SECURING A nORSE FOR OrERATIOXS. 353 



allowing a strong rope to pass through it easily. The ring, or 

 rather the part so named, may be made straight where it is 

 sewed into the leather, and the rest may be rounded. The 

 remaining part of the leather is to be strongly sewed together, 

 which will make the thickness of it what we have before de- 

 scribed. Several holes are to be punched at this end of the 

 hobble, to admit the tongue of the buckle when it is put round 

 the horse's leg. On the under side of the hobble a piece of 

 thinner and wider leather is to be fixed, extending from the 

 part where the ring is attached to about half an inch beyond the 

 extremity of the buckle : this is intended to prevent the latter 

 from galling the horse's leg. The rope should be strong, not 

 twisted tight, but made flexible, like a bell-rope, and about six 

 yards in length. One end of tlie rope is to be firmly and per- 

 manently attached to the ring of one of the hobbles ; and this 

 hobble must be placed on the fore leg, opposite to the side on 

 which the horse is to be thrown. If the hobble to which tlie 

 rope is attached is placed on the left fore leg, the other end of 

 the rope is to be passed first through the ring of that on the left 

 hind leg, then through that on the right hind leg, next through 

 that on the right fore leg, and lastly through the ring where the 

 rope is attached, that is, the left fore leg hobble.* 



By this contrivance it will be readily seen that the legs of the 

 liorse may be drawn together, so that if pushed or forced tow^ards 

 the right side he must of necessity fall. Three men are ge- 

 nerally required to pull the rope, in order to draw the legs 

 together; and, to render this more easy, the hind legs should 

 be j)laced under him as much as possible before any attempt is 



* Mr. Gloag has very praiseworthily introduced, through the medium of 

 tlie Veterinarian, some improved hobbles which possess all the advantages of 

 those just mentioned, and are fur more convenient. Each of his hobbles he 

 advises to be furnished with a buckle, as well as with a D at ea(;h end, of un- 

 ecpud sizes, so that one can be passed through the other. Thus, by means of 

 the buckle, the size of the hobble can be varied so as to suit different legs, as 

 well as to unloose any that may be required during an operation, and the 

 D's will enable each leg to be free the instant the screw is withdrawn. 



'My. Daws has still further improved these hobbles ; and I cannot do better 

 than introduce his description of them, as well as his drawings, which are 

 given in the eleventh volume of the Veterinarian. He says: — " The alter- 

 ations I have made are, first, in having the iron work a size larger, so as 

 to admit of an easier passage for the chain, which, in my opinion, should not 

 be more than eighteen inches long ; the long D's should be an inch and a half 

 wide, and two and a quarter inches long in the clear. The squares should 

 be made sufficiently large to allow the others to pass through them with 

 freedom. Each hobble shoidd have a curved buckle, two inches in the clear, 

 the leather of the same width, and not less than half an inch in thickness, and 

 four inches long, with a galling leather under each buckle, and the long D 

 attached to it by means of an iron chape and rivets. The strap end should 

 not be less than eighteen inches long, with the square attached to it by the 

 same means as above. Instead of the cottrell recommended by Mr. Gloag, I 



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