The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1869-01-23
DAILY PRESS.
PORTLAND.
saturday Morning, January %, 1869.
PORTLAND.
Horse-CIippiuu-

ShPptnKs
How prone were we are to ape the fashions
OF other countries? Well, there's no harm
in such practices provided the FOREIGN cyan.
pie beGpot too expensive or ridiculous. With.
in few years the English practice of clipping
horses has become quite common in most of
our cities, and here in Portland has obtained
to considerable extent. Borsemen claim
many advantages from it, but we confess we
have not been able to see them in such abun-
dance as some think they do. 1t is true there
are some conveniences resulting from the
practice. Horses that have poor hair, very
long and shaggy, look better after being
Shaved as the English have it. The Turf,
Field and Farm, which runs to horses as easi-
ly as the duck takes to water, says it has
known several valuable horses whose lives
were lost through being clipped, and others
that were ruined. We have no doubt of it.
1t is fact, and but few will dispute it, that
nature always does her work well, and we
ought to know that attempts to change the
natural order are always attended with more or
less danger in some form. 1t does not require
the exercise of a very profound philosophy to
know that the horse is provided with coat
OF hair to protect him from the changes of
the weather. And how admirably nature has
adjusted the means to the end in the spring
the horse begins to shed his thick coat for
new and thinner one, and towards autumn
his coat again becomes thicker and warmer as
cold weather approaches, so that he may be
comfortable through the winter months. But
the very wise owner of the noble animal and
the still more wise horse-shaver now step into
the stable and consult about what nature has
done so wisely and SO we'll. The owner is de-
sirous of having his horse look better, lust as
if thin coat or hardly any coat at all, can
look better than thick warm one can during
the cold months. A horse properly fed,
groomed and driven, will always look we'll in all
seasons OF the year, and shaving" does not i'm
prove his looks IN our estimation. Whatever
the fashion may be, we dislike to see a young
mans hair shaved close to his head, and an ell
derly one thus barbered presents a very sorry
look,
Nature doesn't make any mistakes, and
horsemen would do we'll to understand that
and govern themselves accordingly. But the
worst of the case is, that the shaving is often
done in the fall just as cold weather is COM
ing on. In fact, we believe, the clipping is
generally done in autumn; for in the spring
the horse himself sheds his winter coat for a
summer one, and these fastidious owners
don't see any necessity for clipping then as
well groomed horses have shining coats at
that season of the year. Now when the horse
is clipped in the fall-if owners will have it
done-he should have the best of care and
never be allowed to stand in the open, cold
air without being warmly blanketed. IT this
were done the evil and the danger might be
greatly diminished. But here the rub, hos
tiers don't always do it, and the horses suffer
and perhaps die through their neglect.
TIE fancy horse and the great roadster are
generally we'll cared for, but the coach horses
and those that work hard from morning un-
til night don't always fare so well, and to
shave their hair off in the fall, close to their
skin is an act of cruelty to these noble ami.
mails of which no owner ought to be ashamed
Horses are not so constitutIonally hardy
and tough as oxen, and yet the latter soon
run down in the hands Of some men. But
horses are liable tc more diseases than oxen,
and hence great care should be given them.
If horses are well and treated as they ought
to be, they will live and be profitable servants
for score of years. On the whole, the safest
and the wisest course to pursue is to let ma
ture alone and not attempt to do her work
which she can do so much better and more
seasonably than we can.
AnpIOoI