218 STUMBLINQ. 



STUMBLING. 



That person must either be a skillful practitioner, or a mere 

 pretender, who engages to remedy this habit. If it arise from 

 a heavy forehand, and the fore legs, being too much under the 

 horse, no one can alter the natural frame of the auj^mal ; if it 

 proceeds from tenderness of foot, grogginess, or old lameness, 

 these ailments are seldom cured. Also, if it is to be traced to 

 habitual carelessness and idleness, no whipping will rouse the 

 drone. A known stumbler should never be ridden or driven 

 by any one who values his safety or his life. A tight hand or 

 a strong bracing-rein are precautions that should not be neg- 

 lected, although they are generally of little avail ; for the in- 

 veterate stumbler will rarely be able to save himself, and this 

 tight rein may sooner and further precipitate the rider. If 

 after stumbling the horse suddenly starts forward, and endea- 

 vors to break into a short trot or canter, the rider may be 

 assured that others before him have fruitlessly endeavored to 

 remedy the nuisance. 



If the stumbler has the foot kept as short, and the toe pared 

 as close as safety will permit, and the shoe is rounded at the 

 toe, or has that shape given to it which it naturally acquires in 

 a fortnight from the peculiar action of such a horse, the animal 

 may not stumble quite so much ; or if the disease which pro- 

 duced the habit can be alleviated, some trifling good may be 

 done ; but in almost every case the stumbler should be got rid 

 of, or put to slow and heavy work. If the latter alternative 

 is adopted, he may stumble as much as he pleases, for the 

 weight of the load and the motion of the other horses will keep 

 him upon his legs. 



