GIVING A' BALL. 



629 



the mouth in this manner facilitates the giving of the ball, and 

 saves the operator's right hand, to a great extent, from becoming 

 lacerated by the horse's back teeth, to prevent which occurrence 

 it is advisable to have a glove on the right hand. 



The BALLING IRON (Fig. 153) is an instrument for keeping the 

 mouth open. Its name appears to indicate that it is used for the 

 purpose of giving balls, but it is rarely employed for that purpose ; 

 for the ball, before the instrument could be removed, would be 

 liable to fall out of the mouth. It is very useful, however, when 

 an examination of the mouth or upper portion of the gullet or 



Fig. 152. — Giving a horse a ball. 



windpipe has to be made. A curb bit with long cheeks will 

 prove a fairly efficient substitute for a balling iron. 



A BALLING PISTOL (Fig. 154) is useful for giving balls to 

 fractious animals ; to those (like young horses) which are very 

 narrow between the two rows of the back teeth of the lower jaw ; 

 or to horses affected with some dangerously contagious disease, 

 such as glanders. 



We can make an effective balling pistol by taking a piece o! 

 india-rubber tubing of convenient length and of slightly greater 

 diameter than that of a physic ball, and fitting into it a rounded 

 stick which will woi'k freely in and out of it, and which will be 



