VICES OF THE HOESE — RESTIVENESS. 279 



less, except on hard roads. If an elevation is needed, make 

 the heel of the shoe thicker, thinning off toward the quarter. 

 This will not sink in hard roads. 



VICES OF TEE HOESE. 



HoESES, like men, are endowed with an endless variety of 

 tempers or dispositions, and these differences are still more ex- 

 tended by the breaking and management of the horse. There 

 are certain dangerous and disagreeable habits to which some 

 horses are given, either from a naturally bad disposition or 

 from faulty management, which it is important to understand. 

 Such habits may render the horse totally unfit for any use, may 

 impair his usefulness for many purposes, or may only require 

 greater care in his management. Any such vices really injure 

 the value of the horse to a greater or less degree. 



RESTIVENESS. 



A naturally bad or vicious temper, and which is generally 

 aggravated or made worse by faulty and cruel management, 

 whether it is shov/n in biting, kicking, rearing, plunging, bolt- 

 ing, striking, or in any other habit which threatens injury to 

 those using the horse, or to himself, is included under the 

 name of restiveness. It is very difficult to break a horse of 

 restive habits. Some horse-tamers have been very successful 

 in bringing such animals to gently submit to the dominion of 

 man. But the least error in the management of such a horse 

 will generally cause him to relapse into his former vice. In 

 the history of horsemanship several celebrated tamers have 

 been noticed, and almost every neighborhood has some genius 

 noted for his ability as a tamer. A fellow by the name of 

 Jumper, in Yorkshire, is spoken of by Youatt, whose system 

 seems to have been to use the utmost violence with the horse, 



