336 THE HORSE. 



GETTING THE CHEEK OF THE BIT INTO THE MOUTH, 



Some horses that are disposed to be mischievous try to do this, and arn 

 very expert at it. They soon find what advantage it gives them over their 

 driver, wiio by this manoeuvre loses almost all command. Harsh treatment 

 is liere completely out of the question. All that can be done is, by some 

 mechanical contrivance, to render the thing difficult or impossible, and this 

 may be managed by fastening a round piece of leather on the inside of the 

 cheek of the bit. 



KICKING. 



This, as a vice, is another consequence of the culpable habit of grooms 

 and stable-boys of teasing the horse. That which is at first an indication 

 of annoyance at the pinching and tickling of the groom, and without any 

 design to injure, gradually becomes the expression of anger and the effort 

 at mischief. There is no cure for this vice j and he cannot be justified who 

 keeps such a kicking horse in his stable. 



Some horses acquire a habit of kicking at the stall or the b-ail, and par- 

 ticularly at night, from mere irritability and fidgettiness. The neighbour- 

 ing horses are disturbed, and the kicker gets swelled hocks, or some more 

 serious injury. This is also a habit very difficult to correct, if suf- 

 fered to become established. Mares are generally far more subject to it 

 than horses. 



Before the habit . is inveterately established, a thorn-bush or a piece of 

 furze fastened against the partition or post will sometimes effect a cure. 

 When the horse finds that he is pretty severely pricked, he will not long 

 continue to punish himself. In confirmed cases, it may be necessary to 

 have recourse to the log, but the legs are often not a Itttle bruised by it. 

 A rather long and heavy piece of wood attached to a chain is buckled above 

 the hock, so as to reach about half way down tlie leg. When the horse 

 attempts to kick violently, his leg will receive a severe blow from this, and 

 the repetition of the blow will soon teach him to be quiet. 



A much more serious vice is kicking in the harness. From the least 

 annoyance about the rump or quarters, some Iiorses will kick at the most 

 violent rate, and destroy the bottom of the chaise, and endanger the limbs 

 of the driver. Those that are fidgetty in the stable are most apt to do this. 

 U the reins should perchance get under tlie tail, the violence of the kicker 

 will be most outrageous; and while the animal presses down his tail so 

 tightly that it is almost impossible to extricate the reins, he continues to 

 plunge until he has demolished every thing behind him. 



This is a vice standing foremost in point of danger, and which no treat- 

 ment will often conquer. It will be altogether in vain to try coercion here. 

 If the sliafis are very strong and without flaw, or if they arc plated with 

 iron underneath, and a stout kicking-strap used, which will barely allow the 

 horse the proper use of his hind limbs in progression, but not permit him 

 to raise them sufficiently for the purpose of kicking, he may be prevented 

 from doing nfisciiief; or, if he is harnessed to a heavy cart, and thus con- 

 fined, his cllbrts to lash out will be restrained: but it is a very uu|)leasant 

 thing frequently to witness these attempts, altliough ineffectual, to demolish 

 the vehicle ; and the shafts or the kicking-straps ma}'' possibly break, and 

 extreme danger may ensue. A horse that has once begun to kick, whatever 

 may have been the original cause of it, can never be depende<j on again ; 

 vnd he will be very unwise who ventures behind him. 



