428 THE HORSE. 



coat till after the usual period of changing it, yet it will fall even 

 in the middle of winter, if he be much exposed to winter 

 weather. Grooms often hasten the fall of the winter coat by 

 extra dressing and clothing, in order that the horse may have 

 his fine summer coat a little earlier than usual. This, especially 

 when the spring is cold and the horse much exposed, is not 

 right, for it generally makes the summer coat longer than if it 

 had not ai3])eared till the M-eather was warmer. 



The long hair which grows on the legs of some horses, is 

 doubtless intended to answer the same purpose as the short hair 

 of the body. It is longer and stronger, because the parts are 

 more exposed to cold and to wet. On the legs of thoroughbred, 

 horses, the hair is not much longer than that on the body, with 

 the exception of a tuft at the back of the fetlock-joint. This is 

 termed the foot lock. It defends the parts beneath from ex- 

 ternal injury, to which they are liable by contact with the 

 ground. When very long, good grooming, good food, and warm 

 stabling, always shorten the hair of the legs. 



The hair of the mane has been regarded as ornamental, and 

 it is so ; but to say that any part of an animal was conferred for 

 the sole purpose of pleasing the eye of man, is almost as much 

 as to say that all were not created by the same Being. Had the 

 mane been superfluous to the horse, we could have been made 

 to admire him without it. God has made it pleasing to us, be- 

 cause it is useful to him. In a wild state the horse has many 

 battles to fight, and his neck, deprived of the mane, would be a 

 very vulnerable part. It is likewise a part that he cannot reach 

 with his teeth, and not easily with his feet. The flies might 

 settle there and satiate themselves without disturbance ; if the 

 mane cannot altogether exclude these intruders, it can lash 

 them off by a single jerk of the head. I believe that in wild 

 horses the mane falls equally on both sides of the neck. 



The long hair of the mane, the tail, and the legs, is not shed 

 in the same manner as that on the body. It is deciduous, but it 

 does not fall so regularly, so rapidly, nor so often as the other.' 

 Each hair, from its length, requires a much longer time to grow ; 

 if all were shed at once, the parts would be left defenceless 

 for perhaps more than a month. Some of the hairs are con- 

 stantly losing their attachment and falling out, while .others are 



