THE CARE OF HORSES. 319 
A cheap, warm, and durable blanket can be made of 
canvas or sail-cloth, lined with some woollen material. 
A horse bred in a northern latitude will do very well 
without blankets in winter, —except, of course, that 
one must always be used when he comes in wet from 
rain or sweat, —but he will not look well. His coat 
will be long, and it will “stare,” and he will require 
more food than he would need if blanketed. 
When colts or horses are exercised by being turned 
out ina yard or lot, itis safer not to blanket them 
in the stable. If an animal is neither groomed nor 
“cgovered up,” nature supplies him with a thick and 
oily garment. Rub your hand on the hair of a colt at 
pasture, and you will find that it is positively sticky. 
In some parts of Northern New York, and I presume 
in some parts of New England also, it is the custom 
to winter horses in open yards, without sheds, where 
the only shelter is that afforded by the hay-rick which 
supplies them with food. Horses thus exposed to 
extreme cold and wet receive no injury, but they 
must suffer much discomfort, and doubtless the cost 
of a warm shed would soon be made up by econ- 
omy in hay. Of course warm blanketing is absolutely 
necessary when the animal is deprived of his natural 
coat by 
CLIPPING. 
Clipping, like every other process applicable to 
horseflesh, is grossly abused. To clip a horse that 
is obliged, as, for example, many hack horses are, to 
stand out in all weathers, and for long periods, is a 
great cruelty; and especially is it cruel under such 
circumstances to clip the legs which cannot be blan- 
