•CASTRATION AND SPAYING 



243 



Recumbent Position. — The best apparatus for securing 

 horses in the recumbent position for castration is the Farmer 

 Miles side-lines or any of the many harnesses of like con- 

 struction. The author prefers the Knowles harness, be- 

 cause of its cheapness, adaptability for all kinds of opera- 

 tions and relative simplicity. There are some harnesses, 

 notably the Freeport harness, with which horses can be 

 cast by two men, and instantly tied securely enough for a 

 castration. Compared, with harnesses .requiring the assist- 

 ance of three or four men these patterns commend them- 



Fig. 127 — Correct Mode of Securing Horse for Castration in Recumbent 



Position. 



selves for simple castration, but lack essential features when 

 utilized for other operations, and besides these rapid ties by 

 not flexing the hind legs sufficiently are often productive 

 of fractures of the femur or tibia in colts affected with un- 

 suspected rarified conditions of the skeleton. Although 

 castration is a relatively brief operation, performable by al- 

 most any kind oi restraint, every interest is best served by 

 insisting upon a perfect, methodical and standard restraint 

 in which the hind legs are well flexed upon the pelvis by 

 ropes which protect the spine against injury and at the same 

 time spread the legs apart so as to give free access to the 



