272 GAGGING, BUT NOT JOKING. 



men elevate his head as high as he could raise it, and 

 then tied the end of the fork-handle to the collar, so 

 there the head was fixed. Every one knows that, if 

 we lay a stick across a chair, we cannot elevate one 

 end without depressing the other, unless it be a bend- 

 ing cane. This a horse's spine is not, or at least in a 

 very small degree. Consequently, while the head was 

 thus elevated, the rump could not be elevated at the 

 same time, unless the spine was whalebone in the 

 middle. We next got the harness on, crupper and 

 all : he could lash out straight with one hind leg at a 

 time, but kicking was out of the question. He began 

 shaking his head from side to side to try to loosen 

 the gag : two side reins beat him on that tack : he 

 stamped with rage, and no pig undergoing the 

 pleasant operation of ringing squealed louder. We 

 brought the vehicle up ; a man's shoulder to each 

 quarter (fixed as he was) kept him straight : in he 

 was in a minute ; he wriggled all he could ; kicked as 

 well as he could, and well he fought ; but it was no 

 use : trot of course he could not, but I made him most 

 majestically walk, and, as I engaged, draw me. We 

 took him out in a perfect lather : he would not want 

 sweating again for some days to come. 



I do not mean to say, nor do I think, this horse 

 could ever have been cured of his propensity to kick. 

 I think it by no means impossible that he might have 

 been deterred from doing so, so as to be driven ; but 

 he was too far gone ever to have been worth the risk. 

 Old offenders as kickers, like biters, never .lose the 

 inclination ; at least I never knew one that did ; but 

 if we look to the cause of both vices, they generally, 

 like all ill-manners, proceed from bad education. 



Among all the various purposes to which we apply 



