KICKING. 373 



it gives them over their driver, who by this manoeuvre loses al- 

 most all command. Harsh treatment is here completely out of 

 the question. 4.11 that can he 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 be- 

 comes the expression of anger, and the effort to do mischief. 

 The horse likewise too soon recognizes the least appearance of 

 timidity, and takes advantage of the discovery. There is no 

 cure for this vice ; and he cannot be justified who keeps a kick- 

 ing horse in his stable. 



Some horses acquire, from mere irritability and fidgetiness, a 

 habit of kicking at the stall or the bail, and particularly at 

 night. The neighboring horses are disturbed, and the kicker 

 gets swelled hocks, or some more serious injury. This is also 

 a habit very difficult to correct if suffered to become established 

 Mares are 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 some- 

 times 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 little bruised by it. A rather long 

 and heavy piece of wood attached to a chain has been buckled 

 above the hock, so as to reach about half-way down the leg. 

 When the horse attempts to kick violently, his leg will re- 

 ceive a severe blow : this, and the repetition of it, may, after 

 a time, teach him to be quiet. 



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

 least annoyance about the rump or quarters, some horses will 

 kick at a most violent rate, and destroy the bottom ol the chaise, 

 and endanger the limbs of the driver. Those that are fidgety 

 in the stable are most apt to do this. If the reins should per- 

 chance get under the tail, the violence of the kicker will often 

 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 everything behind 

 him. 



This is a vice standing foremost in point of danger, and wnich 



