The Sporting Dictionary and Rural Repository, Volume 2 (of 2) / Of General Information upon Every Subject Appertaining to the Sports of the Field

by William Taplin

NICKING

—was formerly considered an OPERATION of much MAGNITUDE, and not without its proportion of danger; and then performed only by such as were considered eminent in the PRACTICE, and expert in the ART. It is now, however, a matter of so little consequence, that anatomical knowledge is not thought at all necessary to the execution; it being a well-known fact, that almost every DEALER (or even his principal servant) is an operator from one extremity of the kingdom to the other. The intent of NICKING is to prevent (by a counteracting power) a horse from depressing his TAIL, and flicking it between his hind quarters; giving him all the appearance of perpetual fear, and constitutional dejection. A horse of this description is held in very trifling estimation, and purchasers are not readily to be found till this operation has been gone through, and the good or bad set of the TAIL ascertained, upon the ornamental part of which, both the figure and proportional value of the subject greatly depend.

This operation, as it was formerly performed, indeed as it is now by common FARRIERS and inexperienced GROOMS, appears one of the most cruel and severe that could possibly originate in the human mind; though in the hands of those well acquainted with the STRUCTURE of the PARTS, having a quick eye, and steady execution, it is a matter so superficial, and attended with so little pain or difficulty, that it does not seem entitled to even serious consideration. In order that the process, and proper use of NICKING, may be the better comprehended by the younger branches of the SPORTING WORLD who have never seen it performed, it becomes directly applicable to observe, that there are in every limb of either the human or brute creation, two sets of muscles, acting in a contrary direction to the other. The office of one is to EXPAND; the other, to CONTRACT: the former are technically termed the EXTENSOR; the latter, the FLEXOR muscles: thus, then, it is, that the extensors possess the power of extending or straightening the limb; the flexors, of relaxing and completely bending it. Of these two sets, the flexors have the greater predominance, and can always overcome the resisting property of their opposites; but when, by an effort of the will, the extensors are brought into forcible action, then overcoming the little resistence that is either made or felt: of this force in the flexor muscles, ample proof may be obtained, by endeavouring to raise the TAIL of an unnicked horse against his will.

The extensor muscles, of course, passing in a longitudinal direction on each side the superior part of the tail, from the spinal bone to the extremity, retains the power of raising the tail at pleasure; the flexors, running in a similar line at the inferior, or lower part, there possess a greater power of counteraction, and render the operation the more necessary, as, by diminishing the power of one, proportional strength is added to the other. Previous to the present expert and easy mode of operation, it was common to see the incisions (or nicks) the breadth of a very large finger, and a small one might be lodged in the cavity. These enormous chasms were made under an expectation of more readily reaching the flexor muscle, which it was the intention to discover and divide; but which, in most cases, had been previously divided, and receded in the first efforts; and sometimes, from the unnecessary destruction of parts, and profuse bleeding, produced alarm, followed by inflammation, frequently danger, and sometimes DEATH. This, however, is, as it ought to be, very much reformed, and not without a substantial reason, when it may be observed, that, upon raising the tail of a horse in its natural state, the two flexor muscles may be clearly seen, and distinctly felt, one on each side the CENTRICAL bone, in common termed the DOCK, laying in a midway direction, between the bone and the edge of the tail where the hair begins. In performing this operation in a superior and masterly manner, the horse having been previously secured, (with hobbles and side-lines,) the tail is to be firmly grasped with the left hand, and turned up with considerable force towards the rump, when a superficial incision is to be made with a crooked pointed knife, directly over the seat of the flexor, which will be instantly perceived of a strong elastic texture, ready for separation by the knife, steadily held for that purpose; the tail being exceedingly firm in hand, by which the separated tendon will have the less power to recede. Immediately after the separation, the lower extremity having lost its elastic support, will be seen to hang full half an inch from the first incision; when a second, a third, and even a fourth, if necessary, is to be made in the same way on each side the tail; it not being a matter at all requisite, that the skin in the middle, passing over the bone, should be divided, or that the wounds on each side should communicate with each other. The incisions being completed, the ends of the separated muscles should be secured with a pair of FORCEPS, or a curved NEEDLE, and when a little drawn out by moderate force, should then be taken off with a pair of scissars, or a knife, as close as they can be conveniently come at. It is a custom with some, to separate the tendon of each incision before they proceed to make another, and this seems to be the most rational and expeditious mode of the two.

In this method of performing the operation, there is a very trifling loss of blood, which is almost immediately suppressed by a pledget of tow, previously prepared, and slightly impregnated with any of the simple styptics, or Friar's Balsam, incorporated with a little Balsam of Peru. Custom has established a rule, which it will most probably be very difficult to affect by any verbal or literary expostulation, which is the affixing an immoderate weight to the tail, to prevent a reunion of the divided tendons, by the continued separation of parts: this, it must be remembered, is the less likely to happen, when one of the divided extremities has considerably receded, and the other is totally taken away. In respect to the precise distances at which the incisions are to be made, that depends upon no fixed rule whatever, but must be regulated by the thick and fleshy formation of the tail, and the height it is required to be carried. The HIGHER it is to be raised, the nearer the first incision is to be made to the BASE, observing to let the NICKS decline gradually the nearer they come to the point of the tail; being particularly careful, that the last is not of equal depth and magnitude with the two nearest the quarters; if so, the subject may be expected to carry it with a curve at the extremity, which will add none to the FIGURE or FASHION of the horse.

Although the most expert operators are exceedingly alert and expeditious in the execution, and in general perform the operation with only a single side-line, leaving the horse in a very unconfined state; yet the absolute necessity for greater precaution cannot be more forcibly inculcated, than by a recital of the following recent accident, which must hold forth an aweful lesson to those who may be induced to ruminate a few moments upon the event. On Sunday morning, October 17th, 1802, as Mr. Welch, a noted and opulent dealer in horses, resident in Oxford-street, in the Metropolis, was NICKING a horse not properly secured, he received so sudden and severe a kick on the BREAST, that threw him to a considerable distance, and instantly deprived him of LIFE. The reflections naturally arising upon the day on which such an operation was performed, open a wide field for religious contemplation; particularly as the sufferer was a man of the most pleasing manners, and personal respectability; having raised himself, by the mere dint of his own merits, from the most subordinate offices of servitude, to a state of perfect affluence.