66 THE POCKET AND THE STUD. 



tion that is, that, unless particularly ordered, 

 saddlers never make the forehead bands long 

 enough by an inch on each side, by which the 

 head strap is brought so close behind the ear that 

 it pinches it into a corner, which causes confine- 

 ment and uneasiness ; in fact, I have seen the ear 

 chafed by it. 



If any one who may read this work holds 

 economy worth consideration, I would suggest to 

 him, that ordering his head-collars to be made 

 with, as it is termed, the flesh-side outwards, 

 causes them to wear nearly double the time of 

 others. 



In gentlemen's stables collar-shanks are usually 

 of leather, which are the best first for appearance; 

 secondly, they make less noise in running up and 

 down than rope; and, thirdly, when the horse 

 travels with his head-collar on, they roll up neatly. 

 I say shanks : but in speaking of my own, as re- 

 lates to one head-collar, I should only say shank, 

 for I never used but one to each horse : for this 

 reason ; a horse sometimes gets his hind foot over 

 them from scratching his head or neck': this leads 

 often to serious accidents. Of course, where there 

 are two, there is more chance of this occurring than 

 with one ; but the chance of his getting into this 

 dilemma with two is much greater than the num- 

 bers go ; for, from the diagonal direction of each 

 from his head to the rings, they are just in the 



