162 HUNTING 



veterinary surgeon, but it is necessary that he and 

 his groom should understand how to administer a ball. 

 Every groom thinks that he possesses the requisite 

 knowledge, yet few grooms do, so that they have 

 to have recourse either to violence or to the cruelty 

 of balling irons, and previous ill-usage when they 

 are foals will often cause old horses to resent the 

 operation. " Cecil's " prescription, in his work " The 

 Stud Farm," an invaluable book from which we have 

 learnt many useful lessons, is the most lucid that we 

 have come across, so we quote it in extenso : "The 

 assistant should place his right hand on the nose of 

 the horse in such a manner as not to press on the 

 soft portion or cartilage, and thereby interrupt the 

 breathing; he then inserts his thumb on the bars, 

 and, with two fingers placed on the lower jaw, opens 

 the mouth, which, being performed with tenderness, 

 will not create alarm or confusion. The operator, 

 having his right hand defended by a glove, the two 

 forefingers of which have been cut off, places the ball 

 between those fingers, keeping his hand as fiat as 

 possible — not with his knuckles arched, a foolish bad 

 custom; then, by taking hold of the tongue very 

 gently with his left hand, he draws it out of the 

 mouth as far as he conveniently can without causing 

 pain, when, by inserting the ball on the root of the 

 tongue, he quickly withdraws his hand, and imme- 

 diately shutting the horse's mouth, the ball will be 

 swallowed without trouble." We may add that we 

 regard the use of the switch as a custom to be de- 

 precated, if only for the reason that it involves 



