TTOIOTJSITEBS.] 



MODERN VETEKINAliY TllACTICE. 



[CBIB-BlTINGk 



afloril3 any probability of aucccsa, is to riJe ] 

 uith n strong curb ami sharp bit ; to have tlio 

 horse always firmly in band : and, it bo will 

 run away, and the place will admit of it, to 

 give bim (si)ariiig neitbcr curb, whip, nor 

 epur) a groat doal more running than be hUos. 

 Tborougbly trained borsc3, bowever, bavo no 

 habit of this kind. 



VICIOUS TO CLEAN. 



There are a great many horses quiet to ride 

 that are very difGcult to clean. The origin of 

 this is, probably, some maltreatment. la 

 YOung animals, the skin is very delicate. If 

 they have been curried with a too sharp comb, 

 or rubbed too hard with an uneven brush, the 

 recollection of the torture they may have felt 

 makes them impatient, and even vicious, 

 durino- every succeeding operation of the kind. 

 Many grooms, likewise, seem to delight in 

 producing these exhibitions of uneasiness and 

 vice ; although when they are carried a little 

 too far, and endanger the limbs of the grooms, 

 the animals that have been almost aggravated 

 into these exhibitions of irritation are bru- 

 tally kicked and punished. 



This, however, is a vice wliich may be con- 

 quered. If the animal is dressed with a light 

 hand, and whisped 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 may become tract- 

 able and quiet to be cleaned. Strapping up the 

 fore leg is a plan now adopted for the cure of 

 this vice. 



VICIOUS TO SHOE. 



Nothing can be more annoying to a traveller 

 than having a horse of this description. Meet- 

 ing with an accident on the road, which dc- 

 mands the attention of the smith, this func- 

 tionary is applied to, and, necessarily, dislikes 

 the job as much as the traveller would himself. 

 In nine cases out of ten, this vice has been 

 caused by want of patience, and by injudicious 

 management at the commencement of the 

 shoeing of the horse ; and it is, in reality, a 

 Very serious vice. It not only exposes the 

 animal to occasionally severe injury from his 

 own struggles, but also from the correction of 

 the irritated smith, whose limbs, and even life 

 2t 



being in jeopardy, is Bomctimos a little too 

 beavy-handeii in his mode ot correction. Such 

 a horse is very liable, and without any lault oi 

 the smith, to bo pricked and lamed in shoeing; 

 and if the habit should bo confirmed, and it 

 becomes necessary to cast bim, or put him in 

 the trevis, the owner may bo assured that no 

 long time will elapse before some formidable 

 and even fatal accident will take place. 1;, 

 therefore, mild treatment will not correct the 

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

 " Horses, however, that have been vicious for 

 a lifetime, are rendered quiet to shoe in one, 

 two, or three lessons of taming. Indeed, 

 upon the first instance of being thrown down, 

 and thoroughly handled while in the horizontal 

 position, the smith can shoe them with the 

 greatest ease." 



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. 



CRIB-BITING. 



The only remedy for this vice is a muzzle, 

 with bars across the bottom, wide enough to 

 enable the animal to eat his corn and pull 

 his hay, but not to grasp the edge of the 

 manger. If this be worn a very long time, 

 the horse may, possibly, forget the habit; but, 

 in the majority of cases, the desire returns 

 with the power of gratifying it. 



Most of the other bad habits and vices 

 of the horse, have been remarked upon in their 

 appropriate places in previous portions of this 

 work. 



This is the proper place to notice Dr. Bunt- 

 ing's patent break for harness horses, whicii is, 

 perhaps, the most complete invention that has 

 yet been made public for the purpose of sub- 

 duing vicious horses, and the training of 

 colts. " The principle," says the editor of The 

 Horse, " is the same as that in the old thrash- 

 ing machine, in which horses are placed be- 

 tween poles from a centre, and driven round in 

 a circle. Dr. B. has improved upon the machine 

 by the addition of a cart, or carriage, which is 

 fixed to the end of each pole, &c., having 

 strong bars of wood, of about fourteen feet in 

 length, placed at their extremities. These bara 

 are made *to be' movable, to admit the 

 borso between them; and to these bara the 



345 



