190 ELEMENTS OF HIPPOLOGY. 



restive when too high fed and having too little work. The 

 remedy for this is obvious. 



" Vicious While Cleaning. — Very great differences exist in 

 the temper exhibited by horses under the operation of cleaning. 

 Some that are steady and quiet on the road and in the field 

 cannot be cleaned without great hazard to their grooms as well 

 as the danger of laming themselves. This often proceeds from 

 a very sensitive skin and at other times from their grooms having 

 inflicted severe chastisement on some former occasion when 

 cleaning. Besides, ill-disposed grooms, by teasing the animals, 

 or currying them with a broken-toothed comb or uneven-surfaced 

 brush, teach them this bad habit, and have even a delight in 

 seeing the animals show their teeth; and this is continued until 

 it becomes a fixed vice. If a change of grooms takes place, what 

 was done partly in play is then manifested in anger, and serious 

 injuries have been inflicted upon the unsuspecting stranger. It 

 therefore behooves grooms to be cautious how they handle a 

 strange horse. 



" There is much variety in the sensibility of the skin of 

 horses, some being so tender that moderate rubbing gives them 

 uneasiness, while others are so much the reverse that the whip 

 hardly excites it. It will not be difficult to overcome this vicious 

 habit. When the groom discovers it, the best plan is to use a 

 gentle hand while cleaning, and lean lightly on those parts which 

 seem most sensitive; and avoid punishing the horses for exhib- 

 iting restiveness, and he will soon lose all recollection of the 

 former ill-treatment which he had received from his groom, and 

 become quiet and steady. 



" Crib-Biting. — Crib-biting is one of the worst habits which 

 a horse can acquire, and is seldom or ever cured. The horse 

 seizes the manger with his teeth while he stretches his neck for- 

 ward, and after some spasmodic action of the throat, a slight 

 grunting sound is uttered, which appears to be accompanied by a 

 drawing in of air. The cause of this trick is not yet well under- 



