THEIR FEED AND THEIR FEET. 



CLIPPING 



45 



is, therefore, an abuse which should not be perpe- 

 trated. It is unnatural, and no amount of care can 

 fully atone for the loss of his natural coat. The fact 

 is that both horse and owner are by nature designed 

 for service and to become inured to exposure, and not 

 for " molly-coddlers "; and, under use, both become 

 proof against harm from what is often considered 

 rough treatment, but which in fact increases their 

 vigor and effectually guards them from disease. But 

 to rob a horse of his hair is to put upon him an un- 

 natural kind of exposure, with no compensating ad- 

 vantage. 



The digestive system, along with the entire organ- 

 ism, is exalted in proportion to the degree of active 

 exercise in the open air ; in fact, work, cold weather, 

 and pure air increase the digestive powers and all 

 the forces of the organism. There is a limit, of 

 course, as with all rules, to the application of this 

 principle ; but the principle holds good under all cir- 

 cumstances. Blanketing a horse lessens his digestive 

 capacity, and anything which tends in that direction 

 reduces all the vital powers ; the fact being that the 

 more he can digest, the more he can endure, whether 

 of work or exposure. This is simply because the 

 more his vital powers are taxed, providing always 

 they be not overtaxed, the more he can digest ; 

 since, as remarked elsewhere, the digestive fluids are 

 secreted from the blood in proportion to the body's 

 needs for nutriment, and not in proportion to the 



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