504 
FRACTURED LIMBS OF HORSES. 
“ Well !” he said, “ it is a bad job, for he was such a powerful 
horse for us in the wood ; he was a team almost of himself.” By 
this time a large crowd had gathered round the place, among whom 
the general opinion was that he must be destroyed. To this I 
would not consent, but I made this proposal to the son, that, as 
my stable was within about three hundred yards of the house, I 
would either buy the horse at a dead price, or I would give 20s. 
towards a trial to cure him. To this he readily assented. Accord- 
ingly, I procured some temporal splints and bandages, and bound 
up the fracture as well as possible. I then applied some webbing 
around the upper part of the limb, and myself and another sup- 
ported the fractured limb while the horse moved the other. By 
this plan he was got to my stable pretty well. I then put him 
into slings constructed after the following manner : — The mouth of 
a six-bushel sack was sewed up; two holes were then made at 
the sides, close to each end. A rafter was passed through, and a 
strong ring sewed to each corner of the sack ; at the ends of it 
two chains were attached to two of the rings. No beam being 
convenient to cast the chains over, four holes were bored through 
the chamber floor, through which the two chains were passed on 
the off side of the horse, and then passed downwards through the 
holes on the near side, and through the rings ; two small hooks 
being attached to the ends of the chains, which were hooked in the 
upright chain a proper length. Four strong buckles were attached 
to the front and back parts of the sack, to receive the straps of 
two strong girths, one for the breech, the other for the breast. A 
strong strap was attached to the sack at the lowest and middle 
part, under the brisket, which was received into a buckle in the 
centre of the breast girth, passing between the fore legs. Two more 
buckles were attached to the sides of the girth, which received 
the ends of a girth that went over the posterior part of the neck. 
The strap between the fore legs kept the breast girth from rising 
too high, and so preventing the return of blood in the jugular veins 
by its pressure on them. Another breast and breech girth, with 
chains attached to each end and hooks at their ends, were hooked 
into the upright chains by way of support of the straps of the 
slings, and to secure the body of the horse when resting in the 
slings in an horizontal position as much as possible. Thus could 
the chains be attached to the four corners of the slings, instead of 
one ring in the middle of the rafter. The giving way of the 
slings, when either the fore or hind parts of the horse, separately, 
was allowed to press on them, was thus avoided. 
The horse weighing about seventeen or eighteen cwt., it was 
necessary to make every part very secure. In this case chains 
answered better than ropes, as the hooks could be put in the links 
