186 ELEMENTS OF HIFPOLOGY. 



this proceeds from a naturally bad temper and at other times 

 from faultiness in education. This term includes plunging, 

 rearing, kicking, bolting, and general impatience while mounting. 

 A horse with any of the above faults can never be depended upon, 

 for, although we may use means to counteract a particular vice, 

 whether by compulsion or gentle measures, he may exhibit that 

 vice when we are off our guard and are least expecting it. Force 

 may bring him to obedience, and he may succumb to him who 

 has had the determination to subjugate him, but, when mounted 

 by another, he is extremely liable to break out again. A horse 

 that kicks in harness may be driven with safety by a cautious 

 or experienced driver or coachman, but still there is no cer- 

 tainty of his not exhibiting the same trick years afterwards; 

 indeed, most horses which have been kickers return to it again. 



" However high the temper which the horse may exhibit, 

 we would recommend that he should be broken from his vices by 

 kind and soothing means and these exercised with patience for a 

 considerable length of time, and force should only be resorted to 

 when all other means have failed. 



" There is little chance of reclaiming a bad-tempered horse 

 by harsh treatment; indeed, it will always be found to have an 

 opposite tendency. An ill-tempered groom should never be al- 

 lowed to enter a stable, however fit he may be for his business in 

 every other respect; for a surly, bullying fellow is sure to frighten 

 horses so much that when he enters a stable they will jump from 

 side to side at his approach. Many a scar has been inflicted by 

 such a man by using his pitchfork instead of soothing the animal 

 for his fault, and if asked how the horse came by the blemish, he 

 invents a falsehood to account for it. 



"Rearing. — Rearing is one of the worse vices in a horse, 

 and is practiced with the intent to throw the rider off. Some- 

 times it is the result of playfulness, but even then it is a dangerous 

 and unpleasant fault. The use of a deep curb and sharp bit will, 

 in some instances, cause even a quiet horse to rear, and when 



