CRACKED HEELS. 251 
Shortening the coat, if anywhere justifiable, is certainly most pardon- 
able among hunters. Animals used for this purpose always have, or 
should have, plenty of attendance; these creatures also are mostly re- 
quired during the autumn and early winter. Removing the coat cer- 
tainly does stimulate the body. The horse assuredly is capable of greater 
exertion immediately after the deprivation. At the same time, however, 
a greater susceptibility to disease is engendered, and often the deprived 
animal falls a victim to man’s fancy, notwithstanding all the care and 
attention which the hunting-stable can command. A burst and then a 
check, when a piercing wind blows from the northeast, invariably pro- 
duces sad effects among the horses, especially at the commencement of 
the season. A gentleman who prizes the animal he rides should take 
it to ‘‘the meet” unclipped; and, perhaps, should the run be long, the 
quadruped may hold a better place at the death than horses adorned 
after the prevailing fashion. 
The folly of the custom is shown in the animals attached to London 
vehicles. These horses are mostly wanted for spring service. The 
stimulant of the autumn is purchased at the cost of debility during the 
spring. The coat is shed the later because of the previous deprivation. 
When the summer hair is growing, the creature presents a very uneven 
and ragged appearance in consequence of the points of the new and the 
roots of the old coat being of opposite colors. The gentleman who, 
therefore, has his nag and carriage horses shorn of their natural cover- 
ings at the time when hunters are thrown up, beholds the objects of his 
pride deficient in animation and beggarly in aspect, while the animal 
that has been allowed to wear its native garments dashes past him in 
all the briskness of the season and the smartness of new apparel. 
The question of clipping and of singeing is simply this. Do you 
require your servant’s services all the year round, or do you want its 
utmost exertions for a comparatively short space immediately subsequent 
to the removal of the outer hair; and, at how great a hazard are you 
prepared to purchase your wish ? 
Were the legs of horses allowed to retain that adornment which 
nature gave, and were the parts not shorn of their shaggy beauty— 
were men not inclined to confound the different breeds of horses, and, 
because the thorough-bred has clean legs, to imagine the cart-horse can 
be artificially made to display members equally fine—were masters more 
resolute in resisting the selfish suggestions of lazy grooms, who love to 
have the bushy heels clipped—were the stable-keeper not afraid of doing 
his duty, but would go down upon his knees and rub the fetlocks dry, 
instead of drenching them with water, and then leaving them to chap in 
moisture and in cold,—were these things attended to, there is no reason 
