CHAPTER XIII 



OTERATION OF DOCKING 



Have you ever seen the operation of docking performed. 

 Count ? 



' Only once, and then I was called in as surgeon to 

 save the life of the suffering victim.' 



Will it be too harrowing to hear how it was done ? 



' The horse was tied by the neck to a ring in the wall, 

 as he stood in his stall, with a switch screwed as tight 

 as possible on the end of his nose. This was in order 

 to hold his head very high, and make him powerless. 

 Two men held him against the wall, another cut with 

 a pair of scissors the hair where the tail was to be severed , 

 while a fourth attended to the roasting iron in a small 

 furnace.' 



Did not the poor dumb creature know something 

 dreadful was about to happen ? 



' Ah, if you could have seen him tremble with appre- 

 hensive fear ! When all was ready, there was a sudden 

 click of the large shears, the tail lay on the ground, 

 and the blood spurted from the various veins, striking 

 the wall several feet distant. Then the saucer-shaped 



