clxxvi 
Monthly Council, November 2, 1892. 
Earl Cathcaet was very sorry not 
to be able to support the noble Duke 
in the chair in this matter; but he 
had spent the best years of his life in 
Yorkshire — in fact, ever since he had 
been twenty-one years of age ; he felt 
bound, therefore, to express the views 
of those he represented in that county, 
who were in favour of the accustomed 
practice of docking horses. He might 
remind them of the late Mr. Wake- 
field’s famous show hunter “ The 
Banker.” This animal was originally 
purchased from Mr. Wakefield by a 
dealer, who asked, as a matter of con- 
venience, that the horse might remain 
for a few days in the vendor’s stable. 
Meanwhile, the dealer had the colt 
docked. After this operation, Mr. 
Wakefield, going into the stable, was 
surprised to see an apparently strange 
horse there, and asked whose it was, 
not recognising the animal he had 
just sold. The operation so improved 
the appearance of the horse, that Mr. 
Wakefield immediately repurchased 
it at a very considerably enhanced 
price, and the repurchase proved an 
excellent investment. Upon his 
(Lord Cathcarfs) visit to the French 
haras some years ago, he noticed that 
the tails of the “ I’oste ” and “ Dili- 
gence ” horses were twisted up and 
laced in a sheath with great elabora- 
tion. Horses as leaders could not 
lun in harness wdth their long tails. 
They might cut the hair short, but 
they must take some of the stump off 
if they wished to make an effectual 
job of it. In a waggon, for in.stance, 
it was a very disagreeable, incon- 
venient thing to have the long-tailed 
leaders flapping their long, dirty tails 
in the wheelers’ faces. Therefore, on 
many grounds, he held it was not 
desirable, especially at the present 
moment, to make radical changes in 
a convenient custom, which had so 
long prevailed. 
Sir Nigel Kingscote supported 
His Grace with the greatest cordiality. 
He thought that they should say at 
once that foals ought not to be 
docked ; or, at any rate, that they 
should not give them a single minute 
longer than the year 1891. He 
thought that this fashion of docking 
the tails of foals should not receive 
the encouragement of the Koyal 
Agricultural Society. He went not 
only on the ground of what he would 
call this senseless fashion, but also 
on the ground of its being actually 
cruel. Everybody who chose to go 
through Yorkshire and Norfolk must 
notice the poor brood mares feeding 
under the little shade which they 
could get, with no possible means of 
swishing the flies off. A great Society 
should not encourage so senseless a 
thing as the docking of horses’ tails ; 
and, any way, they should not encou- 
rage the docking of foals. The argu- 
ments of those who said that it was 
less cruelty to them when foals, did 
not seem to improve the case at all. 
If they wanted to have the horses 
docked, they might dock them at any 
time without danger. Mr. Hornsby 
made light of the price for Govern- 
ment horses. He (Sir Nigel) had lost 
money himself by horses which officers 
would not buy because they had 
docked tails. 
Mr. Hamond said that in Norfolk, 
if horses were not docked they would 
only fetch about ,S6L as a “ soldier,” 
but if docked they would probably be 
shown as stallions at the Royal Agri- 
cultural Society’s shows, and the 
prices would be from 150L to 200Z. 
apiece. If not docked, they would not 
fetch more than a quarter of the price. 
H.R.H. Prince Christian raised 
the question as to when this fashion 
of docking the tails of horses had 
been reintroduced. It seemed to him 
to have become general again only 
during the last few years. He had 
now been more than twentv’-five years 
in this country, and he did not re- 
member seeing docked horses except 
during the last four or fite years. In 
his view, the docking of horses’ tails 
spoilt their appearance. 
Mr. Pell referred to a still more 
cruel practice than docking, that 
known as “ nicking,” which caused 
a good deal of suffering, and which 
used to be practised years ago. There 
was undoubted suffering in this prac- 
tice of docking. He could not help 
thinking that the Society should do 
everything to condemn it. He 
thought the suggestion that notice 
should be given that docking would 
not be permitted another year was a 
fair one. 
Mr. Ciiandos-Pole-Gell said that 
in his county of Derbyshire a large 
number of cart horses were bred. 
They were in the habit of docking 
