CLIPPING. 219 



he should keep a damp rag in his left hand, ever 

 ready to quench the coat should it catch fire, as 

 also to avoid singeing too close to the roots of the 

 mane and tail. 



For saddle horses, the part of the back where 

 the saddle goes should never be clipped or singed, 

 but the saddle having been carefully fitted on the 

 back, the hair should be neatly clipped round in its 

 shape. 



It has of late years been very much the custom 

 to leave the legs of horses undipped. It was a 

 fashion which was brought over from Ireland, and 

 was supposed to be a protection to the legs, and to 

 prevent thorns and stone walls, etc., damaging them. 

 I never did agree with it, simply because I thought 

 it looked horrid, and because I do not consider that 

 it is a protection. If all the hair off a horse's legs 

 were to be collected together, the whole of it could 

 be held in one hand, and I do not see that it is any 

 advantage, and am quite sure that many a blow, 

 and many a thorn which would be seen at once 

 were the legs clipped, is often left undiscovered 

 until lameness or the existence of matter makes 

 the injury apparent. Some people assert that it 

 is a protection against mud -fever. I will, how- 

 ever, endeavour in another place to show that 

 mud-fever can be very easily prevented by other 



