ree portion of the penis, continued for 10
or 15 minutes and repeated daily, may prove successful.

SELF-ABUSE, OR MASTURBATION.

Some stallions acquire this vicious habit, stimulating the sexual
instinct to the discharge of semen by rubbing the penis against the
belly or between the fore limbs. The only remedy is a mechanical one,
the fixing of a net under the penis in such fashion as to prevent the
extension of the penis or so prick the organ as to compel the animal to
desist through pain.

DOURINE.

This disease is discussed in the chapter on "Infectious Diseases."

CASTRATION.

CASTRATION OF STALLIONS.

This is usually done at 1 year old, but may be accomplished at a few
weeks old at the expense of an imperfect development of the fore parts.
The simplicity and safety of the operation are greatest in the young.
The delay till 2, 3, or 4 years old will secure a better development and
carriage of the fore parts. The essential part of castration is the safe
removal or destruction of the testicle and the arrest or prevention of
bleeding from the spermatic artery round in the anterior part of the
cord. Into the many methods of accomplishing this limited space forbids
us to enter here, so that only the method most commonly adopted,
castration by clamps, will be noticed. The animal having been thrown on
his left side, and the right hind foot drawn up on the shoulder, the
exposed scrotum, penis, and sheath are washed with soap and water, any
concretion of sebum being carefully removed from the bilocular cavity in
the end of the penis. The left spermatic cord, just above the testicle,
is now seized in the left hand, so as to render the skin tense over the
stone, and the right hand, armed with the knife, makes an incision from
before backward, about three-fourths of an inch from and parallel to the
median line between the thighs, deep enough to expose the testicle and
long enough to allow that organ to start out through the skin. At the
moment of making this incision the left hand must grasp the cord very
firmly, otherwise the sudden retraction of the testicle by the cremaster
muscle may draw it out of the hand and upward through the canal and even
into the abdomen. In a few seconds, when the struggle and retraction
have ceased, the knife is inserted through the cord, between its
anterior and posterior portions, and the latter, the one which the
muscle retracts, is cut completely through. The testicle will now