558 DISEASES OF THE ORGANS OF GENERATION. 



attention being paid (as with the colt at grass) to keeping 

 him fasting the night prior to operating, in order that he 

 may in a measure unload his bowels ; to ensure which 

 a muzzle had better be put on him over-night. 



Pre-examination of the subject for hernia, is a pre- 

 caution more demanded than any one I have mentioned. 

 Should the horse have raced, or have been in training, or even 

 have hunted, rupture is not unlikely to exist, and might, of 

 course, tend to circumscribe or alter our views in regard to the 

 operation. A judicious veterinarian will submit all subjects to 

 manual exploration prior to their being cast, young as well 

 as old ; though he will so rarely meet with hernia in the 

 unbroke colt that in his case it may look like a work of 

 supererogation : still, it is possible that rupture, concealed, 

 might exist, and therefore will the precautionary search 

 turn out satisfactory, and, since it constitutes but the act of 

 a minute, had better be observed.^ 



Fettering, casting, and securing the subject for opera- 

 tion is an affair promptly and easily executed, when performed 

 with method and suitable apparatus. It commonly happens 

 that the veterinarian has to cut a colt unbroke ; — perhaps one 

 that has never been haltered. Supposing him to be out at 

 grass, to be driven up into the corner of a field, or other place, 

 the first thing to accomplish is, by coaxing or stratagem, 

 to slip upon or over his head a flat hempen halter ; with 

 which it is advisable, should he prove very refractory, to tie 

 him up to some strong place for a time, to give him an 

 opportunity of expending some of the rebellious spirit we 

 have roused in him — by hanging back and tugging at the 

 halter-rope — prior to taking further liberties with him. 

 In some cases, by way of a more effectual quietus, he may, 

 by adding some lengths to the halter-rope, be longed for a 

 while upon a dungheap or ploughed field. As soon as he is 

 rendered tranquil, or rather has become sullen enough to 

 admit of approach to him, an attempt may be made to put a 

 twitch upon his nose, or, that failing, upon his ear : not that 

 this is in all cases necessary, or even prudential ; some colts 



» For the tests of Hernia, turn back to pp. 377-8. 



