10 
CASTRATION OF THE STALLION. 
should submit all subjects to manual exploration, prior to operat¬ 
ing, in his pre-examination for hernia, for if that were present, 
the horse should always be cast, and castrated by the covered 
operation. There is one advantage, however, in operating with¬ 
out restraint , that will be admitted by all practitioners, which is 
that it obviates all risk of injury by casting, which must always 
be taken into account in any operation upon the horse; and while 
I have never yet, to my knowledge, injured any horse by casting, 
I know that many valuable horses have been so injured and de¬ 
stroyed. Aside from fracture of the lumbar vertebrae, Williams 
mentions among other disabilitis, “ Paralysis, as in all probability 
due to some injury to the vertebrae or muscles of the back or 
loins, occurring while the animal is secured for operation.” All 
the cases I have thus far seen so injured were cast with Eng¬ 
lish hobbles,” and I have become so prejudiced against their use, 
that although I have two sets, I have made use of neither of them 
for several years, but use a “ surcingle rig ” instead, that folds 
the legs up securely, just as the horse lies down naturally in the 
stall, and that does not allow him to bend his back which is the 
great risk in using any hobbles. A horse can be castrated more 
expeditiously in a standing position than any other ; for one can 
be operated on in the time required by most any practitioner to 
cast his patient and put him into position, and it is not always 
that we can command suitable or sufficient help to cast a horse, 
neither do we have even a safe place provided for ns, but, as we 
all well know, we often have to cast in a very unsuitable and 
unsafe place to do so, jeopardizing the safety, not only of the ani¬ 
mal, but of ourselves. In casting, the risk of injury, often 
severe, sometimes fatal, is always present. No one will deny this, 
while the struggles of the horse, especially if he be of a sensitive 
or highly nervous temperament, is always highly suggestive to 
his owner of ringbones, spavins, curbs, etc., as the result of the 
operation, that I do not feel certain are not sometimes well 
founded, if not absolutely realized. I can well remember in my 
youthful days of seeing colts castrated, when as many men would 
be got together as it would take to “ raise a barn,” and with two 
or three hundred feet of rope, “ pull and haul ” their victim all 
