XIIl] 



CRIME OF DOCKING HORSES 



177 



connected for several years, has advised breeders 

 of brood mares to spare them their tails, as so 

 many foals have been killed by their mothers 

 kicking them, when trying to drive away flies, 

 while the foal is sucking. 



Docking is supported by a few untenable 

 excuses that can scarcely convince even those by 

 whom they are advanced. They are used to 

 support the real reason, smartness, or a curious 

 ambition to see the horse's hams fully shown 

 off. Plaiting or banging the hair does this 

 without resorting to anatomical mutilation. 

 The excuses which are believed by the inex- 

 perienced are : cleanliness, strength to hind- 

 quarters, and danger in driving. The first may 

 be brushed aside unhesitatingly. Any groom 

 who would use it should be dismissed. A lazy 

 man cannot be a good horsemaster. The second 

 is an impossibility. It would not be used by 

 anyone who has had any veterinary experience. 

 Docking really shows off the hindquarters well, 

 and gives the false idea that they are 

 strengthened. It is a " fake." Plaiting and 

 banging will have the desired effect. The third 

 excuse also explodes, because I find that there 

 are 23,000,000 undocked harness horses in the 

 North American continent, and several thousand 

 fours-in-hand with long tails. The trouble lies 

 here : there are a few horses that grab hold of 

 the reins with their tails, the habit being gener- 

 ally due to jerking the reins or to bad hands. 

 Such horses, however, can soon be made quite 

 accustomed to being driven with a tail over the 

 reins, and will allow the driver to draw the reins 

 out and put the tail under again whenever he 

 likes without making any objection. For in- 

 stance, each day, as the horse sets out, and while 

 going along, the rein is placed under the tail 

 and again drawn gently out (without any force), 

 and in a few days, with the worst cases, the 

 horse will take no notice. It is the docked horse 

 that holds its stump down with such force. A 

 horse that is not trained to avoid this habit is, 

 in my opinion, a swindle. I have driven the 

 worst of undocked switching mares as " leaders " 

 in tandem without any trouble after a few hours' 

 schooling as above. The man who docks horses 

 has a great burden of veritable torture resting 

 upon his conscience. I used to see scores of 



draught horses in the fly-pestered West taken 

 to the veterinary, a few weeks before a show, 

 to be docked because they were going to be 

 exhibited. These men are also responsible for 

 several hundred Percheron horses of matured 

 age being docked in Chicago about six years ago. 

 Yet all these stud horses are never employed in 

 harness, so the rein excuse cannot be used. 

 Farmers in Canada and the States, as a rule, 

 will not dock their foals, because no man who 

 wished to plough or reap in peace would think 

 of using docked horses in the fly season. It 

 is the wealthy horse-show exhibitor that has 

 his horses docked. The third prize at Toronts 

 in the high-steppers' class in 1913 went to a 

 long-tailed horse, so it shows that all hackney 

 judges are not beyond redemption. The English 

 show is again responsible for such cases as this : 

 an American judge, who figures in the English 

 show ring, bought a famous trotting horse for 

 several thousand dollars, had it docked, nicked 

 and heavily shod, and has since won a number 

 of prizes in the hackney classes. Is not this 

 "faking"? One veterinary I know docked over 

 forty horses for this purpose. The International 

 Horse Show has to be credited to a great extent 

 with the modern hunter and polo pony with their 

 beautiful long tails, but I regret to say that it is 

 answerable for a great many horses being docked 

 in order to compete in Hackney, Shire and 

 Clydesdale classes. Docking is absolutely un- 

 necessary, and could be dispensed with for ever. 

 No docked horses, except for breeding purposes, 

 are allowed to enter California. Two years' 

 penal servitude is the punishment for breaking 

 the law. When shall we follow suit and set an 

 example to the rest of the world, or "go one 

 better" by forbidding it by law for ever? 



698. Colonel Seely stated in Parliament, in 

 June, 1913, that as few docked horses as possible 

 were purchased for the army, and that an order 

 had been issued that after three years from that 

 date no docked horses would be purchased by 

 the military authorities. 



Mr. Harris, in the Toronto Humane Pleader, 

 says : " The army has thus set a fashion in 

 humanity. We are glad to know that for years 

 no docked horses have been bought for the 

 Canadian Regular cavalry." 



