The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-12-27
CLIPPING HORSES.
Some Statements to Prove that the Practice
Causes the Animal to Suffer.

Some Statements to Prove that the Practice
Causes the Animal to Suffer.
Horseman, in Detroit Times.
'One theory advanced is that horses fatten
more quickly and eat less when their hair is
clipped. Its fallacy can be shown. They eat
less, it is true, but why? Not because the
capillary covering had required elements of
food to the detriment of growth in other
paris of the animal but because the horses, de-
prived of warmth, grew i'll and fretted Just
as a man would were he compelled to stay
naked in cold room all night. In cases
where horses have fattened after being
clipped the effect may be trac d to causes
other than the clipping process All animals
in normal condition show tendency to in
creased weight in the fall and winter The
fat which gathers is provided by nature as a
protection from cold. Secondly, all
animals fatten most rapidly when little
exercise is allowed them. For instance,
poultry dealers coop up chickens and farm
ers pen up swine for some time before send
ing them TO market. In the winter many
horses go into winter quarters close quar-
tiers at that, and are seldom worked If the
quarters were healthful the horses would
grow fat whether clipped or not. And I sub
nit that the clipped horses which persons
nave noticed fatten rapidly would fatten just
as rapidly had they not been clipped.
Clipped horses are not able to move so
rapidly as they could if they were not
clipped The first cold draught that strikes
them chill lis them through, and they are I'M
able to fully use their muscles. Often you
will see them striking out blindly, shifting
their gate and cutting their quarters because
of a stiffness brought on by the cold. A
shaggy horse goes by steaming
and wet with perspiration. The adj
vocates of clipping point to him and remark
that he will take cold They say he
is still wet twelve or twenty-four hours after
Ii. NJ l. I.
conductors. But very small portion of
them are porous To the extent that they
are porous heat from the body dries them,
thoughon the outside there may be enCrusted
frost-work which never forms on clipped
horses, is itself a protection. When the
whiskers on mans face become frosted that
part of his face covered by whiskers is much
warmer than before His nose and the flesh
about his eyes are frost-bitten, when the
parts covered by his whiskers are not And
so it is with a horse. He is all the warmer
for being frost-covered. Part his hair, as
have done with my horse, and if he has had
a few minutes for drying, you will find that
the dampness extends no farther than the
outer pores. l made an interesting expert
ment regarding the drying process. Increas-
ing the animal warmth artificially by placing
a heavy blanket on a horse / found that
the blanket first became saturated with
moisture and then covered with frost, while
the nalr OF the horse soon grew crisp and
dry. Then | put on another blanket, thus
again increasing the warmth The heat of
the horse augmented, themoisture was forced
into the outer blanket, which, as the other
had, became encrusted with frost, while the
inner blanket dried. 1 thus proved that the
frost-work on a heavy-coated horse could be
no indication of fit condition for taking
cold, Some of the physicians of the town
protect their clipped horses by wrapping a
hlQnxnt arnnn1 "
They forget that the horses legs are bare, and
become benumbed as quickly as would the
ungloved hands of a man used to wearing
gloves. And another point if the body OF
the horse needs blanket when in fast mo-
ton in the cold, 1t needs two or more when
standing in the cold. 1 contend, and have
proved my assertion to be true that
clipping a horse makes a difference of from
six to fifteen seconds in his time. if it does
not lame him permanently.