CRUELTY OF DOCKING 6l 



teeth, and show his driver as little mercy as has been 

 vouchsafed himself.' 



Ah, yes, then he can run away or kick the carriage to 

 pieces, or revenge himself as he pleases ; but is it not the 

 young horse who is docked before he can learn such 

 tricks ? 



'A colt may show, possibly by inheritance, the dis- 

 position to be easily fretted, and then, if his master 

 approve the cruelty, he has little chance of escaping it ; 

 but only extreme age protects a horse from being docked, 

 if his master see fit.' 



Has the custom been always fashionable, or is it not a 

 recent fad ? 



*It has descended to us as a relic of barbarism, and 

 belongs to an era far less intelligent and christianised 

 than the present century. There was a time when the 

 scriptural injunction, "If an eye offend thee, pluck 

 it out," was literally followed ; and when an insult 

 was offered from man to man, it was met by a 

 speedy and unerring sword-thrust. So when a driving 

 horse showed a disposition to interfere with the 

 reins by using his tail, the suggestion, "Cut it 

 off," seemed the easiest and quickest way out of the 

 difficulty. 



'There was no plea for mercy for the noble brute, 

 who instinctively protected his suffering mouth, and no 

 hesitation, at committing so wicked an outrage upon 

 him in those days, and hardly any in this enlightened 

 age, as a drive in any of our fashionable parks will 

 prove. There you will see that mutilation takes the 

 place of personal beauty, and docking is, forsooth, 

 called "style."' 



