350 



CHAPTER XII. 

 CLIPPING, SINGEING, AND TRIMMING. 



Shortening the Coat Trimming and Banging. 

 SHORTENING THE COAT. 



IT is evident that the protective power possessed by the 

 coat of a horse is proportionate to its interference with his 

 capacity for work. In fact, a saddle or harness horse with 

 a long coat is like unto a man who wears a warm suit of 

 clothes which he is unable to take off when he engages in 

 physical exercise. This disadvantageous condition in the 

 jcase of a horse, can, as we all know, be obviated by shorten- 

 ing the coat and supplying him with adequate clothing to 

 be worn when he is not in work. He will then be in the 

 good position of an athlete who can fortify himself against 

 cold by putting on clothes, or prepare himself for work by 

 taking them off; and, besides, his grooming will require 

 much less labour than if his coat was long. When a horse 

 is neither groomed nor housed, he will of course need the 

 natural protection which his coat affords him. The artificial 

 shortening of the coat not only improves the working 

 capacity of long-coated horses, but it also acts beneficially 

 on their general health when they are kept in warm 

 stables. In such cases, it is more reasonable to blame th2 

 unsanitary state of the stable, than to praise the good effect 

 of the reduction of the hair. We may conclude that shorten- 

 ing the coat is an advantage with all long-coated horses 



