HOW TO BUY AHD SELL. 49 



RAT TAIL. 



Rat tail is indiscriminately employed to describe the 

 tail of the horse when it is either quite free from hair or 

 partially so. It does not prevent the horse in any way 

 from being SOUOT. 



Although unsightly, it is not a blemish that will enable 

 the purchaser to return the horse, as it is impossible not 

 to notice so glaring a disfigurement. When it is covered 

 by false hair, or any other fraud is practised in order to 

 hide it, the offence is punishable. 



This is considered by some a sign of a good 

 horse. What the loss of the hair off the tail has to do 

 with the qualities of the animal we do not pretend to 

 fathom; perhaps the notion has arisen from the naked 

 stump giving an appearance of width to its quarters. 

 The itching occasioned by disease sometimes causes both 

 good and bad horses to become minus their tail-hair. 



Keeping the tail well and frequently washed with soft 

 soap will always reproduce the hair in the earlier stages, 

 and not unfrequently in cases of long standing. 



Horses having had the operation of neurotomy (popu- 

 larly called unnerving) performed upon them go free 

 from lameness, with action more or less high, their step 

 being hard and heavy; the height of action and degree of 

 hardness of tread depend on the way the operation is 

 performed and the place operated upon. To discover 

 whether the high operation has been performed, 'that is, 

 depriving of feeling every portion of the leg and foot 

 below the marks described, pass the hand along the back 

 sinew; if the horse catches up the leg sharply, this ought 

 to excite your suspicion. If you find one or two little 

 knobs or lumps, you have still stronger reason for sus- 

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