FIFTY-SECOND ANNUAL CONVENTION 225 



imals, but the feed should be somewhat laxative and should 

 be fed in abundance. The teaching or training of animals 

 to walk, stand, and act so as to appear to the best advan- 

 tage, is a very essential part of fitting for show. They 

 should be taught to walk in an elert, active manner, and, 

 above all, they must be trained to stand erect for long per- 

 iods without slouching. The training should be so thorough 

 that practically nothing will excite the animals and make 

 them hard to manage. 



4. YoY a month or two before the show the animals 

 should be kept in the barn. After being thoroughly washed 

 and scrubbed with soap and thoroughly rinsed, they should 

 be blanketed with light burlap blankets. From that time 

 on the animals should not be allowed to remain out of doors 

 in the sun without blankets, if their hides are to be kept 

 mellow and soft. Clipping is an important operation, and 

 there are many different methods. The extent of clipping 

 depends upon the conformation of the animal and its quali- 

 ty of hide and hair. In any case, the face, ears, udder, 

 milk veins, and tail should be clipped, the switch, of course, 

 being left. Clipping gives an appearance of trimness and 

 quality to the animal that is difficult to obtain in any other 

 manner. Clipping several weeks before the show allows the 

 hair to grow out somewhat and makes the coat look softer. 

 Much time should be spent daily in brushing, first with a 

 stiff, coarse brush, then with a lighter, softer one, and final- 

 ly rubbing with a woolen cloth moistened with linseed oil. 

 Such treatment will bring a gloss and softness even to the 

 coarsest hair. If the hide is thick and tight or has a tend- 

 ency to be coarse, occasional scrubbings with hot suds made 

 from green soap, followed by a heavy blanketing and 

 sweating, will aid greatly in producing a loose, pliable skin. 



5. Hoofs must be trimmed so as to be symmetrical. 

 This can easily be done with a hoof knife, pincers, rasp, 

 wood chisel, and mallet. After trimming, the hoofs should 

 be rasped smooth. Care should be exercised in all this work 

 not to cut or rasp the hoofs too thin. If the hoof is so hard 

 that a hoof knife can not be used, the animal may be placed 



