60 



MODERN HORSE MANAGEMENT 



[chap. 



is dealt with in Chapter XIX. The forelock is 

 of great use to the horse in protecting his eyes. 

 (See Chapter XII.) Some draught horses have 

 a very heavy forelock, which partly covers the 

 eyes ; this is very detrimental to the horse. It 

 should be combed out and be nearly long enough 

 to reach the top of the eye. A saddle horse looks 

 far more handsome with a forelock. In the British 

 cavalry about a couple of inches of mane, where 

 the head-stall passes over, is clipped off ; this 

 keeps the mane tidy and prevents it from being 

 doubled under the head-stall and from working 

 out and tickling the horse's ears. This clipping 

 is particularly necessary with some cavalry 

 bridles which have two head-stalls, whilst those 

 in the Life Guards have three head-stalls. 



238. Time to Trim Horses. — A horse should 

 be trimmed every few months if it is desired 

 that he should look neat and well groomed. It 

 is wonderful what trimming the hair of the fet- 

 locks and around the pasterns, etc., will do 

 towards improving the appearance of some 

 horses. 



Tails should be trimmed, if trimmed at all, 

 at the end of the fly season. If a tail is banged 

 short, as in P. 29, it should not be touched 

 after Christmas, so that it will be nearly to the 

 hocks when the flies come ; this applies more 

 to countries where the flies are bad. A docked 

 tail should never be trimmed except at the begin- 

 ning of winter, but, unfortunately, most owners 

 of such horses do not consider the horse so long 

 as it looks "smart." 



239. Banging the Tail. — Banging the tail 

 means squaring the hair off to a desired length 

 below the end of the dock with scissors or 

 shears. (See P. 28, 29, 79, 80.) British cavalry 

 horses' tails are banged so that the end reaches 

 one hand's-breadth above the hocks, but upon 

 going to India the hair is left to grow quite long. 

 (See P. 80.) 



To bang a tail, place one hand under the 

 dock near the top, and cause the tail to hang as 

 it would be carried while the horse is in motion, 

 and cut the hair square off at the required 

 length. Sometimes it is cut at a slight angle, 

 so that the tail is slightly shorter next to the 

 thighs. (See P. 80c.) A horse's tail grows from 

 six inches to one foot in a year, as a general 

 rule. In Canada and the United States most of 

 the saddle horses' tails are quite long. (See 

 "U.S. Cavalry Horses." P. 60.) 



240. Thinning the Tail. — If a tail is left bushy 

 and heavy it has two disadvantages. Firstly, it 

 keeps the horse much hotter in warm weather ; 

 and, secondly, it requires more energy from the 

 horse to move it in striking at a fly. It should 

 be kept neat, and not be combed on the outside ; 

 combing breaks the hairs and soon spoils the 

 beauty of a nice tail. P. 14a, i6&, 616, 61b, 68a 

 show the tail kept thin at the top, which keeps 

 the horse much cooler, looks neater, and, as it is 



lighter in weight, the tail will be carried more 

 arched and thus farther away from the body. A 

 tail is thinned gradually by a few hairs being 

 pulled out every day ; this will not incon- 

 venience the horse any more than the daily 

 combing which the average groom loves to give 

 the horse. To thin a tail in a day by pulling 

 out bunches of hair is exceedingly cruel, and 

 should never be allowed. 



241. Hogging Manes. — By hogging a horse 

 is meant clipping off the mane close to the 

 crest. Some, who are evidently grossly ignorant 

 of the horse's requirements, say that this is 

 worse than docking. I hope my readers will 

 know better than this. Nevertheless, I do not 

 approve of the practice by any means. The 

 use of the mane is unknown to most people. 

 The fly muscles (described in Chapter XII.) 

 do not extend to the crest of the neck ; there- 

 fore a mane is necessary to protect the upper 

 portion of the neck. This he does by shaking 

 his head and switching the mane from side 

 to side. In Canada or India, during the fly 

 season, a mane is of the greatest use to the 

 horse. The mane is also of great service in the 

 prevention of sunstroke. (See Sec. 615.) This 

 is particularly true of the foretop, that part in 

 between the ears. A heavy mane is of no use 

 to a horse ; in fact, it causes excessive perspira- 

 tion. The ideal mane should be about four 

 inches long, and kept fairly thin so as to keep 

 the horse cool in hot weather. A long mane, 

 if not too heavy, adds considerably to the 

 beauty of some horses. (See P. 2, iSb, 2ia.) 

 A hogged mane is generally ugly and gives the 

 horse an unnatural appearance. The absence 

 of a mane is a great disadvantage when an 

 elderly person is mounting a horse. I have 

 found hogged-mane horses in the fly season a 

 positive nuisance. The excuse that a mane takes 

 a long time to clean is an exceedingly lazy one, 

 and not one that one would expect to come from 

 a horseman. I regret to see a number of army 

 horses with their manes hogged ; it makes them 

 look exceedingly ugly and gives one the impres- 

 sion of laziness. 



Sometimes a mane gets diseased, and the 

 veterinary surgeon orders it to be clipped off ; 

 but, as a matter of fact, this is unnecessary, as 

 various applications can be rubbed into the roots 

 which will cure any dise-ase that I have yet 

 come across. 



Field-Marshal Viscount Wolseley said : " I 

 cannot write too strongly against the fashion of 

 hogging manes and cutting tails short. I have 

 seen cavalry regiments and batteries of artillery 

 at home which could not have been sent into the 

 fields where flies abounded owing to the tails 

 of the horses having been rendered so useless by 

 their silly C.O.'s. I wish all such gentlemen 

 could be picketed out themselves in a fly country 

 with their hair cut quite close and their hands 



