670 OPERATIONS. 



obsolete.'' I remember that the custom in Ireland during the late 

 fifties and early sixties was to bang the tails of hunters at such a 

 length that when the long hairs were drawn down, their ends were 

 just clear of the points of the animal's hocks, as is the present 

 custom with race-horses. In the thirties and forties, long swisli 

 tails as well as bang tails w©re to be seen in the hunting field. 



The usual fashion nowadays is tO' dock all half-bred hunters, and 

 to leave all thoroughbreds undocked, whether they are race-horses, 

 chasers, timber-toppers, or hunters. I am glad to say that Lord 

 Lonsdale and Mr. Hedworth Barclay, who are the two most promi- 

 nent hunting men in Leicestershire, like their hunters to have 

 long tails. 



, FOR AND AGAINST DOCKING.— The chief arguments in 

 favour of docking are as follows: — 1. That it improves a horse's 

 aiipearance. I cannot see how a mutilation can be a beauty. In 

 the judgment on the dishorning case of Ford v. Wiley, Mr. Justice 

 Hawkins states : " Docking is another painful operation which no 

 doubt may occasionally be justified, but I hold a very strong 

 opinion against allowing fashion or the whim of an individual, or 

 any number of individuals, to afford justification for such painful 

 mutilation." 



2. That it prevents him, when he is in draught, from escaping 

 out of the control of his driver, hy getting his tail over a rein, in 

 which case the horse, as a great rule, will remain master only as 

 long as he keeps the rein imprisoned by the downward pressure of 

 his tail. If an animal in this position is vicious or nervous, he 

 will probably try to kick the trap to pieces or run away, in which 

 case, the driver will be unable to restrain or guide him. A few 

 horses, probably not more than one in 10,000 acquire the vice of 

 endeavouring, when in harness, to get their tail over a rein, and, 

 if they succeed in this dangerous attempt, they will generally 'do 

 all they can to produce an accident. Here, the position of the 

 driver is an important point for consideration. All Russian harness 

 horses have long tails, and the driver's seat in almost all Russian 

 native vehicles is so low that the reins are seldom held much 

 higher than the animal's stifles. Although the reins are thus in a 

 very convenient position for the horse to swish his tail over either 

 of them ; an accident from this cause is practically unknown in 

 Russia, because the driver can at once free the imprisoned rein by 

 a side pull. If the driver's seat is high, as is usually the case in 

 England, he would have to trust principally to an upward pull, 

 which in all probability would draw the rein up to the root of the 

 tail, where the power of the depressor muscles is at its maximum, 

 and the horse is much more ticklish than lower down. As the 



