THE GROOM 115 



and prices are down. With very few exceptions, all the 

 fellows who go about the country clipping are mere grooms 

 and helpers out of place, who can't clip a bit better than a 

 man's own servant. Then when they get into a house where 

 the master is weak enough to let them have wear and tear for 

 their teeth, unless they have another victim in view, they are in 

 no hurry to take their departure, and a horse will serve them 

 the best part of a week. Travelling rat-catchers and itinerant 

 grooms are things that should be carefully avoided. It is a 

 far better plan for a master to keep a set of clipping scissors 

 of his own, and let a Groom try his " prentice" hand on a 

 hack or some horse that is not much wanted or seen, than to 

 take in one of these chance-coming clippers. A grey horse, 

 for instance, shows bad clipping less than any, and a man must 

 be a very numb hand if he does not get into the way of the 

 thing after going over a whole horse. Besides, a man's own 

 Groom clips at his leisure, at those mid-day hours that are 

 consumed in the saddle room, in polishing that eternal curb 

 chain, Grooms always have in hand, or ready to let fall, the 

 moment they see " master coming." A real clipper will clip a 

 horse in a day, and most likely charge a guinea for it, which, 

 it must be admitted, is pretty good pay. We have heard of 

 two guineas being paid in former times. 



Shaving is a still easier process than clipping, and we 

 wonder it is not more generally adopted. Any man who can 

 shave himself can shave a horse, and shaving is attended with 

 far less fatigue to the hand than clipping. The veriest 

 beginner can shave a horse a daj- — the Groom, village barber, 

 sexton, anybody. It requires nothing but half-a-dozen razors, 

 hot water, and common soap, well lathered into the part you 

 are at work upon. There should be a man or boy to hold the 

 horse, one to shave, and a third to keep setting the razors, as 

 it makes awkward work when the shaver has to stop every now 

 and then, dry his hands, and commence whetting. It is a 



