Word: flexor
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Dates: during 1930-1939
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...Fitch Gilbertt† announced that she has offered a stake of $2,000 for three-gaited horses at the forthcoming National Horse Show to be held in Manhattan in November. Stipulation: the horses cannot have set tails, a fashion which requires cutting the flexor muscles of a horse's tail, holding it in an iron "bustle" (except while in the ring or on the bridle path). Because her donation is $1,000 larger than any other Horse Show prize, Mrs. Gilbert hoped to lure horse-showers away from a cruel fashion...
...would do it. It is silly but causes a horse no particular discomfort when properly done. I have seen at least a dozen operated and observed them afterwards and they seemed as comfortable as any of our other animals. No incisions are made on top of the tail. If flexor muscles were cut eight or ten inches from the base of the tail it would look really phooey. Incisions are made under profound anesthesia and with a knife so small that the slit in the skin can scarcely be seen. I don't know where you got your description...
...permanently arched tail is the result of an operation and an excruciatingly painful setting process. A veterinarian cuts and breaks the horse's tail much as an unskilled woodsman might hack and push down a sapling. Incisions are made on, the upper side, the flexor muscles on the under side cut eight to twelve inches back from the base. Then the tail is doubled back, tightly bandaged, supported by an iron "bustle." Three weeks are usually required for the tail to heal and set. Thrown into a sweating frenzy by this prolonged torture, horses often lose more than...