 

 electric motor, which must have a safety cutout 

 worked by the foot, so that, if anything happens, 

 the machine can be stopped instantly. Hand 

 clippers are useful for finishing off those parts 

 which are difficult to reach with a machine. If 

 a horse is cold after being dipped, which he 

 will show by the coat staring or even by shiver- 

 ing, he must be blanketed more heavily, and not 

 be kept warm by closing the windows, thus pre- 

 venting proper ventilation. Private horses are 

 often made sick by stuffy, unventilated stables. 

 After a horse has been clipped, in order to pro- 

 duce the extra internal heat required, more fuel 

 must be supplied by increasing the feed for a 

 week or two. 



236. If a horse is clipped too early in the 

 autumn, his coat will not look so nice as if the 

 clipping had been done later, and a second clip- 

 ping may be necessary. This is necessary with 

 some horses, anyway. It is cruel to wait until 

 the end of November, when the winter coat is 

 fully grown, and then to clip it all off, as the 

 horse will then be without sufficient coat until 

 the spring. But if he is clipped at the end of 

 October, the exact time depending upon the 

 climate, the winter coat will continue to grow 

 afterwards, and furnish him with a moderately 

 short coat all through the winter. Sometimes 

 horses with heavy coats are clipped at the begin- 

 ning of spring ; this spoils the appearance for a 

 while — that is, until the summer coat comes — 

 but it is often a necessity. When the winter 

 coat is fully grown, "cat hairs," which are long 

 hairs, will make their appearance here and there 

 over the coat. 



237. The Forelock. — In Canada and the 

 United States the forelock and the mane in 

 between the ears is often clipped off, generally 

 because it gets in the way when an overhead 

 check-rein is used. This unnecessary appendage 



