On casting horses ; with a description of the new casting hobbles, invented by Bracy Clark / [Bracy Clark].
- Clark, Bracy, 1771-1860
- Date:
- [1842]
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: On casting horses ; with a description of the new casting hobbles, invented by Bracy Clark / [Bracy Clark]. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![ON CASTING HORSES FOR OPERATIONS, WITH A DESCRIPTION OF THE NEW CASTING HOBBLES ; Invented by Bracy Clark, F.L.S. and Foreign Member of the Royal Institute of France. London, 2nd Edition, 1842. This improvement in the apparatus for casting down horses, and better securing them for operations, presented itself to me about six years ago [1st Ed. 1808]; the great advantages of the plan having been fully confirmed by frequent use during this period, I have been induced to make it more publicly known. And these hobbles were exhibited about this time to the Society for the encouragement of arts, manufactures, and commerce, in the Adelphi, and obtained for their inventor their large silver medal presented by the hands of the Duke of Norfolk. In casting horses after the common mode, some straw, enclosed in a knot, was used to form an obstacle to the return of the rope through the four rings, and, in order to insert it, it became necessary to relax the rope for a time, during which, if the horse struggled, he would draw the cord back through the rings, and sometimes get upon his legs again, a circumstance we have seen to happen; this imperfection is wholly removed by the present apparatus. The knot of straw also drawn tighter, and condensing by the struggling of the horse, would give a degree of liberty to the legs that was often very inconvenient in the performing of an operation, which is also entirely removed by the present apparatus, which can be drawn as tight as you please, and afterwards is subject to no relaxation. But a much greater advantage than the foregoing, is, that all the four legs are released at once, and the inconvenience and risk of undoing a leg at a time, after the old mode, is entirely done away. The friction and strain of these new Hobbles is chiefly confined to the iron parts, which gives them a duration in wearing that is almost endless. The iron chain terminating the rope, is found to pass or slide through the rings with less friction, if well made, than a rope would do; and, by the use of the steel rollers, it requires much less force, and consequently fewer men in casting the horse. The apparatus itself is represented in the plate annexed, and the following brief description will enable the reader to form a correct idea of the nature of it:—One of the Hobbles, it will be observed, is made different to the rest, which we call the 'principal or master Hobble; it is seen on the near fore leg, and is always to be placed or fixed on the fore leg of that side of the horse that is designed to be uppermost when on the ground; the end of the chain is fastened to this Hobble by means of the moveable pin (A), and is prevented from falling out with any agitation of the apparatus, by having two or three turns of a screw in its upper part, under the thumb piece (A). The chain (B) is terminated by a swivel and loop which is placed in the notch through which the pin (A) passes and is thus fixed, the links at this end of the chain are made more rounded and open, in order to receive the hook for fastening him; the rest of the links are twisted and made shorter that they may run more readily through the square leg rings; to this chain is attached the cord (C); we have preferred one of those which are called “ patent ropes,” being plaited of strands of equal tension, and are found not only stronger but more flexible than the common ones. The other extremity of this cord has attached to it, for convenient use, and to prevent it being lost or mislaid, the oblong curved hook of iron (D).* * Some have proposed to shorten this chain, and I formerly tried it so myself, hut found it not to answer near so well, and rejected it again; for the rope bent at right angles, if much resisted, will get](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22005766_0005.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
