KICKING. 
331 
is bo surer test of a high-bred horse than this character 
of tail. 
The tail has three sets of muscles, the one for raising 
it, plate vii. fig. 1, e, and another immediately below for 
depressing it, and a third for giving it lateral motion in 
every direction. When the animal is at rest, the power 
of the lateral set of muscles seems to predominate, as 
the tail is constantly inclined downwards, resting upon 
the buttocks ; but when energised the tail is carried 
higher, which gives that spirited character to him when 
excited. It was to convey this expression constantly that 
the operation of nicking was devised ; therefore the depres¬ 
sor and part of the lateral muscles are nicked through to a 
greater or lesser degree, as the wish of the operator may 
suggest to him, as to the height at which he wishes the 
animal to carry his tail. 
The operation is performed in the following manner. 
The horse is cast, and the hair at the point of the tail 
firmly tied together, so that a weight may be afterwards 
attached to it. The tail is then held firmly in the hand 
and lifted up, and the exact central spot of one of the 
bones is ascertained, and the muscle is divided deep with a 
very sharp knife or scalpel from the edge of the tail to the 
centre, and continuing the incision across the bone of the 
tail, it is cut as deep as on the other side. All this may be 
done with one rapid and steady incision without lifting the 
scalpel. In a high-bred horse this will be sufficient for the 
purpose ; for a hunter two incisions are usually made, the 
second being about two inches below the first, which should 
also be as near as possible to the centre of one of the 
vertebras. In the hackney it has been the practice to make 
three cuts, so as to make him carry his tail still higher. 
Two cuts only are made in the tail of a mare, and the 
