84 VICE. 



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 

 the coronet) of one hind leg, or a log in this way to 

 each hind leg may be used if necessary. Another 

 means is to pad all parts of the stable that can be 

 reached by the hind feet. In many instances where 

 this plan is adopted, the animal, no longer hearing any 

 noise suggesting to his fancy resistance from behind, 

 will cease kicking altogether, from no other explainable 

 cause. For padding use some pads of hay or oaten 

 straw, covered with coarse canvass, and nailed to all 

 places within reach of his heels. Sometimes, where 

 the habit is supposed to arise from spite towards a 

 neighbour, a change of location will answer. In other 

 cases nothing but arming all parts of the stable within 

 reach with furze bushes, or other prickly repellants, 

 will succeed. 



It will be well, in treating this vice, to try the rem- 

 edies here recommended in rotation ; first with the 

 otherwise quiet horse try the log, then the padding, 

 the change of location, and the prickly armour in suc- 

 cession. It is a remarkable fact that horses seldom 

 kick in the stable during daylight : leaving a light in 



