REMEDIES FOR STABLE VICES AND BAD HABITS 293 



sometimes get one of their fore-feet over it, Ijut this is not so sei'ious an 

 accident. To prevent the mischief occasioned in either case by the struggles 

 to get free, especially when the hind-leg is thus caught, the rings for the 

 collar-reins are sometimes made to di'aw down with a spring-catch, which 

 releases them when pulled in that direction, but in no other. When, 

 however, the sinker is propei4y weighted, it is almost impossible for such an 

 accident to occur ; and this simple invention has now become obsolete. 



Tearing the clothes off is by no means an unusual stable habit, and it 

 is one ver}^ difficult to cure. There are two effectual preventives, however : 

 one of which consists in the regular employment of a rough horsehair cloth, 



REMEDY FOR TEARING THE CLOTHES. 



made like that for hops, outside the rug, and which is so disagreeable to 

 the teeth, that no horse will attempt to tear it ; the other is carried out by 

 means of a pole of ash, about three-quarters of an inch in diameter, with an 

 iron eye attached to each end. One of these is fastened, by means of a 

 short leathern strap and buckle, to the side of the roller pad, while the 

 other has a strap or chain about a foot long, which attaches it to the head 

 collar. The pole should reach about fifteen inches beyond the point of 

 the shoulder, and it should be fixed on the side which is generally upper- 

 most when the horse lies down, so as not to be under him in that position. 

 It is a very simple and cheap apparatus, and any village blacksmith can 

 make and apply it. The above engraving will illustrate my meaning 

 better than the most detailed description without it. 



Weaving is a mark of an irritable nervous system, beyond which it is 

 hai-mless, but quite incurable. It consists in a perpetual moving of the 

 head from one side of the manger to the other, with an action like that of a 



