92 THE POCKET AND THE STUD. 



before his return ; the animal on reaching his 

 stable gets up to his manger as quick as he can, 

 and then the odds are much in favour of his 

 getting one or both forelegs entangled in the 

 collar ; and here again it ends as the case may be, 

 depending on the quietude of the horse. Now, 

 if the man made it an invariable rule to fasten 

 the head-collar to the rack-chain, he would from 

 habit do it as a matter of course. 



It is the same by the clothing, if they are care- 

 lessly thrown over the standing ; the chances are 

 they get down under the feet of the horse in the 

 next stall, and are torn, or at least soiled. This 

 would not happen if, on the man's return to the 

 stable, he took the opportunity of shaking, and, 

 if wanted, brushing them, folding them nicely 

 up, and depositing them carefully in the horse's 

 own stall. 



From the same want of rule (but sometimes 

 from want of convenience to avoid it) we often 

 see a man hunting for his currycomb and brush, 

 or any article he uses, under the manger, under 

 the straw close to the standings, and in his 

 various other hiding-places ; all this at once 

 shows bad management somewhere, and looks 

 most unstableman-like. 



There are a variety of little technical habits 

 as well as phrases in a stable, for the origin of 

 which it might be difficult to account; yet the 



