PECUIJAR TO HORSES. 27 



J-orsons who are not experts in the art of pricking, arc apt to 

 wound, and sornctitaes conipletcly sever the coccygeal arteries, 

 thereby causing an unnecessary and dangerous hemorrhage. In 

 such cases, I sliould advise the operator to crowd into the orifice a 

 small piece of dry sponge ; this will arrest the hemorrhage, and at 

 the same time keep the divided ends of the muscles apart, so that 

 they cannot reunite; hence it is not necessary to put the tail into 

 puUies for some hours, 'or until' bleeding has ceased; when this is 

 the case, the sponge may be removed by means of a small pair of 

 forceps. 



The success in securing what is denominated a foshionable tail, 

 depends altogether on the skill of the operator, who must make a 

 complete division of the muscles beneath the tail only, whose action 

 is to compress and depress that useful appendage ; for -sliould the 

 incision be made too high on the side of th(; tail, tiie cnrvators may 

 be partly or wholly severed; then the tail will ultimately diverge 

 laterally, or in stable language it will be said, ^'- that the horse does 

 not carry his tail straight.'''' To remedy this, the curvator on the 

 oppo^;te side must be divided ; then the tail has to be forcibly drawn 

 and kept in an opposite direction from the curved side, so as to pre- 

 vent the muscle from reuniting. In the course of a short time, 

 granulations are thrown out from the surface of the divided ends of 

 the muscle ; it then acquires length, and ihus the tail becomes 

 straight. 



Anatomy of the Tail. For the benefit of those who wish to 

 practice the art of " nicking or pricking" understandingly, I now 

 propose to give a brief exposition of the anatomy of the tail. 



Son.ss of the Tail. The bones of the tail number fifteen, some- 

 times sixteen, and ai'e situated at the back of the rump bone or 

 sacrum. They are not a continuation of the vertebral bones, but 

 are an ajipendage to the haunch bone. 



The bones entire are termed coccyx (from the Gi'eek, Avhich sio-ni- 

 fies cuckoo, the bill of which bird the appendage to the sacrum, or 

 haunch bone of man, is said to represent), and in order to prevent 

 confusion in anatomical terms, veterinary surgeons have applied 

 the same name to the tail bones of the horse ; hence, when the 

 terms coccygis or coccygeal are used, they have some relation to 

 the tail. The bones are roughened on their surftices, have depres- 

 sions and eminences for the insertion of ligaments, tendons, and 

 muscles. 



Muscles of the Tail. These muscles are divisible into four pairs. 

 They are most distinctly seen at the root of the tail, but in their 

 course towards ti\e end of the same they become blended one with 

 another. 



First Pair. The first pair is situated on the upper part of the 

 tail ; they are attached to the sacrum and to the bones of the tail, 

 Their action is to raise or erect the tail. 



Second Pair of Coccygeal 3Iuscles. These are termed depreS' 

 sors coccyx, and are situated at the under part of the tail. They are 

 attached to the underneath part of the sacnxm, and to the same 

 locality on the bones of the tail. They are antagonistic to the first 

 pair, and their direct action is to depress the talk These are the 



