STABLE VICES 177 



Gross-feeders will eat their bedding if the 

 groom does not keep the hay-rack filled night 

 and day. In consequence they rarely get into 

 good condition. If they have as much hay as 

 they will eat, they over-eat themselves and can- 

 not gallop or do fast work. 



It is necessary to keep a leather-muzzle on a 

 gross-feeder when he has eaten as much as is 

 advisable. But it is troublesome to expend so 

 much time in preventing a greedy horse making 

 a pig of himself — to use an Irishism ; the best 

 plan is to pay a short price for such a one, unless 

 his unusually good qualities in other respects 

 counterbalance his orreediness. 



fc> 



Cradles are useful in preventing a horse from 

 tearing his clothes, or from rubbing sore places 

 which have been dressed — such as broken knees, 

 wounds, &c. 



Slings require professional good management 

 to be very successful, and a considerable amount 

 of extra strength, as the weight of a horse needs 

 a lot of clever manipulation to keep it suspended 

 on slings — used in bad fractures when it is 

 absolutely necessary to prevent the patient from 

 touching the ground, and thus disturbing bones 

 recently set. 



Docking seems rather cruel, and can be justi- 

 fied only on the grounds of preventing a carriage 

 or draught horse from getting the reins under- 

 neath his tail — thus often causing a fatal accident, 

 or it is useful to strengthen a foal's hind-quarters. 



M 



