srtiD BOOK. 165 



touch with the spur, and then taking no more notice of the 

 matter. After a few times, whatever may have been the ob- 

 ject which he chose to select as the pretended cause of 

 affright, be will pass it almost without notice. 



Shying on coming out of the stable is a habit that can rarely 

 be cured. It proceeds from the remembrance of some ill- 

 usage or hurt which the animal has received in the act of 

 proceeding from the stable, such as striking his head against 

 a low doorway, or entangling the harness. Coercion will but 

 associate greater fear and more determined resistance with 

 the old recollection. When the cure, however, is early 

 attempted, it may be so far overcome that it will be unat- 

 tended with danger or difficulty. The horse shall be bridled 

 when led out or in. He should be held short and tight by 

 the head that he may feel he has not liberty to make a 

 leap, and this of itself is often sufficient to restrain him. 

 Punishment, or a threat of punishment, will be highly im- 

 proper. It is only timid or high-spirited horses that 

 acquire this habit, and rough usage invariably increases their 

 agitation and terror. Some may be led out quite at leisure 

 when blindfolded; others when they have the harness bridle 

 on; some will best take their own way, and a few may be rid- 

 den through the doorway that cannot be led. By quietness 

 and kindness, however, the horse will be most easily and 

 quickly subdued. 



SUPPING THE COLLAE. 



This is a trick at which many horses are so clever that 

 scarcely a night passes without their getting loose. It is a 

 very serious habit, for it enables the horse sometimes to gorge 

 himself with food, to the imminent danger of staggers; or it 

 exposes him, as he wanders about, to be kicked and injured 

 by the other horses, while his restlessness will often keep the 

 whole team awake. If the web of the halter, being first accu- 

 rately fitted to his neck, is suffered to slip only one way, or a 

 strap is attached to the halter and buckled round the neck, 

 but not sufficiently tight to be of serious inconvenience, the 

 power of slipping the collar will be taken away. 



TRIPPING. 



If it arises from a heavy forehand, and the fore legs being 

 too much under the horse, no one can alter the natural frame 

 of the animal; if it proceeds from tenderness of the foot, 

 grogginess, or old lameness, these ailments are seldom cured. 



