Horse and man : their mutual dependence and duties . he head of the horse, we will passto its neck and spine. The chief glory of the horses neck is the Mane,which clothes his neck with thunder. It isbalanced by the full and flowing tail which adornsthe last vertebras of the spine, both of these orna-ments being distinguishing marks between the horseand the ass. It could not be expected that theprofessional eye could miss such sj)lendid oppor-tunities as are presented by the mane and tail, onboth of which man has laid his sacrilegious hands. The Creator has made the mane full and flowingto matc
Horse and man : their mutual dependence and duties . he head of the horse, we will passto its neck and spine. The chief glory of the horses neck is the Mane,which clothes his neck with thunder. It isbalanced by the full and flowing tail which adornsthe last vertebras of the spine, both of these orna-ments being distinguishing marks between the horseand the ass. It could not be expected that theprofessional eye could miss such sj)lendid oppor-tunities as are presented by the mane and tail, onboth of which man has laid his sacrilegious hands. The Creator has made the mane full and flowingto match the tail. Man, therefore, cuts it away until HOGGING. 265 only some two inches are left standing perpen-dicularly, so as to make the neck of the horse lookas much as possible like that of the ass. This custom of cutting the mane, or hogging it,as this particular form of mutilation is called, was, asfar as I can discover, introduced in the early part ofthe century, when a sham classical mania reignedparamount in the fashionable world. Sporting men. HORSE WITH HOGK3ED MANE. were called Corinthians, horse races were dignifiedby the name of Olympian Games, and so , the horses had to look classical in order topreserve consistency, and their manes were cut so asto make them resemble the horses of antiquity. Lately, I regret to say that the mutilation of themane has been revived, chiefly, I believe, by poloplayers. 266 HORSE AND MAN. Except that hogging the mane. is a shamefuldisfigurement of the horse, it does no harm. Butwhen man deals with the tail, a very different verdictmust be given. The tail, as the Creator made it, isshown in the figure called Nature, on p. 200. Oneof its uses is obviously to act as a whisk, and driveaway the flies which irritate the sensitive skin of theanimal, especially in hot weather ; and that it is an ornamental appendage, withoutwhich the form of the horsewould be incomplete, is evidentto any but the professional years ago, wh
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Keywords: ., bookauthorwoo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjecthorses
