CHAPTER XI. 



DOCKING. 



The Process of Docking Described and Illustrated — Is the 

 Process a Cruel One? — Objections and Advantages — 

 New York Fashion. 



To dock, or not to dock, that is the question. Whether 

 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the sling-s and arrows of 

 outrag'eous fashion, by not having- your horse's tail docked 

 or to take up arms ag-ainst a sea of troubles, liable to be 

 heaped upon 3^ou by the Massachusetts societ}^ with the long* 

 name, if 3^ou conform to the modes of the day in respect to 

 your horse. 



As nearly every one who owns a horse is well aware, it 

 is the ^'fad" nowadays to drive, ride on, or ride behind, a 

 horse with a docked tail. Webster says to dock is to cut 

 off, as the end of a thing', to cut short, to curtail, to clip; 

 and that is just what is done to the tail of a horse that is 

 afterward said to be '^docked." 



Years ag-o, before it was found necessary to org-anize so- 

 cieties to suppress and prevent cruelty to animals, the sim- 

 ple act of docking- a horse's tail was not considered even of 

 enoug'h consequence to cause a passing- note or comment, 

 but in these days of prog-ressive ideas thing's are different. 



The man who docks hoi\ses' tails says he subjects tlie 

 horse to little or no pain or inconvenience afterward, and he 

 satisfies the craving of public taste for thing's that are fash- 

 ionable as well as beautiful. 



