This operation has been truly termed, "a bad substitute for good grooming." I is done only on the better kinds of horses, especially upon hunters, and consists in shortening the hair all over the body, by means of the scissors and comb. The object is to make the winter coat as short as that of summer. The time usually chosen is the beginning of winter, just after the horse has moulted, and before his coat has attained its full length; but it may be done at any later period, greater care being taken to prevent the horse catching cold. Of the mode in which the operation is performed, I need say nothing. There are persons in all considerable towns who make it their business. Private grooms sometimes attempt it; but they seldom do it neatly.

The horse requires no preparation. For several days after he must be well clothed both in the stable and at exercise. He may be ridden the next day, but he must not be exposed while naked, wet, or motionless. He should not be clipped when unwell. If he have any cough, sore throat, discharge from the nose, or tendency to shiver after drinking, these should be removed before he is clipped. He should not have any physic immediately before nor after. When he goes to the forge or to exercise after the operation, he should be well clothed. A double blanket, a hood, and breast-piece, are requisite.

Utility Of Clipping

Some people dislike the appearance of a clipped horse; and it must be confessed that while some are improved by the operation, others look very ill. Nevertheless, it is to please the eye that clipping is performed. So long as nothing was said against the practice, it had no higher pretensions. They that first tried it had no other object. They did not expect it to exercise any influence upon the comfort or health of the horse, and they did not recommend it as contributing to either the one or the other. But at a later period - that is, after the operation had been patronised by those whom it would be sinful not to imitate, attempts were made to show that clipping did something more than to please the eye. It was urged, and with perfect truth, that it diminishes the labor of the groom, and prevents the horse from sweating in the stable. As if this were not sufficient, other arguments were brought forward in favor of clipping. It was said that the horse becomes lighter by a pound, about the weight of the hair he loses; that the stomach, Bowels, liver, and lungs, derive some benefit from the extra dressing which the skin obtains, in consequence of being more easily reached by the brush, and that the horse perspires less at his work.

Much of what I have said upon trimming is applicable to clipping. If the owner can not suffer a long coat of hair, and will have it shortened, he must never allow the horse to be motionless while he is wet, or exposed to a cold blast. He oust have a good groom and a good stable. Those who have both, seldom have a horse that requires clipping, but when clipped, he must not want either. A long coat takes up a deal of moisture, and is difficult to dry; but whether wet or dry, it affords some defence to the skin, which is laid bare to every breath of air when deprived of its natural cov-ering.' Every one must know from himself whether we clothing and a wet skin, or no clothing and a wet skin, is the most disagreeable and dangerous. It is true that clipping saves the groom a great deal of labor. He can dry the horse in half the time, and with less than half of the exertion which a long coat requires; but it makes his attention and activity more necessary, for the horse is almost sure to catch cold, if not dried immediately.

When well clothed with hair, he is in less danger, and not so much dependant upon the care of his groom.*

Objections To Clipping

Some, as I have just observed, dislike the look of a clipped horse. This is no objection to the operation. As a matter of taste, it is needless to say anything either for or against it. There are no arguments for persuading men to admire that which offends the eye. The clipped horse has a different color; the hair is lighter; a black becomes a rusty brown; the hair stares, stands on end, and is never, or very seldom, glossy. But the only real objections to clipping are these: it costs two guineas, or thereabouts; it renders the horse very liable to catch cold; and it exposes the skin so much, that he is apt to refuse a rough fence in fear of thorns. There is not the slightest reason for supposing - as has been supposed - that it produces blindness, or has any tendency to shorten the duration of life. The cost of the operation, and the additional care which the horse requires, are, I believe, the principal objections ; and considering how little is gained, they will probably prevent the operation from ever becoming very general. There are some horses which wear a long rough coat all the year. The groom, with all his care and the best of stables, can not keep it within reasonable bounds. For these horses, if a long coat is a great eye-sore, there is no remedy save clipping.

But there are very many horses clipped, to whom the operation would be quite unnecessary, were they better groomed and well stabled. Since a fine coat is an object of so much importance, it is well to know by what means it may be obtained. When these are more generally known there will be less clipping.

To give the horse a fine coat all at once, is not possible under any system of management. With horses that have been previously exposed to the weather, it may be the work of six months, and very often the horse must be two winters in the stable before he becomes creditable to his groom. Comfortable stabling of itself exercises considerable influence upon the coat; but horses that have been reared in cold situations may often be two winters in the stable before their coat is very decidedly altered. The hair becomes finer and shorter, and the principal agent in effecting this change is heat. To produce and preserve a fine silken coat, it is absolutely necessary that the horse be kept warm. The stable must be comfortable, and the clothing must be heavy. Good grooming and good food, in liberal allowance, are the next agents. When these three are combined, the coat gradually becomes so fine, and lies so smoothly, that clipping can never be desired, and indeed it is hardly possible to perform the operation upon such a coat. These agents operate slowly. They very soon make a rough coat smooth, and a dull coat glossy; but they can not shorten the hair. If they are to make the winter coat short, they must be in operation before, and at the time of moulting.

On many horses they do not produce their full effect till the second winter; but, in the most of cases, a thorough-bred groom will make the horse tolerably decent, for the first winter, if he get him in autumn, a fortnight before moulting.

* [For an excellent article on clipping horses in England, unsound feet etc., see American Agriculturist, vol. iii., page 78].