46 The Horse Farrier. 



" If the horse is designed either for the carriage, 01 

 for heavy draught, the fanner should not think of cas- 

 trating him until he is at least a twelvemonth old ; and, 

 even then, the colt should be carefully examined. If 

 he is thin and spare about the neck and shoulders, and 

 low in the withers, he will materially improve by re- 

 maining uncut another six months; but if his fore- 

 quarters are fairly developed at the age of twelve 

 months, the operation should not be delayed, lest he 

 become heavy and gross before, and perhaps has be- 

 gun too decidedly to have a will of his own. No 

 specific age, then, can be fixed; but the castration 

 should be performed rather late in the spring or early 

 in the autumn, when the air is temperate, and particu- 

 larly when the weather is dry. 



" No preparation is necessary for the sucking colt, 

 but it may be prudent to bleed and to physic one of 

 more advanced age. In the majority of cases, no after 

 treatment will be necessary, except that the animal 

 should be sheltered from intense heat, and more par- 

 ticularly from wet. In temperate weather, he will do 

 much better running in the field, than nursed in a close 

 and hot stable. The moderate exercise that he will 

 take in grazing will be preferable to perfect inaction. 



"The old method of opening the scrotum (testicle bag) 

 on either side, and cutting off the testicles, and pre- 

 venting bleeding by a temporary compression of the 

 vessels, while they are seared with a hot iron, must 

 not, perhaps, be abandoned ; but there is no necessity 

 of that extra pain, when the spermatic cord (the blood 



