60S 
TREATMENT OF SPAVIN. 
sary to have the horse cast to perform the operation, the firing 
irons have been made shorter in their shafts, and straighter or less 
curved in their blades : the material of which the cautery is made 
being iron in preference to the copper, as used by Yegetius and 
Solleysell. In point of efficacy it can make very little differ- 
ence whether the lines or scores drawn with the firing iron be 
parallel or angular or crosswise : my own notion accords with 
Solleysell’ s, that they should be drawn “downwards,” i.e. run 
parallel one to another. My rule is, that their direction in all cases 
be regulated by the course of the hair. It is certain that, so drawn, 
they leave less blemish than when drawn athwart the growth of 
the hair, and that it is equally as effectual as firing performed in 
any other way. The only drawback being — and it must be con- 
fessed this is a serious one — that, the proprietor of the fired horse not 
being so well pleased with the appearance of the work, “ the skill 
of the horse-doctor” will fail to be so much “ commended.” This 
FANCY-FIRING, as it may be called, has, as I have before said, en- 
tailed the necessity of casting horses for the operation ; and this, 
of itself, is an objection to it of no mean account; for when we 
come to consider how many accidents have occurred in casting, 
even under the most careful and judicious hands, and that every 
horse that is cast — although it must be acknowledged the chances 
against being hurt are very great in his favour — runs a risk, re- 
mote though it be, of injury, it certainly must be considered de- 
sirable for veterinarians to hold up and practise a method of fir- 
ing which does not call for the throwing of the subject. 
The Primary or instant Effect of the Actual Cau- 
tery on the skin is to sear and to divide it : the division of the 
cutis being frequently attended — especially when the edge of the 
iron, instead of being rounded off, as it ought to be, is sharp — by 
some trifling haemorrhage, and constantly by the destruction of 
such subcutaneous cellular tissue as the cautery happens to come 
in contact with. Pain, felt or expressed a great deal more by 
some horses than by others, accompanies the searing ; annoyance 
from “ the fire in the parts,” and irritation follows, great or little 
in amount, according to the extent of surface fired, the depth or 
superficiality of the firing, the susceptibility or idiosyncrasy of the 
subject, &c. 
Secondary Effect. — For the first and second days after 
being fired — the hock being the part our observations in particular 
have reference to — nothing but the dry scores of the iron are ob- 
servable. The hand applied fo the surface may discover increased 
heat and tenderness, and probably fulness as well, of the part 
fired, or there may be general swelling of the limb ; and yet, if 
