SURGICAL OPERATIONS. 243 



and some other wounds where motion would be most unfavorable 

 to the curative treatment. Suspension may be partial or complete. 

 Suspension of any kind will require the application of pulleys and 

 ropes affixed to the beams, that the whole body of the horse may 

 be supported. A sling may be formed of a piece of strong sack- 

 ing, which is to pass under the belly, the two ends being fastened 

 firmly to pieces of wood, each of about three feet long, and which 

 are to reach a little higher than the horse's back. To the pieces 

 of wood cords and pulleys are to be firmly attached, by which 

 means the sacking can be lowered or raised at pleasure. To the 

 sacking, also, are to be sewn strong straps, both before and behind, 

 to prevent the horse sliding in either direction, without carrying 

 the sacking with him. Upon this so-formed cradle he is to recline. 

 If horses when they are fresh should be placed in this machine, 

 most of them would either injure themselves or break through all 

 restraint. However, by tying up their heads for three or four 

 nights their spirit is destroyed. The slings may then be applied 

 without the fear of resistance. It is the best method not to pull 

 the canvas firm up, but to leave about an inch between the horse's 

 belly and the cloth, so that the animal may stand free, or throw 

 his weight into the slings when he pleases. In this fashion a 

 horse may remain for months in the slings, and at the end of the 

 time display none of the wear and tear so feelingly described by 

 old authors. 



Castration. 



This practice is of very ancient origin, and is as extensive as 

 ancient. It is founded on the superior placidity of temper it gives. 

 The castrated horse no longer evinces the superiorities of his mas- 

 culine character, but approaches the softer form and milder char- 

 acter of the mare. Losing his ungovernable desires, he submits 

 to discipline and confinement without resistance ; and, if he be less 

 worthy of the painter's delineation and the poet's song, he is val- 

 uable tc his possessor in a tenfold degree. In England, where 

 length in the arms and of the wide-spread angles of the limbs is 

 absolutely necessary in the horse to accomplish the rapid traveling 

 so much in vogue among us, the exchange of the lofty carriage 

 and high action of the stallion is absolutely necessary ; and when 

 we have added the lessened tendency of the gelding to some dis- 

 eases, *s hernia, founder, cutaneous affections, etc., we may be 



