Fleaming Mallets

These are the mallets that are used to tap the fleaming knife into the vein. Most racehorse trainers in the late 18th and early 19th century would have carried out this procedure on the horses they trained.  It was commonly thought good for the horse to loose a bit of blood. It may well have increased the replace with new blood cells, there may well have been something efficacious in the practice. It is no longer considered acceptable practice. 

Provenance: Gift from Annamarie Comben, 2015