Docking-iron
identifier
ID 690
morphology
craft
craft
holotype
MOT V 88.0701 L=54cm WD=13,5cm WT=1400gr. Inscription: Bourguignon.
alias
veterinary tail docker (syn.) (BENNION: 224)
alias
tail squarer (syn.) (SELLENS: 469)
description
Hand tool used by the shoeing-smith to trim the tail beyond the tailbone of draft horses (1).
It is tang-shaped with relatively long (approx. 30-40 cm) arms, with or without wooden handles. One jaw is cut in a U-shape and is hollow so that the cutting blade fits on the other jaw; exceptionally it is made of wood (2). The tail is cut just after the sacrum so that it cannot grow back. The wound is burned out with a cauterizing iron. [MOT]
(1) N.L.I .: s.v. brûle-queue, reports that the horse's tail was cut off after it suffered a stroke.
(2) STOQUART: 23.
