BITING. 357 



tried ; and, afterwards, reasonable coercion, but no cruelty : for the brutality which 

 is often exercised in attempting to compel a gibbing horse to throw himself habitu- 

 ally into the collar, never yet accomplished the purpose. The horse may, perhaps, 

 be whipped into motion ; but if he has once begun to gib, he will have recourse to it 

 again whenevi^r any circumstance displeases or annoys him, and the habit will be so 

 rapidly and completely formed, that he will become insensible to all severity. 



It is useless and dangerous to contend with a horse determined to back, unless 

 there is plenty of room^ and, by tight reining, the driver can make him back in 

 the precise direction he wishes, and especially up-hill. Such a horse should be 

 immediately sold, or turned over to some other work. In a stage-coach as a 

 wheeler, and particularly as the near-wheeler; or, in the middle of a team at 

 agricultural work, he may be serviceable. It will be useless for him to attempt to 

 gtb there, for he will be dragged along by his companions whether he will or not; 

 and, finding the inutility of resistance, he will soon be induced to work as well as 

 any horse in the team. The reformation will last while he is thus employed, hut, 

 like restiveness generally, it "will be delusive when the horse returns to his former 

 occupation. The disposition to annoy will very soon follow the power to do it. Some 

 instances of complete reformation may have occurred, but they are rare. 



When a horse, not often accustomed to gib, betrays a reluctance to work, or a de- 

 termination not to work, common sense and humanity will demand that some consid- 

 eration should be taken before measures of severity are resorted to. The horse may 

 be taxed beyond his power. He soon discovers whether this is the case, and by re- 

 fusing to proceed, tells his driver that it is so. The utmost cruelty will not induce 

 man/horses to make the slightest eftbrt, when they are conscious that their strength 

 is inadequate to the task. Sometimes the withers are wrung, and the shoulders sadly 

 galled, and the pain, which is intense on level ground and with fair draught, becomes 

 insupportable when he tugs up a steep acclivity. These things should be examined 

 into, and, if possible, rectified ; for, under such circumstances, cruelty may produce 

 obstinacy and vice, but not willing obedience. 



They who are accustomed to horses know what seemingly trivial circumstances 

 occasionally produce this vice. A horse, whose shoulders are raw, or have fre- 

 quently been so, will not start with a cold collar. When the collar has acquired 

 the warmth of the parts on which it presses, the animal will go without reluctance. 

 Some determined gibbers have been reformed by constantly wearing a false collar, 

 or strip of cloth round the shoulders, so that the coldness of the usual collar should 

 never be felt; and others have been cured of gibbing by keeping the collar on 

 niglit and day, for the animal is not able to lie down completely at full length, 

 which the tired horse is always glad to dc. When a horse gibs, not at startiiig, 

 but while doing his work, it has sometimes been useful to line the collar with 

 cloth instead of leather; the perspiration is readily absorbed, the substance which 

 presses on the shoulders is softer, and it may be far more accurately eased oflf at a 

 tender place. 



BITING, 



This is either the consequence of natural ferocity, or a habit acquired from the 

 foolish and teasing play of grooms and stable-boys. When a horse is tickled and 

 pinched by thoughtless and mischievous youths, he will first pretend to bite his tor- 

 mentors ; by degrees he will proceed farther, and actually bite them, and very soon 

 after that, he will be the first to challenge to the combat, and, without provocation, 

 seize some opportunity to gripe the incautious tormentor. At length, as the love of 

 mischief is a propensity too easily acquired, this war, half playful and half in earnest, 

 becomes habitual to him, and degenerates into absolute viciousness. 



It is not possible to enter the stall of some horses without danger. The ani- 

 mal gives no warning of his intention ; he is seemingly quiet and harmless : but 

 if the incautious by-stander comes fairly within his reach, he darts upon him, and 

 seldom fails to do some mischief. A stallion addicted to biting is a most formi- 

 dable creature. He lifts the intruder — he shakes him — he attacks him with his 

 feet — he tramples upon him, and there are many instances in which he effects 

 irrefJdrable mischief. A resolute groom may escape. W^hen he has once got firm 

 hold of the head of the horse, he may back him, or muzzle him, or harness him ; 



