140 STABLE ECONOMY. 



is on the strap. The halter-rein should be as long as the 

 strap-rein. Whenever the horse is observed hanging in the 

 halter, with the purpose of breaking loose, he should be well 

 flogged always from behind. 



This trick is often the result of bad management. An 

 awkward or rude groom, by the manner in which he ap- 

 proaches a horse or works about the head, often frightens or 

 pains him. The horse should never be struck on the head 

 or neck", nor a blow threatened by a person standing before 

 him ; it makes him draw back. The halter already spoken 

 of, and the ordinary mode of filling the hay-rack, may each 

 have something to do in producing the habit. 



A few horses of determined temper will not be tied up 

 after they have succeeded several times in breaking loose. 

 They struggle so long and with such violence, that they in- 

 jure themselves even when they do not get free. A loose 

 box is the proper place for these. 



STANDING IN THE GANGWAY. When first stabled, horses 

 are much disposed to stand as far out of the stall as they can 

 get. They dislike the confinement ; they want to see about 

 them, and "they dislike the impure air so often found at the 

 head of stalls when damp or soiled litter is thrown below the 

 manger. The habit of standing in the gangway is incon- 

 venient, particularly in double-headed stables, and injury is 

 sometimes done by the efforts to prevent it. The horse may 

 be tied short, close to the rack or to the manger; but hard 

 work, tender feet, or bad legs, may forbid this, since it pre- 

 vents lying. The only alternative is to hang a bale be- 

 hind him, upon which a furze-bush may be fastened. By- 

 and-by, when the horse becomes accustomed to stand within 

 the stall, the bale may be removed. It is seldom, however, 

 that the habit is attended with so much inconvenience as 

 to require this. The usual practice of suddenly striking or 

 whipping the horse when he is found in the gangway, is 

 foolish, and often dangerous. The horse makes a violent 

 spring into the stall, arid when his feet happen to slip, he 

 receives a severe wrench, producing stifle, or hip lameness, 

 or sprained loins. I have seen the thigh- bone broken in 

 this way, and the horse had to be destroyed. 



LYING IN THE GANGWAY is common among those horses 

 that stand in the gangway. They lie so far out of the stall 

 that the halter-rein is put upon the stretch, and the horse's 

 head has not sufficient freedom to let him rise. He must be 



