128 



HORSE— DISEASES AND REMEDIES. 



the cord may be divided with the ordina- 

 ry firing-iron at a red heat. To make 

 sure that no haemorrhage shall occur, 

 some operators sear the artery separately 

 with a pointed iron ; but if the division is 

 slowly made with the heated iron, and 

 avoiding any drag upon the cord, no 

 such accident will be at all likely to fol- 

 low, though very rarely it will happen in 

 spite of every care. The clams may now 

 be removed, and the other testicle treated 

 in the same way ; after which the hobbles 

 are cautiously removed, and the patient 

 is placed in a roomy, loose box, where he 

 can take sufficient exercise to insure the 

 gravitation of the discharge, but no more. 

 The French plan, by means of caustic, 

 requires two pieces of wood, each about 

 six inches long and an inch square, with 

 a notch or neck at each end, to hold the 

 twine by which they are tied together, 

 and a groove in the two opposite surfaces, 

 to hold the caustic. This is composed of 

 one part of corrosive sublimate and four 

 of flour, made into a paste with water, 

 and it is introduced while moist into the 

 grooves, which it should completely fill. 

 The horse is then secured as before, the 

 cord is exposed, the pieces of wood are 

 adjusted on each side, and firmly held to- 

 gether with the pincers by an assistant, 

 while the operator binds their ends to- 

 gether with waxed string. The testicle 

 may now be removed with the knife, if 

 the string has been tied sufficiently tight ; 

 but unless the operator has had some ex- 

 perience, it is safer to let it remain on till 

 it comes away by the ulceration of the 

 cord. This is the uncovered operation, 

 the covered one being performed with the 

 same instruments, as follows. The scro- 

 tum is grasped, and opened, taking care 

 to avoid wounding the tunica vaginalis 

 reflexa, or outer serous investment, but 

 cutting down to it through the skin, dar- 

 tos muscle, and cellular membrane. These 

 are to be carefully dissected back, until 

 the cord can be isolated without wound- 

 ing its serous investment (tunica vaginalis), 

 which is so thin that it is easy to ascertain 

 with certainty the nature of its contents 

 by examination with the fingers. If there 

 is no hernia, the caustic can at once be 

 applied to its outside in the same way as 

 before; and if there is, it must be pushed 

 back into the cavity of the abdomen, by 

 a little careful manipulation. 



Some veterinary surgeons operate in 

 a similar way to one or other of the 

 two last described plans, with the omission 

 of the caustic, which they maintain is 

 wholly unnecessary, for there must be suf- 

 ficient pressure to cause a sloughing of the 

 cord. There jk certainly some truth in 

 this argument, but if the pressure has not 

 been sufficient to cause the sloughs, the 

 caustic will assure that essential process, 

 and thus it renders the operation safer, 

 though it somewhat increases the subse- 

 quent local inflammation. The plan with- 

 out the caustic is almost precisely the same, 

 as far as safety is concerned, as that form- 

 erly adopted by country farriers, called 

 " twitching," in which two pieces of wood 

 were applied on each side of the base of 

 the scrotum, and tied firmly at each end. 

 The pain, however, occasioned by the 

 pressure on so large a surface of skin is 

 intense, and the operation is on that ac- 

 count indefensible, besides which it is not 

 nearly so successful as either the ordinary 

 English or French operations. 



HORSE, Docking and Nicking.— These 

 operations on the tail are subject to the 

 fashion of the day, the former being used 

 for the purpose of shortening its length, , 

 which is inconvenient to the rider or 

 driver in dirty weather, and the latter for 

 altering its carriage, when this is too low 

 for the taste of the owner. Nicking is, 

 however, very seldom practised in the 

 present day, and never to the extent 

 which was the fashion fifty years ago. 

 Herbert says : " These barbarous meth- 

 ods of depriving the horse of his natural 

 form and appearance, in order to make 

 him conform to the fashion of the time, 

 are, fortunately, very fast going into dis- 

 use. If the tail of the horse were given 

 to him for no good purpose, and if it were 

 not a design of nature that he should 

 have the power of moving it forcibly to 

 his sides, there might be some excuse for 

 cutting it off, within a few inches of his 

 body, or for separating the muscles at its 

 sides to lessen this power ; but that this 

 is not the case, must be acknowledged by 

 all who have seen how a horse, whose 

 tail has been abridged by ' docking,' or 

 weakened by nicking, is annoyed by flies. 



" If a horse has a trick of throwing 

 dirt on his rider's clothing, this may be 

 prevented by cutting of the hair of the 

 tail, below the end of the bones, as is the 



