SURGICAL OPERATIONS. 243 
anc 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 
ald 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 submita 
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, 28 hernia, founder, cutaneous affections, ete., we may be 
