HORSE— CARE AND MANAGEMENT. 



41 



Cook's is effectual, and the latter will not 

 .avai! when the plain strap is forbidden, 

 on account of the extreme pressure re- 

 quired. We cannot, therefore, recom- 

 mend any plan but such as will totally 

 prevent the prehension of the manger, 

 and this is accomplished by one of two 

 ways. In the first of these, the manger 

 itself is either concealed, or the corn and 

 hay are placed on the ground, in a space 

 slightly separated from the rest of the stall 

 by a row of bricks, or other similar bodies, 

 which cannot be laid hold of. To the 

 concealed manger and rack there is the 

 objection, that while the horse is feeding, 

 he can go on cribbing without interrup- 

 tion, and as this is the time chiefly chosen 

 for the act, success is only partly achieved. 

 Placing the food on the ground is entirely 

 successful in stopping the habit, but it 

 leads to some waste of provender, as the 

 horse is apt to tread upon it, after which 

 he will refuse to eat it. By far the best 

 preventive, in our opinion, is the bar muz- 

 zle, consisting in an iron frame work, 

 covering the lips and nose, and suspended 

 from the head by a leather head collar, so 

 that the lips can reach the corn or hay, 

 but the teeth are too wide to pass through 

 the bars and seize the manger. This me- 

 chanical contrivance is entirely harmless, 

 and perfectly effectual, the sole objection 

 to it being the fact that it proclaims the 

 wearer to every one who looks into the 

 stable as a cribber. This may be a valid 

 reason for rejecting its use for dealers' 

 horses, but in a gentleman's stable, utility 

 and humanity ought to have precedence 

 •of such a feeble argument. When the 

 bar muzzle is adopted, it should always 

 be kept on, excepting, of course, when 

 the bridle replaces it for work or exer- 

 cise, or while the head is being dressed. 



HORSE, Kicking the Wall or Stall 

 Post is sometimes a very annoying trick, 

 and though not always done in a vicious 

 manner, it is objectionable, because the 

 kicker is liable to lame himself, or one of 

 his neighbors. In mares it is often of a 

 sexual nature, and in them it is much 

 more common than in geldings — the ex- 

 tent to which it is carried by them being 

 generally greatest at the beginning and 

 end of their being "in use." At such 

 times mares go almost mad, if they have 

 an irritating neighbor, who keeps smell- 

 ing them, and we once had one who 



kicked herself to pieces in a paroxysm 

 of this kind, which nothing but tying up 

 the foreleg could restrain. There are 

 several remedies in common use, but 

 none can be relied on in all cases. Fore- 

 most among these is the use of gorse, 

 nailed to the stall-post, which will almost 

 invariably quiet a low-bred animal, 

 especially if a gelding, but high-bred 

 mares will sometimes kick at it all the 

 more, for the punishment they receive. 

 A padded leather strap, buckled round 

 the canna bone, with a common sinker 

 attached to it, or, instead of this, a few 

 links of heavy chain, will generally keep 

 the horse from kicking, because in mak- 

 ing the attempt he gives his coronet and 

 pastern a heavy blow. If, however, 

 this plan is unsuccessful, it is liable to 

 cause lameness, from the inflammation 

 produced by the blows, and, therefore, 

 the effect must be carefully watched. 

 Few horses kick out with both legs, and 

 a pair of hobbles buckled around the 

 hind fetlocks will, in a vast majority of 

 cases, put an end to the trick as long 

 as they are worn, without any risk, or 

 producing any serious annoyance, save 

 only what is inseparably connected with 

 the prohibition of the indulgence in the 

 desire to kick. A narrow strap buckled 

 round the part just above the hock, so as 

 to confine the hamstring, will have the 

 desired effect, by giving intense pain 

 when any attempt to strike out is made, 

 but it is a most annoying infliction to the 

 horse, and generally prevents his lying 

 down, from the necessity* which there is 

 for bending the hock in reaching the 

 ground. We should, therefore, give the 

 preference to the bunch of gorse, or if 

 that is not readily procurable, to the 

 sinker of wood or iron suspended to a 

 strap round the leg. 



HORSE, Scratching the Ear with the 

 hind foot, the horse is very apt to get his 

 leg over the collar rein, if the sinker is 

 not heavy enough to keep the rein tight- 

 ly strained between the head collar and 

 the ring in the manger. Impatient ani- 

 mals, also, which are continually pawing 

 at their litter, will sometimes get one of 

 their fore feet over it, but this is not so 

 serious an accident To prevent the 

 mischief occasioned in either case by the 

 struggles to get free, especially when the 

 hind leg is thus caught, the ring for the 



