734 VETEEINAEY HYGIENE 



saving by means of mechanical appliances, by which several 

 horses can be clipped in a day. It is a process which should 

 not be done too early until the winter coat has ' set,' or it 

 is considered to spoil the next season's coat. Under ordinary 

 circumstances a horse requires clipping twice during the 

 winter. 



Experience appears to dictate the advantage in riding 

 horses of a patch left undipped under the saddle, while 

 opinion seems pretty generally in favour of leaving the 

 hair on the legs of hunters, on the supposition that such 

 legs are less likely to be injured by thorns. This explanation 

 is difficult to understand, hair certainly does not keep out 

 thorns ; nor do we think it keeps off, but rather encourages, 

 the skin eruptions on the legs that town horses suffer from 

 in the winter, and to prevent which the hair is left long on 

 the legs. 



We see no reason why hair should be left on the limbs, 

 but would keep it as short as on the general surface of the 

 body ; such legs are readily dried when the animal returns 

 from work, an impossible thing to do with long hair. It 

 is quite likely that the idea of the hair being a protection 

 arose from the fact that the practically hairless skin of the 

 heel is so liable to cracks and fissures during cold weather, 

 or when left wet ; but this skin is quite different to the 

 general skin of the body, in the same way that the skin of 

 the hand, which is so liable to crack in winter, is quite dif- 

 ferent from that of the face which practically never cracks. 



Fashion dictates the hair should be left on the legs ; and 

 the same custom insists on its length being a valued char- 

 acteristic of the cart horse ! 



Care of the Legs. — Bandaging the legs after work, especi- 

 ally in the winter, is a valued method of preventing skin 

 eruptions, especially that known as ' mud fever.' 



With long hair it is impossible to dry the legs ; if they 

 are bandaged while wet no harm results, as the bandages 

 keep out the wind, and it is the wind acting on the wet 

 skin which produces the trouble. 



Apart from wet or muddy weather, the value of bandaging 



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