Blaze or Star. 131 



tail no horse ; and if an animal does not describe an an- 

 gle of forty-five with his tail, he is said to carr^ none. 



The usual mode of operating, is to make a sub-cuta- 

 neous section of the muscles, the use of which is to de- 

 press the tail. The knife is introduced as near to the an- 

 us as possible on one side of the tail, between the bone 

 and muscle ; then, with a sort of sawing motion — the 

 back of the knife being towards the bones — the muscle 

 is divided, which may be known by the edge of the knife 

 coming in contact with the integuments. This is repeat- 

 ed on the other side, and the operation is finished. The 

 horse is generally fettered by a rope from the neck, se- 

 cured to each hind leg ; he has also a twitch on the nose. 

 It not unfrequently happens that horses lose an enor- 

 mous quantity of blood after the operation ; but that re- 

 sults from want of anatomical knowledge. The coccy- 

 geal arteries are severed, which the surgeon knows how 

 to avoid. Amateur operators often find that the subject 

 of their experiment is seized with locked-jaw ; and in 

 other cases the tail curves laterally towards the body. 

 In the former, some unnecessary mangling has been per- 

 formed, and in the latter case, one of the curvatores coc- 

 cygis has been partly or wholly severed, which allows the 

 associate muscle on the other side to draw the tail that 

 way. Hence the necessity for skillful operators. 



BI^ZE OR STAR. 



When we have a pair of horses that match well in every 

 respect, except that one has a blaze or star in the face, it 

 becomes very interesting and important to know how to 

 make their faces match. 



Take a piece of leather the size you want the blaze 

 or star : spread it with warm pith and apply it to the 



