VICE. 85 



neck well bent, chin into chest, on the softest and most 

 tiring ground that is available. For myself, if I find 

 a horse vicious, I never think of combating him if it 

 can be helped, without having first reduced his vigour 

 a little ; and all horsemen who undertake to conquer 

 any seriously bad habits are recommended to consider 

 and adopt this practice, if indeed such is not already 

 their custom. 



Kicking, to the horseman, is a matter of very trifling 

 consideration. He may either amuse himself by let- 

 ting the ebullition expend itself, or it may be stopped 

 by chucking up the horse's head and increasing the pace. 



Kicking in Harness is a different affair, being gener- 

 ally the prelude to disaster, and must be guarded against. 

 — See page 58. 



Kicking in the Stable. — Many animals, most gentle 

 in other respects, take inordinate fits of this practice, 

 and generally in the dead of night, as if to make up 

 for their usual quietude on all other occasions ; most 

 frequently they resort to the amusement without any 

 apparent cause of irritation whatever. They will do it 

 when alone or when in company ; while, were it not for 

 the capped hock and otherwise disfigured legs, as well 

 as the dilapidated stabling behind them, discovered in 

 the morning, you would think that " butter wouldn't 

 melt in their mouths." In other cases the habit pro- 

 ceeds from obvious bad temper or spite towards a 

 neighbour. There are many cures proposed for kick- 

 ing in the stable. One frequently successful is a round 

 log of wood, four or five inches long and about two in 

 diameter, with a staple at one end of it, through which 

 a chain two or three inches long is passed and attached 

 to a strap that buckles round the pastern (just above 



