2M 



THE PRACTICAL HORSESHOER. 



lonable tail had his nose stuck in his hay rack pulling- down 

 hay to eat, little thinking- what a great change a moment 

 had made in his appearance, and what a want he filled for 

 the wealtli3^ g-entleman who desired to be in the fashion. 



The practice of docking-, as it is at present done, is not in 

 the least cruel, fot the cutting- off of the tail is almost in- 

 stantaneous. The tail is cut straig-ht across between the 

 bones nowadays, and not as it used to be cut in docking- a 

 few years ag-o. Then the tail w\ns cut V-shape and the 

 edg-es w^ere sewed tog-ether and allowed to heal. It took 



Fig. 151- -A Short Dock. 



some time for healing-, and the lower end of the appendag-e 

 w^as sore till the part healed entirely. Now every particle 

 of soreness ends with the cauterizing- of the part cut. 



Docking- and pricking- a horse's tail makes the horse hold 

 his tail almost straig'h t up in the air as shown in the ac- 

 companying- cut. Fig'. 150. Docking- a horse to conform to 

 the present fashion makes him hold the stub of his tail 

 almost straig-ht out from his body, and that in itself is not 

 cruel, and can hardly come under the head of crime, inso- 

 much as the hair in the tail is almost as long- after the end 



