CLIPPING vs. LONG COATS. 189 



groom for the whole task, the bandages should be put on first 

 that is to say, as soon as the clothing is thrown on ; then the gruel 

 should be given, and as soon as this is swallowed the ears should 

 be warmed by friction. No attempt at dressing should be made 

 till the gruel is taken and the ears are warm ; and if they cannot 

 be restored to their proper temperature, a warm cordial of ale and 

 spices should at once be given. Usually, however, there is no 

 occasion for this ; and, after getting the stomach attended to, the 

 skin of the body begins to recover its natural temperature, and the 

 extremities become warm again. In the course of an hour, the 

 dressing may generally be effected; but no time should be lost in 

 it, and the skin must not on any account be chilled. After it is 

 done, a feed of oats and a few split beans may be given, if the 

 appetite seems inclined to return; but sometimes, when the ex- 

 haustion is excessive, no solid food can be taken with safety till the 

 next day ; and gruel, with cordials, must be resorted to as the only 

 kind of support which the stomach will bear. 



CLIPPING, SINGEING, AND TRIMMING. 



THE COAT or THE HORSE is changed twice a year, the long 

 hair of winter coming off in April and May, or sometimes earlier, 

 when the stables are warm, and there is no exposure to severe cold. 

 A slight sweat hastens this shedding, as every horseman knows by 

 experience, and even in harness the hairs are cast in the face of 

 the driver to his great annoyance on a windy day. Clipped horses 

 are longer than others in shedding their coats, and present a most 

 disagreeable mottled appearance, which makes the state still more 

 noticeable. The long hair on the legs is about a month later in 

 coming off, and indeed it will not fall till midsummer, unless some 

 more violent means than are used in ordinary dressing are adopted. 

 With some breeds and individuals the winter coat is not very much 

 longer and coarser than that of the summer ; but all, save blind 

 horses, show more or less difference in favor of the summer coat. 

 Curiously enough, horses which are totally deprived of sight, have 

 almost invariably a good winter's coat, often better than that which 

 they show at other seasons ; but why this is so no one has ever 

 been able to explain, though I have never known the fact disputed. 

 About the middle of October, or early in November, the summer 

 coat is thrown off; but some of the hair appears to remain as a 

 sort of undercoat, among which the long, coarse hairs of winter 

 make their appearance. These continue growing for six weeks or 

 two months if they are clipped or singed, and even after Christ- 

 mas, if the weather is cold and the skin is much exposed, there 

 will be an evident increase in length of some of the hair. In 

 accordance with the growth of this on the body is that of the hair 

 on the legs, which become feathered all the way down below the 



