256 , NAYIN OX THE HORSE. 



slower remedies, wliicli some are disposed to rely on entirely, 

 such as nauseants, diaphoretics, etc. 



NICKING. 



This operation consists in dividing or cutting the muscles 

 whose office it is to draw down or depress the tail. The object 

 of the operation is to cause the horse to carry his tail in a 

 raised position. An angle of elevation of about forty-five 

 degrees is generally aimed at. 



V^e are not sure that good taste, Christianity, and humanity, 

 are not all violated in thus mutilating the horse. We are 

 sure his comfort is much diminished. 



The instruments necessary to 2:)erform the operation of nick- 

 ing are, a nicking-knife, or a narrow-bladed knife, rounded on 

 the edge from the heel to within half an inch from the point ; 

 the pulleys, which are to be arranged in the horse's stall; a 

 twitch for the nose and a collar around the neck, to which two 

 ropes are tied, and one of these extended back to the pastern 

 of each hind-leg. The horse being thus manacled, an assistant 

 holds the head and another the tail. The operator then passes 

 the knife through the skin at the side of the tail, as near the 

 root of the tail as possible, so that the back of the knife rests 

 against the lower side of the tail-bone. The knife having 

 been introduced far enough to pass the muscles of that side, 

 by a sawing motion of the knife the muscles are cut, which 

 may be known by the edge of the knife reaching the skin. 

 The jnuscles of the other side of the tail are then to be cut in 

 the same way. 



The same operation is then performed about an inch and a 

 half or two inches back on the tail, and then again about the same 

 distance from that place, so that the under muscles of the tail 

 are cut three times. Only two cuts are sometimes made. The 

 horse is then ready for the pulleys. The tail will have to be 

 kept raised by the pulleys three weeks or a month. He should 



