192 ANNALS OF THE ROAD. 



chokes in it, and drops as though he were shot. When 

 I first knew the road, almost every other harness horse 

 had raw shoulders, and it was distressing to see them. 

 This evil is, in a great measure, removed, and we now 

 seldom see a seasoned coach horse with a broken skin. 

 A great preventive of sore shoulder is, having the collar 

 to fit close to the shoulder. It cannot fit too close, pro- 

 vided it comes well up to the shoulder, and does not, if I 

 may so express myself, stop at the neck ; for it is from 

 that cause that the mischief arises. When a horse 

 stands at ease in his collar, it is sufficient that the hand 

 can pass between it and the thin, just in the part where 

 it passes over the wind-pipe. The closer it fits in other 

 places, the more effectually it embraces the powers of the 

 horse that wears it. With a high-blower much caution is 

 necessary, and his collar should be stuffed a little fuller 

 at the points of the shoulders, so as to remove the 

 pressure entirely from the wind-pipe. It is not amiss to 

 have his collar open at the pole (the top), and made to 

 buckle, so that it can always be fixed to a nicety in its 

 proper place. The skin of some horses is by nature so 

 tender and irritable as to be with difficulty preserved 

 entire. Various are the methods to prevent the evil ; as 

 also the remedies to cure it. Some prefer having collars 

 lined with cloth, instead of leather ; and, where the work 

 is heavy, they are certainly less liable to wring the 

 shoulder, by absorbing the perspiration more readily, in 

 the first place, and, in the next, by admitting of their 

 being eased off the tender place by removing the stuffing 

 at pleasure, and by facing them with flocks just where 



