DOCTORING. 269 



proper quantity of blood has been extracted, remove the 

 pressure, and as soon as the flow ceases, prepare to pin up. 

 This '3 rather a nice operation, but I have seen a lady 

 perform it quite as well as any V.S. The wound should be 

 left open until the lips of it become sticky ; then all hairs 

 must be most carefully removed, the sides of the incision 

 brought together with the greatest nicety, and closed by a 

 twisted suture, a thing which I have made successfully in 

 the following way : first running a pin through the integu- 

 ment at each side of the wound, and then twisting a strong 

 silk thread round its either extremity, after the fashion of 

 the figure 8 turned on its side — thus, 00. I have stopped 

 the bleeding from a wound received in the hunting-field by 

 extemporising this kind of suture, and using a hair pulled 

 from the horse's tail, in place of a silk thread. 



When the wound has so far united as to justify the 

 removal of the pin, the patient should be so placed that he 

 cannot rub the part, and should be fed on nourishing and 

 readily-digested food. 



Slings form an excellent support for a horse that is not 

 meant to lie down. The apparatus consists of a broad 

 canvas belt that goes under the belly, extending from the 

 points of the elbows backwards ; there is a supporting shaft 

 at each extremity, to which the suspending ropes (carried 

 from either roof or stall posts) are attached ; a breast-strap 

 and breeching keep the belt in its place. The horse is not 

 really suspended at all. When he is disposed to rest his 

 legs, he has only to bend them, and the belt receives his 

 weight : when tired of its support he again stands on 



