1835.] 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



103 



of wood attached to a chain is buckled above the 

 hock, so as to reach about half way down the leg. 

 When the horse attempts to kick violently, his 

 leg will receive a severe blow from this, and 

 the repetition of the blow will soon teach him to 

 be quiet. 



A much more serious vice is kicking in harness. 

 From the least annoyance about the rump or quar- 

 ters, some horses will kick atthe most violent rate, 

 and destroy the bottom of the chaise, and en- 

 danger the limbs of the driver. Those that are, 

 fidgetty in the stable are most apt to do this. II 

 the reins should perchance get under the tail, the 

 violence of the kicker will be. most outrageous; and 

 while the animal presses down his tail so tightly 

 that it is almost, impossible to extricate the reins, 

 he continues to plunge until he has demolished 

 everything behind him. 



This is a vice standing foremost in point of dan- 

 ger, and which no treatment will often conquer. It 

 will be altogether in vain to try coercion here. If 

 the shafts are very strong and without flaw, or if 

 they are plated with iron underneath, and a stout 

 kicking strap used, which will barely allow the 

 horse the proper use of his hind limbs in progres- 

 sion, but not permit him to raise them sufficiently 

 for the purpose of kicking, he may be prevented 

 from doing mischief; or if he is harnessed to a hea- 

 vy cart, and thus confined, his efforts to lash out 

 will be restrained: but it is a very unpleasant thing 

 frequently to witness these attempts, although in- 

 effectual, to demolish the vehicle; and the shafts 

 orthekickingstrap may possibly break,and extreme 

 danger may ensue. A horse that has once begun 

 to kick, whatever may have been the original 

 cause of it, can never be depended on again; 

 and he will be very unwise who ventures behind 

 him. 



Unsteadiness whilst being mounted. 



When this merely amounts to eagerness to 

 start (very unpleasant, indeed, at times, for many 

 a rider has been thrown from his seat before he 

 was fairly fixed in it,) it may be remedied by an 

 active and good horseman. We have known 

 many instances in which, while the elderly, and 

 inactive, and fearful man, has been making more 

 than one ineffectual attempt to vault into the sad- 

 dle, the horse has been dancing about to his annoy- 

 ance and danger; but the animal had no sooner 

 been transferred to the management of a younger 

 and more agile rider, than he became perfectly sub- 

 dued. Severity will here, rhore decidedly than in 

 any other case, do harm. The rider should be 

 fearless — he should carelessly and confidently ap- 

 proach the horse, mount atthe first effort, and then 

 restrain him for a while, patting him, and not suf- 

 fering him to proceed until he becomes perfectly 

 quiet. These horses should not be too highly fed, 

 and should daily have sufficient exercise. 



When the difficulty of mounting arises not from 

 eagerness to start, but unwillingness to be ridden, 

 the sooner such horse is disposed of the better. 

 He may be conquered by a determined rider, but 

 a skilful and determined horseman alone will man- 

 age him; and even he will not succeed without 

 frequent and even dangerous contests that will 

 mar all the pleasure of the ride. 



Bearing. 



This sometimes results from playfulness, carried 



indeed to an unpleasant and dangerous extent; but 

 it is oftener a vice, and is a desperate and fre- 

 quently successful effort to unhorse the rider. The 

 horse that has twice decidedly and dangerously 

 reared, should never be trusted again, unless in- 

 deed it be the fault of the rider — unless he has 

 been using a deep curb and sharp bit. Some of 

 the best horses will contend against these, and 

 then rearing may be immediately and permanent- 

 ly cured by using a snaffle bridle alone. 



The horse-breaker's remedy, that of pulling the 

 horse backward on a soft piece of ground, is wor- 

 thy of him, and would be practised only by reck- 

 less and brutal men. Many horses have been in- 

 jured in the spine, and others have broken their 

 necks, by being thus suddenly brought over; while 

 even the horse breaker, who fears no danger, is 

 not always able to extricate himself from the fall- 

 ing horse. If rearing proceeds from vice, and is 

 unprovoked by bruising and laceration of the 

 mouth, it fully partakes of the inveteracy which 

 attends the other divisions of restiveness. 



Running away. 



Some headstrong horses will occasionally en- 

 deavor to bolt with the best rider. Others, with 

 their best wonted sagacity, endeavor thus to dis- 

 lodge the timid or unskilful. Some are hard to 

 hold, or bolt only during the excitement of the 

 chase; others will run away, prompted by a vi- 

 cious propensity alone. There is no cure here. 

 That method which affords any probability of suc- 

 cess ;, is to ride such a horse with a strong curb and 

 sharp bit; to have him always firmly in hand; and 

 if he will run away, and the place will admit of it, 

 to e-ive him (sparing neither curb, whip, nor spur) 

 a great deal more running than he likes. 



Vicious to clean. 



It would searcely be believed to what an extent 

 this exists in some horses, that are otherwise per- 

 fectly quiet. It is only at a great hazard that they 

 can be cleaned at all. The origin of this is pro- 

 bably some maltreatment. There is a great dif- 

 ference in tl),e sensibility of the skin in different 

 horses. Some seem as if they could scarcely be 

 made to feel the whip; others cannot bear a fly 

 to alight on them without the expression of an- 

 noyance. In young horses the skin is peculiarly 

 delicate. If they have been curried with a broken 

 comb, or hardly rubbed with an uneven brush, 

 the recollection of the torture they have felt makes 

 them impatient, and even vicious, during every 

 succeeding operation of the kind. Many grooms, 

 likewise, seem to delight in producing these exhi- 

 bitions of uneasiness and vice; although when 

 they are carried a little too far, and to the hazard of 

 the limbs of the groom, the animals that have been 

 almost tutored into these expressions of irritation, 

 are brutally kicked and punished. 



This, however, is a vice which may be conquer- 

 ed. If the animal be dressed with a lighter hand, 

 and wisped rather than brushed, and the places 

 where the skin is most sensitive be avoided as 

 much as thorough cleanliness will allow, the 

 horse will gradually lose the recollection of for- 

 mer ill-treatment, and become tractable and quiet. 



J'icious to shoe. 



The correction of this is more peculiarly the 



