XIIl] 



CRIME OF DOCKING HORSES 



173 



their own want of knowledge, but make the 

 whole practice ridiculous. 



681. The Hackney. — The hackney is really a 

 most beautiful animal if left as Nature designed 

 him. (P. 48/i, 49a.) Hackney dockers forget 

 the following points : 



1. The hackney has naturally a comparatively 

 short dock, and therefore trimming or plaiting is 

 all that is necessary for those who like a short 

 tail. 



2. He seldom has a kink in his tail or carries 

 it crooked. 



3. He always carries it better arched than 

 most breeds ; in fact, he is very similar in many 

 respects to the Arab, which is never docked. 

 (P. 18/;, 21a.) 



682. I have seen several pairs of horses be- 

 longing to private owners in Canada of late, with 

 one horse docked and the other (a new one) with 

 a long tail which had been plaited up or banged 

 short. This shows to the observant horseman 

 that the owner at least understands the horse's 

 requirements, and that he places humanity be- 

 fore fashion or appearance. An obstinate coach- 

 man, of course, says that he could not possibly 

 drive an odd pair. 



Some people dock a horse and then leave the 

 hair to grow long. What sense is there in this? 

 It is often insanitary and irritating to the horse, 

 because he is unable to keep the loose hairs away 

 from his quarters. It certainly is not neat. 

 P. 105, 113 illustrate the tails of some show hack- 

 neys. Such are hideous ; yet, if the hair is 

 trimmed right off, the horse has no fly protec- 

 tion at all over his hindquarters. 



683. Scores of horses, especially heavy 

 draught horses, are docked simply because they 

 are going to be put in a show, and the fashion 

 ordains that certain breeds, unless docked, stand 

 little chance of winning a prize. I received the 

 following encouraging words from a friend in 

 the veterinary profession in Western Canada a 

 short while ago : " You must have done much 

 good for the horse here, because docking, which 

 was fairly common while you were practising 

 with us, is now extinct ; at least, I am thankful 

 to say we are doing none of it." 



Grooms and certain fanatics seem to love to 

 see the horse's buttocks (the gracilis region 

 especially) shown off. These people seem to have 

 no control over their enthusiasm. What the 

 young lad in the stable is to learn from such 

 practices passes comprehension. 



Great care should be taken, in harnessing 

 horses into a vehicle, not to harness too far back, 

 as is so commonly done in England, allowing 

 in many cases the tail to rub against the front 

 of the vehicle. 



684. Prevention. — Now we will consider the 

 various ways of stopping this barbarous prac- 

 tice : by the law, by setting the fashion against 

 it, and by means of the horse show. 



The quickest and easiest way, I think, is to 

 forbid the appearance of docked horses, except 

 those that have been docked before a certain 

 date, in the show ring. If this were done, dock- 

 ing would rapidly become extinct. 



Another way is to adopt the method used in 

 California, where all horses that were docked 

 before a certain date are registered in records. 

 Any horse that is docked must therefore have a 

 certificate, and when the owner cannot produce 

 this, it is prima facie evidence that the horse, 

 as it is not registered, has been docked since 

 the passing of the law (see Chapter XV.). This 

 has its disadvantages, as it entails considerable 

 trouble. 



The second way, that of setting the fashion 

 against the practice, is what has happened in 

 England and other countries with hunters, 

 saddle horses, and the better class of carriage 

 horses, and also polo ponies. This method, 

 however, is slow, and, of course, there are many 

 fanatics who do not change their opinions. 

 These the law should get at. 



685. Now, if horse shows forbade docked 

 horses from entering the ring — as, practically 

 speaking, the Hunters Improvement Society did 

 some six years ago — all horses would be as the 

 hunter is now — a horse, and not a "fake," as 

 the hackney is. Fine horses do not require to 

 be mutilated in order that they should win 

 prizes. Such a custom might exist amongst 

 barbarians, but one would hardly expect it to 

 exist openly in a civilised country, yet it not 

 only prevails but is encouraged. 



The type of person, as a rule, that shows in 

 these bobtail classes does not rank amongst 

 good horsemen, and in many cases they are not 

 very desirable. I was glad to see these classes 

 poorly patronised at a recent horse show in 

 Toronto, and the people less interested in them. 

 Horse show authorities have it in their power to 

 stop this craze in a few months. The Hackney 

 Horse Society and the Shire Horse Society 

 should realise the gross cruelty which they are 

 responsible for, instead of meeting well-informed 

 criticism with such inconsequent replies as " The 

 subject has been ventilated before." 



Even if horse shows forbade docked horses 

 from entering the ring, there would still have 

 to be close police and S.P.C.A. inspection, 

 because, as I have already hinted, there are 

 people who still think that an undocked horse 

 should not be allowed to live. 



Some years ago the Royal Agricultural 

 Society passed a resolution condemning this 

 practice, but at the following meeting a small 

 section of the members, possessed of great in- 

 fluence, used this influence in getting the motion 

 voted down. Among them was a man who was 

 supposed to be a lover of horses, yet his action 

 led to the defeat of one of the most humane 

 motions ever proposed in a civilised country. 



