ELEMENTS OF HIPPOLOGY. 185 



"As to nerve - conductibility, its feebleness or its disap- 

 pearance is seen in unequivocal signs on the locomotory ap- 

 paratus; the muscular contractions are weaker and slower; the 

 efforts diminish in intensity and rapidity; the intervals be- 

 tween the steps are no longer equal and in co-ordination; the 

 members meet and strike each other; the gait, at first uncertain, 

 becomes tottering; the head hangs low; the subject becomes 

 more and more insensible to the surroundings; soon he falls in a 

 heap and dies at his task. But, before reaching this point, his 

 steps are less free, heavy, and uncertain; he forges. All these 

 signs should be sufficient, and their appearance demands an 

 immediate cessation of the experiment."* 



VICES AND DANGEROUS HABITS OF THE HORSE. f 



"The horse is an animal of a noble and generous disposi- 

 tion, and naturally possessed of few vices, although he is occa- 

 sionally met with having a bad and even furious temper, and, as 

 may be expected, manifests great variety of natural habit. His 

 vices, however, are too often attributable to the effects of im- 

 proper training and to tricks which he is taught by the treatment 

 and folly of his groom or keeper. 



"The first breaking-in of the horse should only be intrusted 

 to persons of mild disposition, as it is by kind and patient treat- 

 ment alone that we can hope to succeed in rendering this val- 

 uable animal truly useful and docile. No doubt but in nine 

 cases out of ten, where horses exhibit furious or stubborn tempers, 

 that these have been produced from the cruelty and ignorance 

 of their first trainers. 



"Restiveness. — The most unpleasant and dangerous of all 

 vices possessed by the horse is that of restiveness. Sometimes 



*"The Exterior of the Horse," Gouboux and Barriere, p. 420. 



fFrom "The Complete Modern Farrier." Thomas Brown, M.P.S., 

 thirty-first edition, 1900, Chapter XV., pp. 340-360. 



