234 VETERINARY SURGICAL OPERATIONS 



forcing apart the cut ends with the thumbs soon leaves, them 

 hopelessly separated — active regenerative efforts having 

 ceased. Among the various expedients to prevent reunion 

 of caudal myotomies none is as humane nor as universally ' 

 effectual as this simple manipulation. At first, on account 

 of recollections of the operation on the previous day, the 

 patient may rebel slightly, but if executed as gently as the 

 necessary thoroughness warrants, there will be little oppo- 

 sition to the manipulations after the first two or three days. 



2. "Pulleying," as it has been done extensively in past 

 epochs, is barbarous, and its discontinuance is a credit to the 

 modern practitioner. But as there are situations in which 

 good results cannot be otherwise obtained, the method may 

 sometimes be excused, if sensibly applied. This method of 

 preventing reunion of the divided muscles requires pulleys, 

 rope and weights. The pulleys are fastened to the ceiling 

 on each side of the stall opposite, to the stall pillars and on 

 a level with the patient's hocks when standing in a comfort- 

 able position to feed from the manger. The rope is passed 

 through each pulley so that each end hangs down to receive 

 the weights and the center is pulled downward and looped 

 to the tail hairs. About six pounds is attached to each side. 

 Immediately after the operation, to arrest the bleeding, ten 

 to twelve pounds may be hung at each end for several hours. 



The practice of keeping horses' tails thus weighted for 

 two to three weeks, day and night, is no longer practiced in 

 America, on account of the cruelty inflicted, and because it 

 has been found sufficient to weight them ten to twelve hours 

 during each twenty-four for a period of about ten days. 



Care must be taken to place the pulleys so that the tail 

 will not be pulled too perpendicularly or forward over the 

 back, as in these positions the circulation may be so hin- 

 dered as to cause gangrene ; and again, excessive weight 

 must be avoided in certain patients having weak tails, or in 

 patients that abandon themselves to the weights without 

 offering any resistance to them. 



3. Cruppers.— For horses already docked, a crupper of 

 special design is used to hold the tail stump upward. The 

 crupper has a trough-like extension to receive the tail and a 

 back strap that passes forward to a girth. Such appliances 

 are worn continuously, day and night, for a period of ten 

 days; they are removed only when deemed necessary to in- 

 spect the condition of the wound. 



4. Tying the tail over the back to the girth, is a relic of 



