102 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



[No. 



backs, it is a more serious matter. Persuasion 

 should here first be tried: and, afterwards, reasona- 

 ble coercion, but no cruelty: for the brutality which 

 is often exercised in attempting to compel a gibbing 

 horse to throw himself habitually into the collar, 

 never yet accomplished the purpose. The horse 

 may, perhaps, be whipped into motion, but if he 

 has once begun to gib, he will have recourse to it 

 again whenever any circumstance displeases or 

 annoys.him; and the habit will be rapidly, and so 

 completely formed, that he will become insensible 

 to all severity. 



It is useless and most dangerous to contend with 

 a horse determined to back, unless there is plenty 

 of room, and, by tight reining, the driver can make 

 him back in the precise direction he wnshes, and 

 especially up-hill. Such a horse should be imme- 

 diately sold, or turned over to some other work. 

 In a stage-coach as a wheeler, and particularly as 

 the near-wheeler; or, in the middle of a team at 

 agricultural work, he may be serviceable. It will 

 be useless for him to attempt to gib there, tor he 

 will be dragged along by his companions whether 

 he will or"no;and, finding the inutility of resis- 

 tance, he will soon be induced to work as well as 

 any horse in the team. This reformation will last 

 while he is thus employed, but, like restifness gen- 

 erally, it will be delusive when the horse returns 

 to his former occupation. The disposition to an- 

 noy will very soon follow the power to do it. Some 

 instances of complete reformation have occurred, 

 but they have been rare. 



When a horse, not often accustomed to gib, be- 

 trays a reluctance to work, or a determination not 

 to work, common sense and humanity will demand 

 that some consideration should be taken, before 

 measures ofseverity.be resorted to. The horse 

 may be taxed beyond his power. He soon disco- 

 vers whether this is the case, and by refusing to 

 p-occed, tells his driver that it is so; and the utmost 

 cruelty will not induce many horses to make the 

 slightest effort, when they are conscious that their 

 strength is inadequate to the task. Sometimes 

 the withers are wrung, and the shoulders sadly 

 galled; and the pain, which is intense on level 

 ground and with fair draught, becomes insupport- 

 able when he tugs up a steep acclivity. These 

 things should be examined into, and, if possible, 

 rectified; for, under such circumstances, cruelty 

 might produce obstinacy and vice, but not willing 

 obedience. 



Those who are accustomed to horses know 

 what seemingly trivial circumstances occasionally 

 produce this vice. A horse, whose shoulders arc 

 raw, or that have frequently been so will not start 

 with a cold collar. When the collar has acquired 

 the warmth of the parts on which it presses, the 

 animal will tyo without reluctance. Some deter- 

 mined gibbcTs have been reformed by constantly 

 wearing a false collar, or strip of cloth round the 

 shoulders, so that the coldness of the usual collar 

 should never be felt; and others have been cured of 

 gibbing by keeping the collar on night and day, al- 

 though the animal is not able to lie down so com- 

 pletely at full length, which the tired horse is al- 

 ways glad to do. When a horse gibs, not at start- 

 ing but while doing his work, it has sometimes 

 been useful to line, the collars with cloth instead of 

 leather; the perspiration is readily absorbed, the 

 substance which presses on the shoulders is softer, 



and it may be far more accurately eased off at a 

 tender place. 



Biting. 



This is either the consequence of natural feroci- 

 ty or a habit acquired from the foolish and teasing 

 play of grooms and stable boys. When a horse 

 is tickled and pinched by thoughtless and mischiev- 

 ous youths, he will first pretend to bite his tor- 

 mentors; by degrees he will proceed further, and 

 actually bite them, and, very soon after that, he 

 will be the first to challenge to the combat, and 

 without provocation seize some opportunity to 

 gripe the incautious groom; and then, as the love 

 of mischief is a propensity too easily acquired, 

 this war half playful, and half in earnest, will be- 

 come habitual to him, and will degenerate into ab- 

 solute viciousness. Nothing can here be done in 

 the way of cure; kindness would aggravate the 

 evil, and no degree of severity will correct it. 

 Prevention, however, is in the power of every 

 proprietor of horses. While, he insists on gentle 

 and humane treatment of his cattle, he should sys- 

 tematically forbid this horse-play. It is that which 

 can never be considered as operating as a reward, 

 and thereby rendering the horse tractable; nor 

 does it increase the affection of the animal for his 

 groom, because he is annoyed and irritated by 

 being thus incessantly teased. 



Getting the cheek of the bit into the mouth. 



Some horses that arc disposed to be mischiev- 

 ous try to do this, .and are very expert at it. They 

 soon find what advantage it gives them over their 

 driver; who by this manoeuvre loses almost all 

 command. Harsh treatment is here completely 

 out of the question. All that can be done is, by 

 some mechanical contrivance, to render the thing 

 difficult or impossible, and this may be managed by 

 listening a round piece of leather on the inside of 

 the cheek of the bit. 



Kicking. 



This, as a vice, is another consequence of the 

 culpable habit of grooms and stable-boys of teas- 

 ing the horses. That which is at first an indica- 

 tion of annoyance at the pinching and tickling of 

 the groom, and without any design to injure, grad- 

 ually becomes the expression of anger, and the ef- 

 fort at mischief. There is no cure for this vice; 

 and he cannot be justified who keeps such a kick- 

 ing horse in his stable. 



Some horses acquire a habit of kicking at the 

 stall or the bail, and particularly at night, from 

 mere irritability and fidgettiness. The neighbor- 

 ing horses are disturbed, and the kicker gets 

 swelled hocks, or some more serious injury. This 

 is also a habit very difficult to correct if suffered to 

 become established. Mares are far more subject 

 to it than horses. 



Before the habit is inveterately established, a 

 thorn bush or a piece of furze, fastened against the 

 partition or post will sometimes effect a cure. 

 W hen the horse finds that he is pretty severely 

 pricked he will not long continue to punish him- 

 self. In confirm cases it may be necessary to have 

 recourse to the log, but the legs are often not a lit- 

 tle bruised by it. A rather long and heavy piece 



