SHOWING SADDLE HORSES 173 



the show, as he looks better then than when the coat 

 is half grown out. The saddle mark should always 

 be left undipped to protect the back, but it is totally 

 incorrect and out of place to clip a saddle horse hunter 

 style, i. e. } with the legs left unclipped. Whether 

 clipped or unclipped, the fetlocks, ears, and nostrils 

 should be trimmed before the show. 



The mane and tail of a well turned out hack should 

 be neatly trimmed, and if we follow the broad lines 

 laid down by nature, the result will be neither inar- 

 tistic nor artificial, but will bear the same comparison 

 to the flowing mane of the wild horse as the elegant 

 coiffure of the lady does to the unkempt locks of the 

 peasant girl. 



If a horse is a thoroughbred, or a well bred animal, 

 his mane, which previously should have been shortened 

 to a few inches in length, must be neatly braided up 

 like a race-horse (see illustration facing page 32) and 

 should lie flat against his neck rather than in nasty little 

 upright knobs. Black shoe thread should always be 

 used for the braiding, as colored wool savors too much 

 of the dealer's yard and looks cheap and vulgar. 



A neatly pulled, properly braided mane presents 

 a far smarter and prettier appearance than the straight 

 line produced by " hogging." If, however, the animal 

 is underbred or has a short thick neck, he will prob- 

 ably look better hogged, as this tends to make the 

 neck longer and finer and appears to give the animal 

 "another cross of blood." When a horse is thus 

 trimmed, the clippers should be very carefully run over 

 the mane, just prior to the show, so as to make it 

 smooth and neat. Roached manes, or those in which a 

 fine fine is left standing upright, called "herringboned, " 

 are in no case correct, while a long, flowing mane, like 

 the full, flowing tail, looks unkempt and untidy. 



