360 VICES AND DEFECTS OF THE HORSE. 



the recollection of the torture they have felt makes them impatient, and even vicious, 

 during every succeeding operation of the kind. Many grooms, likewise, seem to 

 delight in producing these exlubitions of uneasiness and vice; although, when they 

 are carried a little too far, and at the hazard of the limbs of the groom, the animals 

 that have been almost tutored into these expressions of irritation are brutally kicked 

 and punished. 



This, however, is a vice that may be conquered. If the horse is dressed with a 

 lighter hand, and wisped rather than brushed, and the places where the skin is most 

 sensitive are avoided as much as thorough cleanliness will allow, he will gradually 

 lose the recollection of former ill-treatment, and become tractable and quiet. 



VICIOUS TO SHOE. 



The correction of this is more peculiarly the business of the smith ; yet the master 

 should diligently concern himself with it, for it is oftener the consequence of injudi- 

 cious or bad usage than of natural vice. It may be expected that there will be some 

 difficulty in shoeing a horse for the first few times. It is an operation that gives him 

 a little uneasiness. — The man to whom he is most accustomed should go with him to 

 the forge ; and if another and steady horse is shod before him, he may be induced 

 more readily to submit. It cannot be denied that, after the habit of resisting this 

 necessary operation is formed, force may sometimes be necessary to reduce our rebel- 

 lious servant to obedience ; but we unhesitatingly affirm that the majority of horses 

 vicious to shoe are rendered so by harsh usage, and by the pain of correction being 

 added to the uneasiness of shoeing. It should be a rule in every forge that no smith 

 should be permitted to strike a horse, much less to twitch or to gag him, without the 

 master-farrier's order; and that a young horse should never be twitched or struck. 

 There are few horses that may not be gradually rendered manageable for this purpose 

 by mildness and firmness in the operator. They will soon understand that no harm 

 is meant, and they will not forget their usual habit of obedience ; but if the remem- 

 brance of corporal punishment is connected with shoeing, they will always be fidgety, 

 and occasionally dangerous. 



This is a very serious vice, for it not only exposes the animal to occasional severe 

 injury from his own struggles, but also from the correction of the irritated smith, 

 whose limbs and whose life being in jeopardy, may be forgiven if he is sometimes a 

 little too hard-handed. Such a horse is very liable, and without any fault of the 

 smith, to be pricked and lamed in shoeing; and if the habit should be confirmed, and 

 should increase, and it at length becomes necessar}' to cast him, or to put him in the 

 trevis, the owner may be assured .that many years will not pass ere some formidable 

 or fatal accident will take place. If, therefore, mild treatment will not correct this 

 vice, the horse cannot be too soon got rid of. 



Horses have many unpleasant habits in the stable and on the road, which cannot 

 be said to amount to vice, but which materially lessen their value. 



SWALLOWING WITHOUT GRINDING. 



Some greedy horses habitually swallow their corn without properly grinding it, 

 and the power of digestion not being adequate to the dissolving of the husk, no nutri- 

 ment is extracted, and the oats are voided whole. This is particularly the case when 

 horses of unequal appetite feed from the same manger. The greedy one, in his eager- 

 ness to get more than his share, bolts a portion of his corn whole. If the farmer, 

 Avithout considerable inconvenience, could contrive that every horse shall have his 

 separate division of the manger, the one of smaller appetite and slower feed would 

 have the opportunity of grinding at his leisure, without the fear of the greater share 

 being stolen by his neighbour. 



Some horses, however, are naturally greedy feeders, and will not, even when alone, 

 allow themselves time to chew or grind their corn. In consequence of this they carry 

 but little flesh, and are not equal to severe work. If the rack was supplied with hay 

 when the corn was put into the manger, they will continue to eat on, and their sto- 

 machs will become distended with half-chewed and indigestible food. In consequence 

 of this they will be incapable of considerable exertion for a long time after feeding, 

 and, occasionally, dangerous symptoms of stafrtrers will occur. 



The remedy is, not to let snch horses fast too long. The nose-bag should be the 

 companion of every considerable journey. The food should likewise be of such ? 



